of blood and swine's flesh, and whatever dies of itself, or is strangled, or killed by a blow, or by another beast. They are said, however, to comply with the prohibition of gaming (from which chess seems to be excepted) much better than they do with that of wine, under which all strong and inebriating liquors are included; for both the Persians and Turks are in the habit of drinking freely. It were, however, both unreasonable and unjust to charge the practices of any body of people on their principles, where those principles manifestly teach that only which ought to be observed. It is to be feared few Christian sects could stand the test of so severe an ordeal as the trial of their faith as a body, by their works as individuals.

After this general view of the Mohammedan theology, we may enter into more minute details; as well of the Koran, as of the doctrines and practices of its believers.

The language of the Arabs abounds with idioms, often of the most discordant nature. Few languages have suffered greater changes by time, and the communication of those who speak it with strangers, than the Arabic.

The Koran was written in the idiom used at Mecca on this account the Arabs esteem it more than any other idiom used in their country. The Arabic of the Koran. however, according to Mr. Mills, is taught at Mecca like a dead language.

As the different parts of the Koran were written for occasional purposes, mistakes and contradictions were repeatedly made. When circumstances varied, new revelations were necessary; and, therefore, the convenient doctrine of permission to abrogate, as well as to create, was invented.

"The Mussulmen," says Mr. Mills, "have paid as much superstitious attention to the Koran, as the Jews did to the Bible. In imitation of the labours of the Masori, the learned Moslems have computed every word and every letter contained in their sacred volume; and for the purpose of supplying the want of vowels in the Arabic character have introduced vowel points, which ascertain both the pronunciation and meaning of the text. The Mohammedans never read or touch the object of

their veneration, without the legal ablutions having been performed. The Othman emperors, in imitation of the ancient caliphs, generally consider it a religious duty të adorn their exemplars of the Koran with gold and precious stones. It is the comfort of the Mussulman amidst the busy duties of the camp, and it forms the great solace of their domestic toils. Verses from it on their banners incite their martial spirit; and its principal sentences, written on the walls of their mosques, remind them of their social duties. The most ancient manuscripts which are known, are on parchment in the Cufic character of the Arabic language. The modern manuscripts are in the Niskhi mode of writing, on paper curiously prepared from silk, and polished to the highest degree of beauty. The copy which is most admired for the charaeter of its writing and embellishment, formerly belonged to the Turkish sultan, Solyman the Great, and is preserved in the museum Kircherianum, at Rome. In every public library in Europe are to be seen transcripts of the Koran; as the Mussulmen have generally prohibited the Christians from the use of it, most of these manuscripts have been taken in battle. Many of them belonged to princes, and are therefore of exquisite beauty. Some of those which formerly were in the possession of Tippoo Sultan are of peculiar elegance.*

Mr. Mills, after having ably traced the literary history, proceeds to analyse its theological principles at considerable length, and with a pleasing and interesting minuteness of detail.

It has already been stated, that the doctrine of the divine unity is the leading tenet of Islamism; as it was the grand foundation of the Mosaic doctrine and legislation; and is to this day, when rightly understood, the great feature of the Christian dispensation.

It cannot be denied that the Koran teaches this doctrine in a most sublime and energetic strain. The throne of Omnipotence is extended over the whole earth; Creator of all things, his providence is displayed in the vicis

* A beautiful Niskhi manuscript of the Koran, in red and black ink, and most richly illuminated, now in my possession, is entitled, The marrow of interpretations---the cream of commentaries---the down of expositions."

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situdes of the seasons and the revolutions of the world. Neither slumber nor sleep seizeth him---the living, the self-subsisting, the high, the mighty. He makes all nature subservient to the good man; and provides both for creation's lord, and the meanest creature that crawls apon the earth. His rewards are tenfold, and he is ever ready to pardon on the least sign of repentance. He giveth life and putteth to death, and is Almighty. He knoweth that which is past; that which is to come; what the breasts of men contain; and the secrets of futurity.

Such are the sublime sentiments and language of the Koran on this awful doctrine of the divine unity, power, and magnificence.

It seems hardly possible that any popular religion should subsist and flourish, without the doctrines of angels, &c., or of some gradations of spiritual beings between man and his Maker. Accordingly the existence of angels, or beings of a pure and aerial nature, who neither eat nor drink, and whose species is continued by creation, who minister at the throne of God, and both watch the conduct of men and record their actions for judgment, is an article of high import in the Mussulman's creed. Four angels appear to be held in high respect. The angel Gabriel, called the holy spirit; Michael, the angel of revelation and friend of the Jews; Azriel, the angel of death; and Israfeel, the angel of the resurrection. A race of beings, termed jin, or genii, are fancied to exist; but they are less pure than the angels: though aerial, they live like men, and will be judged at the last day. On the creation of mankind pride and envy seized the hearts of Eblis and of a numerous band of followers, who, in the regions of hell, have since mourned the loss of their high estate. "There is not a man or woman," say the traditions, "without an angel and a devil. The devil enters into man as the blood into his body. All the children of Adam, except Mary and her son, are touched by the devil at the time of their birth, and the children make a loud noise from the touch." The business of the devil is to suggest evil; that of the angel, to inform men of the truth. Thus, the Koran says, the devil threatens you with poverty if you bestow in charity, and orders you to

pursue avarice; but God promises you grace and abundance from charity.

The pride and arrogance of man have invariably led him to pry into the supposed secret counsels of divine wisdom. Decrees acknowledged to be secret have been divulged to the world---decisions made in heaven before ever the foundations of the earth were laid, or the hills were formed, have been presumptuously laid open to the gaze of mortal man. Mr. Mills very properly denominates this one of the most abstruse subjects upon which man has ever exercised his faculties; and which has, more than any other, displayed both the strength and the weakness of the human intellect. On this very difficult subject Mohammed has pronounced with a positiveness consonant with the character of a wild fanatic, or worthy of a messenger from heaven. The doctrine of eternal decrees and absolute predestination he inculcates in the strongest and strictest terms. His companions, supposing that necessity and responsibility were incompatible, naturally said, "O prophet, since God hath appointed our places, may we confide in this, and abandon our reli gious and moral duties." But he replied: no, because the happy will do good works, and the miserable will do bad works.

The doctrines of Mohammed, respecting the prophets and the Scriptures, are curious and ingenious at least.

The Koran asserts, that although the Creator had, from the earliest ages of the world, declared his will to his creatures by different revelations; and that those revelations at length came to be contained in one hundred and four books; yet these written memorials, except the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and Gospels, have been entirely lost. And, in order to prove the necessity of a new revelation of the commands of heaven, and to support the tenet of the genuine Scriptures inspired by the Almighty, predicting the appearance of the Arabian prophet, the Mohammedans think that the sacred books, both of the Jews and Christians, became so materially corrupted in the course of ages, that scarcely any portion of the originals remained at the time the Koran was written. By a narrative of Christ's mission, falsely attributed to St. Barnabas, and in which our Saviour is made to speak of

Mohammed as the Paraclete or Comforter, they are taught to believe, that Jesus, the Son, not of God, but of Mary, was the last prophet of the Jews, the true Messias, the worker of miracles, and preacher of righteousness; but the crucifixion is denied: for the opinion of some early heretical Christians is adopted,---that Jesus escaped from the Jews, and was caught up into the third heaven. In the present times, however, truth has prevailed over bigotry, and the most intelligent doctors of the mosque reject this narrative, and listen to the language of the canonical gospels. Although they deny his divinity, yet they admit that he was born in a miraculous manner at the command of God. As the guilt and ignorance of mankind produced the necessity of frequent communications from heaven, so, a long succession of prophets and apostles, among whom Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Christ, are the most eminent, from time o time appeared, till at length the spirit of revelation teased in the person of Mohammed, the last and greatest messenger from the Almighty!

The notion of an intermediate state of the soul, so easing to the fancy, so congenial with the best sympathies of our nature, and so consoling on the death of a beloved friend or relative, is held by the Koran as a "olemn truth.

The sleep of the soul," says Mr. Mills," is not a principle of Islamism; but from certain passages in the eighth, the forty-seventh, and the seventy-ninth chapters of the Koran, it should seem to have been the doctrine of Mohammed, that the intermediate state would, like the future world, be a place of rewards and punishments. Munnker and Nekir, two black angels with blue eyes, enter the tomb, and ask the deceased person the names of his Lord, his religion, and his prophet. The faithful answer, God is my Lord, Islam is my religion, and Mohammed is my prophet. Frightful torments will be the lot of the infidels, and the angels will announce to the Mussulmen, the nature and degree of the felicity they will hereafter enjoy. The doctors of the mosque have exercised their ingenuity, and amused their fancy, in describing the various employments and abodes of the soul in this condition of wretchedness or of joy; but so