and governed the several nations of the world, but they made deities of
every thing they imagined to be great, powerful, beneficial, or hurtful to
mankind. Yet they conceived an Almighty Being, who dwells in the
south-west regions of the heavens, to be superior to all the rest. This
Almighty Being they called Kichtan, who at first, according to their
tradition, made a man and woman out of a stone, but, upon some dislike,
destroyed them again; and then made another couple out of a tree, from
whom descended all the nations of the earth; but how they came to be
scattered and dispersed into countries so remote from one another, they
cannot tell. They believed their Supreme God to be a good being, and paid
a sort of acknowledgment to him for plenty, victory, and other benefits.
But there is another power, which they called _Hobamocko_, (the devil,) of
whom they stood in greater awe, and worshipped merely from a principle of
fear.
The immortality of the soul was universally believed among them. When good
men die, they said, their souls go to Kichtan, where they meet their
friends, and enjoy all manner of pleasures; when wicked men die, they go
to Kichtan also, but are commanded to walk away, and wander about in
restless discontent and darkness forever.
After the coming of the white people, the Indians in NEW JERSEY, who once
held a plurality of deities, supposed there were only three, because they
saw people of three kinds of complexion, viz., English, negroes, and
themselves.
It was a notion generally prevailing among them, that the same God who
made them did not make us, but that they were created after the white
people; and it is probable they supposed their God gained some special
skill by seeing the white people made, and so made them better; for it is
certain they considered themselves and their methods of living, which they
said their God expressly prescribed for them, vastly preferable to the
white people and their methods.
With regard to a future state of existence, many of them imagined that the
Chichung, i. e., the shadow, or what survives the body, will, at death, go
southward, to some unknown, but curious place,—will enjoy some kind of
happiness, such as hunting, feasting, dancing, or the like; and what they
suppose will contribute much to their happiness in the next state, is,
that they shall never be weary of these entertainments.
Those who have any notion about rewards and sufferings in a future state,
seem to imagine that most will be happy, and that in the delightful
fields, chasing the game, or reposing themselves with their families; but
the poor, frozen sinners cannot stir one step towards that sunny region.
Nevertheless, their misery has an end; it is longer or shorter, according
to the degree of their guilt; and, after its expiation, they are permitted
to become inhabitants of the Indian paradise.
The Indians of VIRGINIA gave the names of _Okee_, _Quioccos_, or _Kiwasa_,
to the idol which they worshipped. These names might possibly be so many
epithets, which they varied according to the several functions they
ascribed to this deity, or the different notions they might form to
themselves of it in their religious exercises and common discourses.
Moreover, they were of opinion that this idol is not one sole being, but
that there were many more of the same nature, besides the tutelary gods.
They gave the general name of Quioccos to all these genii, or beings, so
that the name of Kiwasa might be particularly applied to the idol in
question.
These savages consecrated chapels and oratories to this deity, in which
the idol was often represented under a variety of shapes. They even kept
some of these in the most retired parts of their houses, to whom they
communicated their affairs, and consulted them upon occasion. In this
case, they made use of them in the quality of tutelary gods, from whom
they supposed they received blessings on their families.
The sacerdotal vestment of their priests was like a woman’s petticoat
plaited, which they put about their necks, and tied over the right
shoulder; but they always kept one arm out, to use it as occasion
required. This cloak was made round at bottom, and descended no lower than
the middle of the thigh; it was made of soft, well-dressed skins, with the
hair outwards.
These priests shaved their heads close, the crown excepted, where they
left only a little tuft, that reached from the top of the forehead to the
nape of the neck, and even on the top of the forehead. They here left a
border of hair, which, whether it was owing to nature, or the stiffness
contracted by the fat and colors with which they daubed themselves,
bristled up, and came forward like the corner of a square cap.
The natives of Virginia had a great veneration for their priests; and the
latter endeavored to procure it, by daubing themselves all over in a very
frightful manner, dressing themselves in a very odd habit, and tricking up
their hair after a very whimsical manner. Every thing they said was
considered as an oracle, and made a strong impression on the minds of the
people; they often withdrew from society, and lived in woods or in huts,
far removed from any habitation. They were difficult of access, and did
not give themselves any trouble about provisions, because care was always
taken to set food for them near their habitations. They were always
addressed in cases of great necessity. They also acted in the quality of
physicians, because of the great knowledge they were supposed to have of
nature. In fine, peace or war was determined by their voice; nor was any
thing of importance undertaken without first consulting them.
They had not any stated times nor fixed days, on which they celebrated
their festivals, but they regulated them only by the different seasons of
the year; as, for instance, they celebrated one day at the arrival of
their wild birds, another upon the return of the hunting season, and for
the maturity of their fruits; but the greatest festival of all was at
harvest time. They then spent several days in diverting themselves, and
enjoyed most of their amusements, such as martial dances and heroic songs.
After their return from war, or escaping some danger, they lighted fires,
and made merry about them, each having his gourd-bottle, or his little
bell, in his hand. Men, women, and children, often danced in a confused
manner about these fires. Their devotions, in general, consisted only of
acclamations of joy, mixed with dances and songs, except in seasons of
sorrow and affliction, when they were changed into howlings. The priests
presided at this solemnity, dressed in their sacerdotal ornaments, part of
which were the gourd-bottle, the petticoat above mentioned, and the
serpents’ or weasels’ skins, the tails of which were dexterously tied upon
their heads like a tiara, or triple crown. These priests began the song,
and always opened the religious exercise, to which they often added
incantations, part of the mysteries of which were comprehended in the
songs. The noise, the gestures, the wry faces, in a word, every thing,
contributed to render these incantations terrible.
DEISTS.
The Deists believe in a God, but reject a written revelation from him.
They are extravagant in their encomiums on natural religion, though they
differ much respecting its nature, extent, obligation, and importance. Dr.
Clarke, in his treatise on Deism, divides them into four classes,
according to the number of articles comprised in their creed.
The first are such as pretend to believe the existence of in eternal,
infinite, independent, intelligent Being, and who, to avoid the name of
Epicurean Atheists, teach also that this Supreme Being made the world;
though, at the same time, they agree with the Epicureans in this—that they
fancy God does not at all concern himself in the government of the world,
nor has any regard to, or care of, what is done therein.
The second sort of Deists are those who believe not only the being, but
also the providence, of God, with respect to the _natural_ world, but who,
not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny that God
takes any notice of the morally good or evil actions of men; these things
depending, as they imagine, on the arbitrary constitution of human laws.
A third sort of Deists there are, who, having right apprehensions
concerning the natural attributes of God and his all-governing providence,
and some notion of his moral perfections also, yet, being prejudiced
against the notion of the immortality of the soul, believe that men perish
entirely at death, and that one generation shall perpetually succeed
another, without any further restoration or renovation of things.
A fourth and last sort of Deist are such as believe the existence of a
Supreme Being, together with his providence in the government of the
world; also all the obligations of natural religion, but so far only as
these things are discoverable by the light of nature alone, without
believing any divine revelation.
These, the learned author observes, are the only true Deists; but, as
their principles would naturally lead them to embrace the Christian
revelation, he concludes there is now no consistent scheme of Deism in the
world. Dr. Clarke then adds, “The heathen philosophers—those few of them
who taught and lived up to the obligations of natural religion—had,
indeed, a consistent scheme of Deism, as far as it went. But the case is
not so now; the same scheme is not any longer consistent with its own
principles; it does not now lead men to embrace revelation, as it then
taught them to hope for it. Deists in our days, who reject revelation when
offered to them, are not such men as Socrates and Cicero were; but, under
pretence of Deism, it is plain they are generally ridiculers of all that
is truly excellent in natural religion itself. Their trivial and vain
cavils; their mocking and ridiculing without and before examination; their
directing the whole stress of objections against particular customs, or
particular and perhaps uncertain opinions or explications of opinions,
without at all considering the main body of religion; their loose, vain,
and frothy discourses; and, above all, their vicious and immoral
lives,—show, plainly and undeniably, that they are not real Deists, but
mere Atheists, and, consequently, not capable to judge of the truth of
Christianity.”
Dr. Paley observes, “Of what a revelation discloses to mankind, one, and
only one, question can be properly asked.—Was it of importance to mankind
to know or to be better assured of? In this question, when we turn our
thoughts to the great Christian doctrine of a resurrection from the dead
and a future judgment, no doubt can be possibly entertained. He who gives
me riches or honors does nothing; he who even gives me health, does little
in comparison with that which lays before me just grounds for expecting a
restoration to life, and a day of account and retribution, which thing
Christianity hath done for millions.”
ATHEISTS.
The Atheists are those who deny the existence of God; this is called
_speculative_ Atheism. Professing to believe in God, and yet acting
contrary to this belief, is called _practical_ Atheism. Absurd and
irrational as Atheism is, it has had its votaries and martyrs. In the
seventeenth century, Spinosa was its noted defender. Lucilio Venini, a
native of Naples also publicly taught Atheism in France; and, being
convicted of it at Toulouse, was condemned and executed in 1619. It has
been questioned, however, whether any man ever seriously adopted such a
principle.
Archbishop Tillotson says, “I appeal to any man of reason, whether any
thing can be more unreasonable than obstinately to impute an effect to
chance, which carries in the very face of it all the arguments and
characters of a wise design and contrivance. Was ever any considerable
work in which there were required a great variety of parts, and a regular
and orderly disposition of those parts, done by chance? Will chance fit
means to ends, and that in ten thousand instances, and not fail in any
one? How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a
bag, fling them out upon the ground, before they would fall into an exact
poem! yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose! And may not a
little book be as easily made by chance as the great volume of the world?
How long might a man be in sprinkling colors upon canvass with a careless
hand, before they would happen to make the exact picture of a man! And is
a man easier made by chance than his picture? How long might twenty
thousand blind men, who should be sent out from several remote parts of
England, wander up and down before they would all meet upon Salisbury
Plain, and fall into rank and file in the exact order of an army! And yet
this is much more easy to be imagined than how the innumerable blind parts
of matter should rendezvous themselves into a world. A man that sees Henry
the Seventh’s chapel at Westminster, might with as good reason maintain
(yea, with much better, considering the vast difference betwixt that
little structure and the huge fabric of the world) that it was never
contrived or built, by any means, but that the stones did by chance grow
into those curious figures into which they seem to have been cut and
graven; and that, upon a time, (as tales usually begin,) the materials of
that building—the stone, mortar, timber, iron, lead, and glass—happily met
together, and very fortunately ranged themselves into that delicate order
in which we see them now, so close compacted, that it must be a very great
chance that parts them again. What would the world think of a man that
should advance such an opinion as this, and write a book for it? If they
would do him right, they ought to look upon him as mad; but yet with a
little more reason than any man can have to say that the world was made by
chance, or that the first men grew up out of the earth as plants do now.
For can any thing be more ridiculous, and against all reason, than to
ascribe the production of men to the first fruitfulness of the earth,
without so much as one instance and experiment, in any age or history, to
countenance so monstrous a supposition? The thing is, at first sight, so
gross and palpable, that no discourse about it can make it more apparent.
And yet these shameful beggars of principles give this precarious account
of the original of things; assume to themselves to be the men of reason,
the great wits of the world, the only cautious and wary persons, that hate
to be imposed upon, that must have convincing evidence for every thing,
and can admit of nothing without a clear demonstration of it.”
Lord Bacon remarks, that “A _little_ philosophy inclineth a man’s mind to
Atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion;
for, while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may
rest in them, and go no farther; but when it beholdeth _the chain_ of them
confederated and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and
Deity.”
PANTHEISTS.
Abner Kneeland’s “Philosophical Creed,” as he terms it, is probably a good
definition of the views of those who consider the universe as an immense
animal,
“Whose body nature is, and God the soul.”
Mr. Kneeland says, “I believe in the existence of a universe of suns and
planets, among which there is one sun belonging to our planetary system,
and that other suns, being more remote, are called stars; but that they
are indeed suns to other planetary systems. I believe that the whole
universe is NATURE, and that the word NATURE embraces the whole universe,
and that God and Nature, so far as we can attach any rational idea to
either, are perfectly synonymous terms. Hence I am not an Atheist, but a
PANTHEIST; that is, instead of believing there is no God, I believe that,
in the abstract, all is God; and that all power that is, is in God, and
that there is no power except that which proceeds from God. I believe that
there can be no will or intelligence where there is no sense, and no sense
where there are no organs of sense; and hence sense, will, and
intelligence, is the effect, and not the cause, of organization. I believe
in all that logically results from those premises, whether good, bad, or
indifferent. Hence I believe that God is all in all; and that it is in God
we live, move, and have our being; and that the whole duty of man consists
in living as long as he can, and in promoting as much happiness as he can
while he lives.”
MAHOMETANS.
Mahometanism is a scheme of religion formed and propagated by _Mahomet_,
who was born at Mecca, A. D. 569, and died at Medina, in 632.
His system is a compound of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity; and the
Koran, which is their Bible, is held in great reverence. It is replete
with absurd representations, and is supposed to have been written by a
Jew. The most eloquent passage is allowed to be the following, where God
is introduced, bidding the waters of the deluge to cease:—“Earth, swallow
up the waters; heaven, draw up those thou hast poured out; immediately the
waters retreated, the command of God was obeyed, the ark rested on the
mountains, and these words were heard—‘Woe to the wicked!’ ”
This religion is still professed and adhered to by the Turks and Persians,
and by several nations in Asia and Africa. The best statistical writers
estimate the number of Mahometans in the world at about one hundred and
forty millions.
Mahomet descended from an honorable tribe, and from the noblest family of
that tribe; yet his original lot was poverty. By his good conduct, he
obtained the hand of a widow of wealth and respectability, and was soon
raised to an equality with the richest people in Mecca.
Soon after his marriage, he formed the scheme of establishing a new
religion, or, as he expressed it, of replanting the only true and ancient
one professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets,
by destroying the gross idolatry into which most of his countrymen had
fallen, and weeding out the corruptions and superstitions which the later
Jews and Christians had, as he thought, introduced into their religion,
and reducing it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the
worship of one God.
The Mahometans divide their religion into two general parts, faith and
practice, of which the first is divided into six distinct branches—belief
in God, in his angels, in his Scriptures, in his prophets, in the
resurrection and final judgment, and in God’s absolute decrees. The points
relating to practice are, prayer, with washings, alms, fasting, pilgrimage
to Mecca, and circumcision.
They believe that both Mahomet and those among his followers who are
reckoned orthodox, had, and continue to have, just and true notions of
God, and that his attributes appear so plain from the Koran itself, and
all the Mahometan divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those
who suppose the God of Mahomet to be different from the true God, and only
a fictitious deity, or idol of his own creation.
They believe that the existence of angels, and their purity, are
absolutely required to be believed in the Koran; and he is reckoned an
infidel who denies there are such beings, or hates any of them, or asserts
any distinction of sexes among them. They believe them to have pure and
subtile bodies, created of fire; that they neither eat, drink, nor
propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices, some
adoring God in different postures, others singing praises to him, or
interceding for mankind. They hold that some of them are employed in
writing down the actions of men, others in carrying the throne of God, and
other services.
As to the Scriptures, the Mahometans are taught by the Koran, that God, in
divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to
several prophets, the whole and every one of which it is absolutely
necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books
were, according to them, one hundred and four; of which ten were given to
Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or Enoch, ten to Abraham, and the
other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran,
were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mahomet; which
last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and
no more are to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last,
they agree now to be entirely lost, and their contents unknown, though the
Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the
antediluvian prophets. And of those four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and
Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions,
that, though there may possibly be some part of the true word of God
therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands
of the Jews and Christians.
They believe that the number of the prophets which have been from time to
time sent by God into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000,
according to one Mahometan tradition; or to 124,000, according to another;
among whom 313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim
mankind from infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws
or dispensations, which successively abrogated the preceding: these were
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mahomet. All the prophets in
general the Mahometans believe to have been freed from great sins and
errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that
is, Islamism, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which
they observed. They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to
be more excellent and honorable than others. The first place they give to
the revealers and establishes of new dispensations, and the next to the
apostles.
They believe in a general resurrection and a future judgment.
The time of the resurrection the Mahometans allow to be a perfect secret
to all but God alone; the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his
ignorance in this point, when Mahomet asked him about it. However, they
say the approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to
precede it.
After the examination is past, and every one’s work weighed in a just
balance, they say that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which
every creature will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction
made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And, since there will
then be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this
satisfaction will be by taking away a proportional part of the good works
of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered
it; which being done, if the angels (by whose ministry this is to be
performed) say, “_Lord we have given to every one his due, and there
remaineth of this person’s good works so much as equalleth the weight of
an ant,_” God will, of his mercy, cause it to be doubled unto him, that he
may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the contrary, his good works be
exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and there be any who have not
yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of
their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their
stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the
method of God’s dealing with mankind. As to brutes, after they shall have
likewise taken vengeance of one another, he will command them to be
changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to more grievous punishment,
so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence passed on the brutes,
“_Would to God that we were dust also!_”