86 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



depend, who directs the movements of the system 

 of nature, who daily loads us with his benefits, 

 and on whom our hopes of eternal felicity en 

 tirely depend should be coniemplated with the 

 most ardent affection and gratitude, regarded as 

 the most excellent and venerable of all beings, 

 and recognised as the Supreme Legislator, whose 

 laws we are bound, by every tie of gratitude, to 

 obey. Wherever such sentiments and affections 

 pervade the mind, they constitute the first prin 

 ciples of piety, the source of all holy obedience, 

 and the foundation of all true happiness. Were 

 they universally felt, and acted upon by human 

 beings, the Most High God, would be adored in 

 every land, his image would be impressed on 

 every heart, his righteous law would never be 

 violated, grovelling desires and affections would 

 be eradicated, and our world would be transform 

 ed into an abode of felicity, where joys similar 

 to those of angels would succeed to scenes of 

 wretchedness and wo. 



On the other hand, where the unity and the 

 attributes of the divine Being are not recognised, 

 and where other objects are substituted in his 

 place, the foundations of religion, and of moral 

 order are completely subverted, and a door open 

 ed for the introduction of every absurdity, im 

 morality, and vile abomination, that can de 

 grade a rational intelligence. The command 

 under consideration is placed on the front of the 

 divine law as the foundation of all the other pre 

 cepts; and, therefore, wherever it is violated, or 

 not recognised, a regular obedience to the other 

 subordinate injunctions of religion is not, in the 

 nature of things, to be expected. Were its 

 violation, in our world, complete and universal, 

 it is impossible to say what would be the mise 

 rable condition of human beings in their social 

 capacity. To its general violation, may be 

 traced all the evils under which humanity has 

 groaned in every age, and all the depraved pas 

 sions, and shocking immoralities which now 

 disfigure the aspect of the moral world. 



There is nothing that appears more prominent 

 in the history and the character of almost every 

 nation under heaven, than an infringement of this 

 first and fundamental law of the Creator. A 

 rational and enlightened mind, on the first con 

 sideration of this subject, would be apt to sur 

 mise, that such a law is almost superfluous and 

 unnecessary. There is such an immense dis 

 proportion between a block of marble, or a crawl 

 ing reptile, and that Being who supports the 

 system of universal nature, that it appears, at 

 first view, next to impossible, that a reasonable 

 being should ever become so stupid and degraded, 

 as to substitute the one for the other, and to offer 

 his adorations to an object completely devoid of 

 life, power, and intelligence. Yet experience 

 teaches us, that there is no disposition to which 

 the human mind is more prone than &quot;to depart 

 from the living God,&quot; and to multiply objects of 



idolatrous worship. This will appear, if we take 

 bu t the slightest glance of the objects of adoration 

 which have prevailed, and which still prevail in 

 the pagan world. 



At one period of the world, with the single ex 

 ception of the small nation of the Jews, idolatry 

 overspread the face of the whole earth. And how 

 numerous and degrading were the objects which 

 the blinded nations adored! We arc informed, 

 by Hesiod, Varro, and other ancient authors, 

 that no less than thirty thousand subordinate di 

 vinities were comprised within that system of 

 idolatry which prevailed among the Greeks and 

 Romans. They had both celestial and terres 

 trial deities. They assigned peculiar gods to 

 the fountains, the rivers, the hills, the mountains, 

 the lawns, the groves, the sea, and even to hell 

 itself. To cities, fields, houses, edifices, fami 

 lies, gates, nuptial chambers, marriages, births, 

 deaths, sepulchres, trees, and gardens, they also 

 appropriated distinct and peculiar deities. 

 Their principal celestial deities were Jupiter, 

 Mars, Mercury, Apollo, Bacchus, Venus, Juno, 

 and Minerva their terrestrial, Saturn, Ceres, 

 Diana, Neptune, Cybele, Proserpine, and Pluto. 

 Their chief idol was Jupiter, whom they called 

 the father of gods and men ; and under his au 

 thority, Neptune had the jurisdiction of the sea, 

 Juno, of the air, Cybele, of the earth, and Pluto, 

 of the realms below. Instead of worshipping the 

 living and immortal God, they deified a host of 

 dead men, called heroes, distinguished for nothing 

 so much, as for murder, adultery, sodomy, rapine, 

 cruelty, drunkenness, and all kinds of debauchery. 

 To such contemptible divinities, splendid temples 

 were erected,* adorations addressed, costly offer 

 ings presented, and rites and ceremonies perform 

 ed, subversive of every principle of decency and 

 morality, and degrading to the reason and the 

 character of man. A system of idolatry of a 

 similar kind, though under a different form, pre 

 vailed among the Egyptians. The meanest and 

 the most contemptible objects sheep, cats, bulls, 

 dogs, cows, storks, apes, vultures, and other 

 birds of prey ; wolves, and several sorts of oxen, 

 were exalted as objects of adoration. &quot; If you 

 go into Egypt,&quot; says Lucian, &quot; you will see 

 Jupiter with the face of a ram, Mercury as a 

 fine dog, Pan, is become a goat; another god is 

 Ibis, another the crocodile, and another the ape. 

 There, many shaven priests gravely tell us, that 

 the gods being afraid of the rebellion of the giants, 

 assumed these shapes.&quot; Each city and district 

 in Egypt entertained a peculiar devotion for 



* The temple of Diana at Ephesus, has been al 

 ways admired as one of the noblest pieces of archi 

 lecture that the world ever produced. It was 425 

 feet long, 200 feet broad, and supported by 127 co 

 lumns of marble 60 feet high ; 27 of which were 

 beautifully carved. Diodorus Siculus mentions, 

 that the rich pres.ents made to the temple of ApoUc 1 

 at Delphos, amounted to one million three hundred 

 and thirty three thousand pounds. 



