"sin when thou afflictest them, then hear "thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of 66 66 thy servants and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. If there be in "the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be the 66 66 66 caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in "the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, "whatsoever sickness there be; what prayer "and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, "and spread forth his hands toward this "house, then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to 66 66 66 66 every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men ;) that they may fear thee all the g * 1 Kings viii.-It is difficult to show the advantages derived to human society by revelation, because it is necessary for that purpose to institute a comparison between the manners of Heathen and those of Christian states; and the C days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers." former frequently defy description by their indecency and immorality: "it being a shame even to speak of those "things which are done of them." Many even of the ceremonies of heathen worship are of a nature too disgusting to be explained. A comparison of the different degrees of knowledge by human inquiries, and by divine revelation, on those points which are the foundation of all religion, such as the existence and attributes of the Deity, presents no such difficulties. I have here, therefore, thrown together some of the opinions of the most profound heathen philosophers on this subject. Thales, the first who investigated these matters, thought "God a spirit, and that "he “ he made all things from water *." Probably something of tradition or revelation aided the researches of this philosopher. Anaximander held, "that the gods were born "and died at long intervals +." Anaximenes held "the air "to be God, that he was boundless, endless, and always in "action." Anaxagoras was the first that held, that "all "things were arranged and measured out by the power and "understanding of an infinite mind §." Alcmæon imputed "divinity to the moon and stars, and to the soul." Pythagoras made "God a spirit extended through all na"ture, from which our souls are splinters ¶." Parmenides calls God "some circle surrounding the heaven, and main"taining all things by its light and heat **." Protagoras "knows not what to say of the gods, whether they are or *Cic. de Natura Deor. Lib. I. c. 13. + Id. ib. Id. ib. ‡ Id. ib. ** Id. ib. I shall first observe incidentally upon this affecting passage, that the people of Israel are directed to bring their private sorrows, as well as their public calamities, to the house of God, and there pray for relief from them: 66 99 are not; nor of what kind they are or are not *. Democritus "sometimes thought images and their reflections "gods; sometimes that nature which throws off images and "reflections; sometimes our own intelligent principle +." "Of the variations of Plato," says Cicero on this head, "it "is tedious to speak." In one part of the Timæus he says, "that the author of the world cannot be named." In his work De Legibus, "that it is not fit to inquire what God "is." But in other passages of the Timæus, and the work De Legibus, he asserts "the world to be God; and the "heavens, the stars, and the earth, and whatsoever we have "received as such from our ancestors." Xenophon commits the same errors; making Socrates say, that "the form of "God should not be inquired into;" and then, "that he is "the sun and the soul; sometimes that he is one, sometimes "that they are many +." Aristotle is all in confusion: at one time "he attributes divinity to the mind;" at another he asserts "the world to be God;" then "he sets some "other Being over the world ;" and again he asserts "the ❝ light and warmth of heaven to be God §." Contrast these barren speculations with the text cited above, which has given occasion to this note: "Thou, even thou only, "knowest the hearts of all the children of men." Cic. de Natura Deor. Lib. I. c. 13. † Id. ib. + Id. ib. § Id. ib. "What prayer and supplication soever be "made by any man, or by all thy people Is"rael, which shall know every man the plague "of his own heart, and spread forth his "hands toward this house, then hear thou in "heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive.” These, then, were the methods which God thought proper to prescribe, in order to prevent the knowledge of himself from becoming extinct upon earth: a sabbath, a priesthood, and a fixed temple. The success of the institutions visibly justify their adoption, and prove their divine origin. They accomplished their object; for the fact is undeniable, that the knowledge of the true God was preserved among the Jews, not among the learned and inquisitive only of their tribes, but among the whole race universally, till the coming of our Saviour, whilst nations infinitely more cultivated and enlightened in other respects were sunk into the grossest ignorance upon this vital truth. "Thou, 66 even thou only, knowest the hearts of all "the children of men," says Solomon, in the passage above cited, before the assembled nation of the Jews; and where among the most studious and philosophical writers of heathen antiquity is there to be found so full and positive an assurance of the perpetual presence and infinite knowledge of the Deity? Yet were these his essential qualities known to the humblest of the Hebrew race, and continually recited to them on their set days and sabbaths. Surely then, if it were the object of human legislation to preserve the important truths of religion pure and unadulterated, to give them a practical influence over the human mind, no way was so efficacious as to adopt and perpetuate the methods pursued by Divine Wisdom, and of which the success is so clear and incontestable. It is not without reason, therefore, that we find interwoven with our civil polity, and protected by the fundamental laws of the State, those sacred institutions by which, as secondary means, the Jewish people was preserved from the impious worship and corrupt morals of surrounding nations: a sabbath, a priesthood, and fixed places of worship; all in their several degrees, and according to their various natures, detached from secular pursuits and |