same errand, but returned without any greater success. Of the Missionaries who went out in the Duff, those who were left at the Friendly Islands and the Marquesas, abandoned their posts in despair, as did eleven of the eighteen left at Otaheite. The remaining seven had not, in the course of six years, baptized a single Islander. In the mean time, the depravity of the natives in killing their infants and other abominations, increased so fast, as to threaten their total extinction. In the Bengal government, extending over from 30 to 40 millions of people, with all its influence and encouragement, not more than 80 converts have been made by the Protestant Missionaries in seven years, and those were almost all Chandalas, or outcasts from the Hindoo religion, who were glad to get a pittance for their support; (1) for the perseverance of several of whom,' their instructors say, they tremble.' (2)—How different a scene do the Catholic Missions present! To say nothing of ancient Christendom, all the kingdoms and states of which were reclaimed from Paganism and converted to Christianity by Catholic preachers, and not one of them by preachers of any other description; what extensive and populous Islands, Provinces, and States, in the East and in the West, were wholly, or in a great part, reclaimed from Idolatry, soon after Luther's revolt, by Catholic Missionaries! But to come still nearer to our own time: F. Bouchet, alone, in the course of his 6 (1) Extract of a Speech of C. Marsh, Esq., in a Committee of the H. of C., July 1, 1815. See also Major Waring's Remarks on Oxford Sermons. (2) Transact. of Prot. Miss. quoted in Edinb. Review, April, 1808. twelve years' labours in Madura, instructed and baptized 20,000 Indians, while F. Britto, within fifteen months only, converted and regenerated 8,000, when he sealed his mission with his blood. By the latest returns which I have seen, from the Eastern Missionaries to the Directors of the French Missions Etrangères, it appears that in the Western District of Tonquin, during the five years preceding the beginning of this century, 4,101 adults and 26,915 children were received into the Church by baptism, and that in the lower part of Cochin-China 900 grown persons had been baptized in the course of two years, besides vast numbers of children. The Empire of China contains six Bishops and some hundreds of Catholic Priests. In a single Province of it, Sutchuen, during the year 1796, 1,500 adults were baptized, and 2,527 Catechumens were received for instruction. By letters of a later date from the above-mentioned Martyr Dufresse, Bishop of Tabraca, and Vic. Ap. of Sutchuen, it appears, that during the year 1810, in spite of a severe persecution, 965 adults were baptized; and that during 1814, though the persecution increased, 829, without reckoning infants, received baptism. Bishop Lamote, Vic. Ap. of Fokien, testifies that, in his district, during the year 1810, 10,384 infants and 1,677 grown persons were baptized, and 2,674 Catechumens admitted.-From this short specimen, I trust, dear Sir, it will appear manifest to you, on which Christian Society God bestows his grace to execute the work of the Apostles, as well as to preserve their Doctrine, their Orders, and their Mission. As to the wonderful effects which your Visitor expects in the conversion of the Pagan world, from the Bible Society, and the three score and three translations into foreign tongues, of the English translation of the Bible, I beg leave to ask him; who is to vouch to the Tartars, Turks, and Idolaters, that the Testaments and Bibles, which the Society is pouring in upon them, were inspired by the Creator? Who is to answer for these Translations, made by Officers, Merchants, and Merchants' Clerks, being accurate and faithful? Who is to teach these barbarians to read, and, after that, to make any thing like a connected sense of the mysterious volumes? Does Mr. C. really think that an inhabitant of Otaheite, when he is enabled to read the Bible, will extract the sense of the 39 Articles or of any other Christian system whatever from it? In short, has the Bible Society, or any of the other Protestant Societies, converted a single Pagan or Mahometan by the bare text of Scripture? When such a convert can be produced, it will be time enough for me to propose to him those further gravelling questions, which result from my observations on the Sacred Text in a former letter to you. In the mean time, let your Visitor rest assured that the Catholic Church will proceed in the old and successful manner, by which she has converted all the Christian people on the face of the earth; the same which Christ delivered to his Apostles and their successors: Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. Mark, xvi. 15.-On the other hand, how illusory the Gentleman's hopes are, that the depravity of this age and country will be reformed by the efforts of the Bible Society, has been victoriously proved by the Rev. Dr. Hook, who, with other clear-sighted churchmen, evidently sees that the grand principle of Protestantism, strictly reduced to practice, would undermine their establishment. One of his brethren, the Rev. Mr. Gisborne, had publicly boasted that, in proportion to the opposition which the Bible Society had met with, its annual income had increased, till it reached near a £100,000 in a year: Dr. Hook, in return, showed by lists of the convictions of criminals, during the first seven years of the Society's existence, that the wickedness of the country, instead of being diminished, had almost been doubled! (1) Since that period up to the present year, it has increased three-fold, and fourfold, compared with its state before the Society began. (1) List of Capital Convictions in London and Middlesex in the following years: from Dr. Hook's Charge and the London Chronicle: In the year 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816|1817| It appears, by a return made to the House of Commons, in obedience to their order, June 5, in the last year (1818), that the number of criminals committed for trial, and of those sentenced to death, during the last thirteen years, nearly corresponding with those of the Bible Society's progress, has been about tripled, namely: Committed for Trial. In 1805............ 4,605 Sentenced to Death. In 1805............ 350 POSTSCRIPT. I HAVE now, dear Sir, completed the second task which I undertook, and therefore proceed to sum up my evidence. Having then proved in my twelve former letters, the rough copies of which I have preserved, that the two alleged Rules of Faith, that of Private Inspiration and that of Private Interpretation of Scripture, are equally fallacious, and that there is no certain way of arriving at the truth of Divine Revelation, but by hearing that Church, which Christ built on a rock, and promised to abide with for ever; I engaged, in this my second series of letters, to demonstrate, which, among the different Societies of Christians, is the Church that Christ founded and still protects. For this purpose, I have had recourse to the principal characters or marks of Christ's Church, as they are pointed out in Scripture, and formally acknowledged by Protestants of nearly all descriptions, no less than by Catholics, in their Articles, and in those Creeds which form part of their private prayers and public Liturgy; namely Unity, Sanctity, Catholicity and Apostolicity. In fact, this is what every one acknowledges who says, in the Apostles' Creed, I believe in the Holy Catholic Church; and, in the Nicene Creed, (1) I believe one Catholic Apostolic Church. Treating of the first mark of the true Church, I proved from natural reason, Scripture, and Tradition, that Unity is essential to her; I then showed that there is no Union or principle of Union (1) See the Communion Service in Common Prayer. |