which what can be more shameful and ridiculous Vulcan is a limping crazy God Apollo though he has liv'd so many Ages is still a beardless Boy whereas his Son Aesculapius has a fair and comely Beard Neptune's Eyes are blue Minerva's gray Juno has Ox-Eyes Pan's Feet are garnish'd with claws Saturn's are charg'd with fetters and Mercury's fledg'd with Wings Janus has two faces as if he would go backward and forward at once Diana the Huntress has her Garments tuck'd up to her thighs but She at Ephesus is in a manner made up all of paps As she is the Goddess of Hell they give her three Heads and good store of Arms and Hands Yea your Jupiter himself sometimes has a Beard of much gravity and at other times has a Chin as bare as my hand When he has the Sirname of Hammon he wears horns when that of Capitolinus he is arm'd with Thunder-bolts when that of Latiaris he is all besmear'd with blood and when that of Feretrius he is very still and quiet And not to go over the many several Jupiters there being as many Monsters of him as there are Names Erigone hangs her self and the Merit of Self-murther hath advanc'd her to shine a perpetual Virgin among the Stars Castor and Pollux dye and live by turns Aesculapius is struck down with a Thunderbolt that with the greater Ceremony he may rise up a God And Hercules must burn himself upon Mount Octa to get rid of his Humanity These are the fine Stories which we learn from our ignorant Fore-fathers and what is worse make them the subject of our Studies and a great piece of Learning In these the Poets excel all others and have by their Authority done vast prejudice to the Truth So that Plato was much in the right when he banish'd Homer that renown'd celebrated and crown'd Poet out of his Common-wealth For it is he chiefly who in his Poem of the Trojan Wars has made a mock of the Gods by mingling them so familiarly in the actions and affairs of Men. He brings them in fighting together He wounds Venus He fetters and binds Mars wounds him and puts him to flight He make Briareus to rescue Jupiter out of the hands of the rest of the Gods when they were conspiring to bind him to his good behaviour and represents him lamenting the death of his Son Sarpedon as not being able to prevent it He describes him embracing his Juno with more heat than he us'd to do his belov'd Mistresses being inflam'd with Venus's Girdle Hercules is made a Scavenger and cleanseth Stables Apollo turns Cow-herd to Admetus Neptune binds himself as a Day-labourer to Laomedon to build up the Walls of Troy and is so unhappy withal as not to be paid for his drudgery Aeneas's Armour and Jupiter's Thunder-bolt are both hammer'd out upon one and the same Anvil as if Heaven and its Thunders had not been long before Jupiter was born in Crete or as if the Cyclopses could have made those affrighting flashes which Jupiter himself could not choose but be afraid of What shall I say of Mars and Venus being caught in the very Fact of Adultery or of Jupiter's abominable filthiness with Ganymedes whom he translated into Heaven All which Fables were invented on purpose to authorize the faults and vices of Men. And it is with those and such like pleasing Fictions and Lyes that the Minds of Youth are corrupted and being instill'd into them in their tender years grow up with them to Manhood So that which is to be lamented in their very old Age their Minds continue tainted with these sottish Fancies And yet the truth of these Matters is most plain and evident to those who will take the pains to enquire into it All the Antient Writers whether Greek or Roman do unanimously assert that Saturn the first of the goodly Generation of Gods was but a Man This Nepos and Crassus do affirm in their History and Thallus and Diodorus relate the same thing viz. That this Saturn for fear of falling into his Son's hands fled out of Greece into Italy where Janus receiv'd him into his house and being a Grecian full of ingenuity and instructed in Arts and Sciences taught those barbarous people several things as the forming of the Letters of the Alphabet coining of Money and making diverse sorts of useful Instruments He call'd the Country Latium as if he had said an Hiding-place because he had found there a safe retreat to hide and conceal himself from the attempts of his Son and to the end he might have his Memory preserv'd he call'd the City from his own Name Saturnia as Janus call'd the City built upon the Hill Janniculus by that Name to rescue his own from oblivion You see then plainly that Saturn was a Man for he was fain to flee and hide himself and was the Father as well as the Son of a Man And whereas they call'd him the Son of Heaven and Earth it was only because his Original and Parentage were unknown to the Italians as we are wont to say of those that come unexpectedly upon us that they are dropt from the Skies and of such whose birth is mean and obscure that they are the Sons of the Earth As for Jupiter he Reign'd in Crete after he had banish'd his Father from that Island there he begot Children and there he was buried And at this very day they shew the Cave which bears his Name and point you to the Grave where he was interred yea and the very Ceremonies they use in his Worship declare him to have been a Man It would be to no purpose to insist on particulars and to recount his whole Genealogy It is enough that we have prov'd the Father was Mortal to convince that the same Quality was conveigh'd to all his Posterity except you suppose that they became Gods after their Death as by the Perjury of Proculus Romulus was rank'd among the Number of the Gods or as Juba by the unanimous consent and desire of the Africans was made a God and as other Kings were Deifi'd by their Subjects not because they really believ'd them to be Gods but to give them a more honourable discharge from their Soveraignty Besides this extravagant Honour is confer'd upon them against their Wills they desire to continue Men as they are and are afraid of being Deify'd and though old are not at all ambitious of that Glory Wherefore we are not to look for Gods among those that dye because the Gods are Immortal nor among those who are born because they are likewise obnoxious to Death That only deserves the Name of a Deity which hath neither Beginning nor End For if Gods were ever born why are they not so still except you will say that now Jupiter is too old and Juno past Child-bearing or that they are of the humour of Minerva who chose to be an old Maid rather than a Mother Or indeed have not those pretended Deities ceased to
Fables Xenophon the Disciple of Socrates holds That the shape of the true GOD cannot be seen and consequently is not to be searcht after Aristo of the Isle of Chios says That he is altogether incomprehensible Both which Philosophers had doubtless a right sense of the Divine Majesty in that they despair'd of ever fully understanding Him As for Plato he does more openly and clearly speak of GOD and does less mistake both as to the Name and the Thing it self and his Discourses might have been accounted altogether Heavenly but that they are here and there blemish'd and tainted with his Politicks In his Timaeus he calls GOD by his Own Name and declares Him to be the Father of this Universe the Creator of the Soul and the Architect of Heaven and Earth who by reason of his superlative and incomprehensible Power and Majesty is hard to be found and when found cannot possibly be express'd and declar'd Which are in a manner the very same things which we say for we also know GOD and own Him to be the Parent of the World but unless we be demanded we do not speak publickly of Him THUS I have rehears'd the Opinions of almost all the Philosophers whose glory it is that they have all pointed at One and the same GOD though under various Names insomuch as it would make a Man think either that our Christians now are Philosophers or that the ancient Philosophers were Christians Now if it be granted that Providence rules the World and is govern'd by the Will and Counsel of the One only GOD then ought not we to suffer our selves to be impos'd upon with the silly Fables of Antiquity which are both repugnant to Reason and condemn'd by the Philosophers of ancient Times Our Fathers indeed were so credulous as to believe things altogether monstrous and inconsistant as a Scylla with several Bodies a Chimaera with many shapes an Hydra that receiv'd a new life from his happy Wounds and Centaures which were Horse and Man united and growing together In short they very readily believ'd whatever any one was pleas'd to feign or fancy as Men's being metamorphos'd into Birds Beasts into Men and again Men into Flowers and Trees with so many other fabulous things which had they ever been would happen still but because they cannot be are hereby sufficiently demonstrated never to have been Their Opinions concerning the Gods were likewise full of inconsiderate credulity and ignorant simplicity for by giving Religious Worship to their Kings and desiring by Pictures and Statues to preseve their memory after their Death they at last made a Religious Ceremony of that which at first was only intended to comfort themselves for the loss of them For before the World was open'd by Commerce and Trade and that Nations had mixt their Customs and Ceremonies together every one of them ador'd their first Founder or Famous Leader or some Queen Chast and valiant above her Sex or an Inventor of some useful and necessary Art or Calling as considering that the Memory of such Renowned Persons well-deserved to be preserv'd by them since by this means they at once gave a reward to the Virtue of the Deceased and an example to Posterity Read the Writings of Wise-men and particularly of the Stoicks and you will acknowledge with me that Men have been worship'd as Gods either for their good Deeds or their Dignity Euhemerus gives us an exact account of their Birth Countries and Names as also the several Places where they were buryed particularly he instanceth in Jupiter call'd Dictaeus from the Mountain Dictae in Candia where he was nurs'd and Apollo nam'd Delphicus from the City Delphos in Phocis a Province of Greece and Isis who had the Sirname of Pharia from the Island Pharos in Egypt and Ceres who was styl'd Eleusina from the City Eleusis in Achaia where she was more particularly worship'd Prodicus tells us that they were reckon'd among the Gods who by rambling through the World were the first Inventors of Husbandry and by this means became useful to Mankind And Perseus discourseth much at the same rate adding that it was from this ground that the Names of the Inventors were bestow'd upon the things invented by them as appears by that Comical Expression Without Ceres and Bacchus Venus is a cold Which in other terms is no more than this That without good Meat and Drink Lust languisheth Alexander the Great in a famous Treatise which he writes to his Mother tells her That the dread of his Power had so far wrought upon a Priest as to make him discover to him this great Secret and Mystery that the Gods were but Men. In which Discourse he makes Vulcan the first of all the Gods and after him the Race of Jupiter Consider the Story of Isis and the scatter'd members and empty Tomb of thy Serapis or Osiris and lastly their Religious Rites and Mysteries and you 'l find them made up of the dismal Events Deaths Funerals Mourning and Wailings of these caitive Gods Isis in company of the Dog's-Head-Idol and her bald Priests mourns for laments and seeks her lost Son and her miserable Worshippers beat their breasts to express and imitate the sorrow of this unhappy Mother and soon after you see Isis by and by overjoy'd for having found her Little-One her Priests are merry and the Dog's snout triumphs for the feat he has done in finding him Thus they fail not punctually every year to lose what they have found and then to find again what they have lost Now I pray you what can be more ridiculous than to bewail that which we worship or to worship that which we bewail And yet such fopperies as these which formerly were the Religion of the Egyptians are now forsooth become the Devotions of the Romans Ceres with lighted torches in her hands and Serpents twisting about them seeks her Daughter Proserpina full of languishing care and trouble who having stray'd too far was stoln away and ravish'd by Pluto This is the sum and substance of the Eleusinian Mysteries And the Rites used in the Worship of Jupiter are no less ridiculous He is suckled by a She goat for want of a better Nurse and the poor Infant is stoln away from his Father for fear he should devour him the Corybantes in the mean while soundly plying their Cymbals to drown the cryes of the Bantling from coming to the ears of his more than inhumane Father I am asham'd to relate the Account they give of Cybele how she gelded Atys and made him an Eunuch-God because she could not tempt him to commit Adultery with her who was old and ugly having been the Mother of so many Gods And therefore answerably to this Story her Priests voluntarily geld themselves to the end they might be capable of that Dignity I leave you to judge whether these be not real miseries rather than Religious Mysteries Come we now to speak of the goodly form meen and accoutrements of your Gods than
Vindication of CHRISTIANITY against PAGANISM WHEN I think of my dear Octavius and reflect on those delightful minutes we have spent together I feel such a pleasure as if I were still enjoying those happy days so deep an impression has his Idea left in my Mind since my Eyes have lost the sight of him And indeed 't is not without cause that I am so sensibly affected with the loss of so Excellent and Holy a Person as he was seeing he always express'd so great a love for me that in our pastimes as well as most weighty Affairs we ever will'd and dislik'd the same things as if one heart had been divided between us And as he had formerly been the intimate Friend of my youthful Loves and Companion with me in my Errors so when those clouds were dispell'd and I came out of the darkness of Ignorance into the light of Truth he did not disdain to accept of my company though indeed which was the more glorious for him he far outwent me I say as I was lately reflecting on all these things I fixed my thoughts on that serious and important Discourse which he entertain'd in my presence with Caecilius whom by means thereof he brought from his vain Superstitions to the knowledge of the true Religion of JESVS CHRIST OCTAVIVS was come to Rome partly upon account of business chiefly perhaps to see me for whose sake he made no difficulty of leaving his Family and Children in that tender age when they are the most lovely I mean by reason of their Innocence when they begin to speak half words and when their broken and faltring speech makes whatever they say extremely delightful It is not to be express'd with what a joy I was transported at this unexpected felicity of meeting so good a Friend whom of a long time I had not seen WHEN the first motions of this joyful surprisal were a little over after our being some days together and telling one another our adventures we determin'd to go to Ostia the Baths there near the Sea being very good for me to dry up my humors and the Vacation of the Vintage affording me leisure for that retirement It was at the time when the greatest heats of the Summer begin to abate and the ripening Fruits give notice that the Harvest is at hand Being arriv'd in this fair City we went early in the morning to take a walk upon the Sea-shore to enjoy the fresh air which quickens the spirits and imparts liveliness to the whole body and where the Sands in which the footsteps make so slight an impression do not tire the Walker but suffer him without weariness to receive the benefit of a pleasant and healthful Recreation As we were thus walking on Caecilius who was in company with us seeing an Image of Serapis as we pass'd by did according to the Superstition of the Vulgar kiss his hand to it in token of worship and reverence Whereupon Octavius turning to me said Brother Marcus you do not like a good man to suffer one whom you daily converse with to remain in such gross blindness as to stumble at stones in broad day-light which though they be shap'd into some figure and are perfum'd and crown'd yet still are nothing but stones Indeed it concerns you as well as him not to let him go on in this Error WITH this kind of discourse we pass'd through the middle of the City and drew towards the Sea-side near a wide and open place where we saw the waves gently beating the shore and smoothly spreading the sand as if they had been fitting it on purpose for a walk And as the Sea is never quite calm even when the winds are still so though the waves were neither high nor foaming yet in great curles they came rowling towards the shore Thus we delightfully wander'd by the Sea-side and beheld the waves coming and breaking themselves at our feet and then returning to be swallow'd up again in that vast Element and keeping along the edge of the gently bending shore with pleasant stories we deceived the tediousness of our journey For Octavius entertained us with a Discourse of Navigation in so pleasant a manner that we could not grow weary either of walking or hearing him And that we might not go too far we return'd back the same way we came and being arriv'd at a place where Vessels are dry-dock'd we saw some little Boys vying with one another at an exercise of making shells to graze as it were upon the water The Sport is this They gather small shells on the shore picking up such as are the most smooth and round then stooping to the ground with all their strength deliver them so as they may but just raze the surface of the water and he that makes them glide furthest and gives the most bounds does win the Game Whilst Octavius and my self were looking on these Children Caecilius taking no diversion in their sport nor any notice of the activity of these Youths kept aloof thoughtful and melancholick shewing by his clouded countenance that he had something in his mind that troubled him insomuch that it prompted me to accost him with this discourse How now What is become of that gay and charming temper which you are wont to have even amidst your most serious Affairs Whereupon he reply'd I will not conceal from you that Octavius has affronted and vex'd me to the heart for it seems that he does blame you only to offend me and accuse you of negligence only to expose me as an ignorant and blockish Fellow I am resolv'd to seek my amends for this injury and to have this matter discuss'd between us in good earnest It 's like he 'l see then that it is a more easy thing to talk of these matters with those of his own Party than fairly and orderly to debate them with Learned Men. Let us go and sit down upon yonder stones that jet out into the Sea and secure the Baths from the raging waves where we may rest our selves and argue the Case more at leisure We went therefore and sate down they placing me between them both not out of complement or respect to my Quality for Friendship either finds or makes all equal but as a Judge and Moderator of their dispute that I might the better hear the reasons of both Parties and keep the two Disputants asunder Then Caecilius began thus Brother Marcus though you be already resolved about the Things which are now controverted between us since upon careful examination and tryal of both you have left the Service of our Gods and embraced Christianity yet at present your mind should be so disposed that you may hold the scales even like an equal Judge inclining to neither Party that so your Sentence may rather appear to be the effect of the force of our Arguments than of your own preconceiv'd Opinion Therefore if you 'l sit down as a Stranger who has no acquaintance or interest on either side