nd disputes, sword
in hand, whether the ablution should commence at the elbow, or finger
ends;** the Christian would think himself damned, if he ate flesh
instead of milk or butter. Oh sublime doctrines! Doctrines truly from
heaven! Oh perfect morals, and worthy of martyrdom or the apostolate!
I will cross the seas to teach these admirable laws to the savage
people--to distant nations; I will say unto them:

* This word is, in the religion of the Hindoos, a sacred
emblem of the Divinity. It is only to be pronounced in
secret, without being heard by any one. It is formed of
three letters, of which the first, a, signifies the
principal of all, the creator, Brama; the second, u, the
conservator, Vichenou; and the last, m, the destroyer, who
puts an end to all, Chiven. It is pronounced like the
monosyllable om, and expresses the unity of those three
Gods. The idea is precisely that of the Alpha and Omega
mentioned in the New Testament.

** This is one of the grand points of schism between the
partisans of Omar and those of Ali. Suppose two Mahometans
to meet on a journey, and to accost each other with
brotherly affection: the hour of prayer arrives; one begins
his ablution at his fingers, the other at the elbow, and
instantly they are mortal enemies. O sublime importance of
religious opinions! O profound philosophy of the authors of
them!

Children of nature, how long will you walk in the paths of ignorance?
how long will you mistake the true principles of morality and religion?
Come and learn its lessons from nations truly pious and learned, in
civilized countries. They will inform you how, to gratify God, you must
in certain months of the year, languish the whole day with hunger and
thirst; how you may shed your neighbor's blood, and purify yourself from
it by professions of faith and methodical ablutions; how you may steal
his property and be absolved on sharing it with certain persons, who
devote themselves to its consumption.

Sovereign and invisible power of the universe! mysterious mover of
nature! universal soul of beings! thou who art unknown, yet revered by
mortals under so many names! being incomprehensible and infinite! God,
who in the immensity of the heavens directest the movement of worlds,
and peoplest the abyss of space with millions of suns! say what do these
human insects, which my sight no longer discern