proposed, to enable us to print, at the least, one Gospel in the Oordoo language. This tongue is spoken from the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin, by patches of people, and in most of the towns and larger villages by the whole population. We were unable to commence the work on the general funds of the Society, from a heavy debt, which we are utterly impotent to discharge. Calcutta is exhausted. The bankruptcy of several of the old agency houses has spread great distress. The reductions, also, in all the Civil and Military establishments, have aggravated the incapacity. 13. I would have the honour of submitting to the Society the discharge of this incubus, 12,000 rupees, or 1200l., to set at liberty our captive hands, and animate us to new efforts. If it be not inconsistent with the general claims upon the Society, I cannot but think a grant to this amount would be a blessing to all Hindoostan. The same rupture of the agencies which dissolved private means, was chiefly the cause of this heavy obligation. The 12001. would have remained at the amount of 1700l., but for the interposed gift-which was announced last evening of 5001. 14. If it were possible for me to place you in imagination in the midst of our teeming millions-prostrate, degraded, LOST! if I could show you the disgusting cruelties of the blood-stained Kalee, with her altars streaming with gore; if I could take you, and plant your feet at the Ghaut in this city, where, in one single month, the year before last, 1900 victims were brought down to perish at the "sacred stream," as it is termed, of the Ganges; if I could show you the system of wretchedness which is working under all this idolatry and darkness— domestic purity unknown-loss of life incalculable, and yet disregarded -the pressure of man upon his fellow, in every possible form, acted upon in open day—the want of the first notions of honesty and truth to bind society together-all springing from the want of the knowledge and law of the one living and true God; if I could present this spectacle—and then could show you the loveliness of Christianity, her truth, her redemption, her morals, her consoling grace, her promises— I am persuaded no other argument would be wanted, to induce you to make an effort for exchanging the one for the other. 15. Nor is any objection found to lie against the silent distribution of our Sacred Books. Whatever fears may have occasionally been engendered of the proceedings of Missionaries (and these fears are long passed by), none can spring from the transmission of the pages of Holy Scriptures, which the Hindoo reads or not, receives or not, at his choice. Nor is there any method so sure of attaching the native population more and more to the British rule, and breaking, especially among the Mohammedans, the fierce prejudices which may haunt them still, than the uniting them to us by a common faith, and fixing their obedience to their civil governors on the basis of conscience, and the fear of God. 16. I beg forgiveness for this earnestness of appeal. I may not again have the life or health to write to the Society. The claims of my public duties are incessant, and utterly unable to be sustained and discharged, till the division of the diocese takes effect. But I could not resist the temptation of writing at this time, in the stead of my friend Mr. Dealtry, on an occasion so emergent. 17. We are proceeding with much harmony in India. I endeavour to promote, every where, that strict and unbending adherence to our simple object and primary rules of management, which first drew me to the Society; because it enabled me to reconcile, without violation of duty, my solemn vows to my own Church, with a participation in the efforts of Christians of all climes, combined in one definite and paramount undertaking—an undertaking, which, I verily believe, more nearly touches the whole interests of Christianity, in her march throughout the world, and is less alloyed with human evil and infirmity, than any benevolent Association, religious or moral, which has arisen in my memory. To suppose that no inconveniences attend such a vastlyextended project, would be to expect us to be angels, and not men. It is enough that the object is in itself unquestionably good, and that the benefits incomparably outweigh the opposite defects, in the judgments of those who espouse the cause. Nor is it a little gratifying to me, to reflect that the first President of our Society had been previously Governor-General of British India; and that my three immediate Predecessors in this See have taught me, by their example, to lend all the feeble aid in my power to so holy a design. 18. May the God of the Bible vouchsafe to bless all your efforts! May whatever we undertake be done in the spirit of the Bible! May the great subject of the Book, the Divine Saviour in his grace and love, be understood and welcomed by all who read it! May the redemption which He achieved be our hope, in life and in death! And may the pure and benevolent morals of the Bible adorn our faith, and establish the sincerity of the hope we cherish, till we reach that world, where all who have loved the Bible will spend a blissful eternity with the Divine Author and Inspirer of its truth. With the most sincere and respectful compliments to your new President, Lord Bexley, and to all the Vice-Presidents and Committee, I am, my Dear Friend, Yours most affectionately, DANIEL CALCUTTA. THE VOICE OF NATURE. I HEARD a bird on the linden tree, From which November leaves were falling, I turned to the cloud-bedappled sky, To bare-shorn field and gleaming water, To frost-night herbage, and perishing flower; While the Robin haunted the yellow bower; With his faery plumage and jet-black eye, Like an unlaid ghost some scene of slaughter: All mournful was the sight. Then I thought of seasons, when, long ago, Ere Hope's clear sky was dimm'd by sorrow, How bright seem'd the flowers, and the trees how green, How lengthen'd the blue summer days had been; And what pure delight the young spirit's glow, From the bosom of earth and air, could borrow Out of all lovely things. Then my heart leapt to days, when a careless boy, Twinkling amid the pure South afar, Was gazed on with gushes of holy joy, As the cherub spirit that ruled the gloaming With glittering, golden eye. And oh! with what rapture of silent bliss, With what breathless deep devotion, Have I watch'd, like spectre from swathing shroud, The white moon peer o'er the shadowy cloud, Illumine the mantled Earth, and kiss The meekly murmuring lips of Ocean, As a mother doth her child. But now I can feel how Time hath changed 'Tis no vain dream of moody mind, That lists a dirge i' the blackbird's singing; DELTA. THE VOICE OF LOVE. THERE'S music in the evening breeze, But there is softer music, far, Heard in the still small voice of love. 'Tis sweet beneath the midnight sky To gaze upon the silver light, And deep dark shade around, above; But oh! more sweet to listen to, And echo back the voice of love. Of fleeting life's delusive joys, I covet not the gold, the gem, of power, The ease of wealth, No-not the withering breath of praise, E |