All that depends on another gives pain; all Alone let him constantly dwell, for the that depends on himself gives pleasure; let sake of his own felicity; observing the haphim know this to be in few words the defini-piness of a solitary man, who neither forsakes tion of pleasure and of pain. nor is forsaken, let him live without a companion.

Let him say well and good,' or let him say 'well' only; but let him not maintain An earthern water-pot, the roots of large fruitless enmity and altercation with any man. trees, coarse vesture, total solitude, equanimGiving no pain to any creature, let him col- ity toward all creatures, these are the characlect virtue by degrees, for the sake of acquir-teristics of a Brahmin set free. ing a companion to the next world, as the white ant by degrees builds his nest.

Late in the day let the Sannyasi beg food ; for missing it, let him not be sorrowful; nor for gaining it let him be glad; let him care only for a sufficiency to support life, but let him not be anxious about his utensils.

Let him reflect also, with exclusive application of mind, on the subtil, indivisible essence of the supreme spirit, and its complete existin-ence in all beings, whether extremely high, or extremely low.

Alone, in some solitary place, let him constantly meditate on the divine nature of the soul; for, by such meditation, he will attain happiness.

When the father of a family perceives his muscles become flaccid, and his hair gray, and sees the child of his child, let him seek refuge in a forest:

Then, having reposited his holy fires, as the law directs, in his mind, let him live without external fire, without a mansion, wholly silent, feeding on roots and fruit;

Not solicitous for the means of gratification, chaste as a student, sleeping on the bare earth, in the haunts of pious hermits, without'

As a tree leaves the bank of a river, when it falls in, or a bird leaves the branch of a tree at his pleasure, thus he, who leaves his body by necessity, or by legal choice, is delivered from the ravening shark, or crocodile,

JUDAISM.

THOUGH Christianity claims precedence on account of the present number of its followers, Judaism must have priority as the older faith, and the one upon which the other has been founded. It is the religion taught in what are called the Books of Moses, with which are connected the religious exercises called the Psalms of David, and some mystical writings or prophecies.

According to the biblical chronology, it was in the year of the world 1076, or 2000 before Christ, that Abraham, a native of Chaldea, was chosen by God to be the father of a peculiar people, devoted to his service, and destined to receive the peculiar manifestations of his power and love. Abraham was directed to renounce idolatry, to go and take possession of, or reside in, Palestine, a small and narrow province, about as large as the State of New Jersey, on the Mediterranean, and to circumcise his male posterity. Shortly after this a famine in his adopted country compelled him to go into Egypt. After his return, and when both himself and his wife were at a very advanced age, they had a son, Isaac. To Isaac two sons were born, Jacob and Esau; and Jacob, the chosen one of these, had by his two wives, who were sisters, and their servants, who became his concubines, twelve sons, from whom descended the tribes of the Israelitish nation.

While this nation encamped around Sinai, God delivered to Moses the whole form of laws and ceremonies which constituted the Jewish religion. A portion of these, the ten commandments, have been adopted by the Christian church, with a change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first, which, however, some Christians do not think was authorized, while others consider it unimportant.

In A.M., 1548, or forty years from the flight from Egypt, the nation was permitted to march into the promised land, from which they drove out and destroyed the inhabitants. This was accomplished by a series of sublime miracles. The Jordan opened for the Israelites to pass, the walls of cities fell at the sound of the trumpets, and the sun and moon stood still, while God, by his visible presence and power, at once encouraged his own people, and paralized their enemies.

ties, ten of the twelve tribes never returned. Many learned men suppose that our North American Indians are their descendants.

Settled in the promised land, governed by the laws of God, and ruled over by Judges for five hundred years, the Israelities became tired of their jealousies and divisions, and asked for a king. Their first choice was unfortunate, but the second, King David, united and strengthened the people, and raised the country to a state of great wealth and magnificence. Solomon, his son and successor, built at his capitol a magnificent temple, for the worship of God. This was destroyed afterwards, and the tribes were several times carriJoseph, one of these sons, having been solded away captives. From one of these captiviby his brethern a slave into Egypt, by a series of romantic and miraculous events, became Prime Minister of that powerful kindom, and, another famine occurring, Jacob and all his family went to Egypt to reside; a portion of the country having been set apart for them. In about a hundred and sixty years, these twelve families had increased to a nation of 600,000 fighting men—or an entire population of about 3,000,000, an extraordinary, if not miraculous, increase. So great had their numbers become, that a new Egyptian Dynasty, fearing their numerical force, issued an edict that every male child born of them should be destroyed. In obedience to this edict, Moses was launched in a frail basket, on the Nile. Rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, adopted and educated as her son, he in due time announced himself as the prophet and deliverer of his people. After a series of terrible miracles, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, Anno Mundi, 1508.

From the period of the loss of the ten tribes. the remainder were called Jews; a name ever since borne by their descendants. This slight sketch of this people, seemed necessary, because their religion has been interwoven with their history. We may here mention that nearly 1800 years ago, the second temple was destroyed by the Romans, and since that time the Jews have been scattered all over the habitable globe; still preserving their national characteristics and their religious faith, though with the destruction of their temple and political existence, most of the ceremonial law has been of necessity suspended.

Among the principles of the Jewish religion is the belief in the One God; the proscription of every form of idolatry, and rigorous observance of the sabbath. There were a great many offerings and sacrifices, and one family These three millions of persons were led by was set apart for the priesthood. One-tenth God, under the direction of Moses, into the of all the produce of the land was claimed as Arabian Desert, were they were fed and cloth-belonging to the Lord, and was taken charge ed by a continual series of miracles. Their clothes did not wear out; food fell every day from heaven; water gushed from the solid rocks, and God constantly manifested his visible presence.

of by the priests.

The principal solemnities of the Jews, are the feast of the Passover, instituted to commemorate the passage of the Red Sea, in their flight from Egypt; the feast of Penticost, or

anniversary of the giving of the law at Mount Simai; the feast of the Tabernacles, to represent their wandering forty years in the desert; the feast of Trumpets, which announced the first day of the year and of each lunar month; and the expiatory fasts, and fasts in memory of their transgressions, punishments, and pardon.

On every seventh year, the Jews were commanded not to sow, reap or trade, except for the poor; on every forty-ninth year all slaves regained their liberty, and unfortunates or spendthrifts their possessions. There was thus a periodical rubbing out of old scores, and beginning the world anew.

triumph. Awaiting with faith and patience this promised restoration to Palestine, they keep up their worship in their Synagogues, and as far as possible, by intermarriage, maintain their existence as a separate people. Never, since their conquest by the Romans, were the Jews, as a people, in such repute, or in the enjoyment of such advantages as at the present time. In the most liberal countries of Europe and America, they labor under no civil disabilities. As the monarchs of finance, they may be said to govern the world. There is scarcely a cabinet in Europe, where some Jew does not hold a powerful sway, and in literature and the arts, their influence is widely felt over the civil

The Jews have been kept together not only by their religion and customs, particularly circumcision, but by a violent prejudice which has existed against them from earliest times, and the persecutions which they conse

The religion of the Jews, as taught by Moses, entered into every act of their lives.ized world. The punishments for crimes were very severe, a long list of what are now thought trivial offences being punishable by death. Some of the trials were very curious. A woman accused of adultery was made to drink of the waters or jealousy. If innocent, they werequently endured. This, however, is passing harmless and even increased her beauty, but if guilty, they acted as a terrible poison, inflicting instant death.

The Jews were subject to two afflictions, now almost or quite unknown. One was the leprosy, a cutaneous and contagious disorder, and the other the possession of demons, or devils, who entered into them, sometimes singly, and sometimes in great numbers. This may have been, however, at a comparatively late period of their national history.

Whether the Jews anciently believed in the immortality of the soul is a question of great doubt. Moses no where speaks of future existence, happiness, or punishment. Nothing is said of Heaven or Hell in the laws delivered on Mount Sinai. Temporal happiness and blessings are promised the righteous, and temporal woes and curses denounced upon the wicked. The book of Ecclesiastes teaches that there is no future existence; which is contrary to what was taught in the religions of the surrounding nations. In fact, the Jewish religion is the only one known to us, which does not recognise the immortality of the soul, and a state of rewards and punishments, which were among the doctrines of the Brahmists, and Buddhists. In later times, the Jewish sect of the Pharisees taught the resurrection, but the Saducees denied it. This is perhaps the strangest of all the wonderful things connected with the Jewish faith.

away. Individual Jews are held now in respect, and are eligible to high positions in the most enlightened nations in the world; and while their existence is considered a miracle by some, and a matter of curious interest by all, their destiny is a problem which time alone can solve.

CHRISTIANITY.

We arrive at the most interesting of the religions now spread over the earth, and the one of which it will be most difficult to give an impartial account. It is scarcely possible to quite overcome the prejudices of education and belief-nor must the reader expect from us such an account of the Religion of Christ, as might be written by an inhabitant of Jupiter or Saturn.

There is another difficulty. Since the first promulgation of the Christian faith, it has been divided into numerous sects, which have held very different opinions upon the most important subjects. As we intend to give accounts of many of these, we shall here confine ourselves chiefly to Christianity in its origin, and early progress, leaving doctrinal points, as much as possible, to be described here after.

About the 4000th year of the world, or, according to the Church of Antioch, the 6000th, in the reign of the Emperor Augustus, when Palestine was a province of the Roman Empire, under the Government of Herod, a Jew, The Jews, preserving their national char-called Joseph, of the House of David, visiting acteristics, and adhering to some form of their the town of Bethlehem, his wife Mary, who national religion, amount to about eleven accompanied him, bore a son, who was called millions, living in Europe, Asia, Africa and Jesus. America. They cherish the hope of again becoming united and of being a great and powerful nation. They expect also the ap-lilee. pearance of a Messiah, to gather them in

Joseph was a carpenter, of the town of Nazareth, a little village on the Lake of GalBeing poor, and Bethlehem crowded,

This, however, is of little consequence; the gospels being inspired, and corroborated by the pre-record of the Acts of the Apostles, and the various Epistles included in what is called the New Testament. It is from these, then, that we must draw all we can know of the life of Christ, and of the Religion he taught.