MY DEAR FRIEND,

On our way to Marathon, we turned a little out of the road to see a mutilated statue of a Lion, which still bears the signs of most excellent workmanship.

We have already repeatedly viewed every thing worthy notice in Athens; but as the painter has not yet finished his drawings, we shall remain here some days longer, during which we mean to make an excursion to the Islands of Salamis, Ægina, &c. But as they contain nothing worthy description, I will close this sketch of the history and antiquities of this interesting city, with a short account of the religion of its present inhabitants. About one-fifth of them are Turks, and the rest Greeks.

GREEK RELIGION.

St. Paul, you recollect, visited Athens, and the other states of Greece, to preach Christianity; and notwithstanding all the anathemas the Pope has denounced against the Greeks, there is, in fact, but little difference between their religion, and that of the Roman Catholics. They equally make use of the sign of the cross; worship images; pray to the saints; have confessors; and believe in transubstantiation, although they do not kneel at the elevation of the Host. If they deny the doctrine of purgatory, they admit something very like it, in praying for the souls of the dead. Their Bishops and superior clergy are never permitted to marry; but a simple priest is allowed that indulgence once in his life, though he can never take a second wife. They acknowledge the Pope to be the chief of the Patriarchs, but deny his having the power of granting indulgences; and this was his Holiness's first reason for accusing them of schism.

It is true, there is another grand point in which they dissent both from the Roman Catholics and the Protestants; I mean the article of the Holy Ghost, which they say can proceed from the Father only. There are some less essential differences, such as their using leavened bread in the consecration of the Sacrament, and mixing the bread and wine together. And they also differ in the ceremonies of baptism, marriage, and burial. In the first they give three complete immersions. The second is performed by the priest's changing the ring from the bride's to the bridegroom's finger, saying a few words, and then from the bridegroom's to the bride's. He repeats this ceremony about thirty times, without any alteration, and when he desists, it is again as often performed by each of the godfathers and godmothers. Their funerals are like those of the savages--howling and making hideous cries till the corpse is interred, and then feasting over the grave.

The Patriarch of Constantinople is the head of the Greek Church, and has under him the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, Damascus, and Alexandria. St. Polycarp is their favorite Saint. He was one of St. John's disciples, and suffered martyrdom at Smyrna, of which he was the first Archbishop.

MAHOMETAN RELIGION.

From the religion of the Greeks, I naturally turn to that of the Turks. To have a just idea of this, it is necessary that we should divest ourselves of every prejudice; and in arraigning the character of a man whom death has prevented from appearing in his own defence, Justice ever requires, that if we do not put the most favorable construction on his actions, we should, at least, treat them with impartiality.

To speak candidly then, Mahomet might be a religious and a moral man. His father left him in rather penurious circumstances, but profiting to the utmost by the education his friends could afford him, and always preserving a most unexceptionable character, he rose to be factor of a rich widow, whom he afterwards married; and becoming, by this connection, a person of some consequence in his country, he felt it his duty to devote himself to its welfare.

He saw, with the utmost concern, that the Jews and the Christians were constantly at variance, and that Idolatry was daily gaining ground. To check the progress of a practice so unworthy the human mind, and so degrading to our Divine Maker, appeared to him an object worthy his whole attention. Filled with this idea, it became the constant subject of his thoughts, and after long revolving it in his mind, he, at length, conceived it impossible to attain his end by any other method, but by that of uniting the Jews and the Christians in one religion. And this he knew could only be effected by admitting part of the tenets of both.

For this purpose, he acknowledged Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, whom the Jews regarded as their chief Prophets, to whom he added our Blessed Saviour; in commemoration of whose mildness and beneficence, he called him the Breath of God--the most flattering appellation he could offer, confident with the delicacy it was necessary to observe towards the Jews. Nevertheless, a Christian cannot sufficiently lament, that he was obliged to make concessions to a people execrated by God. But as his only object was to restore the divine worship to its original purity, he conceived that the Almighty would not be displeased at the means he was about to adopt to attain so laudable an end.

The first person to whom he communicated his design, was her in whom, as a good man, he was most interested, I mean his wife. She readily embraced his sentiments, and, in a short time, many of their relations adopted their opinions. Nevertheless, the Arabs in general continued obstinate in their superstition and idolatry; and as Mahomet as yet only made use of the gentle methods of persuasion, his proselytes increased so slowly, that he had reason to despair of success, unless he could make it be believed that he received supernatural assistance.

Thus far his conduct is irreproachable, since we may forgive his endeavouring to compound the Jewish and Christian religions, which in him, was at worst but an error in judgment. But from this moment, he began to lose sight of the delicacy and patriotic disinterestedness by which he was hitherto actuated, and we must resign him to the lash of the Christian and Jewish divines, both of whom have agreed in stigmatizing him by the epithet of "Impostor." Nevertheless a philanthropic mind will always be inclined to pity him, and to lament that a man naturally religious, with so noble an object in view, should be drawn into measures unworthy the piety of his primitive intentions.

He pretended, or perhaps his enthusiasm made him believe, that the Angel Gabriel had appeared to him; and, in the name of God, charged him with his mission. But still his progress was not equal to his wishes; he therefore made use of another imposture, and declared that he had been carried up to Heaven, and conversed with God. This, and some miracles he was said to have performed, gave him an unbounded sway over the minds of the people. But the persecution of the Government increasing with his success, he was several times obliged to fly from Mecca. Hitherto he had preached nothing but peace; but his fame having now spread, and gained him many proselytes in the neighbouring states, he found himself in a condition to accomplish by force, what he had in vain attempted by persuasion. Provoked at the opposition he met with, he gave out that God, irritated at the obstinacy of his enemies, had ordered him to take up arms against them. He therefore raised an army, with which he beat the Koreish, or head tribe of Mecca, in the famous battle of Bedr, and gained many other victories, each of which increasing his fame and his followers, he usurped the civil and military authority, as well as the religious, and before he died, had the satisfaction of seeing himself acknowledged by many of the Eastern nations.

The Mahometans date their Hegira from the period of their Prophet's " A. D. 622." flight from Mecca to Medina, during which such miracles, they say, were performed in his favor, that it was no longer possible to doubt his being the Messenger of God.

In addition to his being an Impostor, and making use of violent measures, it is farther objected against Mahomet, that he makes his paradise consist in sensual pleasures; but in this he conformed to the dispositions of the people he held it out to. He tells them that it is inhabited by female angels, whose charms surpass conception, and who, although adorned by the most delicate modesty, will yield to the embraces of the Faithful. That they live in large pavilions of hollow pearls, in the midst of refreshing fountains and shady groves, abounding with the most delicious fruits. Besides which, the fleetest horses, elegantly caparisoned, and every thing else they may desire, will immediately spring up for them.

His faith consists in belief in God, and predestination; in his Angels, his Scriptures, and his Prophets; in the Resurrection and final Judgment. On that awful day the principal questions asked the Mahometans will be, How they spent their time? How they acquired and used their wealth? What use they made of their knowledge? and how they exercised their bodies?

Infidels and hypocrites will be damned without redemption; but the good and bad actions of the Mahometans will be balanced against each other, and the punishments of the guilty will be in proportion to their sins; the slightest of which will be nine hundred years confinement in a hell, so very hot as to make the brain boil through the skull; and the heaviest nine thousand in a place where the heat is seven times more horrible.

Oppressors, and such as have been guilty of malice or injustice, will be obliged to suffer in the next world for the sins of those whom they injured in this. An idea that cannot be too much admired.

Another striking instance of the humanity of Mahomet's disposition, is the great encomiums he conferred upon Charity. He tells his followers that nothing will be more acceptable to God than alms; and to shew our gratitude to him for those we are constantly receiving at his hands, he orders that they shall pray at least five times a day; and that there may be no excuse for neglecting this duty, the muezzins are obliged to ascend the steeples at stated times, and there apprise the people that "it is time to pray."

In this we see both gratitude and wisdom; and to do ample justice to Mahomet, it only remains to examine how far his religion tended to promote the happiness and prosperity of his brethren. To do this, we must keep their country in view. It will then readily occur to us, that the Arabians living in a state of warfare, population must necessarily decrease, and the number of women considerably exceed that of the men. What remedy could he apply to this evil, but a plurality of wives? Or how put a stop to drunkenness, but by prohibiting wine? The climate of Arabia is hot; heat produces wantonness, wantonness leads to prostitution, and prostitution creates sin, disease, and depopulation. These are crying evils, and the only method to prevent them was, by forbidding every intercourse between the two sexes, man and wife only excepted. For she must be an abandoned woman indeed, who will make the first advances to impure love, and these to a man to whom she had never before spoken.

But as a farther encouragement to population, and that the female captives taken in war might be of service to the state, he tolerates masters lying with their slaves, who, on their part, are to preserve all the modesty and discretion of a wife, and in return, are always to be treated with tenderness.

That Mahomet allowed these indulgences, more through policy than inclination, is evident, since even his bitterest enemies have never accused him of bigamy, or of impure love, before the death of his first wife. If he afterwards became abandoned, it is no wonder, for he had then cast off his pious principles; and every wise person knows, whatever pretenders to philosophy may say, that a man, when he abandons religion, generally abandons morality also.

Upon the whole, I believe, this is by much the most favorable account ever written of Mahomet by a Christian; yet, if we analyze the writings of our own theologists, and set aside their abusive epithets, we shall find that I have said nothing more than they themselves have admitted; because, not understanding the Turkish language, I have trusted to them for matters of fact, although, in justice to a dead man, I could not ascribe to ambition and selfishness, what might originally proceed from virtue, however different a turn it might afterwards take.

To close this essay with the candour with which I have conducted it, we must allow, that as a patriot and a politician, Mahomet merits a great share of our commendation. But how unworthy a divine mission will his latter conduct appear, when compared with that of our Saviour. Neither persecution nor torture, could provoke the Blessed Jesus to a deviation from his Heavenly Mildness; but constantly adhering to the will of our Father, he lived, and he died for the good of mankind.