CXX. PROLEGOMKNA. 



much progress in the propaj^ation of Christianity, 

 and the biblemongers so little. 



All parties admit that the lanji^uage and 

 antient rites of Jews and Christians is figurative, 

 and yet on this common admission the atheists 

 and the Christians have split ; the former, .with 

 lamblicus, Dupuis, and the sceptics, as leaders, 

 contend that all the allusions are to astronomy ; 

 while Guerrin de Rocher,and the Christian party, 

 have proved, on the contrary, that they refer to 

 great religious truths, and that the transference 

 of the same or similar emblems to heathen 

 mythology and astronomy was a subsequent 

 abuse, arising from the imperfect spread of the 

 true religion among the Gentiles, to the con- 

 taminating influence of the passions, and to the 

 mistakes they made in their application of the 

 figures of language and of the external emblems 

 of truth. Hence we see how it happens that 

 there should be such a similarity between heathen 

 and Christian customs ; how the ivy of the 

 Bacchanalian orgies, derived itself from a Jewish 

 custom, should.be again stuck up with the holly 

 of our Christmas garnishments ; how Jupiter, 

 Juno, and Diana, should have had temples in- 

 stead of God ; how the Genii uatales should have 

 been substituted for good Angels, and the Lares 

 and Penates, and the household divinities, should 

 have taken the place of the patron Saints, both 



