the probability, that men, earnestly seeking for salvation, will frequent the theatre or the ball-room, and the propriety of their appearance there, we differ widely from our Correspondent. It requires but a little advance in Christian experience to estimate these things at their true value. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Behold, old things are passed away, and all things have become new unto him." Almost every Christian writer, ancient and modern, concurs in pronouncing these amusements worldly, seductive, and inconsistent with sober religious principles. Were they all Pharisees? We believe, notwithstanding a few incautious expressions, that this is far from the meaning of PHILALETHES. He wishes to guard against extremes; and so do we. We hope some of our Correspondents will favour us with a reply, founded on the basis of Scripture, to which he justly refers it.-ED.]

VII.-Notices regarding Hindu Festivals, occurring in different Months.-No. 2. February.

FEB. 15.-Sibarátri.

The Hindu system is very different from the Christian in the number and appointed times of its religious festivals. The Christian has one day in seven set apart for rest from labour and the worship of God; and the experience of all ages and countries has shewn this distribution of time to be the most perfect, and answering best the ends of such an institution.

The Hindus have no particular day of rest, but keep numerous festivals, which frequently last several days consecutively, and are held at the most irregular distances of time; so that often weeks together pass by without any; whilst at other periods, nearly a whole month is occupied by a series of holidays, which follow each other in rapid succession. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that such an arrangement cannot be beneficial to the people. It is injurious to their health, and tends to create the idle and dissipated habits so prevalent among the natives.

The only festival in this whole month, is Sibarátri (or the night of Sib). It is held on the 14th day of the decrease of the moon, which falls on the 15th February. It is celebrated in honour of Sib the destroyer, the third person of the Hindu triad. On the 13th the worshippers eat only once, and on the 14th they fast entirely, abstaining even from the use of water. The worship is performed at night, once at every watch; and is accompanied with singing, dancing, music, and feasting. Those who have a permanent image of the god in their possession, worship that; and such as have none, make one for the occasion.

All Hindus are very particular in keeping this festival, and if practicable attend to it regularly every year. If this however is found impossible, they endeavour at least to do it once in their lives; else all the religious merit they may have acquired by

other acts of devotion and penance is vain and nugatory. The following saying among the Hindus shows the importance they attach to Sibarátri. They say that there are four things which far surpass in excellence all others of their kind, viz. the Ganges among the pilgrimages, the sacrifice of a horse among the offerings, Sib among the gods, and Sibarátrí among the festivals.

The benefits accruing from the performance of the worship of Sib on this night are, deliverance from hell and admittance into Sib's heaven; (for every principal God has a heaven of his own.) This heaven, the Srí Bhágabat says, is 16,000 miles from the earth on Mount Kailás. The god resides with his wife Párbatí, in a palace of gold, adorned with jewels of all kinds, and surrounded with forests, gardens, trees with all kinds of fruits, and flowers of every fragrance. The Kalpa tree grows here, from which a person may obtain not only every kind of fruit, but all other things he may desire. There is also a flower named Parijatá, whose fragrance is most sweet, and extends 200 miles in all directions. The inhabitants of this heaven, are Sib's sons Kártik and Ganes, and those of his disciples who have attained beatitude. The time is spent in festivities, sensual enjoyments, and abominations of all kinds.

To prove the transcendency of the merit of celebrating Sibarátri, the Hindus relate the following story, taken from the Puránas:

"A hunter of very low caste, and addicted to every kind of sin and wickedness, was once on this night overtaken by the darkness in a forest before he could reach his dwelling; and to protect himself from the wild beasts, ascended a wood-apple tree (Bel), whose leaf is always used in the worship of Sib. Underneath was a stone linga, the emblem of the god. During the night, the hunter happened by accident to strike off with his foot one of the leaves, which fell on the linga below. In the morning he proceeded home, and lived many years afterwards, one of the greatest miscreants ever seen in the country. On his death, the servants of Yama (the Hindu Pluto) took immediate possession of his soul, as being the lawful property of their infernal master. When leading it along to the lower regions, they were met by a number of Sib's delegates, who laid claim to the prize as belonging to their lord. Not being able to agree, a scuffle ensued, in which Yama's servants having had the disadvantage, the victorious party conveyed the soul to Sib's heaven, where it was admitted to all the privileges and enjoyments of the place.

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Yama, having heard of the loss of a subject whom he had fully reckoned upon, proceeded to Sib, and angrily inquired into the reasons of the injustice done to him. Sib granted that the hunter had during all his life been a most reprobate cha

racter, and so far, certainly, had become liable to the punishment of hell; but added, that once, on Sibarátri, he having dropt a leaf of the wood-apple tree on the linga, this act, though unconsciously performed, was yet so deserving, that all his sins had been removed, and that, besides, such a transcendent degree of religious merit had been acquired, that in consequence he had become entitled to all the bliss of heaven. knowledged the propriety and justice of Sib's decision, and retired to his own dominions."

Yama ac

It must be plain to every one, that it would be vain to expect true morality in a people who hold notions like those set forth in this story, where a whole life spent in the commission of crime, is represented as so trifling a matter, that a leaf thrown by accident on an idol is sufficient, not only to remove all guilt, but to entitle the criminal to eternal happiness. How different are the doctrines of the Bible! There we see that sin is" that abominable thing which God hateth ;" and that, instead of being so light a matter in his sight, it was necessary that his own Son should suffer and die to atone for it. There we see, that unless a man becomes a new creature, and is renewed after the blessed image of God in righteousness and true holiness, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

O! that all those who possess the word of truth, felt thankful for the privilege they enjoy, and would but remember in love the millions around them, who are still in darkness and the shadow of death!

L.

VIII-Case of Mahammadan Superstition.

GENTLEMEN,

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

The following instance of Musalmán superstition may possibly not be unacceptable for insertion in your valuable periodical; and as I can from ocular testimony vouch for its entire correctness, it may serve to exhibit in a pitiable but interesting light the gross condition, as to moral sense and feeling, in which the boasted worshippers of the one true God, under the dictation of the arch-impostor Mahammad, are so lamentably sunk. The clear fact, that not even a just knowledge of the spiritual nature and unity of the Deity will avail to satisfy the moral want and to renovate the moral character of mankind, unless accompanied by a revelation of some economy by which sin may be pardoned, divine grace communicated, communion with God opened, and a holy impulse given to the inward springs of conscience and the affections-this single fact is a satisfactory corroboration of the actual necessity, as well as the desirableness of such a Revelation. And when the characters proper to it are found eminently attaching to the Christian system, what reasonable doubt can remain as to its divine origin and authenticity? But if, a priori, this system should be expected therefore to be attended with the desired results upon the purity and

moral elevation of man, his happiness here and his hope of happiness hereafter, the ascertained historical fact, that such results have followed its dissemination and reception, goes to fix the absolute certitude that Christianity is from God, and is His duly appointed and effectual instrument for restoring His lapsed human creatures to "knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness." The daily contact with blindness and superstition and moral degradation in this country has doubtless a tendency to dull the keenness of the first sensations of wonder, commiseration, and zeal experienced by every true Christian, and especially by those whose object in visiting India is to impart the blessed Gospel of the Lord Jesus to perishing fellow-sinners and fellow-mortals. Instances like the following have therefore a valuable effect, in reviving the strong impressions of the misery and degradation in which all are without distinction involved, until they have come under the power of Christianity; and in stimulating to increased zeal, energy, and effort in the charitable work of evangelists, those to whom " this grace is given, that they should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

About a quarter of a mile from Chinsurah, on the Húglí road, a Musalmán faqir, named Maharam Shah, whose father had been also a faqir, had established himself for the performance of a long fast of 40 days during and after the Ramzán. He had wished, according to the ordinary mode, to undergo this austerity within the mosque at Húglí; but being of the Shíáhs, or followers of Ali, reckoned heretics by the orthodox Mahammadans, the Sunnis or followers of Omar, he had not been permitted entrance. He therefore, in order to withdraw himself from the eyes of men, which is deemed essential to the strictness and merit of this rigorous service, had caused to be dug for him a little off the high road, in a private garden belonging to a devout darzí or tailor, a spot of ground five yards long and three wide, to the depth of seven feet. Over this bambu rafters were laid, covered with darmás, on which the earth was laid to the height of a foot or more. Within, the space was partitioned by darmás into three compartments, the most distant of a small width, for the purposes of nature; the central for prayer and perusal of the Qorán; the third for his slight refection and the necessary ablutions.

When I saw the place, the man had been 10 or 11 days within it. For his admission a narrow space had been left uncovered, which after his entrance had been closed with earth, except a small opening about six inches over, for the supply of air and the introduction of his daily repast. Directly under this opening, was a stand for a small chírág or wick lamp, to enable him to see and reach forward his hand for the supply, consisting of two small plantains and half a seer of milk, taken each evening after the going down of the sun, and which, we were assured by the darzi, was his whole nourishment during the entire period of the 40 days. For the first three days, he told us, even this was not received. The faqír had taken a few cloves with him on his entrance, a single one of which daily, with as much water as would cover it in the hollow of his hand, was the whole amount of what he had swallowed; on the fourth day, however, he accepted the plantains and milk, and has continued to do so daily since. In receiving them he does not allow his face to be seen; although I watched close, at the introduc tion of the supply, to catch a glimpse of his person, I could perceive only his arm stretched from behind the first partition. He was covered with a woollen chaddar or cloth. When we called out to ascertain if he were really there, he answered by a simple affirmative, beyond which we could not succeed in eliciting a syllable. The garden was situated between two tanks. The grave of this living entombed, (for such too was its external appearance,) was dug to the level of the water, and below it, so that the water

speedily found entrance, and stood an inch or two above the floor; over which, however, had providently been erected a stage of bambus and darmás, a few inches in height, and upon which this poor wretch sat to his devotions. In the inner or prayer compartment was a lamp constantly burning. In addressing him, the darzí and others called him, Murshid or spiritual teacher, and Ķhudáwand or Lord, a term of the highest respect, and even veneration. It appears that by the injunction of his own initiator or spiritual preceptor at Dháká when yet a boy, he was engaged in the present austerity, now performed for the fourth time of seven originally directed. The first entombment took place when he was but 11 years of age, and from which he barely escaped with life, having been obliged to be lifted out of the cave, and restored by gradual supplies of milk and snails. He was now thought to be about 25 or 26 years old. The expense of the excavation was borne by charitable contributions from the surrounding Musalmans, and the daily milk and plantains were supplied by the darzí, on whose homestead the austerity was practised, and who thereby thinks to perform a charitable and meritorious act, entitling him to divine favour and human repute; as the faqir himself was conceived to be in process of acquiring high supernatural powers, as well as extraordinary merit with the Deity. This is the first instance of the kind known in this neighbourhood; and being myself little versed in the opinions or practices of Musalmáns, having bent my chief attention to the Hindu system, language and people, I am not able to say how far it may be either a general or frequently practised austerity. It is at all events a lamentable exhibition of human blindness and weakness, and an equally manifest argument of the natural want to man of some form of religion. Truly 'God made man upright,' with direct and elevated mind and affections; but since his dismal fall from equal intelligence and rectitude, he has yet 'sought out many inventions' for supplying this natural want, and reconciling himself to God and to his own conscience. How thankful ought Christians to be for the glorious light from Heaven, which has beamed so brightly upon their darkness, and for the equal and concomitant grace, which has poured its holy influence into the souls of all such as truly "walk in and by that light!" May it speedily spread over the still dark land of India, until Mahammadan and Hindu blindness, superstition, vice, and misery are exchanged for the truth, comfort, purity, and hopes of the blessed Gospel of God and the Saviour!

It is often made a matter of extreme astonishment to such as have little acquaintance with the nature of the human mind, that the votaries of a false or corrupted religion should so very much exceed, in devotion, zeal, exertion, and self-denial, the professors of a true one. The Musalmán, the Hindu, the half-civilized or untutored demi-savage of the various forms of paganism, and the ignorant professor of a corrupted and superstitious Christianity, as exhibited in the zealous papist, manifest similar earnestness and self-mortification in their austerities and other perfor mances of a blind devotion. How is it that so many enlightened protestant Christians are so cold, heartless, and undevout? make so few or no personal sacrifices, refuse even the slight exertion necessary for ordinary attendance upon public or religious ordinances, or for private exercises of prayer and reading of the Scriptures? The answer is plain-the ignorant devotee of a blind superstition or perverted revelation, imagines his personal services, his self-denial and bodily exercises, to be in themselves meritorious, and the actual means of his salvation, and acceptance with the Deity. To perform even a rigorous penance, to practise the extremest austerities, to go through the most tedious .round of prayers, genuflections,

• We understand that this religious austerity, denominated by the Musalmáns Ramzán ká Chillá, (or " Forty days,") is by no means unfrequently practised.—ED.