degree of preparation there was, in the Jewish and Gentile world, for the coming of Christianity, and then what kind of resistance it met, internally and externally. I may have misunderstood some theological statements; for it is not easy to draw a continuous thread from the tangled skein of polemical controversy; which constantly reminds me of the Scotch definition of metaphysics: "It is ane mon expleening to anither what he dinna weel understand himsel."

The perfect openness with which I have revealed many particulars generally kept in the back ground, will trouble some devotional people, whose feelings I would not willingly wound. But I place great reliance on sincerity, and have strong faith in the power of genuine Christianity to stand on its own internal merits, unaided by concealment. My own mind has long been desirous to ascertain the plain unvarnished truth on all these subjects; and having sought it out, I felt prompted to impart it to those who were in a similar state. Those who wish to obtain candid information, without caring whether it does, or does not, sustain any favourite theory of their own, may perhaps thank me for saving them the trouble of searching through large and learned volumes for scattered items of information; and if they complain of want of profoundness, they may perchance be willing to accept simplicity and clearness in exchange for depth. In order to do justice to the book, if read at all, it ought not to be glanced at here and there, but read carefully from the beginning to the end; because the links of a continuous chain are preserved throughout.

Constant reference to authorities would have loaded the pages with notes, and unpleasantly interrupted the reading. I have therefore given, at the end of the volume, a list of the principal books I have used, which can be examined by any one who doubts the accuracy of my statements.

Sustained by conscious integrity of purpose, and having executed my task faithfully, according to the best of my ability, I quietly leave the book to its fate, whether it be neglect, censure, or praise.

PROGRESS

OF

RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

HINDOSTAN, OR INDIA.

"The countries of the far East had also their age of glory. At their fire was lighted a torch, which passing from the hands of Egyptians to the hands of Jews, and from the hands of Jews to the hands of Christians, still casts its gleams upon the earth."

hence it came to be Hindoos themselves

THE name of this country was derived from one of its principal rivers. Stan signifies land; called Indus-Stan, land of the Indus. called it by a name signifying "The Central Land;" sometimes it was designated as "The Land of Righteousness." Within the last century their literature has attracted much attention, and the careful investigations of Oriental scholars prove them to have been a civilized people at a period extremely remote. In times coeval with the earliest authentic records, they could calculate eclipses, and were venerated for their attainments in several arts and sciences. Some of their very ancient buildings contain the twelve signs of the zodiac, represented by almost precisely the same emblems now in use among us. According to the learned astronomer, M. Bailly, their observations of the heavenly VOL. L-1

A

bodies may be dated as far back as four thousand nine hundred and fifty years. The Sanscrit language, in which their Sacred Books are written, is of such remote antiquity, that no tradition remains of any people by whom it was originally spokeņ; and their mythological sculptures, covering immense masses of rock, are said to be "works which make the pyramids of Egypt seem young."

The Hindoos believed themselves to have been the first inhabitants of this earth; and their traditions place the creation of the world many millions of years farther back than we do. First, there was an age of purity, called the Satya Yug, when men lived to an immense age, and were more than thirty feet high. They were too innocent to have need of government, and so unselfish that all the goods of life were equally distributed.

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Delightful times! because

Nature then reigned, and Nature's laws;

And this grand truth from none was hidden,
What pleaseth hath no law forbidden."

A great Deluge swept away all the memorials of this age. In the second age, called Treta Yug, men began to be vicious. The term of their existence was much shortened, and Brahma gave them rajahs, or princes, to rule over them. In the third age, called the Dwapar Yug, vice and virtue became equally mingled, and the lives of men were again shortened one third. The fourth age, called the Cali Yug, though much shorter than the others in duration, is to embrace a term of four hundred and thirty-two thousand years. According to their Sacred Books, it commenced. about five thousand years ago, when there was a remarkable conjunction of the planets. In this age, the longest term of man's life is limited to one hundred years, and his stature, already greatly diminished, will be gradually reduced to pigmy size. Wickedness will more and more abound till the end comes.

Hindoos have no history to sustain these dates, comprising such enormous intervals of time. Lists of kings,

preserved in various parts of the country, have been calculated to go back between four and five thousand years.

It is a recognized fact that some individuals have temperaments more inclined than others to veneration and mysticism; and the remark is equally applicable to nations. The Hindoos are peculiarly ardent and susceptible, and as usual with such organizations, they have strong devotional tendencies. We find their wise men of ancient time neglecting historical records, and paying comparatively slight attention to the external sciences, but meditating earnestly, in the loneliness of stately forests, on the origin and destiny of the human soul. Ecstatic delight in nature, exuberant wealth of imagination, a pervading reverence for the supernatural, characterize every department of their literature. The same religious impress is on their history. They have been patient and docile under every foreign yoke, so long as they were unmolested in usages deemed sacred; but the moment there was any interference with devotional practices, they were roused at once, and defended them with the ferocity of tigers.

The first question which perplexed the old sages of India, standing as they did on the threshold of time, was one which no subtilty of human intellect has yet been able to solve. They asked, Whence came Evil? Conceiving, as we do, that the Great First Cause of all things must be good, they knew not how to account for disease and wickedness. They did not ascribe them to a Bad Spirit, almost as powerful as God himself; but they supposed that Matter was Evil, and that the union of Spirit with Matter was the origin of all sin, sickness, and sorrow. This visible world, including mortal bodies, they regarded as mere phantasmagoria, without any reality; a magiclantern show, by which the Divine Mind, for inscrutable purposes, deludes us into the belief that we are independent existences, and that the things around us are real. Hence they called creation Maya, or Illusion.

This theological theory, acting on temperaments naturally plaintive and poetic, produced melancholy views of