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these ambassadors of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and only ruler of Princes, when our Lord Jessus Christ shall ascend the throne of His glory, shall also sit upon thrones as deputies of the Lord Jesus to execute judgment. Whether rebellious subjects shall give them honour or not, or obey them or not, they cease not from their work of preaching the Gospel. If any shew them respect or otherwise, they consider it the same; and, according to that dignity which is conferred on them, go on preaching and teaching with all authority: for happy will that blessed time be, when every one's judgment will be according to the Gospel by the hands of the Apostles. What rest and prosperity will prevail in the world !

And it is to be observed, that, notwithstanding this excellent service, these exalted persons, the Ambassadors of Christ, who are laden with spiritual fruit, are humble and respectful, and mild, and gentle, and as little children; as once was said, Boughs heavy laden with fruit bend toward the earth. Such things are

not to be found in other religions: only pride, and high-mindedness, and self-conceit. True it is, that the tree that bears much fruit bends downwards: So these Ambassadors of Christ will certainly be humble and respectful toward all: and thus, in their conversation, humility, and good temper, and indifference to themselves are very manifest. They love one another, and pay one another respect, and give honour to one another. Except love and unity, nothing is heard among them.

Whosoever receives this Ministry, ought, day and night, in secret and in company, to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ, and seek help from the Holy Spirit, that the dew of the Holy Spirit may always descend upon him; and that, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, he may, as long as he lives, remain employed with his heart in spreading the Gospel.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with all who believe! Amen!

Extracts of the Rev. Deoear Schmid's Address, to the Rev. Abdool Messech on

his Ordination.

How faithful, discreet, and zealous soever you may be in preaching the Gospel, do not think that thereby you fulfil the whole of your duty as an Overseer over the flock of Christ. In order to feed the Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood, you must also be careful to execute, strictly and without fear of man, those Regulations and Laws which Christ has ordained for the organization and government of His Church, Let it therefore be your concern, to execute also this part of the Pastoral Office, agreeably to the mind of Christ and the commandments of His Holy Apostles; always remembering, that the prosperity of the Church of Christ depends, in a great measure, upon the due administration of Ecclesiastical Discipline.

And here let me exhort you, above all things, not to admit any Adult into the Christian Church by Baptism, of whom there is not sufficient reason to suppose, that he has truly repented of his sins, and fled for refuge to the hope set before us in the Gospel; and that he is firmly resolved to deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow his Saviour. It must be said to every Adult who desires baptism, what the Evangelist Philip said to the Eunuch, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest be bap tised, but not otherwise.

Be no less careful, how you admit to the Lord's Supper such as have been baptized in their infancy. Administer the consecrated bread and wine to such only, as you can suppose are discerning the Lord's body;

lest this Holy Sacrament be profaned; and lest, by eating and drinking unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves. There is a good custom in the Church whose Ministers we are, to assemble those who wish to partake of the Lord's Supper, on the preceding day, to represent to them the holiness of the Service in which they are going to engage, and to speak with each in particular on the state of his soul: this custom we would strongly advise and request you to adopt, as it is admirably calculated to keep away unworthy Communicants from the Lord's Table, and to make the Sacramental Service the more edifying and impressive to real believers.

You will take peculiar pains in instructing the Children of the Members of your Congregation, in the doctrines and precepts of Christianity: for, as the Church becomes the Mother of the offspring of believers by receivingthem into her bosom through the laver of regeneration, it is the

duty of her Ministers to watch over them with a Mother's care, and to nourish them with the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. You will not admit them to the Lord's Table before they shew signs of a sincere repentance, and of a lively faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. On the Sunday preceding that on which such Young People for the first time partake of the Lord's Supper, you will do well to examine them in the presence of the whole Congregation, with regard to their knowledge of the Gospel, and to admit them solemnly to all the privileges of Adult Members of the Christian Church by Prayer and imposition of hands a service usually called Confirmation, which, purified from all errors and abuses annexed to it in the Roman Church, has, with great wisdom, been adopted by most Protestant Communions, though it has not been expressly prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

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APPENDIX VII.
(See Page 109.)

EXTRACTS FROM A TRACT AGAINST THE PREVAILING SYSTEM OF HINDOO IDOLATRY.

I WOULD ask those Pundits together with their followers, who are averse to the worship of the Supreme God", and devoted to the service of imagesWhy do you make yourselves the laughing-stock of all sensible men, by considering miserable images which are devoid of sense, motion, and the power of speech, as the omniscient, omnipresent, and almighty God? And why do you expose yourselves to the scorn and contempt of all the world, by considering such absurd practices, as playing with the fingers on the mouth, beating one's sides, snapping the fingers, and stamp

Which according to the theology of the Hindoos,

is incompatible with the use of images.

ing with the foot on the ground, clapping with the hands, and singing abominable songs, as spiritual worship?

If you say-We are incapable of fixing our minds upon the Supreme Omnipresent God; consequently we worship images, considering them as God

I reply-That the images are exceedingly dear to you, this is very true; else you would not endeavour to establish the worship of images, even by confessing yourselves to be ignorant and stupid people. But you must know also with what contempt the Shasters speak of such ignorant people: those who do not observe the precepts of the Vedas, ignorant people, such as are afflicted with very

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bad diseases, and those who live agreeably to their own lusts, all these are said to be impure all their life-time. Therefore, as you possess enough understanding to fix your mind upon the Supreme God, why do you wilfully cause yourselves to be called stupid people, merely on account of your attachment to images? This is very singular, that, if any one were to call you stupid with respect to the study of the Shasters, or to the business of the offices under government, or in any other respect, you would be ready to take away his life; for you think yourselves wiser than all others, in every other respect: but, if you are exhorted to worship the Supreme God, you say," We are weak, and possess but little understanding: therefore we are incapable of worshipping the Supreme Omnipresent God; for it is exceedingly difficult." But you will find, if you duly consider it, that there is nothing more difficult than the worship of images which you practise: for you consider a lifeless block as an animated being: though it cannot eat, yet you present it food: though it cannot smell, yet you give it various sweet-smelling flowers, imagining to give it pleasure thereby. And you consider this block of earth or stone as possessed of divinity: nevertheless, lest, in the cold season, it might suffer cold, you clothe it in winter clothes; and, in the warm season, you fan it, and, lest the mosquitoes should bite it, you place it all the night in curtains! Now there is nothing in the world more difficult, than to consider something at the same time as God, and as not God: but you do not find it difficult to believe such contradictions, because you are accustomed to it from your infancy; as jugglers, because they are exercised therein from their infancy, perform with ease a feat which is very difficult, viz. catching a great many knives and balls at the same time.

If you say-It can be proved by facts, which are perceptible by the senses, that, after consecration, the image is

animated by God; now that which can be proved in this manner, cannot be rejected

I reply-Both you and we see clearly, that the properties of stone, earth, or wood, which the image had before the consecration, it retains also afterward: for, as the flies and mosquitoes were playing before on the whole image from the head to foot, so they do also afterward; as, previously to the performance of the consecration, the image would break to pieces if it fell on the ground, thus it would also afterward; as, before, it had not the power of eating, sleeping, and moving, thus it is also destitute of this power afterward. How can it therefore be proved that the image is animated by God? The truth is, that, having heard from your infancy various stories of such a supposed animation of images, you imagine at one time you see an image laughing, and at other times you perceive grief expressed in its countenance; like the people called Garrows, who, because they have heard so from their infancy, consider the cat as a godhead, and see many wonder. ful things in that animal. It follows from hence, that men entertain such absurd imaginations, because their understanding is perverted by what they hear from their infancy. It is singular, that our perceptions should agree with yours in all other things, but that only with regard to the laughing of images there should be a disagreement. But what can be more shameful than that men, endowed with the faculty of judging what is profitable and unprofitable to them, should pray for children, riches, and deliverance from sickness, to such as have not the power of seeing or moving, and are destitute of all feeling, and should present gifts to such a senseless block, in order to obtain all this; more especially, as you see clearly, that so many continually fail in obtaining the design for which they

A savage tribe inhabiting the hills in the North of Bengal.

make such presents? Notwithstanding all this, you vow, again and again, to perform, with great expense and trouble, such offerings, as an act of worship.

If you say-Many of those, who offer up such petitions to images, oblain the wished-for object; and those who have dishonoured the principal and most renowned images have received their due punishment

I reply-As some by worshipping images obtain the object of their desire, thus also many who never pray to images see sometimes their wishes fulfilled: it depends, therefore, upon God, whether our wishes are fulfilled or not that they are accomplished when the proper means are used, but that in the absence of such means they are not fulfilled, what connection have images therewith? We see clearly that the worshippers of images are continually afraid, lest their hands or feet should possibly be broken: if they were perfectly sure, that the images are animated by the gods which they respectively represent, they would not till the present day be so anxious about their preservation. Further, what you said about the power of the principal images of inflicting punishment upon others, this we should believe, if they would punish the mice, cockroaches, and other creatures, for spoiling the colour, or making holes into their body; or if they would prevent the flies from sitting upon them, after they have been sitting upon unclean things, and punish them for doing so. But, howsoever this may be, how much power images possess or do not possess, this may easily be put to the test: give them only into our hands, and you will soon see, which of us can inflict a punishment upon the other.

If you say—If images are not possessed of divinity nor of any power, why do the Shasters give even to the ignorant the permission of worshipping them ?–

I answer-The authors of the Shasters were afraid that those ignorant persons, who were unable, by the contemplation of the wonderful and har

monious arrangement of the universe and the curious construction of the human body, to elevate themselves to the idea of the Omniscient and Omnipresent God, who is the author of the universe and the governor of the world, and to lead a holy life, would spend their time as Atheists, and become dangerous to those around them. On this account, they allowed to these ignorant people, in order to keep them, like children, in a kind of agreeable delusion, to choose for the objects of their worship various images, and beasts, fowls, trees, rivers, and similar things, which can be perceived by our senses and are easily obtained; holding out the prospect of deriving benefit* from this service, as it is for instance to be seen from the following passage: 66 The Shasters speak of fruits+, with a view to those ignorant persons only, who are very eager to obtain such fruits, and who have not the power of discriminating spirit from what is not spirit, in order to excite them to the performance of religious acts." These ignorant persons, as they used to play in their infancy with little images, and offerings of dust and small vessels, and in this manner to amuse themselves; thus, when they are grown up, they delight themselves all their lifetime in playing with great images, and great offerings of fire and such things, and with large vessels. That they actually play like children, is clear from their daily, practice, and from the ceremonies which they perform on their feastdays: for, like children, they fetch flowers, and present them to a stone which cannot smell, in order to make it enjoy the smell of a fine flower— they make various kinds of music, before an image which cannot hear— they present various delicious dishes, to an object which has not the power of tasting any thing: and, like foolish children, move their hands as if they

here translated by "benefit," desi nates all good The Bengalee word "p'hol" "fruit," which is consequences of religious acts born in the present and future world, short of eternal beatitude. + See the preceding Note.

were actually feeding it-and they wave a stand, furnished with lighted lamps, before a thing which is unable to see and, at a certain festival, they throw themselves into the mire, and strike one another with their hands and fists before the image. How can such foolish persons be engaged in the worship of the Supreme God? The truth is, if they had no such amusements, they would not know how to spend their time.

If you say-Through the worship of these images and the gods which they represent, many are become Saints: so that they had and still have it in their power to kill, to put to confusion, and bring into subjection whom they please; and they have imparted and are imparting, by their mere word, life unto the dead, children unto the childless, and riches unto the poor: how can therefore their divinity be called

into doubt ?—

I reply-How is it to be wondered at, that such stupid persons as can consider a block of stone, a heap of earth, and a tree of the forest, as God, are persuaded by a fellow, who wears long matted hair, and has a broad mark on his forehead, turns his eyes in an unnatural manner, and keeps his hands and feet in unnatural positions, to regard such a deceiver as a Saint? These deceivers gain among the ignorant the reputation, that all things must come to pass according to their word, and that they are endowed with the knowledge of what is past and future and, nevertheless, these foolish people see clearly, that all these deceivers are ignorant of a great deal of what is going on in their own houses, and in their nearest neighbourhood; or, though their friends or nearest relations are sometimes greatly afflicted by sickness or poverty, yet they are unable to deliver them from their sickness and poverty by their words and offerings. But if such impostors attempt to play their tricks with enlightened men, then the whole imposture is immediately discovered, and

The presenting of a wave-offering is usually performed among the Hindoos, by waving a stand or tripod, furnished with five lighted lamps, before the Idol,

they meet with the treatment which they have deserved: do you not see clearly, that, in Calcutta and in all the neighbouring places, where there are more well-instructed men than in any other places, such deceits are on that account not very commonly prac tised thus, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, very few persons are to be found, who pretend to deliver men from the effects of witchcraft, and to drive out evil spirits; but, in the forest of Vishnoopoor, the eastern parts of Bengal, and in Assam, where ignorance prevails, all these impostors are held in great reputation, and in all houses wonderful stories of spirits and witches are told. God has given you a human nature; therefore think and act also like men. It is indeed melancholy to see persons believe, that men can act contrary to the laws established by God.

If you say-Whether it be agreeable to reason and the Shasters, or not, we MUST do what our forefathers did―

I reply-This is very strange, that you drag forward the name of your forefathers, in order to defend your playing with images, whereas, in all other matters, you pay very little regard to their manner of life. We know, there are thousands among you, whose forefathers were devoted to the practice of meritorious works, and to the study of the sacred sciences; whereas they themselves, in perfect opposition to the habits of their forefathers, give themselves altogether up to worldly pursuits. In every other respect, you deviate from the customs of your forefathers; only if you are exhorted to worship the Supreme God, you defend yourselves with the name of your forefathers as with a shield.

If you say-The worship of images has been handed down to us by tradition from pious men, and we must do what such pious men were used to do

I reply-Persons of different sects consider different men as pious; but the religious sentiments of these pious men, belonging to different sects, are very much at variance with one

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