either going or coming or remaining, look on it as an emblem of life in its progress and close, and be edified as you see the works of God in the great deep, and his creatures and people therein.-Ibid.

5.-PROPOSAL TO TRANSLATE AND PRINT THE QURAN IN THE URDU AND ROMAN CHARACTER.

We have had forwarded to us a prospectus for printing a Romanized Urdu and Nágri edition of the Quran by Christian men. The object is, that by a plain, faithful translation of this heterogeneous mass of selections from other sacred books, Musalmáns may be enabled to judge more accurately of its merits, and be better informed as to its contents than they can be now that it is doled out to them in the flowing numbers of Arabic poetry, which but few among them comprehend. It is the poetical mysteries which attach themselves to the Quran which constitutes its chief recommendation. Another object which the translators have in view is to place in the hands of Missionaries and Native Christian teachers, who may not be conversant with Persian, a plain and faithful translation of this most important book in all discussions with the Muhammadans; so that they may be able to quote it in the ordinary language of the people to whom they preach. The Hebrew scriptures, the Greek scriptures are translated into the Vulgar tongues, why not the Quran that it may be brought by the people to a fair test with the truly holy hooks? Such a test the people may be able to appreciate. This is the reasoning of the translators. It is proposed to add notes explanatory. We regret that we cannot recommend this plan, and we candidly confess we look upon it with sincere regret. Had the Musalmans attempted it or had it been the work of any literary body, we could have had no objection; but as it is the work of Christian men, we cannot approve it. That it may effect some good we are convinced, for the good men who have undertaken to translate it would never have made the attempt had they not so thought: but that the good will counterbalance the evil we very much doubt. As Christians it is our duty to print and distribute Christian truth, but certainly not that which we know to be a cheat and a lie, and that lie firmly and fanatically believed by so large a section of the human family. Let us put what notes we please, will not the impression get abroad that Christians are printing the Quran? -and what effect will that have on the illiterate Musalmáns which impression the Maulvis will not fail to strengthen?-but whatever be the impression, it is clear that Christian men cannot do evil that good may come, and that to translate, print and circulate that which we know and believe to be the grossest and most influential of all impostures certainly comes within the category of evil. The intention of our friends who have undertaken this work we believe to be good, but we entreat them to pause ere they set one type to press in such a matter.-1bid.

We entirely concur in the sentiments expressed in this extract.-ED. C. C. O.

6-CHRISTIAN EDUCATION-INCREASED EXERTION NEEded. The advocates of what is called a neutral education, that is education without Christianity, are making great efforts to extend their schools and colleges in every direction. They have at their command considerable pecuniary resources and political influence; and hence they are not likely to contract the circle of their operations. They must and will increase. Whatever may be the estimate formed of education without Christianity by the upholders of the Government system, there are many who deem all knowledge, except it be accompanied by the truth of God's word, to be but an engine for evil put into the hands of this people. We would therefore entreat the friends of native Christian education not to rest on their oars, but in every district of this densely populated country

to plant Christian seminaries that the stream of knowledge may be accompanied by that which can alone make it a blessing to the peopletrue and pure Christianity. The educational wants of the people of India are clearly becoming much greater than can be supplied by the different Missionary Societies as such. The subject is evidently becoming one which cannot be treated as an appendage to missions: it must be taken up and dealt with as a great national question by the Church of Christ and friends of Christian education both here and at home. A Society should be formed for this express object-the Christian Education of India on a scale commensurate with the demands of the people and the efforts of the anti-Christian system. We merely throw out the suggestion. We may return to the subject in a little.-Ibid.

7. THE MONTHLY MISSIONARY PRAYER MEETING.

The Monthly Missionary Prayer Meeting was held at the Lal Bazar Chapel, on Monday the 2nd inst. The address was delivered by the Rev. J. Wenger, who gave a brief account of The present state of the Greek Church in Greece and Turkey. Religiously considered nothing can be more deplorable than its present condition. The priesthood are sunk in ignorance and the people held under the influence of the grossest superstition. Ceremonies and miracles occupy the place of vital godliness. Preaching is a thing almost unknown. The efforts of Protestant Missionaries have been directed to this field. They have prepared school and other useful books on general knowledge and have commenced a library of Christian knowledge in the translation of standard anthors. The Scriptures have been translated into modern Greek, and Schools of a very superior character have been established in Greece. The priests alarmed at this state of things, have anathematized those of the people who have dared to benefit by the labors of the Missionaries. Persecution has ensued the Scriptures have been burnt by order of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and all books printed at Mission presses-scientific as well as religious-have been ordered to be burnt by the same authority. The Missionaries are stigmatized as foreigners, the Bible as a dangerous book, and the efforts of these men of God are declared to be subversive of order and peace. This is but another form of the papacy-another of those cheats by which the evil one deludes the erring children of men into the belief and practice of a lie. Amidst all this there are a few who stand fast, who are, according to the election of grace; and a large party of what may be called the liberal, that is, the educated party, are fast progressing, towards that state of things which will forbid their tamely submitting to the anathemas of an ignorant and besotted priesthood. The devotional parts of the service were engaged in by Rev. Messrs. Bradbury and Smith.-Ibid.

8.-REPUTED REVIVAL OF SATI AT MIRZAPORE.

A correspondent of the Englishman states that a Sati has occurred in that neighborhood. Some time ago we stated that two had occurred in the vicinity of Calcutta. We have little doubt of their being perpetrated, though they could not be distinctly traced by the authorities. That the brahmans would, if possible, revive this or any other barbarous custom, we have little doubt that they may ever and anon make an attempt 66 to try the spirits" is not improbable. Wherever such things happen, the authorities ought to leave no stone unturned until the whole matter is sifted and the parties made a public example of; for if they can with impunity perform such a rite in the very vicinity of the authorities, what may they not practise in the remoter and less regulated portions of our territories? We do hope for humanity's sake such thing has not occurred,

but if it has, and can be traced home, it ought to be visited by the severest punishment which the law can inflict.-Ibid.

9. THE MEDICAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

Christianity is not only henevolent but ingenious in the modes by which she would commend her benevolence to mankind. Like the mercies of nature, though provided for all and tending to the same end, the happiness of man and the glory of God-like these, though having one object, Christianity assumes different aspects and presents her mercies, in different forms. In nature now mercy comes in the sunshine, and then in the shadow-now in the valley, and then in lofty mountain. So does Christianity:-now it comes to the guilty in the preached word, and then in the form of the Asylum, the Hospital and the Refuge; and now it has determined to commend itself to the inhabitants of China and the East through the medium of medicine the superior science and skill of Western pharmacy. A Society has been formed in London, under the auspices of some of the most talented and humane laymen and others--most of them medical men, for the purpose of sending forth Medical Missionaries to China-a noble and commendable object indeed, and one which has the high sanction of the Lord himself, who while he came to seek and to save the souls of the lost, did not forget to minister to the temporal wants and necessities of the people and to relieve their bodily ailments. In the East, medicine is a powerful key. It is almost like the magician's wand and may in wise hands be made a powerful means for introducing and propagating the truth of the gospel. The Rev. Mr. Kidd, formerly of Malacca, now Professor of Chinese in the London University, is Secretary to the Society. We shall be happy to convey the donations of any of our friends to the Secretary.-Ibid.

10. THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDge. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge connected with the Hindu College have just issued a volume of Essays in English and Bengali. These Essays have been delivered by the Members at the Meetings of the Society. The publication of this volume forms an era in the history of the Hindus. It is the first tangible literary fruit of a party of intelligent native youth, and may be taken as a specimen of their talent and general modes of thinking, and conveying their thoughts, both in English and Bengali. We hope that every encouragement will be given to this effort. The Society is a vast improvement on the Debating Societies and Spouting Clubs of the native youth, of which this volume is an abundant evidence. Might not the Society issue its proceedings in a less ponderous and more frequent form?—Ibid.

We understand the volume in question has not been published but only printed for the use of the members and their friends.-ED. C. C, O.

11.-STATE OF NATIVE FEELING-WIDOWS-NOBLE EXAMPLE OF A NATIVE YOUTH-GHAT-MURDERS AND THE CHARAK. The indications that a spirit of change in a religious point of view is coming over the people in this country are may. Straws," it is said," shew which way the wind blows;" and acts, though they are but the acts of individuals, indicate the state of feeling amongst the native community. Some time back a wealthy native offered a sum of money to any one, cæteris paribus, who would marry a Hindu widow. The offer we understand was accepted. Not to revert to other singular phenomena in Hindu Society equally opposed to native prejudice and practice, we cannot pass over in silence the dying act of Raj Kirshna Dey, a young well-educated and highly intelligent youth, one of the pupils of the Medical College, and

acting, since the completion of his studies, in the Upper Provinces as a native surgeon. In his dying moments this promising young man entreated his friends, nay enjoined it upon them, not to allow his wife to remain a widow, or at least not to prevent her marrying again if she wished. The time was when such an act would have called forth the anathemas of the Dharma Shabha, and the ire of the whole Hindu community; but this, as well as the previous offer of Mutty Lall Seal, have fallen dead on the ear, and show how little impression of an unfavorable kind they have produced on the minds of the people. The prejudices of the people are weakened, and it only requires the example of such men as those we have alluded to to check the disgraceful practices of Hindu life. Some of these evils however are of such a character as to need the interference of the strong arm of Government as well as the influence of personal example. We refer now more particularly to Ghat-murders and the Charak Pujá-but more especially to the former. This practice is carried on in all its horrors, and they are horrors dread enough to awaken the sympathies and energies of the most inert. Only imagine a man or woman prostrated by fever or other disease, remonstrating against removal but yet dragged away to the Ghat by relentless and hungry brahmans and terrified relatives. This happens every day at our doors: men and women are deliberately murdered every day under the sanction of religion, and by the hands of brahmans. Can nothing be done in this matter? Will no hand move or no voice be raised to arrest the progress of this Moloch-like practice? Aided by the wise and humane legislation of Government, the Charak Puja will, we hope, effect its own cure. Oh for more such noble spirits as Raj Krishna Dey.Ibid.

12. INDIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

The Madras Protestant Weekly Visitor gives an account of the fourth Annual Meeting of the Indian Missionary Society. The object of this Society is to employ lay agents in the Mission field irrespective of peculiarities on the subject of Church Government. All are eligible who hold the fundamentals of our holy faith. The Society we are happy to state, has hitherto answered every expectation. The agents are all attached to the country, and hence have none of those temptations to quit the field of labor which strangers have; that they are not laborers for filthy lucre's sake is clear from the fact that the income of the Society is not more than £200, yet with this thirteen agents have been sustained. We are happy to see the clergy and laity of every denomination engaged in this Society: it is a proof, if of nothing else, of this at least, that the members of the Church of Christ at Madras are imbued with a truly Christian spirit in practice as well as theory. We have more than once heard of the truly Christian temper which prevails at Madras, and would earnestly commend it to all the Churches of Christ in India. We pray the Lord of Missions may bless effectually the Indian Missionary Society in all its operations and agencies. The Agra Missionary Society was formed on a similar principle; but we have heard nothing of its opera tions for a long time.-Ibid.

13. NEW EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN HINDUSTANI. We are happy to state that another edition of the New Testament in Hindustani has just been completed. The volume consists of 540 small 12mo. pages; it is therefore the most compact form in which this large portion of the word of God has hitherto been presented in this popular language. The edition consists of 3000 copies of the entire Testament, besides 1000 copies of the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in a separate form. May that great Spirit, by whose inspiration the sacred text was originally written, render this version the honoured instrument

of imparting to very many the saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.

For the generous aid rendered them in this important department of their labours, the missionary brethren desire to present their very grateful acknowledgments, while they indulge the hope that the example set by some will be followed by many more, that as the demand for the word of God increases, the means of multiplying copies of the sacred volume may also increase.-Herald.

14. DESIRE FOR RELIGIOUS BOOKS AT DACCA CONTINUED.

Extract of a letter from Rev. W. Robinson.

Sept. 3.-I shall now give you a few hints, concerning the state of things at Dacca during the last month. I may state in general terms, that the demand for books is greater than ever, and that the disposition to hear seems on the increase. I have seldom spent 60 rupees to better purpose, than in the erection of our native chapel. Let it be opened whenever it may, we are sure of some hearers, and we often have a great number. But I will give you a few particulars.

On the 7th ultimo in the afternoon I went to the chapel and spoke from these words: "It is appointed for all men once to die," &c. As soon as I had done, many requested books, that they might, as they said, learn more of these things. Before we left the chapel, a letter was brought for Chand informing him that a native teacher was on his way to Dacca. This cheered him much.

On the 8th brother Leonard and I went to Frasganj with an intention of preaching, but I became so unwell, that we were obliged to content ourselves with the distribution of a few books, which brother Leonard had brought with him. On this day your first box arrived, containing 1302 volumes; but I did not open it till Monday the 10th.

On Sabbath morning the 9th the congregation in the native chapel was about 40. My text was Isaiah xlvi. 5-8. I succeeded in fixing attention better than usual. The poor people appeared quite surprised, but not at all offended, to hear their own idolatrous practices so exactly

described in our shástras.

On the 11th brother Leonard and I went to the chok or square. About 50 gospels in Hindustani, a large bundle of tracts in the same language, and a few in Bengáli, went off in a few minutes. On such occasions it is impossible to preach; the uproar is too great.

On the 15th brother Leonard and I went to Dhákáishwari, where there is a temple of Káli in a thick jungle, perhaps a mile out of the city. A few brahmans, who inhabit a few mean huts were the only persons to be seen. The brahmans were very civil, and gladly received portions of scripture. I wonder at the brahmans of Dacca; they come to my house in great numbers for books, and claim them in preference to other people, because they are brahmans.

After the box above mentioned was opened, crowds came for books, and I had to live, for a few days, in the midst of a great uproar. On the 18th another box containing 810 volumes arrived with the native preacher. On the 19th I employed him in distributing books at my house. He continued the distribution perhaps an hour, and then the tumult became so great, that I thought it prudent to desist.

On the 21st the people began to come in to celebrate a Hindu festival, in honor of the birth of Krishna. In the evening, brother Leonard and I went to the native chapel, and found our native brethren engaged with a crowd. Leaving them at the chapel we took about 100 copies of Matt., and went to one of the outskirts of the city to meet the people, who were coming in from the country. We saw many flocking into the city, but