The first race of Christians, as wall as millions who succeeded
them, became such in formal opposition to all these motives, to the
whole power and strength of this influence. Every argument, therefore,
and every instance, which sets forth the prejudice of education, and the
almost irresistible effects of that prejudice (and no persons are more
fond of expatiating upon this subject than deistical writers), in fact
confirms the evidence of Christianity.
But, in order to judge of the argument which is drawn from the early
propagation of Christianity, I know no fairer way of proceeding than to
compare what we have seen on the subject with the success of Christian
missions in modern ages. In the East India mission, supported by the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, we hear sometimes of thirty,
sometimes of forty, being baptized in the course of a year, and these
principally children. Of converts properly so called, that is, of adults
voluntarily embracing Christianity, the number is extremely small.
"Notwithstanding the labour of missionaries for upwards of two hundred
years, and the establishments of different Christian nations who support
them, there are not twelve thousand Indian Christians, and those almost
entirely outcasts.
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