numbers of ministers, and Christians of various denominations in that place, who should step forward to organize and carry on the plans necessary for such a Society. (It should be one on a large scale.) It is the duty of this generation to use every possible means towards exposing to public view the insinuating evils attendant on the moderate use of ardent spirits. Long enough has the son followed the example of the father, the daughter of the mother and the servant that of the master in drinking moderately. It has been said, and I think with truth, "The example of strong-minded men, who are restrained, by character and other considerations, from excess, ruins the great body of the weak-minded, the poor, and the desponding, and that the drinking of temperate people has hitherto utterly prostrated all attempts to rescue the intemperate from their ruin.” Surely when we come to the knowledge of such plain facts, it should be our never-ceasing cry-abstain from all intoxicating liquors, as a common drink. Some may say it is not practicable; then how is it that so many thousands at the present day, use none? Others might say it would be unscriptural if so, why did the Apostle Paul leave on record the following words? It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended or is made weak. Ministers and people of Calcutta, you are now solicited to consider this matter; and it is to be hoped you will soon be constrained to arise, and come to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

G.

2.-TRANSLATION OF SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES.

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

DEAR BRETHREN,

As we are beginning to prepare something for the press in the Panjabi language, we now more than ever, feel the necessity of ascertaining whether any general system has been adopted by translators in this country, in reference to scripture names; and if so, what that system is. We know that the Missionaries at Calcutta have discussed the subject, but whether they have concluded to transfer Hebrew and Greek names to the languages of this country, without altering them, or to give them an English form, or to Indianize them, or to translate such as are susceptible of translation, we are not informed.

If any system has been agreed upon would it not be well to give it publicity through the medium of the "Observer," so that translators throughout India might have something to guide them. This is the only way to preserve a uniformity among the numerous versions of the Bible which are soon to fill the land.

If no plan has yet been digested, will not some one in the metropolis, who feels an interest in the subject, press it upon the Missionaries, and others concerned, till some general expression of sentiment can be obtained? Perhaps it is an inquiry which the Auxiliary Bible Society may feel themselves called upon to pursue. There is none to whom it more properly belongs. They might ask the opinions of interested and competent persons throughout the country, and from these be able to settle upon some principle, which could safely, and I would hope successfully be recommended as a guide for all future editions of the Holy Scriptures.

The following are some of the points which seem to demand special consideration: viz. 1. Shall those names which have found their way into the Arabic books of the Muhammadans, be given according to their Ara VII.

2 G

bic forms; e. g. I'sá, Yihiyá, Tbráhám, Shaitán? Or 2. Shall the orthography of the Hebrew and Greek be strictly adhered to, except where the peculiar genius of the Indian language demands some alteration: such as Fárisi or Farisáí? (the Greek Pharisaios being incompatible with the Indian mode of forming the plural.) 3. If the orthography of the original scriptures be adopted, what course shall be pursued, where the same persons or places are spoken of in the Old and New Testaments, under different names; e. g. Yisháiyáhu, Hesáyás, (Isaiah ;) Yihoshuá, Yísús, (Joshua ;) Arám, Síryá, (Syria ;) Yihúdáh, Yúdáyá, (Judea ?) Shall such names be spelled according to the Hebrew in the Old Testament, and according to the Greek in the New, and thus give the impression, as our English version has often done to common readers, that the persons and places, thus named in the two Testaments, were altogether different? Or shall they be spelled uniformly throughout the Bible? If the latter, shall the Hebrew be followed or the Greek? 4. In the Hebrew Bible several terms are used to designate the Supreme Being, such as Ilokím Adonai, Yihováh, &c. In the Septuagint and consequently in the Greek Testament these terms are translated, as they are also in our English version. Now the question is shall they be translated in the Indian versions of the Bible? If so, what terms shall be employed to represent them? What word either of Sanskrit or Persian origin is equivalent to Ilohim? Adonai? &c. If a translation of any of these terms be thought expedient, would it not still be advisable to retain the sacred name Yihováh, as one that has no equal in any language, and especially that a palpable distinction may thus be made between the living God and the imaginary beings whom the heathen worship? And if the Yihováh of the Old Testament be left untranslated, should not the same term be used in the New Testament in the place of the Greek Kupios where the Supreme Being is evidently intended?

The inquiry might be extended to other points; thus, should the word Sabbath be translated? Nomos, where it refers to the Mosaic system? Epis. kopos? Apostolos? Ekklesia? &c. If so how? The word Baptisma, I suppose, must still remain sub judice, and every man do what is right in his own eyes.

For myself, I must say, especially in relation to the words last mentioned, that I think it best not to attempt a translation of them, because there are no words in the language of any heathen people, which at all correspond with them. The officers and rites of the Christian church, and some of the doctrines too, constitute quite new ideas to a heathen mind, and he most necessarily learn them through the medium of terms equally new, or by means of such circumlocution as cannot be admitted in a trans lation of the scriptures. If we represent ideas which are peculiarly Christian by heathen terms, they cannot do otherwise than make a false impression, and even after they are explained, they will continue to be ambiguous, as long as they retain their original meaning. But if we represent Christian ideas by Christian terms, though at first they may convey no meaning to the uninstructed reader, they can never teach falsehood, and when they are once explained, they will for ever after be apprehended only according to their precise signification.

I am aware that great difficulty would be found in attempting to naturalize such a word as Nomos in a translation, to make it denote the Mosaic law, while in other cases it was regularly translated, because it cannot always be ascertained with certainty in what sense the sacred writers use the word. For this reason such terms as Nomos ought perhaps to be excepted, ought to be translated always rather than never, this being the only alternative.

My object however is not to argue. I seek information and if you can give it I doubt not that you will oblige others as well as

Yours, &c.

J. N. P. S. I ought to say that my orthography for the foregoing proper names is not pretended to be the most correct. I wrote them as seemed best at the moment.

Lúdiana, Feb. 20, 1838.

GENTLEMEN,

3.-INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

Pray can you or any of your numerous correspondents furnish the public with correct information, as to the working of the various Government colleges which have recently been established, in different parts of the country, in aid of the cause of native education ? and can you also furnish us with any data from which we may judge as to the influence which they are likely hereafter to exert upon British interests in India? It is a well known fact that some years ago the government was extremly averse to Missionaries entering the country. It was their opinion that the labours of Missionaries would excite a spirit of discontent amongst the people, that religious discussion would provoke hostility, and endanger the safety of the state. Long experience however has shown us that these fears were groundless, and so far from any danger being now apprehended from this Source, it is generally believed that Missionary operations, if they are conducted with wisdom and prudence, will ultimately prove the bulwarks of our authority and the best preservatives of our power in every part of our Indian possessions; and have we not, Gentlemen, sufficient reason to believe that this sentiment is correct? For in every instance in which a native is brought to embrace Christianity in sincerity, British interests are proportionately strengthened. The convert is forthwith detached from his former associations, his native friends discard him, and he has henceforward no community of interests with them. His every feeling in future life is associated with the religious principles, and the permanent power of the persons to whom he has united himself; personal safety prompts him to cleave to them and induces him to uphold their rule, because the perpetuation of that rule is the only guarantee which he has for the security of all that is dear to him on earth. The more converts therefore the Mission. aries make the better, provided they are sincere; every individual instance of conversion may be received as so much political gain, as an addition to British authority and power, and consequently as a proportionate guarantee for the security and peace of our eastern possessions.

But can thus much be said, Gentlemen, of the working and tendency of the present colleges ystem? It has been remarked rather, and I think very justly, that government have every reason to apprehend, that that evil will ultimately result from their colleges which they formerly apprehended would result from Missonary labours,-in plain language that these colleges will ere long subvert the authority of great Britain in the east. If the object of these colleges were merely to give the natives a good common education, the danger would be less; by correcting their ideas on geography, teaching them the elements of history, &c. we should confer a benefit on them; but seeing the great mass of the people are in such a state of mental imbecility, we cannot, we confess, see the propriety of making a favoured few, philosophers, mathematicians, metaphysicians, and introducing them all at

once into so many branches of the recondite sciences. They are going too far ahead of their countrymen, and the funds thus expended would be much better applied if they were available for the purposes of general education on a more extended scale. The aphorism which says that knowledge is power' is strictly true, and we shall one day prove it to our cost if the present system be persevered in. The Hindus far outstrip us in power of one kind already; viz. the power which arises from numerical superiority. Only give them the power which is derived from knowledge, and it will speedily act like a lever on the former and bring it into action for purposes which we tremble to contemplate. It is not to be supposed that they will bear our yoke when they find that they have at their command means by which they can get rid of it. With these means we are furnishing them, and when the equipment is complete, the means will surely be called into requisition to effect their emancipation. There is only one way to avoid this evil; let the government with the knowledge which they impart to the natives, also give them principle by which to regulate it. A profusion of sail with little or no ballast endangers the safety of the vessel, and if government keep hoisting the sail of knowledge whilst they withhold the ballast of principle, they will sooner or later upset their political bark. By principle, I mean of course those principles which are derived from Christian sources and which the word of God supplies. Let these be brought to bear with a divine power upon the heart, and they will at once neutralise the evil tendency of mere abstract knowledge. Let the Hindus be brought under the influence of these principles and we are safe. Conscience will be bound by these, evil will be restrained, and though they may then perceive that they are possessed of power sufficient to dislodge us, yet they will not, under the guidance of these principles, venture to use it for such a purpose, but rather submit to our sway and cleave to us as their friends and best benefactors.

Perhaps it will be said that Government are pledged to neutrality, and cannot interfere with the religious prejudices of the people. True, but every lesson they give the natives on geography and astronomy, is as much an interference with their religious prejudices, as a lesson on theological subjects would be: their neutrality, therefore is only in name, or in other words it amounts to nothing more or less than this--a gratuitous determination to keep back Christian principles, or rather secretly to oppose them. It is a well known fact, that many of the teachers in their colleges are men of sceptical principles; in many instances they are decidedly hostile to Christianity, and carry their hostility so far that, if in the course of their historical reading the students meet with a passage which refers to Christianity and ask for an explanation, it is refused and they are told that it relates to a subject with which they have nothing to do! If Government moreover are pledged to be strictly neutral, why do their teachers and accredited agents circulate infidel books amongst the boys? Infidelity strikes at the root of all revealed religion, and therefore is as much opposed to Hinduism as it is to Christianity. Their agents therefore are endeavouring to upset Hinduism; this surely does not accord with their principles of professed neutrality, for the consequence is that the boys, in most of these colleges, (if they stay long enough,) usually become infidels to every system of religion, and are not unfrequently very proud of the name of "Deist." Our system of education therefore, if not a neutral, is at least a neutralising one. We neutralise Hinduism and give them nothing in its place; whereas we ought to give them Christianity as a substitute; and if Government are so pledged that they cannot do this, then they had better withdraw from the system altogether, and leave it in the hands of individuals who are not so restricted. By depriving the Hindus of the former

and withholding the latter, we are inflicting a deep moral injury upon them, and a still deeper political one upon ourselves. If the British Govern. ment be a blessing to the people, which I am persuaded it is in every point of view, and that its removal would be the very worst calamity that could befal them, then is it desirable both for them and for ourselves that we forthwith retrace our steps before the injury becomes irreparable.

I am, &c.

CAUTION.

DEAR MESSRS. EDITORS,

4.-HINDU THEORIES.

I beg to send you a short account of the various theories of the Hindus to account for the dark spots on the face of the moon, in the hope that it may prove interesting to some of your readers. The source from whence I draw them is the Rámáyan of Tulsí Dás, Lanká kánd and 14th Adhyaya. To give a view of the connection of the story, Rám the great hero, is on his way to Lanks, to attack Rávana, and recover his wife who had been basely carried away from him by that monster; he has nearly reached the place of his destination when, sitting out to enjoy the evening air, the moon shining brightly at the time, he amuses himself, by asking of his most learned associates, their individual opinions as to the nature and cause of the spots on the moon. The first replies, that they are caused by the shadow of the earth.

2. The second, that they are the scars of the wounds inflicted by the monster Ráhu, as a punishment on the moon for having informed against him at the time of the churning of the ocean, when he assumed the form of a dewtah to obtain a portion of the amrit or water of immortality, and the moon, knowing his design, communicated the circumstance to Vishnu, who, in a rage, cut off his head with his chakr-it flew to heaven, and now spends its time in persecuting the moon.

3. The third said, that when Bramhá had formed the design to create Ratí or the Indian Venus, he took from each of the gods a portion of his excellency and particularly extracted largely from the moon; in consequence of which great holes were produced in her, which are said to penetrate through, so that the ákásh, which is of a dark blue colour, is seen through them.

4. The fourth, that when the gods were engaged in churning the ocean to obtain the amrit, they continued agitating the elements so long, that at length a virulent poison issued from the mass, which threatened to destroy the universe. In these circumstances the chivalrous Mahadeo, to save his brother gods, resolved to drink it up, but he did not allow it to pass lower down than to the middle of his throat. However such was its virulence, that even in these circumstances, the god was overpowered. and though nursed in the lap of his spouse Párvatí, he found no rest till the moon, the giver of amrit, took her place on his brows, and allayed the fever of his brain. However her kindness was the source of some injury to herself; for, in the opinion of the fourth speaker, the exhalations of the black poison lodging on her face have produced those indelibly dark impressions which we now see in her.

5. The fifth speaker, more of a courtier than a philosopher said, that as the moon was Rám's servant, it acts the part of mirror to display his beauties, and having once received his beautifully black impression, it for ever retains it! This last was Hanuman's opinion, at which the great Rám was inexpressibly delighted.

Bandras.

M.