positively, by the ancient Jews; the righteous are cheered by the prospect of the same heaven, the wicked threatened by the same punishments, which are held to be eternal by Christians and Muhammedans; the Hindus and Persians place the future life in a long series of purifications or _purgatories_, leading, howsoever late, finally to heaven, to which, according to the first, the most perfect only are admitted immediately after their terrestrial life, and are not to be born again, except by their own choice. _The resurrection with the same body, and the last judgment_, are among the most essential tenets of the Magi, Christians, and Muhammedans; the other world is vaguely represented among the ancient Hebrews. It is just to attribute to the Persians exclusively one of the most beautiful personifications that was ever imagined:[203] the soul of the deceased meets at the bridge of eternity an apparition either of an attractive or repulsive form; “Who art thou?” asks the uncertain spirit, and hears the answer: “I am thy life.” Although the variety and multitude of human conceptions may appear boundless, yet they may perhaps be reduced to a few fundamental principles. In general, there is one object common to all sorts of religion: this is to detach man from gross sensual matters, and to accustom him to hold converse with holy supernatural beings, guides to salvation, _omnipresent_ witnesses of all his actions, remunerators of good, punishers of bad deeds; the belief in such beings, one or more, is in fact the most essential support of morality, which, being fixed in each individual, insures the peace and happiness of all. In short, the most important object of all religion is to ennoble, refine, and sanctify man’s inmost thoughts and feelings, as well as his exterior actions. No wonder, that the same virtues are recommended by all religions. But, if these virtues be the same as to names, there is a great difference as to their practical application. Thus, the Hindus, tending excessively to the extinction of sensual propensities, and a contemplative life, destroy spontaneity, and produce apathy. The Persians recommend more practical virtues. Both nations, however, as well as the Jews and Muhammedans, are subject to a great number of dietetical and ritual observances, which divert them from useful activity, confine their practical sense, and render inert the innate perfectibility, the most precious prerogative of mankind. Among all the Asiatic nations, considered in this work, theocracy, that is, the junction of the religious and civil laws, doubles the power of despotism, and commands equally the spiritual and material, the present and the future world. The Western Christians were in the course of time fortunate enough to modify the _Asiatic_ morals, to enlarge the circle of civilization, and to open to themselves a boundless prospect of progressive knowledge, morality, and happiness.