1^^ S . // . o (profeeBor ^dtnuef (^tifPer in (^emorg of Subge ^amuef (gttfPer (jSrecfeinribge ^reeenfeb fil? ^amuef (Qtiffer (grecftinrtbge feong fo t^ &i6raifc of (Princeton C^eofogicdf ^emindrj 75 a I A REVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL PRINCIPLES, RELIGIOUS AND MORAL, ANCIENT BRAMINS: CompreKcndlpg an Account of the MYTHOLOGY, COSMOGONY^ FASTS, AND FESTIVALS, OF THE G E N T (> O S, Followers of the S HAST AH. WITH A DISSERTATION on the METEMPSYCHOSIS, commonly, though erroneoufly, called the Pythagorean Dodtrine. , yZ. , By J. Z. H O L W E L L, Efq. ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES. LONDON: Printed for T. VERNOR, at his Shops, in Michael's-AlleT, CoRNHiLL, and in Fore-Street, M.DCCXXXIX, INTERESTING HISTORICAL EVENTS, Relative to the PROVINCES OF BENGAL; AND THE EMPIRE OF INDOSTAN, PART 11. TO THE MOST NOBLE HUGH, DUKE AND EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND; EARL PERCY; BARON WARK WORTH OF W ARK WORTH CASTLE; LORD LIEUTENANT AND GUSTOS R O- TUXORUM OF THE COUNTIES OF MIDDLE- SEX AND NORTHUMBERLAND, OF THE CITY AND LIBERTY OF V/ESTMINSTER, AND OF THE TOWN AND COUNTY OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNEj VICE ADMIRAL OF ALL AMERICA,AND OF THE COUNTY OF NORTHUMEER- LAND;ONE OF THE LORDS OF HIS MA- JESTY'S MOST HONORABLE PRIVY COUN- CIL; KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER; AND FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. MY LORD, IT is with equal deference and pleafure that I fubmit the follow- ing performance to your Grace's pe- ril fal ; DEDICATION. rufal ; being perfuaded you will not think it altogether unworthy of your notice from the important, but un- common fubjedt it treats upon. Nei- ther do I apprehend you will think my inducefnent to this work an un- becoming one, when I tell your Grace my intention was to refcue the originally untainted manners, and re- ligious worlhip of a very ancient people from grofs mifreprefentation. I thought it mxofc unjuft that the wifdom and tenets of Bramah and the ancient Bramins (houldbe longer difgraced by the ftrange innovations and pradiices of their modern bre- thren ; for from thefe unworthy fucceffors alone have been difiemi- nated the general accounts which we are hitherto made acquainted with of the theology of thefe people. HencQ DEDICATION. Hence it is that although the wif-^ dom of the Eaftern fages has been proverbially famous, yet we find them reprefented to us, in moft relations, as a race, from the beginning, equally credulous and ignorant. From fuch imputations I have endeavoured to vindicate them; not by labored apo- logies, but by a fimple difplay of their primitive theology, which I would willingly hope cannot but be acceptable to the public, in fo in- quifitive and learned an age as this. Whatever fmall degree of appro- bation my imperfed: labors may ob- tain from the world, I reft afllired it will applaud my choice of a patron on whofe judgement and candor I can fecurely rely ; as being a perfon- age whofe exalted titles are rendered more DEDICATION. more refplendent by the amiable vir- tues and qualities that adorn them— . Virtues ! which have endeared him alike to prince and people. I have the honor to fubfcribe myfelf,- My Lord Duke, Your Grace's moil obedient and moft humble fervant, Beenham Houfe, Berks, Nov. ift, 1766. J. Z. HOLWELL. CHAP. IV. ^he Religious l^enefs of the Gentoos^ followers of the Shajlah of Brafnah. INTRODUCTION. WE have already premifed, that in the profecution of this our fourth gene- ral head, we fhould touch only on the ori- ginal principal tenets of thefe ancient people the Gentoos ; for were we to penetrate into, and difcufs the whole of their modern cere- monials, and complicated modes of worlhip; our labor would be without end : thefe are as diffufe, as the ancient fundamental tenets of Bramah are fhort, pure, fimple and uni- form ; in this predicament the Gentoos are not fmgular, as the original text of every theological fyftem, has, we prefume, from a fimilar caufe, unhappily undergone the fame fate ; though at firft promulged as a divine inftitution. ' PartIL B We { 2 ) We fliall not fay much regarding the an- tiquity of thefe people ; nor fhall we amufe Gurfelves with the reveries of chronologers and hiftorians ; who have labored to fix with precifion (though not two of them agree in opinion) the various migrations after the flood : it fhall fuffice for our purpofe, that by their own fhewing, Indojian was as early peopled, as mofl other parts of the tnown world. The firfl invaders of this empire, found the inhabitants a potent, opulent, civilized, wife, and learned people; united under one head, and one uniform profeffion of divine worihip ; by the fundamental principles of which, they were precluded communication, and focial converfe, with the reft of mankind ; and thefe invafions firft made them a warlike people alfo. Alexander the Great, invaded them in later times, and found them in the fame ftate ; and though it fli'ould feem, from ^r;7^;z'sand ^lintiis Curtiiis\ hiftoryof that Prince's expeditions, that the different prin- cipalities he conquered, were independant kingdoms, and governed by independant Kings and Princes ; yet the Gentoo records of Bindoohimd and Banaras iliew, that at that period, ( 3 ) period, and much later, all the principalities of this empire, were in fubjedion to, and owned allegiance to one head, ftiled the Mhaahah Rajah of Indojian ; a Prince of the Succadit family, faid to be lineally defcended from their great Prince and Legiflator Brafjiah ; and that it was not until after the extindion, of this facred family (as the Gentoos call it) that the Rajahs ailumed an independency. But It did not fufficiently footh the vanity of Alexander^ nor that of his hiftorians, to record his conquefls of a few petty Rajahs and Governors of provinces ; and though. we do not conteft the fa<5l of that invafion, yet we think ourfelves jullified in concluding the greateft part of its hiftory is fabulous \ yet, that it claims greater credit and belief, than thofe of Bacchus and Sefojiris : the Greek and Latin conftruftion and termina- tion of the names, and places, of the Princes and kingdoms of Indojian, faid by Alexander^ hiftorians to be conquered by him ; bear not the leaft analogy or idiom of the Gentoo language, either ancient or modern ; as any One the leaft converfant in it can teftify ; and although the ground work of their hif- tory was founded on fail, yet the faperftruc- ture carries ftrongly the femblance of in- vention and romance: And he w^ho is ac- B 2 (^uainted ( 4 ) qualnted with this empire, and can give full credit to thole legends, may upon as juft a foundation believe Alexander to have been the fon of 'Jupiter Ammon ; or, with ^ Curtiiis, that the Ganges opened into the Redfea. The annals of the Gentoos^ give teftimony o^ Alexander^ invafion; where he is record- ed under the epithets, of Mhaahah Ditk" /ioyt, e Kooneah^ a moil mJghtey' robber and murderer; but they make not any mention of a Porus^ nor of any name that has the fmalleft allufion or likenefs to it ; and yet the adion between Alexatider and this ima- ginary King Poriis^ has been pompoufly exr- liibited by the hiftorians of the former, and has happily afforded fubjedl matter for re- prefentations, that do the higheft honour to the art and genius of man. The liberty we have taken watli thefe fo long celebrated hiftorians, may feem to our readers to be foreign to our fubjed, but In the end we hope It will appear otherwlfe ; when they find that thefe authors have (either from their own fertile inventions, or from mif-information, or rather from want of a competent knowledge In the language of the natioi^) mif-reprefentcd, or to fpeak more ( 5 ) more favorably, mlf-concelved their religious tenets as much as thcv have the genius and fiate of their government. The fpace of time employed in Alexan- der'^^ expedition in this empire, did not afford a poffibility of acquiring any adequate know- ledge of a language in itfclf fo highly difficult to attain in the finalleft degree of perfe«^ion even from many years refidence and intimate converfe with the natives ; can it be poffi- bly believed then, that any of Alexander'*^ followers could in this fliort fpace acquire fuch perfe *' thefe the commentators entitled the Augh- ^' torrah Bhade Shajiah, or the eighteen books * Gentoo Bifliops. f Expounders of the iSZiiT/^rt/?. % Six. § From the promulging this Bhade^ the Polvtheifm of the Gentoo s took its rife. ''of ( 14 ) " of divine words \ it was drawn up in A " compound charader, of the common In^ " dojian^ and Sanfcrif\ — the original text of *' the Chartah Bhade^ was in a manner funk *' and alluded to only ; the hiftorles of their *' Rajahs and country, were introduced under " figures and fymbols, and made a part of " their religious worfhip, and a multitude '' of ceremonials, and exteriour modes of *' worfhip, -were inftituted ; which the com- *' m.entators faid were implied in Bramah^s *' Chartah Bhadc^ although not exprefly *' directed therein, by him; and the whole *' enveloped in impenetrable obfcurity by *' allegory and fable, beyond the compre*^ *' henfion even of the common tribe of Bramins themfelves ; the laity being thus precluded from the knowledge of their original fcriptures had a new fyftem of *' faith broached unto them, which their *' anceftors were utterly ftrangers to. " That this innovation of the Aughtorrah ** Bhade produced a fchifm amongft the *' Gentoos, who until this period had fol- *' lowed one profefTion of faith throughout *' the vaft empire oi Indojian-, for the Bra^ " mins of Cormandell and Mallabar finding *' their brethren upon the courfe oi\htGanges *^ had taken this hold fi:ep to inilave the laity, ** fet ce <( ( 15 ) fet up for themfelves,and formed a fcrlpture of their own, founded as they faid upon the Chartah Bhade of Bramah ; this they called the Viedam * ofBriimmah^ or divine words of the mighty /pint ;— ^thefe com- mentators, by the example of their bre- thren, interfperied in their new religious fyftem, the hiftories of their governors, and country, under various fymbols and allegories, but departed from that chaftity of manners, which vvas ftill preferved ia the Aughtorrah Bhadc Shafiab* " Thus the original, plain, pure, and ** Jimple tenets of the Chartah Bhade of '* Bramah (fifteen hundred years after its ** firft promulgation) became by degrees " utterly loft ; except, to three or four Go^ *' feyn families, who at this day are only *' capable of reading, and expounding it, " from the Sanfcrit character ; to thefe may *' be added a fev/ others of the tribe *' of Battezaaz BramijiSy who can read *' and expound from the Chartah Bhade^ " which ftill preferved the text of the ori- " ginal, as before remarked. * Viedam in the Mallahar language fignifies" the fame as Shajiah in the Sanfcrit, viz. divine words — — * and fometimes, the %vords of God, ^^ How ( ,6 ) : " How much foever the primitive reli-- *' gion of the Gentoos fufFered by thefe inno- '* vations; their government underwent no " change for many centuries after, all ac- " kuowledging allegiance to one univerfal " Rajah of the Succadit family, lineally *' defcended from their Prince and Lawgiver *' Bramah.— The Princes of this line " oppofed the innovations made in their *' primitive faith, w4th a fruitlefs oppofition, " which endangered the exiftence of their " own government; fo that at length they " were reduced to the neceffity of fubfcrib- *' ing, firft to the Chartah Bhade, and fub- " fequently to the Aughtorrah Bhade ; al- *' though their wifdcm forefaw, and fore- " told, the fatal confequences thefe inno- " vations would have on the ftate and the " nation : but the Gofeyns and B?^aminsy " having tafted the fweets of prieflly power " by the firfl: of thefe Bhades^ determined " to enlarge, and eftablifli it, by the pro- " mulgation of the laji\ for .in this the *.' exterior modes of worfhip were fo multi- *' plied, and fuch a numerous train of new *' divinities created, which the people never ** before had heard or dreamed of, and both ** the one and the other were fo enveloped ** by the Gofeyns and Bramins in darknefs, penetrable to themfelves only, that thofe 2 *' profeifors <( f 17) " profeflbrs of divinity, became of new and " great importance, for the daily obliga- " tions of religious duties, which were by ** thefe new inftitutes impofed on every " Gentoo, from the higheft to the loweft *' rankof the people, were of fo intricate, and ** alarming a nature, as to require a Bra?nm " to be at hand, to explain and officiate, *' in the performance of them : they had " however the addrefs to captivate the minds " of the vulgar, by introducing Ihow and " parade into all their principal religious *' feafts, as well as fafts ; and by a new " fmgle political inftitution, to wit, thepre^ ** fervation of their cajl or tribe ^ the whole *' nation was reduced to facerdotal flavery. " From the period that the Aughtorrah *' Bhade was publifhed as the rule of the ** Gentoo faith and worfhip, fuperftitlon, the fure fupport of prieftcraft, took faft pof* feffion of the people ; and their confcien- ces, adlions, and condud:, in fpirituals and temporals, were lodged in the breafts of their houfehold Bramins, and at their difpofal ; for every head of a family was obliged to have one of thofe ghoftly fa- thers at his elbow, and in fad: the people became in general mere machines, ac- tuated and moved, as either the good Part 11. C " or it (( C( «c { i8 ) '* or evil Intentions of their houfehoW tyrant " didated. *' T\\t Aught orrahBhade^haftah^ has been " invariably followed by the Genfcos inha- " biting from the mouth of the Ganges to " the Indus, for the laft three thoufand three " hundred and fixty-fix years. 1 his pre- " cifely fixes the commencement of the Geti^ *' too mythology^ which, until the publication *' of that Bhade, had no exigence amongft. ** them: every Gentco of rank or wealth, *' has a copy of this fcripture in his poffef- *' iion ; under the care and infpection of ** his domeftic Bramin ; who every day reads and expounds a portion of it to the family. <( w^/45^;^^^ i ^7^^/*^1^ i ^^'^ ^^y^^fior, and all the ^^ Bebtah^Logue^, ^\,t eternal one gave pre-eminence to Birmab, Bifi^ *' «^. and Sieb, He appointed Bir^ mah. Prince of the Dcbtah-Lome, ^1 and put the Debtah under fabjediort to him; he alfo cbnftituted him his •' vicegerent in heaven, and Bijinoo and i^^teb, wcreeftablifhed his co-adjutors. * Debtah, angels ; Logne, a people, multitude ftr congregation, Dcbtah-Ugue, the angelic hoft' ^' D 2 *« _XI,g ( 36 ) '* — The ETERNAL ONE divided the *' 'Debt ah into different bands, and " ranks, and placed a leader or chief *' overeach. — Thefe worfhipped round " the throne of the eternal one accord- ** ing to their degree, and harmony *' was in heaven. — Moi/ajhor^ chief of *' the firfi: angelic band, led the ce- ** leftial fong of praife and adoration *' to the Creator, and .the fong of ** obedience toBirmah his firft created. *' — And the Eternal One rejoiced in **^ his new creation." Remark s. MANKIND in general of 'every de- nomination, and religious profeihon,, have fubfcribed to the opinion of the ex- iftence of angelic beings ; and have each formed their cz-ude, peculiar^ and imaginary conceptions of their origin and deftination. -—Crude and imaginary indeed ! mufl be the beft human conftrudion, on fo marvellous a fubje^t. — ^The limple, rational, and fub- lime caufe, affigned by Bramah, for this a6l of creation ; is moft worthy a great aiul be- nign beings and conveys a ftriking and interefting impreflion, not only of his fower^ but of his- benevolence^ Bramah^ in the opening of this fcdlion, feems to place the eternal ane, in the fituation of ( 37 ) of an abfolute, good, and powerful monarchy without fu^Je^s; which in fadl is being no monarch at all : for however happy, or blefled fuch a being may be, in the contem- plation of his own foleexiftence and almighty power; yet he cannot (fay the BraminsJ be completely fo, without partakers in his glory and beatitude ; who (hould alfo, be confcious of the tenure of their own exiftence, as well as of the power, and benevolent in- tentions of their creator^ and worftiip him, accordingly. But a blind and neceflliry obedience and worfhip, from any new creation of rational beings, (which mull: have foUov^^ed had they been created perfed^) would have fallen fhort of their Creator's purpofe; therefore hramah fays, the eternal one^ formed them " capable '* oi perfeBion^ but with the powers of im- " perfection ;" without fubjedting them to either, that their adoration and obedience fliould be the refult of their own free-will i the worfhip alone worthy his acceptance. From thedodlrine contained in this fedlion it appears, that the powers of perfection and imperfedion, (or in other words the powers of good and evil) were coeval in the forma- tion of the firfl created beings: The D 3 Bramins ( 38 ) Bramins in their paraphrafe on this chapter, reconcile the fuppofed incompatibility of the exiftence of moral evil, confiftently with the jLiftice, power, and goodneis of the^z^- fremeheing^ by alleging, *' that as the Df/^/^Zi6 were invefted with the abfolute powers of perfecriorij their lapfe from that ftate, cannot impeach either the power, juftice, or good- nefsofthe ETERNAL one; whofe motives for their creation were benevolent ; and the duty enjoined them light and eafy. — To chaunt forth for ever, the praifes of their creator ' — To blefs him for their creation, and to acknowledge, and be obedient to Birmah^ and his two coadjutors Bijinoo and SiebJ*^ Human per^al laws, which have their ex^r iflence in every well regulated government of the world ; always pre-fuppofe that the indi-j. yiduals fubjeded to thofe laws, are invefted "Vvith full powers and capacity of paying obedience to them ; otherwife their impo^ Ijtion becomes an a61: of tyranny; but the premifes granted, then the breach and viof lation of them is criminal, and juftly pu- nifhable, without an imputation of injuftice in the inftitutor. -Shall man then appear fcrupulouflycautlous in his inilitutes and laws, Dot to offend againft reafon and juftice, and yet ( 39 ) yet dare to doubt of, or arraign the juftice of his Creator ? Whence the origin, and exiftence of vioral evil? Is a queftlon that has puzzled, and exercifed the imagination, and under- ftanding of the learned and fpeculative in all ages. We confefs we have hitherto met with no folution of this interefting enquiry, fo fatisfadlory, conclufive, and rational, as flows from the dod:rine before us. Au- thors have been driven to very flrange con- clufions on this fubjedf, nay fome have thought it neceflary to form an apology in defence of their Creator, for the admiffion of moral evil into the world ; and afl'crt, " That God was necefhtated to admit moral evil in created beings, from the nature of the materials he had to work with ; that God would have made all things perfed, but that there was in matter an evil bias, repugnant to his benevolence, which drew another way; whence arofe all manner of evils:" and that, therefore, " To endue created beings with perfedion; that is to produce good exclufive of evil, is one of thofe im- pofTibilities, which even infinite power cannot accomplifh.*' And confequently that from this apologetical caiife only^ " The wickednefs and miferies of God's creatures D 4 can ( 40 ) can be fairly reconciled, with his infinite power and goodnefs. Interefting as this fubjedl is, and muft be, to every thinking being, our beft conceptions of it, muft fall far fhort of certainty ; it is however furely incumbent on us to adopt fuch fentiments (more efpecially when we refolve to broach them to the world) as will appear moft worthy infinite power and in- finite goodnefs. How far this confidera- tion has been regarded in the reveries cited in the preceding paragraph, we fubmit to jDur readers ; in our own conceptions we cannot help faying thofe authors appear to us to have left the argument in a much "worfe ftate than they found it ; and in place of a rational apology for their Creator, feem the rather tacitly to impeach his power, in the firft and greateft of his attributes ; his power of creation : — For God is not only the creator of angels and men; but creator of matter alfo ; and could have made that perfedl, had he fo willed. Whether God could endue created beings with perfection, or produce good exclufive of evil, we conceive is not the queftion ; (although a doubt of it is highly prefumptuous, if not impious) but the quasre is, whether God could create a race of beings, endued with the powers of abfolut^ ( 4« ) ahfolute free agency \ — on the certainty of which pofition, the poflibility oi Jin in created beings abfolutely, and neceflarily depends. How much more rational and fublime the text of Bramah^ which fuppofes the Deity's voluntary creation, or permiffion of evil ; for the exaltation of a race of beings, whole goodnefs as free agents could not have ex- ifted v;ithout being endued with the con- traded, or oppofue powers of doing eviL ( 4^ ) SECT. III. ** ^he Lapfe of Part of the Angelic Bands, '* From the creation of the Dehtab *' Logue^'yyjdiXi^ harmony encompaffed *' the throne of the eternal one^ for *' the fpaee of Hazaar par Hazaar ** Munnuntiir '^ \ and would have con- ** tinued to the end of time,had not envy " and jealoufy took poileffion of MoU- '* fafoor, and other leaders of the angelic *' bands ; amongft whom was Khaabon^ *' the next in dignity to Moifafoor \--^ , " they, unraindRd of the bleffing of " their creation, and the duties enjoined " them, reject the powers of perfcBion, " which the eternal onk had graciouOy " bellowed upon them, exerted their '* powers of vnperfe£fiony and did evil *' in the fight of the eternal one.— They ** withheld their obedience from him, " and denied fubmiffion to his mce-' * A phrafe often made ufe of in the Shajlah to ex- prefs infinite extcnfion or duration of time ; the word Munnw tur in it's abfolute and literal fenfe will be fub- fequently explained j the word Hazaar^ literally fig- nifies a thoufand j Hazaar par Hazaar^ thoufands upon thoufands. gious {cnk'y as holding in the rotation of the Metcmpjychofs, the rank immediately pre- ceding the human form ; this conception is the true caufe of that devout, and fometimes' enthufiaftic veneration paid to this animated form, for the Bra?mns inculcate that when the Ghoij fufFers death by accident or vio- lence, or through the neglect of the owner, it is a token of God's wrath againft the wickednefs of the fpirit of the proprietor^ who from thence is warned th?it at the diffo- lution of his human form, he will not be deemed worthy of entering thefirfl: Boboon of purification, but be again condemuicd to return to the loweil region of punifhment : hence it is, that not only mourning and lamenta- tion enfue on the violent death of either cov/ or calf — but the proprietor is frequently en- joined, and often voluntarily undertakes, a three years pilgrimage in expiation of his crime, forfaking his family, friends andre-o lations, he fubfifts during his pilgrimage on charity and alms. — It is v/orthy remxark, that the penitent thus circumftanced, ever meets with the deepeft commlferation, as his llate is deemed truely pitiable ; two inflances have fallen within our own knowledge w^here the penitents have devoted themfelves to the fervice of God, and a pilgrimage during the term of their life. Secondlr, ( 75 ) Secondly, the Ghoij is venerated by the Gentoos in a political fenfe, as being the moil ufeful and neceflary of the whole animal creation, to a people forbid feeding on flefli, or on any thing that had breathed the ' breath of life ; for jt not only yielded to them delegable food, but was otherways effentially ferviceable in the cultivation of their lands ; on which depended their vege- table fubfiflence. The Gentoos hold that the females of all animated forms are, more or lefs, favored of God, but more eminently in the form of Moiyah in the eighty-ninth tranfmigra- tion ; the word fignifies excellent^ and is ap- plied to the female oiMhiird', Khaan is the common name for woman, though it ufually means a married Moiyah^ and the Gentod Princeffes have no higher title than Rhaance, The female or Moiyah of Mhurd^ is fup- pofed to be animated by the mofl benign and lead culpable of the apoftate angels, and that from this form, in every period of the four yogues^ an infinitely greater number of the delinquent fpirits, have entered the firft region of purification, than from the form of Mkurd, The fudden death of infants, the Bramins fay, marks the fpirits favored of God, and tha^ ( 76 ) tliat it is immediately received into tlie bofom of Bijlnoo^ (the prelerver) and conveyed to thefirft region of purification. — Thefudden death of aduhs, on the contrary, they pro- nounce a mark ot God's wrath againft the animating fpirit, as it's term of probation in Mhiird^ is cut fliort. The great age of man, when it is accompanied vv^th the en- joyments of his faculties and underftanding, is pronounced by the Brmnins to be the greateft bleffing God can beftow upon this mortal flate, as thereby the term of the fpirits probation is prolonged; adding that the limited fpace of one hundred years, decreed by God in the prefent Koke'jogue^ is full ihort for the works of repentance and goodnefs, and that when the life and underrtanding is preferved beyond that limited term, it ought to be deemed a fignal mark of God's fpecial grace and favor. Longevity, in (what Vs^e call) the brute ■creation, is by the Bramins efteemed a mark of the great delinquency of the fpirits which animate thofe tribes, becaufe they are fo long debarred and with-held from their great and chief ftate of probation in Mhurd, — The Geiitoos eilimate the greater or lefler delin- quency of the apoftate fpirits, by the clafs of mortal forms they are doomed to inhabit; thus, ( 77 ) thus, all voracious and unclean animals arc iuppofed to be animated by the mofl malig- nant fpirits ; — if a hog or dog touch a Gen^ too, he is deiiled, not from the animal form, but from the perfwafion, that the Dehtah animating that form, is a malignant fpirit. — Every voracious animal, that inhabits the earth, air and waters, and men whofe lives and actions are publickly and atrocioufly wicked, come under that clafs of fpirits: — ■ On the contrary, thofe fpirits that animate the forms which fubfift on vegetables, and do not prey upon each other, are pronounced favored of God. The general warfare which is obferved in the animal world, whereby the deftrudtion of one fpecies is the neceifary fupport and fubfiilence of others, the Braifiins affert is the lot of puniihment decreed by God for the mofl: guilty of" the apoftate angels, who are thereby made /'/V inftruments of punifh- ment to eacb other^ every of thefc tribes being a deftined prey to one another. — The natural enmity v;hich fome claifcs of ani- mals bear to others, whereby they hve in a continued ftateof war and contention, when- ever they meet, although they do not fub- fift on each other, proceeds they fay from the fame caufe; the delinquent DeHab being dedined ( 78 ) deftined as a punilhment, in thofe forms to exercife that propenlity to hatred, envy, and animofity, on one another, which they had fo impotently dared to exert againft their Creator. The rotation of animal forms deflinedfof the habitation of the deUnquent D^'toi', are not, fay the BraminSf precifely the fame, ort repetition of the eighty-nine tranfmigrations ; but are arbitrary and refts with the will of God ; but it is their belief that the leaft guilty of the Debtah^ tranfmigrate only through thofe forms which by their nature are deftined to fubfift on the vegetable crea- tion; and that the three changes immediately preceding the fpirits animating the Ghoij (that is the eighty-fifth, eighty-fixth, and eighty-feventh) are into the mofi: innocent of the fpecies of hirds^ the goat and the jheep^ the animals moft favored of Godj next to the Ghoij and 7kf/6z/r^.— From hence the rigid Bramins execrate with bitternefs, the cruelty of thofe nations, who wickedly and wantonly feled and daughter the beft beloved created forms of God, namely xht birds, the goat, the flieep, and the cow, to fatisfy their unnatural luft of appetite, in defiance not only to his exprefs command and prohibition, but in oppofition to the natural ( 79 ) natural and obvious conftrutStlon of the mouth and digeftive faculties of Al/jur djwh'ich marks him, deftined with other forms moll: favored of God,tofeed and fubfifl: on the fruits and produce of the earth, with the additional blefiing of the milk of the Ghi/, and of other animals. — ^For this degeneracy, they account no otherwife, than pioully lamenting the pitiable ftate of Mhurd, fnice the com- mencement of the Kolee jogiie^ adding, that by juft confequence the tranfgreffion carries its punifhment along with it, for by this af- femblage of unnatural and forbidden food, variety of difeafes are entailed, which cut fhort the term of probation in Mhiird^ by which the delinquent fpirit robs himfelf of more than half of that fpace of indulgence and trial which his Creator has gracioufiy beftowed upon him, and which he by a frefh inftance of his difobedience, ungratefully rejeds. Ovidm his fifteenth book o1 Met amor pho- fes introduces Py//6^^(?r<^j-difiuadir!g mankind from killing and feeding on his fellow crea- tures. O ur readers will excufe us, if we tranf- cribe fuch parts of his pathetic arguments, as are ftridly in point with the fubjed of the preceding paragraph. *' He ( So ) «* He firft the tafte of flefh, from tables drove^ And argued well, if arguments could move. O mortals ! from your fellows blood abftain. Nor taint your bodies^ with a food prcphane ; While corn and pulfe by nature are beflow'd, And planted orchards bend their willing load ; While labor'd gardens wholefome herbs produce, And teeming vines afford their gen'rous juice; Nor tardier fruits of cruder kind are loft. But tam'd by >fire or mellow'd by the froft ; While kine to pails, diftended udders brings And bees their honey, redolent of fpring j While earth, not only can your needs fupply. But lavifli of her ftores, provides for luxury i A guiltlefs feaft, adminifters with cafe. And without blood, is prodigal to pi cafe ; Wild hearts their maws, with their flain brethren fill^ And yet not all, — for fome refufe to kill j Sheep, goats, and oxen, and the nobler fteed^ On browfe and corn, and flow'ry meadows feed ; Bears, tigers, wolves, the angry lions brood. Whom heaven endu'd with principles of bloodj He wifely funder'd, from the reft to yell. In foreft, and in lonely caves to dwell ; Where ftronger beafts opprefs the weak by night. And all in prey, and purple feafts delight. *' O impious ufe ! to Nature's laws oppofed^ Where bowels are in others bowels clofed j W-here fatten'd, by their fellows' fat they thrive. Maintained by murder, and by deatlv they live ; ( 8i ) 'Tis then for nought, that mother Earth provides The ftores of all fhe fhows, and all fhe hides ; If men with flciliy morfels mult be fed. And chaw with bloody teeth the breathing bread 3 What eJfc is this, but to devour our guefts, And barb'roufly renew Cyclopean feafts. We by deftroying lifCj our life fuftain. And gorge th' ungodly maw, with meats obfcene* *' Not fo the golden age, who fed on fruit, Nordurft with bloody meals their mouths pollute; Then birds, in airy fpace, might fafely move. And tim'rous hares on heaths fecurely rove. Nor needed fifti the guileful hooks to fear. For all was peaceful, and that peace fi.ncere. Whoever was the wretch, and curs'd be he. That envy'd firft, our food's fimplicity; The effay of bloody feafts, on brutes began, And after forged the fword to murder man j Had he the (harpened fteel, alone employed On beafts of prey, which other hearts deftroyed, Or man invaded, with their fangs and paws. This had been juftified by Nature's laws^ And felf defence : — but who did feafts begin Of flefh, he ftretch'd neceffity, to fin. To kill man-killers, man has lawful power. But not the extended licence to devour, *' 111 habits gather, by unfeen degrees. As brooks make rivers, rivers run to feas ; The fow, with her broad fnout, for rooting up, Th' entrufted feed, was judg'd to fpoil the crop And intercept the fweating farmer's hope. Part 11. G The '1 } } ( 82 )■ The covetous churl, of unforgiving kind, The offender to the bloody prieft refign'd ; Her hunger was no plea, for that fhe dy'd ; The goat came next in order to be tried. The goat hadcrop'd the tendrils of the vine. In vengeance the laity, and clergy join, Where one had loft his proRt, one his wine. Here was, at leaft, fome fhadov/ of offence ; The flieep was facriflced, on no pretence. But meek, and unrefifling innocence. A patient, ufcful creature, born to bear. The warm and woolly fleece, that cloth'd her murderer • And daily to give down the milk fhe bred, A tribute for the grafs on v/hich fhe fed : Living both food and raiment fhe fupplies. And is of leafl advantage when fhe dies. <' How did the toiling ox, his death deferve, A downright fimple drudge, and born to ferve ? O tyrant ! with what juflice canfl thou hope. The pfomife of the year a plenteous crop. When thou deflroy'ft thy lab'ring fteer, who tiWd And plough'd with pain, thy elfe ungrateful field ; From his yet reeking neck, to draw the yoke. That neck with which the furly clods he broke j And to the hatchet, yield thy hufbandman, Whio finifhed autumn, and the fpring began. «' Nor this alone ! but heaven itfelf to bribe. We to the gods, our impious a6is afcribe; Firft recompence with death, their creatures toil. Then call the blefl above to fhare the fpoil. 2 7^ ( 83 ) The faireft victim, muft the pow'rs appeafe (So fatal 'tis fometimes too much to pleafe) A purple fillet his broad brow adorns. With flow'ry garlands crown'd and gilded horns : He hears the niurd'rous prayer theprieft prefers. But underftands not ! 'tis his doom he hears : Beholds the meal, betv/ixt his temples caft, (The fruit and produdl of his labors paft,) And in the water, views perhaps the knife^ Uplifted to deprive him of his life ; Then broken up alive, his entrails fees Torn out for priefcs t'infpecl the gods decrees. *' From whence, O mortal man ! this guft of blood Have you deriv'd ? and interdidled food ? Be taught by me, this dire delight to fhun, Warn'd by my precepts, by my practice, won ; And when you eat the well-deferving beaft. Think, on the lab'ref of your field, youfeafti *' Then let not piety be put to flight, ; To pleafe the tafte of glutton appetite ; But fufFer inmate fouls fecure to dwell. Left from their feats your parents you expell ; With rabid hunger feed upon your kind. Or from a beaft diflodge a brother's mind." That Pythagoras carried fuch fentiments from the Bramins^ and labored to obtrude them upon his countrymen, is beyond con- troverfy ; the pathetic perfwafives he urged to them in that age to abftain from the G 2 feeding ( 84 ) feeding on their brethren of the creatiorl, proved however as inefFedtual then, as wt conceive it would be in theprefent,themore's the pity — for it is to be feared we fhall to the end of the chapter — Rife, kill, and eat. Regarding the defcription (which Ovid puts in the mouth of Pythagoras ) of the ancient religious facrifices, we muftin juftice to the Bra?nins fay he could not borrow it from them ; in this particular the original religious tenets of the Ge??loos differ from all the ancients, for they were ftrangers to thole bloody facrifices and offerings ; neither of the Getitoo BhadeshsLvmg the lead alluiionto that mode of worfhipping the deity ; and the Bramins fay, nothing but Moijafoor himfelf could have invented fo infatuated and cruel an inftitution, which is manifeftly fo repug- nant to the true fpirit of devotion, and abhorrent to the Eternal one. That every animal form is endued, with cogitation, memory and refiedlion, is one of the inoft eftablifhed tenets of the Bramins ; indeed it muft confequentially be fo, on the luppofed Metcmpfycbojis of the apoftate fpirits, through thefe mortal forms. — Every Itate of the delinquent fpirits abode in the eight Boboons^ they lay, is a flate of humilia- ( 8j ) humiliation, punifhment and purgation, that of Mhiird not excepted ; and that the purpofe of the Eternal one would be de- feated by hlmfelf, had he not endued them with rationality and a confcioufnefs of their fituation. In the form of Mlmrd alone, is the fpirit's ftate of probation, becaufe in this form only, he again becomes an abfolute and free agent \ and in this alone lies the difference between Mhurd, and the reft of the animal created forms, for in thefe, the fpirit's intelle6tual faculties are circumfcribed, more or lefs, by the varied conftrudtion of the forms, and limited within certain bounds, which they cannot exceed, — that confcioufnefs of thofe confined powers, and envy at the fu- perior ftate Oii Mburd^ conftitutes their chief puniftiment; that this unceafing envy, and refentment of the ufurped tyranny which ilf/^z/r^^aflumed over the animal creation (from thebeginningoftheAWft'y(?g'/^fyarethecaufes which made them in general fhun his fo- ciety, and live in a ftate of enmity with him, according to the force of the natural powers, which the Eternal one has en- dued them with ; that where fome of the fpecies appear an exception to this general bent, it proceeds from the weaknefs of their natural powers ; or the fuperior craft and f]L;btility of Mhurd, who firft deceitfully G 3 allured ( 86 ) allured them to flavery and deftrudion.' ^ That neither ewoy or enmity in the animal created forms, nor ufurped tyranny on the part of Mhurdi had exiftence in the breafts of either, before the beginning of the Kolee yogiie^ when a univerfal degeneracy of al- moft all the remaining unpurified Debfah prevailed through all their mortal forms — which until that period had lived in amity and harmony, as confcious of being involved under the fame fcntence and difpleafure of their Creator ; and laftly — That the ufurped tyranny of Mhiird over the reft of the de- linquent angels was difpleafmgto the Eternal ONE, and will be a charge exhibited againft the fpirit by Bijinoo at the difiblution of Mhurdy for that in place of cherifhing the unhappy delinquents during their ftate of humiliation and punifhment, they do, by the force of their tyrannic ufurpation, labor to make their ftate more miferable, than the Eternal one intended it ftiould be, in viola- tion of his exprefs injunction, that they JJdould love one another. The Bramins hold, that every diftindl fpecies of animal creation have a compre- henftve mode of communicating their ideas, peculiar to themfelves j and that the Metemp- fychojis ■^ ( 87 ) fychofis of the delinquent fplrlts extends through every organifed body, even to the fmalleft infcd and reptile; — they highly ve- nerate the bee, and fome fpecies of the ant, and conceive the fpirits animating thofe forms are favored of God, and that its in- telied:ual faculties, are more enlarged under them, than in moft others. Although we have already fhewn that the bloody facriiices of the ancients was no part of the Gentoo tenets, yet there fubfifts amongft them at this day, a voluntary facrijice, of too lingular a nature, to pafs by us unno- ticed; the rather as it has been frequently mentioned by various authors, without we conceive that knowledge and perfpicuity which the matter calls for ; the facrifice we allude to, is the Gentoo wives burning with the bodies of their deceafed hujhands. We have taken no fmail pains to invefligate this feeming cruel cuftom, and hope we fhall be able to throw fame fatisfad:ory lights on this very extraordinary fubjed:, which has hi- therto been hid in obfcurity ; in order to which we will firft remove one or two ob- ilru6tions that lie in our way, and hinder our nearer and more perfect view of it. G 4 The ( 88 ) The cau^e commonly afligned for the origin of this facrifice (peculiar to the wives of this nation) is, that // was a law conjit- tutsd to put a period to a wicked praSfice that the Gent 00 s wives had of poifoning their hiif- bands ; — for this aflertion we cannot trace the fmalleft femblance of truth, and indeed the known fad:, that the facrifice muft be volufjtary^ of it's fclf refutes that common miftake. — It has alfo been a received opinion, that if the wife refufes to burn^ Jhe lofes her cajl (or tribe) and is fiamped with difgrace mid infamy ; an opinion equally voi^d of foundation in fad as the other. — The real ftate of this cafe is thus circumftanced. — The firfi; wife (for the Gentoo laws allow bigamy, akhough they frequently do not benefit themfelves of the indulgence, if they have ifliie by the firft) has it in her choice to burn, but zj- not permitted to declare her re- folution before twenty-four hours after the deceafe of her hufband ; — if fhe refufes, the right devolves to the fecond, — if either, after the expiration of twenty-four hours, publicly declare, before the Bramins and witnejjes^ their refolution to burn, they cannot then retra€l. If they both refufe at the expira- tion of that term, the worft confequence that attends their refufal, is lying under the imputation of being wanting to their own ^ honor. ( 89 ) honor,purIfication, and the profperity of their family, for from their infancy, they are in- ftrucfted by the houfehold Bramin to look upon this cataftrophe, as nioft glorious to themfelves, and beneficial to their children : the truth is, that the children of the wife who burns, become thereby illuftrious, and are fought after in marriage by the molt opulent and honourable of their caji, and fometlmes received into a caft fuperiour to their own. That the Bramms take unwearied pains to encourage, promote, and confirm In the minds of the Gentoo wives, this fptrit of burnings is certain (their motives for it, the penetration of our readers may by and by probably dilcover) and although they feldom lofe their labor, yet inffances happen, where fear, or love of life, fets at nought all their preaching; for itfometimes falls out that the fir ft wife refufes, and the fecond burns ; at others, they both refufe; and as but one can burn, It fo happens, that when the fecond wife has IfTue by the deceafed, and the firfl none, there commonly enfues a violent contention between them, which of the two fhall make the facrifice ; but this difpute is generally determined by the Bra- mins^ in favor of the firfl, unlefs fhe is pre- vailed ( 9° ) vailed on by perfwafion, or other motives to wave her right, in favor of the fecond. — Having elucidated thefe matters, we will proceed to give our readers the heft account we have been able to obtain of the origin of this remarkable cuilom. At the deniife of the mortal part of the G^/zZ-^w' great LavsT-giver and Prophet Bra- MAH, his wives, inconfolable for his lofs, refolved not to furvive him, and offered themfelves voluntary vidtims on his funeral pile. — The wives of the chief Rajahs, the firft officers of the flate, being unwilling to have it thought that they were deficient in fidelity and affedlion, followed the heroic example fet them by the vv^ives of Bramah ; — the Bramms (a tribe then newly confti- tuted by their great legillator) pronounced and declared, that the delinquent fpirits of thofe heroines y hmnediately ceajed from their tranfmigrations, and had entered the firjl Boboon of purification — it followed, that their wives claimed a right of making the fame facrince of their mortal forms to God, and the manes of their deceafed hufbands ; The wives of every Genfoo caught the en- thufiaftic (now pious) flame. -Thus the heroic a£ls of a few women brought about a general cultom, the Bramins had given it the ( 9' ) the Jl amp of religion^ they fclfted it into the Chart ah and Aughtorrah Shades^ and infti- tuted the forms and ceremonials that were to accompany the facrifice, firaincd fome ob- fciire paflages of Br amah"* s Chart ah Bhade, to countenance their declared J enfe of the adtion, and eftablifhed it as a religious tenet throughout Indojtan^ fubjed: to the reftric- tions before recited, which leaves it a volun- tary act of glory, piety and fortitude. Whether the Bramins were lincere in their declared fenfe, and confecration of this ad:, or had a view to the fecuring the fidelity of their own wives, or were aduated by any other motives, we will not determine. When people have lived together to an advanced age, in mutual adls of confidence, friendiliip and affedion ; the facrifice a Gen- too widow makes of her perfon (under fuch an affeding circumftance as thelofs of friend and hufband) feems lefs an objed of wonder; but when we fee women in the bloom of youth, and beauty, in the calm pofTefTion of their reafon and underftanding, with af-^ tonifhing fortitude, fet at nought, the tender confiderations of parents, children, friends, and the horror and torments of the death they court, we cannot refill viewing fuch an ( r- ) an ad, and fuch a vidim, with tears of commiferation, awe and reverence. We have been prefent at many of thcfe facrifices : in fome of the vidims, we have obferved a pitiable dread, tremor, and re-^ ludance, that ftrongly fpoke repentance for their declared refolution\ but it was now too late to retrad, or retreat ; Bijlnoo was waif-^ ing for the fpirit.- — If the felf doomed vic- tim difcovers want of courage and fortitude, Ihe is with gentle force obliged to afcend the pile, where fhe is held down with long poles, held by men on each fide of the pile, until the flames reach her; her fcreams and cries, in the mean time, being drowned amidft the deafening noife of loud mufick, and the acclamations of the multitude. ^ Others we have feen go through this fiery trial, with moft amazing fleady, calm, re- folution, and joyous fortitude. It will not we hope be unacceptable, if we prefent our readers with an inftance of the latter, which happened fome years paft at the Eafl India company's fadory at CoJJimbuzaar^ in the time of Sir Francis RuJfeW chieffhip; the author, and feveral other gentlemen of the fadlory were prefent, fome of whom are now living : — from a narrative, which the author then tranfmitted to England, he is now ( 93 ) tiow enabled to give the particulars of this moft remarkable proof of female fortitude, and conftancy. " At five of the clock in the morning of the 4th of February y 1742-3, died Khaam ChimdPundit oi \ht Mahahrattor tribe, aged twenty-eight years ; his widow (for he had but one wife) aged between feventeen and eigh- teen, as foon as he expired, difdaining to wait the term allowed hef for reflection, immedi-* ately declared to the Bramins and witnefles prefent her refolution to burn ; as the family was of no fmail confideration, all the mer- chants of CoJJiinhwzaar^ and her relations, left no arguments unefTayed to difTuade her from it — Lady Ritffel^ with the tendered humanity, fent herfeveral mefl'ages to the fame purpofe; *— the infant ftate of her children (two girls and a boy, the eldeft not four years of age) and the terrors and pain of the death fhe fought, were painted to her in the ftrongeO; and moft lively colouring — ihc was deaf to all, — fhe gratefully thanked Lady RiiJ'el, and fent her word Jhe had iioiv nothing to live for y but recommended her children to her prote&ion. — When the torments of burning were urged in terrorem to her, fhe with a re- folved and. calm countenance, put her finder into th^ fire, and held it there a confiderable time. ( 94 ) time, (he then with one hand put fire in the palm of the other, fprinkled incenfe ori it, and fumigated the Brafnins, The confi- deration of her children left deftitute of a parent was again urged to her. — She replied, he that ?nade them^ would take care of them. — • She was at iaft given to underfland, fhe fhould not be permitted to burn *; this for a fhort fpace feemed to give her deep afflic- tion, but foon recoil eding herfelf, fhe told them, death was in her power ^ and that if fie was not allowed to biirn^ according to the principles of her cc[fl, fie would farve herfelf,—^ Her friends, findingherthus^ peremptory and refolved, were obliged at Iaft to alTent. *' The body of the deceafed was carried down to the waiter fide, early the following .morning, the widow followed about ten o'clock, accompanied by three very principal 'Bramins^ her children, parents, and relations^ and a numerous concourfe of people. Th^ order of leave for her burning did not arrive from HoJJeyn Khan^ Fonzdaar of Morfidada^ bad^ until after one, and it was then brought by one of the Souhahh own officers, who * The Gentoos are not permitted to burn, v/ithout an order from the Mahoinmedan government, and this pcrmiffion is commonly made a perquifite of had i 9S ) had orders to fee that fhe burnt volunta- rily. The time they waited for the order was employed in praying with the Bramms, and wafhing in the Ganges; as foon as it arrived, (he retired and flayed for the fpace of half an hour in the midftof her female relations, amongft whom was her mother ; ihe then divefled herfelf of her bracelets, and other ornaments, and tyed them in a cloth, which hung like an apron •before her, and was conducted by her female relations to one corner of the pile j on the pile was an arched arbor formed of dry flicks, boughs and leaves, open only at one end to admit her entrance ; in this the body of the deceafed was depofited, his head at the end oppofite to the opening. — At the corner of the pile to which fhe had been conduced, the Bramm had made a fmall fire, round which Ihe and the three Bra- mins fat for fome minutes, one of them gave into her hand a leaf of the bale tree (the wood commonly confecrated to form part of the funeral pile) with fundry things on it, Vx^hich fhe threw into the lire ; one of the Others gave her a fecond leaf, which fhe held over the flame, whilfl he dropped three times fome ghee on it, which melted, and fell into the fire (thefe two operations, were prepa- ratory fymbols of her approaching diffolution by ( 96 ) ey fire) and whilft they were performing this, the third Bramin read to her fome portions of the Aughtorrah Bhade^ and afked her fome queftions, to which fhe anfwered with a Heady, and ferene countenance ; but the noife was fo great, we could not under- ftand what fhe faid, although we were with- in a yard of her. — Thefe over, fhe was led with great folemnity three times round the pile, the Bramms reading before her ; when fhe came the third time to the fmall fire, fhe flopped, took her rings off her toes and fingers, and put them to her other orna- ments; here fhe took afolemn majeftic leave of her children, parents, and relations ; after which, one of the Bramms dip'd a large wick of cotton in fome ghee, and gave it ready lighted into her hand, and led her to the open fide of the arbor ; there, all the Bramms fell at her feet; after fhe had blefl'ed them, they retired weeping ; — by two fteps, flie afcended the pile and entered the arbor; on her entrance, Ihe made a profound reverence at the feet of the de-* ceafed, and advanced and feated herfelf by his head ; fhe looked, in filent meditation on his face, for the fpace of a minute, then fet fire to the arbor, in three places \ obferv- ing that fhe had fet fire to leeward, and that the flames blew from her, inftantly feeing her ( 97 ) iier error fhe rofe, and fet fire to windward, and refumed her ftation; enfign Daniel with his cane, feparated the grafs and leaves on the windward fide, by which means we had a diftind view of her as fhe fat. With what dignity, and undaunted a countenance (he fet fire to the pile the laft time, and affumed her feat, carl only be conceived, for words cannot convey a juft idea of her. — -The pile being of cdmbuftible matters, the fupporters of the roof were prefently confumed, and it tumbled upon her." We fee our fair country-women fhuddef at an a6:ion, which We fear they will look upon, as a proof of the higheft infatuation in their fex.*— Although it is not our inten- tion here to defend the tenets of the Brammsy yet we may be allowed to offer fome juftifi- Cation on behalf of the Gentoo women in the adion before us— Let us view it (as we fliould every other adion) without prejudice, and without keeping always in fight our own tenets and cuftoms, and prepofleflions that too generally refult therefrom, to the injury of others ; — if we viewthefe women in a juft light, we fhall think more candidly of them, and confefs they adt upon heroic, as well as rational and pious principles : In order to this we muft confider them as a race of females Part II. H trained { 98 ) trained from their infancy, in the full convic- tion of their a'/^/^/r^;//^; and that this world, and the corporeal form that inclofes them, is deftined by God, the one as their place of punifliment, the other as their prifon. That their ideas are confequently raifed to a foothing degree of dignity befitting angelic beings. — They are nurfed and inftructed in the firm faith — that this voluntary facrifice, is the moft glorious period of their lives, and that thereby the celeflial fpirit is re- leafed from its tranfmlgrations, and evils of a miferable exiffence, and flies to join the fpirit of their departed hufband, in a ftate of purification ; add to this, the fubordinate confiderationofraifing the luflre of their chil- dren, and of contributing by this adion to their temporal profperity; — all thefe it muft be owned are prevalent motives, for chear- fuUy embracing death, and fettirig at nought every common attachment which the weak- nefs of humanity urges, for a longer exiflence in a world of evil. — Although thefe princi- ples are in general lb diametrically contrary to the prevailing fpirit and genius of our fair country-women, who (from a happy train of education) in captivating amufements and diffipation, find charms fufficient in this world, lq engage their v;ifhes for a perpetual refidencc ( 99 ) refidence in it ; yet we will depend on their jnatural goodnefs of. heart, generoiity and candor, that they will in future look on tliefe their Gentoo fifters of the creation, in a , more favorable, and confident light, than probably they have hitherto done; and not deem that adiion an infatuation, which re- fults from principle. Let them alfo recolledt that their own hiftory affords illuftrious ex- amples in both fexes of voluntary facrifices by fire, becaufe they would not fubfcribe even to a different mode of profeffing the fame faith. Befides — a contempt of death, is not peculiar to the women of India^ it is the chara6terifl:ic of the nation ; every Gentoo meets that moment of diifolution, with a fteady, noble, and philofophic refignation, flowing from the eftablifhed principles of their faith* Before we clofe this fubjed:, wew^ll men- tion one or two more particulars relative to it. — It has been already remarked in a mar- ginal note, that the Gentoo women are not allowed to burn, without an order of leave from the Mahommedan government ; it is proper alfo to inform our readers this pri- vilege is never withheld irom them. — There have been inftances known, v/hcn the vi^tiin has, by 'Europea7is, been forcibly ^'refcued H z from ( lOO ) from the pile ; it is currently faid and be- lieved (how true we will not aver) that the wife of Mr. 'Job Charnock was by him fnatched from this facrifice ; be this as it may, the outrage is confidered by the Gen- toos^ an atrocious, and wicked violation of their facred rites and privileges. Having now brought our fourth general head to a conclufion, and faithfully, to the beft of our knowledge (with the materials we are poffeffed of) exhibited the original tenets of the ancient Bramins^ according to the firft book of Bramah\ Chartah Bhade\ and having in our remarks given fueh eluci- dations as we thought our fubjed: called for, we fubmit our imperfed: work (for imperfedt we muft ftill call it) with all due deference to the public ; hoping that fome more capable head and hand, will be fti- mulated by our endeavours, to produce a more full, and fatisfadory relation, of the reft of his dodrines. — A large field is yet left open, for the exercife of induftry and talents. Bramah\ firft fedion of his fecond book on the creation of this globe, will be the fiibjecl of our next general head.— — His third book, directing the plain and fimple modes of worfliip to be paid to God, and the three primary created beings, and hifr bis fourth fiiMme book^ (which the Gentoos commonly call Bramah Ka, In/off Bhade^ or, Bramah\ book of juftice) wherein is exprefly recited and enjoined, the duties and offices which the delinquent Debtab fhall obferve and pay to each other ; thefe two laft mentioned books, and part of the fecond, we fay, muft lie in oblivion, until fome one, bleffed with opportunity, leifure, ap- plication, and genius, brings them to light. ^he Bind of the Fourth Chapter, II 3 CHAP, ( 102 ) CHAP. V. Of the Creation of the Worlds, INTRODUCTION, IN the fifth fedion of our laft general head, Brarnab recites, that the Eternal ONE, (after he had promulged his gracioiis intention, of mitigating the punifhment of the fallen angels, at the interceflion of the remaining faithful hoft ;) '* retired into himfelf, and became invifible to them, for the fpace of five thoufand years."— In his introducSlion to the ad; of creation of the worlds in his fecond book, he takes again occafion to repeat the above mentioned paf-r fage, and explains it by an inference, that during 7 HAT SPACE, the Eternal one was employed in meditation on his intended new creation ; — and although it appears, from the fame fedion, that this ftupendous work, "Was produced by an irftantayieoiis fat of the (. 1^3 ) Deity, yet Bramah^ to difplay tlie infinite and amazing wifdora of his Creator, enters into a fublime, and philofophic dlfquifition and defcription, of his modes ^(if we may be allowed the expreffion) and manner of creation, In the marvellous conllrudtion of the fifteen BoboonSy that conftltute the Diin- makoifdahy or univerfe ; — thefe defcriptions, he couches under allegories, then commonly and familiarly underfiood, at which the rea- der will the lefs wonder, when he knows, that at this day it is the ufual mode of con- verfing, amongft well educated Gentoos, In this exhibition of infinite wifdom, JSr*^'- 77iah gives a fhort, fimple and elevated def- cription, of each of the fifteen Boboons^ their fituation, their rank, and peculiar deflina- tlon, with the appellations appropriated to the angelic Inhabitants, In their progreflive ' pafTage from one fphere to another. Our memory only fupplies us Vv^ith the names of the fojourners of the ninth, fifth, fixth, and feventh, that is, the firir, and three laft of the feven regions of purification, to wit, the fpheres of the P erect h logue *, the Mu?inoo * Logue^ literally people. Pereeib logue, purified people; H 4 logue^ ( 104 ) hgiie *, the Dehtah logiie f , and the "Bir^ vtah logue J ; in the laft mentioned fpherc, according lo the Bram'uis computation, a complete day is equal to twenty-eight Mun^ nimturs of vulgar time. (Vid, fixth or next general head.) On the foundation of Bramah\ defcrip- tion of the fifteen Baboons^ the compilers of the Aughtorrah Bhade have raifed an elabo- rate chimerical fuperfl:rud:ure, that confounds the underftanding. As the Bramifis conceptions and calcula-* tion of the age and future duration of the univerfe, will be the fubjed: of our next general head, we fhall fay nothing more of it here, than to remind our readers, that they date it's exiftence from the rebellious angels being releafed from the 0?2derah, We again lament the lofs of our materials, which confines us to the eighth fedtion of * Munnoo logue.) people of conte7nplatton^ from 7nun^ or moriy thought.^ rejie£l'ion^ alludes to God's being ■^orlhipped in this fphere in filent meditation. -J- In this fphere the angels are firft fuppofed to re- gain pi'opcrly their title o{ Dehtah, \ In this fphere the delinquents are fuppofed to be cleanfed frcm the pollution of their fin, regenerated, and fit to enter again the Mahah Surgo^ and to be re- admitted to the prefence of their Creator. ( i°5 ) 'BramaU'% fecond book that treats only of the creation of this terreftrial planet, to which we will now proceed, premifing that it is diftinguifhed by the title of the eighth Bo- boon ofMurto^ which literally fignifies the region of earth. ( io6 ) SECT. VIII. *' Birmabah * or Great mi, " And it \V3S that when the " Eternal ome, refolved to form the " new creation of the TiiinneahoU" *' dah^ he gave the rule of Mabah " Surgo to his hrft created Birmah^ " and became invifible to the whole " angelic hoft. " When the Eternal one, firil began *' his intended new creation of the " Diinneahoudahy he was oppofed by two " mighty Offoors f, which proceeded *' from the wax of Brwn\ ear ; and " their names were Modoo J and Kytoo §. " And the Eternal one, contended " and fought with Modoo and -Kytoo^ *' five thoufand years, and he fmote * This title is prefixed to every feiH^ion of Bramah\ fecond book, Bh-mah in the figurative fenfe (before explaijied) {igmiymg creation. - f The common appellation given io giants, but is varioufly ufed in the Shajiah-i to exprei's excrejctuce^ ex- cretion, and fecretion. % Dlfcord, enmity, § Confufion^ timiult. " them f I07 ) ** them on his thigh *, and they werQ *' lojl and affimilated with Murto. " And It was, — that when Modoo *' and Kytco were fubdued, the Eternal ** ONE emerged from his ftate of in- '' vifibiUty, and glory encompalTed hinx ** on every fide ! *' And the Eternal one fpoke., and " faid, Thou Birmah f fhalt create and *' form all things that fhall be made *' in the new creation of the fifteen *' Boboons of pimhhment, and purifi- ** cation, according to the powers of the " fpirit, wherewith thou (halt be In- " fpired. And thou, Bifinoo J,lhalt *' fuperintend, cherifh, and pre/erve all ** the things and forms whiclx fhall be '* created.-^And thou, Sieb ■§, fhalt " change^ or dejiroyy all crea.tion, ac- ** cording to the powers, wh.erewith I ** will inveil thee." ^ Reduced them to fubjeiSlion, or obet^iience : touch^ ing the thigh^ amongft the ancient Gentoos^ was a token oi fubje^lon. t Poxvcr of creation, Vid. introdu6lion to the fourth chapter. X Preferver. Vid. introduction to the fourth chapter. ^ Mutilator, dejiroyer. Vid. introdudion, &:c. « And ( io8 ) ** And tvhen Birmahy Bijinoo^ and " Steby had heard the words of the " Eternal one, they all bowed obe- " dience *. *' The Eternal one fpoke again, *' and faid to Birmahy Do thou begin *' the creation and formation of the *' eighth Boboon^ of pimifhmentand/>r(9- ** bation^ even the Boboon of MurtOy *' according to the powers of the fpirit ** wherewith I have endued thee, and *' do thou, Biftjioo, proceed to execute ** thy part. •* And when Bni?n f heard the *' command, which the mouth of the " Eternal ONE had uttered ; he ftraight- " ways formed a leaf of beetle^ and he *' floated on the beetle leafovtx the fur- *' face of the fhoale ; and the children J ** of Modoo and Kytoo, fled before * The foregoing exordium of the general a£l of creation of the Dunneahoudah, preceeds every one of the fifteen fe6lfons of Bramah's (econd book. f Birmah and Brum, are, in the act of creation, fy- nonimous terms. X Suppofed remains of difcordant matter. The Bramins fuppofed the firft principles of things prior to the creation of the uaiverfe, to have been in a fluid ftate. *' hiiiii ( 109 ) *' him, and vanlfhed from his prc« *' fence. " And when the agitation of the ** yhoale had fubfided, by the powers " of the fpirit oi Brum, Bijinoo ftraight- " ways transformed himfelf into a *' mighty boar *, and defcending into " the abyfs of yhoale, he brought up ** the Murto on his tufks. — Then fpon- *' taneoufly ifllied from him, a mighty " tortoife f , and a mighty fnake J. '* And Bijinoo put the fnake ere£t ** upon the back of the tortoife, and ** placed Murto upon the head of the ** fnake. *' And all things were created and *' formed by Birmah in the eighth " Boboon of punifhment and probation^ *' even the eighth of Murto, according *' to the powers of the fpirit, where- " with the Eternal one had endued « him. * The Gentoos fymbol o^Jlrengih, becaufe, in pro- portion to his fize, he is the ftrongeft of all animals. .,,, f The Gf«/(7W fymbol of y?<7i'/7/Vy. X The Qeniocs fymbol of wijdom. « And ( no ) " And BiJi?ioo took upon him tjie ** fuperintendance and charge of all " that was created, and formed, by ** Birmah in the eighth Boboon of *' Miirto ; and he cherifhed and prc-^ *^ ferved them, as the words of the *' Eternal one had direded, and com- ** manded/' Remarks* IN the fame fablime allegorical manner^ has Bramah defcribed the creation of Sur-^ jee *, and Chiinder f , and the other twelve Baboons of the Dunne ah oudah^ without pre- tending, or aiming to dive into, and explain, the principles of matter, or the nature of thofe eifential laws of motion by which the Deity guides and governs his creation j the wifdom of Bramah has elfewhere marked fuch fruitlefs enquiries, with the Jiamp of prefumption and folly ; and that the know- ledge of thefe^ and the mode of the exiftence of God, is concealed even from the three primary created beings themfelves. From the foregoing fpecimen of the creation of the eighth region, as well aa * The Sunn f The Moon. from ( 1.1 ) from Bramah\ hiftorical difciiffion of the other fourteen, it is moil obvious, that the perfonages which he introduces as adlors in the work of that creation were intended by him to be taken only in a figurative fenfe, as expreffive of the three fupreme attributes of the Deity, his power to create^ his pov/er to prefervt\ and his power to change or defiroy^ as before hinted *.- — For if they were to be underftood in any other fenfe, it would exprelly contradict his own text, where he reprefents the creation of the Diinneahoudah as proceeding from the injiantaneous fiat of the Eternal one ; and a further proof of Bra?nah\ plain intention, refults from his prefixing the fame exordium to each of his fedions of creation. But as th€ real fenfe and meaning of the allegory (then clearly underftood by all) was,' in procefs of time, loft to the generality of the Gentoos, the compilers of the Chart ah and yiiightorrah Bhades^ took the advantage (which ignorance and time gave them) and not only realifed Bramah\ three myfticai beings^ but created alfo a multitude of lubor- dinate adtors, and made Demi--s:ods and Di- vinities of them all, inftituting particular days, fafts, and feftivals, and other exterior * Vid. Ijntrodudion to, the fourth chapter^ worfhip, ( 112 ) ^voffhip, to each : — Thus Surjee and Chuhder^ Modoo and Kytoo, and a race of their children and defcendants, became Demi-gods and heroes ; and fcorning to confine themfelves to the eighth Boboon^ they ranfacked the fourteen, and framed divinities of the prin- cipal perfonages which their wild imagina-* tion fuppofed refident in each of them, and allotted to them peculiar divine worihip, which fubfifts to this day. It will not, we hope, be thought an im- probable conjecture, if we fay, that the allegorical parts oiBramah'*^ Char tab Bhade, (which truely bears a divine femblance) being thus perverted or grofly miftaken by the very tribe, which he had inftituted guardians ovei' it, and being fubfequently communicated to the 'Egyptian Magi, and by them circulated through the dates of Greece, afforded them,- aswell as Rome and the whole Wejlern world, thofe inexhauftible fupplies of mythological Jyjiems^ which held their exiftence and au- thority even long after the light of chriftia- nity had Ihone upon them. ^But to re- fume our more immediate fubjedt. The a£t of creation of the Boboonof Miirto is reprefented in the annexed plate No. I. which (with others we fhall have occafion to ( "3 ) to prefent to the reader) was drawn by tlie inflrudtions, and under the eyeof a judicious Bramin of the Battezaar tribe, the tribe, as before noticed, ufually employed in ex- pounding the Shaf^ahs, Brum * is reprefented lying and floating on a \tz.i oi beetle^ over the troubled furface of the abyfs of Jhoale ; the three primary beings appear before it, in the pofture ot adoration, Birmah on the right, Bijinoo in the middle, and Sieb on the left. On the right, above the abyfs, is figured a huge boar^ bearing on his tuiks a lump of earth. —On the left, above the abyfs, is reprefented a tortoife, on which a fnake refts his tail, bearing Murto (or the earth) on his head.— - Brum and Birmah are habited alike ; and are each figured with four heads and four arms.^ — The three primary beings, arefup- pofed in the pofture of adoration, to be re- ceiving the commands, of the Eternal one, touching his projected new creation; and the other figures exprefs the three gradations of the work, namely the beginning, the progrefs, and completion f . * Zpir'tt or ejfence of the Eternal ONE : vide Intro - dudlion to the fourth chapter, t Vide Plate No. i. Part II. I Notwith- ( "4 ) Notwithftanding the fagacious reader, by a bare reference to the marginal notes which we have affixed to the text of Bramah^ will readily conceive the fpirit of the allegory contained in it ; yet as fome paflages of it require a further explanation than could be huddled into a note, we will add the whole interpretation of it under one connedled view. The Eternal one having determined on the creation of the univerfe, like a fupreme wife archlted:, he retired, for a fpace to pro- jed: his ftupendous plan, and prepare his materials. — He was oppofed in the operation by the difcord, confiijion and tiimidi of the elements that compofe the (ibyfs ofjhoak % — ^hefeparated, fubdued, brought them unde^ ftibjeBion^ and prepared them to receive his intended impreffions.— He exerts his three great attributes, to create^ prefefve, or dejiroy^ which are figuratively reprefented by xki^three priraarycreated beings — Y^\'s,fpirit floats upon the furface of the abyfs of Jhoak^ or fluid matter, — Creation takes place. — Birniah (or Creation) is reprefented with four heads and four armsjto denote \\\q. power of God in the ad:' of creation. Brjlnoothepreferverh transformed into a mighty ^o<^r, emblematically fignifying ^hejirength of God in the act of creation.-;— The { i«5 ) The tortolfe myftically denotes \he Ji ability and permanency of the foundation of the earth, and the fnake the wifdom by which it IS fupported. Thefe latter operations are given to Bijlnoo, becaiife the earth was the grand principle or parent, from whence he was to draw the means for \.\\q prefervation of the future animal creation, deftined for the prifons of the rebellious £)t'/^/^/6; a work which we may gather from Bramah\ text, was referved for the hand of God himfelf, as they were to be endued with ratiojial powers.— Ax. ' may be aflced why Brufn, is reprefented floating, particularly on a beetle leaf? To this we can only reply, that the plant is deemed facred amongft the Gentoos, it's culture is made under the aufpices of the Shajiahy and inftrudion of the Bramins ; iDiclean perfons are prohibited entering into a beetle garden, as the approach of any impu- rity is pronounced fatal to the plant, in the infancy of its growth. To conclude this general head — How far Homer, Virgil, Lucretius, Ovid, Lucian, &c. have in their conceptions of the creation, (by m.eans of the EgyptiaJisJ built on, and availed themfelves of the fimple cofmogony of Br amah, we leavfthe learned and curious to trace. — Although in fa£t, it is obvious, • I 2 that. ( "6 ) that this ancient fage, aimed at no other folution of that ftupendous and incompre- henfible ad, than to inculcate, that the uni" verfe was produced by the ejfence and vo^ luntary power ^Jirength and wifdom of God, That it is prej'erved and fuftained by ori- ginal conftituent powers impreffed on it by the Deity, and that it is liable to change and diflblution, at his divine pleafure and will. 7he End of the Fifth Chapter, ( ^11 ) CHAP. VI. ^he Genfoo manner of computing 'Time, and their conception of the age of the univerfe^ and the period of its dijfolution, [From Bramah's Chartah Bhade, In the fnp- pkment to his Birmahah.] C I X T Y mi?nicks^ or winks of the eycj ^ make one pull. Sixty pulls^ make one gurfee. Sixty gurrees^ make one complete day, or one day and one night. Three hundred and fixty-five comptete days and fifteen gurrees make one folar year. The Gentoos divide the complete day into eight parts, to which they give the term paar^ commencing their day at fix in the morning; — thus ek paar dheen * equals our nine in the morning ; duapaar dheen, our noon ; teenpaar dheen, our three afternoon ; Chaarpaar dheen, our fix in the evening:— the divifions of the night are diftinguiihed by the word rhaat (night) in place of * Literally, one part of day, I 3 dheen^ J0 , ( ii8 ) dbeeriy as ek paar rhaaf^ equals our nine at i^ight; and fo on. It Is the province of the Bramlns in this country to keep the account of time, and there is no Gentoo of diftindion but retains . in his houfe and on his journeys one of thefe time keepers, whofe intire bufinefs it is to regulate time, and ftrike the gu?'rees as they pafs, on the Ghongy an extended fheet of copper, which yields the . found of a folemn bell. 5r^;;2^-6meafuresfpace or duration of time, from the creation of the Dtinneahozidah, or univerfe, by the revolutions of the four Jogues. The firft age, or Suttee ^ogue, contains thirty-two lac years of vulgar time, or The fecond age, or Tirtajo- guey fixteen lac, or The third age, or Dwapaar Jogue^ eight lac, or The fourth age, or Kolee fo^ gue^ four lac, or 6,000,000 Bkutter ( 119 ) - J^kuffer(iQventy one) revolutions of the four jogues make one Miinmrntur of vulgar time, or years 426,000,000^ (The word Munnuntur, is iri this place ftridly applied by Br amah x.o /pace of time^ but it is by him frequently ufed with a re- trofpedt fignification to the adt of creatioriy and is fometimes given as an additional name to Birmahy as Birmah Miinmiah., alluding to the creation being the refult of thought and meditation ; — the word, as we before re- marked in a marginal note, fprings from Mofz, or Mim^ thought, reflection ; Mimnoo Logiiey the people of thought, or contem- plation. — The compilers of the Aughforrab Bhade derive the vsrord Munnuntur from MunnuaJj or Mmmooah^ whom (by perverting the fenfe of Br amah) they make to be the fabulous perfonal offspring of Birmah, arid report mighty feats of his prowefs in war, againft Moifafoor^ and his adherents.) When Bramah defcended to ptomulge the written law and commands of the Eter- nal ONE to the Gentoosyhe at the fame time (namely, the beginning of the prefent Koke Jogue *J declared, ^^ from the regifters * Vide Introdudlon to the fourth chapter. 1 4 ^f t 120 ) of Surgo^ that the Dunneahoudah, was then entering into the eighth revolution of the four JogueSy in the J'econd Munnuntiir '^'' confequently, according to Bramah\ account, (and if our calculation be right) the precife age of thisi and the other fourteen planets of the univerfe, amounted to, at that period, four hundredand fixty eight millions of years. And if we fubftrad: the 4866 years, which have ehpfed fmce the defcent of Br amah ^ we fhall find the remainder of the Kolee Jogue will be 359,134 years; at the ex- piration of which, Br amah pronounced and prophecied, that the patience and forbearance of the Eternal one would be withdrawn from the delinquent Debtahy and deflruclion hy Jire fall upon the eight regions of pu- nilhmentj purgation and probation f. In the fupplement to his Birmahah, Bramah likewife taught, that the Boboon of Murto^ had undergone three remarkable changes, and would undergo three more, before its final diflblution in common with the other feven Boboons ; but he fpecifics not of what nature thofe changes were, or would be;— he alfo declares, " that after a long *'^ fpace^ afecond new creation will take place ; *' but of what kind, or on what principles it f Vide towards the clofe of the fifih fe£Vion. 2 '* WQuld { 121 ) *' would be conJlriiBedy was only known to the ^' Eternal one." The caufe of the fuperftitlous veneration paid by the Gentoos to the numericals one and THREE has, we conceive, been obvious to the difcerning reader as he travelled thro' thefe {heets.- — It is remarkable, that a Gen^ too never gives or receives an obligation for an even fum ; if he borrows or lends a hundred, a thoufand, or ten thoufand ru- pees, the obligation runs for a hundred and one^ a thoufand and one^ ten thoufand and one, &c. The Mahommedans^ in conformity only, have generally adopted this cuftom ; hence it was, that the revenues Hipulated ^to be paid annually by Soujah Khan into the royal treafury, were one khorore, one lac, one thoufand, one hundred, and one rupee, I'he Ejzd of the Sixth Chapter. ( 122 ] mt C M A P. VII. Of the Gentoo Fajis^ and Fejiivals^ 8cc, [From the Chatah and Aughtorrah Bhzdt Shaftahs.J ' - INTRODUCTION. A S the Gentoo year begins the firft of ^^ Aprils we will trace their holy days as they fall in turn from that day, premifing that the word Oupofs fignifies a faft, Pur^ rup a feaft, and Poojah worfhip, but when accompanied with an offering, it is then called Birto Poojah. — Poojah is alfo fome- times ufed to fignify the altar on which they offer. The Gentoo holy days are guided by the courfe and age of the moon, and generally take their denomination from that, or from thereligious duties that are enjoined on thofe particular days, and fometimes from both. Their ( 1^3 ) Their ofFenngsconfift of fruits, fome par- ticular facred plants and flowers, powdered fugar, fait, meal, and different kinds of grain, Firft Holy Day. Oupofs, Okhuij Tertea, falls on. the third day of the new moon in April, and is de- dicated to the giving alms and benefadions to the Braf?ims, as the word Okhuij imports. — This day is alfo ordained for making the April. Gentoo pickle called Kojfundee^ made only on this day, by the wives of the Bramins\ it is compofed of green mango's, tamarind, muftard feed, and frefh muftard feed oil ; it is deemed a holy pickle, and the only one the Gentoos ufe with their food. Second. Oupofs, PooRNEMEE f, falls on the full moon in Aprils and is ftridly ordained for wafh- ing and purifying in the river Ganges^ and for diftributing charity. Third. Oupofs Poojah — Purriip, Orun X SusTEE, falls on the fixth day of the new moon in May^ and is dedicated May. to the goddefs Sufiee^ the goddefs of gene- t Poorah, full. :|: Or«w, the morning Jlar^ often ufed to exprefs the el awn of day, ration, ( 124 ) ration, who is worfhipped when the morning Jiar appears, or at dawn of day, for the propagation of children, and to remove barrennefs. — On this day prefents are ufu- ally made by the parents to their fons in law, and the day ends with a purrup or feaft. Fourth. Ptirrup^ at night Poojah, DussARRAH, as the word imports, falls on the tenth day of the new moon in May ; it is dedicated to the God Gunga, the God of the Ganges^ who is fabled to have arrived on earth on this day of the moon, and in this month — it is alfo dedicated to the God- defs Moonjhee Tagooran *, Goddefs of fnakes, and fabulous daughter of Sieb, Fifth. Oupofs'Poojab. PooRNEMEE falls on the full moon in May, and is dedicated to Jaggernaut^ (fy- nonimous with Bijinoo.) This day is otherwife called from the duty enjoined on it, the Si-^ nan f , Jattra J, or general wajhing in the Ganges — and it is almoft incredible to think the immenfe multitude of every age and fex that appears oa both fides of the river, * Tagooran^ prieftefs, fometimes goddefs. f SinaUy bathing. X Jattray literally fignifies a dance of many. throughout ( 125 ) throughout it's whole courfe, at one and the fame time. Sixth. Oupofs-Ptirrup, Rhutt Jattra, falls on the fecond day of the new moon in "June', it is dedicated to Jaggernaut and Bijinoo. — On this day the Rhutt i or triumphal car of Jaggernaut, is carried forth about a mile, refts, and is returned on the ninth day of the moon.— From the feventh day of the moon to the tenth, both inclufive, is the Umboobissee ; June, during which fpace, the earth is left to her purgations, and neither plough, fpade, or any other inftrument of tillage, permitted to moleft her. — The term Umboobissee, which needs no further explanation, is ap- plied to women under the fame circumftances. Seventh. Oupofs. Syon fEKKADUssEE, as the laft word imports, falls on the eleventh day of the new moon in yune^ and is a folemn faft.- yaggernaut for Bijinoo J is fabled iojleep for four months ; — which only fignifies that the rainy feafon about this timefetting in for four months, the care of Bijinoo (the pre- f Syorii fleep, repofe. ferver) ' ( 126 ) ferver) is fufpended, as immaterial, the rains fecuring their crops of grain. Eighth. Oiipofs, PooRNEMEE, as the word imports, falls on the full moon in fime^ and is dedicated to walhing in the Ganges^ and charity to the Bramins, Ninth. Oupofs. DuADUssEE, as the word fignifies, falls on the twelfth day of the new moon in July^ and is devoted to wafhing in the Gangesy and giving alms. Tenth. Oupofs-Ptirrup. EkkadusseEjTer ADUSSEE, Chowta- DUSSEE and PooRNEMEE, the eleventh, thirteenth, fourteenth, of the new moon in yuly^ to the Poornemee or full inclufive, are dedicated to the Joolna fattra of Kif- fen Tagoor ; but thefe are not directed by the Sha/iah^ and are only obferved by the Gen- toos of the Rettery tribe. Eleventh. Oupofs, JuRMof OosTOOiMEEfalls on the eighth day after the full, or twenty-third day of t Jurmo, nativity, 3 t^e ( 127 ) the moon in yuly, and is dedicated to th? birth of Kijfen Tagoor^ who is fabled to have then defcended for the deftrudion of Kunkfoo Rajah^ a famous OJfoor and tyrant. It is obferved as a folemn faft. Twelfth. Turnip. Lukee f Poojah falls on the firft Thiirf- 4ay in the month of Aiigujl\ fhe is the Getitoo Goddefs of all kinds of grain, and isAuguft, fabled to be the wife of Btfinoo, thepreferver ; fhe is worfhipped at this time on the coming in the Paddy^ the name given to rice in the hufk. — ^The day concludes with a feaft. Thirteenth, Purrup, UnnuntoBirxo, falls on the fourteenth day of the moon in Auguji^ and is' dedicated to Bijinoo with the epithet of JJnmmto, or the unknown ; an offering of grain is made to him, and the day concludes with a feaft, Fourteenth. Oiipofs. Arundah Poojah falls on the thirtieth day of Aiiguft^ and is dedicated to Moonfiee Tagooran (the feminine of Tagoo?') Goddefs of fnakes.- -The precife interpretation of Arundah we have loft, and will not impofe f Lukee, plenty, affluence, on ( 128 ) on our readers. — Although this day is a faft, it ends in a feaft of the new rice, boiled early, and eaten cold\ to which effential circumftance we think the word Arundahy given to this Poojah, alludes ; but we arc : not pofitive. Fifteenth. Purrup, Drug AH Poojah falls on the feventh day of the new moon in September^ and continues the eighth and ninth. The eighth is obferved as a faft by thofe who have no children. — This is the grand general feaft of the Gentoos, ufually vifited by all Septem- Europeans, (by invitation) who are treated by the proprietor of the feaft with the fruits and flowers in feafon, and are enter- tained every evening whilft the feaft lafts, with bands of fingers and dancers. — This Goddefs is the firft in rank and dignity, and the moft a6live of all the fabulous deities of the Aughtorrah Bhade^ and is ftiled the wife of Sieby the dejiroyer, the third of the three primary created beings. She is as often ftiled Bowannee f, as Drugah J ; and fre- quently Bowannee Drugah : the caufe of her defcent is thus derived : — God having ap- pointed Endeer § and his defcendants uni- f Perfevering. % Virtue, § Goodnefs. verfal ( 1-9 ) verfai Rajahs of the world, the appointment ■U^vS illy brooked by Moijajoor "^^ \ he there- upon drew together his adherents, and waged war againft Endeer and his defcendants, who were at laft in the Duapaar 'Jogue obliged to fly, and leave the government of the world to Moijafoor \ which proved the "fource of ravages, murders, and confufion* ' — 'Endeer^ and his few adherents, were confined to a fmall portion of the world, frorri whence, in compallion to mankind, they with piety and humility petitioned the three primary created beings to implore the Eternal one to redrefs the srievances refulting from the ufurped pov/er of Moifa" Jhor. — The three beings interceded, and ob- tained permiflion that Bowannce Drugab ihould defcend on the earth, for the defti uc- tion of Moifafoor and his adherents, which the Gentoos are taught to believe ilie will in the end efl^ed:, and finally reftore the government of tlie world to Endeer and his defcendants, according to the firfi: intention of the Eternal one. Hence was the Dm- ^^i' P^(?//Z;^ inftituted, during which the Supreme Being is invoked, through her me- diation, to haften that wiilied-for period.— The allegory in the foregoing recital is fo .plain by a reference to the marginal notes, ^ Evil, ^\\^ ■ Part II. K that ( 130 ) that we will not afFront the underflandin^ of our readers by offering an explanation, although we fhall illuftrate it further when we give a particular interpretation of the plate N^. 2. Sixteenth. Purrup. DussuMEE, or the tenth day of the new moon in September^ when the image of Drug AH is call into the Ganges, with the univerfal acclamations of the people, and is faid to be returned to her hufband Sieb. Pu- rification by wafhing in the Ga?2ges on this day is flricdy enjoined. Seventeenth. Qupofs. LuKEE Poo J A PI falls on the full moon. in September, on which fhe is worlhipped all night, during which nothing is drank but the water of the coco nut. Eighteenth. Oupofs, K A L L E K A , Kalkee or Katie Poojab, (for they are fynonimous) falls on the laft day of the moon in September, This goddefs is worfhipped all the night of that day uni- verfally, but in a more particular manner at KaJlee Ghat, about three miles fouth of Cal^ cutta\ an ancient Pagoda dedicated to her there, Hands ciofe to a fmall brook, which is- ( 131 ) IS by the Bramins deemed to be ttie original courfe of the Ganges. The parts of the Gentoo Goddefs (Hke the parts of fome mo- dern faints) are worfhipped in various parts of Indojian ; her eyes at Kallee Ghat^ her head at Banarasy her hand at Bindoobuiid ^^ but where the remains of her are diftributed has efcaped our memory *.— She takes her name from her ufual habihment, which id blacky and is frequently called the black God^ defs ; Kallee is the common name for ink.— She is fabled to have fprung, completely arm- ed, from the eye of Drugah^ at a time when fhe was hard prefled in battle by the tyrants of the earth f. — On this faft, v/orfhip and offerings are paid to the manes of deceafed ancejlors. Befides the laft mentioned annual cuftom, every Gentoo keeps the anniverfary of their father*s death, in falling and wor-^ fhip to his manesy which is called Baap ka Surraad\. — It is worthy remark (by the bye) that in all Devonjhii'-e, the word Kallee ex- preiTes black or fmut : why the fame com- bination of letters fliould convey the fame idea to people fo far removed from each other. We leave the curious to account for. * Plate N^. 3. f The various heads which appear fcattered over the plate, fignify the many tyra-nts and monflers fhe flew in conjun6lion with Drugah, X Sacred to the father. K s Nine- Nineteenth. P'urnip. Raas \ Jattra, falls on the full moon in OBober, and is continued to the feventeenth of the moon ; it is dedicated to Ktf- fen 'Tagoor Kcttfj. — This feaft is univerfally obferved, but in a moA extraordinary man- ner celebrated at Bindoobiind^ in comme- dobcr. m.oration of a marvellous event which is fabled to have happened in the neighbour- hood of that place. — A number of virgins met to celebrate, in mirth and fports, the defcent of Kijjen § : in the heighth of their joy, the God appeared amongft them., and propofed to them a dance, to which they objeded, as they were m^any, and he but one ; to obviate this objection, he divided himfelf into as many Kiffens as there were virgins, who immediately entered into a circu- lar dance with them, as reprefented in the plate N^ 4. In the centre circle he is repre-i \ fented (landing in a difengaged attitude, at- tended by the nymphs Nimdee and Bring- hee (joys and fports) who are making him offerings of flovv^ers and fruits. Twentieth. Oupofs, Kartik Poojah falls on the lad; day of the moon in OBober. — This divinity is fabled to be the youngell fon of Moifoor (or SiebJ X A circle . § Plate N^ 4, and ( 133 ) and Drugah • he is worfliipped on this day by thofe who have not been blefled with children, and man and woman are enjoined a ftricl faft. The word Kartik, ftridly means confecration, hence this divinity is fliid to be the invifible guardian, and fuperinten- dantof the Ge?ifoo Pagodas. The word alfo fometimes fignifies holinefs. . ' The month of OBober takes its name from him,- becaufe in this month the Pagodas are generally con- fecrated. Twenty-firfl. Piirrup, Novo NO f is celebrated on the firft lucky Thurfday in November^ on the firft comyig in of the new grain of the fecond J^^^'^"^- crop ; the lucky Thurfday is fixed in a con- fullation of Bra?mns^ and is a general feaft. Twenty-fecond. Oupofs^Purriip, LuKEE PoojAH falls on the firft 'Thurf- day in the month of December^ on getting in ail the new.harveft', when this favorite Goddefs of the Genioos -receives a folemn ^l^^'^' thankfgivii'ig for all the bleifings of the year; the day is pafied in fafting, w^orfhip, wafhing and purifying in the Ganges ; at night they feaft. f New rice, K 3 Twenty- ( 134 ) Twenty-third. Purrup, LUKEE PoOJAH SaNKRANTEE * falls on the laft day in December., when this Goddefs is again worfhipped as on the laft mentioned holy-day, excepting the faft. On this day bread is diftributed in alms, ac- cording to every one's ability. Twenty-fourth. Piirrup, Seeree Punchemee falls on the fifth day of the new moon in 'January^ and is dedicated to Su?'Juttee-\, the Gentoo God- defs of arts, and letters. — She is fabled to be the daughter of Birmah and Birmaanee, January. The Koyt Caji^ or tribe of vv^riters, are prohibited the ufe of pen and ink on this feftival, which are confecrated to her for the day, and a ceflation is put to bufmefs of every kind. — Seeree fignifies fortune^ fuC" cefs^ and is \\\t Jirji word of every epiftolary correfpondence in the Gentoo language. Twenty-fifth. Birto. Orun Oodee, JSuptimee, falls on the feventh day of the new moon in yanuary^ and is called Soorjee Poojah, or worjhif to the * Sunkrantee fignifies the laft day in every month, •f- Invention^ contrivance^ vigenuiiyy genius. '^ Rifmg of the dawn. fun 5 ( 135 ) fun ; to whom offerings are made of peculiar flowers in the Gaiiges. Twenty-fixth. Oiipofs. Bhim Ekadussee fails on the eleventh day of the new moon in 'Janua7-y ; the day is dedicated to KiJJen^ and commemorates the abftinence of Bhim^ a voracious Eatery who fafted on this day ; he is called the brother of 'Jiidijieen, Bhim is the common name of reproach for a Glutton^ but who this yudijieen is, or what the occult meaning and real fignification of this faft, has flipped our memory, and we will not fubftitute any interpretation that is not warranted by our materials, or from our certain and clear knowledge. Twenty'feventh. Oupofs, PooRNEMEEjOr the full moon in 'January^ is dedicated to Bijlnooy the cherijher. Falling, wafhing and alms. Twenty-eighth. Oupofs, SiEBRATEER, Chowtiirdiifeey or the four- teenth after the full, falls on the twenty- ninth day of the moon in 'Januaryy and is dedicated to Sieb^ the deftroyer, who is wor- ihipped with farting, CLperings, and prayer all the nighty as the additional rateer annexed to the title of this holy-day imports. K 4 Twenty- ( 136 ) Twenty-ninth. Oiipofs. GoYiNDUSSEE falls on the twelfth day of the moon m February^ and is dedicated bruary. to Bijinoo the comforter^ as the word Govin, or Govindu fignifies, and is one of the many appellatives given, to the fecond of the three primary created perfons, and he is worfhipped on this day with failing, prayer, &c. Thirtieth. Purrup, Dole '\ Jattra falls on the Poornemee or full moon in February^ and is facred to Kiff'en Tagoor. On this feaft day it is that the GentDos caft the powder of a certain red flower, called Faag, on all they meet ; but whence this cuftom, or for what caufe this feafc was firft infdtuted, has efcaped us. Thirty-firft, Oiipofs. Barranee Jattra, or Mocho KiJIna\ Tirnchjjfce (the thirteenth after the full) falls on the twenty-eighth day of the moon in February : if this falls on a Saturday, it is called Barranee, and if the flar Satoo Bijjah is then on the meridian, it is called Mahah Barranee ; and again', if the ftar Soobo Jogue is in conjunction with Satoo Biffah, it is t Dole^ a drum. X Kijfen^ Kijlna, are fyuonimous with BlJlnoo, but allude to diftereiit attributes, ■ then I ( 137 ) then called * Mabah Mahah Ear ranee., • Thefe conjundtions are uncertain, but when they happen, it is deemed a moil holy da}', and ^is obfervcd by univerfal purification in the Ganges^ and worfliiD and offerings to Soorjee^ or the fu7i. It fell out lafl on the twenty-eighth of February, 1759, — As we have loft the precile mean- ing and etymology of the word JS^rr/^-^ft', and confefs ourfelves ignorant of the aftro- nomy of the Brarnms^ we will not attempt, ah explan-ation of this faft. '' " \ Tlilrty-two. Oupofs-Purrup. "- LuKEE PoojAH falls on the fir ft Thurf- day in il'fjrr/^, Vv^hen this goddefs is wor- March, fhipped univerfally, and thanked for ail the produdtions of the earth, all being brought forth by this time. Tliirty-fecond. Fiirriip^ DuRGAH Poojah, 3.nd B/b^ifunfee'f Poojahy fails on the feventh day of the new moon in March^ and continues the eighth, ninth and tenth— on the laft, her image is caft into the Ganges, This feaft is inftituted for the * Moji great. t The cnd^ finals condujivc^ alluding to this being the lafl feaft of the year, preceding the Gentoo Lent. ^ 2- fame ( 138 ) fame purpofes as the other grand one, but not with that parade and univerfaUty. Thirty-third. Oupofs. SiEB, or Sunnias * Poojah, is from the firft to the thirtieth of March^ with only a fhort fufpenfion during the term of the Durgah Poojah above-mentioned — The^Sz/w- nias Poojah^ is the Gentoo Lent; their penan- ces, mortifications, and y?^ corporal punifh- ments, have been fo often defcribed, we will not particularize any of them. The Chiirruck f , or day oijwmgmg^ falls on the thirtieth. From this penance the three cafts, or tribes, of Bramins^ Bydees J, and KoytSy are exempted by the Aughtorrah Bhade\ and, in fa£t, none but the very lowed of the people go through any of the pub- lick penances ; but, every caft fafts and worfhips the twenty-ninth, the day preced- ing the Churruck. — This folemn faft is dedi- cated to Sieh^ or Moideb, or Moifoor, the Mutilator, and averter of evil; through whom, at this feafon, the Eternal one is invoked, to defend them from the influence of Mo'ifaJ'oor and his adherents, and avert * Penitents, f Literally fignifies a Whee l - ■ ■ but the circle which the penitent defcribes in Iwing- ing round has given it this appellation. X Bydees, the tribe that profefs the pra(5hce of phyfick, the ( 139 ) the final doom pronounced againft the de- hnquent Debtah, There is a fefllval inftltiited to R/jaam^the proteSlor^ which is entitled the Rhaam Jattra, but the precife time of it's cele- bration we have utterly forgot. — Rhaa?n is another of the multitude of names, or rather attributes, given to Bijlnooy the preferver. How far the origin of the falls, feftivals, terms, &c. of the Egyptians^ Greeks and LatinSy may be traced from the Chatah and Alight or rah Bhade Shajiahs^ we fubmit and recommend to the elucidation of our learned readers, who will be the better en- abled to make fuch an enquiry from what follows. "Bxplanation of the Plate or Reprefentation of the Gentoos grand feaji of the Driigah, Plate N^ -. The reprefentation of the Drama in this grand Gentoo feafi will, we doubt not, appear genuine to many thoufands now in Englandy as it is a fight that few who have vifited Bengali have not indulged themfelves with; and we may take the liberty of faying, that but very few amongft the multitude who have ;( HO ) have feea it could form the fmalleit judg- ment of it's intention or fignification; to thefe, therefore, we flatter ourfelves it will afford feme pleafure, the having a fubjed: explained to them, on which they - have often looked with pity and amazement ! becaufe they did not underftand it. — The intention of this feafl: we have already given in It's proper place, to v/hi,ch the reader may advert, under the title of Drugah Poojah N^ 15. and ihall now proceed to the ex- planation of the chief perfonages in the plate. The center and principal figure is Dru- gah or Virtue ; flie is reprefented, with ten arms, defcending on a dragon — myftically jewing \ht power and irrefiftable force of virtue^ when exerted with vigor. — She j.s crov/ned, one. of her hands is armed with a Ipear, and flie is environed with a fnake-=- with another hand fhe binds Moifqfoor (ev Eyil) with a fnake^ and kills him by thrufl- ing her fpear through his hearty thereby implying that Virtue's fafeft and fureft guard againft vice or evil is icifdomy of which the fnake, as before obferved, is the fymbol. — The battles * faid to have been fought be- tween Efideer f, ancj Moifafoor J, in which the latter generally proved vidiorious, with^ * Vide Drugah Poojah^ fifieenth. f Good» 1 J Evil. out ( M-i ) out the affiftance of Driigah Bowanneey or perfeveri/ig virtue, implies that moral evil can only be fuccefs fully combated therewith, --The ravages,miirders, andconfuiion,which are faid to be the confeqiiences in the world of the flight of Endeer and victory of Moi- fqfoor '-, emblematically fignify the fatal and natural effedis of vice or evil trium- phant, which muit neceffarily be attended with deftruftive fcenes of violence. — Hence, Moifafoor . .is fabled to have transformed himfelf, after his vid:ory, into a 7nad buffala^ the fymbol of ungovernable rage, whofehead is feen in the annexed plate lying at the feet of Drugah. — Although Moifafoor in the plate appears to be (lain by Drugab^ yet this adl is only a prophetic reprefentation of the death and deitru6tion he will in the eiid fuffer by her hand, when Endeer (hall be rePcored, a-nd Good be predominant in the v/orld again, and triumph over Moiffoor or Evil. — Endi,eer being appointed by God uni- verfal Rajah of the Vv^orld, myPcically points out his benevolent intentions,- that it llionld be governed by goodnefs and piety, and the allegory is as obvious ^where Moifafoor is faid ilty Iq brook the appointment f. On the right of Drugah are reprefentcd the figj:ares of Sieb^ her huiband, arid of "•'• Vide Drugab Fooj'ab. f Vide Driigah Paojah. Liikee, ( hO Litkee^ the goddefs of grain. — Sieb is fitting on a white bully the fymbol of purity and dominion ; he is environed with a fnake, holding in one hand a Ditmboor "f, and in the other a Singee J, mufical inftruments in ufe at all the Gentoo feftivals ; allegorically pointing out that wifdom is the moft effec- tual averter of fu//, and that mirth, joy and gladnefs, are the natural efFeds of it's being averted from us. The goddefs Liikee is reprefented {land- ing in an eafy attitude ; fhe is crowned with ears of grain, and is encircled by a plant bearing fruit, which pafles through both her hands, the root of which is under her feet ; fhe (as all the fuperiour Gentoo divinities are) is environed by a fnake. The meaning conveyed by this figure is fo obvious it needs no explanation. Underneath the figure of Sieb is repre- fented the divinity named Ghunnis §.— He has no peculiar day of worfhip inflituted in honour of him, for this manifefl reafon, becaufe all the addrefles, offerings and wor- fliip, which are made to the fupreme, and fuperior beings, are preferred through his mediation, and promoted by a prior offering f K fmall drum. % A mufical horn. § Purity^ oxfmcerUy of heart, and ( 143 ) and worfhlp paid to him; fo that he may be properly (liled the God of offermgs. — He is fabled to be the firft born of Moifoor (or Sieb)2in6. Dritgab ; all worfhlp and offerings being made through him, myflically fignlfies that purity and Jincerity of heart muft be the fource from whence the Deity is invo- ked. — He is reprefented with four arrns, fit- ing on an altar, environed with a fnake, and with the head of a white elephant, the fym- bols oi purity^ riches and dominion oxjlrength^ which, the Gentoos fay, includes every bleffmg, and cannot be juflly and properly acquired but by pure and lincere ads of devotion to God, and good works to man and his fellow creatures. — His four arms are only reprefentative of the power, force and efficacy of fincerity in worlhip and prayer. On the left of Drugah is reprefented the figure of Surfuttee, the Gentoo Goddefs of arts, letters and eloquence, fo fully defcribed under the feafl: called Seeree Pimchufnee (twenty-fourth.) In the plate, Ihe appears environed with a fnake, ftanding in a care- lefs, dlfengaged pofture, holding in her hands a reed, of which the writing pens are ufually made. On the left of Swfuffee is reprefented the idol of Rhaam, the protector o£ em^ pires. ■ ( 144 ) fires ^ Jl at es^2.nQi property, already explained** —111 the plate, he is figured crowned, en- circled with a fnake, and riding upon a monkey ; in his left hand he holds a bow, and is reprefented in the attitude of having jufl; difcharged an arrow from it. To under- fland this reprefentation, a fhort hiftorical recital becomes neceffary. — Khaaboon f , the fubverter of empires, ftates and property^ is ever contrafled vv^ith 'Rhaam in the courfe of the Aughtorrah Bhade Shajiah — This prime agent of Moifafoor is fabled to have run av/ay with Si thee J, the wnfe of Rhaam ; and for the recovery of her, that book ex- hibits a long detail of furious battles fought between Rhaam and Rhaakoon with various fuccefs ; mylLicaliy painting the contentions that ever have fubiifted in the world touch- ing empires 2l\\.^ property^ in general. Under thefe the ancient hiftory oilnd'jfian and it's Rajahs is obfcurely couched. — In one of the moft bloody of thefe battles, Rhaam being fore preffed, v/as obliged to call in as an auxiliary, Hoonmhon Prince of the men- keys^ by whofe afriftance he routed Rhaaboon and recovered his wife — Sithee ; implying only, that /^zt'/^yi/r re', muft be fometimes * Vide explanation of the Tirtah Jogus.^ or fecond 2ge, chap. ^ t Laivlefs 'uiolence. % Literally, property. combated ( 145 ) combated with craft, policy, and ftratagem, of which the monkey throughout Indojiati is the known emblem. — The lafl: mentioned battle is reprefented in the plate number 5. where Khaam appears engaged with Rhaa^ boony and the attitude of Rhaam (in the plate of the DrugabJ as having difcharged the fatal arrows from the back of the mon- key, alludes to that battle : in the plate No. 5. Khaam is fupported by his bro- ther Liikkojt^ or fortitude y each encircled with fnakes ; and Khaaboon (as he generally is) is reprefented with ten arms, and as many heads of monfters, which intimate thej^r^^of lawlefs tyranny and power. — Although the emblematic fenfe of the mon- key is lb obvious, yet the crafty Bramins have eftablilhed a belief that Rhaam trans- formed himfelf into, and is always prefent under that form ; the people fwallowed the delufion in a literal fenfe, and it is upon this principle, that numerous colleges oi Bramins are fupported by the people for the main- tainance of thofe animals, near the groves where they ufually refort ; one of them is at Amboah in the neighbourhood of Cuhia^ on the Ganges, — In the time of the Rhaam yattra the Bramins exhibit a kind of thea- trical mafque, wherein the many flights, and efcapes of Sithee^ and the various ftra- tagems of Rhaahoon to retain her, and of Part II. L Rhaam ( '46 ) Rhaam to recover her, with the final battle, which gave him the repoffeflion of her, are all thrown into adlion, and the dialogue taken from the Aughtorrah Bhade Shaftah. We have been frequently prefent at this theatrical exhibition, and received much plea- fure and amufement ; one circumftance at the conclufion is worth mentioning — when Hhaam had recovered his wife Sithee, he refufes to cohabit with her, until fhe has given fome fignal proof, that fhe had fufFered no contamination, or violation, during her abode with Rhaahon-, on which (by an in- genious piece of machinery) (he panes thro' a fire, comes out unhurt, and then Rhaa?n with raptures, receives her to his arms. Below the idol of Rhaam on the plate of the D'riigah, is that of Kartik ; for the ex- planation of this faft, fee number twenty- four. — He is reprefented, armed at all points for war, and riding on d^feacock^ the Gentoo fymbol of pride and oflentation^ intimating that thofe qualities and vices of the mind mufi: be fubdued, as being previoully necef- fary to the approach and admiffion into their Pagodas ; he is armed as a guardian, capable of defendingfrorn violation the divinity with- in; wherever there is a congregation of idols, in a TagGor Bhat^ree '^, his idol is placed * Literally a houfefor div'nuiies. 2 ' -at ( H7 ) at the door. — A Gentoo had within our me- mory an only fon dangeroufly ill of a fever ; he paid folemn v/orfhip, vows and offerings, for his recovery, not only to the goddefs of fevers^ but to all the other Gods, and God- delles befides — His fon died — the father, frantic with grief and defpalr, fallied out before day, broke open a 'Tagoor Bharree in a buzaar fouth of the town of Calcutta^ wherei^^r/i/' being off his guard and mingled with the other divinities— he cut all their heads off; his intention was to have pro- ceeded round the town (as he confeOed on examination) and to have decollated every God in all the Tagoor bharries of the place; but the fecond he came to, Kartik was upon his guard at the door, and prefenting his dart at him, brought him to his fenfes,' and providentially faved the reft of his bro- ther divinities. Below the figures of Lukee and Surfiitteey ftandthereprefentationoftwodivine nymphs, Nundee joy, and B?'ingee fports ; they are both encircled by fnakes^ implying, that joy and fports at all their feftivals, fliould be circumfcribed by prudence and wifdom. On the right between Sieb and Ghunnis^ Is reprefenied a boat, in which Nundee and Bringee are carrying Drugah to her huf- L 2 band ( h8 ) band Sieb^ after (he had been caft into the Ganges', and in the copartment oppofite be- tween the figures of Rhaam and Kartik, are reprefented two nymphs in a kind of threatening pofture, advihng him to take better care of his ivife another time, and keep her at home. In the centre of the arch is reprefented Surfiittee and four female attendants, one prefenting to her the pahnira leaf, the ori- ginal paper, another a piece of wax, the third an ink ftand, the fourth a pen, the life of which are all interdicted on her fef- tival, and made an offering to her. The two end copartments Kallee and Driigafjy each engaged with two giants tyrants of the earth. — The other divifion of the arch, al- lude to different pafTages of the Aiightorrah Bhade, which have efcaped our memory. End of the Explanation of plate N^ 2. As we referve the eighth chapter or gene- ral head, namely, " the differ tation on the metempfychofis," for a third and laji part of this work, there remains nothing more to clofe this chapter, but to add a fliort recital of the genealogy of the Gentoo divinities, on which fubjed, as our materials are few, we Ihall not, we fear, afford any great fatisfac- tion to the curious, as wq are confined to the ( 149 ) the progeny of Birmah and Birmanee only. The fabulous legend of the Aught orr ah Bhade fays, • That God crfeated three females, or aflb- ciates, for the three primary created Beings. To Binnah he gave Birmaanee^ to Bijinoo Liikee^ and to S>ieb Bowannee Drugah. That to Birmah and Birmangee were born two fons, the eldeft named KitJJiebmiin' noOy the youngeft Dookee Rajah ; the eldeft was governed by a pious and laudable fpirit, the youngeft by a vicious and turbulent one. Dookee Rajah had ^ daughter (but how he came by her the legend fayeth not) named Dithee^ whom he married to his brother Kujjiebmiinnoo^ and flie brought him a fon, whom he called Endeer; he and his defcendants, after the example of their father Kifjfiebmunnoo^ were truly virtuous, and obfervant of the laws of God, com- municated to them by Birmah and Bir-- maanee. Dookee Rajah had a fecond daughter, whom he called Odithee, who was alfo married to Kiijjiebmunnoo^ and flie likewife brought him a fon, who was named Moi- SASOOR ; he and his defcendants, after the example of their grandfather Dookee Rajah^ flighting ( ISO ) flighting the precepts of Birmah and Bir- maanee^ became abandoned to every vice, and contemners of the lav^s of God, All the benefit that accrues from the foregoing ihort recital of the progeny of Birniah and Birmaanee, is, that thus w^e find in Endeer^ and Moifafoor, the roots from whence the doctrine of tvs^o contending principles in nature, Good and £^77, fprung ; that this Vv'as the ground-work of all the doctrines of the Bramins^ after they had loft fight of the fimple and fublime theology of the Chart ah Bhade oi Bramah^ is beyond all controverfy ; as the whole tendency of the two later Bhades, exemplify the natural hillory of thofe tv/o contending principles in the human mind^ and the concomitant effects, they v\^ill have on //, and on the government of the worlds as they alternately happen to prefide. — Hence the uncealing ftrugglesand confliclsfor fuperiority between Endeer and Moifafoor and their adherents, which fay the Bra?7iins fubfift to this day ; fo well founded, was the conjecture of the learned and mgenious Mr. Bayle^ touching the great antiquity of the origin of the Ma- nechean dodrine — nor is it at all improbable, that arch heretic Manes might have re- ceived fome notions of this doctrine from the tenets of the Bramms^ which he per- verted ( "51 ) verted to the worft and moft dangerous purpofes and opinions : — on the contrary the fimplicity, with which the dodlrine is pro- feffed by the Gentoosy has in it's felf {but otherwije in it's confequences) no fuch ma- nif efl tendency ; akhough by their adherence to it, they feem utterly to forget the confi- deration of their original exiftence and de- linquency, and the merciful caufe of their eftablifhment, in the eight Boboons of pu- nifhment and probation, as well as the laws and injun'flions of their prophet Br amah ^ who obvioufly refls the refloration and fal- vation of the offending Debtahy upon two limple and plain conditions, a Jincere penitent imprejjion of their original delinquency ; a?2d an atonement by good war h\ according to the powers of exertion^ which God annexed to their animal forms. — But it is not at all to be wondered at, that they fliould tliiis lofe fight of their original (in and defed;ion, as vvell as the means laid down for th^'^^lr id] nation ; when the very fpirit of the fafts and feftivals, and whole conda£l: of the drama of the Chatahy and Aughtorrah Bhades^ are relative only to the averting the evils of their prefent ex- iftence, without the fnirJleft retrofpecl to their firft. tranfgreffion, or the means of atoning for it. — This is the fi tuation of the bulk of the people of Indojian^ as well as of the modern Bramins\ amongft the latter, if ( i5i ) if we except one in a thoufand, we give them over meafure ; the confequences from thefe premifes are obvious — the Gentoos in general, are as degenerate, crafty, fuperfti- tious, litigious and wicked a people, as any race of beings in the known world, if not eminently more fo,efpecially the common run of iht Bramins \ and we can truly aver, that during almoft five years, that we prefided in the judicial cutcherry court of Calcutta, never any murder, or other atrocious crime, came before us, but it was proved in the end, a Bramin was at the bottom of it : but then, the remnant of Bramins (whom we have before excepted) who feclude themfelves from the communications of the bufy world, in a philofophic, and religious retirement, and ftridtly purfue the tenets and true fpirit of the Chartah Bhade ofBramah^ we may with equal truth and juflice pronounce, are the furejl models of genuine piety that now exiji, or can he found on the face of the earth. And nov7, my friends, and moll refped:able readers, we will, with your permiffion, adopt one cuftom of the Gentocs^ and make an offering, for fome time at leaft, of our pen, ink, and paper, to the goddefs SuR- SUTTEE. The End of the Second Part, Beenham Houfe, Berks, the iftof Aug. 1766. INTERESTING HISTORICAL EVENTS, Relative to the PROVINCES OF BENGAL, AND THE EMPIRE OF INDOSTAN. WITH A Seafonable Hint and Persuasive To the Honorable The COURT of DIRECTORS of the EAST INDIA COMPANY. AS ALSO The MYTHOLOGY and Cosmogony, Fasts and Festivals of the Gentoos, Follov/ers of^the Shastah. AND A Dissertation on the Mete MPSYCHosiSj cornmonly, though en:oneoufly, called the Pytha9,ojiean Do£irine'. By J. Z. HOLWELI,, Efq; ^^^^ PART III. L O N D O N: ^ Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, near Surry-Street, in the Strandt MPCCLXXI. TO THE MOST NOBLE .THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, NOT MORE CONSPICUOUS FROM THE SPLENDOR OF HIS TITLES, THAN DISTINGUISHED BY THE LUSTRE OF HIS MERITS, BELOVED FOR HIS AMIABLE QUALITIES, IIEVERED FOR HIS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE VIRTUES, yHE LOVER OF ARTS, THE FRIEND OF LEARNING^ THE PATRON OF SCIENCE, THIS ESSAY (INTENDED TO RESCUE FROM ERROR AND pBLiyiON THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF INDOSTAN) IS DEDICATED, pY (A LOVER OF TRUTH, AND AN ADMIRER OF HIS GRACE'S EXALTED CHARACTER) J. Z. HOLWELL. ( I ) I CHAP. Vill. A Differ fation on the Metempfychofis of the Bramlns, or 'Tr an/migrations of the fallen Angelic Spirits y nvith a Defence of the original Scriptures of B ram ah, and an occafional comparlfon betuecn them and the Chrifian Dodhlnes. INTRODUCTION. PART I. "mt E have hitherto floated upon the materials Vv'hich the wreck of Cal- cutta in the year 1765 afforded us, and now for the fird time, laiinch out into the ocean of hypothecs and fpeculation upon our own bottom. Difficult and hazardous as our courfe is, we v/ill hope our voyage may not be unprofperous. We invoke no aid to lead us on our way, bat ihat Power ALONE, which can alone tnlighten 5 that Power ! which in every age (but more particularly in fome) has graciouily been B pleafed. ( 2 ) pleafed to convey a divine revelation to the Heart of man. 2. Various foils and climates, as they influence the conftitutions, fo they do in part the difpofitions of mankind j and this it is, that may have made it neceffary to difpcnfe different modes of revealing the Will of God to the different parts of this (and pofiibly every other) habitable globe; and as the minds of focietieSj and even nations, are fubjedt, with all things elfe, to revolution and change ; it may alfo have been neceffary to vary the mode of revela- tion to the fame people^ at different periods of time, as the immoral flate, or imper- fedlions of mankind may have indicated. The hiflory of the world is pregnant with many inftances in fupport of thefe probable conclufions, befides that of the double re- velation to the Hebrews, the Mofaic, and the Chriftian : the minds of men are im- prefled by, and open to conviction, and the acceptance of Truth, under one peculiar form, which they will rejed: under another; Kow deeply then ought we to adore and re- verence that fupreme Being, v»rho thus cori- defcends to model his commands, and infpire his chofen writers, in conformity to the weaknefs, and failings of his crea- tures ? 3- It ( 3 ) 3. It is an allowed truth, that there never was yet any lyflem of theology broached to mankind, whofe iirfl profcilbrs and pro- pagators did not announce //j defcent from God ; and God forbid, we fliouM doubt of, or impeach the divine origin, of any of them i for fuch eulogium they poffibly all merited in their primitive purity, could they be traced up to that ftate, notwith- flanding many learned pens have labored to prove, that fuch a claim was generally a political impofition only ; a fuggeftion that we think has not much, contributed to the advancement of either the piety, or morals of mankind, and therefore better had it been fupprefled, and kept from their know- ledge, as we hope to make appear prefently. Various as we may obferve the religi- ous fyflems fcattered throughout the world, and lingular as our following opinion, and our reafoning thereon may appear to be j we fliall not helitate to lay it down as a principle, That — howfoever mankind, ei- ther of Europe^ -^fi^--, -Africa or America^ may differ in the exterior modes of wor/hip paid to the Deity, according to their va- rious genius ; yet, that there are ioM\^ fun- damental points of every fyftem, wherein all agree and profefs unanimous faith ; as may be gathered, either from their exprefs doSlrineSy or evidently implied^ from their B 2 modes^ ( 4 ) modes, or ceremonials of worfiiip, how- foever differing in manner and form, from each other, 4. The fundamental points of religion above alluded to, we chufe to diftinguifh by the title of Primitive truths, truths ! which forceably ftruck, and impreffed the human heart at the period of man's crea- tion, and although from an original un- happy taint, he in fucceeding times, flrange- ly deviated from them, yet he never has, nor ever will be able, wholly to obliterate and efface them, however he may fome- times for a greater, or leffer fpace, utterly lofe fight of them. We will enumerate the principal of thefe primitive truths jji. The being of a God, eternal, creator, and confervator of all things, animate and inanimate J ^dly^ Theexiftence of three prime created celeftial beings, either con- founded with the Deity, or exclufive of, and fubordinate to him ; 3^/y, The. crea- tion of angelic beings ;^ i^thly^ A defec- tion, or rebellion of a portion of thofe be- ings; 5^''-'^, Their expulfion from the heavenly regions ;— (^thly. The immor- tality of the human foul ; "Jthly^ A fu- ture llate of rewards and punifliments of the human foul ; ^thly^ That man is here in a llate of punidiment and probation, for a tranf- ( 5 ) a tranfgreffion committed ia a prior flate of exiftence againft his Creator 3 K)thly, That there cxifts a Being, who inftigated the revolt of the angelic fpirits, and ftiH continues the enemy and deceiver of man- kind j iothl)\ The neceffity of a medi- ator, or mediators, betv^een God and man, over and above repentance and good works, for the expiation of fin, and obtaining a refcoration to a fl:ate, from which he now ftands expelled j wthly. That there is an intermediate ftate of puniiiimeni and purification between death and the perfect reftoration of the human foul; izthly^ The cxiftence of a golden age; ii^tblyy That there exifled a period when Q-jankind was fuftained by, and fublifted only on the fruits of the earth j and lajily, The doc- trine of the miniftration of angels, in hu- man affairs. Thefe were the prhniti'ue truths revealed by a gracious God to rnan, in the early days of his creation, at a time when it may be reafonably prefumed he retained a lively fenfe of his foul's former tranfgreffion ; as well as of the grace then offered to him. That thefe are the only pri- :nitive truths neceffary to man's falvation, and reftoration, appears from hence, that they have, from the earliefl: records of time to this day, remained more or lefs the jiock upon which the blindnefs, or wickednefs B 3 of ( 6 ) of man has engrafted very extravagant, unprofitable, as well as unintelligible doc- trines, to delude their fellov^-creatures, and feduce them from a flirid: adherence to, and reliance on, thofe primitive truths only, 5. This being the cafe, how much is it to be lamented, that our learned divines, feme of whom are the greatefl: ornaments of our church and *profeffion, have not taken the advanrage of the concurring tefli- mony of all mankind, touching \\\tiQ fim-^ clamefita/ priticiples, to enforce their relative duties, in their preaching and writings ? in place of which, moved by a vain oftenta- tion, and fliew of deep learning, the rubbifh of antiquity is raked up, and fifted, to prove that nations, and individuals amongft the ancients, and fome of the wifeft and beft of mankind, were infidels with re- fped: to any fincere faith in religion at all; and that the fable of religion was invent- ed by lawgivers, purely to keep the popu- lace in awe : and we are told by thefe profound refearchers, that the great Socrates was the only one amongft the ancient phi- lofophers, who believed what he taught, the unity of the Godhead^ the immortality of the fouly and a future fate of rewards and piinifments : a Urange mode this, of enlightening modern times ! to record and circulate (7) circulate fuch fentiments In the mother tongue of a Chriftian people, although on fuppofition only, that fuch principles ever exilled in any country or age whatfoever. 6. We are aware that the motives and plea urged in defence of the publication of the infidel opinions of the ancient philofo- phers are, the reputation of modern atheifts, deifts, and free-thinkers: vain pretence,, and no lefs vain the attempt, where the jQighteft review of the bent and genius of man would have convinced them, that when once a writer, can fo far get the better of fhame and decorum, as to dare publiOi opi- nions, not only contrary to, but fubverfive of all religious faith, that man is incorrigi- ble, and beyond the reach of convidion. To reafon with writers of that (lamp, carries as much propriety with it, as if our divines would go and difplay their oratory upon the miferable inhabitants of Bedlam j and their endeavors would be as falutary. The fame may be faid of fanatics in every religion -, as the one believes nothing at all, thefe be- lieve too m.uch, and both have always thrived, and acquired flrcngth from dlfpu- tation and perfecution. 7. Religious controverfy never yet did, nor ever will do good to the caufe of true B 4 religion. ( 8 ) religion, for this plain and cogent rcafon j convidion on either lide cannot follow, be- caufe the nature of the fubjedt matter in difpute cannot, like a propolition in Euclid, admit of demonflration ; befides ano- ther mifchievous confequence refults from the canvaffing and laying open the opinions of the ancient philofophers touching facred matters, for it puts weapons into the hands of the modern enemies of religion, which probably they would otherwife never have been in pofTeffion of; and it muft be the height of glory to infidels and free-thinkers, to find themfelves clafTcd with the Platos^ Thitarchsy Ciceros, ^"c. of antiquity. — A fimilar mode of reputation poffelTed the primitive fathers of the church, which, added to an inflamed miftaken zeal and doftrines never dictated by their divine mader, laid the foundation of thofe fchifms, and heretical evils, which have ever fince diflradied and divided the Chriflian flates, fo that they may with more propriety be ftiled tl}e dejlroyersj than the fathers of it. 8. For how long a fpace man after his creation retained a lively fenfe of the fpecial grace offered to him by his Creator, or be- Kefited himfelf by a ftrid: adherence to, and obfervance of the divine primitive truths^ then revealed to him, are circumftances not determinable ; ( 9 ) determinable ; but we may with reafon con- clude, that a long feries of time paffed away, before hie poffibly could, from the nature of things lofe fight of them. All nations have by tradition a conception that there once exifted a golden or cojnparative age of innocence ; and if there ever did exift fuch a period (which we think highly probable at leaft) it fhould appear to have been the fpjlcejuft above hinted at, between man's creation, and the time when firfl he began to fet at nought the faving precepts which had been gracioully delivered to him. Although mankind differ fo widely refped;- ing the epocha of the creation of the uni- verfe and man, yet they are generally agreed, that they were coeval; the enlight- ened Mofes did not venture to fay when, nor is it very material to us, fo we believe that God made it for wife and neceffary purpofes, fubfequently to be confidered in a new point of view. Q. When we attentively perufe Mofes's detail of the creation and fall of man, we find it clogged with too many incompre- henfibie (lifficultics to gain our belief, that that confummate legiflacor ever intended it (houid be underfiood in a literal fenfe ; and as a part of the law of Mofes was *' typical to the Jews of the coming of ** their ( 10 ) «* their MeiTiah, and calculated to prepare " them for it," (as has been proved by the Author of the Divine Legation) fo v^^ehope to prove that his detail of the fall of jnan was typical only of the angelic fall ; to which, we doubt not, but Mofes believed (and had good grounds for that belief) that man' had a much nearer relation than is commonly imagined. ID. It is pretty manifeft, that the golden age of innocence and truth was not a con- fequcnt of Mofes's fiippofed creation j for, excepting a very few individuals, mankind by his own (hewing were far gone in wickednefs, almoft as foon as created j therefore, we muft look higher for it, which we will do in good time, for we cannot relinquifh the fadt, that there was a period of time, in which yi/rrZ? an age really exifted. II. We find that mankind throve and grew in vice until God, perceiving the meafare of their wickednefs was full, thought it nccefliary to bring about a ftu- pendous change on the face of this habit- able globe, by which we are told the whole race of animated beings, faving a remnant of each, were deftroyed ; and of thefe, that the human foecies fcarcely emerged drip- ping ( 1' ) ping from the deluge, than they were again drowned in fm \ and from the earlieft ac- counts v/hich can be depended upon, free from fable, we learn that the fuppofed moft ancient inhabitants in the world, to wit, tlie Chaldeans, Egyptians^ Hebrews, FhcB'- niclans, &c. were all profoundly funk in rank idolatries, and every fpecies of wic- Ivednefs ; and we find, that the fo much boafted and celebrated wifdom of Egypt, conlifted only in their fuperior art and cun- ning in political legiflation ; whereby they were better enabled to deceive and inflave the unhappy people, who fell under their government : thus we fee that all the be- nefit we gain by our deep and learned re- fearchesinto the antiquities of thofe nations, is,' to be afcertained that men were as bad in the moft early known times as they well could be j a piece of knowledge for which we need not have travelled farther than our ov^n fcriptures. If the Egyptians muft have the honor of being the moft wife of the an- cients, they have undoubtedly the honor alfo of being the moft wicked and fuperftitious, not excepting the ancient poffeftbrs of the land of C^7z^^;^. This part of their character we will not conteft with the learned explorers of their tenets ; but we think ourfelves well warranted to difpute, bolh the fuperiority of ( 12 ) of their wifdom and antiquity *. Indeed the conteft refpedring the wifdom of the 'Egyptians y as well as the Ferfian Magi, and the whole tribe of the Grecian and Roman philofophers, who copied from them {So- crates alone excepted) may be reduced into a very narrow compafs -y for the whole total of it, upon fumming up the evidence produced by the advocates in its favor, amounts to Folly ; and folly of fo egre- gious a nature, that nothing lefs than the ijoit of a Lucian is equal to the expofing it in ajuft point of ridicule.— Of what utility is that kind of wifdom (howfoever pro- found) either to the poffellbrs, or to man- kind, whrch leads to the eftablifiiment of laws, dodrines, and worfhip, moft un- worthy the conceptions we ought to harbor of the Divine Nature^ and his attributes? — Such was the wifdom of the Egyptia?is^ &c. and yet thefe men acquired the vene- rable titles of Sages and Shilofophers, to the utter violation of the true fpirit and mean- ing of the words j for every fpecies of what is commonly cuikd v/ifJom, that does not lca«d us into juPt ideas of God, and of curfelves, is folly. — It is faid — they were the firfv who cultivated the arts and fciences : fuppofeit granted^ were they the better men ,*■ Vid. IntrodudliontoPart il. from page 7^. to 29. * for ( 13 ) for it ? It Is proved they were not, but ra- ther worfe, by thofe very pens who la- bored to den:ionftrate that prior claim. Indeed the hiftory of mankind affords us this melancholy truth, that the moff en- lightened ages, in the kind of fpurious and uielefs wifdom we have been fpeaking of, have been the moil wicked^ and we could wifli the application did not reach the prefent age. 12. That the 'Egyptians were an ancient race we do not deny, and yet modern times have brought us to the knowledge of an empire of people, who, from the moil: pro- bable concurring circumftances, were a potent and numerous nation in the earliefl known times, although frcm caufes pecu- liar to themfelves, which we have before recited in our fecond Part, they 'were little known to the ijuorld. Our readers will not be at a lofs to guefs, that we here mean tlie people oi Jndojiav.y a people that exifted a fefarate and unmixed nation, Vv'ithout sny intercommunity of manners or religious worfhip, from the period of xYxQf/rfi migra- tions of the inhabitants of the earth j ' (a period, which is hid, as well from our knowledge, as our conceptions) and fo con- tinue to this day, notwithftanding they groan under Mahomedan tyranny : a flrong prefamption. ( 14 ) prefumption, almofl amounting to proof, of this people being, as a nation^ more ancient than any other. — Such a feparatlon was the great aim of the infpired Legiilator of the Hebreijus^ although he was never able to accomplidi it : he was able to feparate their bodies, but their fouls ftill languifhed for tht fefi -pot io^ Egypt, and their infamous idolatries, until captivity had foftened their hearts, and made them look (when it was too late) towards their One God, and King. — The difference between the cafes of the Gentoos and the Hebrews was, that where- as the former for a deviation from their primitive truths were enflaved at home, and the latter were driven for deviating from the law into captivity in a foreign land ; as a greater punifhment (we may rationally fuppofe) for the greater crime. For, 13. Although the Gentoos had offended by raiiing an idolatrous fuperflrudure upon the primitive truths oi Bramah^ (which they had held facred and inviolate for the fpace of a thoufand years, as elfewhere flievvn) yet, his fundamentals, viz. the unity of the Godhead, the Metempfychofis, and its con- comitant effential doctrines, the angelic origin, and imm.ortality of the human foul, and its prefent and future ftate of rewards and punifhments, &c. (lill kept their 6 ground; (15 ) ground -, and remained, as they do to this day, the bafis of their faith and worfhip. 14. The angelic fall, and the do(5trine of the Metempfychoiis, the one the crime, the other the punifhment of thofe unhappy free-agents, being the ^ne qua non of the Gentoo fyftem, it is incumbent upon us to prove from reafon and the nature of things, that the latter was the original growth of Indojiariy and net borrowed by them from the Egypfia?js, as has been more than once infinuated by that learned cafuift and divine, the Author of the Divine Lega- tion of MofeSy and inveftigator of the Eleu- Jinian myfteries. — When his Lordfliip, with great fliength of argument, labors to refute the fuppofition that the Egyptiajis borrowed any of their fuperftitions from the Hebrewsy he urges with great propriety, '* the utter " improbability of a potent, and powerful *' nation, borrowing any part of their re- " jigious w^orfliip from a people, who was " then in a flate of flavery to them, and *' held by them in the highefl: detedation;'* or words to this effecfl ; now, fiireiy it is much more improbable to conceive^ that a potent^ 2i.nd powerful ?2ation (for fuch hidojlan was found to be at the firil: known inter- courfe with them) fhculd borrow a funda- mentali on which the whole fydem of their niofl ( i6 ) mod ancient worfhip hinged, from a few ftraggling Egyptians. — If we grant that it is probable the reft of the world adopted the dodrine of the Metempfychofis from the Egyptians, after they had ftolen it from the Gent 00 Bramins, and impofed it as their own, we grant a circumftance which is not clearly proved ^ — but another circumftance is pretty evident, and will be fubfequently proved, that, at the time they ftole this doiflrine, they alfo purloined other funda- mentals of the Char tab Bhade Shaft ah y namely, the unity of the Godhead^ the immor- tality of the f only a general and particular Providence^ and a future ft ate of rewards and puni foments, 15. As a proof of the boafted wifdom of of the Egyptian Magi, we ftiall fee the ufe they nobly made of the above fundamentals : — they inftituted rites to their tvv'o principal fabulous divinities Ifs and Ofiris, of which (amongft others, truly diabolical, of their own invention) xhok fundamentals, and the dodrine of the Metempfychofis, were the chief, and grand iiryfleries y to which (as the learned inveftigator has (hewn) none were admitted but Kings, Princes, Lawgivers, and Heroes, and thatadmiftion not granted, but under the moft folemn oaths and ties ofj fecrecy ; for *' thefe were truths of too im-j *' portanti (/7 ) " nature to be entrufted with the people, " who, it was fuppofed, were better kept '* in fubjecSlion by a belief in their titulary, " and local Deities." — Thus thefe detedable race of Governors kept the knowledge of the TRUE God from their people, as well as thofe other important truths^ fo necefla- x-^ for their falvation, in which thofe Magi had been inftrud:ed by the Bramins.— But how are we moved to a mixture of laughter and compaffion, when we are ultimately told, (by the fame learned enquirer into an- cient Theology) that not one of the Egyp- tian Magi, and all of the Grecian or Ro- ma?! legislators, or philofophers [Socrates exn cepted) really believed in one God, or the immortality of the foul, or a future flate of rewards and punilhments, although they all taught them in their myjleries : and in fup- • port of the fad:, his Lordfhip produces ma- ny evidences, as well as learned arguments. — We cannot quit this fubjed: without fay- ing, that we can by no means entertain that high opinion of the wifdom of the Egypti- ans in their legiilative capacity, which his Lordihip feems to do ; for by their fecreting the being of ONE God, and a future ftate of rewards and punifliments (whether they themfelves believed them or not), they af- furedly quitted the falteft hold they had upon the obedience of rational minds, on \s\\Qvnfuch principles^ if firmly root ecU muft C operate ( i8 ) Operate more powerfully, in fecurlng fub- jedtion to government, than any others, which the wit or wifdom of man could pof- iibly devife. It will probably be urged againft us, that thefe doctrines are {tzvi to lofe their influence in ftates where they are profefled, and form a part of their religious code. — If man is incorrigible we cannot help it; but we fhould rather think, that in thefe cafes— — they are jiotjirm/y rooted, 1 6. But fuffer us, candid reader, to change the unpleafing fcene, and, in con- trad to Egyptian wifdom, to turn our eyes towards the great Legillator, Prince, and High-prieft of the Gentoos^ who, in his fcrip- tures, taught not only tht four great fun- damentals, of the unity of the Godhead, his providence, the immortality of the foul, and a future ftate of rewards and puniiliments, but alfo every other divine and primitive truths neceffary for man's knowledge in his prefent flate of miferable exiftcnce; and thefe he taught (as elfewhere we had occa- iion to remark), not as myjieries confined to zfeleSifew, but as public religious tenets, known and received as fuch by all -y- — and fo forcible and efficacious was the influence of thefe dodrines upon the people, that they adhered flridly to them, and kept them inviolate for the fpace of one thoufan4 years ( 19 ) years (as before remarked), and until they were perverted by their own priefts, and led to new modes of worfhip, before un- known to themfelves and their forefathers. In thefe innovations on their original pure fcriptures, we will not difpute but that the Bramins might have taken iome hints for reducing the people under facerdotal domi- nion from the infamous political lyflems of their bfethren the Egyptian Magi, who, it is more than probable, did, about this period, firft ftraggle into Indoftan (i. e. at the promulgation of the Chat ah Bhade). iy. Here we cannot help obferving, that the learned author of the Divine Legation , laboured unwittingly under two other mi- flakes, in fuppofing the Hebrews were the only nation in the ancient world who wor- fhipped one God^ and in whofe government religion and the magijiracy were united-y for by thefe the Gentoos were eminently diftin- guifhed in the moft early known times: but of this his Lordfhip was ignorant, and therefore ftands not accountable. The la- bored apologies his Lordfhip m^akes for the imperfect' inijjion of Mofes may require our future notice j we (hall only remark here, the difficulty the mind has to encounter in comprehending, how any mijjton dictated by God himfelf czn poffibly be imperfeB ? C 2 If ( 20 ) If the mifRon of Mojes contained 2. fpiritual,, as well as temporal alliifion to the falvation of the Hebrews, and the fpiritual fenfe was hidden from them, it was then indeed im- perfed:, and the Gentoos (hould feem to nave been the chojen people of God j in place of the Ifraelites', for to them was revealed by Eramah, with God's permiffion, not on- ly the real Jldte and cond.tion of maUy but his dod:rines alfo taught, the exigence of One Eternal God^ and temporal as well as future rewards and punishments. This being the cafe, although we admit, with hiq Lordfliip, that " the myftery of life, and *' immortality, and a future ftate; which *' had been hid for ages, and from gene- *' ration to generation ; was then made ma- '* nifeft to the faints" in the gofpel-difpen- fation; yet, at the fame time, we think we have undoubted authority for faying, that thefe myfteries, as before {hewn, were taught, and univeifally profefTed fome thoufands of years antecedent to that period, by a diftant, di- flin6t, and numerous nation, with whom indeed his LordHiip was not acquainted ; which is to be the more lamented, becaufe, with his profound abilities, unwearied ap- plication, and confummate learning, he would have been enabled, by a knowledge of the original tenets of Bramah^ high- ly to have illuftrated his fubjed:, and his perforni=» ( 21 ) performance, we conceive, would have borne a very different afpedt. For 1 8. We cannot help again regretting, that fo much learned pains has been taken to prove, that there ever exifted any nation of people, who did not profefs, or really be- lieve in, a future fiate of rewards and pu- nifliments. Fads of this nature, which have fo manifeft and dangerous a tendency to in- fluence the minds and manners of mankind, cannot be hid from the learned -, but they might eafily have been obfcured to the bulk of the fpecies, by all controverfy relative to them being confined to, and carried on in the original dead languages; v/hereas the contrary practice of every nation in Europe for the laft century, by bringing thefe dan- gerous fubjeds home to us, as we may fay, into our native tongues, unavoidably con- founds, and raifes doubts in the foul, and leads it into a train of thinking, which otherwife, moft probably, would never have flruck the imagination. I ^. Infidelity treads clofe upon the heels of fcepticifm ; and notwithftanding fo much has been faid to juftify the wife purpofes of Mofes, " mjludioiijly reje^ing the dodrine ** of a future fiate in his law to the He- " brews-," yet the event fhewcd, and the C 3 h(X ( 22 ) fad Is confirmed by the greateil: part of their hiftory, that they remained without any check upon their hearts or conduct. In the belief of a future ftate they were not in- ilruited, and therefore, they naturally doubt- ed, and could not be brought to adhere for any time together in the belief of One Eter- nal Godi nor could it te rationally thought they would, when the one fo abfolutely and mutually depended on the other. The ** wife provifion" (as it is ftiled) made by Mojes to fupply the want of this doctrine of a future flate, to wit, the menace of '• God's ** vifiting the fins and difobedience of the " fathers upon the children, unto the third ** and fourth generation," we have feen had none effect upon either ; and he niuft be very little acquainted with the originaU and continued depravity of the human foul, who thinks it can be reftrained from evil by any other check than that of a con- firmed belief, and expectation of a te??jporal as ivell as a future ft ate of rewards and pu- nijhments^ v/hich brings the matter home to the breaft of every individual, 20. We (liall now proceed vi^ith our Dif- fertation on the Dodirine of the Metemp- fychofts, as a confequent of the angelic fall -, and we hope in the ccurfe of it, to point out, and elucidate upon a rational hypo- 6 thefis, i ( 23 ) thefis, many important truths ; and account for, and explain feme appearances in this ftate of human and animal exiftence, which are, we conceive, utterly unaccountable, and inexplicable, without the afliftance of that ancient doSlrim, C4 ADIS^ ( 24 ) A DISSERTATION, &>c. 21. 'T^HE prophets, philofophers, mora- -*■ lifts, and fagesof all ages; whether, moved by the infpiration of God himfelf, or by other intelligent agents ; or actuated by the mere force of their own rational powers ; howfoever they may have differed in other fpeculative points, yet agree unani- moufly in this important, and interefling one; namely, t^at the hiimaii foul carries the Jlamp of original depravity, and is naturally prone to ^'uiA— Deplorable as this fort of hu- manity is, it is rendered much more fo, by that almoft univerfal propeniity in the fpe- cies, either to a total difiipation of their time and talents ; or, employing both, in fruit lefsfudiesy in place of devoting all his intellectual powers, to pry into, and exa- mine the real fate of his oivn exijlence, for which he difcovers an unaccountable aver- lion, and backwardnefs. 22. It has been wifely faid, that the fum- mit of human wifdom is comprifed, in this fliort adage, Man know thy self; but, inftead of dedicating all his refearches to this eflential purfuit, Man knows every thi?2g but hinfelfi he goes en, from age to age, ( 25 ) _ age, and from day to day, in cultivating the arts and fciences, with a view only to the better accommodation and enjoyment of hisprefent fojourn. With this unhappy delufion, and w^ith thefe non-elTential ac- quirements, he refts perfediy eafy, and fa- tisfied ; here he pitches his tent^ as if he was never to decamp. — Man knows not who he is, what he is, how he came by his exiftence in this world, nor for what real purpofes he was brought originally into it ; nor does he feem much to concern himfelf about it, fo long as he pafTes fmoothly, and fupinely, through it. 23. The doubts and difficulties which man encounters, and labors under, in form- ing any precife judgment refpediing the nature and obligations of his prefent extjience, we conceive to have always been the great impeding caufes, that have ever with- held hi.n from deep reflection, and a proper retrofpe^fit into himfelf; could therefore, that nature, and thefe ohligationSy be clearly alcertained to him, the relative duties of his deflina- tion would be alfo clear and pofitive; and mankind would no longer infeparably attach themfelves to the tranfient confidera- tions, and enjoyments of this life only, 24, How ( 26 ) 24.How far the dodrines of the Metemp- fychofis tend, upon a cool and unpreju- diced hearing, to clear up the doubts and difficulties above alluded to, is the impor- tant fubje(5l of our enquiry. In this difqui- iition we (hall not hefitate to alTert, that the dodlrine is far from being new in this our hemifphere j it was profeffed by our an- ceftors, when the fage druids led and go- verned their faith and politics, as the moft learned records of our ancient hiftory vouch, although it does not appear from their fhewing, that it was taught by the ancient Britons (for the firft Britons we know nothing of) in that fimple purity, and extent, as it was originally by the Bramins of Indoftan. 25. Tender confciences have no caufe of alarm from our reviving the confideration of a dodrine, which in the moft early known ages was followed by at lead four- fifths of the inhabitants of the earth j the more efpecially as we hope to prove, that this dodrine is not repugnant to the doc- trines of Chriftianity. 26. Communications between the Deity and man, either perfonally, or by his angels or prophets, was, in early times, no un- common event : thefe recorded fads we muft . ( 27 ) muft believe, or rejed: and fet at nought our own fcriptures ; and fliall we fuppofe the children of the Eaft to have been lefs the care of God, than the children oi Ifraelf or that the whole of his creatures, howfo- ever difperfed and feparated from each other, were not equally the unhappy objedis of his benevolence and attention ? — —Such, a fuppofition would arraign his juftice and impartial difpenfations to all his creatures : it is not becoming us to doubt the authority and divinity of a?2y original religions fyflemy unlefs it evidently is repug- nant to the idea of a jufl and omnipotent God. 27. To bring our Effay to method and perfpicuity, we muft again have a fhort re- trofpecfl to the feveral eflential concomitant parts of the docflrine of the Metempfychofis, as promulged by Bratnahj and we fliall proceed to the difculiion of eacb^ reduced, as follows, under five general heads, viz. First General Head. The exiftence of angelic beings. Their rebellion, or fall. Their ( 28 ) Their expulfion from the heavenly re- gions. Their punifhments. Second General Head. The univerfeyor;;;^'^ by God, for the re-* iidence, fuftenance, and imprifonment of the apoftate angels. Third General Head. Mortal organized bodies formed for their more immediate, or clofer confine- ment. Their tranfmigrations through thofe mor- tal forms. Thofe tranfmigrations: their ftate of pur- gation as well as punifhment. The human form their chief ftate of trial and probation. Fourth General Head. Liberty given to the apoftate angels to pervade the univerfe. Permif- ( 29 ) Permiflion given to the faithful angelic beings to counteracft them. Fifth General Head. The feven regions of purification, where-, in the fallen angels ceafe from their mortal tranfmigrations. The difTolation of the univerfe, or mate- rial worlds, 28. Before we enter upon the difcuflion of thefe five general heads, we beg leave to be indulged in a few preparatory reflecftions : Jirff^ that it is obvious, from the above par- ticulars colled:ively confidered, one general conclufion may be formed as the bafis of this ancient dodrine of the Metempfycho- fis, viz. 'That the fouls, or fpirits, of every human or other organ fed mortal bod)\ inha- hiting this globe, and all the regions of the material univerfe^ are precifely the remainder of the unpurifed angels, 'who fell from their obedience in heaven^ and that ftillftand out in contempt of their Creator. 29. Strange as this fyftem may appear ia thefe our days, and howfocver feemingly clogged with difBculties, it is worth confi- deration. ( 3° ) deration, how far it will elucidate, and account for, many theological myfteries, and other phenomena that are annexed to this our prefent ftate of exigence ; and which are, we conceive, otherwife unaccountable, as before hinted. — —If, in the courfe of our enquiry, we advance no opinions contrary to our own pure origmal fcriptures (to which we profefs ourfeif, an unworthy, although zealous fubfcriber), nor endeavour to pro- pagate any fyflem, but what may co-incide with every religions Creeds that has been, or is now profeffed througliout the known world, we are then void of offence, both to God and man, — — Endiefs have been the difputes about religion, whilft we fee the chief contention is. Who (liall the lead praftife its precepts: — -therefore how laud- able is the purfuit of that man, who labors to point out one univ erf al faith, that would infallibly reconcile all jarring principles, and unite all mankind in the bands of mutual love and benevolence. Wewritenot to this, or that fed:, or to this, or that nation, but to man^ kind in general -y who feem not to advert to, or be in any degree acquainted, either with the real dignity of their original nature, or the relation in which they ftand, to their God, to their brethren, or to the reft of the anim^al creation. " Let us read, let us ** meditate, let us reafon, let us difputej " but ( 3' ) *' but all for the fake of Truth, which i§ ^' the great property of mankind, condi- ** tutes all our hap*pinefs, and therefore our f* common interell to purfue.'- First General Head,- ■20. In our remarks, p. '^6, of our fecond inceneraj ^ 1 . 1 -^ . Head, part, we have given our conceptions or the fublime caufes affigned by Brainah for the creation and exiftence of angels; nor need we dwell long on a fad:, the firm belief of which has been received by all mankind, a fingle inconfiderable fedl amongil: the yews alone excepted. There mufl undoubt- edly, and confequently have fubfifted, fome firiking evidence of this great truth in the early and later times exhibited to man, that fhould influence and determine him to this general belief, and the propagation of it to his pofterity ; which evidence (for caufes bed known to God himfelf) he is now, and has been for near eighteen centuries back, deprived of. 31. On recoUedtion, we find we have been too hafty in our conclufion touching this truth 'y-^—'SL modern philofopher, more remarkable and famed for genius, and the fprightly irony of his wit, than for folidity of ( 39 ) of argument,' or found philofophy, and who has all his life endeavoured to laugh reli- gion out of countenance, has been bold enough to ridicule the exiftence of angels, as beings purely ideal, and an invention of the poets J and alleges the filence of Mofes in proof, who, he fays, in his law to the yeivsy nowhere mentions their exiftence ; and urges alfo his fdence touching their fall, which he infinuates is equally fabulous as their exillence. 32. To fay nothing of the inconfillency of this merry philofopher's drawing his ne- gative proofs and conclulions from a book he puts no faith in, nor allows to be of any authority, we will confider the force of his reafoning ; for (hould v/e fubfcribe to this author's afiertion touching the filence of Mofes in the law to the Jews^ it by no means amounts even to a negative proof of ■ the non -exiftence of angelic beings, nor of their Jail being only fabulous. 3 3. Whatfoever may have been the opi- nion of Mofes on thofe fubjeBs^ it would have been more extraordinary had he made mention of them, than his filence can pof- fibly appear to be; as it is moft evident, that theie were matters that lay utterly out pf his way, commiflioned, as he only feems to ( 33 ) to be, to preach the imity of the Godhead to x\\t yews 'y a people under the fo/e protec- tion of the Deity, their King and Gover^ nor, a fituation wherein the introdudtion of angelic beings would have been imperti- nent, and not in point to the law he was did:ating to them. After all, that Mofes did believe the exiftence of angels, although he makes no mention of them in the law^ is obvious from his 24th verfe of the 3d chap'er o^GeneJis: *'So he (God) drove out *' the man ; and he placed cherubims at the *' eaft end of the garden of Eden," &:c. And that Mofes was'alfo as well acquainted with the angelic fall, we doubt not our be- ing able to prove, in a fubfequent part of our DilTertation, notwithftanding the inli- nuations of our modern Democritusj who, it is no wonder, (hould difcountenance the notion of the exigence of angels, when he owns that the gofpel-dilpenlation \% founded on their fall, 34. It is not necefTiry to recite the parti- cular concurring teflimony of all antiquity to the fuppofed exiftence of angels, when we have fo much greater authorities to fup- port us 'y the Old Teftament, throughout the whole hiftoric parts, and the gofpel of Chrift, afford us fo many ftriking inftances of thefe beings employed occalionally by God, ei- D ther ( 34 ) ther as adlivc inflruments againft the wlck- ednefs of man. or as agents, faviors and com- forters to the juft and good, that we may with equal propriety, when we are about it, as well deny the txiflence of God him- {d£^ as of his angels. 35. A belief of miniftring angels under coj'poreal forms, fuffers no impeachment from tht'u fpiritual nature -, for, as they are endued by an omnipotent God with all powers necelTary for the execution of their refpe6tive commiffions, it is no great mar- vel, if we conceive them capable of affum- ing every fl'iape and form needful for thofe ends and purpofes for v/hich they are dele- gated J and, notwithlfanding they are in their own nature and elTence fpiritual and immaterial, yet it is no great ft rain of faith to conclude tht-y can occafionally afilime corporeal forms, functions, and faculties, and diveft themfelves of them again at plea- fure, as in the inftances of thofe that fo- journed with Abraham, and Lot; and thus Christ manifefted himfelf after his refur- redion. —But more of this, when we come to difcufs this fubje^t in its proper place, under our fourth general head. ■36^ On this fundamental dod:rine of ex- igence of angels, ana their rebellion, expul- sion, ( 3J ) fion, and punirhment, rcAs not only the Metempfychofis, but the whole religion of the ancient, as well as modern Braniins ; the text of Bra/na/:) fays, that '' the Eter- ** NAL One, in the fulnefs of time, firfl " created Birmah, Bijlnoo, and Sieb, then *' Moifafoor, and all the Debtah-Logue, and *' divided the Debtah into different bands *' and ranks, and placed a leader, or chief, " over each: he gave pre-eminence to Bir- *' MAH, and appointed Moifafoor chief of " the firfl: angelic band, 6cc." — Thefe origi- nal tenets and principles are confirmed by our own fimilar Chriftian dodlrines and be- lief, with the difference of names only : thus the creation and exiflence of angels ftand manifefled beyond controverfy, by- two of the greateft authorities of ancient and modern times. 37. Refpe^fting the fall of thefe beings, the text of Bramah further fays, " That *' envy and jealoufy taking poiTeffion of the ** hearts of Moifafoor^ and Rhaboon (the ** next in dignity to him), and of other lead- ** ers of the angelic bands, they flood, in ** contempt of the commands of their *' Creator, threw off their allegiance, and *' drew with them into difobedience a large ** portion of their angelic brethren." The text alfo adds, ** that before the expulfion D 2 *'of ( 36 ) " of the rebels from the heavenly regions, *' the three prime created beings, Birmah, *' BiJlnoOy and Sieb^ were fent to admonifh '* them, but that they continued in con- *' tempt." 38. As the gofpel-dlfpenratlon is allowed by our moft learned divines to be founded upon the mige lie fall t great "is the degree of veneration which every Chrijlian owes to the Gentoo fcriptures^ which taught minutely circumflances of that fall, more than three thoufand years a priori, —The gofpel-dif- penfation^ being undoubtedly the moft per- iedt, fublime, yet plain fyftem of divinity and morals hitherto promulged to man (when diverted of the dreams and reveries of its early and latter profefTors), we can- not too highly prize the great rudiments it conveys to us, of the love of God, repent- ance for fin, mutual love from man to man, and a proper faith and reverence for that divine beingy who was delegated from the prefence ol his God to preach thefe great primitive truths as necelTary, not on- ly for man's happinefs here, but hereafter. 39. Yet, divine and ellential as thefe doc- trines are, and necelTary to our falvation, permit us to afk, How can this gofpel-dif- penfation, which fo nearly aft'ecU man^ be raid ( 37 ) fiiid with any propriety to be founded upoa the angelic fall ? — unlefs there is a nearer relation between man and angel, than ap* pears to have hitherto been imagined or ad- verted to by the profelTors of Chriftianity ? — if man has not this nearer relationfliip, what has he to do with their foil? — or how can that foil ferve as a foundation for a doc- trine on which his future falvation depends ? —This (otherwife) incomprehenfible dif- ficulty is folved only by the dodrine of the Bramins, which teaches, that the apoftate angelic and human fouls are one and the fame fpirit; nor can we, upon any other rational principle, conceive how the gofpel- difpenfation can be founded upon the an- gelic fall. 40. An ingenious, fpeculative, and learn- ed divine of our church, publiflied, in the year 1762, a treatife, entitled, " A Pre- *' exiftent Lapfe of Human Souls *, &c." This truly valuable performance relieves us from much labor in the profecution of our work, as it confirms, from our own fcrip- tiires^ many leading and efiential points of the Metempiychofis, as, the exiftence of angels, their rebellion, their expulfion from * Printed for Whifton and White in Fleet-Street, and for Kearily, Ludgate-Sircet.— By Cape! Berrow, A. M. D % tkeir ( 38 ) their blelTed abodes, the ccsval creation of the angehc and human fpirits, and the af- fociation of the latter with the former in tlieir apoftacyj that their fituation on earth is a (late of degradation and probation for that lapfe, and that original fm is not that which is erroneoufly imputed to us from Adam^ but fprings from a much higher fource, 'uix. the pre-exijient lapfe of the (human) Ipirit from its primseval purity. 41. In fupport of this hypothecs, the Rev. Author exhibits many clear, flriking, and convincing texts of fcripture, as well as the opinions of the moft ancient and modern philofophers and theologians. The autho- rities quoted by this writer, and his fubfe- quent reafoning on his fubjed: are fo full and conclulive, that nothing can be added by us to illuflrate it. Therefore we beg leave to refer our readers to the book itfelf, (and particularly to his laft chapter, in refu- tation of the ftrongeft objecflions that can be raifed againft his fyftem), which contains every proof and confirmation from our own fcriptures which we ftand in need of to fup- port the Gentoo dodlrine of our firft general head, namely, The exiftence of angels, their fall, their expulfion, and their punifh- ments. 42. In ( 39 ) 42- J'^ the year 1729, an E flay was pub- llilied, dedicated to the then Lord Mayor, bearing the title of an Oration, by one Mr. J. Hive, under four general heads, 'viz. en- deavouring to prove, i/t, The plurality of worlds. 2dfy, That this earth is the only hell. 3^/k, That the fouls of men are the apoftate angels, ^t/j/y, That the fire, which will punifh thdfc who (hall be confined to this globe at the day of judgment^ will be immaterial.' We juft mention this ex~ traordhiary oration here, but v/e (hall fub- fequently have occafion to notice it far- ther. 43. Before we take leave of this part of pur fubjed:, we will remind our readers of what we advanced in our 4th paragraph, where, enumerating the fundry ■primitive truths which had forcibly been imprefi^ed on the mind of man, in the beginning j one of the moil important was, the notion of three prime created cekftial beings, either confounded with, or exclujive oj\ andfubor- dinate to the Deity -, thus the Bramins have their Birmah, Biftnoo, and Sieb ; the Per^ Jians i\\€\vOrornazes^ Mythra^ and Mythras; the Egyptians their Ofyris, Jfis, and Orus -, the ancient Arabs their Allat, AL Uzza, and Manahy or the Goddeffes -y the Phani- cians and Tyrians^ their Beius, Urania^ and D 4 Adonis; ( 40 ) A(hnis', tlic Greeks and Romans their Jupi^ tcr Olympus, Minerva, and J polio-, the Chriflians their Fatloer, Son, and Holy Ghrjt-y tlie Americans their Otkon, Meffou, and Atabautay &c. 6cc. And we doubt not but a fimllar doctrine might be traced amongflall the different nations of the earth, had we authentic records of their primitive religious inftitutes; it was a principle a- dopted by all the ancient weftern world, probably introduced by the Pbcenicians, and confirmed to them by the Romans, Vide Herodotus, Plutarch, Cicero, on the nature of the Gods; the Abbe Baniers My- thology of the Ancients ; WarburtQn\ Di- vine Legation of Mofes-y the Chevalier Ram- fays Difcourfe on the Theology and My- thology of the Pagans, Sec. 44. To a notion fo unlverfal in the firft times, we think ourfelves warranted in gi- ving the title of a primitive truth ; which muft have had unerring hOc, and a divine revelation for its fource and foundation, as well as the other primitive truths of the re- bellion, fall, and punifliment of part of the angelic hoft, under the inftigation and lead- ing of an arch apoftate of the firft rank ; hence the Moifafoor of the Bramins; the Arimanius of the Perfians-, the Typbon of the ( 41 ) the Egyptm??s, Greeh, &c. and the Satan of the Chriflianp. — And that other great truthi the neceffity of a mediator, or me- diators, employed either in imploring the divine mercy in behalf of the delinquent angels, or in combating or counteracfting the wiles and influence of the arch apoftate, and his prime adherents; — hence the Bir- mah, &c. of the Bramins; \hz Myth-as of the Ferjians'i the Or us of the Egypt ia7is-j the Adonis of the Tyrians-y the Apollo of the Greeks, &:c. and the Mrjiah of the Chrifti- ans, whofe glorious and voluntary tafk it is, to work out the reftoration oi i\\& goldeit age, by the fubdudlion of the Ji? ft author of evil, 45. From hence it is manifefl:, that the notion of a golden age, fo frequently men- tioned, and minutely defcribed by all the ancient philofophers and poets, was purely ideal, refpe6ling either any part of this ma- terial world, or any period of time fubfe- quent to its creation i but obvioufly could only be allufive to that ftate of beatitude and harmony which reigned in the heaven- ly abodes until the fall of the angelic inha- bitants; for, notwithftanding the variety and confulion of opinions touching the ori- gin of evil, w^e may confidently fay it never had exiftence, until (from the gracious root of freedom) it firft fprang up, in the bofom of ( 42 ) Q^ the fird grand traitor. — As the remem- brance of this celeftial golden age of the iiril creation of beings, muft have been ftrongly imprefled on the minds of the delinquents at their fall, it was hence by a tradition ea- fily conceived, handed down to later times, and loft in the ideal conceit of a golden age in this terreftrial globe. 46. We have already been accufed of par- tiality to the doctrines of Bramaht but that fhall not deter us from ajjerting^ what be- fore we only hinted at, namely, that that prophet and divine legillator firft taught, by written precepts, the pure theology of the unity of the Godhead, the three prime crea- ted beings, the creation of angelic intelli- gents, their fall, and the reft of the prhni- iive truths that were followed by all the an- cient world. From this convidion it was, that in the foregoing paragraphs, where we had occafion to mention the theology of the ancients, we have given precedence to that Q^ the Bramlns; and that we are not fingu- lar in oar opinion, we could cite many au- thorities, but a few {hall fuffice : the Che- valier Ramfay^ who has, with great ftrength ot -genius, and accuracy, labored to eluci- date this fubjev5t, in the 88th page of his Difcourfe on the Theology of the Pagans, fpeaking of the atheifticai tenets of Anaxi- mandcr^ ( 43 ) mander^ fays, " Pythagoras, Anaxagoras^ ' Socrates, Plato, Ariftotle, and all the * great men of Greece^ oppofed the im- ' pious dodrine, and endeavoied to re- * eftablilh the ancient theology of the orien- ' tals.'' Page 135 of his Difcourfe on the Pagan Mythology, he i.as this conclufion, that, ** as the do(5i:rine of the Perfians is *' only the fequel of the Indian Bramins, " we muft confult tb'^ one, to put the other *' in a clear light." Again, p. 39, fpeak- ing of Pythagoras, he fays, " This philofo- *' pher taught nothing to the Greeks^ but *' what he learnt from the GymnofophiftsJ* — To thefe we will juft add the fentiments of the very ingenious and learned Mr. Raines Howell, in the nth Letter of his 2d vol. where he reports, from Diodoriis Siculus, *' That the Egyptians had Kings 18,000 " years lince, yet, for the matter of Philo- ** fophy and Science, he (the Egyptian) ** had it from the Chaldean^ and he Irom " the Gymnofophijts and Brachmans of In- " diay Which country, as it is the next neighbor to the rifing Sun, fo the beams of Learning (and confequently of Religion) did Jirft enlighten her. Thus we have fhewn, that we are not fingular in believing that the religion of Br amah is the moft ancient ^ and confequently moft pure. For 47. It ( 4+ ) 47* It has been well remarked, that the nearer we approach to the origin of nations, the more pure we (Lall find their Theology, and the reafon of things fpeaks the juftnefs of the remark ; becaufe the period when the angelic fpirits were doomed to take up- on them mortal forms, was doubtlefs the origin of all nations ; and at that time, as the nature of their tranfgreffion and the terms of their reftoration, were frefh upon their memories, their Theology was pure, univerfal and unerring j proFeffing one zini- '■ccrjal faiths which they had as we fay from the mouth of God himfelf — Surely there muft have been a time, when all nations had but one Jyfiem of Theology^ or elfe it is impoffible to ailign a caufe for the uniform concurrence of all people touching the primitive truths, we have fo often had oc- cafion to mention ; but here the caufe is found in the rational fuppofition of one faith at the origin of all nations ; — and we may without deferving the imputation of too great prefumption boldly pronounce, that until that is again the cafe, there will be neither pure uninterrupted joy in hea- ven, nor peace 072 earth. If the notion of a terrejiria I golden age has any foundation, it can be only applicable to that feafon, which we rather think ought to be lliled, the age •f repentance and forroW; and poffibly is the ( 45 ) the only fhort period and pure piety fincc the creation of the univerfe. 48. This leads us naturally to another remark ; namely, that the farther any fyf- tem of Theology flows fro7n its foiirce^ the more its pure pellucid flream is vitiated, diflurbed and rendered muddy, and unin- telligible. This is verified by the eccleliaftic hiftory of all nations, but none with more ilriking evidence than in that of the an- cient BraminSy unlefs we except our oivn. ' — When we compare the original, auguft, although fimple doctrines of the unity of the Godhead, and the three fubordinate celeftial perfonages, &c. of Bramah^ with the later dod:rines of his fucceffors in the priefthood, how amazingly do we behold the fublimity and purity of them mutilated and loft ! The Text ^iBramah fays, *' God *' is one, Creator of all that is. — —-The ** eternal One firft made Birmah, then " Bijinoo and Skb, then Moijafoor and the *'■ reft of the angelic hoft ; he made his ♦* firft created Birmah^ Prince of the an^ ** gelic bands, and his occafional vice- *' gerent, deftined him to ads of power, ** glory, and dominion j and appointed the *' two next created beings Bijhioo and Sicb ** his coadjutors :" and when in procefs of time (by the defedion and rebellion of M'ififoor) ( 46 ■) Moifafoor) God in his mercy refolved tor form the material univerfe, thefe three Di- vine Beings became the active reprefenta- tives and executors of his three fupreme attributes j his power to create, his power to preferve, and his power to change or de- ilroy, as their names lignify. 49. Here the people were prefented with a dodtrine plain, comprehenfible, and fuited to the capacity of every intelligent being, although imprifoned under a material form ; the fuccelTors of Bramah did not indeed confound the three divine perfonages with the Godhead, but they at length did every thing elfe to cloud and obfcure every other of his primitive truths^ until they became as deeply plunged in idolatry, and in what we may call the ufelefs parade of religion, as any people upon earth, and fo continue to this day : thus the miffion of Bramah was rendered fruitlefs, but the pure fpring-head of his dodtrines (that is, the firft great pri- mitive truths nov/ under our confideration) were more fullied by the priells of other nations, who formed monftrous copies from the fublime original of Bramah. 50. The Ferjian Magi were the firft who confounded the three prime created, fub- ordinate celeftial beings of the ancient Bra- mins f 47 ) _ _ mms with the Godhead, to hide him from the vulgar J and not fatisfied with this, they gave the eternal One a wife in the fecond perlbn. In this domeftic oeconomy they were followed by the Eiiyptians, Chaldeans ^ Syrians ^ Phcemcians^ Greeks and Romans-, and as the Egyptian iVlagi exceeded the PerJ'um in rendering thefe ongin2X primitive truths incomprehenjiblc, fo thefe were fur- pafTed by the Tyrians, and they again by the Greeks, and the "Romans outwent them all. Thefe inftances afford a ftriking proof of the remark we made above, that the farther any divine jfyftem of Theology -flows from its original fource, the more it fuffers and is corrupted. 51. Thus we fee the two firft moft effen- tial primitive truths, to wit, the unity of the Godhead, and the creation of the three fuperior Divine Beings fubordinate to him, as originally taught by Bramah^ were firfl loaded with fuperflitious and idolatrous rites by his fiiccefibrs, after it had fubfifled in- violate for the long fpace of a thoufand years, and the fublime fpirit of it utterly eva- porated and lofl in the various fyftems of the Perjian and Egyptian Magi and their followers, and fjnk at laft into incompre- henfible jargon ; as any one who has lei- fure and curiofity may convince himfelf, 5 by ( 48 ) by confulting the authors who have exhi- bited the religious tenets of thefe nations. 52. Would to heaven, that that confound- ing incomprehenlible fpirit had flopped, and vanifhed vv^ith the heathen priefthood ! and that we ourfelves had not, by dividing that fupreme adoration, which is due alone to the One Eternal God, given rife to a fchifm in Chriftianity, that has fapped the very root of its fimple, exalted and divine doctrines, and proved the fource of a thoufand herefies, as well as one of the great tum- bling blocks, to the univerfa] propagation of a religivin, that fpeaks the finger of God in every fentence, without one fingle glance at a Trinity in Unity ^ or Unity in Trinity, an unintelligible dogma, in which the heathen leaven prevailed, and raifed a fermentation. in the church of Chriil: that probably will never fubfide, until God himfelf is pleafed to exert and manifed once more his own fupremacy in power and vengeance, for the daily repeated blafphemies uttered againfl: his awful name ; for the fpirit of man will neither regard the words of God himfelf, nor thofe of his Chrift. For, 53. ** God fpake thefe words, and faid, " I am the Lord thy God, Thou fhalt have *' none other Gods but rpe," and the con- gregation ( 49 ) gregatlon replies, " Lord have mercy upon •* us, and incline our hearts to keep this " law," although they know they fhall egregioufly break it more than once in the courfe of the liturgy : and God hiin- felf, fpeaking of the Meffiah, which he purpofed fending into the world, to pro- mulge a new revelation of his will, fays unto Mofes, *' I will raife them up a Pro- *' PHET from among their brethren, like '* UNTO THEE, and will put my words in- *' to his mouth ; and he fhall fpeak unto *' them all things I lliall command him, ** And it fhall come to pafs, that whofoever *' will not hearken unto my words, which " he fliall fpeak in my name, I will require " it of him." 54. When we confider the many and va- rious declarations which dropped from the mouth of Chrift, fo ftrongly expreflive of his own dependent ilate and fubordination to the will of God, how can we account for that degree of infatuation which iirfl moved the heart of man to utter and propagate the blafphemous dodrine of his co-equallty, and co-eternity with God ? although the fame extravagant rhapfody of faith, pro- nounces him begotten of the Father, and confequentiy both created and made^ if words have any meaning. Where religion p is ( s° ) is (hrouded under the difguife of riiyfteries, fymbols, allegories, hieroglyphics, and fa- ble ; they are fure and infallible criterions of that religion being fpurious, and not of divine origin. Thele, as before remarked, were the inventions of the ancient prieft- hood and lawgivers, to cover, obfcure, and hide the true God from the people; and indeed they could not have concerted a more effectual and iniquitous fyflem. That religion which fpeaks not to the level of every degree of human underftanding, as well as to the heart, we will pronounce, never came from God, the reafon is obvious, for high and low, learned and unlearned, rich and poor, are all equal objedts of his care and providence, and equally interefted in the event of falvation, which is the fole aim of the Moft "High in every divine reve- lation of his v/ill. 1^5* The religions which manifeftly car- ry the divine ilamp of God, are, firft, that \v\\\zh. Bramah was appointed to declare to the ancient Hindoos-, fecondly, that law which Mofes was deflined to deliver to the ancient Hebreivs -, and thirdly, that which Chrift was delegated to preach to the latter 'Jews and GenHles^ or the Pagan world. Thefe, and thefe only, bear the fignature of divine origin ; for the precepts they con- tain ( ^I ) taiii, are plain, fimple, and pofitive, not difguifed by myileries, allegories, &c. but adapted to every capacity of underftanding, although the laft is fo utterly mutilated and defaced fince the afcenfion, that Chriif him- felf, when he defcends again on earth, will difown it, and know it not to be his; and in Chriftian charity we wifh he may not al- fo difown thofe unhappy beings who have been inftrumental, from time to time, in the adulteration of it, by introducing my- ileries to be received as matter of faith ne^ cefTary to falvation, which he never dicStat- ed, preached, or enjoined to his followers 5 as the Creed of Athanafius^ &c. But, for the prefent, we will drop a Creed, which •we believe every pious rational Chriftian wifhes was ftruck out of the Liturgy (as well as fome other articles, which alfo have proved obftru(ftions to the early univerfal propagation of the gofpel), and attend ta what Chrift himfelf fays to thefe fubjedtsj whom we think ourfelves well warranted in believing, in preference to any equivocal expreffions or fentiments, or reveries of ei- ther his apoftles or difciples, or of thole who are too liberally ftiled the faints, and fathers of the church, whofe diffentions, dreams, and do6trines, have been wrefted by Sata?i and his difciples for a lafting foun- E % dation { 52} datlon to build their extenfive kingdom up- on. 56. We are here under feme apprehen- fion, that we may be charged with Itepping out of our way, and with ftumbling againft what lies not in our path. To obviate which, we fay, that as our view is to re- *ulve and re-ejtablijlj the primitive truths which conftituted the ground-work of the firft univerfal religion, at the period of the creation of the material worlds and man, it became neceflary to ftrip them of all difguife, myflery, and fable: in order to that, we found ourfelves under a neceffity, occafion- ally to analize in part the three divine fy- flems noted in our laft paragraph, not un- der the guife in which they now appear be- fore us, but as they really were at their firft promulgation ; for of all the theologic fy- llems that have been broached to mankind,. we think we are well fupported in mark- ing thefe alone as true originals \ but our be- nevolent view extends ftill farther, and we flatter ourfelves (however chimerical it may appear) mankind may be reftored again to that one unerring original faith ^ from which, by undue influence in every age of the world, they have unhappily fwerved : we are convinced, if they consulted their prefent and ( 53 ) and future felicity, they would fly to em- brace a rational hypothefis, that leads to fuch a bleiTed ilTue. And here we cannot help deeply regretting the want of that /«- pendousgift of tongues, that our fyftem might thereby be conveyed to every corner of the habitable globe. Vain regret! fays the fcep- tic. Vain as it is, it is the vanity of doing, good, which is the moll pardonable of all vanities. Having thus, we hope, guarded againft any imputation of wantonly deviat- ing from our fubjed, we will reuime tliQ track of our enquiries. 57- It is our purpofe to trace our divine Mediator through every text of the four Gofpels fucceffively, wherein he exprefsly declares and maintains the unity and fupre- macy of God, and his own fubordination ; and that in fuch terms as leaves it beyond a poffibility ofbeing mifunderftood. Indeed, It appears every where, that he was moli anxiouily folicitous that mankind Hiould be quite clear m a dodrine fo eilential; and that his apoftles and difciples, who were to preach and propagate his Gofpel,, {hould not be liable to error in a matter of fucb im- portance to Heaven and earth; and this wife precaution became the more necelTary, as they themfelves were but jufl emerged E 3 from, ( 54 ) from, and furrounded with, infidelity and Paganifm. 58. We will begin with St. Matt hew i chap. xix. verf. 17. where Chrijt replies to the man who afked him the interefting que- flion — " Good Mafter, what good thing ** fhall 1 do to attain eternal life ?" — he faid unto him, '^ Why callefl thou me good ? ** there is none good but One, that is ** God/' Chap. xx. verf. 23. when the mother of Z^/^^-^cVs children petitioned Chrift that her two fons {hould fit, the one on his right hand, the other on his left, in his kingdom, he faid unto her, ** To (it on my *' right hand, and on my left, is not ming ** to give, but it fhall be given to thofe for ** whom it is prepared of my Father'* And verfe 28th of the fame chapter, recom- mending humility to his difciples, he faith, ** Even as the Son of man came not to he ** miniftered untOy but to minifterr Again, chap xxiv. verf. 36. fpeaking of thi day of judgment, he fays, — <* But of that day and " hour knoweth no man, no not the angel^ " of heaven, but the Father only.'* And ^hap. xxvii. verf. 46. in the extremity of his paffion on the crofs, he cried with a loud voice, ** My God! my God! why haft '^ thou forfaken me ?" than which^ as nq- thing; ( S5 ) thing could more powerfully denote the laft influence of lu's human nature, fo nothing could more forceably imply his abfolute and avowed dependance on his God. 59. We (hall coniider next the declara- tions of Chrifty as they (land recorded in his Gofpel according to St, Mark, chap. xii. verf. 29. when the Scribe afked him which was the firft of all rhe commandments ? 'Je- Jus anfwered and faid, " The firli of all the *' commandments is, Hear, O Ifrael, the '* Lord our God h one Lord-," and the Scribe anfwered and faid, verf. 12. " Well, Ma- " fter, thou haft faid the truth, for there is ** One God, and there is none other but " HE;" and when he fubjoins, verf. 33. that " the love of that One God, and his " neighbor, is more than all burnt-oifer- ** ings and facrifice." Jefus applauds his an- fwering difcreetly, by telling him, verf. 34. ** 'Thou art not far from the kingdom of " God," thereby confirming him in his be- lief of O;?^ God only. Chap. xiii. verf. 32. Jefus, fpeaking of the day of judgment, is more particular than ftands recorded in St. Matthew, for here he declares, that ^' of *' that day and hour knoweih no man, no ** not the angels which are in heaven, nei- *' ther the Son, but the Father." Hence it appears, by Chrijfs own fhowing, that one E 4 mofl ( 56 ) mofl: important fecret ivas hid from him^ therefore not omnifcient, and conlequently not God, but a diJtinB created being. In- deed, howfoever confcious he appears to be of his own divine origin, yet he in no wife arrogates worfhip as due to himfelf, but di- redls it all to his God and Father. 60. The courfe of our enquiry leads us next to the Gofpel according to St. Luke, chap. iv. verf 43. whtr^Jefus being prelTed by the people not to depart from them, fays unto them, *' I muft preach the kingdom of ** God to other cities, for therefore was I ^^ fent." Chap. X. verf. 16. Jefus ttWs his apoflles, " He that defpifeth you, defpifeth *' me, and he that defpifeth me, defpifeth " him that fent w^." Verf. 21. Chrift, af- ter gently rebuking the feventy difciples for having exprelTed, with too much joy and exultation, their fuccefs in cafling out devils or evil fpirits in his name, breaks forth in the following pathetic flrain of fubmif- five devotion, the poetic and infpired evan- gelifl, opening the verfe with this fliort ex- ordium, *' \n that hour "fejiis rejoiced in " fpirit, and faid, I thank thee^ O Fat her ^ ** Lord of heaven and earth, that thou haft ** hid thefe things from the wife and pru- *' dent, and haft revealed them to babes; '* eve,fl io^ Father, for fo it feemed good '* in ( 57 ) ** in thy fight." He then proceeds, verf. 2 2. to declare to them his delegated poivers from his God. *' All things are delii^ered to " me of my Father -, and no man knoweth " who the Son is, but the Father ; and *' who the Father is, but the Son, and he " to whom the Son will reveal him." Chap. xi. verf. 2. when one of his difciples be- fought him to teach them to pray, he faid unto them, " When ye pray, fay, Our Fa- ** ther which art in heaven, hallowed be ** thy name ; thy kingdom come, thy will ** be done, as in heaven, fo on earth, &c.** Here it is worthy remark, that in fo very eflential and interefling a matter as a pro- per addrefs in prayer, Chrift direcfts the followers of his Gofpel to point their fup- plications and praijfes to God alone. Chap, xviii. verf. 19. records the fame rebuke that we have already quoted from St. Matthew^ with a fmall variation of expreflion — *' Why *' calleft: thou me gcod? none is ^oodi , fave '* onej that is, God." Chap. xxii. verf. 42. when Chrift had feparated himfelf from his difciples on the mount of Olives, he kneel- ed down and prayed, *' Father, if thou be " willing^ remove this cup from me; ne- «* verthelefs, 720t my willy but tbine be " done." 61. W€> ( 53 ) 6i. We come now to the Gofpel of our divine Mediator and Saviour, according to St. jfohny which exhibits more numerous and ftriking declarations of Chrijt-, in fup- port of the unity and fupremacy of God, and his own fubordination to his will, than all the other three put together. Chap. iv. verf 34, Jefus, in anfwer to his difciples, touching his eating, fays, '* My meat is to " do the will of him that fent me, and to ** finifti his work." Chap. v. verf 19. Je- Jlis, in anfwer to the Jeivs^ who accufed him of breaking the Sabbath by healing the ipan at the pool of Bet he/da, fiys, " Verily, " verily, I fay unto you, the Son can do ** nothing of hbnfelf^ but what he feeth the *' Father doj for what things foever he do- *' eth, thefe things doth the Son likewife," Verf. 20. " For the Father loveth the Son, ** znd fieweth him all things that himfelf " doeth, and he willyZ'^i£;/6/;/^ greater won- •' ders than thofe, that ye may marvel." Verf. 22. ** For the Father judgeth no man, " but hath committed all judgment to the *' Son." Verf. 23. *' That all men (hould ** honor the Son, even as they honor the '* Father, for he that honoreth not the " Son, honoreth not the Father which hath *' fent him^ Verf. 26. to the fame feisus Jefus faith, ** For as the Father hath life in " himfelf ( 59 ) " himfelf, fo /jdt/j be given to the Son to *' have life in himfelf." Again, verf 30. " lean of myfelf do nothiiig'. as 1 hear I ** judge, and my judgment is juft, becaufe " I feek not mine own will, h\ii the will oi ** the Father, who fent me.'' Chap. vii. verf. 16. when Chrijl preached in the tem- ple, the Jews marvelled, faying, *' How •* knoweth this man letters, having never '* learnt?" y^i anfwered them, and faid, '* My dodtrine is not mine, but his that fent *' me!' Chap. viii. verf. 28. ** Then faid " 7c/^-^ unto them. When you have lift up <« the Son of man, then (hall ye know that ** I am he, and that I do nothing of myfelf, ** but as the Father has taught tne:'* and vt\-[. 42. fefus faid unto them, *' If God ** were your Fath.r, ye would love me, ** iot I froceeduforth^ and came from God-, " neither came I •* but the blafphemy againft the Holy GhoU: ** fhall not be forgiven unto men. And ** whofoever fpeaketh a word againft the ** Son of man, it fhall be forgiven him; but *' whofoever fpeaketh againfl the Holy *' Ghoft, it fhall not be forgiven him, nei- ** ther in this world, nor in the world to *' come." And in this place we cannot do better, than to endeavor to clear the Evan- gelifl St. John from the charge of contra- F diiSion, ( 66 ) didion, by urging, with all humble defe- rence, the conception which leads us to imagine his term or phrafe *' the word'* has been mifunderftood, and confequently milai plied j and that his record, to be con- fiflent with itfelf, muft allude to the Holy Ghoji : and vvc fubmit it to the candor of every Lhriftian, who, with unprejudiced heart and attention, perufes the firil; chap- ter of St. Johns Gofpel, whether or not every text of that chapter, which has been ufually applied to Chriftj may not be more juftly applied to fignify the Holy Ghoft. And thus the Gofpel of this infpired writer will fland unimpeached, v^^hich otherwife remains a v^'itnefs againll itfelf, as fliewn in our 62d paragraph. 66. The other various contradidllons and evil tendency of the Creed now under con- lideration (firft eflablifhed by perfecution, iire, and fvvord), are fo obvious they call for no further comment; its origin only wants to be accounted for, which is no very difficult tafk. Satan, finding his kingdom on earth muft fall, and come to an end, if the pure doctrines o^ the gofpel ohi^antd. uni- verfally, had no means left to guard againft, and prevent a cataftrophe fo fatal to his power, but exerting his influence to vi- tiate its pure ftream at the fountain head : m ( 67 ) in order to this he men: efFcdlually; attach* ed himfelf and his emiffaries to the priml-^ mitive Chriflian difputants, and the reverend faints 2indi fathers of the church, as they are called : thefe he well knew had not tho^ roughly (hook off from their hearts the im- preffions of the Grecian and Roman mytho-*- logy and Folythefm ; on this knowledge he founded his hopes, and by the event fliowed he was no bad politician, for his fuccefs was anfwerable to the moft fanguine wiflies o£ his bad foul, and he foon had the malicious joy of beholding three gods ftart up in the Chriflian fyflem, in violation of the dodtrine of their divine Lender, who had fo often preached to his followers there was but ONE. It is well known the advantages ^d" tan and Mahomet, and his fucceffors, took of the Polytheifm introduced into the Chri^ flian faith, not only to the downfal and de- ftrudion of the ic\t\\ churches of yfia, and the empire of the Romans^ but alfo to the obftru(fting the univerfal progrefs of Chri^ ftianityj and we may, with jaft boldnels fay, that had it not been for that opening given to that enterpriiing enemy of our faith, neither Mahojnmed as a prophet^ nor" the Koran as a religion, would ever have had exiftence, but the pure doctrines " of Chrift would have overihadpwed the face of the earth, and its inhabitants pro- F z . bablvj ( 68 ) bably, at this day, have been of one only univerfal churchy unmixed with fchifms, feds, or reparations, to the faving of mil- lions of fouls, and del ges of blood. The ground- work of Alahommcd's fcriptures was the pure unity of the Godhead. (Koran, chap. iv. ) *' Surely God will not pardon the " giving him an equal , but will pardon any " other iin, except that, to whom he plea- ** feth ; and whofo giveth a companion unto ** God, hath devifed a great wickednefs." Again, " Say not there are three gods , for- " bear this, it will be better for you ; God *' is but ONE God." And upon the effica- cy of this divine principle we may conceive, that God permitted the fo amazing and ra- pid, as well as extenfive progrefs, of Mu' honw2td's Koran. 67. Another ftumbling-block to the uni- verfal propagation of Chrift's gofpel, is the fuppofed fupernatural mode of his conception and incarnation-, which fuppofition has af- forded a handle to the enemies of Chriftia- nity, to flamp it v/ith the imputation of priefl: craft, the fad: being only recorded by two of the evangelifts, Mark and John be- ing entirely lilent on the fubjed ; and Chrift himfelf, in all that ftands recorded of him, gives not the fmallcft intimation of his mi- raculous or fupernatural conception. Here- in in our free-thinkers outdo Mahommed-y for, in the xixth chapter of his Koran, he ac- cedes to the fadt, and condemns the Jews for their difbelief ; but we imao^ine the ob- jedtors might, fomehow or other, have ar- rived at the knowledge, that the miraculous conception of a virgin was a very ancient piece of Paga?i prie(t-craft ; it was firft in- troduced by the adulterers oi Bramahs Shaf- tah^ and afterwards adopted by the compi- lers of the Viedam^ in the perfon of their Vijtnoo ; and from this origin might poffi- bly defcend to later times. Be this as it may, it is moft certain, that the Aupendous example, life, miracles, and dodrines of Chrifi flood in no need of a myflery of this nature to prop and give it weight and evi- dence; and therefore, by adding an incum- brance it did not want, rather weakened, than ftrengthened the whole fabric of Chri- flianity. Had this myflery been a neceffary article of faith to falvation, mofl afTuredly Chrift himfelf would have given fome in- timation of it to his followers : we do not find the miflion of 'Elijah (who was inverted by God with powers on earth near equal with Chrift), nor any other of the infpired prophets fland impeached, becaufe his or their conceptions were according to the na- tural courfe of generation, then why fhould that of Chrift ? So that the objedlors gain nothing in the contefl, fuppofing we fliould F 3 give ( 70 ) give up the argument to them: ahhough the conception and birth of Chrijl may in one indifputable fenfe be truly termed miracu- lous! when we fee fuch an abundant por- tion of the rpiritual efTence of God in Chrijl^ was thereby fubjefted by his permiffion to the flefh, for the fah^ation of mankind ; but we truft we (hall not offend, w^hen we fay, the event would not have been lefs miracu- lous, nor efficacious, had it happened ac- cording to the ufual courfe of nature. 68. God forbid it fhould be thought, from the tenor of thefe our difquifitions, that, with Hobbcsy ^indcilj Bolingbroke^ and others, our intent is to fap the foundation, or injure the root of Chriftianity. Candor and benevolence avert from us fo unchari- able and ill-grounded an imputation ! On the contrary, our fole aim is to ref^ore its pu- rity and vigor, by having thofe luxuriant in- jurious branches and fhoots lopped off and pruned, v* hlch have fo obvioufly obflrud:- , ed, ftinted, and prevented its natural, uni- verfal growth and progrefs ; and as we have affumed to ourfclvcs the title of the reform^ ed churchy by judicioufly and pioully abjuring Jome of the impious, idolatrous extravagan- cies and tenets of the church of Rome, let us boldly, in the caiije of God and his fupre-^ tnacy, uniformly deferve the chara(fler we have affumed, 69. From ( 71 ) 69. From all that has hitherto been ad- vanced (fupported with what will occalion- ally follow), three moft important truths may be clearly gathered. Imprimis, that the FIRST and last revelation of God's will, that is to fay, the Hindoo and the Chrijiian difpenfatlon, are the moft perfecft that have been promulged to offending man; fecondly, that the first was to a moral cer- tainty the original dodlrines, and terms of re- iloration, delivered from God himfelf by the mouth of his firft created BiKM AH to mankind at his firfl creation in iki^form of man y and that, after many fucceffive ages in fin, and every kind of wickednefs, God, in his ten- der mercy, reminded mankind of their true Jiate and nature^ of their original f,n ; and by the defcent of Bramah, gave to the Hindoos the jirfi written manifedation of his will, which (by the common fate of all oral traditions), had m-oft probably, from various caufes, been eifaced from their minds and memories : Thirdly, that every interme- diate fyftem of religion in the v/orld be- tween that of Bramah and Christ are corruptly branched from the former, as is to demonftration evident, from their being founded on, and partaking of, with more or lefs purity iho^Q pritjiitive truths. Vide 3d and 4th paragraphs. F 4 70. Let ( 70 70. Let us next fee how far the fimili- tude of dodlrines, preached firft by Bramah^ and afterwards by Chriji^ at the diftin^t pe- riod of above three thoufand years^ corro- borate our conclu (ions ; if they mutually fupport each other, it amounts to proof of the authenticity and divine origin of both, Bramah preached the exigence of one on- ly, ETERNAL GoD, his firft Created ange- lic being, Birmah, Bijinooy Sieb, and Moi- fafoor ', the^z^rf gofpel-difpenfation teaches ONE ONLY, ETERNAL QoD, his firft begot- ten of the Father, Christ -, the angelic be- ings, GchrieU Michael, and Satariy ail thefe correfponding under difi^erent names, mi- nutely with each other, in their refpedlive dignities, fund:ions, and charaders : 5/r- mah is made prince and governor of all the angelic bands, and the occafional vicegerent of the Eternal One ; Chri/i is inverted with all power by the Father j Birmah is deftined to works of power and glory, fo is Chriji ; Bijlnoo to adls of benevolence, io is Gabriel', Sieb to ads of terror and deftrud:ion, fo is Miclael \ the Holy Ghoft is exprefsly figni- J&ed in Brum^ the Spirit or EfTence of God, abundantly difplayed in all the operations and behefts of the Eternal One. The Shaftah of Bramah records the rebellion of a portion of the angelic hoft, and their ex- pulfign frgm heaven j the fac^ is alfo incul- cated ( 73 ) cated by the gofpel ; Moifafoor Is reprefent- ed as a prime angel, and the inftigator and leader of the revolt in heaven, fo is the Sa- tan of the gofpel; minijhrifig angels, or the interpoiition of the heavenly beings in hu- man affairs, is a principle of Bra7nah\ Shaf- tah, fo it is of the gofpel-difpenfation ; the necelTary duties of repentance^ good worksy univerfal love, and charity^ are indifpenfably enjoined in the Shail:ah, {o they are in the gofpel inflitutes ; but in a more forcible, ela- borate, and eminent degree, as being the lad and moft perfect miffion that God in his mercy delivered to man. The immortality of the foul^ and its future ftate of rew^ardsf and puniihments, are fundamentals of the Shaft ah, fo they are of the gofpel j that man is here in a Jlate oi purgation;, fiinifi- ment, and trial y is alfo a fundamental of the Shallah, fo it is of the gofpel, fupported by the opinions of the moft learned divines and philofophers. That man is doomed to this Jiate, for an unhappy Lapse in a pre-ex- isTENT ONE, is another fundamental of the Shaft ah, and is evidently implied in the go- fpel. See the Rev. Mr. Berrow's Treatife on that fubjed before alluded to in our 40th paragraph. The neceffity of mediators be- tween God and man, and voluntary facrifi- ces for the tranfgeffions of the latter in the perfqns of Birmah, Biftnoo, and Sieb^ -ind Others ( 74 ) Others of the faithful angelic hod, are doc- trines of the Shaftah; and are all fully com- prifed in the gofpel, by the fole voluntary facrifice of Christ, ourconftant Mediator. That there is an intermediate flate oipunijh- tnent ^iud purification between death and the perfed: reftoration of the human foul, is a pofitive tenet of the Shaftah, and is coun- tenanced by the gofpel, notwithRanding the church of Rome makes fo bad a ufe of the iirfl, in their fyftem of purgatory. God's general providence over his whole creation, is an exprefs dodirine of the Shaftah ; and his particular providence over individuals is obvioufly implied, from its doctrine of the vifible, or invifible miniftration and inter- pofition of the angelic beings in human af- fairs; thefe are aifo fundamental dogmas of the Chriftiian fyftem. 71. The comparifon might be extended to a much greater length, but the above, we think, will fuffice to prove, that the mijpon ofCkrift is the ftirongeft confirmation of the authenticity and divine origin of the Chartah Bhade Shaftah ofBramah -, and that they both contain all the great pri?nitive truths in their original purity that confti- tuted the fir ft and univerfal religion j and that the very ancient fcriptures now under ourcon- fideration, exhibit alfo the ftrongefl convic- tion I ( 75 ) tlon of the truth of the celeftial origin of Chriffs miffion. Yet the former is the fyftem of divinity and ethics which the Critical Re- viewers have indifcriminately (as a fpecimeti of their candor, erudition, and penetration) ftigmatifed with the opprobrious epithets of ** nonfenfey rhapfodies^ and abfiirdities-y" and in proof of th^'w profound judgment -^ they un- faithfully took the liberty of re-printing our fecond part, without the errata prefixed to the I ft page, by which deiigned omiffion, they indeed circulafe nonfenfe enough of their own tnakittg ; but, requefting our read- ers pardon for beftowing fo many lines up- on a matter fo little worth our notice, we will purfue our fubjed:. 72. In two points of dodrlne the Hin- doo and the Chriiiian fyftem differ (but the one in mode only), ifl. The punifh- ment of the damned, or thofe fouls that /hall remain reprobate at the dlfTolution of the univerfe, or expiration of their term of probation* 2dly, The refurredlion of the fame body. Touching the firft:, the Shajiab teaches, that thofe reprobate fpirits fhall be caft out, and languifh for ever in intenfe darknefs^ in a particular region prepared for them; the Gofpei, that they fhall perifh everlaftingly in aBual fire. Without dif- cuffing the point how, or by what mode of 3 ji(5tioft -at ( 76 ) adlion fire will operate on fpirltual beings ; we will only fay, that poflibly the latter fen- tence may adl more m terrorem^ than in the other; not that we think there is a pin lo chufe between them, nor that the matter of difference is of much Importance, whilft they both agree in the fundamental point, thatthofe unhappy delinquents will be given over to everlafting puniOament. 73. Touching the fecond, which is a matter of deeper concernment to be clear in, the Hindoo fyftem teaches, that the corporeal part, or prifon of the foul or fpi- rit, being compofed of the four elements, each again receives its part at the diflblution of the body, or death ; and that the fpirit, according to its merits or demerits^ is either conveyed to the firft region of purification, or punifhed for a fpace, and doomed to en- ter and animate another corporeal form, bo- dy, or prifon, that fhall be prepared for its reception. The Chriftian fyftem, without giving us any lights touching the flate or exigence of the foul or fpirit, during the long intermediate fpace between death and the day of judgment, fays, that at that day the graves fliall give up their dead, and that there fhall be a refurrediion of the fame body, to which its foul iLallbe re-united, and both receive judgment. By both thefe fyftems the ( 77 ) the dodrlnes of future judgment, rewards and puniihments, are clearly revealed to us, but with this difference, that tue Hin- doo dogma pronounces, as we may fay, a daily judgment of the foul (for multitudes are fubjed: to death each revolving fun), as well as a final one, and the Chriftian poft- pones it to the day of refurred:ion, leaving the foul during the intermediate ftate to exift the Lord knows where. The re- furredion of xhtfame body is a dodtrine ob- vioufly repugnant to the Hindoo fyftem. 74. The refurredion of Chrlji, or the re-union of his fpirit to the body on the third day, is a ftupendous proof of his di- vine miffion, for he had before declared^ *' He had power to lay down his life, and ** had power to take it up again j for that <* commandment (or power) he had receiv- ** ed from the Father." But this lingle in- ftance, peculiar to Chrlji, does not, we con- ceive, countenance the general dodrine, as flated above, which is far from being uni- verfally believed or received ; many learned pens have been drawn againft it, and many texts of fcripture urged in oppofition, beiides unfurmountable arguments and difficulties that we have to encounter, which ftagger the flrongeft faith ; fuch as the ftate and exiftence of the foul during the fpace above hinted ( 78 ) hinted at; the confideration that matter, of which the body is compofed, being in its nature paffive and ina(3;ive, cannot be the objed: of either rewards or punifhment. But th^fpirit alone y which is the adtive, deferv- ing, or offending part, can be the only ob- jed: of judgment J the non-Identity of the body (if we may be allowed the expreffion), which continues not ih^ fame body one hour together, will have its full force on every rational mind, notwi hf^andlng the fp^cious cafuiftry of a hiebnitz and hocke to invali- date the objedion. How far the Metemp- lychoiis of Bramah will folve thefe pro- blems, and how far that dodrine will be fup- ported by the gofpel-difpenfation, will ap- pear when we come ciofer lo that main ipring of all our movements. 'j^. From what has been advanced in our 70th, and part of our 71(1 paragraph, we find that Chriftianity is, bona fide, as old as the creation^ although in a very different fenfc from that of the libertine freethinker, who publifhed, fome years fince, a labored treatife to undermine the gofpeldifpenfa- tion, under that title : yet, let us not, al- though it fprings from a truly learned and pious zeal, pretend to prove, that " the want *' of univerfality is no objedion to the Chri- ** ftian religion," by bringing a chain of events^ ( 79 ) events, taken upon truft, from a fpurl- ous eaftern fciipture, as applicable to the conception, birth, miracles, and death of Chrifiy that are utterly defiitute of true chronology to fupport it, left it {hould give a handle to freethinkers of the compledioa juft mentioned to fay, that the Chriftian iyftem is only a copy of an eajlernfable^ as one of the Popes of the church of Rome is ■recorded to have faid, or fomething like it. That the circumftances attending the walk oiChrift on earth have been tranfmitted to the Eaft we do not difpute, but that they could ftand recorded in an eaftern fcripture, which was compiled fome thoufands of years before Chriji's appearance in Judea^ is not poffible : the fadts could not be before they had exiftence. But the misfortune is, . that in difquifitions of this nature we are ge- nerally too apt to prove too much^ and there- by hurt the caufe we are laboring to defend. Had the learned and revered fupporter of Chriftianity whom we allude to above, ex- tended his view, and been acquainted with, the original Chartah Bhade of Bramah, he would have found that it is a fundamental doctrine of that fcripture, that the angelic beings, prior to the Kolee Joqtie or age of corruption, frequently defcended to the earth, and voluntarily fubjeded themfelves ^ to ( 8o ) to undergo the eighty- eight tranfmigratlory^ to animate the form of man, thereby to guard him from a fecond feduftion of Moi- fafoor or Satan-, that even Birmah, Biftjioo, and Sieb, did not exempt themfelves from thofe voluntary facrifices. 76. This being premised, it is no violence to faith, if we believe that Birmah and Chrift is one and the fame individual ccele- ftial being, the firfl: begotten of the Father, who has moll probably appeared at different periods of time, in dtjiant parts of the earth, under various mortal forms of huma- nity, and denominations : thus we may ve- ry rationally conceive, that it was by the mouth of Chrift (fliled Birmah by the eaft- erns), that God delivered the ^r^^^^r/w/V/W truths to man at his creation, as infallible guides for his condud; and reftoratim : but the purity of thefe truths being effaced by time, and the induftrious influence of Sa- tan, affilled by the natural unhappy bent of the human foul to evil, it became neceffary that they fliould be given on record to a na- tion that was moft probably at that period much more extenlive than we can at prefent form any idea of; and it appears as near to demonftration as a circumftance of this na- ture can admit of, that it was owing to this divine ( 8i ) divme revelation delivered to them, that this people acquired fo juftly that early reputa- tion for wifdom and theology, which the whole learned world has afcribed to them : but this by the bye. 77. The fame caujes CuhCiRlngf the above truths foon loft again, their original parity and fimplicity, and a multitude of different religious fyfl ems were propagated through the world, having more or lefs (as intimated paragraph 3d) o'i thefe truths ^ox^. bafis, ac- cording to the bent and genius of men, and talents of the firft impoilors that broached them, excited and furthered poffibly, alfo, by the adventitious circumftances of air, foil, climate, fituation, regimen, &c. By this deviation, wickednefs continued to gather increafe through every region of the earth, but ftill the mercy and forbear- ance of God was not exhaufted; for in the fulnefs of time, as his loft grace, he once more delegated his firft begotten fon^ under the mortal form of Jesus, to re/tore thefe truths to their full primitive luftre, and pitched upon fudea^% a proper center from whence the beams of the Sun of righteouf- nefs (hould be fcattered, and fpread over the face of the whole world. How the univer- fality of this intended ftupendous blefling was prevented, we have already (hewn in G parts ( 82 ) part, and (liall more fully hereafter ; obfcrv- ing that the genuine fcriptures of Bramab and Chrift have (hared the fame fate, muti- lated and betrayed by thofe who were ap- pointed the guardians and fupportersof them. We (hall clofe this paragraph with a fug- geftion that appears to us moft probable and rational, viz. that every individual of the angelic beings who have occaiionally vifited the earth, under the mortal form of huma- nity, either by fpecial voluntary licence, or fpecial appointment of God, for the exam- ple, defence, admonition, comfort, and corredion of mankind, have each affumed different forms and names, at different fuc- cecding times, in different regions j in fuch wife as Elijah and St. 'John the Baptift is fuppofed by fome to have been one and the fame fpirit^ from the intimation of the pro- phet Malachi. (Vide part the fecond, pages ji and 72.) 78. In our lafi: paragraph we promlfed to {hew more fully how the blellings of the go- ipel were converted into a curfe, as the pro- phetic fpirit of Chrift foretold it would be, from his obfervation of the general corrup- tion and incorrigibility of the human foul j for otherwife it would not have been pof- fible that his plain didates could have been miftaken, or perverted to any other pup- pofes ( 83 ) pofes than -he benevolently defigtied them : but he had hardly left his followers to them- felves, than religious diffentions took place, that blafted all his hopes, and rendered his miflion of none effect ; fo that, within the fpace of a very few centuries, and almoft as foon as they had afiumed to themfelves the general name of Chriftians, he faw, with heart-felt grief, his plain, fimple, and di- vine do(5lrine fplit into more jarring fedts and fchifms than any religious fyftem had fuffered iince the creation. yg. Chrift had preached, as eflential pre- liminaries to the falvation of his followers in a future life^ peace, charity, and mutual love in this. But the differing fedts of Chri- ftians thought it more available to whirl damnation at each other's head; and in place of thofe godlike virtues, tofubftitute hatred, revenge, and perfecution ; fome conftrued particular texts of fcripture lite- rally, others allegorically, others fymboli- cally J and fome broached, as Chriftian doc^ trineSj diabolical fyftems, which rafhly fa» vored of that Paganifm from which they had been fo lately reclaimed and converted; and each thought themfelves warranted by thofe very fcriptures of peace, to cut the throat, for God's fake, of every one who did not lubfcribe to their opinions : witnefs the G 2 ever ( 84 ) ever rnemorable and bloody contefts be- tween the early bilhops of the church, about the eftablifliment of the Athanafian Creed, and the contention for fupremacy between the Greek and Latin churches, which came to a drawn battle at laftj as alfo in later times, the unchriiVian and inhuman dif- putes between the Romanics and Prote- flants, each exerting their infernal fpirit of perfecution, as power afforded them the means ; a contefl in which deluges of blood have been fpilt, and are fpilling to this hour, infomuch that we may juftly aver, lamentable as the truth is, that there exifts not upon the face of the Chriftian world, more than one sect of mankind, who preferve any appearance of having a true claim to the title of Chrifliians. Here our readers cannot be at a lofs to know, that we mean that refpeftable body of people, com- monly, although ludicroufly, ftiled Qua- kers, a people that in their principles and pradice do honour to primitive Chriftiani- ty and humanity. But, to refume the thread of our fubjed;, and analize in few words (as necefTary to our main view) the caufes, nature, and progrefs of the laft- mentioned conteft between Chriftians (no- minally fo) originally of the fame church, although an idolatrous and fuperftitious one : 80. After ( ?5 ) 80. After the feparatlon of the Greek and Latin churches, the laft fupported her fupremacy in the V/efl for fome agesj at length avarice and tyrannic exadions (and partial favor fhewn to one fet of monks in the collection of thofe exadions), in the Pope; fpiritual pride, refentment, revenge, and an affectation of Angularity in the breads of Luther and Calvin ; and lufl: and wrath againfl: the Pope in the heart of our Harry VIII. brought about a partial Reforma- tion of the Chriliian church. Thus God fometimes works out his purpofes of goody by moft evil tools. This defertion gave a " perilous gafh to the body of the church ** of Rome^ and many a profitable limb was *' lopt off"," and loft, never to be recovered. But Luther and Calvin^ not according to the principles and modes of Reformation, became the leaders of two oppofite re- ligious Proteftant fa6tions, with about an equal number of profelytes, who foon began to harbor as mutual and cordial a hatred, and unchriftian-like animofity againft each other, as they both bore to their mother church of Rome : then bifiops and no bijhops proved the fource of fre(h. bloody, and cruel contefts. Spiritual pride, joined to temporal political maxims, have kept alive an unceafing rancour in the hearts of thofe two Proteftant feds, ihat mull; ever keep G 3 them ( 86 ) them afunder, although nothing is eafier to be eftedlecl than a union, were it poffible to bring them back to Chrijlianity, from which they have both fwerved in principle and pradice ; wbilft 'Rome is not without her hopes from thefe divilions, and waits a favorable conjundure to re-unite them tQ the bofom of her church, either by force, ox fraud, or both; an alarming event! which poffibly may not be fo far diftant as i^r^t, fondly imagine. But the feuds anci differences between the Lutherans and Cal' ^inijis hurt the caufe of Chrifi ftill more deeply; for many of each perfuafion, ob- ferving the eafy fuccefs of thofe leaders, and how glorious and profitable it was to be-r come the head, i\\Q primiim mobile oi 2. (cOit deferted £gain their colours, and fetting up for themfelves, formed innumerable Juhdi- ^ifiojis of faith y under various independent denominai 1 ons y and each leader had his fol- lowers. Th'js old hcrefies were revived, and jpew ones inftituted, and fanaticifm of every abfurd and extravagant fpecies had a quick and dangerous growth; each fed: audaci- oudy affirming, from the fame fcriptures, that theirs, and theirs only, was the true ort^iO^^^ ^^' h, and the right road to falva- tion : >ct, with iuch dodrines, they brought ♦be head of a good, moral, and pious, bu^ rpifguided . ( 8; ) mifguided Prince, to the block, and over- turned the conftitution of a kingdom. 8i. Such is the whole prefent ft ate of Chriji's church militant here on this weftern earth; and the above, added to fome before notedj are the reproachful fatal caufes that have obftrucfted and utterly choked the univerfal growth and progrefs of the gofpel; and hence we are urged, by a fpirit of true benevolence to mankind, to promulge the following reflexions : 82. During our non-age, we naturally receive and adopt the notions and principles inftilled by our parents and teachers; but when man arrives at maturity, he will as naturally ailert his great privilege of reafon, and think for himfelf. But what mufi: be the confufion and perplexity of his reflec- tions and ideas, when he begins the necef- fary inquiry after Truth, in fo effentiai a matter as the worfhip of his God ? when he finds, We fay (in what is vainly and fal- lacioufly called a Chriftian coiintry), every Chrifl:ian church divided againfl: itfelf, and the profeflbrs of Chriftianity purfuing each other with concealed or open execrations^ malice, and all uncharitabienefs, that mif- guided zeal, temporal intercrted views, or cnthuiiaftic rage can poflibly did:ate. Thus G 4 cifcum. ( 88 ) eircumftanced, a thinking being has no re- fource, but either totally to abjure Chriftiai- niiy, or to endeavour to work out his own falvation, according to the lights which purefcripture^ and his own unbiafed reafon afiords him, without adhering to any one Chriftian church or fyftem whatfoever as now profefTed in any part of the world, as they have t77e and ^//proved defedlive, and inefficacious to cement the bands of mutual love, charity, forbearance, and peace a- rnongft menj which relative duties are the quintclTence, thejine qua non of the gofpel- difpenfation. But as the different inter- pretations of the fame fcriptures have been the great, the mifchievous caufe of the nu- merous jarring fedls of Chriftians (the lead- ers of each drawing a miffive weapon from the fame text); and as the fatal eiFeds of thefe fed:s and fchifms in Chriflianity have been truly diabolical in every inch of JEurope (infomuch that a ftander-by might be well excufed if he was induced to think the Devil himfelf had been the author of it, in place of God), we muft go farther, and utterly reje^ all that has been written by the apo- ftles and difciples, and every paraphrafe, expofition, and vifionary dodlrine that has been tortured from them, except the exprefs declarations and doSirines which fell from tlie mouth of Chriji himfelf, as they ftand recorded ( 89 ) recorded in the four Gofpels: by tbefc let us abide, be thefe \\\ejia?'idard of our faiths and (heet anchor oi our hope ^ and thefe only. His language is plain, his words cannot be mif'tnterpreted., nor perverted to different meanings 5 he fpeaks to the level of every underftanding, as well as to the heart, and cannot be mifunderftood. To this it may be olijeded by freethinkers, that herein we are ftill at no certainty that thefe gofpels were penned after Chrifis afcenfion ; that poflibly thofe his declarations and dodtrines may not have been faithfully recorded j that we ftill take them upon truft, &c. To this we anfwer, and lay our appeal to the doc- trines themfel'ves ; then let every one who doubts knock at his breaft, and fay, if he can, from the conviSiion of his own heart, that fuch dodtrines, coniidered as a fyi^em of theology and ethics, are not of divine origin. Let this be the text, and fceptics will no longer have exiftence. 83. Oh Man! Oh Chriflianl Emperors, Kings, Princes, Potentates, and Powers j Rulers, and Leaders, under whatfoever de- nomination of Chriftians you have conti- nued to difgrace thofe originally refpeBable names^ whether Papift or Proteiiant, Lu- theran or Calvinift, &c. &c. no longer fuf- fer to htfeverally applied to you that pre- diction ( 90 ) diction v/hich Chrift applied to the harden^' ed Jews^ refpeding his perfecuted apoftles, *' Yea, the time cometh, that whofoever " killeth yoii^ will think he doeth God fer- ** vice;" no longer, we fay, adopt fuch an impious dodlrine and fuppofition (for herein yoii are worfe than the "Jews^ for you pretend to believe in Chrift and his doftrines, which they did not) but mutu- ally labor to re-eflablifh peace on earth, and harmony in heaven, by reftoring once more the true fpirit of thofe primitive truthsy which were, as the Jirft and laft grace of God, delivered to you at your creation ori- ginally by BiRMAH, and fubfcquently by Christ, the one and the fame individual ^f, ft begotten of the Father^ as before fuggeiled. Our candid reader will now fee the neceffity we were under of analif.ng the modern Chri- Jiian tenets and praSlice, and of expofing the fatal innovations that brought it firft into difrepute, and that ftill continue to obftrud: its univerfality : we are fenfible that we hereby lay ourfelves open to the cenfare of fuperficial thinkers, who will be ready e- nough, although unjuftly, to accufe us of JDeifm^ according to the common ac^cepta- tion of the phrafe j but^ as we think we have as indifputable a right as Dr. Clarke or others, to extend or give a new lignifica- tion to the word Deift,^ fo we pronounce, that ( 90 that a man may, with ftridt propriety, be (in orthodox Chriftian Deiji j that is, that he may, confiflently^ have a firm faith in the unity oj the Godkeady and in the pure and ori- ginal doS^rmes ofChri/l. In this fenfe alone we glory in avowing ourfelf — A Christian Deist. 84. Having thus fubmitted to our Intelli- gent readers all that we thought neceflary to the elucidation of our Firft General Head, to wit, the exigence, the rebellion, the expulfion and puni(hment of the apo- ftate angels, according to the minute hifto- ry of that great and fatal event, given in the Char tab Bhade of Br amah ^ from which all antiquity borrowed their conceptions of this effential piece of knowledge, and which alfo ftands confirmed by the gofpel-difpen- fation ; and having likewife, occafionally, as we purpofed, drawn fome (we hope) ufeful and moft necefTary conclufions and dodrines, from the comparifon between thcfe two divine fcriptures, the courfe of our purfuit leads us to the inveftigation of our Second General Head, ." T^he creation of " the univerfe, for the reception and refi- ^* dence of the expelled angels, after their ** emerging from the Gnderah, or place of ** intenfe darknefs^ into which they had been J *' precipi-' ( 92 ) *< precipitated, upon their expulfion from *' heaven." Second General Head. Sfcon^Ce- S^. Thc ctemity, or non-eternity of " 'matter (a queftion which exercifed the brains of Plato y Arijiotle, Epicurus, and others of the ancients and moderns to Httle purpofe), is a fubje6l, the difcuffion of which would be foreign to our defign ; but the eternity of the ivorld, which fome phi- lofophers have held as a principle deduced from the pofition of the eternity of matter, is furely one of the greateft, of the moft daring, and inconfiftent extravagancies of the ancients i a conclufion, that is neither fupported by found philofophy, reafon, or probability. Nor is it lefs extravagant in man, to fuppofe, that this world, and all that is in it, was made for him j that is, if we confider him in the light in which he feems (by the whole tenor of his adions) to view himfelf, the mufhroom of a day. And indeed it fhould alfo feem, that man, from his blind and thoughtlefs eftimation of the world, was likewife perfectly convinced, that he himfelf ivas made only for it. With ^this grovelling conception of his nature and origin. { 93 ) origin, it is no wonder that his purfuits ftiould be adequate, and difgrace his intel- ledual faculties. Man is a free agent, and may fay whatfoever he pleafes to amufe hini- felf ; he may plume himfelf in afferting the immortality of his foul, his fuperior form, and intelledual powers, in comparifon with the reft of the animal creation : he may alfo Jayy that he looks up to a life beyond this, a future life of rewards and punifhments; — but we maintain againft him, that he nei- ther believes the one or the other ; fa6ts ftare him in the face and refute him, his daily practice contradi(ft his words, and prove his attachments and views are folely limited to, and circumfcribed by the folici- tudes and fenfual indulgences o^ this world, which, with all its annexed appurtenances, he arrogantly and prefumptuoufly conceits was made for his ufe and — abufe. Strange and irrational conceit, for a being thus cir- cumftanced ! ^6. In combating and difavov/ing the poffibility of man's firm faith in the primi- tive truths juk above fpecified; we think we pay the higheft, the moft favorable com- pliment and conftrudtion to his underftand- ing and condud:, that is in our power ; for if he really and truly believes, and ferioufly thinks himfelf entitled to hold that fuperior rank ( 94 ) rank in the fcale of terreftrial beings, by virtue of his fuperior intelledual powers and facuhies, and ftill degrades and debafes him- felf, by the perverfion of thofe bleffings, be- low the level of the brute ; fo much the more deplorable is his ftate : nonbelief af- fords fome plea, as faith is not always with- in the compafs of our reach j but to fay we triiely believe y and ftill perlift in evil, leaves us without excufe : therefore we repeat, that our judgment is more favorable to man, when we pronounce, He does not believe^ than to fay /'f ^(?^j; and the only apology that can be framed for him, either in the one cafe, or the other, is the ignorance he ftands in of his realfiate on earthy and the nature of his relative obligations as marty which we now purpofe io'elucidate, for his prefent benefit, and his future felicity. In the profecution of this our benevolent pur- fuit, we again invoke the affiftance of that Beine, who can alone enlighten us. 87. We have fliewn, that man cannot rationally or confidently flatter himfelf, that this world was made for him only, upon the footing of his commonly fuppofed exift- cnce. In truth, did not a vain pride and partiality obfcure his reafon and his optics, he would perceive, that the world was made for the fly, as much as for him j the for- mer ( 95 ) mer pofTeffing every fenfual enjoyment fuit- ed to his rank in the fcale of beings, in as full perfection as mere man can boaft of: but if he extends his profpedl, looks higher, and conceives of himfelf, as he truly is (according to the fcriptures of Bramah) one of thofe very identical coeledial fpirits that were baniflied heaven, he may then erec^ his head, and without offence either to modefiy or probability, think the world, and every comfortable produd:ion of it, was made for him, as moft afluredly it was. Here we difcover a moft noble caufe, wor- thy of THE Eternal One, for fo ftupen- dous a creation, as that of the univerfal planetary fyftem : the angels had finned, they were degraded, they were fallen ; but — flill they were angels, and immortal ! and had borne a glorious rank in heaven ! and it affords the higheft illuftration of God's mercy, that when he was moved to mitigate their punifhment, and give them an opportunity of regaining their loft feats m 2ijiate of probation -y that he, with fuch infinite powers and wifdom fhould conftrudt fo wonderful an edifice as this world for their reception and refidence, befitting a race of coeleftials, although in a ftate of de- gradation 5 for fuch undoubtedly was the face of the commonly called antediluvian earth. ( 96 ) earth, when a fecond defedion made the ETERNAL One juftly determine it was too good for them y and was provoked to leave it at the deluge, or fome other equally tremendous (hock, as we now find it. 88. How the angelic beings, deftined to inhabit the other regions or planets of the extended univerfe, continued to deferve this exalted grace of their Creator, or what changes they may have juftly undergone, God only knows; but refped:ing this our globe, /?ad as if is, we may (without any breach of Chriftian charity) aver, it is ftill abundantly better than we merit -, and fhould it grow w^orfe and worfe, and lefs comfort- able, (which appears to have been the cafe for fome centuries back in every region of the earth, by remarkable variations of fea- fons, frequency of earthquakes, ftorms, inundations, &c. &c.) ftill the juftice of God ftands unimpeached, by the increafe of fin, and continuance of reprobation. Af- ter all, in this world of natural evils, ra^ tional man, if he looked up to his divine Origin, and moved confiftently thereto, might fpin out, in a very comfortable ex- iftence, his defiined term of probation, and fecure to himfelf felicity here and hereafter ; fo that in truth it is no bad world, but as we ( 97 ) we ourfelves make it fo ; and blind, infa- tuated Man, as if he thought the natwal evils of this world were not fufficient, feems refolved to exert thofe intellectual powers that were given him for very differ- ent purpofes, to make up the deficiency by the addition oi moral ones ; thereby exceed- ing the meafure of his punifhments to a de- gree that God never intended he fhould fuf- fer. But to illuftrate farther the tenor of our four laft paragraphs by way of expoli- tion on the text of Bramah, 89. Learned philofophers and divines have been deeply puzzled and perplexed, how to reconcile the juftice of God with the creation of a rational being out of 110^ things or from matter, yet fubjeft to natu- ral and moral evils; and apparently, from every confideration of his exiftence (from the cradle to the grave viewed under the moft favorable afped), placed here in a Itate of fucceffive punifhments which he cannot pofTibly as mere man have deferved, by any adequate tranfgreflion committed during his prefent ftate of exiftence; for his pu- nilbments commence with his birth, and purfue him through infancy, periods during which neither his corporeal or mental pow- ers can be fuppofed capable of tranfgreflion H or ( 9n or fin. Thus the juftlce of God mafl ever jftand arraigned, if the pofition refts there i but — the very confideration that God is and muft hejuft^ tells us that cannot be the favft; and that therefore there muft have been a prior, fonne anterior caufe, for fuch (other- wife unmerited) punifhments. But when? where ? The anfwer is obvious and indis- putable in fome antecedent ftate of the foul's exiftence; this truth, natural reafon and the laws of common juftlce convince us of, without the affiftance of the many texts of fcripture advanced by the ingenious Mr, Berrow to prove the pre-exiftent lapfe of the human foul: to which we may add an argu- ment drawn from the immortality of the foul; for if the foul is immortal, ^nd ne- cefTarily exifts in a feparate ftate after the diflblution of the body, it muft have necef- i^x'Ay Q,yi^^^^fome'where before its union to it, unlefs we fuppofe God is employed in a daily, we may fay hourly, creation of fouls; an opinion not lefs extravagant than the fuppofed eternity of the world, an opinion that would ft:ill leave the juftice of God in. the fame predicament liable to impeach- ment. 90. Although a pre-exiftent ft:ate, and lapfe of the human foul, are do(^rines that have ( 99 ) liave been Jivowed by all antiquity, and by many learned moderns (fee the authorities produced by the Reverend Mr. Berrow)^ yet a difficulty remained of what nature that flate and lapfe was ? This embarrafiment can only be accounted for by mankind hav- ing, in procefs of time, utterly loft the re- membrance of t\\o(Q pr'mitive truths, which clearly laid open to him his real ft ate and nature, both in his prefent and pre-exiftent ftate. Some have endeavored to folve the difficulty, by fuppoling that man was crea- ted to fill up the vacant Je at s in heaven, and that his lapfe or crime was, his wickedly ajjb- dating with the apcftate angels, in place of aiming at the poffeffion of their feats : but this round-about fuppofition leaves the dif- ficulty juft where it found it, and gives am opening ftill to arraign the juftice of God. But Mr, George Hive came mod: certainly nearer the mark (howfoever he came to hit it), in pronouncing " that the louls or fpi- ** fits of men are the identical apoftate an- ** gels themfelves," without knowing that he was fupported in fuch a conclulion by the moft ancient divine fcripture that had been delivered to the inhabitants of this globe: here then we are to look up for the pre- exiftent ftate and lapfe of the human foul, the original fin in the angelic fall ^ typified by MqJcs in his hiftory of tl\Qjall of man y H 2 and ( 106 ) and hence is every one ** born in fin^ the *« children of wrath," and hence only is the jaftice of God reconcilable with his creation of man at all i a creation, which by this hypothefis highly exalts and illuftrates, not only his justice, but his mercy. 91. And here, candid reader, fufFer us, from the feelings of a general philanthropy that warms our bofom, to congratulate our fellow- creatures upon the reftoraiion and recovery of this great, this effential, this divine truth, fo long loft to our remem- brance. A primitive truths which enlight- ens mankind with the knowledge of their real fiate, the true relation in which they ftand towards their God and Creator, and the relative duties which they owe to the fpecies in general, from all which they have deeply and dangeroufly fwerved for a feries of ages paft, from ignorance of their original dignity^ original Jin y and the nature and terms of their earthly fojourn : to that igno- rance alone (and to the ready bent of the human foul to evil in confequence of it) muft be afcribed the fmall efficacy which the preaching and do(flrines of Chrift has had upon the world; the feed was good, but" fown in unprofitable ground, and al- though it was not poffible to inculcate the neceflary dodrines of the love of Godj and of ( lOI ) of our neighbor as oiirfehes^ in flronger terms than Chrift enforced thofe duties; yet men flill perfevere in plundering, op- preffing, perfecuting, and butchering one another without mercy, in open violation of all that is good or holy. The truth is, man knew not himfelf, nor the relation he ftood in to his God and neighbor, although, had he diligently fearched the fcjiptures, he would therein have found full fatisfacflion in both, either exprefsly, or by plain and direct implication. David feems to have been very clear in his conceptions touching his own pre-exiftent ftate, as well as that o^ hh IJraelites, when he pathetically ad- drefles his God in thefe words of his xcth pfalm, '* Lord, thou haft been our refuge, ** from one generation to another, before " the mountains were brought forth ^ or even ** the earth and the world were made.'' Now, as all mankind are unanimous in opinion, that there was no creation of beings prior to the creation of the earth and world (or the univerfe) but that of the angels, fo it is plain he could allude to no other ; the inference is obvious — David s.nd the Ifrael- ites were the apoftate angels. And in truth that moft remarkable, and feemingly my comprehenfible favor and partiality, which God in a long feries of events • manifeftly iliewed to that race of people, can be only H 3 accounted ( 102 ) accounted for, by their having been one of the leaft offending of the angelic tribes, drawn off from their allegiance, not by the pride and malice of the heart, but probably from the influence and im.pulfes of a divine love and friendship for fome of the other rcr volted tribes : thus the fuppofed -partial fa- njor of God to that people no longer remains a charge againfl: our eternal impartial Judge, nor that he fliould not have, from the fame caufe, his chofen and decl of oiher nations. And here we cannot help enter- ing into a {hort expoftulation with mankind upon their univerial evil treatment of that once favorite people of God, the yewijh race, who are the common butt of oppref- iion in all nations; we brand them with the epithets of fraudulent and infamous^ whilft the cruel hardiliips every flate im- pofes on them, lays them under afatalnecef- fity of perpetrating vices for their own de-. fence and fecurity, and to retaliate in fom? ineafure the injuftice they everywhere labor under."^ Religion and humanity would think and fay, it is enough that they are outcaflis, and fcattered over the face of the earth, without rule or domain; let us not therefore burden them with greater grie- vances than they can, or than God intend- ed they (liould, bear: had thofe who profefled themfelves Chriflians, bee^j truly ( 103 ) fo. It Is more than probable there would not at this day be one 'Jew exifting in the world. But what encouragement can any of that tribe have to forfake his errors, or enter into the fold of Chriftianity, when they fee themfelves from age to age op- prelTed, hunted, and their fubftance de- voured by the Chriftian wolves of every ftate, in diredt violation of the gofpel they profefs. Although God has been pleafed to difperfe them, we are told on good autho- rity he has not abandoned them j and we know not how far the evil treatment of that people may have been, and ftill is, one (amongft many others) of the great caufes of the calamitous figns of God's difpleafure, in- his fignal vifitations fot a long feries paft to every Chriftian ftate under one tremendous form or other ; for we think, refpedting the evil ufage of that forlorn unhappy race, no ftate in Chriften^- dom is exempt. 92. Having thus, we truft, fuccefsfully {hewn to the higheft moral certainty, that the univerfe was conftruded by God for the reception, reiidence, and fuftenance of the ^poftate angelic tribes; and that mankind are the very identical remains of thofe un- purified fpirits, who have not as yet re- gained their loft feats, wehaft^n to the con^ H 4 ^lufiou ( 1^4 ) clufion of this our Second General Head, requefling only that our candid read- er will accompany us in the contem- plation of that fublime pidture of the hu- man fpecies, as drawn by our great mafter of reafon and nature, S>hakefpeare, from the mouth of his Ha-mlet *' What a work " is man! how noble in nature! how infi- ** nite in faculty! in form and moving how ** expreffive and admirable! in ad; like an <' angel! in comprehenfion like a god!" — Now fay, reader, can fuch a being be aught lefs than angel? Surely no. — — An- gel he muft be, and an apoftate one, or we pronounce he is nothing. Indeed there are many movements and emotions of the human foul, that are utterly inexplicable but upon this hypothefis, as, fudden and inftantaneous violent love, friendfliip, anti- pathy, djflike, hatred, &c. at firft Jight\ which can only fpring from a iympathetic fenfation of the fpirit's prior knowledge or intimacy in their angelic pre~exi(lent Oate. One of the great comforts of a departing foul in death, and of thofe that furvive. who are mutually dear to each other, is the hope, that their fpirits will foon he re-united, in a future Hate of lafting blifs, which here is only imperfed; and tranfitory : but fuch hope is obvioufly ill-founded, unlefs built iipon this hypothefis. We hope and pray ( 105 ) for a rejlorathn (Reftore us, O Lord, that are penitent) ^Whatreftoration ? What can we be reftored to, as man ? what as mere man have we loft ? Nothing; but as apoftate angels, we have loft much in- deed, and may with propriety both hope and pray for a reftoration, otherwife wc pray and hope for we know not what. We are told, " that there is more joy in ** heaven for one iinner that repenteth, " than for ninety-nine that are juft ;" — wh-at relative concern can the angelic beings have for man, merely as Juch, that his re- pentance fhould occafion fuch an extraordi- nary effedt ? None furely that with proprie- ty can be conceived ; but — when we look up to our hypothelis, and view thejmner in the light of one of their brethren reftored, whom they had reafon to fear was eternally loft to them, then the excefs of joy is natu- ral, and ftands well accounted for. Re- fpecfling the various fpecious arguments that have been ftarted againft the pre-exift- ent ftate and lapfe of the human foul, parti- cularly that of the foul's not be'mg confcious of fuch a ftate, we again refer our readers to the labors of the reverend and ingenious Mr. BerroWf who has fully refuted that, and every other objection that can be raifed to that doiltrine; to which we will juft add, ( io6 ) add, that the foul of every thinking being would be foon confcious of that great and elTential truth, if man would be brought to refJedion, andyi)zi deeper into himfelf. Third General Head. Thirace- Q-^. "We arc now arrived at our Third 'General Head, the Metempfychofis ofBramah^ from whichv^'e have been kept back by fundry, yet neceffary digreSTions, and difcuffions of many interefting objed:s and points of doc- trine, which darted up upon us in our way, and retjarded our fpeedierpaflage; although hereby we may appear to fome deferving the cenfure of prolixity, yet we trull it will be acknowledged in the end, that without them our aim and endeavors would not have been attended with that general utility which we flatter ourfelves they now aflu^ redly will. Before we fubmit our own fentiments to the world on a dodlrine fo little attended to in modern times in this our hemifphere, it becomes neceflary (to fave our readers the trouble of turning back to our fecond part, p. 49, &c.) that we re- cite the texts of Bramah^ who firft, by di-^* vine authority, promul^ed that ancient iy- ilem ( 107 ) ftem. " And the Eternal One ** fpake again unto Biftnoo, and faid, I will *^ form mortal bodies for each of the delin- <* quent (iebtah (or angels), which fhall for ^* a fpace be their prifon and habitation, in *' the confines of which they ftiall be fubje<^ *^ to natural evils, in proportion to the de- ** gree of their original guilt.— ^ — The bo- *' dies which I fliall prepare for the recep- ** tion of the rebellious dsbtah, ihall be *' fubjed: to change, decay, death, and re- ** newal, from the principles wherewith I *^ (hall form them ', and through thefe mor-? ♦' tal bodies (hall the delinquent debtah un^ ^' dergo alternately eighty-feven tranfmi- *' grations, fubje(St more or lefs to the con- *^ fequences of natural and moral evils, in a ** juft proportion to the degree of original ♦* guilt, and as their acflions through thofe ** fucceffive forms fhall correfpond with the '^ limited powers which I (hall annex to ** each ;— and this fliall be their ft^te of punifiment and purgation, — And it Ihall be — that (after pafling the eighty- eight tranfmigrations) the delinquent deb^ tah^ from my more abundant favor, fhall animate the form of mhurd (man) — - — and in this form^ I will enlarge their intelleBual powers^ even as when I fir ft made them free j — and this {hall be their ghi^f Aate of trial and probation." 94. As «( <( « C io8 ) 94. As the foregoing dodrine oi Bramah Jeems glaringly to cla{h with Mofes's hiftory oi \k\^ creation of men ^ it is previoufly ne- ceiTary to account for this feem'ingly great difference 5 for they appear to agree only in one circumftance, namely, that man was the laft work of the material and animal creation. By this difcufTion we purpofe to avoid the imputation of flighting afcriptural detail that, has for a fucceffion of ages been received as orthodox by both 'Jews and Chriftians ; a detail, that by being taken li- terally and mifunderflood, has proved the • iburce of many egregious and fatal errors, highly injurious to God's juftice and cle- mency; the moil; enormous of which is, that infatuated belief, that a race of ufiof- fending beings (liouldy/^W accurfed for the guilt and difobedience of one man and one woman. 95. The miffion of Mofes may without offence be confidered as a very imperfedt one, fo defigned by God himfelf ; not only for that it was limited to one tribe of be- ings particularly favored of God, but alfo as it is totally filent upon all the primitive truth hat one, viz. the Unity of the Godhead. This divine truth he was fpe- cially commiflioned to declare to his people, as well to refcue them from the idolatrous fuperfli^ ( 109 ) fuperftltions of the land he led them from, as from thofe of the promifed land he was leading them to. As Mofes was allowed to be moft profoundly fkilled in all the learn- ing of the Egyptians^ and confequently in that of the Bra/nins (which had been per- verted by thofe Magi, as before fhewn, to myfterious purpofes), we cannot fuppofe him to have been ignorant that the other primitive truths had been already revealed^ and that in fulnefs of time they would be confirmed to mankind ; but he alfo knew that was a taik referved for a more exalted being than himfelf; therefore we are not to wonder that he is utterly filent on thofe heads of falvation. 96. Refpedling Mofes9 fhort narration of the creation and fall of man, it fhould feem, if taken literally, to be a matter fo*- reign to his commiffion; but on a nearer view, and confidered as typical of the ange- lic fall, it carries a very different and effen- tial afped:; and if not typical, it is mofl certainly laughable. We cannot, without violence to our conceptions of the wifdom of God, fuppofe, that he would propagate the human fpecies by a horrid incefluous union, which pure human nature flarts at, and which by his Holy Spirit ftands condemned in his gofpel-difpenfation; for thus man- kind ( Jio ) 'kind mujt have increafed, if propagated ac- tording to the literal fenfe of Mofesy from one man and one woman ; (o that it is felf- evident he never intended it fhould betaken literally, but as typical of a prior and much greater event : nor have we the fmalleft doubt but that, in the days he penn'd it, the allegory was well and commonly under- llodd by all; and we think we (hall be able, without much difficulty, to prove to a demonftration, by analifing this allegory, that it affords the fulleft confirmation of ihe truth of the Bramanical doftrincs of the creation of man, that man can be no other than the apoftate angels, and that the Me- tempfycholis is a well-founded truth, ne-^ cefTarily refulting from thefe premifes -, and we fliall alfo fhew, that Mofes was well ac- quainted with thofe dodtrines J nay it is more than probable that he himfelf was the very identical fpirit, feledled and deputed in an ear- lier age, to deliver thofe truths free from al- legory, under the ftile and title of Br amah, as before intimated. But to our proofi from Mofes ^ narrative. f)'j. Eve is beguiled by the ferpent, flic eats, and tempts Adaf7i to do the like, and thereby both become guilty of the fin of difobedience againft an exprefs laW^ and or- der of their God and Creator; Satan is tempted ( HI ) tempted by E'vil, the ajjbciate of his hofdm* They^r/'^/z/reprefents the infidious arguments and wiles ofAS^/^^ to engage the angelic tribes to become afTociates in his revolt and rebel- lion, which it may be very naturally fup- pofed were fimilar to thofe made ufe of by the ferpenttoE'ue, Paradife marks the beauty of the original earth, and the garden of Eden is the fymbol of heaven ; Adam and Eve for their difobedience are driven out of Eden, and Satan and his affociates are ba- nifhed from heaven for their rebellion. The gates of Eden are fhut, and guarded on every fide by angelic powers, to prevent the re-entrance of Adam and Eve and their fofterity ; the heavenly regions are impervi- ous to Satan and his confederates. The curfe of forrow, labor, and death, are en- tailed upon Adajn and Eve^ and]theirpofteri- ty ; wherein is figuratively fhewn the ori- ginal fentence, doom, and punifliment of the apoftate angels in their mortal fojourn on earth. Mofes introduces God curling the ground for their fakes, allufive of the change brought about in this globe at the deluge, &c. occalioned by i\\q fecond defeBion of thd apoftate angels in their ftate of probation. The brutes being the elder brothers of the creation, and prior to the formation of man (the dodrine both of Br amah and Mofes J, ^ 5 ihews f 112 ) i!iews them to have been a preparatory crea- tion for future purpofes j r.nd Mofrs tacitly coincides with Bramah as to the intended ufe of this prior animal creation ; otherwife man, who is evidently luperior in form and intellect, would, upon a rational fuppofition, have been the firll: objed: of all animal crea- tion. God's being faid by Mofes to have breathed the breath of life into all his animal creation, is a happy figurative illuftration of that paflage in the Shaft ah ,part 2. pag. 59), where '* the Eternal One fpake again, ** and faid -Do thou Birmah (the firft " created, the ChrftJ, arrayed in my glo- *' ry, and armed with my power, dekend " to the loweft boboon (region) of punifh- ** ment and purgation, and make known " to the rebellions debtah the words that I *' have uttered, and the decrees which I '* have pronounced againft them, and fee ** that they enter into the bodies that I have *' prepared for them And Birmah ftood ** before the throne and faid, Et^.r;^al *' One, I have done as thou haft x^om- *' manded. — The delniqiient debtah rejoice in ** thy mercy, confefs the juftice of thy de- ** crees, avow their forrow and repentance, ** and have entered into the mortal bodies *' ivbicb thou haft prepared for them,'* 98. The ( 113 ) 9^. The perfonages which Mofes calls by the names of Abel and Cain, faid to be the immediate defcendants of yf^^;;2 andE^'£', are obvioufly types oi good and evil, or vice and virtue, that were to guide and govern the ai felf- ** dilatation That fuppofing, in the next ** place, every organized body, as well in ** the brute as in the rational, to be an al- ** lotted temporary prifon for -Sl pre- delinquent ** foul (an hypothefiSj than which there cau' " not I think be one more rational)^ it is eafy " to conceive how and why fome may be " made here prifoners more at large as we ** fay, and entruRed with privileges and *' faculties more numerous, extenfive, and •' exalted than others : and that, laflly, it *' is impoflible to fay into how many difFer- *' ent kinds of vehicles a foul may tranfmi- '* gratey ere its plaftic faculty be refined " enough to inform one^ wherein to perform ** the fundions of an intelligent zxA rational *^ life." ( 126 ) ** life." Here we fee a learned divine, to the honor of the church of England, icruples not to avouch, without referve, one moft material part of Bramah's dodlrine of the Metempfychofisj and it is a pity he was not further enlightened i he then would not (with many others of the learned) have been drove to the fubterfuge of making a new creation to animate and adiuate all' mortal forms, when there were a race of angelic delinquent beings ready made to his hands. Having thus thrown together, under one paragraph, the different fenti- ments of mankind touching the ftate and nature of the brute creation, we will next proceed to coniider their ufe^ and the intent of their creation j a matter in which w^e fhall not find mankind fo much divided, but on the contrary (the bulk of them at ieaft) pretty unanimous. 103. Man*s prefumption in fuppoling the brute creation was intendedyc»/t'/yj^r his life, may be afcribed to two caufes : the firft his pride, or natural unbounded thirji of power ; an i n telle (ft uaiy^a^/Zy he picked not up here, but brought with him from above, from his pre-exiftent angelic ftate : there it had proved his bane, and here, having not immediately the governing powers of hea- ven ( 1-27 ) ^€n to combat againft, to keep his ruling paffion in action, he exercifes it, not only on the unoffending brute creation, but oa his own fpecies.-^^ — -The fecond caufe we confider as a plea and fand:ion taken from the 26th verfe of the firfl chapter of Genejis^ where Mofes fays, that *' God faid. Let us ** make man in our image, after our like- ^ nefs ; and let them have dominion over the «^ fifh of the fea, and over the fowl of the " air, and over the cattle, and over all the *' earth, and over every creeping thing that " crcepeth upon the earth."- To com- bat the jirji caufe^ would prove a labor truly Herculean, without the fmalleft chance of victory, and therefore we avoid the bat- tle^ and touching the fecond, we might avail ourfelves of the demonftrative proofs already flated, that the Mofaic hiftory of the creation of terreftrial animals was pure- ly typical; but we will wave that juft pri- vilege, and examine the fadl, as it literally Hands ; premiiing, that man has no right to chufe his texts, but if he thinks to be- nefit himfelf by vnCy he ought to acknow- ledge the force and efficacy of another y and abide with equal ftri<5tnefs by both 3 that he has notpreferved this equity towards a more exprefs didate of this fcripture is certain; for, verfe 29th of the fame chapter, '' God *"' faid (to man)^ Behold, I have given you ^ «* every ( 128 ) ** every herb bearing feed, whicli is upon ** the face of all the earth, and every tree^ *' in the which is the fruit of a tree, yield- *' ing feed : to you it fhall he for meat,'* Which words convey a palpable although tacit interdiction of all other food: but more of this hereafter, when we have no doubt , of proving indifputably that the breach of this pofitive injunction, or rather this Jirjl kiw of nature, has been one of the great, if not chief fource of phyfical as well as moral evil. We now return to our more imme- diate fubjeCt. 104. That the brute creation was defign- ed to be fubfervient to, or made for the ufe of man, is a conceit incompatible not only with the juftice of God, bat alfo his wif- dom; and that, therefore, the ufurped fenfe of the phrafe, *' Let them have do- *' minion," (on which fo much ftrefs has been laid) is not well-founded, and im- plies only. Let them have pre-eminence, predominance, fuperiority, in intellecliial faculties over the ref of the animal creation. Thus Bramahy '' And in this form I will '* enlarge their inielle(!?tual powers, even as *' when I firft made them free." In this fenfe only can the above phrafe be poffibly underflood, for the following reafons : firf^, Mofes nowhere intimates, that the brute creation ( 129 ) creation was made for the ufe of man, Ss^ condly, the very fmall proporiion of the ^y.'dhole he has been able to reduce under his dominion, and even that modicum not fub* dued, but by the exertion, or rathe per-c verfion of thcfi fupcrior intelkBual faculties into craft and violence, which were mof| certainly given him for very different pur-*- (uitSp Thirdly, that, fo far from there be^ Ing the fmalkn: appearance that the animai creation was fubjedied either to the domi-? J-) ion or fervice of man, according to the •fenfe that he has wantonly and cruelly af-? fumed, that the majority of them^ alrnofl to an inilnite degree, are obnoxious to hinij, and at enmity with him, and in no wife, £liape, or form, under his rule and domif nion. On the contrary, it may be juftly faid, that ^* men are more flaves to man, ** than beaflis to him." Fourthly, car) it poffibly be conceived, without doing vio^ knee to the juftice, goodnefs, and wifdonn of God, that he would inveft man with ^ dominion to drive out, at his caprice and pleas fiirCi that breath of life ^ which he had for his wife purpofes fo bountifully breathed m-s to all his animal creation? for although Mofcs particularly applies this fublime fens- £e.nce to Adcvn alone in the 7th verfe of his ^(l chapter, in thefe words^ «* And the Lor4 f* Qpd created man of the duft of 'h^ |£ f^ groi}0(i^ ( 130 ") ** ground, and breathed into his nofirils the *' breath of life ^ and man became a living foul -^^ yet it is felf- evident, that this operation and divine infufion of a living foul or fpi- rit, mull: have been, a priori^ general to the whole animal creation. Fifthly, what idea muft we form of the wifdom and deligns of God, if we fuppofe that, after his bleffing his animal creation, and laying a pofitive injund:ion upon them to increafe and multi^ ply and repknifi the earthy he (hould, at the fafne time^ give to man dominion and power -to counterad: his purpofes, by decreafing, diminifiing, and defroyijig theni f 105. Having fhewn above, that we can- not without violence to God and nature conclude, that the brute creation was made for the ufe of tnan, it follows, that his pre- tended right of dominion is an ufurpation over a race of intelligent beings, innocent, at lead:, refpeding him j whofe lot in this world is fufficiently painful and miferable, without any additional load from man. Here we will once more give our readers the fentiments of the Rev. Mr. Berrow, as ftrongly expreffive of our own, and apt to our fubjed. After a pathetic and truly Chri- flian-like apoftrophe on that noble animal the horfe, which is equally applicable to every other animal under man's tyranny, he ( 131 ) he fubjoins, *' But wherefore all this ** wretchednefs ? — wherefore all thefe ago- *' nizing pains and niiferies heaped on an " helplefs offspring of divine providence ? *' are they not flefh and blood?" fHave they not their real grievances and appre- henfions ?J *' Do they not, as well as we^ ** know what forrow means ? were they *' brought into 2ifenjibie exijlence for nothing *' but tbefervice, or rather to gratify the ** pride, the wantonnefs, the cruel fy of " man ? {hall one being be created, even " under the bare poffibility of being made ** miferable, folelyfor the ufe or pleafure of ** another ? Lord, what is man ? or " rather, what are not brutes ?" '* The " Indians afk, if brutes have not fouls ? if " not, then, fay they, matter thinks. Ci- ** cero fays, " That God himfelf is tlie foul *' of brutes i" therefore, fays the Indian^ *' fhall they be found fuffering without a " CAUSE, or without a recomfenceV Surely no 5 the dod:rine of the Metempfy- chofis alone points cut the caufe' ^ov their fuf- fering natural evils, and at the fame time fhews the promifed recompence. 10(5. Notwithflanding all that has been faid, we fee it will be ftill objected to us, that Mofes^ in the controverted phrafe be- fore us (*' Let them have dominion'*^, muft K 2 have ( I30 have meant thereby abfolute dominion and unaccountable rule, or he would not, in his law to the Hebrews, have devoted the ani- mal creation to the fubje(flion of man, in the various facrifices of them inflituted by the law. To which we fay, that thofe cruel facrifices were fubfequently condemn- ed and difcountenanced, as barbarous and inefficacious, both by God and Christ ; and we may fairly lay it down as an incon- teilable principle, that any adl which God and Christ have at any one time pronoun- ced enjil, could never have been good y and therefore, that Mofes, in that inftitute, de- viated from the commiflion he had received from God, as he did unwarily in other particulars, which drew on him the difplea- llire of his Creator, and deprived him of the promifed felicity of fettling his people in the land to which he was appointed to Condud; them. Nor does it at all appear difficult to point out the caufes that led Mojes into this error : he knew that their appetites had for a long feries of ages been vitiated by the tafte of animal food i he hoped to reclaim them from it, by ffiew- ing them, in the 29th verfe of the firft chapter of Gefufs before recited, that that was not their originally dedined meat, and that by the ufe of animal food they had di- greffed from their primiii've naturci and had tranf- ( 133 ) tranfgrefled agalnfl the very firj} law of theif Maker; but very foon finding every ad- monition of the kind was loft upon them, he weakly thought it might prove in fome fort an extenuation of thefe common murders^ and a kind of fan^tification of them, by in- troducing them as part of thtir religious wor{hip. To this he probably had a further intercfting and pious motive; he could not but remark the depravity of, and the flrong bent in his people towards the fuperftidous worfliip, facrifices and idolatries of the "Eigy^tiansy Chaldeans, T'ynans, Canaa?iites, &c. amongft whom he knew that human fa- crifices were as common as thofe of the brute creation; therefore, to guard his people againft a greater evil, he inftituted, as he vainly imagined, &lefs\ not adverting that it belonged to God alone, to permit €i>il, that ^W may come of it. The viiion of St. Peier may alfo be objeded again ft us, and that Chriji himfelf winked at thefe mur- derous practices, and even partook of them. To this we anfv^^er, that ChriJI knew too well the total and confirmed depravity of man to combat fo long-eftablidied an enor- mity ; therefore the chief aim of his mif- fion was, jirji to corredt his morals, and, if pojjibk.^ bring him to a ft ate oi fenfJAlity and refetitance -f that once obtained, the aboli- K 3 tion ( 134 ) tion of that, and many other enormities, he knew, would follow of courfe. 107. Let us now hear the words of Gon himfelf on this fubjed: by the mouth of his infpired Br amah: " The mortal forms, *' wherewith I fliall encompafs the delin- *' qiient debt ah, are the work of my hand ; *.* they jlmll not be dejlroyed, but Ic^t to their *' natural decay ; therefore whichfoever of ** the debtah fhall by deligned violence bring *' about the dilTolution of the mortal forms *' animated by their delinquent brethren — *' thou J Sicb, flialt plunge the offending *' fpiiit into the onderah for a fpace, and " he fliall be doomed to pafs again the " eighty-nine tranfmigrations, whatfoever '* ftage he may be arrived to at the time ** of fuch his offence." 108. Having thus, in a regular feries, difcuifed the feveral events of the creation and exiftence of angels, their rebellion and fall ; and having (hewn that the material univerfe was conftruded for their habita- tion and fuftenance, and that mortal bodies were formed for their more immediate pu- nifliment and imprifonment ; and having alfo made it fufiiciently clear, that man can poffibly be no other than thofe identical fallen ( ^35 ) fallen angels; and lafily, that the brute creation could not have been made fubje6t to him, nor deftined for his ufe and feivice in the fenfe he has erroneoufly, not to fay wickedly, converted them to ; it follows that we next take it into confideration to what other ufe or purpofe were they brought into exiftence ?— The ancient dodlrine of the Metempfychofis oi Bra?nah, at once anfwers the matter in queflion, and would afford full fatisfacflion to a Gen too, a 'Tartar^ or a Chineje^ but not to a Chridian. (Here by- the-byeit is proper to note, that although the Tartars and C/6/;z^ believe in the tranf- migration of the foul, yet they feem, as well as our ancient druids, to have totally lofl fight of the fource, the root, the origi- nal principle from whence the dodlrine of the Metempfychofis fprung, viz. the angelic fall and doom, which has been retained in its primitive purity only by the Gentoos.) The cafe ftanding thus, it remains to examine whether the ftate and predicament in which the brute creation appear and exift, can be accounted for upon any other rational fyftem. In order to which it will be neceffary to confider them under two points of view ; firft, as intelligent^ ration- al beings^ and free agents -, and fecondly, as beings fubje^ed to mtfery, K 4 109. The ( ns 1 f S9, Tlie mafi tvho alTerts his own r2^ tional intelledliial faculties and free ageficy, and denies them to the brutes, either thinks fiOt at all, or is actuated by pride and felf* fufficient pre-eminence, or has been very deficient in his obrei'Vations and reiledlions Upon that numerous creation.— Whert We fee a face of beings endued with the paf-» fions of rage, revenge, dominion^ ungo« Vernable luft, jealoufy, hatred, envy, and every other vice fimilar to our own, eiccept ingratitude j and when we behold them en- fiued with the virtues (we had almofc faid the Chriuian virtues) of love, fidelity, grati- tude, friendiliip, courage^ parental tender- nefs, filial affedion, patience, fubmiffionj innocence and meeknefs, all in as high per- fedion, if not higher, than in ourfelvcs 5 and when We further obferve them invefted with the pov/ers of.happinefs, mifery, re- iedion, recolledion, forelight, forecaft^ prodigies of art, without rule, line, fquare, or compafs -, fagacious in contriving, poli- tical in government ^ the amazing beauty of fome, and ilupendous conftrudion and ani- mal oeconomy of all !— — -All which vices^ virtues^ J, ^wers ^nd properties, are exempli- fied in the various fpecies of the animal creation.— — When we daily fee, or may fee, all this verifiedp and fiill appropriate ''■ cogitation in?) Ci/gitation and reafon to man alonCj v/e fee with the eyes of folly and prejudice, no* That man is endued with higher intelled;ual powers, and capable of carrying his reafoning facuhies to a more tranfcen- dent pitch, we readily grant ; but — — why will not human pride refi: fatisiied with this fuperiority, without aiming to diveft the next great work of his Creator of the por- tion which he has gracioufly and evidently beftowed upon it, as neceiTary to their tem- poral exiftence ? If therefore the brute foul, as feme (we will not call them philo- fophers) have taught, is material, and pe- rifhes with the body, it is time to tremble for the foul of man ; for it is too true and melancholy a fa6t, that it (lands not entitled to a better lot: — the fpirituality and future feparate exiftence of tlx ojie, refcs on no furer a foundation than the other -y and all appearances are as flrong in favor of the one as of the other. — 'Thus our pre- judices and falfe reafoning, arifxug from ignorance of our real ftate and nature, leads us into an uncomfortable dilemma, and we are plunged into a labyrinth of con- fufion, from which nothing can difentangle and extricate us, but — the dodirine of the Metempfychofis, which elucidates and re- conciles every difficulty by teaching, that the foul of man and brute is one and the fame ( 'SS ) fame fplrit, firft in a flate of greater degra- dation, a preparatory ftate of punifi?nent and purgation, previcufly neceilary to his paffing into his ftate o^ probation, in the fu- perior and more enligh ened form of man. In farther fupport of this conclufion, it re- mains that we conlider the brute creation as beings fiibjeSled to inifery, III. The juftice, the goodnefs of God jftands mofl evidently impeached in the wild fuppofition that he could pofTibly create a race of beings fubjeded to mifery, without fome caufe of offence on their parts. — Let us with a becoming indignation rejedl an opinion fo unworthy our God, and con- clude there muft have been a caufe, and an efficient one, although no hypothefis hither- to produced has pointed it out to the fatis- fadion of a rational enquirer. The ftate and exiftence of man ftands in the fame pre- dicament, doomed through the progrefs of his life to a feries of natural and moral evils, without any apparent caufe, or with- out poffibly having been capable of deferv- ing them by any tranfgreffion here-, there- fore our firm belief in God's juftice, and our reafon diredled us to fearch for that caufe of offence in iovae former fate of the foul's ex- iftence, in which we happily fucceeded, at leaft to our full conviction, and we hope to that of our candid readers. To that fource we ( 139 ) we muft again apply to folve the prefent dif- ficulty refpediing the brute foul, which muft undoubtedly have finned in a pre-exiftent flate, to reconcile its many fufferings here with the idea of a juftand good God. . The feniible refledlions and fentiments of the ingenious Mr. Dean of Middleton, are appofite to our fubjedt, and fo pertinent to what we have further to allege, that we will take the freedom of tranfplanting them. After pre-fuppofing that pains, difeafes, death, &c. evils got entrance into the world by Jin, he proceeds as follows : " Now brutes as well as men are fubjedt to the fame forts of pains and difeafes j (o far their cafes coincide. In all general defolations they have fuffered together j in this they conform. They fuffered with man the injuries of the fall (we wifh he had faid the angelic fall 3 poflibly he meant it). — They have perifhed with him in deluges, in conflagrations, in famines, in pefli- lences, in deftru6tions of the fword ; in fhort, in all capital calamities they have had their fhare, as well as man (to which he might have added, the many miferles they endure from the tyranny of man). Now, if there is any reafon to believe, that fuch evils are of God's appointment, and occafioned by fin, mufl not brutes then in fome relped or other be fuppofed *« to ( HO ) ^^ to be faulty ? We do not pretend to fa)%' «f or even to infinuate, that they are ca-* ** pable of moral rules, and become crimi- " nal after the manner of men ; but we aU ** lege, that they muil have fome kind of " demerit, they muft have contracted de- '* filements fome way or other. If we can- *' not Jhew how this is^ it is only an injlance^ " among ji inajiy others, of our ignorance » ** The fads infifled on are deducible ** from the preceding cafes, and the ** juftice of God. God cannot pu- ** nifli his creatures without a caufe, and *' this caufe muft be <>uilt or demerit of •* fom.e kind or other; infinite juftice necef^ *' farily fuppofes it." This Gentleman flops not here, but goes a (lep much higher in his conclufion from the above premifes : ** that as brute animals have attended man *' in all great and capital calamities, fo they *^' will alfo attend him in his final deliver- *' ance, and be reftored with him." How he proves this from fcripture, we refer our readers to his " Eflay on the Future Life ^* of Brutes," whilii we proceed on our way, 112. Thus have we demonftrated, the creation and ftate oi vn.2Si and beaft are ut- terly inexplicable upon any other hypothe- fis than the ancient dodrine of the Metemp- fycholis. ( HI ) fychoiis, which alone rationally accounts for, and reconciles their exiflence, as intel- ligent free agents doomed to mifery, in every ftage and circumftance of it, to be ilridly confident with thzgoodnefsy thcjufi tice, and mercy of God ; the flate of the brute creation, and the caufe of their fuffer- ings no longer remains a matter of difficulty, nor incompatible with divine juftice, but conformable thereto; their mortal bodies being formed for no other end or purpofe but the punilhment and vehicles of convey- ance for iXiQ fame offending fpirit y to a form, which, although Itill a prifon for the foul, was yet fo marveloufly fabricated (by a mo- dus and conftrudiion imperceptible to us), as to afford a greater fcope and latitude to the exertion of thofe intellectual faculties and free agency, which it was only capable of exerting in a litnited degree^ whilfl: in its ftate of deeper degradation ; for, touching the portion of cogitation and confcientiGuf" nefs the brute creation are pofTeffed of, it is impoflible for us to fay ; it may, for aught we know to the contrary, be equal to our own : we are barely authorized in our con- ception drawn from vifible phenomena, that their powers are under fome kind of re* ftraint, but of what nature we know not 5 Jior does it follow from the premifes, if granted* ( 142 ) granted, that their cogitative facuhies (hould be under any reftraint at all. We fee that they are in general rr.iferable, without re- medy or comfort j but that man is only fo by prediled-ion, having refources within himfelf, if he pleafes to employ them, that are capable at all times of conflituting his felicity; and this privilege marks to us the fpecific difference and fuperiority of ihejame Joul in brute and /ran. In ihtfirfi it may be faid to be in a cloje pr ifon^ and in the laft, a -prifoner more at large, and capable of working out its full "undjlnal liberty , a pri- vilege it cannot obtain by ifTuing from the mortal brute form, which is deftined to be its flate o^ pimiJJoment and purgatlo?2y as be- fore obferved, and that of 777an only, its ftate of trial and probatioji-, from which form alone it can poflibly emerge to its priftine celeftial ftate. It feems to have been the fentiments of Lucian, as well as of Pytha- goras, and many others of the ancient philo- Ibphers, that what conftitutes the greateft punifhment of the brutes, is their confciouf- 7jefs of having animated ihtfo'm of man, and of not having benefited thereby; and that it is by their retaining the ideas of their former flate of humanity, that many of their fpecies, by fmall training, fo readily comprehend his language and inffrudions. Chime- ( H3 ) Chimerical as this opinion may feem to fbme, it appears in our judgment to have a good foundation. 113. From what has been fald, we have the pleafure of thinking the philofophic rea- foning of the learned Baxter ftands con- firmed and illuftrated ; the fenfible fuggef- tions of the Rev. Mr. Berrow enforced and verified ; the doubts and perplexities of the Rev. Mr. Dean, touching the caufe for which the brutes are doomed to mifery, fully fatisfied ; and the bold afiertions of Mr. John Hive well grounded, from whom we candidly confefs we took our firft hints, and became a thorough convert to his hy- pothclis, upon finding on enquiry, and the exertion of our own reafon, that it was built on the firft divine revelation that had been gracioufly delivered to man, to wit, THE ChARTAH BhADE OF BrAMAH; although it is very plain Mi". Hive was igno- rant of the dodtrine of the Metempfychofis, by confining his conceptions only to the an- gelic fall, man's being the apoftate angels, and that this earth vvas the only hell ; pafT- ing over in filence the refl of the animal ^'eation. 114. As { 144 ) 114. ^s ^^^^ ancient dodrine of the Me- t^wipiychofis alone accounts, as has been faid, for the creation, nature, and ftate of man and beafl, fo it alfo clears up many difficuhies and objed:ions that have fre- quently been ftarted concerning the true na- ture oi CJd rift ', fome conceiving him to be *^ very God of very Gcd^' that is, God him' felf\ if they mean any thing : others con» ceive him to be God and man, but in what fenfe \nq believe infinite wifdom itfelf could not explain to the comprehenfion of a finite underflanding Others conceive Chrift to have bcPAi mere man, enlightened or infpired by God to 2ifuperlative degree-, and difavow the -prc-eyctftent ftate of Eis foul or fpirit. Touching the fwofirft of thefe opinions, we have already given our conceptions, cfteem- Ing them enthufiaftic, if not blafphemous ; but refpedling the fupporters of the third, they firmn (we f^arj Sylht and fall upon Car^hdis^ 115. A Treatife (which we never faw or heard of before we had clofed our Second General Head, although published in 1767) jntitled, '* The true Dodrine of the New ** Teilariient concerning Jcfus Chrift coix^ ^* iidered," contains a plaufible chain of objections io bis fuppokdpre-f^'^i/tence. Al- though ■ ( HJ ) though in that book, and t'le appendix, we have the fingular pleafure of finding our fentiments upon the evil tendency of the Athanafian dodrine, and the true meaning and reading of the firft chapter of St. Jo^ns Gofpel, fupported by fo learned andjudici- oiis an advocatey^r truth , yet — we cannot avoid thinking that this author hurts the caufe of Chriflianity in a moH: tender part, by contefling the pre-exiflent ftate oiCJorifiy and thereby diverting him of his original di- 'Dinity, the criterion, ih^fme qua non of his doctrines; for when he confiders him as on- ly mere enlightened man, he mofl: certainly goes counter to the cxprefs declarations of Chrijl, in many places of the Gcfpels touch-» ing himfelf, his pre-exiftency, and nature of his miffion, as being a delegate imme^ diately from heaven ; but more particularly in St. Jolm's Gofpel, chap. iii. i6, 17, and 1 8th verfes. We concur in fentiment Vv^ith this writer, and ^Qt\ very diftincl ideas refpeding the Deity of the Father, and the divinity of the Son j but when he could without fcruple admit, that divinity and hu- manity may unite, or rather, as the learned Baxter dates it, that God, by his omnipo- tency, can unite a fpiritual being to any ma^ terialform he pleafes j we cannot conceive why he fhould ftumble at allowing the pre- exirtence of the divine Spirit ofChriJl. The L creation i 146 ) creation and mlferable exigence of every mortal intelligent being, we have fully proved, can only b^ compatible with theju- liice of God, upon the fuppofition of the pre-exiftent ilate of their fpiritual part or foul'y then where lies the difficulty of fup- pofing the pre-exiflent nature of Chfift ? as ihtfj'ft created, the fir ft begotten of God of all celeftial beings, before all worlds, dele- gated by the Father to unite for a time with the mortal form of man, for the great pur- pofe of falvation to a race of offending in- telligent beings Thus Chrft may lite- rally, with propriety, and without any my- flery or confulion of ideas, be fliled and acknovv'ledged the Son of God and Man, as he himfelf occalionally ufes both thofe titles. When this learned and in- genious writer gives an unprejudiced hear- ing, and full force to the dodrines of the Metempfychofis, and duly weighs the in- fufficiency of every other human hypothe- lis, to account for the phenomena of our pre - fent exiftence^ and indeed of all nature; he will, we flatter onrfelves, receive full con- vidiion that his doubts and difbelief of the pre-exiftent fiate and original divinity of Chrift, were ill-founded, and not the true doSirine of the Neiv Tefta^msnt. 116. If ( 147 ) II 6. If reafon and religion are deemed worthy a place iii the argument, man has now the fulleft convidion from bothi of the true relation in which he (lands to the whole brute creation, and that he can lay no rational claim to the power he has allumed for a multitude of ages pad over fome of their fpeciesj nor has he any the fmalleO: jufii- fiable pretence for the ufes to Vv'hich he has converted others of them, murdering foms , for the gratification of his depraved unna- tural appetites, fubjedting others to the moft cruel labors without humanity or re- niorfe, devoting others for his wanton fport to premeditated deaths, attended with all the cruel and affedingcircumftances o^pro- traSied terror -^ training, exafperating, aid-* ing, and abetting others to bloody combats of death againllone another o{\}i\zfa7ne fpe- cies'y fpiriting up and encouraging others of them, of different f pecks ^ to dilcord, con- tention, and battle, worrying each other, fometimes to death itfelf, for man's inhu- man diverlion; imprifoning and diverting others of the fpecies of tlDat liberty which was originally given to them by their Crea- tor, upon a tenure equal with man's own j and this only for the fake of a trifling amufe- ment and indulgence to the ear ; exhaufting the ftrength, and abridging the lives of mul- titudes 6f the moft noble of the brute crea- L a tioa ( 148 ) tion in contentions offpeedy^ for the bafe pur- pofes of iniquitous gain and '•mr thief s fume, acquired not without the application of ma- ny cruel ruthlefs ftripes, gaping wounds, and languid fweats, that human pity, if it had exiftence, would fhudder at. 117. The above catalogue of evils, which man has hitherto, without fcruple or feel- ing, wantonly loaded the brute creation with, we will fuppofe may be afcribedto his having loft {vihio^ their original dignity, and the rela'ion they truly ftand in to him- felf ; and therefore this ignorance may, in fome degree, be pleaded in extenuation of his guilt : but now he is fully evinced of bothy he In future remains without excufe, if he does not recede from pradices that are neither warranted by reafon, religion, juftice, or the common didates of humani- ty. The further to induce him to this worthy recellion, we beg leave to remind him, that every brute is animated with a foul identical io his own, advancing only in a progrefjive fiate to Man; and that he has no right either to haften or retard that frogrejjiony that being an ad which God has referved to hlmfelf alone : God has faid, " Tboujhalt do no murder^' and man has had the boldnefs, either totally to difregard thib commandment, or by putting his ( 149 ) his own conilrudiion upon it, has infringed it in every fenfe, where power gave him the means : how could we then exped: mercy for the brute creation, when he has fliewn none for his own fpecies ? But this is a kind of murder we fhall not fpeak to here, in- tending in this place further to examine his pretenlions not only to murder^ but to eat the animal beings, and the fatal confequences of this tranfgreffion to the world, requeuing our readers will have the goodnefs to advert to what has been already prefented to them on this fubjedin our 103d and few follow- ing paragraphs. We know, that in this difcuffion we fhall meet with potent ene^ mies to contend with, no lefs than a mod formidable train of all the fenfual appetites and padions, but that (liall not deter us \ human reafon, although long debafed, and fubjetfted to the dominion of C/rrf, is not quite extincl, and only wants to be roufed by application of the celeftial Moly, to (hine forth in its native and original luilre. iiS. Beiides man's conceit of his right of dominion over the brute creation (which has h^tn fu/iiciently refuted) he urges two other pleas in fupport of his prai^ice oi kill- ing and eating his fellow- creatures ; thefe he thinks are unanfwerable T^hejirjt is the pbvious courfeanddeftination of Providence, L 3 whereby ( '5° ) whereby we fee that every race of the animal creation are in a perpetual Hate of war, and doomed to be a prey, the one to nouri(h and uiilain the other * ; — the hO:, if 1 dd down as -dg-r^sral pofition, may be admits ted, but with large exceptions, as many tribes of quadrupeds are exempted from that general law of nature, as the horfe, the the cow, the deer, the goat, the fheep, fee but allowing this plea to have its full force refped;ing the carnivorous tribes of. the brute creation, yet 7;r<7;z cannot avail himfelf of this lawj 2'Zvy deviate not from the line prefcribed them by the God of na-r ture, but man, in becoming a beajl ofprey^ a6ls not only in violation of his order and rank in the fcale of beings, but alfo in op^ pofition to an exprefs interdid: of God, as pronjulged in the Bramanical and Mofaic hiiiory ot his creation before cited ; and in? deed, up^n a fiirvey of the natural conftruc-^ tion of his form, the quadrupeds above fpe- cified mio;ht "oree and res^ale their appetites Upon animal food with equal propriety as man, who cannot plead the law of necejjity^ which carnivorous animals feem to be fub-s jedled to for their daily fubliflence. 1 19. Let us not, however, in our abun-. fiant zeal for the brute creation, be wanting * Vide Part II. from page 77. to 85, (.'50 in our due applaufe to the amazing and un- accountable moderation and forbearance of man, in that he has not in Europe vet ar- rived, to what mod: certainly muft be the higheft perfedion of good eating, the fJeJJ:> cf his own fpeciesy which, from the nature of its regimen, and the repletion of animal falts and juices, mud yield a much more exalted flavor, and higher enjoyment, than any other kind of brutal flefi can poffihlv afford. — Swift, of ever witty and fircaftic memory, was ludicrous on this fubjed ; but we are quite ferious, and think man's abili- nence from thh fupreme indulgence the more to be honored, and the more wonderful, as he is not without precedents for the prac- tice, on the authentic records of America, and other fivage nations ; befides -his virtue fhines brighter in this great felf-de- nial^ when he may with propriety urge very cogent political reafons, that would i\x\\y juftify his tranfplanting that hifci.tis delicacy and fafhion into Europe, to wit, the incrciiJing fcarcity 2ind. high price of all ani- mal food, both which evils would be effec- tually and fpeedily averted from us, by the projed: of — killing and eating the CONSUMERS'^ from which pradice, the too great population of the human ipecies would alfo be prevented. A coniider^tion which L 4 le>„ds ■ ( 152 ) leads us to vn2iV\s fee oiid plea for killing and devouring the brute creation. 120. The immenfe increafe of the animal creation^ which it has been fuppofed would over-run the world, and endanger man's fafety and exiilence, has been urged as an unanfvverable plea of necefjity for their de- ftruftion; — to fay nothing of the wicked- nefs of this argument, which diredly and openly arraigns the wifdom, goodnefs, and mercy of God, we will confider the force of it, and hope to prove it as ill-grounded as the former; for, \\\ the firil: place, fup- poling (although not allowing) the fad:, it can only give a fandion to man for kill- ing, but not for eating: nor can this argu- ment poiTibiy be applied, even with the femblance of propriety, again ft any fpecies of the brutes, but thofe that are obvioufly obnoxious to him, and thefe (hun his fo- ciety. Any fuperabundant increafe of xk\& finny race cannot poffibly affed: man's iafeiy or exiftence, yet he deftroys and de- vour? them in common with their terreftrial and aerial brethren. But to (how the fallacy of this plea, we find it levelled only againft thofe unoffending animals which man has dQSWntd for his prey, and no pre* tended inconvenience is felt from the in- creafe ( '53 ) creafe of thofe fele6ted for our pleafure or our labor, as vvltnefs the elephant, the horfe, &c. But to cut this plea fhort, and divert it even of plaulibility, let us ap- peal to fads, which fet all reasoning at de- fiance; — let us caft our eyes back on the an- cient extenfive empire of Indojlan, where, for a long fuccefilon of ages, to the late pe- riod of their fubjedion to Tamerlane, no animal was ever bereaved of life, but left to its natural decay and diffolution, and yet their increafe was never found, or objeded to as an evil, or obnoxious to man. — On the contrary, it is moft evident, throughout the whole animal creation, man not except- ed, that God has wifely adjufted the prin- ciples of decay in each, in a juft proportion to their increafe or prolific qualities, in fuch an equipoife, that the one {hall not exceed the other, to the confulion or detriment of his works. — If we admit, that fo me parts may be overftocked, and that the increafe may exceed the means for their fupport, yet this affords no plea or fandion for llaugh- tering and eating them ; — fince man has, without any authority /rom God or nature, doomed them to labor, to evade and (^t at nought that part of his fentence which de^ creed " that he fiould till the ground by the *^ Jweat of his own brow," let him, in cafe pf a fuperabundant increafe, as the leaftfin- Jul, ( 154 ) fill, export them to other regions that may ftand in need of them for fimilar purpofes, in place of devoting them to death, for the gratification of his unnatural appetites. There may be one fituation, and one only, Vv'herein man can poffibly, with feemingjuf- tice, deftroy the animal creation ; and that is, when there fhould be fuch an increafe of thofe fpecies of fimilar condruflion with his own refpecfting maftication, &c. that fhould rob or diveft him of that food which God and his own nature originally marked and pointed out for his fole fubhPcence ; in fuch a cafe, provided he had no other means of freeing himfelf of them, he pofi^bly might ftand vindicated in killing, but in no cafe iVL eating them. What has been above alledged refped:ing the empire of /«- doftan^ may be as juitiy applied to other re- gions and people of early times, as we fhall have occafion to fpecify below, where we purpofe to enquire, when the vice of flaugh- tering and devouring the brute creation be- gan, and confider its fatal confequences, as one of the great roots of phyfical and moral evil in the njuorld. But before we proceed to this enquiry, it is necefi^ary to obvii^te an- other plea in defence of this error, which jufts now ftarts up, and arrefis our intended courfe, 121. Man, ( 155 ) 12 1. Man, when hard preded, and at a lofs for rational argument (foi he cannot eaiily and with a good grace give up the lavory flefli-pots oi Egypt J, has advanced a third pica in fupport of his practice, which he would alfo fandity into a plea ofnecejji- ty^ which is, that without the ufe of ani- mal food, and vinous and fpiritous pota- tions, the human form could not be fuftain- ed in full health and vigor. ^Snrely man cannot be in earnefl:, when he urges this as argument, for not only the experience of nations, but daily inftances in multitudes of individuals are againft him. The fuper- latively wife and infpired Daniel, in his firft chapter, exhibits to mankind a fine lef- fon, which comes in point to invalidate this futile plea. — - — The King of Babylon^ defirous of having fome youths of the royal Hebrew\\v\t. trained up in his court, '■'■toftand " before the King,' he appointed them a daily provifion of the Kings meat^ and the ivine which he drank; but Daniel^ anxious that neither himfeif nor the royal youths iliould be defiled, rejected the meat and li'ine^ and making an intereft with the gover- nor that was fet over them, *' befeeched ** him to give them pulfe to eat; and water to *' drink-^' the refult was, that at the expi- ration of the time prefixed by way of expe- rimentj " their countenances appeared fairer , *' and^ ( '56 ) ** and fatter infejh than all the children who ** had eat the portion oj the Kings mem. ^' — Thus we humbly conceive that we have fairly driven man from every fubterfuge, every retrenchment, which he has caft up in defence of the cruel and unnatural prac- tice of killing and eating his fellow- brethren of the animal creation, without anyjiecejju ty^ cr other rational flea, for Jo doing, 12 2. When, or in what period of the world, man fell into the fatal error of mur- dering and feeding upon his elder brethren of the creation, is difficult to fix with any precilion, although we may with much pro- bability conclude it had a very early rife; as it has been obferved, man grows not wicked all at once, fo v/e may ra.tionally conjedture this vice became not general, un- til within the fpace of three thoufand years back \ — that copious fountain of wifdom and knowledge, that inceffant advocate for the rationality and morals of the brute creation, the learned author of the Turkifh Spy, recites many authorities in proof, that this vice was not pradifed in th^frjl times, but was an innovation on the primitive man- ners of mankind ; he honors the Brachmans of India, and feems to be a convert to the dodrine of the Metempfychofis ; he ilands amazed at the fignal cjrcumftances^ pecu- 7 li^r ( 157 ) liar only to the Sanscrit, and the four books of the law (/. e. the Chartah Bhade of BramaJi)y written in that language ; he thinks it ftrange that no hiftory fliould men- tionyo divine afpeech, and draws his con- clufion of the luperior antiquity of the Bra- mins, their language and books, to the reft of the world, — *' in regard that they fall not *' ivithin any records, Jave their own'' He then, with great truth, remarks, that the people of Indofian are the only people in the world who have, in all ages to this day, paid a ftridt obedience to that firft in- jun- condly, he was feniible that thofe unnatural aliments would inflame and exalt the defires of the fefi, above the rule and domxinion of thefpirit. Thirdly, he knew alfo, that by natural confequence difeafes would enfue, that muft affuredly abridge their term of fro-' bation in the form of man , which would be no. inconfiderable point gained. Fourthly, his penetration made it obvious to him, that this infamed ftate of the human body (from the continued acceffion of animal falts and juices, heated and fermented by the auxi- liary force of fpiritous liquors) would be propagated through the fpecies; and that the fure effeds would be, their giving birth amongft them to a train of monftrous, un- natural, violent, and confequently ungo- vernable paflions, as lufts of every kind and fpecies, ambition, avarice, envy, hatred, and malice, &;c. that would regularly pro- M duce ( l62 ) duce a progeny of concomitant adllons and efFedtsj as, invafions of property, conten- tions, wars, battles, murders, and fudderj deaths. Fifthly^ he forefaw a farther favor- able confequence from the indulgence of thefe paffions, as that they would, by the natural force of their operation, engage and confine their purfuits to the temporary fen- fual enjoyments and acquifitions of this *iiorld only^ and caufe them to lofe fight of the next, as well as of the ?neans by which thev were deftined to regain it. Thefe de- viations from the path marked out for them, Satan kntw would in the end eftrange their God from them, and that they and their pofl:erity would become bis ozvn^ from ge- neration to generation. 125. It is worth enquiry, by what fyfrein of craft Moififoor^ or Satan, could poflibly induce rational beings fo widely to fwerve from their obedience, and from their ori- ginal nature and dignity, into that of lions, tigers, wolve?, &c. beafts of prey ; nay, to exceed them in every kind of vicious re- finement, and to leave them fo far behind in the race of luxurious, voluptuous glut- tony, befides the exalted invention of either entirely diverting themfclves of their fenfes and reafon, or of turning them from their bias, by the licendous guzzle of wine and Jpirits; ( J«3 ) an enchanting reiidi and enjoyment, which the hrutes Iiave not yet arrived to, one fpe- cies of them only excepted, which approach in kind the nearefl: to our own, viz. the Satyr, Oronootan, Baboon, and others of the fame race, all of which (the firfl except' ed) we have feen fmoke and drink until they became as completely beails as man himfelfi fo that man has not fo much caufe to plume himfelf upon this glorious acquifition, ?.s he poffibly and vainly may have jfiattered himfelf withal.—- But, not to lofe fight of our enquiry by any farther reflections on thefe grievous truths, (o degrading; to hu* nianity, — we may fuppofe, that Satan, ha- ving had experience that the 'An^^&Yic fpirits, in their fuperior and pre-exiflent Hate, had not been proof againll his artful fedudtions, began his operations, and exerted his in* fluence, firft upon thofe who were appoints^ ed to prelideover the ceremonies of religious worfhip, rightly judging, that if he could corrupt thofe who had the lead on earth, the reft would fall an eafy prey ; he was aware, that if he abruptly propofed the deftrudliou of their fellow-creatures, without fome fpe- cious plea, human nature might ftart at the propolition : he therefore cunningly fug^ gefted the fan6tifying their murder by of- fering them up in facrifice, as a work that Ma would { i64 ) would be moil acceptable to the Deity; lift doubtlefs likewife infinuatcd, tbiey would thereby not only do a thing pleafing to God, but alfo render a {i^nal fervice to their de- linquent brethren, who they knew were imprifoned in the brute forms, the fliorten- ing whofe lives would expedite their pro- greiiive advance to that of man, from which form alone they could regain their lofl Na- tions in the ceieflial regions. That this was an argument Saian laid no fmall flrefs on, appears obvious from this, that it has been frequently made ufe of by feveral ancient prieds and philofophers, his faithful deputies, in judification of the inhuman pracflice. — This great point gained, Satan met with litile difficulty in prevailing on them to tailc; and thus by degrees the killing and eating the moil innocent fpecies of thefe devoted miferable beings, became an efta- hVi(hcd religious cuftom all over the world; a pra^llice, ("ay the Bramins, which the de- vil himfelf could only have forged. Yet Satan thought himfelf not quite fecure of his votaries, without playing an after-game thai would infallibly v/ork out their future perdition ; therefore his next ftep was to in- iiuence them to extend their religious facri- fees to their own fpecies : to bring them to tiiis fupreme pitcii of wicked fuperftition, he ( i65 ) he found fome dimcul y, but at length pre- vailed, by infinuating, that they would thereby not only more etFeilually deprecate the difpleafure and vengeance of the gods, but alfo free the fouls of thofe who were thus devoted, from future tranfmigrations through the mortal brute forms of punifh- nient and purgation. — If any of our readers doubt the addrefs and fuccefs of Satati in this arduous attempt, we have only to re- commend them to the perufal of the hifto- ries of the ancient P/'y/z/Wj/zj, TyrJans, and Carthaginians^ who were 2\\fioois from the Chaldean ftocki and alfo the hiflory of the Canaanites in our Old Teftament. Satan jftill thinking his fcheme defcclive, gave the iinifhing flroke to it, by fuggefting the prac- tice of pouring out libations of wine to the gods, without which the ceremonies of re- ligious facrifices would be imperfe6t ; this obtained, he left them to themfelvcs, know- ings that as they had fo readily been in- duced to eat of the one, they would of courfs make as licentious a ufe of the other j and that he fliould, from the natural united ef- fe(fts of both, always find them in a proper flate to receive any diabolical impreffions he fhould in future fuggeft to them, by his own immediate operation on them, or by ^ofe of his infernal agents: — and thus, al- M 3 though ( 166 ) tli^'igh he had failed of acquiring fnpremg ivcrfbip in heaven, he at length effectually obtained it on earth. 126. We may with probability conclude,, that fome ages (although not many) might have elapfed before the laity came in either for a bit or a fup of thofe religious facrifices^ that thefe obfcrving (by the inftigation of Satan) how their pricfiS pioiifiy devoured them, began to demur againft fupplying them with vid^ims, unlefs they alfo came in for a iliarcj which at lait they obtained j the priefis ftill rcferving the moO: delicious mor- fcls for themfelves. And thus, m pro- cefs of time, both priefts and laity killed and eat the brute creation in common, with- out even the pretence of religious motives, or indeed any principle at all 3 a point v/hich Satan forefavv they would in the end ar- rive at, and tiie event confirmed the fagaci- ty of his judgment in forming a plan which at once afforded hirn a triumph over God nnd 7nan, ii-j. Having above, we humbly con- ceive, made it manifefily appear, to the full convicftion of every unprejudiced reader, that the t'-ii>G 'vices which we are combating have teen, and ftill are, the pernicious roct^ ( i67 ) roots from which all moral evils fprang, and continue to flouriili in the world; permit us next to repeat, that (according to the fhewing of the philofophers, moralifls, di- vines, and hidorians of all nations) there has been an utter depravity in mankind in -every part of the known earth, Jrofn the ear- lieji records cf time. Let any cafuift affign any other adequate caiife for this univerfal depravity and corruption of the fJDCcies, that will account for this phenomenon, better than thofe which we have above attributed it to, and we will mod readily give up our fydem; — a caiife there mufl be feme where, and that a general one too, that could pro- duce fuch uniform effects. Divines point out no other caufe than that we are un- doubtedly under the infuence of the devil. . This we know as well as they, but they feem not to know how it happened that we came under that diredion ; all the learned of the world concur in the opinion that there was -a time when primitive man was not under his dominion : the angels continued good iox: a long fpace before they fell a facrifice to his feduclions, and their own ambitious folly; and fo they did again for an age, when doomed to animate mortal forms on earth, for their firft tranfgrefrion ; and they perfevered in angelic virtue until Satan pro- jected the introdudion of thofe two vices, M 4 which ( i68 ) which he was fenlible would Infallibly work uich a change in the human body as would of courfe impair it, and confequently that the free ufe, exercife, and operation of iho. Jpirifs intelledual powers of recfti- tude would be impeded, and liable to per- verfion by foreign influence, v/hich other- wife would have remained in full force and vigor, as is verified by many inflances on record, where man, by abllain-ng from ;hefe capital vices, has kept his foul in fuch a flate as to refift every effort of Satan to provoke him to fin. 12?. When the caufe of any difeafe Is difccvercd, it amounts to more than half a cure. Would man exert his intellediual povv'crs, he would foon pull down what S(i- tan has been fo many ages ere(fring; his em- pire has acquired no fiability but from our cafy fubmiffion to his diabolical fuggeftions; and tiiat in fuch wife, that we can now hardly be faid to have any claim to that ori- ginal free agency given to us, for the very purpoTe of- withftanding his influence-; jemove the caufe, the effed: ceafes. V. hen man returns to his natural, pri- mitive, fimple aliments, his inordinate de- fires, his paffions, and their direful iffue, will as naturally lublide, as they rofej then we may form a well-grounded hope of the renewal . ( i69 ) renewal and redoratlon of the primitive age of purity and hollnefs ; that halcyon age, when man banqueted with innocence and content upon the deHcious produce of his parent earth, without a thought of kilHng and eating his fellow animals; — that age, wherein the feathered tribe could in free- dom and fecurity range in their proper ele- ment without dread or apprehenfion of the cruel fowler ; — when the roes and hinds, with the timorous hares, might gambol and fcamper at pleafure over the boundlefs plains, without the rifk of being fcattered and drove, in protrad;ed terrors and difmay, to the mountains, rocks, and brakes for fandtuary againft the purfuit of the ruthlefs hunter; — when the fcaly independent race enjoyed at large their watery courfe, with- out molellation, from the artful wiles of the infidious angler; — when the fea re- mained yet unexplored, and Commerce, that ba?ie (falfely called the cement) of man- kind, had not a being, and w^as not, as now, an inftrument in the hands of Safaji to excite the fpecies to invalions, fraud, and blood; the natural produce of the earth in every region fupplied its offspring with all that was ufeful and neceffary, becaufe men were llrangers to irregular defires, and we have no folid reafon to imagine its inhabi- tants were lefs numerous then, than now. ' ■ As ( 170 ) As the wickednefs and unbounded violence of man brought on a rueful change on the face of the globe, fo we might rationally hope and expedl, that on an univerfal return to his primitive gocdnefs, God would reflore to him his habitation, in all its original beauty and natural fertility, — — This hap- py refloration would man eafily accomplifh, if he prevailed with himfelf to abdain from thefe two capital vices, which were, as be- fore obferved, the parents of every other fubfequenttranfgreffion on earth; — Justice would then return in frefh luftre from her long banifhment, accompanied by the love- ly train of temperance, harmony^ reciprocal benevolence^ and lafting peaces haggard Disease would be drove into a longer ba- jiiHiment than even Jujiice fuffered, and (like her) only be known 6y name. Death would be commanded to ftand a- loofj that man's happy term of probation on earth mio;ht be extended to a greater length, as a means for his future falvation. ' Then, and tiien only, may we hope to fee and feel the facred doflrines of Chrift's, gofpel operate univerfally on man- kind, by producing a general reditude of morals and piety. We are not fo fan- guine as to exped; that this wondrous change would be brought about in one generation, but the next would moil fenfibly experience its ( 171 ) its happy effects, and Satan would foon find himfelf repulfed and bafHed in all his cun- jng and deep planned machinations, and be obliged to retreat with difgrace, and leek an empire in fome other region of the uni^ yerfe. 129. Now, as it appears beyond a con«» troverfy, that the depravity herein lament- ed began in the prieflhood, who firft un- happily fell under the influence of Satan's wicked fuggeflionsj fo it is undoubtedly incumbent on popes, patriarchs, cardinals, archbifhops, bilhops, priefts, paftors, and rulers of every church on earth, to (qI the pious example of beginning a general re- formation of thefe two execrable evils, the killing and eating the rational brute crea- tion, and guzzling vinous, &c. potations, — They would do well to confider, that the perfevering in thefe vices them- felves, burdens them with a double weight of lin, as being the firft aggreiTors, and as being fpecially commiffioned to guard the morals, and point out the right road of wor- shipping the Deity to the laity; confidera- tions which, joined to their known affiduity and anxiety for the falvation of mankind, Jeaves u? not the fmallefi; room to fufped:, that they would hefitate a moment to fet fo laudable and efTentially neceflary a prece- dentt ( 172 ) dent. To one unflcilled in the workings of human nature, and the powerful fway of the prince of the air, it may appear aflo- nifliing, that fo learned and holy a body of raen fhould continue fo long immerfed in fuch grofs enormities ; — but when we re- iiedi, that the fnow human) angelic fpirit fell when it was more pure, and endued with more fuperior and enlarged powers, let us ceafe to wonder at its errors in its pre- fent degraded ftate, and aim only at the cor- recftion of them. — As an encouragement to attempt and profecute this great work (we may juftly fay) of f ah at ion y we fhall re- mark, that as the laity too readily followed the example of their ancient reverend teach- ei*s, fo it may be reafonably prefumed, they will as readily, in thcfe our times, joyfully fubfcribe to and fupport their facerdotal leaders in the pious reformation of thefe un- natural and impious pradiices, as it would fo manifeflly infure to them their prefent, as well 2l% future happy exijience, 130. Before we quit this our Third Ge- neral Head, we will^ to enforce our argu- ments, take leave to prefent our readers with a lively pidlure of n\zr\s primitive Jiate in the age which we are laboring to reftore him to ; and alfo the progrefs of evil, fu- perftition, and idolatry which Satan re- duced ( 173 ) duced mankind to, after he had prepared them, as above^ to receive any impreffions he was pleafed to meditate for their dellruc- tion. — Both thefe are drawn by an author profoundly fkilled in every fpecies of learn- ing and wifdom. ". They went out and '' in, ilept and waked, labored and refted, *' in fafety and quiet. Avarice, envy, and ** injuflice, had not as yet corrupted the '' minds of mortals. The earth brought ** forth corn, herbage, and fruits, without *' the hufbandman's or gardener's labor. All *' places abounded with plenty of innocent *' refrefhments, and thofe primitive inha- " bitants coveted no more. The cattle ** and the bees afforded them milk and *' honey, and the fountain-waters were ge- " nerous as wine. This globe was a com- " plete paradife, and no miftaken :?eal had " taught men 7'el/gioujly to ifivade another's " rights^ and in a pious fury to murder their *' neighbors, in hopes of meriting heaven *' hereafter.— — The law of nature was in '' univerfal force. Every man purfued the *^ didlates of Reafon, without hearkening '' to religious fophiftry, and facred fables." ''^But when (at Satan ^ inftigation) *' the lucre of gold had corrupted men's *' manners, and they, not contented with " the riches and fvv^eets which the furface ^' of the earth daily afforded them, had ( 174 ) found a way to defcend into her Sowelsi {lung with an infatiable defire of hiddeii trcafiires ; then began injufticCj oppref- fion, and cruelty to take place. Men made inclofures for theinfeives, and en- compafled a certain portion of land, with hedges, ditches, and pales, to fence them from the invafions of others; for the guilt of their own vicious incHnations filled them with fears, and made them jealous of one another. They built them- felves flrong holds, fortreffes, caftles, and cities; and their terrors increafing with their criiiiinal podeffions, they per- fuaded themfelves that the very elements would prove their enemies, if not pacified by bribes and prefents. Hence fprang the firft invention of altars and facrifices, and from thtfe pannic fears of mortals, the ^(?<:/; derived their pedigree; for one built a temple to thb Sun, another to the Moon, a third to Jufifer, Mcirs^ or the reft of the planets. Some adored the Fire, others the Water or Wind. Every one fet up to himfeif fuch a god as he fancied would be propitious to him. Thus error, being equally propagated with human nature, they created an infi- nite rabble of imaginary deities, paying to thofe idols iht fupreme incommuni- *^ cable 84 ) ported only on its crutches ; — Herodotus was certainly a wife man, and although he recites many extravagant legends of the 'Egyptian priefts, yet it is eafy to diftinguifli by his manner of tranfmitting them to po- fl:erity, what he really had fufficient grounds to credit, and what to laugh at, as fabu- lo^ : amongft the former, is the antiquity of their records; if thefe extended eighteen thoufand years back from the pe- riod in which he wrote, then who knows what revolutions in ftates, empires, learn- ing, arts and fciences may not have hap- pened in the times preceding /Z't'/r r^^Tor^/j- .^ all ttofe phcejiomena, like birds of pcijjagey taking their flight. from one region to fettle for a time in another ^ or, to purfue our iimile in a different fpecies of ^thofe animals, diving and finking in one place to rife in another far diflant 5 as we have cbferved to have happened to them all^ within the pe- riod of our fcanty and imperfed; chronicles : and yet, fcanty as they are, it is from thefe alo?ie, we are enabled to form a rational fur- mife, or judge with any precifion of the Y)2i{i ; /rem thefe then we are fupported in faying, that the foundation of every known empire, kingdom, and flate of the world, was originally laid in blood and carnage -, and by thefe rofe to the fummit of their great- pefs, and by thefe fell to perdition. 138. On ( j85 ) 138. On a retrofpedl into authentic IiiA tory, we furvey the fatal and fanguinary ilTue of the civil wars of all nations ; where- in thofe allied by the mod facred ties, en- gaging on different parties, cut the throats of each other, and gloried in the facri- fice 'Let us next take a view of the la- mentable effeds of invafion, from the Pa- gan and idolatrous Sejcjiris, to the Chriftian Spa?iiard's invafion of Peru and Mexico, in the profecution of which laf^ only, no lefi5 than twenty niillions of unoffending people were flaughtered without mercy.— Let us obferve the horrid concomitan's of thofe contentions, impiouily ftiled, religious wars \ wherein religion, intended to corred: our morals, arid eflablifh peace on earth, has been made the flalking-horfe, to cover the perpetration of the mofl cruel and atrocious crimes, didated by ambition, and an in- fatiable thirft for dominion and property ; . witnefs the progrefs of the Koroji, efta- blifhed by fire and fword throughout the greatefl part of the world, the crufades, (let us not call them Chriftian) and the endlefs contentions between the profelTors of Chri- ftianity themfelves, and the dire maffacres they have been the caufeof j — religious wars had no exiftence in the annals of antiquity ; this w.as a fpecies of wickednefs referved for later, and more enlightened times, in- troduced ( i86 ) troduced by the perverfion of Chrljf^ gc- fpel. — Let us ladly confider the difmal ef- feds cf all wars, even to the prefent hour, and the univerfal depravity of n:an ; and then fee if we can £nd any adequate canfe for thefe honibic enormous effeBs^ than that above afiigned, namelyj the infuence of SatiZn, under which the whole race of an- gehc delinquent human beings unhappily fell, at the cloie of the p?^miilve age -, a do- minion he has prcferved ever fince over the fpecies, a very few individuals in every age and every region excepted, \vho have nobly withilood his wicked machinations, and utmoft efforts, to pervert them ; a ccnfider- ation which amounts to proof, iuzi all might partake of this celeftial triumph if they WGiiJdy by joining the exertion of their owti fowers with the faithful angelic beings, who are ever at their call ; for we have no more caufe to doubt their exifience and adivity, than we have to doubt thofe of the air and wind, although invifible to us. 139. God, confcious that he has endow- ed us with fufficient powers of refinance, abandons us to ouifelves; and it is by the negled; of thofe powers that ftill man goes on as the devil drives him, and muft neceiTarily fo continue, until he again, by the full ex- ertion of his divine intelledual faculties, re- covers ( iSy ) covers that purity he pofTelTed in the primi- tive age; the full exertion of thofe powers he CPJ.1 only acquire, ^y rejioring the body, and its plajiic juices, to their primitive na- tures, thereby freeing the foul from thofe impeding chains which he himfelf has for- ged for her -, the Jure means for accomplifli- ing- this o-reat end, and fettin": Sat mi at d-e- fiance, we have already pointed out; until then, we remain entangled In the fnares and nets of the devil, and, like other animals fo caught, {"hall perfift In biting, fcratching, worrying and murdering one another to the end of time. Flere we beg leave to dif- fent from the too generally received opinion, that the ancient and modern heroes, con- querors, leaders of battles and invafion, al- lies of death and the devil, fo much cele- brated in (lory (as your Sefo/lrifes, Semira- mifes, Cyrufes, Cr.-dfufesy Camhyj'es, Daritifes, Xerxes, Alexanders, Ccejars^ Mahommeds^ and a very long &c. 6cc. &c.), were or are inflruments, or a fcourge in the hands of God for the chaflifiment of mankind, be- caufe we think there appears no necejjity for fuch an interpof.tion ; nor can w^e bring our- felves to believe that God ever did,' or does confent, to thofe furious maffacres of the fpecies, recorded in the annals of the world, and perpetrated to this day: why fhould we ( i88 ) we be driven to fo unnecefTary a conclufion, when we fee, that the genius of man, by the guidance of Satan, is quite adequate to the purpofe? nor have we a doubt, but that he takes fpecial care, firft to infufe into his hero a proper difpolition for blood and con- queft, and then places a prime leader of his. own at his elbow, to keep him fteady, and proof againft the horrid and piercing groans, fhriekSj and cries, of flaughtered parents, hulbands, and brothers, ravifhed wives and daughters, entertained at the fame time with the heart-rending fcreams of their ex- piring infants J for howfoever heroes and their blood- thirdy followers may, by cuf- tom and pradice, be inured to thefe glori- ous fcenes^ yet it might fometimes fo hap- pen, that the fedings of humanity, would ftart up in their bread:, and were they not immediately fuppreffed, Satans main pur- pofe would be defeated; for the greater number of the fpecies cut off fliort cf their term of probation, the farther his iniquitous end is anfwered^ and therefore he never fails to excite to murder upon every favor- able occafion, no matter of what kind, whether of man or brute j we likewife think it moft probable, that, upon extraor- dinary incidents, where he might have doubts of the addrefs or influence of a de- — • futy. ( '89 ) fufy, he did fome of thtjirjl-rate heroes the honor of accompanying them himfelfm their expeditions, particularly Cyrus, Alexander, Ccefar, Mahommed^ and Ferncmdo CorteZy with other captains both of ancient and modern date, needlefs to mention. Re- ipedting the deftrudtion of Babylon^ fo mi- nutely foretold by the prophets Jeremiah and Ifaiah, where '* their young men and ** their hoft were to be utterly cut off by '* the fword, their houfes fpoiled, their *' wives and virgins ravifhed, thofe in the '* womb not fpared, and their children's " brains dafhed out againft the ftones be- " fore their eyes;" if we allow the pro- phets to have been juftly infpired in the cir- cumftances of this defolation, yet they cer- tainly were miftaken as to thtjirji mover of it, and, by fome egregious error or other, deprived Satan of the honor of this glorious enterprize. 140. By what has been fald, and with a reference to the Metempfychofis, it need not appear flrange, that the world has at all times been equally populous, refpec^ing both man and bealt, or very nearly fo ; for fo few of the delinquent fpirits in every age have tranfmigrated to heaven, that they have been hardly miffed on earth. Here, we know, will be objedled to us Mofes% account of ( 190 ) of the deluge, and the new propagation of all the animal fpecies, from the ilock which "Noah faved in the ark. To this we fay, that there have been many folid arguments urged againfc the univerfality oiMnfes\ deluge, which have never been refuted to the full fatisfadtion of inquifitive reafon. — It is true, we have Mojes^s ipfe dixit for the deftruc- tion of all, in whofe noftrils were the breath of life ; but how came it to pafs, that a race of animals, as numerous, if not more fo, than thofe of the earth, efcaped his no- tice fo far, as not even to be worthy the mention, namely, the fidies of the feas and rivers ? in their noflrils were furely the breath of life. But the caufe of Mojess fi- lence refpeding them is obvious; he knew the difficulty of conceiving how their de- flrucSion could be accomplifhed in their pro- per element, on v/hich the mod tremendous llorms and hurricanes are matters of fport and paftime to them; therefore he took the wifer part in paffing them over in filence, as having no exiftence in the fcale of be- ings. This confideration proves, that what- foever the deluge might have been, the de- ftrudiion of the animal creation was not imi- verfal'y then fuffer us to afk, in ju;: ice to the refl- of the devoted animals, what exemp- tion this peculiar race was intitled to, that they did not participate in the general wreck ? ( 191 ) wreck? — God's juftice, mercy, and provi- dence are equal to all, '^ a fparrow falls not *' to the ground unnoticed of him" — there- fore it fliould feem, that the fpirits animat- ing the inhabitants of the waters, (hould at that period have been lefs guilty than the other terreilrial fpecies ; but that that might not have been the cafe, u^e fiiall (hew pre- fently, and demonftrate, that the feeming partial favor of Providence for that race can be only accounted for from the dod:rine of the Metempfychoiis. 141. Let us fuppofe, for argument-fake only (making a large allowance for the li- bera] genius of travellers}, that every nation in the world retains a tradition of a deluge, yet this h^^ no means invalidates the opinion that that of Mofes was only local and par- tial. Men had xinncd, although probably not in equal degree, nor at the fame period of time, in every region of the habitable world, and therefore ail might merit the chaftifement of God, fome at one time, and fome at another; therefore Vv^hy may we not fuppofe, that he was pleafed to make ufe of a limilar mode of punifcment to them all at different periods ;— thus, in our own timeSj we fee fome nations fuffer under earthquakes, ftorms, inundations, and pe- iliknces. ( 192 ) ftilences, &c. at one time, and others at another; and thus all nations may have re- tained a tradition of a deluge; univerfal as to each particular, but ftridly and properly ipeaking, local only. — On this probable fur- mife we need no longer puzzle ourfelves with the difficulty of peopling America either with man or beafls, or any of thofc numerous illands which lie very far detach- ed from any continent, and yet at their firft difcovery were found populous and flourifh- ing in both. But leaving this difputed point of the univerfality of Mofes's deluge, as many others have done befoF^e us, juft as we found it, and as one of thofe occult events in which mankind will never univer- fally.concur, we will fuppofe it to have been precifely and minutely as Mofes has defcribed it. 142. Then it follows, that the fouls of every being were oufted of their mortal ha- bitation for a fpace, except thofe which ani- mated the marine forms. Now, by Mofes's fhevv'ing, God attributes no evil or wicked- nefs to any of the brute creation ; 72or to the myriads of infant innocents ilruggling under the bitter pangs of death in that dreadful cataftrophe ; and yet thefe fuffered indifcri- minately, and in common with guilty man. Now, ( 193 ) Now, ye divines, philofophers, fages, and moralifls of the world ! account for this ge- neral and undiftinguiHied ruin of animal lifcj confident with our ideas of a juji and merciful God, upon any other hypothefis than that of the Metetnpfychojis of Bramaby and ye iTiall be to us more than our Mag- nus Apollo. — On the principles of this doc- trine alone, thofe two divine attributes of the Deity ftand confefied, and vindicated, whether applied to an univerfal, or partial deluge on the earth, or to any other marks of his difpleafure: — death, to which man was doomed at the deluge, was no more than he was fubjed to before ; but the de- ftrucftion being fo general, made it more fig- nal : the meafure of man's iniquity was more than full, it ran over ; and God Teem- ed determined, at one tremendous blow, to try if terror would not in future operate more powerfully upon them than his good- nefs had done. The brutes, animated by the fame delinquent fpirits, although under other mortal forms, had been equally guilty in their former tranfmigration of man, and therefore juftly fuffered^ the infant human race were taken off, and the term of the fpirits probation, with that of their parents, cut fhort, as the fevered ftroke of God's difpleafure to man. The fi{h, although exempted for the prefent from their (hare of O the ( ^94 ) the general calamity, yet partook of its con- fequences equal with the reft, in their fu- ture courfe of tranfmigration through other mortal forms, from the dire change in the nature of this habitable globe, whofe de- lightful furface became rugged and inhofpi- table; its pure circumambient atmofphere, fo eiiential to health and longevity, became vitiated J which, with other new and inju- rious phenomena in nature, contributed to fhorten the date of animal life. Then peftilence, famine, earthquakes, tempefts, inundations. Sec. became inftruments in the hands of God for the chaftifement of the delinquent fpirit's fecond apoftacy : and thus man brought upon himfelf accumulated natural evils^ in confequence of his moral tranfgreffions ; oppreffion, war, ambition, and their cruel effeds, in the hands of thofc Ipoilers of mankind called heroes^ were infti- g.ated, as before ihewn, by another mover. 143. We have faid above, that the cut- ting fhort man's terfri of probation was the fevered ftroke of God's difpleafure j for he alone knows how many direful viciflitudes, and variety of irkfome forms the delinquent foul rnuft pafs through, before it receives the grace of re-entering the human form, for a. new combat betwixt vice and virtue. Thq Egyftians^^ according to Herodotus, fix LJ: the ihe precife term of three thoufand years be- tween the JpinYs banishment from the hu- man form, and its regaining that /lafe of frobation^ from which only they can hope td tranfmigrate to heaven. In this opinion they were followed by Pythagoras, who averred his fpirit animated the mortal form of Euphorbiis, jQain at the fiege of Troy.^-^ The Bramins affix no precife fpace of time for the completion of this event; and teach only, that the delinquent fpirit pafTes through dghty-eight mortal forms, the /pedes ap-» pointed by God alone j fo that, according to this dodlrine, the fpace may be long or ihort, in proportion to the longevity or quick, decay (confiftent with the common courfe of nature) of the mortal bodies it is doomed to animate. That the determined Ipace aiBgned by the Egyptians, was void ofanyfolid foundation, and an innovation on the original dodlrine of the Metempfy- chofis, appears from the confideration of the uncertain term between the diffolution of the human form, and the fpirit's being al- lowed the grace of re-entering any mortal form at all:- Thus the Eternal One, fpeaking in the text of Br amah ^ part 2d, p. ^j^, — — *' But it (hall be, that if •*^ the rebellious debtah do not benefit of my ** favor in the eighty-ninth tranfmigration *• oi mhurd (man) according to the powers Q z " where- •( 196 ) *' "wherewith I will invefl them ; thoil> ** Sieh^ flialt return thern/ir a fpace into the ** onderahi and from thence, after a time " which I fiall appoint, Biftnoo ihall re- *' place them in the loweft bohoon of punifli- '* ment and ^\jitg2.iion for a fecond t7'ial : — *' and in this Wii^jhalltheyfuffer, until, by ** their repentance and perfeverance in good <* works daring their eighty-ninth tranfmi- " gration ohnhurd, they (hall attain the ninth " ?o/^(9(?'2, eventhefirft of thefevenboboonsof " purification. — For it is decreed, that the *' rebellious debtah fliall not enter the mahah *^ f^^K^y ^^^ behold my face, until they have ** palled the eight baboons oi punijhnent , and *' the feven bohoons oi purification!' — Now it is moft rational to conclude, that the term, or fpace and degree of the fpirit's fufferings, both before it is permitted to enter any mor- tal body, and during its imprifonment there- in, are (conformable to infinite juftice and mercy) proportioned to its greater or lefTer degree of guilt, in \X%lapfed fiat e of probation in the human form. -This being the cafe, how greatly incumbent is it not on man- kind, to exert with vigor that portion of God's divine fpirit with which he is en- dowed, that he may rife from this gracious jlate of trials to thofe manfions of blifs ftill kept open for him ; the more efpecially as he has a moral certainty, that iLould his own powers ( 197 ) powers (from impeding caufes to which he flands felf-fubjeded) prove infufBcient, there is an invifible angelic aid ready to lecond and fupport his pious endeavors. Fifth and last General Heab. 144. It may be remarked, that there are Fifth gc. /iro points of 5rjw^/6's do(ftrine, refpedting"""* the ftate of the fpirit, after the diflblution of the human body j thejirfly its refidence for afpace in the onderah^ the feat of dark- nefs and anguifh, before it is fuffered to animate any mortal form at allj- — Thejecondy its ftate of purification, when by a life of purity and virtue, during its previous ftate of probation, it ceafes from its mortal tranf- migrations. We need not expatiate on the temporal pecuniary trade and advan- tages the church of Rome makes of the firji of thefe dodlrinesj the leaders of that church will anfwer before a fupreme and infallible ]\jidgCy for that, and the multitude of other grofs and extravagant principles of faith, by which they pervert the pure doc- trines of Chrift, and miflead the people committed to their charge; from whom the true God, and his worftiip, are as etFed:ual- iy obfcured, as ever they were from the Canaanites, Egyptians, and T^yrians of old. O 3 —But ( 198 ) *="But this by the bye; nor fliould we have been provoked to thefe reiledions, had we pot fo lately been an eye-witnefs of the corruptions, idolatries, vicious parade, and legerdemain of that mother-church ot Eu- rope. — — That there is an intermediate ftate pf the fpirit's purification between its deli- verance from the human body, and its ad- mi ffion to the prefence of God, is the opinion of all divines and philqfophers; and countenanced by the Chriftian fyftem : no wonder then, that thefe two points of doc- trine lliould have fo univerfally obtained, ^vhen it appears, that they hold a rank amongft the primitive truths, revealed to the apoflate angels, when doomed to take the mortal forms upon them, and are confe- quently relative tenets of the Metempiy- choiis. I45„ The do(3:rIne of the fpirit's purifi- cation is evidently founded on the rational ponclufion, that its various and many de- filements contracted in the fiefli, render it an objedt unworthy of admifiion to Gor>^ qr of the fociety of thofe pure beings who had not known pollution, until it under- goes a perfed: depuration ; to accornpli^h which, it was necefiary it fhould paf^ |hrough feven regions or ftages of purifica- tion, apcording to the fext of Br amah: i^attef ( 199 ) matter, we know, when grofsly foiled, can* not be fufficiently cleanfed at once-^ but will require the frequent reiteration of the fame procefs ; and thus we may conceive of the foul : but why precifely Seijen gradations of cleanfings, we will not pretend to explain, nor is it a matter of much importance. — It is reafonable to imagine, that the fpirit's pafTage through thcfsjeveji pure regions is retarded, or expedited, in proportion to the ftains it had contracted during its abode in the flefli, and the degree of its original tranfgreffion ; for we have no folid reafon for thinking, that the apoftate angels all equally linned; iht Jirji movers to fedition and rebellion being certainly Jiwji culpable. —That /even was a myftical number with all antiquity appears beyond all doubt : God reiled on the Seventh day according to Mofes y the univerfe is divided by aftrono- mers into /even primary planets ; ihtfeven angels, and thejeven vials of the Revela- tions ; the Jeven wife men ; ihejeven won- ders of the world ; the Jeven divifions, or farts of the worlds according to Zoroajier, fpecified in the voyage of the curious, and induftrious Monfieur de Perron i wherein the reader, if he has nothing better to do, may amufe himfelf with the rhapfodies, and theological dreams of that legiflator of the FerfmnSi and when he has done, we O 4 dare ( 200 ) dare promlfe him he will not find either his heart or his underftanding much en- lightened: — The [even heavens, and the heaven of heavens fo frequently mentioned by the Jewilh Rabbis, and by Mahommed^ and the Arabian dodtors, \q correfpondent with BramalSsfeven celejiial ? egions of puTi- fcatioUi and the mahah jiirgo, or lupreme heaven -, and it is pretty plain, that Ma- hommed, whofe olio, or hodge-podge of re- ligion, was compofed from every fyfteni then extant, borrowed his feven heavens, and heaven of heavens, from the Bramins, 146. Refpeding the diflblution or de- ftrudiion of the univerfe, or fifteen boboons of puniflim^ent and purification, Bramah'^ dodtrine differs from all others ; in that he teaches, the defirudlion of the frf eight will precede that of the la/l feven-, at the deftrudion of x\\Q.frft, he marks the final day of judgment, but his text will fpeak better for him than we can. " When *' all was huflied \ The Eternal one ** faid, — It fhall be — that, when the fpace " of time, which I have decreed for the ** duration of the Dunneahoiidahy and the *' fpace which my mercy has allotted for *' the probation of iH^ fallen debtah^ fhall *' be aqcompliihed by the revolutions of *^ xkitfour fcques — in that day^ fhould there ^ " be ( 201 ) ** be any of them, who, remaining repro- *• bate^ have not pailed the eighth boboon *' of punifhment and probation, and have '* not entered the ninth boboon. even the I *' tirft boboon of purification ; thou, *' ^ieb, llialt, armed with my power, " Cast them into the onderah •' FOR EVER. And thou flialt then de- <' ftroy the eight boboons of punifliment, ** purgation and probation, and they <* SHALL BE NO MORE. — And thou, Bijinoo, ♦* fhalt yet for a fpace preferve the /even " boboons of purijication, until the debtah, ** who have benefited of my grace and ** mercy, have by thee been purified from ^' their fin : — and in the day when that fhall *' be accomphfhed, and they are reliored *' to their Ji ate i and admitted to my pre- <^ fence,— //6oz/, Sieb^ fhalt then deftroy the ^* fcoen boboons of ■purification^ and — they *' SHALL BE NO MORE."- — -Thus, accord- ing to Bramah, as God has conftruded the firft eight regions for the reception, pu- nifhment, and probation of the apoftate angtis ; fo, when the term allotted for its duration, aod their trial, expires, and the remaining reprobates are plunged into the place of darknefs and anguifh, thefe eight regions becoming ufelefs, their form is def- tined for deftrudlion, whilft the other kvtxi are yet to be preferved for the gracious pur- DQfes expreiled in the tex^ 147. This ( 202 ) 147* *^^^s partial deftfu.<5lion of part of the univerfe carries nothing with it, incon- gruous to the wifdom and goodnefs of God, but rather exalts both. Of all the nu- merous fpheres or fubdivifions of the fifteen primary boboons of Br amah ^ fabricated for the reception of the myriads of apoftate beings, no mortal can know how many ftill exiil: in their original form, or what changes they may not have undergone ; — many of them fcattered through the vaft expanfe, may have been long (for aught we know to the contrary) reduced to their primitive chaos, without being miffed by us, notwithdanding our bufy, prying, ar- tificial optics, to explore what does not be- long to us J which refearches only afford us futile matter of conjediure, whereon to found imaginary planetary fyftems j the one exploded, as foon as birth is given to an- other with more plaufible appearances; thereby drawing off man's wifdom and attention from matters of more immediate and important concern to him. — Man has nothing to do in this world, if he keeps his talents properly employed, but to ex- flore hlmfelfy and fecure his immortal part (at its exit from the body) from future mor- tal chains, cither in the brute or human forms. Had that profufion of wifdom, and divine powers in man, which has, in 2 all ( 203 ) all ages been fquandered away in the pur* fuit of non-effentials, been applied to its proper objects ; the primitive truths of hiS' ialvation would not have lain fo long hid from him, nor he fo long been a ftranger to his real ftate and relative nature, t^l8. The ancient Gentoos celebrated the aniverfary of their birth with folemn fafts and thankfgiving, fucceeded by a feaft of joy : this they did, upon the pious reflec- tion, that the fpirit had ceafed from its tranfmigration^ through the brute forms, and had attained to its ftate of probation in man ; and upon this principle it was, that they celebrated in like manner the birth of their children. We likewife celebrate the birth of our children, and theirs, and our own anniverfaries j but alas ! in a very different manner, and upon very different coniiderations ;^— the man who celebrates a birth-day^ upon any other principle than that of the Metempfychofis, does it either from the incentives of folly, pride, felf- love, and vanity, or from interefled views of fucceffion ; motives, all moft unworthy of a rational being : for man, abJiraBedly conftdered, has, God knows, little caufe for pluming himfelf, or celebrating and rejoicing for an event which introduces him into a Jife fraught with piany evils, inevitable, or Pf ( 204 ) of his own procuring ; fo that the befl: of us would more fenfibly commemorate the day of his nativity, as the poet Dryden makes Marcus Antonius, in double pomp of fadnefs ; but, when we confider the fame event with a retrofped- to the Metem- pfychofis, and behold an off hiding angelic being freed from the brutal mortal chains, and entering into a ftate wherein, by pro- greflive degrees, he arrives to the full ex- ercife of his divine Intelledlual powers, and js enabled thereby to re-afcend to thofe re- gions of blifs, which he had too juftly for- feited, then he may with well-ground- ed reafon annually celebrate fo gracious an incident with pious praife and thankfgiv- ing, and temperate focial joy and feftlvity ; whether ourfelves, or any connected to us, are the obje6ls : ^otherwife, a cere- monial of this kind muft appear to every thinking beings an empty parade of vain- glory; and a mark of unaccountable in- fatuation, repugnant to common fenfe. CON- ( 250 ) CONCLUSION. 149. We have now, candid reader, brought our five General Heads to a clofe ; in the difcufiion of which, our chief aim has been the reftoring to mankind thofe elTential PRIMITIVE TRUTHS, on which his real jftate and nature originally exifled, and ftill exifts ; and on a due regard to which, his temporal and jfj-^iritual happinefs ever did, and ever muft depend; — but yet, our tafk is not finifhed ; it remains, that we difci- pline the principal fubjedls of our labor, and draw them together in one compad: body, that they may thereby acquire more flrength and influence than they poffibly can, fcat- tered as they are, at fuch a dillance from each other, as the nature of our difquiliti©n required : it is alfo requifite that we obviate fome objed:ions and difficulties attending our general fyftern, which have not yet been noticed, although we know they will ftart up againft us, in prejudiced, narrow, and felf interefted minds ; — but t/jefe are no lefs the objects of our benevolence, than the more enlarged and enlightened: we fhall then ( 206 ) then conclude with a few perfuafive refjec-' tions, that will naturally rife from our fub- jed. 150. With all humility we conceive, that we have proved beyond the power of refutation, i!>, That original fm took its rife in heaven, and that we have no grounds to look for it in the tranfgreffions of Adani and E'u^, or any where elfe. ■2dly, That man and bead are either animated by the apoftate angels, or, — that they are nothing ^— a mere vegetative portion of matter in the creation, and that their exigence at all, as intelligent beings, can only rationally be accounted for, from the pure do5irine of the Metemffychofis. sdly, That the brute creation was not made either for the ufe or dominion of man, in the fenfe he has been pleafed to adopt and prad;ife. — 4thly, That man, by murdering and eating the brute animals, was guilty of a manifeft violation of 'his creator's commands, and of his own original nature.— — 5thly, That thofe un- natural violations, with the auxiliary force of intoxicating potations, proved the fource on earth of all evil, both phyfical and moral i producing the fecond defedion from God of the angelic delinquents in their mortal form of probation in man, and thereby af- fording ^atan an open fieldy and full fcope^, for ( ^07 ) for all his diabolical purpofes againft the fpecies. — 6thly, That man has no chance for fetting Satan at defiance, and for fubduing the univerfal depravity of the fpecies, and reftoring piety and morals, and confequently no chance for falvatlon, but by putting a to- tal flop to thofc two (or rather three, in- cluding murder) primary vices : — cut ofF the root, and the branches v^ill necelTarily perifli ', hereby the pr'wtitive age would be reftored, and a reform in morals would probably reflore alfo the globe to its prif- tine beauty and natural fertility as before urged. — 7thly, That it refts on the Clergy of all nations to begin this general reform, for reafons before given. 151. We are fenlible that there are many tribes amongft the inhabitants of every kingdom on the globe, who will be more deeply affeded than others, fliould our ge- neral fyftcm of reducing mankind to theii? primitive regimen take place. Upon the return of moral redtitude into the world, laws would become ufelefs, and confe- quently lawyers, and their mifchievous train ©f retainers, will have no employment. Phylicians and their coadjutors, upon the reftoration of the human body to its ori- ginal nature, will, in the fecond generation at ( 208 ) at leail, have no friendly difeafe for their fupport.— Wine-merchants, diflillers, brew- ers, vintners, dealers in fpiritons liquors, cooks, (thofs dangerous inuruments of luxury, difeafe and death) and butchers, &c. will all be turned a-drift, and be forced to feek for other means of fubliftence. When we become, bonafde^ Chriftians, the art and deftrudive practice of war would ceafe to be the bane of mankind, and the inoffenlive brute creation j and a numerous race of able-bodied beings, who have hi- therto been employed only to v/ork out the perdition of the fpecies, would contribute to their fupport and maintenance, by being employed m the cultivation of the lands of the flate they belong to ; a work they would mod certainly prefer to the trade of fpil- ling the blood of their fellow-creatures, they hiow not why^ or in fupport of the ty- ranny and wanton ambition of others. 152. Refpeding the firflof thetwo learn- ed profeiHons, it has long been the opinion of wife men, that laivs, which were at firft intended for the fecurity of property and peace, are, by aflrange fatality in the courfe of human affairs, become the greatefl caufe of manifold grievances to the iubjedts of all nations, and the great fomentors of difcord: the ( 209 ) the caufe of this general perverfion is befl known to the learned profelTorSj whllH: the efFeds are felt only by their clients : and yet we think it is no very difficult tafk. to account for, and explain this Teeming para- dox. That there is a litigious, craving, Satanic fpirit in man, that too generally takes the rule and guidance of his adlions, we believe no one will be hardy enough to difpute with us : this unhappy difpofition is encouraged by the chicane of the laws, and the addrefs Q>i making black appear ivhite, and white black-, but far be it from us to impute thefe evils to the profefTors of the law, or to any d.fed; in the laws them- felves, which can only be juftl}^ applied in the lirft inftance to the client's litigioufnefs, who defervediy fufF;::rs when that fpirit will not allow him to fubmit the decilion of any matters in difpute to two or three of his ra- tional neighbors. The one half of mankind fublift and grow opulent by the fiupidity, wickednefs, and folly of the other : man is man's natural prey; and he that has the befl talents will be beil: fed. Be this as it may, we think, when our fyftem takes place, mankind will not fuffer any great lofs by the demolition of this learned tribe. It is faid of a wife Emperor, when on a vi- iit to this and a neighboring kingdom, P whers ( 2IO ) where he attended the courts ofjujlket '* that *' he declared he had but two lawyers in *« his kingdom, and that he would hang up ** one of them as Jo on as he got homey Obr hiftorians record one of our parliaments that obtained the title of the holy 'parliament^ be- caufe there was not one lawyer that had a feat in it, — — But thefe are fentiments and jfuggeftioRS moft unworthy, and can be on- ly excufed by the favagenefs and barbarity of thofe times. 153. Touching the fecond of the learned profeffions, it has ever been a moot point, whether it has not, at all times, and in all nations, been rather injurious than benefi- cial to mankind i and it has been efleemed a mark of the bell regulated governments, where the feweft of this tribe have been to- lerated : but this mud have been in barba- rous times too. 154. With regard to the next fix tribes upon the lift, and their confederates, we^ in Chriftian charity, congratulate them up- on the inexpreffible joy and comfort they muft experience, upon the n^ar profped: of being freed from that daily load of guilt which muft opprefs and be a heavy weight upon their coniciences, for poifonng their fello'w^ ( 211 ) felJow-fiibjeBs : an unhappy necelTity this, which they labor under, in order to fuit their liquors and eatables to the vitiated tafte of their cufiomers. As the profeiTors of thefe crafts are generally men ikilled in 'cunning devices, we earneftly recommend them to turn their genius to the improve- ment of their country's manufad:ures and agriculture, in which necelTary branches hands are wanting: moving in thefe falu- tary fpheres, they would become an univer- fal benefit and honor to their country ; whereas hitherto they have only been the dangerous inftruments of deftrud;ion to their fpecies. But now, they will (ibme of them at leafl:) be the happy inftruments of increafe in every fpecies of grain, fo ef- fential to the life of man; and thereby make fome atonement for the immenle quantities confumed in fiery difliliations, compoii- tions, and potations, calculated for no oiher purpofe but to burn out, ivtth wichd fpeed^ the thread of human life. 155. Refpeding the butchers, who merit a paragraph to themfelves, as being a tribe for whom we find ourfelves more deeply concerned than for all the reft put together, becaufe humanity and tender feelingshQ- ing their peculiar charadieriflic, what muil they not endure, at iinriing themfelves un- P 2 der ( 212 ) der the fatal neceflity of daily, nay hourly, fhedding torrents of innocent blood, to gra- tify the unnatural appetites of man ? We folemnly protefl, that we think there are no fpecies of mankind more the objects of commiferation ; ^we have known many of the mofl confcientious among them deeply and pioufly lament, that ever t^c trade of killing and butchering the animal creation was transferred from the priejihood, by whom it was firft fet up.—- — But we trufl the time is not far diftant, when we fhall be able to felicitate their being relieved from their Janguinary tajky for which we are moft fenfible they entertain a well-root- ed and righteous averlion:— when that happy day arrives, we warmly recommend to them to turn bakers^ for which craft an increafe of profefTors will be much wanted; and, to atone in fome degree for the deluges of innocent blood they have fpilt, we ear- neftly intreat that they will put a flop — ^-* to the adulteration of breads that necefTary ftafFof life, In recompence for the pre- fent difficulties and inconveniencies which every one of thefe tribes will be liable to at their firft fetting off from their old track, we will ftart one fuggeftion of comfort^ which will be applicable to them all, and to all mankind; whatfoever property they may be pofTeiTed cf when our general fyftem commences. ( 213 ) commences, it will be preferved to them for the noble purpofes of fupport for them- felves and families, and to dirtribute in a and no longer fwear to the belief and obfervance of tenets which they neither can, or do believe or obferve j nor prefume to be endued with powers which they know they have not, and which they ialfo know belong to no being on earth. Thefe, and many more dregs of Paganifm and Popery, which we ilill erroneouOy re- tain, they will afiuredly call: away from us ; and thus — on the whole, we fhould become a new people : by quick gradations the pure fpirit of Chrif;% dcdrines would take root in our hearts; po'vuer v^o\AA no longer conr flitute iht rule of jiijiice'f \ht primitive truths and the primitive age would be reftored; mankind, who has from that period hither- to been, by nature, principle, and pradlice, *Dery devils, would revert to a perfed: fenfe of their original dignity and angelic fource, and no longer difgrace it; all jarring feds would be reconciled ; peace and harmony would return to the earth ; an effedual ftop would be put to the carnage of man and brute} and all united, would produce a Jure and happy tranf migration to eternity.— — - Great Britain and Ireland would blaze out as the torch of right eoufnefs to all the world; her.nations would profper; her people be happy; their pious fame would be cauiht { 223 ) caught by their neighboring ftates, and .from thence be fpread over the face of the whole earth J and the Kingdom of Sa- tan WOULD BE NO MORE*' i6i. We are moft fenfible, that in this age of diffipation, infidelity, and fenfuality, our labors and fyftem will be deemed by the diflblute and unthinking part of man- kind, utterly chimerical and impradicable: be it fo 5 it Is not from thofe we expedt a reform : our hopes reft on the efforts of the many, who, although they fwim with the •current of vice, have yet at heart a reve* fence for the fublirne truths of religion and morality, and would gladly join in {lem- ming the tide, hov/foever they are, by a fatal complacence, borne down by the pre- vailing torrent of folly and fafhion : would t/jefe but exert their powers in the caufe of virtue ; thq/e would foon be afliamed of be- ing out of the mode. -The marks of the divine difpleafure which hovers round us are tremendous ! we know not how foon they may light upon us; therefore let us, by a general reform, effedlualiy deprecate the *' peftilence that walketh in darknefs," and thereby excite our GoD to *' give his *' angels charge over us." 162. Thus (224 ) 162. Thus we have finlfhed a DifTerta- tion, begun from no other motives but the glory of Gody and the prefent and future good of all fnankindy and the rejl of the animal in- telligent beings : it mult be allowed that our attempt is laudable, howfoever imper- fed: the execution.—^ — And now we take our final leave of the Public, to whom fome apology is due, for the tardy performance of our engagement, owing to unavoidable Hindrances, as, bad health, a neceffity for ehange of climate, 5cci 1^3. We could have fwelled the iize of our book with the addition of many more learned quotations and notes, from aticient and modern productions, to illuftrate and fupport our fyftem; but, as we benefit not ourfelves in any fljape by the fale of our pub- lications, fo we have ftudioufly avoided taxing the Public for the emolument of our bookfeller. 164. Before we put an abfolute finis to our work, we think fome apology is al- fo due to thofe individuals amongll our readers, who, either from a weak mind, hard head, or foft and tender confcience, may poffibly be offended with fome parts of our dodrines which bear a tendency fo dia- metrically oppofite to the fenfual paffions and '( 225 ) and appetites of one clafs, and to others (a repugnant to the opimons they have imbibed in the early ftages of life, which they have been taught to cherifh, and look upon as orthodox and eftablifhed articles of faith:— ^ to fuchweonly recommend, that they would endeavor to enlarge their intelledtuals, by diverting their fouls of all prejudice^ and thinking for themfelves ; and then we reft aifured that we fhall ftand exculpated from all intention o'i Q^QWQt. We have alrea- dy had occafion, more than once, to affert, that our great and leading motive for this ElTay was the revival of the primitive Truths, as the only fure bads for the re- ftoration of morals and true religion ^ and with this principle we clofe : conceiving, at the fame time, that our laudable endea- vors muft fhare the fame fate with thofe of others (much more equal to a tafk of this nature) and prove abortive of the end pro- pofed, whilft a common error in the politi- cal inflitutes of all nations fublifts, namely, the provifion of penal laws for the public puniflimeiit of vice, without eflablifliing laws for cne encouragement and public re- v/ard of virtue. The principles of fhame, and thirft of applaufe, fo firmly implanted in every human breaft, feem to have been utterly neglected, whilft they might, in the hands of a wife legiflator or adminiftration, be converted to the moft fa- Q^ lutary ( 226 ) lutary purpofes of every well-governed ftate* . Some iinivcrfal caufes there mud be^ why every age proves more depraved than the laft : fome of the moft fatal w^e have occafionally marked in the body of our work, but the political error above noticed is not amongft the leaft— The tendency of all human laws feems calculated, not to make mankind better^ but to prevent their growing ^orfi: how ineffeaual all penal laws have proved to anfwer this partial pur- pofe, every day's experience evinces; and yet we perfevere without varying our fyftem, although thereby we tacitly give up the caufe of humanity i declaring in effea, that human nature is incapable of amendment, without trying whether in fad it is fo, or not.- ■ God himfelf has pointed out a fhort inftitute of laws for man's example, which man has never yet followed ; he has decreed funipment for fm, and rewards^ for rio-hteoumefs : man puniihes evil ^^1^)118, but rewards not good ones, by any eftablifh- ed laws : herein God proves himfelf a jz/y/ judge, and man fhews himfeif an imjufi one, by leaving virtuous adions to their own re- ward in this life, in the breaft only of the poffeffor; which, In general, proves but a weak excitement to univerfal pra(Slice. — All government is luppofed to have taken its rife from parental authority : although the juft parent, in imitation ot God, chaftiies 5 ( 227 ) the faults of his children, yet he rewards them for being good, notwithftandingduty and their own interelt, prompt them to be fo, for their own fakes.— -Hence it is moft obvious, that in the eftabliOied laws of all nations, legiflators have deviated from the invariable csconomy of God, as well as from the firft maxims of human govern- ment in the world, in punidiing crimes Without e/lablifhing laws, either pecumary or honorary, or both, for the reward and en- couragement of virtue, in whatfoever ob- jeds or lights (he may appear—Herein alfo^ we would Simulate the legiflatare of our country to take the lead to Europe: let vir- tue be honored and rewarded by authority and vice would foon fall into difelleem, as Unprofitable, We make no apology to the Public for the matter of our E%, but as many inad- vertencies may have elbaped us in the exe- cution refpeding want of flrid: connec- tion didion, &c. for thefe we rely on the good-nature and indulgence of the learned World :— we have wrote from the full con- yidion of our heart and underftandin^ : therefore, fhould our ftile fometimes apoear too dogmatic and dictatorial, we hope (the caufe conlidered) candor will kindly over- look It. ' Wilford Haven, near Haverford Weff- -South Wak«, ift Nov. j-70. FINIS. y