"heathens confifted in nothing but morality, "and festivals; morality which," he says, "is common to all men, and feftivals which "were no more than times of rejoicing, and "could not be of prejudice to mankind." The particulars which I fhall be obliged to mention, and which could not be unknown to this writer, though they are to many others, will fhew how fhamefully the truth is disguised in this reprefentation. The religion of the heathens had nothing to do with morality, and their public festivals were, almost without exception, fcenes of the greateft riot and debauchery. Believing their gods to be cruel or fenfual, there is no vice, how deteftable and unnatural foever, that did not find a place in the most folemn acts of their worship.

It is not neceffary for me to give any account of the manner in which mankind fell into this deplorable state of depravity, it being fufficient to fhew that fuch was their ftate, and that it was evident, from the experience of ages, in which men made the most of their powers of reafon, that they were not able to relieve themselves. Why the Supreme Being permitted the rise and

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progrefs of this fpecies of evil, may be as infcrutable to us as the permiffion of any other evil, natural or moral, none of which, it must be acknowledged, could have taken place without his knowledge and permiffion, and all of which, and this among the reft, we have reason to believe will lead to good, and hereafter appear to have done fo. In the mean time, it is well worth our while to contemplate the magnitude of the evil, and the goodness of God in the cure of it, in what, no doubt, was the proper time, and in the most proper and effectual manner.

That the great principles of religion, concerning the being and providence of God, and a future ftate of existence, were communicated by God to the first parents of mankind, is probable from feveral circumstances. Obfcure traces of this knowledge are found in all ancient nations; and the farther we go back into antiquity, the purer we find their religion to be. But in process of time it became more and more corrupted, till, instead of coming in aid of virtue, it was itself a great fource of the corruption of morals, as the progress is well defcribed in my text.

The world ever bore fufficient marks of its

being the production of an omnipotent and good Being, a lover of virtue, and a hater of vice; but men, contemplating, as we may fuppofe, the immenfe variety, and feeming contrariety, of the works of creation, could not believe that the whole was under the direction of one being: and being left to their own imaginations, and judging of other intelligent beings by what they observed in themselves, and others, they concluded that there must be a multiplicity of beings concerned in the government of the world, and the direction of human affairs, fome well and others ill difpofed towards them. For it required more knowledge and comprehenfion of mind than they had attained, to perceive that all the evils with which the world abounds were calculated to promote good. They thought they saw in them the effects of malice and ill will, at least of caprice, and their conduct naturally correfponded to their ideas.

The mind of man is never fatisfied without looking for the causes of events, especially thofe that take place only occafionally, and, to appearance, irregularly, and fill more if they be favourable or unfavourable to themfelves, because they hope by this means to be

able to avoid the one, and fecure the other. And not being able to discover the true causes, they muft, of course, acquiefce in what they imagine to be the true caufes. It appears

from all history, that, in the most early ages, mankind in general afcribed every thing that affected them to the influences of the heavenly bodies, the fun, moon, ftars, and planets, and to an intelligent principle which they supposed to refide in them. For heat and cold, ftorms and rain, often coming unexpectedly, they naturally enough imagined that they did not come without design, and that, if these heavenly agents had been fo difpofed, their influences would have been always favourable. To these objects therefore they of course directed all their regards and their worship

They alfo came to fuppofe that there was an intelligent principle in the earth, and in the feveral parts of it, as the air, the fea, the rivers, mountains, forefts, &c. fo that they foon became poffeffed of a great multiplicity of objects of worship, whose favour they thought it of importance to gain, and whose displeasure they wished to deprecate.

Having got the idea of different fuperior intelligences,

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intelligences, whether fubordinate to the fupreme Being or not, they foon loft fight of the fupreme Being himself, and gave their whole attention to thofe inferior beings, whom they fuppofed to be the immediate authors of the good and evil that befel them. This was on the fame natural principle that tenants look to the fteward with whom they tranfact all their bufinefs, and not to the proprietor of the land, with whom they have nothing to do.

We have this farther evidence from fact, that this practice was natural. When Chrif tians got the idea of Jefus Chrift, of faints and angels being proper objects of worship, they generally fell into the habit of looking no higher, neglecting the worship of God; and had it not been for the prayers addreffed to him in the scriptures, and in the ancient liturgies, he would, I doubt not, have been as much overlooked and forgotten as if no fuch being had existed.

But on whatever principle this took place, the fact cannot be denied, and the number of gods kept increafing, inftead of diminishing by time and reflection. Orpheus reckoned only as many gods as there were days in the

year,