G 2 o n T he ji r. l i r i o i" s cer E mom e s 



'• BAa'hme is truth, the one immutable beino. He 

 " is truth and eyerl ailing knowledge." i During the 

 ( period of general annihilation, fays the commen- 

 ' tator, the Supreme Being alone exiltetl. Afterwards, 

 k during that period, night was produced; in other 

 c words, there was uuiverial darknefs.' (( This utii- 

 Ci verie exifted only in darknefs, imperceptible, unde- 

 '• finable, undifcoverable by reafon, and undifcov- 

 red by revelation as if it were wholly immerfed in 

 " ileep. ,, (Menu, ch. I. v. 5.) Next, when the crea- 

 tion began, the ocean was produced by an unfeen power 

 univerfally diftuted ; that is, the element of wa- 

 ter was fir ft reproduced, as the means of the crea- 

 tion : " lie tint, with a thought, created the wa- 

 il ters, &c." (Menu, ch. I. v. 8.) Then did the 

 Creator, when lord of the univerle, rife out of the 

 waters. c The lord of the univerle, annihilated by 

 4 the general dcliruclion, revived with his own crea- 

 ' tion of the three worlds.' Heaven is here explained 

 the expanfe of the Iky above the region of the liars. 

 The celeftial region is the middle world and hea- 

 yens above. The author before me, has added nu- 

 merous quotations on the iublimity and efficacy of 

 this text, which Menu compares with the facrifice of 

 a liorfe, in relpecl of its power to obliterate fins. 



After bathing, while he repeats this prayer, the 

 priefi tbould again plunge into water, thrice re- 

 peating the text, " As a tired man leaves drops of 

 u fweat at the foot of a tree, &c." Afterwards, to 

 atone for greater offences, lie mould meditate the 

 afr'i i &c. during three tupprefTions of breath. 

 He mud alio recite il mcafurc by meafure, h.emi- 

 llich by hemiftich ; and, laftly, the entire te 

 . lout any paufe. As an expiation of the fin ol 

 ng with men pf very low tribes, or of coveting 

 or accepting what fljould not be received, a man 

 iJiouhl plunge into water, at the fame time recit- 

 i g a prayer which will be quoted on another occa- 

 fion. One who has drunk Ipirituous liquors mould 



traverle 



