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nterposition in the original propagation of Christianity, is irresistible. It possesses indeed almost all the properties of a sensible miracle. Thiat the Christian religion is now established, must be admitted as an indis- putable fa£t ; but, that if it were at first establish- ed, merely by the operation of human causes, the same causes, and others added to them still more cogent, should now fail of producing the same efFeft^ is a phaenomenon irreconcileable to the ordinary course of events ; and can be accounted for only, of^ the supposition of some superior agency. It has been the praftice of many writers, not only of unbelievers, but of Christians, to invali- date the force of this argument ; and, in stating the difficulties which oppose the present propagation of the Gospel, and particularly its propagation in India, they have compared them with the impediments which the first preachers of the Gospel were compelled to encounter; and have represented the situation of India to be far more unfavourable to the introduftion of a new system of faith, than the general state of the world was, • in the time of -the Apostle's* T 4 080 IJi^ tjiji^. jnsmu,a(t^0J5| is fopoied, on any thing, rather than on ^ knoyvjedge of historical fa^Sjpr' an acquaintance ^yith, , hiWa'o i^atiire. The |i^st preachej-s of the Gospel had to contend with a spirit of general indifference jand ipiidelity in matters of religion, a temper of mind the ipost unpromising fiDT , the reception of n,ew tenets, and especially of suph as they ^aught. The modern missionajries have to CQijte^ with riv£tted and rigid superstition, an ohftacjie certainly forr]aJ4- abie, but far Ipss ipjSurioottnltable t^an general afid poT}&ri;a^d scepticisn?. On the contrary, a mipd en^hrallejd by superstition, may of|tien be led to espouse new opinions ; for as superstition implies a disposition ' to 'contemplate religious subjefits, arid to be swayed by religious terrors,^ the objefts may jbe changed, while the dispositipii remains the same. But, without enquiring minutely into the precise difference l?etyveen thpse two opposite disposi- tions, it may be answered, t]^^t whilp niodern missionaries have failed in their attempts pn either, the firsjt preachers of the Gospel were equally successful ag^insj; l?Qth. They could pe- netrate the recesses, fhey could reveal the licentious mysteries; of the Druidica? grpves, and expose them to public indignation, as well as silence the ajWiOgajice ajvd the sophistry ©f the schools, - jif ever indeed satisjFa^pry janswer were given tp that historian, who has digressed from hi$ •prinpipal subjpfil, tio trace the establishment of Christianity ; and if a decisive proof be wanted, to shiew the insufficiency lof those causes, which he Jias assigned for the overthrow of the Pagan Colossus, and for the erefitjooofthe banner .of the Cross in it^s place ; this proof may be found in thp history pf the missionaries of the Romish Church tQ ih? eastern world. We may there ee all those causes operating together, and operating meffe6tually. If intolerant zeal, but a zeal which desired the ei^largerogjit of its own opinions, were an adequate cause for thie first success of the Christian feith : iwhere has that quality been more conspicuously displayed, than in the Church of Rome ? If the. iipniortality of the soul were a sufficient cause, that doQ:rine has been taught by. the Romish Church) in a manner as likely to command saccessj as when taught by the first Apostles; f;or,who have been so eager to hurl forth' threats of everlasting punishment i against those, who disregard its-adQionitionsj and disown its autho- 282 rity, or to promise exclusive salvation to those-, who come within its san£luary ? If the miracu- lous powers of the first preachers of the Gospel were the cause of its success, powers, of which the historian insinuates, that they were only assumed > who have dealt in mystery and miracle, in their attempts at proselytism, so much as t|jie Roman- ists? If the virtues of the primitive Christians were so eflfeftual towards the conversion of the Pagan world, but which virtues are represented as con- sisting in unnecessary mortification, in abstinence from the innocent enjoyments of nature, in ab- straftion from the world, in a disregard and con- tempt for the duties of social life : where have those qualities been more conspicuously visible, than in the followers of the Church of Rome ? Lastly, if Unity in the government of the Church, could once prove so effeftual in extending its limits : what Church was ever so strongly organ- ized, so systematic in all its operations, so careful to preserve uniformity of sentiment, arid to pre- vent defeftion from its ordinances, as the Church of Rome ? But we have seen, that all these causes have been insufficient to make any lasting im- pression on Oriental superstition. The proselytes, which have been made,have been chiefly nominal ; gained at first by undue compliances, and either pr'eserved by the same artifices, or permitted to relapse into their former errors. 283 Should an objection here arise, that the. state of the eastern world is widely different from, the state of the Roman empire at the first propagation of Christianity; and that to this circumstance maybe imputed the failure of^ modern mission- aries : it may; be replied, that there are causes, whose potency is irresistible, and whose efficacy is universal, which have contributed towards the conversion of thp idolatrous inhabitants of India. It is not the Church of Rome solely, which has direfted her efforts towards the subversion of Oriental. Paganism ; the task has been attempted not by one sefit ,, of Christians, or by one nation, but by sefts widely discordant in opinion, and ' by nations eminently differing in chara£ter. The experiment has been tried by men of warm pas- sions and weak judgment, and by men , whose learning and piety ./have ^adorned their native countries ; but which they have voluntarily relin- quished for the npble purpose of disseminating that faith, the consolations of which they them- selves so piowerfully felt. The objetl has not been hastily espoused, and then as suddenly forgotteii ; but has been tried, during the space of three Centuries, sometimes more languidly, sometimes more vigorously, byt never entirely given up or kept out of view. 184- While however the faith of the believer in the miraculous eBtablishment of his religion, is strongly confirmed by the disappointment in the attempts of those, who have been destitute of this super- natural assistance j his benevolence is sometimes led to lament the failure of these labors of love. For, on a candid review of the progress of the Gospel in the East during these latter ages, his mind is irresistibly led to adopt one of these two conclusions ; either that the design of introducing Christianity among the natives of India, is, by any hitman means, totally imprafliicable, and that all futbre attempts will be attended with similar consequences to those, which have been already made ; or that, although so many different plans have been projedled and executed, th6re may be some other, as yet untried, which would probably be attended with success. Or thirdly, might not a rational and benevolent mind, shrinking from the hard necessity of assenting to either of the two former conclusions in a rigid and unqualified sense, recommend a line of conduft drawn from a partial admission of both ? Might it not infer, that the undertaking is surrounded by difficulties, which should repress any too sanguine expeQ:- ations of their removal ; but that, if any other mode may hereafter be pointed out both safe and prafticable, it should be adopted, though its success be uncertain. 285^ That among all the plans, whkh Baay be formed, after so many have been already defeat- ed, there should be any so totally different from the preceding;, as to promise. immediate efficacy, is higWy imprflibabJe ; and therefore we must it lengjhi bf icompielled. toi aequiese in this opinion, thflit the undertaking is opposed by obstacles^ which it is extremely difficult to remove, and which at tba di^tanee. It is pethaps- impossible fou U8 entiafely to eoprehend. In.this sittuatioii,>anid under these disadMantag^s* iltr is natural tfr enquire,, whether tbrougb this eager desire of acscsoroplisluag an ©bj:e;£l* whii:h, however worthy! of pursual. Seems to be at a iimneiase distance ; another obje£t. of equal im- portance,, an objfifl: easy in its attainment, and which if attahmd,: might ultimately, though te- motelyif lead to the event so ardently wishedi has not been' negle£tedl Th© first propositioni tlten,; which; may be safely laad dowQfonithe! suigtefifc,. is the fallowing : that the corwepiipn' of! the Hindoos should fee: the objeQi of our second care ; that: ibshouldj be our ItCBti concern, as; it is our most solemn and indis- pensable duty, tO'primde fonthe comfflnumication of religious ingtru^ioni and Sort theJ)reSjErvation 266 of religibus kriowledgCj atriong our own countty- men f&sident in Indta< In the midst of all the! zeal, \<rhich has beert displayed for the subversion of idolatry, it may be justly retorted on us, that the moral and religious wants of our numerous fellow subjefts in our own eastern settlements, have been seldom larought under contemplation. It may also be urged with no little force, that any schemes for diffusing the Christian faith, are not likely to be conduced with prudence by those, who have shewn an unwarrantable negle^ of a plain arid 'unequivocal duty.