THE SANSKRIT VEDAS. 1 (j I 



presented in its earlier form in the Sanskrit 

 Vedas, and the contrast between its doctrines 

 and those of existing Hindooism is but a 

 sample of the working of a great law which 

 can be traced in every region ot the world. 

 This is no case confined to some little corner 

 of the earth, or to some short period of time, 

 or to some partial and accidental cause. It 

 is the case of a religion which in all its 

 branches embraces uncounted millions of the 

 human race, and the history of which 

 extends over more than 3,000 years. Nor 

 is the sense in which corruption and decay 

 are predicated of this religion at all vague 

 or indefinite. It has become lower, ruder, 

 more corrupt, — in its conceptions of the Divine 

 Nature, — in its notions of acceptable worship, 



