Visit to a Sacrificial Festival. 437 and kicking on the laps of their took my stand at the foot of the fathers while the barber shaved their mountain by the side of the path heads of what hair was thereon, and preached on the sacrifice of after which the little urchins were Christ. The day soon became terricarried up the mountain and the blood bly hot. Shade could not be found of this year's victim was smeared excepting away from the moving on its bald pate, and by this the child crowd of people. A few old, knotty, was consecrated to the goddess. I and almost leafless trees stood near am inclined to think there was a time the path, but beneath their gaunt when occasionally female infants and skeleton-like arms in vain we were here sacrificed, as in some tried to find relief from the fierce parts of the Khond country less rays of a tropical mid-day sun, and than a hundred, and even fifty years what little their huge trunks afforded back, female children were sacri- was monopolized by traders in trinket ficed, their foolish and hard-hearted toys, fowls, flowers, and buttermilk. parents hoping its soul would by the The heat at last becoming unbearfavour of the goddess enter the body able we moved to a more sheltered of a male child. We retraced our place at the edge of a grove, which was steps as rapidly as possible and more convenient for both speaker found descending equally tedious. and hearers; the noise and bustle When speaking on my way down being less, but being away from the with a pleasant looking man, who road our audience was not so numerwas carrying the headless trunk of ous. I held a rather long discussion a sheep he had sacrificed, on the with several young brahmins on the foolishness of believing his sins true character of God. They concould be forgiven by the shedding fessed the biblical description of of the blood of such victims, or that that character was far more honoursuch a stupid stone goddess could able and worthy of reverence than give him a son-an old woman pass the one their own shastre discloses, ing turned toward me and with no yet they denied the truth of it on little sarcasm said, "Ugh, what do the ground of the impossibility of sahibs know about such things? man worshipping such a perfect nothing at all." I beckoned her to being and one whose holiness he stop, but no, the old lady bounded could not understand nor even apup the stones with the activity of preciate. And, as the worshipper one many years her junior. On could never become so pure in heart, reaching the bottom I was quite ex- why climb a mountain, the summit hausted, and felt in no way inclined of which he could never gain. They to renew the ascent. My clothes were told the religion of such a God were all completely saturated with was as widely different from the one perspiration, and withal I was ex- they professed as light from darkceedingly thirsty. My principal ob- ness, and that christianity opened ject in going up was to have a view up the way to heaven-Jesus Christ of another phase of idolatry; to enter our sacrifice-by which it was posanother chamber of horrors in the sible for man to reach perfect holidark and death shadowed temple of ness. The plan of salvation they heathenism; to follow another path professed to admire, but went away in the labryinth of hindooism to its saying, "Why should we become terminus; to enlarge my knowledge apostates to the religion of our foreof that religion of hellish origin fathers." At times, during the day, which gives license to crimes of the scorn and abuse we received were blackest dye, and which by teaching rather unpleasant. Not a few,however, man to call an obscenely shaped shewed a very different disposition, stone his god, a vile monster his and repeatedly shamed those whose creator, heaps pollution on his soul only arguments were derision. Huin this world, and sinks it to per-man nature is very varied at a dition in the next. hindoo festival, and few places are After changing my habiliments I there more favourable for the study. Looking around you steadily when had entered his heart, and I fear he preaching the amount of opposition turned away to forget the truth. At one may expect is soon readable in a little after two the people began the countenances of the listeners. to leave for their homes, and JuggerThough natives are subtle, their nath, who had been preaching near features are a truer index to their myself and the other native preacher, minds than those of a more polished came to me and said, while the perand intelligent nation. Their power to spiration was running down his legs, hide beneath a plausible exterior a "Sahib, I cannot preach any longer character or disposition the very op- my head is going round and round posite is less. With all their cunning through the heat, and my voice is they always overshoot the mark when nearly gone." We therefore left our they attempt to appear what they preaching place, and, after breaking are not. Those who revile us and our fast, went to a grove about half seek to destroy the spread of truth a mile distant, where we rested. are all of the ancient family of De- After resting about an hour, we metrius; such as brahmins, boish- joined the crowd of people who were nobs, and in fact all who feel their hastening from the festival, and craft in danger. Yet among these turned our faces homewards as there I am bound to say there are some was no more opportunity of getting who are willing to learn, and not too the people to stay and listen. The proud to acknowlege themselves in heat was still great, but by putting error when argument or rather truth a wet handkerchief inside my hat I is against them. I watched with did not suffer any harm. I reached great interest the features of an in-home safely in the evening. What telligent man while one of the native I saw and heard has made a deep preachers was speaking of a judg-impression on my mind; has enabled ment after death and describing the judgment day. While listening, the muscles of his face gradually relaxed and his looks became more and more serious, he reached his head forward and leaned still heavier on the bamboo staff he held in his hand, and when he had apparently fully comprehended the subject he turned to several near him and said, "Friends, a judgment after death, this is wonderful; what think ye of it ?! Our shastres say naught about this-it cannot be true-its a lie"-and walked away. The sword me to see further down into the awful and almost unfathomable abyss of hindooism; has enlarged my opinion of that monster piece of wickedness against which the Indian missionary has to do battle every day. Brethren, pray for us. That clothed with salvation and fully equiped with the armour and the weapons of the truth, we may steadily and hopefully fight till our God and Saviour shall reign, and heathendom lie submissive at his feat. We may not live to see the day-but the victory is sure. DEPARTURE OF REV. T. BAILEY.-The Rev. Thomas Bailey sailed from Southampton for Calcutta on the Morning of the 20th ult., in the magnificent steamer, "The Ceylon," belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. He was accompanied to the ship by Mr. Thomas Hill, of Nottingham; the Secretary of the Missionary Society; Mr. Deacon, of Southampton, and a few other friends from Leicestershire who happened to be visiting at that town. It is expected that Mr. Bailey will reach Calcutta in about six weeks from the day of sailing. Foreign Letters Received. BERHAMPORE- CUTTACK -J. Buckley, Aug. 2nd, 16th, Sep. 3rd. Miss Butler, July 17th. -W. Miller, July 17, Aug 16th. Contributions MISSIONARY SOCIETY, RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL BAPTIST From August 20th, to October 20th, 1861. Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by Robert Pegg, Esq., Treasurer, Derby; and by the Rev. J. C. Piks, Secretary, De Montfort Square, Leicester, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books, and Cards may be obtained. THE GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE. DECEMBER, 1 8 6 1. A FEW WORDS ABOUT CHRISTMAS DAY. CHRISTMAS DAY is once more approaching. It may be as well, therefore, to ask ourselves why, in common with some other sections of the Christian church, we have uniformly abstained from any religious observance of day. To say that we abstain from custom merely is only to urge the flimsiest of all possible reasons, and one that is equally available on the other side. Custom, in our case, is against its observance. Custom, with the church of Rome, with the Lutheran and Anglican churches, has long been in favour of its celebration. Nay, custom might be urged by a pagan, if it possessed any weight at all, as an argument in favour of the worst rites of his worship and the most abominable festivals of his religion. Nor is it mere love of singularity that has kept us aloof in this matter from a large mass of the so-called Christian church. There may be men whose diseased vanity prompts them to take the opposite side in every argument, and who are never so happy as when opposing the popular feeling of the day; but common charity forbids us to think that any reader of this Magazine has no better reason for his non-observance of Christmas day. We have also much too good an opinion of our brethren VOL. II.-NEW SERIES, No. 12. to think that they ever urge as a reason why they do not observe this day, that Papists, Lutherans, and Anglicans do. If there be any truth in either of these communities which we have hitherto failed to recognize, far be it from us to refuse it a welcome simply because of the suspicious quarter from whence it comes. It is not custom, then, that has led to our non-observance of Christmas day; nor yet a love of singularity; nor yet mere factious opposition to state-churchism. What, then, is it? We answer briefly, because there is no authority for its observ. ance in any word of Christ, in any act of the apostles, in any custom of the early church-is opposed to the spirit and teaching of Christ, and is altogether of human appointment. Let us glance more in detail at each of these points. The silence of the evangelists about the actual day of the birth of Christ is very significant. They tell us, with some particularity, what took place on the night of the birth in Bethlehem; but not a word is said in any way to help us to fix the precise date of that event. It is the fact rather than the time of its occurrence that they are most anxious to record. Nor |