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553 jour own souls barren, with the sensuous richness of the popular faith stript away, and with cold abstractions instead. For what- ever comfort your metaphysical subtlety may derive from 'blend- ing all opposites into a higher unity,' or ' identifying thought with being,' such imaginations hardly touch the realities of life ; and we who live and die amidst many possibilities of suffering, though with aspirations to something better, need each man a deliverance for his own soul. To many, if not to yourself, I know that something more personal and lifelike than all that dreary revolution of Siva and BrahmA* is requisite, not only for mental comfort, but to restore, or bring out the capacities of, their moral being. They cannot be themselves, until they know something more of God. For how can they act with the firm- ness which comes of faith, while they doubt whether they are doing His will, or even if He has a will ? Or whence are true contrition, or even a sense of answerableness, and such virtues as righteousness and truthtelling, to derive permanent motives, if we are only parts of one infinite activity, and our thought of self-consciousness an illusion ? Not but that any of your meta- physical speculations, so far as they are probable or innocent, might stand very well with Christianity, which is not hostile to any kind of truth. I£ it is wise to call nature or the world * a sustained manifestation of the Divine thinkingf/ rather than the handiwork of God, nothing in the New Testament forbids our doing so, provided you do not confound the creature with the Creator, in such a way as to support idolatry or sensualism. Such a confusion would be exactly what we lament to find here prevailing. Again your parable or history, of Vftch} coming forth from Brahmd, is not opposed to Christianity, but might rather prepare you for apprehending what we read in St John, that the Word was with God, and was Gt)d, and that through the Word all things were bom, and without it nothing began to be. If indeed V&ch means only a process reflected from • See above, pp. 103, 4. t See Appendix. t See above, p. 100. 554 GENERAL SUPERIORITY. PARTIAL COMPATIBILITY. human action, we need not dispute about her ; for our belief is, not that God should be lowered bj imagination to the standard of man, but that He shews us the verj truth of His Being, so as to raise, or restore, man to the likeness of God. But if Vdch means, that out of the will of Eternal Spirit goes forth, by whatever ineffable utterance, and remaining undivided, Wisdom creating, and preserving, and quickening, then I should hope you need only to see such wisdom embodied in the life of our Son of Man, in order to approach very nearly to our doctrine of the Sox shewing us the Father. With submission at least to wiser people, I do not think it a greater tampering with mixture of distinct systems, than the early Church doctors permitted themselves in setting forth the life of Christ after the phrase of Plato, if I say that your Vftch appears a prophecy, or expression, of the everliving Word of God. At least, what you said about thought or reason as going before speech, and coming forth in deed, may help you to understand why we conclude the Word of the Eternal to have been from of old, though manifested once in Jesus in flesh and time. Whatever you believe of in- carnations, though such as you mention are but poor expressions of the allholy and everblessed Spirit, may also illustrate to you our doctrine of the One Infinite and Eternal Spirit becoming unveiled to the eyes of our mind, by taking body in the sacred form of Jesus our Lord. But whatever things you retain out of your old superstition, must either stand in the light of clear reason, or in virtue of their being reconciled with the faith of Christ, which has Divine warrants, rather than from snch claims to authority or soundness as we have seen utterly fail. But I have spoken of things which your religion does not heal ; nay, which it directly supports; rites in some cases idolatrous, in others obscene; unworthy thoughts of the moral character of Deity, and unreasonable distinctions between men ; 'with various forms of social ignorance and vice. That it spares, and even cherishes such things, is at best weakness; and weakness to such an extent in a religion is falsehood. But just where your k FINAL APPEAL TO VEDANTIST. 555 older superstitions have fedled, we trust the faith of Christ would prevail to heal. It would come with such attestations of Divine authority as you have failed to shew, though your attempt im- plies that they are desirable. It would teach you of the right- eous Governor, yet not vindictive; and of the everlasting Friend, yet not weak, but rather engaged in a perpetual war of Provi- dence in behalf of our souls and of His own laws, against what- ever evil would ruin the one, by breaking the other. It would give you definite hope, and personal responsibility, as motives to action. It would quicken your regard for truth, in deed, and in belief. Such teaching, as we give to the young, and to girls, in our schools, would then seem to you a duty. And just as now your superstitions, being false, are morally weak, so the Gospel of Christ, being strong to save every soul of man by which its good news is welcomed, would put forth in good works the easiest and most certain proof of its being Divine. " But my arrows were shot before ; and this was a summary, which it is no use lengthening. I feel now, more than ever, the hopelessness of disputing men into religion. For we have to deal with living beings, whose freewill must be persuaded ; and that only God can do, or their prayer must concur in doing. If I could only persuade you to join me in prayer for the truth, our battle would be half won, and it would be one of those happy vic- tories*, in which there is neither victor nor vanquished, but one helps to save a soul, and the otlier is saved. So far, however, as argument can avail, it has been shewn clearly that Hindtiism has neither Divine authority from external history, nor internal power of healing men from evil ; whereas God has given every persuasive of wonderful signs, and of inherent trutli, and of quickening power, to make us embrace the good news, that all mankind may come through the faith of the Son, in the life of the Spirit, to the love of the Father. The practical question now lies with yourselves, though the result in the hands of the Searcher of hearts." * A French writer has a thought of this kind. 556 vedantist's hesitation, and final issue. "You know, I have never pretended," here Vidydchiiya answered meekly, " to be able to compete with 70a in discussion. Nor would I deny that your religion, as that of a superior people, may be in some respects better than ours. But yet it is a hard thing to give up what we have always regarded as truth, espe- cially conveyed to us as it is in all our books of sacred inspira- tion." " Not hard, I should hope," replied Blancombe, " if you only lay it down for a higher and more perfect truth. We do not ask you to lay down the less, without offering you a fiu: greater. Nor is this plea of inspiration altogether open to you ; for we have seen it negatived by the numerous contradictions in the books you call sacred. We found this too, without even venturing on the ground of comparison with the science of modem times; for the books are signally inconsistent witli them- selves, in the different objects of worship which they propound, and in all their ideas. All that weight, therefore, which you justly attach to Divine authority in religion, has fallen away from your Sdstras, and should lead you over to the faith which can truly claim it." "Do you then," rejoined the Ach^Lrya, " require an absolute renunciation of the authority of our entire system, and allow us to retain only what agrees with your faith?" "For ourselves we require nothing," answered Blan- combe, " but such seems to be the requirement of truth, which you would confess to have the most binding authority in reli- gion. Such therefore must be the will of God, and your waj to happiness." " Certainly," here the elder stranger remarked, " there is no room for halting in this matter.