characters have been defined to fill them, as the means of increasing the number of her community, and advancing their knowledge in the principles, and their practical conformity to the precepts, which are embodied in her constitution.

Even in periods when miraculous aid was imparted and extraordinary means were employed, the general course was to train official persons by preparatory education. Under Moses were trained such as should after his removal sustain the character of teachers; and, in the late periods of the Jewish church, were the Schools of the Prophets. The first preachers of the Gospel continued under instruction for a series of years with the best of teachers: and it is still a scriptural requirement regarding a Bishop, that he be apt to teach. To diffuse the knowledge of the true God, it is required that many run to and fro on the earth; and these many must be raised up in the countries immediately concerned. So has it been from the beginning, and so have encouraging circumstances rendered it practicable in this place to some extent.

As servants of the church, as public stewards of the manifold grace of God, as men who if unfaithful shall one day be covered with shame, and who if diligent and faithful shall one day be adorned with glory; as men who would deserve well of our species, and promote the interest of humanity, we feel ourselves bound to seize and employ every facility for the moral cultivation and intellectual improvement of our fellow-men.

A considerable Christian community has been formed in connexion with this Mission, many of them are in the youth of life, capable of mental application, and possessed of useful talents. On every side of us are Christian establishments, in which, by divine influence, may be raised youths of equal promise. For the Christian churches native preachers are required. Native Evangelists will be the most efficient publishers to their countrymen of the tidings of great joy, The central situation, the healthy climate of this place, the protection and security of the British Government, the countenance of God which seems to have rested on the labours here, the particular views, and perhaps we may add, the peculiar bent of our own mind, point out Bangalore as a place for a Mission College.

The general object of this Institution will be to train young men as students for the work of the Ministry of the Christian Church, and for the other departments of labour, for propagating and defending the Gospel in the surrounding and adjacent countries. The design does not keep in view merely a short period which shall pass away, but our fervent expectation is, that it will yet be crowned with the gray hairs of old age, and exhibit the features of time and experience, clothed in the garb of venerable antiquity, Its influence we would not circumscribe by the bounds of mere location, nor limit by the confines of the Mysore Territory. But it will be the glory of the Institution, the desire of the projectors, and the natural operation of the whole plan, to embrace the people

who in every place speak the languages here studied, to scatter its blessings and strew its rewards from Cape Comorin to Delhi, from the western to the eastern shores of India. They are not the end of a party, the views of a sect, nor the interests of any one religious denomination, which are designed hereby to be promoted: but since the Bible alone is to be the standard, the unequivocal guide, and the last reference in all discussions of a religious nature; since the students are to receive only the general laws and authorized axioms of moral science, as the basis of their speculations; since full freedom will be enjoyed by them all to exercise their inalienable prerogative, which is truly of divine right, to think, examine, and decide for themselves; since what is sought will be only their moral elevation and intellectual improvement, we think the plan may be termed truly catholic, infolding all the sons of humanity, following the steps of divine Christianity over her wide domains, rejoicing in the evangelized parts of the earth, and having her delights with the disenthralled sons of men.

The Colleges now established, and this one among others perhaps, may possess an advantage over those of older date. The infancy of the latter was passed in the uncertain light of a false philosophy, their youth under the cloud of superstition; and in more advanced days they were beset with storms and tempests, and frequently were they drawn into the arena of bloody contention, and unprofitable war: nor was it possible for them to pass though these scenes, and withdraw

from such conflicts, without receiving injurious impressions, unpropitious tendencies, ruffled and deranged propensities, and garments rolled in blood; their moral vision was contracted, their rational, and, what ought to have remained, their natural boundaries were artificially walled in, and placed under a scrutinizing serveillance, their avenues and paths of entrance, which should have been thrown invitingly open for all, have been guarded and barred against the entrance of many. In some instances the disfigured garments have been removed or repaired, and the inward system purified, altered, or renewed. Yet how naturally slow must be the work of amendment, is evident from the selfish passions which are interested, the dominant feelings which are enlisted, and the power which is possessed, as well as the system by which they are upheld, and the shackles by which they are restrained.

All who have suffered from these evils and those who profess to have observed them, should not, and if they be right thinking men, they will not, lend their aid to perpetuate, or give their efforts to promote, such abuses. Nor, in the present circumstances, unconnected as the modern Colleges are with the states under whose permission they are founded, are there temptations or inducements to such an alienation of the advantages and enjoyments of learning.

Our station has been formed under the direction, and the measures have hitherto been supported by resources drawn from the funds of the Missionary So

ciety. A society whose special claim to public patronage, among all other well conducted and liberal institutions, is, that it is the least connected with any private body of Christians, that the proceedings thereof are carried on irrespective of state connexions, or national establishments, and that the agents are warranted to conduct their affairs on the principles of the word of God, and according to the local demands of the people for whose good they labour; without any necessary political alliance with the Government of the countries where they reside, or subserviency to their measures, further than the apostolic rule-Submission to the laws and supplications for all that are in authority. It is more than likely that for some time yet to come, the Institution will be dependant for a secure support on the resources of the London Missionary Society, or subscriptions gained through the aid of its Directors and friends. We therefore propose, as an act of justice as well as gratitude, that the professors and principal managers of the Mysore College be men selected and appointed by a general resolution at a regularly convened meeting of the Directors of the London Missionary Society, and that the salaries be according to a rate approved by them, and paid as soon as possible out of the consolidated fund of this institution.

As the plan arises out of the exigencies of the station, the professorships are at present limited to only the branches of learning for instruction in which means are now possessed; though, should the pe