66 



BRAUMO SOMAJ. 



and anomaly only are commonly perceived. 

 The new order is the happy welding of these 

 together, and in it the fultillment of Christ's 

 prophecy of the coming of the Comforter is to 

 be Bought. Christ is not held to he divine, as 

 in the orthodox churches of Christianity, but 

 is regarded with great reverence and devotion 

 as a prophet, and is allowed a subjective not 

 an objective divinity. God is believed in as 

 an objective reality, a supreme Father, whose 

 character of divine holiness worshipers aim to 

 assimilate and realize in their hearts. Com- 

 munion is sought to be promoted with proph- 

 ets and departed saints, who are supposed to 

 be real persons and children of God, by the 

 so-called pilgrimages, in which a particular 

 room represents the historical site, and con- 

 versations are carried on, by the aid of a vivid 

 imagination, with the person invoked, whose 

 utterances of centuries ago, says Dr. William 

 Knighton, in the " Contemporary Review," 

 " are applied, more or less skillfully, to the 

 exigencies of the present time, or the difficulties 

 of existing theological speculation." The spirits 

 are not supposed to be materialized or actually 

 present, but to be spiritually drawn into the 

 life and character of the devotee; the pilgrim- 

 ages being explained to be simply practical ap- 

 plications of "the philosophy of subjectivity." 

 The believer may be aided by the perusal of 

 the sacred books of the several religions, by 

 studying the precepts and examples, and ab- 

 sorbing the spirit of which he is believed to be 

 brought into communion with the authors of 

 those religions, or to have " conferences " with 

 them. The immortality of the soul is taught, 

 with the idea that the future life is a continu- 

 ation and development of the present life. The 

 incarnation of Deity is denied, but all the great 

 teachers of religion, from Moses to Mohammed, 

 are recognized as God's servants and as useful 

 teachers. A violation of duty is sin, and every 

 sinner must suffer the consequences of his own 

 sinfulness, in this world or the next. Holiness 

 may be attained, however, and sinfulness ex- 

 tirpated by the worship of God, by self-control 

 and self-denial, by repentance, by the study of 

 God in nature and in good books, by good 

 company, and by solitary contemplation ; and 

 by these means salvation is attained. No me- 

 diation between God and man is suggested. 

 Salvation brings with it a perpetual growth in 

 purity, which goes on for all eternity. The 

 New Dispensation is openly and fearlessly de- 

 clared to be the work of God and not of man, 

 a beautiful symmetrical plan of providence in 

 a course of daily development, which provides 

 an infallible remedy for human wants and 

 short-comings ; a " system of Divine eclecti- 

 cism, absorbing all religions, incorporating in 

 itself all the prophets of God." 



Among the peculiarities of ritual of the New- 

 Dispensation are the Arati ceremony, with 

 which the flag was inaugurated, and which has 

 been criticised as savoring of idolatry ; and the 

 sacramental ceremony, in which rice and water 



are substituted for the ordinary bread and 

 wine. The " vow of self-surrender " is taken 

 by persons who enroll themselves in the order 

 of " Grihastha Vairagi," or ascetic household- 

 ers men of the world who, following secular 

 employments, give all they make to the church. 

 The singing of hymns from door to door, for 

 the benefit of the worldly-minded, which was 

 formerly confined to the lower classes of peo- 

 ple, has been commended under the New Dis- 

 pensation to the middle and upper classes as 

 an " exalted work." 



The fifty-first anniversary of the Brahmo 

 Somaj was celebrated by the adherents of the 

 New Dispensation in a series of meditative and 

 mystic ceremonies, which, with the days of 

 preparation, occupied most of the month of 

 January. A portrait of Ram Mohun Roy was 

 unveiled. Five missionaries were consecrated 

 to a life in which they were told they would 

 be wholly under the guidance of Heaven, and 

 would find themselves always in a state of com- 

 plete harmony with each other, drawing their 

 inspiration from the Almighty alone, who 

 would speak to and through them. The report 

 for the past year mentioned as its peculiar, 

 pre-eminent feature, the "communion with 

 saints," which was observed by eight pilgrim- 

 ages of the missionaries and other Brahmos to 

 the house of the minister (Mr. Sen), with hon- 

 ors to the following saints : Moses, February 

 22d ; Socrates, March 7th ; Sakya, March 14th ; 

 Mohammed, September 19th; Chaitanya, Sep- 

 tember 26th ; scientific men, October 3d. An 

 average of one hundred students had attended 

 the theological institution. Fifteen mission- 

 aries had been employed in Calcutta and six in 

 Dacca, besides fourteen secular missionaries. 

 Thirteen somajes had been established, and the 

 flag of the New Dispensation had been carried 

 all around India. A letter was read from the 

 Prarthana Somaj, of Bombay, expressing the 

 hope that all schism might be healed, and that 

 there might be a united theistic church in 

 India, which was suitably responded to. Steps 

 were taken to publish a reply to misrepresen- 

 tations which, it was alleged, had been made 

 of the Brahmo Somaj in India and England. 

 The missionaries were given the distinctive 

 title of Sraddheya Bhai, or Reverend Brother. 

 A sacramental ceremony was celebrated on 

 the 6th of March. On the 7th of June "a new- 

 Horn ceremony," or fire-sacrifice, was cele- 

 brated as the "ceremony of overthrowing 

 temptation," and was followed on the 12th by 

 a " new baptismal ceremony," in which it was 

 claimed that " the rite was administered by 

 John the Baptist himself, who was present in 

 spirit." 



A considerable majority of the Brahmo 

 Somajes, including one hundred and forty 

 churches in different parts of India, from Assam 

 to Sinde, and from Lahore to Madras, adhere 

 to the old order, and either oppose the New 

 Dispensation or hold aloof from it. The chief 

 of these societies is the Sadharan (or Univer- 



