BRAHMO SOMAJ. 



BRAZIL. 



rest assured that if there is any truth in Christ, 

 it will overtake and conquer you." The anni- 

 versary address of the Baboo for 1879 was de- 

 voted to answering in the negative the ques- 

 tion whether he pretended to possess prophetic 

 gifts, and to the relation, with much of Orien- 

 tal imagery and vagueness, of his religious ex- 

 perience. In it he avowed his belief in the 

 omnipresent spirituality of God. " Of what 

 good," he said, "is religion if it does not teach 

 us to believe in a Deity ever near to us ? .... 

 If he is not found here, then the down-trodden 

 sinner perishes at once, lost in sin. Shall I go 

 to the clouds and seek my God there ? Shall 

 I go to the height of the Himalayas to un- 

 derstand and find him? It is impossible for 

 a poor sinner to achieve these impracticable 

 feats. My God must himself come into the 

 sinner's cottage and save him. He goes forth 

 not only to save, but to seek and save the sin- 

 ner. The omnipresent Lord is here and every- 

 where, and I have faith in that fact." Fur- 

 ther, he said : " The Bible has never of itself 

 animated or inspired any one, nor can it. But 

 the Spirit of God converts its dead letters into 

 living forms. If you wish to see God with 



your eyes, if you wish to hear him, pray 



Trust that all things shall be revealed unto 

 me and unto you in the fullness of time. The 

 Lord's inspiration shall satisfy our understand- 

 ing, and remove all our doubts and misgivings." 

 " The spirit of truth," he said near the close 

 of his address, "I have been so long teaching, 

 has silently, quietly, and almost imperceptibly 

 leavened the heart of educated India. It is a 

 wonder and a marvel that, in spite of civiliza- 

 tion, there is so much of spirituality growing 

 up in the midst of young Bengal and young 

 India. Take away this Brahmo church, take 

 away this grand theistio organization, and what 

 is left ? It is all secular education and mate- 

 rial prosperity This living faith is not 



contrary to the spirit of Christianity, or Mo- 

 hammedanism, or Hindooism. It is religion 

 pure and simple. It is the religion of love, 

 the religion of the living God." 



A conference of missionaries of the Somaj, 

 which met in the fall of 1878, issued an address 

 to the societies against sensuality and skepti- 

 cism, which included the instructions: "The 

 Lord has in all ages rebuked men of little faith, 

 treating the least skepticism on the part of 

 his people as a sin and an abomination. Every 

 believer is bound to believe thoroughly and 

 firmly, never doubting, never wavering. Who- 

 so deliberately harbors doubts in regard to the 

 essentials of faith, or scoffs at the vital truths 

 of religion, is an enemy of God and our church. 

 Who suffers himself to decline in spirituality, 

 devotion, and faith, and boasts of his growing 

 rationalism, is a renegade, whose contact de- 



fileth the church to which he belongs 



We humbly request the leading men of all the 

 Brahmo Somajes in India to protect the vital 

 doctrines of our church, namely, the Reality 

 of Divine Presence, Providence, Inspiration, 



Daily Prayers, Communion, Immortality, etc., 

 and to promote by every means in their power 

 the highest spirituality and devotion among the 

 Brahmo community. And we beg, too, that 

 our dear church may be kept free from the in- 

 fluence of doubters, materialists, skeptics, and 

 scoffers of all classes." 



In the latter part of 1879 the periodicals of 

 the Brahmo Somaj took notice of a new move- 

 ment in the body, as a tendency toward a more 

 active and definite spiritual life. The " Theis- 

 tic Quarterly Review " remarked that " such 

 significant words as these seeing, hearing, and 

 touching the Spirit of God,' 1 ' 1 were becoming 

 quite 'familiar among advanced Brahmos, and 

 that their devotional literature abounded in 

 striking metaphors and expressions of intense 

 religious emotion. The "Indian Mirror "re- 

 marked: "A great change has evidently come 

 over the spirit of the Brahmo Somaj move- 

 ment. Never was our church so spiritual, so 

 devout, so earnest, or so thoroughly imbued 

 with faith in the realities of the unseen world. 

 .... Imagination and unbelief, unpractical 

 transcendentalism and dreamy sentimentalisin 

 are fast dying out, and the vision of faith is 

 extending, both in area and in vividness. The 

 prophets, ' Christ and other masters,' are find- 

 ing a home in the hearts of our devotees such 

 as they never had before. A strong desire to 

 live in them and with them in God is manifest 

 among our ranks. Formal prayers and stereo- 

 typed addresses to an imaginary and abstract 

 deity are giving way to sustained conversation 

 with Heaven's King, and the pleasant flow of 

 deep, unutterable sentiments. The Brahmo's 

 prayer to-day is neither soliloquy nor an un- 

 answered petition, but the soul's spirited dia- 

 logue with the indwelling Friend." 



BRAZIL (IMPKRIO DO BRAZIL). (For terri- 

 torial divisions, population, etc., see " Annual 

 Cyclopedia" for 1878.) The government of 

 Brazil is a constitutional monarchy. The Em- 

 peror is Dom Pedro II., born December 2, 

 1825; proclaimed April 7, 1831; regency until 

 July 23, 1840 ; crowned July 18, 1841 ; mar- 

 ried September 4, 1843, to Theresa Christina 

 Maria, daughter of the late King Francis I. of 

 the Two Sicilies. The Cabinet was composed 

 of the following Ministers : Interior, Council- 

 or F. M. Sodr6 Pereira; Justice, Councilor 

 Lafayette R. Pereira; Foreign Affairs, Coun- 

 cilor A. Moreira de Banos; Finance, Senator 

 Affonso Celso ; War, Marquis de Herval, Sen- 

 ator; Navy, J. F. de Mouza; Public Works, 

 Commerce, and Agriculture, J. L. V. Cansansao 

 de Sinimbu, Senator and President of the 

 Council of State. The beginning of the year 

 was marked by a ministerial crisis, Senhor 

 Andrade Pinto resigning the portfolio of the 

 Navy, ostensibly, and perhaps solely, on ac- 

 count of the removal of Viscount de Prados 

 from the presidency of the Province of Rio 

 de Janeiro. The new Cabinet * had resolved 

 that no member of the central legislative body 

 * See "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1878. 



