Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1813-07-26
ABSTRACT OF
s EVANGELICAL ExER7Tors IN HsIh"
- - Ao w

EVANGELICAL E4ER7IoFS IN ASIA y
No ".
Csnaisisy a condensed h,ssoyy " modern Dans.
l~ssons a. The Sc, iptI,es INTO the Language,
Of Eoaon Asic.
The Tamsl Bible, the first edition of the
Scriptures that was pubished IN the East,
was completed 1t Tranquebsr in 1919, by
zleeenbsls. the first Danish NJ ssionsry,
afier the labor offu,een years, s. has since
passed through q succession OF I'm ,lsoyeI e.
ditions. From the Tranquebar press issued,
subsequently,, the Book OF Psalms in The
Hlndos,snee language and Arabic chafae-
ser.
Though the Dutch obtained an cs,nb.
lishrnent In the Indian seas a century be-
fore the Danish Mission commenced, the Y
were later in their attempts 10 pun The word
Of God into the hands of the natives. The
Malay bible was published in the Arabic
cha acter At Bs,s,is, in 1888. under the al.
rectloh Of Jacob Mossei, G wernor Gene a.
OF the Oatcb pos esslons IN the East Indies.
The whole VI the NV 'restsmeni, & three
Books Of the Old, were also translated INFO
The language of Ceylon, and the greater
part OF the whole Of The New Testament
into the Chinese, a copy Of which was pa
served IN the british Museum.--This APP
pears to have been VII that has been done n
modern times 10 give written Revelation
To Asia, before TIC commencement n ofthose
exertions which have distinguished the
present age.
IT, under sking version Of the Scriptures
into the Indian tongue, the translstofs had
not 10 acquii C as many d stinct languages rs
there are names in their accounts. Those
names in general denote Only different dia
lec,s derived from one common root, and
beating a sirong Affinity TO each other, so
that when one was known q knowledge OF
the rest was easily acquired Sir William
Jones supposed tia, all the languages OF A.
STA nigh, be raced to three roofs, the Ara.
bisn. he Sbsnssrii, and the Tartar. The
Shspscrit, there is no doubt, was ancien ly
spoken over very ex ensive regions. & be.
came dead language from the desire OF
the Bfshmins TO lock up their sacred wri-
tings from the Common people. THIS Ian
su.ge 10 the immediate parent u The Hin
dostsnee. the BengaIec, Mahratta, Onsss,
TelDga, Carnsta, Cuzersttee, Tsfnul, &c
tine meaning of four words on. Olive OF iheb
oil being al once suggested by a knowIed dye
of the primitive tongue. With knowledge
of tae HlndostsDee alone, which is calio d
!" The grand popular language Of Hindos.
TAM" one may be understood over slniosl all
,hst country. This language, tho IT yer
vades Hindoslon generally, is chiefly spo
ken in Bengal. and 10 the west rs far -
lest As Delhi.
Ia the province Of Bengal, besides the
Shsnscrit, the distinct languages ate. used,
tho' not with equal currency viz. the Ben
galec, the Persian, (which come in ny he
Mogul conquerors,) and the hindos,snee
The latter varies much in It's dislec,s. and
in some of them is indeed mixed with Other
Languages. The Bengalee rs SPOKEN by the
Brshmins, and IS the sole channel OF episto'
lazy communication among the Hindoos Of
that province. AS their accounts are kept,
and their business transacted IN no other
language, IL issometiuss sailed "fte com