Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

the real Deity; fitted especially to display his attributes to man, and to make the most forcible impressions of his agency. In process of time, however, they began to be considered, especially, by the ignorant multitude, as being really Gods: and the worship, originally addressed to a being, supposed to be manifested by the symbol, seems ultimately to have been rendered to the symbol itself. The stock and the stone, intended, at first, to bring the real Deity before the senses, took, at length, the place of that Deity; and became, in the end, the real objects of worship.

It is evident from several ancient writers, quoted by Shuckford, particularly Clemens Alexandrinus, Herodian, and Pausanius, that pillars of stone, and after them rude blocks of wood, were the first symbols, made by mankind of their several deities. Such, it is supposed, were the teraphim of Laban, stolen from him by his daughter and such, plainly, were the religious symbols, formed, at early periods, by the Greeks, and some other nations. Stones, in their native, rude state, such, for example, as that erected by Jacob at Bethel, seem extensively to have been set up, at early periods, with varicus religious views, and designs, by the worshippers of the true God. The pillars, devoted to idolatrous purposes, seem to have been derived from these. They were not, however, long satisfied with these unsightly objects. The Egyptians appear to have had carved images, devoted to the purposes of religion, and, without any doubt, molten ones also, before the time of Moses; for we find the children of Israel forming a molten calf, at the foot of Mount Sinai. The practice of forming Idols in this manner, being once begun, seems to have spread with great rapidity, among the nations, who maintained a mutual correspondence. In the more distant and insulated colonies of men, their existence began at much later periods. In Italy, all visible symbols of the Deity were prohibited by Numa Pompilius; and were not introduced into Rome, according to the testimony of Plutarch, so late as one hundred and seventy years after the building of that city that is, A. M. 3426: in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Among the savages of this country, images seem to have been lit

tle used.

II. I shall now make a few observations concerning the Extent of Idol worship.

The system of Gentilism commenced, as has been already remarked, in the plain of Shinar. The Cushites, who were the authors of it, ruled, for a short period, most of their brethren in the neighbouring countries. Soon after the confusion of languages, an event, which seems to have been chiefly confined to them and their associates, and which entirely disqualified them for all the efforts depending on union and concert, they began to disperse into different parts of the earth. Speedily after this, they appear to have been attacked by their brethren of the family of Shem, settled at Nineveh and its neighbourhood, and heretofore reduced

under their dominion. On this occasion, the Cushites were completely routed, and forced to fly with great expedition into dif ferent parts of the earth. One body of them fled into Hindostan; in the records of which country various events of their history are still found. Another made their way into Canaan; where they were again attacked by the same people, under the command of Chedorlaomer, and again overthrown. Hence they fled into Egypt; the western parts of Arabia; and the northern and eastern parts of Abyssinia. From Egypt they were again driven; and went into Phanicia; the Lesser Asia; Greece; Thrace; Italy; and other countries, bordering on the Mediterranean and Euxine seas. Whithersoever they went, they carried with them their enterprize, arts, learning, and religion. Most of the countries in which they settled, embraced their idolatry at early periods. At a very early period, we find it the religion of the ancestors of Abraham in Chaldea. These were descendants of Shem; who outlived Abraham himself; and who, with all his piety and authority, was still unable to prevent this senseless desertion of the true religion. In Hindostan also, it spread, at a very early date; as it did also in the western countries of Asia, in Egypt, and most, or all, of the eastern parts of Europe. The worship of the true God was, however, not universally renounced, until many ages after the commencement of Gentilism. Melchisedec, Job, his friends, and undoubtedly many of his countrymen; the people of the Thebais, or Upper Egypt, and probably many others in different parts of the world; still retained the true religion, long after idolatry had been embraced by a great portion of the human race. After the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan, we find few traces of the true religion. We are not, however, to suppose it to have been wholly banished from all other countries, till some time afterward. The precise period, when the whole world, beside the Jews, became idolatrous, I am unable to determine.

In the fourth century after the birth of Christ, a new kind of idolatry, or rather idolatry in a new form, began to exist in the Christian Church. This was the worship of Saints and Angels; and, afterwards, of images, pictures, relics, and other fantastical objects of devotion. This Idolatry, though at first vigorously opposed by the body of the Church, and afterwards by individuals and small collections of men, spread speedily over the whole of Christendom; and was adopted both by the learned, and unlearned, of every country. Thus in one form, and another, the worship of false Gods has prevailed throughout most of the inhabited world, and the greatest part of the reign of time. I shall now, III. Make a few observations on the Manner, in which this worship has been performed.

I have already mentioned Idols as being intended originally to be means of worshipping God; symbols of the Divine Character and Attributes, designed to impress them powerfully on the senses,

and thus to excite in the mind animated sentiments of awe and devotion. Beside the use of these images, Gentilism copied closely, in its worship, the ritual, originally enjoined by God, and adopted in the pure worship. Prayers, Praises, Sacrifices, and Oblations, were all offered up to its various deities. Fastings, Ablutions, and Penance of many kinds, were enjoined on their infatuated votaries. Temples were erected to them; Altars built; Shrines formed; and regular Orders of Priests established, and consecrated to an exclusive performance of their Religious Services. Oracles also, which were sometimes pretended expressions of the will of these Gods concerning the immediate duties of men, and sometimes professed predictions of future events, were delivered in most or all of the countries, where idolatry prevailed. The Victims offered, were to a great extent the same, which were prescribed in the law of Moses: probably the same, which had been offered from the beginning: for we find Noah, immediately after the deluge, offering, of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, burnt-offerings on the altar, which he had made. It well deserves to be remarked, that in all the records of heathen worship, which have come down to us, the votaries appear neither to have asked, nor given thanks, for moral good. Secular enjoyments, of every kind, they universally solicited; but goodness of heart seems never to have been thought of as a gift coming from the Gods. Accordingly, Cicero, who must have been well acquainted with this subject, says, Who ever thanked the Gods for his Virtue ?

Processions seem also to have been extensively used as a part of the religious ceremonial of Gentilism. These, together with the magnificence of its temples, the costliness of its images, and the pomp o. ts services, were all intended to affect the senses in the deepest manner. Indeed, nothing else could be done to keep this system alive. Argument was only hostile to it. The light of sound Reason would have dispelled its darkness in a moment. But the Senses, and through them the Imagination, could be strongly addressed; and these could entirely govern the man.

To add to the splendour of all the other objects, connected with this service, and to render the oblation more affecting to the suppliant, as well as more acceptable to the Deity, offerings of every kind were made more and more expensive. Gold, silver, gems, th choicest aromatics, and unguents and essences made of them, still more precious than gold itself, were frequent presents to the Gods of Idolatry. Hecatombs were early substituted for single victims: and, to render the worship still more propitiatory, these were soon exchanged for human sacrifices. To complete the efficacy of the oblation, these sacrifices were selected from the brightest and most promising youths of the nation; the sons of the noble and princely, and infants in the most lovely and endearing period of life. Victims of this kind, also, were multiplied to a wonderful degree. Twenty thousand human beings are supposed

to have expired, annually, on the altars of Mexico alone; and all these were offered up with circumstances of cruelty and horror, which, but for the most undubitable testimony, would transcend belief. To these dreadful services, violating every feeling of hu manity, but wonderfully affecting the Imagination, were added ablutions, burdensome on account of their frequency, and often on account of the great distance of the sacred waters from the residence of the suppliant; and various kinds of penance, terrible and excruciating in their nature, and overwhelming by their dura. tion, were customarily added. Thus, though Reason and Humanity were wounded, and prostrated, the Imagination was com pletely possessed by the demons of superstition: and miserable Man, voluntarily losing the government of himself, became the sport of fiends and furies, and fitted only for the gloom and chains of bedlam.

With the same design, and under the same impulse, mankind sought the most solitary, and the most awful, recesses, for the celebration of their religious rites.* In dark and lonely groves on the summits of lofty eminences, and in the depths of awful caverns, the most solemn rites of Gentile worship were performed at early periods. These scenes of stillness, solitude, and terror, were perfectly suited to rouse the imagination to ecstasy, and to enhance the gloomy fervours of their religion. To them succeeded temples, of astonishing magnificence; exhausting, in their erection, the wealth of nations, and the labour of ages. These, also, were ornamented within, and without, with every thing which riches, ingenuity, and art, could supply; or which was calculated to impress the mind of the votary with astonishment, religious awe, and profound reverence for the beings, to whom these structures were consecrated.

It cannot, I think, be necessary for me to employ any argu ments, for the purpose of enforcing the prohibition in the text on the minds of my audience. The importance of it to the Jews, at the time when it was given, and to the great body of mankind, both before and since, is abundantly evident from the observations, which have been already made. But in this land, and in the present state of religious society here, no transgression is less likely to exist, than that, which is forbidden in this passage of Scripture. Instead of attempting to enforce this precept, therefore, on those who hear me; I shall employ the remaining time in making a few practica!

REMARKS.

1st. How degrading, melancholy, and sinful a character is here presented to us, of Man.

[merged small][ocr errors]

This subject, perhaps more than any other, holds out to our view a wonderful exhibition of the depravity of the human heart. What sight can be more strange, more humiliating, more debasing, to an Intelligent nature, than that of rational and immortal minds, originally virtuous as they came from the hand of God, destined to the possession of endless life, and formed for such noble and sublime purposes, prostrating themselves not only before the sun, and moon, and the host of heaven, but before men, evil spirits, visionary beings, animals, vegetables, blocks of wood, and figures of stone! All these beings, such minds have converted into Deities; and, falling down before them, have said unto them, Deliver us: for ye are our Gods. Is it not beyond measure amazing, to see a human being, a rational, immortal being, go into a forest; cut down a tree; transport it home on a wagon; burn one part of it on his hearth; hew, and carve, another part of it into an idol; and call it a God! Is it not amazing, to see such a man confessing himself inferior to a stock, fashioned by his own hands, acknowledging his dependence on it for life, his blessings, and his hopes; placing his trust in it; building to it temples; erecting altars; and offering up to it prayers and praises! prayers and praises! Is it not more amazing, to behold the same man sacrificing living victims to a mass of wood; rational victims; nay, more, youths of the noblest families, the brightest talents, and the fairest hopes; nay, more still, his own beloved offspring; the children of his own bowels!

What shall we say then, what shall we not say, when we behold kings, heroes, and sages, employed in this manner? When we see towns, provinces, countries, and continents, nay, the whole earth, all uniting in this infatuated worship; with an universal forgetfulness of JEHOVAH, the Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor of all beings; notwithstanding the hourly demonstration of his perfections and agency in the visible universe!

Still more astonished ought we to be, if we can be more astonished, to see the Israelites, after all the wonders of Egypt, Sinai, and Canaan, in the midst of all the marvellous blessings given to their nation; with the word of God in their hands; while his Prophets were daily announcing to them his revelations; while his awful oracles from the mercy-seat were still sounding in their ears; within his temple; before his altar; and beneath the awful splendour of the Shechinah; forgetting the God that made them, and lightly esteeming the Rock of their salvation; wandering after the Idolatry of the heathen; bowing before their Gods; partaking in their sacrifices; absorbed in their follies; and embracing their wickedness with all their heart.

To complete this dreadful picture of human depravity, the whole Christian world, with few, very few exceptions, was, for many centuries, buried and lost in this stupid, shameful, monstrous worship. The progeny of Noah, who began this unnatural defection from their Creator, became Idolaters, while the waves of

« AnteriorContinua »