CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHARACTER, THE PROBABLE ORIGIN, AND THE PRESENT INFLUENCE OF HINDOOISM. On a review of the Hindoo system, the main principles of which have been thus partially exposed, and its more prominent features illustrated, by the light shed from the devotional works of its votaries and dupes, and by the opposing views of those who, though within the precincts of its sanctuary, have ventured to let in upon it some of the natural light of reason, we are led to inquire what proportion of truth it may contain, how that truth has become amalgamated with so much error, and what is the aspect of the whole system, in reference to Christianity, now being introduced amongst the people by the labours of Missionaries. The views thus afforded of the Hindoo system are deemed sufficient to demonstrate, that there has been no more truth admitted into its composition than was absolutely necessary to give it some degree of consistency, and maintain a connexion between its monstrous and disproportionate limbs, whilst it should receive the homage, and secure the mental and spiritual bondage of the successive generations of a hundred millions of the human race. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS, &c. 325 The Hindoo system admits the being of a God, the necessary and rational foundation of any religious belief: having acknowledged this, it stops short, and denies to the Supreme Author and End of all being, any interest or interference in the affairs of the world; and allows him neither the fear nor the love of man, neither reverence nor worship. Among the hundreds of the temples of India, there are none to his honour; among the thousands of its priests, there are none for his service; yet it is professed that no creature, except man, can attain to a knowledge of him and union with him: to man it is possible; but, in order to attain it, entire renunciation of all that is desirable and proper to humanity is enjoined, and is to be attained not by any gracious assistance, not in answer to prayer, but by the exercise of natural powers of the mind; on the accomplishment of this object, being and consciousness become extinct, and, to use their own figures, are like the bursting of a bubble on the water, or a particle of combustible matter floating in the air, when drawn with the flame of a lamp. Can any system be more unjust and derogatory to the divine character than this, or more calculated to increase the natural pride of man's heart, and, in affection and desire, remove him far from God? Hindooism acknowledges a superior and invisible agency, in the government and continuance of the world; but it is not the agency of a gracious and superintending Providence the paternal care and tender mercies of God over the works of his own hands: the government of the world is taken out of the hands even of the fancied Creator, and committed to agency, at best, of a mixed character; storms, 326 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS earthquakes, and general calamities are said to be sami vileiatt―the Lord's play; and endemic diseases and family or personal misfortunes are attributed to the interference of some inferior demon. This part of the system is so constructed as to produce and perpetuate a slavish superstition, without a particle of that consoling security and holy joy, resulting from the conviction that the "Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." It is remarkable that a system, entirely of heathen origin, should profess to record and believe several incarnations of a being worshipped as God. The Avatars, or incarnations of Vishnu, are ten in number, one of which is said to be yet to come; his votaries seem to have no difficulty in believing his identity, whether he is born of human parents, as Chrishna, or starts in a moment from a stonepillar, as Narasingha, the Man-lion. The debaucheries of one incarnation, the cruelties of another, the frauds of a third, and the monstrous improbabilities of them all, appear to be received without difficulty. To afford a good example, to atone for transgression, or to redeem man from present and eternal misery, was no part of the object with which these incarnations are said to have been performed; and yet it may not be an improbable conjecture, that the idea of incarnation was borrowed from revealed truth, and that, perhaps, even before the coming of Christ. However, it should be borne in mind, that these incarnations are peculiarities of the Vaishnava system, which is said to be comparatively modern in its origin; and they may have been intended as counterfeits, to discredit or supersede the belief of the incarnation of God, in the person of our blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. The existence of sin is generally admitted by the Hindoos, though with very imperfect views of its extreme turpitude and awful consequences: the removal of its guilt by bodily sufferings, certain forms of words, and ceremonies, and the possibility of entire deliverance from it by abstraction, in which the mind requires no aid beyond its own energies, as believed by the Hindoos, might induce us to conclude, that the existence of sin had only been acknowledged in order to be made light of, or to give cause to ceremonies, and find employment for the ever busy mind of man. The belief of the liability of the human soul to a supernatural influence, both good and evil, exists amongst the Hindoos, as may have been observed by the attentive reader in the translated extracts already given. This doctrine, as propounded in revelation, has a most important bearing on the character, the dignity, and the interests of man: its effect, as held by the Hindoos, is to promote superstition, and consequent misery, and to give a considerable degree of popularity to the pretenders to magical power and skill. A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, are insisted on by Christianity, as necessary to the happiness and safety of the soul; and the means are pointed out whereby this great change in the character and spiritual relations of man may be effectually wrought: the Hindoo also expects to be born again, and to be improved, perhaps, 328 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS by the change; but it is after his death that he looks for this advantage, in the transmigration of his soul to another body, in which he hopes to have less of temporal suffering and more ease and sensual enjoyment. Another peculiarity of the Hindoo system already adverted to, is, that it denies the distinct individuality and immortality of the soul: the Hindoos are not taught to desire eternal life, or even to hope for it; a temporary state of existence, more pleasurable than the present, either on earth or in the lower heaven, the sensual paradise of Devendren, is, in general, the utmost of their expectations and their wishes. Eternity of rewards to the righteous, and eternity of punishment to the wicked, are excluded from their systems of doctrine; and, in consequence, no motive is presented sufficient to correct the tendencies of corrupt nature, or efficiently to alarm and trouble the conscience. The whole is "cunningly devised," if not to deceive the understanding, to captivate the will and affections, to sooth the pride, and to gratify the corrupt inclinations of the human heart. : It would be an interesting, though a melancholy task, to trace the gradual formation of this system, and the engrafting of its monstrous errors on the truths it partially acknowledges this, however is not practicable; it now stands before us in all its horrible disproportions, with the marks of remote antiquity about it, and it would be fruitless to attempt deciding which were the parts which may be called its first formations, or its last additions. There are about it, especially in some of its less important ceremonies and enjoined observances, sufficient evidences of human con |