The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-01
WORSHIP VILE IDOLS.
From the Detroit Free Press.

From the Detroit Free Press.
Rev. ". Is. Boggs, principal OF the
Teiegu theological seminary. Ramepa-
tan. India, lectured in Detroit recently
81 "Hirdooism-" He spoke as as eye
witress from the Telegu mission, a
portion OF the Madras presidency.
The Hindoo religion embraces a vast
pantheon, said to contain three hum
cred and thirty million of gods and
gcddesses, many of them, according to
the Hirdoo books, of the vilest charac-
ter All the fculest crimes that have
ever entered into the imagination of
mar are to be found in the characters
Of some of the divinities they wor-
slip. India is the most ;dolatrous
land on the face of the earth. The
land is full of idols, not only in the
temples, but by the wayside,
on the tank embankments,
at the public wells, in the fields. in the
houses, were to be found idols of
al sorts, representing gods and fab
ulous creatures. and beasts and rep
tiles, many of them monstrous, repul-
sive and obscene. And the great
and this worship is promoted chiefly
by the Brahmins. the highest and most
learned caste of the people. The Him.
docs worshiped the lower animals,
chiefly the cobra, an even inanimate
creatures. Nearly every village has its
idol car. its car OF Juggernaur. They
arc q part of the religion; they belong
10 the temples and are managed by
the priests; they are taken out with
banners and flags, and amid great en-
thusiasm and fervor, on holy days.
The government can not touch them
because they are a part of the re-
iigion.
No barrier ever separated man from
man like Hindoo caste, said the speak
er. 1t is a division by impossible
boundaries; it is an ancient division
md has developed and strengthened in
the course of ages. 1t has been called
Dne of the masterpieces of Satan. The
highest of all are the Brahmins, the
most perfect parallel to the Pharisees
in the time of Christ. They have al
ways kept all the learning. all good
positions to themselves as far as posi-
bic. They look with unconcealed dis
dain Oh those of the lower castles
These are the men that will come to
this country and talk with mellifiuous
words about the brotherhood of man"
1t is just as consistent for Brahmin
to talk about the brotherhood of
man" as it would be for japanese to
boast that chastity and moral purity
are distinguished Characters
tic of his nation, or for a
thorough-going Turk to claim for
the sublime porte the honor of
being the chief promoter of religious
freedom, or for n Jesuit to boast that
his order and the great system which
il serves had always stood for religious
liberty. Dancing girls, hook-swinging
AID animal sacrifices are all part of
orthodox Hindooism, sanctioned, ap-
proved and supported by it. II India
to-day does not need Christianity, then
ancient Greece did not need it, with
the superabounding idolatry of Athens
and the appalling moral corruption OF
Corinth. If India does not need Chris
tianity, then ancient Rome did not
need it IN the times of Nero and his
successors, when it seemed as If truth
and virtue had well nigh taken their
fight forever and left the empire to be
possession OF demons. The need OF
CHRISTIAN missions in India never was
exaggerated and never can be; the
need was never greater than it is to-
y