It was probably on account of this tendency of the human mind, that the Jews were forbid to make unto themselves any graven image. This indeed seems to have been the only method of securing that superstitious people from idolatry; and notwithstanding the peremptory tenor of the commandment, neither the zeal nor remonstrances of their judges and prophets could always prevent their making idols, nor hinder their worshipping them wherever they found them ready made.
Statues and pictures of Saints which have been long in particular families, are generally kept with great care and attention; the proprietors often have the same kind of attachment to them that the ancient heathens had to their Dii Penates.—They are considered as tutelary and domestic divinities, from whom the family expect protection. When a series of unfortunate events happens in a family, it sometimes creates a suspicion that the family statues have lost their influence. This also is a very ancient sentiment; Suetonius informs us, that the fleet of Augustus having been dispersed by a storm, and many of the ships lost, the Emperor gave orders that the statue of Neptune should not be carried in procession with those of the other Gods, from an opinion that the God of the Sea was unwilling or unable to protect his navy, and in either case he deemed him not worthy of any public mark of distinction.
The genuine tenets of the Roman Catholic church certainly do not authorise any of the superstitions above mentioned, which are generally confined to the credulous and illiterate in the lower ranks of life.—Yet instances are sometimes to be met with in a higher sphere: a Frenchman in a creditable way of life had a small figure of our Saviour on the Cross, of very curious workmanship; he offered it for sale to an English gentleman of my acquaintance; after expatiating on the excellency of the workmanship, he told him that he had long kept this crucifix with the most pious care, that he had always addressed it in his private devotion, and that in return he had expected some degree of protection and favour; instead of which he had of late been remarkably unfortunate; that all the tickets he had in the lottery had proved blanks; and having had a great share in the cargo of a ship coming from the West-Indies, he had recommended it in the most fervent manner in his prayers to the crucifix, and that he might give no offence, by any appearance of want of faith, he had not insured the goods—notwithstanding all which the vessel had been shipwrecked, and the cargo totally lost, though the sailors, in whose preservation he had no concern, had been all saved—Enfin, Monsieur, cried he, with an accent of indignation mingled with regret, and raising his shoulders above his ears, Enfin, Monsieur, il m’a manqué, et je vends mon Christ.
Happy for Christians of every denomination, could they abide by the plain, rational, benevolent precepts of the Christian religion, rejecting all the conceits of superstition, which never fail to deform its original beauty, and to corrupt its intrinsic purity!
LETTER XCVI.
Vienna.