uniformly speak of his death as a real and actual satisfaction made to God for the sins of men. Secondly, the harsh representation given of the character of God as pardoning the sins of those only who believe in the atoning death of Christ, and as consigning to endless punishment, because they do not believe in him, millions who have never even heard his name, creates great and just offence. A Missionary was, on one occasion, dwelling with much earnestness on the death of Christ as the only atonement for sin, and on a personal faith in him as the only means of enjoying its benefits, when he was interrupted by one of his native hearers, who with equal earnestness inquired: "What then becomes of all our ancestors, who never enjoyed the means of being acquainted with this way of salvation? Are they lost for ever?" The Missionary, rather avoiding the difficulty than removing it, replied, that, whatever might become of them, the inquirer's chief concern should be about his own salvation. The veil thus attempted to be thrown over one of the most repulsive features of Calvinism was too thin to conceal its deformity, and the native, at once penetrating into the spirit of the Missionary's religious system, turned away without deigning a single word in reply. Thirdly, the unguarded manner in which Scriptural language respecting the death of Christ is frequently used, tends to excite a very strong prejudice against Christianity." The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." This is true in the sense in which the sacred writer intended it to be understood, viz. of the moral influence of His death; but no sect of Christians professes to believe it in the strictly literal sense which the words convey. With these views which have been given of the character of God, of the design of the Gospel, and of the mode of its operation, is it to be wondered at, that no converts have been obtained from the thinking and educated classes of the native community?'

When St. Paul preached, at Mars Hill, the strange doctrine of a Resurrection," some mocked, and others said, we will "hear thee again of this matter." When, before Festus, he shewed from the Scriptures that Christ must suffer, the Roman prætor thought him mad. And when he proclaimed before the Jews that he was sent to the Gentile pariahs, the people of Jerusalem one and all declared that such a fellow was not fit to live. Is it to be wondered at, that ⚫ should have been obtained by such a Missionary, from the thinking part of the Jewish community?' He tells us himself,

no converts

lieve, it is the power of God unto salvation. Say not, that it is alone proper to adhere to the customs and religion of your fathers, and improper to take up with any other. If your fathers have done wrong, are you to continue to do the same? In the same way may it be argued, that the person whose parents were born blind, ought never to behold the light.'

that not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble had embraced the faith. And his writings plainly shew the reason: the efficacy he attributed to the death of Christ, appeared to thinking natives unreasonable, and his language disgusting. For thus he writes: "For if the blood of bulls and of goats "and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify as regards the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the "blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered "himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Nor was it "necessary that he should offer himself often, as the high "priest entereth yearly into the sanctuary with the blood of "others; (for then must he have suffered often since the "foundation of the world;) but now hath he been manifested "once in this last age, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The foolishness' of such preaching as this, its mysticism and puerility in the eyes of Jew and Gentile, Brahman and Unitarian, are so obvious, that we need not say another word to prove how impossible it is that these doctrines should ever make their way among the enlightened Hindoos and Mussulmen, and how justly the Serampore Missionaries are the objects of their dignified contempt.

These tracts, however, puerile and mystic as they are, have answered their design. Persons into whose hands they have fallen, have come from a great distance to inquire more fully concerning the truths of the Gospel. Petumber Sing, one of the earliest Hindoo converts, became so in consequence of reading one of these tracts. Another, entitled The Sure Refuge' became the means of converting four individuals, Futeka, Deep-chundra, Kauta, and Kannanee. A still more remarkable instance of their efficiency occurred in the case of a Brahman devotee who had for four years persisted in a vow of perpetual silence, and who was in consequence held by the Hindoos in idolatrous reverence: a tract was put in his hands; he read it, and immediately abandoned his superstitious practices. Further, these tracts have led to similar publications on the part of the natives, and the Hindoo press has lately produced many which evidently owe their origin to the flood of light which has of late years been poured on the public mind in India.

With regard to Mr. Adam's account of the third mode of spreading Christianity, by preaching, it may be sufficient to state, that, either from want of information, a bad memory, or some other cause, it abounds with omissions and misstatements as flagrant as those already adverted to. His list, as well of European as of country-born preachers, does not con

tain the names of some of the most eminent and useful of either class. His assertion, that, for some reason or other, few of the latter remain long in the employment of the Missionaries, is totally unfounded. Several country-born teachers have, it is true, engaged in the formation of new stations which it has been found necessary to relinquish, and have consequently returned to their former employments, but without breaking their connexion with the Missionaries. The greater part of this class, however, who are now engaged in teaching, have continued to be employed without intermission from their first entering upon the work. Mr. Adam's attempt to disparage the usefulness of the native preachers is discreditable alike to his head and his heart. He affects to call Jesus Master, though he will not own him to be Lord; and yet contends for a policy opposed alike to the genius of Christianity and the example of its Founder. He cannot approve of preaching principally to the poor and illiterate,'-of 'grappling with the ignorant;' and he tells us, that he separated from the Missionaries, because, while he could not approve of their plans, they could not approve of his plans for drawing the wealthy and the learned to hear the Gospel.' Well might they say He went out from us, because he was not of us. While this misguided man thus pours contempt and ridicule on the character and labours of these native preachers, they are silently producing no small impression by their humble but efficient labours; and if ever India is to be evangelized, it must be by these despised agents. In the Baptist Mission in Bengal alone, there are now actively engaged, fourteen European missionaries, assisted by twelve countryborn and about forty native preachers. Eighteen distinct missionary stations have been established, extending a thousand miles along the banks of the Ganges. In the schools established at these stations, many thousands of native children have been brought under instruction. Their labours in promoting education, as well by gratuitously superintending schools as by the publication of elementary works, is acknowledged by Mr. Adam himself.

There can be no doubt,' he says, that general information is gradually spreading throughout Bengal, particularly among the high and middling class of natives; and I have as little doubt that Missionaries have materially contributed to spread it, either by their own labours, or by exciting the efforts of others, or by calling forth the zeal of the natives to acquire and communicate it."

Yet, strange to say, the Missionaries have not been successful, in Mr. Adam's opinion, in diffusing to any considerable VOL. XXIV. N.S.

2 Y

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extent, a knowledge of Christianity among the unconverted natives; and as to the converted natives, he gives as the result of his observations and inquiries, that the number now living, in full communion with one or other of the Protestant Missionary churches, does not exceed three hundred.' Three hundred converts! The Carlow Priest, on the supposed authority of Rammohun Roy, says only eleven;' while Dr. Bryce, another Calcutta worthy, taking his information from the Abbé Dubois, questioned whether they had ever made a single proselyte, over whom a Christian Missionary was warranted to rejoice. Rammohun Roy, after making the assertion above alluded to, (which refers, however, only to the labours of the young Baptist Missionaries and Independent Missionaries in Calcutta, "while the Carlow Priest gives it as the total result of all the exertions of the three most distinguished Missionary Societies,)

to avoid the occasion of any further dispute on this point with the Shreerampoor Missionaries,' begs to substitute for his own answer to the second query, the language of the Abbé Dubois, that illustrious person being better qualified, he says, to give a decided opinion on these subjects, than himself, though a native Hindoo, resident in Calcutta. This opinion, be it remembered, relates to facts at his very door. He then cites with approbation a long passage from the Abbé's Letters, to which we have adverted on a former occasion, in which it is first laid down as an opinion, that there is no human possibility of converting the Hindoos to any sect of Christianity,' and afterwards distinctly asserted, that the exertions of the Shreerampoor Missionaries had not produced the sincere conversion of a single Pagan.' If Rammohun Roy knew any thing about the matter, he must have been aware that the Abbé's assertion was directly at variance with notorious fact. But, that his personal knowledge does not extend far beyond his own threshold, is apparent from his own expressions. It is reported,' he says, and universally believed by the native inhabitants, that the generality, if not all of the Hindoos who profess Christianity, are of low caste; and my acquaintance with the few of them I have met with, has, in great degree, confirmed me in this belief.' Here is a tacit admission, that exceptions had occurred even among the few he had met with, since his acquaintance had only in great degree' confirmed him in the vulgar prejudice of his countrymen against all converts. To the best of my belief,' he

6

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Of 44 persons baptized in the years 1801-1804, six were of the Brahmin and six of the Kaishu caste, In 1820, of the converts

adds, no denomination of Christians has had any real success. in bringing natives of India over to the Christian faith.' Whats not even the Jesuits!-So much for the knowledge, candour, and veracity of Rammohun Roy.

Mr. Adam, we have seen, allows the Protestant Missionaries three hundred converts, which is two hundred and eighty-nine more than the Carlow Priest admits. In Mr. Ward's Farewell Letters, it is stated, that there were at that time, six hundred individuals in connexion with the Baptist Mission in Bengal, who had been brought out of the darkness of paganism. Upon what ground Mr. Adam has presumed to cast an impeachment on Mr. Ward's correctness or veracity, by diminishing his estimate one half, does not appear. It has already been stated, that there are eighteen missionary stations. In four of these stations, (and they are not the most important,) there were, in the year 1823, more than the number of converts which he modestly allows to all the Protestant churches; viz. at Chittagong, 125 converts; at Dinagepore, 90; at Jessore, 70; at Beerboom, 40; making 325 native members, exclusive of their children and relatives, leaving fourteen other stations to be taken into account belonging to the Baptist Mission, besides all the native converts attached to the other Protestant missions.

We do not deem it necessary to go through Mr. Adam's replies to the third, fourth, and fifth queries. The following admission is, however, important, and, taken by itself, has the appearance of candour.

In delivering my opinion, it would be unjust if I were to bring a charge of immorality against a body of men, some of whom' (how many out of 600?) I have never seen nor known. From what I have known of them personally, or have received on good authority, I am inclined to think that they are, in some respects, superior to their idolatrous countrymen of the same rank and station, and perhaps, in other respects, inferior to their former selves. Speaking in a general way, so as to admit of exceptions, it may, I think, be said with truth, that they have improved more in the active than in the passive, in the social than in the personal virtues; in self respect and benevolence, than in humility and self-government."

Rammohun Roy contents himself with an answer worthy of a Jesuit. I have no personal knowledge of any native con

then at Serampore, thirteen were of these two castes. When it is considered, that the Brahmins do not form more than a tenth of the population, the proportion of converts from among this high caste will not appear inconsiderable.