166 
The skill of the author of this very ancient poem consists 
in bringing before us his hero involved in troubles, which 
practically prove too trying for unassisted human nature. He 
is ready to sacrifice the renown of his own fame, the glory of 
his house, and his impressions of duty (if such a term may be 
allowed), to weak and almost feminine sentiments of pity and 
compassion. This gives his supposed celestial friend the 
opportunity to strengthen his mind, by educating him in the 
whole compass of Hindoo philosophy. It is remarkable that 
all this is effected in connection with the knowledge of friend- 
ship and intimate communion with the one supreme god 
(Krishna), who promises eternal felicity to those only who 
worship him ; a subordinate and temporary pai'adise beiug the 
sufficient recompense of those devoted to the lower manifesta- 
tions of divinity. 
The whole work, together with the remaining poems, of 
(supposed) divine inspii’ation, held sacred for ages past by the 
men of the East, are in so far an attestation of the need felt by 
mankind for religion, in the sense of trust in the friendly 
assistance of a Power superior to their own; in fact, that 
something beyond the help that Science can afford, or the self- 
reliance that Secular Education can impart, is needed by man 
in the midst of the sorrows and calamities of life. In con- 
tending for the claims of a better philosophy, and in seeking 
to establish the true knowledge of God, as alone adequate to 
the education of the human race, I am also conscious of the 
need of seeking wisdom and guidance from above. This 
philosophy sustains me whilst exposing myself to criticism, 
such as it is not the part of a wise man needlessly to court ; 
nor yet to be thereby deterred from the prosecution of a truly 
worthy enterprise. 
In some sense I find myself between the two camps, and 
that my sympathies are by no means all enlisted for one side 
of the hostile combatants. I would desire, therefore, to put 
in a plea for increased charity towards those whom, for con- 
venience sake, I will call Rationalists, amongst whom may be 
found some who sincerely desire a more true knowledge of 
God than they at present possess. 
In the first place, then, let it be remembered, that one of 
the chosen disciples of Christ was a Rationalist ;* and that 
from whatever source the peculiar characteristics of his nature 
were derived, these did not in the least shut him out from the 
love of Christ. Thomas, the sceptic, was as near to his heart 
* So Olshausen, quoted in Alford, Grcelc Test., vol. i. p. 825 (3rd edit.). 
