to Inferiour Created Beings First that this Honour which is bestowed upon them does ultimately redound to the Supreme God and aggrandize his State and Majesty they being all his Ministers and Attendants 49. That as Daemons are Mediatours betwixt the Celestial Gods and Men so those Celestial Gods and all the other Inferiour Deities are themselves also Mediatours betwixt Men and the Supreme God and as it were Convenient steps by which we ought with Reverence to approach him 50. That there is an Honour in Justice due to all those excellent Beings that are above us and that the Pagans do but honour every thing as they ought in that due rank and place in which the Supreme God hath set it 51. That Daemons or Angels being appointed to preside over Kingdoms Cities and Persons and the several parts of the Corporeal Vniverse and being many ways Benefactors to us Thanks ought to be returned to them by Sacrifice 52. That the Inferiour Gods Demons and Heroes being all of them able to do us either Good or Hurt and being also Irascible and therefore Provokable by our neglect of them it is as well our Interest as our Duty to Pacifie and Appease them by Worship 53. Lastly that it cannot be thought that the Supreme God will envy those Inferiour Gods that Worship or Honour which is bestowed upon them nor suspected that any of those Inferiour Deities will Factiously go about to set up themselves against the Supreme God 54. That many of the Pagans worshiped none but Good Daemons and that those of them who worshipped Evil ones did it only in order to their Appeasment and Mitigation that so they might do them no hurt None but Magicians to be accompted properly Devil-Worshippers who honour Evil Daemons in order to the gratification of their Revenge Lust and Ambition 55. The Pagans plead that those Daemons who delivered Oracles and did Miracles amongst them must needs be Good since there cannot be a greater reproach to the Supreme God than to suppose him to appoint Evil Daemons as Presidents and Governours over the World or to suffer them to have so great a sway and share of Power in it The Faith of Plato in Divine Providence that the Good every where prevails over the Bad and that the Delphick Apollo was therefore a Good Daemon 56. The Pagans Apology for Worshipping the Supreme God in Images Statues and Symbols That these are only Schetically Worshipped by them the Honour passing from them to the Prototype And that since we living in Bodies cannot easily have a Conception of any thing without some Corporeal Image or Phantasm thus much must be indulged to the Infirmity of Humane Nature at least in the Vulgar to Worship God Corporeally in Images to prevent their running to Atheism 57. That though it should appear by this Apology of the Pagans that their Case were not altogether so Bad as is commonly supposed yet they cannot be Justified thereby in the Three Particulars above mentioned but the Scripture-Condemnation of them is Irrefragable That knowing God they did not Glorifie him as God or Sanctifie his Name that is Worship him according to his Vncommon and Incommunicable his Peerless and Insociable Transcendent and Singular Incomparable and Vnresembleable Nature but mingled some way or other Creature-worship with the Worship of the Creatour First that the Worshipping of One God in his Various Gifts and Effects under several personal Names a thing in it self absurd may also prove a great occasion of Atheism when the things themselves come to be called by those Names as Wine Bacchus Corn Ceres The Conclusion easily following from thence that the Good things of Nature are the only Deities But to Worship the Corporeal World it self Animated as the Supreme God and the Parts of it as the Members of God plainly to Confound God with the Creature and not to Glorifie him as Creatour nor according to his Separate and Spiritual Nature 58. To give Religious Worship to Daemons or Angels Heroes or Saints or any other Intellectual Creatures though not honouring them equally with the Supreme God is to deny God the Honour of his Holiness his Singular Insociable and Incommunicable Nature as he is the only Self-originated Being and the Creator of all Of whom Through Whom and To Whom are all things As God is such a Being that there is nothing Like him so ought the Worship which is given him to be such as hath nothing Like to it A Singular Separate and Incommunicate Worship They not to be Religiously Worshipped that Worship 59. That the Religious Worship of Created Spirits proceeded chiefly from a Fear that if they were not worshipped they would be provoked and do hurt which is both highly Injurious to Good Spirits and a Distrust of the Sufficiency of God's Power to protect his Worshippers That all Good Spirits Vninvok'd are of themselves officiously ready to assist those who sincerely Worship and Propitiate the Supreme Deity and therefore no need of the Religious Worship of them which would be also Offensive to them 60. That Mens praying to Images and Statues is much more Ridiculous than Childrens talking to Babies made of Clouts but not so Innocent they thereby Debasing both themselves and God not Glorifying him according to his Spiritual and Vnresembleable Nature but changing the Glory of the Incorruptible God into the Likeness of Corruptible Man or Beast 61. The Mistake of those who think none can be guilty of Idolatry that believe One God the Maker of the World 62. That from the same ground of Reason That nothing ought to be Religiously Worshipped besides the Supreme God or whom he appoints to represent himself because he ought to be Sanctified and dealt withal according to his Singular Nature as unlike to every thing it follows contrary to the Opinion of some Opposers of Idolatry that there ought also to be a Discrimination made between things Sacred and Prophane and Reverence used in Divine Worship Idolatry and Sacrilege allied 63. Another Scripture-Charge upon the Pagans that they were Devil-worshippers not as though they intended all their Worship to Evil Daemons or Devils as such but because their Polytheism and Idolatry unacceptable to God and Good Spirits was promoted by Evil Spirits delivering Oracles and doing Miracles for the Confirmation of it they also insinuating themselves into the Temples and Statues therefore the Worship was look'd upon as done to them The same thing said of others besides Pagans that they Worshipped Devils 64. Proved that they were Evil Daemons who delivered Oracles and did Miracles amongst the Pagans for the carrying on of that Religion from the many Obscene Rites and Mysteries not only not prohibited but also injoyned by them 65. The same thing further proved from other cruel and bloody Rites but especially that of Man Sacrifices Plutarch's Clear Acknowledgement that both the Obscene Rites and Man-Sacrifices amongst the Pagans owed their Original to Wicked Daemons 66. That the God of Israel neither required nor accepted
of an Invisible Deity and therefore unless they were detained in a way of Religion by such a worship of God as was accommodate and suitable to the lowness of their apprehensions would unavoidably run into Atheism Nay the most Philosophical Wits amongst them confessing God to be Incomprehensible to them therefore seemed themselves also to stand in need of some Sensible Props to lean upon This very account is given by the Pagans of their practice in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God being Incorporeally and Invisibly present in all things and Pervading or Passing through all things it was reasonable that men should worship him by and through those things that are Visible and Manifest Plato likewise represents this as the opinion of the generality of Pagans in his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as for the Greatest God and the Whole World men should not busily curiously search after the knowledge thereof nor pragmatically enquire into the causes of things it being not pious for them so to do The meaning whereof seems to be no other than this that men ought to content themselves to worship God in his Works and in this Visible World and not trouble themselves with any further curious Speculations concerning the Nature of that which is Incomprehensible to them Which though Plato professeth his dislike of yet does that Philosopher himself elsewhere plainly allow of worshipping the First Invisible God in those Visible Images which he hath made of himself the Sun and Moon and Stars Maximus Tyrius doth indeed exhort men to ascend up in the Contemplation of God above all Corporeal Things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The End of your Journey saith he is not the Heaven nor those shining Bodies in the Heaven for though those be beautiful and Divine and the Genuine Off-spring of that Supreme Deity framed after the best manner yet ought these all to be transcended by you and your head lifted up far above the Starry Heavens c. Nevertheless he closes his discourse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But if you be too weak and unable to contemplate that Father and Maker of all things it will be sufficient for you for the present to behold his Works and to Worship his Progeny or Off-spring which is various and manifold For there are not only according to the Boeotian Poet Thirty Thousand Gods all the Sons and Friends of the Supreme God but innumerable And such in the Heaven are the Stars in the Aether Demons c. Lastly Socrates himself also did not only allow of this way of worshipping God because himself is Invisible in his works that are Visible but also commend the same to Euthydemus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That I speak the truth your self shall know if you will not stay expecting till you see the Forms of the Gods themselves but count it sufficient for you beholding their works to worship and adore them Which he afterward particularly applies to the Supreme God who made and containeth the whole World that being Invisible he hath made himsâ—lf Visible in his Works and consequently was to be worshipped and adred in them Whether Socrates and Plato and their genuine Followers would extend this any further than to the Animated Parts of the World such as the Sun Moon and Stars were to them we cannot certainly determine But we think it very probable that many of those Pagans who are charged with worshipping Inanimate Things and particularly the Elements did notwithstanding direct their Worship to the Spirits of those Elements as Ammianus Marcellinus tells us Julian did that is Chiefly the Souls of them all the Elements being supposed by many of these Pagans to be Animated as was before observed concerning Proclus and Partly also those Demons which they conceived to inhabit in them and to preside over the parts of them upon which account it was said by Plato and others of the Ancients that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are full of Gods and Demons XXXIII But that these Physiological Gods that is the Things of Nature Personated and Deified were not accounted by the Pagans True and Proper Gods much less Independent and Self-existent ones may further appear from hence because they did not only thus Personate and Deifie Things Substantial and Inanimate Bodies but also meer Accidents and Affections of Substances As for example First the Passions of the Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Greg. Nazianzen They accounted the Passions of the Mind to be Gods or at least worshipped them as Gods that is built Temples or Altars to their Names Thus was Hope not only a Goddess to the Poet Theognis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where he Fancifully makes her to be the only Numen that was left to men in Heaven as if the other Gods had all forsaken those Mansions and the World but also had Real Temples Dedicated to her at Rome as that consecrated by Attillius in the Forum Olitorium and others elsewhere wherein she was commonly pictured or feigned as a Woman covered over with a green Pall and holding a Cup in her hand Thus also Love and Desire were Gods or Goddesses too as likewise were Care Memory Opinion Truth Vertue Piety Faith Justice Clemency Concord Victory c. Which Victory was together with Vertue reckoned up amongst the Gods by Plautus in the Prologue of his Amphytrio and not only so but there was an Altar erected to her also near the entrance of the Senate-house at Rome which having been once demolished Symmachus earnestly endeavoured the restauration thereof in the Reign of Theodosius he amongst other things writing thus concerning it Nemo Colendam neget quam profitetur Optandum Let no man deny that of right to be worshipped which he acknowledgeth to be wished for and to be desirable Besides all which Eccho was a Goddess to these Pagans too and so was Night to whom they sacrificed a Cock and Sleep and Death it self and very many more such Affections of things of which Vossius has collected the largest Catalogue in his eighâ—h Book De Theologia Gentili And this Personating and Deifying of Accidental Things was so familiar with these Pagans that as St. Chrysostome hath observed St. Paul was therefore said by some of the Vulgar Athenians to have been a Setter forth of strange Gods when he preached to them Jesus and the Resurrection because they supposed him not only to have made Jesus a God but also Anastasis or Resurrection a Goddess too Nay this Humour of Theologizing the Things of Nature transported these Pagans so far as to Deifie Evil things also that is things both Noxious and Vicious Of the former Pliny thus Inferi quoque in genera describuntur Morbique multae etiam Pestes dum esse placatas trepido metu cupimus Ideoque etiam publicè Febri Fanum in Palatio dedicatum est Orbonae ad aedem Larium Ara Malae Fortunoe
Inanimate Bodies because he that acknowledgeth no Animant God acknowledges no God at all but is a downright Atheist Page 512 Neither ought this Physiological Theology of the Pagans that consisted in Personating and Deifying the Natures of things and Inanimate Bodies to be Confounded with that Natural and Philosophical Theology of Varro Scaevola and others which admitted of no other but Animant Gods and such as Really Existed in Nature for which Cause it was called Natural in opposition to the Fictitious and Phantastick Poetick Gods Page 512 S. Austin's just Censure and Condemnation of the Pagans for their thus Theologizing of Physiology or Fictitiously Personating and Deifying the Natures of things Page 512 513 But though the Pagans did thus verbally Personate and Deifie the things of Nature yet did not the Intelligent amongst them therefore account these True and Proper Gods Cotta in Cicero Though we call Corn Ceres and Wine Bacchus yet was there never any one so mad as to take that for a God which himself feeds upon and devours The Pagans really accounted that onely for a God by the Invoking whereof they might expect benefit to themselves and therefore Nothing Inanimate This proved from Plato Aristotle Lucretius Cicero and Plutarch Wherefore these Natures of things Deified but Fictitious and Phantastick Gods Nor can any other sense be made of them than this that they were really but so many several Names of one Supreme God as severally manifested in his works according to that Egyptian Theology That God may be called by the Name of every thing or every thing by the Name of God With which agreeth Seneca That there may be as many Names of God as there are Gifts and Effects of his and the Writer De Mundo That God may be Denominated from every Nature he being the Cause of all things Page 513 515 Wherefore these Deified Natures of things were not directly worshipped by the Intelligent Pagans but onely Relatively to the Supreme God or in way of Complication with him onely and so not so much Themselves as God worshipped in them The Pagans Pretence that they did not look upon the world with such Eyes as Oxen and Horses do but with Religious Eyes so as to see God in every thing They therefore worshipped the Invisible Deity in the Visible manifestations of himself God and the World together This sometimes called Pan and Jupiter Thus was the whole World said to be the Greatest God and the Circle of the Heavens worshipped by the Persians not as Inanimate Matter but as the Visible manifestation of the Deity displayed from it and pervaded by it When the Roman Sea-Captains Sacrificed to the Waves their worship intended to that God who Stilleth the Waves and Quieteth the Billows Page 515 516 These Pagans also apprehended a Necessity of permitting men to worship the Invisible God in his Visible Works This account given by them in Eusebius Plato himself approved of worshipping the Invisible God in the Sun Moon and Stars as his Visible Images And though Maximus Tyrius would have men endeavour to rise above the Starry Heavens and all Visible things yet does he allow the weaker to worship God in his Progeny And Socrates perswades Euthydemus to be contented herewith Besides which some Pagans worshipping the Elements directed their Intention to the Spirits of those Elements as Julian in Ammianus these being supposed also to be Animated or else to those Daemons whom they conceived to inhabit them or preside over them Page 516 518 XXXIII Further to be observed That amongst those Natures of things some were meerly Accidental as Hope Love Desire Memory Truth Vertue Piety Faith Justice Concord Clemency Victory Echo Night According to which the vulgar Athenians supposed S. Paul to have Deified Anastasis or made a Goddess of the Resurrection as well as a God of Jesus Vices also sometimes thus Deified by them as Contumely and Impudence to whom were Temples dedicated at Athens though to the end that these things might be Deprecated These Accidents sometimes Deified under Counterfeit Proper Names as Pleasure under the name of Volupia and Lubentina Venus Time under the name of Chronos or Saturn Prudence or Wisedom under the names of Athena or Minerva against which Origen in his answer to Celsus Cicero himself allowed of Dedicating Temples to Mind Vertue Piety Faith c. Page 518 520 But such Accidents and Affections of Things Deifyed could not possibly be Accounted True and Proper Gods they having not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Reall Subsistence or Substantiall Essence of their own And thus does Origen again dispute against Minerva's Godship as Tropologized into Prudence As he doth also elsewhere upon the same Ground against that of Memory the Mother of the Muses and that of the Graces he concluding these and such like therefore to be nothing but Figments of the Greeks they being Things Personated and Feigned with Humane Members Thus the Pagans condemned by Prudentius also for Feigning Things Incorporeal with Counterfeit Members These Gods plainly Exploded by Cotta or Cicero in disguise as having onely Vim Rerum but not Deorum the Force of Things but not of Gods in them or being but Naturae Rerum and not Figurae Deorum Page 520 521 Wherefore the True meaning of these Deified Natures of Things could be no other then this that God was to be acknowledged and worshipped in All things or as the Pagans themselves declare it that the Force of every thing was both governed by God and it self Divine Pliny of this Breaking and Crumbling of the Deity into Parts Every one Worshipping that in God and for a God which himself most stood in need of This dividing of the Simple Deity and Worshipping it Brokenly by parcells and piece-meal as manifested in all the Several Things of Nature and Parts of the world Justly Censured and Elegantly Perstringed by Prudentius against Symmachus Where Prudentius grants that Symmachus who declared that it was One thing which all worshipped when he sacrificed to Victory did sacrifice to God Almighty under that Partiall Notion as the Giver of Victory This in the Egyptian Allegory Osiris Mangled and Cut in pieces by Typhon Victory and Vertue as well as Neptune Mars and Bellona but several names or Notions of Jupiter in the Prologue of Plautus his Amphitryo Page 521 522 Vossius his opinion that these Deified Accidents and Natures of Things as well as the other Pagan Invisible Gods were commonly lookt upon by the Vulgar as so many Single Substantiall Minds or Spirits Created by the Supreme God and appointed to preside over those several things respectively Where it is acknowledged that neither the Political nor the Poetical Gods of the Pagans were taken so much as by the Vulgar for so many Independent Deities Page 523 524 Probable that by these Gods the Wiser Pagans sometimes understood Demons in Generall or Collectively that is whosoever they were that were appointed to preside over those several Things or dispense them As
of Man-Sacrifices against a modern Diatribist 67. That what Faith soever Plato might have in the Delphick Apollo he was no other than an Evil Daemon or Devil An Answer to the Pagans Argument from Divine Providence 68. That the Pagans Religion unsound in its Foundation was Infinitely more Corrupted and Depraved by means of these Four Things First the Superstition of the Ignorant Vulgar 69. Secondly the Licentious Figments of Poets and Fable-Mongers frequently condemned by Plato and other Wiser Pagans 70. Thirdly the Craft of Priests and Politicians 71. Lastly the Imposture of evil Daemons or Devils That by means of these Four Things the Pagan Religion became a most foul and unclean thing And as some were captivated by it under a most grievous Yoke of Superstition so others strongly inclined to Atheism 72. Plato not insensible that the Pagan Religion stood in need of Reformation nevertheless supposing many of those Religious Rites to have been introduced by Visions Dreams and Oracles he concluded that no wise Legislator would of his own head venture to make an Alteration Implying that this was a thing not to be effected otherwise than by Divine Revelation and Miracles The generally received Opinion of the Pagans that no man ought to trouble himself about Religion but content himself to worship God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Law of that Country which he lived in 73. Wherefore God Almighty in great compassion to Mankind designed himself to reform the Religion of the Pagan World by introducing another Religion of his own framing in stead of it after he had first made a Praeludium thereunto in one Nation of the Israelites where he expresly prohibited by a Voice out of the Fire in his First Commandment the Pagan Polytheism or the worshipping of other Inferior Deities besides himself and in the Second their Idolatry or the Worshipping of the Supreme God in Images Statues or Symbols Besides which he restrain'd the use of Sacrifices As also successively gave Predictions of a Messiah to come such as together with Miracles might reasonably conciliate Faith to him when he came 74. That afterwards in due time God sent the promised Messiah who was the Eternal Word Hypostatically united with a Pure Humane Soul and Body and so a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God-man Designing him for a Living Temple and Visible Statue or Image in which the Deity should be represented and Worshipped as also after his Death and Resurrection when he was to be invested with all Power and Authority for a Prince and King a Mediatour and Intercessour betwixt God and Men. 75. That this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or God-man was so far from intending to require Men-sacrifices of his Worshippers as the Pagan Demons did that he devoted himself to be a Catharma Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World and thereby also abolished all Sacrifices or Oblations by Fire whatsoever according to the Divine Prediction 76. That the Christian Trinity though a Mystery is more agreeable to Reason than the Platonick and that there is no absurdity at all in supposing the Pure Soul and Body of the Messiah to be made a Living Temple or Shechinah Image or Statue of the Deity That this Religion of One God and One Mediatour or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man preached to the Pagan World and confirm'd by Miracles did effectually destroy all the Pagan Inferiour Deities Middle Gods and Mediatours Demons and Heroes together with their Statues and Images 77. That it is no way incongruous to suppose that the Divine Majesty in prescribing a Form of Religion to the World should graciously condescend to comply with Humane Infirmity in order to the removing of Two such Grand Evils as Polytheism and Idolatry and the bringing of men to Worship God in Spirit and in Truth 78. That Demons and Angels Heroes and Saints are but different Names for the same things which are made Gods by being worshipped And that the introducing of Angel and Saint-worship together with Image-Worship into Christianity seems to be a defeating of one grand design of God Almighty in it and the Paganizing of that which was intended for the Vnpaganizing of the World 79. Another Key for Christianity in the Scripture not disagreeing with the former That since the way of Wisdom and Knowledge proved Ineffectual as to the Generality of Mankind men might by the contrivance of the Gospel be brought to God and a holy Life without profound Knowledge in the way of Believing 80. That according to the Scripture there is a Higher more Precious and Diviner Light than that of Theory and Speculation 81. That in Christianity all the Great Goodly and most Glorious things of this World are slurried and disgraced comparatively with the Life of Christ. 82. And that there are all possible Engines in it to bring men up to God and engage them in a holy Life 83. Two Errors here to be taken notice of The First of those who make Christianity nothing but an Antinomian Plot against Real Righteousness and as it were a secret Confederacy with the Devil The Second of those who turn that into Matter of mere Notion and Opinion Dispute and Controversie which was designed by God only as a Contrivance Machin or Engine to bring men Effectually to a Holy and Godly Life 84. That Christianity may be yet further illustrated from the consideration of the Adversary or Satanical Power which is in the World This no Mâ—nichean Substantial Evil Principle but a Polity of Lapsed Angels with which the Souls of Wicked men are also Incorporated and may therefore be called The Kingdom of Darkness 85. The History of the Fallen Angels in Scripture briefly explained 86. The concurrent Agreement of the Pagans concerning Evil Demons or Devils and their Activity in the World 87. That there is a perpetual War betwixt Two Polities or Kingdoms in the World the one of Light the other of Darkness and that our Saviour Christ or the Messiah is appointed the Head or Chieftain over the Heavenly Militia or the Forces of the Kingdom of Light 88. That there will be at length a Palpable and Signal Overthrow of the Satanical Power and whole Kingdom of Darkness by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God appearing in an extraordinary and miraculous manner and that this great affair is to be managed by our Saviour Christ as God's Vicegerent and a Visible Judge both of Quick and Dead 89. That our Saviour Christ designed not to set up himself Factiously against God Almighty nor to be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superiour to God but that when he hath done his Work and put down all Adversary Power himself will then be subject to God even the Father that so God may be all in all 90. Lastly having spoken of Three Forms of Religious the Jewish Christian and the Pagan and there remaining only a Fourth the Mahometan in which the Divine Monarchy is zealously asserted we may now Conclude that the Idea of
too in another sence that is Produced and Derived by way of Emanation from that One who is every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnderived and Independent upon any other Cause And thus Proclus Universally pronounces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Gods owe their Being Gods to the First God He adding that he is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fountain of the Godhead Wherefore the Many Gods of the Intelligent Pagans were derived from One God and but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plutarch somewhere calls them The Subservient Powers or Ministers of the One Supreme Vnmade Deity Which as hath been before observed was frequently called by these Pagans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in way of Eminency as likewise were those other Inferiour or Generated Gods in way of distinction from him called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gods And accordingly the sence of Celsus is thus represented in Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Gods were the Makers of the Bodies of all Animals the Souls of them only being the Work of God Moreover these Inferiour Gods are styled by Ammianus Marcellinus Substantiales Potestates Substantial Powers probably in way of distinction from those other Pagan Gods that were not Substantial but only so many Names and Notions of the One Supreme God or his Powers severally Personated and Deified Which Substantial Powers of Am. Marcellinus as Divination and Prophecy was by their means imparted to men were all said to be subject to that One Sovereign Deity called Themis whom saith he the ancient Theologers seated In Cubili Solio Jovis in the Bed-chamber and Throne of Jupiter as indeed some of the Poets have made her to be the wife of Jupiter and others his Sister And Anaxarchus in Plutarch styles her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter's Assesor though that Philosopher abused the Fable and grosly depraved the meaning of it as if it signified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That whatsoever is done by the Sovereign Power is therefore Just and Right whereas the True Moral tâ—ereof was this That Justice or Righteousness sits in Counsel with God and in his Mind and Will prescribes Laws to Nature and the whole World Themis therefore was another Name of God amongst the 〈◊〉 according to his Universal Confideration besides those befoâ—â— mentioned and when Plato in his Book of Laws would have men to swear by the Names of those Three Gods Jupiter Apollo and Themis these were but so many several Partial Notions of the One Supreme Deity the meaning thereof being no other than this as Pighius observeth Timore Divino Veritate ipsa ac Aequitate sanciri debere Juramenta In Jove enim Summi Numinis Potestatem Falsi ac Perjurii Vindicem in Apolline Veritatis Lumen in Themide Jus Fas atque Licitum esse intelligitur Est enim Themis ipsa Lex aeterna atque Vniversalis Mundo ac Naturae praescripta or according to Cicero Ratio recta Summi Jovis And Ficinus in his Commentary as to the main agreeth herewith So that when the Pagan Theologers affirmed the Numen of Themis to preside over the Spirits of the Elements and all those other Substantial Powers from whom Divination was participated to men their meaning therein was clearly no other that this That there was One Supreme Deity ruling over all the other Gods and that the Divine Mind which prescribeth Laws to Nature and the whole World and conteins all the Fatal Decrees in it according to the Evolution of which things come to pass in the World was the Fountain from whence all Divination proceeded as these Secrets were more or less imparted from thence to those Inferiour Created Spirits The Philosophy of the Pagan Theology amongst the Greeks was plainly no other than this That there is One Vnmade Self-existent Deity the Original of all and that there are many other Substantial Powers or Spirits created by it as the Ministers of its Providence in the World but there was much of Poetry or Poetick Phancy intermingled with this Philosophy as the Flourish to it to make up their Pagan Theology Thus as hath been before declared the Pagans held both One God and Many Gods in different sences One Vnmade Self-existent Deity and Many Generated or Created Gods Onatus the Pythagorean declaring that they who asserted one only God and not Many Vnderstood not what the Dignity and Majesty of the Divine Transcendency consisted in namely in ruling over Gods and Plotinus conceiving that the Supreme God was most of all Glorified not by being Contracted into One but by having Multitudes of Gods Derived from him and Dependent on him and that the Honour done to them redounded unto him Where there are Two Things to be distinguished First that according to the Pagan Theists God was no Solitary Being but that there were Multitudes of Gods or Substantial Powers and Living Understanding Natures Superiour to men which were neither Self-existent nor yet Generated out of Matter but all Generated or Created from One Supreme Secondly that forasmuch as these were all supposed to have some Influence more or less upon the Government of the World and the Affairs of Mankind they were therefore all of them conceived to be the due Objects of mens Religious Worship Adoration and Invocation and accordingly was the Pagan Devotion scattered amongst them all Nor were the Gods of the Oriental Pagans neither meer Dead Statues and Images as some would conclude from the Scripture but Living Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men though worshipped in Images according to that Reply of the Chaldeans in Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar when he required them to tell his Dream There is none other that can shew this thing before the King Except Those Gods whose Dwelling is not with Flesh that is The Immortal Gods or who are exalted above the Condition of Humane Frailty Though some conceive that these words are to be understood of a Peculiar sort of Gods namely that this was such a thing as could not be done by those Demons and Lower Aerial Gods which frequently converse with men but was reserved to a Higher Rank of Gods who are above humane converse Now as to the Former of these Two Things that God is no Solitary Being but that there are Multitudes of Understanding Beings Superiour to Men the Creatures and Ministers of One Supreme God the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament fully agree with the Pagans herein Thousand Thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him and Ye are come to an innumerable Company of Angels But the Latter of them That Religious Worship and Invocation doth of right belong to these Created Spirits is constantly denied and condemned in these Writings that Being a thing peculiarly reserved to that one God who was the Creator of Heaven and Earth And thus is that Prophecy of Jeremy to be understood expressed in the Chalday Tongue
is some confirmation of the Truth of Christianity the Scripture insisting so much upon these Evil Demons or Devils and declaring it to be one design of our Saviour Christ's coming into the World to oppose these Confederate Powers of the Kingdom of Darkness and to rescue mankind from the Thraldom and Bondage thereof As for Wizards and Magicians Persons who associate and confederate themselves in a peculiar manner with these Evil Spirits for the gratification of their own Revenge Lust Ambition and other Passions besides the Scriptures there hath been so full an attestation given to them by persons unconcerned in all Ages that those our so confident Exploders of them in this present Age can hardly escape the suspicion of having some Hankring towards Atheism But as for the Demoniacks and Energumeni It hath been much wondred that there should be so many of them in our Saviour's time and hardly any or none in this present Age of ours Certain it is from the Writings of Josephus in sundry places that the Pharisaick Jews were then generally possessed with an Opinion of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demoniacks men Possessed with Devils or Infested by them And that this was not a meer Phrase or Form of Speech only amongst them for persons very Ill-affected in their Bodies may appear from hence that Josephus declares it as his opinion concerning the Demons or Devils that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirits or Souls of wicked men deceased getting into the Bodies of the Living From hence it was that Jews in our Saviour's time were not at all Surprised with his casting out of Devils it being usual for them also then to Exorcise the same an Art which they pretended to have learn'd from Solomon Of whom thus Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God also taught Solomon an Art against Demons and Devils for the benefit and Cure of men Who composed certain Incantations by which diseases are cured and left forms of exorcisms whereby Devils are expelled and driven away Which Method of curing prevails much amongst us at this very day Notwithstanding which we think it not at all probable what a late Atheistick Writer hath asserted that the heads of the Jews were then all of them so full of Demons and Devils that they generally took all manner of Bodily Diseases such as Feavers and Agues and Dumbness and Deafness for Devils Though we grant that this very thing was imputed by Plotinus afterward to the Gnosticks that they supposed all Diseases to be Devils and therefore not to be cured by Physick but expelled by Words or Charms Thus he En. 2. Lib. 9. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now when they affirm Diseases to be Demons or Devils and pretend that they can expel them by words undertaking to do the same they hereby indeed render themselves considerable to the vulgar who are wont not a little to admire the powers of Magicians But they will not be able to perswade wise men that Diseases have no natural Causes as from Repletion or Inanition or Putrefaction or the like Which is a thing manifest from their cure they being oftentimes removed by purgation and bleeding and abstinence Vnless perhaps these men will say that the Devil is by this means Starved and made to Pine away Nor can we think that the Jews in our Saviour's time either supposed all Mad-men to be Demoniacks or all Demoniacks Mad-men though this latter seems to be asserted by an Eminent Writer of our own we reading of Devils cast out from others besides Mad-men and of a woman which had a Spirit of Infirmity only and was bowed together and could not lift up her self which is said by our Saviour Christ to have been bound by Satan Wherefore the sense of the Jews formerly seems to have been this that when there was any unusual and extraordinary Symptoms in any bodily Distemper but especially that of Madness this being look'd upon something more than Natural was imputed by them to the Possession or Infestation of some Devil Neither was this proper to the Jews only at that time to suppose Evil Demons to be the Causes of such bodily diseases as had extraordinary Symptoms and especially Madness but the Greeks and other Gentiles also were embued with the same Perswasion as appeareth from Apollonius Tyanaeus his curing a Laughing Demoniack at Athens he ejecting that Evil Spirit by threats and menaces who is said at his departure to have tumbled down a Royal Porch in the City with great noise As also from his freeing the City of Ephesus from the Plague by stoning an old Ragged Beggar said by Apollonius to have been the Plague which appeared to be a Demon by his changing himself into the form of a Shagged Dog But that there is some Truth in this Opinion and that at this very day Evil Spirits or Demons do sometimes really Act upon the Bodies of men and either Inflict or Augment bodily Distempers and Diseases hath been the Judgment of two very experienced Physicians Sennertus and Fernelius The Former in his Book De Mania Lib. 1. cap. 15. writing thus Etsi sine ulla Corporis Morbosa Dispositione Deo permittente hominem Obsidere Occupare Daemon possi◠tamen quandoque Morbis praecipuè Melancholicis sese immiscet Daemon forsan frequentius hoc accidit quam saepè creditur Although the Devil may by Divine permission Possess men without any Morbid Disposition yet doth he usually intermingle himself with Bodily Diseases and especially those of Melancholy and perhaps this cometh to pass ostner than is commonly believed or suspected The other in his De Abditis rerum Causis where having attributed real Effects upon the bodies of men to Witchcraft and Enchantment he addeth Neque solum morbos verum etiam Daemonas scelerati homines in corpora immittunt Hi quidem visuntur Furoris quadam specie distorti hoc uno tamen à Simplici Furore distant quod summè ardua obloquantur praeterita occulta renuntient assidentiúmque arcana reserent Neither do these wicked Magicians only inflict Diseases upon mens Bodies but also send Devils into them By means whereof they appear distorted with a kind of fury and madness which yet differs from a Simple Madness or the Disease so called in this that they speak of very high and difficult matters declare things past unknown and discover the Secrets of those that sit by Of which he subjoyns two Notable Instances of Persons well known to himself that were plainly Demoniacal Possessed or Acted by an Evil Demon one whereof shall be afterwards mentioned But when Maniacal Persons do not only discover Secrets and declare things Past but Future also besides this speak in Languages which they had never learnt this puts it out of all doubt and question that they are not meer Mad men or Maniaci but Demoniacks or Energumeni And that since the time of our Saviour Christ there have been often