X us. And when Julian the Apoftate hoped to bring Oracles into requeft again, Apollo told him, (as I have mention'd before,) That he could return no Answer to any thing which was asked him, 'till the Bones of the Martyr Babylas were removed; and when that was done, God was pleased to fuffer the Oracle of Daphne, and others, to give out their Anfwers; but fo notoriously falfe, that they expofed them as much as their filence had done before for when all the Oracles were confulted, to know y whether Julian, Uncle to the Apoftate, fhould recover of his Sickness, and they all agreed that he would recover, he died while the Anfwers were reading that foretold his Recovery. 2 St. Auguftine obferves, that none of the Falfe Gods ever durft deny by any Oracle, that the God of Ifrael is the True God: And we have the Teftimony of a Porphyry, that the Oracle of Apollo confeffed him to be fo. But for the Sins of Men against natural Conscience, and the contempt of the Divine Revelations made to Mankind, and fo often promulged amongst all Nations, God might permit the Devil to delude the World with fuch Signs and Predictions, as either were indeed true, or could not be difcerned to be falfe, but by the Doctrines and Practices which they were brought to countenance and eftablifh. There is no doubt, but that Evil Spirits may be able to delude and impofe upon Men, and to do many things by their Sagacity and Cunning, which may be above the power of Man not only to perform, but to understand or find out: but their Miracles were never wrought to confirm any found and ufeful Doctrine; nor had they been plainly foretold by ancient Prophecies, as * Soz. 1. 5. c. 19. Chryf. de S. Babyl. y Philoftorg. lib. 7. c. 12. Aug. de Divin. Dæm. c. 8. De Confenf. Evang. 1. 1. c. 18, 32. the : the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apoftles had been And the power by which our Religion was attefted and established, was fo much fuperior to any power in the Heathen Gods, that when they were adjured by Chriftians, they were forced to confefs themselves to be wicked and feducing Spirits; as the Primitive Chriftians declare in their Writings, and ap→ peal to the Heathens of their own Times for the truth of it, and undertake, upon pain of Death, to prove. it before them. This 5 Tertullian undertakes, in his Apology, (as I have before obferved) addreffed to the Emperor and Senate of Rome, or at least to the Proconful of Africk, and the Governors of the feveral Cities and Provinces, written in Latin, and tranflated into Greek. And St. Cyprian affirms the like, in his Treatife to Demetrianus a Judge of Carthage, or, as fome think, the Pro-conful: To the fame purpose likewife fpeak Origen, Minutius Felix, and others of the Primitive Chriftians. And we cannot imagine, that Men of common Senfe would ever have made fuch publick and repeated Appeals, if their Pretences. had been falfe, to the hazard of their own Lives, and the utter difgrace and extirpation of their Religion, for which they endeavoured to plead, by fuch confi dent and bold Difcourfes, fo eafie to be difproved, if they had not been true. Men, who have the Wealth and Power of the World on their fide, may perhaps fometimes make large boafts and high pretences, when they can eafily hinder others from bringing them to the Teft; but Men that had all the power and policy of the Empire against them, would never have offer'd any thing of this nature in defence of b Educatur hic aliquis fub Tribunalibus veftris, quem Damone agi conftet, juffus à quolibet Chriftiano loqui Spiritus ille, tam fe Damonem confitebitur de vero, quàm alibi Deum de falso. Tertull. Apol. c. 23. e Eufeb. Hift. lib. ii. c. 2. their Religion, unless they had been able to make it good to the faces of their worft Enemies, to whom their Apologies were directed. 500 CHAP. IV. The Defect in point of Doctrine, in the Heathen Religions, T is undeniable, that the Doctrines of all the Hea then Religions have been wicked, and contrary to the Unity, and Goodnefs, and Purity of God, and to the and Happiness of Mankind. This might Vertue be made out at large by Particulars, as, 2 1. The Theology of the Heathens was fo confufed and abfurd, that the only Evasion which the Philofophers could find, who undertook the defence of Paganifm againft Chriftianity was to expound their Theology by Allegories; but this Philo Biblius cenfures as abfurd, and maintains that it was a mere abufe and innovation in their Divinity; in proof of which, he alledges the Authority of Santhoniathon and Eufebius befides makes good the charge. Ze firft begun this way of Allegorizing, in which he was followed by Cleantes, Chryfippus, and other Stoicks, • Plutarch fays, that Cleanthes feem'd to be in jeft, in fome of his Interpretations, and that thofe of Chry fippus were ftrangely forc'd; and he gives Inftances of both kinds. But this pretence to Allegories is by none a Eufeb. Præpar. 1. i. c. 9, 10. b Magnam moleftiam fufcepit & minimè neceffariam primus Zeno, poft Cleanthes, deinde Chryfippus, commentitiarum fabularum reddere rationem. Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. iii, Plut. Quomodo Juven. audiend. fint Poëm more fully confuted, than by dArnobius. It is well obferved by e Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus, that thofe Ex-. pofitions were known to very few; but that the People understood the Fables of their Theology in the groffeft fenfe, and either defpifed all Religion, or encouraged themselves in Wickednefs, by the Example of their Gods. i The Chaldeans had twelve principal Deities, according to the number of Months in the Year. And 8 Zoroafter taught Men to facrifice to Arimanius the Damon, or Evil Being, as well as to God, or the good Being, whom he tiled Oromazes. h Varro makes three forts of Heathen Theology; the Fabulous invented by the Poets; the Phyfical, or that of the Philofophers; and the Civil or Popular, being fuch as the feveral Cities and Countries had fet up. The Greek Theology was thus diftinguifhed: 1. God, who rules over all. 2. The Gods, who were fuppofed to govern above the Moon. 3. The Damons, whofe Jurifdiction was in the Air below it. And, 4. The Heroes or Souls of dead Men, who were imagined to prefide over Terreftrial Affairs. And befides all thefe, the evil Damons were worshipped, out of fear of mischief from them, which gives fome account of the prodigious multitude of their Gods; whereof Hefiod computes thirty thousand hovering about the Earth in the Air, (unless he be to be understood of an indefinite number.) Orpheus reckon'd but three hundred fix+ ty five; and at his Death, in his Will, afferted only m Varro reckon'd up three hundred Jupiters; and the † Gods of Mexico (as the Indians reported to one. 1 d Adverf. Gent. lib. 5. f Diod. Sic. l. 1. k e Dion. Hift. lib. z. g Plut. de Ifid. & Ofir. h Tertull. ad Nat. lib. 2. c. 1. i Eufeb. Præpar. 1.4. c. 5. V. 250. C. 14. Aug. Civ. Dei, lib. 6. c. 5. Theoph. ad Autol. the Spaniards) were two thoufand in number. Varro, Tully, and Seneca, and moft fober and difcreet Men, were afhamed of the Heathen Gods, and believed that there is but one God; to which purpofe, the Verfes of Valerius Soranus are produced and expounded by Varro. Theophilus Bifhop of Alexandria order'd one Image of Serapis to be preferv'd, when all the other Idols were demolish'd, that the Gentiles might not be able to deny, that they had worshipt fuch Gods. At which Amonius the Grammarian, a Heathen Prieft P, who was Mafter to Socrates the Ecclefiaftical Hiftorian, was much concerned, faying, It was hard, that their Religion fhould be expofed by the preferving of that one Statue, when the reft were deftroyed. The Worship of their Gods, and of their Images or Idols, was fo grofs amongst the ancient Heathen, and is to this day in China, and in both the Indies, that one would almost think it impoffible for Men to be fo far deluded by the Devil: They worshipped not only the Ghofts of dead Men, but Birds and Beafts, and creeping Things, and the Devil himfelf under Images of fuch hideous Forms and Shapes as aré frightful to look upon. The 9 wifer Heathen were afhamed of these Idolatries; and Varro particularly commends the Jews for ufing no Images in their Divine Worship, which, he fays, were not in ufe at Rome 'till above one hundred and feventy Years after the Foundation of the City; for Numa, the Contriver of their Religion, forbad Images: Which makes n Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. iv. c. 31. vii. 9. g Socrat. Hift. I. 1. c. 16. P Пitiny isgos, The Prieft of an Ape. S Gentes verò quadam Animalia etiam, aliqua & obfcœna, pro Diis habent, ac multa dictis magis pudenda, per fetidos cibos alia fimilia jurantes. Plin. Hift. 1.2. c. 7. Aug. Civ. Dei, lib. iv. c. 31. A a 2 s Plut. in Vit. Numæ. it |