prejudices of men, who, from their lapsed condition, are under the tyranny of sin, it would cease to be worth possessing, and prove itself to be on a par with those various systems of false religion which promise heaven at the close of an unholy life.

As to those prejudices peculiar to the Hindoos, which are of the stronger kind, and more violently affect their feelings, the principal of them have been referred to by the Abbé; and even these I have, in many instances, found capable of being either materially diminished, or actually overcome. Brahmins and others, and when they have objected that I ate beef, I have referred them to their own Shasters, which say that men who attain to a high degree of knowledge, sanctity, and abstraction, may eat any thing, and that the distinctions about food and ceremonies are peculiar to the ignorant and grovelling. By this answer I have seen their prejudice materially abated, if not totally removed.

I have argued with the

With respect to the drinking of wine, when they have objected to it, I have quoted a passage from their own Shaster, intimating that wine may be drank medicinally, and said, that Paul enjoins the drinking of but a little, and that for the stomach's sake, which is the using it as sub

servient to one's health; and thus I have found this prejudice recede also.

With respect to animals offered up in sacrifice, I have argued with the Brahmins and other Hindoos concerning their own practice of the like kind, and said, "Why do you slay all those kids in your religious services? Does God eat flesh or drink blood ?"-They have been at a loss to vindicate their practice, and afforded an excellent opening for explaining to them the real origin and meaning of animal sacrifices, and of shewing them that they began as early as the days of Adam, the first man that ever lived, the first who ever sinned, and in whose days the promise of a Saviour was first made ;--of shewing to them that these sacrifices were ordained in order to prefigure the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, who, in the fulness of time, came into the world, died upon the cross, and became the "Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world;"-that their own sacrifices all originated from this primary revelation, but that with the loss of the knowledge of the true God, they had lost the knowledge of many things pertaining to his worship also; and of this relating to sacrifices among the number. By enlarging upon these and corresponding points, I have never found the sacrifice of animals, as spoken of in the Bible,

detrimental to the dissemination of the gospel ; but, on the contrary, furnishing an easy and advantageous mode of leading up to the vital doctrine which the great Apostle of the Gentiles constantly proclaimed, and in reference to which he said to the Corinthians, "I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

With regard to the meanness of Christ's origin, I have found that a full exhibition of the divine nature of our Saviour; of his miraculous conception, without the intervention of any human father; and of the necessity of his humiliation to effect man's redemption, have been quite sufficient to remove any unfavourable impression which might result from the circumstance of his reputed father being a carpenter. According to the Abbé's account of the sermon which gave so much umbrage to his Hindoo audience, it appears as though he had unnecessarily, and unscripturally, increased their prejudices by representing Christ as really the son of a carpenter, instead of prominently pointing out the dignity and peculiarity of his character as the "Son of God."

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With regard to the Abbé's assertion, that the Bible contains in almost every page accounts which cannot fail deeply to wound their (the Hindoos') feelings, by openly hurting prejudices

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which are held most sacred;" I apprehend it cannot, it will not, be assented to by any candid and competent judge.

Take, for instance, the Gospel of St. Matthew : you will find in it, at the fourth verse of the twenty-second chapter, the words of the parable, "My oxen and my fatlings are killed." These words, the Abbé would say, are calculated to awaken the violent prejudices of the Hindoos. If this were really the case, and here and there a passage of a similar kind he found, there yet remains the great bulk of the Gospel by Matthew, and, I may add, the great bulk of the New Testament, yea, of the whole Bible, which may be imparted to the Hindoo without the apprehension of any such effect.

In fact, so large a portion of the Bible is totally free from the objection dwelt upon by the Abbé, that the funds at the Missionaries' disposal would be far from sufficient for an adequate distribution of the parts of the Sacred Scriptures unaffected by it. Thus, if the principle on which the author's objection is founded were correct, and the prejudices of the Hindoos ought to be humoured, as he contends, yet his objection would be of no practical force whatever.

But the principle on which the Abbé argues is unsound; for if the Hindoo should not find his difficulties removed to his entire satisfaction, and

should still feel a considerable prejudice remaining, as it respects those points which do not harmonize with his preconceptions, yet he is bound to accept the Bible as the rule of his conduct, because it is most abundantly proved to be a revelation from God to man. It is proved to be so by the miracles wrought on its behalf-by the prophecies fulfilled in its favour-by the holy tendency of its precepts-by the actual effect it has produced in turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; and by all those various and conclusive arguments which are abundantly sufficient to satisfy every candid inquirer;-proofs which are as the broad seal of heaven on the sacred volume, stamping it as the word of God.

If the Hindoo, therefore, slight or reject the Bible, in so doing he takes upon himself the awful responsibility connected with such a course. Despising the mercy of his Maker, and refusing to build his hopes of heaven on that sole foundation which God has laid in Zion, "He shall die in his iniquity;" but the Missionary has discharged his duty,-has given him full warning, and thus "delivered," at least, "his own soul.'

I trust enough has been said upon the author's hostility to the practice of circulating the Scriptures among the Hindoos, and that every adequate judge will pronounce his objection to have