all the year round; and, if God be everywhere, why should we
go to Mecca to adore him?"

From the southernmost part of Hindustan, Mohammedanism made its way to
the Malayan peninsula; to Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Manillas, and the
Celebes: Goram, one of the Spice Islands, is {289} its eastern
boundary. In the interior of these islands it prevails less than on
the shores. To these remote regions Islamism has been carried more by
the commercial than the military enterprise of its votaries. What is
its present condition there, it is difficult, perhaps impossible,
accurately to ascertain. In Java it was the established religion; but,
when the Dutch settled that island early in the seventeenth century,
many of the natives were converted. Little respect is paid by the
Javans of the present day either to their ancient paganism, or to
Mohammedanism which took its place; though some of the forms of the
latter are still in force, and its institutions are said to be gaining
ground.

The reader of Mohammedan history will meet with the terms Sooffee and
Wahabee, as designating certain divisions of the disciples of the
religion of the Prophet. It will not, therefore, be inappropriate to
close with a brief account of these respective sects.

Sooffee is a term originating in Persia, meaning enthusiasts or
mystics, or persons distinguished by extraordinary sanctity. The
object of the Sooffee is to attain a divine beatitude, which he
describes as consisting in absorption into the essence of Deity. The
soul, according to his doctrine, is an emanation from God, partaking of
his nature; just {290} as the rays of light are emanations from the
sun, and of the same nature with the source, from whence they are
derived. The creature and the Creator are of one substance. No one
can become a Sooffee without strictly conforming to the established
religion, and practising every social virtue; and when, by this means,
he has gained a habit of devotion, he may exchange what they style
practical for spiritual worship, and abandon the observance of all
religious forms and ceremonies. He at length becomes inspired, arrives
at truth, drops his corporeal veil, and mixes again with that glorious
essence from which he has been partially and for a time separated. The
life of the Sooffees of Persia, though generally austere, is not
rendered miserable, like that of the visionary devotees of Hinduism, by
the practice of dreadful severities, their