2m SKETCH OF THE SIKHS; 



iJie spirit of equality, which has been hitherto cojjsidered as the vital princi- 

 ple of the X/^^/^i^- or ::^ojnmi5n wealth, and which' makes ail Sikhs so reliic- 

 tailt tO{0wn either a temporal or spirimal leader, will tend greatly to pre- 

 s§rv^ [their institutiojls from.' invasion; ,4i>d it- is; .stated, in a tradition which- 

 ^si^wersally belieyedby the Sikhs,' and has, indeed, heeu; inserted iii> 

 tjifeir sacfed writings, that Gu'rij' Govind, when he was asked by his^ 

 follov/ers, who surrounded his death-bed, to whom he would leave 

 his authority, replied, " I have delivered over the Khdlsa (common- 

 ^^ wealth) to God, who never dies. I have been your guide, and will 

 ^*' Still preserve you; read the Grant'h, and attend to its tenets; and who- 

 " ever rcrnains true to the state, him will F aid/' From these dying 

 words of Guru' Govind, the Sikhs believe themselves to have been 

 placed, by their last and rriost revered Prophet, uhder' the peculiar care 

 of God ; and their attachment to this mysterious principle, leads them fo 

 consider the ir/r^7i a (or commonwealth) as a theocracy -, and such an 

 Impression is likely to oppose a very serious obstacle, if not an insupera-' 

 Me barrier, to the designs of any of their chiefs, who may hereafter en* 

 deavour to establish an absolate power over theivhdie nation. 





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