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AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR POBETOON ATTA
No., IL May, 1882.

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The n unbetorment. ple in genreal deities; d, and receive

all the service, he so justly claims. rod is subverted, and arising from the knowlons, and his claims upon res, are completely lost."

alogue that it is exceedequires those who worship rious in boliness, fearful in ; and those who do make ah, "To whom will ye liken Behold the nations are as a the small dust of the balance: all nations nted as less than nothing and vanity."

THE three engravings on the preceding page represent the three principal gods of the Hindoos, Bramha, Vishnu, and Siva. Among the learned Hindoos. Brahm is the supreme god, from whom these three descended. Some suppose that the Hindoo traditions on this subject are a corruption of the Scripture history of Noah and his three sons. In assigning offices to these gods, the Hindoos call Bramha the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer, or re-producer. Of the origin, character, rank, form, and appearance of these gods very different accounts are given by different persons, or as they are worshipped in different districts. The following explanations and remarks, gathered from the writings of various missionaries, will help the readers to understand the engraving.

In Bengal Brahma is usually seen, as in the engraving, with four faces and four arms; having in his hands a portion of the Veda or Hindoo scripture, a spoon, a rosary, and a vessel containing the water of ablution. Vishnu holds in one right hand a shell used for a trumpet, and in the other a sort of quoit, from which irresistible fire flames when whirled on the finger of Vishnu. In one of the left hands is a sort of club, and in the other a lotus-branch.

Siva has in one hand a trident, and in another a rope for binding incorrigible offenders. His other hands are open. He has a third eye in his forehead. Serpents form his ear-rings. His necklace is composed of human heads.

Mr. Winslow has given the following account of the manner in which the tradition respecting these gods is held among the Tamul population in Ceylon and on the adjacent continent.

It is well known to those at all acquainted with the Brahminic system in India, that the Hindoos are divided into two leading sects, the Voishnuvus, or worshippers of Vishnu, and the Soiryus, or followers of Siva. The remaining god of the Hindoo triad, Brumha, has no temples, and no general worship, on account of being cursed by Parvutee, the wife of Siva, for telling a lie. The sect of Vishnu, who is worshipped principally under the forms assumed in the last three of his nine incarnations, is most numerous in Bengal, but is not without its adherents in the south of India. The Soivyus form, however, is the prevailing sect among the Tamul people, whether on the continent, or on this island. This sect regard Siva as superior to the other two of the triad, and even affect to call him the supreme god, of whom, as an eternal spirit, their sacred books contain some intimations. Those who hold that there is an almighty and unchangeable spirit, and yet worship Siva, who is allowed to have been born, and to be subject to death, contend that Siva is an incarnation, and the most glorious incarnation of the supreme, whom they call the great Bramha.

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Of this being, whom all profess to acknowledge, very different accounts given. The popular opinion is, that the Supreme is a male and female spirit, from

whom are descended male and female gods. In the seventh descent from the Supreme we find Siva, from Siva sprang Vishnu, and from Vishnu sprang Bramha, the creator. The manner in which men are created is said to be by lineal descent from Bramha;-the brahmins from his head, the kings from his shoulders, the merchants from his loins, and the laborers from his feet.

The people in general, whether learned or unlearned, regard Siva as the great object of adoration. He has many names, but is usually called Parama Sivan, that is, the divine Sivan. In the Hindoo triad he is the destroyer, and Bramha is the creator, and Vishnu the preserver. To destroy, however, is but to new model, or re-produce. He is, therefore, the re-producer, and his worshippers contend that he is Supreme God, and that the power of creating, which Bramha has, is derived from him.

Siva is here usually represented as a man with one head, three eyes, (the additional one being in the forehead, on which also the half-moon is represented,) and two arms; as riding naked on a bull, and covered with ashes-holding in one hand a drum, and in the other a conch. His image is, however, more properly made with five heads, and eight hands, in six of which are, severally, a skull, a deer, fire, an axe, a rosary, and the rod of an elephant driver; while of the remaining two, which are empty, one is extended to bestow blessings, and the other raised to forbid fear.

But the image more commonly worshipped in the Siva-pooja, is that of the lingu, or lingam, which is a cylindrical stone placed upright in another at its base; or it may be made by squeezing a little clay in the hand, and placing it on a leaf, or some other seat. It is an indecent image, and the history of its origin is too obscene to be told;-yet before this, men and women alike bow, and worship it together. He is, sometimes, represented as a devotee, clothed in a tiger's skin, with a necklace of human skulls, and an alms-dish made from the skull of one of Bramha's heads in his hand.

But besides these three, the objects of worship among the Hindoos are almost innumerable. There are twenty-one celestial deities, who are admitted into the devu lokum, or Siva's heaven; and besides these they reckon above three hundred

and thirty millions of inferior and terrestrial gods, who are not admitted to this heaven. Among these are included the sun, moon, stars, deified men, evil spirits, beasts, birds, reptiles, rivers, brooks, stones, &c.; all of which the Hindoos suppose to be living creatures. The houses of many of the Hindoo princes contain courts filled with idols, each of which has an establishment of priests who perform the ceremonies of daily worship.

The images of the gods may be made of almost all the metals, as well as of wood, stone, clay, &c. Most of the permanent images are made of wood or stone; those which are destroyed at the close of festivals, are made of clay. Small images of brass, silver, and gold, are not uncommon. The sculpture of stone images resembles that of the popish images of the 12th century; those cast in brass, &c. exhibit a similar progress of the arts. The consecration of an image is accompanied with a number of ceremonies, the most singular of which is that of conveying sight and life to the image, for which there are appropriate formulas, with prayers, inviting the deity to come and dwell in it. After this ceremony, the image becomes sacred; and is carefully guarded from every offensive approach. The shastrus contain directions for making idols, and the forms of meditation used in worship contain a description of each idol.

Such are the objects adored by the Hindoos. Such is the deplorable state into which the mind continues to sink, after it has once renounced the doctrine of the

unity of God. Divine worship is confessedly the highest act of reverence and homage of which man is capable. How shocking then, how afflicting to a philanthropic mind, to see man prostrate before a beast, or a log of wood. How greatly is the horror increased when this prostration of intellect respects many millions.

Their worship is a round of unmeaning and often tiresome ceremonies, in which the heart has very little concern, and of which no part can be considered the fruit of real love to the object worshipped. The greatest enemies of the gods, by the performance of religious austerities, obtain power with them, and even over them, and there is no principle of reciprocal love so much as recognized between the gods who are worshipped and their worshippers. It is often a strife between the two for power. Thus Siva, by the force of penance performed by a giant,

was obliged to grant him power that on whatever he might lay his hand it should be consumed. Having received the boon, the ungrateful giant sought to lay his hand on Siva himself. The great god was obliged to flee, and to conceal himself in a small berry, or fruit. Nor could he extricate himself from his embarrassment until Vishnu came to his aid.

In all their religious ceremonies not a particle is found to interest or amend the heart; no family bible, "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that men may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works," no domestic worship; no pious assembly where the village preacher "attempts each art, reproves each dull delay, allures to brighter worlds, and leads the way." No standard of morals to repress the vicious; no moral education, in which the principles of virtue and religion may be implanted in the youthful mind.

Reverence for the gods, especially among the poor, as might be expected, does not exceed their merits; yet it is a shocking fact, that language like the following should be used respecting what the Hindoos suppose to be the Providence which governs the world: when it thunders awfully, respectable Hindoos say, "Oh! the gods are giving us a bad day;" the lower orders say, The rascally gods are dying." During a heavy rain, a woman of respectable cast frequently says, "Let the gods perish; all my clothes are wet." A man of low caste says, "These rascally gods are sending more rain."

One missionary says, "The manifest effect of idolatry in this country, as held up to thousands of Christian spectators, is an immersion into the grossest moral darkness, and a universal corruption of manners. The Hindoo is taught, that the image is really God, and the heaviest judgments are denounced against him, if he dare to suspect that the image is nothing more than the elements of which it is composed. The Tuntru-saru declares, that such an unbeliever will sink into the regions of torment. In the apprehensions of the people in general, therefore, the idols are real deities; they occupy the place of God, and receive all the homage, all the fear, all the service, and all the honor which he so justly claims. The government of God is subverted, and all the moral effects arising from the knowledge of his perfections, and his claims upon his rational creatures, are completely lost."

We learn from the second commandment of the decalogue that it is exceedingly offensive to that God who is a spirit, and who requires those who worship him to worship him in spirit and in truth, who is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders, to make any images of him; and those who do make them justly expose themselves to the reproof of Isaiah, "To whom will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare to him? Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: all nations before him are as nothing, and are counted as less than nothing and vanity."

But what shall we say when these idols are monstrous personifications of vice; and when it is a fact that not a single virtuous idea is ever communicated by any of them. With what amazing indignation must God look down on hundreds of millions, whom he has made, and whom he daily upholds, who thus misrepresent his nature and character, and pay their worship to idols of brass and wood and stone, which their own hands have made, instead of the holy and eternal Creator, who is God over all, blessed forever. How should all we who know and love the only true God feel grieved at the dishonor and wrong done him, and say with Elijah, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for they have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword."-How just is Paul's description of the heathen, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever."

There is nothing in the character, attributes, or works of their gods, the contemplation of which is adapted to elevate, enlarge, or purify the mind; nothing to cause an intelligent moral being to regard them as objects having a just claim to love, veneration, homage, or obedience. On the other hand there is every thing to fill the mind with contempt and abhorrence. They afford no holy and safe example to follow. The more a Hindoo worshipper tries to imitate his gods the more flagrantly wicked and loathsome he becomes. Not a crime can be named, which the gods have not committed and sanctioned, and which the worshipper is not called daily to contemplate with approbation.

The Hindoo festivals, or seasons of worship, instead of exerting a sobering, restraining influence on the worshippers, only call them together to indulge in the scenes of noisy confusion and the most unbridled riot and debauchery. The festival of Doorga, the most crowded and popular of all the Hindoo festivals, after exhibiting scenes of moral pollution, which must not be described, closes with libations to the gods, so powerful as to produce general intoxication. What must be the state of morals in a country, when its religious institutions and public shows, at which the whole population is present, thus sanctify vice, and carry the multitudes into the very gulf of depravity and ruin.

Men are sufficiently corrupt by nature, without any outward excitements to evil in the public festivals; nor have civil nor spiritual terrors, the frowns of God and governors united, been found sufficient to keep within restraint the overflowings of iniquity; but what must be the moral state of that country, where the sacred festivals, and the very forms of religion, lead men to every species of vice! These festivals, and public exhibitions excite universal attention, and absorb, for weeks together, almost the whole of the public conversation; and such is the enthusiasm with which they are hailed, that the whole country seems to be thrown into a ferment: health, property, time, business, every thing is sacrificed to them. In this manner are the people prepared to receive impressions from their national institutions. If these institutions were favorable to virtue, the effects would be most happy; but as in addition to their fascination, they are exceedingly calculated to corrupt the mind, the most dreadful consequences follow, and vice, like a mighty torrent, flows through the plains of Bengal, with the force of the flood-tide of the Ganges, carrying along with it young and old, the learned and the ignorant, rich and poor, all casts and descriptions of people--into an awful eternity!

Yet such is the religion of a hundred millions in India; and such substantially is the religion of four hundred millions of idolaters inhabiting various parts of the world.

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BRIEF MEMOIR OF MRS. MYRA W. ALLEN, WIFE OF REV. D. O. ALLEN, AMERICAN MISSIONARY AT BOMBAY.

DURING the last year the missionaries at Bombay were severely afflicted by the sudden death of three of their number, within the short period of less than seven months. The following biographical sketch of one of these, Mrs. Allen, who was first called home to her rest, is principally extracted from a more extended account contained in the Oriental Christian Spectator, a monthly periodical published at Bombay.

Mrs. Allen was born in Westminster Massachusetts, on the 7th of December, 1800; and was the youngest daughter of colonel Abel Wood. She enjoyed the unspeakable advantage of a religious education; and her parents had the satisfaction of seeing all their children, nine in number, members of that church with which they were walking in the fear of the Lord. She was also favored, both at home and in a neighboring town to which she was sent for the purpose at the age of about seventeen years, with facilities for cultivating her mind and storing it with useful knowledge. She obviously availed herself of these advantages with much diligence. The following paragraphs taken from a paper written by herself, give an account of the beginnings of spiritual life in her soul. The paper is without date, but must refer to the period between her eighteenth and twenty-second year.

As long as I have any recollection, I have been the subject of serious religious impressions. I was early instructed in the truths of religion-the government of a holy, sovereign God, who had an infinite hatred of sin, requiring perfect obedience of his creatures, and punishing every transgression of his holy law with eternal death-the|| duty of repentance-the necessity of a change of heart, and the way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer. I was convinced of the truth and importance of these things, but they were wholly uncongenial with my carnal affections. I intended some VOL. XXVI11.

time to attend to them, but could not think them calculated to afford happiness to the youthful mind. Thus I practically said 'Go thy way,' &c. In this manner I quieted my conscience, not, however, without being frequently roused by a solemn providence or a searching impressive sermon--sometimes to be almost persuaded to become a | Christian. About the age of thirteen, I was much interested in reading the life of Mrs. Newell. I admired her amiable and engaging disposition, and was much affected with her early piety. This I was persuaded was the source of those lovely virtues which so highly adorned her character. I believed she was happy, and almost wished myself possessed of that which could render her so cheerful amidst so many trying scenes. But I could not endure the idea of renouncing my worldly pleasures and companions, and of bearing the reproach which I thought I should meet from the gay and thoughtless. I remained in a state similar to this till the 17th year of my age, when I think my attention was a little more excited.

About this time a number of my companions became seriously impressed with a sense of their dangerous situation as sinners, and began to inquire with solicitude, what they must do to be saved. I had often thought that if my young friends would seek religion, I would join in the pursuit. Now I had the trial of my sincerity. It occasioned at first some severe struggle in my mind to become willing to renounce the world and its vain pleasures, 17*

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