And if, among C/HRISTIANS\, the E/NGLISH\ and
D/UTCH\ have embraced the principles of toleration, this singularity
has proceeded from the steady resolution of the civil magistrate, in
opposition to the continued efforts of priests and bigots.
The disciples of Z/OROASTER\ shut the doors of heaven against
all but the M/AGIANS\.[51] Nothing could more obstruct the progress
of the P/ERSIAN\ conquests, than the furious zeal of that nation
against the temples and images of the G/REEKS\. And after the
overthrow of that empire we find A/LEXANDER\, as a polytheist,
immediately re-establishing the worship of the B/ABYLONIANS\, which
their former princes, as monotheists, had carefully abolished.[52]
Even the blind and devoted attachment of that conqueror to the
G/REEK\ superstition hindered not but he himself sacrificed
according to the B/ABYLONISH\ rites and ceremonies.[53]
So sociable is polytheism, that the utmost fierceness and
antipathy, which it meets with in an opposite religion, is scarcely
able to disgust it, and keep it at a distance. A/UGUSTUS\ praised
extremely the reserve of his grandson, C/AIUS\ C/AESAR\, when this
latter prince, passing by J/ERUSALEM\, deigned not to sacrifice
according to the J/EWISH\ law.
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