turn away his ears, his eyes, his tongue, his hands, his feet, and his other bodily members from sin.

3. But the fast eminently so called is, the fast of the heart from lower cares, and earthly cogitations, and its aversion from all things excepting God. *

The low standard, and imperfect motives, of its spurious creed, leavened as it originally was by the carnal ordinances of Judaism, necessarily abated or nullified the practical effects of these noble reaches of the Saracen philosophy. They do not, however, for this cause, the less perfectly fill up the outline sketched in these pages; or the less completely fulfil their end, as exemplifications of the moral parallel of Mahometanism with Christianity. The line of demarcation drawn, between the mere formalist in religion, and the true believer, is a studied transcript from the Gospel: it is, in point of fact, of the same nature with the distinction made by our blessed Lord, between the Pharisees and the true fulfillers of the Law: we remark the same contrast of inward with outward observances; the same opposition of the spirit to the letter; the same reduced estimate of the purificatory rites of re

* Al Gazai, et al Mostatraf, ap. Pocock. Specim. p. 302. The spirit here so nobly inculcated is finely embodied in an Arabic distich, to the following effect:

How many feast, while they fast :

How many fast, while they feast!

ligion, except as means and emblems of the puri

fication of the heart.

Nor was the religion of Mahomet, in this its better aspect, wholly wanting in the production of corresponding fruits. These fruits discover themselves in a reality of belief, a fervour of zeal, and a sincerity of devotion, which, it has been often remarked, might put to shame the majority of the Christian world. The phenomenon would be as strange as it is certain, did not the cause here shown to have been in operation, suffice to explain effects otherwise altogether unaccountable. Wherever Mahometanism has settled, these effects have appeared; and it seems any thing but good judgment, or Christian wisdom, to doubt their practical influence, to a certain extent *, in raising and refining the minds and morals of heathen nations.

Look, for example, at the lessons which this. superstition has diffused and familiarized among mankind, not only in the central seats of its empire, but in the most insulated and sequestered situations. Its character, in such remote quarters, supplies, perhaps, the best and surest test of the moral agency of Mahometanism, in its un

* More than a limited practical influence it would be idle to look for, from a religion destitute of that only living principle of religion, .THE. GRACE OF GOD.

controlled and undisguised spirit. In this view the author will own himself to have been particularly struck by a circumstance, perhaps not unlikely to make a similar impression on the reader, incidentally noticed by the accomplished Sir William Jones, on his outward voyage to India. In the Island of Hinzuan, or Johanna, a secluded speck in the Atlantic, off the coast of Africa, this elegant orientalist observed over the gate of a mosque, the following inscription, which he thus renders from the Arabic:

The world was given us for our own edification;
Not for the purpose of raising sumptuous buildings:
Life, for the discharge of moral and religious duties;
Not for pleasurable indulgences:

Wealth, to be liberally bestowed;

Not avariciously hoarded:

And learning, to produce good actions;

Not empty disputes.

"We could not," proceeds the narrator, "but respect the temple even of a false prophet, in which we found such excellent morality: we found nothing better among the Romish trumpery in the church at Madeira." *

All accounts concur in representing the devoutness of the Mahometan worship, in every

See Asiatic Researches, for "An Account of the Island of Hinzuan, or Johanna."

country where Mahometanism prevails, as corresponding with, and illustrating, the best features of its morality. From Morocco to Mecca, from Constantinople to Calcutta, the character of this worship is at unity with itself; is alike simply and severely devout in the first of all religious exercises- prayer. The observations. of European travellers, however at issue on other points, seem unanimous in this conclusion. Many testimonies might be cited; but I shall content myself with one, which, from the recency of its date, the unpromising national character of the people to whom it is borne, and the unexceptionable authority of the witness, seems entitled to more than ordinary consideration. In the year 1821, when at the town of Baghtchiserai, in the south of the Crimea, Dr. Henderson, then acting as agent to the British and Foreign Bible Society, visited the principal of its thirty-three mosques, at the evening service of the Tartars. His unaffected narrative forcibly illustrates the impression made by the devout decorum of a Mahometan service, on a religious mind: "The Tartars all sat on their heels in the oriental manner, while the Mollah recited to them certain Surahs, or chapters of the Koran; and when he came to the end of a section, or where any direct reference was made to the

object of worship, they bowed themselves twice, so as to touch the ground with their foreheads. During prayer, they covered their faces with both hands, following the Mollah with low and solemn sighs, manifesting throughout the most profound reverence and veneration. Much has been said in defence of pompous and splendid forms of worship, and many have insisted on their absolute necessity in order to interest the vulgar; but I will venture to affirm, that all the dazzling splendour of external ceremonies, superadded to the Christian system, never produced a solemnity to be compared with that resulting from the simple adoration here exhibited in a Mahometan mosque; every sense seemed closed against earthly objects, and a high degree of self-annihilation appeared to inspire the mind of every worshipper. How humbling the reflection, that so little real devotion, and so feeble a sense of the presence of the great Jehovah, is often to be found in assemblies professing to worship him in spirit and in truth!”

And now, to resume the proposition laid down at the commencement, from the illustrative sketch

*It is to be regretted, that Dr. H. should have drawn this contrast; at least that he should have done so, in a manner thus unguarded. Surely, the worship of the Church of England, her "mild majesty, and sober state,” might have claimed exemption from his implied censure.