cept they hear, they cannot hear without a preacher, and they cannot preach except they be sent. Every system of Missions, therefore, which does not make the preaching of the word the prominent object, which does not look to, and depend on, this as the promised means of success, and hold all others as only auxiliary to this great end, will, in the same proportion, fail of applying a remedy to the monstrous evils of which I have been speaking.

CHAPTER VIII.

Hindoo deities-their origin-their character-Shiva-the Lingam

Krishna-Indru.

VOLUMES might be written on this subject, which would neither repay the writer, nor instruct or amuse the reader. I shall only add to what has already been inserted in the memoir on the general subject of the character of the gods, a few specimens, which will better illustrate their particular character. I have selected those deities which are in the highest repute among the people. And here I shall again quote the Abbe Dubois in his descriptions of Shiva, Lingam, Krishna, and Indru.

SHIVA.

'This god is generally represented under a terri

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ble shape, to show, by a menacing exterior, the power which he possesses of destroying all things. To ag- gravate the horrors of his appearance, he is represented with his body all covered with ashes. His long hair is platted and curled in the most whimsical way. His eyes, unnaturally large, give him the appearance of being in a perpetual rage. Instead of jewels, they adorn his ears with great serpents. He holds in his hand a weapon called sula. I have sometimes seen idols of Shiva, of gigantic proportions, admirably contrived to inspire terror.

"The principal attribute of this god, as we have mentioned, is the power of universal destruction; although some authors also give him that of creation, in common with Brahma.

"His fabulous history, like that of all the other Hindoo gods, is nothing but a tissue of absurd and extravagant adventures, invented, as it would seem, for the mere purpose of exhibiting the extremes of the two most powerful passions which tyrannize over man, luxury and ambition. They relate to the wars which he maintained against the giants; to his enmity and jealousy in opposition to the other gods; and, above all, to his infamous amours.

"It is related that, in one of his wars, being desirous of completing the destruction of the giants, and of obtaining possession of Tripura, the country which they inhabited, he cleft the world in twain, and took one-half of it for his amour. He made Brahma

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the general of his army. The four vedas were his horses. Vishnu was his arrow. The mountain Mandara Parvata was used for his bow, and a mighty serpent supplied the place of the string. Thus accoutred, the terrible Shiva led his army to the abode of the tyrants of the earth, took the three fortresses they had constructed, and demolished them in a moment. This, and other stories of Shiva, are given at great length in the Bhagawata.

"Shiva had great difficulty in obtaining a wife; but having made a long and austere penance at the mountain Parvata, that lofty eminence was so affected by it as to consent, at last, to give him his daughter in marriage.”

This god, more generally known in Western India by the name of Mahadeo, (the great god,) is almost universally worshiped. The emblems of Shiva are the Lingam, which is described below, and the Nundee Byle (sacred bull.) These, the former representing the male organs, and the latter being a representation of the bull in Shiva's heaven, on which he is supposed to ride, are always placed in front of the god, and are objects of worship.

THE LINGAM..

"The abomination of the Lingam takes its ori gin from Shiva. This idol, which is spread all over India, is generally inclosed in a little box of silver,

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ORIGIN OF THE LINGAM.

which all the votaries of that god wear suspended at their necks. It represents the sexual organs of man, sometimes alone, and sometimes accompanied. The long account given of the origin of this mystery in the Linga-purana, may be thus abbreviated.

"Shiva, having one day, in presence of the seven famous penitents, exhibited himself in a state of nature, began to play several indecent vagaries before them. He persisted till the penitents, being no longer able to tolerate his indecency, imprecated their curse upon him. The denunciation took immediate effect, and from that moment Shiva was emasculated. Parvati, having heard of the misfortune of her husband, came to comfort him ;-but I have not the courage to return to the pages which contain the topics of consolation which she used, or the methods she employed to repair his loss.

"In the meantime, the penitents having more coolly considered the disproportion of the punishment to the offence, and wishing to make all the reparation in their power to the unhappy Shiva, decreed that all his worshipers should thenceforth address their prayers, adoration, and sacrifices, to what the imprecation had deprived him of.

"Such is the infamous origin of the Lingam, which is not only openly represented in the temples, on the highways, and in other public situations, but is worn by the votaries of Shiva, as the most pre

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cious relic, hung at their necks, or fastened to their arms and hair, and receiving from them sacrifices and adoration."

The Lingam is the ordinary symbol of all the followers of Shiva. That sect spreads over the whole of India, but particularly in the west of the Peninsula, where the Lingamites compose, in many districts, the chief part of the population. The particular customs of the sect have been before noticed; the most remarkable of which are, their abstinence from whatever has had the principle of life, and the practice of interring their dead, in place of burning them, as most other Hindoos do.

"We know not to what excess the spirit of idolatry may lead the ignorant; but it is incredible, it even seems impossible, that the Lingam could have originated in the direct and literal worship of what it represents; but rather that it was an allegorical allusion of a striking kind, to typify the procreative and regenerating powers of nature, by which all kinds of being are reproduced, and maintained in the wide universe."

There is nothing in the whole system of Hindoo abominations so shockingly abominable, as the worship of the Lingam. Not only is this vile representation worshiped in their public temples—not only hung about their necks in a silver case, or worn in the manner of ornaments on the arms, but the women may be seen of a morning on the sea shore, or