yers if he could not pray. All this worked powerfully for the
elevation of the Brahmans, the "men of prayer;" they steadily grew into
a class, a caste; and into this no one could enter who was not of
priestly descent. Schools were now found necessary for the study of the
sacred books, rites, and traditions. The importance which these attach
to theology--doctrine--is very small; the externals of religion are all
in all. The rites, in fact, now threw the very gods into the shade;
every thing depended on their due performance. And thus the Hindu ritual
gradually grew up into a stupendous system, the most elaborate, complex,
and burdensome which the earth has seen.

[Sidenote: Moral character of the Veda.]
It is time, however, to give a brief estimate of the moral character of
the Veda. The first thing that strikes us is its inconsistency. Some
hymns--especially those addressed to Varuna--rise as high as Gentile
conceptions regarding deity ever rose; others--even in the Rig
Veda--sink miserably low; and in the Atharva we find, "even in the
lowest depth, a lower still."

[Sidenote: Indra supersedes Varuna.]
The character of Indra--who has displaced or overshadowed
Varuna[11]--has no high attributes. He is "voracious;" his "inebriety is
most intense;" he "dances with delight in battle." His worshipers supply
him abundantly with the drink he loves; and he supports them against
their foes, ninety and more of whose cities he has destroyed. We do not
know that these foes, the Dasyus, were morally worse than the intrusive
Aryas, but the feelings of the latter toward the former were of
unexampled ferocity. Here is one passage out of multitudes similar:

"Hurl thy hottest thunder-bolt upon them! Uproot them! Cleave them
asunder! O, Indra, overpower, subdue, slay the demon! Pluck him up!
Cut him through the middle! Crush his head!"

[Sidenote: Deterioration begins early.]
Indra, if provided with Soma, is always indulgent to his votaries; he
supports them _per fas et nefas_. Varuna, on the other hand, is grave,
just, and to wicked men severe.[12] The supersession of Varuna by Indra,
then, is easily understood. We see the principle on which it rests
stated in the Old Testament. "Ye cannot serve the Lord," said Joshua to
the elders of Israel; "for he is a holy God." Even so Jeremiah points
sorrowfully to the fact that the pagan nations clung to their false
gods, while Israel was faithless to the true. As St. Paul expr