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A63902 An attempt towards an explanation of the theology and mythology of the antient pagans. The first part by John Turner. Turner, John, b. 1649 or 50. 1687 (1687) Wing T3302; ESTC R23755 145,740 311

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AN ATTEMPT TOWARDS AN EXPLANATION OF THE THEOLOGY AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE Antient Pagans The First Part. By John Turner Hospitaler of St. Thomas Southwark Licensed Aug. 29th 1687. Rob. Midgley London Printed by H. Hills Jun. for Walter Kittleby at the Bishops-Head in St. Pauls-Church-Yard 1687. To the Right Honorable George Lord Jeffreys Baron of Wem Lord High Chancellor of England and one of the Lords of His Masties most Honorable Privy Council c. My Lord WHEN I had written that dissertation which is now abroad upon that Text of Deuteronomy c. 25. 5. which I presumed humbly Boaz and Ruth to Dedicate to your Lordship there were some Things in it which I had thoughts to illustrate and others which I found it necessary to amend and this I questioned not to do in a Sheet or two of Paper at the farthest and so to Print it together with the other as an Appendix to it but it so hapned that stepping out of my way before I was aware I found my self of a suddain entangled in a Labyrinth so lovely and delightful so full of fragrant Flowers and pleasant Fruits that as it was difficult in it self to find the way back again from whence I came in a Maze whose Paths were so numerous and so winding so I had as little inclination as ability to be disintangled and would almost as soon have sought the way out of Paradise as out of that Orchard that Garden that Shady Grove and Flowery Mead of Antiquity in which I had so fortunately lost my self a place whose Clime was as happy and as sweet as that of the Golden Age whose Banks were wash'd with Rivers of Milk and Honey less terrible and more fruitful than Tigris and Euphrates with which the Old Seat of Innocence was surrounded For in the Mythology of the Anti●nts there is every thing to be met with which either Ambition or Appetite can desire we walk and divert our selves in the Hesperian Gardens and pull the delicious Apples of Alcinous we sit down as guests at the Aetherial Banquets and purchase to our selves the Golden Fleece more pretious and more worthy of a toilsom Voyage than the Wrecks of Spain and in the Wealthy Streams of Tagus and of Ganges we find our selves refresh'd and rich together Besides that in the Theology of the Ancient Pagans which is combined and twisted with the other being all of it envelop'd and obscur'd in Fables we are surprised with a noble and comprehensive Prospect of the Philosophy of those early Times for when all is done the Religion of the Pagans was little else but the Physiology of Ancient Days or of the more knowing Architects of Religious Worship who wrapt up their Opinions concerning the Omniscient omnipotent and omnipresent Numen in the covert of Shadows and Hieroglyphic Fables which putting on several Persons Names Appearances and Shapes according to the several Powers Attributes Respects and Operations of that one supream and independent Being with Relation to the Vniverse which is govern'd by him became at leng●h by the ignorance of the Vulgar who could not see Juno standing behind the Cloud but worship'd the Cloud it self instead of Juno so many sensible and material Objects of stupid Adoration and this is that which the Apostle charges them with That they changed the Truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator But yet my Lord it cannot be deny'd notwithstanding the abuse to which these things are subject but that there is an excellent and an wholsom use to be made even of the Dotage and Superstition of those deluded Mortals whom we ought rather to pity than despise in a just Deference though to mistaken Antiquity and in consideration that we ow our Knowledge though not to their Mistakes to their Persons to which we are indebted for our own for even they that rail most against Heathens and Idolaters are after all their Piqueantry descended from them and ow the power of blackning their Memories to themselves their Vertues ought to be strow'd with Commendation upon their Graves their Vices and Imperfections like the Nakedness of Noah ought not by us their Sons with too much rashness and petulance to be revealed and for their Future State though the same Practices that they were guilty of would undoubtedly be damnable in us after a clearer Light and a better Information yet the condition of a pious and exemplary Heathen wanting the means and opportunities of Conviction and living up in his human Conversation to the Principles of natural Religion do's not seem to be so very desperate as some Men of narrow Sentiments are pleased to make it and it seems to me that St. Paul was of this mind when he said That when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts their Conscience also bearing witness and their Thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another But whatever may be said of the Vail and Cloud it self which the Heathens for the most part ignorantly worshipped instead of the divine Substance that lay hidden under it yet it cannot be deny'd to be an useful Operation to take off the Scales from off the Gentiles Eyes it must after all be granted to be a noble and an excellent Employment if it prove Successful to pry within this aged and venerable Vail and look through the Symbol and Hieroglyphic Emblem into the Substance and the Truth of Things the effect of which Enquiry will be this that it will appear that even the Pagans themselves those I mean that contrived and molded their Religion the Priests and Poets and Philosophers of the Heathen World had a just and true Notion of the divine Being and of the way and means by which his Nature should be worship'd and his Anger appeas'd as appears by their Sacrifices their Ceremonies and Lustrations which were all or most of them Symbolical Adumbrations of the infinite Obligations we have contracted to him of the Cleanness Purity Vprightness and Integrity which he expects in his Worship and in the Conduct of our Lives and of that awful Humility devout Submission and most unfeigned Repentance with which we ought to be acted and affected when we look backward upon our Sins and Follies or forwards upon his pure unspotted and untainted Nature which is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity and cannot converse with unrepenting Sinners continuing in a State of Impenitence and Obduration It is at once a pleasant and a profitable Contemplation when we converse either with Eastern Sages or with the Mythology of the Greeks and Latins which was borrowed from them in a great measure at least to think how the Principles of Vertue and good Life as in the Symbols of Pythagoras and in many of the Rites and Mysteries of the Gentil Worship notwithstanding