iform of the Russian dragoons, they
compare him to this description of soldiers. The Egyptians
also dress the God World in a garment of every color.
Eusebius Proep. Evang. p 115. The Teleuteans call God Bou,
which is only an alteration of Boudd, the God Egg and World.

*** Consult upon this subject a work entitled, Description
des Peuples, soumis a la Russie, and it will be found that
the picture is not overcharged.

But you may still behold a hundred savage nations who have none of the
ideas of civilized people respecting God, the soul, another world, and a
future life; who have formed no system of worship; and who nevertheless
enjoy the rich gifts of nature in the irreligion in which she has
created them.

CHAPTER XXI.

PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS CONTRADICTIONS.

The various groups having taken their places, an unbounded silence
succeeded to the murmurs of the multitude; and the legislator said:

Chiefs and doctors of mankind! You remark how the nations, living apart,
have hitherto followed different paths, each believing its own to be
that of truth. If, however, truth is one, and opinions are various, it
is evident that some are in error. If, then, such vast numbers of us
are in the wrong, who shall dare to say, "I am in the right?" Begin,
therefore, by being indulgent in your dissensions. Let us all seek truth
as if no one possessed it. The opinions which to this day have governed
the world, originating from chance, propagated in obscurity, admitted
without discussion, accredited by a love of novelty and imitation, have
usurped their empire in a clandestine manner. It is time, if they are
well founded, to give a solemn stamp to their certainty, and legitimize
their existence. Let us summon them this day to a general scrutiny, let
each propound his creed, let the whole assembly be the judge, and let
that alone be acknowledged as true which is so for the whole human race.

Then, by order of position, the representative of the first standard on
the left was allowed to speak:

"You are not permitted to doubt," said their chief, "that our doctrine
is the only true and infallible one. FIRST, it is revealed by God
himself--"

"So is ours," cried all the other standards, "and you are not permitted
to doubt it."

"But at least," said the legislator, "you must prove it, for we cannot
believe what we do not know."

"Our doctrine is proved," replied the first standard, "by nume