"They observe no particular ceremony in their marriages, though their mode

of courtship is not without its singularity. When a young man sees a

female to his fancy, he informs her she must accompany him home; the lady

refuses; he not only enforces compliance with threats, but blows; thus the

gallant, according to the custom, never fails to gain the victory, and

bears off the willing, though struggling pugilist. The colonists, for some

time, entertained the idea that the women were compelled, and forced away

against their inclinations; but the young ladies informed them, that this

mode of gallantry was the custom, and perfectly to their taste." [89]

PERSIA. "Women are not allowed to join in the public prayers at the

mosques. They are directed to offer up their devotions at home, or if they

attend the place of public worship, it must be at a period when the male

sex are not there. This practice is founded upon the authority of the

traditionary sayings of the prophet, and is calculated to confirm that

inferiority and seclusion, to which the female sex are doomed by the laws

of Mahomed.

"In Persia, women are seldom publicly executed; nor can their crimes,

from their condition in society, be often of a nature to demand such

examples; but they are exposed to all the violence and injustice of

domestic tyranny; and innocent females are too often included in the

punishment of their husbands and fathers, particularly where those are of

high rank. Instances frequently occur where women are tortured, to make

them reveal the concealed wealth of which they are supposed to have a

knowledge; and when a nobleman or minister is put to death, it is not

unusual to give away his wives and daughters as slaves; and sometimes

(though rarely) they are bestowed on the lowest classes in the community.

There are instances of the wives of men of high rank being given to

mule-drivers." [90]

ARABIA. The ancient Arabs considered the birth of a daughter as a

misfortune, and they frequently buried daughters alive as soon as they

were born, lest they should be impoverished by having to provide for them,

or should suffer disgrace on their account. [91]

"The horrid practice of female infanticide has been an usage of many

nations. Among the ancient Arabs, as among the Rajpoots of the present

day, it proceeded as much from a jealous sense of honour, as the pressure

of want." [92]

Of eastern manners, in general, it has been remarked, that "excepting the

Chinese and Javanese, all the nations of the south of Asia, and all the

inhabitants of the East Indian and South Sea islands, offer the Europeans

their wives and daughters, or compel them to prostitute themselves to

strangers." [93]

"A man, in the East, dares not inquire concerning the health of the wife

or daughter of his most intimate friend, because this would instantly

excite suspicion of illicit views and connections; neither does etiquette

permit him to make mention himself of his own wife or daughter. They are

included among the domestic animals, or comprehended in the general

denomination of the house or the family. When, however, an Oriental is

obliged to mention his wife or his daughter, in conversation with a

physician, or any other person whom he wishes to treat with deference and

respect, he always introduces the subject with some such apology as we

make in Europe, when we are obliged to speak of things which are regarded

as disgusting or obscene. Conformably with this Asiatic prejudice,

Tamerlane was highly affronted with the vanquished Turkish emperor

Bajazet, for mentioning, in his presence, such impure creatures as women

are considered by the Orientals." [94]

AMERICA.

NORTHERN INDIANS.

Here all the gentle morals, such as play

Through life's more cultur'd walks, and charm the way;

These far dispers'd, on tim'rous pinions fly,

To sport and flutter in a kinder sky.

GOLDSMITH.

The women cook the victuals, but though of the highest rank, they are

never permitted to partake of it, till all the males, even the servants,

have eaten what they think proper; and in times of scarcity, it is

frequently their lot to be left without a single morsel; and should they

be detected in helping themselves during the business of cookery, they

would be subject to a severe beating; and be considered afterward, through

life, as having forfeited their character.

"The accounts we have had of the effects of the small pox on that nation

(the Maha Indians) are most distressing; it is not known in what way it was

first communicated to them, though probably by some war party. They had

been a military and powerful people; but when these warriors saw their

strength wasting before a malady which they could not resist, their

phrensy was extreme; they burnt their village, and many of them put to

death their _wives_ and _children_, to save them from so cruel an

affliction, and that all might go together to some better country." [95]

WEST INDIES. _Hayti_ (late St. Domingo.) Extract of a letter, dated Nov.

1810. "The Indigenes, or natives of Hayti, are extremely ignorant; but few

can read: their religion is Catholic; but neither it, or its priests, are

much respected. That they are in a most awful state of darkness, is but

too evident: mothers are actually panders to their own daughters, and reap

the fruit of their prostitution. The endearing name of father is scarcely

ever heard, as the children but rarely know to whom they are indebted for

existence." [96]

SOUTH AMERICA. In this region there are whole nations of cannibals, who

devour their captives. Sometimes they slay their own wives, and invite

their neighbours to the repast.

NEW ZEALAND. "Tippechu, the chieftain," says Mr. Savage, "has a

well-constructed dwelling on this island, and a large collection of

spears, war-mail, and other valuables. A short distance, from the

residence of the chief is an edifice, every way similar to a dove-cote,

standing upon a single post, and not larger than dove-cotes usually are.

In this, Tippechu confined one of his daughters several years; we

understood she had fallen in love with a person of inferior condition, and

that these means were adopted to prevent her from bringing disgrace upon

her family. The space alloted to the lady would neither allow of her

standing up, or stretching at her length; she had a trough, in which her

food was deposited as often as was thought necessary, during her

confinement; and I could not find that she was allowed any other

accommodation. These privations, and all converse being denied her, proves

that Tippechu was determined to exhibit a severe example to his subjects;

at least to such of the young ladies of this part of New Zealand, as might

be inclined to degrade themselves and their families by unsuitable

alliances. The long confinement with all its inconveniences, produced the

desired effect, in rendering the princess obedient to the wishes of her

royal parent. This barbarous case, which is ornamented with much grotesque

carving, still remains as a memento in _terrorem_ to all the young ladies

under Tippechu's government." [97]

AFRICA.

TUNIS. "The Tunisines have a curious custom of fattening up their young

ladies for marriage. A girl, after she is betrothed, is cooped up in a

small room; shackles of silver and gold are put upon her ancles and

wrists, as a piece of dress. If she is to be married to a man who has

discharged, despatched, or lost a former wife, the shackles which the

former wife wore, are put upon the new bride's limbs: and she is fed,

until they are filled up to the proper thickness. This is sometimes no

easy matter, particularly if the former wife was fat, and the present

should be of a slender form. The food used for this custom, worthy of

barbarians, is a seed called drough; which is of an extraordinary

fattening quality, and also famous for rendering the milk of nurses rich

and abundant. With this seed, and their national dish '_cuscusu_,' the

bride is literally crammed, and many actually die under the spoon." [98]

MOROCCO. "When an ill-disposed husband becomes jealous or discontented

with his wife, he has too many opportunities of treating her cruelly; he

may tyrannize over her without control; no one can go to her assistance,

for no one is authorized to enter his harem without permission. Jealousy

or hatred rises so high in the breast of a Moor, that death is often the

consequence to the wretched female, who has excited, perhaps innocently,

the anger of her husband. A father, however fond of his daughter, cannot

assist her even if informed of the ill treatment she suffers; the husband

alone is lord paramount; if, however, he should he convicted of murdering

his wife, he would suffer death; but this is difficult to ascertain, even

should she bear the marks of his cruelty or dastardly conduct, for who is

to detect it? Instances have been known, when the woman has been cruelly

beaten and put to death, and the parents have been informed of her decease

as if it had been occasioned by sickness, and she has been buried

accordingly; but this difficulty of bringing men to justice, holds only

among the powerful bashaws, and persons in the highest stations; and

these, to avoid a retaliation of similar practices on _their_ children,

sometimes prefer giving their daughters in marriage to men of an inferior

station in life, who are more amenable to justice." [99]

This writer informs us also, that "in Morocco, slaves are placed in the

public market-place, and there turned about and examined, in order to

ascertain their value." p. 249. "A young girl of Houssa, of exquisite

beauty, was once sold at Morocco, whilst I was there, for four hundred

ducats [of 3s. 8d. sterling,] whilst the average price of slaves is about

one hundred; so much depends on the fancy or the imagination of the

purchaser." p. 247.

DARFOR. "Slaves indeed, both male and female, rarely draw near their

master, if he be seated, except creeping on their knees. A man, who is

possessed of several women, rarely enters the apartments of any of them,

hut sends for one or more of them at a time to his own. Whether free or

slaves, they enter it on their knees, and with indications of timidity and

respect.... The slaves are rarely allowed to wear any covering on their

feet. Free women, on the contrary, are ordinarily distinguished by a kind

of sandal; which, however, is always taken off when they come into the

presence of, or have occasion to pass, a person of any consideration of

the other sex. It is not uncommon to see a man on a journey, mounted idly

on an ass; whilst his wife is pacing many a weary step on foot behind him;

and moreover, perhaps, carrying a supply of provisions or culinary

utensils. Yet it is not to be supposed, that the man is despotic in his

house; the voice of the female has its full weight." [100]

MANDINGOES. "About noon," says Mr. Park, "I arrived at Kolor, a

considerable town; near the entrance into which I observed, hanging upon a

tree, a sort of masquerade habit, made of the bark of trees; which, I was

told on inquiry, belonged to MUMBO JUMBO. This is a strange bugbear,

common to all the Mandingo towns, and much employed by the Pagan natives in

keeping their women in subjection; for as the Kafas are not restricted in

the number of their wives, every one marries as many as he can

conveniently maintain; and as it frequently happens that the ladies

disagree among themselves, family quarrels sometimes rise to such a

height, that the authority of the husband can no longer preserve peace in

his household. In such cases, the interposition of Mumbo Jumbo is called

in and is always decisive.

"This strange minister of justice (who is supposed to be either the

husband himself, or some person instructed by him,) disguised in the dress

that has been mentioned, and armed with the rod of public authority,

announces his coming (whenever his services are required) by loud and

dismal screams in the woods near the town. He begins the pantomime at the

approach of night; and, as soon as it is dark, he enters the town, and

proceeds to the Bentang, at which all the inhabitants immediately

assemble.

"It may easily be supposed, that this exhibition is not much relished by

the women; for as the person in disguise is entirely unknown to them,

every married female suspects that the visit may possibly be intended for

herself: but they dare not refuse to appear, when they are summoned; and

the ceremony commences with songs and dances, which continue till

midnight, about which time Mumbo fixes on the offender. This unfortunate

victim being thereupon immediately seized, is stripped naked, tied to a

post, and severely scourged with Mumbo's rod, amidst the shouts and

derision of the whole assembly; and it is remarkable, that the rest of the

women are the loudest in their exclamations on this occasion against their

unhappy sister. Daylight puts an end to this indecent and unmanly

revel." [101]

"In the Mandingo countries," says Durand, "there is a mosque in every

town, from the steeple of which the people are called to prayers, the same

as in Turkey. Polygamy is practised in these regions in its utmost

latitude. The women are frequently hostages for alliance and peace; and

the chiefs of two tribes, who have been at war, cement their treaties by

an exchange of their daughters: private individuals do the same; and this

circumstance may be the reason why the chiefs, in particular, have such a

great number of women. A girl is frequently betrothed to a man as soon as

she is born. On the day agreed on for the marriage, the bridegroom places

on the road which the bride has to pass, several of his people at

different distances, with brandy and other refreshments; for if these

articles be not furnished in abundance, the conductors of the bride will

not advance a step further, though they may have got three parts of the

way on their journey. On approaching the town, they stop, and are joined

by the friends of the bridegroom, who testify their joy by shouting,

drinking, and letting off their pieces." [102]

MOORS OF BENOROM, &c. "The education of the girls is neglected altogether:

mental accomplishments are but little attended to by the women; nor is the

want of them considered, by the men, as a defect in the female character.

They are regarded, I believe, as an inferior species of animals; and seem

to be brought up for no other purpose, than that of administering to the

sensual pleasures of their imperious masters. Voluptuousness is,

therefore, considered as their chief accomplishment, and slavish

submission as their indispensable duty." [103]

KAMALIA. "If a man takes a fancy to any one [of the young women,] it is

not considered as absolutely necessary, that he should make an overture to

the girl herself. The first object is to agree with the parents,

concerning the recompense to be given them for the loss of the company and

services of their daughter. The value of two slaves is a common price,

unless the girl is thought very handsome; in which case, the parents will

raise their demand very considerably. If the lover is rich enough and

willing to give the sum demanded, he then communicates his wishes to the

damsel; but her consent is, by no means, necessary to the match; for if

the parents agree to it, and eat a few kolla-nuts, which are presented by

the suiter as an earnest of the bargain, the young lady must either have

the man of their choice, or continue unmarried, for she cannot after be

given to another. If the parents should attempt it, the lover is then

authorized, by the laws of the country, to seize upon the girl as

his slave.

"The negroes, whether Mahomedan or Pagan, allow a plurality of wives. The

Mahomedans alone are, by their religion, confined to four; and as the

husband commonly pays a great price for each, he requires from all of them

the utmost deference and submission, and beats them more like hired

servants than companions." [104]

BANISERILE. "One of our slatus was a native of this place, from which he

had been absent three years. This man invited me to go with him to his

house; at the gate of which his friends met him with many expressions of

joy, shaking hands with him, embracing him, and singing and dancing before

him. As soon as he had seated himself upon a mat, by the threshold of his

door, a young woman (his intended bride) brought a little water in a

calabash, and kneeling down before him, desired him to wash his hands;

when he had done this, the girl, with a tear of joy sparkling in her eyes,

drank the water; this being considered as the greatest proof she could

possibly give him of her fidelity and attachment." [105]

THE KAFFERS. The principal article of their trade with the Tambookie

nation, is the exchange of cattle for their young women. Almost every

chief has Tambookie wives, though they pay much dearer for them than for

those of their own people. Polygamy is allowed in its fullest extent, and

without any inconvenience resulting from the practice, as it is confined

nearly to the chiefs. The circumstances of the common people will rarely

allow them the indulgence of more than one wife, as women are not to be

obtained without purchase. The females being considered as the property of

their parents, are invariably disposed of by sale. The common price of a

wife is an ox, or a couple of cows. Love with them is a very confined

passion, taking but little hold on the mind. When an offer is made for the

purchase of a daughter, she feels little inclination to refuse; she

considers herself as an article in the market, and is neither surprised,

nor unhappy, nor interested, on being told that she is about to be

disposed of. There is no previous courtship, no exchange of fine

sentiments, no nice feelings, nor little kind attentions, which catch the

affections and attach the heart. [106]

THE PEOPLE OF SNEUWBERG, GRAAFF REGNET, "The only grievance of which I

ever heard them complain," says Mr. Barrow, "and which appears to be a

real inconvenience to all who inhabit the remote parts of the colony, is a

ridiculous and absurd law respecting marriage: and as it seems to have no

foundation in reason, and little in policy, except, indeed, like the

marriage-acts in other countries, it be intended as a check to population,

it ought to be repealed. By this law, the parties are both obliged to be

present at the Cape, in order to answer certain interrogatories, and pass

the forms of office there, the chief intention of which seems to be that

of preventing improper marriages from being contracted; as if the

commissaries appointed to this office, at the distance of five or six

hundred miles, should be better acquainted with the connexions and other

circumstances regarding the parties; than the landrost, the clergyman, and

the members of the council residing upon the spot. The expense of the

journey to the young couple is greater than they can frequently well

afford. For decency's sake they must set out in two wagons, though in the

course of a month's journey across a desert country, it is said they

generally make one serve the purpose; the consequence of which is, that

nine times out of ten the consummation of the marriage precedes the

ceremony. This naturally produces another bad effect. The poor girl, after

the familiarities of a long journey, lies entirely at the mercy of the

man, who, having satisfied his curiosity or his passion, sometimes deserts

her before their arrival at the altar; and it has sometimes happened, that

the lady has repented of her choice in the course of the journey, and

driven home again in her own wagon. Though, in our own country, a trip to

Scotland be sometimes taken, when obstacles at a nearer distance could not

safely be surmounted, yet it would be considered as a very ridiculous, as

well as vexatious law, that should oblige the parties intending to marry,

to proceed from the Laud's End to London to carry their purpose into

execution. The inhabitants of Graaff Regnet must travel twice that

distance, in order to be married." [107]

NEGRO NATIONS. "It is a practice equally, nay, perhaps still more common

among the negroes than among the Americans, to offer their wives and

daughters to Europeans." [108] "Parents sell their daughters not only to

lovers, but to suiters of any kind, without doubting or even asking their

consent. The negroes in general, receive for their daughters a few bottles

of brandy, and at the furthest, a few articles of wearing apparel; and

when these prices are paid, the fathers conduct their willing children to

the huts of the purchasers." [109] "A negro may love his wife with all the

affection that is possible for a negro to possess, but he never permits

her to eat with him, because he would imagine himself contaminated, or his

dignity lessened, by such a condescension; and at this degrading distance,

the very negro-slaves in the West Indies keep their wives, though it

might be presumed that the hardships of their common lot would have tended

to unite them in the closest manner." [110] "The poorest and meanest

negro, even though he be a slave, is generally waited upon by his wife as

by a subordinate being, on her knees. On their knees the negro women are

obliged to present to their husbands tobacco and drink; on their knees

they salute them when they return from hunting, or any other expedition;

lastly, on their knees, they drive away the flies from their lords and

masters while they sleep." [111]

GAGERS. Various writers of credit and veracity report, that in the

southern portion of Africa, many princes and chieftains keep great numbers

of young girls, not merely to gratify their passions, but to satiate their

tigerlike appetite for human flesh. In order to convince ourselves, that

the fate of the black women of Africa is not less severe than the

condition of the brown females of the American continent, it is sufficient

to state, that among the negro-women, to whom Cavazzi administered

baptism, some acknowledged with tears that they had killed five, others

seven, and others again ten children, with their own hands.

Notwithstanding the despotic authority of the legislatrix of the Gagers,

she was unable, even by the strictest prohibition, to restrain her

warriors from regaling themselves with the flesh of women. Rich and

powerful chieftains continued to keep whole flocks of young girls, as they

would of lambs, calves, or any other animals, and had some of them daily

slaughtered for the table; for the Gagers prefer human flesh to every

other species of animal food, and among the different classes of human

kind, they hold that of young females in particular estimation. [112]

III. PATRIARCHAL TIMES, AND THE PERIOD OF THE JEWISH THEOCRACY, require a

brief examination, as a necessary means of elucidating the

general subject.

Having already, in the preceding inquiries, ascended to an early date, and

traced the condition of women through a long series of historic record to

the present age, it may seem an imperfection in the plan to conduct the

reader back to a still more remote antiquity than has hitherto been

noticed; but this arrangement will be allowed, perhaps, to be founded in

propriety, upon observing that the design was first to exhibit a complete

series of illustrations, derived from a view of the circumstances of

mankind as _destitute of the light of revelation_, and then to compare the

condition of the female sex under the influence of a precursory and

imperfect system of the _true religion_, with their actual state, or with

the privileges secured to them by the nobler manifestations of

CHRISTIANITY. By this mode of conducting the argument we trace the great

epochs in the history of female melioration: the glory of woman appears at

first eclipsed, as behind a dark cloud, which the passions of a degenerate

race had interposed to hide and debase her: she then emerges, though

partially, to view, through the mists and obscurities of a temporary

dispensation, adapting itself to the circumstances of mankind as they then

existed, but unsuited to what they were destined to become--till at

length, "fair as the moon," ascending to the noon of her glory, and

tinging with the mildness of her beam every earthly object, woman attains

her undisputed eminence, and diffuses her benignant influence in society.

Were we to attach entire credit to the pleasing descriptions of the muses,

we must admit, that the earliest ages of the world deserved the epithet of

"golden" as exhibiting man devoid of those artificial wants which

refinement and luxury have superinduced, and divested of those violent

prejudices, that selfishness and that arrogance, which have filled the cup

of human wo to the brim: we should see him inhabiting a tent of the

simplest construction, furnishing himself with necessary subsistence with

his own hands, sharing with his companion the services of domestic life,

breathing the very soul of hospitality, and adorned with the most

attractive manners: we should even see princes and princesses devoting

themselves to what we are accustomed to denominate the menial offices both

of husbandry and house-keeping, but without any sense of degradation in

the one sex, or any tyrannical assumption in the other.

The authority of the sacred writings also upon this point is express and

decisive. The most distinguished of the human race were, in patriarchal

times, devoted to rural occupations and to plain habits; and it is not

easy, nor is it altogether desirable, to divest oneself of those feelings

of enchantment which the view of such scenes and manners naturally

inspires. Who can remain unaffected at the recital of the story of an

Abraham, running to the herd and fetching a young and tender calf to

refresh his angelic visiters; or at the various memorable instances of

simplicity that occur in the stories of Isaac, Jacob, and their

contemporaries?

But the question is, whether the actual condition of women did or did not

indicate the lordly views of their husbands, and a general state of

slavish subordination? What can be said to the practices of polygamy and

concubinage, which prevailed even in these golden times and in pious

families? Do they evince any proper estimate of the character of women? or

have they not an evident tendency to degrade them? Does not their very

institution assert the subserviency of the one sex to the will and

pleasure of the other? [113] The state of women may not only be inferred

under such circumstances, but is clearly seen. Wives possessed no other

advantages over concubines than the right of inheriting; and domestic

unions were formed without any reference to the nobler felicities of

social intercourse. Hence infertility not only excited dislike, but was

held to justify repudiation. In the earliest ages, marriage was not only

very unceremonious with regaird to the mode in which it was conducted, but

this important union was arranged without any previous agreement between

the parties, and wives were often purchased. Men had the right of

annulling all the oaths and engagements of their daughters and wives, if

they had, not been present when they were contracted. "We can discover,"

says Segur, "in these first ages, nothing worthy of the title of 'golden,'

which has been applied to them. Abraham and Isaac were continually afraid

of being assassinated for their wives; and the oath which they enacted

from their neighbours not to attempt their lives, savoured little of a

_golden_ age."

Under the Jewish theocracy the Levitical law appointed a variety of

regulations which evinced their imperfect emancipation from a state of

inferiority. They were in particular subjected to the trial of the waters

of jealousy, not only in cases of real departure from conjugal fidelity,

but when a suspicion existed in the mind of the husband, even though it

were without any foundation: and there were cases in which misconduct of a

similar natute exposed them to be stoned to death. The doctrine of vows

also, in the cases of daughters, wives, and widows, corroborates the

general argument, by evincing the marked subordination of the woman to

the man. "If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a

bond, being in her father's house in her youth; and her father hear her

vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall

hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond

wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. But if her father disallow

her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds,

wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the Lord shall forgive

her, because her father disallowed her. And if she had at all an husband,

when she vowed, or uttered aught out of her lips, wherewith she bound her

soul; and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that

he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound

her soul shall stand. But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he

heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she

uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and

the Lord shall forgive her. But every vow of a widow, and of her that is

divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.

And if she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by a bond with

an oath; and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and

disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond

wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband hath utterly

made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of

her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall

not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the Lord shall forgive

her. Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband

may establish it, or her husband may make it void. But if her husband

altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth

all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them,

because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them. But if he

shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them, then he shall

bear her iniquity."

* * * * *

From the dark and deeply shaded back-ground of the picture of female

degradation, formed by the facts which have now been adduced, and which

might easily be corroborated by an immense accumulation of evidence,

Christianity is brought forward with conspicuous prominence, and in all

her gracefulness. The contrast is at once striking and affecting: the

moral scene brightens upon the view as we contemplate this attractive

figure combining majesty and mildness--fascination in her smiles and

heaven in her eye.

The superiority which the religion of Jesus has secured to women above the

state of barbaric degradation, Mahometan slavery, and Jewish subjection,

proclaims the glory of that system, which has already meliorated society

to its minutest subdivisions, and will eventually transform the moral

desert of human being into a paradise of beauty and bliss. The argument,

however, will be seen with more distinctness, by the following

brief detail.

1. _The personal conduct of the divine Author of Christianity, tended to

elevate the female sex to a degree of consideration in society before

unknown._ During the life of our Lord, women were admitted to a holy

familiarity with him, attended his public labours, ministered to his

wants, and adhered to him with heroic zeal, when their attachment exposed

them to insult, danger and death.

Immediately after the marriage of Cana in Galilee, where he attended with

his mother, he accompanied her with his brethren and disciples to

Capernaum. That excellent spirit, for which he was remarkable from his

earliest years, continued to influence his mind in maturer life, and

taught him justly to appreciate and perfectly to exemplify the domestic

and social duties. He did not scruple to converse with a Samaritan woman,

who came to draw water at Jacob's well, though his disciples, in whose

minds Jewish prejudices continued to prevail, expressed their astonishment

at his condescension. Never was there so fine a specimen of patience,

gentleness, and humility, blended with true dignity, as upon that

remarkable occasion. He instructed her ignorance, endured her petulance,

corrected her mistakes, awakened her conscience, converted her heart, and

eventually honoured her as a messenger of mercy and salvation to her

Samaritan friends. At another time, when the disciples rebuked those who

brought their little children to him, that he might put his hands on them

and pray, he kindly interposed; and evincing the most sympathetic

tenderness towards the solicitudes which, on such an occasion, would

necessarily pervade the maternal bosom, he said, "Suffer little children,

and forbid them not to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of

heaven: and he laid his hands on them." On various occasions, when he

performed some of his most illustrious miracles, females were personally

concerned, and shared his distinguished notice and condolence. Such

particularly was the case when he met the funeral procession at Nain: it

was that of a young man, represented in the simple and affecting language

of the evangelist, as "the only son of his mother, and she was a widow."

The meeting was apparently casual; but Jesus was instantly and deeply

impressed with the circumstances: he in particular felt compassion for the

weeping parent--addressed her in kind and gentle terms--remanded the

spirit from its eternal flight, to inhabit again for a season the body

from which it had so lately departed, and delivered the reanimated youth

to _his mother_. He blended his tears with those of Martha and Mary, at

the sepulchre of their brother; and after instructing them upon the

subject of the resurrection from the dead, restored him to their wishes

and affections." Women "ministered unto Jesus of their substance,"--"the

daughters of Jerusalem" bewailed him when he was led to crucifixion--and

the "women that followed him from Galilee were deeply interested

spectators of his sufferings, observed his sepulchre, and prepared spices

and ointments. It was Mary Magdalene who enjoyed the honour and happiness

of a first manifestation after Jesus was risen from the dead, and she was

commissioned to go and inform the rest of his sorrowing disciples. "The

frequent mention," says Doddridge "which is made in the evangelists of the

generous and courageous zeal of some _pious women_ in the service of

Christ, and especially of the faithful and resolute constancy with which

they attended him in those last scenes of his suffering, might very

possibly be intended to obviate that haughty and senseless contempt, which

the pride of men, often irritated by those vexations to which their own

irregular passions have exposed them, has in all ages affected to throw on

that sex, which probably, in the sight of God, constitute by far the

better half of mankind; and to whose care and tenderness the wisest and

best of men generally owe and ascribe much of the daily comfort and

enjoyment of their lives."

2. _As the conduct of Christ naturally induced his disciples to imitate

the example of their illustrious Master, the subsequent admission of women

to all the privileges of the Christian Church, tended exceedingly to

confirm their elevation, and evince their importance in society_. When the

primitive converts to the Christian faith wished publicly to avow their

dereliction of heathen idolatry, and their emancipation from the bondage

of Judaism, by being baptized in water, _both sexes_ were admitted without

distinction to this solemn rite. At a very early period of the primitive

church, when the city of Samaria received the word of God by the preaching

of Philip, which with its accompanying miracles, diffused an universal

joy, "they were baptized, both MEN and WOMEN;" and the apostle Paul, in

writing to the Galatians, expresses himself in this triumphant strain:

"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many

of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is

neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither

MALE nor FEMALE, for ye are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus."

Sentiments like these, combined with the practice of an institution so

expressive and so remarkable, tended to circulate among the primitive

Christians those feelings of respect and affection for women, which, by

elevating them to their proper rank in society, must necessarily purify

the public morals, meliorate individual character, and ennoble the

intercourse of life. Admitted to an equal participation of the privileges

of God's house, where every minor distinction is annihilated by the

predominance of a diffusive charity, and feeling that their present joys

and future destinies were blended with those of the "holy brethren,

partakers of the heavenly calling;" the female part of the community rose

into importance as rational, but especially as immortal beings.

After the ascension of Christ, the historian of the Acts of the Apostles

informs us, that "the WOMEN, and Mary, the mother of Jesus," assembled

with the apostles to worship in the upper room at Jerusalem; being equally

interested in the great events which had recently occurred, and in the

devotional services in which they now engaged. Paul directs Timothy to

treat "the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all

purity." He also desires him to "honour widows that are widows indeed,"

and to afford them all proper relief by charitable contributions, a

practice for which the first Christians were highly distinguished. Women

are represented by an apostle himself as _fellow-labourers_ in the Gospel,

assisting them, not only by their example, to which he willingly pointed

the attention of the churches, but by their prayers, their visits of

mercy, and other similar methods of co-operatiug in the propagation of the

truth, and the promotion of individual happiness.

As the _immediate_ effects of original transgression upon the woman were

most obvious and most deplorable, and as her debasement from the eminence

assigned her by the Creator has been _completed_ by the misrule of

passion, and the gradual advancement of human degeneracy: so the _direct_

operation of Christianity is apparent, according to the degree of its

prevalence, in elevating her to a state which was known before only in the

garden of Eden--a state in which she again assumes a rank, which

regenerated man cheerfully concedes, wherein she regains the lost

paradise of love and tenderness; while the more _remote_ influence of this

system is discernible in the recognition of her rights, wherever its

benign dominion extends. Now she ascends to the glory of an intelligent

creature, gladdens by her presence the solitary hours of existence,

beguiles by her converse and sympathy the rough and tedious paths of life,

and not only acquires personal dignity and importance, but in some measure

new modifies, purifies, and exalts the character of man. If we cannot but

weep over the affecting representation of the departure of Adam and Eve

from the scene of innocence and of celestial manifestation, when

"The brandish'd sword of God before them blaz'd

Fierce as a comet: which with torrid heat

And vapours, as the Libyan air adust,

Begun to parch that temperate clime; whereat

In either hand the hast'ning angel caught

Our ling'ring parents, and to the eastern gate

Led them direct, and down the cliff as fast

To the subjected plain----"

and when, taking a hasty retrospect of their lost felicity, in consequence

of transgression, and cherishing gloomy forebodings of that melancholy

futurity, which seemed already to pour from its dark clouds the deluging

rain of grief and misery--

"Some natural tears they dropp'd, but wip'd them soon;

The world was all before them, where to choose

Their place of rest, and Providence their guide;

They, hand in hand, with wand'ring steps and slow

Through Eden took their solitary way;----"

--if we must mourn over so sad a scene, Christianity a wakens sympathies

of an opposite description, by exhibiting a goodly number of their

descendants as inhabitants of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH--the grand repository

of heavenly blessings, and the dwelling-place of peace--at whose holy

altar of truth souls are wedded, and at whose sacramental board they

celebrate an everlasting union. Nothing can present a scene more worthy

the attention of mankind, or more attractive to the eyes of witnessing

angels, than this association of persons in pious fellowship, without

distinction of birth or country, age or sex; participators in equal

proportions of the same happiness, children of one common parent, and

heirs of one rich inheritance!

3. _The, great principles asserted by the religion of Jesus, secure to

women, as an unquestionable right, that exaltation in society, which his

conduct, and that of his followers conferred_. These principles may he

traced in the New Testament, either as necessarily comprehending, by their

generality, a proper treatment of the female sex, or as developing

themselves in particular regulations and enactments.

Christianity breathes a spirit of the most diffusive charity and good

will: and wherever its "power" is felt, it moulds the character into the

image of benevolence. Love is the beauty and the strength of this

"spiritual building;" a love, at once comprehensive in its range, and

minute in its ramifications: adjusting the diversified claims of society

and religion with perfect exactness, and directing the exercise of all the

social affections. The fountain being purified, the streams become pure;

the heart, which is the centre mid spring of moral action, being renewed,

the conduct will be distinguished by a corresponding degree of virtue,

goodness, and sanctity. But as Christianity produces a general

transformation of character, by subduing the ferocious and brutal

propensities of man; clearing away the rank and noxious weeds that

overspread human nature, and sowing the seeds of moral excellence, the

effect must be discernible in the whole intercourse of life. Immorality

trembles, domestic tyranny retires abashed before the majesty of religion,

and peace pervades that dwelling where power was law, and woman a slave.

In fact, every precept of the Gospel that inculcates kindness, sympathy,

gentleness, meekness, courtesy, and all the other graces that bloom in the

garden of the Lord--indirectly, and by no unintelligible or forced

application, provides for the honour and glory of the female sex. If the

most effectual method of degrading woman be to barbarize man, the certain

means of dignifying _her_ is to christianize _him_.

It is to be noticed also, that there is no sex in conscience, and that for

the discharge of the duties of piety, each is equally capacitated, and

therefore equally responsible. If men were to give an account at the

tribunal of heaven, not only for their personal actions and principles,

but for those of women, to whom they are related by the ties of

consanguinity, or with whom they are connected by circumstances, there

would be some reason in assuming a jurisdiction over their faith, and

disputing their claims to rationality and to respectful treatment; but not

to insist upon the moral constitution of the female sex, and the whole

drift of divine revelation, the very terms of the initiatory ordinance of

the Christian church, to which they are equally entitled, illustrates and

secures their prerogatives--for it is "the answer of a good conscience

towards God." When men impose fetters upon other men, condemning,

imprisoning, fining, scourging, burning, and anathematizing them, merely

because they dare to think for themselves in matters which can only

concern God and their own souls, and will not have their faith decreed by

arbitrary power and exasperated ignorance, it need not excite surprise,

that they should assume the right of behaving to the weaker sex with all

the capriciousness of despotism; and no authority but that of Scripture,

which maintains the privileges of _all thinking beings_, can effectually

restrain the wickedness of man's UNMANLY usurpation.

The precepts of Christianity bespeak its characteristic regard to the

reciprocal duties and respective rank of the sexes, adjusting their claims

with a nicety that precludes disputation, and an authority that commands

assent. They are not arbitrary enactments; but being founded in the

highest reason, and connected with individual felicity, approve themselves

to every well-regulated mind. In our behaviour to others, we are not only

prohibited from indulging the vindictive and malignant passions, but

exhorted to do them good by the employment of our pecuniary resources,

social opportunities, and moral means, to advance both their temporal and

eternal interests. While these principles necessarily comprise the

discharge of all relative duties, these are besides specifically

enumerated and enforced. Husbands, in whose hands barbarism had placed a

tyrannic sceptre, are required by the religion of Jesus to renounce their

unjust domination, and to descend to the regulated and affectionate

intercourse of the domestic hearth. It is expressly enjoined upon them to

"love their wives," and not to be "bitter against them." "Let every one of

you in particular so love his wife even as himself: so ought men to love

their wives as their own bodies."--"Ye husbands, dwell with your wives

according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker

vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life." "Let one of you

in particular so love his wife as himself, and the wife see that she

reverence her husband."

Christianity also expressly abolishes, at least by necessary implication,

polygamy and the power of divorce, as they existed among barbarous

nations, perpetuating the degradation of women, and spreading confusion in

society. "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication,

and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which

is put away, doth commit adultery." "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak

to them that know the law.) how that the law hath dominion over a man as

long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law

to her husband so long as be liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is

loosed from the law of her husband." And, "Let every man have his own

wife, and let every woman have her own husband." Paley remarks, "The

manners of different countries have varied in nothing more than in their

domestic constitutions. Less polished and more luxurious nations have

either not perceived the bad effects of polygamy, or, if they did perceive

them, they who in such countries possessed the power of reforming the

laws, have been unwilling to resign their own gratifications. Polygamy is

retained at this day among the Turks, and throughout every part of Asia in

which Christianity is not professed. In Christian countries it is

universally prohibited. In Sweden it is punished with death. In England,

besides the nullity of the second marriage, it subjects the offender to

transportation, or imprisonment and branding, for the first offence, and

to capital punishment for the second. And whatever may be said in behalf

of polygamy when it is authorized by the law of the land, the marriage of

a second wife during the lifetime of the first, in countries where such a

second marriage is void, must be ranked with the most dangerous and cruel

of those frauds by which a woman is cheated out of her fortune, her

person, and her happiness.

"The ancient Medes compelled their citizens, in one canton, to take seven

wives; in another, each woman to receive five husbands; according as war

had made, in one quarter of their country, an extraordinary havoc among

the men, or the women had been carried away by an enemy from another. This

regulation, so far as it was adapted to the proportion which subsisted

between the number of males and females, was founded in the reason upon

which the most improved nations of Europe proceed at present.

"Cæsar found among the inhabitants of this island a species of polygamy,

if it may be so called, which was perfectly singular. _Uxores_, says he,

_habent deni duodenique inter se communes; et maxime fratres cum

fratribus, parentesque cum liberis: sed si qui sint ex his nati, corum

habentur liberi, quo primum virgo quaque deducta est_."

The same perspicuous writer adds, upon the subject of divorce, "The

Scriptures seem to have drawn the obligation tighter than the law of

nature left it. 'Whosoever,' saith Christ, 'shall put away his wife,

except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth

adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away, doth commit adultery.'

The law of Moses, for reasons of local expediency, permitted the Jewish

husband to put away his wife; but whether for every cause, or for what

causes, appears to have been controverted amongst the interpreters of

those times. Christ, the precepts of whose religion were calculated for

more general use and observation, revokes this permission, (as given to

the Jews 'for the hardness of their hearts,') and promulges a law which

was thenceforward to confine divorces to the single cause of adultery in

the wife. And I see no sufficient reason to depart from the plain and

strict meaning of Christ's words. The rule was new. It both surprised and

offended his disciples, yet Christ added nothing to relax or explain it.

"Inferior causes may justify the separation of husband and wife, although

they will not authorize such a dissolution of the marriage contract as

would leave either party at liberty to marry again; for it is that

liberty, in which the danger and mischief of divorces principally consist.

If the care of children does not require that they should live together,

and it is become, in the serious judgment of both, necessary for their

mutual happiness that they should separate, let them separate by consent.

Nevertheless, this necessity can hardly exist, without guilt and

misconduct on one side or on both. Moreover, cruelty, ill usage, extreme

violence, or moroseness of temper, or other great and continual

provocations, make it lawful for the party aggrieved to withdraw from the

society of the offender, without his or her consent. The law which imposes

the marriage vow, whereby the parties promise to 'keep to each other,' or

in other words to live together, must be understood to impose it with a

silent reservation of these cases; because the same law has constituted a

judicial relief from the tyranny of her husband, by the divorce _à mensa

et toro_, and by the provision which it makes for the separate maintenance

of the injured wife. St. Paul, likewise, distinguishes between a wife

merely separating herself from the family of her husband, and her marrying

again: 'Let not the wife depart from her husband; but, and if she do

depart, let her remain unmarried.'" [114]

Notwithstanding the survey we have taken of the general degradation of the

female sex, where the benign influences of Christianity have been unfelt,

the argument may be confronted by a formidable array of plausible

objections. It may be said, that amidst the barbarity of the SCANDINAVIAN

NATIONS, they treated their women with extraordinary respect. The

Scythians exempted the daughter from the punishment in which the son was

obliged to partake with the father, and the German women even inherited

the throne. Some of the laws, among the Goths, respecting illicit

intercourse, were highly reasonable and just, and our remote ancestors may

be cited as examples of treating women with the utmost veneration. It may

seem indicative also of the prevalence of similar sentiments, that the

ancient mythologies abound in female divinities: the Phoenicians

worshipped the goddess _Astarte_, the Scythians, _Appia,_ the

Scandinavians, _Friggia_, the wife of Odin. It may be further urged, with

regard to the GREEKS and ROMANS, that though the melancholy picture we

have already drawn of their conduct be true, yet their history presents

some remarkable evidences of the elevated condition of their women, and

the honourable regard which they obtained. Among the former, indeed, few

instances can be adduced, in addition to that of Areta, the daughter of

Aristippus, who fixed upon her son the surname of Μητροδιδακτος,

or _disciple of his mother_, in consequence of her having been his

instructer in the sciences and philosophy. The Romans, at some periods of

their history, paid extraordinary respect to their women; the institution

of the vestals is a memorial of the estimation in which female virtue was

held, and the emperor Heliogabalus was desirous that his wife should have

a voice in the senate. They allowed their women to celebrate an annual

feast, to commemorate the reconciliation between them and the Sabines, by

means of their wives; and they erected an equestrian statue to Cloelia,

and a temple to Fortune, in honour of the sex; because the mother and wife

of Coriolanus had caused that hero to retire weeping from his native

country, when he was irresistible by arms. [115] But the most plausible

objection to the general argument seems derivable from the history of

CHIVALRY, under whose influence it is alleged that women were not only not

degraded, but were actually advanced to the highest condition, and

possessed the most commanding influence. The knights, at their

installation, took solemn vows of self-devotement to the cause of female

honour; and ladies were constantly engaged as umpires at tournaments, took

off the armour of the conquerors, and irivested them with magnificent

robes. The middle ages witnessed the extraordinary sight of knight-errants

wandering over distant countries, with their sword and lance in hand, to

contest the point of the beauty and virtue of their ladies, with all who

ventured to intimate the slightest doubt or suspicion on the subject.

Their expeditions were usually made in consequence of some requisition on

the part of their mistresses, or to fulfil a vow voluntarily incurred in a

moment of intoxication and excitement.

The reply to these general objections has been in part anticipated.

Christianity assigns to women their proper place in society, neither

admitting of their being tyrannized over by despotic authority, nor

impiously honoured by a ridiculous adulation. They are to be viewed as

help meets, not, as slaves; to be respected and loved, but not deified.

While the religion of Jesus raises them to great consideration in the

scale of society, it imposes a salutary restraint upon human passions, and

checks every approach to the assumption of an unnatural superiority. It

bestows a rank which secures them from contempt or disregard, while it

equally prevents a senseless adoration: so that its principles disallow

the barbaric treatment of uncivilized nations and the follies of the

chivalrous ages.

In the different periods and places to which the objection refers, the

conduct of mankind was marked with inconsistency. Greece and Rome exhibit

ample specimens of this nature; and the time of chivalry afford

illustrations equally remarkable. The knights of the order were not

distinguished by fidelity to their wives, or by a concern for the

education of their daughters: their devotion to the female sex was, in

fact, without principle and without love; they fought, from vanity and

fashion, for persons whom they had basely dishonoured and secretly

despised; and while their flattery and folly were sufficiently

discreditable to their own understandings and hearts, they tended in a

deplorable degree to corrupt the principles of those whom they

professed to value.

It is further obvious, that in the very best periods of Greek and Roman

history there existed no security against a change in the treatment of

women, arising from the general recognition of any of those great

principles of moral conduct which constitute the basis of good government

and of well-regulated society. Passion predominated above reason, and

received its impulse solely from casual circumstances. It was, in fact,

accidental, whether it should operate amiably or malignantly; and the

felicity of one half of the human species depended upon the precarious and

ever vacillating humour of the other. Virtue was scarcely seen upon the

earth, except at occasional and often distant visitations, or as she shed

a fitful and flickering light into the retreats of systematic philosophy.

Woman was at the mercy of every wind--to-day honoured--to-morrow

despised--now a goddess--and anon a slave! Viewing heathen countries in

the most favourable aspect in which history presents them, and admitting

to the fullest extent the correctness of those details of virtue and

valour which she has transmitted to us, the conduct of the Celtic and

Scandinavian nations, and instances deduced from cultivated and classic

regions, or from modern times, can only be considered as _exceptions_

which do not impugn the general alignment, corroborated as it has been by

a historical and geographical delineation of society in every age of the

world, and every quarter of the globe.

Behold Christianity, then, walking forth in her purity and greatness to

bless the earth, diffusing her light in every direction, distributing her

charities on either hand, quenching the flames of lust and the fires of

ambition, silencing discord, spreading peace, and creating all things new!

Angels watch her progress, celebrate her influence, and anticipate her

final triumphs! The moral creation brightens beneath her smiles, and owns

her renovating power; at her approach man loses his fierceness and woman

her chains; each becomes blessed in the other, and God glorified in both!

Appendix.

(SEE p. 320.)

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

μαγοι 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_ εν τοις του πατρος μου Syriac [Hebrew], _in domo

patris mei_. The Armenian version renders the words in the same manner.

It has been justly observed that τα του δεινος 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, Ἀλλὰ σὺ ᾆ γὺναι: 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, ὑδως χων. 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_, Ἑλληνες, 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 τεταρτχμοριον 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;

κρηνη, _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.