THE IMPOTENCE OF HINDUISM.
THE papers from India during the past few years have brought repeated illustrations of the fact that in times of need, such as prevalence of famine or plague, or similar disasters, Hinduism offered no help to the sufferers. The priests were selfish and cowardly, and neither by word nor act brought comfort or succor to the panic-stricken people. Only by government agents and Christian Missionaries was there any attempt at organized effort for relief. The Harvest Field of India quotes from a correspondent, who declares that the sights witnessed in the last half year are enough to brand Hinduism forever as impotent to do aught but ruin, and this correspondent adds: "You may pass through a plague-stricken town day after day, and a dozen times a day, but you will never find a Brahman priest visiting the sick or cheering the frightened, or comforting the bereaved, or burying the dead. Most of the temples are deserted, for the priests have fled. Only in the temple of Good-luck did a few timid souls herd together beneath the genial smile of the elephant god. But when plague snatched one of their number even from that last retreat, they fled hopelessly anywhere, and Ganesha smiled blandly on a deserted shrine." The people of India are not slow of sight, and the contrast between the conduct of their Hindu leaders and that of the missionaries of Christ will have a marked effect upon their estimate of Christianity.—Selected.