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No. CCXII.]

[Vol. XVIII.

TH

HE attention of our readers has already been called, on several occasions, to the progress of Unitarianism in India. We have informed them of the conversion of Mr. Adam, a missionary in Calcutta, and noticed his sermon preached at the opening of a new society in that city. We have, also, repeatedly spoken of the labours of Rammohun Roy, who has made himself so conspicuous in India and Europe by his talents, learning, and zeal for religious truth.

Later information represents the cause as advancing with as much success as could be expected. Dr. Channing's Ordination Sermon at Baltimore, which has passed through a great number of editions in this country, and in England, has been reprinted in Calcutta. We have before us two letters from Rammohun Roy to a gentleman in Baltimore, the first dated Calcutta, October 17, and the other, December 9, 1822. These letters contain valuable facts, some of which will be seen in the extracts below. They are written in English, and manifest a perfect acquaintance with that language. In the first letter the writer observes,

"I have now every reason to hope, that the truths of Christianity will not be much longer kept hidden under the veil of Heathen doctrines and practices, gradually introduced among the followers of Christ, since many lovers of truth are zealously engaged in rendering the religion of Jesus clear from corruptions.

"I admire the zeal of the Missionaries sent to this country, but disapprove of the means they have adopted. In the performance of their duty, they always begin with such obscure doctrines as are calculated to excite ridicule, instead of respect, towards the religion which they wish to promulgate. The accompanying pamphlets, called The Bramunical Magazine, and published by a Bramun, are a proof of my assertion. The last number of

VOL. XVIII.

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this publication has remained unanswered for twelve months.

"If a body of men attempt to upset a system of doctrines generally established in a country, and to introduce another system, they are, in my humble opinion, in duty bound to prove the truth, or, at least, the superiority of their own.

"It is, however, a great satisfaction to my conscience to find, that the doctrines inculcated by Jesus and his apostles, are quite different from those human inventions, which the Missionaries are persuaded to profess, and entirely consistent with reason, and the revelation delivered by Moses and the prophets. I am, therefore, anxious to support them, even at the risk of my own life. I rely much on the force of truth, which will, I am sure, ultimately prevail. Our number is comparatively small, but I am glad to inform you, that none of them can be justly charged with the want of zeal and prudence.

"I wish to add, in order that you may set me right, if you find me mistaken, my view of Christianity is, that in representing all mankind as the children of one eternal Father, it enjoins them to love one another, without making any distinction of country, cast, colour, or creed; notwithstanding, they may be justified in the sight of the Creator in manifesting their respect towards each other, according to the propriety of their actions, and the reasonableness of their religious opinions and observances.

"I shall lose no time in sending you my Final Appeal to the Christian Public, as soon as it is printed."

In the second letter Rammohun Roy remarks,

"Although our adversaries are both numerous and zealous, as the adversaries of truth always have been, yet our prospects are by no means discouraging, if we only have the means

of following up what has already been done.

"We confidently hope that, through these various means, the period will be accelerated, when the belief in the Divine Unity, and in the mission of Christ, will universally prevail.”

What the author calls his Final Appeal, relates to a controversy in which he has been some time engaged with the Missionaries, and which we have before noticed. He published selections from the New Testament, in which it was his object to bring together the practical parts, and avoid such as have divided Christians. For this he was censured by the Missionaries. He has defended himself in two Appeals to the Christian Public, written with great moderation, candour and ability. In the first, he makes it appear, by various arguments, that if any hope is ever to be entertained of converting the Hindoos to Christianity, the work must be commenced by teaching the plain, practical instructions of Jesus. In the second, he takes up some of the dogmas, which the Missionaries declared to be essential to Christianity, but which he says he has never been able to find in the Bible. The Trinity and Atonement are the two dogmas on which he chiefly insists. He affirms, that these are not taught in the Scriptures, and he draws all his arguments to confute them from the Scriptures themselves. He also explains in a very full and clear manner all the texts quoted by the Missionaries, and Trinitarians generally, in support of these doctrines.

His Second Appeal contains one hundred and seventy-three pages, and in it the author discovers a familiar and profound acquaintance with every part of the Scriptures, not only in their English dress, but in the original Hebrew and Greek. He criticises several passages in the original with judgment and discrimination. He is an adept in the Eastern languages. He has published works in Arabic, Persian and Bengalee; and we have never known a foreigner write the English with so accurate a use of its idiom. A volume of his works has recently been published in England.

We consider the conversion of this learned Bramun to Christianity, a remarkable event of the present age, and one of the strongest practical

arguments which could be adduced in favour of Unitarianism. He studied the Scriptures alone, and his own writings prove that he studied them with uncommon attention. He believed them on their own authority, and he now declares his willingness to support the truths they contain, “even at the risk of his own life." He has found no Trinity there; he has found "one God and one Mediator ;" the Supreme Being, and his subordinate Messiah; the Creator of all things, and the Son by whom he revealed his will to the world. In short, the results to which he has come, have very little accordance with the high dogmas of orthodoxy, which make so prominent a feature in human systems of faith, but which Unitarians deem unscriptural and unprofitable. In regard to the Trinity, he says,

Early impressions alone can induce a Christian to believe that three are one, and one is three; just as by the same means a Hindoo is made to believe that millions are one, and one is millions; and to imagine that an inanimate idol is a living substance, and capable of assuming various forms. As I have sought to attain the truths of Christianity from the words of the Author of this religion, and from the undisputed instructions of his holy apostles, and not from a parent or tutor, I cannot help refusing my assent to any doctrine which I do not find scriptural."-Second Appeal, p. 108.

As to the general tenor of the above extracts from Rammohun Roy's letters, our readers cannot but perceive that the views they indicate are rational and just. It is perfectly clear, that before you can pretend to teach a doctrine, or any truth, to beings who can reason and think, you must bring it down to their apprehension, and shew something in it, which their minds can grasp, and on which their understanding can rest. The Missionaries seem to reverse this order of nature. They begin with mysteries; with things which they acknowledge to be unintelligible to themselves; and it is no wonder that they should end in a total failure.

The absurdity of this plan is the more manifest in such a country as Bengal, where there are natives of great talents and great learning, who spend their lives in study and research,

who are acquainted with the principles of science, who are given to examination and inquiry, who write and publish books on all the varieties of human attainment, who look for a reason in every thing, who have a national literature abounding in numerous works on theology, law, jurisprudence, politics, geography, astronomy and other sciences, and who have settled opinions on all these subjects, founded on the basis of custom, education and continued patient investigation. These are the people, whom the Missionaries would bring over to Christianity, by inculcating dogmas, which they confess are inexplicable, and not to be reasoned about!

Moreover, these same people have a religion, which they can trace back many centuries anterior to the coming of the Saviour, and which is rooted in their minds by all that is imposing in the records of their ancestry, by the countenance of popular opinion, by the force of instruction, by the authority of sacred books, by all that is venerable in a long-established priesthood, by every thing, in short, which attaches them to their customs, builds up and sustains their institutions, and stamps the features of their character. They have a formal and systematic religion, taught in books of great antiquity, in which habit and conscience equally incline them to put implicit credence. They have their Veds and their Shastrus, their Poorans and Tuntrus, and to these are appended commentaries on commentaries, which have been the result of the wisdom and study of ages. Now, whatever may be the absurdity or the defects of the system, which these contain, it cannot be doubted, that there is something in it adapted to the better principles of the human mind, something which is upheld by plausible arguments, and the appearance of consistency. On no other grounds can you account for its being maintained for so long a period of time, by a people in many respects enlightened and polished.

We infer that the errors of such a religion, under circumstances in which this is embraced, cannot be successfully combated by any other weapons, than those of plain sense and argument. To preach mysteries will only thicken the darkness; to enforce

things at which the understanding revolts, will make it cling the more closely to its mistakes. This is the dictate of common sense, and it has been the result of experience. In the above letter, from a learned native, who feels a real interest in the Christian cause, we are told that the Missionaries begin with such doctrines as to expose themselves to ridicule, instead of gaining the attention and respect of the Hindoos. And why is this? Because they talk without reason. No one was ever ridiculed, who addressed the understanding and added demonstration to his assertions. Preach truth in a plain garb, and it will be received; for no mind is below or above truth, when it is presented in its unobscured simplicity."

Rammohun Roy has become a Christian, in spite of the Missionaries, by the force of his own mind, examining the Scriptures with a determination to find and understand their meaning. He is convinced of their truth and divinity, although he has never been able to discover in them the mysterious doctrines, which for twenty years the Missionaries have been endeavouring with great industry and zeal to inculcate. Other natives would not be long in following his steps, if they could be allowed to inquire, like the honest Bereans, why these things are so, and could be favoured with a frank and ready answer. And, surely, it cannot be thought a difficult task to prove the superiority of the Christian religion over that of the Hindoos. It is no doubt difficult to prove inexplicable and contradictory propositions either to a Hindoo, or to any other rational man; but if we cannot prove the superiority of all that is valuable and commanding and true in the Christian religion over every system of idolatry, we have no reason to boast of our privileges as the disciples of one who came from God, and who had power to enlighten and save an erring world.

We know well what obstacles the amiable and enthusiastic Henry Martyn encountered on this very ground. He attempted to argue, and his was a mind of no ordinary vigour and acuteness. The purity of his soul, his disinterestedness, his piety, did not surpass the strength of his intellect. and the variety of his attainments.

But he ingenuously confessed, that he argued without success; and there is no wonder, when we know the topics on which he delighted to dwell. These were no other than the Trinity, total depravity, imputed righteousness, and the like. Was it to be expected that a Hindoo or Persian would receive such doctrines as these, which were shrouded in mystery, and which they found in no degree preferable to the superstitions of their own religion? Had Henry Martyn preached more from the Sermon on the Mount, and less from the five points, he would not have been forced to the melancholy acknowledgment of having wasted his strength in vain.

A paragraph in Rammohun Roy's First Appeal is so appropriate in this place, that we insert it, although it has appeared in our work on a former occasion. He states that,

"He has seen with regret, that the Missionaries have completely counteracted their own benevolent efforts, by introducing all the dogmas and mysteries taught in Christian churches, to people by no means prepared to receive them; and that they have been so incautious and inconsiderate in their attempts to enlighten the natives of India, as to address their instructions to them in the same way as if they were reasoning with persons brought up in a Christian country, with those dogmatical notions imbibed from their infancy. The consequence has been, that the natives in general, instead of benefiting by the perusal of the Bible, copies of which they always receive gratuitously, exchange them very often for blank paper; and use several of the dogmatical terms in their native language as a mark of slight in an irreverent manner, the mention of which is repugnant to my feelings."

But it is time to speak of the Bramunical Magazine, printed at Calcutta, and mentioned in Rammohun Roy's letter. We consider this work, in many respects, one of the most curious of the present day. It contains a set controversy between the Bramuns and Missionaries on the principles of their respective religions. We believe this is the first regular written controversy which has ever been commenced for a similar purpose. Three numbers of the work only have

come to hand. It is printed in Bengalee and English on corresponding pages.

It seems that, in a periodical work established by the Missionaries at Serampore, called the Sumachar Durpun, an article appeared attacking different parts of the Hindoo religion. Several distinct charges were made, and the editor stated, that if a reply were sent, it should be published in the same paper. The Bramuns accordingly furnished a reply, defending their religion, but when it was forwarded for publication it was rejected. Thus disappointed, the Bramuns resolved to publish what they had written in a separate form, and in this resolution originated the Bramunical Magazine. The two first numbers are occupied in replying to the article in the Sumachar Durpun, and the third is devoted to the discussion of another subject.

To exhibit the mode which the Missionaries adopt in discharging their duties, and the views and feelings of the natives respecting it, we select the following passages from the introduction to the first number.

During the last twenty years, a body of English gentlemen, who are called Missionaries, have been publicly endeavouring in several ways to convert the Hindoos and Mussulmans of this country to Christianity. The first way is that of publishing and distributing among the natives various books, large and small, reviling both religions, and abusing and ridiculing the gods and saints of the former. The second way is that of standing in front of the doors of the natives, or in the public roads, to preach the excellence of their own religion, and the debasedness of that of others. The third way is, that if any natives of low origin become Christians from the desire of gain, or from any other motives, these gentlemen employ and maintain them as a necessary encouragement to others to follow their example."

"It is not uncommon if the English Missionaries, who are of the conquerors of this country, revile and mock at the religion of the natives."

If, by the force of argument, they can prove the truth of their own religion and the falsity of that of the Hindoos, many would of course embrace their doctrines; and in case