nd _Samoans of
Polynesia_, and some races of _Australia_.[86:8] The _Suzees_ and the
_Mandingoes_ circumcise their women.[86:9] The _Assyrians_, _Colchins_,
_Phenicians_, and others, practiced it.[86:10] It has been from time
immemorial a custom among the _Abyssinians_, though, at the present
time, Christians.[86:11]

The antiquity of the custom may be assured from the fact of the _New
Hollanders_, (never known to civilized nations until a few years ago)
having practiced it.[86:12]

The _Troglodytes_ on the shore of the Red Sea, the _Idumeans_,
_Ammonites_, _Moabites_ and _Ishmaelites_, had the practice of
circumcision.[86:11]

The _ancient Mexicans_ also practiced this rite.[86:13] It was also
found among the _Amazon_ tribes of _South America_.[87:1] These
Indians, as well as some African tribes, were in the habit of
circumcising their women. Among the _Campas_, the women circumcised
themselves, and a man would not marry a woman who was not
circumcised.[87:2] They performed this singular rite upon arriving at
the age of puberty.[87:3]

Jesus of Nazareth was circumcised,[87:4] and had he been really the
founder of the Christian religion, so-called, it would certainly be
incumbent on all Christians to be circumcised as he was, and to observe
that Jewish law which he observed, and which he was so far from
abrogating, that he declared: "heaven and earth shall pass away" ere
"one jot or one tittle" of that law should be dispensed with.[87:5] But
the Christians are not followers of the religion of Jesus.[87:6] They
are followers of the religion of the _Pagans_. This, we believe, we
shall be able to show in Part Second of this work.

FOOTNOTES:

[85:1] Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. i. p. 249.

[85:2] Genesis, xvii. 10.

[85:3] Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. i. p. 251.

[85:4] Mr. Herbert Spencer shows (Principles of Sociology, pp. 290, 295)
that the sacrificing of a part of the body as a religious offering to
their deity, was, and is a common practice among savage tribes.
Circumcision may have originated in this way. And Mr. Wake, speaking of
it, says: "The _origin_ of this custom has not yet, so far as I am
aware, been satisfactorily explained. The idea that, under certain
climatic conditions, circumcision is necessary for cleanliness and
comfort, does not appear to be well founded, as the custom is not
universal even within the tropics." (Phallism in Ancient Religs., p.
36.)

[85:5] "