are blended, and nature produces nothing unmixed, we are to conceive, not that there is one ftorekeeper, who, after the manner of an hoft, dispenses adulter ated liquors to his guests, but that there are in nature two oppofite powers, counteracting each other's operations, the one accomplishing good defigns, the other evil. To the better power Zoroafter gave the name of Oromafdes; to the worse that of Arimanius; and affirmed that, of fenfible objects, the former most resembled light, the latter darkness. He alfo taught that Mithras was a divinity who acted as moderator between them; whence he was called by the Perfians, the Mediator." After reciting feveral fabulous tales concerning the good and evil demon, Plutarch, ftill reciting the doctrines of Zoroafter, proceeds; The fated time is approaching, in which Arimanius himself fhall be utterly deftroyed; in which the furface of the earth fhall become a perfect plane, and all men fhall fpeak one language, and live happily together in one fociety.

Here is a perfect mediatorial scheme in miniature. A fupreme Deity, an evil Demon, and a Mediator, The fupreme Deity and Mediator finally prevailing over the evil Demon; taking mankind out of his hands; renovating the earth, and fitting it up for the pleasurable abode of the united, virtuous and happy fociety of mankind. The reader cannot fail of being agreeably furprifed, at the great and ftriking fimilarity between the ideas of Zoroafter and the two apoftles, St. Peter and St. John, concerning the

"

new

new heavens and earth, and the reign of righteoulnefs. Here we have the doctrines of one of the moft ancient and enlightened nations of the earth. What does the reader now think of Mr. S.'s affertion, that the heathen reprefented a future ftate of eternal mifery? Certainly, the Perfians did not,

After

We will pass to the ancient Egyptians. the hiftorian had given a recital of various opinions and theological notions of the Egyptians, he fays, p. 83, 84. "The different nations concerning the state of the foul after death were probably held by different colleges of priests, fome of whom were advocates for the doctrine of transmigration, while others held, that the fouls of good men, after wandering for a time among the ftars, were permitted to return to the fociety of the gods. Or, the feeming inconfiftency of these opinions may be reconciled by means of a conjecture, which naturally arifes from the doctrine, that God is the foul of the world, from which all things came, and to which they will return. According to this doctrine it may be conceived, that all fouls, being portions of the universal mind, must return to the Divinity; but that fince different minds by their union with the body, are ftained with different degrees of impurity,it becomes neceffary; that before their return they should pass through different degrees of purgation, which might be fuppofed to be accomplished by means of fucceffive tranfmigrations. According to this fyftem, bad men would undergo the metempsychofis for a longer, good

men

*

then for a fhorter period; and the Amenthes, or Hades, may be conceived to have been the region, in which departed fouls, immediately after death, received their respective defignations.

As the Egyptians held that the world was produced from chaos by the energy of an intelligent principle, they conceived, that there is in nature a continual tendency towards diffolution. In Plato's Timous, an Egyptian prieft is introduced, defcribing the deftruction of the world, and afferting that it will be effected by means of water and fire. They conceived that the univerfe undergoes a periodical conflagration, after which all things are reftored to their original form, to pass again through a fimilar fucceffion of changes," Thus we have the Egyp→ tians firm believers in a universal restoration.

As the Ethiopians were a colony from Egypt, we may well fuppofe that they received their religion, as well as morals, from Egypt.

Under the name of Celts, may be included the Gauls, Britons, Germans, and Northern nations.

Page 100, 101. "On the contrary Pomponius Mela represents the Celts as expecting to pafs, after death, into the invisible world. And this notion beft agrees with the authorites already cited on this fubject, and with the accounts which are given, by various writers, of the funeral ceremonies practifed in the Northern nations, particularly that of committing to the funeral pile, or to the fepulchre, whatever had been dear to the deceafed. It is also moft confonant

confonant to the mythological language of the an

cient Edda, which every where reprefents the future life, as an affembly of good or bad men, in a ftate of reward or punishment, and only fpeaks of a return to life, for the purpose of reuniting the foul and body, after the foul has paffed through a neceffary course of purification, previously to its admiffion into the regions of the happy. From this ftate of purgation none were to be excufed, except those who had voluntarily expofed themselves to death in battle; and hence it was, that those who fell in war were deemed to have made a glorious and happy exit from life, whilst those who died in fickness were thought to have perifhed fhamefully and wretchedly. To thofe brave fpirits who died in battle, the gates of the palace of Odin were immediately opened; and they were to live in his hall (Valhalla) in the full enjoyment, of every thing which delighted them on earth. Others, who had lived a pious, juft, and temperate life, and at last di ed by sickness, were to be admitted, after the neceffary purification, into Gimle, a bright and happy manfion, where they fhould live for ever: whilft they who bad, in this life, been guilty of great crimess (among which perjury, adultery, and affaffination, were reckoned the moft heinous) were to be con figned to Hela, where they fhould remain in punishment till the twilight of the gods; a term by which is denoted a general reftitution of all things, when after the burning of the world, a new period of

exiftence

exiftence will commence." Now, my kind reader, you have under your eye, at once, the religion of the Celts, comprehending the Gauls, Britons, Germans, and the various nations of the North. The Edda, their Bible, contains their religion. You here fee, among thefe nations, no idea of eternal mifery; but on the contrary, their united belief of a universal restoration of all things to order, purity, and happiness.

The ancient religion of the Greeks, we have in the writings of Orpheus, to this effect, p. 120, 121, of the forementioned hiftory: "God, from all eternity, contained within himself the unformed principles of the material world, and confifted of a compound nature, active and paffive. By the energy of the active principle, he fent forth from himself, at the commencement of a certain finite period, all material and spiritual beings, which partake, in different "degrees, of the divine nature. All beings proçe eding originally from God, will, after certain purgations, return to him. The univerfe itself will be destroyed by fire, and afterwards renewed." How far were the ancient Greeks from believing in eternal fin and mifery! How much more rational and confiftent theologians and religionifts were they, than thousands of Chriftians of the prefent age, though bleffed with a revelation, which they boast in as com ing from God!

The later Greeks, and the Romans, who adopted the Greek theology and philofophy, ftill retained