( viii )
reason and genius? What was this Religion, but a rude and indigested system, wholly composed of superstitious ceremonies, directed by blind fear, without any fixed principles, without a single view for the good of humanity, without rational consolations, which, although in some circumstances it might arrest the hand, wholly abandoned the heart to all its weaknesses? Who can be afraid of finding among the most savage nations ideas of Religion more disgraceful to human nature, than these?
But perhaps the Grecian Mythology may have been studied, in order to discover the origin of many customs still existing in Europe! It cannot indeed be denied, but that it is often necessary to recur thither, in order to explain some peculiarities of our manners, of which it is easier to discover the cause, than to ascertain the reason.
But doth not a knowledge of the Religions professed by the ancient Celtic ‘and Gothic’ nations lead to discoveries of the same kind, and perhaps to others still more interesting? One generation imitates the preceding; the sons inherit their fathers sentiments, and whatever change time may effect, the manners of a nation always retain traces of the opinions professed by its first founders. Most of the present nations of Europe derive their origin ‘either’ from
