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greater than if it were approached from any other point of view; because, 
if we accept Christianity—as I do—as a revelation from God, we have, at 
least, in all these aboriginal tribes objects of the Divine regard and benevo- 
lence, rather let me say of Divine love, in a degree which it is not 
possible for any created mind to conceive. This, I say, must invest the 
whole question with intense interest. For myself, I fully accept the Divine 
origin of Christianity, and looking on its records as inspired, the question 
of the religious condition of these aboriginal races has a very special 
interest for me, which has, doubtless, been the more developed by a 
residence of some years among one of them. The tribe to which I refer is 
a branch of the great Gond family, who inhabit a wide district stretching 
down to the river Godavery. They extend, indeed, over a portion of India 
which is about as large as one-half of Ireland. In reference to them, 
there is One point in the paper which here strikes me as worthy of 
notice, namely, the remark that “there is much in other systems of 
belief which deserves our admiration, and not a little that has served the 
Divine purpose in educating the world up to the understanding of a purer 
revelation.” * I should be inclined to say, speaking from my knowledge of 
these Gonds and their religious beliefs, that this remark, as applied to the 
question as between the religion of the aborigines and that of the Hindoos, 
does not hold good. I think indeed that precisely the opposite is the case. I 
believe it is found that, exactly in proportion as Hindooism has become more 
and more highly developed, so has it departed further and further from the 
truth, as judged by the Christian standard, which is the standard by which 
T elect to judge. We also find that the difficulty met with in presenting 
Christianity to the Hindoos, and their slowness to adopt it, is much 
greater than among the aboriginal tribes. The reason for this is not one 
that we need go far to seek, because among the aboriginal tribes the truths 
they hold in a very remarkable degree, although in an exaggerated or 
corrupted form, need only to be purified from the accretions of error that 
have gradually grown upon them in the course of centuries to be fitted into 
a place in the Christian system. A question is raised in the paper as to 
whether these aboriginal tribes believe in one supreme God, as the Creator 
and Ruler of all things. The tribe to which I refer certainly do, although 
in an exceedingly vague and uncertain way. They retain the belief, but it 
has no effect upon their lives, and the moment the truth of the unity of the 
Divine Being—the one God over all—is presented to them as a revealed 
certainty, it is at once accepted, and is simply regarded as a confirmation of 
the belief which has been long and dimly held. And so it is with other 
portions of their belief, as regards, for instance, the existence of evil spirits. 
They need to be told that those spirits are not the spirits of departed persons 
—their ancestors and relatives ; the truth requires to be guarded in that and 
in other ways, but, nevertheless, there is a considerable element of truth in 
* Sce note, page 95, 
