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mated with a glowing spirit that looked with contempt on life, and every thing by which its cares are soothed, that of the latter.

The minds of the people inhabiting these various countries were fettered by superstitions of the most degrading kind. Though the sense of a Supreme Being, from whom all things had their origin, and whose decrees regulate the universe, had not become wholly extinct; yet in every nation a general belief prevailed that all things were subordinate to an association of powerful spirits, who were called gods, and whom it was incumbent on every one, who wished for a happy and prosperous course of life, to worship and conciliate. One of these deities was supposed to excel the rest in dignity, and to possess a supereminent authority, by which the tasks or offices of the inferior ones were allotted, and the whole of the assembly, in a certain degree, directed and governed. His rule, however, was not conceived to be by any means arbitrary; neither was it supposed that he could so far invade the provinces of the others as to interfere with their particular functions; and hence it was deemed necessary for those who would secure the favour of heaven religiously to cultivate the patronage of every separate deity, and assiduously to pay that homage to each of them which was respectively his due.

Every nation, however, did not worship the same gods, but each had its peculiar deities, differing from those of other countries, not only in name, but in their nature, attributes, actions, and other respects; nor is there any just foundation for the supposition which some have adopted, that the gods of Greece and Rome were the same with those worshipped by the Germans, the Syrians, the Arabians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and others. The Greeks and Romans, indeed, pretended that the deities which they acknowledged were equally reverenced in every other part of the world; and it might probably be the case. with most nations, that the gods of other countries were hela in a sort of secondary reverence, and perhaps, in some instances, privately worshipped; but it is certain that each country had its appropriate deities, and that to neglect or disparage the established worship of the state was always considered as an offence of the most atrocious kind.

This diversity of deities and religious worship seldom generated animosity; for each nation readily conceded to others the right

of forming their own opinions, and of judging for themselves in religious matters; and left them, both in the choice of their deities and mode of worshipping them, to be guided by whatever principles they might think proper to adopt. Those who were accustomed to regard this world in the light of a commonwealth, divided into several districts, over each of which a certain order of deities presided, could with an ill grace assume the liberty of forcing other nations to discard their own favourite deities, and receive in their stead the same objects of adoration with themselves. It is certain that the Romans were extremely jealous of introducing any new divinities, or of making the least change in the public religion; yet the citizens were never denied the privilege of individually conforming to any foreign mode of worship, or of manifesting, by the most solemn acts of devotion, their veneration for the gods of other countries.*

The principal deities of most nations consisted of heroes renowned in antiquity, emperors, kings, founders of cities, and other illustrious persons, whose eminent exploits and the benefits they had conferred on mankind were treasured up and embalmed in the breasts of posterity, by whose gratitude they were crowned with divine honours and raised to the rank of gods. But in no other respects were the heathen deities supposed to be distinguished beyond the human species than by the enjoyment of power and an immortal existence. To the worship of divinities of this description, however, was joined in many countries that of some of the noblest and most excellent parts of the creation; the luminaries of heaven in particular, the sun, the moon, and the stars, in whom, as the effects of their influence was always perceptible, an intelligent mind was supposed to reside. The superstitious practices of some countries were carried to an almost endless extreme: mountains, rivers, trees, the earth, the sea, and the winds, even the diseases of the body, the virtues and the vices (or rather certain tutelary genii, to whom the guardianship and care of all these things was conceived to belong) were made the object of adoration, and had divine honours regularly paid to them.

Buildings of the most superb and magnificent kind, under the

* See Warburton's Works, Vol. II. Edit. 8vo. 1811. Divine Legation of Moses.

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names of temples, fanes, &c., were raised and dedicated by the people of almost every country to their gods, with the expectation that the divinities would condescend to make these sumptuous edifices the places of their own immediate residence. They were not all open to the public, for some of them were confined to the exercise of private devotion; but those of either description were internally ornamented with images of their deities, and furnished with altars and the requisite apparatus for offering sacrifice. The statues were supposed to be animated by the deities whom they represented; for, though the worshippers of gods, such as have now been described, must, in a great measure, have relinquished every dictate of reason, they were not willing to appear by any means so destitute of every principle of common sense as to pay their adoration to a mere idol of metal, or wood, or stone; they always maintained that their statues, when properly consecrated, were filled with the presence of those divinities whose impress they bore.*

The religious homage paid to these deities consisted chiefly in the frequent performance of various rites; such as the offering up of victims and sacrifices, accompanied by prayers and other ceremonies. The sacrifices and offerings were different, according to the nature and attributes of the gods to whom they were addressed. Brute animals were commonly devoted to this purpose; but in some nations, of a more savage and ferocious character, the horrible practice of sacrificing human victims prevailed. And it has been remarked by the learned Bishop Warburton that the attributes and qualities assigned to their gods always corresponded with the nature and genius of the government of the country. If this was gentle, benign, compassionate, and forgiving, goodness and mercy were considered as most essential to the deity; but if severe, inexorable, captious, or unequal, the very gods were supposed to be tyrants, and expiations, atonements, lustrations, and bloody sacrifices, then composed the system of religious worship.†

*Arnobius adv. Gentes, lib. 6. Augustin de Civitate, lib. 8.

+ Thus characterised by Pope, in his Essay on Man:

"Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust,

Whose attributes were rage, revenge, and lust;

Such as the souls of cowards might conceive,

And, formed like tyrants, tyrants would believe."

The reader who has perused his version of Homer, which, no doubt, furnishes a

C

On the prayers of Pagan worshippers, whether we regard the matter or the mode of expression, it is impossible to speak favourably they were not only destitute, in general, of every thing allied to the spirit of piety, but were sometimes framed expressly for the purpose of obtaining the countenance of heaven to the vilest undertakings. Indeed the greater part of their religious observances were of an absurd and ridiculous kind, and in many instances strongly tinctured with the most disgraceful barbarism and obscenity. Their festivals and other solemn days were polluted by a licentious indulgence in every species of libidinous excess; and, on these occasions, they were not prohibited even from making their consecrated places-the supposed mansions of their gods-the scenes of vile and beastly gratification.

The care of the temples, together with the superintendance and direction of all religious ordinances, was committed to a class of men bearing the title of priests or flamens. It appertained to the province of these ministers to see that the ancient and customary honours were paid to the publicly acknowledged deities, and that a due regard was manifested in every other respect for the religion of the state. These were their ordinary duties; but superstition ascribed to them functions of a far more exalted nature. It considered them rather in the light of intimate and familiar friends of the gods than in that of officiating ministers at their altar; and consequently attributed to them the highest degree of sanctity, influence, and power. With the minds of the people thus prepossessed in their favour, it could not be very difficult for an artful and designing set of men, possessed of a competent share of knowledge, to maintain a system of spiritual dominion of the most absolute and tyrannical kind.

Besides the public worship of the Pagan deities, several nations--such, for instance, as the Persians, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Indians, and some others--had recourse to a dark and concealed species of worship, under the name of MYSTERIES. None were admitted to see or participate of these mysteries, but such as had approved themselves worthy of that distinction by their fidelity and perseverance in the practice of a long course of initiatory forms. The votaries were enjoined, on peril of instant

faithful picture of the mythology of the heathen world, will need no further proof of the correctness of this representation of the matter.

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death, to observe the most profound secrecy respecting every thing that passed,—a circumstance which alone sufficiently accounts for the difficulty that we find in obtaining any information respecting the nature of these recluse practices, and for the discordant and contradictory opinions concerning them that are to be found in the writings of various authors, both ancient and modern. According to Dr. Warburton, each of the Heathen deities, besides the worship paid to him in public, had a secret worship, which was termed the mysteries of the god. These, however, were not performed in every place where he was publicly worshipped, but only where his chief residence was supposed to be. We learn from Herodotus, Diodorus, and Plutarch, that these mysteries were first invented in Egypt, whence they spread into most countries of Europe and Asia. In Egypt they were celebrated to the honour of Isis and Osiris; in Asia to Mythras; in Samothrace to the mother of the gods; in Boeotia to Bacchus; in the isle of Cyprus to Venus; in Crete to Jupiter; in Athens to Ceres and Proserpine; and in other places to other deities, amounting in all to an incredible number. The most noted of these mysteries were the Orphic, those in honour of Bacchus, the Eleusinian, the Samothracian, the Cabiri, and the Mythraic. Butthe Eleusinian mysteries, which were statedly celebrated by the people of Athens at Eleusis, a town of Attica, in honour of Ceres and her daughter Proserpine, in process of time supplanted all the rest; for, according to the testimony of Zosimus, “These most holy rites were then so extensive as to take in the whole race of mankind." This sufficiently accounts for the fact that ancient writers have spoken more of the Eleusinian mysteries than of any other. They all, nevertheless, proceeded from one fountain, consisted of similar rites, and are supposed to have had the same object in view.

We are informed by the same learned prelate, Warburton, that the general object of these mysteries was, by means of certain shows and representations, accompanied with hymns, to impress the senses and imaginations of the initiated with the belief of the doctrines of religion, according to the views of them which the inventors of the mysteries entertained. And, in order that the mystic exhibitions might make the deeper impression on the initiated, they were always performed in the darkness of night.