sixty feet in altitude: their extravagant materials, ivory and gold, added to the wonder of these vast achievements. M. de Paw has calculated that the tusks of three hundred elephants would have been consumed in the latter statue alone; and Quintilian tells us that "the majesty of the image equalled that of the god, and that its beauty gave new lustre to religion." Phidias is said to have derived the idea of so much sublimity from Homer's Iliad, i. 529 and Horace also borrowed thence his phrase, iii. 1, 8, "Cuncta supercilio moventis."

In reviewing the many wise heathens who have yet been idolaters, it is impossible not to perceive very forcibly, that they worshipped the attribute, or the deity, through the veil of a concrete image: that, in fact, they might have alleged, and probably, in their day, and to their own consciences, did, the identical excuse which the modern image-worshipper will now be heard to urge. We have seen that Zoroaster, while teaching the characters of the divine Being in terms most unexceptionable, still suffered reverence to be paid to the emblematical hawk-headed idol and what was his argument but the same now made use of by Romanists, that the material representative leads the mind to the ideal object of adoration? that the dressing up a doll with trinkets,-(and emperors have done so at Aix-la-Chapelle,)—is no more than a figurative act? that the homage paid to a relic, be it bone, or nail, or napkin, is acceptable worship offered to a spiritual

being? The true secret of the power of popery lies in this, that it comforts and encourages the natural propensity of sensual creatures. Not to dive too deeply into the possible and actual bowing down to false gods in a spiritual sense, whether by setting the mind on beauty, riches, honours, or other ramifications of self, we may on the surface observe that the human heart has ever been radically the same, and the worship of canonized priests is not less a gross idolatry than that of deified heroes; the very St. Peter of the cathedral at Rome, is an actual antique statue of Jupiter Olympius; there is even a verbal similarity between an ancient invocation to the pantheon, and a modern litany to saints; and the exaggerated devotions paid to the holy Virgin are but a fainter echo of "Great is Diana of the Ephesians."

EPICURUS.

THEY have malign'd thy memory, grave good man, They have abus'd the truth thy pureness taught, Beautiful truth with rare religion fraught,

That to cull pleasure whensoe'er he can

Is a man's wisdom,-so he keep in thought That pleasure lies in acting as he ought: For selfish vice, the fool's besotted plan

Of mis-called happiness how false it is,— What misery lurks beneath the painted cheek, How much of sorrow in the wanton's kiss!

O would that, where thou walkest now in bliss Some garden of the stars, thy wrath could speak

To these degenerate sons, who blot thy fame, Glad in their woe, and glorying in their shame.

The

If an example were required of the dreadful tendency of mankind to corrupt sound doctrine, a fact unhappily too obvious to need one, a stronger could scarcely be met with than that of Epicurus. name of a man, noted at once for learning, morality, eloquence, and travel, who shared largely in the eternal praise of that wondrous band of philosophers who enlightened the heathen world about the third century before Christ, that venerable name has become a synonyme for every thing selfish, sensual, and degrading: 'the fattest hog in Epicurus' stye.' And whence has all this evil originated? merely in the various meanings of which the word 'pleasure' is susceptible to the pure, all things are pure, and with Epicurus, as a votary of good, the Christian is a votary of pleasure; but the man who hunts for pleasure in impure gratifications will as a sectary of ill, meet with the reward of sorrow.

The philosopher benevolently aimed at alluring the Grecian youth to virtue by representing its ways, pleasantness, and its paths, peace; a sentiment which especially in a heathen cannot be too highly appreciated: but men in all ages are too happy to have an excuse for indulging their passions, and so the

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beautiful pleasure-theory of Epicurus has only served to plunge the world more deeply into vice.

The word garden' is in allusion to the wellknown habits of this teacher, who used to expound to his disciples as they walked with him in his garden. As the followers of Zeno were called Stoics, or Porchpupils, so those of Epicurus were styled oi àπò Twν кηTwv, or garden-pupils.

Without doubt, much of the obloquy, which among the better class of men attaches to the word Epicurean, has arisen from the unfortunate fact that the soi-disant doctrines of that philosophy have found an advocate in the atheistical Lucretius. The Aristippi also, both Elder and Younger, falsely pretending that the tenets of the Cyrenian sect differed in nothing from those of Epicurus, by their effeminate and luxurious lives added to the reasonable prejudice. "Ye shall know them by their fruits," is undeniable evidence; but when the wicked assume the distinguishing appellations of the good, the true patriot is confounded with the rebel, the man of liberal soul with the mean utilitarian, and the pupil of Epicurus with the slave of sensuality.