world and every thing elfe, fuppofing it to have been formed either by the fortuitous concourfe of atoms, or in fome other neceffary and mechanical way; and the boasted end of many of their fects was to deliver the minds of men from the fear of the Gods, and the terrors of a world to come.

It must be observed that there is a striking difference between the moral writings of thofe philofophers who wrote before, and those who wrote after the promulgation of chriftianity. The latter lean much more to what has been fhewn to have been the primitive religion of mankind, and they inculcate purer morals. This, though they do not acknowledge it, was, no doubt, the effect of christianity, with the maxims of which, and the happy influence of them, the philofophers must have been acquainted. In various other refpects, alfo, the moral ftate of the heathen world was much improved by chriftianity. Eufebius enumerates many abfurd and vicious cuftoms, which, having prevailed before the promulgation of it, grew into difufe afterwards. The philofophers, however, notwithstanding the improvement of their moral fyftem, were the greatest oppofers of christianity, and the strongest bulwark of idolatry; and when the glaring abfurdities of the popular worship were expofed by chriftian writers, they invented plaufible apologies for it.

That

That I may imprefs the minds of those who are not much read in antient hiftory with a juft fenfe of the value of revelation, I shall point out the feveral steps by which the primitive religion of mankind became corrupted, and give fome idea of the confequence of that corruption with refpect to the morals of the people; and that fuch perfons may be more fully fatisfied how much we are, in fact, indebted to revelation, even where natural reason has had the freeft fcope, I fhall, at the fame time, fhew how very nearly the fentiments of the most celebrated modern unbelievers, who had an opportunity of knowing, and felecting whatever they approved from revelation, tally with thofe of the heathen philofophers, who never heard of it, with refpect to the important doctrines of the unity, the moral character and government of God, the rule of human duty, and the expectation of a state of retribution after death.

SECTION II.

Of the corruption of theology in particular.

HE primary and great caufe of idolatry was

THE

low and unworthy notions of God, from whence men were led to confider all that we ascribe to God, as too much for one being, what no one

being could have made, or could properly attend to afterwards. They alfo thought it beneath the fupreme being to concern himself with the government of the inferior parts of the creation. They, therefore, imagined that he had deputies to act under him; and the first objects to which they afcribed this delegated power, were the fun, moon, and ftars, which, on account of their splendour, and beneficial influence, they fuppofed to be either animated them felves, or directed by intelligent beings. That the worship of the ftars, and other heavenly bodies, was the earlieft fpecies of idolatry, is agreeable to all antient history.

The temptation to this kind of idolatry appears, from the book of Job, to have been very strong, in the earlier ages of the world; and it is evident, from feveral circumftances, that it had a very firm hold on the minds of men. It was for affirming the stars to be inanimate bodies, which was confidered as denying their divinity, and for advancing that the fun is a body of fire, and that the moon is a habitable world, that Anaxagoras was accused at Athens for impiety. Even Socrates thought him guilty of great prefumption and arrogance; and Plato speaks of his opinion as leading to atheifm, and a denial of divine providence. This worship of the ftars is what he himself chiefly recommended to the people.

Next to the worship of the fun, moon, and ftars, fucceeded that of dead men. This arofe from customs which were originally intended to express no more than a just regard for their merit and fervices; but from this they proceeded, gradually, to acts of worship properly religious, erecting altars to them, and praying to them in any place and at any time. This introduced the worthip of images in human forms, whereas they had before contented themselves with erecting pillars, or even confecrating rude ftones and altars to their deities. The philofophers were far from difcouraging this prac-tice of worshipping dead heroes. Cicero in particular much approves of the cuftom of paying divine honours to famous men, and regarding them as Gods.

During this progrefs of idolatry, the worship of the true God was gradually fuperfeded, and the rites of it became intermixed with thofe of the inferior deities. What contributed to confound these things the more was, that to most of the heavenly bodies, and alfo to deified men, were afcribed the names and attributes of the one true God, till the rites peculiar to each of them could be no longer diftinguifhed; and at length the worship of inferior beings engroffed all the regards of mankind, the worship of the true God being intirely excluded.

Befides the worship of the celeftial Gods, and

of

of dead men, we alfo find Gods of an intermediate nature, fuch as are now ufually called genii. Of thefe, there were fuppofed to be various claffes, and the worship that was paid to them made a confiderable article in the heathen fyftem.

As if these three fources could not supply divinities enow, we find that even different names of the fame God, and acknowledged to be the fame, were made to país for different deities, and had their peculiar religious rites and worship. Similar to this are the virgin Marys' of different places in Popifh countries. It was another fource of the multiplicity of heathen Gods, that the symbols and images of their principal Gods were converted into deities, and made the objects of religious worship, as Fire among the Chaldeans, and the Bull, and other animals, among the Egyptians.

There can be no doubt but that the images erected to their Gods were generally fuppofed to have divine powers in them. The philofopher Stilpo, of Megara, was banished by the Areopagus at Athens for afferting that the statue of Minerva, made by Phidias, was not a God; and all that he ventured to alledge in his defence, was that this celebrated piece of ftatuary was not a God, but a Goddefs.

Farther, all the parts of the universe being confidered as fo many. parts of the divinity by fome, or expreffions of his power by others, were

made