t is certain that in the early times of the Gospel, the Christians
of Rome were celebrated for their zealous adherence to the faith of
Christ, as it was delivered to them by the apostles, pure from every
mixture either of _Jewish_ or _heathenish superstition_, till, after a
succession of ages, as they began gradually to deviate from that apostolic
simplicity, they introduced at different times into the church the
particular ceremonies in question. Whence, then, can we think it probable
that they should borrow them from the _Jewish_ or the _Pagan_ ritual? From
a temple remote, despised and demolished by the Romans themselves, or from
temples and altars perpetually in their view, and subsisting in their
streets, in which their ancestors and fellow-citizens have constantly
worshipped?(95) The question can hardly admit any dispute; the humour of
the people, as well as the interest of a corrupted priesthood, would
invite them to adopt such rites as were native to the soil, and found upon
the place, and which long experience had shown to be useful to the
acquisition both of wealth and power. Thus, by the most candid
construction of this author's reasoning, we must necessarily call their
ceremonies _Jewish_, or by pushing it to its full length, shall be obliged
to call them _devilish_.

"He observes that I begin my charge with the use of _incense_ as the most
notorious proof of their Paganism, _and like an artful rhetorician, place
my strongest argument in the front_. Yet he knows I have assigned a
different reason for offering that the first; because it is _the first
thing_ that strikes the sense, and surprises a stranger upon his entrance
into their churches. But it shall be my strongest proof, if he will have
it so, since he has brought nothing, I am sure, to weaken the force of it.
He tells us that there was _an altar of incense in the temple of
Jerusalem_, and is surprised, therefore, how I can call it _heathenish_;
yet it is evident, from the nature of that institution, that it was never
designed to be perpetual, and that during its continuance, God would have
never approved _any other altar_, either in _Jerusalem_ or any where else.
But let him answer directly to this plain question: Was there ever _a
temple in the world, not strictly heathenish_, in which there were
_several altars, all smoking with incense, within our view, and at one and
the same time_? It is certain that he must answer in the negative; yet it
is as c