trations, he brings it to the soil-giving the idea of worship upon holy ground. But for this the Sheah is generally content to substitute a portion of the mould from the tombs of his martyrs, Hassan and Hossein, at Kerbelah. This practice has suggested to some an idea of the possible use to which Naaman, the Syrian, designed to apply "the two mules' burden of earth," he desired to take with him to Damascus; namely, that he might worship the God of Israel upon a portion of the soil honoured with His immediate presence. And this appears to us not unlikely, when we consider the ideas of the local presence of God, which were then usually entertained by the heathen, and which this man strongly indicated in his declaration"Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.". The prayers used on such occasions, and the portions of the Koran recited, are in Arabic, and learned by rote for the purpose. The language is known only to the learned, so that the petitions they use from day to day are, like the Latin prayers of the Romanists, scarcely intelligible to the great body of those who use them, although, from analogy of language, and from information gathered in the course of time, their general purport may be understood. It is equally lamentable and surprising to see how this system of unspiritual, mechanical worship, of praying in an unknown tongue, has been thrown up by Satan in many lands, and under many systems of error, as an effectual barrier to that free intercourse between the soul and God, through which alone it can receive nourishment. The Hebrew prayers of the uneducated Jew, the Latin prayers of the uneducated Romanist, the Arabic prayers of the uneducated Moslem, and the written prayers which the Calmuc turns in his mill-appear to be all but varied aspects of the same darkening practice. It seems to us sufficiently to explain the indifferent and heartless manner in which these forms of worship are usually gone through. * The terms would, however, seem rather to imply that the erection of an altar with this earth was intended; but we appear to be compelled to regard the other interpretation as more probable, from the difficulty of understanding that Elisha could have heard this intention to do a thing absolutely forbidden by the law, without protesting against it. The other idea is counter to no law. A Persian, who, like other Moslems, will apply himself to his prayers anywhere, when the appointed time arrives, seldom fails to indicate by the movement of his eye and head that E2 he is discharging a merely mechanical duty, and that his attention is fully awake to the circumstances passing, or the business in progress around him; and it is not unusual for him to give directions to his servant, or to throw out conversational or business remarks, in the midst of his devotions. This is so com mon that it does not attract attention. Something of the same kind has been noticed in the synagogues of the Jews, and is indeed inseparable from such unspiritual worship. The divided attention which we have seen a Calmuc give, on the one hand, to the revolutions of his prayer-wheel, and the other to the pot over the fire, did not seem to us more flagrant than the indecencies which we have also witnessed in the unprofitable "bodily service" of Romanists, Jews, Persians, Arabs, and Turks. As in all Moslem countries, the sound of bells, as marking the time, and issuing the call for prayers, is in Persia counted abominable, and is not allowed even to the Christian inhabitants. The intelligent human voice is held to be the most proper instrument for this summons; and, accordingly, at the appointed times, a strong and clear-voiced man ascends to the roof of the mosque, and sends forth his voice, which, in the open air, and amid the stillness of eastern cities, is heard at a distance, and with a distinctness which seems astonishing to us; and those who are too far off to distinguish the words of the crier, know, from custom, what the sound denotes. The words form the Moslem profession of faith: - "There is no Deity but God; and Mohammed is the prophet of God;" but the Sheah makes the addition, "and Ali is the vicar of God," which words seem to a Turk, who first hears them on entering the Persian territory, as a frightful blasphemy, which fills him with a painful sensation of disgust and horror. The same addition occurs in all the frequent repetitions of this profession of faith which the Moslem religion exacts. With other Moslems, the Sheahs turn their faces in the direction of Mecca, or rather of its temple, in the act of prayer. This is the kebla, or point of adoration, and is analogous to the ancient and still subsisting practice among the Jews, of worshipping with the face set towards Jerusalem-in Jerusalem, towards the temple-and in the temple, towards the holy of holies, Dan. vi. 10. Almsgiving is very strongly enjoined upon all Mohammedans, who are taught to regard it as one of the principal means of working out their own salvation. And, as man is always eager to take upon himself the mighty task which needed the blood of God's own Son, the precept is not badly fulfilled. The Moslems are very charitable; and, besides rendering to the poor the proportion of their increase which the law demands, they give and bequeath large sums upon charitable and pious foundations. It is not necessary to constitute the merit in almsgiving that the object should be directly religious, or that the recipients should be, in the Moslem sense, pious persons. The merit lies in the intention of the giver. There is not a moralist, a tale-teller, or a poet among the Persians, who does not extol lavish charity beyond all other virtues. One poet (Jamee) beautifully says, "Be ye like unto trees, laden with fruit, and planted by the roadside, which give shade and fruit to all, even to those who pelt them with stones;" which brings to mind the incomparable words of our Saviour-" That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust," Matt. v. 45. |