Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/296

254 bear witness for Christ before the heathen. It stirs your gratitude to look upon these idolaters, and remember that you are a worshipper of the one true God, and that Christ the Saviour is your chosen King; and, while it calls upon you to praise the Lord for his distinguishing grace to you, it quickens your desire that these degraded men may be raised by the gospel from their wretched estate into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

In this place, at Arnee, and scattered through the neighbouring country, you meet with a peculiar class of religionists, called Jains or Jainas. While at Perumanaloor, we had a visit from the shastiri or spiritual leader of the sect. In a long discussion, he defended the tenets of their faith and practice, especially the sinfulness of taking any life of beast, bird, or insect,—the eternal existence of the world,—that God is the origin of sin and holiness,—and, finally, that all religions were the same. This last is a very convenient doctrine when you cannot defend your own religion, and one constantly advanced in India. A brief account of this Hindu sect may not be uninteresting to some of our readers.