148 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



I am therefore disposed to view such absurd 

 and barbarous practices, as intimately connected 

 with the operation of a principle of malevolence, 

 as an attempt to frustrate the wise designs of di 

 vine benevolence, and as directly repugnant to 

 the spirit of Christianity, and to the benevolent 

 precepts of the gospel of peace. And it becomes 

 some of the ladies, and the dandies of modern 

 Europe to consider, whether some of their awk 

 ward attempts to improve the symmetry of the 

 human frame ought not to be viewed in the same 

 light. Not many years ago, it was considered, 

 in the higher circles of society, as an admirable 

 improvement of the female form, to give the lower 

 half of the body the appearance of the frustum of a 

 large tun, as if it had been ten times the capacity 

 of its natural size, by supporting their robes with 

 enormous hoops ; and, about the same period, 

 the lower ranks of female society considered it 

 as the perfection of proportion and beauty, to have 

 their waists compressed into the smallest possible 

 space, till the vital functions, in many instances, 

 were deranged, and ultimately destroyed. Were 

 the dictates of sound reason universally attended 

 to, and were the influence of Christianity fully 

 felt among all nations, the preposterous and sa 

 vage practices to which I have now adverted, 

 would not only be discontinued, but held in abhor 

 rence. And were such customs completely 

 abolished, we might soon expect to behold, 

 among all the tribes of mankind, every distortion 

 of the features or the countenance removed, and 

 the human form restored to its original beauty 

 and perfection. Instead of a warlike visage, and 

 a ferocious aspect, and the frightful appearance 

 of naked savages, streaked with colours of black 

 and blue, we should behold, in every land, every 

 countenance beaming with the radiations of be 

 nevolence, and reflecting the moral image of the 

 Creator. 



MALEVOLENCE AS IT APPEARS IN THE 

 RELIGION OF SAVAGE TRIBES. 



There is scarcely a nation on the surface of 

 the globe but what appears to have some impres 

 sions of the existence of a Superior Power, and 

 to have formed a system of religious worship. 

 But, it is a striking fact, that, among the greater 

 portion of human beings, their religious notions, 

 and their sacred rites, instead of breathing a 

 spirit of kindness and benevolence towards their 

 fellow-creatures, are blended with a principle of 

 hatred and revenge. This might be illustrated 

 by an induction of a great variety of instances, 

 in reference to almost every uncivilized portion 

 of tht) human race. I shall content myself, how 

 ever, with stating only one instance, in reference 

 to the Nesserie, a tribe not much known in Eu 

 rope, and which may serve as an example of 

 many others. 



The territory of this people extends from 

 Antioch nearly to Tripoli. They occupy almost 



all the mountains to the cast of Latakia. and 9 

 great part of the plain. Among them is perceiv* 

 ed a mixture of the religious usages of Paganism 

 of the Jewish law, of that of Mahomet and AH, 

 and of some dogmas of the Christian Religion. 

 The women are considered as a part of the 

 domestic animals of the house, and treated as 

 slaves. They have no idea of religion, and when 

 they are bold enough to inquire of their masters 

 concerning it, the latter answer them that their 

 religion is, to be charged with the reproduction ol 

 the species, and to be subject to the will of their 

 husbands. The Nesserie say their prayers at 

 midnight, and before sun-set. They may sav 

 them either sitting, standing, or walking; but 

 they are obliged to begin again repeating their 

 ablution, if they speak toa person not of their reli 

 gion, if they perceive, either near or at a dis 

 tance, a camel, a pig, a hare, or a negro. In their 

 prayers, they curse the man who shaves below the 

 chin, him who is impotent, and the two Caliphs, 

 Omar and Abou-Bekr. They detest the Turks, 

 to whom they are sworn enemies. This warlike 

 people of mountaineers would be strong enough 

 to shake off the yoke of the Turks, and live inde 

 pendently, if they were not divided by interested 

 motives, almost all occasioned by implacable 

 family hatreds. They are vindictive, and cherish 

 their rancour for a length of time : even the death 

 of the guilty person cannot assuage their fury ; 

 their vengeance is incomplete, if it does not fall 

 besides on one or several members of his family. 

 They are so obstinately superstitious in their at 

 tachment to their peculiar system, that no threats 

 nor punishments can extort from them the secrets 

 of their religion.* 



Here, then, we are presented with a system of 

 religion which appears to be founded on male 

 volence, which directs its devotees to curse their 

 fellow-men which leads them to keep their wo 

 men in profound ignorance of every thing which 

 they hold sacred which induces them to conceal 

 its mysteries from all the rest of the world and 

 which, in so far from producing any beneficial ef 

 fects on their own conduct, leads to &quot;implacable 

 family hatreds.&quot; A religion, unless it be found 

 ed on a principle of benevolence, is unworthy of 

 the name ; it must be an abhorrence in the sight 

 of God, and can never communicate happiness 

 to man. And were we to examine the various 

 religious systems which prevail in the numerous 

 islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, in Ca- 

 bul, Thibet, and Hindostan, and among the un 

 civilized tribes which are scattered over a largft 

 portion of Asia and of Africa, we should find 

 them, not only blended with malevolent princi 

 pies and maxims, but sanctioning the perpetration 

 of deeds of cruelty, obscenity, and horror. 



In the preceding pages, I have endeavoured *o 



* See Dupont s &quot; Memoirs of the Manners and Re 

 ligious Ceremonies of the Nesserie,&quot; a work latel&amp;gt; 



published. 



