cause, and make bare thine arm in the sight of the nations? Let me in patience possess my soul; and though iniquity abound, may I never wax cold, but be brought safely through all this darkness and danger to a happier world! To thousands my word will, perhaps, prove a savour of death unto death.' Let me nevertheless go on steadily in the path which the Lord hath marked out: perhaps some poor soul may be converted by what he shall hear from me; or, if not, I shall have done my work." In such society, as might be expected, he found his desires and endeavours for the conversion of the Heathen invariably discountenanced and opposed: having, on one occasion, referred to the Company's Charter, as not only permiting but enjoining the communication of religious instruction to the natives, coldness and distance, on the part of those he was visiting, were the immediate consequence of his observations. But "His soul could rejoice in God, that if men were unkind, it was for Christ's sake, and he felt determined to go on with vigour, though the whole world of wretched men should oppose."

With respect to the conversion of the natives to the nominal profession of Christianity, in Mr. Martyn's opinion, the difficulty was by no means great. He was surprised at the laxity of principle which seemed to prevail among them, and could well perceive that the idea of embracing the religion of the English was very pleasant to the Pundit, and other Hindoos. But he did not fail to explain to them, "that it was no object of his to make them 'Feringees,' in the sense in which they understood it, and assured them, that if all the Brahmins and Rajahs of the country would come to him for baptism, he would not baptize them, except he believed that they repented, and would renounce the world."

With the condition of the natives, in a moral point of view, Mr. Martyn had but too much reason to be shocked and affected: and he was sometimes called upon to interfere, and that with some personal hazard,

to prevent acts of the greatest turpitude and injustice among them. "My Surdar," he says, "was imprisoned by an unjust Cotwal. I sent word to him to give nothing for his release, and not to fear: the Cotwal was afraid, and let the man go, and ceased his claim upon his relations. This has been a long and iniquitous business. I felt quite thankful that the Lord had thus shown himself the Father of the fatherless. I could hardly believe such barefaced oppression. How much has the Gospel done in producing sentiments of justice and equity in all ranks of people in Christendom! The poor people here seem unable to comprehend it.""***" he adds, "developed a system of villany carried on in the country, by the supineness of***, which astonished and grieved me beyond measure. I determined to *** to go myself, and tell him what I had heard; but thought it prudent to defer it till after my distant journey to Buxar, in which the Cotwal, who is the head of a gang of robbers, with which the whole country is swarming, might easily procure my assassination, if, by getting him turned out, I should provoke him. I thought it, however, a duty I owe to God, to him, to the poor oppressed natives, and to my country, to exert myself in this business; and I felt authorized to risk my life.”

The journey to Buxar, during which Mr. Martyn feared that, without prudence, he might possibly become a victim to the sudden revenge of one whose daily oppressions caused many to weep without a comforter, was taken on the 16th of February: and it may surprise those, who are not aware of the very slender proportion of chaplains allotted to our empire in India, to be informed, that he travelled seventy miles for the purpose of performing part of his pastoral duty in the celebration of a marriage. But before we attend him on this journey, let us notice his abstraction from the world, his sacred peace, his holy aspirations, his deep contrition, at this period:-"I felt more entirely withdrawn from the world, than for a long time past: what a dark atheistical state do I generally live in! Alas!

that this creation should so engross my mind, and the Author of it be so slightly and coldly regarded.-I found myself, at this time, truly a stranger and a pilgrim in the world; and I did suppose that not a wish remained for any thing here. The experience of my heart was delightful. I enjoyed a 'peace that passeth all understanding;' no desire remained, but that this peace be confirmed and increased. O why should any thing draw away my attention, whilst Thou art ever near and ever accessible through the Son of thy love? O why do I not always walk with God, forgetful of a vain and perishable world?-Amazing patience! He bears with this faithless foolish heart, and suffers me to come laden with sins, to receive new pardon, new grace, every day. Why does not such love make me hate those sins which grieve him, and hide him from my sight! I sometimes make vain resolutions in my own strength, that I will think of God. Reason, and Scripture, and experience teach me that such a life is happiness, and holiness; that by 'beholding his glory,' I should be 'changed into his image from glory to glory,' and be freed from those anxieties that make me unhappy and that every motive to duty being strong, obedience would be easy."

Of his journey to Buxar, Mr. Martyn has left the following account. February 16.-" Rose very early, and accumulated work for my Moonshee in my absence. Made my will and left it with ***. At half-past three set off in a palanquin, and in four hours reached the Soane. From thence travelled all night, and at nine next morning reached Buxar. Being unable to sleep, I arrived so sick and unwell, as to be convinced of the unprofitableness of travelling by night in this country. By reading some of the Epistle to the Ephesians before it grew dark, and meditating upon it afterward, my time passed agreeably; and I thought with delight of the time when I should be able to adopt the Aposle's words with respect to the Heathen around me. After breakfast I lay down, and endeavoured in vain to get sleep. I was much assisted in conversation with

the family after dinner, when we conversed much on religious subjects, and I had as good an opportunity as I could have wished, for explaining the nature of the Gospel, and offering considerations for embracing it. I retired to rest with my heart full of joy, at being thus assisted to pass the time profitably."

February 18.-" My birth-day-twenty-six.-With all the numerous occasions for deep humiliation, I have cause for praise, at recollecting the promising openings, and important changes which have occurred since my last birth-day. The Lord, in love, made me wax stronger and stronger! Walked after breakfast to a pagoda, within the fort of Buxar, where a Brahmin read and expounded. It was a scene, I suppose, descriptive of the ancient times of Hindoo glory. The Brahmin sat under the shade of a large banyan near the pagoda: his hair and beard were white, and his head most gracefully crowned with a garland of flowers. A servant of the Rajah sat on his right hand, at right angles; and the venerable man then sung the Sancrit verses of the Huribuns, and explained them to him, without turning his head, but only his eyes, which had a very dignified effect. I waited for the first pause to ask some questions, which led to a long conversation: and this ended by my attempting to give them a history of Redemption. The Rajah's servant was a very modest, pensive man, but did not seem to understand what I said so well as the old Brahmin, who expressed his surprise and pleasure, as well as the other, at finding a Sahib cared any thing about religion. I afterward sent a copy of the Nagree Gospels to the servant, desiring that it might be given to the Rajah, if he would accept it. In the evening I married and administered the sacrament to *** and ***, at their own desire."

Februay 19.-" Rose at four and left Buxar, and at nine in the evening reached Dinapore in safety-blessed be God-may my life thus preserved, by unceasing Providence, be his willing sacrifice."

The scene Mr. Martyn witnessed in the pagoda at Buxar, was succeeded, soon after his return to Dina

pore, by another he describes still more interesting. "A poor Jew from Babylon came to me begging: he was tall, but stooping from weakness, and his countenance strongly marked with grief. When, at his first arrival, I asked him if he was a Mussulman, he said in a low and pensive tone of voice-No! an Isralee. Alas! poor people, still full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God! I felt all the tenderness of a kinsman towards him, and found myself as it were at home with an Asiatic, who acknowledged the God of Abraham. The passage in chapter ix. of Isaiah, 5, 6, he rendered as meaning the Almighty God."

In

The state of the schools, five of which, at his own expense solely, Mr. Martyn had instituted in and about Dinapore, began now to occasion him some anxiety. An alarm was spread that it was his intention to seize upon all the children, and, in some compulsory manner, make them Christians. The school at Patna, in consequence, suddenly sunk in number, from forty children to eight: and at Dinapore, a spot of ground, which had been fixed upon for the erection of a school room, could not be obtained from the Zeminder. this perplexity Mr. Martyn lost no time in ascertaining what a soothing, and at the same time, sincere, explanation of his sentiments might effect, and for this purpose he went to Patna. There, in addition to his present perplexities, he had the severe pain of beholding a servant of the Company, a man advanced in years, and occupying a situation of great respectability, living in a state of daring apostacy from the Christain faith, and openly professing his preference for Mahometanism. He had even built a mosque of his own, which at this season, being the Mohurrun, was adorned with flags; and being illuminated at night, proclaimed the shame of the offender. It will readily be supposec that Mr. Martyn did not fail to sound a warning voicd in the ears of this miserable apostate:-he charged him to "Remember whence he was fallen,"-and exhorted him to consider, that-"the Son of God had died for sinners."