Deists.

Deists.The Deists believe in a God, but reject a written revelation from him. They are extravagant in their encomiums on natural religion, though they differ much respecting its nature, extent, obligation, and importance. Dr. Clarke, in his treatise on Deism, divides them into four classes, according to the number of articles comprised in their creed.The first are such as pretend to believe the existence of in eternal, infinite, independent, intelligent Being, and who,[pg 216]to avoid the name of Epicurean Atheists, teach also that this Supreme Being made the world; though, at the same time, they agree with the Epicureans in this—that they fancy God does not at all concern himself in the government of the world, nor has any regard to, or care of, what is done therein.The second sort of Deists are those who believe not only the being, but also the providence, of God, with respect to thenaturalworld, but who, not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny that God takes any notice of the morally good or evil actions of men; these things depending, as they imagine, on the arbitrary constitution of human laws.A third sort of Deists there are, who, having right apprehensions concerning the natural attributes of God and his all-governing providence, and some notion of his moral perfections also, yet, being prejudiced against the notion of the immortality of the soul, believe that men perish entirely at death, and that one generation shall perpetually succeed another, without any further restoration or renovation of things.A fourth and last sort of Deist are such as believe the existence of a Supreme Being, together with his providence in the government of the world; also all the obligations of natural religion, but so far only as these things are discoverable by the light of nature alone, without believing any divine revelation.These, the learned author observes, are the only true Deists; but, as their principles would naturally lead them to embrace the Christian revelation, he concludes there is now no consistent scheme of Deism in the world. Dr. Clarke then adds,“The heathen philosophers—those few of them who taught and lived up to the obligations of natural religion—had, indeed, a consistent scheme of Deism, as far as it went. But the case is not so now; the same scheme is not any longer consistent with its own principles; it does not now lead men to embrace revelation, as it then taught them to hope for it. Deists in our days, who reject revelation when[pg 217]offered to them, are not such men as Socrates and Cicero were; but, under pretence of Deism, it is plain they are generally ridiculers of all that is truly excellent in natural religion itself. Their trivial and vain cavils; their mocking and ridiculing without and before examination; their directing the whole stress of objections against particular customs, or particular and perhaps uncertain opinions or explications of opinions, without at all considering the main body of religion; their loose, vain, and frothy discourses; and, above all, their vicious and immoral lives,—show, plainly and undeniably, that they are not real Deists, but mere Atheists, and, consequently, not capable to judge of the truth of Christianity.”Dr. Paley observes,“Of what a revelation discloses to mankind, one, and only one, question can be properly asked.—Was it of importance to mankind to know or to be better assured of? In this question, when we turn our thoughts to the great Christian doctrine of a resurrection from the dead and a future judgment, no doubt can be possibly entertained. He who gives me riches or honors does nothing; he who even gives me health, does little in comparison with that which lays before me just grounds for expecting a restoration to life, and a day of account and retribution, which thing Christianity hath done for millions.”Atheists.The Atheists are those who deny the existence of God; this is calledspeculativeAtheism. Professing to believe in God, and yet acting contrary to this belief, is calledpracticalAtheism. Absurd and irrational as Atheism is, it has had its votaries and martyrs. In the seventeenth century, Spinosa was its noted defender. Lucilio Venini, a native of Naples also publicly taught Atheism in France; and, being[pg 218]convicted of it at Toulouse, was condemned and executed in 1619. It has been questioned, however, whether any man ever seriously adopted such a principle.Archbishop Tillotson says,“I appeal to any man of reason, whether any thing can be more unreasonable than obstinately to impute an effect to chance, which carries in the very face of it all the arguments and characters of a wise design and contrivance. Was ever any considerable work in which there were required a great variety of parts, and a regular and orderly disposition of those parts, done by chance? Will chance fit means to ends, and that in ten thousand instances, and not fail in any one? How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground, before they would fall into an exact poem! yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose! And may not a little book be as easily made by chance as the great volume of the world? How long might a man be in sprinkling colors upon canvass with a careless hand, before they would happen to make the exact picture of a man! And is a man easier made by chance than his picture? How long might twenty thousand blind men, who should be sent out from several remote parts of England, wander up and down before they would all meet upon Salisbury Plain, and fall into rank and file in the exact order of an army! And yet this is much more easy to be imagined than how the innumerable blind parts of matter should rendezvous themselves into a world. A man that sees Henry the Seventh's chapel at Westminster, might with as good reason maintain (yea, with much better, considering the vast difference betwixt that little structure and the huge fabric of the world) that it was never contrived or built, by any means, but that the stones did by chance grow into those curious figures into which they seem to have been cut and graven; and that, upon a time, (as tales usually begin,) the materials of that building—the stone, mortar, timber, iron, lead, and glass—happily met together, and very fortunately ranged themselves into that delicate order in which we see them now, so close compacted, that it[pg 219]must be a very great chance that parts them again. What would the world think of a man that should advance such an opinion as this, and write a book for it? If they would do him right, they ought to look upon him as mad; but yet with a little more reason than any man can have to say that the world was made by chance, or that the first men grew up out of the earth as plants do now. For can any thing be more ridiculous, and against all reason, than to ascribe the production of men to the first fruitfulness of the earth, without so much as one instance and experiment, in any age or history, to countenance so monstrous a supposition? The thing is, at first sight, so gross and palpable, that no discourse about it can make it more apparent. And yet these shameful beggars of principles give this precarious account of the original of things; assume to themselves to be the men of reason, the great wits of the world, the only cautious and wary persons, that hate to be imposed upon, that must have convincing evidence for every thing, and can admit of nothing without a clear demonstration of it.”Lord Bacon remarks, that“Alittlephilosophy inclineth a man's mind to Atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for, while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeththe chainof them confederated and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.”Pantheists.Abner Kneeland's“Philosophical Creed,”as he terms it, is probably a good definition of the views of those who consider the universe as an immense animal,“Whose body nature is, and God the soul.”Mr. Kneeland says,“I believe in the existence of a[pg 220]universe of suns and planets, among which there is one sun belonging to our planetary system, and that other suns, being more remote, are called stars; but that they are indeed suns to other planetary systems. I believe that the whole universe isnature, and that the wordnatureembraces the whole universe, and that God and Nature, so far as we can attach any rational idea to either, are perfectly synonymous terms. Hence I am not an Atheist, but aPantheist; that is, instead of believing there is no God, I believe that, in the abstract, all is God; and that all power that is, is in God, and that there is no power except that which proceeds from God. I believe that there can be no will or intelligence where there is no sense, and no sense where there are no organs of sense; and hence sense, will, and intelligence, is the effect, and not the cause, of organization. I believe in all that logically results from those premises, whether good, bad, or indifferent. Hence I believe that God is all in all; and that it is in God we live, move, and have our being; and that the whole duty of man consists in living as long as he can, and in promoting as much happiness as he can while he lives.”Mahometans.Mahometanism is a scheme of religion formed and propagated byMahomet, who was born at Mecca, A. D. 569, and died at Medina, in 632.His system is a compound of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity; and the Koran, which is their Bible, is held in great reverence. It is replete with absurd representations, and is supposed to have been written by a Jew. The most eloquent passage is allowed to be the following, where God is introduced, bidding the waters of the deluge to cease:—“Earth, swallow up the waters; heaven, draw up those thou[pg 221]hast poured out; immediately the waters retreated, the command of God was obeyed, the ark rested on the mountains, and these words were heard—‘Woe to the wicked!’”This religion is still professed and adhered to by the Turks and Persians, and by several nations in Asia and Africa. The best statistical writers estimate the number of Mahometans in the world at about one hundred and forty millions.Mahomet descended from an honorable tribe, and from the noblest family of that tribe; yet his original lot was poverty. By his good conduct, he obtained the hand of a widow of wealth and respectability, and was soon raised to an equality with the richest people in Mecca.Soon after his marriage, he formed the scheme of establishing a new religion, or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient one professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, by destroying the gross idolatry into which most of his countrymen had fallen, and weeding out the corruptions and superstitions which the later Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the worship of one God.The Mahometans divide their religion into two general parts, faith and practice, of which the first is divided into six distinct branches—belief in God, in his angels, in his Scriptures, in his prophets, in the resurrection and final judgment, and in God's absolute decrees. The points relating to practice are, prayer, with washings, alms, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca, and circumcision.They believe that both Mahomet and those among his followers who are reckoned orthodox, had, and continue to have, just and true notions of God, and that his attributes appear so plain from the Koran itself, and all the Mahometan divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those who suppose the God of Mahomet to be different from the true God, and only a fictitious deity, or idol of his own creation.They believe that the existence of angels, and their purity, are absolutely required to be believed in the Koran; and he[pg 222]is reckoned an infidel who denies there are such beings, or hates any of them, or asserts any distinction of sexes among them. They believe them to have pure and subtile bodies, created of fire; that they neither eat, drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices, some adoring God in different postures, others singing praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold that some of them are employed in writing down the actions of men, others in carrying the throne of God, and other services.As to the Scriptures, the Mahometans are taught by the Koran, that God, in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every one of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books were, according to them, one hundred and four; of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or Enoch, ten to Abraham, and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mahomet; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree now to be entirely lost, and their contents unknown, though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that, though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians.They believe that the number of the prophets which have been from time to time sent by God into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one Mahometan tradition; or to 124,000, according to another; among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,[pg 223]and Mahomet. All the prophets in general the Mahometans believe to have been freed from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is, Islamism, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed. They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to be more excellent and honorable than others. The first place they give to the revealers and establishes of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles.They believe in a general resurrection and a future judgment.The time of the resurrection the Mahometans allow to be a perfect secret to all but God alone; the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his ignorance in this point, when Mahomet asked him about it. However, they say the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede it.After the examination is past, and every one's work weighed in a just balance, they say that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And, since there will then be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by taking away a proportional part of the good works of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it; which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say,“Lord we have given to every one his due, and there remaineth of this person's good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant,”God will, of his mercy, cause it to be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the method of God's dealing with mankind.[pg 224]As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance of one another, he will command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to more grievous punishment, so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence passed on the brutes,“Would to God that we were dust also!”The trials being over, and the assembly dissolved, the Manometans hold that those who are to be admitted into paradise will take the right hand way, and those who are destined into hell-fire will take the left; but both of them must first pass the bridge called in Arabical Sirat, which, they say, is laid over the midst of hell, and described to be finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword; so that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall be able to stand upon it; for which reason most of the sect of the Motazalites reject it as a fable; though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this article, that it was seriously affirmed by him who never asserted a falsehood, meaning their prophet, who, to add to the difficulty of the passage, has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with briers and hooked thorns, which will, however, be no impediment to the good; for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning, or the wind, Mahomet, and his Moslems leading the way; whereas the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which directed the former to paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mahometans are taught that hell is divided into seven stories or apartments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned.The first, which they callJehenan, they say, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked Mahometans; who, after having been punished according to their demerits, will at length be released; the second, namedLadha, they assign to the Jews; the third,[pg 225]namedal Hotama, to the Christians; the fourth, namedal Sair, to the Sabians; the fifth; namedSakar, to the Magians; the sixth, namedal Jahin, to the idolaters; and the seventh, which is the lowest and worst of all, and is calledal Howyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were of none. Over each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard of angels, nineteen in number; to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.Mahomet has, in his Koran and traditions, been very exact in describing the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer, both from intense heat and excessive cold. The degrees of these pains will also vary in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he is condemned to; and he who is punished the most lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, the fervor of which will cause his skull to boil like a caldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches, as the same prophet teaches, cannot be properly called eitherlifeordeath; and their misery will be greatly increased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place, since, according to that frequent expression in the Koran,they must remain therein forever. It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will be liable to eternity of damnation; for the Moslems, or those who have embraced the true religion, and have been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their sufferings. The time which these believers shall be detained there, according to a tradition handed down from their prophet, will not be less than nine hundred years, nor more than seven thousand. And, as to the manner of their delivery, they say that they shall be distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with which they used to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire will therefore have no power; and that, being known by this characteristic, they will be released by the[pg 226]mercy of God, at the intercession of Mahomet and the blessed whereupon those who shall have been dead will be restored to life, as has been said; and those whose bodies shall have contracted any sootiness or filth, from the flames and smoke of hell, will be immersed in one of the rivers of paradise, called theRiver of Life, which will wash them whiter than pearls.The righteous, as the Mahometans are taught to believe, having surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter paradise, will be refreshed by drinking at thePondof their prophet, who describes it to be an exact square, of a month's journey in compass; its water, which is supplied by two pipes from al Cawthay, one of the rivers of paradise, being whiter than milk or silver, and more odoriferous than musk, with as many cups set round it as there are stars in the firmament; of which water whoever drinks will thirst no more forever. This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future and now near-approaching felicity.Though paradise be so very frequently mentioned in the Koran, yet it is a dispute among the Mahometans, whether it be already created, or to be created hereafter; the Motazalites and some other sectaries asserting that there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the paradise which the righteous will inhabit in the next life will be different from that from which Adam was expelled. However, the orthodox profess the contrary, maintaining that it was created even before the world, and describe it from their prophet's traditions in the following manner:—They say it is situated in the seventh heaven, and next under the throne of God; and, to express the amenity of the place, tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat-flour, or of the purest mask, or, as others will have it, of saffron; that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its building enriched with gold and silver, and that the trunks of all its trees are of gold; among which the most remarkable is the tree calledtuba, or the tree of happiness. Concerning this[pg 227]tree, they fable that it stands in the palace of Mahomet though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer; that it will be laden with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits of surprising bigness, and of tastes unknown to mortals; so that, if a man desire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented him; or, if he choose flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, according to his wish. They add that the boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the person who would gather of its fruits, and that it will supply the blessed not only with food, but also with silken garments, and beasts to ride on ready saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings, which will burst forth from its fruits; and that this tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse, would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years.As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as a principal ornament thereof: some of these rivers, they say, flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey; all taking their rise from the root of the tree tuba.But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls of paradise, called, from their large black eyes,Hur al oyun, the enjoyment of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say, are created, not of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk; being, as their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all natural impurities, of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than sixty miles square.The name which the Mahometans usually give to this happy mansion isal Jannat, or“the Garden;”and sometimes they call it the“Garden of Paradise,”the“Garden of Eden,”the“Garden of Abode,”the“Garden of Pleasure,”and the like; by which several appellations some understand[pg 228]so many different gardens, or at least places of different degrees of felicity, (for they reckon no less than one hundred such in all,) the very meanest whereof will afford its inhabitants so many pleasures and delights, that one would conclude they must even sink under them, had not Mahomet declared that, in order to qualify the blessed for a full enjoyment of them, God will give to every one the abilities of one hundred men.The orthodox doctrine is, that whatever hath or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or whether it be bad, proceedeth entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table; God having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death; which fate or predestination it is not possible by any foresight or wisdom to avoid.The pilgrimage to Mecca is so necessary a point of practice, that, according to a tradition of Mahomet, he who dies without performing it, may as well die a Jew or a Christian; and the same is expressly commanded in the Koran.What is principally reverenced in Mecca, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a square stone building, called theCaaba. Before the time of Mahomet, this temple was a place of worship for the idolatrous Arabs, and is said to have contained no less than three hundred and sixty different images, equalling in number the days of the Arabian year. They were all destroyed by Mahomet, who sanctified the Caaba, and appointed it to be the chief place of worship for all true believers. The Mussulmen pay so great a veneration to it, that they believe a single sight of its sacred walls, without any particular act of devotion, is as meritorious in the sight of God as the most careful discharge of one's duty, for the space of a whole year, in any other temple.The Mahometans have an established priesthood and a[pg 229]numerous body of clergymen: their spiritual head, in Turkey, whose power is not inferior to the Roman Pontiff, or the Grecian Patriarch, is denominated theMufti, and is regarded as the oracle of sanctity and wisdom. Their houses of worship are denominated mosques, many of which are very magnificent, and very richly endowed. The revenues of some of the royal mosques are said to amount to the enormous sum of 60,000 pounds sterling. In the city of Fez, the capital of the emperor of Morocco, there are near one thousand mosques, fifty of which are built in a most magnificent style, supported by marble pillars. The circumference of the grand mosque is near a mile and a half, in which near a thousand lamps are lighted every night. The Mahometan priests, who perform the rites of their public worship, are calledImams; and they have a set of ministers calledSheiks, who preach everyFriday, the Mahometan Sabbath, much in the manner of Christian preachers. They seldom touch upon points of controversy in their discourses, but preach upon moral duties, upon the dogmas and ceremonies of their religion, and declaim against vice, luxury, and corruption of manners.The rapid success which attended the propagation of this new religion was owing to causes that are plain and evident, and must remove, or rather prevent, our surprise, when they are attentively considered. The terror of Mahomet's arms, and the repeated victories which were gained by him and his successors, were, no doubt, the irresistible arguments that persuaded such multitudes to embrace his religion, and submit to his dominion. Besides, his law was artfully and marvellously adapted to the corrupt nature of man, and, in a most particular manner, to the manners and opinions of the Eastern nations, and the vices to which they were naturally addicted; for the articles of faith which it proposed were few in number, and extremely simple; and the duties it required were neither many nor difficult, nor such as were incompatible with the empire of appetites and passions. It is to be observed, further, that the gross ignorance under which[pg 230]the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part, of the Eastern nations, labored at this time, rendered many an easy prey to the artifice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. To these causes of the progress of Mahometanism we may add the bitter dissensions and cruel animosities that reigned among the Christian sects—dissensions that filled a great part of the East with carnage, assassinations, and such detestable enormities as rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many. Other causes of the sudden progress of that religion will naturally occur to such as consider attentively its spirit and genius, and the state of the world at this time.To show the subtlety of Mahomet's mind, and the extreme ignorance of his followers, we give the story of that impostor's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from thence to heaven.The story, as related in the Koran, and believed by the Mahometans, is this:“At night, as he lay in his bed, with his best beloved wife Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his door; upon which, arising, he found there the angel Gabriel, with seventy pair of wings, expanded from his sides, whiter than snow, and clearer than crystal, and the beast Alborak standing by him; which, they say, is the beast on which the prophets used to ride, when they were carried from one place to another, upon the execution of any divine command. Mahomet describes it to be a beast as white as milk, and of a mixed nature, between an ass and a mule, and also of a size between both; but of such extraordinary swiftness as to equal even lightning itself.“As soon as Mahomet appeared at the door, the angel Gabriel kindly embraced him, saluted him in the name of God, and told him that he was sent to bring him unto God, into heaven, where he should see strange mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by any other man. He prayed him, then, to get upon Alborak; but the beast, having lain idle and unemployed from the time of Christ to Mahomet, was grown so mettlesome and skittish, that he would not stand still for Mahomet to mount him, till at length he was forced to bribe[pg 231]him to it by promising him a place in paradise. When he was firmly seated on him, the angel Gabriel led the way, with the bridle of the beast in his hand, and carried the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye. On his coming thither, all the departed prophets and saints appeared at the gate of the temple to salute him, and, thence attending him into the chief oratory, desired him to pray for them, and then withdrew. After this, Mahomet went out of the temple with the angel Gabriel, and found a ladder of light, ready fixed for them, which they immediately ascended, leaving Alborak tied to a rock till their return.“On their arrival at the first heaven, the angel knocked at the gate; and, informing the porter who he was, and that he had brought Mahomet, the friend of God, he was immediately admitted. This first heaven, he tells us, was all of pure silver; from whence he saw the stars hanging from it by chains of gold, each as big as Mount Noho, near Mecca, in Arabia. On his entrance, he met a decrepit old man, who, it seems, was our first father, Adam; and, as he advanced, he saw a multitude of angels in all manner of shapes—in the shape of birds, beasts, and men. We must not forget to observe that Adam had the piety immediately to embrace the prophet, giving God thanks for so great a son, and then recommended himself to his prayers. From this first heaven he tells us that he ascended into the second, which was at the distance of five hundred years' journey above it, and this he makes to be the distance of every one of the seven heavens, each above the other. Here the gates being opened to him as before, at his entrance he met Noah, who, rejoicing much at the sight of him, recommended himself to his prayers. This heaven was all of pure gold, and there were twice as many angels in it as in the former; for he tells us that the number of angels in every heaven increased as he advanced. From this second heaven he ascended into the third, which was made of precious stones, where he met Abraham, who also recommended himself to his prayers; Joseph, the son of Jacob, did the same in the fourth heaven, which was all of emerald; Moses[pg 232]in the fifth, which was all of adamant; and John the Baptist in the sixth, which was all of carbuncle; whence he ascended into the seventh, which was of divine light; and here he found Jesus Christ. However, it is observed that here he alters his style; for he does not say that Jesus Christ recommended himself to his prayers, but that he recommended himself to the prayers of Jesus Christ.“The angel Gabriel, having brought him thus far, told him that he was not permitted to attend him any farther, and therefore directed him to ascend the rest of the way to the throne of God by himself. This he performed with great difficulty, passing through rough and dangerous places, till he came where he heard a voice saying unto him,‘O Mahomet, salute thy Creator;’whence ascending higher, he came into a place where he saw a vast expansion of light, so exceedingly bright, that his eyes could not bear it. This, it seems, was the habitation of the Almighty, where his throne was placed; on the right side of which, he says, God's name and his own were written in these Arabic words:‘La ellah ellallah Mahomet reful ollah;’that is,‘There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet,’which is at this day the creed of the Mahometans. Being approached to the divine presence, he tells us that God entered into a familiar converse with him, revealed to him many hidden mysteries, made him understand the whole of his law, gave him many things in charge concerning his instructing men in the knowledge of it, and, in conclusion, bestowed on him several privileges above the rest of mankind. He then returned, and found the angel Gabriel waiting for him in the place where he left him. The angel led him back along the seven heavens, through which he had brought him, and set him again upon the beast Alborak, which stood tied to the rock near Jerusalem. Then he conducted him back to Mecca, in the same manner as he brought him thence; and all this within the space of the tenth part of one night.”Dr. Joseph White thus concludes one of his discourses on[pg 233]Mahometanism:“What raises Christ and his religion far above all the fictions of Mahomet, is that awful alternative of hopes and fears, that looking-for of judgment, which our Christian faith sets before us. At that day, when time, the great arbiter of truth and falsehood, shall bring to pass the accomplishment of the ages, and the Son of God shall make his enemies his footstool,—then shall the deluded followers of the great Impostor, disappointed of the expected intercession of their prophet, stand trembling and dismayed at the approach of the glorified Messiah. Then shall they say,‘Yonder cometh in the clouds that Jesus whose religion we labored to destroy; whose temples we profaned; whose servants and followers we cruelly oppressed! Behold, he cometh, but no longer the humble son of Mary; no longer a mere mortal prophet, the equal of Abraham, and of Moses, as that deceiver taught us, but the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father; the Judge of mankind; the Sovereign of angels; the Lord of all things, both in earth and in heaven!’”Simonians.An infidel sect, organized in France, some years since, whose fundamental principle is, that religion is to perfect the social condition of man; therefore Christianity is no longer suitable for society, because it separates the Christian from other men, and leads him to live for another world. The world requires a religion that shall be of this world, and, consequently, a God of this world. They reject whatever they suppose to have been derived from the philosophy of the East; they consider the Deity neither as spirit nor matter, but as including the whole universe, and are thus plainly Pantheists; and they regard evil as nothing more than an indication of the progress which mankind are doomed make, in order to be freed from it; in itself, they maintain it is[pg 234]nothing. Its members are principally of the higher ranks, and display, not without success, the greatest activity in spreading the venom of their infidel principles. They occupy, in Paris, the largest and most handsomely fitted halls, where they meet in great numbers.What is very curious in the history of the Simonians is, that they were, at first, merely philosophers, and not at all the founders of a religion. They spoke of science and industry, but not of religious doctrines. All at once, however, it seemed to occur to them to teach a religion. Then their school became a church, and their association a sect. It is evident that, with them, religion was not originally the end of their institution, but has been employed by them as the means of collecting a greater number of hearers.Pagans.A general term, applied to heathen idolaters, who worship false gods, and are not acquainted either with the doctrines of the Old Testament or the Christian dispensation. The worship of the Grand Lama is of the most extensive and splendid character among the Pagan idolaters. This extends all over Thibet and Mongolia, is almost universal in Bucharia and several provinces of Tartary; it has followers in Cashmere, and is the predominant religion of China.The Grand Lama is a name given to the sovereign pontiff, or high priest, of the Thibetian Tartars, who resides at Patoli, a vast palace on a mountain, near the banks of Burhampooter, about seven miles from Lahassa. The foot of this mountain is inhabited by twenty thousand Lamas, or priests, who have their separate apartments round about the mountain, and, according to their respective quality, are placed nearer or at a greater distance from the sovereign pontiff. He is not only the sovereign pontiff, the vicegerent[pg 235]of the Deity on earth, but the more remote Tartars are said to absolutely regard him as the Deity himself, and call himGod, the everlasting Father of heaven. They believe him to be immortal, and endowed with all knowledge and virtue. Every year they come up, from different parts, to worship, and make rich offerings at his shrine. Even the emperor of China, who is a Manchou Tartar, does not fail in acknowledgments to him, in his religious capacity, and actually entertains, at a great expense, in the palace of Pekin, an inferior Lama, deputed as his nuncio from Thibet. The Grand Lama, it has been said, is never to be seen but in a secret place of his palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting cross-legged upon a cushion, and decked all over with gold and precious stones; where, at a distance, the people prostrate themselves before him, it being not lawful for any so much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least sign of respect, nor ever speaks, even to the greatest princes, but only lays his hand upon their heads; and they are fully persuaded they receive from thence a full forgiveness of all their sins.The magnificence and number of the ancient heathen temples almost exceed calculation or belief. At one time, there were no less than 424 temples in the city of Rome, The temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. It was 425 feet in length, 220 in breadth, and was adorned with 100 columns 60 feet high; and, as each column is said to have contained 150 tons of marble,—as the stupendous edifice, outside and in, was adorned with gold, and a profusion of ornaments,—how immense must have been the whole expense of its erection!At the present day, many of the pagan nations go to immense expense in the support of their religious worship. It is stated, in the Indo-Chinese Gleaner, a paper published by the missionaries in China, that there are, in that empire, 1056 temples dedicated to Confucius, where above 60,000 animals are annually offered. The followers of Confucius[pg 236]form one of the smallest of the three leading sects among the Chinese.Mr. Ward, a distinguished missionary, was present at the worship of the goddess Doorga, at Calcutta, in 1806. After describing the greatness of the assembly, the profusion of the offerings, and the many strange peculiarities of the worship, he observes,“The whole produced on my mind sensations of the greatest honor. The dress of the singers, their indecent gestures, the abominable nature of the songs, the horrid din of their miserable drum, the lateness of the hour, the darkness of the place, with the reflection that I was standing in an idol temple, and that this immense multitude of rational and immortal creatures, capable of superior joys, were, in the very act of worship, perpetrating a crime of high treason against the God of heaven, while they themselves believed they were performing an act of merit,—excited ideas and feelings in my mind which time can never obliterate.”The vast empire of China, misnamed theCelestial Empire, is given up to the vilest idolatry. Idols are encountered at every step, not merely in the temples, but in the houses, and even in the vessels, where a part of the forecastle is consecrated to them, as the most honorable place. The idol is dressed and adorned with a splendor proportioned to the wealth of the captain of the vessel, and daily receives an offering, composed of flesh and fruits, together with the smoke of perfumes. Besides this regular service, the captain makes a solemn sacrifice to his wooden deity, on all important occasions; as, for instance, in passing from one river into another, or in time of tempest, or when the sails flap idly in a calm. The Chinese have likewise a practice of deifying their dead ancestors, and of prostrating themselves before the monumental tablets which are erected to their memory. Yet they appear to have no real veneration for any of their idols; nor do they hesitate to profane the temples, by smoking their pipes, and taking refreshments, and even by gambling, within[pg 237]the consecrated precincts. The priests are shameless impostors. They practise the mountebank sciences of astrology, divination, necromancy, and animal magnetism, and keep for sale a liquid, which, they pretend, will confer immortality on those who drink it.Tortures of various kinds, burning, and burying alive, are considered religious duties among the pagans.The festival of Juggernaut is annually held on the sea-coast of Orissa, where there is a celebrated temple, and an idol of the god. The idol is a carved block of wood, with a frightful visage, painted black, and a distended mouth of a bloody color. He is dressed in gorgeous apparel, and his appellation is one of the numerous names of Vishnu, the preserving power of the universe, according to the theology of the Bramins. On festival days, the throne of the idol is placed upon a stupendous movable tower, about sixty feet in height, resting on wheels, which indent the ground deeply, as they turn slowly under the ponderous machine. He is accompanied by two other idols, his brother Balaram, and his sister Shubudra, of a white and yellow color, each on a separate tower, and sitting on thrones of nearly an equal height. Attached to the principal tower are six ropes, of the length and size of a ship's cable, by which the people draw it along. The priests and attendants are stationed around the throne, on the car, and occasionally address the worshippers in libidinous songs and gestures. Both the walls of the temple and sides of the car are covered with the most indecent emblems, in large and durable sculpture. Obscenity and blood are the characteristics of the idol's worship. As the tower moves along, devotees, throwing themselves under the wheels, are crushed to death; and such acts are hailed with the acclamations of the multitude, as the most acceptable sacrifices. A body of prostitutes are maintained in the temple, for the use of the worshippers; and various other systematic indecencies, which will not admit of description, form a part of the service. A number of sacred bulls are kept in the place, which are generally fed with vegetables[pg 238]from the hands of the pilgrims, but, from the scarcity of the vegetation, are commonly seen walking about, and eating the fresh ordure of the worshipping crowds. In the temple, also, is preserved a bone of Krishna, which is considered as a most venerable and precious relic, and which few persons are allowed to see.The following is an account of the burning of a Gentoo woman, on the funeral pile of her deceased husband:—“We found,”says M. Stavorinus,“the body of the deceased lying upon a couch, covered with a piece of white cotton, and strewed with betel leaves. The woman, who was to be the victim, sat upon the couch, with her face turned to that of the deceased. She was richly adorned, and held a little green branch in her right hand, with which she drove away the flies from the body. She seemed like one buried in the most profound meditation, yet betrayed no signs of fear. Many of her relations attended upon her, who, at stated intervals, struck up various kinds of music.“The pile was made by driving green bamboo stakes into the earth, between which was first laid fire-wood, very dry and combustible; upon this was put a quantity of dry straw, or reeds, besmeared with grease: this was done alternately, till the pile was five feet in height; and the whole was then strewed with rosin, finely powdered. A white cotton sheet, which had been washed in the Ganges, was then spread over the pile, and the whole was ready for the reception of the victim.“The widow was now admonished, by a priest, that it was time to begin the rites. She was then surrounded by women, who offered her betel, and besought her to supplicate favors for them when she joined her husband in the presence of Ram, or their highest god, and, above all, that she would salute their deceased friends whom she might meet in the celestial mansions.“In the mean time, the body of the husband was taken and washed in the river. The woman was also led to the Ganges for ablution, where she divested herself of all her[pg 239]ornaments. Her head was covered with a piece of silk, and a cloth was tied round her body, in which the priests put some parched rice.“She then took a farewell of her friends, and was conducted by two of her female relations to the pile. When she came to it, she scattered flowers and parched rice upon the spectators, and put some into the mouth of the corpse. Two priests next led her three times round it, while she threw rice among the bystanders, who gathered it up with great eagerness. The last time she went round, she placed a little earthen burning lamp to each of the four corners of the pile, then laid herself down on the right side, next to the body, which she embraced with both her arms; a piece of white cotton was spread over them both; they were bound together with two easy bandages, and a quantity of fire-wood, straw, and rosin, was laid upon them. In the last place, her nearest relations, to whom, on the banks of the river, she had given her nose-jewels, came with a burning torch, and set the straw on fire, and in a moment the whole was in a flame. The noise of the drums, and the shouts of the spectators, were such that the shrieks of the unfortunate woman, if she uttered any, could not have been heard.”Instances are related of women eighty years of age, or upwards, perishing in this manner. One case is mentioned, by Mr. Ward, of a Bramin who had married upwards of a hundred wives, thirty-seven of whom were burnt with him. The pile was kept burning forthree days, and when one or more of them arrived, they threw themselves into theblazing fire.The Pagans worship an immense variety of idols, both animate and inanimate, and very frequently make to themselves gods of objects that are contemptible even among brutes. In Hindoo, themonkeyis a celebrated god. A few years since, the rajah of Nudeeya expended $50,000 in celebrating the marriage of a pair of those mischievous creatures, with all the parade and solemnity of a Hindoo wedding.A Bramin of superior understanding gave Mr. Ward[pg 240]the followingconfession of faith, as the present belief of the philosophical Hindoos, concerning the nature of God, viz.:—“God is invisible, independent, ever-living, glorious, uncorrupt, all-wise, the ever-blessed, the almighty; his perfections are indescribable and past finding out; he rules over all, supports all, destroys all, and remains after the destruction of all; there is none like him; he is silence; he is free from passion, from birth, &c., and from increase and decrease, from fatigue, the need of refreshment, &c. He possesses the power of infinite diminution and lightness, and is the soul of all.“He created, and then entered into, all things, in which he exists in two ways, untouched by matter, and receiving the fruits of practice. He now assumes visible forms for the sake of engaging the minds of mankind. The different gods are parts of God, though his essence remains undiminished, as rays of light leave the sun his undiminished splendor. He created the gods to perform those things in the government of the world, of which man was incapable. Some gods are parts of other gods, and there are deities of still inferior powers. If it be asked why God himself does not govern the world, the answer is, that it might subject him to exposure, and he chooses to be concealed: he therefore governs by the gods, who are emanations from the one God, possessing a portion of his power: he who worships the gods as the one God, substantially worships God. The gods are helpful to men in all human affairs, but they are not friendly to those who seek final absorption, being jealous lest, instead of attaining absorption, they should become gods, and rival them.“Religious ceremonies procure a fund of merit to the performer, which raises him in every future birth, and at length advances him to heaven, where he enjoys happiness for a limited period, or carries him towards final absorption. A person may sink to earth again by crimes committed in heaven. The joys of heaven arise only from the gratification of the senses. A person raised to heaven is considered as a god.[pg 241]“When the following lines of Pope were read to a learned Bramin, he started from his seat, begged a copy of them, and declared the author must have been a Hindoo:—“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; ...Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,Lives through all life, extends through all extent,Spreads undivided, operates unspent.”“Such are the best views of the best of men among the Hindoos. Such a mixture of truth and error, of sense and folly, do they believe and teach.”According to the best accounts that can be obtained from missionaries and others, the number of Pagans, in different countries, exceeds half the population of the globe.Considerable attempts have been made, of late years, for the enlightening of the heathen; and there is every reason to believe good has been done. From the aspect of Scripture prophecy, we are led to expect that the kingdoms of the heathen at large shall be brought to the light of the gospel. (Matt. 24:14, Isa. 60, Ps. 22:28, 29; 2:7, 8.) It has been much disputed whether it be possible that the heathen should be saved without the knowledge of the gospel; some have absolutely denied it, upon the authority of those texts which universally require faith in Christ; but to this it is answered, that those texts regard only such to whom the gospel comes, and are capable of understanding the contents of it.“The truth,”says Dr. Doddridge,“seems to be this—that none of the heathen will be condemned for not believing the gospel, but they are liable to condemnation for the breach of God's natural law: nevertheless, if there be any of them in whom there is a prevailing love to the Divine Being, there seems reason to believe that, for thesakeof Christ, though to them unknown, they may be accepted by God; and so much the rather, as the ancient Jews, and even the apostles, during the time of our Savior's abode on earth, seem to have had[pg 242]but little notion of those doctrines, which those who deny the salvability of the heathen are most apt to imagine.”(Rom. 2:10-22, Acts 10:34, 35. Matt. 8:11, 12.) Grove, Watts, Saurin, and the immortal Newton, favor the same opinion; the latter of whom thus observes:“If we suppose a heathen brought to a sense of his misery; to a conviction that he cannot be happy without the favor of the great Lord of the world; to a feeling of guilt, and desire of mercy; and that, though he has no explicit knowledge of a Savior, he directs the cry of his heart to the unknown Supreme, to have mercy upon him,—who will prove that such views and desires can arise in the heart of a sinner, without the energy of that Spirit which Jesus is exalted to bestow? Who will take upon him to say that his blood has not sufficient efficacy to redeem to God a sinner who is thus disposed, though he have never heard of his name? Or who has a warrant to affirm that the supposition I have made is in the nature of things impossible to be realized?”“That there exist beings, one or many, powerful above the human race, is a proposition,”says Lord Kaimes,“universally admitted as true in all ages and among all nations. I boldly call ituniversal, notwithstanding what is reported of some gross savages; for reports that contradict what is acknowledged to be general among men, require able vouchers. Among many savage tribes there are no words but for objects of external sense: is it surprising that such people are incapable of expressing their religious perceptions, or any perception of internal sense? The conviction that men have of superior powers, in every country where there are words to express it, is so well vouched, that, in fair reasoning, it ought to be taken for granted among the few tribes where language is deficient.”The same ingenious author shows, with great strength of reasoning, that the operations of nature and the government of this world, which to us loudly proclaim the existence of a Deity, are not sufficient to account for the universal belief of superior beings among savage tribes. He is, therefore, of opinion that this universality of conviction[pg 243]can spring only from the image of Deity stamped upon the mind of every human being, the ignorant equally with the learned. This, he thinks, may be termed thesense of Deity.

Deists.The Deists believe in a God, but reject a written revelation from him. They are extravagant in their encomiums on natural religion, though they differ much respecting its nature, extent, obligation, and importance. Dr. Clarke, in his treatise on Deism, divides them into four classes, according to the number of articles comprised in their creed.The first are such as pretend to believe the existence of in eternal, infinite, independent, intelligent Being, and who,[pg 216]to avoid the name of Epicurean Atheists, teach also that this Supreme Being made the world; though, at the same time, they agree with the Epicureans in this—that they fancy God does not at all concern himself in the government of the world, nor has any regard to, or care of, what is done therein.The second sort of Deists are those who believe not only the being, but also the providence, of God, with respect to thenaturalworld, but who, not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny that God takes any notice of the morally good or evil actions of men; these things depending, as they imagine, on the arbitrary constitution of human laws.A third sort of Deists there are, who, having right apprehensions concerning the natural attributes of God and his all-governing providence, and some notion of his moral perfections also, yet, being prejudiced against the notion of the immortality of the soul, believe that men perish entirely at death, and that one generation shall perpetually succeed another, without any further restoration or renovation of things.A fourth and last sort of Deist are such as believe the existence of a Supreme Being, together with his providence in the government of the world; also all the obligations of natural religion, but so far only as these things are discoverable by the light of nature alone, without believing any divine revelation.These, the learned author observes, are the only true Deists; but, as their principles would naturally lead them to embrace the Christian revelation, he concludes there is now no consistent scheme of Deism in the world. Dr. Clarke then adds,“The heathen philosophers—those few of them who taught and lived up to the obligations of natural religion—had, indeed, a consistent scheme of Deism, as far as it went. But the case is not so now; the same scheme is not any longer consistent with its own principles; it does not now lead men to embrace revelation, as it then taught them to hope for it. Deists in our days, who reject revelation when[pg 217]offered to them, are not such men as Socrates and Cicero were; but, under pretence of Deism, it is plain they are generally ridiculers of all that is truly excellent in natural religion itself. Their trivial and vain cavils; their mocking and ridiculing without and before examination; their directing the whole stress of objections against particular customs, or particular and perhaps uncertain opinions or explications of opinions, without at all considering the main body of religion; their loose, vain, and frothy discourses; and, above all, their vicious and immoral lives,—show, plainly and undeniably, that they are not real Deists, but mere Atheists, and, consequently, not capable to judge of the truth of Christianity.”Dr. Paley observes,“Of what a revelation discloses to mankind, one, and only one, question can be properly asked.—Was it of importance to mankind to know or to be better assured of? In this question, when we turn our thoughts to the great Christian doctrine of a resurrection from the dead and a future judgment, no doubt can be possibly entertained. He who gives me riches or honors does nothing; he who even gives me health, does little in comparison with that which lays before me just grounds for expecting a restoration to life, and a day of account and retribution, which thing Christianity hath done for millions.”Atheists.The Atheists are those who deny the existence of God; this is calledspeculativeAtheism. Professing to believe in God, and yet acting contrary to this belief, is calledpracticalAtheism. Absurd and irrational as Atheism is, it has had its votaries and martyrs. In the seventeenth century, Spinosa was its noted defender. Lucilio Venini, a native of Naples also publicly taught Atheism in France; and, being[pg 218]convicted of it at Toulouse, was condemned and executed in 1619. It has been questioned, however, whether any man ever seriously adopted such a principle.Archbishop Tillotson says,“I appeal to any man of reason, whether any thing can be more unreasonable than obstinately to impute an effect to chance, which carries in the very face of it all the arguments and characters of a wise design and contrivance. Was ever any considerable work in which there were required a great variety of parts, and a regular and orderly disposition of those parts, done by chance? Will chance fit means to ends, and that in ten thousand instances, and not fail in any one? How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground, before they would fall into an exact poem! yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose! And may not a little book be as easily made by chance as the great volume of the world? How long might a man be in sprinkling colors upon canvass with a careless hand, before they would happen to make the exact picture of a man! And is a man easier made by chance than his picture? How long might twenty thousand blind men, who should be sent out from several remote parts of England, wander up and down before they would all meet upon Salisbury Plain, and fall into rank and file in the exact order of an army! And yet this is much more easy to be imagined than how the innumerable blind parts of matter should rendezvous themselves into a world. A man that sees Henry the Seventh's chapel at Westminster, might with as good reason maintain (yea, with much better, considering the vast difference betwixt that little structure and the huge fabric of the world) that it was never contrived or built, by any means, but that the stones did by chance grow into those curious figures into which they seem to have been cut and graven; and that, upon a time, (as tales usually begin,) the materials of that building—the stone, mortar, timber, iron, lead, and glass—happily met together, and very fortunately ranged themselves into that delicate order in which we see them now, so close compacted, that it[pg 219]must be a very great chance that parts them again. What would the world think of a man that should advance such an opinion as this, and write a book for it? If they would do him right, they ought to look upon him as mad; but yet with a little more reason than any man can have to say that the world was made by chance, or that the first men grew up out of the earth as plants do now. For can any thing be more ridiculous, and against all reason, than to ascribe the production of men to the first fruitfulness of the earth, without so much as one instance and experiment, in any age or history, to countenance so monstrous a supposition? The thing is, at first sight, so gross and palpable, that no discourse about it can make it more apparent. And yet these shameful beggars of principles give this precarious account of the original of things; assume to themselves to be the men of reason, the great wits of the world, the only cautious and wary persons, that hate to be imposed upon, that must have convincing evidence for every thing, and can admit of nothing without a clear demonstration of it.”Lord Bacon remarks, that“Alittlephilosophy inclineth a man's mind to Atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for, while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeththe chainof them confederated and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.”Pantheists.Abner Kneeland's“Philosophical Creed,”as he terms it, is probably a good definition of the views of those who consider the universe as an immense animal,“Whose body nature is, and God the soul.”Mr. Kneeland says,“I believe in the existence of a[pg 220]universe of suns and planets, among which there is one sun belonging to our planetary system, and that other suns, being more remote, are called stars; but that they are indeed suns to other planetary systems. I believe that the whole universe isnature, and that the wordnatureembraces the whole universe, and that God and Nature, so far as we can attach any rational idea to either, are perfectly synonymous terms. Hence I am not an Atheist, but aPantheist; that is, instead of believing there is no God, I believe that, in the abstract, all is God; and that all power that is, is in God, and that there is no power except that which proceeds from God. I believe that there can be no will or intelligence where there is no sense, and no sense where there are no organs of sense; and hence sense, will, and intelligence, is the effect, and not the cause, of organization. I believe in all that logically results from those premises, whether good, bad, or indifferent. Hence I believe that God is all in all; and that it is in God we live, move, and have our being; and that the whole duty of man consists in living as long as he can, and in promoting as much happiness as he can while he lives.”Mahometans.Mahometanism is a scheme of religion formed and propagated byMahomet, who was born at Mecca, A. D. 569, and died at Medina, in 632.His system is a compound of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity; and the Koran, which is their Bible, is held in great reverence. It is replete with absurd representations, and is supposed to have been written by a Jew. The most eloquent passage is allowed to be the following, where God is introduced, bidding the waters of the deluge to cease:—“Earth, swallow up the waters; heaven, draw up those thou[pg 221]hast poured out; immediately the waters retreated, the command of God was obeyed, the ark rested on the mountains, and these words were heard—‘Woe to the wicked!’”This religion is still professed and adhered to by the Turks and Persians, and by several nations in Asia and Africa. The best statistical writers estimate the number of Mahometans in the world at about one hundred and forty millions.Mahomet descended from an honorable tribe, and from the noblest family of that tribe; yet his original lot was poverty. By his good conduct, he obtained the hand of a widow of wealth and respectability, and was soon raised to an equality with the richest people in Mecca.Soon after his marriage, he formed the scheme of establishing a new religion, or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient one professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, by destroying the gross idolatry into which most of his countrymen had fallen, and weeding out the corruptions and superstitions which the later Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the worship of one God.The Mahometans divide their religion into two general parts, faith and practice, of which the first is divided into six distinct branches—belief in God, in his angels, in his Scriptures, in his prophets, in the resurrection and final judgment, and in God's absolute decrees. The points relating to practice are, prayer, with washings, alms, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca, and circumcision.They believe that both Mahomet and those among his followers who are reckoned orthodox, had, and continue to have, just and true notions of God, and that his attributes appear so plain from the Koran itself, and all the Mahometan divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those who suppose the God of Mahomet to be different from the true God, and only a fictitious deity, or idol of his own creation.They believe that the existence of angels, and their purity, are absolutely required to be believed in the Koran; and he[pg 222]is reckoned an infidel who denies there are such beings, or hates any of them, or asserts any distinction of sexes among them. They believe them to have pure and subtile bodies, created of fire; that they neither eat, drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices, some adoring God in different postures, others singing praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold that some of them are employed in writing down the actions of men, others in carrying the throne of God, and other services.As to the Scriptures, the Mahometans are taught by the Koran, that God, in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every one of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books were, according to them, one hundred and four; of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or Enoch, ten to Abraham, and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mahomet; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree now to be entirely lost, and their contents unknown, though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that, though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians.They believe that the number of the prophets which have been from time to time sent by God into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one Mahometan tradition; or to 124,000, according to another; among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,[pg 223]and Mahomet. All the prophets in general the Mahometans believe to have been freed from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is, Islamism, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed. They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to be more excellent and honorable than others. The first place they give to the revealers and establishes of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles.They believe in a general resurrection and a future judgment.The time of the resurrection the Mahometans allow to be a perfect secret to all but God alone; the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his ignorance in this point, when Mahomet asked him about it. However, they say the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede it.After the examination is past, and every one's work weighed in a just balance, they say that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And, since there will then be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by taking away a proportional part of the good works of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it; which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say,“Lord we have given to every one his due, and there remaineth of this person's good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant,”God will, of his mercy, cause it to be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the method of God's dealing with mankind.[pg 224]As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance of one another, he will command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to more grievous punishment, so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence passed on the brutes,“Would to God that we were dust also!”The trials being over, and the assembly dissolved, the Manometans hold that those who are to be admitted into paradise will take the right hand way, and those who are destined into hell-fire will take the left; but both of them must first pass the bridge called in Arabical Sirat, which, they say, is laid over the midst of hell, and described to be finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword; so that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall be able to stand upon it; for which reason most of the sect of the Motazalites reject it as a fable; though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this article, that it was seriously affirmed by him who never asserted a falsehood, meaning their prophet, who, to add to the difficulty of the passage, has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with briers and hooked thorns, which will, however, be no impediment to the good; for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning, or the wind, Mahomet, and his Moslems leading the way; whereas the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which directed the former to paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mahometans are taught that hell is divided into seven stories or apartments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned.The first, which they callJehenan, they say, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked Mahometans; who, after having been punished according to their demerits, will at length be released; the second, namedLadha, they assign to the Jews; the third,[pg 225]namedal Hotama, to the Christians; the fourth, namedal Sair, to the Sabians; the fifth; namedSakar, to the Magians; the sixth, namedal Jahin, to the idolaters; and the seventh, which is the lowest and worst of all, and is calledal Howyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were of none. Over each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard of angels, nineteen in number; to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.Mahomet has, in his Koran and traditions, been very exact in describing the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer, both from intense heat and excessive cold. The degrees of these pains will also vary in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he is condemned to; and he who is punished the most lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, the fervor of which will cause his skull to boil like a caldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches, as the same prophet teaches, cannot be properly called eitherlifeordeath; and their misery will be greatly increased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place, since, according to that frequent expression in the Koran,they must remain therein forever. It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will be liable to eternity of damnation; for the Moslems, or those who have embraced the true religion, and have been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their sufferings. The time which these believers shall be detained there, according to a tradition handed down from their prophet, will not be less than nine hundred years, nor more than seven thousand. And, as to the manner of their delivery, they say that they shall be distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with which they used to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire will therefore have no power; and that, being known by this characteristic, they will be released by the[pg 226]mercy of God, at the intercession of Mahomet and the blessed whereupon those who shall have been dead will be restored to life, as has been said; and those whose bodies shall have contracted any sootiness or filth, from the flames and smoke of hell, will be immersed in one of the rivers of paradise, called theRiver of Life, which will wash them whiter than pearls.The righteous, as the Mahometans are taught to believe, having surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter paradise, will be refreshed by drinking at thePondof their prophet, who describes it to be an exact square, of a month's journey in compass; its water, which is supplied by two pipes from al Cawthay, one of the rivers of paradise, being whiter than milk or silver, and more odoriferous than musk, with as many cups set round it as there are stars in the firmament; of which water whoever drinks will thirst no more forever. This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future and now near-approaching felicity.Though paradise be so very frequently mentioned in the Koran, yet it is a dispute among the Mahometans, whether it be already created, or to be created hereafter; the Motazalites and some other sectaries asserting that there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the paradise which the righteous will inhabit in the next life will be different from that from which Adam was expelled. However, the orthodox profess the contrary, maintaining that it was created even before the world, and describe it from their prophet's traditions in the following manner:—They say it is situated in the seventh heaven, and next under the throne of God; and, to express the amenity of the place, tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat-flour, or of the purest mask, or, as others will have it, of saffron; that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its building enriched with gold and silver, and that the trunks of all its trees are of gold; among which the most remarkable is the tree calledtuba, or the tree of happiness. Concerning this[pg 227]tree, they fable that it stands in the palace of Mahomet though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer; that it will be laden with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits of surprising bigness, and of tastes unknown to mortals; so that, if a man desire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented him; or, if he choose flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, according to his wish. They add that the boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the person who would gather of its fruits, and that it will supply the blessed not only with food, but also with silken garments, and beasts to ride on ready saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings, which will burst forth from its fruits; and that this tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse, would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years.As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as a principal ornament thereof: some of these rivers, they say, flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey; all taking their rise from the root of the tree tuba.But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls of paradise, called, from their large black eyes,Hur al oyun, the enjoyment of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say, are created, not of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk; being, as their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all natural impurities, of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than sixty miles square.The name which the Mahometans usually give to this happy mansion isal Jannat, or“the Garden;”and sometimes they call it the“Garden of Paradise,”the“Garden of Eden,”the“Garden of Abode,”the“Garden of Pleasure,”and the like; by which several appellations some understand[pg 228]so many different gardens, or at least places of different degrees of felicity, (for they reckon no less than one hundred such in all,) the very meanest whereof will afford its inhabitants so many pleasures and delights, that one would conclude they must even sink under them, had not Mahomet declared that, in order to qualify the blessed for a full enjoyment of them, God will give to every one the abilities of one hundred men.The orthodox doctrine is, that whatever hath or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or whether it be bad, proceedeth entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table; God having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death; which fate or predestination it is not possible by any foresight or wisdom to avoid.The pilgrimage to Mecca is so necessary a point of practice, that, according to a tradition of Mahomet, he who dies without performing it, may as well die a Jew or a Christian; and the same is expressly commanded in the Koran.What is principally reverenced in Mecca, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a square stone building, called theCaaba. Before the time of Mahomet, this temple was a place of worship for the idolatrous Arabs, and is said to have contained no less than three hundred and sixty different images, equalling in number the days of the Arabian year. They were all destroyed by Mahomet, who sanctified the Caaba, and appointed it to be the chief place of worship for all true believers. The Mussulmen pay so great a veneration to it, that they believe a single sight of its sacred walls, without any particular act of devotion, is as meritorious in the sight of God as the most careful discharge of one's duty, for the space of a whole year, in any other temple.The Mahometans have an established priesthood and a[pg 229]numerous body of clergymen: their spiritual head, in Turkey, whose power is not inferior to the Roman Pontiff, or the Grecian Patriarch, is denominated theMufti, and is regarded as the oracle of sanctity and wisdom. Their houses of worship are denominated mosques, many of which are very magnificent, and very richly endowed. The revenues of some of the royal mosques are said to amount to the enormous sum of 60,000 pounds sterling. In the city of Fez, the capital of the emperor of Morocco, there are near one thousand mosques, fifty of which are built in a most magnificent style, supported by marble pillars. The circumference of the grand mosque is near a mile and a half, in which near a thousand lamps are lighted every night. The Mahometan priests, who perform the rites of their public worship, are calledImams; and they have a set of ministers calledSheiks, who preach everyFriday, the Mahometan Sabbath, much in the manner of Christian preachers. They seldom touch upon points of controversy in their discourses, but preach upon moral duties, upon the dogmas and ceremonies of their religion, and declaim against vice, luxury, and corruption of manners.The rapid success which attended the propagation of this new religion was owing to causes that are plain and evident, and must remove, or rather prevent, our surprise, when they are attentively considered. The terror of Mahomet's arms, and the repeated victories which were gained by him and his successors, were, no doubt, the irresistible arguments that persuaded such multitudes to embrace his religion, and submit to his dominion. Besides, his law was artfully and marvellously adapted to the corrupt nature of man, and, in a most particular manner, to the manners and opinions of the Eastern nations, and the vices to which they were naturally addicted; for the articles of faith which it proposed were few in number, and extremely simple; and the duties it required were neither many nor difficult, nor such as were incompatible with the empire of appetites and passions. It is to be observed, further, that the gross ignorance under which[pg 230]the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part, of the Eastern nations, labored at this time, rendered many an easy prey to the artifice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. To these causes of the progress of Mahometanism we may add the bitter dissensions and cruel animosities that reigned among the Christian sects—dissensions that filled a great part of the East with carnage, assassinations, and such detestable enormities as rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many. Other causes of the sudden progress of that religion will naturally occur to such as consider attentively its spirit and genius, and the state of the world at this time.To show the subtlety of Mahomet's mind, and the extreme ignorance of his followers, we give the story of that impostor's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from thence to heaven.The story, as related in the Koran, and believed by the Mahometans, is this:“At night, as he lay in his bed, with his best beloved wife Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his door; upon which, arising, he found there the angel Gabriel, with seventy pair of wings, expanded from his sides, whiter than snow, and clearer than crystal, and the beast Alborak standing by him; which, they say, is the beast on which the prophets used to ride, when they were carried from one place to another, upon the execution of any divine command. Mahomet describes it to be a beast as white as milk, and of a mixed nature, between an ass and a mule, and also of a size between both; but of such extraordinary swiftness as to equal even lightning itself.“As soon as Mahomet appeared at the door, the angel Gabriel kindly embraced him, saluted him in the name of God, and told him that he was sent to bring him unto God, into heaven, where he should see strange mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by any other man. He prayed him, then, to get upon Alborak; but the beast, having lain idle and unemployed from the time of Christ to Mahomet, was grown so mettlesome and skittish, that he would not stand still for Mahomet to mount him, till at length he was forced to bribe[pg 231]him to it by promising him a place in paradise. When he was firmly seated on him, the angel Gabriel led the way, with the bridle of the beast in his hand, and carried the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye. On his coming thither, all the departed prophets and saints appeared at the gate of the temple to salute him, and, thence attending him into the chief oratory, desired him to pray for them, and then withdrew. After this, Mahomet went out of the temple with the angel Gabriel, and found a ladder of light, ready fixed for them, which they immediately ascended, leaving Alborak tied to a rock till their return.“On their arrival at the first heaven, the angel knocked at the gate; and, informing the porter who he was, and that he had brought Mahomet, the friend of God, he was immediately admitted. This first heaven, he tells us, was all of pure silver; from whence he saw the stars hanging from it by chains of gold, each as big as Mount Noho, near Mecca, in Arabia. On his entrance, he met a decrepit old man, who, it seems, was our first father, Adam; and, as he advanced, he saw a multitude of angels in all manner of shapes—in the shape of birds, beasts, and men. We must not forget to observe that Adam had the piety immediately to embrace the prophet, giving God thanks for so great a son, and then recommended himself to his prayers. From this first heaven he tells us that he ascended into the second, which was at the distance of five hundred years' journey above it, and this he makes to be the distance of every one of the seven heavens, each above the other. Here the gates being opened to him as before, at his entrance he met Noah, who, rejoicing much at the sight of him, recommended himself to his prayers. This heaven was all of pure gold, and there were twice as many angels in it as in the former; for he tells us that the number of angels in every heaven increased as he advanced. From this second heaven he ascended into the third, which was made of precious stones, where he met Abraham, who also recommended himself to his prayers; Joseph, the son of Jacob, did the same in the fourth heaven, which was all of emerald; Moses[pg 232]in the fifth, which was all of adamant; and John the Baptist in the sixth, which was all of carbuncle; whence he ascended into the seventh, which was of divine light; and here he found Jesus Christ. However, it is observed that here he alters his style; for he does not say that Jesus Christ recommended himself to his prayers, but that he recommended himself to the prayers of Jesus Christ.“The angel Gabriel, having brought him thus far, told him that he was not permitted to attend him any farther, and therefore directed him to ascend the rest of the way to the throne of God by himself. This he performed with great difficulty, passing through rough and dangerous places, till he came where he heard a voice saying unto him,‘O Mahomet, salute thy Creator;’whence ascending higher, he came into a place where he saw a vast expansion of light, so exceedingly bright, that his eyes could not bear it. This, it seems, was the habitation of the Almighty, where his throne was placed; on the right side of which, he says, God's name and his own were written in these Arabic words:‘La ellah ellallah Mahomet reful ollah;’that is,‘There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet,’which is at this day the creed of the Mahometans. Being approached to the divine presence, he tells us that God entered into a familiar converse with him, revealed to him many hidden mysteries, made him understand the whole of his law, gave him many things in charge concerning his instructing men in the knowledge of it, and, in conclusion, bestowed on him several privileges above the rest of mankind. He then returned, and found the angel Gabriel waiting for him in the place where he left him. The angel led him back along the seven heavens, through which he had brought him, and set him again upon the beast Alborak, which stood tied to the rock near Jerusalem. Then he conducted him back to Mecca, in the same manner as he brought him thence; and all this within the space of the tenth part of one night.”Dr. Joseph White thus concludes one of his discourses on[pg 233]Mahometanism:“What raises Christ and his religion far above all the fictions of Mahomet, is that awful alternative of hopes and fears, that looking-for of judgment, which our Christian faith sets before us. At that day, when time, the great arbiter of truth and falsehood, shall bring to pass the accomplishment of the ages, and the Son of God shall make his enemies his footstool,—then shall the deluded followers of the great Impostor, disappointed of the expected intercession of their prophet, stand trembling and dismayed at the approach of the glorified Messiah. Then shall they say,‘Yonder cometh in the clouds that Jesus whose religion we labored to destroy; whose temples we profaned; whose servants and followers we cruelly oppressed! Behold, he cometh, but no longer the humble son of Mary; no longer a mere mortal prophet, the equal of Abraham, and of Moses, as that deceiver taught us, but the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father; the Judge of mankind; the Sovereign of angels; the Lord of all things, both in earth and in heaven!’”Simonians.An infidel sect, organized in France, some years since, whose fundamental principle is, that religion is to perfect the social condition of man; therefore Christianity is no longer suitable for society, because it separates the Christian from other men, and leads him to live for another world. The world requires a religion that shall be of this world, and, consequently, a God of this world. They reject whatever they suppose to have been derived from the philosophy of the East; they consider the Deity neither as spirit nor matter, but as including the whole universe, and are thus plainly Pantheists; and they regard evil as nothing more than an indication of the progress which mankind are doomed make, in order to be freed from it; in itself, they maintain it is[pg 234]nothing. Its members are principally of the higher ranks, and display, not without success, the greatest activity in spreading the venom of their infidel principles. They occupy, in Paris, the largest and most handsomely fitted halls, where they meet in great numbers.What is very curious in the history of the Simonians is, that they were, at first, merely philosophers, and not at all the founders of a religion. They spoke of science and industry, but not of religious doctrines. All at once, however, it seemed to occur to them to teach a religion. Then their school became a church, and their association a sect. It is evident that, with them, religion was not originally the end of their institution, but has been employed by them as the means of collecting a greater number of hearers.Pagans.A general term, applied to heathen idolaters, who worship false gods, and are not acquainted either with the doctrines of the Old Testament or the Christian dispensation. The worship of the Grand Lama is of the most extensive and splendid character among the Pagan idolaters. This extends all over Thibet and Mongolia, is almost universal in Bucharia and several provinces of Tartary; it has followers in Cashmere, and is the predominant religion of China.The Grand Lama is a name given to the sovereign pontiff, or high priest, of the Thibetian Tartars, who resides at Patoli, a vast palace on a mountain, near the banks of Burhampooter, about seven miles from Lahassa. The foot of this mountain is inhabited by twenty thousand Lamas, or priests, who have their separate apartments round about the mountain, and, according to their respective quality, are placed nearer or at a greater distance from the sovereign pontiff. He is not only the sovereign pontiff, the vicegerent[pg 235]of the Deity on earth, but the more remote Tartars are said to absolutely regard him as the Deity himself, and call himGod, the everlasting Father of heaven. They believe him to be immortal, and endowed with all knowledge and virtue. Every year they come up, from different parts, to worship, and make rich offerings at his shrine. Even the emperor of China, who is a Manchou Tartar, does not fail in acknowledgments to him, in his religious capacity, and actually entertains, at a great expense, in the palace of Pekin, an inferior Lama, deputed as his nuncio from Thibet. The Grand Lama, it has been said, is never to be seen but in a secret place of his palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting cross-legged upon a cushion, and decked all over with gold and precious stones; where, at a distance, the people prostrate themselves before him, it being not lawful for any so much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least sign of respect, nor ever speaks, even to the greatest princes, but only lays his hand upon their heads; and they are fully persuaded they receive from thence a full forgiveness of all their sins.The magnificence and number of the ancient heathen temples almost exceed calculation or belief. At one time, there were no less than 424 temples in the city of Rome, The temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. It was 425 feet in length, 220 in breadth, and was adorned with 100 columns 60 feet high; and, as each column is said to have contained 150 tons of marble,—as the stupendous edifice, outside and in, was adorned with gold, and a profusion of ornaments,—how immense must have been the whole expense of its erection!At the present day, many of the pagan nations go to immense expense in the support of their religious worship. It is stated, in the Indo-Chinese Gleaner, a paper published by the missionaries in China, that there are, in that empire, 1056 temples dedicated to Confucius, where above 60,000 animals are annually offered. The followers of Confucius[pg 236]form one of the smallest of the three leading sects among the Chinese.Mr. Ward, a distinguished missionary, was present at the worship of the goddess Doorga, at Calcutta, in 1806. After describing the greatness of the assembly, the profusion of the offerings, and the many strange peculiarities of the worship, he observes,“The whole produced on my mind sensations of the greatest honor. The dress of the singers, their indecent gestures, the abominable nature of the songs, the horrid din of their miserable drum, the lateness of the hour, the darkness of the place, with the reflection that I was standing in an idol temple, and that this immense multitude of rational and immortal creatures, capable of superior joys, were, in the very act of worship, perpetrating a crime of high treason against the God of heaven, while they themselves believed they were performing an act of merit,—excited ideas and feelings in my mind which time can never obliterate.”The vast empire of China, misnamed theCelestial Empire, is given up to the vilest idolatry. Idols are encountered at every step, not merely in the temples, but in the houses, and even in the vessels, where a part of the forecastle is consecrated to them, as the most honorable place. The idol is dressed and adorned with a splendor proportioned to the wealth of the captain of the vessel, and daily receives an offering, composed of flesh and fruits, together with the smoke of perfumes. Besides this regular service, the captain makes a solemn sacrifice to his wooden deity, on all important occasions; as, for instance, in passing from one river into another, or in time of tempest, or when the sails flap idly in a calm. The Chinese have likewise a practice of deifying their dead ancestors, and of prostrating themselves before the monumental tablets which are erected to their memory. Yet they appear to have no real veneration for any of their idols; nor do they hesitate to profane the temples, by smoking their pipes, and taking refreshments, and even by gambling, within[pg 237]the consecrated precincts. The priests are shameless impostors. They practise the mountebank sciences of astrology, divination, necromancy, and animal magnetism, and keep for sale a liquid, which, they pretend, will confer immortality on those who drink it.Tortures of various kinds, burning, and burying alive, are considered religious duties among the pagans.The festival of Juggernaut is annually held on the sea-coast of Orissa, where there is a celebrated temple, and an idol of the god. The idol is a carved block of wood, with a frightful visage, painted black, and a distended mouth of a bloody color. He is dressed in gorgeous apparel, and his appellation is one of the numerous names of Vishnu, the preserving power of the universe, according to the theology of the Bramins. On festival days, the throne of the idol is placed upon a stupendous movable tower, about sixty feet in height, resting on wheels, which indent the ground deeply, as they turn slowly under the ponderous machine. He is accompanied by two other idols, his brother Balaram, and his sister Shubudra, of a white and yellow color, each on a separate tower, and sitting on thrones of nearly an equal height. Attached to the principal tower are six ropes, of the length and size of a ship's cable, by which the people draw it along. The priests and attendants are stationed around the throne, on the car, and occasionally address the worshippers in libidinous songs and gestures. Both the walls of the temple and sides of the car are covered with the most indecent emblems, in large and durable sculpture. Obscenity and blood are the characteristics of the idol's worship. As the tower moves along, devotees, throwing themselves under the wheels, are crushed to death; and such acts are hailed with the acclamations of the multitude, as the most acceptable sacrifices. A body of prostitutes are maintained in the temple, for the use of the worshippers; and various other systematic indecencies, which will not admit of description, form a part of the service. A number of sacred bulls are kept in the place, which are generally fed with vegetables[pg 238]from the hands of the pilgrims, but, from the scarcity of the vegetation, are commonly seen walking about, and eating the fresh ordure of the worshipping crowds. In the temple, also, is preserved a bone of Krishna, which is considered as a most venerable and precious relic, and which few persons are allowed to see.The following is an account of the burning of a Gentoo woman, on the funeral pile of her deceased husband:—“We found,”says M. Stavorinus,“the body of the deceased lying upon a couch, covered with a piece of white cotton, and strewed with betel leaves. The woman, who was to be the victim, sat upon the couch, with her face turned to that of the deceased. She was richly adorned, and held a little green branch in her right hand, with which she drove away the flies from the body. She seemed like one buried in the most profound meditation, yet betrayed no signs of fear. Many of her relations attended upon her, who, at stated intervals, struck up various kinds of music.“The pile was made by driving green bamboo stakes into the earth, between which was first laid fire-wood, very dry and combustible; upon this was put a quantity of dry straw, or reeds, besmeared with grease: this was done alternately, till the pile was five feet in height; and the whole was then strewed with rosin, finely powdered. A white cotton sheet, which had been washed in the Ganges, was then spread over the pile, and the whole was ready for the reception of the victim.“The widow was now admonished, by a priest, that it was time to begin the rites. She was then surrounded by women, who offered her betel, and besought her to supplicate favors for them when she joined her husband in the presence of Ram, or their highest god, and, above all, that she would salute their deceased friends whom she might meet in the celestial mansions.“In the mean time, the body of the husband was taken and washed in the river. The woman was also led to the Ganges for ablution, where she divested herself of all her[pg 239]ornaments. Her head was covered with a piece of silk, and a cloth was tied round her body, in which the priests put some parched rice.“She then took a farewell of her friends, and was conducted by two of her female relations to the pile. When she came to it, she scattered flowers and parched rice upon the spectators, and put some into the mouth of the corpse. Two priests next led her three times round it, while she threw rice among the bystanders, who gathered it up with great eagerness. The last time she went round, she placed a little earthen burning lamp to each of the four corners of the pile, then laid herself down on the right side, next to the body, which she embraced with both her arms; a piece of white cotton was spread over them both; they were bound together with two easy bandages, and a quantity of fire-wood, straw, and rosin, was laid upon them. In the last place, her nearest relations, to whom, on the banks of the river, she had given her nose-jewels, came with a burning torch, and set the straw on fire, and in a moment the whole was in a flame. The noise of the drums, and the shouts of the spectators, were such that the shrieks of the unfortunate woman, if she uttered any, could not have been heard.”Instances are related of women eighty years of age, or upwards, perishing in this manner. One case is mentioned, by Mr. Ward, of a Bramin who had married upwards of a hundred wives, thirty-seven of whom were burnt with him. The pile was kept burning forthree days, and when one or more of them arrived, they threw themselves into theblazing fire.The Pagans worship an immense variety of idols, both animate and inanimate, and very frequently make to themselves gods of objects that are contemptible even among brutes. In Hindoo, themonkeyis a celebrated god. A few years since, the rajah of Nudeeya expended $50,000 in celebrating the marriage of a pair of those mischievous creatures, with all the parade and solemnity of a Hindoo wedding.A Bramin of superior understanding gave Mr. Ward[pg 240]the followingconfession of faith, as the present belief of the philosophical Hindoos, concerning the nature of God, viz.:—“God is invisible, independent, ever-living, glorious, uncorrupt, all-wise, the ever-blessed, the almighty; his perfections are indescribable and past finding out; he rules over all, supports all, destroys all, and remains after the destruction of all; there is none like him; he is silence; he is free from passion, from birth, &c., and from increase and decrease, from fatigue, the need of refreshment, &c. He possesses the power of infinite diminution and lightness, and is the soul of all.“He created, and then entered into, all things, in which he exists in two ways, untouched by matter, and receiving the fruits of practice. He now assumes visible forms for the sake of engaging the minds of mankind. The different gods are parts of God, though his essence remains undiminished, as rays of light leave the sun his undiminished splendor. He created the gods to perform those things in the government of the world, of which man was incapable. Some gods are parts of other gods, and there are deities of still inferior powers. If it be asked why God himself does not govern the world, the answer is, that it might subject him to exposure, and he chooses to be concealed: he therefore governs by the gods, who are emanations from the one God, possessing a portion of his power: he who worships the gods as the one God, substantially worships God. The gods are helpful to men in all human affairs, but they are not friendly to those who seek final absorption, being jealous lest, instead of attaining absorption, they should become gods, and rival them.“Religious ceremonies procure a fund of merit to the performer, which raises him in every future birth, and at length advances him to heaven, where he enjoys happiness for a limited period, or carries him towards final absorption. A person may sink to earth again by crimes committed in heaven. The joys of heaven arise only from the gratification of the senses. A person raised to heaven is considered as a god.[pg 241]“When the following lines of Pope were read to a learned Bramin, he started from his seat, begged a copy of them, and declared the author must have been a Hindoo:—“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; ...Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,Lives through all life, extends through all extent,Spreads undivided, operates unspent.”“Such are the best views of the best of men among the Hindoos. Such a mixture of truth and error, of sense and folly, do they believe and teach.”According to the best accounts that can be obtained from missionaries and others, the number of Pagans, in different countries, exceeds half the population of the globe.Considerable attempts have been made, of late years, for the enlightening of the heathen; and there is every reason to believe good has been done. From the aspect of Scripture prophecy, we are led to expect that the kingdoms of the heathen at large shall be brought to the light of the gospel. (Matt. 24:14, Isa. 60, Ps. 22:28, 29; 2:7, 8.) It has been much disputed whether it be possible that the heathen should be saved without the knowledge of the gospel; some have absolutely denied it, upon the authority of those texts which universally require faith in Christ; but to this it is answered, that those texts regard only such to whom the gospel comes, and are capable of understanding the contents of it.“The truth,”says Dr. Doddridge,“seems to be this—that none of the heathen will be condemned for not believing the gospel, but they are liable to condemnation for the breach of God's natural law: nevertheless, if there be any of them in whom there is a prevailing love to the Divine Being, there seems reason to believe that, for thesakeof Christ, though to them unknown, they may be accepted by God; and so much the rather, as the ancient Jews, and even the apostles, during the time of our Savior's abode on earth, seem to have had[pg 242]but little notion of those doctrines, which those who deny the salvability of the heathen are most apt to imagine.”(Rom. 2:10-22, Acts 10:34, 35. Matt. 8:11, 12.) Grove, Watts, Saurin, and the immortal Newton, favor the same opinion; the latter of whom thus observes:“If we suppose a heathen brought to a sense of his misery; to a conviction that he cannot be happy without the favor of the great Lord of the world; to a feeling of guilt, and desire of mercy; and that, though he has no explicit knowledge of a Savior, he directs the cry of his heart to the unknown Supreme, to have mercy upon him,—who will prove that such views and desires can arise in the heart of a sinner, without the energy of that Spirit which Jesus is exalted to bestow? Who will take upon him to say that his blood has not sufficient efficacy to redeem to God a sinner who is thus disposed, though he have never heard of his name? Or who has a warrant to affirm that the supposition I have made is in the nature of things impossible to be realized?”“That there exist beings, one or many, powerful above the human race, is a proposition,”says Lord Kaimes,“universally admitted as true in all ages and among all nations. I boldly call ituniversal, notwithstanding what is reported of some gross savages; for reports that contradict what is acknowledged to be general among men, require able vouchers. Among many savage tribes there are no words but for objects of external sense: is it surprising that such people are incapable of expressing their religious perceptions, or any perception of internal sense? The conviction that men have of superior powers, in every country where there are words to express it, is so well vouched, that, in fair reasoning, it ought to be taken for granted among the few tribes where language is deficient.”The same ingenious author shows, with great strength of reasoning, that the operations of nature and the government of this world, which to us loudly proclaim the existence of a Deity, are not sufficient to account for the universal belief of superior beings among savage tribes. He is, therefore, of opinion that this universality of conviction[pg 243]can spring only from the image of Deity stamped upon the mind of every human being, the ignorant equally with the learned. This, he thinks, may be termed thesense of Deity.

Deists.The Deists believe in a God, but reject a written revelation from him. They are extravagant in their encomiums on natural religion, though they differ much respecting its nature, extent, obligation, and importance. Dr. Clarke, in his treatise on Deism, divides them into four classes, according to the number of articles comprised in their creed.The first are such as pretend to believe the existence of in eternal, infinite, independent, intelligent Being, and who,[pg 216]to avoid the name of Epicurean Atheists, teach also that this Supreme Being made the world; though, at the same time, they agree with the Epicureans in this—that they fancy God does not at all concern himself in the government of the world, nor has any regard to, or care of, what is done therein.The second sort of Deists are those who believe not only the being, but also the providence, of God, with respect to thenaturalworld, but who, not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny that God takes any notice of the morally good or evil actions of men; these things depending, as they imagine, on the arbitrary constitution of human laws.A third sort of Deists there are, who, having right apprehensions concerning the natural attributes of God and his all-governing providence, and some notion of his moral perfections also, yet, being prejudiced against the notion of the immortality of the soul, believe that men perish entirely at death, and that one generation shall perpetually succeed another, without any further restoration or renovation of things.A fourth and last sort of Deist are such as believe the existence of a Supreme Being, together with his providence in the government of the world; also all the obligations of natural religion, but so far only as these things are discoverable by the light of nature alone, without believing any divine revelation.These, the learned author observes, are the only true Deists; but, as their principles would naturally lead them to embrace the Christian revelation, he concludes there is now no consistent scheme of Deism in the world. Dr. Clarke then adds,“The heathen philosophers—those few of them who taught and lived up to the obligations of natural religion—had, indeed, a consistent scheme of Deism, as far as it went. But the case is not so now; the same scheme is not any longer consistent with its own principles; it does not now lead men to embrace revelation, as it then taught them to hope for it. Deists in our days, who reject revelation when[pg 217]offered to them, are not such men as Socrates and Cicero were; but, under pretence of Deism, it is plain they are generally ridiculers of all that is truly excellent in natural religion itself. Their trivial and vain cavils; their mocking and ridiculing without and before examination; their directing the whole stress of objections against particular customs, or particular and perhaps uncertain opinions or explications of opinions, without at all considering the main body of religion; their loose, vain, and frothy discourses; and, above all, their vicious and immoral lives,—show, plainly and undeniably, that they are not real Deists, but mere Atheists, and, consequently, not capable to judge of the truth of Christianity.”Dr. Paley observes,“Of what a revelation discloses to mankind, one, and only one, question can be properly asked.—Was it of importance to mankind to know or to be better assured of? In this question, when we turn our thoughts to the great Christian doctrine of a resurrection from the dead and a future judgment, no doubt can be possibly entertained. He who gives me riches or honors does nothing; he who even gives me health, does little in comparison with that which lays before me just grounds for expecting a restoration to life, and a day of account and retribution, which thing Christianity hath done for millions.”

The Deists believe in a God, but reject a written revelation from him. They are extravagant in their encomiums on natural religion, though they differ much respecting its nature, extent, obligation, and importance. Dr. Clarke, in his treatise on Deism, divides them into four classes, according to the number of articles comprised in their creed.

The first are such as pretend to believe the existence of in eternal, infinite, independent, intelligent Being, and who,[pg 216]to avoid the name of Epicurean Atheists, teach also that this Supreme Being made the world; though, at the same time, they agree with the Epicureans in this—that they fancy God does not at all concern himself in the government of the world, nor has any regard to, or care of, what is done therein.

The second sort of Deists are those who believe not only the being, but also the providence, of God, with respect to thenaturalworld, but who, not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny that God takes any notice of the morally good or evil actions of men; these things depending, as they imagine, on the arbitrary constitution of human laws.

A third sort of Deists there are, who, having right apprehensions concerning the natural attributes of God and his all-governing providence, and some notion of his moral perfections also, yet, being prejudiced against the notion of the immortality of the soul, believe that men perish entirely at death, and that one generation shall perpetually succeed another, without any further restoration or renovation of things.

A fourth and last sort of Deist are such as believe the existence of a Supreme Being, together with his providence in the government of the world; also all the obligations of natural religion, but so far only as these things are discoverable by the light of nature alone, without believing any divine revelation.

These, the learned author observes, are the only true Deists; but, as their principles would naturally lead them to embrace the Christian revelation, he concludes there is now no consistent scheme of Deism in the world. Dr. Clarke then adds,“The heathen philosophers—those few of them who taught and lived up to the obligations of natural religion—had, indeed, a consistent scheme of Deism, as far as it went. But the case is not so now; the same scheme is not any longer consistent with its own principles; it does not now lead men to embrace revelation, as it then taught them to hope for it. Deists in our days, who reject revelation when[pg 217]offered to them, are not such men as Socrates and Cicero were; but, under pretence of Deism, it is plain they are generally ridiculers of all that is truly excellent in natural religion itself. Their trivial and vain cavils; their mocking and ridiculing without and before examination; their directing the whole stress of objections against particular customs, or particular and perhaps uncertain opinions or explications of opinions, without at all considering the main body of religion; their loose, vain, and frothy discourses; and, above all, their vicious and immoral lives,—show, plainly and undeniably, that they are not real Deists, but mere Atheists, and, consequently, not capable to judge of the truth of Christianity.”

Dr. Paley observes,“Of what a revelation discloses to mankind, one, and only one, question can be properly asked.—Was it of importance to mankind to know or to be better assured of? In this question, when we turn our thoughts to the great Christian doctrine of a resurrection from the dead and a future judgment, no doubt can be possibly entertained. He who gives me riches or honors does nothing; he who even gives me health, does little in comparison with that which lays before me just grounds for expecting a restoration to life, and a day of account and retribution, which thing Christianity hath done for millions.”

Atheists.The Atheists are those who deny the existence of God; this is calledspeculativeAtheism. Professing to believe in God, and yet acting contrary to this belief, is calledpracticalAtheism. Absurd and irrational as Atheism is, it has had its votaries and martyrs. In the seventeenth century, Spinosa was its noted defender. Lucilio Venini, a native of Naples also publicly taught Atheism in France; and, being[pg 218]convicted of it at Toulouse, was condemned and executed in 1619. It has been questioned, however, whether any man ever seriously adopted such a principle.Archbishop Tillotson says,“I appeal to any man of reason, whether any thing can be more unreasonable than obstinately to impute an effect to chance, which carries in the very face of it all the arguments and characters of a wise design and contrivance. Was ever any considerable work in which there were required a great variety of parts, and a regular and orderly disposition of those parts, done by chance? Will chance fit means to ends, and that in ten thousand instances, and not fail in any one? How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground, before they would fall into an exact poem! yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose! And may not a little book be as easily made by chance as the great volume of the world? How long might a man be in sprinkling colors upon canvass with a careless hand, before they would happen to make the exact picture of a man! And is a man easier made by chance than his picture? How long might twenty thousand blind men, who should be sent out from several remote parts of England, wander up and down before they would all meet upon Salisbury Plain, and fall into rank and file in the exact order of an army! And yet this is much more easy to be imagined than how the innumerable blind parts of matter should rendezvous themselves into a world. A man that sees Henry the Seventh's chapel at Westminster, might with as good reason maintain (yea, with much better, considering the vast difference betwixt that little structure and the huge fabric of the world) that it was never contrived or built, by any means, but that the stones did by chance grow into those curious figures into which they seem to have been cut and graven; and that, upon a time, (as tales usually begin,) the materials of that building—the stone, mortar, timber, iron, lead, and glass—happily met together, and very fortunately ranged themselves into that delicate order in which we see them now, so close compacted, that it[pg 219]must be a very great chance that parts them again. What would the world think of a man that should advance such an opinion as this, and write a book for it? If they would do him right, they ought to look upon him as mad; but yet with a little more reason than any man can have to say that the world was made by chance, or that the first men grew up out of the earth as plants do now. For can any thing be more ridiculous, and against all reason, than to ascribe the production of men to the first fruitfulness of the earth, without so much as one instance and experiment, in any age or history, to countenance so monstrous a supposition? The thing is, at first sight, so gross and palpable, that no discourse about it can make it more apparent. And yet these shameful beggars of principles give this precarious account of the original of things; assume to themselves to be the men of reason, the great wits of the world, the only cautious and wary persons, that hate to be imposed upon, that must have convincing evidence for every thing, and can admit of nothing without a clear demonstration of it.”Lord Bacon remarks, that“Alittlephilosophy inclineth a man's mind to Atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for, while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeththe chainof them confederated and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.”

The Atheists are those who deny the existence of God; this is calledspeculativeAtheism. Professing to believe in God, and yet acting contrary to this belief, is calledpracticalAtheism. Absurd and irrational as Atheism is, it has had its votaries and martyrs. In the seventeenth century, Spinosa was its noted defender. Lucilio Venini, a native of Naples also publicly taught Atheism in France; and, being[pg 218]convicted of it at Toulouse, was condemned and executed in 1619. It has been questioned, however, whether any man ever seriously adopted such a principle.

Archbishop Tillotson says,“I appeal to any man of reason, whether any thing can be more unreasonable than obstinately to impute an effect to chance, which carries in the very face of it all the arguments and characters of a wise design and contrivance. Was ever any considerable work in which there were required a great variety of parts, and a regular and orderly disposition of those parts, done by chance? Will chance fit means to ends, and that in ten thousand instances, and not fail in any one? How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground, before they would fall into an exact poem! yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose! And may not a little book be as easily made by chance as the great volume of the world? How long might a man be in sprinkling colors upon canvass with a careless hand, before they would happen to make the exact picture of a man! And is a man easier made by chance than his picture? How long might twenty thousand blind men, who should be sent out from several remote parts of England, wander up and down before they would all meet upon Salisbury Plain, and fall into rank and file in the exact order of an army! And yet this is much more easy to be imagined than how the innumerable blind parts of matter should rendezvous themselves into a world. A man that sees Henry the Seventh's chapel at Westminster, might with as good reason maintain (yea, with much better, considering the vast difference betwixt that little structure and the huge fabric of the world) that it was never contrived or built, by any means, but that the stones did by chance grow into those curious figures into which they seem to have been cut and graven; and that, upon a time, (as tales usually begin,) the materials of that building—the stone, mortar, timber, iron, lead, and glass—happily met together, and very fortunately ranged themselves into that delicate order in which we see them now, so close compacted, that it[pg 219]must be a very great chance that parts them again. What would the world think of a man that should advance such an opinion as this, and write a book for it? If they would do him right, they ought to look upon him as mad; but yet with a little more reason than any man can have to say that the world was made by chance, or that the first men grew up out of the earth as plants do now. For can any thing be more ridiculous, and against all reason, than to ascribe the production of men to the first fruitfulness of the earth, without so much as one instance and experiment, in any age or history, to countenance so monstrous a supposition? The thing is, at first sight, so gross and palpable, that no discourse about it can make it more apparent. And yet these shameful beggars of principles give this precarious account of the original of things; assume to themselves to be the men of reason, the great wits of the world, the only cautious and wary persons, that hate to be imposed upon, that must have convincing evidence for every thing, and can admit of nothing without a clear demonstration of it.”

Lord Bacon remarks, that“Alittlephilosophy inclineth a man's mind to Atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for, while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeththe chainof them confederated and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.”

Pantheists.Abner Kneeland's“Philosophical Creed,”as he terms it, is probably a good definition of the views of those who consider the universe as an immense animal,“Whose body nature is, and God the soul.”Mr. Kneeland says,“I believe in the existence of a[pg 220]universe of suns and planets, among which there is one sun belonging to our planetary system, and that other suns, being more remote, are called stars; but that they are indeed suns to other planetary systems. I believe that the whole universe isnature, and that the wordnatureembraces the whole universe, and that God and Nature, so far as we can attach any rational idea to either, are perfectly synonymous terms. Hence I am not an Atheist, but aPantheist; that is, instead of believing there is no God, I believe that, in the abstract, all is God; and that all power that is, is in God, and that there is no power except that which proceeds from God. I believe that there can be no will or intelligence where there is no sense, and no sense where there are no organs of sense; and hence sense, will, and intelligence, is the effect, and not the cause, of organization. I believe in all that logically results from those premises, whether good, bad, or indifferent. Hence I believe that God is all in all; and that it is in God we live, move, and have our being; and that the whole duty of man consists in living as long as he can, and in promoting as much happiness as he can while he lives.”

Abner Kneeland's“Philosophical Creed,”as he terms it, is probably a good definition of the views of those who consider the universe as an immense animal,

“Whose body nature is, and God the soul.”

Mr. Kneeland says,“I believe in the existence of a[pg 220]universe of suns and planets, among which there is one sun belonging to our planetary system, and that other suns, being more remote, are called stars; but that they are indeed suns to other planetary systems. I believe that the whole universe isnature, and that the wordnatureembraces the whole universe, and that God and Nature, so far as we can attach any rational idea to either, are perfectly synonymous terms. Hence I am not an Atheist, but aPantheist; that is, instead of believing there is no God, I believe that, in the abstract, all is God; and that all power that is, is in God, and that there is no power except that which proceeds from God. I believe that there can be no will or intelligence where there is no sense, and no sense where there are no organs of sense; and hence sense, will, and intelligence, is the effect, and not the cause, of organization. I believe in all that logically results from those premises, whether good, bad, or indifferent. Hence I believe that God is all in all; and that it is in God we live, move, and have our being; and that the whole duty of man consists in living as long as he can, and in promoting as much happiness as he can while he lives.”

Mahometans.Mahometanism is a scheme of religion formed and propagated byMahomet, who was born at Mecca, A. D. 569, and died at Medina, in 632.His system is a compound of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity; and the Koran, which is their Bible, is held in great reverence. It is replete with absurd representations, and is supposed to have been written by a Jew. The most eloquent passage is allowed to be the following, where God is introduced, bidding the waters of the deluge to cease:—“Earth, swallow up the waters; heaven, draw up those thou[pg 221]hast poured out; immediately the waters retreated, the command of God was obeyed, the ark rested on the mountains, and these words were heard—‘Woe to the wicked!’”This religion is still professed and adhered to by the Turks and Persians, and by several nations in Asia and Africa. The best statistical writers estimate the number of Mahometans in the world at about one hundred and forty millions.Mahomet descended from an honorable tribe, and from the noblest family of that tribe; yet his original lot was poverty. By his good conduct, he obtained the hand of a widow of wealth and respectability, and was soon raised to an equality with the richest people in Mecca.Soon after his marriage, he formed the scheme of establishing a new religion, or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient one professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, by destroying the gross idolatry into which most of his countrymen had fallen, and weeding out the corruptions and superstitions which the later Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the worship of one God.The Mahometans divide their religion into two general parts, faith and practice, of which the first is divided into six distinct branches—belief in God, in his angels, in his Scriptures, in his prophets, in the resurrection and final judgment, and in God's absolute decrees. The points relating to practice are, prayer, with washings, alms, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca, and circumcision.They believe that both Mahomet and those among his followers who are reckoned orthodox, had, and continue to have, just and true notions of God, and that his attributes appear so plain from the Koran itself, and all the Mahometan divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those who suppose the God of Mahomet to be different from the true God, and only a fictitious deity, or idol of his own creation.They believe that the existence of angels, and their purity, are absolutely required to be believed in the Koran; and he[pg 222]is reckoned an infidel who denies there are such beings, or hates any of them, or asserts any distinction of sexes among them. They believe them to have pure and subtile bodies, created of fire; that they neither eat, drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices, some adoring God in different postures, others singing praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold that some of them are employed in writing down the actions of men, others in carrying the throne of God, and other services.As to the Scriptures, the Mahometans are taught by the Koran, that God, in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every one of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books were, according to them, one hundred and four; of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or Enoch, ten to Abraham, and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mahomet; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree now to be entirely lost, and their contents unknown, though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that, though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians.They believe that the number of the prophets which have been from time to time sent by God into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one Mahometan tradition; or to 124,000, according to another; among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,[pg 223]and Mahomet. All the prophets in general the Mahometans believe to have been freed from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is, Islamism, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed. They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to be more excellent and honorable than others. The first place they give to the revealers and establishes of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles.They believe in a general resurrection and a future judgment.The time of the resurrection the Mahometans allow to be a perfect secret to all but God alone; the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his ignorance in this point, when Mahomet asked him about it. However, they say the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede it.After the examination is past, and every one's work weighed in a just balance, they say that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And, since there will then be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by taking away a proportional part of the good works of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it; which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say,“Lord we have given to every one his due, and there remaineth of this person's good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant,”God will, of his mercy, cause it to be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the method of God's dealing with mankind.[pg 224]As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance of one another, he will command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to more grievous punishment, so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence passed on the brutes,“Would to God that we were dust also!”The trials being over, and the assembly dissolved, the Manometans hold that those who are to be admitted into paradise will take the right hand way, and those who are destined into hell-fire will take the left; but both of them must first pass the bridge called in Arabical Sirat, which, they say, is laid over the midst of hell, and described to be finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword; so that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall be able to stand upon it; for which reason most of the sect of the Motazalites reject it as a fable; though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this article, that it was seriously affirmed by him who never asserted a falsehood, meaning their prophet, who, to add to the difficulty of the passage, has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with briers and hooked thorns, which will, however, be no impediment to the good; for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning, or the wind, Mahomet, and his Moslems leading the way; whereas the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which directed the former to paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mahometans are taught that hell is divided into seven stories or apartments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned.The first, which they callJehenan, they say, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked Mahometans; who, after having been punished according to their demerits, will at length be released; the second, namedLadha, they assign to the Jews; the third,[pg 225]namedal Hotama, to the Christians; the fourth, namedal Sair, to the Sabians; the fifth; namedSakar, to the Magians; the sixth, namedal Jahin, to the idolaters; and the seventh, which is the lowest and worst of all, and is calledal Howyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were of none. Over each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard of angels, nineteen in number; to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.Mahomet has, in his Koran and traditions, been very exact in describing the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer, both from intense heat and excessive cold. The degrees of these pains will also vary in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he is condemned to; and he who is punished the most lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, the fervor of which will cause his skull to boil like a caldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches, as the same prophet teaches, cannot be properly called eitherlifeordeath; and their misery will be greatly increased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place, since, according to that frequent expression in the Koran,they must remain therein forever. It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will be liable to eternity of damnation; for the Moslems, or those who have embraced the true religion, and have been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their sufferings. The time which these believers shall be detained there, according to a tradition handed down from their prophet, will not be less than nine hundred years, nor more than seven thousand. And, as to the manner of their delivery, they say that they shall be distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with which they used to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire will therefore have no power; and that, being known by this characteristic, they will be released by the[pg 226]mercy of God, at the intercession of Mahomet and the blessed whereupon those who shall have been dead will be restored to life, as has been said; and those whose bodies shall have contracted any sootiness or filth, from the flames and smoke of hell, will be immersed in one of the rivers of paradise, called theRiver of Life, which will wash them whiter than pearls.The righteous, as the Mahometans are taught to believe, having surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter paradise, will be refreshed by drinking at thePondof their prophet, who describes it to be an exact square, of a month's journey in compass; its water, which is supplied by two pipes from al Cawthay, one of the rivers of paradise, being whiter than milk or silver, and more odoriferous than musk, with as many cups set round it as there are stars in the firmament; of which water whoever drinks will thirst no more forever. This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future and now near-approaching felicity.Though paradise be so very frequently mentioned in the Koran, yet it is a dispute among the Mahometans, whether it be already created, or to be created hereafter; the Motazalites and some other sectaries asserting that there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the paradise which the righteous will inhabit in the next life will be different from that from which Adam was expelled. However, the orthodox profess the contrary, maintaining that it was created even before the world, and describe it from their prophet's traditions in the following manner:—They say it is situated in the seventh heaven, and next under the throne of God; and, to express the amenity of the place, tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat-flour, or of the purest mask, or, as others will have it, of saffron; that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its building enriched with gold and silver, and that the trunks of all its trees are of gold; among which the most remarkable is the tree calledtuba, or the tree of happiness. Concerning this[pg 227]tree, they fable that it stands in the palace of Mahomet though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer; that it will be laden with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits of surprising bigness, and of tastes unknown to mortals; so that, if a man desire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented him; or, if he choose flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, according to his wish. They add that the boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the person who would gather of its fruits, and that it will supply the blessed not only with food, but also with silken garments, and beasts to ride on ready saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings, which will burst forth from its fruits; and that this tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse, would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years.As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as a principal ornament thereof: some of these rivers, they say, flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey; all taking their rise from the root of the tree tuba.But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls of paradise, called, from their large black eyes,Hur al oyun, the enjoyment of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say, are created, not of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk; being, as their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all natural impurities, of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than sixty miles square.The name which the Mahometans usually give to this happy mansion isal Jannat, or“the Garden;”and sometimes they call it the“Garden of Paradise,”the“Garden of Eden,”the“Garden of Abode,”the“Garden of Pleasure,”and the like; by which several appellations some understand[pg 228]so many different gardens, or at least places of different degrees of felicity, (for they reckon no less than one hundred such in all,) the very meanest whereof will afford its inhabitants so many pleasures and delights, that one would conclude they must even sink under them, had not Mahomet declared that, in order to qualify the blessed for a full enjoyment of them, God will give to every one the abilities of one hundred men.The orthodox doctrine is, that whatever hath or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or whether it be bad, proceedeth entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table; God having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death; which fate or predestination it is not possible by any foresight or wisdom to avoid.The pilgrimage to Mecca is so necessary a point of practice, that, according to a tradition of Mahomet, he who dies without performing it, may as well die a Jew or a Christian; and the same is expressly commanded in the Koran.What is principally reverenced in Mecca, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a square stone building, called theCaaba. Before the time of Mahomet, this temple was a place of worship for the idolatrous Arabs, and is said to have contained no less than three hundred and sixty different images, equalling in number the days of the Arabian year. They were all destroyed by Mahomet, who sanctified the Caaba, and appointed it to be the chief place of worship for all true believers. The Mussulmen pay so great a veneration to it, that they believe a single sight of its sacred walls, without any particular act of devotion, is as meritorious in the sight of God as the most careful discharge of one's duty, for the space of a whole year, in any other temple.The Mahometans have an established priesthood and a[pg 229]numerous body of clergymen: their spiritual head, in Turkey, whose power is not inferior to the Roman Pontiff, or the Grecian Patriarch, is denominated theMufti, and is regarded as the oracle of sanctity and wisdom. Their houses of worship are denominated mosques, many of which are very magnificent, and very richly endowed. The revenues of some of the royal mosques are said to amount to the enormous sum of 60,000 pounds sterling. In the city of Fez, the capital of the emperor of Morocco, there are near one thousand mosques, fifty of which are built in a most magnificent style, supported by marble pillars. The circumference of the grand mosque is near a mile and a half, in which near a thousand lamps are lighted every night. The Mahometan priests, who perform the rites of their public worship, are calledImams; and they have a set of ministers calledSheiks, who preach everyFriday, the Mahometan Sabbath, much in the manner of Christian preachers. They seldom touch upon points of controversy in their discourses, but preach upon moral duties, upon the dogmas and ceremonies of their religion, and declaim against vice, luxury, and corruption of manners.The rapid success which attended the propagation of this new religion was owing to causes that are plain and evident, and must remove, or rather prevent, our surprise, when they are attentively considered. The terror of Mahomet's arms, and the repeated victories which were gained by him and his successors, were, no doubt, the irresistible arguments that persuaded such multitudes to embrace his religion, and submit to his dominion. Besides, his law was artfully and marvellously adapted to the corrupt nature of man, and, in a most particular manner, to the manners and opinions of the Eastern nations, and the vices to which they were naturally addicted; for the articles of faith which it proposed were few in number, and extremely simple; and the duties it required were neither many nor difficult, nor such as were incompatible with the empire of appetites and passions. It is to be observed, further, that the gross ignorance under which[pg 230]the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part, of the Eastern nations, labored at this time, rendered many an easy prey to the artifice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. To these causes of the progress of Mahometanism we may add the bitter dissensions and cruel animosities that reigned among the Christian sects—dissensions that filled a great part of the East with carnage, assassinations, and such detestable enormities as rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many. Other causes of the sudden progress of that religion will naturally occur to such as consider attentively its spirit and genius, and the state of the world at this time.To show the subtlety of Mahomet's mind, and the extreme ignorance of his followers, we give the story of that impostor's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from thence to heaven.The story, as related in the Koran, and believed by the Mahometans, is this:“At night, as he lay in his bed, with his best beloved wife Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his door; upon which, arising, he found there the angel Gabriel, with seventy pair of wings, expanded from his sides, whiter than snow, and clearer than crystal, and the beast Alborak standing by him; which, they say, is the beast on which the prophets used to ride, when they were carried from one place to another, upon the execution of any divine command. Mahomet describes it to be a beast as white as milk, and of a mixed nature, between an ass and a mule, and also of a size between both; but of such extraordinary swiftness as to equal even lightning itself.“As soon as Mahomet appeared at the door, the angel Gabriel kindly embraced him, saluted him in the name of God, and told him that he was sent to bring him unto God, into heaven, where he should see strange mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by any other man. He prayed him, then, to get upon Alborak; but the beast, having lain idle and unemployed from the time of Christ to Mahomet, was grown so mettlesome and skittish, that he would not stand still for Mahomet to mount him, till at length he was forced to bribe[pg 231]him to it by promising him a place in paradise. When he was firmly seated on him, the angel Gabriel led the way, with the bridle of the beast in his hand, and carried the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye. On his coming thither, all the departed prophets and saints appeared at the gate of the temple to salute him, and, thence attending him into the chief oratory, desired him to pray for them, and then withdrew. After this, Mahomet went out of the temple with the angel Gabriel, and found a ladder of light, ready fixed for them, which they immediately ascended, leaving Alborak tied to a rock till their return.“On their arrival at the first heaven, the angel knocked at the gate; and, informing the porter who he was, and that he had brought Mahomet, the friend of God, he was immediately admitted. This first heaven, he tells us, was all of pure silver; from whence he saw the stars hanging from it by chains of gold, each as big as Mount Noho, near Mecca, in Arabia. On his entrance, he met a decrepit old man, who, it seems, was our first father, Adam; and, as he advanced, he saw a multitude of angels in all manner of shapes—in the shape of birds, beasts, and men. We must not forget to observe that Adam had the piety immediately to embrace the prophet, giving God thanks for so great a son, and then recommended himself to his prayers. From this first heaven he tells us that he ascended into the second, which was at the distance of five hundred years' journey above it, and this he makes to be the distance of every one of the seven heavens, each above the other. Here the gates being opened to him as before, at his entrance he met Noah, who, rejoicing much at the sight of him, recommended himself to his prayers. This heaven was all of pure gold, and there were twice as many angels in it as in the former; for he tells us that the number of angels in every heaven increased as he advanced. From this second heaven he ascended into the third, which was made of precious stones, where he met Abraham, who also recommended himself to his prayers; Joseph, the son of Jacob, did the same in the fourth heaven, which was all of emerald; Moses[pg 232]in the fifth, which was all of adamant; and John the Baptist in the sixth, which was all of carbuncle; whence he ascended into the seventh, which was of divine light; and here he found Jesus Christ. However, it is observed that here he alters his style; for he does not say that Jesus Christ recommended himself to his prayers, but that he recommended himself to the prayers of Jesus Christ.“The angel Gabriel, having brought him thus far, told him that he was not permitted to attend him any farther, and therefore directed him to ascend the rest of the way to the throne of God by himself. This he performed with great difficulty, passing through rough and dangerous places, till he came where he heard a voice saying unto him,‘O Mahomet, salute thy Creator;’whence ascending higher, he came into a place where he saw a vast expansion of light, so exceedingly bright, that his eyes could not bear it. This, it seems, was the habitation of the Almighty, where his throne was placed; on the right side of which, he says, God's name and his own were written in these Arabic words:‘La ellah ellallah Mahomet reful ollah;’that is,‘There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet,’which is at this day the creed of the Mahometans. Being approached to the divine presence, he tells us that God entered into a familiar converse with him, revealed to him many hidden mysteries, made him understand the whole of his law, gave him many things in charge concerning his instructing men in the knowledge of it, and, in conclusion, bestowed on him several privileges above the rest of mankind. He then returned, and found the angel Gabriel waiting for him in the place where he left him. The angel led him back along the seven heavens, through which he had brought him, and set him again upon the beast Alborak, which stood tied to the rock near Jerusalem. Then he conducted him back to Mecca, in the same manner as he brought him thence; and all this within the space of the tenth part of one night.”Dr. Joseph White thus concludes one of his discourses on[pg 233]Mahometanism:“What raises Christ and his religion far above all the fictions of Mahomet, is that awful alternative of hopes and fears, that looking-for of judgment, which our Christian faith sets before us. At that day, when time, the great arbiter of truth and falsehood, shall bring to pass the accomplishment of the ages, and the Son of God shall make his enemies his footstool,—then shall the deluded followers of the great Impostor, disappointed of the expected intercession of their prophet, stand trembling and dismayed at the approach of the glorified Messiah. Then shall they say,‘Yonder cometh in the clouds that Jesus whose religion we labored to destroy; whose temples we profaned; whose servants and followers we cruelly oppressed! Behold, he cometh, but no longer the humble son of Mary; no longer a mere mortal prophet, the equal of Abraham, and of Moses, as that deceiver taught us, but the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father; the Judge of mankind; the Sovereign of angels; the Lord of all things, both in earth and in heaven!’”

Mahometanism is a scheme of religion formed and propagated byMahomet, who was born at Mecca, A. D. 569, and died at Medina, in 632.

His system is a compound of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity; and the Koran, which is their Bible, is held in great reverence. It is replete with absurd representations, and is supposed to have been written by a Jew. The most eloquent passage is allowed to be the following, where God is introduced, bidding the waters of the deluge to cease:—“Earth, swallow up the waters; heaven, draw up those thou[pg 221]hast poured out; immediately the waters retreated, the command of God was obeyed, the ark rested on the mountains, and these words were heard—‘Woe to the wicked!’”

This religion is still professed and adhered to by the Turks and Persians, and by several nations in Asia and Africa. The best statistical writers estimate the number of Mahometans in the world at about one hundred and forty millions.

Mahomet descended from an honorable tribe, and from the noblest family of that tribe; yet his original lot was poverty. By his good conduct, he obtained the hand of a widow of wealth and respectability, and was soon raised to an equality with the richest people in Mecca.

Soon after his marriage, he formed the scheme of establishing a new religion, or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient one professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, by destroying the gross idolatry into which most of his countrymen had fallen, and weeding out the corruptions and superstitions which the later Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the worship of one God.

The Mahometans divide their religion into two general parts, faith and practice, of which the first is divided into six distinct branches—belief in God, in his angels, in his Scriptures, in his prophets, in the resurrection and final judgment, and in God's absolute decrees. The points relating to practice are, prayer, with washings, alms, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca, and circumcision.

They believe that both Mahomet and those among his followers who are reckoned orthodox, had, and continue to have, just and true notions of God, and that his attributes appear so plain from the Koran itself, and all the Mahometan divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those who suppose the God of Mahomet to be different from the true God, and only a fictitious deity, or idol of his own creation.

They believe that the existence of angels, and their purity, are absolutely required to be believed in the Koran; and he[pg 222]is reckoned an infidel who denies there are such beings, or hates any of them, or asserts any distinction of sexes among them. They believe them to have pure and subtile bodies, created of fire; that they neither eat, drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices, some adoring God in different postures, others singing praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold that some of them are employed in writing down the actions of men, others in carrying the throne of God, and other services.

As to the Scriptures, the Mahometans are taught by the Koran, that God, in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every one of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books were, according to them, one hundred and four; of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or Enoch, ten to Abraham, and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mahomet; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they agree now to be entirely lost, and their contents unknown, though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that, though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians.

They believe that the number of the prophets which have been from time to time sent by God into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one Mahometan tradition; or to 124,000, according to another; among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,[pg 223]and Mahomet. All the prophets in general the Mahometans believe to have been freed from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is, Islamism, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed. They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to be more excellent and honorable than others. The first place they give to the revealers and establishes of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles.

They believe in a general resurrection and a future judgment.

The time of the resurrection the Mahometans allow to be a perfect secret to all but God alone; the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his ignorance in this point, when Mahomet asked him about it. However, they say the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede it.

After the examination is past, and every one's work weighed in a just balance, they say that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And, since there will then be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by taking away a proportional part of the good works of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it; which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say,“Lord we have given to every one his due, and there remaineth of this person's good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant,”God will, of his mercy, cause it to be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the method of God's dealing with mankind.[pg 224]As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance of one another, he will command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to more grievous punishment, so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence passed on the brutes,“Would to God that we were dust also!”

The trials being over, and the assembly dissolved, the Manometans hold that those who are to be admitted into paradise will take the right hand way, and those who are destined into hell-fire will take the left; but both of them must first pass the bridge called in Arabical Sirat, which, they say, is laid over the midst of hell, and described to be finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword; so that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall be able to stand upon it; for which reason most of the sect of the Motazalites reject it as a fable; though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this article, that it was seriously affirmed by him who never asserted a falsehood, meaning their prophet, who, to add to the difficulty of the passage, has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with briers and hooked thorns, which will, however, be no impediment to the good; for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning, or the wind, Mahomet, and his Moslems leading the way; whereas the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which directed the former to paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.

As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mahometans are taught that hell is divided into seven stories or apartments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned.

The first, which they callJehenan, they say, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked Mahometans; who, after having been punished according to their demerits, will at length be released; the second, namedLadha, they assign to the Jews; the third,[pg 225]namedal Hotama, to the Christians; the fourth, namedal Sair, to the Sabians; the fifth; namedSakar, to the Magians; the sixth, namedal Jahin, to the idolaters; and the seventh, which is the lowest and worst of all, and is calledal Howyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were of none. Over each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard of angels, nineteen in number; to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.

Mahomet has, in his Koran and traditions, been very exact in describing the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer, both from intense heat and excessive cold. The degrees of these pains will also vary in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he is condemned to; and he who is punished the most lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, the fervor of which will cause his skull to boil like a caldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches, as the same prophet teaches, cannot be properly called eitherlifeordeath; and their misery will be greatly increased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place, since, according to that frequent expression in the Koran,they must remain therein forever. It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will be liable to eternity of damnation; for the Moslems, or those who have embraced the true religion, and have been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their sufferings. The time which these believers shall be detained there, according to a tradition handed down from their prophet, will not be less than nine hundred years, nor more than seven thousand. And, as to the manner of their delivery, they say that they shall be distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with which they used to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire will therefore have no power; and that, being known by this characteristic, they will be released by the[pg 226]mercy of God, at the intercession of Mahomet and the blessed whereupon those who shall have been dead will be restored to life, as has been said; and those whose bodies shall have contracted any sootiness or filth, from the flames and smoke of hell, will be immersed in one of the rivers of paradise, called theRiver of Life, which will wash them whiter than pearls.

The righteous, as the Mahometans are taught to believe, having surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter paradise, will be refreshed by drinking at thePondof their prophet, who describes it to be an exact square, of a month's journey in compass; its water, which is supplied by two pipes from al Cawthay, one of the rivers of paradise, being whiter than milk or silver, and more odoriferous than musk, with as many cups set round it as there are stars in the firmament; of which water whoever drinks will thirst no more forever. This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future and now near-approaching felicity.

Though paradise be so very frequently mentioned in the Koran, yet it is a dispute among the Mahometans, whether it be already created, or to be created hereafter; the Motazalites and some other sectaries asserting that there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the paradise which the righteous will inhabit in the next life will be different from that from which Adam was expelled. However, the orthodox profess the contrary, maintaining that it was created even before the world, and describe it from their prophet's traditions in the following manner:—

They say it is situated in the seventh heaven, and next under the throne of God; and, to express the amenity of the place, tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat-flour, or of the purest mask, or, as others will have it, of saffron; that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its building enriched with gold and silver, and that the trunks of all its trees are of gold; among which the most remarkable is the tree calledtuba, or the tree of happiness. Concerning this[pg 227]tree, they fable that it stands in the palace of Mahomet though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer; that it will be laden with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits of surprising bigness, and of tastes unknown to mortals; so that, if a man desire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented him; or, if he choose flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, according to his wish. They add that the boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the person who would gather of its fruits, and that it will supply the blessed not only with food, but also with silken garments, and beasts to ride on ready saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings, which will burst forth from its fruits; and that this tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse, would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years.

As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as a principal ornament thereof: some of these rivers, they say, flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey; all taking their rise from the root of the tree tuba.

But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls of paradise, called, from their large black eyes,Hur al oyun, the enjoyment of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say, are created, not of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk; being, as their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all natural impurities, of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than sixty miles square.

The name which the Mahometans usually give to this happy mansion isal Jannat, or“the Garden;”and sometimes they call it the“Garden of Paradise,”the“Garden of Eden,”the“Garden of Abode,”the“Garden of Pleasure,”and the like; by which several appellations some understand[pg 228]so many different gardens, or at least places of different degrees of felicity, (for they reckon no less than one hundred such in all,) the very meanest whereof will afford its inhabitants so many pleasures and delights, that one would conclude they must even sink under them, had not Mahomet declared that, in order to qualify the blessed for a full enjoyment of them, God will give to every one the abilities of one hundred men.

The orthodox doctrine is, that whatever hath or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or whether it be bad, proceedeth entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table; God having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death; which fate or predestination it is not possible by any foresight or wisdom to avoid.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is so necessary a point of practice, that, according to a tradition of Mahomet, he who dies without performing it, may as well die a Jew or a Christian; and the same is expressly commanded in the Koran.

What is principally reverenced in Mecca, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a square stone building, called theCaaba. Before the time of Mahomet, this temple was a place of worship for the idolatrous Arabs, and is said to have contained no less than three hundred and sixty different images, equalling in number the days of the Arabian year. They were all destroyed by Mahomet, who sanctified the Caaba, and appointed it to be the chief place of worship for all true believers. The Mussulmen pay so great a veneration to it, that they believe a single sight of its sacred walls, without any particular act of devotion, is as meritorious in the sight of God as the most careful discharge of one's duty, for the space of a whole year, in any other temple.

The Mahometans have an established priesthood and a[pg 229]numerous body of clergymen: their spiritual head, in Turkey, whose power is not inferior to the Roman Pontiff, or the Grecian Patriarch, is denominated theMufti, and is regarded as the oracle of sanctity and wisdom. Their houses of worship are denominated mosques, many of which are very magnificent, and very richly endowed. The revenues of some of the royal mosques are said to amount to the enormous sum of 60,000 pounds sterling. In the city of Fez, the capital of the emperor of Morocco, there are near one thousand mosques, fifty of which are built in a most magnificent style, supported by marble pillars. The circumference of the grand mosque is near a mile and a half, in which near a thousand lamps are lighted every night. The Mahometan priests, who perform the rites of their public worship, are calledImams; and they have a set of ministers calledSheiks, who preach everyFriday, the Mahometan Sabbath, much in the manner of Christian preachers. They seldom touch upon points of controversy in their discourses, but preach upon moral duties, upon the dogmas and ceremonies of their religion, and declaim against vice, luxury, and corruption of manners.

The rapid success which attended the propagation of this new religion was owing to causes that are plain and evident, and must remove, or rather prevent, our surprise, when they are attentively considered. The terror of Mahomet's arms, and the repeated victories which were gained by him and his successors, were, no doubt, the irresistible arguments that persuaded such multitudes to embrace his religion, and submit to his dominion. Besides, his law was artfully and marvellously adapted to the corrupt nature of man, and, in a most particular manner, to the manners and opinions of the Eastern nations, and the vices to which they were naturally addicted; for the articles of faith which it proposed were few in number, and extremely simple; and the duties it required were neither many nor difficult, nor such as were incompatible with the empire of appetites and passions. It is to be observed, further, that the gross ignorance under which[pg 230]the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part, of the Eastern nations, labored at this time, rendered many an easy prey to the artifice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. To these causes of the progress of Mahometanism we may add the bitter dissensions and cruel animosities that reigned among the Christian sects—dissensions that filled a great part of the East with carnage, assassinations, and such detestable enormities as rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many. Other causes of the sudden progress of that religion will naturally occur to such as consider attentively its spirit and genius, and the state of the world at this time.

To show the subtlety of Mahomet's mind, and the extreme ignorance of his followers, we give the story of that impostor's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from thence to heaven.

The story, as related in the Koran, and believed by the Mahometans, is this:“At night, as he lay in his bed, with his best beloved wife Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his door; upon which, arising, he found there the angel Gabriel, with seventy pair of wings, expanded from his sides, whiter than snow, and clearer than crystal, and the beast Alborak standing by him; which, they say, is the beast on which the prophets used to ride, when they were carried from one place to another, upon the execution of any divine command. Mahomet describes it to be a beast as white as milk, and of a mixed nature, between an ass and a mule, and also of a size between both; but of such extraordinary swiftness as to equal even lightning itself.

“As soon as Mahomet appeared at the door, the angel Gabriel kindly embraced him, saluted him in the name of God, and told him that he was sent to bring him unto God, into heaven, where he should see strange mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by any other man. He prayed him, then, to get upon Alborak; but the beast, having lain idle and unemployed from the time of Christ to Mahomet, was grown so mettlesome and skittish, that he would not stand still for Mahomet to mount him, till at length he was forced to bribe[pg 231]him to it by promising him a place in paradise. When he was firmly seated on him, the angel Gabriel led the way, with the bridle of the beast in his hand, and carried the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye. On his coming thither, all the departed prophets and saints appeared at the gate of the temple to salute him, and, thence attending him into the chief oratory, desired him to pray for them, and then withdrew. After this, Mahomet went out of the temple with the angel Gabriel, and found a ladder of light, ready fixed for them, which they immediately ascended, leaving Alborak tied to a rock till their return.

“On their arrival at the first heaven, the angel knocked at the gate; and, informing the porter who he was, and that he had brought Mahomet, the friend of God, he was immediately admitted. This first heaven, he tells us, was all of pure silver; from whence he saw the stars hanging from it by chains of gold, each as big as Mount Noho, near Mecca, in Arabia. On his entrance, he met a decrepit old man, who, it seems, was our first father, Adam; and, as he advanced, he saw a multitude of angels in all manner of shapes—in the shape of birds, beasts, and men. We must not forget to observe that Adam had the piety immediately to embrace the prophet, giving God thanks for so great a son, and then recommended himself to his prayers. From this first heaven he tells us that he ascended into the second, which was at the distance of five hundred years' journey above it, and this he makes to be the distance of every one of the seven heavens, each above the other. Here the gates being opened to him as before, at his entrance he met Noah, who, rejoicing much at the sight of him, recommended himself to his prayers. This heaven was all of pure gold, and there were twice as many angels in it as in the former; for he tells us that the number of angels in every heaven increased as he advanced. From this second heaven he ascended into the third, which was made of precious stones, where he met Abraham, who also recommended himself to his prayers; Joseph, the son of Jacob, did the same in the fourth heaven, which was all of emerald; Moses[pg 232]in the fifth, which was all of adamant; and John the Baptist in the sixth, which was all of carbuncle; whence he ascended into the seventh, which was of divine light; and here he found Jesus Christ. However, it is observed that here he alters his style; for he does not say that Jesus Christ recommended himself to his prayers, but that he recommended himself to the prayers of Jesus Christ.

“The angel Gabriel, having brought him thus far, told him that he was not permitted to attend him any farther, and therefore directed him to ascend the rest of the way to the throne of God by himself. This he performed with great difficulty, passing through rough and dangerous places, till he came where he heard a voice saying unto him,‘O Mahomet, salute thy Creator;’whence ascending higher, he came into a place where he saw a vast expansion of light, so exceedingly bright, that his eyes could not bear it. This, it seems, was the habitation of the Almighty, where his throne was placed; on the right side of which, he says, God's name and his own were written in these Arabic words:‘La ellah ellallah Mahomet reful ollah;’that is,‘There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet,’which is at this day the creed of the Mahometans. Being approached to the divine presence, he tells us that God entered into a familiar converse with him, revealed to him many hidden mysteries, made him understand the whole of his law, gave him many things in charge concerning his instructing men in the knowledge of it, and, in conclusion, bestowed on him several privileges above the rest of mankind. He then returned, and found the angel Gabriel waiting for him in the place where he left him. The angel led him back along the seven heavens, through which he had brought him, and set him again upon the beast Alborak, which stood tied to the rock near Jerusalem. Then he conducted him back to Mecca, in the same manner as he brought him thence; and all this within the space of the tenth part of one night.”

Dr. Joseph White thus concludes one of his discourses on[pg 233]Mahometanism:“What raises Christ and his religion far above all the fictions of Mahomet, is that awful alternative of hopes and fears, that looking-for of judgment, which our Christian faith sets before us. At that day, when time, the great arbiter of truth and falsehood, shall bring to pass the accomplishment of the ages, and the Son of God shall make his enemies his footstool,—then shall the deluded followers of the great Impostor, disappointed of the expected intercession of their prophet, stand trembling and dismayed at the approach of the glorified Messiah. Then shall they say,‘Yonder cometh in the clouds that Jesus whose religion we labored to destroy; whose temples we profaned; whose servants and followers we cruelly oppressed! Behold, he cometh, but no longer the humble son of Mary; no longer a mere mortal prophet, the equal of Abraham, and of Moses, as that deceiver taught us, but the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father; the Judge of mankind; the Sovereign of angels; the Lord of all things, both in earth and in heaven!’”

Simonians.An infidel sect, organized in France, some years since, whose fundamental principle is, that religion is to perfect the social condition of man; therefore Christianity is no longer suitable for society, because it separates the Christian from other men, and leads him to live for another world. The world requires a religion that shall be of this world, and, consequently, a God of this world. They reject whatever they suppose to have been derived from the philosophy of the East; they consider the Deity neither as spirit nor matter, but as including the whole universe, and are thus plainly Pantheists; and they regard evil as nothing more than an indication of the progress which mankind are doomed make, in order to be freed from it; in itself, they maintain it is[pg 234]nothing. Its members are principally of the higher ranks, and display, not without success, the greatest activity in spreading the venom of their infidel principles. They occupy, in Paris, the largest and most handsomely fitted halls, where they meet in great numbers.What is very curious in the history of the Simonians is, that they were, at first, merely philosophers, and not at all the founders of a religion. They spoke of science and industry, but not of religious doctrines. All at once, however, it seemed to occur to them to teach a religion. Then their school became a church, and their association a sect. It is evident that, with them, religion was not originally the end of their institution, but has been employed by them as the means of collecting a greater number of hearers.

An infidel sect, organized in France, some years since, whose fundamental principle is, that religion is to perfect the social condition of man; therefore Christianity is no longer suitable for society, because it separates the Christian from other men, and leads him to live for another world. The world requires a religion that shall be of this world, and, consequently, a God of this world. They reject whatever they suppose to have been derived from the philosophy of the East; they consider the Deity neither as spirit nor matter, but as including the whole universe, and are thus plainly Pantheists; and they regard evil as nothing more than an indication of the progress which mankind are doomed make, in order to be freed from it; in itself, they maintain it is[pg 234]nothing. Its members are principally of the higher ranks, and display, not without success, the greatest activity in spreading the venom of their infidel principles. They occupy, in Paris, the largest and most handsomely fitted halls, where they meet in great numbers.

What is very curious in the history of the Simonians is, that they were, at first, merely philosophers, and not at all the founders of a religion. They spoke of science and industry, but not of religious doctrines. All at once, however, it seemed to occur to them to teach a religion. Then their school became a church, and their association a sect. It is evident that, with them, religion was not originally the end of their institution, but has been employed by them as the means of collecting a greater number of hearers.

Pagans.A general term, applied to heathen idolaters, who worship false gods, and are not acquainted either with the doctrines of the Old Testament or the Christian dispensation. The worship of the Grand Lama is of the most extensive and splendid character among the Pagan idolaters. This extends all over Thibet and Mongolia, is almost universal in Bucharia and several provinces of Tartary; it has followers in Cashmere, and is the predominant religion of China.The Grand Lama is a name given to the sovereign pontiff, or high priest, of the Thibetian Tartars, who resides at Patoli, a vast palace on a mountain, near the banks of Burhampooter, about seven miles from Lahassa. The foot of this mountain is inhabited by twenty thousand Lamas, or priests, who have their separate apartments round about the mountain, and, according to their respective quality, are placed nearer or at a greater distance from the sovereign pontiff. He is not only the sovereign pontiff, the vicegerent[pg 235]of the Deity on earth, but the more remote Tartars are said to absolutely regard him as the Deity himself, and call himGod, the everlasting Father of heaven. They believe him to be immortal, and endowed with all knowledge and virtue. Every year they come up, from different parts, to worship, and make rich offerings at his shrine. Even the emperor of China, who is a Manchou Tartar, does not fail in acknowledgments to him, in his religious capacity, and actually entertains, at a great expense, in the palace of Pekin, an inferior Lama, deputed as his nuncio from Thibet. The Grand Lama, it has been said, is never to be seen but in a secret place of his palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting cross-legged upon a cushion, and decked all over with gold and precious stones; where, at a distance, the people prostrate themselves before him, it being not lawful for any so much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least sign of respect, nor ever speaks, even to the greatest princes, but only lays his hand upon their heads; and they are fully persuaded they receive from thence a full forgiveness of all their sins.The magnificence and number of the ancient heathen temples almost exceed calculation or belief. At one time, there were no less than 424 temples in the city of Rome, The temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. It was 425 feet in length, 220 in breadth, and was adorned with 100 columns 60 feet high; and, as each column is said to have contained 150 tons of marble,—as the stupendous edifice, outside and in, was adorned with gold, and a profusion of ornaments,—how immense must have been the whole expense of its erection!At the present day, many of the pagan nations go to immense expense in the support of their religious worship. It is stated, in the Indo-Chinese Gleaner, a paper published by the missionaries in China, that there are, in that empire, 1056 temples dedicated to Confucius, where above 60,000 animals are annually offered. The followers of Confucius[pg 236]form one of the smallest of the three leading sects among the Chinese.Mr. Ward, a distinguished missionary, was present at the worship of the goddess Doorga, at Calcutta, in 1806. After describing the greatness of the assembly, the profusion of the offerings, and the many strange peculiarities of the worship, he observes,“The whole produced on my mind sensations of the greatest honor. The dress of the singers, their indecent gestures, the abominable nature of the songs, the horrid din of their miserable drum, the lateness of the hour, the darkness of the place, with the reflection that I was standing in an idol temple, and that this immense multitude of rational and immortal creatures, capable of superior joys, were, in the very act of worship, perpetrating a crime of high treason against the God of heaven, while they themselves believed they were performing an act of merit,—excited ideas and feelings in my mind which time can never obliterate.”The vast empire of China, misnamed theCelestial Empire, is given up to the vilest idolatry. Idols are encountered at every step, not merely in the temples, but in the houses, and even in the vessels, where a part of the forecastle is consecrated to them, as the most honorable place. The idol is dressed and adorned with a splendor proportioned to the wealth of the captain of the vessel, and daily receives an offering, composed of flesh and fruits, together with the smoke of perfumes. Besides this regular service, the captain makes a solemn sacrifice to his wooden deity, on all important occasions; as, for instance, in passing from one river into another, or in time of tempest, or when the sails flap idly in a calm. The Chinese have likewise a practice of deifying their dead ancestors, and of prostrating themselves before the monumental tablets which are erected to their memory. Yet they appear to have no real veneration for any of their idols; nor do they hesitate to profane the temples, by smoking their pipes, and taking refreshments, and even by gambling, within[pg 237]the consecrated precincts. The priests are shameless impostors. They practise the mountebank sciences of astrology, divination, necromancy, and animal magnetism, and keep for sale a liquid, which, they pretend, will confer immortality on those who drink it.Tortures of various kinds, burning, and burying alive, are considered religious duties among the pagans.The festival of Juggernaut is annually held on the sea-coast of Orissa, where there is a celebrated temple, and an idol of the god. The idol is a carved block of wood, with a frightful visage, painted black, and a distended mouth of a bloody color. He is dressed in gorgeous apparel, and his appellation is one of the numerous names of Vishnu, the preserving power of the universe, according to the theology of the Bramins. On festival days, the throne of the idol is placed upon a stupendous movable tower, about sixty feet in height, resting on wheels, which indent the ground deeply, as they turn slowly under the ponderous machine. He is accompanied by two other idols, his brother Balaram, and his sister Shubudra, of a white and yellow color, each on a separate tower, and sitting on thrones of nearly an equal height. Attached to the principal tower are six ropes, of the length and size of a ship's cable, by which the people draw it along. The priests and attendants are stationed around the throne, on the car, and occasionally address the worshippers in libidinous songs and gestures. Both the walls of the temple and sides of the car are covered with the most indecent emblems, in large and durable sculpture. Obscenity and blood are the characteristics of the idol's worship. As the tower moves along, devotees, throwing themselves under the wheels, are crushed to death; and such acts are hailed with the acclamations of the multitude, as the most acceptable sacrifices. A body of prostitutes are maintained in the temple, for the use of the worshippers; and various other systematic indecencies, which will not admit of description, form a part of the service. A number of sacred bulls are kept in the place, which are generally fed with vegetables[pg 238]from the hands of the pilgrims, but, from the scarcity of the vegetation, are commonly seen walking about, and eating the fresh ordure of the worshipping crowds. In the temple, also, is preserved a bone of Krishna, which is considered as a most venerable and precious relic, and which few persons are allowed to see.The following is an account of the burning of a Gentoo woman, on the funeral pile of her deceased husband:—“We found,”says M. Stavorinus,“the body of the deceased lying upon a couch, covered with a piece of white cotton, and strewed with betel leaves. The woman, who was to be the victim, sat upon the couch, with her face turned to that of the deceased. She was richly adorned, and held a little green branch in her right hand, with which she drove away the flies from the body. She seemed like one buried in the most profound meditation, yet betrayed no signs of fear. Many of her relations attended upon her, who, at stated intervals, struck up various kinds of music.“The pile was made by driving green bamboo stakes into the earth, between which was first laid fire-wood, very dry and combustible; upon this was put a quantity of dry straw, or reeds, besmeared with grease: this was done alternately, till the pile was five feet in height; and the whole was then strewed with rosin, finely powdered. A white cotton sheet, which had been washed in the Ganges, was then spread over the pile, and the whole was ready for the reception of the victim.“The widow was now admonished, by a priest, that it was time to begin the rites. She was then surrounded by women, who offered her betel, and besought her to supplicate favors for them when she joined her husband in the presence of Ram, or their highest god, and, above all, that she would salute their deceased friends whom she might meet in the celestial mansions.“In the mean time, the body of the husband was taken and washed in the river. The woman was also led to the Ganges for ablution, where she divested herself of all her[pg 239]ornaments. Her head was covered with a piece of silk, and a cloth was tied round her body, in which the priests put some parched rice.“She then took a farewell of her friends, and was conducted by two of her female relations to the pile. When she came to it, she scattered flowers and parched rice upon the spectators, and put some into the mouth of the corpse. Two priests next led her three times round it, while she threw rice among the bystanders, who gathered it up with great eagerness. The last time she went round, she placed a little earthen burning lamp to each of the four corners of the pile, then laid herself down on the right side, next to the body, which she embraced with both her arms; a piece of white cotton was spread over them both; they were bound together with two easy bandages, and a quantity of fire-wood, straw, and rosin, was laid upon them. In the last place, her nearest relations, to whom, on the banks of the river, she had given her nose-jewels, came with a burning torch, and set the straw on fire, and in a moment the whole was in a flame. The noise of the drums, and the shouts of the spectators, were such that the shrieks of the unfortunate woman, if she uttered any, could not have been heard.”Instances are related of women eighty years of age, or upwards, perishing in this manner. One case is mentioned, by Mr. Ward, of a Bramin who had married upwards of a hundred wives, thirty-seven of whom were burnt with him. The pile was kept burning forthree days, and when one or more of them arrived, they threw themselves into theblazing fire.The Pagans worship an immense variety of idols, both animate and inanimate, and very frequently make to themselves gods of objects that are contemptible even among brutes. In Hindoo, themonkeyis a celebrated god. A few years since, the rajah of Nudeeya expended $50,000 in celebrating the marriage of a pair of those mischievous creatures, with all the parade and solemnity of a Hindoo wedding.A Bramin of superior understanding gave Mr. Ward[pg 240]the followingconfession of faith, as the present belief of the philosophical Hindoos, concerning the nature of God, viz.:—“God is invisible, independent, ever-living, glorious, uncorrupt, all-wise, the ever-blessed, the almighty; his perfections are indescribable and past finding out; he rules over all, supports all, destroys all, and remains after the destruction of all; there is none like him; he is silence; he is free from passion, from birth, &c., and from increase and decrease, from fatigue, the need of refreshment, &c. He possesses the power of infinite diminution and lightness, and is the soul of all.“He created, and then entered into, all things, in which he exists in two ways, untouched by matter, and receiving the fruits of practice. He now assumes visible forms for the sake of engaging the minds of mankind. The different gods are parts of God, though his essence remains undiminished, as rays of light leave the sun his undiminished splendor. He created the gods to perform those things in the government of the world, of which man was incapable. Some gods are parts of other gods, and there are deities of still inferior powers. If it be asked why God himself does not govern the world, the answer is, that it might subject him to exposure, and he chooses to be concealed: he therefore governs by the gods, who are emanations from the one God, possessing a portion of his power: he who worships the gods as the one God, substantially worships God. The gods are helpful to men in all human affairs, but they are not friendly to those who seek final absorption, being jealous lest, instead of attaining absorption, they should become gods, and rival them.“Religious ceremonies procure a fund of merit to the performer, which raises him in every future birth, and at length advances him to heaven, where he enjoys happiness for a limited period, or carries him towards final absorption. A person may sink to earth again by crimes committed in heaven. The joys of heaven arise only from the gratification of the senses. A person raised to heaven is considered as a god.[pg 241]“When the following lines of Pope were read to a learned Bramin, he started from his seat, begged a copy of them, and declared the author must have been a Hindoo:—“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; ...Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,Lives through all life, extends through all extent,Spreads undivided, operates unspent.”“Such are the best views of the best of men among the Hindoos. Such a mixture of truth and error, of sense and folly, do they believe and teach.”According to the best accounts that can be obtained from missionaries and others, the number of Pagans, in different countries, exceeds half the population of the globe.Considerable attempts have been made, of late years, for the enlightening of the heathen; and there is every reason to believe good has been done. From the aspect of Scripture prophecy, we are led to expect that the kingdoms of the heathen at large shall be brought to the light of the gospel. (Matt. 24:14, Isa. 60, Ps. 22:28, 29; 2:7, 8.) It has been much disputed whether it be possible that the heathen should be saved without the knowledge of the gospel; some have absolutely denied it, upon the authority of those texts which universally require faith in Christ; but to this it is answered, that those texts regard only such to whom the gospel comes, and are capable of understanding the contents of it.“The truth,”says Dr. Doddridge,“seems to be this—that none of the heathen will be condemned for not believing the gospel, but they are liable to condemnation for the breach of God's natural law: nevertheless, if there be any of them in whom there is a prevailing love to the Divine Being, there seems reason to believe that, for thesakeof Christ, though to them unknown, they may be accepted by God; and so much the rather, as the ancient Jews, and even the apostles, during the time of our Savior's abode on earth, seem to have had[pg 242]but little notion of those doctrines, which those who deny the salvability of the heathen are most apt to imagine.”(Rom. 2:10-22, Acts 10:34, 35. Matt. 8:11, 12.) Grove, Watts, Saurin, and the immortal Newton, favor the same opinion; the latter of whom thus observes:“If we suppose a heathen brought to a sense of his misery; to a conviction that he cannot be happy without the favor of the great Lord of the world; to a feeling of guilt, and desire of mercy; and that, though he has no explicit knowledge of a Savior, he directs the cry of his heart to the unknown Supreme, to have mercy upon him,—who will prove that such views and desires can arise in the heart of a sinner, without the energy of that Spirit which Jesus is exalted to bestow? Who will take upon him to say that his blood has not sufficient efficacy to redeem to God a sinner who is thus disposed, though he have never heard of his name? Or who has a warrant to affirm that the supposition I have made is in the nature of things impossible to be realized?”“That there exist beings, one or many, powerful above the human race, is a proposition,”says Lord Kaimes,“universally admitted as true in all ages and among all nations. I boldly call ituniversal, notwithstanding what is reported of some gross savages; for reports that contradict what is acknowledged to be general among men, require able vouchers. Among many savage tribes there are no words but for objects of external sense: is it surprising that such people are incapable of expressing their religious perceptions, or any perception of internal sense? The conviction that men have of superior powers, in every country where there are words to express it, is so well vouched, that, in fair reasoning, it ought to be taken for granted among the few tribes where language is deficient.”The same ingenious author shows, with great strength of reasoning, that the operations of nature and the government of this world, which to us loudly proclaim the existence of a Deity, are not sufficient to account for the universal belief of superior beings among savage tribes. He is, therefore, of opinion that this universality of conviction[pg 243]can spring only from the image of Deity stamped upon the mind of every human being, the ignorant equally with the learned. This, he thinks, may be termed thesense of Deity.

A general term, applied to heathen idolaters, who worship false gods, and are not acquainted either with the doctrines of the Old Testament or the Christian dispensation. The worship of the Grand Lama is of the most extensive and splendid character among the Pagan idolaters. This extends all over Thibet and Mongolia, is almost universal in Bucharia and several provinces of Tartary; it has followers in Cashmere, and is the predominant religion of China.

The Grand Lama is a name given to the sovereign pontiff, or high priest, of the Thibetian Tartars, who resides at Patoli, a vast palace on a mountain, near the banks of Burhampooter, about seven miles from Lahassa. The foot of this mountain is inhabited by twenty thousand Lamas, or priests, who have their separate apartments round about the mountain, and, according to their respective quality, are placed nearer or at a greater distance from the sovereign pontiff. He is not only the sovereign pontiff, the vicegerent[pg 235]of the Deity on earth, but the more remote Tartars are said to absolutely regard him as the Deity himself, and call himGod, the everlasting Father of heaven. They believe him to be immortal, and endowed with all knowledge and virtue. Every year they come up, from different parts, to worship, and make rich offerings at his shrine. Even the emperor of China, who is a Manchou Tartar, does not fail in acknowledgments to him, in his religious capacity, and actually entertains, at a great expense, in the palace of Pekin, an inferior Lama, deputed as his nuncio from Thibet. The Grand Lama, it has been said, is never to be seen but in a secret place of his palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting cross-legged upon a cushion, and decked all over with gold and precious stones; where, at a distance, the people prostrate themselves before him, it being not lawful for any so much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least sign of respect, nor ever speaks, even to the greatest princes, but only lays his hand upon their heads; and they are fully persuaded they receive from thence a full forgiveness of all their sins.

The magnificence and number of the ancient heathen temples almost exceed calculation or belief. At one time, there were no less than 424 temples in the city of Rome, The temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. It was 425 feet in length, 220 in breadth, and was adorned with 100 columns 60 feet high; and, as each column is said to have contained 150 tons of marble,—as the stupendous edifice, outside and in, was adorned with gold, and a profusion of ornaments,—how immense must have been the whole expense of its erection!

At the present day, many of the pagan nations go to immense expense in the support of their religious worship. It is stated, in the Indo-Chinese Gleaner, a paper published by the missionaries in China, that there are, in that empire, 1056 temples dedicated to Confucius, where above 60,000 animals are annually offered. The followers of Confucius[pg 236]form one of the smallest of the three leading sects among the Chinese.

Mr. Ward, a distinguished missionary, was present at the worship of the goddess Doorga, at Calcutta, in 1806. After describing the greatness of the assembly, the profusion of the offerings, and the many strange peculiarities of the worship, he observes,“The whole produced on my mind sensations of the greatest honor. The dress of the singers, their indecent gestures, the abominable nature of the songs, the horrid din of their miserable drum, the lateness of the hour, the darkness of the place, with the reflection that I was standing in an idol temple, and that this immense multitude of rational and immortal creatures, capable of superior joys, were, in the very act of worship, perpetrating a crime of high treason against the God of heaven, while they themselves believed they were performing an act of merit,—excited ideas and feelings in my mind which time can never obliterate.”

The vast empire of China, misnamed theCelestial Empire, is given up to the vilest idolatry. Idols are encountered at every step, not merely in the temples, but in the houses, and even in the vessels, where a part of the forecastle is consecrated to them, as the most honorable place. The idol is dressed and adorned with a splendor proportioned to the wealth of the captain of the vessel, and daily receives an offering, composed of flesh and fruits, together with the smoke of perfumes. Besides this regular service, the captain makes a solemn sacrifice to his wooden deity, on all important occasions; as, for instance, in passing from one river into another, or in time of tempest, or when the sails flap idly in a calm. The Chinese have likewise a practice of deifying their dead ancestors, and of prostrating themselves before the monumental tablets which are erected to their memory. Yet they appear to have no real veneration for any of their idols; nor do they hesitate to profane the temples, by smoking their pipes, and taking refreshments, and even by gambling, within[pg 237]the consecrated precincts. The priests are shameless impostors. They practise the mountebank sciences of astrology, divination, necromancy, and animal magnetism, and keep for sale a liquid, which, they pretend, will confer immortality on those who drink it.

Tortures of various kinds, burning, and burying alive, are considered religious duties among the pagans.

The festival of Juggernaut is annually held on the sea-coast of Orissa, where there is a celebrated temple, and an idol of the god. The idol is a carved block of wood, with a frightful visage, painted black, and a distended mouth of a bloody color. He is dressed in gorgeous apparel, and his appellation is one of the numerous names of Vishnu, the preserving power of the universe, according to the theology of the Bramins. On festival days, the throne of the idol is placed upon a stupendous movable tower, about sixty feet in height, resting on wheels, which indent the ground deeply, as they turn slowly under the ponderous machine. He is accompanied by two other idols, his brother Balaram, and his sister Shubudra, of a white and yellow color, each on a separate tower, and sitting on thrones of nearly an equal height. Attached to the principal tower are six ropes, of the length and size of a ship's cable, by which the people draw it along. The priests and attendants are stationed around the throne, on the car, and occasionally address the worshippers in libidinous songs and gestures. Both the walls of the temple and sides of the car are covered with the most indecent emblems, in large and durable sculpture. Obscenity and blood are the characteristics of the idol's worship. As the tower moves along, devotees, throwing themselves under the wheels, are crushed to death; and such acts are hailed with the acclamations of the multitude, as the most acceptable sacrifices. A body of prostitutes are maintained in the temple, for the use of the worshippers; and various other systematic indecencies, which will not admit of description, form a part of the service. A number of sacred bulls are kept in the place, which are generally fed with vegetables[pg 238]from the hands of the pilgrims, but, from the scarcity of the vegetation, are commonly seen walking about, and eating the fresh ordure of the worshipping crowds. In the temple, also, is preserved a bone of Krishna, which is considered as a most venerable and precious relic, and which few persons are allowed to see.

The following is an account of the burning of a Gentoo woman, on the funeral pile of her deceased husband:—“We found,”says M. Stavorinus,“the body of the deceased lying upon a couch, covered with a piece of white cotton, and strewed with betel leaves. The woman, who was to be the victim, sat upon the couch, with her face turned to that of the deceased. She was richly adorned, and held a little green branch in her right hand, with which she drove away the flies from the body. She seemed like one buried in the most profound meditation, yet betrayed no signs of fear. Many of her relations attended upon her, who, at stated intervals, struck up various kinds of music.

“The pile was made by driving green bamboo stakes into the earth, between which was first laid fire-wood, very dry and combustible; upon this was put a quantity of dry straw, or reeds, besmeared with grease: this was done alternately, till the pile was five feet in height; and the whole was then strewed with rosin, finely powdered. A white cotton sheet, which had been washed in the Ganges, was then spread over the pile, and the whole was ready for the reception of the victim.

“The widow was now admonished, by a priest, that it was time to begin the rites. She was then surrounded by women, who offered her betel, and besought her to supplicate favors for them when she joined her husband in the presence of Ram, or their highest god, and, above all, that she would salute their deceased friends whom she might meet in the celestial mansions.

“In the mean time, the body of the husband was taken and washed in the river. The woman was also led to the Ganges for ablution, where she divested herself of all her[pg 239]ornaments. Her head was covered with a piece of silk, and a cloth was tied round her body, in which the priests put some parched rice.

“She then took a farewell of her friends, and was conducted by two of her female relations to the pile. When she came to it, she scattered flowers and parched rice upon the spectators, and put some into the mouth of the corpse. Two priests next led her three times round it, while she threw rice among the bystanders, who gathered it up with great eagerness. The last time she went round, she placed a little earthen burning lamp to each of the four corners of the pile, then laid herself down on the right side, next to the body, which she embraced with both her arms; a piece of white cotton was spread over them both; they were bound together with two easy bandages, and a quantity of fire-wood, straw, and rosin, was laid upon them. In the last place, her nearest relations, to whom, on the banks of the river, she had given her nose-jewels, came with a burning torch, and set the straw on fire, and in a moment the whole was in a flame. The noise of the drums, and the shouts of the spectators, were such that the shrieks of the unfortunate woman, if she uttered any, could not have been heard.”

Instances are related of women eighty years of age, or upwards, perishing in this manner. One case is mentioned, by Mr. Ward, of a Bramin who had married upwards of a hundred wives, thirty-seven of whom were burnt with him. The pile was kept burning forthree days, and when one or more of them arrived, they threw themselves into theblazing fire.

The Pagans worship an immense variety of idols, both animate and inanimate, and very frequently make to themselves gods of objects that are contemptible even among brutes. In Hindoo, themonkeyis a celebrated god. A few years since, the rajah of Nudeeya expended $50,000 in celebrating the marriage of a pair of those mischievous creatures, with all the parade and solemnity of a Hindoo wedding.

A Bramin of superior understanding gave Mr. Ward[pg 240]the followingconfession of faith, as the present belief of the philosophical Hindoos, concerning the nature of God, viz.:—“God is invisible, independent, ever-living, glorious, uncorrupt, all-wise, the ever-blessed, the almighty; his perfections are indescribable and past finding out; he rules over all, supports all, destroys all, and remains after the destruction of all; there is none like him; he is silence; he is free from passion, from birth, &c., and from increase and decrease, from fatigue, the need of refreshment, &c. He possesses the power of infinite diminution and lightness, and is the soul of all.

“He created, and then entered into, all things, in which he exists in two ways, untouched by matter, and receiving the fruits of practice. He now assumes visible forms for the sake of engaging the minds of mankind. The different gods are parts of God, though his essence remains undiminished, as rays of light leave the sun his undiminished splendor. He created the gods to perform those things in the government of the world, of which man was incapable. Some gods are parts of other gods, and there are deities of still inferior powers. If it be asked why God himself does not govern the world, the answer is, that it might subject him to exposure, and he chooses to be concealed: he therefore governs by the gods, who are emanations from the one God, possessing a portion of his power: he who worships the gods as the one God, substantially worships God. The gods are helpful to men in all human affairs, but they are not friendly to those who seek final absorption, being jealous lest, instead of attaining absorption, they should become gods, and rival them.

“Religious ceremonies procure a fund of merit to the performer, which raises him in every future birth, and at length advances him to heaven, where he enjoys happiness for a limited period, or carries him towards final absorption. A person may sink to earth again by crimes committed in heaven. The joys of heaven arise only from the gratification of the senses. A person raised to heaven is considered as a god.

“When the following lines of Pope were read to a learned Bramin, he started from his seat, begged a copy of them, and declared the author must have been a Hindoo:—

“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; ...Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,Lives through all life, extends through all extent,Spreads undivided, operates unspent.”

“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; ...Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,Lives through all life, extends through all extent,Spreads undivided, operates unspent.”

“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,

Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; ...

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,

Lives through all life, extends through all extent,

Spreads undivided, operates unspent.”

“Such are the best views of the best of men among the Hindoos. Such a mixture of truth and error, of sense and folly, do they believe and teach.”

According to the best accounts that can be obtained from missionaries and others, the number of Pagans, in different countries, exceeds half the population of the globe.

Considerable attempts have been made, of late years, for the enlightening of the heathen; and there is every reason to believe good has been done. From the aspect of Scripture prophecy, we are led to expect that the kingdoms of the heathen at large shall be brought to the light of the gospel. (Matt. 24:14, Isa. 60, Ps. 22:28, 29; 2:7, 8.) It has been much disputed whether it be possible that the heathen should be saved without the knowledge of the gospel; some have absolutely denied it, upon the authority of those texts which universally require faith in Christ; but to this it is answered, that those texts regard only such to whom the gospel comes, and are capable of understanding the contents of it.“The truth,”says Dr. Doddridge,“seems to be this—that none of the heathen will be condemned for not believing the gospel, but they are liable to condemnation for the breach of God's natural law: nevertheless, if there be any of them in whom there is a prevailing love to the Divine Being, there seems reason to believe that, for thesakeof Christ, though to them unknown, they may be accepted by God; and so much the rather, as the ancient Jews, and even the apostles, during the time of our Savior's abode on earth, seem to have had[pg 242]but little notion of those doctrines, which those who deny the salvability of the heathen are most apt to imagine.”(Rom. 2:10-22, Acts 10:34, 35. Matt. 8:11, 12.) Grove, Watts, Saurin, and the immortal Newton, favor the same opinion; the latter of whom thus observes:“If we suppose a heathen brought to a sense of his misery; to a conviction that he cannot be happy without the favor of the great Lord of the world; to a feeling of guilt, and desire of mercy; and that, though he has no explicit knowledge of a Savior, he directs the cry of his heart to the unknown Supreme, to have mercy upon him,—who will prove that such views and desires can arise in the heart of a sinner, without the energy of that Spirit which Jesus is exalted to bestow? Who will take upon him to say that his blood has not sufficient efficacy to redeem to God a sinner who is thus disposed, though he have never heard of his name? Or who has a warrant to affirm that the supposition I have made is in the nature of things impossible to be realized?”

“That there exist beings, one or many, powerful above the human race, is a proposition,”says Lord Kaimes,“universally admitted as true in all ages and among all nations. I boldly call ituniversal, notwithstanding what is reported of some gross savages; for reports that contradict what is acknowledged to be general among men, require able vouchers. Among many savage tribes there are no words but for objects of external sense: is it surprising that such people are incapable of expressing their religious perceptions, or any perception of internal sense? The conviction that men have of superior powers, in every country where there are words to express it, is so well vouched, that, in fair reasoning, it ought to be taken for granted among the few tribes where language is deficient.”The same ingenious author shows, with great strength of reasoning, that the operations of nature and the government of this world, which to us loudly proclaim the existence of a Deity, are not sufficient to account for the universal belief of superior beings among savage tribes. He is, therefore, of opinion that this universality of conviction[pg 243]can spring only from the image of Deity stamped upon the mind of every human being, the ignorant equally with the learned. This, he thinks, may be termed thesense of Deity.

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