man. Lift ye up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Let supplications and giving of thanks "be made for all men, that we may lead a quiet "and peaceful life, in all godliness and honesty, for "this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our "Saviour *. And, when the disciples asked of Christ in what manner they should offer up their petitions to God, how interesting are the instructions which he gives them, and how admirable is the model of prayer which he prescribes! We are oppressed or repelled by no dark and dogmatical injunctions. To whom are we to offer up our supplications? Not to him who is represented solely as the Omnipotent and mysterious Sovereign of nature, whom it is awful and fearful to approach, but to him who is described to us under the endearing and encouraging appellation of "Our Father which is in heaven." For what are we to pray? That his will may be done in earth as it is in heaven; that his kingdom, the kingdom of righteousness and peace, may be established amongst men; that his paternal goodness may supply our daily wants; that his compassion may "forgive

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us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass "against us;" and that his grace may guide us in the hour of infirmity and temptation, and his protecting care may rest upon us and "deliver us from "evil."-In these instructions all is simple, but all is sublime. They recall man to himself and to God. We are reminded of the bodily and spiritual wants of our nature. The genuine source of comfort and of aid is opened to us. The lesson is impressed on the heart, that we must forgive, if we would be

* 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, 3. See also Matt. vii. 7, 9; Luke xxi. 36; Rom. xii. 12; Philip. iv. 6; 1 Thess. v. 17.

forgiven. And we are encouraged, in the purity and humility of the spirit, to address God with that holy confidence in his benignity, which, amid all the changes and chances of this fluctuating scene, may afford rest, and peace, and comfort to our souls.

According, then, to the doctrines of the Gospel, the devotion claimed by the Almighty is not so much an exercise of abstract and contemplative piety, as a pure, sublime, and energetic sentiment, regenerating the hearts and rectifying and ennobling the principles of men.

The splendid sacrifices of kings and potentates are here as nothing. The supplications that issue from upright and holy lips, are here as every thing. No offering from impure hands, no prayer from the polluted bosom, is to be accepted or heard. The love of God which approaches the altar, is to bring there also the love of man; and the piety, if so it may be called, which does not include a principle of obedience to the divine will, which does not chasten and reform all the malignant and wrathful passions of the heart, which does not glow with the mingled flame of devotion and of charity, is but an insult to the Being whom it presumes to supplicate. In this manner is religious inseparably connected with moral duty. The temple of celestial mercy is opened to all who approach it with clean hands and a pure heart. And man is led into an intercourse with his Creator, which, while it confirms his spirit in resignation and hope, sends him forth into the world with views, and motives, and persuasions, that equally contribute to the dignity of his nature, the purity of his conduct, and the happiness of his life.

It has been already observed, that the best and wisest of the sages of antiquity admitted the necessity of a divine revelation to instruct mankind in the duties

of reason, but not to remedy; and the philosophers of the schools were not only to condemn the ignorance and folly demonstrated in the form and in the spirit of the public worship, but openly to avow the deficiency of their own proud and elaborate systems†. Referring, then, to the view which has been just taken, let it be asked, Has this want been supplied, has this darkness been illuminated, has this admitted ignorance been succeeded by truth and wisdom? Do we indeed possess doctrines, on the subject of devotion, in perfect harmony with the nature of God and the necessities of man? Are the temple and the altar no longer to be profaned, under the sanction of religion, by the vile worship of abject servility, of unholy passions, of unsanctified desires, of idolatrous reverence, of a sanguinary faith? Has the meek and lowly Jesus, the despised, uneducated, and unaided child of abasement and want, while he supplied the precepts which the learning and inquiry of so many ages had sought in vain, dissipated the glooms which hung between the creature and the Creator, and perfectly instructed the first in what manner to serve and adore the last? Here, then, we must admit that mere reason, in a Person whose portion was poverty, obscurity, and neglect, was adequate to discover, to promulgate, and to familiarize, truths, which the wisest of uninspired men had been utterly unable to conceive or to approach; or that Christ was, indeed, the messenger of heaven, commissioned to impart to mankind the knowledge of the divine will, and to conduct a benighted and superstitious world from the abject and degraded shrines of idolatry, to the pure temples of the living God.

• Appendix, Note G. G.

CHAPTER VI.

RELIGIOUS RITES AND INSTITUTIONS.

SECT. I.

Religious rites of the Greeks and Romans sometimes beautiful and interesting-Pomp and splendour of those celebrities-The Panathenaa-The general observances of a different character-The rites of Bacchus-The Lupercalia-The Corinthian Venus-Impure and corrupting orgies-The priesthood and the fraternities set apart for the due observance of the religious celebrities— Especial offices of several of the priestly orders-No provision made for the instruction of the people, by any portion of the priestly brotherhood-The system designed for political influence, not moral.

THE legislators of Greece, more earnest to

govern than to instruct mankind, adapted their religious institutions to the purposes of popular indulgence. For the citizen, whose senses and fancy might otherwise have engaged him in more mischievous pursuits, the splendid machinery of an external worship was prepared. Processions, and shows, and festivals, of frequent recurrence, and of varied interest, were to occupy his idleness, or to amuse his curiosity; and his passions were to be absorbed in gay and magnificent observances, which might divert attention from politics to pleasure. Accordingly, the system was gradually matured, of wanton, cheerful, and imposing celebrities, which constituted the boast and delight of the Greek. In

the shade of his porticoes, or in the streets of his cities and villages, he was almost incessantly engaged in ceremonies calculated to gratify his busy and versatile character; and the rites of his worship, however injurious in their influence on his manners and morals, were to become accessory, as was supposed, to the tranquillity of the state, and the views of the legislature.

Of the ceremonies thus interwoven with religion, some, it will be admitted, were beautiful, and, perhaps, salutary, and formed to humanize the multitude, by the associations of cheerful and innocent observances. Sometimes the assembled people were to celebrate the return of the verdure of spring, and the harvests of autumn; and a common gratitude for the gifts of heaven was to be attested by the piety of a common thanksgiving. At other periods, the solemnity was exhibited in honour of characters illustrious for their valour or their virtue, or in laudable commemoration of glorious or happy events. The victories by which invading armies had been repelled; the cessation of a pestilence; the restoration of peace between contending states; the re-establishment of public liberty by the patriot or the sage, were occur+ rences which might periodically call forth the legiti mate and grateful exercise of general piety. Even the more common events of life were to be accom+ panied by rites designed to impress the minds of men with a due sense of the kindness of Providence; and the birth of a child, the enrolment of his name in the list of citizens, and his attested progress in the exer cises of the Gymnasium, were each to be distinguished by some appropriate festival. The young and the old, the parent and the progeny, the individual and the state, were almost equally concerned in these