we look for aid, for Thou art the God of Salvation, our only Hope in this world of temptation. We pray unto Thee, vouchsafe to enlighten our minds and purify our hearts with Thy love. We have assembled here this evening that we may learn the TRUTH which is in Thee. Teach us to love truth, and give us a strong will that we may live according to it. all humility we approach Thy divine presence, and we prostrate our souls beneath Thy feet; give us, O Lord, knowledge unto salvation. Good God, have mercy on us.

With

THE CALCUTTA
BRAHMO SCHOOL.-I.

IT

T affords me sincere gratification to perform the ceremony of re-opening the Calcutta Brahmo School, not only because, on personal grounds, it is full of pleasant associations, but because, on public grounds, I consider such an institution to be of vast importance to the spiritual welfare of the country and to the progress of the Brahmo Somaj. Most of you are aware, I believe, that nearly eight years ago, under the guidance and with the cooperation of my venerable coadjutor here present, we founded a Sunday School in this city, in connection with the Calcutta Brahmo Somaj. Our object was to bring together a number of young men, and give them a regular course of instruction in Brahmic Theology and Ethics. Week after week I and my coadjutor used to deliver lectures on these subjects, which, I must say, were duly appreciated by our auditors and conduced to their mental and moral improvement. We had every reason to congratulate ourselves on the fruits of our humble labours, which even exceeded our most

sanguine expectations. Of about fifty regular students more than twenty creditably passed the periodical examinations, obtained testimonials of proficiency, and went forth into the world with sound ideas of religion and morality, lofty aspirations and an improved tone of thought and character, of which they have since given abundant proofs in their daily intercourse with the world. Through them and others who used to attend the School only now and then, a salutary influence was also produced on the Brahmo community in general. Some of the ex-students have also become missionaries of our holy faith, and are engaged in communicating to others those truths in which they had been originally indoctrinated in the School, and which they subsequently developed by their Own mature reflection and practical experience. am glad to see some of them before me. It cannot be denied, therefore, that the School was a success. However, it was closed after three years, as the course of instruction was finished, and the immediate object of the School seemed to have been accomplished in regard to the existing pupils. The idea of opening a new class of pupils at the end of the final year and repeating our instructions, with a view to train up a fresh batch of young men, did not occur to us at the time. Several important events, however, have since transpired, which

I

have impressed us with the necessity of reviving this useful institution. You are no doubt aware of the immense progress made by the Brahmo Somaj of late, in Bengal as well as in the North-Western Provinces, the Punjab and Madras. The number of Theists and Theistic Somajes has steadily increased, and a great religious agitation is strikingly manifest on all sides, which is destined to settle, in the fulness of time, into a mighty Theistic organization. This progress is owing partly to English education, and partly to the numerous tracts, books and periodicals published by the metropolitan and provincial Brahmo Somajes, and to the exertions of our itinerant missionaries who have been preaching the doctrines of our faith for the last four years in different parts of the country. In the midst of these cheering indications of progress Calcutta appeared of late to be in a comparatively neglected condition. While our preachers were propagating Brahmo Dharma far and wide in the mofussil and in other and remote provinces, our mission was all but closed in the metropolis-the primitive seat of Brahmic movement. This was indeed painful to contemplate; the more so as Calcutta being the centre of native improvement should occupy a permanent and prominent place in our mission field, so that we may draw constant accessions from the ranks of the

alumni of our schools and colleges, and render education, what it ought to be, a steppingstone to religious improvement. Is it not a matter of grave regret that there is no public institution in this city for disseminating truths of Brahmo Dharma among our educated young men? I admit isolated attempts are now and then made in this direction by private individuals according to leisure, inclination and convenience, either in the shape of imparting instruction or merely lending books to such as come forward as inquirers; but there is no institution where young men may resort and receive systematic religious and moral training. Such a want has long been felt, in fact ever. since the Brahmo School was abolished. But never was it so forcibly felt as at present, when the tendencies of our leading educational institutions have become alarmingly prejudicial to the spiritual interests of the rising generation of our countrymen.

I am fully alive to the importance and expediency of the policy of religious neutrality on which Government education is based. For wise and benevolent purposes that policy was laid down, and it is necessary that it should be strictly adhered to in all schools and colleges under direct Governmental management. It is not only sound and unimpeachable on political grounds but also acceptable to all religious