458 APPENDIX, N°I. 
Gospel, must naturally have occasioned in- 
distinct traces of similitude between the Hea- 
then mythology and the Christian dispensation. 
It was owing to such coincidence that St. Paul 
declared to the Athenians, "That God whom 
ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." 
In viewing these occasional resemblances, whe- 
ther or not we be permitted to investigate their 
causes, the fact of their existence is indisputable. 
iVo one, duly considering the solemnities ob- 
served at Easter by the antient Saxons prior to 
the introduction of Christianity \ or viewing at 
this day the ceremony of the Greek Church, par- 
ticularly that of Moscozv, when the priests are 
occupied in searching for the supposed body of 
the Messiah ^ previous to a declaration which 
ushers in the festivities of a whole empire, but 
must call to mind the circumstance related by 
Gregory Nazianzus, of the manner in which 
popular Pagan rites were made subservient to 
the advancement of the Christian faith ^ ; as well 
as the remarkable fact*, that, on a certain night in 
the same season of the year, the Heathens similarly 
(1) See Gale's Court of the Gentiles, Book ii. ch. 2. 
(2) See Vol. 1. of these Travels, Chap. IV. p. 74. Octavo Edition. 
(3) Orat.de Vit4 Greg.TJiaum. torn. III. p. 574. 
(4) Vid. Jul. Firmic. de Errore Profan. Relig. &c. 
