Defraud their clients, and, to lucre sold, And dared the worst of ills, and what they dared, attained. And throats of brass, inspired with iron lungs, I could not half those horrid crimes repeat, Nor half the punishments these crimes have met.a DRYDEN. a Hîc, quibus invisi fratres, dum vita manebat, Nec partem posuere suis, quæ maxima turba est; -Phlegyasque miserrimus omnes Admonet, et magna testatur voce per umbras, Hic thalamum invasit natæ, vetitosque hymenæos. Non, mihi si linguæ centum sint, oraque centum, F On the other hand; Here patriots live, who, for their country's good, And searching wits, of more mechanic parts, DRYDEN. I am apprehensive that I have tired my reader with these various quotations. Still they are not devoid of instruction, and may also afford some portion of rational entertainment. From them, and what has been said in the first part of this chapter, the following inferences may be legitimately drawn. 1st, That even under the influence of pagan superstition and idolatry, the existence of supernal power and government has been universally acknowledged. 2dly, That, in the sa Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas, Æneid. lib. vi. v. 608-614, 618-627. Æneid. lib. vi. v. 660–665. crificial rites in which so much of ancient pagan religion consisted, the corruption of mankind was admitted, and means of expiating their guilt were attempted to be devised. 3dly, That a future state of retribution was received as a religious tenet. And, lastly, That the practice of morality, according to the best conceptions of it which the heathens entertained, was considered, especially by their philosophers and philosophical poets, as the most effectual means of conciliating the divine favour. Grossly absurd, however, as ancient paganism was, in all its institutions and notions of deity, it seems to bear no comparison, in this respect, with the polytheism of the Hindoos, nor to have been so fatal to all that has the smallest resemblance to true piety, and its necessary effect on the morals of men. What shall we say of three hundred millions of gods ? What more horrid than the worship that is offered to them, and the opinions entertained of their characters? What more degrading to human nature than the implicit subjection to their Brahmins endured by these Indians, or more detestable than the purposes to which this despotic power is applied by its possessors? Such abject obedience on the one hand, and such tyranny on the other-such ignorance of all that has any connexion with the a See Ward's View of the History, Literature, and Religion of the Hindoos. very first principles of religion, and such prostitution of all morality proceeding from this sourcecould take place only in conjunction with that weakness of character, and that effeminacy even of corporeal constitution, by which the Indians have always been marked, and compelled to submit to every invader of a more vigorous frame than their own. Thus are the grossest perversions of the religious principle punished, even by the lowest temporal debasement of our nature. CHAP. III. OF MOHAMMEDISM. era. a MAHOMET, Or Mohammed, began to publish his imposture in the year 608 of the Christian About the same time, the bishop of Rome, in virtue of a grant from the weak and tyrannical emperor Phocas, first assumed the title of universal bishop, and thus to arrogate to himself the supremacy which his successors in the a This name signifies, in Arabic, the celebrated, or famous. See Venema Instit. Hist. Eccles. vol. v. p. 80.—See also Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 9; and in the note. Romish see have ever since endeavoured to usurp over the church of Christ. Both Mohammed and the possessors of the see of Rome having conspired to found an empire by imposture, their adherents and followers have uniformly attempted to establish and extend it by the same means, namely those of fraud and violence." Thus, Antichrist, in the right sense of the term, implying an opposition to all that can be called pure and vital religion, seems, from this period, to have placed one of his feet on the eastern and the other on the western extent of Christendom. To what degree this destructive monster was enabled to violate, and ravage, and suppress true and vivifying Christianity, succeeding ages deplorably experienced, till the blessed Reformation emancipated from papal usurpation a considerable part of the western church. Mohammed gave to his new religion the name of Islam, a term signifying resignation, or submission to the service and commands of God." It is used as the proper designation of the Mohammedan faith, which its professors maintain to be, at bottom, the same with that which was embraced by all the prophets from Adam, through succeeding generations. The Mohammedans assume, as a title peculiar to themselves, the a Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 9. b See Sale's Preliminary Discourse to his translation of the Koran, sect. iv. p. 92, 8vo edition. c Ibid. |