520 Literature. 
present outbreak in Ireland are both to be attributed to our 
support of idolatry in the one country, and Roman Catho- 
licism in the other. But we are told that brighter days 
are in store for India. At the present time there are thirty- 
six European and American Protestant parties, with about 
6,000 Christian instructors at work ; but the greatest power 
for good amongst a population of nearly two hundred mil- 
lions is to be looked for among the native converts, who 
are much better able to grapple with Hinduism than our 
own missionaries. 
The writer lays stress upon the difficulty encountered by 
Europeans in their attempts at proselytism, owing to im- 
perfect acquaintance with the language. We think in ad- 
dition to this, the fact that many of the persons employed 
by missions, are ill-fitted from their training and mental 
calibre to cope with the subtle mind of the Brahmin, pre- 
sents an almost insurmountable obstacle to success. 
Ignorance of a language only temporarily disqualifies, 
and most Europeans soon acquire sufficient knowledge of 
the vernacular to enable them to converse fluently with the 
natives. 
A large number of the colporteurs are half educated men, 
who, with the best intentions to discharge their duties con- 
scientiously, are deficient in arguments, which will com- 
mand the respect of men who reason logically ; they plunge 
at once in medias res and make demands upon their hearers 
to accept, without discussion, as truth, what is utterly op- 
posed to their traditions, and their opponents naturally 
refuse to grant the premises asked, revolting at what they 
would weigh if brought before them with learning and 
tact. What we want in India for purposes of evangelisa- 
tion is knowledge, which is always modest and common 
sense, which avoids giving too abrupt a shock to deeply 
rooted creeds. It is quite ex regle to smile at the absurdi- 
ties as we term them of the Hindu fables, to wonder at 
the folly of a caste which believe the saltness of the ocean 
to depend upon man’s sins impregnating its waters ; but to 
the tolerant mind it will appear as great a demand upon 
the faith of the Hindu to expect him to believe the fearful 
curse entailed upon the human race, through the love of 
our first mother for forbidden fruit, or to assent to the rea- 
sonableness of the tremendous mystery of the Trinity, as 
it would be upon ours to credit the marvellous legends 
with which the Vedas abound. 
Another paper on the same subject is promised in a 
