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mentions them, in his account of Ireland. It is certain, that they 
were occasionally used for astronomical purposes ; and, in Christian 
times, as belfries and penitentiaries. 
The eastern and western fire-worshippers considered the sun the 
parent aud purest fire, the emblem of the Divinity, the minister of 
his blessings, and, next to the soul of man, the most stupendous 
production of divine power ; and hence their eternal fires, and their 
turning in prayer to the east, the quarter in which the glorious lu- 
minary first appears. In the erection of Christian churches, the 
latter practice seems not to be entirely forgotten. The reverence of 
the Druids, or western Magi, was extended, in a subordinate way, 
to the stars and elements; but the great architect was the sole ob- 
ject of their adoration. Idolatry and polytheism had their rise in 
that gross fatuity, which mistook the representative productions of 
divine omnipotence for the Divinity himself, the ministers for the: 
master, the created for the Creator. Thus, the heavenly host, the 
elements of nature, and statues and. obelisks, instead of being re- 
verenced as memorials of a higher and purer worship, became 
primary objects of adoration: an impious apostacy, from which 
even the Hebrew people were not entirely exempt. 
Let us now examine the similitude, or rather the identity, of 
the Jewish and Druidic religions. 
In both, sacrifice was always considered the most solemn and 
sacred act of worship, the performance of which was reserved solely 
for the priestly order. Itis as old as the creation. The oblations of 
Cain and Abel are recorded, and the observance seems to have 
been hereditarily preserved and handed down by Noah; who, im- 
mediately on coming out of the Ark, erected an altar, and offered 
sacrifice to the Lord. (Genesis, viii. 20.) 
Among the Druids, the altar of sacrifice, on which the holy fire 
