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confided not to an Oxonian, or even to an Englishman, but to a learned German.

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It is obvious that some further encouragement is necessary, if we are to send out missionaries who have made any progress this important branch of knowledge. For it is to be remembered that they must go out prepared, or at least grounded, for they cannot possibly study such a language ab initio, and also engage in the active exertions of itinerancy. Now there is one Institution which might be admirably adapted for this purpose-St. Augustine's, Canterbury. That is a Missionary Institution-the largest missionary provision as yet made for India. The great means of acquiring a permanent influence over the bulk of the Indian population consists in appealing to the men of learning, and these can only be appealed to hopefully by persons who have been educated in this country for that purpose. The inference is clear, that the attention of the authorities at St. Augustine's, should be directed to Sanscrit literature. For it is not an unimportant object which we set before ourselves; it is not a mere nook of the world in which we would crusade, nor merely a few heathen pedants with whom we would contend. The broad plains of Hindustan have the first claims upon missionary enterprise, and amongst its vast hordes they who, although deluded, and “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils," have yet searched for truth with the pale light which even idolatry sheds; surely they call forth some admiration, demand some sympathy, and claim more earnest attention than has yet been paid to them. And when we would enlarge our scope-endeavour not only to reclaim a few ignorant heathen, but to plant a Church which shall take root downward and bear fruit upward; when we would enter upon a new era of conversion, or rather return to the deeds of the brave days of old; when we would aim at something beyond sending a few priests, or even a few bishops, to bear spiritual rule over a depressed people; when we would endeavour to qualify that people for the priesthood and the episcopate, and look forward to the time when we may intrust the Holy Gospel to their keeping; when, in fact, we would not merely have the United Church of England and Ireland in India, but have an independent and flourishing branch of the Church Catholic-then surely we shall set in earnest about the work of fighting the good fight of faith with the philosophers of the East.

There are two ways of conveying our ideas to the intellectual classes of India. The one is to give them a European education. This is adopted by the British Government, and we do not think that it is succeeding. A race of natives are springing up, who, with all the pride of knowledge, and pertness of youth, despise the

system in which their forefathers were educated, and the habits in which their forefathers lived, but who have not that high moral tone which opens the highway to virtue and truth, and infallibly rears a people for greatness and a leading position in the world. The fact is, that neither a physical, civil, nor intellectual constitution can be successfully transplanted from one soil to another. The endeavour to impose our national constitution, our liberties, and laws upon other countries has always signally failed, and we fear that the attempt to transfer English education and habits of thought to India will meet with little better success. The religion of Jesus is the only system we know of which is adapted to all ages and all countries. At the same time we admit, that for the purposes of Government, English instruction must be communicated to a certain extent. But there is another way to which we have scarcely yet allowed a fair trial-that of training ourselves by an Oriental education. And there is this to be said in its favour, it is the plan which the Church, whether acting under immediate inspiration or not, has ever adopted. There is scarcely an instance on record of one nation resigning its own language and its own civilization in exchange for a foreign language and an exotic civilization. The rule is, that the less-advanced people have their conditions modified and ameliorated, but not obliterated, by their superior invaders, until the introduction of the new element brings them to a high standard, just as the mixture of races seems destined to bring the human species to perfection. It is thus that our own character as a people has been formed. There was no forcible transportation of Roman or Norman language and civilization; where it was attempted it failed; but there has been a happy blending of antagonistic principles, so that whilst our Saxon origin may be distinctly traced in our language, manners, and dispositions, we have been moulded into symmetrical proportions by the literature of Italy and the daring spirit of Norman chivalry. Now, such a process is not going on in India, for we are at present only attempting to produce an intellectual revolution, and to squeeze Oriental minds into European shapes. Our schools and our missionary exertions all tend to pull down the decaying structure of Hindu civilization, and to establish our own in its stead. We thoroughly discountenance Hindu, whilst we intrude European literature. All natives of Oriental learning are being gradually reduced to beggary; on the other hand, the portion of the population which we instruct in English, are quite ignorant of their indigenous literature. We are quite sure, that in consequence of this, we are not making hopeful attempts to civilize. The alms by which the student lived are failing as the

sources become dried up, as the old landholders perish, and our Christian Government displaces those native powers whose superstition enriched him. Shastris and Pandits, exponents of their védas, dramas, systems of metaphysics, logic, and other sciences, all are rapidly disappearing, and a set of men are raising their heads, many of whom are shown as prodigies, but are of course very deficient when compared with European intellects. And when our object is to gain men of moral resolution and powerful understanding to the cause of Gospel truth, we maintain that such are more likely to be found amongst the bigots of the Védanta, than amongst those who with an imperfect English education learn to despise their own idolatry, and have not the courage to embrace the truth. We cannot withhold some admiration from the man who in poverty clings to the faith of his forefathers; who, on the banks of the sacred Ganges find every hill and stream associated with some venerated legend, and believes that his only consolation is to be found in those waters which came down from heaven for the purification of men, and which lave his ancestors in hades'; who still pores over his beloved lore, and is content to be involved in the ruins of his religion. Narrow-minded he unquestionably is, vain in his imaginations, darkened in his foolish heart; but there is this to be said of him, which cannot be said of all-he is capable of believing something, and he clings to what he does believe with a resolution which is not seduced by the hope of worldly advantage, and which turns with horror from what he deems the poisonous teaching of the stranger and invader. So he remains a hardened bigot; but his subtle countryman hastens to the English school. A situation in some government office, not knowledge for its own sake, is the tempting fruit. He comes in that dreadful spirit which St. Augustine mentions as most rare in his day, but which is very common at present in India, "aliquod commodum exspectans ab hominibus, quibus se aliter placiturum non putat." Hence, he disregards the portentous warnings which the old men of his caste utter, and in a government school becomes in time a tyro of science, or in a missionary school he reads the Bible, and becomes a proficient in Christian mysteries; soon he obtains a situation as clerk or under-secretary, and in the routine of business, troubles himself as little about the ceremonial purifications of his caste as about the Gospel hope of salvation. They who have mixed with natives, know that this is the language of

5 This is an allusion to a well-known fable of the Ramayana, which is also given in the drama of the Uttara Ráma Cheritra.

soberness and truth. With all the shrewdness and worldly wisdom of the pupils, there is no moral resolution, no unbending love for the truth, and the want of these discourages a hope that strong and healthy Christianity will flourish and abound. Now, we ask, may we not more rationally hope to find followers of Jesus amongst such, who live like Saul, according to the strictest sect of their religion, than amongst such trimming, pliable gentlemen as these? All missionaries know that our present converts are weak to an unparalleled degree. If we might expect that any man would speak hopefully of native converts, it would be Mr. Pope, whose mission has been so abundantly blessed; yet, in his report, published in the Propagation of the Gospel Society's last volume, he says, "that he and others almost despair of making real converts of the present adult generation." Let us then, we say, make an addition to our system: depend upon it, there is more to hope from the bigot, than the Anglified sceptic. The unconverted Bráhman has at least shown that he has a strong determination where he has a conviction. By God's blessing, we may teach him the reasonableness of our faith, and then he will no longer be wedded to superstition; but,

on reason build resolve

That column of true majesty in man."

We have referred to the plan which the Church has ever adopted. What was St. Paul, the chosen vessel "to bear Christ's name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel?"--A man who could contend with Jew or Gentile, and give him the choice of weapons. To the one he was ready to quote the law of their fathers, to the others, "certain of their own poets." It is highly interesting to contrast his addresses which were designed for the Jews, and those to the Athenians, and people of Lystra; and it is a singular evidence of the way in which he prepossessed the populace in his favour by such adaptations, that after he had so excited the Ephesians as to cause an émeute, the town-clerk could still boldly assert, that Paul and his companions had not spoken evil of their goddess (οὔτε βλασφημοῦντας τὴν θεὸν ἡμῶν). The example which the Apostle set was followed by the early Christians, and hence the wonderful success with which Pantænus and his followers of the catechetical school at Alexandria met. The very charge of Platonism which is brought against them, shows that they had qualified themselves to confute learned heathens with their own writings. The accounts of Origen's spiritual triumphs are surprising. At an humble distance followed Dionysius, once a heathen astrologer,

but afterwards a Christian bishop, who seized the opportunity of an ignominious banishment, to convert the inhabitants of Kefro. St. Patrick, in Ireland, became thoroughly acquainted not only with the language, but also with the customs and superstitions of the people before he preached. And, doubtless, the more we gain an insight into the lives of all the early missionaries, we shall find that to Saxons they became as Saxons, to Celts as Celts, to heathen, in fact, as skilled in heathen lore, that they might bring them to Christ. "Admit," says Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, in writing to the missionary, St. Boniface, "admit whatever they are pleased to assert of the fabulous and carnal genealogy of their gods and goddesses, who are propagated from each other. From this principle deduce their imperfect nature, and human infirmities; the assurance they were born, and the probability that they will die. At what time, by what means, from what cause, were the eldest of the gods or goddesses produced? Do they still continue, or have they ceased to propagate? If they have ceased, summon your antagonists to declare the reason of this strange alteration. If they still continue, the number of the gods must become infinite; and shall we not risk, by the indiscreet worship of some impotent deity, to excite the resentment of his jealous superior? The visible heavens and earth, the whole system of the universe, which may be conceived by the mind, is it created or eternal? If created, how or where could the gods themselves exist before the creation? If eternal, how could they assume the empire of an independent and pre-existing world? Urge these arguments with temper and moderation; insinuate at seasonable intervals, the truth and beauty of the Christian revelation, and endeavour to make the unbelievers ashamed, without making them angry "." Such arguments as these must be built upon a profound knowledge of heathen superstitions.

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The following is an extract from the most ably conducted periodical in India: "To Christian missionaries it is our settled conviction that Sanscrit is an indispensable acquisition, if ever they would attain a correct and self-effected acquaintance with the original sources of Hindu philosophy, and Hindu faith, or deal intelligently, to any good purpose, with the present race of sophists, who draw from its hidden resources all their armoury of thought, argument, and objection." These words, which are to be found in an early, and are repeated in a late, number of the Calcutta Review, in order that their importance may be confirmed, express the opinion of writers who have both the means and the capacity to form a deliberate judgment. Neither they,

6 Giles' Edition of St. Boniface's Letters. Gibbon, chap. xxxvii.

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