Præterea cœli rationes _ordine certo_ Et _varia_ annorum cernebant _tempora_ vorti; Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere caussis. Ergo perfugium sibi habebant Omnia Divis Tradere et illorum nutu facere omnia flecti. LUCRET. v. 1182. They saw the skies in constant order run, The varied seasons and the circling sun, Apparent rule, with unapparent cause, And thus they sought in Gods the source of laws. The same feeling may be traced in the early mythology of a large portion of the globe. We might easily, taking advantage of the labours of learned men, exemplify this in the case of the oriental nations, of Greece, and of many other countries. Nor does there appear much difficulty in pointing out the error of those who have maintained that all religion had its _origin_ in the worship of the stars and the elements; and who have insinuated that all such impressions are unfounded, inasmuch as these are certainly not right objects of human worship. The religious feeling, the conviction of a supernatural power, of an intelligence connecting and directing the phenomena of the world, had not its _origin_ in the worship of sun, or stars, or elements; but was itself the necessary though unexpressed foundation of all worship, and all forms of false, as well as true, religion. The contemplation of the earth and heavens called into action this religious tendency in man; and to say that the worship of the material world formed or suggested this religious feeling, is to invert the order of possible things in the most unphilosophical manner. Idolatry is not the source of the belief in God, but is a compound of the persuasion of a supernatural government, with certain extravagant and baseless conceptions as to the manner in which this government is exercised. We will quote a passage from an author who has illustrated at considerable length the hypothesis that all religious belief is derived from the worship of the elements.