these must, in this instance, be anticipated and overcome. Other circumstances occur to oppose this desirable issue. Universal indifference to all religious peculiarities prevails in Hindostan. With them it is a favourite maxim, that all worship is alike to Deity; and that all classes of mankind, while they sincerely follow the observances of their religion, be it what it may, are equally acceptable in his sight. Now, is it to be expected, that men, actuated by such a persuasion, will listen with great eagerness to a Christian missionary propounding a new religion? Will they examine his claims with much interest? Will they forego much to embrace a system, which, while it is less indulgent, is not, in their opinion, more acceptable? Besides, howsoever simple and affecting be the grand facts whereon Christianity rests, they are connected with mysteries which it is impossible for ingenuity to explain, or reason fully to apprehend. Granting that these were to be expected in a religion which professes to come from God, and treats both of his nature and of the higher arrangements of his government; granting also, that nothing but discoveries beyond the ken of reason can justify the supernatural interposition of Deity in human affairs, or the standing miracle of a divine revelation; and granting, moreover, that the religion of Hindostan, like

every other false religion in any degree refined, has its mysteries; yet, after all, we must remember, that what is familiar, though not less unaccountable, is easily admitted, while what is only strange, not more inexplicable, will shock belief, especially when, besides all, it goes to subvert ancient and venerated institutions. Again, that abject submission to the dictates of an interested and embodied priesthood, to which the natives have long been trained, and these terrors of a sentence of excommunication, more dreadful than that of the ancient Jews, incessantly suspended over the heads of those who might presume to desert the established religion of the country, and embrace the new faith, must not be forgotten in estimating those impediments which obstruct the progress of the Gospel in Hindostan. Perhaps, too, the opinion which the natives have been led to form of the religion offered to their acceptance from the conduct of some of its professed adherents, may not have been correspondent to its excellence. For it is a remark, not less common than mournful, that the unbecoming lives of many Christians, suggest the principal objection to Christianity. "O great Sir, (is the simple expression of the feelings of some Hindoos addressed to a Christian missionary) though we thought that many nations had many kinds of shasters,

Facilities.

yet in the country of the English we thought there was no shaster at all; for, concerning sin and holiness, those that are here have no judgment at all. We have even thought, that they were not men, but a kind of other creatures, like devourers*." In fine, to be convinced that this is an "enterprise of some pith and moment," it may be proper to recollect, that all the authority and influence of their Mahometan masters, enforcing a religion suitable, in some of its capital tenets, to the voluptuous propensities of the Indians, were baffled. They who had easily overrun and subjugated Hindostan, found the inhabitants in this view alone invincible. They had power to exterminate; but they were unable to convert this mild but inflexible race of men.

But while, on the one hand, to possess ourselves with a just idea of the magnitude of the undertaking, to regulate our plans, and to prevent over-sanguine expectations which might induce despondency, we contemplate the obstacles which are to be surmounted; on the other, let us not overlook those circumstances that are promising. The condition and character of the natives may inspire hope. Having reached a state of considerable civilisation, no difficulties similar to

* Bapt. Mag,

these which the enterprising heralds of North America experienced in convening the rude and roaming savages of the New World, or to those which the patient and adventurous Moravians encountered, when they penetrated into the dreary and inhospitable regions of Labrador and Greenland, can occur to the propagators of Christianity in Hindostan. The climate is good, the country populous, the communication not difficult, and the Hindoos everywhere may be easily assembled. Their attention also may be obtained without much difficulty; nor will they fail to comprehend terms borrowed from the usages, labours, and feelings of civilised life. Of a mild and complacent cast of spirit, and, with all their veneration for the shasters, disposed to hear, even with patience, their authority controverted, and their statements exposed, a Christian missionary may be assured of civil treatment, and a fair audience from this interesting people. A comparison of the two religions, of Christianity and Braminism, will suggest other encouragements. There are certain correspondencies of facts and views, of which a judicious missionary may successfully avail himself. A striking resemblance to the Trinity of the Scriptures may be found in the pre-eminence of their three principal divinities, and the peculiar honours which they re

ceive. That there is nevertheless one Supreme Being, to whom they ascribe several of the attributes of Jehovah; that he is to be worshipped and served; that the soul is immortal; that we have all sinned; and that an atonement is necessary, are truths (we are told) believed by them all: and these are also the fundamental tenets of the Christian religion. The Hindoos are all predestinarians; and, while the missionary will avoid their dogma of fatalism, he may graft upon their views the doctrine of election, taught in the Scriptures, and lying at the foundation of the gospel scheme of redemption. There are also facts recorded in the narratives of their mythology, which, whether imagined by fancy, or conveyed by tradition, as is most probable, bear a wonderful resemblance to the accounts given in the Mosaic writings, concerning the leading events in the early history of our world, and of the human race. The Hindoos also celebrate occasionally, with much pomp, the incarnation of their god Vishnu. These circumstances afford openings, which a man of judgment will know how to improve to advantage, as Paul did that peculiarity in the ritual of the Athenians, from which he took occasion to preach unto them" the true God and eternal life." By recent accounts too, the subjects of the British empire in India, are disposed