ies. The Greeks and Romans had their thousands and thousands of deities. The Hindoos and Chinese had their various divinities. Some men worshipped the sun and moon, some the elements, some deified their fellow creatures, some worshipped stocks and stones. Indeed almost every thing in the universe became to some nation or individual an object of adoration, and received the homage that is due to the One living and true God alone.

And how has it been since the time of Christ, and how is it now? Large portions of the world are involved in heathenism and idolatry to this day, and if the opinion of many Protestants may be believed, one half of Christendom is even now no better. Polytheism and idolatry are and have been common and general then; as much so as the belief in endless punishment. They are as ancient as this doctrine and as general. Are they therefore true? The evidence in favor of these opinions is as various and as strong as that produced by the argument before us in favor of endless misery.

Let us suppose for a moment, that a missionary from some pagan land should visit the United States, and endeavor to persuade christians to the worship of idols, and the belief in a multitude of gods. Suppose that with a slight change of phraseology, he should introduce the argument we are now considering, and should say-The worship of

idols and the belief in many gods is very common and general. Scarcely any opinion or practice is more universal. It is seen under the equator and towards the poles. It is enjoined in heathen oracles. We see it in the temple of Juggernaut and on the shores of the Ganges. We find it in Africa and in Asia, in the wilds of America, and the isles of the ocean. Now I ask, whence came this Where did our fathers learn it? There is no opinion more ancient or universal. It must have had some origin, and I ask you who deny its truth to tell me what that origin is. Is it the voice of conscience, or the dictate of reason, or a revelation from the gods? For one of these it must be, and be it which it may, it is undoubtedly

general belief?

true.

What reception, think you, such an argument would meet with among enlightened christians? Would they be convinced by it, and renounce christianity? Would they not rather smile and reply-If all the world were polytheists and idolaters, and were we the first of the human race to dissent from those common follies, we must abjure them forever. For though to others there are "lords many and gods many, yet to us there is but one God, even the Father, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ." And though all men worshipped stocks and stones "graved by art and man's device," yet we must worship the living and true God, who made heaven and earth, and all things,

and in whom we live and move and have our be

ing.

Perhaps I shall be told that idolatry and polytheism, are only a perversion of the true religion —a kind of monstrous birth, showing the results of ignorance under the instinctive impulses of man's religious nature. This I readily admit. But is not the doctrine of endless punishment in like manner to be regarded as a perversion of the truth, the effect of human ignorance operating on the universal conviction that sin, or wrong doing is deserving of punishment, of an adequate punishment, under the righteous administration of a just God. The cases are in this respect parallel, and I hazard nothing in asserting that idolatry and polytheism are as common in the world at this moment, as is the doctrine of endless misery; and that the former are in fact no greater a perversion of truth than the latter.

It may be observed as a general, perhaps a universal fact, that some truth, or something very like truth, lies at the basis of every error; it mingles with it, and is made to contribute something of form and permanency to it. Take from error every thing that is true or allied to truth, and you despoil it of whatever could recommend it to the world. You may have it perhaps in appearance quite what it was before, but the soul, the animating principle is gone. Like the ashes of an organized body sometimes presented to our view,

it may seem perfect, but it crumbles under the slightest touch, and even a breath of air annihilates it in a moment. It is thus idolatry itself has its ground in human nature, in that which makes us religious beings, and in the fact that there is a God whom we should worship and adore. Take away these truths, deprive man of his religious nature, and we see idolatry no more.

It is so with the doctrine of endless punishment. It is a great fact that there is a moral governor over the world, under whose all-perfect administration no single sin can pass undetected or unpunished. It is also a fact that every sinner in the world feels a consciousness of guilt deep within his soul; feels that he is blame-worthy and the proper subject of punishment. Destroy this consciousness, and the doctrine of endless misery exists no longer. But this doctrine is not necessarily true because God is a moral governor and we are conscious of deserving punishment.

But let me take another illustration. There is, as we all know, scarcely any opinion more prevalent in the world than that which relates to witches, wizards, spectres, hobgoblins, fairies, &c. &c. Some of them are believed in, not only in distant and heathen lands, but even enlightened Europe still clings with the greatest tenacity to its faith in them, and there are thousands and thousands in our own country, and indeed in this very city, who believe implicitly in the existence of ghosts,

in omens, dreams and fortune-telling. How many thousands there are around us who entertain the greatest confidence in lucky and unlucky days; and who would not start on a journey or commence any considerable work on Friday upon no

consideration whatever.

Now a faith in these things has not been confined to a few people, but has spread over the whole earth. We find it in every age and every country; nor has Christianity, with all the lights of science, as yet been able to root out these vulgar superstitions from the public mind. But are these things true? On the contrary must they not be regarded as eminently false ?

Whence then did they spring. They must have had an origin; and the man who denies or doubts them, is as much obliged to explain their origin, as we are to explain that of endless punishment. But every one acquainted with the subject knows how extremely difficult it is fully to account for them, or trace them to their origin; their history loses itself in the mists and darkness of ancient times. What then? Must we on that account insist that they are true in fact, and perfectly consonant with human nature, and therefore a faith in them is the product of reason, or a part of a special but long-lost revelation from God?

Now I maintain that the faith in ghosts and witches and goblins is as common, as general, as is the faith in endless misery, and ever has been.