The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-21 00:00:00

REV. B. S. BROWN'S LECTURE.

Last night, the Rev. H. S. Brown delivered, in the Con-
cert-hall, Lord Nelson-street, the last of his series of lectures
on the " religions of the Eastern world." The attendance
was rather scant.

Before proceeding to the immediate subject of his lecture,
"the religion of India," the rev. gentleman briefly sketched
the incidents which led to the establishment of the East
India company, and described how, from a small chartered
body, consisting of 215 shareholders, with a capital of
70,0001., it grew in wealth and power, until as at present it
was represented by its vast possessions, extending over an
area of 800,000 square miles, and containing more than a
hundred millions of human souls, with upwards of fifty
millions more almost entirely dependent on British power.
And since our territories in the East, he observed, were so
vast, every man whose ideas of this life go beyond buying
and selling, must acknowledge that the possession of such
an enormous territory, power and influence, involves a very
great responsibility upon this country. And, he apprehended,
that there could be no more noble enterprise for any nation
on the face of the earth than the civilisation of India—the
christian civilisation of that vast multitude of people, to
bring them up if it were only to such a position as we oc-
cupy ourselves—to introduce amongst them European edu-
cation and the religion which we profess. And if; in the
progress of time, the British empire should succeed in such
an enterprise as this, it will be far the greatest enterprise
that we shall ever have accomplished ; and all our naval and
military trumphs will be crowned with a far more glorious
conquest— a conquest over ignorance, over crime, over
abominable superstition. The rev. lecturer then pointed out
how the people of India, being ourfellow-subjects, their social,
religious and political condition was as much deserving of
attention a our hands as the condition of the people of Ire-
land or Yokshire ; and having alluded to the criminal un-
willingnes, or rather opposition, of the East India Com-
pany to to introduction of Christianity into India, he pro-
ceeded to describe the nature of the Hindoo mythology. Ho
showed how, in this mythology, there was something ana-
logous to the Trinity in the Hindoo's supreme God
" Bramah" being painted under three manifestations, namely
—Bramah, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Seva, the
destroyer. Of all these, melancholy to say, the last was the
most worshipped, and simply from the motive of fear.
Much was said in those days about the progress of man
to perfection, and his power, unaided, to attain that end.
But let them study the universal history of man when left
to himself; and what was the fact of the case ? That men,
instead of improving, have waxed worse and worse, and have
gone down from one depth to another; for the origin of
idolatry no doubt was the worship of the sun, moon, and
stars, fire, lightning, and thunder, as the symbols of a
divine being. But from this worship of God, through
symbols, they became degraded—their foolish hearts were
darkened, until at last the posterity of those who had began
with the worship of one true and living God, were found
bowing down in abject prostration before sticks and stones,
the work of his own bands. That favourite principle is
often propounded now amongst us—the native power,
and mot only the native power, but the native and
natural tendency of human nature to right
itself, and rise, improve, and reform ; but that principle is
not one which the facts of history of the broad face of human
nature throughout the world will by any means sustain.
(Applause.) The lecturer then proceeded to point out the
injurious effects arising from the system of castes, and ob-
served that nothing else but the disunion among the peoples
of the Indian nations on that account, could have brought
them under the subjection of any other power. He then
pointed out the contract which England presented in this
respect with those Eastern nations. All were here equal in
' the light of the law. The humblest could if possessed of
the talent, reach the highest offices in the state ; and no
matter what demagogues might say, the poor and lowly
were not despised. Referring to the " stnkes," the rev.
gentleman continued :—Only a few weeks ago I read of one
of those demagogues who told the people of a man who
many years ago entered business with £lOOO, and was now
worth £25,000 ; and, said he, £24,000 of thatbelongs to you.
Demagogues may go about and try to enlist the passions of
the people, but I believe that this union that is amongst us
cannot be destroyed. Englishmen will not believe such
stuff and nonsense as all that (applause) ; especially when
we see such men as the Earl of Carlisle lectur-
ing at the peoples' institutes, and the Earl of
Shaftesbury, the most active philanthropist of the day.
(Applause.) It cannot be that the people of this country
will look so jealously upon each other, or allow the distinc-
tion of caste or class to alienate them in their hearts.
(Hear, hear.) A sentiment very frequently propounded in
the present day is that this nation is rapidly coming. to such
a state as will present simply two great classes : we shall be
all princes or paupers.. There will he nothing between—
the rich are growing richer every day, and the poor are
becoming poorer every day. The middle classes, some of
them are rising to the upper, some of them are sinking to
the abyss —that abyss constituting the workmen ; and there
will be no middle class shortly, by any means, but we shall
be
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wages—when I look at the grand and extraordinary pros
pects that there are for the extension of our manufacturing
and commercial relationship, I consider there is a far better
time coming, for all the artisan class in this country than
ever they have seen before—(applause)—and that wealth,
and consequently power, is likely to be far more equally dis-
tributed. I should say rather that the day is gone by when
the few are to become exceedingly rich, and the many are
to sink into the depths of poverty. (Applause.) On the
contrary, there will be, not by anything of a forced charac-
ter, not by violence, not by strikes on the part of men
against masters, or masters against men, but by the fearful
and natural working out of things, a far more equal distri-
bution of wealth, and consequently power, than ever there
has been before. In fact, as intelligence advances, as the
people are educated, this must be the case ; for wherever
there is a pretty equal distribution of intelligence, there
must be a proportional division of power. (Applause.) I
know only one thing that is calculated to degrade
the working men of this country. I know only
one thins that is calculated to please them in the position
of the Hindoo Sadri or Pariahs of the Eastern world, and
it is an evil which they themselves, if they will, can destroy
—it is only intemperance that can thus reduce them. (Ap-
plause.) It is that which at the present moment is reduc-
ing tens of thousands of noble English workmen to a con-
dition in fact below the Pariah of India ; but if the working
people of this country were individually sober and applied
their minds to what was calculated to improve and reform,
they would be—they must be ere long—the brightest
power on the face of the whole earth, (Applause.) The
rev. lecturer then, in an equally forcible manner,
denounced the slavery of South America, and consider-
ed that it was as bad, if not worse, than the castes of India.
The lecturer then, returning to the immediate subject of the
lecture, reviewed the doctrine of the transmigration of souls,
which prevailed among the Hindoos. -This doctrine, he de-
clared, had in it a noble element of truth, as it showed that
the Hindoos had established amongst them, as beyond all
doubt, that belief in a future existence, which required so
much argument in its support among people supposed to have
been more civilised. It also showed that they believed in
the necessity of a purification of the soul, and in this respect
were beyond many of the Deists of modern times. It was
remarkable, however, that the transitions through which the
Hindoos believed the soul passed, were such as were calcu-
lated more to degrade than to purify the soul. Passing over
such well known features of the Hindoo religion as the burn-
ing of widows, the thug practices, the sacrifices of Jugger-
naut, and the self-tortures of the Fakirs, or Indian monks,
which were too familiar to require a lengthened description,
the reverend lecturer briefly related the circumstances
attending the rise of the Buddhism in India, and the
character of that religion, which he had already
fully explained in his lecture upon the creeds of China. He
alluded to the different dissenting sects which sprang up in
India, but which, although very numerous, were not of any
considerable importance, with the exception of two. Some
of them, however, were possessed of doctrines which showed
a higher and purer spirit than the teachings of the Brahmins.
From one of these sects, which strove to reconcile the
Mahommedan and Brahminical forms of religion, and which
taught some doctrines worthy of any 'Christian creed, sprang
the celebrated race of the Sikhs. This race, however, soon
relapsed into its former belief. Having thus reviewed the
different religions of India, the lecturer expressed
his gratification at the knowledge that the Brah-
minian faith was nearly extinct. Much of this
he showed, was owing to the effects of the British Govern-
ment ; and while he was far from approving of government
interference with religion, he would not deny that when the
forms of that religion acted with injurious effect upon the
safety of society it might be necessary that the civil law
should interfere. Therefore they could not but approve of
the interference of the British government is putting a stop
to such practice as the burning of widows and the sacrifice
of the Juggernaut. Schools were also being established in
India, and education spread, under the auspices of the Bri-
tish government and it was impossible, the lecturer showed,
that the teachings of the Brahmins could exist where edu-
cation was diffused. Therefore, whatever had been origi-
nally the motives under which India had been governed,
and however it might have been attempted at first to favour
the existence of the prevailing creed there, the lecturer de-
nied that it could not now be denied that the effect of the
British government was fast eradicating the disgusting and
damnable creeds of Hindostan. The Rev. Mr. Browne
then concluded the lecture amid loud and general applause.

There are two UEW churches in course of erection at
Bayswater, Loudon. One at Westbourne, and the other at
Notting-hill.
Lord Robertson, whose illness is mentioned in the Scotch
papers, is now gnite•reztored.
This (Wednesday) is St. Thomas's day, according to
ancient and astronomical computation the shortest day in
the year.