Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

248 INFLUENCE OF SCRIPTURE1289. ^^It has, however, been alleged by learned men, with convincingarguments of probability, Mliut the principal deities of all the Gentilenations resembled each other extremely, in their essential characters;and if so, their receiving the f^amc names could not introduce much confusioninto mythology, since they were probably derived from one commonsource. If the Tltor of the ancient Celts was the same in dignity, character,and attributes withthe Jupiter of the Greeks and Ilomans, wherewas the impropriety of giving him the same name 'I Dies Jovis is stillthe Latin form for our Tlior's day. When the Greeks found in othercountries deities that resembled their own, they persuaded the worshippersof those foreign gods that their deities were thein Greece, and were, indeed, themselves convincedIn consequence of this,same that were honouredthat this was the case.the Greeks gave the names of their gods to thoseof other nations, and the Ilomans in this followed their example.Hencewe find the names of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Yenus, &c. frequentlymentioned in the more recent monuments and inscriptions which havebeen found among the Gauls and Germans, though the ancient inhabitantsof those countries had worshipped no gods under such denominations.'^Quotation from Gihhon.1290. ^^ The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concernedreligion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened,and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects.modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were allThe variousconsideredby the people as equally true ; by the philosopher, as equally false ; andby the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced, notonly mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.1291. ^^The superstition of the people was not imbittered by any mixtureof theological rancour; nor was it confined by the chains of any speculativesystem. The devout polytheist, though fondly attached to hisnational rites, admitted with implicit faith the different religions of theearth. Fear, gratitude, and curiosity, a dream or an omen, a singulardisorder, or a distant journey, perpetually disposed him to multiply thearticles of his belief, and to enlarge the list of his protectors. The thintexture of the pagan mythology was interwoven with various, but not dis-• cordant, materials. As soon as it was allowed that sages and heroes, whohad lived, or who had died, for the benefit of their country, were ex-.alted to a state of power and immortality, it was universally confessed thatvthey deserved, if not the adoration, at least the reverence, of all mankind.'The deities of a thousand groves and a thousand streams possessed, inpeace, their local and respected influence; nor could the Eoman, who deprecatedthe wrath of the Tiber, deride the Egyptian who presented his(Offering to the beneficent genius of the Nile. The visible powers of natture,the planets, and the elements, were the same throughout the universe