PAG 



FAG 



by the Nereides, who dance to the joyous 

 shells of the Tritons. In the highest 

 heaven is seated Jupiter, the master and 

 father of men and gods. Under his feet 

 roll the thunders, forged by the Cyclops 

 in the caverns of Etna ; his smile rejoices 

 nature, and his nod shakes the foundation 

 of Olympus. Surrounding the throne of 

 their Sovereign, the other divinities quaff 

 nectar from a cup, presented them by the 

 young and beautiful Hebe. In the mid- 

 dle of the great circle shines, with distin- 

 guished lustre, the unrivalled beauty of 

 Venus, alone adorned with a splendid gir- 

 dle, in which the graces arid sports for 

 ever play ; and in her hand is a smiling 

 boy, whose power is universally acknow- 

 ledged by heaven and earth. Music, poe- 

 try, dancing, and the liberal arts, are all 

 inspired by one or other of the nine 

 muses ; while the votaries of martial glory 

 derive their courage and success from 

 Mars, the god of battles. Such is a gene- 

 ral outline of the pleasing and inoit'ensive 

 part of the fabulous theology of the Pa- 

 gan world. On the other hand, as we 

 have already intimated, many of the gods 

 of the ancients possessed attributes at 

 once disgraceful to, and unworthy of dei- 

 ty, and hurtful to the interests of morality 

 and human happiness. Jupiter himself 

 set an example of lust ; and Bacchus was 

 worshipped with cruel and obscene re- 

 vellings. 



Many, however, of the heathen writers 

 condemned this part of their theology ; 

 among which are Sanchoniatho, the Phoe- 

 nician ; and among the Greeks, Orpheus, 

 Hesiod, and Pherecyde. 



The natural theology of the Pagans was 

 studied and taught by the philosophers, 

 who rejected the multiplicity of gods in- 

 troduced by the poets, and brought their 

 theology to a more rational form. Some 

 of them seem to have possessed consider- 

 able knowledge respecting the unity of 

 the Supreme Deity : yet even Socrates, 

 the best man and wisest of the philoso- 

 phers of the Pagan world, so far yielded 

 to the prejudices and practices of the age 

 in which he lived, as to order his friends, 

 just before his death, to sacrifice a cock 

 to Esculapius, the god of physic. 



The political or civil theology of the 

 Pagans was instituted by legislators, 

 statesmen, and politicians. This chiefly 

 respected their temples, altars, sacrifices, 

 and rites of worship, and was properly 

 their idolatry ; the care of which belong- 

 ed to the priests, who were servants of 

 the state. These ceremonies, &c. were 

 enjoined the commonality, to keep them 



in subjection to the civil power. Such 

 was the religion of the greater part of the 

 world before the promulgation of Christi- 

 anity ; and such still, in some form or 

 other, is the religion of those parts of the 

 world, containing a population of about 

 420 millions of souls ; or above one half 

 of the inhabitants of the whole earth, 

 where the gospel is not preached, either 

 in its purity, or as corrupted by the doc- 

 trines of Mahomet. The Missionaries 

 employed for the conversion of the hea- 

 then, though very zealous and very nu- 

 merous, have hitherto made comparative- 

 ly little progress. The Foreign and Brit- 

 ish Bible Society may possibly have some 

 beneficial effects in enlightening the 

 darkness of the pagan world ; but, we 

 are persuaded, nothing but conquest and 

 civilization, short of miracle itself, will 

 ever prove effectual in the extirpation of 

 heathenism, and the final establishment of 

 Christianity. 



PAGE, a youth of state retained in the 

 family of a prince or great personage, as 

 an honourable servant, to attend in visits 

 of ceremony, do messages, bear up trains, 

 robes, &.c. and at the same time to have 

 a genteel education, and learn his exer- 

 cises. The pages in the King's house- 

 hold are various, and have various offices 

 assigned them, as pages of honour, pages 

 of the presence chamber, pages of the 

 back stairs, &.c. 



PAGEANT, a triumphal car, chariot, 

 arch, or other like pompous decoration, 

 variously adorned with colours, flags, &.c, 

 carried about in public shews, proces 

 sions, 8cc. 



PA GOD, or PAGODA, a name whereby 

 the East Indians call the temple in which 

 they worship their gods. Before they 

 build a pagod, they consecrate the ground 

 as follows : after having inclosed it with 

 boards or palisadoes, when the grass is 

 grown on the ground they turn an ash 

 coloured cow into it, wh^ stays there a 

 whole day ad night ; and as cow-dung 

 is thought by the Indians to be of a very 

 sacred nature, they search for this sacrea 

 deposit, and having found it, they dig 1 

 there a deep pit, into which they put a 

 marble-pillar, rising considerably above 

 the surface of the earth. On this pillar 

 they place the image of the god to whom 

 the pagod is to be consecrated. After 

 this the pagod is built round the pit, in 

 which the pillar is fixed. The pagod 

 usually consists of three parts, the first is 

 a vaulted roof supported on stone or mar- 

 ble columns. It is adorned with images, 

 and, being open, all persons without dis- 



