would be impious ftill: but they are not equivocal at all. They are a plain direct application of the glory of the Supreme God to Jefus Chrift: confequently, they are plain direct blafphemy, if he is not the Supreme God.

Therefore if Jefus Chrift is a mere creature, it manifeftly follows, That Mahomet who had nothing more at heart, than to establish the worship of the one Supreme God, has spoken agreeably to truth, to wifdom, to charity, and to piety. Whereas Chrift, if he be not God, has spoken falfely, unwifely, un charitably and impioufly.

But if on the contrary, Jefus Chrift be of one effence with the Supreme God, it is plain that Christ spoke agreeably to truth, when he afcribed to himself the names, titles and works of God: he spoke in the wifeft manner, feeing he used thofe expreffions which were most proper to declare this grand principle. He fpo e charitably, fince he would not leave us in ignorance of fo neceffary a truth: and in a manner promotive of piety: fince to difhonour the Son, is to dishonour the Father álfo.

[To be continued.]

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0* ̄*

COPY of a LETTER to the Rev. Dr. COKE, from a refpectable GENTLEMAN in the EAST-INDIES, refpecting a MISSION thither.

Rev. Sir,

Maldai, Feb. 19, 1785.

I Have received two copies of the Letter you did me the

favour to write me, dated in January and May 1784. The fubject upon which it is written, the converfion of the Gentoos to the faith of Chrift, is certainly one of the higheft importance to the glory of God, and the happinefs of man; and your zeal,;. Sir, for this good work is deferving of great commendation," That in the courfe of twenty years, during which we have

M 2

poffefled

poffeffed extenfive territories here, there fhould have been no public inflitution for carrying on such a work, must doubtless have been matter of regret to many. To any fincere defign of that fort I cannot myself but be well affected, and as far as my private fituation can enable me to contribute to its fuccefs, I fhall feel myself gratified and honoured in doing so, upon principles I truft entirely Catholic; as, fince Religion has been my concern, I have been placed at a diftance equally remote from the diftinguifhing denominations of Chriflians, Upon thefe principles, I fhall now beg leave to fubmit to you what has occurred to me, as well upon the general fubject of your Letter, as the particular enquiries ftated in it; and I am fincerely defirous, that I may not mislead, and that what I offer may be of any use.

The most important of your queries runs thus--“What are the difpofitions of the Hindoos, and the probability of their converfion ?"

The whole country of Hindoftan is as you must have read, peopled by two forts of men, the Hindoos or Pagans who are the Aborigines, and the Mahometans. The former are every where far more numerous than the latter, and their diftinctive characters every where much the fame; but I mean to confine myfelf particularly to the provinces under Great Britain, which at prefent afford fufficient fcope for a Miffion.

The leading features in the character of the Mahometans are pride and cruelty, treachery and love of power; those of the Hindoos are abje&t fervility, cunning, lying, difhonefly and exceffive love of money. Other vices the two fects have in common: neither is free of thefe which moftly mark the other, and the ftate of foc ety and morals among the whole body of natives, Hindoos and Mahometans, affords at this very time a moft lively and deeply lamentable exemplification of the flate of Heathenifin defcribed by St. Paul in the first chapter to the Romans, which gives a wonderfully just and concile view of a very wide fubject,

As the light of nature is fo much neglected and obfcured among them, fo they poffefs but very little of the light of Science. The Mahometans of Hindoftan had a portion of the Arabic learning, which I believe has been flationary for many centuries; but with the decline of the Mogul empire their knowledge has alfo funk, and what fill remains is confined to Perfian manufcripts and ftudents, without any extenfive influence. As to the boafted wifdom of the Bramins faid to be contained in volumes, to which they afcribe a fathomlefs antiquity, it is certain that whatever their books contain is fo little known, even to the generality of the Bramins themselves, and fo entirely unknown to the people at large, that it can have no influence upon their understandings or manners. But the pretence of those books infinitely multiplies errors, for every abfurd iniquitous invention of every ignorant Bramin is referred to them; fo that the tenets and ceremonies of the Hindoos now make an endlefs jumble of inconfiflencies.

With refpect to the real antiquity of the Hindoos and the contents of their bedes and fhafters, there is reafon to hope that Some very learned men of the prefent time, will give more. light into these points than the world hath hitherto received; and from what I have already heard, I cannot doubt but the true antiquity of the Hindoos will be proved after all to accord with the Mofaic history: and their doctrines with those truths diffeminated over the earth in the ages fucceeding the flood, and to be traced in other heathen nations. Their carlieft period, the event with which the very firft of their immenfe æras commences, I am told is plainly no other than the univerfal deluge. Thus here as in other inftances, what might have been thought to impugn the only true fyftem of Revelation, may in the end ferve as a further confirmation of it."

With respect to the probabilities of converting either the Hindoos or Mahometans, I am forry to fay, that humanly fpeaking they appear to be very small. The Mahometans, be- ides rejecting Polytheifm, poffeffing many juft notions of the

attributes

attributes of the Deity and of moral duties, acknowledge the divine miffions of Mofes and of our bleffed Lord. But the fource whence they derive thefe truths poifons them. They look upon their own founder, who carefully adopted much both from Judaism and Chriftianity, as the laft prophet; and themfelves as fecure in his doctrines. They still poffefs the fame bigotted spirit, which, kindled by him, established his imposture with the fword; and they have fuch an uncontrouled pride, that there is little hope of convincing them, Befides that there would be obftacles to their following their convictions, fimilar to thofe which I fhall mention in fpeaking of the Hindoos.

With refpect to thefe, who will form the chief object of any miffion, it is hardly poffible to conceive any people more completely enchained than they are, by their fuperftition, by their moral and their civil or political fiate. Befides their great ignorance and their vices, they are under a most prostrate subjection of mind to their Bramins. And their Rajahs and Zemindars or land-holders exercife a high defotifm over them. The first divifion of the Hindoos into four caftes or tribes, according to the principal profeflions, no longer remains in its original fimplicity; but from thefe have fprung fuch a variety of fubdivifions, that it is no eafy matter to innumerate them; ftill lefs easy to understand the points by which they are feparated; and leaft of all to comprehend the manifold ways in which each cafte may be forfeited or stained.

As the different cafics neither mairy nor eat with each other, and are thus fo many exclufive communities, fo any member of a cafte who tranfgreffes thofe greater laws or barriers of it, which in procefs of time have, by the craft of the Bramins, been multiplied, becomes an outcast from it and from all society; neither himself nor his children can find a fingle family who will intermarry, or affociate with them. And as this cafe has other civil inconveniencies attending it, particularly to the poor who depend on their labour for fubfiftence; it is a very dreadful kind of excommunication, to a people whofe religion, tempers, and habits tie them fo much to their own foil.

Again, as defpotifm has been the principle of government here in all ages, the people have hardly an idea of any other; and it defcends in gradation through every rank. Where therefore the will of individuals, not any enlightened system of laws. governed, and the people themfelves were very depraved, great imperfection and corruption must have prevailed in the civil and judicial administration of the country; and fear and force have been grand inftruments therein. Since the English have poffeffed the country, attempts have been made to reform the evils which they found prevalent in it; but as no method has hitherto been devifed, by which the required rents could be fecured without leaving the hufbandmen, in reality, much in the power of their Landlords, the influence of these over their tenants, who are ftill in a kind of vaffalage, continues great; and how they would exercise it over those who should make themselves most abhorred in their fight, we can be at no lofs to deter

mine.

Now, Sir, you will eafily judge that these formidable bulwarks of a religious and civil kind, muft powerfully deter the Hindoos from attempting to come out at the call of the gofpel. They could have nothing before their eyes but lofs of cafte, and all its penalties, with the perfecutions of the Bramins on this fcore, and of the Zemindars on the plea of rent; or various mif demeanours which they are at no lofs to invent. They must alfo encounter the refentment and contempt of their equals, and the lofs of their bufinefs. In fhort, a poor creature could fee nothing but difgrace, odium, want, and the ruin of himself and his family. But befides all this, they have an implicit faith in their own religion, and muft love the eafy terms on which it indulges and abfolves their vices, much better than the pure felfdenying fpiritual precepts of Chriftianity. And they have feen too little of the influence of that holy religion on those who name themselves of it, to apprehend its fuperior excellency. Nor muft it be forgotten, that the Zemindars and Bramins would league together to prevent the preaching of the gospel in

the