134 



mised seed was slighted, and the lamentable cor- 

 ruption which spread amongst the early inhabi- 

 tants of the world led to the awful judgment of 

 the Deluge. 



" Thus ended the first period of the patriarchal 

 church. It was renewed in the descendants of 

 Noah, and for a long period retained its original 

 character of universality, till other apostasies took 

 place. These, however, were of a very different 

 nature from that of Cain. The occasional ap- 

 pearances of a superior race of beings, minister- 

 ing under a human form between God and his 

 creatures upon earth, probably led to what has 

 been called Hero-worship. Surprising as this 

 perversion may appear among people whose 

 immediate ancestors had the singular advan- 

 tage of direct communication with the Supreme 

 Being, it seems to have taken deep root in the 

 human mind ; for, in the most enlightened na- 

 tions of antiquity, we find a continual disposition 

 to look back on departed heroes and conquerors, 

 not only with a sort of pious veneration, but even 

 to consider and address them as tutelar deities. 

 Always prone to be led away from the plain and 

 simple truth, human weakness found another 

 early source of corruption in the worship of the 

 heavenly bodies : their splendour, and their ob- 

 vious influence on all the pursuits of mankind, 

 produced a superstitious reverence, which by an 

 easy transition degenerated into adoration ; and 



