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to go forth to the kings of the whole world. And I must not conclude this head without observing on the manifestation of its spreading forth far away, even as far as India. On the renewal of the East Indian Charter, in 1833, and when restrictions on the trade previously existing were moved, the opportunity was seized to send out thither bales of the works of Tom Paine and other such like infidel revolutionary publications. And with these Calcutta was inundated, as Dr. Duff proclaimed in 1837, with burn

re

ing eloquence, to seduce and poison the youthful mind of India, just when intellectually awakened to see the falsehood and absurdity of Hindooism, and moved by the according voices of the christian missionary and the everlasting Gospel, to turn from vain idols to serve the living God; indeed from all the three Indian Presidencies the same report has been brought. In all of them, and in other of our colonies also, the same spirit is still rife from the mouth of the dragon.

[To be continued.]

A SKETCH IN INDIA.

[This lively sketch of India has reached us in a file of papers from a far distant country; and is an interesting article, communicated to one of the periodicals of Van Dieman's Land.]

HINDOSTAN, Old Hindostan-the cradle and birth-place of man. With what feelings of veneration should that sunny clime be regarded: yet in Europe it is scarcely known. What a world in itself; its animals, race of men, manners, customs and festivals, all so biblical and eastern, and yet even with the march of intellect, and discoveries of our date, still an unread volume.

An old-fashioned 64, as convoy, sailed along most protectingly, short and round lined, with popgun eightteens; both ship and guns now swept away, and replaced with the grand improvements of enlarged dimensions, speed, and heavy metal. Her convoy, a fleet of large Indiamen, were gently standing along the Malabar coast, with a mild Zephyr-like north-west breeze, in the month of May, the tropical sea discoloured from the proximity of the land, and shewing a greenish cast, the curling water snakes, so common in soundings on that particular coast, were undulating occasionally past the vessels-as they, under royals, on a wind, kept up a little fuming froth at their bows washing, bubbling, and breaking past their polished red copper and dark well-defined horizon, as with wind and tide the fast ships drew into the new and strange anchorage; then

shining bends, as with a low murmuring sound, the noble large vessels slowly and majestically moved along at the rate of four or five knots an hour, clean painted, and all in high order for going into harbour.

The morning, the soft beautifully clear Indian morning broke upon them, with the high mountainous Ghauts in sight, as with a light sea breeze, dead aft, the fleet gently progressed under a cloud of white canvas. How beautiful was the outline of the purple hills-they formed the southern entrance into the harbour of Bombay-with, close down on the smooth light green sea on the southern shore, the dark, low, fortified island of Kenery; with our glasses, we could distinguish on the main land the tall graceful palms so oriental; and from the thatched-roofed villages the light blue smoke rose straight up : (the air from the sea not reaching the land.) As the sun rose higher and higher, clear and hot, the refreshing sea breeze bellied out the spread of canvas, and the ships headed in for the harbour. A few passing fleecy clouds threw their long purple shadows over the light green sea, and a new country and new scenery opened upon the eye of the young European, as the white column-like lighthouse rose on the clear blue sky over the

A SKETCH IN INDIA.

could we see the low fortifications and flag staff on the island of Bombay rising above the water, and the confused mass of masts and rigging of the ships in harbour grew out clear and distinct; the strange eastern built fishing boats, with their grab-shaped prow and pointed lateen sails, danced and plunged across the harbour to their fishing stations. In drew the gallant vessels, as sweeping past them like a moving panorama, was the fresh and foreign scenery; the tall white lighthouse with its red signal balls was moving fast astern, the white verandahed buildings and palm trees on Koulaba swept by them quickly; every moment shewed a new and varied scene; the red lateenrigged pilot boat, with its dusky coloured crew, were alongside, and the pilot (a lieutenant in the Indian navy) directing the ship in. Soon was the fluttering canvas reduced, and the large ships turned their heads round seaward, with sails clewed up, and in festoons, as they met the tide, and, dropping their ponderous anchors, lay quietly in the spacious harbour of Bombay; the flash and white smoke from the sixty-four's saluting guns, and heavy report, rolling slowly away up the harbour. Then, what a host of boats from the shore; the white muslin tunic'd dresses, and Persian shaped turban of the handsome mustachied Parsees, the red cap and white folds of the Moslem's turbans, the piles of luscious Indian fruits, the yellow banana, rich salmon coloured pine apple, apple-like guava, golden mango (so famous at Mazagon) and sugary Bussorah date; the strange Eastern language and gesticulation; the fleet of trading pattemars, with their grab prows, piled up with large bales of soft cotton; Saltsette Island and Elephanta, with the distant purple Ghaut mountains forming the back ground, and a long low line of fortified walls on the town side, formed as interesting and novel a painting to a young eager boyish mind as can be well conceived. What would that boy now give to be as then? So young; so happy; so perfect a stranger to the world's ills-its sorrows, crimes, and discontents!

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How picturesque the landing-as at sunrise he stept on to the Indian shore at the bastion and landing, called the Bunder Head. In the embrazure, and under the muzzle of the long garrison gun, sat the fire-worshiping Parsees, as cross legged or kneeling they made their morning orison or offering to the fountain of light; as, when its round red disc appeared in the cloudless sky, they cast their oblation of fruit and flowers to the waves. And what a sight did the land present. Crowds of dark turbanned natives, in their white cotton and muslin dresses; the bazaar crowded with low shops, where the merchants sat cross-legged on mats; the strange pannelled palanqueens, with the pale Europeans leaning luxuriously back on soft, silky cushions, and the bearers pushing (with their monotonous chaunt) through the crowd; the dun, uncouth, humped camel, with its tinkling bells; and the cream coloured large eyed Brahminee bull, with its necklet of flowers; then the yellow complexioned and bold featured Arab, as with shovelshaped stirrups, high saddle, and severe bit, with his red morocco pointed slippers and bare leg, he curvetted by on that most beautiful and graceful of all horses, his Arabian;— see too his silver grey body and dark points, long, thick, spreading tail, sweeping over his round quarters, deep, silky, dark mane, blood red snorting nostril-see, too, his long, sloping, elastic pastern, prominent eye, broad forehead, and intelligent look-see, too, his proud and finely arched neck and small fine muzzle; the very earth is scarce good enough for the proud and fiery steed as he neighs and plunges along. "Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible!"

The very air had an eastern perfume in it; lofty, large, and massive were the buildings, open, pillared, verandahed, and cool-'twas a land of sun and romance. Turn we again to the waters. What thoughtless young officer is now wagering with

his messmates, in the quiet, unruffled bay, that he will swim from his ship to the Bunder Head and back? Could he turn over the leaf of the book of fate; could he but see behind the dark curtain of the future, would he tempt the turbid waters that were soon to make his widowed mother childless? There is a loud laugh with his thoughtless messmates, and a deep plunge in the waters of the bay, and strong arms are throwing the waters aside, as the young seaman swam confidently to the Bunder Head; the glasses from the ship saw his landing, and hailed his return with cheers; the ships in the bay lay at their moorings, tending with slack water to the ebb tide (then making,) and the lusty swimmer neared his hearty messmates, when, close at hand, the cutting black triangular fin of an enormous shark just rose above the water, sailing swiftly along in the direction of the unconscious swimmer; a loud warning cry from the deck, a heavy splash and whirling in the still water, a faint gurgling scream, a flash and stroke from the tail of the sea monster, and a large patch of bloodred water slowly disappearing and merging into the surrounding sea, told the sad fate of as promising a young seaman as ever trod the deck of a ship.

But the boy went over the tranquil harbour on to old Elephanta, and in to that rock-hewn temple.

What a

work of man's hand! Vast and wonderful, as excavated from the solid rock, with the high cliff frowning over it, stands the rudely pillared temple of heathenism; gigantic idols, hewn doubtless ages gone, their antiquity giving a charm and zest to the damp dim excavation, induced a dream of earth's young days, when giants were on the face of the earth. On emerging from the dim excavation, the refreshing sea breeze blew cool through the rich foliage of the neighbouring little Hindoo village; how many a retiring and warm heart has lived its day unknowing and unknown in the modest and picturesque little villages on the island, almost away from the busy bustling world and its cares, out of the whirl of the

evil and fierce passions of a dense population, as, from their gentle flat sandy beach, with the small diminutive wave fretting upon its edge, and rolling the tiny sea shells over in its froth along the sand, the quiet Hindoos could mark the dark, dense forest of masts in the distance abreast the town, and list to its deep echoing guns, and let the turmoil and diplomatic chicanery, all the artful policy of an Indian state, combined with the grasping selfishness of the European conquerors of the country, follow its dark path unheeded by them.

Years flew like moments; careless, joyous boyhood had passed away like a dream: "The light of other days was gone," and a full third of our stated years on this earth past. When sitting in the near vicinity of a picturesque little Hindoo village on the Coromandel coast, in the vicinity of Madras, with the cool evening breeze blowing, and a companionable cigar, I thought back years of a useless life, and brought to mind my first visit to old Elephanta. But such an evening; still and calm: the blazing hot sun had been kept down by the sea breeze, and its falling cool air stirred the leaves of the mango and rich foliaged tamarind trees into a sighing meditative whisper. The sun was down, but a rich vivid blaze of cloudless yellow rose over the western sky, merging into an orange and beautiful rose tint, then fading into the pale blue of the Indian tropics; not a cloud; and before me were the domes and pillars of the eastern-built_city, with the rich evening lights reflecting on the gilding of its minarets and cupolas; the tall cocoa palm stood, its erect and taper pillar crowned with the feather-like tufted leaves, dark and beautiful in the yellow evening light: the village tank near, had its crowd of idlers, and the beautiful and graceful erect figures of the Hindoo girls, with their jars of water placed on their heads, moved off into the dimming distance; the camels, with their loads of merchandize, long necks, grotesque figures and heads, splashed along with their conductors through a shallow pool of water and sand fronting me, and their little tinkling neck

LITURGICAL REPETITION.

bells gave a most musical silvery sound, which strangely contrasted with the splashing, thundering roll of the formidable Madras surf, as it broke on the beach, uprising at times in long continuous lines of rushing foam, bursting, hissing, frothing, and tumbling; a continuity of snowy breakers from horizon to horizon, with a sound like distant thunder; and over the grey neutral-tinted waves of the Indian ocean, out seaward,

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rose and fell the heaving swell; and long and heavily the shipping in the offing, rolled on the ground swell of the roads.

As roller following roller, thundered and broke on the steep beach ;-so does generation after generation rise, gather, and break! What more remains of the past, than of the rolling foam on the damp hard sands? 'Tis present!-'Tis gone!

LITURGICAL REPETITION.

THE Liturgy of the Church of England, notwithstanding its many and great beauties, exhibits upon one point so palpable an imperfection, that its continuance is really amazing, in an age of investigation and reason. But how, in all things, are we the slaves of habit and custom! and how singular it is, that when an absurdity, however gross, has once got possession of the public mind, and been sanctioned by the practice of ages, individuals of the highest principle, and of the best intentions, will sometimes strain their imaginations for excuses, and make use of a weakness of argument in its defence, of which, upon any other subject, they would be perfectly ashamed! Suppose that an order were to come out from the Queen in Council, that the collect for the day should be repeated five times in the morning, and three times in the afternoon service, besides being put into all the Offices, whether performed at the same time with the Liturgy or not: is it not to be feared that so unwise an order would depopulate the churches; that the people would look round upon each other with astonishment, and that not a clergyman would be found to say any thing in its defence? Would it not justly be observed, that the continual repetition of solemn sentences and solemn prayers, has a tendency to diminish their effect on the mind, until they come at length to be as little regarded as the pater-nosters and aveMarias which accompany the telling of a friar's beads? Would it not justly JULY-1851.

be remarked, that the more excellent the prayer, the greater must be the mischief and the misfortune of its being repeated with such irrational frequency; of its being converted, by the lower class of people more especially, into a sort of charm, to prevail by the number of repetitions, which ought to be regarded as a solemn address to Almighty God for certain temporal and spiritual benefits? What shall we say, then, when the prayer made choice of for this purpose by our Church, is the prayer the LORD has taught us?-a prayer admirable for its comprehensiveness, as a summary of all our wants, but peculiarly unfit to be so frequently repeated in the course of the morning service, which is itself universally considered too long.

There are certain precepts of Scripture, which we all feel ourselves obliged to attend to,-"Thou shalt not steal;" "Thou shalt not covet;' "Thou shalt not bear false witness," &c. How is it, then, that we seem to have agreed together so entirely to neglect that other and not less positive precept, which says, "When ye pray, use not vain repetitions;" more especially, when we so clearly perceive one very powerful reason for the prohibition, viz., the ill effect of repetitions upon the imperfect constitu- ` tion of man's nature? I am aware it has been said that our Saviour himself did not act in conformity with this precept, when, in His agony in the garden, he prayed three times to His Father, "saying the same words.":

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But if we look at the passage from which this quotation is taken, we shall find that they were not the very same words, but words expressing the same thing. But supposing they were the very same words which our Saviour repeated three times, what were those words? Why, little more than an ejaculation, which it was natural enough in the agony of His distress to repeat frequently,-"O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done." Nothing can be more natural in the midst of distress, than the frequent repetition of such a short prayer or ejaculation as this: nothing more unnatural than our repetition of the Lord's prayer,—at a time when every petition it contains is offered up in other words, in the course of the service.

To bring the matter to a short issue, Did our Lord, when He commanded us not to use vain repetitions, mean anything at all? If it is said that He meant to forbid vain repetitions, but that our repetition of the Lord's prayer five times in the morning service, including the prayer before the sermon,-and as often in the afternoon, if there should happen to be a churching and christening, and again, it may be, at a funeral,-is not a vain repetition, I know not what is.

I may be told that a clergyman of the Established Church has no right

to find fault with anything which the Prayer-book contains. But what is this, but to assert either that the Church is infallible, or that it is firmly resolved never to amend any imperfection which, to induce the Papists to join it, our Reformers unwisely retained? We now see the evil of such compliances; and therefore not only should this, but all other defects, be remedied, which offend the common sense of every reflecting man, create dissent, and hinder much of the good that might otherwise be derived from our Liturgy: the principal excellence of which is this, that even if all preaching were abolished, no man, whether well educated or not, could long attend the services of our Church, without acquiring a perfect knowledge of all the saving doctrines of the Christian religion.

That the complaint here made of the too frequent repetition of the Lord's prayer is an old one, is only a further argument that it is founded on reason. No evil, it is clear, could arise from its being less frequently repeated; and, apart from all other arguments, considering the subject as a mere matter of taste, how much more forcibly, how much more gracefully would it be introduced, if it were said but once, and that at the end of the service, summing up all in the words which Christ has taught us.

A CLERGYMAN OF
THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

THE STATE OF OUR EPISCOPACY.

SOME safety-valve must be opened, or the high pressure of public opinion will demand more than the complete remodelling of the constitution of the Church of England. It is most perilous to the Church's safety, as it is deeply injurious to its honour and usefulness, that the main point in which the Bishops are now brought before the public, is in an unseemly warfare about the revenues of their respective

sees.

We have long felt that our prelates are placed in a false position, by having to derive their incomes from the

management of the large properties with which their sees are endowed, and which management, justly or unjustly, has always laid them open to obnoxious charges, equally affecting them personally and the Church in which they hold so distinguished a position. At the present time this subject is brought before the country with increased force, and with far worthier motives than has ever actuated the movers in such matters. Church reform is becoming a question of widely-spreading and stronger interest, and the cause is mainly attri

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