Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/23

 to speak of the influence that had been exercised by Lahiri Mahashai, in guiding the thoughts and aspirations of these representative Bengali gentlemen, and of their disciples in Bengali society. That influence was altogether a wholesome one. It taught men to become, not merely reformers in the ordinary sense of the term — not merely teachers of a destructive creed that is only critical without being sympathetic — but also better citizens and better men, with earnest longings for intellectual and moral progress, yet not without full appreciation of all that was best in the past, and a Conservative desire to retain and improve it.