118 
THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 
form to the Buddhist observances in matters 
of faith and discipline, and there exists no im- 
pediment (such as his having a family to sup- 
port, or his not having obtained the permis- 
sion of his parents, &c.), to his abandonment 
of earthly pursuits ; sickness, deformity, and 
a bad character are also sufficient causes for 
rejection. Should none of these obstacles 
present themselves, the candidate is admitted 
into the Aioifm, and attired, in the prescribed 
dress, enters upon the duties of a Phoongree. 
If, as is generally the case, his age shall not 
have exceeded 15 years, he is appointed to the 
performance of the menial duties, and gra- 
dually initiated in the peculiar tenets of the 
sect, until he shall have arrived at the age of 
20 years, the time appointed for confirma- 
tion.” 
It is remarkable bow most religions (we 
altogether except the Mahommedan, which 
comhienced by enforcing its doctrines at the 
sword’s point, start with a purity from which 
the disciples but too frequently diverge. Many 
are the proofs that originally there was but 
one Law Giver and but one law acknow- 
ledged. In all creeds we are taught 
that abandonment of worldly objects is the 
first and most momentous exaction, but as 
society advances, we almost invariably find 
the priesthood claiming their privileges in 
secular affairs, and entering with avidity 
into the schemes, intrigues, and politics of 
the Governments to which they belong. It 
is evident that religion should remain all 
together removed from scenes of contention ; 
because it is in its essence immeasurably 
superior to them. Such, however, is the 
common frailty of our nature that we can- 
not divest ourselves of individual claims 
in society nor set ourselves wholly apart 
for the service of God without for- 
feiting those worldly advantages, which it is 
one of the weaknesses of our lot to be thus 
unwilling to forego. How long the people 
whose manners and customs we are tracing 
will retain their present habits, is hardly 
problematical. Simple as they appear, their 
customs are indescribably immoral ; and 
characterized with a degree of shameless- 
ness which steel their hearts against 
those noble and warm endearing affections 
which civilization, perfected by the doctrines 
of unsullied Christianity, inspires. Our 
intercourse, if enlightened with such views, 
will assuredly engender other thoughts 
and offer other prospects, when the period I 
arrives which will fit them for a simpler and Ij 
holier creed. On the other hand, if the inter- I 
course of Europeans with them be unsancti- j 
fied by any religious feeling, how much of evil i| 
passions now dormant will not be awakened, | 
how mnph of primitive simplieity will be r 
exchanged for the cunning of the world’s il 
knowledge and craft among these pupils I 
ofBoodha. We shall follow up this H 
review in our next No. and offer to our 
readers some general remarks on the neces- 
sity of pursuing this species of investigation 
with a more determined vigor. The advan- 
tage would be to the Government as the | 
power to perform it certainly is. Will it be 1 
exerted ? 
TIEDEMAN’5 PHYSIOLOGY OF 
MAN. 
PARALLEL BETWEEN THE MANI- 
FESTATIONS OF ACTIVITY OF OR- 
GANIC AND THOSE OF INORGA- 
hJlC BODIES. 
{Continued from page 86.) 
OF THE MEXIFF.STATIONS OF ACTIVITY COMMON 
TO ORGANIC AND INORGANIC BODIES, AND 
TIIFIR MODIFICATIONS IN THE FORMER. 
XLVllT. The nianifestations of activity 
and of power of inorganic bodies are reducible 
to repulsion and attraction. The first is shown 
by impenetrability and extension, the second 
by mechanical attraction, gravity, cohesion, 
adhesion, and chemical affinity. Physical 
philosophers designate by the names of attrac- 
tion and repulsion those inherent causes in 
bodies on which these phenomena depend. 
They have discovered a great portion of the 
laws according to which these forces act, 
without being able to detect their fundament- 
al cause. 
XLIX. Similar phenomena, or manifesta- 
tions of activity, are observed in living bodies. 
All of them possess extent and weight ; cohe- 
sion and adhesion is exerted in all of them, 
and we see besides, in all, the play of chemi- 
cal affinities. But these phenomena, although 
the effects of general physical forces, are modi- 
fied by the manifestations of activity peculiar 
to organic bodies, called life, and by powers 
of a particular kind, viz. organic powers, AH 
the physical and chemical properties of plants 
and animals, the manner in which they fill 
space, their extension, their gravity, their cohe- 
sion, the chemical affinities which operate in 
them, depend more or less on the organic pow- 
ers by which they are animated. A further 
proof of this is, that plants and animals are 
