Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
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A28435
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Great is Diana of the Ephesians, or, The original of idolatry together with the politick institution of the gentiles sacrifices.
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Blount, Charles, 1654-1693.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing B3303; ESTC R11068
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21,456
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56
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Great is DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS OR The Original of IDOLATRY Together with the Politick Institution OF THE Gentiles Sacrifices Cum sis ipse nocens moritur cur victima pro te Stultitia est morte alterius sperare salutem London Printed in the year 1680. THE PREFACE SElf-love which like Fire covets to resolve all things into it self makes men they care not what Villany or what Impiety they act so it may but conduce to their own advantage And from hence it was that the Heathens turned Religion into a Trade wherein the most gainful was their Sacrifices mendicantes vicatim Deos ducunt a God was then as fit an object for Charity as now a broken Arm or a wooden Leg nor did they consider their Gods any otherwise than for their own Interest Now as Musick hath that Sympathetick power to heighten that Passion which is most predominant in mens Natures whether of Mirth or Melancholy so likewise Religion if it meets with good Nature it makes it better but if with bad Nature it makes it worse not that true Religion is here to be blamed but only those ill constitutions wherein the most Sacred Instructions turn sower Obdurate hearts are ever most subject to Atheism whereas softer Natures are ever more inclined to Superstition in which latter Devotion is ever more prevalent than Judgment for as Philosophy applies it self to Reason so doth Religion to ` Passion and therefore none are so successful as those Fanatical sellers of words who are most quarrelsom with their Pulpits whereby they have a double advantage first they appear more zealous to the World and secondly the Nonsense they deliver is not so easily discerned by the credulous multitude who are ever ravished with the Tone and Noise and praise not the Lord but through the Nose The Immortal God is of too sublime a Nature to be comprehended by us Mortals wherefore no men are so great Atheists as those who make a livelihood by telling Lyes of his most Sacred Majesty converso in precium Deo How many Religions are there in the World which though of contrary Principles to one another yet all pretend themselves derived from one and the same Infinite Being Therefore he who would be of the most excellent Faith must try all and then as St. Paul advises hold fast that which is best He should do by the several Religions as Potamon of Alexandria did by the many Sects of Philosophy elect what was good out of each and relinquish the bad Now most Religions excepting ours being tainted with the Interest of the Clergy he must examine and consider them accordingly For if a Porter should come and tell me he had brought me such a Letter from my Father and the first part of the Letter should teach Obedience to Parents but the latter part of it should command me to give the said Porter half my Estate in this case I should notwithstanding the testimony of his brother Porters without some further demonstration believe the Letter a counterfeit as also that the first part of it which taught Obedience was only to make way for the second and principal clause viz. the giving the Porter money Now most of the Heathen Priests were such Proters and their Arcana Divinitatis but ridiculous Nothings wherewith they deluded the Vulgar As I have heard of a Country-Alehouse-keeper who being a crafty Knave devised this trick to get a ready vent for his Liquor He gave out a report at several Market-Towns that he had taken a monstrous Beast in such a Wood whereupon many Country-people flock'd into see this wonderful Beast which out of policy he kept in the dark corner of a Room withall advising the people not to approach too near him for fear of danger but this not satisfying the curiosity of one of the Clowns who had drank higher than the rest he runs into this Monster unties him and brings him out into the light where this Creature which had occasion'd so many lyes quarrels and disputes about the Nature of him whilst he remain'd in the dark proved after all to be nothing but a little Cur-dog in a Doublet Partusiunt montes nascetur ridiculus mus However the man had his design in selling off his Liquor Such were the mysteries of the ancient Heathenish Religions and what I have here written concerns them only for when Christ came into the World he deliver'd a Doctrine so pious just and necessary that even in its Infancy its own merits supported it without the assistance of Princes or Grandees What is more reasonable than to forbear those Lusts which will ruine us both here and hereafter or who but a mad-man would condemn that Law for unjust which prohibits him from murdering himself and Christ doth no more Now if the Law be good what must the Law-giver be for such as the Fruit is such must the Tree be also Some have even among the He athens been reported to have wrought Miracles as Apollonius Tyanaeus others have deliver'd good Doctrines as Plato Seneca Epictetus c. but what one man ever did both to that persection as Christ did Many in all Religions have dyed to justifie their Opinions but who like the Primitive Christians ever dyed to justifie the truth of Miracles which they beheld with their own eyes But this is unnecessary for that I write not to Heathens but Christians The general decay of Piety hath in most Religions what soever proceeded from the exemplary viciousness of their Clergy though perhaps less in ours than in others for I am unwilling to raise an unjust outery against a good Air because some few debauch'd persons dye in it Should a Physician prohibit all Mankind from Wine as poysonous and presently he himself should drink some I had reason to question the truth of his former opinion and should have cause to believe that he coveted to monopolize the best Wines for himself What Heathen Priests could with any confidence prohibit Murther when they themselves did safrequently sacrifice poor innocent men in their Temples with what justice could that Priest who assisted at the Rape of Paulina in the Temple of Apis proscribe Adulteries or Rapes If Shepherds go themselves astray How should their Sheep ere find the way If he that Teaches is to Learn How should the Scholar truth discern Vale. The Original of IDOLATRY Together with the Politick Institution OF THE Gentiles Sacrifices The Proem A Discourse concerning Heathen Religions in general were certainly a vast undertaking and vain it being too immense a labour for any one man either by reading sufficiently to comprehend the Ancient Idolatry or by Travel through both the Indies to discern that of this Age. Nor would it be less vain if possible to be attain'd For all Superstitions are to the people but like several Sports to Children which varying in their several Seasons yield them pretty entertainment for the time and when grown out of request deserve no further consideration but are
still supplanted by new ones to the same purpose Therefore to abbreviate my undertaking after having touched a little upon the Original of Idolatry I do in the rest of this discourse confine my self to one part of their Superstition viz. their Sacrifices and more especially their Sanguinary ones as being the most horrid and bruitish of all others Also in them I observe only their seeming Rational and Politick Fundamentals without mentioning the Sacerdotal particulars in the celebration of their fantastical Ceremonies which are innumerable though in effect but like the Ribbons on a Hobby-horse Now if any Hypocrite to glorifie his own zeal should pretend that a discourse of this nature does through the Heathen Sacrifices reproach those of Moses which resembled them but in outward appearance he must receive himself from that error if he rightly apprehends the difference For the one justifies his Institutions as directed to the true God and ordain'd as Typical by his appointment whereas the other viz. those of the Heathen had neither of these Qualifications and therefore no more ought to be spared for their resemblance to those of the Jews than a Criminal ought to be pardoned for wearing the same coloured Garments with the Judge Moreover for the further justification of this Treatise I have the Holy Scriptures for my President wherein we may often find recorded the Idolatry of the Ancient Heathens viz. of such as sacrificed to Baal and offer'd up Cakes to the Queen of Heaven Therefore all further Apologies I shall decline as unnecessary in so brief a Narrative Sect. I. Before Religion that is to say Sacrifices Rites Ceremonies pretended Revelations and the like were invented amongst the Heathens there was no worship of God but in a rational way whereof the Philosophers pretending to be Masters did to this end not only teach Virtue and Piety but were also themselves great examples of it in their Lives and Conversations whom the People chiefly follow'd till they were seduced by their crafty and covetous Sacerdotal Order who instead of the said Virtue and Piety introduced Fables and Fictions of their own coining perswading the Vulgar that as men could not by any natural abilities of their own know the best manner of serving God so it was necessary that He should reveal the same to his Priests in some extraordinary manner for the better instruction of the People Whereupon pretermitting the Doctrines of Piety and Goodness for the most part they introduced a Religious worship of their own moulding which amused and suspended mens minds in great part and at last made the people relie so much upon them that they neglected their proper duties consisting chiefly in the Sacrifices Expiations and Lustrations of their Priests who finding they got more by the sins and ignorance of the common people than by their virtue and knowledge made divers things sins which otherwise were but indifferent especially those things which mens natures could with the most difficulty resist which observation produced this ingenious Copy of Verses from a Modern Author no less eminent for his Wit than for his Quality Oh wearisom condition of Humanity Born under one Law to another bound Vainly begot and yet forbidden vanity Created sick commanded to be sound What meaneth Nature by these divers Laws Passion and Reason self-division cause Is it the mark or majesty of Power To make offences that it may forgive Nature her self doth her own self deslower To hate those Errors she her self doth give For how should man think that he may not do If Nature did not fail and punish too Tyrant to others to her self unjust Only commands things difficult and hard Forbids us all things which it knows is Lust Makes easie pains unpossible reward If Nature did not take delight in blood She would have made more easie way to good We that are bound by vows and by promotion With pomp of Holy Sacrifice and Rites To teach belief in good and still devotion To preach of Heavens wonders and delights Yet when each of us in his own Heart looks He finds the God there unlike his Books They forbad some meats as unclean which yet were wholsom commanding others to be used which yet must be offer'd or sacrificed that so they might have their parts allotting some days to labour and others to idleness of all which and many more conspicuous in pomp and ceremony they constituted themselves the Patrons and Procurers To whom no men were so odious as your incredulous honest men for if a man were incredulous and vicious that was the greater honour to the credulous party or if a man were credulous and vicious that did not any more reflect upon their Religion than one man's being hang'd for dishonesty scandalizes a Government besides they might pretend his Faith was never sincere But he that led an honest virtuous life without any Faith for their Supersticions he was the only person odious unto them as a person that demonstrated unto the World how unnecessary the Priests and their Doctrines were to the propagation of Virtue The Philosophers had their extravagancies in Natural but they all agreed in Moral Philosophy nor was Virtue any where better delineated than by those ancient Philosophers Plato Aristotle Seneca Plutarch Epictetus c. in so much that Hyerophantae or Teachers of Holy Doctrine was a name anciently and primitively given to Philosophers Sit pura mente colendus A pure undefiled Spirit is the only Sacrifice which Philosophy commands them to offer unto God But as that taught the knowledge of God in his works and a rational way to serve him so the Doctrines of their Priests introduced not only impertinent but also absurd and impious Tenents concerning God and Religion withdrawing them as well from the use of their Reason as from the study of Truth not allowing them any knowledge of God or Religious worship but what themselves taught Nay they betray'd the people into the Adoration of many Gods because thereby they acquired to themselves much greater advantages by adoring many Deities and introducing several worships of them than they could have expected from the single worship of one supreme God All which serves but to confirm the verity of that Epigram Vt melius possis fallere sume togam This Sacerdotal villany was well known to Diogenes as we may learn from the Answer he made to the Priest who came to convert him to be of his Order in hopes of Elizium Wilt thou saith Diogenes have me to believe that these famous men Agesilaus and Epimanondas shall be miserable and that thou who art but an Ass and doest nothing of any worth shalt be happy only because thou art a Priest So contemptible was their profession in that wise man's opinion But of this more hereafter II. The Primitive Institution of Idolatry receiv'd its Birth from Princes at whose charge it was afterwards Educated by Ecclesiasticks the one made the Idol and the other ordain'd the worship of it And this we