^66 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



Jlance of the Jews, that they are a nation ivithout a country : — 

 They are in all nations, and of no nation. — The ivorfc thing in the 

 Heathen Religion was their facrifices. — Thefe muft have been offen- 



Jive to the true God: — But that theyfooidd be praBifed, was neceffary 

 among people who had not an underfanding fo cultivated, as to 

 make them capable of underjla7iding true Religion. — It was indulg- 

 ed even to the Jews. — The reafon for this indidgence, — But after 

 the coming of our Saviour, Sacrifices, Rites, and Ceremonies, were 

 laid afide, and a pure Religion efablijhed, — but not all Rites were 

 laid afide, and particularly ?iot Mufic. — Of the effe&s of Muftc in 

 exciting Devotion. — It ought to be more praEiifcd by the MiJJio- 

 naries among the barbarous nations. — Of the preftnt fate of Reli- 

 gion on this earth. — Chri/lianity the Religion of Europe, — alfo of 

 Egypt, in the country about Alexandria. — There both the Jewifh 

 and Chrifian Sabbaths are obfcrved. — In the Weflern part of Afa^ 

 Mahomedfm prevails; — in the Eafern, the popular Religion of 

 Egypt which went to India. — The Philofophical Religion alfo nvent 

 there, as the Bramins believe in the Trinity. — Conclufion of the 

 Hifiory of Religion, Government, Arts, and Sciences. — Thefe three 

 comprehend the Hifory of Man, as from them proceed all the 

 operations of the intelleSi of man. — What is commonly called Hifory , 

 is not what the Author calls a Hifory of Man; — nor is it a mat- 

 ter offcience. 



I 



N the preceding chapters I have given the hifiory of the origin 

 and progrefs of arts and fciences. To this, I think, it will not 

 be improper to fubjoin the hiftory of religion ; a thing of the great- 

 eft importance to man, and which, I think, I have fhown, and 

 will farther (how, is very much connected with arts and fciences. 

 And as religion is of the utmoft in^portance to man, the hiftory of 

 it, I think, is a material part of the hiftory of man. 



Thofe 



