William Butler

“ But, should the Ganges not be more than a few miles away, instead of being kept to be burned at home, the dying wife and mother is laid on a charpoy — the light native bedstead — and raised on the shoulders of four bearers. She leaves her home forever, unattended, however, by her husband; her eldest son instead goes with her, and they hurry her by the shortest route across the country to the sacred river. She is dying; the sun blazes upon her with its fierce rays, often as high as one hundred and thirty-eight degrees, and she is, of course, jolted and shaken by the runners ”

“ It is not for nothing that India has been placed under the British rule. It is impossible to think that her destinies have been ruled by blind, unsparing Fate, or that it is for the glory and power of England alone that such a wonderful bond of connection has been established by an inscrutable Providence between the two countries. There is one hope, one intense conviction from which no true patriot can escape; that is, that England and India are to be a mutual blessing ”

“ When I sit down at a table in this land, spread with Heaven's bounty for the family and friends, and look at the Christian woman who so sweetly presides at the board, and whose blessed presence sheds such light and gladness on the scene, I often sigh to think that no such sight as this is enjoyed in India, for that land is cursed by the iron rule of a system which denies to her the joys and charities of social life. ”

“ There stands that Orphanage to-day, one of the brightest hopes that shines for woman in the East; and of it may be said, that the little one has become one hundred and fifty, and the solitary female worshiper an exultant congregation of bright, happy girls, with a future of Christian usefulness before each and all of them. Truly, “Thou makest the wrath of man to praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.”
Our early congregations in India, from 1857 to 1861, had, in one sense, a melancholy aspect. ”

“ English rule some time since nobly struck off the shackles with which the Hindoo code and Brahmin pride had bound the common people of India, leaving them free to do the best they could for themselves. These downtrodden millions never before in the history of the world have had a chance to rise, but somehow, of late years, by the circulation of Gospel truth among them, they have grasped the great idea that in Christ and Christianity alone is there hope for them in this life and in all that may come after it. ”

“ None but those who, like ourselves, have been practically captive for months, not knowing but that any day our doom might be sealed by the hand of violence, can imagine how every gun seemed to ring the knell of the Moslem city and power, while it proclaimed liberty to the Christian and the missionary of the cross—none but those so situated can appreciate the luxury of an hour like that. ”

“ This wholesale destruction of human life in the homes of India is a parental responsibility; but at whose hands have these innocents perished? By the midnight assassin, or the Indian tomahawk or scalping knife? No, no; let humanity shudder. They are the mothers—the unhappy mothers—who, in the name of false honor, demon pride, and hereditary fictions of rank or purity of lineage, have no compassion on the fruit of their own womb, who imbrue their hands in the blood of their new-born babes. ”

“ Seven long miles of that narrow and dangerous road lay between me and the dak Bungalow, and he could not walk a step only as I dragged him along. The night soon fled, and he failed fast. Never in all my life have I felt any thing so lonely as was that weary walk through those dark woods and over those high mountains. The keen remembrance of it will go with me to the grave. The poor animal had some of the stumps of the nails in his hoofs, which every step seemed to drive higher as he trod on the stony path, until at last it was real misery to look at him as he slowly and painfully limped along. ”

“ Of course, such a people are not destitute of national conceit. Indeed, the Hindoos hold up their heads with a sovereign sense of superiority above all other people on the earth. Admit their claims, and their system of chronology, and the assumptions of their history, and all other nations must hang their heads as modern novelties, and bow down in humility in the presence of a civilization of divine origin and a venerable aristocracy that counts its life and honors by millions of years! ”

“ Though the most important of all branches of human knowledge, politics have never engaged the attention of the people of the East. They have never studied the theory and practice of a constitutional government, never conceived any thing like republicanism, never understood emancipation from political servitude, never known a covenant between the subject and the sovereign. They have never had any patriotism or philanthropy, any common spirit and unity for the public weal, or what it is to govern for the good, not of the fewest, but of the greatest, number.”—Travels of a Hindoo, Vol. ”

“ Polygamy throws its terrors, either as a possibility or a fact, over the heart of every married lady in India. Creation and divine law have ordained woman to be queen of her husband's heart, and to reign without a rival. But heathenism has dared to overthrow that right, and sternly tells the loving and trusting wife that she must, and without complaining, admit a partner in her, husband's affection, if he desires it. ”

“ The refugees from Moradabad reached us by the southern pass within a couple of hours of those from Bareilly. We went to meet them; and how hearty was each congratulation upon their escape and safe arrival! Each man, too, added to the force for our defense, and so strengthened us. One officer, as he came over the brow of the hill, and caught his first view of Nynee Tal, looked delighted, as he rested his loaded rifle by his side, till a sudden thought flushed his face with anxiety, and, turning to us, he asked, “But are we safe here?” ”

“ The Lord has graciously laid the claims of the Female Orphanage upon the hearts of our ladies. It is now under the special charge of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as a part of their work for women in India.
It is a beautiful sight to see the orphan girls on the Sabbath of God, in His house, so neat, and attentive, and devotional, and to hear them sing the praises of Him to whose mercy they owe so much, and then all bow down to worship in the true Biblical and
Oriental fashion. ”

“ Traveling for nearly ten years in a palankeen, alone and unprotected in the hands of the natives, I have slept in their serais and under their trees, often fifty miles from any white man, yet I moved in perfect security, was never molested, and never lost the value of a cent in all my peregrinations. So profound is the confidence in the power of law and the care of the Government, that ladies travel alone in this way every night in the year without hesitation or anxiety. Such is the security of person and property under English rule in India. ”

“ But enough is here intimated to cause the gentle heart of any Christian woman to compassionate the millions of her sex who are thus systematically debauched in their imaginations and affections by their very mothers, as they educate them thus to continue their own degradation and that of their offspring forever. How much such females need the Christian teacher, and what light the Holy Bible would bring to such homes, and what a contrast of loveliness, and purity, and goodness the story of our Incarnate God would be to such instruction, can be seen at a glance! ”

“ From these mangoes, as they fall, flows a mighty river of perfumed juice, so communicative of its sweetness that those who partake of it exhale the odor from their persons all around to the distance of many leagues. There also grow rose-apple trees, whose fruit is ‘large as elephants,’ and whose juice is so plentiful as to form another mighty river, that converts the earth over which it passes into purest gold!”—Duff's India and India Missions, p. ”

“ My earnest denial of any connection with the Government was received with a look of suspicion, for they confounded every white man (then few and far between in India) with the Government; and when I proceeded to assure him that I was not even an Englishman, the Hindoo looked at me and exclaimed, “Why, Sahib, your face is white, you talk the English language, and are by religion a Christian; what else can you be but an Englishman?” ”