47? 
M Y T li O L O G Y. 
■parent of three fons, am! again prefixes over a world peo¬ 
pled as before by bis deicendants. Every event, that 
liad already occurred, occurs afrefli: every perfon, that 
bad already appeared, re appears. The new world is a 
perfect tranfeript of its predecefi'or: and it is followed 
aditifuihim by other deluges and other worlds, each of 
which is an exad copy of a former deluge and a former 
world. Now it feems evident from this fy-ief flcetcli of 
the character of the Great Father, that he is neither 
Adam nor Noah, but a being fancifully compounded of 
both. As a human being, he is Adam tranfmigratiyely 
re-appearing in the perfon of Noah : while his three fons, 
or three inferior manifeftations, are, in a fimilar manner, 
the three fons of the former re-appearing as the three 
fons of the latter. Such (peculations originated from 
the numerous points of relemblance between the com¬ 
mencements of the two worlds, antediluvian and poft- 
diluvian, which have a Pa ally exited. Tliefe points were 
well known to the architeds of Babel: and, by a Angular 
kind of analogical reafoning, they inferred from them an 
endlefiJticccfpcn of fimilar mundane lyftems, divided from 
each other by an equally endlefs Juecefl'ion of univerfal 
floods. 
Such was the demonolatry of the gentiles ; but it was 
intimately connected with their veneration of the hoft of 
heaven. They did not jbnply worfliip the celeftial bodies ; 
but they adored them with thofe arbitrary notions, to 
which we have already alluded as marking the common 
origin of the feveral mythologic fyftems. Thus the Sun 
was thought to have failed in a (hip over the ocean, to 
have been plunged into the fea, to have been born out of 
the intermediate deluge, to have been preceded, as he 
will be fucceeded, by other Suns, to have hid himfelf in 
a floating ifland that he might efcape the rage of the per- 
l'onified abyfs, to have been produced out of a gloomy 
cave within which he had laid concealed, to have reigned 
an univerfal fovereign upon earth, to have wonderfully 
triplicated himfelf, to have defeended into the infernal 
regions, and to have been eminently the parent of a 
warlike tribe of conquerors. Thus again the Moon was 
fuppofed to have been a (hip, to have been the floating 
coffin of the Great Father, to have taken refuge in a float¬ 
ing ifland which yet is identified with itfelf, to have been 
the hiding-place of the Great Father and feven other holy 
perfonages, to have failed over the lake of Hades, to have 
been an infular Elyfium, to have been born out of each 
intermediate deluge, to have refted on the top of a lofty 
mountain, to have been the parent of the Great Father 
and of the whole world, and to have once had the branches 
of certain trees conveyed to it by doves. Thus likewife 
the whole folar fyftem wasfaid to be one enormous vefl'el, 
of which the Sun was the pilot, while the feven then- 
known planets dependent upon him were the mariners. 
All thefe notions are plainly arbitrary: they could not 
have arifen from the bare-abftraded contemplation of the 
heavenly bodies: hence their general adoption proves 
the exiftence of fome modes of (peculating, which have 
pervaded the moft diftant regions of the earth, and which 
mull have pafl'ed to them from tome common centre. 
But this is not all. The fame Great Father, who 
floated in a (hip on the fur/ace of an univerfal deluge, 
was viewed as the intelligent foul of the world ; and the 
fame Great Mother, who fuftained him in the form of 
that (hip, was confidered in the light of its material or 
inert fubftance. Hence this intelligent foul was faid Vo 
have produced three younger intelligence?, among whom 
he divided, and through whole agency he ruled, the uni- 
verfe: and hence this material body of the earth was 
compared to a (hip, and a large floating ifland ; while, in 
return, the (hip of the deluge was pronounced to be a 
(mall floating ifland, and a microcofmic epitome of the 
world. From the tranfmigrating three fons of the Great 
Father, or (as the idea was foinetimes exprefled) from 
the felf-triplicated royal intelligence, plainly originated 
the various triads of the gentiles; which, far too huffily, 
■ Vol. XVI. No. 1128. 
have been by fame pronounced corruptions of the Holy- 
Trinity. They have however nothing in common, ex- 
cept mere numerical coincidence : every other particular 
relative to the triads (hows them incontrovertibiy to have 
fprung from a totally-different fource. 
The theological (peculations of the pagans neceffiarily 
influenced their religious worfliip; the whole of it ac¬ 
cordingly was named with an exprefs reference to their 
opinions. In their imitative myfterious rites, the Great 
Father was bewailed as dead, and (hut up in a floating 
coffin, as piirfued by an implacable enemy, as defeending 
into Hades. Afterwards his fuppofed revival, or new birth 
into another world, orliberation from his coffin, or return 
from the infernal regions, was welcomed with the moll 
frantic expreffions of joy. 
The fame (peculations equally affeded their religious 
architecture, and were carried into thofe more ancient 
fanduaries which were furnifhed by the hand of nature. 
Whether we confider the mountain, or the grove, or the 
lake, or the holy ifland, or the natural cavern, or the 
pyramid, or the pillared temple, or the gloomy central 
chamber, or the artificial fepulchral excavation ; (till, in 
every cafe, we (hall find an exprefs reference to the pe¬ 
culiarities of their theology. 
Every heroic fable, whether ancient or modern, fecular 
or eccleliaftical, has been affeded by thefe peculiarities. 
The mythology of one age becomes the romance of an¬ 
other ; and the fame notions and legends, which pervade 
the former, may be diftindly traced alfo in the latter. 
On the whole, the apefftate religion of the gentiles, 
viewed as one regular and well-compaded fyltem, v/ill 
be found, in every particular, to bear the ftrongell attef- 
tation to the truth of infpired liiftory. It firft compels 
us to afi'ume as a fad, that all mankind mull once have 
been affiembled together in a Angle community: and 
then it exhibits, in grotefque mafquerade, the two firlt 
races of the two worlds, as conftituting, upon the prin¬ 
ciples of the metempfyehofis, the hero-gods univerfally 
adored by them of the difperfion. Holy Scripture is full 
of references to it: and many are the paflages, hitherto 
ill underftood, to which it alone can furnifh the key. 
Prof, to Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry. 
Though almoft every nation on the face of the globe, 
however remote from the centre of population, however 
lavage and averfe from cultivation, has fabricated and 
adopted its own fyftem of mythology; the Orientals, how¬ 
ever, have diftinguiftted themfelves in a peculiar manner, 
by the boldneis, the inconfiftency, and the extravagance, 
of their mythology. The genial warmth of thofe happy 
climes, the fertility of the foil, which afforded every ne- 
cefiary, every conveniency, and often every luxury, of life, 
without deprefling their (pints by laborious exertions; 
the face of nature perpetually blooming around them, 
the (kies finding with uninterrupted ferenity; all con¬ 
tributed to infpire the Orientals with a glow of fancy 
and a vigour of imagination rarely to be met with in lei’s 
happy regions. Hence every objed was (welled beyond 
its natural dimenfions. Nothing was great or little in 
moderation, but every fentiment was heightened with 
incredible hyperbole. The magnificent, the fublime, the 
vaft, the enormous, the marvellous, firft fprung up, and 
were brought to maturity, in thofe native regions of fable 
and fairy land. As nature, in the ordinary courfe of her 
operations, exhibited neither objeds nor effeds adequate 
to the extent of their romantic imaginations, they natu¬ 
rally deviated into the fields of fidion and fable. Of 
confequence, thecuftom of detailing fabulous adventures 
originated in the Eaft, and was from thence tranfplanted 
into the weftern countries. 
As the allegorical tafte of the eaftern nations had fprung 
from their propenfity to fable, and as that propenfity had 
in its turn originated from the love of the marvellous, 
Co did allegory in procefs of time contribute its influence 
towards multiplying fables and fidion almoft in infinitum. 
The latent import of the allegorical dodrines being in a 
