= 8 a HN
[5d
La nl 2
_— Aaa=.
30
They would bestow on the Hindls unbounded wisdom, favour and prosperity, and would probably commit to them the government of all the rest of mankind. Even if the Hindiis were not enabled to rule over tne rest of the world, the favour of their gods(when zealously worshipped, as they ever have been,) might be expected at least to secure to them their own independence. It would surely never become necessary for them to submit to the government of people who pay mo regard to Siva or Vishnu.
How widely different from this is the actual condition of the Hindfis! It is now more than S00 vears since the Mahommedans, who were then great haters of idol-worship, entered India, and conquered the worshippers of Siva and Vishnu; and from that time to the present day, though the Hinds have as zealously worshipped their gods as ever, they have never regained the position that they lost. When the Mahommnedan Government fell by its wickedness, it was Christians from Burope, not the ilindds, who became the rulers of India; and now the supreme Government in every part of the country has passed into the hands of Christians, who assert that no god exists, and that no god has cver existed, but the God who made the world. One is compelled, therefore, to say, that Siva, Vishnu, and the rest of the gods of the Purinas never existed at all, or il they ever existed, that they must have perished more than$00 years ago, seeing that the government of this country, the only country in which they are worshipped, has been gradually passing away from their worshippers for more than cight hundred years. The Supreme Master of al hus thus in the sizht of all men conof idols, und has committed Anga and
Vanga, Giirjiare end Kalinga, Kerala and Difivida,’ ord
demned the worsh,