Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/158

132 Sanscrit language into this remote part of India. At present, about one-half the words are derived from Sanscrit roots. This has been a gain to the language, and an assistance to the preacher of the truth; for the Sanscrit is rich in words expressive of such ideas as faith, repentance, sin, holiness, love, sorrow, joy, &c. Although a heathen signification is attached to such terms by the people from long use, so that when the missionary speaks of sin or holiness, they may understand that which he does not mean, yet he can by explanation and example make the Christian idea of these abstract terms to grow around the words. Though Satan has depraved such words, he has not been able to destroy them. It is the work of the missionary, with the blessing of God, to restore to them their proper meaning, and by them to convey to the Hindus the commands and promises of the Bible.

The acquisition of an Oriental tongue is no light task. In the study of French, German, or Spanish, we enter upon languages very closely related to our own. But the languages of India have very little in common with English. It requires an inversion of all former modes of speech, pronunciation, and even of thought. If you would speak in a Tamil chan-