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Dounde respecting the natur of tho Deity, and of tho humatis ul;-and perhaps desii Ous of hearinis me ne opinion ponthes intriculo and ill-underst Od politis;-und probabi Conjecturing that our Saviour might be the author o soni nove system, rmore persect theory Whichie was abolit to osse in contrast to those ali eady in Ogue, and more particularifin opposition to the tenet Ofthe despised Jow, he caligi, at the bold assertionis his prisoner sedam the way and the truth, -with ait tho ardoiaris a philosophical inquirer, preSented illi sonae ne dogma sor examination and ea geri interrogated his prisoner pon the natur of that truth, in supportis inhichaeaad pronounced himself authorige lao bear testimony. Disdaining ho ever, pon Consideration, it Would Seem, toreceive information froni a Jew O fearsulis heing misi epresente Matthe courti Caesar, he broti hastil a a froni the udgment eat, Without eigninito receive the answer rom mim ' ho was solligiti qualisio esto have solve his question, and O have satisfied althis dolabis iapon the subjeci. The Pagan suppi stition and idolair consisted in lalter times, ut east cliten in orshippin the creatures together illi the
Creator. The mere visibi roprosentations of the divine attributes vere incorporated into the religiolis eremontes, hicli, in an impersect anner, directed the adoration o supplicant to tho ne great, inComprehensibie, uni nown immateriai, nil inaCcessibi
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served the creature more than the Creator.
The Athenians were universali admitted toto the most religi uspeopte os Greece that is the mos addicte to the superstitio usceremontes ensorced by the disserent creed of the various nations ivith hom the hel an intercOurse, and whi in the were at alltimes, ister froni motives of liberal toleration, O DOm apprehensionos omitting the worshimo that Deit Wh might be the pre-eminentone, ready to introduce among the rite establislied in tho retiremento their oKn groves. The unknown God then a sali to e Wo1 shippe ignorantly ' by them, ecause of thei polytheism and idolati . hucinei delusion Nere extended and perpetuated, and thei ignorance of the irrepresentibi Deit rendered more irremediabi pros Und. It was at a periodi excessive spirituat ignorance, ibat the great apostlo of the Gentiles appeare among that te ned an superstitious eopte preachin Jesus and the resurrection, and declaring God openly an in the purit of the truth. Arraignei hos ore thocourtis Areopagus by the Stoiciis and Epicureans, pon the Chargeo prosessintne and incomprehensibi doctrines, and of uphol lingstrange go is, he frame his rei lycio a completet to mee and resuto the particula tenet of the assembled sectarisis and takingadvantage of the opportunit presented holdi asserte that tho
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unknown God, ' e re hos altar he had eheld the prostrate multitude in thei devotions Was the objectis his more perfect love
vernor of the world; hos attributes the degraded by unmean- in ceremontes, and hos dignit the debased by intermixture With thei idolatrous rites. Τho Pagans may be said O have known God, but stili their error Was that the dii no gloris him a God that the perverted that glimmering knowledge Whichahe possessedo the truth, to econio tho ource of es the wretche and abjectsuperstitions and the detest te usages, whicli prevalled even under the sanctior of the mos Wise an illuminated in their temples freligion Some, in ieed, of the eathen philosophers may have been successsu in ivin important delineations and interestingvlew of mora truth, whicli at this da wil be read with delight; hut the Christian student, hils he admit thei meritorious haracter, o Would alio them an authorit no their Wn wil care- fuit mari the inseparabie and the characteristic deficien i theirpures doctrines in practica essec in mora influenc upon thelivos and the conductis thei solio ers. In reviewing the various systems,hicli human ingenuit or humandepravit has produced, and accommodate to the influentia circumstances os disserent climates the student Wil discove reason toti satisfio that he pure nowledge of the Deity the primevalhistor of the globe and of the humata race, ere originalty Commonto other nations besides the JeWs h Neve that acquaintance mighthave been subsequently distorte land diffigured by intermixture,ith
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the fabulous traditioris of heathenism, o by the corruptions and misrepresentations of the learne se in sucCession. Otwithstand-ing the desective insormation, and the manifes impersections of the uncient eathen reCords, ver impartial judge ill readit admittha tho ouilines of the truth nc understood, and asterWard involved in mythologica obscuri , ure et Clearly discernit,te, amidstat tho darknes of Gentile superstitions and that this knowledgemus have been derive both orae an heathen rom tho fame origina solarce. illi respectri me aith of Our Wn Scriptures, we anno dismis this discussion Without observing that with ullthe advantages, posses under the Certain revelation os the divinowill, and in the accomptishment of the divine Ouriseis, We havebethul a very imperfecto noWledge, and a very clouded perception filiose important mysteries poti,hichahe Christian creed is founded. Thero must e somethinio God alWay unknown und incomprehensibi by the finite understandings of men in thei present finitestate of existerice. In omni Copia Cripturarum Sanctarum, V asSt. Augustine has Wisel remarhed Pascimur apertis, Xercemur obscuri. illic sanies pellitur hic fastidium. -A the Curiosi , theres ore, of the student a be excited, and ne sotirces of inqui opene to his minit, the more essentiat wil it e for his appinossand consistenC Os character, O proCeed Unde the solemn influence of this conviction, as the oni preservative against the essects of the fluctuation o human opinion the allurement of nove doctrines; tho insidi us obtrusionis realis protended difficultie. the arrogantnssumptions of the infidet, and the plausibi theories of tho protended philosopher. Instead ither of OOLing out sorioubis, o magnifying
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dissiculties, or at ast sacrificin his belle to the positions of the sceptio, he Will impartiali investigato the principies of the Christian System land acquiring the mos extensive information possibi in allthe branches of the subjeci, Wil est listi that rationes and firmiygrounded persuasionis it divine origin against the sorce of Whichii inserior considerations illiver prevail. For so light a Letoli as o propos to give in the ollowing pages, of the disserent system maintaine by the successive philosopher of the ancient Worid and of the various superstitions WhichWere so unded Pon or ere in an degre connected ith their theories, we anno preten to claim an Other merit than stat ofhavin comprehende a much informationis possibi Within thosmalles compass. The present essa may, in a Ct, e reCeived, rather a the prospeetus Ona future Work, tot conductedipon thesam Plani contrasting the doctrines of the enthen muster Withoach other Whicli a more extended investigationis in subjeci, the accumulationis additiona materiais, and a more elaborate Composition might render substantiali usem to the student; and whicli afuture opportunit ma possibi be alienis completing, should noother more ableiandiave reviousi anticipate iis execution In the mean time, we,ould reser those Who enjo susscient leisure Orseel an inclination or mal in more pros uia researches into these interesting opios, to the alphabetica arrangement of the sentiments
of the philosophers, in one viewhas explained in the Severat reatises of Cicero, Whioti,ili ho ound attached to the xsori editionos his,orks the republication of which Would sortia, perhaps, an uses ul
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appendicto his sketch;-We,ould reser generalty to tho philosophica and historical ork of the classica writers; o the thirdan murti sections of the rs par of the Novum ornanum Solentiarum o Bacon, hereinae reat of the disserent philosophica theories, and of the sign or Characteristic o salse philosophies and to his Essa toWard a Scientifica Histor of Natural Philosophy, se in the primitive times to the present in the originali lan o which his great philosophe had intende to explain thewhole doctrine os est the ancient philosopher concerning the fit stprincipies of things-ando his explanation os the mythologyof the ancients. e ould refer, likeWise, to the Comprehensive vor o Cudworth poti tho True Intellectual System folio Universe, in hicli tho reason and philosoph os Atheism is confuted an iis impossibilit demonstrated; o Baxter' sonquiryinto themature of the Human Soul;-andri Brucker' Histor os Philosophy, written in Latin and extendinito fix volumes, quarto, Ofwhicli an ridgment, in Latin has been publislied in one volume, octavo o Course there are numerous other Works,hicli might beaddo to this list, but Wo deon it sufficient, ut On this occasion, tocite only the Dames of thos authors, Who are in ur judgmen thebes calculateda assis the philosophica inquiries of the student.
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IN tracing the progress of a more rationa an pure de of the eaee to theiast. Supreme ein than a adopte stom the earlies times by tho many it,illies und that the East shed theirs light, under hose influence the variet of system gre up, Whicli asterWard prevalle l. Tho Chaldaeans the mos ancient people, neX to the HebreWs, HALDAEANs. mong the Easterii natioris, Were distinguished sor thei deo investigation o natura trullis, an have usu acquire the prais notonino the orientalisis and Greelis, but likowise of the Jewis and Christian writers Froni the testimon o Diodorus and the ancient authorities collected by Eusebius, it appears that the Chaldaean be-lieuod in one God the Lor an Parent of the Universe, by whose providence the wori is overned. ut of this principio the dea of a Supreme eing the ource of ali intelligetice, pruniali theirreligiolis rites, and lience were derived ali ine Divinities, ich wero supposed to preside ove the severat paris of the materiai Worid. The sum os the Cosmogon of the Chaldaeans, when diveste of Chaldaie Cos-
allego , is that in the eginniniat things consiste os dari nessund water that Belus, o a divine poWer, dividinithis humidiass,
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ύθη μη μψ' sacrifices that by the invocationis an unknown God, and a sortii, whicli Pausanias alis barbarous,' hoc se unintelligibi to the Greelis, rought ire doWn rom heaven toturn the woodipon thealtar This se Pyratheia, is preternatura ignitionis the sacrifico,
after public invocationis the Dei , was oubiles an imitationis that taci, probabi derived to them from tradition, of Elias in Ah 'stimo involiing the nam os God, and bringinistre doWisse in heavento Consume his sacrifice. MAGI, 6 Wise Among the Persian we sirid a Seet os philosopher denominated
Ilagi signistin in the original Wis men,' greatly addicte tolli stud os astronomy, and other paris os natural philosophy, and highly esteomed sor thei learning throughout the East. Entertain -
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in pure sentiment os God, and of his Worship than an of the ancient heathens, he hel in abhorreno the adoration Didois, and although the did represent the Deit unde the symbolis sire, 3 et the worshippe onerant God.' So lameles Wore their studies an reliuious system that the Prophe Daniel susserediim Danies made chiei
Perstans, and speciali of the rst agi Wh admitte Ont One Magi Zoroasser. eternat principiet ut things, and affirmed that God was prior both to light and darkness, and had existed frona alliternity, in an adorabie solitude, Without an Companion or rival;-Sentimenis, ut OnCe so sublime and worthy the spirituat natur of the Deity, a to convinceus that the mus have been derive stom the original ountain oftruth, the oours of Whicli, however in the great oceanis time, has unita pily been ininted by surroundinicorruptions. Al lino Eastern nations the Perstans the Syrians the IndiRI S, Syrians audesn-
Conceale secret mysteries unde thei religious abies. alie Wiso
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men o ali inoso religions sa into thei sense an true meaning, Whoreas the vulgar,ere permitted o gomo further inan the exterior Symbol, and couldio penetrato deeper than the har Whichi veredinem. he testimon o prophane poets, the system o ancient philosophers, and the narrations of heathen historians, ali provethat the Pagans achnoMedged ne sole supreme Deity and poninvestigation it ili appea that the gyptians the Greelis, me Romans, and allither nations as Wollius the orientias, have agreed universali in acknowledginithis truth. Gymnosophists of the anCient theolog of the Gymnosophisis, a sectis philosopher in India, distinguished so the primitive simplicit an abstinence in thei modo of living so the mortificatio of their passions and contemptis ali odit patia, ut se traces remain; yot hos Whicli Strabo has preserved suppos the two states of the world hat O natur in iis puri , and that o nature corrupted, in agroement With the Osai,aCCOunt. The Brachmanes, o Brachmansi a term derived rom Brahina, o possibi by corruption rom Abraham, ero a ranch of theabove-mentione SeCt. Strabo says the considerei the state ofmon in his lis a simila to that of hildron in thei mother' swomb death being, accordinito thei notions tho hirth to a truo an happy lise. The accidental occurrences os lis the deemedneither good nor evit. In common,ith the subsequent notion ofth Greelis, the belleved the wori hama heginning and will have an nil, and that God who made ii and goveriis the whOle, is every Where presen to his Work. When Onesicritus, the cynic philosopher