wheeled away the rubbish of the old pagodas, I had nothing better than simple Deism to erect in their stead, I should still feel some of the anxiety which now urges me. It is necessary to see idolatry, to be fully sensible of its mischievous effects on the human mind. But of all idolatries which I have ever read or heard of, the religion of the Hindoos, in which I have taken some pains to inform myself, really appears to me the worst, both in the degrading notions which it gives of the Deity; in the endless round of its burdensome ceremonies, which occupy the time and distract the thoughts, without either instructing or interesting its votaries; in the filthy acts of uncleanness and cruelty not only permitted but enjoined, and inseparably interwoven with those cere monies; in the system of castes, a system which tends, more than any thing else the devil has yet invented, to destroy the feelings of general benevolence, and to make nine-tenths of mankind the hopeless slaves of the remainder; and in the total absence of any popular system of morals, or any single lesson, which the people at large ever hear, to live virtuously and do good to each other. I do not say, indeed, that there are not some scattered lessons of this kind to be found in their ancient books; but those books are neither accessible to the people at large, nor are these last permitted to read them; and, in general, all the sins which a Sudra is taught to fear, are, killing a cow, offending a Brahmin, or neglecting one of the many frivolous rites by which their deities are supposed to be conciliated. According ly, though the general sobriety of the Hindoos (a virtue which they possess in common with most inhabitants of warm climates) affords a very great facility to the maintenance of public order and decorum, I really never have met with a race of men whose standard of morality is so low, who feel so little apparent shame in being de'tected in a falsehood, or so little interest in the sufferings of a neighbour not being of their own caste or family; whose ordinary and familiar conversation is so licentious; or, in the wilder and more lawless districts, who shed blood with so little repugnance. The good qualities which there are among them (and, thank God! there is a great deal of good among them still) are, in no instance that I am aware of, connected with, or arising out of, their religion, since it is in no instance to good deeds or virtuous habits of life that the future rewards in which they believe are promised. Their bravery, their fidelity to

their employers, their temperance, and (wherever these are found) their hu manity and gentleness of disposition, appear to arise exclusively from a natural happy temperament; from an honourable pride in their own renown, and the renown of their ancestors; and from the goodness of God, who seems unwilling that his image should be entirely defaced even in the midst of the grossest error. The Mus sulmans have a far better ereed; and, though they seldom either like the English or are liked by them, I am inclined to think, are, on the whole, a better people. Yet, even with them, the forms of their worship have a natural tendency to make men hy pocrites; and the overweening contempt with which they are inspired for all the world beside, the degradation of their women by the system of polygamy, and the detestable crimes, which, owing to this degradation, are almost universal, are such as, even if I had no ulterior hope, would make me anxious to attract them to a better or more harmless system. In this work, thank God, in those parts of India which I have visited, a beginning has been made, and a degree of success obtained, at least commensurate to the few years during which our missionaries have laboured; and it is still going on, in the best and safest way, as the work of private persons alone, and, although not forbidden, in no degree encouraged by government."

In a letter dated from Trichinopoly, 1st April 1826, two days only before his death, the Bishop writes:

"Of Schwartz and his fifty years' labour among the heathen, the extraordinary influence and popularity which he acquired, both with Mussulmans, Hindoos, and contending European governments, I need give you no account, except that my idea of him has been raised since I came into the south of India. I used to suspect that, with many admirable qualities, there was too great a mixture of intrigue in his character; that he was too much of a political prophet; and that the veneration which the heathen paid, and still pay him (and which indeed almost regards him as a superior being, putting crowns and burning lights before his statue), was purchased by some unwarrantable compromise with their prejudices. I find I was quite mistaken. He was really one of the most active and fearless (as he was one of the most successful) missionaries who have appeared since the Apostles. To say that he was disinterested in regard to money is nothing; he was perfectly careless of power, and renown never seemed

very largely upon the Society,) and-which opens an unbounded field for exertionin all our colonies and foreign connexions. In 1819, when it was permitted, for the inscrutable purposes of that Divine Providence which ruleth all things, and for the trial of his church, that atheistical and infidel publications should spread abroad the poison of unbelief, not fewer than one million tracts, &c. were issued by the Society, in order to correct and refute such dangerous principles. Of these tracts, and the exertions of those pious and learned members of the church who prepared them, we have (thank God!) lived to see the good effects. Under the Society's superintendance, the Holy Scriptures have been translated into the Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, and several of the Oriental languages. And various religious tracts have been printed either by itself, or its district Committees in India ;--one of which, at Calcutta, in the present year, sends home the grateful tidings, that many have had reason to bless its institution, as the instrument whereby they have been brought under the grace of God to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,'-adding, ‘of this fact the frequent legacies left in its behalf by the humble soldier and other individuals afford a sufficient testimony.'-It must however be repeated; that in prosecuting the work of foreign translations of the Bible, and any other books which are upon the Society's catalogue, (a work which comes strictly within the Society's design and desire,) an insuperable difficulty must exist (until our renewed exertions shall have been blessed with large success) in the want of funds. The society has at present about 15,000 subscribing members, -a number sufficient to attest its good name and report, and excite at once our gratitude and joy, but totally insufficient to enable it to carry forward its vast designs, or even to meet, with its wonted liberality, the daily necessities which demand its pious aid. A large proportion of the present members are clergymen; a body of men whose means are generally inadequate to meet the claims of charity within their own parishes. And yet the number of subscribers to the Society does not equal the number of the ministers of the Established Church. The laity are not yet aware of the need there is for cooperation.-The cause of the Society is not yet fully known. Its pure, and Christian, and charitable views have not yet reached the ears of thousands of true friends to the cause of virtue, religion, and our Christian church, whose hearts are

"2. A still more expensive department is the distribution of the word of God, and other books and tracts calculated to promote the knowledge and practice of Christianity. The general diffusion of knowledge amongst a rapidly increasing population renders this department more important every year, at home,-while a closer union and intercourse with foreign countries presents, year by year, new channels for dispersing the same books in foreign languages ;;-an advantage the Society is compelled to decline, or execute very inadequately, from the limited state of its funds. Of what might, and, with God's grace, would be effected with a larger revenue, some notion may be formed from the fact, that, with its present means, within the last fourteen years at least fifteen millions of books have been distributed by the Society; of which the Book of Common Prayer formed a large proportion. And, in addition to a prodigious number of tracts, 24,000 copies of a large Family Bible have been rapidly disposed of. The demand for this spiritual food is found, in the National Schools, -in the establishment of Lending Libraries throughout the country,-in the wants of our Christian brethren in the most populous and often the poorest districts of the kingdom,-in those who suffer affliction in hospitals and infirmaries,--and in those whom the laws of their country detain in prisons; whose deluded and unhappy condition has ever most warmly attracted the sympathy of the Society. It is found, also, in the wants of our navy, our armies, (who have recently drawn

sensible, and whose wealth is ready to save their fellow-creatures from perishing for lack of knowledge!

"3. Is it needful, that other claims should be advanced to obtain the immedi. ate and liberal aid of Christians?-Those, surely, which have been related cannot be considered without effect; and others need not be adduced, but to vindicate to the Society that honour which is her due, of being the first Protestant Society which displayed a missionary zeal.-The Danish Government had scarcely commenced the celebrated mission in Southern India, when this Society took up that labour of love, and bore far more than an equal share in the work of preaching glad tidings to the Gentiles of the East. Very numerous attempts were made (but made in vain) to form a connexion with the native Syrian church in India-to purify its corrupted faith, and stimulate its sluggish zeal. We trust, however, fruit may still be reaped in our own days, from seed thus early sown [about 1725]. The missionaries of the Society (furnished from Germany) at Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Cuddalore, &c. continued their unostentatious, but laborious work. Among their names are numbered Gerické, Jænicke, Pazold, &c., and Swartz, whom the heathen prince was wont to call the holy man,'-to whose care and guidance, on his death bed, he committed his son; and who, dying himself, amidst his own children in the faith, well-stricken in years, was wept over, and commemorated by the young heathen king. The present actual result of their pure and apostolic zeal in the district around Madras, is estimated at not less than 20,000 native Christians, to whose good conduct and Christian behaviour abundant testimonies have been given. These and other Christian missions, though at present not under the immediate superintendence of the Society, are constantly drawing upon its funds for books, &c., and other necessaries for the mission. The labours of the Society in 1814 received great encouragement, and are now materially aided by the introduc. tion into the East Indies of an Episcopal Establishment. District societies have, in consequence, in some places been formed, in others derived new energies; and a prospect, glorious and cheering, opens before the Society, of carrying on with rapidly increasing success the work of disseminating the truth as it is in Jesus. In consequence of the establish

"On the testimony of the late Bishop

ment of the first Protestant bishop in India, it was that the Society granted 11,000l. towards the erection and endowment of a college at Calcutta, where students may be regularly educated for the work of preaching the Gospel to the heathen, and the business of printing in Eastern languages conducted with greater facility and less expense. Under the care and superintendence of a bishop, and a regular ministry, the work of christianizing India has assumed a promising aspect; and the Society, grateful for the oppor tunity of placing its missions in Southern India under an immediate and vigilant superintendence (acting under those feelings and convictions which in 1701 led to the establishment of that Society) has committed the care and superintendence of the missionaries at Tanjore to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The charge has been willingly undertaken, and no doubt is entertained of many advantages resulting from the arrangement, in consequence, more especially, of Bishop's College, Calcutta, being under the superintendence of this latter Society. The only charge, therefore, remaining on the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, for foreign missions, is, the fulfilment of those engagements which it originally made with the present missionaries, so long as it may please the Almighty to spare them for the work of the ministry.' That mysterious dispensation, which deprived India a second time of a zealous and indefatigable Christian bishop, was received by the Society as a new argument for persevering to the end; and in memory of Bishop Heber, a further grant was made to the College of 20007.

May He who has given the means and the desire, thus to promote his kingdom, bless the intentions and labours of his servants, and strengthen their hands in the work of converting souls, and making known the saving truths of his Gospel, that this privileged nation and church may become the glorious instrument of enlarging the boundaries of his kingdom, and

turning many unto righteousness!'

The whole of the "Invitation" is written in the same truly Christian spirit, and, we trust, will be the means of conciliating a large measure of the public regard to the

of Calcutta, we can assert the great anxiety manifested by the natives to send their children to the Missonary schools (eleven of which were then supported by this Society), where, in their own language, they read the wonderful works of God."