receive water by the hands of the gardener, so the trees of a forest, I see, are dependent on the agency of the clouds. But I wish to know what you mean by nature; is it something inherent in living substances, or distinct from them? If you say it is inherent, then it will appear that substances can form themselves; if you affirm, that it is distinct, you contradict your own principles, for you maintain that nothing exists distinct from matter; or if you say, that there is something beside matter, which is capable of all things, then know, that this is what we call God. Therefore you cannot maintain that there is any thing distinct from the body.

Unbeliever. You affirm then, that there is one God, who is from and to everlasting, separate from matter, almighty, the creator of all. I affirm, that nature is almighty, infinite, and separate from matter.

The Noiyayiku. Excellent! Excellent! You make an endless number of works, and the creators numberless. I affirm, that numberless works have one creator. I leave you (unbeliever) to judge which is the most excellent of these opinions. To express your opinion requires as many letters as to express mine; you call the creator nature, and I call him God:-what do you gain then in rejecting a -God?

Unbeliever, (a little abashed.) Well, for the sake of the argument, I acknowledge that there is a God; but why is he to be eternal ?

The Noiyayiku. If he be not eternal, then he must have a creator and a destroyer. If you deny his eternity, then I ask, who is his creator and destroyer?—and thus,

without end, some being, who is from everlasting, must be sought; or you must fix on some one having this property, and then he shall become God. [Hearing this, the unbeliever remained silent, and the Noiyayikŭ continued :] God, laying hold of religion and irreligion, created the world; seeing happiness and misery in the world, we form this opinion. If there be neither heaven nor hell, why do you go to the temples to worship; and why sweep the road, lest you should injure living creatures? If there be nothing to be desired or feared, there can be neither desire nor fear : yet we see, that desire and fear have great power over men; therefore we conclude, that in the future state there is a heaven and a hell. You must also admit, that the soul at death assumes another body, in order to partake of the joys or sorrows of this future state, since the animal soul without a body is incapable of suffering; for the same reason it must also be admitted, that the soul migrates through various bodies. Further, what is thus made evident by inference, is agreeable to the divine writings, and to all that has been written by those whose opinions agree with the védŭs: the truth of the shastrus is confirmed by the correctness of their astronomical calculations. [The Bouddhŭ, involved in incorrect judgement, and ignorance of God, was overcome, and] the Noiyayikŭ thus triumphed: 'The existence of God is proved! He is lord of all;—he presides over the work of creation, preservation, and destruction; he is everlasting;-he is all wise ;-he is the author of salvation.-Through his compassion, these proofs of his existence and authority have been established.'

* That is, attaching to human existence vice and pain, virtue and happiness.

Rr 2

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

THE author cannot close this work, without soliciting the attention of the reader to one or two remarks :

It will appear, on a perusal of this volume, that the object of worship among all the Hindoos, and even among all the seceders from the orthodox opinions, is the same. They believe, that there is one God: so completely abstracted in his own essence however, that, in this state, he is emphatically the Unknown,' and is consequently neither the object of worship, of hope, nor of fear;—that he is even destitute of intelligence, and remains in a state of profound repose; that at times this Being assumes what is called his energy;—that when united to energy, he is possessed of qualities, and creates worlds; which qualities are impressed, more or less, on every form of existence. Next God becomes individuated, and takes possession of every form of matter: it is the same God, as Krishnů says, 'which is seen in the reverend bramhun perfected in knowledge, in the dog, and in him who eateth of the flesh of dogs.' Amongst the regular Hindoos, the beings supposed to possess most of this energy, or in whom the presiding deity eminently dwells, are the gods, the giants, the bramhuns, and devout ascetics amongst the heterodox sects, ascetics are almost exclusively considered as the favoured depositaries of the divine energy.

This energy, it is said, exists separate from Brùmhu, in his abstract state, as smothered embers; and is, like himself, eternal.

In the preface to this volume, the author has mentioned these notions as being entertained by the regular Hindoos ; and he restates them now merely to shew, that this 'indwelling scheme' is the prominent feature of all the systems of paganism throughout the east.

It will be seen, from the four last chapters of this volume, that the founder of the joinŭ sect, as well as Bouddhu, Nanŭků, and Choitŭnyu, owe their whole success to this notion; they would never have been venerated while living, nor deified when dead, if they had not been considered as possessing a large share of the divine energy. A people whose minds are filled with the idea, that it is God who pervades every thing, and who now manifests a greater portion of himself in one form, and then in another, have easily been imposed upon by pretended saints, especially by those who made a great display of austere devotion. So incessantly is this idea present with the Hindoos, that many wander away a whole life in search of a man in whom God preeminently dwells; and though supernatural powers are most sought after, yet abstraction of mind, inoffensiveness, and a few other passive virtues, are with some as highly esteemed as powers to perform the most wonderful miracles. Thus, it is God who is sought for amongst the creatures, as persons search out and cautiously approach an object in the dark; while the astonished and half-affrighted spectator exclaims, as he gazes on the imagined deity, 'There! behold he is there!' and prostrates himself before him. Even in the most remarkable appearances in nature, the indwelling deity is recognized, without searching at all for any natural causes of the phenomenon.

In the 7th volume of the Asiatic Researches, p. 381, Captain Moor has given an extraordinary account of an he

reditary living deity; to which the author begs leave to refer, as affording a striking illustration of the fact he here wishes to establish.

Amongst the mendicant orders, deities claiming similar powers, though somewhat inferior to the Chinchoor Deo, described by Capt. Moor, are frequently to be seen, each strutting his hour upon the stage, and then sinking into everlasting oblivion like common mortals.

The Grand Lama is another hereditary living deity, before whom millions prostrate themselves. When Capt. Turner was on his embassy to this deity, to gratify his votaries he made an offering, he says, to the deceased Teshoo Lama; and in addressing the same deity, who had entered the body of an infant eighteen months old, he said to the child-The Governor-General, on receiving the news of his [your] decease in China, was overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, and continued to lament his [your] absence from the world, until the cloud that had overcast the happiness of this nation was dispelled by his [your] reappearance.'

Captain Turner, speaking of the religion of Tibet, says, 'It seems to be the schismatical offspring of the religion of the Hindoos, deriving its origin from one of the followers of that faith, a disciple of Bouddhů, who first broached the doctrine which now prevails over the wide extent of Tartary. It is reported to have received its earliest admission in that part of Tibet bordering upon India, (which from hence became the seat of the sovereign Lamas;) to have traversed over Mantchieux Tartary, and to have been ultimately disseminated over China and Japan. Though it differs from the Hindoo in many of its outward forms, yet it