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295 that you have said on that subject; but I would willingly explain it as obscurely meaning the great nearness of the Father of our spirits to all those who approach him in prayer, together with the true feeling, that every human excellence comes in a way of the Spirit of God, But however your incar- nations are to be explained, their belief comes in with the period of the Epic poems, and associates itself with K^ma, and with Crishna. These, you now hold, were manifestations of Vishnu. Yet it was long before this theory made such way as practically to encroach upon the honours of the three great Deities. '' Perhaps in the reaction against Buddliism the more human heroes, as taking hold of human passions, were brought more vividly forward. Perhaps again the defenders of Brahmanism felt the theory of incarnation necessary to present some con- tinuity in a system which had been so changed. In the time of the Purinas, however, which may range from about a.d. 700 to A.1). 1400, this new Hinddism develops itself. One of its differences from the older religion is the stress it lays upon Divine grace* and faith, and this may possibly come of in- directly Christian influence. Or again, it may be a native growth in the progress of religious zeal, and have been some- what stimulated by the rivalries of sects. In either case, we can only allow it to be wholesome in so far as it is joined with purity of heart, and recognises the Almighty for a righteous Governor, as well as for the Giver of all good gifts to body and soul. Its working, as a doctrine, must be less pure from the sectarian rivalry with which it is mixed. For amidst all the emulation between the worshippers of Bdma or Crishna, or those who choose Vishnu or Siva by preference for honour, a passionate devotion to either name seems exalted above that upright life and clear conscience, which are chiefly acceptable to * See the close of Wilson od Hindd sects, and Colebrooke's account of the later Ved^nta ; and for the pouibUity (hardly more) of Christian influence, Lassen, Vol. u. p. 1099. 296 THREE STAGES OF HINDUISM. Grod. This tendency appears even in the Vishnu Purina, and I am told also in others. Much more, I suppose, it must come out in the Tantras, or the devotional books of impure sects. But of such facts you can judge better than I can. It is, how- ever, indisputably clear, that many features of the third period of Hinddism are not at all to its advantage. You would hardly defend idolatry, though your metaphysics have been abused to palliate it. Yet it is now the common practice. Temples need not in themselves be blamed ; yet they arc probably an innova- tion upon earlier practice ; and as the earlier Brahmans did not use them, no one need wonder that the Bauddha temples are amongst the oldest we find. The worship of the Vedas was chiefly domestic. The reverence for the Linga is also modem. Far older, because it is mentioned in Manu, but probably not Vedic, is the custom of sacrificing to the Fitrts, the progenitors of the human race. On the other hand, Brahma, once the great Deity of the most educated caste, has receded into the backgroimd. Whether Vishnu or Siva should take his place is so disputed that six Pur&nas pronounce for the one, and six for the other. But neither of them enjoy such popular acceptation as the human heroes, who are termed manifestations of them. On the whole, the modem worship is more sensual, more sectarian, more idolatrous, and has a greater multitude of divinities, for whose worship there seems little reason in your oldest books, and which must turn men's minds away from the living Spirit. Nor perhaps is it altogether accidental, that the Hindd Drama, with its Pr&crit speech and occasional licentiousness, has its fullest growth in the time of this New Hindiiism, just as the Epics are nearer to the middle stage of the three great deities, and the earliest Vedas represent the simple nature-worship of old time. Yet by the side of the now popular idolatry, I readily admit there has been a great development of metaphysical or mystical speculation, and I only wish that it had been used by Sancara to reform rather than palliate popular errors, or that it might be so employed by yourself now. It is not wonderful UTEKAL IMMUTABILITY FAILS- 297 that such men as Kablr should subsequently have made attempts at a spiritual reform, whether some of his ideas were borrowed from Christian sources, or whether they were entirely native. The sober distinctions of M4dhwa betT\'een the Divine and the human spirit are also in some respects worthy of being considered. " But now, the great variety we have seen in the three stages of Hinddism leads me to the second result, which I wish to urge upon you. What has become of the positive communi- cation from Heaven, which you laid so much stress upon ? The vast differences we have now seen, forbid us to believe that the books which embody them came forth simultaneously from the mouth of Brahmd, or were arranged by one Vyisa. The entire system, consisting of parts so different, and developed in suc- cessive ages, cannot all have a primeval authority, or one im- mediately Divine." When Blancombe had got thus far, the Achdrya said nothing, but the Saugata threw in this kind of speech. " You have proved thoroughly," he said, " that the whole of the Hindti Sdstras has not been from the beginning, and thereby you have justified Buddha in rejecting them. But you have not shewn, that the religion may not be Divine, or that it had not a true germ in the earliest time, which may have grown up into something more perfect, whether the perfection is the doctrine of Buddha, or, as others would say, some modem form of Hindtiism. For, as you have allowed intelligence to reside in man, and as you term the Deity intelligent, why should not He, on your own theory, speak from time to time to that in us which is most kindred to Himself, rather than to the outward organs by speech ? Or, from our point of \'iew, why should not the human intelligence have grown up in expansion, and the truth have been developed in mankind ? The term Itevelaiton, I suppose, will as properly apply to this latter process as to any more external one. For this may, even better than any other, be an uncovering of Divine truth to our minds." "Your questions," replied Blancombe, "are very ingenious. Nor would I deny that Divine Revelation may be by spiritual 298 THEORY OP DIVINE DEVELOPMENT. development, rather than by sensible signs. It might be a teaching by experience, as well as by prediction ; and by steps of growth, rather than by discontinuous leap. But if this is so, there must be a connexion in the steps of growing, so that an unity of idea may be discerned, at least afterwards, to have pre- sided over the process. Again, the changes forward must be for the better, and not for the worse. As life has decay, so religion may have degeneracy: or it may have wild and fantastic off- shoots. Your own worship seems to have degenerated from that of Sdkya, and that of the Hindtis in general to have taken many irregular shapes. These are wanderings, rather than develop- ments. However true, then, may possibly be your suggestion, as applicable to what is really growth, it has no clear place in apology for a scheme like that of Hinddism. For here, when we reach the latest stage, we find the worship more idolatrous than in the earlier, instead of more spiritual; and the speculation more extravagant, instead of more defined. Or even if in some things the Hindti intellect has outgrown signs of childhood, yet on our friend the Acharya's own principles, I may ask him whether his religion is in the Vedas or in tlie Pur^nas ? If it is in both, how does he reconcile them ? If it is in the older, wliy does he sanction the later? Or even amongst the later class, how can he reconcile the books which exhort to worship Vislinu, with those which prefer Siva?" " But," said the Ach&ya, " I have already explained, after Sancara, that it is of little importance which deity we prefer as representative of the primal and ineffable Spirit, which is the true object of worship. Again, as to supposed discrepancies between the Pur^as and the Vedas, we are enjoined by Sancara, in such a case, to prefer the Vedas. They are our oldest, and our emphatically sacred books.