dividual, not even his bitterest enemy, much less a whole nation, to eternal misery-and that for no other reason, but because he is of opinion that they are doomed to perdition by the divine decree, and that, consequently, it must prove a hopeless task to labour for their conversion to God. Such is the Abbé's persuasion; and under these feelings, he has looked back from the plough to which he had put his hand: (Luke ix. 62.) He informs us, that he has laboured in India two and thirty years in vain; that "everywhere the seeds sown by him have fallen upon a naked rock, and have instantly dried away. At length, entirely disgusted at the total inutility of his pursuits, and warned by his grey hair that it was full time to think of his own concerns, he has returned to Europe, to pass in retirement the few days he may still have to live, and get ready to give in his accounts to his Redeemer:" (Advert. p. vii.) With his private reasons for retiring, no one but himself is concerned: but of this, his final step-viz. The endeavour to deter others from embarking in the Missionary Causemay he consider well, before it be too late, how he can render such an account as shall prove satisfactory to his Judge!

He desires to know "who has told us that

Christianity shall not remain stationary," and "continue to the end of the world to be," as he asserts it has hitherto been, "the religion of only the minority of mankind:" (p. 108.) I reply, that Jehovah himself has told us, in the most unqualified terms, that the Christian Religion shall one day become universal: (Psalm ii. 8. Isaiah xi. 9. Daniel ii. 44. vii. 13, 14. Hab. ii. 14. Zech. ix, 10.) He admits, indeed, that "Christ has promised that the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be published in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.'" This alone, then, is an argument for its promulgation throughout India; until it can at least be proved that all the inhabitants of that land have had a fair opportunity of receiving, or rejecting, that "witness." But he rejoins; "Has He (Christ) told any one, that all nations, or even the majority of them, should be brought under the yoke of the Gospel?" (p. 108.) "He has, it is true, announced that His Gospel should be preached all over the world; but, to the best of my knowledge, he has never affirmed that it should be heard, believed, and embraced by all nations." (p. 42.) What, then, did He mean, by comparing it "unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of

meal, till the whole was leavened?" or what, by the parable of the grain of mustard-seed, "which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof?" (Matt. xiii. 31-33.) What other signification can be attached to these parables, but that they are intended to teach that all nations shall be enlightened by the doctrines, influenced by the principles, and seek refuge from the wrath of God under the peaceful shadow of the Gospel? Did our Lord utter a word in opposition to the predictions of His universal sway over men, cited above, from the Old Testament? Did He not imply, in His final command to His Disciples, to "preach the Gospel to every creature," that some would "believe and be baptized," wherever it was proclaimed? (Mark xvi. 16.) In short, was it not expressly revealed from Heaven, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever?" (Rev. xi. 15.)

The Abbé Dubois shall himself assist me with another argument, to prove the inaccuracy of his conclusion. Wishing to invalidate the late Mr. Ward's account of the

immorality of the Hindoos, he hesitates not to assert, that their general character is actually superior to that of Europeans: (p. 152-163.) We have already seen how differently he can write, when he has another object in view-that he can represent the Hindoo as entirely destitute of charity, if his purpose be to shew the impracticability of converting him from his depraved condition (p. 113); and can go so far as to assert, that," in order to make true Christians among the natives, it would be necessary, before all things, to erase from the code of the Christian Religion the great leading precept of charity :" (p. 63.) But when he wishes to contravene Mr. Ward's more charitable and more rational inference from the same premises-viz. The necessity for their conversion-he actually asserts, that they are more charitable than Europeans: (p.159.) I leave it for him to reconcile these contradictory statements; and also to explain how it is possible for a man to be a "true Christian," without charity: while I go on to argue, that if he will admit that some Europeans have been really converted to the true faith of Christ, the possibility of converting the Hindoos must follow as a fair and natural conclusion. Supposing that he believes

his own statement respecting their superior virtues to be correct, he cannot fail to perceive that they must be more promising subjects for the reception of the Gospel, than the inhabitants of Europe.

Again: "When I behold them prostrating themselves before their gods of stone and brass, I exclaim," he says, "Such were our ancestors, and so did they; and so would we ourselves do, had not God, through his infinite mercy, taken us out of such an abyss of darkness, in order to illumine us with the bright light of his Divine Revelation! Let everlasting thanks be returned to Him, for this the greatest of all his divine favours in this life:" (pp. 114, 115.) Surely the man, who penned this sentence, forgot himself when asserting the impossibility of converting the inhabitants of India! The only legitimate

inference from these remarks is-not that of M. Dubois, that the Hindoos cannot be converted, but-that since, by his own shewing, they are no worse than our own ancestors were, the same "infinite mercy" and "bright light of Divine Revelation," which were vouchsafed to these, may, in the day of God's power, be extended also to the idolaters of Hindoostan. And if he rightly appreciates "this greatest of all the divine favours in this life,"