SECT.

I.

"ries of the Creator. Trained, in the "school of Eden by the material elements "of a vifible world, to the knowledge of "one, that is immaterial and invisible, he "found himself excited by the beauty of "the picture, to afpire after the transcen"dant excellence of the divine original."

Such was the Paradife of Scripture; and from it the Heathens derived that belief in a ftate of pristine integrity, and that idea of the peculiar facredness of groves, which prevailed fo univerfally among them.

A notion appears to have been very widely diffused, that mankind formerly lived in complete happiness and unstained innocence; that spring reigned perpetually, and that the earth fpontaneously gave her increase. "Immediately after the birth of

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man," fays Hefiod, "the golden age com"menced, the precious gift of the immor"tals who acknowledged Chronus as their "fovereign. Mankind then led the life of "the Gods, free from tormenting cares, "and exempt from labour and forrow. "Old age was unknown; their limbs were "braced with a perpetual vigour, and the

Bp. Horne's Sermons, vol. i. p. 68.

" evils

III.

"evils of difeafe were unfelt. When the CHAP. " hour of diffolution arrived, death affumed "the mild aspect of fleep, and laid aside "all his terrors. Every bleffing was theirs; "the fruits of the earth fprung up fpontaneously and abundantly; peace reigned, "and her companions were happiness and pleafureb."

A fimilar idea, though not expreffed with the elegance of the claffical mythologists, occupied the minds of our Gothic anceftors. The first inhabitants of the world, according to the usual system of the Heathen nations, were confidered by them as fomething more than human; their abode was a magnificent hall, glittering with burnished gold, the manfion of love, joy, and friendship. The very meaneft of their utenfils were compofed of the same precious materials, and the age acquired the denomination of golden. Such was the happiness of the primitive race of mortals ; a happiness which they were destined not

1.

SECT. long to enjoy. The blifsful period of innocence was foon contaminated; certain women arrived from the country of the giants, and by their feductive blandishments 'corrupted its pristine integrity and purity.

The circumftance, which principally deferves notice in this ancient tradition, is the caufe affigned by the Goths for the termination of their golden age. Women are faid to have corrupted it; and thus to have introduced fin and mifery into the world. It may perhaps be difficult to pronounce whether this be an allufion to the fatal tranfgreffion of our first parent, or whether it may not rather refer to the intercourfe between the fons of Seth and the daughters of Cain, which was the principal cause of the univerfal wickednefs of the antediluvians. In either cafe, its coincidence with the page of Scripture is not a little remarkable.

A fimilar belief in an original state of purity is strenuously maintained by the inhabitants of Hindoftan. "There can arise "little doubt," to ufe the words of an elegant modern Historian," but that by the

III.

៥ Satya age, or age of perfection, the Brah- CHAP. "mins obfcurely allude to the state of per"fection and happiness enjoyed by man in "Paradife. It is impoffible to explain what "the Indian writers affert concerning the "universal purity of manners, and the lux"urious and unbounded plenty prevailing "in that primitive era, without this fuppofition. Juftice, truth, philanthropy, "were then practised among all the orders "and claffes of mankind; there was then "no extortion, no circumvention, no fraud "ufed in their dealings one with another. Perpetual oblations fmoked on the al"tars of the Deity; every tongue uttered praises, and every heart glowed with' ❝titude to the fupreme Creator. The "Gods, in token of their approbation of "the conduct of mortals, condefcended frequently to become incarnate, and hold perfonal converse with the yet undepraved race of mortals; to inftruct them "in arts and sciences; to unveil their own "fublime functions and pure nature, and "make them acquainted with the economy of those celestial regions, into which

gra

they were to be immediately translated, "when the period of their. terreftrial pro

"bation

SECT. "bation expirede." Nor is this notion of

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late origin among the Hindoos; Calanus, according to Strabo, holds much the fame language. Formerly," fays he, "corn of "all forts abounded as plentifully as duft "does at prefent; and the fountains poured "forth ftreams, fome of water, fome of "milk, fome of honey, fome of wine, and

fome of oil. Owing to this luxurious

abundance, man became corrupt, and fell "into all kinds of wickedness; infomuch "that Jupiter, difgufted with fuch a scene, "abolished the ancient order of things, "and permitted the neceffaries of life to "be obtained only through the medium of "labour."

If from the realms of Hindoftan we recur once more to claffical antiquity, we thall difcover in the mythological story of

• Maurice's Hift. of Hindoftan, vol. i. p. 371.

f Το παλαιον παι' ην αλφίτων και αλευρων πληρη, καθαπερ και

νύν κόνεως" και κρηναι εξεον, αἱ μεν ὕδατος, γαλακτος δ' αλλαι, και ὁμοιως αἱ μεν μέλιτος, αἱ δ' οινς, τινες δ' ελαίου: το πλησμονής δι' οἱ άνθρωποι και τρυφης εις ύβριν εξέπεσον. Ζευς δε μίσησας την κατάτασιν, ηφάνισε παντα, και δια πονε τον βιον απεδειξε. Cited in CLUVER. Germ. Antiq. p. 225. Thus the denunciation of God against Adam, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou "eat bread."

the