54 INTRODUCTION. 



Agreeably to this distinction, we find, thai, in the first ages of 

 the world, the religio.i of the eastern nations was pure and lumi- 

 nous. It arose from a divine source, and was not then disfigured 

 by human fancies or caprice. In time, however, these began to 

 have their influence; the ray of tradition was obscured ; and among 

 those tribes which separated at the greatest distance, and in the 

 smallest numbers, from the more improved societies of men, it was 

 altogether obliterated. 



In this situation a particular people were selected by God him- 

 self to be the depositaries of his law and worship ; but the rest of 

 mankind were left to form hypotheses upon these subjects, which 

 were more or less perfect, according to an infinity of circumstances 

 which cannot properly be reduced under any general heads. 



The most common religion of antiquity. ...that which prevailed 

 the longest and extended the widest.. ..was Polytheism, or the doc- 

 trine of a plurality of gods. The rage of system, the ambition of 

 reducing all the phsenomena of the moral world to a few general 

 principles, has occasioned many imperfect accounts, both of the 

 origin and nature of this species of worship. For, without enter- 

 ing into a minute detail, it is impossible to give an adequate idea of 

 the subject: and what is said upon it in general must always be 

 liable to many exceptions. 



One thing, however, may be observed, that the polytheism of the 

 ancients seems neither to have been the fruit of philosophical spe- 

 culations, nor of disfigured traditions concerning the nature oi the 

 Divinity. It seems to have arisen during the rudest ages of soci- 

 ety, while the rational powers were feeble, and while mankind 

 were under the tyranny of imagination and passion. It was built, 

 therefore, solely upon sentiment. As each tribe of men had their 

 heroes, so likewise they bad their gods. Those heroes who led 

 them forth to combat, who presided in their councils, whose image 

 was engraven on their fancy, whose exploits were imprinted on 

 their memory, even after death enjoyed an existence in the imagi- 

 nation of their followers. The force of blood, of friendship, of af- 

 fection, among rude nations, is what we cannot easily conceive : but 

 the power of imagination over the senses is what all men have in 

 some degree experienced. Combine these two causes, and it will 

 not appear strange that the image of departed heroes should have 

 been seen by their companions animating the battle, taking ven- 

 geance on their enemies, and executing, in a word, the same func- 

 tions which they performed when alive. An appearance so unna- 

 tural would not excite terror among men unacquainted with evil 

 spirits, and who had not learned to fear any thing but their ene- 

 mies. On the contrary, it confirmed their courage, flattered their 

 vanity ; and the testimony of those who had seen it, supported by 

 the extreme credulity and romantic cast of those who had not, gain- 

 ed an universal assent among all the members of their society. A 

 small degree of reflection, however, would be sufficient to convince 

 them, that, as their own heroes existed after death, the same might 

 also be the case with those of their enemies. Two orders of gods, 

 therefore, would be established....the propitious and the hostile ; 

 the gods who were to be loved, and those who were to be feared. 

 But time, which effaces the impressions of traditions, and the fre- 

 quent invasions by which the nations of antiquity were ravaged, de- 

 solated, or transplanted, made them lose the names and confound 



