JONES. 



follow her in the enfuing fearon, hoping at that period to 

 have difeharged his engagements with the government of 

 India, and intending to purfue Iiis refearches through Perfia 

 or China by a circuitous route, to his native country. Lady 

 Jones embarked in December 179J5. Soon after her depar- 

 ture, vix.. in the beginning of 1794, fir William Jones pnb- 

 liihed a tranflation of the Ordinances of Menu, comprifing 

 the Indian fyllem of duties, rchgious and civil. In this 

 work he had been hjng engaged from motives fimilar to 

 thofe which had indiici'd him to undertake tlie compilation 

 of the digeft ; -v:::. to aid the benevolent intentions of the 

 legidature of Gre;>t Britain, in fecuring to the natives of 

 India the admiiiifLration of juftice, to a certain extent,, by 

 tlieir own laws. 



To thofe who entertain a juft fenfe of the importance of 

 the principles and the utility of the duties of religion, the fol- 

 lowing prayer, compofed by Ur W. Jones on tiie firil day of 

 the year 1782, about fifteen months before his embarkation 

 for India, and more tlian twelve years before his death, will 



not be unacceptable: " F.ternal and incomprehenfible 



Mind, who, by thy boundlefs potuer, before time beg;;';, 

 createdft innumerable ivorlds, for x}a.y glory, and iimumerable 

 orders of hsings for their happ'imfs, which thy infinite gooilmfs 

 prompted thee to delire, and thy infinite luifdom enabled 

 thee to know ! We, thy a:a!uns, vanifli into nothing before 

 thy fupreme majefty ; we hourly feel our lueahiefs ; we 

 daily bewail our vices; we continually acknowledge our folly ; 

 thee only we adore with awful veneration ; thee we tha[ik 

 with the mod fervent zeal ; thee we />j-cj/? v. ith aftonilhment 

 and raptare ; to x\\y power we humbly fubmit ; of tYiy gcod- 

 tie/s we devoutly implore protection ; on ihy ii':jdom we 

 firmly and cheerfully rely. Wc do but open our eyes, and 

 inftantly we perceive thy divine exiftence ; we do but exert 

 our reafon, and in a moment we difcover thy divine attributes; 

 but our eyes could not behold thy fphndour, nor could our 

 TO/«(i!f comprehend thy divine ejfince ; we yt? tliee on/y through 

 thy ftupendous and all-perfeCl worls ; we Inciu thee only by 

 that ray of facred light which it has pleafed thee to reveal. 

 Neverthelefs, if creatures too ignorant to conceive, and too 

 depraved to purfue, ihc meaiis of their ow« happinefs, may, 

 without prefumption, exprefi their wants to their Creator, 

 let us humbly fupp.'icate thee to remov? from us that e%'i/, 

 which thou hall permitted for a time to exift, that the u!l:- 

 nijie good o£ al\ maybe complete, and to fecure us from that 

 vice, which thou fuifereft to fpread fnares around us, that 

 the triumph of virtue may be more confpicuous. Irradiate^ 

 our minds with all ufe/ul truth ; inltil into our hearts a fpirit 

 oi general benevolence ; give under/landing to the foolifii ; meek- 

 nefs to the proud ; temperance to the dilFolute ; fortitude to 

 the feeble-hearted ; hope to the defponding ; faith to the 

 unbelieving ; diligence to the llothful ; patience to thofe who 

 are in pain ; and thy celeflinl aid to thofe who are in danger: 

 comfort the ajjlicled ; relieve the diflrejjed ; fiipply the 

 hungry with falutary food ; and the thirjly with a plentiful 

 llrcara. Impute not our doubts to indifference, nor our 

 flo'Mnefs of belief to hardnefs of heart ; but be indulgent to our 

 imperfe3 nature, and fupply our imperfections by thy heavenly 

 favour. ' Suffer not, we anxioufly pray, fuller not op- 

 preffion to prevail over innocence, nor the might of the avenger 

 over the 'wenhiefs of the jufi.' Whenever we addrefs thee 

 in our relirement from the vanities of the world, if our 

 prayers are fooli/b, pity us ; if prefumptuous , pardon us ; if 

 acceptable to thee, grant them, all-po\i'err'ul God, grant them ; 

 and, as with oar living voice, and with cur dying lips, we 

 will exprefs our fubmiffion to thy decrees, adore thy provi- 

 dence, and blefs thy difpenfations ; fo in a.\ future ftates, to 

 which we reverently hope thy goodnefs will raife us, grant 



that we may continue praifing, admiring, venerating, ■worfiip' 

 ping thee more and more, through luorlds without numbc'') 

 and ages without end.'" This prayer is undoubtedly tliC 

 effulion of a truly pious mind, imprefled with jull fentiments 

 of the Deity and of human nature ; and though it does not 

 exprefs any explicit faith in the doflrines of Chriftiaiiity, 

 thefe fenliments are fiich as rcafon and experience fuggell, 

 and fuch as revelation cxprefsly teaches us. It (hould alfo 

 be rccoUefted, that long before this prayer v.as written, 

 fir W. Jones had demonftratcd, as we have already obferved, 

 to his own fatisfadion, tliat Jefus was the Mediah pre- 

 dicted by the prophets. Wc have alfo farther evidence, 

 which no incredulity can conteft, of his firm belief in the 

 divine auth()rity of the fcriptures and divine miflion of Jefus 

 Chrift. Of the facred writings, he fays, in a palfage tran- 

 fcribed from his own MS. in his bible : " I have carefully 

 and regularly perufed thefe holy fcriptures, and am of opi- 

 nion, that the volume, independently of its divine origin, 

 contains more fublimity, purer morality, more important 

 hiftory, and finer ftrains of eloquence, than can be collected 

 from all other hooks, in whatever language they may have 

 been written." It would indeed be cndlefs to cite paffuges 

 from his writings, which demonltrate his fentiments on the 

 fubject of revelation, and at the fame time his earned fclici- 

 tude to imprefs his own belief on others. In this connexion 

 we cannot forbear tranfcribing a pall'age from the Memoirs 

 of his biographer, which do honour to his judgment and 

 his heart. 



" In matters of eternal concern,'' fws lord Teignmouth, 

 " the authority of the highell human opinions has no claim 

 to be admitted, as a ground of belief; but it may, with the 

 ftriftell propiiety, be oppofed to that of men of inferior 

 learning and penetration ; and, whiKl the pious derive fatis- 

 faftion from the perufal of fentiments according with their 

 own, thofe who doubt or difbeheve, (hould be induced to 

 weigh, with candour and impartiality, arguments which 

 have produced convi&ion in the minds of the beil, the 

 wifeft, and the moil learned of mankind." 



After the departure of lady Jones, " whofe focicty had 

 fweetened the tci! of application, and cheered his hours of 

 relaxation," fir William mixed more in promifeuous focicty; 

 " but his affe6tions were tranfportcd with her to his native 

 country," and, without doubt, led him to anticipate, with 

 an anxiety blended with deliglit, the period which he had 

 fixed in his own mind for leaving India, and reimwing his 

 intercourfe with her, and witli otlier fri;.nds. But Provi- 

 dence had otherwife determined. On the evening of the 

 2cth of April, or nearly about that date, in 179J., he pro- 

 longed his walk to a late hour ; in confecjuence of which he 

 complained of aguifli fymptoms ; but fc ling no alarm he 

 jocularly repeated an old adage ; " An ague in the fpiing 

 is medicine for a king." But his complaint, of which he 

 had no apprehenfion, was that which is common in Bengal, 

 viz. an inflammation in the liver. The medicines prefcribcd 

 by the phyfician who attended him, and who foon difcovered 

 the nature of his diforder, were adminiftered without cfft ft. 

 The progrefs of the difeafe was uncommonly rapid, and 

 terminated fatally on the 37th of .'\pril 1794. Kis biogra- 

 pher found him, on the moniing of that day, " lying on his 

 bed in a polhire of meditation ; and the only fymptom of 

 remaining life was a fmall degree of motion in the heart, 

 which after a few f-.-conds ceafed, and he expired without a 

 pang or groan. His bodily fuffering, from the comphicency 

 of his features and tlie eafe of his attitude, could not have 

 been fevere; and his mind mu!L have derived confohlion 

 from thofe fci'.rces where he h.-.d been in the habit of feeking 

 it, and where nlcne, Lj our lull moments, it can ever be 



found." 



