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THROUGH SWEDEN. 99
which various tenets and habits of thinking affect the condu@ of
individuals, it is impoffible to afcertain, nor, if it were pof_ible,
would it be worth while to enquire; but the connexion between
creeds and the condudt of princes, between public opinion, public
fpirit, and the fate of nations, is a matter of equal certainty, curio-
fity and importance. In every age and country a preference is
given to fome particular ftudy, which not only fupplants more or
lefs other purfuits, but in a certain degree always interferes with,
and in fome inftances even ufurps the affairs of government. In
the earlieft ftages of fociety the minds of men are debafed by the
grofleft fuperftition. The principal concerns of favages and bar-
barians are managed by conjurors,* Obi-men,} necromancers, and
wizards. Even after nations have fomewhat advanced in civili-
zation, the moft ufeful as well as the nobleft talents, in the ge-
neral efteem, are thofe of divination; and in every kingdom and
every government hitherto eftablithed, there has been, at leat at
one period, an alliance between church and ftate. In the firft
fteps towards fcience, men are amufed with the pretenfions of
natural magic and the predictions of aftrology. Meligion, in the
common progreflion of human affairs, is taken out of the hands
of mere fuperftition, divination explained by the principles of me-
taphyfics, and adjufted by the rules of logic. The Veda is inter-
preted by metaphyfical Brahmins, and the Koran by Mahomedan.
doctors not lefs fubtle and difcerning. The doétrines of the
* As among the Indians in Ameiica.
+ As in Africa, and among the African flaves in the Weft Indies.
O2 Manichzans.
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