321 



rating hand of christian dispensations." Can the conversion of 

 the Hindoos, on a mild, liberal, and benevolent plan, be called 

 misguided zeal; a zeal without prudence and without knowledge? 

 By a real christian it surely cannot be deemed a thing indifferent, 

 whether they are to be taught the truths of the gospel; whether 

 they shall be transferred from darkness to light; and from the 

 w r orship of idols to the adoration of the living God! Notwith- 

 standing all that has been alleged in the controversy respecting 

 the conversion of our Indian subjects, this is an hypothesis that 

 will not be generally admitted. It must be obvious that in the 

 code of Menu are many dreadful desiderata; millions are ex- 

 cluded by it from the knowledge of the Hindoo religion; a reli- 

 gion, indeed, upon so unjust a foundation, that a brahmin may 

 commit the most heinous crimes with comparative impunity; 

 while the poor chandalah, who leads a virtuous life, is prohibited 

 from the common right of humanity. Does the latter make no 

 silent appeal to the feeling hearts of British legislators? When the 

 Hindoo law-giver (so far from offering him the benefits of religion) 

 does not even permit him to tread the outer courts of the temple, 

 does it not still more behove an enlightened government to ten- 

 der him the comforts of the gospel, and an equitable share in the 

 common rights of man ? It is not the mysteries of Christianity 

 on which a stress is now laid; it is on the divine consolations 

 afforded by that blessed revelation, and the practice of the moral 

 duties which it inculcates. From this practice, from these enjoy- 

 ments, the lower classes of Hindoos are more or less excluded. The 

 Christian's Bible is not " an exercise of ingenuity, but of obedience. 

 Our great duties are written with a sun-beam; to believe what is 



VOL. III. 2 T 



