But it will be proper to give some account of the darkness which exists in heathen lands, that our nation may feel it her duty to send for the light. For it has been asserted by some that there is no darkness; at least among the idolaters of India; and passages are quoted from their ancient poetry to prove that their morals are sublime and pure. It would however appear from passages in the holy scriptures, that the nations addicted to idolatry, are not only involved in darkness and error, but live in the commission of turpitude and crime. In the Old Testament it is stated, that "the dark places of the earth. are full of the habitations of cruelty;"* and that "even their sons and their daughters they burn in the fire to Moloch;" and it marks the prevailing characters of idolatry to be these two, cruelty and impurity.In the New Testament the same characters are assigned to it; and are exemplified in the state both of the Greeks and Romans; of the Greeks in the fourth chapter to the Ephesians, and of the Romans in the first chapter of the Epistle which is addressed to them: and this too in the period of their learning and civilization.

If, then, turpitude and crime marked the idolatry of the enlightened states of Greece and Rome, how much more may we expect to find them among the ignorant and idolatrous nations of the present day? I resided many years in the heathen world, and was satisfied, by casual observation, that the character of their idolatry corresponded with that which is given. in the scriptures. I resolved however to visit the chief seat of the Hindoo religion, in order to examine the nature of that superstition which held so many millions in its chain. For this purpose I made a journey to the great temple of Juggernaut, in the

+ Deut. xii, 31.

Psalm 1xxiv, 20. St. Paul writes to the Greeks at Ephasus in these words: "I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened; who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work ell uncleanaess with gree di ess." Eph iv, 10.

province of Orissa, which is to the Hindoos (what Mecca is to the Mahometans) the strong hold and fountain-head of their idolatry. I chose that season of the year when there is the celebration of the great annual festival called the Rutt Jattra..

On our entering the province of Orissa, we were joined by many thousands of pilgrims, who were proceeding to the festival. Some of these come from remote regions, with their wives and children, travelling slowly in the hottest season of the year, and are sometimes upwards of two months on their journey. Many of the pilgrims die by the way, and their bodies generally remain unburied; so that the road to Juggernaut may be known for the last fifty miles, by the human bones which are strewed in the way.

On the great day of the festival, the Idol was brought out amidst the acclamations of hundreds of thousands of his worshippers. He was seated on a lofty throne and surrounded by his priests. After a short interval of silence, we heard a murmur at a distance among the multitude; and behold a body of men, having green branches and palms in their hands; advanced with great speed. The people made way for them, and when they had come up to the throne, they fell down before the idol that sat thereon and worshipped; and the multitude again sent forth an acclamation "like the voice of a great thunder."

Thus the worship of the idol began. But on this subject, we cannot recite particulars. Suffice it to say, that this worship had the two characters before mentioned. Men and women devoted themselves to death before Moloch. I myself beheld the libation of human blood. And I merely give you this short record, because I witnessed the fact.

I feel it my duty to state to you that these Idolaters are, in general, our own subjects; and that every man, who can afford it, is obliged to pay a tri

bute to the English government for leave to worship the idol. This is called the revenue of the temple; and a civil officer supported by a military force, is appointed to collect the tax. Other temples in Hindostan have long been considered as a legitimate source of a similar revenue. The temple of Juggernaut is now under our own immediate management and controul. The law enacted for this pur pose is entitled “A regulation for levying a tax from pilgrims resorting to the temple of Juggernaut, and for the superintendance and management of the temple:" passed by the Bengal government, third of April, 1806. It will give me sincere pleasure if the further investigation of this subject, shall tend in any degree to soften the painful impression which the above statement must make on the public mind.

There is another enormity of Hindoo supersition which is well known to you, and which I need not describe; I mean the immolation of female victims on the funeral pile. I shall only observe, that the number of these unfortunate persons who thus perish annually in our own territories, is so great, that it would appear incredible to those who have not inquired into the fact. The scene is indeed remote; but these are our own subjects, and we have it in our power to redress the evil. There is a time appointed by the Divine Providence (according to the prophetic record) to every nation, for its amelioration and felicity. Such a time came to our nation, when the light of christianity visited it, for our alters were once polluted by human sacrifices. The same happiness, we would hope, is now come for India. If it should be said that the sacrifice of women cannot be abolished, it will be a sufficient answer to state, that when the Mahomedans were in power, they did abolish it partly and the Brahmins themselves have suggested means to us by which, in the course of time, it may be entirely abolished. But the proper answer for the present is to ask an

Ff

other question: Has the subject ever been officially inquired into?

For many years this nation was reproached for tolerating the slave trade. Many books were writen on the subject: and the attention of the legislature was at length directed to it. Some asserted that the abolition of it was impracticable, and some that it was impolitic; but it was found on an investigation of the traffic, that it was defended because it was lucrative: and a humane nation abolished it. But let us ask, what is there in buying and selling men compared to our permitting thousands of women, our own subjects, to be every year burned alive, without inquiring into the cause, and without evidence of the necessity? Or what can be compared to the disgrace of regulating by Christian law the bloody and obscene rites of Juggernaut?

The honer of our nation is certainly involved in this matter. But there is no room for the language of crimination or reproach; for it is the sin of ignorance. These facts are not generally known. And they are not known, because there has been no official inquiry. Could the great council of the nation witness the darkness which I have seen, there would be no dissenting voice as to the duty of giving light. It is proper I should add, in justice to that honorable body of men who administer our empire in the east, that they are not fully informed as to these facts.*

But there is a two-fold darkness in the east which it is proper to specify. There is the darkness of paganism; and there is the darkness of the Romish superstition in pagan lands.

Christianity, under almost any modification, is

In regard to the idol-tax, the principle of the enormity, it is said, has never been fully explained to the government at home. It was admitted by the Indian government many years ago without reference, 1 believe in the first instance, to England; and possibly the reference may now appear in the books under some aspicious or general name, which is not well understood. The honourable the court of directors will feel as indignant, on a full development of the fact, as any public body in the nation.

certainly a benefit to mankind; for it prevents the perpetration of the bloody rites of idolatry. But the corrupted christianity to which we allude has established its inquisition in the east, and has itself shed blood. About the time when the protestant bishops suffered in our own country, the bishops of the ancient Syrian church became martyrs to the same faith in India. From that time to this the mournful bell of the inquisition has been heard in mountains of Hindostan. The inquisitions in Europe have gradually lost their power by the increase of civilization; but this cause has not operated equally in India, which is yet, in many parts, in a state of barbarism. Though the political power of the Romish church has declined, its ecclesiastical power remains in India, and will probably endure for a long period to come.* The inquisition at Goa is still in operation, and has captives in its dungeon.t

A protestant establishment is wanted in our empire in the east, not only to do honor to christianity (for in many places in Hindostan the natives ask whether we have a God, and whether we worship in a temple,) but to counteract the influence of the ecclesiastical power of Rome: for in some provinces of Asia, that power is too strong for the religion of protestants, and for the unprotected and defenceless missionaries.t

* Since the delivery of this discourse I have with pleasure observed, in the recent treaty between his majesty and the prince regent of Portugal, an article by which that prince engages that the inquisition shall not hereafter be established in the South American dominions. Does not this afford a reasonable hope that we may ere long behold that engine of superstition abolished in Portugal? + See Appendix. Inquisition of Goa.

The influence of the Romish church in India is far greater than is generally imagined; or than our government has hitherto had any means of ascertaining. Though the political power is almost extinct, the religion remains in its former vigor. And on this fact is founded a strong argument for the policy of promoting the Christian instruction of our native subjects. "Although the Portuguese, for instance, posséss but little territory in continental India, yet their hold on the native affections is incalculably stronger than that of Britain, though in the zenith of her political power; and were that power to be annihilated, as that of the Portuguese now is, it would scarcely be known, in respect of any hold which Britain has on the native mind, that she had ever set foot in India."

"This impolicy astonishes those who have acted with success on the opposite system. A Roman catholic, high in spiritual authority in India, expressed his utter amazement that the British government should not act on a better policy