MR. MARTYN's THIRD TRACT,

ON THE

VANITY OF THE SOFEE SYSTEM,

AND ON THE

TRUTH OF THE RELIGION OF MOSES AND JESUS.

WHAT has been written in the two foregoing Tracts on the vanity of Mohammedanism, will perhaps be sufficient to satisfy any impartial enquirer; but, as little has there been adduced in support of the Christian religion, and nothing in proof of the mission of Moses, it may not be amiss here to state the reasons for my own. belief in the missions of Moses and Jesus: and, although my statements may fail of convincing others, they will at least serve to shew why I have chosen this in preference to other religions. But as it seemed desirable to prove the reality of the prophetic missions in general, in order to meet the doubts of Deists, who, from the peculiar character of their faith in the unity of the Deity, or other considerations dependant thereupon, think the appearance of a Prophet unnecessary, or, that he is nothing more than any other man, I shall,

in the first place, offer a few remarks on this subject.

First then, let it be remarked, that as to the truth of the unity of the Deity, or that union with him constitutes perfection, and is the greatest of human acquirements, there is here no question. But as some, speaking inconsiderately of the Deity, hesitate not to affirm, that no action or person or thing can be said to be exempt from his influence; and that it is he who appears in every thing and person, and that therefore there can be neither defect, perfection, nearness or distance with respect to him, since every person and thing is God, and from God, and with God; we may be allowed to ask, How then does it come to pass, that these very persons do, both in word and deed, virtually affirm the contrary? They avoid pain and necessity, for instance, and seek pleasure as a good; and further, they exert the utmost of their endeavours in the prosecution of these ends. To refute, however, every article of belief as held by these people, would be almost endless; we therefore pass over this for the present, and proceed to the subject more immediately before us, premising only, that union with the Deity is beyond the power of human nature alone to acquire; but is what men do consider as the object and end of all their endeavours. On the means to be employed, however, much difference of opinion is found to exist among the learned; the

following is what appears to me to come nearest to the truth.

Some have supposed that no one religion has been established to the exclusion of others, but that every one may, in his own way, finally arrive at the end in view. But, in this case, is it not difficult to suppose, how the lusts and pollutions in which all are indiscriminately implicated, are to obtain union with the Deity? And, as these very persons do prefer one way to another, might it not be true that one way alone is to be preferred to them all? Again, the supposition, which allows of no preference, and by which all men must finally succeed, is founded upon another, which takes for granted, that either the mercy or the essence of the Deity will not suffer any thing which is dependent upon him, to be at last implicated in misery. Whence it would follow, that even in this state of things, pain and misery could have no existence, which is contrary to the evidence of every man's senses, and therefore false.

Most men, however, seek this end by means of the law of works, as the followers of Mohammed; or, as those Jews and Christians, who are ignorant of the religion of Moses and Jesus :-others by mysticism as the Brahmans of India and the Sofees of Persia. The followers of the law, impelled either by the hope of reward or the fear of punishment, exert every effort for the fulfilment of the Law but it is far removed from common

sense to suppose, that purity of heart, a love of the truth, and devotion to God, which are conditions of the state in view, can thus be acquired: because this is contrary to the very nature of things; and because it is well known, that none but a good tree can produce good fruit.

But, in any case, no one will deny that the Deity is able to make any means adequate to the production of any end; or, consequently, that he might not have given a law capable of giving perfection but here it must be shewn by those who hold this opinion, that such a law has been actually given. Of all those, however, who have hitherto made a claim to prophecy, no one has appeared professing to be the framer of such a law, if we except Mohammed, of the divinity of whose religion, so much as an opinion cannot for a moment be entertained. And of the Prophets, who appeared before his times, no one has asserted that salvation is to be obtained by the Law. Those who preceded Christ, it may be observed, were all Israelites, and subject to the Law of Moses to the Israelites they proposed no law; but were like the rest of the people, subject to that of Moses.

Now, in the Law of Moses, there is no precept for the conversion of other nations, nor even so much as the mention of a future state. It is clear then, even upon allowing the religion of Moses to have been nothing more than a law,

that God could not have intended it for the

rest of mankind.

But the truth is, no one could

by that worldly Religion become acceptable to God, but by the sacrifice of some appointed animal.

The Religion of Moses, therefore, differed in no other respect from that of the Gospel, than a shadow might be said to do from the substance which has produced it.

What has here been said respecting the inadequacy of the Law for the attainment of either life or perfection, has not been advanced for the purpose of impugning the Law itself as imperfect, but to shew that the deficiency is on our own part for, upon our endeavouring thus to arrive at perfection, we shall find so many obstacles, interwoven, as it were, in our very nature, as eventually to frustrate our designs.

The mystics, on the other hand, place their hopes in abstraction from the consideration of sensible objects, and indulge in meditation on the Deity to such a degree, as to hope to annihilate the sense of pain, pleasure, love, hatred, and the like. Which, in the technical language of the Hindoos, is termed Dhyán (or contemplation) on the essence of Brahma".

* In a Persian Manuscript on the Religion of the Hindoos, entitled given to me some time ago by the Right Hon. Lord Teignmouth, to whose kindness I am much indebted

on