Church, of which under God he is the head, at a time when her foes were numerous, and her friends, shall I say her guardians, were faithless. "And yet for wise purposes, perhaps to make him perfect through suffering, such have been the afflictions of this good man, and gracious king, that no one among the meanest of his subjects has had more frequent and louder calls to look beyond this vain and transitory world, for the reward of his labours, and the termination of his sorrows. "And, thanks be to God, as far as the human eye can see, his record is above, and his reward is with the Most High. His conduct, pious and humble in prosperity, firm and undaunted in danger, patient and resigned in affliction, has set forth to all his subjects an example of Christian excellence, worthy of universal imitation, and everlasting remembrance. "He has shewn that the splendour of an earthly crown has never yet induced him to forget the still more splendid, and (what is of far more consequence) the more peaceable and more durable happiness, of a crown of glory, which fadeth not away, reserved in the Heavens for him. "He has ever looked, with the stedfast eye of faith, to that city of which St John tells us, "They have no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof,-And the KINGS of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it." "May God, in mercy to this nation, long spare his sacred life: and when the closing period of his existence shall arrive; may the voice of that same God speak comfortably to him, cry unto him that his warfare is accomplished, and render him more than conqueror, through him who died for him. "Having put off his robes of earthly state, and divested of the diadein of worldly power; may the holy angels conduct him, clad in robes of light, joyful and triumphant, before the throne of the excellent glory, there to receive amidst applauding angels, an eternal crown, thus presented, at the hands of his redeeming God. "Good and faithful servant of thy Lord, thou who in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, hast truly been a shining light':-thou who in my cause hast fought a good and valiant fight-thou who in all thy struggles hast looked up to me alone :-thou who knowing the vanity of human aid, and the weakness of the arm of flesh, hast gone forth in my strength, and hast made mention only of my name.-Thy warfare is accomplished. Thou hast been faithful unto death, I will give thee a crown of life. For my sake hast thou suffered,-with me, for ever shalt thou reign." This This is not Mr. Carr's firft appearance from the prefs; he has obtained public approbation on account of former fermons, but the prefent far exceeds them all, though all of them are good. A Sermon on the Duty and Expediency of tranflating the Scriptures into the Current Languages of the East for the use and benefit of the natives: preached by special appointment before the University of Oxford, November 29, 1807. By the Reverend EDWARD NARES, M. A. late Fellow of Merton College, and Rector of Biddenden, Kent. 4to. pp. 70. 35. 6d. Rivingtons, &c. T was hardly to be expected, even in this planet-ftricken age, that objections would be started in a Chriftian country against the rational propagation of the gofpel among the heathen; or that any men would be found hardy enough to enter a protest against tranflating the fcriptures into the oriental languages, for the ufe of the natives of India. But fo it is we are gravely told by more than one writer that a liberal attempt to fpread the Chriftian doctrine in Hindooftan, is an unjuft attack upon the prejudices of the inhabitants, and that even the communication of our holy books to them will excite their jealoufy, and probably lead to our expulfion from that country. 2 The prefent Sermon is a complete refutation of fuch abfurd charges and unfounded alarms, for it proves not only the practicability of the work, but the abfolute duty and fafety of it. The occafion of the difcourfe appears in the following letter: To the Reverend the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. "SIR, "I have the honour to enclose a copy of Proposals for translating the Scriptures into the Oriental languages; which I request you will be pleased to submit to the principal members of your society. "If the design should appear to you to be worthy of encou ragement, I would propose that two sermons shall be preached before the University on the subject of the Oriental translations, 1 by by such members of the University as the University shall think fit to appoint and at such times as may be convenient. "I request that each of the preachers will do me the honour to accept the sum of thirty guineas, which I have directed my agents, Messrs. Boehm and Co. of London, to present, on delivery of a printed copy of the sermon for the College of Fort William in Bengal. "I have the honour to be, Sir, with much respect Calcutta, "Your most obedient and humble servant. March 18, 1806. "C. BUCHANAN." "P.S. The sermons to be printed on fine paper in quarto, and in a fine type; to correspond with the prize compositions.' After ftating the refemblance between the Hebrew and Hindoo, and even the Chriftian Scriptures, the learned preacher condenfes the whole of his argnent in the following forcible apoftrophe, addreffed to the Hindoos. "Behold, O brethren, children of the eternal God, who hath made you and us, and all the sons of men; we possess, as well as yourselves, Sastras of divine knowledge, delivered to us from the God of Heaven himself, the Ruler of the universe!* We entirely believe and are assured, that we have been blessed with the presence of the Deity incarnate, who condescended to take our na ture upon him, and appear in the world, for the very purposes described in your own books, namely, the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of virtue. Do not think we are come so to unsettle your belief, or to * Bhagvat Geeta, p. 131. It might perhaps be more correct to compare our Scriptures with the Veds, the Sastras, I believe, being only commentaries on the former: but as the Sastras seem to have a more than human authority, as the laws and injunctions they contain are the foundation of their most objectionable religious ceremonies, and as they alone are generally accessible, I have judged it best to take the most comprehensive term, whereby to express their divine books. B. Geeta, p. 51. Lect. iv. Imake no apology for such refer ences; I conceive them to be in the spirit of St. Paul's own method of conversion, who thought it allowable not only to allude to the Pagan principles and practices of his auditors, (as to the Eleusinian Mysteries, Isthmian Games, &c. "grafting his instructions thereon," as the learned Doddridge expresses it,) but even to cite their poets, as Acts xvii. 28. 1 Cor. xv. 38. Titus i. 12. The turn he gave to the inscription on the Athenian altar has ever been admired as exceedingly beautiful and suitable to the occa sion. to disturb your faith, as to expose you to any risk of the displea Sure of the eternal God; for it is HE whom we profess to worship as well as yourselves; it is HIS will, and HIS ALONE, we profess to make the rule of our actions. It is only because we know and can abundantly prove to you, that our Sastras contain the very purposes, will, and commandments of God, that we wish to procure your attention. In our Sastras we are commanded by God himself to communicate to others the blessings of his mercy, and to baptize them in his name. It is not a mere matter of choice, it is our bounden duty to exhort you to receive his word, to put you in the way of his calvation, and to lead you into the paths of eternal life. Our sacred books contain the history of the earth, and of man from their first beginning, and they also expressly disclose to us what is to be the end of both. They will tell you that, in God's good time, this whole scene will be changed; the present heavens and the present earth, shall be no more; that the dead shall arise from the grave, and be judged by their Maker, and all they that have done good, of whatever cast or description, shall be doomed to everlasting life, and rest, and happiness without end; while all those that have done evil will be cast for ever into hell. Be not, however, so depressed with the fear of vengeance, as to think that your past sins cannot be forgiven or done away, nor yet be so unjust to your gracious God and Maker as to fancy he takes delight in your misery, or exacts any hard or cruel services; in sion. See on this subject particularly Lord Lyttleton's Tract. St. Jude, in his references to the history of Michael, and the prophecy of Enoch, certainly means to argue with the Jews from their own authors and concessions; see Collyer's Sacred Interpreter. vol. ii. p.323. But I have still a greater authority to cite; for it is probable that our blessed Saviour himself did not disdain to draw his own instructive parables from the traditions extant among the Jews; as the parables, for instance, of Dives and Lazarus, the Labourers in the Vineyard, the five wise and five foolish Virgins, which in, substance are to be found in the Babylonish and Jerusalem Gemaras. See the Preface to Sheringham's Joma, Whitby on the New Testament, and others. The learned Joseph Mede lays it down as an axiom, "that men are to be dealt with and suaded out of the principles they acknowledge and are addicted to;" Ethnicks out of the principles of reason and nature, Jews out of Moses and the Prophets, &c. and he instances the conduct of St. Paul, the apparition of a star to the Magi, &c. See his xxxvth Dis. Book i. per * "And we know, O Kreeshna, that the habitation of those mortals whose generation hath lost its virtue shall be in hell." B. Geeta, pp. 32, 33. Hell appears however in their idea to be rather a purgatory. 6 in our sacred books you will find, that in his wrath he thinketh upon mercy;' that he willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.' "Nor suffer yourselves to suppose that, in order to recover his favour, you must have recourse to any costly or bloody sacrifices, any painful or distresstng duties; for none such does the Lord of Heaven require of you: he himself has provided the only sacrifice* that can ever atone for your sins; and as for the duties he lays upon you, do but read, and you will find that his yoke is easy and his burden light;' the chief of his commandments being no other than that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and your fellow-creatures as yourselves.' "This is the religion we have to propose; such are the doctrines contained in our Sastras. But remember we do not pretend to call them the Word of God without being able to bring abundant proof that they really are so. For in the books themselves you will find many things disclosed which none but God could tell us; many events recorded which unquestionably came to pass, and yet which were circumstantially foretold, by God's inspired ministers and prophets, many centuries before they happened; and which, when they did come to pass, were confirmed by mi. racles the most irresistible, and wonders the most stupendous. You are aware of the value put upon your own Sastras, and you need not doubt but that ours are held in equal veneration by us : but there is this difference between us, that while you think it sacrilegious to communicate to us the mysteries of your religion, we heartily wish and desire that you should become partakers of all the blessings and benefits of ours. Shew us, then, only so much courtesy as to read our books, and judge for yourselves. We, it is true, come to you from a most, remote country; but our sacred books are derived from the very confines of your own nation. We have great reason to think they will soon become more familiar to yourselves than to ust. You will find therein allusions to customs and habits ‡, which not only your more remote, but more immediate ancestors, nay, which you yourselves, to this day, most scrupulously observe. The language of the Prophets is not the language "I am the sacrifice, I am the victim." Kreeshna's Speech in the B. Geeta, p. 80. + The learned Mede, speaking of a book entitled Oveipoxpitixx or Apotelesmata Insomniorum, a collection made by an Arabian, observes," in hoc libello videre est plerasque imagines propheticas, quæ nostris hominibus tantum negotii facessunt, gentibus orien"talibus familiares, certe in divinationibus non insuetas exstitisse.” See Harmer, Burder, and others. |