the early history of the old gentleman himself was a monitory evidence of the need of caution in administering the ordinance, I resolved to postpone the baptism.

This led to a conversation between the old gentleman and a native minister who was present. The latter defended the propriety of using all legitimate influence by way of inducing intelligent Hindus to become Christians. To strengthen his argument he had recourse to various illustrations and similes, and among others he alluded to the artificial means used for ripening certain kinds of fruit, such as plantains, by exposing them to the action of smoke and warmth, &c.; and jackfruit, by slightly bruising the rind. As these means promoted maturity in fruit, so instruction and persuasion might mature the moral purpose; this was his strain of argument with the shrewd gentleman, who listened with great attention, as did a large company of respectable Hindus who were seated around. The old gentleman rose to reply, and evidenced by the confidence of his expression his advantage in the argument, and said, "If the gardener will allow her to take her course, Nature will ripen the fruit without either smoke or stripes; time, the sun and the elements, will complete the process. In like manner, if you will allow these youths to think for themselves, they will eventually adopt the course most in accordance with the nature of things."

Many of the Dutch ministers were men of great eminence, and equally distinguished for talent, erudition and piety; these no doubt felt that the political influence exerted to promote Christianity was attended with serious evils.

Among the descendants of Europeans there were some bright examples of religious consistency. I knew a devoted old lady of the name of Schraader, who for many years, in a large town in the northern province, was the sole instructress of a considerable community. She was in the habit of assembling the people in her own house for divine worship, when she read the Scriptures and conducted Divine Service in the Portuguese language. She translated several

religious books from Dutch into Tamil and Portuguese, and circulated them in manuscript written with her own hand. She also composed in Portuguese a metrical history of the chief parts of the Bible. After the age of fifty-five she acquired English, and translated a volume of hymns out of that language into Portuguese. She died about four years ago at the advanced age of eighty-five. Highly intellectual, elegant in manners, and eminently distinguished for sweetness of disposition, this pious and devoted woman was one of the most influential persons in her neighbourhood. For many years she conducted a school, and was well qualified to teach Dutch, Portuguese, and Tamil. Doubtless this sainted matron secured the commendation of that Saviour, of whose love she was wont to discourse with so much sweetness. There was a dignity in her manner, a solemnity and a cheerfulness, that combined to make her a most remarkable person. Her form, her expression of countenance, her faltering accents of religious wonder and delight have often cheered my mind; and she lives in my memory as a monument of the singular providence of God in the peculiar and bereaved circumstances of a small Christian community, who were in her provided with a light that shone in a dark place, till the day of enlarged and more diffusive light dawned, under the increased and multiplied means of instruction eventually provided.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA (continued). — DANISH MISSION AT TRANQUEBAR. - ZIEGENBALG AND HIS COLLEAGUES. TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES INTO THE TAMIL LANGUAGE.-EVANGELISTIC AND PASTORAL LABOUR.-MISSION AIDED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.-LETTER OF GEORGE THE FIRST.-ARCHBISHOP TENISON'S LETTER.-PROGRESS AND DECAY OF THE MISSION.

IN the history just sketched of the progress of European commerce, conquest, and the religious proceedings of the Portuguese and the Dutch in India, we see nothing that bears the true evangelical stamp with reference to the conversion of the Hindus to the faith of Christ. The Portuguese introduced a system, we dare not call it Christianity, that was distinguishable from that of the Hindus by little else than a foreign terminology, and the greater amount of pride, injustice, and cruelty, by which it was promoted. The Dutch created an imposing monument of unprincipled conformity to an unknown system, which vanished on the withdrawal of the power by which it was upheld. The English, disregarding altogether the dying myriads with whom commercial enterprise and conquest brought them into contact, even denying, as we shall see, in the high places of the Church, the obligation to propagate the Gospel among them, but very inadequately provided for the external maintenance of religion even among their own servants. The honour of enlightened and consistent conduct in the matter of attempting India's evangelization was reserved for the Danes. A few remarks may suffice to show how this was brought about.

The increased traffic with India by the Dutch and English

The

led to the formation of a company at Copenhagen. first vessel from Denmark arrived on the Coromandel coast in 1616. For the protection and convenience of an increasing trade, the Danes procured by purchase a small territory from the Raja of Tanjore, and built the town of Tranquebar. For many years no efforts were made for the conversion of the natives. At length, however, this object was suggested to Frederick IV., King of Denmark, who, with becoming zeal, resolved on the attempt to evangelize his Hindu subjects. This noble act was but one of many that might be referred to, originating at the commencement of last century, in proof of an awakened state of religious feeling in the Reformed Church. Then Schmidt of Holland encountered the African savage, and gained him over to Christ; then Egede of Norway, and David of Moravia, and many others, braved the inhospitable climes of Greenland and Labrador,

"To plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose

On icy plains, and in eternal snows."

Eliot and Brainerd, whose happy experience and devoted zeal operated so magically on our own revered Martyn, went forth among the wild American Indians, fearing no evil. The acute and philosophic Berkley, with his laudable scheme for converting the savage Americans by a college to be founded in the isles of Bermuda, may be mentioned in this connexion. He employs the following eloquent terms to set forth his noble project ::- "A benefaction of this kind seems to enlarge the very being of man, extending it to distant places and to future times; inasmuch as unseen countries and after ages may feel the effects of his bounty, while he himself reaps the reward in the society of all those who, having turned many to righteousness, shine as stars for ever and ever." In the present chapter it is intended to narrate the events connected with the first efforts made by a reviving Protestantism to attack the gigantic fortress of Hindu superstition. The narrative is given in detail because it illustrates

the principles of the men employed, and shows how their conduct was in character with their relation to the Head of the Church and the solemn objects of their mission.

In 1705 Dr. Lutkins, one of the Danish king's chaplains, suggested to him the propriety of attempting the conversion of his Hindu subjects in the territory of Tranquebar. His Majesty at once applied to Professor Francke, of Halle; and two young men, Ziegenbalg and Plutscho, were selected for the embassy. They were chosen as persons distinguished for piety, sound judgment, amiability of disposition, and who had also the requisite talent and acquirements for such an important and trying service. His Majesty provided for their maintenance out of the public treasury. For the further consolidation of missionary plans, the Danish monarch, in 1714, set up a Missionary College at Copenhagen, consisting of some of the leading ecclesiastics and councillors of state. Special instructions were issued by the King to the College or incorporated Society, in which "every member was solemnly exhorted to think it his duty, after hearty prayers put up for the purpose, to lay to heart a work of so great concern, and to employ what gifts Providence had bestowed upon him for so Christian a design—viz. that the Gospel of Christ be preached to the Gentiles, and thereby many souls be brought over to Jesus Christ." The College, thus prompted by royal counsel, was careful to aid the labourers employed, and also to augment the number, whilst they were attentive to promote the temporal and spiritual interests of those brought into the fold of Christ abroad. "Happy omen for Denmark, when its reigning monarch, regarding himself simply as a member and citizen in the Church and commonwealth of the Redeemer, felt the sacredness of the obligation to do what in him lay to advance the great ends of the redemptive economy, and honour and support those who were appointed its heralds and ambassadors to the realms of heathenism!"

The 29th November, 1705, was the day on which Ziegen