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years , had preserved their religion . The numerous followers of Confucius have , no less than the Hindoos , deviated from the pure worship of the founders of their faith . The religion professed by literary persons and men of rank in China , conrrists in a deep , inward veneration of God . "Live /*
says Confucius , " as , dying , you would have lived ; and do unto your neighbour as you would he should do unto you . " " This sect , " says Lord Kaimes , " have neither priests nor temples , and their religion is perhaps the most refined system ever practised by men .
It has been objected to as not fitted for the human race . " Thus we perceive that the doctrines of the Hindoo , the ^ JVIahomedan , and the Confucian religions , all assimilate in the belief of one , and only one , God ; and that all di them , in the progress of ignorance ,
degenerate into gross and cruel siipers ^^ n , accompanied by despotism . XlSt' only means of reforming them , % i j 5 i restoring among them a pure worapm , is by the light of reason . In furtBeJC confirmation of this argument , anoWte author has observed , "that
as un ^ ty in the Deity was not established in the countries where the Onri&i&i religion was first promul-S ^ t ^^ GKwtianity coul d not fail to pre ^ ij ^ pv $ r Paganis m ; for improvenaefet in t \ xe ipental faculties leads by sure steps , though slow , to one God . " The superstitious and intolerant Porto fai in
tuguese xyere spr ^ l their work of conversion . \ Yhen Vasco de Gama amv ^ d ^; Cochii \ . he found the Syrian Christians established there urtder a King . Th « Portuguese immediately clain ^ jd the di lirc he s as belonging to the ^ oj ^ e .. "* TKe feyrian Christians im plied ; ^ We never heard of the Pop e ^ and' 9 M ^ ° fp 3 r 1366 years had Bishops
appointed kythe Patipmrch of An tioch . " The Pojri ^ gixede Archbishop held a synod neat * iScjchin , at which 150 Syrian clergy appealed . His Holiness accused them of having married wives , of rejecting purgatory , the invocation of saints , and the " worship of images . These heresies he commanded them to
ab j ure under pain of suspension - while the Inquisition at Goa decreed that all their sacred books should be turned . F ^ m ^ J ^ p persecutprs , tjie Syrian Cl ^ ri | pap s fled to the forests on t ^ e Kio unt ^ iHa—every wl ^ ere the , asylum
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of libertjr . Nor have the exertions of unassuming Missionaries , unaided by a Free . Press , been more successful than those of the intolerant Mahomedans and Portuguese . They have , however , done no wrong , and much good , by their charities , by diffusing education , and by the example of their virtuous lives . Yet Abbe * Dubois , who sacrificed more than thirty years of his life to promote the conversion of the Hindoos , has declared the measure
hopeless ; and that he never knew a single instance of a Hindoo becoming a genuine convert to Christianity . It is not to be denied , but proudly asserted , that a Free Press must at
length produce in Asia one of the greatest revolutions that ever appeared in the world . The government of the Hindoos is a theocracy . Their manners , customs , and mode of thinking —their castes , their laws , their
despotism—all rest upon this supetfstition , which cannot long prevail if exposed to collision with a Free Press . This engine must destroy bigotry , and tear up despotism by the roots . It may be said , that such a revolution is dangerous . If so , it follows that the conversion of the Hindoos to
Christianity would be equally dangerous ; for by no arts could it be effected without a total subversion of the pre- ^ sent state of society . I deny , however , that a free' discussion , reguUited by wholesome laws , is dangerous * . During the administration of Warren
Hastings , the Press was free to licentiousness . Now this was a period of extreme difficulty and hazard . England was at war with America and with all Europe . Bengal was threatened bv Boemsha ; Benares was in reened by Boemsha ; Benares was in
revolt ; Oude convulsed , and , the Seifcs were plundering the Doat >;_ Madras , exhausted by famine , was . invaded by Hyder ; and Bombay was engaged in . a contest with Scindia and Holkar .
Hastings was constantly outvoted by his Council ; and there was not a rupee kx the Treasury . The Supreme Court was appointed as a check to misrule and oppression , and it set itself in opposition to the Governor . Not a judge was on speaking term 9 with the Governor - Genefal or his
Council . Writers wefre sure of protection while they transgressed not the law of libel . The Press w&& evdii so honest and indiscreet as to attack witb
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Free Prmk in India . 731
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1822, page 731, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2519/page/11/
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