10 



guilt of this alteration, by the introduction of polytheism, is 

 commonly ascribed ; sixty years after the death of Peleg, 

 399 after the dispersion, 930 after the flood, 141 before the 

 birth of Abraham, 217 before his vocation, and 2239 before 

 the Christian aera.* At least it is certain, that Nachor, the 

 son of Serug, and Thare, the son of Nachor, were Polytheists, 

 as already seen. 



But we must not imagine that polytheism universally 

 obtained at so early a period ; for Abraham, who, to avoid the 

 Polytheists, was ordered to qnit Mesopotamia, did not meet 

 this superstition, either in Canaan or in Egypt. On the 

 contrary, Mtlchisedeck, king of Jerusalem, is expressly called 

 a priest of the most high God, who created the heavens and the 

 earth, Gen. xiv. 18, 19- and Gen. xx. We see the true God 

 was known to Abimekch, king of another part of Canaan, and 

 also to Pharao, king of Egypt, Gen. xiii. Other nations also 

 probably retained a due notion of the divine unity for many 

 ages; for we read in Herodotus, Lib. 1. § 171, that the 

 Carians had an ancient temple dedicated to Jupiter, into 

 which they admitted none but the Lydians and Mysians. 

 No other object of their worship is mentioned ; by Jupiter or 

 Zens in the most ancient times, certainly Jehovah was meant. 

 With respect to the Lydiaiis, this is confirmed by Porphyry, 

 quoted b_y Eusebius, Prtepar. Evang. Lib. ix. Cap. 3. § 10, p. 

 412, M'ho, instructed, as he says, by the dictates of an ancient 

 oracle, admitted that the true worship of God was known 

 to the Assyrians, Lydians, and Hebrews; and by tlieir 

 j(>ining the two former with the latter, he shews they must 

 have been Monotheists, 



Thus 



