“One man from the same place passed the whole of your summer with me here; and daily read the Scripture with me; in which he seems to be taught of God. On returning last September, he withstood the Missionary (an Italian) to his face, respecting the praying to saints, bowing to images &c.: he was, in consequence, excommunicated; and, on being taken ill soon afterwards was beset by two agents of the missionary, who sounded threatenings of hell, &c., in his ears; and declared his body should be cast on the dunghill. Distressed, it seems he paid a fine to be restored to the Church, and soon after died. In his last days, he begged some one of his relations to convey his thanks to me, and to commend his children to me. The message is come, and the unfeigned tears of these few Christians here on learning the end of Anselmo, were a striking proof of the sympathizing spirit induced by Christianity, compared with the hard and unfeeling spirit of the heathen. On the map of Hindoostan you see the country of the Seiks; their capital is Lahore. The state consists of a number of independent chiefs, under a nominal head; many of these chiefs have sought our aid against the oppression of their head; and, as the country they inhabit lies in route of any overland invading army, we have sent a force in aid of the petitioners. Two of my young friends (very dear to me in our common Lord) are with this force. The principal matter of interest to us in this expedition is, that these Seiks are, as a nation, Deists.[48] Much superstition, indeed, is among them; but they are neither Hindoos nor Mussulmans; and profess themselves worshippers of one invisible God. Such a state of mind seems favourable to a reception of Christianity; and, may we not hope our intercourse among them may be the means of bringing them acquainted with that only name whereby they must be saved? Martyn is going on, in company with the converted Arabian,[49] in translating the Scriptures into Persian. I have seen the Edinburgh Reviewer’s remarks on the Missionaries[50] and critique on their Journals. It is to be regretted, perhaps, that in some expressions they are open to ridicule; but it is a subject of gratification that in none are they open to reproach. These same gentlemen would gnash their teeth to find Hindoostan, from near Delhi, yea from the Seiks’ country, to Cape Comorin, planted with Christians, who daily pray for the coming of Christ’s kingdom in their lands; and who, in their intercourse with those around them, recommend the gospel of God our Saviour in a way not such as will excite insurrection, but induce veneration and ultimately conversion. A preaching life these Edinburgh reviewers themselves cannot gainsay; and these