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I now wish to add a word us to the practice of mental reservation by
the Shias, which Mr. Anstey said was forbidden by Mahomed. Mr, Anstey
was at the pains to discriminate the particular department or stratum
of hell, assigned by Mahomet to •' Hypocrites" meaning (so he asserted)
those who practise mental reservation. The only' authority he gave
was the following passage, at page 65 of Salt's Preliminary Discourse
to the Koran. " As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mahom-
medans are taught that hell is divided into seven stories, or apart-
ments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many
distinct classes of the damned, the first, which they call Jehennam,
they say will be the receptacle of those who acknowleged one God,
that is, the wicked Mahommedans, who after having there been
punished according to their demerits, will at length be released. The
second named Lrl'aa, they assign to the Jewi, third named, al Hota-
ma, to the Christians ; the fourth named al S'air, to the Sabians ; the
fifth, named Sakar, to the Magians ; the sixth named al Jahim, to the
idolators ; and the seventh, which .is the lowest and worst of all, and
is called al Hawiyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly profes-
sed some religion, but in their hearts were of none." Now, my Lord,
it is abundantly clear that this definition cannot apply to the Ithias.
There must be a desperate amount of odium theologicum in any Suni
divine who maintains against the Shias, the charge that they have no
religion at all. And there is no pretence for the suggestion, that the
text in question makes mental reservation a damnable sin.

Now, leaving the primitive era of Moslem heresies, can it be said
that the Shia theology as settled in quieter times--the accession of the
Safavi dynasty in Persia, is to be charged with inculcating wild doc-
trines, anti-social institutions, or immorality? The date of the
accession of the Safavi dynasty was A.D. 1499, and the doctrines then
adopted by the Persians, under their auspices,—that is, what is proper-
ly called Shia theology, were much influenced by historical circum-
stances. For 800 years previously, Persia had suffered under the
cruel persecutions of the Arabs, its national life had been all but
stamped out. The Magians or Parsis had been almost exterminated
and the remnant cowered under the opprobrious name of " libertines."
The age of persecution had also left its mark on the partizans of Ali's
family, under the Arab yoke. Hence the prevailing practise, of men-
tal reservation, of outward conformity, and secret belief. During the

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