L 33 ] 



moft remote ages among the very ancient Chaldeans and Egyp- 

 tians appears to be a fadl well fupported by hiflorical proof; 

 and how very early this primitive fuperftition gave place to the 

 worihip of animals among the laft mentioned people, we know 

 from the moft uncontrovertible evidence, being informed, by 

 facred authority, that the Ifraelites, in imitation undoubtedly 

 of thofe mafters from whom they had been lately emancipated, 

 eredled in the wildernefs, not a reprefentation of the fun, nor 

 yet a human idol, but a golden calf. 



Egypt indeed, where, as Cicero tells us, " * Omne fere genus 

 " beftiarum confecraverunt," feems to have been the original 

 and copious fource of this fpecies of idolatry, which ftrange 

 propenfity, in a people exclufively celebrated for their wifdom, 

 has been, both by ancient and modern writers, generally, 

 though pei-haps unjuftly, afcribed to the pre-eminent and 

 boundlefs fuperftition of the Egyptians. I fay, perhaps unjujlly^ 

 fince the fuppofition appears to me by no means improbable 

 that it may have taken its rife rather in the peculiar genius 



[ E ] of 



* De Natura Deorum, lib. iii. cap. xv. torn. 2. Edil. Oliv. 

 ViRG. ^NN. viii. Omnigenumque Deum monftra, et latrator Anubis. 



Juvenal, Sat. xv. Quis nefcit, Volufi Bitliynice, qualia demens 

 jEgyptus portenta colat ? Crocodilon adorat 

 Pars ha:c, ilia pavet faturam ferpentibus Ibin. 



lb. O Sanflas Gentes ! quibus haec oafcuntur in hoiti» 



Numina— — 



