( 2 ) - - emblems of divine power, as there can be no doubt that the findamental doctrine of the Vedas is monotheism. “There is in truth'say repeated texts, “but one deity, the Supreme Spirit.' “He from whom the universal world proceeds, who is the Lord of the universe, and whose work is the universe, is the Supreme Being.' Injunctions also repeatedly occur to worship Him, and Him only. “Adore God alone, know God alone, give up all other discourse, and the Vedant Rays, “it is found in the Vedas that none but the Supreme Being is to be worshipped, nothing excepting him should be adored by a wise man.’ It was upon these and similar passages that Ram Mohun Roy grounded his attempts to reform the religion of his countrymen, to put down idolatry, and abolish all idolatrous rites and festivals, and substitute the worship of Oue God by means of prayers and thanksgiving. His efforts were not very sleeessful, not so successful as they might have been had he confined himself to their legitimate objects; but he involved himself in questions of Christian polemies and European politics, and intermitted his exertions for the subversion of Hindu idolatry. He did not however, labour wholly in vain and there is R society (Tuttabodhinee Sobha) which although not numerous is highly respectable, both for station and talent, which professes 'faith is one only only Supreme God, and assembles once a week, on a sunday to perform divine service, consisting of prayers, hymns, and a discourse in Bengalee or Sanskrit, on moral obligations or the attributes and nature of the Deity. A leading preacher at those meetings, when I left India, was a learned Brahman, who was professor of Hindu law in the Sanskrit College of Calcutta.” Ibid p. p. 51-52, c *Ministration to idols in temples is held by ancient authorities infamous. Manu repeatedly classes the priests of a temple with persons unfit to be admitted to private sacrifices, or to be associated with son any occasion; and even still, the priests who attend upon the images in public are considered as of a scarcely reput
