The herald., 1896-03-03

| tho cultivation of the religious feelings.
| AT this society he used to deliver sermons
| extempore in English. By his devoted zeal
aud untiriDg energy he gained for a time a
great ascendency in the Brahmo-Somaj.
He was intensely eager TO carry into prac.
| tice the many reforms which the Brahrnos
bad been discussing. He induced Debendro
Nath Tagore to perform the marriage cere-
mouy of his daughter without any of the
| idulatrous rites usual on such occasions
| he also introduced similar changes into Il g
rites observed at childbirth and death, a, d
countenanced by his presence the first il =
iermarrage, i. e., between persons of di .
terent castles. He then urged the abolition
Cf caste distinctions by taking tho ste p tn t
those who would conduct service in tbs
Calcutta Brahmo.S>nnj should throw off
the sa 'rt d thread which distinguishes Il Q
Braamin from the Sudra. But here De-
bcndro Nath TaGore stopped short; he
could not resign the sacred thread. Thus
began divergence between the conserva-
tive aud the progressive lines of influence,
which caused the secession of many young
Brahnos from the Calcutta Somaj and re.
! suited in their enrolment in November,
1856, by Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen and
Bahadoor Yung Jamse'gee into a separate
society, entitled the Brahno-Somaj of
India, with IA view 10 make it the center of
all the Som1jes in the country.
Under the inspiration of their new lead
ers. q nobler type of religious life has been
unsealed, which has raised Brahmoism
from a small Hindu sect into a compre
hensve religion capable of influencing
minds of various races and civilizations.
Mr.. Jamsetgee continued: IA true
prophet is goldman. He is an 'incarna-
ton of God True incarnation is not as
popular theology defines it, the absolute
perfection of the divine nature embodied
in mortal form; it is not the God of the
universe putting on \ human body-the in
finite becoming finite in space and time,
in intelligence and power. 1t simply
means Cod manifest i'll humanity-not
God made man, but God in man. At the
same time we are to understand his supe-
riority to he one of degree, not of kind, for
every man is in some measure an incarna-
ton of the divine spirit. But gratefully as
we should accept from each prophet what
he has to deliver, Ol,r reverence should not
be exclusively confined to any one of them
and withheld from the rest, for they are all
part of the came divine economy, and sub
serve more or less, in the hands OF God,
The same grand purposes of revelation and
redemption. And thouoh Jesus Christ, the
prince of prophets, effected greater won-
tiers and did infinitely more good In the
world than the others, and deserves there
fore our profoundest reverence, we must
not neglect that chain or any single link in
tho chain of prophets that preceded him
and prepared the world for him, nor must
we refuse honor to those who, coming after
him, have carried on the blessed work of
regeneration for which he lived and died.
"I.et the east and the west appreciate
and honor each others great teachers. and
thus hostile churches and the dismembered
races of mankind shall be knit together in
one family, in the bonds of faith in the
common Father, and universal gratitude
and esteem towards their elder brothers
the prophets. Hindoo mythology has Ut
tery disguised us with the idea of incarna-
ton. We will not change one superstition
for another. We thirst after the One with.
out second-the uncreated Father of spir-
its-and long to sweep away all that may
seem to obscure His glorious light. Chul.
der Sen, and I. his humble follower, are
well content to be called non-Christian, but
the Father has helped us to deliver thous-
ands out Of heathen bondage. The day is
dawning. Messias co,neth. the Prophet.
the Redeemer and the King. We see the
first flashes of his glorious morning-afar
off we hear the muiiled roar of his chariot
wheels as He cometh to Judge the world"
1t is impossible TO describe the unearthly
look of this strange man as he concluded
his remarks. Standing in the bright light
OF the waning moon, with intense silence
all about us, and the first gray streaks of
dawn ushering in with chilly wind the
new day, the reporter was recalled to
earthly things by ldtmuggar's silent ap-
proach with bread and salt and challie of
cold water. This partaken of, the Ba-
hadoor disappeared and the reporter re-
turned to his buggy on the San Pedro road
and returned to the city.