And the man who is the

fluences the minds of men. subject of such influence is called the "man twice born." Many chapters are devoted to the duties, character, and virtues of the "man twice born."

If, then, in the very systems of the heathen world, this exalted idea should have a place, how much more might we expect to find it in the revelation of the true God!

We could illustrate other doctrines by similar analogies, did time permit. If these analogies were merely partial or accidental, they would be less important. But they are not casual; as every man who is versed in the Holy scriptures and in Oriental Mythology well knows. They are general and systematic. Was it ever alledged that the Light of Nature could teach such doctrines as these? They are all contrary to the Light of Nature.

These, my brethren, are doctrines which exist at this day, in the midst of the idolatry and moral corruption of the heathen world. Every where there appears to be a counterfeit of the true doctrine. The inhabitants have lost sight of the only true God, and they apply these doctrines to their false gods. For these doctrines are relics of the first Faith of the earth. They are, as you see, the strong characters of God's primary, revelation to man, which neither the power of man, nor time itself, hath been able to destroy; but which have endured from age to age, like the works of nature, the moon and stars, which God hath created incorrup

tible.

3. Another circumstance, illustrating the truth of the Christian religion in the East, is the state of the Jews. The Jews are scattered over the whole face of the East, and the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning them is far more evident in these regions than it is here among Christian nations.

The last great punishment of the Jewish people was inflicted for their last great crime-their shedding the blood of the Son of God! And this nstance of divine indignation has been exhibited to allnations, and all nations seem to have been employed by the ordinance of God in inflicting the punishment.

B b

By express prophecy the Jews were sentenced to become the scorn and reproach of all people ;” and "a proverb and by-word among all nations." Now, that their stubborn unbelief should be a reproach to them among Christian nations here in the West, is not so strange; that they should be a proverb and by-word among those who had heard the prophecy concerning them, is not so remarkable. But to have seen them (as I have seen them) insulted and persecuted by the ignorant nations in the East; in the very words of prophecy," trodden down of the heathen;" trodden down by a people who never heard the name of Christ: who never heard that the Jews had rejected Christ; and who, in fact, punished the Jews, without knowing their crime; this, I say, hath appeared to me an awful completion of the divine sentence.

4. Another monument of the Christian religion in the East, is the state of the Syrian Christians, subsisting for many ages a separate and distant people in the midst of the corruption and idolatry of the heathen world. They exist in the very midst of India, like the bush of Moses, burning and not consumed; surrounded by the enemies of their faith, and subject to their power, and yet not destroyed. There they exist, having the pure word of God in their hands, and speaking in their churches that same language which our Saviour himself spake in the streets of Jerusalem.

We may contemplate the history of this people existing so long in that dark region, as a type of the inex tinguishable Light of Christ's religion: and in this sense it may be truly said, "We have seen his Star in the East."

The probable design of the Divine Providence, in. preserving this people appears to be this: That they should be a seed of the Church in Asia; that they should be a special instrument for the conversion of the surrounding heathen, when God's appointed time is come; a people prepared for his service, as fellowlaborers with us; a people, in short, in the midst of Asia, to whom we can point as an evidence to the rest, of the truth and antiquity of the Christian Faith.

And this shall suffice as to the testimonies of the general truth of Christianity existing in the East.

: II. We proposed, in the second branch of the discourse, to lay before you some evidences of the divine power of the Christian Religion exemplified in the East.

To say that Christianity has been propagated in the East, as other religions have been propagated, is to say nothing. It is little to say that thousands have adopted the name, and that it pervades populous provinces. For three centuries past, the Romish Church has diffused the name of Christianity thoughout the East; and this success demonstrates how practicable it is to " propagate our religion," (in the common sense of that expression,) throughout all nations of the world. Providence seems to have ordained this previous labor of the Romish Church, to facilitate the preaching of the true Gospel at the appointed time; for Christianity is found even in its worst form to possess a moral and civilizing efficiency.

But it is in the East, as it is in the West-all are not Christians who are called Christians. "He is not a Christian, who is one outwardly; neither is that baptism which is outward in the flesh." The fact was, the Romish Church preached Christianity in the East, without the Bible.

Let us now inquire what has been the consequence of sending the Bible to the East. It is nearly one hundred years since the Bible was sent to the Hindoos ; but not by our country. This honor was given to the Protestant churches of Denmark and Germany. It was sent to a certain nation in the South of India; for there are many nations in Hindostan. What then was

the effect of giving them the Bible? It was the same as that which followed the giving the Bible to us, while we lay in almost Hindoo darkness, buried in the ignorance and superstition of the Church of Rome. It gave light and knowledge; God blessed his own word to the conversion of the heart, and men began to worship him in sincerity and truth.

That province in India, which was blessed with the Bible, hath since "seen a great Light." During near. ly the whole of the last century, multitudes of Hindoos (both heathens and Roman Catholics) became members

of the Protestant Church, one generation after another; and amongst them there has ever been found, according to the records of the Mission,* such a proportion of serious piety, as you might expect to find, when the Gospel is preached with faithfulness and zeal.

During the whole of the last century, Providence favored them with a succession of holy and learned men, educated at the Universities of Germany: among whom was the venerable SWARTZ, called the Apostle of the East; and others not much inferior to him; men whose names are scarcely known in this country, but who are as famous among the Hindoos, as Wickliffe and Luther are amongst us. The ministry of these good nien was blessed in many provinces in the South of India, and the bounds of their churches are extend. ing unto this day. The language of the country is called the Tamul; and the first translation of the Bible in that language, was made, as we said, about a hundred years ago. Like Wickliffe's Bible with us, it became the father of many versions, and, after a succession of improved editions, it is now considered by the Brahmins themselves (like Luther's Bible in German,) as the classical standard of the Tamul tongue.

A jubilee has lately been celebrated in India, in honor of the Gospel. In the month of July, 1806, a Jubilee was observed by these Hindoo churches, in commemoration of the arrival of the two first Protestant Missionaries on the 9th of July, 1706. The year 1806, being the hundredth year (or the second fiftieth) since the Gospel first visited their land, was to them "the year of Jubilee." The happy occasion had been long anticipated, and was marked with demonstrations of joy and gladness. The people, as we were informed, walked in procession to their churches, carrying palms in their hands, and singing the 98th Psalm; and after of fering up praises and thanksgivings to the Most High, they heard a sermon suitable to the day. The sermon at the Jubilee of Tritchinopoly was preached by their aged Minister, the Rev. Mr. Pohle, from these words: Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations; baptizing

* These records are published in upwards of 30 vols. thick 4to

them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."*

These were the effects of sending the Bible to the East. Men were "brought to a knowledge of the truth;" and at the end of a hundred years, the natives kept the Jubilee of the Bible.

Such, my brethren, was the Light in the South of India. And now a light hath sprung up in the North, of which you have heard. Our own country hath begun, though late, to dispense "the word of Life." And although the time has been short, the success has been great. In the North, in the West, and in Ceylon, translations of the Scriptures are going on in almost all the languages of Oriental India.

Our own country hath at length assumed an interest in diffusing the Gospel. "In the fulness of time," we trust, her different societies have come forth, as with one consent, to begin the work of evangelizing the East. "In the fulness of time," we trust, hath this country begun, by these instruments, to employ her great power and her enlightened zeal, in extending the knowledge of the true God throughout the world.

We ought not to regret that the work is carried on by Christians of different denominations; for if they teach the religion of the Bible, their labour will be blessed. We have no contentions in India, like those in Britain between Protestants of different names. There they are all friends. The strife there is between light and darkness; between the true God and an idol. So liberal and catholic is the Christian in Asia (while he looks over the map of the World, and can scarcely find where the isle of Britain lies) that he considers even the term "Protestant" as being in a certain degree exclusive or sectarian. "The religion of the Bible," or "the religion of Christ," is the name by which he would describe his creed. For when the idolater once abjures his own cast for the Gospel, he considers the differences of Protestants, (if he ever hear of them) as being very insignificant. Indeed he cannot well understand

*See Accounts of the "Society for promoting Christian Knowledge," just published.