of years and great labour expended on the Sanskrit language and literature, and those of some of its derivatives, especially the less refined, perhaps, but certainly far more simple, beautiful and practicable Bengáli-have come to the settled conviction that while the Sanskrit is, and will continue to be, an astonishing monument of human ingenuity and skill, it is certainly not less so of human selfishness and folly. "The wise have been taken in their own craftiness." The sacred language of the Gods and Priests has not only ceased to be the spoken dialect of any nation upon earth, though once the most extensively used of all the languages of man,-as witness its various cognates among all the Cushite nations, the Teutonic, Sclavonian, Greek, Latin, Saxon, Zand, old Persian and others-but, having been made the instrument of excluding the mass of men from knowledge, and of subjecting them to the blinding and tyrannic sway of a cunning and despotic priesthood, has in the end given place, with the progress of home civilization and foreign conquest, to vernaculars infinitely more fitted to be the medium of general intercourse and general illumination. The Sanskrit is already a dead language, and by its very difficulty and refinement hastening to oblivion; nor does it possess, after all fair admissions, a literature of sufficient intrinsic merit, to render it worth the great amount of mental toil and expenditure of time required for its acquisition. This, of course, we mean generally. To the few it will always be an object of interest; nor will they spare, and rightly, any amount of toil necessary to compass its attainment. To Christian Missionaries it is our settled conviction, that Sanskrit is an indispensable acquisition, if either they would attain a correct and self-effected acquaintance with the original sources of Hindu philosophy and Hindu faith, or deal intelligently and to any good purpose with the present race of sophists, who draw, from its hidden recesses, all their armoury of thought, argument and objection. We do not say that every Missionary should learn Sanskritthough a very little labour would suffice to give him a sufficient skill in it, for some of the purposes contemplatednor that any should expend upon the language and literature of the Brahmins an undue portion of time or attention; but we say that such of them as wish either to conciliate or to command the respect of the Brahminical body-and their respect is a sure passport to general acceptance and esteem ;-such as would draw their information from the fountain-head, without either fear of mistake themselves or danger of being worsted, as Christian evangelists, by the sophistry or bad faith or ignorance of their opponents, must set themselves vigorously and at first to

this arduous but necessary study. It will amply repay them in the end. They must not err, nor allow others to err, either by absurdly overrating or vainly underrating the value and importance of Hindu literature. If in history, geography, the exact sciences, the useful arts, the belles lettres, in morals, and above all in theology and mental science, the Sanskrit is eminently defective; yet in law, astronomy, some branches of mathematics, logic and rhetoric it is very respectable; while, from its most legendary literature, its Vedas, Puránas and mythological poems, diligence and ingenuity may yet elicit some facts, however disguised, that may be of importance hereafter, when brought together, in settling some still obscure problems in human history and in the regions of poetry and grammar it has incalculable stores of hidden treasures, which only the key of learned patience can unlock and expose to the knowledge and admiration of mankind.

It may be relied on as incontrovertible, that Revelation and Christianity, so far from having any thing to apprehend from the discoveries that have been made, or may yet, as we hope, be made, in Hindu Archæology, Science and Philosophy, have greatly profited, and must progressively profit, by their more extended study. Magna est veritas et prevalebit-Truth has nothing to fear from enquiry: on the contrary it is ignorance alone that supports error. Let Hindus be compelled to examine their own literature; let their Vedas and other authorities be dragged forth to light; let them find no refuge in appealing to unknown Shástras and misquoting partially known works of uncertain authority; and they themselves will arrive at a conviction of their errors and absurdities. In this way, and in this alone, can true philosophy and religion gain a continually accrescive reputation and acceptance with learned Hindus, and with the vulgar through them; till, at length, Hinduism fall from its foundation, and the everlasting Gospel rise upon its ruins. The Sanskrit language, religion, and philosophy, too, have moulded all the thought and phraseology of the Hindus every where; and their several vernaculars are more or less filled, the Bengáli in particular saturated, with them. It is morally impossible to recast them and make them take a European character. No, the European teacher must cast himself rather into the Sanskrit mould, and take its full impression, before he can either be at home in dealing with Hinduism and Hindus, or be acceptable and fully intelligible to those whom he instructs. To the neglect of Sanskrit we attribute much of the failure of which complaint is daily made, as exprienced in Indian evangelization. The foreign teachers have not spoken the

language of the people they taught; they have not thought in the native mode, nor spoken in the native manner, idiom and .phraseology: nor have they been able either fully to comprehend, or effectually to answer, the objections of their antagonists, for want of a better acquaintance with Hindu Literature; and that is not to be obtained but through the Sanskrit. If ever they hope to do more extensive service in the holy and merciful cause they advocate, they must buckle on their armour afresh, and enter into the very thickest of the battle: they must hunt out the foe in every skulking place and covert, and fairly wear him out, till he yields, and the Christian warrior shall be permitted to raise a triumphant shout over fallen Hinduism,-" Victory, Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!

ART. II.-India and India Missions; including Sketches of the Gigantic system of Hinduism both in theory and practice; also notices of some of the principal agencies employed in conducting the process of Indian evangelization, &c. &c. By the Rev. Alexander Duff, D. D., Church of Scotland Mission, Calcutta-Edinburgh, 1839. Second Edition, 1840.

A FULL quarter of a millennium has passed away, since the sagacious Bacon expressed his belief that the period had arrived for the fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel regarding " the times of the end," when it is predicted that " many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be encreased." What would the sage say now, could he bring his conceptions, magnificent as they were for the age in which he lived, into juxta-position with the scenes that are now daily exhibited before our eyes? If many went to and fro in his days, how many more in ours! If the many travellers in his day could with any propriety be said to run, what terms can be found to describe the rapidity with which land and sea are traversed in these our days? If knowledge were encreased in his days, as compared with the ages that preceded, how immeasurably greater has been its increase up till the present time! Great as were undoubtedly his conceptions, and bold as was the flight of his anticipative imagination, he would be constrained, if it were given him once more to return to the abodes of living men, to acknowledge that it had not entered into his heart to conceive a title of the reality that would burst upon his vision. And yet, after all, the age in which we live is at least as much an age of anticipation, as any of those that preceded it. We feel and know that the course of research

and enlightenment in regard to a vast variety of most important subjects is even now but beginning: while we cannot but believe that there are subjects regarding which our children will wonder, and their children will speculate and theorise, and their descendants of the third and fourth generations will attain to the certainty of knowledge, whose very existence has not yet been "dreamt of in our philosophy."-Or, to adopt a comparison of which the great man we have named has more than once made use-many mines have been dug which have just been shewn to contain most precious ore, but which have as yet hardly begun to be wrought, whilst every where beneath our feet there are doubtless veins and beds of richest treasure, that are destined to reward the industry of generations yet unborn. The true Baconian is still cheered with the same expectation of bright days yet undawned, that cheered his great leader in the days of other years.

Nor is this expectation a mere wild imagining resting. upon vague analogies. It is a solid and substantial hope, with a far firmer and broader basis to support it than had the expectation of Bacon, which has so well stood the test of time. Our hope is, if we may so express it, still more Baconian than was Bacon's. We trust our subject is sufficiently serious and important to justify our drawing an illustration from the sacred writings, as to the difference between the expectations entertained by the gifted few in former days, and the hopes that may be reasonably cherished now, in regard to the onward progress of our race in knowledge and civilization. In the Epistle to the Romans, Chap. v. we read thus:-"By whom we have access by faith into that grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God: and not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." The inspired Apostle in this glowing passage distinguishes between two kinds, or at least two degress of hope-the hope that rests on the simple basis of faith, and that which stands on the additional foundation of experience. It is as if a creditor should receive a promise of the payment, in two instalments, of the sum due to him. As soon as his debtor's word is pledged, he exercises, on the simple faith of his debtor's probity and punctuality, a hope of the due fulfilment of the promise. But when, notwithstanding that evil times, and days of commercial tribulation intervene, the debtor arrives punctually at the appointed period, and discharges the first part of his obligation, the creditor's hope is abundantly strengthened that the second instalment shall also be forthcoming at the stipulated period. He retains all

his original faith in his debtor's honesty, and all the hope that originally sprang from this source: but to this is now superadded another hope which could have no existence before,the hope derived from experience. Or-to illustrate still further a point that appears to us of high importance,-who is there who does not remember the days of those years, when a holiday excursion was to him the consummation of felicity? When the promise of such an excursion had passed the lips of one that had never deceived us, hope sprang forthwith exultingly into being. It was the hope of simple faith, but with what fears and anxieties had it to struggle during the intervening days. Every cloud that passed over the sun was a cause of alarm: and the very intensity of the expectation made it too difficult for our young faculties to realize its fulfilment. But the morning comes, prolific of sunshine and joy. The nursery resounds with the bustle of preparation. The holiday attire is donned. The early meal is devoured rather than eaten. The ponies are at the door. The girths are tightened. We are mounted, we are away. The hope of experience is in calm exercise now: for the process is visibly begun, which is to end in the accomplishment of our fond desires. This last illustration may appear to some too trifling, as the former may appear too grave; but if the solemnity and importance of the matter to be illustrated will justify the use of the one, the joyousness of it will equally warrant the use of the other. And after all, though the illustration be somewhat trifling, we care but little, provided it be appropriate;

Sic canibus catulos similes, sic matribus hædos
Noram. Sic parvis componere magna solebam.

The hope of faith had its full sway in the mind of Bacon in regard to the future progress of mankind in the career of improvement. We can exercise a hope derived from experience in regard to the continuance and ultimate consummation of that career. His faith was fixed on the right foundation, and the hope that was reared on it was goodly in its proportions. "The beginning of all our hope (says he) is in God. The work in which we are engaged is so good in its nature, that it must certainly have originated with him who is the Author of all good and the Father of lights. But in the Divine works even the smallest beginnings most certainly produce their consequences; and what is said with respect to spiritual things that the kingdom of God cometh not with observation,' is true also in regard to all the great works of Providence, so that all things progress without