Who created the sun? We are ignorant. Who "spake and it was done, commanded and it stood fast?" We know of no such Being.'

But even this was too refined for them. They considered their gods only as more exalted men. They no longer worshipped the sun; but the god of the sun-a god cursed with all the passions of a very bad man. The number of gods was multiplied; and almost every tree, every fountain had its divinity. Not content with this, they proceeded a step farther; and deified men were placed among the gods, and stood next to the throne of Jupiter. These marvellous and incongruous tales, these numerous and jarring divinities, were adorned by the pens of an Ovid, a Homer and a Virgil: and their ridiculous and impure rites were sanctioned by the examples of a Numa, a Cato, and a Pompey.

As for the philosophers-what they disbelieved we know what they believed, we can hardly tell. Although they contemned the rabble of divinities worshipped by the vulgar,

they had too much timidity or too much policy to publish their opinions :-for, if they had destroyed, could they have re-edified? if they had pulled down the fabric of superstition, could they have built a more noble structure on its ruins? Had they "cast their idols to the moles and to the bats," would they have instituted a religion more agreeable to truth? What could they have done? Would they have reformed polytheism? Alas! the efforts of the best of idolaters manifest the impracticability of this. Would they have philosophized the world? It is impossible: or, had it been possible, they would have reasoned. thus:-"If the world is philosophized, I am no longer a wonder, no longer a sage, no longer a demigod." Would they have established a belief in pantheism? If every thing is God, nothing can be God: for He is the ruler of the universe. But if the earth is a part of the universal Godhead, it has no superior; and (unless you suppose it to possess an intelligent spirit) it is, according to this system, governed by chance. This would indeed have been to take away all the restraints which the

hope and fear of future rewards or punishments might have inspired.

But, amidst this universal darkness, a taper had long burnt in the sanctuary, and had illuminated the narrow land of Judea-and there "the sun of righteousness arose, with healing in his beams; and his peaceful soldiers, animated by the example of their divine master, and following the footsteps of their general; carried his standard and his victorious arms, where the Roman legions had never penetrated, and the Roman eagles were unknown. They displayed the bright light of the gospel, in the most distant regions; and idolatry and ignorance fled before them. And although the wicked persecuted the church of Jesus, they could not destroy her. She sits on a mountain, and while the lightnings play and the thunder roars below her, she may smile at their rage, knowing that she has an Almighty Friend; and confident that in "fulness of time," his glory, whom she adores, "shall cover the earth."

WHAT RELIGION IS MOST CALCULATED TO PROMOTE THE HAPPINESS OF INDIVIDUALS ?*

(May, 1815.)

TARTARUS and Elysium, the paradise of Mahomet, or the Indian heaven, may scare or delight some minds equally weak and credulous; may afford to the philosopher a subject of investigation; to the wit, a subject of derision; and to most men, a subject of indifference. Their state is pitiable; for the most credulous, when about to launch into the immeasurable ocean, and to plunge into the unfathomable abyss of eternity, must feel a great deal of terror; and fear the anger of those gods, whose commands they have broken through, in following their example.† The

This essay had been preceded by three others.---“Some religion necessary to the existence of society."--" What religion is most conducive to the interests of society." And, “Religion of some kind necessary to afford men satisfaction." I transcribe the above, not because it has more excellence than either of the others, but because it was written at a greater distance of time from that on Polytheism.

+ I find in the book from which I have transcribed this essay, note which I wrote at the time of inserting it. "I asked

philosopher, void of all religious opinions, unable to determine the being, much less the attributes, of God, may be proud of the little knowledge he has acquired, and may, perhaps, have placed his error on the throne he had prepared for truth. He may feast his imagination on the admiration of posterity; he may fancy himself crowned with the praises of future ages; but when old age or death comes upon him, he is no longer able to investigate, no longer able to prove. Does he look forward? All is darkness. Does he look backward? All is error. Does he look around? There is no light to guide him. The wit, dazzled with his own brilliance, shines like a meteor, astonishing all around him, by his William, on his reading this, "Do the heathen gods, according to the poets, punish those who follow their example?"---He instantly referred to Horace, Ode 18, Book 1, in which enforced sobriety, by exhibiting the bad consequences of intemperance :--

"At, ne quis modici transiliat munera liberi,

"Centauria monet cum Lapithis rixa super mero
"Debellata," &c.

chus

And added, "Homer makes Jupiter punish Paris for a crime of which he himself had been repeatedly guilty."