DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9550#0327
NUMBER IV.
277
terms " Worshippers of a Fleshly God, or Jew God"
being applied to themselves.
Whoever, in fact, is unable to perceive the wide dis-
tinction between the supreme and eternal Being and a
helpless mortal man, must surely confess, if endowed with
the faculty of reason, that he has grossly abused it in
•contemplating the nature of the deity. The immense
distance between the human and divine nature cannot
be diminished by the efforts of any mortal; and there-
fore whoever accepts man, dead or alive, for his god,
voluntarily sinks himself to the same unfathomable
distance below the level of one 0/ the human species.
Should he then presume to claim the rank of man, he
would thereby equalize his nature with that of his God
and be justly chargeable with gross inconsistency.
Indeed I do not see what can prevent his fellow
believers, or man-worshippers, from accusing him of
blasphemy—in making himself equal with God ; or
how rational men can avoid viewing him as the victim
of early prejudices—however many sciences he may
have studied, however many books he may have
written, whatever titles of learning may have been
bestowed upon him and with whatever contempt he
may affect to regard the genuine Brahmunical religion.
I say, the genuine Brahmnunical religion, taught by
the VedS, as interpreted by the inspired Munoo, not
the popular system of worship adopted by the mul-
titude. If a Christian were to insist on considering the
latter with all its corruptions as the standard of Hindoo-
ism, then a Hindoo would also be justified in taking
as the standard of Christianity, the system of religion
which almost universally prevailed in Europe previous
277
terms " Worshippers of a Fleshly God, or Jew God"
being applied to themselves.
Whoever, in fact, is unable to perceive the wide dis-
tinction between the supreme and eternal Being and a
helpless mortal man, must surely confess, if endowed with
the faculty of reason, that he has grossly abused it in
•contemplating the nature of the deity. The immense
distance between the human and divine nature cannot
be diminished by the efforts of any mortal; and there-
fore whoever accepts man, dead or alive, for his god,
voluntarily sinks himself to the same unfathomable
distance below the level of one 0/ the human species.
Should he then presume to claim the rank of man, he
would thereby equalize his nature with that of his God
and be justly chargeable with gross inconsistency.
Indeed I do not see what can prevent his fellow
believers, or man-worshippers, from accusing him of
blasphemy—in making himself equal with God ; or
how rational men can avoid viewing him as the victim
of early prejudices—however many sciences he may
have studied, however many books he may have
written, whatever titles of learning may have been
bestowed upon him and with whatever contempt he
may affect to regard the genuine Brahmunical religion.
I say, the genuine Brahmnunical religion, taught by
the VedS, as interpreted by the inspired Munoo, not
the popular system of worship adopted by the mul-
titude. If a Christian were to insist on considering the
latter with all its corruptions as the standard of Hindoo-
ism, then a Hindoo would also be justified in taking
as the standard of Christianity, the system of religion
which almost universally prevailed in Europe previous