one time take advantage of the regulation, and absent themselves from the cure of their respective districts or parishes. And, indeed, so far do the regulations tend to increase the evil of such absenteeism, that if a Chaplain should remain abroad in the zealous discharge of his duty for a period of twenty-one years, without once availing himself of the allowed furlough, and should by his conduct so far obtain the approbation of the local authorities as to be placed in the higher and more lucrative situations on the establishment, he would be deprived of every advantage should ill health or family affairs compel him, after that long service, to take advantage of the furlough to which, fourteen years before, he was entitled-for, under the present regulations, he would not be permitted by the Court to return to his rank and situation, but be reduced to the humiliating circumstance of being appointed on his return to India, to an inferior situation in the service.

Thus, strange as it may appear, every inducement is held out to a Chaplain to avail himself of the authorized furlough on the very instant he is entitled to it; no regard being paid as to how, or by what means, his place during a three years' absence is to be supplied. Under the present regulation it would be cruel and unjust to the individual to oppose his leave of absence on that or any other ground, for self-preservation is the law of nature. And, if a man must, notwithstanding the most praiseworthy exertions in his vocation, be deprived of his rank and situation by the injurious effects of a regulation, primarily enacted for his benefit, he cannot be blamed for making that regulation so far subservient to his own views, as to avail himself of the only advantage which, in its changed form, it may hold out-viz. the permission to visit his native country for three years, after a period of seven years' service. In so doing, he would lose nothing by his return to India, as on his arrival he would be appointed to a station of equal emolument to that which he had relinquished; whereas it has been shewn that the old and zealous Minister would forfeit all the advantages of that station in the service, to which by a long and unremitting discharge of duty he had attained, should an impaired constitution, or the urgency of family affairs bring him to England after treble the period of service re-. quired by the regulations. For HE would be reduced to the distressing alternative of retiring on a pension not adequate to his support, or of submitting to the mortification of being placed on his return to India in an inferior station in point of rank and emolument, and of seeing his junior in the service (who had in the early part of his ministry taken advantage of his furlough, and absented himself from duty for the allowed three years) in possession of that preferment, which imperious necessity had alone compelled him for a time to quit.

• That the regulation granting a furlough to the Chaplains originated from a beneficent intention on the part of the Court of

2

Directors cannot be doubted; and that it was intended by them not only as a restorative to a constitution that might suffer from the baneful effects of an ungenial clime, but as a reward for past services, and as an incentive to future exertions, cannot be questioned. In order then to make the now-existing regulations as to furlough, answerable to the benevolent design of the Court, without infringing on the primary privilege granted to the Chaplains, at the same time keeping in view the vital interests of religion, as far as the residence of an officiating ministry can promote them-Chaplains should be entitled to the furlough after a seven years' service, with the proviso, that only to one-sixth of the Clergy in each establishment such privilege should at one time be granted-and that the claims of individuals to the indulgence should be regulated by seniority in the service. At the same time, as an inducement to the Clergy to remain in charge of their several districts, it should be further enacted, that on their arrival from furlough within the authorized leave of absence, they should be permitted to return to the stations they had for such period left, if previously thereto licensed by the Bishop; and also, that their rank in the service, and their claims to stations of superior emolument, should not be affected by their temporary absence, but preserved to them in the same manner as rank and pay are guaranteed to all other absent servants, who in the East India Company are entitled to the privilege of furlough. And to the end that there might be always a sufficient number of Clergy in India to officiate at the vacant stations or districts, the expediency of having a certain number of supernumerary Chaplains in India, as has already been suggested, as also in what manner it would be advisable to have them appointed, must be apparent. For the increasing the Clergy on each Establishment, and the multiplying the districts in proportion to such separate increase, would not in a comparative estimate of expense, so readily as the plan proposed, counteract the evil consequences arising from stations or districts being for a long period left without an officiating minister.'

Dr. Shepherd next proceeds to inquire into the best and safest mode of propagating the Christian faith throughout our Eastern possessions. That the Natives are not very likely to discover the beauty and perfection of a system of religious doctrine, the teachers of which appear to enjoy but little veneration among ourselves, we are quite disposed to believe. We cannot, however, indulge the sanguine expectations which our author entertains of the probable effects of giving to the Indian clergy a higher rank in the table of precedency. To the station claimed for them by Dr. Shepherd they are clearly entitled, but we should anticipate much more effect from the increase of their number, and their means of indulging in acts of charity and benevolence, than from the mere assignment to them of a higher place in the gradation of society. No one who has read the works of the Abbé Dubois can doubt that the conversion of the Hindoos must be a matter of extreme difficulty. We are very far,

however, from believing with the Abbé that the case is desperate. If suitable encouragement were held out by the British Government, to the profession of Christianity; if Natives were made eligible to offices of emolument and trust, and a judicious preference were shown towards those who had abjured idolatry; if the disgraceful treatment of the half-caste Christians were discontinued, and means provided for the religious education of Hindoo children, we still cling to the hope that the people of India would gradually be induced to receive the truths which have hitherto been preached in vain. It were idle to conceal the fact, that as things now stand Hindooism and Mahometanism receive more encouragement than Christianity. Belief in the latter is no passport to favour or consideration; its professors are persecuted and proscribed. While this injustice exists, it were madness to expect the conversion of the people of India. Like other men, they may be stimulated to undergo privations in expectation of reward; but the numbers of those who are capable of a magnanimous sacrifice of fortune, friends, and reputation, for conscience sake, is in India as elsewhere, comparatively small, and the profession of Christianity involves the loss. of these, without any prospect of an equivalent in the confidence or estimation of Government. We would not be understood to differ with Dr. Shepherd on the principle of the suggestions which follow, but we confess we attach less importance to them than he appears to do. As auxiliary to a generous and liberal encouragement to the profession of Christianity in India, they are well deserving of consideration, but until that be resolved upon, the relative rank of factors and junior chaplains, or senior chaplains and junior merchants, seems to us of little consequence.

'It has already been shewn that a great and sad neglect has for years existed in respect to our countrymen in India, to those who ure already believers, and that, consequently, there could not possibly be any just ground for entertaining a reasonable expectation of bringing the heathen into the fold of Christ. The best and safest method now to be recommended, if we would induce them to quit the error of their ways, is no longer to remain in that of ours; but to let our attention be directed to those means which may best tend to demonstrate that we have À CHURCH WE VENERATE, AND A CLERGY WE respect.

The means, which would be pointed out by any discriminating nind, possessed of local knowledge, would be those, which would place the character of our Church on the highest ground; and none would so materially tend to that desired end as a due and proper ATTENTION TO ITS ORDINANCES, IN WHATEVER PART OF THE COUNTRY We are engAGED; AND THAT RESPECTTUL COURTESY IN PUBLIC SOCIETY, WHICH THE DIGNITY OF THEIR OFFICE INDISPENSABLY REQUIRES, AND ON WHICH THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS OF THEIR LABOURS SO MATERIALLY DEPENDS.

'Towards the attainment of this great object there might be

adopted one very simple arrangement, which, in its result, would prove of greater importance than at first view may appear,-viz. that of placing the Company's Chaplains on a more suitable rank relatively to the several grades in the civil service: and as from the nature of their education and office they cannot go out as boys, a proper rank in the table of the Company's Precedency should be assigned them on their arrival; viz., those termed junior chaplains on the same grade with factors-the senior chaplains with junior merchants-the Presidency Chaplains of St. John's Cathedral with senior merchants-and the Archdeacon with the Company's Advocate-General, all according to their respective priority of rank. To advert to such a precedence in our own country, would be deservedly ridiculed; in a country, however, like India, governed in a great measure by the force of opinion, it is a matter of more consequence than will be generally believed, if our object be to impress on the minds of the Natives the sacred character of our religion, and the respectability of the priesthood. The rank assigned to each individual by the Table of Precedence is regarded with a most punctilious attention by all classes among our own countrymen, who from early habits are led to pay more respect to outward appearances than they generally merit. In the prevailing opinion of the Natives, a superiority of rank is the very acme of all perfection. They are from childhood such servile observers of the very minutiae of precedency, and such abject slaves to all their numerous forms of courtesy, that they know no other way of judging than by outward appearances. When, therefore, they have from their infancy been taught to pay the most devoted deference to their own priests, and perceive that our clergy in general society, wherever precedency or courtesy is publicly observed, hold an inferior rank, (for they know the exact precedence assigned to every grade in the service) it is not probable that they can entertain very high notions of our religion; and if they do not, how can we reasonably expect that they will become converts to it. The Asiatic in his ideas in his habits of life-in his notions of religion-in his unvarying observance of its forms, and under his general view of things, must not be contrasted with the native of Africa, or the islander of the South Seas; and, consequently, in his conversion there are difficulties to be surmounted, and these considerably increased by his attachment and adherence to caste, which many zealous members of our societies at home, whose object is the propagation of our holy religion, do not fully comprehend, or will not take into the general account. Hence the importance which ought to be, specially in that country, attached to a regular ministry, is completely lost sight of. The most fanciful speculations after conversion, as if the objects of our benevolence were a rude and uncivilized people, are greedily laid hold of;-while the very means by which the success of our efforts might be rationally expected, are totally neglected; and all thoughts as to the religious interests

of the numerous and widely dispersed members of our own Church, are absorbed in the vortex of a visionary enthusiasm.

By the foregoing expression it is not intended to decry any legitimate attempt to convert the Natives of India, but the method by which such conversion has been hitherto attempted. In the furtherance of that great object it must be had in remembrance that the Natives of India are a civilized and polished people ;* attached to their religion, however absurd its dogmas must appear to us; and more advanced in learning than is here generally credited: they are a people whose sobriety and honesty are conspicuous-whose resentments, when roused, are not easily appeased; and, withal, proud and high minded.† To convert such a people to our profession of faith, must be a work of difficulty as well as of time; and if we do not pursue the proper and regular means, we shall not accelerate conversion, but retard it: perhaps we may do much worse; for if the means we make use of to produce conversion, should by temerity in our proceedings provoke their resentments, or by a careless indifference to the dignity of our Church excite their contempt, the consequences may be serious, and the error irretrievable.ţ

'It may here be remarked, that such is the effect that outward appearances have on the mind of the Native, that he is in a manner governed in his opinions and actions by any superficial display of consequential greatness. Hence in all the religious shows or ceremonies peculiar to that country, there is much pageantry and ostentatious pomp, which tends to furnish him with a belief that there is some HIDDEN CHARM in the object of his idolatry. As then his attention is thus attracted by superficial appearances, if we would make him a convert to our Church, we must give that Church a certain dignity in his eyes-a dignity commensurate with his notions of outward or worldly grandeur, and which may ultimately lead him to seriously contemplate that beautifully grand assemblage of Christian graces, that constitutes the supremacy of our religion over every other religion that does, or ever did exist in the world.

'It follows, then, that the best and indeed the most reasonable way to attract the attention of the Native to the due reverence of our Church Establishment, is to place its ministers, as already urged,

"I know no part of the population except the mountain tribes, who can, with any propriety of language, be called uncivilized."'—Bishop Heber.

+"Little do the majority of those who I have seen deserve the gentle and imbecile character often assigned to them."—Ibid.

6 When Christianity has once obtained a footing in a heathen country, and planted there a colony, which after a period of seeming prosperity and promise, has been ejected, or crushed by violence, the cause of the gospel receives a signal detriment; the prince of darkness erects a trophy, which renders very difficult a fresh attempt to plant there the Standard of the Cross.'-Bishop of Chester's Sermon.