The wisdom of the Royal Letter, and of the subsequent contributions from the various parishes of Great Britain, amounting to five and forty thousand pounds; the propriety of the operations of the British and Foreign Bible Society, with respect to India; the propriety of the Mission College established in Calcutta, by the late bishop of that city; and of the efforts made for the evangelization of India, by the numerous missionary societies, of all denominations, in Europe and America; and of the active efforts and liberal subscriptions of European residents in India: all these does the Abbé Dubois, with a boldness suited to a better cause, venture virtually to deny. He has asserted that the Hindoo children go to the schools opened by Europeans for their instruction, influenced by the sole object of obtaining a knowledge of the English language; when, in point of fact, in nine-tenths of the schools in Bengal, the English language has not been taught. The Abbé has, in one part of his book, represented the Moravian missionaries as so appalled by the difficulties which presented themselves, that they had not the heart even to make an effort for the conversion of the Hindoos; and in another part of his book, he represents the Moravian missionaries as having made the best P possible effort for the conversion of the Hindoos, by preaching to them the gospel in all its unadorned simplicity. He has represented that the Hindoos are inaccessible, incapable of acquiring new ideas, in a state of everlasting reprobation, and that their conversion is an utter impossibility; when, in point of fact, many thousands of them have professed the Christian faith, and there is even now a native missionary society at Serampore, the committee of which is composed almost entirely of converted natives. He has represented that, from a long period, all missionaries who have arrived in India, have discovered, upon their arrival, that they had previously been deceived; and that the hopes indulged in Europe, of converting the Hindoos, vanish, after an entrance upon the actual work ;a representation which is disproved by the writer's own experience. He has, in one part of his book, represented the Bibles and tracts circulated by the missionaries, as having produced a very unfavourable excitement of mind among the natives; and in another part of his work, he states that these Bibles and tracts are perused by no one, and are above the comprehension of all. He has, in one part of his writings, asserted, that the putting a stop to Suttees by coercion is a measure too dangerous to be attempted; and in another part of them, he has declared that the Mahomedan rulers, when in power, did actually suppress the Suttees, and that he is persuaded that the Europeans will not endure them, whereever their power extends. The foregoing are some of the wrong principles, misrepresentations, and contradictions, contained in the Abbé's book, against missions in India, and animadverted upon in this Reply. The remainder are not recapitulated, and some others have not been at all adverted to, partly for the sake of brevity, and partly because it was deemed unnecessary; enough, it is presumed, having been said to satisfy every candid person of the badness of the Abbé's cause. I now, therefore, take leave of the Abbé Dubois; and, praying that God may forgive him his attempt to hinder the proclamation of divine mercy to the perishing millions of India, to you, my respected Reader, I address myself. Permit me to intreat you, if you are already a friend to missions, and long for the salvation of the heathen world, and especially the millions of Hindostan, let me intreat you to exert yourself yet more and more in the arduous and important undertaking, of communicating the Gospel to Jew and Gentile throughout the earth, Pray more fervently, contribute, if in your power, more liberally, and exert your influence more extensively, than you have ever yet done. Stagger not, neither grow faint through unbelief; for it is the work of God wherein you are embarked, and must succeed. If hitherto, on the contrary, you have not been an active friend to missions, let me beseech you to remain inert no longer. The hundred millions of India stretch out their hands to you for assistance. The tortures of the devotee suspended in the air by iron hooks-the tongue perforated with the iron spit; the agonies of the victims crushed by the car of Juggernaut;-the shrieks of the widow on her husband's funeral pile;-all the miseries of the idolaters of Hindostan, pertaining to this life and to the next, say, "Stretch out your hand for our relief." - and say, Five hundred millions more of pagans of other climes virtually add their cry, "Communicate to us the knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent to redeem the world, and deliver us from our degradation and sorrow in this world, and from that fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which awaits the guilty and unpardoned sinner in the world to come." Shut not your ears to the piercing cry of the perishing heathen now, lest God shut his ears to your cry hereafter, lest he call you to judgment, and condemn you for your want of compassion to your fellow-creatures in distress, and for disregarding the second great commandment, which says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Remember who hath said, "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" (Prov. xxiv. 11, 12.) Be up, then, and be doing; no time is to be lost; whilst you are loitering, the heathen are dying. Is Is your cry to God, on behalf of your own soul, in harmony with that prayer, "O God, make speed to save us: O Lord, make haste to help us?" Make speed then to employ a due proportion of your time, talent, influence, and wealth, to further the salvation of the heathen; make haste to unite your fervent supplications with those, whose daily cry to God is, that he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh, that he would make his way known upon earth, his saving health among all nations; and let his kingdom come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Oh, Reader! let your supplications to |