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but afterwards a Christian bishop, who seized the opportunity of an ignominious banishment, to convert the inhabitants of Kefro. St. Patrick, in Ireland, became thoroughly acquainted not only with the language, but also with the customs and superstitions of the people before he preached. And, doubtless, the more we gain an insight into the lives of all the early missionaries, we shall find that to Saxons they became as Saxons, to Celts as Celts, to heathen, in fact, as skilled in heathen lore, that they might bring them to Christ. "Admit," says Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, in writing to the missionary, St. Boniface, "admit whatever they are pleased to assert of the fabulous and carnal genealogy of their gods and goddesses, who are propagated from each other. From this principle deduce their imperfect nature, and human infirmities; the assurance they were born, and the probability that they will die. At what time, by what means, from what cause, were the eldest of the gods or goddesses produced? Do they still continue, or have they ceased to propagate? If they have ceased, summon your antagonists to declare the reason of this strange alteration. If they still continue, the number of the gods must become infinite; and shall we not risk, by the indiscreet worship of some impotent deity, to excite the resentment of his jealous superior? The visible heavens and earth, the whole. system of the universe, which may be conceived by the mind, is it created or eternal? If created, how or where could the gods themselves exist before the creation? If eternal, how could they assume the empire of an independent and pre-existing world? Urge these arguments with temper and moderation; insinuate at seasonable intervals, the truth and beauty of the Christian revelation, and endeavour to make the unbelievers ashamed, without making them angry Such arguments as these must be built upon a profound knowledge of heathen superstitions.

יי 6

The following is an extract from the most ably conducted periodical in India: "To Christian missionaries it is our settled conviction that Sanscrit is an indispensable acquisition, if ever they would attain a correct and self-effected acquaintance with the original sources of Hindu philosophy, and Hindu faith, or deal intelligently, to any good purpose, with the present race of sophists, who draw from its hidden resources all their armoury of thought, argument, and objection." These words, which are to be found in an early, and are repeated in a late, number of the Calcutta Review, in order that their importance may be confirmed, express the opinion of writers who have both the means and the capacity to form a deliberate judgment. Neither they,

6 Giles' Edition of St. Boniface's Letters. Gibbon, chap. xxxvii.

nor any other sensible person, consider that a Sanscrit education is necessary for the whole company of preachers in India; but it is an indispensable requisite for some-for such as are called upon to contend with the doctors of Hindu superstition. And when we ask how this is to be obtained, whether England or India should be the scene of their preliminary labours, we answer, England, and that for several cogent reasons. The main reason is the superiority of our climate; believing, as we do, that a malignity which it does not possess, is attributed to the Indian atmosphere, we must still admit that it is unfavourable to the growth of mental vigour. Now Sanscrit, as a dead language, requires, at least, the same application for its acquisition as do the languages of ancient Europe; it only yields its stores to those who industriously seek them'. When Manu directs his pupils' attention to the védas, it is in the severe spirit of the classic author, nocturnâ versate manu, versate diurnâ ;" and less than this will scarcely lead to that proficiency which can alone hope for success. "The discipline of a student in the three védas," says the lawgiver, "must be continued for thirtysix years, in the house of his preceptor; or for half that time, or for a quarter of it, or until he perfectly comprehend them." "Each day let him examine those holy books which soon give increase of wisdom, since, as far as a man studies completely the system of sacred literature, so far only can he become eminently learned, and so far may his learning shine brightly." Clearly the foundations of an education, which is to be opposed to students trained in this manner, should be laid in our own invigorating climate, and not in the enervating East. A missionary should be prepared here, as far as possible, for action, and not for study, in his field of labour. Perfection in modern languages can only be acquired in the countries where they are spoken, but the rudiments both of them and of Sanscrit, might well be mastered at an institution in this country, where a library could be established, and the student thus be provided with opportunities and facilities of gaining information which he would rarely meet with, even in India.

The sum of what we have written is briefly this. There has hitherto been a defect in our missions. It must be feared, that we have not in any single instance as yet established a church amongst heathens which could hopefully vegetate, if the sun of

«To acquire a perfect knowledge," said Mr. Clark, " of the Sanscrit language, requires a longer period of diligence and exertion than to attain a similar degree of proficiency in any vernacular tongue."-Talboy's Historical Sketch of Sanscrit Literature.

8 Manu iii. 1.

9 Ib. § 21.

our empire were obscured, and the United Church of England and Ireland were no longer to extend to it encouragement, government, and protection. A few native congregations scramble along in leading-strings; but is there at present any reasonable ground to hope that they will "put away childish things," and ripen into that vigour which can only accompany an order of indigenous Bishops, Priests, and Deacons? It is no sufficient reply to this, to allege, that Romish and other missions are very much in the same state. We admit that they are so, but the question for ourselves is-Are we adopting such liberal and extended plans as might lead to such a glorious consummation as we have referred to? Unquestionably we are at present only sending missionaries to contend with rude and illiterate men. We employ no efforts against the hierarchy of superstition, and consequently cannot hope to convert it into a hierarchy of truth, and yet the time is eminently propitious for such projects; the fields are white unto the harvest. The jealousy with which Government viewed all such attempts is rapidly subsiding, and the hostility of natives has merged into indifference. The professors of Hindu learning are daily sinking into poverty as the patronage of our foreign government is withdrawn from them, and profuse devotion no longer lays its offerings at their feet. Ancient institutions are falling into decay; wealth finds its way into the hands of those who pay court to the ruling power, who seek its offices and rewards, and, together with the language, neglect the faith of their fathers. To such the appeals of indignant Bráhmans are

"Quare

Templa ruunt antiqua deûm? Cur improbe caræ
Non aliquid patriæ tanto emetiris acervo?"

But in vain. English luxury and display absorb the desires of the Hindu merchant or official; and he cares little to imitate the encouragement of national learning, and the liberality to superstition which distinguished his ancestors. Thus situated, the Brahmans groan under a sense of wrong, and find a poor consolation in sullen exclusiveness. We seek to show them that we have a place for them in the Christian Church. That is our object. Although not many wise men after the flesh are called, yet no inspired command, no argument from analogy can lead us to believe that we are right in proposing free salvation only to the ignorant, and adhering to a system under which we do not design to exclude any, it is true, and yet really and effectually bar all access to the Gospel against the subtle disputants and powerful understandings of the Brahminical creeds. We hope to see a

school established in this country which shall train in Oriental lore the minds of missionaries, and thus form a stepping-stone not to desultory efforts, but to an unselfish Christian scheme of establishing the Church of India in the unity of the spirit, and in the bond of peace, but, at the same time, on a solid and independent basis. With such an establishment we may hope to see in India a fulfilment of that prophecy, "I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain."

ETC.

1. Rickard's Sermons for Family Reading. 2. Blackley's Scriptural Teaching. 3. Cottrell's Religious Movements of Germany in the Nineteenth Century. 4. Curzon's Visit to Monasteries in the Levant. 5. Cooper's Sermons on Events in Sacred History. 6. Dodsworth's Signs of the Times; Sermons preached in Advent. 7. Dr. Nitzsch's System of Christian Doctrine; translated by Montgomery and Hennen. 8. Balmez's Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their effects on the Civilization of Europe. 9. Dr. Biber's Life of St. Paul. 10. Morgan's Notes on Various Distinctive Verities of the Christian Church. 11. Hicks's Catechetical Lectures on the Incarnation and Childhood of our Lord Jesus Christ. 12. Franks's Book of Ornamental Glazing Quarries. 13. Sandford's Vox Cordis; or, Breathings of the Heart. 14. Farindon's Sermons. 15. Tracts for the Christian Seasons, Vol. I. 16. The Christian Scholar. 17. Chanter's Sermons. 18. Jobert's Ideas; or, Outlines of a New System of Philosophy. 19. Harper's Steps to the Cross (Sermons). 20. The Daily Services of the Church. 21. Dr. Wordsworth's Apocalypse: the original Greek Text, &c. 22. History of the Life and Death of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Abridged from Jeremy Taylor. 23. Camlan's Lays from the Cimbric Lyre. 24. Harvey's Sea-side Book. 25. Reade's Revelations of Life, and other Poems. 26. Bishop Ken's Prayers. 27. The Christian Servant's Book. 28. Knox's Ornithological Rambles in Sussex. 29. Neale's Tetralogia Liturgica. 30. Blakey's Temporal Benefits of Christianity. 31. Rev. Charles Wordsworth's Catechesis. 32. Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister prohibited. Evidence before the Commission, &c. by Dr. Pusey. 33. Sketches of Canadian Life, Lay and Ecclesiastical. 34. Herbert's Cyclops Christianus. 35. Archdeacon Berens's Life of Bishop Mant. 36. Evans's Statutes of the Fourth General Council of Lateran, recognised by subsequent Councils, &c. 37. Lady Alice; a Novel. 38. Seven Tales by Seven Authors. 39. Earl Grey's Circular. 40. Wesley's Few Words on Cathedral Music. 41. Dr. Cotton's Lectures on the Lord's Supper. 42. Rock's Church of our Fathers, as seen in St. Osmund's Rite for the Cathedral of Salisbury. 43. Knox's Daniel the Prophet. 44. Bp. Nicholson's Exposition of the Catechism. 45. Remembrance of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. 46. The Child's Book of Ballads. 47. Fox's Noble Army of Martyrs. 48. Heurtley's Parochial Sermons. 49. Dr. Wordsworth's Elements of Instruction concerning the Church. 50. Prof. Stuart's History and Defence of the Old Testament Canon. 51. Dr. Mill's Four Sermons before the University of Cambridge. 52. Anderson's History of the Church in the Colonies. 53. Harington's Reformers of the Anglican Church, and Macaulay's History of England. 54. Ranke's Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg, and History of Prussia, during the 17th and 18th centuries. 55. Sir T. Phillips's Wales. 56. Jones's Exposition of the 39 Articles by the Reformers. 57. Evans's Continuous Outline of Sacred History. 58. Dr. Beecher's Baptism, with reference to its Imports and Modes.-Miscellaneous.

1.-Short Sermons for Family Reading. By the Rev. SAMUEL RICKARDS, M.A., Rector of Stowlangtoft, &c. London: Mozley and Masters.

THE Sermons comprised in this volume appear to have been delivered in the course of pastoral ministrations in a rural congregation; and those who are privileged to hear such discourses may consider themselves more than commonly favoured. For family reading, we should think these Sermons even better adapted than for the pulpit. Their simple diction; their affectionate tone; and the calm thoughtfulness which gives sufficient life and interest to their argument, without overstraining the attention,

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