thing for the conversion of the people, the only reply we could make to them was "The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few; pray ye the lord of the harvest that he would send forth more labourers into his harvest."

Such is a brief and very imperfect outline of the mission to Bangalore. There is not a heathen country in the world that presents so many claims, such providential openings, and such a promising field of labour as this. The province is divided into the four districts of Bangalore, Mysore, Nagara, and Chittledroog. The first has long been in our possession; the second is now occupied, and will when it is strengthened, and well cultivated, become, I doubt not, an important mission; the third and the fourth are prepared of the Lord, and ought to become the seats of Christian settlements, as soon as possible. Many large towns might be enumerated; but where there are three millions of people, it is difficult to say what part of the field is the most necessitous, has the greatest facilities, and is most likely to yield an abundant harvest. In this province more than any other, Providence has gone before us in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; every valley has been exalted, every mountain and high hill has been brought low, crooked paths have been made straight, and rough places plain, that the glory of the Lord may be revealed, and that all the people may see it together.

Let the missionary go from east to west, or from north to south, he is safe under the protection of the law; his temporal comforts are regarded as much by the kindness and urbanity of the natives, as the measures adopted for his convenience by the government; frankness and generosity, he will find, characterize the inhabitants of the province, and standing under the shade of a banyan-tree, or in the porch of a temple, he may preach to hundreds the gospel of God. Many facilities are at hand. The Europeans are kind, obliging,* and ready to give him encouragement and patronage; and if he is endowed with fervent piety and great devotedness, if he is content to labour for souls as one that must give an account, if he is earnest and frequent and importunate in prayer for the blessing and direction of the Spirit, if he is willing to be any thing and to do any thing that Christ may be exalted among the people; then he will no doubt realize his expectations; he will find his Redeemer a faithful master, and though he may have forsaken father and mother, and houses and lands for Christ's sake and the gospel, he will receive a hundred fold in this life, and enjoy the good hope that, in the world to come, he will obtain life everlasting.

From the superintending surgeons, and other medical gentlemen attached to the regiments stationed at Bangalore, the mission families received, in every hour of need, kind and prompt attendance, and as they would receive no sort of remuneration, they deserve our warmest acknowledgments for their generous conduct.

CHAPTER XXIV.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT OF IDOLATRY.

BRITISH POWER IN INDIA-DANGEROUS POLICY-THE MALEDICTION OF THE ALMIGHTY-PATRONAGE OF IDOLATRY-LAWS AGAINST CHRISTIANS-INFLUENCE OF THE SYSTEM UPON AUTHORITIES-DECISION OF A MAGISTRATE-ABOLITION OF FLOGGING IN THE NATIVE ARMY-PLOT AT BANGALORE-THE MAHOMMEDANS-INTERPOSITION OF PROVIDence.

Or all the dependencies of Great Britain, our Indian empire is unquestionably the most rich, extensive, and distinguished. Nothing has resembled it in ancient, or in modern times. The conquests of Alexander, the triumphs of Rome, the prospects of the new world, and the victories of republican France, dwindle into insignificance, when compared with the extent and the magnitude of our eastern possessions. But in proportion to the greatness of the boon, is the measure of our responsibility. How often have I trembled, lest the blessing should become a curse; lest, lifted up with pride, and infatuated with our power, we should wildly rush against the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler, forfeit our dominion, and cast this princess of the earth "like a withered weed away.' At

what have I trembled? Has it been at the internal commotions with which our authority has sometimes been assailed? No. The British power in India is strong in the affections of the people generally,—strong in the order, the peace and the good government which she is endeavouring to secure to all classes of her subjects-strong in the law, the justice, and system of amelioration with which she is attempting to consolidate our empire. At what, then, have I trembled? Has it been at the power, and the number of her external enemies who are said to look at her magnificence with a jealous and an envious eye? No. Let Great Britain only be true to her own interests-true to the welfare and the prosperity of that people-true to the gracious designs for which Providence has committed this trust to her care, and to her rule, and she need not be under any apprehensions from the Great Bear of the North, though all his fury and his craft were sustained by his gigantic power, and though all the independent provinces upon our frontier, were to join him in confederacy against her. At what, then, have I trembled? I have trembled lest the dark and portentous clouds which have sometimes gathered over us above, should burst in storms of vengeance upon our heads; lest the thunders and the lightnings of the Almighty should descend and blast our power and prosperity; lest the curses and anathemas which are sure to cover, with shame and confusion, all the confederates of Satan, should fall upon us; and lest the government being once com

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mitted to the support of idolatry and other superstitions, should be slow and tardy in retracing her steps, and thus the kingdom be wrested away from our hands.

In those rash and thoughtless engagements which the government so gratuitously made to lavish her support and her patronage upon these infamous systems, and to take under her protection and her superintendence those grants, endowments, and revenues which other dynasties had left to their natural protectors, little did she think that she was entering into a covenant with death, and making an agreement with hell, and laying a deep and an ample foundation for her own ruin and decline. But nothing could be more evident, than this. Where is the nation that has patronised and encouraged idolatry, which has not suffered, and become a wreck under the frown of the Almighty? Whatever may be the number and the aggravation of our national sins, this one alone were sufficient to bring the plague, the famine and the pestilence upon India, to ruin our commercial prosperity, to sap the foundation of our political ascendency, to bring a curse upon our country, and expose all its great interests to the divine malediction.

I allow that our Indian government has given a church establishment to instruct her European subjects, and that she supports bishops and archdeacons and chaplains at a very considerable expense. I allow that she has erected many splendid edifices in which our countrymen may assemble, to