Christian profession by a blameless walk and conversation.

At Calcutta and Serampore, the missionaries of the Baptist denomination have schools for the children of the European gentry, which are seminaries of religion as well as of learning, where many have been induced to remember their Creator in the days of their youth.

In connexion with the Baptist Mission at Calcutta, must also be distinctly noticed the school denominated "the Benevolent Institution," in which some thousands of poor children, chiefly the descendants of those usually termed Portuguese Roman Catholics, have received the most important instruction, been rescued from the miseries of ignorance, and taught how to discharge their duties to God and man.

The "Friend of India," a periodical work ;Answers to Ram Mohunroy, the celebrated Brahmin, on the Socinian controversy; and other publications, in English, from the pen of the Baptist missionaries, written for the benefit of Europeans, have contributed to the furtherance of the great cause in Bengal.

The fruit of these labours, as bearing upon the work among the heathen, has been that several Europeans, impressed with a deep sense of religion, have relinquished their original occupations, and embarked in direct missionary

work among the Hindoos. Many have subscribed liberally of their substance for the furtherance of the great object, have advocated the cause of Christianity in private conversations with the heathen, assisted in the distribution of the Scriptures and Tracts, and rolled away a great part of the stumbling-block, previously alluded to, by furnishing the most effectual of all arguments for the conversion of the heathen -the example of a holy life.

We have now to advert to the labours of the Baptist missionaries, as carried on more directly among the heathen. To the native inhabitants of India they have diligently proclaimed the tidings of salvation. They have built several bungalows to serve as chapels for them, in Calcutta, Serampore, and other places. In these bungalows, as well as out of doors, the missionaries, and various native preachers, are continually occupied in explaining the gospel to the Hindoos.

The question will doubtless now be put,Have they succeeded in their efforts? Have they been instrumental in effecting the conversion of any of the Hindoos, especially of the Brahmins? I answer, as an eye-witness, that they have. I travelled for about a month with a converted Brahmin, who was induced to make a profession of Christianity by the preaching and conversation of another native, of inferior caste, who had been

previously converted himself by the instrumentality of the Baptist missionaries.

In the month of November, 1821, this Brahmin, together with another converted Hindoo, a Eu- · ropean, who in India had become a missionary, and myself, embarked in a covered boat for the purpose of ascending the river Hooghly, and preaching the gospel to the heathen wherever we went. In the course of this excursion, I had a full opportunity of observing the conduct of these two Hindoo converts, and it was such as produced a strong impression on my mind that their faith in Christ was real, and their Christian profession sincere.

After the period I have specified, the Brahmin above alluded to lived for some months in a small building contiguous to the house in which I resided. He came to me daily for the purpose of prosecuting his theological studies; and when I went out at sunset, or in the evening of the day, with a view of preaching to and conversing with the heathen, he in general accompanied me and took part in the services.

Upon his becoming acquainted with my resolution to return to England, he expressed a strong wish to accompany me. Had Providence granted his desire, he would have been at this moment in England; and, whilst the Abbé is asserting that the conversion of a Hindoo, especially of a

Brahmin, cannot be effected, this Brahmin would have stepped forth, and presented himself in refutation of the statement.

He died

It pleased an inscrutable yet all-wise Providence to disappoint the fond hopes entertained by many, that this interesting young man would prove a light to lighten many of his gentile countrymen, and to bring them from the regions of moral and spiritual darkness, into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. a short time before I left Bengal; and when I remember his gift in prayer, his sweetness of temper in preaching, his general humble and engaging deportment, I feel a pleasing persuasion, that if I be found at last among the happy number of those admitted into the New Jerusalem, I shall meet this converted Brahmin there.

I have thus enlarged upon the case of an individual Hindoo, deeming it necessary by way of specimen, and because this single instance is sufficient (irrespective of faith in God's word) to establish the principle, that the conversion of the Hindoos, even of the Brahmins, is possible; for if one of them has been converted, then others of them may be converted also.—Ab actu ad posse valet consecutio.

With regard to the number of Hindoo converts, resulting from the labours of the Baptist

missionaries in Bengal, from what I have seen and heard at Calcutta, Serampore, Cutwa, and other parts of Bengal, they have amounted to several hundreds; and though tares are mingled with the wheat, yet, if I am to judge of the character of those whose walk and conversation I have not had the opportunity of knowing, by the demeanour of those with whom I have been familiar, a considerable proportion of them are, in the judgment of charity, to be deemed real converts to the Christian faith.

At Serampore, even a NATIVE MISSIONARY SOCIETY has been formed, the committee of which is almost entirely composed of natives, about ten of whom are in the habit of devoting a part of their leisure time every week to the inculcation of the principles of the gospel among their neighbours residing in Serampore, and the adjacent villages.

This committee also publish a monthly work in the Bengalee language, containing miscellaneous information on points connected with the spread of the gospel, and the edification of the native believers; they have also written tracts to explain and recommend the Christian faith to their unconverted countrymen.

The native converts at Serampore, are in the habit of holding weekly meetings for prayer and exhortation, and sometimes special prayer meetings on particular occasions. When I was last