be made to some parts of the Introduction, its manifest design and indisputable general tendency was, in Conformity with the Title, to do honour to the character of Christ, to recommend the instructions which he delivered, and to advance the religion of which he was the author? Yet this is the work which, as soon as it appeared, was publicly depounced as tending greatly to injure the cause of truth," and it was thus denounced by men who profess to consider the cause of truth andthe cause of Chris tianity as identical!

Not only the nature of the work but the character of the author should have prevented or at least moderated the opposition which he has received. The au thor is a Hindoo Brahmon of high and honourable caste, the representative of an ancient, respectable, and wealthy family. Early penetrating into the errors and evils of Hindooism, the religion of his fathers, and of Mohummudanism, with which the course of his edn. cation made him acquainted, he had for a considerable time been employing all his talents and learning and influence and had endangered his fortune and even his life, in his endeavours to rescue his Countrymen from the demo

ralising influence of idola. try and to lead them to the knowledge and worship of the one Living and True God, the benevolent Father of all his creatures. Not contented with correcting the speculative belief of his Countrymen,he was anxious also to reform their morals and to improve their condi tion, and had therefore laboured with indefatigable zeal to inform the public mind on the subject of the burning of widows, and to procure from the Govern. ment an order for the aboli tion of that horrid practice. And although his efforts were thus directed both against the popular supersti tions of his countrymen and the practical enormities which they involved, yet, after the first brait of persecution had ceased, he continued to enjoy a high degree of reputation not only with the intelligent few whom he had led to embrace juster views and more salutary principles, but even with those who clung with encreasing fond. ness to their ancient errors and prejudices. In the midst of his inquiries and labours, his attention was directed to Christianity, and although at first perplexed by the different views and representations of opposing sects, and especially by the mysterious doctrines

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which most of them deemed essential to the Christian system, yet his mind soon settled into the conviction that the morality of the gospel distinguished the reJigion of Christ from all other religions, and that by its simple, pure, and sublime requisitions it was eminently adapted to promote the highest welfare of his countrymen, felt, however, that the utmost prudence was necessary in the mode of drawing their attention to what he he was convinced would prove so highly conducive their happiness. He considered that their prejudices against Christianity were strong, and were kept in a state of constant irritation by the very means that were zealously employed to remove them. In pabJishing, therefore, a collec. tion of the sayings of Christ from the Four Evangelists, and in recommending to them "this simple code of Religion and Morality" as "the guide to Peace and Happiness," he went quite as far as, in his view, was warranted by a regard to their circumstances and character. He did not perhaps go quite so far as an ardent Missionary might bave wished he went much : farther than even such a Missionary could reasonably

have expected. He could not at once bring his understanding to embrace all the subtleties of scholastic theo. logy; but by fixing, with a ready acquiescence,upon the didactic and practical parts of Christianity he showed that his heart was right in the sight of God and that his chief object was to lead mankind to true piety and virtue. Besides, his work, if it had been left by an officious zeal to its full and unimpeded operation, might have produced the most beneficial effects in gradually preparing his countrymen for the reception not only of the Precepts of Jesus as the Guide to Peace and Happiness, but also of the entire Scriptures as the Records of Divine Revelation, Instead, however, of receiv. ing with confidence his profession of sincere regard for the morality of the gospelinstead of hailing with joy the accession of such an efficient labourer in the arduous work of Hindoo evangeJization, Mr. Schmid immediately attacked him on the insufficient grounds already mentioned, and the feeling of hostility against his publication rapidly passed, as it were by contagion, through the Missionary ranks, as if he had been the declared enemy of all that is pious and virtuous and good.

Finally, the character and circumstances of the Missi. onaries themselves furnish an additional aggravation te the extraordinary conCuet which they have adopted towards Rammohun Roy. It is now upwards of thirty years since the first two Baptist Missionaries came to India with a view to the conversion of Hindoos, and although during this period perhaps not less than fifty Missionaries of different denominations have been sent from Earope to Bengal and the adjacent provinces, yet in return for the great expense of life, of labour, and of money which such long-continued and extensive undertakings neces sarily involve, it cannot be denied that the direct success has been very limited and imperfect. Compared with the lives that have been lost, the labour that has been bestowed, and the money that has been spent, the number of converts at the highest computation is but small, and generally speak. ing of a character not calculated to afford much satisfaction to their surviving instructors. With such views and in such circumstances it might have been anticipated that Missionaries taught by experience would have anxiously sought to cherish the slight.

est tendency to Christianity in such a person as Rammohun Roy, and that, if, in any of his writings, he had either mistaken or misrepresented their system, they would have laboured in an amicable way to correct what they deemed erroneous or to supply what was deficient. When, instead of this, it is found that oppro brious epithets,injarious imputations, and the most bare faced calumnies have been employed to bear him down, who will not stand astonished and confounded at their infatuation? I am not permitted to doubt the sincerity of those who have begun or carried on this unholy warfare against a learned and respectable native who was endeavouring to promote with greater prudence and efficiency than themselves the very object of their mission to this country. But when I see them thus seeking "to quench the smoking flax," and to throw every impediment in the way of a sincere and able labourer in the cause of religious truth who "followeth not with them," I am com. pelled to say that they know neither their own spirit, nor the spirit of the Master whom they profess to serve, and that judging not by their professions, but by their conduct in this particular