Serle - BT590 N2 S47 1776

We come now to a Country, long unknown, and known even now but imperfe&ly; and where alto we shall find fome obfcure Traites of this antient Princi- ple of revealed Religion. Over and above a thoufand ridiculous Idols, and the fame Notions concerning the Deity of the Sun, Moon, 'and heavenly Bodies, in com- mon with thePeople of Afia; * the Peruvians had an Idea of a Trinity in the divine Nature(at leaft when the Euro- peans firft carne amongft them), which they worfhipped under the Symbol of the Sun with three Heads t. This probably was the Idol, which "leaflet, in his Account óf Mexico and Peru, fays the Inhabitants called TANGA- TANGA, and which they affirmed to fignify One in Three and Three in One. They had likewife an obfcure Tradi- tion concerning the Deluge itfelf; fome certain Indica- tions of which (and confequently of its Univerfality) yet appear, according to Don Ulloa, upon the Mountains of the Andes in South America. They alfo ufed human Sa- crifices, as the Ammonites immolated their Children to Moloch, and even praftifed Ciroumcifion. To this may be added the Account of Miguel Venegas, who, in his Hiftóry of California, fpeaking of the Ig- norance of the aboriginal Inhabitants, fays, that there was however among them " a Series of fpeculative " ° Tenets, which muff furprize his Readers." For they not only had an Idea of the Unity and Na- ture of GOD as a pure Spirit, and likewife of other fpiritual Beings; but alto fome faint " Glimmerings " of the TRINITY, the eternal Generation of the " Logos, and other Articles of the 'Chriftian Reli- " gion, though mixed with a thoufand Abfurdities." Vol. I. p. 88. The Author fuppofes (though he acknow- ledges there is not the leaft Trace of any Circumftance, * Wifdomxiii. I, z. t " When the Spaniards got Accefs to the Weilern World, there "_ were to be obferved-many Rites and many Terms, fimilar to thole " which were common among the Sons of Ham ;" the antient Ido- laters. BRYANT'S deal. dint. Myth. Vol. ii. p. 5o. which

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