II. 



An Essay on the Sacred Isles i?i the fFest, with other 

 Essays connected with that JFork. 



BY CAPTAIX F. WILFORD. 

 ESSAY V. 



Origin and Decline of the Christian Religion iyi 



India. 



I. IT appears, that long before Christ, a renova- 

 tion of the universe was expected all over the world, 

 with a Saviour, a King of Peace and Justice. This 

 expectation is frequently mentioned in the Puran'as : 

 the Eai th is often complaining that she is ready to 

 sink back into Patala under the accumulated load 

 of the iniquities of mankind : the Gods also complain 

 of the oppression oi t\iQ Giants. Vishnu comforts 

 the Earth, his consort, and the Gods, assuring them, 

 that a Saviour would come, to redress their griev- 

 ances : and put an end to the tyranny of the Daityas, 

 or Demons. That, for this purpose, he would be 

 incarnated in the house of a shepherd, and brought 

 up among shepherds. The followers of Budd'ha 

 unanimously declare, that his incarnation in the 

 womb of a virgin, was foretold several thousand 

 years, though some say one thousand only, before it 

 came to pass.* 



A short time before the birth of Christ, not only 

 the Jeivs, but the Romans^ on the authority of the 



See also As. Res. vol. vi. p. 267. 



