THROUGH SWEDEN. 
99 
which various tenets and habits of thinking affeCt the conduct of 
individuals, it is impoffible to afcertain, nor, if it were poflible, 
would it be worth while to enquire; but the connexion between 
creeds and the conduct of princes, between public opinion, public 
fpirit, and the fate of nations, is a matter of equal certainty, curio- 
fity and importance. In every age and country a preference is 
given to fome particular Rudy, which not only fupplants more or 
lefs other purfuits, but in a certain degree always interferes with, 
and in fome inffances even ufurps the affairs of government. In 
the earlieft ftages of fociety the minds of men are debafed by the 
groileft fuperffcition. The principal concerns of favages and bar¬ 
barians are managed by conjurors,* Obi-men,']' necromancers, and 
wizards. Even after nations have fomewhat advanced in civili¬ 
zation, the moft ufeful as well as the nobleff talents, in the ge¬ 
neral eReem, are thofe of divination; and in every kingdom and 
every government hitherto eRablifhed, there has been, at lead: at 
one period, an alliance between church and- Rate. In the firR 
Reps towards fcience, men are amufed with the pretenfions of 
natural magic and the predictions of aRrology. Religion, in the 
common progreRion of human affairs, is taken out of the hands 
of mere fuperRition, divination explained by the principles of me- 
taphyfics, and adjufted by the rules of logic. The Veda is inter¬ 
preted by metaphyfical Brahmins, and the Koran by Mahomcdan 
doCtors not lefs fubtle and difcerning. The doCtrines of the 
* As among the Indians in Ameiica. 
f As in Africa, and among the African Haves in the Weft Indies. 
O 2 Manich^ans 
