In 1793, the Baptist Missionary Society sent the Rev. William Carey and Mr. John Thomas to Bengal, with the view of attempting the conversion of the Hindoos in that part of India. For several years they laboured any apparent success ; but since the commence ment of the present century they have baptised a con siderable number of the natives; and though some of these afterwards relapsed into Paganism, yet the great body of them remained stedfast to their Christian pro fession : their character was on the whole materially improved by Christianity, and was in many respects ornamental to it. Seramporc, a Danish settlement about fifteen miles from Calcutta, was the grand seat of this mission ; but within these few years, numerous branches have been established in different parts of the country, which promise to contribute essentially to the extension of Christianity among the Hindoos. The grand work, however, for which the Baptist Missionaries are distin guished, is the translation of the Scriptures into the languages of the East. Here they are without a parallel, either in ancient or modern times. Under the superin tendence chiefly of one individual, Dr. Carey, the Scrip tures are translating into upwards of Forury different languages. 'fire whole Bible has already been published in the Sungskrit, the Bengalec, the Orissa, the Hindee, and the Mahratta ; and the New Testament in the Chinese, the Shikh, the Telinga, the Kunkuna, the Affghan, the Asamesc, the Moohance, the Kurnata, and the Guze rattce. Besides translating the Scriptures into so many languages, Drs. Carey and Marshman have published many works of a literary nature, which form a stupen dous monument of their talents, and diligence, and zeal, and which will be of essential service to their successors, in learning the languages, the principles, and the man ners of the natives, and thus may be of important use in advancing Christianity in the East. Dr. Carey is pro fessor of the Sungskrit, Bengalee, and Mahratta lan guages, in the College of Fort William, and with singular disinterestedness, devotes his salary, amounting to about 1500/. a-year, to the funds of the mission. Two others of the missionaries, Marshman and Ward, contribute nearly an equal sum annually to missionary purposes. Within less than twenty years, the missionaries them selves have devoted upwards of FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS to the objects of the mission.
Within these few years the London missionary So ciety, the Church Missionary Society, the Methodist Missionary Society, and the American Board for Foreign Missions, have all directed their attention to llindostan, and have established numerous stations in that exten sive and interesting country. Hitherto no particular success has crowned their labours ; but the measures they are pursuing promise silently to sap the foundations of Hindooism, and to pave the way for the establishment of Christianity. Among these we may particularly notice the extensive scale on which the education of the young is conducted. This is an object to which the missionaries direct much of their attention, and their exertions promise to be attended with the most favour able results. In sonic of the schools the Scriptures are employed as a school-book, without the natives making any objection to them, or if prejudices against them existed at first, they soon subsided. In others they arc
not used, lest this should excite opposition among the natives, and defeat the whole plan. The teachers are generally Hindoos, some of them Brahmins, but it is necessary to maintain a strict superintendence over them, as without this they are sure to neglect their duty. The number of schools connected with the different missionary stations in India amount to about 300, in which arc educated upwards of EIGHTEEN THOUSAND children.
About the middle of the 17th century the Dutch in troduced the Protestant faith into the island of Ceylon; but unfortunately the measures they employed for its propagation were in some respects extremely reprehen sible. Besides settling ministers, and establishing an extensive system of schools on the island, they issued a proclamation, ordaining that no native should be raised to the rank of a modeliar, or admitted to any employ ment under government, unless he subscribed the Hel vetic Confession of Faith, and professed himself a mem ber of the reformed church. In consequence of this absurd and impolitic order, vast numbers of the Cinga lese abandoned the religion of their ancestors, and em braced the faith of their conquerors. Even. in 1801 the native Protestant Christians in Ceylon still amounted to upwards of 342,000, according to the general return in the ecclesiastical department ; but in 1813 there were only, according to a similar return, about 14.6,000. The fact is, that a large proportion of those who are called Christians are in reality heathens ; for though they have been baptised in their infancy, they are totally ignorant of the principles of the gospel, and are worshippers of the idle Buddhu. Not a few avow themselves both Chris tians and Buddhists, and are willing to be sworn as either the one or the other in a court of justice.
Within these few years a considerable number of missionaries of various denominations have settled in Ceylon, and have been patronised in the most liberal manner by the British government. Among these the Methodists have been singularly distinguished by their activity and zeal. In 1819 they had formed no fewer than thirteen or fourteen missionary stations in different parts of the island ; and in the schools which they had established there were 4484 children, of whom several hundreds were girls ; a circumstance which is the more interesting, as in Ceylon, females, notwithstanding their great importance in society, were in general excluded from the blessings of education.
To Java, Amboyna, Sumatra, Timor, Celebes, For mosa, and others of the eastern islands, on which they established themselves, the Dutch in the 17th century sent ministers to convert the inhabitants to the Christian faith. Vast multitudes of the natives, as in Ceylon. sub mitted to baptism ; but most of them, we suspect, might nearly as well have retained the religion of their ancestors. In Java alone the number of Christians was up wards of 100,000 ; and in the Molucco Islands there are still probably not fewer than 40,000 ; but for many years past they have been much neglected, and are now in a great measure destitute of the means of religious instruc tion. Several missionaries, however, have of late been sent from Holland to these islands, and editions of the Scriptures in Malay are preparing for the use of the inhabitants.