expected from it a benefit, which it could not confer. Now, whether our superstition have respect to a visible creature, or only to a figment of the brain, its essential qualities are the same ; and man in his fallen state is prone to it.
It obtained, and still obtains, universally amongst the heathen —
[What were, or are, the Deities of the lieathen, but men, who on account of some exploits in former days have been canonized, or mere creatures of the imagination invested with divine attributes ? The philosophers of Greece and Rome knew of no other gods than these ; and in that respect were scarcely more rational than any other of the heathen, whether in ancient or modern times.]
Amongst the Jews also it ever did, and still does, prevail to an awful extent —
[Scarcely had they been brought out of Egypt before they made a golden calf, and worshipped it as their god'^. Through their whole abode in the wilderness they bowed down to Moloch and Remphan, the gods of the heathen that were around them"^. After their settlement in Canaan they evinced the same propensity continually. The greatest mercies which God vouchsafed to them were abused to this end. Was the law given them from Mount Sinai? they rested in it for justification, instead of using it as " a ministration of con- demnation," and a rule of life. Was the temple of God among them ? in that they trusted as a security against their enemieSj saying, as Micah did when he had secured a Levite for his priest;, " Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest®." Had they the badge of cir- cumcision? they thought that would suffice, though they knew nothing of the true circumcision of the heart. To this present hour the dispersed of Israel have no juster views of God and of religion than those had in former days; of whom it is said, that, trusting in their own righteousness, they would not submit to the righteousness of God. Even the doctrines of man's invention had, and still have, a greater authority over them than the commands of God — — — ]
And what is Popery but a mass of superstition altogether ?
[What is the worship of the Virgin Mary, and of saints, and relics ? What are all the masses, the pilgrimages, and the
c
Acts vii. 41. <! Acts vii, 42, 43.
^ Judg. xvii. 13. .Ter. vii. 4.