The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-04-06
Church History.

TIE LECTURE OF THE REV. A. II. WRIGHT.
On Friday evening Rev A. H. Wright delivered his
t lecture church history from the Lutheran refor
nation to the present tme at Knickerbocker Hail. cor.
ner Of Eighth avenue and Twenty third street The
subject was the state Of Christianity at the era Of the
Lutheran Reformation There was but a very slim at
tendance. Ecclesiastical history, he said, il generally
considered an unpopular subject principally because it
requires vast amount Of historical research and there
fore is but little understood There never has been any
more than two systems Of rcligon-the true the
other false There are however many forms Of reli.
gion but they all be traced to the origin In
order to understand this fully, ii is necessary go back
20 the history Of religion existed before the ncarna
on Il Christ The first pure system Of religion the
most ancient IL that Of the Iindoos The origin of their
religion Is contained in books which are sti cxtant
and which regarded their sacred scriptures Their
ideas in regard to the Supreme Being sometimes
rect They hold the doctrine Of the trinty-Brama be-
ing the first Vhnoo the second and silva the third per-
son OF the trinity Brama is regarded the Of
the world, Nishno0 the prcserver redecmer ST.
yaas the destroyer. They hold the doctrine Of mmor-
taify in the most extensive imaginable, atribut
mated and inanimated creation With regard 10 ain
they maintain that all matter is essentially evil and all
spiritual necessarily good They are divided into four
eastesthe Bramns the pricssthc soldiers the agrcu
turs, and the servants Asceticsm seclusion from
the world, is regarded holy because it is intended
bring the matter under the subecton Of the spirit In
order to be vrtuous they must exclude ourselves
entirely from the society OF our fellow men Ascetcsm
IL practsed very extensive scale and with the ut
most rigor, by the lndoos Here he the
rous degrees Of asceGc life gone through by them
Ascetcism, he continued, IL therefore Of
dern date-it existed four thousand five hun
drcd years ago. With regard to death, their ideas
are various When individual dies he passes
If he has been good during life BY the most delightful
read imsginable and IL evil by gloomy and frightfa
way 70 the other world. The good and ths evil. how
ultimately enter into the territory, which
the god Hnoo prcsdcs lie Is represented ndiv-
dual q enormous dimensions, being two hundred and
forty miles in length. lie Is considered the only
judge Of their actions who accordingly Furnishes or
rewards. A transmigraton in regard TO heaven, and
their final punishment their great doctrine which
preceded entirely from their notions Of immorta-
". When an evh man appeared before iiinoo' he was
sent back into the world for the space Of year with
worse body than he inhabited before and IT, at the end
Of this time he made no Improvement in virtue, he
cciycd another body. but still a one. and on
until he passed through the whole animal vegetable and
mineral creation II he had become virtuous during his
rs year Of punishment he permitted to pass to
heaven which also consisted in transmgration from
inferior TO superior nature until the final sbs1rp
ton in the great Brahma himself Their hell Wa no
Invariably lasted for with the exception Of the
crime a sacrelege the punishment attached TO which
was living in burning metal for three and half millions
of years. Their heaven deic alton BY their being
finally absorbed In the god Brahma. collateral branch
81 Brshmism j. the system II Boodhism which naturally
springs from the former Every important doctrine held
by the Boodh-ts also held by the Brahmists Every
element of religion in China. Pcrsa, Chaldca, Egypt
and Greece be traced back to the ancient system u
religion II Greece NUT be- acquainted with the
rgs Of her statesmen and philosophers Here he
mcrated the religious doctrines Of 0rpheus III Pythso
rs Plato, and Il the stole philosophers, which show
they have their orin from the system Of the Brahms
lie also enumerated the four religious sccts among tho
jews Such then the great system of religion that
religion struck at the fundamental doctrines OF the
Bishmas Bat even after its establishment. We hnd
several practices Of the Nrahmas st retained and par
tcnlaIy that a asceticsm Here he described the lives
a the hrrmits from 81 Antony the Reformation
whn one solary monk arose aud declared the all suf
fcicney Of the justification in faith aud ths inuty Of
cOrpurtal chastisement