Nor was his fame confined to his own countrymen. The European gentlemen were frequently led by curiosity to examine his little estate; and often passed the highest encomiums on the taste and judgment, as displayed in his various arrangements. His Excellency Governor Brownrigg, and the Honourable Sir Alexander Johnston, the Chief Justice, at different times honoured him with a visit, and were much gratified with the view of his temple and house, as well as of his very extensive oriental library.

On one of these visits, I have heard the Governor was much surprised and pleased to find a New Testament which he had received from brother Clough, at Galle, lying on the writingtable in his study; and entered into a conversation with him on the subject of Christianity, through the medium of an interpreter, which I believe strongly prepossed his Excellency in his favour.

The distribution of the New Testament in his own language, by the zealous efforts of the Colombo Bible Society, had certainly aroused his attention with respect to the Christian religion. But from all I can learn, his mind remained as firmly attached as ever to the Budhist principles. In fact, his whole desire seemed placed on eminence in the profession which he had chosen for himself, and in which he had already met with such great success.

After his return to Ceylon, about a year or so, he applied to the Government to be confirmed in those elevations of rank to which he had been promoted in the Burman empire; which request was granted him and he was besides allowed to adopt some new and honorary distinctions in his equipage, which he did not feel himself authorised to assume without some sanction from our Government.

In the course of last year, (1815) he undertook another journey to Colombo, in order to obtain a grant of land in the Matura district; which, I believe, was generously made him. But this was a memorable and momentous journey to him; and was over-ruled by Providence to the production of a separation between himself and that line of life in which, till now, had centred all his hopes and expectations of future exaltation and aggrandisement.

While in Colombo on this business, he was noticed by several English gentlemen, who, on account of their engagements with

the interior provinces of the island, had commenced the study of the Cingalese language; and by whom he was employed to assist them in their studies. By this means he became acquainted with the elements of the English tongue.

It was in the course of the interviews which he thus had with some of these gentlemen, that the subject of Christianity happened to be brought up; and the consequence was, his expressing a desire to debate the question with the Rev. Mr. Bisset, who was known to him as the Governor's domestic chaplain. I have not understood that this desire proceeded from any wish to become a Christian. It appears to have arisen merely from a conviction of the superiority of his own system; and no doubt the victory which he obtained in an argument with a domestic priest of the king of Ava's household, to which I have already referred, led him to anticipate a similar success in the present instance.

About this time one of the Honourable Members of Council favoured us with a visit for the purpose of inspecting our press, day-school, &c. at which time he happened to mention the circumstance to us; and brother Clough and myself expressed a strong wish to have an interview with him.

In this we were shortly after gratified. Mr. Bisset was so kind as to introduce him to us by a short note, stating (what we knew to be the case) that he was too much occupied with very important business to give the priest those attentions, which, nevertheless, he strongly wished to give him; and requesting, in consequence, that we would have some conversation with him. We replied, that we should be most happy to devote a portion of our time to that purpose. Thus commenced our acquaintance with him.

On our first interview we were struck with something clever and superior in his appearance; but withal we discovered him to be a man so shrewd and worldly in his views, and already so highly advanced and enriched in his Budhist profession, that we did not conceive him to have any temptation to embrace Christianity from worldly motives; and I gave it as my opinion to Mr. Bisset, that he would not alter his religious sentiments until he had undergone a radical change in his moral principles.

He came to our house in a fine handsomely painted palanquin, with an umbrella made of silk and ornamented, the stick of

which was nearly twelve feet in length, carried behind him.-This was the first time I had ever seen a Budhist priest carried in a palanquin. They are, in general, pedestrians of a very humble order. The usual dress of the priest is a simple calico cloth dyed yellow, and rolled round the body; but he was dressed in silks and satins, with a rich robe of yellow velvet covering the whole.

On account of our numerous engagements, and particularly as we were then busily employed in applying for subscriptions towards our new Colombo estate, &c. we appointed the priest to wait upon us at eleven o'clock each day; and brother Clough and myself agreed to attend to him by turns at the appointed hour.

From my being the eldest, I suppose, I had more of his attentions than my colleague: though we each appeared to grow daily in his estimation. And he very punctually observed his hour of calling upon us; never omitting it, without sending one of his pupils to assign the reason. On one of these occasions, I received the following note from him. The original now lies before me :

"DEAR SIR,

August 21, 1815.

"I have the honour to inform you that I am no time to come you to-day; but I hope and trust you will not be angry with me for the same; and consequently me think that I may be able to come you next Monday.

"I am your servant,

RAJEGOOROO."

In answering this note, I simply directed to him as The Ava Priest, which was the name by which he was generally known among the Europeans. I was surprised, however, by a visit from him before the appointed time; and ascertained the object of it was to apprise me of his titles; and to convince me that my ideas of his rank were not sufficiently exalted, he informed me that he was "The Chief Priest of the Amenapoora Society."

I apologized to him for the mistake which I had made in directing to him, and he appeared perfectly satisfied; and I only now mention this circumstance to shew how great were his views of his own dignity and importance; and how little encouragement he gave us to expect that he would turn his back on the fascinating charms of human praise and honour, in order

to embrace the despised yoke of Him who was meek and lowly of heart, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

The great tenacity, however, with which he held to his Budhist principles, and the vehemence with which he was accustomed to argue in defence of them, gave us some hope that he would in time yield to the force of truth; and it was this which caused us to pay the most punctual and conscientious attention to him on all occasions.

(To be continued.)

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED.

OBSERVATIONS ON MATTHEW X. 5. BY A LATE EMINENT divine.

"It may seem strange that our Lord neither preached himself to the Gentiles, nor allowed his disciples to preach among them during his own life-time; especially when it is considered that he came into the world to destroy the polytheism of the heathens, their idol mediators, and their idolatrous worship, and to establish the knowledge of the true God, and of the only mediator ⚫between God and man, and of the right method of obtaining his favour. But our wonder will cease, when the reason of his conduct is understood. As the Jews were the only people in the world who believed in the One True God, before his messengers attempted to preach him to the heathens, it was fit that they should prove their mission to the conviction of the Jews, instruct them fully in the fundamental doctrines of religion, and correct what errors had crept into their faith. Besides, Christianity was not only to be propagated through the world, by the force of its own intrinsic excellency, and by the miracles wherewith it was accompanied; but it was to make its way also by the evidence which it derived from the Jewish prophecies, and by the light thrown upon it, considered as the perfection of that scheme which was begun in the first ages, and carried on under various dispensations from time to time, till it obtained a more complete and lasting form under the Jewish economy. It was highly expedient, therefore, that a competent number of Jews should be converted to Christianity, who might publish it to the rest of VOL. I.

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the world with all the evidence that was proper to be offered. But if, on account of the former revelation made to the Jews, it was absolutely fit that the new revelation should be preached by them to the rest of the world, it was necessary that the gospel, at the first, should be confined to them, because, had it been preached to the Gentiles, that circumstance alone would have made the Jews reject it universally. It is well known how high the prejudices of the apostles ran on this head, even after they had received the gifts of the Spirit, being excessively offended with Peter, one of their number, who, by a vision from heaven, had with difficulty been prevailed upon to preach to the proselyte Cornelius. Nay, they were hardly brought to believe that God intended to bestow the gospel on the Gentiles, when they saw them receive the greatest of its privileges in an equal degree with themselves, even the gifts of the Spirit. And though after this they preached to the Gentiles, yet wherever they came, their custom was to begin at the Jews; and on the Jews rejecting the gospel, they turned to the Gentiles, Acts xiii. 46. Thus, as the apostle Paul tells us, Rom. xv. 8. Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision; he preached only to the Jews; for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, he preached to the Jews to make the truth of God manifest; it being the most effectual means of confirming the promises made to Abraham and the rest of the fathers; namely, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. It was likewise the most effectual means of blessing even the Gentiles themselves. Accordingly, the apostle adds as the fruit of this appointment, and that the Gentiles might glorify God on account of his mercy: the mercy of the new covenant which they enjoy by their conversion to Christianity. The truth is, had Jesus Christ been a minister of the uncircumcision, that is, had he preached the gospel at all to the Gentiles, the Jews would have rejected it; so that the proselytes, and such as held the faith of the proselytes, which the wiser sort of the Gentiles seem generally to have done, would not have become Christ's disciples with such case and readiness. The reason was, the evidence of the gospel being greatly weakened by the unbelief of the Jews, the converts among the Gentiles would have been few in comparison; and by that means the promises made to the fathers, that in Christ all nations should be blessed, would not have been confirmed, or so fully accomplished, as it is by the scheme which Providence has actually chosen."