BRAHMINICAL THEOLOGY. 
227 
Monstrous as the complicated mythology of Hin- 
dostan may appear to those who cannot discover the 
spiritual inference through the mythic adaptation, 
the Brahminical religion, when divested of its ex- 
aggerated fables and allegories, amounts simply to 
this : that God is eternal, omnipotent, and infinitely 
wise ; the source of all good, and the consummation 
of all perfection. As he had no beginning, so neither 
can he have an end, since that to have an end, 
which has no beginning, would at once involve a 
contradiction and an impossibility. He is without 
body, parts, or passions ; permeating all space ; the 
antithesis of evil, which he will eventually overcome ; 
an omnipotent, just, and merciful God. He is the 
creator of all things, the sustainer of all things, and 
nothing is hid from his scrutiny. Past and future 
are to him everlastingly present, and his ubiquity 
enables him to comprehend all things within himself. 
As he is infinitely merciful, so is he infinitely just, 
and therefore eternally punishes the wicked as well 
as everlastingly rewards the good. 
The Brahmins further believe that at the time fixed 
in his eternal deerees, God will destroy this world 
by fire. They place implicit faith in the influence 
of inferior divinities, which are subservient to the 
one Almighty, who wills nevertheless that divine 
homage, though different from that which is offered 
to himself, should be paid to them as his accredited 
vicegerents to whom he has appointed especial func- 
tions upon earth. These agents are extremely nu- 
merous, and it is in consequence of the homage paid 
to them that so many corruptions have crept in to 
