the passage (quoted in your last number) which relates the remarkable co-incidence between the religion of Bhodda, or Beddou, and certain circumstances which by many have been, and by some few still are, believed to form component parts of Christianity. That such a co-incidence really exists, I by no means feel disposed to deny; nay, that it exists in many more instances than that expressly alluded to in the passage under consideration, it is my intention, in the course of this communication, to exemplify. Nor is it to the sagacious mind of Mr. Volney that we are indebted for this discovery, as he has merely availed himself of the pious labours and discoveries of the pretended friends of Christianity:-the Priest, the Monk, the Jesuit, and Missionary, who have ridiculously attempted to support their doctrines by the discovery of analogous circumstances and modes of faith in the religion of every country they have visited, and to defend their practices from their co-incidence with the superstitious observances of every people, whether savage or refined, ignorant or enlightened, with whom they have formed the smallest degree of commerce, or acquaintance. The absurd and impious doctrine of the Trinity has been, on this principle, considered as irrefragably supported by its discovery amid the reveries of the Platonist, and the traditions of the Bramin; whilst the divinity of Jesus, the miraculous conception, and the many other wonderful and absurd circumstances with which priestcraft has burthened Christianity, are found shadowed forth in the birth of a Beddou or a Chrishna, and exemplified in the numerous incarnations of the Indian preserver of the universe, Vishnu.

Mr. Volney has, indeed, in the present instance, confessed his obligation, by referring us to what it would appear he justly called an indigested work, the Alphabet Thibetan, of Georgi, a writer whose idle reveries, say the Edinburgh reviewers, but ill supply the scarcity of information which we possess with regard to that country, and who, "seduced by some fancied analogies with regard to the Christian religion, was led to imagine that this ancient superstition was only a modern perversion of its sacred truths." Not that such conclusions, absurd as they may appear, have been by any means confined to Mr. Georgi, or any other individual; for unfortunately, a somewhat similar, and equally dangerous notion, has been entertained by almost every writer who has treated on the religions of the eastern world-so strong, indeed, was the co-incidence between the general traditions of those countries, and the absurdities which have at various times being amalgamated with the religion of Jesus, that it even induced in the enlarged and enlightened mind of Sir William Jones, an opinion, * Edinburgh Review, October 1806.

"that the spurious gospels which abounded in the first ages of Christianity, had been brought to India, and the wildest part of them repeated to the Hindoos."* But the improbability of this supposition is so glaring, that how exalted soever our ideas may be as to the discernment of this truly great man, it cannot be entertained, even for a moment, whilst there is another presenting itself to the mind of the most superficial reader, which will be found at once much more probable in itself, and so supported by circumstantial, and even positive evidence, as almost to amount to demonstration, which is no other than that these spurious gospels, together with the spurious parts of the otherwise genuine ones, in which and which alone are to be found the co-incidencesin question, were derived from the traditions of the Eastern nations; grafted upon Christianity by the converts of those countries, with whom it is known to have been a constant practice, to introduce into their new religion, many of the doctrines and observances which formed a part of the one they had abandoned. Where indeed but in those parts of the scriptures, which every rational Christian rejects as interpolated, shall we find doctrines, or events, similar to those which are really related of Christna, and of Beddou? And it is no small corroboration of the fact that they have been so interpolated, to discover an evident derivation for them all in the absurd superstitions of the Pagan and the Hindoo, whilst the really rational and enlightened parts of our religion stand, amid the various, the almost innumerable pretenders to revelation, unimitated and alone.

Mr. Volney, among many other things, has discovered, or rather others have been so obliging as to discover for him, that we are indebted to the Samaneans for the idea of the miraculous conception, and the story of the massacre of the infants by Herod. To the Samaneans then, in the name of all the gods of the East be the honour of the invention, and all the advantages to be derived from it-let the malignant star, that rising in the East, first brought the wise men to corrupt the simple doctrines of Christianity, return to whence it came-let the pages which record its appearance be torn from our Bibles, and we shall then have to produce, not indeed miraculous conceptions, and lying relations of massacres that never occurred, but in their stead, what the Samaneans never thought of, and Beddou was incapable of bestowing on them, a system of pure and rational religion, which, applicable to the nature of man, and consistent with that of the Deity who conferred it on him, is as much superior to the superstition of the Thibetians, as the enlightened mind of the European is to the confined compre hension of the inhabitant of Africa, or Hindostan.

* Sir William Jones on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India.

From the indefinite and artful manner, indeed, in which Volney has stated certain of the supposed actions and doctrines of the Deity of Thibet, one might be almost led to imagine that he had taught a system of morals, and pursued a line of conduct, somewhat similar to that taught and pursued by Jesus; than which idea, the imagination of man could scarcely conceive one more completely void of all foundation. As a specimen, take what is attributed to this people, with regard to the belief in a first cause" at the beginning (says the Lama) there was one only God, who having passed an eternity in the contemplation of his own reflections at length created the world," &c. Now it is expressly asserted by a modern writer on the subject (Captain Mahony, in his "Discourse on the Doctrines of Bhooda" or Beddou, Asiatic Researches, vol. 7) "that they do not acknowledge in their writings, a supreme being, presiding over, and the author of the universe; asserting merely a first cause, under the vague denomination of Nature;" and he actually adduces some of the arguments which they make use of to prove that the world was not created. And should it be asked, who then is this Bhoudda or Beddou? we may reply upon the same, and other equally respectable authority, that he is considered as the chief among 22 supreme, and 120,535 inferior deities, who, after inhabiting with them for ages the 26 heavens which his disciples acknowledge and be lieve in, was induced, at the particular desire of several divinities of distinction, to make his appearance on this our terrestrial globe, where he was frequently born as man," but his greatest, and most solemn incarnation was 3000 years ago, in the province of Cashmire, under the name of Fôt, or Beddou, for the purpose of teaching the doctrine of self denial and self annihilation"-his birth being also at that time attended with those remarkable circumstances, which have so commonly been attributed to that of Jesus.

1 have observed that such a co-incidence is by no means singular in the mythology of the east; in confirmation of which, it may be here observed, that all the circumstances attending the birth and early years of Beddou, are attributed by the Hindoos to the last and most solemn incarnations of their God, Vishnu, under his name of Krishna, or Christna.* So striking indeed is this similarity, that there can be no doubt,

* See " Moor's Hindu Pantheon," art. Krishna-Sir W. Jones on the Gods of India, &c. The reader will probably have remarked the co-incidence between the name of the Eastern god, Christna, and the appellation Christ, as applied to Jesus. Volney has concluded, from this circumstance, that the religion of Jesus, together with this name of Christ, was borrowed from India (see Ruins, ch. 22); but the dissimilarity of story and character (except as to the interpolated passages of Matthew and Luke) is so great as to render such a supposition wholly without

but that both traditions have been derived from one common origin. His birth is also said to have been attended by many miraculous circumstances, and his life being sought after, was the cause of many children being slain. Escaping however, unhurt, he was brought up by shepherds, till thirty years of age, when he entered on the purposes of his mission, and performed the most remarkable miracles; such, for instance, as the lifting an immense mountain with the tip of his little finger. Piety, humanity, and self-denial, are also his peculiar attributes, which are exemplified in his having promoted one of the most bloody wars that had ravaged India for centuries, and yet more, by his carrying on a series of the most licentious amours, that ever polluted the pages of the heathen mythology. If any doubt, indeed, remained of his identity with the Beddou of the people of Thibet, and of Mr. Volney, it must be wholly done away by the co-incidence of their both possessing 40,000 concubines. And these are the Gods, it seems, from whom we have borrowed our ideas of Jesus, and this the mythology on which has been founded the fable of Christianity.

Mr. V. must have, surely, before he could have come to such a conclusion, or hazarded such a surmise, been endowed with a mode of judging, and of reasoning, peculiar to himself, and which we shall in vain attempt either to fathom, or to imitate. That he really thought the belief in one only God, was the foundation of any other religion than that of Jesus, 1 can scarcely bring myself to believe; and if he did not think so, it will not be easy to find any other motive for his representation of the contrary, than that of a rooted prejudice against the Christian religion, a settled intention to misrepresent, and an ardent desire to depreciate it by every means in his power, whether fair or otherwise. As some proof, indeed, that such was really the case, it is only necessary to observe the different nature of the expressions which are made use of in describing the Deity of the Christian, and that of the Lama of Thibet, who, though represented as entertaining precisely the same opinions on the subject, are severally made to express themselves in the following manner:

The Lama acknowledges "one only self-existent God, who, having passed through a whole eternity absorbed in the contemplation of his own reflections, resolved at length to manifest his perfections to created beings, and for that purpose produced the matter of the world." Enlightened ideas! sublime and philo- sophic doctrines! But let us hear the Christian-“God, after foundation, whilst it will remain as a matter of speculation how far the similarity in the names may have been the original cause of those corruptions and interpolations having been adopted into Christianity in the first instance by the Indian converts.

passing an eternity without doing any thing, at length bethought himself, without any known reason, to make the world from nothing." Comment is here unnecessary, and censure, if it attach to this, must equally attach to every part of Mr. V.'s work which at all relates to Christianity, as, by a strange fatality, he seems destined to have been incapable of making a fair statement, or writing a correct observation on the subject-so compleat, indeed, is the misrepresentation, that it would be scarcely too much to say, there is not one single fact, doctrine, or institution appertaining to real and uncorrupted Christianity, which is to be found even distantly glanced at, from the beginning of the volume to the end, except indeed, it be to attri bute them to sects who never heard of them, and religions with whose existence they are utterly incompatible. It may, however, be replied that this is mere assertion; but to be convinced of the contrary, it is only necessary to peruse the following summary of all that Mr. V. in the various parts of his work, has said on the subject.

The Christians are described as the worshippers of Jesus, who only differ from the Mahometans, by dividing their indivisible god into three persons; their religion is represented as founded on visionary and allegorical interpretations of the Jewish scriptures, and as having been promulgated by the most bloody and intolerant persecutions, under the pretence of diffusing justice, charity, and mercy. Their notions as to the Deity we have already seen, and they are further said to believe, that God, having made the universe in six days, found himself tired on the seventh; that the first pair, designed for perfect happiness, were forbidden to taste a fruit, which was planted within their reach, but that, having done so, all their race, as yet unborn, equally incurred the punishment of their transgression; that the God of Mercy, having permitted mankind to damn themselves for 4 or 5000 years, at length ordered a wellbeloved son, who though begotten, was without mother, and eternal like himself, to die on the earth, to save mankind-the majority of whom, however, still continued in the road to damnation; to remedy which this God, born of a virgin, after having died, and risen again, commences a new existence every day, and under the form of a small piece of bread, is actually multiplied a thousand fold, at the pleasure of the basest of mankind.

This detail is besides plentifully sprinkled with sacraments and indulgences, confessions, absolutions, and penances, and not a little adorned by the splendid ornaments, and superb dresses, with which it abounds to profusion; the sight is bewildered amid the variety of colours, and the senses confounded by the contrariety of opinions. Attire "red, purple, black,