Gods have been manufactured after numberless models., and according to
the most grotesque fashions. Some have a thousand arms, some a hundred
heads, some are adorned with necklaces of living snakes, some are armed
with clubs, some with sword and shield, some with bucklers, and some
have wings as a cherub; some were invisible, some would show themselves
entire, and some would only show their backs; some were jealous, some
were foolish, some turned themselves into men, some into swans, some
into bulls, some into doves, and some into Holy-Ghosts, and made love
to the beautiful daughters of men: Some were married--all ought to have
been--and some were considered as old bachelors from all eternity. Some
had children, and the children were turned into gods and worshiped as
their fathers had been. Most of these gods were revengeful, savage,
lustful, and ignorant. As they generally depended upon their priests for
information, their ignorance can hardly excite our astonishment.