To the Missionaries going to Bengal.

"Since that kingdom which we, as the disciples of Jesus, wish to establish, is not of this world, we affectionately and seriously enjoin on each Missionary under our patronage, that he do cautiously and constantly abstain from every interference with the political concerns of the country where he may be called to labour, whether by words or deeds; that he be obedient to the laws in all civil affairs; that he respect magistrates, supreme and subordinate, and teach the same things to others: in fine, that he apply himself wholly to the all-important concerns of that evangelical service to which he has so solemnly dedicated himself.”

"Lastly: However gross may be the idolatries and heathenish superstitions that may fall beneath a Missionary's notice, the Society are, nevertheless, persuaded, that both the mutual respect due from man to man, and the interests of the true religion, demand that every Missionary should sedulously avoid all rudeness, insult, or interruption, during the observance of the said superstitions; recommending no methods but those adopted by Christ and his apostles, viz. the persevering use of scripture, reason, prayer, meekness, and love."

The Societies may not, in every instance, have succeeded according to their wishes; but if any of their Missionaries have betrayed another spirit, they have not failed to admonish them, and if they could not be corrected, would certainly recall them. The mildness and gentleness of Missionaries, however, does not require to be such as that they should not refute and expose the evils of idolatry. No man can be a Missionary who is not allowed to do this. This has been always done by Mr. Schwartz and his colleagues, (whom the author of the Letter justly praises,) as is manifest from their communications to The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and of which the Society have approved by communicating them to the public.

"Mr. Kolhoff," say they, in his intercourse with heathens, made it his business to give them a plain and comprehensive view "all the truths of our holy religion, and to prevail upon them to

receive them, by representing the absurdity and sinfulness of their idol-worship, the happiness which would attend their obedience to the truth, and the judgments to which they would render themselves liable by a contempt of the only true God, and the offers of his mercy." Report of 1798, p. 134.

They also tell us of Mr. Pohle, another of their Missionaries, "preaching daily the principles of Christianity to the natives, of different religions, and especially the heathens, refuting at the same time their errors." Yet he is said to have been "heard with joy and amazement." Report of 1796, p. 129.

The following extract of Mr. Kolhoff's letter will furnish an apology for their earnestness, to those who may think nothing to be proper but simple instruction.

"Besides a multiplicity of superior deities, the heathens in this country have a great number of infernal deities, (or rather, devils,) whom they likewise make objects of their adoration. The worship, or service done to these infernal deities, in order to render them propitious, consists in offering them sheep, swine, fowls, rice, plantains, and intoxicating liquors, which is always done either in a garden, or in a chapel built in a grove, without the city or village. After offering the sacrifice, the priest, with the peoby whom the sacrifice is brought, sit down to feast themselves on the things offered.

"Such a sacrifice was offered by some heathens in the month of July last, near a village twelve miles to the south of Tanjore. Having offered their sacrifice, they sat down to the succeeding entertainment, in which the priest, having made too free with the intoxicating liquor, very soon became like a wild beast, and murdered two persons who were near him, with the instrument with which he had killed the victims. Others endeavored to save themselves by flight, but he pursued after them, murdered a woman, wounded six others, and very likely would have proceeded in his murderous business, if the inhabitants of the village had not brought him down with their sticks, and disabled him from doing further mischief. He was taken a prisoner to Tanjore, and died in his confinement, of the wound he got from the inhabitants. Oh, that the heathens would open their eyes to see the dreadful conse

quence of forsaking their Maker, and doing the devil's drudgery!" Report of 1798, p. 132.

"I believe," says the author of the Letter to the President of the Board of Control, "that in Bengal the matter has been much the same as on the Coast, and that no dissatisfaction has, for perhaps a century, been produced by the preaching of the Missionaries, Catholic or Protestant, with the exception of only a recent instance of disgust, very naturally excited among some Hindoos, from being (if I am rightly informed) coarsely reproached by some vulgar zealot, with the worship of murderers, liars, and so forth." (pp. 9, 10.)

I very much suspect that this gentleman has been misinformed, as to this exception. No such communication has reached me; and if any one of the Missionaries had, by the use of such language, excited disgust, I think either myself, or some other member of the Society, would have heard of it. If it were "fact, and a matter of notoriety in India," it is somewhat extraordinary that when, on account of the alarms produced by the Vellore mutiny, Mr. Carey and his colleagues were requested to desist from preaching to the natives, the magistrates at Calcutta, who delivered that request, should have made no mention of it; and still more so that they should have declared themselves "well satisfied with their character and deportment," acknowledging that "no complaint had ever been lodged against them." But the number of private reports which have of late been circulated, is sufficient, for a time, to shake the confidence even of those who are friendly to the object. We can only repeat what we have said before, ‘Let us not be judged by private letters: let our adversaries come forward and accuse the Missionaries; or at least give proof of their labour's having been injurious.'

There is, doubtless, a manner of representing things which tends not to convince, but to provoke. If any thing of this kind can be proved against the Missionaries, we shall by no means defend it. To charge a company of Hindoos directly with the worship of murderers, liars, &c. must be very improper; but it is possible for a charge of this kind to be urged in a less offensive manner. Supposing a brahman to be in the company, and that in encountering

the Missionary, he should appeal to the shasters for the lawfulness of idol worship; would it be improper for the Missionary calmly to prove from those shasters that the very gods which they command to be worshipped are there described as the most vicious characters? This, I believe has been done, and that with good effect. Nor did I ever hear of an instance of any Hindoo being provoked by it, except the brahmans, who were thereby confounded before the people.

With respect to inculcating" the less controverted principles of Christianity," I do not believe that the Missionaries have ever so much as mentioned to the converted natives, and certainly not to the unconverted, any of the controversies of the European Christians. On the contrary, they teach them what they conceive to be simple Christianity, both in doctrine and practice; and were any thing like a disputatious spirit to arise among them, (which, I believe has never been the case,) they would utterly discourage it.

The fears which this writer seems to entertain of "confounding the people with a variety of discordant opinions and sects;" are I trust, without foundation: but as I shall have occasion to notice this subject more particularly in the next article, I shall here pass it by.

What this author means, and who he can refer to, by "churches overflowing with converts, who do no honour to the cause, but serve rather as a stumbling block, than an incitement to the conversion of others," I know not. Major Scott Waring, in his third pamphlet, understands him as agreeing with him, that "the hundred converts made in thirteen years by the Bengal Missionaries, have injured the cause of Christianity in India." (p. 136.) After this, I must say, the author is called upon by every consideration of truth, justice, and religion, and in the name of each I hereby call upon him, through some public medium, to explain his meaning. The accusations of Major Scott Waring, and his associates, reflect no dishonour; but when taken up as sober truth by a writer who appears to be not only a man of veracity, but friendly to religion, they become of consequence, and require to be either substantiated or retracted.