Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
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A62173
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The present state of Persia with a faithful account of the manners, religion and government of that people / by Monsieur Sanson, a missionary from the French King ; adorned with figures ; done into English.
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Sanson, Nicolas, 1600-1667.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing S687; ESTC R37147
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83,172
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223
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Jerusalem when he foretold the Miseries he saw would fall upon her Also those he shed upon the Tomb of Lazarus The Mortal Affliction his Soul was seiz'd with in the Garden of Olives at the sight of the Torments he was a-going to suffer The Prayer he made to his Father three times to remove the bitter Cup far from him The Humble Circumstances of his Passion And lastly His Ignominious Death It was a Glorious and Triumphing Jesus Christ that they ought to have preach'd and not one that could be humbled and ty'd to a Cross The Zeal you see us have my Lord to maintain that Christ dy'd on the Cross should be a Motive to encline you to believe us For else why could not we agree with you that it was Judas was Crucify'd in his place and spare our selves the shame of Adoring a God fix'd to a Gibbet But 't is this shame alone which is the cause of our Glory We Preach Jesus Christ Crucify'd which is a subject of Scandal to the Jews and to you a Motive of Mockery and Laughter The Curiosity the Persians have about Religion gives the Missionaries a great advantage over ' em To Convert 'em to Christianity there is need of a great deal of Candour and even Temper and little or no Passion or over-hot Zeal They will never believe a Man inspir'd with the Spirit of God who is govern'd by Rage and Passion Also as they have themselves a great deal of Flegm too brisk a Method would not have its end To make 'em sensible of the Contradictions and Absurdities of the Alcoran has prov'd to me of great use Also as they have the Bible and some of the Fathers amongst 'em we might advise 'em to read ' em They find out themselves how different those Histories are from the Fables of Mahomet left 'em in his Alcoran This Reading has been a means God has made use of to induce many of the Greatest Men about 'em to be led to the true knowledge of him and his Son From Laurestan I took my Journey towards Hamadan a City of Media and Capital of a Province of the same Name and chief Residence of a Begueler-Begui 'T is situate at the foot of Mount Alvand which the Persians call Sultan Alvand that is to say Queen of the Mountains because it is the most Fertile and one of the highest in all Persia It is a branch of Mount Taurus which leaves it at the Town of Zengan and runs even to the Persian Gulf. The famous Avicen liv'd a great while upon this Mountain to make his Observation upon Simples with which it is all cover'd over Hamadan has 35 degrees and 12 Minutes of Polar Elevation It is a very Ancient City as may be judg'd by the ruins of a new Magnificent Temple there and of which there remains nothing at present but a very high Dome built with Bricks and Painted like Porcelane upon which appear some few Hebrew Characters Under this Dome there is a Chappel 18 foot square where are the Tombs of Hester and Mordecai Upon these Tombs are rais'd two stately Mausoleums made of a very hard Wood and Engraven with the Story of Hester in Hebrew Characters Upon Hester's Tomb is writ The Great Queen HESTER and on Mordecai's These Mausoleums have been plac'd here by Ardachir or Arsaces But there is no Date to distinguish which of the Arsaces is meant The Mausoleum of Mordecai is on the right hand It has 7 foot in length and heighth upon 3 of breadth That of Hester is on the left built after the same fashion only it is a foot higher than that of Mordecai The Jews keep there a great number of Lamps which burn Night and Day They Pray here only on their great Days Our House was not far from this Temple We were establish'd there in 1684. I brought the King of Persia's Patents thither obtain'd by our King's Recommendation and which confirm our Establishment One day making a Visit about our Affairs to a Persian Lord call'd Reza-Kouli-Begue a Dervich a Man of very good Sence an excellent Philosopher and one that was very well read in the Holy Scriptures He of a sudden turn'd all the discourse upon Religion He began by giving great commendation to the Christian Faith and said That he thought it every where very conformable to Reason unless in that place where it teaches that Jesus Christ is GOD. 'T is true reply'd I we do acknowledge his Divinity that Point is the Foundation of our Religion But what amazes me is That you should have the same thing in your Alcoran and yet not believe it For under correction what signifies Rouh Allah which is the word that Mahomet gives to Jesus Christ This Arabian word Arguments with a Persian Lord to prove Christ's Divinity says he for I have thoroughly study'd that Language signifies the Spirit or Soul of God This Spirit or Soul of God then said I is it distinct from God or the same thing with him It cannot be distinct from him without doubt says he Then reply'd I Jesus Christ must be God For what is the same thing with God is God He seem'd touch'd with this conclusion but I extreamly commended his being so Ingenuous as to give me the true sense of the word Rouh Allah I have not met with said I in other Mahometans the like sincerity they have always given this word a different sense to elude the consequence I have drawn from it We all reply'd Reza Kouli-Begue acknowledge Jesus Christ for a Divine Person and we have for him a very great respect when you Christians do but slight and vilifie our Holy Prophet Mahomet You respect Jesus Christ said I because you every where meet with a Saint in his Character that moves you but shew me throughout all Mahomet's Life the least shadow of such Characters You respect Jesus Christ because you own him for a Prophet sent by God to Man and you acknowledge him such by evident Proofs of his Holiness which you are not able to resist But is there any one that can give us such an Idea of Mahomet What has been his Conduct What Doctrine has he taught Men By what Miracles has he prov'd that he was sent from God What Prophets have foretold his Mission or his Conduct I shall not insist Sir upon any shameful Circumstances of his Life because I 'm well assur'd that you your self do secretly detest 'em in your heart His Conduct No Sir I have too good an opinion of you to say any thing of that It is not from his Conduct I 'm sure that you believe him a Prophet His Alcoran where he has dar'd to publish his own Uncleannesses in all Ages will rise up in Judgment against him And had you never so many Miracles to boast in his behalf his Infamous Life alone would be enough to cancel 'em all and no Man of good sense would suffer himself to be gain'd to his Party But now I
think on 't what Miracles can you alledge in his favour His Voyage to Heaven upon the Horse Alborach to whom he promises Paradise and the Moon divided by his Fingers but these Miracles are certainly fit for none but the blind Vulgar to believe all Learned Men must needs laugh at ' em Mahomet himself acknowledg'd that God had not given him the gift of Miracles Now as to his Doctrine how many Whimsies are there throughout his whole Alcoran How many Contradictions and Absurdities opposite even to good Manners and right Reason Such as the World born up upon the Horns of a Bull Angels form'd out of pestiferous Fire Heaven compos'd of Smoak the Sun plac'd in a Fountain of hot Water a Blazing-Star detach't from the Firmament to pull down the Devils from Heaven when they came so near as to hearken to what was said Solomon entertaining himself with Ants and Birds his Letters carry'd to the Queen of Sheba by flakes of Snow the Devils and Birds which compose his Armies God swearing by Figs and Bees and just afterwards the quite contrary by Cows Wine forbid in one Chapter and allowed in another and a thousand other Absurdities of the like nature which sufficiently satisfie us what this Doctrine of Mahomet is At least 't was necessary that God should have given Man some manifest and evident Sign of Mahomet's coming from him There ought to have been Prophecies of this New Legislator which might have enclin'd Man's belief in him But pray what Prophecies have there been Which of all the Prophets has spoken of him Jesus Christ himself cry'd the Dervich in that passage where he promises to send the Holy Ghost the Comforter and which ought to be understood of Mahomet for his Name was actually in the Gospel before you blotted it out To which I answer'd only what I had said before upon that subject That it was without Grounds that they reproach us after that manner That they could not prove when this Alteration was made nor could produce any Authentick Copy where the Name of Mahomet was ever mention'd I added moreover That this Comforter promised by Jesus Christ could not be Mahomet for this reason Because the Holy Ghost the Comforter should have taught the Apostles and put 'em in mind of what Jesus Christ had taught 'em and this ought to have been his principal business but has Mahomet done any of this What strange Opposition is there between his Maxims and those of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ speaks of no thing but Mildness Patience Poverty and Renouncing of himself He would have a Man hate his own Flesh bear his Cross every day Love his Enemies Pray for 'em do 'em good and suppress even the least desire of Revenge But on the contrary what does Mahomet teach Why his Alcoran inspires nothing else but Rage Violence Pride and the love of Pleasure The Spirit of Truth that Jesus Christ promis'd in this Passage ought to receive its Doctrine from Jesus Christ that is The Doctrine of Jesus Christ and Mahomet cannot be the same Is not this true be your self Judge Do not we find in the reading of these two Laws an endless Difference and Contradiction When you retire into your Cell to meditate upon Divine Matters I suppose you sometimes take in your Hands our Holy Evangelists where it may be you no sooner read those Divine Maxims with satisfaction but you have immediately a mind to compare 'em with those of your Alcoran Eh Do it in the Name of that Great God you pretend to devote your self to by renouncing all the conveniencies of Life And then tell me the difference tell me your sincere Opinion Here I began to perceive he was mov'd for he told me there was but little more requir'd to be said to make him a Christian That he had always had an extream Veneration for Jesus Christ and that he long since propos'd his humble mean poor Life as a Pattern for him to imitate Furthermore he told me He should give a great deal of Attention to these things and therefore desired I would permit him more frequent Conferences with me about ' em I express'd to him the great Satisfaction I had to hear him of these Sentiments and that when he pleas'd I was always at leasure to wait on him It has been hitherto thought that the best way to deal with these Infidels was to make use of certain plausible Arguments adapted to their Capacities and which they would find forcible because of their weakness As to tell 'em That to think to wash away their inward Impurities by the outward means of Baths was as ridiculous as to wash a Bottle of Ink without when it would not be less Black within But it seems to me unworthy of the grandeur and solidity of the Christian Religion to go no farther These ways of opening Men's Eyes ought only to serve for an Introduction to let in the true Light which they ought afterwards to have preach'd to 'em upon the Holy Scriptures and Tradition in which Two only consists the true Religion Otherwise it might happen to them as it did to certain Hereticks in France who having been a little affected with the Arguments were us'd to convert 'em and being suffer'd to cool by a succeding neglect they immediately grew angry with themselves as if they had been betray'd to their concessions and so became Ten times more obstinate than before I affirm that it is very difficult to make use of the Authority of the Holy Scriptures to disabuse the Persians for they are falsely pre-possest with our altering them therefore we must remove the Obstacle and agree with them in Scriptures that they believe pure and entire But nevertheless they come about again when we make use of the same Proofs that they do against us and they are not able to draw those Arguments they produce themselves Now you must not wonder at my free manner of disputing with the Mahometans I knew very well I was in Persia when I did it where the Laws allow Disputes in matters of Religion How the Persians differ from other Nations about Religion But in Turkey they are forbid under penalty of the Faggot I have observ'd that the Persians do not well agree amongst themselves about the points of Religion but they do less agree with the other Mahometans The chief foundation of this Contest is about the Successor of Mahomet The Persians maintain it was Mortus Ali Cousin German and Son-in-Law of Mahomet But the Turks pretend on the contrary it was Omar of whom they speak modestly in respect of the Persians who make a kind of God of their Ali. Observe how they speak of him Ali Kâ—da na midonem ammaez Koda dguda na midonem That is as much as to say I do not believe that Ali is God but I cannot think him much less A blasphemous and contradictory Expression at the same time and of which the Turks have so much Horror that