{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13539/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13539","id":"gutenberg_13539","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13539","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Children's Instructional Books","Christianity and other religions -- Hinduism","Hinduism -- Relations -- Christianity","India -- Religious life and customs","Missions","Sunday school literature"],"text":"DR. SCUDDER'S\n\nTALES FOR LITTLE READERS,\n\nABOUT THE HEATHEN.\n\n\n\n1849\n\n\nThe following work, so far as the Hindoos are concerned, is principally\na compilation from the writings of Duff, Dubois, and others.\n\nShould the eyes of any Christian father or mother rest upon it, I would\nask them if they have not a son or a daughter to dedicate to the\n_missionary_ work. The duty of devoting themselves to this work of\nChrist, or at least, of consecrating to it their money, their efforts,\nand their prayers, is the great duty to be perseveringly and prayerfully\nimpressed on the minds of our children. A generation thus trained would,\nwith aid from on high, soon effect the moral revolution of the world.\nBlessed will be that father, blessed will be that mother, who shall take\nany part in such a training. And I would add, too, blessed will be that\npastor, and blessed will be that Sabbath-school teacher, who shall come\nup to their help.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nGeneral Remarks\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nThe Color and Ornaments of the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nDress, Houses, Eating, and Salutation of the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nMarriage among the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nDeath and Funerals among the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nThe Gods of the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nThe Three Hundred and Thirty Millions of the Gods of the Hindoos--The\nCreation of the Universe--The Transmigration of Souls--The different\nHells\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nHindoo Castes\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nHindoo Temples--Cars--Procession of Idols\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nFestivals of the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nThe worship of the Serpent\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nThe River Ganges\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nThe Goddess Durga\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nThe Goddess Karle\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nSelf-tortures of the Hindoos\n\nChapter XVI.\n\nThe Suttee, or Burning of Widows\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nThe revengeful Nature of the Hindoo Religion\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nThe Deception of the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nSuperstition of the Hindoos\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nBurmah, China, etc., etc.\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nThe duty of Praying and Contributing for the Spread of the Gospel\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nPersonal Labors among the Heathen\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nSuccess of the Gospel in India and Ceylon\n\n\n\n\nDR. SCUDDER'S\n\nTALES FOR LITTLE READERS,\n\nABOUT THE HEATHEN.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nGENERAL REMARKS\n\n\nMy dear children--When I was a little boy, my dear mother taught me,\nwith the exception of the last line, the following prayer:\n\n    \"Now I lay me down to sleep,\n    I pray the Lord my soul to keep;\n    If I should die before I wake,\n    I pray the Lord my soul to take;\n    And this I ask for Jesus' sake.\"\n\nThough I am now more than fifty years old, I often like to say this\nprayer before I go to sleep. Have you ever learned it, my dear\nchildren? If you have not, I hope that you will learn it _now_; and I\nhope, too, that when you say your other prayers at night, you will also\nsay this. I think that you would be glad to see how this prayer looks in\nthe Tamul language--the language in which I am now preaching the Gospel,\nand in which I hope that some of you will hereafter tell the heathen of\nthe Saviour. The following is a translation of it:\n\n[Illustration: The Lord's Prayer in Tamul]\n\nI wish that all the little heathen children knew this prayer; but their\nfathers and mothers do not teach it to them. Their fathers and mothers\nteach them to pray to gods of gold, or brass, or stone. They take them,\nwhile they are very young, to their temples, and teach them to put up\ntheir hands before an idol, and say, \"Swammie.\" Swammie means Lord. As\nidolatry is the root of all sin, these children, as you may suppose, in\nearly life become very wicked. They disobey their parents, speak bad\nwords, call ill names, swear, steal, and tell lies. They also throw\nthemselves on the ground in anger, and in their rage they tear their\nhair, or throw dirt over their heads, and do many other wicked things.\n\nLet me give you an instance, to show you how they will speak bad words.\nA few months ago, a little girl about twelve years of age was brought to\nme, with two tumors in her back. To cut them out, I had to make an\nincision about eight inches in length; and as one of these tumors had\nextended under the shoulder-blade she suffered much before the operation\nwas finished. While I was operating she cried out, \"I will pull out my\neyes.\" \"I will pull out my tongue.\" \"Kurn kertta tayvun.\" The\ntranslation of this is, \"The blind-eyed god.\" By this expression, she\nmeant to say, \"What kind of a god are you, not to look upon me, and help\nme in my distress?\" If this little girl had had a Christian father to\nteach her to love the Saviour, she would not have used such bad\nlanguage. But this father was even more wicked than his daughter,\ninasmuch as those who grow old in sin, are worse than those who have not\nsinned so long. I never saw a more hard-hearted parent. That he was so,\nwill appear from his conduct after the operation was finished. He left\nhis daughter, and went off to his home, about forty miles distant.\nBefore going, he said to his wife, or to one who came with her, \"If the\nchild gets well, bring her home; if she dies, take her away and bury\nher.\"\n\nI hope, my dear children, that when you think of the wicked little girl\njust mentioned, you will be warned never to speak bad words. God will be\nvery angry with you, if you do. Did you never read what is said in 2\nKings, 2d chapter and 23d verse, about the little children who mocked\nthe prophet Elijah, and spoke bad words to him. O, how sorry must they\nhave felt for their conduct, when they saw the paws of those great bears\nlifted up to tear them in pieces, and which did tear them in pieces.\nBesides all this, little children who speak bad words can never go to\nheaven. God will cast them into the great fire. Have you ever spoken bad\nwords? If so, God is angry with you, and he will not forgive you unless\nyou are sorry that you have done so, and seek his forgiveness through\nthe blood of his dear Son.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE COLOR AND ORNAMENTS OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear children--If you will take a piece of mahogany in your hands,\nand view its different shades, you will have a pretty good\nrepresentation of the color of a large class of this heathen people--I\nsay, of a large class, for there is a great variety of colors. Some\nappear to be almost of a bronze color. Some are quite black. It is\ndifficult to account for the different colors which we often see in the\nsame family. For instance, one child will be of the reddish hue to which\nI just referred; another will be quite dark. When I was in Ceylon, two\nsisters of this description joined my church. One was called Sevappe, or\nthe red one; the other was called Karappe, or the black one.\n\nThis people very much resemble the English and Americans in their\nfeatures. Many of them are very beautiful. This remark will apply\nparticularly to children, and more especially to the children of\nBrahmins and others, who are delicately brought up. But however\nbeautiful any of this people may be, they try to make themselves appear\nmore so, by the ornaments which they wear. These ornaments are of very\ndifferent kinds, and are made of gold, silver, brass, precious stones,\nor glass. All are fond of ear-rings. Sometimes four or five are worn in\neach ear, consisting of solid gold, the lower one being the largest, and\nthe upper one the smallest. Some men wear a gold ornament attached to\nthe middle of the ear, in which a precious stone is inserted. Sometimes\nthey wear very large circular ear-rings, made of the wire of copper,\naround which gold is twisted so as to cover every part of it. These are\nfrequently ornamented with precious stones. The females, in addition to\near-rings, have an ornament which passes through the rim of the ear,\nnear the head, half of it being seen above the rim, and half of it below\nit. An ornamental chain is sometimes attached to this, which goes some\ndistance back, when it is lost in the hair. They sometimes also wear a\njewel in the middle of the rim of the ear, and another on that little\nforward point which strikes your finger when you attempt to put it into\nthe ear. Nose jewels also are worn. Sometimes three are worn at the\nsame time. Holes are made through each side of the lower part of the\nnose, and through the cartilage, or that substance which divides the\nnostrils, through which they are suspended. The higher and wealthier\nfemales wear a profusion of ornaments of gold and pearls around the\nneck.\n\nA very pretty ornament, about three inches in diameter, having the\nappearance of gold, is also frequently worn by them on that part of the\nhead where the females in America put up their hair in a knot. In\naddition to this, the little girls sometimes wear one or two similar but\nsmaller ornaments below this, as well as an ornament at the end of the\nlong braid of hair which hangs down over the middle of their backs.\nOccasionally the whole, or the greater part of this braid is covered\nwith an ornament of the same materials with those just described. They\nalso wear an ornament extending from the crown of the head to the\nforehead, just in that spot where the little girls to whom I am writing\npart their hair. Attached to this, I have seen a circular piece of gold\nfilled with rubies. Rings are worn on the toes as well as on the\nfingers, and bracelets of gold or silver on the wrists. Anklets similar\nto bracelets, and tinkling ornaments are worn on the ankles. The poor,\nwho cannot afford to wear gold or silver bracelets, have them made of\nglass stained with different colors. I have seen nearly a dozen on each\nwrist.\n\nThe little boys wear gold or silver bracelets; also gold or silver\nanklets. I just alluded to finger-rings. I have seen a dozen on the same\nhand. In this part of the country, the little opening which is made in\nthe ears of the children is gradually distended until it becomes very\nlarge. At first, the opening is only large enough to admit a wire. After\nthis has been worn for a short time, a knife is introduced into the ear\nin the direction of the opening, and an incision made large enough to\nadmit a little cotton. This is succeeded by a roll of oiled cloth, and\nby a peculiar shrub, the English name of which, if it has any, I do not\nknow. When the hole becomes sufficiently large, a heavy ring of lead,\nabout an inch in diameter, is introduced. This soon increases the size\nof the opening to such an extent, that a second, and afterwards a third,\na fourth, and a fifth ring are added. By these weights, the lower parts\nof the ear are drawn down sometimes very nearly, or quite to the\nshoulders. Not unfrequently the little girls, when they run, are obliged\nto catch hold of these rings to prevent the injury which they would\nreceive by their striking against their necks. I need hardly say, that\nin due time, these rings are removed, and ornamented rings are\nsubstituted.\n\nA different plan is pursued with the Mohammedan little girls. They have\ntheir ears bored from the top to the bottom of the ear. The openings\nwhich are at first made are small, and are never enlarged. A ring is\ninserted in each of these openings. I have seen a little girl to-day in\nwhose ears I counted twenty-four rings.\n\nFlowers in great profusion are sometimes used to add to the adornment of\nthe jewels.\n\nI cannot conclude my account of the jewels of the little girls, without\ngiving you a description of the appearance of a little patient of mine\nwho came here a few days ago, loaded with trinkets. I will give it in\nthe words of my daughter, which she wrote in part while the girl was\nhere. \"On the 17th, a little dancing-girl came to see us. She was\nadorned with many jewels, some of which were very beautiful. The jewel\nin the top of the ear was a circle, nearly the size of a dollar. It was\nset with rubies. Nine pearls were suspended from it. In the middle of\nthe ear was a jewel of a diamond shape, set with rubies and pearls. The\nlowest jewel in the ear was shaped like a bell. It was set with rubies,\nand from it hung a row of pearls. Close by the ear, suspended from the\nhair, was a jewel which reached below her ear. It consisted of six bells\nof gold, one above the other. Around each was a small row of pearls,\nwhich reached nearly to the bell below, thus forming a jewel resembling\nvery many drops of pearls. It is the most beautiful jewel that I ever\nsaw. In the right side of her nose was a white stone, set with gold, in\nthe shape of a star. From it hung a large pearl. There was a hole bored\nin the partition between the nostrils. This hole had a jewel in it,\nabout an inch in length, in the middle of which was a white stone with a\nruby on each side. It also had a ruby on the top. From the white stone\nhung another, of a similar color, attached to it by a piece of gold. In\nthe left side of the nose was a jewel about an inch in diameter. It was\nsomewhat in the shape of a half-moon, and was set with rubies, pearls,\nemeralds, etc. etc. This jewel hung below her mouth. On the back of her\nhead was a large, round gold piece, three inches in diameter. Another\npiece about two inches in diameter, hung below this. Her hair was\nbraided in one braid, and hung down her back. At the bottom of this were\nthree large tassels of silk, mounted with gold. Her eyebrows and\neyelashes were painted with black. Her neck was covered with jewels of\nsuch beauty, and of such a variety, that it is impossible for me to\ndescribe them. Around her ankles were large rings which looked like\nbraided silver. To these were attached very many little bells, which\nrung as she walked. I believe all dancing-girls wear these rings. We\nfelt very sad when we thought that she was dedicated to a life of infamy\nand shame.\"\n\nThere is an ornament worn by the followers of the god Siva, on their\narms, or necks, or in their hair. It is called the _lingum_. The nature\nof this is so utterly abominable, that I cannot tell you a word about\nit.\n\nMarried women wear an ornament peculiar to themselves. It is called the\ntahly. It is a piece of gold, on which is engraven the image of some one\nof their gods. This is fastened around the neck by a short yellow\nstring, containing one hundred and eight threads of great fineness.\nVarious ceremonies are performed before it is applied, and the gods, of\nwhom I will tell you something by and by, with their wives, are called\nupon to give their blessing. When these ceremonies are finished, the\ntahly is brought on a waiter, ornamented with sweet-smelling flowers,\nand is tied by the bridegroom to the neck of the bride. This ornament is\nnever taken off, unless her husband dies. In such a case she is deprived\nof it, to wear it no more for ever--deprived of it, after various\nceremonies, by her nearest female relative, who cuts the thread by which\nit is suspended, and removes it. After this a barber is called, who\nshaves her head, and she becomes, in the eyes of the people, a\n_despised_ widow--no more to wear any ornament about her neck but a\nplain one--no more to stain her face with yellow water, nor to wear on\nher forehead those marks which are considered by the natives as among\ntheir chief ornaments.\n\nI have now told you something about the jewels of this people. I hope\nthat you will never be disposed to imitate them, and load your bodies\nwith such useless things. They are not only useless, but tend to\nencourage pride and vanity. All that you need is, the \"Pearl of great\nprice,\" even Jesus. Adorn yourself with this Pearl, and you will be\nbeautiful indeed--beautiful even in the sight of your heavenly Father.\nHave you this Pearl of great price, my dear children? Tell me, have you\nthis Pearl of great price? If you have not, what have you?\n\nI just now alluded to those marks which the natives consider among their\nchief ornaments. These are different among different sects. The\nfollowers of Siva rub ashes on their foreheads. These ashes are\ngenerally prepared by burning what in the Tamul language is called\n[Tamul:] _chaarne._ They also apply these ashes in streaks, generally\nthree together, on their breasts, and on their arms. Some besmear their\nwhole bodies with them.\n\nThe followers of Vrishnoo wear a very different ornament from that just\ndescribed. It consists of a perpendicular line drawn on the forehead,\ngenerally of a red or yellow color, and a white line on each side of it,\nwhich unite at the bottom with the middle line, and form a trident.\n\nAnother ornament consists of a small circle, which is called pottu. This\nis stamped in the middle of the forehead. Sometimes it is red, sometimes\nyellow or black. Large numbers of women, in this part of the country,\nwash their faces with a yellow water, made so by dissolving in it a\npaste made of a yellow root and common shell-lime. The Brahmins\nfrequently instead of rubbing ashes, draw a horizontal line over the\nmiddle of their foreheads, to show that they have bathed and are pure.\nSometimes the people ornament themselves with a paste of sandal-wood.\nThey rub themselves from head to foot with it. This has a very\nodoriferous smell.\n\nWhen the people are loaded with jewels, and covered with the marks which\nI have just described they think themselves to be highly ornamented But\nafter all, \"they are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear\nbeautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all\nuncleanness.\" The \"Pearl of great price,\" to which I before alluded,\nthe only Pearl which is of any value in the sight of Him who looketh at\nthe heart, and not at the outward appearance, they possess not. Millions\nin this Eastern world have never even heard of it. O how incessantly\nought you to pray that they may come into possession of it. How gladly\nshould you give your money to send it to them. I wish, in this place, to\nask you one question. Who of you expect, by and by, to become\nmissionaries to this land, to tell this people of the Pearl of great\nprice?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nDRESS, HOUSES, EATING, AND SALUTATION OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--The dress of the Hindoos is very simple. A single\npiece of cloth uncut, about three yards in length and one in width,\nwrapped round the loins, with a shawl thrown over the shoulders,\nconstitutes the usual apparel of the people of respectability. These\ngarments are often fringed with red silk or gold. The native ladies\nfrequently almost encase themselves in cloth or silk. Under such\ncircumstances, their cloths are perhaps twenty yards in length. Most of\nthe native gentlemen now wear turbans, an ornament which they have\nborrowed from the Mohammedans This consists of a long piece of very fine\nstuff, sometimes twenty yards in length and one in breadth. With this\nthey encircle the head in many folds.\n\nThose who are employed by European or Mohammedan princes, wear a long\nrobe of muslin, or very fine cloth. This also, is in imitation of the\nMohammedans, and was formerly unknown in the country.\n\nThe houses of the Hindoos are generally very plainly built. In the\ncountry, they are commonly made of earth, and thatched with straw. In\nthe cities, they are covered with tiles. The kitchen is situated in the\nmost retired part of the house. In the houses of the Brahmins, the\nkitchen-door is always barred, to prevent strangers from looking upon\ntheir earthen vessels; for if they should happen to see them, their look\nwould pollute them to such a degree that they must be broken to pieces.\nThe hearth is generally placed on the south-west side, which is said to\nbe the side of the _god of fire_, because they say that this god\nactually dwells there.\n\nThe domestic customs of this people are very different from ours. The\nmen and women do not eat together. The husband first eats, then the\nwife. The wife waits upon the husband After she has cooked the rice, she\nbrings a brass plate, if they are possessors of one; or if not, a piece\nof a plantain-leaf, and puts it down on the mat before him. She then\nbails out the rice, places it upon the leaf, and afterwards pours the\ncurrie over it. This being done, the husband proceeds to mix up the\ncurrie and the rice with his hands, and puts it into his mouth. He never\nuses a knife and fork, as is customary with us. The currie of which I\nhave spoken is a sauce of a yellow color, owing to the _munchel_, a\nyellow root which they put in it. This and onions, kottamaly-seeds\nmustard, serakum, pepper, etc., constitute the ingredients of the\ncurrie. Some add to these ghea, or melted butter, and cocoa-nut milk. By\nthe cocoa-nut milk, I do not mean the water of the cocoa-nut.\nThis--except in the very young cocoa-nut, when it is a most delicious\nbeverage--is never used. The milk is squeezed from the _meat_ of the\ncocoa-nut, after it has been reduced to a pulp by means of an indented\ncircular iron which they use for this purpose.\n\nAfter the husband has eaten, the wife brings water for him to wash his\nhands. This being done, she supplies him with vettalay, paakku,\nshell-lime, and tobacco, which he puts into his mouth as his dessert.\nThe vettalay is a very spicy leaf. Why they use paakku, I do not know.\nIt is a nut, which they cut into small pieces, but it has not much\ntaste. Sometimes the wife brings her husband a segar. This people, I am\nsorry to say, are great smokers and chewers, practices of which I hope\nthat you, my dear children, will never be guilty. In Ceylon, it is\ncustomary for females to smoke. Frequently, after the husband has smoked\nfor a while, he hands the segar to his wife. She then puts it into her\nmouth, and smokes.\n\nSeveral years ago, one of the schoolmasters in that island became a\nChristian. After he had partaken of the Lord's supper, his wife\nconsidered him so defiled, that she would not put his segar into her\nmouth for a month afterwards. She, however, has since become a\nChristian.\n\nI spoke just now of the plantain-leaf. This leaf is sometimes six feet\nlong, and in some places a foot and a half wide. It is an unbroken leaf,\nwith a large stem running through the middle of it. It is one of the\nhandsomest of leaves. Pieces enough can be torn from a single leaf, to\ntake the place of a dozen plates. When quite young, it is an excellent\napplication to surfaces which have been blistered.\n\nWhen this people eat, they do not use tables and chairs. They sit down\non mats, and double their legs under them, after the manner of our\nfriends the tailors in America, when they sew. This is the way in which\nthe natives as a general thing, sit in our churches. It is not common to\nhave benches or pews for them. Carpenters and other tradesmen also sit\ndown either on a board, or on the ground, or on their legs, when they\nwork. It would divert you much to see their manoeuvring. If a carpenter,\nfor instance, wants to make a little peg, he will take a small piece of\nboard, and place it in an erect position between his feet, the soles of\nwhich are turned inward so as to press upon the board. He then takes\nhis chisel in one hand, and his mallet in the other, and cuts off a\nsmall piece. Afterwards he holds the piece in one hand, and while he\nshapes it with his chisel with the other, he steadies it by pressing it\nagainst his great toe.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe blacksmiths, with the exception of those who use the sledge-hammer,\nsit as do the carpenters while they hammer the iron. I wish you could\nsee them at work with their simple apparatus. They have small anvils,\nwhich they place in a hole made in a log of wood which is buried in the\nground. They do not use such bellows as you see in America.\n\nTheirs consist of two leather bags, about a foot wide and a foot and a\nhalf long, each having a nozzle at one end. The other end is left open\nto admit the air. When they wish to blow the fire, they extend these\nbags to let in the air. They then close them by means of the thumb on\none side, and the fingers on the other, and press them down towards the\nnozzle of the bellows, which forces the air through them into the fire.\nI should have said before, that the nozzle of the bellows passes through\na small semicircular mound of dried mud.\n\nI mentioned that the natives do not use tables and chairs in their\nhouses. Neither do they, as a general thing, use bedsteads. They have no\nbeds. They sleep on mats, which are spread down on the floor. Sometimes\nthey use a cotton bolster for their heads. More generally their pillows\nare hard boards, which they put under the mat. In addition to cooking,\nthe females have to prepare the rice for this purpose, by taking it out\nof the husk. This they do by beating it in a mortar about two feet high.\nThe pestle with which they pound it, is about five feet long, made of\nwood, with an iron rim around the lower part of it. Three women can\nwork at these mortars at the same time. Of course they have to be very\nskilful in the use of the pestle, so as not to interfere with each\nothers' operations. Sometimes, while thus engaged, the children, who are\ngenerally at play near their mothers, put their hands on the edge of the\nmortars. In such cases, when the pestle happens to strike the edge,\ntheir fingers are taken off in a moment.\n\nThe Hindoos have many modes of salutation. In some places they raise\ntheir right hand to the heart. In others, they simply stretch it out\ntowards the person who is passing, if they know him, for they never\nsalute persons with whom they are not acquainted.\n\nIn many places there is no show of salutation. When they meet their\nacquaintances they content themselves by saying a friendly word or two\nin passing, and then pursue their way. They have borrowed the word\n_salam_ from the Mohammedans. They salute both Mohammedans and Europeans\nwith this word, at the same time raising their hand to the forehead.\nWhen they address persons of high rank, they give them their _salam_\nthrice, touching the ground as often with both hands, and then lifting\nthem up to their foreheads.\n\nThe other castes salute the Brahmins by joining the hands and elevating\nthem to the forehead, or sometimes over the head. It is accompanied with\n_andamayya_, which means, Hail, respected lord. The Brahmins stretch out\ntheir hands and say, _aaseervaathum_--benediction.\n\nAnother very respectful kind of salutation consists in lowering both\nhands to the feet of the person to be honored, or even in falling-down\nand embracing them.\n\nOf all the forms of salutation, the most respectful is the\n_shaashtaangkum_, or prostration, in which the feet, the knees, the\nstomach, the head, and the arms, all touch the ground. In doing this,\nthey throw themselves at their whole length on the ground, and stretch\nout both arms above their heads. This is practised before priests, and\nin the presence of an assembly, when they appear before it to beg pardon\nfor a crime.\n\nRelations, who have long been separated, testify their joy when they\nmeet by chucking each other under the chin, and shedding tears of joy.\nI am not aware that grown persons ever kiss each other. Sometimes\nmothers, or other individuals, will put their noses to the cheeks of\nlittle children, and draw the air through them, just as we do when we\nsmell any thing which is agreeable. At other times they will apply the\nthumb and first finger to the cheek of the child, and then apply them to\ntheir own noses, and, as it were, smell them.\n\nThe women, as a mark of respect, turn their backs, or at least their\nfaces aside, when they are in the presence of those whom they highly\nesteem. They are never permitted to sit in the presence of men. A\nmarried woman cannot do this, even in the presence of her husband.\n\nIf a person meets another of high rank, he must leave the path, if on\nfoot, or alight, if on horseback, and remain standing until he has\npassed. He must at the same time take off his slippers. He also must\ntake off his slippers when he enters a house. Should he fail to do this,\nit would be considered a great impropriety.\n\nIn addressing a person of note, they mast keep at a certain distance\nfrom him, and cover their mouths with their hands while they are\nspeaking, lest their breath, or a particle of moisture, should escape\nto trouble him.\n\nWhen the Hindoos visit a person of distinction for the first time,\ncivility requires them to take some present as a mark of respect, or to\nshow that they come with a friendly intention; especially if they wish\nto ask some favor in return. When they have not the means of making\nlarge presents, they carry with them sugar, plantains, milk, and other\nthings of this kind.\n\nIn case of mourning, visits must always be made, though at a distance of\na hundred miles. Letters of condolence would by no means be received as\na substitute.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nMARRIAGE AMONG THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--Marriage, to the Hindoos is the greatest event of\ntheir lives. In the celebration of it, many ceremonies are performed Of\nthese I will mention some of the most important. If the father of the\nyoung girl is a Brahmin, and if he is rich and liberal, he will\nfrequently bear all the expenses of the marriage of his daughter. To\ngive a daughter in marriage and to sell her, are about the same thing.\nAlmost every parent makes his daughter an article of traffic, refusing\nto give her up until the sum of money for which he consented to let her\ngo, is paid. Men of distinction generally lay out this money for jewels,\nwhich they present to their daughters on their wedding-day. You will\ninfer from what I have just said, that the parties to be married have\nnothing to do in the choice of each other.\n\nThere are properly but four months in the year in which marriages can\ntake place, namely March, April, May, and June. This probably arises\nfrom the circumstance that these are the hottest seasons of the\nyear--the seasons when the people have more leisure to attend to them.\nFrom the harvest, also, which has just been gathered in, they are\nprovided with means to perform the various ceremonies.\n\nThe marriage ceremony lasts five days. The bride and bridegroom are\nfirst placed under a puntel, a kind of bower, covered with leaves, in\nfront of the house. This is superbly adorned. The married women then\ncome forward, and perform the ceremony called _arati_, which is as\nfollows. Upon a plate of copper, they place a lamp made of a paste from\nrice flour. It is supplied with oil, and lighted. They then take hold of\nthe plate with both hands, and raise it as high as the heads of the\ncouple to be married, and describe a number of circles with the plate\nand lamp. This is to prevent the evil of any jealous looks, which\ncertain persons might make. The Hindoos believe that great evils arise\nfrom wicked looks. They consider that even the gods themselves are not\nout of the reach of malicious eyes; and therefore after they have been\ncarried through the streets, the ceremony of arati is always performed,\nto efface the evil which they may have suffered from these looks.\n\nIt ought to have been mentioned, that before any thing is done, they\nplace an image of Pullian under the puntel. This god is much honored\nbecause he is much feared. And although the great ugliness of his\nappearance has hitherto kept him without a wife, they never fail to pay\nhim the greatest attention, lest he should in some way or other injure\nthem.\n\nAfter arati and many other ceremonies are performed, the kankanan, which\nis merely a bit of saffron, is tied to the right wrist of the young\nman, and to the left wrist of the girl. This is done with great\nsolemnity. Another remarkable ceremony succeeds this. The young man\nbeing seated with his face towards the east, his future father-in-law\nsupposes that he beholds in him the great Vrishnoo. With this\nimpression, he offers him a sacrifice, and then, making him put both of\nhis feet in a new dish filled with cow-dung, he first washes them with\nwater, then with milk, and again with water, accompanying the whole with\nsuitable muntrums or prayers.\n\nAfter many other ceremonies, he takes the hand of his daughter and puts\nit into that of his son-in-law. He then pours water over them in honor\nof Vrishnoo. This is the most solemn of all the ceremonies, being the\ntoken of his resigning his daughter to the authority of the young man.\nShe must be accompanied with three gifts, namely, one or more cows, some\nproperty in land, and a _salagrama_, which consists of some little\namulet stones in high esteem among the Brahmins. This ceremony being\nfinished, the tahly is brought to be fastened to the neck of the bride.\nThis, as I before said, is presented on a salver, decked and garnished\nwith sweet-smelling flowers. Incense is offered to it, and it is\npresented to the assistants each of whom touches it and invokes\nblessings upon it. The bride then turning towards the East, the\nbridegroom takes the tahly, repeats a muntrum or prayer aloud, and ties\nit around her neck.\n\nFire is then brought in, upon which the bridegroom offers up the\nsacrifice of _homam_, which consists of throwing boiled rice with melted\nbutter upon the fire. He then takes his bride by the hand, and they walk\nthree times around it, while the incense is blazing.\n\nThere is another ceremony, which, perhaps, ought to be mentioned, as it\nis considered by some to be one of much importance. Two baskets of\nbamboo are placed close together, one for the bride, the other for the\nbridegroom. They step into them, and two other baskets being brought,\nfilled with ground rice, the husband takes up one with both hands and\npours the contents over the head of the bride. She does the same to him.\nIn the marriage of great princes pearls are sometimes used instead of\nrice.\n\nOn the evening of the third day, when the constellations appear, the\nastrologer points out to the married pair a very small star, close to\nthe middle or in the tail of _Ursa Major_, which he directs them to\nworship, and which he says is the wife of Vasestha.\n\nWhile the assembled guests, are dining, the bridegroom and the bride\nalso partake, and eat together from the same plate. This is a token of\nthe closest union. This is the only instance in which they ever eat\ntogether.\n\nAfter all the ceremonies are finished, a procession is made through the\nstreets of the village It commonly takes place in the night, by\ntorchlight, accompanied with fire-works. The newly married pair are\nseated in one palanquin with their faces towards each other, both richly\ndressed. The bride, in particular, is generally covered with jewels and\nprecious stones.\n\nThe procession moves slowly; and their friends and relations come out of\ntheir houses, as they pass; the women hailing the married couple with\nthe ceremony of _arati_, and the men with presents of silver, fruits,\nsugar, and betel. I once witnessed one of these marriage processions in\nthe streets of Madras at night, but can give you but little idea of its\nmagnificence. The lamps used on the occasion could not be numbered. The\nshrubbery, which was drawn on carts or other vehicles, appeared\nexceedingly beautiful, in consequence of the light reflected from the\nlamps. Intermingled with this shrubbery, were to be seen little girls\nelegantly dressed, and adorned with flowers on their heads. Many\nelephants, with their trappings of gold and silver and red, formed a\npart of the procession. Fire-works were also added to make the scene\nmore brilliant.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nDEATH AND FUNERALS OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--The death of a Hindoo is followed by many ridiculous\nceremonies. I will give you a description of a few, connected with the\ndeath of one who has moved in one of the higher ranks--of a Brahmin.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen it is evident that a Brahmin has but a little time to live, a space\nis prepared with earth, well spread with cow-dung, over which a cloth,\nthat has never been worn, is spread. The dying man is placed upon this\nat full length. Another cloth is wrapped around his loins. This being\ndone, the ceremony of expiating his sins is performed as follows. The\nchief of the funeral brings on one plate some small pieces of silver or\ncopper coin, and on another the punchakaryam, etc. A little of this\npunchakaryam is then put into his mouth, and, by virtue of this nauseous\ndraught, the body is perfectly purified. Besides this, there is a\ngeneral cleansing, which is accomplished by making the dying man recite\nwithin himself, if he cannot speak, the proper muntrums, by which he is\ndelivered from all his sins. After this, a cow is introduced with her\ncalf. Her horns are decorated with rings of gold or brass, and her neck\nwith garlands of flowers. A pure cloth is laid over her body. Thus\ndecked, she is led up to the sick man, who takes hold of her tail.\nPrayers are now offered up that the cow may conduct him, by a blessed\npath, to the next world. He then makes a gift of a cow to a Brahmin.\nThis gift is considered indispensable to enable the soul to go over the\nriver of fire, which it is said all must pass after death. Those who\nhave made this gift, are met by one of these favored creatures the\nmoment they arrive at the bank of the stream, and by her help, they are\nenabled to pass without injury from the flames.\n\nAs soon as the breath has left his body, all who are present must weep\nfor a reasonable time, and join in lamentations together.\n\nAfter various ceremonies, the body is washed, and a barber is called to\nshave his head. He is then clad with his finest clothes and adorned with\njewels. He is rubbed with sandal-wood where the body is uncovered, and\nthe accustomed mark is put upon his forehead. Thus dressed he is placed\non a kind of state bed, where he remains until he is carried to the\npile.\n\nAfter every preparation is made to bear away the corpse, the person who\nis to conduct the funeral, with the assistance of some relative or\nfriend, strips it of its clothing and jewels, and covers it with a\nhandkerchief provided for the occasion. The corpse is then placed on a\nlitter. Those who die in a state of marriage, have their faces left\nuncovered. The litter, adorned with flowers and foliage, and sometimes\ndecked with valuable stuffs, is borne by four Brahmins. The procession\nis arranged as follows.\n\nThe chief of the funeral marches foremost, carrying fire in a vessel.\nThe body follows, attended by the relations and friends, without their\nturbans, and with nothing on their heads but a bit of cloth, in token of\nmourning. The women never attend the funeral, but remain in the house,\nwhere they set up a hideous cry when the corpse is taken out. While\nadvancing on the road, the custom is to stop three times on the way,\nand, at each pause, to put into the mouth of the dead a morsel of\nunboiled rice, moistened. The object of stopping is considered to be\nvery important. It is not without reason; for they say that persons\nsupposed to be dead have been alive, or even when lifeless have been\nrestored; and sometimes, also, it has happened that the gods of the\ninfernal regions have mistaken their aim, and seized one person instead\nof another. In any view, it is right to afford the opportunity for\ncorrecting these mistakes, so as not to expose to the flames a person\nwho is still alive. Hence the propriety of these pauses, each of which\ncontinues half of the quarter of an hour.\n\nHaving arrived at the place for burning the dead, they dig a trench\nabout six or seven feet in length. This is consecrated by the muntrums.\nIt is slightly sprinkled with water to lay the dust, and a few pieces of\nmoney in gold are scattered upon it. Here the pile is erected of dried\nwood, on which the body is laid out at full length. Over the body a\nquantity of twigs are laid, which are sprinkled with punchakaryam The\nchief of the funeral then takes on his shoulders a pitcher of water, and\ngoes around the pile three times, letting the water run through a hole\nmade in it. After this he breaks the pitcher in pieces near the head of\nthe corpse.\n\nAt last the torch is brought for setting fire to the pile, and is handed\nto the chief of the funeral. Before he receives it, however, he is\nobliged to make some grimaces to prove his sorrow. He rolls about on the\nground, beats his breast, and makes the air resound with his cries. The\nassistants also cry, or appear to cry. Fire being applied to the four\ncorners of the pile, the crowd retire, except the four Brahmins who\ncarried the body; they remain until the whole is consumed.\n\nThe funerals of the Sudras differ in some particulars from those of the\nBrahmins. Deafening sounds of drums, trumpets, and other instruments of\nmusic, not in use among the Brahmins, accompany their funerals. To\nincrease the noise, they sometimes shoot off an instrument which\nsomewhat resembles a small cannon. I do not now think of any other\nparticular worthy of mention.\n\nBy the ceremonies which are performed at their funerals, this wretched\npeople expect to secure the pardon of all the sins of those who have\ndied. Alas, what a delusion! O, that Christians had sent the Gospel to\nthis dark land in the days when they sent it to our heathen fathers.\nThen might the Hindoos now be seeking the expiation of their sins,\nthrough the blood of the ever-blessed Redeemer. Of this Redeemer,\nhowever, they know nothing. They enter eternity, not that their souls\nmay be consumed as their bodies have been, but to endure the flames of\ndivine wrath for ever and ever. Alas, alas, that it should be so! O,\nthat the generation of Christians now living would lay these things to\nheart, and do what they can, through grace, to rescue those who are yet\nwithin the reach of hope from so tremendous a doom. What, my dear\nchildren, will you do for this purpose?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE GODS OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--The word heathen is applied to those who worship\nidols, or who do not know any thing about the true God. This is the case\nwith this people. They say that there is one supreme being, whom they\ncall BRAHM; but he is very different from Jehovah, and is never\nworshipped. Generally, he is fast asleep. In the place of Brahm, they\nworship many gods--gods of all colors: some black, some white, some\nblue, some red--gods of all shapes and sizes: some in the shape of\nbeasts, some in the shape of men; some partly in the shape of beasts,\nand partly in the shape of men, having four, or ten, or a hundred, or a\nthousand eyes, heads, and hands. They ride through the air on elephants,\nbuffaloes, lions, sheep, deer, goats, peacocks, vultures, geese,\nserpents, and rats. They hold in their hands all kinds of weapons,\noffensive and defensive, thunderbolts javelins, spears, clubs, bows,\narrows, shields, flags, and shells. They are of all employments. There\nare gods of the heavens above and of the earth below, gods of wisdom and\nof folly, gods of war and of peace, gods of good and of evil, gods of\npleasure, gods of cruelty and wrath, whose thirst must be satiated with\ntorrents of blood. These gods fight and quarrel with one another. They\nlie, steal, commit adultery, murder, and other crimes. They pour out\ntheir curses when they cannot succeed in their wicked plots, and invent\nall kinds of lying tales to hide their wickedness.\n\nThere are three principal gods, who compose what is called the Hindoo\ntriad. Their names are Brumha, Vrishnoo, and Siva. They were somehow\ndrawn from Brahm's essence, on one occasion when he was awake. Brumha,\nthey say, is the creator of the world, Vrishnoo the preserver, and Siva\nthe destroyer. Brumha has no temple erected for his worship, on account\nof a great falsehood which he told. I will tell you what it was. Once,\nas it is said, there was a dispute between him and Vrishnoo, as to who\nis the greatest. While thus disputing, Siva appeared between the two as\na fire-post and told them that he who would find the bottom or the top\nof the post first, would show that he is the greatest. Vrishnoo\nimmediately changed himself into a hog, and began to root up the earth\nwith the hope of finding the bottom of the post. Brumha changed himself\ninto a swan, flew up towards the top of the post, and cried out, I have\nfound it, when he had not. This, you know, my dear children, was a\nfalsehood. For this falsehood, it is said, no temple is erected for his\nworship.\n\nVrishnoo was a thief and a liar. He was once dwelling in the house of a\ndairyman, and he used constantly to be stealing butter and curdled milk\nfrom the dairyman's wife. She did not know, for a long time, what became\nof her butter and curdled milk; but at last she found out that Vrishnoo\nwas the thief. To punish him for his theft, she tied him to a rice\nmortar.\n\nSiva's conduct was very bad. I will tell you but one thing about him. On\none occasion he was playing at cards with his wife Parvathe. Vrishnoo\nwas appointed to determine who was the best player. After playing for a\nlittle season Parvathe won the game. Siva then beckoned to Vrishnoo to\ndeclare that he, instead of Parvathe, had won it. This he did. In\nconsequence of this falsehood, he was cursed by Parvathe, and changed\ninto a snake.\n\nAnd now, my dear children, why do I tell you about these gods? I tell\nyou for the purpose of making you thankful that you were born in a\nChristian land, where you have the Bible to teach you better things. Had\nyou not the Bible, you would worship just such wretched beings as these\npoor Hindoos worship. Perhaps you know that our Saxon fathers, before\nthey had the Bible, were as great idolaters as are this people. They\nworshipped Thor and Woden and other similar idols, and they were even in\nthe habit of offering up human sacrifices Surely, if there is any thing\nwhich should make you give your hearts to your Saviour and love him\nabove all things, it is God's gift of the Bible to you.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY MILLIONS OF THE GODS OF THE HINDOOS--THE\nCREATION OF THE UNIVERSE--THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS--THE DIFFERENT\nHELLS.\n\n\nMy dear children--I told you that in one of those seasons when Brahm was\nawake, Brumha, Vrishnoo, and Siva were somehow drawn from Brahm's\nessence. The three hundred and thirty millions of the gods of the\nHindoos were also drawn from this essence; as were all the atoms which\ncompose the earth, the sun, moon, and stars. At first, these atoms were\nall in disorder. For the purpose of reducing them to order, Brahm\ncreated what is called the great mundane egg. Into this egg he himself\nentered, under the form, of Brumha, taking with him all these atoms.\nAfter remaining in this egg four thousand three hundred millions of\nyears, to arrange these atoms, he burst its shell and came out, with a\nthousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand arms. With him, he\nbrought out all those harmonized atoms, which, when separated, produced\nthis beautiful universe that we see above and around us.\n\nThe universe, as it came from the mundane egg, is generally divided into\nfourteen worlds: seven inferior or lower worlds, and seven superior or\nupper worlds. The seven lower worlds are filled with all kinds of wicked\nand loathsome creatures. Our earth, which is the first of the upper\nworlds, it is said, is flat. The following figure will give you some\nidea of it.\n\n[Illustration: Concentric circles with labels on each from outermost to\ninnermost: Sea of Sweet Water. Sea of Milk. Sea of Sour Curds. Sea of\nClarified Butter. Sea of Spirituous Liquors. Sea of Sugar Cane Juice.\nSea of Salt Water. Earth.]\n\nThat part of the earth which is inhabited consists of seven circular\nislands, or continents each of which is surrounded by a different ocean.\nThe island in the centre, where we dwell, is surrounded by a sea of salt\nwater, the second island is surrounded by a sea of sugar-cane juice, the\nthird island is surrounded by a sea of spirituous liquors, the fourth is\nsurrounded by a sea of clarified butter, the fifth is surrounded by a\nsea of sour curds, the sixth is surrounded by a sea of milk, the seventh\nis surrounded by a sea of sweet water.\n\nIn all the worlds above ours are mansions where the gods reside. In the\nthird is the heaven of Indra. This is the heaven to which it is said the\nwidow goes, after she has burned herself to death on the funeral pile of\nher husband Its palaces are of the purest gold. And such are the\nquantities of diamonds, and jasper, and sapphire, and emerald, and all\nmanner of precious stones there, that it shines with a brightness\nsuperior to that of twelve thousand suns. Its streets are of the\nclearest crystal, fringed with gold. In the seventh, or the highest of\nthe upper worlds, is the heaven where Brumha chiefly resides. This far\nexceeds all the other heavens in point of beauty.\n\nIn the inferior worlds it is stated that there are one hundred thousand\nhells. These are provided for such as have been great criminals. The\nHindoos say, that those who have not been very wicked, can make an\natonement for their sins in this world. Should they neglect to do this,\nthey must suffer for it in another birth. They believe in what is called\nthe transmigration of souls, or the passing of the soul, after death,\ninto another body. The soul must suffer in the next birth, if not\npurified in this. Hence it is asserted, that if a man is a stealer of\ngold from a Brahmin, he is doomed to have whitlows on his nails; if a\ndrinker of spirits, black teeth; if a false detractor, fetid breath; if\na stealer of grain, the defect of some limb; if a stealer of clothes,\nleprosy; if a horse-stealer, lameness; if a stealer of a lamp, total\nblindness. If he steals grain in the husk, he will be born a rat; if\nyellow mixed metal, a gander; if money, a great stinging gnat; if fruit,\nan ape; if the property of a priest, a crocodile.\n\nThose persons whose sins are too great to be forgiven in this world,\nmust be sent to one of the hells to winch I have alluded. Weeping,\nwailing, shrieking, they are dragged to the palace of _Yama_, the king\nof those doleful regions. On arriving there, they behold him clothed\nwith terror, two hundred and forty miles in height, his eyes as large as\na lake of water, his voice as loud as thunder, the hairs of his body as\nlong as palm-trees, a flame of fire proceeding from his mouth, the noise\nof his breath like the roaring of a tempest, and in his right hand a\nterrific iron club. Sentence is passed, and the wretched beings are\ndoomed to receive punishment according to the nature of their crimes.\nSome are made to tread on burning sands, or sharp-edged stones. Others\nare rolled among thorns and spikes and putrefying flesh. Others are\ndragged along the roughest places by cords passed through the tender\nparts of the body. Some are attacked by jackals, tigers, and elephants.\nOthers are pierced with arrows, beaten with clubs, pricked with needles,\nseared with hot irons, and tormented by flies and wasps. Some are\nplunged into pans of liquid fire or boiling oil. Others are dashed from\nlofty trees, many hundred miles high.\n\nThe torment of these hells does not continue for ever. After criminals\nhave been punished for a longer or shorter time, their souls return to\nthe earth again in the bodies of men. Here they may perform such good\nacts as may raise them to one of the heavens of the gods; or commit\ncrimes, which may be the means of their being sent again to the abodes\nof misery.\n\nThings will go on in this way until the universe comes to an end, when\nevery thing is to disappear, and to be swallowed up in Brahm.\n\nThe Hindoos say, that it is now more than one hundred and fifty billions\nof years since the world was created. After it has continued about one\nhundred and fifty billions of years more, it is to come to an end. Then\nBrumha is to die, and to be swallowed up with the universe in the sole\nexisting Brahm.\n\nBy what you have heard, you will learn that the Hindoos expect, by their\nsufferings, to make an atonement for their sins. But there is no\natonement for sin, except through the blood of Jesus Christ. We must\ncome as lost sinners to our heavenly Father, confess our transgressions\nto him, and plead for his forgiveness, only through the sufferings and\ndeath which Christ endured. My dear children, have you done this? If\nnot, do it speedily, or the regions of the lost must soon be your\neverlasting abode.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nHINDOO CASTES.\n\n\nMy dear Children--The people of India are divided into castes, as they\nare called. Their sacred books declare, that after Brumha had peopled\nthe heavens above and the worlds below, he created the human race,\nconsisting of four classes or castes. From his mouth proceeded the\nBrahmin caste. Those of this class are the highest and noblest beings on\nearth, and hold the office of priests. At the same time there flowed\nfrom his mouth the _Vedas_, or sacred books, of which the Brahmins are\nthe sole teachers To their fellow-men, they were to give such parts of\nthese books as they thought best. From Brumha's arm proceeded the\nmilitary caste. The business of this class is to defend their country\nwhen attacked by enemies. From his breast proceeded the third caste,\nconsisting of farmers and merchants. From his feet, the member of\ninferiority, proceeded the Sudras, or servile caste. Carpenters,\nbraziers, weavers, dyers, and the manual cultivators of the soil, are\nincluded in this class.\n\nCaste is not a civil, but a sacred institution. You must get some one\nolder than yourself to explain what this means. Caste is a difference of\n_kind_. Hence, a man of one caste can never be changed into a man of\nanother caste, any more than a lion can be changed into a mole, or a\nmole into a lion. Each caste has its laws, the breaking of which is\nattended with great disgrace, and even degradation below all the other\ncastes. For instance, if a Brahmin should, by eating any forbidden\nthing, break his caste, he would sink below all the other castes. He\nwould become an outcast, or pariah. For beneath the fourth, or lowest\ncaste, there is a class of people belonging to no caste--a class of\noutcasts, held in the utmost abhorrence.\n\nBy the system of castes, the Hindoos have been divided into so many\nselfish sections, each scowling on all the rest with feelings of hatred\nand contempt. The spirit which upholds it, is similar to that spirit\nwhich says, \"Stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou,\" and, of\ncourse, is nothing but pride. This is one of the greatest obstacles to\nthe spread of Christianity in this dark land, and for the exhibition of\nwhich we were lately obliged to cut off many of the members of our\nchurches.\n\nThe Brahmins, in consequence of their being of the highest caste, and of\ntheir having been taught from their infancy to regard all other classes\nof men with the utmost contempt, are very proud. They make great efforts\nto keep themselves pure, in their sense of the word, both without and\nwithin. They are exceedingly afraid of being defiled by persons of other\ncastes. They have the utmost dread even of being touched by a pariah.\nFor them to eat with any of these pariahs, or to go into their houses,\nor to drink water which they have drawn, or from vessels which they have\nhandled, is attended with the loss of their caste. A Brahmin who should\nenter their houses, or permit them to enter his, would be cut off from\nhis caste, and could not be restored without many troublesome ceremonies\nand great expense. The pariahs are considered to be so low, that if a\nBrahmin were to touch them, even with the end of a long pole, he would\nbe looked upon as polluted In some districts they are obliged to make a\nlong circuit, when they perceive Brahmins in the way, that their breath\nmay not infect them, or their shadow fall upon them as they pass. In\nsome places their very approach is sufficient to pollute a whole\nneighborhood.\n\nThe Brahmins carry their ideas of purity very far. Should a Sudra happen\nto look upon the vessels in which they cook their food, they would be\nconsidered as defiled. They can never touch any kind of leather or skin,\nexcept the skin of the tiger and antelope. The most disagreeable of all\nAmerican fashions, in their eyes, is that of boots and gloves. They\nrarely eat their food from plates; and when they do so, it is only at\nhome. They use the leaf of the plantain or other trees as a substitute.\nTo offer them any thing to eat on a metal or earthen plate which others\nhave used, would be considered a great affront. For the same reason,\nthey will neither use a spoon nor a fork when they eat; and they are\nastonished that any one, after having applied them to their mouths, and\ninfected them with saliva, should repeat the act a second time. They\nhave a great abhorrence of the toothpick, if used a second time. When\nthey eat any thing dry, they throw it into their mouths, so that the\nfingers may not approach the lips.\n\nThey do not drink as we do, by applying the cup to the lips. This would\nbe considered a gross impropriety. They pour the water into their\nmonths. The reason why they do these things is, because they consider\nthe saliva to be the most filthy secretion that comes from the body. It\nis on this account that no one is ever permitted to spit within doors.\n\nThe use of animal food they consider to be defiling. Not only will they\nnot eat animal food, but they will eat nothing that has the principle of\nlife in it. On this account, they cannot eat eggs of any kind. I was\nonce breaking an egg in my medicine-room at Panditeripo, while a Brahmin\nwas present. He told me that, under such circumstances, he could not\nremain with me any longer. In his view, I was committing a great sin. To\nkill an ox or a cow, is considered by them as a crime which can never be\natoned for, and to eat their flesh is a defilement which can never be\nwashed away. To kill a cow is, by _Hindoo_ law, punishable with death.\n\nThe touch of most animals, particularly that of the dog, defiles a\nBrahmin. Should a dog touch them, they would be obliged instantly to\nplunge into water, and wash their clothes, in order to get rid of such a\nstain. Notwithstanding this, the dog is one of the gods worshipped by\nthe Hindoos.\n\nThe Hindoos consider themselves to be unclean if they have assisted at a\nfuneral. When the ceremony is over, they immediately plunge into water\nfor the sake of purification. Even the news of the death of a relative,\na hundred miles off, has the same effect. The person who hears such news\nis considered unclean until he has bathed. In unison with this feeling,\na person is no sooner dead, than he is hastened away to be buried or\nburned; for, until this is done, those in the house can neither eat nor\ndrink, nor go on with their occupations.\n\nA Brahmin who is particular in his delicacy, must be careful what he\ntreads upon. He is obliged to wash his body or bathe, if he happens to\ntread on a bone, or a broken pot, a bit of rag, or a leaf from which one\nhas been eating. He must also be careful where he sits down. Some\ndevotees always carry their seats with them, that is, a tiger or\nantelope's skin, which are always held pure. Some are contented with a\nmat. They may sit down on the ground without defilement, provided it has\nbeen newly rubbed over with cow-dung. This last specific is used daily\nto purify their houses from the defilement occasioned by comers, and\ngoers. When thus applied, diluted with water, it has unquestionably one\ngood effect. It completely destroys the fleas and other insects, with\nwhich they are very much annoyed.\n\nThere is one thing more which I wish to mention. It is, that all the\nhigh castes consider the use of intoxicating drinks to be defiling. I\nhope that you, my dear children, will always have the same opinion, and\nnever touch them any sooner than you would touch arsenic or other\npoisons.\n\nA person may be restored to his caste, provided he has not committed an\nunpardonable offence. This is done as follows. After he has gained the\nconsent of his relations to be restored he prostrates himself very\nhumbly before them, they being assembled for that purpose, and submits\nto the blows or other punishment which they may think proper to inflict,\nor pays the fine which they may have laid upon him. Then, after\nshedding tears of sorrow, and making promises that, by his future\nconduct, he will wipe away the stain of his expulsion from caste, he\nmakes the shaashtaangkum before the assembly. This being done, he is\ndeclared fit to be restored to his tribe.\n\nWhen a man has been expelled from his caste for some great offence,\nthose who restore him sometimes slightly burn his tongue with a piece of\ngold made hot. They likewise apply to different parts of the body redhot\niron stamps, which leave marks that remain for ever. Sometimes they\ncompel the offender to walk on burning embers; and to complete the\npurification, he must drink the punchakaryam, which literally means the\n_five things_; these all come from the cow, and must be mixed together.\nThe first three of these I will mention, namely, the milk, butter, and\ncurds. The other two, for the sake of delicacy, I must not mention.\nAfter the ceremony of punchakaryam is finished the person who has been\nexpelled from his caste must give a grand feast. This finishes all he\nhas to do, and he is then restored to favor.\n\nThere are certain offences which, when committed cut off all hope that\nthe offender will ever be restored to his caste. For instance, should he\neat the flesh of the cow, no presents which he might make, nor any fines\nwhich lie might be disposed to pay, no, not even the punchakaryam\nitself, would be of any avail for his restoration or purification.\n\nI will make a remark here, which I might have made before. It is, that\nin Christian countries, there is a spirit of pride which much resembles\nthe spirit of caste. Many are to be found who are very proud that they\nhave descended from rich and honorable _ancestors_, and who look down,\nalmost with disdain, upon those in other situations. I need hardly tell\nyou that this is a very wicked spirit, and entirely opposed to the\nspirit of the Gospel. No matter what may be our high thoughts of\nourselves, we appear but very low in the sight of Him who created us. We\nare all sinners, and, as such, are offensive in his sight. If we would\ngo to heaven, the first thing which we have to do, is to humble\nourselves for the pride of our hearts, and become as little children\nbefore him. We must have that spirit of which the apostle speaks, when\nhe says, \"Let each esteem others better than themselves.\" With a humble\nspirit we may approach a holy God, with the assurance that he will, for\nChrist's sake, forgive all our sins.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nHINDOO TEMPLES--CARS--PROCESSION OF IDOLS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--I will proceed to give you a description of the Hindoo\ntemples. These are very numerous. One is to be found in almost every\nvillage. They are to be found, also, in out-of-the-way places, distant\nfrom villages, in woods, on the banks and in the middle of rivers; but,\nabove all, on mountains and steep rocks.\n\nThis latter practice, of building temples on mountains, is very ancient.\nThe Israelites were accustomed to choose a mountain when they offered up\ntheir sacrifices to the Lord. Solomon, before the building of the\ntemple, chose Mount Gibeon on which to offer his burnt-offerings; and\nwhen the ten tribes separated themselves, in the reign of Jeroboam, they\nbuilt their altars on the mountain of Samaria. This practice may have\ncome from the circumstance, that Noah offered to God a great sacrifice\nof thanks on one of the highest mountains of Armenia. Probably Mount\nArarat continued long to be remembered, by him and his descendants, as\nthe scene of their deliverance.\n\nBesides the temples of the idols, there are various objects of worship,\nmade of earth and stone. Some of the idols are carved. Some consist\nmerely of the rough stone. These are to be seen on the high-roads, at\nthe entrance into villages, and, above all, under lofty trees. Some of\nthese are covered; but generally they are exposed in the open air.\n\nYou will read in Genesis, 28th chap, and 18th verse, that Jacob, after\nhis dream, rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had\nput for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the\ntop of it. Whether it has happened from this circumstance or not, that\nthe heathen universally pour oil over their idols, I cannot tell. All I\nknow is, that they do it. No idol can become an object of worship until\na Brahmin has said his muntrums, or prayers, for the purpose of bringing\ndown the god to live, as it is said be does, in the image, and until he\nhas drenched it with oil and liquid butter.\n\nThe idols, in the great temples, are clothed with rich garments, and\nadorned with jewels, which are enriched with precious stones of immense\nvalue. Sacrifices are constantly made to these idols, consisting of\nboiled rice, flowers, fruits, etc., but, above all, of lamps, of which\nmany thousands are sometimes seen burning. They feed them with butter,\nin preference to oil.\n\nThe priests of the temples offer up sacrifices twice every day, morning\nand evening. They begin the ceremony by washing their idol. The water\nwhich is used is brought from a river or tank. Every morning a\nprocession, with music, passes before our door, with this water.\n\nEvery priest who offers up sacrifices, must have several lighted lamps\nwith a bell, which he holds in his left hand. With his right hand he\nmakes an offering to the idol, adorns it with flowers, and rubs its\nforehead and various parts of its body with sandal-wood and holy ashes.\nWhile all this is going on, he is alone in the temple, the door of which\nis closed. The unholy multitude remain without, silently waiting till\nhe has done. What he does, they cannot know, only hearing the sound of\nthe bell. When he has done, he comes out and distributes among the\npeople a part of the things which have been offered to the idol. These\nare considered as holy. If they consist of rice and fruit, they are\nimmediately eaten; if of flowers, the men put them in their turbans, and\nthe girls entwine them in their hair.\n\nNext to the priests, the most important persons about the temples are\nthe dancing girls. These are persons of the vilest character. They\nperform their religious duties in the temple twice a day. They also\nassist at the public ceremonies, and dance. At the same time they sing\nthe most abominable and filthy songs. Of these wicked creatures,\nhowever, I must not tell you any thing further.\n\nThe next order of persons employed in the temples, are players on\nmusical instruments. Every temple of note has a band of these musicians\nwho, as well as the dancers, are obliged to attend the temple twice a\nday. They are also obliged to assist at all the public festivals. Their\nband generally consists of wind, instruments, resembling clarionets and\nhautboys, to which they add cymbals and drums. They have a bass,\nproduced by blowing into a kind of tube, widened below, and which gives\nan uninterrupted sound. Part of the musicians sing hymns in honor of\ntheir gods.\n\nThe expenses of the temples are borne by the voluntary offerings of the\npeople, consisting of money, jewels, cattle, provisions, and other\narticles. In order to induce them to make such offerings, the Brahmins\nuse all kinds of deception. Sometimes they will put their idols in\nirons, chaining their hands and feet. They exhibit them in this sad\ncondition, declaring that they have been brought into it by creditors\nfrom whom their gods had to borrow money, in times of trouble, to supply\ntheir wants. They declare that their creditors refuse to set the gods at\nliberty, until the money with the interest is paid. The people, seeing\nthe deplorable condition into which they have been brought, come forward\nand pay off the debt; when the chains are taken off, and the god is set\nat liberty.\n\nAnother way in which the Brahmins sometimes deceive the people, is as\nfollows. They say that the god is afflicted with some dreadful disease,\nbrought on by the distress which he has had, because the people do not\nworship him as much as they should. In such cases, the idol is sometimes\nplaced at the door of the temple where they rub his forehead and temples\nwith various kinds of medicine. They also set before him all sorts of\nmedicines, pretending in this way to do all they can to cure him. But as\nall their efforts prove to be vain, and the disease becomes worse, the\nBrahmins send out persons to tell the sad news. The people, believing\nthe report, hasten to bring in their gifts and offerings. The god, on\nbeholding such proofs of their attachment to him, feels himself cured of\nhis disease, and immediately returns to his throne within the temple.\n\nThe Brahmins use another kind of deception, in order to procure\nofferings for the temples. They declare that their gods are angry with\ncertain individuals who have offended them, and that they have sent some\nevil spirit or devil to take possession of their bodies and torment\nthem. Accordingly, persons appear wandering about in different parts of\nthe country, showing, by their dreadful convulsions, their writhings\nand twistings, every symptom of being possessed with the devil. The\npeople who see them are filled with dismay, fall down before them, and\noffer gifts and sacrifices, for fear of being injured by them. Whatever\nthey ask is granted. The people give them to eat and drink abundantly;\nand when they leave a place, accompany them with instruments of music,\ntill they arrive at some other place, where the same deception is\npractised.\n\nThere are various other ways in which the Brahmins deceive the people;\nbut I have told you enough.\n\nAt every large temple, there is at least yearly one grand procession.\nThe idol is brought out from its inclosure, and placed in a great car or\nchariot, prepared for this express purpose. This stands upon four wheels\nof great strength, not made like ours, of spokes with a rim, but of\nthree or four pieces of thick, solid timber, rounded and fitted to each\nother. The car is sometimes forty or fifty feet high, having upon it\ncarved images of a most abominable nature. I must not tell you any thing\nabout them. The car, when finished, presents somewhat the shape of a\npyramid.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOn the day of the procession, it is adorned with painted cloth, garlands\nof flowers, green shrubbery, and precious stuffs. The idol is placed in\nthe centre, loaded with jewels, etc., to attract the attention of the\npeople. Having fastened ropes to this enormous car, eight or nine\nhundred or a thousand people catch hold of the ropes and slowly drag it\nalong, accompanied with the awful roaring of their voices. At certain\nperiods they stop; when the immense crowds, collected from all parts of\nthe country, set up one universal shout, or rather yell. This, with the\nsound of their instruments and numerous drums, produces much uproar and\nconfusion. Sometimes the weighty car comes to a stand, from the dampness\nof the ground or from the narrowness of the streets, when the tumult and\nnoise are redoubled.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPerhaps you know that on some occasions, when the cars are drawn, people\nthrow themselves under the wheels, and are crushed to death. This occurs\nat the drawing of the car of Juggernaut, as you may learn if you will\nread my Sermon to Children, on the Condition of the Heathen. Here is a\npicture of Juggernaut, and on the last page you may see a picture of his\ncar, and two men crushed to death under the wheels. Not long since, five\npersons were thus crushed to death. Many dreadful accidents also take\nplace at the drawing of these cars. A few years ago several persons in\nthis city had their limbs amputated, in consequence of injuries\nreceived.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen I was in America, I showed to many of the dear children an idol\ncalled Pulliar, which was _formerly_ worshipped by Raamu, one of our\nnative helpers, when he was a heathen. I gave a particular description,\nof the I manner in which he daily worshiped it, in the sermon above\nmentioned Here is a picture, which will give you some idea of this god.\n\nYou will see that it is partly in the shape of a man, and partly in the\nshape of a beast. You, my dear children, would put no confidence in such\nvain idols; but this people do, as you may know from what I am now going\nto tell you.\n\nSome months ago, a woman was brought to me with a cancer in her breast.\nIt had made sad ravages. On the morning after her arrival I took it out.\nBefore she was brought to me, her brother went to the temple of the\ngoddess Meenaache, to ascertain what was her will respecting his\nbringing her to me, or taking her to a native doctor. In order to\nascertain it, he had recourse to the following expedient. He prepared\nseveral bundles of red and white flowers--the red to represent the red\nor Tamil man, the white to represent the white man. These flowers were\ncarefully inclosed in leaves, so as to prevent their color being seen,\nand then laid down on the ground, at the entrance of the temple. After\nthis, he called a little child to him, and then proceeded to entreat\nMeenaache that, if it were her will that he should bring the sick woman\nto me, she would direct the child to take up one of the parcels\ncontaining the white flowers. It so happened that the child took up one\nof these parcels. Of course, he brought her to me. Had it taken up a\nparcel containing the red flowers, she would have been taken to a native\ndoctor. May we not hope that, not Meenaache, but Jehovah directed him\nto bring her to me, that she might hear of a very different being from\nher goddess, even of Jesus. Of him she has fully heard.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nFESTIVALS OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--The Hindoos have many festivals. These are all\noccasions of joy and gladness. On such days, the people quit their usual\nemployments. Friends and relations unite in family parties, and give\nentertainments according to their means. Innocent pastimes and\namusements of various kinds are resorted too to add to their happiness.\n\nThere are eighteen principal festivals yearly, and no month passes\nwithout one or more of them.\n\nOne of the most solemn of these ceremonies is held in the month of\nSeptember, and appears to be principally in honor of Parvathe, the wife\nof Siva. At this time every laborer and every artisan offers sacrifices\nand prayers to his tools. The laborer brings his plough, hoe, and other\nfarming utensils. He piles them together, and offers a sacrifice to\nthem, consisting of flowers, fruit, rice, and other articles. After\nthis, he prostrates himself before them at full length, and then returns\nthem to their places.\n\nThe mason offers the same adoration and sacrifice to his trowel, rule,\nand other instruments The carpenter adores his hatchet, adze, and plane.\nThe barber collects his razors together and worships them with similar\nrites.\n\nThe writing-master sacrifices to the iron pen or style, with which he\nwrites upon the palm-leaf the tailor to his needles, the weaver to his\nloom, the butcher to his cleaver.\n\nThe women, on this day, collect into a heap their baskets, rice-mill,\nrice-pounder, and other household utensils, and, after having offered\nsacrifices to them, fall down in adoration before them. Every person, in\nshort, in this solemnity sanctifies and adores the instrument or tool by\nwhich he gains a living. The tools are considered as so many gods, to\nwhom they present their prayers that they will continue to furnish them\nstill with the means of getting a livelihood.\n\nThis least is concluded by making an idol to represent Parvathe. It is\nmade of the paste of grain, and being placed under a sort of canopy, is\ncarried through the streets with great pomp, and receives the worship of\nthe people.\n\nAnother festival of great celebrity is observed in October. At this\ntime, each person, for himself, makes offerings of boiled rice and other\nfood, to such of their relations as have died, that they may have a good\nmeal on that day. They afterwards offer sacrifices of burning lamps, of\nfruit, and of flowers, and also new articles of dress, that their\nancestors may be freshly clothed.\n\nAt this festival, soldiers offer sacrifices to their weapons, in order\nto obtain success in war. On such occasions, a ram is offered in\nsacrifice to their armor.\n\nIn November, a festival is observed, which is called the feast of lamps.\nAt this season, the Hindoos light lamps, and place them around the doors\nof their houses. This festival was established to commemorate the\ndeliverance of the earth from a giant, who had been a great scourge to\nthe people. He was slain by Vrishnoo, after a dreadful battle. In many\nplaces, on this day, a sacrifice is offered to the _dunghill_ which is\nafterwards to enrich the ground. In the villages, each one has his own\nheap, to which he makes his offering of burning lamps, fruit, flowers,\netc.\n\nThe most celebrated of all the festivals, is that which is held in the\nend of December. It is called the feast of Pongul, and is a season of\nrejoicing for two reasons: the first is, because the month of December,\nevery day of which is unlucky, is about to end; and the other is,\nbecause it is to be followed by a month, every day of which is\nfortunate. For the purpose of preventing the evil effects of this month,\nthe women every morning scour a place about two feet square before the\ndoor of the house, upon which they draw white lines, with flour. Upon\nthese they place several little balls of cow-dung, sticking in each a\nflower. Each day these little balls, with their flowers, are preserved,\nand on the last day of the month, they are thrown into tanks or\nwaste-places.\n\nThe first day of this festival is called the Pongul of rejoicing. Near\nrelatives are invited to a feast, which passes off with mirth and\ngladness.\n\nThe second day is called the Pongul of the sun, and is set apart to\nworship that luminary. Married women, after bathing themselves, proceed\nto boil rice with milk, in the open air. When the milk begins to\nsimmer, they make a loud cry, \"Pongul, O Pongul.\" The vessel is then\ntaken from the fire, and set before an idol. Part of this rice is\noffered to the image, and, after standing there for some time, it is\ngiven to the cows. The remainder is given to the people. This is the\ngreat day for visiting among friends. The salutation begins by the\nquestion, \"Has the milk boiled?\" To which the answer is, \"It has\nboiled.\" From this, the festival takes the name of pongul, which\nsignifies to boil.\n\nThe third day is called the _Pongul of cows._ In a great vessel, filled\nwith water, they put saffron and other things. These being well mixed,\nthey go around the cows and oxen belonging to the house several times,\nsprinkling them with water. After this, the men prostrate themselves\nbefore them four times. The cows are then dressed, their horns being\npainted with various colors. Garlands of flowers are also put round\ntheir necks, and over their backs. To these are added strings of\ncocoa-nuts and other kinds of fruit, which, however, are soon shaken\noff, when they are in motion, and are picked up by children and others,\nwho greedily eat what they gather, as something sacred. After being\ndriven through the streets, they are suffered, during the day, to feed\nwherever they please, without a keeper. I have, however, told you\nenough. Are you ready to exclaim, Is it possible that a people can be\nguilty of such utter folly? But you, my dear children, would be guilty\nof just such folly, if you had not the Bible. Should not the gratitude,\nthen, which you owe to your heavenly Father, for your distinguished\nmercies, constrain you to do all that you can to send this blessed book\nto this dark land?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE WORSHIP OF THE SERPENT.\n\n\nMy dear Children--If you have never heard much about the Hindoos, you\nwill be astonished to learn how numerous are the objects of their\nworship. They worship many living creatures, such as the ape, the tiger,\nthe elephant the horse, the ox, the stag, the sheep, the hog, the dog,\nthe cat, the rat, the peacock, the eagle, the cock, the hawk, the\nserpent, the chameleon, the lizard, the tortoise, fishes, and even\ninsects. Of these, some receive much more worship than others, such as\nthe cow, the ox, and the serpent Cobra Capella. I will speak at present\nonly of the worship of the serpent.\n\nOf all the dangerous creatures found in India, there are none that\noccasion so many deaths as serpents. The people are very much exposed to\ntheir bite, especially at night, when they are walking. They tread upon\nthem, and, as they generally do not wear shoes, the snakes turn their\nheads, and strike their fangs into those parts of the feet which are\nnearest to the place where the pressure is made upon their bodies.\nSometimes the bite is followed with instant death. The Cobra Capella is\none of the most common snakes, and one of the most poisonous. It is\nsaid, that it has a thousand heads, one of which holds up the earth. It\nhas a peculiar mark on its back, just behind the head. This mark very\nmuch resembles a pair of spectacles, without the handles. If you should\ngo near it, it would raise the fore part of its body about six inches,\nwiden out its neck, so as to be about double its common width, and\nprepare to strike you. The reason why the Hindoos offer sacrifices and\nadoration to it above all the other serpents is, because it is so\nfrequently met with, and is so much dreaded.\n\nIn order to induce the people to worship this dangerous enemy, the\nHindoos have filled their books with tales concerning it. Figures of it\nare often to be seen in the temples, and on other buildings. They seek\nout their holes, which are generally to be found in the hillocks of\nearth which are thrown up by the white ants; and when they find one,\nthey go from time to time and offer milk, plantains, and other good\nthings to it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Hindoos, as I before observed, have eighteen annual festivals. One\nof these festivals is held for the purpose of worshipping this serpent.\nTemples in many places are erected to it, of which there is one of great\ncelebrity in Mysore. When the festival occurs at this temple, great\ncrowds of people come together to offer sacrifices to this creeping god.\nMany serpents besides the Cobra Capella live within it, in holes made\nespecially for them. All of these are kept and well fed by the Brahmins\nwith milk, butter, and plantains. By such means they become very\nnumerous, and may be seen swarming from every crevice in the temple. To\ninjure or to kill one would be considered a great crime.\n\nMany of the natives call the Cobra Capella nulla paampu, that is, good\nsnake. They are afraid to call it a bad snake, lest it should injure\nthem. The following is the prayer which is offered before the image of\nthis snake. O, divine Cobra, preserve and sustain us. O, Sheoh, partake\nof these offerings, and be gracious unto us.\n\nCan you think of any thing, my dear children more dishonoring to a holy\nGod, than such worship? And what have you ever done to prevent it? Have\nyou, every morning and evening, prayed that the Gospel might be sent to\nthis people? Did you ever give any money to send it to them? Did you\never think whether it may not be your duty, by and by, to come to them,\nto tell them of this Gospel?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE RIVER GANGES.\n\n\nMy dear Children--If you will look at the map of Asia, and find the\ncountry of Hindostan, you will see running through it a very celebrated\nriver--the river Ganges. It is called the Ganges, after the goddess\nGunga. The Hindoos say that the goddess Gungu--who was produced from the\nsweat of Vrishnoo's foot, which Brumha caught and preserved in his\nalms-dish--came down from heaven, and divided herself into one hundred\nstreams, which are the mouths of the river Ganges. All classes and\ncastes worship her. The sight, the name, or the touch of the river\nGanges is said to take away all sin. To die on the edge of the river, or\nto die partly buried in the stream, drinking its waters, while their\nbodies are besmeared with mud, is supposed to render them very holy. On\nthis account, when it is expected that a person will die, he is hurried\ndown to the river, whether willing or unwilling. Sometimes the wood\nwhich the people bring to burn their bodies after death, is piled up\nbefore their eyes. O, how inhuman is this. After it is supposed that\nthey are dead, and they are placed on the pile of wood, if they should\nrevive and attempt to rise, it is thought that they are possessed with\nthe devil, and they are beaten down with a hatchet or bamboo.\n\nWere you standing on the banks of the Ganges you might, perhaps, in one\nplace see two or three young men carrying a sick female to the river. If\nyou should ask what they are going to do with her, perhaps they would\nreply, We are going to give her up to Gunga, to purify her soul, that\nshe may go to heaven; for she is our mother. In another place you might\nsee a father and mother sprinkling a beloved child with muddy water,\nendeavoring to soothe his dying agonies by saying, \"It is blessed to die\nby Gunga, my son; to die by Gunga is blessed, my son.\" In another place\nyou might see a man descending from a boat with empty water-pans tied\naround his neck, which pans, when filled, will drag down the poor\ncreature to the bottom, to be seen no more. Here is murder in the name\nof religion. He is a devotee, and has purchased heaven, as he supposes,\nby this his last good deed. In another place you might see a person\nseated in the water, accompanied by a priest, who pours down the throat\nof the dying man mud and water, and cries out, \"O mother Gunga, receive\nhis soul.\" The dying man may be roused to sensibility by the violence.\nHe may entreat his priest to desist; but his entreaties are drowned. He\npersists in pouring the mud and water down his throat, until he is\ngradually stifled, suffocated--suffocated in the name of\nhumanity--suffocated in the name of religion.\n\nIt happens, sometimes, in cases of sudden and violent attacks of\ndisease, that they cannot be conveyed to the river before death. Under\nsuch circumstances, a bone is preserved, and at a convenient season is\ntaken down and thrown into the river. This, it is believed, contributes\nessentially to the salvation of the deceased.\n\nSometimes strangers are left on the banks to die, without the ceremony\nof drinking Ganges water. Of these, some have been seen creeping along\nwith the flesh half eaten off their bones by the birds; others with\ntheir limbs torn by dogs and jackals, and others partly covered with\ninsects.\n\nAfter a person is taken down to the river, if he should recover, it is\nlooked upon by his friends as a great misfortune. He becomes an outcast.\nEven his own children will not eat with him, nor offer him the least\nattention. If they should happen to touch him, they must wash their\nbodies, to cleanse them from the pollution which has been contracted.\nAbout fifty miles north of Calcutta, are two villages inhabited entirely\nby these poor creatures, who have become outcasts in consequence of\ntheir recovery after having been taken down to the Ganges.\n\nAt the mouth of the river Hoogly, which is one of the branches of the\nGanges, is the island Sauger, which I saw as we approached Calcutta\nafter having been at sea for one hundred and twenty-eight days. Now, my\ndear children, if you come out to India as missionaries, you will have\nto sail nearly one hundred and thirty days before you can reach it.\nSauger island is the island where, formerly, hundreds of mothers were in\nthe habit of throwing their children to the crocodiles, and where these\nmothers were wont to weep and cry if the crocodiles did not devour their\nchildren before their eyes. Think what a dreadful religion that must\nbe, which makes mothers so hard-hearted. Did you ever take any corn or\nIndian meal and throw it to the chickens? And what did these chickens\ndo? Did they not come around you and eat it? Well, just in this way the\ncrocodiles would come near those mothers, and devour their children.\nHere is a picture of a mother throwing her child to a crocodile.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nI am glad to tell you, that the British have put a stop to the sacrifice\nof children at that place; but mothers continue to destroy their\nchildren elsewhere, and will continue to destroy them until Christians\nsend the Gospel to them. It is not improbable that vast numbers of\nchildren are annually destroyed in the Ganges. Mothers sacrifice them,\nin consequence of vows which they have made. When the time to sacrifice\nthem has come, they take them down to the river, and encourage them to\ngo out so far that they are taken away by the stream, or they push them\noff with their own hands.\n\nI just remarked, that mothers will continue to destroy their children\nuntil the Gospel is sent to them. That the Gospel does prevent such\nthings, the following circumstance will show. Several years ago, a\nmissionary lady went from New England to India. As she was walking out\none morning, on the banks of the Ganges, she saw a heathen mother\nweeping. She went up to her, sat down by her side, put her hand into\nhers, and asked what was the matter with her. \"I have just been making a\nbasket of flags,\" said she, \"and putting my infant in it--pushing it off\ninto the river, and drowning it. And my gods are very much pleased with\nme, because I have done it.\" After this missionary lady had heard all\nshe had to say, she told her that her gods were no gods; that the only\ntrue God delights not in such sacrifices, but turns in horror from them;\nand that, if she would be happy here and hereafter, she must forsake her\nsins, and pray to Jesus Christ, who died to save sinners like herself.\nThis conversation was the means of the conversion of that mother, and\nshe never again destroyed any of her infants.\n\nSuch is the power of the blessed Gospel. And what the Gospel has done\nonce, it can do again. If Christians will send it to them, with the\nblessing of God, the time will soon come when heathen mothers will no\nmore destroy their children. And have you nothing to do in this great\nwork, my dear children? When you grow up, cannot you go and tell them of\nthe Saviour? Here is a very pretty hymn about a heathen mother throwing\nher child to a crocodile.\n\n    See that heathen mother stand\n    Where the sacred currents flow,\n    With her own maternal hand,\n    'Mid the waves her infant throw.\n\n    Hark, I hear the piteous scream--\n    Frightful monsters seize their prey,\n    Or the dark and bloody stream\n    Bears the struggling child away.\n\n    Fainter now, and fainter still,\n    Breaks the cry upon the ear;\n    But the mother's heart is steel,\n    She unmoved that cry can hear.\n\n    Send, O send the Bible there,\n    Let its precepts reach the heart;\n    She may then her children spare,\n    Act the mother's tender part.\n\nI have heard of a little boy who learned this hymn. He was deeply\naffected by it, and wanted very much to give something to send the\nGospel to India. But he had no money. He was, however, willing to labor\nin order to earn some. Hearing that a gentleman wanted the chips removed\nfrom the ground near his woodpile, he hired himself to him, removed the\nchips, got his money, and, with glistening eyes, went and delivered it\nup, to be sent to the heathen, repeating, as he went,\n\n    Send, O send the Bible there,\n    Let its precepts reach the heart;\n    She may then her children spare,\n    Act the mother's tender part.\n\nAbout one hundred miles above the mouth of the Hoogly is the city of\nCalcutta, and about five hundred miles above that city is the city of\nBenares. In these cities, as well as in other places, we see how much\nthe heathen will contribute to support their wretched religion. A rich\nnative in Calcutta has been known to spend more than one hundred\nthousand dollars on a single festival--the festival of the goddess\nKarle--and more than thirty thousand dollars every year afterwards\nduring his life, for the same purpose. Not long since, a rich native\ngave at one time to his idols more than one million two hundred thousand\ndollars. And what have Christians ever done to honor their Saviour,\nwhich will bear a comparison with what the heathen do for their idols?\nAlas, alas, few Christian men or Christian women, in all the church, are\nwilling to give even one-tenth of their annual income to the Lord. Most\nof those who are rich, hoard up their money, instead of spending it for\nthe purpose of saving souls. And there are many persons who have never\ngiven a farthing to send the Gospel to the heathen. O, what will such\nsay, when they must meet the heathen at the bar of God?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE GODDESS DURGA.\n\n\nMy dear Children--From what I said, in my last chapter, about the\ngoddess Gunga, you see that the Hindoos worship goddesses as well as\ngods. There is another goddess much worshipped the wife of the god Siva.\nShe has appeared in a thousand forms, with a thousand different names.\nOf all these thousand forms, Durga and Karle are the most regarded by\nthe people. I will speak of Durga first. Of all the festivals in Eastern\nIndia, hers is the most celebrated. She has ten hands, in which she\nholds an iron club, a trident, a battle-axe, spears, thunderbolts, etc.\nThus armed, she is ever ready to fight with her enemies.\n\nWere you to be present in the city of Calcutta in the month of\nSeptember, you might everywhere see the people busy in preparing for the\nyearly festival of this goddess. Images representing her you would find\nin great numbers for sale, as bread or meat is sold. In the houses of\nthe rich, images are to be found made of gold, silver, brass, copper,\ncrystal, stone, or mixed metal, which are daily worshipped. These are\ncalled permanent images. Besides these, multitudes of what are called\ntemporary images are made--made merely for the occasion and then\ndestroyed. They may be made of hay, sticks, clay, wood, or other such\nthings. Their size varies from a few inches to twenty feet in height. If\nany persons are too poor to buy one of these images, they can make them\nfor themselves. When the festival is near at hand, people are seen in\nevery direction taking the images to their houses. After they are thus\nsupplied, the festival commences. It lasts fifteen days. The greater\npart of this time is spent in preparing for the three great days of\nworship. Early on the morning of the first of the three great days, the\nBrahmins proceed to consecrate the images, or to give them, as they\nsuppose, life and understanding. Until they are consecrated, they are\nnot thought to be of any value. They are looked upon as senseless. A\nwealthy family can always receive the services of one or more Brahmins,\nand a few of the poor may unite and secure the services of one of them.\nAt length the solemn hour arrives. The Brahmin, with the leaves of a\nsacred tree, comes near the image. With the two forefingers of his\nright hand he touches the breast, the two cheeks, the eyes, and the\nforehead of the image, at each touch saying the prayer, \"Let the spirit\nof Durga descend and take possession of this image.\" By such ceremonies,\nand by repeating various _muntrums_, it is supposed that the Brahmins\nhave the power to bring down the goddess to take possession of the\nimage. Having been thus consecrated, it is believed to be a proper\nobject of worship. Having eyes, it can now behold every act of worship\nwhich is made; having ears, it can be delighted with music and with\nsongs; having a nose, it can smell the sweet perfumes which are offered;\nhaving a mouth, it can be delighted with the rich food which is prepared\nfor it.\n\nAfter the image is consecrated, the worship begins. The devotee comes\nnear the image, and falls down before it. He then twists himself into a\ngreat variety of shapes. Sometimes he sits on the floor, sometimes he\nstands, sometimes he looks in one direction, sometimes in another. Then\nhe sprinkles the idol with holy water, rinses its mouth, washes its\nfeet, wipes it with a dry cloth, throws flowers over it, puts jewels on\nit, offers perfumes to it, and finishes by performing shaashtaangkum.\n\nThe worship of the idol is succeeded by a season of carousing, joy, and\nfestivity. On this occasion, large offerings are made to the idols. A\nrich native has been known to offer eighty thousand pounds of\nsweetmeats, eighty thousand pounds of sugar, a thousand suits of cloth\ngarments, a thousand suits of silk, a thousand offerings of rice,\nplantains, and other fruits.\n\nBloody sacrifices are offered up on such occasions. The king of Nudiya,\nsome time ago, offered a large number of sheep, goats, and buffaloes on\nthe first day of the feast, and vowed to double the offering every day;\nso that the whole number sacrificed amounted to more than sixty-five\nthousand. You may remember that king Solomon offered up on one occasion\ntwenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. If\nall the animals slain throughout Hindostan, at the festival of the\ngoddess Durga, were collected together, they would amount to a much\nlarger number than Solomon offered.\n\nAfter the worship and offerings have been continued for three days, the\nfestival closes. As the morning of the first day was devoted to the\nconsecration of the images, the morning of the fourth is spent in\nunconsecrating them. This work is done by the Brahmins. They profess, by\nvarious ceremonies, to send back the goddess to her heaven, concluding\nwith a farewell address, in which they tell her that they expect her to\naccept of all their services, and return and pay them a visit again in\nthe coming year. Then all unite in bidding her a sorrowful adieu, and\nmany seem affected even to the shedding of tears.\n\nSoon afterwards the images are carried forth into the streets, placed on\nstages or platforms, and raised on men's shoulders. As the procession\nmoves onward through the streets, accompanied with music and songs, amid\nclouds of dust, you might see them waving long hairy brushes to wipe off\nthe dust, and to keep off the flies and mosquitoes, which might trouble\nthe senseless images. But where are these processions going? To the\nbanks of the Ganges. And for what purpose? For the purpose of casting\nthe images into the river. When all the ceremonies connected with the\noccasion are finished, those who carry the images suddenly fall upon\nthem, break them to pieces, and then throw them with violence into the\nriver. After this the people return to their homes.\n\nI have now given you a specimen of the image-worship of the Hindoos; and\nhow different is it from the worship which the Bible enjoins. \"God is a\nSpirit; and they who worship him, must worship him in spirit and in\ntruth.\" The very reverse of this, as you have seen, marks the worship of\nthe heathen. They are not satisfied, unless they can have some object\nbefore them, to which they can make their offerings and their prayers.\nThus daily are they engaged in a service which, above all others, is the\nmost offensive and provoking to a holy God--a service which has caused\nhim to declare, that idolaters shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.\nThis, too, is the service in which every person, who has never given\nhimself to the Saviour, is engaged; and, of course, in which you are\nengaged if you have not given your hearts to him. Those who think more\nof their money than they think of Christ, just as certainly worship the\nimage which is stamped on a dollar or a cent, as the heathen worship\ntheir idols. Those who love their fathers and mothers, and brothers and\nsisters more than Christ, make these their idols. And are you, my dear\nchildren, yet out of Christ? If so, you have your idols. And what are\nthese idols? Are they the world and its vanities? Then God is as angry\nwith you as he is with the heathen, and unless you give up these idols,\nyou too must be lost.\n\nIn a tract of mine, published by the American Tract Society, entitled,\n\"Knocking at the Door\"--a tract which I _most earnestly_ entreat you to\nget and read--you will find an account of the death of a young lady, who\nhad chosen the world and its vanities as her idols. I was her physician.\nAfter having attended her for about a month, I perceived, one morning,\nthat her disease must soon prove fatal. I told her that she could not\nlive. She then exclaimed, \"Doctor, can I not live a month?\" I informed\nher that she could not. Again she exclaimed, \"Can I not live two weeks?\"\nShe was told that she could not live two weeks. And such a scene of\nhorror followed as I never before witnessed, and may God be pleased to\ngrant that I may never witness such another. Until laid upon a dying\nbed, I fear that she had neglected to think about her soul's concerns.\nNow she requested to be taken from it, and placed upon her knees, that\nshe might call upon God to have mercy upon her. As her case excited much\nattention, some of the youth came to see her. These she warned, in the\nmost solemn manner, not to put off repentance, as she had done, to a\ndying hour. Looking up at me, on one occasion, she exclaimed, \"Doctor,\ncannot you save me?\" Alas, what could I do for the poor sufferer.\nWitness, now, how anxious she was to obtain the favor of that God whom\nshe had hitherto neglected. Yes, so anxious that she requested her\nfriends not to allow her to sleep, that she might spend every remaining\nbreath in calling upon God to have mercy upon her. One very affecting\ncircumstance occurred. She requested her trunk either to be brought to\nher bedside, or to be opened. From this a ring, which was set with red\ngarnets, was taken out by herself, or by another, and handed to her. She\nthen called a young friend to her bedside, put the ring upon her finger,\nand said to her, \"Don't you put off repentance, as I have done, until a\ndying hour.\" That ring is now in my possession. In less than forty-eight\nhours after I told her that she could not live, she passed into\neternity. Would that I could show you that mournful countenance, which\ncontinued long after the last spark of life had become extinct; yes,\neven up to the moment when the lid of her coffin for ever hid it from\nour view. Never, never shall I forget it. It was a sad monument of the\nwreck within.\n\nNow, my dear children, you would not like to die as, I fear, this young\nlady died. Well, then, if you would die differently, you must live\ndifferently. You must live for Christ, if you would die in Christ. And\nare you Christ's, or are you yet gay and thoughtless--as gay and as\nthoughtless as this young lady was, until laid upon her dying bed? If\nyou are so, and if you continue to remain in this sad condition, your\nseason of sorrow too will certainly come, and it will come when you\nexpect it not. As the little insect which flies round and round your\ncandle is dazzled with its brightness, and feels nothing but pleasure,\nuntil it unconsciously strikes the blaze with its little wings, and is\nswallowed up in the flame; so you are dazzled with the pleasures of the\nworld, thinking nothing of the flames which may swallow you up in a\nmoment, and put a stop to all your joys for ever. O, that the death-bed\nscene of Miss Matthews might have a happy effect upon you. O, that the\nsolemn warning which she gave to her young friend, not to put off\nrepentance as she had done, until a dying hour, might continue to sound\nin your ears, until you would no longer delay repentance. My dear\nchildren, this young lady, though dead, yet speaketh. She speaks to you.\nShe calls upon you from her tomb--from the eternal world, to delay\nrepentance no longer. Will you, then, be so mad as to turn a deaf ear to\nthis call? Will you ever take another sip from the cup of unhallowed\npleasure? Will you ever direct your little feet to the ballroom, or\nother places of sinful amusement? Will you hereafter prefer your worldly\njoys to Christ? O, you must not, you must not. It will not do for you to\nbe lost. Who, O who can lie down in everlasting burnings? Who can dwell\nfor ever with devouring flames?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE GODDESS KARLE.\n\n\nMy dear Children--In the preceding chapter I spoke of Karle. She, as I\nthere mentioned, is the wife of Siva, and, like her husband, has the\npower of destruction. From the images made of her, it would appear that\nshe is a female, of a black or dark blue color. She has four arms. In\none hand she holds a sword, and in another a human head. Her hair is\ndishevelled, reaching down to her feet. Her countenance is most\nferocious. Her tongue comes out of her mouth, and hangs over her chin.\nShe has three eyes, red and fiery. Her lips and eyebrows are streaked\nwith blood. She has two dead bodies for ear-rings, and wears a girdle\naround her loins--a girdle made of bloody hands, which she cut off from\nthe bodies of her enemies. She has a necklace of skulls, which she took\nfrom the bodies of the giants and others killed by her.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOf all the Hindoo divinities, this goddess is the most cruel and\nrevengeful. Such is her thirst for blood, that being unable at one time\nto procure any giants for her prey, in order to quench her thirst, she\ncut her own throat, that the blood issuing thence might spout into her\nmouth. Different acts of worship are performed to appease her. If, for\nexample, a devotee should burn his body, by applying a burning lamp to\nit, it would be very pleasing to her. If he should draw some of his\nblood and give it to her, or if he should cut off a piece of his flesh\nand offer it as a burnt-offering, she would be still move pleased. If he\nshould present _whole_ burnt-offerings upon the altar, saying, \"Hrang,\nbrang, Karle, Karle! O, horrid-toothed goddess, eat, eat; destroy all\nthe malignant: cut with this axe; bind, bind; seize, seize; drink this\nblood; spheng, spheng; secure, secure; salutation to Karle,\" she would\nbe much delighted. It is said that she will be pleased for three months,\nif the people offer her the blood of a crocodile--for a thousand years,\nif they offer her the blood of one man, and a hundred thousand years, if\nthey offer her the blood of three.\n\nThis goddess is the patroness of thieves. To her they pay their\ndevotions, to obtain help to carry on their wicked delights. Gangs meet\ntogether, and, after having offered bloody sacrifices, and worshipped\ntheir weapons, and having drunk some intoxicating liquor, and rubbed\ntheir bodies with oil, they go forth to rob. They have a prayer, which\nthey offer when they worship their weapons. It is as follows: \"O,\ninstrument formed by the goddess, Karle commands thee to cut a passage\ninto the house, to cut through stones, bones, bricks, wood, the earth,\nand mountains, and cause the dust thereof to be carried away by the\nwind.\" Scattered throughout India, there is a lawless set of men whose\nprofession it is to get their food by murder. They are called\nPhansiagars, or Thugs. They owe their origin and laws to Karle. They say\nthat she told them to become murderers and plunderers. They are called\nPhansiagars, from the name of the instrument which they use when they\nmurder people. Phansiagar means a strangler, and they use a phansi, or\nnoose, which they throw over the necks of those whom they intend to\nplunder, and strangle them. These Phansiagars are composed of all\ncastes, Hindoos, Mahommedans, pariahs, and chandellars. This arises from\nthe circumstance that they never destroy the children of those whom they\nrob and murder. These children they take care of, and bring up to their\nown horrible mode of life. They always murder those whom they rob,\nacting upon the maxim that \"dead men tell no tales.\" A gang of these\nrobbers varies from a dozen to sixty or seventy persons. These divide\ninto small parties. Those whom they murder are travellers, whom they\nhappen to meet on the road. Sometimes two or three of a gang will take\nup their station in a choultry, or place where the traveller stops, and\nwhile he sleeps, they rouse him from his sleep, and cast the noose over\nhis head and kill him. It takes two persons to kill a man. One casts the\nnoose over his head, and immediately tightens it with all his strength;\nthe other strikes him on the joint of his knees as he rises, which\ncauses him to fall forwards. After he has fallen, they kick him on the\ntemples till he dies, which is usually in a minute. They never commit a\nmurder until they have taken every precaution not to be found out. They\nwill follow a traveller for weeks, if necessary, before they destroy\nhim. After they have murdered him, they gash the body all over and bury\nit. They gash it, that it may not swell, and cause cracks to take place\nin the ground, which might cause the jackals to dig down to the body,\nand thus expose their guilt. If a dog accompanies the person, they\nalways kill it, lest the faithful creature should lead to the discovery\nof his master. They think it to be a very good act to give a part of the\nplunder, which they get when they murder a person, to their goddess. If\nthey fail to put him to death according to their rules, they suppose\nthat they have made her angry, and they make offerings to her, that she\nmay be appeased. Thus, you see that their religion teaches them to\ncommit the blackest of crimes.\n\nThe reason why this people gash and bury the bodies of those whom they\nmurder, is as follows. They say that the goddess used to save them the\ntrouble of burying the corpses of their victims by eating them, thus\nscreening the murderers from all chance of being found out. Once, after\nthe murder of a traveller, the body was, as usual, left unburied. One of\nthe Phansiagars employed, unguardedly looking behind him, saw the\ngoddess in the act of feasting upon it. This made her so angry, that she\nvowed never again to devour a body slaughtered by them; they having, by\nthis one act of curiosity, forfeited her favor. However, as an\nequivalent for withdrawing her patronage, she plucked one of the fangs\nfrom her jaw, and gave it to them, saying that they might use it as a\npickaxe, which would never wear out. She then opened her side and pulled\nout one of her ribs, which she gave them for a knife, whose edge nothing\ncould blunt. Having done this, she stooped down and tore off the hem of\nher garment, which she gave to them for a noose, declaring that it\nwould never fail to strangle any person about whose throat it might be\ncast. She moreover commanded them to gash and bury the bodies of those\nwhom they destroyed.\n\nThe Phansiagars bring up their children to their own profession. To\nlearn this, the boy is placed under the care of a tutor. Sometimes his\nfather is his teacher. By him he is taught that it is just as proper to\nmurder a man, as it is to kill a snake which lies in his path and would\nbite him as he passes. He is not permitted at first to see the murders,\nbut merely a dead body; his mind being gradually prepared for the sight.\nAfter this, the dreadful secret of his trade is, by degrees, told him.\nWhen he expresses a wish to be engaged in this horrid business, they\ntell him all about it. In the meantime he is allowed a small part of the\nplunder, in order that his desire to commit these murders may be\nincreased; since it is only by murder that the plunder is obtained. He\nis from time to time allowed to assist in some things, while the murder\nis taking place, or allowed to be present to see how the business is\nmanaged. It is not, however, until he becomes a man, that he is\npermitted to apply the noose. To attain this privilege, he usually\ndevotes eight or ten years. Before he can commit a murder, his tutor\nmust present him with a noose. This sets him loose upon the world, as a\nlicensed murderer. When the tutor is about to give him the noose, he\ntakes him apart, and solemnly enjoins it upon him to use it with skill,\nas it is to be the means of his earning his food, and as his safety will\ndepend upon the skill with which it is used. After he receives it, he\ntries his skill in strangling a person the first opportunity that\noffers.\n\nBy the course of education which the Phansiagars undergo, they become so\nfond of their dreadful occupation, that nothing can induce them to quit\nit. Some who have been employed in the East India Company's service,\nhave always returned to their business when an opportunity offered of a\nsuccessful enterprise.\n\nWhen the Phansiagars become old, they do not quit the service, but act\nas watchers, and decoy the traveller, by some false tale of distress,\ninto some distant place, where he is murdered.\n\nWomen are sometimes admitted to the society of these plunderers, and,\non some occasions, are allowed to apply the noose. They select a\nhandsome girl, and place her in a convenient spot, where, by her beauty,\nor by a false story of distress, she may decoy some unsuspecting\ntraveller, and be the means of his destruction. Should he be on\nhorseback, she will induce him to take her up behind him; after which,\nwhen an opportunity offers, she throws the noose over his head, leaps\nfrom the horse, drags him to the ground, and strangles him. I will\nmention an instance. It happened that a horseman of Coorg, in the Madras\npresidency, was passing by a spot where one of these interesting-looking\ngirls was stationed. She told him a piteous story of having been robbed\nand badly treated, and begged him to assist her. Feeling sorry for her,\nhe offered to take her behind him, on his horse, and thus assist her a\nfew miles on her journey. She expressed much gratitude for his kindness,\nand mounted. Soon afterwards she suddenly passed a noose over his head,\nand, drawing it with all her might, endeavored to pull him from his\nsaddle. At this moment, a number of Phansiagars started from the\nneighboring thicket and surrounded him. The murderess then slipped from\nthe horse; but the Coorg striking his heels into the horse's sides, it\nthrew out its hind legs with great violence, and struck to the ground\nthe girl, who immediately let go the cord. He then drew his sword, and,\ncutting his way through the robbers, effected his escape. He wounded two\nof them severely. These men were shortly afterwards taken, and, through\ntheir means, twelve others fell into the hands of the judicial officers\nof the king of Coorg, including the girl who attempted the murder. They\nwere all put to death.\n\nAnd is it possible that such persons can go to heaven? How could such\never relish its pure joys? What would they do, could they be admitted\nthere? My dear children, it is a charity which has no foundation, to\nsuppose that the heathen can go to heaven. I have preached the Gospel to\ntens of thousands of them, but I never saw one who had the least atom of\na qualification for that holy place. \"They have all gone out of the\nway.\" Every crime which the apostle Paul speaks of in the latter part of\nthe first chapter of his epistle to the Romans, they commit, and crimes\nof so dreadful a nature that I cannot mention them--crimes which, should\nthey be written in the Bible, would cause the Bible to be a sealed book\nfor ever.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nSELF-TORTURES OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--As the heathen have no Bible to direct them, they have\ndevised various means by which they expect to obtain the favor of their\ngods, and get to heaven. I will mention some of these.\n\nSome burn a lamp in a temple. They think that this is a very meritorious\nact. Some roll on the ground after the god, as he is carried in a great\ncar or chariot around the temple. It is customary for the people to\nbuild very high cars or chariots, and cover them with very beautiful\ncloths. They also tie the cocoa-nut blossom and plantain-tree within\nthem, and attach great ropes to them. When they are ready to drag these\ncars, or chariots, they bring their gods of gold or of brass from the\ntemples, and place them on them. Then one, two, three, six, nine\nhundred, and even a thousand persons, when the cars are very large,\ncatch hold of these ropes and drag them around the temple. While they\nare doing this, many of the heathen, to fulfil vows which they made when\nin sickness, and at other times of distress, throw themselves on the\nground, and roll over from side to side, and frequently much injure\nthemselves.\n\nSome swing on great hooks, which are passed through the tender parts of\ntheir backs. Sometimes they swing for half an hour; sometimes an hour.\nThe longer they can bear the torture of the swinging, the more\nacceptable they suppose it will be to their goddess. It occasionally\nhappens, that the flesh in which the hooks are fastened gives way, in\nwhich case the poor creature is dashed to the ground. When this occurs,\nthe people hold him in the greatest abhorrence. They judge him to be a\ngreat criminal, and suppose that he has met a violent death in\nconsequence of sins which he committed in a former birth.\n\nNot long since, I attended one of these hook-swingings, not far from the\ncity of Madura. It took place on the morning of June 8th, 1848, just\ntwenty-nine years after I first left America for India. It should have\ntaken place on the preceding afternoon; but one of the axle-trees of the\ncar, which was to support the machine on which the man was to be\nelevated in the air, was broken. Nothing, of course, could be done until\nit was repaired. The carpenters and others worked with great diligence\nuntil about eleven o'clock at night, when every thing was prepared for\nthe swinging. I expected immediately after this to witness the ceremony.\nIt however did not take place until the morning. While waiting for the\nman who was to be swung to make his appearance, I took a pencil and made\na drawing of the machine to which he was to be fastened. The picture on\nthe first page of the book will give you some idea of it.\n\nYon have, perhaps, often seen a well-sweep. The long beam in the picture\nis swung in the same manner as is the well-sweep, with a single\nexception. In addition to its usual motion, it is made to turn\nhorizontally. The cuts which you may have seen, in two or three of my\nlittle books, differ much from the above; of course different machines\nare used at different times. There are stationary swingings, as well as\nswingings of the kind to which I just alluded.\n\nBetween six and seven o'clock in the morning, the man who was to be\nswung made his appearance for a few moments, and then disappeared. The\nhooks by which he was to be swung, as well as the iron rods with which a\nnumber of devotees were immediately to pierce their sides, were carried\nthrough the streets, and held up that they might be seen by the people.\nSoon afterwards the man again appeared with the hooks in his back, and\nwent up to the end of the beam to which he was to be fastened. This, of\ncourse, was lowered. Notwithstanding the dense multitudes of people, I\nmade my way to the same spot, determined to be satisfied whether or not\nthere was any deception in the application of the hooks. There was no\ndeception. They passed through the skin, on the sides of the backbone.\nTo these hooks were attached yellow ropes, by which he was fastened to\nthe beam, as you will perceive in the picture. This being done, the men,\nfive or six in number, who had hold of the ropes fastened to the end of\nthe beam which you see resting on the ground, and which was then, of\ncourse, high in the air, drew him up until the beam lay horizontally.\nThen, after making him perform one circular motion around the car, they\nelevated him, as you see in the picture. When thus elevated, it was\nthought that he was forty feet from the ground. All being ready, the\npeople seized the ropes which you see in front of the car, and began to\ndraw it. Mr. Chandler and myself accompanied it through the streets,\nuntil it came to the place from which it set out. The distance of ground\npassed over was at least half a mile, and the time in which the journey\nwas accomplished exceeded an hour. Of course he was swinging more than\nan hour. As the car passed through the streets, the people threw\nplantains from the tops of the houses to the crowds below.\n\nThe man who was swung was adorned with flowers and other ornaments. He\nhad a tinselled turban on his head. His body was rubbed over with a\nyellow paste, made, most probably, from the sandal-wood. Around his\nankles were rings, hung with little bells, which he made to tinkle, as\nhe was swinging, by striking his legs together. He wore a dark or black\npair of pantaloons, which came a little below the knees, and which had\na border of gold around them. He held a handkerchief in one hand, and a\nknife somewhat resembling a dagger, in the other. These he kept in\nconstant motion, by moving his arms. On one occasion, a bunch of\nplantains was tied to one of the long ropes which you see hanging down\nby the side of the swinger. These he drew up, and afterwards scattered\nover the people on a house opposite to him. [Illustration.]\n\nAfter following the car for a quarter of a mile or more, we went before\nit, and there witnessed another appalling sight. There were five or six\nmen, who had the rods of iron which I just mentioned passed through the\nskin of their sides. They were dancing along, and, as they danced, they\nmade these rods go backward and forward through the skin.\n\nAfter the car had reached the place from which it set out, the end of\nthe beam from which the man was swinging was then lowered and he was\nuntied. Again I looked very carefully at the hooks in the back. The\npeople say that no blood is shed by their introduction, and consider\nthis to be a miracle. The falsity of this assertion was shown by the\nblood which I saw on the side of one of the wounds.\n\nI have been long in this country, and consequently have become so\nfamiliarized with heathenism, that my feelings, though deeply wounded at\nthis sight, were not so keenly affected as were those of my new\nassociate, Mr. Chandler. He has been on heathen ground but a short time.\nWhen they tied the man to the beam, he was unnerved and wellnigh\novercome; and he told me, that during all the time he was following the\ncar, he felt like shedding tears.\n\nWhile following the car, the young men of America came into my mind.\nThey refuse to come, said I, to help these miserable creatures. O, they\nwill not come--they will not come. I thought, that if many of the dear\nchildren of that land--children to whom I lately preached, as well as\nothers, could witness this poor creature swinging from the end of a long\nbeam, far above the tops of the trees, and that, too, by hooks passing\nthrough the tender parts of his back, they would say, we will, by and\nby, become missionaries, and, by the help of God, proclaim to the\nheathen that there is a Saviour.\n\nOn the evening of the day on which the swinging takes place, another act\nof great cruelty is practised. Devotees throw themselves from, the top\nof a high wall, or a scaffold of twenty or thirty feet in height, upon a\nbed of iron spikes, or on bags of straw with knives in them. Many are\noften mangled and torn. Others are quickly killed.\n\nAt night, many of the devotees sit down in the open air, and pierce the\nskin of their foreheads, by inserting a small rod of iron. To this is\nsuspended a lamp, which is kept burning till daylight.\n\nSometimes bundles of thorns are collected before the temple, among which\nthe devotees roll themselves without any covering. These thorns are then\nset on fire, when they briskly dance over the flames.\n\nOther devotees swing before a slow fire; some stand between two fires,\nas you see in this picture.\n\n[Illustration:]\n\nSome have their breasts, arms, and other parts stuck entirely full of\npins, about the thickness of small nails, or packing needles.\n\nAnother very cruel torture is practised. Some of the devotees make a\nvow. With one hand they cover their under lip with wet earth or mud. On\nthis, with the other hand, they place some small grains, usually of\nmustard-seed They then stretch themselves flat on their backs, exposed\nto the dews of night, and the blazing and scorching sun by day. Their\nvow is, that from this position they will not stir, that they will not\nmove nor turn, nor eat nor drink, till the seeds planted on their lips\nbegin to sprout. This usually takes place on the third or fourth day.\nAfter this they arise, and then think that they are very holy.\n\nThere is a class of devotees in this country called Yogis, whose object\nit is to root out every human feeling. Some live in holes and caves.\nSome drag around a heavy chain attached to them. Some make the circuit\nof an empire, creeping on their hands and knees. Some roll their bodies\nfrom the shores of the Indus to the Ganges.\n\nThe Rev. Mr. Heyer, in one of his letters from India, says, that an\nIndian devotee has spent more than nine years on a journey from Benares\nto Cape Comorin, that is, from the 27th to the 7th degree of north\nlatitude. The whole journey is made by rolling on the bare ground, from\nside to side. When he comes to a river, of course he cannot roll over\nit. He therefore fords it, or passes over it in a boat, and then rolls\non the banks of the river just as far as the river is wide. By doing\nthis, he supposes that his determination to roll all the way is fully\ncarried out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSome devotees hold up one or both arms, until the muscles become rigid,\nand their limbs become shrivelled into stumps. In the above cut, you\nhave a representation of a man with one of these shrivelled arms. See\nhow long his finger-nails have grown. One has run through his hand and\nback through his arm. Some stretch themselves on beds of iron spikes.\nSome wear great square irons on their necks. I have seen not only a man,\nbut a woman, with these great square irons around their necks, each\nnearly two feet in length and two feet in breadth. These they put on for\nthe purpose of fulfilling some vow which they have made. For instance,\nif a mother has a very sick little boy, she will say, \"Now, Swammie, if\nyou will cure my little boy, I will have a square iron put on my neck,\nand wear it all my life.\" After this vow is made, if the little boy gets\nwell, the mother thinks that her Swammie has cured him, and to fulfil\nher engagement she will have one of these irons put on her neck.\n\n[Illustration:]\n\n[Illustration:]\n\nOther devotees throw themselves from the tops of precipices, and are\ndashed to pieces; some bury themselves alive in holes, which their own\nrelatives have dug; some bind themselves with ropes or chains to trees,\nuntil they die; some keep gazing so long and so constantly at the\nheavens, that the muscles of their neck become contracted, and no\naliment but liquids can pass into the stomach.\n\nBut I will not continue this subject. You perceive, my dear children,\nwhat a wretched religion that must be which encourages its followers to\nperform such acts. And how vain are all these acts--how utterly\ndestitute are they of any merit. Those who practise them are not made\nbetter by them, and they are just as far from the kingdom of heaven\nafter having performed them, as they were before. The Christian religion\nencourages no such things. It tells us to perform no pilgrimages to holy\nplaces, to inflict no self-tortures. But it has its requirements, and\nthese are very simple, and may easily be performed by all who are\nwilling to do their duty. These requirements are, repentance, forsaking\nsin, faith in Christ, and a supreme devotedness to his service. Have\nyou, my dear children, attended to these requirements? If not, you are\nin a much worse condition than these poor heathen of whom you have been\nreading. They are not as guilty before God as you are. They know not\ntheir Master's will. Still, they must perish, unless the Gospel is sent\nto them. But though they perish, their punishment will be lighter than\nthe punishment of those who refuse to love and obey the Saviour. That\nservant who knows his Lord's will, and prepares not himself, neither\ndoes according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he\nthat knows not, and does commit things worthy of stripes, shall be\nbeaten with few stripes. Should it be your sad lot to perish at last, it\nwould be far better for you to go down to hell enveloped in all the\ndarkness of a heathen land, than to go down to hell from a land of such\ngospel light and privileges as you enjoy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nTHE SUTTEE, OR BURNING OF WIDOWS.\n\n\nMy dear children--From what I have already told you, you know that the\nHindoos are a cruel people. But I have not told you of the extent to\nwhich they carry their cruelty. Perhaps it is shown to the highest\ndegree in their practice of the suttee, or burning of widows. The\nBritish have abolished this rite throughout their dominions in India.\nThey have also made great exertions to have it abolished in the\nterritories of the native princes, but I am sorry to say, that in some\nof these territories it is still practised. Within the last three years,\ntwenty-three of the princes just alluded to, have issued orders for its\nabolishment throughout their dominions. These orders have probably been\nissued solely in consequence of their fear of the British power, for it\nis a practice which is riveted in the affections of the people. This\npower they know that it will be dangerous to resist.\n\nIn my \"Sermon to Children, on the Condition of the Heathen,\" I\nmentioned, that the sacred books of the heathen encourage the suttee. I\nalso mentioned several instances, in which widows had been burned to\ndeath with the corpses of their husbands. Even though you may have seen\nthat book, it will be well for me to give you two or three other cases,\nto impress your minds more fully with the horrors of the Hindoo\nreligion. The first took place in a village of Tanjore. A merchant\nhaving died, his wife, who was about thirty years old, determined to\nburn herself with his corpse. The news of what she was going to do,\nquickly spread in every direction, and large numbers of people collected\nto witness the burning. After she was adorned with jewels and dressed in\nher best clothing, and after her body was tinged with the yellow\ninfusion of sandal-wood and saffron, bearers arrived to take away the\ncorpse with the wretched woman. The body of the man was placed on a car,\nornamented with costly stuffs, flowers, etc. There he was seated like a\nliving man, elegantly decorated with all his jewels, and clothed in rich\nattire.\n\nThe corpse being carried first, the wife followed in a rich palanquin.\nAs she went along, the surrounding multitudes of people stretched out\ntheir hands towards her to show how much they admired her conduct. The\nwomen in particular went up to her to wish her joy, apparently desiring\nto receive her blessing, or at least, that she would pronounce over them\nsome pleasing word. She tried to satisfy them all, saying to one, that\nshe would long continue to enjoy her worldly happiness, and to another,\nthat she would be the mother of many beautiful children. Another was\ninformed, that she would soon arrive at great honor in the world. These,\nand similar expressions, she made to all who came near her, and they\ndeparted with the full belief that they would enjoy all the blessings of\nwhich she had spoken. She also distributed among them some betel-leaves,\nwhich they gladly received as relics, or something of blessed influence.\n\nDuring the whole procession, which was very long, her countenance was\nserene and even cheerful, until they came to the pile upon which she was\nto die. Then she suddenly became pensive. She no longer attended to what\nwas passing around her. Her looks were wildly fixed upon the pile. Her\nface grew pale. She trembled with fear, and seemed ready to faint away.\n\nThe Brahmins, who took the lead in this ceremony, with her relations,\nseeing her sad condition, ran to her, and endeavored to restore her\nspirits, but she seemed not to know what they said, and answered not a\nword.\n\nThey made her quit the palanquin, and her nearest relatives took her to\na pond of water which was near the pile, where they washed her. They\nthen attended her to the pile, on which the corpse of her husband had\nalready been laid. It was surrounded with Brahmins, each with a lighted\ntorch in one hand, and a bowl of melted butter in the other, all ready,\nas soon as the poor victim was placed on the pile, to envelope her in\nfire.\n\nThe relatives armed with muskets, sabres, and other weapons, stood\nclosely around in a double line, for the purpose, it was said, of making\nher afraid, if she might wish to draw back, or of frightening any body\nwho might pity her, and endeavor to rescue her.\n\nAt length the time for firing the pile being proclaimed, the young widow\nwas stripped of her jewels, and led on towards the pile. She was then\ncommanded to walk three times around it, two of her nearest relations\nsupporting her by the arms. The first round she accomplished with\ntottering steps; but in the second, her strength forsook her, and she\nfainted away in the arms of those who were holding her. They were\nobliged to drag her between them for the third round. Then senseless,\nshe was thrown upon the corpse of her husband. At that instant, the\nmultitude made the air to ring with their shouts of gladness, while the\nBrahmins poured the butter on the dry wood, and applied the torches.\nInstantly the whole pile was in a blaze.\n\nAs soon as the flames began to rage, the poor woman, now in the midst of\nthem, was called upon by name, from all sides; but as insensible as the\ncorpse on which she lay, she made no answer. She entered eternity,\nsuffocated at once, most probably, by the flames.\n\nThe second case of suttee which I shall mention took place at the death\nof the rajah, or king of Tanjore. He left behind him four wives.\n\nThe Brahmins having determined that two of these four should be burned\nwith the corpse of their husband, and having selected the two whom they\nthought best to sacrifice, they told them of what awaited them. They\nreceived the information with apparent joy. A refusal would have been\nattended with their utter disgrace.\n\nOne day only was necessary to get ready for the funeral ceremonies. They\nwere conducted as follows: In a field somewhat distant from the palace,\nthe people made a hollow, not very deep, but about twelve or fifteen\nfeet square. Within it they made a pyramid of the sweet-smelling\nsandal-wood. On the middle of the pyramid, a scaffold was built in such\na manner that the posts could easily be taken away, by which means the\nscaffold would fall at once. On the four corners of the platform, large\njars were placed, filled with melted butter, to besmear the pyramid,\nthat it might be the more easily set on fire.\n\nThe following was the order of the procession. It was headed by a great\nnumber of soldiers under arms. They were followed by a multitude of\nmusicians, chiefly trumpeters, who made the air re\u00ebcho with their\nmelancholy sounds. Next came the body of the king upon a splendid\npalanquin, richly adorned. This was surrounded by the nearest relations\nand by the priest of the king. They were all on foot, and without their\nturbans in token of mourning. A large party of Brahmins formed around\nthem as an immediate escort. The two wives who were to be burned with\nthe corpse came next, each borne on a palanquin. During the journey they\nappeared calm and cheerful. The troops kept off the immense crowds who\nwere assembled from every direction.\n\nThe two queens, loaded with jewels, were attended by their favorite\nwomen, with whom they occasionally conversed, and by their relations of\nboth sexes. To many of these they had made presents before leaving the\npalace. They were also accompanied by thousands of Brahmins, collected\nfrom different quarters. These were followed by an innumerable multitude\nof persons of both sexes. When they arrived at the ground where they\nwere to be burned, the two victims were made to descend from their\npalanquins, for the purpose of performing the preparatory ceremonies.\nThey went through the whole without showing any fear until towards the\nclose, when their countenances began to change, and their three circuits\naround the pile were not performed without considerable effort to\nmaintain calmness.\n\nIn the meantime, the body of the king had been placed on the scaffold\nover the platform. The two queens were also laid down beside the corpse,\none on the right hand, and the other on the left, and they joined hands\nby stretching them over the body. The astrologer having then declared\nthat the happy moment was come for firing the pile, the Brahmins\nrepeated several prayers in a loud voice, and sprinkled the pile with\nholy water. When these ceremonies were finished, a signal was given, and\nthe pillars which supported the pyramid and the scaffold were suddenly\ntaken away. Immediately the women were covered with the falling mass of\ntimber, which tumbled over them with a crash. At the same instant the\npile was fired in all its parts. On one side, the nearest relative of\nthe king applied his torch, and on the other side, the priest; while the\nBrahmins, in every quarter, were pouring jars of melted butter on the\nflames, creating so intense a heat as must instantly have consumed the\nvictims. Then the multitude shouted for joy, and the relations\napproaching the pile also set up a loud cry, calling them by their\nnames. They supposed that they heard a voice in answer pronouncing\n_Enna?_ that is, _What_? but the fall of the platform, and the immediate\nbursting out of the flames, must have stifled them at once.\n\nSuch was the miserable cud of these poor unhappy queens--unhappy victims\nof the most cruel religion that ever disgraced the earth.\n\nNot unfrequently the sons take a prominent part in destroying their\nmothers. This will appear from the following case. A Brahmin died, and\nwas brought to the place of burning. His wife was fastened to the pile,\nand the fire was kindled, but the night was dark and rainy. When the\nfire began to scorch the poor woman, she contrived to disentangle\nherself from the dead body, and creeping from under the pile, hid\nherself among some brushwood. In a little time it was discovered that\nthere was but one body on the pile. The relations immediately took the\nalarm, and searched for the poor creature. The son soon dragged her\nforth, and insisted that she should throw herself on the pile again, or\ndrown or hang herself. She pleaded for her life at the hands of her own\nson, and declared that she could not embrace so horrid a death; but she\npleaded in vain. He urged, that he should lose his caste if she were\nspared, and added, that either he or she must die. Unable to persuade\nher to hang or drown herself, the son and the others present tied her\nhands and feet, and threw her on the funeral pile, where she quickly\nperished.\n\n[Illustration: BURNING OF WIDOWS]\n\nI observed that the rite of suttee is riveted in the affections of this\npeople. The following communications from two of the native princes who\nlately consented to put a stop to this rite, will show you that this is\nthe case. The rajah of Oorcha declares, that \"no subject of his state\nshall in future be permitted to become a suttee, though according to the\nShasters, it is no doubt very meritorious for a widow to die of grief\nfor the death of her husband.\" The rajah of Sumpthem says, \"The practice\nof suttee is so very old, and has been countenanced and encouraged by\nthe wise men of so many generations that I have never thought myself\njustified in interposing to prevent it; but my anxiety to meet the\nwishes of the governor-general in this and in all things, is so great,\nthat I have waived all other considerations, and forbidden suttee.\"\n\nIf the British were to lose their power in India, the suttee would\nimmediately be r\u00ebestablished. Power has put it down, but power alone\nwill never root it out of the affections of the people. Nothing but the\nGospel can do this. O that Christians would think of this, and hasten,\nyea, with great haste, to send this blessed Gospel to them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nTHE REVENGEFUL NATURE OF THE HINDOO RELIGION.\n\n\nMy dear Children--The sacred books of the Hindoos encourage revenge. In\nthe Vedas, which are the most sacred books, are laid down forms of\nreligious service, or acts of worship, which are designed to injure or\ndestroy their enemies. When a person wishes to have his enemy\ndestroyed, he goes to a Brahmin or priest, and secures his supposed aid.\nThe Brahmin, before he proceeds to his work, clothes himself with a\nblack garment. He also makes four images of the foe, and clothes these\nwith black garments. He then kindles a sacrificial fire, and after the\nperformance of various ceremonies, he takes pieces of some animal which\nhas been consecrated for the purpose, and throws them into this fire. On\nevery occasion when he makes this burnt-offering, he touches the mouth\nof the image of this enemy, uttering one or other of the forms of prayer\nwhich are written in the sacred books. Of these, the following are a\nfew: \"O Agni,\" god of fire, \"thou who art the mouth of all gods, do\nthou destroy the wisdom of my enemy.\" \"O Agni, fill with distraction the\nmind of this my enemy.\" \"O Agni, destroy the senses of this my enemy.\"\n\"O Agni, make dumb the mouth of this my enemy.\" \"O Agni, fasten with a\npeg the tongue of this my enemy.\" \"O Agni, reduce to ashes this my\nenemy.\"\n\nHow different, my dear children, is the religion of Jesus from the\nreligion of which I have been giving you a description. No precepts\nteach us that we may injure or destroy our enemies. On the contrary,\nthey teach us to love them, and do them good. Let me repeat to you some\nof the words which our Saviour spoke on this point. \"Ye have heard that\nit hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy;\nbut I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do\ngood to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you\nand persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is\nin heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,\nand sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.\"\n\nOne of the young Hindoos in Dr. Duff's school in Calcutta, when reading\nthe above and similar passages, was so struck with the difference\nbetween these precepts and the precepts of his Shasters, that he could\nnot but exclaim \"O, how beautiful, how divine. Surely this is the\ntruth--this is the truth--this is the truth.\" The consequence was, that\nhe never could rest until he had thrown aside his sacred books and his\nidols, and embraced that Saviour whose precepts appeared to him to be so\nbeautiful. And was this heathen so struck with the beauty of the\nprecepts of the Bible--so struck, that he had no peace until he gave\nhimself to his Saviour? And have you ever, my dear children, been struck\nwith the precepts of your Saviour--so struck with them, that you could\nnever rest until you had given up your hearts to him? If not, how great\nis the contrast between you and that young Hindoo. He gave his heart to\nthe Saviour. You withhold yours. He, through grace, will dwell for ever\nwith Christ in heaven. You, if you continue in your present awful\ncondition, must be banished from his presence, and cast into hell, where\nyou shall be tormented day and night for ever, with the devil and his\nangels. Flee, my dear children, flee to the Saviour now, if you have\nnever yet done so. Flee to him, and then you also shall dwell for ever\nwith him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nTHE DECEPTION OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--From what I have previously stated, you are aware that\nthe Hindoos are a very deceitful people. Let me give you another\ninstance of their deception. A late head catechist of one of my\nmissionary brethren was, before his conversion, the priest of a temple.\nA man from whom about one thousand rupees' worth of jewels and similar\nthings had been stolen, came to this priest, and promised to reward him\nwell, if he would detect the thief, and secure to him the restoration of\nhis property. The priest promised to comply with his wishes; and in\norder to effect his purpose, he had drums beaten through the village,\nand proclaimed, that at a certain time he would hold a meeting and\ndetect the thief. At the appointed time, a large concourse of people\nassembled, the priest appearing in the midst of them with a cocoa-nut\nbound around with saffron-cords. He then told them, that if, after\nputting down the cocoa-nut, it should move of its own accord towards\nhim, they might know that he would be able certainly to detect the\nthief; and added, that after it had thus moved, it would pursue the\noffender, and follow him until it would break his head. He then\nperformed certain ceremonies calculated to awaken superstitious feelings\nin the minds of the people, and laid the cocoa-nut down at a little\ndistance from him. To the great amazement of all present, it began to\nmove towards the priest, and continued to move until it reached his\nfeet. This being done, he told the people, that they might conclude from\nwhat they had seen, that the cocoa-nut would follow the thief until it\nwould break his head. He consented, however, to give him a little\ngrace--to spare his life until the next day; adding his advice, that the\nthief, whoever he might be, had better come to him privately, and tell\nhim where the property was. In the dead of the night, a tap was heard at\nthe door of the priest; the thief presented himself, and delivered up\nthe property. The priest received a present from the owner of the\nproperty, and rewarded the thief for his promptness. After this man was\nconverted, he was asked how he contrived to make the cocoa-nut move\ntowards him. \"Why, sir,\" he answered, \"if you will carefully divide a\ncocoa-nut, scoop out the kernel from one-half of it, enclose a strong,\nlively rat, put the parts of the cocoa-nut together, and bind the whole\nwith saffron-cords, to prevent the crack being seen, and then place it\non a declivity previously prepared, it is clear, that if you place\nyourself at the foot of this declivity the rat will twirl the cocoa-nut,\nand cause it to descend until it reaches your feet.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nSUPERSTITION OF THE HINDOOS.\n\n\nMy dear Children--In my Sermon to Children, before alluded to, I\nmentioned a few particulars to prove that the people of India are very\nsuperstitious. Let me mention a few more. It is said that no act,\nhowever good it may be, if performed on Sunday, will succeed. Some will\nnot eat at all on Sunday, until they have seen a certain bird--the bird\non which the god Vrishnoo rides. If a man rubs oil on his head on\nMonday, and bathes, he will commit a sin equal to the sin of destroying\na temple of Siva. If he has his hair out on Tuesday, he will become\npoor. Even to worship the gods on Wednesday, is bad. If a person takes\nmedicine on Thursday, his sickness will be increased. Should he lend any\nthing on Friday, he will lose his property. If he should buy a new cloth\non Saturday, take it home, and keep it there, death may be the\nconsequence. Should he die on this day, some other member of the family\nwill die on the following week.\n\nIf the foundation of a house is laid in June, the destruction of that\nhouse will follow. Should a family enter a new house in March, some\nmember of the family will die. If a marriage is celebrated in September,\nthe husband and wife will fight with each other.\n\nShould a thunderbolt fall on a house, or a vulture alight on it, some\nevil will befall the people living in it. If a crow should strike any\nperson on the head with its wings, some of his relations will die.\nShould a cat or a snake cross his path, it would be an indication of\nevil. In the latter case, one of his relations will die. If, when\nreturning home, a person should meet him bearing a light, a quarrel will\nbe the result.\n\nAfter a person has left his house, should he meet a single Brahmin, or a\nwoman who has had her head shaved, or a dumb or a blind man, or a\nwasherman or a barber, the object for which he left would not succeed.\nOr, when going out, should he hit his head against the top of the\ndoor-frame, or should any one ask him where he was going, or should he\nhappen to sneeze, he would consider these things as hinderances to his\ngoing, and re\u00ebnter the house.\n\nShould a son or a daughter be born on the new moon in April, they will\nbecome thieves. If a person is born under the planet Saturn, he will be\nslandered, his riches will be dissipated, and his wife, son, and friends\nwill be destroyed. He will also be at variance with others, and endure\nmany sufferings. Should he be born under the planet Mars, he will be\nfull of anxious thoughts, be imprisoned, and oppressed with fear from\nrobbers, fire, etc. He also will lose his lands, trees, and good name.\n\nIf a person dreams that a monkey has bitten him, he will die in six\nmonths; or if he dreams that bedbugs, in large numbers, are creeping\nover his body to bite him, he will die in eight days. Should he dream\nthat a dog has bitten him, he will die in three years; or should he\ndream that a dead person has appeared to him and spoken to him, he will\ndie immediately.\n\nIf a man has a little head, he will become rich. If he has a large head,\nhe will be poor. If his forehead is wide, he will live a hundred years.\nIf he has a small neck, he will be a murderer. If the second toe is\nlong, he will be a bad man. If a woman has curly hair, she will not\nprosper. If her nose is long, she will have a good disposition. If her\near is wide, she will tell falsehoods. If she has a mole on her nose,\nshe will be subject to anger; if on her lips, she will be learned; if on\nthe eyebrows she will be cunning.\n\nI could continue to fill a number of pages with things of the same\ndescription, but it will be unnecessary. I will merely mention one\ninstance more. On a certain night in the month of November, the people\nwill not look at the moon. The reason assigned for this, is as follows.\nOnce, when the elephant-faced god Pulliar was dancing before the gods,\nthe moon happening to see him, laughed at him, and told him that he had\na large stomach, an ear like a winnowing-fan, etc. This so enraged him,\nthat he cursed her. This curse was inflicted on the night above\nmentioned.\n\nHow does the wretchedness of a people, both in reference to the things\nof this world and of the world to come, show itself where the Bible is\nunknown. If this blessed book was not an inspired book--if it did no\nmore than remove the temporal miseries of men, how invaluable would it\nbe! Of how much more value then, is it, in reference to the removal of\ntheir spiritual miseries?\n\nO, why is it that Christians have not long since sent this Bible to\nthem? Why is it that they do not send it to them _now_? This is a\nmystery, which we must leave to be unravelled at the judgment-seat of\nthe last day. My dear children, you are to stand before that\njudgment-seat. Shall any of these heathen among whom I dwell, rise up at\nthat awful season--stretch out their hands towards you, and say, There\nstand the children who might have sent us the Bible, but they did not\nsend it; and now we must be lost--_lost for ever!_\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nBURMAH, CHINA, ETC., ETC.\n\n\nMy dear children--If you will look on your map of Asia, you will see,\nadjoining Hindostan, at the east, a country called Burmah. This is\nanother land of idols. Here the \"Baptist General Convention for Foreign\nMissions\" have one of the most interesting and flourishing missions in\nthe world. The people of Burmah are, if possible, still further removed\nfrom divine knowledge than the people of India. They are in reality\natheists, or, in other words, people who do not believe in a creator or\npreserver of the world. But still they worship gods, who, they say, have\nbecome so by acts of religious merit. He whom they now worship is called\nGaudama, or Boodh. He is reputed to be the son of the king of Benares,\nand, if their history be correct, was born six hundred years before\nChrist. The Boodhists are all idolaters. They have many temples erected\nto the honor of Boodh and his image. Before this image they present\nflowers, incense, rice, betel-nuts etc. Like all other idolatrous\nnations, the Burmese are very wicked. They do not respect their females\nas they should do. They treat them as an inferior order of beings. They\noften sell them.\n\nA very singular custom prevails in that country. It consists in paying a\nkind of homage to a white elephant. This elephant is sumptuously dressed\nand fed. It is provided with officers, like a second sovereign, and is\nmade to receive presents from foreign ambassadors. It is next in rank to\nthe king, and _superior_ to the queen.\n\nBurmah is the country in which Drs. Judson and Price, and Messrs. Hough\nand Wade suffered so much, during the war with England several years\nago. Messrs. Hough and Wade were the first to suffer. As the ships which\nwere to make the attack upon Rangoon approached the city, they were\nseized and cast into prison. Their legs were bound together with ropes,\nand eight or ten Burmans, armed with spears and battle-axes, were\nplaced over them, as a guard. They were afterwards put in irons. The\nnext morning, as the fleet approached still nearer the city, orders were\nsent to the guard, through the grates of their prison, that the instant\nthe shipping should fire upon the town, they were to kill them, together\nwith the other prisoners confined with them. The guard, on receiving\nthese orders, began to sharpen the instruments with which they intended\nto kill them, and moved them about their heads to show with how much\nskill and pleasure they would attend to their orders. Upon the floor\nwhere they intended to butcher them, a large quantity of sand was spread\nto receive the blood. The gloom and silence of death reigned among the\nprisoners; the vast ocean of eternity seemed but a step before them. At\nlength the fleet arrived, and the firing commenced The first ball which\nwas thrown into the town passed, with a tremendous noise, directly over\ntheir heads. This so frightened the guard, that they seemed unable to\nexecute their murderous orders. They shrunk away into one corner of the\nprison, where they remained quiet, until a broadside from one of the\nships made the prison shake and tremble to its very foundation. This so\nalarmed them, that they burst open the doors of the prison and fled. The\nmissionaries, with the other prisoners, were then left alone. Their\ndanger, however, was not at an end; but as God had protected them thus\nfar, he continued to protect them until they were set at liberty, and\nallowed to preach the Gospel again to those perishing heathen. Drs.\nJudson and Price were also imprisoned, and suffered much; but they, too,\nwere preserved and delivered. The accounts of their sufferings are so\nlong, that I cannot now relate them all to you. You will find them in\nthe life of Mrs. Judson.\n\nAfter the war was over, the missionaries were permitted to go everywhere\nto proclaim the name of the Saviour; and their efforts have been very\nmuch blessed, especially among the Karens. It will be impossible for me\nto give you an account of their many labors, and of the many tokens\nwhich they have received of God's favor towards multitudes who have\nbecome followers of the Redeemer. Suffice it to say, that more than six\nthousand have been received into the Christian church. One of the native\nteachers not long since baptized, on one occasion, three hundred and\nseventy-two persons.\n\nAdjoining Burmah, is China, a country containing more than three hundred\nmillions of people, about twenty times as many as there are in the\nUnited States of America. It is a country filled with idols. Many of the\npeople earn their living by making and selling these idols. There are\nmany shops where they are sold, or repaired when they become broken or\ndefaced.\n\nThe females in that country are in a very degraded state. They are the\nslaves of their husbands, and live and die in the greatest ignorance.\nAny attempt to raise themselves to the level of females in Christian\nlands, is considered as very wicked. The little female child is tortured\nfrom her birth. You have, perhaps, heard that the women of China have\nsmall feet. These are made small by a very cruel practice--by putting\nbandages of cloth so tightly around them, that they cannot grow. Many\nwomen have feet not larger than those of an American infant of one year\nold. Mr. Doty, missionary to China, says, that he was acquainted with a\nlittle girl whose mother had bound up her feet so tightly, that she\ncried two or three hours every day, on account of the great pain which\nshe suffered.\n\nWith such little feet, you may well suppose that it would be very\ndifficult for the women to walk. It is so. They limp and hobble along,\njust as if their feet had been cut off, and they had to walk on stumps.\n\nThe Chinese do not count their daughters among their children. Mr. Doty\nsays, he one day asked his Chinese teacher how many children he had. He\nreplied, that he had several. \"How many of these,\" he then inquired,\n\"are daughters?\" \"We do not count our daughters among our children,\" he\nanswered. \"I have three daughters, but we Chinese count our sons only as\nchildren.\"\n\nWhen this missionary was in a Chinese village where he had never been\nbefore, a man called to see him, bringing with him two pretty little\ngirls, neatly dressed, about six and seven years old. He said that they\nwere his daughters and that he wished to sell them. Mr. Doty refused to\nbuy them, as it was wicked to buy and sell children; but he told him,\nthat if he would commit them to him, he would take them home with him,\nand educate them, and that they might return home after they had grown.\nTo this proposal he would not consent but said, that if he would buy\nthem, they should be his for ever. He could have bought them both for\nabout twenty-six dollars.\n\nThe Chinese have many schools, but none for their daughters, as they do\nnot teach them, to read. When they are about thirteen years old, they\nshut them up in what are called \"women's apartments,\" where they remain\nuntil the time of their marriage. Then the parents sell them to those\nwho wish to have wives for their sons. In this way, they are frequently\nmarried to persons whom they never before saw.\n\nMany parents in China destroy their little girls soon after they are\nborn, or while they are very small. This they frequently do by throwing\nthem into rivers, or into the sea, after they have wrapped them up in\ncoarse mats. There is a little Chinese girl, named Ellen, now living in\nNewark, New Jersey, whose father was about to kill her when she was\nthree weeks old. An English lady heard of his intentions, and sent a\nperson with ten dollars to see if she could not be bought. He was\noffered the ten dollars, but refused to take them. She sent ten dollars\nmore. He consented to take the twenty dollars. This little girl was\nbrought by this English lady to America, when she was about six years\nold. The friends who have her under their care, are educating her with\nthe hope that she may go back to China, to tell its females of the\nSaviour.\n\nDid you ever, my dear girls, think why it is that your parents love you,\nand educate you--why it is that they try to make you happy, instead of\ncramping your feet, shutting you up, and, perhaps, at last selling you?\nIt is because they have the Bible. Then, how anxious should you be to\nsave what money you can, to buy Bibles to send to those poor heathen.\n\nAs I am now speaking of the destruction of infants, I would observe,\nthat this crime is common in other heathen countries. It was quite\ncommon, until lately, in the island of Tahiti, and other places in the\nSouth Pacific Ocean. When the missionaries of the London Missionary\nSociety went there, many years ago, they found the females in a very\ndegraded situation. Mr. Nott, one of these missionaries, declared that\nthree out of four of the children were murdered as soon as they were\nborn. He met a woman soon after this dreadful crime had been abolished\nto whom he said, \"How many children have you?\" \"This one in my arms,\"\nwas her answer. \"And how many did you kill?\" She replied, \"Eight.\"\nAnother woman, who was asked the same question, said that she had\ndestroyed _seventeen_. Infanticide, or, in other words, the destruction\nof infants, says the Rev. Mr. Williams, was carried to an almost\nincredible extent in Tahiti, and some other islands. He writes, \"During\nthe visit of the deputation, G. Bennet, Esq., was our guest for three or\nfour days; and on one occasion, while conversing on this subject, he\nexpressed a wish to obtain accurate knowledge of the extent to which\nthis cruel practice had prevailed. Three women were sitting in the room\nat the time, making European garments, under Mrs. Williams direction;\nand, after replying to Mr. Bennet's inquiries, I said, 'I have no doubt\nbut that each of these women has destroyed some of her children.' Mr.\nBennet exclaimed, 'Impossible; such motherly, respectable women could\nnever have been guilty of so great an atrocity.' 'Well,' I added, 'we\nwill ask them.' Addressing the first, I said to her, 'Friend, how many\nchildren have you destroyed?' She was startled at my question, and at\nfirst charged me with unkindness, in harrowing up her feelings, by\nbringing the destruction of her babes to her remembrance; but upon\nlearning the object of my inquiry, she replied, with a faltering voice,\n'I have destroyed _nine_.' The second, with eyes suffused with tears,\nsaid, 'I have destroyed _seven_;' and the third informed us that she had\ndestroyed _five_. Had the missionaries gone there but a few years\nbefore, with the blessing of God, they would have prevented all this.\nThese mothers were all Christians at the time this conversation was\nheld.\"\n\n\"On another occasion,\" says Mr. Williams, \"I was called to visit the\nwife of a chief in dying circumstances. She had professed Christianity\nfor many years, had learned to read when about sixty, and was a very\nactive teacher in our adult school. In the prospect of death, she sent a\npressing request that I would visit her immediately; and on my entering\nher apartment she exclaimed, 'O, servant of God, come and tell me what I\nmust do.' Perceiving that she suffered great mental distress, I\ninquired the cause of it, when she replied, 'I am about to die.' 'Well,'\nI rejoined, 'if it be so, what creates this agony of mind?' 'O, my sins,\nmy sins,' she cried; 'I am about to die.' I then inquired what the\nparticular sins were which so greatly distressed her, when she\nexclaimed, 'O, my children, my murdered children! I am about to die, and\nshall meet them all at the judgment-seat of Christ.' Upon this I\ninquired how many children she had destroyed, and to my astonishment she\nreplied, 'I have destroyed _sixteen_, and now I am about to die.'\" After\nthis Mr. Williams tried to comfort her, by telling her that she had done\nthis when a heathen, and during the times of ignorance, which God winked\nat. But she received no consolation from this thought, and exclaimed\nagain, \"O, my children, my children.\" He then directed her to the\n\"faithful saying, which is worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ\ncame into the world to save sinners.\" This gave her a little comfort;\nand after visiting her frequently, and directing her to that blood which\ncleanseth from all sin, he succeeded, with the blessing of God, in\nbringing peace to her mind. She died soon after, rejoicing in the hope\nthat her sins, though many, would be forgiven her. Well may you exclaim,\nmy dear children,\n\n    \"Holy Bible, book divine,\n    Precious treasure, thou art mine.\"\n\nInfanticide still prevails in India, but as I have given a particular\ndescription of this crime in my Sermon to Children, on the Condition of\nthe Heathen, I will here say nothing farther on the subject.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nTHE DUTY OF PRAYING AND CONTRIBUTING FOR THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL.\n\n\nMy dear children--There is another story connected with India, which I\nmight have mentioned in my last chapter while writing about the\ndestruction of infants. I will relate it now, in order that you may be\nconstrained to pray more frequently for the heathen. Some time ago, the\nwife of a native prince had a little daughter. The father ordered it to\nbe put to death, immediately after it was born. Had it been a son, an\nheir to the throne, he would have taken great care of it. A second, a\nthird, a fourth, a fifth little daughter was born. All these were also\nput to death by the command of the father. When a sixth little daughter\nwas born, the mother's heart yearned over it. \"I cannot part with it,\"\nsaid she; \"I will have it taken away and hid, so that the king may know\nnothing about it.\" This was done, but the poor mother never dared to\nsend for her little girl. She never saw her again, but died sometime\nafter.\n\nMany of the little girls in India are very pretty. They have dark eyes,\nand sweet, expressive countenances. This little child grew to be a very\nbeautiful girl; and when she was eleven years old, some of her relations\nventured to bring her to her father. They thought that he would be\nstruck with the sight of his sweet child, and that he would love her for\nthe sake of her mother who had died. The little girl fell at his feet\nand clasped his knees, and looked up in his face and said, \"My father.\"\nAnd what do you think that father did? Do you think that he took her up\nin his arms, and kissed her? No. He seized her by the hair of her head,\ndrew his sword from his belt, and with a single blow took off her head.\n\nNow, my dear children, do you not think that you ought to pray for the\npoor heathen--to pray that God will send the Gospel to them? I want to\ntell you of a little boy who heard me preach some time ago about the\nheathen. One night he said his prayers, and went to bed. After he got\ninto bed, he said to the nurse, \"I have forgotten to pray for the\nheathen, and I must get out of bed and pray for them.\" The nurse then\ntold him that it would not be necessary for him to get up, as he could\npray for them while in bed. \"No,\" said he, \"I must get out of bed and\npray for them.\" And the dear little boy would not rest until he got out\nof bed and prayed for them. Now I want all of you, my dear children,\nevery morning and evening, to kneel down and pray for the heathen, as\nthis little boy did. And I want you to do something more. I want you\nalways to be punctual in attending _the usual monthly concerts of\nprayer,_ provided there are no juvenile monthly concerts to which you\ncan go. I have long wished to see juvenile monthly concerts of prayer\nestablished. They would be very interesting if I am to judge from the\naccount of one which I some time ago received from a friend of mine, the\nRev. Mr. V----. I will give you some extracts from his letter. He\nwrites, \"According to promise, I send you an account of the first\nchildren's monthly concert, so far as I can learn, held on Long Island.\nAs notice was not given either in the church or Sabbath-school, the\nattendance was smaller than it otherwise would have been. Still, about\nsixty interesting children attended. After a few remarks concerning the\nobject of the meeting by the superintendent of the Sabbath-school they\nsung with melting eyes the hymn that describes the wretched heathen\nmother casting her lovely babe into the jaws of the monster of the\nGranges. Prayer then was made, of about two or three minutes in length.\nThen I gave some of the most affecting accounts of the cruelties and\nignorance of the heathen, as related by the devoted Williams, that\nmartyr missionary. Their silent attention and subdued countenances told\nthat their hearts were with the wretched idolaters. After having thus\nspent about ten minutes, the children sung in a sweet manner, a hymn--a\nprayer for those laboring amid the heathen:\n\n    \"When worn by toil, their spirits fail,\n    Bid them the glorious future hail;\n    Bid them the crown of life survey,\n    And onward urge their conquering way.\"\n\n\"After which, two resolutions were passed, unanimously, by the children.\nFirst, that they will each one attend the monthly concert of prayer\nregularly, when able, and bring with them all their companions whom they\ncan persuade to come.\n\n\"Secondly, that they, with the children of the various schools of W----,\nwill constitute ---- a life member of the W---- Bible Society. Some of\nthe smaller children had brought their little Bibles to give them to\n----, that he might carry them to the poor children of the heathen. But\nwhen informed that the heathen could not understand English, they\ndetermined to raise money, and send it out to purchase Bibles for the\nchildren. This interesting meeting was closed by prayer, the doxology,\nand benediction.\"\n\nBut not only can you pray for the heathen, you can give _something_ to\nsend the Gospel to them. Do you say that you have no money to give? But\ncannot you earn some? Many young persons have done so. One of whom I\nhave read, says, \"Besides supporting a school in Ceylon, we are going to\nsupport five Chinese boys. I earn six cents a week for not using tea,\none for not using sugar, and three for not using coffee.\"\n\nAnother says, \"I, with three others, have been making matches to the\namount of ten dollars, and should have made more, but the people are\npretty well supplied. I am going to dig my father's garden, and my\nmother is going to give me a quarter of a dollar for digging it, which I\nshall give to the missionaries. I am going to do all I can, and to earn\nall I can, and save all that I have, to support the missionaries.\"\n\nAnother says, \"I am going to leave off buying candy.\" What is that? Can\nlittle girls and boys do without sugar-candy? I am afraid that many of\nyou, my dear children, would find it difficult to go without it. But let\nme quote all that this child wrote. \"I am going to leave off buying\ncandy and such little notions, unless it is necessary, and save every\ncent that I can get and give it to the missionaries.\"\n\nNow, my dear children, I do think that if you would save some of those\ncents which you spend in buying candy, fire-crackers, and similar\nthings, and buy Bibles and tracts for the poor heathen, you would do\nmuch more good with them.\n\nI want to tell you about a little boy who belonged to one of my schools\nin Ceylon, who has, as I hope, gone to heaven through the means of a\ntract which cost only two or three cents, and which was the cause of his\ncoming under my care. After he had attended preaching for some time, he\nbegged me to admit him to the church. As he was quite young, not eleven\nyears old, I was afraid to receive him. This feeling, perhaps, was\nwrong. He never joined the church on earth. He has, however, I hope,\ngone to join the church in heaven. When he was about eleven years of\nage, he was attacked with the cholera and died. In this country, when\nchildren are very ill, the father or mother will catch up a cocoa-nut or\na few plantains, and run off to the temple, and say, \"Now, Swammie, if\nyou will cure my little boy or little girl, I will give you this\ncocoa-nut, or these plantains.\" The mother of this boy saw that he was\nvery ill, and she told him that she wished to go to make offerings to\none of her idols, in order that he might get well. But he requested her\nnot to do so. \"I do not worship idols,\" said he; \"I worship Christ, my\nSaviour. If he is pleased to spare me a little longer in the world, it\nwill be well; if not, I shall go to him.\" The last words he uttered\nwere, \"I am going to Christ the Lord.\"\n\nNow when you think about this little boy, I want you to ask yourselves,\nwhether it is not better to give two or three cents to try and save the\nsoul of some poor little heathen boy or girl, than to spend them in\nbuying candy, and other useless things.\n\nBut I must tell you about a little girl whom I saw some time ago, who\nrefused to buy candy while there are so many heathen without the Bible.\nHer father is a sea-captain. Being absent from home, he sent her five\ndollars to buy candy, or any thing else which she wished. As this little\ngirl had heard about the heathen, she determined to throw all her money\ninto the missionary-box, instead of spending it for her own pleasure.\nThe mother, on learning her intentions, asked her if she would not like\nto spend a part of it for candy, and similar things. She replied, that\nshe would not, and in due time she put her five dollars into the\nmissionary-box. Not long after this, she was attacked with a severe\ntoothache. The mother proposed that the defective tooth should be\nextracted. The little creature, for she was only about eight years old,\ndreaded the operation, and seemed at first to be backward about having\nit performed. To encourage her to submit to it, her mother offered her\ntwenty-five cents. This little girl did not then begin to reason, Now,\nif I can only get those twenty-five cents, I can buy a doll, or I can\nbuy some sugar-candy; but she reasoned thus, Now, if I can get those\ntwenty-five cents, I can go and put them into the missionary-box. So she\nsaid to her mother, I will go and have the tooth taken out. The tooth,\nhowever, ceased to ache, but still she wished to have it extracted. Her\nmother then interfered, and told her that, as it had ceased to ache, it\nmight be well for her not to have it drawn until it ached again. The\nlittle girl, however, persisted, saying, that if it were not taken out,\nshe could not get the twenty-five cents to devote to the missionary\ncause. She therefore went to the dentist's, submitted to the operation,\nreceived her twenty-five cents, and went and threw them into the Lord's\ntreasury. Was not that a noble little girl? Doubtless you will all say\nshe was.\n\nI must tell you about a noble little boy also. Some time ago, I was\npreaching to the children of Canandaigua, in the western part of New\nYork. After I had preached there, I went on to Rochester. Returning from\nthat place, I met with a lady in the cars, who told me as follows:\n\"After you had preached in Canandaigua,\" said she, \"a young lady there,\nwho had lost her mother, and who had six or seven or eight of her\nbrothers and sisters under her care, formed them into a missionary\nsociety.\" Oh, I wish that all the dear children in America were formed\ninto missionary societies. After she had done this, she asked her little\nbrother how he was going to get money to put into the missionary-box.\n\"By catching mice,\" said he. His sister gave him two or three cents for\nevery mouse he caught. Thus it appears, that this dear little boy was\ngoing to throw all his earnings into the Lord's treasury.\n\nBut let me tell you a little more about the children to whom I before\nalluded. Another says, \"In some of the day-schools of this city, the\ngirls have formed sewing societies, and make pin-cushions, needle-books,\nemery-bags, and the like, and send the money that is raised from the\nsale of them to the missionaries, to be used for the heathen. There are\nseven Sabbath-schools in this town, and in each of them there is a\nmissionary association; so that in all about five hundred dollars are\nsent from the Sabbath-schools every year.\"\n\nNow, my dear girls, I want you to think of what has now been said about\nthe formation of sewing societies; and I want you to ask your mothers\nwhether they will not allow you to form such societies, to meet once a\nweek, or once in two weeks, or once a month to sew, to get some money to\nsend the Gospel to the heathen. Many societies of this kind have been\nformed. After I had preached to the children in one of the churches in\nThird-street, New York, the little girls who attend that church formed\nsuch a society. The account which I received of it is as follows. \"You\nmay remember, that in your address to our Sabbath-school, you related\ninstances of little girls knitting, sewing, etc., to earn something for\nthe missionary-box The examples which you related were not lost to the\ngirls of the Sabbath-school. Immediately they began to talk about\nforming themselves into a sewing society, and making small articles, and\ngiving the proceeds to the missionary society. They did not stop here,\nbut went right to work, and soon formed their society, which they styled\nthe Juvenile Sewing Society. They are in a very prosperous and\nflourishing condition at present. I know not the amount of funds they\npossess--they pay a cent a week into their treasury--but they have a\nlarge assortment of articles already made. I understand, also, they meet\nonce a week to sew.\"\n\nAfter I had preached at a place called Little Falls, New York, the girls\nformed a sewing society there. The following account of this society I\nreceived from one of its little members. \"When you were here last fall,\nand told us how much good little girls had done in having sewing\nsocieties, we thought we would see if _we_ could not do some good in the\nworld, as well as they; and, since October, we have met weekly, and by\nholding a fair, we have succeeded in raising sixty-two dollars. We\nhope it will be the means of saving some poor heathen children.\"\n\nNow, as I said before, I want you, my dear girls, to ask your mothers if\nyou may not form such societies also. Will you think of it? I hope you\nwill.\n\nAnother of the children to whom I have twice referred, says, \"I can try\nand save their souls, if I am not there. I can work for them, and send\nsome money to you to buy them Bibles, and I can pray for them; and if I\nshould save some souls, O how would they thank me. But if I did not send\nmy money, nor care any thing about them, and I should not go to heaven,\nand they should not, how would they rise up in judgment against me, and\nsay, If we had had the privileges that you had, we should not be here.\nO, how thankful we ought to be, that we were not born in heathen lands.\nO, if the poor heathen could only have such privileges as we have, how\nthankful would they be; and if we were born in heathen lands, I have no\ndoubt that they would come and tell us about a Saviour.\"\n\nI have received many letters from children, breathing the same spirit\nwhich is manifested in the notes I have copied.\n\nOne writes, \"Last winter I brought in the wood for mother, and she gave\nme fifty cents. I now am very glad that I have not spent it, as I can\ngive it to you to buy tracts for the little heathen children of India.\"\n\nA second writes, \"The enclosed fifty cents my grandmother gave me when I\nwas a very little boy, for sitting still one hour. Will you please to\nuse it to furnish the Bible and missionary to the heathen.\"\n\nA third writes, \"I have always spent my money for candy and other\ntrifles, but since I have heard about the darkness and misery of the\nheathen, I intend to save it all, and put it into the missionary-box.\"\n\nA fourth writes, \"The enclosed I earned by knitting. I intended to save\nit, till I had sufficient to carry me a short journey to see some of my\nfriends; but when I heard you tell about the little heathen girls, I\nthought I would give it to you, for the poor heathen children.\"\n\nA fifth writes, \"I have enclosed twelve and a half cents, which my\nfather gave me to go and see General Tom Thumb. When I heard you\nlecture last evening, I came home and concluded to give it to you, and\nlet you buy Bibles for the poor heathen.\"\n\nA sixth writes, \"I remember, before my mother died, she used to tell me\na great deal about the children of India, and now she is in heaven. I\nthink she would like to have me give my heart to the Saviour, and go and\nteach those poor children. I give you some money that was given to me to\nsee an exhibition, which I saved to give for such things, rather than\ngo.\"\n\nA seventh writes, \"You told us that two cents were the means of\nconverting a young man. I would give two cents every week, if it would\nconvert souls to Christ.\"\n\nAn eighth writes, \"My mother told me, some time ago, that every day I\nrecited my lessons without missing a word, she would give me a penny;\nand not being desirous to spend it, I do wish you would take it--fifty\ncents--to the heathen. It may buy some tracts at the bazaar or market.\"\n\nA ninth writes, \"We feel sorry for those poor heathen children. We will\ntry to earn some money to buy Bibles for the heathen. Father has\npromised us some land to work next summer, and we think we can raise\nsomething and sell it to get the money.\"\n\nA tenth writes, \"Since you were here last spring, I have saved what I\ncould--one dollar--for the heathen children, and should be glad if I\ncould do more.\"\n\nAn eleventh writes, \"The money which you will find enclosed, I earned by\nworking for my mother on Saturday, which I intended to keep to buy a\nmicroscope; but when I heard you preach on Sabbath, I concluded to give\nit to buy Bibles for the poor heathen children.\"\n\nA twelfth writes, \"The enclosed, five dollars, was a birthday present\nfrom my father, but I want to give it to Dr. Scudder, for the poor\nlittle boys in Ceylon.\"\n\nA thirteenth writes, \"Please accept my mite, by the hand of my brother.\nI have been keeping it for the purpose of buying a geography; but when I\nheard you preach yesterday, I thought I had better send it to you, for\nthe poor heathen.\"\n\nA fourteenth writes, \"I would like much to become a missionary, as I am\nnamed after one; I hope I shall be one. I have been saving a dollar to\nbuy myself some books, but concluded to give it to buy some books for\nthe heathen.\"\n\nThe last two children, whose letters you have been reading, gave to the\nmissionary cause the money which they had been earning to buy books.\nWhen you have been earning money for the express purpose of giving it to\nthe missionary cause, then you should devote it all to that cause; but I\nwould advise you not to do as did the two children last mentioned. Had\nmy opinion been asked, relative to the disposal of their money, I would\nhave recommended them to give _one-tenth,_ or perhaps a little more, of\nthe sums they had been earning, to their Saviour, and to keep the rest\nto buy their books. The giving of not less than one-tenth of all you\nearn, for charitable purposes, is the principle which I wish to have\nimpressed fully on your minds, and I hope you will grow up under the\ninfluence of this principle, and _never, never_ depart from it. But\nwhile I thus speak, you must not suppose that I wish you to confine\nyourselves to the giving of one-tenth, when you can give more; I hope\nyou will not give merely this, but one-half, or more, if you can afford\nit. Indeed, if you do not go as missionaries to the heathen, I want you\nto make it your great object _to make money for Christ, and to spend it\nfor Christ_. O, if the generation which is grown, were as anxious to\nmake money for Christ, and to spend it for Christ, as they are to make\nit for themselves, and to spend it for themselves, or to hoard it up--it\nmay be for the everlasting destruction of the souls of their\nheirs--there would be no complaints that money could not be had to send\nthe Gospel to the destitute, both at home and abroad.\n\nIn my twelfth chapter, I spoke of the liberal donations which the\nheathen of India make for the support of their religion. In the city of\nCalcutta alone, it is supposed that two millions of dollars are spent\nevery year on the festival of a single goddess--a festival which lasts\nonly a few days. A single native has been known to give, as I before\nsaid, more than one hundred thousand dollars at one time to this\nfestival, and afterwards thirty thousand dollars yearly. How vast, then,\nmust be the sums which are spent upon all the different festivals of\ntheir gods. Would that we could see such liberality among Christians.\nWould that we could see the generality of them willing to give even\none-tenth of their annual income to the Lord. Alas, what would the\nheathen say, if they were to learn how much greater are the sums of\nmoney which they give to their idols, than Christians give to honor\ntheir Saviour? Would they not exclaim, It is because Christianity is\nfalse, and heathenism is true, that Christians give so little for\nChrist, while we give so much for our gods? My dear children, I hope\nthat you will never allow the heathen to say that the Christian religion\nis false, because you do not give your money for the spread of the\nGospel. Will you not resolve now, that you will, so long as God prospers\nyou in worldly goods, give _at least_ one-tenth of all you earn to the\nLord? Do, my dear children, do make the resolution now.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nPERSONAL LABORS AMONG THE HEATHEN.\n\n\nMy dear children--You have, perhaps, often seen Campbell's missionary\nmap of the world. If not, I want you very carefully to look at it. I\nwant you to look at the red spots on it, and think how many millions of\npeople embrace the religion both of the Greek and Roman Catholic\nchurches--a religion which is nothing more nor less than paganism, with\na few Christian doctrines added to it. After this, I want you to look at\nthe green spots, and think of the hundred and twenty millions of\nMohammedans, who spurn the name of Jesus as a Saviour, and who have set\nup Mahomet as their prophet. I want you also to look at all the dark\nspots, where, with comparatively a few exceptions, the people are in\npagan darkness, without any knowledge of God and the only Saviour of\nsinners Jesus Christ. And in view of all this darkness--in view of the\nneed of more than half a million of ministers of the Gospel to preach\nthe news of salvation to them, I want you, my dear boys, to ask\nyourselves whether it may not be your duty, after you grow up, to\nbecome ministers, and go and preach the Gospel to them. You know that\nyou are bound to do all the good to others which you can; and even if\nyou do not love the Saviour, you are not released from your obligations\nto do good. I would by no means have you become ministers without giving\nyour hearts to Christ; but this you are as much bound to do, as you are\nbound to do all the good you can to others. If you are not Christians, I\nwant you, through grace, to become such, and I want many of you to\nbecome ministers and missionaries. Two of my sons are now missionaries\nin India, and four others, I hope, are preparing to come. And why should\nnot you also come here, or go to other heathen lands? If you can be\nexcused from coming or going, why may not all who are now little boys\nalso be excused? In such a case, there will be no missionaries at all.\nAnd you know that this would be very wrong. But I do not merely want\nmany of you, my dear boys, to become missionaries, I want many of you,\nmy dear girls, to become missionaries also. Many little girls and boys\nhave expressed a desire to become missionaries. Several little boys who\nwrote to Mr. Hutchings, one of my missionary brethren, and several\nlittle boys and girls who have written to me, have said that they would\nlike to be missionaries.\n\nOne writes, \"I should like to go and be a missionary, and instruct the\npoor heathen children to love God.\"\n\nA second says, \"I have been selling matches that I made. I got five\ndollars--just as many dollars as I am years old. I think I shall become\na missionary, and come and help you. I hope I shall see you again when I\ncome to Ceylon. Tell the heathen children they must love God, and be\ngood children. They must not give the children to the crocodiles, nor\nthrow them into the water; and they must not worship wooden and brass\ngods. They must worship the true God, and keep his commandments.\"\n\nA third says, \"I like to send money to help the poor heathen to learn to\nread the Bible, and other good books. I think it will be pleasant to\nsail across the ocean, and teach them to turn from their idols. I would\nteach them not to lay themselves down before the car of Juggernaut, and\nbe crushed to death; and I would teach them not to burn themselves to\ndeath on the funeral pile.\"\n\nA fourth says, \"I mean to save something to send to you, to help support\none school. Should my life be spared, and the way be opened at some\nfuture day, I think I should be willing to leave my native home, to go to\nsome distant land to tell the heathen of a Saviour, whom I hope I have\nfound.\"\n\nA fifth says, \"If you are ever in want of money, just please to send on\nto me, and I will endeavor to raise all that you want. If I live to be a\nman, I hope be a missionary to Ceylon or China.\"\n\nOne little boy wrote to me as follows: \"I have for a long time been\nsaving three shillings, for the purpose of buying a little racoon, which\nI intended to do on Monday. On Sunday I heard you preach, and thought I\nwould give it to you to save some poor heathen soul; and I hope you will\npray for me, that I may become a minister, and go to India, and preach\nto the heathen.\"\n\nAnother writes, \"This is to certify that I, Charles D.H. Frederick,\npledge myself, if God spares my life, when I get to be a man, and he\npardons me through Christ Jesus, I will go and preach to the heathen.\"\n\nA little girl wrote me as follows: \"According to my present feelings, I\nshould like to engage in so glorious a cause,\" as the missionary cause,\n\"and I hope, when I arrive at an age to be of use to God, and the poor\nheathen, to embrace so glorious a cause.\"\n\nAnother little girl writes, \"I felt very bad when I heard you tell about\nthe poor heathen who worship the idols. I could not keep from weeping,\nwhen you told us about the man who came so far to get a teacher to come\nand tell the Gospel to his friends, and was disappointed. I felt very\nbad Sunday evening; and on Monday evening I felt that the Lord had given\nme a new heart. I felt happy, and sang some beautiful verses that I\nlearned in one of mother's little books. I have read the Day-springs,\nand thought a great deal about the heathen for two years.\n\n\"I used to think a great deal about having nice clothes, before I\nthought so much about the heathen. My mother told me some time ago, that\nshe thought she would get me a white dress when I was ten years old. I\nam now ten years old, and this evening mother gave me two dollars to\nget the dress, or dispose of it in any way I thought best; and I wish\nyou would take it to have the poor heathen taught about the Saviour. If\nI live, and it is the Lord's will, I hope I shall come and help you\nteach the poor heathen about the Saviour.\"\n\nThere is a little boy in the city of New York, who formerly used to tell\nhis mother, that he meant to be a cab-driver, and all she could say to\nhim was of no avail in making him think differently. This little boy\ncame with his mother to hear me preach about the heathen.\n\nAfter he had left the church, as he was going home, he burst into tears,\nand exclaimed, \"Mother, I mean to be a missionary to the heathen;\" and\nso far as I know, he has never talked about being any thing else since.\nAnd I hope that many of you will never talk about being any thing else\nthan missionaries to the heathen.\n\nI am acquainted with a little girl in Ohio, who has resolved to become a\nmissionary. She is a niece of Mr. Campbell, late missionary to Africa.\nShe was not quite four years old when I saw her. When she was eighteen\nmonths of age, she saw the picture of a heathen mother throwing her\nchild into the mouth of a crocodile She was deeply impressed with the\nsight. When she was two and a half years old, she resolved to be a\nmissionary, and follow her uncle to Africa. From this resolution she has\nnever drawn hack. When I was at her father's house, she was asked if she\nwould not go to India. She replied, that she would not go to India, but\nto Africa. She was asked why she wished to go to Africa. \"To teach the\nheathen,\" was her answer. \"Why should you teach the heathen?\" \"Because\nthey worship idols.\" Her mother told me, that ever since she began to\nget money, she has contributed to the missionary cause; and this money\nhas generally, if not always, been earned by some act of self-denial on\nher part. I hope that many of you will feel just as this little girl\nfelt, and do just as she did.\n\nWhen I was in America, I used continually, when preaching, to ask the\ndear children whether they would not become missionaries. I used also to\nbeg them to write down what I had asked them. Many complied with my\nrequest. While I was at the Avon Springs, one of the daughters of a\nphysician there, not only wrote it down, but gave me what she had\nwritten. The following is a copy of what she wrote,\n\n     _August 18, 1844._\n\n    _Dr. Scudder requested me to come to India to help him when I am\n    grown._\n\n    S. P. S.\n\n    _Avon Springs_\n\nCould I raise my voice loud enough to reach America, I would beg of\n_you_ to write down the following sentence: Dr. Scudder asks me, to-day,\nwhether I will not hereafter become a missionary to the heathen. Perhaps\nyou will write it down _immediately_.\n\nNow, my dear boys, if you will come out to India, or go to Burmah or\nChina, to tell the heathen of the Saviour, you may, with the blessing of\nGod, do as much good as Swartz and Carey, and others have done. And if\nyou, my dear girls, will do the same, you also may do much good. This\nwill appear from what I am going to tell you about a little girl in\nCeylon. This little girl belonged to the boarding-school at Oodooville.\nShe early gave her heart to the Saviour, and joined the church when she\nwas thirteen years old. I should like to know if there are any of you\nwho have not followed her example. If so, this is not right. My dear\nchildren, it is not right. Shall this little girl, in a heathen land, a\nland filled with idols, give her heart to Christ; and you, in a\nChristian land, a land of Sabbaths, and Sabbath-schools, and Bibles, not\ngive your hearts to him? This is not right. You know that it is not\nright.\n\nBut let me go on with my account of the little girl. After she had\njoined the church, she wanted to go and see her mother, who was a\nheathen, for the purpose of conversing with her about her soul's\nconcerns. Now, in this country, when children who have been absent from\ntheir parents for any length of time go home, the mother spreads a mat\ndown on the floor, and tells them to sit down upon it, adding that she\nwill go and cook rice for them. They have no seats to sit on, as you\nhave in America. Well, this little girl went home. When her mother saw\nher, she was very glad; and after she had spread a mat for her, and told\nher to sit down, she said that she would go and cook rice for her. The\nlittle girl told her that she was not hungry, and did not wish to eat,\nbut wanted to talk with her. \"You cannot talk with me,\" said her mother,\n\"until I have cooked rice for you.\" \"Mother,\" said the little girl, \"you\nworship idols, and I am afraid that you will lose your soul, and I want\nto talk with you about Jesus Christ.\" The mother became quite angry with\nher, and rebuked her. But still the little girl continued to talk with\nher about her soul. The mother then became so angry, that she told her\nto be silent, or she would punish her. The little girl replied, \"Mother,\nthough you do whip me, I must talk to you about Jesus Christ,\" and she\nburst into tears. The mother's heart was broken. She sat down on the\nmat, and her little daughter talked with her, and prayed with her. After\nthis the little girl was so troubled, fearing that her mother's soul\nmight be lost, that she was heard praying for her during all parts of\nthe night. And God heard her prayers. Her mother forsook her idols, and\nbecame a Christian, and her conversion was followed by the conversion of\none or two others. Now, my dear little girls, if you will give your\nhearts to the Saviour, and in due time come here, or go to other heathen\nlands, and tell the people of a Saviour, you may, with the help of the\nHoly Spirit, be as useful as this little girl was.\n\nFemale missionaries have done much good among the heathen. I mentioned\nan instance on page 88, to prove this. Let me mention another instance\nmore.\n\nIn the year 1838, an English lady, Miss Aldersey, went to the East, at\nher own expense to promote female education among the Chinese. At that\ntime, she could not go to China, as that country was not open to\nmissionaries She therefore went to Java, where there was a colony of\nChinese. Here she hired a house, and collected about twenty-five girls,\nwhom she clothed, and boarded, and taught. The Lord blessed her labors,\nand several of these girls were hopefully converted. When their parents\nsaw that they would no longer worship idols, they became much opposed to\nthe school, and some of them took their daughters from it. In the year\n1842, God opened the door for the entrance of the Gospel into China.\nThis missionary then broke up her school in Java, went to that country,\nand resided in the city of Ningpo. Of the girls who had become\nChristians while under her care, two were much persecuted by their\nparents. They were whipped and beaten, with the hope that they would\nagain return to their idols; but all the efforts which were made to\ninduce them to forsake the Saviour were in vain. They declared that they\nwould sooner die than forsake him. When their parents saw that stripes\nand blows were of no avail, they determined to marry them to men who\nwere much devoted to their idols. This stratagem, they thought, might\nsucceed in destroying all their interest in their new religion. Here,\nhowever, they were again foiled. The girls became alarmed, and fled from\ntheir parents. An English gentleman, but who was not a professor of\nreligion, felt deeply interested for them, and assisted them to get on\nboard a ship going to Batavia. Here they were pursued but escaped from\nthe pursuers by going on board of a ship which sailed for Singapore.\nFrom Singapore they sailed for China, where they were permitted to join\nthe old friend who had been the means of their conversion. This lady\ncollected a school at Ningpo of more than thirty girls. Thus you see how\nmuch good female missionaries have done by going to heathen lands. And\nare none of you willing to follow their example? Are none of you willing\nto say, Here am I, Lord, send me?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nSUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL IN INDIA AND CEYLON.\n\n\nMy dear Children--I have told you that India is a very dark land, but\nthere are a few bright spots in it. Through the blessing of God upon the\nprayers of his people in Christian lands, and upon the prayers and\nlabors of his missionary servants, many of the heathen of India and\nCeylon have forsaken their idols, and are now enlisted under the banner\nof Jehovah Jesus. In the Travancore and Tinnivelly districts to say\nnothing of the success of the Gospel in other places, thousands and tens\nof thousands of the people have embraced Christianity. In hundreds of\nvillages where but a few years ago the name of Jesus had never been\nheard, it is now known and adored.\n\nYou have often heard of Ceylon. If you will look at the map of\nHindostan, you will find it close to that country. Here Christianity has\nbegun to prevail. This island is two hundred miles long, and in some\nplaces quite wide. A large part of it is covered with what is called\njungle. Jungle and wilderness mean the same thing. In this jungle there\nare many wild beasts, such as elephants, bears, wild hogs, and\nbuffaloes. In it also, there are men, women, and children, running wild,\njust like the wild beasts. This people are called Verders, or wild\npeople. They wear scarcely any clothing. They have no houses. When it\nrains, they creep into holes, or go under overhanging rocks. Their beds\nconsist of a few leaves. Sunk almost to the level of the brute, they\nlive and die like their shaggy companions of the forest. Even upon these\nthe Gospel has tried its power. More than fifty families have settled\ndown, forming two pleasant, and now Christian villages. They have\nschoolmasters and Christian teachers.\n\nI must give you a description of two revivals of religion which\noccurred while I was in the island of Ceylon, in the year 1833. Before\nthose revivals took place, there was no particular manifestation of much\nseriousness at any of our stations. It was in the month of October of\nthat year, that we began to feel that we must labor more, and pray more\nfor the conversion of perishing souls. A protracted meeting was spoken\nof, and it was determined that one should be held at our seminary in\nBatticotta--a seminary which was established for the purpose of raising\nup a native ministry. On the morning of the day in which the meeting was\ncommenced, Mr. Spaulding and myself went to that station to assist Mr.\nPoor, the principal of the seminary, in laboring with the students. In\nthese labors we spent five days. It was good to be there. No sooner had\nwe begun our exercises, than a blessing from on high was experienced.\nThe windows of heaven were opened, and the Holy Ghost descended. This\nwas evident from the spirit of prayer which was poured out upon the\npious students of the seminary. They were heard \"a great while before\nday\" pleading, in their social circles, that God would have mercy upon\ntheir impenitent companions, and bring them into the kingdom of his\ngrace. We trust, also, that a spirit of prayer was given to those of us\nwho took a prominent part in the meeting. At the termination of our\nexercises, with the exception of a few lads belonging to a Tamul class,\nwho had lately been admitted to the seminary, there was not, so far as I\nknow, an individual connected with it, who was not humbled at the foot\nof the cross, either to lie there until healed of his wounds, or to\nshow, if he perished, that he must perish under circumstances of a very\naggravated nature.\n\nAfter we had finished our meeting at Batticotta we went to the female\nseminary at Oodooville, to hold similar meetings. Before we reached that\nstation, the church-members there, after having heard what God was doing\nat Batticotta, became very much aroused to pray for the influences of\nthe Holy Spirit to descend upon the impenitent in their seminary also.\nSoon after we reached the station, we held a meeting with the girls.\nSome of them were then deeply concerned for the salvation of their\nsouls; but it was not until Wednesday afternoon, that we knew how\npowerfully the Spirit of God had been at work. The meeting which we held\nwith the seminarists at that time was one of the most solemn meetings\nwhich I ever attended. One of them, a girl of high caste, and of a very\ngood family, said to her companions in that meeting, \"My sisters, I have\nbeen a proud one among you. I hope that if you ever see me proud again,\nyou will tell me of it. I used to tell the missionaries, that I had\ngiven myself to the Saviour, but I had not done it.\" Another of the\ngirls burst into tears, and cried out aloud. As she could not restrain\nher feelings, and did not wish to disturb the assembly, she arose and\nleft it. She retired to one of the prayer-rooms adjoining the seminary,\nthere to weep alone. She, however, was not left alone. Mr. Poor, one of\nmy missionary associates, followed her, and endeavored to administer the\nconsolations of the Gospel to her; but she refused to be comforted. All\nher distress seemed to arise from a single source. \"I told you a\nfalsehood,\" said she, \"last Monday, in saying that I had dedicated\nmyself to the Saviour, when I had not.\" Perhaps she thought at that\ntime, that she had thus dedicated herself to the Saviour, but\nafterwards found that she had deceived herself. In this wretched state\nof mind, she continued until half-past ten o'clock that night, when she\ncame into Mr. Spaulding's house, where I then was, and wished to know\nwhat she must do to be saved. She was told, as she had often been told\nbefore, that she must dedicate herself entirely to her Saviour. She went\naway, and returned the same night at about half-past eleven o'clock,\nsaying, that she had found HIM.\n\n    \"Friends, is not my case amazing?\n     What a Saviour I have found.\"\n\nMy dear young friends, are there any of you who have never given your\nhearts to Christ? If so, let me entreat you to follow the example of\nthat dear little girl of whom I have now been speaking. She found it to\nbe necessary to give her heart to the Saviour, and I hope that she did\ngive it to him. O that you too might give up your hearts to him. Alas,\nif you do not, you must soon go down to eternal burnings where you will\nbe constrained to cry out, Lost, lost, lost for ever! Be careful, my\ndear children, O be careful that this young girl does not rise up\nagainst you in the last day, and condemn you. She must do so--she will\ndo so, if you do not, like her, choose Christ as your portion. But I am\ndigressing, and must go back to the point I left.\n\nThe next day, one of our missionary sisters, who had lately reached\nCeylon from America, came to Oodooville, to witness the nature of the\nwork which she heard was in progress at that place. As she was entering\nMr. Spaulding's house, she was met by one of the most consistent\nchurch-members of the seminary, who declared that she had lost her hope\nof being a Christian. Perhaps this church-member was disposed to write\nbitter things against herself because she did not feel all that warmth\nin religion which marked the conduct of those who, at that time, were\nindulging the hope that they had passed from death to life. After the\nsister to whom I alluded had been in the house a little while, she\nrequested Mrs. Spaulding to allow her to have an interview with such of\nthe girls as were entertaining a hope of their interest in the Saviour.\nThese were twenty-two in number. This interview was granted. As she\nknew nothing about the Tamul language, I acted as her interpreter.\nThrough me, she requested the girls to give a statement of their\nfeelings. One of them arose, and said, \"I feel as happy as an angel. I\nfeel joys that I can express to no one but my Saviour; and I am just as\ncertain that my sins are forgiven, as if I had sent up a karduthaase,\"\nthat is, a letter to heaven, \"and received an answer to it.\" Another of\nthe girls said, that the missionaries had often talked with her about\nher dedicating herself to the Saviour, but that she did not then know\nwhat it meant. \"I now know,\" added she, \"what it means, for God has\ntaught it to me.\" Another of the girls said, \"Though they put me in the\nfire, I will never forsake the Saviour.\"\n\nNow, my dear children, I must bid you farewell Probably I shall never\nsee you, unless you come to this heathen land, until I meet you at the\njudgment-seat of Christ. If you do not become missionaries, most of you\nwill probably die, and be buried where you now are. Probably I shall die\nin this heathen land. But we shall not always sleep in our graves. After\na little season, the archangel's trumpet will sound, and you in\nAmerica, and I in India, shall hear his voice proclaiming, \"Awake, ye\ndead, and come to judgment.\" And we shall all at once rise from our\ngraves, and stand before our Judge. And where shall I then see you?\nShall I see any of you on the left hand of Christ, and hear him say,\n\"Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and\nhis angels?\" O, if I should hear that dreadful sentence pronounced\nagainst you, how would my heart die within me. How could I bear to hear\nit. Oh, I could not--I could not bear to hear it. My dear children, if\nyou are yet out of Christ, I entreat you, _at this very moment_, to lay\ndown this book, and throw yourselves at the feet of your Saviour. Tell\nhim, that you are lost sinners, deserving to be cast into everlasting\nburnings. Tell him, that though you have been wicked children, you will\nleave off your wickedness, and be his for ever. Plead with him, with as\nmuch earnestness as a _drowning_ man would plead with you to save him,\nto give you the influences of his Holy Spirit, to create within you a\nclean heart, and renew within you a right spirit, without which you are\neternally undone; and continue to plead, until he pardons you, and\nreceives you as his children. By all the sufferings of the Son of God,\nby all the joys of heaven, by all the torments of hell, by the\nsolemnities of your dying bed, by the value of your immortal souls\n_which, if once lost, must be lost for ever_, I beseech you thus\n_immediately_ to throw yourselves at his feet, and plead with him to\nmake you his. Neglect this duty--neglect giving yourselves to Christ,\neven for one minute, and it may be, that you will be lost, yea, LOST FOR\nEVER.","title":"Dr. Scudder's Tales for Little Readers, About the Heathen.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":37965}