THE

PLAN OF A COLLEGE,

COMMENCED AT

BANGALORE,

&c.

IN whatever country the principles of true religion have been embraced, the study of true learning has been pursued and encouraged; and this has proceeded from the harmony which exists between them. Wherever Christianity is promulgated and received, all the blessings which it is destined to bestow upon the human race, will of necessity be widely diffused among the people, and numbers who do not yield their hearts to its supreme and ennobling influence, will yet to a certain extent be benefited.

In a large proportion of the world, darkness still covers the earth and gross darkness the people. This is the consequence of sin, man's departure from God, and his rejection of the offered terms of reconciliation. The sable wings of spiritual death are spread over this moral wilderness and conceal the light of heaven from its crowded population; consequently an icy

coldness, a dead-like stillness, a mental stagnation, pervade the general mass. Heathen philosophers, for ages, laboured to meliorate the condition of their fellow-mortals. Their efforts were praiseworthy, and many of their maxims, so far as they extended, were good. By them an impetus was given to the instinctive principles of our nature, and the social bands were strengthened; by diffusing knowledge they softened and humanized man; by the cultivation of arts they contributed to his domestic comforts; and by giving security to life and property, they preserved him in many instances from herding with the beasts and prowling as the savage in the desert. They attempted to define the bounds of society, to strengthen the sacred ties of social life, and enforce a regard to reciprocal obligations.

All these are benefits, and it is readily conceded, have been partially retained with, or bestowed on, many of our race by the cultivation of science, the arts and literature, independently of Christianity. They are the gifts of natural religion and human culture: and let those whose names and efforts are recorded in the historic page, receive their merited reward. Were we born only for time, and desirous to enjoy our little span as our only portion, then would we with profound reverence turn our eyes to these sages and sit at their feet to receive their word. But we feel we possess a living, an immortal principle, which will burst forth from this body as from a prison, when it shall return to its kindred element; and this

principle which, properly speaking, is man's self, will, thus released, instantly enter a state where every power it possesses will be invigorated, perfected, and rendered much more capable of enduring that pain or enjoying that pleasure, which the Creator will award as the consequence of present desires and pursuits.

Viewing ourselves therefore as probationers for another and more perfect state of existence, in vain we turn our eyes to those sages of antiquity, or listen to the dictates of more modern heathen instructors. Measuring their widest maxims by a correct moral standard, we find that they are not calculated to raise this immortal principle within, to the full enjoyment of light and blessedness. Comparing the light which they shed with the life-giving rays of the Sun of Righteousness, we find it is the flickerings of sparks which men have kindled, as of thorns under a pot, around which we might sport and dance till the close of life's short dream: but this should we have from the hand of the Lord, we should be laid down in sorrow and never see the light of any morning. We would therefore hail Christianity as alone possessing a sovereign and heart-cheering remedy for every moral evil, and rejoice that the author of our being has bestowed this infinitely valuable boon on man. The Christian religion has always preceded, laid the foundation of, and encouraged, as well as taught the manner of pursuing, truly general, useful, and correct speculations. Nor is there one principle of universal knowledge, or one discovery in science, we will not

*

say contradicted by any statement in Scripture, but which is not supported by it: nay more, it is a matter of probable conjecture whether a basis may not be found in the Christian record for every general principle, at least in ethical and mental, if not also in physical philosophy.

The land of our fathers has been enriched by the streams of this heaven-born religion, and illumined by its divine rays. Freely have we received and freely are we commanded to give. Britain has long stood pre-eminent among the nations for her adherence to true religion and her advancement in every branch of useful and polite learning, and only as the former was permitted to establish a possession, and sway her sceptre, has the latter made progress, discovered her influence, and diffused her blessings in that happy island. The sons of Britain have wandered to the utmost bounds, and in a thousand instances proved themselves worthy descendants of such a parent. In later times especially have they by their conduct, as well as their conversation, exhibited the ennobling truths and the practically beneficial tendency of the religion which is the glory of our land; and by their efforts have they mightily contributed to the diffusion of general knowledge among the people, whom they have visited or brought under their sway. They have given patronage to letters, in contributions to schools, and for the establishment of colleges, whilst some of them have stood forth as the founders of institutions for the promotion of learning and religion. Institu

tions, noble in their principles, grand in their design, and benevolent in their objects, and which we trust will prove of the greatest advantage to the people for whom they are intended. Such are the Anglo-Chinese College, Malacca; the Baptist Hindoo College, Serampore; the Bishop's College, Calcutta: the Sincapore Institution, and, by Americans, the Jaffna College, Ceylon. The purifying and heavenly principles of Christianity are as efficacious on the heart, the dispositions of Hindoos, as on the heart of Europeans, and their being partakers of our common nature gives them a legal right to share with us the property, the best blessings graciously bestowed by the universal parent; therefore do we hold the object now before us, and the establishment of institutions for the moral improvement of all the native population in this part of the world, as public pledges, that we possess a brother's feeling for the inhabitants of Hindostan, and consider ourselves under a very responsible claim, a heavy obligation, to impart to them that knowledge that has been communicated to us, which has made many, and will make all such as receive it, wise unto salvation; to distribute to them the bread of eternal life, and to seek with our whole soul to elevate them in the social and moral scale.

The Institution for whose advancement the present effort is made, is a natural production of Christian labours and principles, and a necessary accompaniment of a spreading Gospel. In the Christian church offices have been instituted, and by her great Founder