the land with fertility, or chastised it with barrenness. With these local deities, strangers as well as natives, thought it their interest to ingratiate themselves. Invaders were always solicitous to gain over the gods of the invaded country, as allies; and they thought no sacrifice or oblation too expensive, that might serve as a bribe upon such urgent occasions. This opinion being universally prevalent, it would have been a singular phenomenon if the Israelites had remained perfectly exempt from its influ

ence.

The opinion was not counteracted by Jehovah the true God, by a specific miracle, performed upon every individual mind, but opposed by the preventives mentioned above; and by presenting before them, upon extraordinary occasions, such evidences of the real existence and infinitely superior character of their God, as should be amply sufficient to convince the judgment, and affect the heart of every thinking and well disposed subject.

The thoughtless multitude, however, as soon as they arrived among a people, whose religious principles and habits were so different from their own, became disposed to adopt and imitate; and female seductions greatly facilitated the degeneracy. As the natives ascribed all the blessings of life, fruitful seasons, success in war, and every

ingredient in national prosperity, to their having purchased the favour of their gods, by sacrifices and oblations, and ascribed also every calamity to their resentment; those Hebrews who had not the strongest impressions of true religion constantly upon their minds, would easily yield to the fallacy; they might perhaps think themselves more secure under the patronage of the tutelar god of the district, than under his government who brought them there.

This position is not hypothetical; it is founded upon facts, as the following instances will evince. The profligate Ahaz, when he was subdued by the Syrians, attributed the misfortune to his neglect in worshipping their gods; accordingly he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, that they might assist him also against his enemies.* When Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the days of Jeremiah the prophet, and numbers were carried into captivity, they who were left behind, being apprehensive of danger, expressed a desire to remove into Egypt, under Johanan their leader. Johanan consulted the prophet Jeremiah, promising that his orders should be obeyed. The answer of Jeremiah was

* 2 Chron. ch. xxviii. 83.

ร

prohibitory. Had his counsel been agreeable to the inclinations of Johanan and his dependents, they would have obeyed cheerfully; but as it opposed them, sceptical doubts were entertained concerning the inspiration of the prophet. "Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying to Jeremiah, thou speakest falsely; the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn there; but Baruch the son of Neriah, setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans." Upon their flight into Egypt, the prophet repeats, as a judgment upon them for disobedience, those calamities which he had announced as a warning. This produced the following remarkable apology, which confirms the principle we have advanced. "Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathaos, answered Jeremiah saying, as for the word which thou hast spoken in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee, but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we and

our fathers, our Kings, and our Princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and the famine.*

To the above causes of seduction, we may safely add the corrupt affections of their own minds. These, instead of being restrained by paganism, as they were by the commands of God, were indulged to the utmost. An un

bounded license was given to the gratification of every lust. The religious principles which fa-: vour our propensities, have a powerful advocate within; and by consecrating vice, they sooth and appease the conscience.

The following are mentioned in the Old Testament as the nominal gods of the Pagan nations, against whose worship the Hebrews were so fre-, quently admonished, upon their entrance into the land of Canaan. Milcom, and Moloch, the gods of the Ammonites; Chemoth, Baal, Baalpeor, &c. Gods of the Moabites; Dagon, wor

* See Jeremiah ch. xliii. xliv.

were inhabited by

shipped by the Philistines; Ashteroth, goddess of the Zidonians; Baalzebub, worshipped at Ekron, near Samaria; Baalim, and Baalperith, of the Midianites; Merodach, Bel, Nebo, gods of Babylon; Misroth, a god of the Assyrians. The Sun, the Moon, and the hosts of heaven, were also objects of adoration; it being supposed that they spirits of a superior order. None of the gods of Egypt are mentioned, until the flight of a remnant of the Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; nor were those introduced into notoriety by the polite literature of the Greeks, and afterwards transplanted to Rome. Although the word Satan is so frequently used in the New Testament, it appears but comparatively seldom in the more ancient records; where it always denotes a seducer, or betrayer, or enemy, but it never refers to an object of worship.* The Serpent is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, as characteristic of seduction or deceit, but not as a god of the heathens.

It has been supposed by some, that these different idols were but varied representatives of the heavenly bodies, which were ultimately the objects of all worship; under the belief that

* See Note H.