professing to communicate what men are so desirous of knowing; and that the other should be altogether occupied with those questions to which the imagination of men is so naturally turned, till a diseased fancy mistakes its day-dreams for a revelation?

§ 2. Such, I say, is what we might be prepared, from the nature of Man, to expect and if we consult history, we shall find our conjecture fully borne out by facts. In all those other religions, and in all those modifications of our own, which we attribute to the imagination or to the artifice of Man, the pretended revelations not only abound with matters of speculative curiosity, unconnected with practice, but are sometimes even principally made up of them, so as to appear to have for their chief object the communication of knowledge concerning heavenly things, for its own sake.

To illustrate this by a full examination of all the various systems of false revelation, would be manifestly both tedious and unnecessary: tedious, inasmuch as even a brief sketch of them would occupy a considerable volume; and unne

cessary, for most readers, since a few moments' recollection will enable them to recall from their previous knowledge enough to confirm, to a great degree at least, the remark which has just been made. And the conclusion will be more strengthened, the further the inquiry is pursued.

Let any one consider, for instance, the Greek and Roman mythology: what is the character of that infinite number of fables, delivered by pretenders either to immediate inspiration, or to traditional knowledge of revelation, respecting the genealogies of their deities,—their transformations, their contests, - their adventures on earth? Our present business is not with the absurdity of these fables, or with their immoral tendency, or their want of evidence, or the degree of credit they obtained: let our attention be confined to the single circumstance of their general want of reference to human conduct-their being principally calculated to attract and amuse an inquisitive mind. It is true, indeed, that direct practical precepts and examples, (whether correct or not, is a question foreign to the present subject) do form some part of the Pagan religions; but by no means the greatest

or most prominent part; and it is speaking far within compass to say, that most of what the ancients were taught respecting their gods, could not even be imagined to be of any practical importance, but related merely to the gratification of curiosity.

If we examine the pretended revelations of the Hindoos and of other modern Pagans, we find the very same principle exhibited in other forms. The names and the achievements of their gods are different, but the general character is the same; the leading object, or, at least, one leading object, in both, is to gratify men's curiosity about the nature and the operations of superior agents-about the state of things in another world.

If we turn from these apocryphal and undigested heaps of fabulous tradition, to the more systematic imposture of Mahomet, a man doubtless of no mean ability,-who had the advantage of borrowing from Judaism and from Christianity whatever might suit his purpose, and who certainly understood, as experience has proved, the art of alluring converts, we shall find our expectations as to the point in question still

1;

confirmed. Not that the Koran is wanting in moral precept and exhortation; for it abounds in them to the most tedious minuteness of detail but it also abounds with the most elaborate descriptions of heaven and of its inhabitants, and of other (pretended) works of God; with full and circumstantial narratives of the creation of the world, and of various other transactions ascribed to the Deity, all calculated to gratify the prying -one might even say, the impertinent-curiosity of man respecting divine mysteries; but so utterly unconnected with human duties, that the mere increase of knowledge, for its own sake, as an ultimate end, is made to appear one principal object of this pretended revelation.

It would be wearisome and disgusting to introduce such specimens as would fully illustrate what has been asserted; though it is scarcely possible adequately to describe in words how forcibly it will be impressed on the mind on actual perusal, that the prevailing character of the book in question is such as has been described. But those who will be at the pains to examine this and other pretended revelations, with an express view to the subject of our present inquiry, will meet

with abundant instances to confirm what has been here advanced; more than they perhaps are aware of, if they have a mere general acquaintance with those systems, but have never considered them with reference to the particular point now before us. Such an inquiry, it may be safely affirmed, would be profitable and satisfactory, if fully pursued; and would communicate a lively interest to the perusal even of the most absurd reveries of heathen mythology, and of the Koran. But it will be sufficient in this place to have suggested some of the principal points towards which the inquiry should be directed.

In addition to those pretended revelations which have been the basis of distinct religions, we should also turn our attention to those which have been connected with modifications of our own. Not to dwell on the fables of the Jewish Talmud, which may fairly be placed under this head, and which will be found to correspond with the principle originally laid down,—thus proving, among other things, that the Jewish nation had, of themselves, in an eminent degree, the same taste in respect of these matters as the Gentiles, what a multitude of idle legends do