* The celebrated Monsieur Bayle, author of the Histo. rical and Critical Dictionary, who was born in 1647, has been considered as one of the most powerful advocates for scepticism among the mo derns. The ingenious Mr. Hume makes a distinguished figure among the sceptics who deny the authority of divine reyelation. The chief aim of his philosophical writings is to introduce doubt in every branch of physics, metaphysics, history, ethics, and theology." There is (says this celebrated author) a species of scepticism, antecedent to study and philosophy, which is much inculcated by Des Cartes and others as a sovereign preservative against error and precipitate judgment. It recommends an universal doubt, not only of our former principles and opinions, but also of our very faculties; of whose veracity we must assure ourselves by a chain of reasoning deduced from some original principles which can not be fallacious or deceitful.t There is another species of scepticism, antecedent to all study and philosophy, where men are supposed to have discovered either the absolute fallaciousness of their mental faculties, or their own unfitness to reach any fixed determination in all those various subjects of speculation about which they are commonly employed. There is a kind of scepticism which gives the vulgar a general prejudice against what they do not easily understand, and makes them reject every principle which requires elaborate reasoning to prove and establish."‡ The principal arguments of the Perrhonians, or sceptics, are as follow: If we except faith and revelation, we can have no other certainty, as to the truth of principles, than that we naturally feel and per ceive them within ourselves. But this inward perception is no convictive evidence of their truth; for without faith we cannot have any assurance whether we are made by a Bayle was educated in the protestant religion, But while he was pur suing his studies in the Jesuits' college at Thoulouse, a Romish priest, observing the unsettled state of his mind, prevailed upon him to submit his judgment to the authority of the church; and not without much surprise and regret on the part of his friends, he made a public profession of the catholic faith. Not long afterwards, however, he was induced, by the argu ments and persuasions of his brother, a protestant ecclesiastic, to recant his precipitate conversion, and return to the profession of the reformed religion, See Enfield's History of Philosophy. Hume's Essays, vol. iv. p. 210. Hume's Dialogues, p.29. good God or an evil demon; whether we have not existed from eternity, or been the offspring of chance. It may be doubted whether the principles within us be true, false, or uncertain, in correspondence to our original. It is by faith alone that we can distinguish whether we are asleep or awake; for in our sleep we as strongly fancy ourselves to be waking, as when we really are so; we imagine we see space, figure, and motion; we perceive the time pass away, and are to all intents as in our most wakeful hours. Since one half of our life is spent in sleep, in which we have not really any idea of truth, (all Pascal's Thoughts, p. 88. which passeth within us being mere illusion) who can tell but that the other part of our life, in which we fancy ourselves awake, is a second sleep, little different from the former ?* Some have thought that the supporting false opinions for the sake of argument in public or private disputation, is one great source of scepticism and infidelity among literary men.t It is supposed that the opinions of deists and sceptics‡ have spread more during a part of the last century, and in the present, than in any former æra since the resurrection of letters. † Percival's Dissertations, p. 122.. Ogilvie's Inquiry, p. 58. 1 A SHORT VIEW OF THE Different Religions OF THE SEVERAL People and Kingdoms of the Habitable World. PRE RELIGIONS OF EUROPE. REVIOUS to an account of the religion of particular countries in this quarter of the world, it may perhaps be entertaining to take a gene ral view of the whole. The religions of Europe are the christian, jewish, and mahometan. The two first are spread all over Europe; the first and last are the only established ones, the jewish being merely tolerated. The chief divisions of the christian, are the Greek, the Roman Catholic, and the Protestant. The greek religion is established only in Russia, and tolerated in some parts of the Austrian dominions, in Poland, and chiefly in Turkey. The Armenians and Nestorians are sub-divisions of the greek church. Of the Roman Catholic church, Jansenism is a sub-division. The protestant religion is divided into the Lutheran and Calvinistic, or reformed religion. Of the former, the episcopal church of England and Ireland is a branch; of the latter, the presbyterian church of Scotland. There are besides many denominations, the principal of which are Arminians, Mennonists, Socinians, Unitarians, Moravian Brethren, Quakers, and Methodists. The proportion of the surface of the coun tries in which the protestant religion is established, to those in which the Roman Catholic religion prevailed before the French revolution, was nearly as three to four. The num- Scotland, and Germany, for ber of Roman Catholics was the conversion of the hea then estimated at ninety mil- then. lions: the number of protestants at twenty-four millions. Some few of the Laplanders, and others who inhabit the extreme northern parts of Europe, are pagans,* * It is said that the mahometan religion is on the decline, and that the sensible part of the Turks incline much to deism. The situation of the jews of late has been rendered more comfortable than it was formerly, in several New and unprecedented efforts have been made, and are fast increasing in England, parts of Europe.+ EAST AND WEST GREENLAND. THE Greenlanders believe the immortality of the soul, and the existence of a variety of superior and inferior spirits, among whom are a good and bad spirit of the first rank. They call the good spirit Thorngarsuk. The Angukuts, or priests, who are supposed to be his immediate successors, form very different opinions with regard to his nature, form, and place of residence. They suppose all the elements are filled with spirits, from which every angukut is supplied with a familiar spirit, called thorngak, who is always ready when summoned to their assistance. They pretend to cure diseases by spells and charms, to converse with their god Thorngarsuk, and to pro mulgate his commands. As the Greenlanders acquire the best of their subsistance from the sea, most of them place their elysium in the abysses of the ocean: there dwells their god Thorngarsuk. There a joyous summer and shining sun are perpertual. There is a fair limpid stream, and an exuberance of their favourite food, caught without toil: it is even found boiling in a great kettle. But none must enter this blessed abode but those who have been dexterous and diligent in business. Industry is with them the capital virtue. Under the protection of the Danish settlements in West * Zimmerman's Political Survey of Europe, for 1787, pp. 16, 17. t See President Dwight's Discourse, 1798; and Encyclopædia, vol. viii, p. 690. See also the article Jews. Jones's Universal Grammar, vol. i, p. 134. Greenland, the Moravian Bre- baptized from 1739 to 1762, thren have missionaries, and very useful establishments.* There are at this time three of the Brethren's congregations in Greenland, New Hernhuth, and Litchtersels, and Litchtenan. at New Hernhuth, amount to seven hundred, besides those baptized at Litchtersels. The congregation at New Hernhuth consists at present of four hundred and twenty-one baptized persons, of whom one hundred and seventy-four The number of Greenlanders whom the missionaries are communicants.† LAPLAND. THE Laplanders believe in a good and evil principle, which they suppose to be at continual variance, and the prevalence of either produc tive of the happiness or misery of mankind. They believe a metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, and pay their adoration to certain genii, who, they suppose, inhabit the air, mountains, lakes, &c. They also place an implicit faith in magic and their magicians, who are a peculiar set of men, make use of what they call a drum, made of the hollowe: trunk of a fir, pine, or birch-tree, one end of which is covered with a skin. On this they draw, with a kind of red colour, the figures of their own gods, as well as of Jesus Christ, the apostles, the sun, moon, and stars, birds, and rivers. On these they place one or two brass rings, which, when the drum is beaten with a little hammer, dance over the figures; and according to their progress, the sorcerer prognosticates.Į Many of the Laplanders who are subject to Russia are still pagans. The natives of those districts under the dominion of Sweden and Denmark are Lutherans. Swedish Lapland contains about eight churches, which in some parts *The Moravian Brethren have distinguished themselves by their exertions to convert the heathen. Their success has been great among the Greenlanders, and in the Danish West-India islands, They have also sent missionaries among the American Indians, and the Esquimaux, on the coast of Labrador, who have met with great success. They have attempted to preach the gospel to the Tartars, and to the Hottentots. In the year 1788, they had their societies above fifteen thousand converted heathen. See La Trobe's History of the Mission of the United Brethrew in North America. + Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 201. vol. ii. pp. 397-445, Guthrie, p. 96. |