some centuries past; that these, his incarnations, appeared to have no religion themselves, in order that they might be the more impartial arbitrators between the people of so many different creeds and sects who now inhabited the country; that they must be aware that they never had before been so impartially governed, and that they must continue to obey these governors, without attempting to pry further into futurity or the will of their gods.’ ”—Vol. II, p. 241.
Thus Brahmos, Bengalees, Parsees, and Hindoos, the educated, the agriculturists, and even the idolaters themselves, admit the mighty change, and rejoice in it. Instances are even found where candid men among them, and even Brahmins, will go further than all these have gone, as in the recent case at Arcot and its medical mission.
A reading-room had been opened at Madnapilly. At the dedication, the Rev. Jacob Chamberlain delivered an address, at the close of which a Brahmin requested permission to make some remarks. Without the least conjecture of what he was going to say, he was allowed to commence, when he proceeded to deliver a remarkable eulogy on the missionaries. He compared them to the mango tree, which, however beaten, and wounded, and stripped of its fruit, still goes on, year by year, to yield its wholesome fruit. He dwelt with enlargement and unction on this subject, and then added as follows:
“Now what is it makes him do all this for us? It is his Bible. I've looked into it a good deal at one time and another in the different languages I chance to know. It is just the same in all languages. The Bible—there is nothing to compare with it in all our sacred books for goodness, and purity, and holiness, and love, and for motives of action. Where did the English-speaking people get all their intelligence, and energy, and cleverness, and power? It is their Bible that gives it to them. And now they bring it to us and say, ‘This is what raised us; take it and raise yourselves.’ They do not force it upon us, as the Mohammedans used to their Koran; but they bring it in love, and translate it into our
