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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
PROTESTANT 
 
 MISSIONS IN BENGAL 
 
 ILLUSTRATED : 
 
 BEING 
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF A COURSE OF LECTURES 
 
 DELIVEl£P#i»N 
 
 INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 By J. J. WEITBEECHT, 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY. 
 
 $econtr IStrttton. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN F. SHAW, 27, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, 
 
 RUSSELL SQUARE. 
 1844. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 BLACKBURN AND PARDON, 
 
 6, HATTON GARDEN. 
 

 PEEFACE. 
 
 The history of this little work, and the 
 reason for its appearance before the public, are 
 the following. 
 
 With the hope of diffusing information on 
 Indian missions, I delivered a set of Lectures 
 in different parts of Germany and Switzerland, 
 which appeared much blessed of God in pro- 
 moting the desired object. I afterwards trans- 
 lated those Lectures, and delivered them in 
 London, and other places in England. 
 
 Many individuals deeply interested in mis- 
 sions, who had not the opportunity of hearing 
 the Lectures, and also many who did hear 
 them delivered, requested me to bring the 
 substance of them before the public, in a more 
 permanent form ; and after mature and serious 
 consideration, I have felt it a duty to yield to 
 their request, — I trust, upon sufficient and 
 satisfactory grounds. 
 
 a 2 
 
 _ _ * T» M it > *r%. m ,r» 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 During my various journeys throughout 
 this country, I have repeatedly heard from our 
 most zealous friends, how desirable, and how 
 needful, is missionary information, to arouse, 
 to keep up, and to increase, a lively interest in 
 the work; and my own observation has quite 
 confirmed the truth of the remark. Nothing 
 can be better calculated to show the Christian 
 people of this highly favoured land their duty 
 to the heathen, than an intimate acquaintance 
 with their real condition, in its truest and 
 darkest shades. The Christian public need to 
 be better acquainted with the actual state and 
 progress of our labours — to know what the 
 missionary is really doing — what is the cha- 
 racter of his trials and of his joys, — and who 
 is so well able to depict all this as the labourer 
 himself? — he who has seen with his own eyes, 
 and heard with his own ears, the abominations 
 of heathenism ! I feel persuaded that a nearer 
 and more familiar view of the real picture of 
 missionary life will greatly deepen interest, 
 and cause a more lively sympathy in the 
 breasts of all Christ's true followers, and will 
 thus excite many to increased and more 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 earnest prayer on our behalf, and for the 
 prosperity of our work. It will unite their 
 tenderest feelings of affection to that of those 
 who have to bear the burden and heat of the 
 day. Taking this view of the subject, every 
 additional publication throwing more light on, 
 and aiding to illustrate the subject of, Chris- 
 tian missions, is a great advantage, and may 
 be hailed with satisfaction ; and it is cause for 
 congratulation, that productions of this cha- 
 racter are increasing. 
 
 Another inducement with me to publish this 
 little work, has been the gratification I feel in 
 leaving a remembrance in the hands of those 
 numerous and dear friends, with whom I have 
 become acquainted during my brief sojourn in 
 England, whom I have addressed at public 
 meetings, to whom I have preached, and whose 
 Christian kindness and affection I hope never 
 to forget. 
 
 I need hardly add, that my little book 
 appears before the public with no pretensions 
 whatever to literary merit. My sole object 
 has been to record facts in connexion with mis- 
 sionary life in India, simply, comprehensively, 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 and clearly, as I have endeavoured to detail 
 them on the platform. These facts speak for 
 themselves. I have availed myself of the ex- 
 perience and remarks of several of my honoured 
 brethren, as well as of my own, especially that 
 of those, who have laboured in the same part 
 of India. What I have said applies best to 
 Bengal, where I have been located. 
 
 With the fervent prayer that He whom 
 I desire to " serve without ceasing, in the 
 Gospel of his Son," may bless this humble 
 effort for the glory of his name, and the pro- 
 motion of the kingdom of his grace, I commit 
 this little work to the favour of the Christian 
 public. 
 
 J. J. Weitbrecht. 
 London, June 22, 1844. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY, AND THE MORAL 
 CONDITION OF THE INHABITANTS OF INDIA. 
 
 Page 
 India an Interesting Country in Ancient and 
 Modern Times. — Subdued by the East India Com- 
 pany. — The Hindoos. — Appearance and Productions 
 of the Country. — Seasons of the Year. — Villages and 
 Dwellings. — Trade and Commerce. — Ornaments. — 
 Dress of Males and Females. — Food, Furniture, Mode 
 of Life. — Social Life. — Moral Character of the Hin- 
 doo. — Serious, Dignified, Polite, but devoid of Moral 
 Foundation. — Oppression by Zemindars. — Venality of 
 Native Officers. — Bribery. — No Patriotism. — Reckless- 
 ness of Human Life. — Sins of Impurity. — Moral 
 Reflections 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE RELIGIOUS BOOKS AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 Sbasters very Voluminous. — Language. — Sanscrit 
 the Root of all others. — Division and Antiquity of the 
 Shasters. — Veneration for them. — Vedas. — Delusion 
 concerning their Doctrines. — The Sacred Books 
 Channels for Secular, as well as Religious Teaching. — 
 Philosophical and Metaphysical Writings held Sacred. 
 — Date of the Vedas. — Doctrine of the Shasters. — 
 
V1U CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Deity acknowledged. — Caste, its Origin, Distinction, 
 and Mingling of it. — Laws. — Homage and Offerings 
 given to Priests. — Polygamy. — Immorality of the 
 Brahmins. — Gods and Goddesses of the Hindoos. — 
 Three Principal Deities. — Brahma. — Vishnu. — Shiva. 
 — Krishna's Incarnation. — Shiva's Wife. — Her Names : 
 Durga, Parbatti, and Kalee. — Thugs. — General Obser- 
 vations 50 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES OF THE HINDOOS. 
 
 The Idol Temples in India. The Idols Worshipped 
 by the Hindoos. — Their Consecration. — The Priests, 
 their Pretended Sanctity. — Offerings to Idols. — 
 Bloody Sacrifices. — Worship of the Ganges. — The 
 Dead thrown into the River. — Festival of Kalee. — 
 The Swinging Festival. — Festival of the Goddess 
 Durga. — Juggernath. — Hindoo Saints and Ascetics. — 
 Sraddha, or Funeral Obsequies. — The Heaven of the 
 Hindoos. — The Hell. — Transmigration of Souls. — 
 Fatalism. — Practical Reflections 100 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON THE LABOURS OF MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 
 
 Effects of Idol Worship on the Mind of the Hindoo. 
 — Upon his Moral Character. — Consequent Wretched- 
 ness. — How he endeavours to get rid of his Anxiety. 
 Different Branches of Missionary Labour. — Chapels 
 for Preaching. — Description of Hearers. — Brahmins 
 fond of disputing, and employing Insulting Lan- 
 guage. — Itinerating in the Cold Season. — Danger 
 from Wild Beasts and Reptiles. — Impressions pro- 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 Page 
 duced by Preaching. — Mode of Preaching. — Illustra- 
 tions from Nature. — Parables acceptable. — Medical 
 Knowledge desirable. — Result of Preaching among the 
 Hindoos. — Reflections of Mr. Rhenius. — Application. 150 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 TRANSLATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 
 AND EDUCATION. 
 
 Trying Position of the First Missionaries in Bengal. 
 — East Indian Government opposing Missionary 
 Labour. — Carey at Serampore. — His Extraordinary 
 Labours. — Translation of the Scriptures. — Efforts and 
 Usefulness of the Bible Society. — A good Literature 
 Desirable. — Education of the Natives, imparted first 
 in Vernacular Schools. — Few Hindoo Youths actually 
 converted in consequence, but the ground extensively 
 prepared. — English Schools established. — The Govern- 
 ment following the good example with much success. 
 — The Scriptures excluded from Government Schools ; 
 Consequences arising from it. — Striking Conversions 
 of Hindoo Youths. — Education of Females; their de- 
 graded condition. — Mrs. Wilson's Labours in Calcutta. 
 Orphan Schools. — Training of a Native Ministry. — 
 Great Want of able Missionaries. — Call for Help 198 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF MISSIONARY LABOUR IN 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 Slow Progress of Christianity in India. — Reasons of 
 it. — The Moral and Religious Character of the Hin- 
 doos. — Belief in an Absolute Fate. — Caste, and its 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 effects. — The Patriarchal System. — Converts disin- 
 herited, cast off, and persecuted. — The Opposition of 
 the Priests. — The Doctrines of the Shasters. — The 
 degraded condition of Females. — The Study of Native 
 Languages. — Small numbers of Missionaries. — The 
 evil Example of Europeans. — The character of Native 
 Christians. — Their Trials. — Reflections 251 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF MISSIONARY 
 LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 Result of Missionary Labour is of an indirect and 
 direct kind. — Idolatry is still the religion of India, 
 but the native mind is undergoing a change. — Idol 
 Temples crumble down. — The Brahmin on the 
 "Ganges. — Colleges of Hindoo Learning deserted. — 
 Prejudices against Christianity wearing away. — The 
 gradual influence upon the Hindoo mind. — Growing 
 hunger after knowledge. — The Hindoos believe 
 Christianity will prevail. — Increasing number of 
 pious Europeans in India ; their beneficial influence. 
 — The congregations of Hindoo Christians. — Mission 
 settlement at Burdwan. — Conversions at Kishnagore. 
 — The Khurta Bhojahs. — Christianity in the south of 
 India. — German Missionaries. — Missions in Calcutta. 
 — Other Favourable Signs. — Reflections 297 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY, AND 
 THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE INHABITANTS 
 OF INDIA. 
 
 INDIA AN INTERESTING COUNTRY IN ANCIENT AND MODERN 
 TIMES. — SUBDUED BY THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. — THE HINDOOS. 
 
 APPEARANCE AND PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. — SEASONS 
 
 OF THE YEAR. — VILLAGES AND DWELLINGS. — TRADE AND COM- 
 MERCE. — ORNAMENTS. — DRESS OF MALES AND FEMALES. — FOOD, 
 FURNITURE, MODE OF LIFE. — SOCIAL LIFE. — MORAL CHARACTER 
 OF THE HINDOO. — SERIOUS, DIGNIFIED, POLITE, BUT DEVOID OF 
 MORAL FOUNDATION. — OPPRESSION BY ZEMINDARS. — VENALITY 
 OF NATIVE OFFICERS. — BRIBERY. — NO PATRIOTISM. — RECKLESS- 
 NESS OF HUMAN LIFE. — SINS OF IMPURITY. — MORAL REFLEC- 
 TIONS. 
 
 " The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are 
 they, and have done abominable iniquity ; there is none that doeth 
 good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, 
 to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 
 Every one of them is gone back : they are altogether become filthy ; 
 there is none that doeth good, no, not one." — Psalm liii. 1 — 3. 
 
 That wide and thickly populated country in 
 the south of Asia, which we call India, is bounded 
 by the Indus on the west, and the Buramputer 
 on the east, and is one of the most interesting 
 countries which has ever attracted the attention 
 of the western nations, either in ancient or in 
 modern times. 
 
2 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 Before the Christian era, Alexander the Great, 
 whom the conquest of central Asia did not satisfy, 
 undertook a campaign to India at the head of a 
 powerful army, and penetrated as far as the north- 
 western Punjaub ; but a rebellion having broken 
 out among his soldiers, he was compelled to return 
 before he had reached the shores of the Ganges. 
 
 After the birth of Christ, that savage conqueror 
 Jenghis-khan arose, and took possession of the 
 northern part of Hindosthan. 
 
 Towards the close of the tenth century, Maho- 
 med the First and his Moguls descended from the 
 mountain-fortress of Ghuzni, and returned the 
 following year laden with spoil : from this time 
 one gang of robbers succeeded another, till the 
 Mogul dynasty was finally established at Delhi, 
 and during several ages, India groaned under the 
 tyrannical sceptre of the Mahomedan emperors. 
 
 In 1498, Vasko de Gama, a Portuguese navigator, 
 having discovered the passage round the Cape of 
 Good Hope, landed on the Malabar coast ; and 
 from that year a Portuguese fleet visited India 
 annually, and returned to Lisbon laden with 
 foreign treasure. 
 
 It has been remarked, that the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries were emphatically the ages of 
 discoveries ; it seemed as if the nations of Europe 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 3 
 
 had awoke from a long sleep. Hunger after know- 
 ledge caused a general movement, and thirst after 
 gold excited a strong emulation among the naval 
 powers. Holland soon followed the example of 
 Portugal, with similar success ; and when Sir 
 Francis Drake had finished his voyage round the 
 world, the London merchants began to bethink 
 themselves of engaging in a like undertaking. 
 
 Accordingly, in 1 599, a company of British mer- 
 chants applied to Queen Elizabeth for permission 
 to trade with India, and having received the royal 
 charter, despatched a fleet in the following year ; 
 and thus originated what has since become the 
 famous East India Company — a striking instance 
 this, of what momentous and important results 
 spring from originally trifling causes, under the 
 direction of the wise providence of God. The 
 Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, were each 
 permitted to make the attempt, but only Britain 
 was permitted to succeed. 
 
 This handful of merchants began their opera- 
 tions by building a few factories on the coast of 
 India, one of which was established near a fishing 
 village, about a hundred miles above the mouth 
 of the Ganges, on that branch of this river called 
 the Hooghly. The factory was erected in the 
 vicinity of a celebrated heathen temple, named by 
 
 , B 
 
4 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 the Hindoos, Kalee-ghaut, or the landing-place of 
 the goddess Kalee. That fishing village is now 
 the famous city of Calcutta, it having received 
 this appellation from the idol temple : it is the 
 residence of the Governor-General of India, and 
 has aptly been designated the " city of palaces." 
 The originally insignificant company of merchants 
 have long since wrested the sceptre from the hands 
 of the Mogul emperors, and are now governing a 
 hundred and thirty-five millions of subjects, — 
 truly one of the most remarkable circumstances of 
 modern times. Late events in the history of India 
 have proved, that this company hold the reins of 
 government with a firm hand. Dost Mahomed, 
 the chief of the semi-barbarous tribes in AfFghan- 
 isthan, having been inveigled by brilliant pro- 
 mises on the part of a great northern power in 
 Europe, which was endeavouring to extend its 
 political influence as far as the Indus, disregarded 
 all the warnings of the East India government, who 
 being thus compelled to take decided measures, 
 sent an army across the Indus, which in the space 
 of three short months, reduced the mountain- 
 fortress of Ghuzni, (supposed to be impregnable,) 
 Candahar, with its capital Cabul, and, in fact, the 
 entire country. 
 
 It is true that a subsequent repulse ensued, 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 5 
 
 which was caused by treason, rather than by the 
 valour of the AfFghans ; but the English army soon 
 reconquered the country, and then withdrew within 
 the natural frontier of their possessions, the river 
 Indus. 
 
 Two years since, the alarm was sounded far 
 and wide, and on the continent particularly, it was 
 believed, through reports spread by the French, 
 that the star of England's glory was about to set in 
 India, and not a few envious hearts rejoiced at it; 
 while some looked on it as a just retribution for 
 the wrongs, which had been inflicted on that 
 country. Subsequent events (namely, the recon- 
 quest of Affghanisthan and the peace of Nanking) 
 have proved that these assertions were premature. 
 The great designs of God, for which he has insti- 
 tuted the relationship between Britain and India, 
 are not yet accomplished, and, until they are, no 
 hostile powers can disunite them. 
 
 I have often been asked if the Indian Govern- 
 ment has the welfare of its subjects at heart; and 
 I venture to reply, that in a certain sense it has : 
 thus much I am assured of, that no other European 
 power would govern on more just and liberal 
 principles. Yet notwithstanding this, I can but 
 affirm, that Britain has not hitherto done justice 
 to her great trust, or in any adequate degree 
 
THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 fulfilled the gracious intentions of the Almighty, 
 with regard to this portion of her immense 
 empire. 
 
 But India is not only a remarkable country in 
 reference to its political state ; the moral and reli- 
 gious condition of its inhabitants present features 
 of peculiar interest, to the philanthropist and the 
 Christian. There we find a nation of a hundred 
 and thirty-five millions, closely connected by one 
 religious system, and by peculiarities of caste, and 
 other social relations and customs. This religious 
 system has now lasted for two thousand five hun- 
 dred years ; and from the island of Ceylon in the 
 south, to the Himalayas in the north,— from the 
 valley of Assam, whose borders are washed by the 
 mighty Buramputer, on the east, to the Indus on 
 the west, every Hindoo swears allegiance to Brah- 
 minism. 
 
 But even in India a change is coming over the 
 face of society. England has transplanted her 
 sons, her language, her arts and sciences, and 
 above all, her religion, to her colonies; and the 
 result proves additionally striking every year, for 
 the millenary edifice of idolatry is thereby so 
 shaken, that it totters to its very foundation. The 
 progress of civilisation, of commerce, of education, 
 and the benevolent measures of a liberal govern- 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. / 
 
 ment, all operate in their measure to produce this 
 effect; but the preaching of the Gospel and the 
 dissemination of Christian truth, with the moral 
 bearing of Christianity, as displayed in the lives of 
 its consistent professors, contribute most power- 
 fully to the downfall of idolatry, and I hesi- 
 tate not to say, are preparing a grave for its 
 reception. 
 
 Having been engaged during eleven years as a 
 missionary in the vicinity of the deified Ganges, 
 I have had daily intercourse with the Hindoos; 
 and by my avocation I have enjoyed frequent 
 opportunities of becoming acquainted with the 
 country and people, and of studying their position, 
 character, customs, and manners. 
 
 Some valued friends have requested me to com- 
 municate the result of my experience to the Chris- 
 tian public ; and feeling assured that I could detail 
 much that would prove interesting and instructive 
 to Christians in England, and also much that 
 would excite their attention and sympathy in 
 favour of India, in its present eventful state of 
 transition, from the darkness of heathenism to the 
 light and blessedness of Gospel truth, I have been 
 induced to agree to this proposition, and to en- 
 deavour to give a plain and faithful representation 
 of the Hindoos. In doing so, I shall confine myself 
 
8 THE MOKAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 chiefly to facts that have come under my own 
 observation, and of that of some of my fellow- 
 labourers, and to information I have myself 
 gathered from the people. 
 
 I must however remark, that having laboured 
 in Bengal, my statements apply more directly to 
 that province, the most populous of any, containing 
 thirty-six millions, all speaking one language. 
 The system of Hindooism, however, is the same 
 throughout India, in its fundamental features, 
 though the customs and religious ceremonies of 
 the natives vary in the different provinces ; but 
 the Gangetic or Bengal provinces may be consi- 
 dered as the stronghold of Hindooism. 
 
 I shall now endeavour briefly to describe the 
 character of the country, and that of the people : 
 but before entering on my subject I have to pre- 
 mise one more remark. About one-tenth of the 
 inhabitants of Bengal consist of Mahomedans ; one 
 portion of these, chiefly including the higher 
 classes, are the descendants of the Moguls, who 
 conquered the country in the twelfth century ; the 
 rest derive their descent from families who were 
 compelled to embrace Islamism by the conquerors, 
 or who willingly came over to it from interested 
 motives. The former are easily distinguished from 
 the Hindoos by their features. 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. V J 
 
 The power of the Mahomedans in India is 
 crumbled into dust, but their pride is in no way 
 humbled ; they regard the English and their reli- 
 gion with hatred, and are therefore far less access- 
 ible to the missionary than the Hindoos. Many 
 of the old noble families long for the time, which 
 will never come, when the banner of Mahomed 
 shall once more wave on the mountain-fortresses 
 of Hindoos than. 
 
 Many imagine the Hindoos to be a savage 
 nation, sunk in barbarism, like the Indians of 
 North America, or the Tartars of the desert, who 
 sustain themselves by hunting and fishing, and 
 live a wandering life with no fixed dwelling. But 
 this is an error, for the Hindoos must be regarded 
 in most respects as a civilised people, living in 
 towns, and exercising different trades and pro- 
 fessions. 
 
 The mountain tribes throughout India are an 
 exception to this, for they are all more or less in a 
 rude state ; but they by no means belong to the 
 Hindoo race — their bodily constitution, their lan- 
 guage, their customs, and their religion, distinguish 
 them entirely from the people of the plains ; and it 
 is generally supposed that the mountaineers are 
 the aborigines of the country, who have been 
 driven thither by the conquerors — the present 
 
10 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 possessors of the soil, who inhabit the fertile lower 
 lands. 
 
 The Hindoos are on the whole a handsome 
 people, having generally an intelligent and ex- 
 pressive countenance, with a slender, graceful, 
 and well-proportioned figure. It is supposed they 
 belong to the Caucasian race, from which the 
 English and Germans have sprung likewise. Their 
 complexion is usually olive-brown, varying con- 
 siderably in its shading, according to their greater 
 or less exposure to the heat of the sun, or the 
 temperature of the air. Eich Hindoos, living in 
 effeminate luxury, are frequently seen not darker 
 than Spaniards, and the females, especially those 
 of high birth and secluded life, are often as fair as 
 the European ; while the lower classes are almost 
 as black as the negro. 
 
 In Bengal the people are small and delicately 
 made, but stronger and of more muscular form in 
 the upper provinces of Hindoosthan. The native 
 troops, called Sepoys, are but little inferior in 
 physical strength to our own soldiers, and proved 
 as brave, loyal, and persevering as the English 
 themselves, in the late AfFghan and Chinese wars. 
 
 The greater part of the inhabitants of Bengal, 
 and probably of all India, are employed in agricul- 
 ture. Rice is the staple produce, and generally 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 11 
 
 yields a rich harvest, except in those seasons when 
 the rains fall too slightly, or when inundations 
 occur. Besides rice, which is the principal food 
 of the Bengalee, sugar-cane grows in profusion, 
 particularly in the lower part of the country. It 
 resembles the Indian corn in appearance, and when 
 ripe it is cut down, and the juice is expressed by 
 means of two cylindrical pieces of wood. It is then 
 boiled, and taken to market as raw yellow sugar. 
 The native merchants buy it up, and refine it so 
 fully as to produce the purest white sugar ; but 
 most of it is exported to England in the raw state. 
 After the rice harvest is over, corn, peas, beans, 
 and other vegetables are planted, and if carefully 
 watered, or if rain fall in December, they reap a 
 second harvest ; I have seen wheat-fields in full 
 ear in February, particularly in the district of 
 Kishnagore. 
 
 Indigo is another very important and profitable 
 production of Bengal. It is generally raised by 
 European planters. The plant is grown in the 
 neighbourhood of rivers, and attains its highest 
 perfection in the rich soil along the banks of the 
 Ganges. When ripe, it is cut and thrown into the 
 vat, (which is a basin constructed of brick-work,) 
 and steeped in water. During the sultry nights in 
 August, it undergoes a fermentation, which being 
 
12 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 accomplished, the water assumes a greenish colour, 
 and is drawn off into another reservoir, while 
 the plant is thrown away for manure. Hindoo 
 labourers then proceed to beat the water with a 
 kind of shovel, until it changes its colour. This 
 is termed the process of granulation, and as soon 
 as blue particles resembling dust appear in the 
 water, the work is done. After a few hours this 
 blue dust is deposited at the bottom of the vat, 
 and when the water is drawn off, the indigo 
 appears in the form of a soft, pulpy substance; 
 it is then removed and boiled, in order to destroy 
 all animal life, which would otherwise breed in 
 it. From the boiler it is conveyed to the press, 
 in which it receives a solid form ; it is then cut 
 into small square pieces, and each piece is stamped 
 with the initials of the manufacturer : it requires 
 two months to dry, after which it is packed in 
 chests for exportation. About one hundred and 
 twenty-five thousand chests of indigo are annually 
 exported from Bengal, chiefly to England. Cotton, 
 tobacco, and silk, are also extensively cultivated. 
 
 Of enriching the land by means of manure, the 
 Hindoos know little ; they commonly use this in the 
 place of firewood ; indeed the ground has but little 
 need of such support, for the plains of the Ganges 
 are composed of a rich and fertile alluvial soil. 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 13 
 
 I need hardly assure you, that the Hindoo 
 husbandman is far less laborious and persevering 
 than the English peasant ; that could scarcely be 
 expected in a tropical climate, nor is it so neces- 
 sary, since the ground produces almost everything 
 with little toil. A crooked piece of wood, with an 
 iron point at the end, is a plough; and a sort 
 of half spade, half billhook, with a handle only 
 fourteen inches long, serves for digging, in per- 
 forming which they stoop. They have a simple 
 plain harrow, for which a bundle of thorns is 
 sometimes substituted. The primitive plough, 
 which I have described above, and which has 
 perhaps not seen any improvement for the last 
 two thousand years, is drawn by a pair of small 
 thin oxen, and cuts the earth two or three inches 
 in depth, below which the virgin soil is never 
 touched. Yet the seed is sown, is growing, 
 and is ripened, year after year, to an abundant 
 harvest. 
 
 Government derive their revenue chiefly from 
 the ground, it being taxed to such a degree, that 
 the peasant loses half his produce, and in very fer- 
 tile districts often two-thirds. There are many rich 
 farmers, designated zemindars, or landholders, who 
 rent whole districts from Government, gather the 
 taxes, pay their own share, and yet derive con- 
 
14 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 siderable profit. But, alas ! this farming system is 
 the curse of the poor peasant, who is unmercifully 
 drained and oppressed by the cruel and hard- 
 hearted zemindars. Thus, when contemplating a 
 country so rich in mineral and all other natural 
 resources as India, we behold the bulk of the 
 nation living in abject wretchedness and pauperism, 
 and the poor Hindoo peasant in a position almost 
 worse than that of a slave. The thought has often 
 struck me most painfully, in my intimate inter- 
 course with the labouring classes, how sad, that 
 Britain, that noble and generous nation, which has 
 willingly sacrificed millions of money to make the 
 negro free, should unconsciously permit the con- 
 tinuance of a system, which reduces not eighty 
 thousand, as in the West Indies, but as many 
 millions in the East, to the same, or a more 
 galling condition still. 
 
 Bengal abounds in fruit-trees of various kinds ; 
 of these, the best known are the mangoe, the 
 pine-apple, the citron, orange, and pomalo, the 
 palm, the tamarind, cocoa-nut, plantain, and pome- 
 granate-trees. In the north-eastern part of the 
 district of Sylhet, there are large forests of orange- 
 trees, and millions of this delicious fruit are rotting 
 on the ground. Large boat-loads are brought 
 down to Calcutta for sale during the season. 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 15 
 
 As to minerals, they have, with few exceptions, 
 been left untouched to this day. In the district 
 of Burdwan there are extensive coal-pits, from 
 which the steamers are supplied that ply on the 
 Ganges. In other parts, coal is found lying on 
 the surface of the ground. Nothing is wanted 
 but capital, and enterprising men, to open the rich 
 resources of the land. Ironstone is found in great 
 plenty, in the vicinity of the coal. The natives 
 of western Bengal are smelting iron, and work- 
 ing it into common tools, on a small scale. In 
 various Indian rivers they are washing gold out 
 of the sand. 
 
 In the province of Bengal, and the northern 
 parts of Hindoosthan, there are only three seasons 
 of the year, viz., the hot season, from the month 
 of March to June ; the rainy season, from the 
 middle of June to the end of October ; and the 
 cold season, from November to the end of 
 February. During the hot season, the southern 
 and western winds prevail, and every thing 
 becomes dried up and burnt. The ground is 
 quite pulverised, and little verdure prevails, 
 except in the vicinity of water. The roads are 
 covered with dust, which is driven in whirlwinds 
 through the air. At this season, the thermometer 
 frequently rises to 110° Fahrenheit in the shade, 
 
16 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 and in the sun it is of course twenty or thirty- 
 degrees higher. 
 
 Occasionally, the excessive heat of the air is 
 cooled by thunder-storms, preceded by dreadful 
 and tempestuous winds, which tear up large trees 
 by their roots, and lay the cottages of the natives 
 prostrate. These storms are called in Bengal 
 north-westers, because they proceed from that 
 quarter. Thick masses of dust are raised by 
 them into clouds, so that in a few minutes the 
 light of day is turned into the darkness of night ; 
 and we were sometimes obliged to light candles in 
 the afternoon. This fearful and untimely dark- 
 ness is only relieved by vivid flashes of forked 
 lightning, and one thunderbolt follows another 
 in rapid succession. 
 
 Some years since, the lightning struck the 
 house of an English family in our neighbourhood, 
 and tore asunder the wall, from the roof to the 
 ground, though the houses of Europeans, and of 
 rich natives, are built exceedingly strong. On the 
 occasion alluded to, a servant, stunned by the 
 shock, fell senseless on the floor ; and, I believe, 
 such north-westers never occur without a greater 
 or less loss of life, usually among the natives ; but 
 occasionally, Europeans become the victims. Last 
 year, two gentlemen in Bengal were riding 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 17 
 
 together on horseback, when a dreadful storm 
 overtook them ; a fearful flash of lightning caused 
 the one to exclaim to his friend, " That was, 
 indeed, awful :" he received no reply, and, on 
 looking round, he perceived that his friend had 
 been struck dead on his horse. 
 
 In a northerly climate, it is scarcely possible to 
 form an idea of the fury of the elements in tropical 
 countries. After the wind is passed, the clouds 
 generally discharge themselves in heavy rain, and 
 then the daylight reappears ; but sometimes the 
 refreshing shower is withheld. Dreadful as these 
 storms are, so delightful is their effect, that we 
 rejoice at seeing clouds obscure the face of the 
 clear blue sky, and mitigate for a time the rays of 
 the burning sun. 
 
 In the middle or about the end of June the 
 annual rains commence ; they are usually ushered 
 in by a dreadful storm, preceded by a calm for 
 several days, during which the heat is almost 
 insufferable ; so that the creation is literally sigh- 
 ing after refreshment and coolness. The residents 
 of Calcutta have the benefit of a good supply of 
 ice during the whole year, with which their 
 beverage is cooled ; but in the interior we cannot 
 enjoy this grateful alleviation, for we have no 
 frosty nights, even during the cold season. The 
 
18 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 city of palaces is provided with ice from America, 
 several cargoes being annually imported from 
 Boston ; and brother Jonathan kindly packs 
 between the ice-blocks, a good supply of apples 
 and grapes, which are readily purchased at an 
 enormous price, although exceedingly coarse and 
 inferior, probably because they remind us of our 
 father-land. From Benares northward, the vine 
 grows well in India, and apples and pears likewise, 
 but not to any perfection. An American apple 
 is sold in the market of Calcutta for sixpence, 
 while you may buy a pine-apple for two or three 
 farthings. 
 
 Bengal, as I mentioned before, is, from the 
 mouths of the Ganges for two hundred miles 
 upwards, one continued plain, studded by single 
 groups of mangoe, tamarind, and palm-trees ; and 
 the cottages of the Hindoos are raising their 
 thatched roofs between these. The walls of these 
 cottages are of earth, and sometimes only of mat, 
 but the higher orders live in brick houses. Every 
 mile or two a new village appears : the most 
 populous part of England bears no proportion to 
 this thickly inhabited plain, whose villages often 
 contain as many as five, yea ten thousand souls. 
 They usually raise the ground, on which they 
 build, to prevent the inundations, which cover the 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 19 
 
 plain during the rainy season, from washing them 
 away ; for the rains are excessive, and during 
 the four wet months as much water falls in 
 Bengal, as during four years in our northerly 
 climates. Through July and August it absolutely 
 pours down in streams. The Hindoo ploughs in 
 the water, and when the soil is sufficiently mixed, 
 he transplants the rice (which is first sown thick 
 like salad-seed, in a prepared piece of ground) 
 into it with his hands. The rice grows in the 
 water, affording us an explanation of a passage in 
 Isaiah, not generally understood here : " Blessed 
 are they that sow beside all waters, that send 
 forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass." 
 
 In September the rains decrease, and in October 
 they cease altogether ; the last clouds disappear- 
 ing as the first were ushered in, accompanied by 
 dreadful storms, which sometimes continue for 
 several days together, destroying lives and pro- 
 perty to an immense amount. 
 
 During the rainy season, the rivers, or large 
 mountain torrents, which become nearly dry in the 
 heat, rise to such a height, as to inundate the 
 surrounding plains. Great pains are taken by 
 Government to keep them within their boundaries 
 by strong embankments, which are preserved in 
 repair at great expense. But these frequently 
 
20 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 yield to the force of the current, and the roaring 
 stream then breaks forth from its unnatural 
 confinement, and precipitates itself over the 
 unprotected plains. In 1834, I was an eye- 
 witness of one of these fearful inundations, which 
 devastated our missionary station at Burdwan. The 
 neighbouring river, — Damuder, nearly a mile 
 broad, burst its embankments at midnight, and 
 rushed over our fields with frightful violence. 
 From the flat roof of the mission-house, I could 
 distinguish, by the light of the moon, how the 
 furious flood was making its way, sweeping the 
 intervening villages before it. 
 
 The judge of our district, a kind and benevolent 
 man, having heard that my house, though a sound 
 and strong building, was in danger of giving way 
 under the force of the current — mounted an 
 elephant, and thus waded along the inundated 
 road to save me ; but I could not abandon my 
 Hindoo congregation by whom I was surrounded, 
 and he returned alone. He had scarcely cleared 
 the bridge which was erected over a smaller 
 river, and leading to the European station, than 
 the power of the water forced two arches of this 
 bridge, but his life was mercifully preserved, 
 though the bridge trembled under the heavy steps 
 of the elephant as he recrossed it. Many lost 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 21 
 
 their lives during this sad flood, and others all 
 their property. Our mission-house was preserved, 
 but the dwellings of the native Christians and our 
 out-offices were completely destroyed ; and the 
 native chapel was considerably injured. 
 
 The wild flood very often destroys the fields, 
 and covers them with dry sand, some feet in height ; 
 so that the land must he waste for years, until the 
 luxuriant vegetation again forms a fresh soil. 
 
 The dry heat of April and May is much less 
 unhealthy, and more easy to bear, than the damp 
 sultriness of August and September, when the 
 saturated ground exhales noxious vapours, drawn 
 forth by the heat of the sun, and the exuberant 
 vegetation decaying in the water poisons the air. 
 At this season, both Europeans and natives inhale 
 disease with every breath, which sooner or later 
 produces its effect. The months of September 
 and October are decidedly the worst in the year, 
 when a larger proportion of deaths are occurring 
 than during the other ten. Owing to this un- 
 healthy state of the atmosphere, the average life 
 of a missionary in Bengal does not exceed five or 
 six years. 
 
 At this period, the cold season, which begins 
 with November, is ardently desired ; and then life 
 is pleasant enough for a while. A December 
 
22 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 morning is much like a May morning in England. 
 European vegetables thrive splendidly in our 
 gardens, and the summer flora of our northern 
 regions displays its beauty, and for a short time 
 we feel ourselves transplanted as it were into a 
 European climate. In January, it is somewhat 
 colder, because a northerly wind is blowing down 
 from the snow-capped summits of the Himalaya 
 mountains ; but in February, the temperature 
 rises again, and resembles in the afternoon that 
 of our greatest summer heat. 
 
 Besides agriculture and pasturage, the Hindoos 
 are occupied in commerce and handicrafts of 
 different kinds, but these occupations are chiefly 
 confined to towns and large villages. The most 
 common artisans are the weaver, the carpenter, 
 blacksmith, confectioner, barber, washerman, and 
 basket-maker. In cotton-spinning and weaving, 
 the Hindoos had attained a considerable proficiency 
 in ancient times. The celebrated byssus of the 
 Egyptians is said to have been brought from India, 
 in the time of the Eomans . The town of Dacca was 
 famous, centuries ago, for its wonderful muslins ; 
 one small piece was often sold for eighty and one 
 hundred rupees. These stuffs were so delicately 
 fine, that when spread on the grass for bleaching, 
 and the dew fell on them, they became invisible. 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 23 
 
 The importation of British cotton goods has greatly 
 injured the Hindoo weavers ; I have felt deeply 
 for the poor people when they told me, that the 
 women could hardly earn a penny by spinning, 
 and thousands of families had been reduced to 
 poverty, because they had been out-sold by the 
 English. 
 
 In towns there are clever gold and silversmiths, 
 for the higher orders, and the Hindoo females in 
 particular are very fond of ornaments, (though 
 men also wear them,) being strangers to enjoyments 
 of a more intellectual kind. All the ornaments 
 which the prophet Isaiah (iii. 16 — 23) numbered 
 up in the Jewish ladies, are used by the Hindoo 
 women ; they have necklaces, head-bands, ear- 
 rings, and rings on their arms and ankles, as well 
 as on their noses. 
 
 When a Hindoo has saved a few rupees he 
 generally throws them away upon these fripperies, 
 to adorn his wife and children ; and the former 
 estimates his affection towards her by the number 
 and value of the gold and jewels with which he 
 has bedecked her. 
 
 People who have not the means of purchasing 
 gold and silver ornaments, procure cheap ones 
 of brass, bone, and painted clay. 
 
 On the other hand, the Hindoos do not trouble 
 
24 THE MOHAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 themselves with many things which, according to 
 our views, belong to the necessaries of life ; one 
 reason of this is, that people in a hot climate have 
 fewer natural wants, than we in our colder regions. 
 Thus, for instance, the stocking-weaver would 
 have a very bad market, for the simple reason that 
 the Hindoos never use any stockings ; except that 
 of late, wealthy young men, who are pleased to 
 imitate everything English, have adopted this cus- 
 tom. The shoemaker would be almost as unfor- 
 tunate, for only the higher classes have learned to 
 wear shoes ; sandals made of wood or leather are 
 more common, — but the bulk of the nation are 
 walking barefooted. The dress of the Hindoos is 
 exceedingly simple ; it consists of a long piece of 
 calico, commonly bleached white, but sometimes 
 dyed pink or yellow, which is fastened round the 
 waist, just as it comes from the loom. On festive 
 occasions they cover the shoulders with a similar 
 garment, which is girt round their loins, when 
 they are about to travel, or made into a turban to 
 protect their heads from the fierce rays of the sun ; 
 but when they are engaged in manual labour, 
 they wear simply the lower garment. The entire 
 dress of the women consists of one piece of thin 
 calico, or muslin, neatly and elegantly wound 
 about the person, so that it falls over the figure 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 25 
 
 in graceful folds. They do not clothe their child- 
 ren till they are six or eight years old. 
 
 The chief support of those Hindoos who reside 
 
 in the neighbourhood of the Ganges, is rice : they 
 
 have various ways of preparing it, by parching it 
 
 over the fire, and grinding it into flour for cakes ; 
 
 but it is usually boiled in water, and eaten with 
 
 vegetables, or fish, or dried peas, cooked with spices 
 
 and oil, into a dish called currie. They never eat 
 
 beef or veal, the cow being a sacred animal ; but 
 
 game, goat's-flesh, mutton, and other meats are 
 
 acceptable, though not generally eaten, because the 
 
 greater part of the people are too poor to procure 
 
 them. They use neither knives, forks, or spoons, 
 
 neither tables or chairs, but rich and poor sit 
 
 cross-legged on their mats, and feed themselves 
 
 with the fingers of their right hand, which is sacred, 
 
 while the left is regarded as the unclean hand. 
 
 A rich Hindoo once told me, that we Europeans 
 
 did not know what was good, or we should never 
 
 eat with a spoon, for it was far better and more 
 
 relishable to mix the rice and currie well together in 
 
 the hand, as the natives do. You may buy a pound 
 
 of common rice for less than a half-penny, and all 
 
 sorts of vegetables are exceedingly cheap ; so that 
 
 the Hindoo may live with his wife and children on 
 
 six or eight shillings a month without difficulty. 
 
26 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 One part of the revenue of Government arises 
 from a monopoly of salt, which is in consequence 
 dear, and always at a fixed price, so that it yields 
 to the treasury two millions per annum. Owing 
 to this, the poor natives can enjoy this necessary 
 but sparingly ; and whilst the coffers of the East 
 Indian Government are thus replenished, hundreds 
 of thousands of poor and weak Hindoos, are de- 
 barred from the enjoyment, which the selfishness 
 of their conquerors withholds from them : thus 
 they suffer from the deprivation of a healthful 
 aliment, which, under different arrangements, they 
 might plentifully enjoy. I have sometimes won- 
 dered at the grey colour of the salt in common use, 
 till I discovered that the native merchants, who buy 
 it from Government, mix it with ashes to increase 
 their profits ; and thus the poor are doubly deceived. 
 
 And while one monopoly deprives or stints a 
 hundred millions of Hindoos of an essential ingre- 
 dient in their food, a second, viz. that of opium, is 
 poisoning, by its effects, three hundred millions of 
 souls belonging to a distant nation. The monopoly 
 of opium is exclusively belonging to the East 
 India Company, and yields them an annual in- 
 come of two millions and a half sterling. 
 
 The Hindoo modes of life are, in some respects, 
 patriarchal and exceedingly primitive. Five or 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 27 
 
 six cottages may be seen within a narrow com- 
 pass, surrounded by a mud wall, or enclosed by a 
 bamboo hedge. Within these precincts are living 
 the grandfather, with his sons and grandsons ; and 
 the ground is cultivated under the direction of the 
 grandsire. The household furniture in the pea- 
 sant's cottage consists of some earthen vessels for 
 cooking, and some brass plates and drinking 
 vessels ; but many of the poorer sort eat their 
 food off a fresh plantain-leaf, which they gather 
 daily; and when these, and even the more respect- 
 able, invite a party of friends, they do not com- 
 monly provide an extra number of plates, but bring 
 in a supply of nice fresh leaves from the garden, 
 which answer instead. A narrow-necked vessel 
 for fetching water, with a smaller one for drinking 
 it from, a mat for -sleeping on at night, and for 
 resting, sitting, and eating on during the day ; 
 a round footstool woven of split bamboos, and a 
 basket of the same material for the preservation of 
 the clothes and other articles, with a common 
 wooden stool, roughly put together, and standing 
 probably in some unobserved corner of the apart- 
 ment, make up the inventory of their furniture. 
 
 In the houses of the more respectable, the 
 bamboo basket is exchanged for a trunk of solid 
 wood, with a lock and key ; and when, after 
 
28 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 marriage, the bridegroom has attired his wife in 
 the customary ornaments for her hands and feet, 
 he will, if he have been able to save a few rupees, 
 purchase a bedstead, in the peculiar construction 
 of which, fashion has not interfered during the 
 last two thousand years. It is usually made of a 
 bamboo frame, supported by four short legs of 
 the same material, and laced from side to side 
 with coarse rope ; over which the mat is spread, 
 and a cushion stuffed with coarse cotton, or with 
 the fibres of the cocoa-nut, serves for a pillow. 
 This bed is in active use both day and night ; for 
 the Hindoo scruples not to spend all his spare 
 time in agreeable repose. With the exception of 
 the Brahmins, they are no great friends to read- 
 ing and studying; nor will the Brahmin engage 
 in any study for its own sake, or for enriching his 
 mind: his main object is either to make money, or 
 to get to heaven by it. 
 
 The social and domestic life of the Hindoos has 
 received its peculiar character from their religious 
 system. The husband is the head of the house- 
 hold, in the strictest sense of the term ; and the 
 sons and grandsons seek and follow his advice in 
 all things : but the wife and the mother forms 
 no part of the family circle ; she is, in a 
 certain sense, a nonentity, and is employed, 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 29 
 
 with her female children, in performing all the 
 menial and servile drudgery of the household. 
 Among the higher classes, she has a separate 
 apartment ; and she is at all times treated with 
 less courtesy and respect than the youngest of her 
 sons. She is represented in their sacred books 
 as a lower order of being, and destined to stand 
 in a relation far inferior to the man. This in- 
 human system produces its natural effect, — the 
 girl without education, and the entire family 
 uninfluenced by maternal tenderness, and the in- 
 telligent care that only a mother can exercise, — the 
 Hindoo grows up destitute of noble-mindedness, 
 of moral qualities, or of fine feelings, and ignorant 
 of the real happiness of domestic life. 
 
 The people are naturally social, and are seen 
 sitting together both morning and evening, smoking 
 the hookah, and conversing on matters of mutual 
 interest. It is not unusual for them to meet in 
 the centre of the village, under shady trees, or 
 before an idol temple, beguiling the time by 
 friendly talk. They likewise unite in various 
 games. The lower orders meet in drinking-rooms 
 and native inns, and drunkenness is common 
 among palankeen-bearers, and others who work 
 for hire. Their intoxicating liquor is the fer- 
 mented juice of the palm-tree, which has a sweet 
 
30 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 and pleasant taste ; they also prepare a similar 
 beverage from roasted rice, and a sort of distilled 
 spirits from a forest berry. In the towns, many 
 are found who drink cherry brandy, champagne, 
 &c, both publicly and privately ; for with Eu- 
 ropean civilisation, European vices have been 
 introduced into the country. A more painful 
 spectacle can scarcely be presented to the bene- 
 volent mind, than that of the spirit-shops in the 
 public bazaars at Calcutta, where low Europeans, 
 soldiers, and sailors, are seen mingling with the 
 most degraded natives, in the intoxicating cup. 
 
 The principal opportunities for social enjoy- 
 ment, if such it may be called, are the idol 
 festivals, which are thronged with thousands 
 of visitors. Besides their religious meaning, 
 these festivals may be regarded as their national 
 feasts. Here the only aim of the multitude 
 is amusement : what the Hindoos call sacred 
 devotion, and the worship of their gods, agrees 
 perfectly well with what St. Paul calls, "re- 
 vellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries." 
 Hundreds of shops are erected on these occasions : 
 numerous toys and eatables are offered for sale. 
 The people abandon themselves to pleasure : 
 musical instruments, such as drums, cymbals, 
 aud trumpets, accompany the scandalous song 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 31 
 
 which they vociferate in honour of their idol 
 gods. This is the time and place when they feel 
 themselves, and let others feel, that they are 
 Hindoos. 
 
 Of patriotism and of public spirit they know 
 nothing : throughout the whole empire there is no 
 place where they unite together for charitable pur- 
 poses, or for the execution of benevolent projects. 
 The Mahomedan yoke, under which the nation 
 groaned for a thousand years, effaced the last 
 vestige of patriotism in their breasts. It is only 
 when an idol is to be fabricated for the festival of 
 their goddess Durga, or for Shiva, and when there 
 are hungry Brahmins to be fed, that the whole 
 population of a village must contribute their share 
 of the expense. Nothing but a higher cultivation 
 of the heart and mind — nothing but that civilisa- 
 tion which is the practical result of the worship 
 of God in spirit and in truth, can, or will awaken 
 a national feeling among the Hindoos. The sys- 
 tem of Hindooism has dissevered the various 
 castes into atoms ; and it must perish before any 
 change for the better can be expected in this 
 nation. 
 
 I hope I have been in some degree successful in 
 my attempt to draw some outlines of the life of 
 the Hindoo, as it presents itself before the eyes of 
 
32 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 the European. I have now to finish the sketch by 
 a short description of his moral character. 
 
 The Hindoo is undoubtedly of a mild, gentle, 
 timid nature and disposition, and somewhat dis- 
 posed to melancholy. The stranger landing on 
 the shores of India, receives, on passing through 
 the country, an agreeable impression, from his 
 polite, deferential demeanour towards the Eu- 
 ropean. Wherever he meets the white man, he 
 makes a low bow, touches his forehead with the 
 right or with both hands, saying, " Salem, Saheb," 
 Peace to you, sir. Even the respectable baboo, 
 who is carried along in his palankeen, dismounts 
 to salute the European standing, particularly 
 when he is a public officer. This is the custom 
 of the country, and the inferior always meets the 
 superior in the same way. When a Hindoo visits 
 the European he does not remove the turban 
 from his head, but he leaves his shoes at the door 
 of the room, and would never venture to open it 
 without having been previously announced. His 
 address is polished and courteous, and his whole 
 bearing dignified, respectful and expressive of 
 profound reverence. He employs his Oriental 
 phraseology, " To-day the sun is risen on me in 
 brighter rays, being permitted to behold your 
 honour's countenance." If you inquire after his 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 33 
 
 health, he replies. " Through the favour of God 
 and your kind benevolence, I enjoy good health." 
 If you ask him to sit down, he "will repeat a 
 respectful bow, and touch the ground perhaps, as 
 a sign of his humility, and in acknowledgment of 
 the favour bestowed on him. 
 
 Did the Hindoos possess the same advantages 
 which Europeans enjoy, in a superior cultivation 
 of the mind, they would probably soon be num- 
 bered among the most polite and civilised nations 
 upon earth. 
 
 With the characteristic feature referred to 
 above, the higher orders unite a solemn serious- 
 ness and dignity of manner, which is quite 
 imposing, and well calculated to inspire respect, 
 at first sight. The Hindoo is, at the same time, 
 grave, sober, calm, and of a contemplative cast of 
 mind, upon which his religion has stamped these 
 peculiarities. A religious Hindoo will never forget 
 that, subduing and mortifying his passions, espe- 
 cially that of anger, will raise him to the godhead, 
 and place his soul at the next transmigration in 
 the body of a nobler being. 
 
 It could be wished that this favourable and pleas- 
 ing side of the Hindoo character were not disfigured 
 by dark features, but, unfortunately, it is devoid 
 of a moral foundation. His courtesy is united 
 
34 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 with abject flattery and cringing, while Tinder the 
 garb of a pleasing exterior, he too often, alas ! 
 hides duplicity and deceit. He is a liar beyond 
 conception, and can hardly comprehend the possi- 
 bility of people always speaking the truth. When 
 I have inquired, whether it would not be better and 
 more to their own advantage, if they acted honestly 
 and sincerely in their dealings among each other, 
 I have universally received the answer, which has 
 become a proverb in Bengal, " He who does not 
 lie, cannot go through the world." 
 
 Lying and stealing always go hand in hand. 
 Every European who has to do with Bengalees, 
 will experience this to his own cost. Nothing is 
 secure against the domestics ; clothes, books, 
 utensils, provisions, any article that is not num- 
 bered and delivered to their particular keeping, or 
 locked up, is in danger of disappearing. Hindoo 
 servants have acquired an extraordinary skill in the 
 art of pilfering and purloining ; and for this reason 
 they are usually one of the greatest plagues of 
 Europeans ;* and the more so, because we are 
 compelled to engage several, each performing 
 
 * We have, however, met with honourable exceptions, and have 
 heard of Hindoo servants having been for many years in their 
 European masters' service, who were as faithful and as much 
 attached to them as European domestics. A great deal depends 
 upon the management and arrangements of the superior. 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 35 
 
 only that kind of labour which is peculiar to 
 his caste. 
 
 The Hindoo has no correct conceptions of com- 
 passion, affection, or gratitude ; and for the latter 
 noble quality, the Bengalee possesses no word in 
 his language, — a clear proof that he knows little 
 of being grateful. If we show him a kindness, we 
 may rest assured that he will, ere long, return to 
 ask for a greater. " Because you have been so 
 kind to me lately, therefore I hope you will now 
 help me again," is commonly the practical appli- 
 cation he makes of our benevolence. 
 
 One of the best writers on the customs and 
 morals of the Hindoos, describes them in the 
 following manner: — " They are lively, active, and 
 pliable ; they possess much acuteness, are fond of 
 conversation ; they use flowery language, and a 
 phraseology abundant in imagery ; never carry 
 anything into effect till after mature deliberation: 
 they are inquisitive and prying, yet modest in 
 discourse, have a fickle, inconstant disposition, 
 make promises with great readiness, yet seldom 
 perform them, are importunate in their requests, 
 but ungrateful when they have obtained their 
 end ; behave in a cringing, obsequious manner 
 when they fear any one, but are haughty and 
 insolent when they gain the superiority, and 
 
36 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 assume an air of calmness and composure when 
 they obtain no satisfaction for an injury, but are 
 malicious and irreconcilable when they find an 
 opportunity of being revenged. I was acquainted 
 with many families, who had ruined themselves 
 by lawsuits, because they preferred the grati- 
 fication of revenge to every consideration of 
 prudence." 
 
 You may form an idea of their moral depres- 
 sion, from the fact, that tradesmen have generally 
 two kinds of weights and measures in the shop ; 
 the lighter and smaller are used for selling, and 
 the larger for purchasing articles. One of them 
 showed me these in the bazaar of Burdwan. 
 
 If we inquire into the relation of the rich 
 to the poor, and of that of the higher to the 
 lower classes, it will invariably be found to be 
 that of the oppressor to the oppressed. I might 
 adduce numerous instances in proof of this, but 
 one may suffice, which we see repeated in every 
 Hindoo village. The zemindar, or landholder, 
 exacts the ground-rent from the poor peasant in 
 the most cruel manner. If at the time of pay- 
 ment, some arrears remain, he is charged interest 
 in his account, of fifty per cent., and in the second 
 year, interest is reckoned up for the whole sum. 
 I have seen a man suing another for a debt of 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 37 
 
 one hundred and fifty rupees, the capital of which, 
 two years and a half before, only amounted to 
 eight rupees. If the unfortunate peasant be unable 
 to pay before harvest, the zemindar sends his 
 people to reap his fields. I have witnessed out- 
 rages of this kind, which are crying to heaven. 
 If the harvest should fail, the unfeeling zemindar 
 takes the only cow out of the shed, and if the poor 
 man's cattle be already sold, he enters his cottage 
 to take away his bedstead or the few brass utensils 
 he may have there. I have known instances, 
 where the wretched father was driven from the 
 cottage with his family, and compelled to seek a 
 new home at a distance. 
 
 The question here naturally arises, whether the 
 peasant cannot prefer a complaint in a court of 
 justice : I must answer, he may ; but even here 
 there is but little hope for him to redress his 
 grievances. Native assistants are necessarily em- 
 ployed in courts, under the English judge or 
 magistrate ; and these, with a few exceptions, are 
 open to every kind of bribery and corruption. I 
 knew some of those men, having a salary of but 
 £60 per annum, whose domestic establishment 
 cost them above £300 ; plainly showing the cor- 
 ruption practised by them. Among the litigating 
 parties, he who expends the most money in bribes 
 
38 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 is sure to gain the cause. The poor man has, 
 perhaps, thirty or forty miles to go to the court ; 
 he needs travelling expenses, and something for 
 his subsistence. On his arrival, he will find no 
 open door, unless he be able to open it by a pre- 
 sent ; he knows that the rich man has every 
 advantage on his side, and therefore prefers rather 
 to suffer oppression, feeling convinced that all his 
 endeavours to obtain justice would fail, and pro- 
 bably only entail his utter ruin. 
 
 It is but fair to acknowledge that the English 
 officers in the civil service in India are fully aware 
 of this deplorable state of things ; they are a body 
 of gentlemen, highly honourable in principle, 
 indefatigable in their labours for the good of the 
 country, and using their best efforts to stem the 
 current of the fearful stream of moral evil ; but 
 from their comparatively small number, a full 
 and effective administration of justice is perfectly 
 impossible. 
 
 The district of Burdwan, one of the most popu- 
 lous and fertile in Bengal, contains about one 
 million and a half of inhabitants. For this dis- 
 trict, there is a judge appointed to decide law- 
 suits concerning property ; a magistrate for settling 
 criminal cases, who is at the same time superin- 
 tendent of the police, — and a collector, over the 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 39 
 
 revenue department. When labour presses hard, 
 the judge or magistrate obtains an assistant. A 
 host of native officers are employed under the 
 direction of these individuals, each of whom tries 
 to make as much money as he can. How can 
 it be expected that one criminal officer should 
 be able to administer justice, and keep a district 
 of one million and a half of Hindoos in order ? 
 
 A crowd of low unprincipled natives are 
 hovering round the courts, ever ready, for the 
 smallest trifle, to be employed as witnesses ; and 
 perjury is so common in India, that a gentleman 
 high in the service, who has lately returned to 
 this country, declared at a meeting, that he never 
 could decide a case by the evidence of sworn wit- 
 nesses, but was obliged to frame his decision from 
 the probability of the truth, which he elicited from 
 the contradictory statements of both parties. 
 
 Considered in this point of view, India, from 
 one end to the other, may be called a depressed 
 and unhappy country. The majority of the inha- 
 bitants are groaning under the exactions of the 
 rich and mighty of the land. 
 
 A strong proof of the low state of morals, is 
 afforded by their utter recklessness of human life, 
 which the Hindoos hesitate not to sacrifice, for the 
 most trifling reason. Women drown themselves 
 
40 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 when under the influence of anger. A native 
 nurse at Benares was discovered in giving the 
 babe of her mistress opium, to put it asleep, and 
 thus to save herself the trouble of nursing it ; and 
 when the case came into the court for examina- 
 tion, it was found that she had thus poisoned 
 three little children in other families. About the 
 same time, a missionary brother, and his wife 
 and family, were providentially preserved from 
 death by arsenic, which had been introduced by a 
 female servant into the mouth of the tea-pot, and 
 poisoned the tea so strongly, that they were all 
 more or less ill, though they merely tasted it : one 
 who drank half his cup was violently sick and 
 indisposed for a whole week. This malicious 
 action was done, not because the woman had any 
 complaint against her master or mistress, but 
 because she desired to revenge herself on a fellow- 
 servant, who had the care of the table, and to 
 whom she supposed the blame and punishment 
 would be given. Thus would this besotted 
 heathen woman have sacrificed the life of a whole 
 family, to gratify a spirit of retaliation, for a com- 
 paratively slight offence which she had received. 
 
 Of institutions for the support of the aged, of 
 the sick, and of suffering humanity in general, 
 the Hindoos know nothing. 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 41 
 
 Wealthy zemindars, indeed, feed the crowds of 
 idle beggars and sunyasees, who wander about 
 through the country, which is considered an act 
 of great merit ; but instead of thus conferring a 
 benefit on society, this is only calculated to en- 
 courage idleness and vice, and to increase a set of 
 beings, who cannot but be regarded as indolently 
 subsisting upon the labours of the more industrious. 
 
 I understand there is one hospital established 
 by orthodox Hindoos, in the city of Bombay ; but 
 it appears to be intended for the benefit of cows, 
 monkeys, and other animals, which receive divine 
 honours from the Hindoos. 
 
 On the other hand, people attacked on the road 
 by cholera and fever are allowed to perish with- 
 out notice, (no native will lend a helping hand,) 
 unless some compassionate European should come 
 to their assistance, and find means for their relief. 
 Of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who 
 annually visit Juggernath, multitudes expire in 
 misery upon the road, without receiving a word of 
 consolation in the hour of death, without one being 
 near to alleviate their sufferings ; for there is no 
 mercy in Hindooism. 
 
 Shall I further unfold this fearful moral sketch, 
 by alluding to the vices of impurity which prey 
 upon the vitals of the nation, and destroy the 
 
42 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 domestic happiness of the Hindoo ? Marriages are 
 solemnised by religious ceremonies ; but it is this 
 very religion which tears the sacred bond asunder. 
 A respectable Brahmin assured me, that not one 
 Hindoo is faithful to his matrimonial engagements. 
 He is habitually an adulterer ; and other sins of a 
 similar nature, and unnatural crimes, prevail to 
 a dreadful degree among the people. 
 
 In illustration of this sad statement, I may just 
 mention here, that one of our missionary brethren 
 was once attacked by a Brahmin, who affirmed 
 that the assertions constantly made as to our 
 Scripture being very ancient, was untrue ; for, 
 said he, " I can prove that one chapter of your 
 sacred book has been written since your arrival in 
 this country." " To what part do you allude?" 
 rejoined the missionary. " To the first chapter of 
 Romans," said the Brahmin; " I am sure you 
 could never have written so exact a description of 
 the Hindoos, had you not first seen them." Here 
 was a testimony to the Bible, — to the omniscience 
 of Him who so well knows what is in man ! 
 
 In this gloomy light, the moral character of the 
 Hindoo presents itself to the eyes of the calm, 
 unprejudiced observer. What can have produced 
 so sad a state of things ? I believe there are two 
 principal causes to which the evil may be traced ; 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 43 
 
 the first is slavish oppression, and the second, the 
 Brahminical system of idolatry. Need we be sur- 
 prised to miss the noble characteristic features of 
 honesty, truth, and faithfulness, among a people 
 who have been groaning for centuries under the 
 slavish yoke of tyranny, imposed by fanatical 
 Mahomedan rulers ? The second and principal 
 cause is their religion. The arch-enemy of man- 
 kind could not have established one, which was 
 better calculated to destroy every disposition to- 
 wards that which is true, and lovely, and of good 
 report, and entirely to eradicate every moral 
 feeling, than Brahminism. 
 
 If a person become but superficially acquainted 
 with this system, he will discover at once that it 
 is the fabrication of the priesthood. Selfishness, 
 pride, and wickedness have woven it together, and 
 religious hypocrisy has cast a veil of sanctity over it. 
 
 Every false religious system has originated in 
 some selfish motive. The main object of Hindoo- 
 ism, is the exaltation of the Brahmins. When a 
 Brahmin is born, people say, religion has had a 
 new incarnation ; and my innermost feelings have 
 often been roused, upon seeing the low despised 
 Sudra, prostrating himself before him in the street, 
 touching the ground three times with his forehead, 
 and looking up to him in supplication for a bless- 
 
44 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 ing, while he laid hold, with his right hand, of the 
 foot of the deified priest, and kissed his filthy toe. 
 He walks with a proud and insolent air ; his 
 whole demeanour is imposing, and calculated to 
 give people an impression of his greatness and 
 importance. 
 
 I shall, in describing the different castes, enter 
 more fully upon the details of the character of the 
 Brahmin ; but it was necessary in this place, in 
 finishing the sketch, to take notice of his individu- 
 ality. When the stranger enters a Hindoo village, 
 he will immediately discover that the Brahmin is 
 playing the chief part ; every portion of human 
 life seems to be moving around him ; he is the 
 central point of the whole ; he is the lord of the 
 country ; frequently he is the zemindar ; he gives 
 the blessing or the curse ; he opens heaven, or 
 condemns to hell. The conscience and intellect 
 of the people are in his hands ; his is a universal 
 dominion in the fullest sense. 
 
 Such was universally the state of things in India 
 formerly; thank God, it is no longer so in every 
 part ; a change is effecting, — we have the pleasing 
 hope and sure prospect that an amelioration will 
 ere long take place. 
 
 Allow me to conclude this section with a few 
 practical remarks. 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 45 
 
 What an interesting phenomenon is here pre- 
 sented to the mind of the philanthropist and the 
 Christian, in regarding this nation of a hundred 
 and thirty millions,* belonging, as we both do, to 
 the great human family upon earth ! Our God 
 is their God, and our Father, their Father ! But 
 they know him not. Endowed with excellent 
 mental faculties, in possession of one of the fairest 
 and most fertile portions of the globe, they might 
 be one of the happiest and most prosperous nations 
 on the earth. 
 
 But they are not so ; on the contrary, they are 
 unhappy in the highest degree. The ground- 
 work of national welfare, of social and individual 
 happiness, is rotten under their feet, and they are 
 deeply sunk in a gulf of mental and physical 
 misery. 
 
 When a nation is deprived of the knowledge of 
 the true God, it carries the seed of moral destruc- 
 tion in its own bosom. The words of our divine 
 Redeemer are realised in this case : " This is life 
 eternal, that they might know thee, the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 
 
 There is a kind of civilisation, independent of 
 true religion ; such a civilisation the Hindoo and 
 
 * According to the last census, I believe the population of India 
 proper is now little short of two hundred millions. 
 
46 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 the Chinese possess. But although this has, in 
 some degree, developed his intellectual faculties, it 
 has hardly touched his moral being ; his heart is 
 left unimproved. 
 
 The Chinese fabricate silks which almost surpass 
 European manufacture, and the Hindoo prepares 
 fine muslins with his delicate and pliable fingers, 
 which equal the English. The weavers of Cashmir 
 weave a woollen shawl, so delicate and fine, that the 
 wife of the Emperor Aurungzeb could draw a large 
 one through the ring of her finger. But notwith- 
 standing this partial material civilisation, the 
 Chinese still expose thousands of helpless female 
 children, and put out the eyes of others, to excite 
 the compassion of the people; and every morning, 
 a cart drives through Peking, to carry away 
 the murdered infants. Nor has the Hindoo been 
 taught by his rules of civilisation, to consider the 
 other sex as his equal ; no, the poor female is 
 despised, and treated like a slave. Gentle and 
 polished as the Hindoo may appear, he can never- 
 theless see his Sudra brother perishing with hun- 
 ger, drowning in the river, or dying helplessly 
 of cholera under a tree, without reaching out his 
 hand to save his life. 
 
 God preserve you, my readers, from this sort of 
 Asiatic civilisation ! To whom are you indebted 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 47 
 
 for your higher and purer moral principles, for the 
 sense of truth and justice that exists in the breast of 
 every Englishman, for your schools, hospitals, and 
 other desirable and useful institutions, for the 
 improvement and support of mankind, and for al- 
 leviating the sufferings of your fellow-beings ? To 
 whom do you owe your free constitution, guarded 
 and secured by excellent laws and a paternal 
 government; your public administrations securing 
 to every person his property, and protecting the 
 subject against violence, injustice, and oppression? 
 
 Do you not recognise in all these common pri- 
 vileges, the blessed fruits which have grown from 
 the heavenly tree of that pure religion in which 
 you have been brought up, and which has laid a 
 moral foundation in the minds of even those 
 among you who have not yet been brought to 
 taste of its superior spiritual blessings ? 
 
 These are privileges, which Englishmen are 
 permitted to enjoy, as a nation and in social life, 
 and which, alas ! too many do thoughtlessly enjoy, 
 without one grateful acknowledgment of the bene- 
 volent hand that has bestowed them. 
 
 If the Hindoos are your brethren, they deserve 
 your compassion; if they are your fellow-subjects, 
 they deserve your sympathy ; if a merciful Creator 
 has designed them for the enjoyment of the same 
 
48 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 blessings which have been most abundantly 
 poured into your lap, — and who would dare to say, 
 it is not so ? — then remember, that for effecting 
 this important end, His kind providence has placed 
 the countless tribes of India under British sway, — 
 then take to heart the fact, that in that great hea- 
 then land, He has opened an extensive sphere for 
 the exercise of your benevolence and philanthropy. 
 
 The Hindoo, although deeply sunk, is not inca- 
 pable of improvement ; thousands have, by the 
 preaching of Christian truth, become better beings, 
 and have been conducted to the source of true 
 peace and happiness. 
 
 We cannot be said to have understood the main 
 object of our existence in this world, unless we 
 feel it to be this, — that we communicate to others 
 the happiness we enjoy. That disposition which 
 selfishly excludes the heathen world from its 
 notice and regard, — which is unwilling to listen to 
 the cry of suffering mankind, belongs to the reign 
 of darkness, and will draw the mind deeper into 
 that gloomy element. 
 
 A great portion of our fellow-immortals, that is, 
 seven hundred millions of Heathen and Maho- 
 medans, are sighing for deliverance ; they all long, 
 though frequently unconscious of it, after the 
 liberty of the children of God, and to be freed 
 
CONDITION OF INDIA. 49 
 
 from the chains of idolatry ; their misery calls 
 upon us with a mighty voice, " Come over and 
 help us," although they may be unable to raise 
 the piteous cry audibly for themselves. 
 
 The Almighty himself has declared, that they 
 shall be delivered ; that the light of Divine truth 
 shall be diffused throughout this inhabited globe. 
 
 Help us, then, dear readers, in the great and 
 noble endeavour to convey the blessings of the 
 Gospel to our fellow-beings. The common Father 
 of us all intends that that portion of his great 
 family which is yet living without God and with- 
 out hope in the world, should become acquainted 
 with the blessings of truth, by us who know its 
 value, and live in the enjoyment of its benefits. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, AND 
 MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 
 
 shasters very voluminous. — language. — sanscrit the root 
 of all others. — division and antiquity of the shasters. — 
 veneration for them. — vedas. — delusion concerning their 
 doctrines. — the sacred books channels for secular, as 
 well as religious teaching. — philosophical and meta- 
 physical writings held sacred. — date op the vedas. — 
 doctrine of the shasters. — deity acknowledged. — caste, 
 its origin, distinction, and mingling of it. — laws. — homage 
 and offerings given to priests. — polygamy. — immorality 
 of the brahmins. — gods and goddesses of the hindoos. — 
 three principal deities. — brahma. — vishnu. — shiva. — 
 Krishna's incarnation. — shiva's wife. — her names: durga, 
 parbatti, and kalee. — thugs. — general observations. 
 
 ' ' And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and 
 stone, silver and gold, which were among them." — Deut. xxix. 17. 
 
 Having presented my readers with an account 
 of the land of the Hindoos, and the character of 
 that remarkable people, I now proceed to give a 
 short survey of their shasters, or religious writings, 
 and of their mythology. 
 
 When the missionary is conversing with the 
 Brahmin on the subject of his religion, the latter 
 habitually refers to his shasters, quoting passages 
 
LITERATURE, ETC. OF THE HINDOOS. 51 
 
 from those religious books. The thought has often 
 struck me, that if Christian philosophers and 
 divines regarded the Holy Scriptures with the 
 same reverence, — if they considered the declara- 
 tions of Jehovah as his last decision, which short- 
 sighted man dare not trespass, as the Brahmins 
 do, with the so-called revelations of their gods, 
 practical Christianity would be in a more flourish- 
 ing state in Christian countries, than we find it at 
 the present time. 
 
 We must not imagine, however, that every 
 Brahmin is as familiarly acquainted with his shat- 
 ters, as the minister of the Gospel is with his 
 Bible, — the contrary is generally the case ; the 
 majority of them have committed to memory small 
 portions of them, by frequent repetition ; and a 
 number of slokes, or verses, and proverbial say- 
 ings, is all they know of their religious books, 
 with some fabulous stories of the miraculous per- 
 formances of their gods. 
 
 The mass of these writings is exceedingly volu- 
 minous; so that a whole human life would not 
 suffice for an attentive perusal of only a small 
 portion of them. I asked my pundit, or Bengalee 
 teacher, on a certain occasion, how many volumes 
 their shasters contained ; when he replied, " Who 
 is able to calculate that ? no man can number 
 
 E 
 
52 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS. 
 
 them ; the palace of the Rajah of Burdwan would 
 not contain them ; they are like the ocean, unfa- 
 thomable, without measure, and without end." 
 
 That celebrated searcher into Hindoo mytho- 
 logy, Sir William Jones, appeared to coincide in 
 the same view, when in astonishment and surprise 
 he exclaimed, " To whatever part of this literature 
 we may direct our attention, we are every where 
 struck with the thought of infinity." The Iliad 
 of Homer numbers twenty-four thousand verses, 
 but the Mahabharat of the Hindoos four hundred 
 thousand ; and the Purannas, comprehending only 
 a small portion of their religious books, extend to 
 two millions of verses. 
 
 One peculiar reason which enhances the diffi- 
 culty of the study of Hindoo mythology is, that 
 these voluminous masses are written in a language 
 which, like the Latin, is no longer spoken, and the 
 study of which requires a number of years. The 
 Sanscrit language resembles the banian tree, 
 which is striking down new roots into the earth 
 from its powerful branches. A family of fresh, 
 vigorous trees is thus growing up in an extensive 
 circle, while the maternal trunk is decayed and 
 dead. Nearly all the languages now spoken in 
 India are the offspring of Sanscrit, but the 
 parent has ceased to move among the living. A 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 53 
 
 Brahmin able to speak this language, so rich and 
 energetic, is a rare sight. At Benares, Nuddea, 
 and a few other places, where seminaries for the 
 education of young Brahmins have been established 
 from ancient times, the most learned men are 
 found. Rich zemindars and rajahs entertain and 
 support them in towns, for the education of the 
 young, and with a view to derive benefit from 
 their learned and holy conversation. 
 
 The Hindoos divide the voluminous masses of 
 their shasters into eighteen parts, asserting that 
 they contain eighteen distinct kinds of knowledge. 
 To the first class belong the four Vedas. The 
 Brahmins believe these to be as old as eternity ; 
 they also assert, that they were communicated to 
 mankind, not through the medium of a mortal, 
 but by the mouth of Brahma himself. Excom- 
 munication and the curse are threatened upon those 
 who venture to instruct people of the lower classes 
 in the knowledge of the Vedas. No European 
 has ever succeeded in obtaining them by purchase ; 
 there is some hope, however, that they will ere 
 long appear in print, and be accessible to every 
 student of Hindoo literature. 
 
 The Vedas consist of a compilation of prayers, 
 called Muntrus ; and, at a later period, a collec- 
 tion of doctrines and precepts, which are called 
 
54 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 Bramahnas, was added. They detail an end- 
 less number of ceremonies which are to be 
 performed by the priest, the ascetic, and the her- 
 mit, at their religious services. 
 
 One of the oldest sages of Hindoo antiquity 
 collected the Bramahnas, or religious statutes from 
 the Yedas, into special tracts, with the title of 
 Upanishads : this compilation is a kind of com- 
 pendium of Hindoo theology, generally known 
 under the appellation of Vedanta. 
 
 There have been men, professed Christians, who 
 have spoken with enthusiastic admiration of the 
 Hindoo writings ; their primitive religion, it has 
 been said, contained the most sublime doctrines, 
 and inculcated the most pure morality : but this is 
 an egregious delusion ; and an excellent missionary, 
 who enjoyed the advantage of personal intercourse 
 with learned Brahmins, and free access to many of 
 their books, came nearer to the truth, when he 
 made the following remark respecting the religious 
 and moral merits of the most ancient and least 
 objectionable of those writings. " Many an object 
 appears beautiful when seen at a distance, and 
 through a mist ; but when you approach it nearer, 
 you will smile at the deception. As you become 
 more intimately acquainted with the shasters, you 
 must feel struck with the absurd character of their 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 55 
 
 doctrines — unworthy of the very name of a Divine 
 revelation — and the laxity of their morals." 
 
 In order that my readers may be enabled to 
 form some idea of the muntrus, or prayers, of the 
 holy Vedas, I have extracted a few : " Ugni, 
 god of the fire, pray repose upon this chair of 
 Kusu grass ; I invite thee to taste the clarified 
 butter ; thou hast thy dwelling in the mind, and 
 everywhere ; make my desire known to God, that 
 my offering may be accepted, and that I may 
 obtain honour among men. He who at the time 
 of sacrifice presents his offering to Ugni, while the 
 bright flame mingled with smoke is ascending 
 and surrounding the altar, has no enemies." 
 
 Another prayer to Surjyo, the god of the sun : 
 " Like as the husbandman is cultivating his field 
 through the whole year, in order to obtain fruit, thus 
 endow me, the offerer, with the juice of the sacrifice, 
 during the spring, and other seasons of the year." 
 
 Another : "O Indra, give us riches without 
 measure, consisting of gold, oxen, provisions, and 
 long life. We ask more riches of Indra, whether 
 you obtain them from men, or from the inhabitants 
 of heaven, or from the infernal regions, — wherever 
 you may get them ; only make us rich." Whether 
 religious devotions of this description are calculated 
 to fill the mind of the Hindoo with holy thoughts, 
 
56 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 or to raise it from sin and the world to heaven, I 
 leave to the judgment of my readers. 
 
 It is true that the Vedas do contain purer and 
 sublimer ideas of the Divine Being and his wor- 
 ship, than the later writings ; but from these 
 extracts it is evident, that the sun, fire, and the 
 polluted Indra, are in them also recommended, as 
 objects of Divine adoration. 
 
 I may just add a short extract from the Bramah- 
 nas ; it contains a direction how the Hindoo has 
 to perform his worship. Above all, he is to 
 represent to himself the name, the form, and the 
 qualities of the god he desires to worship. He 
 must select a solitary place on the banks of the 
 river, or before an idol temple. A field on which 
 cows are feeding, or near a waterfall, is likewise 
 favourable. The right foot is to be held with the 
 left hand, and the left foot with the right hand. 
 He must then present the godhead to his mind, as 
 sitting upon a radiant throne, and realise all the 
 feelings of love, joy, and tenderness which, at the 
 sight of it, would fill his soul. He must after- 
 wards imagine all the elements of which his body 
 is composed, as fire, earth, air, water, ether, and 
 then let him exclaim; "Like me there is no sinner 
 on earth, and there is no deliverer besides thee : 
 such being the case, divine Being, I expect the 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 57 
 
 fulfilment of thy will." Then he must present a 
 bloody sacrifice, and say, " All my works, bad 
 and good, I present to thee in the fire of thy 
 favour." 
 
 The second class of sacred books treat on the 
 art of healing, music, war, architecture, and sixty- 
 four various mechanical arts. Hence you perceive 
 the shasters of the Hindoos teach not merely reli- 
 gion, but every kind of science and knowledge. 
 The author of the mechanical works was Vishnu 
 Karma, the celebrated artist and workman of 
 the gods. Whether this great mechanic taught 
 something of steam-engines, is very doubtful, for 
 even the learned Brahmins appeared full of asto- 
 nishment and wonder, when the first English 
 steamer went up the Ganges, against wind and 
 tide; but instead of this, perhaps, he manufactured 
 the horrid image of Juggernath. By far the most 
 numerous class of shasters is comprehended in 
 the poetical works of the Purrannas, treating on 
 the creation of the world, the power and attributes 
 of the gods, the incarnations of Vishnu, &c. 
 Among the most interesting of these may be num- 
 bered the Mahabharat and Bhagavat Gita ; the 
 latter contains a description of Krishna's life. 
 The Ramayun, an epic poem, gives a history of 
 Ram, an incarnation of Vishnu ; the historical 
 
58 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 details afford remarkable specimens of the ancient 
 history of Hindoosthan. In the preface of the 
 Ramayun it is stated, " He who constantly hears 
 and sings this poem, will obtain the highest bliss, 
 and will become like the gods." 
 
 Besides these, there is an endless mass of writ- 
 ings, counted sacred, namely, the Nyay shasters, 
 the Smritis, the Mimangsa, of philosophical, juris- 
 tical, and metaphysical tendency. Menu is the 
 author of the most celebrated of them, on which 
 account he is often called the legislator of the 
 Hindoos. Six of those philosophical systems are 
 called " the Dur shuns ;" each of them has its 
 own author and its peculiar tendency : among the 
 learned Brahmins they have obtained the same 
 celebrity as the schools of Plato, Zeno, and Aris- 
 totle did among the Greeks of old. 
 
 Philosophers are in conflict about the nature 
 and qualities of the divinity ; about spirit and 
 matter, existence and non-existence. Until this 
 day there is no lack of learned heads among 
 the Brahmins, who take the rusty weapons of 
 the ancients out of the armoury, to renew the 
 conflict. But it is to be hoped, the brighter 
 light of Divinely-revealed truth will soon dispel 
 those delusions of heathenish philosophical sys- 
 tems from the muddy banks of the Ganges. 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 59 
 
 The age of the Vedas has never been ascertained 
 with any degree of certainty. Some enthusiastic 
 admirers of them, put them far before the time 
 of the deluge. A learned professor in America 
 actually requested Sir W. Jones to search among 
 the Hindoos for the Adamic books. The amazing 
 credulity of sceptics and unbelievers, in every 
 thing except the records of the sacred Scriptures, 
 is notorious. The latter gentleman, who is re- 
 garded as one of the most profound scholars in 
 Hindoo antiquity, concluded from internal and 
 external evidence, the age of the Vedas to be 
 about three thousand years ; accordingly, they 
 stand in antiquity nearest to the books of Moses. 
 All the other Sanscrit writings are of more recent 
 date. . 
 
 After this cursory glance into the impenetrable 
 chaos of Hindoo shasters, we proceed a step fur- 
 ther. The question we have now to consider is 
 this, What view has the Brahmin of a Divine Being? 
 and we shall be sadly mistaken if we expect to 
 find in the Hindoo shasters a confession of faith 
 laid down which the learned uniformly acknow- 
 ledge as the ground- work of their belief. S 
 
 As a northwester hurricane in Bengal, after a 
 glowing, fiery, hot day, mingles clouds with dust, 
 leaves, wood, and earth, in its destructive course, 
 
60 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 so we find in the wild confusion of the shasters, 
 all the nobler Divine thoughts, and purer ideas of 
 the majesty of God, interwoven and mixed up 
 with the most puerile nonsense. You cannot lay 
 your hand on one point of doctrine, which is not 
 in conflict with another, or denied by some rival 
 system. Hence the missionary finds the most 
 perfect refutation of Hindooism in the frequent 
 contradictions of the Hindoos' own sacred books ; 
 and if he convince the Brahmin of the looseness 
 and absurdity of his religion from these, he will 
 cover his face with his garment and walk away 
 ashamed. 
 
 The Hindoo, however, acknowledges one Supreme 
 Being as the ground and foundation of his religion. 
 "Ek Brumho, dittyo nashti," One God, and beside 
 him no other — this sentence is become a proverb, 
 and is in the mouth of every Brahmin. His 
 writings dignify this supreme and eternal Being 
 with the title " Brahm," which is to be carefully 
 distinguished from Brahma, an emanation of the 
 former, and the first person in the Hindoo trinity. 
 The shasters describe Brahm as a being without 
 beginning and without end, almighty, omniscient, 
 unchangeable; in short, as being possessed of all 
 the Divine attributes, as the sublimest conceptions 
 of the holy Scriptures describe Jehovah. This 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 61 
 
 being, however, all spirit and without form, is 
 devoid of qualities. The shasters declare, that the 
 very idea of allowing attributes in Brahm, renders 
 a multiplication of him a necessary consequence. 
 For this very reason, the Brahmin will not allow 
 the God of the Bible, because to him it appears 
 impossible and irrational to believe, that spirit can 
 act and create, without being united with matter. 
 
 Brahm is therefore represented without mind, 
 without will, without consciousness of his exist- 
 ence : no wonder that many Hindoos, in going one 
 step further, declare the Supreme is nothing ; for 
 a spirit without power and energy, is like a thing 
 of nought. Nevertheless it is asserted, on the other 
 hand, that he enjoys the highest beatitude, — it is 
 the bliss of a deep, uninterrupted sleep. 
 
 Brahm, however, must one day have awoke 
 from his long sleep ; or, in other words, the nega- 
 tive character of his existence must have changed 
 into the positive. This was necessary for calling 
 the world into existence. On this important point, 
 the different philosophical systems, headed by 
 their respective leaders, have carried on a never- 
 ceasing warfare. 
 
 Brahm awoke, say the Vedas, and feeling desire 
 arising, said, " Let me be many." Forthwith he 
 took upon himself a material form ; and henceforth 
 
62 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 lie is like a spider, sitting in the centre, spinning 
 out his interminable threads, and fastening what he 
 produces from himself to the right and left, towards 
 all quarters of the infinite vacuum. 
 
 Here then the shell of Hindooism begins to open; 
 the creation of the world, according to its teaching, 
 is nothing more or less than a manifestation of 
 Brahm in visible material forms ; it is the most 
 perfect system of pantheism. The cosmogony of 
 the shasters runs thus : All the germs or seed corns 
 of the world that was to come into existence, were 
 condensed in the shape of an egg, and the supreme 
 took possession of it in the form of Brahma. One 
 year of the creation, or one thousand jugs, which 
 according to our reckoning makes three hundred 
 millions of common years, elapsed before the egg 
 was hatched. During that long period it was 
 swimming like a bubble upon the mighty deep 
 or chaos ; its brightness resembled that of a thou- 
 sand suns. At last it broke, and Brahma sprang 
 forth: his appearance was terrific ; he had a 
 thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand 
 arms ; a suitable complement to undertake the work 
 of creation. Another monstrous being escaped 
 from the egg with him, evidently signifying the 
 crude materials from which the great mundane 
 machine was to be prepared. The hairs of this 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. (53 
 
 monster, were the trees and plants of the forests, 
 his head the clouds, his beard the lightning, his 
 breath the atmosphere, his voice the thunder, his 
 eyes the sun and moon, his nails the rocks, his bones 
 the mountains of the earth. When the egg was 
 fabricated, Brahm as creator retired from the scene, 
 and henceforth he troubled himself no longer with 
 the concerns of the world. He relapsed into his 
 former sleep, and nothing will disturb him in his 
 dreams until the time when the dissolution of the pre- 
 sent universe is to awaken him to renewed activity. 
 
 No temple in India is consecrated to this 
 " unknown God," like the one at Athens, which 
 presented to the apostle a welcome opportunity for 
 proclaiming the mercy and truth of the eternal God. 
 The reason of this is obvious : the Hindoo expects 
 nothing, fears nothing, hopes nothing from a god 
 who is asleep, wrapped up in sweet dreams, and 
 who has communicated his power to those who 
 are now managing the government of the world 
 as his delegates. 
 
 When the great egg opened, it brought forth 
 likewise the three worlds, viz. the uppermost, 
 which is inhabited by the gods, the middle, in- 
 tended for the dwelling-place of man, and the 
 infernal world, destined to be the habitation of 
 demons and all sorts of fearful beings. 
 
64 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 The earth, according to the description of the 
 shasters, is a flat plain of circular form, resembling 
 the water-lily, measuring four hundred millions of 
 miles in circumference. The inhabitable part of it 
 consists of seven islands of similar shape, each of 
 which is surrounded by an ocean. The innermost 
 island, bounded by the ocean of salt water, is called 
 Jampadwip ; the second island is surrounded by a 
 sea consisting of the juice of the sugar-cane ; the sea 
 surrounding the third, contains spirituous liquors ; 
 the fourth, clarified butter; the fifth, sour milk; the 
 sixth, sweet milk ; and the seventh contains sweet 
 water. Beyond the latter there is a land of pure 
 gold, but inaccessible to man, and far beyond it 
 extends the land of darkness and the hell. The 
 earth is resting upon an enormous snake with a 
 hundred heads, and the snake upon a tortoise : 
 whenever the former shakes one of his heads, 
 an earthquake is caused thereby. The bigoted 
 Brahmin is firmly persuaded of the indubitable 
 fact, that no circumnavigator of the globe has ever 
 succeeded in passing beyond the salt water ocean ; 
 and let the English become ever so skilful in the 
 art of navigation, they will always be obliged to 
 sail within its confines. 
 
 In the centre of the enormous plain of the earth, 
 which is 250,000 miles in diameter, the loftiest 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 65 
 
 of all mountains, Sumeru, rises to the enormous 
 height of more than 200,000 miles ; it is crowned 
 with three golden summits, which are the favourite 
 residences of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The 
 highest clouds reach to about a third part of the 
 height of the mountain ; at the foot of this moun- 
 tain there are three smaller hills, placed like 
 sentinels, on the top of each of which grows the 
 mangoe-tree, above two thousand miles in height. 
 These trees bear a fruit as delicious as nectar, 
 which measures several hundred feet in diameter. 
 When it falls to the ground, juice exudes from 
 it, whose spicy fragrance perfumes the air, and 
 those who eat thereof, diffuse a most agreeable 
 smell for many miles around them. The rose- 
 apple tree is likewise growing on those hills, the 
 fruit of which is as large as an elephant, and so 
 full of juice, that at the season of maturity it 
 flows along in a stream, and whatever it touches 
 in its course, is changed into the purest gold. 
 Here is a specimen of geography, which surpasses 
 all our preconceived and short-sighted notions of 
 the globe we inhabit ! 
 
 I mentioned above that the cosmogonies in the 
 mythology of the Hindoos are many. One of 
 the most popular among them, deserves to be 
 noticed. The god Vishnu slept in the depth of the 
 
66 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 ocean. From him grew a water-lily, which swam 
 on the surface of the water, and out of which pro- 
 ceeded Brahma, to whom the gods delivered the 
 work of the creation of the universe. In order to 
 accomplish his purpose, he led for a long time the 
 life of an ascetic ; but he was unsuccessful. The 
 disappointment drove him into a rage, and the tears 
 gushed from his eyes. Out of these briny drops 
 arose gigantic beings of terrific shape. One of his 
 deepest sighs over this sad catastrophe, produced 
 the god Eodru, that is, light and warmth, who, 
 upon Brahma's request, undertook the continuation 
 of the arduous task ; but it did not proceed in his 
 hands. Brahma was therefore obliged to resume 
 it again ; and after much anxiety, various beings 
 issued from his fingers, ears, and other members. 
 The work then advanced with more success ; and 
 fire, earth, and wind, followed each other in quick 
 succession. 
 
 Upon this, Brahma divided himself into human 
 forms, and created men ; then he assumed the shape 
 of a bullock, and afterwards that of a horse, and 
 thus produced the various kinds of four-footed 
 animals, birds, &c. In this way the uncounted 
 multitudes of animated beings, which now people 
 the earth and other worlds, rose gradually into 
 existence. 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 67 
 
 Thus you see how the idea of pantheism pervades 
 the base fiction of this very absurd and immoral 
 history of the creation. To create is, in fact, nothing 
 but a manifestation of Brahma in new forms ; he 
 becomes an elephant, a mountain, a river ; and thus 
 he produces and propagates the different species of 
 living beings. The whole universe is a portion of 
 himself. In this view he is represented in the 
 Vedas : " Brahma is not separated from the crea- 
 tion : he is the light of the sun, of the moon, and of 
 the fire ; the Vedas are the breath of his nostrils : 
 the primitive elements are his eyes ; the shaking 
 movements of events are his laugh ; his sleep is the 
 destruction of the world. In various forms he 
 enlivens the creature : in the form of fire he digests 
 their nourishment ; in the form of air he preserves 
 their life, as water he quenches their thirst, as the 
 sun he ripens the fruits, as the moon he gives them 
 refreshing sleep ; the progress of time is the step 
 of his foot. Brahma hears and sees everything, he 
 cultivates the field, he is turned into a cloud to give 
 it moisture, he becomes corn and satisfies mankind. 
 While he dwells in the body, he sustains its vital 
 warmth ; if he withdraw, it will get cold and die. 
 He destroys sin in the devout, as the cotton thread 
 is singed in the fire ; he is the source of all truth 
 and of all lies ; he who takes his refuge to him will 
 
 F 
 
6*8 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS 
 
 become holy, he who turns his face from him will 
 become a blasphemer." Such is one of the most 
 sublime songs which the priests sing in honour of 
 their Creator. 
 
 The distinction of caste is traced in its origin to 
 the creation of man. By successive emanations 
 from himself, Brahma called various classes of 
 mankind into existence. First the Brahmin 
 escaped from his mouth, as the representative of 
 God in human form. The nature of his birth sig- 
 nified him to be, not only the highest and most 
 exalted of all human beings, but likewise the 
 intended teacher, and the mediator between the 
 gods and mankind. From the arm of Brahma, the 
 defence of the body, sprung the Ksethryo, or the 
 caste of warriors ; the object of whose creation was 
 evident, from the nature of his birth : he was to 
 protect the people by his powerful arm, and to 
 shield and defend his brethren against the aggres- 
 sion and opjDression of the wicked. From Brah- 
 ma's breast issued the Vyasa, or caste of merchants 
 and tradesmen, to provide for the necessities of 
 mankind ; and from the humblest member, his 
 foot, came the despised Sudra, or the servile caste. 
 Their allotted task was to perform every kind of 
 menial labour for their nobler-born brethren, both 
 at home and in the field. 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 60 
 
 The Sudras constitute by far the greatest number 
 of the inhabitants of Bengal ; and probably it is 
 the same in other parts of India. For thirty cen- 
 turies past have those unhappy beings groaned 
 under the curse of the haughty Brahmin, and 
 patiently borne the intolerable burden. What God 
 has appointed, say they, we cannot alter. So holy 
 and unchangeable is this institution of castes, in 
 the eyes of the people, and so firm is the belief of 
 the Hindoo as to the appointment being of Divine 
 authority, that a transition from one caste to 
 the other is absolutely impossible. A prince 
 cannot purchase the Brahminical thread, which is 
 the badge of their dignity, for millions : as a mouse 
 can never be changed into an elephant, or the 
 thorn-bush into an orange-tree, so neither can a 
 Sudra be turned into a Brahmin. The Brahmin 
 may sink, — if he offend against his caste, his 
 holiness will withdraw itself; he forfeits his nobi- 
 lity and is degraded. If he marry the daughter 
 of a Sudra, his progeny will be a sort of illegi- 
 timate caste. Accordingly, at the present day, 
 Brahmins of the first, second, and third class, are 
 met with in India. The purest and most honoured 
 are of course those who, both on the paternal and 
 maternal side, have derived their descent from 
 ancestors of pure blood. 
 
70 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 In modern times, however, the castes have been 
 considerably intermixed with each other. The 
 Ksethryos were nearly extirpated, even before the 
 country was conquered by the Mahomedans, 
 because they resisted the dominion of the Brah- 
 mins. The Voyshyas or merchants' caste, is no 
 longer found in Bengal, and it is believed that 
 they have been amalgamated with, and lost among 
 the Sudras ; while these latter have, especially in 
 southern India, sunk down almost to a level with 
 the brute creation. 
 
 The laws of the Hindoos are peculiarly calculated 
 for the preservation of the power and authority 
 of the priests. In the time when flindooism was 
 in its flower, the Brahmin could in no wise be 
 touched. The prince dared not execute him, 
 though he might have committed every possible 
 crime. As flesh and blood are pervaded in him by 
 Divine holiness, his moral character must be 
 judged by quite a different standard to that of the 
 Sudra. A good action possesses with him a much 
 higher value, and the most hideous crime loses, in 
 his case, a great deal of its heinous nature. When 
 a Brahmin robbed his Sudra brother, he had to 
 pay a fine in money ; but when the latter was the 
 offender, he had to be burned at the stake ; and if 
 he took a Brahmin by his beard, the law com- 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 71 
 
 manded his hands to be cut off. Yea, the revenge 
 of this hateful priest pursued the poor wretch into 
 the other world ; for if a Sudra should meet him 
 in an irreverential manner, he will after death 
 become a tree ; and should he venture to cast an 
 angry glance at him, Yama, the god of the lower 
 regions, will tear out his eyes ; or if he beat 
 the Brahmin but with a straw, he will in twenty 
 transmigrations be born of impure beasts. 
 
 India is, like Italy, a paradise for priests. All 
 the offerings, which the Hindoo presents to his 
 gods, fall, as a matter of course, to the Brahmin. 
 He that feeds a number of them, has the promise 
 of all the blessedness of heaven. The dying 
 Hindoo, who leaves him in his will some of his 
 goods and cattle, will, freed from sin, enter forth- 
 with into Shiva's heaven. He who sells his cow, 
 will go to hell ; but if he make it over to a Brah- 
 min, he will go to heaven. He who presents him 
 an umbrella, will be protected against the inju- 
 rious influence of the sun ; if any one will give 
 him a pair of shoes, his feet will not be blistered 
 on a journey ; and if a person honour him with 
 gifts of aromatic spices, he will be preserved from 
 offensive smells and exhalations, all his days. 
 
 The husbandman may not cultivate his field, he 
 may not put the sickle into the ripe corn, without 
 
72 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 first giving the Brahmin his due. He is the first 
 at court, and in attendance on the Eajah. In the 
 most fertile parts of the country, in towns and 
 villages, where the inhabitants are in comfortable 
 circumstances, Brahmins are found in the greatest 
 numbers. In the western parts of Bengal, where 
 forests abound, and where the ground is less pro- 
 ductive, they are but rarely seen ; they " love to eat 
 the fat, and drink the sweet," and have taken good 
 care to obtain both for their portion. 
 
 When upon mission tours I was desirous to 
 ascertain the condition of the inhabitants of a 
 village, I always inquired first after the number of 
 Brahmins ; and when I received in reply, We have 
 forty or fifty families of them, I perceived at once 
 that the villagers were people of considerable pro- 
 perty, being able to support so many lazy priests. 
 
 As regards the proportion of Brahmins to the 
 other inhabitants, it is calculated that, in Bengal, 
 one may be reckoned to twelve or fifteen Sudras. 
 
 Polygamy is very prevalent among the highest 
 classes, viz. the coolin Brahmins ; there are many 
 who have twenty or thirty wives, and even more. 
 I one day met on a journey such a noble-born 
 individual who told me, " I have only three wives, 
 but my brother has ten !" It is deemed by fathers 
 so honourable to make these alliances for their 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 73 
 
 daughters, that they patiently bear it, if they 
 never receive even a call from their sons-in-law, 
 and cheerfully maintain the disregarded and for- 
 gotten wife in the paternal abode. This profligate 
 habit has deteriorated and lowered the character 
 of the Hindoos to an awful degree. Shame and 
 modesty forbid me to lift the veil from the dark 
 picture. But thus much I may safely assert, that 
 of all India's degraded and demoralised sons, the 
 Brahmin is the most deeply sunk and debased. 
 Mr. Holwell, a judge at Calcutta, said concerning 
 them : " During five years in which I occupied the 
 chair in the criminal court of that city, a case of 
 murder or other crime never came under my 
 notice for investigation, where a Brahmin was 
 not the guilty party, or had not his share in the 
 case." 
 
 Every sin revenges itself, even in the present 
 life, on the person who throws himself into its 
 arms. By their immoral and profligate conduct, 
 the Brahmins have prepared destruction for their 
 own caste ; their whole system of wickedness 
 and abomination is gradually dissolving, and 
 hastening with rapid strides towards its final 
 termination. 
 
 I have given this sketch of the Brahmin caste, 
 immediately after the history of the creation, and 
 
74 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 before that of the gods, for this simple reason, that 
 ray respected readers may be enabled to form their 
 own conclusion from the character of the Brahmins, 
 as to the religion which may be expected from such 
 people. That the system of Hindooisra has not 
 been revealed of God, but is the fabrication of 
 the Brahmins, must be evident to even a superficial 
 observer. Theirs is the merit of having fabricated 
 and personified those base deities, and of having 
 compiled the whole mythological system from tra- 
 ditions of the remotest antiquity. When therefore 
 the Brahmin causes his legions of gods to march 
 up before the astonished multitude in all their 
 majesty and pomp, he does so altogether with a 
 regard to himself. By this system of wickedness 
 he has degraded a great nation to the dust for 
 nearly three thousand years, and exalted himself 
 to be the sovereign ruler of the oppressed millions. 
 Hence he who wishes to be acquainted with Hin- 
 dooism, must first learn the character of the Brah- 
 min, and the manner in which he conducts his 
 affairs on the banks of the Ganges. We shall there- 
 fore, in my next section, meet him on the way on 
 several occasions. 
 
 We now pass on to take a comprehensive view 
 of the gods and goddesses of the Hindoos. As 
 the Indian with his glowing imagination is always 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 75 
 
 prone to fall into the extraordinary and extrava- 
 gant, so in his mythology has he allowed his wild 
 fancy to rove in the most unrestrained course. He 
 has furnished his pantheon with not less than three 
 hundred millions of gods. Whether he has found 
 out names for them all, or appropriated to each his 
 own business, I have never been able to ascertain ; 
 but thus much I can assure my readers, that the 
 Brahmin is quite in earnest in asserting the exist- 
 ence of this stupendous number. The philosophy 
 of pantheism, however, removes all the difficulties 
 that might appear to us : every thing visible is a 
 part of the divinity. On certain festival occasions 
 the Hindoo worships the rice which he eats, the 
 joiner his plane, the carpenter his axe, and the 
 Brahmin the pen and ink, with which he has com- 
 mitted to paper his religious nonsense. 
 
 The founders of Hindooism have reduced these 
 millions with their magical wand to three principal 
 deities ; the idea of which has doubtless been de- 
 rived by tradition from the scriptural doctrine of 
 the Trinity. These beings are called Brahma, 
 Vishnu, and Shiva ; they have, with their consorts, 
 Saraswati, Durga, and Lackhi, brought forth all 
 these uncounted host of deities. 
 
 I have mentioned above in what manner these 
 three principal deities derived their origin from 
 
76 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 Brahm. The Brahmin firmly contends that they 
 have not been created, but are emanations, and 
 proceeded from him. 
 
 Brahma, who is regarded as the creator of the 
 universe, is usually represented in the form of a 
 man, with four faces, the symbols of omniscience, 
 and riding on a goose. He is, like Saturn, some- 
 times called the grandfather of the gods ; but in 
 other passages the shasters represent him likewise 
 as the father of lies. On the whole, the Hindoos 
 seem to feel no high respect for this grandfather, 
 for in no part of India is a temple of Brahma to 
 be seen ; only on certain festival occasions they 
 make an image of him, which is worshipped. The 
 reason for which he is treated with this marked 
 neglect is this : soon after his origin, Brahma 
 boasted himself to be the greatest of the gods. 
 Shiva said, " I allow you the preference, if you 
 can measure my length :" his feet were placed on 
 the bottom of the ocean, and his head reached into 
 the highest heaven. In vain did Brahma attempt 
 climbing up to the head of the giant ; and yet he 
 asserted on his return, that he had touched his 
 forehead : the liar was convicted, and condemned 
 to receive no divine adorations. Moreover, Brahma 
 rendered himself an object of contempt and ridi- 
 cule on account of his profligacy. Revelling and 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 77 
 
 drunkenness were in those times not uncommon 
 among the gods, nor were people so refined as to 
 consider it a vice. On one of these festive occa- 
 sions Brahma conducted himself in a very offensive 
 manner towards his own daughter. The crime 
 provoked the anger of the gods, and his son-in-law, 
 Bhrigu, the first Brahmin, cursed him. He is also 
 charged with having stolen some calves from a 
 herd, which Krishna was tending. 
 
 My respected readers will from this hasty sketch 
 be enabled to form a pretty correct idea of the gods 
 of the Hindoos. The history of the first is a 
 mixture of follies and crimes of every description. 
 If the grandfather can unblushingly tell lies, and 
 form amorous intrigues, if he embrue his hands 
 in war and bloodshed, what can be expected from 
 the younger branches ? A heaven described by the 
 sage Narada, full of all the possible delights his 
 poetic fancy could place in it, and the scene like- 
 wise of the most shocking acts of profligacy, is his. 
 
 The second person in the Hindoo triad is Vishnu. 
 The preservation of the universe is, according to 
 the shasters, entrusted to his care. He is repre- 
 sented in the form of a black man, with four arms, 
 riding upon Gururu, an animal half man and half 
 bird. It is frequently seen in sculpture on temples, 
 but divine homage is nowhere paid to him in this 
 
78 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 form. Of a merciful and gracious providence 
 exercised by Yishnu, for the temporal and spiritual 
 good of man, that would in any degree resemble 
 the character of God as revealed in the Bible, the 
 Hindoo knows nothing. Vishnu is known and 
 worshipped only in his incarnations. Nine times 
 he is said to have made his appearance on earth, 
 and the tenth incarnation is to take place at some 
 future period. 
 
 But you will be disappointed, if you expect to 
 discover in these incarnations any features worthy 
 of a Divine Being, or anything analogous to the 
 incarnate Eedeemer of the world. There is not 
 even the most distant thought of an incarnation 
 for the benefit and salvation of fallen man. It is 
 true, here and there those mythological stories 
 contain portions, which leave no doubt, that the 
 substance of them is derived by tradition from the 
 Mosaic history, such as the deluge, and others ; but 
 all are wrapped up in obscurity and confusion, all 
 are degraded or debased, by a mixture of the 
 grossest absurdities. 
 
 On one occasion, after the holy Vedas had been 
 lost in a great flood, the Brahmins prayed for the 
 restoration of them, lest religion should be swept 
 away from the face of the earth. Vishnu is changed 
 into a fish, submerging into the depth of the sea, 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 79 
 
 and returned with them in his mouth. Another 
 time the same hero became a tortoise, in order to 
 support the earth, which was in danger of sinking 
 into the chaos ; hence the Hindoos believe to this 
 day that the earth is resting on the back of a 
 tortoise. Again, when the earth was ready to be 
 destroyed in mud and water, Vishnu, in the form 
 of a monstrous boar, drew it out with his tusks. 
 On some other occasion this god sprung forth 
 from a column, which was cleft, in the shape of a 
 monster, half man, half Hon, and tore a mighty 
 tyrant in pieces, who was devastating the earth. 
 For the same purpose he made his appearance in 
 the shape of a dwarf, who was begging from a 
 wicked king. The alms he requested were three 
 steps of ground : king Balu promised it ; and as a 
 token of the oath, poured Ganges water from a jug 
 upon the hand of the beggar. Behold what 
 happened! While the water was flowing, the dwarf 
 grew up to the size of a giant, and became so tall, 
 that he reached into the third heaven. The mighty 
 man now proceeded with one step across the whole 
 earth, with the second across the ocean, and with 
 the third he took possession of the heavenly re- 
 gions. Thus was king Balu deprived by Vishnu 
 of his kingdom by subtilty, but as an act of mercy 
 the wondrous man permitted him to be king of the 
 
80 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 lower regions ; and thither he was banished without 
 delay, receiving a letter of safety for his way, that 
 the evil spirits should inflict no injury on him for 
 the crimes he had committed. 
 
 Another time Vishnu appeared on earth as a 
 giant, named Purushram, for the purpose of re- 
 moving the tyrant Urzun, of the caste of warriors. 
 This lawless freebooter one day took his quarters 
 with the pious hermit, Zamadagni. He had an 
 army of nine hundred thousand men with him. 
 The ascetic entertained the host for many days 
 with royal splendour. Urzun could not conceive 
 from whence the hermit procured all this abun- 
 dance in the lonely forest. At last the secret was 
 revealed ; he had a cow, whose name was 
 Kamodhena, which had been given him by 
 Brahma ; as soon as he began to milk it, the cow 
 gave every kind of delicious meat and provisions, 
 with gold and silver, as well as costly garments 
 in abundance. We may easily imagine that the 
 powerful guest wished to obtain possession of the 
 cow, — many a potentate would have had similar 
 desires. As the hermit refused to produce his 
 treasure, the wicked Urzun slew him ; but he 
 derived no good from it, for wings grew on the 
 back of the cow, and no sooner was the murder 
 perpetrated, than it took flight into Brahma's 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 81 
 
 heaven. Vishnu now made his appearance as 
 a giant, and cut the tyrant in pieces. 
 
 Two incarnations remain to be mentioned, the 
 personages figuring in which are universally wor- 
 shipped throughout Bengal and Hindoosthan. One 
 is the incarnation of Earn, the other that of 
 Krishna. The history of the former is related at 
 large in the epic poem, called the Ramayun. Ram 
 was, according to the flesh, descended from royal 
 blood, yet he lived for many years with his wife 
 Sita, as a hermit in a forest. During his absence, 
 while hunting deer in the wood, Rabun, the king 
 of Lanka, or Ceylon, robbed him of his beloved 
 wife by violence. This caused a protracted war, 
 in which Sugriva, king of the monkeys, probably 
 signifying the mountain tribes of southern India, 
 assisted. Of Honnuman, his commander-in-chief, 
 the most heroic actions are related, besides which 
 he is said to have performed stupendous miracles. 
 When a bridge was to be thrown across the straits 
 which separate Ceylon from the continent of India, 
 to conduct the army over, Honnuman tore up 
 large mountains, and threw them into the sea ; 
 thus finishing the bridge in a short time. 
 
 At the siege of the capital of Lanka, king 
 Rabun, who had twenty heads, made a sortie with 
 his host of giants. His brother Kumbhakarna, 
 
82 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 who measured three thousand feet in length, and 
 two thousand round his waist, commenced the 
 battle with devouring his enemies by dozens ; 
 many however saved their lives by jumping out of 
 his ears and nostrils. 
 
 During another sortie, Ram's army being nearly 
 destroyed, they held a council of war, to consult on 
 the measures to be adopted. An old sage raised 
 his voice and declared, that a wonderful herb was 
 growing on the top of the Himalaya mountain, by 
 a decoction from which the whole army, wounded 
 or dead, might be healed and restored; but this 
 must be procured during the night, and before 
 sunrise next morning. The question was, who 
 should undertake the commission, for from Ceylon 
 to the Himalayas it is more than two thousand 
 miles. General Honnuman immediately offered his 
 services. With one leap he was in the clouds, with 
 the second across the sea, and the third placed him 
 upon the summit of the mountain. He sought for 
 hours, but could not find the herb. In this dilemma 
 he conceived that the best thing he could do, was 
 to take the mountain with him ; so laying hold of it 
 with both hands, he shook it with such force that 
 it trembled to its foundation, and at last upheaved 
 with a tremendous crash, upon which he placed it 
 on his shoulders, and hastened away. While he 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 83 
 
 was flying across the kingdom of Oude, a hunts- 
 man shot him down with his arrow; but when he 
 heard of the object of his mission, he felt much 
 regret, and proposed to send him upon the point 
 of a second arrow at once to Ceylon. Honnuman, 
 however, declined the honour, and said he pre- 
 ferred travelling in his accustomed manner. But 
 the huntsman had caused him considerable delay, 
 the night was drawing to a close, and to the east- 
 ward he beheld in the reddening sky, the approach 
 of sunrise. With increased speed he advanced to 
 meet the sun, made a low bow, and entreated him, 
 as Ram's life was in danger, to stand still for half 
 an hour. The sun abruptly replied, " I allow 
 nothing to detain me ; I drive on in my wonted 
 course." Honnuman rejoined, " If entreaty will 
 not avail, I must apply force ; " so he mounted the 
 chariot, pulled down the sun by his hair, took him 
 under his arm, and hastened away. With this 
 stupendous load, the Himalaya on his shoulders, 
 and the sun under his arm, he reached the camp 
 of Ram. The herb was found, and the whole 
 army, though wounded and dead, was restored 
 and revived. 
 
 Ram's incarnation concludes, by his conquering 
 Ceylon, destroying Rabun, and delivering his wife 
 Sita. In the western parts of Hindoosthan, he is 
 
 G 
 
84 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 very generally worshipped ; and the Hindoos praise 
 his heroic actions in their songs. The monkeys, 
 as his companions and favourites, are held in high 
 veneration. A Hindoo who died in Benares, left 
 a large sum in his will for keeping and supporting 
 one thousand five hundred monkeys in his garden, 
 which is done : doubtless he hoped to open for 
 himself an entrance into Vishnu's heaven by this 
 meritorious act. 
 
 The incarnation of Krishna follows next, and 
 deserves to be noticed, because this famous deity 
 is adopted by millions of the Hindoos as their 
 patron. Vishnu, they say, has manifested his 
 power and glory pre-eminently in this incarnation. 
 Other sects call him an impious wretch, a cruel 
 tyrant, yea, an incarnate devil ; for to this day the 
 various sects of Hindoos are in conflict ; each party 
 endeavouring to give their own god the highest 
 place at the expense of the other. And how can 
 it be otherwise? it is but copying the divine exam- 
 ples ; the heavens of their gods presenting scenes 
 of quarrelling and bloodshed, the one waging war 
 with the other for pre-eminence. 
 
 There is this remarkable feature in Krishna's 
 history, that his birth bears some resemblance to 
 that of our Saviour, at Bethlehem. The event 
 occurred at Mathura, in western Hindoosthan. 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 85 
 
 King Kansha, his uncle, sought to kill him, fear- 
 ing the fulfilment of a prophecy, that he would 
 ascend the throne of his ancestors ; but his foster- 
 father fled with him across the Jumna river, as 
 did Joseph to Egypt, and miraculously saved his 
 life. The king, disappointed of his prey, became 
 furious, like Herod, and caused all the babes in the 
 neighbourhood to be killed. Another time, when 
 the king heard of the abode of the child, he sent 
 a woman to nurse it, with poisoned breasts. Once, 
 on passing through the river, Krishna destroyed an 
 enormous serpent, which had poisoned the water. 
 Hence he is frequently represented as engaged in 
 combat with the monster coiled round his body, 
 or as a conqueror placing his right heel upon 
 its head. That this representation has derived its 
 origin by tradition from the first prophecy of the 
 Messiah, (Gen. ii.) " The seed of the woman shall 
 bruise the serpent's head," is very probable. One 
 day Krishna's nurse beheld in the mouth of the 
 babe the three worlds, and Brahma, Vishnu, and 
 Shiva, sitting on golden thrones. 
 
 As soon as the boy begins to act his own part 
 upon the stage of life, all resemblance with the 
 beautiful history of the child Jesus, is at an end. 
 The story of Krishna's youth is a tissue of astound- 
 ing miracles, and abandoned profligacy. On one 
 
8G THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 occasion, several thousand shepherd girls assembled 
 at his joyful music, to celebrate the descent of the 
 god upon earth. Krishna himself appeared among 
 the merry company ; and there being a lack of 
 men for the dance, he divided himself into so many 
 thousand forms, revelling among them for many 
 weeks. In honour of these transactions, the 
 Hindoos celebrate a festival, and shout the wild 
 lewdness of this wretched god in obscene songs, 
 imitating his revelries in pantomimical plays. 
 
 Krishna is also represented as a thief and mur- 
 derer. When he was resolved to destroy his uncle, 
 king Kansha, he discovered on his way to the 
 capital, that his clothes were torn into rags. " In 
 these shreds," said he to his brother Balaram, "we 
 cannot enter the town." They therefore proceeded 
 to the house of a washerman, and demanded gar- 
 ments. He refused to give them, because they 
 belonged to the king. Krishna slew the washer- 
 man, and walked away with the garments. After- 
 wards they went into a shop, and stole two 
 necklaces ; and they robbed an old hump-backed 
 woman of a bundle of sandal-wood, which she was 
 carrying to the palace. Krishna destroyed all his 
 children before he died. His end was worthy of 
 his life : a huntsman saw him sitting on a tree in 
 the shape of a large bird, — he shot an arrow 
 through his heart, and he fell dead at his feet. 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 87 
 
 The incarnation of Budha is not acknowledged 
 as such by the pundits of Bengal. While the 
 system of this philosopher was nearly driven away 
 from the soil of India, it became predominant in 
 China, Ceylon, and the Birmese empire. Budha's 
 main object appears to have been the abolishing 
 of animal and human sacrifices, and the adoption 
 of a more rational philosophy of religion. The 
 purity seems chiefly to consist in this ; that, like 
 many modern philosophical systems, it leads to the 
 total denial of a Divine Being. 
 
 The tenth and last incarnation is still expected 
 by the Hindoos. Vishnu is to return riding upon 
 a white horse, and with his brow adorned with 
 seven crowns, he will appear as a conqueror tri- 
 umphing over his enemies. At that time, the 
 present constitution of the world is to undergo a 
 general revolution ; here then, we have a remark- 
 able allusion to some prophecies of the Old and 
 New Testament, in reference to the second advent 
 of Christ for judgment. 
 
 We have yet to notice the third person of the 
 trinity in Hindooism. Shiva's form and character 
 denote him as a terrible divinity. In the right 
 hand he is holding a trident ; his countenance is 
 threatening ; his necklace consists of human skulls ; 
 his bracelets, ear-rings, and other ornaments, are 
 made up of poisonous snakes. His garment is a 
 
88 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 tiger-skin ; for centuries lie went about in this 
 habit, with hair clotted, and hanging down to his 
 ankles. His vehicle is the sacred bull, on which 
 account this animal is worshipped by the Hindoos. 
 Shiva is the destroyer of every thing that has the 
 breath of life. His eyes are red-shot, because he 
 indulged in the injurious habit of chewing narcotic 
 herbs. Sometimes he was so intoxicated, that his 
 consort, Parbatti, had to shake and dandle him in 
 her lap, before he awoke. At a grand festival of 
 the gods, he drank a portion of poison, which 
 disagreed with him so much, that he fainted away, 
 and he only recovered from the fit after his wife 
 had pronounced some charms over him. The 
 poison, however, left a blue mark on his neck ; 
 hence he is frequently called Nilkontho, or the 
 blue-necked. Being engaged in a quarrel with 
 Brahma, he cut off one of his four heads, out of 
 which he made a dish to collect his alms. 
 
 But we must not expect the shasters to deli- 
 neate the particular and prominent features of 
 each god in a consistent manner. The contrary 
 is frequently the case ; and we often read of one 
 doing that work which is the peculiar province of 
 the other. Thus Shiva, for instance, appears as 
 frequently in the character of creator, as he does 
 in that of destroyer. The Brahmin explains this 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 89 
 
 irregularity in the following manner : he says, " So 
 long as the world lasts, there can be no destruction 
 or annihilation, — it is merely dissolution; and the 
 same elements return, but probably in different 
 forms, into existence. Destruction is, therefore, 
 according to his pantheistical notions, nothing but 
 renovation or re-production. Shiva displays his 
 power in killing and making alive at one blow ; 
 and when his thunderbolt strikes human life, he 
 restores the same by transmigration and new 
 birth. 
 
 Although Shiva is represented to the Hindoo in 
 so repulsive and terrific a character, he has by far 
 the most numerous worshippers of all the gods 
 in Bengal. What kind of worship it is, will be 
 shown in the next section. 
 
 Shiva's wife appears in the Hindoo mythology 
 under three distinct names and individualities: 
 Durga, Parbatti, and Kalee. In Durga the Hin- 
 doos recognise a union of all the divine attributes ; 
 hence the festivals which are held in her honour, 
 are the most distinguished and celebrated in India. 
 The grand feat she accomplished was the destruc- 
 tion of a mighty and cruel tyrant. One god gave 
 her his trident, another his bow with arrows; a 
 third his battle-axe, and a fourth thunder and 
 lightning. Thus arrayed she went forth to meet 
 
90 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 the mighty foe ; he metamorphosed himself into 
 an elephant, some miles in height ; after a long 
 conflict, the goddess shot him through his breast 
 with an arrow. In remembrance of this heroic 
 deed a festival of fourteen days is anually cele- 
 brated, at which the Hindoos spend thousands of 
 pounds every year. 
 
 Kalee is the most terrible divinity in the whole 
 pantheon of Hindooism, and her worship is the 
 most immoral and obscene. She drank the blood of 
 her slain enemies, and her temple is always reek- 
 ing with the gore of the animals sacrificed. I never 
 could look at her image without a feeling of disgust 
 and horror ; she is represented as standing with one 
 foot upon the chest of her husband Shiva, whom 
 she threw down in a fit of anger ; her tongue dyed 
 with blood, is protruding from her mouth ; she is 
 adorned with skulls, and the hands of her slain 
 enemies are suspended from her girdle. That man 
 without a revelation becomes as it were half beast, 
 half devil, can be seen in all the idol temples of 
 Bengal. He seems to delight in choosing as an 
 object for worship, something which bears an 
 unnatural and horrid aspect. Truly says the 
 apostle, " what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice 
 unto devils." In the book of Kali Puranna it is 
 written in reference to this goddess, that the blood 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 91 
 
 of a tiger delights her for ten years, but the blood 
 of a human being for one thousand years. 
 
 If any of her worshippers draw the blood from 
 his own person and offer it to her, she will be 
 in raptures of joy ; but if he cut out a piece 
 of his flesh for a burnt offering, her delight 
 is beyond bounds. In so doing he is to say, 
 u Hail, Mahamaya, great deceiving goddess, arise 
 and devour the gift ; thou hast satisfied my desire ; 
 accept my blood, and show me thy favour." 
 
 Kalee is an especial friend of thieves, robbers, 
 and murderers. Every band of thieves presents to 
 her a petition for success in their wicked under- 
 takings. In her name they also worship the 
 instrument with which they intend to commit 
 house-breaking and murder : the following prayer 
 is used on the occasion : "O instrument prepared 
 by the goddess, Kalee commands thee to make an 
 opening into the house, to cut through stone and 
 bone, through earth and wood, and cause the dust 
 to be carried off by the wind." In full expectation 
 of the divine preservation, they then proceed to the 
 execution of their wicked designs. 
 
 Several years ago the Government in India 
 discovered a band of murderers, a closely-united 
 brotherhood, whose agents were dispersed through 
 all parts of the country, and are well known under 
 
92 THE LITERATURE, RELTGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 the name of Thugs. As true disciples and fol- 
 lowers of Kalee, they have carried on their 
 murderous work for many years in perfect secrecy; 
 and although of late hundreds of them have been 
 hung and banished, the association is in existence 
 to this day. For a long time their head-quarters 
 were in the neighbourhood of Benares. Their 
 main object is robbery, and in order to effect this, 
 they strangle those who fall into their hands. 
 
 There is a temple of Kalee, near the town of 
 Mirzapore, above Benares, in which the Thugs 
 were accustomed to assemble, and implore her 
 assistance before they went abroad on their ma- 
 rauding expedition ; they also promised her a 
 portion of the spoil. 
 
 Three or four of them travel together ; on their 
 way they attach themselves to travellers, enter 
 into conversation with them, and endeavour to 
 ascertain their circumstances, and the property 
 they carry on their persons. Under a shady tree, 
 or behind a hedge, in some retired spot, the com- 
 pany sit down to rest during the heat of the day, 
 and fall asleep. Upon a given signal, the Thugs 
 rush upon their defenceless fellow-travellers ; a 
 girdle made of cotton cloth, is with incredible 
 swiftness thrown round their neck, and in a few 
 minutes they are lying strangled on the ground. 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 93 
 
 Their money and every thing of value is taken 
 from them, and the corpses are buried in the sand, 
 or in the earth. Such a readiness have these 
 Thugs attained in their profession of murder, that 
 in a quarter of an hour the whole business is 
 done. They strangle a traveller if he have but 
 four shillings' worth of property upon his person. 
 When some of them are caught and condemned to 
 die on the gallows, they believe that they have 
 not been conscientious and faithful enough, in 
 their devotions to Kalee, or else she would cer- 
 tainly have protected them from harm. These 
 Thugs have certain signs by which they recognise 
 each other, through the whole of Hindoosthan. 
 When they are informed that they have been 
 traced and pursued by the hand of justice, they 
 disperse for several weeks, and meet again at some 
 place, appointed beforehand.* 
 
 I should think my Christian readers have pro- 
 ceeded far enough, to enable them to form a pretty 
 correct idea of the gods of the Hindoos. I might 
 add the flagitious deeds of Indra ; and relate how 
 one of the sons of the gods, Ganesh, lost his head 
 in a quarrel, and when the father did not succeed 
 
 * There are also river Thugs, who attack travellers in boats, on the 
 Ganges : their proceedings are somewhat different, but their object is 
 the same. 
 
94: THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 in finding it, he put the head of an elephant in its 
 place ; and notwithstanding this deformity, Ganesh 
 has become one of the most favourite gods of the 
 Hindoos, who on all solemn occasions is worshipped 
 first. But enlarging on this wearying subject 
 would lead to no satisfactory result. Similar in- 
 credible and absurd stories, to those which have 
 been detailed, are repeated in their fictions, and 
 mixed up with descriptions of every possible abomi- 
 nation, which no tongue can utter. No tyrant ever 
 lived on earth so morally bad and degraded, as the 
 Hindoos represent their principal gods to be. 
 
 It is remarkable, that the incredible number of 
 these deities seems not as yet to suffice this degene- 
 rate people, and even now the Brahmins are bent 
 upon fabricating new ones. In southern Bengal 
 they have of late years made a new goddess, who 
 is called Olla Bibi. The image is formed by the 
 potter, and consecrated by the Brahmin, and is 
 intended to protect its worshippers against cholera. 
 It resembles a human head ; and when this fatal 
 disease breaks out, the inhabitants of the place 
 present their offerings of rice and flowers before it, 
 thus hoping to avert the direful disease. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, a Brahmin, at Nuddea, 
 near Kishnagore, wrote a poetical work, and made 
 a new incarnation of Vishnu to appear, which 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 95 
 
 he called Choritunyo. Hundreds of thousands 
 of worshippers of Choritunyo are now found in 
 almost every part of Bengal, and some of our best 
 converts have been made from this sect. 
 
 Such, my readers, are the beings whom the 
 Hindoos worship as their gods. The forms under 
 which they are represented, are hideous, and cal- 
 culated to fill the ignorant with terror ; their 
 character is depraved and cruel, and their worship, 
 as we shall see in the following chapter, is stupify- 
 ing and demoralising to the human mind. Here 
 then is a nation, asserting and fancying themselves 
 to possess a religion; with a host of priests, pre- 
 pared every moment to defend their idolatry, and to 
 enter into discussions ; the injurious and destructive 
 tendency of whose theology can yet be perceived 
 by us at the first glance. It confounds the 
 Creator with the creature, the marked distinction 
 existing between them being entirely lost ; every 
 thing is either Creator, or every thing is creature. 
 The doctrine of pantheism undermines the very 
 foundation of all morality. What man among us 
 would feel disposed to exchange his Christian faith 
 for such doctrines? If the creation around us is 
 part of God, and if, in harmony with the Brahmin 
 philosopher, we could in the Supreme Being recog- 
 nise nothing but the all-pervading soul of the 
 
96 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS, 
 
 world, what advantage could we derive from such 
 speculative ideas? — we cannot call those airy phan- 
 toms faith, without prostituting the term in its 
 lowest signification. 
 
 We are living in an imperfect world; frail man 
 is every day exposed to temptation, suffering, and 
 danger. He is in need of help, consolation, and 
 encouragement. He groans under the pangs of 
 conscience and the weight of his sins. Where 
 shall he find comfort and deliverance, if he have 
 no faith in a real God ? How can he rejoice in his 
 existence, if he be cut off from the comfort of 
 pardon, if peace never enter his troubled breast, 
 if the prospect of a better life be removed from his 
 eyes ? The immortal soul of the heathen longs 
 after this enjoyment, — nothing less can give it 
 satisfaction. But the pantheist has no faith, no 
 hope: all is dark before him. "Let us eat and 
 drink, for to-morrow we die," is his motto. On 
 returning to my native country after fourteen years' 
 absence, I was astonished to find that a system of 
 heathenish origin had gained its admirers and 
 followers in protestant Germany. The prevail- 
 ing system of our modern infidel philosophers is 
 pantheism in principle ; the personality of God is 
 denied. I told my countrymen, he that desires to 
 learn the true character of this philosophy, sepa- 
 
AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 97 
 
 rated and denuded of all Christian ideas, together 
 with its moral bearing, should go to Bengal, and 
 settle on the Ganges, among the Brahmins, who 
 have known it for thousands of years, and de- 
 veloped it to perfection. I feel assured, the sight 
 of their horrid idolatrous ceremonies would shake 
 his whole being. He certainly would return home 
 radically cured of all pantheistical ideas ; he 
 would be compelled, in putting his hand on the 
 Bible, to exclaim, Here is life and truth, which 
 satisfies the soul and rejoices the heart; — there is 
 falsehood, death, corruption. 
 
 It is true, we here and there meet in the Vedas 
 with a golden grain of morality, but it is buried 
 under a heap of senseless speculation and error. 
 Now and then we discover obscure allusions to 
 Scripture history and prophecy, but they are min- 
 gled with absurd fictions, and thus their value and 
 beauty are destroyed. Is not that man struck with 
 more than Egyptian blindness, who, in defiance of 
 all better feelings, turns Brahma into a bull, a tiger, 
 a whale, and causes the earth, ocean, and other 
 worlds to be peopled in this revolting manner ? What 
 sort of religious philosopher is he who devises gods 
 like Brahma and Shiva; representing the chief of 
 them as a liar, drunkard, and adulterer, — who 
 sketches heaven filled with scenes of rioting, profli- 
 
98 THE LITERATURE, RELIGIOUS BOOKS 
 
 , iwiuiuiuv;^ " uullu ) 
 
 gacy, and revelling, in which crimes are perpetrated 
 that we hear of, only in houses of immorality ? 
 
 Who would not gladly turn from these abomina- 
 tions, and read his Bible with increased gratitude ? 
 In the beautiful dignified simplicity, with which 
 it describes the history of the creation, we recog- 
 nise at once a Divinely-revealed truth. 
 
 Truly says an eminent missionary in Bengal, 
 " The poor uninformed peasant in his lowly cottage, 
 can learn more sound theology from the first 
 verse of the Bible, ' In the beginning God created 
 the heavens and the earth,' and will derive from 
 it ideas and views far more correct and worthy 
 of his Maker, than the greatest minds of all ages 
 have been able to produce from their most 
 elaborate systems of philosophy." 
 
 " That very unadorned and noble simplicity of 
 the Holy Scripture, in which the most glorious 
 truths are presented to man, proves its Divine 
 origin. Man never spoke in this manner, God 
 called the world out of nothing ; ' He spake, and 
 it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast.' 
 Here is no confounding of the creature with the 
 Creator. Glorious, independent, and almighty, he 
 appears as God, and commands : the worlds appear 
 in all their beauty, harmony, and order." 
 
 "I freely confess," says Rousseau, a man not 
 
MYTHOLOGY OF THE HINDOOS. 99 
 
 generally favourable to Christianity, u that the 
 majestic character of the Holy Scriptures fills my 
 mind as much with admiration, as the purity of 
 the Gospel affects my heart. Eead the works of 
 our philosophers, with all their sublime ideas and 
 pompous expressions, how contemptible they 
 appear in comparison with the Bible ! Is it pos- 
 sible that a book so simple and yet so sublime 
 can be the work of a man ? — no, it is Divine." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES OF THE 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 THE IDOL TEMPLES IN INDIA. — THE IDOLS WORSHIPPED BY THE 
 HINDOOS.— THEIR CONSECRATION. — THE PRIESTS, THEIR PRE- 
 TENDED SANCTITY. — OFFERINGS TO IDOLS. — BLOODY SACRIFICES. 
 — WORSHIP OF THE GANGES. — THE DEAD THROWN INTO THE 
 RIVER. — FESTIVAL OF KALEE. — THE SWINGING FESTIVAL. — 
 FESTIVAL OF THE GODDESS DURGA. — JUGGERNATH. — HINDOO 
 SAINTS AND ASCETICS. — SRADDHA, OR FUNERAL OBSEQUIES. — THE 
 HEAVEN OF THE HINDOOS. — THE HELL. — TRANSMIGRATION OF 
 SOULS. — FATALISM. — PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS. 
 
 " They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their 
 delectable things shall not profit ; and they are their own witnesses ; 
 they see not, nor know ; that they may be ashamed."— Isaiah xliv. 9. 
 
 In the preceding chapter I have attempted to 
 present to my readers a sketch of the principal 
 gods of the Hindoos; my object in the present will 
 be to show how the worship of these gods is per- 
 formed by them, and by what means they hope to 
 advance the welfare of their souls. 
 
 But here I would premise one remark respecting 
 the idols, which are the objects of the Hindoos' 
 adoration. The Brahmin who is somewhat versed 
 in his shasters, pretends to discover in their reli- 
 
IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES OF THE HINDOOS. 101 
 
 gious fictions a deeper spiritual sense, and views 
 the grosser representations of the gods, as the 
 symbols of certain spiritual powers and attributes. 
 This symbolic view of the Hindoo mythology has 
 occupied the heads of many clever men ; some 
 thought they had discovered in it a substratum of 
 pure rational religion or deism, which, if it did not 
 equal, was little inferior to the theology of the 
 Bible. Others even, went so far as to declare that 
 they had found out the primitive religion amidst 
 the trammels of this idolatrous chaos. It is true, 
 Divine power and energy are personified and wor- 
 shipped in various forms ; the thousand eyes of 
 Indra are said to signify omniscience ; Durga's ten 
 arms, omnipotence ; the uplifted arm of Shiva, his 
 readiness to punish and destroy the wicked. But 
 suppose the four-headed Brahma, or the stone 
 of Shiva, to have a deeper significant import 
 than that of the plain historical meaning, I feel 
 assured, that among a thousand Hindoos, there is 
 scarcely one who is, or has been acquainted with 
 it. My object is simply this, to represent the idol- 
 atrous worship of the Hindoos, exactly as it 
 presents itself to the eyes of the observer. The 
 dreadful effect of it is evident, and the thought 
 that possibly the first inventors of this mythology 
 clothed their philosophical systems in some gro- 
 
102 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 tesque forms, cannot give us any consolation for 
 the awful truth, that millions of human beings, 
 who believe all those fables in their grossest his- 
 torical sense, are, by means of this horrid religion, 
 spiritually dying, and hastening to eternal ruin. 
 
 First, a word about the idol temples ; these are, 
 generally speaking, not such splendid edifices as 
 our churches. Shiva's mundir, or temple, is a 
 regular square building, surmounted by a dome or 
 arched roof. The room in which the idol is placed, 
 is not generally more than ten or twelve feet square. 
 In villages, they are usually in the centre, or near 
 the market-place, and they are surrounded by a few 
 mangoe, or tamarind- trees, under the shade of 
 which the natives sit down to smoke their hookahs, 
 and converse on the events of the day. In large 
 towns, and particularly in Benares, there are 
 splendid masterpieces of architecture ; I have par- 
 ticularly admired the sculptures in stone, covering 
 the walls, most tastefully and elaborately exe- 
 cuted ; many of them representing historical pieces 
 in their mythology. Nothing is so meritorious as 
 the building of such a temple ; all the blessings of 
 heaven are promised for it, especially when it is 
 raised on the banks of the Ganges or at Benares. 
 In the latter city, there are nine hundred Shiva 
 temples. Wealthy Rajahs have endowed some of 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 103 
 
 them in a munificent manner. Juggernath's tem- 
 ple, in Orissa, is said to possess an income of ten 
 thousand pounds annually. 
 
 " These temples, however," as a Christian author 
 justly remarks, " answer none of the ends of a 
 lecture-room or of a Christian sanctuary. Here the 
 passions are never raised to heaven by sacred 
 music, or by the voices of a large and devout con- 
 gregation, celebrating the praises of the Deity in 
 the strains of sacred poetry ; here no devout feelings 
 are awakened by prayer and confession, nor are 
 the great truths of religion explained or enforced 
 upon the mind of an attentive crowd by the elo- 
 quence of a public speaker ; the daily worship of 
 the temple is performed by the solitary priest, 
 with all the dulness, carelessness, and insipidity, 
 necessarily connected with a service in a strange 
 tongue, repeated before an idol made of cold stone, 
 and in which the priest has no interest whatever: 
 when the crowd do, as on festive occasions, assem- 
 ble before the temple, it is to enter upon orgies 
 which destroy every vestige of moral feeling, and 
 excite to every outrage upon virtue." 
 
 The idols worshipped consist of various kinds, 
 but the Brahmins have divided them into two 
 classes, viz., such as are made to last, which they 
 set up in the temples, and others intended only 
 
104 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 for particular festival celebrations. The first con- 
 sist of some solid material, as stone, copper, silver, 
 gold ; those belonging to the second class are made 
 of wood, straw, and clay. 
 
 Among the former is reckoned the stone (linga) 
 representing Shiva ; it is usually black, and of a 
 cylindrical shape. The history and worship of 
 this idol are so shocking and obscene, that a de- 
 scription of it cannot be given ; I could not offend 
 the feelings of a Christian heart, by even a distant 
 allusion to it. Shiva, in his character of regene- 
 rator of the earth, is a profligate above all measure ; 
 and not seldom do we see, in the sculpture on the 
 walls of his temples, historical illustrations revolt- 
 ing to the most common feelings of morality. This 
 is one reason, among many, why the children of 
 European parents should be removed from India 
 at as early an age as possible, for heathenism 
 is polluting and injurious to their morals and 
 purity. 
 
 Idols of stone and metal are sold in the larger 
 towns in the bazaar. I have been informed, that 
 some merchants of Birmingham have made a good 
 speculation lately, in manufacturing idols of brass 
 for the Indian market, for which they have found a 
 ready sale. It was mentioned to me as a fact last 
 year, that two missionaries were embarking for 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 105 
 
 Calcutta on board the same ship which carried 
 several chests filled with idols. 
 
 Idols of wood and clay are manufactured in 
 every Hindoo village. When the festival is over, 
 they are broken up, or thrown into the water. In 
 the eyes of the natives, the fabrication of idols is 
 as honourable a handicraft as that of a carpenter, 
 or more so. The maker fastens two pieces of 
 bamboo into a board ; he then ties straw round 
 them, to give them a shape, and prepares his finer 
 materials by kneading clay, mixed with manure 
 and chaff, together ; with which the straw figure is 
 covered. It costs him no small trouble before the 
 eyes and other delicate parts are finished. On the 
 whole, these idol-makers may be said to have 
 brought their business to a considerable degree of 
 perfection. A nicely-wrought idol will cost about 
 fifteen or twenty shillings, including paint and 
 other materials. On the morning of the idol 
 festival, the priest comes to undertake the con- 
 secration of it. He touches the forehead, the eyes, 
 breast, and other parts, pronouncing each time 
 the words, " May the spirit of Shiva, or Durga, 
 descend, and take possession of this image." By 
 virtue of these citations, or muntrus, the spirit is 
 received ; and of this the Hindoo is as certain as of 
 his own existence ; henceforth, it is considered as 
 
106 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 a dwelling of the god. Many Brahmins go even 
 further, in asserting a kind of transubstantiation, 
 viz., that the materials of straw, mud, or stone, 
 are changed into the substance of God. Such a 
 power does the Brahmin possess, according to the 
 often-repeated saying of the shasters: " The world 
 is under the power of the gods, the gods are under 
 the power of the muntrus, and the muntrus are 
 under the power of the Brahmins ; consequently 
 they are the principal gods !" 
 
 If you express your surprise to a Hindoo, as to 
 how a lump of straw and clay can become a God, 
 he answers, " Why should this be impossible? God 
 can do every thing." But if a dog, or a woman, 
 or an European should touch the idol, the god 
 will make his escape from it. It it be of clay, it 
 must be thrown away ; but if it be of solid mate- 
 rial, the Brahmin undertakes the consecration of 
 it a second time. On passing through a village, I 
 once had the imprudence to touch the stone image 
 of Shiva with my stick, and some persons saw it 
 indistinctly from a distance. The following day, 
 a number of villagers came to the mission pre- 
 mises, when their chief speaker said, The god felt 
 very indignant at your touch yesterday, and was 
 ready to make his escape ; they therefore requested 
 me candidly to tell them if I had touched him or 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 107 
 
 not. Had I answered in the affirmative, the 
 Brahmins would forthwith have proceeded to a 
 second consecration, which is always accompanied 
 with a sumptuous dinner ; and I should have had 
 to pay the bill of fare. My reply was, I shall not 
 tell you : if the stone be a god, my touching him 
 with a stick can have done him no harm ; and if 
 he be not, you deceive yourselves ; accordingly, the 
 sooner you throw him away, the better for you, 
 and then come and worship the true God with me. 
 The ceremony of worship in the temple is this : 
 At the time of sunrise, the officiating priest opens 
 the door, and prostrates himself before the idol; 
 he then takes Ganges water to wash the image ; 
 after this it is rubbed with ghee, or clarified 
 butter ; and when this ceremony of cleansing is 
 performed, he repeats his muntrus, or forms of 
 prayer, in a hurried, careless, undevout manner ; 
 flowers are strewn, and offerings of sweetmeats, 
 fruits, and boiled rice, are placed before him, and 
 the Brahmin begs the idol to eat and enjoy him- 
 self. Meanwhile, some Sudras are seen approach- 
 ing ; some prostrate themselves, others merely 
 touch their foreheads in token of reverence, and 
 walk away. When this senseless mummery is 
 over, the priest puts the eatables together, shuts 
 the door, and eats them for his breakfast. Being 
 
108 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 divine himself, he says his eating the offering is 
 just the same as if the idol had enjoyed it : pro- 
 bably he thinks it passes all into one pantheistical 
 stomach. 
 
 So careful is he for the rest and comfort of his 
 god, that he spreads a net over him during the 
 hot season, lest he be bitten by musquitoes : in 
 the cold weather likewise, he dresses him with a 
 shawl, to protect him from the inclemency of the 
 season. Sometimes, however, it happens, that 
 rats eat holes into the idols of clay and straw, 
 and make nests in them. 
 
 The idols in honour of Vishnu are laid down 
 to sleep in the day, if the image be not too large, — 
 a poor compliment to a god, that he needs rest. If 
 a priest want to be orthodox, he must spend at 
 least four hours a day in his religious ceremonies ; 
 but they are not generally very particular on this 
 point, and get through them as fast as they can. 
 Their conduct sometimes reminded me of the 
 monks whom Luther saw in the church of St. 
 Peter's at Eome. While engaged in their temple- 
 service, they laugh, and joke, and gaze at every 
 object passing in the street. I have been assured, 
 that the priests frequently play with the idols, call 
 them wretches, and throw them about like play- 
 things. 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 109 
 
 " None of those images," says Ward, " conveys 
 the least idea of the moral attributes of God ; on 
 the contrary, most of them are so horrid in 
 shape, and revoltingly obscene, in expressing 
 the worst passions of human nature, as must 
 necessarily pollute and demoralise the minds of 
 the young. Some writers on Hindooism describe 
 the Brahmins as devoting a certain portion of 
 their time to the contemplation of the Deity, his 
 attributes, and the moral duties of life : this sounds 
 very fair at a distance ; but in this Hindoo act 
 of devotion, there is not a vestige of reference 
 to the Divine attributes, or to moral duty. The 
 Hindoo rehearses in his mind the form of the god, 
 his colour, the number of his heads, hands, and 
 eyes, and nothing more." 
 
 Every Brahmin is not a priest ; in our days 
 many have become unfaithful to their profession. 
 When a father has several sons, the eldest is initi- 
 ated into the office of priest in the temple, while the 
 rest seek for some livelihood in secular business. 
 A Brahmin is such from his birth, but he has to 
 pass through a long routine of ceremonies before 
 his character is perfect. In his ninth or tenth 
 year, the poita, or sacred string, is hung round his 
 neck, while the priest repeats the Gaytri, or most 
 sacred verse of the shasters, in his ear: this grand 
 
110 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 ceremony is called the second birth ; after which 
 the Brahmin is ready. 
 
 The following are the moral and physical quali- 
 fications in a priest : — " He must be able to subdue 
 his passions, he must be agreeable in conversation, 
 well read in the shasters, of good family, faithful 
 in observing the rules and rites of caste, and 
 master in his own house. A Brahmin who is 
 subject to his wife, who has more or less than ten 
 toes, who cannot bridle his tongue, or who is 
 blind or leprous, cannot become a priest." 
 
 Every family chooses from among the Brahmins 
 its own spiritual guide, or guroo, who visits them 
 regularly at intervals ; to each member of the 
 family he gives a muntro, pronouncing it in their 
 ears. It is generally the name of an idol, called 
 Isthodebota, who is henceforth considered their 
 patron and protector. On such occasions the 
 guroo is never allowed to leave the house without 
 a liberal entertainment. These household priests 
 are held in great reverence by the Hindoos. Some 
 people spread a piece of cloth at the door, on 
 which they shake off the dust from their feet ; the 
 humble disciples mix it with water, and swallow 
 the draught. Sometimes, after dinner, they drink 
 the water in which the guroo has washed his 
 dirty feet, and what he leaves on his plate is 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. Ill 
 
 greedily devoured by them, in order that they 
 may partake of some portion of his holiness. 
 
 Wonderful cures are said to have been per- 
 formed by this sacred water. My pundit, a Brah- 
 min from the neighbourhood of Burdwan, related 
 to me a remarkable story in reference to this 
 point. A wealthy zemindar, the Rajah of Burd- 
 wan, was for a long time laid up with fever ; all 
 remedies proved ineffectual, and the patient be- 
 came depressed and melancholy. His guroo came 
 and advised him to try the famous universal 
 remedy. His scruples about the great expense of 
 it having been removed, he ordered that it should 
 be prepared. Messengers were sent out into all 
 parts of the district, and many thousand Brah- 
 mins assembled at the palace of the Rajah. As 
 this sacred band arrived, covered with dust, and 
 dripping with perspiration, they were requested 
 one by one to wash their feet in a bason of water ; 
 and this being done, the mixture was presented 
 to the patient to drink. Each Brahmin received a 
 few rupees, with a good dinner, which rendered 
 the remedy a costly one ; but my pundit assured 
 me that it proved effectual, and the Rajah re- 
 covered from his fever immediately. 
 
 From the birth to the death of the Hindoo, 
 on all possible occasions, this vile priest intrudes 
 
112 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 himself as an indispensable personage, and extorts 
 payment for his services. Five months before the 
 birth, and immediately after it, he must be called 
 to perform certain ceremonies ; and the same at 
 marriages, and in times of sickness, and of reco- 
 very. If a cow die, the Hindoo must pay to the 
 Brahmin an atonement ; if a vulture perch upon 
 the house, he has to purify it ; if a child be born 
 under unfavourable constellations, it is illegiti- 
 mate, and the Brahmin has to remove the re- 
 proach ; that is to say, a present of money to him 
 renders it legitimate again. 
 
 The Hindoos offer to their gods various good 
 things, as rice, butter, oil, cream, milk, sugar, 
 meat, and fruits of various description. When 
 Hindooism was in its prosperity, sacrifices of 
 horses, and even of human victims, were quite 
 common ; and among the hill tribes, in the 
 Goomsur country, human sacrifices are still prac- 
 tised. Even in Bengal, it is said to be done 
 occasionally in secret ; and corpses, from which 
 the heads had been struck off, have been found 
 lying in the morning before the temple of Kalee. 
 I was assured by my pundit, that a circum- 
 stance of this horrid description had occurred 
 some years ago in a village near Burdwan. I 
 reported it to the magistrate, who delayed the 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 113 
 
 search after the body, which was buried near 
 the steps of the temple, so that the perpetrators 
 had time to remove it. 
 
 Among all the idols of India, there are none 
 which receive more bloody sacrifices than that 
 of the goddess Kalee. At the time of her great 
 festival, thousands of he-goats and buffaloes are 
 slaughtered, and the blood is running in streams. 
 These sacrifices, however, are by no means con- 
 sidered as of an expiatory nature ; but the Hindoo 
 hopes thereby to propitiate the goddess, and 
 obtain her favourable assistance in secular affairs. 
 In time of sickness, before the birth of a child, 
 and in other troubles, the deluded people make 
 a vow of sacrifice. As a token of it, many allow 
 the nail of the little finger to grow ; I have often 
 seen them one and two inches in length. 
 
 When the offerer with his he-goat enters the 
 court of the temple, looking at the image, he says, 
 " goddess of dreadful form, devour him who 
 is my enemy. O consort of fire, Mahamari, (great 
 destroyer.) stay and devour him." The head of 
 the animal is then fixed between two horizontal 
 posts ; one man pulls at it, and another at the hind 
 legs ; the priest then divides the hair asunder, and 
 severs the head from the trunk with one stroke. 
 The head and blood are presented to the image ; 
 
114 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 the priest pockets his reward, and the man walks 
 away with the dead body. 
 
 While I was looking at this disgusting cere- 
 mony, the officiating Brahmin said to me, Will 
 you not give mother Kalee a present? She is 
 great and powerful ; she has power over life and 
 death. I replied, How can you prove that ? Look 
 here, said he, and pointed on the sacrifice before 
 him, reeking with blood. Can she drink the 
 blood of beasts? Can she speak? Certainly. 
 Well, then, please ask her to descend for a few 
 minutes from her throne, I want to speak with 
 her. The Brahmin smiled, and said, That she 
 will never do with you. I rejoined, Your gods 
 have eyes, and see not ; feet, and walk not ; 
 mouths, and they speak not ; what reasonable 
 man would believe in them ? 
 
 If you ask the Hindoo, how he hopes to obtain 
 forgiveness of his sins, and the salvation of his 
 soul, he invariably points to the Ganges — here 
 is his principal means of salvation. This deified 
 river will heal and purify every thing that is 
 morally bad and corrupt in man. The origin of 
 it is related in various ways. A saint called 
 Bhagiruth, led an ascetic life for many years. 
 Upon his prayer the Ganges descended from 
 heaven, that is, the Himalaya mountain. The gods 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 115 
 
 would not agree to this descent, saying, they had 
 many sins to wash off likewise. Brahma promised 
 them that, although it descended to the earth, 
 it should, at the same time, remain in heaven. 
 Vishnu then gave Bhagiruth a shell, and when- 
 ever he blew it, the Ganges followed him at his 
 heels. At a certain place he unfortunately carried 
 away the brazen vessel and flowers of a saint, 
 which he was intending to strew in honour of 
 Shiva. This saint, or sunyasee, in his rage, 
 swallowed the whole river ; but at Bhagiruth's 
 request, he had to disgorge it again. Another 
 miraculous story, related in the shasters, of the 
 origin of the Ganges, is the following : — Shiva's 
 wife, Parbatti, touched his right eye ; as this is 
 the sun, a general confusion was caused in the 
 creation. To prevent mischief, Shiva caused a 
 third eye to grow out above his nose. His wife 
 perceiving her imprudence, removed the finger, 
 but a tear remained on it, and as this tear fell 
 to the ground, the Ganges sprung out of it ; — 
 hence the water is so sacred, that those who bathe 
 in it, wash away every sin. 
 
 All the sects of the Hindoos, and " their name 
 is legion," are agreed in this. Whatever may be 
 their differences on other points, when meeting on 
 the banks of the Ganges they cease to strive, and 
 
 i 
 
116 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 look on each other as friends. So sacred is the 
 water, that the Hindoo will swear by the name of 
 any other god, rather than by Gunga. Hence, in 
 courts of justice witnesses are generally sworn by 
 holding a bason of Ganges water in their hands. 
 
 At certain seasons and constellations, bathing 
 in this river is exceedingly meritorious ; the act 
 delivers the sinner, with three millions of his 
 ancestors, from the punishment of hell ; and the 
 crimes of a thousand former births are atoned for. 
 At such festivals I have seen tens of thousands on 
 the road, travelling to the sacred stream. The 
 town of Burdwan was sometimes crowded with 
 those pilgrims, and swarms of them were seen 
 bivouacking at night under trees in the open air. 
 These poor people often travel two or three hun- 
 dred miles to obtain the benefits promised. On 
 their return, they take kulsees, or large round 
 vessels, full of water, home with them, to convey 
 some of the same blessings to their friends, who 
 have remained behind. At sacred spots, such 
 as Benares, one hundred thousand men are 
 often seen assembled on the banks of the Ganges, 
 especially at the time of an eclipse ; as soon 
 as the shadow of the earth touches the moon, 
 the whole mass, upon a certain signal given, 
 plunge at once into the stream ; and from the 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 117 
 
 pressure of the water, a mighty wave rolls towards 
 the opposite shore, which sometimes upsets boats 
 filled with people. When all is over, the poor 
 people get out of the water, and return home, 
 under the delusive idea of having obtained remis- 
 sion of sin and perfect purity ; the sins which are 
 afterwards committed run on to a new account, 
 which is to be cleared off at their next visit. In 
 performing these ceremonies, not the least idea of 
 a deeper and symbolical meaning enters the mind 
 of the Hindoo, — the shasters teach nothing of the 
 kind ; no, the river is a god personified, — it is the 
 water which cleanses, sanctifies, and raises the 
 soul to heaven. The mind has been petrified 
 by the religion, which ascribes Divine virtue to 
 visible and material things. 
 
 The Ganges is the dying -bed, and the grave of 
 the Hindoo. He is very anxious to breathe out 
 his soul on its banks, in order that his last sins 
 may be blotted out by the sight of its water. 
 When the patient appears to approach death, he is 
 removed from the circle of his friends, and car- 
 ried away ; let the heat be parching, or the wind 
 blow cold, the dying man is set down on the 
 river's brink, being, when poor, sometimes barely 
 covered with a rag. 
 
 I have often been a spectator of this revolting 
 
118 THE IDOLATEOUS CEREMONIES 
 
 scene. Once, I remember, two sons prepared their 
 aged father for death ; it was a morning in Janu- 
 ary, when the piercing northerly wind is severely 
 felt in Bengal. They poured several basons full 
 of water over his head ; and then they placed the 
 shivering body in the stream, and rubbed the 
 upper part of it with mud, at the same time 
 calling the names Gunga, Earn, Narayun, in his 
 ears. The sight of the dying father went through 
 my heart : but this is to die happily, in the opinion 
 of the Hindoos. The shasters promise him all 
 the glories of Shiva's heaven ; he will shine there 
 brighter than a thousand suns, and millions of 
 virgins are standing ready for his service, with 
 coaches and palankeens in abundance. Surely the 
 shores of the Ganges belong to " the dark places 
 of the earth, which are full of the habitations 
 of cruelty." 
 
 Once a wicked Brahmin died, and Yama, the 
 god of the infernal regions, took him into hell. 
 His corpse was, as is usual, burned ; a crow flew 
 away with one of his bones, and let it fall into 
 the Ganges ; no sooner had it reached the water, 
 than his soul left hell, riding in a splendid chariot 
 to heaven. 
 
 Truly said an excellent missionary, with the 
 Ganges in his sight, " That no tyrant has ever 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 119 
 
 brought greater misery over the earth, than those 
 religious legislators have done, who made a god of 
 that river." Millions are, through this, annually 
 drawn away from their homes ; fornication, and 
 other crimes, are committed by the pilgrims on 
 the way, and hundreds of thousands are dragged 
 from a dry and clean dying-bed, to breathe out 
 their lives in this watery grave. The dying 
 person often sees the stake erected on which his 
 corpse is to be burned : nor is the body allowed 
 to get cold ; but as soon as life is extinct, it is 
 put on the pile, and the fire kindled. Instances 
 are not rare, when the body was not really dead, 
 and when it rose up, as the flame began to scorch 
 it. In such a case the Hindoos believe a bad 
 spirit has entered the corpse, and knock it down 
 with bamboos. The skull, which cannot be con- 
 sumed in the fire, must be crushed by the nearest 
 relative, that the soul may escape : in performing 
 this dreadful operation he often sprinkles his gar- 
 ment with the brains, which have become liquid 
 in the fire ; the ashes are then thrown into the 
 river. The poorer classes make far less ceremony, 
 and throw the body in as it is, and frequently it is 
 again cast on shore. I have seen dogs, jackals 
 and vultures, fighting for and devouring the 
 corpses, and crows sitting on the floating carcases, 
 
120 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 tearing off the flesh. In times when fevers and 
 cholera prevail in large towns, hundreds and thou- 
 sands of bodies are daily and weekly thrown into 
 the river, and the fires on which they are con- 
 sumed, continue burning day and night : in those 
 seasons the shores of the Ganges resemble a 
 charnel-house. 
 
 I one day witnessed on the shores of this river 
 a striking contrast between Christianity and 
 Hindooism. On walking along the banks near the 
 town of Colgong, I discovered a monument in 
 memory of the child of a British officer. During 
 his j>assage down the river, from a distant station, 
 his infant died, and he had to perform the mourn- 
 ful duty of burying the body on the shore 
 desecrated by heathen abominations. The follow- 
 ing epitaph, which I read on the tombstone, called 
 forth my deep sympathy : 
 
 "Dear little babe, thy spirit 's fled, 
 
 Thy tender frame lies here, 
 And o'er thy loved remains we shed 
 
 The bitter, bitter tear ; 
 But faith within the Saviour's arms 
 
 Views thee removed from pain, 
 And faith the sting of death disarms, 
 
 And says we'll meet again ; 
 When we through Christ shall be like thee, 
 Heirs of a blest eternity." 
 
 Shortly afterwards I saw near the same spot 
 two Hindoos carrying the body of their deceased 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 121 
 
 or dying relative to the river-side. They deposited 
 it on the sand, and walked several times round 
 it, making various ceremonies. One of the men 
 then laid hold of the head, and another of the 
 feet, and having walked slowly into the water, 
 and torn off the cloth in which it was wrapped 
 up, they flung the corpse into the stream ; they 
 then washed their hands and walked away in sullen 
 apathy. 
 
 Suicide is thought peculiarly meritorious when 
 committed near this river. The wife belongs to 
 her husband, even after his death, and great is her 
 sanctity if she follow him immediately on his 
 decease ; hence the suttee, or the burning of 
 widows with the bodies of their husbands : but 
 this inhuman custom has been abolished by a 
 law enacted by the East Indian Government. 
 There are, according to an anatomical sketch 
 of the shasters, thirty-eight millions of hairs on 
 the human body. The widow who allows herself 
 to be burned will dwell as many years with her 
 husband in heaven. In most instances the poor 
 creatures are said to have been persuaded to it by 
 the Brahmins. Many have jumped down from 
 the pile as soon as the flame touched them, but 
 have been forcibly thrown into the fire again. 
 
 In holy places where two rivers meet, suicides 
 
122 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 by drowning are frequently committed. Leprous 
 people kill themselves by having a grave dug on 
 the banks ; a fire is kindled therein, and the poor 
 wretch throws himself into it. By this means he 
 hopes to acquire the merit of entering into a 
 healthy body at his next transmigration. 
 
 And who can number the crowd of innocent 
 babes who were sacrificed to Gunga, before the 
 Government made it a capital crime ? At a great 
 festival in the island of Gunga Sagor, near the 
 mouth of the Ganges, hundreds of mothers, who 
 had made the cruel vow, threw their little ones into 
 the water, to be devoured by sharks and alligators. 
 One thing is certain — so long as Hindooism exists, 
 human sacrifices will never be entirely abolished, 
 though the Government may continue to issue 
 orders against it. Many a cruel mother is yet 
 throwing away her helpless babe to the jackals 
 at night, especially if it be a girl. 
 
 In order to present my readers with a some- 
 what complete sketch of the Hindoo religion, I 
 will now give a short description of their principal 
 idolatrous festivals, in honour of Shiva, Kalee, 
 and Juggernath. The two former are celebrated 
 together, in the month of April. At Calcutta, the 
 wild shouting multitude proceeds at sunrise to 
 the great temple of Kalee-ghaut, on the shores of 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 123 
 
 the river. All is joy and merriment on this grand 
 festival day. Bands of music are playing, on kettle- 
 drums, trumpets, and other rude instruments. 
 Amidst the crowd there are some individuals half 
 drunk in appearance, with red-shot and staring 
 eyes ; they are adorned with garlands of flowers 
 on the neck, and their half naked bodies are 
 bestrewed with the ashes of sandal-wood. All 
 eyes are fixed on them ; the crowd around them is 
 immense. They have made a vow, and, arm joined 
 in arm, they approach the court of the temple. 
 A blacksmith stands near the door ; one of them 
 opens his mouth, the smith pulls out his tongue, 
 and cuts it through with his knife. The people 
 look with delight at this infernal scene ; the 
 blacksmith takes his reward, and the besotted 
 wretch walks away. I once saw a man with a 
 piece of iron sticking through his tongue, and 
 dancing like a madman, through the streets of 
 Calcutta, making every kind of indecent gesture. 
 Others allow their sides to be bored with a strong 
 needle ; a piece of bamboo, or the pointed handle of 
 an iron shovel is then thrust through, and is filled 
 with live coals. On this they throw at intervals a 
 kind of Indian pitch, from which issues a flame 
 with smoke. The whole presents a scene, such as 
 one might fancy devils to be transacting in the 
 
124 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 infernal regions. Others throw themselves down 
 from a scaffolding upon a board with iron spikes ; 
 these are carefully placed in a slanting direction, 
 so that upon the least touch they fall. 
 
 On the second day is the swinging festival. A 
 tree twenty-five or thirty feet high is fixed in 
 the ground, on the top of which a long bamboo 
 is horizontally fastened, so as to be moved round 
 with ease. The man who is to swing prostrates 
 himself before the tree ; a sign is made by one 
 standing by, and the blacksmith has here again 
 to perform ; he draws up the fleshy skin at the 
 spine, and thrusts two hooks through it. A strong 
 man then takes him on his shoulder, the strings 
 which are attached to the hooks in his back are 
 tied to the rope at one end of the horizontal 
 bamboo ; and the rope at the other end is held 
 by several men, who drawing it down, elevate 
 the end on which the man swings, and by their 
 running round with the rope the machine is 
 turned. In swinging they describe a circle of 
 about thirty feet in diameter. Some swing only 
 ten minutes, others for half an hour. In Bengal 
 a piece of cloth is wrapped round the body, pass- 
 ing underneath the hooks, lest the flesh should 
 tear, and the wretch fall and be dashed to pieces, 
 though they frequently swing without this support. 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 125 
 
 These devotees take various playthings, fruits, 
 and flowers with them, which they throw down 
 upon the spectators. I saw one who had his cloth 
 full of young crows, which he let fly ; another 
 produced a comb and looking-glass, to trim his 
 hair ; and it would be desirable, for some tangible 
 reason, that the Hindoos were more particular in 
 paying attention to this kind of cleanliness at more 
 fitting times. Sometimes it happens that the 
 flesh tears, and in this case the poor wretches 
 usually fall a sacrifice. 
 
 I never heard that the Brahmins subjected 
 themselves to this kind of torture ; they leave this 
 meritorious work to the despised Sudra. A reward 
 of ten shillings and the hope of going into Shiva's 
 heaven, are a sufficient motive to him for suffering 
 the pain. I saw a Hindoo in western Bengal, who 
 had been swung for fifteen years successively ; the 
 marks on his back caused by the hook, were 
 visible. The Christian public in Calcutta have 
 succeeded, by repeated application to Government, 
 in procuring an order to prevent the erection of a 
 tree for swinging in the town of Calcutta. 
 
 The celebrated idol Juggernath is one of the 
 inferior deities, but has become exceedingly popu- 
 lar throughout India. Who has not heard of the 
 myriads who go to visit his temple in Orissa? 
 
126 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 The history of this horrid and mis-shapen idol is 
 the following. A pious king, Indraham, received 
 the command from Vishnu, to gather the bones of 
 Krishna, who had been shot by a huntsman, into 
 a worthy receptacle, as they had been lying under 
 a tree for centuries. Vishnu Karma, the artisan 
 of the gods, at length undertoook the work, but 
 declared beforehand, that if any body interrupted 
 him in it, he would depart and leave the image 
 unfinished. In one night he built a large temple 
 upon the blue mountains in Orissa. He then 
 commenced fabricating the enormous idol-block. 
 At the end of fifteen days the king was overcome 
 with curiosity, and proceeded to the place of 
 building. Vishnu Karma immediately let his axe 
 fall, and marched away, and thus the image 
 remained lying on the ground, without hands or 
 feet. In his distress the king prayed to Brahma, 
 who kindly promised him for his comfort that 
 the idol should receive divine honour, even in its 
 present imperfect state. 
 
 At the consecration, Brahma himself presided 
 as officiating priest, and gave the image eyes and 
 a soul, and thus the glory and fame of Juggernath 
 were secured, from the moment of his origin. 
 If Brahma himself declares a block to be a god, 
 it must be worshipped, and none dare oppose : 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 127 
 
 so reasons the Hindoo, and thus thousands, yea, 
 millions, count themselves happy in obtaining a 
 sight of this disgusting idol. 
 
 Juggernath signifies "lord of the world ;" and 
 this pompous title has been bestowed on the 
 Moloch of the East. A missionary who was pre- 
 sent at the celebration of his festival two years 
 ago, gives the following description : " In the after- 
 noon the idol, with his sister, was removed from 
 the temple, and conveyed upon the great car. The 
 dense masses of his worshippers amounted to at 
 least two hundred thousand. The houses and 
 walls were adorned with branches and wreaths of 
 flowers. Every eye was fixed upon Juggernath, 
 every countenance smiled for joy. The English 
 officers from the neighbouring town of Puri, were 
 riding on elephants splendidly caparisoned and 
 covered with carpets, to see the Lord of the World. 
 The Hindoos believe that they, like themselves, 
 come to derive a blessing from the sight. He who 
 in the first hour views Juggernath receives remis- 
 sion for the sins of ten thousand births. So 
 delighted is the god with the honour and worship 
 paid him, that his eyes glisten with delight. The 
 car with its twenty-four wheels is drawn with 
 long ropes by the shouting multitudes." Here 
 one is disposed to exclaim, What will superstition 
 
128 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 not effect? Do not those masses of enthusiastic 
 worshippers of a dead idol cry shame upon luke- 
 warm Christians ? When have we ever heard of 
 an assembly of two hundred thousand worshippers 
 of the true and living God ? 
 
 " But what a shocking scene presented itself to 
 my eyes, as I looked around ! Along the banks 
 of the river I numbered more than forty corpses 
 and skeletons in various stages of decomposition, 
 which dogs and vultures were devouring. The 
 pilgrims had as usual brought the cholera with 
 them ; both hospitals were filled with the sick ; 
 and every morning the dead were thrown away 
 upon the place of skulls." 
 
 Juggernath has his chief residence in the pro- 
 vince of Orissa, but his idol-cars are met with in 
 every considerable place of Bengal, and are drawn 
 forth at the annual festival amidst the shouts of 
 the deluded idolators. I was present at the pro- 
 cession in the neighbourhood of Burdwan, in the 
 year 1832, distributing tracts and gospels, and 
 saw three persons crushed under the wheels of the 
 ponderous car. The natives said it was by acci- 
 dent ; but there was no doubt on my mind that 
 the suicides were committed from religious mo- 
 tives, upon the persuasion of the Brahmins. There 
 were the corpses lying before me, and the sorrow- 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 129 
 
 ing widows sitting by them. That such a death 
 insures the highest beatitude in heaven, is to the 
 Hindoo an indubitable fact. Alas ! how many 
 sacrifices of a similar kind have been devoured by 
 this Moloch ! Hundreds of pilgrims who come 
 from a great distance die on the road. I have 
 frequently seen the poor creatures sick of cholera 
 and fever, lying helpless on the road-side ; and 
 had them conveyed to the hospital. There is no 
 mercy in Hindooism ; no man cares for the afflicted, 
 or the sick and dying stranger. 
 
 A similar festival is celebrated in the month of 
 September, in honour of the female deity, Durga. 
 In large towns like Calcutta, every rich Hindoo 
 has a Durga prepared for himself, and set up for 
 worship either in the open court-yard, or in some 
 large hall, which at night is splendidly illumined. 
 During the fortnight of the Durga festival, all 
 public and private business is suspended ; the 
 ships in the port of Calcutta cannot be freighted, 
 and the courts of Government are closed. Rich 
 and poor go about in their festival garments, great 
 dinner parties are given, and the nights are spent 
 in the dance and music. The wealthy baboos of 
 Calcutta invite English families to share in their 
 nightly revelries ; and many, alas ! are seen joining 
 the idolators in those Baal temples, where the 
 
130 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 image with ten arms, fantastically dressed up in 
 gold and silk, is adored. All day and all night 
 you may hear the screeching musical instruments 
 of the Bengalees ; one noisy procession succeeding 
 another, marches through the town, bearing the 
 image on boards. The Hindoos spend enormous 
 sums at this festival, — many a baboo his thousand 
 and two thousand pounds ; and the lower classes 
 likewise squander the little earnings which they 
 have obtained by the sweat of their brow. A 
 converted Brahmin, in Calcutta, declared to me, 
 that the sums which the Hindoos throw away 
 annually on their idol festivals, exceed the income 
 of all Bible and Missionary societies in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 On the last evening of the festival, the multitude 
 proceed with song and music to the river, to cast 
 the image which they have been worshipping 
 for ten days, into the water. Shortly afterwards, 
 the Kalee Pooja takes place ; the principal part of 
 which is celebrated during the dark night at the 
 setting in of the new moon. The worshippers 
 dance round a female, who is entirely unclothed, 
 and the ceremonies are obscene beyond descrip- 
 tion. The evil spirits in hell could not have 
 devised a more effectual means for degrading man 
 below the brute creation. 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 131 
 
 I have yet to allude to certain religious ceremo- 
 nies for promoting salvation, which are performed 
 chiefly by Hindoo ascetics, called Sunyasees, 
 Byragees, or Yogees. One of these is the pro- 
 nouncing the names of their patron deities, and the 
 religion of the lower classes consists principally in 
 this senseless repetition of names : as our Saviour 
 said, they think they shall be heard for their 
 much speaking. The worshippers of Vishnu use 
 for this purpose a sort of rosary, which they wear 
 round the neck. The sunyasees, a kind of beggar 
 monks, are engaged all day throughout the whole 
 year, in this exercise. If they succeed in pro- 
 nouncing the name of Eadha, Krishna, or Ram, a 
 hundred thousand times a month, they feel sure 
 of getting to heaven. Sometimes these horrid- 
 looking sunyasees, who rub themselves over with 
 ashes, and are without any dress, sit for months 
 in deep contemplation under a sacred tree, or 
 before an idol temple, with their lips moving, and 
 their eyes shut. 
 
 In order to render their exercises more merit- 
 orious, these pretended saints undergo various 
 kinds of self-inflicted torture. To become absorbed 
 into the deity, the flesh must be mortified, and all 
 passions not merely subdued, but destroyed ; that 
 is, the body is to be turned into something like a 
 
132 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 senseless block. The Hindoos have a proverb to 
 this effect — " As the air in a bottle, when broken, 
 is united with the surrounding atmosphere, so the 
 soul of the yogee returns, at the dissolution of the 
 body, into the divine soul of the world, and is 
 absorbed therein like the drop in the ocean." 
 
 In order to attain to this state of deadness to 
 the visible world, one man makes a vow that he 
 will measure the road to Benares with his body. 
 Another sits day after day between three fires, and 
 allows himself to be half roasted. I have seen a 
 sunyasee, whose uplifted arm was perfectly dry 
 and shrivelled, having been held in that unnatural 
 position for many years. In 1833, a saint of this 
 sort, who pretended to live upon air, was exposed 
 every morning to the admiring multitude, at Cal- 
 cutta, sitting upon the flat roof of a house. The 
 water with which he was washed was poured 
 down upon the people, who eagerly caught up 
 every drop. Mr. Ehenius, in Tinnevelly, saw a man 
 who had a strong wire drawn through his cheeks, 
 which was beaten flat at each end, so that it 
 could not be removed ; a chain was fastened to 
 this, and at the end of the chain was a box of 
 brass, with which the poor wretch collected alms. 
 On his shoulders he carried two heavy links of 
 iron ; when he smiled, the wire in his cheeks 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 133 
 
 caused him great pain. All this suffering he under- 
 went upon the recommendation of a Brahmin, to 
 atone for sins committed in a former birth, and to 
 cure a chronic disease with which he was afflicted. 
 
 In recent times, this propensity for torturing the 
 flesh appears to have abated considerably. Those 
 who vow to choose the life of an ascetic, con- 
 tent themselves with putting off their dress, and 
 wearing a tiger-skin ; allowing the hair and nails 
 to grow, and rubbing themselves every morn- 
 ing with the ashes of burnt manure. In this 
 plight they are travelling through the country, 
 and visiting all the celebrated places of idolatry 
 The number of these sunyasees is very great ; we 
 meet them daily on the road, and they are freely 
 entertained wherever they go. Many of them are 
 opium-eaters, or smokers of other narcotic drugs : 
 their appearance is inexpressibly shocking, and 
 most revolting to every humane and modest feeling. 
 Instead of subduing their passions, they are the 
 most abandoned profligates — a moral pestilence 
 wherever they enter a dwelling. 
 
 I have, in conclusion, to advert to one more 
 important ceremony, that is, the sraddha, or the 
 funeral obsequies for the deceased. No conscien- 
 tious Hindoo will dare to omit this, indifferent as 
 he may be to his religion in other respects. Tn the 
 
134 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 prospect of death, he usually comforts himself, 
 by saying, " I have a son who will perform my 
 sraddha ;" that is to say, deliver my soul from 
 hell. It is most effectually performed at Gaya; 
 but the Brahmins have no objection to its being 
 done at home, provided they are well entertained 
 and amply rewarded. A few days after the death 
 of the parent, the son proceeds to its celebration, 
 in order that the soul may come to its rest. The 
 greater the gift, the more sure and speedy will be 
 its deliverance from misery. Various incantations 
 are used, many sacrifices presented ; but money 
 is the chief thing. The motto which was written 
 on the chest of Tetzel, when he was selling indul- 
 gences in Germany, at the time of the Eeforma- 
 tion, is precisely that of the Brahmins : — 
 
 M As soon as silver in the box does ring, 
 The soul will out of purgatory spring." 
 
 The East Indian Government appear to have 
 learned a lesson from the book of the Brahmins, in 
 opening a considerable resource for their revenues 
 from the sraddhas celebrated at Gaya. Verily it 
 is a dark spot in their history. Every pilgrim 
 visiting Juggernath had, before the abolition of 
 the tax, to pay two shillings on entering the 
 place ; but he who performed the funeral obse- 
 quies of his ancestors, had to pay double and 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 135 
 
 treble this sum. The Brahmins also take care to 
 fleece the newly-arrived stranger ; they spy out 
 all his property, and little enough is left him for 
 returning home. 
 
 In return for the revenue derived from idolatry, 
 the Company's Government were accustomed to 
 present Juggernath with some hundreds of yards 
 of the finest red broad-cloth, to enable him to 
 make his appearance in a new dress at the annual 
 festival. What Christian is not grateful to those 
 excellent men, who exposed this scandal, and 
 agitated the subject in parliament, until the pil- 
 grim tax, and the connexion of the East Indian 
 Government with idolatry, were abolished? 
 
 Such are the means and eiforts, by which the 
 orthodox Hindoo hopes to obtain a superior state 
 of existence hereafter, and to secure the blessings 
 of heaven. The question now remains to be 
 answered, as to what description of happiness he 
 expects to enjoy, and of what nature that heaven 
 is, in which he hopes to spend eternities in 
 delight. But what shall I say on this point? 
 Where the gods are so many, the heavens must 
 be equally numerous. Every Hindoo has his own 
 ideas about this. Some writings assert that 
 there is no eternity at all, — that man's happiness 
 and misery end with the termination of his 
 
13G THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 present state of existence. The very thought 
 of entire annihilation fills the spirit, longing for 
 life and immortality, with grief and dismay. The 
 authors of the Vedas must have been conscious of 
 this, hence they held out to their votaries various 
 heavens, in which various degrees of happiness are 
 promised to those deserving of it. The descrip- 
 tion of these heavens is quite in oriental style. 
 Everything, even the apartments and beds of 
 the gods, are of gold and precious stone. All the 
 joys and pleasures there pander to the sensual 
 appetite and selfish desires of man. Like the 
 paradise of Mahomed, these heavens abound with 
 the dwellings of profligacy, instead of presenting a 
 place where the righteous and pure in heart 
 receive the reward of faith. All inordinate 
 passions and vices are here personified and repre- 
 sented as gods. The quarrels and intrigues of 
 those gods fill the place with noise and uproar. 
 There are musicians, dancers, and singers with 
 horses' heads, sumptuous entertainments, revelling, 
 war, bloodshed, and murder. I will just give a 
 short description of one of these heavens. An old 
 author, Narada, declares that the heaven of Brah- 
 ma is so exquisitely beautiful and glorious, that it 
 would cost him two hundred years, and more, to 
 describe it ; but fortunately he shortened the task 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 137 
 
 considerably. All the palaces, he says, are of pure 
 gold ; the streets of bright crystal, with golden 
 borders. There are forests and gardens, full of 
 the finest fruit, the fragrance of which fills the 
 air. Birds are singing the sweetest melodies upon 
 the trees, and in the bowers. The lakes are 
 bespangled with lilies of blue, red, and white 
 colours. In winter it is warm, and pleasantly 
 cool in summer. There are clouds, but no thun- 
 der-storms ; winds blow, but they are only for 
 refreshment ; oppressive heat is unknown. There 
 are sofas and thrones in the apartments, glistening 
 like lightning ; and the pillars, which support the 
 arched canopy, are of pure diamond. 
 
 I may just add an anecdote about the doings of 
 the gods. At a great assembly of them, Indra 
 had a flower in his hand, the smell of which 
 delighted him ; he afterwards presented it to a 
 Brahmin. At this, the whole company began 
 to laugh, for these worthies receive no flowers 
 except such as come fresh from the garden. The 
 indignant Brahmin therefore rose, and while going 
 away cursed Indra, declaring he should be turned 
 into a cat, and live in the house of a man of low 
 caste. The god accordingly fell from heaven, and 
 became a cat in the house of a huntsman. All the 
 gods inquired for him in vain ; he was nowhere 
 
138 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 to be found, until after a long time his wife, 
 Sutchee, discovered him ; whereupon the wife of 
 the huntsman advised her to use a certain charm, 
 upon which Indra assumed his original form, and 
 returned to his residence. Doubtless he took care, 
 after this severe lesson, never to offend a Brahmin 
 again. 
 
 Hell has been pictured black enough by the 
 authors of the shasters, and if the Hindoos believe 
 every word, they have the miserable prospect that 
 their whole nation will there have to suffer tor- 
 ment for their sins. There is not merely one, but 
 thousands of hells. Some are dark, others of 
 red-hot iron ; in a third, criminals are chastised 
 with thorns. From this a path leads into 
 another, which is full of snakes and loathsome 
 vermin. Then there is one with offensive sloughs, 
 and a river flows through it of abominable impu- 
 rities ; here offenders are torn in pieces with 
 red-hot tongs, or devoured by cannibals. For 
 every special sin, there is a certain hell appointed. 
 He who defrauds others, is cast into the hell of 
 darkness ; the glutton, who has been guilty of 
 destroying animals, is to be thrown into a hell 
 of boiling oil. He who despises the Brahmins, is 
 to be punished in a hell of burning metal for 
 three millions of years. The unmerciful are to be 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 139 
 
 tormented by snakes, flies, and wasps. He who is 
 inhospitable to guests, must have his eyes torn 
 out by vultures, and other ravenous birds. The 
 Brahmin and prince, who are fond of spirituous 
 liquors, will be thrown into a caldron of liquid 
 fire. He who mocks a sunyasee, will stick in the 
 mire, with his head foremost. False witnesses are 
 to be cast from rocks, eight hundred miles high. 
 The profligate and adulterer will be burned in the 
 red-hot arms of an iron image. 
 
 Of eternal blessedness, or eternal damnation, 
 the Hindoo theology knows nothing. Though the 
 one should last millions of years, there is a period 
 fixed, when the damned soul will escape from hell ; 
 and the heir of heaven must likewise make his 
 exit again, to begin his existence on earth in some 
 new form. 
 
 Such is the doctrine of transmigration, which 
 has become popular among the lowest, as well as 
 the highest, classess. In my frequent conversa- 
 tions with Hindoos on religious subjects, I some- 
 times asked them, u What will become of your 
 soul after death?" "What will become of it? 
 why it goes to Yama's house." This Yama is the 
 god of the infernal regions, and has his residence 
 in the uttermost ends of the earth. Thither 
 the departed spirits are conveyed. The good 
 
140 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 he receives smilingly, addressing them in the 
 following manner : " You are righteous, — by the 
 strength of your merits you are raised to a 
 glorious heaven." 
 
 The wicked pass through a dark cavern, being 
 drawn along with ropes, or by the hair, and 
 sometimes by chains, till they stand before Yama, 
 who is four hundred miles in height. He thus 
 begins to address the trembling wretches : " Do 
 you know that I have the office of dispensing 
 rewards in this place : happiness to the good, and 
 punishments to the wicked? Have you never 
 thought of religion ; did you never believe a hell ? 
 Then he calls his secretary, Chitrogupto, saying, 
 Examine these persons, call for the witnesses. 
 Surgyo, the sun ; Chandra, the moon ; Agas, the 
 firmament ; Din, the day ; Eatri, night ; Pratakal, 
 morning ; Suntyakal, evening ; are now appearing, 
 as witnesses. When the examination is over, 
 Yama beats the condemned criminals with a club, 
 so that they are crying in torment, and then he 
 drives them into the different hells. The damned 
 remain there for a longer or shorter period, 
 according to the crimes they have committed. By 
 this punishment sin is atoned for, and a better 
 state obtained. The object of every subsequent 
 transmigration is also to effect an atonement for 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 141 
 
 the past. It is recorded in the shasters what 
 kind of existence will follow upon every sin. He 
 who steals rice will first go into hell ; at his 
 next birth he will become a crow for eighteen 
 years, afterwards a heron for twelve years, and 
 then a diseased man. He who kills an animal, 
 or laughs at the reading of the Puranna, will, 
 after enduring eternal torment, be born a snake, 
 then a tiger, a cow, a white heron, a cow, and 
 lastly, again a man having an asthma. He who 
 steals alms will sink into hell, and afterwards be 
 born a blind man, afflicted with consumption. He 
 who lives in affluence without communicating of 
 his substance to others, will be punished in hell 
 for thirty thousand years, and then be born a 
 musk-rat, then a deer, then a man whose person 
 emits an offensive smell, and who prefers bad to 
 excellent food. A fair woman who despises her 
 husband, will suffer in hell a variety of torments ; 
 she will then be born a female, and, losing her 
 husband very soon after marriage, will long suffer 
 the miseries of widowhood. 
 
 I have sometimes asked the people who ex- 
 plained to me the doctrine of transmigration, in 
 what form they had, during their former birth, 
 lived on earth, but never found one able to answer 
 the question. 
 
142 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 This doctrine, which is most intimately con- 
 nected with that of absolute fate, has had a very 
 injurious effect upon the whole nation, as I shall 
 show in a future chapter. The Hindoo regards 
 himself as subject to an unchangeable law of 
 necessity, and thus loses the free activity of his 
 mind. " Ishurer itsha jemon, temoni hoi :" As it is 
 destined, so it will be ; this sentence we hear 
 continually from the mouth of the learned Brah- 
 min, and of the common labourer in Bengal. All 
 their sins are considered as necessary consequences 
 of actions done in a former life, on which account 
 they seldom charge their consciences with guilt 
 for committing them. If a person die an unna- 
 tural death, his neighbours, instead of feeling 
 compassion, cry out, " O the wretch ! he must 
 have committed some great crimes in his former 
 existence." If a man be in trouble and adversity, 
 instead of using measures to extricate himself, he 
 sits down in despair, thinking that these unfortu- 
 nate circumstances are inseparably attached to 
 his birth, and that he can get rid of them only 
 with life itself. If another get rich, and all should 
 prosper according to his wishes, people say, 
 " How wonderful ! he must have done some very 
 meritorious deeds in his former birth, or else he 
 could not be such a lucky man." If the Hindoo 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 143 
 
 see a cow, ox, or other beast cruelly treated, he 
 exclaims, " Ah ! how many sins must the poor 
 creature have committed in a former state of 
 existence !" 
 
 In Bengal, a person cannot pass through a street 
 without being reminded of one or another of the 
 various ceremonies I have alluded to. An eminent 
 missionary gives the following sketch of daily 
 occurrences : " Here sits a man in his shop repeat- 
 ing the name of his guardian deity, or teaching it 
 to his parrot, which is a very meritorious thing, 
 and brings both the parrot and his master into 
 heaven; — there go half-a-dozen of sunyasees, or 
 byragees, making their journey to some holy 
 place ; — here passes a person carrying a basket on 
 his head, containing rice, sweetmeats, fruit, flowers, 
 an offering to his idol ; — here comes a man with a 
 chaplet of red flowers round his head, and the 
 head of a goat in his hand, having left the blood 
 and the carcase before the image of Kalee ; — there 
 sits a group of Hindoos listening to some others 
 rehearsing and chanting poetical versions of the 
 Purannas; — here sits a man in the front of his 
 house, reading some religious book, moving his 
 body like the trunk of a tree in a high wind ; and 
 here comes a group of jaded wretches, who have 
 spent the night in boisterously singing filthy songs, 
 
144 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 and dancing in an indecent manner before the 
 image of Durga. Add to this the villagers, men 
 and women, coming dripping from the banks of 
 the Ganges, and you have a tolerable view of 
 Hindoo idolatry as it stalks through the roads and 
 streets, and as it may be recognised by the most 
 careless observer." 
 
 Here, then, is a plain and faithful representation 
 of Hindooism in its practical part. I have not 
 overdone any thing ; on the contrary, the darkest 
 features of the picture have been left untouched 
 in the back-ground ; for no pen may describe, no 
 tongue may utter them, to a Christian public. 
 God grant, that the light of the Gospel may soon 
 dispel this heathen darkness ! 
 
 In contemplating this fearful state of things, 
 a sigh involuntarily rises from the compassionate 
 heart of the Christian ; my God, what must 
 become of a nation, which has such deities, and 
 such a religion ? Nothing is to be found in it 
 corresponding in the least with the moral and 
 spiritual wants of man, — no direction to that which 
 is good, no lamp to lighten the dark path through 
 the trials and obscurities of life, no ray of hope 
 for a better, happier state of existence. 
 
 " In the religious ceremonies of the Hindoos," 
 says Ward, " not a particle is found to interest or 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 145 
 
 amend the heart ; no family Bible, ' profitable for 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for in- 
 struction in righteousness ;' no domestic worship, 
 no pious assembly where the preacher 
 
 ' Attempts each art, reproves each dull delay, 
 Allures to brighter worlds, and leads the way.' 
 
 No standard of morals to repress the vicious, no 
 moral education in which the principles of virtue 
 and religion may be implanted in the youthful 
 mind. Here, every thing that assumes the appear- 
 ance of religion ends, if you could forget its im- 
 purity, in an unmeaning ceremony, and leaves the 
 heart cold as death to every moral principle." 
 
 Is not a land groaning under the curse of the 
 Almighty, which has priests like the Brahmins, as 
 instructors and leaders of the people, an awful 
 subject for contemplation? This is the fruit of 
 pantheism, in its undisguised form. Separated 
 from a Divine influence, left to his own imagina- 
 tion, man deifies himself. No ceremony is too 
 absurd, no vice too abominable, for him to prac- 
 tise. " Professing themselves to be wise, they 
 became fools, and changed the glory of the incor- 
 ruptible God into an image made like to corrupt- 
 ible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and 
 creeping things." 
 
146 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 The Hindoo, in his wild vagaries, represents 
 God as light and darkness, in a physical and 
 moral sense, as truth and lie, as the author of 
 good and evil. 
 
 What, my readers, has raised us above this 
 unhappy nation ? How is it that we have ideas 
 purer, and more worthy of the Divine Being ? 
 that our philosophy, theology, and other branches 
 of literature, rest upon a more sure and solid 
 foundation than those of the Hindoos, a nation 
 which is more than two thousand five hundred 
 years old ? How is it that, with all the sins and 
 vices which prevail in these western parts, there is 
 nevertheless a higher moral feeling and principle 
 predominant amongst us, than among the easterns? 
 Surely we are indebted for these blessings to the 
 Christian religion. The light of truth revealed in 
 the holy Scriptures has diffused its benignant rays 
 more or less, over our literature, our laws, and our 
 social life. The more that we have participated 
 individually in this light, the more correct is our 
 knowledge, the purer our life, the happier our 
 condition as social beings, the more intelligent and 
 better we have become. If you remove this light, 
 " which lightens all men ;" if you diminish its 
 influence, if you establish systems instead, which 
 have little or nothing in common with the Bible, 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 147 
 
 or are contrary to it, the natural consequence is, 
 that you will, in so doing, relapse into the obscure, 
 unhappy confusion of heathenism. Hindooism 
 is, in this respect, erected before the eyes of our 
 learned philosophers as a beacon of warning, 
 calling on them, " Beware of the gulf of perdition, 
 at whose precipitous brink many of you are 
 climbing about blindfold." Hindooism has de- 
 stroyed almost every moral vestige of the mind ; 
 it has kindled the flames of hell among mankind ; 
 it has excited in the heart every impure and 
 satanical passion. 
 
 How can this flood of corruption be stemmed ? 
 how can such a nation be rescued from eternal 
 ruin ? Certainly, in no other way than by the 
 word of the living God, by the glad message of 
 that Saviour and Redeemer who came from heaven 
 to deliver sinners from the curse of the law, — from 
 temporal and eternal misery. 
 
 When the Christian is in tribulation, he has a 
 remedy at hand, affording consolation, encou- 
 ragement, and peace to his troubled mind. He 
 opens his Bible, and reads of a land where no 
 tear will be shed, where sorrow and suffering are 
 unknown, where the head will not be weary, nor 
 the heart oppressed. He remembers the power 
 and love of his ever-present Helper, and finds rest 
 
 L 
 
148 THE IDOLATROUS CEREMONIES 
 
 for his soul. If his conscience trouble him, he 
 can take his refuge in the Kedeemer, whose blood 
 cleanseth from all sin ; the salvation wrought out 
 by Him, is the object of his hope and joy. 
 
 But what can the heathen do ? He is sensible 
 of sufferings and trials, even as we are ; oh yes, 
 I can assure you, he is often in great trouble. I 
 have seen his misery, I have heard his lamenta- 
 tions, especially when death, with his terrors, is 
 approaching ; but for him there is no remedy, 
 no alleviation ; for alas, he does not possess the 
 healing balm, the joy-giving treasure of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Can you, my readers, enjoy its blessings ; can 
 you quietly sit down in its possession, without 
 conceiving a desire, without making an effort, 
 to communicate them to a nation, who are your 
 fellow-subjects, groaning under the curse of a 
 degrading idolatry? No, you reply ; We will 
 proclaim to them the glad tidings of salvation 
 through Christ ; yes, dear readers — 
 
 " Salvation, O salvation, 
 
 The joyful sound proclaim, 
 Till earth's remotest nations 
 Hear of Messiah's name." 
 
 I feel assured, that all who can bear testimony 
 of His power to save, from personal experience, 
 
OF THE HINDOOS. 149 
 
 will, in grateful remembrance of the Divine 
 mercy, unite their cordial desire with prayer 
 to Almighty God, that the light of revealed truth 
 may soon dispel the dark clouds of heathenism, 
 and cast its refreshing rays upon the nations 
 of the East. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON THE LABOURS OF MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 
 
 EFFECTS OF IDOL WORSHIP ON THE MIND OF THE HINDOO. — 
 UPON HIS MORAL CHARACTER. — CONSEQUENT WRETCHEDNESS. — 
 HOW HE ENDEAVOURS TO GET RID OF HIS ANXIETY. — DIFFERENT 
 BRANCHES OF MISSIONARY LABOUR. — CHAPELS FOR PREACHING. 
 — DESCRIPTION OF HEARERS. — BRAHMINS FOND OF DISPUTING, 
 AND EMPLOYING INSULTING LANGUAGE. — ITINERATING IN THE 
 COLD SEASON. — DANGER FROM WILD BEASTS AND REPTILES. — 
 IMPRESSIONS PRODUCED BY PREACHING. — MODE OF PREACH- 
 ING. — ILLUSTRATIONS FROM NATURE. — PARABLES ACCEPTABLE. 
 — MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE DESIRABLE. — RESULT OF PREACHING 
 AMONG THE HINDOOS. — REFLECTIONS OF MR. RHENIUS. — APPLI- 
 CATION. 
 
 "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall he saved. 
 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ? 
 and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? and 
 how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they 
 preach, except they be sent?" — Romans x. 13 — 15. 
 
 In the former chapter I gave you a brief state- 
 ment of the religious ceremonies of the Hindoos ; 
 we now pass on to consider, in what way the 
 missionary endeavours to communicate to this 
 benighted nation, the knowledge of the true God. 
 
 In order to enable my readers to form some 
 idea of this important and arduous task, it 
 may not be unsuitable for me to recapitulate 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 151 
 
 some prominent features in the moral character 
 of the Hindoo. What can a religion, made up of 
 such cold, heartless ceremonies produce, but an 
 utter prostration of mind, a cold apathy towards 
 all that is truly good, a heart senseless and obtuse, 
 on which every exhortation to repentance, every 
 reproof of conscience, every call to works of 
 charity, must speak in vain, and rebound like 
 the arrow on the hard rock? 
 
 When a religion teaches that a man's whole 
 life, — that his moral and physical state, is un- 
 changeably fixed beforehand, and engraven on his 
 skull with indelible characters, the inevitable 
 consequence of this belief is extreme selfishness 5 
 man cares nothing for his fellow-being, — the 
 gratification of his personal wishes is all, and 
 everything that renders life agreeable to him ; his 
 motto is, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
 we die." 
 
 Hence the Hindoo has no love to his neighbour, 
 no patriotism, no benevolent, philanthropic feeling 
 possessing his mind. The most intimate social 
 relationship is not under the influence of moral 
 principle. Parents, it is true, manifest a tender 
 affection towards their offspring, but it is more 
 of an animal than an intellectual kind. When an 
 infant dies, the mother howls and tear her hair, 
 
152 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 but the following morning all her grief is usually 
 over and forgotten, though I have seen strong 
 exceptions to this, for the name of maternal love 
 sometimes burns brightly even in the breast of 
 a heathen mother. Disobedience towards parents 
 and superiors, has become proverbial ; and it can- 
 not be expected otherwise, among a people who 
 have no correct idea of moral and mental training, 
 and whose religious instructions only go the length 
 of leading the child to learn an obscene song, and 
 to bow down before an idol. Conjugal affection 
 and fidelity are unknown in Bengal ; indeed, how 
 can such things be expected among the Hindoos, 
 when we consider the example they have in their 
 gods ? A missionary once spoke with a Brahmin 
 on the profligacy of the character of Krishna, 
 to which he replied, " Every house in Calcutta 
 is a Krishna ;" a fearful representation this, of the 
 immorality of its inhabitants ! 
 
 The Hindoo is forbidden to kill an animal for 
 the purpose of eating the meat, because the soul 
 of a Brahmin may dwell in it, and thus a con- 
 fusion would be caused in the creation ; and he is 
 also careful not to crush an ant under his feet, not 
 from any feeling of tenderness, but from supersti- 
 tious fear, for poor illegitimate children are mur- 
 dered in great numbers ; and a learned Brahmin, 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 153 
 
 who held an official situation under Government, 
 stated, that he believed that in Bengal, ten thou- 
 sand infants are annually destroyed before their 
 birth. Crimes of this description have come 
 under my own observation, and filled my soul 
 with horror. Poisoning is frequently practised ; 
 many a Hindoo thus removes his nearest relative, 
 if obnoxious to him, from any trifling cause. 
 Some years ago, I saw the corpses of three females 
 lying before a cottage, each of whom had had her 
 throat cut : the murders were committed almost 
 in sight of the magistrate's residence, yet the 
 superintendent of police did not succeed in dis- 
 covering the perpetrators of this dreadful deed. 
 
 The Hindoos have no correct idea of pity and 
 compassion. Their cruel insensibility towards the 
 poor, the suffering, and the dying, is revolting to 
 the feelings of every European. If, for instance, a 
 boat on the Ganges, filled with people, be upset — 
 a thing which frequently happens — nobody cares 
 for the cries of the drowning ; the boatmen, who 
 are only a few yards distant, remain unconcerned 
 spectators, and continue smoking their hookah, 
 or eating their food, shouting, "Ishwurer ichas 
 dubija giachen," — God has decreed it : they are 
 drowned. 
 
 Where selfishness is the main -spring of every 
 
154 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 action, all mutual confidence will be destroyed. 
 One lays his plans in opposition to the other, and 
 relations live in discord and at enmity together, 
 which sometimes breaks out with desperate fury. 
 Though this does not occur continually, they 
 always regard each other with jealousy and 
 hatred. There seems no cordial friendliness of 
 feeling, except for some selfish end. The inhabit- 
 ants of villages which I visited have often told 
 me, that there were not three families among 
 five hundred heartily united. Brothers and rela- 
 tives are ever in conflict together about inherit- 
 ances and legacies, with regard to which they 
 are daily on the watch to defraud and injure 
 each other, and they are exceedingly clever in 
 preparing false documents, and signatures : there 
 are many people who obtain their livelihood by 
 this unlawful practice. Their hatred lasts for 
 life, and is not unfrequently transmitted to their 
 posterity. The women take their share in the 
 quarrels ; they stand with their hair flying, pour- 
 ing out volleys of abusive language, screaming and 
 shouting, so that one might think the powers of 
 the infernal regions were let loose. 
 
 But notwithstanding all this, the Hindoo feels 
 something of the voice of truth in his breast — an 
 obscure longing after rest troubles him, without his 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 155 
 
 being conscious of the real tendency of his desires. 
 His conscience, although hidden under a heap of 
 sin and error, sometimes awakes sufficiently to 
 render him uneasy. The ten commandments are 
 written with indelible characters npo?i the heart of the 
 most abandoned heathen: I can, from personal expe- 
 rience, vouch for the truth of this remark, and the 
 words of the apostle are verified even among the 
 deeply-sunk Hindoos: "For when the Gentiles, 
 which have not the law, do by nature the things 
 contained in the law, these, having not the law, are 
 a law unto themselves: which show the work of 
 the law written in their hearts, their conscience also 
 bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while 
 accusing or else excusing one another.' 1 '' 
 
 There are Hindoos who seem devout in their 
 own way, who, under some sense of spiritual wants, 
 sacrifice their he-goat before the shrine of Kalee, 
 or bathe in the Ganges ; but because the senseless 
 ceremonies of idolatry are devoid of a substratum 
 of truth, there being not the least symbolical 
 allusion to a spiritual cleansing or atonement 
 for sin, those ceremonies only tend to draw the 
 mind further away from it. For satisfying the 
 hunger' of the immortal soul, Hindooism offers a 
 stone ; for quenching the thirst of the spirit groan- 
 ing after life eternal, it has prepared no refreshing 
 
156 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 waters, but impure and putrid sloughs ; the 
 wretched beings who drink from which, are becom- 
 ing more miserable and thirsty still, partaking of 
 the nature of the disgusting element they receive ; 
 — there they lie, helpless and abject, in the valley 
 of the shadow of death, dreaming themselves away 
 into eternal perdition. 
 
 People who have led a wicked life sometimes 
 feel uneasy, and endeavour to escape the torments 
 of hell by atonements, and meritorious acts. I 
 have known Hindoos who went for several years 
 on pilgrimage, in order to get rid of their anxiety. 
 If the rich man confess a sin to his priest, he is 
 drained of a large sum ; if he be poor, he is desired 
 to wash away his anguish, by bathing oftener than 
 usual in the Ganges. In the hour of death, the 
 prospect of transmigration affords but poor com- 
 fort. A missionary describes the lamentation of a 
 dying Hindoo in the following pathetic manner: 
 " Ah ! into what hell shall I go ? what hope have 
 I of getting into heaven ? what meritorious acts 
 have I performed ? Here I have suffered for the 
 sins of a former birth, and now my sufferings are 
 beginning afresh. Through how many births 
 have I yet to pass, before I reach the termination 
 of my sufferings !" 
 
 The Hindoo, in his dying hour, is like a man 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 157 
 
 upon the stormy ocean, when the shattered vessel 
 will no longer yield to the helm : he is fully aware 
 it must go to the bottom ; he knows nothing of 
 the hope of the Christian, " which he hath as an 
 anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and 
 which entereth into that within the veil." In 
 gloomy despair he lays himself down to be 
 swallowed up by the dark waves. What a strik- 
 ing contrast this to the death of the believer in 
 Christ, which is so beautifully described by Watts : 
 
 " Just such is the Christian : his course he begins, 
 Like the sun in a mist, while he mourns for his sins, 
 And melts into tears — then he breaks out and shines, 
 
 And travels his heavenly way. 
 But when he comes nearer to finish his race, 
 Like a fine setting sun, he looks richer in grace, 
 And gives a sure hope at the end of his days, 
 Of rising in brighter array !" 
 
 Among the hundreds of millions of the exten- 
 sive empire of Hindoosthan, out of whom more 
 than three thousand souls are daily ushered into 
 eternity, a small band of missionaries is dispersed, 
 who proclaim to a few among them the salvation 
 purchased by Christ. 
 
 Since my return from India, I have often been 
 asked, in what way the missionary endeavours to 
 communicate the Gospel to idolaters. I will now 
 endeavour to answer this question as practically as 
 possible. The labour of the missionary consists 
 
158 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 of three distinct branches ; first, the direct preach- 
 ing of the Gospel; secondly, the translation and 
 dispersion of the Holy Scriptures, and of other 
 useful books ; and thirdly, the education of youth. 
 The preaching department will claim our attention 
 in this chapter. 
 
 When the first Protestant missionaries com- 
 menced their labours in Bengal, forty years ago, 
 they found it very difficult to get access to the 
 natives. The Hindoos heard with surprise that a 
 handful of strangers had ventured to proclaim a 
 new religion, and the Brahmins thought it rather 
 amusing, and smiled at the idea that white-faced 
 men could think of assailing a religious system, 
 which, like the range of the Himalaya mountains, 
 had stood for hundreds of thousands of years. 
 The missionaries, however, by no means allowed 
 themselves to be dismayed by the contemptuous 
 smile of these priests, and they endeavoured by 
 every possible means to communicate the truth to 
 the people. The taunts of the Brahmins not long 
 afterwards changed into apprehension and fear; 
 and now partial success has greatly strengthened 
 the courage, and enlivened the hope of the 
 labourers. 
 
 In towns, such as Calcutta, Benares, and Burdwan, 
 the missionaries have erected chapels in the most 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 159 
 
 frequented parts. These buildings are constructed 
 of the most cheap and simple materials : the 
 walls are of brick, or sometimes only of mat ; the 
 superstructure is of bamboo, with a thatched 
 roof. The morning hour after sunrise, and the 
 evening hour after sunset, are invariably chosen 
 for preaching. During the heat of the day, be- 
 tween nine and five o'clock, public speaking for 
 any length of time is hardly practicable. The 
 missionary first takes his station at the entrance of 
 the chapel, and a native catechist then begins to 
 read a portion of the Bible. Meanwhile, a number 
 of Hindoos are gathering around to hear what 
 news this man has to communicate. The hearers 
 belong to different classes ; among them you may 
 see the ignorant Sudra, the peasant, the artisan, 
 the palankeen-bearer, and near them the cunning, 
 wily Brahmin. 
 
 As one of the first missionaries in Bengal was 
 preaching in a street in Calcutta, a baboo passing 
 by cast a contemptuous glance at him, and said, 
 " You padrees are exactly like those hypocrites, of 
 whom your Jesus said, ' They love to pray stand- 
 ing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the 
 streets, that they may be seen of men.' " " Yes, 
 my friend," replied the missionary, " but only 
 with this difference, that they were praised by 
 
160 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 the people, and we are scoffed at and despised 
 for it." 
 
 To address a crowd of idolaters is indeed a very 
 different thing from preaching in a church, before 
 an orderly, devout Christian congregation ; it re- 
 quires no small degree of firmness and patience to 
 communicate the word of God to a set of people 
 whose minds are full of prejudice, and void of any 
 sound knowledge ; and to be exposed to the scoffs, 
 impudence, and ridicule of the Brahmin, who 
 looks upon the preacher as an uncalled-for in- 
 truder, whose efforts are to be opposed at any rate, 
 if his influence cannot be resisted. I well recol- 
 lect the struggles of mind through which I passed 
 during the first years of my missionary career, 
 before I could get courage, trusting in the help of 
 God, to address an assembly of heathen. 
 
 When a considerable number of people are 
 gathered together, we invite them to enter the 
 chapel, and take a seat on the benches. The num- 
 ber, of course, varies much at different periods : 
 sometimes the place cannot hold half of them, 
 and many remain standing without ; on other even- 
 ings the chapel is not nearly full. The preacher 
 stands on a raised platform, to address the people. 
 But that silent and devout attention which prevails 
 in our churches during Divine service, is never 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 161 
 
 seen. The majority of the hearers come from 
 curiosity, and leave perhaps after a quarter of an 
 hour. This is certainly rather disheartening, but 
 the preacher goes on nevertheless, and in a few- 
 minutes the place is probably rilling again. At 
 other times he may happen to get a congregation 
 of very quiet, attentive hearers, who will listen to 
 the end of his discourse. Much depends on the 
 manner and character of his preaching ; if he 
 be lively and energetic, and his subject interesting 
 and attractive, he will be sure to command a 
 good degree of attention ; but if he be dry, 
 monotonous, and dull, or his voice feeble, the 
 people soon tire, and allow him to preach to 
 the benches. 
 
 Imagine, my friends, among a hundred hearers, 
 a Brahmin, whose proud attitude shows at once 
 that he belongs to the caste whom the Hindoos 
 regard as demi-gods. From his contemptuous look 
 you may conclude what is passing in his mind. 
 He turns to the right and left, and at last he rises 
 from his seat. He covers his face with his upper 
 garment, lest he be polluted by the breath of the 
 missionary, so that only his eyes are visible. 
 " Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I 
 am holier than thou," are the words legibly in- 
 scribed on his countenance. He hears of the only 
 
162 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 true God, or the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and 
 thinks, I will soon bring this preacher to silence. 
 Who is God, can you show him to me ? he asks. 
 If he be answered, I cannot, he is invisible, a 
 Spirit, — the Brahmin continues, " / am God." 
 " You, a poor mortal, subject to sufferings, and 
 finally to death; you, a weak, yea, wicked and sin- 
 ful creature, how can you make such a senseless 
 assertion ? do you not know that God is a holy, 
 glorious being, perfect in all his attributes?" 
 Upon this he calmly replies, " Who speaks, who 
 thinks, who acts through me ? God does it, he is 
 in me ; my soul is of God ; it is part of him, — 
 hence I am God." The missionary then proceeds 
 to expose him in some practical way : such as, 
 You are a liar ; can God tell a lie ? " What is 
 lying ? " he responds. " What is sin in general ? 
 it is nothing ; it exists only in your imagination. 1 ' 
 If the man be in some degree sincere, and open to 
 conviction, he will at length allow the fallacy 
 of his pantheistical doctrines, but in most cases 
 he will go on arguing merely for the sake of 
 dispute, and in such cases it is best to cut the 
 discussion short, rather than to waste breath 
 upon him. 
 
 A dear brother missionary related to me the 
 following discourse which he had with a philoso- 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 163 
 
 phical Brahmin, who inquired of him, What do 
 you preach here ? Answer. — We teach the know- 
 ledge of the true God. Who is he ? I am God. 
 " I thought," said he, " when hearing this the first 
 time, that it would be an easy thing to confute 
 him, but I soon discovered my mistake." " This 
 is very extraordinary," said I ; " are you then 
 almighty ?" " No," he replied, u if I had created 
 the sun, I should be almighty ; but I have not." 
 " How, then, can you pretend to be God, if you 
 are not almighty ?" " This question is owing to 
 your ignorance," said he ; " what do you see 
 there ?" pointing to the Ganges. "Water." " And 
 what is in this vessel?" — at the same time he 
 poured out a few drops into the hollow of his 
 hand. " This is water likewise." " What is the 
 difference between this water and that of the 
 Ganges ?" " There is none." u Oh, I see a great 
 difference ; that water carries ships, and this does 
 not. God is almighty ; I am only a small part of 
 the Godhead, and therefore I am not almighty ; 
 and yet I am God, just as these drops in my hand 
 are real water." I replied, " According to your 
 representation, God is divided into many thousand 
 portions ; one is in me, another in you." " Oh," 
 said the Brahmin, " this remark is again owing to 
 your ignorance; how many suns do you see in 
 
 M 
 
164 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 the sky?" " Only one; but if you put a thousand 
 vessels with water on the ground, what do you see 
 in each?" " The image of the sun." " But if you 
 see the image of it in so many vessels, will it prove 
 that there are a thousand suns in the firmament ?" 
 " No, there is only one sun, but it is reflected a 
 thousand times in the water ; so likewise there is 
 only one God, yet his image and brightness are 
 reflected in every human being." It would have 
 been an easy thing to show this conceited philoso- 
 pher, that his comparison was far from proving 
 the point he wished to establish, from the differ- 
 ence of the sun in the sky, and its reflection in the 
 water. The missionary, however, preferred trying 
 to touch his conscience. " God," he continued 
 " is holy. Are you holy ?" " No," said the 
 Brahmin, "I am not; I am doing many things 
 which are wrong, and I know that they are wrong." 
 "How then can you say you are God?" "Oh, 
 I see," rejoined the former, "you want a little 
 more intellect to be put into your head, before you 
 can dispute with us. God is fire ; fire is the 
 purest element in the creation ; but if you throw 
 dirt upon it, a bad smell will arise : it is not the 
 fault of the fire, but of the bad stuff you have 
 thrown thereon. Thus, God is perfectly pure, but 
 he is surrounded by matter ; he does not desire 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 165 
 
 sin ; he hates it ; but it arises from matter." How 
 different this from the declaration of Christ, Out of 
 the heart proceed evil thoughts, and every thing 
 that is sinful ! In this way the missionary went 
 on reasoning with the Brahmin on all the Divine 
 attributes, and found at the end, that he had not 
 advanced a step further than at the beginning. 
 
 Besides preaching in chapels and schools, the 
 missionary in India must embrace every oppor- 
 tunity of communicating the truth to the people. 
 We visit their idolatrous festivals, we go into the 
 villages and bazaars in the evening, when they 
 assemble on the steps of their idol temples ; in 
 the morning, when hundreds bathe in the rivers ; 
 under shady trees ; and at the entrance to their 
 cottages, where they are in the habit of smoking 
 and talking : in these places we sit down with 
 them, take a part in the conversation, and endea- 
 vour to turn it to the subject of religion. 
 
 Many Hindoos become indignant if a missionary 
 venture to preach the Gospel on the banks of 
 their sacred Ganges: and it should never be 
 attempted when they are engaged with their reli- 
 gious ceremonies. An excellent fellow-labourer 
 told me, that he used to go twice a-week to preach 
 by the river-side, because he always met with 
 large assemblies there of a morning. Some 
 
166 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 Brahmins, however, became at length exceedingly 
 enraged against him, and said to him, " Have you 
 not sufficient room in the town ? why must you 
 desecrate our most sacred places with your preach- 
 ing ? You deserve to have your tongue cut out, or 
 melted lead poured down your throat." In order 
 to avoid unnecessary offence, he from that time 
 forward desisted from preaching on the banks of the 
 river, while they were performing their worship. 
 
 I met, myself, with similar treatment in a 
 village one evening, where the Hindoos were 
 celebrating the festival of the goddess Durga. 
 While addressing the people, an old Brahmin 
 repeatedly interrupted me. " What you tell us, I 
 have known long before : your Bible is upokotka, 
 a low book, and not to be compared with our 
 shasters. You need not teach the people, they 
 know as much or more than you do ; you are a 
 deceiver." I replied, " Why then did you request 
 us to establish a school for your children ? What, 
 do you think, is the reason that we expend such 
 considerable sums on their education ; and that we 
 come to your villages, exposing ourselves to the 
 heat of the sun and other inconveniences? Do you 
 not think it would be more agreeable to our feel- 
 ings to stop quietly at home, as other Europeans 
 do, who care nothing about you ?" I received a 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 167 
 
 very remarkable answer: — a This is your nature," 
 said the malicious Brahmin, "just as it is the nature 
 of the jackal to go about by night and steal fowls 
 and geese." I said, " May God give you such a 
 nature and disposition that you may allow yourself 
 to be caught in the net of the blessed Gospel ! " 
 
 During the cold season, from November to 
 February, we are in the habit of making excur- 
 sions to the more distant parts of the country ; and 
 to preach the Gospel from village to village. The 
 water which during the rains covers the plains 
 of Bengal, is then dried up, and we can without 
 danger move about in the open air ; the tempera- 
 ture is mild and pleasant, the climate healthy and 
 bracing. I packed my store of books and provi- 
 sions on a two-wheeled cart, drawn by a pair of 
 bullocks, and to this were added a small tent, a 
 camp-bed, table, and stool. Thus equipped, I 
 travelled daily ten or fifteen miles. The journey 
 is made on foot in the cool of the morning, or 
 sometimes on horseback. "When I was joined by 
 fellow-labourers, the wealthy Rajah of Burdwan 
 placed an elephant or two at my disposal, and one 
 of them carried the tent while the other was em- 
 ployed for ourselves. The motion of this bulky 
 animal is rather jolting, and somewhat trying to 
 the chest ; but we soon became accustomed to it, 
 
168 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 and never felt the least disadvantage arising from 
 this mode of travelling. In this way I have made 
 many a mission tour to the more remote parts of 
 Bengal, disseminating the word of God among the 
 inhabitants of the country. On several occasions 
 my coadjutor or myself preached to the assembled 
 natives from the back of the elephant. 
 
 On the arrival of a missionary in a village, the 
 inhabitants generally conduct themselves towards 
 him in a friendly and obliging manner. The 
 mundul, or chief man, usually comes forward, 
 making a profound salam, to inquire if he can 
 assist him in anything. This is owing, not so 
 much to natural benevolence, as to an order of 
 Government, to this effect, on behalf of Europeans 
 at large. Fuel, milk, eggs, fowls, and other things, 
 are upon moderate payment, forthwith supplied ; a 
 watchman (chowkedar) is carrying water, and 
 watching the tent and furniture; and I do not 
 recollect to have lost anything in my travels from 
 thieves. It is however more from fear than from 
 honesty, that the Bengalee respects the property 
 of the European. In the north-western provinces 
 robbers are both numerous and daring. 
 
 Mr. Smith, a missionary, was one evening 
 preaching in a street of Benares ; his conveyance 
 stood near the place : a man came up to the driver, 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 169 
 
 saying, Your master is feeling rather cold, and 
 wants me to bring him his cloak : the cloak was 
 made over to him, and the thief walked off with 
 it. Another missionary, on his way to Benares, 
 had all his clothes taken out of his tent, without 
 hearing the least noise. In the morning he went 
 to complain to the police officer of the place, who 
 succeeded, after a short and summary investigation, 
 in recovering them. The method he took to lead 
 to discovery was this : — he ordered the watchman 
 to be tied to a tree, who, having received some 
 cuts with a cane, whispered something into the 
 ear of one of the bystanders ; this fellow immedi- 
 ately went away, and in a few minutes returned 
 with the stolen articles. 
 
 In the jungles, or wooded parts of Bengal, we are 
 occasionally exposed to annoyance, and even to 
 danger, from wild beasts. We pitched our tent 
 one evening near a small village in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the town of Bishenpore : the place 
 was surrounded by a dense forest. Before going 
 to rest we charged the chowkedar to be careful of 
 our things. " They are quite safe," replied the man ; 
 " but in all probability we shall have a visit from 
 tigers ; you must not be afraid, however, for I know 
 a muntro, or charm, by which I have driven away 
 many a wild beast." We commended ourselves to 
 
170 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 the protection of God, but charged the watchman 
 to call us as soon as a tiger made his appearance ; 
 and we kept two loaded guns ready for his recep- 
 tion. We slept quietly, however, until day-break, 
 when my friend Mr. Lacroix called out, " Watch- 
 man, have you seen the tiger?" " Yes," he replied, 
 " but as soon as I repeated my muntro, he walked 
 away." We could not help smiling incredulously 
 at this answer, but to our surprise we soon found 
 that, as far as the visit was concerned, he had 
 spoken the truth, for on leaving the tent, we dis- 
 covered the fresh foot-marks of a tiger near it. 
 
 A greater annoyance still are snakes and other 
 reptiles. At the time of an inundation I found a 
 cobra de capella, or hooded-snake, in my study ; it 
 was coiled up between the lattices of a Venetian 
 door, and just extending its head to bite me, when 
 I cast my eye upon it, and killed the beast. On 
 returning one evening from the bazaar in Burdwan, 
 I trod upon a cobra de capella ; I rushed forward, 
 and the snake darted after me, but providentially 
 I escaped being bitten, having put my foot near to 
 the neck, which prevented its immediate attack. 
 
 When the little tent is pitched in the shade of a 
 mangoe grove, on the outskirts of a Hindoo village, 
 the inhabitants soon crowd around, and the mis- 
 sionaries enter into friendly conversation with 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 171 
 
 them, preparatory to the proclamation of the 
 Gospel. The natives in the country are usually 
 more accessible to the truth, than those in towns, 
 having a natural simplicity and sincerity about 
 them, which are rarely found in large places. 
 There are thousands who would readily embrace 
 Christianity, but for the frowns and persecuting 
 spirit of the Brahmins and zemindars. 
 
 I entered a village one evening with two mis- 
 sionary brethren ; and we erected our tent under 
 a splendid banian-tree. The following morning 
 was the Lord's-day, and we prepared for preach- 
 ing ; but the Hindoos have no day of rest. Near 
 our tent was a bazaar, beginning at ten o'clock, 
 and this was crowded with thousands, who bought 
 and sold clothes, vegetables, brass utensils, and 
 other articles. My catechists, Shunder and Nod- 
 duchund, converted heathen, mounted the cart 
 which carried our tent, and spoke for an hour, 
 and the people came over in succession to hear 
 the word of God. We found these good simple 
 countrymen well disposed, and they listened to 
 the message of Divine love with surprise and 
 pleasure. It was the first message of grace that 
 had ever been preached in this populous place. 
 We of course spoke ourselves, and distributed 
 hundreds of gospels and tracts among them. 
 
172 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 Little bands were seen standing in circles, one 
 of whom was heard reading the contents to the 
 rest, and we continued all day thus employed. 
 Weary and exhausted from the day's labour, 
 I walked out after sunset to enjoy the fresh even- 
 ing breeze. The people were returning home 
 from the market ; many had the tracts in their 
 hands, and to my great joy they conversed 
 together on the subject that had so agreeably 
 arrested their attention in the course of the day. 
 One person said, " This Padre Saheb has indeed 
 told us the truth ; we should leave the ways 
 of sin." Another continued, " He also said the 
 worship of idols was unprofitable, and cannot save 
 the soul. Indeed, it is so ; we have for many 
 years been praying to them, and it has done us no 
 good." A third said, " He likewise asked us, 
 Who of you will make a beginning and return to 
 this kind Father in heaven? indeed, we should 
 follow his advice." Such expressions were to my 
 mind delightful tokens, that the good seed we 
 disperse is taking root, and ripening to the har- 
 vest ; and I returned to my tent praying that 
 the light of the glorious Gospel might soon dispel 
 idolatry and spiritual darkness from the plains 
 of unhappy India. 
 
 Personal insults, or assaults, the missionary is 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 173 
 
 but rarely exposed to in Bengal ; although the 
 daring impudence with which the Brahmin objects 
 to his preaching, and the offensive remarks he 
 makes, against the person of our Saviour and the 
 Gospel, are sometimes trying to his patience in the 
 highest degree. I was only once violently assailed : 
 while preaching before an idol temple, a malicious 
 youth threw a brick-bat at my head. On another 
 occasion, some naughty boys cast rubbish and dirt 
 at me, probably at the instigation of the Brahmins. 
 The hatred of these unprincipled priests is great 
 indeed against the preacher of the Gospel ; and 
 without the protection of the English authorities, 
 would be a serious hinderance to him ; for, in all 
 probability, open persecution would break out, 
 which might sweep the face of the country clear 
 of every missionary. Little outbreaks of the 
 description I have mentioned, clearly show what it 
 is likely would be done by the enemies, if they 
 were not kept under restraint by an energetic 
 hand. 
 
 Two years since, a missionary at Calcutta en- 
 deavoured to dissuade a Hindoo, at the swinging 
 festival, from allowing the iron hooks to be thrust 
 through his back. He perhaps used some in- 
 cautious expression; the idolaters were aroused, 
 and threw him on the ground, and were just on 
 
174 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 the point of murdering him, when a courageous 
 Englishman rushed in to rescue him from the 
 hands of the infuriated mob. I must say that this 
 was altogether an imprudent and uncalled-for act, 
 though done with the best intentions. To oppose 
 idolaters while in a state of violent excitement, is 
 displaying little of that wisdom of the serpent 
 which our Saviour recommends. 
 
 Some years ago, another missionary was assailed 
 while preaching in a chapel. A strong native of 
 Upper Hindoosthan went behind the desk where he 
 stood, intending to knock him down with his 
 stick ; but the blow fortunately fell on his shoulder. 
 The hearers became indignant, and seized the 
 culprit, who was ready to escape. " What shall I 
 do with him?" said the missionary. " Give him 
 a good beating," was the reply of some. u I can- 
 not do that," said he. " Send him to the judge," 
 cried others, " and he will receive two years' hard 
 labour on the road." " I cannot follow your ad- 
 vice," said the missionary again ; " and I will tell 
 you why; my religion commands me to love my 
 enemies, and to do good to them who treat me 
 despitefully." He then addressed the man, saying, 
 " I forgive you from my heart, but never forget, 
 that you are indebted for your escape from punish- 
 ment to that Jesus whom you persecuted in me." 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 175 
 
 The Hindoos were astonished at this, rose up, and 
 cried out, " Joy Eeshu Krishto ! Joy Eeshu Krishto !" 
 — Victory to Jesus Christ, victory to Jesus Christ ; 
 evidently from the impression that he must be the 
 true God, and that this was the true religion, which 
 enjoined love to enemies. 
 
 Itinerating in Bengal affords one great advan- 
 tage, viz., that the good seed of the word is spread 
 over a large surface of country. I distributed, on 
 those tours every cold season, many thousands of 
 tracts and gospels ; and these silent witnesses 
 of the truth are carried to the most distant 
 regions. By the perusal of them, the attention of 
 the people is excited, and a desire after true hap- 
 piness is awakened in their breasts ; and it is one 
 of the best means for preparing the native mind 
 for the reception of the Gospel. I have found 
 Hindoos in possession of tracts, in the most remote 
 and solitary villages of Bengal, which were given 
 them by missionaries on their pilgrimages. It 
 could be wished that such mission tours were 
 annually repeated through the same villages, in 
 order to extend religious knowledge, and to deepen 
 the first impression of it. But before we can make 
 plans for rendering this kind of missionary labour 
 effectual, our stations must be strengthened by a 
 great increase of faithful labourers. 
 
176 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 As to the mode of preaching, and the subject of 
 our addresses to the heathen, it is difficult, if not 
 impossible, to lay down certain fixed rules. What 
 appears to me of paramount importance is, that 
 the missionary possess a thorough knowledge of the 
 language, of the character of the people, and their 
 habits and modes of thinking. Then a conscious- 
 ness of their real condition should be awakened in 
 their minds, and the consolations which the Gospel 
 offers, and the hope of deliverance through it, must 
 be brought clearly before them. The fall of man, 
 and his consequent separation from God, must be 
 clearly shown, with its consequences ; and that the 
 religion of the Brahmins has greatly contributed 
 to the present demoralised state of their nation, 
 cannot be passed over in silence; but the chief and 
 prominent point in every sermon should be the 
 love of God towards his sinful, fallen creatures, 
 manifested in Christ, providing salvation for them, 
 and offering it freely to every sinner. I believe it 
 was preaching the glad message of Divine love so 
 fully and so frequently, which rendered the ministry 
 of the apostolic Schwartz so eminently blessed in 
 the south of India. 
 
 The root of every moral evil among Hindoos, 
 as well as other nations, is not idolatry in itself, 
 but the fallen and corrupt nature which has pro- 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 177 
 
 duced this satanic religion. Those who are, in 
 some degree, sincere among them, acknowledge 
 this deep-rooted evil; and many Hindoos, convinced 
 by the voice of conscience, confess that God is not 
 the author of sin, as their shasters inculcate, but 
 that it proceeds from the poisoned fountain of the 
 human heart. 
 
 As the Hindoo, who comes to hear the mission- 
 ary preach in his chapel, is generally under the 
 influence of prejudice, viewing him as a person 
 who intends to rob him of his religion, and to 
 force another upon his acceptance, he has to 
 proceed in his work with much caution and wis- 
 dom. I should not advise any to begin a public 
 address by exposing his abominable idolatry, for 
 it would only excite his feelings, and render him 
 more inaccessible to a sincere inquiry after truth. 
 But if he show him from facts his moral depra- 
 vity, and the position in which he stands, in con- 
 sequence, to that holy and almighty God who gave 
 him his being, the Hindoo will afterwards allow 
 him to show him likewise, from incontrovertible 
 proofs, that his idolatrous system is the work of 
 human wickedness and pride. 
 
 The missionary should, above all things, study 
 a kind, gentle, and affectionate bearing towards 
 the natives; by this he will effect more than by 
 
1 78 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 the most eloquent and powerful addresses. The 
 Hindoos are particularly keen observers of the 
 character of Europeans. They think, and pro- 
 bably with justice, that a man who cannot keep 
 his own passions under, is not fit to be a mis- 
 sionary ; and they conclude that such a one 
 does not himself believe what he preaches. A 
 preacher who is of a warm and excitable tempera- 
 ment, should not, certainly, go to India. The hot 
 and sultry climate has of itself a great tendency 
 to irritate the nervous system ; and I can assure 
 my readers, it is a daily and trying task to every 
 missionary, to fulfil his arduous duties with calm- 
 ness and equanimity. Amidst the numerous pro- 
 vocations which ruffle the temper, I was often 
 reminded of the words of St. James, iii. 2 : " If 
 any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect 
 man." 
 
 The cunning and malicious Brahmins take good 
 care to keep the missionary well exercised in the 
 laudable qualities of patience and meekness, parti- 
 cularly while preaching. Woe to him, if he allow 
 himself to be discomposed by their impertinent 
 intrusiveness and blasphemous objections ; for then 
 they tell him, with a malicious smile, " You want 
 to convert and make us holy, and the evil passions 
 are not subdued in your own heart." 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 179 
 
 That holy man, Bishop Corrie, of Madras, who 
 was for many years Archdeacon of Calcutta, and 
 one of the most faithful and persevering labourers 
 for the kingdom of God in India, was, in this 
 respect, a pattern to the missionary. Love and 
 benevolence beamed from his noble countenance. 
 His gentle and amiable manner arrested the atten- 
 tion of all, and drew forth the admiration even of 
 the haughty Brahmins. He visited us at Burd- 
 wan, in 1831, and sat down in the verandah, 
 conversing with the natives in his usual kind and 
 affectionate way. My pundit, a bigoted Brahmin, 
 was so struck by his demeanour, that he after- 
 wards said to me, " Sir, this is a holy man." 
 
 It is very common, while the missionary is 
 preaching, for a forward Brahmin to propose ques- 
 tions and raise objections which have nothing to 
 do with the subject under consideration ; and it 
 requires a certain tact to silence the intruder : 
 their chief object in doing this is to show their wit, 
 or to cause a laugh among the bystanders, at the 
 expense of religion. "Do you believe the words 
 of your Saviour ?" inquired one of those insolent 
 men. Upon my replying in the affirmative, he 
 continued, " Jesus said, ' If any man take away 
 thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.' You are 
 well dressed, and I am half naked ; pray give me 
 
 N 
 
180 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 your coat, for you have more than one. He also 
 said, ' Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right 
 cheek, turn to him the other also.' Suppose I 
 give you a blow on your head, will you act in 
 obedience to this command ?" The consequence 
 was general laughter and interruption. "Who 
 is Jesus ?" " Where is your God ?" " Show him 
 to us." "Who has made sin?" Such, and 
 similar provoking questions, are constantry made 
 by them. 
 
 Whenever I perceived a man intent upon inter- 
 rupting the others, I addressed him in something 
 like the following words : " We are speaking 
 about sacred things; every respectable man feels 
 an esteem for religion ; I advise you, therefore, to 
 remain quiet, or to go away, lest you bring shame 
 and contempt on yourself for your improper con- 
 duct." This usually had the desired effect, and 
 the man has gone off quietly. 
 
 Persons who came with reasonable questions, I 
 requested to wait until the conclusion of my 
 address. Sometimes, however, it happens, that 
 unruly, riotous persons have to be forcibly removed 
 from the room. The Hindoos resemble, in their 
 conduct, naughty boys ; they want kind and friendly 
 treatment, but this must be united with energy 
 and firmness. If we listen to their insolent ques- 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 181 
 
 tions, the sermon is sure to end in a noisy discus- 
 sion ; and what else can we expect, but that the 
 impression previously made will be lost ? 
 
 Sometimes, however, it is absolutely impossible 
 to stop the boisterous noise ; a missionary, on such 
 an occasion, once called out to the people, " You 
 have got the victory ; yes, I allow that you have 
 obtained it, at any rate in crying ; but when I 
 come again, I shall bring a shell, and blow it as 
 I can, and then I shall get the victory." This 
 remark made them ashamed, and they became 
 silent. 
 
 On a visit to Benares, I went one afternoon to 
 preach in that quarter of the town in which 
 Bengalee is spoken. As soon as I commenced 
 reading a portion of Scripture, a band of musi- 
 cians appeared in a balcony opposite to the place 
 in which I stood, who made such a deafening 
 noise, that it drowned my voice; so I was com- 
 pelled to desist, and to proceed to another street, 
 where I succeeded in addressing attentive hearers. 
 
 When an assembly of heathen can be brought 
 to listen quietly to the end of the sermon, many 
 go away apparently impressed ; and nothing was 
 more pleasing to me, than to perceive them re- 
 turning home under these impressions. Ours is 
 the privilege to believe the promise, " The word 
 
182 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 shall not return unto me void, but accomplish that 
 whereunto I sent it." 
 
 Preaching on morals, on the relative duties of 
 life, and exhortations to believe in one God, do 
 not reach the heart, and produce no fruit among 
 the Hindoos. They tell the preacher openly, " All 
 this we have known before : that there is only one 
 God, our shasters tell us ; likewise, that virtue is 
 better than vice, no one doubts ; but both are in 
 the world, and you cannot alter the nature of 
 things." 
 
 That kind of preaching which is adopted in 
 Christian countries, developing from a given text 
 a truth or doctrine in abstract ideas, and con- 
 cluding with some practical applications, could 
 hardly be understood, and would therefore not be 
 appreciated by the Hindoo, whose habits of think- 
 ing and reasoning are very different to ours. 
 When discussing religious subjects, he employs 
 images and metaphors ; every object in the visible 
 world is laid hold of to illustrate the point on 
 which he argues. 
 
 We must therefore bring our arms from the 
 camp of the Philistines, and learn from the 
 Brahmins that mode of speaking and reasoning 
 which is most intelligible and agreeable to the 
 people. Materials for imagery to illustrate religious 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 183 
 
 truths, cannot be wanting in a tropical climate, 
 where nature is at work during every season of 
 the year, and exhibiting new charms every day in 
 a luxuriant vegetation — where majestic streams 
 are rolling down to the ocean — where the lofty 
 summits of the Himalaya are seen towering forth in 
 the back-ground — where the animal, as well as the 
 vegetable world, is developing its wonders, and 
 involuntarily exciting the imagination of a con- 
 templative mind. 
 
 I was preaching one evening in the town of 
 Burdwan, at a time when the rice-fields were dried 
 up from want of rain, and the people of the coun- 
 try began to foretel dearth and famine ; I spoke on 
 the words, John vii. 37 : "If any man thirst, let 
 him come unto me, and drink." " You are water- 
 ing your rice-fields," I said, " because God has 
 commanded the clouds not to rain ; but your rivers 
 and tanks are almost dry ; and if He should not 
 send rain, your efforts must after all prove fruit- 
 less, and your harvest will fail. 
 
 " Here is a faithful representation of your spirit- 
 ual state: you are seeking water of life for your 
 immortal souls, you trouble yourselves unceasingly 
 in your idol services ; but, behold, instead of the 
 wholesome water of Divine truth and knowledge, 
 there is, as in your tanks, nothing remaining but 
 
184 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 mire and dirt. I know a fresh fountain of pure 
 water of life ; allow me to direct you to it ; and 
 if you drink of it, you will find refreshment 
 and peace." I then proceeded to describe to my 
 hearers, the character and blessings of the Chris- 
 tian religion, which, resembling the clouds that 
 fertilise the earth, is fully calculated to satisfy the 
 spiritual wants of man. The people listened with 
 intense attention ; I could perceive by their coun- 
 tenances that they were affected ; and many gave 
 vent to their feelings by expressing assent, and 
 left the chapel under these solemn impressions. 
 
 An excellent missionary brother thus relates one 
 of the last sermons he addressed to the Hindoos, 
 at Benares. " I spoke on the words, ' Enter ye in 
 at the strait gate :' the chapel was full, and great 
 attention prevailed among my hearers. I explained 
 to them the signification of the strait gate, and 
 what they must do in order to get through. First, 
 I represented according to Hindoo ideas a worldly- 
 minded person, who cares nothing about religion; 
 and who hopes nevertheless, at the end, to get to 
 heaven. There, I said, is one coming along riding 
 on an elephant ; he appears in grand style, he cares 
 nothing for God and eternity; he wants to enjoy 
 the world, and yet he hopes to get to heaven in 
 the end. Thus he is riding on towards the strait 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 185 
 
 gate, hoping he may get through. While speaking 
 thus, one of my hearers called out, ' He must 
 come down from his elephant, or he will never get 
 through.' — You are right, I replied; yes, he must 
 forsake his worldly mind, and descend from his 
 height, and humble himself, or else he will never 
 enter heaven." 
 
 " Then I described another character, belonging 
 to those of whom our Saviour said, ' You cannot 
 serve God and mammon.' Here, my friends, said 
 I, comes a man who appears desirous to go to 
 heaven ; he has his eyes fixed on the strait gate? 
 and is walking up to it : but on his back he carries 
 a large bundle of various things — see how he groans 
 under it ! Will he succeed ? ' No,' said another 
 man ; ' he must leave his bundle behind, or else 
 he will never get through.' — You are perfectly 
 right : if we wish to get through the strait gate into 
 heaven, the heart must be wholly given up to it ; 
 a divided heart God will not accept ; he will either 
 drive sin out of the heart of man, or sin will drive 
 him out. The people understood this very well, 
 and applauded. The third class I wished to re- 
 present were the proud and self-righteous. Here I 
 had nothing to do but to allude to a certain class 
 of people who are constantly seen at Benares, 
 — I mean the haughty Mahomedans. Without 
 
186 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 mentioning names, however, I continued, There 
 comes another: you see he gives himself the air of 
 a great and holy man; he says, I do no man any 
 wrong, I repeat my prayers daily, I fast often, and 
 give every one his due ; thus conscious of his 
 righteousness, he lifts up his head, and with firm 
 step you see him walking up to the gate. A man 
 called out, ' He must stoop down, he must bow 
 down, or else he will break his head ;' I replied, 
 Do you understand what you say ? ' Yes,' said 
 he, ' he must leave his pride behind, and come as 
 a poor sinner; stooping signifies humility, and if 
 he is not humbling himself, he will never enter 
 through the strait gate.' " Thus we see that the 
 Hindoos understand our preaching, and the word 
 enters into their hearts. 
 
 The parables of our Lord are, for the above- 
 mentioned reasons, the most perfect patterns of 
 preaching for people of oriental countries ; that 
 of the sower, of the prodigal son, and of the ten 
 virgins, are understood by every Hindoo. The 
 latter particularly describes his rites and cere- 
 monies at a wedding feast. I have been present 
 several times on these festival occasions. The 
 bridegroom leaves his home about ten at night, 
 and proceeds to the house of his father-in-law. 
 As soon as the friends discover the procession from 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 187 
 
 a distance, a cry is made, The bridegroom cometh ! 
 the torches are lighted, oil is poured upon them, 
 and they go to meet him with songs and music, to 
 conduct him to the apartments where the marriage 
 ceremony is to take place, and the entertainment 
 is to be given. 
 
 I have found frequent opportunities, in social 
 intercourse, for communicating religious truth to 
 the natives of Bengal, of the higher and lower 
 orders. Many an hour have I been sitting in the 
 humble cottage, or under a tree, endeavouring to 
 direct their attention to man's high destination; 
 and often did I find them open and susceptible. 
 Besides the usefulness of this, I do not know of a 
 better opportunity for a missionary to attain to a 
 perfect knowledge of the language and habits of 
 the Hindoos, than such friendly conversations as 
 these afford him. I took pains to make myself 
 acquainted with all their circumstances ; I ques- 
 tioned them about their families, the education of 
 their children, their mode of agriculture, and their 
 cattle; I heard their complaints, and showed in 
 every way how sincerely I sympathised with them in 
 their sufferings and trials. A word of consolation, 
 warning, and reproof, is listened to, and sometimes 
 gladly accepted. Thousands of natives have thus 
 gained the conviction that the missionary desires 
 
188 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 their welfare, and they gradually gain confidence 
 and open their hearts to him. 
 
 Medical and surgical knowledge are of great use 
 and importance to the missionary in his labours. 
 On this point, too, I can speak from personal ex- 
 perience. On my mission tours I generally took 
 some of the most common medicines with me. On 
 one occasion two sons brought their aged father to 
 me, saying, " If you can do something, pray have 
 mercy upon us." I gave them to understand that 
 I had not the required medicine with me, but it 
 might be sent for from Burdwan. The younger 
 brother immediately declared himself ready to go 
 for it ; I was forty-five miles distant from home, 
 but wrote a note, which he took ; and he returned 
 in twenty hours with the medicine, which con- 
 siderably relieved the patient. The villagers then 
 brought people afflicted with various diseases, and 
 an old blind woman came, and entreated me to 
 restore her sight. This, of course, was beyond my 
 power; but incidents of this description I always 
 employed to recommend to the poor poeple the 
 great Physician of souls, who is able and willing 
 to heal that great and universal disease, from 
 which all sufferings of the body have originated. 
 The Hindoos, like other people, are, in times of 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 189 
 
 trouble, much more susceptible of good impres- 
 sions than in days of prosperity. 
 
 It has frequently been said that the missionary 
 has no access to the houses and families of the 
 natives ; but there are exceptions to this. I have 
 visited many Hindoos of the highest classes, and 
 have met with a friendly reception ; and when on 
 a journey, I have often been invited to a dinner, 
 prepared for me according to Hindoo fashion. A 
 Brahmin once called me to see his lady who was 
 sick of fever, and thankfully received the medicines 
 I administered to her. It is true, a friendly inter- 
 course of this kind is by no means general : pride, 
 and the iron bonds of caste, are still insuperable 
 barriers to it. But prejudices are giving way 
 rapidly; and if we embrace opportunities as they 
 present themselves, I feel assured that Divine 
 Providence will open to us one door of entrance 
 after another. 
 
 One day I visited the wealthy Eajah of Burdwan : 
 he was a youth of nineteen years, and I found some 
 Brahmins present, who touched his forehead with 
 sacred flowers, repeating at the same time some 
 muntrus, or verses from the shasters, as a kind 
 of benediction. When they had left, I said, " Do 
 you believe all this, Maha Eajah ?" " Oh, no," 
 
190 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 he replied, " it is all nonsense !" But if you 
 think so, why do you spend such enormous sums* 
 upon the idols and your priests ?" " What can 
 I do ?" replied the youth ; " my ancestors have 
 done so." "Would it not be much better, if 
 you appropriated the money for the education of 
 the youth of the district of Burdwan ?" He said, 
 " I shall do so, as soon as I can; but the time is 
 not come yet." He gave me to understand, that 
 when his old influential relatives were dead, he 
 would undertake a reformation. 
 
 About the results of this branch of missionary 
 labour we shall speak in the last chapter. But 
 thus much I may say beforehand, " Our labour 
 has not been in vain in the Lord." " India is on 
 the move," as our excellent Bishop of Calcutta 
 truly said, wherever the Gospel has been pro- 
 claimed for a number of years; truth is slowly, 
 but steadily making its way, and the Christian 
 religion is annually striking deeper root into the 
 soil of India. The Gospel has manifested its power 
 in many a heart, and thousands of Hindoos have 
 been added by baptism to the church of Christ. 
 
 The little flocks of native Christians gathered at 
 each of our mission-stations from the heathen, are 
 
 * £20,000 annually. 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 191 
 
 to us an earnest, a first-fruit, that the Gospel of 
 salvation will eventually gain the complete victory 
 over Brahminism. Last year a sunyasee, or begging 
 monk, came to Burdwan, and heard the Gospel 
 preached in the bazaar by our catechist. Some 
 months previously he had made the acquaintance 
 of a native Christian in the upper provinces, who 
 was lying by his side in a hospital, and his attention 
 was arrested by what this man told him of Jesus. 
 Afterwards he came to Berhampore, where a 
 Christian tract was put into his hands ; he read it, 
 and became more uneasy. After hearing the same 
 Gospel at Burdwan, he accompanied the catechist 
 to the mission house. The missionary showed 
 the way of life more fully. His hour was come ; 
 he believed, fell down and worshipped Christ as 
 his Saviour. Shortly afterwards he was baptized 
 in his name. 
 
 These, my friends, are the joys of the missionary 
 in his trying work. Such a triumph of Divine 
 truth is an abundant reward for the trials and 
 disappointments attending our labours. 
 
 It is true, when we cast a glance at the hundred 
 and fifty millions of idolaters, and compare with 
 them the small bands of believers, who, during 
 thirty years 1 labour, have been converted to 
 Christianity, we may be disposed to feel dis- 
 
192 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 couraged, and despondingly to exclaim, as some 
 have done, " India can never be evangelised ; " but 
 verily, those who say so are little acquainted with 
 the present condition of its inhabitants, as com- 
 pared with what they were when missionaries first 
 began their operations ; and they know neither the 
 truth of the Divine promises, nor the power of the 
 Gospel. The present condition of India is very 
 different from what it was even fourteen years 
 ago, when first I entered upon that field ; and 
 older missionaries, who have been labouring in 
 the country for twenty years, perceive a most 
 remarkable change for the better, in the moral 
 and mental condition of the Hindoos. 
 
 None, however, can perceive and feel the diffi- 
 culties attending this blessed work more deeply 
 than the missionary himself, who has daily to 
 witness the horrors of idolatry, who is standing 
 alone in the midst of dark heathenism, bearing 
 the burden and heat of the day. When, therefore, 
 the little band of soldiers, who are engaged in 
 conflict against the powerful enemy, are not 
 discouraged, but persevere, and press forward, 
 in hope of the promised victory, then surely you 
 Christians, in your happy home, should not allow 
 yourselves to be discouraged either, nor become 
 dejected, when the work proceeds but slowly, 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 193 
 
 and when your hopes are not realised at once, 
 according to your wishes. 
 
 " On my return home from preaching," relates 
 an excellent missionary in the south of India, 
 " I looked at a range of idol temples, and the 
 thought occupied my soul, — Is it true that these 
 edifices, which are all an object of adoration, shall 
 be overthrown by the simple preaching of the 
 cross ? To the unbeliever it must appear im- 
 possible, and the very attempt ridiculous. If one 
 is placed in the midst of an idolatrous people, 
 it requires, indeed, a full assurance of the truth of 
 the Gospel, and a firm faith in its promises, to 
 realise even the possibility of it. Blessed be God, 
 I can, under all apparent impossibilities, continue 
 my labours in the firm persuasion, that as the 
 walls of Jericho fell from the sound of the trum- 
 pet, these idol temples and images will eventually 
 fall likewise before the word of Jehovah." 
 
 Let us, my readers, unite heart and hand in 
 promoting this sacred cause. Surely we cannot 
 engage in a nobler effort, or in one more worthy 
 of men, and of Christians, than this, whose end 
 and object is pre-eminently the glory of God, and 
 the delivery of our brethren, who are groaning 
 under the power of darkness and superstition. 
 The Son of God descended from heaven to die, 
 
194 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 and by the sacrifice of himself, to pay a ransom 
 for the world. The church partaking of the 
 blessing of his sacrifice, and rejoicing in his sal- 
 vation, has received the commission to carry 
 these glad tidings to all nations ; and if she ne- 
 glect and disregard her sacred trust, she cannot 
 be a true church : she may be sound in doctrine, 
 but she must be in an unhealthy, languishing 
 condition. If the heart's blood, "in which is the 
 life," do not circulate through the whole body, 
 even to the farthest extremities, the entire frame 
 will suffer, and become enfeebled. The mission 
 cause seems to me a cause so obvious, so natural, 
 as to recommend itself to every reflecting mind ; 
 the duty which is laid upon every individual 
 Christian, is so clear and momentous, that to my 
 mind, it is a subject of surprise, that any man, 
 actuated by benevolent principles, can remain 
 indifferent about it. English Christians are verily 
 guilty, concerning the blood of their Hindoo 
 fellow-subjects; no excuse will extenuate their 
 culpable neglect, that while they have enriched 
 themselves with Indian gold, the evangelisation 
 of that great empire has been delayed to the nine- 
 teenth century, and is even now carried on so 
 feebly ; although the light of Divine truth has for 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 195 
 
 centuries past shed its cheering rays over this 
 favoured country. 
 
 " The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," that 
 the heathen shall be converted ; and if the church, 
 as in the days of the apostles, be prepared to fulfil 
 his command, they will, they must, be converted. 
 
 If in the spirit of the primitive Christians, she 
 were to devote her energy and gifts to this glo- 
 rious calling ; if she were to cease from debate, 
 strife, and angry discussions, which lead to no 
 satisfactory result, but offend against charity, and 
 wound, and hurt, and separate one member from 
 another ; if the church were standing before the 
 world, as a witness for the truth, evincing the 
 same by the graces shining forth in her, then 
 virtue would go out from her, as from the gar- 
 ment of Jesus, — a virtue that would diffuse over 
 all countries, and that would be felt in the most 
 distant heathen lands. Oh that such a happy 
 consummation may soon arrive ! Then one great 
 chain of living voices will encircle the globe, and 
 the earth grow vocal, with the sound of the 
 church, inviting men to Christ. 
 
 It is said that the celebrated Handel one day 
 gave a grand musical entertainment in London. 
 Among the band there was a German trumpeter. 
 Handel turned to him and said, " Blow louder," 
 
 o 
 
196 THE LABOURS OF 
 
 and he did so; after some minutes he repeated 
 the same words, and he blew with all his power ; 
 a third time he called on him, "Louder," — the 
 trumpeter was impatient, and answered, " You 
 call louder, sir; but where is the wind to come 
 from ?" 
 
 Thus, my readers, our brethren call upon you 
 from distant heathen lands, " Send us more la- 
 bourers, that the trumpet of the Gospel may sound 
 louder, yea, that it may be heard in every town 
 and village in India. Our number is, like Gideon's 
 band, too small to conquer the enemies, and our 
 voice is too feeble, to be heard by India's hundred 
 millions." 
 
 " Louder," cries the misery, the longing, though 
 often unconscious desire of the unhappy idolater, 
 after God, after peace, after eternal life. 
 
 But here we often meet with responses as dis- 
 heartening, as the cry of the heathen is piteous and 
 affecting. Where are the men to come from, and 
 where shall we procure the means of supporting 
 so many missionaries ? Oh, my friends, where is 
 the mind which sympathises with that of our 
 Saviour? I would answer, both the men and the 
 means will be ready to be poured in, as soon as 
 the words of prophecy shall be fulfilled in this 
 Christian country : " Awake, O north wind, and 
 
MISSIONARIES IN INDIA. 197 
 
 come, thou south ; blow upon my garden, that 
 the spices thereof may flow out. Thus saith 
 the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O 
 breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they 
 may live." 
 
 For this let us pray ; and when the Spirit of 
 the living God shall animate his church, neither 
 means nor men will be wanting to proclaim the 
 glad tidings among all nations ; then the dead 
 bones scattered over the great heathen valley 
 will be moved, and the prophetic words will be 
 exhibited before us as a glorious reality : " Then 
 the breath came into them, and they lived, and 
 stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great 
 army." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 TRANSLATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE HOLY 
 SCRIPTURES AND EDUCATION. 
 
 TRYING POSITION OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES IN BENGAL. — EAST 
 INDIAN GOVERNMENT OPPOSING MISSIONARY LABOUR. — CAREY 
 AT SERAMPORE. — HIS EXTRAORDINARY LABOURS. — TRANSLATION 
 OF THE SCRIPTURES. — EFFORTS AND USEFULNESS OF THE BIBLE 
 SOCIETY. — A GOOD LITERATURE DESIRABLE. — EDUCATION OF THE 
 NATIVES, IMPARTED FIRST IN VERNACULAR SCHOOLS. — FEW 
 HINDOO YOUTHS ACTUALLY CONVERTED IN CONSEQUENCE, BUT 
 THE GROUND EXTENSIVELY PREPARED. — ENGLISH SCHOOLS 
 ESTABLISHED. — THE GOVERNMENT FOLLOWING THE GOOD 
 EXAMPLE WITH MUCH SUCCESS. — THE SCRIPTURES EXCLUDED 
 FROM GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS ; CONSEQUENCES ARISING FROM 
 IT. — STRIKING CONVERSIONS OF HINDOO YOUTHS. — EDUCATION 
 OF FEMALES ; THEIR DEGRADED CONDITION. — MRS. WILSON'S 
 LABOURS IN CALCUTTA. — ORPHAN SCHOOLS. — TRAINING OF A 
 NATIVE MINISTRY. — GREAT WANT OF ABLE MISSIONARIES. — 
 CALL FOR HELP. 
 
 " He that refuseth instruction, despiseth his own soul." — Prov. xv. 32. 
 
 In the preceding chapter I have treated of the 
 principal and most important part of missionary 
 labours, namely, the preaching of the Gospel. We 
 now pass on to consider the second and third 
 parts, and to ascertain what has hitherto been 
 done through the dissemination of the Holy Scrip- 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 199 
 
 tures, and education in schools. Next to the 
 preaching of the Gospel, the translation of the 
 Scriptures is doubtless of primary importance in 
 furthering the work of evangelisation in heathen 
 countries. The voice of the preacher cannot 
 possibly be heard by the myriads ; but if the 
 word of God be delivered to the Hindoo in his 
 mother tongue, we may hope that he will read it 
 in his cottage, and that the perusal of it will be a 
 blessing to his soul, as it has proved to be in 
 instances which have come to our knowledge. 
 
 A more trying position can hardly be imagined, 
 than that of a missionary on his first arrival in a 
 heathen land, a stranger to the people and their 
 language, with no grammar, no dictionary pre- 
 pared, or a single chapter of the Bible translated. 
 "When the first missionaries arrived in Bengal, 
 they found the different dialects of India in a crude 
 and uncultivated state. All science and literature 
 was monopolised by the Brahmins, and carefully 
 locked up in Sanscrit. No person of a lower caste 
 was permitted to look into the sacred books, and 
 curses were to rest on that man who ventured to 
 translate any of them into Bengalee or Hinduwee. 
 A few extracts only from poetical works were 
 translated into the vernacular languages, and 
 known among the people. 
 
200 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 The first missionary in Bengal, Dr. Carey, was 
 a man of great talents and apostolic zeal, who, after 
 between thirty and forty years' labour, at length 
 entered into the joy of his Lord: he undertook, at 
 the beginning of this century, the Herculean labour 
 of translating the Holy Scriptures into the various 
 languages of India ; and to the surprise of all who 
 are acquainted with the arduousness of the task, 
 carried out the stupendous work in a great 
 measure. The immortal Wilberforce remarked 
 of this wonderful man, " A sublimer thought 
 cannot be conceived than that, when a poor cobbler 
 formed the resolution to give to the millions of 
 Hindoos the Bible in their own language." 
 
 In those days, the East Indian Government was 
 in the habit of opposing all missionary effort, 
 from the mistaken notion that the least attempt 
 made to convert their subjects to Christianity, 
 would lead to a rebellion. When Carey began his 
 labours, by preaching the Gospel near the Ganges, 
 he was forbidden; and made to understand, that 
 disobedience to the order of Government on his 
 part, or on that of his fellow-labourers, would 
 probably cause his being sent out of the country. 
 This was not a mere empty threat ; for two mis- 
 sionaries who at that time landed on the banks of 
 the Hooghly, were sent back to Europe forthwith 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 201 
 
 in the same ship in which they had arrived; and 
 two American missionaries, who made the same 
 attempt a short time after, had to hide themselves 
 for some weeks, and afterwards to embark for the 
 Birmese empire : one of these was the celebrated 
 Dr. Judson. 
 
 Carey, thus compelled to leave his post, retired 
 to the Danish colony of Serampore ; and here the 
 first mission in Bengal was established. I do not 
 exactly know the number of Carey's translations ; 
 but I recollect having heard that he studied and 
 learned some twenty of the dialects which are 
 spoken in India, and translated the whole Bible 
 into some, and single parts of it into others of them. 
 
 The three principal languages which are spoken 
 in Bengal, and the three north-western provinces 
 of Hindoosthan, are the Bengalee, the Hinduwee, 
 and the Hindoosthanee, or Oordu language. The 
 two former resemble each other pretty much, and 
 three-fourths of their terms are pure Sanscrit. 
 The Hindoosthanee is derived from the Persian, 
 and was spread in the country by the Mahomedan 
 conquerors, who introduced Persian in the courts 
 and in the army. In the course of time it so amal- 
 gamated with the Hinduwee, that a new language 
 was thus formed, which is called Hindoosthanee, 
 and is spoken by the Mahomedans and the higher 
 
202 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 classes of Hindoos, in almost every part of 
 India. 
 
 Dr. Carey's first attempts at Bible translations 
 were very imperfect, as might be expected. He 
 was assisted in his work by pundits, or learned 
 Brahmins, who, as bigoted idolaters, were but ill 
 qualified, and may be unwilling likewise, to take 
 up the right sense, and prepare a correct transla- 
 tion. Moreover, if we remember that those dia- 
 lects were at the time in a crude, uncultivated 
 state, and that even now, none .of them are 
 sufficiently settled and matured, we need not be 
 surprised at the incorrectness of the first transla- 
 tions. Carey's labours were, however, of great 
 importance to his successors. 
 
 In a somewhat similar condition were our own 
 languages before the Eeformation, in the fifteenth 
 century. The genius of our translators brought 
 them as it were out of the chaos, and gave them 
 the stamp of that noble character, which has since 
 been developed by the cultivation of literature, 
 and brought on towards perfection. 
 
 Thus will the Indian languages have to be raised 
 and improved by Bible translations, and other 
 literary labours : this will be a task requiring 
 many years. Only when India shall be partly 
 Christianised, and when the native mind, freed 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 203 
 
 from the trammels of caste and a degrading idol- 
 worship, can unfold itself more freely ; when men 
 shall rise up, who unite sound and extensive 
 erudition with the deep piety of our reformers, — 
 only then we can expect to see translations of the 
 Bible to be given which may equal the English. 
 The missionary can do much towards it, by 
 improving the people as well as their language ; 
 but India must be raised from its low state, and 
 must at length be thoroughly evangelised by the 
 children of her own soil. 
 
 Since the time when Dr. Carey made a beginning 
 with translations of the Bible, many missionaries 
 have undertaken the task of improving them, or of 
 preparing new ones. The excellent Henry Martyn 
 translated the New Testament into Hindoosthanee, 
 which was considered a master-piece in his time, 
 although the style is not sufficiently popular, and 
 it is said to contain too many forensic terms, which 
 are unintelligible to the bulk of the people. Mr. 
 Bowley, at Chunar, who lately finished his course 
 as a faithful and devoted labourer, translated the 
 whole Bible into Hinduwee ; and a fresh transla- 
 tion of the New Testament and Psalms into Ben- 
 galee, was some years since published by the 
 Baptist missionaries in Calcutta, which is every 
 where acknowledged as a great improvement upon 
 
204 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 the former one. A revised translation of the Old 
 Testament was published at Serampore about ten 
 years ago ; but much yet remains to be done in 
 this branch of missionary labour. The importance 
 of it may be understood from the simple fact, that 
 the Bengalee language is spoken by thirty-five 
 millions of Hindoos. 
 
 The British and Foreign Bible Society have in 
 my friend, Dr. Haeberlin, a talented and faithful 
 agent in Calcutta. The revised translations of the 
 New Testament are carried through the press under 
 his superintendence, and he furnishes the mission- 
 aries throughout the whole country with the Word 
 of life from the Society's depository. In various 
 stations Bible depots have been established under 
 the care of missionaries, or pious Europeans ; and 
 by this means the Scriptures are spread through 
 the land. They are bound, or stitched in covers, 
 either entire, or in single parts, for distribution. 
 While preaching in the bazaars, and on mission 
 tours, every missionary distributes gospels and 
 tracts among the Hindoos who are able to read. 
 On such an excursion I once distributed, with my 
 fellow-labourers, about five thousand copies in the 
 towns and villages of western Bengal. The Hindoos 
 are not only willing, but frequently desirous to re- 
 ceive and read our religious books. A young man 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 205 
 
 in a village once applied to us repeatedly, and each 
 time he came to ask for a book, he put on his dress 
 in a different manner, to avoid being recognised. 
 When he came the third time, he covered his face 
 with his upper garment ; and when examined, he 
 confessed the trick, saying he had changed his 
 appearance to obtain several books. 
 
 The bigoted Brahmin, however, refuses to accept 
 a tract from the missionary ; it must either pass 
 through a second hand, or the preacher must let it 
 fall into his, in order that it may undergo a pro- 
 cess of purification while passing through the air. 
 These haughty saints were generally disappointed, 
 and received nothing, when they refused to accept 
 a tract or gospel from my own hands. 
 
 A good literature in the language of the country 
 is of the utmost importance for the progress of our 
 work. If a sincere desire for truth and a moral 
 taste is to be awakened among the Hindoos ; if we 
 desire to see the filthy, obscene songs and stories 
 of their gods fall into disuse, and become an object 
 of contempt, injurious as they are to the minds of 
 the young, we must be prepared to put some better 
 and improving reading into their hands instead. 
 
 For this purpose a considerable number of 
 works, of a moral and religious tendency, have 
 been prepared and distributed. The parables and 
 
206 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 miracles of our Saviour, as also the sermon on the 
 mount, have been published in the form of small 
 tracts. Others contain the doctrine of the atone- 
 ment, the ten commandments, with practical ob- 
 servations, the life of Christ, and biographies of 
 converted Hindoos. We have also a small num- 
 ber of controversial books and tracts, in which 
 the doctrines of the Koran are compared with the 
 Christian religion, and the nine incarnations of 
 Vishnu with that of our Saviour. We have a 
 translation of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Baxter's 
 Call to the Unconverted, Watts's First Catechism, 
 and that of the Church of England, in Bengalee. 
 A new and improved edition of the Prayer-book, 
 in the same language, was issued three years ago 
 from the press of Bishop's College, at Calcutta. 
 Missionaries of several denominations, have written 
 a smaller and larger Bible history, a geography of 
 Bengal, a work on natural history, and a history 
 of England. 
 
 We have every reason to be thankful that at 
 a time like the present, when a new generation of 
 Plindoos is emerging from heathenism, and mani- 
 festing a hunger after knowledge, the means for 
 meeting their crying wants have been partly fur- 
 nished. But the little that has been accomplished 
 in this branch of missionary labour, only gives us 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 207 
 
 some faint conception of how much remains to be 
 done. 
 
 We have now to enter upon the consideration 
 of the third part of missionary labour, namely, the 
 instruction of the young in schools. Many Eu- 
 ropeans in India regard preaching among Hindoos 
 as a useless effort, and declare it an impossibility 
 for an old idolater to become a sincere convert to 
 Christianity. Hence they frequently suggest to us 
 to spare our strength, and expend it in a more 
 useful way, by giving the young a good education, 
 so that their minds being imbued with knowledge, 
 they will of themselves give up their idol-worship, 
 and become Christians. According to this way of 
 reasoning, people whose intellect has been highly 
 cultivated should, as a matter of course, be the 
 most pious and devoted characters, — which we all 
 know is not the case. I have always observed, 
 that people who expected every thing from the 
 developement of the intellectual faculties, were but 
 superficially acquainted with their own Bible, and 
 still less with the influence of the Gospel upon the 
 heart of man. 
 
 There are others again who contend, that the 
 missionary has nothing to do with schools ; he 
 should, agreeably to the command of Christ, 
 preach the Gospel to old and young, and leave the 
 
208 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 result with God. The truth lies between the 
 two extremes, for the very nature of our work 
 requires, that we should endeavour in every pos- 
 sible way to lead both the young heathen and the 
 old idolater to the knowledge of God, and to save 
 the soul of each from eternal ruin. 
 
 It is a simple and obvious fact, that a young 
 tree is more easily bent than an old one. For a 
 Hindoo, who is grown hoary in the abominations 
 of idolatry, it is a difficult thing indeed to direct 
 his thoughts to the solemn and heart-searching 
 truths of Christianity ; nevertheless, we have 
 numerous instances of conversion among these ; 
 but on the whole I freely allow, that our eyes are 
 principally directed towards the rising generation, 
 from which we hope to reap our most abundant 
 harvest in conversions. 
 
 Instruction in schools was, I understand, im- 
 parted at the very commencement of our missions 
 in India ; and it is a kind of labour which falls, 
 as it were, spontaneously into the hands of the 
 missionary : Hindoo lads, desirous of learning 
 something, visit him in his house ; and are glad 
 to receive instruction. 
 
 About twenty years since vernacular schools 
 were established by our brethren in all the 
 missionary stations ; the parents of the children 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 209 
 
 felt somewhat suspicious on the subject, fearing 
 that their children might thereby be converted to 
 Christianity. Highly bigoted Hindoos would not, 
 in those days, allow their sons to visit our mission 
 schools at any price ; but their fears were gradu- 
 ally removed. In order to secure a numerous 
 attendance in school, the missionaries were obliged 
 to employ Hindoo teachers, — clever and cunning 
 Brahmins, who understood well how to carry water 
 on both shoulders : to the parents of the boys they 
 gave the assurance, " we shall take care that the 
 Christian religion be kept out of the schools ; at 
 any rate, it shall not enter the hearts of the chil- 
 dren." To the missionary they held out the com- 
 fortable prospect of early success ; " now," said 
 they, "you have an open door for making known 
 the truth of your religion, the light of it will soon 
 dispel the mists of ignorance and superstition." 
 Great sums were in those days expended by mis- 
 sionary societies for educating Hindoo youth ; and 
 my predecessors at Burdwan superintended, in 
 twelve or fourteen village schools, the instruction 
 of eight or nine hundred Hindoo boys. In the 
 commencement, they were obliged to confine them- 
 selves to teaching merely the elementary parts of 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic. The heathen 
 teacher kept up the same plan, which is pursued 
 
210 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 in the Hindoo schools. The letters are written 
 by the child upon palm-leaves, afterwards words 
 of one syllable, and so on, till by re-writing the 
 same many times, they are impressed upon his 
 eyes and memory. A similar plan is pursued in 
 ciphering and arithmetic. A more mechanical 
 and stupifying art of teaching children cannot 
 well be imagined. 
 
 In the mean while, the missionaries prepared 
 some books for spelling and reading, and single 
 gospels were printed for the schools. One of 
 my predecessors told me of the great joy he felt, 
 when he first succeeded in introducing the gospels 
 into the reading-classes. An excellent Bengalee 
 scholar, Mr. Ellerton, a pious indigo planter, 
 wrote a Bible History of the Old Testament, 
 which is peculiarly adapted for the Hindoo mind ; 
 this and other useful works were successively, and 
 without opposition, introduced into the schools. 
 
 A fond hope was entertained at that time, by 
 the missionaries and their societies, that this sim- 
 pie instruction would be productive of important 
 results, and lead to the conversion of thousands, 
 as soon as the Hindoo youth was able to compare 
 the religion of his fathers with the doctrines of 
 the Gospel. But they did not sufficiently cal- 
 culate the obstacles that present themselves to 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 211 
 
 the conversion of a Hindoo, even when his judg- 
 ment is convinced. In the course of five years, 
 however, several heathen families were baptized 
 at Burdwan, and our brethren trained some con- 
 verts to become teachers ; and thus education 
 received a Christian basis. The heathen teacher 
 gave instruction in the elementary part, while 
 the Christian imparted Bible lessons. The mis- 
 sionary, after examining the reading classes, 
 addressed a word of exhortation to the children ; 
 the villagers assembled around the door to listen, 
 and thus gave him a welcome opportunity for 
 communicating Christian truth to adults likewise. 
 About this time, the zealous labourers at 
 Burdwan established a seminary for imparting 
 a superior education to talented Hindoo youths, of 
 good caste. A comfortable dwelling was erected 
 for them ; a cook, of respectable caste, prepared 
 their food ; the whole school was so arranged, 
 that their religious prejudices were in no wise 
 offended. They got clothes, food, instruction, — and 
 in fact, everything gratis, because it was only by 
 holding out such allurements, that the parents 
 could be persuaded to place their sons in the 
 hands of missionaries. These lads received in- 
 struction in English, Persian, and Bengalee ; the 
 ultimate object was thus to prepare a number 
 
 p 
 
212 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 of efficient catechists and school-masters. But 
 to obtain this end, their hearts must be converted, 
 " and who is sufficient for these things ?" The 
 greater part of these lads were afterwards em- 
 ployed in Government offices ; but one, named 
 Chunder Mohun, embraced Christianity, and was 
 baptized in 1820, as the first-fruit of our mission 
 at Burdwan. His father and two brothers soon 
 followed his example. He laboured faithfully as 
 a teacher in our schools for eighteen years, until 
 1838, when he was suddenly carried off by 
 cholera. 
 
 On the whole, the bright hopes of the conver- 
 sions, which were expected to result from these 
 numerous vernacular schools, have not been real- 
 ised. The good seed sown in the hearts of hun- 
 dreds, has been choked by the rank weeds of 
 superstition ; in a few, only, did it ripen to har- 
 vest. The Hindoo parent habitually entertains 
 a suspicion of missionaries, and fears the influence 
 of Christian instruction. When the guroo, or 
 priest, enters a house, he warns the parents 
 against the dangerous sect, and frequently per- 
 suades them to burn the Christian books which 
 the boys read in school. Whenever an oppor- 
 tunity oiFers, this hateful priest speaks contempt- 
 uously of Christianity, and ridicules the folly 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 213 
 
 of believing in a God who died on the cross, 
 and could not save himself from the hand of his 
 enemies. At the frequent festivals, the boys must 
 always be present to take their share, so that 
 their minds become thoroughly fixed on the idol 
 block which is worshipped : hence their attend- 
 ance at school is often interrupted, and when 
 they return, the polluting influence of the 
 idol feast can be seen and felt: the lessons they 
 have learned, are forgotten; and every good im- 
 pression formerly made, seems wiped away from 
 their hearts. 
 
 Whenever a Hindoo boy is convinced of the 
 truth of Christianity, and shows an inclination 
 to embrace it, he is forthwith taken away from 
 school, and removed, perhaps, to some distant 
 part of the country, until the impression has 
 worn off his mind. A young Brahmin was, in 
 this manner, twice sent away from Burdwan, by 
 his uncle ; the first time he returned again, and I 
 prepared him for baptism. On his last visit to 
 my house, he appeared very uneasy, and en- 
 treated me to pray for him ; he seemed to antici- 
 pate some danger. I saw him no more, but was 
 afterwards informed, that his friends having heard 
 of his intention to embrace Christianity, violently 
 removed him from the place. 
 
214 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 Since 1820, between three and four thousand 
 Hindoo youths have been educated in our Bengalee 
 schools, in the villages around Burdwan. The 
 good seed thus dispersed is not lost. There is, 
 I believe, scarcely one among these, who has 
 not gained a deep conviction of the excellence 
 of Christianity; their minds are enlarged, they 
 have more liberal views, and, I trust, many of 
 them have also higher principles than the igno- 
 rant idolater, who knows nothing of the truth: 
 an extensive and powerful preparation for its 
 reception has thus been effected ; and future days 
 will show that this labour has not been in vain 
 in the Lord. 
 
 About twelve years since, education in Bengal 
 received a new and powerful impulse. English 
 schools were established at every missionary sta- 
 tion; and from causes which I shall mention 
 hereafter, a growing desire was awakened among 
 the higher classes of Hindoos, to receive an 
 English education; so that in all parts of India, 
 the conviction gained ground, that much could be 
 effected towards the moral and spiritual improve- 
 ment of the natives, through the medium of the 
 English language. 
 
 The talented Scotch missionary, Dr. Duff, and 
 his excellent colleagues, have taken a prominent 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 215 
 
 and most noble part, in this branch of missionary 
 labour. Dr. Duff's plan unites science with 
 Christianity, and aims chiefly at the intellectual 
 improvement of the scholars. They are left to 
 judge of the superior excellence of Christianity, 
 by the strictest examination into its principles 
 and evidences. I once attended an examination 
 of their school : it was a heart-cheering scene 
 to see eight hundred boys, of the higher orders, 
 more than half of whom were Brahmins, assem- 
 bled under one roof, and answering questions on 
 mathematics, natural philosophy, history, and the 
 Christian religion, with the greatest readiness and 
 precision. No one can doubt, or deny, that 
 Dr. Duff has been eminently successful in deve- 
 loping and cultivating the mental faculties of his 
 pupils. The number of young men who have 
 been converted from this seminary, is at present 
 comparatively small ; but those who have em- 
 braced Christianity, have turned out very able 
 and useful characters. 
 
 The pupils in the English schools of the Church 
 Missionary Society, receive instruction in geogra- 
 phy, natural history, Bible and general history; 
 and the first classes in geometry, mechanics, and 
 the use of the globes. Christian instruction is, 
 however, the basis of education in all mission 
 
t 
 
 216 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 schools. With this end in view, the gospels, 
 the Epistle of Paul to the Eomans, and the pro- 
 phecies of Isaiah, are read and explained. The 
 Divine character of the Christian religion is 
 proved from history, and from the nature of its 
 doctrines, and contrasted with the tenets of 
 Hindooism. 
 
 It is a fact, now generally acknowledged in 
 India, that by the labours of missionaries in the 
 education of Hindoo youth, a general desire 
 after knowledge has been created among them; 
 and Government have been prompted and urged 
 to follow the good example, and to take some 
 decisive measures for affording the benefits of 
 education to a nation, from whom they annually 
 draw a revenue of twenty-four millions sterling. 
 
 During the administration of Lord William 
 Bentinck, an order of Government was issued, 
 which awakened a large portion of Hindoos in 
 Bengal from their sleep of ignorance and super- 
 stition. According to this regulation, educated 
 Hindoos and Mahomedans were to be admitted to 
 various lucrative offices and appointments. Those 
 natives who understood English, besides their 
 mother tongue, were to be particularly favoured. 
 Thus a general desire after English education, 
 became prevalent among the higher classes in 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 217 
 
 Calcutta, and other large towns ; and this Anglo- 
 mania has since increased rather than diminished. 
 Wealthy Hindoos, and even the bigoted Brah- 
 mins, send their sons to mission-schools, although 
 at the risk of their conversion to Christianity : the 
 prospect of a lucrative and honourable employ- 
 ment in a Government office is too tempting to 
 resist, and they brave the danger. This is one 
 of the most pleasing and interesting signs of 
 the times, and shows that the reign of superstition 
 and idolatry draws to an end. 
 
 According to an old regulation, the Government 
 of India annually appropriate one lac of rupees, or 
 £10,000 sterling, for the promotion of education 
 and literature. Until the year 1833, this sum was 
 expended for the support of some seminaries in 
 which Brahminical pundits and Mahomedan mol- 
 lahs instructed Hindoo pupils in the shasters, and 
 expounded the Koran ; besides this, some English 
 works of learning were translated into Arabic and 
 Sanscrit. These books are of course quite unsuit- 
 able for a popular literature ; they are quietly lying 
 in some libraries of the country, to be eaten by 
 white ants ; and the youths who have thus been 
 educated at the expense of Government, have 
 turned out Mahomedan fanatics, and zealous de- 
 fenders of Hindooism. 
 
218 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 In 1835, the Governor-General directed that 
 this sum should henceforth be devoted to the edu- 
 cation of native youths in English and the verna- 
 cular languages ; and the grant was also increased, 
 by order of the British Parliament, to £20,000 per 
 annum instead of ten. The effect of this measure 
 is incalculably beneficial, for the axe has thereby 
 been laid to the root of idolatry, and repeated blows 
 have since shaken the antiquated and dilapidated 
 fabric of Hindooism to its foundation. Twelve 
 English schools were soon established by Govern- 
 ment in the country, and furnished with libraries. 
 Neither caste nor any religious distinction is taken 
 into account in the arrangement of the schools ; 
 Hindoos, Mahomedans, and Christians, read in 
 the same class ; and within a year, six thousand 
 scholars have been placed under instruction. 
 
 It is true, in an empire like India, little can be 
 effected with £20,000 per annum for the education 
 of the people. Government are aware of this, and 
 have therefore devised measures for diffusing the 
 benefit of it to the greatest possible extent. Upon 
 their recommendation, (and what the Government 
 recommends is with an Asiatic as good as a com- 
 mand) rich natives, rajahs and zemindars, have 
 established schools at their own expense ; and 
 under the direction of an association, a considerable 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 219 
 
 number of useful school books for furnishing these 
 schools have been translated and carried through 
 the press. In the year 1836, a seminary was opened, 
 under the direction of the board of education, at 
 Hooghly, thirty miles above Calcutta ; and within 
 three days, twelve hundred youths applied to 
 be received as pupils.* 
 
 A committee nominated by Government has the 
 direction of these schools, and the appointment of 
 tutors is in their hands. Whether these gentlemen 
 as individuals, entertain a dislike towards Christi- 
 anity, or whether the Government fear that a 
 revolution would break out among the Hindoos in 
 case a Bible were seen in the schools, I cannot say 
 with certainty ; but from the system of education 
 adopted, it w/mld almost appear as if Government 
 were ashamed of being considered Christian in the 
 eyes of their idolatrous subjects ; for Christianity 
 has never received the least consideration. The 
 education of the mind and intellect is all that they 
 contemplate in their plan of education. Neither 
 the Bible nor any other religious books are even 
 allowed a place in the libraries of their schools. 
 
 A few years ago the London Tract Society 
 sent a box of useful books, as a present, to the 
 
 * The Hooghly College has been established and is supported, 
 from the funds of a large legacy, left at the disposal of Government 
 for educational purposes. 
 
220 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 seminary at Hooghly. The committee returned 
 them, giving the agents of the Tract Society at 
 Calcutta to understand, that they were not suited 
 for the objects of the seminary. On the other 
 hand, deistical and infidel works are freely admit- 
 ted. There is no doubt, that a liberal scientific 
 education must exercise a powerful effect upon 
 Hindoo youth. When the treasures of our 
 English literature are thus laid open to him, he 
 cannot remain a Hindoo according to the vain 
 traditions of his fathers ; he will no longer bow 
 under the heavy yoke imposed by the Brahmin. 
 The shasters, which teach him religion, contain 
 historical untruths, absurd exaggerations in chro- 
 nology, and incredible systems of geography, 
 astronomy, and general history. When, therefore, 
 he becomes acquainted with sound knowledge, the 
 natural consequence is, that he despises the old 
 fables of his own books, which assert for instance 
 that the earth is resting on a tortoise, and upon a 
 serpent with a hundred heads, and that when it is 
 shaking one of these, an earthquake is caused ; and 
 that an eclipse of the sun or moon ensues from a 
 terrible monster pursuing them in their course, 
 and seizing them with its mouth. 
 
 An English education, whether religious or 
 purely scientific, is certainly calculated to under- 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 221 
 
 mine idolatry. We have numerous facts before 
 us to prove this. Calcutta abounds with young 
 natives, who speak with contempt of the idolatrous 
 ceremonies practised by their countrymen. But 
 the question is, whether they gain any advantage, 
 if idolatry be rendered contemptible in their eyes, 
 and they obtain nothing better in its stead. To 
 me it appears very doubtful that the real welfare 
 is in any degree advanced, when we turn a stupid 
 thoughtless idolater, into a refined heartless infidel, 
 who sneers at everything religious. 
 
 In Calcutta there is a seminary, called the 
 Hindoo College, in which this so-called liberal 
 system of education is carried out. There are 
 instances on record of Hindoo fathers forbidding 
 their sons to visit this college, on the ground that 
 all the pupils who attain some proficiency become 
 nasticks, that is, atheists. A nation of nasticks will 
 inevitably spring from the Government schools, if 
 they continue a system of education by which 
 Hindooism is extirpated on the one hand, and infi- 
 delity set up on the other, if no friendly hand be 
 offered to the inquiring youth, to lead him to the 
 knowledge of the true God, — no means be devised 
 to sow the seed of faith or Divine truth in his 
 susceptible heart. 
 
 It is surprising that the members of the board 
 
222 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 of education cannot see their mistake : they are 
 afraid lest the appearance of the Bible or other 
 religious books should offend the tender feelings 
 and prejudices of the Hindoos ; but forget to con- 
 sider the awful fact, that they are rearing up a set 
 of men, who will, in all probability, revolutionise 
 the country, and excite their countrymen hereafter 
 to rise against the Government. Our young Hindoo 
 philosophers are already holding public meetings, 
 in which they declaim on liberty and patriotism, 
 represent the Government as tyrannical, and ex- 
 press the hope, that the time is now coming for 
 them to defend their liberties and claim the privi- 
 leges of a free nation. 
 
 There are at present twelve two-weekly, and 
 weekly papers published by young Hindoos at 
 Calcutta : in these it can be clearly seen, that the 
 seed of infidelity which has been dispersed, is 
 growing apace. Only one of those papers (the 
 Chundrika) is written in the bigoted orthodox 
 style of Hindooism ; the others are more or less 
 pledged to the new philosophy, and the youth- 
 ful writers rejoice, like young birds escaped 
 from the nest or cage, in the new light of reason, 
 which bursts upon their vision in the schools of 
 Government. 
 
 There can scarcely be any doubt that in the 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 223 
 
 order of God's providence India will one day be 
 freed from English supremacy ; but it is awful to 
 think that its Government shall be abolished, as 
 was that of France, by philosophical infidels. 
 
 Four years ago, a few pious officers of the 
 English army, who had conquered Affghanistan, 
 found among the inhabitants of Cabul some who 
 gladly listened to religious conversation. They 
 wrote to the Bible Society at Calcutta for about a 
 thousand New Testaments ; and in compliance 
 with their request, several chests filled with this 
 treasure were despatched to that country. On 
 reaching a frontier station on the Indus, the whole 
 remittance was seized by Government, who made 
 the declaration, that it would be a dangerous 
 undertaking to spread Christianity in a conquered 
 country, and such an attempt among fanatical 
 Mussulmen was likely to lead to revolution. A 
 year had scarcely elapsed from that time, when the 
 well-known revolution broke out at Cabul, the 
 consequence of which was the destruction of the 
 whole army. If the Government had permitted the 
 introduction of those Testaments into Cabul, it is 
 very likely that some of its inhabitants would have 
 been converted to Christianity. In this case the 
 storm which was brewing, would have been dis- 
 covered before it broke out, for natives are always 
 
224 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 acquainted with the secret plots of their chiefs, and 
 thus the Bible might have been made the instru- 
 ment of saving a British army. 
 
 As a proof that the Hindoos would not be 
 exasperated against the Government for intro- 
 ducing the holy Scriptures into the schools, but 
 that they would on the contrary only respect them 
 more highly, if they thus attested the sincerity of 
 their faith in the religion they profess, I may just 
 mention the simple fact, that every well-conducted 
 mission school is filled with pupils who are ready 
 to learn whatever the missionary recommends. 
 The seminary of our Scotch brethren at Calcutta 
 numbers one thousand scholars. It is true that 
 when a youth is converted to Christianity, many 
 parents withdraw their children, but they generally 
 return after a few months, when the panic is over. 
 The example of Government has assisted in a great 
 measure to prejudice the minds of the higher 
 classes of natives against the efforts of missionaries. 
 I once heard one say, " There must be something 
 wrong about your religion, for your governor saheb 
 does not believe in it himself." 
 
 It is an encouraging fact, that many Hindoo 
 youths who by their education had been drawn into 
 infidelity, afterwards became acquainted with the 
 Bible, and were led to embrace Christianity. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 225 
 
 The following is a remarkable instance of it : — 
 In 1832, Dr. Duff baptized a Coolin Brahmin, 
 named Krishna Mohun Banerjea. This talented 
 youth had received his education in the Hin- 
 doo college. Although a decided enemy to 
 Christianity, he visited the missionaries, in 
 order to oppose and ridicule their religion : 
 he was a conceited deist, and had formed his 
 system from the schools of Voltaire and Hume. 
 But the truth overpowered him at last ; he be- 
 came a sincere and humble disciple of Jesus, 
 and shortly afterwards made a public confession 
 of his faith in Christ. For several years he pub- 
 lished a weekly newspaper, under the title of 
 " The Inquirer," which found numerous readers 
 among his young contemporaries. He afterwards 
 began the study of Greek and Hebrew, attached 
 himself to the Church of England, and was or- 
 dained by our excellent Bishop Wilson. A 
 church was built for him in the most frequented 
 part of Calcutta, in which he is now preaching to 
 his countrymen that truth which " once he de- 
 stroyed." In a certain number of his periodical, 
 Krishna gave the following description of the 
 religion of his fathers : — " If there is anything 
 under the sun, which I and my friends contem- 
 plate with horror, it is Hindooism. If any desire 
 
226 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 to know the principal cause of all the calamities 
 which have come over this nation, I say it is 
 Hindooism. Again, do you wish to know the 
 chief inciting cause to every vice? I answer, 
 it is Hindooism. Do you ask what has under- 
 mined and destroyed the peace, prosperity, and 
 happiness of society in Bengal? I hesitate not 
 to say, it is the religion of the Hindoos." 
 
 Last year, a well-educated and intelligent 
 Hindoo applied to a clergyman in Calcutta for 
 baptism. He, too, had received his education in 
 the Hindoo college, and was a deist. A tract ac- 
 cidentally fell into his hands, by which he was 
 made acquainted with the Bible. He read it for 
 several days with deep attention, and discovered in 
 it a religion concerning which his heart, his con- 
 science, and his understanding convinced him that 
 it was Divine. He determined to embrace this 
 religion. He was the only son of a rich zemindar, 
 and his friends did all in their power to make him 
 change his resolution. When they found him 
 inflexible, they sent him a sum of money, accom- 
 panied with a most earnest request that he would 
 embark, for England, and be baptized there, lest 
 the caste of the whole family should be polluted 
 by his becoming a Christian on the spot. But he 
 remained unmoved, and declared, " Here in the 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 227 
 
 eyes of all my countrymen, I will show in whom I 
 believe ;" and he was shortly afterwards baptized 
 in the mission church at Calcutta. On the occa- 
 sion of his baptism, he composed the following 
 hymn ; it is the effusion of a heart filled with the 
 love of the Saviour: 
 
 Long sunk in superstition's night, by sin and Satan driven, 
 I saw not, cared not for the light which leads the blind to heaven. 
 I sat in darkness, reason's eye was shut, was closed in me, 
 I hastened to eternity, o'er error's dreadful sea. 
 
 But now, at length, thy grace, O Lord, bids all around me shine, 
 I drink thy sweet, thy precious word, I kneel before thy shrine ; 
 I've broke affection's tenderest ties, for my dear Saviour's sake, 
 All, all I love beneath the skies, Lord, I for thee forsake." 
 
 A Hindoo youth, Mohesh Chunder, who died 
 some years ago, as a catechist of the Church 
 Missionary Society, gave the following affecting 
 description of his conversion in a letter to a 
 Scottish missionary, who had been the instru- 
 ment of his conversion. " A year since I was an 
 atheist ; afterwards I turned to materialism ; I was 
 unhappy above measure : and what am I now ? a 
 Christian, baptized in the name of Jesus, and 
 indescribably happy ! The retrospect of the past 
 fills my mind with astonishment. I settled down 
 in my philosophical principles, firmly resolved not 
 to yield a step. I hated the Christian religion, 
 
 Q 
 
228 MISSION AKY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 and could not bear the thought of the possibility of 
 being convinced of its truth. Yet I could not 
 remain quiet. Against all my strongest resolu- 
 tions, and contrary to the inclinations of my own 
 heart, I was led, step by step, nearer to Chris- 
 tianity. I could not resist its evidences. When 
 I heard your description of the nature of sin, 
 especially of the sins of the heart, my con- 
 science broke out like a volcano, my soul was 
 racked, overcome by anxiety and terror. When 
 I thought of some passages of the Bible, I found a 
 little more comfort. The doctrine of the Scrip- 
 tures, which appeared to me before pure nonsense, 
 I now found to be Divine wisdom ; what I formerly 
 hated from my heart, was now dear above every 
 thing. How shall I account for this change of 
 mind ? Impossible by natural principles. Every- 
 thing went against my wishes, my pre-conceived 
 resolutions. In opposition to all these, I became 
 a Christian ! Truly an invisible power has con- 
 ducted me hither. Something of what the Bible 
 calls free grace, must have exercised its influence 
 upon me ; and if ever a sinner has been converted 
 by free grace, it is I." 
 
 Thus did a philosophical Brahmin describe his 
 conversion to Christianity : he spoke from the 
 heart, like a true Israelite, in whom there is no 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 229 
 
 guile ; and I might allude to many more instances 
 of a similar nature.* 
 
 I cannot conclude my account of the education 
 of the natives in India, without saying a few 
 words on the attempts which have been made to 
 educate the females of that country. The moral 
 and physical condition of those poor creatures is 
 pitiable in the extreme, and has often drawn forth 
 my deepest sympathy. His religion teaches the 
 Hindoo, that woman does not, properly speaking, 
 belong to the human race ; and is to be regarded 
 only in so far as she has been associated with 
 man. She is represented as possessing a nature 
 so wicked and corrupt, that nothing short of 
 slavery can be an appropriate condition for her ; 
 she can never, therefore, consider herself as be- 
 longing to God's free rational creatures upon 
 earth. According to these principles of slavery 
 has the Hindoo female measured out her existence 
 in the world. The contemptible manner in which 
 she is regarded may be understood from a proverb, 
 by which the male is compared with the female 
 
 * Perhaps one of the most remarkable conversions that have 
 occurred lately, is that of the son of the high-priest of the temple of 
 Kalee-ghaut, referred to at page 4, who was converted in the English 
 school, conducted by our brethren the missionaries of the London 
 Society, last year, and baptized by them, with two other converts, 
 in the month of October. 
 
230 MSSIONAPwY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 sex : How can you place the black rice-pot beside 
 the golden spice-box ? And from a second, How- 
 can the sweet mangoe grow forth from the bitter 
 neem-tree ? 
 
 The female is denied the acquisition of that 
 little knowledge which the man acquires ; she may 
 not hear the shasters, she has nothing to do with 
 religion ; women belong to the impure beings, 
 which pollute everything by their touch : thus 
 another proverb says, " a dog, a" sudra, and a 
 woman, are not to touch the idol, or the godhead 
 will escape from it." 
 
 The girl is married to a boy in her fifth or sixth 
 year, or earlier. The ostensible cause of this 
 premature connexion is, that it is the only pre- 
 servative against sin. The child has, of course, 
 nothing to do with the choice, and her inclination 
 is not consulted in the transaction ; the poor thing 
 has no will of her own. It is true she is not 
 domesticated until her tenth or twelfth year, but 
 she is united to her husband by an indissoluble 
 tie, whether she may like him or not ; the con- 
 nexion is for eternity, — she belongs to him even 
 after death. If the husband should die, she must 
 remain a widow all her lifetime, although she 
 should not have seen him from the day of the 
 wedding. She has to remain in the paternal 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 231 
 
 abode, and is placed, after her father's death, under 
 the guardianship of her eldest brother. 
 
 On the part of the husband it is quite different : 
 he is allowed by the law to marry within four 
 weeks of his wife's death ; and if, after three years, 
 he have no child, it authorises him to look out 
 for a second. On the whole, polygamy is con- 
 sidered by the Hindoo a lawful thing ; his circum- 
 stances in life are the only standard by which he 
 is guided : a poor man has only one wife, because 
 he has not the means to support and feed two. 
 
 If a female be of high rank, she remains after 
 the union shut up in the anthakhar, the harem of 
 the Hindoo ; if belonging to low life, she must 
 perform the lowest drudgery and most menial 
 labour of the cottage. She may never venture to 
 sit down to a meal with her lord. The son takes 
 his place by the side of his father, but the wife 
 places the boiled rice and currie in a reverential 
 manner before him, and waits at the door, or 
 without at the hearth, until he has done ; and what 
 remains, she may eat afterwards. 
 
 I have sometimes had difficulty in persuading 
 the wives of our catechists, who had been converted 
 to Christianity some years, to sit down to dinner 
 with their husbands and children. So contempt- 
 ible is the poor female in the eyes of her heathen- 
 
232 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 ish husband, that when speaking of her, he will 
 never pronounce her name, but invariably employ 
 the pronoun she or her instead. The Hindoo 
 would take it very unkindly in a European to 
 inquire after his wife. I did so once, in the house 
 of the Rajah of Burdwan ; he shook his head, and 
 said, " This is not proper, we do not tell how the 
 wife is doing." 
 
 According to Hindoo law, the woman has to 
 perform three kinds of business, — first, to cook the 
 food ; secondly, to clean the house ; and thirdly, to 
 please her husband ; — when she has done all this, 
 the end of her existence is accomplished. 
 
 She is only acknowledged to be a good wife 
 when she is in perfect subjection to her lord. A 
 verse of the shasters says, " If he be a drunkard, 
 an adulterer, — if he commit any crime, she is 
 nevertheless to worship him as the god of her 
 heart." In former days, she received honour, and 
 had the prospect of a better life, when she sealed 
 her attachment, by allowing herself to be burned 
 with the dead corpse of her husband ; but since 
 Government has abolished this cruel rite, this 
 delusive dream of future happiness has come to an 
 end likewise. Oh that the bright, cheering rays 
 of Divine truth and hope might descend on her, 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 233 
 
 and illumine her gloomy, cheerless path through 
 life ! * 
 
 How can a nation be raised from a state of 
 such moral depression and spiritual misery, by 
 whose religion one-half of the population have 
 been degraded to hopeless slavery, and put almost 
 on a level with the brute creation ? The urgent 
 necessity that the female sex be raised from its 
 prostrate condition, if a thorough reformation is to 
 be effected among the Hindoos, is clearly felt and 
 understood by every missionary, and every friend 
 of India. 
 
 Upwards of twenty years ago, Mrs. Wilson, an 
 excellent lady, who went to India for that purpose, 
 made a most energetic beginning in instituting 
 schools for the instruction of Hindoo girls. A 
 number of children belonging to the lowest classes 
 were collected by some women, whom she engaged 
 for the purpose, and received instruction for three 
 or four hours in the morning. The little band of 
 pupils gradually increased to two hundred, and 
 
 * The reader may find this interesting subject treated on more at 
 large, in an " Essay on Native Female Education in India," by the 
 Rev. Krishna Mohun Banerjea, a converted Brahmin, which has 
 been re-published in a condensed form in London, and may be pro- 
 cured of Miss Webb, 61, Stafford Place, Pimlico, price 6d. Orders for 
 copies should be sent to Miss Webb, by post, and will meet with 
 prompt attention. 
 
234 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 then a house was built in Calcutta, called the 
 Central School, in which the plan is carried on to 
 this day. Only one or two of these children have 
 been converted to Christianity, as far as we know ; 
 although in this, as in other labours of love among 
 poor heathen, it is impossible to calculate or un- 
 derstand what amount of good is really done. 
 Mrs. Wilson, however, in her persevering zeal, 
 sketched out a more interesting sphere of useful- 
 ness. — Several orphan children were offered her 
 for education, and gladly accepted. This cir- 
 cumstance led her to resolve on the establishment 
 of an institution for destitute Hindoo children. 
 She was liberally supported by Christian friends ; 
 and in 1835, the Orphan Refuge at Agrapara, 
 on the banks of the Ganges, above Calcutta, was 
 ready for the reception of one hundred orphan 
 girls, who received a simple, Christian education. 
 
 Some years since, an English officer sent to her 
 twenty children from the south: they had been 
 stolen by the barbarous hill people, of the Gomsur 
 country, and were fattened like cattle, to be after- 
 wards sacrificed to their gods; but the officer, 
 with a detachment of sepoys, had saved them from 
 the hands of those savages. 
 
 On my arrival at Burdwan, the scene of my 
 labours for eleven years, I found four small girls' 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 235 
 
 schools, which were established by my predecessor, 
 containing about one hundred children, who were 
 taught to read. A pious native catechist instructed 
 them from the catechism and the New Testament, 
 in the most simple and important truths of Chris- 
 tianity. We afterwards built a central school in a 
 suitable locality, near Burdwan. I examined the 
 school once a week, and was often pleased to find 
 that the girls in the reading classes could readily 
 answer the questions put to them from those por- 
 tions of the gospels and Bible history which they 
 had read. Some appeared to be impressed by the 
 truth, and freely acknowledged, that the Christian 
 religion was more excellent than the worship of 
 idols. We received the liberal support of English 
 ladies in these labours of love; and surely no 
 mother, in looking at her beloved little ones, can 
 refuse to give her share of support, towards the 
 benevolent attempt to communicate the knowledge 
 of the Saviour, to the poor despised daughters of 
 the Hindoos. 
 
 But all our efforts on behalf of these unfortunate 
 beings did not meet with the desired success. There 
 are and have been until now, insuperable obstacles 
 standing in the way of improving the females in 
 India; which will only be removed by time. As 
 I mentioned before, the children who are allowed 
 
236 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 to visit those day-schools belong to the very lowest 
 castes. Their parents permit them to go to 
 school, not with a view to the improvement of 
 their minds, but to secure a little present for 
 them. When there is a good deal of labour to 
 be done at home, or in the field, they are kept 
 away, and at the time of the idol festivals they 
 likewise neglect school. Thus the good impres- 
 sions produced by instruction are lost ; and by the 
 bad example of the parents, the good seed of the 
 word is usually choked in the germ. People of 
 higher caste would not, under any circumstances, 
 allow their daughters to attend our schools, — at 
 least, such has been our experience. Their reli- 
 gious ideas, their social relations, their early 
 marriages, and the contemptible light in which 
 the female is regarded, — in short, everything 
 — stands in the way of her moral and mental 
 improvement. 
 
 Often have I endeavoured to prove to the higher 
 classes, how desirable it was for them to have their 
 children educated, and pointed out the example of 
 Europeans ; but the usual answer I received was — 
 " What is the use of it ? our daughters will not 
 become writers or judges ; they need not know any- 
 thing. Our women are very different from yours : 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 237 
 
 they would abuse everything they learn, and only 
 turn it to a bad account." * 
 
 Thus we found, after many years' trial, as far as 
 our own experience went, that no permanent good 
 seemed to be done in these day-schools, for when 
 the children could read a little, they were removed 
 by their friends. We were agreed with other 
 missionaries that our labours might be bestowed 
 in a more satisfactory way, upon children who 
 were placed under our constant influence, (provided 
 we could procure a number of them,) but where 
 and how to do this, we did not know; for the 
 poorest Hindoo mother will hardly ever give her 
 infant to the care of a Christian, though she be 
 obliged to beg her bread. Sometimes, however, 
 widows who are in misery come to offer their 
 little ones for sale; and in times of famine they 
 frequently give them away for four or five shillings. 
 Such an unfortunate being came and offered her 
 babe to us, saying, " Will you take it ? if you do 
 not, I shall throw it away to the jackals to-night." 
 The infant was not a year old, but we received it, 
 and it became a fine, lively, promising girl. 
 
 * I cannot forbear to mention here, that the efforts of that devoted 
 lady, Mrs. Margaret Wilson of Bombay, were greatly blessed. Her 
 heathen day-schools were very large, and many genuine conversions 
 occurred in them. 
 
238 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 With all these difficulties against us, we com- 
 menced building an Orphan Girls' School. The 
 thatched roof was scarcely covered in, when a great 
 flood, caused by the bursting of the embankment 
 of a neighbouring river, swept over the country ; 
 many people lost their lives, and the stock of 
 provisions, with the harvest, were greatly injured. 
 A famine was the natural consequence, and con- 
 tagious diseases followed in its train. In this time 
 of general misery we collected a number of half- 
 starved children, and thus our new orphan school 
 was filled with pupils in quite an unexpected way. 
 
 Within the last ten years we have received 
 between seventy and eighty girls into this institu- 
 tion, and the Lord's blessing has accompanied our 
 labours. That among such a band of neglected 
 heathen children some turn out bad, is not sur- 
 prising. There are among them such as appear 
 quite incorrigible, and with whom all efforts fail : 
 a few ran away from us, and preferred continuing 
 in the vices of heathenism to living a Christian life. 
 On the other hand, we have several who have been 
 a source of joy to us, who have been truly con- 
 verted, and love their Saviour; some of these are 
 now married to Christian youths, and have become 
 pious, faithful, industrious mothers. Some are 
 engaged as teachers, and are making themselves 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 239 
 
 useful among their Hindoo sisters. One of these 
 was married to a pious man, a convert from our 
 English school ; and by her pious, consistent 
 conduct, fitness, and energy of mind, she gained 
 our confidence so fully, that before our departure 
 from Burdwan, she was appointed the first teacher 
 in our Orphan School. 
 
 Similar institutions for destitute Hindoo orphans 
 have been established in most of the missionary 
 stations in our part of India. My dear brother, 
 Mr. Leupolt, has one hundred and thirty boys in 
 his school at Benares ; and the wife of another 
 excellent missionary there, has a girls' school, with 
 upwards of eighty children, besides a day-school of 
 forty.* Leupolt has among his boys sixteen who 
 are possessed of good talents, and who we have reason 
 to hope are truly converted. He is preparing them 
 for catechists, and has the pleasing prospect that 
 they will become useful among their countrymen 
 in a few years. Each of the other boys is brought 
 up to some trade ; a few learn gardening, others 
 become tailors, and a considerable number of them 
 are employed in carpet-making, a business which 
 has considerably assisted in the support of the 
 school. The pupils who are training for teachers 
 
 * Some interesting instances of conversion have occurred in this 
 heathen day-school of Mrs. Smith's. 
 
240 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 and preachers, accompany the missionary to the 
 chapels in the city, where they learn the practical 
 part of that which they receive by instruction at 
 home. In this way the apostolic Schwartz in 
 South India trained his helpers in the work ; one 
 of whom, namely, the venerable Koblhoff, who was 
 a missionary's son, is still alive.* 
 
 Our German brethren at Agra have an orphan 
 boys' school, of one hundred and sixty-four scho- 
 lars, and other pupils. In 1838, an awful famine 
 prevailed in the north-western provinces, when 
 many hundreds of starving children were collected 
 by benevolent English people, and sent to the 
 missionaries. Mr. Leupolt received nearly five 
 hundred of them, but cholera and nervous fevers 
 broke out among them, and caused fearful ravages : 
 he had at one time two hundred and sixty ill of 
 fever ; forty-five died in one month, and only one- 
 third of the whole number survived. The scenes 
 that were witnessed in those days of famine baffle 
 description. Near Allahabad hundreds of corpses 
 of the poor creatures that died by fever and 
 starvation were daily thrown into the Ganges. In 
 one place the bodies were so crowded together, 
 
 * As this was passing through the press, we read of the death of 
 this aged servant of God, in his eighty-second year. He died on the 
 27th of March last. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 241 
 
 that, in order to prevent the air from being 
 poisoned by the decomposition, Government placed 
 a number of men along the shore, who pushed 
 them down the stream with long poles. 
 
 It is calculated that about one thousand one 
 hundred orphan boys and girls are now receiving 
 Christian instruction in Bengal and the north- 
 western provinces. That these institutions are the 
 nurseries of our missions, from which a new and 
 hopeful generation will rise up, is acknowledged 
 by all who have made themselves acquainted with 
 them. Christians in India are so deeply convinced 
 of the importance of this branch of missionary 
 labour, that all who have seen them, gladly contri- 
 bute to the support of these orphan schools ; and 
 it is a pleasing fact, that in most stations they are 
 maintained entirely by the gifts of kind friends. 
 The children are removed from the injurious 
 influence of heathenism ; and under the instruction 
 and paternal care of the missionaries, many will 
 become useful in mission work, and all are trained 
 up to be useful members of society. 
 
 It is true we must be content, in the present 
 depressed state of the females, to begin with their 
 education at the lowest ; it is really working up- 
 hill, and the wife of a missionary is truly fulfilling 
 her duty, when she succeeds in training a band of 
 
242 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 orphan girls to be pious, cleanly, and industrious, 
 and in preparing a few of them for teachers, among 
 their Hindoo sisters. 
 
 But small as is the beginning which we have 
 made in female education, we are confidently 
 looking forward to better days. Young Hindoos 
 of education are feeling the want of having wives 
 with cultivated minds. " Oh, how happy should 
 we be, ;f our wives were as intelligent and agree- 
 able companions as yours are," said a Hindoo to 
 me. Some have expressed the wish to have their 
 daughters educated ; a few respectable Hindoos at 
 Calcutta have already made a beginning. When 
 the daughters of the higher classes begin to 
 feel themselves to be members of human society, 
 our work will proceed with increased vigour and 
 rapidity. 
 
 I cannot close my observations on this subject, 
 without adverting to that excellent little society, 
 called the Society for Promoting Female Educa- 
 tion in the East. We have individually received 
 great assistance from it, for which I would thus 
 publicly express our sincere gratitude ; and I may 
 at the same time be allowed to remark, that the 
 devoted ladies who compose that society, are 
 doing in a quiet and humble way a great and 
 most important work. We derive from it just 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 243 
 
 that aid and support in our efforts on behalf of 
 female education, which it does not come within 
 the province of our larger societies to render. I 
 hope its operations will soon be much enlarged, 
 and its income so augmented, that it will be able 
 to arrange for settling fixed salaries on its agents. 
 
 All missionaries are deeply convinced of the 
 importance and necessity of a national ministry. 
 As the East Indian Government fought their battles 
 in India, and conquered province after province, 
 chiefly by their native troops under the direction 
 of English officers, so this great empire can be 
 evangelised only by the sons of her own soil. We 
 want an army of native missionaries, to dissemi- 
 nate Christian truth in schools and by preaching. 
 Though the European missionary be ever so kind, 
 affectionate, and condescending ; though he have 
 mastered the language of the natives, and be quite 
 familiar with their customs and habits ; yet he will 
 never succeed in gaining their confidence, and 
 opening that free and unrestrained intercourse 
 with them, which their countryman the catechist 
 can do. Besides, it is absolutely impossible, even 
 if the Church Missionary Society and other socie- 
 ties should be able to send out tenfold the number 
 of missionaries they have now in the field, that the 
 Gospel can be proclaimed by them to the one 
 
 R 
 
244 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 hundred and thirty millions of heathens. It is 
 now believed, according to calculations lately made 
 by competent men, that India, from the Buram- 
 puter to the Indus, the independent states included, 
 contains one hundred and eighty millions of inha- 
 bitants. Wherever a census has been attempted, 
 it has been found that the population of the country 
 far exceeds the calculations that were formerly 
 made, while in many towns it was over-rated. 
 
 As our work advances to greater maturity, the 
 English missionary must become the overseer 
 (eVio-K07ros) under whose care and guidance the 
 native preachers discharge their sacred function. 
 With this very important object in view, the 
 Church Missionary and other Societies, are anxi- 
 ously endeavouring to prepare a number of pious, 
 talented young converts for the work. Every 
 orphan institution is intended to become a semi- 
 nary for training catechists and native preachers ; 
 and in the head seminary at Calcutta their educa- 
 tion is to be finished. But I regret to say the 
 number of suitable and devoted youths, fit for 
 reception into these seminaries, is still very small, 
 and not a few among these are drawn, by the 
 allurement of a higher salary, to accept appoint- 
 ments in Government offices. We need not be 
 surprised or discouraged at this, for do we not see 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 245 
 
 it exemplified in the difficulty that ever arises in 
 procuring well-educated and devoted young men 
 for missionaries, in the Church Missionary Society 
 especially ? Alas, alas ! it is too true. 
 
 Only a heart entirely devoted to the cause of 
 God, and fixed upon the reward in heaven, will 
 choose the arduous path, so full of self-denial, 
 to labour, suffer, and die, for the welfare of im- 
 mortal souls. Yet such men we want, and such 
 labourers will be required in India for many a 
 year to come, before an effective native ministry 
 can be formed to carry on the work without the 
 aid of Europeans. 
 
 We have in each of our mission stations a small 
 band of such. Two Hindoo helpers have, during 
 the last year, been called to eternity at Burdwan ; 
 who were carried off by the small-pox. One 
 of them, Peter, was baptized in 1821 ; the other, 
 Shunder, in 1824 ; they have finished their course 
 as faithful servants of their heavenly Master. For 
 eleven years they assisted me in schools and 
 preaching. My fellow-labourer, Mr. Linke, writes 
 concerning their latter days : " During the last 
 year, I perceived with joy and gratitude an in- 
 creased earnestness, seriousness, and zeal in the 
 whole tenor of their lives, and a holy unction 
 pervading their addresses to the heathen, so that I 
 
246 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 listened to them with heartfelt delight, witnessing 
 the pleasing and commendable manner with which 
 they bore the bitter taunts and cavils of their 
 adversaries. Shortly before Peter expired, he 
 called some of his brother catechists to his dying- 
 bed, and exhorted them to give themselves up 
 entirely to the work of the Lord ; reminding them, 
 that the reward of the righteous in heaven, was 
 much more glorious, than all the momentary and 
 vain enjoyments of this life." 
 
 Another catechist at Burdwan, of similar faith- 
 fulness and disposition, died suddenly of cholera, 
 five years since. He was offered an employment 
 under Government, that would have brought him 
 four times as much as the slender salary of thirty 
 shillings a-month, which he received from the 
 Church Missionary Society ; but he declined it, 
 choosing rather to labour for the kingdom of God. 
 We do not, however, look on those Christian con- 
 verts who engage in secular employments, as lost 
 to us, for they can be, and they are, really useful ; 
 and they do, I am sure, exercise a most beneficial 
 influence in their own circle, and occupy their 
 own peculiar sphere in promoting the coming 
 of the kingdom of God among all classes of their 
 fellow-countrymen. 
 
 This, my readers, is the genuine missionary 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 247 
 
 spirit ; and from the ground of my heart, I would 
 say, in conclusion, Oh that this hallowed spirit 
 and disposition might be developed more amongst 
 us, especially among our young people! We want 
 more men, who are ready to devote their talents 
 and powers to this great and glorious calling ; 
 men like Schwartz, in the south of India ; like 
 Henry Martyn, in the north ; and like Carey, at 
 Serampore, — who are ready, joyfully, to present 
 their talents, wealth, and learning, upon the altar 
 of love, as a thank and freewill offering to their 
 Redeemer, saying, " Here I am ; send me, Lord, 
 whither thou wilt." 
 
 I hope the days are now nearly passed, during 
 which people entertained the erroneous idea, that 
 a simple Christian education is sufficient for a 
 man who becomes a missionary. It may be so 
 among the negroes and Hottentots in Africa ; but 
 such an education is not sufficient for a mis- 
 sionary to the Hindoos. I trust the absurd notion 
 will, ere long, be banished from every Christian 
 mind, that youths preparing to go out as mis- 
 sionaries, are only to be looked for among the 
 peasantry and lower classes. Is the bond of love 
 that unites our wealthy and talented youth to 
 parents, brothers, and sisters, too strong ? is home 
 too sweet to be forsaken for his sake? or is the 
 
248 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 enjoyment of so many social pleasures, in the circle 
 of dear friends, of which the missionary is deprived 
 in the heathen land, — is this a sufficient reason 
 for the answer I have too often heard in my 
 travels through England, — M I cannot go, my 
 circumstances will not permit me ? " Surely this 
 is not the way in which the primitive Christians 
 acted; it looks like refined idolatry. 
 
 My readers,— we should have a sound literature 
 for India; we want a commentary of the Bible, 
 a concordance, church history, school books, 
 religious poetical works, and works of every 
 description, to feed the mind, to nourish the 
 hearts, and cultivate the intellect of the people, 
 and to drive the heathenish books, full of idol- 
 atrous superstitions and abominations, out of the 
 field. Here is a task to be performed, which 
 would afford ample employment for years, to men 
 of education and learning. Could our talented 
 youth choose a more honourable, noble, and 
 glorious calling ? Let them answer the question 
 before God and their own conscience. 
 
 As for building a house various materials are 
 required; wood and stone, sand and mortar, — 
 for neither the carpenter with his timber, nor the 
 mason with his brick, could rear a fine and com- 
 fortable dwelling alone; but each must contribute 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 249 
 
 his own materials and share of labour : so does 
 our God employ men of various gifts and talents 
 for the spiritual building of Zion, his church, at 
 home, and in heathen lands. 
 
 So it was in the days of the apostles : when the 
 Gospel of salvation was to be preached in Greece 
 and Rome, in the emperor's palace, and before the 
 philosophical Athenians, — God raised up in Paul 
 a chosen vessel, whose education and mental 
 qualifications, after they had been sanctified by 
 Divine grace, rendered him the fittest person for 
 the discharge of this important work. 
 
 Let us, my readers, unite in one spirit to take 
 our share, and give our aid in advancing this great 
 and glorious cause. I desire to be very earnest, and 
 I pray that I may reach every heart, (in this call,) 
 for I feel and know from experience how needful 
 it is, that all who call Christ their Lord, may 
 become actively interested in missions. I know you 
 cannot all accompany me to India ; but let every 
 individual reader put the question to himself, in 
 what way can I be instrumental in the advance- 
 ment of God's blessed kingdom in this world ? All 
 the tribes of Israel assisted in the building of the 
 ark of the covenant in the wilderness; one brought 
 gold and silver, another precious stones; every 
 thing needful was contributed with gladness of 
 
250 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 heart. This is joy, indeed, when the heart is pre- 
 pared by grace for every good work, when we 
 know the truth of our Saviour's saying from per- 
 sonal experience, " It is more blessed to give than 
 to receive." 
 
 Oh that such a holy enthusiasm and zeal would 
 quicken and pervade the church ! The immediate 
 consequence would be an abundant outpouring of 
 Divine blessings into our own souls. 
 
 If the gift sanctified by prayer is an offering 
 acceptable unto the Lord, if his blessing attend the 
 giver as well as the receiver, surely those who are 
 rich in the goods of this life should follow the 
 example of the wise men from the east, in laying a 
 part of their treasure at the feet of Jesus ; and if 
 he accept the will for the deed, the widow's mite is, 
 in his sight, as valuable as the gifts of those, who 
 cast in the Lord's treasury from their abundance. 
 
 " Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due 
 season we shall reap, if we faint not." The harvest 
 will soon come ; the Lord himself calls upon us in 
 the events of our days: " Behold, I say unto you, 
 Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they 
 are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth 
 receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life 
 eternal: that both he that soweth, and he that 
 reapeth, may rejoice together." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF MISSIONARY 
 LABOUR IN INDIA. 
 
 SLOW PROGRESS OP CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. — REASONS OF IT. — 
 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE HINDOOS. — 
 BELIEF IN AN ABSOLUTE FATE. — CASTE, AND ITS EFFECTS. 
 — THE PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM. — CONVERTS DISINHERITED, CAST 
 OFF, AND PERSECUTED. — THE OPPOSITION OF THE PRIESTS. 
 — THE DOCTRINES OF THE SHASTERS. — THE DEGRADED CONDI- 
 TION OF FEMALES. — THE STUDY OF NATIVE LANGUAGES. — SMALL 
 NUMBERS OF MISSIONARIES. — THE EVIL EXAMPLE OF EURO- 
 PEANS. — THE CHARACTER OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS. — THEIR 
 TRIALS. — REFLECTIONS. 
 
 "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 
 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not : behold, 
 your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense ; he 
 will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, 
 and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped : then shall the lame man 
 leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing : for in the wil- 
 derness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." — Isaiah 
 xxxv. 3 — 6. 
 
 The complaint has been repeatedly resounded 
 from various quarters, that the missionary work in 
 India is progressing by very slow steps ; and when 
 we reflect on the fact, that in many parts of the 
 country missionaries have been labouring for forty 
 years and upwards, we must allow that this com- 
 plaint is not altogether unfounded. What may be 
 the reason of it ? I believe it is to be found chiefly 
 
252 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 in the religious system of the Hindoos. It is much 
 easier to build a house on a spot where none has 
 stood before, than in a locality which is occupied 
 by a dilapidated building, especially when the 
 owners use their utmost efforts to prevent a stone 
 being broken off this building, because they derive 
 a profitable rent from it. In other words, it is 
 easier to convert a nation of savages, who have 
 scarcely any religious ideas, like the New Zea- 
 landers, than to convert a people who possess a 
 religion which fosters the worst propensities of the 
 human heart, and which has entwined itself 
 around all the branches and joints of civil and 
 social, public and private life. 
 
 Oh, how much is there to pull down in such a 
 religion as that of the Hindoos — and how many a 
 year must pass away, ere the horrid rubbish of 
 idolatry can be removed, and a good foundation of 
 pure truth be laid in its stead ! 
 
 Moreover, it is not improbable, that in many 
 parts of India the Gospel was preached in the time 
 of the apostles ; indeed the St. Thomas Christians 
 of the Syrian churches are remarkable remains of 
 it ; and if it be a matter of historical fact that the 
 Hindoos heard the word of God from the lips of the 
 apostle Thomas, and other men of apostolic cha- 
 racter, and rejected it, then need we not wonder 
 that God has hardened their hearts, and blinded 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 253 
 
 their eyes — and for the same reason they have 
 rendered themselves less susceptible to the truth. 
 
 My Christian readers must have perceived from 
 the previous chapters, that missionary work in 
 India has to struggle with very serious difficul- 
 ties. My intention is now to give a concise state- 
 ment of these difficulties ; and I feel assured, that 
 those who obtain a clear insight into the real situa- 
 tion of the missionary, will no longer be disposed 
 to ask, why so little has hitherto been effected in 
 India, but will, on the contrary, be surprised at the 
 important results which have been achieved by the 
 very limited means we have at command. I feel 
 strongly that our friends at home ought to become 
 more fully acquainted with the trials of missionary 
 life, as it will call forth a more heartfelt sym- 
 pathy, and prompt them to pray for those who are 
 fighting the battles of the Lord, and to support 
 them liberally, according to the means God has 
 placed in their hands. 
 
 The moral and religious character of the Hin- 
 doos, as well as their habits and customs, have for 
 ages past been unalterably fixed by the system of 
 Brahminism. Among the mass of the people there 
 is nothing like a free exercise of mind. They 
 possess some indistinct feeling of a Divine Being, 
 and some obscure desire after salvation moves in 
 their souls, and this prompts the Hindoo to bow 
 
254 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 down before an idol ; he ignorantly alternates 
 between hope and fear, — he believes that what he 
 worships is possessed of power to avert evil, and 
 to give that which is good ; but fear and dread 
 preponderate over his hope. He generally cares 
 little about the future ; his religion, like opium, 
 has done the part of a soporific, and put his soul 
 and conscience fast asleep. 
 
 Many among the lower classes say, " My guroo 
 (spiritual teacher) will do everything for me :" they 
 look upon him as a sort of mediator between God 
 and man. While one class of the nation rules, and 
 the other is oppressed, each has the religious con- 
 viction that it has been appointed thus from above. 
 Effeminate luxury is, with the wealthy rajah, the 
 order of the day ; he is a grossly sensual being, 
 living entirely to satisfy his carnal appetite. There 
 he sits, cross-legged on his Persian carpet, sup- 
 porting his elbow on a soft pillow, and smoking 
 his hookah. A dozen cringing flatterers form a 
 circle around him, waiting for his command ; he 
 fattens himself in pleasure. To become rich and 
 to become fat are, according to the ideas of the 
 Hindoo, one and the same thing. The more 
 money he expends in idolatry, the holier he 
 appears in the eyes of the people. Such a reli- 
 gion is perfectly agreeable to the proud idolater 
 sunk low in degrading vice. He rejects the word 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 255 
 
 of God with disdain. I have not seen one instance 
 of conversion among this class of Hindoos. Many 
 to whom I tried to gain access sent me word at 
 the door, that they did not wish to see a mis- 
 sionary. Others are more courteous in their con- 
 duct ; but they are all invariably quite contented 
 with the worship of their idols. 
 
 I once had a conversation with a person of this 
 description, who " fared sumptuously every day," 
 on the intimate connexion of time and eternity. 
 He said, " The world is like a bazaar, in which 
 each performs the business allotted to him ; one 
 sells, the other buys ; here one offers vegetables 
 for sale, there a second, fruit. One is lying, the 
 other stealing, the third over-reaches his neighbour. 
 Everything happens as the gods have decreed." 
 
 Another, who had advanced a little farther on 
 the march of intellect, and was treating the tradi- 
 tions of his fathers with contempt, acknowledged 
 the worship of idols to be absurd nonsense ; But, 
 continued he, your Christian religion is not much 
 better — our stupid countrymen worship many 
 gods, but you adore three; I have the right point, 
 and worship only one. This deistical creed is very 
 general among young Hindoos. It is no difficult 
 thing to convince such would-be philosophers of 
 their errors, if we find but a small quantum of 
 sincere desire after truth ; but instead of that we, 
 
256 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 alas ! meet but too often with conceited haughti- 
 ness, and enmity against Christian revelation. 
 Such people scarcely ever deem the Holy Scrip- 
 tures worthy of a serious thought. 
 
 My readers will be surprised to hear how much 
 wealthy natives spend upon their idols. I once 
 visited the Eajah of Burdwan, and found him 
 sitting in his treasury. Fifty bags of money, con- 
 taining one thousand rupees (£100) in each, were 
 placed before him. " What," said I, " are you 
 doing with all this money ? " He replied, " It is 
 for my gods." "How do you mean that?" I 
 rejoined. " One part is sent to Benares, where 
 I have two fine temples on the river-side, and many 
 priests who pray for me ; another part goes to Jug- 
 gernath, and a third to Gaya : " and thus one native 
 is spending £25,000 annually from his princely 
 income upon idle Brahmins. While I was preach- 
 ing in the bazaar of Burdwan, the well-fed priests 
 of the Eajah looked out at the window, deriding 
 my efforts. It is a great pity," said one of them, 
 "that you take such pains with the poor people, 
 for your preaching is, after all, of no use." 
 
 These rich resources of Brahminism must be, 
 in some measure, dried up, before idolatry receives 
 its death-blow. I have, in general, more hope 
 for the mass of the people living in ignorance, 
 than for the wealthy debauchees of the land. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 257 
 
 The former are groaning and sighing under 
 the heavy yoke of their false faith : and though 
 they want courage to manifest an open opposition 
 to it, yet they feel their present position to be a 
 most painful one. It certainly is not the character 
 of the Gospel dispensation to spread itself among 
 the great and wealthy first, but " to the poor the 
 Gospel is preached;" and we may rest assured 
 that we shall see it in India, as in all other 
 countries, diffusing itself first among the lower, 
 and ascending from them to the higher ranks: 
 were it the reverse, Christianity would be mono- 
 polised by the heads of society, as the system of 
 Hindooism has been. This is one of the main 
 and distinguishing points of difference between a 
 true and a false religion. 
 
 If by the repeated hearing of Christian truth 
 conviction is produced in the minds of natives, 
 they usually say, " Ami ki koribo, ishwurur itcha 
 tzemon, temoni hai." — What can I do ? as God has 
 appointed, so it will be : if I am to be converted to 
 Christianity, it will be done without any effort of 
 mine. This horrid doctrine of fatalism is the 
 barrier which obstructs the way to the improve- 
 ment of the Hindoo, on every side, — which shuts 
 his heart against every better impression ; it makes 
 him like a block. Both the poor and rich regard 
 their sins as the necessary consequence of actions 
 
258 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 performed in a former state of existence : hence 
 the greatest criminal never considers himself 
 guilty; his conscience is seared, and repentance is 
 unknown to him. To this cause we must attri- 
 bute the obtuseness and heartless indifference with 
 which the people speak of religion and eternity, 
 representing God as the author of good and evil; 
 hence, likewise, the unfeeling cruelty with which 
 they look on the sufferings of their fellow-beings, 
 without moving a step in their behalf; hence, also, 
 the fearful vices of impurity, lying, and infanticide, 
 are something so very common, that nobody com- 
 plains of them, because everybody believes that they 
 necessarily belong to the present course of things. 
 I one day visited a malefactor (a Brahmin) 
 who was sentenced to the gallows for murdering a 
 child. I tried to convince the poor man of his 
 guilt, to show him the nearness of eternity, and 
 thus to awaken in his soul a desire for mercy and 
 pardon. He, however, insisted upon it that he 
 was compelled to commit the murder, — that it 
 belonged to the course of his life; and he firmly 
 believed it was engraved on his skull with the iron 
 pen of an absolute fate before his birth, that he 
 must die on the gallows. An hour before he was 
 led out to the scaffold, he ate breakfast with a good 
 appetite ; he then assisted in putting the rope round 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 259 
 
 his neck ; the drop fell under his feet, and thus this 
 poor miserable being was ushered into eternity. 
 
 While this doctrine of fatalism has crushed the 
 spirit, and petrified the heart of the people, the 
 system of caste is calculated to destroy the happi- 
 ness of social life among them, and to eradicate 
 every feeling of love and benevolence towards 
 their neighbour. When the son of a merchant 
 must become a merchant, and the son of a weaver 
 is compelled to adopt the same craft; and when 
 the offspring of a Brahmin is by his birth 
 destined to be a priest, or ascetic, mankind will 
 become stereotype ; everything will remain in its 
 old condition, — talents and gifts cannot be deve- 
 loped, — human beings walk about like automatons. 
 This is precisely the condition of the Hindoo. He 
 is in every respect what his ancestors were a 
 thousand years ago. " The system of caste," says 
 Ward, " has had a similar effect to that of the 
 little shoe with the Chinese ladies, — their feet have 
 become unfit for walking." The Brahmin is, 
 under the influence of this system, sunk in igno- 
 rance ; but notwithstanding this, he has not given 
 up the least fraction of his old claim to superiority. 
 
 It is true, the influence of European civilisation 
 and science, and, above all, the power of Christian 
 truth, have mightily shaken and weakened this 
 
260 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 powerful chain, but it is not yet burst. Shut up 
 in selfish seclusion, the four sections still maintain 
 their hostile attitude to each other. As the 
 horse differs from the ox in species, so one caste 
 regards the other as a different race of beings, 
 with which they may not come in near contact. 
 The Hindoo generally considers caste as the sum 
 and substance, the life and marrow of his religion ; 
 thus the nation is torn asunder in shreds, one 
 caste considering the other as impure. On the 
 other hand, the wily Brahmin has united them all 
 under the bond of a blind superstition, to oppose 
 the introduction of a new religion ; and the Euro- 
 pean is considered as the most impure, ranking, 
 according to the Brahmin's measure, far below the 
 lowest Sudra : he has therefore honoured him with 
 the Sanscrit appellation, " Mletcha," that is to say, 
 the refuse, or offscouring of the human race. 
 
 The practical effect of this is, that missionaries 
 can rarely succeed in getting on terms of intimacy, 
 and in realising familiar intercourse with Hindoos. 
 We have no free access to the hearts of the people. 
 The social meeting in the neighbour's family, the 
 friendly entertainment at table, exercise, as we all 
 know, a powerful influence upon us, mentally and 
 morally. The Hindoo has shut us out from 
 this influential intercourse. Sometimes I could 
 not help smiling with pity, when on opening 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 261 
 
 a door, and entering a cottage, I observed the 
 anxiety and hurry with which the people cleared 
 away every article, lest anything should become 
 impure by my touching it. They listened to 
 me with astonishment, when I related that in 
 England the minister may sit down and eat a 
 meal with the peasant, without in the least in- 
 juring the sanctity of his character; and that 
 a butcher, or a shoemaker, who has to do with 
 meat and shoes, may be as good a Christian as the 
 learned professor and preacher. 
 
 To preserve their purity, many Hindoos belong- 
 ing to the old school, cover their mouth and 
 nose with the upper garment, while hearing a 
 missionary preach, lest they be polluted by his 
 breath. As soon as my dinner came on the 
 table, my pundit always withdrew from the room ; 
 for the steam of the dishes, yea, the very 
 sight of beef, destroys his caste, and injures his 
 holiness. 
 
 A beggar would rather die of hunger, than 
 taste some of the food remaining from the table of 
 the European. The palankeen bearers, who be- 
 long to one of the lowest castes, refuse to carry 
 a person lower than themselves. We were one day 
 in great distress on a journey, because they refused 
 to carry the palankeen with the nurse, saying, 
 in excuse, " We carry only white people:" at last 
 
262 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 Mrs. W. put our little boy into her lap, and then 
 they were satisfied, and ran off with the load. 
 
 Honour and wealth being often united to caste, 
 it may easily be conceived what great obstacles it 
 presents to the spread of Christianity. I had, 
 some years since, a Coolin Brahmin under instruc- 
 tion, who was baptized at Calcutta; this man 
 occasionally visited the Brahmins at Burdwan, and 
 keeping his baptism a secret, appeared among 
 them with the poita, or sacred thread, which 
 is the badge of the brotherhood, round his neck. 
 When I heard of it, I felt it my duty to speak 
 seriously to him about his inconsistency ; and he 
 soon afterwards went away, and was seen no 
 more. Another Brahmin frequently attended 
 Divine service at our Bengalee chapel, and was 
 fully convinced of the truth. For several months 
 his mind was in great conflict ; twice he requested 
 to be baptized, and when the day appointed came, 
 he withdrew himself. This individual was a priest, 
 and had a share of the income of an idol temple, 
 and for celebrating marriages : two great difficul- 
 ties were in his way, and to be overcome, — the 
 shame and dishonour of being cast off by his 
 friends — and the loss of emolument. He sat down 
 to make his account, and had not the power to 
 deny himself, and venture in faith ; so he turned 
 back. I know many respectable Hindoos at Burd- 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 263 
 
 wan, and in the neighbourhood, who were similarly 
 inclined to embrace Christianity; but the fear of 
 losing caste, honour, and property, kept them back. 
 
 Old habits and customs, though irrational and 
 hurtful in the extreme, are excused with the 
 words " amarder jaat atche," it belongs to our 
 caste; and this excuse is, in their opinion, satis- 
 factory in all cases. 
 
 Another impediment to the progress of the 
 Gospel, is the patriarchal system, which is still 
 prevailing in many parts of India. The father 
 has the chief direction of his family as long as 
 he lives. When his brother dies, leaving children 
 behind, he takes care of them likewise. When 
 the son is married, he will, nevertheless, remain 
 subject to, and dependent on, the father. The 
 ground is cultivated by the whole family, and the 
 old sire gives from the joint stock as much as 
 he deems necessary to each. Strife and quarrels, 
 arising from fraud and oppression, are certainly 
 no uncommon occurrence ; but if an individual 
 tear the family ties, separating himself from the 
 rest, he exposes himself to the blame and con- 
 tempt of his neighbours. 
 
 The consequence is, that young men who have 
 acquired a knowledge of Christianity in the 
 schools, and who are prepared for its reception, 
 cannot venture to act according to their convic- 
 
264 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 tion. This circumstance prevents a free deve- 
 lopement of Christianity amongst the most hopeful 
 part of the people, and is one of the reasons that 
 we are so much in want of suitable persons for 
 teachers. If under these circumstances, a young 
 man relinquish his paternal religion, he is forth- 
 with excluded from the family circle, and bitterly 
 persecuted. The laws of Menu deprive him of 
 his paternal inheritance, and require that he 
 should henceforth be regarded as an enemy of 
 the public welfare. 
 
 Government have taken no steps hitherto to 
 remedy this crying evil, by securing the property 
 of young converts to Christianity. All that is 
 dear to their heart is taken away from them ; they 
 cannot remain among their friends, and are com- 
 pelled to flee. I know of cases where the wife and 
 children were kept back from converts, although 
 they were willing to share the lot of the father. 
 For this reason hundreds are intimidated from 
 listening to the missionary, and from confessing 
 the truth freely before their friends ; they tremble 
 in reflecting that by this confession they must be 
 prepared to risk home and friends, with all the 
 joys and comforts of life, yea, even life itself. 
 
 I saw a converted youth in Calcutta who had 
 narcotic drugs administered to him after his bap- 
 tism by his own relations, which for a time 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 265 
 
 deprived him of reason, and he is suffering to this 
 day from the effects. 
 
 A young Mahomedan, whom I baptized in Burd- 
 wan, received from his brother a present of milk. 
 He suspected his sincerity, and before drinking it, 
 gave some of it to a cat that was in the room ; 
 fifteen minutes afterwards, the cat died. Another 
 youth of high Brahmin caste, who was ready to 
 embrace Christianity in one of our schools, was 
 dragged away with violence, and carried in a 
 palankeen to a distant part of the country ; and 
 I saw him no more. A brother missionary was 
 driving one day to church with a youth whom he 
 intended to baptize. He was stopped on his way 
 by fifty men armed with clubs, and compelled to 
 return home. On his arrival at the door the 
 infuriated mob followed him up-stairs, and were 
 just on the point of dragging the convert youth 
 down, when the police arrived, and rescued him. 
 A lad of sixteen years of age, belonging to the first 
 class of the Church Missionary Society's school 
 at Burdwan, was powerfully struck by reading a 
 tract. He told his father he could no longer 
 worship idols, and that he was resolved to become 
 a Christian. The father beat him with a stick 
 shut him up for three days, giving him nothing, 
 but water and dry rice for his food. Afterwards 
 he took refuge in the schoolmaster's house, — his 
 
266 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 friends hearing of it, came to take him away. On 
 his saying that he was resolved to remain with 
 me, his old grandfather threw himself on the 
 ground, and cried in the most pitiful manner, " All 
 my hopes are blasted, I am sunk into an ocean of 
 misery ; — I hoped this my grandson would per- 
 form my funeral ceremonies, when I am dead, and 
 give me a lift into heaven : now our caste is 
 destroyed, my family is ruined, I am going to 
 hell." The lamentation of the hoary grandfather 
 went through my heart. I was greatly afraid that 
 the lad would be moved to renounce his faith and 
 return with his friends ; but he remained firm. His 
 friends then applied to the English magistrate, 
 and the following day I received an order from 
 him to deliver the young man to his friends. 
 What could I do ? " For God's sake," said he, 
 " don't return me to my friends ; I know my father 
 will kill me by poison, if I do not kneel down 
 before the idol." I prayed with him to the Father, 
 who seeth in secret, and baptized him the same 
 evening ; during the night he went, under the pro- 
 tection of two confidential Christian men, to a 
 distant station ; and after three months, the storm 
 being blown over, and the lad becoming of age, he 
 returned to Burdwan. 
 
 The guroo, or spiritual teacher, is a sort of 
 pastor among the Hindoos. He visits the families 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 267 
 
 from house to house, and receives their worship. 
 He is jealously careful that the souls under his 
 charge remain orthodox, and stupid ; they must 
 have no other ideas of religion put into their heads 
 than such as he has communicated to them, for 
 ready payment. He warns them of Christian 
 books, as being calculated to injure their holiness, 
 and orders them to be destroyed. 
 
 If the native of some particular place show an 
 inclination towards the reception of Christianity, 
 the priest will make common cause with the zemin- 
 dar, to oppose the spread of the new doctrine. 
 
 Eight years since there was such a movement 
 in some villages near Burdwan, that ten families 
 were ready to renounce idolatry, and came to hear 
 the Gospel. Oh ! how much I rejoiced to be per- 
 mitted, as I thought, after long expectation, to 
 celebrate a great victory of the Gospel ! But what 
 happened ? Alas, all the candidates withdrew ; 
 and some time afterwards I heard that they had 
 done so, through intimidation on the part of the 
 Brahmins and zemindars. 
 
 This hatred is shown towards the baptized also; 
 and when opportunities offer, frequently breaks out 
 into open persecution. I have had some sad spe- 
 cimens of it. In 1832, 1 baptized a Hindoo family ; 
 and performed the sacred ceremony in the village 
 in front of an idol temple. Some young Hindoo 
 
268 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 Christians accompanied me : we sang a hymn, and 
 I addressed the assembled crowd ; many climbed 
 on trees, others were sitting on the thatched roofs 
 of their cottages, to witness the scene. All went 
 on peaceably and to my satisfaction, and I returned 
 to Burdwan with a grateful heart. Late in the 
 evening one of our young men returned with the 
 sad news that he and his companions had been 
 cruelly treated. On their way home they sat 
 down near a village under a mangoe-tree, singing 
 a hymn. A Brahmin, the zemindar of the place, 
 called the people together, and told them to give 
 these Christians a good flogging ; they were then 
 fearfully beaten, and thrown into the village prison. 
 I was compelled to apply to the authorities, and the 
 assailants were brought into Burdwan, but liber- 
 ated again upon my intercession. The Brahmin, 
 however, had to remain in prison for one month. 
 
 The religious doctrines of the shasters are an- 
 other considerable impediment against the spread 
 of Christianity. On his visit to Benares, Bishop 
 Wilson asked some Brahmin doctors, " What is 
 the chief tenet of your doctrine ? " One answered, 
 " Our first and chief doctrine is this : All sin 
 arises from lust ; this is destroyed by sin ; hence 
 we must commit sin in order to destroy desire ! " 
 God is, by the teaching of the Vedas, the author 
 of all moral and physical evil. If the missionary 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 269 
 
 inquires, " How can He, being a holy and pure 
 Being, do evil?" the Brahmin answers, with a sort 
 of triumphant air, " That which is sin with man, 
 is nothing of the kind with the gods ; they have 
 the privilege to do as they please, nor are they to 
 be judged according to a human standard." How 
 can the preacher come near the hearts and con- 
 sciences of people, with whom all moral ideas are 
 thus confounded ? 
 
 When they hear of the miracles of Christ, they 
 reply, " Our gods have performed much greater 
 ones, which astonished the whole world. Krishna, 
 for instance, raised a mountain, many miles in 
 height, with the tip of his finger, and thus pro- 
 tected the shepherds in the field against a fearful 
 hail-storm : others tore mountains out of their 
 sockets, rolling them about like playthings ; and 
 one drank all the water of the ocean at a draught, 
 with all its contents of fish and living beings." 
 
 While the Bible represents the glorious Being 
 who created all things, as perfect in all his spirit- 
 ual, moral, and natural attributes, calling upon his 
 rational creatures, " Be ye holy, for I am holy," 
 the gods of the Hindoos are described in the shas- 
 ters, as fearful monsters, delighting in immorality ; 
 the heavens inhabited by them are polluted with 
 crimes which no tongue can utter. The religious 
 contemplations in which the Hindoo is to engage, 
 
270 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 fill his imagination with impure thoughts and 
 images. The prevailing sins of profligacy and 
 uncleanness, into which the whole nation is sunk, 
 are the natural result of their religion. The 
 Hindoos have become what they are by following 
 the examples of their gods. 
 
 The deeply degraded condition of the females 
 in India, is justly considered as one of the most 
 powerful bulwarks against the progress of Chris- 
 tianity. Imagine one-half of a nation of one hun- 
 dred and thirty millions, doomed from generation 
 to generation to continue in hopeless ignorance 
 and abject servitude. What can become of such 
 a nation ? The higher classes of women are shut 
 up between four walls, opening to the light of 
 heaven only on the back part which looks into the 
 garden. The lower orders seldom hear the Gos- 
 pel, because it is not considered proper for them to 
 appear in company with their husbands. In 
 preaching, therefore, we seldom see females among 
 our hearers ; and it sometimes happens that when 
 a favourable impression is made on the men, it is 
 erased again by the women ; for all they have 
 heard about Christianity is perhaps this, — that it 
 destroys caste, and levels all distinctions of society. 
 These poor females resemble that man, who, 
 having been confined in a gloomy prison for years, 
 could not bear the light of the day when led out, 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 271 
 
 and desired to be conducted back into his dungeon 
 again : they are accustomed to the yoke of bond- 
 age, and dread to appear in society. On visiting 
 the Rajah of Burdwan, I several times asked per- 
 mission to see his mother ; and I repeated my 
 request after his marriage, to be introduced to his 
 wife ; but neither my partner nor myself suc- 
 ceeded in our wishes. "It is not custom in our 
 country," was the repeated answer. 
 
 Notwithstanding these disadvantages, I have 
 often had occasion to observe, that the females of 
 Bengal are by no means devoid of susceptibility to 
 good impressions : many have listened attentively 
 to my preaching, especially in villages, and ap- 
 peared much affected. Christianity alone will raise 
 the female to that position for which a wise and 
 gracious Providence has destined her, — to be not 
 the slave, but the helpmeet for her husband. 
 How sad is the contrast, that among almost all 
 heathen nations she is regarded as an inferior 
 species of human being ! The birth of a female 
 infant is still considered as a great misfortune 
 in Bengal. In Malwa and Iiajputana many are 
 still carried off by poison. But the words of 
 Divine promise apply in all their strength to this 
 apparently insuperable mountain raised by the 
 power of darkness : " Every mountain and hill 
 shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be 
 
272 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 made straight, and the rough places plain, and all 
 flesh shall see the salvation of God." 
 
 Another difficulty for the missionary is the 
 language of the country. For a whole year he 
 has to sit down and apply himself to the study of 
 it, before he is able to read it with readiness, and to 
 speak it intelligibly ; but three or four years must 
 pass, before he can preach to a congregation with 
 perfect fluency and ease. A person who has learned 
 Latin in his younger years, will afterwards master 
 French, Italian, and other languages, without 
 much effort, because they are partly derived from 
 the former, and a similarity in construction exists. 
 But the oriental languages possess quite a different 
 character, both in grammar and idiom ; and if, 
 as it often happens in India, the dialects are as 
 yet undeveloped, if the missionary find no litera- 
 ture, he has two difficult tasks to perform, viz., the 
 cultivation of the language, and the conversion of 
 the people. 
 
 Then there is another difficulty before us in 
 Bengal. The books composed, or translated, in 
 Bengalee by the Brahmins, contain a considerable 
 portion of Sanscrit, both in terms and construc- 
 tion, which is only intelligible to the higher 
 classes ; while the vulgar Bengalee, spoken by the 
 bulk of the natives, is still less suited for mis- 
 sionary purposes. The missionary has, therefore, 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 273 
 
 to find out a medium between both, for preaching 
 and writing. 
 
 It is more difficult still to fix on suitable terms 
 for expressing religious truths and abstract ideas. 
 The language, as well as the people, have, as it 
 were, to be converted to Christianity, before it can 
 move freely in this new element. There is no 
 want of words, but these words signify with 
 the Hindoos something very different from what 
 we understand by them. For instance, the word 
 sin bears, according to the theological ideas of 
 the Hindoo, quite a different meaning from that 
 in which we take it; with him it signifies an 
 offence committed against his caste : if he allow a 
 cow to die on the rope, if he eat something for- 
 bidden, or touch that which is unclean, this is sin. 
 If we speak of the necessity of having the heart 
 renewed and purified, the Hindoo at once remem- 
 bers the Ganges, which washes away all moral 
 impurities. If we use the terms, righteousness, 
 holiness, etc., he thinks of the high merit ac- 
 quired by pilgrimage, by the sight of the idol, 
 and the offerings he presents to it. If we preach 
 of self-denial, and separation from the world, he 
 realises the condition of the fakeer, who leaves 
 home and friends in order to make .himself equal 
 to God, by destroying all the desires of the flesh. 
 
 If we say, a believer is united to God by faith, the 
 
274 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 pantheistical notion enters his head, that in order 
 to acquire the highest bliss, that of being absorbed 
 into the deity, he must give himself to the undis- 
 turbed contemplation of Shiva or Vishnu. If we 
 speak of the joys of heaven, he recollects the gross 
 sensual pleasures in which his gods are revelling; 
 and if we demonstrate to him the unity of God, 
 he gives his ready consent, for it reminds him of 
 Brahm, who, in a state of drowsiness and sleep, is 
 quite unfit to take notice and care for the concerns 
 of mankind. 
 
 If we preach the doctrine of regeneration, the 
 Hindoos reply, u Oh, this is nothing new to us; 
 we know from our shasters that we must be born 
 again, — it is our fate to be so." How is this term 
 understood by them ? They think it signifies the 
 re-entrance of the soul after death into a new 
 body, and its re-appearing on earth in some new 
 form : the doctrine of transmigration is expressed 
 by the word " Punorjonomo," second birth. If 
 the missionary should reply, " I mean something 
 quite different, namely, the second birth from above" 
 the Hindoo falls upon a second error; for with 
 this very term he denotes the consecration of a 
 young Brahmin, when, amidst great solemnities, 
 the gay tree, or most sacred verse of the Vedas, 
 is pronounced in his ears, and the poita, or sacred 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 275 
 
 Brahminical thread, is hung round his neck ; 
 hence the Brahmin is often called by the honorary 
 title " dwijonomo," or twice -born. 
 
 Thus it happened, that when a missionary ex- 
 plained the words of our Lord, " Ye must be born 
 again," a Sudra called out jokingly, " This is very 
 good, I wish it were so — that I could become a 
 Brahmin." 
 
 My readers will be able to form some idea from 
 this, how necessary a perfect knowledge of the 
 language and of the religious habits and customs 
 of the people is to the missionary ; without this, 
 his preaching is of no use, they cannot understand 
 him, or, what is worse, they misunderstand his 
 address, and take occasion for scoffing at it. All 
 theological and religious terms must be explained 
 simply and clearly, so that the Hindoo is able^ to 
 distinguish them from his preconceived notions. 
 
 A further impediment to the progress of mis- 
 sionary labour in India, is the small number of 
 missionaries. Many people imagine India to be 
 filled with missionaries, and that the Gospel is 
 preached in all the provinces of that empire. This 
 is far from being the case. It is true, mission 
 stations are established in some of the larger 
 towns, and small congregations of believers have 
 been collected. But I am grieved to say, according 
 
 T 
 
276 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 to the present number of labourers, only one mis- 
 sionary can be reckoned to one million and a half 
 of idolaters. The stations are several days' jour- 
 ney distant from each other ; Burdwan for instance 
 is seventy miles from Calcutta, and fifty from 
 Kishnagore. Only once or twice a year can the 
 nearest neighbours visit and strengthen each 
 other's hands. Suppose some of the smaller 
 counties of England, or the vast metropolis, had 
 only one minister of the Gospel, to supply the 
 spiritual wants of the people, what would be the 
 consequence ? — why, it would be this, that the mass 
 of the people would never hear the truth; and 
 they would most probably sink rapidly into infi- 
 delity, and every kind of immorality and vice: 
 I leave you to judge from comparison what a mis- 
 sionary must feel who is placed, as I have been, 
 among one million and a half of heathen. Though 
 he had the zeal of Paul, the love of John, and the 
 strength of Goliath, how could he break through 
 the power of idolatry ? The rattling of the idol- 
 car, the music, and the wild shouts of the besotted 
 multitude, overpower his voice. Much has been 
 done during the last twenty years in the district 
 of Burdwan by preaching and instruction in 
 schools, and the dispersion of the word of God; 
 but not one-fourth part of the fifteen hundred 
 thousand Hindoos inhabiting that small portion 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 277 
 
 of the country, have ever heard the Gospel, or 
 what they know of it has reached their ears in a 
 garbled and distorted manner. Among such a 
 chaos of heathenism, the solitary missionary feels 
 himself like a vessel upon the stormy ocean; fear 
 and terror would fill his heart, if he could not 
 take his refuge to God in prayer, and firmly cling 
 to the promises in faith. 
 
 When I have surveyed the myriads of deluded 
 heathen at the idol festivals, I have been reminded 
 of the question put by the Lord to the prophet 
 Ezekiel, "Son of man, can these bones live?" 
 Indeed, all our endeavours in schools and preaching 
 appeared to me sometimes, like pouring a cup of 
 cold water into the crater of a volcano. In the 
 eyes of the Lord, however, it is very different. 
 
 The trying, unhealthy climate of Bengal is 
 another very serious impediment to our labours. 
 Often when I returned home from preaching in 
 the bazaar, dripping with perspiration, I knew not 
 where to lay down my weary head, and longed for 
 the cool refreshing atmosphere of my native land. 
 Both the mind and body suffer under the influence 
 of the oppressive and sultry climate ; the nervous 
 system is affected and excited ; add to this, the 
 cares, troubles, and disappointments, which are the 
 faithful companions of a missionary life in India, 
 and you will have the principal causes which 
 
278 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 shake his whole system, which lay the seeds of 
 disease, and generally terminate in an early death. 
 After eight o'clock in the morning during the hot 
 seasons, we cannot go about in the open air with- 
 out prejudice to health. An excellent missionary 
 at Calcutta attempted it for several weeks, to 
 acclimatise himself, and was in consequence sud- 
 denly cut off by an inflammation of the brain. 
 
 In the rainy season, the damp sultriness of the 
 atmosphere is still more oppressive than the dry 
 heat in May. Here, in a bracing air, labour is a 
 pleasure ; but there, every effort is a burden, and 
 makes one, not only tired, but exhausted. 
 
 But there is another influence to which I must 
 allude, more depressing still than that of the insa- 
 lubrious climate ; it comes from the power of dark- 
 ness. As during the rainy season, by a general 
 decomposition of the vegetable world, the air 
 is impregnated with malaria, — and every portion 
 breathed into the lungs is felt like a dead weight ; 
 so in like manner we feel at every step we take in 
 India, that the moral atmosphere is filled with 
 poisonous vapours, and that we live in a country 
 where Satan has erected his throne, and reigns 
 triumphant. Wherever we turn we meet this 
 satanic power, assuming, through the agency of the 
 blinded, bigoted idolaters, a hostile attitude, to op- 
 pose our progress. It is a singular feeling, of which 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 279 
 
 we can form no correct conception in a Christian 
 country, for the simple reason, that it is peculiar 
 to dark heathenism. Nothing but the power of 
 prayer is a sufficient safeguard against this de- 
 pressing influence. A missionary's mind is affected 
 by it, though his health may stand uninjured ; and 
 for this cause none should generally stay in India 
 above eight or ten years, and then return home to 
 gather in sweet communion and intercourse with 
 God's people, new strength and courage for con- 
 tinued conflict. Here, then, you have the rea- 
 sons why many of our labourers fall ill, and either 
 die or are compelled to leave the country, with 
 their life as it were in their hand ; and when no 
 brother is at hand to occupy the place, we have 
 to witness with pain the enemy pulling down 
 that which we were occupied in building up for so 
 many years amidst much care, and many a prayer 
 and tear. This sad fact occurred in my own case : 
 when health compelled me to relinquish my labours 
 for a while, I had to leave my post to a brother, 
 who was even then an invalid. A short time 
 since, I heard that he was laid aside entirely ; 
 and the annual report of our association at Cal- 
 cutta states, that the mission at Burdwan was, in 
 consequence of this, in a crippled state. " Judge 
 how painful it must be to the missionary," said one 
 of the most faithful of labourers at a public meet- 
 
280 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 ing, " when owing to the paucity of means he is 
 obliged to close a school, or to give up a station, 
 and has to hear the heathen tauntingly allude to 
 the fact. They will say on such occasions, ' What 
 a good thing is it, that we did not listen to this 
 man ; for had we done so, he would have left us 
 to shift for ourselves, just when we had broken 
 our caste, and destroyed our connexion with our 
 fellow-countrymen.' This is the language of the 
 heathen, on the failure of missionary efforts." 
 
 Many people have been heard to say, It is an 
 easy thing to go to India as a missionary, for 
 hundreds of Englishmen do the same for a less 
 noble and exalted end. This is true, — there is no 
 lack of young men who are ready to enter the 
 civil and military service, whereas hardly one will 
 come forward from the same rank of society to 
 devote himself to missionary work. What can be 
 the reason of this? It is quite obvious. The 
 prospect of an honourable appointment, and the 
 hope of a splendid fortune, are more pleasing to 
 flesh and blood, than the humble and arduous 
 calling of a missionary life. The sensual and 
 worldly will find in India, as well as in Europe, 
 food for his carnal desires, — and the bad example 
 of Europeans must be added to the list of obstacles, 
 which impede the progress of our labours. It is 
 now every where acknowledged in Bengal, that 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 281 
 
 stations in which English troops are quartered, are 
 the most unsuitable for missionary labour, owing 
 to the vices of drunkenness, etc. prevailing among 
 them, by which the very name of Christian is 
 rendered despicable in the eyes of the natives. 
 
 Some forty years since a proverbial saying pre- 
 vailed in Bengal, that every Englishman going to 
 India left his religion at the Cape of Good Hope, 
 I am happy to say, times have since changed for 
 the better. There are many now who bring their 
 religion with them, or, if they have none when 
 they come, they get one in India. 
 
 Depraved as the Hindoos are, they know very 
 well how to estimate the moral character of English- 
 men ; their idea is, and probably it is not incor- 
 rect, that every one who calls himself a Christian 
 should be a good man. Since this is not always 
 the case, they perversely ascribe the immorality 
 of Europeans to the Christian religion, judging 
 others by their own standard. While I was 
 preaching in the bazaar, they frequently called 
 out, " You English are not a hair better than we ; 
 don't you know that such and such a saheb is 
 living an immoral life ? If your religion be so ex- 
 cellent as you say, why are some of you so bad ? " 
 If I replied, " Just because they care nothing 
 about it," they rejoined, " Go then and first convert 
 your own countrymen." 
 
282 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 Here then, my readers, is a host of difficulties 
 to overcome, which present themselves to the 
 missionary at every step. There he stands alone 
 with only one weapon, the word of God, in his 
 hand, to assail and vanquish the powerful foe: 
 the odds are fearfully against him, — he has indeed 
 to sail against wind and tide. Are you still 
 surprised that so little comparatively has been 
 done in India ? — or is not the fact rather standing 
 before our eyes as a miracle wrought by God, 
 that at least twelve, and probably fourteen thou- 
 sand converted Hindoos are now found in Bengal 
 and the north-western provinces, and that the 
 Protestant missions throughout India number at 
 least seventy thousand souls, and probably eighty, 
 rescued from dark heathenism ? 
 
 The shepherd youth, David, slew Goliath the 
 giant with the sling and the stone; and because 
 he trusted in the living God, the stone shot forth 
 with such power, as to cleave the skull of the 
 Philistine : such a power does the word of God pos- 
 sess. Jeremiah xxiii. 29 : — " Is not my word like 
 as a fire ? saith the Lord ; and like a hammer that 
 breaketh the rock in pieces ?" — and this word of 
 the living God is our consolation and strength; 
 under its powerful stroke many a mighty one has 
 sunk into the dust, and humbled himself before 
 the cross of the Redeemer. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 283 
 
 I am free to admit, that the picture I have 
 drawn before you, bears rather a gloomy and 
 melancholy aspect ; but surely it is far better that 
 Christians in England should know the real state 
 of things, than that they should entertain views 
 which are not founded on reality. I have never 
 allowed myself to be discouraged, — the idea of 
 retracing my steps never entered my mind: no, 
 dear readers, the trials of the conflict are just what 
 we must expect and prepare for ; they should only 
 arouse us to fresh zeal and renewed exertion, for 
 we know, that " He who is with us, is greater 
 than he who is in the world." 
 
 Before concluding my subject, I wish to give 
 you a short description of the character of the 
 Hindoo converts. The Gospel has achieved its 
 victories among people of all castes, from the 
 highest Brahmin to the lowest Sudra. Never- 
 theless the words of the Apostle, " Not many wise 
 men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
 noble are called," find their general application in 
 India, as they did in the primitive churches. 
 
 The great majority of converts belong to the 
 labouring classes, the villagers, who are engaged in 
 husbandry, though of late a considerable number 
 of respectable Brahmins have been converted in 
 Bengal. Our kind friends at home have generally 
 too high an idea of the piety, zeal, and decision of 
 
284 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 these new professors. It is but fair to state, 
 that, with a few exceptions, they stand on a low 
 level, both in knowledge and practical Christianity. 
 And how can it be expected otherwise with persons 
 but recently rescued from dark heathenism ? 
 
 We are apt to think, that since idolatry so 
 obviously destroys all that is good and virtuous 
 in man, the Hindoo will be the more readily led 
 to see the great contrast in the pure doctrines of 
 the Gospel, and allow himself to be convinced of its 
 truth. But experience shows just the contrary; 
 the children of darkness hate the light, because 
 their deeds are evil. Sunk down to the lowest 
 grade of blindness and wickedness, the heart of 
 the heathen has become inaccessible to the rays of 
 Divine light and truth. Heathenism resembles in 
 this respect the icy regions of the arctic latitudes ; 
 the vernal sun shines upon the frozen masses 
 without melting them ; the cold rising from below 
 counteracts and neutralises the genial warmth 
 descending from above. 
 
 There is a considerable difference between a 
 heathen on the Ganges, and a baptized heathen 
 in a Christian country. Human nature is doubt- 
 less, as far as its general corruption and pro- 
 pensity to sin go, every _ where the same, but 
 the smallest and most superficial acquaintance 
 with Christian truth, and the influence of Chris- 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 285 
 
 tian example, exercise a certain moral power 
 over the heart and conscience of even the most 
 abandoned here, to which the idolater is a per- 
 fect stranger, and which he must get engrafted 
 on his mind. The London City Missionary has 
 a foundation to work upon, which we have not. 
 
 Hence it is that Hindoos who apply for baptism 
 do not feel either the dreadful nature of idolatry, 
 or the beauty and excellence of Divine truth, so 
 deeply as one would expect it. Many of our 
 baptized people likewise, though really sincere, 
 have not that clear view of right and wrong, or 
 that high moral sense, we would wish to perceive. 
 On their first awakening they have a conscious- 
 ness of their depravity, — they feel a desire after 
 peace of mind and a better condition ; but all these 
 mental emotions are indistinct and obscure. This 
 is quite natural, — it cannot be expected otherwise. 
 The sublime truths of Christianity, though felt by 
 them, are something new and unheard of. How 
 is it possible for them to become at once patterns 
 of Christian purity and excellence, as soon as they 
 get acquainted with the principal features of the 
 Gospel ? The apostolic exhortations to the pastors 
 and members of their newly-formed churches, 
 show us that it was not so in their day. 
 
 We have, it is true, in the history of our Indian 
 missions, single instances of conversions, exhibit- 
 
286 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 ing at once, with the change of heart, a complete 
 moral revolution ; but such instances of a demon- 
 stration of Divine power, and of firm, manly reso- 
 lution, are a rare occurrence, even in Christian 
 countries, and must, of course, be more so in a 
 land where the poison of a polluting idol-worship 
 has for centuries vitiated the heart's blood of the 
 nation. 
 
 Our mission stations may, in this respect, 
 not unsuitably be compared to hospitals, where 
 the sick are cared for, and medicines are gra- 
 tuitously dispensed. Our baptized people and 
 catechumens do not belong to the healthy, but to 
 convalescents, wanting daily medical treatment, 
 and careful nursing. We must not, therefore, 
 raise our expectations too high, or demand too 
 much of people who apply for baptism. When the 
 new comers were able to answer the three follow- 
 ing questions, in a satisfactory manner, I was ready 
 to receive and prepare them for baptism : — 
 
 1. Do you believe in Jesus, as the Son of God, 
 and the Saviour of the world ? 
 
 2. Are you resolved to renounce the worship of 
 idols, with caste, and everything connected with it ? 
 
 3. Are you prepared to continue in your pre- 
 sent condition of life, and to procure your liveli- 
 hood in an honest and industrious manner ? 
 
 When the candidates for baptism in Bengal 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 287 
 
 answer these questions, the missionary may be 
 assured of their sincere desire to participate in 
 the blessings of Christianity. One principal proof 
 that they have given up caste, is their sitting 
 down to take a meal with native Christians, 
 especially if the latter belong to a lower caste. 
 We have to be very cautious in this respect. 
 Hundreds of the labouring classes came to me 
 desiring baptism, hoping, that by embracing 
 Christianity, they might improve their needy 
 circumstances. Such applications were, of course, 
 immediately declined, as soon as the real reason 
 of their request was discovered. 
 
 The question, How shall I get on in the world, 
 if I become a Christian ? is one of the most difficult 
 for a missionary in Bengal to solve, with people 
 of sincere mind. Their conversion at once shuts 
 them out from all friendly intercourse with their 
 relations and neighbours. If they are not openly 
 persecuted, life is rendered a burden to them 
 by every possible annoyance ; and if the mis- 
 sionary do not afford them some protection and 
 support, they are in danger, and compelled, by 
 absolute necessity, to relapse into their former 
 state of heathenism. The barber refuses to shave 
 him who has become a Christian ; the neighbour 
 will not lend him his ox for ploughing, which 
 is commonly done among the peasantry. Four 
 
288 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 years ago, a heathen midwife, in the district of 
 Kishnagore, was sent to the house of correction, 
 because she refused to attend a Christian woman 
 in child-birth, who lost her life in consequence. 
 When, however, a considerable number of families 
 have embraced Christianity, as was the case in the 
 district of Kishnagore, these difficulties gradually 
 pass away, for they form a united body among 
 themselves, and are enabled to help each other on, 
 independently of the heathen around. 
 
 The very utterance of a wish to be baptized, 
 and visiting the missionary, require no small 
 sacrifice with the Hindoo : immediately the neigh- 
 bours are heard crying out, " Oh, this fellow will 
 become a Christian ; " contempt and hatred are 
 henceforth his lot, and if we delay baptism for 
 some months, the poor man becomes intimidated, 
 and retraces his steps. There are certainly many 
 noble exceptions to this. Some years since a 
 boy, in Calcutta, was shut up by his father, and 
 when he heard that his parent was contemplating 
 poisoning him, the youthful hero called out, 
 "Father, my resolution is as strong as yours ; you 
 may kill my body, but you cannot destroy my 
 soul ; but this I tell you, as soon as I am free, 
 nothing in the world will hinder me from be- 
 coming a Christian." 
 
 With these and other difficulties, the missionary 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 289 
 
 lias constantly to struggle in connexion with his 
 pastoral duties, while endeavouring to build up 
 a church of Christ in this moral wilderness ; nor 
 do I know any of my fellow-labourers who have 
 not had to deplore and weep over such as proved 
 backsliders, after having been brought to the 
 knowledge of the truth. 
 
 In 1835 I baptized a Brahmin youth at Burd- 
 wan. Every body who became acquainted with 
 him rejoiced at the conversion of this intelligent 
 lad, who gave fair hopes of becoming eminently 
 useful in our labours of love. Of the sincerity 
 of his conversion, I had not the least doubt. A 
 few months after his baptism, he asked for per- 
 mission to visit a relative of his at a neighbouring 
 station. I cautioned him not to go at the time, 
 as his friends would do all in their power to make 
 him recant. He followed my advice at the time 
 being, but some time after he received another and 
 more pressing invitation ; the letter contained a 
 bank note for defraying his travelling expenses, 
 and the poor youth yielded to the temptation, left 
 Burdwan, and returned no more. Some weeks 
 afterwards, I heard that immediately on arriving 
 at the place, his friends despatched him, in a boat, 
 to Benares, where he was compelled to renounce 
 Christianity. 
 
 Thus when we began to rejoice in seeing another 
 
290 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 lamb gathered into Christ's fold, he was snatched 
 away by " the roaring lion, who is always going 
 about, seeking whom he may devour." Trials 
 of this nature are some of the most painful in the 
 missionary's experience. 
 
 You see from this that we have need, in this 
 labour of love, of a great measure of patience and 
 faith. That the moral and spiritual condition of 
 our newly-raised congregations is improving every 
 year, I am happy to testify from personal experi- 
 ence. But a new generation must rise up, and 
 probably a third, before every vestige of heathen- 
 ism is rooted out from among them, and before 
 the people develop that moral strength, which will 
 enable them, without the aid of European mis- 
 sionaries, to form independent Christian congre- 
 gations, and by word and deed, to spread the light 
 of Divine truth from place to place. 
 
 But the case was similar with our own ances- 
 tors ; for centuries passed away in England and 
 Germany, after they had become professedly Chris- 
 tian countries, before the old remains of paganism 
 were entirely rooted out. 
 
 Some of my readers may be tempted to say, 
 " Alas ! the state of things in India is still very sad 
 and gloomy." Truly it is so, my dear friends ; and 
 I trust it will call forth your heartfelt sympathy. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 291 
 
 I have endeavoured to represent the difficulties 
 exactly as we find them in our daily proceedings. 
 
 But mission-work has its bright side likewise, 
 which is encouraging, and calls forth our devout 
 gratitude ; it will be brought before you in my 
 next and last chapter. The Hindoo nation is deeply 
 sunk, but it has begun to rise ; the majority hate 
 the Gospel, yet many desire it. Some years since, 
 a Brahmin died near Burdwan, who had formerly 
 been a teacher in our Bengalee schools. In the 
 hour of death, he entreated Jesus to receive him in 
 mercy, and pleaded, that he had instructed many 
 boys in the Gospel. 
 
 Though the idol festivals are still carried on, 
 their splendour is vanishing ; they are no longer 
 visited, as in former days, by large masses of peo- 
 ple. The fraud and oppression of the Brahmins 
 are seen and acknowledged by thousands, and they 
 are gradually falling into contempt. The female 
 sex is still kept in ignorance, and under the yoke 
 of bondage ; but the day of its deliverance will 
 come ere long, and the woman will, together with 
 her believing husband, become an heir of the 
 grace of life. European science and literature are 
 flourishing, and superstition is daily decreasing. 
 
 The power of darkness is still very great ; and 
 if you take the mass of India to make calculations 
 
 u 
 
292 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 according to the numbers of the inhabitants, our 
 mission stations, with the little bands of Hindoo 
 converts, may be compared to some twinkling 
 stars, appearing between the clouds in a dark 
 stormy night. But these luminous spots are pos- 
 sessed of a Divine light : He who said, " I am the 
 light of the world," has kindled this light, which 
 has the quality of extensiveness ; these stars cast 
 their rays about them in an increasing radius; 
 and the darkness must eventually cease. The 
 work of missions will certainly have to pass 
 through many a conflict still, and many may be 
 disposed to consider our lot as anything but envi- 
 able ; but the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of 
 Jacob is our refuge. Let us, my friends, look up 
 to heaven : there is the home of all true followers 
 of Jesus; and remember that God has destined 
 this home for our poor, trodden-down Hindoo 
 brother and sister likewise. 
 
 Considering the cause of missions from this 
 exalted point of view, which doubtless must be the 
 real and true one, because our adorable Kedeemer 
 has thus placed it, I feel bold in claiming your 
 Christian sympathy in the name of my fellow- 
 labourers who are engaged in the arduous conflict. 
 Would you not feel disposed to assure us of your 
 sympathy being cordial, and your desire for our 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 293 
 
 success sincere, by resolving to give us that aid 
 which it is in your power to afford us ? Nothing 
 would be more encouraging to us, and nothing 
 would soothe our feelings amidst our many trials 
 more than the fact, that we are effectually sup- 
 ported, and cheered on, by the love and sympathy 
 of our Christian friends at home. 
 
 One thing has become clear to my mind, as the 
 result of personal observation, from the success 
 that has hitherto attended the labours of mission- 
 aries in India, that if a greater moral and spiritual 
 power were developed in that highly interesting 
 country, success would be increased in the same pro- 
 portion. In this respect the labours of the Church 
 Missionary Society, and of kindred Societies, may 
 not unsuitably be compared to the expedition which 
 was sent to China four years ago. It consisted of 
 five thousand men, land troops, and fifteen or 
 twenty ships of war; with this handful of men, 
 the English Government intended to humble the 
 Chinese emperor. It is true, many Chinese vessels 
 were captured, an island was conquered, and several 
 towns were taken. There was a good deal of 
 fighting; and wherever a Chinese army made its 
 appearance, it was routed and dispersed like chaff 
 before the wind. But all this manoeuvring, and 
 fighting, and conquering of towns, led to no satis- 
 
294 THE DIFFICULTIES OF 
 
 factory results. At length, in the third year, the 
 ministers of Government saw their mistake, and 
 Wellington's remark, that " this great country 
 must not carry on a little war," was duly ap- 
 preciated. Accordingly, an army of fourteen 
 thousand men was sent to China, with a fleet 
 amounting, steamers and transports included, to 
 two hundred ships; they sailed up the great river 
 Yangtse Kiang, occupied the great imperial canal, 
 and were just preparing to storm Nanking, the 
 second capital of the empire, when an ambassador 
 from the emperor arrived in the English camp, 
 suing humbly for peace. 
 
 Precisely in the same way have the affairs of our 
 missions been conducted in India. Hindooism is 
 tottering to its foundation, and the Brahmins have 
 been made to tremble before the little force of 
 men who have gone forth to engage in combat with 
 them. But owing to a want of proper support, we 
 have not been able to improve the advantages we 
 have gained over the enemy. I hesitate not to 
 say, we have not been properly supported from 
 head-quarters. The church at home has not 
 done justice to her great trust. The words of our 
 Lord are literally true in Bengal, " The harvest 
 truly is great, but the labourers are few." Twenty- 
 eight or thirty missionaries for Bengal — for thirty- 
 
MISSIONARY LABOUR IN INDIA. 295 
 
 five millions of inhabitants ! One or two mis- 
 sionaries for Burdwan ! How can two men, 
 though the j be giants, in strength of body and 
 mind, supply the fifteen thousand idolaters of that 
 district with the Gospel ? 
 
 Oh that the Spirit of truth and love would 
 pervade Christian England, and prompt her 
 favoured sons and daughters to act worthy of 
 their high calling, to put their hands to the 
 plough, and supply their unhappy Hindoo brethren 
 with the Gospel of peace ! 
 
 The following anecdote is related of King 
 Frederick the Great, of Prussia. During the time 
 of the seven years' war, he entered a cathedral 
 church in a town in Saxony, where they showed 
 him the twelve apostles, made of massive silver. 
 This monarch, who is well known for his in- 
 fidelity, addressed them in the following manner: 
 " You lazy people, did not your Master tell you 
 to go into all the world, and here you have been 
 standing idle all the day long ? — go and fulfil your 
 destinies !" And saying this, he had them carried 
 off to the mint, where they were converted into 
 dollars. Possibly there may be some among my 
 readers who have kept their idols of gold and of 
 silver, shut up in the strong box. Do bring them 
 out, the Lord has need of them ; they may be 
 
296 DIFFICULTIES OF MISSIONARY LABOUR. 
 
 converted into Bibles, catechists, schools, chapels, 
 and missionaries. 
 
 If there were as much love to Christ and im- 
 mortal souls, as there is wealth in the Church of 
 England, India might be filled with missionaries 
 ere long. How easy would it be to send out 
 fifty messengers of the Gospel this very year ! 
 The sums that were expended on the war in 
 AfFghanisthan, which produced no real and lasting 
 good, and was attended by scenes of horror which 
 make the stoutest frame to shudder, would be 
 more than sufficient to establish missions in a 
 thousand towns in India, and support them for 
 ever. 
 
 If this great work were done effectually, the 
 church of Christ would be the greatest gainer by 
 it. The blessing of God would come down in 
 showers upon our congregations and families. 
 
 My readers, the Divine promises respecting 
 the coming of Christ's kingdom are drawing 
 towards their accomplishment. Well will it be 
 for us, if we allow ourselves to be employed as 
 instruments for accomplishing the great designs of 
 our Redeemer. He who judges with righteous- 
 ness, will in that day say to his faithful servants, 
 " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 
 of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 RESULT OF MISSIONARY LABOUR IS OP AN INDIRECT AND DIRECT 
 KIND. — IDOLATRY IS STILL THE RELIGION OF INDIA, BUT THE 
 NATIVE MIND IS UNDERGOING A CHANGE. — IDOL TEMPLES 
 CRUMBLE DOWN. — THE BRAHMIN ON THE GANGES. — COLLEGES OF 
 HINDOO LEARNING DESERTED. — PREJUDICES AGAINST CHRIS- 
 TIANITY WEARING AWAY. — THE GRADUAL INFLUENCE UPON THE 
 HINDOO MIND. — GROWING HUNGER AFTER KNOWLEDGE. — THE 
 HINDOOS BELIEVE CHRISTIANITY WILL PREVAIL. — INCREASING 
 NUMBER OF PIOUS EUROPEANS IN INDIA; THEIR BENEFICIAL 
 INFLUENCE. — THE CONGREGATIONS OF HINDOO CHRISTIANS. — 
 MISSION SETTLEMENT AT BURDWAN. — CONVERSIONS AT KISH- 
 NAGORE. — THE KURTA BMOJAHS. — CHRISTIANITY IN THE SOUTH 
 
 OF INDIA. — GERMAN MISSIONARIES. MISSIONS IN CALCUTTA. — 
 
 OTHER FAVOURABLE SIGNS. — REFLECTIONS. 
 
 " For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and 
 returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring 
 forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the 
 eater : so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth ; it 
 shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which 
 I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." — 
 Isaiah lv. 10, 11. 
 
 In the preceding chapters I have endeavoured 
 to describe the character and proceedings of the 
 labours of missionaries in India. The question 
 now remains to be answered, What have been the 
 
298 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 result and the fruit derived from all these efforts ? 
 This question must be answered in two ways. 
 Now there has been, first, an indirect, and, 
 secondly, a direct effect produced by the labours 
 of missionaries. 
 
 If a landholder desire to estimate his estate 
 according to its true value, he will not merely 
 bring into account those fields in which the crop 
 is already ripening to harvest ; on the contrary, he 
 will endeavour to inform himself of the real con- 
 dition of the whole estate ; and if in some portions 
 the seed is springing up nicely ; if the stones are 
 cleared away, and the fields are well manured, and 
 in a high state of cultivation ; if the soil is pro- 
 ductive, and little fallow-ground : he will make his 
 calculation according to all these details, and will 
 thus be enabled to form a correct estimate. 
 
 A European, landing on the banks of the 
 Ganges, and travelling through the length and 
 breadth of Bengal, and thus becoming superficially 
 acquainted with the Hindoos, would very probably 
 receive the impression, that Christianity has ex- 
 ercised little or no effect upon them. He might be 
 disposed to say, as some have said, " Who knows 
 whether there is any truth in the reports which 
 missionaries send home to England ? Thus, many 
 Englishmen, who have lived for many years in 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 299 
 
 India, are heard to declare, after their arrival at 
 home, that they had seen no converted Hindoo. 
 In this way, an officer at Cawnpore said in an 
 evening party, where they were speaking of our 
 Society's mission at Benares, he had been two 
 years in that city, and felt sure there was neither 
 missionary or school in existence there. No 
 wonder, for he never took the trouble to visit the 
 mission-premises ; in short, he was one of those 
 who, like Gallio, cared for none of these things. 
 It is true, idolatry is still the religion of the 
 country, and the prince of darkness is not yet 
 shaken down from his throne. The heavy yoke 
 which the Brahmin has imposed on the people, is 
 still pressing hard upon the neck of the nation ; 
 the pantheists still insult the kind and bountiful 
 Father of mankind, by ascribing to him every 
 moral and physical evil. Thousands of dying 
 people are still exposed on the banks of the 
 Ganges, by which cruel rite the pains and anguish 
 of their dying moments are increased. Perjury, 
 lying, poisoning, cruel oppression, and other 
 crimes, are still practised, accumulating the guilt 
 of the heathen, and crying for vengeance to heaven. 
 The labours of missionaries in schools, the preach- 
 ing and dissemination of the Scriptures, would 
 appear, when only superficially considered, as 
 
300 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 hopeless, as if one attempted to extinguish a volcano, 
 by pouring a bucket of water into its crater. 
 
 But, my friends, notwithstanding this fearful 
 confusion of sin, superstition, and error, a better 
 state of things is gradually preparing. The wild 
 torrent of idolatry has destroyed the land, but 
 here and there the dry ground appears, and 
 begins to be verdant. The dove with the olive- 
 branch has shown itself, and the waters are 
 assuaging; the black, lowering clouds disappear; 
 and the bow in the clouds, the sign of God's cove- 
 nant, has become apparent in India. 
 
 Those who are somewhat intimately acquainted 
 with the country, and who can make comparisons 
 between the past and present, find that, a great 
 change for the better has already taken place with 
 the Hindoos. The success of missionary labour 
 is not the same everywhere ; and every missionary 
 makes his own calculations according to his expe- 
 rience, on the field which he has cultivated. But 
 thus much is certain, where the field has been 
 cultivated for a number of years with care and 
 faithfulness, the effect has been evident, and the 
 labourer has not been suffered to toil without 
 seeing fruits. We may not, possibly, live to behold 
 the full harvest, but much of India's fallow-ground 
 has been ploughed up, and the good seed of the 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 301 
 
 word has been extensively cast abroad, and is 
 daily dispersing in greater abundance; in single 
 spots it has sprung up abundantly, and in many 
 others the first-fruits have been gathered in. 
 
 A great moral revolution has commenced in 
 India; a powerful impulse has been given: as 
 a stone rolling down from a mountain, increases 
 in velocity every moment, so this movement is 
 daily spreading wider, and increasing in extent, 
 hastening onward to bring about a crisis, which 
 will end in nothing less than the entire overthrow 
 of Brahminism. 
 
 The following are some of the hopeful signs 
 of the times : idolatry is decreasing, — this is 
 acknowledged to be the case through the whole 
 of India. The great idol festivals are no longer 
 attended so numerously as they formerly were; 
 nor will many of the rich continue to spend the 
 enormous sums they once did, on occasion of 
 those festivals. The people begin to open their 
 eyes, and to perceive, that rights which have been 
 sanctioned by antiquity, and which have been 
 handed to them by their ancestors, as objects 
 of veneration, cannot stand the test of sound 
 reasoning. Very few new idol temples are being 
 erected, while the old ones are, in many places, 
 allowed to decay, and go to ruin. In a village 
 
302 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 near Burdwan, there was a large car of Jugger- 
 nath. I could not look on the carved wooden 
 figures about it, without disgust and horror. The 
 Brahmins would not take the repair of it upon 
 themselves, and the people would not come for- 
 ward. The car at length broke down, and has 
 never since been rebuilt. When I inquired after 
 it, some of the villagers told me with a smile, 
 " The thakur, or idol, has taken his leave ; he 
 no longer liked this neighbourhood." I am sure 
 he will not return, for they informed me after- 
 wards, that the natives refused to contribute 
 the sum required for re-building the idol car ; 
 a clear proof that the influence of the Brahmins 
 has been very considerably shaken. 
 
 In the year 1833, there was an earthquake in 
 India, which was very severely felt in the north- 
 western provinces. The recollection of it is still 
 impressed, in a lively manner on my mind, as I 
 rushed out from my bed in terror ; and on reach- 
 ing the door, saw the trees in the garden heaving 
 to and fro, and the doors opening and shutting 
 of themselves. The day after the earthquake my 
 dear friend Leupolt, at Benares, went to the 
 banks of the Ganges, and saw a flight of steps 
 leading to the stream, sunk in ; and a Shiva 
 temple, which stood on the platform above, partly 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 303 
 
 destroyed. As he looked at the scene, a Brahmin 
 came behind him and said, " I know what you 
 are thinking." He replied, " You will hardly 
 guess right." " You think, as this ghaut is shaken, 
 so will our dhurmo, or religion, decline; and as 
 the god could not save the temple from destruc- 
 tion, so can your religion not preserve itself, 
 and will go to ruin." Leupolt answered, " Some- 
 thing of the kind occupied my mind : perhaps the 
 thought was not so clear to me, as you have 
 expressed it; but there is no doubt it will be 
 as you have said." 
 
 Nuddea, a town in the neighbourhood of Kish- 
 nagore, was formerly the chief seat of Brahminical 
 learning in Bengal. Hundreds of young men 
 received instruction there in the doctrines of the 
 Vedas and Purannas. My pundit mentioned to 
 me, with much concern, that in the days of his 
 youth, that institution was in a flourishing state ; 
 but now, he continued, in a tone of mournful 
 complaint, everything is changed. Indeed, the 
 number of students is decreasing every year, and 
 the study of English has, with many, superseded 
 that of Sanscrit, because it opens to the Brahmin 
 the prospect of a more profitable employment. 
 The influence and authority of the priests are 
 lessening every year; many even of the simple 
 
304 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 peasantry see into their insincere and fraudulent 
 dealings, and the income of the Brahmins is 
 accordingly lessened. Hence thousands have re- 
 nounced serving in idol temples, preferring to be 
 employed in Government offices, and merchants' 
 houses. Others are trading in indigo, sugar, 
 cotton, rice, and various kinds of grain. In order 
 to realise their desires, many learn English, and 
 cultivate an acquaintance with Europeans. Brah- 
 min boys are now seen in schools, sitting with the 
 Sudras on the same bench. All these changes 
 tend to shake the frail, antiquated fabric, and 
 to assist in bringing about the dissolution of 
 the system of castes. 
 
 The old prejudices against the Christian religion 
 are wearing off, as the real character of it is better 
 understood. Wherever the missionary stands up 
 to preach the Gospel, he usually finds numerous 
 hearers ; nor will he meet so frequently as he did 
 in former days, the hatred and bitter opposition of 
 the Brahmins. Many of them who were driven 
 from the field in religious discussions, have given 
 up the contest, and say, " The wisest plan for us 
 is not to dispute with missionaries at all, and to 
 avoid intercourse with them." Those who have 
 read part of the New Testament are convinced 
 of its excellency, and freely acknowledge that if 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 305 
 
 Hindooisin is compared with Christianity, the result 
 will be detrimental to the former. 
 
 I do not calculate the result of the labours in 
 Bengal so much by the number of those we have 
 baptized, as by the moral impression which Chris- 
 tian truth has produced among the people. It is 
 true, that of three or four thousand Hindoo youths 
 who have received instruction in our schools at 
 Burdwan, and of the tens of thousands who have 
 heard the preaching of the Gospel, only a few 
 comparatively have been converted to Christianity ; 
 but most of those young men have carried home 
 with them a clear knowledge of the most important 
 doctrines of Christianity, and have thereby ob- 
 tained a decided conviction in their own minds, 
 that our religion contains sound and saving truth, 
 and that the very groundwork of Hindooism is 
 made up of lies and falsehood ; that the one 
 darkens and deteriorates, while the other improves 
 and sanctifies the heart. 
 
 A great point is gained when the heathen has 
 acquired some self-knowledge, when he feels what 
 he is, and what his own religion has done for him, 
 and what he should be. This important object 
 has been attained by the labours of missionaries 
 in tens of thousands of Hindoos. Conscience is 
 gradually awaking, and forbidding the unhappy 
 
306 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 idolater to continue longer in his dark sleep of 
 ignorance and sin. Thus the leaven of the Gospel 
 penetrates the mass. The mind of the Hindoo is 
 gradually cleared of the old pantheistical absurd- 
 ities. The Christian ideas of justice, mercy, 
 purity, truth, and love, are becoming acceptable to 
 him. His callous indifference concerning right 
 and wrong, virtue and vice, which formerly petri- 
 fied his heart, is wearing off. I know many 
 enlightened and intelligent Hindoos who would be 
 ashamed to repeat the doctrine, so pernicious to all 
 moral principle and feeling, of an absolute fate. 
 They can no longer believe that man's whole life, 
 with its sins and virtues, its prosperous and adverse 
 circumstances, is written on his skull before he is 
 born. They have read a part of the Scriptures, 
 and discovered a truth which is sweetly responded 
 to by their feelings and intellect, that a merciful 
 Creator has imparted to his rational creatures the 
 liberty of thought and action; that he is dealing 
 with man as a free being, making him responsible 
 for his actions. They have listened, perhaps, to a 
 sermon, inviting the weary and heavy laden, in the 
 name of Jesus, to come to him, or have heard of 
 the resolution of the prodigal son, "I will arise and 
 go to my father." These simple but Divine truths 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 307 
 
 exercise a great power, and approve themselves to 
 their minds, as more reasonable, more worthy of 
 God, than the dark, gloomy, stupifying fatalism of 
 their own shasters, under whose influence the poor 
 idolater is sometimes heard to exclaim, " Whether 
 I am to become industrious and rich, or to spend 
 the days of my life in poverty and misery , — whether 
 I am to be honoured and happy, or to die on the 
 gallows as a thief and murderer, — -is all fixed before 
 hand, — I am drawn along by an unchangeable fate." 
 But instead of this fearful delusion, a feeling of 
 God's paternal love, and of man's high and glorious 
 destiny, has been awakened in many. 
 
 Another pleasing sign of the times is, a growing 
 hunger after knowledge among the natives of 
 India. The tracts and gospels we distribute when 
 preaching in bazaars and villages, are eagerly 
 received and read by the people. It is true, many 
 of them are committed to the flames, or thrown 
 into the water ; but this very hostility to the word 
 of God on the part of the priests, awakens a strong 
 desire in others to become acquainted with the 
 Bible. The wealthy Rajah of Burdwan saw me 
 distributing tracts one day among the people in 
 the bazaar. " Have you more of these books ? " 
 inquired he. " Oh yes, plenty," said I. He re- 
 
308 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 quested me to bring him some hundreds the fol- 
 lowing day. I did so ; he called his visitors, and 
 other officers, and distributed the gospels and tracts 
 among them with his own hands. 
 
 Mr. L. was present some years since at an idol 
 festival in the island of Gunga Sangor, near the 
 mouth of the Ganges. His books were nearly all 
 distributed, when a strong four-squared fellow from 
 the upper parts of Hindosthan came and requested 
 one. " Can you read?" he said to him. " No, but 
 I have a brother who has learned this art ; I will 
 take it home, and he will read it to us." — " I can- 
 not give you any." He continued begging, " Pray 
 do give me one." When he found the missionary 
 inflexible, he put his strong arms round his waist 
 and carried him off. " Put me down," cried the 
 missionary, " or I shall use my stick." " You may 
 beat me," replied the Hindoosthanee, " or do with 
 me as you please ; but I shall not let you go before 
 you give me a book." He yielded at last, and the 
 Hindoo with an air of triumph lifted up the book 
 and walked off. 
 
 The Bengalee New Testament, which has of late 
 been printed in a nice compendious volume, is 
 gladly accepted by respectable Hindoos. I pre- 
 sented one to a baboo, who touched his forehead 
 with it in a reverential manner and said, " It shall 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 309 
 
 be as dear to me as life itself." Some years ago 
 a native officer under Government met me in a 
 village and invited me to his cottage: he showed 
 me his little library, and to my surprise I saw, 
 among other books, Scott's Commentary on the 
 Bible — he assured me that he read in it every day. 
 Young Hindoos who have received an English 
 education are establishing English schools in their 
 own villages; and thus render themselves useful 
 to their countrymen. Eich zemindars pay them 
 a small salary, and the parents of the scholars 
 contribute their share for their support. Such a 
 teacher, whom I met on a mission tour, requested 
 me to examine his scholars ; and seeing that books 
 were wanted for the reading classes, I offered to 
 supply a number of New Testaments : the offer was 
 gladly accepted, and the books were immediately 
 distributed among the boys of the first and second 
 classes. 
 
 As you may see from a feather where the wind 
 is blowing, so are facts of this kind, sure and 
 pleasing signs of a thorough and wide-spreading 
 change in the character and mind of the Hindoos. 
 
 Though those worldly men who never took the 
 trouble to enter the premises of a mission establish- 
 ment, have returned from India, and said there was 
 little or nothing doing by missionaries, yet the Hin- 
 
310 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 doos themselves know better how to appreciate our 
 labours. The following letter, inserted by a young 
 man in a Bengalee newspaper, is a remarkable proof 
 of it : it was addressed to an association called the 
 Dhurma Subha, formed in Calcutta for the pro- 
 tection of Hindooism. He writes, " Oh, holy men, 
 boast no more that you are Hindoos ! Do you 
 think your children will remain faithful to the 
 religion of their fathers ? Give up all such vain 
 hopes; the padres (or missionaries) who have 
 come from Europe, are wandering in whole bands 
 through every street and lane of Calcutta, in order 
 to destroy the Hindoo religion, and greedy boys, 
 like hungry fishes, are allured and caught by the 
 hook of their sorcery. Many boys have given up 
 their family, caste and religion, have entered the 
 family of Jesus, and have been initiated into the 
 mysteries of the Bible. Last week another silly boy 
 again lifted his wing and flew to the tree of the love 
 of Jesus Christ. We are more afraid of the padres, 
 than of either cholera, fever, or snake-bites; for 
 these may be healed by charms and by medicines ; 
 but for the disease which the missionaries inflict, 
 neither charm or medicine will avail anything. 
 We cannot find great fault with these men, for it 
 is the glory of their own religion, that they have 
 crossed seven oceans and thirteen rivers, (a saying 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 311 
 
 common among the Hindoos) to come into this 
 country, and they are now spending immense sums 
 in order to convert the Hindoos. Our religion, 
 having no means of defending itself, is dying, and 
 is going to its home ; that is to say, to the house 
 of Yama, (the infernal regions, a very proper place 
 for their religion to go to,) and the holy men of the 
 Dhurma Subha will not even once apply the 
 medicine of their own endeavours, for the restor- 
 ation of their dying religion." 
 
 I met with a similarly remarkable article in 
 a Bengalee newspaper last year ; the bigoted 
 editor gives, as may be expected, a garbled and 
 distorted representation of mission work, but at 
 the same time, his uneasiness and anxiety relating 
 to the continued existence of Hindooism cannot be 
 mistaken: he says, " At present, the priests of the 
 Christian religion are making great efforts in 
 every possible way to proselytise the people. 
 Their mode is, to attend every fair and festival, 
 for the purpose of distributing Christian tracts 
 among the crowds there assembled, and to wander 
 about from place to place, preaching in the open 
 air. By these means they, in some quarters, 
 make converts of the dust and dirt of the people, 
 and in some places, even persons of the middle 
 ranks, and the better classes of society, — but 
 
312 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 many, especially of the poor, who are suffering 
 from want of food, have fallen into the net spread 
 for them by these gentlemen. The missionaries 
 having thus succeeded in collecting a number of 
 people to their party, have become bold, and now 
 some of them having made certain garbled extracts 
 from numerous shasters, supporting the perpetual 
 religion of the Hindoos, are publishing these 
 extracts, with their own refutation of them, and 
 sending them to respectable persons, with the hope 
 of effecting their object. But this is only a piece 
 of overweening presumption on their part; they 
 ought therefore to cease from their vain attempt." 
 The fact is, these Brahmins see the impending 
 storm approaching, and use every effort to turn its 
 course. " The missionaries," say they, " have 
 baptized but a small number, yet they turn the 
 heads of the people, and poison the minds of our 
 youth by their teaching." " You missionaries 
 must succeed," said a tradesman to me in the 
 bazaar of Burdwan, one day, " because you are so 
 indefatigable in preaching." " We," said another, 
 "are too old to change our religion; but our 
 children will all become Christians." Many 
 Brahmins say, " Whenever Christianity obtains a 
 paramount influence, we shall join your ranks 
 likewise." This sort of conversion is certainly not 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 313 
 
 the one we desire and aim at; nevertheless, ex- 
 pressions like these clearly show the deep impres- 
 sion which the labours of missionaries have 
 produced among the bulk of the people. I one 
 day asked a respectable Hindoo at Burdwan, why 
 he withdrew his son from our English school ? 
 " Because," he replied, " as soon as the boys know 
 how to read and write, they are Christians in 
 heart." I rejoined, "What a poor thing must 
 your religion be, which cannot stand the least 
 examination; and what a powerful principle of 
 truth must Christianity contain, laying hold as it 
 does of the affections, and approving itself to the 
 intellect of people as soon as they are made ac- 
 quainted with it !" " For this very reason," replied 
 the father, " I will take good care to keep my boy 
 away from Christian influence." 
 
 One of the most gratifying facts, which shows 
 that a day of gracious visitation for India is at 
 hand, is the increasing number of pious Euro- 
 peans in that country. They are found among 
 all ranks, in the civil and military services, 
 and among commercial men. A European in 
 India, possessed but of the common feelings of 
 benevolence, must perceive at once how needful 
 and desirable the spread of Christian truth and 
 principle is, among such an idolatrous people. In 
 
314 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 many stations, Europeans are so situated, as to 
 be deprived of the ministry of the Gospel; they 
 therefore appreciate it the more highly when they 
 come to a place where missionaries are located. 
 I have always been in the habit, besides preaching 
 in Bengalee, of performing Divine service in 
 English on Sunday. Your countrymen, in re- 
 turn, afford us their liberal assistance in the 
 support of our schools ; and a Christian family 
 will always make a beneficial and favourable 
 impression upon the heathen who come in contact 
 with them. When a spirit of true piety prevails 
 in a house, when family prayer is £>erformed, the 
 Hindoos in the neighbourhood regard such people 
 with great respect and reverence. Many a de- 
 voted Englishman does the work of a missionary, 
 as far as his influence among the natives extends. 
 I knew the excellent lady of an officer in the 
 artillery, who was in the habit of reading the 
 Hindosthanee Bible, and praying with her Hindoo 
 servants daily; and several of them were con- 
 verted. I know another military officer, who 
 spends the greater part of his income for the 
 mission cause ; he has thousands of books and 
 tracts prepared and printed at his own ex- 
 pense, and distributed. I knew others, who 
 each supported a missionary; and even those 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 315 
 
 individuals who make no profession of religion, 
 gladly contribute their share for building and 
 keeping up schools and chapels, — thus powerfully- 
 aiding us in the good work. The Hindoos imitate 
 the good example ; for when officers of Government 
 support schools, and attend public examinations 
 of them, the Rajahs and zemindars will attend 
 likewise: if but from the inferior motive of pleas- 
 ing the former, and ingratiating themselves into 
 their favour, nevertheless, by these means they 
 acquire a taste for literature and Christian truth. 
 In 1833, I requested the Rajah of Burdwan for 
 some assistance in building an English school in 
 that town. To my surprise, he presented me with 
 two bank-notes, amounting to fifteen hundred 
 rupees, (one hundred and fifty pounds sterling.) 
 The same wealthy individual once attended an 
 examination of our orphan and infant schools, and 
 was most agreeably surprised in hearing the little 
 children sing and repeat portions of Bible history 
 from the prints suspended round the school-room; 
 for he, with many of his deluded countrymen, had 
 the idea that females are unfit for, and incapable 
 of, intellectual and moral improvement.* 
 
 * We have just heard the gratifying news that a wealthy Brahmin, 
 in the city of Benares, has lately given up his son into the hands of 
 one of our missionaries, with these remarkable words: "I feel con- 
 vinced, Sir, after reading your holy Shasters, that they contain the 
 
316 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 So much is at the present day being done by 
 Christians in India for the spread of Christianity, 
 and so considerable is the number of active men 
 devoted to this great cause, that some are inclined 
 to believe, that if missionaries were forthwith ex- 
 pelled from India, the work would be carried on 
 nevertheless, and would advance by the aid of pri- 
 vate individuals, and the congregations which have 
 been gathered. 
 
 But by far the most gratifying tokens of the 
 blessed result of missionary labour, we recog- 
 nise in the little congregations of believers, which 
 have been gathered in at the different missionary 
 stations. They are the salt of the earth, and 
 are more or less spreading their beneficial in- 
 fluence among the surrounding population. How 
 much do I wish that it were in my power to intro- 
 duce my sympathising readers to our mission 
 settlements at Burdwan or Benares, or to one of 
 the Christian villages of Kishnagore ! I feel per- 
 suaded, that in seeing what I have seen, with your 
 
 true religion. I have not the power to come up to the purity of its 
 precepts, but here is my son, take him as your child, feed him at your 
 table, and bring him up a Christian." At the same time he made over 
 the sum of ten thousand rupees (£1000) into the hands of the mis- 
 sionary, to defray the expense of his son's education. This event is a 
 new era in the history of our North Indian missions ; the effect of it 
 will be incalculable upon the minds of the Hindoos at Benares ; a 
 greater blow has never been inflicted upon that stronghold of idolatry. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 317 
 
 own eyes, you would rejoice with us, that the light 
 of Divine truth is extending its cheering rays so 
 hopefully over those large tracts of dark, pagan 
 India ; for personal observation, after all, far ex- 
 ceeds all the faint representations we can present 
 of our labours abroad. 
 
 Since it is not likely, however, that I shall be 
 honoured with a visit from you at Burdwan, I will 
 attempt to give you a hasty sketch of our mission 
 settlement there. It is situated about a mile and 
 a half from the town, upon the high-road leading 
 from Calcutta to Benares, and presents a pleasing 
 and interesting object. The establishment includes 
 about twenty acres of ground ; in the centre 
 of it there are two houses for the missionaries. 
 Near the entrance from the high-road, there 
 is the Bengalee chapel, humble in construc- 
 tion, with a thatched roof, in which the native 
 congregation assemble for Divine service ; a little 
 further to the westward is the orphan boys' school. 
 Between the two mission-houses is a large tank, 
 about three hundred feet square ; the water of it 
 is collected during the rainy season, and it serves 
 chiefly for bathing — a practice which, in the eyes 
 of the Hindoo, belongs to the necessaries of life, 
 as well as his daily food ; but since no spring-water 
 can be obtained in the alluvial soil of Bengal, 
 
318 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 we are obliged to use this rain-water clarified 
 for cooking and drinking likewise. On the south- 
 eastern side of this lake, is the orphan-girls' and 
 infant school, and opposite to it the little village of 
 Hindoo Christians. On the back part of it you 
 see the burial-ground, in which a very consider- 
 able portion of our native brethren rest in hope of 
 a blessed resurrection. 
 
 Since I left India, a very severe visitation of 
 God has added to the number of the departed, 
 some of our most valuable and consistent people. 
 The small-pox was introduced by a native doctor, 
 who was sent to vaccinate with the cow-pock, 
 inoculating with the small-pox instead. In con- 
 sequence of this, fifty individuals fell ill, out of 
 whom nine or ten died, and among these, two of 
 our native preachers. Their dying testimony was 
 most satisfactory, but their loss will long be felt, 
 for they had been serving their generation faith- 
 fully according to the will of God ; and when the 
 news of their decease first spread among the 
 congregation, there was a loud, and very bitter 
 weeping. My dear missionary brother never lay 
 down for above a week, and from that time he 
 himself fell into bad health, which eventually 
 obliged him to leave the country. 
 
 Each family of Hindoo Christians has a little 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 319 
 
 garden in front of their cottage, in which they 
 cultivate vegetables for daily use. Some obtain 
 their livelihood partly by cultivation of the ground 
 and pasturage ; some have dairies, other are gar- 
 deners, and a considerable number labour as 
 readers and catechists in the schools of our 
 Society. 
 
 Since the commencement of the mission at 
 Burdwan, about three hundred Hindoos, of every 
 age, have been baptized ; one-fourth of them, at 
 least, have died since ; others are engaged in other 
 mission stations. The total number of our little 
 native congregation may amount at present to 
 about one hundred and fifty souls. 
 
 In the district of Kishnagore, great numbers of 
 Mahomedans and Hindoos have been baptized 
 within the last five years. In some sixty villages, 
 the missionaries of our Society have now between 
 three and four thousand native Christians under 
 their pastoral care. I was myself an eye-witness 
 at the time when this remarkable movement took 
 place. We visited, within one week, four villages, 
 and baptized six hundred persons. It was to us 
 a heart-cheering scene, to behold one hundred and 
 fifty natives assembled in a court-yard for baptism. 
 They were sitting in rows on their mats of palm- 
 leaf, the men and boys on one side, the women, 
 
320 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 with their daughters and babes, on the other. We 
 commenced the sacred ceremony by singing a 
 hymn in Bengalee ; many of the adults and some 
 of the children joined us. They were then ex- 
 amined in the principal doctrines of Christianity ; 
 all promised, with united voice, to renounce idol- 
 atry, caste, and all sinful practices ; and henceforth 
 to live by faith in Christ, the Saviour of sinners. 
 Oh how great was the joy to us in gathering in 
 such a harvest in a heathen land ! 
 
 Five missionaries are now labouring in that dis- 
 trict. They have each erected their dwellings in 
 some central spot for the congregations whose 
 spiritual wants they are supplying. Near the 
 mission-house is a chapel, and a school for the 
 instruction of the children of the native Christians. 
 In some villages the whole population has embraced 
 Christianity ; in others the people are still partly 
 in heathenism, but there is little doubt of their 
 joining the Christian communities ere long. When 
 once a considerable breach in the strongholds of 
 idolatry has been effected, the good work cannot 
 stand still ; it will extend and break out to the 
 right hand and to the left. The fountain of life, 
 when once opened, flows along to fertilise the land, 
 " the desert and solitary place rejoice, and blossom 
 as the rose," being changed into a fruitful field. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 321 
 
 One of my brethren wrote to me some time since 
 of a happy new year's day he was permitted to 
 celebrate, in bringing fifty-three Hindoos and 
 Mahomedans by baptism, into the church of Christ. 
 Thus mission work in Bengal is gradually pro- 
 gressing, passing on from its arduous beginning of 
 breaking up the fallow-ground, to the more cheer- 
 ing and easy labour of pastoral superintendence 
 and care of souls. We confidently hope that 
 similar outbursts will take place in other parts, 
 where the natives have been prepared in schools, 
 and by the preaching of the Gospel ; the ponderous 
 chains of heathenism will burst, and crowds will 
 come to prostrate themselves before the banner of 
 the cross. Many of the converts in the district of 
 Kishnagore are in comfortable circumstances. As 
 might be expected, the spirit of persecution raised 
 its head in consequence of the numerous conver- 
 sions. Hundreds of the baptized suffered cruel 
 treatment from their neighbours : they were shut 
 up, and almost starved ; the father of a family was 
 beaten with clubs, and died in consequence ; ano- 
 ther showed me two wounds in his head, which had 
 been inflicted by his neighbours, who had driven 
 their cattle into his crops. This fury of the 
 adversaries is now in some degree spent, and the 
 congregations are peaceably settled. The heathens 
 
 Y 
 
322 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 around are becoming acquainted with Christianity, 
 and coming to attend the worship of God in the 
 chapels. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, that the conversions in 
 Kishnagore were, by the wise providence of God, 
 prepared for, by the effects of a dreadful famine, 
 which occurred about that time; as well as by 
 certain events, which had happened many years 
 before hand. The first families who applied for 
 baptism, belonged to a sect who call themselves 
 " Kurta bhojahs," that is, worshippers of the only 
 God. This sect appears to be extensively spread 
 in Bengal, along the Ganges, and its various 
 branches. The founder of it is said to have lived 
 in the beginning of the present century, in a village 
 near Culna, and to have become acquainted with 
 the Scriptures by means of one of the first Protest- 
 ant missionaries, — either Carey, Foster, or Thomas. 
 The doctrines and precepts of Jesus appear to 
 have come home to his conscience, and possessing 
 a considerable knowledge of the Hindoo shasters, 
 he undertook the task of preparing a new reli- 
 gious system, retaining in it a considerable portion 
 of Hindooism, but rejecting the worship of idols 
 entirely, and substituting the worship of the only 
 true God as the foundation of his system. This 
 new teacher succeeded in enlisting disciples from 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 323 
 
 among his friends and neighbours, and the sect 
 increased every year; Hindoos of all castes, 
 Mahomedans, and even Indo-Britons, and de- 
 scendants of the Portuguese, are now found 
 among the Kurta bhojahs. 
 
 This brotherhood seems to manifest a very 
 uncommon degree of energy and vigour; they 
 have their missionaries, whom they send out in 
 all directions to make proselytes. I met with one 
 of them in the neighbourhood of Burdwan; and 
 if they have many agents possessed of the same 
 talents and lively energy as that individual, I am 
 not surprised at the rapid increase of their dis- 
 ciples. He was a handsome young Brahmin, 
 polished and dignified in manner, very agree- 
 able in conversation, and eloquent. He assured 
 me, that the sect numbered above one hundred 
 thousand members, and promised to introduce me 
 to their private evening assemblies. They meet 
 every Thursday in certain villages, after sunset, 
 two or three hundred together ; sitting cross- 
 legged, in a circle, on the ground. They sing 
 hymns in praise of their Creator. Every dis- 
 tinction of caste ceases at these nightly meetings ; 
 the Brahmin is sitting in brotherly fellowship 
 by the side of the Sudra and the Mahomedan. 
 They break bread together, and a cup passes 
 
324 THE SUCCESS AND PKOSPECTS OF 
 
 round the circle, from which all are drinking: 
 doubtless this is an imitation of the sacrament 
 of the Lord's supper. 
 
 Thus is an obscure sect, by the wise and gra- 
 cious providence of God, destined to break 
 through the chain of caste, and to become the 
 pioneers to our mission work in Bengal. The 
 people composing this sect are, as it were, already 
 in a transition state. Some of these Kurta bhojahs, 
 hearing Mr. Deerr preach at Kishnagore, exclaimed, 
 " Surely this is our own religion ; " and were shortly 
 afterwards baptized. Moreover, I received from 
 our brethren labouring in that place, the interesting 
 information, that their converts from that sect are 
 the most consistent Christians, and give them the 
 greatest satisfaction ; evidently from this simple 
 reason, that purer ideas of a Divine Being had 
 previously been implanted in their minds. 
 
 When the Lord is thus preparing a door of 
 entrance to his Gospel, while the mass of the 
 nation is in a state of mental and moral ferment- 
 ation, surely the church at home should no 
 longer hesitate to follow His directions. Our 
 operations have been retarded and hemmed in 
 on every side, from the want of faithful labourers. 
 If time and strength had permitted me, no engage- 
 ment would have been more pleasant to me, than 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 325 
 
 that of pursuing the footsteps of those remarkable 
 people from village to village; for thousands of 
 them are living within a short distance around us. 
 But I hope the friends of our blessed cause will 
 no longer permit us to stand single in the field. 
 
 The four principal missionary societies, namely, 
 the Church Missionary Society, the London, the 
 Scottish, and the Baptist Missionary Societies, 
 have about thirty or forty ordained missionaries 
 in Bengal and the north-west; while the Gospel 
 Propagation Society have several chiefly south- 
 west. In the north of India, some American 
 missionaries have, of late years, commenced 
 labouring; and in the neighbourhood of Patna 
 Mr. Start is supporting eighteen German brethren 
 at his own expense, who, after acquiring the 
 vernacular language, have proceeded to occupy 
 several towns along the Ganges, and at the new 
 sanatarium of Darjeeling, on the frontiers of 
 Boothan. It could be wished that this noble 
 example were followed by others, who are rich in 
 this world's goods. Mr. Start entertained the 
 hope, that his missions would in time support 
 themselves; and some of the missionaries being 
 artizans and farmers, began cultivating the 
 grounds; while others, who were blacksmiths, set 
 up a smith's shop : but this was an entire failure ; 
 
326 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 manual labour in the field, and at the forge, is 
 to the European, in a tropical climate, an impos- 
 sibility; and after a short attempt, the artizans 
 became ill, and were obliged to lay the hammer 
 and the hoe aside. Moreover, every kind of 
 handy-work is done at a much cheaper rate by 
 the Hindoo, who lives upon rice and vegetables ; 
 so that no European can compete with him in 
 price on this account. 
 
 In stations which have been occupied by mis- 
 sionaries for some years, there are larger or smaller 
 congregations of native Christians found. In the 
 south of Calcutta, verging on the swampy jungles 
 of the Sunderbunds, through which the Ganges 
 slowly winds its way in many branches towards 
 the sea, the missionaries of three or four societies 
 have been successful in many villages, baptizing 
 and bringing thousands of Hindoos belonging to the 
 peasantry under religious instruction. Brahmins 
 are scarce in those parts, and if missionaries were 
 able to settle in the villages, many more would 
 embrace Christianity ; — but the country is un- 
 healthy and the water brackish, causing diarrhoea 
 and fever.* During seven months of the year we 
 
 * The life of an excellent missionary, Mr. De Rodt, was sacrificed 
 in August, 1843, inconsequence of an excursion in these unhealthy- 
 districts during that month. 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 327 
 
 can only proceed in boats from one place to 
 another; and good roads are nowhere to be seen. 
 When on a mission tonr in that neighbourhood 
 I was conveyed along in the hollow trunk of a 
 tree ; and where the water was too shallow to bear 
 even this simple canoe, the boatmen pushed the 
 craft forward on the soft mud. This country is 
 also infested by wild beasts, for in these dense 
 jungles the tiger, the rhinoceros, the alligator, the 
 boa constrictor, and other unwelcome neighbours, 
 abound. 
 
 It has been calculated that the number of con- 
 verts in Bengal, and the north-western provinces, 
 in connexion with the various Protestant mis- 
 sions, amounts to about fifteen thousand ; a small 
 band, indeed, when we compare them with the 
 masses of heathen among whom they are dis- 
 persed; for the presidencies of Bengal and Agra 
 alone, contain some eighty millions of inhabitants ; 
 " But the kingdom of God is like unto a grain of 
 mustard seed, which indeed is the least of all seeds, 
 but when it is grown, it is the greatest among 
 herbs, and becometh a tree, and the birds of the 
 air lodge in the branches thereof." 
 
 I have not been in the south of India, where the 
 apostolic Schwartz with his worthy coadjutors, and 
 in our own days Khenius, have so zealously and 
 
328 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 perseveringly done the work of the Lord ; — Chris- 
 tianity has attained greater maturity there, than 
 with us in Bengal, where missions are of more 
 recent date. Some of the latest reports state, that 
 in the district of Tinnevelly three hundred and 
 fifty-four villages are under the pastoral care of 
 the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society; 
 with about twenty-two thousand converts, either 
 baptized or preparing for admission to baptism. 
 Every year about one thousand persons are added 
 in that country to the church of Christ. The mis- 
 sionaries all concurred in assuring our local secre- 
 tary, Mr. Tucker, who lately visited that district, 
 that heathenism was wasting away throughout the 
 country, and losing its hold over the people. The 
 effect of Christianity has been to make the people 
 ashamed of it. " I am not," says Mr. Tucker, 
 cautiously, " here speaking of the Brahmins, and 
 the inhabitants of large towns, but of the village 
 population, among whom the moral power of almost 
 thirty thousand professing Christians, nearly the 
 whole of whom were heathen twenty-five years 
 ago, must be very considerable. It cannot be sup- 
 posed, that the assembling of two thousand five 
 hundred Christians, to join with Bishop Wilson in 
 prayer and praise, and to hear the Gospel from his 
 lips, or the presence of nearly as large a number 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 329 
 
 at the laying of the foundation-stone of Meignana- 
 pooram Church, who afterwards sat down toge- 
 ther by torch-light to supper, could take place 
 without its effect." There are in the district of Tin- 
 nevelly, among a population of one million Hindoos, 
 about fifty thousand native Christians found in 
 connexion with three Protestant societies. Of these 
 the Church Missionary Society has, I believe, about 
 twenty-five thousand, the Society for Propagating 
 the Gospel about fifteen thousand, and the London 
 Missionary Society about ten thousand ; their mis- 
 sionaries having been a shorter time in the field. 
 
 Our friends of the Missionary Society at Basle, 
 in Switzerland, commenced their operations along 
 the western shores of India about ten years ago ; 
 and twenty-two brethren are pursuing their labours 
 there with real devotedness in six or seven stations, 
 from Calicut and Mangalore in the south, to Dhar- 
 war in the northern table-land of Canara. During 
 this short period upwards of four hundred Hindoos 
 have been baptized by them ; and very lately five 
 Brahmin youths, who were instructed in their 
 excellent seminary at Mangalore, have embraced 
 Christianity at once, and will go forth as labourers 
 in the Gospel among their countrymen. The 
 bishop of Madras, who visited this mission of our 
 German brethren a few months since, spoke in 
 
330 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 the highest terms of their ability, faithfulness, 
 and zeal in the good work. 
 
 It would ill become me to speak in favour of 
 the German brethren, who are labouring in India ; 
 but it is a simple and obvious fact, that while 
 England has supplied the means, our German 
 Lutheran churches have supplied the men, at a 
 time when few or no labourers could be procured 
 in the Church of England; and scores of these 
 faithful individuals have gone out to Africa and 
 the East, in connexion with the Church Missionary- 
 Society. 
 
 Oh that the announcement of this fact might 
 be the means of stirring up young English clergy- 
 men to a holy jealousy, and of prompting many a 
 devoted youth to the resolution, " I, too, will join 
 the ranks of those devoted men!" 
 
 You know not, my brethren, how the Lord 
 could, yea, and would make up to you, all you 
 leave for his sake. He does so to all his faithful 
 servants, and you need not fear that you would be 
 left by him, when you have left all for him. Oh that 
 some would come to the help of the Lord against 
 the mighty! Come as valiant soldiers of the cross, 
 and attack the enemy in his own possession. Far, 
 far more interesting will you look ten or twenty 
 years hence, returning as weather-beaten men 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 331 
 
 from a hundred victories, than if you are wearing 
 the most splendid accoutrements, as royal troops 
 who have never seen action. 
 
 The present fleeting life will soon have passed 
 away, and when it is gone by, think, my brethren, 
 of the recompense of the reward, and how you 
 will then rejoice to remember every sacrifice you 
 have made for the Redeemer. The work of bring- 
 ing the heathen to Christ is worthy of a hundred 
 lives, if we had a hundred lives to sacrifice. 
 
 In the capital of India, Calcutta, — containing 
 above half a million of Hindoos and Mahomedans,* 
 there are about twenty missionaries in connexion 
 with the different denominations. I believe I may 
 confidently say, there is no jealousy or strife 
 among those brethren. The field of labour is 
 large enough for all, and if fifty more were to join 
 them this year, they would find enough to engage 
 their whole strength. Every missionary there 
 appears to be impressed with the fact, that the 
 kingdom of our blessed Redeemer is to be ad- 
 vanced, that a mighty and common foe is to be 
 conquered, and that the victory can only be 
 achieved by united effort. While the Episcopalian, 
 the Scottish Presbyterian, the Congregationalist, 
 
 * According to recent accounts, 800,000. 
 
332 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 and Baptist, has each his own view of outward 
 church government, the union in spirit is not 
 disturbed thereby. The missionaries assemble 
 once a month in brotherly fellowship at table, and 
 for united prayer ; they communicate to each 
 other their past experience, and strengthen each 
 other's hands by friendly consultation and mutual 
 interchange of kind feeling. It sometimes happens 
 that missionaries from distant stations are present 
 at these meetings. It was a delightful sight to 
 me, a few days before I embarked for England, 
 thus to see twenty-eight missionaries assembled 
 round one table, in a spirit of brotherly love. 
 
 My friends, if my fellow-labourers in Bengal 
 are agreed on any important point respecting 
 mission work generally, it is on this, — that there is 
 no heathen land on the whole earth, in the present 
 day, more interesting and so well prepared for the 
 reception of Christianity as India. It is true, the 
 Chinese empire has nearly three times the number 
 of inhabitants ; but China is comparatively a terra 
 incognita, a new field, hardly yet trodden by the 
 feet of the missionary. In New Zealand, it is true, 
 half of the inhabitants are Christianised ; but New 
 Zealand counts not as many thousands, as India 
 numbers millions. 
 
 Hear what an experienced and most zealous 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. '333 
 
 missionary, who lias been labouring twenty years 
 in Bengal, says on this subject, in a public speech 
 made two years since: "The Israelites travelled 
 only when they saw the cloud and the pillar. In 
 the same manner, Christians who are anxious for 
 the conversion of the world, should consult the 
 will of God in the particular spheres which they 
 should first occupy. The apostles paid very great 
 attention to the leading of the Lord in this respect. 
 Now it is a fact, that many events which prepared 
 the western nations for the first reception of the 
 Gospel, have, in our days, occurred in India, 
 evidently with the gracious design that the Gospel 
 should be introduced there. 
 
 " At the time of our Lord's coming, the whole 
 of the habitable globe had been conquered by the 
 Romans, a circumstance which greatly facilitated 
 the intercourse of the nations who composed that 
 empire. We see the same has been done by the 
 conquest of the British, who have united under 
 one sovereignty innumerable tribes of nations who 
 were formerly at war with each other, — a rule so 
 far professedly a Christian one, that it affords full 
 and entire liberty to the missionaries to go wherever 
 they wish in the land, and prosecute their labours 
 with perfect security. Take then the general ex- 
 pectation which had been raised about the time 
 
334 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 when the Messiah appeared, that a great king 
 would appear in Judea, whose sway would be 
 universal, which expectation was accompanied with 
 the idea of great moral revolutions, and the over- 
 throw of the existing religious systems, — well, the 
 same is to be found in India at the present time. 
 The Hindoos one and all, owing especially to an 
 ancient prophecy in their holy books, are fully 
 expecting the entire overthrow of their religion, 
 and that a totally new order of things will pre- 
 vail. All the efforts of the missionaries have 
 tended to convey to the natives the impression, 
 that this new order of things is at hand. As the 
 Jews settled down in all parts of the Roman em- 
 pire, exhibited to the surrounding nations a purer 
 worship, so Europeans, instead of Jews, have set- 
 tled every where in India ; there are churches and 
 chapels where the natives see a purer worship, 
 there are copies of the holy Scriptures, books and 
 tracts widely disseminated, which are favourably 
 operating upon the people, and probably far more 
 favourably than the same causes formerly did 
 upon the Roman empire. Again, when heathenism 
 was about to fall in that empire, you are aware 
 that the remaining adherents of it sought the aid 
 of the Platonic philosophy to strengthen it, to 
 render heathenism more palatable to the refined 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 335 
 
 taste of the age. And, would you believe it? the 
 very same system is now being resorted to in India. 
 There are many Brahmins, and among them the fol- 
 lowers of Rammohun Roy, who, despairing of keep- 
 ing up the Hindoo system of religion in its ancient 
 form, are now endeavouring to engraft a more 
 refined system upon it, chiefly taken from the most 
 unexceptionable parts of the Vedas : the adherents 
 of it discard the grosser parts of idolatry, and wor- 
 ship only the God of nature, without any sensible 
 representation. The young Hindoo philosophers 
 actually declare that this is the only means of 
 impeding the progress of Christianity, which, they 
 say, is fearfully rapid." 
 
 " In conclusion, my friends, I appeal to you then, 
 whether from the north pole to the south pole, there 
 is a single nation which is so visibly opened of the 
 Lord for the reception of the Gospel, as India? 
 And if, as I apprehend, none can be named, is it 
 not the imperative duty of British Christians now to 
 take the work energetically in hand ? Would you 
 entertain a doubt as to what it was your duty to 
 do, if you had heard a voice from heaven com- 
 manding you to carry forth the Gospel with power 
 and strength to India? You know you would not. 
 Without extravagance I may declare, that such a 
 voice has been heard. The extraordinary display 
 
336 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 of so many striking facts, which show such a 
 promising state of preparation in India, is the 
 voice of Providence, as distinguishable as if it 
 had been heard from heaven." 
 
 India, and especially the great capital, Cal- 
 cutta, the emporium of commerce and trade in 
 the East, is evidently destined in God's provi- 
 dence to become the central point for the re- 
 generation of the vast continent of Asia; its 
 political relations, its favourable geographical 
 position, the great preparations which have been 
 made, and which are in operation for the spread of 
 the Eedeemer's kingdom, — all these things clearly 
 show that from that centrical spot, the blessings of 
 civilisation, and the light of revealed truth, will 
 extend their cheering rays over the nations of that 
 immense continent. All the new discoveries of the 
 hidden powers of nature, all the improvements in 
 arts and sciences by the wisdom of man, which 
 in our eventful times are advancing in such rapid 
 strides, are destined to advance the great work 
 of evangelisation. Steamers now go in twenty 
 days from Calcutta to China ; and from Calcutta 
 to Suez in about the same time. The great rivers 
 of India, the Ganges, Indus, and Burhampooter, 
 are ploughed by English steamers. A plan for 
 constructing a railway from Calcutta to Allahabad, 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 337 
 
 a distance of five hundred miles, has lately been 
 projected by a skilful, ingenious officer, and pro- 
 posed to the East Indian Government. They are 
 also speaking of a second grand railroad, which is 
 to be constructed through Central India, from 
 Calcutta to Bombay, a distance of about fifteen 
 hundred miles. India is in peace, and the times 
 are more favourable than ever for the execution of 
 such great and important schemes. By these 
 wonderful improvements new paths will be opened 
 for the spread of Divine truth in that great 
 empire; distances will be surprisingly shortened, 
 and the communications between the different 
 provinces facilitated. Thus while the children of 
 the world carry out their gigantic plans for improv- 
 ing commerce and amassing wealth, the missionary 
 follows on, in these newly-opened tracts, and the 
 light of the Gospel penetrates more deeply into 
 the remotest recesses of the darkest paganism. 
 
 As to outward appearance, mission work in India 
 has to wind its way through a chaos of hostile 
 elements : conflicts will continue, and troubles will 
 not cease ; and therefore, he in whom the eyes of 
 faith are not opened, is in danger of being con- 
 founded at the leadings of God's providence: but 
 one thing is certain — the cause will eventually 
 
 z 
 
338 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 prove victorious. Amidst the powerful blows 
 which fall from every side upon the old fabric of 
 Hindooism, it must at last be crushed to pieces. 
 If the church of Christ will but act worthy of her 
 high powers and destiny, no atheism, no other 
 hostile infidel system, shall be erected on its ruins ; 
 no, a beautiful temple of the Lord shall be built 
 up, in which he shall be worshipped in spirit and 
 in truth, and India's millions of inhabitants shall 
 rejoice with us, in God their Saviour. 
 
 Some people believe that centuries will still 
 elapse before heathenism is extirpated in every 
 part of India, and before the whole country can be 
 evangelised. I am not of their opinion, and feel 
 no inclination to join the ranks of those who have 
 nothing but difficulties to produce, and can fix 
 their eyes nowhere, but upon the darkest back- 
 ground of the picture. One great event is follow- 
 ing another in our days in the political world, 
 shaking whole nations and empires. And do we 
 not perceive the same thing happening in the 
 religious world, — events of the greatest magnitude 
 succeeding each other with increasing rapidity ? 
 
 While the building of Solomon's temple was 
 in progress, it is very probable that many came 
 and looked on, who, seeing the preparations, were 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 339 
 
 ready to say, it was perfectly impossible that the 
 magnificent structure contemplated, could be 
 finished within six or seven years ; forasmuch as 
 they could only perceive the foundation being laid, 
 and the ground levelled ; but they were little aware 
 of what was going on in the marble quarries of 
 Tyrus, and in the cedar forests of Mount Lebanon. 
 Thousands of labourers and artisans were there 
 engaged cutting the timber, and preparing the 
 marble blocks and framework of the noble edifice. 
 Every part was made ready and received its polish 
 there ; and so perfect were the preparations, that 
 it is expressly stated, " And the house, when it 
 was in building, was built of stone made ready 
 before it was brought thither, so that there was 
 neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, 
 heard in the house while it was in building." 
 
 In like manner there are, in the present day, 
 thousands of hands, heathens and Christians, 
 believers and unbelievers, engaged in preparing 
 the materials for the spiritual temple of God. 
 They who know the Great Architect, have been 
 permitted to look into his plan, and they can 
 rejoice in hope, being assured that a glorious 
 edifice will be raised, although they are not as yet 
 acquainted with the details, nor how the several 
 
340 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 D 
 
 parts are to be joined together : they know quite 
 well that the workmen, engaged in his service, work 
 as it were, into each other's hands, and that the 
 various materials are calculated in the nicest man- 
 ner, to fit into their proper and destined places ; — 
 yes, they have a happy presentiment, grounded 
 upon facts, that the whole will be finished much 
 sooner than might be expected. 
 
 " Where," says a pious and able writer on 
 modern missions, in anticipation of that glorious 
 period, " where is now Diana of the Ephesians ? 
 where are now Jupiter and the gods of Greece ? 
 and where the whole Pantheon of Rome? The 
 first Christians testified against them, and they 
 vanished. Witnesses of Christ came to Britain, 
 and where are now Woden, and all the Saxon 
 gods, with the sanguinary rites of the Druids ? " 
 Brethren, the idols we assail, have long since been 
 routed, and the sword we wield routed them. 
 
 The gods of India are the same, under different 
 names, which Italy and Greece adored ; the sword 
 of the Spirit chased them from the West, and shall 
 it do less now in the East ? Many of them are 
 already fallen : " Bel boweth down, and Nebo 
 stoopeth." And the Christian missionary ap- 
 proaching, and standing before the most crowded 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 341 
 
 temple, and the firmest throne idolatry boasts of, 
 is Divinely warranted in taking up a burden 
 against it, by saying, " Thy days are numbered, 
 and thine end draweth near." Yes, if there be 
 stability in a Divine decree, if there be merit in 
 the mediation of Christ, if any truth in the doc- 
 trine of his reign, and power in the agency of his 
 Spirit, the prediction shall be fulfilled. The 
 history of the world, to the latest period of time, 
 is written already in His mind. Every province 
 of idolatry and error has its limit and its date 
 appointed there. The angel is already selected 
 who shall eventually shout, " Babylon is fallen, is 
 fallen ! " The chorus is appointed whose voices 
 are to resound, " The kingdoms of this world are 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his 
 Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever ! " 
 
 My dear readers, I am about, within a few 
 months, to return to my field of labour, in India ; 
 and I look forward to my departure, not with a 
 feeling of gloom and anxiety. Oh, no ! I go with 
 a joyful heart — for India is now my home — until 
 I reach that eternal home, where friends meet 
 again to part no more. I know many a wave of 
 trouble will yet roll over us ; persecution may, and 
 will come too; the Brahmins will strive and fight, 
 
342 THE SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS OF 
 
 perhaps even unto blood, before all the bulwarks 
 of the prince of darkness are conquered, and 
 before Christianity can celebrate its final triumph 
 in India. But I trust we are prepared, in the 
 name of God, to persevere as faithful soldiers of 
 Christ, unto the end. Let the storms rage, and 
 the waves run high : be it only our chief care 
 that the vessel be driven onward towards the port 
 of eternal rest. I observed, during my passage 
 from Calcutta homewards, that the sailors were 
 most cheerful in rough weather, and most dis- 
 heartened in calms ; they said, nothing was more 
 intolerable to them than a dead calm, when the 
 ship lies immoveable, like a log of wood upon the 
 water. 
 
 May I be permitted, in conclusion, to add my 
 earnest request, that my readers will, in spirit, 
 accompany me to Bengal? We all know what 
 the prayer of faith effected in the days of Elias ; 
 we know that it moves heaven, and is powerful 
 enough to unlock the treasures of Divine grace. 
 Here is the secret of real prosperity in the cause 
 of missions. In golden censers, ministering spirits 
 present this holy incense before the throne of 
 God; all other human knowledge and agency 
 cannot, for a moment, be brought into compari- 
 
MISSIONARY LABOURS IN INDIA. 343 
 
 son with this precious sacrifice. Oh, friends ! 
 there is something unspeakably glorious in the 
 communion of saints ! When thousands at home 
 are lifting up their hearts to God, missionaries 
 will experience the power and blessing of it in the 
 heathen world ; this is the hand that will lead 
 us on to victory, in the arduous struggle with 
 the dark power of heathenism. Therefore, I 
 would once more repeat the oft-heard request, — 
 " Brethren, pray for us ! " Then in the pure spirit 
 of brotherly love we shall, though separated in 
 the flesh, remain united. 
 
 Let us then, from a principle of love and 
 gratitude, take our share cordially in the building 
 of Zion ; but let us take heed, at the same time, 
 that we ourselves, " as lively stones, are built up, 
 a spiritual house." It is a solemn thought, that 
 many who assisted in building the temple of 
 Jerusalem, never entered its courts for the wor- 
 ship of Jehovah; and that the workmen who 
 laboured in building the ark of Noah, perished 
 in the great flood. 
 
 While therefore, we extend our hands for 
 saving our lost brethren in heathen lands, let us, 
 ourselves, enter the ark of the new covenant, 
 and steer, under Jesus' guidance and protection, 
 
344 SUCCESS, ETC., OF LABOURS IN INDIA. 
 
 towards the port of eternal peace. Having safely 
 reached the shores of the heavenly Canaan, when 
 the last storm is past, and the last billow has 
 spent its fury, our joy will be perfect. God grant 
 that the writer and reader may meet with joy 
 before the throne of our adorable Redeemer ! 
 
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