24 



filled their generations, and their remains had been long deposited 

 in the cave of Macpelah, the Almighty calls himself* the God of 

 Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; and one greater than Abraham 

 has told us, that God is not a God of the dead, but of the liv- 

 ing. What simplicity, what beauty, what sublimity, are in these 

 passages ! 



"What do the doctrines of the ancient philosophers, or the re- 

 reveries of modern brahmins, senassees, and yogecs, offer in the 

 comparison? These devotees are composed from any of the 

 other seels of the Hindoos, except the caste ofChandala; they leave 

 their family, break every tender connexion of life, and wander 

 over the face of the earth, in the exercise of their religious duties. 

 Their rules are very strict, and some of their voluntary penances 

 of the severest kind; but to what do they tend? In Craufurd's 

 sketches is an extract from the Sanscrit writings, in which it is 

 said, " that a senassee or yogee, who shall devote himself to a 

 " solitary religious life, shall wear no other clothing but what may 

 " be necessary to cover his nakedness; nor have any other worldly 

 "goods but a staff in his hand, and a pitcher to drink out of. 

 " That he shall always meditate on the truths contained in the 

 " sacred writings, but never argue upon them. That his food 

 "shall be confined to rice and vegetables; that he shall eat but 

 " once a day, and then sparingly. That he shall look for- 

 " ward with desire to the separation of the soul from the bodv; 

 " be indifferent about heat, or cold, or hunger, or praise, or re- 

 " proach, or any thing concerning this life; and that unless he 

 " strictly follow these rules, and subdue his passions, he will only 

 " be more criminal by embracing a state the duties of which he 

 " could not perform, and neglecting those he was born to observe." 



