Classical Theology.—Lxs.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —LXS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , OCTOBER 17 , 1863 .

Jvxo AXD JAXTJABT . About fourteen years prior to the commencement of the present century , A . D . 1790 , the repugnance of the Brahmins to instruct Europeans in the study of their sacred language , lest their religion should meet

with ridicule and derision , or be in any way outraged , was , by solemn assurances and earnest persuasions , at length overcome . At that time several English gentlemen made themselves masters of the Sanskrit , and we are particularly indebted to Sir Charles , then

Mr . Wilkins , for his able translation of the Baghavadgeta , contained in the " Mahabharad , " whence Mahabharadam , au epopee , or , rather , a sacred collection of poems ( consisting , it is said by some and denied by others , of upwards of two huudred thousand slokas ,

or verses ) , and supposed , through some miscalculation , resting on Hindoo computation , to have been compiled or written by Krishna Diyjpayen Yeias , 3000 years before the birth of our Lord . We may , however , discern iu them the general prevailing

religious feelings and precepts of the learned world , ages preceding the time of Christ ; and that , in all probability , Zeno was acquainted with Sanskrit . The author of the " Mahabharad " ( Baghavadgita , pp . 40-41 ) . says , " The man is praised who , having subdued all his passions , performeth with his active faculties all the functions of life unconcerned about the result . Let the motive be in the deed , and not in the event . Be not one whose motive for action is

the hope of reward . Let thy life not be spent in inaction . Man enjoyeth not freedom from action . Every man is involuntarily urged to act by those principles which are inherent in his nature . He wiio restraineth his active faculties , and sitteth down with his mind attentive to the objects of his senses , may

be called one of an astrayed soul . Depend upon application , perform thy duty , abandon all thought of the consequence , and make the event equal , whether it terminate in good or in evil , for such an equality is called YOG-, viz ., attention to what is spiritual . Seek au asylum , then , in wisdom alone ; for the

miserable and unhappy are so on account of the event of things . Men who are imbued with true wisdom are unmindful of good or evil in this world . Study then to obtain the application of thy understanding , for such application , in business , is a precious art . Wise men , who have abandoned all thought of the fruit

which is produced from their actions , are freed from the chains of birth , and go to the regions of eternal happiness . " These maxims are not exclusively Indian . "But although the Brahmins are known to be so indifferent to the events of life and death that the

ilgrimssomep , times from one hundred thousand to nearly double that number , who visit the revered Orissa , at the annual festival , in honour of their god Jugamaut , have with fanatical enthusiasm decimated themselves before that idol ; and such teaching has led to their criminal laws being extremely severe . " Punishment , " enacts

the Gfentu Code ( Chap , xxi . ) " is the magistrate ; punishment is the inspirer of terror ; punishment is the nourisher of the subject ; punishment is the monitor of the people ; it is the defender from calumny ; it is the cautioner against calamity ; it is the . guardian of those who sleep . Punishment , with a black

aspect and red eye , terrifies the guilty . " And although , looking upon the past more than upon the present , a hecatomb of victims has been devoted to some savage -deity for pagan purposes ; and even as in the West so likewise in the East , the altars have flowed with human gore—the Hindoo being as proverbial for his natural

docility as for his luxuriousness—bands of trained girls for the service of every pagoda were maijitained , who danced , sang hymns , and recited , in all freedom , round the idol , and added riches to the establishment by their profligacy , yet the Brahminieal tenets prohibit the shedding the blood cf any creature , and being , as the author of the "Essay on Man" terms , it , " murder fed : " —

" Nor think , in Nature's state they blindly trod ; The state of Nature was the reign of God ; Self-love and social at her birth began , Union the bond of all things , and of Man . Pride then was not ; nor Arts , that Pride to aid ; Man walked with beast , joint tenant of the shade ; . The same his table , and the same his bed ,-No murder clothed himand no mui-iler feel .

, In the same temple , the surrounding wood , All vocal beings hymned their equal God : The shrine with gore unstained , with gold nnuresfc :. Unbribed , unbloody , stood the blameless priest : Heaven ' s attribute was Universal Care , And man ' s prerogative to rule , but spare . All , how unlike the man of times to come !

Of half that live the butcher and the tomb ! Who , foe to Nature , hears the general groan ,. Murders their species and betrays his own-But just disease to luxury succeeds , And every death its own avenger breeds r The Fury passions' from their blood began ,. And turned on Man a fiercer savage Man . # #

% % Fear made her Devils , and weak Hope her Gods ; And Hell was built on spite , and Heaven on pride , Then sacred seemed the etherial vault ; on more Altars grew marble then , and reeked with gore ; Then first the Flamen tasted living food ; Next his grim altar smeared with human blood ; With Heaven ' s own thunder shook the world below , And play'd the God an engine on his foe . "

Herein we may discern that brotherly reproving love may sometimes consist in satire ; but we all the moi'e discern , we should not fail , to exert ourselves warily , and rejoice wisely in the progress of true religion—that is to say , by learnedly and truthfully propounding the Divine nature and wisdom : —

"Grasp the whole world of Reason , Life , and Sense , In one close system of Benevolence ; Happier as kinder , in wlmte'er degree , And height of Bliss , but height of Charity . # # # Op For Wit ' s false mirror held up Nature * , light ; Showed erring Pride , whatever is , is right ,-

That Reason , Passion , answer one great aim ; That true Self-love ami Social are the same ; That Virtue only makes our Bliss below ; And all our Knowledge is , ourselves to know . " Thus eminently judicious , self-examining , and adjudging , Pope concludes his frigidly inamorous and fervently uncompromising , witty , and severe " Essay on Man . "