Inquiry concerning the Hindu religion.
I SEND you a few notes as to the Hindu religion. It is of course a vast subject, and volumes have been written upon it.
It is what is called a polytheistic religion, that is, it has a plurality of gods. Of these there are three chief ones — Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. But besides these there are a host of others, lesser ones, to the extent of thirty-three millions! But these gods are more or less imperfect and finite creatures, mighty and immortal, merely in comparison with man. They had a beginning and they will have an end.
The Hindu religion, though claiming great antiquity and divine inspiration in its origin, has changed very greatly from age to age. Its deities have changed, and the systems of philosophy connected with their conceptions of God are radically different to-day from what they were at the time of the Vedas, their early sacred writings.
From the Vedas it would appear that the religion was monotheistic, and even to-day amongst certain sects (there are an infinite number of sects in Hinduism) there is a tendency to abandon the polytheistic belief. The present form of Hinduism is only a few centuries old.
The popular belief is very different from the philosophical. In the former idols are to be found, whereas in the philosophical section, which cleaves much more closely to the Vedas, idolatry is condemned. From this, and on other grounds too, it may be seen that there is no consistency in Hinduism.
Coming to the three special deities, Brahma is the creator, and does not appear to have been ever worshipped; Vishnu is the preserver; and Siva the destroyer. This last seems to be held in awe more than the others, and it would appear that the general idea is, that the evil deity requires more to be propitiated than the good. How different is this from the true God as revealed in Christianity! “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:1010Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)). We, Christians, know the true God, a God of holiness, righteousness, and truth, whose nature abhors sin and demands its punishment; but who, on the other hand, is a God of mercy, love, and grace, who loved a world of sinners, and who provided in His love that propitiatory sacrifice which His justice made necessary.
There is no such belief in Hinduism as the immortality of the soul, either for the good or the bad. After a time, longer or shorter as the case may be, the soul returns to earth in another body — reptile, fish, giant, divinity, &c. &c. — and after a variety of migrations, ascends or descends again to man; this is called the transmigration of souls — individuality is lost.
In all this there is a groping after God, but nothing but darkness and profound ignorance of His nature. “Canst thou by searching find out God?” (Job 11:77Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? (Job 11:7)). God must reveal Himself or none can know Him; and this He has done, first of all in Judaism, and then in a fuller, yea, a perfect manner in Christ.
In Hinduism there is no revelation of God — there is the sense, which is world-wide, that a God there must be, and along with this, fallen man’s futile efforts to reach to Him.
According to Scripture the heathen are specially distinguished by this that they know not God (Ps. 119: 6; 2 Thess. 1:88In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (2 Thessalonians 1:8)), and this is clearly evidenced in Hinduism. There is an immense amount of philosophy and speculation, but nothing certain. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)). — ED.
The truth here taught is plainly confirmed by the rest of the Old Testament, that Israel is God’s earthly center, around whom the nations are yet to revolve, when the Messiah takes His kingdom here below; for the Jews (not the Church, which has higher hopes) are the objects of God’s counsels, as regards the earth and the nations.