quish the privileges of caste, and embrace a religion which puts all men upon a level. In the first place, it is to be hoped that no compulsion will ever be allowed in the system of their conversion; and in the next, although it be admitted that Christianity in one sense does reduce the whole human race to the same standard, yet in every other, the divine and moral precepts of the gospel enjoin the Christian, in all situations, to give tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour. Even regarding the distinctions of meat and drink, the keeping of particular days, and similar non-essentials in religion, nothing can be more liberal or gentle than the admonition of the great apostle to the Gentiles: "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations: for one believeth that may eat all things; another who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth; for God hath received him. One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike: let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: for I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Let us, therefore, follow after the things which make for peace, and things where with one may edify another. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost!"

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On a fair comparison then, between the Christian and the Hindoo religion, what candid mind can hesitate to pronounce in favour of the former? The religion of HIM, who saith "Look unto me,

and be saved, all ye ends of the earth!" O! what an ample field is here opened for holy meditation and solemn musing! for pious resolves and holy energies, which are not confined to the brahminical groves, nor the cloisters of a monastery; but are to be found in the heart of every real Christian, who knows that his body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; and that, assisted by divine grace, it is in his power, from that indwelling from that indwelling principle, to perform the relative duties of society, to enjoy the innocent pleasures of life, and at the same time to find himself, at solemn seasons, exalted above this fading scene, in celestial intercourse with his Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier!

Under such a view, shall it any longer be said that the Hindoos, who are in a state of spiritual darkness, and practise crimes of the most atrocious nature, do not need the blessings of Christianity? or that their moral and religious codes, even if accompanied by their enjoined virtues, place them above those nations to whom the apostles were immediately sent? Are the inactive brahmins, the idle yogees, the oppressive duans, and cruel zemindars, superior to the active minister of the Ethiopian queen, to whom an evangelist was commissioned to explain the prophecies, and to baptize in the name of that Saviour whom he wished to know and love? Are they coequal with Cornelius of Cæsarea, whose prayers and alms ascended as a memorial before God; whose household was composed of good men, and on whom devout soldiers waited continually? In the opinion of modern unbelievers, such a character needed no conversion; he stood firm on a rock, surrounded by his virtues. But we must not be governed by man's opinion, the Almighty beheld the Roman centurion in a different light, and

miraculously sent a messenger to teach him a better way; to proclaim the remission of sins through that name alone whereby we can be saved.

There could not be a more zealous worshipper of God than Saul of Tarsus, under a dispensation which came from heaven, by signs and wonders, and a combination of every thing to render it sublime and awful; yet in his memorable journey to Damascus, the Redeemer of man, having then fulfilled the law, introduced a new dispensation, and ascended into heaven, appeared in a wonderful manner to this zealous champion for Judaism. While he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the Christian church, the great Head of that church suddenly arrested him in his career, and sent him, as a chosen vessel, to bear his name before the Gentiles, and to. preach his gospel to kings and people; especially to the polished nations of Greece and Rome, whose philosophers believed in the unity of God as much as the absorbed brahmin, or twice-born man, among their devotees; but where the mass of the people were, like the Hindoos, given up to polytheism, idolatry, and pagan darkness.

If we place the superior brahmins on an equality with the good Cornelius, more cannot be expected; yet Cornelius was to be taught a better way. And it is granting, perhaps, more than is required, to allow the Hindoos at large to be in the same condition as the Jews, "to whom appertained the adoption, the glory, the covenant, the giving of the law, the service of the sanctuary, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is GoD over all, blessed for evermore!" Yet, after all this superiority over every other nation, the apostle most ardently prays for Israel, that

they might be saved by the gospel of Christ; because, although they had a zeal of God, it was not according to knowledge: and then in the true catholic spirit of that gospel he was so peculiarly selected to preach to the Gentiles, he declares that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is followed by those questions on which we must now lay the great stress of this argument: "How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace!"

St. Paul, the learned disciple of Gamaliel, was the apostle chosen to spread those divine truths among the heathen, and was, by high authority, ordained to be the preacher to the gentiles. In obedience to the heavenly mandate, he travelled among the Greeks and Romans, and won over, by the consoling truths of the gospel, thousands of all denominations, from the imperial palace of Nero, to Lydia of Thyatira, and the jailor at Philippi. At Athens, then the most refined and elegant city in the world, the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers brought him unto the Areopagus; where, publicly condemning their ignorance and superstition, he says, on beholding their devotions, he had found an altar erected to the UNKNOWN GOD! "HIM therefore, whom they ignorantly worshipped, he preached unto them; the GOD who made the world, and all things therein; who is Lord of heaven and earth, and dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing;

seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men, and hath determined the times, and the bounds of their habitation: that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him; though he be not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art, and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by him who he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he raised him from the dead."

Had a man the power of Demosthenes, or the eloquence of Tully, what could he say more than the apostle preached in that short discourse before the wisest men of Greece? It is equally applicable to the brahmins, and all their deluded followers: for we must not be guided by the opinion of certain modern philosophers, or the superficial observers of local manners and customs in foreign countries; but we must repair to the unerring standard of truth; there we shall see in what these applauded brahmins are deficient: and not them only, but their advocates of every description, who, in a christian country, set up the oriental standard of holiness. We shall there also see the situation of Voltaire and his disciples in the eyes of a pure and holy God! for, without REDEEMING LOVE, and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, what is man? What he is by nature we know from the lives and conduct of the