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II.

SECT. of the exploits of Jupiter or Hercules, upon the fuppofition that they were real deities? Upon what foundation are those pretended revelations built, inculcating the doctrines of polytheism? The true sense of them is either wrapped up in the myfterious fecrecy of the priesthood, or difguifed in the allegories of the poets d. The wifer part even of the heathen world contemned and despised fuch abfurdities; and the inftitution of the celebrated mysteries of Eleufis completely withdrew the veil from thefe wild fables, by declaring, that the whole body of heathen Gods were only men deified for the greatness of their actions, which the ignorance and blind veneration of the age converted into miracles. With regard to the fourth rule, it may with confidence be afferted, that it excludes, without a fingle exception, every religion of Paganifm from any claim to di

d Of this nature are the writings of the Hindoos; in them a confiderable portion of truth is blended with a mass of abfurdity and error. But, great as is their antiquity, even they also are deficient in that peculiar kind of internal credibility, which fhines fo confpicuously in the writings of Mofes. None of thofe, which I have read, pretend to have been written at the time, when the facts, which they recite, happened.

vine infpiration. So fhockingly depraved, CHAP. and fo deeply corrupted are men in a I. state of nature, that the ancient idolaters not only committed every abomination, but even deified their enormities. Their wretched gods were monsters of cruelty, lewdness, and profligacy. While Moloch, Nareda, and Theutates were appeafed with the blood of human victims; no offering could be made at the fhrine of Mylitto and Venus, fo acceptable as female chastity and honour. Wherever the demon of Paganism appeared, cruelty, debauchery, and impurity were his conftant attendants: nor was his baneful influence lefs confpicuous in the rites of Mexico and Peru, than in thofe of Greece, Canaan, or Hindoftan. The very principle of the ancient idolaters was totally vitiated; what then could we expect from their practice? If the immortals were guilty of fuch vices, what blame could attach to the mere man, who indulged in them? From this fhort review it fufficiently appears, that Paganifm in no fhape or country could be the religion of a moft pure and most wise. Deity.

СНАР.

CHAP. II.

APPLICATION OF THE FIRST RULE TÓ JUDAISM. I. MOSES WAS NOT DECEIVED, WHEN HE ASSERTED HIS DIVINE COMMISSION, EITHER I. BY ENTHUSIASM, OR 2. BY FANCYING CERTAIN NATURAL PHENOMENA TO BE MIRACLES.

AMONG the various religions of antiquity, that of Judaism particularly demands the attention of an inquirer after truth. Whether he confiders its remote origin; its fingular difference from all others; its unqualified claims to divine authority; or the miferable remnant of its votaries fcattered over the face of the whole earth, yet ftill remaining a distinct people in whatever point of view he beholds it, his curiofity must be more than ordinarily excited. Unlike the accommodating genius of Paganifm, the Jewish Law denounces as execrable and abominable every form of worship, except that prescribed by Mofes. Inftead of a host of idols, one Almighty and Allwife God is propofed as the fingle object of adoration; and a volume is yet preserved, to which

the

the defcendants of Ifrael ftill pertinacioufly CHAP. adhere, and still refolutely maintain to be II. of divine obligation. This volume defcribes itself to have been revealed under the miniftry of Mofes, and is received as fuch by the Jews, while their ancient lawgiver is reverenced among them as the first and greatest of prophets.

The question is, how far the religion of the Jews answers in point of credibility to the theory which has been laid down.

I.

Mofes was

ceived,

I. Was not Mofes, when he afferted bis divine legation, deceived into a belief that he not felf de was fupernaturally commiffioned, either by en- when he thufiafm, or by imagining certain appearances divine comto be miracles, which were not fo in reality? ther,

afferted his

miffion, ei

I.

By Enthu

1. To fee how far it is probable, that Mofes was an enthufiaft, we muft examine fiafm. what his fituation was prior to the time, at which he commenced his undertaking; and the difpofition of his mind, when, as it is pretended, he for the first time re

a See thefe ideas admirably expanded and purfued by Lord President Forbes, in his "Thoughts concerning Re"ligion."

VOL. I.

ceived

SECT. ceived from God his legislative and
II. phetical authority.

pro

Mofes, while an infant, had been difcovered by the daughter of the king of Egypt, exposed to perish upon the waters of the Nile. The princefs, moved to compaffion by his helpless fituation, preserved him, and had him educated as her own fon. Egypt, at that period, was celebrated over the whole world for its fcience and literature. Perhaps it is not fo eafy at this distance of time to determine, in what the wifdom of Egypt confifted: but as the Greeks allowedly borrowed the whole of their philofophy from that nation, it is not improbable, that it might be employed partly in refined and abstract speculations on the nature of God; partly in interpreting the hieroglyphics and unfolding the myfterious arcana of their manifold polytheism; and partly in exploring the wonders of phyfiology. As Herodotus b mentions the belief of the Egyptians in the transmigration of fouls, perhaps also a description of the various channels, through which the foul was fuppofed to glide in its

Herod. lib. ii. c. 123.

pro

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