elements of man's early condition, and is utterly incompatible with any other supposed commencement of his subsequently devious career.

Again: the origin of idolatry will never be understood while the investigation is confined to the character of the human mind or the history of the human race, without a distinct recognition of man's exposure to Satanic influence and aggression. It might as reasonably be attempted to write a History of England whilst ignoring the Norman Conquest, or a System of Physics without reference to gravitation, as to give a consistent and rational account of the origin of idolatry in the absence of all reference to Satan, its real author and object. It may be said, "This is unscientific and unphilosophical." But is it not in perfect accordance with the purest science, and the soundest philosophy, to apply all truth to useful purposes, and, by the judicious adaptation of ascertained principles to cognate subjects, to solve apparent mysteries, unravel difficulties, and make that clear and plain which was before confused and obscure? Why, then, should this mode of proceeding be prohibited in respect of the truths of the holy scriptures by those who admit their Divine origin? Sceptics and infidels may decline such a method: it is their consistent habit so to do. But why should those who make the undoubted verity of God's holy word the basis of their highest hopes and dearest interests, hesitate to apply its teaching to the great problems presented by all the aspects of the world's religion?

In the investigation of the origin and character of idolatry, this aid is essential. The moment we enter on this study, we are met by such questions as these:-"What were the origin and design of bloody sacrifices? Why were they universal, when the most profound sages were ignorant of their origin and object? Why was the form of the serpent, above every other, consecrated to supreme elevation and honour ?" These and many other queries cannot be solved by any study of human nature or human history. No recondite researches into ancient mythology, no laboured exploration

into the poetry or religion of the primitive nations, will afford a satisfactory answer. To understand the origin, object, and character of idolatry, we must pass beyond the twilight of mere human intelligence and induction, and, standing in the full glory of revealed truth, contemplate the primitive condition and early history of mankind. Here we learn our glorious origin, and the mighty agencies with which our nature, in the outset of its career, was brought into contact; mark the fearful change wrought in man's moral nature, and watch its terrible results, until we see him turn away from the God of his life, and bow in profane adoration before the most filthy impersonations of his foul destroyer.

In this light we see that the relentless foe of God and man did not quit his prey, when covered with guilt, and involved in condemnation. It may be fairly questioned whether any crisis in the affairs of the human race stands invested with more terrible grandeur than this. Here we see that as Divine Mercy interposed the scheme of redemption for the salvation of man, the arch-foe not only opposed its principles and its progress by a wide range of malignant effort, but, in a manner at once daring and insidious, he devised idolatry, and succeeded in introducing it into the world, as a means of wresting the spiritual dominion of mankind from the Mediator-Deity, and establishing himself as "the god of this world." This was the agency under which idolatry was introduced, and rose into influence and power; and throughout its almost infinite range of developement, the evil and debasing character of its author is legibly imprinted upon all its numerous deities, doctrines, rites, and religious observances.

Our limits forbid any extended proof of these statements. It may, however, be necessary to observe that the primitive progress of man in purity and religion is an undoubted doctrine of the Bible. Learned men may, indeed, persist in asserting that "Fetichism, or the worship of the material elements, was the universal religion of the earliest inhabitants of the earth:" and this has been done so frequently

and so confidently, that it has to a great extent been admitted by incautious and inconsiderate readers. Nothing, however, can be more opposed to the history of every primitive nation, as well as to the explicit declarations of holy writ, than this notion. It has been already shown, that all ancient testimony proves the condition of man in the outset of his career to have been one of religion, happiness, and moral elevation. The word of God fully confirms this view, and assures us that idolatry did not arise in a season of ignorance, but when men "knew God;"-that it could not, therefore, have been a primitive religion of man, but a superinduced corruption;-that it arose not so much from intellectual obliquity as from spiritual unfaithfulness,—not so much from the influence of a debased mind as from an affectation of wisdom: for it was when men "knew God," that "they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." (Rom. i. 21-23.) It is also declared with equal explicitness that in ancient times the Heathen offered "their sacrifices unto devils." (Lev. xvii. 7.)

Clearly as these points are ascertained, it is not so easy to state when, and under what circumstances, this abomination arose. It has been already shown that Jewish tradition ascribes the introduction of idolatry to the days of Enos in the antediluvian period. Whatever doubt may rest on the statement of Maimonides, it must be admitted that it is so consistent in all its parts, and in such exact accordance with the general teaching of antiquity on the subject, as to stand invested with a high degree of probability of its being, at least in its main particulars, an approximation to the truth.t

But whatever was the religious condition of the human

* "Patriarchal Age," pp. 276-278.

See note A, p. 53.

race before the Deluge, it is certain that there must have been a commencement of idolatry subsequent to that event. Here we meet with one fact nearly amounting to a demonstration, that the postdiluvian origin of this evil is restricted to a comparatively short period: Idolatry must have arisen before the Dispersion. "The various systems of Pagan idolatry in different parts of the world correspond so closely, both in their evident purport and in numerous points of arbitrary resemblance, that they cannot have been struck out independently in the several countries where they have been established, and must all have originated from a common source. But if they all originated from a common source, then either one nation must have communicated its peculiar theology to every other people in the way of peaceful and voluntary imitation; or that same nation must have communicated it to every other people through the medium of conquest and violence; or, lastly, all nations must, in the infancy of the world, have been assembled together in a single region and in a single community, must, at that period and in that state, have agreed to adopt the theology in question, and must thence, as from a common centre, have carried it to all quarters of the globe.

"These are the only three modes in which the universal accordance of the Gentiles in their religious speculations can be accounted for. But as the incredibility of the first, and the equal incredibility and impossibility of the second, may be shown without much difficulty, the third alone remains to be adopted."* The assertion, therefore, that idolatry arose before the Dispersion, is justified.

This fact is, moreover, sustained by explicit proof from the inspired records. Babel, or Babylon, is well known to have been the seat of the world's population prior to the Dispersion. This locality is rendered infamous in the Bible as the place whence this foul evil arose, and radiated to poison the nations. "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth

* FABER'S "Origin of Pagan Idolatry," Preface.

drunken the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them." (Jer. li. 7, 17.) The New Testament affords similar evidence. Without at all impugning the application of the Apocalyptic prophecies to the Roman Antichrist, we hold that the terms in which they are couched derive point and power only from their previous connexion and import. Hence, when we read of "Babylon the great, the MOTHER of harlots and abominations of the earth;" (Rev. xvii. 5;) and, "Babylon the great is fallen :-for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication;" (Rev. xviii. 3;) we have marked intimations of the primitive scene, and principal seat, of idolatry, the greatest invasion of the prerogatives of Heaven.

Having thus ascertained by undoubted induction, confirmed as it is by scripture proof, the period and place whence idolatry originated, we may proceed another step, and elicit from the great and common principles of all Heathen mythology some notion of the ruling elements of unhallowed feeling and corrupt imagination, which generated the evil of which we speak. In this effort it will be of consequence for us to recognise the important fact, that in all ages Satanic error has been most successful when presented to the human mind as a perversion of truth. Faber justly observes, "The human mind rarely tolerates any great changes if they be violent and sudden, particularly in matters of religion. It seems natural to suppose that this great apostasy was not a violent and abrupt setting aside of true religion; that it was not a sudden plunge from the worship of Jehovah into the grossness of rank idolatry. I should rather apprehend, that it must have commenced with a specious perversion of sound doctrine and with an affectedly devout adoption of authorized rites and ceremonies and phraseology."* This judgment of an experienced

* FABER'S "Origin of Pagan Idolatry," vol. i. p. 100.