But while all men are thus conscious not only that God is, but that God must be, and that the spirit of man bears a certain relation to Him, some men, pretending to be preternaturally and directly inspired by God to declare His will and to explain His nature and His attributes, have made assertions and propounded doctrines, at various times and among various nations, that have greatly bewildered the minds of their fellow-men. These artificial teachings and vain imaginings-whether they be called mythologies, theologies, religions, faiths, or systems of belief-contradict each other on the most vital and fundamental points. Some of them assert that there is but one God, and that He is not only spiritual, but physicial and material, having a body and organs like a man. Some have exalted human attributes, clothing humanity in beautiful or majestic forms, and have deified their own production. Some have adopted a precisely opposite course, and have invented fantastic and hideous divinities. Some deny God's personality, and teach that all Nature is the body, of which he is the animating soul. Some say that there are two Gods, one the God of good, the other the God of evil-and that the two are constantly at war with each other. Others maintain that there are three Gods, co-eternal and co-equal in power, in wisdom, and in glory, and that these three are one, and must be worshipped as one. The second person-say they-in this triune divinity stands toward the first in the relation of the Son to the Father; while the third also is a person, and proceeds from the Father and the Son. The earliest nations appear to have been taught, either that the sun-the most glorious luminary visible to the unassisted human eye-was God, or that the number of the Gods was as infinite as the

SIGNS AND CREEDS AT VARIANCE

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manifestations of Nature. Even Abraham and Moses, who believed and taught the unity of God, attributed to this all-wise, all-just, all-good, all-knowing, and allmighty being, the form of a man. Moses pretended to have talked with him face to face "as a man talketh with his friend," and declared that he had been permitted to see His "back parts." In the Pentateuch, and indeed throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God is described as being ignorant and short-sighted, and possessing many of the passions of the human creatures whom He Himself has made.

Creeds and modes of worship have been many and various; but there is not one of them now accepted in the world, which has not, however pure and lofty some may be in their moral teachings, promulgated and endeavored to palm upon popular credence the most astounding scientific and historical errors and untruths. Thus they have acted, to some extent, as a drag upon the intellect, and an impediment to the progress of mankind. They were written for the most part by priests of the various theologies and forms of faith which they were designed to uphold, and often with the too palpable purpose of keeping the people in ignorance and of maintaining the priesthood as a privileged class. All of them of Asiatic origin and authorship, and declared in their several countries to be the direct, infallible, unerring utterances of God, they have given currency to the most vulgar and debasing fictions, and represented God as something like an Oriental Caliph or Sultan, subject to lusts and vices and fits of cruel anger, and constantly liable to be thwarted in His designs by powers of evil whom He desired, but was not able, to destroy.

All these myths and dreams have varied in different ages and countries, according to the character of the nations which adopted and nominally believed them, and they have come down to us from an antiquity so remote, as to be impenetrable. They are partly to be traced to the most ancient civilization, the record of which has been preserved by tradition and sepulchral monuments— and notably to India, Assyria, Phoenicia, and Egypt. In their original forms these mythologies have perished— except in India and non-Mahommedan Asia, where they are still accepted by the unreasoning multitudes of half the human race.

A portion, however, of these fables, greatly modified in form and detail, was borrowed from the Egyptians, first by the Jews under Moses, and secondly by the Arabians under Mahomet. So far as the books attributed to Moses and other priests and prophets of the Hebrews, are concerned, these fables are held forth to this day as grounds for belief and guides for conduct to all the socalled Christian nations of the world. We, as Christians-according to the common acceptation of the termand sharers in the advancing civilization of the nineteenth century, are mainly interested in the theology and doctrines of Moses and Jesus. All other systems of belief, except natural religion, which is universal, being accepted of all men in all places, modern civilization has agreed to condemn. Even the most devout Christian laughs at the grotesque stories, and speaks with contemptuous pity of the superstitious absurdities of all mythologies except his own. But let his own rules of criticism be applied to the Old and New Testament, and it will immediately be condemned as heretical; and the critic himself will be accused of impiety and infidelity. This very state of

THE JEWS BUT LITTLE KNOWN.

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things prevails in Asia, where the teachings of Moses and Christ receive as little respect from the priests of Oriental theologies, as Christians bestow upon the myths of the Hindoos, or the nihilism improperly attributed to the Buddhists.

Up to the birth of Jesus, the Jews had their cosmogony and theology entirely to themselves. The outer world knew nothing of their sacred books; and, indeed, only knew the Jews themselves as a small and peculiar people, in whom there was nothing to esteem or imitate. No one challenged their doctrine, for the reason that no one understood or cared anything about it. Whatever schism or difference of opinion may have existed among them, in their own little country, was on minor matters, and Moses and the Prophets seemingly reigned supreme. But a different state of things was about to prevail. Jesus, known during his life as the son of a carpenter, and claiming direct royal descent from David and Solomon, challenged the truth of this ancient system, and became a most conspicuous reformer. He protested chiefly against the superstitious ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual. His protest was indeed partial, though, as far as it went, strong and decided. It was a very important movement towards separating that which was claimed to be religion, from that which was and is really religion— between that which causes contention, and that which all agree upon.

But very little progress had been made amongst the Jews in the arts and sciences-indeed very little was made for a long time after the introduction of Christianity. The printing press, that grand medium for the dissemination of knowledge, is comparatively a modern invention, not having been introduced until the middle of the fif

teenth century. There were no microscopes to reveal to the delighted intellect of man the wonders that lie concealed in apparent nothingness-no telescopes to unveil to him the countless worlds and planetary systems which, but for it, never would have been discovered. The law of gravitation-that universal, infinite, governing power, by which the whole universe is sustained-was unsuspected. Electricity, known probably to some extent, was employed only in tricks and artifices to startle and surprise those who were ignorant of its effects. The science of Geology was very imperfect. Astrology was far more esteemed than Astronomy. The earth was thought by all nations to be the centre of the universe. The sun was looked upon as nothing more than a lamp hung in the heavens to give light to this superior orb. Indeed it was not even known to be an orb; the idea prevailed, that it was a vast extended plane without visible limits.

Under these circumstances, Jesus could make no protest. against the Mosaic history or tradition. He was necessarily compelled to accept these as he found them. Rejecting the Mosaic notion of the character and attributes of God, he earnestly protested against the doctrinethat the Deity, whose gospel he preached, was a God of hatred or anger, or subject to the passions or imperfections of humanity. He loudly proclaimed in the highways and the byways, and to all descriptions of people-but chiefly to the poor and the unhappy-that God is a God of Love, a Spirit to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, a God who demands of His creatures no vain observances, no heavy burdens of ceremonials, but a cheerful, happy enjoyment of life, provided they keep within the limits of the divine laws, which are neither galling nor heavy, but easy, light, and good. He adopted He adopted so much of the