All the religions of the ancient paganism may be reduced to one or the other of these classes; yet their characters are nowhere to be found unmixed, and the distinction can be made only according to that which is predominant. But before any system whatever could have been constructed with determinate and durable forms, religion must have ceased to be a private affair; it must have been national property, and a priesthood must have existed for its preservation. Uniform notions, uniform ways of worship amongst numerous masses of men arose, and this communion became the most precious possession, the most important tie of nations. The similar experience of the inhabitants of one region concerning the influence of the same natural objects, the transmission of ancient tradition through all the members of a spreading family, the persuasion and instruction of individuals of superior minds, particularly of foreigners from civilized regions, but chiefly the labors of wise legislators and of the priesthood often established, and generally favored by such legislators, and frequently arising without their assistance, effected this revolution, so remarkable in the history of man.

The appearance of these priests makes a principal epoch in the religion, and in the whole condition of men. They appear in the early twilight of history. They did not, however, make religion, they themselves arose rather through religion. But they cherished and brought the slumbering germ to perfection, and gave it its direction and form. By them, what was before wavering and inconstant, became determinate and durable, and presentiment was made doctrine - dream, positive truth; they preserved faith by formulas, devotion by usages, substituted coercion of conscience for freedom, and subjected the most secret thoughts to their dominion. Since now, what to the laity was merely a fugitive impression, a transient emotion, formed the principal business of their lives, they were able, easily guided or seduced by speculation and fancy, to spin out the thread of sacred tradition further, to convert the simple creeds of nature into ingenious systems, and, according to the measure of their illumination and their good will, ennoble or corrupt the sacred endowment of man. Now, learned religions first originated, as well as a great number of symbols and fables, whereby the religious ideas of the confessors were confined, as it were, in an enchanted circle, the natural subordinated to the positive - often stifled by it - minute distinctions between the various systems of religion effected, and their number greatly multiplied.

But it is a perception of the highest importance, and one which throws a surprising, radiant light upon the most sacred concern of man, that in all this variety, and amidst all changes, many principal traits, however, are found to be uniform, and the fundamental ideas constant. Hence results for the philosophical observer, the clearest distinction of the chaff from the grain, of the veil from the substance, and, at the same time, the interesting discernment of the most secret nature of man.

First, we see everywhere, man, although limited to the world of sense in his active and passive state, look beyond its confines with foreboding and desire, acknowledge higher, living, moral powers over the blind forces of nature, in the triumph of predominant wickedness, hope for a time of retribution, and, surrounded with the images of corruption, believe in a continuation beyond the grave.

But this divine spark in the human soul, an evidence of its higher origin, how miserably, for the most part, we see it cherished ! Its excitation is the work of accident, its nourishment is unrefined, folly and deceit stifle its splendor. The sublime ideas, the lively sentiments of natural religion, the most precious boon of our race, are converted into dead formulas.

The harmony of nature proclaims one supreme, ruling Spirit But the common understanding is unable to soar up to the majesty of a God, who lives in all the powers of nature, and fills heaven and earth with his presence. Hence it is glad to admit as many gods as it knows natural powers, consequently good and bad, and also particular gods for every country, and even for every community and every house. Even if, by the instruction of solitary sages or enlightened priests, a supreme God is an-nounced to it, still it retains the belief in subordinate gods, and directs confidently to these its supplication.

And under what image does man conceive his God ? At first under none, or at least under no definite one, as long as he is not much engaged with him, and only on particular occasions perceives his dependence on higher powers. Yet he soon feels the want of forming clearer ideas and more definite images of the beings which he adores. He takes them from the world of sense, because beyond this the stroke of his spirit's wings becomes feeble; therefore he gives them mostly a corporeal veil; and since, in the whole province of his experience, no nobler form than that of man appears, and at the same time no worthier emblem of the divine Spirit can be found than the human, we see the idea of God in no national religion carried higher than to an enhancement of human perfection. But soon not only the superior qualities of human nature, but its restrictions and wants were also embraced in the idea of gods; even passions and vices were ascribed to them, and now they were made throughout similar to men. This anthropomorphism is observable in all re ligions. Even the ideas of the relation of the gods among themselves are borrowed from human relations, and in the conceptions of their order of rank, and of the gradations of their power, we meet mostly with an image of the civil constitution of that nation in which such conceptions prevail.

For the service of these gods, and for the extension and preservation of religious ideas, we see everywhere a priesthood instituted or forming itself, which, -by this destination, exercises a power over minds, according to its principles beneficial, but in its abuse extremely dangerous. We see this class mostly enlarge and establish their power by all the expedients of an ambitious policy, aspire to a permanent guardianship over nations, not only in sacred, but also in worldly affairs; for this end surcharge religion with heterogeneous additions, veil the understanding of the people by superstition, substitute authority for free investigation, the terror of penal power for conviction, usurp the monopoly of the sciences, and with this the administration of the State, and even the vocation of magic, plunder the debased people at pleasure, and in a selfish manner appropriate to themselves all the advantages of civil union, without participation in its burdens. Yet pnests have also produced a very beneficial effect particularly in primitive times; since without them na tions would not have escaped barbarism at all, or not until a late period, civil societies would have been established with much more difficulty, commerce would have been less extended, the arts and sciences less fostered, and nations would have inevitably become here the victims of anarchy, there of wild despotism.