dominion; and he put it down, on the same principle that he put down the Popedom, that he might remain Pontiff and Grand Inquisitor himself. And so he will remain for a time, till the purposes of Providence shall have been accomplished by him. But are we to look on in silence, and to expect that further meliorations in human society are to be effected by despotism, or by great revolutions? "If," say the same authors, "while the Inquisition is destroyed in Europe by the power of despotism, we could entertain the hope, and it is not too much to entertain such a hope, that the power of liberty is about to destroy it in America; we might even, amid the gloom that surrounds us, congratulate our fellow-creatures on one of the most remarkable periods in the history of the progress of human society, the FINAL ERASURE of the Inquisition from the face of the earth."* It will indeed be an important and happy day to the earth, when this final erasure shall take place; but the period of such an event is nearer, I apprehend, in Europe and America, than it is in Asia; and its termination in Asia depends as much on Great Britain as on Portugal. And shall not Great Britain do her part to hasten this desirable time? Do we wait, as if to see whether the power of Infidelity will abolish the other Inquisitions of the earth? Shall not we, in the mean while, attempt to do something, on Christian principles, for the honor of God and of humanity? Do we dread even to express a sentiment on the subject in our legislative Assemblies, or to notice it in our Treaties? . It is surely our duty to declare our wishes, at least, for the abolition of these inhuman tribunals, (since we take an active part in promoting the welfare of other

Edin. Reg. No, XXXII. p. 429.

nations,) and to deliver our testimony against them in the presence of Europe.

This case is not unlike that of the Immolation of Females; with this aggravation in regard to the latter, that the rite is perpetrated in our own territories. Our humanity revolts at the occasional description of the enormity; but the matter comes not to our own business and bosoms, and we fail even to insinuate our disapprobation of the deed. It may be concluded then, that while we remain silent and unmoved spectators of the flames of the Widow's Pile, there is no hope that we shall be justly affected by the reported horrors of the Inquisition.

TRANSLATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES FOR THE ROMISH CHRISTIANS.

. THE principal languages spoken by the Romish Christians in India are these four; the Tamul, the Malabar, the Ceylonese, and the Portuguese. The Author has already had occasion to notice the three first. The Tamul version has been long since completed by the Protestant Missionaries; and the Malabar and the Ceylonese are in course of publication. It is now proper to explain, that excellent effects may be expected from the diffusion of the Portuguese Scriptures in India. The Portuguese Language prevails wherever there are, or have been, settlements of that nation. Their descendants people the coasts from the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope to the Sea of China; beginning from Sofala, Mocaranga, Mosambique, (where there is a Bishop,) Zinzebar, and Melinda, (where there are many Churches,) on the East of Africa; and extending round by Babelmandel, Diu, Surat, Daman,

Bombay, Goa, Calicut, Cochin, Angengo, Tutecorin, Negapatam, Jaffna-patam, Columbo, Point de Galle, Tranquebar, Tanjore, Tritchinopoly, Porto-Novo, Pondicherry, Sadras, Madras, Masulipatam, Calcutta, Chinsurah, Bandel, Chittagong, Macao, and Canton; and almost all the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, which were first conquered by the Portuguese. The greater part of the Portuguese in India are now subjects of the British Empire. The Author visited most of the places above enumerated; and in many of them he could not hear of a single copy of the Portuguese Scriptures. There is a Portuguese Press at Tranquebar, and another at Vespery near Madras; and pecuniary aid only is wanted from Europe to multiply copies, and to circulate them round the coasts of Asia. The Portuguese Language is certainly a most favorable medium for diffusing the true religion in the maritime provinces of the East.

THE COLLEGES AT GOA.

GOA will probably remain the theological school to a great part of India, for a long period to come. It is of vast importance to the interests of Christianity in the East, that this source of instruction should be purified. The appointed instrument for effecting this, is the Bible. This is "the salt which must be thrown into the fountain to heal the waters."* There are upwards of three thousand Priests belonging to Goa, who are resident at the place, or stationed with their cures at a distance. Let us send the Holy Scriptures to illuminate the Priests of Goa. It was distinctly expressed to the Author, by several authorities, that they would

2 Kings ii, 21.

gladly receive copies of the Latin and Portuguese Vulgate Bible from the hands of the English nation.

THE PERSIANS.

THE Christian Religion flourished very generally in Persia till about A. D. 651; when, the Persians being subdued by the Saracens, Mahomedanism gradually acquired the predominance. Constantine the Great, addressed a letter to Sapor, King of Persia, which is preserved to this day, recommending the Christian Churches in his dominions, to his protection; and a Bishop from Persia was present at the Council of Nice in A. D. 325. It appears also that there was a translation of some portion of the Scriptures into the Persian Language at that period; for we are informed by Chrysostom that, "the Persians, having translated the doctrines of the Gospel into their own tongue, had learned, though barbarians, the true philosophy;"* and it is stated by another author in the following century, "That the Hebrew writings were not only translated into the Greek, but into the Latin, Ethiopian, Persian, Indian, Armenian, Scythian, and Sarmatian Languages."+

In the beautiful homily of Chrysostom on Mary's Memorial, preached about A. D. 380, in which he enumerates those nations, who, in fulfilment of our Savior's prophecy, had "spoken of the deed of Mary for a memorial of her," he mentions the Persians first, and the Isles of Britain last. "The Persians, Indians,

Chrysostom, Hom. ii, in Johan.

†Theodoret, vol. iv, p. 555. We have entirely lost sight of some of these versions in the obscurity of Mahomedan darkness. It is not even known what languages are intended by the Scythian, Indian, and Sarmatian. The Christian Church must now retrace her steps, and endeavor to recover a knowledge which she has lost.

Scythians, Thracians, Sarmatians, the race of the Moors, and the inhabitants of the British Isles, celebrate a deed performed in a private family in Judea by a woman that had been a harlot,* pouring an alabaster box of spikenard on the head of Christ," thereby acknowledging him, while yet upon earth, as God's ANOINTED King, and embalming his body, (as our Lord himself explained it) in anticipation of his burial; concerning which act of faith and love he uttered the following prophetic declaration: "Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, THIS also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a MEMORIAL of her;" Mark xiv, 9. The Isles of Britain are now the first to restore this memorial, and the Gospel which recites it, to the Persians as well as to other Mahomedan nations, who were to lose it generally, during the great prophetic period of 1260 years.

A version of the four Gospels into the Persian Language of a former age remains to this day. It is a faithful translation, and seems to have been made immediately from the Syriac;† but the dialect and orthography are so ancient as to be scarcely intelligible even at Isfahan. The Romish Church has had several Missions in the kingdom of Persia for some centuries past. The Augustinian Mission from Goa commenced in the year 1602, "and was permitted by Sultan Murad

*Αλλα και Περσαι και Ινδοί και Σκύθαι και Θρακες Σαυρομαται και των Μαυρων γενος και οἱ τας Βρετανικας Νήσους οικουντες, Το εν Ιεδαία γενόμενον λαθρα, εν οικια παρα γυναικός WETORVEVμLEVNS, WEIDEg801. Chrys. Hom. Ixxxi, in Matth.

The argument of Chrysostom is this, that nothing could have given so permanent a celebrity to so private an occurrence, but the Divine Word of HIM who foretold it. He supposes the woman to have been Mary Magdalene, but probably she was Mary, the sister of Martha.

This is the Version of the Polyglot.