If we, now, summarily advert to the institutions of the Gospel, which have been surveyed in the preceding pages, we shall be ready, perhaps, to admit, that, in their origin, their design, and their tendency, they transcend, beyond all comparison, the best and most interesting of those ordinances which human reason, in its highest state of improvement, and under the most favourable circumstances, has been able to interweave in the religions of the world. We do not here contemplate the Bacchanalian revelry, the meretricious dance, the wanton service, or the sanguinary rite; nor are we offended by the positive injunction which neglects utility for forms, nor the holy ceremonies which, while they exercise and inflame a fanatical faith, diminish the influence of social virtue. Institutions only are before us which at once elevate the spirit of devotion, and operate with salutary effect on the conduct of life; or which, as the Christain ministry, are designed to provide for the necessities of the orphan and the widow, and to conduct the wandering flock to the folds of heaven. For the orgies of riot, the desolating pilgrimages, the sacrifices of the car, and the flames of the pile, are substituted ordinances peaceful, simple, innocent, and useful, and sanctified to the most sublime and holy purposes. That which had become necessary, has been conferred; which had been burdensome or cruel, has been done away; which had ministered to the ignorance and depravity of man, has been removed; which human capacity had hitherto been unable to discover for the improvement of the human condition, has been amply and effectually supplied.Here, then, we possess another evidence of the peculiar excellence of the Gospel of Christ.

CHAPTER VII.

MORALS AND MOTIVES.

1

SECT. I.

Ambiguous support to virtue of the religion of Greece and Italy— The example of the gods worshipped, and the worship required, injurious to morals—Rites and profligacy-Privileged vices of the Greeks and Romans--General exemplification—Opinion of Hume -Morality of the schools-Beautiful and excellent precepts-Not diffused-The philosophers instructors only of their own sects -Disputatious, contradictory and corrupt-Frequently false in motive and principle-Instances-Soft and voluptuous doctrines of Epicurus-Rigid, overstrained, and inconsistent doctrines of Zeno-The Academy-Moral and metaphysical hesitation and doubt-Virtue uncertain-The commonwealth of Plato-A splendid system-Fragile in the superstructure, imperfect though magnificent in the plan - The Platonic disciple instructed to trust in omens, oracles, and divinations-Scepticism united with superstition, a facile faith with a hardy incredulity—Striking and offensive errors of academic morality-General character of the moral science of Greece and Italy.

HOWEVE

OWEVER defective and corrupt the religion of Greece and Italy may have hitherto appeared, in all those doctrines from which precept and motive may be deduced, it must not be denied that a moral influence may have been sometimes exercised, and a moral purpose sometimes fulfilled, by that fanciful and extravagant system. It was deeply and indelibly impressed with the great outlines of practical truth; and it enforced, with occa

life by which society is to be regulated, and which every religious code in the world has, in a certain degree, proclaimed and sanctioned.

But, like every other code of human origin, the religion of the Greek is liable to great objections as a rule of life. The doctrines of superstition which it announced are numerous and authoritative, the precepts of conduct are rare. It called on men for worship, but did not address them for edification; and observances and forms, the progeny of holy ignorance or craft, were to occupy the reverence which are due only to the piety which elevates, and the virtues which dignify, mankind.

The poets by whom this religion was, so beautifully unfolded and so richly adorned, seem to have framed their work with little regard to moral consistency. The charm of verse, which they so eminently possessed, was employed to attract the multitude. round the altars of the gods; but they disclosed such details of the gods themselves as could not but have contributed to impair the influence of practical wisdom, and to confound the distinctions of vice and virtue.

The system, indeed, which affords this ambiguous support to practical truth, would be less safely described as a code of sound morals and rational piety, than as a confused institution of truth and falsehood, of folly and fable, which, pretending to promote holiness and virtue among men, breathed and diffused, more frequently, licentiousness and pleasure. Being wholly traditional, it afforded full scope to curruption and fraud; and, while it was to admit and embrace among its gods every monster of imposture and superstition, it was to reject reform, not merely as unnecessary, but as impious, and to become

complex, contradictory, and doubtful, without any "determinate articles of faith, or any fixed and "decided dogmas of religion "t.

Even at their very altars, the Greek and Roman might learn the lessons of immorality. If the gods who were adored, taught and authorized vice by celestial example, the same vice would be naturally thought permissible in man. The errors of inferior beings were easily to deduce their apology, or their vindication, from the corrupt wanderings of superior natures; and heaven itself was to afford, by the crimes with which it was tainted, a ready and infallible sanction to the weaknesses and the guilt of human infirmity †.

pas

The gods of this religion did not merely teach crime by example, but produce it by their influence. They perpetually interfered to kindle the evil sions, and prompt the evil designs of men. imperial Juno might find it necessary to the accomplishment of her purposes, to madden or corrupt her

The

* All Polytheism, says Hume, was liable to this inconvenience. But who but a professed panegyrist of polytheism would soften into an inconvenier.ce, effects so mischievous, both in a moral and religious view? Nat. Hist. Relig. Sect. ix. xii.

Enquire of the wisdom of the antients, says the Confidant of the Drama, and you will learn that Jupiter burned for Semele, and that Aurora did not disdain the charms of the mortal Cephalus. Wilt thou, then, unhappy Phædra, refuse to yield to thy fate, and art thou greater than the gods, that thou darest to resist the laws by which they are governed! Hypolit. Act ii. sc. 2. What! said the Eumenides, shall Jupiter, who threw his father into chains, condemn a queen for giving her husband the stroke of death! Eschyl.' Eumen. Act v. The argument was common, and was natural. The young man, in the comedy of Terence, vindicates his crime in the same manner. Eunuch. Act iii. And several of the characters in the tragedies of Euripides employ the same plea of justification.

mortal victim; and the "mother of the loves" might infuse her own passions into the lover, and rejoice in the effects of the wantonness and disorder which she had provoked. But that which the gods suggested and willed, they could not condemn. Whatever was the culpability, it was to be ascribed only to the impulse and inspiration which produced it; and the criminal might feel himself sufficiently absolved, while he was thus permitted to transfer his guilt and his responsibility to the inhabitants of heaven*.

The very rites of the religion which afforded such feeble support to the cause of virtue, were to promote the progress of public and private corruption. They occupied, in their observance, all classes of the community; the girl, the matron, the boy, and the man. Every grosser and viler passion was called forth to unrestricted indulgence during their continuance; and who could join the rout of Bacchus, engage in the processions of the Bona Dea, or mingle in the mysteries of Corinthian impurity, without bringing back to society a heart corrupted by the grossness and obscenity of the scene in which he had been engaged?

Of this religion, then, it will scarcely be affirmed

When Alexander, after the death of Clito, lamented his crime, the Sophist consoled him by the assurance that he was impelled by a superior power. Plut. In Alexandr. Phædra, in her calamity, ascribes her guilt to the wrath of Venus, kindled by the chastity of the unhappy Hypolitus. Eurip. Hypol. Hercules, after he had murdered his wife and children, attributes the deed to the malignity of Juno, and derives his consolation from his impiety. See Eurip. Hercules Furens. Ovid. Epist. Phædr. ad Hypol. and Gibbon, Miscell. Works. Essai sur de Literat. lxxv.