Chapter XI (4)

The concurrent evidence of a variety of passages of Scripture respecting the existence of Satan, ind his interference in human concerns, have been rejected with singular and pertinacious audacity, solely upon the ground that the whole of these representations must be figurative, because they are not consonant to _human reason_--which seems to be a very dignified sort of personage, assuming to herself the right of calling revelation to her bar, and disposing at pleasure of the doctrines of Heaven. As, however, truth will always bear investigation, it may not be improper to devote a few additional pages to this subject, with a view of satisfying; the humble inquirer, that sound sense and divine testimony are really and entirely coincident.

Whatever is revealed it becomes us to believe, and simply on this account, that it _is revealed_; if the subject of the revelation be mysterious or incomprehensible, this does not annul our obligation implicitly to believe it, because sufficient reasons may exist in the Eternal Mind for the concealment of its nature, or it may surpass the comprehension of our limited capacities; but if it be naturally capable of investigation--if it be not only a fact, but a fact in proof of which evidences may be adduced, and explanations furnished, our minds cannot be better employed, than in thus superinducing substantial evidence or vivid probability upon the testimony of divine inspiration.

I. It is highly reasonable to suppose, that there are beings of a distinct and superior order to ourselves in the universe. Nothing can be more improbable than to imagine that this earth is the only inhabited region of universal empire, the only peopled province in the creation of God; especially when we observe that it forms but one, and that a small globe of matter belonging to a system in which others, and some very superior bodies, are found moving round the came centre, and legulated by similar laws; and that this whole system itself is but one out of ten thousand others that constitute the heavenly constellations, and "pave the shining way to the divine abode."

The productions of Infinite Wisdom are wonderfully diversified. In the present world we have an opportunity of observing them only in the descending scale, from man, the summit of creation, down through all the gradations of animal existence, to the scarcely discernible insects that flit in the summer sunbeams, and to the minuter world of microscopic discovery. But analogy would lead us to infer, that there may be beings in the vast dominion of universal space as much superior to man as man himself is superior to insects or animalculæ. It is not probable that creative power should cease to operate precisely at the point where human existence commences; and especially as _mind_ admits of incalculable diversity in the extent of its energies and capacities, and as it is found in all cases to possess a power of improvement and expansion, it is likely, under other circumstances and in other worlds, it may he inconceivably superior to the highest elevation it his ever attained in this lower region. Hence we infer the great probabilily of angelic existence.

II. It is reasonable to suppose, that superior intelligences were constituted free agents, and capable therefore of retaining or forfeiting their primeval character and happiness, for this is the evident lay of the rational creation, so far it comes within the limits of our observation. If this be the case, some of these beings may probably have misused their liberty, and become depraved and corrupt. It is essential to the notion of free agency, to suppose this possible, and though from the infinite benignity of the Divine Being, we should infer that he would _create_ them holy and happy, we cannot conclude they must _necessarily_ be _preserved_ in such a state. There is nothing in the nature of the blessed God, as a just and holy Being, to require this, no obligation to do so resulting from the mere circumstance of their being thus created, and nothing, in a perfect system of holy government, to demand it. Indeed, quite the reverse, because it is natural to infer, that the subjects of divine government, however elevated in character and condition, should be responsible to their Ruler, and liberty of thought and action, the power of choice, and refusal of obedience and disobedience, is essential to responsibility. There may, therefore, probably exist unholy or evil spirits, such as have not kept their first estate, and consequently amenable to righteous laws, and proper objects of punishment.

III. As it is reasonable to suppose that the government of God may admit of the existence of fallen and evil spirits, as well as those of a more honourable class, it is equally so to conclude, that a similar or analogous variety of talent, capacity, and guilt may obtain to that which we observe in the constitution of other intelligent creatures both good and evil, in this world. Wicked men are not satisfied to be sought by criminals, they have no wish to be alone in sin but are uniformly anxious to seduce others into the perpetration of those iniquities which they themselves have dared to commit. The first action of Eve after her transgression, was to hand the forbidden fruit to her husband, and persuade him to eat, and it is the earliest wish of a rebellious heart to involve others in the guilt and misery of their own deeds, partly for the sake of concealing their enormity, by diverting the eye from observing the awful proportions of then individual offences, and partly to acquire encouragement and support in the commission of yet unpractised crimes. Hence "_one_ sinner destroyeth much good." According to his capacity or opportunity he becomes the centre of a large circle of impious association, he sways inferior minds, and forms them into so many satellites round his person, who individually acquire a lustre from his pre-eminence, and feel the attraction of his base superiority. Hence the world of wickedness is ruled by an incalculable number of petty princes, who each assume independent empire, but all combine to carry on eternal war against the order of providence, the good of society, and the glory of God,

It is not absurd, then, to conclude, that a similar diversity prevails amongst evil beings of a superior class, that some may be far more atrocious in their characters than others, and more capacitated to do extensive mischief. It is equally likely, that their influence over other evil spirits may be proportioned to these circumstances, and that their example or advice may excite to deeds of infernal daring. These considerations would eventually conduct us to the probability of the existence of one, pre-eminent above the rest in crime and in capacity, who may influence the several chiefs of the infernal empire, as they exercise a power over inferior demons; or that Satan, or the devil, is "the prince of the power of the air."

IV. The _invisible_ nature of diabolical agency can be no sufficient objection to its existence. Admitting that there are other proofs, this circumstance could not diminish their force, much less destroy their evidence. It must be granted, that without other proofs it would be a radical objection, because in such a case the whole statement would he gratuitous and conjectural. If it were allowable to suppose such an agency, it might be equally so to refuse admitting it; every one may be amused or not with a pure fiction, an imaginary creation. But do not plead, that the invisibility of diabolical agency is any proof or any presumption of its reality; but simply that it is no objection, that it has no power to neutralize the evidence produced, and that unbelievers have no authority, on this account, to treat the subject with that profane and impertinent ridicule, which is a mere commonplace artifice to evade unwelcome convictions.

God is invisible--but is this any argument against his being? The human soul is invisible--is this a proof that it does not exist? The magnetic influence cannot be seen--is this a reason that it does not operate? Are the opinions or philosophers deduced from the analogies of nature, that suns and stars and systems occupy the distant regions of space, which have never yet been penetrated by the best constructed telescopes, rendered improbable by the allegation, that no eye and no instrument can discern them? The existence and operations of the devil are admitted to be invisible to sense, and in many cases, perhaps, difficult of investigation by reason--what then? Nothing.

V. The supposition that the operation of invisible spirits is secret and imperceptible to ourselves, cannot be adduced as demonstrative against its reality. What is more difficult to ascertain than the operation of our own minds, and the motives by which we are impelled? Nor is it difficult only to trace the process of reasoning that has led us to any particular conclusion, and to recall the fleeting thoughts flinch have passed through the mind in rapid succession, so as to tell how we came to be influenced to a certain conclusion; but we often cannot discover what external objects or what incidental circumstances, first directed us into the inquiry, or led to the result.

Still more inconceivable is the manner in which spirit operates upon spirit, where there is no external agency; and it is inconceivable, because of our little experience on the subject, and because the usual modes of impression are through the medium of sense. The ear, the eye, the touch, convey impressions to the spirit; but when neither are sensibly affected, we cannot trace the influence exercised upon us, although it is highly irrational to deny its possibility. Besides, we know that "God, who is a Spirit, operates upon our souls at times and under circumstances, when we are unconscious of this influence; and, if we had no evidence from Scripture, reason must admit that such an operation is not improbable."

The only objection which can arise here, is that of supposing the evil spirit in any respects independent of God; a supposition, however, which is not to be charged upon the advocates of diabolical agency. "It is evident," says Dr. Leland, "to the common sense of mankind, that there is a vast difference between the supposition of an almighty and independent evil being, a supposition full of absurdity and horror; and that of an inferior dependent being, who was made originally pure and upright, but fell by his own voluntary defection into vice and wickedness; and who, though permitted in many instances to do mischief, and to act according to his evil inclinations, as wicked men are often permitted to do in this present state, yet are still under the sovereign control of the most holy, wise, and powerful Governor of the world. For, in this case, we may be sure, from the divine wisdom, justice, and goodness, that God will, in the fittest season, inflict a punishment upon that evil being and his associates, proportionable to their crimes; and that in the mean time, he setteth bounds to their malice and rage, and provideth sufficient assistance for those whom they endeavour to seduce to evil, whereby they may be enabled to repel their temptations, if it be not their own faults; and that he will in his superior wisdom bring good out of their evil, and overrule even their malice and wickedness, for promoting the great ends of his government, This is the representation made to us of this matter in the Holy Scripture, nor is there any thing in this that can be proved to be contrary to sound reason. And we may justly conclude, that in the final issue of things, the wisdom as well as righteousness of this part of the divine administration will most illustriously appear."

END.

Footnotes

[1]: Compare Ps. cxxxii. 11. Isa. xi. 1. Jer. xxiii 5, and xxxiii. 15. Gen. xii. 3, xxii. 18, xxvi. 4, and xxviii. 14.

[2]: Lowth's Isaiah, ch. xi. translation and notes, VOL. II.

[3]: DODDRIDGE.

[4]: There are, according to the Jews, four angels that surround the throne of God--Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel. The latter they place, conformably with his expression to Zacharias, [Hebrew], _before him_, or _in his presence._

[5]: The Ethiopic version, instead of "in those days," renders the expression in the thirty-ninth verse of 1st chap. of Luke, "in that day."

[6]: Selden. Uxor. Heb. lib. ii. cap. 1.

[7]: This remarkable time cannot be stated with any certainty. The earliest antiquity determines nothing upon the subject. Towards the end of the second, or beginning of the third century only, was this attempted; when those who were most curious in their researches fixed it about the twentieth of May. Clemens Alexandrinus thinks that it was the twenty-eighth year after the battle of Actium; that is, the 41st year of Augustus; but Joseph Scaliger places it in his forty-second year; and, after a most laborious investigation, shows that Christ was born about the autumnal equinox, the latter end of September, or beginning of October. SCALIG. Animad. ad Chron. Euseb. p. 174, et seq.--It was not till the fourth century that this great event was believed to have occurred on the twenty-fifth of December. They have not failed to assign what they deemed important reasons for this decision. As the sun, they say, is then beginning to rise on our hemisphere, and again to approach our pole, it is the proper period to which the rising of the Sun of Righteousness should be referred. The Romans have another reason, deduced from the preceding. At the return of the sun the feast of the Saturnalia was celebrated at Rome. It was thought proper to substitute in the place of this feast, which was distinguished by its profane rejoicings, that of our Saviour's birth, for the purpose of inducing the people to separate joy from riot. It is, however, the _event_, and not the _day_, we celebrate. Comp. SAURIN, Discours Historiques, Critiques, &c. continuez par Beausobre, tom. ix. p. 146-148, 8vo.

[8]: Compare Lev. xii. 2, 4, 6, 8. Numb. viii. 16, 17. xviii. 15, 16. Five shekels amounted to about twelve shillings and sixpence of our money.

[9]: "This (_wise men_ from the East) is not only an indefinite, but an improper version of the term. It is indefinite, because those called [Greek: magoi] were a particular class, party, or profession among the Orientals, as much as Stoics, Peripatetics, and Epicureans were among the Greeks. They originated in Persia, but afterward spread into other countries, particularly into Assyria and Arabia, bordering upon Judea on the East. It is probable that the Magians here mentioned came from Arabia. Now to employ a term for specifying one sect, which may with equal propriety be applied to fifty, of totally different, or even contrary opinions, is surely a vague way of translating. It is also, in the present acceptation of the word, improper. Formerly the term _wise men_ denoted philosophers, or men of science and erudition: it is hardly ever used so now, unless in burlesque. Some say _Magi_; but _Magians_ is better, as having more the form of an English word." CAMPBELL'S Translation of the Four Gospels, vol. ii. _notes_.

[10]:
"Salvete, flores Martyrum,
Quos, lusis ipso in limine,
Christi insecutor sustulit,
Ceu turbo nascentes rosas.

Vos, prima Christi victima,
Grex immolatorum tener,
Aram ante ipsam, simplices,
Palma et coronis luditis."

[11]: Bishop Horne.

[12]: Josephus has given an affecting account of this awful death. Vide Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. 6. and Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 33.

[13]: So say the Jews, [Hebrew] _the passover of women is arbitrary_.

[14]: Misn. Sanhedrin c. v. sec. 4. ap. GILL in loc.

[15]: _At my Father's_ [Greek: en tois toupatros mou] Syriac [Hebrew], _in domo patris mei_. The Armenian version renders the words in the same manner. It has been justly observed that [Greek: ta tou deinoas] is a Greek idiom, not only with classical writers, but with the sacred penmen, for denoting the house of such a person.... Campbell.

[16]: Judg. xi. 12. 2 Sam. xvi. 10. I Kings xvii. 18. 2 Kings iii. 13. and ix. 19. _Sept. translation_,

[17]: Blackwall observes, "'Tis the opinion of some learned men, that the holy Jesus, the most tender and dutiful Son that ever was born, when he called his mother plainly _woman_, declared against those idolatrous honours which he foresaw would be paid her in latter ages, which is no improbable guess. But in the more plain and unceremonious times it was a title applied to ladies of the greatest quality and merit by people of the greatest humanity and exactness of behaviour. So Cyrus the Great says to the queen of the Armenians, [Greek: Alla su a gunai]: and servants addressed queens and their mistresses in the same language." Blackwall's Sacred Classics, V. ii. p. 206. _second edit_.

[18]: These water-pots contained two or three _baths_ apiece. A bath was about seven gallons and a half.

[19]: Bishop Hall.

[20]: Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. vol. i. p. 432. ii. 56, 71.

[21]: Bossuet, Serm. pour la Fête de la Conception.

[22]: The bishop of Meux, who has been already quoted, does not fail to suggest some delectable additions to her titles. He speaks in one of his discourses of her "sacred body, the throne of chastity, the temple of incarnate wisdom," &c. but the whole paragraph shall be introduced, though perhaps it had better remain untranslated:--"Le corps sacrè de Marie, le trône de la chastité, le temple de la sagesse incarneé, l'organe du Saint-Esprit, et le siége de la vertu du Très-Haut, n'a pas dû demeurer dans le tombeau; et le triomphe de Marie seroit imperfait, s'il s'accomplissoit sans sa sainte chair, qui a été comme la source de sa gloire. Venez done, Vierges de Jésus Christ, chastes épouses du Sauveur des ames, venez admirer les beautés de cette chair virginale, et contempler trois merveilles que la sainte virginité opère sur elle. La sainte virginité la préserve de corruption; et ainsi elle lui conserve l'être: la sainte virginité lui attire une influence céleste, qui la fait ressusciter avant le temps: ainsi elle lui rend la vie: la sainte virginité répand sur elle de toutes parts une lumière divine; et ainsi elle lui donne la gloire. C'est ce qu'il nous faut expliquer par ordre;" and he _does_ explain these _trois merveilles_ in a manner well calculated to satisfy every Papist, and to sicken every Protestant. Vide _Serm. pour l'Assumpt. de la Vierge_, P. 2.

[23]: Quoted by M. Pascal, in the ninth of his "Lettres Provinciales." Consult also "the Life of Melancthon," by the author of this work, chap. iii.

[24]: Picart, Ceremonies et Coutumes de tous les Peuples da Monde, tom. i.

[25]: Dr. Johnson

[26]: Dr. Johnson.

[27]: Gen. xxxiii. 18, 19, Josh. xxiv. 32. This place was the metropolis of the tribe of Ephraim. It was destroyed by Abimelech, but rebuilt by Jeroboam, who made it the seat of the kingdom of Israel. It was afterward called _Neapolis_; and Vespasian or Domitian having established a colony there, it received the Roman appellation of _Flavia Cesarea_. Herod gave it the name of _Sebaste_.

[28]: It stood two hundred years. JOSEPH. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 18.

[29]: JUST. MART. Apol. II.

[30]: "_Living water, [Greek: udos chon]. It may surprise an English reader, unacquainted with the Oriental idiom, that this woman, who appears by the sequel to have totally misunderstood our Lord, did not ask what he meant by _living water,_ but proceeded on the supposition that she understood him perfectly; and only did not conceive how, without some vessel for drawing and containing that water, he could provide her with it to drink. The truth is, the expression is ambiguous. In the most familiar acceptation, _living water_ meant no more than running water. In this sense, the water of springs and rivers would be denominated _living_, as that of cisterns and lakes would be called _dead_, because motionless. Thus, Gen. xxvi. 19. we are told, that Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. It is _living water,_ both in the Hebrew and the Greek, as marked on the margin of our Bibles. Thus also Lev. xiv. 5. what is rendered _running water_ in the English Bible, is in both these languages _living water_. Nay, this use was not unknown to the Latins, as may be proved from Virgil and Ovid. In this passage, however, our Lord uses the expression in the more sublime sense of divine teaching, but was mistaken by the woman as using it in the popular acceptation." CAMPBELL'S Trans. of the Four Gospels, vol. ii. p. 518, _notes_.

[31]: "It is no unusual practice with the Jews; we often have heard of it. R. Jonathan and R. Jannai were sitting together; there came a certain man, [Hebrew], and _kissed the feet_ of R. Jonathan." Again, "R. Meir stood up, and Bar Chama, [Hebrew], _kissed his knees_, or _feet_. This custom was also used by the Greeks and Romans, among their civilities and in their salutations." GILL in loc. Consult also HARMER'S Observations, vol. ii. chap. 6.

[32]: ROBINSON.

[33]: "There is in these denominations no inconsistency. By birth she was of _Syrophenicia_, so the country about Tyre and Sidon was denominated, by descent of _Canaan_, as most of the Tyrians and Sidonians originally were; and by religion a _Greek_, according to the Jewish manner of distinguishing between themselves and idolaters. Ever since the Macedonian conquests, Greek became a common name for idolater, or at least one uncircumcised, and was held equivalent to Gentile. Of this we have many examples in Paul's epistles, and in the Acts. _Jews and Greeks_, [Greek: Ellenes], are the same with _Jews and Gentiles_" CAMPBELL'S Transl. of the Gospels in loc. _notes_.

[34]: The question has been often agitated, whether the possessions of the New Testament are to be ascribed to demoniacal influence, or whether they are so represented in conformity to the popular prejudices of the age, being in reality nothing more than diseases. Surely a distinct existence must be attributed to these, as evil spirits, when we consider their number, the actions particularly ascribed to them, the conversation which they held respecting themselves, the Son of God, and their own destiny, the desires and passions they are represented as manifesting, and various other circumstances of their history. Is it credible, that a mere _disease_ should be said to have addressed Christ in such language as the following: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Comp. Matt. viii. 29, and the succeeding verses.

[35]: Bishop Hall.

[36]: Bishop Hall

[37]: Doddridge on the Care of the Soul.

[38]: The whole narrative is contained in the eleventh chapter of John, and this reference in the fifth verse.

[39]: Three hundred Roman pence, or denarii, amount to about _nine pounds seven shillings and sixpence_ sterling.

[40]: Bishop Hall.

[41]: The farthing was a _quadrant_, or fourth part of a Roman _assis_, a coin of similar value with the [Greek: tetartchmorion] of the Greeks, or the fourth part of an obolus (the least Athenian coin,) that is, two brass pieces. These were the same with the _prutas_ of the Jews, two of which make a _quardrant_.

[42]: Barrow's Works, vol. i. p. 457, fol.

[43]: Paley's Moral Philosophy, vol. i. p. 254--257.

[44]: Sermon on the Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor.

[45]: Acts xvi. "Philippi was a city of Macedonia near the confines of Thrace. It lies near the sea, as it were at the head of the Archipelago. It was so named from Philip, king' of Macedon, who repaired and enlarged it; but its more ancient name was Dathos. It was also called Crenides from its numerous springs, whence flowed the river mentioned Acts xvi. 13; [Greek: krene], _kreenee_, in Greek meaning a spring. Julius Cæsar is said to have planted there a Roman colony; and the neighbourhood of Philippi was the scene of conflict between him and Pompey, and afterward between his assassinators, Brutus and Cassius, and his partizans, Antony and Octavius. It is said still to retain some monuments of its former splendour, although it is much depopulated and sunk to decay." Bevan's Life of the Apostle Paul, p. 367.

[46]: For information on the subject of proselytes, consult Dr. Gill's "Dissertation concerning the Baptism of Jewish Proselytes," chap. i. in vol. iii, of his Body of Divinity.

[47]: GREGORY'S Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of the Christian Religion, vol. ii. pp. 127, 128.

[48]: Bp. Taylor's Holy Living, Chap. i. sect. 3.

[49]: The purple die is called in I Maccab. iv. 23, _purple of the sea,_ or _sea purple_; it being the blood or juice of a turbinated shell-fish, which the Jews call [Hebrew] _Chalson_; this they speak of as a shell-fish. Hence those words 'Go and learn of the _Chalson_, for all the while it grows, its shell grows with it:' and that purple was died with the blood of it, appears from the following instances: _The best fruits in the land_, Gen. xliii. 11, are interpreted, the things that are the most famous in the world, as the Chalson, _&c,_ with whose blood, as the gloss on the passage says, they die purple: and the purple died with this was very valuable, and fetched a good price. The tribe of _Zebulon_ is represented as complaining to God, that he had given to their brethren fields and vineyards, to them mountains and hills; to their brethren lands, to them seas and rivers: to which it is replied, All will stand in need of thee because of Chalson; as it is said, Deut. xxxiii. 19 _They shall suck of the abundance of the seas_; the gloss upon it, interpreting the word _Chalson_ is, it comes out of the sea to the mountains, and with its blood they die purple, which is sold at a very dear price.... It may be further observed, that the fringes which the Jews wore upon their garments, had on them a riband of blue or purple. Numb. xv. 38, for the word there used is by the Septuagint rendered _the purple_, in Numb. iv. 7, and sometimes _hyacinth_; and the whole fringe was by the Jews called [Hebrew], _purple_. Hence it is said, 'Does not every one that puts on the purple (i.e. the fringes on his garments) in Jerusalem make men to wonder? and a little after, the former saints or religious men, when they had wove in it (the garment) three parts, they put on it [Hebrew], _the purple_. And there were persons who traded in these things, and were called, [Hebrew], _sellers of purple_, as here; that is, for the _tzitzith_, or fringes for the borders of the garments, on which the riband of blue or purple was put, as the gloss explains it. The Jews were very curious about the colour and the dying of it, that it should be a colour that would hold and not change, and that the riband be died on purpose for that use. Maimonides gives rules for the dying of it, and they were no less careful of whom they bought it; for they say that _the purple_ was not to be bought, but of an approved person, or one that was authorized for that purpose; and a scruple is raised by one, whether he had done right or no in buying it of the family of a doctor deceased. Now, since Lydia might be a Jewess, or, at least, as appears by what follows, was a proselytess of the Jewish religion, this might he her business, to sell the purple for their fringes, and, it may be, the fringes themselves. GILL in loc.

[50]: Eighth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society.

[51]: Herod. Euterpe.

[52]: Tacit. de Moribus Germanoram, chap, xviii. xix.

[53]: Tacit. Hist.

[54]: Xenophon.

[55]: Plut. in Solone.

[56]: DIONYSUS HALICARN. ii. c. 25.

[57]: Cranz's Greenland.

[58]: Georgi's Description of the Russian Nations. Weber's Russia.

[59]: Consult Steller.

[60]: Weber and Georgi.

[61]: Clarke's Travels, part i. p. 35, 4to.

[62]: Thornton's Present State of Turkey, (1807) 4to. p. 376.

[63]: Collin's Voyages, 1807, p. 152.

[64]: Peyssonel II. p. 246.

[65]: Quart. Rev. May, 1811, p. 330.

[66]: Inquiry into the Origin of Ranks.

[67]: Voyage en Chine de l'Ambassade Hollandaise, vol. ii. p. 116, _et seq_.

[68]: Barrow's China, p. 141, 541.

[69]: P. Du Halde, vol. i. 278.

[70]: P, Du Halde, vol. in. p. 211.

[71]: Barrow's China, p. 145.

[72]: Ibid. p. 518.

[73]: Edinburgh Rev. July, 1809, p. 428, 429.

[74]: It may be proper to observe, that the Hindoos never bury their dead; but if they can afford it, always burn them. If they be too poor, or the person be rendered unclean by some incurable disease, they are either thrown into a river or left on the ground to be devoured.

[75]: A kind of celestial beings, which are fabled by the Hindoos.

[76]: it is not generally known, that women, in certain cases, burn themselves with any part of their husbands' effects, as a substitute for him; but on inquiry of my Pundit, whether this be now practised, he assured me it was, and that he had himself seen many instances of it.

[77]: _Shraddha_, or _Pinda_, is an offering made to the manes of any deceased person, on an appointed day after his or her death. It consists of rice, and other article, often made into cakes, and is continued annually for seven generations by all his or her descendants, called _Sapinda_, and in some cases to fourteen generations by all the descendants, who, when beyond the seventh generation, are called _Sakoolya_.

[78]: The following law, from the same book, will show how uncleanness for death or birth must be observed in the different casts: viz. If a person die, or if a child be born, the _Sapinda_ shall be unclean ten days for a _Brahmman_, twelve for a _Kshetra_, fifteen for a _Bysha_, and one month for a _Soodra_: during which time they can make no offering to their ancestors or the gods.

[79]: _Dospinda_ an inferior offering made to the manes.

[80]: This may happen if her own son be an infant, or very far off, or if she have no son.

[81]: The Hindoos believe the metemphsychosis, and say that certain diseases, as mahabhead, consumptions, and some others; also dreadful accidents, such as being killed by a _Brahmman_; and great sin, such as killing a Brahmman, are the fruit of sins committed in a former life.

[82]: A person with such diseases, accidents, or sins cannot have the rite of burning his body performed till an offering of atonement has been made, which qualifies him for having his obsequies performed; viz. _Dahon_ or burning (in which case the wife may die with him,) and the _Shraddha_, or _Pinda_. This, however, does not gain such on one admission into bliss, which is only done by the _Sahemaron_, or the wife's dying with him.

[83]: Bap. Period. Accounts, vol. i. No. 6, p. 473-476.

[84]: Bapt. Period. Accounts, No. xvii. p. 324.

[85]: Cordiner's Description of Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 16.

[86]: History of Sumatra, 4to. 1811, p. 257, 381, 382.

[87]: Vogel, p. 649. Voyages des Hollandois, i. 349.

[88]: Turnbull's Voyage round the World, p. 6.

[89]: Turnbull, p. 11.

[90]: Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. ii. p. 333, 434, 455, 4to. 1815.

[91]: Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 79, _n_. and 472, _n_.

[92]: Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. p. 173, _n_.

[93]: Dampier, ii. p. 6. 86. Forster's Voyage, i. p. 212. ii. p. 71. Meiners, vol. i. p. 80.

[94]: Arvieux, i. p. 229, 230. Meiners, vol. i. p. 96.

[95]: Lewis and Clark's Travels up the Missouri, p. 33, 34. 4to. 1814.

[96]: Seventh Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1811, p. 59.

[97]: Some Account of New Zealand, 1807, p. 13.

[98]: Maggil's Account of Tunis, p. 92.

[99]: Jackson's Account of the Empire of Morocco, 4to, 1809, p. 152.

[100]: Brown's Travels in Africa, &c. 2d ed. 4to. 1806, p. 335, 339.

[101]: Park's Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, Sic. 4to. 1799, p. 39.

[102]: Durand's Voyage to Senegal, p. 104, 105.

[103]: Park's Travels, p. 157.

[104]: Park's Travels, p. 226, 267.

[105]: Park's Travels p. 347.

[106]: Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa, second edit. 1806, vol. i. p. 159.

[107]: Barrow's Travels, vol. i. p. 206.

[108]: Dampier, ii. p. 86.

[109]: Des Marchais, ii. p. 178.

[110]: Labat, ii. p. 299. Adanson, p. 32. Oldendorp, i. p. 376.

[111]: Meiners, i. p. 52--54.

[112]: Cavazzi, ii. p. 123. Meiners, i. p. 59, 69. See also Rees's Cyclopædie, and Encyclop. Brit, under the word's _Ansiko, Anthropophagi, Batta_. Marsden's Hist, of Sumatra, 3d ed. 4to. 1811, p. 390-395, & 463.

[113]: This subject has been already more than once remarked upon this work. See vol. i. p. 21 and 255.

[114]: Paley's Mor. Philos. vol. i. p. 3. ch. vi. & vii.

[115]: Plutarch in Rom. I. p. 123. Livy II. p. 13, 40.