Christian Watchman, 24 May 1833, p. 1. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers. Accessed 18 Aug. 2026.
by D. O. ALLEN
The following fact was stated at the Bible meeting in Chatham-street Chapel, on Friday of last week, by Mr. Allen, one of the Missionaries of the American Board at Bombay, now in this city. At our request, Mr. Allen has sent it to us in this form for publication.—New-York Observer.
Messrs. Editors.—The following fact cannot be uninteresting to those of your readers who desire and pray for the propagation of the Gospel in heathen countries, and who feel regret in view of every obstacle or occurrence which retards that glorious cause.
A few months before I left India, a large quantity (nearly an hundred copies), of the works of Thomas Paine were received in that country from America, and exposed for sale at a reduced price, in the shop of a native bookseller. These books fell into the hands of some young men who had been educated in English. These persons being strongly attached to the Hindoo religion, and opposed to the propagation of Christianity, translated some parts of the “Age of Reason” into the native language, and inserting them in the native newspapers, challenged the Missionaries to reply to the charges and pretended reasoning thus exhibited against the truth of the Scriptures. These some of the Missionaries in India have been obliged to contend, not only with the stupidity and sottishness of idolatry, and with the bigotry and intolerance of Mohammedanism, but also with the sneers and cavils of infidelity, imported from America.
The best antidote against the spread of infidelity has always been the Bible itself, and I was rejoiced to learn at the late annual meeting of the American Bible Society, from the report there presented, that the Society had entered vigorously on the work of foreign operations, and that liberal appropriations had been made to aid the Missionaries in India, in printing and circulating the Scriptures. The noble spirit manifested at the meeting after the reading of the report, encouraged me to hope that these appropriations were but the commencement of greater exertions to furnish every heathen country with the word of God. Surely if infidels are active in disseminating their principles in heathen countries, Christians should not delay to exert vigorously on the same field. The poison of infidelity has been supplied from this country, and it becomes the duty of American Christians to supply the word of life, not merely in sufficient quantities to arrest the progress of infidelity, but to take the widest possession of the ground, and show to the inhabitants of India, that the Bible is here received as the word of God; that it was designed by its author for the whole human family; and that faith in its doctrines and obedience to its precepts are essential to their salvation.