a complete revolution had taken place in the feelings of the king, the royal family, and principal men of the country, towards the British. They were so astonished at the forbearance, good faith, and noble exploits of the conquerors, that they attributed all to the religion which they professed, and the God whom they worshipped. They desired Dr. Price, who was called 'the peacemaker,' from the prominent part he had acted in the negociations, to explain to them the cause of all this; and they could not conceal from him their astonishment at the good behaviour of the white foreigners.”

The early years of missionary labour must necessarily, to a great extent, be tentative. Accordingly many experiments are mentioned in this volume, from the success or failure of which much valuable experience has resulted to missionary societies and their managers. We select two; the first because of its bearing upon the important question, how far or in what way persons holding high situations under the government of India, may engage in direct missionary efforts? At page 411, we read of an excellent Christian man, holding the position of judge and magistrate, who while faithfully and assiduously discharging his official duties, devoted, with zeal and selfdenial very uncommon, personal labour, influence, and wealth, to the diffusion of Christianity among the natives. He himself prepared native teachers, gathered a body of 400 converts, including children, maintained schools for them at his own cost, and altogether spent out of his income more than twenty thousand pounds, dying in the midst of his work, such a death as a Christian may hope to die. Who can help admiring such a man, and wishing for hundreds like him in British India? Yet, painful as it is to relate, this apparent success melted away after his death, and originated the reproachful epithet often flung at native converts, "rice-andcurry Christians." Mr. Hough has offered some judicious remarks upon the case, apologizing for the inexperience of this excellent man, and clearing his name from reproach. It may also be well to remind those who utter such reproaches, that it was not a missionary society, nor a missionary, who made the experiment: nor would we ourselves overlook the warning thus given, that the purest zeal of the best men hold ing responsible positions under the government, may, if not judiciously applied, do harm rather than good.

The other experiment to be noticed, is the long-continued endeavour of the Church Missionary Society to reform the native Syrian churches of Travancore, undertaken at the recommendation of Buchanan, and sanctioned by bishop Middleton and his successors. The measures adopted for this purpose are detailed in the 7th chapter, as well as the care and per severance with which they were sustained; especially the quiet and indefatigable labours of Mr. Bailey, in translations and the

Hough's Christianity in India.

management of the press.

427

induced the society to abandon the plan altogether, and to But subsequent experience has place the Travancore mission on the same footing with its other missions; and the result has been in every way successful. We cannot but think that there is evidence in the narrative to show, not only that such an attempt would fail, but that it ought to fail, inasmuch as it involved a compromise in regard to the errors and superstitions of that church, and the conduct of its ministers, which placed the missionaries in a wrong position, and led the natives to regard those evils as venial. The lesson has taught us how, in future, to attempt the reform of corrupted

churches. And

Italy?

may

not this lesson be useful now in regard to

in this work, is the kindliness of feeling manifested towards one Among the pleasing features of Indian Christianity, depicted another by parties who are too often antagonists at home. We find societies of different denominations making exchanges with each other of their posts of labour. We find the Church

Missionary Society the Christian Knowledge Society. We find the missionaries of nonconformists volunteering expressions of respect to the

more liberal to Bishop's College than even

sentiments of regard and confidence. Heber, when vindicating Protestant missions from the Jesuits'

reproach of failure, mediate neighbourhood, with whom though we differ in many and doubtless many important points, I should hate myself if I could regard them as any other than my brethren and fellow servants in the Lord." (p. 544). Still more beautiful are the words of bishop James; whose short career of only seven months in India, sketched in chapter xix., will be read with melancholy interest. Addressing an assembly of missionaries, among whom were others than churchmen, he said,

"these numerous believers of our own im

"If some of those who in our native country dissent from our establishment on certain questions, and thus place themselves without our pale, are too apt to regard us with an unfriendly view, here at least all such feelings ought and must vanish in sight of our common adverBary. All those who are Christians in principle are with us, and not against us. The only dissenters in this land should be the idolatrous heathen or the professed enemies of the cross of Christ." (p. 601.)

We must not lay down this interesting volume without a brief reference to the last chapter, which narrates the episcopate of bishop Turner; a man not only commended by lord Ellenborough, when about to appoint him to the office, as "a very good and pious man, without worldly notions, and really devoted to his high calling," but who is thus described by archdeacon Corrie, no mean judge, after six months' intimate

Vol. 60.-No. 282.

3 K

acquaintance with him in the exercise of his episcopal functions,"He is by far the best suited for this appointment of any who have occupied it, with more practical knowledge of men and parochial matters than any of them. He has large views of usefulness, and with perfect propriety of language states them to government."

We cannot wonder if the death of three bishops within so short a time had led Dr. Turner, when anticipating the offer, to hesitate about accepting it. The way in which all difficulty of this kind was removed is told in a touching story of his excellent wife, then on her death bed:

"She urged him, at whatever sacrifice of ease or health, and favourable prospects at home, to go out in the spirit of a martyr to that distant land, not counting his life dear to himself, if by any means he might promote the glory of his Redeemer and the welfare of immortal souls for whom he died. She had before her eyes the names and early loss of Middleton, and Heber, and James, but she bid him let none of these things move him; but in the faith and strength of the Lord go wherever his sacred vows of fidelity, as a servant and ambassador of Jesus Christ, impelled him." (p. 610.)

Other instances of like devotedness to the Saviour and his cause, on the part of Christian women, are recorded in this volume.

The career of the bishop can only be glanced at. Touching at the Cape of Good Hope to make arrangements for an ecclesiastical establishment, he arrived in Calcutta in December, 1829, and immediately commenced his work. He held a visitation, and a confirmation of 317 persons before a month had elapsed. Soon after he induced archdeacon Corrie to take up his abode with him in the palace; and the bishop's own christian character may be fairly estimated by the description he gives of that good man thus intimately known. He writes:

"In the archdeacon I have all the aid I could wish for, and supplied in a way I most desire. He is, in very truth, ad unguem factus, discreet and patient, gentle and easy to be entreated, yet firm as adamant in purposes for good; laborious beyond all ordinary measure of labour; yet altogether without bustle or parade, ever on the watch for good; and bringing his mature experience to bear upon every circumstance which may be turned to account in the great cause to which every thought of his heart and every moment of his life is absolutely devoted. Such is Daniel Corrie, and well may I rejoice that being such, he is archdeacon of Calcutta." (p. 622.)

We next find the bishop actively engaged in efforts for the better observance of the Lord's-day in India; and writing home, in an admirable letter, his views on the ecclesiastical affairs of his diocese. His exertions for the extended usefulness of Bishop's College, and for the greater efficiency of missionaries,

are next mentioned. The High School at Calcutta, for the education of European and East Indian youths, the first Infant School, and the District Charitable Society in the same city, owe their origin to him. After his visit to Madras, where he ordained the well-known native missionary, John Dewasagayam, and thence to the Neilgherries and Bombay; he crossed over to Ceylon, being the first Calcutta diocesan who had reached the north of the island. Here the first symptoms of declining health appeared. Though he returned to Calcutta, it was evident to himself and others that his work was drawing to its close. A most interesting and touching account is given of his last days by his beloved archdeacon, who closed his eyes on the 7th of July, 1831, after a residence of only eighteen months in India. From his dying expressions we select one, which reminds us of Hooker's great argument, and commend it with many other death-bed triumphs mentioned in this volume, to the consideration of those who are seeking to undermine that foundation of revealed truth upon which such hopes and assurances are based.

"I have growing evidence," he said to the archdeacon, "that I know in whom I have trusted. A little knowledge of science makes us confident; but as we advance we feel less certainty; whilst the more we advance in religious knowledge, the greater certainty we attain." (p. 643.)

We would ask of those underminers what they have to propose as a substitute for these soul-sustaining truths and hopes? We would ask of the Christian, "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?"

We lay down this book with intense satisfaction at the thought that so large an amount of genuine heroism, not for the destruction, but the happiness, of men, has been displayed in the propagation of Christian truth among our fellow subjects in India; and that so many valuable lives, both of men and women, have been cheerfully devoted and freely sacrificed for their spiritual welfare. The church of Christ should have its heroes; the faith of Christ its confessors, "who loved not their lives. unto death;" and in India they have had them. And if "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints," how could it possibly be, that while the bones of God's faithful servants were lying there as in so many Macpelahs till Jesus shall claim the land for his own, India should be given up into the hands of treacherous mutineers, whose object was the extinction of Christianity!

THE LIFE OF COLUMBUS, AND ITS DISREGARDED LESSONS.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS was a native of Genoa. He was the son of a wool-comber, and his forefathers had followed that trade or handicraft for several generations. But as he soon showed a predilection for a seafaring life, he was sent for a short time in his youth to the university of Pavia, where he studied geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation. At about the age of fourteen he made his first voyage, after which he is to be regarded as one devoted to the calling of a navigator. For twenty years we have only faint glimpses of his life as a seaman, but these show us that up to his thirty-fifth year he was ceaselessly employed; sometimes in commerce, sometimes in war; but invariably in active life on the ocean.

It was about the year 1470 that Columbus arrived in Lisbon. The efforts and enterprise of prince Henry of Portugal had attracted to the Lusitanian capital "the learned, the curious, and the adventurous," from all parts of the world. This distinguished man, the son of king John I. and Philippa of Lancaster, sister to our own Henry IV., had for years been labouring in the study of the sciences, and in the promotion of geographical discoveries, and had assembled around him men who were devoted to scientific researches from various countries. Under his auspices a great part of the west African coast had been explored, several important settlements founded, and a way opened for the grand discoveries of Vasco de Gama, which rendered memorable the close of that century.

Columbus had been a thoughtful, reasoning, and enthusiastic navigator from his youth; and when he visited Portugal he was led there by the interest he took in prince Henry's undertakings. While resident in Lisbon he married the daughter of an Italian lately dead, who had been one of prince Henry's most distinguished navigators, and from his wife's mother he obtained the papers, charts, and journals of the deceased commander. During the intervals of his voyages to Guinea or elsewhere, he constructed maps and charts, and corresponded with men of science in Italy and other countries. The moment was one in which, all over Europe, the question was agitating men's minds, "How India was to be reached by sea?" The route afterwards taken by Vasco de Gama, by the Cape of Good Hope, had not yet been discovered; the existence of the American continent was wholly unknown; and, among other problems then under examination, that which chiefly interested Columbus was, whether a voyage from Europe, due west, would not, in process of time, bring the voyagers to the eastern side of the Asiatic continent?

It is abundantly evident that, in the course of the twenty