THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES a #. i', ■> pi a « o O a / / MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN; WITH A BRIEF \tuxi$tittn at t\t Cjorantrg, AND OF THE MORAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE INHABITANTS. BY THE Rev. JAMES R. CAMPBELL, MISSIONARY AT BAHARANT UR, NORTH INDIA, IN CONNECTION 'WITH THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. — Dan. xil. 4. The profits of the work devoted to Foreign Mitiions. PHILADELPHIA: BOARD OP MISSIONS OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, By GEO. II. STUART, Treas. No. 13 BANK STREET. 18 53. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by GEO. H. STUART, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. PHILADELPHIA. PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN. - ? INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. An earnest desire to promote increased attention to the great work of evangelizing the world, has caused the pre- paration and publication of the following volume. The respected author was led at an early period in life to con- secrate himself to the work of Foreign Missions ; and since 1835 he has been actively engaged in it, nearly all of this time having been spent in India. His opportunities for being fully acquainted with the subject he discusses, con- nected with the earnestness and perspicuity with which he presents it, give the work a value which it is hoped will be properly appreciated. Several well-known friends of the cause of foreign missions have given assistance in its pub- lication, whose kindness is gratefully acknowledged. Our thanks are especially due to Messrs. Carter, of New York, who have furnished the casts from which the illustrations have been electrotyped, and to Mr. Joseph P. Engles, of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, who has taken great interest in the work, and afforded much aid in preparing it for the press. We hope that all who have given assistance in the work, or yet may aid it, will find in the good it accomplishes an abundant satisfaction for their ser- INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. vices. The general circulation of books of this character is certainly well calculated to arouse the slumbering disci- ples of the Saviour to a sense of the obligation and privilege of " preaching the gospel to every creature." The apathy with which the subject is viewed by the great mass of pro- fessing Christians is truly painful and alarming, and excites the fear that unless the church " repent and do the first works/' in imitation and emulation of the zeal of primitive Christianity, the Saviour, justly displeased with such dis- obedience to his authority, and such indifference to the eternal happiness of souls perishing for lack of knowledge, may " come quickly and remove the candlestick out of its place," extinguishing the light and destroying the influence of the church where it now exists. The Board of Missions of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, in publishing this volume, hope that it will be accompanied by the Divine blessing, and made effectual for the great object which the author so much desires to advance, and to which no real Christian can be indifferent. PREFACE. After all that has been published of late years, not only in the Journals of Missionaries, but in the many other interesting volumes that have issued from the press respecting the cha- racter and condition of the heathen, and the duty of profess- ing Christians to send them the gospel, it must be acknow- ledged that, on these important subjects, but few as yet are in possession of definite information. The writer of the following pages has long been convinced that this is a principal reason why so little, heretofore, has been felt for the perishing heathen, and, comparatively, so little done toward their evangelization. This impression was strengthened during -his late visit to Ire- land, Scotland, and the United States. While providentially called to appear before the churches connected with the Re- formed Presbyterian Synods in these lands, as well as before many other Christian churches, it was expected that some account would be given of the missionary work in India, and of that peculiar people the Hindus, among whom he has long resided. With this object in view, the substance of the fol- lowing volume was prepared, and delivered in various places in the form of lectures. In this way it was gratifying to think that when necessarily absent, for a time, from the scenes of his former labours, some good was accomplished in extending mis- sionary information, and some interest excited in behalf of the perishing multitudes of Hindustan. As, however, his stay in the United States was short, and as he never expects to have another opportunity of pleading the cause of benighted India in a Christian land, ho has been induced to comply with tho 1* 5 6 PREFACE. urgent request of many of the warm friends of missions by sending this small volume to the press. While, therefore, he gratifies his friends, he hopes, even when on the other side of the globe, or, it may be, when in his grave, to have the satis- faction of contributing to a cause in which he must ever feel the deepest interest. It is his prayer especially that it may be the means of promoting a missionary spirit among the youth in Christian families and Sabbath-schools. These are the fu- ture hope of the church and of missions. In them he feels a deep interest, and to them particularly he takes the liberty of inscribing it. Considering the number of works on the peculiarities of the Hindis that already exist, it could hardly be expected that any thing now written on that subject would possess much origi- nality. The author of this unpretending work has, in general, confined himself to giving a narrative of facts, as these came under his own observation during his residence and travels in India. He has found, however, among the writings of Sir "William Jones, Ward, Duff, Campbell, Buyers, and others, and also in numerous articles in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, much that is interesting regarding the religion and literature of Hindustan; and when the views thus presented have ac- corded with personal observation, he has been happy to draw from such respectable authorities, though he has not thought it necessary to occupy his pages with references. Indeed, on the subject of the religious belief of the Hindfis, all modern writers have been in a great measure indebted to those who have unlocked parts of the immense masses of Sanscrit lore and lumber, — of folly and fiction, which are embodied in the Shasters or sacred books. Before closing, the author would take this opportunity of expressing his warmest thanks to the friends through whose kindness and assistance he has been enabled to carry these pages through the press. May the Lord bless this feeble at- tempt to promote the extension of his kingdom in heathen lands. Sahdranpur, North India, Sept. 26, 1849. J \ J L D [D / V i r j -\ r i r Ground Plan of the Mission Church, Sabaranpur. DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEW OF THE MISSION PREMISES, SAHARANPUR, NORTH INDIA. The view is taken from the S. E., near the point where the catechists' houses are, and which cannot of course appear in the sketch. Of the sketch, we may say it is remarkably correct and true to nature. To begin with the church, the most prominent building in view, it stands midway between the two old mission houses, and about thirty yards to the west of the front line. The building is what it ap- pears to be, beautiful, chaste, and substantial. The whole is built of well-burned bricks, and most of it cemented by very substantial mortar made of lime and brick-dust. The inside arrangements and plan are explained in the accompanying diagram. The platform in front, twelve by forty feet, is reached by a flight of six easy steps. At each end of these wide steps is a square block on which lamps have been erected. There is no portico ; but four pilasters, two feet nine inches wide and projecting six inches from the surface of the wall, support the entablature and pediment. The entablature and pilasters extend all round the building. Just over the door, and beneath the small pediment, a slab of white marble is inserted, with the following inscription : " Reformed Presbyterian Church. Built A. D. 1850." The openings for a clock are for the present filled with false dials, well imitated. The movable Venetian shutters, painted green, open outside — the glass windows, opening on hinges, fold up also on hinges, and fall back so as not to extend beyond the surface of the wall inside. The ball on the spire is copper, well gilded with pure gold by a goldsmith in Delhi. It is three feet in circumference, and looks well. The whole building is finished with plaster of sand and lime, and looks like gray freestone. It is greatly admired by all the English gentlemen who have seen it — and we have some officers of the Engineers in this quarter, of the best taste in architecture. It has a lightning-rod. On the 1st of January, 1850, the foundation was laid, and it was opened with appropriate religious exercises on the 20th April, 1851. The two old mission houses, built in 1840, and occupied by Messrs. Campbell and Caldwell, stand one on each side of the church. They are exactly of the same di- mensions, and the plan of both is the same ; but in consequence of an accident happening to the flat roof of the latter the year after it was built, it has since had a thatched roof. The verandahs, and other parts exposed to the rains, are built of burned bricks, but all the inner walls are of common sun-dried bricks — the whole finished neatly, and plastered outside, the same as the church. They were then whitewashed also, but have since been coloured a pale yellmv, as more pleasant to the eye under a burning sun. These verandahs are essential to the coolness of a house, and afford a comfortable place to sit or to walk in the shade. All the outer doors have Venetian shutters opening outside, which will either admit light or air, or, falling down, will darken the room. At night they allow a free circulation of air to pass through all the rooms. — Mr. Woodside's house, to the north of Mr. Caldwell's, was purchased on his arrival here. It was then in bad repair, but has been much improved. It makes the mission premises now complete. In fact, they are now, in every respect, the most complete of any I have over seen. The mis- sionaries arc all together, and in a minute can meet to decide any important ques- 7 1 I I 8 DESCRIPTION OF THE MISSION PREMISES. tion that cornea before them. The church and English school-house are both in the right place. The latter stands on the side of the public road leading from the city to the civil offices, which is much travelled. The Orphan School is to the south of Mr. Campbell's dwelling, and in continuation of it, with the exception of a small yard between. It cannot appear in this sketch. One of the catechists may be seen giving nasihat— religious instruction— to a few inquirers gathered around him. The woman with the child keeps in the back- ground, according to the prevailing custom in India, gome of the boys are playing in the verandah of the school-house. The house just behind Mr. Caldwell's is the tent and tract depository. Near the above is a sun-dial. GROUND-PLAN OF THE MISSION CHURCH, SAHARANPUR. Notes.— The building Li sixty feet by forty. The floor and platform in front are elevated from the ground three feet. Total elevation'of the ioof, twenty-seven feet. Total elevation of the spire, ninety-five feet. There are twelve windows, four feet wide, eight feet high. One large entrance- door, five feet by nine. Two doors entering the library and sexton's rooms. The body of the church is seated with arm-chairs. Along the side-walls there is a raised seat. The aisles are round the sides. The whole is covered with beautiful carpet. Punkhas, or large fans, swing over the chairs. The building is of the Roman Doric order, with all the modern improvements. A foot and a-half above the tops of the windows there are handsome cornices pro- jecting far out; and around the windows and doors, both inside and out, are beau- tiful mouldings. The four pillars in the body of the church, supporting the ar- chitrave and roof, are twenty-one feet high, and two and a-half feet diameter at the base. They, together with the pulpit, and the arch behind the pulpit, and the grand arch between the vestibule and the church, are beautifully done in stucco, so that they appear like pure white marble. The cushion is crimson silk-velvet with tassels. The lamps, such an ornament, together with the wall-lamps and bell, are the gift of an American friend. 'With this exception, all the other ex- penses, $2,250, were provided for by our kind friends in this country. There is a contrivance, which I have never before seen, for conveying the water off the roof silently to the ground, by means of six drains on the two sides, (as seen in the plan,) which pass down to the ground through the centre of the pilasters. We could not obtain tin spouts here. The plan answers admirably. The lightning-rod of iron, sheeted with copper, passes through the gilded ball and centre of the spire for about ten feet. It then goes out to the west, and is conveyed the whole way from the ball to the ground through necks of bottles placed in wood, and then passes into a well at the foundation. In the reading-room there is a large bookcase, with glazed doors, that holds the best part of the mission library. Here the missionaries hold their meetings for public business. It answers also as a private study. In the sexton's room there are stairs winding around three sides and leading to the roof, and under these stairs there are presses for oil and lamps, &c. The vestibule, and the aisles between the pillars and the walls, are covered with cloth of colours, cut in diamonds to imitate a mar- ble pavement, and look well. All the windows have Venetian shutters outside, painted green. The house would seat four to five hundred natives. Arrangements have been made to put up a gallery without trouble, should it ever be required. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE Analogy between Israel's rebellion on the borders of the pro- mised land, and the action of the Christian church in re- gard to missions — The results of unbelief and disobedience — The commission given to both similar — The apostles and others obeyed — Their success wonderful — Missionary enter- prise ceased during the dark ages — Revived during the last fifty years — Heathendom spied out by modern missionaries — Interesting reports given to the chm-ches — Missionary labours attended with reasonable success — The field wide open — A call to go up and occupy — The gospel bequeathed to all — The church the executors of Christ's last will and testament — Importance of the trust — Obedience to Christ's last command as important as to his dying command — Christians who obey not the former inconsistent — Little sympathy with Christ and the perishing heathen — The love of Christ ought to constrain us — Outline of the work 13 CHAPTER II. India as a field of missions fully open— Harmony and zeal of missionaries — Their location—Supply of labourers inade- quate — Variety of tribes and nations occupying the country — Hindu sects — Appearance of India — A missionary's im- pressions on reaching its benighted shores — Bodies of the dead floating in the Ganges — Burning the dead — Scenery in Bengal and Northern India— Valley of the Ganges — Population immense — Himalaya mountains — Sanatariums — Climate of the plains— Hot winds— Fertility of the soil — Modes of Agriculture— Rainy season — British government in India — Former connection with idolatry — Christianity excluded from government colleges and schools — A call on Christians to spread the gospel 29 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. PAGE Character of the Hindus— Their appearance and dress— Moral condition— Degradation of the female sex— Early marriages —Confinement in Zenanas— Widowhood— Drudgery of the poor for a scanty subsistence — Taste in dress — Society anti- social—Patriarchal system in families— Marriage ceremo- nies — Population collected into cities and villages — Con- struction of dwellings — Want of taste and comfort in their apartments — Food — Mode of eating and drinking — Confi- dence in charms — Medical practice — Holidays numerous — The Holi and Durgapuja — Horrors of the swinging festival — Goddess Kali — Scenes at a temple of Jagatnath — Mela at Hardwar — Pilgrimages — Our duty to the heathen 53 CHAPTER IV. The Hindu religion a transcendentalism — Four sreat Shasters — Character of these writings — No claim to inspiration — Absurdities taught— Notions of the Supreme Being— No worship rendered to him — Three great gods — Subordinate deities innumerable — False opinions regarding the solar sys- tem — Origin of caste — Transmigration of souls — Doctrine of fate — Final absorption of all things in Brahm — Incanta- tions — Hindu worship — Trifling ceremonies — Bathings — Temples — Numerous and opposing sects — Austerities and tortures — Horrid opinions and practices of the Thugs — De- gradation of mendicants indescribable 75 CHAPTER V. Discouragements to missionary labour — Difficulties should be known by the church — Number of strange languages spoken — Difficult of acquisition — A Christian and scientific litera- ture to be created — Progress made in translations — Much still to be done — Ignorance and prejudice of the people — Printing but little known — Native books — Paucity of readers — Opposition of the priests to Christian education — Bigotry — Self-righteousness — Caste — Brahminical influ- ence — Female degradation — Moral depravity of the com- munity — Idolatry and heathen rites — Grounds of encou- ragement 104 CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER VI. PAQB Organization and efforts of the first mission to the heathen — Travels of Paul and Barnabas, and their success — Report made to the church at Antioch — Inferences from this Scriptural example — Progress and prospects of the gospel in North India — Particular account of missionary opera- tions at Fathagarh — Furruckabad — Kanpur — Allahabad — Mirzapur — Chunar — Banaras — Ghazepur — Patna — Mon- ghyr — Berhiimpur — Culna — Chinsurah — Ser&mpur — Cal- cutta — London mission schools — Schools of the Free Church of Scotland — Education in the metropolis — Past success — Cheering prospects — Character of the missionaries — Results of their labours 138 CHAPTER VII. Brief account of the Lodiana mission in the north-west pro- vinces of India — First missionaries sent out — Lodiana se- lected as a station — Reinforcement of missionaries — New stations commenced — Additional reinforcements — Stations now occupied — Instrumentalities employed to evangelize the heathen — Preaching the gospel — Bazaar preaching, how conducted — Regular services on the Sabbath — Itinera- tions through distant districts — Strange mode of travel- ling — Distribution of Scriptures and tracts — Attendance at religious fairs — Annual mela at Hardwar — Interesting la- bours at that celebrated place of pilgrimage — Schools — ■ English and vernacular — Male and female boarding-schools — Happy results — The press — Its operations extensive — Works translated, published, and distributed — Native churches formed — Presbyteries organized — The mission- ary enterprise no romance — How to be undertaken and conducted — Causes of thanksgiving and of encouragement — A great preparatory work accomplished — The enterprise of new settlers in America compared with that of Chris- tian missionaries — Want of immediate success no cause of discouragement — The gospel destined to triumph over all opposition and to subdue the world to Christ 1G0 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. paob Duties and responsibilities of Christians to the heathen — All Hindfistan open to the gospel — A loud call of Provi- dence in behalf of her perishing millions — No good reason for delay — The church now called upon to display her mili- tant and aggressive character— A good beginning made — Advantages not to be lost without increased guilt — Chris- tian neglect exposed— The physical, mental, and moral de- gradation of the Hindus an argument in their behalf— Their destiny as heathen— Their blood laid to the account of an unfaithful church — The gospel a remedy for their case — The last command binding on all, yet obeyed by few No lack of enterprise in worldly affairs— Duty to the heathen misunderstood— Not to be converted by miracles, but by means of divine appointment — Apostolic example worthy of imitation — Our obligations and advantages greater than those of the primitive Christians— Sketch of Paul's mission- ary labours— Entire consecration required of all— The mis- sionary spirit essentially the spirit of the gospel — The Apostle John's views of the case— Selfishness incompatible with Christianity— Neglect of the heathen inconsistent with humanity, justice, honesty, faithfulness, and gratitude- Love to Christ surmounts difficulties — Signs of promise Success fully proportioned to efforts made— The work in its infancy— Christians only awaking to a sense of duty Sketch of what has been accomplished— Results incalcu- lable—Closing address to youth, to students of theology, and to the church at large 190 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. CHAPTER I. Analogy between Israel's rebellion on the borders of the promised land, and the action of the Church in regard to missions — The results of unbelief and disobedience — The commission given to both similar — The Apostles and others obeyed— Their success •wonderful — Missionary enterprise ceased during the dark ages — Revived during the last fifty years — Heathendom spied out by modern missionaries — Interesting reports given to the Churche3 — Missionary labours attended -with reasonable success — The field wide open — A call to go up and occupy — The gospel be- queathed to all — The Church the executors of Christ's last will and testament — Importance of the trust — Obedience to Christ's last command as important as to his dying command — Christians who obey not the former inconsistent — Little sympathy with Christ and the perishing heathen — The love of Christ ought to constrain us — Outline of the work. The history of the Children of Israel, in their de- liverance from the house of bondage in Egypt, in their passage through the Red Sea and the Wilderness, and their final introduction into the land of promise, bears a very strong analogy, to the history of individual Christians, brought from the bondage of a broken co- venant — from the slavery of sin and Satan, into the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free, — guided by the special and gracious providences of God while passing through the wilderness of this world, and at last made conquerors over all their spiritual 2 13 14 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. enemies, and admitted to the full enjoyment of the heavenly Canaan. It also bears a striking analogy to the history of the Church in all her progressive movements, and all her glorious conquests under the direction of Jesus, the true Joshua — the captain of the Lord's host; in whose hands, as Mediator, and as her exalted King and Head, has been placed all power in heaven and earth, for the promotion of her interests and the extension of her boundaries. It has appeared to the writer, also, that this resemblance is peculiarly impressive in that part of the history of the Church in the Wilderness, which is recorded in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the book of Numbers. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel : of every tribe of your fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses sent men to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain, and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many : and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad ; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds ; and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there bo wood therein or not : and be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. So they went and searched the land, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they returned from searching the land, after forty days, and came to Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation of ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH. 15 the children of Israel, and brought back word, and showed thern the fruit of the land ; and said, we came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great : and moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south ; and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains ; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan." On hearing this much of the report, murmuring and dissatisfaction spread throughout the camp. Then " Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and pos- sess it ; for we are avcII able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, we be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, the land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it, are men of a great stature : and there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants ; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried ; and the people wept that night, and they murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that 16 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. our wives and our children should be a prey? "Were it not better for us to return into Egypt ? And they they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congrega- tion of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes : and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, the land which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us ; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us : their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not." With the previous and subsequent history of this peculiar people, Christians are well acquainted. In fulfilment of the covenant made with Abraham, re- newed to Isaac and Jacob, and confirmed to Israel for an everlasting covenant, in which it was said, "Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, as the lot of your inheritance," God had preserved his chosen people in times of famine; wrought miracles for their deliver- ance ; reproved kings for their sakes ; with a high hand and an outstretched arm, brought them out of the house of bondage ; made a way through the Red Sea, for his ransomed to pass over as on dry ground, and which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned; manifested his presence in a pillar of cloud to defend them from the heat by day, and a pillar of fire to give them light UNBELIEF AND DISOBEDIENCE. 17 by night ; gave them bread from heaven, and water from the flinty rock; and guided them on safely through the wilderness until they came to the very borders of that good land which the Lord their God had given them. As a precautionary measure, and as preparatory to a general move of the congregation, chosen men from their respective tribes were sent, by the command of God, to spy out the land. Their re- port is recorded above. Two of them, were men of faith, and confiding in the promise and power of Je- hovah, they encouraged the people to go up at once and take possession of those heathen nations, whose defence had departed from them, and whose hearts were failing them for fear of a people whose God was the Lord. A large majority of ten, however, brought up a very different report. They had no confidence in that Al- mighty arm that was engaged in their behalf. They represented it as "a land that eateth up the inhabit- ants thereof." As a country filled with great and walled cities, defended by men of a great stature ; by giants of the sons of Anak, in whose sight, as well as in their own, they appeared as grasshoppers. This intelligence afforded a sufficient excuse to the faint- C5 hearted, and produced the utmost consternation and disaffection in the camp of Israel. The whole body of the people rose up against Moses and Aaron; ex- pressed deep regret that they had ever left the flesh- pots of Egypt, and resolved to appoint a leader to guide them back again to the house of bondage. This was nothing less than an open rebellion against God, who was himself king in Jeshurun, and who, as he had promised, was able to perforin all that was necessary 2* 18 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. to place theni in the land given in covenant to their fathers. As a punishment for their unbelief and dis- obedience to the Divine authority, they were remanded back to the borders of the Red Sea, and, for nearly forty years, caused to wander in the desert, until the carcasses of all who at that time were twenty years old and upward, fell in the wilderness, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. Thus we see that God chastised them for rebellion, and that they could not enter in and realize the fulfilment of his promise because of unbelief. Now, there are two periods of the Church, in New Testament times, to which this interesting portion of scripture history appears to bear a striking analogy : One at the commencement of the Christian era ; the other, the important age in which it is our privilege to live and act. After the Lord Jesus Christ had ap- peared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, after he had fulfilled all righteousness, and by one offering up of himself had for ever perfected them who are sanctified; after the object for which he came into our world was accomplished, and, as the reward of his humiliation and suffering, all power in heaven and earth had been put into his hands, for the exten- sion of his kingdom ; and after the wall of partition that had so long separated the Jews from the Gentile nations had been thrown down ; then, as he was about to ascend to the throne of his mediatorial glory, he gave the solemn command to his disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ; and lo ! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Here then is a command given, THE SAVIOUR'S COMMISSION. 19 in reference to the evangelization of the heathen, and the introduction of Christ's kingdom into the corrupt and idolatrous nations of the earth, which is just as important and imperative as that which was given to the Church in the wilderness. It was evidently so understood by Apostolic men and primitive Christians. Possessing the spirit of Caleb and Joshua, they went forth to the arduous work of subduing the gentile world to the obedience of the faith. God gave testimony to the word of his grace, and soon the gospel numbered its trophies in every part of the civilized world. This was a good beginning, and had succeeding generations prosecuted the enterprise in the same spirit, they would have gone on conquering and to conquer, until every remnant of idolatry would have been removed, and the kingdoms of this world have become, in actual subjection, the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. But they soon grew weary of this work of faith and labour of love. No longer willing to encounter the difficulties of missionary life, and to endure the sacri- fices and self-denial, the perils and the pains, of the Apostle to the gentiles, they furled the gospel banner, destined to wave over every nation under heaven, and on which those devoted men, those true soldiers of the cross, had inscribed in living characters, " Give us victory, or give us deatii." They preferred the gratification of the flesh, and the indulgence of inglorious ease, to the toil of the battle field, and the crown of the victor. Like the unbelieving and un- grateful Israelites, their hearts were not right with God, neither were they steadfast in his Covenant. During many centuries, in the dark ages, the work of 20 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. evangelizing the heathen was at a stand, and it was not until the reformation of the Church from popery was effected ; it was not until she began to assume her primitive character ; to manifest the vital influence of her Divine Head, and to imitate his benevolent and self-denying example, that the glorious work of mis- sions was resumed. The same cause that kept the Church in the wilderness for forty years, and allowed the heathen to remain in the undisturbed possession of the land of promise, has retarded the progress of Christianity and the overthrow of the powers of dark- ness. That cause is unbelief, and disobedience to an express command, and the consequent displeasure of the King of Zion. But the period for the actual fulfilment of the pro- mise at length draws near, and we rejoice that the Church of Christ again occupies the position she did in the wilderness of Paran. May she not imitate the example of the rebellious Israelites ! For some time she has been sending men to the heathen nations, to spy out the land. The reports that have been made, inform the Church that great and powerful obstacles are in the way of the gospel. They do not conceal the fact, that gigantic establishments of idolatry, gray with age, and supported by a blind superstition, exist, and that it will require strong, united, and persevering efforts on the part of God's people, to obtain a footing and finally to subdue those nations to the sceptre of Messiah, the Prince. In view, however, of all these difficulties and discouragements, and of the promises and power of Jehovah engaged to render the means of his own appointment successful, they furnish suffi- THE CALL TO OCCUPY. 21 cient ground to believe that, in the proper use of these means, the victory is certain. In many instances, the power which the heathen once possessed has departed from them. The light of science, as well as of the gospel, has already, to some extent, penetrated the thick darkness by which heathendom has been so long enveloped. God has blessed the incipient efforts of his servants in foreign lands, and some fruits, like the grapes of Eschol, have been presented as the earnest of a more plentiful harvest. In short, the united advice to the churches, of all the faithful men who have gone to spy out the land, is, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. Let us now, Christian friends, look seriously and so- lemnly at this subject; and, in full view of its vast importance, in view of the past rebellion of the Church, and its awful consequences to herself, and in the destinies of a perishing world; in view of her so- lemn obligations to Him who by a mission to our guilty world, redeemed her, not with corruptible things, such . as silver and gold, but with his own precious blood, say, can she hesitate — can she linger, in discharging her duty to the heathen? And if the Church will not go forward promptly and efficiently in this glorious enterprise, is it not the duty of every individual Christian to resolve to do the part that belongs to him- self, and to say, in the language of Joshua, on another occasion, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?" Is it not the duty of the whole Church, to rise up at once, and by grand, decisive efforts, worthy of herself, redeem the missionary character she has so I : I i I i 22 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. long lost? Is it indeed possible that, when brought to the very borders of the promised land; when Pro- vidence, in answer to her prayers, has so widely opened the doors of access to so many parts of the heathen world ; when the wants and the woes of so many mil- lions of perishing heathen are loudly calling upon us for that help which we have it in our power to render ; and when, in the Bible, we have the express command of the Saviour to "go forward," "to go and teach all nations," is it at all possible, that any one who pro- fesses the name of Christ, will manifest so little of his spirit, so little of the feelings of humanity, as to re- fuse to go with a gracious message to the heathen ; or if he cannot go, to send and support a substitute to perform the important service. Surely that man who continues to hold a firm grasp of the wealth which God has given him to be employed in promoting his kingdom and glory, or expends it in the gratification of pride or person, and recognizes not the claims of benevolence, cannot much longer be regarded as a good member of the Christian Church, whatever may be his professions. He certainly is not a faithful steward of the talents God has committed to his care, or of the treasures of the gospel, sufficient to enrich the world. We main- tain that in the last Will and Testament of the Saviour, he bequeathed the gospel to the world, to the whole tvorld. In the dispensation of the covenant of grace, by a free gift and grant, its blessings are made over to sinners of every clime and colour; and hence the command to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." For the administration of this testament, Christ has constituted his disciples the THE GOSPEL BEQUEATHED TO ALL. 23 executors, and, of course, it is their duty faithfully to see that all the legatees be duly informed of the be- nefits that have been bequeathed, and the way in which they may be possessed. A neglect or failure in these duties must necessarily implicate the honesty and faith- fulness of those selected to discharge such an important trust. Nay, it is not only a breach of trust, but a lamentable evidence of selfishness, and of ingratitude to Him who, in the riches of his grace, has allowed them to share in the benefit ; a benefit that is not di- minished by distribution, but one "which enriches him that gives, and him that takes." Let us just ask our- selves what judgment we would form of individuals who had been appointed to act as executors of a large estate, in the benefits of which they themselves had largely shared, if, regardless of the important trust, they should consider it sufficient to secure their own portion, or to make over to their immediate friends and countrymen the share which belonged to them, while no efforts whatever were made to send the in- formation, or transfer the legacies bequeathed to friends in other lands ? Would we consider such per- sons to be men of honour and of faithfulness ? Could we in truth call them just and honest men? What would the world say of them ? What opinion should the Church give of them ? Dear brethren, we speak freely, and with shame Avould confess, that we arc all, verily, guilty in this matter. If those, also, who have been most benevolent and zealous in the discharge of their obligations, must acknowledge their shortcomings, what can be said of those who have done nothing to advance the Saviour's kingdom? They sinfully with- 24 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. hold from the ignorant and perishing heathen the knowledge of a Saviour's love, and of the unsearchable riches of Christ; and will not the blood of the heathen be required at the hands of those who allow them to perish through neglect ? This view of the missionary- work invests it with an immense importance, and rolls over on every Christian man and woman and youth an awful responsibility. Strange, that a command so plain, and a work so glorious, so honourable, and im- portant, as that of giving the gospel to our fellow-men, should be so long and so generally neglected ! We have often wondered why it is that the Christian world has heretofore paid so little regard to the last command of the Saviour, "to preach the gospel to every creature," while it is no less important and binding on every follower of Christ, than that other commandment which says, " Do this in remembrance of me." We all know what would be thought of an individual, who claimed membership in the Christian Church, and yet from year to year should refuse to comply with the dying command of Christ at his table. The name of such a person would soon be stricken off the roll of church membership. And yet, strange to say, multitudes in the Church, at the present time, are still recognised as members, in good and regular standing, who have never, in their whole lives, done any thing whatever toward a practical obedience of that last command — who have never, it may be, con- tributed a single dollar toward sending the means of grace and salvation to a lost world ! What strange inconsistency ! What poor evidence do such give of their love to Christ and the souls of their fellow-men ! INCONSISTENCY OP CHKISTIANS. 25 How unlike in their spirit and disposition to primitive Christians ! While we would not, in all cases, call in question the piety of such persons, as much of this apathy may he ascribed to education and example, and the fact that, in the Church at large, the one duty has been made prominent, while the other has hardly ever been pressed upon the conscience, yet we think the time has come when the whole truth and their duty should be plainly told, however unwelcome or startling it may be. Certainly, so far as this subject is con- cerned, their example furnishes but little proof of sym- pathy with the suffering Saviour, or of that love to their brethren of the human family which is a test of true religion. The gospel requires us to love our neighbour as ourselves. The heathen are our neigh- bours and our brethren. The apostle informs us, that he who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen. Again he says, " Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us : and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, (and who are in such need as the heathen, perishing for the bread of life?) and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" Thus the pen of inspiration, in the most forcible manner, has clearly decided that philanthropy is an important and essential part of Christianity ; and that whatever men may think of themselves, whatever pretensions they may make, if they feel no obligations to relieve the moral maladies of their perishing fellow-men, and do nothing to send them the gospel, the appointed in- 3 26 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. strumentality of salvation, they give no evidence of the love of God abiding in them. If we know any thing of the spirit of true religion, and of its Divine author, it is a spirit of love to the miserable ; a spirit of pure benevolence ; a spirit of missions. We think that no sincere and enlightened Christian can remain inactive in the present day, or regardless of the wants of perishing humanity. The love of Christ will con- strain him to devote himself, as well as the property and influence that God has given him, to the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom ; will destroy the selfish- ness that is natural to the carnal heart ; and it will arouse him to engage in bold and extended efforts for the subjection of a hostile world, to the gracious sway of the Prince of Peace. Nor have we, Christian readers, in undertaking this great and glorious enterprise, which may appear too weighty for mortals, any just ground of fear and dis- couragement. The Lord Jesus, when he gave the com- mand "to disciple all nations," knew, better than we can know, all the discouragements that must be met in accomplishing this object. The power necessary to success is all lodged in his own hand, and infallibly sure to render efficient labour faithfully performed. Under this view of the subject, and with the whole world before them as the field of their labours, the Apostles were not discouraged ; nor did the opposition of the powers of darkness, or of combined and formid- able systems of idolatry, dismay them. The Divine command was the rule of their duty. It ought to be sufficient to settle the question of duty in every mind. And if the Church, when few in number, and limited PLAN OP THE WORK. 27 in -worldly resources, was eager to engage in the dis- charge of the great commission, how much more willing should she be now to penetrate the enemies' country, when she has both the men and the means necessary for the enterprise ; when spies have gone out in all di- rections, carefully surveyed the heathen nations, and brought back a favourable report. The churches that have engaged in the work of missions cannot now retreat without giving the heathen cause to reproach Jehovah, as being unable to bring his people up into the land of promise. Having put their hand to the plough, they must not look back. As additional in- formation regarding the condition and prospects of the heathen, in one of the most ancient and important parts of the world, may stimulate to exertion and con- tribute to success, the author has been induced to lay these pages before the public. The plan which it is designed to pursue is, to give a brief view of the extent of the mission field in Hin- dustan, and the way in which, the providence of God has laid it open for the introduction of the gospel ; of the various tribes and nations that inhabit that land of moral darkness ; of the general appearance of the country ; of its climate, soil, productions, and govern- ment; of the domestic and social condition of the Hindus, their superstitions and idolatrous observances ; of their literature and religion, the nature of their idolatrous worship, and the numerous sects into which they are divided ; of the difficulties to be encountered in the evangelization of India, arising from the variety of languages spoken, the ignorance and prejudices of the Hindus, the construction of society, as existing 28 . MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. in castes, the moral degradation of the people at large, and the stupendous system of idolatry that has so long been established in the land. We shall then, as a contrast to this dark side of the picture, present, in detail a view of the efforts that are now being put forth to spread the gospel in India, as far as these have come under our own observation, and of the suc- cess that has attended these faithful and self-denying labours. In conclusion, we shall endeavour to give an outline of the labours, progress, and prospects of the Lodiana mission, in the far north-west provinces of Hindustan ; and then urge upon the Churches of Christ the importance of increased efforts on behalf of the Hindus. INDIA ACCESSIBLE TO MISSIONARIES. 29 CHAPTER II. India as a field of missions fully open — Harmony and zeal of mis- sionaries — Their location — Supply of labourers inadequate — Variety of tribes and nations occupying the country — Hindu sects — Appearance of India — A missionary's impressions on reaching its benighted shores — Bodies of the dead floating in the Ganges — Burning of the dead — Scenery in Bengal and Northern India — Valley of the Ganges — Population immense — Himalaya mountains — Sanatariums — Climate of the plains — Hot winds — Fertility of the soil — Modes of agriculture — Rainy season — British government in India — Former connection with idolatry — Christianity excluded from government schools ami colleges — A call on Christians to spread the gospel. India, geographically considered, is one of the most extensive, the most interesting and populous portions of the globe. It is a vast empire, embracing between the snowy ranges of the Himalaya mountains on the north, and Cape Comorin on the south, a distance of about two thousand miles, and of Burmah and Assam on the east, and Afghanistan on the west, a distance nearly as great, a population of not less than one hun- dred and fifty millions of the human family, who, in the providence of that God, who giveth the kingdoms of the nations to whomsoever he will, have been placed under either the immediate government or the 'protec- tion of the British nation. Into every harbour and port around that extensive coast, the missionary of the cross may now enter with the utmost security ; and in every city and village throughout the length and breadth 3* 30 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. of the land, he may stand up amid crowds of heathen, and proclaim the messages of salvation, no man daring to forbid him. The broad shield of the British govern- ment is extended for his protection in the proper dis- charge of his important duties, as an ambassador of Christ to the multitudes that may assemble to listen to his message. In short, a great and an effectual door has, by Divine Providence, been opened up to this im- portant part of the Gentile world ; and now, from time to time, through the instrumentality of missionaries, the story of India's woes comes up before the churches in England and America, and from the beautiful but Pagan shores of that dark land, comes also, on the wings of the wind, the loud cry of the man of Mace- donia, saying, " Come over and help us ; and if you cannot come, send, and send speedily, that assistance which you have it in your power to impart ; send that blessed gospel which has done so much for you, and which alone can raise us from the wretched condition in which we are, to a participation in the hopes and blessings of Christianity." About fifty years ago, India was but partially under the sway of the British government, and on account of the infidelity of many of those who, at that time, were intrusted with her public affairs, the doors of access to her benighted millions were, in a great measure, closed against the efforts of missionaries; yet even then, when dark and dismal clouds rested upon Europe, that seemed ready to burst and de- molish liberty and religion, most of the great benevo- lent societies that are the glory of our age sprung into existence. Then missionary societies were or- HARMONY OF MISSIONARIES. 31 ganized, and men were sent to the East and the West, to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ to the long neglected heathen. It was then that the sad con- dition of the Hindus deeply affected the hearts of Thomas, Carey, Marshman, Ward, and others, and dis- posed them cheerfully to forsake their privileges and their homes in Christian lands, and joyfully to spend and be spent in making known the gospel of the grace of God, to the perishing millions of India, and in pio- neering their way to a work that was then surrounded by immense difficulties. From that time, till the present day, some hundreds of men and women, filled with the same spirit, have followed in the footsteps of these fathers of modern missions. Almost all the branches of the Christian Church, both in Britain and America, have taken part in this great and holy enterprise ; and have, in the har- mony of their operations, and by their fraternal co- operation, and the exercise of much Christian love, whilst labouring under distinct banners, and in connec- tion with different missionary societies, given to the in- fidel world a demonstration of Christian unity, harmony, and zeal, which they may not have expected ; and which in their minds, as well as in the minds of the inquisitive heathen, must make a most powerful impression in fa- vour of Christianity. In fact, we have in India, I rejoice to say, a good exhibition of the practical work- ings of what is known in the Christian world, of late years, by the name of the Evangelical Alliance, and which is destined, we doubt not, to do so much for the cause of true religion. These missionaries have planted themselves in differ- 32 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. ent parts of that immense empire. A considerable number are to be found at the capitals of the three Presidencies of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. Some, as the missionaries of the Propagation Society, of the American Board, and of the Wesleyan Society, have devoted their labours principally among the Tamulians of Ceylon, Travancore, Tinavelly, Trichinopoly, Ma- dura, Dinclugal, Madras, &c. London missionaries are labouring at Bangalore, Bellary, Vizagapatam, and Belgaum, to the west and north of Madras; also, in Calcutta and at various stations on the banks of the Ganges, as high up as Mirzapur. Missionaries of the Church of England are to be found at Calcutta, Banaras, and other places up the country. Baptist missionaries are labouring successfully at Cuttack and Poori, (where is the famous temple of Jagatnath,) and other places in central India ; also at Calcutta, Cutwa, Monghyr, Patna, Banaras, Chunar, Agra, Muttra, and Delhi. Mission- aries of the Free Church of Scotland are labouring in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Poonah, and Nagpur. Missionaries of the Scottish Established Church also are found in Calcutta. Missionaries of the American Board in Western India, are found in Bombay, Ahmed- nuggar, &c. Missionaries from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland are carrying on their labours in Gujer&t and Candeish, on both sides of the Gulf of Cambay, at Rajcote, Gogel, and Soorat. Missionaries from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and also from the Reformed Pres- byterian Church, with which it is my happiness to be connected, about twenty-five in all, are labouring in North India, at Lodi&na, Saharanpur, Sabathu, Jallan- SUPPLY INADEQUATE. 33 dar, Allahabad, Fathagarh, Farrackabad, Mynpuri and Agra. These are some of the principal places in Hin- dustan, where the gospel has been planted; and though the list, while not as full as it might be, may seem large to some, yet any one who will take the trouble of mark- ing off these places on a map of India, and then exa- mining the parts that are destitute of the gospel, will at once discover, that compared with the immense tracts of country still remaining in Pagan darkness, and the numerous and populous cities, where the news of salva- tion has never yet been made known, these mission stations are indeed few and far between. It must also be remembered, that at many of these places, mission- ary operations have not long commenced; that some of the men who labour, are still imperfect in the lan- guages spoken by the people ; and that in many in- stances, where the torch of gospel truth has but lately been kindled, its dim blaze can hardly be discovered in the midst of the gross darkness, that like the pall of death rests upon that miserable people. Not one sta- tion that has been occupied has a supply of the gospel at all proportioned to its wants, or which, without a miracle, is likely to make that sudden and decided im- pression on the minds of the heathen multitudes, which sanguine Christians at home may be led to expect. For what is one, or what are two missionaries, placed in a city of a hundred thousand idolaters, and sur- rounded by villages in the immediate vicinity containing a population of as many more ? And then let it be remembered, that often hundreds of miles intervene be- tween mission stations, where heathenism must remain undisturbed, unless where at distant periods a mission- 34 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. ary may happen to pass along, and preach a sermon, or distribute portions of divine truth, in the form of scriptures and tracts. We ought, indeed, to give thanks to God, that the great and blessed work of India's evangelization has been so auspiciously commenced ; but let no one suppose, that because it has been commenced, the victory has been obtained, or that nothing more needs to be done, in order to sweep away the immense accumulations of idolatry and superstition that thou- sands of years have been gathering around the Hindu people, and by which the powers of darkness continue to hold them as in chains of adamant. Let us rejoice that so vast a country, teeming with idolaters, is, in the fullest sense, open to the gospel, and that the missionary of the Cross may there lift up his voice in exposing the popular superstitions, and in opposition to idolatry, and in making known the Saviour's name, with perfect se- curity. And, oh, that all who know the value of true religion, in their own experience, would feel, that this very fact, of having a door to the heathen world opened so widely, brings with it a corresponding responsibility, and rolls over an obligation on every Christian man and woman, (an obligation which they must not evade, under penalty of proving their profession false, and of offend- ing the King of Zion, who "expects every man to do his duty,") an obligation to aid in the triumphs of the glorious gospel throughout the dark and deluded nations of the earth. We would here take the opportunity of saying, with regard to the field of missions in Hindustan, that, in our opinion, it is just at present as widely opened for the introduction of the gospel, as it is ever likely to be until the Church of Christ goes in, and by TRIBES AND NATIONS. 35 her personal efforts opens it wider. If the Churches ■would at once send us a thousand missionaries for India, we could give to each a city and district of more than a hundred thousand inhabitants as the field of his la- bour, and place each of them more than a hundred miles apart ! This being the case, it is a serious ques- tion whether the people of God, in their monthly con- certs for prayer, should any longer ask God to open up the way for the spread of the gospel among the heathen, until they are prepared to go in and occupy the fields he has already opened. But while presenting a general view of the aspect of India, and before Ave enter on a more particular account of the state of the people, and the progress of the gospel through missionary instrumentality, we must not neglect to state, that when we speak of India, we are not to be understood as describing a single people, the Hindus alone ; for the country is occupied by a great variety of tribes and nations, quite different from each other in habits, in religion, and in language. In many parts of the country, and particularly in the north-west, the Mohammedan population is equal to that of the Hindus. The Sikhs are a nation by themselves, which has lately been brought within the reach of the gospel. They profess to be guided in religion and po- litics by the Granth, a book written by Nanak Shah, in which he inculcates universal tolerance among sects, and labours to persuade Hindus and Mohammedans that all the essential parts of their creeds are common to both, and that they should give up all differences in practice, and all corruptions of their teachers, for the worship of the one great Supreme, whether under 36 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. the name of Allah or the Hindu deities ! With these principles, however, the Sikhs are not consistent, for, to a certain extent, they are still Hindus in practice. They venerate the idols of the Hindus, celebrate their festivals, make pilgrimages to their shrines, pay great veneration to the Brahmins, and draw most of their legends and literature from the Shasters. Again, the whole of the mountain ranges of Central India are peopled by what may be called the aborigines of the country. These tribes called the Bheels, the Kunds, the Coles, &c, are very numerous, and in habits, lan- guage, and religion, they all differ nearly as much from each other, as they do from the Hindus themselves. Some of these tribes are in such a barbarous condition, that they are accustomed annually to sacrifice a number of their female children to their gods, to offer literally "the fruit of their bodies for the sin of their souls." That a stop might be put to this inhuman practice, English commissioners have been sent amongst them, and they have succeeded in releasing from prison a large number of female children, where they were in keeping until the day of slaughter. These have been placed in mission schools, to be brought up in the fear and service of the living God. But not only do such varieties exist outside the Hindu family, but they exist to a great extent within its own pale. We shall have occasion, in another place, to notice some of the sects and parties so differ- ent in belief and in practice which are nourished under the wing of Hinduism. The language, and many of the customs of the Maharatas, the Tamulians, the Cin- galese, the Bengalis, and the Hindus of Northern APPEARANCE OF INDIA. 37 India, and the mountain tribes of the Himalayas, are all very different ; and to labour efficiently for the spi- ritual welfare of any of these classes, requires a special preparation on the part of a missionary. This state of things, although in itself an obstacle to the spread of Christianity at the commencement of missionary operations, is likely in the end to turn out rather to the furtherance of the gospel, inasmuch as it shows dis- tinctly that Hinduism, as a whole, is not that one and undivided, unaltered and unalterable religion which its adherents would have us to suppose, but that the various and opposing sects which it embodies, and the conflict- ing opinions which it tolerates, are likely, by and by, to be the very elements by which it is to crumble to pieces, when truth has fairly confronted error, and openings are made by which that truth may find its way into the citadel of superstition and bigotry which now guards the whole system of idolatry in Hindustan. With regard to the appearance of India, the lan- guage of Heber, that " every prospect pleases and only man is vile," is, in general, correct; and that so fair a spot of God's creation should so long be usurped and monopolized by the prince of darkness, is only an- other proof of his pride and presumption, who entered Eden's happy bowers, and by the temptation and fall of our first parents, "brought death into the world and all our woes." This strange commixture of the beau- tiful and sublime in creation, with the degradation and depravity of human nature, strikes the missionary most forcibly as he draws near the shores and " coral strands" of India. The first object usually that meets the eye of the devoted man from the day he took his last farewell 4 38 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. of friends and country, after having, during a voyage of four or five months, passed over about eighteen thousand miles of ocean, is the black pagoda or temple of Jagatnath, on the shores of Orissa, at the head of the Bay of Bengal ; and -when he beholds that shrine, •where deeds darker than the shrine itself have been perpetrated for ages, and where the idol car has crushed its thousands beneath its ponderous wheels, his heart is filled with sympathy and sorrow, and an ardent desire fills it, to be able at once to lift up his voice against such delusions of Satan, and to tell the weary pilgrim to this aceldema, or field of blood, of Him who has provided a free salvation for the lost, and who invites men of every nation to come to him for rest and com- fort. In a short time the ship enters the Hoogley. She has passed on her right Sagor Island, another ce- lebrated place of pilgrimage, where the waters of the Ganges mingle with the ocean, and Avhere, in former times, ere the merciful laws of a Christian people put a stop to the dreadful practice, as being murderous in the highest degree, multitudes of heathen mothers, in fulfilment of vows extorted from them by the priests, committed their first-born infants to the greedy sharks who had congregated there to receive their prey, and who often tore them to pieces before their eyes ! As the missionary approaches Calcutta, he is assured that he draws near to a heathen city, by the sickening sights he is called to witness. Bark and naked multitudes of the living may be seen along the banks or in the water, performing their idolatrous rites, while many of the bodies of the dead continue to float by the ves- sel in all stages of putrefaction, and covered with birds DEVOTION TO THE GANGES. 39 of prey tearing the flesh from the hones ! This dis- gusting spectacle is occasioned by the singular custom among the Hindus, of placing the bodies of the dead on the funeral pile and consuming them to ashes, as is the general custom in the upper provinces or at places remote from the sacred river, or of casting them into some stream, and if possible the Ganges, when too poor to obtain the wood necessary for the former purpose. In their estimation, the Ganges is the most sacred of all rivers, even a personification of the goddess Gunga herself, and hence, to drink the waters at the moment of death, and then to have the body cast into the stream, is considered an effectual means of purification from sin, and the direct way to the Hindus' heaven, absorption in the Deity. Often, when going up and down the Ganges afterward, have we witnessed these horrid rites and disgusting spectacles. We have passed in our boat, during the course of a single day, scores of dead bodies floating in the stream or cast upon the banks, where the pariah dogs, the vultures, and the jackalls, were quarrelling for their prey and tearing it to pieces. We have seen the poor heathen mother, at the dusk of evening, come down to the banks of the river with the dead body of her child wrapped in a dirty cloth, and, close to our boat, make with her own hands a rude float of reeds, place the child upon it, and then push the whole into the current, in the hope of its being carried on in due time to the sea, and lost in the ocean of the Supreme. So holy do they consider this river, that not only are the dead, and the ashes of the dead cast into it, but the* dying from all quarters are carried to its banks by their friends, that 40 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. being buried in it to the neck, and having the holy water poured plentifully down their throats, often to suffocation, they may be cleansed from their sins and be prepared for a happy death ! The place at Saha- ranpur, where the dead are burned, is not far from our mission dwellings, and during the prevalence of sick- ness, the fires are seldom extinguished. Horrible as these sights at first appear to strangers, they must certainly be much less so now than in former times, when the living wife or wives were consumed on the same pile with the body of the dead husband. Then the poor trembling widow, in compliance with the an- cient custom, in view of the disgrace that awaited her should she refuse to burn for her husband, in hope of meriting great blessings for herself and all her friends, and urged on to commit the deed of self-destruction by the Brahmins, as being in accordance with the injunc- tions of their sacred books, mounted the pile of wood, beneath which were abundance of combustible mate- rials, saturated with oil or ghee to make them burn fiercely, and then taking the dead body in her arms, stretched herself down and submitted to her fate. And who do you suppose was the person that placed the torch to that pile which consumed the living and the dead together ? The eldest son of that mother, if she had a son, and if not, the nedrest relative was the one who performed these funereal rites, and who considered himself highly honoured by the inhuman act. It is cause of thankfulness that this practice has been checked by British law ; yet still cases are not uncommon, whefe in secret, and in violation of law, the suttee is kindled in India. A case occurred near SCENERY IX BENGAL. 41 Sahdranpur only a few years ago, when, in spite of all the efforts of the police, a woman jumped upon the pile and consumed herself to ashes. At the death of Ranjit Singh, the Emperor of the Panjab, during our residence in India, seven of his wives consumed them- selves with his dead body, and the grand procession passed through SaMranpiir, conveying the ashes of the whole to the Ganges, to be sprinkled on the sacred waters at Hardwar, together with the golden bedstead on which the Maha Raja slept, elephants, camels, and wealth in abundance, to be offered to the Brahmins, who had prompted these miserable beings to this act of self-immolation ! So far as it regards the manner in which the Hindus dispose of their dead, it matters little ; but, oh, the souls of these heathen, that will never die, where are they ? Having lived in sin, and passing into eternity unsanctified, and without a know- ledge of the only Saviour, they are beyond the reach of our efforts and our hopes. The scenery in Bengal is generally delightful. The groves of palm-trees, with their naked trunks, crowned with the richest foliage, give a tropical and magnificent appearance to the landscape. The immense green leaves of the plantain, surrounding a pithy stem, bend- ing under a load of fruit at all seasons of the year ; the green carpet which covers the ground at all times, but which grows with such rapidity during the rainy season ; the magnificent shoots of the bdmbus, which rise to the height of forty or fifty feet in a single year; and the banydns, which extend their mighty arms to such a distance as to require support, a support which nature herself supplies by throwing down props which 4* 42 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. take root, and finally become trunks and centres them- selves of vast and spreading thickets; these all give to Bengal a character for grandeur and luxuriance, which is but rarely equalled in other parts of the globe. The provinces to the north-west, however, the seat of our missions, and particularly Lodiana and its neigh- bourhood, have usually a very different appearance. Many tracts of country are barren and sandy in con- sequence of the long droughts, and the scorching in- fluence of the hot winds, which prevail for several months in the year. Still, even in these districts, during the rains, vegetation is rapid and luxuriant; and at all times, mangoe groves may be found at almost every town and village, which afford delightful shade and shelter to the traveller who pitches his tent beneath their branches, or in the absence of such accommoda- tion, stretches his weary limbs on the bare ground, and seeks repose during the heat of the day. The valley of the Ganges, in some places of great width, extends from Hardwar, where that river issues from the mountain passes, to the sea, a distance of about fourteen hundred miles. As this queen of Indian rivers is supposed to possess the greatest efficacy in the removal of sin, the population along its banks is immense, and the numbers that crowd to it at all sea- sons for the purposes of ablution, and of conveying its muddy waters to all parts of India, to be used in the performance of religious rites, and in offerings to the obscene symbols of Mahadev, or the great god of the Hindus, are beyond all calculation. This extensive valley, together with other parts of the country where the surface is perfectly level, is called the plains of --, ' SANATAMUMS CLIMATE. 43 India, as distinguished from the hilly regions in the centre, and the immense chain of the Himalayas, run- ning all the way from Burmah or Cochin China in the east, to the valley of Cashmere, and even through Bochara almost to the Caspian Sea in the north-west. During the last twenty years, the English have esta- blished sanatariums at various places along these mountains, at Simla, Sabathu, Kassowli,Mussuri, Lan- dour, Ninitall, Almorah, and Darjiling ; and at points of elevation varying from five to nine thousand feet, affording at all seasons air and climate most congenial and beneficial to the European, whose constitution may have been broken down by the heat, or by fevers contracted in the plains ; and for many diseases inci- dent to that burning climate, a temporary residence at these places has effected complete cures. Mis- sionaries, who have sometimes been compelled to avail themselves of these advantages in times of sickness, or • when worn down by debility, have generally derived the greatest benefit; and several lives, through the Divine blessing, have been saved by this means alone. Thus a wise and benignant Providence seems to have made provision for the health and happiness of man in all parts of the earth, and to have set over against the peculiar trials and inconveniencies of climate, a compensation of special advantages and comforts. The climate of India is quite peculiar, and alto- gether different from England or America. The rains come on periodically. They generally commence about the middle or 20th of June, and end early in Septem- ber, and during this time, particularly in Bengal, but few days pass when the rain does not fall in torrents. 44 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. With the exception of the early and latter rain, which is not abundant, and which falls in November, during seed time, and in March about the time of earing, showers are not expected, and we have frequently seen a period of four months or longer elapse without rain of any kind. In the upper provinces, the hot winds begin to blow early in April, and continue with increased fury until the rains, in June, cool the earth, and put an end to them. The feeling occasioned by these winds is like that which would be experienced by the blast of a heated furnace, and the effect produced is to dry up the skin, and weaken the human system. The steam or heat also which arises from the earth in the middle of the day at this season, is almost intole- rable, and induces a sense of suffocation. Europeans, and even natives themselves who have a regard to health, rarely venture out in the heat of the clay, but employ themselves, as best they can, within doors, firmly closed to keep out the penetrating heat. It is during this period that missionaries are engaged either in studying languages, or in preparing tracts and books for the press. Advantage, however, is taken of these hot winds, and they are turned to good account by causing the evaporation they produce, when thrown in contact with moisture, to create a degree of cold in dwellings, which is exceedingly grateful and refresh- ing. This is done in the following way: A frame work of bambus is thinly thatched over with the fibrous roots of a fragrant grass, called kus kus, so as to admit a considerable quantity of air to pass through it. This is fitted into the door case, and watered every few minutes on the outside. The evaporation, EXPEDIENTS TO MODIFY THE HEAT. 45 which goes on rapidly, on account of the extreme dry- ness of the atmosphere, cools the heated air as it passes through the tatty, and greatly modifies the heat within, so as to reduce the temperature several degrees. In addition to this, punkhas are kept moving over the heads of those who can afford to pay the small sum necessary, and these also add greatly to the health and comfort of foreigners. Punkhas are frames of wood about two and a half feet wide, and almost the length of the room, covered with muslin, and being suspended from the roof, are drawn by a rope passing through the wall from the outside. Without some such con- trivance to moderate the heat and drive off the mus- quitoes, for several months in the year the heat would be insufferable, and health seriously impaired. Blind men are sometimes employed to pull the punkhas, who consider it a great favour to earn about a dollar and a half per month, from which they support them- selves and families, and without which employment they must beg their bread. In the north-west pro- vinces, however, the seat of the Lodiana mission, though the heat is so intense during the hot winds, there are three or four months in the year of delight- fully cool weather, and those who may have suffered from debility in the hot season, usually recover their strength during this period. Autumnal fevers, and derangement of the liver, are the diseases most com- mon ; but many persons who live abstemiously, (as mis- sionaries all do,) enjoy as good health, on the whole, as they -would be likely to do in any other part of the world. On the score of health, the writer himself is thankful to say he has no complaints to make. rz. i : i 46 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. The soil of India is, in general, exceedingly fertile, producing, with but little labour, two crops in the same season. In the Upper Provinces, wheat sown in November is reaped early in April; and the same ground ploughed at the commencement of the rains in June, produces another crop of small grain, pe- culiar to the country, which is reaped in October, in time to prepare the land again for another crop of wheat, or whatever the farmer may wish to cultivate. The modes of agriculture pursued by the people are remarkably simple and primitive, and in all probability no changes or improvements have taken place for thousands of years. Not horses, but oxen, are em- ployed in hauling and ploughing and treading out the corn. The plough is an article of two small timbers, put together in the rudest manner, and which merely scratches the surface of the soil. The harrow is never used ; but a thing which serves the purpose, is a large plank of wood attached to several oxen, and drawn side foremost, on which a number of men sit or stand, in or- der to press it to the earth, and render it more effectual in smoothing the soil. After the grain has been ploughed in, and the ground smoothed off in this man- ner, the field is all laid out in beds of a few yards square, with a margin of earth a few inches high alj around, and through these beds water-courses are made for the purposes of irrigation. The water is supplied from large wells, raised in leather bags by neans of oxen, or by the Persian wheel, and in such quantities as thoroughly to saturate the soil every few days from the time the grain is sown, until it is almost ready for the sickle. Without this process, on account BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 47 of the long droughts, but little could be raised in Northern India. But even these means would prove inadequate, "were it not for the abundance of rains which fall in their season, and on which depends, in a great measure, the supply of grain and vegetables ; and when the rainy season is deficient, most fearful and desolating famines are the consequence. In 1838, during our residence in India, one of these famines prevailed in the Doab, and swept off, in the districts of Agra and Kaunpur, hundreds of thousands of hu- man beings by pure starvation. It was during this awful period that missionary orphan boarding-schools were filled up, and many miserable beings, like living skeletons, were taken by the missionaries, and saved from dying by hunger. Many of these, through their connection with Christians, and the blessing of God on the means employed for their instruction in Chris- tian truth, have since been brought to partake of " the bread of life." We fondly hope also, that many of them will yet be qualified for holding forth this bread of life to their perishing countrymen. The land yields, in ordinary seasons, an abundance for man and beast of all that is essential to subsistence. Luxu- ries are but little indulged in even by the wealthy. A plain vegetable diet is all that is required by most of the Hindus. The chief articles of produce raised in Northern India are wheat, rice, cotton, to- bacco, sugar-cane, Indian corn, and a great variety of pulse and vegetables. The British government in India is mild and pa- ternal, and the elevation and happiness of the people in the administration of just laws, and the security of 48 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. property, as well as the means of acquiring it, are certainly much greater at the present time than they ever were under either Mohammedan or Hindu rulers. Every man is now permitted " to sit under his own vine or fig-tree, with none to make him afraid." Money circulates freely and much more abundantly among the people than it did for ages. The greatly increased intercourse with England and other nations, has created a market for many of its productions, while the ma- nufactures of other countries are coming more into demand by the people every year. By means of the overland route, communication can now be had with England in thirty days. Numerous steamers run up the Ganges as far as Allahabad every month ; and we hope, ere long, to see a railroad from the head of steam navigation to Delhi, if not as far as Lodiana and the Sutledge, from whence a direct communication may be had with Bombay. These improvements, with many others of a public nature, that are going forward in the country, will do much for the people of Hindustan, where society has been in a stagnant condition for thousands of years, and where superstition and bigotry have contracted their minds to such a degree within their own narrow sphere of observation. The Doab canal, used for irrigation, which runs past Saharanptir and on to Delhi, has been a public blessing to the country; and the great Gangetic canal, the largest in the world, which is now being made by government, at such a vast expense, and designed to irrigate the whole country from Hardwar to Allahabad, so as to prevent a return of such famines as desolated the country on former occasions, is a proof that the present PILGRIM TAX. 49 rulers of India seek the happiness of their subjects. Indeed, Ave may say, in reference to the people of India at the present time, that so far as this ivorld is con- cerned, were those customs abolished which are con- nected with their religion, and the bad state of society, by which some portions of the people are so depend- ant on others, and were they in possession of that blessed religion which brings peace on earth and good- will to men, the Hindus, with their simple habits and their few wants, might be said to be a happy people. But, alas! as idolaters, and as a nation enslaved by gross superstition and immoralities ; as far from God, and far from righteousness, it is impossible for any go- vernment to elevate them ; and hence, true dignity and happiness are not to be expected, until they submit to the government of Messiah the Prince, and cast their idols to the moles and the bats as lying vanities. Then indeed will India become a delightsome land, even as Hephzibah and Beulah, for it shall be married to the Lord. Toward the promotion of this most desirable event, the British government has done but little. Neutrality in the matter of religion, is the rule by which the government professes to be regulated; but, we regret to say, that so far from adhering to this rule, in former times, a ban was placed on Christianity, while, both directly and indirectly, the religion of the natives was supported and encouraged. Under the plea of preventing imposition, and of protecting the Hindu de- votees at the public shrines and places of pilgrimage, such as Jagatnath, Gaya, Allahabad, &c, the govern- ment took these places under their paternal care, and levied a tax on all who frequented them, by which a 5 50 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. considerable sum was annually added to the revenues of the country. How disgraceful and sinful, for men calling themselves Christians, to defile their hands and their consciences with money collected from deluded pilgrims, which, in many instances, might literally he called the price of blood ! How degrading for Chris- tian rulers to associate themselves with the worship of devils ; to purchase the cloth and lace to deck out the black and frightful idol of Jagatnath ; to assemble the civil and military officers to do public honours to a hideous block of wood, seated on his car, and to compel the reluctant worshippers, at the point of the bayonet, to drag forward the ponderous vehicle in its annual rounds, lest failing in its course, the celebrity of the shrine might be lessened, or a public rebellion ensue, so as to endanger the security of the British empire in the East ! Against these strange proceedings, so dishonourable to the Christian name, missionaries and pious men in India, long and loudly protested, until, backed by the body of Christians in England, they have at length succeeded in obtaining orders from the home government to abolish the pilgrim tax and all connection with heathen temples. So reluctantly, however, have these orders been obeyed by some of those in authority in India, that, although they have been reiterated from time to time, a complete separation between the government and idolatry has scarcely yet been effected. The government also has built and en- dowed Hindu and Mohammedan colleges, where the Shasters and the Quran are taught ; while, on the other hand, the English schools, established by the same au- thority, are guarded most sedulously from all Christian GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE. 51 influence. The Bible is specially excluded; and when a grant of the publications of the London Religious Tract Society was made, a few years ago, to be placed on the shelves of the school libraries, it was promptly and positively rejected. While the principle of non- interference with the religion of the natives, on the part of the government, that is, of not imposing Chris- tianity upon them, or compelling them to study the Scriptures in the public schools, appears to be the right one, at the same time we think, that to afford such of them as might desire it, an opportunity of studying the grand principles of that holy religion, which has so largely contributed to enlighten and elevate Christian nations, is not at all inconsistent with such a principle. Besides, the plan of non-interference with the religious opinions of the people, in its fullest sense, could not be carried out in India. The suttee, or burning of Hindu widows ; the offering of children to the river Ganges, and the Ghdt murders of the aged and dying, all part and parcel of the Hindu religion, and sacredly enjoined in the Shasters, coming under the cognizance of the civil law, were some years ago made criminal offences by the celebrated Lord William Bentinck, whose honoured name will go down to posterity as a friend to humanity and religion. Even with all the care now used to exclude religion from the government schools, it -will be found impossible to do so, as English books of prose and poetry and science, have a leaven of Chris- tianity, which will gradually work its way into the cor- rupt mass of Hindu mind, and finally undermine the false foundation and principles of their religious books, in which gross errors, in science as well as religion, aro 52 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. intermingled. To counteract the evil tendency of edu- cation without religion, it becomes the duty of Chris- tian men to establish and support a mission at the very door of every government school and college, from "which the pure waters of the sanctuary may issue forth to cleanse away the scum of error and infidelity, that such a course of instruction is likely to throw up to the surface of the Hindu mind. Let Christians avail themselves of present advantages, when a whole nation is about to awake after a sleep of ages, and turn its inquiries in the right direction. Let them remember, that to neglect the present favourable op- portunity of missionary effort in India, may be to throw back its evangelization for centuries. What the church intends to do, she must do quickly, otherwise Satan may hinder her, and render future attempts to overthrow his ancient empire in Hindustan abortive. As light must necessarily break into these ancient domin- ions of heathenism, he has only to give the people infi- delity for idolatry, and then the last error will be worse than the first. Only let Christians, at once, do their duty faithfully in this all-important cause. Let them send to India living teachers, who, without any inter- ference from government, may unfold the whole Chris- tian scheme as it is designed for the human family ; and, through the blessing and grace of Him, who has commanded us to disciple all nations, and who has pro- mised his presence and aid, in the discharge of the arduous work, soon, we may hope, that Hindustan will be given to him for his possession, and become a bright jewel in his mediatorial crown. CHARACTER OF HINDUS. 53 CHAPTER III. Character of the Hindus — Their appearance and dress — Moral condition — Degradation of the female sex — Early marriages — Confinement in Zenanas — Widowhood — Drudgery of the poor for a scanty subsistence — Taste in dress — Society antisocial — Patriarchal system in families — Marriage ceremonies — Popula- tion collected into cities and villages — Construction of dwell- ings — Want of taste and comfort in their apartments — Food — Mode of eating and drinking — Confidence in charms — Medical practice — Holidays numerous — The Holi and Doorgapuja — Hor- rors of the swinging festival — Goddess Kali — Scenes at a temple of Jagatnuth— Mela at Hardwar — Pilgrimages — Our duty to the heathen. As it is natural that those who take a deep interest in the spread of the gospel among the people of Hin- dustan should wish to possess distinct and accurate information respecting the objects of their benevolent regard — their manners, customs, domestic and social condition, &c. ; and as such information ought to be possessed by all who would intelligently and zealously engage in India's evangelization, we shall now endea- vour to communicate such information on these sub- jects as a residence among the Hindus for nearly eleven years has enabled us to acquire. It may be observed, however, that the remarks made will have reference chiefly to Northern India, which has been the scene of our missionary labours, and which, in many particulars, differs from Southern India and Bengal. G* 54 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. The people of India, in general, are a mild and gentle race, outwardly polite in their manners, and exceedingly simple in all their habits. Having few or no artificial wants, with little labour they easily ac- quire a competency, and have ample leisure to indulge in idleness, and in smoking the hookah, or in chewing beetle-nut, which they esteem almost as the sum of human happiness. When it is considered that they are an ignorant and most superstitious people, led away in the degrading service of dumb idols, and that their imaginations are filled with religious ideas, not only absurd in themselves, but of the worst moral ten- dency, and that their hearts and consciences are awfully depraved and and defiled, the surprise is, that their external conduct among themselves and toward foreigners has so much in it that is praiseworthy and amiable. Their stores of patience seem almost inex- haustible ; and injuries they usually bear at the time with but little exhibition of temper, yet they will seek an opportunity to resent such treatment, and do so in a way which evinces much enmity and bitterness. In Bengal the men are of a slender frame, and very effeminate in their appearance, but up the country they are more strong and masculine, and the Sikhs may be said to be an able-bodied race of men. In colour they vary from that of the darkest African to the sallow Spaniard or Italian ; and it is somewhat re- markable that the Brahmins, and higher castes, are generally the fairest, so that a very dark skin is not an object of fancy even in India. In the hot season, the labouring classes wear nothing but a small cloth around the loins ; and some of them who are too poor DRESS AND MANNERS. 55 to afford even that, have a mere patch which passes from a string, fastened around the waist, behind, and is tucked into the same before, being scarcely sufficient for the purpose of decency. In addition to a large cloth fastened around the loins, the middling classes wear another long cloth which passes around the body and over the shoulder, leaving the arms quite naked and at liberty. The more respectable in society wear loose drawers of white muslin, and a garment of the same, which fits the body neatly, and is fastened around the waist by a Tcamarband or girdle of several folds. The heads of all are enveloped by a narrow cloth of white or pink [colour, from five to ten or even twenty yards in length, according to the rank of individuals. Many shave the hair entirely off their heads; others leave a small tuft on the crown. In some parts of the country, the men wear their hair long, and put up be- hind like the females in other lands. The Hindus usually allow the hair to remain on the upper lip, and the Mohammedans permit it to grow under the chin like the Jews. In manners they are graceful and mo- dest, with ample self-possession when in the presence of their superiors. The mistakes made by foreigners in their language, when lately arrived in the country, which are often ridiculous enough, are listened to with faces as grave as possible. But although they have their feelings so perfectly under command, they are quick observers of others, and can form a pretty accu- rate opinion regarding them. The fact is, they are naturally possessed of acute minds, which, from early life, are actively employed in forming plans and schemes to promote their own interests. There is probably no 56 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. people under the sun, who, without any foundation, could form a story entirely their own, and which, at the same time, would bear so much of the semblance of truth as the Hindus ; and that man among them who can acquit himself in the most plausible manner in this respect, is looked up to by his fellows, if not with esteem, yet with emulation, and a strong desire to excel him in this particular if possible. Hence the great difficulty of understanding the people by those who have not mingled much among them, and of administering justice aright by those who are placed in authority. For the veriest trifle, men may be found who, in a court of law, will swear just any thing at all to further the object of their employers ; and then the story they will tell will have such a connection in all its parts, and such an air of truth about it, as to leave the judge on the bench, at times, perfectly in doubt as to where the truth lies, since the evidence on the other side may be equally clear and satisfactory ! But why should we expect a better state of things among those who are not influ- enced at all by Bible principles; who have but little idea of moral responsibility or of a future judgment, and whose very religious books set before them numer- ous examples of deceit, falsehood, and impurity in the lives of their Avatars or incarnate gods. The females in Hindustan, as in most heathen coun- tries, are in a most degraded and deplorable condition. The only period when those, born in respectable so- ciety, seem to enjoy life, or are permitted to breathe the pure air of heaven, is during infancy or childhood. At the early age of four or five years, arrangements are made for their espousals, and afterward they are ZEXANAS — "WIDOWHOOD. 57 taken in special charge by the women of the zenana, and confined within its walls as prisoners for life. At the age of ten or eleven, the marriage ceremonies are concluded, and then the bride is taken home by the bridegroom, and placed in the female apartments of his father's household. From that day, it may be said, her free agency ends, and a state of absolute slavery commences. Henceforth, during the life of the man, whom to that day she never saw, she is to consider her- self as his servant and inferior. Her time, if in re- spectable circumstances, and to such only we now refer, is spent in gossip and idleness. Unlike the virtuous woman described by Solomon, her hands neither take hold of the needle, the spindle, or the distaff. Accord- ing to the absurd ideas of modesty that prevail, she must never look upon the face of any man but her own husband, not even upon the face of one of his own brothers unless he be younger than her husband, so that should she have occasion to go abroad, she has to cover her head with a sheet, or is conveyed in a carriage surrounded by curtains to avoid the public gaze. Her religion, as well as public opinion, forbid her to learn to read, or to cultivate her mind by the acquisition of knowledge. After the death of her husband, as the government will not now allow her to burn herself, she can by no means think of a second marriage ; and as she is then, in many cases, left dependent on others, it but too often happens that her situation is miserable, and she is driven to lead a dissolute life to obtain a live- lihood. It is probable there never Avas a case known of a woman in India being married a second time. This system of perpetual widowhood, however, and its 58 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. attendant evils, is beginning to receive the attention of some of the educated native gentlemen in Calcutta ; and one of them, who has attentively marked the evils connected with such a system, and whose mind has been liberalized by education, offered a large reward, some years ago, to any man who would marry a widow, but to this day the offer has not been accepted by any one ! Women of the poorer classes, who are compelled to work hard for the support of their families, and who, of course, have to mingle in public society, seem to be much more cheerful and happy. They are more on an equality with their husbands, and they can go abroad without covering their faces, or concealing themselves from the eyes of strangers. Still their situation is far from being comfortable. Their occupation as qidis, in carrying burdens upon their heads, and labouring in the fields, is laborious, their fare is exceedingly scanty, and their wages, (not more than three cents a day, on which they support themselves and their families,) are so low, as scarcely to afford a bare subsistence. The taste displayed by the females of India in orna- ments and articles of dress, is rather amusing. Some- times all the toes are covered with massive rings, which make it difficult to walk. The ancles are loaded with a pair of bangles, several pounds in weight, filled with small bells, like sleigh bells in America, which tinkle as they go. The arms, almost from the wrist to the elbow, are covered with bracelets or round rings, some- times of solid silver, but more generally of baser metal, of glass or of gumlac of various colours. The ear- rings are numerous, and instead of being attached to the lower, are fastened to the upper margin of the ear. DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS. 59 The nose jewel is a large ring of gold, about two inches in diameter, fastened to one side of the nose, and hang- ing over the mouth, with a small pearl, or its imitation, on the lower edge. This latter is worn only by women who have husbands. We have seen the coarse cotton cloth, that is worn over the head and round the shoulders of the common or lower classes, covered all over with small circular pieces of looking-glass, set in by needlework. Of course, to wash such an article would be impossible, and when worn for a year or so, its colour and filth may be imagined but not described. Indeed, the lower order of females seldom think of washing their clothes, but wear them till they drop off in tatters as the result of such filthy habits. The ignorant as well as the degraded condition of females in India, might here be dwelt upon, and the influence which such mothers exert in society, and the obstacles that are thus presented to the spread of the gospel, might be shown, but these subjects will come up more naturally when we come to notice the difficulties of the missionary work. Families in India are peculiarly constituted, and so- ciety is in general antisocial, as it regards the conduct of tribes and castes toward each other. It would seem as if but little alteration had taken place in Eastern countries, in regard to the form of the domestic insti- tution for thousands of years past. The patriarchal system of uniting all under the venerable head from which they sprung, as one family, prevails in Hindustan at the present time, just as in the days of Abraham ; and that head sways complete authority over all his children and children's children, however numerous 60 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. they may be. No man in India usually becomes the head of his own family if his immediate ancestor be still alive. He and his wife remain under the roof of his parent, and in connection with all the branches of the family, and all their earnings are placed in a com- mon stock, until it may, in turn, become his lot to as- sume the guardianship over his own posterity. It will easily be perceived, that this system must often be pro- ductive of great evils and discontent especially among a people but partially civilized, and where polygamy is so common. Of this the female apartment of Indian households particularly could bear witness. Yet so strong is the power of custom, this state of family thraldom goes on ; and, whatever quarrelling and do- mestic broils it may produce, all must live together, or incur lasting disgrace by a separation. Another serious evil which arises from this state of things, and which greatly retards the progress of the gospel, is this, that living in masses, and having common interests, men, in a great degree, lose their independence of thought and action, so that for any man to profess a different faith, or to practice another code of morals from that of his relations, with whom he is so closely associated and identified, is almost impossible. To do so, he must come out and be separate from his nearest and dearest friends, lose any share he may have had in the patri- monial inheritance, and, as a follower of Christ, take up a cross, at which, we fear, many professors in Chris- tian lands, would stumble and turn aside to what might be more agreeable to flesh and blood. The ceremonies of marriage among the Hindus are very numerous and imposing, and attended with a great MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 61 waste of time and money, which is often ruinous to families. And although the burden of expense, on such occasions, is generally severely felt, for the Hindus are naturally most penurious, and especially in all matters that are of real utility, and in which their own name and honour are not in some way or other con- nected, yet rather than incur the odium of singularity, or oppose the current practice, all follow on in the beaten tract, each one trying to gain a name among his acquaintances for a liberality and resources which he does not possess. A man's wealth and respectability are estimated, in the view of the community, by the expenses he incurs at the marriage of a son or daugh- ter, and hence the poor as well as the rich act under the influence which this opinion exerts. We have known men whose whole monthly earnings, on which they and their families were supported, did not amount to two dollars, to expend fifty or one hundred dollars in the marriage of one of their children; and this, too, not in providing such things as they might require for housekeeping, and as would be of lasting use to the married pair, but in feasting their friends and the public, and in making shows and fireworks which could hardly afford amusement to children in other lands. And what adds to the folly of all this is, that the money thus expended has generally to be borrowed at an interest of twenty or twenty-four per cent., the pay- ment of which keeps them poorer still, and in the power of their creditors all their days. From this arises an- other serious difficulty to the spread of the gospel, as the moment such men would think of forsaking the re- 62 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. ligion of their fathers, and of professing Christianity, they would render themselves liable to prosecution. When a Hindu wishes to make arrangements for the marriage of his son, he sends forth some faithful Eliezer, usually the family barber, to seek a wife from among those of his own caste and standing in society. Previously to this, however, the astrologers are con- sulted, and they, after examining the child's horoscope, intimate the season most proper for commencing these measures, as well as the particular circumstances to be observed in carrying them forward. To all these auguries and injunctions of the Brahmins, there is a strict regard paid by the deluded people, as, in their opinion, the slightest deviation from them might be attended by the most disastrous consequences. When all preliminaries are settled to the satisfaction of the parties concerned, and the auspicious day fixed upon for the ceremony arrives, friends on all sides, to the utmost bounds of consanguinity or acquaintance, in- deed, the more of the same caste the better, assemble at the house of the infant bride, carrying money in their hands, ostensibly as presents, but actually with the design of aiding in the feast, which is usually on an extensive scale, and lasts for several days, and some- times for weeks. During this period the guests, being entirely under the control of their host, give up all their usual employments, and spend the time in the ceremonies and processions, the dances and feasts and follies which so abundantly accompany the occasion. The chief article consumed at these feasts is sweet- meats, in all the different forms which may be found at the shop of an Indian confectioner, and the quantity HINDtf LIBERALITY. 63 that so great a number of persons will consume at such a time is quite incredible. In short, the amount of time and money spent is very great, and the result, in mental dissipation, and moral influence in the commu- nity, is injurious to all and ruinous to many ; and until the influence of Christianity, widely diffused among them, removes the semi-barbarous usages, and directs the benevolence and the feelings of the community into a better and purer channel, efforts for their evangeli- zation must continue to meet with a serious obstacle from this single heathenish custom, to say nothing of the many others that might be named as existing among the Hindus. It is in marriage and idolatrous festivals that their false and misapplied liberality is particularly displayed, and all, as we have already stated, is done merely for a name. Men of wealth, on such occasions, have been known to spend, at one time, fifty or a hun- dred thousand dollars ! It has been estimated that in Calcutta alone, during the Durga festival, about two millions of dollars are expended annually, in honour of a goddess with ten arms, filled with weapons for the destruction of her enemies ! Will not such liberality, by a single city, during one of the many festivals an- nually held in support of idolatry, put Christianity to the blush ? Will it not put to shame many a Christian, to whom God has given the means, and motives infi- nitely superior to any which actuate the heathen, who has not yet the heart to aid in the work of true bene- volence, when Christ and his cause so loudly demand their assistance and co-operation. The inhabitants of India are all collected into cities and villages. There is scarcely any such thing as a 64 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. farmer residing in a separate dwelling on the centre of his own estate. The reason of this is, that under former governments, predatory bands, who lived by plundering the weak and defenceless, were very com- mon in the country, and the inhabitants were compelled to unite in sufficient numbers to repel any attack that might be made upon them from such quarters. An- other reason of this would arise from the castes into which society is divided, and which render the prox- imity of men of one employment or profession, so essential to the comfort of others, who on no account may meddle with that profession. And a third reason may be, that as a good well, from which pure water may be obtained, cannot be built in that country at a small expense, it was necessary for a number of people to unite in the undertaking, and, of course, in sharing its advantages. These villages are generally a few miles apart, and each is governed by a head man, called the Jamaatdar, who is often the Zamindar, or owner of the ground on which it is built. Scarcely any attention whatever is paid to order in the erection of the dwellings, and hence the streets usually are merely narrow winding passages, to admit of a single person to find his way to what appears to be the abodes of poverty and wretchedness. The walls of these low huts are made of mud, and the roof is covered with grass ; and sometimes the whole dwelling consists of grass and iambus alone. In the suburbs of large towns, the houses of the poor are of the same descrip- tion, but those belonging to the more respectable classes are usually of brick, with flat roofs, often covered with clay, and of large dimensions, surround- HIXDU HOUSES. 65 ing a court-yard in the centre. In these, as we have already mentioned, there are apartments for the males and females separate, and sufficient to contain all the branches of a numerous posterity. Some of these buildings have been erected at a great expense, but with no reference whatever to what we should call comfort. They seldom have glazed windows, and but little arrangement for the admission of air or light. In many respects they are more like the common jails of a former age, than the abodes of men of wealth and respectability. But the dark walls and gloomy cells of the building are not more comfortless than the in- ternal appearance and arrangements. The entrance to such mansions is often a dirty passage amidst the stalls of cows and buffaloes. The apartments are not furnished, as -with us, with chairs and tables, and all that contributes to comfort and elegance. In general, little is to be seen but empty walls, except a piece of cotton carpet, or a rug or rude bedstead. The reason of this neglect is, that the interior of the dwelling is but little used. There is no such thing as the enjoyment of a social meal with the assembled family, as in other lands, nor the still greater luxury of rational and im- proving conversation in the evenings or during leisure hours. As we have before stated, the females live by themselves, in confined apartments, or in some corner on the top of the building, when they wish to breathe a little air freely. The males sit and eat in the open verandahs facing on the inner court, and to them only there is access by strangers, after permission to enter has been obtained. The food of the rich is almost as simple as that of o* 66 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. the poor. It consists of a single dish of bread and pulse or vegetables, or rice and curry. These dishes are richly prepared with ghi, or liquid butter, and seasoned with pepper and spices. They partake of but two meals in the day, — the first about noon and the other in the evening. The method, so strongly urged of late by some of our own physicians to pro- mote digestion, that is, to use no liquid of any kind until the substantial part of the food has been partaken of, has all along been practised by the Hindus, and I am convinced that the practice greatly contributes to their health. Dyspepsia is a disease but little known in India. Sometimes the male part of the family, who always eat first, surround a common dish, all seated on the ground, and partake of the food with their hands. Thus chairs, and tables, and spoons, and knives and forks, &c, which we consider so essential to comfort and decency, are all dispensed with. Sometimes a portion is distributed to each separately on a brass plate. This is the only kind of ware used by the higher castes, as it can be cleaned and purified by earth and water, before it is used; but every vessel of earthenware, when once used, is considered by such persons to be defiled, and is then broken or thrown away. In drinking, a native will never put the edge of the vessel to his mouth. He pours it from a dis- tance into the palm of his hand, and from thence it flows into the mouth as living water, and in his esti- mation, it is thus freed of any impurities it formerly possessed. Like the people of all semi-civilized nations, the Hindus put much confidence in charms and omens, and CHARMS. 67 are constantly in dread of some evil or other befalling them through the agency of demons. Hence, from infancy, the child wears charms around the neck to guard it against the influence of malicious spirits. The cow and other domestic animals may be seen with the same symbols of safety, and in these the greatest confidence is placed by the deluded people. Not a journey can be commenced, or any thing special under- taken, without consulting the usual auguries, and ob- serving certain omens which indicate favourable results. Should any thing, considered either unlucky or unfa- vourable, come before an individual when about to proceed in some enterprise, the undertaking would be relinquished immediately, not only as likely to prove abortive, but highly dangerous. The religion of the people is a religion of fear, and in so far as it affects them at all, it may be said to produce little else than slavish fear. In times of sickness or pestilence, instead of applying the remedies calculated to afford relief, they usually betake themselves to charms and incan- tations. During the prevalence of cholera, we have seen the whole community attempting to arrest the disease, and to drive it from their midst, by making a kind of ceremonial transfer of it to a goat, and then leading the aninmal to a distance from the city, amidst the shouts of thousands. There is a great sacrifice of human life in India, in consequence of the absurd mode of medical treatment pursued by the native hakims. Let the case be what it may, they always require three days to find out the diagnosis of the disease ; and in many cases, by that time, it has run to such a height as to defy any reme- 68 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. dies they may afterward employ. The remedies pre- scribed, however, are often most inappropriate, and instead of alleviating only aggravate the complaint, and hasten it on to a fatal termination. It is but just, however, to say, that we have known some native doc- tors possessed of much skill in their own way, and well acquainted with their own Materia Medica, as well as its application in the removal of many dis- eases. There are also at present a great and grow- ing number of natives who have graduated in the Medical College in Calcutta, and are well acquainted with the English practice. These have been appointed as assistants to the surgeons at the several civil and military stations through the land, and are likely to become useful men in the community. They are ex- perimentally acquainted with the advantages of Eng- lish science and improvements, and will doubtless be disposed, as they have opportunity, to recommend the same to their ignorant and benighted countrymen. The time spent by the Hindus in the observance of their holidays and festivals is almost incredible, and far beyond the seventh part appropriated by the Creator as the Christian Sabbath. This day of sacred rest is not, of course, recognised by the people, and hence all kinds of business, such as buying and selling and farming, &c, are carried on as on any other day of the week. From seven to ten days and upward are occupied in succession by several of these festivals, and at some of them, as the Holi and the Durgapuja, the dissipation and conduct of the community become perfectly ridiculous and absurd. During the period of the Holi, there is an attempt made to imitate the ,| v ■ -.0*LANa >'■ HOOK SWINGING. Page G9. HINDU FESTIVALS. 69 freaks and follies of Krishna, one of their incarnate gods. Near the commencement of these holidays, the people cast upon each other large quantities of pink and yellow dyes, so as sometimes completely to satu- rate the clothes and skin, and, in this manner, they go about till the end of the festival, presenting appear- ances both frightful and disgusting. The conduct of some of the Hindu sects at the conclusion of these fes- tivals is too obscene to be described. They smoke in- toxicating drugs, become frantic by excitement, and then indulge in the will of the gentiles, as mentioned in the epistle of Peter,— "in lasciviousness, lusts, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries." The impressions made upon our mind by witnessing the festivals of the Carak Puja and of Jagatnath, shortly after our arrival in Calcutta, can never be ef- faced. At the former, or swinging worship, as the word means, we stood by during the greater part of an afternoon, in company with other missionary brethren, that we might see for ourselves some of the " horrors of heathenism," as they are publicly exhibited in the metropolis of British India. On the morning of the day on which these bloody and cruel rites are to be performed, large poles are placed in the ground, at the corners of the streets and public thoroughfares, not unlike the liberty poles in the United States. These poles are about thirty feet in height, and on the top of each there is another, about the same in length, placed horizontally, and on which it moves round on a pivot at the centre. From each arm of the movable pole, ropes hang to the ground, to one of which a pair of large iron hooks are fastened. The devotee to be TO MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. tortured, and to be tortured too at his own special re- quest, with the design of regaining caste he may have lost, or of raising himself to a higher rank among his fellow mortals, after having gone through the usual ceremonies, comes forward and prostrates himself at the feet of the officiating Brahmin. The spectators, in approbation of his devotion, shower down flowers upon his head. The Brahmin then seizes him between the shoulder blades, and taking up as much of the sinews and muscles of the back as possible, he drives the hooks behind and close to the spine. When he is pro- perly fastened, the spectators, by pulling the rope at the other end, draw the wretched being, writhing in agony, high up into the air, and then by running at full speed near to the post, he is carried round and round with fearful velocity. While in this situation, he tries to evince to the people that he is insensible to pain, — a real stoic, — by performing a number of tricks for their amusement, and by casting down fruit and sweetmeats on the excited multitudes, who witness the exhibition with infinite delight, and who eagerly strug- gle to obtain the smallest particle that may fall from the hand of a being so holy, and who, by such suffer- ings of body, has acquired so much merit and distinc- tion ! When the miserable sufferer is quite exhausted from pain and loss of blood, he is lowered down, and immediately another, eager to obtain like praise from the multitude, is taken up in the same way, and thus the work of torture goes on, in thousands of places at the same time throughout Bengal. It sometimes hap- pens that when the devotee is being whirled round with such great rapidity, the hooks break through the MODES OF SELF-TORTURE. 71 flesh and sinews of the back, and he is dashed to pieces on the earth. But instead of this exciting sympathy for the martyr of delusion, the spectators look upon it as a just reward of his sins committed in some former state of being, and therefore he is detested and ab- horred by all ! How true is it that " the tender mer- cies of the wicked are cruel." At this same festival, many other horrible modes of self-torture are practised by the infatuated multitudes. Some toss themselves from an eminence upon places thickly set with knives and sharp pointed instruments. Some stick numbers of thick needles into their bodies. Others pass large iron rods through the flesh of their sides, holding the ends of them in a pan of burning coals, on which pitch is occasionally thrown, to make the fire burn more fiercely, so as to heat the rods and produce pain and inflammation. Some pierce their tongues, and pass through them a split of a bambu, or a living snake, and go about in this way, with the member greatly swollen and extended from the mouth, exhibiting themselves to the public. Others roll their naked bodies over thorns and coals of fire ! In short, their imaginations seem fully occupied in contriving ways and means of self-torture, and all to propitiate a deity whom they dread but cannot love ; all in honour of Kdli, the wife of SheV, the destroyer. This god- dess, when manufactured according to the description given of her in the sacred books, is an image of a hor- rible appearance. She is represented as a dark-coloured female, dancing on the body of her husband, with long hair hanging over her shoulders; with a tongue far extended from her mouth ; with her face and neck be- 72 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. smeared with blood ; and with three eyes, one in her forehead, glaring with rage. In one of her hands, for she has four, she holds a human head by the hair lately separated from the body; and in another she wields the instrument by which she has committed the bloody deed. One points down to the destruction and desolation that follow in her steps; and the fourth points upward, to indicate a restoration to a new birth, in other forms, of all that fall by her merciless hand. Her ear-rings represent the carcasses of her victims. Her girdle is composed of the hands, and her necklace of the skulls of those she has slain in battle ! Such is the form of the bloody, ferocious, and disgusting mon- ster which is worshipped by millions of the Hindus ; and such is the worship that is rendered by our fellow- men, at this day, in the capital city of the English empire in the East. Such is the delusion, Christian reader, in which the Prince of Darkness continues to hold his subjects in heathen lands; and such is the way in which he leads them forward and downward to the still more awful miseries of the place "where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Oh, who that knows the value of the gospel, can any longer refuse to send it to such blind and infatuated idolaters, to whom there is now free access, and whose very miseries plead so loudly in the ears of the Christian world ! In the neighbourhood of Calcutta also, and not far from Serarnpur, Ave attended the festival of Jagatnath, and for the first time Avitnessed the sickening; sight of more than one hundred thousand human beings, in one vast mass, boAA'ing down to an ugly block of Avood, that had no power to hear or to help the deluded votaries. PILGRIMAGES. 73 Eight different times, in after years, in connection with other missionary friends, we attended the great annual melas or fairs at Hardwar, where we usually spent two weeks in preaching the gospel to the hundreds of thou- sands who assemble there from all parts of India, to worship the Ganges, and wash away their sins in that sacred stream. There we have seen idolatry in all its varied forms and in all its naked deformity, and su- perstition rampant over all that imagination could pos- sibly conceive. At that celebrated place of pilgrimage, vast multitudes of religious mendicants assemble, more degraded than the beasts that perish, with bodies rub- bed all over with filth and ashes ; their hair filled with the same, and hanging over their shoulders ; and almost, sometimes altogether, in a state of nudity. Some of these, doubtless, are the dupes of a dark and degrading superstition, and are sincere in their attempts to con- quer the depraved desires of their hearts; but the greater part give full evidence of being knaves and deceivers, who, while spending their time in idleness, try to live as well as possible on the charities of others. The time that is thus spent in observing religious rites by the people of Hindustan generally, and in making long journeys to the numerous celebrated shrines of idolatry, is beyond all calculation. Almost every one, to whom we have spoken on the subject, had visited some of these places. Indeed, to make a pil- grimage at one time or the other during a man's life- time, is expected of everybody, and but few shrink from the expense and toil necessarily involved in the undertaking. Many to gain the merit that is said to result from such pilgrimages, will sell off all their littlo 7 74 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. stock, and encumber their small farms with, a debt never to be liquidated, and then, it may be, at last lay down their lives in attempting to accomplish their object. What stronger proof than this could be given of the natural and universal disposition of men to seek salva- tion by works supposed to be meritorious, however difficult to be performed, or however degrading the performance may be to human nature? Such is a brief and imperfect, but accurate statement respecting the Hindus, their domestic and social con- dition, their superstitions, and some of their idolatrous observances. Much more remains to be told, when we come to describe the religion of the people, and the obstacles that lie in the way of their evangelization. What we state is the result of personal observation, for many years, in that land so long "bound by error's chain," and it falls far short in its details of the sad reality, for there are exhibitions of heathenism to be witnessed there, which it would be neither possible nor lawful to describe before a Christian people. that what has been stated may not only excite our pity, and some faint wishes for the salvation of that degraded people ; but stir up in all our hearts a deeper sense of our duty toward them ; our duty to seek the honour of our Saviour, and the establishment of his kingdom in the midst of them; and urge us on by personal efforts, benevolence, and prayer, to carry forward with greatly increased energy and zeal the glorious work of their evangelization, which has been so auspiciously commenced. TRANSCENDENTALISM. 75 CHAPTER IV. The Hindi religion a transcendentalism — Four great Shasters — Character of these writings — No claim to inspiration — Absurd- ities taught — Notions of the Supreme Being — No worship rendered to him— Three great gods — Subordinate deities innu- merable—False opinions of the solar system— Origin of caste — Transmigration of souls — Doctrine of^ fate— Final absorption of all things in Brahm — Incarnations— Hindu worship — Trifling ceremonies — Bathings— Temples— Numerous and opposing sects — Austerities and tortures — Horrid opinions and practices of the Thugs — Degradation of mendicants indescribable. It is now more than half a century since many pious and learned men have specially directed their attention and inquiries to the peculiarities and pretensions of the Hindu religion, and of those ancient books or Shasters upon which that religion is based. But although much has been written on this subject, we may presume to say that but little is yet understood, by the Christian world, of a system which unites in itself conceptions the most gross and irrational, with metaphysical spe- culations the most subtle and absurd that ever occupied the minds of human beings. Truly, it is a transcen- dentalism of the highest order, and to describe it fully is beyond the power of language. As Mr. Byers has accurately stated, "It is a huge conglomeration of phi- losophical speculations, poetical fancies, ancient tradi- tions, morality, and immorality; some traces of an original revelation, mixed with a thousand jarring opi- 76 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. nions of hundreds of different sects, all jumbled together in confusion, and varied into countless forms by vulgar prejudices and local superstitions." All therefore that we shall attempt, in giving a brief account of Hindu- ism, will be, to condense some of the most important notices of the subject in the Asiatic Researches and other writings, and combine these with what we have learned in conversation with the people and their reli- gious teachers. We shall begin with a notice of the Hindu Shasters, those voluminous and poetical writings, that are em- bodied in the Sanscrit language ; that are considered too sacred for any to handle but a Brahmin, and which women and some of the lower castes are not even per- mitted to hear ; and that embrace within their range of subjects all kinds and degrees of knowledge which it is necessary for mortals to possess. They profess to teach not only theology, but metaphysics and the whole circle of sciences, such as medicine and music, archery and architecture, and all the mechanical arts ; astronomy and grammar, cosmogony, chronology, and geography; incarnations and exploits of gods and demi-gods ; religious rites, transmigrations of the soul, charms and incantations ; law and logic, mythology, &c. &c. The books treating on all these subjects are called the four great Shasters, and are acknowledged by the masses of the people to be divine. There are some among the Hindus, however, who call themselves Vedantists, and who acknowledge none as divine but the first class of these, called the four Veds. These oracles, more ancient and venerable than all, are said to have issued directly from the mouth of the Creator FOUR GREAT SHASTERS. 77 himself, and by means of no human instrumentality whatever. They evidently contain sentiments more pure and sublime, and more nearly approaching the truth than subsequent writings, which proves that idol- atrous nations deteriorate in sound knowledge and sober thought, rather than improve, as they descend from the period of their organization. Vedantists, indeed, will not admit, that the Shasters of this class teach the doctrine of idol worship at all, but insist that they teach the unity of God, as existing in the one great and all-pervading essence Brahm, and that this Brahm, who is generally unconscious of his own existence, is, in reality, the only existing being in the universe, all other beings or things being nothing more than maya, shadows of the supreme Brahm, and with- out substance ! Besides the original Veds, there are four Upa Veds or sub-scriptures, said to have been delivered by Brahma, the first person in the Hindu Triad. These form the second class of the four great Shasters. The Ved Angas, consisting of six books, profess to teach the leading principles of science, and to be of the same divine origin. These occupy the third rank. The four Up Angas form the fourth and last division of the great Shasters. These are said to be Avritten by the sages Vyasa, Valmyka, Manu, and others, and are more voluminous than any of the foregoing. The first divi- sion of these Up Angas includes the eighteen Puranas, the Ramayan, and the Mahabaf'at, (the Bhagavad Gre'ta forming a part of the latter.) The second and third divisions of the Up Angas treat generally on metaphy- sical subjects; and the fourth and last division of eigh- 7 * 78 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. teen books includes the statutes of Manti on all points of Hindu law, political and religious. The mind can scarcely grasp the size and number of these sacred books, the half of "which no man could possibly read in a whole lifetime. It would require an immense fortune to procure a copy of them. The Veds alone make eleven immense folios; the Puranas count about two million of lines of poetry ; and the other books are much in the same proportion. Sir William Jones, the great- est of Oriental scholars, when contemplating the Hindu Shasters, writes, "Wherever we direct our attention to Hindu literature, the notion of infinity presents itself." And what, in our estimation, invests this whole matter with immense importance is this, that in the view of a conscientious Hindu, his salvation depends on paying a strict attention to all the minutiae of the Shasters, on all subjects embraced within their extensive range, although it is absolutely beyond his power to know them, or to observe the hundredth part of them ! The character of these writings is best known by the foolish and absurd opinions which they teach, the gross system of religion they inculcate, and the fruits they produce in the lives of those who profess to be guided by them. From all this it is abundantly ma- nifest that they can lay no just claims to inspiration. What the Veds condemn, the Puranas teach and ap- plaud. The former, in many places, insist on the unity of God; the latter speak of innumerable gods, existing as separate beings, with interests and pursuits alto- gether different. Some of them recommend female immolation on the Suttee as the most meritorious of human acts ! Others enjoin the sacrifice of the first- TEACHINGS OF THE SHASTERS. 79 born for the sin of the soul, as of divine appointment ! In some, the observance of the most puerile rites and ceremonies, the performance of long and weary pil- grimages, and the bathing of the body in certain cele- brated streams, are the meritorious and appointed means for the removal of sin. In some of them, pro- fessing to treat of cosmogony and geography, the Hindu is required to believe, as an undoubted verity, ■what modern science and discoveries prove to be gross and palpable falsehood. They teach, for instance, that the earth which we inhabit is not a globe, but a flat and extended plain, hundreds of thousands of miles in diameter ; and that in the centre of this plain, some- where in Hindustan, of course, there is an immense mountain called Shu Marti, compared with which, the Himalayas themselves are but as mole-hills, but which none of their celebrated pilgrims have ever seen ; that it is several hundred thousand miles in height, with its top broader than its base, and crowned by three im- mense peaks, the residence of the sacred Triad; that around this abode of man, there is an ocean of salt water, in the form of a belt, of the same diameter as the earth itself; and that so on, in regular succession, only always doubling the diameter, there are seven cir- cular islands and oceans ; the first of salt water, the second of milk, the third of curds, the fourth of ghi or liquid butter, the fifth sugar-cane juice, the sixth of honey, and the seventh of fresh water ! How long, we would ask, can a system of religion, based upon such Shasters as these, stand before the light of true science and of Bible truth, when this is brought tc bear upon it, and expose its manifest absurdities? 80 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. Having endeavoured to present a short account of the Hindu Shasters, we shall now try to give an outline of what they teach concerning the Supreme Being, and other deities whom they profess to worship. Here also we will find many strange and extravagant notions, but such as might be expected when the vain imagina- tions of the heathen are directed to subjects so infinitely beyond their comprehension. As the Apostle forcibly remarks respecting the heathen in his day, so the Hindus, " professing themselves to be wise, have become fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God in- to images made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things;" "they have changed the truth of God into a lie, and they worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is God over all, blessed for ever." Although the Hindus are said to have three hundred and thirty millions of gods, and are in fact and in practice a nation not only of polytheists, but of pantheists, as this is only a de- finite put for an indefinite number, yet, they maintain the doctrine that there is but one self-existing and all- pervading spirit, and that this indescribable abstract existence is Brahm. That Brahm is in all things, and that all things are Brahm ! They say that Brahm, in his primary and proper state of being, is an impersonal essence, or nirgun, that is, without all qualities or at- tributes, and that when he thus exists, there is and can be no other being or thing, and no external uni- verse ; that his unity is so perfect and absolute, and his being so unique and refined, that he is, in his pro- per state of existence, an infinite negation, that is, he is without intellect or intelligence, or even a conscious- HINDU DEITIES — BRAIIM. 81 ness of his own existence, and that his blessedness con- sists in a repose so perfect and profound, as to forbid the possibility of disturbance in this dreamless and solitary abyss of negative happiness ! But although this be the character and state of Brahm for indefinite periods, each almost infinite in duration, yet he does not always continue in this state of negative happiness. After the lapse of countless ao-cs, with no being in existence but this same uncon- scious Brahm, in some strange and unaccountable and indescribable manner, he passes from the state of nirgfai to that of sagun, that is, he becomes possessed of attributes and active qualities, and then, starting from his profound slumbers, he assumes the semblance of a form, and exclaims, I am. Having now assumed active qualities, he becomes dissatisfied with his solitary situation, and, all at once, a desire to become many arises in his mind. In sport he imagines a picture of distinct existences, and immediately the universe springs into being, or rather a model of it is presented before him. Having thus manifested the universe, and created the Triad or his representatives, together with all the seeds or principles of things that should exist, and having committed the finishing of creation to them, he changed the state of energy he had assumed for that of repose, absorbed into his own essence the at- tributes he had acquired, and falls back into his original state of quiescence and unconsciousness, altogether unencumbered by the cares and superintendence of the visionary empire he has left behind him! All this, we fear, will be but little understood by minds accustomed to sober thought, but the acute minda 82 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. of the Hindus, accustomed from infancy to place im- plicit belief in such dogmas, and to reconcile such ap- parent contradictions, regard it all as plain as noonday. And when such absurd notions of the existence and attributes of the Supreme Being, are entertained by millions with intellects naturally as good as any of our own race possess, is it not as strong an evidence as could be furnished, that "the world by wisdom knows not God, that they have become vain in their imagina- tions, and that their foolish hearts are darkened?" It is to be observed that, during this brief period in which Brahm assumed the state of consciousness, the only thing effected was a kind of ideal manifestation of the universe ; and, in some inexplicable manner, an evolving from himself, and as a part of himself, just as the web is evolved from the bowels of the spider, the sacred three, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv, with their consorts Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati. Accord- ing to the Hindu notion there is, properly speaking, no such thing as creation, or a production of something out of nothing. They reiterate the ancient maxim, "From nothing, nothing comes," and tell us plainly that the manifested universe is nothing more than a shadow or illusion ; that it is all may a and without substance, — a mere reflection of Brahm, and must all finally be absorbed into him. To the Triad the com- plete development, preservation, and final restoration of all things to their original source, is committed. Brahma is the creator, or rather the expander of all things, and his wife, Saraswati the protectress of arts and sciences ; Vishnu is the preserver of the universe and its inhabitants, and his favourite spouse, Lakshmi, HINDU DEITIES. 83 is the goddess of fertility ; Shiv is the destroyer or disorganizer of animated beings, or in other words, the devil of Hindustan, and his wife, Parvati, like him, is armed with destructive weapons. These three are now known as the great gods of Hindustan. As for Brahm, the fountain and source of all, " the one great Brahm, who is without a second," as he is possessed of no moral attributes or perfections, and of nothing that is excellent or lovely, how can he be adored by mortals ? It is impossible. Hence, for the worship of Brahm, not a single temple has been dedicated, and not an altar has been erected in all India ! To him, who neither sees nor helps, no worship is addressed, and no homage rendered. Like a blank in creation, he is re- garded as being far removed beyond the present scenes, and as regardless of all religious services. It ought also to be known, that to Brahma, the first person in the Hindu Triad, and whom the Hindus recognise as the Creator of all things — the being who gives them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, and all things richly to enjoy, there is no worship given by the people in the present day. By the commission of a vile and criminal act, he has long since lost his right to the respect and services of his creatures ! It is from this circumstance, we doubt not, that the Hindus are prover- bially an ungrateful people. They have not been accus- tomed to render gratitude for divine favours, and hence their language scarcely furnishes a term sufficiently strong to express the idea of true gratitude. It may then be asked, since they worship not him whom they regard as the Creator and giver of all things, whom do they worship? We reply, they worship the other two 84 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. persons of the Triad, the Preserver and the Destroyer, and it may be safely asserted, that into this worship not a particle of love enters. It is all a worship of selfishness and of slavish fear. They worship the Pre- server, simply because they wish to retain all the bless- ings the Creator may have given them ; because they wish to part with nothing they already have : and they worship the Destroyer entirely from the principle of fear. Hence the bloody sacrifices required in his worship, and hence the weary pilgrimages and tortures, and the horrid rites practised, in honour of this dreaded deity, which we have already attempted to describe. But to proceed with an account of the important work of creation which now devolved on Brahma. Al- together unlike the Christian Scriptures, which tell us in language so simple and sublime, " That in the be- ginning God created the heavens and the earth," and that, as he made all things, so "he upholds all things by the word of his power," the Hindu books give long and even contradictory accounts of the manner in which it was accomplished, and the difficulties that at- tended the various expedients that were employed, such as churning the ocean with a mountain, &c. In- stead of being carried forward to a speedy and success- ful issue, the business of creation was found to be too much for Brahma, and hence Brahm himself was obliged, a second time, to assume a new and peculiar form under the title of Punish, the male, and also to create Prakr'iti, or Nature, as the female. By these the mundane egg was produced, in which was deposited all the seeds and principles of future things, as also Brahma himself, the representative of the Supreme. ACCOUNT OF CREATION. 85 This egg floated like a bubble on the abyss of primeval waters for the period of four thousand three hundred millions of years, until, under the fostering and vivify- ing influence of Divinity, it constantly increased in size and splendour, and at length burst, and forth sprang the deity himself, and with him all the ele- mentary principles of creation ! From all this, we think, there may be traced some faint ideas of what, by tradition, may have been handed down of the Mosaic account of the creation, where it is said, " The Spirit of God moved, or brooded, upon the face of the waters." The external creation was now formed. Reference has already been made to that part of it which the Hindus occupy, called Jamba Dhwip, with its annular seas and islands. But in addition to this, the Shasters speak of thirteen other worlds, — seven as being infe- rior to our own, the abodes of all manner of miserable and loathsome creatures, and six as superior to the one we inhabit, as being most glorious in appearance, the residences of the gods themselves. Errors also, the most absurd and' palpable, are asserted and sup- ported by divine authority in the Shasters, in regard to the solar system : but they are such errors as would be most likely to originate in ignorant minds. The sun is said to be only a few hundred thousand miles from the earth and to be much nearer than any of tin- planets; and the moon is thought to be as far be- yond the sun, as the sun is distant from the earth! After tin- work of creation, the next difficulty expe- rienced by Brahma, was the peopling of these immense regions with animated beings. All the souls or spirits 86 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. that should ever exist, had already issued from the supreme Brahm, just as sparks fly off from a ball of fire ; and these were now to be united to material forms. Various attempts were made by Brahma to accomplish this object, but without success. At last he had recourse to a tedious and trying course of aus- terities and ascetic devotions, and when these also failed, it is said that " he sat down and wept in de- spair." From the tears that rolled from his eyes, there sprang into being a numerous offspring. At the same time an immense progeny of rational and irra- tional beings, all possessing souls of the same nature, issued from all the members of his body. From his mouth came the sacred veds, — from his head the Brahmin caste, the keepers and expounders of the Shasters, and the heads of the other castes. From his body came the Visliya or Bais caste, who are the capitalists and agriculturists, or supporters of the body politic. From his arms came the KsJiatraya, or mili- tary caste, to defend the community. From the feet of Brahma sprung the Sudra caste, to perform the servile duties of society. Thus, this thing of caste, according to the Shasters, is not merely an accidental or economical arrangement in society, but it is a divine and sacred ordinance, — a something that has its foun- dation in the very nature of things ; and hence, in the opinion of good Hindus, it would be as impossible for a man belonging to one of the lower castes to be trans- formed into a being of the higher caste, as it would be to change a dog into a horse, or a crawling insect into an elephant. These ideas, and many others equally absurd, are infused into the minds of the Hindus from HINDU CHRONOLOGY. 87 their earliest infancy, and it would be just as repugnant to their feelings, if born in the higher order of caste, to eat with a Sudar, as it would be with our feelings to eat at the same trough with the vilest of animals. And then when it is considered that a Hindu, having once lost his caste, falls beneath the human genus, to which, by any effort of his own, he can never hope to arise, and that he is henceforth to be considered as an abso- lute outcast, — the residuum and offscouring of all things, those in Christian lands may imagine, but can- not realize the power that this singular custom exerts over the Hindu people, and the tenacity with which they cling to it, even when their understandings are sufficiently enlightened to see its utter absurdity. The universe as thus created or expanded into its present form by Brahma, is to exist for a period coeval with the life of the Creator ; for it is to be remembered, that he was himself produced by Brahm at the same time with all the essential principles of things, that all exist as a portion of the Supreme himself, and must finally lose their separate existence and be absorbed back again into their original source. The Hindu, chronology fixes the duration of Brahma and his works with great particularity. Time they measure by yugs, onaha yugs, munwantras, and kalpas; that is, ages, great ages, cycles, &c. But, laying these aside, we may state in round numbers, that more than one hun- dred and fifty billions of years, or half of the life of Brahma, has already passed. A single day of his ex- istence, called a kalpa, is a period of four thousand three hundred and twenty millions of solar years; his night is of the same duration; his year is made up of 88 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. three hundred and sixty such days and nights, and his lifetime is to consist of one hundred such years. At the close of each day of Brahma, awful catastrophes occur for the punishment of the wicked, by which they are swept away, and then the earth is again repeopled by a new and different race. When his night sets in, wearied with the cares of such a government, and the efforts necessary to its management for so long a time, he retires to sleep, and drawing around him the cur- tains of darkness, the luminaries of heaven are all extinguished. Deep calleth unto deep; the tempest rises, the rains descend, and soon the lower worlds, the earth which we inhabit, and the two worlds next above, are all submerged. Brahma now assumes the form of Narayan, or Sea God, casts himself upon the back of an immense sea serpent, closes his eyes, and sleeps profoundly, "amid the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." During this scene, Indra, the ruler of the celestials, with his three hundred and thirty millions of deities, filled with consternation, rush into the fourth heaven for safety; and those among men, who by their meritorious virtues or sufferings had dis- tinguished themselves, are raised to the rank of demi- gods, and admitted to occupy a place on the top of Mount Meru, or in some other of the highest heavens. None however of the beings that are disorganized during Brahma's night are lost. When he awakes again, all are reorganized in such forms as their merits or demerits in former births demand. In the opinion of Hindus, there is a constant transmigration of souls taking place, so that the death of a man or an animal is only the change of a soul into some other form of FATALISM. 89 animated being, which soul does not then begin to exist for the first time, but which has existed since the crea- tion. "When a soul passes from the form of a man to that of some ravenous animal, or disgusting crawling insect, this is looked upon as the punishment awarded for sins committed in a former birth. But in the mind of a Hindu, sin is a thing of small importance. He looks upon it as a part of his fate more than as his fault, as merely the development of what the Creator wrote on his forehead. Every Hindu considers himself to be in reality a part of deity ; a shadow, and not sub- stance; to be just what God made him to be; and where then is there any ground to charge himself with blame? Entertaining these views, and with feelings scared and moulded under their influence, the thief usually submits to the degradation of a prison, and the murderer to the ignominy of the scaffold, with a hardened indifference, as enduring what it was impos- sible for them to avoid, and as in that very way exactly fulfilling the end of their existence! To men in such a condition, how true it is that the gospel of Christ is foolishness ! How hard to convince such of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and their need of that great salvation which the Bible reveals. How often, when reasoning with them on these subjects, have we felt, that "with men it is impossible" to convince and persuade them, "but with God all things are possible." Immense as the period may seem included in a single day and night of Brahma, that is a period of eight thousand six hundred and forty millions of years, it is but as a point of time when compared with the life of Brahma, or the duration of his works. During his 8* 90 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. life, thirty-six thousand such days and nights must pass away, which will be equal to a period of more than three hundred billions of years, and then the time will come, when Brahma himself, and the whole visible creation, must cease to exist ; when all things must be reabsorbed in Brahm, the great progenitor. Into his alone imperishable nature must be transfused all the grosser elements, as well as the subtle and spiritual essences of creation. Spirits, whether evil or good, men and animals, vegetables and minerals, all must revert to their original source — to him who claims them as a part of himself, to lose their personal identity, and be swallowed up in the great Supreme ! What ! it may be asked, is this to be the termination of the fair fabric of creation, and of all the glorious intelli- gences that have existed, and may yet exist, to glorify and enjoy God? And must creation not only become a blank, but must the darkness and dreariness of "old night" continue to reign throughout eternity? The Hindu Shasters answer, No. The business of creation will be resumed. When myriads of ages shall have passed away in unbroken silence, Brahm will again awake from his slumbers, and manifest himself much in the same way as he has always been doing; so that the present creation is only one of an interminable series in the great chain of eternity ! Volumes might easily be filled with these kinds of legends, were we to enter fully into the details of Hindu mythology, or even to give an outline of what is most minutely recorded in the Shasters of the other persons of the Hindu Triad, and of all the feuds and encoun- ters that have taken place between gods and goddesses, HINDU FANATICISM. 91 avatars and demons, so different in their moral cha- racter, objects, and interests ; but it is not the object of this work to do more than present a very short view of the leading and popular belief of the Hindus on these subjects, and we presume that minds disposed to seriousness, would not wish to follow us longer in these details. These are subjects, however, to which the Hindus themselves will listen with the utmost eager- ness, and in which they take infinite delight. The feuds and wars, and deception and slaughter, that for millions of years were carried on between the solar and lunar races, and which are detailed with the great- est minuteness in the sacred books, mingled with all kinds of marvel and extravagances, are heard with exquisite pleasure, by minds whose credulity increases in proportion to the demands that are made upon it. The incarnations of Vishnu in the persons of Earn and Krishna; and of Shiv in the forms 'of Durgd and Kali, together with the obscene Ling and sacred Bull, have now become the chief objects of worship in Hindustan. The life of the sporting Krishna, and the legends connected with the abominable Ling, too impure to be described, must not "be dwelt upon in this place. These exhibitions of depravity are all but too fully developed in the lives of the Hindus themselves, v. bo are instructed to imitate closely all the actions of their deities. The theory of Hinduism, as it is re- duced to practice, in the every day conduct of the people, as well as the absurdities, contradictions, and known falsehoods with which it so plentifully abounds, is fully proved to be an invention of designing men, 92 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. and the fruit of the vain and bewildered imaginations of fanaticism and folly. From what we know of the letter and spirit of Hin- duism, and from what we have witnessed of the idola- trous worship of the people, we have no hesitation in saying, that the religious services rendered to the gods, are not performed from principles of love and gratitude at all. No, the grand object of every form of Hindu worship is, not to obtain a liberation from sin, and a meetness for the enjoyment of heaven, but a liberation from future existence by a perfect absorption in the essence of Brahm ; or by penance and austerities to appease and avert the wrath of the god of destruction. The innumerable rites and ceremonies of their worship, are performed to humour their divinities, and their praises are but gross adulation and flattery, used as bribes to obtain their selfish objects, or they are con- sidered as acts of merit to lay them under obligation to grant the thing desired. Such notions are not merely secretly entertained or concealed from public observation, but they are plainly declared by the wor- shippers, and as explicitly taught in the Shasters. It would not be practicable here to enter into a full detail of the idolatrous worship of the Hindus, and yet some notice of it may not only be interesting to our readers, but necessary to complete this brief sketch of Hinduism. The forms and ritual of Hindu worship are not only minute and trifling, but hollow and heart- less. In their whole extent, as given in the sacred books, it would be absolutely out of the power of any man to become fully acquainted with them, and much more impossible for him to observe them in his daily FORMS AND RITUAL. 93 practice. Some, in order to attain a superior degree of merit by their obedience, forsake the world, and give themselves up to what they call religious duties. Just as many of these ceremonies, however, as may be considered sufficient to keep a man from degradation in the next birth he may take, are all that the masses of the people attempt to perform. The Shasters not only describe with the greatest exactness all the duties to be performed by every man and woman of e,very caste, and in every condition of life, but also the manner of performing them, and that, too, with a minuteness and particularity which puts it out of the power of any man to exercise his own judgment on any point what- ever. In other words, it is a religion cut out to fit every man, in every place, and at every time ; and the docile Hindu, like a machine, has nothing to do but to submit to the movements prescribed. The Shasters direct that the first thing a Hindu worshipper should do in the morning, is to select a twig from a certain tree with which he is to clean his teeth ; and then he is instructed as to the particular way in which he is to dispose of this twig ! A failure in this, or in any other primary duty, will vitiate all his other performances for the day. He is then to bathe, not only to remove bodily defilements, but to wash away his sins. If practicable, he is to repair to a running stream ; and above all others, if within his reach, he is to prefer the sacred waters of the Ganges. Standing in the water to the middle, he mutters a number of sacred texts in the Sanscrit language, a word of which, it may be, he does not understand, — takes water up be- tween his hands, drinks a part of it, and throws tho 94 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. rest before him as a libation. Next he throws water over each shoulder and on his head several times, also toward the sky, and the sun, if it has made its appear- ance. Then with the use of the rosary, he repeats a number of prayers to the waters, and finally, filling his mouth with water, and placing his fingers in his ears, he meditates on the gods, invokes their blessing on the performance, and plunges three times beneath the stream. » The whole ceremony is concluded by washing the cloth that surrounded his loins, a duty prescribed by the same authority. The worshippers of Mdlid Dev, and particularly the females, when en- gaged in their morning ablutions, take wet clay and make a representative of the Ling ; then bow down to the vile symbol their own hands have formed, and afterward cast it into the river. This is a brief notice of the ceremonies of the daily bathing, but there are others far more tedious, which the Brahmins observe at certain times, in the worship of the sun, or during certain festivals when the planets are in conjunction with other heavenly bodies, or during eclipses of the sun or moon, &c. Next to the morning ablutions comes the idol worship, or puja, as it is called. There is the private as well as the temple puja. The puja at the temple is a thing that requires but a few mo- ments. Worshippers visit the temple merely to make a few short prayers before the idols, — to present an offering of a few cowries, or rice flowers, &c, and to give their saldm. Indeed, heathen temples, unlike Christian places of worship, are not designed to ac- commodate any but the idols. The interior of the building usually is not more than ten or twelve feet TEMPLES IN INDIA. .-■- Page 94. HINDU DEVOTION. 95 square, and often much smaller, so that the worship- pers either stand -without, or crawl in, one by one, for a moment to lay their offering before the idol. But the puja which a Hindu, and particularly a Brahmin, performs daily at his own house, is a work of much more time and pains. Let the temperature of the at- mosphere be what it may, he is obliged to strip per- fectly naked, with the exception of a narrow cloth around his loins. Forming a sacred circle around him he sits down cross-legged to his devotions. If he be a worshipper of Shiv, he places before him an image of the Ling, mixes up paint of different colours with sandalwood, &c, which he applies, with the aid of a small looking-glass, to his forehead, arms, and breast. (The emblem of this deity is made in the form of a trident, by perpendicular streaks on the centre of the forehead and just above the nose ; but the followers of Vishnu draw lines of paint across the forehead, and by this means it is easy to distinguish to what god men belong.) He next takes from a vessel some of the holy water from the Ganges, and with a small spoon pours it on the Ling.' A few drops of the same precious element are then thrown down the throat, and some of it is placed on the forehead, tips of the ears, &c. During all these performances, the worshipper fre- quently rings a small bell, and mutters prayers and muntraz from the Shasters, counting them upon his beads. If he be able to read, he chants a few stanzas from some portion of their sacred books, and then closing his eyes, and, as far as possible, all his senses, he meditates on Brahm, by trying to form an image 96 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. of this abstract existence in his mind, and by suppos- ing that he himself is a part of the great Supreme ! But it must be observed that Hinduism is not a unit. It embodies within its pale an immense number of sects, greatly at variance with each other in sentiment, modes of worship, objects of adoration, and in spirit and feeling ; so that it would be impossible to give a de- scription of all the varieties and forms in which the system manifests itself in the practices of the commu- nity. The most that we can expect to accomplish in such a brief description as this, is merely to give an idea of the system of Hinduism, as a whole, and as it usually presents itself to the eye of the missionary, while labouring to bring such blind idolaters to a know- ledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. With regard to these conflicting sects, it would be an endless task to de- scribe them. All that we propose, is simply to mention a few, as a specimen of the whole, with some of their peculiarities, and as these sects are generally considered to consist of men of superior sanctity, their character and conduct will be a pretty good exponent of the whole system of Hinduism. We have met with many of them during our visits to the great mela at Hardwdr, where they usually assemble in vast bodies, and exhi- bit all their peculiarities without disguise, and where they manifest such hostility toward each other, that a company of soldiers is necessary to prevent the effusion of human blood. Among these sects* are the Sauras, who give par- ticular worship to the sun. The Rama Nujas address * We avail ourselves of Professor Wilson's notice of the Hindu sects. HINDU SECTS. 97 their worship particularly to Vishnu and Lakshnii and their various incarnations, and are decidedly hostile to the Shiva sects. The Rdma-tvats profess to be liberated from the fetters which bind the other sects ; they wor- ship the salagram stone and the tulsi plant, and inces- santly repeat the name of Kdm. The Kabir-Panthis with great boldness assail and ridicule the whole system of Hindu worship as now practised. The Khakis are so called on account of their rubbing their bodies all over with ashes. They go about almost naked, and lead a wandering life. The Virdktas go bareheaded, and must have but one garment and one water-pot. The Rhudra Sampradayes or the Cfossains, are a wealthy and influential class, and very proud of their distinction; they worship Krishna and his mistress, particularly in their juvenile forms. The Sakhi Bhdvas worship Radha, the mistress of Krishna, so exclusively, that in order to show their great attach- ment to her, all the males preposterously assume, not only the female garb and ornaments, but also their manners and occupations ! The Sunydsls are a class of sturdy beggars, who profess to have abandoned the world and perfectly overcome all their passions. They lead an ascetic life and live on alms. The Virdgis are said to be devoid of all passion. They profess perpetual poverty and continence, and move about wherever they please. The greater number observe no form of worship whatever. Ignorance and impu- dence appear to be their characteristics. We always found them to be the most noisy and troublesome per- sons at idolatrous melas. ■ The Ndgds arc of the same class with the Sunydsis, but they depart still further 98 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. from ordinary decency, and, as their name imports', they go quite naked. Of all classes they are the most ■worthless and profligate. They smear their bodies with ashes, and allowing their hair to grow long, wear it braided in a vast mass around their heads like a tur- ban. When travelling they carry arms, and are not unwilling to engage in sanguinary conflicts. It was in an affray between the Viragi Nagas and the Saiva Nagas, which took place at Hardwar in former years, that eighteen thousand of the former are said to have been left dead on the field. The Ahdlis are a bloody band who go about fully armed. They carry the dis- cus on their heads, and can use it with great dexterity. Ranjit Sing, the late Emperor of the Panjalb, had num- bers of them in his army, and it has been stated that he was in such dread of them, that he was often compelled to comply with their demands. The Jogis are a kind of religious mountebanks. They mark the forehead with transverse lines of ashes, and smear the body with the same. They usually go about exhibiting a goat or monkey, which they teach to perform numerous tricks. Their religion consists in sitting in eighty-four different attitudes, in directing the eyes to the tip of the nose, and, by mental abstraction, endeavouring to effect a union between the vital spirit in the body, and that which pervades all nature. When this union is effected, the Jogi supposes that he is liberated from the clog of material encumbrance, and acquires perfect com- mand over all worldly substance ! The Ling a-w ants wear a representation of that vile symbol, the ling, as an ornament, and smear their faces with ashes. They go about seeking alms, for which they exhibit a small HINDU SECTS. 99 Brahmini bull, as an emblem of Nundi the bull of Siva, decorated -with strings of cowries or shells. The Para Mahansa are a class who pretend to be indifferent to pleasure or pain, to be incapable of want, and insen- sible to cold or heat. In proof of this, they go naked in all weathers, never speak and never beg. In all respects they appear almost as helpless as infants. The Aghoris are worshippers of Devi in some of her most dreadful forms ; and for this worship human vic- tims are rerpiired. The sect has in a great measure been suppressed, but the disgusting members that still remain are greatly feared and detested. To render themselves as frightsome as possible, they carry a pole with a shoe, a Avater-pot, a skull and human bones fastened on the top. They eat carrion or filth of any kind that falls in their way; they rub their bodies over with filth that they may be the more disgusting, and carry in their hand a wooden cup or skull filled with ordure, to throw upon those who will not comply with their demands. Should this fail, they inflict wounds upon themselves, that the guilt of blood may rest upon the heads of the recusants. The Nakhis are a class who, more than others, believe in the great merit and efficacy of personal privation and torture. Hence they will distort their limbs by forcing them out of the natural position. Sometimes they hold their arms above their heads for years, until losing all vital influence, they wither away to skin and bone, and can never be brought down again. Some will clench tin' fist, with a determination never to open it, and the nail- being thus allowed to grow, finally make their way through the metacarpal bones, and pass out for 100 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. several inches at the back of the hand. The Bhaktas or DaJcshinas, are the right-hand worshippers ; and the Vamacharis the left-hand worshippers. The rites of the latter, according to the Tantras, are too vile to be made public. They require the use of five things in their worship, viz : " Flesh, fish, wine, women, and cer- tain mystical gesticulations." In their worship of Salcti, the utmost secrecy is enjoined. It takes place at midnight, in mixed society, and terminates in orgies too scandalous and impure to admit of being described. We close this account of the Hindu sects, having to pass over hundreds equally disgusting and depraved, with the notice of two others devoted to the service of the goddess Kali. The one is given to robbery and the other to murder; and both take Kdli as their patroness. The former, after offering bloody sacrifice to the goddess, to secure safety and success, and wor- shipping the instruments by which they are to effect an entrance into the houses to be plundered, set out in the undertaking with a courage and resolution not to be overcome by any difficulties that may lie in their way ; and when success has- been obtained, they fail not to pay their vows and make offering of the spoils. The other sect are the Thugs ; and who has not heard of the Thugs of India ? They are a band of profes- sional murderers, who pretend to derive their laws and regulations from the sanguinary goddess; to act ac- cording to her authority, and for her special honour and advantage. None are more devout and regular in their worship, or more faithful in the discharge of the sacred duties they have undertaken. With the utmost calmness and deliberation they proceed to the HINDU SECTS. 101 •work of death, and then hold up the hands that are still reeking with the life blood of their victims, in giving thanks to her Avho has given them success ! Under former dynasties their operations were most extensive, and they had become the terror of the whole community ; and so secretly did they carry on their nefarious purposes, that, until lately, they eluded all the efforts that were made for their detection. We are happy to say that within the last few years the government of India have succeeded, almost entirely, in rooting out of the land this bloody fraternity, some of -whom declared with their dying breath, that if they had been faithful to Kali, she would never have per- mitted them to be ensnared, or their craft to be broken up ! What a system then is Hinduism, not only as it respects the abstract theory which is found in the Shasters, but the practices of all these sects which it sanctions. Gladly would we draw the veil of oblivion over all these abominations ; but alas ! this would be a vain attempt, as, at the present hour, they still live and work and spread in their native soil ; and, unless a pure gospel, accompanied by the influences of the Spirit of God, counteract and remove them, they will continue to spread and triumph in the everlasting de- struction of India's benighted millions. These sects, to which we have so briefly referred, are only a speci- men of those which flourish luxuriantly under the wing of the Hindu religion. All of them, however corrupt in sentiment or in practice, profess to act under the authority of their sacred books, and to aim at one ob- ject, and that is, "to shuffle off* this mortal coil," to get rid of the fetters that bind them to existence, and '.• 102 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. finally to lose that existence by an absorption in the unconscious Brahm ! For this purpose some follow one way and some another. Some try to root out every passion from the soul, — to reduce, as it were, all the sensibilities of the human heart to a state of petrifaction, and entirely to extirpate the feelings which the Creator, for the wisest of purposes, has planted in the bosom ; and this they hope to effect by the kind of devotions we have described. Others sup- pose that austerities of the most severe description will be effectual in raising them to the rank for which they aspire. Hence, in addition to the penances and morti- fications we have already enumerated, some bury them- selves in the earth, (leaving a small, but almost imper- ceptible hole through which they breathe,) with the design of making the multitude believe they can live without air, and that the thing is a miracle. This we have ourselves witnessed and detected. Some clothe themselves in the skins of wild beasts, and retire to the forest to live on herbs and roots. Others chain themselves to trees, and if not fed by the superstitious people, perish from hunger. Some suspend themselves by the feet to the branches of the sacred pipil or ban- yan. Others stand in water to the neck several hours every day for years. Some scotch themselves on beds of iron spikes. Others roast themselves amidst five fires, — that is, four blazing around, and a tropical sun overhead. Some again, in making a long pilgrim- age, measure the whole distance with their bodies. But enough of this. Enough certainly to expose the errors, absurdities, and delusions of Hinduism. Will not the picture, though much less dark than the HINDU SECTS. 103 original, affect the hearts of Christians, and stir them up to do more than they have ever done, to evangelize benighted and degraded India, to overthrow and uproot a system of idolatry so gross and delusive, and firmly to resolve never to cease their efforts, until all their idols shall be thrown away, and crumble into dust. "Shall we, whose souls are lighted With wisdom from on high ; Shall we to men benighted, The lamp of life deny? Salvation, 0, salvation ! The joyful sound proclaim, Till earth's remotest nation Has learn'd Messiah's name." 104 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. CHAPTER V. Discouragements to missionary labour — Difficulties should be known by the church — Number of strange languages spoken — Difficult of acquisition — A Christian and scientific literature to be created — Progress made in translations — Much still to be done — Ignorance and prejudice of the people — Printing but little known — Native books — Paucity of readers — Opposition of the priests to Christian education — Bigotry — Self-righteousness — Caste — Brahminical influence — Female degradation — Moral depravity of the community — Idolatry and heathen rites — • Grounds of encouragement. Those who have attentively perused the foregoing chapter, or are even tolerably acquainted with the pe- culiar construction of the Hindu religion, and of its workings in the minds of its votaries, and in society at large, cannot fail to observe that innumerable and formidable difficulties oppose themselves to the spread of the gospel in Hindustan. But, however forcibly this obvious fact may strike the reader, we presume there are few, even of those who take a deep interest in this subject, who are sufficiently impressed with the nature and extent of these difficulties, or contemplate them sufficiently, when making attempts to disseminate Christianity among the Hindus. This dark and dis- couraging side of the picture, persons of a sanguine temperament are unwilling to examine. They would rather hear of opening, brightening prospects, and of great and glorious success ; and when such success is NUMBER OF LANGUAGES. 105 not speedily manifest, such persons, without a know- ledge of these difficulties, become sadly discouraged, and, it not unfrequently happens, not only lose their zeal in the cause, but at length begin to think that the whole is a hopeless undertaking. To guard against such a state of feeling, it is proposed in this chapter to present before the reader, in as striking a light as posssible, some of the difficulties which missionaries in India have to encounter, and, as a contrast to these, to hint at some of the grounds of encouragement, from which they are led to expect finally complete and tri- umphant success in their labours. The church of God, whose business it is to prosecute the work of missions, should be well acquainted with the difficulties connected with it, in order to keep her from being too sanguine of immediate victory, and to call forth, in a proper de- gree, her energies and her prayers; while on the other hand, she should contemplate the grounds of hope, in order to inspire her with courage and zeal worthy of so great and glorious a cause. 1. The first difficulty that meets us in attempting to evangelize the Hindus, arises from the number of strange languages spoken by the people, many of them different both in characters and idiom. Some of these languages are the Sanscrit, the Hindi, the Bengali, the M;iharatti, the Panjabi, the Tamul, the Teliigu, the Canarese, the Persian, the Urdu, &c. The difficulty to a foreigner of acquiring any one of these languages, so as to be able to preach the gospel in it both fluently and forcibly, is very great; especially when it is con- sidered that to do so efficiently, special regard must be paid not only to vocabulary and idiom, but to accents, i i i ; 106 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. and tones, and gestures, and ideas, and feelings, and trains of thought, in many respects altogether different from what he has been accustomed to. In addition to all this, his situation is often such, that in order to reach the whole mass of the people for whose good he labours, the missionary is obliged to learn two or more of the languages we have enumerated. For instance, a mis- sionary at Lodiana, should be acquainted with the Hindi, Hindustani, Panjabi, Persian, and Cashmeri, as all these languages are spoken at that place. In this difficult and laborious business, it may be that his teachers or Munshis, are men who, either know no English at all, or at best so little of our language, as still to be unable to explain the peculiarities of these foreign tongues. The newly arrived missionary, there- fore, feels like a person wandering in an unknown country, where all around appears strange, and alto- gether unlike to any thing with which he was before acquainted. When he first attempts to communicate his thoughts to the people, he finds that they have not only to be clothed in strange words, but to be expressed in a strange way and about strange things. The order of the sentences seems to be completely inverted. The subjects on which he converses before a Hindu audience are in a great measure new ; and the terms to be em- ployed as the medium of thought, must be used fre- quently in a sense so wide from their roots, that mere dictionary definitions would give but little idea of their meaning in certain connections. The language, there- fore, cannot be learned well from books alone. A fa- cility of employing words and phrases in their proper connection, is better acquired by mingling with the DIFFICULTY IN ACQUIRING LANGUAGE. 107 people, and discoursing freely on all subjects of gene- ral interest. By the study of the few native books that are to be found, we are able to detect what is low and vulgar in the spoken living language ; and by at- tention to the conversation of the common people, we find out the extent to which the written language is understood by them, or to what degree it may be above their comprehension. For all this, close study and observation, on the part of the missionary, are neces- sary not only for years, but during their whole lives. If, on arrival at his field of labour, the attention of a missionary be not much occupied in secular matters, such as building houses, superintending schools, &c, as is generally the case at the commencement of a mis- sion, he may find himself able to address an audience in an extemporary discourse, and in a fluent and intel- ligent manner, in the course of three or four years ; but at the end of twice that period, he will be still a learner, and making daily improvement in the languages and dialects of Hindustan. But the difficulty of acquiring the language of the people is not the only one that meets the missionaries on their arrival in India. They find it necessary not only to simplify the language they employ to meet the capacities of the masses of the people, but to give it, at the same time, such a style and polish as to be agree- able to the better educated classes ; they have not only to compose dictionaries of the languages, and of reli- gious and scientific terms, but they have actually to prepare a theological literature for the people. The languages of India are heathenish as well as the people, and both must be converted to Christianity. To illus- 108 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. trate what we mean, an example may be given. When a missionary addresses a Hindu audience, and has oc- casion to speak of an atonement for sin, the only words he can find in their language, in reference to this sub- ject, are those which will necessarily convey to their minds the idea of slaying animals to appease their gods, or the performance of acts supposed to be meri- torious, or of austerities and penances. In the same way, if he speak of holiness in their terms and without explanation or circumlocution, he conveys the idea of something acquired by the man who has forsaken the duties of life, and voluntarily endured all the privations of an ascetic. And if he direct their attention to heaven as the home of the Christian, they will most certainly associate with the word ideas altogether dif- ferent from what it conveys to our minds, as they con- sider absorption or non-existence as the highest degree of bliss to which they can aspire ! Hence, in commu- nicating to Hindu minds the grand truths of the gospel — truths that, until lately, were unknown and unthought of in that heathen land — it is constantly necessary to make explanations of the terms used in such cases, or to combine them with others, so as to show the peculiar sense which we attach to them. The imparting, in this way, of ideas and sentiments that are both new and novel to the heathen, is a task more arduous than any one can imagine who has never made the trial, and therefore a difficulty of no ordinary mag- nitude to the missionary in India. But, in addition to the work of imbuing the languages of India with pure and correct sentiments and ideas, we have said, that on the missionary devolves the im- BOOKS TRANSLATED. 109 portant and highly responsible duty of creating a Chris- tian and scientific literature for the people. During the last ten or twelve years, considerable progress has been made in this department of labour. When we arrived in Northern India, in 1836, there were, we may say, no books of a scientific character in the Hindi or Urdu languages suitable to introduce into vernacular schools, and the only religious books available in the Urdu, were about a dozen of small tracts, the New Testament, and a few of the books of the Old Testa- ment. The translation of the New Testament had been made by Henry Martin, who introduced many Persian words into it, in order to render the style more agreeable to the educated classes, and thus it was in a great measure placed beyond the comprehension of the common people. In Hindi the Scriptures were trans- lated by Mr. Bowley, and besides these, there were about ten small tracts published by the Society in Cal- cutta. As a result of the labours of missionaries, and private Christians, and School Book Societies since that time, it may be stated, that the whole of the Scriptures has been translated into Urdu, the New Testament several times, and several editions have been printed and circulated in a style that may be understood by all. Tracts, amounting to several volumes, have been prepared and printed by our own missions in the north- west, to say nothing of what has been done by the London Missions at Banaras, Mirzapur, and Calcutta. The greater part of the New Testament also, and a largo number of tracts have been translated into the Panjabi language by the Bev. J. Newton of Lodiana, and these have been extensively distributed among the Sikhs, who 10 110 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. had previously no other means of becoming acquainted with Christianity. The Agra School Book Society, and the Calcutta Christian School Book Society, have now a large list of books suitable for vernacular schools, and the work of translation is going on in all quarters, with as much spirit and rapidity, as in the power of the few on whom the work devolves. Missionaries, there- fore, who now arrive in the country, find much prepa- ratory work accomplished and ready to then* hands ; and, as a consequence, are the sooner prepared to enter on their labours with efficiency. So much, however, still remains to be done, in all these departments, that the great work of imbuing the languages of Hindustan with the genius of Christian sentiment, and thus quali- fying them more perfectly for the expression of gospel truth, and of opening up to the inquiring minds of the Hindus the vast treasures of European literature, by translations into the vernaculars, may be said to have but commenced, and to carry it on to completion, many able and devoted men will be required. Some valuable assistance in these labours may be expected by and by, from the educated native Christian society that is grow- ing up in connection with the mission stations scattered over that dark land. 2. The deplorable ignorance and stubborn preju- dices of the Hindus, together with their pride of reli- gion and self-righteous spirit, are all serious difficulties in the ivay of the spread of the gospel amongst them. Although the Hindus are to a considerable degree a civilized people, it must have been remarked that many of their religious rites and practices are the most bar- barous that could well be imagined. Thanks, under Pro- KNOWLEDGE TRADITIONAL. Ill vidence, to that noble and humane individual, Lord Bentinck, that the Sutti, the sacrifice of the young and the aged, and all other acts of wilful murder, under the plea of religion, have been prohibited, and are now classed under the catalogue of criminal offences. This was a grand demonstration of the power of Christian principle over the time-serving policy that had been previously pursued in regard to such practices, by the rulers of the country ; and it was a first and important step toward the breaking up of the entire system of bloody rites to which the people cling with such te- nacity. It has inflicted a wound on Hinduism which will never be healed, and was only the precursor, we trust, of many more important changes, and of the final demolition of the mighty fabric of idolatry and superstition that has existed for so many centuries in India. The minds of the Hindus are active, ingenious, and acute, and, in general, not uninformed on all the leading topics contained in their own mythological writings : but then, these contain such a medley of fiction and folly, of extravagance and absurdity, and of every thing, on a large scale, that is marvellous and calculated to outrage human credence, that no true or practical knowledge is gained from this source. Such absurd and chimerical ideas only bewilder the mind, and unfit it for sober thought. Besides this, the reli- gious knowledge possessed by the great body of the people is nearly all traditional, or obtained at second- hand. The study of the Shasters is entirely committed to the Brahmins, and the severest penalties are threat- cued if any of the other classes should presume to com- mit the sacrilegious act of reading them in the sacred :m 112 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. language of the Sanscrit. The lowest castes are not even permitted to touch them, or to hear them read ! Until the English penetrated the country, the art of printing was unknown ; and even to this day, with few exceptions, all native books are written by the hand. The whole catalogue of native books, however, if we omit the Shasters, might be easily given. They con- sist of a few works of fiction, quaint sayings, fables, &c, and these are the only school-books in use. It may be remarked also, that except in schools, but few of the people ever think of reading at all, or of read- ing on account of the intellectual gratification it affords ; a thing certainly not to be wondered at, as their books contain so little that is either profitable or interesting ; and then, the pupils in schools, scarcely ever suppos- ing it practicable to learn to read alone, depend almost entirely on the Munshi, or teacher, to read before them, and explain the meaning. On this account it is not uncommon to hear those who profess to be scholars say, We cannot read your books because we have not been taught them ! In some places not more than one in every twenty of the community can read at all, and a very small proportion of this number can read with any tolerable degree of fluency and under- standing. Multitudes whom we have met in villages, were in a most lamentable state of ignorance about the most simple and primary truths that lie at the founda- tion of all religion, nor could they understand the na- ture of our message, however plainly communicated. Many with whom we have conversed, did not know they had a soul, or that there is a God, or a judgment, or a heaven, or a hell ! Yet, even such persons, desti- IGNORANCE AND PREJUDICE. 113 tute as they are of any religious principles of their own, are full of superstition and prejudice against the truth of the gospel, and exceedingly fearful lest, like the Mohammedans, when they conquered Hindustdn, we should force our religion upon them, or by some means draw them away from the religion of their fathers. This religion, they tell us, whatever it was, is good enough for them, and in it they wish to live and die. Fearful that our doctrines may leaven so- ciety and corrupt their ancient faith, all our efforts to enlighten and evangelize them are carefully watched, and thwarted if possible. The Brahmins being the men most interested in keeping the people in igno- rance, are always the most forward in such matters, and their dictum cannot be opposed by the deluded people, who suppose that much of their fate is in the hands of their religious teachers. But, ignorant as the people are in regard to their own religion, they are filled with bigotry and self-conceit. They look upon Hinduism as par excellence far more ancient and more magnificent than any other religion, and as having been given expressly for themselves, and ex- actly suited to their circumstances and wants. Where so much pride and complacency exist, and men seem so perfectly satisfied with their condition, the simple and humbling doctrines of the gospel have but little attraction. Self-righteousness is the pivot on which the whole theory and practice of Hinduism turn. To work out a righteousness of his own, and to compensate by his sufferings for his past transgressions, the poor Hindu is directed to the practice of innumerable rites and ceremonies, and fastings and ablutions, and self* i'i 114 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. inflicted tortures, and pilgrimages, and repetitions of the name of Ram and Krishna, and worshipping of senseless idols, and the making of expiations by sacri- fices and offerings, and, it may be, by the horrid rites of self-immolation. These performed, the Hindu looks upon himself as beyond the grade of common mortals, as having reached the rank of the Supreme himself, and as such a being, he is worshipped by thousands. To convince the savages of the Pacific, who had lost all confidence in their idols, or the degraded but simple-hearted Hottentots of Africa, that they were great sinners, and needed an Almighty Saviour, would, humanly speaking, be an easy task ; but to bring the ignorant, the bigoted, and the self-righteous Hindu, who is rooted and grounded in error and steeped in pollution, and then chained by custom and caste to the position he occupies, is nothing short of a moral mira- cle ; it is like tearing up from the soil, in which it has flourished for more than a thousand years, the banyan — the monarch of the Indian jungle, with its hundreds of trunks, and tens of hundreds of spreading roots; but it is a miracle which that glorious gospel, which is the wisdom and power of God to salvation, can effect. Although in the estimation of the world's wisdom, the preaching of this gospel to such men may seem fool- ishness, yet, acting under the authority of the King of Zion, the missionary is not discouraged. He employs the means of Divine appointment in confident hope that they will be successful. " The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imagina- tions and every high thing that exalteth itself against OBSTACLE FROM CASTES. 115 the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 8. The entire construction and state of society in India, are such, as to present fearful obstacles to the amelioration of its condition, and the spread of Chris- tianity. Every one has heard of the castes of India, but few, who have not witnessed the practical workings of the system, are at all aware of the evils which it inflicts on society and individuals, or the immense barriers which it so effectually raises up against the spread of truth, and the exercise of all the finest and best feelings of human nature. This antisocial system, divides the whole Hindu people into distinct races and tribes, and effectually separates them from intercourse with each other, and from people of every other nation under hea- ven. Claiming to be of divine appointment, it throws, as it were, a wall of partition around every division and sub-division of the Hindu family, so as to close, and seal up for ever, all the avenues of social intercourse, and to prevent the interchange of all the kind offices of humanity and benevolence. And what is most to be lamented, it more probably than all things else, pre- vents the missionary of the gospel from carrying out as he would wish, his benevolent plans for their tem- poral and spiritual welfare. It keeps him at such a distance from the people for whose good he labours, that his influence is comparatively but little felt. To them he seems like a barbarian, and they remain like barbarians to him. They regard him as of an unclean race, with whom they must on no account, cither eat or drink, or form any intimate relation. All the in- fluence which a minister of the gospel gains in Chris- 116 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. tian lands for the promotion of religion among his people, by living among them as a friend, by the inter- change of kind offices, by private conversation and social intercourse — and we all know that such an influ- ence is not small — is all, or nearly all lost to the mis- sionary labouring in Hindustan. There is a distinct line of demarcation between the people and him, which he cannot pass, and which, in a great measure, prevents him from reaching their hearts, or of making that im- pression on their minds in favour of Christianity which he ardently desires. To the mind of a Hindu there is no idea more preposterous, or more opposed to all the habits and feelings he has imbibed from childhood, or more utterly subversive of all he was ever taught to do or believe, as in accordance with the system of laws and ceremonies that was handed down to him from time immemorial by his ancestors, than that he should for a moment think of changing his religion, and of embrac- ing one which explicitly declares that " God made of one blood, all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth," and proposes to destroy all distinctions of race, and "to unite all together in one body in Christ;" and of associating himself with those of another nation, whom he views almost as beings of another species. When viewed in this light, and in all the other aspects in which this subject might be presented, it will be seen at once, that caste throws innumerable and almost in- surmountable difficulties in the way of all those, whose minds having become enlightened, might wish to get rid of the grievous bondage it entails, and join them- selves to the Christian church ; it rivets the chains and shackles under which former generations have sighed OBSTACLE FROM CASTES. 117 and groaned; and it peremptorily enjoins, that no change, no improvement on past usages, no inquiry after truth, shall ever be made by the Hindu ! Is any one bold enough to disregard public opinion, and to break through all these restraints ; and, in following his own convictions of duty, to make a good confession before many witnesses ? Then the tameness of Hindu- ism is roused into fury. The man's greatest enemies will be those of his own household. If he be a minor, the parental authority is exercised in the most rigid manner. He is beaten and imprisoned in some dark corner of the family dwelling, or sent to some distant place to reside with friends, where all kinds of amuse- ment will be afforded so as to remove serious thoughts. Should he still profess himself a Christian, and refuse to bow before the idols, the father has been known to provide a paramour for his son, that by her blandish- ments he might be induced to commit sin and defile his conscience ; and when this has proved ineffectual, then drugs have been given to make him insane for life. This is a light affliction to the family, compared with what they would have suffered had he broken his caste, and disgraced all his relations by a public pro- fession of Christianity. But if a convert to the gospel be of age, and force by his friends be not permitted, he is tried by all kinds of allurements, promises, and threatenings. If these succeed not, he is at once and for ever disinherited of any worldly property that might fall to his share. If he be a married man, his wife and children are taken from him, though by a late law passed by government, he may now claim an interview with his wife in the presence of witnesses to ascertain 118 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. if she be forcibly detained, and she is left to choose her own course for the future. If he be in business of any kind, all his former friends and customers for- sake him, and henceforth, he is considered as a miser- able outcast from all society, and a just object of scorn and reproach. Should such a person, in due time, be thought qualified by the missionaries to preach the gospel to his benighted countrymen, not only the same, but in some respects, much greater difficulties will lie in the way of his influence and usefulness than those we have mentioned in regard to the foreign missionary. Hence the difficulties that from this subject of caste alone, meet us on all hands. They are indeed so for- midable, that were it not for the promises and power of God that are engaged in behalf of the cause which missionaries are labouring to promote, they might well despair of success. But we think that this mighty obstacle is being gradually removed. The overt de- partures from the strict rules of caste, are now so com- mon and notorious, that most men of common sense and reflection are becoming more and more convinced, that no true caste, such as the Shasters enjoin, exists in the present age ; and that the whole system, cutting them off as it does from mutual intercourse with other parts of the world, stands directly in the way of their national improvement. Yet, strange as it may seem, those who make all these acknowledgments, are still so much under the influence of caste and the fear of man, that, externally, and in the presence of others, they will cling to it almost with as much pertinacity as ever. The power possessed by the Brahmins over the mul- titude, and so assiduously employed to confirm them POWER OF THE BRAHMINS. 119 in caste, and to strengthen their prejudices against Christianity, is very great. This influence is exerted over every Hindu before he is born; it follows him through every period, and in every transaction of life ; and it is supposed to have a most direct effect upon his future destinies. In infancy, childhood, youth, man- hood, old age; in sickness, health,. poverty, or pros- perity ; in short, from the time the Hindu becomes a living foetus in the womb, until his body is consumed on the funeral pile, and his ashes are committed to the Ganges, and all the funeral rites are performed, the Brahmin or Guru has him and his spiritual concerns, under his special direction and control ; and from this situation it is impossible for him to escape without be- coming an outcast from the community, and an object of hatred and disgust to all his former acquaintances and connections. We rejoice however to say, that these blind guides have much less sway in the commu- nity now than in former times ; that in many cases the people respect them in appearance only, not in heart ; and that from this bigoted class of the Hindus, appa- rently so far removed from the reach of the gospel, it has heretofore had its full proportion of success in their conversion to God. Let those at home who are dispo- sed to be discouraged in the missionary enterprise, on account of the small number that have made a profes- sion of Christianity, and who are always comparing the visible success of the missionary, with that of a minister in Christian lands, remember that in India the gospel bus to surmount difficulties that are unknown to them. How many, we might ask, of those who are added to Christian churches in the United States, would 120 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. have made a public profession, in the face of all the opposition and sacrifices that the Hindu convert must necessarily encounter in the very first steps of the Christian life? But caste and Brahminical influence are not the only things in the construction of Hindu, society, that op- pose the efforts of missionaries. There are also many customs which we might name, which having prevailed from time immemorial, have now become so inveterate, and so fully invested with all the authority of law, that their removal seems almost impossible, while their ex- istence presents scarcely less serious difficulties to the spread of the gospel than caste itself. But the only one of these to which we shall now refer is that of fe- male society. In India, as we have already mentioned, all the females in respectable society are secluded be- hind a purdah or screen, or within the walls of a zenana. The origin of this singular custom is the jealousy which men have of their wives, and the fear that should others see their faces, they would fall in love with them, and by some means or other seduce them. During the long reign of despotism in Hindustan, and espe- cially since the invasion and reign of the lecherous Mohammedans, there were doubtless many grounds for these fears, but at present they are in a great measure without foundation. The reason that is now given for continuing the practice, is one of the strongest proofs of the evils of the system, that is, that the female sex in India, being so ignorant and inexperienced, would not know how to conduct themselves in the society of men, with any degree of prudence and discretion, and that they would thus most certainly disgrace their hus- DEGRADATION OF HINDU WOMEN. 121 bands. Thus the cure continues to propagate the dis- ease. It is impossible for a Hindu woman to become intelligent or polished, so long as she is kept in con- finement; and, according to Hindu reasoning, she must be kept in seclusion because she does not possess those qualifications which it was impossible for her to acquire ! The real state of the case however is, that the whole system of female degradation has its origin in the Shasters. There men are taught to look upon woman, not only as "the weaker vessel," but as of an inferior grade among human beings, as the slaves of their hus- bands, or lords, as they are called, and as totally un- fitted for any thing except the merest drudgery. Hence in many cases they seem to be ashamed of them. No man in India would, on any account, men- tion the name of his wife. This would be highly dis- graceful, and repugnant to the feelings he has imbibed and cultivated ! When he has occasion to refer to her in conversation, (a thing, however, which he will always avoid,) he calls her the daughter of such a person, or the mother of such a child ! Her business is to pre- pare his food, to wait upon him at meals, to eat after him, to walk at a respectful distance behind him, and in every possible way to minister to his wants. Intel- lectual culture they do not, and cannot possess, and therefore the pleasure and improvement arising from rational conversation in society, they do not enjoy. Now it will be perceived at once that society, con- structed on such principles, contains within itself the most powerful obstacles to its own improvement. Every one knows the incalculable influence for good or for ill which the female mind exerts over every successive ll 122 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. generation as it rises into manhood, and until all the principles of action, and all the controlling habits of life are formed. What then must this influence he in India, when it originates in minds as dark as midnight, and flows from hearts so carnal and depraved ? It is to counteract and remove this influence, or rather to turn it to some good account, that we are at a loss to know the remedy or the way of applying it to the best advantage. Whatever way the subject may be viewed, we consider female ignorance in India to be an evil of the most enormous magnitude, an evil which is the source of many others ; and until it be removed, we must anticipate serious and almost insurmountable difficulties to lie in the way of India's improvement and evangelization. But, at present, the laws of so- ciety are such, that however anxious we may be to educate the female sex, and thus purify the streams of society at the very fountain head, we are unable to accomplish our object, except to a very limited extent. Hence this large class, almost the half of the popula- tion, are, in a great measure, entirely removed beyond the sphere of missionary influence. They cannot read our books, and they are not permitted to hear us preach, and doubtless the second-hand information they obtain respecting us and our message, is most unfavourable. Poor, ignorant, and degraded immortals ! We pity them exceedingly ; we sigh over the forlorn hopes that are at present entertained in their behalf; and we pray that in some way, we scarcely know how, they may be released from their mental disabilities and bondage, and be permitted to come to the light of the gospel, or its light be permitted to reach them, so that they FEMALE EDUCATION. 123 may at last occupy the place which Providence has as- signed them. Surely those who exclude them from the dearest privileges of immortal beings on earth, and -which so peculiarly belong to their sex, have the greater sin. The only door of hope that we can dis- cover for the education and mental elevation of the Hindu females, is to endeavour to change public opinion in their behalf, to educate the males, and by creating in them a sense of the pleasures and advantages of true knowledge, to excite in them at the same time a desire to cultivate the minds of the other sex. This effect, we are happy to say, has been produced to some extent in the educated circles in Calcutta and other places, where the benefits of sound knowledge are be- ginning to be appreciated. Female education is also on the increase at all the mission stations, and the plan now so generally adopted of giving girls a pretty li- beral education in boarding schools, where they are brought under the entire control and influence of Chris- tianity, seems much more likely to produce good to them personally and to qualify them to become instruc- tors to others, than the common bazaar, or day-school system which was formerly pursued by the friends of female education. Many of those who are now being educated in our female orphan boarding-schools, will soon be prepared to aid in the instruction of their own sex, and thus gradually the work of female education, and consequently their elevation from ignorance and degradation to the rank which they were designed to occupy in society, will be effected. But it will be a work of time, and much patience and perseverance will be necessary in its accomplishment. 124 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. 4. The entire absence of all correct principles among the Hindu people, and their azvful moral degradation, constitute immense difficulties in the wag of a pure gospel A very brief account of the principles taught in the Shasters, and firmly maintained by the people, as also of some of their idolatrous rites and observances, has already been given ; and we presume that nothing more is necessary to show the nature and tendency of such principles and practices. Some, however, may be desirous to know what effect is produced on the moral character of those who believe in such principles. On this point also some remarks have been made when describing the Hindus as a people, but yet the half has not been told, nor would it be possible fully to lay open the secrets of Hindu iniquity in these brief notices. Even were it possible, it would not be pro- per to describe scenes that take place, in the very wor- ship of their gods, where gross impurity and licentious- ness throw off the mask, and revel in all kinds of abominations. We have no hesitation in saying that the more intimately any one becomes acquainted with the heathen in India, — and the Mohammedans may be included also in this description, — the more he will discover of the depths of their depravity, and the more closely will they seem to resemble the picture drawn by the pen of inspiration in Romans i. 19-32, and iii. 11-18. During the eleven years we resided in India, a man was never found on whom we could depend that he would speak the truth when falsehood was more to his advantage. Native Christians are not of course included in this general declaration. In their case we trust that grace has purified their hearts through the MORAL DEGRADATION. 125 truth, and given them to see the sin of falsehood, and that " all liars shall have their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone;" yet even some of them, under strong temptation, and from the power of habits acquired in youth, have been known to swerve from the truth. Lying, prevarication, dupli- city, deception, servility, avarice, false-swearing, and iniquity in all its varied forms, are set before the peo- ple in the practices of their gods, and being formed into habits from childhood, they become natural, and seem scarcely at all to affect their consciences. As these crimes are universal in society, no man appears to be the least ashamed of being detected in any false scheme ; nor does the fact lessen any man in the esti- mation of the public; but, on the contrary, whoever can carry through such a scheme, with the most plausi- ble manner, so as to avoid detection, is considered to be the most able, if not the most honourable of his fel- lows ! In the same way, the impurity of their conver- sation and conduct may be traced up to the examples set them by their divinities ; or, to state the case more accurately, the crimes said to have been committed by their deities are only a counterpart of what existed in the corrupt minds of the people. Some of the Hindu objects of worship are the personifications of sin in its vilest forms, and cannot possibly be named. The Shasters themselves are full of obscene allusions and descriptions. The Hindu temples are generally com- mon brothels, where a number of prostitutes are kept under the title of " handmaidens to the gods." These are the "dancing girls of India," who sing obscene songs, and by their blandishments endeavour to give 11* 126 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. e*clat to idolatry and sensuality, and to draw more vo- taries to the shrines. Thus gross and shameless impu- rity is mixed up with religion in every form, and sanctioned by the highest authority. The same vices prevail throughout the entire community, so that, like the cities of the plain, the land groans under the weight of iniquity that rests upon it, and calls for the judg- ments of heaven to wash out the stains by which it is polluted. As might be expected, the common conversation of the people is impure as well as their actions. The most vile and obscene language, in the form of abuse, which they call gdll, as well as at other times in jest, is almost as frequently in the mouths of both sexes, as the air they breathe. This pestilential effusion is pro- fusely lavished also on animals as well as human be- ings, and often, doubtless, without knowing what has been uttered. This filthy habit, of course, defiles and blunts the moral sense of the people, and excites to all kinds of lasciviousness in conduct. It is on this ac- count, as well as others that might be named, that mis- sionaries and English residents in India are compelled, at such a sacrifice of parental feeling, to send their children out of the country at an early age, with but little hope of ever seeing them again in this world. Missionaries themselves, from love to Christ and the souls of men, can cheerfully leave all the endear- ments of a Christian land, and go to reside in an insa- lubrious clime, and among corrupt and abominable idolators, but they cannot consent that their children should be exposed to such a polluted atmosphere, and acquire the habits of the heathen. They would rather VICES OF THE HINDUS. 127 submit to the trial, great as it is, of parting with them at an interesting period of life, and committing them to the care of Christian friends. It is to be hoped that those whose lot it is to be thus cast upon tho un- friendly world, and to be made virtually orphans for the kingdom of heaven's sake, will not be overlooked by the friends of the missionary cause. Indeed, we think that the time has fully come when the church should make permanent provision for the children of missionaries, by the endowment of an institution where they "would receive education, and that assiduous pa- rental care which they require. This would be a great relief to the minds of their parents, and enable them to endure their trials abroad with greater cheerfulness and composure. We fondly hope that benevolent Christians at home will soon turn their attention to this subject. But in addition to falsehood and obscenity both in language and in action, there are many other gross vices practised by the heathen in Hindustan, which go to deepen the shade of their moral character, and to retard the spread of the gospel. A few of these we may name, but cannot stay to illustrate them. As a people they are proverbial for dishonesty, and that they may succeed in their low schemes of avarice, a thousand lies will be uttered, and all kinds of deception practised, without almost the slightest sense of sin or ^1 Dime. Should they be detected, the reply is, either tli.it it is the custom of the country to do so, or that the action is only the result of what the Creator him- self had written in their forehead, and therefore it is their fate and misfortune to commit it ! They are self- 128 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. isli in their plans and objects. A disinterested motive never actuates them to perform deeds of benevolence. Should their conduct at any time seem disinterested, time and observation will show that it was only pre- tence, and done with the sole design of personal gain or promotion. What on the surface of Hindu society may seem to be virtue, will be found, at the bottom, to be nothing less than the low vice of selfishness. When an act of kindness is done by them to a foreigner, it is with the design of making gain of him ; and if, on the other hand, a disinterested act of kindness be done to them, instead of exciting gratitude in their hearts for the favour received, it only increases their desires and expectations of obtaining further favours, and prompts them to take advantage of your good disposition, the more effectually to impose upon you or to rob you. The blackest ingratitude is to be found among these people. We have nursed a servant during a long pe- riod of sickness as if he were a child, administered the medicine with our own hands, and done every thing in our power to alleviate his pain, and also paid him the usual wages during his illness and until he was strong enough to resume his business ; but, instead of manifesting a sense of gratitude for all this, he became so disobedient, impertinent, and careless in the per- formance of his duties, that in less than a month after- ward it was necessary to dismiss him. Such a case as this is not an exception, but an illustration of the general disposition of the people. It is possible that some may have found a happy exception to the general principle, but it is certain that such exceptions are ex- ceedingly rare. Theorists and men who bear the name MORAL DEGRADATION. 129 of Christians, but know nothing of true religion in their own experience, may talk of the virtues of the heathen, and tell us that they need but very little re- form to make them excellent men, and far better than most professors of Christianity ; but such persons are not proper judges in this case. Their standard of virtue is generally too low, and they have had but little acquaintance with the practical workings of heathen morality. The cringing and crawling, the fawning and flattery, the politeness and the polish, and the seeming timidity and humility of the Hindus, together with their apparent religious devotion, are all looked upon, by such men, as excellent and praiseworthy traits of character. A little more experience would show that all these are but the mask, well worn to be sure, but only the mask, beneath which exist meanness, hypocrisy, and selfishness, and even pride itself in no ordinary degree, all working together for the attain- ment of but one end, and that is, their own worldly interests. Whatever men may say, experience of the moral character of the heathen goes fully to corrobo- rate the express statements of the word of God respect- ing them. They are "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whis- perers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without na- tural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." This is no ca- rz i 130 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. ricature, but a faithful drawing of Hinduism. It is not a likeness of a few of the Hindus, but of the whole people. For it may be said with truth, that "they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one." Surely those who believe also what the Bible says, re- garding the eternal destinies of the heathen, who die in this condition, must believe also that it is the impe- rative duty of Christians to send them the gospel of Christ, as the only means of salvation, however diffi- cult it may be to put them in possession of it. 5. The stupendous system of idolatry, with all its carnal and imposing rites, which the grand adversary of the human family has established among the Hindis, is a most fearful obstacle to the introduction of Christ's spiritual kingdom in the midst of them. The whole history of the Jewish people, and their repeated re- lapses into idolatry, show very clearly that there is something in idolatry which exerts a fascinating influ- ence over the carnal heart. A spiritual religion is repugnant to men in a natural state. They prefer the worship of the creatures their own hands have formed, of deities "altogether like unto themselves," to the worship of the unseen God. " The natural man re- ceiveth not the things of the spirit of God ; they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The simplicity also of the worship of the true God, who is "to be wor- shipped in spirit and in truth," is not agreeable to men of corrupt minds. It does not gratify their love of vanity and extravagance, nor give room for that " bodily exercise," which profiteth little. Satan having much SYSTEM OF IDOLATRY. 131 acquaintance with the desires of men in a state of enmity and rebellion against God, has always intro- duced among a people that kind of false religion which is most suitable to their habits and temperament, and most likely to obtain a permanent seat in their affec- tions. Accordingly we find that the cunning of the serpent is admirably displayed in the whole construction and establishment of the Hindu religion. It is de- signed to captivate minds fond of the marvellous and of all kinds of extravagance, and to gratify tastes which relish most of all the glitter and pageantry of external forms, and the minutiae of trifling and puerile rites. It makes high pretensions to antiquity, and doubtless its origin may be traced far back in the an- nals of the world. " It claims to be supernatural, and attempts to support these claims, by a species of me- taphysical arguments which could appear conclusive only to Hindu minds, and by a record of the most stupendous miracles wrought for its confirmation; miracles, which by their splendour, throw far back in the shade those that are mentioned in the Christian Scriptures, but for the existence of which there is not the shadow of proof. Its ceremonies and worship, consisting of bathing, painting the body, offering water, and flowers and fruit, and animals to senseless and disgusting idols, and going through almost an infinity of the most trifling and superstitious performances, are all adapted exactly to that people, and to the climate in which they dwell, but could never obtain in a north- ern climate or among its more vigorous inhabitants. The Hindus are an imaginative people, and to gratify their vain imaginations, stories of the most romantic 132 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. character, and scenes of the most gorgeous and fasci- nating description, having all the bewitching charms of a novel or a romance, are to be found in their sacred books. Nor does Hinduism confine its adherents to one kind of belief, or to any particular form of observ- ances. As there are lords many, and gods many, and female divinities in abundance, every man is at liberty to choose the object of worship most agreeable to his taste, and the form of worship most suitable to his convenience. There is the utmost latitude allowed in all these respects, if care is taken to keep within the wide range provided in the Shasters, and to pre- serve the distinction of caste. They sometimes tell us, that as Brahma has many faces, and their temples many doors, so there are many ways by which the Su- preme may be worshipped, and many doors by which they may enter heaven, and attain to a rank with the gods ! There are also various degrees of rewards and punishments held forth, and men may decide what point in the scale they would wish to reach, and then live accordingly. There are gods also to patronize all kinds of worshippers. When the Hindu seeks wealth, and wisdom to obtain it, he becomes a devoted wor- shipper of Gfaneshj an idol with an elephant's head placed upon a corpulent body. Those who cultivate the soil, and those who desire an enlargement in their families, take the goddess of fertility as their guardian deity. Those who are the admirers of beauty, of fun and frolic, or whose propensity runs in the way of theft or deceit, become the sincere followers of Krishna and his mistress. Thus, in almost endless varieties, there are objects and modes of worship to suit men's tastes DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY. 133 and temperaments. Some of the deities require bloody sacrifices, and the performance of the most horrible austerities in their worshippers ; others can be put off with a few grains of rice, and a salam, as it may suit the convenience of their poor adherents. Thus it is that Satan has been enthroned in the hearts of his sub- jects in India; and, like the strong man armed, has kept his house in peace from generation to generation. "We trust the time is near, when the gospel will under- mine and demolish these mighty barriers, and bring the blind idolaters of Hindustan to a knowledge and love of the truth as it is in Jesus. In accomplishing this, it is evident that great and powerful difficulties must be encountered, and an immense amount of rub- bish removed. Indeed, when we consider the adapta- tion of the Hindu religion to the people for whom it was designed ; its great antiquity ; the numerous and imposing miracles by which, in their estimation, it is supported ; its imposing rounds of ceremonies ; the easy terms on which it offers salvation ; the chains of caste by which it is bound together ; the absurd customs that prevail in society, and to which all are slaves ; the ig- norance of the people ; the variety of languages spoken ; the want of terms by which to impart accurate ideas in religion; the superstition and prejudices of the com- munity ; the moral and intellectual degradation of the female sex; and the entire want of correct principles in society at large: then the conclusion is plain and irresistible, that Christianity must work its way in Hin- dustan, against obstacles which nothing but Almighty power and grace can possibly resist and overcome. How important then, that the church should arise in 12 134 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. her might, and in dependence on an omnipotent arm, go up at once to the help of the Lord against the mighty. The undertaking, though one of immense magnitude, is not hopeless. Though missionaries in that land of thick darkness, have been heretofore but few in number, their labours have not been in vain. And when all these difficulties are kept in view, and many more that might have been mentioned, it will be seen, when we proceed to record the actual condition of mission stations, as they have come under our ob- servation, that the Lord has blessed the labours of his servants with a success equal to their expectations, and given the Church ground to hope, that by a faith- ful application of the means within her power, she may anticipate the most signal victory. As a kind of contrast to the discouragements which meet us in missionary labours among the heathen, and which ought to be known by the friends of missions, we now mention a few grounds of encouragement, cal- culated to cheer them forward in the great and glo- rious cause of the world's emancipation. 1. The command of Gfod our Saviour to evangelize all nations, is ample encouragement to attempt the work, however difficult it mag be, and however foolish it mag seem in the eges of the world. The walls of Jericho doubtless seemed impregnable, and the blow- ing of ram's horns a poor expedient for levelling them to the ground. But as this simple means was the ar- rangement of God, who would thus magnify his own great name in the sight of the heathen, and set at naught the wisdom of the world, so that no flesh should glory in his presence ; and as the thing was performed ENCOURAGEMENTS TO LABOUR. 135 in accordance with his command, it was perfectly suc- cessful. In the same way we look upon the Hindu system of idolatry as being perfectly impregnable, as far as human power is concerned; but then we act under the express command of Him who has all power over mind and matter in his own hand ; and we wield weapons which, though foolishness in the sight of men, are omnipotent and divine, and "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Under the ban- ner of the King of Zion — which is destined to wave victorious over every land, and to grace the ranks of a willing people out of every nation under heaven — we fight and labour ; and although the struggles with the powers of darkness may be long and difficult, in order to prove our faith and patience, the victory is perfectly sure. 2. The Providence of God, in so widely opening the door for missionaries in India, gives encourage- ment to believe that the set time for ■ evangelizing the Hindus has fully come. It was indeed a strange con- catenation of events that placed the immense empire of Hindustan under the rule of Britain. Though from the first in a great measure opposed to her own wishes, one circumstance after another led her on by a kind of involuntary impulse, to add conquest to conquest, until now it may be said the whole land has either fallen into her hands, or has been brought under the wings of her protection ! The policy of the English rulers at first, — a great many of whom it is to be feared 'were men of infidel principles, — was not to ad- mit missionaries into the country, lest that blessed religion, to which they owed so much, should find a Tl 136 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. footing among their idolatrous subjects, and become the cause of insubordination! The policy pursued, however, by their successors, we are happy to say, has been much more liberal and enlightened, giving protec- tion and countenance to the Christian missionary from any part of the world, to labour in any part of their dominions. Surely the Church of God cannot look upon all these movements of Providence with indiffe- rence, but must conclude that she has an important duty to perform, where the field is so inviting and so widely opened before her. When the call is so loud and so plain and pressing, she cannot stand back and be guiltless. Indeed, the very fact that she has been, in some measure, aroused to her duty, is an additional ground of hope on this subject. 3. And lastly : The promises of Gfod furnish an abundant guaranty, that the gospel in its progress through the nations, shall surmount every obstacle, and that the faithful and persevering exertions of the Church of Christ shall be crowned with complete and triumphant success. As every Christian, who reads his Bible, must be acquainted with the promises that refer to the universal spread of the gospel, it is unne- cessary to refer to them here. They furnish the most ample and explicit ground to believe that Satan's king- dom shall be destroyed, that all his immense establish- ments against the progress of the gospel in all lands must give way before the increasing power and univer- sal sway of "Messiah the Prince ;" and that all nations shall hear and fear and turn to the Lord, and cast away their idols to the moles and the bats as lying vanities. Oh, how precious and animating are these ENCOURAGEMENTS TO LABOUR. 137 promises to missionaries among the heathen in times of trial and discouragement ? They are the source of their consolation, and they inspire them with fresh courage. Trusting in these promises, though weak in themselves, they feel strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. They know that he is faithful who hath promised — that none of his promises can fail, and that none of his purposes of grace can remain un- fulfilled. Let the people of God at home plead these promises continually, and do all in their power to en- lighten benighted India, and then see if the Lord will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a bless- ing as large as their wishes, even until there shall not be room to receive it. 12* 138 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. CHAPTER VI. Organization and efforts of the first mission to the heathen — Travels of Paul and Barnabas, and their success — Report made to the church at Antioch — Inferences from this Scriptural example — Progress and prospects of the gospel in North India — Particular account of missionary operations at Fathagarh — Farruckabad — Kanpur — Allahabad — Mirzapur — Chunar — Banaras — Ghazepur — Patna — Monghyr — Berhampur — Culna — Chinsurah — Seram- pur — Calcutta — London mission schools — Schools of the Free Church of Scotland — Education in the metropolis — Past success — Cheering prospects — Character of the missionaries — Results of their labours. In the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, we have a particular account of the organization and efforts of the first mission for the spread of the gospel among the heathen. While some eminent and leading Christians at Antioch were en- gaged in fasting, and in prayer to God for wisdom and direction in the new and peculiar circumstances in which Providence had placed them; and anxious "to know what Israel ought to do" in regard to the exten- sion of the church, and in fulfilment of the last com- mand of the Saviour, to go into all the ivorld, and preach the gospel to every creature, we are informed that "the Holy Ghost said to them," — whether hy means of certain prophets that were among them, or by the language of his Providence, we are not in- formed, but doubtless in some way the revelation was sufficiently plain, — " Separate me Barnabas and Saul FIRST MISSIONS TO THE HEATHEN. 139 for the work whereunto I have called them." The church, in obedience to the heavenly vision, proceeded ■without delay, by prayer and solemn appointment, with fasting, to send to the gentiles these men, whose hearts burned with ardour to be engaged in the glo- rious service ; and they, we are informed, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed at once to convey the messages of the gospel to the perishing nations. Arriving at Seleucia they sailed to Cyprus, and then travelled through the whole of the Island from Salamis on the east to Paphos on the west. Taking ship again, and loosing from Paphos, they sailed to Perga in Pam- phylia, then travelled to Antioch in Pisidia, to Iconium, to Lystra, and to Derbe. In all these places their labours were abundant, and their success encouraging, though their trials were numerous, and the opposition they had frequently to encounter was great and pow- erful. From Derbe they return the same way, to Perga in Pamphylia, ordaining elders in the churches they had gathered, and commending the young dis- ciples to the Lord on whom they believed. From Perga they go down to Attalia, and from thence they sail to Antioch in Syria, " from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God, for the work which they fulfilled. And when they Avere come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the gentiles." Now, from this brief narrative of the first foreign missionary efforts of the church in primitive times, we think we may legitimately draw the following infe- rences: — 1. That in attempting to comply with the 140 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. command of Christ, it is the duty of the church, even in troublous times, when she is small in numbers and ■weak in her resources, to send men to evangelize the heathen, and that in selecting and sending forth these men, she should be deeply engaged in prayer for the direction and blessing of the Holy Spirit. 2. That when missionaries are sent forth by the church, they should be "recommended to the grace of God," that they may be faithful and successful in the work to ■which they have been called, and prayer on their be- half should be incessant, as Avithout the grace and blessing of God their labours must all be in vain. 3. That when missionaries have been sent forth, they should be willing cheerfully to meet every difficulty, and to endure every trial, and to be most diligent and labo- rious in the discharge of the awfully solemn and respon- sible work which they have undertaken. 4. That the same Providence which leads a missionary to leave his Christian friends and go far hence to the gentiles, may make it to be his duty to return to them again for a time, not only that his health and Christian spirits may be refreshed by a short residence among those who sent him forth, but more especially that he may " re- hearse what God has done with him," and how his message has been received by the heathen. 5. That when a missionary returns to make his report to the churches, the people should not only delight to come together to hear, but rejoice to know that " the door of faith had been opened to the gentiles," and become more willing to prosecute with vigour the important work they have commenced. 6. Missionaries when they make their report should be careful to give the PROGRESS OP THE WORK. 141 praise of any good that has been effected through their instrumentality entirely to the efficacy of the grace of God. Instead of vainglorious boasting of what they had done in the missionary field, Paul and Barnabas,. in a delightful spirit of humility, "rehearsed what Grod had done with them, ' ' and by them, and how He, not they, had opened the door of faith unto the gentiles. After this example, and we trust in the same spirit, it is our design now to give such information as we possess regarding, the progress and prospects of missionary labour in North India. In doing so we shall first give some account of the labours of other missionaries, and then of the Lo- diana mission with which we have been connected. During a long journey from Saharanpur, almost on the north-west frontier of Hindustan, to Calcutta, a distance by water of about fourteen hundred miles, we made it a point to stop a day or more at all the mis- sion stations on the way, in order to examine particu- larly into their actual condition, the plans pursued by the missionaries, and the progress already made in the great work to which their labours are devoted. The statements, therefore, that shall be made, are the result of personal observation, as they will have reference to those places only which it was our privilege to visit. Before entering into details, however, it may be proper here to state in general, that from all that has been witnessed we have been fully impressed, that in propor- tion to the number of missionaries employed, and the amount of resources at command, a deep and broad foundation has been laid in the mission work, and a degree of success obtained which could hardly have been expected, especially when the obstacles to which 142 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. we have already referred are taken into the account, and that there is every reason to believe that if the churches at home he faithful to the trust committed to them by their Divine Head, and their missionaries persevering, the benighted heathen of Hindustan will ere long be enlightened, and brought to a knowledge of the true God. To effect this, however, much more must be done by professing Christians than has ever yet been attempted ; and it may be well also to repeat here what has often been stated in letters to Christian friends, that ever since an intimate acquaintance of the real state of things amongst the Hindus has been ob- tained, such as their ignorance, prejudices, bigotry, and superstitions, we have been entirely convinced, that in order to remove these evils, and to undermine and overthrow their immense and long-established system of idolatry, there will be required on the part of God, as the efficient Agent, the exercise of Almighty power and grace, and on the part of man, as the instrument, a work of much faith, and toil, and prayer, and pa- tience. Let not the churches at home, therefore, be discouraged by the apparent small success which has attended the labours of missionaries, who have hereto- fore been acting the part of pioneers, and the results of whose efforts in sapping and mining the bulwarks of heathenism, and in preparing arms and ammunition for a grand attack on the powers of darkness, will be seen at a future, and we trust not a very distant day. After a severe and protracted illness, during which Mrs. Campbell's life was frequently despaired of, the urgent advice of the medical attendants, as well as the unanimous vote of all the brethren in the mission, ren- "-= HCWL>-NL» PALANKEEN TRAVELLING. Page 143. MISSION AT FATHAGARH. 143 dered it necessary to return, for a time, to the United States. With much regret we left our home at Sahd- ranpur, and proceeded to that point on the Ganges nearest to us in a straight direction. This journey, of about forty miles by land, was performed in a single night, the family being carried in doolies or litters. On arriving at the banks of that celebrated stream, we found a native boat waiting to receive us, and convey us to Calcutta, a distance of about one thousand four hundred miles by water. It was an open boat of rude construction, about thirty feet in length, and twelve feet in beam at the centre. In order to render it habitable for some months, a deck was formed by bind- ing bambus together with cords, and placing them longitudinally on the cross beams, over which coarse mats were thrown. Then over three-fourths of the deck, a grass house was erected, the top of which was about seven feet in height, and sloping down from the centre to the sides, about a yard high, and formed of mats. The whole was divided into two small apart- ments, lined inside with a coarse kind of white muslin, to give them an air of decency. On the top of this floating hay-stack, as it seemed, was erected a staging or plat- form of bambus, where accommodation was afforded for the boatmen to sleep in the open air during the night. After sailing down the Ganges more than two hun- dred miles, the first mission station to which we came was that in connection with the Presbyterian Board at Fathagarh, which was commenced in 1838, by the Rev. II. R. Wilson, now in the United States. At that large and interesting place, there were formerly four missionaries, and there are houses to accommodate that 144 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. number, but when I passed, there were only two remain- ing, the Rev. J. L. Scott, and the Rev. W. H. McAuley, together with Gopi Nath Nundy, an ordained native preacher, and two catechists : the Rev. Mr. Rankin having gone some time before to join the Rev. J. Wilson in forming a station at Agra, and the Rev. Mr. Walsh also having gone to the station at Mynpuri, in connec- tion with this mission, to supply the place of Mr. Scott. The hands of these brethren, however, were strength- ened shortly after by the arrival of two other mission- aries, the Rev. Messrs. Seeley and Irving, whom we met on their way up. In the ancient and very popu- lous city of Furruckabad, which adjoins Fathagarh, Mr. McAuley has a large school, with about one hun- dred boys in attendance, to whom the native and Eng- lish languages are taught. All of those that are able to read, are instructed daily in the Sacred Scriptures, and have their important truths explained to them and pressed upon their attention. A number of those who are most advanced, attend preaching in Hindust&ni every Sabbath. Several of them, whom we examined, appear to be intellectually convinced not only of the gross errors of their own Shasters, but of the truth of Christianity ; but from fear of their friends, or the scorn and reproach of others, are as yet unwilling to join themselves to their teachers, or take up the cross of Christ by a profession of the gospel. At the other end of the station, there is a very interesting orphan establishment under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Scott.* * Mrs. Scott has since died at sea, on her way to the United States, her health having failed. She was an active, intelligent, and useful Christian and missionary. CHRISTIAN VILLAGE AT FATIIAGAItH. 145 It contained, when I was there, thirty-nine boys and forty-two girls, many of them grown up to age ; and from this institution a Christian village had sprung up, containing sixteen families and twelve children, all of whom appeared to be happy and doing well. This orphan institution is now making every effort to sup- port itself by manual labour. Factories on a pretty extensive scale for the manufacture of carpets and tents, saltpetre, fancy needlework, &c, are carried on, in which the pupils, as well as the families in the Chris- tian village, find employment, while, at the same time, an opportunity is still afforded to acquire more reli- gious knowledge, and to mature the character of those who have made a public profession of the gospel. As members of the institution marry they are settled in the Christian village ; — a community with tastes and habits like themselves, where they can live by their industry, and are freed from the annoyances and contaminating influences of the heathen around them. The church formed by the missionaries numbered twenty-five native members, fifteen of whom are from the orphan school. So far but one case of church dis- cipline had been called for, and, in that case, admoni- tion before the session was deemed sufficient. The general deportment of the church members has been good, but the brethren complain that they do not see that degree of vital piety and religious feeling among them that would be desirable, and that would be ex- pected of young converts in Christian lands. It was my privilege when there, to preach on the Sabbath in Hindustani, to about a hundred and twenty native worshippers, and I delight to say, that a more atten- 13 146 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. tive audience I have rarely seen any where. The visit to this institution, so admirably arranged and "well con- ducted, and with prospects so encouraging, afforded us very great pleasure. The only thing that caused re- gret, was the great want of missionary help to carry on the work, as two men, with all the native assistance they had, seemed quite overwhelmed with the important duties of the station.* Leaving Fathagarh, about one hundred and twenty miles brought us to Kdnpur, where we had the pleasure of spending the day with the Rev. Mr. Perkins and Mr. Schleicher, missionaries of the Propagation So- ciety, and of examining the native female orphan asylum under their care. After having married a num- ber of the pupils to Christian young men, the institu- tion still contained about fifty girls, whose happy faces, and clean and modest appearance, spoke most favour- ably for themselves, and the manner in which they had been educated and provided for by Mrs. Perkins. How different their situation, living as a Christian family, and being brought up in the fear of God, and in habits of industry, to what it would have been, had they been left in a state of ignorance and destitution, to become a prey to the destructive influence of vice, or the slaves of selfish and corrupt masters? Specimens of their worsted and needlework that we saw, were truly handsome; and by this kind of industry, they raise a fund annually that goes far toward their support. A small boys' school has been established lately, and it * Since writing the above, there has been a remarkable revival of religion at this station, and more than thirty members have been added to the church. MISSION AT ALLAHABAD. 147 is the design of the missionaries shortly to commence a Christian colony of native families. Mr. Perkins preaches fluently in the native languages, and has had a pretty good share of success in his labours among the people. Passing on down the Ganges about one hundred and sixty miles, we arrived at Allahabad, a very pretty and important station at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges rivers, and the head of steam navigation. Here also there is a large and interesting mission in connection with our own Board, and which has been in operation for more than ten years. It was commenced at the close of 1836, by the late Rev. J. McEwen, and occupied, on his departure for America shortly after, by the Rev. James Wilson, who has lately removed to Agra. At Allahabad there are now four mission- aries, the Rev. Messrs. J. Warren, J. E. Freeman, J. Owen, and J. "Wray,* and several native assistants, who are all actively and usefully employed in carrying forward the various operations at the station. There are three printing presses and a bookbindery conducted most successfully, from which the sacred Scriptures and tracts in the native languages are issued, to instruct the benighted people in the true religion. There is also a small type foundry in connection with the presses. Seven bazaar schools have been established, containing three hundred pupils ; a bazaar school for girls, contain- ing sixty scholars ; a large mission school or college for instruction in the native languages and in English, Mr. Wray has since returned to the United States, and the Rev. Messrs. L. G. Hay and II. W. Shaw have been added to the mission. 148 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. with more than one hundred pupils in attendance ; a boys' orphan boarding-school with twenty-eight, and an orphan boarding-school for girls with twenty-two pupils. Three neat mission chapels have been erected in the most public places of concourse in the bazaars, where the gospel is preached on the Sabbath and se- veral times during the week. A new and beautiful church edifice has just been erected on the mission premises near the Jumna, where services are regularly conducted both in English and Hindustani. The re- sult of mission labour, as already in part realized, has been the commencement of a Christian church among the heathen, which now consists of thirty-two native communicants, besides a number of East Indians, &c. It was indeed a pleasing sight, while spending a Sabbath at the station, to see a congregation assembled of about three hundred, made up of the bazaar and orphan schools with their teachers and others, listening to the gospel, and behaving themselves with more decorum than could be expected. We left Allahabad fully con- vinced that the mission field at that place was exceed- ingly interesting and inviting, and that the brethren have much ground for encouragement and hope. Their hands are indeed. full, but their labours will not be in vain in the Lord, if carried on with perseverance, and in dependence on Him who has all the power in his own hands. The next mission station to which we came was Mirzap&r, seventy miles below, and where there are civil and military establishments. The native city is large and wealthy, and a place of great commerce. The missionaries, the Rev. Messrs. Mather, Woolaston, MIRZAPUR AND CliUNAR STATIONS. 149 Budden, and Artope, are in connection with the Lon- don society. They have several native catechists and assistants, interesting orphan schools for boys and girls, schools for natives in the bazaar, and a flourish- ing free school for instruction both in English and the native languages. For the accommodation of the free school, a large and handsome edifice has been erected by the benevolence of gentlemen in India. Printing presses are in operation by the missionaries; and in addition to the publication of the Scriptures and reli- gious works, a monthly newspaper is issued in Hin- dustani. Several bazaar chapels, and a neat church on the mission compound have been erected, in which the gospel is regularly preached. A Christian village has been commenced, and a native church formed, in which there are fifteen communicants. This is a very im- portant station, and if properly sustained, and the work carried forward with the same spirit in which it has been commenced, the results will be both cheering and abundant. From Mirzapur a day's sail brought us to CJiundr, the field so long occupied by the late Mr. Bowlcy, of the Church mission. But although there were a good many native Christians under his care at the time of his death, there beino; no one to assist or succeed him in his labours, they were soon dispersed to other places, and the native church is now extinct. This shows the impropriety of leaving missionaries to labour single- handed, and of allowing the seed sown by one mis- sionary to die for want of proper care and culture by others ready to enter on their labours and reap the harvest. There is now a Baptist missionary named 150 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. Heinig, a German, at Chunar, who has established several schools in the bazaar, and is labouring diligently among the people. The day following, at an early hour, as we sailed during the night, we came to Bandras, which might be called the Jerusalem of Hindustan — the sacred city of the Hindus — the stronghold of bigotry, supersti- tion, and idolatry. At that celebrated place we spent two days, and had an opportunity of conversing with the missionaries of the Church of England, of the Bap- tist and London Societies, who have been for many years planting the good seed of the word in a soil long overgrown with the noxious errors and delusions of Hinduism. The missionaries of the English church, the Kev. Messrs. Smith and Lewpolt, and their assistants, are carrying on their labours with zeal and steadfastness in the face of much opposition from without. They have just finished a handsome church edifice as a proof to the heathen that efforts for their conversion and spiritual instruction are to be permanent. Their or- phan boarding-schools contain sixty boys and sixty-five girls, who spend half of their time in study, and half in manual labour. Besides these, twenty-seven couples from the orphan schools have been married and formed into a Christian village called " Isdl Gfunj" — the meaning of which is a " Treasure of Christians ;" and truly a valuable treasure it is to find a band of the dis- ciples of Jesus in such a city as Banaras, wholly given to idolatry. These professed followers of the Re- deemer are able to support themselves by their industry ; and they will, it is hoped, form the nucleus of a much . . 1 MISSION AT BANlRAS. 151 larger community to be collected in due time from the ranks of heathenism. Day schools also for heathen children are conducted by the missionaries ; and the gospel is preached regularly in the bazaars, and during itinerancies in the surrounding districts. ■At Ban&ras there are four London missionaries, the Rev. Messrs. Shurman, Kennedy, Ullman, and Droese, with three native assistants. They have also finished a large church building, erected by the benevolence of Christians in India. They have orphan schools con- taining twenty-three pupils, and a day school for heathen girls, with thirty in attendance. The bazaar schools are ten in number, with two hundred and eighty pupils ; and in addition to these, they have a central school in the heart of the city, containing one hundred and sixty boys, sixty of whom study English. Most of the pupils attend on the Sabbath services held in the chapels, and the native teachers are instructed by the missionaries. In all the schools, Christian books are studied, and important portions of them committed to memory. Three evenings in the week the gospel is preached in the city chapels, and two services in Hindust&ni and one in English are held every Sabbath in the mission church. The native church that has been organized has fifteen members in full communion. The Baptist mission at Ban&ras consists of one European and one East Indian missionary, and one catechist. They have four bazaar schools, containing two hundred and fifty pupils, and an English school with fifty in attendance, and a small native church. They are just now erecting substantial mission build- 152 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. ings and school-houses, and thus preparing to carry on with still greater efficiency the good work in which they have been actively engaged. At G-hdzepiir, a short distance below Banaras, we visited the Rev. Messrs. Huebner and Reutkar, mis- sionaries of the Berlin Society ; but as they have not been long at the place, but little progress has been made. They seemed to be active and intelligent men, and are preparing for future usefulness. The Rev. Mr. Sternberg, of Arrah, and Mr. Bau- mann, of Chuprdh, German missionaries, we had not the pleasure of seeing, but we learned that they are well employed in their respective fields of labour. At Patna, the Rev. Mr. Beddy, a Baptist missionary, is still labouring successfully, and has gathered a num- ber of native Christians around him. He has also established a very interesting, "Female Orphan Re- fuge," which contained thirty-six pupils. The institu- tion seems to be managed admirably, and is now begin- ning to yield a good degree of promising fruit — ten during the past year having come forward to make a profession of their faith in Christ. When at the sta- tion, a circumstance occurred which greatly delighted me. On passing round privately between sermons on the Sabbath to look at the institution, I heard the voice of prayer, and on turning a corner of the build- ing I found that the pious girls were holding a social prayer meeting. One was leading the devotions in her own tongue with much propriety, while the rest were bowing with their heads to the ground according to the custom in the East. The scene was one which could not fail to be interesting to any Christian heart. MISSION AT BERHAMPUR. 153 The next mission station, about eighty miles down the river, is Monghyr, where the Rev. Messrs. Law- rence and Parsons, Baptist missionaries, are labouring at present. They are both well qualified and devoted missionaries, and are doing much to promote the spiritual welfare of the European invalids at the sta- tion, as well as the natives, and they have reaped con- siderable fruit from both. They have several native preachers under their care, who greatly strengthen their hands, and aid them in their labours among the heathen. They have native schools and chapels in the bazaars, where the gospel is preached almost daily. From Monghyr, a sail of six days and nights brought us by the towns of Bh&gulpur and Rajmahal to Ber- Jidmpur, the next mission station on the river, occupied by the Rev. Messrs: Hill and Lessel, of the London Society. They are assisted in their labours by three catechists and several teachers. At this station, a few years ago, there was considerable inquiry in the native community on the subject of religion, and a movement toward a profession of Christianity by whole villages, which led the missionaries to anticipate the most cheer- ing results. But no sooner had preparations been made to instruct inquirers in the true way, than the agents of the Church of Rome, or rather of the Man of Sin, the Jesuits, who are always more on the look out to plunder and proselyte in Protestant missions than to convert the heathen, by offering bribes, and making fair promises to the catechists, drew away three of them and a large number of the young in quirers. Thus, we see that Roman priests in Hindus- tan, claiming to be of the true and the only legitimate r^n 154 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. apostolic descent, can condescend to the mean business of deceiving and plundering the folds of Christian mis- sions, and of scattering the sheep collected from the jungles of heathenism by the efforts of Protestants ! What a proof is this of the immutability of popery, and that it remains the same at all times and in all places — the same on the banks of the Ganges as on the banks of the Tiber ! Let not Protestants be deceived by the garb which it has assumed in the United States of America. It is a wolf still in sheep's clothing. By its own declared principles of infallibility, its re- formation is impossible ! But although this shock to the station at Berhamptir was severe at the time, and annoying to the missionaries, it has been sustained. The mission schools are rising in the estimation of the people, while the popish establishment has been broken up. Fresh applications are being made from villages for teachers ; and in one case the people proposed to convert their idol temple into a school house. The missionaries have three village schools with one hun- dred and fifty pupils, an English school with thirty- six pupils in attendance, an asylum for orphan chil- dren, containing twenty-three males and seventeen females ; a native Christian church, numbering fourteen members ; and a village on a Christian foundation with about ninety inhabitants. Religious instruction en- ters largely into the exercises of all the schools, and the missionaries are indefatigable in making known the gospel in the city and surrounding villages. The little Christian colony and orphan schools support themselves, in a great measure, by the cultivation and manufacture of arrow root, by the produce of the mis- MISSION AT CUTWA, ETC. 155 sion farm, and by the manufacture of tape and bobbin. After all the difficulties through which the mission has passed, it is still in a pretty prosperous state, and with the divine blessing, is destined, we trust, to spread light and life among the dark and spiritually dead in- habitants of the land. At CuUva, where the Rev. Mr. Carey, son of the late Dr. Carey, has laboured for a long time, we were unable to gain any information, as he was then absent from the station on a missionary tour. Proceeding down the stream, we passed, at some distance to the left, the district of Krishnagur, where a few years past, the whole community for many miles around, including a great number of villages, cast away the gods in which they had trusted, and embraced the gospel. Missionaries and teachers were supplied by the Society of the Church of England, and they con- tinue to cultivate this promising field with much success. It was cause of regret that time would not permit us to turn aside, and witness the results of missionary labour in this little oasis in the midst of the moral desert. Arriving at Culna, we remained for several hours to examine the prosperous English and Bengali school in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, and were much pleased with the proficiency that many of the young men had made in the elementary branches of education. Their knowledge of the leading facts of Scripture and of general history and geography, would have been creditable to youth of their age even in a Christian land. The school numbered more than one hundred pupils. At Chinsurah, the Rev. Mr. Bradbury, of the Lon- 156 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. don Society, is labouring among the natives and East Indians. During the numerous itinerancies he has made in the district, which is considered to be the most populous in India, he has found the people re- spectful and attentive to the gospel message, and also anxious to obtain the Christian Scriptures. In this place and its vicinity, the people are better educated than usual, and it is hoped that the diffusion of divine knowledge will be successful in turning many from the service of dumb idols to the service of the living God. A few hours sail from Chinsurah brought us to Se- rdmpfir, which was not only the cradle, but for many years the principal seat of missionary operations in the East. Here I found that a sad change had taken place during the ten years that had passed since my last visit to this interesting spot. The last of the mis- sionary lights, Ward, Carey, and Marshman, had been extinguished, and scarcely a trace of their devoted labours is now to be seen at the station, where for more than thirty years they united their energies and their prayers for the evangelization of the Hindus. A few native Christians still remain; and doubtless the in- fluence they exerted is felt far and wide over the land, and will spread and widen until the latest posterity ; but from this circumstance we may learn an important lesson, the necessity of persevering in missionary efforts, and of supplying men to take the place of those who are called away from their labours, in order to maintain the ground already gained from the kingdom of Satan, and to make still further progress into the kingdom of darkness. CALCUTTA — SCHOOL EXAMINATION. 157 Early on the morning of the following day we ar- rived in Calcutta, and having learned that the schools of the London missionaries in the district of Bhawani- pur were to be examined that day, I proceeded thither without delay, and had the pleasure of witnessing a scene that was deeply interesting. More than seven hundred boys had assembled for examination in the various branches of study, both in English and Bengali, and they acquitted themselves in a manner which showed that instruction had not been lost upon them. Their knowledge of the Scriptures was extensive and accurate, and their views of the leading doctrines of the gospel such as to show, when placed in contrast with the errors and absurdities of their own Shasters, how little they respected Hinduism, and how much their judgments, at least, were in favour of Christian truth. On retiring from the place, we were more than ever convinced that the native community in Calcutta is not far from an immense moral change ; that, in fact, large masses of society are already in a transition state, and that the leaven of sound religious instruc- tion, now so extensively diffused among the most in- fluential in society, will, with the divine blessing, ere long show itself in the conversion of many, who will become efficient instruments in spreading the gospel among their idolatrous countrymen in other quarters. And this impression was only more and more deepened during our stay in Calcutta, by what we were permitted to witness of the labours and results of other missions. A private examination of the admirably conducted mis- sion school of the Free Church of Scotland, under the Ilev. Dr. Duff and his able associates, and one held 14 158 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. in public in the Town Hall, when more than one thousand pupils were present, many of whom are pro- found scholars in the highest branches of education, was not only deeply interesting, but well calculated to cheer the hearts of all who long and pray for the con- version of India. There is certainly a considerable movement among the dry bones in Calcutta. May the Spirit of God breathe upon them that they may live, and stand up an exceeding great army of Chris- tian men, who will let their light shine all around, until the dark deeds of heathenism shall hide their heads as ashamed, and multitudes flock to the standard of the glorious gospel. These schools and efforts of the London and Free Church missionaries, are only specimens of like efforts put forth for the evangelization of India, by the mis- sionaries of the Church of England, of the Established Church of Scotland, and of the Baptist Society in Calcutta. All of them have large English and verna- cular schools, orphan boarding-schools, and interesting native churches, to which the Lord continues to add, slowly to be sure as yet, but regularly and increasingly, such as shall be saved. We may take this occasion also to remark, that all the missionaries with whom we have had the pleasure of an acquaintance, both in Calcutta, and at other places in India — and these are the representatives of nearly all the large missionary societies in the world — are excellent and devoted men, living and labouring together in much harmony as brethren, having one common faith and hope, and striving to promote one common object, the conversion of the heathen to God, and the establishment of the HARMONY AMONG MISSIONARIES. 159 Messiah's reign over the millions of Hindustan that are still bowing down to idols, and passing on to eter- nity, without God and without hope. Nor will the labours and prayers of such men be in vain. The first fruits have already been gathered, and an abundant harvest awaits those who sow in faith and patiently wait in the use of the means appointed by the Church's Head. 160 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. CHAPTER VII. Brief account of the Lodi&na mission in the north-west provinces of India — First missionaries sent out — Lodiana selected as a station — Reinforcement of missionaries — New stations com- menced — Additional reinforcements — Stations now occupied — Instrumentalities employed to evangelize the heathen — Preach- ing the gospel — Bazaar preaching, how conducted — Regular services on the Sabbath — Itinerations through distant districts — Strange mode of travelling — Distribution of Scriptures and tracts — Attendance at religious fairs — Annual mela at Hardwar — Interesting labours at that celebrated place of pilgrimage — Schools, English and vernacular — Male and female boarding- schools — Happy results — The press — Its operations extensive — Works translated, published, and distributed — Native churches formed — Presbyteries organized — The missionary enterprise no romance — How to be undertaken and conducted — Causes of thanksgiving and of encouragement — A great preparatory work accomplished — The enterprise of new settlers in America com- pared with that of Christian missionaries — Want of immediate success no cause of discouragement — The gospel destined to triumph over all opposition and to subdue the world to Christ. Having enjoyed the pleasure of conducting our readers from Sah&ranpur to Calcutta, and of pointing out some of the operations and results at a number of missionary stations on the way, we would now invite them to accompany us back again to the far north-west of Hindustan, while we briefly describe the progress and prospects of the Lodi&na mission. This mission, as well as others in India, under the care and supervision of the General Assembly of the LODIANA MISSION. 161 Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, is ecclesiastically organized on the scriptural basis of Presbyterianism. The Board of Missions in America, however, is not exclusive or sectarian in its character, but with a Christian liberality becoming the age, it allows missionaries from other branches of the Pres- byterian Church, orthodox in character, to go out under its auspices, and labour under its direction, while their ecclesiastical relations to the church that sends them forth, remain unchanged. Since the year 1835, missionaries belonging to the Reformed Presbyterian Church have been labouring in this mission, princi- pally at Sahdranpur, and nothing but the utmost har- mony and good feeling has existed among the mis- sionaries in the field, and the Boards of their respective churches at home. The first missionaries to India, the Rev. John C. Lowrie and the Rev. William Reed, were sent out in 1833, and being invested by the Society with full au- thority to select any part of Hindustan that might seem most suitable and encouraging, as their field of labour, they finally, after much prayer and inquiry, and in accordance with the advice of Christian friends, selected the north-west provinces, almost on the fron- tier of Hindustan, and about fourteen hundred miles from Calcutta, as the seat and scene of their future labours. In that distant region no missionary had settled, and among that people, unless by a few tran- sient visits of the Rev. Mr. Thompson, a Baptist Missionary at Delhi, none had ever preached the gospel of Christ. Of these two first missionaries to India, one, the Rev. W. Reed, died shortly after his 14* 162 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. arrival in the East ; and the other, the Rev. J. C. Lowrie, after commencing his labours at Lodi&na, was obliged, in consequence of a failure of health, to re- turn home about two years afterward, and is still living and usefully employed in the same cause, as one of the secretaries of the Board in New York. In 1834, a reinforcement of two missionaries, viz. the Rev. James Wilson and the Rev. John Newton, was sent out, and they are both still actively and use- fully employed in the great work to which they have devoted their lives and energies. In 1835, another reinforcement of four missionaries, the Rev. Messrs. Rogers, Jamieson, Porter, and the writer, came out to the same field. On our arrival two new stations were taken up, one at Saharanpur, on the plains of India, about one hundred and thirty miles in a south-east di- rection from Lodiana, and the other at Sabathu, on the Himalaya mountains. In 1838, three missionaries, viz. the Rev. J. Caldwell, Mr. James Craig, teacher, and Mr. R. Morris, printer, joined the mission; and since then five more have arrived at different times, viz. the Rev. Messrs. L. Janvier, A. Rudolph, J. H. Morrison, C. W. Forman, John S. Woodside, and J. II. Orbison. Of the above missionaries, with their wives, who have been connected with this mission, one has been labour- ing for a number of years lower down the country, at Allahabad, and now at Agra ; some have been com- pelled to return to the United States in consequence of a failure of health ; and some have been called away from their labours on earth to their reward in heaven. The number of ordained ministers at present in con- nection with this mission is twelve, viz. at Lodidna, LODIANA MISSION. 163 J. Newton, J. Porter, L. Janvier, A. Rudolph, C. W. Forman, and J. H. Orbison. At Sahdranpi'ir, J. R. Campbell, J. Caldwell, and J. S. Wpodside. At Sa- bdthu, J. II. Morrison. At Ambala, J. M. Jamieson. At Jalandar, Golok Nath.* In addition to this mis- sionary strength, the -work is promoted by a number of catechists at the stations, most of whom have been raised up in the orphan schools, and educated expressly for this purpose. It may be well also to mention in this connection, that the Rev. J. Caldwell commenced a mission station at Meerut, and continued there for several years, until the autumn of 1846, when that post was given up and he returned to Sahdranpur, where he had formerly laboured. The city of Lodiana, from which the mission takes its name, being the place where operations were first commenced, is situated in lat. 31 North, and long. 76 East from London. It is a thriving place, and con- tains at present about fifty thousand inhabitants, many of whom are Kashmeris and Sikhs. There is also a military cantonment adjoining the town, containing several corps of European and native soldiers. In ad- dition to four dwellings erected on the mission pre- mises, there is a large printing establishment, with a bookbindery, a church, and school-house, an orphan female school, a poor-house, and the commencement of a Christian village. A large church also, as well as several chapels, has been erected in the city, so * Shortly after writing the above, the mission decided on com- mencing a station at Lahor, the capital of Panjab. Mr. Newton and Mr. Forman arc now labouring at that city. 164 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. that the preparations for carrying on missionary ope- rations extensively are almost complete. At Sahdranp&r, the place of my own residence during the last thirteen years, a very handsome piece of ground has been secured as mission premises, on which there are three mission houses, a church, school- house, houses for native assistants, and an orphan boarding school for boys. A church also of a hand- some and permanent kind has been lately built in the city, where the gospel is preached daily, and -where, in adjoining apartments, there are abundant accommo- dations for vernacular schools. The city itself is large and respectable. The census taken in 1846 made the population to exceed eighty-five thousand, about the half of whom are Mohammedans, and the rest Hindus. It is the capital of a large district, the seat of the civil courts, of the company's stud, and the beautiful bo- tanical gardens which supply trees and plants for these provinces. Sabdtliu is situated on one of the lower ranges of the Himalaya mountains, and nearly five thousand feet above the level of the sea. Although its population does not probably exceed five thousand, it is one of the largest villages in those hilly regions. There are a mission dwelling, church, and poor-house at the sta- tion, and opportunities in abundance to preach the gospel among the people. More than two years ago, shortly after the conquest of the Panjab, a missionary station was commenced at Jalandar, on the western side of the Sutledge, and about forty miles from Lodiana, and a native ordained preacher sent to occupy the station, whose operations AGENCY EMPLOYED. 165 are under the general superintendence of the brethren at Lodiana. A house for the missionary, and a build- ing which answers the purpose of a school-house and church have been erected, and a large amount of funds contributed by Christian friends in this country toward the support of this station. A new station has been commenced lately at Am- bala, which is situated almost in the very centre of our mission, and where, for many years, it has been the design of the Board to commence operations. It is a respectable and thriving town, and promises to be an interesting field of labour. Having thus given a very brief account of the or- ganization of our mission, and the locality of the re- spective stations that have been occupied, we shall now proceed to notice the different kinds of agency employed by this mission for the conversion and the mental and moral elevation of the heathen. These may be included under three general heads, viz. Preaching the gospel ; the education of the people ; and the diffusion of light and knowledge, not only in our own immediate localities, but in distant and desti- tute parts of this immense country, by means of the press. We place the preaching of the gospel first in this system of means for the evangelization of the heathen, because when our blessed and risen Saviour was about to leave his church on earth, and had assembled his chosen ambassadors to deliver to them his parting charge, he made the preaching of his gospel to every creature the most important and imperative of all their duties. He gave them fully to understand that it was 166 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. through the foolishness of preaching it hath pleased God to save them that believe ; and that a preached gospel was to be made the wisdom of God and the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth, whether Jew or gentile. Attempting to comply with this divine command — in imitation of apostolic and primitive practice — and trusting in the promises of the Saviour for assistance and success in the discharge of this great and solemn trust, the members of this mission have endeavoured to make known the name of Christ, and to hold forth the word of truth to the ignorant and perishing — to the self-wise and self- righteous heathen, in the bazaars of their crowded cities — in the narrow and filthy lanes of their miserable villages, at religious melas or fairs, before hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India, congre- gated around their polluted shrines — by long itinera- tion through the land for the purpose of conveying the glad tidings of salvation to those who had never heard the name of Christ — in distributing tracts and Scrip- tures, and in private conversations with those who visit their houses. In all these, and in various other ways, they have so tried to preach the gospel as to arrest the attention of the thoughtless multitudes, and direct them to the only Saviour. They have tried, as they have found it practicable, to become all things to all men, that they might by all means save some, and to become servants to all, that that they might gain the more. For want of better accommodations, and partly as a matter of expediency, a great deal of the public preach- ing at all the stations has heretofore been done in the PREACHING IN THE BAZAARS. 167 bazaars. The plan has been for the missionaries, ac- companied by the catechists and assistants, to proceed in the after part of the day to the city, take their stand in different places on the public streets, and commence by conversing with those around them on some subjects of common interest, so as to engage their attention. A crowd of passengers soon collect to listen to the conversation, and as soon as the num- ber becomes sufficiently large, the missionary turns the discourse to something of a more serious nature — propounds some questions of importance in religion calculated to arrest the attention of the bystanders, and then makes this the foundation of his discourse. After speaking for an hour or so, or as long as his lungs can labour in the open air, and amidst the noise and dust of the street, he is followed by the catechist. At the close, objections made by the hearers to what has been advanced, are answered, and portions of the Scriptures and tracts distributed to those who can read, and appear anxious to obtain them ; and should any seem to be impressed with the truth, and desirous of further conversation, an invitation is given to come to our houses for that purpose. Thus the gospel has been proclaimed from day to day in the public places of concourse, and thereby an opportunity has been given not only to the citizens themselves, but also to strangers from distant towns and villages to hear the leading truths of Christianity. But while this plan may answer well enough for some time after missionaries have commenced at a station, and while their operations are still in their in- fancy, it is the general opinion of all in the field that 168 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. it ought not to be continued longer than time will per . mit for providing more quiet and comfortable accommo- dations. Hence at nearly all our stations mission churches and chapels have been erected, where the sacred truths of the gospel can be proclaimed with more effect and solemnity, and where religious services may be expected daily at stated hours. In addition to the labours performed in the bazaars through the week, the missionaries, since the year 1840, have been conducting public worship on the Sabbath, according to the forms of the Presbyterian church, not only for the benefit of the native Chris- tians under their care, but also with the design of leading others to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. In these services the same solemnity that is manifested in the house of God in Christian lands is to a great degree secured, and all things con- nected with the duties of the sanctuary are conducted decently and in order, while a good opportunity is enjoyed of delivering gospel truths in their proper connection — of showing their relation to and harmony with each other, and of making deep and permanent impressions on the minds of the hearers. Not satisfied, however, with efforts for the spiritual welfare of those only at the stations where they re- side, the missionaries have been in the habit of spend- ino- a part of every cold season, when practicable, in itinerating through their extensive districts for hun- dreds of miles around, and of preaching the gospel to multitudes, and distributing books among those who had never before heard these glad tidings, and who, ARRANGEMENTS FOR TRAVELLING. 169 without such efforts on their behalf, would not be likely ever to learn the way of salvation. Persons residing in the United States, who have been accustomed to perform long journeys in little time and with much comfort, by means of canal boats and steamers and railroads, and to find everywhere splendid hotels and sumptuous fare, can have but little idea of the inconveniences and trials which missionaries endure on these toilsome itinerancies. As in this land of patriarchal habits, thoroughly stereotyped since the days of Abraham, there is no such thing as houses of entertainment where missionaries might find accom- modations while on their travels ; and as, on account of the absurd customs and castes that prevail in society, they could not hope to obtain such accommodations from the heathen for whose good they labour, they are compelled to live in camp style — to take with them not only provisions for the journey, but the means of pre- paring them in the open field — tents to live in by day and night, and whatever else may be necessary to enable them to live for months together in the open plain. To some, therefore, it may interesting to re- ceive a brief account of the manner in which mis- sionaries travel on these occasions. When about to set out on a preaching tour, the first thing to be done is to obtain a few hackeries or ox carts for the conveyance of tents, provisions, cooking utensils, dishes, table, chairs, beds, books, &c. &c. The entire wages of a hackery with two oxen and a man to drive, is twenty-five cents per day. When the driver and oxen are fed from this sum, in the most frugal manner, about six cents are left toward the wages 15 170 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. of the man and oxen, and the wear and tear of the vehicle. But this is a digression from our subject, and is mentioned only to show the strange state of things that exists in this country, and the low scale of remuneration paid for native labour. When this establishment moves forward on the march, one man accompanies it, whose sole business it is to pitch tents and take them down again ; another to carry water for the cattle, &c, in a goat skin fastened on his back ; a third to prepare food for the missionary, which he does at a fire kindled in the open field. All things being ready for the journey, two of the hackeries start about nine o'clock in the evening, taking with them the largest or day tent, books, pro- vision box, &c, and after travelling all night, at the rate of about two miles an hour, they arrive at the place appointed — usually a distance of about twelve to fifteen miles — about daylight the following morn- ing. A place is then selected for the tent as close to the city as possible, and usually beneath the shade of trees. A fire is kindled close by, and the cook com- mences his business for the day. About two hours before day the missionaries issue from the small pall or sleeping tent in which they had found shelter during the night, and start on their journey. On leaving, the tent is immediately pulled clown, and with the bedding and other baggage remaining behind, loaded on the third hackery, which now begins to move, and arrives at the tenting ground by the middle of the afternoon, in time to have the sleeping pall erected for the night. The missionaries usually get up to the large tent by eight o'clock in the morning, and find their breakfast jjjj« / > ,--^ TRAVELLING IN INDIA. Page 171. PREACHING AT THE RELIGIOUS FAIRS. 171 prepared. After partaking of it, and engaging in family prayer, they proceed to the bazaars of the town, preach in several places to crowds that as- semble around them, and then invite the people to come to their tent for books and conversation. The after part of the day is generally spent in talking with visitors, and in placing the word of God in the hands of those who can read. Should there appear to be considerable interest taken in the gospel message, an- other day is spent at the same place ; but, if not, the large tent is taken down in the evening, and sent on as before. In this way the country is intersected, and all the most important places within the bounds of the respective stations are visited from time to time, and an offer of the gospel made to all who come within the reach of our influence. By this means the news of sal- vation has sounded out to many dark corners of this land, and many portions of precious truth have been distributed among the dying heathen. Melas or religious fairs, held frequently within the bounds of our extensive parishes, sacred bathing-places and shrines of venerated saints, where thousands as- semble at stated times, have been visited also by the missionaries. The greatest of these, and, indeed, one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in all India, is Ilardwdr, where, at some of their annual fairs, several millions of people assemble to bathe in the Ganges, and, as they believe, to Avash away their sins in the sacred stream. For eight years we had the pleasure of labouring at that place in connection with brethren from the other stations, where usually abo\it two weeks were spent in preaching to the pil- 172 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. grims, and placing in their hands the word of life. In former times Ave took our stand on the public ghauts, or beneath the shade of the numerous temples ; but of late years we have had a large canopy or tent which was presented to the mission for the purpose, and there, from early dawn until evening, religious services of praise and prayer, reading and preaching, have been conducted alternately by the missionaries— a short period being allowed between each service for conversation with the people, and for discussing the important differences between Hinduism and Chris- tianity. At times we have seen that large canopy filled with Brahmins and Pandits — the literati of Hin- duism — all seated on mats, and an immense crowd outside listening, as far as our voice could be heard, to the all important truths of the gospel for hours to- gether, with apparent seriousness. Indeed, some have occasionally been almost persuaded to become Chris- tians, and have appeared to be not far from the king- dom of heaven ; but the deceitfulness of sin, the fasci- nations of idolatry, and the strength of caste, are bonds not easily sundered. Alongside this preaching tent there is another where some of the missionaries, with native assistants, are employed the whole day in distributing Scriptures and tracts in various languages and dialects to applicants from all parts of this vast empire. The number usually distributed at one of these fairs is about eight thousand ; but at the great mela in 1844, when it was estimated that about three millions of people were assembled, the number distri- buted by our mission amounted to more than twenty- five thousand. Thus the Scriptures of truth, able to INSTRUCTION IN THE SCHOOLS. 173 make wise unto salvation, have been placed in the hands of multitudes, and by them carried to distant parts of the country to which, in no other way, they could have found access. Intimately connected with the preaching of the gos- pel is the instruction of the young in schools ; and to this department of their labour the missionaries have not been inattentive. Schools, both English and ver- nacular, orphan boarding schools, and day schools, have been carried on at nearly all the stations. At Lodiana there is a primary and high school, the object of which is to impart to the rising race a know- ledge of English literature and science, and at the same time to instill the principles and unfold the sys- tem of Christianity. The course of studies marked out is extensive, though but few have remained long enough to advance to the higher branches. It includes English reading and writing, geography, grammar, arithmetic, history, geometry, algebra, natural and moral philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, political eco- nomy, evidences of Christianity, translations, and com- position. In connection with these, the Bible forms a part of the daily study in all the classes. The orphan girls' school at the same place, which has contained on an average about twelve or fifteen pupils, is an interesting institution. In addition to the common branches of education, they have been taught to knit and sew, and to perform household duties, so as to fit them for the places to which Provi- dence may appoint them when removed from the insti- tution. Special attention is paid to their religious culture. Several have from time to time given evi- ls* 174 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. dences of piety, and been received into the church, and seven have been married to native Christians in connection with the mission. How different their situation now from what it would have been had they remained in those dens of crime and pollution from which many of them were taken by the public autho- rities ; and who that has a Christian's heart would not rejoice to be instrumental in leading such from the paths of vice and destruction to the knowledge and purity of the gospel ? The schools at Saharanpur have been much the same as at Lodiana, and they have been conducted on the same principles. The English school was opened in January, 1837, and although the obstacles to its progress at first were very great, arising from the strong prejudices of the people against Christianity, and their fears of being forced to embrace it, and thus of losing their caste, yet it soon gained the confidence of many, and increased in numbers until forty pupils were in attendance. This school has fluctuated very much, however, for some years past, but it has still existed, and been the means of educating a number of young men, particularly the boys in the orphan school in English reading, writing, history, geography, arith- metic, algebra, geometry, astronomy, natural philoso- phy, evidences of Christianity, the sacred Scriptures, and a system of theology. Since the arrival of Mr. Woodside, who has now charge of the English school, it has greatly increased both in numbers and interest. The orphan boys' school at Saharanpur commenced in 1838, and has been an, interesting and promising institution. For more than eight years after its or- - I ORPHAN SCHOOL AT SAHARANPUR. 175 ganization, and until the pupils were distributed to the different stations, the average number of pupils was about twenty, most of whom were saved from all the horrors of starvation during a famine which swept off its hundreds of -thousands. They were taken up when wasted to mere skeletons by hunger. They were fed and clothed and educated, and entirely supported by the Juvenile Foreign Missionary Society in connection with the Rev. Dr. Wylie's church, in Philadelphia. As they did not when received know a letter of any lan- guage, they were educated first in the Hindustani, and then in English, and afterward in Hindi and Per- sian, so as to qualify them for usefulness in missionary labours. After some years five of the number were received into the church by baptism, after strict and satisfactory examination. One apostatized some time after, but several of the others have since professed Christianity, and all of those who remained are now usefully employed at the different stations, and sup- porting themselves by their own industry, some as catechists, some as assistant teachers in schools, others in the printing office, bookbindery, &c. This school is still continued, and is now under the care of Mr. Caldwell. Those at present in the institution are em- ployed a part of their time in learning the business of cabinet-making, in connection with education in Hin- dustani, so as to enable them after some years to earn their own livelihood. It is to be hoped that those who have been well educated, who arc consistent members of the church, (one of them an ordained elder,) and at present catechists and students of theology, Avill ere 176 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. long be qualified to become preachers of the gospel to their benighted and idolatrous countrymen. English schools have been established and are con- ducted at Ambala and Jalandar, but at present they are not large. That which was formerly in existence at Sabathu has been given up. Vernacular day-schools in the bazaars have also been tried at all the stations, but on account of the difficulty that has heretofore been experienced in finding compe- tent and faithful teachers, and in introducing the study of Christian books, the success has not been great ; and, in some cases, they have been given up, until suitable teachers can be raised up in the mission, who will carry out our wishes and plans in these schools, and effi- ciently manage the youth under their care. The press in all countries, where properly employed, is an instrumentality of great power and importance. To the missionary, whose object it is to spread the truths of the gospel among millions who can never hear his voice or receive personal instruction from his lips, it is essential as an auxiliai-y ; it in a measure also supplies his lack of the gift of tongues ; and it has been the happy means of placing the word of God and important portions of religious truth in many languages, in the hands of multitudes who must otherwise have remained ignorant of the great salvation. In the printing establishment of this mission there are three superior presses, from which, during the last ten or twelve years, there have been published about one hundred editions, and more than six hundred thousand copies of portions of the Scriptures, of tracts and books, in six different languages, viz., Urdu, Hindi, WORKS TRANSLATED — NATIVE CHURCHES. 177 Panjdbi, Persian, Kashmiri, and English. Of these a considerable number are volumes of from one hun- dred to more than four hundred pages ; and among them, in addition to the gospels, epistles, psalms, and portions of the Old Testament, are to be found such works as the Pilgrim's Progress, the Way of Life, the Dairyman's Daughter, the Confession of Faith, Shorter Catechism, &c. About sixty of the above works — some original compositions and others transla- tions — have been prepared by members of this mission, and all, before going to press, pass through the hands of a publishing committee, consisting of one missionary from each station. The annual expenses of the press and bindery have generally amounted to between four and five thousand dollars, and all the books thus pub- lished are being distributed gratuitously among the people in the manner which we have described above. It is hoped the precious seed will not all be lost, but that in due time an abundant harvest of fruit will be reaped, and through this powerful instrumentality many be brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. At all the stations, small native churches have been organized, and thus a commencement has been made in establishing the Redeemer's kingdom in the very heart of heathenism. At Lodiana the number of na- tive church members is nineteen. At Saharanpiir the native church was reduced more than two years ago, when several of the young men who were mem- bers were sent to occupy fields of labour at the other stations. At present the number of native church members is eight. Some East Indians also have been 1 1 I ! 178 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. received to the communion on examination, so that, "with the mission families, the total number of commu- nicants is seventeen. The native churches at the other stations are still smaller, and some of them have been but lately organized. Yet small as these may seem when compared with the great and overflowing congre- gations in Christian lands, to those who are well ac- quainted with all the difficulties that have to be met and overcome in this land of moral night, and among this singularly constituted people, even this feeble be- ginning affords ground of great encouragement : "For who hath despised the day of small things?" Surely not He who has always chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, and who from small beginnings is wont to accomplish his great and stupendous purposes. What art thou, oh great mountain of difficulties, before our New Testament Ze- rubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain. His hands have laid the foundations of this house, this infant church among the heathen, and his hands also shall finish it, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, " Grace, grace, unto it." Be- cause it will not be accomplished by " might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." We have stated that this mission is Presbyterian in its character. And surely if those in Christian lands, who conscientiously adhere to this system of church government, unite in benevolent efforts for the spread of the gospel, and believe that Presbyterianism, as distinguished from Independency, Diocesan Episco- pacy or Prelacy, is founded on the word of God, and in accordance with the primitive practice of the church, LODIANA PRESBYTERY. 179 it is their duty to organize the churches they may gather from among the heathen according to this scriptural and apostolic model. All churches collected from the heathen must necessarily have an organiza- tion of some kind, and certainly missionaries are bound to take the Scriptures in the sense in -which they understand them, as the only rule to direct them in so important a matter as the organization and con- stitution of the Church of Christ. And this they ought to be permitted to do, without incurring the odium of sectarianism, while they wish well to all other churches of Christ that hold the head and preach a pure gospel ; and rejoice in their success in the same glorious work of benevolence. It is a happy thing that, as no branch of the church is established by the government of the United States, none can be stigma- tized as sects, and that all have a right to judge for themselves in matters between God and their own consciences. Thus may it ever be, under all the go- vernments on earth. In accordance with these views the ministerial brethren of this mission, connected with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, formed themselves, many years ago, into a presbytery, called " the Loditina Presby- tery," and under its care, all the native churches at the other stations, save that at Saharanpvir, have been placed. This presbytery has already had the honour of ordaining to the office of the ministry two men, one of them a Brahmin of the highest caste, who has cl large of the church at Jalandar, and who preaches eloquently to his idolatrous countrymen. The Lo- 180 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. diana Presbytery, and the Presbyteries of Allahabad and Furruckabad, lower down the country, and in con- nection with the Presbyterian Board in New York, are all formed into the synod of Northern India, in con- nection with the Presbyterian church in America. This synod has had two interesting meetings ; at the last of which, in addition to important matters trans- acted regarding the application of church discipline to some of the peculiar existing evils flowing from heathen practices and institutions, the Confession of Faith and catechisms, as embodied in a translation in Hindus- tani, were fully adopted as the constitution of their native churches. This synod consists of twenty-three ministers, and four elders, and has under its care nine native churches. On January 15th, 1841, the missionaries at Saha- ranpur, Rev. J. R. Campbell, Rev. J. Caldwell, and Mr. James Craig, who had been ordained as a ruling elder in the Rev. Dr. Wylie's congregation, Philadel- phia, being all in connection with the Reformed Pres- byterian Church in the United States, under advice from the synod of that body, formed themselves into a presbytery, called " The Presbytery of Saharanpur, in connection with the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America." On appli- cation from the native church at Saharanpur, formed in 1839, it was taken under the care of presbytery. From the death of Mr. Craig, in 1845, the regular meetings of presbytery were suspended, until the arri- val of the Rev. John S. Woodside, in 1849. This presbytery has now under its care the five catechists at the station, as students of theology, who at its stated NO ROMANCE IN MISSIONS. 181 meetings every three months, deliver discourses in Hindustani as specimens of improvement, and they are then examined by the presbytery as to their particular knowledge of certain portions of the Scriptures that have been previously appointed for their perusal. Thus in due time we hope to raise up an indigenous ministry, to some extent ; men who, under the direction of the foreign missionaries, will be able, by the divine blessing, to do much toward the spread of gospel truth through, the length and breadth of this extensive empire of Satan, and toward bringing to the light many who are now sitting in the region and shadow of death. What we now fear is that these desultory and pro- tracted details may be dry and uninteresting to many of our readers, who may have been expecting to hear of a series of animating and thrilling events — of some- thing bordering on the miraculous — of nations being born in a day, and of whole tribes and districts casting their idols to the moles and to the bats. But, my dear friends, we do hope that the age of the romance of missions is past, and that the time has indeed come when Christians can look at the real difficulties and discouragements of the missionary work in their fullest extent, with calmness and composure, and are prepared to meet with trials and disappointments, and to be thankful for the measure of success which the Lord may be pleased to grant to the feeble and unworthy labours of their missionaries. It would have been easy to have thrown an air of romance around this narra- tive, so as to please the fancy and enlist the feelings of imaginative readers, but we prefer giving a detail 10 182 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. of naked facts, so that sincere Christians may see the state and operations of the missions in Northern India just as they are; and, if we mistake not, this is the very kind of information that is most wanted by the true and steady friends of missions at home. And as the age of the romance of missions is past, the age of miracles in missionary work is past also. Languages that were acquired instantaneously by the special gift of God, in the primitive days of Chris- tianity, are now to be obtained after years of patient and persevering study. Proofs of the divinity of Christianity that were then given to the outward senses by miracles, have now to be substantiated by long and close arguments, founded on the evidences of the Christian faith. And as the missionaries of the gospel in that age were few in number, special success was granted to their labours, so as to meet the press- ing exigencies of the cause at stake ; but now, that the church of Christ possesses the men and the means in abundance for the evangelization of the world, she need not expect the success for which she is so impa- tient, until she is willing to make the sacrifice required. Nor is the measure of success that has been attained in the missionary work to be the standard of our duty in this great enterprise. It is enough for us to know that He who commanded us to go to India, and to all parts of the world to preach his gospel, and promised his presence and his aid in the difficult but delightful undertaking, has thus not only made it our duty to obey implicitly, but has so far blessed the efforts that have been made as to show that the work is his own, and meets with his approbation. It is enough to know fF 3 PROSPECT OP GOOD. 183 that thousands of blind, and degraded, and perishing idolaters have been enlightened, and sanctified, and saved ; and that many of these have died in faith and hope, and are now rejoicing before the throne on high. It is enough to know that in less than half a century the little one has become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation, and that a foundation broad and firm has been laid in the missionary enterprise in India, and much preparatory work accomplished, which will tell largely as to results in future years. It is enough for our encouragement to know that a vast amount of prejudice against missions, both at home, and in India, has been removed; that the timid and desponding friends of the cause have been aroused and cheered ; that religious and scientific education, which strikes deep at the root of a system of idolatry based upon palpable falsehoods, and which is daily undermining and wearing out gross superstitions, is rapidly spread- ing through the land, and among the rising race ; that such vast numbers of orphan youth have been trained, and are still in a course of training under missionaries, many of whom are likely to become successful helpers in the gospel ; and that so many, here and there, have been enabled through grace to renounce caste, and family, and friends, and houses, and lands, for Christ's sake and the gospel's. And here, while passing by many instances that might be mentioned, of what grace has enabled some of the Hindus to sacrifice for the sake of the gospel — a people too who are proverbially selfish — we cannot but notice a remarkable case of this kind, which oc- curred lately in Calcutta. A young man of rank and 184 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. fortune, who had been accustomed to move in the higher circles of Hindu society in the metropolis of British India, had obtained a liberal education in Eng- lish in one of the government colleges ; and although the Bible is positively shut out of these institutions, he found access to the sacred page, and there learned, not only his condition as a sinner against God, but the way of salvation through the Lord Jesus. He also learned that to be a Christian he must not only re- nounce idolatry, but every thing that stood in the way of a sincere and upright profession, and be willing to give up all, if necessary, in order to follow the Saviour in the midst of the crooked and perverse generation among whom his lot was cast. Entertaining these feelings he came to the London missionaries in Cal- cutta, and asked to be baptized. Aware of his high standing in society, and of the personal sacrifices that would necessarily result from his making a profession of Christianity, and fearing that he had not fully counted the cost of such a step, they reminded him of the consequences that must follow such a measure — of the wealth that must be sacrificed, (about fifty thousand dollars in personal property, and more than twice that in estates, of which he would in due time become the heir,) and they therefore intimated the propriety of postponing the baptism until time would be given to weigh the matter fully. His reply was prompt and characteristic. He said he had not come to this con- clusion in haste; that he had thought much and prayed long about the subject ; that he had put the Lord Jesus Christ and eternal happiness in the one scale, and all his wealth and honours in the other, and EVENTUAL TRIUMPH OF THE GOSPEL. 185 that Christ outweighed them all — that all were lighter than air and vanity; and that whatever the conse- quences might he, he had resolved to profess Christ, and devote himself to his blessed service ! This same young man, who might have been riding through the streets of Calcutta like the nobles of the land, was employed by the missionaries, when I passed through that place, on a salary of about twelve dollars a month, from which he obtained his own support, and with this and Christ he was content to live and to labour to bring his countrymen to embrace this great salvation. "Who, among our readers, have made such sacrifices for Christ ? Can that man be actuated by the same faith, can he claim to possess the same spirit, who refuses to part with a small portion of his wealth to send the gospel to the perishing Hindus? Let conscience answer. In view then of all that we have mentioned, and knoAving that the heathen of Hindust&n must certainly be given to Christ for his inheritance — that He who has promised to subdue the nations to himself, is able also to perform, and will perform — knowing that, in due time, he will make bare his arm in the sight of the heathen, and make his blessed gospel mighty to the tearing down of strongholds ; and knowing also that this glorious gospel is preached to multitudes of blind idolaters, and the Bible placed in their hands, in which every man can read in his own tongue the wonderful works of God, we are constrained to rejoice, yea, and we will rejoice. This precious book — the Bible — which contains the religion of Protestants, is destined to sup- plant the Hindu Shasters, the Quran of the false pro- 16* 186 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. phet, the wicked decrees and pretensions of the Man of Sin, and every system of iniquity, in every pagan land. Though men be bound, as in chains, by caste, and prejudice, and superstition, and sin, yet the word of God is not bound. By its free distribution it is cast as bread, or as rice, upon the waters, and it will be found after many days ; it will not return unto the Lord void, but shall accomplish that which he pleases, and prosper in the thing whereunto he sent it. The precious seed, so abundantly sown by the mis- sionaries in Hindustan, may for a time appear to be lost amid the rubbish and superstition in which it falls ; and much of it may actually be choked by the thorns of prejudice over which it must ascend; yet doubtless some of it will fall in good ground — in honest hearts, prepared by divine grace for its reception, and bring forth much fruit to the glory of God. Nor should we be discouraged in this great under- taking on account of the slow progress of the work at first, or the difficulties by which it is beset. In the numerous worthy enterprises that are going on in the present day, difficulties are set at naught, and by dint of effort fully overcome in order to accomplish some grand object, beneficial to society and remunerative in its results. Hence, in the construction of a railroad, mountains of solid rock are either bored through or levelled down, and valleys filled up, and immense out- lay incurred for years before any thing is realized from the undertaking. So also, in order to convey intelligence from one end of the land to the other, and for thousands of miles, with the speed of lightning, the speaking wires are drawn across mighty rivers, over WORLDLY ENTERPRISE. 187 rugged mountains, and through dense forests, at a vast expense, and all in view of prospective returns. Back- woodsmen, too, in the United States, are willing to endure the toil of years, and to expend much labour, and even the vigour of their lives, in clearing the forest, in hewing, and chopping, and rolling, and burning, and fencing, and grubbing, and ploughing, and sowing, and all in hopes of a, future harvest. They are quite certain, too, that after all their care and labour, much of the seed at first sown will be lost amid the under- growth; that, in their day, they must be content to see the scathed and branchless trunks standing as monuments of the grandeur of the primeval forest, and that it must remain for their children, or their grand- children, to enjoy the fruits of a full harvest from land perfectly cleared, and fenced, and cultivated. Yet are they not, in view of all these difficulties and disad- vantages, deterred from commencing new settlements. Enterprising American citizens are annually making rapid advances to the "far west," and even climbing the Rocky Mountains, far beyond the red man's hut, to find a residence — a home on the shores of the North Pacific. Such men are endued with the wisdom of this world ; and why should Christians not imitate them in efforts to advance a far nobler cause ? Why not apply the same reasoning and make the same deductions in the case of those who go out as pioneers of the gospel — who go to heathen nations to prepare the way of the people — to gather out the stones — to cast up a high- way for the chariot of the everlasting gospel — " to root out, to pull down, and to destroy — to throw down, and to build, and to plant." And why expect im- 188 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. mediate success in the one case more than in the other, especially when we know that it is the will of the Lord to carry on his work by human instrumentality, and to bless it in proportion to the faithful and persevering efforts of his people ? It ought to be remembered also, that the analogy between backwoodsmen and foreign missionaries does not hold good in all respects. The difficulties to be overcome in one case are physical, in the other moral. Numbers also are against us. Thousands and thou- sands are yearly pressing into the heart of the western wilderness, while but a few hands are sent to cultivate the jungles of heathenism ; and their influence is, com- paratively, but little felt among the hundreds of mil- lions with whom they mingle. The unresisting forest soon gives way before the axe of the sturdy farmer, and he sows in a rich alluvial soil which has not been overrun with brambles, and which, almost from the be- ginning, amply rewards his toil ; but the ground which the missionary cultivates is pre-occupied. The minds of the heathen, and of the Mohammedans in Hindustan, are filled with notions about religion, which, however absurd and erroneous, are those which, from infancy, have been received from their ancestors, as given by God, and as had in reverence from time immemorial. These notions, too, though in our estimation evidently opposed to common sense, they hold with a pertinacity worthy of the best of causes, and defend with minds, which however illogical, are naturally acute and meta- physical. In short, the missionaries in India have to "wrestle not only against flesh and blood, but against princi- UNITED PRAYER NECESSARY. 189 palities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places." But, in the use of the weapons of divine ap- pointment, they have nothing to fear, hut every ground of hope and encouragement. Clad in the armour of heaven, they will he invincible, and in every time of difficulty and danger prayer will bring to their assist- ance " an arm that is full of power." Only let the church — the ivhole church — hold up her hands in prayer, sustain her servants in the field, and greatly increase their number, and soon the shout of a glorious victory will reverberate around the continents and islands of a once degraded, but then a holy and a happy people ; soon the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. 190 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. CHAPTER VIII. Duties and responsibilities of Christians to the" heathen — Ail Hindustan open to the gospel — A loud call of Providence in behalf of her perishing millions — No good reason for delay — The church now called upon to display her militant and aggres- sive character — A good beginning made — Advantages not to be lost "without increased guilt — Christian neglect exposed — The physical, mental, and moral degradation of the Hindus an argu- ment in their behalf — Their destiny as heathen — Their blood laid to the account of an unfaithful church — The gospel a remedy for their case — The last command binding on all, yet obeyed by few — No lack of enterprise in worldly affairs — Duty to the heathen misunderstood — Not to be converted by miracles, but by means of divine appointment — Apostolic example worthy of imitation — Our obligations and advantages greater than those of the primitive Christians — Sketch of Paul's missionary labours — Entire consecration required of all — The missionary spirit essentially the spirit of the gospel — The Apostle John's views of the case — Selfishness incompatible with Christianity — Neglect of the heathen inconsistent with humanity, justice, honesty, faithfulness, and gratitude — Love to Christ surmounts diffi- culties — Signs of promise — Success fully proportioned to efforts made — The work in its infancy — Christians only awaking to a sense of duty — Sketch of what has been accomplished — Re- sults incalculable — Closing address to youth, to students of theology, and to the church at large. Having now imparted to our Christian friends a very brief account of the present state of the missions in Northern Hindustan, we cannot bring this work to a close without attempting to make an improve- ment of the important facts that have been pre- CALL OF PROVIDENCE. 191 sented. We would, therefore, in this chapter draw a few inferences from the subject, with a design of pointing out the duties and responsibilities devolving on Christians in regard to the heathen of India, and of the world at large; and to these we would now ask the attention and prayerful consideration of our readers. 1. It is a fact no less remarkable than it is certain, that God, in his providence, and in the most myste- rious and unexpected manner, has opened up all Hin- dustan, one of the most important portions of the heathen world, with a population of about one hundred and fifty millions of souls, as a field of missionary operations to the church of Christ ; and that under the protection of British law, and with no hindrances but such as may be expected from a people long enslaved by bigotry and idolatry, missionaries may now enter in and possess the land — may preach and teach, no man forbidding them, and may hope finally, through the gracious assistance of Him who has commanded them to go and disciple all nations, not only to over- throw the hoary and impure systems which error and superstition have reared, but in their room to establish the principles and practices of a pure and divine re- ligion. The language of this providence is too plain, we think, to be misunderstood by any who are anxious to know their duty in relation to these millions of per- ishing idolaters, or who would recognise the awful responsibilities which this fact necessarily imposes on all who love the Saviour. The Macedonian cry which came to the ears of Paul, and which determined him 192 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. to leave his work in Asia Minor and pass over to Greece, was not more plain and importunate than is the language of such a remarkable providence as this to all Christendom, and especially to all who, like the men of Issachar, " have understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do." If the church of Christ were only awake, as she ought to be, to a sense of her obligations to her exalted Head and the undying souls of the heathen, for whom she has been put in trust with the gospel, she would be constantly looking out for an opportunity such as this for carrying out her high commission, and for planting her standard in the midst of the enemy's camp ; and no sooner would an opening appear in the citadel of heathendom, than ten thousand of her bravest sons, supported by the funds and the prayers of all, would rush forward with the sword of the Spirit in their hands, to assert the rights of the King of kings, and to demand the liberties of those whom Satan has made captive at his will, and so long en- slaved in the service of sin. Such heroic conduct would not only prove the loyalty of the citizens of Zion to their King, but it would evince the love they had for the dearest rights and liberties of their fellow- men. Oh, why is it that the world, by its bravery, by its boasted philanthropy, and its personal and pecuniary sacrifices in maintaining its civil rights, and in vindicating its honour, should cast into the shade the feeble attempts made by modern Christianity to carry the gospel of peace into the regions of crime and horrid cruelty ? Contemplate the millions, almost be- yond calculation, that are expended annually from the NO EXCUSE FOR DELAY. 193 public treasuries of Christian nations in the support of military establishments, while the sum is easily counted — not amounting to more from all calling them- selves Christians than a mere pittance, the loss of which they have never felt — which is devoted by Chris- tian benevolence to the spread of the glorious gospel ! During the ages of religious persecution that have passed over the church, when, for conscience' sake, men's souls and principles were severely tried; and when at times the flames rose so high that she seemed to be struggling for an existence, there was some ex- cuse for her neglect of the heathen world — though it is possible that these very persecutions were permitted as a punishment for that neglect; yet now, in the United States at least, where there is religious liberty, peace and plenty to the utmost extent of all reasonable desires, there cannot be the shadow of an excuse for such neglect. The sin of such neglect, too, must be greatly increased when we consider that the finger of Providence points so directly to the openings that are constantly being made for her enlargement in those parts of the world that had formerly been closed against her efforts. It is not long since the most evangelical churches in Christendom seemed to think that they had per- formed their part pretty fully if they " held fast the form of sound words," and kept themselves pure from the spreading contagion of heresy — important duties to be sure, because clearly enjoined in the Bible — but the time is now past when the woman, the church, is to be secreted in the wilderness. If we mistake not, the twelve hundred and sixty years, during which she was 17 194 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. to remain in a place of comparative secrecy, prepared for her of God, have been fulfilled in 1848, when the Pope was driven from his seat at Rome ; and we think she is now especially called upon to exhibit a different aspect, and to assume a different position, in regard to her popish and pagan enemies. Her character is henceforth to be more militant and aggressive. She in now to carry her arms and ammunition into the very heart of the enemy's country, and to have no cessation of war until " the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ," and until all her implicable enemies be destroyed " by the spirit of his mouth," or their hostility shall melt away "before the brightness of his coming^" That India, which is the key to all Asia, has been placed under the enlightened government of Britain — that the once powerful sovereigns and emperors, who swayed their sceptres over its immense population, have been subdued by a handful of foreigners in a suc- cession of victories which have not only surprised the world at large, but even the conquerors themselves — and that the most ancient and formidable system of idolatry which has ever been invented " by men of cor- rupt minds," has been laid open to the inspection of the Christian world, and to a complete exposure by coming in contact with scriptural and scientific truth, are all events so full of meaning that it is not difficult to dis- cover the traces of an invisible hand preparing the way of the Lord among the nations. Indeed, the very heathen themselves are ready to ascribe these strange events to the same cause, and to look upon them as precursors of the complete overthrow of Hinduism ! A GOOD BEGINNING MADE. 195 Already has the gospel been planted at distant points of this empire by Christian missionaries, and the nuclei of Christian churches have been com- menced. The heathen are peaceably disposed, and willing to hear the claims of Christianity. Many of them look to Christian missionaries for instruction in English literature ; and press into our schools at the risk sometimes of incurring the frowns of their friends, from a desire to obtain the education we have it in our power to impart. Daily their miserable condition as idolaters is becoming more apparent to themselves, and many of them inwardly sigh over the degradation to which a blind superstition has reduced them. Their condition calls loudly for help, and the providence of God, as well as the command of Christ, enjoins upon Christians of every name immediate action in their be- half. Why then should the eyes of the Christian world any longer remain closed to the important duty so kindly imposed, and which has so direct a bearing on the eternal destinies of one-seventh of the human race ? Why any longer delay in sending the gospel of our salvation to a people so wondrously brought into a civil relation with Christian nations, and whose present position is likely to render efforts for their evangelization so eminently successful ? The call thus made, moreover, becomes increasingly urgent from the consideration that every moment that is lost will ren- der the work to be accomplished still more difficult ; and that days of delay in undertaking it may add years to the realization of our hopes. The light of science, which must now necessarily spread through British India, will gradually remove the gross dark- 196 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. ness and superstition which has so long rested upon the people. Losing their attachment to a system •which true science exposes to universal condemnation, the puhlic mind, unless enlightened by the gospel, must become infidel. In fact, this has already been the result, to a considerable extent, in places where government education without the Bible, has gone faster than the Christian church has seen fit to follow with the light of sacred truth. For this neglect, producing, as it must do, an im- mense hindrance to the gospel in future, there will be an awful reckoning at last. Great guilt must rest somewhere, and much probably everywhere. For this the people of God should be humble, and pardon should be sought where only it is to be found, through the blood of Christ. But what is to be done now, and for the future ? Shall we continue in such a sinful course of neglect and selfishness that grace may abound? God forbid that such should be the case. And yet we greatly fear there are many who call themselves Christians, who have very little idea of making the sacrifices which the occasion requires, or even of going beyond the scale of liberality which penuriousness itself has established, and which hardly affects the purse, much less the comforts, the luxuries, and the self-indulgences of the professed followers of Him, " who for our sakes became poor." In exposing such conduct on the part of professing Christians, we would employ the language of a powerful writer on this subject.* He says, " If we persist in neglecting * " Great Commission," by Dr. Harris. A work which should be in the hands of every Christian. STANDARD OP DUTY. 197 the heathen, let us plainly declare the reason. But before we finally dismiss them to destruction, let us, by a public manifesto, or otherwise, exculpate Chris- tianity, and blame the only guilty cause, by telling them, 'Your conversion to the Christian faith is an object of the highest importance. To effect it would greatly augment our heavenly happiness, secure in- finite blessings to you, and bring to God everlasting glory. As far as our instrumentality is necessary, the means are all in our possession. But we cannot fur- nish them without abridging our self-indulgence ; and, as this requires more love for your souls, and more regard for the authority of Christ than we possess, we see no alternative but that of leaving you to perish.' Now, startling as such language may seem, by what other terms can we excuse ourselves from entire de- votedness to their salvation?" We hope there is no real Christian who, with these facts before him, and in view of rendering up an account of his stewardship at last, will deliberately adopt such an alternative. Would that all the sincere followers of Christ felt more deeply that nothing less than entire devotedness to the world's salvation is the standard of their duty; and that they would fully and heartily adopt the motto of primitive Christianity, " None of us liveth to himself." Then would India, and every other field open to the gospel, soon be filled up with devoted mis- sionaries, sustained by the willing contributions and the fervent prayers of the tvhole church. 2. The mental and moral degradation of the Hin- dus, which we have attempted to describe, but which it would be not only impossible, but improper fully to 17* 198 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. disclose, calls loudly upon the Christian world to put them in possession of a pure gospel. It is unnecessary to harrow the feelings by referring again to the speci- mens of Hindu cruelty that have been witnessed, and that are not only authorized but enjoined in the Shasters : such as the burning of the living mother on the funeral pile with her deceased husband, by the hand of her first-born son, and as one of the most meritorious of human acts ; the ghat murders of the aged and the dying, by suffocation with the waters of the Ganges, as a lustration to qualify for heaven ; the swinging of candidates for religious merit, by fasten- ing iron hooks in the flesh of the backs of the deluded victims ; the offerings of the first-born infants to the goddess Gunga — " the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul;" the more than brutal degradation of many sects of faqirs in the attempt to subdue the hu- man feelings and passions, and to obtain absorption into the deity himself; the writhing agonies of men crushed to pieces beneath the car of Jagatnath ; the weary and exhausting pilgrimages made by myriads to distant shrines, and from which multitudes never re- turn ; the reduction of a large proportion of the people to the most menial services, from which they can never hope to raise themselves, until the chains of caste, which for ever bind men to occupy the position in which they were born, be snapped asunder ; the physical and mental degradation of the female sex ; these, and much more that might be named, so charac- teristic of this dark portion of the earth, so long the habitation of cruelty, are surely calculated to call OLDEST SYSTEM OF IDOLATRY. 199 forth the sympathies and efforts of every philanthropist for their speedy removal. But the degradation of the heathen in India is not only physical and mental, it is also moral. The loath- some disease of sin, in all its naked deformity and unblushing effrontery, shows itself most distinctly in the whole putrid mass of heathen society ; so that, ex- amine it where you please, you must be convinced that there is no moral soundness in it. Without shame, and apparently without remorse, all the black cata- logue of crimes mentioned in the first and third chap- ters of the Epistle to the Romans, are constantly com- mitted by the Hindus. In all the works of the flesh, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idola- try, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunken- ness, revelings, and such like, they seem to take exquisite pleasure. To speak of the gross abomina- tions of their idol worship, and of the things that are done of them in secret, during their midnight orgies, would be a shame and a disgrace. Their moral dis- ease, like all others of a deadly nature, continues, the longer it exists, to grow worse and worse ; and as Hinduism is probably the oldest system of idolatry in the world, the present degree of moral obliquity and pollution at which its adherents have arrived, may be better imagined than described. The road to ruin is a downhill way, and when men forsake the true God, and his law, and cast the reins of reason on the neck of their depraved passions, their progress in iniquity is fearfully rapid. As some mighty orb, 200 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. loosed from its centre, flies off through the immensity of space with increased and constantly increasing velocity, so those who have revolted from God con- tinue to wax worse and worse, from generation to gene- ration, until their guilt accumulates and rises like mountains to heaven, to call down the divine ven- geance, and to close the door of mercy. If we contemplate the moral character of the Hin- dus, with the Bible in our hands, we cannot be at a loss to ascertain their awful destiny, unless the gospel be sent to them. We have often felt surprised to find men, who profess to believe the Scriptures, expressing a hope of the salvation of many of the heathen, and advancing the opinion that, even ignorant as they are, there may be some virtuous and pious, and even inno- cent men among them. Such hopes and opinions are founded neither on the Scriptures nor on facts. On the other hand, they are expressly contradicted by both. The Scriptures plainly declare that " all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" that "the wages of sin is death" — death eternal ; and that "there is none righteous, no not one." The apostle Paul has proved to a demonstration that " Jews and gentiles are all under sin," so that " every mouth might be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." It is also written, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them;" and that "they who sin without law, shall perish without law." The same apostle also, in writing to those who had been brought out of heathen darkness to the light of the gospel, speaks FATE OF THE UNCONVERTED HEATHEN. 201 of their former condition as one in which they were " dead in trespasses and sins ;" in which they " walked according to the course of this world," according to " the spirit that now worketh in the children of diso- bedience," in which they "fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others," in which they were "with- out God, and without hope in the world ;" and he describes those who still remain in heathenism, as " walking in the vanity of their minds, having the un- derstanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts ; who being past feel- ing, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness ;" and then he adds, that it is " the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death ;" that they "shall not inherit the kingdom of God," but that "idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." The conduct of Paul also, in his unwearied efforts to make known the gospel to the heathen nations, is an impressive comment on these sentiments. It shows us what he was willing to undertake and to endure, if by any means, or by all means, he might save some of them. The sight which he had of their moral pollu- tion, and of the end which awaited them in a world of woe, disposed him to meet persecutions and dangers, and even death itself, in any form, rather than leave them unwarned of their danger, and uninformed of the great salvation which the gospel reveals. lie f i 202 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. know that without faith it is impossible to please God, or to become partakers of this salvation ; and that faith cometh by hearing the gospel, as it is impossible to believe on Him of whom they have not heard. He knew that prayer was necessary to salvation ; but that it was in vain to expect sinners to call on him of whom they had no knowledge. He knew that, in order to the exercise of faith and prayer, the heathen must be made acquainted with the gospel, and that for this purpose missionaries must be sent to them. He knew that there is no other mediator between God and men, and no other name by which any can be saved, but the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew that the heathen, impenitent, unhumbled, unsanctified, could never enter within the gates of the New Jerusalem, and that im- mense myriads of our race, with souls that can never die, in one continued swelling stream, were rapidly passing onward and downward to the pit of endless misery and despair. Hence the zeal and the efforts of this great missionary to the gentiles, "if by any means he might save some of them." Thus Scripture, reason, and an intimate acquaintance with the facts of the case, all combine in proving the awfully depraved condition of the heathen, as well as the darkness of their future prospects. Alas ! that the Christian world should be so little impressed with a subject of such infinite importance. Who can con- template it without horror, and a deep sense of re- sponsibility ? If there are any at ease in Zion, who care for none of these things ; if there are any enjoying the benefits ENTIRE CONSECRATION REQUIRED. 203 of the gospel, but unwilling to share its blessings with those ready to perish ; if there are any doing nothing to enlighten and save them, let such remember that the blood of the heathen will be required at their hands. And that there are many, very many such heartless professors of religion in all Christian churches at the present day, the apathy that is manifested in the mis- sionary cause is but too lamentable a proof. How is it possible, with all the light that has of late been thrown on this subject, that men, who, for the spread of the gospel, the salvation of the heathen, and the glory of Christ, will not part even with a tithe of their substance, which in truth all belongs to God, can pro- perly be regarded as faithful stewards, as duly appre- ciating the value of the gospel which they possess, or as having any true love to the souls of their fellow mortals perishing in pagan lands ? Can those pos- sess much of the Spirit of Christ who do not seem to feel for the present miseries, and the future untold agonies of the heathen ? That sinners might not perish but have eternal life, the love of God provided a Saviour, and sent him on a mission of mercy to our ruined world. That a ransom might be paid to satisfy divine justice on our behalf, the Son of God laid down his life on the cross of Calvary. That the balm of Gilead might be applied by the great Physician, for the healing of the nations, the exalted Head of the church pours out his Spirit, and commands his fol- lowers to go and offer the remedy to every creature. In Christ there is a righteousness which will justify the most ungodly sinner that will accept of it. In 204 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. him there is blood that can cleanse the most vile and polluted. And shall we dare to keep back this sove- reign remedy, this gospel panacea, from the heathen placed within our reach, when we know that without it they must perish eternally? When, on account of their rebellion, fiery flying serpents were sent among the Israelites, by the sting of which multitudes were perishing in all the agonies of torture, do you suppose that Moses would have been considered faithful in all his house, as a servant, had he not, at the command of God, raised up in the wilderness the brazen ser- pent, so that attain the camp might look to it and live? This was a striking type of Christ. In like manner the Son of Man must be lifted up, as the ordinance of God, for the healing of the dying nations, "that they may not perish but have everlasting life." This solemn duty devolves upon the church ; and to discharge it faithfully, and to be a co-worker with Christ, in reclaiming the heathen that have been given to him for his inheritance, is, certainly, the greatest honour and privilege that can be conferred upon her. Is it possible that there can be any true Christian who would not desire to have a share in so glorious an enterprise ? Here is a field in which the hearts and hands and sympathizing benevolence of all may find something to do for Christ. Here is a cause in which the rich and the poor may spend their millions and their mites to the best advan- tage ; a cause in which all can unite their suppli- cations to the Hearer of prayer, who can render our feeble efforts effectual in the advancement of his kingdom. THE WORLD PREFERRED TO CHRIST. 205 3. The express command of the Saviour to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" — to "disciple all nations," "beginning at Jerusalem," imposes a most important and imperative duty on the church, which she may not neglect, so lonsr as a single sinner on earth remains unreconciled to God. How imperfectly this command has been obeyed during the last eighteen hundred years, the present state of the world, with its six or eight hun- dred millions of heathen, will fully testify. And yet professing Christians have not been idle. Into what part of the earth or of the ocean has not the love of gain or of scientific research led them ? How many exploring expeditions have gone forth to heathen lands, that they might contribute something to the stores of scientific knowledge already possessed ! Is there any place too distant, any clime too insalubrious, any coast too inhospitable, for the men of trade and traffic to approach, when large profits are to be realized? What privations and dangers will the scientific traveller undergo in order to reach the source of some celebrated river, and thus leave his name deeply engraved on the page of fame ! And when gold is to be gathered in large masses, how many are willing to forsake the comforts of home, and to set out on the hazardous journey in quest of wealth ! It is therefore evident that there is no lack of enterprise among those who bear the Christian name. The failure in the missionary work assigned them must be traced to some other cause. The claims of Christ have been looked upon as of secondary im- 18 206 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. portance, while worldly honour and advantages have had their attractions, and their full share of influence over the church as well as the world. Much of this enterprise has been ill directed. The race has too often been merely "to obtain a corruptible crown." But Christians should seek one that is incorruptible. And surely it is not possible, with such motives as the Bible lays before us, and such obligations as the Saviour has kindly imposed, that in the execution of his command, in the imparting of his priceless salva- tion to heathen nations, we shall fall behind the men of the world in their spirit of enterprise. In giving this command the Saviour directs our attention to an object the most lofty and important in the universe — an object that at once involves, in the highest degree, his own glory, the salvation of immortal souls, and the spiritual welfare of his church. As the reward of his humiliation, and as a part of his mediatorial glory, the heathen have been given to him for his inheri- tance ; he has been exalted to the throne of the universe, and all power in heaven and in earth placed in his hands. But although it is his right to reign in the hearts of his people, and over the nations thus placed under his mediatorial sway, we see not yet all things put under him in acknowledged possession. We see the great majority of the human family still, m the middle of the nineteenth century, in heathen blindness, and led away in the service of dumb idols, and with few to care for their immortal interests ! We see the powers of darkness still in possession of the largest share of a world to be reclaimed by the THE GOSPEL MUST BE SENT. 207 gospel. And we hear the last and solemn command of Messiah the Prince sounding in our ears, " Go, go ye, my disciples, into all the world, and preach the gospel" of my kingdom "to every creature, and lo ! I am with you always." The opinion so long entertained, even by the most evangelical and pious Christians, in consequence of the confused and unscriptural views that prevailed regarding the spread of the gospel and the fulfilment of the promises, that God, in his own good time, and in some mysterious way, but altogether independently of their exertions, would spread the gospel, and con- vert the heathen, is now so generally relinquished, that it appears unnecessary to offer arguments to show how inconsistent it was with the plainest lan- guage of Scripture, with apostolic practice, and the united testimony of history and experience. Mira- cles were never performed with the design of spread- ing the gospel. The Head of the church has insti- tuted a system of means to be employed for this purpose by his chosen people, and it is in the use of these that he carries forward the administrations of his covenant among men, imparts the special bless- ings of his grace, and " fulfils all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power." "Where there is no vision the people perish." Where the means of grace are not enjoyed, men live, and sin, and die, without any saving knowledge of God, without any hope in their death, or any serious desires after holiness or heaven. So far as our infor- mation extends, Christianity has never been an object 208 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. of inquiry by any people on earth, until it was first carried to their shores, and pressed upon their accept- ance by the ambassadors of Christ. In the great "work of evangelizing the nations, the first movement must be made by Christian men. The law must go out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jeru- salem. Hence the apostles were not to be located at Jerusalem or in the land of Judaea, with the ex- pectation that the heathen from the surrounding na- tions would come to them as inquirers after the true religion. Nor were they to remain within the limits of that sacred enclosure until all the unbelieving Jews should be converted to Christ ; or until all the good was done at home that might be done. No, no ; they had received instructions to the contrary. The land of Judsea, exalted to heaven as it had been in regard to privileges, must not be permitted to mo- nopolize the treasures of the gospel, sufficient to enrich a perishing world. Apostolic men, who had received their commission directly from Christ him- self, felt they were "put in trust with the gospel" for the benefit of the world ; and that in consequence of this, they were debtors to the Greeks and the bar- barians, to the bond and the free. They felt con- vinced that the covenant of peculiarity with the Jewish nation was now annulled, and that as the middle wall of separation between Jews and gentiles had been thrown down, the time had indeed come, when Zion should not only lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes, but stretch out the curtains of her habitation until they should embrace gentiles as OUR OBLIGATIONS. 209 well as Jews, and men of every clime and colour under heaven. They saw that the new dispensation of the gospel was exactly suited to men of all na- tions ; that it was clogged with nothing peculiar to any tribe of the human family, and that it enjoined no inconvenient rites or costly oblations. In short, they were brought to see their duty clearly, and then they hesitated not to prosecute the work assigned them — to prosecute it in the face of danger and of death, and to rejoice that they were counted worthy to labour and to suffer in such a glorious cause. And who will say that apostles and primitive Chris- tians were more bound to make such sacrifices for Christ and their fellow men, than are Christians of the present day ? "We partake with them of the same grace ; we are equally indebted to the same redeem- ing love ; and we hope with them to share in the same glories of heaven, and to unite with them in the same song of praise " to Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Nay, we think it could easily be demonstrated, that our obligations to spread the gospel are stronger than theirs. On us rests the superadded obligation of gratitude for the labours of missionaries, by which our ancestors were delivered from the murderous rites of the Druidical religion, and brought out of a state of savage barbarism and gross idolatry to the enjoyment of Christianity and civilization. Our pri- vileges and opportunities, and our means of reaching "the ends of the earth," are much greater than 18* 210 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. ■were enjoyed by early Christians; and hence our responsibilities increase in the same proportion. We live in eventful times. On us, "the ends of the world are come." The world is dependent on the church for its speedy moral renovation. The present age is big with the germs of future developments. All the promises are on the eve of a glorious fulfilment. Like the catastrophes which follow in quick succes- sion at the close of a drama, it is not unlikely that the important events which must precede the mil- lennium, and usher in the glorious jubilee of a world's redemption, will come on with a rapidity which the Christian world will not be prepared to expect. No time, therefore, should be lost in preparing for the coming conflict with the powers of darkness. We should even try to outstrip the early Christians in the warmth of our zeal to convert the heathen to Christ, because we have the force of their example to stimulate us, and their wonderful success to en- courage us. We have the wide world all open be- fore us. As a specimen of their work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, in the missionary enter- prise, let us present a brief outline of what the de- voted Paul endured as a soldier of the cross ; and, as we give the language of inspiration, there is no fear of the statement being exaggerated. " I think," says the great missionary to the gentiles, " that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as those appointed unto death, for we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men : we are reviled, persecuted. APOSTOLIC LABOURS. 211 defamed, and made as the filth of the earth, and the offscouring of all things. We are troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down ; always bear- ing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, being delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of Christ, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in dis- tresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings." Regarding all these personal trials, he could say, moreover, to the praise of the grace that had sustained him, that he was "in labours more abundant, in stripes above mea- sure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft." " Of the Jews," says he, "five times received I forty stripes save one ; thrice was I beaten with rods ; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a day and a night I have been in the deep. In jour- neyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder- ness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in weariness and painfulness ; in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." Nor was the apostle weary in the work of well- doing, in consequence of the trials and difficulties connected with it. On the other hand he tells us that he "was glad to spend and be spent" in this blessed cause ; though the more he loved the objects of his benevolent efforts, the less he was loved by them. lie " took pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, 212 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. in necessities, in distresses for Christ's sake." He considered all his trials and sufferings, his losses and crosses, his dangers and afflictions, as light and mo- mentary, and not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaited him, and the love that redeemed him. In such a glorious cause, and for such a mas- ter, he felt that love constrained him ; that contempt was honour, and present loss eternal gain ; and that he possessed a secret source of consolation, of which the world was ignorant. He tells us, that "the Father of mercies comforted him in all his tribula- tions, so that as his sufferings for Christ abounded, his consolation by Christ abounded also." In view of all these trials, he considered it the highest honour that could be conferred upon him, to be an ambassa- dor from the throne of heaven to guilty men — to be a co-worker together with God, in bringing souls to the Saviour, and to be engaged in preaching " among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." He was willing to be made " all things to all men, if by any means he might save some," and "to please all men in all things, not seeking his own profit, but the profit of many, that they might be saved." Wealth and the world, ease, and honour, and pleasure might entice him and tempt him ; persecutions, and prisons and tortures might threaten ; but none of these things moved him, neither did he count his life dear, that he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God, and to discharge the im- portant trust that had been committed to him on behalf of heathen nations. ENTIRE CONSECRATION REQUIRED. 213 If such -were the feelings and conduct of Paul, and others of a similar spirit in primitive times, why should the professors of the gospel now feel themselves excused from imitating the glorious ex- ample they have left us? This example has doubt- less been placed on record for our benefit, and as a model of missionary exertion for all future ages; and although few, if any, have come up to it in actual practice, all are bound to drink deeply into it, and closely to imitate this heroic zeal, and this entire consecration to the service of Him who was heaven's first and greatest missionary ; of Him " who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich ;" and who, by a price no less than that of his precious blood, has purchased us and all our services, " that henceforth we should not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us." If we are indeed true Christians, as we profess to be, "we are no longer our own." When we avouched the Lord to be our God, and gave ourselves to him in a covenant not to be for- gotten, we gave up at the same time, for the pro- motion of his glory, all that we possessed or ever hoped to enjoy : our time, our talents, our pro- perty, and our influence ; and having thus vowed to God, we must not, — we dare not draw back. Entire consecration, then, is what the Saviour re- quires of his disciples, and he will accept of nothing less : Luke xiv. 26, 27, 33. But what a very differ- ent standard do most professing Christians set be- fore themselves! Some, who have long occupied 214 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. places in the Christian church, seem to think that the missionary spirit by which others profess to be animated is a kind of special gift, which may or may not be possessed by Christians ; and they are free to confess that they do not possess such a spirit them- selves. Such persons seem to forget that the mis- sionary spirit is essentially the spirit of the gospel, that it is the very spirit of Christ himself, and that " if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his." Have not such persons, however much they may despise the missionary zeal of others as fanatical, reason to fear that out of their own mouths they will be condemned, at last, as unfaithful stewards? And, if those who take no interest in the spread of the gospel among the heathen, give so little evidence of having the mind of Christ, what shall be said of pro- fessing Christian men, who actually oppose the work of missions altogether, as a piece of enthusiasm, and feel no concern for a world lying in darkness and idolatry ? With regard to this class, we think they have yet to learn the first principles of Christianity, and that their first business lies at home. When they have obtained an interest in Christ for themselves, and have been brought to put a proper value on the blessings of the gospel, it will then be their duty, as it will be felt to be a privilege, to inquire what they can do to bring others to the Saviour, whose com- mands they have been taught to regard. We think it may be safely affirmed, that no Christian, who has tasted and seen the grace and goodness of God in his own case, and has had his bosom warmed and REQUIREMENTS OF THE GOSPEL. 215 expanded by divine love, will fail to recognise and support the cause of foreign missions when fairly presented. To suppose otherwise would be to en- courage a spirit of antinomianism, because the Bible enjoins on all, love to man as well as love to God. It would be well for those who would examine care- fully as to their duty on this subject, and who wish to see what the Scriptures say regarding it, to read the first Epistle of John. The language of inspiration is not only forcible, but plain and not to be mistaken. "He that loveth not his brother is not of God." "He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death." "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." " If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar : for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen ? And this commandment we have from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also." Again, " Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need," (and who in such need as the perishing heathen, our brethren according to the flesh?) "and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ?" It is impossible. The apostle by the strongest mode of expression, denies that he has any part or lot in this matter. Surely, then, it is not uncharitable to say, and to say it with emphasis, How dwelleth the love of God in that heart, that has never felt any sympathy for the miserable dying heathen, and has never done any thing to deliver them out of their deplorable condition ? A want of feeling for the 216 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. wretched condition of idolatrous nations, and a sel- fish disposition which withholds from them the un- speakable blessings of the gospel, freely provided by the Saviour, and suited to their condition, make up a character as different as may be from that possessed by Christ and his apostles, and which essentially belongs to every true Christian. We are of opinion that if this scriptural argument were properly weighed and brought home in its application, by ministers of the gospel, to the consciences of professing Chris- iians, many who are now at ease in Zion would be led to discover the utter inconsistency of their past conduct with the clearly revealed requirements of God's word. But leaving these higher principles of the oracles of God, which call for an elevated standard of philan- thropy, we might come down to those which can be better understood by men accustomed to act from motives of a lower order, and show that the principles of common humanity and of common justice, of moral honesty, and of faithfulness to the trust committed to us by the Head of the church, all bind us to dis- charge this important duty to the heathen, and lay us under obligations from which we cannot escape. What would we think of the man in whose hands the government of his country had placed a sovereign remedy, a specific for certain diseases, with the ex- press injunction to employ it for the benefit of all who might stand in need of its healing influence; but who, unfaithful to his trust, or from a love of ease, would either lock up the precious medicine, 17 INJUSTICE OF NEGLECT OF MISSIONS. 217 or, at most, impart it to a few of his frienas and neighbours, whose urgent wants could be met without any special exertion on his part ? Or, in what esti- mation should he be held, for justice and honesty, who, as executor of a will, would appropriate to his own sole use the whole of a testamentary bequest, of which he was only one of the legatees, at the same time neglecting to inform the other parties of their interest in the inheritance, and making no efforts whatever to distribute the property, as directed by the testator ? We have every reason to believe that such an one would become the scorn of society, and be publicly reprobated by every lover of humanity and justice. Much more unjust are they, however, and much more guilty of betraying a solemn trust placed in their hands, who, holding as a sacred de- posit, the balm of Gilead for the healing of the nations, refuse to apply it to the perishing ; or, who being " put in trust with the gospel" for themselves and others, neglect to proclaim it to every creature. The sin of such conduct, too, is greatly aggravated from the consideration that all the blessings of the gospel have come to us through the free grace of God ; that they have been handed down to us through the sacrificing labours of Christ and his apostles ; and that instead of being diminished by a gene- rous distribution, great personal advantages are de- rived by all who dispense them freely to their fellow- men. The gospel is a scheme of philanthropy worthy of its author, and designed to inspire with the same 19 218 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. heavenly influences, the bosom of every participant in its blessings. It allows us to press to our hearts all its promises and blessings, and to rejoice in its privileges, but it will not allow us to monopolize them, or in our own selfishness and solitude to steal to heaven alone, careless and unconcerned about the salvation of others. The great maxim of true Chris- tians has ever been, " The love of Christ constraineth us." "It is more blessed to give than to receive." How far removed from selfishness was Paul, when he exclaimed, " I am made all things to all men, if by any means I might save some." " I please all men, in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved." Oh for the heart and spirit of Paul to animate the church of Christ in these days. Oh for the zeal of primitive Christianity to arouse us from our slumbers, and to stimulate us to noble and heroic deeds for the honour of Christ, and the salvation of a lost world. Then, instead of looking upon the toils and sacrifices of the missionary work as hard to be endured, there would be a pious strife among Christians as to who should be honoured with a commission "to go far hence to the gentiles." To be a co-worker with Christ in the labour of love would then be considered as an unspeakable privilege and honour. Many would then gladly spend and be spent — take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu- tions, in distresses for Christ's sake and his gospel. Multitudes would instinctively rush forward to sus- tain and carry on with their prayers and their con- STIMULANTS TO ACTIVITY. 219 tributions the great missionary cause, so dear to all their hearts. The Spirit would be poured out in answer to the prayers of the whole church, as on the day of Pentecost. Christ would gird his sword upon his thigh, and ride forth victorious among the nations. God, our own God, would bless us. God would bless us, and all the ends of the earth would fear him. 4. The grounds of encouragement and the signs of promise which Providence, at the present time, holds out to the Christian world, regarding the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom among the heathen, should stimulate all who love the cause to increased activity. It is natural that those who have been contributing and praying for the extension of the gospel in heathen lands, should inquire as to the progress it has been making, and the prospects of its future success ; and when satisfactory information on these subjects can be furnished, it is calculated to give a fresh impulse to the cause, and to arouse the friends of missions to put forth still greater efforts in its be- half. It ought to be remembered, however, that success in the Lord's work is not to be the rule of the church's duty. The king in Zion has a right to demand the services of his subjects irrespective of success ; and it may please him, for the wisest of pur- poses, to call us out to the most difficult undertaking, simply on the ground of an explicit command, without granting an express promise of success. Thus for the exercise of his faith, Abraham was called to forsake the land of his fathers, and to go out to a 220 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. strange country which he should afterward possess for an inheritance; and "he went out, not know- ing whither he went." But the Saviour has not left his missionary servants without ample encour- agement. He has promised to be with them always, pledged himself to grant success to their labours, and in numerous instances has he fulfilled his engagements by making his gospel " mighty to the pulling down of strongholds." If we take a glance at the whole work of modern missions to the heathen, and trace the progress of the gospel among the barbarous and semi-civilized nations during the last fifty years, we shall find that the suc- cess that has followed these labours, has been not only fully proportioned to the efforts that have been made, but it has even far exceeded all reasonable expectations. It must be remembered, however, that the enterprise of foreign missions may be said to be, as yet, only in its infancy. Many of us can well remember when the subject had not even been talked of in real earnest, or as one of a practical nature, and when it might be said that nothing had been contributed to the cause. We can all recollect the time when foreign missionaries, about to be sent out to some heathen land, were looked upon with astonish- ment, as men tinctured with fanaticism, and as the heroes of some great romance, whose life, and all that the world holds dear, must be thrown aAYay in attempting to secure a visionary object, and as call- ing more for the pity than the prayers and co-opera- tion of the Christian world ! But these days have A GREAT "WORK YET TO BE DONE. 221 passed away, and we hope they are gone for ever. Those who were once most sceptical on this subject, are now abandoning their former opinions, and are disposed to think that, after all, the cause may be a good one, and may be finally crowned with favoura- ble results. But although such wonderful changes have been going on in the minds of many regarding the work of missions — and this we must not overlook as a part of the success that has attended it — yet we must not forget that even the warmest friends of the good cause, and those who have been all along its ablest advocates, are only, as it were, awaking to discover the infinite importance and magnitude of the under- taking ; and that those who have sacrificed most of property or person on this altar, have done almost nothing compared with what must be done, and what will be done, when Christians shall have drunk more deeply into the spirit of Christ, and when they shall live entirely to his glory, and for the advancement of his kingdom. To make a full development of the success that has attended missionary operations, would be to write a history to show the effects of Christianity on the world at large. This, of course, cannot now be at- tempted. And even if it were, there are thousands of things which enter into the matter of success, and form a part of these advantages, which could not be noticed. There is no standard by which the spiritual blessings conferred by the gospel could be measured. And even laying aside the consideration of these 19* 222 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. as beyond all calculation, who can fully estimate the temporal advantages that have been conferred upon heathen lands and the world at large, through the instrumentality of Christian missions? In order to obtain an impressive view of this subject, we should look back to the situation of those countries in Europe at the commencement of the Christian era, which are now enlightened by the gospel, and, through its salutary influence, raised to such a high degree in the scale of civilization and social happiness. And coming still nearer to our own times, we should con- trast the state of the islanders of the North and South Pacific now with what it was about thirty years ago, before the gospel began to make an im- pression on their savage character. Indeed, if we look at this subject fairly and fully, we must be con- vinced that wonders have been effected, and be led to thank God and take courage, while we exclaim, " What hath God wrought !" Since the commencement of the modern missionary enterprise, what an amount of knowledge of distant parts of the earth has been acquired through the in- defatigable zeal and enterprise of missionaries, who have discovered nations before unknown, and de- scribed the peculiarities of their religious and social state ! By the same agency, how many warlike and roving tribes have been reconciled to each other, saved from extinction, and finally led to adopt habits of civilized and domestic life, of economy and indus- try! How many strange and barbarous languages have been reduced to writing, by missionary industry, KESULTIXG BLESSINGS. 223 and the poor savages that used them, taught for the first time to read, in their own tongue, the ■wonderful ■works of God! How many editions of the Bible have been issued in foreign languages, and distri- buted by the hands of missionaries in foreign climes ! How many books in literature and religion have they prepared! How many of the heathen themselves have been educated in mission schools, and fitted for the important work of instructing others, and of preaching the gospel to their degraded country- men ! How has the mental and moral character of the most stupid heathen been raised and restored to the rank of humanity ! Good laws and good habits have been introduced, humane conduct inculcated, and even the work of benevolence commenced in places where, before, nothing but selfishness, tyranny, and sin reigned triumphant. Although the task has been difficult, something also has been done toward elevating the female character to that place in society for which, by nature, women are so eminently quali- fied ; a boon, however, which all unevangelized na- tions, whether savage or civilized, have denied them. Through the efforts of missionaries, an extensive knowledge of Christianity has been disseminated in many heathen lands. Idolatry has been unmasked and undermined ; and in many places it gives signs of tottering and decay. The flames of the suttee have been quenched. Gross superstitions, which once controlled the minds of all, now produce shame. Thousands who once bowed down to filthy idols, and carefully observed the obscene rites of heathenism, 224 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. are now humble and devout worshippers at the feet of Jesus ; while thousands more, washed in his atoning blood, unite in his praises before the throne above. Has not something been actually effected in the modern missionary work, when more than one thousand Christian churches, including some hun- dreds .of thousands of members, gathered from the heathen world, have been established in the midst of idolatry, and when multitudes of heathen youth are now being educated in mission schools on Christian principles ? Thus the Lord has been pleased to give testimony to the word of his grace, and has not left himself without witnesses to the power of his gospel. These are things which have not been done in a corner. The labours of missionaries are before the world, and they are beginning to attract the attention of all true philanthropists in every land. But while we may thus briefly enumerate a few of the results of Christian missions, it is impossible to estimate the results in all their accumulating in- fluences throughout time, and during an endless eter- nity. If but a single soul has been saved, through this instrumentality, that soul is of more value than ten thousand worlds ! It has been delivered from all the untold agonies of an endless hell, and raised to the unspeakable joys,- and progressive glories of an eternal heaven. When any one can solve the all-important problem put forth by the Saviour, as to what is to be gained or lost by the acquisition of the whole world, at the expense of the undying soul, then may we be able to calculate the importance MAGNITUDE OF THE CONQUEST MADE. 225 of the -work that aims to snatch immortal men from eternal wrath, and to impart to them that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation; the importance of that work which is the means instrumentally of rooting and grounding them in the love of the truth as it is in Jesus, so as to enable them " to compre- hend with all saints, what is the breadth, and depth, and length, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge ;" the importance of that work, which effects an eternal reconciliation be- tween God and the sinner, and sheds abroad in the heart, " the peace of God, which passeth all under- standing." And, if the salvation of but one soul is a matter of such infinite importance — if it brings such a reve- nue of glory to God, and such inexpressible and never-ending happiness to man, what must be the magnitude of the conquest that has even already been made in the territories of heathendom during the last half century, when this is multiplied by the hundreds of thousands of idolaters, who, through grace, have believed on the Saviour ; and who, though sunk in the pollutions of paganism, have been Avashed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God ! Eternity alone will be able to unfold all that has been accomplished through missionary instrumentality. The work is still in its infancy — as heretofore we have only, as it were, been laying the foundation, and preparing some of the instruments to be employed in erect- ing the glorious superstructure to the praise of sovc- t . 226 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. reign grace. Nothing less is contemplated than the conversion of the world to God, and the uni- versal reign of Messiah over the nations. Who can contemplate the past, or look forward to the future, without emotions of gratitude to Him, who is the author and the finisher of the glorious enter- prise, or without feeling encouraged to prosecute a work which, finally, must meet with universal and triumph- ant success? 5. In conclusion, we now desire to address a few words to the theological students, the young people and youth of our churches, to whom, especially, we dedicate this little volume. You, my young friends, who have been baptized in the name of Christ, and who sustain so intimate and interesting a relation to the church of God ; you who have been brought up by pious parents, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and have been thoroughly instructed in Sabbath-schools and Bible-classes, are objects of deep solicitude. It is to you we look for the men and the women, who are to carry forward the ark of God into the lands of promise. This honour is reserved for you. The men who left Egypt cannot enter in because of unbelief. They have, indeed, for your encouragement, made a few conquests among the Amorites and the Moabites — among the outposts of heathenism, on this side Jordan — but the glori- ous battles to be fought, and the victories to be won by the Calebs and the Joshuas — the men who have been trained up to endure hardness in this campaign, and to make the necessary sacrifices in the coming REPLIES TO OBJECTIONS. 227 conflict with the nations of idolatry, leagued against the gospel of the Son of God, remain for you, my dear friends, and they will afford a fine field for a display of faith and patience, Christian heroism and perseverance. You are the hope of the church. You are soon to become the ministers, the missionaries, the elders, the devoted members of our Zion. The Saviour looks to you to carry out to the very letter the command that he gave to his people more than eighteen hundred years ago, but which to this day remains unfulfilled. Angels and glorified spirits look with intense in- terest as to how you will perform the important part assigned you. The heathen, perishing in their sins, are imploring you to give them the gospel remedy. The missionaries, almost worn out under the burden and heat of the day, with the immense field of their operations still widening around them, are calling on you to prepare yourselves for the work, and to come over and help them. There is no time for delay, as "the harvest is perishing for want of labourers," and souls, that might have been made acquainted with the gospel, are sinking down to death, in all the darkness and dreariness of su- perstition. But I think I hear some of my serious but timid young readers say, " The work, in which you invite us to engage, is one of great difficulty and danger. It calls for many sacrifices and privations, and re- quires a degree of piety and devotion to the cause of Christ which we do not possess." Now, I have no 228 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. doubt but such are very common objections, and that they are often formed into an excuse in order to evade the obligations which the Saviour has kindly imposed upon his people. Still, such objections require a plain and serious reply. We would be far indeed from pressing into so important a department of the Lord's work, young men, whose hearts have not been entirely given up to God, and who are not prepared to brave any danger at his command, and for the promotion of his glory. To such we would say, "What man is there that is fearful, and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart." Deut. xx. 8. Yet, why should not every Christian be prepared to give up all for Christ, and to go to the ends of the earth at his bidding? The language of the Saviour him- self is very strong on this point. " If any man come to me, and hate not" (in comparison with his love to me) "his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." And again, "Whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." "No man can serve two masters." The Lord Jesus will not recognise any half-hearted, double-minded followers. He that is not with him entirely, in his feelings, plans, and desires, is against him. Your first, and all-important duty, dear young friends, is to accept of Christ, as he is offered to you in the gospel, as " all your salvation and all your REPLIES TO OBJECTIONS. 229 desire," and then to give yourselves to him unre- servedly, " in a covenant not to be forgotten." Until these important matters have been fully set- tled between God and your own souls, we dare not urge you to engage in any Christian duty, much less in the important work of missions among the heathen. All the piety which a Christian can possess is called into exercise in his labours among a suspicious and ungrateful people, and it is only when he has been for a long time among the heathen that he begins to find out how little grace he really possesses. With- out piety of a high order, a foreign missionary would indeed be "of all men the most miserable." But why should not all Christians seek and obtain a high degree of piety ? This is their duty wherever it may be the will of God to cast their lot, and it is called for especially in the present age, when the field of Christian activity is Avidening, and the demand for devoted men, at home and abroad, is daily increasing. Eminent piety, zeal, and benevolence are required in order to extend the work of missions at home and abroad. Nor can we expect to witness such Almighty displays of power and grace, in the conversion of the heathen, as would be desirable, until Ave see the peo- ple of God everywhere living less to themselves and more to the glory of their Saviour. There is another very common objection to the in- crease of foreign missionary operations, which we have often heard made during our late visit to the United States, made, too, not only by members and elders, but also by ministers of the gospel! The 20 / 230 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. objection is this : That we have heathen enough at home, and that as charity ought to begin at home, there is no use of going to heathen lands, until these unbelieving multitudes, perishing at our very doors, have been converted to God ; and until all our new and destitute settlements have been supplied with gospel ordinances. Now, at first sight, this appears to be a very plausible objection, and to many minds, whose inclinations run in this channel, it may seem to be unanswerable. And, as it is likely it may have an immense influence on the minds of young men preparing for the ministry, we think it ought to be carefully examined. We admit that there are many careless and hardened unbelievers in Christendom, and living, too, sometimes at the very doors of Chris- tian churches ; but, however such characters may excel in wickedness, we deny that they are heathen, or that they will be judged by the same law as the heathen. Who in Christian lands has not heard of the great salvation ? May not all obtain a Bible, either for a small sum, or as a gratuity ? Might not all in Christian lands enjoy the means of grace, if disposed to make a little exertion for that purpose, and if the church would only properly adjust her ministerial strength? Those miscalled heathen will be judged by the revealed law of God, which they have broken, and by the gospel which they have despised and rejected. Even granting that some heathen idolaters could be found within the borders of Christian nations, would that be any good reason for confining the gos- REPLIES TO OBJECTIONS. 231 pel to these defined limits, when the command of Christ runs, " Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature ?" "When this command was first given, all in Judsea were not Christians: many were heathen. "When the preachers of the gospel left Jerusalem, and travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, all the Jews in that ill-fated city had not embraced Christianity. "When Paul and Barnabas were sent to the gentile nations, as foreign missionaries, by the church at Antioch, all in that city and neighbourhood had not renounced idolatry. When Paul, in a vision, was called over unto Mace- donia, it is not to be supposed that all the heathen in Asia Minor had been converted to God. And when this same enterprising missionary took his journey into Spain, and travelled round about unto Illyricum, preaching the gospel, how many unevangelized na- tions did he leave behind him, and within the circle of his operations ! We see, then, that such policy as that to which we have referred, meets with but little countenance from Scripture. It is directly opposed to the command of Christ, and to apostolic example. The Saviour knew better than we can know what plan was best adapted to extend his kingdom in the world ; and it is much safer to obey his command, and to imitate Scripture example, than to lean to our own understanding, or to follow the dictates of worldly wisdom. The Chris- tian church cannot expect to prosper, while she lives in manifest neglect of any of Christ's institutions. The most important of these is to be found in the last 232 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. command he uttered on earth, by which he consti- tuted his disciples, and all succeeding followers, into a missionary church, that they might teach all na- tions ; that they might preach the gospel to every creature; preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins among all nations, and be his witnesses to the uttermost parts of the earth. The subsequent labours of the apostles and primi- tive Christians, in publishing the gospel so extensively through the known world, showed how they under- stood these express commands of their Master in heaven, and how all-important they considered the missionary work as an institution of his appointment. And why should not the church now, the whole church, and every component member of it, feel as much bound to advance this institution of Christ — so important to the spread of his mediatorial glory — as any other divine institution in the Bible. This, how- ever, is far from being the case. Men may live and die in the church, and be considered as good mem- bers, who do nothing whatever to promote the mis- sionary cause. These very persons would be shocked should men, living in neglect of the public worship of God, of baptism, and the Lord's supper, still be regarded as good members of the Christian church, while they themselves continue in the total neglect of an institution of the gospel as positive and impor- tant as any other; and to this hour, profess to feel under no binding obligation whatever, to aid in giving the gospel to the heathen. Is there not a most glaring inconsistency here, to say nothing of a THE YOUNG EXHORTED. 233 plain dereliction of a most important duty ? And how can such Christians expect to enjoy the pre- sence of Christ and the comforts of the Holy Spirit, so long as they refuse to take any part in the world's evangelization, and -while they neglect a precious privilege and means of grace ? We know that hereto- fore many Christians, through ignorance, and the power of had example, have thus lived inconsistently, and far below their duty ; yet the times of this igno- rance having been winked at, God now commands his people to repent, and for the time to come, to do works meet for repentance. It is especially desirable that young disciples, just commencing their career in the Christian life, should form correct opinions on this subject; and then resolve, in the strength of promised grace, fully and faithfully to discharge their obliga- tions to Christ and the perishing heathen. In pressing this subject on the minds of our young friends, however, Ave like to present it in the light of a privilege — an unspeakable honour, of which we are most unworthy. What an exalted privilege to be "labourers together with God;" to "be ambassadors for Christ," either among the heathen, or in the midst of our brethren in Christian lands ! To be associated with the persons of the glorious Godhead, in such labours of love, and to be instrumental in leading souls to Christ, are blessings too great to be enjoyed by sinful mortals. Yet, "this honour have all the saints. Praise ye the Lord." The observance of this institution, for the spread of Christ's kingdom, is also attended with special 20* 234 MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. blessings to believers. It calls into exercise many Christian graces, which strengthen by use. Their faith is evinced and increased by every effort made to comply with the divine command. Their hopes are strengthened by realizing the fulfilment of the pro- mises regarding the conversion of the heathen to God. Their affections are placed on spiritual objects and pursuits, instead of grovelling in carnal and earthly pleasures. Their benevolence is directed to a proper channel, so as to produce glory to God and good to men. Their zeal finds an unlimited field for its exer- cise, and their prayers an object of such solicitude as to keep them always near the throne of grace as sup- pliants. Thus, by an observance of the foreign mis- sionary institution, God will be honoured, Christ's kingdom established, religion proved to be divine, and recommended to the world, believers edified and pre- pared for glory, and the gospel be spread throughout all the nations of the earth. Before closing these remarks, allow me to offer to my young friends a few suggestions for their serious consideration. 1. Make yourselves well acquainted with the state of the heathen world, and the efforts that are being made for its evangelization. 2. By a careful study of the Scriptures, particu- larly of Christ's parting command to his disciples, and of the efforts of the apostles and early Christians to spread the gospel through the world, endeavour to learn your duty to Christ and to the heathen ; and, through divine grace, try to discharge it. THE YOUNG EXHORTED. 235 8. Contemplate the providence of God, -which, in this remarkable age, is preparing a highway among the nations, for sending the gospel to every race and tribe of men, and consider if this is not a loud call on the Christian world, to go up in all their strength to the help of the Lord against the mighty. 4. Let the fact that India, with one hundred and fifty millions of souls, is now open to the gospel, lead young men, preparing for the ministry, to inquire if it is not the duty of many of them to labour in this benighted land. They should often look at their letter of instructions, which reads, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." 5. Let the apathy of the church, on the subject of foreign missions, in times past, stir up all the friends of the cause to increased zeal and diligence for the future ; and let no discouragements that may arise in the prosecution of this great work, cause any to despair of success, since it is secured by the promises of infallible truth. 6. Since prayer is the appointed means for obtain- ing a blessing on missionary labour, let all plead the promises in reference to the spread of the gospel. Let the monthly concert of prayer, as a special season for supplication, be attended by all who long and look for the coming of Christ's kingdom. 7. As all who sincerely pray for the spread of the gospel will necessarily take a deep interest in the success of missions, and will do what they consist- ently can to carry forward the great cause, wo strongly recommend to all the adoption of the sy%- 236 -MISSIONS IN HINDUSTAN. tern of benevolence suggested by the Apostle, 1 Cor. xvi. 2, that there may be no Avant of the means required by the church for the evangelization of the world. 8. In all our attempts to promote the missionary cause, let the love of Christ constrain us. And feel- ing that we are not our own, and that we live not to ourselves, let us esteem it a great honour to aid, by our prayers, our personal labours, and our contribu- tions, in promoting this great work, which brings "glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good-will to men." 9. As an important crisis has now come for bless- ing the world, no time should be lost in availing our- selves of the advantages offered. Whatever we do, should be done quickly. The heathen are perishing, and souls, infinitely precious, will soon be beyond the reach of our influence. Dear readers, it is evident that the times in which we live are pregnant with most important events, which must soon burst upon us, startle the world from its slumbers, and arouse the friends of Christ to make sacrifices and efforts in his cause, such as have not yet been thought of. The church's conflict with the powers of darkness on the field of foreign missions has already commenced, and must now be prosecuted until a complete and glorious victory be achieved — until heathenism, Avith all its gross superstition and bloody rites, shall be overthrown, and the kingdom of the Prince of Peace be established in its stead. The church is now in the valley of decision, and " the day THE YOUNG EXIIORTED. 237 of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel iii. 14. There is no discharge in this war, which is to decide between the cause of truth and the delu- sions of a blind superstition. Every friend of Christ must now be firm and decided. " Victory or death," must be the watchword to pass along the marshalled ranks of "the armies of the living God." " For Christ's crown and covenant" must be the motto in- scribed on their waving banners. " None of us liveth to himself" must stand out in living characters on the breastplate of every soldier of the cross. "Holi- ness to the Lord" must be written on all the muni- tions of war. Not, " whom shall we send, and who will go for us ?" or " 0, my Lord, send, I pray thee by whom thou wilt send," must be the language of the young recruits, but " Here am I, send me!" must be the response from thousands of hearts throbbing with desire to labour for Christ, "far hence among the gentiles." Watchfulness and prayer, patience and perseverance, zeal, regulated by sound judgment, an ever-burning love to Christ, must mark the charac- ters of all sent out. A "willing mind," a disposition to honour God with their substance, under the convic- tion that it is all his own, and entirely at his disposal, and that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," must constitute the ruling principles of those who remain at home. A liberality, based on Christian -principles, prompted by a sense of solemn obligation to redeeming love and grace, controlled not by im- pulses and appeals, but according to a well-formed plan, and in due proportion to the means possessed, 2S8 missions ra Hindustan. furnishing, not little from much, but much from little, and sustained bv economy and self-denial, must be practised generally by the whole body of Christians. It is when the church of Christ as a whole, and every member of this sacred corporation, shall have been brought to feel and to act in this manner, that we may expect the millennium. And why should they not. at once, thus acquit themselves like men and like Christians, and be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might ? Does not the captain of salva- tian require every true Christian soldier, especially at this critical juncture, to do his duty, to do it faithfully and fully ? Let Christians, then, arise at once, and slumber no longer over Christ's positive command. Let them hold forth the word of life to the dving heathen, and "shine as lights in the world." Con- strained bv the love of Christ, and under an abiding and overwhelming sense of their obligations to God, let them live, and act, and suffer, and sacrifice with an earnestness, a constancy, and a cheerfulness be- coming a cause so awfully momentous. Thus acting for the divine glory, God will not be ashamed to be called their God. He will identify himself with their interests because they are his own, and render their efforts efficient to the accomplishment of his gracious purposes. Hi.- Spirit will be poured out from on high, and a general revival of true and undefiled religion will be the consequence. The hearts and affections of Christians of all evangelical denominations will be united, and the divisions of Zion will be healed upon a proper basis. "The watchmen" on her wall? "shall THE HOUR OF TRIUMPH. 239 lift up the voice ; with the voice together shall they sing ; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." The love of Christ shall dispose multitudes of his people to run to and fro, to proclaim the glorious truths of the gospel to the heathen nations, and these shall be fully sustained in their labours by the overflowing treasury of the church. Thus " the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." "All the ends of the earth shall then remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the na- tions shall worship before him." "All kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him." Then the waves of missionary effort and influence, widening and rolling onward and onward, will finally swell into a sea of glory that shall spread from pole to pole; and then will be heard the voice "of a great multitude of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," and "as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." THE END. BTEKEOTYI'ED BY L. JOHH80N * CO. PHILADELPHIA. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. RFtyn in URL aug o 8 m PSD 2343 9/77 3 1158 01287 8376 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 636 829 4