the Jews, being himself a man of considerable learning and authority, and, though not treated with respect by the emperor, he probably was esteemed by his subjects.

It

The indulgence shown by the Romans to the Jews, in granting and confirming privileges to them, is supposed, by Whiston, to have greatly contributed to procure for them from God, the blessing of Christianity. is remarkable to observe how Providence rendered the extension of the Roman Empire, and its connection with Judea, subservient to the progress and diffusion of the Gospel.

Tiberius and Vitellius are said to have sent orders for public sacrifices at Jerusalem. Claudius confirmed the privileges of the Jews; it was observed by Seneca, that, after the subjection of Judea, the conquered nations gave laws to their conquerors; and,

this remark, he bears testimony to the pletion of the promise which God had ed to the Israelites, by Moses, "that should re over many nations; but people ld not reign over Is

on that account, ex

ivit. Dei, lib. vi. c. 11.

presses the wish, that Judea had never been subdued by the arms of Pompey *. It

should be observed that the Romans, by the destruction of Jerusalem, made way for the establishment of Christianity, which was not to be implicated with a political institution, but was designed to preserve a spiritual church, capable of administering to the moral and spiritual interests of men under every government.

It appears, from accounts in the Evangelical Writings, that the Romans at first treated the Christians with mildness, and did not always conspire with their persecutors +: they seem to have regarded them as a sect of the Jews. The Roman government was, in general, accustomed to protect its subjects in the possession of their religious rites, excepting when those rites had a mischievous tendency. It was the rapid advancement of Christianity, when it began to excite jealousy and apprehension, when it shook the pillars of the Heathen temple, and the whole structure of superstition seemed likely to fall, which instigated the emperors to become per

+ Rutil. Itiner.

* Acts xxii. 25, 26. xxvii. 2, 3. 42, 43. xviii. 14, 21. + Cicero in Verrem.

secutors of the Christians. They complained that the Roman altars were deserted, and they threw the odium of crimes upon the Christians, which were sufficiently refuted. by the principles which they professed, and the virtues which they displayed.

We have observed, in the remarks on the connection between the Grecian and the Jewish accounts, that the Greeks borrowed some of their laws from those of sacred authority; and from the same source the Romans, by the intervention of the Greeks, might have obtained some knowledge of

them.

The Romans, it appears, sent ambassadors to Athens to receive advice in the formation of their judicial code, and by these means they might have obtained Hebrew precepts originally derived through Solon, the Athenian lawgiver,

CHAP. X.

Of the general Belief in the Existence of a Supreme Being, the Creator of the Universe, prevailing among all Nations.

THE simple and sublime principle of natural religion, the existence of a Supreme Being, seems to have been among the first and most universal convictions of the human mind.

The assurance originally derived from that disclosure of himself, which God vouchsafed to make to our first parents, and which was confirmed by the exercise of reason, whereever it was allowed to operate, might have been expected to retain its evidence in every age. The corruption, however, of human nature, and its disposition to yield to impressions from sensible objects and to the illusions of fancy, constantly subjected the mind to the influence of error, and led it to mingle false apprehensions with the persuasions of revealed truth. Hence, though the outline

his great doctrine was to be

discovered in the foundations of religion in every country, it was often defaced and covered by fictitious additions. Being committed to record by the sacred writers, it preserved its unimpaired lustre among the Jews, when its traces were but faintly to be discerned in the traditions of the heathen world, and its belief was but imperfectly inculcated in the speculations of the most improved philosophers of heathen nations. The intelligence upon this awful subject, which was diffused among the whole people which had been selected to preserve the knowledge of the true God was established on communications imparted from the earliest ages, and renewed from time to time by the uniform language of the prophets, as well as by those manifestations of himself which God had vouchsafed to make; while among the heathens, the just impressions, which occasionally appeared, had but little influence on the conduct of men.

The conviction of the existence of a Supreme Being, which manifests itself in the worship of Cain and Abel, continued to prevail

* Homer Odyss. lib. xvii. line 485. Justin. de Monarch. Dei. August. de Civit. Dei. lib. iv. c. 31. Vossius de Idolat. Cudworth Intellect. Syst. c. iv. Grotius de Veritat. Plutarch de Iside et Osiride. Euseb. lib. iii. c. 10.