foften the latter, who, they fay, torments them day and night. The inhabitants of Darien acknowledge but one evil fpirit, of whom they are defperately afraid. The Hottentots, mentioned by fome writers as altogether deftitute of religion, are on the contrary farther advanced toward its purity, than fome of their neighbours. Their creed is, That there is a fupreme being, who is goodnefs itself? of whom they have no occafion to stand in awe, as he is incapable by his nature to hurt them; that there is also a malevolent fpirit, fubordinate to the former, who must be served and worshipped in order to avert his malice. The Epicurean doctrine with refpect to the gods in general, That being happy in themselves they extend not their providential care to men, differs not widely from what the Hottentot believes with respect to the fupreme being. Having traced the fenfe of deity, from its dawn. in the groffeft favages to its approaching maturity among enlightened nations, we proceed to the laft ftage of the progrefs, which makes the true fyftem of theology; and that is, conviction of a fupreme being, boundless in every perfection, without fubordinate deities, benevolent or malevolent, Savages learn early to trace the chain of caufes and effects, with refpect to ordinary events: they know that fafting produces hunger, that labour occafions wearinefs, that fire burns, that the fun and rain contribute to vegetation. But when they go beyond fuch familiar events, they lofe fight of cause and effect: the changes of weather, of winds, of heat and cold, imprefs them with a notion of chance earthquakes, hurricanes, ftorms of thunder and lightning, which fill them with terror, are afcribed to malignant beings of greater power than man. In the progrefs of knowledge light begins to break in upon them: they discover, that fuch phenomena, however tremendous, come unD d 2 der der the general law of caufe and effect; and that there is no ground for afcribing them to malignant fpirits. At the fame time, our more refined fenfes ripen by degrees: focial affections come to prevail, and morality makes a deep impreffion. În maturity of fenfe and understanding, benevolence appears more and more; and beautiful final caufes are difcovered in many of nature's productions, that formerly were thought useless, or perhaps hurtful: and the time may come, we have folid ground to hope that it will come, when doubts and difficulties about the government, of Providence, will all of them be cleared up; and every event be found conducive to the general good. Such views of Providence banish malevolent deities; and we fettle at laft in a moft comfortable opinion; either that there are no fuch beings; or that, if they exift and are permitted to perpetrate any mifchief, it is in order to produce greater good *. Thus, through a long maze of errors, man arrives at true religion, acknowledging but one Being, fupreme in power, intelligence, and benevolence, who created all other beings, to whom all other beings are fubjected, and who directs every event to anfwer the best purposes. This fyftem is true theology t Having gone through the different ftages of religious belief, in its gradual progress toward truth and purity, I proceed to a very important article, The hiftory of tutelar deities. The belief of tutelar deities preceded indeed feveral of the stages mentioned, witnefs the tutelar deities of Greece and *The Abyffinians think that the afcribing to the devil the wicked acts of which the Portugueze declare him to be guilty, is falling into the error of the Manichees, who admit two principles, one good, one evil. * Pliny feems to relish the doctrine of unity in the Deity; but is at a lofs about forming any just conception of him, fometimes confidering the world to be cur only deity, fometimes the fun. and Rome; but as it is not connected with any one of them exclufive of the reft, the clearness of method required it to be postponed to all of them. This belief, founded on felfifhnefs, made a rapid progrefs after property in the goods of fortune was established. The Greeks, the Romans, and indeed moft nations that were not mere favages, appropriated to themselves tutelar deities, who were understood to befriend them upon all occafions; and in particular, to fight for them against their enemies. The Iliad of Homer is full of miraculous battles between the Greeks and Trojans, the tutelar deities mixing with the contending parties, and partaking of every difafter, death only excepted which immortals could not fuffer. The lares, penates, or houfehold-gods, of Indoftan, of Greece, and of Rome, bear witnefs, that every family, perhaps every perfon, was thought to be under the protection of a tutelar deity. Alexander ab Alexandro gives a lift of tutelar deities. Apollo and Minerva were the tutelar deities of Athens; Bacchus and Hercules of the Boeotian Thebes; Juno of Carthage, Samos, Sparta, Argos, and Mycené; Venus of Cyprus; Apollo of Rhodes and of Delphos; Vulcan of Lemnos; Bacchus of Naxus; Neptune of Tenedos, &c. The poets teftify, that even individuals had tutelar deities: Mulciber in Trojam, pro Troja ftabat Apollo: Though (a) Ovid. Trift. lib. 1. eleg. 2. *"The rage of Vulcan, and the martial maid, "Æneas Though the North-American favages recognise a fupreme Being, wife and benevolent, and alfo fubordinate benevolent beings who are intrusted with the government of the world; yet as the great diftance of these fubordinate beings and the full occupation they have in general government, are fuppofed to make them overlook individuals, every man has a tutelar deity of his own, termed Manitou, who is conftantly invoked during war to give him victory of his enemies. The Natches, bordering on the Miffiffippi, offer up the fkulls of their enemies to their god, and depofite them in his temple. They confider that being as their tutelar deity who affifts them against their enemies, and to whom therefore the skull of an enemy must be an acceptable offering. Tho' they worship the fun, who impartially fhines on all mankind; yet fuch is their partiality, that they confider themfelves as his chofen people, and that their enemies are his enemies. A belief fo abfurd fhows woful imbecillity in human nature. Is it not obvious, that the great God of heaven and earth governs the world by inflexible laws, from which he never can fwerve in any cafe, because they are the beft poffible in every cafe? To fuppofe any family or nation to be an object of his peculiar love, is no lefs impious, than to fuppofe any family or nation to be an object of his peculiar hatred: they equally arraign Providence of partiality. Even the Goths had more just notions of the Deity. Totila, recommending to his people juftice and humanity, fays, "Quare fic habete, ea quæ amari ab hominibus folent ita vobis falva fore, fi juftitiæ 4 "Æneas fafe, defy'd great Juro's hate O'er winds and waves Minerva's power prevails." re "reverentiam fervaveritis. Si tranfitis in mores. alios, etiam Deum ad hoftes tranfiturum. Neque enim ille, aut omnino hominibus, aut uni "alicui genti, addicit fe focium *. 66 * 19 That God was once the tutelar deity of the Jews, is true; but not in the vulgar acceptation of that term, importing a deity chofen by a people to be their patron and protector. The or thodox faith is, "That God chofe the Jews as his peculiar people, not from any partiality to them, but that there might be one nation to "keep alive the knowledge of one fupreme "Deity; which should be profperous while they adhered to him, and unprofperous when they declined to idolatry; not only in order to make them perfevere in the true faith, but alfo in order to exemplify to all nations the conduct of his Providence." It is certain, however that, the perverfe Jews claimed God Almighty as their tutelar deity in the vulgar acceptation of the term. And this error throws light upon an incident related in the Acts of the Apostles. There was a prophecy firmly believed by the Jews, that the Meffiah would come among them in perfon to restore their kingdom. The Chriftians gave a different fenfe to the prophecy, namely, that the kingdom promifed was not of this world. they faid, that Chrift was fent to pave the way to their heavenly kingdom, by obtaining forgiveness of their fins. At the fame time, as the Jews held all other nations in abhorrence, it was natural for them to conclude, that the Meffiah would be દ And fent "Be affured of this, that while ye preferve your reverence for justice, ye will enjoy all the bleffings which are ineftimable among mankind.— If ye refufe to obey her dictates, and your morals become corrupted, God "himself will abandon you, and take the part of your enemies. For al though the benevolence of that power is not partially confined to tribe or people, yet in the eye of his juftice all men are not equally ta ooje As of "his approbation." |