and many others have too much good in them to acquiesce in such a numbing of all the higher aspirations and sentiments. of their nature, and these, wandering hither and thither like sheep without a shepherd, incessantly beat the air in the vain pursuit after religious truth. A few become Protestants: as we have already said, not one in a hundred probably of those who are trained in Protestant schools, and still fewer among those who pass through Government schools, or aided schools under native management: a few become Atheists, a few sceptics; but, as a rule, Hindoos cannot get rid of their belief in a supreme God, and Theism decidedly prevails over Pantheism or Atheism. A gentleman in the service of Government, who is an enthusiastic disciple of Comte, not merely, as so many are, of the philosophy but also of the religion of that clear-sighted but eccentric Frenchman, has done his best to recommend Positivism to their attention, with a mixture of success and failure. Educated natives are too anxious to obtain any support in opposing Christianity, and too conscious of the necessity of some definite system of opposition, not to welcome any aid in that quarter: accordingly the Bengallee, one of the best papers in the English language published by the educated Hindoos of Calcutta, has been entirely placed at the service of this gentleman, who has used it to explain the Positive system in a series of elaborate articles. So much attention has the subject attracted, that a Scotch missionary has thought it necessary to take up the cudgels against this system specially, and to attack Positivism both in lectures and in a series of counter articles in the National paper, another Hindoo organ in the English language. But the result has shown that Positivism, as a system based on an avowed repudiation of God as any motive for human action, or as in any way known to us or knowable, is totally alien to the Hindoo constitution, and years of religious chaos must pass before it will obtain any hold of their mind.

There is, however, one religious system to which we have not yet adverted, which alone is deserving of more than a passing notice-we mean Brahmism, or the Brahmo Somaj. Brahma is the supreme god of the Hindoos; Brahmism, therefore, means "Theism," and, except in its history or natural features, has no connection whatsoever with Hindooism, which it now entirely repudiates. This alone, of all the religious opinions which European education has given rise to, possesses any organization; and though it numbers only some fifty to a hundred congregations and some two thousand members, many thousands who have not definitely joined it sympathize with it; and its adherents and sympathizers are on the whole the

most religious, most conscientious, and most sincere men to be found among educated Bengallees. It fully merits the most careful attention of the Catholic missionary. Its birthplace was Calcutta or its neighbourhood, but it is slowly extending to other provinces of India, even as remote as Madras; it was originally started as a society for reforming Hindooism, and its principle then was that all the later sacred books and commentaries were valueless, but that the original Vedas, supposed to have descended from heaven, were inspired Scripture. In reality, however, its followers held a kind of Christian morality combined with Theistic doctrine, and it was not long before a divergence appeared between their views and their authority, the Vedas. A deputation of four of their members was then sent to Benares to ascertain true Vedantic doctrine at its centre, and the result being unsatisfactory, that doctrine was entirely abandoned as authoritative, all revelation rejected, and pure reasoning declared to be the sole basis on which religious truth must be constructed. We need scarcely say that their pure reason was of a Theistic stamp, considerably moulded by old Hindoo traditions and evangelistic Christianity. Before many years had passed they began to find that, while they were very confident of their own doctrines, it was impossible to establish them by mere reasoning, and they now had recourse to intuition, or to intuition and reason combined, as the basis of theological truth. This was their last card, and before long they began to find that reason and so-called intuition led one set of men in a very different direction from that in which they led others, and some two years back a schism resulted. The one party wished to humour Hindooism as much as possible; it allowed its members to retain the Brahminical thread, and adhered to as many of the externals of the old religion as possible: the other and younger party regarded the retention of the thread as erroneous, condemned all caste distinctions, and was altogether more rationalizing. The leader of the conservatives is an old Brahmin of the well-known Tagore family, which lost caste some years ago, while that of the radicals is Keshub Chunder Sen, also of high caste, though not a Brahmin. This latter man, a most talented preacher, is the life of his party; he travels about the country lecturing generally in English, and attracts crowded audiences; for though, as we have said, the adherents of the Brahmo Somaj (or Church of God) are limited, its sympathizers are legion.

The foregoing description is sufficient, perhaps, to show that Brahmism, like Protestantism, has logically worked itself out, and has no longer any tenable basis for it emphatically repudiates the idea of being a mere mob of indi

viduals, of persons who accidentally agree in certain opinions, and therefore, as long as they agree, consent to work together: it claims to be a religion, to have a doctrine to teach, and to unite its members together by some bond of union; and yet, when examined, that bond of union is only reason and intuition, which may be appealed to with equal effect by opposite parties. The moment it became apparent that reason and intuition did not lead men to doctrinal unity, from that time forward it was clear that the ground had been cut from under the feet of Brahmists: it is now, therefore, like Protestantism, either a principle leading to no doctrine, or doctrines without principle. There are several features of it which, however, are likely to contribute to its partial success for some time; it ministers to the national vanity of the Hindoos most effectively, for it is a religion of their own manufacture, influenced to some extent by the writings of Francis Newman, Theodore Parker, Emerson, and others; and they are never tired of asserting that theirs is the first endeavour to organize Theism and form it into a Church, which they believe destined to spread over the whole world. An acquaintance with the religious history of France during the present century might teach them that they have been anticipated by Saint-Simon and others, and if no French scheme has shown such vitality as that in Bengal, it is only because in the presence of Catholicity the French have sooner found out the hopeless inconsistencies in which any such efforts become involved; while the adherents of Brahmism, though often charged with these defects, have not been slow to recognize that their opponents, the Protestant missionaries, are equally chargeable with them, and they are not the first persons to whom a tu-quoque has done service for a defence on the merits. Of the true principles of Catholicity, educated natives are unfortunately almost to a man profoundly ignorant, their impressions of it having been derived almost exclusively from such misrepresentations of it as are commonly circulated by so-called evangelical Protestants; and such being the case, they ordinarily speak or write of it with unconcealed contempt as an obsolete and exploded superstition.

The Brahmo Somaj has a weekly organ of its own in English and a press which constantly issues controversial publications; a few extracts from the two which we have placed at the head of this article will serve to show the style of argument and illustration which is employed. The earlier publication of the two consists of a series of tracts with a preface somewhat resembling in style the

"Clifton Tracts." The first tract explains what Brahmism is; it argues that of all things that which is incomparably of the most importance to man is religion, and that true religion must date from the commencement of the world, must be universal, and sufficient for its purpose. What, then, is this religion? After enumerating the principal religions of the day it continues

Let us divest all these religions of their peculiar tenets, the so-called vital points in each, and see if they all agree. Let us divest Christianity of the divinity of Christ, the Koran of the inspiration of Mahomed, the Poorans [Hindoo Scriptures] of the extravagant tales of its numerous gods and goddesses-the particular tenets in each, the points of attack and defence, and see what remains. . . After such a divesture of the peculiar tenets of each religion, there remain some truths, which are universal, and which exist from the day the first man was created. These truths are that there is a God, whom we are to love, honour, obey, fear, adore, and pray-that we are to look after the good of the society we live in-that we are to speak the truth, never curse, swear, lie, steal, and many others of like nature and tendency. Here, then, is the object of our search. Here, then, is the religion that has come down to us direct from God, and exists from the beginning of the world in numerous forms given according to the whims of men. This form, divested of all peculiar tenets, requires a name to distinguish it from all others, and we have happily a very judicious name given—– Brahmism. Hence it is that Brahmism is the vital part of every religion under the sun. Christianity, Mahomedanism, Hindooism, or any religion whatever can be proved Brahmism, alloyed with some particular opinions and tenets, the chief source of religious disagreement. Furiously indeed is Brahmism attacked by some native converts [to Protestantism] of our days. They urge how can Brahmism, which is changing with the change of winds, be called the true religion? If, then, we are satisfied with what Brahmism is, with its existence from creation-time, with its universality and its sufficiency, why, then, should we not be the sincere Brahmos of our age? why, then, should we stand aloof to decry against the Brahmos while admitting the truth of Brahmism?

The second tract is entitled "Biblical Proof for the Validity of Brahmism." It consists of a somewhat weak attack on the Divinity of Christ, and argues much as Unitarians do, to show that Christ himself disclaimed any attribution of divinity. It is rather poor, and makes no attempt to handle the Trinitarian answers to these objections. The next tract is also anti-Christian, and is entitled "An Examination of the Prophecies in Matthew." It is not worth analyzing, and is most remarkable as indicating that the writer seems to assume that the English Protestant version is that particular version, the ipsissima verba of which are supposed to be inspired. At the

sama time, he does not seem to know that there are many different readings of the passages which he quotes.

The next tract (No. III., excluding the preface), is styled "Exhortation." It is a sermon on the vanity of the world, the evil of worldly prosperity, the duty of knowing God and practising virtue, and the necessity of repentance. It is interlarded with Scriptural phrases, and talks of heaven and hell in the most orthodox fashion. Except for the conclusion, "the way, the only way to God is Brahmism," it might easily pass muster for a Christian discourse.

Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are taken up with a defence against Atheism. They are a curious intermixture of the objections to the existence of God urged by European, Hindoo, and Bhoodist Atheists, all which objections are separately taken up and answered. The following extract from the answer to the Atheistic objection derived from the diversity and mutual opposition of religion is amusing and thoroughly characteristic. The drift of the reply is, that there are counterfeits in everything, but that the counterfeit rather proves than disproves the existence of the genuine article somewhere. If the Atheist

Enquires for a true religion amidst such counterfeits, then surely he will find one-one supremely bright, though followers few, as you see often the case with genuine things when their counterfeits are to be had-and that one is our heaven-born Brahmism. Brahmism, when viewed at a distance, appears like its counterfeits, just as a country-made knife looks like a Rogers when seen from two or three yards way off. But at each critical examination Brahmism, like a genuine knife, shows us its marks of distinction. None but a sincere Brahmo has understood the hidden qualities of Brahmism. He alone can speak from experience that Brahmism ennobles our mind, sweetens society, purifies the heart, leads us to virtue, to holiness, to God. He alone can cry out how sweet it is to warm ourselves under the benign rays of Brahmism, when all the tremendous and frightful affairs of this world chills every vein and silences the throbbing heart.

The series consists of eleven tracts, besides the preface, and the remaining four are devoted to "Brahmism, what is it?" Brahmos, we are told,

Do not believe in paper revelation. They say revelation of God is in the heart of every man, and in the works of nature. They say no book revelation has brought forth a truth which we cannot expect to find in the revelation within and without us. They say book revelation is a second-hand revelation; that is, it is an embodiment of the truths which man gets from the original, the primary, the direct revelation of God. They say that Mahomed, or Christ-like mediator, is not required to reconcile man to God, but that the sons of God must at once go up to the Father with the account of their