"the soul, are infinitely removed from the “holiness and sublimity of the Christian "doctrine of the Trinity, and that the "tenet of our Church cannot without pro"faneness, be compared with that of the Hindus, which has an apparent resem"blance to it, but a very different mean"ing." 66 At the end of the same treatise, Sir William Jones enumerates the sad obstacles to the extension of our " pure faith" in Hindustan, and concludes as follows: 66 "The only human mode perhaps of caus ing so great a revolution, is to translate "into Sanscrit and Persian, such chapters "of the prophets, and particularly Isaiah, as are indisputably evangelical, together "with one of the Gospels, and a plain pre 66 fatory discourse containing full evidence "of the very distant ages, in which the 66 predictions themselves and the history of “the divine person predicted, were severally "made "made public, and then quietly to dispersé "the work among the well-educated na"tives, with whom, if in due time it failed "of promoting very salutary fruit by its "natural influence, we could only lament "more than ever, the strength of prejudice "and weakness of unassisted reason. That the conversion of the Hindus to the Christian religion, would have afforded him the sincerest pleasure, may be fairly inferred from the above passage; his wish that it should take place, is still more clearly expressed in the following quotation from one of his Hymns to Lachsmi, the Ceres of India, and a personification of the Divine Goodness. After describing most feelingly and poetically the horrid effects of famine in India, he thus concludes the bymn: From ills that, painted, harrow up the breast, His erring mind, that wizzard lore beguiles, To senseless nature bows, for nature's God. Meanwhile, my laws, by myriads long rever'd, Though mists profane obscure their narrow ken, The testimony of Sir William Jones to the verity and authenticity of the Old and New Testament is well known, from the care with which it has been circulated in England; but as it has a particular claim to be inserted in the memoirs of his life, I transcribe it from his own manuscript in his Bible: "I have carefully and regularly perused "these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion, "that the volume, independently of its "divine origin, contains more sublimity, " purer purer morality, more important history, "and finer strains of eloquence, than can "be collected from all other books, in "whatever language they may have been "written." This opinion is repeated with little variation of expression, in a discourse addressed to the society in February, 1791 :— 66 66 Theological enquiries are no part of my present subject; but I cannot refrain " from adding, that the collection of tracts, "which we call from their excellence the "Scriptures, contain, independently of a "divine origin, more true sublimity, more 66 66 exquisite beauty, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains both "of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected, within the same compass, from "all other books that were ever composed "in any age, or in any idiom. The two parts of which the Scriptures consist, are "connected by a chain of compositions, " which "which bear no resemblance in form or "style to any that can be produced from "the stores of Grecian, Indian, Persian, " or even Arabian learning; the antiquity "of those compositions no man doubts; " and the unstrained application of them to " events long subsequent to their publication, is a solid ground of belief, that they 66 were genuine compositions, and conse"quently inspired. But, if any thing be "the absolute exclusive property of each 66 individual, it is his belief; and I hope I "should be one of the last men living, who "could harbour a thought of obtruding 66 my own belief on the free minds of "others." In his discourse of the following year, we find him again mentioning the Mosaic. history, under a supposition, assumed for the sake of the argument which he was discussing, that it had no higher authority than any other book of history, which VOL. II. τ the |