course is Rom. i. 20-23. In it the author proposes to show, I. That the eternal power and Godhead of a Supreme Being, are clearly seen by the heathen; being understood by the things that are made: and II. That they have abused their knowledge, and, actuated by vain imaginations and a foolish heart, have fallen into the grossest idolatry. "These declarations," he observes, "are to form the basis of the ensuing discourse; and shall be illustrated, by the principles and practices which prevail among the Hindoos." Mr. Nott is well qualified to write on these subjects; for he left America in company with Messrs. Rice, Newell, and Judson, and proceeded to Bombay, at which place he resided, and exerted himself in the missionary cause, until the state of his health became such that he deemed it expedient to return to his native land. He writes of things which he has seen and heard: he gives us his deliberate convictions, which have resulted from his own personal observation.

Without pretending to ascertain how much, if any thing, a man unassisted by any divine revelation would understand of God from his works, he proves that there is evidence of the Being and Godhead of the Supreme in every thing which bears the impression of the divine hand. This is correct; and we may be permitted to express our opinion at the same time, that man never was wholly destitute of divine revelation and instruction, communicated to him in some manner or other; for Adam was no sooner a living person than his Maker conversed with him; and from him, and from Noah, some traditions of revelation have descended to all the tribes of our race. Something, moreover, is revealed to every accountable man, by the divine constitution and government of his mind, which point to the first letters of religion in the stars, and teach him to spell JEHOVAH. Mr. Nott has said, "Reason and conscience constitute man a religious being:" p. 15. and we add, this is true, if you connect with these two faculties, eight others, which appertain to his mind. Entirely obliterate any one constituent part of the human soul, and the being which remains is not the accountable being man. The will is as essential to constitute a religious being, as the conscience.

Take man as God made him; take him with all his mental faculties, deteriorated as they are by the apostacy, and then say, this being is in his very nature a religious being, that must worship some god, and be bound to the object of his chief regard by some bonds. Concerning the actual state of the heathen, among whom he resided, our author says,

"The Hindoos universally believe in one Supreme Deity, uncreated and eternal, from whom, as the great first cause, all things proceed. In regard to his moral attributes, it will presently appear, that their ideas are inconsistent and absurd: and yet, it is plain that they intend to ascribe to him moral perfection; an entire freedom from the passions, desires, inconsistencies, and changes, of both gods and men.

"On the other hand, the gods, the prototypes of their idols, are neither eternal nor omnipotent; neither unchangeable nor holy. As really as men, they are dependant in their origin and finite in their existence; proceeding, like all things else, from Him, who is eternal and omnipotent. They sustain, only for a season, the several parts which mythology assigns them. They are delegates, who perform the duties of an absent lord; and while their power lasts, they possess an agency in the affairs of the world, and in the destinies of men. They are privileged beings, whose claims to worship cannot be trifled with, with impunity. They are sensible objects, whose existence is more easily conceived, and whose presence is more readily realized, than the existence and presence of the Supreme Spirit.

"Of these imaginary beings, which have bodies and inhabit place, the images are only copies. By consecration they become, in some sense, the residence of the divinities which they represent. Thus, by a double accommodation;-by created gods in the first place, and images of them in the second, a mode of worship is instituted, suited to the gross conceptions and sinful dispositions of men. Still, the worshipper believes in one Supreme God; but, that idol worship is all that is compatible with his present condition, and all that is indispensable to ultimate felicity. Ask the most gross idolater while he is bending before his idol, concerning the object of his worship, and he will point his finger, and lift his eye to heaven, and say, My God, and yours are one. The way in which we worship different. My idols are God's servants. This is the way of our fathers-the way appointed for Hindoos.'

"That God is one, is a truth, believed alike, by the learned and the unlearned. For, it is written on a leaf which is, and has ever been, unfolded to the eye of all mankind. Hence, the

doctrine of a Supreme Being, is at once, the instruction of nature, and the tradition from the fathers.

"In perfect coincidence with the statement now made, it may be observed, that the Hindoos, generally, understand that there is a division of worshippers into two classes. The one, worship the uncreated God, in the purity of his own existence, without qualities and forms. The other, unable to raise their thoughts to that elevation, worship him in a grosser manner, by the intervention of finite deities and material forms. The former, by austerity and contemplation, have disengaged their souls from the influence of matter, purified them from the defilements of sin, and elevated them to the contemplation of the divine essence. The latter, still entangled by matter, deluded by the senses, and polluted by sin, as more befitting their present condition, apply themselves on principle, and with a ready mind, to the idol worship of gods resembling themselves.

"In proportion as a man is supposed to have attained to the worship of the uncreated and immaterial Deity, he is venerated as having imbibed a portion of divinity, and as preparing, for the ultimate felicity of being absorbed into that essence, from which all creatures have proceeded. Devotees, who profess to aspire after the spiritual worship, are seen about the different temples, and the reverence which they receive, is a proof of the belief which the people avow without disguise, that their own worship, is suitable, only, to a sinful, worldly, and imperfect state.

"The existence of a Supreme God, and the unfitness of idolatry to rational beings, is inculcated in their bocks. Not merely, in those accessible to the learned only, but in those popular histories of their incarnate deities, intended for the common people. To hear these chanted and expounded, the illiterate often assemble, evening by evening, in the circle of their friends and neighbours, or in crowded congregations. These contain declarations on the being and attributes of God, from which, as authorities which they admit, the Missionary may derive arguments, like Paul from the Grecian Poet, to confound his idolatrous hearers.

"In the opinion of the Hindoos, there is at present, a moral declension in the universe, preceded by a state of purity, in which, under the guidance of holy beings, the true God was worshipped immediately by his creatures. When I have asked, in conversation, Why do you leave the worship of the Great Supreme, and worship the workmanship of your own hands? I have received the reply, This is the worship of the sinful, the earthen age. You can expect nothing better from the present state. In the more perfect age, which preceded the moral declension of the world, the true God was worshipped. A

less perfect worship is suited to the present imperfect condition of men.'

"An opinion prevails among them, which, however philosophic it may seem, is entertained by all classes-That as all things originate in, and proceed out of God, so, to him, in the final consummation, all things will again return. Austerity, contemplation, devotion, and the subjugation of the body, restore the worshipper, by their own efficacy, to the essence of the Eternal. The greatest part of mankind, however, by a series of transmigrations, come to that reward by a circuitous and tedious journey. When every thing shall have been prepared for this final consummation, there will exist, neither material universe, nor gods, nor men; but all will be swallowed up in the great Supreme.

"An expressive annual ceremony, which has a reference to this event, illustrates the general doctrine, and a description of it, will form an appropriate close to this part of the subject.

"It is annually, the potter's profitable work, to mould gods of clay, for the seemingly inconsistent purposes-worship and destruction. These are exposed for sale. Immense numbers are bought, and carried, each, by its purchaser, to his home, and every house becomes a peculiar temple for idol worship, for the space of twelve days, during which, they bow down and worship these gods of clay. At the expiration of that period, and in many cases in a shorter time, the scene changes, and the gods, who have been receiving their worship, are attired, and decorated, and enshrined;-not to continue to receive the adoration of men, but as preparatory to the last acts of worship. Like rendering those funeral honours-the last tribute of respect from admiring mortals, which accompany the Hero, as he descends from his exaltation to the narrow house, where his body is to moulder like another man's.

"Attired, decorated, and enshrined, on this day of grand funeral ceremony for the gods of this world;-from every house, with all the state and splendour of which each one is capable, a god is borne. And you behold, through every street, a march of deities amid a din of noisy instruments, led on by a multitude of people, who are advancing to bury them in the sacred water, as an evident testimony to the universal claims of the Great Supreme. They are brought to the margin of the water, where a Brahmin assists in performing the last act of worship, and then, the gods of clay are plunged into the deep water, where they are left to dissolve into their original dust. "This expressive ceremony seems to say, 'They are no gods, which are made with hands. The gods we worship are frail and perishable;' and it has been represented to me, as pointing to the dissolution of the world, when there VOL. I.

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shall exist, neither material universe, nor gods, nor men. In the opinion of the Hindoos, the uncreated Bremh is unchange able and eternal. When creation started into being, the firstcreatures were the primeval deities. For these there are local -habitations, heavens, where they reside, ministered unto, and accompanied by, subordinate deities and ministering servants. By the incarnation of the gods, and the incarnation of the inhabitants of heaven by which they were accompanied, the universe has become filled with deities; till, scarce an animal exists, which has not been inhabited by superior. beings, and till, as I have been often told, there are three hundred and thirty millions of gods. But this state of things, is not to be eternal. The universe, with all which it contains, without the exception of either men, or gods, is to undergo a general wreck, a final dissolution, and all existence is to be swallowed up, in the Supreme. This event seems to be typified in the annual ceremony of the Hindoos, of which I have now given a description, and with which, I close the proof, that they do actually believe, in an eternal and omnipotent God."

We have made this long extract for the instruction of our readers, and to give them a fair specimen of the work. The author is not a brilliant sermonizer; but his manner is natural, his subject rather novel, and the information he communicates highly useful to the philosopher, and the unlettered Christian. In illustration of his second head of discourse, we copy one of his entertaining, but, to poor, degraded human nature, humbling notes.

"The Hindoos, of all sexes and ages, leave their houses immediately after sunset, on the evening, when the new moon is first visible, to pay her reverence. Every eye is directed towards that part of the heavens in which they expect her to appear, and they watch in silent expectation, till the twilight has become sufficiently dim to render her visible. As soon as they see her, they bring their hands to their heads, and bowing, address her according to the usual form of salutation, which I know not how better to translate, than by How do you do, Ma'am.'

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Every cow is sacred. The usual forms of salutation are frequently made to them. Cow-dung is abundantly used in purifying the floors of houses, and seems to be considered as indispensable in removing defilements. One method of taking oaths, is by holding cow-dung in the hand. The murder of cows, is always mentioned, and that early in the list of crimes. The salvation of herds, is mentioned as one of the moving causes, in the principal incarnations of the gods.