Their Conception Of Creation Is
Peaceful As A Dream.
"When that power awakes, then has this
world its full expansion; but when he slumbers with a tranquil
spirit, then the whole system fades away." In the very
indistinctness of their theogony a sublime truth is implied.
It
hardly allows the reader to rest in any supreme first cause, but
directly it hints at a supremer still which created the last, and
the Creator is still behind increate.
Nor will we disturb the antiquity of this Scripture; "From fire,
from air, and from the sun," it was "milked out." One might as
well investigate the chronology of light and heat. Let the sun
shine. Menu understood this matter best, when he said, "Those
best know the divisions of days and nights who understand that
the day of Brahma, which endures to the end of a thousand such
ages, [infinite ages, nevertheless, according to mortal
reckoning,] gives rise to virtuous exertions; and that his night
endures as long as his day." Indeed, the Mussulman and Tartar
dynasties are beyond all dating. Methinks I have lived under
them myself. In every man's brain is the Sanscrit. The Vedas
and their Angas are not so ancient as serene contemplation. Why
will we be imposed on by antiquity? Is the babe young? When I
behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man; it is
more ancient than Nestor or the Sibyls, and bears the wrinkles of
father Saturn himself. And do we live but in the present?
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