The Religious Nature of the East Indian by Stephen Nelson Haskell

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 13, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 19.

The Religious Nature of the East Indian

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

INDIA. NO. 4.

The Religious Nature of the East Indian.

BY ELDER S. N. HASKELL.

THE people of India are a devotedly religious people. Mankind are not totally depraved, whether they be heathen, infidel, or belong to a Christian civilized nation. While "there is none righteous, no not one," "for I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing," yet Christ "was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." In this the heathen are not an exception. It is Satan who perverted man's faith and worship. It was self-abnegation and a spirit of sacrifice for others' good which led Christ to come into this world and die for a lost race. And wherever the light of Christ shines, which is in every man's heart, this spirit of sacrifice exists to a greater or less extent; for it accompanies and becomes a part of every ray of light that emanates from our Lord Jesus Christ. But this principle is perverted in its object and manifestation by Satan.

It therefore becomes prominent in a false worship. Satan has thus stolen the livery of heaven to bring honor to himself.

He utilizes every principle of heaven upon which to erect a system that man may be saved by works, thus ignoring the grace of Christ which bringeth salvation. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. 2: 8-10. That is, grace saves us, and this is a free gift of heaven, and it is received by faith; and this grace changes the heart, so it produces good works.

Here lies the principle of the two systems of religion,—the true and the false. In the Christian religion, of which Christ is the author, the heart becomes changed, and the grace of Christ produces good works. In false religions, of which Satan is the author, man becomes inspired by Satan to be saved by his own works, and obtain the favor of the gods by doing penance, which incurs the favor and appeases the wrath of the false gods.

The forms of religious worship in India are legion, "as there be gods many and lords many;" but all of them are Christless. It is easy to trace in the Hindu faith once a knowledge of the true God and our Lord Jesus Christ; but this has been perverted by a masterly mind, and has instilled in the heart false systems of worship actuated by wrong principles. The origin of their faith is the famous Hindu Triad,—Brahma, the creator, or the first produced from the first great cause, Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer. In this is the germ of that system of idolatry which, when fully developed, recognizes as objects of worship a multitude of deities from thousands to the fabulous number of 330,000,000. Nothing but a Satanic masterly mind could ever have invented so many false gods, and led men to such great lengths of suffering in their worship.

The Indian people are devotedly religious, practicing all sorts of iniquity, suffering in every conceivable manner, even to the sacrifice of their own lives, to appease the wrath and court the favor of some one of their gods. Everything is worshiped, both animate and inanimate, from the stone to the tree, carved and shaped into ten thousand forms, each and all of these requiring penance of some kind for the salvation of the devotee.

The Brahmins were the religious teachers of India, and were worshiped as gods. Upon being asked by the missionary what god he worshiped, one replied, "I worship none; but the gods worship me." They hold themselves aloof from all others, being too sacred to come near any of the common people.

They are an educated, refined race, purely vegetarian in their diet, abstemious in their habits, and practically were the rulers of the Hindu mind. They practice the greatest austerities in order to reach their state of holiness; and this principle runs through all Indian worship.

The fakir stretches his arm toward heaven, or places his body in some unnatural position until paralyzed. He sits upon the ground surrounded by a fire, thus slowly torturing himself; goes upon long pilgrimages; fasts; stretches himself, extending his arms over his head, in the dust, thus measuring distances for hundreds of miles; and all of this is looked upon as holy acts, that make the individual so holy that he is visited by thousands. The wealthy Hindu will visit Benares or some other noted city of their gods, where the Brahmin priests will direct him to pass through various ablutions in filthy water, called holy, anointing him with some stinking ointment, practicing filthy rites, instructing him how to pass through various tortures of the body; paying a large sum for every step he takes, until the priest will have robbed him of his wealth, and he returns home penniless, with ruined health, all of which is to obtain a pardon for his sins and purify his soul.

The devil is worshiped direct, and is said to appear at night in certain trees, and is looked upon with the greatest reverence. The deadly cobra is tenderly fed, and offerings of money and gold are placed upon the plate, which afterward are appropriated by some Brahmin priest. But this is unlike the story of Bel and the dragon, where Daniel strewed the floor of the temple with ashes to track the priests when they came in to eat the meat; for here the cobra eats the meat, and afterwards the priest takes the money.

Thus everything is worshiped which can be imagined to do harm or good, and is held sacred by some Hindu. Thus the religious society of India is broken into the thousand fragments, all under one great leader, Satan. And yet Christianity has entered the rank of every caste, and taken trophies from every stronghold of Satan in the idolatrous worship of India, who will finally shine in glory. Is here not a missionary field for the nineteenth century?