This is one of the most important villages in the Attgurda zemindary, and it was with a feeling of surprise that we went through street after street-here weavers, there shopkeepers, workers in brass and makers of ornaments, farmers, brahmins, and others.. We were also the more gratified with the ready, eager hearing they gave us, and with the spirit of inquiry they manifested. We remained for four days with them, visiting the town every day, and as many of the surrounding villages as were within reach. On Monday, Dec. 23, we arrived at POLLASWARRA, another large and important village, but more secluded than Boiranee, and evidently less enlightened. Hindooism here appeared to have some of the strength and glory of former days; the brahmins are a powerful and privileged class, deeply read in the shastres, and ready to contend heartily for their truthfulness, and for the whole system of Hindooism. Nor did the popular notions ever appear to us more puerile and fantastic than when on the day of our arrival a tall and intelligent-looking brahmin seriously contended that the world was supported by an immense tortoise; that though circular, it was flat, with winged horses attached to its edges, and had other arrangements equally remarkable. We were not slow to question many of his statements, and to show that they did not hold well together; but he was well supplied with illustrations as he proceeded to render each point plausible, and entered such an intricate labyrinth of reasoning that the more he explained the more dark and doubtful things appeared; one absurdity had to be supported by others equally or more absurd, until he himself appeared to feel the necessity of explaining that this was the black or sinful age, and hence it was impossible for any to arrive at the truth. The people in general were more indifferent than any we had met with during our tour; but several cases afterwards transpired which gave us more encouragement. One man offered to become a christian if we would give him fifteen rupees per month-an offer we assured him we did not despise. Others bad formerly received books, which they had read carefully, and were anxious to obtain a fresh supply. One man stated that he had received a copy of "Selections from the Bible" several years ago, but that much to his sorrow the white ants had destroyed it. We were also glad to see while here a young man from Rumagarda, who told us of the old man there, to whom reference has been made several times in our reports. He still continues a diligent reader of the Bible, and almost, if not altogether, a christian; and thus in various ways we found more of enlightenment than we had at first supposed. Our next stage was to BOGODA, where we arrived on Thursday morning, Dec. 26th. Here we were joined by a young man in the police who had formerly received a christian book and had prized it very highly; but a friend visiting him from a distance had insisted on being allowed to take it away, and he had not succeeded in recovering it since. The young man continued friendly during our stay, attended the service on the Sunday, and rendered help in various ways. He, too, was very pleased to receive a copy of "Selections from the Bible" before we left the place. In the afternoon of the day we arrived we went down to the bazaar, where we enjoyed a singularly favourable opportunity of prosecuting our work. There were many persons present whose faces were quite familiar to us-many we have spoken to in former years and some of whom we had ventured to entertain hopes that the word preached had not been in vain. The congregation was large, and the word was again apparently accompanied with power. The people will never forget the case of Govinda, who many years ago received the truth, and as was believed was truly converted here, though he afterwards, alas! became eccentric and inconsistent. To what we said the people, in effect, replied, "All that you say is perfectly true, and the religion you preach is true and holy too -it is, indeed, only too high and holy for us. We are enslaved by the customs of the country and the traditions of our fathers, and cannot ourselves receive it, but in after years idolatry will cease, and christianity will no doubt prevail." On the following morning we went to a village where on a former occasion the people had entirely refused to hear us. We now collected a few of them together, but only to find them more than ordinarily superstitious and ignorant. We found that there was no village schoolthe streets were dirty, the houses dilapi Notes of a Tour in Attgurda and Goomsoor. dated, and the people looked miserable. The temple, which had formerly been a decent little tiled building, had fallen sadly out of repair, large patches of tiles had slipped away from the roof, and bundles of straw had been thrown on the places instead. In the afternoon we went again to Bogoda, and as the hour was earlier we had more time on our hands, and an opportunity of visiting a part of the town we had not seen before. On turning the corner of the street we came upon a group of men absorbed in one of the games of chance so common in the country; for here, as in other lands, these games have a singular fascination for a large class of people. Though we ac costed them kindly, they were too deeply absorbed to pay much regard, and we passed into a high building lower down in the street where we were shown the disjointed members of a huge statue of the village goddess. The arms could not have been less than six feet long, and all the other parts were in proportion; a cloth had been thrown over the face, but was removed at our request, and all was shown with the greatest willingness, nay indeed, with more, for many of the people round were laughing heartily, though I tried to check their mirth. We next proceeded to the main street, and after a little parleying were admitted into the enclosure of the large temple situated at its lower end. Here the view which burst upon us immediately we passed the doorway was certainly very striking. In front stood the temple adorned with a profusion of sculpture, gilding, and painting. Large prancing horses in stone were attached to the raised floor of the portico, the niches in the outer walls were filled with richly graven images, the inner wall in front was covered with beautiful paintings, and the roof was a mass of elaborately carved lotuses as tastefully grouped and executed as anything of the kind I had seen. Turning from these to the surrounding gardens we saw the largest and finest of orange trees, their boughs all drooping with loads of golden fruit, and other trees with fruits as rich and rare. But with all this our treat had serious drawbacks. The idol was said to be sleeping, so that the inner door of the temple could not be opened, and as we approached to a nearer inspection we were met with a dreadful stench pro 191 ceeding from the bats which had taken refuge in the roof; the priests or worshippers, or both, had been permitted to lean with unctuous bodies against the wall so covered with paintings, so that along a broad belt passing through the middle of them the colours were entirely obliterated. The gardens were ill-kept, refuse and litter were lying about in every direction, and several wretched hovels had been built in close proximity to the walls of the temple. The impression with which we left was, therefore, much less favourable than that with which we had entered, but the priests had treated us kindly, bringing us some of the choicest of their fruits; and in the meantime a crowd of people had assembled, so that on emerging from the doorway we found ourselves in possession of another most favourable opportunity of "preaching the gospel of the kingdom." We told them that they had spared no pains in surrounding their god with every circumstance of outward splendour-that an immense amount of labour and skill, with thousands of gold and silver, must have been expended in preparing the beautiful building we had seen, but what was now the result? The image was but an image still, silent and helpless as before-the stone was but stone, as powerless to help or save them as when unhewn in the quarry-that God alone was our maker, and Christ alone our Saviour. Both the native brethren appeared to speak with special earnestness and ability, and we fervently trust that the blessing of the Lord will follow our efforts. Most of the surround ing villages were visited. We had a pleasant service on the Sunday, and left very early on Monday morning for Balipadara. Here again we meet with many we had seen before. Soon after our arrival a number of the village school-boys came and were well pleased to be exercised a little in the lessons they were learning, and in the afternoon when we went to the bazaar there must have been nearly the whole of the male population to hear us. We only spent a single day here, but it was of a kind we shall long remember with interest and gratitude-it was one of the "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." From Balipadara we took the new road Government is making to lead from Aska by Bellamootah to Russell Condah, and encamped near a village named Jilibah. Up to this point the road was in a good state of progress, and a large number of work-people were here. The village itself is very small, nor is the neighbourhood so populous as we had hoped to find it. We did not, therefore, much prolong our stay. Gotoli, and the Khond villages, were found to be within easy reach, and we gladly embraced the opportunity of visiting them, though there is little attractive about them now. We only saw one of those remaining who had formerly been educated in the Mission school; the villages and people look more wretched and neglected than we had ever seen them before; several of the houses are deserted, the tiled granary, or godown, is fast falling into ruins, the school has been broken up, and the school-room had been stripped of its furniture, and was desolate and empty. There is now nothing to be seen of the bungalow that formerly stood near, and in a very short time there will be scarcely a vestige remaining of the immense pains and expenditure incurred by Government to found the Meriah colony here. After a day or two spent in labouring amongst the people and villages near, we travelled on to Bellagontah, spending several days there in like manner, and attending the large market on Monday. Here we saw the young man named Lokhuri Narain who has long been known as an inquirer, and with whom we had much pleasant intercourse. He was generally with us when we were in the bazaar, and always rendered all the support he was able, himself speaking with earnestness and effect. We also met with a younger relative of his, who surprised us by the extent of his christian knowledge, and by the earnest spirit he manifested. There was also another young man, a relative of Kogai's, with whom we were equally pleased and interested. We afterwards laboured at Russell Condah for a day or two; visited Pileparda, where we had an interview with our dear and newlybaptized friend, Kogai, and after a couple of days spent at Aska, as busy as any of those that had gone before, returned to Berhampore weary in body but refreshed in spirit, and inspired with brighter hopes and intenser yearnings for the early coming of the Lord's kingdom. Foreign Letters Received. BERHAMPORE-G. Taylor, Feb. 26. CUTTACK-T. Bailey, April 8; J. Buckley, March 26, April 9, 15; W. Miller, April 24. Contributions RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, ... ... Cash on account WOLVEY. 40 0 0 LEICESTER, Archdeacon Lane. Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by T. HILL, Esq., Baker Street, Nottingham, Treasurer; and by the Rev. J. C. PIKE and the Rev. H. WILKINSON, Secretaries, Leicester, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books, and Cards may be obtained. THE GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE. JULY, 1868. FAITH, AND ONE OF ITS FOES. BY THE EDITOR. We live in an age of criticism, and in so far as this criticism either subverts or shakes the faith of men in the word of God it may be regarded as a foe to human belief. But this, like all other assailants, needs to be challenged, and even defied to do its worst. Such courage is the most manly and rational bravery; and were it more common among believers, scepticism would be cowed, and criticism would grow more cautious. What is it that criticism carps at in the Scriptures, and tries to elevate and magnify into a stumblingblock? Is it their matter? What does it find so objectionable there? The want of scientific precision in its phraseology, perhaps. One thing which offends it is, that the Bible speaks of the sun in a manner that is out of harmony with the Copernican system. But to this the simple and sufficient answer is, that the Bible was not written to teach astronomy, yet that its allusions to that science are as accurate in form as truth requires them to be. Next, it said the Bible contradicts history. Yet the fact rather is that all patient VOL. LXX.-NEW SERIES, No. 18. and impartial historical researches corroborate Scripture records. There was a time when the narrative of the sojourning of Israel in Egypt was supposed to be fabulous. But afterwards the reality of the sojourn was attested by the contents of the papyrus rolls, and the ancient wallpaintings of Egypt itself. Doubts were cast upon the correctness of the descriptions of Nineveh, given in the book of Jonah; but much as criticism once derided this book its delineations are fully confirmed by modern discoveries concerning the topography of that "exceeding great city." The views presented in the book of Daniel of the Babylonish court were deemed to be ideal; but more recent inquiry, merely by becoming more rigid, has proved them to be perfectly reliable. And if we pass from the Old Testament to the New, its record of times and representation of events are ascertained to be completely in accordance with the findings of all scholars and antiquarians. Sometimes the objections which criticism has urged against the matter of Scripture have been objections of taste. But taste itself is one of the most subjective and variable of human things. Royal lips once pronounced the plays of Shakspeare barbarous, and judgments as egregiously false have been given against other works of literature and art which are now all but universally admired. Some critics have censured the Bible for its want of moral propriety. Yet most consider it to be the source, and myriads have experienced it to be the instrument, of moral renovation. The most ruthless criticism has displayed special antipathy to Scripture on account of the miracles which it reports to have been wrought. Those signs and wonders which filled their beholders with awe, which made doubters acknowledge the divinity of Him who performed them, and which gave His timid followers a full assurance in His saving power, have been declared to be simply impossible occurrences; and the belief of them has been declared to be an evidence of the very lowest state of human knowledge, the spawn of religious imposture, and the excrescence of pious fanaticism. To these rude revilings calm and conclusive replies may be found in a host of defensive writings which, at various intervals during the past and present centuries, have appeared to enrich our literature, and confirm our faith. Among these may be mentioned the inimitable Analogy of Butler, which the longest and most intimate acquaintance all the more endears; and some quite recent works, such as Mozley's Bampton Lectures on the Credibility of Miracles, M. de Pressense's Life of Jesus, and Westcott's Gospel of the Resurrection, some of them Butler-like in their depth and subtlety, and all likely to meet the wants of the larger class of readers, and in every way admirable.* Modern criticism has occupied *See Plumtre's Christ and Christendom. Boyle Lectures, 1866, p. 179. But itself very closely in deciding upon the authors of the several books of Scripture, and the most exact periods at which they were written. These decisions, or as we prefer to call them, these guesses, which have been put forth in Introductions, or in Biblical Dictionaries and Cyclopædias, have startled young students and pained some older ones. the alarm of the one class, and the grief of the other, may be silenced and solaced by subsequent and mature reflection. Literary criticism would be a languid labour, and a bootless business, if its professors were forbidden to be bold and venturesome. Those who are not content to follow the old lines of thought, and to accept the conclusions of earlier investigators, must necessarily pass into a region of conjecture, and can find repose only in the halting-places of probability. They are fairly entitled to whatever they may pick up on their devious road, and they should not be denied the satisfaction they find on reaching their dubious goal. What is not to to be justified in these advanced leaders of religious thought is their taunting others for timidity in not coming after them, and their declaring any steadfast philomath to be quite behind the age! It is reported of Schleiermacher, who was extensively and profoundly acquainted with the writings of Plato, that he erroneously rejected many of that philosopher's discourses. And it is considered that there is no province of mental activity in which deception is so easy and error so common as in that of literary criticism. Have biblical critics any special immunity from this ordinary proneness to be mistaken in judgment? And have not the newest authorities in sacred literature been found leaning to the side of negative criticisim? Has it not been openly denied that Moses wrote the Pentateuch; that Solomon wrote the |