avesta); the Koran; the mysteries, oracles, and religions of Gentilism: let them disembroil the intricacies of philosophy, Græcian and Barbaric; and peruse the recital of living manners in ancient or modern travellers: hath there ever existed among them all, a religion, in which a wise and virtuous man can acquiesce? or, does the history of the human mind present us with any other spectacle, than of gross superstition, absurd Polytheism, monstrous idolatry, obscene and barbarous rites, savage sacrifices, religions destitute of morality, atheistic philosophy, and, in the best view, much falsehood and imposture, blended with a little truth, the immortal offspring of the Father of our spirits? The conclusion is evident:-either we must live and die without paying due homage to the God of the universe; or we must be taught by Himself how to serve Him acceptably."*

WORSHIP, RITES, AND CEREMONIES.-The worship which was established in the heathen world, was not merely absurd; it was impious in the extreme. It was debauched by an idolatry, which had a multiplicity of the most execrable divinities for its objects. The gods of the heathen, who, at best, were but just lifted above humanity, were in a thousand instances sunk below it, by crimes that were a disgrace to nature, and by cruelties that would shock even the most barbarous savage. Yet to these they offered up their prayers and supplications, looking upon them as the dis

* Apthorpe's Letters, p. 351.

pensers of worldly blessings, or the inflicters of evils and calamities: whilst the supreme and universal Lord was, in a great measure, neglected, even by those who had some notion of the one Supreme Deity, because they supposed him too far above them to concern himself with their affairs. Even the philosophers in general encouraged the worship of a multiplicity of deities; and, with respect to the particular rites of worship, they referred the people to the decision of oracles, and to the laws of their respective countries. And those rites which policy had consecrated to their altars, and which ignorance revered with stupid admiration, frequently degenerated into scenes of madness, lasciviousness, and cruelty. Their worship consisted in the consecration of temples; in adoration, or kissing the statues and idols; in embracing their knees, placing written prayers upon them, putting crowns on them, decking them with flowers, burning incense to them, and carrying them in solemn state through public places; sometimes in bowing the head, sometimes in bending the knee; sometimes in bowing or prostrating the whole body, and sometimes in kissing their own hand, if they could not reach to kiss the idol;* in creeping up the steps of the temples;† in supplications or public thanksgivings; in festivals, usually attended with magnificent spectacles, rarely in public fasts; in sacrifices, sometimes of human victims; and, lastly, in public and private prayers.

* See Job xxxi. v. 26.

† Cæsar crept thus on his hands and feet up the 100 steps of the Capitol.

The objects of this their worship were-the earth, that nourished them-the air, that refreshed them-the sun, that enlightened them-the moon, that directed their steps in the obscurity of the night-the fire, that warmed them-the heroes, that cleared the woods and forests of lions and serpents that annoyed them-the conquerors, that delivered them from their enemies-the wise and generous princes, who rendered their subjects happy, and the memory of their reigns immortal; altars were erected at Athens, "to the unknown God;" gratitude deified benefactors, and extraordinary powers laid the foundations of temples, and swelled the catalogue of false gods. In a word, all the reins were slackened, and the most abominable crimes honoured with priests, altars, and temples. Public worship became a public prostitution. Incest, impurity, drunkenness, hatred, and pride, were deified under the fictitious names of Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Bacchus, &c. and criminal gods were worshipped with crimes.

Of their devotions, and the sentimental part of Paganism, we have memorable traits in the writings of some of their best philosophers.* Cicero, in a curious passage,† expresses the general sense of antiquity on this point. But from all that we can collect on the subject, it would appear, that the ordinary subject of the Pagan prayers was merely

* See Plato's second Alcibiades, and the other writers of the Socratic school; as also Persius and Juvenal.

† De Nat. Deor. 3. 36.

external prosperity, or what are called the goods of fortune; together with the surprising folly, which the satirists well expose, of asking success and concealment to their crimes. Cotta in Cicero, as above, testifies, that they never, or but seldom, prayed for wisdom or moral virtues, conceiving that for obtaining these, every man was to depend only on himself.*

"From a survey of the devotions of the Gentiles, it will appear," says Dr. Jortin, "that, some instances excepted, there was nothing spiritual in their prayers, no thanksgiving, no request for divine assistance in the performance of their duty, no pious sorrow and acknowledgment of their offences."+

After the propagation of Christianity, we indeed find forms of adoration in some Pagan writers, that are more rational and spiritual than the old prayers and hymns of their ancestors; but it is generally supposed, that these improvements arose from the Gospel. Yet Maximus Tyrius, who

* With this passage of Cicero may be compared that of Horace in his Epistles, lib. i. ep. 18.

"Hoc satis est orare Jovem, quæ ponit et aufert;

"Det vitam, det opes; æquum mi animum ipse parabo." Some of the philosophers were for praying for good things in general, but not for any thing in particular; others were only for mental but not vocal prayer; and others, like some of our modern Deists, were against praying at all.

† Discourses, p. 243.

flourished about the middle of the second century, taught with the Epicureans, and as some have done of late, that prayer to God was superfluous.*

The duty of man is three-fold-to God, to his fellow-creatures, and to himself. The Gentiles had juster notions of the duty of man to mankind, and to himself, than they had concerning his duty to God.

Cicero, I think, passes over this important part of human duty in his book of Offices, with merely touching upon it. They seem to have known nothing of that sublime and evangelical doctrine, the love of God. "We never hear them urging the love of God," says the late pious and excellent Bishop of London, "as a necessary part of human duty, or as a proper ground of moral obligation. Their religion, being 1erely ceremonial and political, never pretended to reach the heart, or to inspire it with any sincerity or warmth of affection towards the Deity. Indeed, how was it possible to have any love for such gods as they worshipped; for gods debased with every human weakness, and polluted with every human vice? It was enough surely to make the people worship such a crew. To have insisted on their loving them too, would

* The reader may see the arguments of this author, and others, against the duty of prayer, well answered in Dr. Benson's tract on The End and Design of Prayer.

+ "Deos placatos pietas efficiet et sanctitas."-B, 2. 3.