154 



THE PYRAMIDS. 



find, under all modifications of tradition, proofs of their 

 being of a common stock with other nations of the globe, 

 and of a long and complete separation — intermingled with 

 great and striking analogies in their dogmas, customs, and 

 mythological systems ; which it is now admitted that all 

 the great nations of antiquity — Egypt, Chaldea, China, 

 and Hindoostan — all drew from one common source, and 

 probably learned in one common school, between the 

 epoch of the deluge and the time of the dispersion. Be- 

 yond these it has been asserted by many, that no affinity 

 whatsoever with any particular people can be traced, 

 except such as might be supposed to be the natural fruit 

 of the human mind, its passions, and its necessities in its 

 fallen state, devoid of the light of revelation, however 

 isolated, and wherever placed. 



The most benighted of the American tribes have re- 

 tained the impression of the existence of a Supreme 

 Being, who was the " Master of Life," and the absolute 

 governor of the w T orld. This is indisputable, at the same 

 time that among most of them, the principal adoration 

 or worship was reserved for a host of minor deities and 

 idols. 



All concurred in asserting the existence of an evil spirit 

 or principle, whose w 7 orks and suggestions were calcu- 

 lated to injure them, although the depravity and blind- 

 ness of their nature led them to seek to propitiate him. 



All seem to have forebodings of the immortality of the 

 soul, admitting or implying that after the death of the 

 body, their thinking part would still exist. They have 

 generally professed belief in future rewards and punish- 

 ments ; each people picturing their heaven and hell, ac- 

 cording to the notions of felicity and misery imbibed from 

 their early education and habits. 



But this is not all. Among whatever division of these 

 aborigines tradition is found to exist, you discover 

 wrapped up in allegory, or distorted by perverted fancy, 

 distinct testimony of the origin of all from common 

 parents; the idea that mankind had forfeited their orig- 

 inal state of happiness ; coupled with faint glimpses of 

 the coming of One, who should work a regeneration, and 



