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then theatre of learning, their actions and fortunes are held out as the common examples of virtue and honour, and the reproaches of vice. The ftates wherein those wife and famous conftitutions were displayed, made but a fmall part of the globe, and little notice has been taken of the other parts; which, though accounted barbarous by many celebrated authors, were perhaps less so than many of thofe kingdoms whofe hiftory those authors have handed down to pofterity, and have as much right to give their voice in the decifion of the important question, which I have ftated, as thofe who have arrogated it wholly to themselves; as, upon enquiry, the wisdom, and duration, of their civil conftitutions, and the examples of their lawgivers, will be found to have equalled, or exceeded, all those I have before mentioned.

When we regard the map of the world, as it lies at present before us, fince the great discoveries which have been made, during these three laft centuries, we shall see what vaft regions of inhabited country there are, which were no part of that ancient scene before mentioned; many of which were unknown to the ancients; and, although paffing for barbarous, and much overlooked by many learned modern authors, I am perfuaded will afford as much matter for fpeculation, as the other states so much celebrated in ancient hiftory, for the excellency of their conftitutions and laws, and for their respective systems of theology. of Afia, to the east of the Ganges,

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teemed by the ancients as the boundary of the eastern world; all the ancient Scythia, Arabia, the exterior parts of Africa, and almost all the great continent of America, with the manners and cuftoms of their respective inhabitants, are, in some measure, known to us at prefent; and, therefore, I fhall take a brief furvey of the systems of theology and morality, which have, at different times, been discovered among them.

THE great and ancient empire of China, which was formed of fifteen several kingdoms, and at a moderate computation contains one hundred millions of fouls, was founded (as appears by their records, which were copied by the missionary Jefuits, and by them efteemed unquestionable and infallible) about four thousand years ago by Fohu; who first brought them out of that state of nature in which the inhabitants of the Great Tartary heretofore lived, to live under a civil government; introduced agriculture, marriage, the distinction of the fexes by different habits, with a variety of laws, and orders, for a regular government among them. He invented characters, and left several writings of morality, civil government, phyfic, and aftronomy; fo that this king feems to have been the instituter of the Chineses political government.-But about two thousand and three hundred years fince, lived. Confuchee, or Confucius, the most learned, wife, and virtuous man, fay the Chineses, that ever lived in this empire; and for whom both the king and the

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know, not only all natural, but fupernatural things; and that, in process of time, we shall become as wife as the angels.

Socrates, who has been held in great veneration, by all the true lovers of philosophy fince his days, was declared, by the oracle of Delphos, to be the wifeft of all men, because he profeffed that he knew nothing:-What would this oracle have faid of one of our modern philofophers, who pretends to know every thing? This great philofopher likewise informed his countrymen, that, except the Supreme Being fhould reveal his will more perfectly to mankind, than they were capable of comprehending it, by the light of nature, or even than he was capable of doing it, they never could hope to please him, and to enjoy the bleffings of a future ftate.-Plato likewife, who, from the light of reafon only, and contrary to the received notions and prejudices of those days, clearly proved the immortality of the foul, has attempted to establish the fame doctrine: and, in the description which he has given us of a just man, who, although covered with fhame and disgrace, and held out as an object of scorn, by the prefumptuous and vain-glorious fons of men, was worthy of the prize of virtue, and to be the example for all mankind to follow, has given us fuch a ftriking portrait of Jefus Chrift, that the most prejudiced perfon cannot gainfay *.Pliny

Plato. Rep. Dial. 1.

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the Elder, the most learned, and best-informed of all the Romans whofe writings are handed down to us, concludes the uncertainty of human knowledge with, "Conftat igitur inter tanta inte certa, nihil effe certi; præterquam hominem, nec miferius quicquam nec fuperbius.”

Let us turn our attention towards the different parts of the globe, even among the most civilized people, as well as among the most barbarous, and examine their hiftory, from the earliest ages, and fee if we shall not find the opinion of those great heathen philofophers verified; and whether those presumptuous men, who would attempt to unfold all the mysteries of the Supreme Being, after so many ages of fpeculation are not at prefent as much in the dark refpecting this matter, as the uninformed Indian, or African.

IN the early ages of the world, when mankind were in a state of ignorance and barbarity, those men who were endued with a greater degree of reafon and reflection than their fellow-creatures, applied themselves to the invention of arts, and to the forming of laws and regulations for civil fociety; and were not only honoured during their lifetime, but, after their death, were worshipped as 'gods; as almost all mankind, of whom we have any particular history, were in those days in a state of the groffeft idolatry. They supposed that the greatest honour, and even adoration, was due to those who had been the first authors

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thors of any good and well-established civil govern◄ ment, whereby the native inhabitants of the country were drawn from a favage and brutal manner of living, to the fafety and conveniency of civil fociety, to the enjoyment of property, and to the obfervance and obedience of laws and orders; which were followed by fecurity, civility, induftry, riches, and many kinds of arts. Such perfons in those ages, who, excelling in thofe virtues, were attended by these fortunes, and left their respective countries under good conftitutions of laws, and civil government; or who inftituted excellent and lafting orders and frames of any political state, in what extent foever of country, or under what name foever of civil govern ment, were obeyed as princes or lawgivers, during their lifetime, and afterwards were adored as gods, -It does not appear that they aspired after any thing more, or that they had any idea of a future ftate, or even of the existence of a great and Supreme Being, who created, and who governed all things.

From these fources, I am perfuaded, may be deduced all the fyftems of theology, or idolatry, of the ancient Pagan world; at least, of all that part thereof which we find recorded in hif tory: for, from taking a furvey of ancient story, I think we may justly conclude, that Saturn was a king of Crete, and that he was driven out of that kingdom by his fon. That Jupiter, after he had dethroned his father, conquered a great part of

Greece; and having introduced the use of agricul

ture,

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