ty, have
applied to that character those ancient traditional accounts
of an _incarnate God_, or, as they not improperly term it, an
_Avatar_, which had been delivered down to them from their
ancestors, the virtuous Noachidae, to descend amidst the
darkness and ignorance of succeeding ages, at once to reform
and instruct mankind. We have the more solid reason to affirm
this of the Avatar of Crishna, because it is allowed to be the
most illustrious of them all; since we have learned, that, in
the _seven_ preceding Avatars, the deity brought only an
_ansa_, or portion of his divinity; but, in the _eighth_, he
descended in all the plentitude of the Godhead, _and was
Vishnu himself in a human form_."[113:5]

Crishna was born of a chaste virgin,[113:6] called _Devaki_, who, on
account of her purity, was selected to become the "_mother of God_."

According to the "BHAGAVAT POORAUN," _Vishnu_ said:

"I will become incarnate at Mathura in the house of _Yadu_,
and will issue forth to mortal birth from the womb of
Devaki. . . . It is time I should display my power, and
relieve the oppressed earth from its load."[114:1]

Then a chorus of angels exclaimed:

"In the delivery of this favored woman, all nature shall have
cause to exult."[114:2]

In the sacred book of the Hindoos, called "_Vishnu Purana_," we read as
follows:

"Eulogized by the gods, Devaki bore in her womb the lotus-eyed
deity, the protector of the world. . . .

"No person could bear to gaze upon Devaki, from the light that
invested her, and those who contemplated her radiance felt
their minds disturbed. The gods, invisible to mortals,
celebrated her praises continually from the time that _Vishnu_
was contained in her person."[114:3]

Again we read:

"The divine _Vishnu himself_, the root of the vast universal
tree, inscrutable by the understandings of all gods, demons,
sages, and men, past, present, or to come, adored by Brahma
and all the deities, he who is without beginning, middle, or
end, being moved to relieve the earth of her load, descended
into the womb of Devaki, and was born as her son, Vasudeva,"
_i. e._, _Crishna_.[114:4]

Again:

"Crishna is the very _Supreme Brahma_, though it be a
_mystery_[114:5] how the Supreme _should assume the form of a
man_."[114:6]

The H