Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/103

Rh God in his unity,” and “a pure system of theism” are taught in the Vedas?— Men, who after all this have the impertinence to assume a patronizing aspect toward Christianity, and superciliously inform us that, however good or pure our faith is in itself, its doctrine and services are not needed in India, because “the Holy Vedas” contain all that is requisite for the regeneration of their country! Yet this is said and repeated, and Miss Carpenter and her Unitarian friends clap their hands, applaud the assertions, and lionize the man who utters them, and commend the Brahmo Somaj, of which he is the High Priest! Do not such people deserve to be deceived? and is it really a violation of Christian charity to fear that such persons must be given over to “strong delusion” when they can believe such “a lie” as this?

After a careful examination, from beginning to end, of this venerable and lauded work, (the doors of which have so lately opened for the admission of mankind,) with the remembrance in my mind of the long years when men have listened to the reiterations of its holiness, as the very source of all Hindoo faith—the oracle from which Vedantic Philosophy has drawn its inspiration, the temple at whose mere portal so many millions have bowed in such awe and reverence, with its interior too holy for common sight, containing, as it was asserted, all that was worth knowing, the primitive original truth that could regenerate India, and make even Christianity unnecessary—well, with no feelings save those of deep interest and a measure of respect, we have entered and walked from end to end, to find ourselves shocked at every step with the revelations of this mystery of iniquity and sensuality, where saints and gods, male and female, hold high orgies amid the fumes of intoxicating liquor, with their singing and “screaming,” and the challenging by which “they urge one another” on to deeper debasement, until at length decency retires and leaves them “glorying in their shame!”

The sad samples which we have presented are taken at random, and can be matched by hundreds of passages equally contemptible; while we have purposely avoided quoting Suktas and verses whose