(a) because they did not direct their Worshippers to the Worship of the Supreme God; but did as much as they could to suppress such Worship, or at least, were willing in every Thing to be equalled with the Supreme God in Worship. Secondly, because they were the Cause of the greatest Mischiefs coming upon the Worshippers of the one Supreme God, provoking the Magistrates and the People, to inflict Punishments upon them: For though they allowed their Poets the Liberty to celebrate the Murders and Adulteries of their Gods; and the Epicureans, to banish the Divine Providence out of the World; nor was there any other Religion so disagreeable in its Rites, but they admitted it into their Society, as the Egyptian, Phrygian, Greek, and Tuscan Rites at Rome; (b) yet the Jews were every where ridiculed, as appears from their Satires and Epigrams, (c) and were sometimes banished, (d) and the Christians had moreover the most cruel Punishments inflicted upon them: For which there can be no other Reason assigned, but because these two Sects worshipped one God, whose Honour the Gods they established opposed, being more jealous of him than of one another. Thirdly, from the Manner of their Worship,

(a) Because they did not direct, &c.] This is treated of by Augustin, Book X. Chap. 14, 16, City of God.

"

very well 19, of his

"As be

(b) Yet the Jews were every where ridiculed, &c.] ing cropt, circumcised, Sabbath-keepers, Worshippers of "the Clouds and Heavens, merciful to Swine."

(c) And were sometimes banished, &c.] Tacitus, Annal. II. Seneca, Epist. XIX. tonius in Tiberius, Chap. 26.

Josephus, XVIII. 5.
Acts, xviii. 1. Sue-

(d) And the Christians had moreover, &c.] Tacitus Annal. XV. to which that of Juvenal relates:

You like a Torch shall burn,

As they who flaming stand, stifled with Smoke,

And with their Body's Print have marked the Ground.

such

such as is unworthy of a good and virtuous Mind; (a) by human Blood, (b) by Men's running naked about their Temples, (c) by Games and Dancings, filled with Uncleanness; such are now to be seen amongst the People of America and Africa, who are overwhelmed in the Darkness of Heathenism. Nay more than this; there were of old, and still are, People who worship evil Spirits, which they know and own to be such; (d) as the Arimanes of the Persians, the Cacodemons of the Greeks, (e) and the Vejoves of the Latins; and some of the Ethiopians and Indians now have others; than which, nothing can be imagined more impious. For what else is religious Worship, but a Testimony of the exceeding Goodness which you acknowledge to be in him whom you worship; which, if it be paid to an evil Spirit, is false and counterfeit, and comprehends in it the Sin of Rebellion; because the Honour due to the King, is not only taken from him, but transferred to a Deserter and his Enemy. And it is a foolish Opinion, to imagine that a good God will not revenge this, because that is not agreeable to his Goodness; (f) for

(a) By human Blood, &c.] See what was said of this, Book II.

(b) By Men's running naked about, &c.] As in their Rites dedicated to Pan. See Livy, Book I. Plutarch in Antonius, and others.

(c) By Games and Dancings, &c.] As in the Rites of Flora. -See Ovid's Fasti, Book IV. and Tatian, and Origen, in his Eighth against Celsus.

(d) As the Arimanes of the Persians, &c.] See Plutarch's Isis and Osiris, and Diogenes Laërtius in his Preface. See also Thomas Stanley, of the Philosophy of the Persians: and our Observations upon the Word Arimanes in the Index. Le Clerc. (e) And the Vejoves of the Latins, &c.] Cicero, Book III. of the Nature of the Gods.

(f) For Clemency, if it be reasonable, &c.] "love, unless you be afraid not to love?" against Marcion,

"How can you Tertullian First

Clemency,

Clemency, if it be reasonable, hath its proper Bounds; and where the Crimes are very great, Justice itself foresees Punishment, as it were, necessary. Nor are they less blameable, who say, that they are driven by Fear to pay Obedience to evil Spirits; for He who is infinitely good, is also in the highest Degree ready to communicate; and therefore all other Beings were produced by him. And if it be so, it will follow that he hath an absolute Right over all Creatures, as his own Workmanship; so that nothing can be done by any of them, if He desires to hinder it: Which being granted, we may easily collect that evil Spirits. cannot hurt him who is in Favour with the Most High God, who is infinitely good; any further, than that God suffers it to be done for the Sake of some Good. Nor can any Thing be obtained of evil Spirits, but what ought to be refused; (a) because a bad Being, when he counterfeits one that is good, is then worst; and (b) the Gifts of Enemies are only Snares.

SECT. IV.

Against the Heathen Worship paid to departed Men.

THERE have been, and now are, Heathens, who say that they pay Worship to the Souls of Men departed this Life. But here in the first Place, this Worship is also to be distinguished by manifest Tokens, from the Worship of the Supreme God. Besides, our Prayers to them are to no Purpose, if those Souls cannot assist us in any Thing;

(a) Because a bad Being, &c.] See the Verses of Syrus the Mimic.

(b) The Gifts of Enemies are only Snares, &c.] Sophocles. Enemies' Gifts are no Gifts, no Advantage.

and their Worshippers are not assured of this, nor is there any more reason to affirm that they can, than that they cannot: And what is worst of all, is, that those Men who are thus had in Honour, are found to have been Men remarkable for very great Vices. A drunken Bacchus, an effeminate Hercules, a Romulus unnatural to his Brother, and a Jupiter as unnatural to his Father. So that their Honour is a Reproach to the true God, and that Goodness, which is well-pleasing to him; (a) because it adds a Commendation from Religion to those Vices, which are sufficiently flattering of themselves.

SECT. V.

Against the Worship given to the Stars and Elements.

(b) MORE ancient than this was the Worship of the Stars, and what we call the Elements, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth; which was indeed a very great Error. For Prayers are a principal Part of religious Worship, which, to put up to any but Beings that have Understanding is very foolish; and that what we call the Elements are not such,

66

(a) Because it adds a Commendation, &c.] See an Example hereof in Terence's Eunuch, Act III. Scene V. Cyprian, Epist. II. "They imitate those Gods they worship; the Religion of those wretched Creatures is made up of Sin. Augustine, Epist. CLII. Nothing renders Men so unsoci"able, by Perverseness of Life, as the Imitation of those "whom they commend and describe in their Writings." Chalcidius in Timœus; "So it comes to pass, that instead of that "Gratitude that is due to Divine Providence from Men, for "their Original and Birth, they return Sacrilege." See the whole Place.

(b) More ancient than this, &c.] There are Reasons to persuade us that Idolatry began with the Worship of Angels and the Souls of Men, as you may see in the Index to the Oriental Philosophy, at the Word Idolatria. Le Clerc.

is evident in a good Measure from Experience. If any one affirms otherwise of the Stars, he has no Proof of it, because no such Thing can be gathered from their Operations, which are the only Signs to judge of Beings by. But the contrary may be sufficiently collected from the Motion of them, which is not various like that of Creatures endued with Freedom of Will, (a) but certain and determinate. We have elsewhere shewn, that the Course of the Stars is adapted to the Use of Man; whence Man ought to acknowledge, that he, in his better Part, bears a nearer resemblance to God, and is dearer to him; and therefore ought not to derogate so much from his own high Birth, as to place himself below those Things which God has given him; and he ought to give God Thanks for them, which is more than they can do for themselves, or at least more than we are assured of.

SECT. VI.

Against the Worship given to Brute Creatures.

BUT that which is of all Things most abomina-ble, is that some Men, particularly the Egyptians, (b) fell into the Worship even of Beasts. For, though in some of them there do appear, as it were, some Shadow of Understanding, yet it is nothing compared with Man; for they cannot express their inward Conceptions, either by distinct Words or

(a) But certain and determinate, &c.] By which Argument a certain King of Peru was persuaded to deny that the Sun could be a God. See the History of the Incas.

(b) Fell into the Worship even of Beasts, &c.] Concerning whom, Philo, in his Embassy, says, They esteem Dogs, "Wolves, Lions, Crocodiles, and many other wild Crea"tures in the Water and on the Land, and Birds, as Gods." To which may be added, a long Discourse of this Matter, in the First Book of Diodorus Siculus.

Writings;