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    tuval intimation" upon which to found the practice of saint-worship . With regard to the story of i \ lary of Bethany , all that can be learnt from it is , that she was a

    conscious and repentant sinner , or idoiator , and that filled with the idea of the wondrous power of Christ , manifested in the miracles which he wrought , she approached him with reverential fear , and

    sought to bespeak his attention by such acts of self-abasement and high regard as the custom of the country -authorised . St . Matt . and St . Mark simply relate , that Mary came into the house where Jesus sat at table , and poured the ointment or balsam upon his head . John twice alludes to the

    transaction , but Luke is more particular in his narrative : — She brought an alabaster box of ointment , and stood behind , at his feet weeping , and began to wet his feet with her

    tears , and she wiped them with the , hair of her head , and kissed his feet , and anointed them with the ointment . " In tracing thcfse different relations I see nothing of bursting into the room , nor of

    prostration , nor of kissing the ground on which the feet of Jesus had stood : these are ornaments which Chariclo , by way of heightning the effect , has drawn from the storehouse of his own poetic imagination . He needs not to be informed in what attitude the

    easterns usually sat , or rather reclined at meat ; in this posture the feet were naturally thrown behind the body , and the weeping Mary , bowed down with contrition and

    shame , and standing behind at his fcyt weeping / ' would let fall upon them those drops more precious than her spikenard ; these she piously wiped away with , the hair

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    of her head , ( an eastern custom denoting respect , ) and still further to express the warm emotions of her sou ) she anointed him with thd choicest perfumes . That Christ who knew the sincerity and gratitude of Mary ' s heart , sfiould express an approval of these pious acts is by no means to be wonder * ed at , though he does not ordain them to be repeated , in memorial of her . as Chariclo ' s words seem for

    imply . When the thing to be proved is the existence of scriptural intimation '' concerning t > aint- worship , itissurely unfair to draw this inference from the natural and respectful conduct of the apostlesron the

    solemn and affecting occasion of their being separated from their beloved Master ; they had accompanied him throughput his cijvme mission , witnessed the miraculous , powers communicated to him iby : his father , heard him ' speak ' 1 as 7

    no man ever yet spake , * and now at the concluding scene beheld him triumphing over death artd the grave , and surrounded with the gJory of heaven , preparing to leave to them the mighty task of promulgating his gospel , whilst he himself ascended to his Father ahd his God .

    Meeting him by his special appointment on the GaJlilean moun- ' tain , as the scripture says , they worshipped him , or they did him obeisance , though somjt ? doubted /* In Kcnrick ' s Exposition it is thus explained : u They prostrated themselves upon the ground before

    him , in fqken of great reverence , as it was usual to do to prophets and other great personages /* Is there any thing i . n this most natural tribute of respect that gives countenance to the opinion that the disciples intended hereby tQ mak £ him the object of tl eir di ~

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    Polytheism not ftnown to Christianity * 315

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1809, page 315, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1737/page/13/