action. Such is our model: and such should be the character of the modern servants of Jesus, who go forth, not counting their lives dear unto them, that they may finish their course with joy, and be enabled to say, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. And every Christian will readily bid them God speed, and pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth more such labourers into his harvest. "Heaven speed the canvass gallantly unfurl'd, Whatever doubts the incredulous might cherish as to the visit of St. Thomas, it is certain that one more recently and far less deservedly enumerated among the apostles and saints of Christianity, visited Mileapore, and it is probable, lent the weight of his name, his reputed sanctity and apparent devotedness, to the furtherance of a system of imposture, fabrication, and ignorance. Francis Xavier wrote some letters from this ancient city, which are still extant. From Goa he had travelled to Cape Comorin to visit the fishermen of the coast of Travancore; among whom he promulgated such a view of the christian faith as corresponded with In his own imperfect and perverted system, and as was but too consonant to the corruption of the middle ages. The measure of his success he thus describes : " In one month were baptized some thousand idolaters, and frequently in one day were baptized a well peopled village; and so soon as those infidels had received baptism, they ran vying with each other to demolish the temples of the idols." His activity and success would have been creditable to a better cause. He was not ashamed to be his own herald, but went from street to street sounding his bell, and inviting the people to hear his communications. By these means he sometimes collected five or six thousand hearers. his superficial and rapid career, he proceeded to the city of St. Thomas; but the people were too flexible for his enthusiastic mind-he longed for dangers. Had he declared the spiritual things of the kingdom of God, he would have experienced trials enough, when he must have contended, not against flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickednesses in high places. Paul found no lack of conflicts and cares, but it was otherwise with Xavier; he formed the determination of seeking yet greater dangers in more distant regions, by which he might still farther extend the pale of his church; he returned from Mileapore to Goa, and thence proceeded for the islands of Japan. Deep and intense is the respect which Hindoo papists render to the memory of this missionary; and many more are the wonders performed by him since dead, than while he lived. He lies enshrined in a monument of great beauty in the city of Goa, and his coffin is enchased with silver and with precious stones. Strange contrast, between the precision of this church, regarding the mortal remains of her saints, and the uncertainty which beclouds all the records of their principles, their hopes, and their fears, the truths which they taught, and the efficacy of these truths on the minds of their disciples! And still more apparent is the comparison between the care which they take of the body, and the manner in which scripture worthies regarded the dust of their frail tabernacles. The members of the church of Rome are disposed to boast of Xavier as one of their most modern saints, and to hold him forth as the representative of the Jesuits; his relation to the society of Ignatius, is at all times prominently introduced, especially in the records of his life. True, it is related, that Francis Xavier was reclaimed by Ignatius; the means should also be remembered: a close intimacy was, in consequence, formed between them; Xavier became a member of the order organized by Loyola, but it was before the system of the society was matured, or the policy of the founder had ripened to its fruit, that the missionary embarked for the eastern world; then his intercourse was limited to letters: so that, unless whatever features of their economy may be found in the deceit of the human heart, he was not indebted to his master for his success. It may be deemed a more perplexing question ;whether he were really actuated by those motives which should animate a servant of God, and whether he adhered to the rule which ought to be the standard of christian activity? Was it right to cry, "Yet more, O Lord, yet more sufferings and troubles?" Did it not savour more of superstition than of humility-more of zeal without knowledge, than of the spirit of truth and wisdom? It was, perhaps, more characteristic of the quietest system, than of the religion of Him who was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. His rejection of that provision offered for his support by the care of his friends, displayed more of presumption than of faith; his refusal of the comforts of life, and the chosen destitution of his circumstances, savoured more of voluntary humility than an acceptable service. He was active, but it was not according to the example of apostles-it was to propagate the system of popery: he travelled far, but it was not to sow the seeds of scriptural knowledge: he acquired great influence among the people, but he did not employ it to inspire them with a love for the Scriptures of truth: he inculcated for doctrines the precepts and commandments of men, so that the people who remain as the descendants of his converts, though separated from the heathen, are remarkable rather for their political character, than their religion. Thirty thousand of these Romish fishermen in the place where Xavier laboured, assembled at the palace of Travancore, in the year 1804, and defended their Hindoo prince against the rebellion of the Nairs, and conquered that military body. The first Lutheran missionary to India landed in the year 1706, on the Coromandel coast at Tranquebar; a Danish factory, situated between Pondicherry and Negapatam, or Fort St. David. The Danish Mission College excited in the government, or Asiatic Company of Denmark, no such alarms or apprehensions as have been often expressed by British governors and statesmen in respect of christian missions to the Hindoos. Zeigenbalg, who sailed in 1705 for Tranquebar, was the leader of a goodly band, who have from time been commissioned to make Christ known among the population of India. Grundler, Fabricius, Schwartz, Jenicke, Gericke, Pohle, John, and Kolhoff, with their associates, have passed from their labours to their reward. A company of Moravians reached Tranquebar about the year 1760, and endeavoured, by their frugal and industrious habits, to sustain their united operations, in the Brethren's Garden, a piece of ground, which they bought, about a mile from the town. But other fields seemed more inviting for the brethren's labours, and the Coromandel coast was assigned to the fidelity and perseverance of the Lutheran missionaries. The station at Tranquebar was still supplied and sustained from the Danish mission college: but Tanjore, Negapatam, Cuddalore, Trichinopoly, Palamcottah, or Tinnevelly, and Madras, while occupied by |