scription of forty-five thousand pounds, collected in the various parishes of the United Empire in consequence of that letter; the establishment of the Bishop's College, and its avowed missionary character, —these things tend loudly to proclaim a national conviction and feeling of the obligation to attempt the conversion of the Hindoos to Christianity. They also tend greatly to prove the solidity and convincing nature* of that great mass of evidence, to which a reference was made a few pages back, and to put at rest the question agitated, but without cause, by the Abbé Dubois.

I now proceed to offer a statement of the efforts made by missionaries of the Protestant persuasion, and of the success by which those efforts have been followed.

In the province of Bengal, missionaries connected with different Protestant societies, have

There is a small volume, entitled "Propaganda," the second edition of which was published in 1820. It is an "Abstract of the Designs and Proceedings of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, with Extracts from the Annual Sermons." This volume contains not only particulars relative to the Society's operations, but a weight of episcopal testimony in behalf of India missions, eloquently and ably urged, which must convince all who are disposed to defer to ecclesiastical authority, especially when supported, as it is here, by sound

reason.

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embarked in the missionary cause. I will commence with those of the Baptist denomination, as having taken the lead; and, as proposed, first notice their labours referring more immediately to Europeans.

In Calcutta, the Baptist missionaries have erected two substantial chapels for the accommodation of the British residents. The worship of God is regularly conducted in English at these chapels on the Sabbath days, and at other convenient seasons in the week, and they have been of use in opening the eyes of many nominal European Christians to the impropriety of calling Christ, Lord! without doing the things which he has commanded.

At Howrah, (on the side of the river opposite to Calcutta) the Baptist missionaries conduct European worship in a chapel which they have been the means of building.

At Serampore, the missionaries conduct the worship of Europeans in the church belonging to the colony, under the sanction of His Excellency the Danish Governor, and also in a large schoolroom connected with the mission establishment. They have also been successful preachers to the military at Fort William, Dumdum, Barrackpore, Berhampore, and other places. Many of this class have been reclaimed from vicious habits, and enabled, through their labours, to adorn their

Christian profession by a blameless walk and conversation.

At Calcutta and Serampore, the missionaries - of the Baptist denomination have schools for the children of the European gentry, which are seminaries of religion as well as of learning, where many have been induced to remember their Creator in the days of their youth.

In connexion with the Baptist Mission at Calcutta, must also be distinctly noticed the school denominated "the Benevolent Institution," in which some thousands of poor children, chiefly the descendants of those usually termed Portuguese Roman Catholics, have received the most important instruction, been rescued from the miseries of ignorance, and taught how to discharge their duties to God and man.

The "Friend of India," a periodical work ;-Answers to Ram Mohunroy, the celebrated Brahmin, on the Socinian controversy; and other publications, in English, from the pen of the Baptist missionaries, written for the benefit of Europeans, have contributed to the furtherance of the great cause in Bengal.

The fruit of these labours, as bearing upon the work among the heathen, has been that several Europeans, impressed with a deep sense of religion, have relinquished their original occupations, and embarked in direct missionary

work among the Hindoos. Many have subscribed liberally of their substance for the furtherance of the great object, have advocated the cause of Christianity in private conversations with the heathen, assisted in the distribution of the Scriptures and Tracts, and rolled away a great part of the stumbling-block, previously alluded to, by furnishing the most effectual of all arguments for the conversion of the heathen -the example of a holy life.

We have now to advert to the labours of the Baptist missionaries, as carried on more directly among the heathen. To the native inhabitants of India they have diligently proclaimed the tidings of salvation. They have built several bungalows to serve as chapels for them, in Calcutta, Serampore, and other places. In these bungalows, as well as out of doors, the missionaries, and various native preachers, are continually occupied in explaining the gospel to the Hindoos.

The question will doubtless now be put,— Have they succeeded in their efforts? Have they been instrumental in effecting the conversion of any of the Hindoos, especially of the Brahmins? I answer, as an eye-witness, that they have. I travelled for about a month with a converted Brahmin, who was induced to make a profession of Christianity by the preaching and conversation of another native, of inferior caste, who had been

previously converted himself by the instrumentality of the Baptist missionaries.

In the month of November, 1821, this Brahmin, together with another converted Hindoo, a European, who in India had become a missionary, and myself, embarked in a covered boat for the purpose of ascending the river Hooghly, and preaching the gospel to the heathen wherever we went. In the course of this excursion, I had a full opportunity of observing the conduct of these two Hindoo converts, and it was such as produced a strong impression on my mind that their faith in Christ was real, and their Christian profession sincere.

After the period I have specified, the Brahmin above alluded to lived for some months in a small building contiguous to the house in which I resided. He came to me daily for the purpose of prosecuting his theological studies; and when I went out at sunset, or in the evening of the day, with a view of preaching to and conversing with the heathen, he in general accompanied me and took part in the services.

Upon his becoming acquainted with my resolution to return to England, he expressed a strong wish to accompany me. Had Providence granted his desire, he would have been at this moment in England; and, whilst the Abbé is asserting that the conversion of a Hindoo, especially of a