Kiernander to reiterate his application to the Society for one or two fellow-labourers, in the confidence that the Lord would open a door for them in every part of the country, when they should have learned the native languages.

state of

26. Soon after the conclusion of peace, the Ger- Present man soldiers returned to Calcutta, when Kiernander the Misresumed his service in their language. His own sion. congregation was augmented this year with twelve converts from Romanism, eight adult Bengalees, and fifteen children. Of his native flock, nineteen were communicants; and he bears testimony to the improvement in character of all under his charge, stating that they were more devout at Public Worship, and more careful in conforming their lives to the precepts of the Gospel. In the following year thirty-nine were added to the Church; making a total, since the commencement, of one hundred and eighty-nine. About half these converts were from Romanism of the other moiety, about two-thirds were children of the Romish converts, and onethird Heathen, with one Jew.

of a Jew.

27. The Jew, named Aaron Levi, was baptized in Conversion 1766. He had lived formerly at Smyrna, with his father, an officer in the Dutch Custom House. After leaving his father, he went to England, where he learned the language of the country, and lived for some years with one of his own nation. Subse

· I.

CHAP. quently he sailed for Bombay; and suffering much from sickness on the voyage, he was induced to attend the Church prayers, which were read on board every Sunday; and he derived so much comfort and instruction from them, that he became desirous to embrace Christianity. On his recovery, however, and return to the business of the world, he seems to have lost these favourable impressions; until, on his arrival at Calcutta, they were revived under a return of indisposition, and again he resolved to become a Christian. In his anxiety for instruction, he consulted a Jewish convert to Romanism, who advised him to apply to a Romish Priest; but his abhorrence of image-worship was so strong that he at once rejected this advice, and applied to the Protestant Missionary. M. Kiernander found him very determined in his resolution to join the Church of Christ; and as he understood Hebrew well, and had a tolerable knowledge of, English, he gave him a Bible in each language, directing him specially to study the 22d Psalm and the 53d of Isaiah. Levi took the books home, and came back to him next day, when he avowed his conviction that both David and Isaiah pointed to Jesus as the Christ; that it was in vain to look for another; and that, therefore, he would believe in Him. After some further instruction in the Scriptures, on the 26th of October 1766 Kiernander baptized him by the names of John Charles, which seemed to relieve his mind of a heavy load. The appearance of dejection was supplanted by cheerfulness and contentment. On Sundays he was regular in his attendance at Church, and on other days he diligently followed his usual calling. M. Kiernander was greatly encouraged by the conversion of this son of Abraham at so early a period of his Mission, regarding it as an omen of its future prosperity.'

(1) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Report, 1767.

benefit of

28. At this period the Schools were in a satis- Public factory state. Besides educating five of the present the Teachers, they had already produced several clerks Schools. and other servants for the public offices and courts; and some of the scholars were in the employment of private gentlemen. This was a valuable return for the patronage which the Schools had received from the officers of Government. Though few of these youths had embraced Christianity, yet M. Kiernander ventured to hope, that, as the principles of true religion had been inculcated on their minds, their fidelity and good conduct would be such as to ensure the esteem of those who employed them, and that the general benefit thus accruing from the education given in the Schools, would recommend the Mission itself to the favour and protection of the East-India Company.

DECADE.

ment of a

new

In 1767, the house which the Government had lent SECOND for the use of the Mission being required for the 1767-1776. public service, M. Kiernander resolved to purchase Comsome ground, and build a Church at his own menceexpense. He had been for some time in comparative opulence, having, after the decease of Church. his wife in 1761, married a widow of some property, Mrs. Anne Wolley. A considerable portion of his income he devoted to the cause of God; and in the month of May he began to lay the foundation of his new Church, and to prepare materials for the building. It was calculated that the whole expense would amount to twenty thousand Sicca rupees 2, which he hoped to supply without increasing the burden of the Christian-Knowledge Society.

About this period the Court of the Emperor, SHAH ALLUM, at Allahabad, requested from him some copies of the Psalter and New Testament, in Arabic. He gladly complied with the request; and (2) 2500l. sterling.

I.

CHAP. hearing that the books were well received by his Majesty's Mullahs (Priests), he was encouraged to send them further supplies, until he had none left.1

Conver

Bento, a

Romish
Priest.

2. Of thirty-six converts this year, twenty were sion of M. Romanists; and in 1768 a priest of that communion joined the Protestant Church. His name was Francis Bento de Sylvestre, of the Order of Augustin, and forty years of age. He had officiated formerly on the western coast, but had latterly been employed in Bengal, especially at Calcutta, where he learned the truth of the Gospel. His own account of the progress of his mind from darkness to light he thus described, in a Letter to the Christian-Knowledge Society. After stating that he was a native of Goa, born of European parents, and that he had served as "a Popish Missionary in Bengal upwards of fifteen years," he declared that, "having discovered the false zeal, hidden malice, and unwarranted doctrines of the Church of Rome, he thought that continuing in that communion would tend rather to the ruin than the salvation of his soul." For this reason, he added, he had quitted the Romish Church and embraced the Protestant faith, in which, by the grace of God, he was firmly purposed to live and die.2

Bento's employment in the Mission.

3. After much deliberation and fervent prayer, on the 7th of February he deliberately abjured the errors and superstitions of Rome, and M. Kiernander publicly received him into the Protestant Church. The Society afterwards took him into their service, to be employed in the Bengal Mission; and as he understood French, Portuguese, Bengalee, and Hindostanee, he became, through Divine assistance, very successful in publishing the Gospel of Christ in those parts. Besides preaching regularly in Por

(1) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Report, 1768. Asiaticus, pp. 25, 26.

(2) Ibid. 1769.

tuguese to the congregation at Calcutta, he had a little flock at a village called Parull, distant about a day's journey, where the Natives, chiefly Romanists, assembled from the surrounding villages for instruction, preparatory to their being received into the bosom of the Church of England. These people are described as very attentive; and there were no less than five hundred Catechumens, hitherto Romanists by profession, who avowed their desire to follow Padre Bento's example.

Besides these public ministrations, he employed himself in translating the Church Catechism and many parts of the Common Prayer into Bengalee, for his own use; and he found them of essential service in conducting Divine Worship, and in teaching the candidates for admission into the Church.

sition un

4. M. Bento proved a valuable colleague to Kier- Romannander, whose hands were further strengthened at its oppothis time by the temporary assistance of another availing. convert from the Romish priesthood, Da Costa, mentioned above3, who preached alternately with M. Bento in Portuguese. The effect of their united testimony against the errors of Rome and for the truth of the Gospel was such as to fill the conclave of Goa with alarm; and in July 1769 a priest arrived at Calcutta, who declared himself to be commissioned by them to excommunicate Padre Bento, provided he refused to return to the Romish communion. This man wrote him a letter, containing the several charges alleged against him, and demanding an answer within twenty-four hours. But he replied to them immediately, and desired that his answers might be publicly read in their Church. As, however, he knew the Romish priesthood too well to expect from them even this measure of candour, he himself distributed copies of

(3) Madras Mission. Decade v. sect. 2.