mon parlance, for natural impossibilities. The notion of a God, the creator, preserver and destroyer of the world, a world which is, was produced, and tends of itself to decay, like the trees in a forest, is a mere fiction. The admission, therefore, of any proof or evidence other than that of sense, is destitute of all support, and is but a vain fancy, a source only of endless vexation to men, who are as blinded by their ignorance as was the silly sightless fellow who, catching hold of the cow's tail, hoping to be guided to the farm, had only his folly to thank for the bruises and sufferings that punished it, when the frightened cow dragged him over the uneven soil, through ditches and brambles, bestowing upon him many a kick besides.

When Vikramaditya heard the infidel thus abusing the holy writings, his anger somewhat stirred, he replied-O unbelieving wretch, if, agreeably to what you have asserted, that there is no proof to be relied upon but what is furnished by the senses, you refuse to accept the evidence from inference, &c. then should my most learned friend here, the reverend pandit, by any unforeseen event become deaf, all persuasion or belief grounded on the evidence of his own words (which he could no longer hear) to him must cease. But if so, then neither could he effect any of his purposes (because, unless he gave orders, &c. as usual, nothing would be done for him); nor, since he himself would not hear his own words, could he even more than infer, as from the movement of his lips, &c. that he indeed spoke; he would have no sensible evidence of it whatever. But in fuct men see plainly, that such a man, blind yet learned, may actually give most excellent instructions to others, (even though he do not himself hear them,) and may also accomplish all his own purposes, transact weighty affairs, &c.

Again, should you in a dream behold, evidently, your own head cut off, how would you deal with yourself on awaking from sleep? as a dead man or a living? If as a dead man, then would you be a wise and clever person truly! but if as a living man, then there would be an end of your sensible evidence, (for you had clear sensible evidence of your own actual decapitation.) Therefore you cannot avoid admitting, over and above the evidence of sense, that of inference also, which is supported by all the shasters And now I ask you one question: Have you yourself fallen from the clouds, or do you trace yourself from a certain ancestry, however little remote? If you reply " I fell from the clouds," then I say you are mad; if you tell me you had ancestors, then I ask you, what proof you have of the fact? You will probably say "I have it from the assurance of trust-worthy persons, that I am descended from such a stock." Then, in spite of yourself, are you compelled to admit the evidence of testimony as proof. Thus, if, according to the two foregoing arguments, you are obliged to allow the evidence of inference and of testimony, then whatever is supported by one or the other of these you must acknowledge to be proved. Yet the concession is made with a bad grace indeed, extorted from you as it is, like the admission of the silly brahmin that his heifer was but middle-aged, after absurdly insisting first that she was very old, and then that she was quite a calf.

But be that as it may,-you must now also confess a God, the author of this world, one of the fairest of all contrivances, an assemblage of wonders beyond the utmost power of conception or any of the illusions of dreams, and in which pleasure and pain are experienced as the fruits of good and evil actions, arising correspondingly in country, time, and occasion.

Reflect within yourself and determine the point. Things that are, be they great or small, must all have some termination in a superior existence, as the water of a pool, a lake, a river has its containing limit, (in the land that supports and surrounds or includes it.) Now power, valour, renown,

the splendour of excellency, knowledge, indifference to sensual gratifications, and other virtuous (movements or qualities) exist, in greater or less degree, in sentient beings (men); consequently you must admit some existence in which these are found without limitation; and the being you must fix upon is, doubtless, the one great God. He is thus describable: as all-wise all-powerful, everlasting, revealed in causes and their effects, witness to all the movements of all hearts, footless yet every where present, handless yet all-supporting, eyeless yet all-seeing, earless but hearer of every thing; he knows all, yet is known of none; he is everywhere existent, yet unattainable to any; he has no container, he contains all things; he is figurable but as the ever-wise and blest, (source of all knowledge and happiness ;) his power is competent to effect what is most difficult of accomplishment. Hence the sacred writings term it the great magic (or illusion). It is the original cause of the universe, and therefore is also termed the plastic principle (or passive source of all things). Those who possess a knowledge of the essential nature of Deity, perceive the world to be like the illusion of a dream, the creation of the divine power (or energy). Thence they also term that power the great sleep or dream. With the concomitance of such a power, that supreme God, who is without qualification, inactive, simply ever-wise and blest, becomes qualified by omniscience, &c. A knowledge of this supreme God, long exercised in uninterrupted, silent adoration, becomes the efficient cause of final absorption (into the divine essence).

Thus having reasoned, King Vikram in conclusion addressed the sceptic in these words:-O infidel, listen to what I say; it is the spiritual sense (or inward meaning) of the shasters. As a mother, when administering, for the cure of her child's disease, medicines that are sharp, bitter and astringent (to the taste), to soothe and persuade him, says to him, My child if you will take this medicine, I will give you a delicious sweetmeat; and by thus promising a reward, prevails upon him to swallow the medicine: so, in like manner, the holy Veds, mother-like, holding out the rewards of heaven in order to cure the diseases of anger, cupidity, blindness, pleasure and envy, excite men to the performance of works which are accomplishable only with much labour and expence ; and as health is the result of curing disease, so is steadfast intentness of thought upon God the result of the cessation of desire and other passions. Therefore, he who is devoted to the contempla. tion of God, has no longer dependance upon works of merit; whoever is not so devoted to divine meditation, his works are attended with but vain results. Why then do you, neglecting devout reflexion upon the supreme Deity, waste your time to no purpose in cultivating a speculative wisdom which only catches at straws, i. e. is both captious and irrational?

Drinking in by his ear the effectual medicine of the foregoing discourse of Vikram's, the demon of infidelity resident in the sceptic's mind fled away; and he, viewing the King as his spiritual guide, reverently observed his sayings; at which Vikram being overjoyed, bestowed upon the philosopher many rich gifts, to his great satisfaction.

No sooner was this (32nd) address concluded, than all the 32 images spoke at once, as follows: O King Bhoj, in these attempts to relate the excellencies of the great King Vikramaditya, we have pourtrayed the chief duties and virtues of a sovereign; he who possesses and practises these, is worthy to be seated on this throne; but any other ascending it, would bring down upon himself a host of misfortunes. Therefore, out of pure desire for your welfare, we have prevented you from occupying it. Be not displeased at this; through you, we, being rescued from the fixed and immovable condition to which we were reduced by a Muni's curse, have re-obtained the power of locomotion. May you be happy and rule your kingdom in peace! We shall now go, with the throne, to our own place. So saying the 32 images raised the throne and proceeded to their proper abode; while King Bhoj returned to his palace.

VII-Chapter of Varieties.

1.-CONNECTION OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WITH THE IDOLATRY OF

INDIA.

This question so deeply involving the honor of the moral character of Britain appears, from recent occurrences, to be placed on an entirely new footing. Report states, through our contemporary the Friend of India, that the highest authority has declared that so long as the public purse can be replenished with an annual income of two lakhs of rupees from this idolatrous source, it shall not be abandoned, especially at the request of a few fanatics! We may say, without the slightest approach to dictation, that such expressions are not those that should fall from the lips of any public functionary; they are not calculated to conciliate what it should be the object of every official character to obtain, the good wishes and fervent support of all subject to his influence. We hope it is not true, but if so, it was an impolitic disclosure. We had supposed that the tardiness in carrying into effect the orders, the reiterated public orders, of the Court of Directors on this subject, arose from an extreme sensitiveness, on the part of the local government, in reference to the religious prejudices of the people of India; but meagre and unsatisfactory as was this supposition, we are now robbed of it. Religious deference for the superstitious abominations of Hinduism has given place to the love of gain! Although somewhat sceptical on the matter, we had been almost induced, by the laboured efforts of some Anglicized Hindu advocates of the connection to prove that it was a dead loss to the Company's exchequer, to believe that no such sordid motive could actuate our rulers; but no, it is a gain, and we have now the strange anomaly of a Christian Government, composed of liberal politicians, calmly and deliberately avowing, that if their coffers can but be replenished by the offerings of poor miserable idolaters, they will heed the voice neither of humanity, reason nor religion! We never for a moment doubted that the public orders of the Court, on this subject, were accompanied by private instructions, which would materially interfere with the fulfilment of the wishes of the people of England. We imagined that the spirit of the despatches would lose somewhat of its energy in passing over the wide waste of waters; but we never did anticipate the revelation of such a motive for the continuance of a practice so degrading.

We suspect that we form a section of the handful of fanatics to whom reference is made; and if so, we have only to exhort the rest of the handful in India, to unite with the dwarfish multitude at home, to exert the same energetic, persevering,

and peaceful means for the accomplishment of this object, which they employed for the overthrow of slavery and the slave trade-in fact, to do their own work. This has always been our advice to the friends of religion and humanity; though it has occasionally been overruled by the opinions of such of our friends as prefer peace and a dim prospect, to war and a speedy termination of the contest. We respect the motive though we lament the issue. The issue in this, as in every other instance, is, that when the struggle actually arrives, the polite and accommodating opponent throws all his arts overboard, and after repeated and fair promises, leaves us to fight over again the battle which should even then be crowned with victory. Those who are to be reformed will, in the very nature of things, put off the day of purification to the last; nor will it ever be effected by our walking with them in an apparently happy, but in reality hollow, alliance. We have therefore but to entreat the handful of fanatics to unite, with the cheerful hope of success, in this as in every enterprize of benevolence. This is one of the last of the many strongholds, of gross darkness and pseudo-liberality, which must be overthrown-a species of extraordinary toleration, which oppresses the more enlightened and civilized, at the expence of the debased and idolatrous ;-a singular species of benevolence, that is willing to relieve the poor overburdened pilgrims of Bengal of their rupees, to supply the means for dividends to the proprietors of East India Stock in Europe! Should the spirit of the fanatics be aroused, those who are accustomed to designate piety stuff, and the pious mean and cowardly, may find that, though the indignation and energy of such characters will endure long, yet if once raised, it will not sleep until it has done its work; and when fully awakened it oft discovers, in effecting the reform of one evil, the existence of others, the removal of which not unfrequently shakes the foundations of those who laughed at the weakness and despised the fanaticism of the good. God fighteth the battles of the righteous, and they must conquer. Be wise therefore, O ye kings, be ye instructed, O ye rulers of the earth!

2.-SPECIAL APPEAL ON BEHALF OF INDIA.

φιλος.

We have received a copy of the "Special Appeal on behalf of India" made by the Committee of the Religious Tract Society in London. 'The communications of our excellent friend, the Rev. W. H. Pearce of the Baptist Missionary Society, who left this last year, on account of health, and of the Rev. G. Gogerly of the London Missionary Society, who left India, the year before, on the same account, are embodied in the appeal. The efforts of the Tract Society have been very great, and yet the

result of the calculations now laid before the world is, that although "far more tracts were printed by the Calcutta Society during the last year than in any preceding year of its existence, yet, even then, the total was but three hundred and fifty thousand; and when added to those issued by other institutions in India, which cannot exceed three hundred thousand more, these will not give, in the aggregate, one tract to two hundred individuals."

"This presidency of Bengal alone, including the Agra dependency, has under its direct government upwards of fifty-seven millions—an assemblage of immortal beings surely vast enough to demand our attention and sympathy, and to draw forth our most vigorous exertions in their behalf!"

Here is a most heart-stirring appeal indeed, if the modicum of religious and moral light emanating from a single tract have as yet, after all that has been done in this good and charitable work, beamed but upon one in 200 of the mass of fellow-beings by whom we are surrounded! What stronger or more affecting appeal can be made than is furnished by this simple fact?

Yet, that substantially beneficial results have been obtained, from the various exertions made by this and kindred Societies, we are well assured from personal observation. We are strengthened in the conviction by the following passage in the appeal, which goes fully to confirm our largest hopes, and satisfactorily to meet the either desponding or unbelieving question so reiteratedly asked, by doubting friends and sarcastic foes alikeWhat have your Bible and Tract and Missionary labours and expenditure as yet achieved?

"All who have lived in or near Calcutta for several years, and during that time have had constant intercourse with native society, must have witnessed a gradual, but very perceptible and interesting change in the character and feelings of numbers around them. This change has been produced by means of public preaching, the distribution of Scriptures and tracts, and the education of the young; and it is more or less evident in other places, in proportion to the amount of scriptural and general knowledge which, by these means, has been communicated to the inhabitants. By this diffusion of intellectual and spiritual light, prejudice has been removed, and attention excited. Attendance on preaching has become more serious, and is followed by less debate. Gospels and tracts, which before were refused, or received with evident apprehension, are now eagerly sought, not only by the lower classes, but by persons of a higher grade in society; they are often asked for by name, by those who have seen them in the possession of others, and have come several miles to procure them. Schools in which christianity is fully taught, are exceedingly popular, and more pupils present themselves than can be received. In several seminaries for Hindu youths, unconnected with missions, into which the Scriptures are not introduced, many of the elder pupils are in the habit of procuring English Testaments from the Bible Association, and of teaching their younger countrymen the English language from them in their leisure hours. The confidence of great numbers in Hinduism, is evidently shaken or entirely destroyed. Christianity is no longer viewed with contempt: it is regarded by all as a formidable, and as what most persons ap