of printing, which they have not. Let us print the Armenian bible, and employ proper persons from among themselves to superintend the work, and encourage them to disperse their own faithful copy throughout the east. Let us shew them that the diffusion of the scriptures is an undertaking to which we are not indifferent; and, by our example, let us stimulate their zeal, which is very languid. But, however languid their zeal may be, it is certain that they consider the English as being yet more dead to the interests of religion, than themselves. Such a subject as this, indeed every subject which is of great importance to christianity, is worthy the notice of our government, as well as of individuals and societies. The printing press, which shall be employed in multiplying copies of the pure Armenian bible, will prove a precious fountain for the evangelization of the east; and the oriental Bible Repository at Calcutta will be a central and convenient place for its dispersion.

ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT

FOR

BRITISH INDIA.

Before the author left India, he published a "Me moir of the expediency of an ecclesiastical establishment" for our empire in the east. The design of that work was first suggested to him by the reverend Dr. Porteus, late bishop of London, who had attentively surveyed the state of our dominions in Asia; and he was encouraged by subsequent communications with the Marquis Wellesley, to endeavor to lead the attention of the nation to the subject. That publication has now been four years before the public; and many volumes have been written on the various subjects which it contains: but he does not know that any objection has been

made to the principle of an ecclesiastical establishment for Christians in India. An attempt has been made indeed to divert the attention from the true object, and, instead of considering it as an establishment for Christians, to set it forth as an establishment for instructing the Hindoos. But the instruction of the Hindoos is entirely a distinct consideration, as was carefully noted in the memoir. At the end of the first part is the following paragraph:

"It will be remembered, that nothing which has been observed is intended to imply that any peculiar provision should be made immediately for the instruction of the natives. Any expensive establishment of this kind, however becoming our national character, or obligatory on our principles, cannot possibly be organized to efficient purpose, without the aid of a local church. Let us first establish our own religion amongst ourselves, and our Asiatic subjects will soon benefit by it. When

once our national church shall have been confirmed in India, the members of that church will be the best qualified to advise the state, as to the means by which, from time to time, the civilization may be promoted."*

An ecclisiastical establishment would yet be necessary for British India, if there were not a Mahomedan or Hindoo in the land. For, besides the thousands of British Christians, who live and die in that country, there are hundreds of thousands of native Christians, who are at this moment "as sheep without a shepherd;" and who are not insensible to their destitute estate, but supplicate our countenance and protection. Surely the measure cannot be contemplated by the legislature, for a moment, without perceiving its absolute propriety, on the common principles of justice and humanity.

In regard to the other subject, the instruction of the Hindoos, many different opinions have been de

Memoir. p. 28.

livered in the volumes alluded to, the most prominent of which are the two following: First, That Hindooism is, upon the whole, as good as Christianity, and that therefore conversion to Christianity, is not necessary, This deserves no reply. The sec ond opinion is, that it is indeed a sacred duty to convert the Hindoos, but that we must not do it by force. With this opinion the author perfectly coincides. To convert men by any other means than those of persuasion, is a practice fit only for the inquisition, and completely at variance with the tenor of every page which he has written. The means of conversion, which he has recommended, are those which are appointed in Holy Scriptures, namely, "Preaching the word of God." The first and present means are the translation of the word of God into the various languages; and the next are the labors of teachers and preachers.

The author is not; nor has he ever been, the advocate for force and personal injury toward the Hindoos. No: he pleads the cause of humanity.The object of his work, and of his researches, has been to deliver the people of Hindostan from painful and sanguinary rites; to rescue the devoted victim from the wheels of Moloch's Tower, to snatch the tender infant from the jaws of the alligator; to save the aged parent from premature death in the Ganges; to extinguish the flames of the female sacrifice, and to "cause the widow's heart to sing for joy."

Another object of his work has been, to shew, that while the feelings of the Christian are painfully affected by the exhibition of these sufferings and atrocties, infidelity, on the one hand, can behold them, and does behold them, with all the coldness and apathy of Voltaire. And this is the great practical triumph of Christianity over philosophical unbelief.— While by the former, the best feelings of our nature

meliorated, and improved, and softened, and ex

tended; they become, by the influence of the latter, sullen, and cold, and torpid, and dead.

The remaining opinion on this subject, which is worthy of notice, is the following: "The conversion of the Hindoos to christianity is indeed a solemn obligation, if practicable; but the attempt may possibly displease the Hindoos and endanger our empire." This fear is grounded solely on an ignorance of facts, and on the remoteness of the scene. Christianity began to be preached to Hindoos by Europeans, three hundred years ago, and whole provinces are now covered with Christians. In the present endeavors of Protestant Missionaries, the chief difficulty which they generally experience is to awaken the mind of the torpid Hindoos to the subject.They know that every man may choose the religion he likes best, and profess it with impunity; that he may lose his cast and buy a cast again, as he buys an article of merchandize. There are a hundred casts of religion in Hindostan; and there is no common interest about a particular religion. When one native meets another on the road, he seldom expects to find that he is of the same cast with himself.They are a divided a people. Hindostan is like the great world in miniature; when you pass a great river or lofty mountain, you generally find a new variety. Some persons in Europe, think it must be a novelty to the Hindoos to see a missionary. There have been for ages past, numerous casts of missionaries in Hindostan, Pagan, Mahomedan, and Christian all seeking to proselyte individuals to a new religion, or to some new sect of an old one. The difficulty, as the author has already observed, in regard to the Protestant teachers, is, to awaken at:ention to their doctrine.

The general indifference of the natives to these attempts, whether successful or not, has been demonstrated by recent events. After the adversaries of Christian missions had circulated their pamphlets

through British India, with the best intention no doubt, according to their judgment, announcing the intelligence that some of the English wanted to convert the inhabitants by force, and set Hindostan in flames; the natives seem to have considered the information as absurd or unintelligible, and to have treated it with contempt. For immediately afterwards, when, by the defection of the British troops, the foundations of our empire were shaken to the centre, both Mahomedans and Hindoos (who, if they wished to rebel, needed only to sound that trumpet which was first sounded by a senior merchant in Leadenhall street, no doubt with the best intentions) evinced their accustomed loyalty, and crowded round the standard of the supreme government in the hour of danger.*

There is one argument for the expediency of an ecclesiastical establishment, which the author did not insist on strongly in the Memoir, from motives of delicacy: but recent events have rendered the same reserve no longer necessary. He will proceed therefore to disclose a fact which will serve to place the motives for recommending such an establishment, in their just light. It is not the giving the Christian religion to the natives which will endanger our empire, but the want of religion among our own countrymen. After the disturbance among the British officers in Bengal, in seventeen hundred and ninety-four, which for a time had a most alarming aspect, being of the same character with that which took place lately at Madras, a memorial was presented to the Marquis Wellesley, on his acces

A worthy clergyman belonging to the presidency of Fort St. George, who witnessed the troops marching against each other, and knew not for a time, What would be the fate of the empire; after the danger was over, makes the following most just and striking reflection, in a letter to a friend. "It cannot but have occurred to every reflecting mind, in looking back on past scenes, if it had pleased God in his providence to have dispossessed us of our dominions, how little would have remained to shew, that a people blessed with the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, had once borne sway in this land: But now," he adds exultingly, in allusion to the translation of the scriptures, "the Word of God in the languages of all India, will be an enduring monument of British pieand liberality, for which the sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving will asto the Most High, to the latest generations,"