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I have now shown the continuous advance in a few of those numerous arts and sciences which enlighten and adorn our present existence. 1 have endeavoured also to show that in the most important of all parts of XXY1 THEOLOGICAL PROGRESS. knowledge, in the. science of Theology, no progress has been made all these many years — absolutely none. And why ? Because free inquiry has been foolishly enervated by fear, and the wide range of reason for ever hitherto restricted by superstition. Are we to infer that there have been no Galileos, no Newtons, no Watts, no Faradays and others, in religion only ? In this subject alone, out of all the subjects of human knowledge* have there been at no time men who ventured to emancipate their minds from sacerdotal dominion, and to think for themselves ? We know well there have been some in all ages and in all countries ; but their tale is few. I scarcely need explain the reason : they had to give up all that is most dear to the human heart — riches, fame, comfort — and to receive, in return for their brave attempts to benefit their fellows, poverty, hard words, and suffering. Few are such heroes as Acosta, who was tortured eighteen times by the Inquisition, and died in the deepest deprivation and despair, for his attempts to do away with some of those gross fal- lacies by which the priests of the Church of Rome batten on the flesh of the flock which they say has been by God committed to their charge. Such earnest men, however, as Acosta have left their mark. They have been the real holy army of martyrs in the ranks of the religion of Reason. They dared to proclaim their views, but for those views the time had not yet arrived. At the present enlightened period a man may fearlessly state what seems to him to be right, and just, and true ; and his arguments will, I doubt not, invariably meet with polite attention, if not with perfect approval. INTRODUCTION. In the present age of inquiry, enlightenment, and progress, men have begun to open their eyes to the fact that though human nature is liable to err, it is also liable to improve, not in one subject alone, but in all subjects ; and to such improvement no limit has been assigned. The subject to which I wish to draw my readers* attention is the “ Bhagavad-Gita,” a philosophical poem of the Mahabharat, the great epic of India. In that noble poem is represented, under a fair veil of allegory, the conflict of purity witfi j ealousy, of soul with matter ; of matter which is liable to succumb to temptation, and of soul which is endowed with the capacity of fighting against, and of overcoming it. Before entering upon the poem itself, I will premise a few words about its philosophy. Philosophy is difficult to define. It is not easy to crystallize the many floating meanings of that word held in the solu- tion of popular conception. It is best perhaps, after all, to have recourse to its etymology — though etymology so often is a will-of-the-wisp instead of a salutary guide — and declare it to be, as Pythagoras declared it of old, “ the love of knowledge.** “Are there in your country no wise men?*’ asked Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, of that great traveller. “ No,” answered Pytha- goras, “ we are not wise, but simply the lovers of wisdom.” Is it not strange that the Sanscrit word for philosophy, gygnassa , expresses, etymologically, exactly the same thing ? Such is the tradition concern- ing the origin of this* term. But may it not be said that the word philosophy resolves itself, after all, in simple language, into common sense ; since sense or reason, the common gift of all rational beings, has the inherent quality of distinguishing good from bad ? Is not this sense the base or origin of all human enactments and innovations ? Nay, is it not the very guide of all public and private judicature, as well in the routine of every-day life as in all social transactions of the world ? It is difficult to give an exact date to the “ Bhagavad-Git£,” as, indeed, to most other early Sanscrit compositions. The history of the majority of nations may be divided, from one point of view, into three great epochs, which, however, run into one another, as the light and darkness XXV111 INTRODUCTION. of the evening twilight, and yet are as distinct as night and day. These ages are — (1) The Age of Barbarism, (2) The Age of Mysticism, (3) The Age of Inquiry. I shall say a few words on each of these heads : — 1. In the Age of Barbarism or ignorance, Man, to support existence, his first and most natural desire, became a husbandman or shepherd. In these states, in the one as in the other, he felt his dependence on Nature — I should rather say, on sun, wind, and rain. Rain, to cause his seed to swell, buried in the ground, and to cool his flock in the hot months of summer ; wind, to counteract the excess of rain, whether on his sheep or in his land ; sun, the life-giving warmth, without which, instinct told him, it would be equally impossible for his sheep and him- self to live, as for his com to grow. But sun, wind, and rain were beyond his power; therefore, they were imagined and believed to be gods. How was he to obtain their gifts ? Reasoning from analogy, he con- cluded, by presents and by flattery ; in other words, by sacrifice and by prayer. It only remained for his simple mind to ask that great question which was asked so early, and has been answered a hundred times in a hundred ways, and still never yet been answered — “ Whence and whither?” Whence do we come, whither do we go ? His answer, untutored, was the same as that of a later age. “ I go, I know not whither ; I know not whence I came,” has ever been the answer of the philosopher, as the answer of the vulgar has ever been, “The Great Spirit God, Brahma, Jehovah, Alla, etc., he made us, and to him we return.” Such is the simple religion of Barbarism : the worship of the elements and the Great Spirit 2. The Age of Mysticism. — Man was contented with such a wor- ship in his childhood; but when what is called civilization introduced various trades and occupations, that same ignorance of science and love of profit which had induced him to make gods of sun, wind, and rain, induced him to add other gods to these. The origin of Polytheism lies before us. The soldier sacrificed to Mars, the god of war; the sailor to Neptune, the god of waters. Even the thief had his Lavema, the goddess of what he would call abstrac- tion. This age of manifold creation is the age of Poetry, which, being interpreted, is simply making ; and that practical spirit which made has done much to preserve the thing made. How often has INTRODUCTION. XXIX the sweet mystic poetry of religion caused a belief in it to linger in those minds — more especially in the highly sensitive minds of women, the great supporters of faith — which have discarded other prejudices, under the guidance of understanding ! Poetry touches sun, wind, and rain with her mystic hand, and covers those three gods with a hundred attributes and a hundred names, while early reason maintains that the chief cause is one. Hence is the phenomenon of a Trinity in Unity — a doctrine by no means confined to Christian faith, but existing in nearly every religion of the world ; an attempt to reconcile reason with poetry, which startles the mathematician and is the bulwark of the divine. But the gods have grown more numerous in this age, as men have become less content. They are no more satisfied with the pleasures of this world, think no longer its pain and sorrow sufficient for them. They create — or rather, allow priests, for their own profit, to create — something else to frighten man into the worship of the objects of an ideal idolatry. 3. The Age of Inquiry. — In this age men first began to doubt the certainty of their early belief, and suspect the honesty of their priests ; in a word, to think for themselves. Common sense began to trample over superstition. This period is the age of controversy, for it is full of attempts to reconcile the great with those small gods. The latter created forms of religion, the former universities of philosophy. I do not mean to say that every nation has passed through these stages of development, any more than I mean to say that every man has passed through the three stages of the physical or intellectual life of man. Some die in youth, some in middle, and some in old age ; just as some pass their whole existence in childish credulity, others go so far as scepticism, while but comparatively few attain the stage of rational belief. All worship is essentially and grossly selfish. The three gods, Sun, Kain, and Wind, constituted a Trinity, of which the Sun was the principal, and as such is introduced into the Gayatri, or the holiest verse of the Yedas, which cannot be uttered to ears profane, but is recited only mentally, which, indeed, is considered the most pious worship : — sfa TOsi vl r^t “ Lord of earth, air, and heaven, we meditate on that excellent light of the sacred Sun ; may he illuminate our minds !” The word “ Om,” which. XXX INTRODUCTION. it may be said, in mystic meaning, nearly corresponds with the Hebrew nte, was the monosyllable with which all the hymns of the Vedas, and afterwards all works which treated of Theology, were commenced. It is composed of the three letters, “ a,” “u,” and “m,” the “a” and combining to form the sound “ o.” The Hindus look upon it as a vocal representation of the Supreme Being, in His triune character of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer of the Universe. Thus the “a” is said to represent Vishnu, the Preserver; the “u,” Shiva, the De- stroyer; and the “m,” Bramah, the Creator.