tion for the religious worship of the whole human race, except of that portion which has embraced Christianity, Judæism, or Mahommedanism.

That in the most ancient times one God, sole, eternal, indivisible, the Creator of the universe, was acknowledged and worshipped, has been proved by the most profound investigators of antiquity. The existence of this belief may not only be traced in the tradition of all people, but is expressly affirmed by some of the greatest philosophers of the heathen world. Nothing, indeed, could exceed the contempt with which some of them regarded the gods of the vulgar, though fear of danger or some other cause often taught them to conceal the sentiment.

The causes of idolatry were manifold, and were mostly of oriental growth. A great king regarded it as below his dignity to enter into the minute details of administration: he placed vicars or ministers over provinces and cities, over the great departments of national polity. If the onerous charge was inapplicable to an earthly, it was still more so to the celestial Sovereign; hence the subordinate deities which we perceive in the religious systems. of all nations—the presiding genii of the Chaldæans, the numerous gods of Greece and Rome. The worship due to the Supreme alone was soon transferred to those imaginary entities, which, from functionaries, were transferred into so many independent chiefs, until the simple primeval notion of the divine unity was lost.

At the present day, many of the Pagan nations go to immense expense in the support of their religious worship. In China there are upwards of a thousand temples dedicated to Confucius, where above sixty thousand animals are annually offered.

The Dalai-Lama or Grand Lama is honored as the representative of divinity, or rather as a real divinity dwelling on the earth, by various tribes of Tartaric descent. This personage resides at Lassa in Thibet, and pilgrimages are made to his residence by the inhabitants of many distant regions of Tartary. He is now chiefly dependent, in a political sense, on the Chinese empire. When the

actual Dalai-Lama dies, his spirit is supposed to seek another body in which to be born again; and the new Dalai-Lama can only be discovered by a certain favored class among the priests.

The festival of Juggernaut is annually held on the seacoast of Orissa, where there is a celebrated temple, and an idol of the god.

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, the monkey is 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.

The North American Indians, besides their First Being, or Great Spirit, believe in an infinite number of genii, or inferior spirits, both good and evil, who have all their peculiar form of worship.

They ascribe to these beings a kind of immensity and omnipresence, and constantly invoke them as the guardians of mankind. But they never address themselves to the evil genii, except to beg of them to do them no hurt.

They believe in the immortality of the soul, and say that the region of their everlasting abode lies so far westward, that the souls are several months in arriving at it, and have vast difficulties to surmount. The happiness which they hope to enjoy is not believed to be the recompense of virtue only. To have been a good hunter, brave in war, &c., are the merits which entitle them to this paradise, which they, and the other American aborigines, figure as a delightful country, blessed with perpetual spring, where the forests abound with game, the rivers swarm with fish, where famine is never felt, and uninterrupted plenty shall be enjoyed without labor or toil.

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CHAPTER II.

JEWS—MAHOMETANS, OR MOHAMMEDANS.

JEWS.

A COMPLETE System of the religious doctrines and rites of the Jews is contained in the five books of Moses, their great lawgiver, who was raised up to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt, and to conduct them to the possession of Canaan, the promised land. The Jewish economy is so much directed to temporal rewards and punishments, that it has been questioned whether the Jews had any knowledge of a future state. This opinion has been defended with vast erudition by Warburton, in his "Divine Legation of Moses ;" but it has been controverted by Dr. Sykes, and other authors of respectability.

The principal sects among the Jews, in the time of our Savior, were the Pharisees, who placed religion in external ceremony-the Sadducees, who were remarkable for their incredulity—and the Essenes, who were distinguished by an austere sanctity. Some accounts of these sects will be found in the last volume of Prideaux's "Connection,” in Harwood's "Introduction to the Study of the New Testament,” in Milman's "History of the Jews," and in Marsh's improved edition of "Michaelis." See likewise two ingenious and learned volumes, entitled, "Ecclesiastical Researches," and also the sequel by the Rev. J. Jones.*

The Pharisees and Sadducees are frequently mentioned in the New Testament; and an acquaintance with their principles and practices serves to illustrate many passages in the Sacred History. At present the Jews have two sects: the Caraites, who admit of no rule of religion but the law

*The author contends that Josephus and Philo were Christians, and introduces striking passages from their writings, happily tending to confirm the truth and illustrate the genius of Primitive Christianity.

of Moses; and the Rabbinists, who add to the laws the tradition of the Talmud. The dispersion of the Jews took place upon the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman Emperor, A. D. 70.

The expectation of a Messiah is the distinguishing feature of their religious system. The word Messiah, signifies one anointed, or installed into office by unction. The Jews used to anoint their kings, high-priests, and, sometimes, prophets, at their entering upon office. Thus Saul, David, Solomon, and Joash, kings of Judah, received the royal unction. Thus, also, Aaron and his sons received the sacerdotal, and Elisha, the disciple of Elijah, the prophetic unction.

Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, in whom all the Jewish prophecies are accomplished. The Jews, infatuated with the idea of a temporal Messiah, who is to subdue the world, still wait for his appearance. According to Buxtorf, (a professor of Hebrew, and celebrated for rabbinical learning,) some of the modern rabbins believe that the Messiah is already come, but that he will not manifest himself on account of the sins of the Jews. Others, however, have had recourse to the hypothesis of two Messiahs, who are to succeed each other-one in a state of humiliation and suffering—the other in a state of glory, magnificence and power. Be it, however, remembered, that in the New Testament, Jesus Christ assures us, in the most explicit terms, that HE is the Messiah. In John iv. 25, the Samaritan woman says to Jesus, "I know that Messiah cometh which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." Jesus saith unto her, "I that speak to thee am HE.' According to the prediction of Jesus Christ, several impostors would assume the title of Messiah; and accordingly such persons have appeared. A history of "false Messiahs" has been written in Dutch. Barcochab was the first who appeared, in the time of Adrian; the second, in 1666, was Sabbethai Levi, who turned Mahometan; and the last was Rabbi Mordecai, who flourished in 1682.

The Talmud is a collection of the doctrines and morality

of the Jews. They have two works that bear this name: the first is called the "Talmud of Jerusalem," and the other the “Talmud of Babylon," but the former is shorter and more obscure than that of Babylon, and is of an older date. The Talmud compiled at Babylon the Jews prefer to that of Jerusalem, and it is clearer and more extensive. The most remarkable periods in the history of the Jews are the call of Abraham, the giving of the law by Moses, their establishment in Canaan under Joshua, the building of the temple by Solomon, the division of their tribes, their captivity in Babylon, their return under Zerubbabel, and the destruction of their city and temple by Titus, afterwards emperor, A. D. 70.

Maimonides, an illustrious rabbi, drew up for the Jews, in the eleventh century, a confession of faith, which all Jews admit. It is as follows:

"1. I believe, with a true and perfect faith, that God is the Creator, whose name be blessed, Governor, and Maker, of all creatures, and that he hath wrought all things, worketh, and shall work forever.

"2. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator, whose name be blessed, is one, and that such a unity as in him can be found in none other, and that he alone hath been our God, is, and forever shall be.

"3. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator, whose name be blessed, is not corporeal, nor to be comprehended with any bodily property, and that there is no bodily essence that can be likened unto him.

“4. I believe with a perfect faith, the Creator, whose name be blessed, to be the first and the last, that nothing was before him, and that he shall abide the last forever. "5. I believe, with a perfect faith, that the Creator, whose name is blessed, is to be worshipped, and none else "6. I believe, with a perfect faith, that all the words of the prophets are true.

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"7. I believe, with a perfect faith, the prophecies of Moses, our master,-may he rest in peace;-that he was the father and chief of all wise men that lived before him, ur ever shall live after him.