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wives as they please, but if they cannot support them from being a burthen to the community, then they are liable to pay a fine. On the evening of the wedding day, the relations of the bride conduct her home to the house of the bridegroom, where the first thing she does is to go into the kitchen and kiss the hearth, after which she prostrates herself on the ground, to acknowledge her humility and obedience to her husband.

The entertainments at their marriages, generally last nine days, unless the parties are extremely poor, and then three days are considered as sufficient. The law permits a man to put away his wife, but this privilege is not granted to the woman, and if a woman procures a divorce, it is attended with many difficulties. When a woman is found guilty of adultery, she is turned out into an inclosure among elephants, where she generally starves, but for the same crime, the man can compound by paying a fine. The ceremony of a divorce in Tonquin, has something in it very novel to Europeans. When a man is inclined to put away his wife, he takes the sticks which they used at their meals, instead of forks, and breaking them in twain, each party takes one half, and wraps it carefully up in a piece of silk stuff: after which the man is obliged to return his wife all the money he received with her, and give security that he will take care of all the children they had while they cohabited together.

The cloaths they wear at their funerals are always white, but no part of them must be of silk. A father, or a mother, mourns for a child twenty-seven months; widows wear mourning for their husbands, three years; but a husband mourns no longer for his wife, than he thinks proper. Brothers and sisters, Brothers and sisters, mourn for one another, one whole year. The lowest sorts of the people commemorate their deceased relations, and their ceremonies are according to the nature of their circumstances. For such as have done great things to serve the public, they erect altars and temples, on which they offer sacrifices, and they even celebrate the memories of such as have raised disturbances, fomented rebellions, and tram... pled on the laws; but this is not done for their honour, but to hold them out as objects of detestation, to all those who shall live in future ages.

one of his subjects is obliged to appear in mourning. All the officers of state are obliged to remain in mourning three years, nor are any public games allowed during the mourning, except such as are common when a king mounts the throne, in the room of his predecessor. The dishes served up at the new king's coronation, are all varnished black, and he cuts off his hair, and covers his head with a straw hat. All the great officers of state do the same, and three bells are kept tolling incessantly, from the death of the king, till his body is put on board a galley, in order to be interred among his ancestors.

On the sixty-sixth day, after the death of the king, all things being prepared for his interment, by a proper officer appointed for that purpose, the procession begins, and the ground is strewed with flowers. The procession continues sixteen days, and at every quarter of a league, they make a halt near some huts, erected for the purpose of supplying the people and horses with provisions, and with fire to light their pipes. Two gentlemen of the king's chamber, march in the front, and as they go along they proclaim the king's name with all his pompous titles; each of them carries a mace in his hand, the head of which has a lighted torch in it, and twelve gentlemen of the king's gallies draw a mausoleum after them.

Next comes the grand master of the horse, attended by two pages who are followed by twelve sumpter horses, richly caparisoned, and led by pages, walking two and two. The elephants come next in the following order; the first four are mounted by standard bearers, the next four have castles on their backs, filled with soldiers, and the last four have cages on their backs; these cages are made of latticework, finely gilded and glazed. The car, or chariot, which contains the mausoleum, in which the king's body is deposited advances next, and is drawn by twelve stags, each of whom is led by one of the captains of the life-guards.

The new king, with his brothers, and all the princes of the blood, walk behind the car, dressed in long white robes, with straw hats on their heads; and they are followed by the princesses, with the king's musicians; and each princess has two ladies to wait on her. These princesses carry each a handBut nothing can exceed the funeral rites of their ful of the provisions that are to be used at the enterkings, in splendor and pomp they even exceed ima-tainment. The four principal governors of the progination. They first embalm the body, and then expose it on a bed of state for sixty-five days together, during all which time, he is attended and served with as much splendor as if he was really alive, and the victuals, as soon as conveyed away from him, are given to the priests, and to the poor. Every

vinces follow the ladies, each carrying a staff on his shoulder, and a purse at his waist, filled with gold and the richest perfumes. In these purses are contained the presents which are to be given to the deceased king, in order to defray his expences into the other world. The governors are followed by eight

coaches,

coaches, loaded with ingots of gold, bars of silver, cloth of tissue, and the richest silks, from a persuasion, that the deceased is to carry all these along with him.

The procession is closed by all the nobility and persons of rank, some on foot, and some on horseback; and as soon as they arrive at the brink of the river, there is a galley to receive the king's body, with many others to attend it. In the first of the two which immediately follow the corpse, are such of the great men of the kingdom who have consented to be buried along with their sovereign; and in the other, which is closely shut up, are the favourite court ladies, who have submitted to the same fate. The other gallies are transports, to carry all sorts of necessary provisions, with equipages and treasures. All these gallies are rowed from one creek to another, till they come to the most solitary place they can find, and the most difficult of access; for no persons are to know where the king and his illustrious victims are buried, except six eunuchs, who are sworn to secrecy in the most solemn manner.

When they come to the place appointed for the funeral service to be performed, several of the priests, who are indiscriminately named Bonzes, Bramins, or Talapoins, approach, dressed in their white robes, and repeat several prayers. After this they sing hymns, while those who have voluntarily consented to die with their king, are employed in washing themselves, and preparing for their passage into the other world. The priests attend the funeral pile, upon which the king's body is laid, and on piles inclosed, built of wood, are the nobles, the ladies, elephants, horses, and treasures. Fire being set to the piles, the priests sing several hymns, and as soon as the whole is reduced to ashes, there is a deep pit made, and the contents are thrown into it; but no monu

ment is erected in the place, lest the ashes of the dead should be disturbed.

It would be impossible to hear the cries of those victims without horror, were we not, at the same time, to consider how strongly prejudice operates on the minds of men, in favour of some particular sort of superstition, which has been in a manner deified by its great antiquity. But to this we may add, that the priests take care to employ so many musicians during the burning of the funeral pile, that the cries of the sufferers are drowned.

It was a just remark of the celebrated Paschal, that in all ages and nations, men are more attentive to false than to true religion. Whence does this contradiction arise? The answer is obvious: God hath made man upright, but he hath sought out many inventions. In nothing does the corruption of human nature appear more conspicuous, than in the regard men pay to false religion, while they consider that which is really pure as unworthy of their notice. This general accusation will not, however, hold good in all its parts, when applied to the heathens we have been writing of. They never heard the joyful sound of the gospel; .they never saw the pure simplicity of Christian worship; nor did they ever hear the perfections of the divine attributes explained. It is true, they have the same law of nature, by which all the heathen world will be judged, yet we find how meanly they have degraded it: but let us consider, that whatever punishment the Almighty may inflict on them hereafter, yet dreadful will be the condition of those nominal Christians, who, having the means of grace put into their hands, and the hope of glory presented to them, forget their God and their Redeemer, and trample upon all his mercies.

The RELIGION of COCHIN-CHINA, CAMBODIA, &c.

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the persons, and according to the height of the image, the degrees of worship are regulated, for those who are short are not to be treated with so much respect as those who are tall.

Between each range of these images, there is a dark opening, but no person can see how far it reaches. This their priests say, is the place where the eternal invisible God resides, and that he cannot be seen by the human eye. Being asked by a Jesuit, why they erected images, seeing they believed in one true God? they answered, that they did not set up the images as makers of heaven and earth, but they kept them to put them in memory of the virtues of great men, who could hear their prayers, and intercede with God for them. Through the whole of the country there are such a number of pagods, and in each of them several different idols, that one would be apt to imagine every family had two or three for themselves; but this is of great advantage to the priests, who are constantly employed in acts of devotion, in sacrifices, and other offices in those temples.

Such of the Cochin-Chinese as live near the mountains, have preserved a greater purity in their worship, for they have no temples crowded with idols, but offer up their sacrifices on hills, or in groves, under the canopy of the heavens, and they pay great respect to the memory of the dead.

The natives of Cambodia, are, in many respects like those of Siam, for they adore the soul of the universe as the true God. They have a celebrated temple at Oneo, in this kingdom, and to it devotees resort from many parts of the east; and the priests who officiate in it, pretend to give answers to the most difficult questions proposed to them. There are different orders of these priests, but all of them are distinguished by their dress. Some of them make a vow of poverty, and live only on the charity of welldisposed persons; while others, who chuse to accept of salaries, spend great part of their time in visiting the sick, and healing, by magic, different sorts of diseases. Some go from place to place, instructing the ignorant, and in doing all sorts of good offices to those who want their assistance. The medicines they give to their patients are extremely simple, and they are so nourishing, that they want no other sort of subsistance until they recover. When they think a patient is incurable, they tell him so, and desire him not to load himself with medicines; but when they think there are any hopes of his recovery, then they bid him not despair, as they have a medicine will cure him, and recover him to his former state of health. They accordingly administer their medicines, which they always carry along with them, and if

the patient recovers, the priest are highly honoured; but if he dies, then his death is imputed to the anger of the gods, for some secret crime.

There is but little difference between the natives of Cochin-china, and those of Cambodia, nor indeeed between them and those we have already described, concerning their marriages and funerals. Both admit a plurality of wives, and both tolerate divorces. They observe the same rules of consanguinity in their marriages as are prescribed in the law of Moses, and what we Christians practise. Indeed they have many other customs resembling those of the Jews; which may serve to shew, that there was no great difference between the inhabitants of ancient nations concerning their religious rites and ceremo

nies.

If a man dies, the nearest male relation, unmarried, is to take the widow to wife, and in case either of the partics refuse to comply with this established custom, or rather law, then the offending party is fined in such a sum as he is seldom ever able to pay. Both men and women are punished in the same manner for adultery, and that is, exposing them to the elephants; for they believe, that if they turn them out into a field where these creatures are grazing, such is their sagacity, that they will tread upon them till they are dead. It is certain, that an untamed elephant will tread upon any person who comes in his way, but he is so easily tamed, that there cannot be any great difficulty for these delinquents to screen themselves from him, and take shelter in some other part of the country.

We shall now proceed to describe their funeral rites and ceremonies, which, in some things, are nearly allied to those of their neighbours; but in other respects, rather more simple, and bearing greater marks of antiquity.

When a person lies at the point of death, all his male relations and friends crowd around his bed, with drawn scymiters and sabres, which they brandish around the patient, in order to drive away such evil spirits as they imagine are hovering around him, to seize his soul the moment it departs from his body. When a person of distinction dies, the priests, who are likewise the phycisians, hold a consultation concerning the nature of the disorder, and when they think they have found it, they discover what evil spirit it was that inflicted it, and in the most formal manner, they condemn him to everlasting flames. But according to their notions, while they revenge themselves on the evil spirit, another is preparing to take away the life of one of the deceased's relations.

When the devil enters into the body of the next person who is to die in the family, the priests are

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sent for, and when they have been some time in conversation with the patient, they give him a sleeping draught, which, for at least one day, deprives him of his senses. During the whole of that time they remain with him, and when the use of his senses and reason returns, the relations of the deceased are called in; then the priests tell them, that the person who lies sick saw the soul of the deceased, and points out, in a distinct manner, how he is employed, and in what state he is. This is a very artful trick, and serves to establish the power of the priests, while it darkens the understandings of the people, and keeps their minds in a state of subjection.

When a person's funeral is to be celebrated, an entertainment is provided, and all the relations, friends, and neighbours are invited; and on such occasions they invoke the souls of their departed ancestors, praying them once more to return.

The third day of the feast, the body is carried to a stage erected before the door of the house, and the priests sing and pray around it, at the same time sprinkling it all over with consecrated water. The richest perfumes that can be procured are put into the mouth, and the body is laid into a wooden coffin, but not covered with a lid; then the procession begins in the following manner:

The male relations of the deceased walk first, after them follow the priests, singing a sort of litany, or rather different sorts of litanies; next the coffin is carried by some of the neighbours of the deceased, and the procession is closed by the women, dressed in white, and veiled, making the most hideous lamentations. When they arrive at the funeral pile, which is commonly in a desert place, near the banks of a river, or sometimes in a wood, the priests renew their singing, which continues about an hour, after which the body is a second time perfumed and sprinkled, and being laid on the pile, all the relations, one after another, touch it out of respect, and each repeats a short prayer for the repose of his soul; the priests then set fire to the pile, and they, with the relations, wait till it is consumed. The ashes are then buried in a grave dug for that purpose, except a few small bones, which the widow picks up and puts into an earthen urn, mixed with flowers. These she carries home, as the precious remains of her husband, and deposits them near her house. Sometimes they are put up in a pagod, and it frequently happens, that if the relations are rich, then they build and endow a temple for the purpose.

Consistent with the nature of this work, which is to comprehend the whole body of divinity, whether historical, theological, or practical, we have

already taken notice of some of the leading principles under different heads, and throughout the remainder shall continue to do the same. It is remarkable, that in all the nations we have hitherto treated of, some rites and ceremonies are used, with respect to matriage, and although it may appear that some of these are ridiculous enough, yet their universality points out their antiquity. But where shall we look for this antiquity? Is it to be found among the heathens? The answer is obvious, nor can there be any dispute concerning it. The heathens differ from each other in the nature of marrying, and yet there is no nation that we can hear of, where celibacy is established as a principle of religion. To understand this in a proper manner, we must have recourse to the sacred scriptures, where we read, that when God had finished the greatest part of the creation, he made man, and afterwards he formed the woman to be a help-meet for him. It seems to have been the design of the Almighty, that men and women, as husbands and wives, should live in peace and society together, that they should be mutual assistants to each other, that they should propagate their species, and that they should, by the highest act of generosity, educate their children in the principles of virtue and religion. A this was appointed, that the government of this world should be conducted in a regular manner, and that when societies were formed, men might know the relation they stood in to each other, and to God.

Marriage is a contract, both of a civil and religi ous nature, between a man and a woman, by which they engage to live together in mutual love and friendship, for the happiness of each other, and that they may bring up their childern useful members of society. The immediate descendants of Noah, after the deluge, seem to have had but a faint noɔtion of marriage; for we are informed, that the first inhabitants of Greece lived promiscuously together, and that women were common to the men in general. However, when republics were established, and governments fixed, new regulations took place, and marriage was countenanced and encouraged, while those who abstained from it were treated with peculiar marks of contempt.

The Lacedemonians were particularly remarkable for their severity towards those who deferred marriage till advanced in years, and still more so to those who never married. Such persons were obliged to run once every winter naked round the Forum, and to sing a certain song, which exposed them to the ridicule of the populace. Another punishment was, to be excluded from all the public games in

which the young virgins danced naked, and on certain solemn days, the old women dragged them round the altars, and beat them with their fists.

The Athenians had a law, that all those who enjoyed offices of a public nature, should be married men and have children; these being considered as so many pledges of their integrity, in discharging their duty to their country and fellow citizens. This was certainly a just and equitable law, for those who live unmarried, cannot be supposed to have any great regard for the interest of their country, whereas those who are married, seek to promote the public good, because their wives, their children, and relations, are all in one way or other connected with the event, and must stand or fall by the conduct of their parent.

Many of the ancient heathens paid little regard to the laws of consanguinity in the marriage state, for we even find, that among the Persians, men often lay with their own sisters, and what is still more shocking, with their own mothers.

The Greeks were extremely regular, with respect to their marriages, and they took care to prevent every thing that might lead towards incest, which they looked upon as unnatural. It is true, women were often purchased; but if they were orphans, then the state was under the necessity of bestowing upon them a marriage portion, equal to what they might have expected, had their parents

been alive.

The Romans, as well as the Greeks, never permitted polygamy, or a plurality of wives; but both gave too much liberty to such as sued for divorces. It is enacted by the first law of the twelve tables, that "when a woman shall have cohabited with a man for a whole year, without having been three nights absent from him, she shall be deemed his wife;" from whence it appears, that the Romans considered living together as essential to marriage. By the second law of the same tables, it is enacted, "If a woman is found by her husband in adultery, or drunk, he may put her to death, but he must first consult her relations."

Among many of the ancients, particularly the Romans, it was considered as in some measure dishonourable for women to marry a second time; because they looked upon it as a breach in her first matrimonial covenant. This notion was carried so far, that it was imagined if ever the widow married, it would disturb her husband's repose, or as Justinian says, “the soul of the deceased husband is disturbed when his wife marries a second." All the ancients, like the East Indians, whom we have already described, were extremely superstitious concerning

the time when marriages should be celebrated, some. being of opinion, that winter was the most proper season, while others fixed it for the spring or

summer.

Although we find no positive injunctions in the law of Moses obliging men to marry, yet the Jews have always considered it as an indispensible obligation, in consequence of the original words, "Increase and multiply." So that every young man, who did not marry before he was twenty years of age, was considered as one who was injuring the young women. There is in the Jewish Talmud, a very remarkable question relating to marriage, comprized in the following words, "Who is he that prostitutes his daughter?" The answer is, "He that keeps her too long unmarried, or gives her to

an old man.'

Polygamy was not forbidden by the law of Moses; for it appears that great legislator formed most of his precepts upon the practices of the ancient pa. triarchs. Thus we read that Jacob married two sisters, and that he had children by both. But still we find the Jews did not content themselves with this small allowance of two wives, as will appear to any one who reads the histories of David, Solomon, and many others. However, they made a particular distinction between the wives of the first rank and those of the second. The Jews were permitted, not only to marry among their own tribes, but also among those heathen nations around them, who had been circumcised, and therefore when we read of Solomon having married strange wives, who turned his heart away from the Lord, we are to understand such as had been born in nations where circumcision had never taken place.

That marriage is an honourable institution, we can have no reason to doubt, since we find that our divine Redeemer was present at one, and it was there that he wrought his first miracle; and yet we find, that even during the apostolic age, soon after our Saviour's ascension, that there were many persons under the name of Christians, who actually taught that men should not marry, which the apostle justly calls the doctrine of devils; with these heretics, who sprung from Simon Magus, the church had a long struggle, but at last they dwindled into contempt; nor was the notion revived till many years afterwards, when the church of Rome forbid the clergy to marry.

The primitive Christians laid several restrictions upon all those who professed the gospel, concerning marriage, such as forbidding them to marry with heretics, or such as were enemies to the faith. This injunction was founded upon the following

words

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