whose beauty surpasses the most exquisitely lovely of all captivating women; with whom the faithful, when the angel of death, (to pursue the Arabian allegory), has dissolved the union of the body and the soul 1, are to enjoy the most ecstatic raptures; first by a kiss, and afterwards by an immaculate alliance. Each good Mussulman is promised à vast number of servants; dresses of superlative magnificence; a tent of brilliancy; a profusion of pearls and diamonds; viands served in golden dishes; and delicious, though not intoxicating, wines, sparkling in golden goblets;-with seventy houris: uniting the grandeur of earth and Heaven with eternal enjoyment, in the society of their first parents.

2

Of all the pleasures of this paradise, however, the most surpassing was that arising from the privilege of beholding the face of God, every morning and every evening.

II.

The Christian creed, on the other hand, affords no definite idea of Heaven;-which some writers suppose is situate in some remote part of infinite space. Giving the fullest and most unbounded scope to the most excursive

702.

fol.

Hyde in Notis ad. Bobov. de visit. Ægrot. 19. Vide Virgil, lib. iv.

• Tableau Général de l'Empire Othoman par M. de M*** D'ohson, p. 47.

3 St John promises the same to the Christians, vid. Rev. xxii. v. 4; also St. Matth. v. 8. St. Augustine says, that the angels of the Calum Empyrium enjoy the sight of God perpetually. In Epist. ad Dardanium. Ep. lvii. The eighth heaven was called the firmament, or eighth sphere; the empyrium the ninth heaven, where the blessed are supposed to enjoy the beatific vision. This existed before the concave, we now see;-having existed from all eternity.

imagination, it leaves it resting in all the mystery of sublime obscurity. "Eye hath not seen," says St. Paul, 66 nor ear heard, neither have entered into the mind of man, the things which God hath prepared for those, that love him."-" They shall hunger no more," as we read in the Apocalypse, 66 nor thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb shall feed them, and shall lead them into living waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." In this state of beatitude, free from every vicissitude of change or decay, they shall associate, not only with an assemblage of all the wisest and best of every age and nation, but with a numerous host of seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, virtues, angels, and archangels, whose glory and whose ecstasy is continually evinced by hymns of praise, harmonizing in concert with innumerable harps 3.

In the description of the paradise of Fûh, by the Chinese writers, it is said, that the inhabitants sprung from the Lotus. Their bodies pure and fragrant; their persons well formed; and their countenances beautiful.

Isaiah, ch. lxiv. v. 4.

11 Corinth. ch. ii. v. 9. 2 Rev. ch. vii. v. 16, 17; ch. ii. v. 4; also Isaiah, ch. xlix. v. 10; and ch. xxv. v. 8. Psalms xxxvi. v. 8, 9; xvi. v. 2. Matth. ch. xxv. v. 46. Rom. ch. ii. v. 7. 1 Peter, ch. i. v. 4. Dan. ch. xii. v. 2. John, ch. v. v. 24, 29. 1 Cor. xiii. v. 12.

3 Baron Swedenborg fancied, that he was permitted to behold the interior of heaven. The account, he gives of this celestial vision, is a little too sublunary; for he says, that he found men but little changed. They eat, drink, and marry. There are towns, cities, and villages; silver, gold, and every description of precious stone. The chief difference he observed, he says, is, that every thing seemed to exist in a greater state of perfection.

VOL. II.

D

They were believed to inhale odours; and to be surrounded by birds of paradise. In this region there were no women; they being turned into men immediately upon their arrival.

III.

Virgil and Tibullus, conceiving that the enjoyments, which delight the good in this world, will constitute their principal happiness in the next, describe Elysium as a residence, worthy of those, who had died for their country; who were inventors of useful arts; who were inspired poets; who had led a life of innocence; or had conferred essential benefits on mankind. Delighting in those luxuriant gifts, in which Elysium abounded, they are represented, as deriving the highest enjoyments from reposing on flowery banks, and from wandering among shady groves.

These happy fields are variously situated by the poets'. Lucian places them in the moon; some in the isle of Leuce, between the mouths of the Danube and Borysthenes. Virgil in Italy; some in the centre of the earth; and others at Andalusia, or Granada, in Spain. Lucretius describes the inhabitants as being free from care and vicissitude; living in a splendid diffusion of light; and, amid unclouded ether, enjoying the benefit of immortality. The paradise of Plato, on the other hand, was evidently borrowed from that of the Jews.

3

The Icelanders imagine, that on the summit of the

1 Vid. Hor. lib. iii. ode 4. Tibull. lib. i. El. 3. v. 57. Claudian. de Raptu Proserp. Plutarch de Consol.

Boula, a mountain which no one has hitherto ascended, there is a cavern, which opens to a paradise in perpetual verdure, delightfully shaded by trees, and abounding in large flocks of sheep '.

The cave of Candahar is believed to present an analogous similitude". This cave the Afghauns esteem impenetrable, owing to the roar of winds, and the rushing of waters. They relate, however, that some hardy adventurers once penetrated it, and beheld a most enchanting garden, in the bowels of the earth; in which were every beautiful flower and perfume; all rendered more delightful by the sounds of music, so exquisite as, at once, to ravish and enchant the soul.

The Greenlander imagines heaven to turn round a large rock; and happiness to consist in hunting from age to age. The Laplander believes, that paradise is situated in the centre of the snows of Sweden; and that they will be accompanied thither by their favourite reindeer. The Muscogulgees imagine it among the islands of the vast Pacific. "Do you see those blue mountains,' says Piomingo, "whose towering summits are mixed with the descending clouds ?"." I see them."-" Beyond those mountains there is a wide river; beyond that river there is a great country; on the other side of that country there is a world of water; in that water there are a thousand islands: the sun is gone among them. These islands are full of trees and streams of water; a thousand buffaloes, and ten thousand deer, graze on the hills, or ruminate in the valleys."-" When I die shall I become an inhabitant

Voy. en Iceland, 168.

2

Elphinst. Caubul, 222.

36 Paradise of the Sintoists, Siamese, Mexicans, &c.

of those islands?"-" Love your friends; become a great warrior; and when you die, the great spirit will conduct you to the land of souls." Such is the belief of one of the tribes of North America.

IV.

The heaven of the New Zealanders' is called Taghinga Attua; and abounds in all the fanciful delights, the wildest imagination can conceive. The natives of Benin, on the coast of Africa, believe theirs to be situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Sintoists of Japan imagine, that the soul is transmitted to sub-celestial fields, immediately lying beneath the thirty-three heavens, which are the native mansions of their gods. The Langoins of Laos assert, that the souls of good men assume a body of ethereal substance, clear and transparent as light; and that after enjoying the pleasures of sixteen successive heavens, they return to the earth, and once more take up their habitation in a human body. The Siamese believe, that souls transmigrate three or four times; after which they are permitted to enter the true paradise, (the Nireupan), in which they enjoy perpetual repose; and their delight is presumed to equal that of the gods.

The Mexicans conceived, that those who died of wounds, or were drowned, went to a cool and delightful place; there to enjoy all manner of pleasures: those who died in battle, or in captivity, were wafted to the palace of the Sun, and led a life of endless delight. After an abode of four years, they animated clouds and birds of