H I N D O 
reveals the circumftance to his matter ; in this cafe they 
believe that it will not be productive of any evil confe- 
quence. But, fhould the matter reach the proprietor’s 
knowledge, the calamities before ftated mutt, according to 
the prevailing ideas, infallibly happen. In fupportof this 
unaccountable fuperftition, many of the moil aged per- 
fons in the province of Benares have gravely recounted 
to the Englifh government feveral inftances of the above 
nature, which they affirmed to have actually happened dur¬ 
ing their own time ; and moreover, that they had been per- 
fonal witneffes to the evils and misfortunes which befel the 
unhappy victims of the defcription alluded to !” 
Under impreffions of fuch unheard-of fuperftition, even 
in the commoneft concerns of human life, can it at all be 
wondered at that the Hindoos have been fo long made the 
dupes of prieftcraft, and funk into the groffeft idolatry ? 
The Brahmins feem early to have forefeen, that ad¬ 
vancement in knowledge would produce the decline of 
their own fpiritual authority; and they guarded there¬ 
fore againlt it with a degree of caution and fuccefs, fcarce- 
ly to be exampled in any other civilized country. Yet 
by this means they kept the people united among them- 
felves, and prevented their tranquillity from being dif- 
turbed by the introduction of foreign innovations. 
We afterwards fee the empire over-run by a fierce race 
of Mohammedan invaders, who, in the beginning of their 
furious conquefts, endeavoured with their countrymen to 
fubdue the minds of the Hindoos. They maffacred the 
people; tortured the priefts; threw down the temples, 
and converted many of them into places of worfhip for 
their prophet; till, at length, tired with the exertion of 
cruelties which they found to be without effeCt, and 
guided by their intereft, which led them to wifi) for tran¬ 
quillity, they were conftrained to tolerate a religion and 
culloms which they found it w r as impoffible to deftroy. 
It is however a lamentable refleClion, that in this en¬ 
lightened age, and in a country fo much under the influ¬ 
ence of the Britiffi government, fo meek and complacent 
a people, whofe number does not amount to lets than 
fifty, millions of fouls, fhould be daily going on In all 
“ the abominations of the heathen and be “ worlhip- 
ping their idols in every grove, and in every high place.” 
It were vain any longer to attempt to controvert this ob¬ 
vious fail; and abfurd to palliate it, by pretending that 
“ the adoration is paid through the idol to the Supreme 
Being.” Thofe who delight in fuch difquifitions, appear 
more anxious to caft a veil over the religious errors of 
the Hindoos, than to fubjeCl the enquiry to the touch- 
ftone of truth. 
Under thefe circumftances, the wiffi, and the defire, that 
fome door might be opened to this people, as an inlet to 
the mild dofitrines of the Chriftian difpenfation, mull be 
uppermoft in every benevolent mind. But how, it will 
b£ alked, is the great work of the Hindoo converfion to 
be brought about ? Not by coercion ; for that mode we 
have feen fail in every part of the pagan world, and un¬ 
der every pow'er which has endeavoured to enforce it. 
To fetter the body is no difficult talk ; but the fhackle has 
never yet been forged that could fetter the mind.—• 
Wherever the French, the Spanilh, the Portuguefe, mif- 
fionaries have directed their Heps, whether in North or 
South America,.in Afia, Africa, or in the Eaft or Weft 
India Iflands, and ereCted the perfecuting fpiritof the In- 
quilition, there we have feen the moll dreadful cruelties 
and malfacres take place; repelling at once every idea of 
converfion in the mind of the aftonifhed favage, and call¬ 
ing an indelible ftain upon that very religion they pre¬ 
tended to propagate. All accounts agree, that the fero¬ 
cious Tamerlane, after having conquered northern Hin- 
dooftan, collected together no lels than one hundred thou- 
fand of the idolatrous inhabitants, and gave them the 
choice of an agonizing death, or an immediate conver¬ 
fion to the Mohammedan faith. The fugitives hefitated 
not; they preferred death to the acceptance of a religion 
O S T A N. 179 
which difgraced its profeffors by fuch wanton aCts of 
cruelty and murder, alike unparalleled and unprovoked. 
What Heps then might be taken to forward lo merito¬ 
rious-a talk, as that of converting to Chriftianity the ido¬ 
latrous Hindoos ? The anfwer is, A fair and candid ap¬ 
peal to the underftanding of every individual; who, when 
left at perfeCt liberty, and having before him the docu¬ 
ments whereby to inform his judgment, might freely 
exercife that unbiafted reafon, with which the Almighty, 
in his infinite goodnefs, has more or lefs endued all his 
creatures. By this divine light, in all probability, he 
would difcern the truth ; his mind would be prepared 
to receive inftruCtion, and the W'ork of falvation go regu¬ 
larly fotward. 
The difficulty appears to be in providing thofe docu¬ 
ments, and placing them in the hands of fuch a countlefs 
multitude. Yet, perhaps, the documents might be pro¬ 
vided without any very great trouble, or unreafonable 
expence. For, as we are in poifeffion of the Vedas, or 
Hindoo Scriptures, might w : e not tranflate fuch ftriking 
paftages from them as the Creation of the World—the 
general depravity of the antediluvian people—the confe- 
quent. univerfal deluge—the re-peopling c-f the world by 
the fons of Noah—and the conlequent epochs and events, 
as are therein recorded ? Then, in an oppofite column, 
might be placed the correfpondent palfages, from the 
more fublime and elevated diCtion of our. Holy Scrip¬ 
tures; whereby the Hindoos would, to their aftonifh- 
ment, perceive, that originally and fundamentally our 
faith and theirs was one and the fame, and our adoration 
paid to one and the fame everlafting Being; but whom 
they had, by lapfe of time, or through falfe teachers, moft 
unfortunately defected for idols of wood or ftone, which 
could arford them no help whatever, either in this world 
or in that which is to come. Then might be added the 
patriarchal hillory ; fhowing that from thence defcended 
a bleffed Redeemer; the light of whofe G.ofpel was now 
to be opened to their view', and tendered for their joy- 
lul acceptance. 
The immenfe number of people to ■whom thefe docu¬ 
ments would require to be prefented, forms no ferious 
obftacle to the profecution of the plan; becaufe it does 
not follow that the whole mafs of population is to be ad- 
dreffed at once. The moft rational procedure would be, 
to begin with fome province in alliance with the Englifh 
government; and publifh thefe Scriptures in the Hindoo- 
ftanee language, or in whatever dialed may happen to be 
vernacular, or commonly fpoken, in fuch province. 
This mode of endeavouring to introduce Chriftianity 
among the Hindoos, would create no alarm ; it would 
excite no jealoufy, nor favour of any difpofition to exert 
compuliion or violence. And as the Brahmins, like the 
Roman-catholic clergy, prohibit the reading of the Scrip¬ 
tures to all but the privileged orders, it might be fairly 
inferred, that the avidity of the bulk of the people to avail 
themfelves of the information fo unexpectedly and provi¬ 
dentially afforded them, would be fo much the greater. 
Thus, while juftice, tempered w'ith.Mercy, prevails in the 
tribunals of the Englifh government; while urbanity of 
difpofition, exemplary manners, and a ftrid attention to 
religious duties, are manifelled by all the fubjeds under 
that government; the force of example would add its 
weight to the divine precepts of the Gofpel; and the moft 
happy confequences would probably refult from the ope¬ 
ration of a plan founded in Uriel philanthrophy, and car¬ 
ried on with patience, candour, and true Chriftian bene¬ 
volence. It may alfo be expeded, after the firft fuccefs, 
that one province would foon follow the example of ano¬ 
ther ; and in the courfe of a few years the work of re¬ 
generation might poffibly be effected throughout the whole 
of that extenlive country. 
But., fuppofing that this friendly appeal to the fenfe and 
reafon of the Hindoos fhould not, in the firft inftance, be 
attended with that complete fuccefs which might be 
wifhedj 
