Abb» Dubois' State of 



Hindoo deities, Colily, Mahry, Darma- 

 rajali, and oilier iiirernal gods, wliose 

 wrath cannot be appeased but by the 

 shedding of blood, and the immolating 

 of living \iclims. 



Jjut, above all, what will a Brahmin 

 or any other well-bred Hindoo think, 

 when he peruses in our holy books the 

 account of tiie immolating of creatures 

 held most sacred by him? What va ill 

 be his feelings, when he sees that the 

 immolating of oxen and hulls constituted 

 a leading feature in the religions ordi- 

 nances of tiie Israelites, aud that the 

 blood of those most sacred animals was 

 almost daily shed at the shrine of 

 the god they adored ? What will 

 be his feelings, when he sees, that after 

 Solomon had at immense expense and 

 labour built a magnificenl temple in 

 honour of the true God, he made the 

 pratista or consecration of it, by caus- 

 ing 22,000 oxen to be slaughtered, and 

 overflowing his new temple with the 

 blood of these sacred victims? He will 

 certainly in perusing accounts, (in his 

 opinion so horribly sacrilegious,) shud- 

 der, and be seize d with the liveliest hor- 

 ror, look on the book containing such 

 shocking details as an abominable work, 

 (far be from me, once more, the blas- 

 phemy ; I am expressing the feelings of a 

 prejudiced Pagan.) throw it away with 

 indignation, consider himself as polluted 

 for having touched it, go immediately 

 to the river for the piiriiose of purifying 

 himself by ablutions from the defilement 

 he thiid<s he has contracted, and before 

 lie again enters his house, he will send 

 for a Poortihila Eriihmin to perform the 

 rtfpiisile cereirionies for purifying it 

 from the defilement it has contracted, by 

 igiioranlly keeping within its walls so 

 polluted a thing as the Bible. 



In the mean while he will become 

 more and more confirmed in the idea, 

 that a religion which derives its tenets 

 from so impure a source, is altogether 

 detestable, and that those who profess 

 it, must be the basest and vilest of men. 

 Such ari' the ell'eels which, in my 

 Iiumhle opinion, the reading of the 

 naki'cl text of the Bible cannot fail to 

 produce on the unprepared minds of the 

 prejudiced Hindoos. 



I have <ndy (tiled the above inslanecs, 

 being tln^ tirst which occurred to niy 

 mind in writing lliis letter; but I could 

 point out in almost every chapter of 

 lioly writ iiassages nearly as exception- 

 able, and which it would be ('<|iially 

 dangfiouo to exliilnt v( ithont a long pie- 

 •ious explanation to the prejudiced 

 Jlinduo. 



Christianity in India. 637 



Being at Canicaul, about Ivventy- 

 eight years ago, I preached on a Sunday 

 to the assembled congregation a sermon 

 in the Tanud language, on the divine 

 origin of the Christian religion. Among 

 other topics to prove my subject, I 

 insisted on the intrinsic weakness and 

 inadequacy of the means employed in 

 the establishment of this religion, gene- 

 rally hated and persecuted everywherj, 

 quite destitute of all human support, 

 and left to its own resources amidst 

 every kind of contradictions. 1 seve- 

 ral times repeated, in treating this topic, 

 that the Christian relision had for its 

 founder a peasant of Galilee, the son of a 

 humble carpenter, who took for his assist- 

 ants twelve low-born men, twelve igno- 

 rant aud \\\\\{i\-A\e fishermen! These words 

 — the son of a carpenter I twelve fishermen! 

 many times repeated, gave offence to my 

 audience, w hich was entirely composed of 

 native Christians ; and the sermon was 

 no sooner finished than three or four of 

 the jsrincipal among them came and in- 

 formed me, tliat the whole congregation 

 had been highly seandalized by hearing 

 me apply to Christ the appellation of 

 the son of a carpenter, and to his apos- 

 tles that of fishermen; that I could not 

 be ignorant that the casts both of car- 

 penters and fishermen were two ot the 

 lowest and vil"st in the country; that it 

 was highly inipro])er to attribute to 

 Christ and his disciples so low and 

 abject an origin; that, if Pagans, who 

 sometimes come through motives of 

 curiosity to their religious assemblies, 

 heard such olijietionable acconiils ot* 

 our religion, tluir contempt and hatred 

 of it would be considerably increased, 

 &c. &c. Finally, they advised me, if in 

 future I had occasion to mention in my 

 sermons the origin of Christ or his apos- 

 tles, not to fail to say that both were 

 born in the noble tribe of lishatrys or 

 rajahs, and never to mention their low 

 profession. 



Another instance of the kind happen- 

 ed to me a few years ago in this part of 

 the country, when, in explaining to the 

 congregiilion tlie parable of the Pioili- 

 gal Son in the ^lospel, 1 inentioiied the 

 circumslancc of the prodigal's father 

 liaving, through joy, killed Ww fatted calf 

 to regiile his iiidids, on aeconnt of the 

 return of his reloi nicd son. After the 

 lecture some ('hrislians told nic, in ra- 

 th(-r bad humour, that my mentioning 

 the falttdcalf was very iinpro|)er, and 

 that if, as sometimes happened, pagans 

 had been present at the lecture, they 

 would have been eonfirmed, on hearing 

 ol the lalttncd calf, in the opinion they 



all 



