THE PILGRIMS. 
149 
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ing prayer over, all was noise of another description; bustle, and 
riotous merriment, more like preparations for a fair, than a 
worship ; shewing at once the difference in spirit, between the two 
religions. In the one, the moral law walked hand in hand with 
the ceremonial; and the mandate of worshipping the One God 
in purity of heart, and in strictness of practice, was unvaryingly 
asserted in the chastisement or welfare of the people; and 
so we see it was acknowledged, by the seemly and humbled joy 
under pardon, with which the recalled Israelites returned to the 
land of their temple. But here, the performance of certain rites 
seemed to be all in all. The preachers of the multitude, holding 
forth, that as they advance nearer to the shrines of their pilgrim¬ 
age, so in due proportion their sins depart from them; and thus, 
every step they approach, the load becomes lighter and lighter, 
till the last atom flies off in the moment they fall prostrate before 
the tomb of the prophet or saint; and from which holy spot, 
they rise perfectly clear, free, and often too willing, to commence 
a new score, to be as readily wiped away. I do not mean to say, 
that every person engaged on such expeditions, has this latter 
consequence in contemplation; but it is too general an idea 
amongst them, being kept up by the avaricious, who amass 
money by the doctrine. And, indeed, we find something very 
like it, wherever certain ceremonies and opinions are held to be 
of more effect towards salvation, than the practice of a holy life ; 
ignorance, and wilful human nature, being more apt to cherish 
this easy mode of worship, than to understand and apply the 
divine precept, which declares, that “ obedience is better than 
sacrifice.” 
Leaving the clamorous hordes just described, behind me, I 
turned my whole attention to the mountain of Be-Sitoon. This 
