If,  instead  of  oflering  sacrifice  to  them,  the  people,  charmed  with  their  eloquence,  had
cried  :  They  arc  gods  who  speak,  and  not  men,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  flattery
would  have  excited  their  indignation  just  as  strongly.  Would  mere  human  virtue  receive
it  in  the  same  way  ?

It  is  very  easy  for  a  man  to  believe  that  he  is  neither  Jupiter  nor  Mercury,  but  is  it  as
easy  to  believe  that  people  are  mistaken  when  they  say  that  he  has  spoken  divinely?

People  do  not  pause  to  reflect  whether  the  plejisurc  they  take  in  liearing  such  eulo-
giums  is  as  culpable  as  that  of  the  two  apostles  would  have  been  had  they  pemiitted
sacrifice  to  be  offered  to  them.  Those,  however,  who  look  upon  this  complacency  as  a
venial  fault,  would  do  well  to  remember  Ilerod,  eaten  ahvc  by  worms.
(3)  That  is  to  say,  from  these  imuginaiy  divinities.
(4)  God  allowed  them  ix>  follow  the  corruption  of  their  own  hearts,  and  to  form  for
themselves  gods  as  vicious  as  they  were  themselves.  God  siij^crs  them  to  act  so,  inas-
much as  he  docs  not  reveal  to  them  the  light  of  the  Gospel.  Still  they  were  not  quite  des-
titute of  light,  and  the  vei-y  wwks  of  the  creation  were  quite  sufficient  to  make  the  Crea-
tor known  to  them.  Such  is  the  meaning  of  the  following  words,  to  which  St.  Paul
adds  (Horn.,  i.),  that  they  were  sufficiently  enlightened  to  be  altogether  inexcusable.
This  refutes  the  cn-oneous  opinion  that  being  entirely  destitute  of  light,  they  could  not

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658  THE  iiiStory  of  the  [chap.  xrv.
