"We need thee by our common path, A power thy buried presence hath, O whisper low from out the grave "Teach us, true witness for thy Lord! Teach us to bear the taunt, the scoff, "O, gentle in thy firmness still, Who ever moved thy steadfast will, Bearing a blessing in thine hand, The banner of thy God's command; "Alas! we would have kept thee here, And stretched our hope to some far year, Unheeding how beneath our view In gentle weanedness from life, Telling thy work was done. "Sweet after labour falleth sleep! It may be that thy grave shall reap And they who owe thee better birth O servant! faithful and beloved, Thou shalt receive thy crown." MRS. STUART MENTEITH. CHAPTER V. LORD TEIGNMOUTH, THE PEER. "He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God "2 SAM. xxiii. 8. INDIA is a country intrusted to Britain for a specific purpose. For a hundred years it has been in our possession, and in territorial extent ever increasing. It is a land of degrading idolatry. It has long groaned under a false religion-sustained by ancient prestige, connected with a false philosophy, and intrusted to a priestly caste. It has been the theatre of much misgovernment, peculation, and tyranny. It has not been evangelized on a scale and in a spirit commensurate with its great necessity, and with our profession of faith. There are two hundred millions of people, among whom not four hundred missionaries of Christ labour, and few decided Christian men illustrate the gospel. It is only within the present century that the Christian Church in this land has awakened (is it now more than half awake?) to the duty of sending the gospel to India. The Company who exercised authority there, long forbade the missionary to enter Bengal. The Legislature slowly removed restrictions. And when the door was opening wide, the late rebellion has arrested all the work of evangelization. We believe, however, that the recent disclosures, cruelties, and abominations, will have the effect of arousing the Church of Christ, in this and other lands, to the great duty of sending the gospel to that benighted people, and the Government of England to rule India on Christian principles. One of the most upright of Englishmen in India, the first Lord Teignmouth, deserves our consideration. His character ever influenced his conduct. Beginning in a dim recognition of the truth of God, he gradually arrived at the clear reception of its light. Having spent about thirty years of his life in Bengal, and silently influencing it throughout that period, he grew into a knowledge of its wants; and in the evening of his days, in his native land, he laboured to send throughout Hindostan and elsewhere the word of God in the vulgar tongue of many nations. JOHN SHORE was born in London on 8th October, 1751. He was descended from a family of considerable antiquity. His father was a supercargo to the East India Company, but died, leaving two sons, when the elder, the subject of our sketch, was only eight years old. Destined for India, young Shore was educated with special reference to his future position-first at Harrow, and afterwards at Hoxton. He went to the East in 1768, when he was seventeen years of age. His appointment was to a writership in the East India Company's service-an office involving more outlay than remuneration for some time, but afterwards yielding him a handsome income. Tenderly attached to his mother, it was a great trial to be separated from her; but the good principles she had implanted in his heart aided to keep him in the midst of temptation. When he landed at Calcutta in 1769, "the exclusive sovereignty of Great Britain in Bengal did not extend beyond a few factories." Calcutta was an ill-drained, unhealthy town. Ꮓ Commercial, rather than political interests, then regulated the Company, and their agents were more traders than salaried officers. Mr. Shore's salary was only £12 a-year. But he abstained from the peculation that prevailed, and gained for himself the title of "Honest John Shore." Oriental learning was not much cultivated at that period, and consequently very little intelligent communication could be had with the natives. Mr. Shore saw the importance of acquaintance with the vernacular dialects, and earnestly commenced the study of Hindostanee, Persian, and Arabic. The first he acquired chiefly by colloquial intercourse, the others by a master. Having had considerable aptitude for classical studies, which he did not neglect in India, Mr. Shore made rapid proficiency in the Eastern languages, which he found to be of signal service to him during his long residence in Hindostan. His industry, fidelity, and usefulness, soon opened his way to promotion. In 1772, he was appointed first assistant to the Resident of the province of Rajeshahe; he acted for a short time as Persian Translator and Secretary to the Provincial Board at Moorshedabad, and was soon after appointed Fifth Member of the Board at Calcutta. By the celebrated Warren Hastings he was nominated Chief of the Board of Revenue. It was an appointment most creditable to Mr. Hastings, for Mr. Shore had been suspected of opposition to the Governor-General. The duties of his office were laborious, but they were faithfully discharged. His salary for the first five years did not exceed £500 per annum, but was afterwards increased. As soon as he could, he offered to advance to his mother any sum she might desire, though she had a competency. The following passage from his letters to her indicates his generous and filial spirit : "You are in fact the cause of my long absence; for if you had not tutored me to honesty—if you had paid less attention to my principles-I might before this have laid a fortune at your feet, and you might have partaken the acquisitions of dishonesty. To see me return with a fortune gained by such methods would, I know, give you more concern than pleasure; and I am confident you would rather receive me poor, than have reason to blush at my being rich. "I am now in a fair way to gain a competency at least, by honest, avowed means. Whatever I earn is by labour, and by doing my duty; and it is publicly recorded. I only regret that the opportunity did not offer sooner; and that, now it is come, I have so few opportunities of remitting my gainings to you. * * * I wish you would draw upon me annually for a thousand pounds sterling. * * My labours daily increase; but as they are honest, and as they are rewarded, I do not grudge them. I consider them as the means of once more bringing us together. Whenever that happens, I shall consider myself amply repaid for all I undergo." * In another letter he writes :-"I consider myself and property as belonging to you, and should be ashamed to say I had any property which you were not at liberty to make use of. Take the whole, or part, in welcome; and believe me, my dear mother, I should feel more real happiness in the conviction that I had contributed to your ease or convenience, than by having thousands laid up for my own use. You have a natural right to all that I have; and if this natural right did not subsist, you have acquired it by repeated acts of generosity and affection towards me." Mrs. Shore felt a mother's joy over her wise sons; for the second having chosen the clerical office, also contributed to her happiness. "How thankful," she wrote, "I am to Providence, in being blessed as I am! Some parents there are, |