the Roman empire till in the end they overthrew it. Our Saxon ancestors were of this race. They were always opposed to image worship. They gave in the Christian world the cast of character to the Greek Church, in opposition to the church of Rome with her images and the female deity, the Virgin Mary, or Great Mother. To their blood we owe the Reformation. They were always opposed to castes and slavery. Too proud to work, where unblended, they are a half-starved race of marauding hunters. But where mixed with the Celtic tribes, their offspring are the most enterprising and industrious of the human race; as witness the inhabitants of western Europe.

"What nations do you consider the worst in the heathen abominations ?”

Undoubtedly the Canaanites and the surrounding nations, the posterity of Ham. The wickedness of these first came to the full; and they were cut off. But others in process of time were little short of them in every abomination. This corruption of morals flowed from the worship of the female deity, or the two principles of fecundity.

"What animals were the most venerated as symbols or vehicles of the spirit of the Great Father?" The bull, and next to that perhaps the serpent. The serpent was often the symbol of the evil spirit, by whom the Great Father was wounded; and

Python or the Deluge. But these were also considered forms of the Great Father. And hence the serpent symbolized the good principle. When curled round the egg or globe, it signifies the spirit moving on the face of the waters, as well as the Deluge round the earth.

6. "But were there no exceptions either in the priesthood or among the philosophers ?"

Yes: Melchisedec is a remarkable instance; and many philosophers saw how utterly corrupt mankind had become; but they could only utter vain lamentations, and declare them beyond recovery by human means, while some pretended to shake off all belief in religion and give themselves up to atheism.

"Do you not think they had good reason for disbelief in such deities ?"

Why, yes: only their infidelity did not consist in rejecting the tenets of their theology, but belief in the all-seeing presence of God, and a future state of retribution. In short, they denied the immortality of the soul. They struck at the very root of the existence of society. They set kings and tyrants at liberty from the salutary restraint of the dread of Jupiter's avenging thunder. They gaye impunity to disobedience to parents, incest, murder, and licentiousness of every description, and made a sport of blasphemy. Whatever, therefore, the

condition of the human race might be, and however erroneous and even abominable their creed, it is evident that general infidelity would have made the condition of man worse; and where this the most prevailed, the nations first filled up the measure of their sins, and were the first blotted out from the face of the earth.

CHAPTER VI.

THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION.

"What is Revealed Religion?"

It is the duty founded upon the information contained in the Holy Scriptures concerning the existence of the Deity and his attributes, the creation of the human race, and man's condition as it respects the Deity, himself, and his fellow crea

tures.

"When and how was this information obtained?"

It was in various manners and at sundry times vouchsafed to mankind as they stood in need; for man's necessity is God's opportunity. It is the unfolding of the plan of salvation.

"How do you distinguish Revealed from Natural religion?"

Revelation is the key to natural religion. For, however much vain men may boast of the light of nature, without a knowledge of the divine attributes as contained in the Holy Scriptures, nature would have continued to us, as it was to the heathens, an inexplicable labyrinth of difficulties. In short, without this divine information, man could not in

his infant state have existed, although when he gathered strength and knowledge, he erred from it, and struck out a way more indulgent to his passions.

"You say this information is in the Scriptures; when were the Scriptures written?"

The five books of Moses were the first written, and were not commenced till between eight and nine centuries after the Deluge, when the heathen world was in the state above described. Farther additions were made to these through a space of eleven hundred years, till about four centuries before the Christian era. These are the Scriptures of the Old Testament. The New Testament is the history of Jesus Christ, and some portions of that of certain of his disciples after his decease. It also contains various Letters of his Apostles to certain churches established in different parts of the Roman empire, and the book called the Revelation to St. John.

"What is the most prominent feature of the Scriptures ?"

They were not given as a regular treatise either upon the divine attributes or upon the plan of salvation, but are a collection of historical documents of various revelations vouchsafed to strengthen the faith of those to whom they were given. They are rather a collection of glimpses than a full view;