prepared the way for a grateful and ready reception of the ChrifHan doCtrine, but there 
the evangelical pallors, and followers of Jefus, found no difficulty in eftabiifhing 
offices of that puie and fpiritual homage to a heavenly Father, which he taught; 
and continued the fublime fimplicity of their folemn adorations untainted, and°un- 
mingled with any of the fuperllitious pieties of the Gentile world. 
\\ hcreas in tne Grecian ftaces, and in the Roman empire, the influence of that 
veneration in which the Inftitutes of the Sanfcduary of Elusis, and the edi&s of the 
Delphic Oracle, were held, rendered it very 'difficult to combat fuccefsfully the 
deep-rooted devotion exprelled in their myfleries, to that Perfonage which reprefented 
the omnipotence and guardian care of Providence, and on whom the oracles of 
God were pourtrayed, and from whofe fhrines they were communicated. 
Hence at Ephesus, ages after that fiatue of Diana, which came down from Hea- 
ven,* had been removed from the throne, they recognized their Virgin Patronefs in 
Mary ; and faw that the divine enthufialm and piety of former eeras had but pro- 
phetical allufion to that happier period of time, when the Queen of Heaven became 
revealed in all her primaeval glory. 
Hence the Egyptians, who revered the divine communications of Isis, as repre- 
fentative of the Church of God, the Guardian and Record of the facr«d Oracles, 
when in the fifth century converted to the Chriftian faith, were equally aftonilhed and 
delighted, to lee the lame homage and veneration required of them, to be paid to 
the Holy ViRCiN.f St. Augustine and Cassias, however, more ftrifit in evan- 
gelic principle, lament the unconquerable prevalence of that devotion, which ft ill 
maintained its influence among them, of worfhipping the Divinity, as in a human 
form, notwithflanding the plainnefs and fimplicity of that pure and fpiritual ho- 
mage which their Lord required. 
We have a ftriking inftance in the venerable Serapion, the tutor of St. Cyril, 
how ferious a concern it was in thofe days to relinquilh the fymbois, whereby facred 
knowledge was communicated, and by whofe aid the glories' of the Divine Maiefly 
were revered. J 1 
After his converfion he bewailed the awful deftiny which had excluded every vifible 
fymbol of the Deity from his view; prollrate on the ground, he was heard to ex- 
claim, “ Ah ! wretched man that I am, I am bereaved of the figns by which I af- 
“ pired to the knowledge of God- I fee not now to whom I addrefs my folemn 
“ vows; I know not where to find Him whom I fupplicate, nor perceive where are 
" the glories of the Being whom I adore !” £ 
And yet in future more comfortable periods of his evangelical piety, difeerned 
that, in the Holy Oracles of the Mefliah, whereby ft He Ihewed us plainly of the 
“ Father,” there were far more confolatory truths of God imparted, than all that 
he could have otherwife attained. This at once tends to fhew forth the effential mo- 
ment of the Chriftian doftrine, and the difficulties it had to encounter when promul- 
gated in the world. r 
* Afb x‘x. 
t Hid or. 1. i. Epift. 54. 
I Cafiian Col’at. x. s. 
