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awful subject of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. "After finishing the narrative of the fall of Sodom, I said, without further hesitation, 'Do you too repent of your sins, and turn to God.' This simple sentence seemed to come with great power, and prevented my proceeding for a time. Though you are not like the men of SodomGod forbid you are nevertheless sinners. Are there no thieves, fornicators, railers, extortioners among you? Be you sure that God is angry. I say not that He will burn your town; but He will burn you. Haste, therefore, out of Sodom. Sodom is the world, which is full of sinners and sin. Come out therefore from amongst them; forsake not your worldly business, but your sinful companions. Do not be like the world, lest you perish with them. Do not, like Lot, linger; say not, to-morrow we will repent, lest you never see to-morrow-repent to-day. Then, as Lot, seated on the hill, beheld the flames in safety, you also, sitting on the hills of heaven, shall behold the ruins of the world without fear.'

Here, then, it must immediately be perceived, that the reasonableness of Mr. Martyn's argument, although an exposition of God's word, could scarcely have derived any advantage from that fact; but was addressed to his auditory, as to beings having, indeed, the lamp of reason within them, but darkened by the grossest superstition, and ignorant of all that appertains to revealed religion. And yet the tenor of his discourse was not dissimilar to that of St. Paul at Athens to a very different description of persons. In both cases unacquaintance with the Bible constituted the great barrier to the admission of revealed truth. In both cases there was the same necessity to

remove a mass of error in order to prepare the mind for the reception of that authoritative volume. We know, too, how sadly in India the lives of nominal Christians have often been opposed to the morality of the Gospel, and to the lessons of that book upon the contents of which all hope of conversion depends. How, then, without the power of working miracles, possessed by the Apostles of our Lord, is the missionary to proceed? How is he to proceed, so as to make the heathen sensible that the Bible is the Word of God? And this he must accomplish, or the labours of all the Bible Societies in the world will be to no purpose. That the grace of God will powerfully aid the missionary work, there cannot be a doubt; but a preparation must nevertheless be made for the Bible in the intellect as well as in the heart; and it is satisfactory to see that this was no less the opinion of an inspired Apostle than of that zealous and pious missionary, Henry Martyn. They both began by appealing to the common sense of their audience, and in this way only can the work of the missionary be carried on successfully. Whether addressing Grecian philosophers, or Hindoo mendicants, the object is the same-to gain attention, in the first place, to the sublime yet simple truth, which it requires no learning to embrace, that "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the

bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. . . . . Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent; Because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." (Acts xvii. 24-31.)

The effect produced was very much the same at Athens, and at Cawnpore. In both cases there were some who mocked, and a few only who believed. What, then, is the fair inference? Is it not, "that the missionary must combine patience with discretion; and prepare the way for the reception of the Bible by throwing light gradually upon it, and showing that its contents are as consistent with right reason as they are life-giving.

The Roman Catholic missionary says to the heathen, however ignorant, "Come and be baptised." The Bible missionary, on the other hand, says, as the Supreme Being Himself has done, "Come, and let us reason together;" and when he has so far succeeded as to make his poor fellow-creature sensible of the necessity and advantage of a change of heart and mind, he is enabled by degrees to gain attention to the wonderful doctrine of man's fall, and of his redemption through Christ. It is not until all this has been effected, that the seal of

Baptism is offered to the now impatient Catechist-and the Bible placed in his hands, accompanied with the prayer contained in that perfect Collect of our Church— "Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning," &c., thus teaching what those Scriptures are, what they contain, and the manner in which they must be dealt with, in order to realise the blessed hope of everlasting life, through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

It may not be uninteresting to introduce here an extract from Bishop Heber's Journal, in connection with what I have just been saying. In the course of his journey through the upper provinces of India, somewhere between Baroda and Bombay, he heard much talk about a popular Hindoo reformer, the Pundit, Swaamee Narain, whose morality was said to be far better than any which could be learned from the Shaster, and who was supposed to be doing good by his preaching. "He forbade his disciples so much as to look on any woman whom they passed. He condemned theft and bloodshed; and those villages and districts which had received him, from being among the worst, were now among the best and most orderly among the provinces. Nor was this all, in so much as he was said to have broken the yoke of caste -to have preached One God, and, in short, to have made considerable approaches to the truth."

With this Pundit Bishop Heber was so fortunate as to have an interview, rumour having previously brought each acquainted with the other. The Pundit came to visit him in a somewhat different style from what his lordship had expected, being attended by near 200

horsemen, mostly well armed with matchlocks and swords, and several of them with coats of mail and spears. These were his own disciples and enthusiastic admirers, men who had voluntarily repaired to hear his lessons, who now took pride in doing him honour, and who would cheerfully fight to the last drop of blood rather than suffer a fringe of his garment to be handled roughly.

How affectingly natural and apposite are the following reflections of the Bishop on this occasion:- "In the parish of Hodnet there were once, perhaps, a few honest country men who felt something like this for me; but how long a time must elapse before any Christian teacher in India can hope to be thus loved and honoured! Yet surely there is some encouragement to patient labour which a Christian minister may derive from the success of such men as Swaamee Narain; inasmuch as where others can succeed in obtaining a favourable hearing for doctrines, in many respects, at variance with the general and received system of Hindooism, the time may surely be expected, through God's blessing, when our endeavours also may receive their fruit, and our hitherto almost barren Church may keep house and be a joyful mother of children.'"

An amicable discussion took place between the Pundit and the Bishop, for the full particulars of which I must refer my readers to the narrative itself; whilst confining my few observations to the fact, that the Pundit gave obscure evidence of his having gained some imperfect knowledge of the "One God;" insomuch that the Bishop thought it safe to promise him a copy of the Scriptures