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knowledge of Christianity , " so as to be able to silence the shrewd and designing , and convince the intelligent and conscientious inquirer , " they are
introduced " into scenes of angry contest and disputation , in ^ which the personal and devotional virtues , just , perhaps , beginning to take root , are sacrificed for the sake of a loud voice
and a confident manner . * Of this class about thirty , who have distinguished themselves for zeal and activity , appear to be employed more statedly in the work ; but with respect to the native preachers and native converts in general , Mr . Adam is of opinion ( p . 25 ) , that " they are too
few , too poor , too ignorant , and too much despised by their countrymen to mate much impression by their labours / ' Of one of the native preachers , in connexion with the Serampore Baptist Missionaries , he records the following fact :
46 Huridas , in a conversation with Raminohun Roy , to whose house he had gone uninvited , contended for the Deity of Christ only in the same sense in which he contended for the Deity of Krishna , one of the Hindoo incarnations , express *
ing the utmost indignation at the supposition that he had denied Krishna ; and having evidently admitted the incarnation of Qhrist only as an addition to the incarnations iti which he had previously believed . "—P . 25 .
Mr . Adam then proceeds to give some information respecting the circumstances and manner in which public services are conducted ; and concludes his account of the direct exertions to propagate Christianity ,
by expressing his belief ( p . 26 ) , ' that it will be found , that those who have paid attention to the subject before leaving England or America , have the conviction , on their arrival in Hindostau , that less is done towards the
above specified objects , than , from the published accounts , they had been led to suppose /' Mr . Adam next enters upon the indirect modes of missionary exertion , in which there is more for the ; mind
to rest upon with satisfaction . Of these the first is the formation of churches , the members of which are all either Europeans , or Europeans and Country-boras , or principally Natives . Of this last ; cla $ s he mentions lit teen plac . es where there aje such
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societies , which , he thinks ., do not average twenty each . " The existence of such Societies , formed for the express purpose of promoting the religious and moral improvement of the members , cannot but be
attended with beneficial consequences , directly to those connected with them , and indirectly to others by their example . It Is particularly desirable that the influence of such examples should be felt by the Christian population of India , were it for
no other purpose than to promote the conversion of the natives , which will be retarded , not only by the corruptions which continue to deface the pure system of Christianity , but also by the immoral lives of many of its professors . ' —P . 29 .
The second indirect means is the promotion of education , by establishing and superintending schools , and preparing works of useful information ; through which , in all probability , the greatest success must be expected . In these exertions , others employ their efforts besides the
Missionaries and their various connexions . During the last two years ( p . 35 ) Ran > mokun Roy , with the assistance of two or three friends , has supported a school , in which sixty Hindoo children receive instruction in English , and of which Mr . Adam is one of the visiters - In some of the societies for
this object , no efforts are made to communicate religious instruction : in others this forms a part of the design . These various societies , Mr . Adam justly observes , ( p . 35 , ) in which Europeans and Natives unite in seeking a common and highly important end , contribute to raise the native
character ; and , in proportion as Missionaries are connected with them , to re ^ move the prejudices that exist against them in the native mind . The third indirect means is the publishing of periodical works . Two
facts mentioned in the Correspondence , ( p . 37 , ) are particularly interesting : the one is , that the Missionaries edit a newspaper in the Bengallee language , which is probably the first of the kind , and which has called forth two or three others conducted
by natives ; the other ( which has already been noticed in oqr pages ) \ sr that a small monthl y publication appears in Calcutta , called the Unitarian Repository . Mr . Adam gives thw this general conclusion :
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Occasional Notices of American Publications . 177
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VOh . X * . l Ja
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1825, page 177, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2534/page/49/
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