above described, by which the ancients are held to have arrived at their knowledge, I request the statement of a more rational theory.
I shall now proceed to shew, that the doctrines which I have here laid down were disseminated among all nations, and first that the Sun or solar fire was the sole object of the worship of all nations either as God himself, or as emblem or shekinah of the Supreme Being.
CHAPTER III.
THE SUN THE FIRST OBJECT OF ADORATION OF ALL NATIONS.—THE GODS NOT DECEASED HEROES.—THE CHINESE HAVE ONLY ONE GOD.—HINDOO GODDESSES.—TOLERATION AND CHANGE IN RELIGIONS.
1. On the first view of the mythological systems of the Gentiles, the multitude of their gods appears to be infinite, and the confusion inextricable. But if a person will only consider the following chapters carefully, and without prejudice, he will probably discover a system which, in some degree, will unravel their intricacies, will reconcile their apparent contradictions, will explain the general meaning of their mysteries, and will shew the reason why, among the various religions in later times, toleration so universally prevailed. But yet it is not intended to attempt, as some persons have done, a complete development of the minutiæ of the mysteries, or to exhibit a perfect system attended with an explanation of the ceremonies and practices which the Heathens adopted in the secret recesses of their temples, which they guarded from the prying eye of the vulgar with the greatest care and the most sacred oaths; and which have long since been buried amidst the ruins of the finest buildings of antiquity—lamentable sacrifices to the zeal, bigotry, and fury of the Iconoclasts, or of the professors of Christianity.
Few persons have exhibited more learning or ingenuity on the subject of the ancient worship than Mr. Bryant and M. Dupuis: and whatever opinion people may entertain of different parts of their works, or of some of their hypotheses, yet they can scarcely refuse assent to their general assertions, that all the religions of antiquity, at least in their origin, are found to centre in the worship of the Sun, either as God the Creator himself, or as the seat of, or as the emblem of Creator.
Socrates, Pythagoras, Plato, Zoroaster or Zeradust, &c., and all those initiated in the most secret mysteries, acknowledged one supreme God, the Lord and First Cause of all. And perhaps, though it can never be certainly known, those who only received the lesser mysteries,[1] might confine their worship to the sun and the host of heaven; but it was only the vulgar and ignorant who bent the knee to the stone, wood, or metal idols of the gods, perhaps only a little more numerous than the images of the Christian saints.
2. It has until lately been the general opinion, that the gods of the ancients were nothing but the heroes or the benefactors of mankind, living in very illiterate and remote ages, to whom a grateful posterity paid divine honours. This appears at first sight to be probable; and as it has
- ↑ An interesting account of the mysteries of the Heathens will be found in Part II. of Vol. II. of Dupuis’s History of all Religions.
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