14 



that of the bulk of mankind at this day: whereas, from the 

 •cause above assigned, the oiigiu of phinet worship, in which 

 form polytheism at first appeared, is clearly deducible, they 

 having been supposed to be natural Schechinnhs. 



In process of time, Light ceased to be considered as the 

 sole characteristic of Divinity, and the reason Avhy it was at 

 first supposed to be so, was forgotten. Power was then 

 thought to be a sufficient indication of a Divinity in the 

 Beings that possessed it in a su.perior degree, especially, if 

 beneficially exerted. Hence the Phenicians and Persians, as 

 above observed, worshipped the elements and winds ; for the 

 derivation of all power from one invisible Being seemed to 

 them too difficult to comprehend; they, therefore, supposed 

 the various operations of nature were executed or conducted 

 by inferior agents, derived from one supreme Being : these 

 agents they called Gods. This supreme Being, if we may 

 beheve Plutarch, the Egyptians acknowledged and called 

 iCneph.* 



Of all the nations of antiqiut}', the Egyptians abused 

 most the persuasion that power was an indication of 

 the residence of a Divinity, in the objects that possessed 

 it; a notion which, being pursued in all its consequences, 

 Jed them at last into the most absurd excesses. At first, 

 indeed, it seemed to them deserving of veneration, only in 

 .proportion as it was beneficially exerted. Hence the moon, 

 4ind not the sun, was their principal Divinity, Herod. Lib. 



3,1 

 * De Iside & Osiri. 



