The Sun.
London, England, 1824-10-13 00:00:00

THE CHURCH IN INDIA.

(From the Calcutta Julia 1101.1

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL VISITATION and OR-
DINATION at the CATHEDRAL, CALCUTTA, on
ASCENSION-DAY, THURSDAY, MAT 27.
After the morning service for the day, which was read by the
Rev. T. Thomasomtunior, Chaplain at the Preeidency,the Visi-
whin Sermon was preached by' the Rev. Dr. Parish, the Garri-
son Chaplain of Fort William, from Ezek. xxxiv. 23.—" And I
will set on one shepherd ; and he shall feed them ; he shall feed
them, and he shall be their shepherd." After explaining the
words spoken as referring to God, and the shepherd sent its his
son, he enlarged on the duties of spiritual shepherds, and ad-
dressed the Clergy present; then adverted to the Missionaries
who were sent by the Society for Promoting Christian Know-
ledge, and the Society for Propagating the Gospel—to the zeal
necessary to bring such Missionaries here, and the ardour and
Importance of the duties in which they had engaged ; conclud-
ing an appropriate and impressive sermon with a suitable ap-
plication to the new candidate for ordination this day.
After the sermon, the Lord Bishop of Calcutta took his seat
at the altar, and the Clergy, being assembled near the altar,
were then addressed by the Lord -Bishop, seated in his chair,
and we trust our readers will feel interested in the following
brief and imperfect abstract of his Lordship's discourse.
His Lordship commenced his charge by congratulating the
Clergy on the probable increase of their number from 211 to 31;
parental anti
and
care expressed
which
promptedsincere t
o gratitude
beneficialfor athe n
emmuunriefitcenn munificent
statement
so furentoitetexte therittt nlzealo
wantsf
ourof India, nbdrieat,hTesn Lordshipthom e
unsc conceived,
would
to show the reason
ttini sdaep
ofp o
ourint and
err es der
while i n
itthewlotentidewsdeernyte and Christian
solici-
we have to be grateful for the measures they have already
adopted.
enteredtip
India,
tinto
order someto detailpo
ecclesias-
ticales sit a4bilii sal; e flierip
rt i n
de-
ficiency was principally observable, and the causes from which
it had proceeded. int oouft wherethe t i the
Those (continued his Lordship, while speaking of the back-
wardness of the English Clergy to enter into the service in ques-
tion), those, indeed, would be much mistaken, who should an-
ticipate in the fortunes of an Indian Chaplain a life of indo-
lence, of opulence, of luxury. An Indian Chaplain must come
prepared for Mira labour, in a climate where labour is often
death ; he must conic prepared for rigid self-denial in situations
where all around him incites to sensual indulgence ; he must
be content with an income, liberal indeed in itself, but altoge-
ther disproportioned to the charities, the hospitalities, the un-
avoidable expences to which his situation renders him liable.—
lie must be content to bear his life in his hand, and to leave,
very often, those dearer than life itself to his care alone, who
feeds the ravens and who never or most rarely suffere the seed
of the righteous to beg their bread. Nor are the qualifications
which he will need, nor the duties which will be imposed on him,
less arduous than the perils of his situation. He must be no
lenadnof angere cultivated
their
tvsouls t
un-
courtly recluse, or he will lose all influence over the higher classes
of his congregation ; intn
iaedd, miaitininsti tob,arten
tn:htiehten s
aamie
man of
tteie
l n pleasure,sceoint
(ddoensrrche
condescend
willnddton
n
circumstances,u humbler ii
nt isitcelin)a
classes
stfegosnruoo.liritle.incirnlteiits,
nahaneastakierpeleso
orteshwreLehirot
leo
riles
ettahnloewbf
always
silenktitloe.:l
er
intercourse
English
congrega-
tionilotivirsheilcwahriecheering
tnihiel
minister a school and temple of religion, and his morning and
evening walks a daily source of blessing and blessedness. Ills
servants will he of a different creed front hie own. His inter-
course will not be with the happy harmless peasant. His feet
will not be found at the wicker-gate of the well-known cottage;
beneath the venerable tree, in the grey church porch, and by the
side of the hop-ground or the corn-field, but he must kneel by
the bed of infection or despair, in the barrack, the prison, or
the hospital.
But to the well-tempered, the well-educated, the diligent,
and pious clergyman—who can endear himself to the poor
without vulgarity, and to the rich without involving himself in
their vices; who can reprove sin without harshness, and com-
fort penitence without undue indulgence ; who delights in his
master's work even when divested of many of those outward cir-
cumstances, which, in our own country, contribute to render
that work picturesque and interesting; who feels a pleasure in
bringing men to God, proportioned in the extent of their previ-
ous wanderings;—to such a man as Murtyn was—l can romiee
iso common usefulness and enjoyment in the situation of' an In.
diar. chaplain. I can promise, in any station to which he may
be assigned, an educated society and an alinomt unbounded
range of usefulness. I can promise him the favour of his su-
pesters, the friendship of his equals, and affection, strong as
death, front those whose wanderings he corrects, whose dis-
tresses he consoles, and by whose sick and dying bed he stands
as a ministering angel. Are further inducements needful ?-
1 can promise to such a man the esteem; the regard, the
veneration of the surrounding Gentiles, die consolation at
least of having removed from their minds by his blameless life
and winning mummers, some of the most inveterate anti injurious
prejudices which oppose themselves to the Gospel,—and the
honour, it may be, of which examples are not wanting among
you, of planting dieseross of Christ in the wilderness of a heathen
heart, and extending the frontiers of the visible Church amid
the hills of darkness, and the strong holds of error and idolatry.
His Lordship then adverted to the great assistance afforded
to the Ministers of the Gospel in India by the parental care. of
Government, the bounty of individuals, and the labours of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; in the establish-
ment of Schools, the distribution of religious tracts, and the
management offending libraries,
which Lordship wished to
become universal.
The Missionaries who attended the visitation were then ad.
dressed by the Bishop, who alluded to the intent and importance
of their labours ; and this led his Lordship to the consideration
of the great question of the conversion of the heathen, and to
some remarks on the late publication of the Abbe du Bois.
The unchristian spirit in which that work is written was severely
aid deservedly reproved ; and his gross mis-statements were
confuted by an appeal to the Protestant converts of Agra, of
nenares, of Meerut. and of Chuna. " Bear witness," said his
Lordship, " those numerous believers of our own immediate
neighbourhood, with whom though we differ on many, anti
doUlniess on very important points, I should hate myself if I
could regard them as any other than my brethren anti fellow.
servants in the Lord. Leletie populous Christian districts of
Malabar bear witness, where believers are not reckoned by so.
litary individuals, but by hundreds and by thousands. Bear
witness Ceylon, where the cross has lost its reproach, and the
chiefs of the land are gradually assuming, without scruple, the
attire, the language,
and time religion of Englishmen. And let
hint finally bear witness, whom we have now received into the
number of the commissioned servants of the church, and whom
we trust, at no distant day, to send forth, in the fullness of
his
Chricountrymenstian authoritfr oy, m
whose to make errnownrs he the
has h wayimse
of truth to those
lf been gra-
ciously delivered."
In concluding this part of his address,
his Lordship observed,
cc In
even from the taunts of an enemy a wise man will in-
crease his wisdom—and if we learn from the volume I have
quoted, greater moderation in our language, and a greater cir-
cumspection in our deportment—a more strict adherence to the