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the writings of the Greeks and Romans, have been believed to be the sole guides in this enquiry, and from thence naturally arose a distaste towards it. Indeed, to say nothing of the difficulty of uniting, correcting and reconciling the different passages of ancient authors, it is well known that mankind are in no instance so little inclined to do justice to one another, as in what regards any difference of Religion. And what satisfaction can a lover of truth find in a course of reading wherein ignorance and partiality appear in every line? Readers who require solid information and exact ideas, will meet with little satisfaction from these Greek and Roman authors, however celebrated. Divers circumstances may create an allowed prejudice against them. We find that those nations who pique themselves most on their knowledge and politeness, are generally those, who entertain the falsest and most injurious notions of foreigners. Dazzled with their own splendor, and totally taken up with self-contemplation, they easily persuade themselves, that they are the only source of every thing good and great. To this we may attribute that habit of referring every thing to their own manners and customs which anciently characterized the Greeks and Romans, and caused them to
