We state not this to discourage or because our hearts faint, for God ever liveth, but to shew how strong a claim every minister of Christ has upon the sympathies and prayers of those that remain or dwell permanently in the land. It is done with the intention of urging on the resident Christians in India this apostolic injunction-Brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may be glorified amongst us even as it is with others. Not only is the country in which we live, but the city in which we dwell peculiarly a city of change. It is a city of passage either for the young who are just en. tering on life in all the buoyancy of health and hope, or for the sick and invalided who are seeking to renovate emaciated constitutions in a more brac ing clime-both of which classes are not generally in the most suitable state to listen to the truths of the word of God, or to form lasting and endeared friendships, and this is the season in which many such things occur, when old friends pass away and new ones are arriving. We have chosen this subject that before we break up our connexions or form new ones we may unite in reflecting on the idence of God, during the period of our sojourn here, or on that which may await us in the future arrangements of God, while we are permitted to dwell in the land. There are two reversions in providences to which we are subject. First, the reversion of poverty, sorrow and disease for affluence, joy and health; and, secondly, the reversion from joy, health, and affluence to poverty, sorrow and disease; and there is often a combination of the two, where disease combines with wealth, and health with decent poverty, or sadness with wealth, and health. It is the latter state combining reverses both of a pleasurable and painful nature which more commonly occurs in this land; we see persons who came out empty of this world's goods go away full; but who came, full of health depart like a broken vessel; and those who came out with joyful and buoyant minds, picturing to themselves the highest order of enjoyment when they should have amassed their fortunes, having obtained those fortunes retiring with sad hearts and morbid affections to the land of their fathers; and alas! too many are there who came out with a comparative fulness of moral and religious feelings, who go away destitute of all sensibility of conscience and all tenderness of heart, either swallowed up in earthliness, heathenism or Mahomedanism, speaking if not in disparaging terms of their own faith, at leasting to compare it with the lies of Brahma and Mahomed. These speake poor and simple natives, of whose simplicity they can produce but few evidences, and whose poverty they have not sought to ameliorate; they speak of them as though they were the inhabitants of a second Arcadia, but forgetting in their departure, if even India were Arcadia, to leave that behind which would enable its inhabitants to weed its gardens or prune its trees. Those who have amassed fortunes in India and who will not reside in it, should at least invest some of that property for the moral and religious advantage of its inhabitants. It is impossible to look on any of these classes, but especially on this last of persons, who were once full of every good promise, now withered and blighted, in mind and body, intoxicated by success, yet forgetful of God in the midst of his mercies, who have thrown off every moral and spiritual beauty, without exclaiming in the bitterest agony of spirit and is this Naomi? The great cause of all these sorrows, remember, is to be traced to forgetfulness of God; they have forgotten him, and he has given them up to believe and practise a lie. Let those of you who are but entering on an Indian career, beware, lest a promise being left you of entering into rest you should seem to come short of it. There are those amongst us who entered upon life in comparative poverty, but who by the divine favor have risen to affluence and wealth; such possess an influence which they never anticipated, and can command resources of which they had scarcely dreamt, and with unimpaired health. In looking at them in their altered condition, in their houses, dress, equipage and modes of expenditure, it is impossible not to ask, Is this Naomi ? Are these the persons who in their poverty did serve and fear God, but now in affluence, as his service costs them a sacrifice, will not yield it with that pleasure which they once did? It is true, they still attend the house of God-respect his ministry and support his cause, yet in their houses, their conversation, and in their domestic arrangements the voice of God is not heard. Like Jeshurun they have waxed fat and have revolted, they have resisted the full force of the requirements, of the laws of God. If such be within audience to-day, let them be warned by another character which often meets us in the reverses of Providence. We refer to such as have in the mysterious ways of God been brought from an affluent condition to one of wretchedness and poverty, and that chiefly through their own imprudence, wickedness or folly. When we see those who once moved in the first walks of life plunged into the lowest society, those who formerly directed public opinion and whose word w lmost a law, deposed and broken; those who dwelt in ceiled houses, inhabiting the simplest dwelling; those who could by the magic wand of opulence call up every luxury, lacking the very necessaries of life; or those who did once maintain an outwardly decent moral conduct lost to every feeling of decency and hope, we are ready to exclaim? "Behold the picture, is it like ?" Is this Naomi ? and as we reflect on their conduct and its issue, we are ready to say, "Lord teach us to shun their path; let us not come into their secret; they knew not the hand that fed them, or the stream that supplied their wants; and the hand withdrew itself and the stream ceased to flow, and therefore they have fainted in the way!" May we be wise lest a worse thing befal us than that which hath fallen on them! One more notice of the reverses of fortune and we have done. There are those amongst us who have been hurled from the pinnacle of human happiness and prosperity to that of sorrow and distress; those who opened their career full of buoyancy and hope, like a proud bark with swelling canvas and a favoring breeze, but who are now with seams opening wide and half a wreck; rich men who have become beggars; hale men emaciated; wives, widows; children, orphans ; and husbands left to train their little ones alone. Families and circles the most replete and happy, broken up and sered, and the most sanguine hopes and prospects blighted and blast an instant. In passing through our streets and looking upon our neighbours so reversed it is impossible not to lift up the voice and weep and say, Is this Naomi? Beloved, how many have been the vicissitudes in connexion with this place of worship within a few years. "Our fathers where are they? and the prophets do they live for ever?" No! many sleep in the deathhouse, and others though living are scattered over the face of the earth, and we are changed indeed; but though they are gone, God lives, and his gospel is unchanged. How great have been the reverses in our city and country; -famine, disease, and war have each in turn visited our land, but the angel of mercy hath preserved us. Yes, in passing through many a once fertile, and densely populated part of India, now laid waste by famine and death we might lift up our voice and weep and say, Is this the land once so fertile, and are these the spots once peopled with thousands of immortal beings? Thus we see that in individual cases, in families, in villages, in towns, cities and nations, there are these fluctuations and reverses in the providence of God. One event in this matter happeneth to all. But we should also remember amidst all these changes that the hand which sways the universal sceptre is a powerful hand, and that it is swayed by a kind and loving heart. We should remember that though the sounds which fall on the ear may be discordant enough at present, yet will they ultimately blend in harmonious concert, and that though the elements of the atmosphere in which we now live be warring, they are but designed to purify it so that it will ultimately be as the calm summer's even, and blest with every fragrance, as was Eden's fairy land in which our first parents walked and conversed with their God. We should bear in mind not only that all things shall work together for our good, but that we are to be apt scholars in the school of God; we should hear one voice in the midst of all saying "Learn of me." May we hear that voice and live. What have we learnt from the lessons of the past? What sins have we deserted? What resolutions have we carried into effect? What holy purpose have we subserved? What mercies have we rightly estimated, and what service have we rendered to God? Can it be said of us in sorrow for our retrogressions in religious matters, "Is this Naomi ?" Oh may it not rather be asked what sin have we not committed-what mercies have we not neglected-what resolves have we not broken-what negligence have we not displayed! and may we not in the revelation of the guilt which shall pass in array before us exclaim" Enter not into judgment with us, O Lord!" Oh that God may enable us to remember that while all other things change one thing remaineth the same, unchanged, and unblest, but as it is changed and blest by the grace and spirit of God, and that one thing is the hard, obdurate and flinty heart of man; and may we all feeling this beseech God to pour out upon our hearts the changing and converting influence of his grace that we may be changed. Every thing around us, as well as every thing within us, has a tendency to draw us from God, to mar our spiritual beauty and spoil all the fair proportions of the spiritual temple which the Spirit of God is rearing for himself; may we ever feel that we are prone to leave the God we love; and be led to seek for that grace which alone can bring salvation; and may we remember, that the providences of God can only be viewed with advantage as they are seen through the cross of Christ, and that that cross can alone be the antidote to fear in death and the judgment and oh that we may so learn the lessons afforded us by the providence and word and grace of God, that we may be wise to observe these things and ultimately understand the loving kindness of the Lord! : VII.-Appendix to the Notices of Bengali Dictionaries. To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer. DEAR FRIENDS, I beg to forward you a further Appendix to the notices of Bengali Dictionaries, which have found place at intervals, in your useful periodical. The little work now in question has but just appeared. I wish to draw attention to it as a meritorious publication, at the same time that I complete my notitia of Bengali Grammar and Lexicography. Craving your indulgence for this further demand on your very limited space, I am, dear friends, yours, &c. CINSURENSIS. No. 16. 3 za starfs, i. e. a Dictionary of Persian words in use in this Province, with their equivalents in pure Bengalí, by Níl Kamal Mustophí; pages 96, small square form, printed at the Púrnachandroday Press, Calcutta, 1839, price 8 annas. The compiler of this work is Níl Kamal Mustophí, who, in a short preface, states his object in publishing it to be the purifying of his native language of Bengal from the admixture of those numerous Persian and other exotic terms, which have so long been current-introduced at first by the Mussalman conquerors of the country, and strangely perpetuated, under British rulers, by the anomalous retention of the Persian language in the courts and general administration of the country; to the manifest injury, equally of the conquerors and the conquered. Happily this serious impediment to the improvement of the countries subjected to our rule, is about to be numbered among the things that have been. The mental and moral energies of our fellowsubjects of Hindustan have already experienced a strong impulse to a vigorous and healthy exercise, requiring but time and extension to be attended with results of the most beneficial character. Some respectable natives of talent and acquirement have already come forward to hasten the advance of improvement. The compiler of the work now before us has taken a very prominent part in the meritorious effort to improve the language of his native province, or rather to restore it to its original purity, and so to fit it for becoming, as it now will be, the language of our courts and public offices, as well as a more correct, precise and effective medium of discourse, and a juster expression of the growing taste and extending information of the natives generally. He relies on the patriotic, intelligent, and zealous co-operation of his countrymen of all classes for giving efficiency to his labours and it is indeed earnestly to be hoped that his appeal to these will not have been made in vain. It is evident that on them, much more even than on the few foreigners who speak or write Bengali, must depend the progressive improvement of the vernacular idiom. Now that this reassumes its natural importance among national languages, may we not expect that a laudable ambition, as well to give respectability to the spoken and written tongue, as to advance their own mental improvement, will prove sufficient inducement to them generally to discard a too indolent acquiescence in what has been long customary and current, to disuse those barbarous exotics which at once disfigure and enervate the native beauty and inherent vigour of the purest offspring of that Sanskrit which they have ever deemed "the language of the gods," and to recur to the parent source for such derivatives as the rapid extension of knowledge may require to be brought into use. The object has our warmest suffrage; we think too it must secure the suffrages not only of all true philologists, but of all intelligent well-wishers to the literary and mental improvement of India. This little work extends to 76 pages in the small square Dictionary form, printed in double columns, averaging eighteen words each; making a total of 2700 to 3000 words for the whole number of Persian or Arabic terms, for which suitable pure Bengali substitutes are here provided. The typographical execution is most respectable indeed, and does very great credit to the Native Press. Of the literary execution of the work we would speak without exaggeration. It is not, of course, equal throughout, nor in every case are the Bengali substitutes for Persian terms such as are either the most correct or the most current in Bengali books. Taken as a whole, however, we are of opinion, his book does the compiler much credit. It is clear that he has employed no small labour and used no inconsiderable measure of discrimination in the execution of his task. As a first attempt it is highly meritorious. The student must be apprized that the spelling, in Bengali characters, of Persian words, has never been quite uniform or consistent with the powers of the letters; no scale having been originally laid down, each man pronounced or wrote as it pleased him; haste or a defective ear, or much ignorance of both the one language and the other, must of course have occasioned great confusion in the Orthography. The compiler should not therefore be severely animadverted upon if those who consult his book should seek for a word where it is not to be found. If e. g. one should look for fun or , and find, as he will, only tag for 'the loins'ta for a mosque'-so likewise fate an account,' &c. Frequently however he will find the same word with a variety of spelling-as sta1 and 1 for dust,' and fat and cette for cutta soldier,' got and cat for a parrot.' Some current words are not to be found at all, as 1, ' rare, singular,' Gute 'difference,'t, another form of ta a purgative,' &c. Some few are misinterpreted; as t, i. e. M, 'a searcher,' &c. is render ed sought for,' &c. The omission of the beneath close consonants will, to persons not much acquainted with Persian or Hindustani, be often puzzling; as in for, and many others. We could wish, too, such vulgar corruptions as for had been omitted; and that words of more common occurrence had been employed in some places instead of others that, we fear, are rarely heard, rarely even seen; as under cat, explained by t; where হরিণবাড়ী or কারাগার, &c. would have been preferable. In some places the sense given may be more or less questionable—as under , rendered correctly enough 1st by af; but for the other term na, প্রবেশ or উপক্রম would have been more accurate. So বাদী for ফরিয়াদী, a plaintiff, would have been preferable to ft, the more so as প্রতিবাদী is given for আসামী, a defendant. It should be noticed that the character is improperly used for or better 37, as the expression of the Persian, or w; the other spelling, however, is also given. Withal we bear most willing testimony to the general accuracy and faithfulness of the explanations, and have great pleasure in recommending this little work to all persons employed in Bengali composition; or in courts of Law or Revenue, administrative officers, &c. to whom it cannot, we think, fail of proving eminently serviceable. The price of the book, procurable at the Púrnachandroday Press, No. 29, Amratollah gully, Bara Bazar, is only eight annas! |