[2] Strictly speaking, the religion of Greece was not eminently a religion of ritual splendor: on the contrary, there reigned in the public services of the most intellectual of all nations, much of the simplicity of devout fervor, much of the chasteness of fine taste, and much of the archaic and unadorned solemnity that had descended to the Greeks from the patriarchal ages. Even in their theatres, and on their race-courses, there was far less of pomp and finery than is demanded on similar occasions by a modern European populace. The Romans carried the _sublime in decoration_ to a further point; and in the same degree exchanged reason and taste for colors, gildings, and draperies. Upon the Roman barbaric magnificence the corrupt church of the fifth and following centuries engrafted, in a confused medley, the gorgeous conceptions of the eastern nations—the terrible ideas of the northern hordes—the jugglings of Italian priests, and the sheer puerilities of monks and children. Such is the _Christian_ worship of Rome! Nevertheless, its elements comprise so much that is beautiful, or imposing, that its puerilities catch not the eye; and a man must be very rational who altogether repels the impression of its services. SECTION III. ENTHUSIASTIC PERVERSIONS OF THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE INFLUENCE. A sentiment natural to the human mind, leads it to entertain and to dwell with pleasure upon the belief of the stability and permanence of the material world. Whether we view the multiform ranks of organized and animated beings which cover the earth, or examine the occult processes of nature, or look upwards, and contemplate distant worlds, the regularity with which the great machine of the visible creation effects its revolutions inspires a deep emotion of delight. This feeling brings with it involuntarily the supposition of extended duration; nor is it without extreme difficulty that we can separate the idea of so vast a combination of causes and effects, moving forward with unfailing precision, from the thought, if not of eternity, yet of unnumbered ages gone by, and yet to come. While these natural impressions occupy the mind, a strange revulsion of feeling takes place, if suddenly it be recollected that the massy pillars of creation, with its towering superstructure, and its high-wrought embellishments, and its innumerable tenants, are absolutely destitute of intrinsic permanency, and that the stupendous frame, with its nice and mighty movements, is incessantly issued anew from the fount of being. Apart from the divine volition, perpetually active, there can be no title to existence; and in the moment which should succeed to the cessation of the efficient will of the First Cause, all creatures must fall back to utter dissolution.