24.11. 11. Of Contemplation.
Men being made to preserve, to nourish, to
clothe themselves, and do all the actions of society, religion ought not
to give them too contemplative a life.
[7]
The Mahometans become speculative by habit; they pray five times a
day, and each time they are obliged to cast behind them everything which
has any concern with this world: this forms them for speculation. Add to
this that indifference for all things which is inspired by the doctrine
of unalterable fate.
If other causes besides these concur to disengage their affections;
for instance, if the severity of the government, if the laws concerning
the property of land, give them a precarious spirit — all is lost.
The religion of the Gaurs formerly rendered Persia a flourishing
kingdom; it corrected the bad effects of despotic power. The same empire
is now destroyed by the Mahometan religion.
Footnotes
[7]
This is the inconvenience of the doctrine of Foe and Laockium.
