Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/392

340 it hid in a secret place. He read it with great joy, and with a better understanding than before; he would not now lend it, but bid those who wished to see it come to his house, where he explained it to them as far as he was able. “I now," said he, “began to feel a very great dislike to all idols, both in the heathen and Roman Catholic temples. I began also to have a great fear of God, and a dread of sin. I was particularly afraid lest God should again take his book from me. My grief and anxiety, however, daily increased, as I had no person to instruct me regarding its contents, and I longed for some one to unfold more clearly to me its precious truths.”

For some years, Shunkuru continued the study of his book, and in different places, whither business took him, strove to lead others to believe the truths in which he so much delighted. At some places he erected small buildings as school-rooms, and also as places for reading and prayer. By these means some were led to embrace the truth, and also to preach them to others.

Once, when in Cannanore, on the western coast of India, the sound of reading attracted his attention while passing a house. From the