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ORIENTAL LITERATURE.

Letters on the State of Christianity in India.

By the Abbe J. A. DUBOIS. 8vo. pp. 222. London. Longman.` THE Reformed Protestant Church has often been upbraided by her Roman Catholic sister, with the very little, which she has done, in comparison of the stock, from which she separated, in spreading her knowledge of the Gospel over the heathen world: and it will readily be admitted, that however the account of success may now stand, that of zeal, and perseverance, and learning, is greatly in favour of the Missionaries of the See of Rome. In the system of ecclesiastical government, which enabled that see to extend her spiritual dominion over the proudest princes of Christendom, there was every thing to excite, and reward exertions, in adding to the number of her disciples: and as her policy was of the most accommodating nature, there were facilities enjoyed by her apostles, which will always be unknown to the Protestant missionary. The unity of spiritual power and authority, inherent to her nature, gave a unity of effort, from which the best advantages resulted: and her missionaries have always been found labouring in the common cause, with heart and hand, and co-operating in spreading the "true faith," as declared by the infallible Head of the church, whether they have laboured in the frozen regions of the north, or the burning plains of the east. The treasures of the Propaganda must indeed be immense and much of them, it must be allowed, has been poured out, in enlightening the civilized world, as to the countries of those barbarians, whom its emissaries visited. We cannot, there

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fore, soon forget our obligations to the Jesuits, and other Roman Catholic missionaries, who so materially increased our stock of knowledge, at a time, when the laying the foundation of a purer, and a more evangelical church, prevented Protestants from looking so far from home.

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But if the Church of Rome did much in former days, in extending the empire of Christianity, the Protestant Church has not been slow, of late years, in treading in the same path. A great variety of institutions, having the conversion of the heathen world in view, have arisen in Europe; and in England alone, it were not easy to enumerate the "Mother Societies," and the "branches" now engaged in this good work. But we may be enabled to judge of the increase of zeal and devotion to this cause, when we are told, that, on the institution of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England in 1649—the first corporation of a missionary character ever established in England-the total of their income, after ten years, was £1152. 12. 6. while the money raised in England with a similar view, during the last year, and strictly for missionary purposes, considerably exceeded £100,000. From this estimate we exclude the assistance, which these objects received from Bible Societies, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This latter society, although it sent out no missionaries of the Church of England to foreign parts, employed a portion of its funds, in supporting the East India mission, which had arisen at Tranquebar in 1705, under the auspices and patronage of the then King of Denmark. The piety of his Danish Majesty met with a very unsuitable return from his governors in the East, and the first Danish missionaries had to encounter innumerable difficulties, as such of our readers as may feel inclined to look into this subject, will see from consulting Niecamp's "Historia Missionis Evangelicæ in India Orientali"-and the Proceedings of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. In England, the Danish mission found high and powerful friends, and was enabled to extend its operations to a distance from Tranquebar. But the funds, which it drew from the continent of Europe, and which had given energy to its efforts in the East, disappeared amidst the revolutionary commotions of the period; and the trifling stipend which the

English society had allotted to it, left it almost solely dependant on what resources it could attain in this country. It numbered among its missionaries the venerated Swartz, and his colleague Gericke-men eminently distinguished for a simplicity, zeal, and piety, worthy of the purest times of the church. It is now considerably reduced, both in the number of its labourers, and in the extent of field, which it occupies; but the assistance given to it, through the late Bishop of Calcutta, may, it is hoped, tend again to revive its energy and usefulness.

In 1792 was instituted the Baptist Missionary Society, since so distinguished in the history of those associations, that have laboured for the propagation of the gospel in the East. This society, at its commencement, was fortunate enough to meet with Mr. John Thomas, who had twice visited India, as a surgeon, and been led so much to pity the misery, and spiritual blindness of the natives, as to determine on devoting himself to their conversion to Christianity. Associating Mr. William Carey with him, Thomas returned to this country and after experiencing considerable difficulty, in the way of establishing themselves, in a position from which they could operate with effect, they were joined by Messrs.Marshman and Ward, and removed to the Danish settlement at Seramıpore. From that day until this, the Baptist mission has gone on increasing its funds and its sphere of operation, and attracting a degree of attention in the religious world at home, unprecedented in the annals of Protestant missions. The means of attempting great things flowed into the hands of the Baptists from the pious charity of their Christian friends in Europe and America; and an article, which they had inserted, in the "Form of Agreement," as they called it, which they drew up, when they first associated together, providing, that whatever profit should be realized by their exertions, should merge into the common stock, enabled them in time to raise the spacious buildings, which now mark the site of their mission at Serampore. "I pray, that God may preserve me from embezzling that property, with which he has entrusted me, and which is properly his own."-" Let us for ever shut out the idea of laying up a single cowry for ourselves or our children!”-these were the words of Dr. Carey, at a time, when the mission had rather the prospect, than

any thing more, of rising above poverty: and an adherence to these resolutions has rendered the Baptist Mission the richest endowment of the kind in India.

The London Missionary Society, formed in 1795, is another Protestant association, which has been most active in the cause of the gospel: out of it, in a manner, arose the Church Missionary Society in 1800, which, like the others, sends out labourers to every part of the heathen vineyard, and to India in particular.

The act of the 53rd of the late King, gave the sanction of the legislature to the labours of these various associationsthe duty of enlightening the natives in moral and religious knowledge, was recognized in it, and missionaries allowed to proceed for this purpose to our several settlements in the East: the Church Missionary Society in particular received an encreasing degree of countenance in England; and the ap. pointment of a bishop to Calcutta enabled them to connect themselves in this country, in a manner from which many good effects have already resulted, and many more may reasonably be expected. The establishment of the Bishop's College, on the banks of the Hooghly, has the conversion of the heathen to Christianity principally in view; and the conviction, on the part of the religious world at home, that under the auspices that protect it, this end will be greatly promoted, is proved from the very liberal manner, in which various societies have come forward to support it.

We have entered into this brief sketch, to make our readers acquainted, in some slight degree, with the exertions of Protestant communities, to convert the Hindoos to Christianity, before introducing them to a work, detailing the sad story of the failure of one of the most distinguished, and once successful in the Roman Catholic church, and drawing from this tale a general and sweeping conclusion, that all these exertions are vain.

The name of the ABBE DUBOIS is already known to us, as that of the author of a book, entitled "Description of the People of India." Having spent thirty years of his life, in attempting to convert the Hindoos to Christianity, his opinions on the practicability of the scheme undoubtedly deserve much attention; but had he not been already before the