The Mahometans have an established priesthood and a numerous body of clergymen: their spiritual head, in Turkey, whose power is not inferior to the Roman Pontiff, or the Grecian Patriarch, is denominated the _Mufti_, and is regarded as the oracle of sanctity and wisdom. Their houses of worship are denominated mosques, many of which are very magnificent, and very richly endowed. The revenues of some of the royal mosques are said to amount to the enormous sum of 60,000 pounds sterling. In the city of Fez, the capital of the emperor of Morocco, there are near one thousand mosques, fifty of which are built in a most magnificent style, supported by marble pillars. The circumference of the grand mosque is near a mile and a half, in which near a thousand lamps are lighted every night. The Mahometan priests, who perform the rites of their public worship, are called _Imams_; and they have a set of ministers called _Sheiks_, who preach every _Friday_, the Mahometan Sabbath, much in the manner of Christian preachers. They seldom touch upon points of controversy in their discourses, but preach upon moral duties, upon the dogmas and ceremonies of their religion, and declaim against vice, luxury, and corruption of manners. The rapid success which attended the propagation of this new religion was owing to causes that are plain and evident, and must remove, or rather prevent, our surprise, when they are attentively considered. The terror of Mahomet’s arms, and the repeated victories which were gained by him and his successors, were, no doubt, the irresistible arguments that persuaded such multitudes to embrace his religion, and submit to his dominion. Besides, his law was artfully and marvellously adapted to the corrupt nature of man, and, in a most particular manner, to the manners and opinions of the Eastern nations, and the vices to which they were naturally addicted; for the articles of faith which it proposed were few in number, and extremely simple; and the duties it required were neither many nor difficult, nor such as were incompatible with the empire of appetites and passions. It is to be observed, further, that the gross ignorance under which the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part, of the Eastern nations, labored at this time, rendered many an easy prey to the artifice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. To these causes of the progress of Mahometanism we may add the bitter dissensions and cruel animosities that reigned among the Christian sects—dissensions that filled a great part of the East with carnage, assassinations, and such detestable enormities as rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many. Other causes of the sudden progress of that religion will naturally occur to such as consider attentively its spirit and genius, and the state of the world at this time.