11. Ceylon is an island situated off the south-west coast of Hindustan. The inhabitants are divided into four classes: the Singhalese, who are Buddhists; the Tamils, who profess Hinduism ; the Moormen, and the Whedahs. A form of Christianity was introduced into Ceylon by the Jesuits as early as 1505. Protestant mis- sions were commenced by the Dutch in 1G56, by the London Jlissionary Society in 1804, by the Baptists in 1812, and by the American Board in the same year. The Wesleyans of England commenced their important mission in the same island in 1813. Glorious triumphs have been wrought in this field during the last half- century, and a steady advance now characterizes the work. The Wesleyan mission has been very successful. It reports 1356 members. The missionary societies are the Baptist, Church, Propagation, and American Board.
. The Bible versions in use are the Pali, Singhalese, and Indo-Portuguese. See Tennent, Christianity in Ceylon ; Hardy, Buddhism in Ceylon ; Echard, Residence in Cey- lon ; Harvard, Mission in Ceylon ; Selkirk, Recollections of Ceylon ; Hardj', Jubilee Memorials of the Wesleyan Mission in South Ceylon.
12. India has been divided by the British into the three presidencies of Bengal, I?ombay, and IVIadras ; ■these again are subdivided into districts. Its entire ex- tent is about 1,357,000 square miles, with a population of 250,000,000. The religions may be divided into four classes: Hinduism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and that taught by Zoroaster. Under their individual and united influence the condition of the people was de- plorable. Children were thrown into the River Ganges as offerings to imaginary deities ; widows were burned with the dead bodies of their husbands, and numbers destroyed themselves by throwing their bodies under the wheels of the cars of their bloodthirsty idols. The pioneers of Protestant missions in this country were two Danes, who arrived in 1706. There are now twen- ty-seven missionary societies laboring in the field. Tlie following are a few : Church, Propagation, London, Bap- tist, Wesleyan, Church of Scotland, American Presbyteri- an, American Baptist, and American Methodist Episcopal. A few of the Bible versions in use are the Bengali, Hindui, Urdu Telinga, Tamil, Mahratti, and Punjabi. The num- ber of native Christians at the close of 1871 was 221,161. Within the preceding ten years an increase of 85,430 took place. The system of caste, which has proved a great barrier to the triumph of the Gospel, is becoming lax, and showing signs of its coming dissolution. Wid- ows are often remarried. Females for the first time are under education. There is a better appreciation of justice, morality, and religion than ever there was. The native Church promises to become gradually self-sup- porting. The number of towns and villages scattered over the country inhabited by Protestant Christians is 4657. Statistical facts, however, can in no way convey an adequate idea of the work which has been done in any part of India. The Gospel has been working like leaven, and the effect is very great even in places where tliere are but few avowed conversions. Even Keshub Chunder Sen, the leader of the new Theistic school, has been constrained to use the following language : " The spirit of Cliristianity has already pervaded the whole atmosphere of Indian society, and we breathe, think, feel, and move in a Christian atmosphere. Native so- ciety is aroused, enlightened, and reformed under the influence of Christian education," Sir Bartle Frere, M-ho was thirty years in India in various official positions, says : " I speak simply as to matters of experience and observation, and not of opinion, just as a Roman pre- fect might have reported to Trajan or the Antonines, and I assure you, whatever you may be told to the con-
trarj', the teaching of Christianity among one hundred and sixty millions of civilized, industrious Hindiis and Mohammedans in India is effecting changes— moral, so- cial, and religious — which, for extent and rapidity of ef- fect, are far more extraordinary than anything which you or your fathers have witnessed in modern Europe. It has come to be the general feeling in India that Hin- duism is at an end— that the death-knell has been rung of that collection of old superstitions which has been held together so long." Similar testimony has been borne by lord Lawrence in his famous letter to the London Times ; also by lord Napier, Sir William Bluir, colonel Sir Herbert Edwards, and others in the civil and military service in India. The general opinion, not only of the missionaries, but of thoughtful and intelli- gent laymen, is that India is much in the condition of Rome just previous to the baptism of the emperor Con- stantine. Idolatry now in India, as then in Rome, is falling into disgrace — men are becoming wiser. Truth in its clearness and power is gradually entering their minds and changing their habits and lives. An intelli- gent Hindu said to a missionary on one occasion : " The story which you tell of him who lived, and pitied, and came, and taught, and suffered, and died, and rose again — that story, sir, will overthrow our temples, destroy our ritual, abolish our shastras, and extinguish our gods." The preaching of Christ crucified, and the proclaiming of him who is the way, the truth, and the life, is already accomplishing in some measure what this Hindu said it would, and we may hope, with the divine blessing, to see in the near future a great turning of the people unto the Lord, and the utter destruction of all idols. ' See Thornton, India, its State and Prospects ; Duff, India and Indian Missions; Kay, History of Christianity in India ; Butler, Land of the Veda ; Hough, Christianity in India ; Hoole, Madixxs and Mysore ; Clarkson, India and the Gospel; Masaie, Continental India ; Tinling,-Ear- ly Roman Catholic Missions in India ,• Weitbrect, Mis- sions in Bengal; Wylie, Benyal ; UtOTTOw, India and Christian Missions ; Stirling, Orissa ; Arthur, Mission to Mysore ; Long, Bengal Missions ; Mullen, Misdons in South India; Memoirs of Carey, Marshman.Ward, and Schwartz ; Rev. E. J. Robinson, The Daughters of India ; Mary E. Leslie, The Zenana Mission,