Finally, our brethren found the government of India decidedly inimical to the introduction of missionaries. They predicted nothing short of the loss of the country, if the prejudices of the natives were interfered with. A former Governorgeneral would sometimes observe to one of the chaplains, that he thought the wisest policy the East India Company had ever adopted was, never to disturb the prejudices of their native subjects. This view of the subject made the Government decidedly hostile to missionary labours; and this policy was pursued to an extent well known to all who have felt an interest in the progress of Christianity in the East. To realize the formidable nature of this hostility, we must consider that no individual can reside or travel in India without special leave from the head of the Government. It may be here added, that our own countrymen, scattered all over India, felt the same repugnance to missionary exertions, and manifested a firm determination to second the views of Government on this head.

Did ever any cause appear to be more hopeless? I well recollect, that this was the exact feeling on this subject when I arrived in Bengal. Every where we were advised to go back. Even one or two good men thought the attempt utterly impracticable. India, in short, has been long considered an impregnable fortress, defended by the gods. Many a Christian soldier, it has been said, may be sacrificed in the intrenchments: but the fort never will be taken. The Mahometans, it is added, tried long to change the Hindoos, to destroy their idols, and to bring them to profess the Mahometan faith, but in vain: they put multitudes to the sword, and converted the stone idols into steps, that every Mahometan, on ascending to the mosque, might set his foot on a Hindoo god. Yet none of these terrors made them give up their idols or change their customs.

But, my dear brother, it was predicted of the Messiah, that he should "divide the

And, the Government and our countrymen are affording the most important aid in the introduction of light and knowledge into India. "He MUST increase."

In the above detail of difficulties, we observed that a most formidable one arose out of the fears of the Hon. Company, and of the local Governments, so that they appeared to be utterly averse to missionary efforts. Now, in all that concerns the mental and moral cultivation of India, the Governor-general and the Government of Bengal, are become powerful auxiliaries. Native schools have, for years back, been under their absolute patronage; several Christian institutions at Calcutta, which have the good of the natives as their direct object, receive a marked countenance; and missionaries receive the most friendly attentions.

Did distance and climate present serious impediments to the evangelization of India? Providence has raised up fifty preachers on the spot the languages and the climate are their own; and with the manners and opinions of the people to whom they preach, they are perfectly familiar. Not an error amongst them which they cannot detect and refute. If the Holy Spirit pour upon these agents plentifully of his sacred influences, then each one of them will become, as an itinerant and a preacher, equal to ten English missionaries. Krishna, Rammohun, Sébuk-ram, Ramprusad, and other Hindoo ministers, possess very respectable talents; and the effects of the ministry of these and other natives have been far more powerful than those attending the labours of foreigners.

The peculiar Difficulties of the Clergy in India. A Sermon preached at the second Visitation of the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. By the Rev. Thomas Robinson, A. M. Chaplain of Poona. THE preaching of a Visitation

out his soul unto death." ALL THESE DIFFICULTIES HAVE BEEN OVERCOME.

Six hundred Hindoos have renounced their gods, the Ganges, and their priests, and have shaken from their limbs the chain of the cast.

The distance between Britain and India

has been annihilated, for fifty converted natives have become, in some sense, Mission

aries.

Twenty-five of these fifty languages have been conquered.

The Hindoos all over Bengal are soliciting schools for their children at the

hands of the missionaries.

as an arduous task. The Minister is called upon to address his brethren and his superiors; and it is no easy matter to avoid the charge of omission from one party, or of assumed superiority from the other. This difficulty will rather be increased than diminished when the numbers of the clergy are but small, as in the case before us. But from this difficulty Mr. R. has extricated himself with that

SECESSION OF IRISH PRELATES FROM THE HIBERNIAN BIBLE SOCIETY. A FEELING of considerable anxiety has been excited among the friends of the Bible cause, in consequence of the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, and the Bishops of Meath and Kildare, having withdrawn their names from the Hibernian Bible Society. This measure appears, however, chiefly to have originated from some local circumstances, and not to affect the main question. Limited, indeed, as the Hibernian Society has been to the circulation of the Scriptures in Ireland alone, without at all aiding in foreign operations, it must be considered as taking quite a different ground from the Bible Society, whose object is not confined to any country, but which aims at enlightening the whole world. But whatever may be the feelings which the secession of these prelates may occasion, there is somewhat so cheering in the following speech of Lord Liverpool, at the formation of the Isle of Thanet Auxiliary Bible Society, as abundantly to counteract any gloomy impressions which might have been produced, and we therefore cannot refrain from communicating it to our readers.

SPEECH OF THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL,

His Lordship said, he would trouble the Meeting with but few observations; though he felt it necessary for him to state the grounds on which he had accepted the presidency of that Society.

He had no hesitation in avowing that the object of the Bible Society was in perfect accordance with his principles:-if for a moment he could consider either the principles or the proceedings of that Society as hostile to the religion of his country, as by law established, he would be the last man in the kingdom to yield it his support; but believing as he did, that the labours of the Bible Society tended to promote Christianity in general throughout the world, and ultimately the pure principles of the Church of England, he felt it his duty to promote its success by all the means in his power.

He was a member of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge: as a member of the Established Church, he felt it his duty to support that Establishment; and he should be most happy if the Liturgy of the Church could always be circulated together with the Bible, because it was his sincere opinion that the Liturgy of the Church of England was the best of all human compositions; but, were there not circumstances which rendered the attainment of such an object absolutely impracticable? The operation of the Society

for promoting Christian Knowledge was limited: the Bible may be circulated where the Prayer Book will not be received. Among all sects and descriptions of persons in Great Britain the Bible may be circulated; and should we withhold the Scriptures from any part of our fellowsubjects, because they are not at this time prepared to receive the Prayer Book, which is founded upon them?

In Ireland, whatever difference of opi nion may exist elsewhere as to the state and condition of that part of the United Kingdom, it is quite clear, that religious prejudices must in most cases prevent the Prayer Book being received together with the Bible and shall we forego the advantage of circulating the word of God among all classes and all sects in that country, giving them an opportunity of forming their conscientious opinions on the Bible, and thereby affording, perhaps hereafter, the most simple and most effectual remedy to those evils which we all equally deplore? The principles of this Society adapt it, indeed, to convey the word of life to the whole world. Britons have a duty, an important duty, to perform, arising out of their extensive colonies and foreign possessions. As Christians, we ought to deplore, that this duty has been so long neglected; but surely he might now appeal to them as Christians, and as Protestants, whether they would neglect the advantages of such an instrument in promoting the circulation of the Scriptures through the colonies and dependencies of Great Britain?

The Bible Society was now no longer a theory; it had been in practical operation for a period of more than seventeen years; and so far from injuring other Societies which had the same object in view, it had been proved that it has materially benefited them and by its exertions the Scriptures had been translated into numerous languages, with the names even of some of which we were scarcely acquainted.

If upon so solenin and important a subject it could be allowed to feel pride, he should say, that he felt a national pride that so extensive, so benevolent an institution, an institution which conveyed the best of blessings to every nation and to every people, had originated in this country. It was a duty we owed to God, who had so benefited this country by bestowing upon us such innumerable and unparalleled blessings-who enabled us so lately to weather the storm which had so long hovered over us, to surmount the difficulties of one of the most momentous periods in our history, and who had crowned the nation with a glorious peace it was a duty, he said, we

owed to divine Providence, to make all mankind feel, that in acknowledging the favours Heaven has so bountifully conferred upon us, we were anxious to convey to them the greatest blessing Heaven can bestow, by circulating, as extensively as possible, the word of eternal life.

CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. While thus the head of His Majesty's Government is giving the full sanction of his great influence to the Bible Society, the Christian Remembrancer has been indulging itself in a species of petty warfare, highly disgraceful to any respectable publication. In their Number for October they charge the British and Foreign Bible Society with circulating in France a corrupt version of the New Testament in preference to an orthodox one approved by the Protestants; whereas the fact is, that the only translations they have circulated, except that which the Remembrancer commends, are those of Ostervald and De Sacy. 'De Sacy's

translation is most highly commended. Ostervald's is an old translation which has been published above a hundred years, and which is publicly approved of by the Protestant · clergy of Paris. Objections, indeed, against Ostervald's translation, come with rather an ill grace from any professed friend of the Bartlett's Buildings Society, since no foreigner can be named to whom the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge have paid such distinguished honour as to Ostervald. We believe that his are the only foreign publications which are inserted in that Society's list.

What aggravates the conduct of the Remembrancer is, that though in the last Number an answer was admitted to the former charge, yet the very same sheet is made the vehicle of an attack upon the Society's Icelandic and Spanish versions, which we hesitate not to assert will be found equally false and unfounded with the charge against their French Testaments.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. WE have just received the proceedings of this Society for the last year, containing the Anniversary Sermon, by the Rev. W. Jowett; the twenty-first Report, with its Appendix, and list of Subscribers and Benefactors.

From this Report it appears, that the income of the Society amounted last year to upwards of 81,000%. and that the expenditure was about 32,000/.; that the number of labourers now employed is upward of 200; more than 10,000 children are under instruction; printing-presses are established in various places; churches have been erected; many thousands hear the word of God, and many hundred devout communicants attest that the God of all grace has blessed the labours of his servants.

The Society have eight distinct missions. 1. WEST AFRICA Mission; where missionaries, catechists, or schools, are established at each of the following places: Free Town.

Kissey.

Waterloo.

Kent.

Charlotte.

Leopold. Regent's Town. Gloucester.

Wilberforce.

The Report contains striking instances of the progress of true Christianity at many of these places; but the work of God seems to proceed with greater success among the poor negroes in West Africa than in any other part. One labourer writes thus:

"I have reason to be thankful that I am appointed to this station, where God has so abundantly blessed the labours of the Society. I had heard and read much of the work of God in this Hill of Zion; but I can safely say, the half was not told me. I had the pleasure to witness the baptism of sixteen adults, and afterwards to commemo rate the dying love of our Saviour with nearly three hundred communicants, on Sunday last. I cannot express what were

F

"Mr. Johnson read to us the fourth chapter of the second of Kings, 26th verse: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? My heart was ready to say, 'It is well with me; not for my good deed, nor for my good desires, but by the will of Him in whom I trust." O that I might be enabled to keep the commandments of the Lord! O may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all! Amen.

"When I read the 45th chapter of Genesis, the latter part of the 1st verse-Juseph made himself known unto his brethren

When I read this word, I say in my heart, O that the Lord may enable me to go to my country-people, to carry the good tidings to them!"

Numerous similar cases are adduced, and the Report closes with the following interesting remarks:

"In conclusion, the Committee cannot but advert, with peculiar pleasure, to the steady progress which the cause of truth and righteousness is making in the earth. Amidst the shaking of the nations, the days of peace and holiness and truth are mani festly coming on. This institution is carried forward by that heavenly influence, which has given birth to so many kindred institutions, and which carries them also forward, according to their means and opportunities, with like success.

"In all the Protestant world there were, a few years since, but four or five Societies for the Conversion of the Heathen: of which our own Church furnished two, and another was the exemplary Society of the United Brethren. Now, our own Society is added to those of the united Church

4

the Church of Scotland has her societies-every principal denomination of Christians, not of the Established Churches, has formed its own institution-the Protestants of the continent are uniting in a Missionary Society, which is awakening an interest, from Bâsle, the seat of its deliberations, in all the countries around: and the fire is kindled in the American churches; the Congregational, the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Methodist churches of the United States, are all acting with zeal in this cause; and the whole Episcopal Church, with its nine Bishops, has recently formed a society for sending the Gospel to the heathen of the American continent and throughout the world.

"We witness, also, the rise of institutions around us, which take up all the various departments of labour by which the earth is to be ultimately rendered the temple of the Lord. Missionary societies break up the ground and prepare the seed; Bible societies multiply that seed, and scatter it, by the hands of the missionary and of other labourers, all over the world; Jews' societies are training the most irrefragable witnesses, and probably the most successful preachers, of the divine word; education societies are giving a powerful impulse to that universal instruction, which is tớ prepare readers of the word; tract societies are calling the attention of men to that word; and the primitive and apostolical Liturgy of our Church is teaching multitudes in what manner to worship Jehovah.>

"The world opens a wide field for all these exertions. There is no room for hostility. There is no room for jealousy. If hostility or jealousy should be indulged, such indi viduals or bodies will but rob themselves of the pleasure and honour of that work, which will perhaps be transferred to other hands.

"It is a very observable sign of these times in which we live, that the great enemy of God and man is alarmed for his usurped dominion. While the holy Scriptures áre making their way into every language of the earth, and diffusing light over its hitherto dreary regions, an opposition to their authority, of a character and design_beyond all precedent, has been raised, and is still vigorously maintained. The falsehoods, sophisms, and sneers, directed against the divine Word, which too frequently undermined its authority among the more learned or elevated classes of society, have been, of late years, addressed, in bold and malignant appeals, to the ignorance and the passions of the great mass of the people. The faculty of reading, and the power of the press engines which Christians have been assiduously labouring to improve to the most beneficial influence on the great