"I often recall with pleasure the last day I spent with you, and the deep interest which you took in missions. I remember we talked of Mrs Judson, who has long since terminated her labours, and has now joined the company of the redeemed. Dr Price has followed her to the eternal world; yet God is still carrying on his work in Barmáh, notwithstanding the obstacles which impede its advancement. You would be happy to hear that our mission, which laboured so long without any success, has at length been blessed in the conversion and admission to the Christian Church of five natives. ... I trust they are but the first fruits of an abundant harvest, and that, ere our eyes are closed in their long and last sleep, we shall have the happiness of seeing many journeying towards Zion. . . . I often wonder that my ardour bears so little proportion to the dignity of the work, and that the desolations of a scene, which has been trodden down by Satan for many thou sands of years, has not aroused to activity the dormant energies of my mind. I shall never regret the temporary sacrifice I have made; and if I have only come here to survey the field of labour, or to lend my feeble assistance to those who must bear the bur den and heat of the day, I shall rejoice that one so unworthy has been thus honoured. "I have acquired a considerable knowledge of the Maráthí language, and expect ere long to commence the superintendence of female schools. It is pleasing to know that the first native female who was qualified to teach a school, had received the truth as it is in Jesus; and that, at the hour of her dissolution, she testified to all around her that her only hope was fixed on the merits of the Redeemer. ... Yours very affectionately.-M. W." On the 11th November, Mrs Wilson and I proceeded to Dhápulí, a pleasant military station about fourteen miles south-east from Harnaí. We returned to the mission in a few days; and while with a friend I took a tour to Dhábul, where Messrs Cooper and Nesbit had been labouring for some time, Mrs Wilson made all necessary preparations for our removal to Bombay. We left the Konkan for the seat of the Presidency on the 25th November, carrying with us the best wishes of our friends, to whom Mrs Wilson had endeared herself in no ordinary degree. One of them, who had not the fewest opportunities of knowing her, in a farewell note, thus addressed her:-" I trust that I shall cast no stumbling-block in your way, if I remind you that God has given you an extraordinary intellect, and affections and dispositions particularly amiable, and has thus fitted you for much usefulness both among the regenerate and unregenerate. All these talents he requires to be devoted to His service. It is only in complying with this requirement that you can be happy. It is only thus, indeed, that you can be found guiltless. By the gifts bestowed upon you, you are fitted either eminently to glorify yourself, or to glorify the Saviour. If you suffer the affection in which both the regenerate and the unregenerate regard you, to rest simply on yourself, you will most perversely disappoint the design of God in drawing their affections towards you, and most miserably hurt your own soul. You must make use of their affections in drawing them to the Saviour. In Bombay, you will, no doubt, enjoy many opportunities of doing good.” The writer of these lines afterwards declared, that he never saw a female who reflected the glory of the Saviour with greater radiancy than she to whom he addressed them. But, in her own eyes, she was "the least of all saints;" and every advance she made in holiness only imparted a deeper sense of her infinite distance from Him who is purity itself. CHAPTER VII. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MISSION IN BOMBAY-PLANS OF LABOUR-DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF FEMALE EDUCATION-DEGRADATION OF WOMAN BY THE HINDU SHASTRAS-MRS WILSON'S COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS-LETTER-REVIEW OF THE MEMOIR OF MRS JUDSON-CORRESPONDENCE-PUBLIC DISCUSSION WITH THE BRAHMANS-ON PRAYER FOR THE PROSPERITY AND EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH-PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF CONVERTS IN INDIA-CORRESPONDENCE-FIRST CONVERTS IN THE MISSION. WE arrived in Bombay on the evening of the 26th November 1829, and were, I trust, truly grateful to that Providence, through which our wishes for a settlement in this place-generated, in some degree, by the opinion of the Directors of the Missionary Society expressed to us at home-were realized. Several persons in India had endeavoured to dissuade us from our choice, by pointing to the little success hitherto experienced by the American mission, which had carried on operations for several years; by directing our attention to the fact, that a brother missionary, after a short trial, had left the station, as two of the Wesleyans, and two of the Church of England missionaries, had done before him; and particularly, by maintaining that the first converts to Christianity in India would undoubtedly be made from among those whom they termed "the unsophisticated inhabitants of villages remote from European settlements." In opposition to their views, I had, as soon as arrangements were made for my leaving the Konkan, written as follows:heartfelt gratitude to my heavenly Father for his calling me to labour in a large town. It is evident that cities afford peculiar facilities for missionary exertion; that the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles lead us to conclude, that, in the apostolical age, the efforts of the servants of Christ were particularly directed to them; and that the name Pagan, which originally referred to the I desire to express “۔ inhabitants of a country district, leads us to believe that Christianity won in them its first triumphs. With regard to Bombay in particular, I may freely say, that when I consider its immense population-the different bodies of which that population is composed*-its intercourse with all parts of the surrounding country, and with different infidel nations—the diminution of the prejudices of caste, by the long intercourse which the people have had with Europeans-the facilities with which considerable congregations can be procured, Bibles and tracts circulated, and education conducted, and other circumstances which are before the view of my mind-I do not know a spot where I could, with more willingness, desire to spend and to be spent for the name of Christ.' Into this judgment my dear wife most cordially entered, or rather, she assisted me in forming it; and every circumstance connected with our labours has tended to evince its soundness. I know of no person acquainted with them who now dissents from it, while there were, of course, some who approved of it from its first expression. The Lord led us by a 'right way.'" The following letter was the first written by Mrs Wilson after we returned to the seat of the Presidency: "To MISS A. ELLIOT. BOMBAY, 5th Dec. 1829. "Your kind and acceptable letter, my dear friend, was received by us with pleasure and gratitude. It is impossible for you to form an idea of the joy which we experience on the arrival of letters, or of the deep interest which we feel in reading their details, when they refer to objects and scenes with which are associated our fondest recollections, and to which our affections still cling with undiminished and undecaying ardour. Every new communication from home seems to increase this ardour, . According to the census of 1833, the population thus stood:- Hindús, (including Jainas), Muhammadans, (including Arabs, Persians, &c.), Pársís, Jews, (including Native Israelites), 18,376 143,298 49,928 20,184 2,246 234,032 and to swell the tide of affection till it almost threatens to overflow its proper boundaries. But the consideration of the great object to which we have devoted ourselves, and for the sake of which we have made a voluntary relinquishment of the ties of home and of country, is well fitted to lessen such inordinate attachment. We must direct our thoughts to the high commission with which we have been intrusted, and to our condition as strangers and foreigners upon earth, having here no abiding city, but looking for one which is to come, whose foundations are imperishable, and 'whose builder and maker is God.' You will be happy to hear that the zeal and disinterestedness which led Mr W. to devote himself to the missionary work, have not abated; but that, on the contrary, they have gathered new strength since he has surveyed the scene of his labours, and come into contact with the votaries of a gross and deluding superstition. I may in truth say, that the work is dear to his heart, and that, preferring the post of danger and of difficulty to a situation of less peril, he is pleased with his destiny, and will abide by it amid every hazard. The importance of the situation which he has chosen is not to be measured by present events and appearances; he looks through these to a distant futurity, in which the encouraging prophecies shall be realized in all their glory and brightness. But even the present felicity, with which the execution of so important a work is attended, is by no means inconsiderable; as, in the performance of its various duties, many promises of the Holy Scriptures find a striking fulfilment, and its reward is such as may well counterbalance the dangers and difficulties attendant upon it. These considerations have, I doubt not, supported, and will continue to support, the minds of his beloved parents and friends, amidst all the pangs of absence and separation. We have, indeed, much cause of gratitude and rejoicing, when we think of the Christian resignation which they manifested, and of the gracious support imparted to them, when parental affection and tenderness were brought to the trial. This trial was rendered peculiarly severe by the ardour of their attachment, which met with a corresponding return of affection in the heart of their son. The pain which he felt on parting with them was too great for utterance; and even now he speaks of them with |