of the East, will any man venture to affirm, that it happens by chance? "1. The Doctrine of the Trinity.-The Hindoos believe in one God, Brahma, (the Creator of all things,) and yet they represent him as subsisting in three persons; and they worship one or other of these persons in every part of India. And what proves distinctly that they hold this doctrine is, that their most ancient representations of the deity are formed of one body and three faces. The most remarkable of these is that at the caves of Elephanta, in an island near Bombay. The author visited it in the year 1808; nor has he seen any work of art in the East, which he contemplated with greater wonder, whether considered with respect to its colossal size, its great antiquity, the beauty of the sculpture, or the excellence of the preservation. From causes which cannot now be known, the Hindoos have long ceased to worship at this temple. Each of the faces of the triad is about five feet in length. The whole of the statue, and the spacious temple which contains it, is cut out of the solid rock of the mountain. The Hindoos assign to these works an immense antiquity, and attribute the workmanship to the gods. The temple of Elephanta is certainly one of the wonders of the world, and is, perhaps, a grander effort of the ingenuity of man, than the pyramids of Egypt. "Whence, then, have the Hindoos derived the idea of a triune God? It should seem as if they had heard of the Elohim of revelation in the first chapter of Genesis, Let us make man.' "2. The Doctrine of the incarnation of the Deity.The Hindoos believe that one of the persons in their trinity, and that, too, the second person, was mani.. fested in the flesh.' Hence their fables of the Avatars or incarnations of Vishnoo. And this doctrine is found over almost the whole of Asia. Whence, then, originated this idea that God should become man and take our nature upon him?' The Hindoos do not consider that it was an angel merely that became man, but God himself. Can there be any doubt that the fabulous incarnations of the Eastern mythology are derived from the real incarnation of the Son of God, or from the prophecies that went before it? Jesus, the Messiah, is the true Avatar. "3. The Doctrine of a Vicarious Atonement for Sin, by the Shedding of Blood. To this day, in Hindoostan, the people bring the goat or kid to the temple, and the priest sheds the blood of the innocent victim. Nor is this peculiar to Hindoostan; for throughout the whole East, the doctrine of a sacrifice for sin seems to exist in one form or other. Ever since Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain;' ever since Noah, the father of the new world, offered burnt offerings on the altar,' sacrifices have been offered up in almost every nation, as if for a constant memorial to mankind, that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.' are contrary to the light of nature. Every where in the East there appears to be a counterfeit of the true doctrine. The inhabitants have lost sight of the only true God, and they apply their traditional notions to false gods. These doctrines are unquestionably relics of the first faith of the earth; they bear the strong characters of God's primary revelation to man, which neither the power of man, nor time itself hath been able to destroy; but which have endured from age to age, like the works of nature, the moon and stars, which God hath created, incorruptible." "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a scason; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of reward."-HEB. XI. 24-26. AT the period referred to, it is evident that Moses was an inmate of the palace, and a most distinguished member of the family of Pharaoh; and by what train of events he, who was the son of two obscure and degraded Hebrew slaves, had risen to such princely grandeur, it is unnecessary to explain by any lengthened details, familiar as every one is with the incidents of that interesting story-the exposure of the little innocent on the banks of the Nile-his discovery by the princess-the remarkable providence, by which he was restored to the fostering care of his mother, and the dignified place which the daughter of Pharaoh assigned him, in respect of herself and the royal family. It is sufficient simply to direct the reader's attention to the fact mentioned by the apostle, that having probably no child of her own, she solemnly adopted him as her son, had influence to procure a public and legal acknowledgement of his title to succeed as her heir to all the honours and the privileges of the throne, and gave him the name by which he has ever since been known-a name significant, as was customary in ancient times, and in Eastern countries, of the peculiar circumstances of his early years, and of her claims to his filial duty, so that being thus received into the household, and honoured with a name by his adopted parent, he was, throughout the whole land of Egypt, regarded and called "the son of Pharaoh's daughter.' Now, in order to form a proper idea of the condition of Moses, and the powerful obstacles that lay in the way of his making common cause with his kindred, it must be borne in mind, that Egypt was at that time the greatest and most flourishing kingdom in the world; and that, if to be invested with authority and honour in a petty and inconsiderable state, be a prospect tempting to the ambition of the human mind, how much more must the ambition of a worldly person have been "4. The Influence of the Divine Spirit on the minds of men. In the most ancient writings of the Hindoos, some of which have been published, it is asserted that the divine Spirit or light of holy knowledge' influences the minds of men. And the man who is the sub-fired with the prospect of obtaining the sovereign power ject of such influence is called the man twice born.' Many chapters are devoted to the duties, character, and virtues of the man twice born.' "Other doctrines might be illustrated by similar analogies. The characters of the Mosaic ceremonial law pervade the whole system of the Hindoo ritual and worship. Now, if these analogies were merely partial or accidental, they would be less important; but they are not casual, as every man who is versed in the Holy Scriptures, and in Oriental Mythology, well knows. They are general and systematic. Has it ever been alleged, that the light of nature could teach such doctrines as those we have enumcrated? Some of them in a country to which all others looked up as the mother of sciences, the nursery of arts, the emporium of commerce, the favourite residence of all that stood high in the estimation of the age. To have been simply a native of Egypt was sufficient, as Josephus tells us, to make one's fortune in any of the then countries of the world. Think, then, how commanding must have been the situation, how extensive the influence, how exalted the honour of swaying the sceptre of such a country— whose court was resorted to by all the learned of the world, and which had at command all the refinements and luxuries which nature or art could yield! Of a fortune so splendid as this, Moses was the heir. He had already been placed in that dignified attitude by the only individuals who had the right to nominate the successor to the crown; he had, through the influence of his royal patroness, been acknowledged as the heirapparent by the people at large, and no obstacle, therefore, from that quarter could have stood in the way of his claims, had he only, in the language of the world, been true to himself, had he possessed the wisdom to maintain his position, and been sensible of the honour of his royal connections. Nor was there any impediment ever likely to arise on the score of his birth; for, obnoxious though the whole pastoral tribes were to the natives of Egypt, and sharing, as Moses must naturally have done, in the general odium that fell on his race, yet time, and his Egyptian education, had entirely removed all the prejudices that might have been secretly harboured against him from his having sprung from a degraded caste; and, consequently, he had just as little reason to anticipate any difficulty in mounting the vacant throne of the Pharaohs on the side of the people as of their royal masters. Moreover, in addition to those incentives, which arose from the road to power being so patent and easy, a generous and patriotic mind would, in the circumstances of Moses, have cherished a longing desire for the influence of royalty, for the magnanimous purpose of relieving his countrymen from the servile condition to which the cruel policy of his predecessors had reduced them, and of placing them on a footing of honourable equality with the rest of his subjects. Had Moses, therefore, been actuated by worldly principles, he had every motive that could inflame his ambition as a man, or animate his patriotism as a Hebrew, to be desirous of continuing "to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." A great change, however, occurred in his temporal condition and prospects; and although the apostle has employed a variety of expressions to indicate the nature and consequences of that change, to each of which we shall advert in succession, it may be proper here, in one word, to observe that it consisted in his renouncing his connection with the royal family, and resolving to cast in his lot with the people of Israel. There can be little difficulty in conceiving the means by which he came to the knowledge of his extraction, and to cherish such an attachment to the faith of his fathers, as led to the voluntary and unconditional surrender of all the honours of his royal condition. It is well known that he spent his earliest years under the care of his own natural parents, who being themselves imbued with the fear of God, and cherishing, as his true people do, an earnest solicitude about the spiritual as well as temporal interests of their offspring, would, there can be little doubt, take many opportunities of instilling into his infant mind a hatred of the abominations of Egyptian idolatry, and a knowledge of the principles of the true religion, together with those precious promises which the Lord had made to them and their kindred as his peculiar people. Nor would they fail to make him acquainted with the stratagem by which they saved him from the fate of the other Hebrew boys, and with the arrangements through which he was destined to be separated from them, and to pass his maturer years within the precincts of the palace. And oh! with what earnestness of tone and gesture, may we suppose that these pious Hebrews, while they looked upon their son as the last earthly hope of Israel, would paint to his young imagination, the moral dangers that beset that splendid scene, and exhort, and persuade, and implore him to remember his Creator in the days of his youth, and to turn neither to the right hand nor to the left from the way in which they had taught him to go. Counsels such as these, given in the interesting circumstances of their foundling child, and enforced with all the fervour of parental solicitude, would entwine themselves with the earliest associations of his mind; and established as they were in their influence over the strongest feelings of his heart, by the power of divine grace; not all the fascinations of the court, not all the seductive examples of those with whom he was linked by the tenderest ties of duty and gratitude; not all the imposing solemnities of the Egyptian ritual, nor the still more engrossing charms of the wisdom of the Egyptians, "could seduce his bosom to forego" the simple and sublime principles of the true religion which he had learned in the hovel of the Hebrew slaves. Looking with a calm and observant eye on the race from whom he had sprung, and the people with whom his destiny seemed to have allied him, on the pure faith of the one, and the dark ceremonial of the other, on the virtues of his Hebrew brethren, which the furnace of affliction served only to exhibit in greater brightness, and the gross impurities and crimes that stained the character of his adopted countrymen, he was at no loss to perceive which were the people of God; and believing that, whatever light afflictions might press on them for a time, an eternal weight of glory would be theirs only who were devoted to Him, his pious mind formed the magnanimous resolution that, cost what it might, he would, in the face of Egypt and of the world, refuse "to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." It cannot be supposed, however, consistent with the meek character of Moses, and with the pious principles under which he acted, that, by an abrupt and precipitate flight, he would break all connection with his royal benefactress, and treat with disdainful contempt all the kind and conciliatory efforts which the affection of that amiable princess might make to shake his resolution, and attach him to herself. No; it was not in some fit of peevishness or sullen disappointment that he took that step, which he found it afterwards impossible to retrieve; nor was it rendered necessary by that generous, though impetuous, act of patriotism he performed, when he vindicated the cause of an oppressed countryman, and was obliged to consult his safety in a foreign land. His refusal to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter was neither a momentary impulse of feeling, nor a sudden act, of which, till he put it in execution, he had given no premonition, but it was the calm and settled purpose of his mind, which had grown with his growth, and strengthened with his strength, and which having been formed and cherished under the influence of faith and prayer, was the natural and inevitable measure of one, who felt that he could not be in his proper element, till he was among a people of one heart and spirit with himself. During the first period of his introduction at court, we may naturally suppose that the novelty and imposing grandeur of the scene, the incense of flattery that would be constantly offered to him, and the wide field of observation and enjoyment which Egyptian science would open to his mind, might draw off his attention, in some degree, from the principles and hopes he had been taught to cherish, and produce many a painful conflict in his mind. But the work of grace, whatever difficulties it might have to contend against, was advancing in his mind. The more that he felt its power, the more did he feel that he could no longer continue in a society, whose principles and ways were so diametrically opposite to his views, and that he must either overlook them with sinful connivance, or sail with the stream, in order to purchase the countenance of those around him. But this to him, who formed his estimate of things by the eye of faith, seeming too high a price at which to gain even the power and honours of a throne, he made up his mind, with every feeling of respect for his royal friend, of gratitude for her maternal attentions, and of solicitude for her welfare, no longer to continue in that state, which gave him the title and the privileges of "the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Nor was it merely the surrender of a princely inhe he surrendered appeal to the strongest principles of our nature, and entwine themselves with the firmest grasp around the desires that are uppermost in the human breast-we must feel convinced, that the self-denial of Moses was a greater act of faith than was exhibited by those heroic spirits who subdued kingdoms, and stopped the mouths of lions, and that his was, indeed, "the victory that overcometh the world." CHRISTIAN TREASURY. Salvation. God is ready to entertain you, and pardon Consider what preparations Mercy has made for your all that you have done against him, if you will but sinned, heinously as you have sinned, he is ready to come. Long as you have sinned, wilfully as you have cast all behind his back, if you will but come. Though you have been prodigals, and run away from God, and have staid so long, he is ready even to meet you, and embrace you in his arms, and rejoice in your conversion swinish drunkard may find God ready to bid them welif you will but turn. Even the earthly worldling and come, if they will but turn and come. Does this not move thy heart within thee? O sinner, if thou hast a heart of flesh, and not of stone in thee, methinks this should melt it. Shall the infinite Majesty of heaven even wait for thy returning, and be ready to receive thee, who has abused him, and forgotten him so long? Shall he delight in thy conversion, that might at any time glorify his justice in thy damnation; and yet does it not melt thy heart within thee, and art thou not yet Hast thou not as much reason to ready to come in? be ready to come, as God has to invite thee, and bid thee welcome? But this is not all: Christ has, upon the cross, opened a way for thee to the Father, that on his account thou mayest be welcome, if thou wilt come. And yet art thou not ready? A pardon is already expressly granted and offered thee in the Gospel; and yet art thou not ready?—BAXTER. ritance, which this resolution of Moses comprised. Had it been only to step from the splendours of a royal station, to retire into the simplicity of private life, there are some, mentioned in the annals of history, who, having made a similar descent, shew, that such a measure, however rare and extraordinary, is not altogether without a parallel. But never since the world began, has there been any other than Moses, who, without any disgust, and from no apprehension of danger, having every reason to anticipate a long and uninterrupted course of prosperity and honour, resigned his claims to a throne, from love to God and fidelity to his service, and placed himself in a condition where he could expect nothing but persecution in its severest form. It was not that the station of eminence to which he had been destined was necessarily incompatible with the maintenance of religious principles and the practice of religious duties for there is no condition in the world where faith may not flourish, and the fruits of piety may not be produced but it was because he saw it was absolutely impossible for him to serve the true God among a people wholly given to idolatry; and, therefore, persuaded as he was that fidelity to the divine service was infinitely more important to his well-being than if he could secure "all the treasures of Egypt," he cast in his lot with those who were the people of God by virtue of a special covenant, but who were in a very different temporal condition from those he had left. It would be superfluous to detail, for who does not know the severe and tyrannical measures by which they were oppressed, by which injury was added to insult, and by which their strength was so greatly enfeebled, and their spirits so much crushed, that there was not one of all that populous race who dared to vindicate their wrongs, or demand a respite from their toils. Suffice it to say, that such was the relentless policy of the government, that even the princes and the leaders of Israel were compelled to labour under the lash of their unfeeling taskmasters. All this, which was well known to Moses, he was prepared to submit to: and whether he was doomed to bear a personal share in all the hardships of his brethren-whether he was driven, like an abject slave, to work in the kiln, and encounter the wasting heats of the furnace or whether the royal partiality might have exempted him from the stern decree that consigned the whole of the Hebrew race to a hopeless servitude-he saw, that in all the afflictions of his people he would be afflicted. But none of all these things moved him; for having weighed in the balance of his judgment all the advantages of the situation he held, and all the difficulties of that for which he exchanged it-knowing, that if he clung to the family of Pharaoh, he must renounce the people of God-and that, if he joined himself to the people of God, he must bid a long farewell to all his greatness-he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;-to make common cause with those whose character and distinction has ever been, that, living by faith in that Saviour who was promised from the foundation of the world, they have, in every age, been separated from the world, and doomed to suffer reproach. How great must have been the strength of that faith, and the integrity of that heart, which could lead one, who enjoyed the highest dignity, the luxuries of literature, the honours of a royal state, to renounce every prospect of fame and distinction, and to part with objects which were likely to take so firm a hold of a young and active mind! All this Moses renounced, esteeming the reproach of Christ a Saviour unknown for many ages after, and descried only by the eye of faith greater than all the riches of Egypt. When we consider the magnitude of that sacrifice, which this heir of royalty made in the cause of religion, and the strength of resolution requisite for making itwhen we consider that the objects and advantages which-PAYSON, The Grace of God.-The grace of God in the heart of man is a tender plant in a strange unkindly soil; and, therefore, cannot well prosper and grow without much care and pains, and that of a skilful hand, and which hath the art of cherishing it.-ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON. Praise. No one need to be told, that the surest method to obtain new favours from an earthly benefactor, is to be thankful for those which he has already bestowed. It is the same with respect to our heavenly benefactor. Praise and thanksgiving are even more prevalent than sacrifice and prayers. I have somewhere met with an account of a Christian, who was shipwrecked upon a desolate island, while all his companions perished in the waves. In this situation, he spent many days in fasting and prayer, that God would open a way for his deliverance, but his prayer received no answer. At length, musing on the goodness of God, in preserving him from the dangers of the sea, he resolved to spend a day in thanksgiving and praise for this and other favours. Before the conclusion of the day a vessel arrived, and restored him in safety to his friends and his country. Another instance, equally in point, we find in the history of Solomon. At the dedication of the temple, many prayers were made, and many sacrifices offered, without any token of divine acceptance. But when singers and players on instruments began as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, saying, "for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever;" then the glory of the Lord descended and filled the temple. The reason why praise and thanksgiving are thus prevalent with God, is, that they, above all other duties, glorify him. "Whoso offereth praise," saith he, glorifieth and those who thus honour him he will honour. me; SACRED POETRY. PRAYER. PRAYER is the soul's sincere desire, Unutter'd or exprest; The motion of a hidden fire, That trembles in the breast. The falling of a tear; Prayer is the simplest form of speech Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, His watchword at the gates of death, In word, and deed, and mind, Nor prayer is made on earth alone, An Jesus on the eternal throne O Thou by whom we come to God, MONTGOMERY. I Importance of habitual consistency in the Ministers of the Gospel." It is impossible," says the late Dr Adam Clarke, "that a minister of God should ever be a private man; even in his most trivial intercourse with others, it is never forgotten what his office is: the habit of every one's mind is to expect information or example from the company and conduct of a public minister. Such as we (ministers) are constantly living under the observation of mankind, and he who is always observed, should never venture on dubious conduct, or suppose, for a moment, that what he does in the view of another, can ever be a matter of indifference, or regarded as a trifle. I will tell you a curious circumstance that happened to me a few years ago:-I was about to set off from London to Ireland; a friend desired me to take charge of a young lady to Dublin, to which I readily agreed, and she was sent to me at the coach. soon found, from her conversation, that she was a Roman Catholic; and I also quickly perceived that she had been led to entertain a very high opinion of me. After we had travelled some distance, talking occasionally on various subjects, the daylight began to sink fast away, when she took out of her reticule a small Catholic book of prayers, and commenced most seriously her evening devotions. While she was reading, such thoughts as these occurred to me, 'I believe this lady to be sincere in her religious creed, which I think to be a very dangerous one; she appears to be of an ingenuous temper, and to feel much personal respect for me; is there not here, then, a good opportunity, as well as subject, to exercise my influence, and to deliver her, if possible, from her erroneous creed?' 'But,' continued I in my thoughts, was she not intrusted to my care? would her friends have so intrusted her, had they ever suspected that an attempt at proselytism would be made? Would not the attempt be a breach of trust? and should I be a morally honest man, even if ultimate good were to accrue to Miss .?' I instantly felt that my own honesty must be preserved, though the opportunity of apparent good might be lost. In a short time Miss closed her book with this observation, We Catholics, Dr Clarke, think it much better to believe too much than too little.' I replied, 'But, madam, in our belief we should recollect that we never should yield our assent to what is contradictory in itself, or to what contradicts other ascertained truths.' This was the only observation I made that looked at all toward Catholicism; in process of time we arrived at our journey's end, and I deposited her safely in the hands of her friends. From that time, till about two till we met in years ago, I never heard of Miss the following way: I had been preaching at Chelsea Chapel, and entering the vestry, after the service, a lady followed me, shook hands, spoke with much emotion, and said, 'Do you not recollect me, Dr Clarke? I am Miss whom you kindly took care of to Ireland. I was then a Roman Catholic, now I am a Protestant, and have suffered much in consequence of the change.' I inquired how the alteration in her views was effected, and she gave me, in detail, the account which I shall shortly sum up to you. When she heard to whom she was about to be intrusted, she resolved closely to watch and observe this well known Protestant minister; she was pleased with the conversation, and with the friendliness shewn to her, and was so struck with the observation I had made in the coach, that she said it absolutely afterwards haunted her; caused her to examine and think for herself, and, at last, led her to freedom from her thraldom. But,' said she, I should never have been induced to examine, had it not been for the examination I had previously made of you. From the first moment you entered the coach I watched you narrowly; I thought now I have a fair opportunity of knowing something of these Protestants and I will judge if what I have heard of them be true. Every word, every motion, every look of yours, Sir, was watched with the eye of a lynx: I felt you could not be acting a part, for you could not suspect that you were so observed. sult of all was-your conduct conciliated esteem, and removed prejudice; your one observation on belief, led me to those examinations, which the Spirit of God has blessed to my conversion: and I now stand before you, the convert of your three days' behaviour between London and Dublin.' 'You see from this account,' continued Dr C., how much all ministers should ever feel themselves as public men; how cautious should be their conduct; and how guarded their conversation. Had I attempted to proselytize this lady, all her prejudices would have been up in arms; had my behaviour been unbecomingly light, or causelessly austere, she would have been either disgusted or repelled, and her preconceived notions of Protestants would have been confirmed: she saw and heard what satisfied her. Thus, even in social intercourse, the public minister may, and should always be, the CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR.'" The re Published by JonN JOHNSTONE, at the Offices of the SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, 2, Hunter Square, Edinburgh, and 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISHET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; W. CURRY, Junr. & Co., Dublin; and W. M'COMB, Belfast; and sold by the Booksellers and Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and in the principal Towns in England and Ireland. Subscribers in Edinburgh and Leith will have their copies delivered at their own residences regularly, by leaving their addresses with the Publisher.-Subscribers in Glasgow will, in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 19, Glassford Street. Subscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks, 1s. Gd.-per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 6s.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in a printed wrapper, price Sixpence. ON THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE REVELATION. No. II. BY THE REV. GEORGE GARIOCH, Minister of Meldrum. "Jesus saith unto him. I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me."-JOHN XIV. 6. THE history of mankind, when traced up to the period which immediately succeeded the fall, affords a lamentable proof, not only of their moral guilt, but of their ignorance of God. The very first religious act which is recorded in the book of Genesis, as having been performed by Cain, the oldest of the sons of Adain, was the presentation of "an offering" unto the Lord, and in relation to it, the sacred historian says, "unto Cain and his offering," God" had not respect." There is every reason to believe, that it was ignorance of the holy nature of God, and of the manner in which he is to be approached by guilty creatures, that led Cain to present an unacceptable gift. During the long period which elapsed between the fall, when sin was introduced into the world, and the deluge, when iniquity had advanced with such fearful rapidity as to have converted the whole earth into one horrid mass of sensuality, profligacy, and ungodliness, which could no longer be permitted to exist before the holy and righteous Creator, it is to be remarked, that, in addition to Abel, who presented an acceptable offering unto the Lord, there are only two of the antediluvian patriarchs, Enoch and Noah, who are said to have "walked with God." Noah, however, enjoyed the privilege of a personal revelation of the will of God, a privilege which, at a subsequent period, was bestowed on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But even at this early period of the world, whenever such revelations were long withheld, the grossest darkness and ignorance prevailed among mankind. The posterity of Jacob, groaning under the miseries of Egyptian bondage, would have sunk at length under the deplorable superstition and idolatry of their oppressors, had they not been delivered by the special interposition of God. Moses received a personal revelation, and to him were, at length, committed the precepts of the moral law. During many succeeding periods of VOL. II. PRICE 1d. Jewish history, revelations from heaven were made to the servants of God: prophets arose, and the Old Testament Scriptures were committed to writing. Whatever knowledge, then, of the nature of the true God may have existed, at different times, among the people of Israel, it cannot be looked upon as the product of the human mind. Proceeding, therefore, to an examination of the records of profane history, it will not be very difficult to shew, that human reason is incapable of conducting mankind to the knowledge of the true God; and that one of the most constant and melancholy proofs of original apostasy, is their profound ignorance of the principles of true religion. The mind of man can never be in a neutral or quiescent state, in regard to a supreme object of veneration. Hence, whenever a true and spiritual acquaintance with the nature and perfections of the great and glorious Creator is lost, it speedily adopts very degrading and revolting ideas of supernatural power. It becomes the dupe of its own hopes and fears, and their combined production has been that diversified system of superstition and idolatry, which has spread over all the limits of the heathen world. One of the earliest transitions in the mind of fallen man, from the worship of the true God, was to the adoration of those works of his power, from which the race imagined they obtained the greatest accessions of comfort and enjoyment. The sun is one of the most wonderful of the material works of God,the source of light and heat; under the influence of his benignant rays the fruits of the earth advance to maturity, and his presence diffuses hilarity and joy over the life of man. The absence of his light is, in some degree, supplied by the moon and stars. The knowledge of the great Creator himself being lost through ages of spiritual darkness, and the benefits being so apparent which the inhabitants of the world derive from the great luminaries of the firmament, these luminaries became the earliest objects of idolatry. We find from the Old Testament history, that they were worshipped among the heathen nations, whom the Israelites were enjoined to destroy, previously to their settlement in the land of Canaan; and the high places, the groves, and the altars taken |