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    obliged to pay very high for it . The ground on which the Baptist Chapel stands measures ] biggah 12 cottahs , and cost less than 2000 Rupees—that on which the Independent Chapel stands measures 1 biggah 8 cottahs , and cost 10 , 000 Rupees exactly—that which has been purchased tor the

    Unitarian Chapel measures 1 bigg-ah 4 cottahs , and cost upwards of 12 , 000 Rupees . It is true that the Independent Chapel is more eligibly situated than the Baptist one , and the Unitarian Chapel , when built , will be more eligibly situated than even the

    Independent one ; but eligibility of situation , although it may in some measure account and compensate for tlje difference , does not enter into the present question , which is not one of cuibono . Viewing the question

    merely as a pecuniary one , you will at once perceive that the high price we have paid for the ground—which we were induced to give from the fear , occasioned by a long-continued and till then fruitless search , that we

    should not be able to get ground at all—gives an appearance of extravagance to our plans which they do . not really possess . The fact is , that we will go as far as our funds will enable us in what we consider will serve any one purpose of practical utility , but as far as my influence extends we

    will not incur a single farthing of debt to serve even such a purpose , much less to spend it on what is either superfluous or useless . I hope I shall be found to have afforded you satisfaction on this point ; if not , I shall willingly afford you whatever other explanation , you may consider necessary or desirable .

    The objects contemplated in the erection of a Unitarian Chapel in Calcutta are two-fold , consisting , first 9 in the diffusion of correct views of the gospel among professing * Christians ; and , secondly , in the diffusion of correct views of religion in general among Hindoos and Mussulmans . Now ,

    although each of these objects , when both are combined , will prove greatly auxiliary to . the other , yet each is also capable of being considered on its own independent merits . Waving , then , all reference to the natives , I would ask those who , considering the obstacles to their conversion and improvement , " object to distant schemes of

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    benevolence , " whether it is pot a matter of vast importance to raise the standard of pure Christianity among the 900 , 000 professing Christians wfto have been calculated to reside on the Continent of India and its contiguous islands , and whether the word of Go 4 can be sounded forth with greater

    advantage froin any other place than Calcutta , where it is now proposed to erect a Unitariart Chapel with thai object especially in view ? J hold that the single object of evangeliziag the Christians residing in this quarter of the world , would fully justify ti&p establishment of a Unitarian Mission

    on a much more extensive scale than is now contemplated , for that and another object at least equally important . Such a Mission may be considered an " experiment / ' inasmuch as it has never been tried before , and ,

    like every other first attempt , may fail from * causes which no prudence could foresee and no wisdpm avert . But in such matters , where human nature is the subject of experiment , an absolute certainty of success can never be held out ; a probability of success , proportioned in degree to the nature of the work to be done , and

    the amount of means employed , is all that can reasonably be expected , and such a probability of success , I have no hesitation to affirm , exists in the present instance , even if we extend our views to the natives , and much

    more if we limit them to professing Christians . Among professing Christians it is those born in Europe that give a tone to society , whether as officers in the army , as civil servants of the Company , as lawyers , or as merchants and traders . Of these different

    classes there is a respectable proportion sincerely and zealously attached to the popular system of belief ; there is also a respectable proportion firmly attached to that system merely because it is popular and established ; there is a certain proportion smaller , but also respectable , conscientiously attached to the doctrines of

    Unitarianism ; there is at least an equal proportion open and avowed unbelievers , i . e . persons who would ridicule Christianity , or profess their unbelief of it in conversation , but who would not perhaps permit themselves to be published as unbelievers to the worldt ; and th $ re is a greater proportion than

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    Letter from the Rev . W . Adam to the r Bev . James Yatez * 31

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1826, page 31, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2544/page/31/