1766-] 
A. One would think you wanted to con- 
vert us, Socini; and thought your fcheme 
of religion the belt poffible. 
S. Natural ly, I mutt think it fo. 
A. And, like thofe proteftant iconoclafts 
below, ia order to geucralize it, would let 
loofe the macy of the courtiers and of 
the rabble, to ftrip the priefthood or their 
endow ments, and the altars of their mafter- 
works oi art. 
S. Hold, hold; Apollo! The poffeffions 
of the clergy conc: ‘the civil law: giver. 
I fhould call fim immoral, if, during rhe 
life of perfons, enjoying them under the 
faith of ancient laws, he were to decree 
their confifcation. . With pomp of worihip 
I wage no war. 
. A. Shen you approve not the north 
reformers. : 
S. Like them, 1 fhould contend again& 
the luxury of the pric, acai whatever 
fetves to aflociate “authority o eration 
with his perfon, independently boi in 
tetleétualor moral worth. P tho 
afraid of rites, In hc 
pote! part. 
A. Such as the Beeston of wafers ? 
5S. Yet I cannot conceive but that pic- 
tures, reprefenting the ufeful actions of 
any benefactor to his fpecies, may hang, 
with advantage to public virtue, again 
the walls of a tempie. 
N. Worthip is made for man, ‘it ferves 
not thofe above him. 
S. Hf, therefore, poetry and mufic can 
render it more del ightful, if the waving es 
incenfe, offering a few ears of corn, or eve 
the pageantry of folemn pantomime, can 
render it more impreflive, | confent. To 
erect ftatues to the illuftrious dead, or to 
preferve their monumental altars within 
precincts. where ey will be guarded 
from irreverend mutilation, or ungrateful 
injury, appears to me a religion “of the 
heart, which did, indeed, degenerate, 
both in ancient end modern Romie into 
a ftupid Idolatry. But, merely becanfe 
public inftruétion formed fo fubordinate 
and imperiect a part of focial worthip, 
and becauie the impiety of mingling 
ifrn 
ch he an an im- 
prayer among the divine honours, fo wor- 
thily earned by our hero- prophet— 
J. Recolleét with whom you are 
talking, friend Socini. 
5. Is Jupiter mot content, that the 
the gratitude of mankind for fervices 
rendered them by wife inftruétions, by 
beneficial conduct, by difinterefted de- 
votement, fhould be the motive and the 
mea{ure of pofthumous veneration ? 
F. And art thou not afraid, let fome 
Montuiy Mag. No. VI. 
Imitation of Vieland’s Dialogues, 
7 Species 
uld ne 
465 
cgmpetitors of thy favourite fhould di- 
vide or eclipfe his popularity? 
S. I with juftice to be done. Let 
every temple open its ailes to cenotaphs, 
in honour of thofe who have ferved their 
and, I am confident, he will 
obtain, Oy common confent, the chicf al- 
tar. If there be inhabitants of Olympus, 
whofe benefits have def{cended to the ex- 
ifting generations of men, let the buf, 
the hymn, the memorial incenfe, the 
feftive noliday, the voluntary proce! ‘fon, 
again yecal the recolleétion of their uti- 
lity. Such celebrations will become in- 
centives to new exertion. It will full 
be poftible to eS bee a wide inter- 
val, fle C Creator from ‘each of ‘his crea- 
tures ; the Ayia r of univerfal deftiny, 
from the fubjects of its law fe ; and, amid 
the attraétive forms of idolat uy; to pre- 
vent the growth of an eee tual or ri- 
tual pol ytheifin. 
A. The inconvenience of which we 
are not accuftomed to difcern. 
N. And that ‘polytheifm, furely, will 
remain the preferable, which decrees 
pofthumeus honours to courage, to ta- 
lent . not eels which referves them for 
ancho and miracle-mongers. 
Yeu she e polytheifm of modern Rome, 
Numa, was, I with to think, an ufeful 
ftep in the progrefs of Aner civiliza- 
tion. ‘Phe ferocious qua lities are but 
too apt to burft forth in every ftage of 
improvement. It fhould be the object of 
religion, as well as of law, to veigatn 
them, fabitituting to the dominion of 
force, “a better. “The canonizations did 
Offer motives for felf-denial, beneficence, 
patience; virtues, which, amid the li- 
centioufnefs of Roman dochines the ego- © 
tim of unequal wealth, and the tyranny 
of barbarian invaders, could alone keep 
Ahe world from ee relapfe into fava- 
gifm to which mankind is ever tending, 
aid which would depopulate three fourths 
‘of the ‘plébe, to'make room for the lazy 
livelihood of an ignorant refidve. 
ahve religion of the Mufes and the 
Graces, furely, offered a ftronger anti- 
dote againft this declenfion than that of 
Saint Peter’s fucceffurs. 
5. Apollo, no! ic might be more cal- 
culated to foften into elegance the harfh- 
nefs of rude tribes, but it had no remedy 
for the vices of refinement. Afflociated 
with all the pieafures of human life, ir 
forgot the virtues. HEnjoyments are not 
enhanced by myfterious impreflions, but 
mora, conduct has need of encourage- 
ment in the hour of calumny oY Inprati- 
tude. If difap pointed of its Natural re- 
30 ward, 
i 

