ed person, as fire burns even him
who approaches it unwillingly."25 Nothing is more common in the
sacred writings of the Hindus than the promise that "whoever reads
or hears this narrative with a devout mind shall receive final
beatitude." Millions on millions of these docile and abject
devotees undoubtingly expect salvation by such merely ritual

21 Colebrooke, Essays, vol. i. p. 359.

22 Ibid. p. 363.

23 Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi. p. 115.

24 Eastwick, Prem Sagar, p. 56.

25 Vishnu Parans, p. 210, note 13.

observances. One cries "Lord!" "Lord!" Another thumbs a book, as
if it were an omnipotent amulet. Another meditates on some mystic
theme, as if musing were a resistless spell of silent exorcism and
invocation. Another pierces himself with red hot irons, as if
voluntary pain endured now could accumulate merit for him and buy
off future inflictions.

It is surprising to what an extent men's efforts for salvation
seem underlaid by conceptions of propitiation, the placation of a
hatred, the awakening of a love, in the objects of their worship.
In all these cases salvation is sought indirectly through works,
though not particularly good works. The savage makes an offering,
mutters a prayer, or fiercely wounds his body, before the hideous
idol of his choice. The fakir, swung upon sharp hooks, revolves
slowly round a fire. The monk wears a hair shirt, and flagellates
himself until blood trickles across the floor of his cell. The
Portuguese sailor in a storm takes a leaden saint from his bosom
and kneels before it for safety. The offending Bushman crawls in
the dust and shudders as he seeks to avert the fury of the fetich
which he has carved and set in a tree. The wounded brigand in the
Apennines, with unnumbered robberies and murders on his soul,
finds perfect ease to his conscience as his glazing eye falls on a
carefully treasured picture of the Virgin, and he expires in a
triumph of faith, saying, "Sweet Mother of God, intercede for me."
The Calvinistic convert, about to be executed for his fearful
crimes, kneels at the foot of the gallows, and exclaims, as in a
recent well known instance, "I hold the blood of Christ between my
soul and the flaming face of God, and die happy, assured that I am
going to heaven."

It is all a terrible delusion, arising from perverted sentiment
and degraded thought. Of the five theoretical modes of salvation
taught in the world, Election, Faith, Works, Knowledge, Harmony,