Hannah Adams

“ The priests were little solicitous to animate the people to virtuous conduct, either by precept or example : they plainly enough declared, that all which was essential to the true worship of the gods was contained in the rites and institutions which the people had received by tradition from their ancestors. Hence the wiser, part of mankind, about the time of Christ's birth, looked upon the whole system of religion as a just object of ridicule and contempt. ”

“ Nor were these expectations peculiar to the Jews. By their dispersion among so many nations, by their conversation with the learned men among the heathens, and by the translations of their inspired writings into a language almost universal, the principles of their religion were spread all over the east. It became the common belief that a Prince would arise at that time in Judea, who would change the face of the world, and extend his empire from one end of the earth to the other. ”

“ In the situation into which the providence of God had brought the world, the gospel in a few years reached those remote corners of the earth, into which it could not otherwise have penetrated for many ages. ”

“ SECTION I When Jesus Christ made his appearance on earth, a great part of the world was subject to the Roman empire. This empire was much the largest temporal monarchy that had ever existed; so that it was called "all the world". [1] The time when the Romans first subjugated the land of Judea, was between sixty and seventy years before Christ was born; and soon after this, the Roman empire rose to its greatest extent and splendour. ”

“ Every nation had its respective gods, over which one more excellent than the rest presided; yet in such a manner that the supreme Deity was himself controlled by the rigid decrees of fate, or by what the philosophers called eternal necessity. The gods of the east were different from those of the Gauls, the Germans, and other northern nations. The Grecian divinities differed from those of the Egyptians, who deified plants, and a great variety of the productions both of nature and art. Each people had also their peculiar manner of worshipping and appeasing their respective deities. ”

“ The multitude, excited by these corrupt examples, ran headlong into every kind of iniquity; and by their endless seditions, robberies, and extortions, armed against themselves both the justice of God and the vengeance of man. ”

“ From blending the doctrines of the oriental philosophy with Christianity, the Gnostic sects, which were so numerous in the first centuries, derive their origin. Other denominations arose, which aimed to unite Judaism with Christianity. Many of the pagan philosophers, who were converted to the Christian religion, exerted all their art and ingenuity to accommodate the doctrines of the gospel to their own schemes of philosophy. ”

“ In process of time, however, the Greeks and Romans grew as ambitious in their religious pretensions as in their political claims. They maintained that their gods, though under different appellations, were the objects of religious worship in all nations; and therefor they gave the names of their deities to those of other countries. [5]
The deities of almost all nations were either ancient heroes, renowned for noble exploits and worthy deeds, or kings and generals who had founded empires, or women who had become illustrious by remarkable actions or useful inventions. ”

“ The natural world furnished another kind of deities; and as the sun, moon, and stars shine with a lustre superiour to that of all other material beings, they received religious homage from almost all the nations of the world. ”

“ In taking a view of the corruptions, both in doctrine and practice, which prevailed among the Jews at the time of Christ's appearance, we find that the external worship of God was disfigured by human inventions. ”

“ When from the sacred rites of the ancient Romans we pass to review the other religions which prevailed in the world, it will appear obvious that the most remarkable may be properly divided into two classes ”

“ From those beings of a nobler kind, idolatry descended into an enormous multiplication of inferiour powers; so that in many countries, mountains, trees, and rivers, the earth, and sea, and wind, nay, even virtues and vices, and diseases, had their shrines attended by devout and zealous worshippers. ”

“ The remoter nations, who had submitted to the yoke of this mighty empire, were ruled either by Roman governours, invested with temporary commissions, or by their own princes and laws, in subordination to the republic whose sovereignty was acknowledged, and to which the conquered kings, who were continued in their own dominions, owed their borrowed majesty. ”

“ The religious system of the northern nations may be comprehended under the military class, since all the traditions among the Germans, the Britons, the Celts, and the Goths, concerning their divinities, have a manifest tendency to excite and nourish fortitude, ferocity, an insensibility of danger and contempt of life. ”

“ These deities were honoured with rites and sacrifices of various kinds, according to their respective nature and offices. Most nations offered animals; and human sacrifices were universal in ancient times. They were in use among the Egyptians till the reign of Amasis; they were never so common among the Greeks and Romans; yet they were practised by them on extraordinary occasions. Porphyry says that the Greeks were wont to sacrifice men when they went to war. ”

“ The religions of most of the eastern nations may be ranked in the former class, especially that of the Persians, Egyptians and Indians, which appear to have been solely calculated for the preservation of the state, the support of the royal authority and grandeur, the maintenance of public peace, and the advancement of civil virtues. ”

“ In each age of the church new systems were introduced, till, in process of time, we find the Christian world divided info that prodigious variety of sentiment, which is exhibited in the following pages. ”