fouls of wicked men, who are conftantly doing ill. The inland negroes acknowledge one fupreme being, creator of all things; attributing to him infinite power, infinite knowledge, and ubiquity. They believe that the dead are converted into fpirits, termed by them lananini, or protectors, being appointed to guard their parents and relations. The ancient Goths, and feveral other northern nations, acknowledged one fupreme being; and at the fame time worshipped three fubordinate deities; Thor, reputed the fame with Jupiter; Oden, or Woden, the fame with Mars; and Friga, the fame with Venus. Socrates, taking the cup of poifon from the executioner, held it up toward heaven, and pouring out fome of it as an oblation to the fupreme Deity, pronounced the following prayer: "I implore the immortal God that my tranflation may be happy." Then turning to Crito, faid, "O Crito! "I owe a cock to Efculapius, pay it." From this incident we find that Secrates, foaring above his countrymen, had attained to the belief of a fupreme benevolent Deity. But in that dark age of religion, fuch purity is not to be expected from Socrates himself, as to have rejected fubordinate deities, even of the mercenary kind. Different offices being affigned to the Gods, as above mentioned, proper names followed of courfe. And when a god was afcertained by a name, the bufy mind would naturally proceed to trace his genealogy. As unity in the Deity was not an established doctrine in the countries where the Chriftian religion was first promulgated, Christianity could not fail to prevail over Paganifm; for improvements in the mental faculties lead by fure fteps, though flow, to one God. The fixth ftage is, the belief of one fupreme benevolent Deity, as in that immediately foregoing, with many inferior benevolent deities, and one only who is malevolent. As men improve in natural knowledge, and become skilful in tracing caufes from effects, they find much lefs malice and ill-defign than was imagined: humanity * Regnatur omnium Deus, cætera fubjecta atque parentia ; Tacitus de moribus Germanorum, cap. 39. [In English thus "One God the the ruler of all; the reft inferior and fubordinate."] manity at laft prevails, which, in connection with improved knowledge, banishes the fufpicion of ill-defign, in every cafe where an event can poffibly be explained without it. In a word, a fettled opinion of good prevailing in the world, produced conviction among fome nations, lefs ignorant than their neighbours, and lefs brutal, that there is but one malevolent fubordinate deity, and good fubordinate deities without number. The ancient Perfians acknowledged two principles; one all good and all powerful, named Hormuz, and by the Greeks corruptly Oromazes; the other evil, named Abariman, and by the Greeks Arimanes. Some authors affert, that the Perfians held thefe two principles to be coeternal: others, that Oramazes first subsisted alone, that he created both light and darkness, and that he created Arimanes out of darkness. That the latter was the opinion of the ancient Perfians, appears from their Bible, termed the Sadder; which teaches, That there is one God fupreme over all, many good angels, and but one evil spirit Plutarch acquaints us, that Hormuz and Ahariman, for ever at variance, formed, each of them, creatures of their own ftamp; that the former created good genii, fuch as goodnefs, truth, wifdom, juftice; and that the latter created evil genii, fuch as infidelity, falfehood, oppreffion, theft. This fyftem of theology, commonly termed the Manichean fyftem, is faid to be alfo the religious creed of Pegu, with the following addition, that the evil principle only is to be worfhipped; which is abundantly probable, as fear is a predominant paffion in barbarians. The people of Florida believe a fupreme benevolent Deity, and a fubordinate deity that is malevolent: neglecting the former, who, they fay, does no harm, they bend their whole attention to foften the latter, who, they fay, torments them day and night. The inhabitants of Darian acknowledge but one evil spirit, 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 goodness itself; of whom they have no occafion to ftand in awe, as he is incapable by his his nature to hurt them; that there is alfo 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 refpect 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 any fubordinate deities, benevolent or malevolent. Savages learn early to trace the chain of caufes and effects, with refpect to ordinary events: they know that fasting produces hunger, that labour occafions weariness, 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 difcover, that fuch phenomena, however tremendous, come under the general law of caufe and effect, and that there is no ground for afcribing the.n 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. In maturity of fense and understanding, benevolence appears more and more; and beautiful final caufes are difcovered in many of nature's productions, that formerly were thought ufelefs, or perhaps deftructive: 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 settle at last in a most comfortabe opinion; either that there are are no fuch beings; or that, if they exift and are permitted to perpetrate any mischief, 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 answer the beft purposes. This system is true theology*. Having gone through the different stages of religious belief, in its gradual progrefs toward truth and purity, I proceed to a very important article, viz. The hiftory of tutelar deities. The belief of tutelar deities preceded indeed several of the ftages mentioned, witness the tutelar deities of Greece and Rome; but as it is not connected with any one of them exclusive of the reft, the clearness of method required it to be poftponed 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 disaster, death only excepted, which immortals could not fuffer. The lares, penates, or household-gods, of Indoftan, of Greece, and of Rome, bear witness, 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 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 our only deity, fometimes the fun. Mulciber in Trojam, pro Troja ftabat Apollo: Though the North-American favages recognise a fupreme Being, wife and benevolent, and alfo fubordinate benevolent beings who are intrufted with the government of the world; yet as the great distance of thefe fubordinate beings, and the full occupation they have in general government, are supposed 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 over his enemies. The Natches, bordering on the Miffifippi, offer up the skulls 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. Though they worship the fun, who impartially fhines on all mankind; yet fuch is their partiality, that they confider themselves as his chofen people, and that their enemies are his enemies. A belief so abfurd fhows woful imbecility in human nature. Is it not obvious, that the great God of heaven and earth governs the world by inflexible laws, from whence he never can swerve in any cafe, because they are the best 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 juft notions of the Deity. Totila, recommending to his people juftice and humanity, fays, "Quare fic habete, ea quæ amari ab hominibus folent ita vobis "The rage of Vulcan, and the martial maid, "For Venus guards her favour'd offspring's fate: 66 falva |