Brahmo Somaj by W. N. Glenn

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 29, 1883

Brahmo Somaj.

By W. N. Glenn

THE advent of Mr. Mozoomdar, "the Hindu reformer," in the United States is having a tendency to popularize the cause he represents. His personal appearance, polished manners, and withal his superior English, are sources of attraction, and have created no little sensation among the literati of New England and New York, and consequently draw favorable impressions of his theoretical reformation. We can probably do no better by way of explanation of this Oriental innovation now seeking recognition among the religious systems, than to give the following extract from the New York Independent:—

"Mr. Mozoomdar is one of the prophets of the Brahmo Somaj, a movement which no well-wisher of India can afford to oppose or ignore. Its aim is to help a people who are sunk in wretchedness and despair under the Hindu system of philosophy, in the mazes of which they have been blindly groping for centuries, finding no light, to cast off idolatry, to worship the one supreme God as a beneficent ruler; to install the divine principle of human brotherhood in place of the Satanic principle of caste; to elevate woman; to diffuse the blessings of education. In its spirit if not in its creed, in its practical work if not in its philosophy, the Brahmo Somaj is essentially Christian, though it does not call itself so. It recognizes Christ as a prophet; it glorifies him; it makes large use of the Christian Scriptures. But it is eclectic, and culls, much as a Frothingham used to do, the best from all systems. Mr. Sen has written grandly of the Galilean; but he insists that we have made of him a Western Christ. It is the Oriental Christ which the Brahmos love to contemplate. What their conception of him is, Mr. Mozoomdar's new book, The Oriental Christ, plainly declares. Christ is divine, he is the Son of God; but neither the author nor Mr. Sen means by these terms what we understand by them. 'Christ,' we read, 'as the Son of God, was the manifestation of divine character in humanity.' And 'that character descends in Christ for the enlightenment, conversion, regeneration, and adoption of all men.' This Christ, as the perfection of human character, the Brahmos regard as a model; and to be like him and do what he says, but not to worship him, is their declared purpose."

"So near, and yet so far!" One can see in the foregoing a great improvement upon the idolatrous superstitions of the unenlightened Hindus, and if it could be made but a stepping-stone to a more perfect knowledge of Christ,—to that which its promoters almost, but just fail to, reach,—we could well add this commendation of the Independent: "As long as it remains true to its mission, it should receive Christian sympathy and support."

But we can see no prospect of the Brahmo Somaj leading its votaries to a comprehension of the chief object of "the manifestation of divine character in humanity"—the atonement. We fail to discover any ground of hope for Christian development in a system which seems to have selected all it wants from the mission of Christ, discarding the chief good, and seeking elsewhere for material to complete its ideal of a religious reform. We quote again from the Independent:—

"Brahmoism aspires to universality. It expects not only to win India, but the world. It claims to embody the best of all systems of religion, and it aims to unify them. It will neither be absorbed by Christianity nor fall back into Hinduism, but is fitted to be the best exponent of Christianity and to represent the good and true in Hinduism, Islam, and other faiths. Such is Mr. Mozoomdar's outlook."

So we see that this reformation is open to almost anything. Everything that can put on a fair front may come in. It is a twin sister of American Free-thinkerism, which will admit anything; even Christ himself, if only the atonement be left out. Throw this aside, and the incarnation and the resurrection fall to the ground. It is easy to see in this Brahmo Somaj movement just where Satan stepped in, in the theory of Christ, and took the reigns, saying, "Christ was not pre-existent, or truly divine in himself; he did not rise from the dead; he made no atonement." From this point onward his leadership is plainly visible. He is willing that men shall believe in the morality of Christ's teachings—this much for a liberal compromise; but beyond this, he would impress their minds with the good to be found in something else.

If Mr. Mozoomdar is seeking a multiplicity of sources from which to select material for his "reformation," he has judged well in coming to America. He will find plenty of admirers, and plenty of suggestions; and when he shall have added evolution and a few other Spiritualistic and infidel adjuncts, he will probably realize that his Brahmo Somaj (in various forms) already enjoys a good degree of "universality." Indeed we are of opinion that he will find that, instead of bringing something new to our shores, the main features of his "Oriental dream," as the Independent styles it, have already been copyrighted.

We notice also that the Mr. Sen referred to above has introduced a system of new ceremonies as an auxiliary to the success of the movement. But the author of these is quite liberal,—"he submits to no dogmatism, but he imposes none upon his followers." We are told that "these new ceremonies, the shadows of Christian as well as Hindu rites, are designed to appeal to the popular mind." We suppose that the idolaters of India, being accustomed to "Hindu rites," cannot dispense with them altogether. Having Christ set before them in a compromised manner, there is created the necessity for further compromise in the matter of ceremony. This feature of the new religion, then, is confessedly a bid for popularity.

Whatever of social reformation may be accomplished in India by such machinery, we see nothing in the Brahmo Somaj to encourage a hope that it will in any degree further the cause of Christianity. There is nothing in it that Christians can encourage as a means of bringing the heathen to Christ as a Saviour, but there is much calculated to counteract the efforts of true Christian missionaries in that vast field. And whatever encouragement Christians give to the enterprise is just so much influence against the truth of the Bible, and against the true interest of the heathen.