there are some of the Mundas, who continuing heathens, do not scruple to eat and drink with those of their brethren who have been baptized into the Christian Church.

The first missionaries who went to Chota Nagpore were four German Evangelical Lutherans, who arrived there in 1844. The first converts were baptized in 1850, and since that time the number of Christians has gradually, sometimes rapidly, increased. Between 1850 and 1860, 1,200 persons were baptized, and between 1860 and 1870, 12,000. At the present time there are more than 40,000 baptized people, of whom the great majority are connected with the G. E. L. Mission, which has all along been maintained in a state of great efficiency. Of late years some Jesuit missionaries have been working in Chota Nagpore, but at present their congregations are not very large.

The work of the Church of England among these aboriginal tribes of Chota Nagpore commenced in 1869, when several of the oldest German missionaries and about 4,000 of their people joined our communion. The spread of the Faith since that time has been continuous, but not uniform, being less rapid of late than it used to be. The number of Christians connected with the Church of England has grown from 4,000 to nearly 13,000; and when the census was taken there were between 400 and 500 Catechumens. All these people are living, not in a compact body, but scattered among the heathen in nearly 500 different villages. To minister the Word and Sacraments, and to civilise and educate so many scattered people is, of course, a work of great difficulty. I am fully convinced of this, that although European energy and perseverance, and power of originating and superintending missionary work are most necessary, not only in new fields but also in places where the Church has made some growth, yet European priests can very rarely, if ever, be efficient pastors of an Indian flock. The training of men of more or less promise to be pastors and teachers of their brethren is therefore a work of the very greatest importance. For the purpose of giving an elementary education to those who may be afterwards selected for further and special training, as well as for promoting the gradual education and civilisation of the people in general, schools are, of course, essential. The schools are of two kinds: village day schools, of which there are many; and boarding schools, for Christian children only, at our central station. There is great difficulty in getting children to come to village day schools; partly because there are so many kinds of work in which children can assist their parents, and partly because the advantage of education is not appreciated. The boarding school, therefore, holds the very first place in the organisation of the mission. As clothes and food are supplied, there is no difficulty in getting as many children as we can support; and after living for several years among surroundings which, compared with their own villages, are civilised, the children go back to their homes to be centres of enlightenment to their fellows. It will be borne in mind that these schools are for children whose parents are Christians. Those who appear more promising are kept longer than others and trained as teachers.

Early in 1870, a theological class was formed with a view to training students for Holy Orders. Seven young men were selected from among those who had been educated in the boarding school, and had for some years approved themselves as teachers. They were not pledged to offer

themselves as candidates for ordination. Bishop's College, Calcutta, was naturally thought of as the most suitable place for training such students. No one, however, on the college staff was sufficiently acquainted with the Hindi language to be able to convey the necessary instruction. This circumstance led to all the native clergy in Chota Nagpore being trained in their own country; and we have never ceased to be thankful for this, for there can be little doubt that several years residence among Bengalis, whose habits differ so widely from their own, would have been injurious to our students in various ways. It is not at all desirable to send Theological students from all parts of the diocese of Calcutta to one college; the men belong to such distinct races. It would, I think, be most advantageous to have several smaller colleges or training institutions affiliated to Bishop's College.

Five students of the first Theological class were ordained by Bishop Milman in 1873, after three years' training. Since that time the number of native clergy has been considerably increased. The five deacons just referred to were ordained priests in 1875, and at the same time three students were made deacons. Again, in 1880, these three were ordained priests, and seven students were made deacons, and in 1884 another deacon was ordained. There are now seven priests and eight deacons, all natives of Chota Nagpore, ministering to their brethren.

The standard of reading for these successive classes has been gradually raised. Those last ordained were kept under special instruction for four years, during which time their course of study included Old and New Testament History, the Psalms, Isaiah, the four Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles to the Romans and Hebrews, and the Seven Churches of Asia, also the Pastoral Epistles, the Book of Common Prayer, the xxxix. Articles, Church History, Evidences of Christianity, the Epistle of St. Clement and that to Diognetus, the History of the Canon; and, as it was thought undesirable that the minds of these young men should be exclusively given to Theological subjects, lectures were given in Elementary Astronomy and Botany. These men received the greater part of their instruction through the medium of the Hindi language, but knew enough English to enable them to make a considerable use of books in our language.

When a commencement is made in establishing a native pastorate, the important question arises as to the relation which the native clergy should hold to the Society by whose help the greater part of the mission work is carried on. It is necessary that the salaries of European missionaries and many other current expenses should be paid out of funds supplied from England, but it is of the utmost importance that, from the very first, the native pastors should be entirely independent of foreign aid so far as their salary is concerned. It was therefore determined that the usual "title" should not be asked from the S. P. G. for the candidates for holy orders in Chota Nagpore. It was thought that if a "title," which is a guarantee of salary, should be given by an English society, there would be great danger of the pastors falling back on this resource instead of trying to persuade their people to support their ministers. The Standing Committee of the S. P. G. in 1873 disapproved of this course, and thought that a "title" for our candidates ought to have been asked from them, because one of their bye-laws

directed that no candidate for holy orders should be presented to the bishop in behalf of the Society until a "title" had been granted by the committee. The present committee holds, I believe, a different view. As we were most anxious to avoid presenting them in behalf of the Society, we contended that this bye-law did not apply. All of the native pastors of Chota Nagpore have been ordained without any "title" from S. P. G., and have never received any portion of their salary from the Society.

There is an objection to the clergy asking and receiving their salary directly from their people; we have therefore established a Native Pastorate Fund, into which all money for the support of the native clergy is paid. This money is derived from different sources. First of all, a good deal of money comes in from collections in church. In every church and chapel there is an offertory every Sunday. The offerings are usually of rice, as money is very scarce. The small church expenses are first paid, and what is necessary is given to the poor, and then the balance is paid in every month to the pastorate fund. Then, at harvest-time, special offerings are made on the festival days in all churches and chapels, and the whole of these are paid into the pastorate fund. There is also a house and a small endowment belonging to the same fund; and a few of the pastors receive a portion of their salary from a diocesan fund founded in Calcutta in memory of Bishop Wilson. The amount of salary was fixed at a sum which, on the one hand seemed sufficient to relieve the clergy from any great pecuniary anxiety, and, on the other hand, was not so large as to make it improbable that their people would be able to pay it. The sum is about five times as much as a day-labourer earns. A priest receives 15 rupees, i.e., about £1 4s. 6d. a month, which appears small to us, but, under the circumstances, is not excessively so.

The number of people able to read is continually increasing, but the vast majority of the people of Chota Nagpore are still unable to read. It is therefore necessary to station teachers in places where Christians are numerous to instruct catechumens in the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, which they are required to commit to memory; to conduct daily prayers, to read to the people, and to keep up a regular visitation of all the Christians in their district. These teachers go on a stated day every week to the pastor's station, to receive instruction from him in the lessons which they are to teach on the following Sunday. Every month they write a report of work done on a form which is supplied to them, and take it to the priest in whose district they are stationed, and by him it is sent to the missionary at head-quarters, with any remarks which he may see fit to append. Thus some idea of the work which is being done is obtained, first by the native priests and then by the missionary at the central station.

During a part of the rainy season every year these teachers are called into the Central Mission Station for further instruction and training. The clergy also, at longer intervals, are called in for the same purpose. A few words must now be said on the subject of Church discipline. The exercise of discipline is very familiar to the inhabitants of India. Even the aboriginal tribes have their social customs, any breach of which is visited with social excommunication. The method of investigating offences which is common among the heathen is retained by the

Christians. When an offence of a scandalous nature has been committed, the pastor of the district calls together his council, the members of which have been chosen in consultation with the laity, and if the offence is held to be proved the decision of the council, or panchayat, as it is called, is sent to the European missionaries at the central station for confirmation.

The names of such offenders are published to the congregation assembled in church, and the faithful are warned against holding social intercourse with them while they remain impenitent. Those who profess repentance undergo a period of probation, during which they sit with the unbaptized in a portion of the church railed off at the west end. All unbaptized persons, and all who are excluded from Holy Communion for scandalous offences, are publicly called upon to leave the church before the celebration of the Eucharist; but, with the exception of these, no baptized man, woman, or child ever thinks of leaving the church at such a time. The celebration of the Lord's Supper is regarded as a service in which all the baptized are privileged to join. When a sufficient time of probation has elapsed, and the penitent comes to be re-admitted to church privileges, he is met by the priest at the rail which separates the baptized from the unbaptized, and there makes confession of his sin, and receives absolution in the form prescribed in the office for the visitation of the sick; he is then led in and seated among his brethren.

I must now very briefly touch upon two very important matters. First, the suitability of our Book of Common Prayer to the wants of people such as the aborigines of Chota Nagpore. After using our Prayer-book in one or other of the Indian languages for the last twentyfour years, I feel more than ever convinced that it requires some modification. The services, by translation, became at least one-third as long again. I have mentioned that all the baptized are present at the celebration of Holy Communion; and at high celebrations the ordinary number of communicants, even in our village churches, ranges from 100 to 200. I always feel on such occasions that the great length of the service must be injurious, especially as the mass of the people are incapable of using any book of devotion.

Again, the arrangement of lessons for matins and evensong, as well as the way in which the Psalter is to be read, however suitable to English people of the present day, are by no means adapted to the capabilities of uncivilised and uneducated tribes.

When engaged in instructing students preparing for Holy Orders, I have painfully felt how unsuitable to men in their circumstances is the confession of faith contained in our Thirty-nine Articles. Many other points might be mentioned which go to show that it is not altogether wise to take forms of service suitable to Englishmen, and to introduce them without modification among a totally different class of people. The present time may be unpropitious for the attempt, but it is surely possible to modify our forms without sacrificing one jot of Catholic doctrine or ritual which we have inherited.

Lastly, I should say that a somewhat lengthened experience has strengthened my conviction that when we go to plant the Church in a new country we should not delay to supply a complete organisation. In a church such as that of which I have been especially speaking, the

need of a bishop has been very keenly felt, although the Bishops of Calcutta have done all that they possibly could do. Without a bishop on the spot, our Church suffers by comparison with the Presbyterians, with whom we are in close contact. We profess to have a more complete organisation, and yet the ordination of ministers, the consecration of churches and cemeteries, and the confirmation of newly-baptized converts and others, are impossible amongst us, except at rare intervals; while amongst our neighbours such acts can at any time be performed after their own manner. There are no doubt difficulties in the way of increasing the Episcopate in India, but surely they are not insurmountable.

In confining myself, as I have done in this paper, to the affairs of the Church among one very small section of the many native races of India, I feel that I have not done exactly what was expected of me. But it is probably better to have done this than, with my limited experience, to have attempted a wider range.

ADDRESSES.

Sir CHARLES TURNER, C.I.E., late Chief Justice of Madras. In a book, well worthy of perusal by all who are interested in our great dependency, Professor Max Muller's "India, what it can teach us," there occurs a passage, with much of which I believe this meeting will agree. "Take that, which after all, whether we confess or deny it, we care for more in this life than anything else-nay, which is often far more cared for by those who deny than by those who confess —take that which supports, pervades, and directs all our acts, thoughts, and hopes— without which there can be neither village community nor empire, neither custom nor law, neither right nor wrong—take that which next to language has most firmly fixed the specific and permanent barrier between man and beast-which alone has made life possible and bearable; and which, as it is the deepest, though often hidden, spring of individual life, is also the foundation of all national life-the history of all histories, and yet the mystery of all mysteries-take religion and where can you study its time, origin, its natural growth, and its inevitable decay, better than in India, the home of Brahmanism, the birthplace of Buddhism, and the refuge of Zoroastrianism, even now the mother of new superstitions-and why not in the future the regenerate child of the purest faith, if only purified from the dust of nineteen centuries." In discussing the subject chosen for debate this afternoon, it is difficult to abstain from touching on questions which, however worthy they may be of consideration, would not directly serve our present purpose. The science of philology warns us that we are not to assume that any race which now exhibits a low stage of social life has never enjoyed a higher state, and teaches us that an examination of its language may disclose that the race has degraded from, rather than it has failed to attain to the elevation of ideas which we term civilisation; and it would be interesting to inquire whether the languages of the races driven by Aryan immigrants into the hills and forests of Hindustan do not exhibit traces of such a degradation, and retain ideas which explain the receptitivity several of these races have displayed for the message of the missionary. It would also be interesting to inquire whether there may not be among the Aryans of the East some survival of the creed once held in common by them and the Aryans