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    and at their death put them upon a level with the gods . Other writers say , that they not only paid adoration to the images of their kings , but offered aJso divine Homage to the

    royal favourites . This explains the conduct pf Mordecai , who refused to pay the customary honours to Hainan , because , as he said , " he would not worship any but God . ' *

    &trabo relates , that Alexander finding the Arabians had only two gods , Jupiter and Bacchus , claimed a right Iq be worshiped as a third , provided he conquered their enenaies , and restored their former liberty . + The ^ Ethiopians had both an taunortal and a mortal

    god . They regarded their kings as the common saviours and preservers of all * and even while living worshiped them as gods , J JSlisa , the founder of Carthage , was worshiped in that city , SO long as it remained uncon < juered . § Herodotus , who travelled into Egypt

    and other countries to acquire a know-Jecjgeof the manners a » d customs and religion of the several people , affirms , that at Chenuris , in the province of Thebes , Perseus had a temple dedi ^ cated to hini , ia which Jhis image wa « placed ; and that the inhabitants said , he frequently appeared to them rising

    out of the earth , 11 In Egypt , says Maximus Tyrius , a god dies and is buried , and you # re shewn in the same place his temple and his tomb . f [ An < J JUician repr-eseuts Alexander as defiring to be buried in Egypt ; , that he might become one of t | ie gods of that ; country- **

    It was in this country where the celebrated Sphynx of antiquity stood . This image , which was that of a monster with a human Jiead , was noted for the enigmatical oracle * delivered from it to all who went to consult it . it

    v * as situate opposite to the second great pyramid , and was more than 200 feet h * gh , cut out of the solid rock . At the back of this grotesque figure "was a hole from whence issued the answers , which were dictated by the

    ' * " » - ¦ ' ' - *•¦ « l ^ . . >< . i . 't . vjra - v- 'm l . 'UIMfiH . i-J . Jit ^ U" ~ <* The Apocr ^ pbal f part of the fBooJc of 3 B *] tljer , clj ^ p . rxii i . 14 . j * JFurmer on the Worship tf Human spirits , p . 85 . f ' - * lftid . ' p . 91 . $ tbid , p . 07 . Ibid . p . 154 , ij Sbifl ; p . ^ 79 . ••• njvcmn < DMrtog . U * H .

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    priests who were placed within . * SimiJar o > aele $ were employed in Greece and Rome , wliich were resorted to on all important occasions . kycijrgws and Solon , that they might change the institutions of their couijtry , pro ^ cured the authority of tHe oracle for that purpose . f

    Among the ancient Greeks , tke Jaw ordained that the gods , the demaas and the heroes , sjhould all be worshi ped 5 but that the houiage to be paid to each should be regulated according to their respective ranks . J Sacrifice ? were u ^ u ^ lly offered to these deified personages ; and tijpse warriors who

    in their mortal state delighted in the slaughter of the human race , were apT proached after their death by hunum $ acrifices . § The dpinestic and friendly gods were gratified with wane , milk and frankincense ;!| but the indignant spirit of a warrior could not be a , pr peased without human blopd-U

    PJatarch relates that Aniestris , the wife of Xerxes , buried twel ve people alive , as a sacrifice \ p Pluto £ ** a ad Herodotus tells us that Hie same woman caused fourteen children of tbe ] fc > £ sj : families in Persia \ q be interred olive ,

    as a gratification to thp god wIm ? resided beneath the £# rth . 11 The l ^ tfeer historian farther informssiig , th ^ at when the army pf Xerxes qanrme -fep a place called the nine wmj $ , $ t * e Magi took nine of the sons and daughters of the h * habitaut £ , apd buried thejnpi alive , actlie

    cording to tiie n ^^ neivof « Persians , to ensure the ^ ucje ^ s of hi ariny 4 J

    * Rook ' s Travels into Arabia and Egypt , p . 90 . f Le Clerc < le Septchenes on the Mythologsyof the Greeks , $ vo . p . 25 ^ . & Favpoav on the Worship of Human Spirits , p . jjp ^ . The pri nciple of the |* ra-4 atioJQ of r ^ olfs perv ^ 4 e 3 the y ^ hciie of the He&then mytliolog ^ . Houoer , when ^ pe ^ k-Ing of Jupiter and Neptune , describes them th us : ** Both of one line , J > oth of one country , boast ; « But royal Jove ' the eidest . / ind k novvs most "

    § Fiivmer on Mhraclep , p . £ 40 , || Ovi 4 ^ ti , Xib . ii . | ip . fi ^ T-540 . 4 R JF ^ rmer ,, p ^ 445 . ^ * I ^ utarcJSi 4 e ^ qjp ^ r ^ tit . p . 1 ? 1 , J > . -f-f- Herodotus , J ^ ih . yji . jc . £ 1 £ . t ± ^ Farpipr pn tjhe Wqrs | ii p of JHumati - Saints , p . - ^ O . '

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    3 ID On l& « general Prevalence qf Superstitian .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1818, page 310, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2476/page/22/