INTRODUCTION. IT is a fact which we learn from history, that religion of some kind has existed, in every period of time, and among all nations. It can be traced up to the infancy of the Religion of world, and among the fathers of the human race. some kind has The earliest account that has reached us, which always existis that of our sacred scriptures, informs us of its ed. existence even before the origin of nations, while as yet the inhabitants of the globe were one entire community. luvian world. Some few notices appear in that book, of the religious rites of the antediluvian world; as the offerings of Cain and Abel, the practice of prayer, or the profession of religion; mention is also made of the pious cha- In the antediracter of the descendants of Seth; the brief, but touching, story of Enoch's faith is given; and the family of Noah is particularly introduced in connexion with the religion of this period. After the ori gin of nations. After the origin of nations, consequent on the dispersion at Babel, we learn something from the Bible, of the fate of divine institutions, among the separate portions of mankind, so far as these are brought into view in the sacred narrative. In confirmation of the Bible, the earliest fabulous accounts, as they are called, all refer to some kind of religion promulgated by the founders of nations, and held and practised by the latter. Profane history abounds in representations of this nature, and we learn from its pages, how the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and other ancient nations, were committed to the observation of certain religious rites and ceremonies. Their notions and tenets also on this subject have been occasionally transmitted to us, and although these, in most instances, are extremely vague and absurd, they evidently betray a common origin. Thus the universality of religion of some sort, in the earliest ages, is a matter of history and the same impartial guide introduces Through us to an acquaintance with the varying creeds, every age forms, and observances of nations since, whether since. in their rude or civilized condition. All seem to have obeyed that law of the human mind, which bids it to seek repose in some sort of religion. present time. Our knowledge of the different communities of men at the present time, which, by means of improvements in navigation, and facilities in travelling, is nearly universal, And at the confirms the same important truth. Scarcely a tribe, however unenlightened, is found, but that possesses a kind of religious faith. Perhaps, strictly speaking, no one is found without the notion of God, and an invisible or future world; for although some two or three savage communities may have been reported by travellers to be thus destitute, there is reason to believe that further inquiry would show the fact to be otherwise. On the whole, it may be safely asserted to be a condition of mankind, which is essentially universal. If the representations above made are correct, religion may be supposed to be, in some sense, natural to the human species. This is an inference which must readily suggest Hence' religion is in some itself to every reflecting mind. It could not rasense natural tionally be accounted for, that in every period of to man. the world, and among all nations and tribes of men, some notion of God and human accountableness, and certain modes of worship should prevail, without referring religion to a settled law or principle of our common nature. A want surely exists in the human mind, which can be supplied only by some kind of religion. It is a confirmation of the view here taken, that a survey of man as a raThis is confirmed by a tional creature of God, must lead us to believe moral survey that, in some sense, religion is natural to him. of man. "Whoever," says a writer, "seriously reflects on the powers and capacities of the human mind, regarding them as the work of him that doeth nothing in vain, and comparing them with those of the inferior creatures, will readily perceive that man alone was created to be religious. Of all the inhabitants of this earth, none else are capable of attaining any knowledge of their Creator, or of rendering him any worship or praise. Man alone possesses the capacity of distinguishing between truth and falsehood; between moral good and evil; and of receiving instruction in social and relative duties, with the obligation under which he lies to perform them, and the advantages of doing it. He alone is capable of being governed by a law, and of being influenced by the proposal of rewards and punishments; of acting as under the eye of an invisible Observer, and with reference to the future season of retribution." cho But although religion may be said to be thus natural to man, it does not follow that the right thing will always be chosen. The want before spoken of is a general want, But the right and it may seem to be satisfied, though it should religion is not not be in reality, with any and with every form always of religion. We say with every form of reli- sen. gion; for one people at least, viz. the Athenians, always imported the deities and superstitions of every nation with whom they became acquainted, and engrafted them on their own creed. The tendencies of nature to some system of faith and worship, are not a specific and unerring direction to any one system in particular. If they were such a direction, a perfect uniformity would have existed in the theology of all nations. But this we now have occasion to remark is not the case. Notwithstanding religion, in the above respect, is natural to man, a great diversity of religious opinions has We find a prevailed in the world, and different forms and great variety ceremonies have been and still are observed. of religions in The religious notions and practices of mankind the world. early diverged from one another-the sons of men were soon distinguished from the sons of God, the impious from the holy and, notwithstanding the purgation of the world by a flood, and the subsequent re-establishment of one common faith, no sooner did the earth begin to be peopled again, than a diversity of religions took place, each nation and tribe embracing some peculiarity of its own. Such has been the fact, through all the intervening periods of history, to the present day. Each distinct portion of the human family, especially its larger divisions, has had its separate religious dogmas and practices, ranging from pure theism to the grossest idolatry. At the present time, there are at least four general forms, or departments of religious belief among mankind: viz. the Christian, the Jewish, the Mahometan, and the Pagan, which, for the most part, are subdivided into many others. In regard to Paganism, it may be remarked, that it is as various as the separate portions of people that constitute the Gentile world. The causes of this diversity cannot but form an interesting subject of inquiry. The inquisitive mind of man very naturally desires to know, how the same being, with It is interestthe same essential wants, should have fallen upon ing to know religions so unlike, and often, so opposed to one the causes of another. What is there in the circumstances this diversity. of human nature, that can afford a clue to this surprising fact 1. Does the variance spoken of arise merely from chance? f. We are not believers in this phantom, as furnishing a solution It does not of any phenomenon. We do not think that it spring from is the cause of any thing in existence, much less chance. do we suppose that it can account for the variety and difference in the religion of mankind. If accident operated here, it might indeed give a diversity to this propensity of nature, or, it might give to it a uniformity. It were just as likely to effect the one as the other, only it would not be apt to produce a uniformity in variety. It would be infinitely unapt to do this. Yet such seems to be literally the case in the religions of the human species. They uniformly differ from one another, and most of them essentially from the truth. It concerns those who believe in chance as the cause of any thing, or the cause of such a moral phenomenon, to make out the proof. There seems to us to be something extremely absurd in referring to contingency merely, as the cause of an effect, when, by the nature of the word, it neither is, nor can be known as such a cause. stances. 2. Does the above diversity arise from circumstances foreign or external to the mind, such as time, location, climate, Nor from ex- or country? It is not unnatural to suppose that ternal circum- such circumstances might modify, in a small degree, the religions of mankind; but they could not well produce such essential and irreconcilable differences as prevail. Religions exist in perfect diversity or contrariety in situations where we might suppose they would be the same, or nearly the same, so far as the operation of these extraneous causes is concerned. At the same period, in the same climate, under the same government, among a people speaking the same language, there are found often the most dissimilar religions, creeds, and practices. What one class esteems as divine, an-, other abhors as sacrilegious. Where there is little diversity in other respects, such as the features of nature, the form of government, or the civil habits, there is often a wide difference in religion. A Mahometan, whether in Asia or Africa, invokes the impostor, and his credulity flourishes equally well, on the table-lands of the one, as amid the deserts of the other. A Jew is found the same all the world over, and, in religion, owns no communion with his Christian neighbours. Creeds are believed and ceremonies are observed, both of the most opposite kinds, under the same physical and social cir cumstances, 3. Does again the diversity spoken of, proceed from any necessary tendencies of the human mind to difference or opposition? It would be more than could be expected from |