convinced that these contained
no system of reasonable theology, still less of morality, and they then
constructed for themselves a theory culled from Christianity, but
rejecting whatever did not approve itself to their intellect, in especial
the holy mysteries regarding the nature of the Godhead and the
Incarnation of our Lord. This teaching, called Brahmoism, from Brahma,
the purest and highest of Hindoo divinities, is, under another form, the
Neo-Platonism of the Greeks, or the Soofeeism of the Persians. There was
even the germ of it in the grotesque medicine-man encountered by David
Brainerd. It is the form of opposition which the spirit of evil always
stirs up, wherever the natural character is elevated enough to appreciate
the beauty of Christian morality. It only prevails where there are
refined and cultivated men, afraid of all belief in the supernatural, as
a humbling of their intellect to superstition; and just at present a form
of it is very prevalent in India, owing to the amount of education which
the natives receive, which uproots the old belief, but does not always
implant the new. Whether it will become a stepping-stone to
Christianity, or whether it has substance to become a separate sect,
remains to be proved.

To return to Bishop Middleton. He knew when he left home that his work
would be heavy, and that to set in order the things that were wanting
must be his first undertaking; but no words could have conveyed the dead
weight of care and toil that lay on him. The huge diocese was shamefully
deficient in all that was needful for the keeping up of religious
ordinances; the Company's chaplains, few in number, were stationed at
immense distances apart, and for the most part had no attempt at a proper
church for their congregations. Verandahs or dining-rooms were used on
Sundays; and at Meerut, an edifice was actually built for the purpose of
a riding-school in the week, and a place of worship on Sunday. Moreover,
these chaplains were accustomed to look to the Governor-General as their
only superior, and, living so far apart, each followed his own
independent line of action, as if entirely unaccountable. Some, such as
Mr. Corrie at Cawnpore, were admirable and earnest men; but Henry
Martyn's successor at Dinapore had let the place sink into a lamentable
state, and there were several chaplains who greatly resented the being
brought under authority. The brunt of the battle fell of course upon the