t\
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD 
 ENDOWMENT FUND
 
 //■"/,///, OJl/0•/.^ .1/^ Plcri'IiE r// iy/'m/ct:,*/^/- oyr/J^/
 
 THE 
 
 WORKS 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 WILLIAM WARBURTON, 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER. 
 
 IN SEVEN VOLUMES* 
 
 YOLUME THE FIRST. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN NICHOLS: 
 AND SOLD BY T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND, 
 MDCCLXXXVIII.
 
 [ lu 3 
 
 ^-.r 
 
 v./ 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 ^ t ^ H E Reader will expe6l Ibme account of the Life, 
 •*- JVritings, and Chara6ier of the Author to be jn-e- 
 lixed to this complete edition of his Works. He is there- 
 fore informed, that a Difcourfe to that effedl hath been 
 prepared, and will be publiflied ; but not now, for rea- 
 fons that will be feen hereafter. However, it may be 
 proper to add, that the purchafer of this edition will be 
 entitled to a Copy of the Difcourfe, whenever it comes 
 out, on his producing a ticket, which for that purpofe 
 will be delivered to him by the Bookfeller. 
 
 All I have to fay, at prefent, of the Author's Works, 
 is. That they have been printed carefully from his laft 
 corredions and improvements ; and arranged in that 
 order, which was judged molt convenient. 
 
 Of the new trails, included in this edition, the mofl 
 confiderable is. The ninth Book of the Divine Legation ; 
 printed, fo far as it goes, by the Author himfelf, but 
 
 Vol. I. a a left 
 
 8cr rj'ri'f'^'-*^
 
 IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 left unfiniflied. This Difcourfe miift be interefting to the 
 reader ; but will not appear to have all the novelty which 
 he may expert. The reafon is, that the Author had 
 laid afide all thoughts of compleating this book for many 
 years, and had, in the mean time, employed fome parts 
 of it in his other Works, From thefe, when he at length 
 refumed that intention, he extra6ted-many paflages, which 
 are now again inferted in their place. 
 
 Thus much I thought fit to fay of this additional Boob, 
 that the Reader may come the better prepared to the pe- 
 rufal of it. For the reft, he is referred to the Author's 
 Life, at large. 
 
 Creat Ruffel-Streetj 
 
 i^°"7XU. R. W O' R C E S T E R;. 
 
 T H E.
 
 DISCOURSE, 
 
 BY WAY OF 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE 
 
 TO THE QUARTO EDITION OF 
 
 BISHOP WARBURTON'S WORKS. 
 
 [cnteteD at ^tationets! i^ail*]
 
 CONTENTS OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 From his birth ^ in 1698, to his being appointed Preacher 
 of Lincoln's Inn, in 1746. 
 
 His family — birth — education — and preparatory Jiudies — en" 
 trance into holy orders — and preferment of Brandt- Br ough- 
 ton — extraordinary application to his Jiudies — Alliance 
 betzveen Church and State — account of that zvork — and 
 its reception. — Publijhes the Jirjl volume of the Divine Le- 
 gation-^his friendjbip zvith the bijljops Hare and Sherlock — 
 Vindication of himfelf againjl IVebJler — His acquaintance 
 with Dr. Middleton — his conduS'i toivards him — Reco?7i- 
 mendation of him by Bijljop Hare to flueen Caroline — 
 death of that Princefs — Continuance of his Jiudies at Brandt- 
 Broughton — Vindicates the Effay on Man againjl Croufaz 
 — acquaintance zvith Mr. Pope — publijljes a Jecond edition 
 of D. L. — Conneclion with Sir I'homas Hanmer — death 
 of Bijhop Hare — and charadler — Publijljes the Jecond vo- 
 lume of D. L. — idea of that zvork — further account of Dr. 
 Middleton — intimate friend/ljip zvith Mf. Pope — ejfecis of 
 it — Mr. Pope's death — Introduclion to Mr. Murray and 
 Mr. Allen — chara£iers of thofe e?ninent perfons — defends 
 theD.L. agaifijl Jeveral zvriters — declines going to Ireland 
 zvith Lord Chejierjield — his marriage — and appointment to 
 the PreacherJJjip of Lincoln'' s Inn. 
 
 4 SEC-
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 To bis being projnotcd to the See oj Gloucejler^ in 1760. 
 
 Pubii/Jjes Shake fpcafs ivorks — reception and charaBcr of that 
 edition — Vindicates Mr. Pope againjl Lord BoUngbroke — 
 DigreJJlon, on Mr. Addifons treatment of Mr. Pope — Pub- 
 lij]jes his Julian — bozv received at home and abroad — 
 P>eatb and charackr of Dr. Middleton — His edition of 
 Mr. Pope's works — His fernwns at Lincoln'' s-lnn^ and 
 charaSler of them— Some account of bis preferments — 
 Death of Lord Boiin^broke — publication of bis pbilofopby — 
 and refutation of it — His Jentiments of Mr. Hume s effayst 
 and Natural Hiflory of Religion — bis animadverfions on the 
 latter — a new and correB edition of the firfl volume of 
 D. L. — anfwers fome objeBions of Abp. Seeker — cbaraBer 
 of that Prelate — and of his friend BiJJjop Butler -^Promo- 
 tion to the Deanery of Briftol^ and to the BiJJjoprick of 
 Gloucejler, 
 
 SECTION III. 
 ?o bis Death f in 1777. 
 
 RefleBions on hii advancement to the epifcopate — bis conduB 
 in that flation — Sermon on the 30//6 of January — Cenfure 
 of Lord Clarendons Hiflory — and Neafs Hiflory of the 
 
 Puri-
 
 Puritans — and of 'Tindats CbriJIianity as Old as the Crea- 
 tion — Revifes his Sermons — reprints his Difcourfe on the 
 Lord's Supper — publifies his DoSlrine of Grace — nezv edition 
 of the fecond'johime of D. L. addreffed to Lord Mansfield — 
 remarkable appendix to this edition — character of BiJJjop 
 Lozvth — AV:y edition of the Alliance — applies bimfelf to 
 the completion of the ninth book of D. L. — account of this 
 ivork — zjchy undertaken fo late, and left imjinijhed — founds 
 his leciure on Prophecy — lofes his f on — decline of his health 
 and parts — bis death. 
 
 \ 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 His Chara£ler, 
 
 Moral virtues — love of letters — idea of him., as a Writer ; 
 particularly a controverfial writer ; vindication of him in 
 that refped — and as a Divine, properly fo called — His 
 companionable qualities — private friendflAps — Characters 
 of Mr. town and Dr. Balguy — his foibles, of what fort, 
 and to what owing-^Brief account of this edition — Con- 
 clufion. 
 
 Appendix to the Life* 
 
 Containing Letter to Mr. Pope \^A\, 
 
 to Mrs. Cockburn [b].
 
 CORRECTIONS. 
 
 P. 26. I. 17. for in read him. 
 
 P. 108. note, laft line but one, for unica r. uiiico. 
 
 P. no. 1. 14. iQX ■predecejfor's r. predetejfors. 
 
 P. 125. 1. 4. for reprefenling r. repreffing. 
 
 P. 143. 1. 2. for p. 24. r. p. 39.
 
 [ X ] 
 THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 FIRST PRINTED IN 1794. 
 
 VV ILLIAM WARBURTON was defcended from an 
 antient and very confiderable family in Chefhire, at the 
 head of which is the prefeut Sir Peter Warburton, baronet, 
 of Arley, in that county. 
 
 I leave the reft to the Genealogift ; and go no farther 
 back in his pedigree than to his grandfather, of the fame 
 name, who diftinguiflied himfelf in the civil wars of the 
 laft century. He was of the Royal party, and fliewed his 
 zeal and a6tivity in tliat caufe by ferving under Sir George 
 Booth at the affair of Chefter. I mention this little cir- 
 cumftance chiefly for the ufe I fliall make of it elfewhere. 
 All that I know more of him, is, That he married 
 Frances, daughter of Robert Awfield of Etfon, in the 
 county of Nottingham, by whom he had three fons ; the 
 fecond of whom, George, was Mr. Warburton's father. 
 
 It feems probable that upon this marriage he removed 
 into Nottinghamlliire. His refidence was at Shelton, a 
 village about fix miles from Newark, where he died. 
 
 B Mr.
 
 [ 2 ] 
 
 Mr. George Warburton, the fecond fon, as I obferved, 
 of William Warburton, Efq. of Shelton, was bred to the 
 law. He fettled at Newark, where he pradifed as an 
 attorney, and was particularly efteemed for his integrity in 
 that profefllon. 
 
 He married Elizabeth, daughter of William Hobman, 
 Alderman of Newark, and had by this marriage five 
 children, George, William, Mary, Elizabeth, and Frances. 
 
 George died very young. William (the fubjc^^^ of this 
 memoir) was born at Newark, Dsc. 24, i6g8. He was 
 firft put to fchool there under Mr. Twells, whofe fon 
 afterwards married his fifter, Elizabeth : but he had the 
 chief part of his education at Okeham, in Rutlandfliire, 
 under Mr. Wright. Here he continued till the beginning 
 of the year i 7 14 ; when his coufin, Mr. Warburton (who 
 alfo bore the name of William), being made head mailer 
 of the fchool at Newark, he returned to his native place^ 
 and was, for a fliort time, under the care of that learned 
 and refpe(Slable perfon, of whom more will be faid pre- 
 fently. I only now add ; that he was father to the reve- 
 rend Mr. Thomas Warburton, the prefent very worthy 
 Archdeacon of Norfolk, to whom I am indebted for the 
 particulars here mentioned, concerning his family. 
 
 I cannot, I confefs, entertain the reader of this narra- 
 tive with thofe encomiums which are fo commonly laviflied 
 on the puerile years of eminent men. On the beft en- 
 quiry,
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 quiry, I have been able to make, I do not find that, du- 
 ring his ftay at fchool, he diftinguiflied himfelf by any 
 extraordinary efforts of genius or appUcation. My infor- 
 mation authorizes me to go no further than to fay, That 
 he loved liis book, and his play, juil as other boys did. 
 And, upon reflexion, I am not difpleafed with this modeft 
 teflimony to his merit. For I remember what the heft 
 judges have thought of premature wits. And we all know 
 that the mountain- oak, which is one day to make the 
 ih-ength of our fleets, is of flower growth than tlie fap- 
 lings, which adorn our gardens. 
 
 But, although no prodigy of parts or induftry in thofe 
 early years, with a moderate (hare of each, he could not 
 fail of acquiring by the age of fixteen (the time when he 
 left fchool) a competent knowledge of Greek and Latin 
 under fuch marters, as thofe of Okeham and Newark. 
 
 It had been his misfortune to lofe his father very early. 
 He died in 1706 ; and the care of his family devolved, of 
 courfe, upon his widow ; who, as we have feen, gave her 
 fon the beft fchool-education ; and, in all refpe6ls, ap- 
 proved herfelf fo good a woman, as well as parent, that 
 her chiklren paid her all poflible refpeit : her fon, in 
 particular (all whofe affedlions were naturally warm), 
 gave her every proof of duty and obfervance, while flie 
 lived, and, after her death, retained fo tender a regard to 
 her memory, that he feldom fpake of her but with tears. 
 
 B 2 The
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 The circumllances of the family could be but moderate ; 
 and when Mr.'Warburton had now finiflied his education 
 at fchool, he was deftined by his friends to that profeffion, 
 which is thought to qualify men bcft for the management 
 of their own aftairs, and which his father had followed 
 with fo much credit in that neighbourhood. 
 
 He was accordingly put out clerk to Mr. Kirke, an emi- 
 nent attorney of Great Markham, in Nottinghamlhire, in 
 April, 1 7 14, and continued with that gentleman five years, 
 /. e. till the fpring of the year 1719. Tradition does not 
 acquaint us, how he acquitted himfelf in his clerkfliip. 
 Probably, with no fignal alTiduity. For now it was that 
 the bent of his genius aj^peared in a paffionate love of 
 -reading, which was not leffencd, we may believe, but in- 
 creafed, by his want of time and opportunity to indulge it. 
 
 However, in fpite of his fituation, he found means to 
 perufe again and digeft fuch of the claffic authors as he 
 had read at fchool, with many others which he underilood 
 to be in repute with men of learning and judgement. By 
 degrees he, alfo, made himfelf acquainted with the other 
 elementary ftudies ; and, by the time his clerkfliip was out, 
 had laid the foundation, as well as acquired a tafte, of 
 general knowledge. 
 
 Still, the opinion and expectation of his friends kept him 
 in that profeffion, to which he had been bred. On the 
 expiration of his clerkfliip, he returned to his family at 
 
 Newark ;
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 Newark ; but whether he pradlifed there or elfewhere as 
 an attorney, I am not certainly informed. However the 
 love of letters growing every day ftronger in him, it was 
 found advifea'ole to give v.'ay to his inclination of taking- 
 Orders : the rather, as the ferioufnefs of his temper and 
 purity of his morals concurred, with his unappeafible 
 thirif of knowledge, to give the fareft prefages of future 
 eminence in that profeffion. 
 
 He did not venture, however, all at once to rulh into 
 the church. His good underftanding, and awful fenfe of 
 religion, fuggefted to him the propriety of making the 
 beft preparation he could, before he offered himfelf a can- 
 didate for the facred charadler. Fortunately for him, his 
 relation, the Marter of Newark School, was at hand to 
 give him his advice. And he could not have put himfelf 
 under a better dire6lion. For, befides his claffical merit 
 (which was great), he had that of being an excellent 
 Divine, and was a truly learned as well as good man. 
 
 To him then, as loon as his rcfoluiion was taken of 
 going into Orders, he applied for affiiiance, which v/as 
 afforded him very liberally. " My father (fays Mr. Arch- 
 *' deacon Warburton in a letter to me) employed ail the 
 " time he could fpare from his fchool in inftrudting him, 
 *' and ufed to fit up very late at night with him to aiTift 
 " him in his iludies." And this account I have heard 
 confirmed by his pupil himfelf; who ufed to enlarge with 
 
 pleafure
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 pleaftire on his obligations to his old tutor ; and has cele- 
 brated his theological and other learning in a handfome 
 Latin epitaph, which he wrote upon him after his 
 death. 
 
 At length he was ordained Deacon the 2 2d of December, 
 17 '2 3, in the cathedral of York, by Archbifliop Dawes: 
 and even then he was in no hafte to enter into Priell's 
 Orders, which he deferred taking till he was full twenty- 
 eight years of age, being ordained Prieil: by Bifliop Gibfon 
 in St. Paul's, London, March the 1 ft, 1726-7. 
 
 Some will here lament that the precious interval of nine 
 years, from his quitting fchool in 1 714 to his takingOrders, 
 was not fpent in one of our univerfities, rather than his 
 private ftudy, or an attorney's office. And it is certain, 
 the difadvantage to moft men would have been great. But 
 an induftry, and genius, like his, overcame all difficulties. 
 It may even be conceived, that he derived a benefit from 
 them. As his faculties were of no common lize, his own 
 proper exertion of them probably tended more to his im- 
 provement, than any affiftance of tutors and colleges 
 could have done. To which we may add, that living by 
 himfelf, and not having the faffiionable opinions of a great 
 fociety to bias his own, he might acquire an enlarged turn 
 of mind, and ftrike out for himfelf, as he clearly did, an 
 original caft both of thought and compofition ; 
 Fq/lidire lacus et rivos aufus apertos : 
 
 while
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
 while his fuperior fenfe, in the mean time, did the office 
 of that authority, which, in general, is found fo DecefTary 
 to quicken the diligence, and diredt the judgement, of 
 young ftudents in our univerfities. 
 
 The fadl is, that, without the benefit of an Academical 
 education, he had qualified himfelf, in no common degree, 
 for Deacon's Orders in 1723: and from that time till he 
 took PrielVs Orders in the beginning of the year 1727, he 
 applied himfelf diligently to complete his ftudies, and to 
 lay in that fund of knowledge, which is requifite to form 
 tlie confummate Divine. For to this charadter he reafon- 
 ably afpired ; having that ardour of inclination, which is 
 the earnetf of fuccefs, and feeling in himfelf thofe powers 
 which invigorate a great niind, and pufli it on irrefiftibly 
 in the purfuit of letters. 
 
 The fruits of his indulhy, during this interval, appeared 
 in fome pieces, compofed by him for tlie improvement of 
 his talle and ityle, and aftervi'ards printed (moft of them 
 without his name) to try the judgement of the j^^^blick. 
 As he never thought fit to reprint or revife them, they 
 arc omitted in this edition. But they are fuch as did him 
 no difcredit ; on the contrary, they fliewed the vigour of 
 his parts, and the more than common hopes, which might 
 be entertained of fuch a writer. 
 
 Among thefe blojfoms of his youth (to borrow an expref- 
 fion from Cowley) were fome notes, communicated to 
 
 Mr.
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 Mr. Theobald, and inferted in his edition of Shakefpear ; 
 which feems to have raifed a general idea of his abilities, 
 before any more important proof had been given of them. 
 But of this fubjedl more will be faid in its place. 
 
 It was, alfo, in this feafon of early difcipline, while his 
 mind was opening to many literary projecfts, that he con- 
 ceived an idea, which he was long pleafed with, of giving 
 a new edition of Velleiiis Paterculus. He was charmed 
 with the elegance of this writer ; and the high credit in 
 which emendatory criticifm (of which Paterculus flood 
 much in need) was held in the beginning of this century, 
 occafioned by the da3zling reputation of fuch men as 
 Bentley and Hare, very naturally feduced a young enter- 
 prizing fcholar into an attempt of this nature. How far 
 he proceeded in this work, I cannot fay : but a fpecimen 
 of it afterwards appeared in one of our literary journals, 
 and was then communicated to his friend, Dr. Middleton ; 
 who advifed him very properly to drop the defign, as not 
 worthy of bis talents and induftry^ zvbicbj as he fays, injlead 
 of trifling on words, feems calculated rather to correB the 
 opinions and manners of the world. 
 
 Thefe juvenile effays of his pen, hafty and incorreil, 
 as they were, contributed, no doubt, very much to his 
 own improvement. What effeil; they had on his reputation, 
 and how foon they raifed it to a conliderable height among 
 his friends, will be feen from the following curious facTt. 
 
 4 In
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 III the year 1726, a difpute arofe among the lawyers 
 about the judicial power of the Court of Chancery. It is 
 immaterial to oblcrve on what points the controverfy 
 turned, or with what views it was agitated. It oj^ened 
 with a trail, called, T^he Hi/lory of the Chancery ; relating 
 to the Judicial Power of that Court, and the Rights of the 
 Mafler ; printed without a name ; but written, as was 
 generally known, by a Mr. Burrough ; and fo well received 
 by the Lord Chancellor King, that he rewarded the Author 
 of it, the fame year, with a Mafterfliip in Chancery, 
 
 To this book an anfwer prefently appeared, under the 
 name of, A Difcoitrfe of the Judicial Authority of the Majler 
 of the Rolls ; and fo well compofed, that they who favoured 
 the caufe of the Hijlorian, faw it muft fuffer in his hands, 
 if it ^yere not fupported by feme better writer than himfelf, 
 who was evidently no match for the Difcourfer. 
 
 In this exigency, he was advifed by one of his friends 
 (I forget, or never heard, his name) to have recourfe to 
 Mr. Warburton, as a perfon very capable of fupplying his 
 defeds. Accordingly, when he had prepared the proper 
 materials for a reply, he obtained leave to put them into 
 Mr. Warburton's hands, and afterwards fpent fome time 
 with him in the country ; where, by their joint labours, 
 the whole was drawn out and digefted into a fizable volume, 
 which came out in 1727, and was entitled. The Legal 
 Judicature in Chancery JIated. This book was fo manifeilly 
 C fuperior
 
 [ 'o ] 
 
 liiperior to the HIJIory, that fuch of the profeflion as were 
 not in the fecret, wondered at Mr. Burrough's proficiency 
 in the art of writing ; and the Lord Chancellor King, as 
 much as any body. The author of the Difcourje faw it 
 concerned him to take notice of fuch an adverfary, and in 
 1728 re-printed his work " with large additions — together 
 " with a Preface occafioned by a book entitled, The Legal 
 <' Judicature in Chancery Jlated^ And with this reply, I 
 believe, the difpute clofed. 
 
 Many years afterwards (the fecret being now of no con- 
 fequence) Mr, Warburton chanced to mention, in convcr- 
 fation, to Mr. Charles Yorke, the part he had taken in this 
 fquabble : when Mr. Yorke fmiled, and faid he fancied he 
 was not aware who had been his antagonift ; and then 
 named his father, the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, who, 
 though Attorney General at the time, had undertaken to 
 plead the caufe of his relation, Sir Jofeph Jekyll, then 
 Mafter of the Rolls. — But I have dwelt, perhaps, too long 
 on this little anecdote. 
 
 Upon Mr. Warburton's taking Prieft's Orders, Sir Robert 
 Sutton procured for him the fmall vicarage of Griefley, in . 
 Nottinghamfliire ; and in 1728 prefented him to the rec- 
 tory of Brand-Broughton, in the diocefe of Lincoln. He 
 was, alfo, the fame year, and, I fuppofe, by the fame 
 intereft, pyt upon the King's lift of Mafter of Arts, created 
 on his Majefty's vifit to the univerfity of Cambridge, 
 
 Brand-
 
 L >' ] 
 
 Brand-Broughton was a preferment of Tome value, and, 
 from its fituation in the neighbourliood of Newark, pleafed 
 him very much. Here then he fixed himfelf, with his 
 family, and fpent the bell part of his life, that is, from 
 1728 to 1746. 
 
 They who are unacquainted with the enthufiafm which 
 true genius infpires, will hardly conceive the poffibility 
 of that intenfe application, with which Mr. Warburtoii 
 purfued his ftudies in that retirement. Impatient of any 
 interruptions, he fpent the whole of his time that could 
 be fpared from the duties of his parifli, in reading and 
 writing. His conftitvition was ftrong, and his temperance 
 extreme. So that he needed no exercife but that of walk- 
 ing ; and a change of reading, or fludy, was his only 
 amufement. 
 
 His mother and fifters, ^vho lived with him and were 
 apprehenfive of the hurt he might do himfelf by this con- 
 tinued induftry, would invite themfelves to drink coffee 
 with him in his ftudy after dinner, and contrive to lengthen 
 their flay with him as much as they could. But when, 
 they had retired, they faw no more of him that evening; 
 and his fifter, Mrs. Frances Warburton, told me, that he 
 ufually fate up a great part of the night. What is moll 
 extraordinary, the vigour of his parts was fuch, that his 
 incefTant labour neither wearied his fpirits, nor affeiled his 
 health. 
 
 C 2 In
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
 In this way it was, that he acquired that habit of deep 
 thinking, with that extenfive erudition, whicli afterwards 
 aftoniflied the reader in his works ; and made himfelf ac- 
 quainted with the whole range of poUte and elegant learn- 
 ing, in the way of diverfion, and in the interval of his 
 graver ftudies. 
 
 I exprefs myfelf with exadl: propriety. For it was his 
 manner at this time (and the habit continued w.th him 
 through life) to intermix his literary purfuits in fuch fort 
 as to make the lighter relieve the more ferious ; and thefe 
 again, in their turn, temper and corredl the other. He 
 was paflionately fond of the more fublime poets, and (what 
 is very uncommon) had almoft an equal rehfli for works 
 of wit and humour. One or other of thefe books he had 
 always lying by him, and would take up when he found 
 himfelf fatigued with ftudy ; and, after fpending fome 
 time in this fort of reading, was fo much refreflied by it, 
 that he returned with new life to the work he was upon ; 
 and fo made thefe amufements, which are apt to get the 
 maftery of common minds and to exhauft their whole 
 force, only fubfervient to his more important medi- 
 tations. 
 
 And this humour (to obferve it by the way) of aflb- 
 
 ciating the fo different powers of reafon and fancy in the 
 
 courfe of his ftudies, pafled into his ftyle, and indeed 
 
 formed one diftindlive charadler of it. For in all his wri- 
 
 4 tings,
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
 tings, on whatever fubjecft, you fee him, occafionally, 
 ennoble his expreffion by pidlurefque imagery, or enliven 
 it by ftrokes of wit : And this (though the pra6lice be 
 againll: rule) with fo much eafe, and with fo little affec- 
 tation, that none but a very captious, or very dull, reader 
 can take offence at it. 
 
 With that paffion for letters, which, as I obferved, 
 tranfported Mr. Warburton at this time, the fobriety of 
 his judgement is to be admired. The little tafte he had 
 had of fame in the early publications, before alluded to, 
 did not corrupt his mind, or feduce him into a premature 
 ambition of appearing as an author in form, till he had 
 fully qualified himfelf, by the long courfe of reading and 
 meditation, now mentioned, to fuftain that character. It 
 was not till the year 1736 that he publiflied the firft of 
 thofe works, on which his great reputation is raifed This 
 was, The Alliance betwixt Church and State : the 
 occafion, and end, and fubftance of which work cannot 
 be exprefTed in fewer or clearer terms, than his own. 
 
 After a fhort hiftorical view of religious parties in Eng- 
 land, from the Reformation downwards ; of the difcor- 
 dant notions entertained of Religious eflablilliments ; and 
 of the heats and animolities which thofe notions had pro- 
 duced : he proceeds thus 
 
 *' In this ferment, and in this embroiled condition, the 
 " Author of the Alliance between Cburcb and State foimd 
 
 " the
 
 [ -4 ] 
 
 " the fentiments of men concerning religious Liberty and 
 *< EftablifhmentSj when he i^ropofed his 'fbeory to their 
 " confideration : a Theory, calculated to vindicate our pre- 
 " fent happy Conftitution on a principle of right, by 
 " adjuding the precife bounds of either Society ; by fhew- 
 " ing how they come to a<ft in conjunilion ; and by ex- 
 " plaining the nature of their union : and from thence, 
 " by natural and nccelTary confequence, inducing, on the 
 *' one hand, an Established Religion, with all its rights 
 *' and privileges, fecured by a Test Law; and on the 
 " other, a full and free Toleration to all who diffented 
 " from the national worfhip. 
 
 " He firil fliewed the ufe of Religion to Society, from 
 " the experience and pradlice of all ages : He inquired 
 " from whence the ufe arofe, and found it to be from cer- 
 " tain original defeats in the very effence and plan of 
 " Civil Society. He went on to the nature of Religion ; 
 " and (hewed how, and for what caufes, it conftituted a 
 *' Society ; And then, from the natures of the tzvo Societies, 
 '^ he colleded, that the obje(5t of the Civil, is only the 
 " Body and its interefts ; and the objedl of the Religious, 
 " only the Soul. Hence he concluded, that both Societies 
 *' are Sovereign, and Independent ; becaufe they arife not 
 *' out of one another ; and becaufe, as they are concerned 
 *' in contrary provinces, they can never meet to clafli ; 
 " the famenefs of original, or the famenefs of adminiftration, 
 
 " beinj;
 
 [ 'S ] 
 
 *' being the only caufes which can bring one, of two dif- 
 " tinil Societies, into natural fubjedion to the other. 
 
 " To apply Religion therefore to the fervice of Civil 
 *' Society, in the beft manner it is capable of being ap- 
 ** plied, he fliewed it was necellary that the two Societies 
 *' fliould Unite : For, each being fovereign and inde- 
 *' pendent, there was no other way of applying the fer- 
 " vice of Religion in any folid or effedual manner. But 
 " no fuch union could arife but from free CQ7npa£l and 
 *' convention. And free convention is never likely to 
 " happen, iinlefs each Society has its mutual motives, and 
 " mutual advantages. The Author therefore, from what 
 " he had laid down of the natures of the two Societies, 
 *' explained what thefe motives and advantages were. 
 " Whence, it appeared that all the rights, privileges, and 
 " prerogatives of the two Societies, thus united, wdth the 
 " Civil Magiftrate at their head, were indeed thofe very 
 *' rights, privileges, and prerogatives, which we find 
 *' eftablilhed and enjoyed under our prefent happy Con- 
 " ftitution in Church and State : The refult of this was 
 " that an Established Church and a free Toleration 
 " are made perfectly to agree by the medium of a Test 
 *' Law. This Law therefore the Author in the laft place 
 ** proceeded to vindicate, on the fame general principles of 
 " the law of Nature and Nations. 
 
 " This
 
 [ 16 ] 
 
 " This is a true, though Ihort analyfis of the Alliance 
 " between Church and State '^" 
 
 This work made a great impreffion on the beft judges. 
 One f of them, to whom he had fent a prefent of his 
 book, expreffes himfelf thus 
 
 " I had formerly been very agreeably entertained with 
 <' fome emendations of your's on Shakefpeare, and was ex- 
 " tremely pleafed to find this work was by the fame hand. 
 *' Good learning, great acutenefs, an ingenious working 
 " head, and depth of thought, will always pleafe in an 
 *' author, though we are not entirely in the fame ways of 
 <' thinking." — And, in the clofe of it, he adds — " You 
 " have not, Sir, only my thanks for what you have done, 
 *' but my fmcere wiflies, that what was intended for the 
 *' fervice of the publick may prove alfo to be for your 
 «' own, to which my endeavours, in any proper way, fliall 
 *' not be wanting." 
 
 This was candid and generous, confidering that the 
 eminent perfon was not altogether in the author's fenti- 
 ments on the fubjedt of his book. But he was ftruck with 
 his great abilities, and became from this moment his fin- 
 cere friend. 
 
 The truth is, no fort of men, either within or 
 without the Church, was prepared, at that time, for 
 
 * Vol. VI. p. 781—3. t Bilhop Hare. 
 
 an
 
 t 17 ] 
 
 nil indifferent reception of this new theory, which refpe6led 
 none of their prejudices. It was neither calculated , to 
 pleafe the High-Church Divines, nor the Low ; and the 
 Layity had taken their fide with the one or the other of 
 tliofe parties. 
 
 However, though few at that time were convinced, all 
 were ilruck hy this efTay of an original writer, and could 
 not diiremble their admiration of the ability, which ap- 
 peared in the conftru6lion of it. There was indeed a reach 
 of thought in Jhis fyflem of Church- policy, which would 
 prevent its making its way all at once. It required time and 
 attention, even in the moft capable of its readers, to appre- 
 hend the force of the argumentation ; and a more than com- 
 mon fh are of candour to adopt the conclufion, when they 
 did. The author had therefore reafon to he fatisfied with 
 the reception of his theory, fuch as it was : and having 
 thoroughly perfuaded himfelf of its truth, as well as im- 
 portance, he continued to enlarge and improve it in feve- 
 ral fubfequent editions ; and in the lafl, hy the opportu- 
 nity, which fome elaborate attempts of his adverfaries to 
 overturn it, had afforded him, he exerted his whole ftrength 
 upon it, and has left it in a condition to brave the utm.oft 
 efforts of future criticifm *. 
 
 Some 
 
 * An eminent writer has delivered his opinion of it in thefe terras — 
 
 " Bifhop Warburton, in his Alliavce between Church and Staler hatli Ihcwn 
 
 " the general good policy of an Eftabliflimcnt, and the neceffity of a Test 
 
 D " for
 
 [ 18 ,] 
 
 Some indeed, have taken offence at the idea- of an 
 Alliance % but without caufe : for the meaning is this, That 
 our Church-EftabHfliment is fucli as in equity it mull: 
 have been, had the terms of it been fettled by mutual 
 agreement between the two parties. Which, in other 
 words, is only faying, That thofe terms are jull and 
 reafonable. 
 
 The idea of an Alliance was conceived, in preference 
 to any other mode of conducing the argument, becaufe 
 the theory of civil government had been. formed on the 
 like notion of a contrafl betv/een Prince and People. This 
 way of reafoning, therefore, without being lefs conclufive, 
 had the advantage of being more popular, than any other, 
 and as fuch was very properly adopted by our author. 
 
 Notwithftanding this management, the Alliance^ as I ob- 
 ferved, was not generally underftood. But he did not 
 wait for the reward of public favour to encourage him in 
 the refolution he had taken of dedicating his great talents to 
 the fervice of religion. In the clofe of this firfl edition 
 of 'the Alliance^ he announced his next and greatell: work. 
 The DiViNE Legation of Moses ; which he had now 
 planned, and in part compofed. For, when fuch a writer 
 
 " for its fecurity, upon principles which Republicans themfelves cannot 
 " eafily deny. — His work is one of the fineftfpecimens, that are to be found 
 *' perhaps in any language, of fcientific reafoning applied to a political 
 " fubjedl." Dr. Horsley's Revkzu of the Cafe of the Proteflant Dijfenters. 
 Pref. London, 1787. 
 
 as
 
 • [ '9 ] 
 
 as thb, has by a long coiirfe of ftudy laid in the proper 
 materials for invention to operate upon, and has, by one 
 vigorous efTay, afllued liimfelf of his own firength, his 
 prngrefs to perfedion is rapid, and almoil iniiantaneous ; 
 like the pace of Homer's Gods, whole firft ftep reaches to 
 Olympus, and the fecond, to the ends of the earth. 
 
 It had been pretended by thofe who called therafelves 
 Dcilis, and, in the niodefty of free-thinking which then 
 prevailed, had, or afFccTted to have, a refpecfl for the natu- 
 ral doctrine of a future (late. That the omifTion of this 
 doiftrine in the Mofaic law was a clear decilive proof of its 
 impofture, as no inftitute of religion, coming from God, 
 could be without that principle. 
 
 The author of the Alliance faw the omiffion in another 
 light ; and was fo far from admitting the Deift's conclu- 
 lion, that he thought himfelf able to prove, in the clear- 
 eft manner, and with the evidence of what is called Moral 
 demon ftration, the divinity of the Mofaic Law from that 
 very circumftance, 
 
 Such then was the fubject and fcope of Mr. Warburton's 
 capital work, T'he Divine Legation of Mofes demonjlrated on 
 the principles of a religious Deiji. But in the conduit of 
 this new and paradoxical argument, fo many prejudices 
 and objections, both of believers and unbelievers, were to 
 be removed ; and fo many collateral lights to be let.in 
 upon it; that the difcourfe extended itfelf far and wide, 
 D 2 and
 
 [ .0 ] 
 
 and took in all that was naoft curious in Gentile, Jewifli, 
 and Chriftian antiquity. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1738, the firft volume of 
 this work appeared, and immediately drew all eyes upon 
 it. Some were too weak, and fome, too much dimmed 
 or diftorted by prejudices, to take a full and diftindl: view 
 of its contents. No wonder then if fuch readers mif- 
 conceived of the writer's purpofe, and mifreprefented it. 
 Yet few were fo blind, as not to admire the execution. 
 " I hear nobody fpeak of your book," fays the Bifliop of 
 Ghichefter, " who do not exprefs themfelves highly en- 
 " tertained with it ; though they think the principal point 
 " which remains to be proved, a paradox *." And what 
 the Bifliop himfelf thought of it, before publication, when 
 the flieets were fent to him from the prefs, he tells the 
 author in thefe words — '* I can fay, without any compli- 
 *' ment, that your papers have given me high delight. 
 *' So many beautiful thoughts, fuch ingenious illuftrations 
 *' of them, fuch a clear connection, fuch a dedu6lion of 
 " notions, and fo much good learning upon fo ufeful a 
 •' fubje61:, all expreffed in proper and fine language, cannot 
 " but give an intelligent reader the greateft fatisfadion f ." 
 
 And to much the fame purpofe another learned friend, 
 the Bifliop of Salilbury I — *« Laft night I received fome 
 
 * MS Letters, Feb. ai, 1737-8. f Odl. 18, 1737. 
 
 + Dr. Sherlock. 
 
 4 *» fheets
 
 [ ^I ] 
 
 " flieets of your book, and ran them over with great 
 " pieafiire, though not with the attention, which the fub- 
 " jed: and your way of treating i; demand *." And in 
 aijother letter, when he had taken time to confider the 
 contents of this volume — " The learning and ability of the 
 " author of the D. L. are not called in queftion ; and the 
 *' firfl: part has raifed a great defire and expe6lation of the 
 *' fecond -{-." 
 
 I quote thefe pafTages fo particularly, becaufethe Bifliops, 
 Hare and Sherlock, were, without doubt, among the ableft 
 of his judges, and becaufe their temper was far enough 
 from inclining towards an officious and lavifli civility to 
 their friends. 
 
 After authorities of fo much weight, I fliould not think 
 it W'orth while to take notice of what was objeded to him 
 by ordinary writers, but that he thought fit to anfwer 
 one i of them, in a flyle fo loft and elegant, that they 
 who have a tafle for the gentler polemics will read it with 
 great pleafure. 
 
 The real ground of the abufe cafl upon him, though 
 other caufes were pretended, was the handfome manner in 
 which he had fpoken of Dr. Middleton, in his preface to 
 the firfl volume. This ingenious man (of whom more 
 will be faid, as we go along) had written fome things, 
 
 * MS Letters, 0(51. 18, 1737. f March 2, 1737 8. 
 
 X Dr. Webfter. See Vol. VI. p. 3. 
 
 which
 
 [ ^^ ] 
 
 which gave occafion to ftifped; him of a leaning towards 
 infidelity. Mr. Warburton was perfonally acquainted with 
 him, and had a real efteem for him. He wiflied there- 
 fore, if poffible, to draw his friend off from that bias, 
 which his paffions, rather than his judgement, he con- 
 ceived, had imprefied upon him, by putting the faireft 
 conftrudions on his writings, and by affeding to under- 
 ftand them in the moft favourable fenfe. But, inftead of 
 clearing his friend, by this means, from the guilt of hete- 
 rodoxy, the eficcfl was to involve himlelf in the fufpicion 
 of it : And it was thought proper that he fliould difclaini 
 and repel fo groundlefs an imputation. This it was not 
 difficult for him to do, fo far as refpedted his own cha- 
 radler ; but that of his friend required managing, and he 
 would not juftify himfelf at his expence. 
 
 In thefe delicate circumftances, he acquitted himfelf with 
 dexterity, yet with perfedt good faith, and to the fingular 
 fatisfacSlion of his friends. " 1 received yefterday," fays 
 Billiop Hare, " your Vindication, which 1 read twice over 
 " with great fatisfacflion — The part that relates to Dr. JMid- 
 " dleton, we think extremely well done. It was the only 
 <* difficult part, and it cannot but pleafe every candid rea- 
 " der to fee you do julUce to yourfelf, and yet not do it at 
 " his expence, nor fay a word, that either he or his friends 
 " can be offended at, or that is in the leaft giving up a 
 
 " man,
 
 L '^3 ] 
 
 " man, with wliom you live in friendfliip. Here is cou- 
 " rage and integrity very agreeably joined ••'." 
 
 The BilTiop here gives a very juit account of the Vindi- 
 cation^ and indeed of Mr. Warburton's general conducSt 
 towards Dr. Middleton ; as appears from the whole of his 
 intcrcourfe with him, which began in 1736, and was 
 earned on, by a frequent exchange of friendly and afiec- 
 tionate letters from that time to 1741, when it feems to 
 hive ceafed, or to have been interrupted at leaft, for rea- 
 fons which will be mentioned hereafter. 
 
 In the whole courfe of thefe letters, which I have in 
 my hands, every fort of polite infinuation is employed to 
 foften and reniove his prejudices againft revealed religion ; 
 by joining with him, fometimes, in his graver complaints 
 of bigoted divines, and, fometimes, in his ridicule of their 
 l)rctended orthodoxy ; but in taking for granted, every 
 where, his refpe(51: for revelation, and his real belief of it, 
 and in feeming to think that, if other opinions were enter- 
 tained of him, they had proceeded from an ignorance of 
 his true character. 
 
 But the friendlinefs of his views will beft appear from 
 his own words. 
 
 He had taken occafion to acquaint Dr. Middleton with 
 the manner in which he meant to addrefs the Free-think- 
 ers, in his dedication to them, prefixed to the firft volume 
 
 * March 23, 1737-8. 
 
 of
 
 [ n ] 
 
 of the D. L. and with his purpofe of making refpeitful 
 mention of him in it. To this information Dr. Middleton 
 rephes, Sept. 22, 1737, " I am pleafed with the manner 
 " of your addrefs to the Free-thinkers, and obhged to you 
 *' for your friendly intentions w-ith regard to myfelf ; and 
 " though I fliould be as proud to have the teftimony of 
 " your judgement and good opinion, as of any man, yet 
 *' I would have you confider, how far fuch a declaration of 
 " it may expofe you to a fliare of that envy, w^hich has lain, 
 " and ftill lies very heavy upon me." 
 
 This was handfome on his part, but was not likely to 
 divert his friend from the meafures he had taken. Ac- 
 cordingly in a letter, dated Dec. 23, 1737, after telling 
 him that his book w^as coming out, and that he had or- 
 dered a copy of it to be fent him, he proceeds thus, with 
 a manifeft allufion, in the concluding fentence, to Dr. 
 Middleton's letter — " I have your pardon to afk for the 
 " liberty I have taken of defigning you, by your charac- 
 " ter, in one place of the body of the book, as well as in 
 *' the dedication to the Free- thinkers. For I would fain 
 " contribute to abate an unjujl prejudice^ that might lie in 
 " the way of thofe lionours which wait for you, and are 
 " fo much your due. And IJlmll reckon it for nothings in 
 ^^ fo bone/1 an attempt^ to run the r'ljk of JJjaring that pre- 
 '-'■ judice with you.''' 
 
 And
 
 [ ^S ] 
 
 And again, writing to him March i8, 1737-8, on the 
 fubjedl of his anfwer to the author of the Weekly Mif- 
 cellany, he fays, *' I am to thank him for the agreeable 
 " neceffity of vindicating you (by a quotation in one of 
 ** the defences that pafs for yours) from his falfe accu^ 
 *■'• fation of denying the infpiration of fcripture ; and from 
 " his imagination (which is the ground of this clamour) 
 ** that you defend Revelation, not as true, but only ufe- 
 " ful ; and that, as to other points, you and I can differ 
 *' without breach of common humanity, friendfliip, and 
 << Chriftian charity." 
 
 I have put thefe things together, becaufe I would not 
 interrupt the recital of what concerns the firft appearance 
 of thofe two capital works. The Alliance, and Divine Le- 
 gation (fo clofely conne6ted with each other that the for- 
 mer, in the original defign, was but a chapter of the lat- 
 ter) ; the reception they met with from the publick ; and 
 the occafion they gave him of juftifying an obnoxious 
 friend, as well as explaining his own fentiments. 
 
 1 muft now go back a little to mention a circumftance 
 in his life, which does the parties concerned too much 
 honour to be omitted by me, and which happened in the 
 latter end of the year 1737. The Alliance had now 
 made the author much talked of at Court ; and the Bifhop 
 of Chicheiter, on whom that work had imprefled, as we 
 have fecn, the higheil ideas of his merit, was willing to 
 E take
 
 [ .5 ] 
 
 take that favourable opportunity of introducing him to 
 the Queen. Her Majefty, it is well known, took a plea- 
 fare in the clifcourfe of men of learning and genius ; and 
 chancing one day to afk the Bifliop, if he could recom- 
 mend a perfon of that defcription to be about her, and to 
 entertain her, fometimes, with his converfation, the Bifliop 
 faid, he could, and mentioned the author of The Alliance 
 between Church and State. The recommendation was 
 gracioufly received, and the matter put in fo good a train, 
 that the Bifliop expe<5ted every day the conclufion of it, 
 when the Queen was feized with a fudden illnefs, which 
 put an end to her life the 20th of November, 1737. 
 
 I find this tranfadtion alluded to m a letter from the 
 Bifliop, dated Nov. 11, that is, nine days before that un- 
 happy event. His lordfliip thanks Mr. Warburton for 
 fome flieets of the iirft volume of the Legation, which 
 were juft then fent in from the prefs, and, after making 
 fome remarks upon them, takes notice of a flroke of plea- 
 fantry, which, it feems, had efcaped him, on Mr. Wol- 
 lafton's famous book on The Religmi of 'Nature^ and which 
 he advifes him to flrike out, as it would give great offence 
 to the admirers of that book. I have befides^ cotitinues his 
 Lordfliip, A PARTICULAR REASON for advifiHg you to alter 
 that pajfage^ which you Jhall know at a proper time. 
 
 And, afterwards, in the fame letter — / would advife, not 
 
 only the cancelling that leaf^ but the doing it immediately, 
 
 4 that
 
 t ^7 ] 
 
 that it may not get into many hands. When I fee you, I am 
 perfuadedf you will allow this is right advice from ^friend. 
 
 The lecret was, that he was then endeavouring to ferve 
 his friend with the Queen, and was apprehenfive that the 
 freedom he had taken with that work, which She much 
 admired, might hurt him in her Majefty's opinion, and de- 
 feat his defign. 
 
 This difappointment, when he came to know it, did 
 not abate his ardour in profecuting his fludics at Brand- 
 Broughton. After pubhfliing the Vindication, before men- 
 tioned, early in the year 1738, he appUed himfelf with 
 great induflry to compofe the fecond vohime of his work, 
 notwithftanding the clamours, which had been raifed, and 
 now grew louder, againft the firft. " I go fteadily on," 
 fays he in a letter to Dr. Middleton, Nov. 12, 1738, 
 " amidft much ill treatment. If you alTv, what it is that 
 ** fupports me, I will tell you, my excellent friend : It is 
 *' the love of truth, and a clear convidtion of the reality of 
 *' the Jewifli and Chriftian Revelations." 
 
 Animated with thefe principles, he went on with his 
 great defign, and feems to have fpent the two or three 
 fucceeding years upon it. Only, in i 739, he drew up and 
 publhhed a fliort defence of Mr. Pope's Effay on Man, 
 againft Mr. de Croufaz, who had written a book to Ihevv 
 that it v/as conftrucfted on the principles of Spiuofa, and 
 contained a dangerous fyflem of irreligion. But though 
 E 2 this
 
 [ =8 ] 
 
 this was a flight thing, and took up httle of his time, yet 
 as it refpeited fo eminent a perfon, and had great confe- 
 quences with regard to himfelf, it will be proper to enlarge 
 upon it. 
 
 It has been' obje(5ted to Mr. Warburton, that, in his 
 earlier days, he had himfelf entertained a prejudice againfc 
 Mr. Pope, and had even exprefled it in very ftrong terms. 
 The offence taken had probably been occafioned by a 
 fevere reflexion, in one of his fatires, on Mr. VVarbur- 
 ton's friend and patron, Sir Robert Sutton. And, in that 
 cafe, it is likely that he might exprefs himfelf of the poet, 
 with too much warmth. For I will not conceal or difguife 
 the infirmity of my friend. When his moral feelings 
 were touched, he was apt to be tranfported into fome in- 
 temperance of expreffion, and was not always guarded, or 
 even juft, in his cenfures or commendations. But a mind, 
 naturally great, does not long retain this fervour, and, 
 when cooled by refledtion, is in hafte to make amends 
 for its former exceffes. It is impoffible, indeed, that, 
 under any provocation, he Ihould be blind to fo much 
 merit, as our great poet poffefled ; and what he faw of 
 this fort in any man, he was not backward to declare to 
 others. In his Vindication of himfelf, laft year, he had 
 Ihewn how much he admired Mr. Pope, by quoting a fine 
 paffage from him, and applying it to himfelf in a way, 
 that Ihewed an efteem of his morals, as well as poetry. 
 
 Since
 
 [ 29 ] 
 
 Since that time, he had fuffered fo ranch aljufe himfelf 
 from angry zealots, and felt fo ftrongly, in his own cafe, 
 what it was for a well-meaning man to have his religious 
 fentiments mifreprefented, that this attack of M. de Croufaz 
 would naturally find him in a difpofition to refent it. 
 
 Add to all this, that he faw with concern the ill ufe 
 which fome were ready to make of the fuppofed fatalifm 
 of Mr. Pope, and how hurtful it was to religion to have it 
 imagined, that fo great a genius was ill-inclined towards it. 
 
 Thefe reafons, working together, feem to have deter- 
 mined him to take the part of the injured poet; as in- 
 deed he explains the matter himfelf in a letter of July i6, 
 1739, ^^ ^^' Middleton : — "A certain great man is very 
 *' angry with me for fpeaking of you in the manner I did. 
 *' I make no queftion but another fort of thofe they call 
 *' ^reai men will hold themfelves outraged by me in my 
 " vindication of Mr. Pope againft M. de Croufaz in fome 
 *' letters which are going to be colle6ted together and pub- 
 *' lifhed. But I cannot forbear fliewing my efteem of 
 *' merit, and my contempt of their calumniators, or think- 
 *' ing that it is of ufe to Religion to prove fo noble a genius 
 *' is a friend to it." 
 
 Thefe letters were much read, and gave a new luftre 
 to Mr. Warburton's reputation. They ftiewed the elegance 
 of his tafte in polite literature, asvvell as his penetration 
 into moral fubjedls. Mr. Pope was fupremely ftruck with 
 
 them,
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
 them *, and might now exult, as his predeceflbr Boileau 
 had done, when he cried out, in the face of his enemies — 
 ** Arnauld, le grand Arnauld, fait mon apologie." 
 
 From this time there was an intimate acquaintance 
 formed between the poet and his commentator. The ef- 
 fects of this union \vill be taken notice of prefently. I 
 now only add, that it was ftrongly cemented by a mutual 
 profeffion of efteem, and a conftant interchange of letters. 
 
 Among thefe I find one which Mr. Warburton addrelTed 
 to his friend, in vindication of Sir Robert Sutton ; written, 
 as appears, with the view of prevailing with him to ftrike 
 that gentleman's name out of his fatires. As it ftts the 
 author in an amiable light, and feems to confirm my 
 conjedure, that his former difiTatisfadlion with Mr. Pope 
 had arifen from this circumftance, I lliall give it in the 
 Appendix [A]. 
 
 Towards the end of this year [17393 l^c publiflied a 
 new and improved edition of the firft volume of the D.L., 
 and fent it to his friend Bifliop Hare ; who, in a kind 
 letter of Dec. i, 1739, returns his thanks for it, and 
 adds — " I hope not only pofterity, but the prefent ag^ 
 " will do juftice to fo much merit, and do afl\ire you, it 
 " fliall not be my fault if it do not." Which I mention 
 to fliew that the envy which was then rifing very fait 
 
 * Sec his Letter in his Works, April 1 1, 1739. 
 
 againft
 
 [ 31 ] 
 
 againft the author of the D. L. and which was fuppofed 
 to have the countenance of fome confiderable Church- 
 men, l»ad made no alteration in tlie fentiments of that 
 great prelate, or leffened his efteem of him. Indeed ou 
 all occafions he exprefled his regard for Mr. Warburton in 
 the friendli<:ft manner, of which the following inftance 
 muft not be omitted. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hanmer, who was a man of bufinefs, and 
 had been Speaker of the Houfe of Commons in Queen 
 Anne's time, grew ambitious, in the latter part of his life, 
 to be taken notice of as a critick on Shakefpeare. He had 
 feen fome notes on his favourite poet by Mr. Warburton 
 in Mr. Theobald's edition : And as he was now preparing 
 one of his own, which he afterwards printed at the Cla- 
 rendon prefs, he very juftly conceived that the affiilance 
 of Mr. Theobald's co-adjutor might be of fervice to him in 
 the execution of that proje6V. 
 
 With this view he got himfelf introduced to Mr. War- 
 burton by the Bilhop of Salifbury, Dr. Sherlock, and 
 managed fo well as to draw from his new acquaintance a 
 large colledlion of notes and emendations, which were, in 
 confidence, communicated to him in a feries of private 
 letters. 
 
 What followed upon this, and what ufe he made of 
 thofe friendly communications^ I need not repeat, as the 
 
 account
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
 account is given by Mr. Warburton himfelf in the lively 
 preface to his and Mr. Pope's edition of Shakefpeare, of 
 which fomething more will be faid in its place. It is 
 enough to fay here, that he very reafonably refented this 
 iifage, and complained of it to his two friends, the Bi- 
 fliops of Salifbury and Chichefter. TYiQ former exprefles his 
 concern at this ill-treatment, and the more fo, he fays, as he 
 had in fome meafure been the occafion of it ; i. e. by bringing 
 Mr, Warburton and Sir Thomas Hanmer together. 
 
 The latter tells him, in a letter of May 9, 1739 — "Sir 
 " Thomas Hanmer's proceeding with refpedt to Shakefpeare 
 " is very extraordinary. — I think you do very well to get 
 *' your own papers out of his hands : 'tis pity, they have 
 <' been fo long in them, fince 'tis probable he has fqueezed 
 " what he could out of them ; which is moft ungenerous 
 *« treatment." He concludes with faying — '''I hope you 
 " will find leifure to give the world a Shakefpeare, your- 
 " felf, which the fooner 'tis made known the better." 
 
 And thus ended this trifling affair, which 1 fliould 
 fcarcely have mentioned but to do juftice to the friendly 
 temper of Bifhop Hare, who interefled himfelf fo kindly 
 in all his concerns ; and to fliew that Mr. Warburton's 
 condudl; was not directed by caprice or petulance, but was 
 that of a man of fenfe and honour, and as fuch was ap- 
 proved by his moft judicious friends. 
 
 Mr.
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
 Mr. Warburtoii was fo taken up with his ftudies, and 
 found fo much deUght in them, th«it he rarely ftirred from 
 home ; whicli he would often fay there was no good rea- 
 fon for doing, except neceffary bufinefsj and the fatisfac- 
 tion of feeing a friend. What the world calls amufement 
 from a change of the fcene, paiTed for nothing with him, 
 who was too well employed to be tired of his fituation, 
 or to have a thought of running away from himfelf; 
 which, after all, they, who are incefliintly making the 
 experiment, find impoffible to be done. Yet he fometimes 
 found himfelf obliged to go to London ; as he did in the 
 fpring of the year 1740 ; and he took that opportunity of 
 making his firll vifit to ^h•. Pope, of which he immedi- 
 ately -■■gave Dr. Middleton the following account.- 
 
 " I paffed about a week at Twickenham in the mofl 
 *' agreeable manner. Mr. Pope is as good a companion, 
 " as a poet ; and what is more, appears to be as good a 
 " man." 
 
 The laft v/as indeed the confideration, that fo much in- 
 deared Mr. Pope to him. He found him an honeft and 
 well-principled man ; zealous to promote the interefts of 
 virtue, and iniprefled with an awful fenfe of religion, 
 natural and revealed. In fliort, he found an image of 
 hirnfelf in his new acquaintance : no wonder then, their 
 
 * May 6, 1740. 
 
 F edeem
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 efteem aiitl affection grew fo fail as to give umbrage, in 
 no long time, to a certain nobleman, who had taken to 
 himfelf the honour of being the guide and philojopher of 
 Mr. Pope. 
 
 The acquifition of this new friend came very feafonably 
 to fupport Mr. Warburton under the lofs of another, the 
 excellent Bifliop Hare, who died after a fliort illnefs tlie 6th 
 of April this year. 
 
 How he felt that lofs, the publick has been informed 
 by himfelf in the preface to the fecond volume of the 
 D. L., and with a flow of fentiment and expreflion, which 
 only the trueft friendfhip, operating on a mind like his, 
 could infpire. But we are better pleafed to hear him 
 exprefs his fenfe of it in a private letter to a friend. Speak- 
 ing of the Bilhop's death .to Dr. Middleton, in the letter 
 above mentioned of May 6, 1740, he fays — " He has not 
 « left his fellow behind him for the love and encourage- 
 *' ment of learning. I have had a great lofs in his death. 
 " He honoured me with his efteem and friendiliip. This 
 " I efteemed a great obligation. I never fought to increafe 
 " it by any other dependance upon him ; and by the terms 
 *' on which we kept up a correfpondence, he did me the 
 " juftice to believe, I expe^i^ed no other." 
 
 This freedom of correfpondence does honour to both 
 
 parties ; and was obferved, with addrefs, in this letter to 
 
 Dr. Middleton, who had conceived Bifliop Hare to have 
 
 A taken
 
 [ 35 3 
 
 taken a prejudice againft himfelf, for his liberty in pro- 
 feffing fome fentiraents, not conformable to his Lordfliip's. 
 He therefore infinuates there was no ground for fuch a 
 fufpicion, for that he himfelf, fo much and fo long in the 
 Bifliop's favour, had lived with him on the fame free 
 terms. He knew very well, that nothing could recom- 
 mend his patron or himfelf to his friend's good opinion 
 more, than fuch liberaUty on the one part, and fo manly 
 a condudt on the other. 
 
 But the truth is, though Mr. Warburton very properly 
 fought not to increafe hisi obligation to Bifliop Hare, he 
 would certainly have received the higheft, had it been in 
 the Bifliop's power; which very probably ended with the 
 Queen's death. 
 
 In May, 1741, was publiflied the fecond volume of the 
 D. L. which completed the argument, although not the 
 entire plan of that work. A work ! in all views, of the 
 moft tranfcendant merit, whether we confider the inven- 
 tion, or the execution. 
 
 A plain fimple argument, yet perfedly new, proving 
 the divinity of the Mofaic Law, and laying a fure foun- 
 dation for the fupport of Chriftianity, is there drawn out 
 to a great length by a chain of reafoning, fo elegantly 
 conne(£ted, that the reader is carried along it with eafe and 
 pleafure ; while the matter prefented to him is fo ftriking 
 for its own importance, fo embclliflied by a lively fancy, 
 F 2 and
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 n d illuftratcd, from all quarters, by exqiiifite learning 
 and the moft ingenious difquilition, that, in the whole 
 compafs of modern or antient theology, there is nothing 
 equal or fimilar to this extraordinary performance. 
 
 Such is the general idea of the Divine Legation of 
 Mofes. But for a more diftinft conception of its frame ; 
 to fee at once 
 
 — " the bearings and the ties, 
 " The ftrong connexions, juft dependencies ;" 
 the reader is referred to the recapitulation at the end of the 
 Vlth book *, where the author himfelf has drawn up a 
 brief comprehenfive view of his whole fcheme, with great 
 fpirit. 
 
 This year, but fomething earlier, came out Dr. Mid- 
 dleton's famous Hi/lory of the Life of Cicero ; which was re- 
 ceived by the jiublick, as it deferved to be, with great ap- 
 plaufe. Mr. Warburton took the firft occafion to compli- 
 ment his friend upon it ; And, as in the concluding part 
 of that work Dr. Middleton had controverted the account 
 given of Cicero's philofophical opinions in the firft volume 
 o-f the D. L. he takes notice, that he had a more particular 
 pleafure in the lajl fe£lion^ as he zvas more particularly in- 
 terefted in it ; and then proceeds to moralize in the fol- 
 lowing manner — *'We perhaps (hall neither of us be 
 *' efteemed orthodox writers. But this we fliall do, w^e 
 
 * See Vol. III. p. 467. 
 
 " Ihall
 
 [ 37 ] 
 
 " fliall give an exnmple to the svorkl, which orthodox 
 " writers rarely do, and perhaps of more ufe to mankind, 
 " than moft of the refined fubjects they engage in, that 
 " we can differ in many important points, and publicly 
 " avow our difference, without the leaft interruption of 
 " the declared friend Qiip and efleem, we bear to each 
 " other. And the Life of Tully, and the D. L., will be 
 " a rule, which few have fet us and perhaps few will fol- 
 " low, how men, who efleem and love each other, fhould 
 " comport themfelves when they differ in opinion. So 
 *' that whichever is right or wrong in opinion^ the honeft 
 *' part of the world will judge both of us to be right in 
 " Jentiment *." 
 
 To whom Dr. Middleton replies, with great complacen- 
 cy, in the fame llrain — " As to the circumftance, from 
 *' which you draw fo jufl and vifeful a lefTon, of our dif- 
 " fering from each other in fome particular opinions, as 
 *< I was always perfuaded that it could not have any other 
 *' effect upon you, fo I have the comfort to affure you, 
 *' that I never felt the leafl impreflion from it diladvanta- 
 *' geous to our friendfliip. It is the neceffary confequence 
 " of that privilege of our nature on w^hich all men of lenfe 
 " fet the highefl value, the liberty of judging for our- 
 " felves ; yet fince it would be a great fatisfadion to me 
 
 * April 29^ I74i» 
 
 " in
 
 [ 38 ] 
 
 '' ill all cafes to find my judgement confirmed by yours, 
 " fo, when you are at full leifure, I fliould be glad to 
 " know the particular reafons which force you to differ 
 *' from me on the fubjedt of Cicero's opinions ; to which 
 " alone our difference in the prefent cafe is to be referred, 
 *' that as far as is poffible we may come ftill nearer to each 
 *' other*." 
 
 Thus thefe two ingenious men ; and the fame fpirit 
 breathes through the reft of their letters : So that their 
 whole temper feems to have refolved itfelf into a princi- 
 ple of general candour. Yet, within a month or two, a 
 frefli difference of opinion taking place (though on a fub- 
 jei5l of no more importance than the other about Cicero, 
 refpedling only the origin of popifli ceremonies) and nei- 
 ther fide giving way, our two candid friends cooled in- 
 fenfibly towards each other, and feem, thenceforward, to 
 have difcontinued their correfpondence ; for I find no 
 letters, that paffed between them, of a later date, than 
 thofe of this year which touch upon that difference. A 
 memorable inftance of our common weaknefs ! which 
 Ihews how little ftrefs is to be laid on thofe profeffions 
 of candour, with which our letters and converfations over- 
 flow ; and how impoffible it is for any lafting friendfhip 
 to fubfift between men of oppofite principles and perfua- 
 
 * Cambridge, April 5, 1741. I fuppofe a mifdate for May 5th, or 
 Mr. Warburton's letter is mifdated. 
 
 fi-ons,
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 fions, however their feelings may for a time be diiTom- 
 bled, or difguifeil even to themfelves, by a (liew of good 
 breeding. 
 
 For a contrary reafon, the conformity of their fenti- 
 ments, the friendfliip between Mr. Warburton and Mr. 
 Pope became every day clofer and more confidential. In 
 the beginning of this fummer, when the bufinefs that 
 had called him to London, on the publication of his book, 
 was over, he went down again to Twickenham, and 
 pafTed fome weeks with Mr. Pope there, and in a country- 
 ramble, which led them at laft to Oxford. The univer- 
 fity was naturally pleafed at the arrival of two fuch ftran- 
 gers, and feemed defirous of inrolling their names among 
 their graduates. The degree of Dodlor of Divinity was 
 intended for the Divine, and that of Do6tor of Law for 
 the Poet, as a teftimony of their great refpedt for each. 
 But intrigue and envy defeated this fcheme ; and the uni- 
 verfity loft the honour of decorating, at the fame time, 
 the two greateft geniufles of the age, by the fault of one 
 or two of its members *. Mr. Pope retired with fome 
 indignation to Twickenham, but confoled himfelf and his 
 friend with this farcaftic reflexion — " We fhall take our 
 " degree together in Fame, whatever we do at the uni- 
 *' verfity f .'* 
 
 * Pope's Works, Vol. IX. Lend. 1753. Letter CVIL 
 -J~ Sept. 20, 1 74 1. 
 
 The
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 The time they fpent together this fummer gave oc- 
 cafioii to fome interefting converfations. Mr. Warburton 
 fuggefted many alterations and improvements of Mr. Pope's 
 moral writings, and particularly advifed him to ftrike out 
 every thing in them that anight be Jufpe£ied of having the 
 leajl glance towards fate or natiiralifm^ which he conlented 
 to, we are told, with extreme pleafure •'■■. It was, alfo, at 
 this time that he concerted with him the plan of the IVth 
 book of the Dunciad f. 
 
 Mr. Pope loft no time in carrying it into execution. In 
 November following he prefTcs his friend to meet him at 
 Prior-Park, on the invitation of Mr. Allen, with vvhom he 
 then was, and tells him it was there that he lliould find 
 moft leifure to profit by the advice he had given him " to 
 refume the ftudies, which he had almoft laid afide by per- 
 petual avocations and dillipations." 
 
 Here accordingly they met : a great part of the new 
 poem was read and highly approved : the reft was finiilied 
 in the courfe of the year 1742, and a proje61; formed 
 for making Mr. Warburton the Editor of the IV books com- 
 plete ; which was executed very early in 1743; and fo 
 much to the author's fatisfadlion, that he afterwards en- 
 gaged him to fuftain the like office with regard to the reft 
 of his Works +• 
 
 * Pref. to his Works. 
 
 '\ Pope's Works, Vol. IX. Letter CX. note. 
 
 X Letters 112, 113, 114, 115. 
 
 I (liall
 
 [ 4t ] 
 
 I (liall find a fitter place, in the conrfe of thcfe re- 
 flexions, to fpeak my own fentiments of the edition of 
 T^h*. Pope's works. All I have now to add on this in- 
 terefling part of Mr. Warburton's life, is, that the moft 
 unreferved confidence continued between the two friends 
 till Mr. Pope's death in May, 1744 : and with what warmth 
 of affedion on both fides, appears from the laft will and 
 tcftament of the latter, and from the zeal of the former to 
 fulfill his intention and to do all poffible honour to his 
 memory. 
 
 It mufl, indeed, be regretted that this memorable 
 friendfliip commenced fo late, and ended fo foon. We. 
 might otherwife have fecn the moft valuable fruits of it. 
 Their hearts and heads were exactly attuned to each other ; 
 and, had the life and health of Mr. Pope permitted, this 
 harmonious agreement in the powers and purpofes of two 
 fuch men could not have failed to produce many a noble 
 defign in favour of virtue and rehgion. 
 
 The death of our great poet, was an event that could 
 not fail of putting the fpirits of the ingenious in motions- 
 arid of exciting an emulation, among the lovers of polite 
 literature, to adorn his memory and virtues. It accor- 
 dingly produced Mr. Brown's EJ2iy on Satire^ which was 
 addrefTed to Mr. Warburton, and fo far approved by him, 
 as to be prefixed to his edition of Mr. Pope's works. It 
 alfo brought on the dawn of >Ir. Mafon's genius, in Tb^ 
 G Monody,.
 
 [ 4» ] 
 
 Monody, entitled Mufeus ; which gave fo fare a prefage of 
 his future eminence in poetry, and fo advantageous a pic- 
 ture of his mind, that Mr. Warburton, on the fight 
 of it, 
 
 " With open arms received one poet more.** 
 
 Soon after Mr. Pope's death, Mr. Warburton received a 
 letter from a learned and ingenious lady, Mrs. Cock- 
 burne, lamenting that event, and making fome enquiry- 
 after Mr. Pope's works ; but the real purpofe of the let- 
 ter-writer was to draw Mr. Warburton into an explanation 
 of his fyftem concerning Moral Obligation^ as delivered in 
 the firft volume of the D. L., it being different from one 
 efpoufed by herfelf, which was that of Dr. Samuel Clarke, 
 
 His anfwer to this Lady is written with great civility and 
 politenefs, and was fo well received, that, when, a year or 
 two afterwards, fhe drew up her confutation of Dr.Ruther- 
 forth's EiTay on Virtue, flie fent the manufcript to Mr. 
 Warburton ; who was extremely pleafed with it, and wrote 
 a fhort preface in recommendation of that work. His 
 Letter may be feen in the Appendix [B]. 
 
 But to return to what I v/as faying of Mr. Pope*s friends 
 Ihip for Mr. Warburton. 
 
 Next to the enjoyment itfelf of fuch a friendlliip, the 
 chief benefit Mr, Warburton derived from it, was the 
 being introduced by his means to his principal friends; 
 particularly Mr. Murray, and Mr, Allen; two of the 
 
 greateft
 
 [ 43 ] 
 
 greateft and befl: men of the age. As I had myfelf the 
 honour of being well acquainted with thefe excellent per- 
 fons, and very much obliged to them, I may the rather 
 be allowed to indulge myfelf in the recollection of their 
 virtues. 
 
 Mr. Murray, afterwards Earl of Mansfield and Lord 
 Chief Juftice of England, was fo extraordinary a perfon, 
 and made fo great a figure in the world, that his name 
 muft go down to pofterity, with diftinguiflied honour, in 
 the public records of the nation. For his fliining talents 
 difplayed themfelves in every department of the ftate, as 
 well as in the fupreme Court of Juftice, his peculiar pro- 
 vince ; which he filled with a luftre of reputation, not 
 equalled perhaps, certainly not exceeded, by that of any 
 of his predeceflbrs. 
 
 Of his condu(ft in the Houfe of Lords, I can fpeak 
 with the more confidence, becaufe I fpeak. from my own 
 obfervation. Too good to be the leader, and too able to 
 be the dupe, of any party, he was believed to fpeak his 
 own fenfe of public meafures ; and the authority of his 
 judgement was fo high that, in regular times, the Houfe 
 was ufually determined by it. He was no forward, of 
 frequent fpeaker ; but referved himfelf, as was fit, for 
 occafions worthy of him. In debate^ he was eloquent as 
 well as wife ; or rather, he became eloquent by his 
 wifdom. His countenance and tone of voice imprinted 
 G 2 the
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 the Ideas of penetration, probity, and candour ; but what 
 fecured your attention and aflent to all he faid, was his 
 conflant good fenfe, flowing in apt terms and the cleared 
 method. He afFeded no fallies of the invagination, or 
 burfls of paflion ; much lefs would he condefcend to per- 
 fonal abufe or petulant altercation. All was clear, candid 
 reafon, letting itfelf fo eafily into the minds of his hear- 
 ers as to carry information and convidion with it. hi a 
 word, his public fenatorial charader refembled very much 
 that of Meflala, of whom Cicero fays, addreffing himfelf 
 to Brutus — 
 
 " Do not imagine, Brutus, that, for worth, honour 
 *' and a warm love of his country, any one is comparable 
 *' to Meflala : So that his eloquence, in which he won- 
 " derfully excells, is almoft eclipfed by thofe virtues. And 
 *' even in his difplay of that faculty, his fuperior good 
 *' fenfe fliews itfelf raoft: with fo much care and ilcill 
 ** hath he formed himfelf to the trueft manner of fpeak- 
 *' ing ! His powers of genius and invention are confefl- 
 <* edly of the firft lize ; yet he almoft owes lefs to them, 
 ** than to the diligent and ftudious cultivation of his judge- 
 " ment^-.'*^ 
 
 * " Cave putes probitate, conftantia, cura, ftudio reipublicae, quid^ 
 *' quana illi fimile effe ; iit eloquentia, qua mirabiliter excellit, vix in eo 
 *' locum ad laudandum habere videatur. Quanquam in hac ipfa fapient-a 
 " plus apparct: ita gravi judicio multaque arte fe exercuit in veriffimo 
 *' genere dicendi. Tanta autem induftria eft, tantumque evigilat in ftu- 
 " dio, ut non maxime ingenio, quod in eo fummum cft> gratia habenda 
 »' videatur." Cic. ad Brutum, I. 15. 
 
 In
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 In the commerce of private life, he was eafy, friendly, 
 and agreeable, extremely fenfible of merit in other men, 
 and ready on all occalions to countenance and produce it. 
 From his early youth, he had attraded the notice, and ob- 
 tained the friendfhip and applaufc, of our great poet. 
 
 Mr. Allen was a man of plain good fenfe, and the 
 moft benevolent temper. He rofe to great confideration by 
 farming the crofs-polls ; which he put into the admirable 
 order in which we now find them ; very much to the 
 public advantage, as well as his own. He was of that 
 generous compoficion, that his mind enlarged with his 
 fortune ; and the wealth he fo honourably acquired, he 
 fpent in a fplendid hofpitaHty, and the moft extenfive 
 charities. His houfe, in fo public a fcene as that of Bath, 
 was open to all men of rank and worth, and efpecially to 
 men of diftinguiflied parts and learning ; whom he ho- 
 noured and encouraged ; and whofe refpedtive merits he 
 was enabled to appreciate, by a natural difcernment and 
 fnperior good fenfe, rather than any acquired ufe and 
 knowledge of letters. His domeftic virtues were above 
 all praife. With thefe qualities he ch"ew to himfelf an 
 univerfal refpect ; and pofTeffed, in a high degree, the 
 efteem of Mr. Pope, who, in one of his moral elTays, has 
 done juftice to his modeft and amiable charadter. 
 
 To thefe two incomparable perfons Mr. Pope was ef- 
 
 j^ccially anxious to introduce -his friend ; and it was not 
 
 4 long
 
 [ 45 3 
 
 long before he experienced the moft fubftantlal benefits 
 from this recommendation. 
 
 In the mean time, his attention was turned towards 
 that numerous hoft of anfwerers, which the D. L. of Mofes 
 had brought down upon him. The extenfive argument, 
 and mifcellaneous nature of that work, had led him to de- 
 clare his fentiments on a multitude of queftions, on which 
 he thought differently from other writers, and of courfe to 
 cenfure or confute their opinions. Whole bodies of men, 
 as well as individuals of the higheft reputation, were at- 
 tacked by him ; and his manner was to fpeak his fenle of 
 all with freedom and force. So that moll: writers, and 
 even readers, had fome ground of complaint againtt him. 
 Not only the free-thinkers and unbelievers, againit whom 
 the tenour of his book was directed, but the heterodox of 
 every denomination were treated without much ceremony ; 
 and of the orthodox themfelves fome tenet or other, which 
 till then they had held facred, was difcuffed and repro- 
 bated by him. Straggling herefies, or embodied fyftems, 
 made no difference with him ; as they came in his way, 
 no quarter was given to either : " his end and manner of 
 *' writing," as Dr. Middleton truly obferved, "being to pur- 
 <' fue truth, wherever he found it, and, from the midft 
 *' of fmoke and darknefs, to fpread light and day around 
 « him -." 
 
 * Letter VII. in Dr. Middleton's Works, vol. II. 
 
 Such
 
 [ 47 3 
 
 Such a writer (independently of the envy, which ever 
 attends fuperior genius) muft needs have mnumerable ene- 
 mies. And as ah could not receive, nor the greater part 
 deferve, his notice, he determined to fele6t a few of the 
 more refpe6lable, out of the grofs body of affixilants, and 
 to quit his hands of them at once, in a general compre- 
 henfive anfwer. This was done by Remarks on federal 
 occafional Reflexions^ in two parts ; \.\\e former publiflied in 
 1744, and ihQ fecond (which he llyles the lafl) in 1745 ; 
 and both, executed in fuch a manner as was not likely to 
 invite any frefli attacks upon him. 
 
 Yet the rage of his anfwerers was not prefently fub- 
 dued. Writing to a confidential friend from Prior-Park 
 the year following [July 15, 1746] he tells him — " I 
 have a deluge of writers againft me. But two great men 
 have made me promife to anfwer none of them. They 
 faid — ' You imagine the world takes as much notice of 
 your anfwerers, as you yourfelf do. You are miftaken. 
 The names of none of them were ever heard of in good 
 company. And the world wonders you fliould fo mif- 
 employ your time.' To this 1 faid, *' It was true. But 
 that there 'was another body to which fome regard fhould 
 he had, the inferior Clergy." They faid, if fuch writers 
 milled them, it was in vain for me to think of them. 
 And indeed I begin to think Ariftotle miftaken when he 
 defined man to be a rational animal. Not but I know the 
 
 fource
 
 r 48 ] 
 
 iburce of all this oppofition is rather to be attributed to a 
 bad heart, than a bad head. And you would be furprizetl 
 at the inftances of envy I could give you. Had I the 
 complaifance to die to-morrow, it would all be over, before 
 the end of the week. I am in this condition of a dead 
 man, already, with regard to the Indies, there being at 
 this immenfe diftance no room for envy, as you will fee 
 by the following extra<5l of a letter I received from one of 
 the governors of Virginia :" 
 
 '« I never had fo much profit from any book, except 
 " the Bible, as from yours. The flood of infidelity has 
 *' reached us. The blefling of God upon your excellent 
 " pen will, I hope, preferve us from the evil influence; 
 <' Pennfylvania feems to be over-run with Deifm. The 
 *' Quakers are generally infeded, and it being their con- 
 *' ftitution to have no eflabliflied religion, their too-uni- 
 *' verfal toleration receives all without diftindlion. And 
 *' they who worflnip God, and they who do not, are in 
 •' the fame efteem. 
 
 " Your firil and fecond volumes of the Divine Legation 
 ** came over to their public library. I recommended it 
 *' flrongly. It foon became the fubje6l of all converfa- 
 ** tion. Never were fuch ftruggles about any book, who 
 *' fliould firft read it. The reafonable were convinced ; 
 *' the obftinate were aftoniflied. A friend of mine 
 ** of learning and flation there fpoke of it with the 
 
 ** warmeft
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
 *' warmed praife : he faid, it had made him ten times 
 *' more a Chrirtian, than he had ever been." — 
 
 Thefe reflexions were confolatory to him, and made him 
 bear witli more temper the petuhince of his adverfaries ; 
 whom he fcems to have neglected, till one of high fame 
 and confident pretenfions forced him again into the field 
 of controverfy. But this was not till fome years after- 
 wards. 1 now go on with my narrative from 1745. 
 
 Mr. Pope had very early introduced his friend to the 
 notice of Lord Chefterfield ; who going this year Lord 
 Lieutenant to Ireland, was defirous of taking Mr. Warbur- 
 ton with him, as his firft Chaplain. He had his reafons 
 for declining this offer ; but he had a proper fenfe of the 
 civility, and made his public acknowledgements for it in a 
 dedication of the Alliance^ reprinted with many corrections 
 and improvements in 1748. The ftyle of compliment in 
 this piece will perhaps be cenfured as too high. But the 
 truth is, that fpccious nobleman had the fortune to be 
 better thought of, in his life-time, than he has been fince. 
 The general opinion therefore (v»hich came confirmed to 
 him by Mr. Pope) very naturally inflamed the expreflion 
 of his gratitude, in that panegyrical epiftle. 
 
 After an acquaintance of fome years, Mr. Allen hadj 
 now, feen fo much of his friend, that he wiflred to unite 
 him flill more clofely to himfelf by an alliance of marriage 
 with an accompliflied Lady of his own family '••. 
 * Mils Gertrude Tucker, Mr. Allen's favourite niece. 
 
 H This
 
 [ ;» ] 
 
 This event took place in the beginnuig of the year 17465: 
 and foou after, the preacherrtiip of Lincohi's-Inn happen- 
 ing to become vacant, Mr. Murray, then Solicitor General, 
 eafily prevailed ^vith the learned Bench to invite fo eminent 
 a perfon, as Mr, Warburton, to accept that office. 
 
 II. 
 
 From the time of his marriage, Mr. Warburton refided 
 chiefly at Prior- Park. In fo agreeable, or, rather, fplen- 
 did a retreat, he enjoyed health, aJiHuence, and leifure ; 
 the beft company, when he chofe to partake of it ; and 
 every other accommodation, which could be acceptable 
 to a man of letters. His ambition was, alfo, gratified with 
 the higheft perfonal reputation ; and, in due time, he 
 fucceeded to the chief honours of his profefFion, All this 
 he could not but be fenfible of. Yet, I have heard him 
 fay, that the moft delicious feafon of his life was that 
 which he had fpent at Newark and Brand-Broughton. So 
 delightful are the fpringing hopes of youth ! and fo en- 
 chanting the fcenes which open to a great genius, when 
 he comes firft to know himfelf, and to make trial of his 
 powers ! The impreffion, thefe left upon him, is very 
 agreeably defcribed in .1 letter to Mr. C. Yorke, fo late as 
 the year 175^. Mr. Yorke had acquainted him with an 
 cxcuruon he had been making into Nottinghamfliire. In 
 liis anfwer from P. P. 06I. 2, 1758, he fays — "I am
 
 [ 5' ] 
 
 *^ glatl to undcrflaiul you have aiiiiifed youiTelf agreeably 
 " with a ramble into Nottingham fliire. It would have 
 -** been the greatell pleafure to have chopped upon you at 
 *' Newark : And I would have done fO) on the leaft in- 
 •*' timation. I could have led you through delicious walks, 
 *' and picked off, for your amufement in our rambles, a 
 *^ thoufand notions which I hung upon every thorn, as I 
 " pafTed, thirty years ago.' 
 
 But to return from this reflexion. 
 
 The Preacherlliip of Lincoln's-Inn had been offered him 
 in fo handfome a manner, that it could not be refufed. 
 Otherwife, the thing was not agreeable to him. 
 
 In a letter to Dr. Taylor * from Prior-Park, May 22, 
 1746, he fays— ** I think I told you in my lad, that the 
 " Society of Lincoln's-Inn had made me an unanimous 
 " offer of the Preacherlhip ; which therefore I could not 
 *' refufe, though I would gladly have done it. For it will 
 '' require five or fix months attendance. And the advan- 
 " tagc of the thing itfelf you may judge of, by this : 
 *' Mr. Allen would have me take a houfe, for which I pay 
 ** as much rent, as the whole preacherfliip is worth. This 
 ** only to you. And don't think I fpeak with any affeftation 
 '^ \\hen I tell you in your ear, that nothing can be more 
 
 * The phyfician—firft of Newark, afterwards of London; very eminent 
 in Ills profeflion, snd from his early youth a friend of Mr. Warhurton's. 
 
 H 2 "dif-
 
 [ 5^ 3 
 
 " (lifagreeable to me, than this way of Hfe. But I hope 
 " and determine that it fhall not continue long. Don'e 
 *' you pity me ? I fliall be forced to write fermons : and 
 " God knows what will become of the D. L. But if I 
 " can do any good in this new flation, I fliall know how 
 *' to bear the difagreements of it, and that's all, Hov/ 
 " capricious is the fate of mortals ! Any other clergyman 
 " would think himfelf happy in fuch an honour as the 
 *' Society has done me. I believe it is the firit * has been 
 *' done to their Preacher. Yet I have no joy in it." 
 
 The truth is, the attendance on the term broke in upon 
 his leifure ; and, what was worfe, the necefiity he was 
 under of compoling fermons, with which he was but 
 flenderly provided, diverted him from other things, for 
 which he judged himfelf better qualified, and which he 
 had more at heart. 
 
 The fruits of his induftry in this new office there will 
 be occafion to fpeak of, and to appreciate hereafter. For 
 the prefent, it is true, his greater defigns received fome 
 interruption, and particularly, as he intimates, that of the 
 D. L. ; although other reafons concurred to make him 
 defer (indeed much too long) the profecution of that noble 
 work. 
 
 In the year 1747 appeared his edition of Shakefpeare's 
 works, which he had undertaken at the inllance of Mr. 
 * He means, by the unanimous offer of their preacherfhip. 
 
 Pope.
 
 , [ S3 ] 
 
 Pope. " He was defirous" — the editor fpeaks in his own 
 perfon — " I fhoukl give a new edition of this poet ; and 
 " that his edition lliould be melted down into mine. In 
 *' memory of our friendfliip, I have therefore made it our 
 ** joint edition ■•••." 
 
 As the pubUc envy was now at its height, from the 
 rifing fortune, as well as fame, of the author, this edition 
 awakened a fpirit of criticifm, which haunted liim in every 
 iliape of dull ridicule, and folemn confutation. Happen- 
 ing to fpeak of this, in a letter written to him 1749 (for 
 by that time I had the honour of being perfonally ac- 
 quainted with him) he replies to me in the following • 
 lively manner — " I have, as you fay, raifed a fpirit with- 
 ** out defigning it. And, while I thought I was only con- 
 ** jedturing, it feems I was conjuring. So that I had no 
 *' fooner evoked the name of Shakefpeare from the rotten 
 ** monument of his former editions, than a crew of ftrange 
 " devils, and more grotefque than any he laughs at in 
 *' the old farces, came chattering, mewing, and grinning 
 ** round about me t." 
 
 The outcry againft him was, indeed, pretty much what 
 is here fo pleafantly defcribed. His illuftrations of the 
 poet's fenfe were frequently not taken ; and his corre<5lions 
 of the faulty text, not allowed. And, to fpeak candidly, 
 
 * Preface to Shakefpeare. 
 
 -J' Prior Park, Sept. 28, 1749.
 
 t 54 ] 
 
 It could fcarce be otherwiic. For, though all pretend to 
 be judges of poetry, few have any idea of poeticalcriti- 
 cifm. And, as to what concerns the emendation of the 
 text, the abler the critic, the more liable he is to fome 
 extravagance of conjedure (as we fee in the cafe of Bent- 
 ley himfelfj; it being dullnefs, and not judgement, that 
 beft fecures him from this fort of imputation *. 
 
 For the reft, fuch is the felicity of his genius in re- 
 floring numberlefs paffages to their integrity, and in ex- 
 plaining others which the author's fublime conceptions* 
 or his licentious expreflion, had kept out of fight, that 
 this fine edition of Shakefpeare muft ever be highly 
 
 * The apology, which an eminent French writer makes for Jofeph. 
 Scaliger, may ferve for all Commentators of his fize : 
 
 " Je ne ffay fi on ne pourroit pas dire que Scaliger avoit trop d'efprit, 
 " et trop de.fcience, pour faire un bon commentaire; car a force d'avoir 
 ■^'de I'efpritj il trouvoit dans les auteurs qii'il commentoit, plus de finefTc 
 " et plus de genie, qu'ils n'en avoient effect ivement ; et fa profonde lit5- 
 ''• rature etoit eaufe qu'il voyoit mille rapports entre les penfees d'un auteur, 
 " et que! que point rare d'antiquite. De forte qu'il s'imaginoit que fon 
 " auteur avoit fait quelque allufron a ce point d'antiquiti, et fur ce pied-la il 
 <•' corrigeoit un paffagc. Si on n'aime mieux s'imaginer que I'envie d'eclaircir 
 " un miftere d'erudition inconnu aux autrcs critiques, Tengageoit a fuppofer 
 " qu'il fe trouvoit dans un tei ou tel paflage. Quoiqu'jl en foit, les com- 
 " mentaires qui viennent de lui, font pleins de conjecittures hardies, in-^ 
 " ginieufes, et fojft ffavantes, mais il n'eft gueres apparent que les auteurs 
 ■*' ayent fonge a tout c i qu'il leur fait dire. On s'eloigne de leur fens auili 
 " bicn quand on a beaucoup d'efprit, que quand on n'en a pas, &c." 
 Nouvelks de la Re^ttMi^ue des Lett res, Juin, 1684, 
 A valued
 
 [ S5 3 
 
 valued by men of fenfe and tafte ; a fpirit, congenial to 
 that of the author, breathing throughout, and eafdy 
 atoning, with fuch, for the liLtle mifUkes and inadver- 
 tencies, difcoverable in it. 
 
 Mr. Warburton very properly negleded all attacks on 
 his own critical fame. But of one, that \^as made foon 
 after on the moral charader of his friend, he took more 
 notice. In 1749 an infignificant pamphlet, under the 
 name of A Patriot King^ was publiflied by Lord Bohng- 
 broke, or by his direction, with a preface to it, refleding 
 highly on Mr. Pope's honour. The provocation was fim- 
 ply this. The manufcript of that trivial declamation had 
 been intruded to the care of Mr. Pope, with the charge (as 
 it was pretended) that only a certain number of copies 
 fliould be printed. Mr. Pope, in his exceflive admiration 
 of his Lordfliip (which was the chief foible of his cha- 
 rader) took that opportunity, for fear fo invaluable a 
 treafure of patriot- eloquence fliould be loft to the pub- 
 lick, to exceed his commiflion, and to run off more co- 
 pies, which were found, after his death, in the printer's 
 warehoufe ; but with fo little fecrefy that feveral of his 
 friends, and in particular Mr. Allen (as he told me) was 
 apprized of it at the time, and by Mr. Pope himfelf. This 
 charge, however frivolous, was aggravated beyond mea- 
 fure ; and, notwithftanding the proofs Lord Bohngbroke 
 had received of Mc^Pope's devotion to him, envenomed 
 
 with 
 
 \
 
 [ 56 ] 
 
 with the ulmoft malignity. Mr. Warbuiton thought it 
 became him to vindicate his deceafed friend ; and he did 
 it fo effedlually, as not only to filence his accufer, but to 
 cover him with confulion. 
 
 And here let me have leave to paufe a little, while, in 
 emulation of this generous condudl of my friend towards 
 one great man, I endeavour to perform the fame office 
 towards another ; the moft amiable of his time ; who has 
 fuffered, in the public opinion, by a charge of immoral 
 meannefs brought againft him by Mr. Pope himfelf, and, 
 as I am perfuaded, without the leaft foundation. The 
 perfon I mean is Mr. Addifon, in whofe good name, as in 
 that of Mr. Pope, Virtue herfelf has an intereft. He and 
 Mr. Pope were, likewife, friends ; and this relation between 
 them brings the two cafes into a ftill nearer referablance 
 with each other. 
 
 The charge, I allude to, is briefly this — Mr. Addifon 
 had uniformly * advifed and encouraged Mr. Pope's tranf- 
 lation of the IHad, from the year 171 3, when the deiign 
 of that work was firft communicated to him. He had even 
 been zealous to promote the fubfcription to it ; and in 
 May, 1 7 1 6, Vv'hen a confiderable progrefs had been made 
 in the tranllation, and fome parts of it publiflied, he 
 fpeaks of it in the Freeholder, N° 4c, in the following 
 manner : 
 
 * See Letters to and from Mr. Addifon, in Mr. Pope's Works. 
 
 " When
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 " When I confider myfelf as a Britifii freeholder, 1 am 
 *' in a particular manner pleafed wich the labours of thofe 
 <' who have improved our language with the tranflation 
 *' of old Latin and Greek authors; and by that means 
 " let us into the knowledge of what pafled in the famous 
 *' governments of Greece and Rome. We have already 
 *' moft of their hiftorians in our own tongue : and what 
 " is flill more for the honour of our language, it has 
 *' been taught to exprefs with elegance the greateft of their 
 *' poets in each nation. The illiterate am.ong our coun- 
 *' trymen may learn to judge from Dryden's Virgil of the 
 *' moft perfect Epic performance : and thofe parts of Homer 
 ** which have already been publiflied by Mr. Pope, give us 
 ■** reafon to think the Iliad will appear in Englilh with as 
 ** little difadvantage to that immortal poem." 
 
 Notwithftanding all this, Mr. Pope believed, and his 
 friends, as was natural, believed with him, that in 1 7 i 5 
 Mr. Addifon either tranflated himfelf, or employed Mr. 
 Tickell to tranflate, the firll: book of the Iliad, in oppofition 
 to him. 
 
 If we alls: on what grounds this extraordinary charge is 
 brought againft fuch a man as Mr. Addifon, we are only 
 told of fome flight and vague fufpicions, without any 
 thing that looks like a proof, either external or internal. 
 What there is of the latter tends to confute the charge. 
 For whoever is acquainted with Mr. Addifon's ftyle and 
 I manner,
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
 manner, miiil: be certain that the tranflation was not Jj'ts 
 ozvn, though Steele in a peevifli letter, written againft 
 Tickell *, has, it feems, infinuated fome fuch thing. And 
 for external proof, we have abfolutely nothing bat a re- 
 port from hear-fay evidence, that Mr. Addifon had expreffed 
 himfelf civilly of Tickell's performance ; whence it is con- 
 cluded that this tranflation was, at leaft, undertaken by 
 Mr. Addifon's advice and authority, if not made by him- 
 felf. 
 
 Still, it will be owned, that fo generous a m.an as Mr, 
 Pope muft believe he had fome proof of this charge againil 
 his friend : and I think, I have, at length difcovered what 
 it was. 
 
 I have feen a printed copy f of Tickell's tranflation, in 
 \vhich are entered many criticifms and remarks in Mr. Pope's 
 own hand. And from two of thefe, compared together, I 
 feem to collect the true ground of the fufpicion^ But the 
 reader fhall judge for himfelf. 
 
 * Dedication of the Drummer to Mr. Congreve. 
 
 ■\ It was then in Mr. Warburton's hands. It was afterwards fold, by 
 miftake, among the other books which he had at his houfe in town, to 
 Mr. T. Payne, and came at length into the poffefllon of Ifaac Reed, Efq. 
 of Staple-Inn ; who was fo obliging as to make me a prefent of it, to be 
 kept in the library at Hartlebury (in which that of Mr. Pope is included), 
 where it now remains. 
 
 To
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
 To the tranflation, are prefixed a Dedication, and 
 Advertisement. The latter is in thefe words — " I muft 
 *' inform the reader, that, when I hegan this firfl book, 
 " I had fome thoughts of tranfiating the whole Ihad : but 
 " had the pleafure of being diverted from that defign, by 
 " finding the work was fallen into a much abler hand. 
 " I would not therefore be thought to have any other view 
 '• in publidiing this fmall fpecimen of Homer's Iliad, than 
 *' to befpeak, if poflible, the favour of the Public to a 
 *' tranflation of Homer's Odylfeis, wherein I have already 
 " made fome progrefs." 
 
 To the words in this advertifement — zdhen I began ibis 
 frft book — Mr. Pope affixes this note — See the frjl line of 
 the Dedication. 
 
 Turning to the dedication, we find it begin thus ■ 
 
 *' When I firft entered upon this tranflation I was am- 
 " bitious of dedicating it to the late Lord Halifax. — 
 Over againft which words is, likewife, entered, in Mr. Pope's 
 hand, the following note. The iranflator was Jirjl known 
 to bim [Lord Halifax] four montbs before bis death. He 
 died in May, 17 15. 
 
 Now, from comparing thefe two notes together, one 
 fees clearly how Mr. Pope reafoned on the matter. He 
 concluded from Tickell's faying — zvhen he Jlrjl entered on 
 this tranflation J that is, began this firfl book, be thought of 
 dedicating his work to Lord Halifax — that he could not have 
 I 2 entertained
 
 [ «5° ] 
 
 entertained this thought, if he had not at that time been 
 f:nown to Lord Hahfax. But it was certain, it feems, that 
 Mr. Tickell wzs^rfi known to that Lord only four fmnths 
 before his death, in May, I715. Wlience it feemed to 
 follow, that this firjt book had been written within, or lince, 
 that time. 
 
 Admitting this conclufion to be rightly made by Mr. 
 Pope, it muft indeed be allowed that he had much rea- 
 fon for his charge of infincerity on Mr. Addifon, who, as 
 a friend that had great influence with the tranflator, would 
 not have advifed, or even permitted, fuch a defign to be 
 entered upon and profecuted by him at this jundlure. But 
 there feems not the leafl: ground for fuch a conclufion. 
 Lord Halifax was the great patron of wits and poets : and 
 if Tickell had formed his delign of tranflating the Iliad 
 long before Mr. Pope was known to have engaged in that 
 work, he might very well be fuppofed to think of dedi- 
 cating to this Maecenas, as much a ftranger as he then 
 was to him. Nothing is more common than fuch inten- 
 tions in literary men ; although Mr. Pope might be dif- 
 pofed to conduit himfelf, in fuch a cafe, with more deli- 
 cacy or dignity. 
 
 I fee, then, no reafon to infer from the prem.ifes, that 
 Mr. Tickell began his Jirjt book but four months before 
 Lord Hallifax's death. For any thing that appears to the 
 contrary, he might have begun^ or even fnijhed it, four 
 
 years
 
 [ G' ] 
 
 years before that event, and have only relinquiflied the 
 thoughts of profecuthig his tranflatioii from the time that 
 \iQ. found this work had fallen^ as he fays, into an abler ^ that 
 is, Mr. Pope's, hand. 
 
 Thefe pnffuges, however, of the Jdvertifement and Dedi- 
 cation, reflevited upon and compared together, furniflied 
 Mr. Pope, as 1 fuppofe, with the chief of thofe odd concur- 
 ring circufujiancesy which, as we are told •-■■, convinced 
 him that this tranflation of the firft book of the Iliad was 
 publilhed with Mr. Addifon's participation, if not compofed 
 by him. If the work had been begun hut four months 
 before its appearance, it muil have been at leaft by his 
 allowance and participation : if before that time (Mr. Tic- 
 kell's acquaintance with Lord Halifax not being of fo early 
 a date) it was, mod probably, his own compofition. And 
 to this latter opinion, it feems, Mr. Pope inclined. 
 
 How inconclufive thefe reafonings are, we have now 
 Icen. All that remains therefore is to account for the 
 publication at fvich a time. And for this, I fee not why 
 Mr. Tickell's own reafon may not be accepted as the true 
 one — that he had no other vie-zu in publijhing this Jpecimen, 
 than to befpeak the favour of the publick to a tranflation of 
 the Qdyjfeis^ in which he had madefome progrefs. 
 
 The time, it muft be owned, was an unlucky onc» 
 But if Mr. Addifon had reafon to believe his friend's 
 * In the notes on Epiftle to Dr. Arbutlinot. 
 
 motive
 
 r 6z ] 
 
 motive to be that which he profcffcd, he might think it 
 not fit to divert him from a work which was Ukely to 
 ferve his intereft (poetical tranflation being at that time 
 the mod lucrative employment of a man of letters), and 
 though it had lefs merit than Mr. Pope's, to do him fome 
 credit. And for the civiUty of fpeaking well of his tranf- 
 lation afterwards, or even of affifting him in the revifal 
 of it, this w^as certainly no more than Mr. Addifon's friend- 
 fliip for the tranilator required. 
 
 That Mr. Addifon had, in fixdt, no unfriendly inten- 
 tion in the part he had taken in this affair, is certain from 
 the paflage before cited from the Free-holder, where he 
 fpeaks fo honourably, in May 1 7 1 6, of Mr. Pope's tranf- 
 lation, after all the noife that had been made about Mr. 
 Tickell's firft book in the fummer of 171 5. We may 
 indeed impute this conduit to fear, or diflimulation : but 
 a charge of this nature ought farely not to be made, but 
 on the cleareft and beft grounds. 
 
 I have the rather introduced thefe obfervations into the 
 account of my friend's life, as he himfelf had been led by 
 Mr. Pope's authority to credit the imputation on Mr. Ad- 
 difon, and, on more occafions than one, had given a 
 countenance to it. And it is but juftice to him to affure 
 the reader that when, iome years before his death, I fliewed 
 him this Vindication, he profeffed himfelf fo much fatif- 
 
 fied
 
 [ <^3 ] 
 
 fied with it, as to fay, if he hved to fee another edition of 
 I\h'. Poi:)e's works, he would ftrike out the offenfive re- 
 flexions on Mr. Addifon's charadter. 
 To return now to our fubjedt. 
 
 We left Mr. Warburton illuilrating the works of one of 
 our great poets, and vindicating the moral characfter of 
 another. But whatever amulcments, or friendly offices, 
 might employ his pen, he never loft light of what he 
 had moft at heart, the defence of religion. And a con- 
 troverfy then carrying on, concerning the miraculous 
 powers of the Chriftian Church, between Dr. Middleton 
 and his opponents, and fo managed, on both fides, as to 
 hurt the caufe of Chriftianity itfelf, gave him occafion to 
 explain his own fentimcnts on the fubjedt in an admirable 
 book, entitled Julian; or, A Difcour/e concerning the 
 earthquake andjiery eruption zvbich defeated that emperofs 
 attempt to rebuild the temple at Jerufalem, This work was 
 publillied in 1750, and is written throughout in the ge- 
 nuine fpirit of its author. 
 
 It is introduced by an exquilite preface on the literary 
 tharaffter of the Fathers, and on the condition of moral 
 fcicnce before, and after, the appearance of Chriftianity. 
 
 This excellent book had the fate of the author's other 
 ■writings, to be cenfurcd at home. \\\ a letter from Prior- 
 Park to Dr. Balguy, Jan. 17, 1751-2,— " They tell me," 
 fays he, " there are fome remarks publiilied againft my 
 
 " Julian,
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 <' Julian. I don't know the nature of them, nor ever 
 " fliall. That matter interefts every clergyman, that is to 
 «' fay, every Chriftian, in England, as much as myfelf. 
 " Befides, I have long fince bid adieu to controverfy. I 
 *< give my fentiments to the publick, and there's an end. 
 " If any body will oppofe them, he has my leave. If any 
 ** body will defend them, he has my thanks. I propound 
 " them freely : I explain them as clearly and enforce them 
 *' as ftrongly, as I can. I think I owe no more either to 
 " myfelf or truth. I am fure I owe no more to the publick. 
 *' Befides, I know a little (as you will fee by the new edi- 
 " tion of the firffc and fecond volumes of D. L.) how to 
 *' correct myfelf; fo have lefs need of this affiflance from 
 *' others : which you will better underftand, when you 
 *' fee that I have not received the lead affiflance from the 
 *' united endeavours of that numerous band of anfwerers, 
 *' who have fpared no freedoms in telling me of my faults." 
 
 Again, fome months afterwards, writing to the fame 
 friend — Bedford Row, May 12, 1752, he obferves, 
 
 — " I think you judge rightly of the effecSts of Lord 
 ** Bolingbroke's writings, as well as of their cliaradcr. As 
 " to his difcourfe on the Canon of Scripture, 1 think it 
 ** below all criticifm, though it had mine. He mentions 
 *' (and 1 believe, with good faith) that foolifli rabbinical 
 " fable of Efdras' reftoring the whole loll canon by Infpi- 
 *' ration ; and argues from it. However the redoubtable 
 
 *' pen
 
 [ 65 ] 
 
 *' pen of Sykes, though now worn to the flumps, is drawn 
 "upon him; or, at leaft, threatened to be drawn. lie 
 *' threatened, too, to draw it upon poor JuHan, but he left 
 *' the execution to another. And who do you think tliat 
 '' other i:)roves ? Somebody or other, by far more curious 
 '' than myfelf, would unearth this vermin ; And he is 
 " found to be one Nichols, which your univerfity fonie 
 *' time ago profecutcd for ftealing their books, or rather 
 " fliould have profccuted. Have I not reafon to blame 
 *' you for your ill-timed clemency ? Had they hanged 
 " him, as Juftice called upon them to do, my book had 
 *' been fafc. It is true, he has not fulfilled the old 
 '' proverb, but rather contributed to a new one, " Save a 
 
 *' rogue from the gallows, and he will endeavour to 
 
 " fave his fellow. I had gibbeted up Julian, and he 
 " comes by night to cut him down." — The pleafantry of 
 thefe reflexions has drawn me into a citation of them. 
 Otherwife, it was fcarce worth while to tell the reader what 
 fome of our own prejudiced countrymen thought of Julian. 
 For the learned abroad were generally much taken with 
 this work. Among others, the prefident Montefquieu -, 
 
 * " Quand vous verrcz Mr. le DocfVeur Waiburton, jc vous prie tic lui 
 *' dire I'idec agrt'able que je me fuis dc fiiire plus ample connoiflance avec 
 " lui ; d'aller trouver la fource du ffavoir, et de voir la lumiere de Tef- 
 " prit : fon ouvrage fur Julien m'a enchante, quoique je n'aie que de tres 
 " mauvais Ie<5leurs anglois, et que j'ai prefque oublie tout ce quej'cn 
 " ffavois." 
 
 K who,
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
 who, it feems, was then meditating a vifit to his friends in 
 Eno-land, writes thus to Mr. Charles Yorke from Paris, 
 June 6, 1753 : "When you fee Dr. Warburton, pray let 
 " him know the fatisfaaion I propofe to myfelf in rar.king 
 <' a further acquaintance with him, and in taking a nearer 
 " view of his great talents. His Julian charms me ; al- 
 *' though I have but indifferent Englifh readers, and have, 
 *' myfelf, forgotten a great deal of what I once knew of 
 *' that language." 
 
 And fpeaking of this work fome years afterwards, in a 
 letter to me, Mr. Warburton fays, " My Julian has had a 
 « great effed in France, where Free-thinking holds its head 
 " as high as in England. This is a confolation to me, as 
 " my fole aim is to reprefs that infernal fpirit." And again, 
 — " It has procured me the good will of the beft and 
 " greateft man * in France, while there is hardly a noble- 
 *' man in England knows I have written fuch a book f ." 
 
 - * Due de Noailles. — The intelligence was communicated to the author 
 by his friend, M. de Silhouette : who was a great admirer of his writings, 
 and tranflated fome of them. See Prefoce to Alliance. 
 
 -^ In planning his treatife on Julian, he had propofcd, as the title-page 
 fets forth, to enquire into the nature of that evidence, winch ivill demand the 
 ejfent of every reafonable man to a miraculpm fa5l. But this part of his plan 
 he referved for another difcourfe. The fubjeft was, in fadl, rcfumed, and 
 has been fufficiently explained in the difcourfe on the Refurredtion, vol. V. 
 P- 473- 
 
 This
 
 C 67 ] 
 
 This admirable work, as I obferved, took its rife from 
 Dr. Middleton's Inquiry concerning the miraculous powers 
 in the Chriftian Church. That ingenious man died to- 
 wards the end of this year ; and although fome difference 
 had arifen between them in 1741, and fcems to have 
 kept them afunder for the reft of Dr. Middleton's life, yet 
 no cliange appears to have been made, by this mifadven- 
 ture, in Mr. Warburton's opinion or even efteem of him, 
 (fo conftant was he in his friendfliips !) as the reader will 
 lee in the following extra(5l from a letter, which he wrote 
 to me juft before the Doctor's death : " Prior-Park, July i i, 
 " 1750. — I hear Dr. Middleton has been at London (I fup- 
 " pofc to confult Dr. Heberden •-'•■ about his health) and is 
 *' returned in an extreme bad condition. — I am much con- 
 *' cerned for the poor man, and wifli he may recover, 
 " with all my heart. Had he had, I will not fay, piety, 
 *' but greatnefs of mind enough, not to fufFer the pre- 
 " tended injuries of fome Churchmen to prejudice him 
 ** againft Religion, I fliould love him living, and honour 
 
 t Dr. Heberden had been well known to Dr. Middleton at Cambridge, 
 where he flourished in great reputation for fc\eral years, and then removed 
 to London. He has now [1794], for fome time paft, declined allbufinefs ; 
 but, through the whole courfe of his pradlice, was the moft univerlally 
 efteemed, of any phyfician I have known, not only for liis fkill, but gene- 
 rohty, in the exercife of his profefTion. — My own perfonal obligations to 
 liim muft be my excufe for the liberty I take in paying this fmall tribute 
 of refpcifl to his merit and charadler. 
 
 K 2 " his
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
 " his memory, when dead. But, good God, that man? 
 *' for the difcourtefies done him by his miferable fellow- 
 " creatures, fliould be content to diveit himfelf of the true 
 " viaticum, the comfort, the folace, the afylum from all 
 "the evils of human hfe, is perfedtly aftonifliing ! I 
 *' -believe no one (all things confidered) has fuffered more 
 *' from the low and vile paflions of the high and low 
 " amongd our brethren, than myfelf. Yet God forbid, it 
 " fliould ever fuffer me to be cold in the Gofpel-interefts! 
 " which are indeed fo much my own, that without it I 
 " fliould be difpofed to confider humanity, as the moll 
 ** forlorn part of the creation." 
 
 What this letter tenderly hints at, was the exa6t truth. 
 Dr. Middleton was an elegant fcholar, and very fine writer: 
 but, his vanity having engaged him early in religious 
 controverfy on a fubjet^ which he did not underltand, he 
 had given juft offence to fome confiderable Churchmen, 
 and yet would not condefcend to recover their good opinion 
 by rctratfling what he had haltily and unwarily advanced. 
 Hence, the obftrudlion to his views of preferment ; which 
 by degrees foured his temper fo much, that his beft friends 
 (as j\Ir. Warburton found by experience) could not calm 
 his refcntments, or keep them from breaking out into fome 
 inihappy prejudices againft Religion itlelf. This mif- 
 adventure was the effect of his paffion, not judgement : for 
 his knowledge of theology was but flight, and his talents 
 
 not
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
 not thofc which qualilied him to exccll in that fcicnce. 
 The bent of his genius and fludies lay another way, and 
 had raifed him to great eminence in pohte Hterature ; of 
 which his Letter from Romey and his Life of Cicero^ are 
 fliining inftances. Ilis other works are of much lefs value, 
 and will foon be forgotten. 
 
 Nothing fliews the extent of Mr. Warburton's genius, 
 and the command he had of it, more, than his being able 
 to mix the lighteit with the moft ferious Itudies, and to 
 pafs, as his friend fpeaks, 
 
 *' From grave to gay, from lively to fevere," 
 with fo much grace and facility : a flriking inltance of 
 which power we have, here, in finding Julian between 
 our two poets. For in the very next year [1751] he ap- 
 peared again, as a critic and commentator, in the noble 
 edition he gave of Mr. Pope's works. And, as here there 
 was no room for emendatory criticifm, of all others tlie 
 eaficlt to be mifapplied or mifconftrued^ lb the public 
 found very little to cenfure on this occafion. Indeed the 
 main object of the edition being to do judice to his friend, 
 it was natural for him to exert his whole force upon it ; 
 and as none can divine fo happily of a poet's meaning, as 
 the well-exercifed critic, if he be at the fame time of a 
 congenial fpirit with his author, it is no wonder that he 
 made this (what I formerly faid of it, and ftill think it to 
 be) the bejl edition that zvas ever given of any cla(fck. 
 
 But,
 
 C 7° ] 
 
 But, adaiirable as x\Ir. Warburton was in this elegant 
 fpecies of literature, we arc now to take our leave of him 
 under that charader ; his editions of Shakefpear and Pope 
 being, as he himfelf exprefled it to nie, amufemenis, ivhicb 
 bis fondm/s for the works of one poet, and for the perfon of 
 another y had engaged him in. We are, henceforth, to lee 
 him only in his proper office of Divine ; which he re- 
 fumed, when Mr. Pope's volumes were out of his hands, 
 and ennobled by a fet of Sermons, preached by him at 
 Lincoln's-Inn, and entitled Principles of Natural and Re- 
 vealed Religion^ in two volumes ; the former publiflied in 
 1752, and the other in 1754 ; to which he added 7\. third 
 ift 1767, confifting chiefly of occafional difcourfes. 
 • I bring his works of this fort together under one view, 
 that I may confider them at once, and give the reader an 
 idea of their true charailer. 
 
 He had ufed himfelf very little to write fcrmons, till he 
 came to Lincoln*s-Inn. His inrtrucftions to his parifli had 
 either been delivered without notes, or extradled from the 
 plaineft difcourfes of our beft preachers. In his prefent 
 iituation, he found it neceflary to compofe his fcrmons, 
 and with care ; his audience confifting wholly of men of 
 education, and thofe accuftomed to reafoning and inquiry. 
 Here was then a fcene, in which his learning and know- 
 ledge might be produced with good efFed ; and it was in 
 this kind of difcourfe, that his tatte and ftudies had qua- 
 lified
 
 [ 7. ] 
 
 lified him to excell. His fermons are accordingly, all of 
 them, of this call ; not ilight harangues on ordinary fub- 
 jccls, but clofe, weighty, methodical difcuurfes, on the 
 moil: momentous doctrines of natural and revealed religion; 
 opening the grounds of them, and fupporting them againft 
 objedlions ; exprclTed in that ftyle of nervous eloquence, 
 which was natural to him, and brightened occafionally^ 
 but without affb6ration, by the livelieft ftrokes of imagina- 
 tion. In fliort, they were written for the ufe of men of 
 I-)arts and learning, and will only be relifhed by fnch. They 
 are mafterly in their way ; but fitter for the clofet, than 
 the church ; I mean,, thofe mixt auditories, that are ufually 
 to be cxpedted in that place. 
 
 Ther3 had been a friendfliip of long Handing between 
 Mr. Warburton and Mr. Charles Yorke ; cultivated with 
 great affedlioa and. efteem on both fides ; the fruit of which 
 appeared in 1753, in the oSer of a prebend in the church 
 of Gloucefter, by the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. In ac- 
 knowledgement of this favour Mr. Warburton addrefled the 
 firft volume of the D. L. to his Lordfhip, when he gave 
 the next edition of that work. Some, who were curious 
 in obferving coincidencies, and meant to do honour both to 
 the patron and client^ took notice that the ilall, to which 
 Mr. Warburton was preferred, was the fame in which the 
 Lord Chancellor Nottingham, that great patron of all the 
 learned Churchmen in his time, had placed Dr. Cud- 
 worth :
 
 [ 7^ ] 
 
 worth: Such a fimilitude was there- apprehended to be 
 between the two Magiftratcs ; and, ftill more ftrikingly, 
 between the two "Divines, authors of The Intellecliial Syjle^n^ 
 and T'be Divine Legation •' 
 
 But what idea of Dignity foever might be annexed to 
 this prebend, he exchanged it, a year or two after, for 
 one of more vahie in the church of Durham, which Bilhop 
 Trevor (who did himfelf honour by the diipofal of his 
 preferments) very obhgingly gave him at the requeft of 
 Mr. Murray (now Attorney General) in 1755. 
 
 He had been made Chaplain to the King, the year before; 
 and that promotion, as well as the prefent, making it 
 decent for him to take his DovStor's degree, the Archbifliop 
 of Canterbury, Dr. Herring, very wifely took to himfelf 
 the honour (which the Univerfity of Oxford had unhappily 
 declined) of conferring that diftindlion upon him. 
 
 But while his friends were vying with each other in 
 their good offices and attempts to ferve him, a matter far 
 more interefting to him, than any preferment, engaged 
 his attention during the courfe of thefe two years. 
 
 Lord Bolingbroke died in 1 751, and his philofophical 
 works were publiflied in 1753. Every one knows the 
 principles and prefumption of that unhappy nobleman. He 
 was of that fed, which, to avoid a more odious name, 
 chufes to diftinguifli itfelf by that of Naturalifm ; and 
 had boafted in private, what feats he fliould be able to 
 
 perform
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 perform, m the attack, he had long threatened, on a// our 
 metapbyjics and theology ; in other words, on natural and re- 
 vealed religion. 
 
 Some had the (implicit y to believe him on his word ; 
 and others, it may Ije, widied him fuccefs. All ferious 
 men ftood aghaft at tlie loud vaunts of this Guliah of the 
 infidel party ; and, prepoffeft with the ideas of confe- 
 qnence, which the fond applaufes of his friends, and 
 (what miift ever be lamented) of his tuneful friend, had 
 thrown about him, waitccl with anxiety for the event. 
 
 hi the mean time, as that friend faid divinely well (for 
 furely, in this inftance, he prophelied, as well as fang) 
 '' Heaven with loud laughter the vain toil furveys, 
 *' And buries madmen in the heaps they raife." 
 
 Dr. Warburton had very early penetrated the views of 
 Lord Bolingbroke ; and, obferving fome tincture of his 
 principles (but without the knowlerlge of the author, who 
 could not be trufled with the fccrct) artfully inftillcd into 
 the EJJay on Man, had incurred his immortal hatred by 
 making the difcovery, and, in confequence of it, by 
 reojoning Mr. Pope out of bis hands *. It was eafy to forefee 
 what would follow from this vigilant and able Divine, 
 when his Lordfliip's godlefs volumes lliould come forth ; 
 and the dread of it feems to have kept them back, for the 
 
 * Works, Vol. VII. p. 839. 
 
 L remainder
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 remainder of his life. The interval, however, was made 
 good ufe of, in feafoning them with poignant inve(Slives 
 againft the Alliance and Divine Legation, and with whole 
 pages of the grofleft perfonal abufe. So that, when they 
 appeared. Dr. Warburton was provoked, as well as pre- 
 pared, to give them a ftrid: examination, and was ani- 
 mated to the undertaking by a juft refentment, as well as 
 religious zeal. 
 
 And thefe two principles (the moft operative in our 
 nature) were never exerted to better purpofe, or with 
 greater effecSl. He planned the View of his Philofophy in 
 Four Letters to a Friend^, and in writing it has furpafled 
 himfelf; the reafoning and the wit being alike irrefiftible, 
 the ftrongeft and keeneft that can be conceived. He him- 
 felf was not a little pleafed with this work, and fays in 
 confidence to a friend t, " I have given to it all the finifh- 
 *' ing in my power ; and reckon, if any thing of mine 
 " lliould ftumble down to pofterity, it will have as good a 
 *' chance as any. And now — Ccejlus artemque repono.'" 
 
 Some of Dr. Warburton's friends (fuch of them, I mean, 
 as had been the friends of Mr. Pope) had, of courfe, been 
 acquainted with Lord Bolingbroke ; and were very natu- 
 rally in the common opinion of his parts and abilities, 
 without knowing much, or perhaps any thing, of his 
 
 * Mr. Allen of Prior-Park. f Dr. Balguy. 
 
 religious
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
 religions fentiments. Thefc were likely to take offence at 
 the freedom of the VieWy which was to fliew him in a 
 light very different from that in which the world had 
 hitherto feen him. The confequence to himfelf was clearly 
 forefeen, and with no fmall concern. 
 
 Writing from P. P. to Mr. G. Yorke, Aug. 24, I754» 
 while thefe letters were drawing up, he fays — *' I am bufy 
 " witli my fecond volume of Sermons, which I propofe to 
 " publifh early in the winter. I amufe myfelf too with 
 *• another thing, v»bich, were you here, you would be 
 *' plagued with : becaufe I never like my things fo well 
 *' as while you are reading them. I have a better reafon 
 " for your reading them. But, to tell you the rruth, this 
 *' flatters me moft. The thing will be without my name, 
 *' and a fecret. I wifli it may in no degree difpleafe one 
 " 1 have fo much reafon to value, as our friend ; nay, I 
 *' would not have it difpleafe any of his friends, on his 
 " account. You will ailc me then why I venture ujwn it ? 
 " 1 will tell you fincerely. I think it my duty ; for I am 
 *' a Chriltian. 1 think I was defigned to be the declared 
 *' enemy of Infidelity ; for I am a little fanatical." 
 
 In a letter alfo to me, Sept. 7, 1754, he fays — «' As to 
 " my View of Bolingbroke, I tell it you in confidence, 1 
 " am apprehcnfive of difpleafing fome by it whom I mofl 
 " honour, and at a critical time. So that I folemnly affure 
 *' you, nothing but the fenfc of indifpcnfable duty, as a 
 L 2 «' Chril^ian
 
 [ 76 3 
 
 " Chriitian and a Clergyman, could have induced me to 
 *' run the hazard of doing myfelf fo much injury. But 
 ^^ jacia eft aka. All other confiderations are now pall 
 " with me ; and I let Providence take its courle without 
 *' any folicitude on my part." 
 
 And again, Dec. lo, 1754, Tome time after the two 
 firft letters were publiihed, and while he was preparing 
 the two laft — " I go on pufning this grand enemy of God 
 «^ and Godlinefs. But vvhat I predicSted to you, I am forry 
 *' to tell you, I have experienced to be true ; that I tread 
 " per cineres dolofos. However, my duty tells me, this is 
 <' a capital cafe, and I muft on." 
 
 What he alludes to^ is an anonymous letter, fent him 
 by the pofl:, and expoftulating with him, but in the friend- 
 lieft term?, on the manner in which he had treated the 
 fubjeifl of the Vkzv, in the parts already printed. He guelTed 
 at the writer *, and had the higheft refpeft for him. He 
 refolved, therefore, to make his apology to him, and (as 
 he was denied the opportunity of a private explanation) 
 in a public anfwer to his letter. Accordingly, in 1755, 
 he printed the two concluding letters of the View, with 
 an Apology for the two Jirft ; which now ftands in this 
 edition, as it did in the fubfequent ones of the View in the 
 author's life-time, as a prefatory difconrfe in vindication of 
 the whole work. The occafion of the fubjedt fired the 
 
 * Mr. Murray. 
 
 writer.
 
 [ 77 1 
 
 writer. His very foul came out in every fentence, and is 
 no where feen to more advantage than in this Apology ; 
 which is written throughout with a peculiar glow of fen- 
 timent and expreffion, and is, at once, the moft interefting, 
 and the moll mafterly of all his works. 
 
 It had the efTed:, which was natural, on the fo much re- 
 fpccted letucr-writer ; who thought fit to preferve an in- 
 violable filence in regard to this apology, but, by a fignal 
 adl of friendfliip, done to the author very foon after, iliewed 
 how entirely fatisfied he was with him. 
 
 As to the View itfelf, it was univerfally read and ad- 
 mired. The followers of Lord Bolingbroke and his philo- 
 fophy hung their heads : the friends of religion took heart: 
 and thefe big volumes of impiety funk immediately into 
 utter contempt. 
 
 After this complete triumph over the great Chieftain of 
 his party, it would Icarce be worth while to celebrate his 
 fuccefles againlT: inferior adventurers, if one of them had 
 not publiflicd his own fliame ; and if what I owe to Dr. 
 Warburton's memory did not require me to explain a tri- 
 fling matter, in which I happened to be concerned. 
 
 i\Ir. Hume had given an early fpecimen of his free- 
 thinking philofophy in fome fuper-fubtile lucubrations of 
 the metaphylical kind : which however did no great mif- 
 chief to religion ; and, what chagrined him almoft as 
 much, contributed but little to his own fame, being too 
 
 fublime.
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
 fiiblime, or too dark, for the apprehenfions of his readers. 
 For fo good a purpofe as that of allifting in the common 
 caufe of impiety, he thought fit to come out of the clouds, 
 and to attempt a popular vein of writing, as the more 
 likely to get himfelf read and talked of in the world. In 
 1749 he therefore gave the publick a hafli of his flale 
 notions, ferved up in the taking form and name of Effays, 
 and with a ftronger, at leaft a more undifguifed, mixture 
 of Atheifm than before. 
 
 Dr. Warburton, who was then fending his Julian to 
 the prefs, faw thefe EfTays, and had thoughts of clofing 
 that work with fome llriolures upon them. In a letter of 
 Sept. a 8, of thiit year, to a friend at Cambridge, he fays, 
 — " I am tempted to have a ftroke at Hume in parting. 
 " He is the author of a little book called Philofophical 
 ** EJfays : In one part of which he argues againft the being 
 " of a God ; and in another (very needlefsly, you will fay) 
 " againft the poffibility of miracles. He has crowned the 
 *' liberty of the prefs. And yet he has a confiderable 
 *' port under the government. 1 have a great mind to do 
 *' juftice on his arguments againft miracles, which I think 
 " might be done in few words. But does he deferve this 
 "notice? Is he known amongft you ? Pray, anfwer me 
 " thefe queftions. For if his own weight keeps him down, 
 " I fhould be forry to contribute to his advancement to any 
 *' place, but the pillory." 
 
 No
 
 [ 79 ] 
 
 No encouraging anfwer, I fuppofc, was returned to this 
 letter ; and fo the author of the ElTays efcaped, for this 
 time. His next effort was to difcredit Religion by what 
 he calls, its natural hijlory. This book came out early in 
 1757, and falling into the hands of Dr. Warburton, pro- 
 voked him, by its uncommon licentioufnefs, to enter on 
 the margin, as he went along, fuch remarks as occurred to 
 him. And when that was too narrow to contain them 
 all, he put down the reft on loofe fcraps of paper, which 
 he ftuck between the leaves, hi this ftate the book was 
 fliewn to me (as I chanced at that time to be in London 
 with the author) merely as matter of curiofity, and to 
 give me an idea of the contents, how mifchievous and 
 extravagant they were. He had then written remarks on 
 about two thirds of the volume : And I liked them fo well^ 
 that I advifed him, by all means, to carry them on 
 through the remaining parts of it, and then to fit them 
 \ip, in what way he thought befl, for public ufe, which 
 I told him they very well deferved. He put by this pro- 
 pofal flightly ; but, when 1 prefTed him again on this 
 head, fome time after, in a letter from Cambridge, lie 
 wrote me the following anfwer. 
 
 " As to Hume, I had laid it afide ever lince you were 
 *' here. I will now, however, finifli my fkeleton. It 
 " will be hardly that. If then you think any thing can 
 *' be made of it, and will give yourfelf the trouble, we 
 
 " may
 
 [ So ] 
 
 ' mriy perhaps between us do a little good, vv^bich I dare 
 ' Hiy we fliall both think \vill be worth a httie pains. If 
 ' I have any force in the firfl: rude beating out the mafs, 
 
 * you are beft able to give it the elegance of iorm and 
 ' fplendour of polilh. This will anfwer my purpofe, to 
 ' labour together in a joint work to do a httie good. I 
 ' v/ill tell you fairly, it is no more the thing it Ihoiild be, 
 ' than the Dantzick iron at the forge is the gilt and painted 
 ' ware at Birmingham. It will make no more than a 
 ' pamphlet ; but you fliall take your own time, and make 
 
 • it your fummer's amufement, if you wilL I propofe it 
 ' bear fomething like this title — ' Remarks on Mr. Hume*s 
 ' late ElTay, called, Ibe natural hijlory of Religion^ by a 
 ' Gentleman of Cambridge, in a Letter to the Rev. Dr. 
 ' Warburton.' — I propofe the addrefs fliould be with the 
 ' drynefs and referve of a llranger, who likes the method 
 ' of the Letters on Bolingbroke's philofophy, and follows 
 ' it here, again ft the fame fort of writer, inculcating the 
 ' fame impiety, Naturalifra, and employing the fame kind 
 ' of arguments. The addrefs will remove it from me ; 
 ' the author, a gentleman of Cambridge, from you ; and 
 ' the fecrecy of printing, from us both." 
 
 I faw by this letter, he was not difpofed to take much 
 trouble about the thing. Accordingly his papers were 
 foon after fent down to me at Cambridge, pretty much in 
 fhe ftate I had feen them in at London, fo far as they 
 
 then
 
 [ 8' ] 
 
 then went, only with additional entries in the latter part of 
 the book. However, in this carelefs detached form, I 
 thought his obfervations too good to be loft. And the 
 hint of the Addrefs fuggefted the means of prcTci ving 
 them, without any injury to his reputation, and indeed 
 without much labour to myfelf. Having, therefore, tran- 
 fcribed the Remarks -•• with little alteration, I only wrote a 
 (liort introdudlion and conclufion, merely to colour the 
 propo fed fidion ; and in this form, fent them to the 
 prefs. 
 
 When Dr. Warburton fiiw the pamphlet, he faid, I 
 Ihould have done much more, and worked up his hafty 
 remarks in my own way. He doubted, alfo, whether the 
 contrivance, as I had managed it, would not be feeii 
 through. But in this he was millaken ; for the difguife, 
 as thin as it was, anfwered its purpofe in keeping the real 
 author out of fight. 
 
 Mr. Hume in particular (underflanding, I fuppofe, from 
 his bookfellcr, who was alfo mine, that the manufcript 
 came from me) was the firft to fall into the trap. He was 
 much hurt, and no v/onder, by fo lively an attack upon 
 him, and could not help confeffing it in what he calls his 
 ozmi Life ; in which he has thought fit to honour me v.ith 
 greater marks of his refentmcnt, than any other of the 
 
 * Thc-y are given in this edition [Vol. VI. p. 8.^7.] in their original 
 form. 
 
 M writers
 
 [ 82 ] 
 
 writers againft him : nay the fpiteful man goes fo far as 
 to upbraid me with being a follower (indeed a clofei', in 
 this inftance, than he apprehended) of the IVarburtonian 
 fchool 
 
 This idle rtory woul<l not have been v/orth the telling, 
 but for the reafon already given, That I could not, in juf- 
 tice to the author, take the merit of fo fine a work to 
 myfelf. And yet in difclaiming it, the reader fees, I make 
 but an aukward figure, as being obliged to open the fecret 
 of our little ftratagem, in which the grace of it mainly 
 confifts. 
 
 Dr. Warburton had now, for fome time, been prepa- 
 ring, and in J 758 he printed, a corre6l and improved 
 edition of the firft volume of the D. L. The notes to this 
 edition are numerous and large ; fome of which are an- 
 fwers to objedions made to- him by Archbifliop Seeker. 
 " Where you find me, fays he in a Letter to one of his 
 " friends [P.P. April 19, 1758], fpeaking, in the notes, 
 *' of objedtions that have been made, nnderftand them of 
 " the prcfent Archbifliop's, who formerly gave me fome 
 *' flieets of them, which I have flill by me, and have in 
 *' this edition confidercd all 1 thought v/orth obferving." 
 
 Dr. Seeker was a wife man, an edifying preacher, and 
 an exemplary Bifhop. But the courfj of his life and 
 fiudics had not qualified him to decide on fuch a work, as 
 that of the D. L. Even in the narrow walk of literature 
 
 he
 
 I S3 ] 
 
 he mofc affetSlcd, that of criticizing the Hebrew text, it 
 does not appear that he attained to any great diiUndion. 
 His chief merit (and finely it was a very great one) lay in 
 explaining clearly and popularly, in his fcrmons, the 
 principles delivered by his friend, Biiliop Butler, in his 
 famous book of I'he Analogy, and in fliewing the important 
 life of them to Religion. 
 
 Of this laft admirable prelate, what Dr. Warburton's 
 fentiments were, appears from a letter he wrote to Dr. 
 Balguy on his death, which happened in 1752 — "You 
 *' have heard of the death of the poor Bifliop of Durham. 
 <' The Church could have fpared fome other prelates 
 *' much better ; and, in its prefent condition, could but ill 
 " fpare him. For his morals and'ferious fenle of religion 
 " (to fay nothing of his intelledual endowments) did ho- 
 *' nour to his ftation. His death is particularly unhappy 
 *' for his chaplain, Dr. Former. He is my friend, whom 
 " I much value, as one of great worth, and whofe ill luck 
 " I much lament. He has not only feen his hopes drop 
 *' through, when he was every thing but in the very 
 " pofleffion of them, but has loft a patron, who deferved 
 *« the name oi friend^ which goes much harder in the fepa- 
 " ration than the other." [P. P. June 21, 175 2. 1 
 
 In the memoirs of fuch a life, as I am now writing, 
 
 nothing, I am fenfible, interefts the reader lefs than the 
 
 chapter of prefertnents. Yet thefe mull not be wholly 
 
 M 2 over-
 
 C 84 ] 
 
 overlooked. Towards the end of the year 1757 Dr. War- 
 burton had been promoted to the Deanery of Briftol. And 
 in the beginning of the year 1760, by Mr. Allen's interelt 
 Nvith the minifler, Mr. Pitt, he was advanced to the Bifhop- 
 rick of Glouceller, 
 
 III. 
 
 In the common eftimation, this laft was a preferment 
 fuitable to his merit. Mr. Pitt himfelf gloried in it, as 
 what did honour to his adminiftration. I remember to 
 have {een a letter of his, in which he faid — ^bai tiothing of 
 a private nature, f.nce be had been in office, had given himfo 
 much pleafure, as bis bringing Dr. Warburton upon the bench. 
 This virtuous felf-gratulation became the minifter; and 
 others may be of his mind. But I have fometimes doubted 
 with myfelfj whether the proper fcene of abilities, like his,, 
 be not a private ftation, where only great writers have the 
 leifure to do great things. 
 
 Here, at lead:, it was that The Alliance and Divine 
 Legation v/ere written: And here, too, was compofcd 
 the immortal work of Ecclesiastical Polity, which,, 
 in the end, proved fo fatal to our Englijh Difciplinarians ', 
 now riling again in the fliape of Levellers and Socinians ; 
 but to fall again, in good time, by one or other of our 
 learned clergy, going forth againlt them, in the fpirit of 
 
 orxler.
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
 order and orthodoxy, from the cool invigorating fliade of 
 I)rivate life •'•. 
 
 But let mc not be mifunderflood. When I fay that 
 great men fliould not be taken from their privacy, I fpeak 
 of great men indeed. The Church is, no doubt, muclx 
 benefited and adorned by a learned prelacy. The paftoral 
 fundions cannot well be difcharged by any other. But a 
 genius of the high order, here mentioned, is given by a 
 gracious Providence, now and then, in a courfe of ages, 
 to correcl, as Dr. Middlcton obferved, the fenthnents and 
 manners of mankind. 
 
 Such a man as this, is leflened by elevation : he is, in 
 himfelf, methinks, too great to be advanced. 
 
 But be this, as it may ; it mull be allowed that religion 
 
 and learning fufFered fomewhat by his promotion, as it 
 
 interrupted thole deligns which he had formed for the 
 
 fcrvice of both, and would have executed, if his whole 
 
 time had been at his command. He himfelf lamented 
 
 this inconvenience of his public ftation ; and, alter all, 
 
 was not able (fuch was the root his former habits of Itudy 
 
 had taken in him) to be fo aflive in it as he uillicd. 
 
 * Soon after I had hazarded this prediAion, I had the pleafure to fee 
 one half of it completely fulfilled. See Dr. Horfley's Charge to the Clergy 
 of the Archdeaconry if St. Albans, and his unanfvverable £c//(?rj, in vindi- 
 cation of it. — This able Divine was dcfervedly adA'anced to the fee of St. 
 ])avid's in 1788; and has fincc [1793] been tranflatcd to that of 
 Roc heller. 
 
 Ila
 
 [ 8fi ] 
 
 He performed the ordinary duties of his office with 
 regularity ; but further than this he could not prevail with 
 himfelf to go. And perhaps, on the whole, it was better 
 that he did not ; as the leifure he thus procured to himfelf, 
 •.was fpent to more advantage in defending Religion, than it 
 could have been in a vain endeavour to fupport that dif- 
 cipline, which the fpirit of the times has utterly over- 
 throw^n. 
 
 They who flood at a dillance from him, and knew him 
 only by the report of fuch as had no kindnefs for him, 
 concluded, at leaft, that he would take an adive part in 
 the Houfe of Lords. I have heard of a certain minifter, 
 who dreaded his promotion on this account, and thought 
 he faw a fecond Atterbury in the new Bifliop of Gloucefter. 
 But all fuch were egregioufly miftaken. Alas, he had 
 neither talents nor inclination for parliamentary intrigue 
 or parliamentary eloquence. He had other inftruments of 
 fame and confideration in his hands, and was infinitely 
 above the vanity of being caught 
 
 *' With the fine notion of a bufy man," 
 as one of our poets * well exprefles it. 
 
 On the 30th of January, 1760, ten days after his con- 
 fecration, he preached the cuftomary fermon before the 
 Lords. I mention this only, becaufe his fermon, which 
 of courfe was printed, is one of the befl he ever wrote, 
 
 * Drydcn. 
 
 and
 
 [ 87 ] 
 
 and the beft, without queflion, that ever was preached on 
 that day. It could not be any other, fince, befides his 
 great abilities, as a writer, he poffelTed a perfecin: know- 
 ledge of our hillory, and of that period of it in particular. 
 1 have heard him fay, there was fcarce a pamphlet or me- 
 moir, publilhed between 1640 and 1660, which he had 
 not read. 'I'his predile(5tion for the hiftory of the rebellion, 
 feems to have been occafioned by a circumftance juft 
 touched by me in the entrance of this difcourfe. I ob- 
 ferved that his grandfather had been adive in that fcene. 
 His grandmother, a woman of fenfe and fpirit, lived to a 
 great age, and would often (as I have heard him fay) take 
 a pleafure to relate to him, when a boy, fuch paflages of 
 thofe times as fhe remembered and was well accjuainted 
 with. This tafte of thofe tranfadlions, made interelting 
 to him by the part which his family had taken in them^ 
 raifed an eager curiolity in him, as he grew up, to know 
 more of the lubject. And thus, he not only acquired an. 
 early infight into that part of our hiilory, but continued 
 through life to be fo fond of it, that he had thoughts, at 
 one time, of writing the hiftory of the civil wars ; and 
 w^ould without doubt have done it with fupreme ability^ 
 and, as the tenour of his fermon fliews, with equal can- 
 dour, if the fludies of his own profeffion had left him at 
 leifure to engage in fo great a work. 
 
 Lord
 
 [ ss ] 
 
 Lord Clarendon was one of his favourite cbara6lcrs, as 
 well as writers ; he honoured the man, and admired his 
 hiftory of the Grand Rebellion in the higheil degree. Yet 
 there is a copy of that work, now extant and in the hands 
 of his family, in which he has entered marginal notes con- 
 taining fo minute a cenfure of all that is blameable in it, 
 that a ftranger who had heard nothing of his predilection 
 for Lord Clarendon, would be apt to think him an enemy 
 to the noble perfon's writings and reputation. With fuch 
 wonderful impartiality is the cenfure made ■'• 1 
 
 Another inflance of his fkill in the ftory of thofe times, 
 and of his fairnefs in reprefenting it, may be mentioned. 
 When he was one fumraer in refidence at Durham, he 
 found 'Neal's hiftory of the Puritans in their library, and 
 for his amufement took it with him to his own houle, 
 and fcribbled enough upon the margins of the feveral vo- 
 lumes (I ufe his own words in a letter to me), to^ expofe 
 and confute the mifiakes and jnifreprefejiiation? of the wri- 
 ter. By the favour of a friend, I have obtained a corre(ft 
 copy of thofe notes, and believe the reader will agree with 
 me, that they deferve a place in this complete collecT;ion 
 of his works f . 
 
 * Since I wrote this paragraph, the valuable copy, alluded to, of Lord 
 Clarendon's hiftory has been \erj obligingly put into my hands, to be 
 preferved in Hartlebury Library. 
 
 t Vol. VI. p. 891. ' 
 
 To
 
 C 89 1 
 
 To put things of a fort together, 1 will here mention 
 another book, which he has rendered valuable by fome 
 manufcript animadverfions. Writing to me from Wey- 
 mouth, where Mr. Allen had a houfe, and where he 
 generally palTed fome part of the year with his family, he 
 tells me how his hours of leifure were employed at that 
 place. The letter is dated Sept. 3, 1758. "If you were 
 ** here, you would fee how 1 have fcribbled over the 
 " margins of Tindal's ChriJlian'Uy as Old as the Creation, 
 " I think I have him as fure as I had Collins. That is, I 
 *' overturn the pillars of this famous edifice of impiety : 
 *' which all the writers againft him hitherto have left 
 *' ftanding : bufying themfelves only to untile his roof. 
 " This is my prefent amufement for a fortnight at Wey- 
 <' mouth *." 
 
 The Biftioprick of Gloucefter was the more agreeable to 
 him (as the Deanery of Briftol had been for the fame 
 reafon) on account of its fituation, being in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Prior-Park. At lb fmall a diftance from his 
 diocefe, he could perform the duties of it without much 
 trouble, or lofs of time in journeys, which were always 
 irkfume to him. Yet fome months in the fummer he 
 ufually pafTed at Gloucefter, and refidcd there altogether 
 after xMrs. Allen's death. 
 
 * This book is alfo in my poffcnion, and will be found in the Library 
 at Hartlcbury. 
 
 N Wherever
 
 c 90 i 
 
 Wherever he was, he chiefly employed himfelf in re- 
 viling his printed works, with the view of making them 
 as complete and nfeful as he could. 
 
 Among others, he fpent fome time on his Sermons ; and 
 in 1 7 6 1 he reprinted one of them, which he took to be 
 of importance, in a fmall fize, that it might be more known, 
 than it was likely to be in the larger volume. This was a 
 well-confidered and elaborate difcourfe on the Lord's Supper: 
 a fubjedt, which had been fo embroiled by two eminent 
 writers of oppofite principles, that it became neceflary to 
 take it ont of their hands, and to guard the publick from 
 being bewildered and mifled, either by a Popifli or Socinian 
 comment, hi a moderate compafs (for he never dealt in 
 the verbiage of ordinary writers) he has refuted the fyftem 
 of either party, and explained his own notion of the facra- 
 ment (which was, alfo, that of the great Cudworth) in 
 fo clear a manner, that few men of fenfe and judgement 
 will now queftion where the truth lies. 
 
 But the good Bifhop was always meditating fomething 
 for the benefit of religion. What is called Methodifm, 
 had now fpread among the people. It was a new fpecies 
 of Puritanifm, or rather the old one revived under a new 
 name. This fe6t firft appeared at Oxford, where two 
 fellows of colleges, Mr. George Whitefield and Mr. John 
 Wefley, were its chief promoters and fupports. They 
 were both of them, it may be, frank enthufiafts at fetting 
 
 out»
 
 t 9t ] 
 
 out. The former is faid to have been a weak, the latter 
 was unqueftionably a flirewd, man. 
 
 Mr. Welley had rambled through a part of Germany 
 and North America, as well as Great Britain and Ireland, 
 pretending every where to a fort of Apoftolic miifion : and, 
 at a convenient diftance of time from thefe peregrinations, 
 his manner was to print journals of them, for the edifi- 
 cation of his followers. The Bifliop of Gloucefter had 
 watched his motions with care for fome years ; and now 
 thought he had gained fuch an in fight into his views and 
 charadcr from his journals, which he conftantly read, as 
 to be able to give a fair and full account of him to the 
 publick. 
 
 It feems to have been principally for this reafon that he 
 altered and enlarged what he had written on the influence 
 of the Holy Spirit, in the fecond volume of his Sermons : 
 or rather, he compofed that difcourfe anew, and with 
 many improvements moulded it into a regular treatife on 
 the fubjed ; which he publiflicd in 1762, under the name 
 of The Do£irine of Grace : or^ 'Tbe Office and Operations of 
 the Holy Spirit vindicated fro?7i tbe infults of hifidcUty^ and the 
 abtifes of Fanaticifniy in two fmall volumes, ismo *. 
 
 He defigned this work, as the title fliews, for a vindi- 
 cation of that moft important Chriflian dodrine from the 
 
 * See Vol. V. of this edition, p. 535, See, 
 
 N 2 abufes
 
 [ 9'' 1 
 
 abufcs of libertine as well as fanatical writers. The for- 
 mer he confuted with his ufual energy and precifion. 
 The latter, as not being acceflible on the fide of reafon, 
 he attacked with ridicule, in holding up to view and ex- 
 pofing their leader and architype, John Wefley, out of the 
 materials, largely furniflied to him in that adventurer's 
 own journals. This difcourfe, like Pafcal's Letters, and 
 for the fame reafon, the fingular merit of the compofition, 
 will be read, when the feft, that gave occafion to it, is 
 forgotten ; or rather the fe6t will find a fort of immortality 
 in this difcourfe. 
 
 As to the grave and reafoning part of this work, that 
 alfo, as I faid, is written with great weight and authority. 
 But I think I fee a degree of labour, in the expreffion of 
 fome parts, which fliews his pen had now loft fomething 
 of its wonted freedom and facility, though it retained it& 
 force. 
 
 From this time, he feems to have planned no new work 
 of difficulty and length, but to have confined himfelf very 
 properly to the fingle purpofe of giving the laft finifliing* 
 to his former writings. 
 
 * The Bifliop grew very exadl and critical in giving the later editions 
 of his works ; fo that he would review the lame llicet feveral times, and, 
 of courfe, gave the compofitor no fmall trouble. Which made his learned 
 printer, Mr. Bowyer, whom he much efteemed for his friendly qualitiesj 
 as well as merit in his profeflion, fay pleafantly to him on a certain occa- 
 iion — ' Thofe were fine times, when you never blotted a line, but allowed 
 me to print your copy as faft as it came to hand, and without interrup-^ 
 tion.' 
 
 Ac*
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
 Accorciingly in 1765 he publiflied a new edition of the 
 Second Part of the D. L. in three vohimes ; and, as it had 
 now received his laft hand, he prefented it to his great 
 friend. Lord Mansfield ; as he had done the former part, 
 when finifhed to his mind, to Lord Hardwicke. But there 
 was this dijffcrence in the charader of the two Dedications. 
 That to the Lord Chancellor, was refpedlful and ceremo- 
 nious, being little more than a letter of thanks to his 
 patron : this other to the Chief Juftice, was fublime and 
 pathetic, in fliort, the overflowing of an affeftionate heart 
 to a generous and much-efteemed friend. 
 
 The fubjeft, too, of the latter is of that high impor- 
 tance which a great writer chufes, when he would confult 
 his own and his friend's dignity, and tranfmit them both, 
 with advantage, to fucceeding times. It fets before him 
 the ftate of religion in England for half a century paft, 
 and, with a confidential freedom, deduces the caufes of 
 that alarming neglecfl, into which it had fallen, and by 
 which indeed the author had been induced to projedl this 
 defence of it, and to put it into his Lordfliip's hands. 
 The informntion is interefting ; and the manner in which 
 it is conveyed, foleran and awfuL It will be read here- 
 after with no fmall attention ; and the time will come, 
 when this difcourfe will be reckoned among the chief ho- 
 nours of the noble perfon addrcflcd. 
 
 This
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
 This edition of 1765, befides many other improvements, 
 with which it was enriched, is further diflingiiiflied by a 
 remarkable difcourfe, printed at the clofe of the laft vo- 
 lume, and entitled, An appendix co72cermng the book of Job ; 
 In this fhort piece (which is exquifitely written) he repells 
 an attack made upon him by Dr. Lowth. The difpute 
 was managed, on both fides, with too much heat ; but, on 
 the part of the Bifhop, with that fuperiority of wit and 
 argument, which, to fay the truth, in all his controverfial 
 writings, he could not well help. 
 
 Dr. Lowth, afterwards Bifliop of London, was a man of 
 learning, and ingenuity, and of many virtues : but his 
 friends did his chara6ler no fervice, by affecting to bring 
 his merits, whatever they were, into competition with 
 thofe of the Bifhop of Gloucefter. His reputation, as a 
 writer, was raifed chiefly on his Hebrew literature, as dif- 
 played in thofe two works — his Latin tenures on Hebrew 
 poetry — and his Etigli/Jj Verfion of the Prophet Ifaiah. The 
 former is well and elegantly compofed, but in a vein of 
 criticifm not above the common : The latter-^ I think, is 
 chiefly valuable, as it fliews how little is to be expeded 
 from Dr. Kennicott's work (which yet the learned Billiop 
 pronounces to be the greatefl and moft important, that has 
 been undertaken and accompliJJjed fince the revival of letters *), 
 and from a new tranflation of the Bible, for public ufe. 
 
 * Prel. DifT, p. 6«. 
 
 On
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
 On the fiil^jecTi: of his quarrel with the Bifhop of Glou- 
 cefter, I could fay a great deal ; for 1 was well acquainted 
 with the grounds and the progrefs of it. But, befides that 
 I purpofely avoid entering into details of this fort, I know 
 of no good end that is likely to be anfwered by expofing ta 
 public cenfure the weaknefles of fuch men. 
 
 In the next year, 1766, be gave a new and much- 
 improved edition of The Alliance ; meaning to leave thefe 
 two great works, now wrought up to all the perfeiStion he 
 could bertow upon them, as legacies to the publick ; or ra- 
 ther as monuments to i:>oil:erity of his unwearied love of 
 the Chriftian religion, and (for the fake of fo dear an in- 
 terell) of the Church of England. 
 
 With a third volume of Sermons, already alluded to, 
 and printed in 1767, he clofed his hterary courfe : except 
 that he made an effort towards publifliing the IXth and laft 
 book of the Divine Legation ; on a fubjedl, he had much at 
 heart ; which he had long and diligently confidered ; and 
 which now, for fome years, he had been labouring to di- 
 geft and explain in the heft manner he could. But of this 
 matter it will be expe<5ted that I give the reader a more par- 
 ticular account. 
 
 The argument of the D. L. properly fo called, was 
 completed in fix books : but the plan of it required three 
 more ; in which the author propofcd, as he tells us, " To 
 *' remove all conceivable objedions againft the conclufion, 
 
 " and
 
 C 96 ] 
 
 ** and to throw in every collateral light upon the pre' 
 *' mifes *." 
 
 But the argument itfelf was fo ill received and fo vio- 
 lently oppofed by many of the clergy, that he grew dif- 
 gufted at the treatment he met with, and could not be 
 prevailed upon to finifh his defign in fupport of it. His 
 letters are full of complaints on this head. In 1741, 
 fome time before he publifhed the fecond volume, he fays 
 to one of his friends — " I am ftill condemned to drudge 
 ** in the mines of antiquity. I may well give it that flavifh 
 " appellation, while I am fo ufed by my mafters, the 
 ** clergy, for whofe eafe and profit I am working." And 
 writing to another in 1754, when the two firft letters of 
 the View were coming out, he obferves with indignation — 
 " You will fee there is a continued apology for the clergy : 
 *' yet they will neither love me the more, nor forgive me 
 *' the fooner, for all I can fay in their behalf t." 
 
 And fo on a hundred other occalions. The truth is, 
 his refentment at the eftabliflied clergy for their long and 
 fierce oppofition to his favourite work, was the greateft 
 weaknefs I ever obfcrved in him. The number of books 
 and pamphlets, that appeared againfl: him for twenty years 
 together, was, indeed, very great. But, the nature of his 
 work confidered, and his own freedoni in dilTcnting from 
 all others, as occafion offered, what lefs could be expeded ? 
 
 * Vol. III. p. 504. -}- MS Letters in my hands. 
 
 And
 
 C 97 ] 
 
 And when he had given two or three of his principal ad- 
 verfaries, as he did, a complete anfwer, he flioiild not have 
 fuffered tlie clamour of the reft to divert him from the 
 great defign, he had projeded. But his condu6l in this 
 inftance was not that which might have been expeded 
 from his ufual magnanimity. When I fometimes expof- 
 tulated with him upon it, his anfwer was — " I furely 
 ** have reafon to think myfelf very ill ufed. The enemies 
 " of Revealed Religion and of the Church of England I 
 *' have treated as they deferved, and am neither furprized 
 *' nor hurt at their refentments againft me. To their 
 " cenfures or commendations I can be equally indifferent. 
 ** But that my brethren, the eftablifhed clergy, the friends 
 " of religion, and fellow- members of that fociety whofe 
 *' caufe I am pleading, that thefe fliould fet themfelves 
 *' againft me with fo much rancour, is what I cannot fo 
 " well bear. If indeed the publilhed volumes of theD. L. 
 ** be fo weak or fo mifchievous, as they fuppofe, I will not 
 " add to the offence given them by adding any more." 
 
 One fees what was at the bottom of the good man's 
 mind. He loved the Church of England and its minifters, 
 and had fliewn his zeal for them on all occalions. He was 
 therefore hurt at not receiving that return of good-will 
 from them, which his life and confcicnce told him, he 
 might expcd, and had deferved. Yet, as much as he felt 
 the injury, and complained of itj he was never moved 
 O by
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
 by it (as many others, with lefs provocation, and of lefs 
 irritability, have been) to retra<£l his good opinion of them, 
 or to alter his condtwSt towards them in any refpedt. 
 
 He only withheld the fequel of his capital work from 
 them ; and unhappily he perfifted in this refolution till 
 time had foftened their paflions, and, of courfe, his own. 
 At length, the orthodoxy of his fentiments feemed gra- 
 dually to be acknowledged ; his own refentments propor- 
 tion ably abated ; and, from the time he had given the 
 Gorrefled edition of his D. L. in 1765, he was in earneft 
 about refuming fo much at leaft of his long-neglefled 
 work, as he had meant to comprize in the laft or IXth 
 book. The Vllth and Vlllth (though the materials for 
 them, too, were at hand) he had long fince defpaired 
 of compofing : but this laft, being an attempt to give a 
 rationale of Chriftianity, he anxioufly wifhed, for the im- 
 portance of the fubjedl, to leave behind him complete. 
 
 But the time was now paft. Not only the bufinefs of 
 his ftation broke in upon his leifure : The infirmities of 
 age came infenfibly upon him. Hi§ faculties, hitherto fo 
 bright and vigorous, fufFered fome eclipfe and diminution 
 of their force,, from his growing indifpofitions. '* I read 
 " ftill," he would often fay to me, '* with the ufual plea- 
 ** fare. But I compofe with lefs cafe, and with lefs fpirit." 
 In a letter to me from Gloucefter, Sept. 4, 1769, he writes 
 in the following manner^ 
 
 *^ I have
 
 [ 99 ] 
 
 '^ I have received yoar kind letter of advice -. — ■■ — You 
 *' know, by experience, how difficult it is, when we have 
 " once got into a wicked habit of thinking, to leave it off. 
 " All I can promife is, if that will fatisfy you, to tbmk to 
 *' «o purpofe : And this I know, by experience, I can do ; 
 *' having done fo for many a good day. 
 
 " I think you have heard me fay, that my delicious 
 " feafon is the autumn ; the feafon, which gives moft life 
 " and vigour to my mental faculties. The light mifts, or, 
 " as Milton calls them, th^Jleams, that rife from the fields 
 *' in one of thefe mornings, give the fame relief to the 
 <* views, that the blue of the plumb (to take my ideas from 
 <* the feafon) gives to the appetite. But I now enjoy little 
 *' of this pleafure, compared to what I formerly had in an 
 ** autumn-morning, when I ufed, with a book in my 
 <* hand, to traverfe the delightful lawns and hedge-rows 
 " round about the town of Newark, the untJj'mkmg place of 
 ** my nativity." 
 
 And again, July nth, 1770 — ** Hunter fent me his 
 *' View of Lord Bolingbroke's characSler. He is a good 
 " man ; but in this book, I think, he has fliewn himfelf 
 " very abfurd and indifcreet : abfurd, in a florid declama- 
 *' tion ; and indifcreet, as well as very injudicious, in the 
 *' moft extravagant encomium of Bolingbroke's parts that 
 
 * Not to purfue his fludlcs too clofely. 
 
 O 2 *' ever
 
 [ 100 ] 
 
 " ever was, even to fay — he reafoned with the pride of a 
 *' fuperior fpirit, and I bad almojljaid with the faculties of 
 " an angel, 
 
 *' This difpofed me to look again into the reafoning of 
 <' this fuperior fpirit, this angelic man, as I have coUedled 
 " together the heft he has, in my View of his Philofophy. 
 " 1 have done it juftice. But this retrofpecft is accom- 
 " panied with a mortifying convidion, that the time is now 
 " paft when I was able to write with that force. Expert to 
 *' find in my future writings the marks of intelledual decay. 
 *' But fo much for that matter." 
 
 In my anfwer to this letter from Thurcafton, July the 
 a 3d, to footh the mind of my friend under this unwelcome 
 difcovery, and to prevail upon him, if 1 could, to relax 
 thofe efforts in compofition, which, not being fo eafy to 
 him as they had been, might affedl his health and fpirits, 
 I MTote as follows — "As to what you fay of your not 
 " writing with the force^ you formerly did, it may very 
 " well be, and yet be no fubjedl: of mortification. For, 
 *' befides that you can afford to abate fomething of your 
 " antient force and yet have enough left, force itfelf has 
 " not, in all periods of life, the fame grace. The clofe of 
 " one of thefe long and bright days has not the flame and 
 " heat of noon,- and would be lefs pleafing if it had. And 
 " I know not why it may not be true, in the critical 2.% well 
 4' as moral fenfe of the poet's words, 
 
 " Lenior et metior fis accedente fened-^." 
 
 *'>But:
 
 [ '01 3 
 
 *' But what I would chiefly fay, on the fubje6t, is this, 
 <' That, whether with force, or without it, I would only 
 " wifli your future writings to be an amufement to you, 
 *' and not a labour ; and this I think is the proper ufe to 
 " be made of your obfervation, if it be ever fo well 
 *' founded." 
 
 In fliort, I continued to exprefs myfelf in this way to 
 him and his family with fo little referve, that he faw my 
 intention was to draw him off, by degrees, from writing at 
 all ; which he takes notice of in a letter of the next year, 
 June 2, 1 771, though with fome little chagrin, as was but 
 too natural, at this plain dealing. 
 
 "• 1 never believed I lliould feel fo tenderly for as 
 
 *' I now do. A fuffering friend's good qualities, in fuch a 
 ** condition, feparate themfelves, and rife fuperior to his 
 *' failings, which we are infenfibly difpofed to forget. If this 
 *' be the cafe of common acquaintance, in certain feafons, 
 *' what muft be our conftant fentiments of a real friend, at 
 ** all feafons ; who lofes no occalion of exprefiing every 
 " mode of tendernefs towards thofe he loves 1 I fell into 
 " this train of thinking by what my wife told me, with 
 " much pleafure, a little before I left London. She faid 
 " that Dr. Hurd afTured her, that I would write no more. I 
 " received this news, which gave her fo much fatisfadlion, 
 " with an approving fmile. I was charmed with the ten- 
 ^ dernefs of friendlliip which conveyed, in fo inoflfenfive a 
 
 *< manner,
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
 <* manner, that fatal fecret which Gil Bias was incapable 
 «' of doing, as he oiight, to his patron the Archbilhop of 
 " Granada," 
 
 I infert thefe extracts, chiefly in reference to the IXtli 
 book of the D. L,, which twenty years before would have 
 been finiflied in a few weeks, and with that flame of 
 genius which irradiates the former books, but which now 
 lay under his hands many years, was written by fnatches 
 and with difficulty, and left incomplete by him at laft *. 
 An unwelcome part this of the little hiftory I am writing ! 
 yet not unufefal, if it may admonifli fuperior writers to 
 place a juft confidence in themfelves, and little ones to 
 treat them with fomething more refpedl. Cudworth and 
 Warburton are memorable and inftrudtive inftances, to 
 either purpofe. 
 
 The misfortune, in the cafe of the latter, was, that al- 
 though he had digefted in his own mind, long ago, the 
 fubftance of the IXth book, and was perpetually meditating 
 upon it, yet he had committed very little of it to paper ; 
 his way being to put down in writing only fliort notes of 
 what he intended to enlarge upon, and to work them up 
 
 ■* Yet it may be concluded from the fubjedl, which is a general view of 
 God's moral difpenfations from Adam to Chrift [See Vol. III. p. 505 and 
 612], that very little is wanting to complete the author's defign ; only^ 
 what he had propofed to fay on the apocalyptic prophecies, and which 
 may be fupplied from the difcourfe on Antichriil. 
 
 4 only
 
 [^03 1 
 
 only ^vhen he was preparing to fend his copy to the prefs. 
 This, in his bed days, was fo eafy to him, that, in print- 
 ing feme of his elaborate works, he had not in his hands 
 two flieets together, but feiU the copy to his printer as fall 
 as it was compofed. 
 
 I know indeed that many perfons, from the compafs 
 and variety of his learning, imagined that he drew the 
 materials of it from a voluminous common- place. The 
 fact was jull otherwife. His memory was fo tenacious, 
 that he trufted every thing to it : or, if he may be faid to 
 have kept a common-place, it was nothing more than a 
 fmall interleaved pocket-almanack, of about three inches 
 fquare ; in which he inferted now and then a reference to 
 a curious faifl or paffage, that he met with in his reading,, 
 but chiefly fliort hints of fentiments and reflexions, which 
 occafionally ftruck him, and might fome time or other be 
 put to ufe. At the end of every year, he tore out of his 
 almanack fuch leaves as contained any of thofe refledlions, 
 and put them together under general heads, that he might* 
 recur to them, on occafion, the more readily. Of thefe 
 papers, or rather colleflions of papers, I have many in my 
 hands, relative to the fubje6ls of the three laft books of 
 the D. L. ; and from thefe the IXth book, fuch as he left 
 it, was compofed. 
 
 Another inconvenience, attending the late compofition 
 of this book, was, That he had occafionally delivered, in 
 
 his
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
 his fermons, and other printed works, fome of the leading 
 principles contained in it. Thus, he had, in efFe6t, anti- 
 cipated a good part of his fubjedt. Nor was this all. 
 Finding the labour of compofing troublefome to him, he 
 quoted from himfelf very freely. ; and fuch paflages, as 
 had found a place elfewhere, when the purpofe of com- 
 pleting the laft book was fufpended or laid afide, were now 
 inferted in it, without much alteration, in order to carry 
 on the thread and order of his difcourfe. 
 
 From both thefe caufes therefore (his not having re- 
 duced to form the materials he had provided for the IXth 
 book, and his having already worked up fome part of 
 them) it is eafy to fee the difadvantage with which he 
 came, in the clofe of his long life, to the compofition of 
 this work. His memory and invention were not what 
 they had been ; his facility and variety of expreffion was 
 not the fame ; and, what was worft of all, the grace of 
 novelty in the fubjedt was in fome meafure gone off. 
 
 It was therefore matter of deliberation with me, for 
 fome time, whether I fhould infert the IXth book (though 
 printed, fo far as it goes, by himfelf) entire and in its own 
 form, or only fome fragments of it. But, on further con- 
 fideration, I judged it right to give that work exadlly as 
 the author left it : efpecially, as the fubje6t is highly 
 interefting, and even new, unlefs where anticipated by 
 himfelf; the method, clear and exa6t ; and the whole 
 
 caft
 
 C 105 3 
 
 call of compofition, mafterly ; his reafonings being carried 
 on, if not with the fplendid eafe and perfpicuity of his 
 befV manner, yet with a force and fpirit, both in the fen- 
 timent and expreffion, which may well excite our admira- 
 tion, when the circumftances, under which he wrote, are 
 confidered. 
 
 In a word, this IXth book of the D. L. under all the 
 difadvantages with which it appears, is the nobleft effort 
 that has hitherto been made to give a Rationale of Chrif- 
 tianity. How far it may fiitisfy thofe who have fo long 
 and i<i loudly called for it, will be now feen : withouc 
 doubt, no farther, than as it may agree (if, in any re- 
 fpedb, it fliould agree) with their reafon. In the mean 
 time, the inveftigation is made with the belt defign : 
 
 " To juftify the ways of God to man ;" 
 and, let me add, in a way that entitles it to another fort 
 of regard, than is due to theories, conftrudled, as they 
 iifually are, on fanciful fuppofitions, and arbitrary affiimp- 
 tions : Since every thing, here, is advanced on the fnre 
 grounds of natural" and revealed religion ; the one, efti- 
 mated by the pureft reafon ; the other, interpreted with an 
 awful reverence of the written word, and according to the 
 rules of the foundeft and fobereft criticifm. 
 
 While the good Bifliop was thus exerting his laft ftrength 
 
 in the caufe of religion, he projeded a method by which 
 
 he hoped to render it efFed^ual fervice after his death. This 
 
 P was
 
 [ io6 ] 
 
 was by the inftitution of a Ledure on Prophecy ; a fub- 
 ie6l, which he conceived had not been confidered with the 
 care it ought ; and from a thorough difcuffion of which, 
 he allured himlelf, much additional force would arife to 
 the proof of the Chriftian religion. He had himfelf 
 opened a way to the fuccefsful invelligation of the general 
 fubjecfl, in fome principles delivered in the D. L, and in 
 his confutation of CoUins's book by means of thofe prin- 
 ciples. But fome particular prophecies had ftruck his at- 
 tention, as furnifliing the moft decifive argument for the 
 truth of Chriftianity. In the preface to his remarks, part II. 
 printed fo long ago as 1745, he fays — " I have ever 
 " thought, the prophecies relating to Antichrift, inte^- 
 *' fperfed up and down the New and Old Teftament, the 
 " moft convincing proof of the truth of the Chriftian re- 
 " ligion, that any moral matter is capable of receiving." 
 And again — " This queftion (namely, what individual 
 " power is meant in the prophecies) is one, on the right 
 *< determination of which alone, I am fully perfuaded, one 
 " might reil the whole truth of the Chriftian religion *." 
 
 Under this perfuafion then in 1768 he gave jT. 500. in 
 truft to Lord Mansfield, Sir Eardley Wilmot, and Mr. Charles 
 Yorke, for the purpofe of founding a Ledture at Lincoln's 
 Inn, in the form of a fermon, < To prove the truth of 
 revealed religion in general, and of the Chriftian in par- 
 ticular, from the completion of the prophecies in the Old 
 * See Vol. VI. p. 3^3. 
 
 and
 
 C 107 ] 
 
 and New Teilament, which relate to the Chriflian Church, 
 efpecially t.o the apottacy of Papal Rome.' 
 
 The fubje(5l is infinitely curious, and of vaft extent : for 
 thofe who have taken it to be too much narrowed by fpe- 
 cifying the prophecies concerning Antichrift, feem not to 
 have underftood the compafs of the controverfy, nor the 
 terms of the inftitution itfelf. The truth is, there is more 
 danger that Lc6lurers will be wanting to the inditution, 
 than that it will not afford matter and fcope enough for 
 their difcullion. He was anxious to leave this important 
 trufl in the bed hands. And while it continues in fuch 
 as have had the management of it, there is no doubt that 
 the beft fupply, which the age furnifhes, will be pro- 
 vided for this ledure. And, if I had not myfelf preached 
 the firft courfe of thefe fermons, I fliould add that, hither- 
 to, their choice of ledurers has afforded no fignal caufe of 
 complaint. 
 
 It was afterwards in the Bifliop's contemplation to double 
 the original endowment. But he was diverted from this 
 defign (though with fome difficulty) by thofe who repre- 
 fented to him, that the fum given was fufficient to anfwer 
 his pur^wfc of engaging men of ability to read his le<fture 
 if they were influenced by fuch motives as became them, 
 a regard for their own honour and a zeal for the fervice of 
 religion ; and that more could anfwer no good purpofe, nay 
 might eafily be abufed to bad ones, if they were not. 
 
 P 2 The
 
 C loS ] 
 
 The laft years of the Bifliop's life were clouded with 
 misfortune, as well as indifpofition. He had for fome 
 time been fo fenfible of his declining health, that he read 
 little, and wrote lefs. But, in the courfe of the year j 776, 
 the lofsof a favourite fon and only child '•■^, who died of a 
 * lie had been placed, much to his father's fatisfa61ion, under the care 
 of Dr. Hahfax ; then an eminent tutor of Trinity Hall at Cambridge, and 
 the king's profeffor of law in that univerfity; who in 1782 was advanced 
 to the fee of Gloucefter, and tranflated in 1789 to that of St. Afaph. He 
 died March 4, 1790. — His diftinguifhed worth and ability defervedly 
 raifed him to the high rank he held in the church. — But his characfler is 
 given more at largf in the following elegant infcription, compofed by his 
 father-in-law, the Reverend Dr. William Cooke, dean of Ely, and pro- 
 voft of King's College, Cambridge, and engraved on his monument in 
 the church of Warlbp in Nottinghamfhire ; of which cliurch the bifhop- 
 was redlor, and in which, for the reafon affigned in the two firft lines of 
 the infcription, he was buried. 
 
 " Hie juxta filiolum dulciflimum acerbo olim fato 
 
 Prsereptum paternas exuvias deponi voluit vir 
 
 reverendiffimus Samuel Halifax LL. D. £c S. T. P. 
 
 Ex hac vicinia oriundus primifque Uteris imbutus in 
 
 academid protsnus Cantab rigienfi floruit juris civilis 
 
 praoleftor publicus & profeflbr regius in curia pra;rogatI\ a. 
 
 Cantuaricnfi. facultatum regiftrarius in hac ecclelu 
 
 reAor in ecclefia cathedrali Gloceftrienfi primo deinde 
 
 Afiphenfi epifcopus quae per omnia officia ingenio claruit 
 
 & eruditione &c induftria lingulari fumma in ecclefiam 
 
 Anglicanam fide concionura vi ac fuavitate fiexanima 
 
 Scriptorum nitore & elegantia vita infuper id quod primarium fibi fcmpcr 
 
 habuit inculpabili 
 
 Natus eft apud Mansfield Jan 18, 1733, cakulo opprefTus properata 
 
 morte obiit Martii 4, 1790, fetatis elieu 57. Catharina conjux cum filio 
 
 unica & fex filiabus i'uperftes reli6la in aliquod defidcrii fui l<jlaraen 
 
 mcerens P." - .
 
 [ 109 ] 
 
 confamptioii in his i8th year, when every hope was fpring- 
 ing up in the hreaft of a fond parent, to make amends, as 
 it were, for his want of adtual enjoyment — this fudden af- 
 liidlion, 1 fay, opprefTcd him to that degree, as to put 
 an end to his literary labours, and even amufements, at 
 once. From that difaftrous moment, he lived on indeed 
 for two or three years ; but, when he had fettled his 
 affairs, as was proper, upon this great change in his fa- 
 mily, he took no concern in the ordinary occurrences of 
 life, and grew {o indifferent to every thing, that even 
 his books, and writings feemed, thenceforth, to be utterly 
 difregarded by him. Not that his memory and faculties, 
 though very much impaired, were ever wholly difabled. 
 I faw him fo late as October, 1778, when 1 went into his 
 diocefe to confirm for him. On our firft meeting, before 
 his family, he expreffed his concern that Ifliould take that 
 journey, and put myfelf to fo much trouble, on his ac- 
 count. And afterwards, he took occafion to fay fome per- 
 tinent and obliging things, which fhewed, not only his 
 ufual friendlinefs of temper, but the command he had of 
 his attention. Nor was this all. The evening, before L 
 left him, he delired the family to withdraw,, and then 
 entered into a confidential difcourfe with me on fome pri- 
 vate- affairs which he had much at heart, with as much 
 pertinence and good fenfe, as he could have done in any 
 lormer part of his life... Such was the power he had over. 
 
 his
 
 L ''^ J 
 
 Ills mind, when rouzed to exert himfelf by fome interefting 
 occafion ! B'jt this was an efibrt, which could not be fuf- 
 tained very long. In lels than half an hour, the family 
 returned, and he relapfed into his ufual furgetfulnefs and 
 inattention. 
 
 In this melancholy ftate he languiflied till the fummcr 
 following, when he expired at the Palace in Gloucefter, 
 on the 7th of June, 1779, and was buried in his cathedral, 
 at no great dilbance from the Weft door, and near to the 
 grave of one of his predecefToi's, Bifliop Benfon. 
 
 A neat mural monument has been put up there to his 
 memory, with the following infcription : 
 
 " TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF WILLIAM WARBURTON, D. D. 
 
 FOR MORE THAN 1 9 YEARS BISHOP OF THIS SEE: 
 
 A PRELATE 
 
 OF THE MOST SUBLIME GENIUS, AND EXQUISITE LEARNING: 
 
 BOTH WHICH TALENTS 
 
 HE EMPLOYED, THROUGH A LONG LIFE, 
 
 IN THE SUPPORT 
 
 OF -WHAT HE FIRMLY BELIEVED, 
 
 THE Christian Religion, 
 
 AND 
 •OF WHAT HE esteemed THE BEST ESTABLISHMENT OF IT, 
 
 THE Church of England." 
 
 IV.
 
 [ III 3 
 
 IV. 
 
 It only remains for me to draw together the feveral 
 l^arts of the Bifliop's charadler, and to prefent them to the 
 reader in one view; which I fliall now attempt, with the 
 aflcLftlon of a friend, no doubt, yet on the whole, with as 
 much feverity as I ought. For I remember the wifs and 
 humane reflexion of the great biographer, who in his life 
 of Cimon exprcffeth himfelf to this purpofe : " When a 
 " painter undertakes to give us the portrait of a beautiful 
 " perfon, if there be any fmaller blemiflies in his fubjedt, 
 " we do not expedl him to omit them altogether ; for then 
 " the pidure would be unlike : nor to exprefs them with 
 *' too much care ; for then it becomes difguliing. 
 
 *' In like manner, it being difficult, or rather impoffiblc, 
 " to find a faultlefs charadler, the writer of a great man's 
 " life will lay himfelf out in delineating his good qualities, 
 " and not dwell with pleafure, or an anxious diligence, on 
 " his foibles ; out of a refpe6tful tendernefs to human na- 
 " ture, which unhappily is not capable of attaining abfo- 
 ** lute perfection*." 
 
 And with this little apology for myfelf, I proceed to give 
 the outline of my friend's character. 
 
 * Plutarch. Cunon'. fub init. 
 
 HE
 
 [ I" ] 
 
 HE poffefled thofe virtues, which are fo important in 
 ibciety, Truth, Probity, and Honour, in the highelt de- 
 gree ; with a franknefs of temper, very uncommon; and a 
 friendhnefs to thofe he loved and elleemed, wliich knew 
 no bounds : not fufpicious or captious, in the leaft ; quick, 
 indeed, in his refentment of real manifeft injuries ; but 
 then again (as is natural to fuch tempers) of the utmoft 
 placability. 
 
 He had an ardent love of Virtue, and the moft fincere 
 zeal for Religion ; and that, the freeft from all bigotry 
 and all fanaticifm, that 1 have ever known. He vene- 
 rated the civil conftitution of his country, and was warmly 
 attached to the Church of England. Yet he was no party- 
 man, and was the fmcereft advocate for toleration. It w^as 
 not his manner to court the good opinion of our DiiTenters. 
 But he had nothing of prejudice or ill-will towards them : 
 he converfed familiarly with fuch of them as came in his 
 way ; and had even a friendfliip with fome of their more 
 noted minifters * ; who did not then glory in Socinian im- 
 pieties, or indulge themfelves in rancorous invecftives againft 
 the Eftablillied Church. 
 
 I know, indeed, that he fpoke his fenfe of men and 
 things, occafionally, with force, which in the language of 
 fome perfons will be termed bigotry. And the truth is, 
 
 * See a Colkdion of Letters to and from Dr. Doddridge of Northampton ; 
 publiflied by T. Stedman, M. A. vicar of St. Chad's, Shrewlbury, 1790. 
 
 4 he
 
 [ 'u 3 
 
 lie never indulged his candour fo far as to treat all opinions 
 nnd all charadlers alike. On the contrary, he held pro- 
 phane and licentious writers to be fit objetSls of public 
 reproof: and though civil penalties fliould not be applied 
 to the coercion of miftaken, or even, to a certain degree, 
 of hurtful opinions, yet literary chaftifemcnt, he thought, 
 fliould ; an equal acceptance of a// being the ready way to 
 introduce Scepticifm, under the fpecious name of Libera- 
 lity, or rather irreligion itfelf, under the mafk of charity. 
 And if this zeal may be abufed, as without doubt every 
 thing may, at molt, he had only to anfwer for that abufe: 
 The ufe itfelf being fiirely unqueftionable, if there be 
 truth or meaning in the Apoftle's aphorifm, *' That it is 
 " always good to be zealoufly affecftcd in a good matter." 
 But the reader, if he thinks fit, may fee his own vindica- 
 tion of himfelf in the Apology for his F/ezv of Lord BoUng^ 
 brokers Phihjopby. 
 
 Indeed his conducSt had been always uniform, in this 
 refpecSl. Even in the year 1738, when the firfl volume 
 of the D. L. was publiflied, he makes a full and frank 
 declaration of his charader. For, in his Dedication to the 
 Free-Thinkers, fpeaking of the advantage he fhould have, 
 in that addrefs, of not being called upon to difgrace him- 
 felf, or them, by a ftyle of adulation, he goes on thus — 
 ^' Not but I muft own you have been managed, even by 
 *' fome of our order, with very fingular complaifance. 
 Q " Whether
 
 [ ^14 1 
 
 " Whether it was that they affetfled the fame of moderation, 
 <' or had a higher ambition for the honour of your good 
 *' wonl, I know not ; but I, who neither love your caufe, 
 *' nor fear the abilities that fupport it, while I preferve 
 «' for your perfons that jufticc and ch..rity which my pro- 
 " felnon teaches to be due to all, can never be brought to 
 ** think otherwife of your charadter, than as the defpifers 
 <* of the Mafccr, whom I ferve, and as the implacable 
 " enemies of that order, to which I have the honour to 
 <* belong. And as fuch, I fliould be tempted to glory in 
 " your cenfures ; but would certainly refufe your com- 
 " mendations." 
 
 Such were his early, as well as late notions, of candour,. 
 They who aifedl: to pufli them ftill farther, may do well 
 to reHeit, whether they be their own dup)es, or the dupes 
 of others : I mean, whether they have indeed any principle, 
 themfelves ; or can be content to ferve the views of thofe, 
 whofe intereft it is, that men of principle _y^^^/^ and a^^ as 
 if they had not any. 
 
 His love of letters was extreme, and his difpofition ta 
 countenance all thofe in whom he perceived any kind or 
 degree of literary merit, the moft prompt and generous ; 
 as appeared by his inceflant recommendation of them to 
 his great friends, when his own fcanty patronage (as he 
 .would oft and vehemently complain) denied him the means 
 of rendering them any fervice himfelf. 
 
 If
 
 C 115 3 
 
 If we confider him as a Writer, and a Divine, it is 
 not eafy to find tern:is that will dojull:ice to his merit. 
 
 His reading was various and extenflve; and his difcern- 
 ment exquifite. He faw and feized what was jufl and iifeful 
 in every fcience which he cultivated, and in every book he 
 read. The Iunr\ber and the refufe he lliook off, and left to 
 others. Perhaps, no learned writer ever dealt lefs in ordinary 
 quotation. Even the more familiar paffages, unlefs when 
 cited by him as dire(5l authorities, take an air and turn in 
 his application of them, M'hich makes them in a manner 
 new. The fame obfervation may be extended to his rea- 
 fonings ; which are either purely his own, or appear to be 
 fo, by his management of them. So that it feems a natural 
 queftion which one * of his friends put to him, on the 
 receipt of a volume of his fcrmons — how do you manage 
 always to Jay fometbing fiew upon oldfubje^s, and ahvays in an 
 original manner f 
 
 To fay all in a word, he poflelTed, in an eminent de- 
 gree, thofe two qualities of a great writer, sapere et fari; 
 I mean, fuperior fenfe, and the power of doing jufticc to 
 it by a found and manly eloquence. It was an ignorant 
 cavil, that charged him with a want of tafte. The objec- 
 tion arofe from the originality of his manner; but he 
 
 * Mr. C. Yorkc, in one of his letters, Feb. i, 1767. 
 
 Q 2 wrote,
 
 [ "6 3 
 
 Trrote, when he thought fit, with the greateft purity and 
 even elegance, notwithflanding his ftrength and energy,, 
 which frequently exclude thofe qualities. 
 
 The character of his ftyle, is freedom and force united- 
 Nobody underftood the philofophy of grammar better i 
 ydt in the conjlriicl'ion of his terms he was not nice, rather 
 he was fomewhat negligent. But this negligence has no ill 
 effecl: in works of reafoning, and of length ; where the 
 writer's mind is fuppofed intent on the matter, and where 
 a certain degree of irregularity gives the appearance of 
 eafe and fpirit. 
 
 In his ufe of the terms themfelves, efpecially of what 
 are called tn'ixt motles^ and in the nice adjuflment of the 
 predicate to the fubje5i (in which the accuracy of ftyle 
 chiefly confills) he was of all writers the moft fcrupuloudy 
 exadt. It was by this fecret in his expreffion (fo far as it 
 depended on art and delign) that he is never fliff or 
 "languid in his ftyle, but every where free and nervous. It 
 never flattens upon you, not being over-laboured in the 
 phrafe, or too general in the terms. There is the appear- 
 ance of freedom, with the utmoft energy and precifion. 
 
 For the reft, the higher excellences of his ftyle were 
 owing to the ftrength of his imagination, and a clear con- 
 ception of his fubjedt; in other words, to his fublime genius. 
 
 Thus his ftyle was properly his own, and what we call, 
 
 original. Yet he did not difdain to draw what affiftance he 
 
 4 might
 
 [ "7 ] 
 
 might from the befl critics ; among whom, Quincliliaa was 
 his favourite. 
 
 By this union of art and nature, he fucceeded, of courfe, 
 in all forts of compofition. But in one, cfpecially, the 
 Controversial, he was fo much fuperior to himfelf, that 
 barely to fay he excelled in it, would be a poor and fcanty 
 praife. 
 
 From his firll: entrance' on theological ftudies, he had 
 applied himfelf with care to the reading of our beft writers 
 in controverfy, fuch as Hooker, Ghillingworth, and Locke ; 
 of whom he was Co fond, that he had their works bound 
 up in fmall detached pieces, for the convenience of carry- 
 ing them with him in his hand or pocket, when he tra- 
 velled, or walked abroad by himfelf. Of thefe, I have 
 feveral in my polfcflion, which appear to have been much 
 ufed. It is no wonder, he lliould have this tafte ; for, 
 befides that controverfy was then in vogue, he difdaincd 
 to oppofc the enemies ot religion in any other way, than 
 that of logical confutation ; and againjl tbofe^ to ufe his 
 own words in a letter to me, he had denounced eternal ivar^ 
 like Hannibal againjt Ro7ne^ at the altar. 
 
 Thus difciplinedj he came with advantage to the ufe of 
 his arms, when he found himfelf obliged, as he foon 
 was, to take them up. Ufe and habit did the reft. So 
 that he became confummate in this mode of writing, and 
 at the fame time original. For to the authority of Hooker, 
 
 the
 
 [ "8 ] 
 
 the acutenefs of Chillingworth, and the perfpicuity of 
 Locke, he added more than all their learning ; together 
 with a force of il:yle, and poignancy of wit, of which we 
 had hitherto feen no example in theological controverfy. 
 
 With thele talents and qualification?, he was the terror 
 of the infidel world, while he lived, and will he their dif- 
 grace to future ages. His fublime reafon, aided hy his ir- 
 refifiible wit, drove them from their old faftnefies of logick 
 and philofophy, and has forced them to take flielter in the 
 thin cover of hiftory and romance ; whence we now fee 
 them fhoot their arrows, dipt in irony and badinage ; to 
 the annoyance indeed of fome witlefs paflengers ; but to 
 the wary and well-appointed, who take a fancy to ramble 
 into thofe paths, perfectly harmlefs and infignificant. 
 
 But, when I mentioned his making war on our free- 
 thinking philofophers, let me be underftood to mean, not 
 the minute, and plebeian, but the more confiderable, and, 
 as one may fay, fizeable men of that party ; fuch as pre- 
 tended to erudition; and reafoned at lead, though weakly 
 or perverfcly. For, as to thofe infed-blafphemers, of what- 
 ever condition, which the fafliion, rather than the philo- 
 fophy of the age has generated, and fent forth in fwarms 
 over a great part of modern Europe, he regarded them but 
 as the fummer flies, which teize a little by their murraur- 
 ings (for ftings, he w^ould fay, they have none) and are 
 eafily bruflied away by any hand, or vanifli of themfelves. 
 
 Next
 
 [ 119 1 
 
 Next to infidels profeiTed. there was no fet of writers he 
 treated witli lefs ceremony, than the Socinian ; in whom 
 he faw an immoderate prefumption, and fufpedied not a 
 little ill faith. For, profcfTmg to helieve the divine au- 
 thority of the Scriptures, they take a licence in explaining 
 them, which could hardly, he thought, conliit with that 
 belief. To thefe free interpreters of the word, he was 
 ready to fay, as St. Auftiu did to their precurfors, the 
 Manichieans — " T'ell us plainfyy that ye do not at all believe 
 the Gojpel of Cbrifl : foi' ye who believe what ye will in the 
 Gojpel-, and dijbelieve what ye will, ajjliredly helieve not the 
 Go/pel itjelf, but yourfelves only *." , 
 
 It is true, he himfelf would reafon on revealed truths 
 farther than to fome may feem necefiary ; but he never 
 reafoned againji them. It was his principle, and his prac- 
 tice, to follow the Apoftolic rule oi cajting down all imagi' 
 nations, that exalt tbemf elves againjt the knowledge of God\ :" 
 which, when clearly revealed, he held it an extreme im- 
 piety in any Chriftian, not only to queftion diredtly, but 
 to elude by any forced interpretation. In fliort, he re- 
 garded Socinianifm (the idol of our felf-admiring age) as a 
 fort of infidelity in difguife, and as fuch he gave it no 
 quarter. 
 
 * " Aperte dicite non vos credere Clirifti Evangelic : nam qui in Evan- 
 '' gelio quod vultis creditis, quod vultis non creditis, vobis potius quam. 
 *' Evangelic creditis." Conir. Faujl. L. 17. c. 3. 
 
 •f- 2 Cor. X. 5. 
 
 Other
 
 [ 120 ] 
 
 Other religionifts he would confute, as occafion offered, 
 with his ufual vivacity : hut he made allowance for their 
 prejudices, and, when no malevolence intervened, treated 
 their pcrfons with refpedt. But enough, you fay, of his 
 controverfial merits : let us hear foniething of his defeBs. 
 
 " He was arrogant, and impatient of contradi(Stion." — 
 It is true, he knew his own ftrength, and confided enough 
 in it. But then, as that quality made him incapable of 
 envying his opponents, it fhould have made him carelefs 
 of being cenfured by them. Still, it muft be owned, that 
 he had the comnnon infirmity of being better fatisfied 
 with fuch as adopted his opinions, than with thofe who 
 rejeded them. I fay the common infirmity : for, I doubt, 
 it adheres to our very nature, and that we fliall in vain 
 feek for a man difpaffionate enough to be indifferent to 
 con tradition ; efpecially, when dired:, and public ; and 
 urged, too, with fome degree of eagernefs, or rather fliarp- 
 nefs, which is fcarcely feparable from controverfy. 
 
 '* But he was violent in his refentments, and exceflively 
 fevcre in his exprcffion of them." — As to this charge, 
 hear, firfl, his own apology for himfelf. — " The paper I 
 
 " fend you*, is the introductory note to , I need 
 
 " not explain it to you. You will underfland every word. 
 " What I want to know is whether fome parts of it be 
 " not too fevere. Whatever there is of this kind, 1 fiiall 
 
 * In a Letter to me, Jan. i8, 1757. 
 
 " gladly
 
 ** gladly flrike out. For though I have had provocation 
 *' enough, I can affure you, I have no refentments. I 
 ** perhaps may not be thought the bcft judge of my own 
 *' temper in this matter, and reafonably. But why I fay 
 *' I have fo little refentment, I colled: from hence, that 
 *' there is not one word in this volume againft them [his 
 " adverfaries], which I could not with the greateft in- 
 " difference ftrike out, either with reafon or without. I 
 " do not expe(5t the world flionld do me this juftice, becaufe 
 " they are to judge by appearances ; and appearances are 
 " againil me ; for there are cauftic ftrokes enough againft 
 *' the ignorance and ill faith of my adverfaries. But, if 
 *' this be refentm.ent, it is the refentment I fliould fliew in 
 " the cafe of any other honeft man." 
 
 His refentment then was impartial : and that it was fo 
 he fl^ewed in his vindication of Mr. Pope, and in other 
 inftances. But I take upon me to go farther, and to alTert, 
 that the feverity objcdled to him, was the effc^ of his 
 genius, and of no vindidlive fpirit. For the difference 
 between him, and ordinary writers, who feem to be at their 
 eafe in difputing, whether on religion or any other fub- 
 je6t, is merely this — He felt ftrongly and wrote forcibly : 
 They are incapable of doing either. This is the fimple 
 truth, if it may be told ; and hence it is, that the fame 
 complaint has been made of every great genius in contro- 
 verfy, from Jerom down to our author. 
 
 R Not
 
 [ 1^2 ] 
 
 Not but another confideration may be worth attending 
 to. The end of controverfy is either to convince the per- 
 fon you difpute with, or fimply to confute his opinions. 
 When the former is the objeft, without doubt the fofteft 
 words are the bell. But, the other is beft done by vigo- 
 rous expreffion ; becaufe it fliews the difputant to be irl 
 earneft, and fets the error, contended againil, in the ftrong- 
 eft Hght ; the hkelieft means, to prevent others from being 
 infedled with it : And fuch was the Bidiop's view in moft 
 of the controverfies, in which he engaged. The fame 
 obfervation may be extended to what has been called his 
 dogmatic manner of writing; which is only the firm tone 
 of one who beheves what he fays, and is indeed very different 
 from the carelefs unconcerned air of the Sceptick. 
 
 But, laftly, 1 muft obferve, that the charges of hnpa- 
 tience, and feverity, in the fenfe intended by thofe that 
 urge them, are not true. When no unfriendlinefs ap- 
 peared in thofe who differed from him, he heard their 
 reafons as patiently, confuted them as calmly, or gave 
 way to them as readily, as other men. Which I may 
 the rather affirm, having had the experience of it on 
 many occafions. Our fentiments, no doubt, agreed in the 
 main : there could not, otherwife, have been fo entire 
 a friendfhip between us, as there was. But I never 
 took greater liberties with any man, than with him, nor 
 with lefs offence ; and that, in matters of no fmall delicacy;. 
 4 «s-
 
 [ i'-3 ] 
 
 as the reader will fee from the following example, among 
 many others which I could eafiiy give him. 
 
 Voltaire had fpent a great part of his miferable life in 
 railing againft the Jewifh law and its Divine Author. His 
 complete ignorance of the fabje6l difpofed men of learning, 
 very generally, to treat his cenfures with neglect. But 
 the Bilhop of Gloucerter, obferving the imprelTion they 
 made on a licentious publick, thought it might be of ufe 
 to fliew this fadiionable blafphemer in his true light ; to 
 ftrip his fophiftical reafonings of the little plaufibility they 
 had ; and, for the reft, to turn his favourite weapon of 
 ridicule againft him. 
 
 With this view, he had been at the pains to plan a work 
 of fome length, in three Differ tat ions ^ which would take 
 in the whole of that fubjedt, and give him occafion to 
 expofe, with much force, Voltaire's libertine glofles upon 
 it. When he had fketched out the contents of this dif- 
 courfc, he fent it to me, and defired to know what I thought 
 of it, and whether he fhould proceed in the defign, or no. 
 I told him very frankly, " That, although I thought his 
 plan an excellent one, and could truft him with the exe- 
 cution of it, yet, upon the whole, I wiflied him to profe- 
 cute his defign no farther. I faid, there was no end of 
 confuting every fliallow, though fafhionable fcribbler 
 againft religion ; that he had done enough already in ex- 
 pofing fo many others of that family, and, very lately, 
 R 2 the
 
 C iH 3 
 
 the noble writer that was at the head of it in England, to 
 the juil fcorn of thinking men ; that to go on in this 
 agoniftic courfe, was not only needlefs, but would bring a 
 ftorm of envy upon him from all quarters, and that even 
 his friends would, many of them, confider him as too fond 
 of controverfy, and as indulging himfelf too freely in the 
 talent he had for it. — I added other confiderations, and 
 ^particularly this, I'hat I thought it beneath him to commit 
 himfelf with a perfon fo little acquainted, as Voltaire con- 
 feffedly was, with the matter in queftion ; and that for 
 him to anfvver fuch a writer in form, would be like breaking 
 a butterfly upon a wheely according to his friend Pope's in- 
 genious illuftration of fuch atchievements. 
 
 In conclufion, I preffed him earneftly to leave this man 
 of merriment to his own ferious refledlions, if he ever had 
 any ; and to referve his force for fome better occafion, than, 
 that of repelling the flight cavils of ignorant and ill-inform- 
 ed men." 
 
 This free remonftrance was not ill taken. He anfwered 
 me without hefitation, and in one word — " In the matter 
 " of Voltaire, your advice will have its ufual weight with 
 " me." — The plan was. accordingly laid afide, and for- 
 gotten. 
 
 After fuch an example of facility in taking advice, the 
 Bifliop of Gloucefter will not be thought that impradicable 
 man, he has been fomet.imes reprefented to be. Many 
 
 perhaps
 
 [ las ] 
 
 perhaps will think, with more reafon, that his eafinefs 
 went too far in this inftance ; for that his Three BiJJ'enaUom 
 on the Jewifh law and hiftory would have been highly en- 
 tertaining, at leaft ; and perhaps as ufeful in reprefenting 
 the petulance of the French poet, as the Four Letters had 
 been in difmounting the arrogance of the Englilh philofo- 
 pher. And upon thcfe grounds, I might indeed have re- 
 pented me of the free advi^^e I gave him, but for the plea- 
 fure 1 have iince had in feeing the fame defign undertaken, 
 and executed with great elegance and ability, by another 
 hand *. 
 
 But perhaps I have mifemployed ray pains in fetting the 
 controverfial charatfter of my friend in a jull light. There 
 are thofe, 1 know, who will regard this praife, whatever it 
 be, as injurious to the learned prelate, rather than honour- 
 able to him ; who will be ready to tell us that controver- 
 fial janglings are out of date ; that they never did any 
 good, and are now at length fallen into general and juft 
 contempt. 
 
 To thefe wife men I fliould have much to fay, if I could 
 find means to do it without difgracing myielf, and difguft- 
 ing them, by an air of eontroverfy. And would to God 
 thcit religious eontroverfy were now of no ufe in this manly 
 age of the world ! I fliould then be for laying, it afide with 
 other childilh things. But is this the fad ? and when all 
 
 * See Lcltres dc qiielqim Juifs, &c. in 3 torn. 12.V10. Par. 1776. 
 
 c]^Liarters,
 
 [ '^6 ] 
 
 quarters, befides, refound with controverfy, is there no 
 demand for it in the fchools of rehgion ? After all, the 
 reader fees what is aimed at by this affeded contempt of 
 theological altercation. A hint, in pafllng, is more than 
 enough on a fubje6l, which the Bifliop bimfelf has treated 
 at fome length, and with his ufual force *. 
 
 I apprehend therefore no difcredit to my friend or my- 
 felf, in having dwelt fo long on the virtues of the Contro- 
 verfialivriter. They were eminently confpicuous in him; 
 and exerted for a jult purpofe, that of confuting error, and 
 repreffing calumny. Not that I am concerned to deny all 
 mixture of frailty in my friend's exercife of his polemic 
 talents. It will be found in our beft performance of the 
 beft things. And it is credible enough, that the abun- 
 dance of his wit, the vivacity of his temperament, and the 
 petulance of his adverfaries, may have fliarpcned his ftyle 
 too much in fome inftances. Yet, on the whole, he might 
 apologize for himfelf, as Erafmus has done in a fine letter 
 to his friend Sadolet — «' Some of my opponent s.^ fays he, 
 " becaufe they deferved no better of me, I have exposed, 
 " perhaps y rather than confuted: yet with more temper^ as I 
 " thinks inyflf than they attacked me, Although I am fen- 
 ** f^^Cf that paffion may have biaffed my judgement. For I 
 " muj confejs that I am eafily warmed by ill ufage\ but foy 
 
 * See Volume IV. p, 707.
 
 [ > = 7 ] 
 
 " as 72ot to retain the refentnicnt ^of it long, and to forget 
 *' injuries asjoon as any man *." 
 
 As a Divine, properly fo called, he filled and adorned 
 that chara6ler with the higheft ability. 
 
 Strength of reafon, exquifite learning, a critical know- 
 ledge of antiquity, an enlarged view of the fcheme of 
 Revelation, a wonderful fagacity in difcovering the fenfe 
 of Scripture, and in opening the probable grounds of its 
 clearly revealed dodrines, with the profoundeft fubmillion 
 of his underftanding to them, whether thofe grounds of 
 reafon were apparent to him or not — Thefe rare and ad- 
 mirable qualifications flione out in him with greater lufi:re, 
 than in any other ornament of our church, Stillingfleet, 
 and Barrow, and Taylor himfelf not excepted. To which 
 I. muft add that firft and nobleft quality, of all, A perfe<5t 
 lionefl:y of mind, and fincere love of truth, which governed 
 his pen in all his religious inquiries \. 
 
 After 
 
 * " Quofdam, quia fie merebantur, irrisi verius quam confutavi, 
 " nufquam non temperatior his a quibus laceffebar, ut mea quidem fer^ 
 *' opinio; nam fieri et potcft et folet, ut meo judicio imponat aftedlus ; 
 " atque isfum fatcor, qui poffem laceflitus incandefcere, fed nee irae pcr- 
 " tinacis, et injuriarum obliviofus, ut fi quis alius." Ep. MXCIV. Ed. 
 Cler. L. B. 1703. 
 
 •\ Confidcring him in tliis view, I mean as a consummate Diyine, 
 
 one cannot but lament the fate of a work he had projedled, but never 
 
 R 4 executed.
 
 After mentioning to nne, in one of his letters :!•, fomfe- 
 intereiting meditations, he was then engaged in, he ftops 
 
 fl-iort,. 
 
 executed, at leaft in the manner intended by hihi, On theoldgical Jladies, 
 fur the ufe of young people: a plan of which he had digefted in his own. 
 mind, and communicated to me, by letter, fo early as the year 1750. 
 
 The principal heads were,, 
 
 I. The right ftate and difpofition of mind to make proper improve- 
 ments — in this were to be confidered the natures of fcepticifm,. 
 dogmaticalnefs, enthufiafm, fuperftition, &c. 
 
 >. The previous ftudies of morality and natural religion from their firft 
 principles and foundations-; and of antiquity, critical, hifiorical, 
 and philofophical. 
 
 3. The lludy of the Scriptures. 
 
 4. Fathers and modern Divmes.. 
 
 5. Ecclefiaftical hiftory. 
 
 6. Sermonizing, or the art of preaching. 
 
 This work he referved for the amufement of his declining years^. 
 
 But, as What is deferred fo long, is rarely executed at all, and never fo- 
 
 well as at an earlier feafon, fo this noble defign, which required the 
 
 exertion of his beft faculties in their full vigour, was not wholly ne- 
 
 gledled 
 * Jan. 12, 1757.
 
 C 129 ] 
 
 fhort, and afl<.s — " But what is man ! A fit of the fpleen, 
 '' a fit of ilhiefs, and laftly death, may wipe out all thefe 
 *' glorious vifions, with which my brain at prefent is painted 
 ** over : as Law faid, it once was with hieroglyphics. But 
 " I hope the beft ; becaufe I only aim at the honour of 
 " God and good of men. When I fay this I need not per- 
 " haps add (as I do with the utmoft ferioufnefs) that I 
 *''' J}3 all never wittingly advance one falfebood, nor conceal or 
 " difguife one truibr 
 
 So that thofe, if any fuch there were, who thought he 
 wrote for a party, v.'ith the views of interell, for the fake 
 
 glefted indeed, but flightly attempted by him, a few years before his 
 death : as I find from a brief Iketch of it among his papers, which appears 
 to have been drawn up haftily for the ufe of a friend, and was afterwards 
 made to ferve by way of charge to his clergy. 
 
 Such as it is, I have judged it worth preferving. The reader will be 
 pleafed to fee the thoughts of fo great a man on this fubjeft ; and will, 
 without doubt, make the proper allowances for their being laid before 
 him in this imperfeil ftate ; without the detail, which was irttended, and 
 without thofe embellifhments of ftyle and compofition, which, in his befi: 
 time, he could fo eafily have beftowed upon them. 
 
 This difcourfe, under the name of Dire^ions for the Study of Theology ^ 
 will, be found in.volum.e V, page 60 1. of his Works. 
 
 S ©f
 
 [ I30 ] 
 
 of reputation, or, in fliort, from any other caufe than con- 
 vidlion, and the purell zeal for the advancement of truth, 
 knew nothing of his chara6ter, and did him great wrong. 
 
 But to take him out of his ftudy, and to confider him in 
 the common walks of life. 
 
 He was of a chearful temper ; yet fubjedt, at times, to 
 fits of abfence, and, if we may believe himfelf, even of 
 melancholy. For fo he paints his own complexional habit 
 in two remarkable letters, addreffed to a friend, and lately 
 made puWic *. 
 
 In one of thefe, dated Feb. i 4, 1742-3, he writes thus: 
 — " We have all fomething to make us think lefs compla- 
 " cently of the \Yorld. Religion will do great things^ It 
 " will always make the bitter waters of Marah wholefome 
 <' and palatable. But we muft not think it will ufually 
 *' turn water to wine, becaufe it once did fo. Nor is it fit 
 " it fliould, unlefs this were our place of reft, where we 
 " were to expedt the Bridegroom. I do the beft I can, and 
 " (hould, I think, do the fame, if I were a mere Pagan, 
 " to make life paflable. To be always lamenting the 
 *' miferies, or always feeking after the pleafures of it, 
 " equally takes us off from the work of our falvation. And 
 ** though I be extremely cautious what fedt I follow in 
 ** religion, yet any in philofophy will ferve my turn, and 
 
 * In the Colle6lion before mentioned, p. 77. 
 
 " honeft
 
 [ 131 ] 
 
 <' honeft Sancho Panca's is as good as any ; who on his 
 " return from an important commiffion, when alked by 
 " his mafter, whether they fliould mark the day with a 
 ^ black or a white ftone ; replied, < Faith, Sir, if you will 
 <« be ruled by me, with neither, but with good brozvn 
 « ochre: What this philofopher thought of his comm.if- 
 " fion, I think of human life in general, good broiim ochre 
 <« is the complexion of it." 
 
 The other letter, I hinted at, is dated Feb. 2, 17^0, 
 and is of a ftill darker caft. For, fpeaking of what had 
 made him delay fo long the fecond volume of his D. L., 
 he proceeds in the following manner — " I would not have 
 <» you think that natural indolence alone makes me thus 
 " play the fool. Diftraaions of various kinds, infeparable 
 « from human life, joined with a naturally melancholy habit, 
 " contribute greatly to increafe my indolence, and force 
 '« me often to feek in letters, nothing but mere amufe- 
 " ment. This makes my reading wild and defultory : and 
 « I feek refuge from the uneafinefs of thought from any 
 « book, let it be what it will, that can engage my attcn- 
 *' tion. There is no one whofe good opinion I more 
 <« value than yours. And the marks you give me of it 
 " make me fo vain, that I was refolved to humble myfelf 
 " in making you this confeffion. By my manner of wri- 
 *' ting upon fubjeds, you would naturally imagine they 
 " afford me pleafure, and attach me thoroughly. I will 
 S 2 " affurc
 
 [ 132 } 
 
 *« affure you, No. -I have amufed myfelf much in human. 
 *' learning, to wear away the tedious hours i?7feparable from 
 " a melancholy habit. Bat no earthly thing gives me 
 " pleafure, but the ties of natural relation, and the friend- 
 " lliip of good men. And for all views of happinefs, 1 
 " have no notion of fuch a thing, but in the profpeds 
 " which revealed religion affords us." 
 
 Thefe letters appear to have been written, the latter of 
 them efpecially, in a fplenetic moment. But what is faid 
 of a melancholy habit means no more (for there was no 
 gloom of melancholy in the tenour of his life or conver- 
 fation) than that, being of an inventive turn, or, in the 
 language of his friend Bifhop Hare, having an ingenious 
 working head*, the driving of his thoughts fometimes 
 wore his mind too much, and forced him to relieve it by 
 changing the obje<51; of his attention. Hence the defultory 
 reading ; which, however, ftored his memory with images 
 of all forts, and, as I before obferved f, while it repaired 
 the vigour of his mind, threw a richnefs and variety of 
 colouring over all his writings. 
 
 But to go on with what I propofed to fay of his compa- 
 nionable qualities. 
 
 In mixed companies he was extremely entertaining ; 
 but lefs guarded than men of the world ufually are ; and 
 difpofed to take to himfelf a fomewhat larger fliare of the 
 * P. i6. f P. 13, 13. 
 
 con-
 
 [ 133 3 
 
 converfation, than very exadl breeding is thought to allow. 
 Yet few, I believe, wiflied him to be more referved, or 
 lefs communicative, than he was. So abundant was the 
 information, or entertainment, which his ready wit and 
 extenfive knowledge afforded them! In private with his 
 friends, he was natural, eafy, unpretending; at once the 
 moil agreeable and moft ufeful companion in the world. 
 You faw to the very bottom of his mind on any AibjeiSt of 
 difcourfe ; and his various literature, j[>enetrating judge- 
 ment, and quick recoUedion, made him fay the livelicd:, 
 or the jufteft things upon it. In fliort, I was in thofe 
 moments affe(5ted by his converfation, pretty much as Cato 
 was by that of Maximus Fabius, and may fay, as he does 
 in the dialogue on Old Age — *' / was Jo fond of bis difcourfe^ 
 " and lijlened to it fo eagerly^ as ij I bad forefeen, what in- 
 " deed came to pafs, tbat zvben I lofl bim, I /JjouM nc'ver 
 *' again meet witb fo inflru&i've a companioii *." 
 
 I fpoke of his private friendflnps. They were with men 
 of learning and genius ; chiefly, with clergymen of the 
 Eflablilhed Church ; and thofe, the moft conliderable of 
 the time. It would be invidious to give a lift of thofe. I 
 fliall only mention, by way of fpecimen, the learned 
 Archdeacons of Stow and Winchefter. 
 
 * " Ejus fermone ita turn cupide friiebar, quali jam divinarem id, quod 
 " erenit, illo cxtindlo, fore, unde diiceremj nemincm." Cic. do Scncdute, 
 C. IV. 
 
 S 3 The
 
 [ 134 ] 
 
 The former of thefe, Mr. Towne, was of his early ac- 
 quaintance, when he Uved in Lincohiiliire, and much re- 
 fpe<5led by him to his death. He was an ingenious and 
 learned man, and fo converfant in the Bifliop's writings, 
 that he ufed to fay of him, " He underftood them better 
 than himfelf." He publifhed fome defences of the Divine 
 Legation, in which, with a glow of zeal for his friend, he 
 fliewed much logical precifion and acutenefs -••■. 
 
 The latter, Dr. Balguy, was a perfon of extraordi- 
 nary parts, and extenfive learning ; indeed of univerfal 
 knowledge; and, what is fo precious in a man of 
 letters, of the moft exadt judgement : as appears 
 from fome valuable difcourfes t, which, having been 
 written occafionally on important fubjecSls, and pub- 
 
 * The following is, I believe, an exadl lift of them : 
 
 1. Critical Inquiry into the Pradlice and Opinions of the antient Phi- 
 
 lofophers concerning the Soul, &c. Lond. 1748. 
 4. Expofition of the Orthodox Syftem of Civil Rights, and Church 
 
 Power ; addrefled to Dr. Stebbing. 
 
 3. Argument of the D. L. fairly ftated. Lond. 1751. 
 
 4. Free and Candid Examination of Bifhop Sherlock's Sermons, and 
 
 Difcourfes on Prophecy. Lond. 1756. 
 
 5. DifTertation on the antient Myfteries. Lond. 1766. 
 
 6. Remarks on Dr. Lowth's Letter to Bifhop Warburton. Lond. 1766. 
 
 •f Thefe difcourfes, with fome others, were afterwards colledled into one 
 volume in 1783, and prefented, with a handfome Dedication, to his 
 
 Majefty. 
 
 liQied
 
 C 135 3 
 
 liflied feparately by him, had raifed his reputation fo high, 
 that his Majefty, out of his fingular love of merit, and 
 without any other recommendation, was pleafed in 1 7 8 1 
 to make him the offer of the Bifhoprick of Gloucefter. 
 Dr. Balguy had a juft fenfe of this flattering diftin6lion ; 
 but was unhappily prevented by an infirm flate of health 
 from accepting it. 
 
 With thefe, and fuch as thefe, the Bifhop was happy 
 to fpend his leifure hours. A general converfation he 
 never affected, or rather took much pains to avoid, as 
 what he juftly thought a waffe of time in one of his tem- 
 per, talents, and profeffion. 
 
 But to draw to an end of this long, and, as it may feem 
 to thofe who knew little of him, too fond a charader of 
 my friend. 
 
 He had his foibles, no doubt ; but fuch as we readily 
 excufe, or overlook, in a great charadter. With more 
 referve in his writings and converfation, he had paflTed 
 through the world with fewer enemies (though no pru- 
 dence could have kept a genius, like his, from having 
 many) ; and, with a temper lefs irritable, he would have 
 fecured a more perfedl enjoyment of himfelf : But thefe 
 w^ere the imperfections of his nature, or rather the ex- 
 crefcences of his ruling virtues, an uncommon frankness 
 OF MIND, and SENSIBILITY OF HEART. Tliefc qualities 
 appear in all his writings, efpecially in his private letters ; 
 4 in
 
 in which a warm afFedion for his friends, and concern 
 for their interefts, is every where exprelTed. But his ten- 
 dernefs for his family, and, above all, his filial piety, ftrikes 
 us with peculiar force. 
 
 In a letter to me from Durham, July 12, 1757, he 
 writes thus — " I am now got (through much hot weather 
 " and fatigue) to this place. I hurried from the heat of 
 *' London at a time, and under circumftances, when a 
 " true Court Chaplain would never have forgiven himfelf 
 <' the folly of preferring the company of his friends and 
 " relations, to attendance on the Minifter. But every one 
 '^ to his tafte. I had the pleafure of finding you well at 
 " Cambridge; I had the pleafure of finding a fifier and a 
 ** niece well at Broughton, with whom I fpent a few 
 " days with much fatisfadlion. For, you muft know, I 
 " have a numerous family : perhaps, the more endeared to 
 " me, by their fole dependance on me. 
 
 " It pleafed Providence that two of my fiftcrs fliould 
 " marry unhappily : and that a third, on the point of ven- 
 " turing, fliould efcape the hazard, and lb engage my 
 " care only for herfelf, — I reckon this a lucky year : For 
 " I have married a niece to a reputable grocer at York, 
 " and have got a commiflion for a nephew in the regiment 
 " of artillery. Thefe are pleafures," Sec. 
 
 What
 
 [ 137 ] 
 
 What his filbl piety was, will be feen from the follow- 
 ing extrads. 
 
 " I am extremely obliged to you" (fays he to a confi- 
 dential friend ■*) " for your remembrance of my deareft, 
 *' my incomparable mother, whom I do more than love, 
 " whom I adore. No mortal can ever merit more of me, 
 " than (he has done. — Her decline of life poffefles me with 
 " anxiety ; and I have no fupport for this but in the 
 <' thoughts of that laft meeting, which excludes all farther 
 " chance of feparation. But I mufl: break off. You have 
 *' had long experience what pain it is to me to fpeak of 
 " fubjefts that affetft me moft." 
 
 And, again, to the fame perfon, on occalTon of her 
 death in 1748 — '* You fliould have heard from me fooner, 
 " but that the afflictive news of my dear mother's death, 
 " which met nie at this place f, made me incapable of 
 " writing, or indeed of doing any thing but grieve for the 
 '* lofs of the moft admirable woman that ever was. She 
 " was the laft of her family ; and had in herfelf alone 
 " more virtues than are generally poffeffed by whole fami- 
 " lies throughout the whole courfe of their exiftence. 
 " My extreme forrow for her death can only give place to 
 <' my inceffant meditation on her virtues and adoration of 
 " her memory. This is one of thofe loftes that nothing 
 
 * Dr. Taylor. May 22, 1746. f Prior Park. 
 
 T *' can
 
 I '38 ] 
 
 ■*' can repair, and only time can ^leviate. For I fhall 
 <* never enjoy that happinefs as in the days when you and 
 " I were converfing together, while llie was giving us our 
 ** coffee. At prefent, I can think of nothing," &:c. 
 
 But I grow prolix again (for the reader's fake I will not 
 fay, tedious) while I indulge myfelf in €Xtra6ting thefe 
 tender paflages from his letters. 
 
 To conclude at length, in one word. 
 
 How differently foever men might think of him in his 
 life- time, all are, or will be, agreed in their opinions of 
 him, now he is dead. For, as a Divine of his own fize, 
 and one after his own heart, faid excellently well — " When 
 " great prelates are living, their authority is deprelTed by 
 " their perfonal defaillances, and the contrary interefls of 
 *' their contemporaries ; which difband, when they are 
 ** dead, and leave their credit entire upon the reputation of 
 " thofe excellent books and monuments of learning and 
 " piety, which are left behind them -'••." 
 
 What that credit of our great prelate is, this colledlion 
 of his works will fhew ; and Will, if I miflake not, deliver 
 hina down to poflerity as the ableft Divine, the gr .atefl 
 Writer, and the firft Genius of his age. They arr truth- 
 fully printed from the lafl editions of the aut'ior, and 
 
 * Bifhop Taylor, L. P, p. aio. 8vo. Lond. 1709 
 
 thofc
 
 [ 139 1 
 
 thofe in many places corrected by his own hand. In one 
 refpe<5t only, I have feme apology to make to the reader. 
 Several of his friends had obferved to him (and he was, 
 himfelf, convinced of it) that he had filled the margin of 
 the Alliance and Divine Legation with too many notes ; and 
 had fwelled thofe volumes too much by large extra(Sls 
 under the name of Potlfcripts, or Appendices, from his 
 controverfial trads. The longer notes occupy the reader 
 too much, and divert him from the main argument, which, 
 as it lies in the text of the Divine Legation efpecially, is 
 drawn out to a fufEcient length t otherwife, they are in- 
 finitely curious and learned, and deferve to be read with 
 great care. They are now, therefore, printed together 
 at the end of each book, and referred to in the text. By 
 this difpofition, the reader's convenience is confulted, and 
 the dignity of thofe capital works is preferved. As for 
 fuch of the Postscripts, as are extra(5led from his con- 
 troverfial works, thefe I ought, perhaps to have with- 
 drawn : bur, as hereafter they may have their ufe in fepa- 
 rate editions of the Alliance and Divine Legation, I have 
 permitted them to keep their place. I did this the rather, 
 becaufe thefe difcourfes are not merely repetitions, but 
 have received many corredions and alterations from the 
 author ; while the controverfial treatifes, from which they 
 are taken, were never retouched by him, but left in their 
 -original ftate. 
 
 T 2 Thofe
 
 [ Uo ] 
 
 Thofe CONTROVERSIAL PIECES themfelvcs could by no 
 means be fuppreficd, or altered in the leaft, as they prefent 
 the livelieft image of the writer's charadcr and genius, and 
 derive a peculiar grace from being feen in that connexion 
 of thought, and glow of colouring, which they took, in 
 the heat of compofition, from his carelefs and rapid hand. 
 
 Some of his private letters (fuch as had been printed in 
 his life-time by himfelf, or others) conclude the laft 
 volume ; and flievv how much he excelled in this fort of 
 compofition, for which he was indeed fingularly qualified 
 by the charadleriftic virtues both of his head and heart. The 
 reader will therefore wifii for a larger colledion of them; 
 and he may, in due time, be gratified with it, out of the 
 Editor's long correfpondence with him. 
 
 It may be proper to add, that this elegant edition of his 
 works is given at the fole expence of his widow, now Mrs. 
 Stafford Smith of Prior Park : who alfo eredled the .monu- 
 ment, before fpoken of, to his memory in the church of 
 Gloucefter. 
 
 I have now, as I found myfclf able, and in the manner 
 I judged moft fit, difcharged my duty to this incomparable 
 man : a duty, which he feemed to expe6l would be paid 
 to him by one or other of his furviving friends, when, in 
 the clofe of his preface to Mr. Pope's works, he has thefe 
 affe£ling words — "And I, when envy and calumny take 
 " the fame advantage of my abfence (for, while I live, I 
 
 " will
 
 [ 141 ] 
 
 " will truft it to my life to confute them) may I find a 
 " friend as careful of my honeft fame, as I have been of 
 " his." — I have, I fay, endeavoured to do juftice to his 
 memory ; but in fo doing I have taken, the reader fees, 
 the beft method to preferve my own. For, in placing my- 
 felf fo near to him in this edition of his immortal works, 
 I have the fairefl-, perhaps the only chance of being known 
 to pofterity myfelf. Envy and Prejudice have had their 
 day : And when his name comes, as it will do, into dl 
 mouths, it may then be remembered, that the writer of 
 this life was honoured with fome fliare of his efteem ; and 
 had the pleafure of living in the moft entire and unreferved 
 friendftiip with him, for near thirty years. 
 
 ''A:l7.f:Z' R. WORCESTER.
 
 C 143 1 
 
 APPENDIX TO THE LIFE. 
 LETTER [A] P. 24. 
 
 — " I HAVE known this Gentleman about twenty years. 
 I have been greatly and in the moft generous manner 
 obliged to him. So I am very capable, and you will rea- 
 dily believe, very muchdifpofed to apologize for him. Yet 
 for all that, if I did not really believe him to be an honeft 
 man, I would not venture to excufe him to you. Nothing 
 is more notorious than the great charadler he had acquired 
 in the faithful and able difcharge of a long embafly at 
 Conftanlinople, both in the public part, and the private 
 one of the merchants affairs. The firft reflexion on his 
 charadter was that unhappy affair of the Charitable-corpo- 
 ration. I read carefully all the reports of the committee 
 concerning it : And as I knew Sir Robert Sutton's temper 
 -and character fo well, I was better able than mofl to judge 
 of the nature of his condudt in it. And I do in my con- 
 fcience believe that he had no more fufpicion of any fraud, 
 carrying on by fome in the diredtion, than I had. That 
 he was guilty of negle(5t and negligence, as a Diredlor, is 
 certain : but it was only the natural effedt of his temper 
 (where he has no fufpicion) which is exceedingly indolent. 
 4 And
 
 [ 144 ] 
 
 And he fuffered fuiliciently for it, not only in his cenfare, 
 but by the lofs of near £. 20,000. And at this very junc- 
 ture he loft a confiderable fum of money (through his 
 negligence) by the villainy of a land-fteward, who broke 
 and run away. Dr. Arbuthnot knew him well ; and 1 am 
 fully perfuaded, though I never heard fo, that he had the 
 fame opinion of him in this affair that I have. But parties 
 ran high, and this became a party matter. And the vio- 
 lence of parties no one knows more of than yourfelf. And 
 his virtue and integrity have been fince fully m^nifefted. 
 Another prejudice againft him, with thofe who did not 
 know him perfonally, was the charader of his brother, 
 the General, as worthlefs a man, without queftion, as ever 
 was created. But you will afk, why fliould a man in his 
 Itation be engaged in any affair with fuch dirty people ? 
 'Tis a reafonable queftion ; but you, who know human 
 nature fo well, will think this a fufficient anfwer. He wag 
 born to no fortune, but advanced to that ftation in the 
 Levant, by the intereft of his coufin Lord Lexington ; 
 befides the ftraitnefs of his circumftances, the ufual and 
 conflant bufinefs of that embaffy gave him, of courfe, a 
 mercantile turn. He had feen in almoft every country, 
 where he had been, focieties of this kind, fubliiling pro- 
 fitably to th^mfelves, and beneficially to the public. For 
 not to think he came amongft them with a view to his own 
 profit principally, would indeed be abfurd. Yet I am fure 
 
 with
 
 [ i4S ] 
 
 with a view of an honefl: profit. For he is very far from 
 an avaricious man. He lives up to his fortune, without 
 being guilty of any vice or Uixury. He is an extreme good 
 and faithful hufband, and with reafon indeed, for it is to 
 one of the fineft women in England. He is a tender and 
 indulgent father to very hopeful children ; a kind mafter, 
 and one of the beft landlords to his tenants. I fpeak all 
 this of my own knowledge. He has a good eftate in this 
 place. My parifliioners are'good people. The times (till 
 very lately) for this laft fifteen years have been extreme 
 bad for the grafiers ; I got of him, for them, two abate- 
 ments, in their rents, at two feveral times. I will only 
 beg leave to give you one more inftance that relates to 
 myfelf, and is not equivocal in his characfler. I chanced 
 to know him, when 1 was very young, by means of my 
 neighbourhood to Lord Lexington (whom I never knew) 
 where he oft came. And, without any confideration to 
 party or eledion-intereft, he feemed to have entertained an 
 early efteem for me. He had two good livings, on eftates 
 he had lately bought : and without the leafi intimation or 
 folicitation he told me I fliould have the firft that fell. He 
 was as good as his word. But this was not all. As foon as 
 I became poffeiTed of the living, he told me, that (from what 
 he had been informed by my prcdeceiTor, who at his death 
 was going to commence a fuit for his juit dues) the Uving 
 was much injured by a low and illegal compofition. That 
 
 U he
 
 [ 146 ] 
 
 he thought I ought to right myfelf, and he would join with 
 me againll the other freeholders (for his eftate is fomething 
 more than one half of the parifli). I replied, that as he 
 paid all the tithes for his tenants, the greateft lofs, in my 
 breaking the compofition, would fall upon himfelf, who 
 muft pay me half as much more as he then did. He faid, 
 he did not regard that ; I was his friend, and it was my 
 due. I anfwered, that, however, I could not do it yet, for 
 that the world would never conceive it to be done with his 
 • confent, but would fay that I had no fooner got his living, 
 than I had quarrelVl with him. But, when 1 came to my 
 parifli, I found them fo good a fort of people, that I had 
 as little an inclination to fall out with them. So (though 
 .to my great injury) I have deferred the matter to this day. 
 Though the thing in the opinion of Sir R. Raymond, who 
 gave it on the cafe, as drawn up by the parifhioners them- 
 felves, is clear and indifputable ; yet they won't give it 
 np without a law-fuit. hi a word, there is nothing I am 
 more convinced of than the innocence of Sir R. S. in the 
 cafe of the Charitable Corporation, as to any fraud, or con- 
 nivance at fraud. You, who always follow your judgement, 
 free from prejudice, will do fo here. I have difcharged my 
 ,duty of friendihip both to you and him."- — 
 
 LET-
 
 ^ [ ^47 ] 
 
 LETTER [b] p. 42. 
 
 GOOD MADAM, Newark, Jan. a6, 1744-5. 
 
 I HAD the honour of your obliging letter of the 25th 
 of laft Aiiguft, fent me to Bath, where I then was. After 
 fome Hay there, where my time was taken up more than 
 I could have wifhed, i went to London, where I was ftill 
 lefs in my own power. I am juft now returned home; 
 and the firft thing I thought of was to make my acknow- 
 ledgements for that favour. 
 
 I do not wonder that the goodnefs of your heart, and 
 your love of letters, fliould make you fpeak with fo much' 
 tendernefs of poor Mr. Pope's death ; for it was a great 
 lofs both to the literary and "moral world. In anfwer to 
 your obliging queftion, what works of Mr. Pope have 
 been publifhed with my commentaries and notes ? I am to 
 inform you, they are l\iQ Dunciad m qvizno, and the Effay 
 on Man and on Criticijm, in the fame fize. Which affords 
 me an opportunity to beg the favour of you to let me 
 know into whofe hands in London I can ronfign a fmalf 
 parcel for you : For I have done myfelf the honour of 
 ordering thefe two volumes to be fent to you, as I believed 
 you would with difficulty get them of \our bookfellei-5 ^o 
 far North ; and I hope you will forgive this liberty. 
 
 U- 2 - Towards
 
 [ '48 ] 
 
 Towards the conclufion of your letter, you have fent 
 me one of the pohteft caitels imaginahle. I think, his 
 anfwer was generally commended, who told the Emperor, 
 when he piefftd him, that he never would difpute with a 
 man who had twenty legions at his beck. And do you 
 think I will enter the lifts with a lady, whofe writings 
 have twenty thoufand charms in them ? If I confided 
 in myfelf, and aimed at honour, I could not indeed do 
 better : for the cafe is there, as in the works of the Ita- 
 lian poets ; who have, with great decorum, when they 
 introduced female warriors, made the overcoming one of 
 them the higheft point of valour and addrefs in their 
 heroes. Befides, to fpeak out of a figure, we differ in 
 what is the true foundation of morality. I have faid all I 
 "have to fay on the fubjedt. And though i^ be hard to 
 guefs when a writer fo much the miftrefs of her fubjed: 
 has faid all, yet \f I believed what you have faid was all^ I 
 might perhaps be in fome meafure excufeable ; as I fee 
 you fay fo much more than any writer of your fide the 
 queftion had done before you. 
 
 One thing, and only one, you will give me leave, Ma- 
 dam, to obferve : that I am a little furprized at the con- 
 fequence drawn from my pofition — " that, as without a 
 God there could be no obligation, therefore the Atheift 
 who believes there is none (and might deduce that truth 
 concerning obligation from the principles of right reafon) 
 would have no tye upon him." Hence
 
 [ 149 3 
 
 Hence I concluded, and I thought rightly, that Atheifm 
 was highly injurious to fociety. But how any one could 
 conclude from this (for this is the amount of what I faid 
 on tliat fulijed) that, on my principles (for as to my opi- 
 nion, I believe no one would queftion that) an athsiji is 
 not accountable in a future Jlate for any enormities he. may 
 commit here, I do not fee. And my reaifon for faying fo 
 is this. It is a principle, I fuppofe, agreed on, " That 
 " crimes committed upon wrong principles are equally pu- 
 " nifliablc with thofe committed againjl right ; for that the 
 *' falling into this wrong principle was oecafioned by fome 
 " punilhable fault in the condud." Now I have not faid 
 one fingle word, throughout the difcourfe, that tends to 
 invalidate this principle : Confequently all I have faid 
 cannot affed that truth, That an Jtheiji is accountable. I 
 •3Sk. your pardon. Madam, for this trouble. It is what I 
 have not given to any other; though feveral have made 
 the fame objedion. They deferved nothing at my hands; 
 and you dcferve every thing. 
 
 You inquire with great civility concerning the third 
 volume of the Divine Legation. Several offices of friend- 
 fliip, feveral offices of domeftic piety and duty, wearinefs 
 with contradiclion of Jimiers both againft fenfe and gram- 
 mar (for fuch have been my adverfaries) have prevented 
 me doing any thing at the laft volume, fince the publi- 
 cation of the fecond. But now being juft upon the point 
 5 of,
 
 THE 
 
 DIVINE LEGATION 
 
 O F 
 
 MOSES. 
 
 IN NINE BOOKS. 
 
 VOLUME THE FIRST: 
 
 CONTAIHING 
 
 BOOKS I, and II. 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 DEDI.
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 TO A NEW EDITION OF 
 
 BOOKS I. n. III. ill 1754. 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 PHILIP EARL OF HARDWICKE, 
 LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 YOUR Lordflilp having fo far approved of the good intentions 
 of my endeavours for above twenty years pad, in the caufe 
 of Religion, as to confer upon me a diftinguifliing mark of your 
 favour, I am proud to lay hold of the firft public opportunity which 
 I have had, of defiring leave to make my moft grateful acknow- 
 ledgments. 
 
 I take the liberty to iafcrlbe to your Lordfliip a new Edition of a 
 work tending to Ihew and illuftrate, by a new argument, the 
 Divine Legation of MoJ'es ; which in our own, as well as former 
 times, the moft celebrated Champions of Infidelity have cunningly, 
 for their own purpofes, laboured with all their might, to over- 
 throw. 
 
 If I have fucceeded, or as far as I have fucceedcd, or may here- 
 after fucceed, in the further profecution of this attempt, I fliall 
 ftrengthen one foundation of Chriftianity. 
 
 As an author, I am not folicitous for the reputation of any lite- 
 rary performance. A work given to the world, every reader has a 
 right to cenfure. If it has merit, it will go down to pofterity : if it 
 has none, the fooner It dies and is forgot the better. 
 
 B- 2 But
 
 iv DEDICATION Ta LORD HARDWICKE. 
 
 But I am extremely anxious that no good man (hould raiftake- 
 thc view with which I write ; and' therefore eaiinot help feehng, 
 perhaps too fenfibly, when it is mifreprefented. 
 
 So far as any cenfure can, (hew that my poor labours are not cal- 
 culated to promote Letters or Learning, to advance Truth, or, above 
 all, to ferve the caufe of Religion, which I profefs as a Chriftian 
 and a Member of the Church of England, I own, I have mifled my 
 end ; and will be the firft to join with the cenfure which condemns, 
 tliem. 
 
 In the mean time, the firft book of this work, fueh- as it is, is 
 here humbly commended to your Lordfhip's proteftion. For to- 
 whom does it fo properly 'belong to patronize an argument fhew- 
 ing the Utility of Religioa to Society, as to that great Magiftrate,, 
 Legidator, and Statefman, who is beft able to reeomtnend and ap- 
 ply the fubje£l, by his being convinced of the Truth of Religion;, 
 and' by his giving the moft exemplary proof of his belief, in a fl:eddy 
 regard to it's didates in his life and aftions ? 
 
 It is this which makes me prefume on your Lordftiip's protedion,. 
 Hot any thing extraordinary in the^ work itfelf. It is enough for 
 your Lordfhip to fTnd in thofe you favour a real zeal for the in- 
 terefts of Virtue and' Religion. The-effe6lual fervice of thofe in- 
 terefts depends on fo many accidents, refpefting both the ability of 
 the 'Writer and the difpofidon of the Reader, that your Lordfhip's 
 humanity and candour, inlarged, and not (as it often happens) 
 diminifhed, by your great knowledge of mankind, will always dil- 
 pofe you to elHmate merit by a better rule than, the fuccefs.. 
 
 I am. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 With the utmofl' Gratitude, 
 
 Your Lord(hip's moft obliged', 
 
 and devoted Servant, 
 
 W. Warburton^
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIRST EDITION OF 
 BOOKS I. IL III. in 1738. 
 
 T O 
 
 THE FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 AS the following difconrfe was written for your ufe, you have 
 the beft right to this addrefs. 1 could never approve the 
 cuftom of dedicating books to men, whofe profeffions made them- 
 ftrangers to the fubjed:. A difcourfe on the Ten Predicaments, to 
 a leader of armies, or a fyftem of cafuiftry to a minifter of ftate, al- 
 ways appeared to me a high abfurdlty. 
 
 Another advantage I have in this addrefs, is that I fhall not He 
 under any temptations of flattery ; which, at this time of day, when 
 every topic of adulation has been exhauftcd, will be of equal eafe 
 and advaiuage to us both. 
 
 Not but I muft own you have been managed, even by fome of 
 ©ur Order,, with very fingular complaifance. Whether it was that 
 they affefted. the fame of moderation, or had a higher amlntion for 
 the honour of your good word, I know not ; but J, who neither 
 love your caufe, nor fear the abilities thatlupport it, while I pre- 
 
 ftr.ve
 
 vi DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 ferve for your perfons that juftice and charity which my profeffion 
 teaches to be due to all, can never be brought to think otherwife of 
 your charader, than as the defpifers of the Mailer whom I ferve, 
 and as the implacable enemies of that Order, to which I have the 
 honour to belong. And as fuch, I fhould be tempted to glory ia 
 your cenfures ; but would certainly refufe your commendations. 
 
 Indeed, were it my defign, in the manner of modern dedicators, 
 to look out for powerful protedors, I <io not -know where I could 
 fooner find them, than amongft the gentlemen of your denomina- 
 tion' : for nothing, I believe, flrikes the ferlous obfcrver with more 
 furprize, in this age of novelties, than that ftrange propenfity to in- 
 fidelity, fo vifible in men of almoft every condition ; amongft whom 
 the advocates of Deifm are received with all the applaufes due to 
 the inventors of the arts of life, or the deliverers of opprefied and 
 injured nations. The glorious liberty of the Go/pel is forgotten amidft 
 our clamours agalnft church-tyranny ; and we flight the fruits of 
 the reftored Tree of Knowledge, for the fake of gathering a few bar- 
 ren leaves of Free-thinking, mifgrafted on the old prolific flock of 
 Deifm. 
 
 But let me not be mifunderfliood ; here are no infinuatlons in- 
 tended againfl liberty : for, furely, whatever be the caufe of this 
 epidemic folly, it would be unjufh to afcribe it to the freedom of the 
 Prefs, which wife men have ever held one of the mofl precious 
 branches of national Liberty. What, though it midwifes, as it 
 were, thefe brain-fick births ; yet, at the fame time that it facili- 
 tates the delivery, it lends a forming hand to the mifliapen iflue : 
 for, as in natural bodies, become diftorted by fufi-ering in the con- 
 ception, or by too fi:ralt imprifonment in the womb, a free unre- 
 ftrained expofitlon of the parts may, in time, reduce them nearer to 
 their natural redlitude; fo crude and rickety notions, enfeebled by 
 rtftraint, when permitted to be drawn out and examined, may, by 
 the reform of their oLliquiries, and the corr_clion of their vlriilency, 
 at length nctjuire health and proportion. 
 
 7 Nor
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. vli 
 
 Nor lefs friendly is this liberty to the generous advocate of reli- 
 gion : for how could fuch a one, when in earnefl: convinced by the 
 evidence of his caufe, defire an adverfary whom the laws had be- 
 fore dlfarmed ; or value a vidory, where the Magiftrate muft 
 triumph with him ? Even I, the meaneftinthis controverfy, fhould 
 have been afhamed of projecting the defence of the great Jewirti 
 Lawgiver, did not I know that the fame liberty of thinking was 
 impartially indulged to all. And if my diffenting in the courfe of this 
 defence from fome received opinions need an apology, I defire it 
 may be thought, that I ventured into this track the lefs unwillingly, 
 to fhew, by my not intrenching in authorized fpeculatlons, that I 
 put myfelf upon the fame footing with you, and would claim no 
 privilege that was not in common. 
 
 This liberty then may you long pofiefs ; may you know how to 
 ufe ; may you gratefully acknowledge ! I fay this, becaufe one can- 
 not, without indignation, obferve, that amidft the full pofleffion 
 of it, you ftill continue, with the meaneft affectation, to fill your 
 prefaces with repeated clamours againfl the difficulties and difcou-> 
 ragements attending the exerclfe of Free-thinking : and, in a pecu-^ 
 liar ftrain of modefty and reafoning, employ this very liberty to per- 
 fuade the world you fllU want it. In extolling liberty, we can 
 join with you ; in the vanity of pretending to have contributed moi\ 
 to its eflabllfhment, we can bear with you ; but in the low cunning 
 of pretending ftlU to groan under the want of it, we can ncitheir 
 join nor bear with you. There was indeed a time, and that witbiu 
 ©ur own memories, when fuch complaints were feafonable and even 
 iifeful ; but, happy for you. Gentlemen, you have out-lived it : ail 
 the reft is merely Sir Martin * ; it is continui^^g to fumble on the 
 Kite, though the mufick has been long over. For it is not a tiling 
 to be difguifed, that what we hear from you, an this head, is but 
 iin aukward, though envenomed imitation of an original work of 
 one, whoever he was, who appears to have been amongil the 
 
 * la a comedy of Dryden'c^ 
 
 greatefl.
 
 vlii DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 greateft, and moft fuccefsful of your adverfaries. It was publifhcd 
 at an important jundtnre, under the title of The difficulties and dij- 
 c<iuragevients which attend the Jludy of the Scripture. But with all the 
 merit of this beautiful fatire, it has been its fortune not only to be 
 abufed by your bad imitations, hut to he cenfured by thofe in whofe 
 caufe it was corapofed ; I mean the friends of religion and liberty. AiV 
 author of note thus expreflcs himfelf : * " Nor was this the worfl : 
 ** men were not only difcouraged from ftudying and revering the 
 '^ Scriptures by — but alfo by being told that this ftudy was difficult, 
 " fruitlefs, and dangerous ; and a public, an elaborate, an earneft 
 " difluafive from this fiudy, for the very reafons now mentioned, 
 " enforced by two well-known examples, and believed from a per- 
 " fon of great eminence in the church, hath already pafled often 
 " enough through the prefs, to reach the hands of all the clergy- 
 " men in Great-Britain and Ireland : God in his great mercy for- 
 " give the author f." Scrioufly it is a j&d cafe ! that one well- 
 meaning man fhould fo widely miftake the end and defign of an- 
 other, as not to fee by the turn and caft of the Difficulties and dif- 
 couragements^ that it is a thorough irony, addreffed to fome hot bi- 
 gots then in power, to (hew them what difmal effeds that inquifi- 
 tional fpirit, with which they were poffeffed, would have on lite- 
 rature in general, at a time when public liberty looked with a very 
 fickly face \ Not, I fay, to fee this, but to believe, on the con- 
 trary, that it was really intended as a public^ an elaborate^ an ear- 
 nejl dijftiiijive from the ftudy ef the Scriptures! But I have fo charita- 
 ble an opinion of the great author, for a great author without doubt 
 he was, as to believe that had he forefeen that the liberty, which 
 animates this fine- turned piece of raillery, would have given fcandal 
 to any good man, he would, for the confolation of fuch, have made 
 any reafonable abatement in the vigour of his wit and argument. 
 
 But vou. Gentlemen, have a different quarrel with him : you 
 pretend he hath fince written on the other fide the queflion. Now 
 
 * Revelation Examined with Candour, in the preface. 
 
 t The author was the excellent Dr. Hare, late Bifhop of Chichefler. 
 
 though
 
 , DEDICATION to the FRI;E-TH1NKERS. ix 
 
 though the word of his accufers is not apt to go very far with me, 
 yet, I muft own, I could be eaf.ly enough brought to believe, that 
 an author of fuch talents of literature, love of truth, and of his 
 country, as this appears to have been, would as freely expofe the 
 cxtrennc of folly at one end, as at the other ; without regarding 
 what party he oppofed or favoured by it. And it is well known, 
 that, at the time this is pretended to have been done, another in- 
 tereft being become uppermoft, ftrange principles of licence, which 
 tended tofubvert all order, and deftroy the very eflence of a Church, 
 ran now in the popular flream. What then fhould hinder a writer, 
 who was of no party but that of truth, to oppofe this extravagance, 
 as he had done its oppofite ? And if he pleafed neither bigot nor li- 
 bertine by his uniformity of conduft, it was for his honour. 
 
 How public a blefling is fuch a virtue ! which, unawed by that 
 fatal enemy of jhife^ as the poet calls it, the danger of offending^ dares 
 e<^ually oppofe itfelf to the ditferent follies of Party in extremes. 
 
 But to return to our fubjedt : The poor thread-bare cant of want 
 cf liberty, I fhould hope then you would be, at length, perfuaded to 
 to lay afide ; but that I know fuch cant is amongft your arts of coii- 
 troveriy ; and that Ibmething is to be allowed to a weak caufe, and 
 to a reputation that requires managing. We know what to under- 
 hand by it, when after a fuccefslefs infult on religion, the reader is 
 intreated to believe that you have a ftrong referve : but till the 
 door of liberty be fct a little wider, you have not room to dif- 
 plav it. 
 
 Thus, at the very entrance of your works you teach us what we 
 are to expe<ft. But I mufl beg your patience, now I am got thus 
 far, to lay before you your principal abufes of that liberty indulged 
 to you for better purpofes ; or, to give them the fofteft name I can, 
 in an addrefs of this nature, your arts of controversy. 
 
 By this 1 (hall at once pradife the charity I profcfs, and juftify 
 the opinion I have pafled upon you. 
 
 Your writers, I fpeak it. Gentlemen, to your honour, offer your 
 confiderationsto the world, either under the character of petitioners 
 
 Vol. 1. C foj
 
 % DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 for oppreffed and injured truth ; or of teachers to Ignorant and erring 
 men. Thefe fure are charadlers that, if any, require ferioufnefs and 
 •gravity to fupport them. But fo great ftrangers are we to decorum, 
 on our entry on the ftage of life, that, for the moft part, like Bayes's 
 adtor in the Rehearfal, who was at a lofs to know whether he was 
 to be ferlous or merry, melancholy or in love, we run giddily on,^ 
 in a mixt and jumbled chara<fler j but have moft an end, a ftrong 
 inclination to make a farce of it, and mingle bufFoonry with the 
 moft ferious fcenes. Hence, even in religious controverfy, whiiS 
 the great caufe of eternal happinefs is trying ; and men and angels^ 
 as it were, attending the ifliae of the conflidt, we can find room for 
 a merry ftory ; and receive the advocate of infidelity with much 
 welcome *, if he comes vv'ith but a difpofition to make us laugh : 
 though he brings the tidings of deaths and fcatters round him the 
 poifon of our hopes^ yet, like the dying aflaflin fj we can laugh 
 along with the mob, though our own defpair and agonies conclude 
 the entertainment. 
 
 This quality making a writer fa well received, yours have been 
 tempted to difpenfe with the folemnity of their charader ; as think- 
 ing it of much importance to get the laugh on their fide. Hence 
 RIDICULE is become their favourite figure of fpeech ; and they have 
 Compofed fad treatifes tojuftlfy its ufe, and very merry ones to evince 
 its utility. But to be fair with you, it muil be owned, that this 
 ftrange difpofition towards unfealbnable mirth, drives all parties 
 upon being witty where they can, as being confcious of its powerful 
 operation in controverfy : ridicule having, from the hands of afkil- 
 ful difputaiit, the fame effefl in barbarous minds, with the new in- 
 vented darts of Marius +, which, though fo weak as to break in the 
 
 * Hence Anthony Urceiis, furnamed Codrus, as vain and impious as any Free-thinker 
 alive, being alked the reafon (as we are told by Blanchini, the writer of his life) why 
 he mixed fo much bnftbonry in his works, replied, " That nature had formed mankind 
 " in fuch a manner, a* to be moft taken with buffoons and ftory-tellers." 
 
 + Balthazar Gerard, who murthered the Prince of Orange. See his llory. 
 
 \ See Plut. Vit. Mar. torn. II. p. 766, 767. Edit. (Jruiciii, 8vo. 
 
 throw.
 
 t>EDICATION TO rnt FREE-THINKERS. xl 
 
 ihrow, and pierce no farther than the furface, yet ftickhig there, they 
 more nitangle and incommode the combatant, than thofe arms, which 
 fly Wronger, and ftrike deeper. However^ an abufe it is, and one 
 of the moft pernicious too, of the liberty of the Prefs. For what 
 greater affront to the feverity of reafon, the fubllmity of truth, and 
 the fandity of religion, than to fubjeft them to the impure touch of 
 every empty fcurrilous Buffoon ? The polltencfs of Athens, which 
 you pretend fo much to admire, fliould be here a leflbn to you ; 
 which committed all queftions of this nature, when they were to 
 be examined, to their graveft and fevereft court, the Areopagus > 
 whofe judges would not fuffer the advocates for either party to ap- 
 ply to the paffions, fo much as by the common rules of the chafteil 
 rhetoric *. But a prepofterous love of mirth hath turned you all into 
 Wits, quite down from the fanguine writer of T/je InJependent JVhig^ 
 to the atrabilaire blafpliemer of the miracles t« Though it would 
 be but charity to tell you a plain truth, which Cicero told your 
 illujlrious predecejfors long ago, when infedted with the fame diftem- 
 per: " Ita falem iftum, quo caret vestra nAtio in irridendis 
 *' nobis, nolitote confumere. Et mehercule, fi me audiatis, ne ex- 
 " periamini quidem : non decet; non datum Est j non poteftis." 
 However, if you will needs be witty, take once more your example 
 from the fine author of The difficulties and difcouragementSy and 
 learn from him the difference between Attic irony and elegance of 
 wit, and your intemperate fcurrility and illiberal banter. 
 
 What a nolfe, you will fay, for a little harmlefs mirth. Ah^ 
 Gentlemen ! if that were all, you had my leave to laugh on : I 
 would fay with the old comic, 
 
 Utlnam male qui mihi volunt, fic rideant. 
 
 But low and mean as your buffoon ry is, it Is yet to the level of 
 the people ; who are as little follcltous, as capable, of the point of 
 
 * Exemplo legis Attica-, Martiique judicii caufe Patronis denuntiat Prsco neqxic 
 principia dicere, neque miferationem commovere. Apul. Lib. X. Afm. Aur. p. 827. 
 Lvgd. 1587. 8vo. 
 
 -f Woolfton. 
 
 C 2 argu-
 
 xH DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 argument, fo they can but catch the point of wit. Amongft fuch, 
 and to fuch, you write ; and it is inconceivable what havoc fiilfe wit 
 makes in a fooliOi head : " The rabble of mankind," as an excellent 
 writer well obferves, " being very apt to think, that every thing 
 *' which is laughed at, with any mixture of wit, is ridiculous in 
 " itfelf *." Few refted on what a great wit t has fo ingenuoufly 
 owned, T^hat wh is generally falje reajoning. But one, in whom 
 your party mofl: glories, hath written in deft-nee of this abufive way 
 oi wit afid raillery^ on ferious fubjeds. Let us hear him then J : 
 " Nothing is ridiculous, except what is deformed ; nor is any thing 
 *• proof againft raillery, except what is handfome and juft ; and 
 " therefore it is the hardefl thing in the world to deny fair honef-^ 
 " ty the ufe of this weapon ; which can never bear an edge againft 
 " herfelf. One may defy the world to turn bravery or generofity 
 *' into ridicule : a man maft be foundly ridiculous, who, with all 
 ** the wit imaginable, would go about to ridicule wifdom, or laugb 
 " at honefty or good manners." Yes, ridiculous, indeed, to laugh, 
 at bravery, generofity, wifdom, honefty, or good manners, as fuch : 
 and I hardly think, gentlemen, as licentious as fame of you are> 
 you will be ever brought to accept of his defiance^ And why need 
 you, when it is but fhewing them, with overcharged and diftorted 
 features, to laugh at your eafe ? Call them but temerity, prodiga- 
 lity, gravity, frmplicity, foppery, and as you have often experienc- 
 ed, the bulinefs is done, and the ridicule is compleat. And what 
 fecurity will the nobk writer give us, that they (hall not be fo 
 called ? 1 am perfuaded, if you are never to be thought ridiculous^ 
 till you become fo, in the way this gentleman marks out, you may 
 go fafely on in the freedom of wit and humour, till there be 
 never a virtue left, to laugh out of counteioance. 
 
 * Mr. Addifon's Worlcs, vol. iii. p. 293. Quarto. 
 
 f Mr. Wycherley to Mr. Pope, Letter XVI. 
 
 J Charadleriflics, vol. I. Effay oa the freedom of wit and humour. 
 
 But
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS, xiii 
 
 But he will fay, he means fuch clear virtue as hath no equivocal 
 mark about her, which a prevaricator can lay hold on. Admit 
 tiiis : the man of wit will then try to make her ridiculous in her 
 equipage, if he cannot make her fo in her perfon. 
 
 However, will he fay, it fhews at leaft, that nothing can be done 
 againft her, till fhe be difguifed. A mighty confolation this to ex- 
 piring Virtue, that flie cannot be deflroyed till you have put her on 
 a fool's coat. As if it were as hard to get that o», as Hercules's off! 
 The comparifon holds better in the converfe, that when once on, it 
 flicks as clofe as the envenomed one of old, and often lafls her to 
 her funeral. 
 
 But if tliis noble writer means that truth cannot be obfcured, 
 however difguifed ; nor confequently, be made ridiculous, however 
 reprefented ; the two celebrated examples, which follow, feem to 
 ihew he was miflaken. Where, in the firft, it is feen, that no- 
 thing was ftronger than the ridicule, nor, at the fame time more 
 open and tranlparent than the diiguife ; in the latter, nothing more 
 clouded and obfcured than the beauty of the truth ridiculed, nor 
 more out of fight than the fallacy in the reprefeutation. Which 
 together n:.ay teach us, that any kind of difguife will ferve the 
 turn ; nnd, that witty men will never be at a lofs for one. 
 
 Of all the virtues that were fo much in this noble writer^s heart, 
 and in his writings, there was not one he more revered than love 
 of public liberty ; or which he would lefs fufpeft ihould become 
 liable to the impreffions of buffoon ry. Methinks I hear him faj,. 
 ♦' One may defy the world to turn the love of public liberty into ri- 
 " dicule : a man muft be foundly ridiculous, Vi\\o, with all the 
 " wit imaginable, would go about it." 
 
 However, once on a time, a great Wit fet upon this talk ; he 
 undertook to laugh at this very virtue ; and that too, fo fuccefsfully,. 
 that he fet the whole nation a laughing with him. What mighty- 
 engine, you will aflc, was employed, to put in motion fo large a 
 body, and for fo extraordinary a caufe ? In truth, a very fimple one r 
 a difconrfe, of which all the wit confifts iii the title ; and that too 
 
 fculking^
 
 jt\v DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 fculking, as you will fee, under one unlucky word. Mrs. Bull'f 
 vindication of the indifpenjable duty of cuckoldom, incumbent upon 
 tviveSf in cafe of the tyranny, infidelity y or infufficiency of hufbands *. 
 Now had the merry reader been but wife enough to refledt, that 
 rcafon was the teft of ridicule, and not ridicule the tejl of truth , he 
 would have feen to reftify the propofition, and to ftateit fairly thus : 
 The indifpenjable duty of vnvo'^Q.'E., etc. And then the joke had been 
 over, before the laugh could have begun. 
 
 And now let this noble writer tell us, as he does, that fair ho- 
 nejly can never bear an edge againjl herjelf for that nothing is ridicu- 
 lous but what is deformed; and a great deal to the fame purpofe, 
 which his Platonic manners fupplied. 
 
 But very often the change put upon us is not fo eafily difcerniblc. 
 Sulpicius tells Cicero, that returning by fea from Aiia, and feeing 
 in his courfe -^gina, Megara, the Piraeus, and Corinth in ruins, 
 he fell into this very natural, and humane reflexion : *' And fhall 
 ** we, fhort-lived creatures as we are, bear with impatience the 
 ** death of our fellows, when in one fingle view we behold the car- 
 *' cafes of fo many lately flourifliing cities -j- ?" What could be 
 jufter or wifer than the piety of this reflexion ? And yet it could not 
 cfcape the ridicule of a celebrated French buffoon. " If neither 
 *' (fays he I) the Pyramids of Egypt, nor the CololTeum at Rome, 
 
 ♦* could 
 
 • Hiftbry of John Bull, parti, chap. xiii. 
 
 f Ex Alia rediens, cum ab J£gm?i Megaram verfus navigarem, coepi regiones circum- 
 circa profpicere. Pod me erat jEgina ; ante Megara; dextra Piraeeus ; finiftra Corin- 
 thus : quae oppida quodam tempore florentilTima fuerunt, nunc proftrata, & diriita ante 
 ociilos jacent. Coepi egomct mecum Cc cogitare : Hem! nos homunculi indiguamur, 
 fi q«is noftrum interiit, aut occifuseft, quorum vita brevior efle debet, cum uno loco tot 
 oppidum cadavera proje£la jaceant ? Sulpicius M. T. Ciceroni, lib iv. ep. J. 
 J Superhts mtiiumcns de Vorgucil dci humains, 
 
 Piramides, Tombeaux, dont la vaine ftruifture 
 A temoigne que I'art, par I'aJreffe des mains 
 Et I'aflidu travail, pent vaincre la nature ! 
 Vienx palais ruinez, chef d'oeiivits des Remains,
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. xv 
 
 ** could withftand the injury of time; why (hould I think much 
 *' that my black waiftcoat is out at elbows ?" Here, indeed, the 
 firft thing to be obferved is the fuperior refiftance of truth. 
 
 The buffoon, before he could throw an air of ridicule on this ad- 
 mirable fentiment, was forced to change the image; and in the 
 place of ^glna, Megara, etc. to fubftitute the Pyramids and Colof- 
 Jeum, monuments of human pride, and folly ; which, on that ac- 
 count, readily fubmitted to the rude touch of buffoon ry : while 
 thofe free cities, the' noblefl effort of human wifdom, the nurferies 
 of arts and commerce, could not eafily be fet in a ridiculous or an 
 idle light. 
 
 But then, how few of his readers were able to deteft the change 
 put upon them, when it is very probable the author himfelf did 
 not fee it ? who, perplexed at the obftinate refiiliance of truth, in 
 the various arrangement of his ideas turned the edge of his raillery, 
 before he was aware, againlt the piiantafm, and was the firft that 
 fell into his own deceit. 
 
 Hence may be feen what the noble writer feems to have fpoken 
 at random, at leafl;, not at all to the purpofe of the queftion he was 
 ■upon, that fuch indeed is the inflexible nature of truth, that all 
 the wit in the world can never render it ridiculous, till it be fo dif- 
 torted as to look like error, or fo difguifed as to appear like folly. A 
 circumflance which, though it greatly recommends the majefty of. 
 •virtue, yet, as it cannot fecure it from inlult, doth not at all fhew 
 the innocence oj riduule; which was the point he had to prove. 
 
 Et les derniers efforts de leur architefture, 
 Collifee, ou fouvent ces pcuples inhumainSy 
 De s'oitt' ajfajjiner fe donnoicnt tablature. 
 Par I'injure des ans vous cftes abolis, 
 
 ,Ou du moins la plus part vous eAes demolis : ■; 
 
 II n'eft point dc cimeiit que le temps ne diffoude, 
 Si vos marbres fi durs ont feiitis fon pouvoir, 
 Dois-je trouver maiivais, qu'un mefchant poiirpoint noir, 
 Qui m'a dure deux ans, foit pcrcc par le coiidc ? 
 
 SCARROX. 
 
 7 But
 
 xvl DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 But to fee what little good is to be expe£led in this way of w/V 
 and humour, one may go further ; and obferve, that even the ridi- 
 cule o{ falje virtue, which' furely deferves no quarter, hath been 
 fometimes attended with very mifchievous efFcfts. The Spaniards 
 have lamented, and I believe truly, that Cervantes's juft and ini- 
 mitable ridicule of knight-errantry rooted up, with that foUy, a 
 great deal of their real honour. And it was apparent, that Butler's 
 fine fatire on fanatictjm contributed not a little, during the licen- 
 tious times of Charles II. to hxm^ fober piety into dlfrepute. The 
 reafon is evident : there are many lines of refemblance between 
 Truth and its Counterfeits: and it is the province of ivit only to 
 find out the Ukenejfes in things ; and not the talent of the common ad- 
 mirers of it to difcover the differences. 
 
 But you will fay, perhaps. Let Truth, when thus attacked, de- 
 fend itfelf with the fame arms; for why, as your mafi:er afks, 
 {[\o\AAfair hone/ly be denied the ufe of this weapon f Beit fo : come 
 on then, and let us impartially attend the iflue. We have, upon 
 record, the mofl illuftrious example of this contention that ever 
 was. The difpute I mean, was between Socrates and Ariftophanes. 
 Here truth had all the advantage of place, of weapons, and of 
 judges : Socrates employed his whole life in the caufe of virtue : 
 
 Ariftophanes, only a few comic fcenes againft it. But, heavens ! 
 againft what virtue ! againft the pureft and brigbteft portion of it 
 that ever enlightened the gentile world. The wit of the comic 
 writer is well known : that of the philofopher was in a fupreme de- 
 gree, juft, delicate, and forceable ; and fo habitual, that it pro- 
 cured him the title of the Attic buffoon. The place was the politeft 
 ftate in the politeft time, Athens in its glory ; and iht judges the 
 grave fenators of Areopagus. For all this, the comic poet trium- 
 phed : and with the coarfeft kind of buffoon ry, little fitted, one 
 would think, to take fo polite a people, had the art to tarnifh all 
 this virtue ; and, what was more, to make the owner refemble his 
 direft oppofite, that chara»3^er he was moft unlike, tliat chamber he 
 moft hated, that very chara(5lcr he had employed all his wit to dcteiSl, 
 
 lay
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS, xvii 
 
 lay open, and confound ; in one word, the sophist. The confe- 
 quences are well known. 
 
 Thus will raillery^ in defence of vice and error, be ftill an over- 
 match for that employed on the fide of truth and virtue. Becaufe 
 fair honejly ufes, though a (harp, yet an untainted weapon ; while 
 knavery ftrlkes with one empoifoned, though much duller. The 
 honeft man employs his wit as corredly as his logic : whereas the 
 very definition of a knave's raillery is a fophifm. 
 
 But, indeed, when a licentious buffoonry is once appealed to, and 
 encouraged ; its efFeds have no dependance on the fit choice of its 
 objeft. All chara<£lers fill alike before it. In the diflblute times 
 of Charles II, this tveapon, with the fame eafe, and indeed in the 
 fame hands, completed the ruin of the beft, and, of the very worft 
 Mhiifler of that age. The hiftorians tell us, that Chancellor Hyde 
 was brought into his mafter's contempt, by this court-argument. 
 They mimicked his walk and gefture, with a fire-fliovel and bel- 
 lows, for the mace and purle. The fame ingenious ftroke of hu- 
 mour was repeated on Secretary Bennet, and, by the happy addi- 
 tion of his black patch, with jufl the fame fuccefs. Thus, it be- 
 ing the reprefentation, and not the objefl reprefented, which ftrikes 
 the fancy. Vice and Virtue muft fall indifferently before it *. 
 
 I hope 
 
 * The author of a late book called Elements of Criticifm, fpeaking of men's various 
 opinions concerning the uji cf ridicule, proceeds againft what is here faid, in the fol- 
 lowing manner—" This difpute has produced a celebrated queftion, Whether Ridicule le, 
 *« or he not, a tejl of Truth ? Which (fays he) dated in accurate terms, is, Whether 
 *• the SENSE of Ridicule he the proper tcfl for diflinguijhing ridiculous oljcBsfrom thofe that are 
 •• notfo? To anfiuer the quefion •voith PRECISION, I muft premife that Ridicule is not a 
 *• fubjcil of reafoning but of sense or taste." Vol. ii. p. 55. The Critic having 
 thus changed the queftlon, which he calls fating it in accurate terms ; and obfcured the 
 anfwer, which he calls, giving it i':ith precifto?i, he concludes, that Ridicule is not only the 
 bef, hut the only, tcf of Truth, 
 
 But what is all this to the purpofe ? Is the Dealer in Ridicule now debarred the li- 
 berty of doing what he has fo often done, putting his objecl in a falfc light ; and, by 
 that means, making Truth appear like Error? As he is not, 1 inferred, againft Lord 
 
 \ oL. I. D Shaftelbury,
 
 xvlli DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 I hope then. Gentlemen, you will in time be brought to own> 
 that this method is the mofl unfair in itfelf, and moft pernicious in 
 its confequences : that its natural effect is to miflead the judgment,. 
 and to make the heart diilblute. 
 
 It is a fmall matter, that the State requires of you, fobriety, de- 
 cency, and good manners, to qualify you for the noble employment 
 of thinking freely, and at your eafe. We have been told this, you- 
 will fay, before : But, when it came to be explained ; By, fober 
 writing was meant, writing in the language of the Magiftrate. It 
 may be fo ; but then, remember, it was not till you yourfelvea 
 
 Shaftefbury, That Ridicule is not a tefi of Truth. How does our Critic addrefs himfelf to 
 prove the contrary ? Not by fhewing, that ridicule is fuch a teft : but that the taste of 
 ridicule is the teji ofiuhat is ridiculous. Who doubts that ? It is the very thing complained 
 of. For when our tafte for ridicule gives tis a fenfible pleafure in a ridiculous reprefenta- 
 tion of any objeft, we do not ftay to examine whether that reprefentation be a true one, 
 but conclude it to be fo, from the pleafure it affords us. 
 
 His fecond change of the queflion is^ a new fiibftitution, viz. mdhcr Ridicule he a to,' 
 lent to he iifed or employed at all? Of which he fuppofes me to hold the negative. What 
 elfe is the meaning of thefe words? " To condemn a talent for ridicule, becaufe 
 *' it may be converted to wrong purpofes, is not a little ridiculous. Could one forbear 
 " tofmile if A TALENT POR REASONING was CONDEMNED, becaufe it alfo may be per- 
 " verted ?" p. 57. He has no reafon tofmile fure, at his own mifreprefentation. I never 
 condemned a talent for ridicule becaufe it may be abufed; nor for anylother reafon. Though 
 others, perhaps, may be difpofed to fmlle at his abfurd inference, that we may as well 
 condemn a talent for reafoning. As if reafon and ridicule were of equal importance for the 
 conduct of human life. 
 
 He may then perhaps a(k, <' If I do not condemn the ufe of Ridicule, on what em- 
 *' ployment I would put it, when I have excluded it from being a tef of truth ?" Let him 
 not be uneafy about that. There is no danger that the talent for ridicule fliould lie idle, 
 for want of proper bufincfs. When reafon, the only tef of truth I know of, has per. 
 formed its oflRce, and unmalked fypocrijy and formal error, then ridicule, I think, may be 
 fairly called in, to quicken the operation. Thus, when Dr. S. Clarke had,, by fuperior 
 reafoning, expofed the wretched fophiftry which Mr. Collin»had employed to prove the 
 Soul to be only a quality of Body ; Dr. Arbuthnot, who very rarely mifemployed his 
 inimitable talent for ridicule, followed the blow, and gave that foolifli and impious opi- 
 nion up to the contempt and laughter it deferved, in a chapter of the Memoirs of Scrib- 
 lerus. But to fet Ridicule on work before, would be as unfair, iiuieed as fcandalous, 
 as to bellow the language dce'to convided Vice, on a charaifter but barely fufpeded. 
 
 7 had
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. xk 
 
 Iiad led the way to the abufe of words ; and had called calumny, 
 plahi dealing ; and a fcurril licence, urbanity, Happy for 
 you, that you are in times wdien liberty is fo well underftood. 
 Had you lived in the boafted days of claffic freedom, he amongft 
 you who had efcaped beft, had been branded with a charafter, the 
 ancient Sages efteemed moft infamous of all, an enemy to the 
 RELIGION OF HIS COUNTRY. A vcry Candid and refpedable author, 
 fpeaking of the ancient reJlrainU on free-thinking, fays, " Thefe 
 ** were the maxims, thefe the principles, which the light of nature 
 ** fuggefted, which reafon diftated *." Nor has this fine writer 
 any caufe to be afhamed of his acknowledgment ; nor his adverfa- 
 ries any pretence that he muft needs efteem it the meafure for the 
 prefent times. For, as a great Ancient well obferves, *' It is one 
 *' thing to fpeak of truth, and another to hear truth fpeak of her- 
 *' felff." It was CHRISTIAN TRUTH and CHARITY, the truth 
 and charity you fo much infult, which only could take off thofe 
 reflraints ; and require no more of you than to be <7j free, but 
 not ujing your liberty for a cloak of malicioufnefs |. 
 
 I have now done with your bufFoonry ; which, like chewed bullets, 
 is againft the law of arms ; and come next to your fcurrilities, 
 thofe ftink-pots of your ofFenfive war. 
 
 As the clergy of the eftabllfhed church have been more parti- 
 cularly watchful in what is yet the common caufe of all, the in- 
 tere{\.s o{ C/bri/I/'afiity, and moft fuccefsful in repelling the infults 
 of its enemies, they have fallen under the heavieft load of your ca- 
 lumny and flander. With unparalleled licence, you have gone on, 
 reprefenting them as debauched, avaricious, proud, Tindlftive,^ am- 
 bitious, deceitful, irreligious, and incorrigible. " An order of men 
 profligate and abandoned to wickednefs, inconfiftent with the good of 
 
 * Letter to Dr. Waterland, p. 52, &/ej. 
 
 ■{■ "A^Xuj Tt{«7tf» l(^r,9i•'»; /Viy:!, »i aTmSsia iai/li» i(fiii\vtviit 
 
 X I Pet. ii. j6, 
 
 D z fociety.
 
 XX DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 foclety, Irreconcileable enemies to reafon, and confpirators againf^ 
 
 the liberty and property of mankind *." 
 
 To fill up your common place of (lander, the moft inconfiflent 
 
 qualities have been raked together to deform them : qualities that 
 
 could never ftand together but in idea; I mean, in the misfhapeii 
 
 ideas of a Free-thinker. 
 
 The Order is now reprefented as moft contemptible for their po- 
 litics ; ever in the wrong, and under a fatality of continued blun- 
 ders, attending them as a curfe : But anon, we are told of their 
 deep-laid fchemes of a feparate intereft, fo wifely condu(R:ed, as to 
 elude the policy of Courts, and baffle all the wifdom of Legif- 
 latures. 
 
 Now they are a fet of fuperftitious bigots, and fiery zealots, 
 prompt to facrifice the rights of humanity to the interefts of Mo- 
 ther-Church : but now again, they are 'Tartufes without religion i 
 Atheijls and Apojlates with out faith or law. 
 
 This moment, fo united in one common confederacy, as to 
 make their own Church-policy the caufe of God : But, the next, 
 lb divided, that every man's hand is againfl: his brother, tearing and 
 worrying one another^ to the great fcandal of the charitable author 
 «f the Difcourfe of Free-thinking. 
 
 But it is to be hoped, as the evidence is fo ill laid together, the 
 accufation may be groundlefs. 
 
 But why do I talk of the Clergy, when Jhere is not one, how- 
 ever otherwife efteemed by, or related to you, tliat can efcape 
 your (lander, if he happen to difcover the leaft inclination for that 
 caufe, againfl: which you are fo virulently bent ? Mr. Locke, the 
 honour of this age, and the inftruftor of the future, (hews us» 
 in the treatment he received from his friend and from his pupil,, 
 what a believer is to expedl from you. It was enough to provoke 
 their refentment, that he had (hewn ihereafonablenefs of Chr'fianity, 
 and had placed all his hopei of happinefs in another life. 
 
 * Rights of the Chriftian Church, antlChriAianity as old as the Creation, paffim. 
 
 The
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. xxi 
 
 The intimacy between him and Mr. Collins is well known. Mr. 
 Collins feemed to idolize Mr. Locke while living ; and Mr. Locke 
 was confident Mr. Collins would preferve his memory when dead*. 
 But he chanced to be miftaken : For no looner was he gone, than 
 Mr. Collins publickly -f infults a notion of his honoured friend con- 
 cerning x\\Q pqjTibiUty of conceiving boix) matter might fuf be made and 
 begin to be: And goes afFe6tedly out of the way to (hew his good 
 will to his memory. 
 
 The noble author of the Characleriftics had received J part of hi> 
 education from that great philofopher : And it muft be owned, 
 that this Lord had many excellent qualities, both as a man and a 
 writer. He was temperate, chafte, honeft, and a lover of his 
 country. In his writings he hath fhewn how largely he had im- 
 bibed the deep fenfe, and how naturally he could copy the gracious 
 manner of Plato. How far Mr. Locke contributed to the cultivating 
 thefe qualities, I will not enquire : But that inveterate rancour 
 which he indulged againft Chrijtianity, it is certain, he had not 
 from his mafter. It was Mr. 'Lpcke's love of it that feems princi- 
 pally to have expofed him to his pupil's bittereft infults. One of 
 the moft: precious remains of the piety of that excellent man, 
 are his laft words to Mr. Collins : " May you live long and happy,, 
 " ^c. all the ufe to be made of it is, that this world is afcene of 
 " vanity^ that foon pajjes away, and affords no folidfatisfadiion^ but 
 " the confcioufnefs of well doing, and the hopes of another 
 *' LIFE. This is what I can fay by experience, and what you 
 *' will find when you come to make up your account |{." One 
 would think, that if ever the parting breath of pious men, or the 
 laft precepts of dying philofophers, could claim reverence of their 
 furvivors, this noble monument of friendfliip, and religion, had 
 
 * " I know you loved me living, and will preferve my memory now I am dead," fays 
 he in his letter to be delivered to Mr. Collins at his death. 
 
 f Anfvver to Dr, Clarke's third Defence of his Letter to Mr. Dodwell, at the end, 
 
 X See Bibl. Choifie, torn. vi. p. 343. 
 
 !1 Amongft his Letters piiblifived by Defn^aizeaux, 
 
 been
 
 xxii DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 been I'ccure from outrage. Yet hear, in how unworthy, how cruel 
 a manner, his noble dilciple apoftrophizes him on this occafion : 
 " Philojopher! let me hear concerning life, what the right notion 
 " is, and what I am to fland to upon occafion ; that 1 may not, 
 *' when life feems retiring, or has run itfelf out to the very dregs *, 
 " cry VANITV I condemn the world, and at the fame time com- 
 " plain that life is short and passing. For why fo J}:ort in- 
 *' deed, if not iouwA fweet ? Why do I complain both ways ? Is 
 '■^vanity, mere vanity, a happinefs ; or can mifery ^^ a-w^jy too 
 *' foon -t ?" Here the polite author had the noble pleafure of ridi- 
 culing the philojopher and the Pfahniji J together. But I will leave 
 the ftrange reflexions, that naturally arife from hence, to th© 
 reader ; who, I am fure, will be before-hand with me in judging, 
 that Mr, Locke had reafon to condemn a world that caft him upon 
 fuch a friend 2ii\6. pupil \\. 
 
 But 
 
 * Mr. Locke was then in his 73'' year. 
 
 f Charafterillics, vol. i. p. 302, 3'' ed. 
 
 :j: Man is like to •vanity: His days are as a Jhadow that pajjeth away. PsAL. CxHv. 4. 
 
 fi The noble writer did not difdain to take up with thofe vulgar calumnies which Mr, 
 Lecke had again and again confuted. " Some even (feys he, CharaSl. vol. i. p. 80. 3"* 
 ♦' ed.) of our moft admired modern philofophei-s had fairly told us, that virtue and 
 •' vice had, after all, no other law or meafure than mere fafliion and vogue." The 
 cafe was this .■ When Mr. Lode reafoned againft innate ideas, he brought it as one argu- 
 ment againft them, that virtue and vice, in many places, were not regulated by the na- 
 ture of things, which they inuft have been, were there fuch innate ideas; but by mere 
 fafliion and vogue. Is this thtn fairly told oi our admired modern fhihfopher ? But it wa.? 
 crime enough that he laboured to overthrow innate ideas ; things that the noble author 
 underftood to be the foundation of his moral fcnfe. (See vol. iii. p. 214.) In vain did Mr. 
 Locke inceflantly repeat, that " the divine law is the only true touchftone of moral rec- 
 ♦' titude," This did .but increafe his pupil's refentment, who had all his faculties pof- 
 fefled with the moral sense, as •• the only true touchftone of moral reftitude." But 
 the whole Eflay itfelf, one of the nobleft, and moft original books in the world, could 
 not efcape his ridicule : " In reality (fays he, vol. i. p. 299.) how fpecious a ftudy, how 
 *' folemn an amufement, is raifed from what we call philofophical fpeculations ! The 
 •' formation of ideas ! their compofuions, comparifons, agreement, and difagreement ! — 
 
 ■ •• Why
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS, xxlii 
 
 . But to go on, and confider the nature of this nbufe of the Clergy : 
 It is not only an afFront to Religion, which, by your praftice, you 
 feem to regard as one of the eflential branches of literary liberty ; 
 but likevvife, an infult on civil Society, For while there is fuch a 
 thing as a Church eftablified by law^ its Minifters muft needs bear a 
 facred, that is, a public characfler, even on your own principles *. 
 To abufe them, therefore, as a body, is infulting the State which 
 protects them. It is highly injurious likewife, becaufe a Body- 
 politic cannot preferve the reverence neceffary for the fupport of go- 
 vernment, longer than its public officers, whether civil or reli- 
 gious, are treated with the regard due to their rcfpedive flationst. 
 And here, your apology, when accufed of ufing holy Writ irre- 
 verently, is out of doors. You pretend that the Charge is difinge- 
 nuous, becaufe it takes for granted the thing in difpute. But in 
 the cafe before us, it is agreed, that the Minifters of the eftablifhed 
 worfhip have zfacred, that is, a public character. 
 
 Out of your own mouths likewife, are you condemned. A few 
 inftances there are in the firft ages o{ Chrijtianity, of fomething re- 
 fembling this mifcondudl ; where the intemperance of private 2eal 
 now and then gave the afFront to the national religion. But who 
 are they that fo feverely cenfure this diforder | ? that raife fuch 
 tragic outcries againft the factious fplrlt of primitive Chrijtianity ? 
 
 " Why do I concern myfelf in fpeculations about my ideas ? What is it to me, for in- 
 *• fiance, to know what kind of idea I can form offpace? Divide a folid body, etc." and 
 fo he goes on in Mr. Locke's own words : And left the reader fliould not take the fatire, 
 a note at the bottom of the page informs us, that " thefe are the words of the particular 
 *' author cited." But the invidious Remark on this quotation furpaffes all credit. Tl:>!u 
 the atomijly or Epicurean. 
 
 * They alfo that have authority to teach, etc, zrc pullic miKifters." Leviathan, p. 124. 
 London, 1651.. 4to. 
 
 Ant. Scrip. .apud Stob. de rep. Serm. 41. p. 270. Tiguri, 1559, fol. circa fineni. 
 
 J " The lift of Martyrs confifted, I believe, of thofe who fuffered for breaking the 
 *' Peace. TYitprimiti'ue clergy were, under pretence of Religion, a very Lawlcfs Tribe." 
 L. Bolingbroke, vol. iv. p. 434, 
 
 Who,
 
 xxlv DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 Who, Gentlemen, but Yourfelves ! The very men who, out of 
 fpite and wantonnefs, daily pevfift in doing what a mifguided 
 devotion, now and then, though rarely, betrayed a martyr to 
 commit *. 
 
 But would you read Chrlfttart antiquity with equal minds, yoo- 
 would not want examples of a better conduct. For in general the 
 Apologifts for the Chriftian faith obferved a decency and moderation 
 becoming the truth and importance of the caufe they had to fup- 
 port. We need only look into LaSiantius for the modefty of their 
 condu£l in this refpeft. 
 
 This eloquent Apologifl:, who wrote in an age which would 
 have indulged greater liberties, giving in his divine inJiitutionSy 
 the lad ftroke to expiring paganifm ; where he confutes the national 
 Religion^ fpares as much as poffible the Priefts ; but in expofing their 
 Philofophy, is not fo tender of their Sophijls : For thefe laft having 
 no public chara£ler, the State was not concerned to have them ma- 
 naged. Such, I fay, was the general behaviour of the firfl Chrif- 
 tians. 
 
 Nor can you plead, in yourexcufe, any other neceffity, than that 
 infeparable from a weak caufe, of committing this violence. The 
 difcovery of truth is fo far from being advanced by it, that, on the 
 contrary, it carries all the marks of defign to retard the fearch, 
 when you fo induftrioufly draw oif the reader's attention from the 
 Caufe, by diverting him at the expence of the Advocate. 
 
 It is true, that at what time the Clergy fo far forgot the nature 
 of their office, and of the caufe they were appointed to defend, as 
 to call in the fecular arm to fupport their arguments againfl: wrong 
 opinions, we faw, without much furprife or refentment. You, 
 Gentlemen, in like delufion, that any means were lawful in fup- 
 
 * In the LXth canon of the co\inciI of Eliberis, held about twenty years before the 
 council of Nice, it is decreed, that they who were flain by the Gentiles for breaking down 
 their idols, fhould not be received by the church into the number of Martyrs, fince uei- 
 their the precepts of the Gofpcl nor tlie praftice of the Apoftles gave any countenance to 
 fuch licentious behaviour. 
 
 ' port
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. xxV 
 
 port of truth, falling without fcruple to affront the Public (then 
 little dilpoled to give you an equal hearing) by the abufe of a Body, 
 whofe private interefts the State had indifcreetly eipoufcd. For 
 where was the wonder, when Government had aflumed too much, 
 for thofe who were oppreiTed by it, to allow it too little ? You 
 thought this a fair return ; and your candid enemies confefled, that 
 fome indulgence was to be given to the paffions of men, raifed and 
 enflamed by fo unequal a treatment. But now, that the State hath 
 withdrawn its power, and confined the Adminiflration within its 
 proper office ; and that this learned Body hath publicly dilclaimed 
 its afliflance ; it will furely be expedled, that You, likewif'e, fhould 
 return to a better mind, and forfake a pradlice infolently continued, 
 without any reaibnable pretence of frefh provocation. 
 
 Your lafl abufe. Gentlemen, of the liberty of the prefs, is a cer- 
 tain difTolute habit of mind, regardlefs both of truth and falfhood, 
 which you betray in all your attacks on Revelation. Who that had 
 not heard of your Iblemn profeflions of the love of liberty^ of truths 
 of virtue^ of your aim at the honour of God, and good of men, could 
 ever believe you had any thing of this at heart, when they fee that 
 fpirit of levity ^^nd difTipation which runs through all your writings ? 
 
 That you may not fay 1 flander you, I will produce thofe marks 
 in your works, on which I have formed my accufation of this il- 
 liberal temper. 
 
 1. The firfl is an unlimited bufFoonry ; which fuffers no tefl or 
 criterion to your ridicule, to fhew us, when you are in jefT;, and 
 when in earneft. 
 
 2. An induftrious aff^e£lation in keeping your true character out 
 of fight ; and in conftantly afTuming Ibme new and fidtitlous per- 
 fonage. 
 
 3. To fupport your chicane, an unnatural mixture of the Sceptic 
 and Dogmatifl. 
 
 And here. Gentlemen, in illuflrating thefe three circumftances 
 of your guilt, one might detcd all your arts of controverfy, and 
 eafily reveal the whole myll:ery of modern Free'thlnking. But the 
 
 Vol. I E limits
 
 xxvl DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 limits of this addrefs will only permit me in few words to defcribe 
 the general nature of each ; in order to (hew, how certain an indi- 
 cation they are of the turn of roind of which 1 accufe you. 
 
 I. The illimited, undistingitishable irony, which affords 
 no infight into the author's meaning, or fo much room as to guel'j 
 what he would be at, is our firft note. This, which is your fa^ 
 vourite figure of fpeech, your noble Apologiil owns to be " a dull 
 " fort of wit which amufes all alike*." Nay, he even ventures to 
 pronounce it " a grofs, immoral, and illiberal way of abufe, foreign 
 *' to the character of a good writer, a gentleman, or man of worth f-" 
 What pity, if he fhould chance to fall under his own eenfure I Yet 
 this is certain, he hath fo managed his good humour^ that his ad- 
 mirers may always find a handle either to charge us with credulity, 
 or want of charity, determine as we will of Iiis true and real {ei\- 
 timents. However, the noble writer hath not aggravated this 
 folly, in the charafter he hath given of it : For, here forgetful of 
 your own precepts, (your common- place topic againfl public in- 
 ftrudtors) while you prefcribe ridicule to be (o managed, as to JJ:ew 
 it tends to a ferious ifue ; you pradife it fo indifcrlminately, as to 
 make one believe you were all the time in jefl. While yov direct 
 it fo unmajk formal hypocrify\ you fuffer it to put fober truthout of 
 countenance ; and while you claim its aid,, to Jind out iDhat is to be 
 laughed at in every things you employ it to bring in every thing to. 
 be laughed at. 
 
 That a restraint on free inquiry, will force writers into this 
 vicious manner, we readily allow. Under thefe circumftances, fucli 
 a key to ridicule as juft writing demands being unfafe ; and the only 
 way men have to efcape perfecution being to cover and intrench 
 themfelves in obfcurity ; it is no wonder that ridicule fhould de- 
 generate into the buffoonry which amufes all alike : As in Italy, which 
 gave birth to this degenerate fpecies of writing, it is the only way, 
 in which tht poor crampt thinking -wretches can difcharge a free thoughts 
 
 * Charaft. vol. i. traft iu part i. § 2. 
 t Vol, iii. mifcel. iv. c. 2. 
 
 But
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS, xxvll 
 
 Eut in Great Britain, happily for Truth, and You, philosophy 
 is at her eafe ; and you may lead her fafely back to Paganifni, 
 through all the ancient modes of doubting, objedling, and re- 
 futing. 
 
 It is difficult, therefore, to aflign any other likely caufe of this 
 extravagance, than that vicious levity of fpirit I have charged upon 
 you. For as Man is formed by nature v\ith an incredible appetite 
 for Truth ; fo his ftronged: pleafure, in the enjoyment, arifes from 
 the aiflual communication of it to others. Without this, it would 
 be a cold purchafe, would abftradl, ideal, folitary Truth ; and 
 poorly repay the labour and fatigue of the purfuit. Amongft the 
 Ancients, who, you will allow, had high notions of this social 
 SENSE, it was a faying recorded by Cicero with approbation, " that 
 *' even heaven would be no happinefs, to him who had not fome 
 '*' companion or facial Spirit to fhare with him in the pleafure of 
 *' contemplating the great truths of nature there revealed unto him." 
 " Si quis in coelum afcendiflet, naturamque mundi, et pulchritudi- 
 *' nem fiderum perfpexiffet, infuavem illam admirationem ei fore ; 
 *' quae jucundiffima fuiflet, fi aliquem, cui narraret, habuiffet*." 
 Seneca goes yet further : " Ncc me ulla res dele£labit, licet ex- 
 *' imia fit et {alutaris, quam mihi uiii fclturus fim. Si cum hac 
 *' cxceptione detur fapientia, ut illam inclufam teneam, nee enun- 
 *' ciem, rejiciam : nullius boni, fine socio, jucunda pofleffio eft f." 
 Jt was this paffion which gave birth to writing, and brought lite- 
 rary compofition to an art ; whereby the Public was made a fharer 
 in thofe important truths, which particulars had with fo much toil 
 excogitated for its ufe and entertainment. The principal objecSl 
 therefore of an author, while his paffions are in their right ftate, 
 muft needs be to deliver his fentiments and opinions with all pof- 
 fible clearnefs ; fo that no particular caft of compofition, or turn 
 of expreffion, which he held conducive to the embellifhment of his 
 
 * De Amicitia. Edit. Oxon. 4to, T. III. p, 349 et 50. 
 t Ep. vi. 
 
 E 2 work,
 
 xxviil DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 work, be fuffcred to throw an ambiguity on his proportions, which 
 might miflead the reader in judging of his real ientiments. To 
 fuch a one, nothing can be a greater mortihcation than to find that 
 this his principal purpofe was defeated. 
 
 But when, on the contrary, we fee a writer, fo far from difcover- 
 ing any thing of this care, that an air of negligence appears in 
 every thing he delivers ; a vifible contempt of his reader's fatisfac- 
 tion ; to which he prefers a dull malicious pleafure of mifguiding 
 him in the obfcurity of an illimited ridicule ; we cannot pofHbly 
 avoid concluding that fuch a one is far gone in this wretched de- 
 pravity of heart. 
 
 2. Another mark, is Your perpetually affuming fome perso- 
 nated CHARACTER, as the exigence of chicane requires. For 
 the difpute is to be kept on foot ; and therefore, when in danger 
 of coming to an iffue, a new perfonage is to be aflumed, that the 
 trial of fkill may be fought over again with different weapons. So 
 that the modern Free-thinker, is a perfeft Proteus. He is now a 
 Diffenter, or a Paplft ; now again a Jew, or a Mahometan ; and, 
 when clofely prefled and hunted through all the (hapes, he at length 
 ftarts up in his genuine form, an Infidel confefled*. 
 
 Indeed where the Magiftrate hath confined the liberty of free de- 
 bate, to one or two Profeffions of belief, There an unliccnced 
 writer hath no way of publishing his fpeculations, but under the 
 cover of one of thefe authorized Se£ls. But to affedt this praftice 
 when the neceffity is over, is licentious and immoral. For the 
 perfonaied charafler, only arguing ad hominemy embroils, rather 
 than direds us, in the fearch of truth ; has a natural tendency to 
 promote fcepticifm ; and if not this, yet it keeps the difpute from 
 ever coming to an iflue ; which is attended with great public incon- 
 venlencies. For though the difcovery of fpeculative truth be of much 
 importance to the perfeflion of man's nature, yet the ftudious 
 lengthening out literary debates is pernicious to Society, as Societies 
 
 * Mr.CoUins.
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS, xxix 
 
 are gener,-illy formed. Therefore, though the good of mankind 
 would fet an honeft man upon publilhing what he fuppofes to be 
 difcoveries hi truth ; yet the fame motive would oblige him to take 
 the faireft, and mofl: direft road to their reception. 
 
 But I would not have it thought, by this, that I condemn the 
 afluming z perfonated charaSter on all occafions whatfoever. There 
 are feafons when it is fair and expedient. When the difpute is 
 about the practical application of fome truth to the good of a 
 particular fociety ; there it is prudent to take up a fuitable charader, 
 and to argue ad hotn'mem. For there, the end is a benefit to be gained 
 for that fociety ; and it is not of fo great moment on what princi- 
 ples the majority is prevailed upon to make the fociety happy, as it 
 is, that it fliould fpeedily become fo. But in the difcovery of ab- 
 stract SPECULATIVE truth, the affair goes quite otherwife. The 
 bufinefs here is demonJiraUony not perfuajion. And it is of the elTence 
 of truth, to be made appear and fhine out only by its own luftre. 
 
 A familiar example will fupport this obfervation. Our great Bri- 
 tijlj philofopher, writing for religious liberiy, combats his intolerant 
 adverfary, all the way, with his own Principles ; well knowiug 
 that, in fuch a time of prejudices, arguments built on received 
 opinions would have greateft weight, and make quickeft impref- 
 (ion on the body of the People, whom it was his bufinefs to gain. 
 But the method he employed in defending mere fpeculative truth 
 was very different. A Prelate of great name, was pleafed to attack 
 his EJay concerning humar. underjianding\ who, though confum- 
 mate in the learning of the Schools, yet happened at that time to 
 apply his principles fo very aukwardly, as gave our Philofopher 
 the mod inviting opportunity of turning them againfl him. An 
 advantage moft to the tafte of him who contends only for vidlory : 
 but he contended for truth ; and was too wife to think of eflablifh- 
 ing it on falfhood ; and too honeft to affed triumphing over Error 
 by any thing but by its Oppofite. 
 
 You fee then, Gentlemen, you are not likely to efcape by this 
 diftindion; the difpute with you Is VihowX. fpeculative truth: Your- 
 
 felves
 
 XXX DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 felves take care to give the world repeated information of it, as 
 often as you think fit to feign an apprehenCion of the Magiftrate's 
 relentment. 
 
 But of as little ufe as this method, o^ t\\t perfonated charagter^ 
 is, in itfelf, to the jufi: end of controverfy, you generally add a 
 double (hare of dlfingenuity in conducing it. Common fenfe, as 
 well as Common honefty, requires, that he who affumes ^perfonaied 
 charatler fhould fairly ftick to it, for that turn, at leaft. But we 
 (hall be greatly deceived, if wc prefume on fo much condefcenlion : 
 the late famous author of The Grounds and Reafons of the Chnflian 
 Religion, took it into his head to perfonate a Jfiv, in the interpre- 
 tation of fome prophefies which he would perfuade us are not appli- 
 cable to yfus. The learned Prelate, who undertook to anfwer hlm,- 
 having fhewn that thofe prophelies had no completion under the 
 yexvi/]} difpenfation, concludes very pertinently, that if they did not 
 belong to Jefiis, they belong to no one. What fays our impoftor Jew 
 to this ? One would be aflonifhed at his reply : Suppofe they do not, 
 fays he, I am not anfwer able for their completion. What ! not as a 
 few? whofe perfon he affumes, and whofe argument he borrows : 
 which argument is riot founded on this, That the charadiers of 
 completion, according to the Chrifum fclieme, do not coincide and 
 quadrate ; to which, indeed, the above anfwer would be pertinent; 
 but on this, that there are complete characters of the completion of 
 the prophefies, under the fewif oeconomy ; and therefore, fays the 
 few, you are not to look for thofe marks under the Chrijian. The 
 only reafonable way then of replying to this argument, is to deny, 
 that there are fuch marks under the feioifi oeconomy ; which if 
 the few cannot prove, his obje<fllon, founded on ?i prior completion, 
 is intirely overthrown. Inftcad of this, we are put off with the 
 cold buffoon ry of, 7 am not obliged to fnd a meaning for your pro' 
 pbefes. 
 
 3. Tlie third mark of this abandoned fpirit, is that unnatural 
 
 MIXTURE OF THE ScEPTiC AND DoGMATlST, whlch fo mon- 
 
 ,ii"i; :>Ji ; ;•. ftroufly
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS, xxxl 
 
 flroufly variegates your misfhapen works. I do not mean by ir, thr.t 
 unreafonable temper of mind, which dlftinguiihes the whole clafs 
 of Free-thinkers ; and fuffers you, at the fame time that you afFed 
 much /cepiiafm in reje6ling Revelation, X.o dogmatize very pofitively on 
 fome favourite points of civil tradition. The noble author, your 
 Apologifl, could not forbear to ridicule his party for this foible *. 
 " It muft certainly, fays he, be fomething elfe than incredulity 
 ■" which fi^fhions the tafte and judgment of many Gentlemen, 
 " whom we hear cenfured as Atheifts. Who, if they want a true 
 " IfraelitiJJj faith, can make amends by a Chinefe or Indian one.— 
 " Though Chrijlian miracles may not fo well fatisfy them, they 
 " dwell with the higheft contentment on the prodigies of Moorijh 
 '* and Pagan countries." 
 
 This is ill enough ; but the perverfity, I fpeak of, is much 
 worfe : and that is, when the fame writer, on different occafions, 
 aflumes the Dogmaiiji and ■ Sceptic on the fame queflion ; and fo 
 abufes both Charafters, in all the perverfity of felf-contradi6lion. 
 
 For inflance, how common is it for one of Your writers, when 
 he brings Pagan antiquity to contradidl and difcredit the Jewip, 
 to cry up a Greek hiftorian as an evidence, to which nothing can 
 be objedled ? An imperfect hint from Herodotus^ or Diodorus, 
 though one lived a thoufand, and the other fifteen hundred years 
 after the cafe in queflion, picked up from any lying traveller the 
 one met wit.h in his rambles, or the other found in his colledions, 
 fhall now : outweigh the circumftantial Hiftory of Mofes, who 
 wrote of his own People, and lived in the times he wrote of. But 
 now turn the tables, and apply tne teftimony of thefe Writers, and 
 of others of the beft credit of the fame nation, to the confirmation 
 of the Jewijb hijlory^ .and then nothing is more uncertain aud 
 fallacious than claflical Antiquity. All is darknefs and coufufion : 
 then we are fure to hear of, 
 
 Quicquid Gr^ecla mendax 
 
 Audet In hifloria. • 
 
 * Charaftcriftics, vol. i. p. 345. edit, 3» 
 
 Then
 
 xxxll DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 Then Herodotus is a lying traveller, and Diodorus Slculus a taile- 
 lefs coWtdior. 
 
 Again, when the choice and feparation of the Ifraelites for God's 
 peculiar People, is to be brought in queftion, and made ridiculous, 
 they are reprefented as the vileft, the mofl: profligate, and perverfc 
 race of men : then every indifcreet paffage of a declamatory Divine 
 is raked up with care to make them odious ; and even the hard fiite 
 of the great hiftorian Jofephus pitied, that he had "no better a fub- 
 " je£l than fuch an illiterate, barbarous, and ridiculous people*." 
 
 But when the Scripture-account of the treatment, which the 
 Holy Jefus met with from them, is thought fit to be difputed ; 
 thefe Jews are become an humane and wife Nation ; which never 
 Interfered with the teachings of feds, or the propagation of opi- 
 nions, but where the public fafety was thought to be in danger by 
 feditious dodlrines. 
 
 But fo it is, even with the Bible itfelf, and its beft interpreter, 
 HUMAN REASON. It is generally allowed that the Author of //6^ Dif- 
 courje of Frce-thinkivg, and of the Grounds and Reafons of the Chrif- 
 tian Religion, was one and the fame perfon. Now it being to this 
 man's purpofe in the firft pamphlet, to blaft th^ credit of the book 
 in general, as a rule of faith, the Bible is reprefented as a moft ob- 
 fcure, dark, incomprehenfible colledion of multifarious trads. But 
 in his difcourfe of The Grounds, etc. where -f he is to obviate the 
 reafon of the difficulty in explaining ancient Prophefies, drawn 
 from the genius of the Eaftern ftyle, fentiment, and manners ; 
 this very book is, on a fudden, become fo eafy, plain, and intelli- 
 gible, that no one can pofllbly miftake its meaning. 
 
 Again, the fame Writer, where, in his EJfay concerning the XJfe 
 of Reafon, he thinks fit to difcredit the dodfine of the ever blefTed 
 Trinity, and other myfleries of the Chrifian Faith, reprefents hu- 
 
 * Difcourfe of Free-thinking, p. 157. 
 
 f Difcourfe of Free-thinkiug, p. 68. and of the Grounds and Reafons of tike Chridian 
 Religion, p. 81, S2. 
 
 man
 
 DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. xxxni 
 
 man reafoii as omnlfcient, and the full meafure of all things : but 
 when the proof of the immateriality of the Joul^ from the qualities 
 of MATTER and SPIRIT, is to be obftinately oppofed, the fcene 
 is fhifted, and we are prefented with a new face of things : then 
 Reafon becomes weak, daggering, and impotent : then we know 
 not but one quality may be another quality ; one mode, another 
 mode ; Motion may be confcioufnefs ; and Matter fentient *. 
 
 Thefe, Gentlemen, are the feveral ways in which you have 
 abufed the liberty of the press. One might defy you, with all 
 your good will or invention, to contrive a new one, or to go further 
 in the old ; You have done your worft. It is time to think of grow- 
 ing better. This is the only inference I would draw from your bad 
 conduit. For I am not one of thofe who fay you fliould be disfran- 
 chifed of the Rights you have fo wantonly and wickedly abufed. 
 Natural rights were lefs precarioufly beflowed : the Civile indeed, 
 are frequently given on the condition of the Receiver's good beha- 
 viour. And this difference, in the fccurity of the poffcflion, is 
 founded in the plaineft reafon. Natural rights are fo neceffiry to 
 ■our Being, that, without them, Life becomes miferable ; but the 
 C/t;/7 only contributing to our eafier accommodation, in fome cir- 
 cumftances of it, m.ny be forfeited without injury to our common 
 Nature. ^ 
 
 In a word then, all that we defire is your amendment; without 
 any finifter aim of calling upon the Magiftrate to quicken your 
 pace. So I leave you, as I dare fiiy will He^ to yourfelves. Nor 
 iet any good man be above meafure fcandalized at your faults ; or 
 more impatient for your reformation, than mere charity demands. 
 I do not know what panic the prefent growth of Infidelity may 
 have thrown fome of us into : I, for my part, confide fo much 
 in the goodnefs of our Caufe, that I too could be tempted to laugh 
 in my turn, while I think of an old flory told us by Herodotus +, 
 
 of 
 
 ♦ See his Anfwers to Dr. Clarke. 
 
 t Lib. ii. c. 14. Vid. Plutarch. Symp. 1. iv. Prob. 5. The learned Gale cannot be re- 
 conciled to this kind of hulbandry. Ik is therefore for having the word 't<, ufed by He- 
 VoL^L J'" radotus,
 
 ixxly DEDICATION to the FREE-THINKERS. 
 
 of your favourite Egyptians ; of whom you are like to hear a great 
 deal in the following work. With this tale I fhrJl beg leave to con- 
 clude my long addrefs unto you. 
 
 He tells us then, that at what time their Deity, the Nile, re- 
 turns into his ancient channel ; and the hu{bandman hath com- 
 mitted the ^oo J y?^^ to the opening glebe, it was their cuftom to 
 turn in whole droves of Swine ; to range, to trample, root up, 
 and deftroy at pleafure. And now nothing appeared but defolation, 
 while the ravages of the obfcene herd had killed every chearful 
 hope of future plenty. When on the ifliae, it was feen, that all 
 their perverfity and dirty tafle had efFe£ted, was only this ; that the 
 SEED took better root, incorporated more kindly with the foil, and 
 at length (hot up In a more luxuriant and abundant harvefl.. 
 
 I am. 
 
 Gentlemen* etc. 
 
 roJoius, not to iign\(y fnviKe, but cows or- heifers. His authority for this ufeof the word is 
 Ilejychius. But Plutanh is a much better for the ot^j^r fignification, who in hh Symp^ 
 quoted above, fpeaking to the queftion n»Ti{oiF ol 'louJaVoi atSojAttot tv» 5», etc. mentions, this 
 very circumftance of tillage from Herodotus, and underftands by Zi^Jkvine, The truth of, 
 the matter feems to be this, Hefychius found that tf^ in fome obfcure province or other, 
 meant a Heifer, as x«V{©. amongft the Tyrrhenians, we are told, meant a goat, and fo 
 put it down to inrJch his diftionary with an unufual fignification. 
 
 POST-
 
 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DJEDICATIOl^ 
 
 T O 
 
 THE FREE-THINKERS, 
 
 IN THE EDITION OF 1766. 
 
 A POET and a Critic*, of equal eminence, have concurred, 
 though they did not ftart together, to cenfure what was 
 occafionally faid in this Dedication (as if it had been addrefled to 
 them) of the ufe and abuje of Ridicule. The Poet was a follower of 
 Lord Shaftefbury's fancies ; the Critic a follower of his own. Both 
 Men of Taste, and equally anxious for the well doing of Ridi- 
 cule. I have given fome account of the latter in a note of the 
 Dedication f. The other was too full of the fubjed, and of him- 
 I'elf, to be difpatched with fo little ceremony : he muft therefore 
 undergo an examination apart. 
 
 Since it is (fays he) beyond all contradidlion evident, that we have 
 a natural fenfe or feeling of the ridiculous^ andjinccfo good a Rea/on 
 may be ajfigned to jujlify the fupr erne Being for bejiowing it ; one can- 
 KOT WITHOUT ASTONISHMENT reflect on the conduct of thofe Men 
 •who imagine it for thefervice of true Religion to "vilify and blacken it 
 WITHOUT DISTINCTION, and e7idcavour to perfuade us, that it is never 
 applied but in a bad caufe |. The Reafon here given, to (hew, that 
 
 * See Pleafures of Liiagination, and Elements of Cricicifm, 
 
 f Page xvii. 
 
 X Pleafures of Imagination, p. 105, 106. 
 
 F 2 Ridicuh
 
 xxxvi POSTSCRIPT TO the DEDICATION 
 
 Ridicule and Buffoonry may be properly employed on ferious and 
 even facred fubjefts, is admirable: it is becaufe we have a natural 
 Jenje or feeling of the ridiculous, and becaufe no fenfallon was given us 
 in vain ; which would ferve juft as well to excufe Aduliery or Incef, 
 For have we not as natural a fenfe or feeling of the voluptuous f 
 Yes, he will fiy, but tins fenfe has its proper objedl, virtuous love^ 
 not adulterous or incejiuous : And does he think, 1 will not fay the 
 fame of h'lsfenfe of the ridiculous ? Its proper objefts are, not weighty 
 and Sacred matters, but the civil cuftoms and common occurrences 
 of life. For he ftretched a point when he told the Reader, I vili- 
 fied and blackened it without diftinSiion, The thing I there oppofed, 
 was the ahufive way of art and raillery on religious Subj^Sls, With 
 as little regard to Truth did he fay, thzt I endeavcured to perfuade 
 the Public, that it is never applied but in a had cau[e: For, ia 
 that very place, I apologized, for an eminent writer v/lio had applied 
 it In a good one. 
 
 Ridicule (fays he) is not [i. e. ought not to be] concerned %viih- 
 mere fpeculative Truth and Falfoood^ Certainly. And, for that 
 very reafon I would exclude it from thofe Subjects. What need ? 
 he will fay, for when was it fo employed ? When, does^ he afk ? 
 — When his Mafter ridiculed the SubjeSi of Mr. Locke's Essay of 
 Human Understanding, in the manner there mentioned. Whert 
 the fame noble perfon ridiculed Revelation, in the merry Story 
 of the travelling Gentlemen, who put a wrong bias on their Reafon. 
 
 in order to believe right *. 
 
 He goes on, It is not in abfiradi Fropofitions on Theorems, hut in. 
 ASlions and Pajfiom, Good and Evil, Beauty and Deformity, that we- 
 find Materials for it ; and all thefe Terms are relative, implying Ap^ 
 probation or Blame. The reafon here given, why, not abfraSi 
 Propoftions, &cc. but Actions and Pafions, &c. are the fubje£l of 
 ridicule is, becaufe thefe latter are relative Terms implying Approba^ 
 lion and Blame. But are not the former as much relative Terms, im~ 
 
 * Charaft. vol. Ill, Mifc. 2. c. 3. p. 99, 
 
 7 . ■ P¥"S
 
 TO THE FREE-THINKERS. xxxvii 
 
 plying AJfcnt and Denial f And does not an abfurd Piopofition as 
 frequently afford materials for Ridicule as an abfurd A6lion ? Let 
 the Reader determine by what he finds before him. — To nffz iheiit 
 (fays he) whether Ridicule be aTeJl af truth, is, in ether •words, to 
 ajk 'whether that which is ridiculous can be morally true ; can be jufl 
 and becoming : or whether that -which is juji and becoming can he ridi- 
 culous. A quejlion that does not deferve a ferioiis anfwer. However, 
 in civility to his Mafler, or rather indeed to his Mafter's Mafters, 
 the ancient Sophijls, who, we are told * in the CharaSleriJiics, faid 
 fomething very like it, I fhall give it zferious anfwer. For how, I 
 pray, comes it to pafs, that to alk, whether ridicule beatejl of truth y, 
 is the fame thing as to afk whether that which is ridiculous can be 
 morally true? As if, whatever thing the tejl of Ridicule was applied 
 to, muft needs be ridiculous. Might not one afk. Whether the 
 Cofel^ be ateji of gold, without incurring any abfurdity in queflion- 
 ing. Whether the matter to which the Copel is applied be ftandard 
 gold. But he takes a teft of truth and a deteSiion of error to be one 
 and the fame thing ; and that nothing is brought to this tef but 
 what was known "beforehand, whether it was true or fa If e. His 
 Mafler feems much better verfed in the ufe of things ];. Now, 
 what rule or meafure (fays he) is there in the world, except in confidcr- 
 ing the real temper of things, to find 'whish are truly ferious, and 
 which ridiculous ? And how can this be done, unlefs by applying the ridi- 
 cule TO SEE WHETHER IT WILL BEAR ? 
 
 But if the Reader be curious to fee to the bottom of this affair, 
 he mufl go a little deeper. Lord Shaftefbury, v/e find, was wilUng 
 to know, as every honefl man would. Whether thofe things,, 
 which had the appearance of ferioufnefs and fandfity, were indeed 
 what they appeared. The way of coming to this knowledge had 
 been hitherto by the tefl ofreafon. But this was too dull and te- 
 dious a road for this lively genius. He would go a (hotter and a 
 
 * It was a faying of an ancient fage, " that humour was the only teft of ridicule."' 
 Vol. I. p. 74. 
 
 t CofcUa^ It. in Englifli, ^teft. \ Charaft, vol, I. p. \%. 
 
 pleafanter
 
 xxxvHl POSTSCRIPT to the DEDICATION 
 
 pleafanter way to work, and do the bufinefs by ridicule ; given us, 
 as his Difciple tells us, to aid the tardy Jieps of reajon. This the 
 noble Author would needs apply ^ to fee whether the appearances would 
 hear the Touch. Now it was this ingenious expedient, to which I 
 thought I had caufe to obje£t. For when, he had applied this Touchy 
 and that that, to which it was applied, was found to endure it, 
 what reparation could he make to Truth, for thus placing her in a 
 ridiculous and idle light, in order only, as he pretended, to judge 
 rightly of her ? Oh, for that, faid his Lordfhip, (lie has the 
 amends in her own hands : Let her railley again ; for why Jhoiild 
 fair Honejly be denied the ufe of his Weapon * ? To this fo wanton 
 a liberty with facred Truth, 1 thought I had many good reafons to 
 oppofe; and fo, it feems, thought our Poet likewife : Or why did 
 he endeavour to excufe his Mafter, by putting another fenfe on the 
 application <f ridicule as a Tejl, which implies that the Truth or 
 Falfliood of the thing tried, is already known. But the fhift is un- 
 lucky ; for while it covers his Mailer, it expofes himfelf. For now 
 it may be afkcd, what need of ridicule at all, after the Truth is 
 known ; fince the fole ufe of a tcji, according to his Mafter, confifls 
 in enabling us to difcover the true ftateof things ? 
 
 But now he comes to the Philofophy of his Criticifm on my ab- 
 furdity. For it is mojl evident (fays he) that as in a metaphyfical 
 Tropofition offered to the Underfanding for its affent, the faculty of 
 Reajon examines the terms of the Propojition; and finding one Idea, which 
 •was juppofcd equ.jl to another, to be in fact unequal, of ccnfequence re- 
 jrcls the Propofition as a Jaljljood: So in ObjeSls offered to the Mind 
 for its efeem or applanfe, the faculty of ridicule feeling an incongruity 
 in the claim, urges the Mind to reje^ it with laughter and contempt. 
 And now, how does this fublime account, of Reafon and Ridicule, 
 prove the foregoing Propofition to be abfurd ? Jufl as much, I fup- 
 pofe, as the height of St. Pruil's proves Grantham Steeple toftand 
 awry. 
 
 * Charaft. vol. I. p. 12S. 
 
 However,
 
 TO THE FREE-THINKERS. xxxix 
 
 However, if it cannot prove what precedes, he will try to make 
 it infer what follows : (Vhen therefore (iays he) we obfcrxe Juch 
 a claim obtruded upon ManJiind, and the inconfijlent circiimjtances care- 
 Juli'y concealed from the eye of the Public ^ it is our bufinefs, if the matter 
 be of importance to Society, to drag out thofe latent circumflances, and, 
 by fetting them full in view, convince the World how ridiculous the 
 Claim is ; and thus a double advantage is gained ; for ive both dete£i 
 the moral Falfiood fooner than in the way of fpeculative enquiry, and 
 imprefs the minds of Men with a fronger Jenfe of the vanity atul error 
 of its Authors. And this, and no more, is meant by the application of 
 Ridicule.. A little more, if we may believe his Mafter : who fays, 
 it is not only to dete£i Error, but to try Truth, that is, in his owu 
 expreflion, to fee whether it will bear. But why all this a- do ? for 
 now, we fee, nobody mlflook what was meant by the application of 
 Ridicule, but himfelf. — As to what he faid before, that when 
 ObjcSls are offered to the Mind for its efleem and applaufc, the faculty of 
 Ridicule, feeling an incongruity in the Claim, urges the Mind to rfjeSl it 
 with laughter and contempt ; it is foexprefled, as if he intended it not 
 for the defcription of the Vf, but the ef'ence of Ridicule. But the 
 dealers in this Trafli frequently urge the Mind to reje£l many things 
 with laughter and coutempt, without feeling any other incongruity^ 
 than in their own pretenfioiis to Truth and Honefcy^ And this,, 
 our Poet feems to be no ftranger to. 
 
 For now he comes to the point. — But it is faid the pratlice w 
 dangerous,, and may be inconfijlent with the regard we owe to ObjeSis of 
 real dignity and excellence. I anfwer, the prailice, fairly ma- 
 naged, can never be dangerous. Who- ever thought any thing 
 FAIRLY MANAGED to be dangerous ? The danger is in the abufe or 
 unfair management. The ufe of Stilleto's and Poifons, fairly 
 MANAGED, Can nev'^er be dangerous. And yet this has not hindered 
 all wife States, whenever they have found a violent propenfity to the 
 handling of thefe things, to forbid their promifcuous ufe, under the 
 fevered penalties, to prevent abufe and unfair management.. 
 
 However^
 
 xl POSTSCRIPT TO THE DEDICATION 
 
 However, he allows at length, that Men may be dijhonejl in ob' 
 truding clrcumjlances foreign to the Obje£l ; and we may be inadvertent 
 
 in allowing thofe circtmjlances to impofe upon us ; but but what ? 
 
 Why the sense of Ridicule always judges right. And, he 
 had told us before, that this is a natural Jenfe, and bejloiaed upon us 
 iv the fupreme Being, to aid our tardy Jieps in purfuit of Reafon. 
 Why, as he fays, who can withfland this ? Nothing can be clearer ! 
 Writers may be difhoneft ; Readers may be mifled ; and, the Pub- 
 lic judge wrong, But what then, t\\efenfe of Ridicule always judges 
 right. And while we can fupport our Platonic Republic of Ideas, 
 it fignifies little what becomes of the People, the Faces Romuli. 
 And fo again it is in the ule of Poifons : Men may be diJJ:ioneJi in ob- 
 truding them ; and we inadvertent enough to be imp fed upon. But 
 what then ? The Virtue of Poifon always does its kind. // is a 
 natural power, and bejlowed upon it by th.' fupreme Being, to aid our 
 tardy fieps in purfuit of Vermin. — In truth, one would imagine, by 
 this extraordinary argument, that the queftion was not of the injury 
 to Society by the abufe of Ridicule, but of the injury to Ridicule 
 
 But let us hear him out : The Socrates o/'Ariftophanes is (it will 
 be faid) as truly a ridiculous character as ever wets drawn. True ; 
 but it is not the cbaraSler (?/" Socrates, the divine Moralijl, and Father 
 of ancient Wfdom. Indeed ! — But then, if, like the true Sofia, in 
 the other Comedy, he muft bear the blows of his fictitious Brother, 
 what reparation is there to injured Virtue, to tell us, that he did 
 not deferve them ? 
 
 Again, — What then ? Did the ridicule of the Poet hinder the Phi- 
 lofopker from deteSling and dfclaiming thofe foreign circumfances which 
 he had fulfcly introduced into his character, and thus rendering the Sa' 
 tirifl doubly ridiculous in his turn ? See here again ! all his concern, 
 we find, is, left good Raillery fhould be beat at i-ts own weapons. 
 No, indeed, I cannot fee how it could poffibly hinder the Philofo- 
 pher from detedting and difclaiming. But this it did, which furely 
 
 deferves
 
 TO THE FREE-THINKERS. xll 
 
 deferves a little confideration, it hindered the People {rom feeing wliat 
 
 he had detcdfed and d'lfclatmed A mighty confolation, truly, to 
 
 the illuftrious Sufferer, that he dijclaimed the Foors Coat they had put 
 upon him ! 
 
 But what is the Sacrifice of a Socrates now and then to fecure to 
 •us x\i&free ufe of that ineftimable blefiing. Buffoon ry ? So thinks 
 our Poet ; when all the Anfwer he gives to fo natural, fo ccmpaflio- 
 nate an objedion as this, — it neverthelefs had an ill influence on the 
 minds of the People, — is telling us a ftory of the Atheifl Spinoza ; 
 while the godlike Socrates is left deferted, in the hands of his Judges ; 
 whither Ridicule, this noble guide of Truth, had fafely brought 
 him. 
 
 But let us hear the concluding anfwer which the rcfpcdiable Spi- 
 noza is employed to illuftrate. And fo (fays he) has the reafoning 
 
 e^ Spinoza made many Athcifls ; he has founded it indeed on Suppofitions 
 utterly jalfe\ hut allow him thefe^ and his Conclufions are unavoidably 
 true, And if we mufl rejeEl the f//^(?/" Ridicule becaufe, by the impoji- 
 tion offalfe circumflances, things may be made tofeem ridiculous, "which 
 are not fo in themfelves. Why we ought not in the fame manner to rc- 
 jeSl the ufe of Reafon, becaufe, by proceeding cnfafe Principles, con' 
 clufwns will appear true which are impojfble in Nature, let the vehe- 
 ment and obflinate Declaimers againf Ridicule determine. 
 
 Nay, we dare trufi: it with any one ; whofe common fenfe is not 
 all run to 'Tafte. What ! becaufe Reason, the guide of Life, 
 the fupport of Religion, the invefligator of Truth, mufl be 
 ftill ufed though it be continually fubjecH: to abufe ; therefore 
 Ridicule, the paultry buffoon Mimic of Reason, mufl have the 
 fame indulgence ! becaufe a King mufl be intrufled with Govern- 
 ment, though he may mlfufe his power ; therefore the King's Fool 
 fhall be fuffered to play the Madman ! But upon what footing 
 ftandeth this extraordinary Claim ? Why, we have a natural fenfe 
 of the Ridiculous', and the Ridiculous has a natural feeling of the In^ 
 
 congruous; and then who can forbear laughing? If to this, 
 
 you add Tafe, Beauty^ Deformity, Moral-Jenfe, Moral-re£fitude, 
 
 Vol. I. G Moral-
 
 xlii POSTSCRIPT TO the DEDICATION, &c. 
 
 Moral-faljhood; you have then, I think, the whole Theory of the 
 Ridiculous. But who would have unaguied, that while he was 
 defending Ridicule from the charge of abuse, he fhould be adding 
 frefh exceptions to his own Plea ? Not indeed, that the comment 
 difgraced the Text ; or that there was much Incongruity in pleading 
 for a fault he was juft then committing. But fo it is, that, where 
 he is poetically marfhalling the follies of human Life, he places the 
 whole body of the Cbrifiian Clergy in the foremoft rank. Amongfl: 
 fuch, who, he tells us, ajjume fome dejirable quality or f)oJpjfwn which 
 evidently does not belong to tkem *. -. ■ 
 
 "Others, of graver Mien, behold; adorn'd 
 " With holy Eniigns, how fublime they move, 
 " And, bending oft ihtw fanSlimonious Eyes, 
 " Take homage of the Simple-minded 'Throng, 
 " Ambassadors ov Heav'n +•" 
 
 But let it go for what it is; A poor joke of his Ma{>er's |', 
 
 and Ipoil'd too in the telling. The duhwfs of the Ridicule will fuf' 
 ficiently atone for the abufe of it. 
 
 * Page 49. t T'^ge 96. t Charaa. Vol. III. p. 336. 
 
 PREFACE
 
 [ xllii J 
 
 p R IE.. F ACE 
 
 T O 
 
 The first EDITION in MDCCXXXVIII. 
 
 TH E following fheets make the Jir/l volume of a work, de- 
 figned to prove the Divine origin of the Jewish reli- 
 gion. As the author was neither indebted, nor engaged to the 
 Public, he hath done his Readers no injury in not giving them 
 more ; and had they not had ibis, neither he nor they, perhaps, 
 had efteemed themfelves lofers. For writing for no Party, it is 
 likely he will pleafe none ; and begging no Prote£lion, it is more 
 likely he will find none : and he muft have more of the confidence 
 of a modern Writer than falls to his fhare, to think of making 
 much way with the feeble effort of his own reafon. 
 
 Writers, indeed, have been oft betrayed into ftrange abfurd con- 
 clufions, from I can't tell what obfolete claim, which Letters 
 have to the patronage of the Great : a relation, if indeed there 
 ever were any, long fince worn out and forgotten ; the Great now 
 feeming reafonably well convinced, that it had never any better 
 foundation than the rhetorical importunity of Beggars. 
 
 But however this claim of Patronage may be underftood, there 
 
 is aaother of a more important nature ; which is the Patronage of 
 
 Religion. The Author begs leave to affure Thofe who have no 
 
 time to fpare from their attejition on the Public, that the Protedion 
 
 G 2 of
 
 xliv PREFACE TO THE; FIRST EDITION. 
 
 of Religion is indifpenfably neceflary to all Governments ; and for 
 his warrant he offers them the following volume ; which en^fea- 
 vours to (hew the necefTity of,KEX.XGiON ia general, and of the 
 doftrine of a future state in particular, to civil Society, from 
 the nature of things and the univerfal confent of Mankind. The 
 proving this, I make no queilionj, many Politicians will efteem 
 Sufficient : But thofe who are folicitous to have Religion true as 
 well as USEFUL, the author will endeavour to fatisfy in the follow- 
 ing volumes. 
 
 TPTE
 
 [ 45 1 
 
 THE 
 
 DIVINE LEGATION 
 
 O F 
 
 M O S E S 
 
 DEMONSTRATED. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 TH E Writers, In defence of revealed Religion, diftinguifh 
 their arguments into two forts : the one they call tlie 
 INTERNAL, and the other the external Evidence. Of thefe, 
 the firfl is, in its nature, more fimple and perfe^l ; and even capa- 
 ble of deraonftration : while the other, made up of very diflimllar 
 materials, and borrowing aid from without, muft needs have fome 
 parts of unequal ftrength with the reft ; and, confequently, lie open 
 to the attacks of a willing adverfary. Befides, the intemal evidence 
 is, by its nature, perpetuated ; and fo fitted for all ages and occa- 
 fions : while the external^ by length of time, weakens and decays. 
 For the nature and genius of the religion defended affording the 
 proofs of the firft kind, thefe materials of defence are infeparable 
 from its exiftence ; and fo throughout all ages the fame. But Time
 
 46 THE DIVINELEGATION Book I. 
 
 may, and doth, efface memorials independent of that exiftence ; out 
 of which the external evidence is compofed : which evidence muft 
 therefore become more and more imperfe£t, without being affefted 
 by that whimfical and partial calculation, to which a certain Scotch- 
 man * would fubje6l it f. - Nay, of fuch ufe is the internal evidence, 
 that, even the very befl: of the external Cc^nnot fupport itfelf with- 
 out it : for when (for inftance) the fupernatural fafts done by the 
 founders of our holy faith, are unqueftionably verified by human 
 teftimony, the evidence of their divinity will not follow till the 
 nature of that dodtrine be examined, for whofe eftablifhment thty 
 were performed. Indeed, in the inflance here given, they muft be 
 inforced in conjun£llon before any conclufion can be drawn for the 
 truth of the Revelation In queftion. But were there no other bene- 
 fit arifing from the cultivation of the internal evidence than the 
 gaining, by it, a more perfe(5l knowledge of God's word ; this, fure, 
 would be enough to engage us in a vigorous profecution of It. That 
 this is one of its fruits I need not tell fuch as are acquainted with. 
 its nature. And it is not without occafion I take notice of this ad- 
 vantage : for who, in this long controverfy between us and the 
 Delfts, hath not applied to certain advocates of Revelation, what 
 was formerly fald of Armbiiis and haSlantius, 'that they undertook the 
 defence of Chriflianity before they underjiood it f A misfortune which 
 
 * Craig, ThcologiK Chrift. Principia Mathematica, London, 1699, 4to. 
 
 f This gradual weakening of the external evidence hath in faft adually happened ; 
 and was occafioned by the lofs of feveral ancient teflimonies, both Pagan and Chriftian, 
 for the triith of Revelation ; which learned men, on feveral occafions, have frequently- 
 lamented. This is the only way, I fuppofe, the external evidence can weaken. — As it is 
 of the nature of true Religion to fuffer by time, fo it is of the nature of the. fal/e to gaia 
 by it. " L'Antiquite convient li la Religion (fays the learned Prefident de Montefjuieu) 
 " parce que fouvent nous croyons plus les chofes a mefure qu'elles font plus reculees; 
 " car nous n'avons pas dans la tele des idees acceflbires tirees de ces temps-la, qui puif- 
 " fent les contradire." VEfprit des Loix, lib. xxvi. c. 2. For whatever Religion, thus 
 cjrcumflanced, the Writer had then in his thoughts, he muft needs fuppofe it to be a 
 falfe one ; it being nonfenfe to fuppofe the true flio'ild ever be attended with any external 
 evidence which argued it of falfehood. 
 
 probably.
 
 Sect.!. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 47 
 
 probably, the more careful ftudy of the internal evidence would 
 have prevented ; becaufe no one, well verfed ill that, could have 
 continued ignorant of fo important a principle, as that the doc- 
 trine OF REDEMPTION IS OF THE VERY ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANI- 
 TY. Notwithftandlng thefe fuperior advantages, it hath fo hap- 
 pened, that the internal evidence hath been hitherto ufed as an in- 
 troduftion only to the external: and vi'hile by the latter, men have 
 proved our Religion a£lually divine, they have gone no further 
 with the/ormer, than to fliew it worthy indeed of fuch original. 
 
 What may have occafioned this negleft, is not fo eafy to fay. 
 Perhaps it was becaufe Writers have, in general, imagined that the 
 difficulties of profecuting the internal method to efFe6l, are not fo 
 eafily furmounted as thofe which attend the other ; as fuppofing 
 that the Writer on the external evidence hath only need of the 
 ufual provifion of church-hiftory, common diligence, and judge- 
 ment, to become mafter of his fubje^t ; while the reafoner on the 
 internal proof, muft, befides thefe, have a thorough knowledge of 
 human Nature, civil Policy, the univerfal hiftory of Mankind, an 
 exa£l idea of the Mofaic and Chrijiian Difpenfations cleared from 
 the froth and grounds of fchool-fubtilties, and church-fyflems ; 
 luid, above all, fliould be blefled with a certain fngacity, to invefti- 
 gate the relations of human aclions, through all the combinations 
 of natural, civil, and moral complexities. What may fuggeft this 
 conclufion is, their reflefting, that, in the external evidence, each 
 circumftance, that makes for the truth of revealed Religion, is feeu 
 to do fo, as foon as known : fo that the chief labour, here, is to 
 fearch and pick out fuch, and to place them in their proper light 
 and fituation ; but that, in profecuting the internal evidence, tlie 
 cafe is widely different : a circumftance in the frame and compo- 
 ikion of this Religion, which perhaps, fome time or other, maybe 
 difcovered to be a Demon ftration of its divinity, fhall be fo far from 
 being generally thought aflillant in its proof, that it lliall be efleem- 
 cd, by mofl, a prejudice againfl it : of which, I fuppofe, the fub- 
 je£t of the following difcourfe will afford a remarkable example. 
 
 And
 
 48 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 And no wonder, that a Religioti of divine original, conftituted to 
 ferve many admirable ends of Providence, fhould be full of fuch 
 complicated myfteries, as filled the learned Apoftle with aftonifh- 
 ment. On the other hand, this Religion being for the ufe of 
 man, we need not defpair, when we have attained a proper know- 
 ledge of man's nature, and the dependencies thereon, of making 
 flill growing difcoveries, on the internal evidence, of the divinity of 
 its original. 
 
 Now, though all this may be true ; and that, confequently, it 
 would appear a childifh arrogance in an ordinary writer, after having 
 ietn the difficulties attending this method, to hope to overcome 
 them, by the qualities here faid to be required ; yet no modeft 
 fearcher after truth need be difcouraged. For there are, in revealed 
 Religion, befides thofe interior marks of truth, above defcrlbed, 
 which require the delicate operation of a great Genius and Ma/ler- 
 workman to bring out and polifh, others alfo, no lefs illuftrious, 
 but more univocal marks of truth, which God hath been pleafed to 
 imprefs upon his Dlfpenfations ; which require no great qualities, 
 but humility, and love of truth, in him, who would from thence 
 attempt to 'vindicate the ways of God to man. 
 
 The Subje£l of this Dlfcourfe is one of thofe illuflrlous marks : 
 from which, the difcoverer claims no merit from any long, learned, 
 or laborious fearch. It is honour enough for him that he is the firfl 
 who brings it out to obfervation ; if he be indeed the flrft. For the 
 demonftration Is fo ftrong and beautiful, and, at the fame time, ap- 
 pears to be {o eafy and fimple, that one cannot tell whether the 
 pleafure of the difcovery, or the wonder that it is now to make, be 
 the greater. 
 
 The Medium, I employ, is the Omiffion of the doctrine of a 
 future ftate of rewards and puhilhments, in the laws and religion 
 Mofes delivered to the Jewip people. By this, I pretend to carry 
 the internal evidence much further than ufual ; even to the height 
 of which it is capable, moral demonftratlon. 
 
 Why
 
 Sect. I. OF MO SES DEM O N STR ATED. 49 
 
 Why I chufe to begin with the defence of Mofes, is from ob- 
 ferving a notion to have fpread very much of late, even amongft 
 many who would be thought Chrifiians, that the truth of Chrlftia- 
 nlty is independent of the jeivi/l: Difpenfation : a notion, which 
 was, 'till now, peculiar to the Socinians ; who go fo far as to main- 
 tain *, that the biowkdge of the Old Tejlament is not ahjolutely necej- 
 fary for Chrifians : and, thofe who profefs to think more foberly, 
 are generally gone into an opinion that the truth of xht jewifi Re- 
 ligion is impodible to be proved, but upon the truth of the Chrtf- 
 tlan. As to the firft fort of people, if they really Imagine Chrif- 
 tianity hath no dependence on Judaifm, they deferve our compaf- 
 fion, as being plainly ignorant of the very elements of the Reli- 
 gion they profefs ; however fuitable the opinion may be to a modern 
 fafliionable notion, not borrowed from, but the fame with, the So' 
 c'lnian^ that Chrifilanity is only the republication of the religion of Na- 
 ture, As for the more fober, it is reafonable to think, that they 
 fell into the miftake from a view of difficulties, In thtjewijh Dif- 
 penfation, which they judged too flubborn to be removed. I may 
 pretend then to their thanks, if 1 fucceed, by coming fo feafona- 
 bly to their relief; and freeing their reafonings from a vicious 
 circle, which would firft prove the chriflian by the jcwifJ} ; and 
 then the jeivifj, by the chriflian Religion. 
 
 Why I chufe this inedlum, namely, the om^ffion of a future flat e 
 in thejewifi Difpenfation, to prove 'ts divine original, Is, Firf, for 
 the fake of the Deists : being' enabled hereby to fhew them, 
 I. That this very circumftance of Oniijfion, which they pretend to 
 be fuch an Iraperfeftlon, as makes the Difpenfation unworthy the 
 Author to whom we afcrlbe it, Is, hi truth, a Demonftratlon that 
 God only could give it. 2. That thofe feveral important paflliges 
 of Scripture, which they charge with obfcurlty, Injuftlce, and con- 
 tradiaion, are, Indeed, full of light, equity, and concord. 3. That 
 their high notions of the antiquity of the Religion and Learning 
 * Cuper, atlverf. Traa. Theol. Polit. lib. i. 
 
 Vol. I. H of
 
 50 THE DI V IN E LEGATION Book L 
 
 of the Mgyptians, which they incefiantly produce, as their /^/w^ry 
 argument, to confront and overturn the hidory of ?^IoJes^ do, in an 
 invincible manner, confirm and fupport it. 
 
 Secondly, For the fake of the Jews ; who will, at the fame 
 time, be ftiewn, that the nature of thelHEOCR acy here deUvered, 
 and the omission of the doctrine of a future llate in that Dilpenfa- 
 tion, evidently obliges them to look for a more perfed revelation of 
 God's Will. 
 
 Th'irdh^ For the fake of the Socinians; who will find, that 
 Chrijl'taruty agrees neither with Itfelf, nor with Judaljm ; neither 
 with the Difpenfations of God, nor the declared purpofe of his. 
 Son's Miflion, on their principle, of its being only a republicatiov^ 
 of the religion of Nature, 
 
 In this Demonftration, therefore, which we fuppofe very little 
 (hort of mathematical certainty, and to which nothing but a mere 
 phyfical poffibility of the contrary can be oppofed, we demand 
 only this fingle Pojlulatim, that hath all the clearnefs of felf- evi- 
 dence ; namely, 
 
 " That a fkilful Lawgiver, eftabllfliing a Religion, and civil Po- 
 " licy, adts with certain views,, and for certain ends ; and not 
 " capricioufly, or without purpofe or defign." 
 
 This being granted, we eredl our Demonjftratlon on thefe three 
 very clear and fimple propofitions : 
 
 1. " That to inculcate the doctrine of a future state op 
 *« rewards and punishments, is necessary to the well 
 " being of civil society. 
 
 2. " That all mankind, especially the most wise and 
 " learned nations of antiquity, have concurred in 
 " believing and teaching, that this doctrine was of 
 •* such use to civil society. 
 
 »'3.That
 
 Sect. I. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 51 
 3. " That the doctrine of a future state of rewards and 
 
 " punishments is not to be found in, nor did make 
 
 *' part of, the mosiac dispensation." 
 
 Propofitlons fo clear and evident, that, one would think, we might 
 
 direftly proceed to our Conclulioii, 
 
 That therefore the law of Moses is of divine original. 
 
 Which, one or hoth of the two following syllogisms will 
 
 evince, 
 
 I. Whatfoever Religion and Society have no future flate for their 
 fupport, muft be fupported by an extraordinary Providence. 
 
 The JewiJJj Religion and Society had no future ftate for their 
 
 fupport : 
 Therefore, the Jexvip.i Religion and Society were fupported by 
 
 an extraordinary Providence. 
 
 And again, 
 
 II. The ancient Lawgivers univerfally believed that fuch a Reli- 
 gion could be fupported only by an extraordinary Providence. 
 
 Moses, an ancient Lawgiver, verfed in all the wifdom oi Egypt y 
 
 purpofely inllltuted fuch a Religion. 
 Therefore, Mofes believed his Religion was fupported by an ex- 
 traordinary Providence. 
 
 But fo capricious are men's paffions, now for paradox, and 
 now for system, that thefe, with all their evidence, have need of 
 a very particular defence ; Libertines and Unbelievers denying the 
 MAJOR propofitlons of both thefe Syllogifms; and many Bigots 
 amongft Believers, the minor of the firfl. Thefe paffions, how- 
 ever different with regard to the objefts that excite them, and to the 
 fubjefts in which they are found, have this in common, that they 
 never rife but on the ruins of Reafon. The bufinefs of the Reli- 
 gioniil being to eftablifh, if his UndcrfTanding be too much nar- 
 H 2 rowed.
 
 52 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 rowed, he contrails himfel fin to ^^ly^d-w; and that of the Infidel, to 
 overturn ; if his Will be depraved, he, as naturally, runs out into 
 Paradoxes. Slavifh, or licentious thinking, the tvi^o extremes of 
 free enquiry, {huts them up from all inftrudiive views, or makes 
 them fly out beyond all -reafonable limits. And as extremes fall 
 eafily into one another, we fometimes fee the oppofite writers 
 change hands: the Infidel, to fliew fomething like coherence 
 in his paradoxes, reprefents them as the feveral parts of zjyjletn ; and 
 the Religionift, to give a reliih to Xnsfyjiem, powders it with pa- 
 radoxes: in which arts, two late Hibernians^, the heroes of their 
 feveral parties, were very notably praiStifed and diftinguiflied. 
 
 It was not long then before I found, that the difcovery of this 
 important truth would ingage me in a full dilucidation of the Pre- 
 inijj'es of the two Syliogifms : the Major of both requiring a levere 
 fearch into the civil Policy, Religion, and Philofophy of ancient 
 times ; and the Minor, a detailed account of the nature and ge- 
 nius ofthejewijlj Difpeufation. The prefent volume is deftined to 
 the firft part of this labour; and the following, to the fecond. 
 Where, in removing the objedions which lie in our way, on both 
 fides, we fhall be obliged to flretch the inquiry high and wide. 
 But this, always, with an eye to the direction of our great mafter 
 of reafon t* ^^ endeavour, throughout the body of this dijcourje, that 
 every former part may give Jlrength unto all that follow, and every 
 latter bring fome light unto all before. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 THE firfl: propofition, that to inculcate the doctrine 
 OF A FUTURE STATE OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS IS NE- 
 CESSARY TO THE WELL BEING OF CIVIL SOCIETY, 1 fhall Cndea- 
 
 * See the difcourfe called Nazarenus — An Epiftolary Difcourfe concerning the Immor- 
 tality of the Soul,— — Differtationes CyprianicK, &c. 
 t Hooker. 
 
 vour
 
 Sect. 2. OF MOSES DE iM ON STR A TE D. 53 
 
 vour to prove, from the nature of man, and the genius of civil 
 ibciety. 
 
 The general appetite of felf-prefervatlon being moO: indifpenfable 
 to every animal, nature hath made it the ftrongeft of all. And 
 though, in the rational, this faculty alone might be fuppofed fuffi- 
 cient to anfwer the end, for which that appetite is beftowed on the 
 others, yet, the better to fecure that end, nature hath given man, 
 likewlfe, a very coniiderable fhare of the fame inftindt, with which 
 Ihe hath endowed brutes fo admirably to provide for their prefeiva- 
 tion. Now whether it was fome plaftic Nature that was here ia 
 fault, which Bacon fays, knows not how to keep a mean *, or, that 
 it was all owing to the perverfe ufe of human liberty, certain it is,, 
 that, borne away with the luft of gratifying this appetite, man, in 
 a ftate of nature, foon ran into very violent excelles ; and never 
 thought he had fufficiently provided for his own being, till he had 
 deprived his fellows of the free enjoyment of theirs. Hence, all 
 thofe evils of mutual violence, rapine, and flaughter, which, in a 
 ftate of nature, where all are equal, muft needs be abundant.. Be- 
 caufe, though man, in this ftate, was not without a law, which 
 exafted punifhment on evil doers, yet, the adminiftration of that 
 law not being in common hands, but either in the perfon offended, 
 who being a party would be apt to inforce the punifliment to ex- 
 cefs ; or eife in the hands of every one, as the offence was agalnft 
 all, and affeded the good of each not immediately or diredtly, would 
 be executed remiflly. And very often, where both thefe executors 
 of the law of nature were difpofed, the one to be impartial, and the 
 other not remifs in the adminiftration of juftlce, they would yet 
 want fufficient power to enforce it. Which together would fo 
 much inflame the evils above mentioned, that they would foon be- 
 come as general, and as intolerable, as the Hobbeiji reprefents them 
 in that ftate to be, were it not for the reftraining principle of 
 RELIGION, which kept men from running into the confufion necel?- 
 
 • * Mcdura tencre nefcia eft. Aiigm. Scient. 
 
 farily
 
 54 THEDIVINE LEGATION Book L 
 
 farily coufequent on the principle of inordinate felf-love. But yet 
 Religion could not operate with fufficient efficacy, for want, as we 
 obferved before, of a common Arbiter, who had impartiality fairly 
 to apply the rule of right, and power to enforce its operations. 
 So that thefe two principles were in endlefs jar ; in which, Juf- 
 tice generally came by the word. It was therefore found neceflary 
 to call in the civil magistrate as the Ally oi Religion, to turn 
 the balance. 
 
 Jura invenla metu injujli, faieare neceffe ejl, 
 Tempora Ji fajiofque velis evohere mwidi. 
 
 Thus was Society invented for a remedy againil: injuflice ; and 
 a Magi/Irate, by mutual confent, appointed, to give a fanftion 
 *' to that common meafure, to which, reafon teaches us, that 
 " creatures of the fame rank and fpecies, promilcuoufly born to 
 *' the fame advantages of nature and to the ufe of the fame fa- 
 *« culties, have all an equal right *." Where it is to be obferved, 
 that though fociety provides for all thofe conveniences and accom- 
 modations of a more elegant life, which man muft have been con- 
 tent to have lived without, in a ftate of nature ; yet it is more than 
 probable that thefe were never thought of when Society was firll: 
 eftabliflied t ; but that they were the mutual violences and injuftices, 
 at length become intolerable, which fet men upon contriving this 
 generous remedy : Becaufe Evil felt hath a much Oronger influence 
 on the mind than Good imagined ; and the means of removing the 
 one is much ealier difcovered, than the way to procure the other. 
 And this, by the wife difpofitioii of the Creator ; the avoiding pain 
 
 * Locke. 
 
 f Though the judicious Hooker thinks thofe advantages were principally intended, 
 when man firli entered into fociety : this was the caitfc, fays he, of mens uniting themfelvei 
 atfirjl into folitiipte focieties, Ecd. Pol. 1. i. § ro. pag. 25. I. 1. His mafter Ariftotle, 
 though extremely concife, feems to hint, that this was but the fecondary end of civil fo- 
 ciety, and that That was the firft, which we mjke to be fo. His words are : t'Ivo^/kd i^h 
 «» rS ^r,i ?,iiti», vaa, it tS ui i^nu Pol, lib. i. cap. 2. p. 396. B, ToO). ill'. Paris. 1639. fol. 
 
 being
 
 SrcT. 2. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 55 
 
 being neceffiry to our nature ; not fo, the procuring pleafure. Be- 
 fides, the idea of thofe unexperienced conveniencies would be, at 
 beft, very oblcure : and how unable men would be, before trial, to 
 judge that Society would beftow them, we may guefs by obferving, 
 how little, even now, tlie generality of men, who enjoy thefe 
 bleffings, know or refleft that they are owing to fociety, or how it 
 procures them ; becaufe it doth it neither immediately nor diredlly.. 
 But they would have a very lively fenfe of evils felt ; and could fee 
 that Society was the remedy, becaufe the very definition of the- 
 word would teach them how it becomes fo. Yet becaufe civil So- 
 ciety fo greatly improves human life, this improvement may be 
 called, and not unaptly, the Jecondary end of that Convention.. 
 Thus, as Arijiotle accurately obferves in the words below, that 
 which was at firft conftituted for the fake of living, is carried oa 
 for the fake of happy living. 
 
 This is further feen from fad. For we find thofe favage na- 
 tions *, which happen to live peaceably out of fociety, have never 
 once entertained a thought of coming into it, though they perceive 
 all the advantages of that improved condition, in their civilized 
 neighbours, round about them. 
 
 Civil Society thus eikblifhed, from this time, as the poet fings, 
 
 ahfijlcre bello 
 Oppida cccperunt munire, & ponere leges, 
 Ne quisfur ejfet, neu latro, neu quis adulter. 
 
 But as before bare religion was no prefervative againft moral 
 diforders : fo now, society alone, would be equally unable to pre- 
 vent ihem. 
 
 I. I. For/r/?, its laws. can have no further efficacy than to re- 
 train men from open tranfgreflion ; while what is done amifs in 
 
 * See § V. iv. 2. where it is fliewn, how it might happen that men, in a flate of 
 nature, might live together in peace ; though we have there given the reafons why they 
 very rarely do. 
 
 ^rivate^
 
 56 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book!, 
 
 private, though equally tending to the public hurt, efcapcs their 
 animadverfion ; and man, fince his entering into Society, would 
 have greatly innproved his praftice in this fecret way of mifchief. 
 For now an effectual iecurity being provided againft open violence^ 
 and the inordinate principle of felf love being ftlll the fame, fecret 
 craft was the art to be improved ; and the guards of Society invit- 
 ing men to a carelefs fecurity, what advantages this would afford 
 to thofe hidden mifchiefs which civil laws could not cenfure, is eafy 
 to conceive. 
 
 2. But, fecondly, the influence of civil Laws cannot, in all cafes, 
 be extended even thus far, namely, to reftrain open tranfgrefilon. 
 It cannot then^ when the fevere prohibition of one irregularity 
 threatens the bringing on a greater : and this will always be the 
 cafe when the irregularity is owing to the violence of the fenfual 
 appetites. Hence it hath come to pafs, that no great and opulent 
 Community could ever ^\im{\\ fornication, in fuch a fort as its ill 
 influence on Society was confefled to deierve : becaufe It was always 
 found, that a fevere reftraint of this, opened the way to more fla- 
 gitious lufts. 
 
 2. The very attention of civil Laws to their 'principal objeft oc- 
 cafions a further inefficacy in their operations. To underhand this 
 we muft confider, that the care of the State is for the whole, un- 
 der which individuals are confidered but in the fecond place, as ac- 
 cefTaries only to that nJohoJe ; the confequence of which is, that, 
 for the fake of the Aggregate, individuals are fometimes left neg- 
 lected ; which happens when general, rather than particular views 
 ingrofs the public attention. Now the care oi Religion is for par- 
 ticulars; and a Whole has but the fecond place in its concern. 
 But this is only touched upon to fhew, in pafling, the natural re- 
 medy far the defeats here explained. 
 
 4. But this was not all, there was a further inefficacy in human 
 
 Laws : the Leglflature, in enquiring into the mutual duties of 
 
 Citizens, ariling from their equality of condition, found thofe duties 
 
 7 t°
 
 Sect. z. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. ^1 
 
 to be of two kinds : the firft, they intituled the duties of per« 
 FECT obligation; becaufe civil Laws could readily, ^and com- 
 modioufly, and were, of neceffity, required to enforce their obfer- 
 vance. The other they called the duties of imperfect obliga- 
 tion ; not, that morality does not as ftrongly exad them, but be- 
 caufe, civil Laws could not conveniently take notice of them ; and, 
 that they were fuppofed not fo immediately and vitally to affed 
 the being of Society. Of this latter kind are gratitude, hofp'ttallty, 
 charity, &c. Concerning fuch, civil Laws, for thefe reafons, are 
 generally filent. And yet, though it may be true, that thefe du- 
 ties, which human Laws thus overlook, may not (b diredly affedl 
 Society, it is very certain, that their violation brings on as fatal, 
 though not fo fwift deftruftion, as that of the duties oi perfe£i obli' 
 gation. A very competent judge, and who alfo fpeaks the fenti- 
 ment of Antiquity in this matter, hath not fcrupled to fay : " Ut 
 " fcias per fe expetendam cfle grati animi adfeSiionem, per fe fu- 
 *' gienda res eft ingratum efle : quoniam nihil aeque concordiam hu- 
 " mani generis difibciat ac diftrahit quam hoc vitium *." 
 
 5. But ftill further, befides thefe duties both oi perfeSl and imper^ 
 J'cSi obligation, for the encouraging and enforcing of which civil 
 
 Society was invented ; Society itfelf begot and produced a ?iewfet 
 cf duties, which are, to fpeak in the mode of the Legiflature, of 
 imperfeSl obligation : the firft and principal of which is that anti- 
 quated forgotten virtue called the love of our country. 
 
 6. But /ajily. Society not only introduced a new fet of duties, 
 but likewife increafed and inflamed, to an infinite degree, thofe in- 
 ordinate appetites, for whofe correction it was invented and intro- 
 duced : like fome kind of powerful medicines, which, at the very 
 time they are working a cure, heighten the malignity of the dif- 
 eafe. For our wants increafe, in proportion as the arts of life ad- 
 vance. But in proportion to our wants, fo is our uneafuiefs ; — to 
 our uneafinefs, fo our endeavours to remove it— to our endeavours, 
 fo the weaknefs of human refraint. Hence it is evident, that in 
 
 * Seneca de Eenef. lib. iv. cap. i8. 
 
 Vol. I. I a state
 
 58 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 a STATE OF NATURE, where little is confulted but the fupport of 
 our being, our wants muft be few, and our appetites, in propor- 
 tion, weak; and that in civil society, where the arts of life 
 are cultivated, our wants muft be many, and our appetites, in 
 proportion, ftrong. 
 
 II. Thus far concerning the imperfeflion of civil Society, with 
 regard to the adminiftration of that power which it hath, namely 
 ol punijh'tng Tranfgreflbrs. We (hall next confKler its much greater 
 imperfedlion with regard to that power which k wanteth ; namely 
 oi rewarding the Obedient. 
 
 The two great fan£lions of all Law and Command are rexvard- 
 and PUNISHMENT. Thefe are generally called the two hinges, on 
 which all kinds of Government turn. And fo far is certain, and 
 apparent to the common fenfe of mankind, that whatever laws 
 are hot enforced by both thefe fanftions, will never be obferved 
 in any degree fufficient to carry on the ends of civil Society. 
 
 Yet, I fliall now {hew, from the original conftitutioa and nature 
 of this Society, that it neither had, nor could enforce, the sanc- 
 tion OF REWARI>. 
 
 But, to avoid miftakes, I defire it may be obferved, that by re- 
 ivard, muft needs here be meant, fuch as is conferred on every one 
 for obeying the laws of his country j not fucli as is beftowed on par- 
 ticulars, for any eminent fervice : as by ■piinipment we underfland 
 that which is infixed on every one for tranfgreffing the laws ; not that 
 which is impofed on particulars, for negle<fling to do all the fervice 
 in their power. 
 
 I make no doubt but this will be called a paradox ; nothing being 
 more common in the mouths of politicians*, than that thefanSlions 
 of reward and funifhment are the two pillars of civil government j. 
 and all the modern Utopias and ancient fyflems of fpeculative po- 
 
 * Neque folum ut Solonis di£lum ufurpem, qui & fapientillimus fiiit ex feptem, & 
 legum fcriptor iblus ex feptem. Is rempublicam duahus relus contincri dixit, framio t^ p(end. 
 Cic. ad Biutum, Ep. 15. Edit. Oxon. 4to. T. IX. p. 85, 86. 
 
 litics
 
 Sect. 2. O F M O S E S D E M O N S T R A T E D. 59 
 
 litics derive the whole vigour of their laws from thefe two fources. 
 In fupport then of my afl'ertion, permit me to inforce the two fol- 
 lowing propofitions : 
 
 I. That, by the original conjlitution of civil Government, the 
 fandlion of rewards was not eftablifhed by it. 
 
 II. That by the very nature of civil Government they could not 
 be eftabliflied. 
 
 I. The truth of the firft propofition appears from hence. On 
 entering into Society, it was ftipulated, between the Magiftrate and 
 People, that proteSlion and obedience Ihould be the reciprocal condi- 
 tions of each other. When, therefore, a citizen obeys the laws, that 
 debt on Society is difcharged by the prote6llon it afFordeth him. But 
 in refpeftto difobedlence, the proceeding is not analogous ; (though 
 protedllon, as the condition of obedience, implies the withdrawing 
 of it, for difobedlence;) and for thefe reafons : The effecfl of withdraw- 
 ing protection mufl be either expulfion from the Society, or the expof- 
 ing the offender to all kind of licence, from others, in it. Society 
 could not praftife the firfl:, without bringing the body politic into 
 a confumption ; nor the latter without throwing it into convulfions. 
 Befides, the firft is no punlfliment at all, but by accident ; it 
 being only the leaving one Society to enter into another : and the 
 fecond is a very inadequate punifhment ; for though all obedience 
 be the fame, and fo, uniform proteSlion a proper return for it ; yet 
 difobedlence being of various kinds and degrees, the withdrawing 
 protedllon, in this latter fenfe, would be too great a punlfhment for 
 fome crimes, and too fmall for others. 
 
 This being the cafe, it was fHpulated that the tranfgreflbr fliould 
 be fubjedt to pecuniary mulds, corporal infliftlon, mutilation of 
 members, and capital feverities. Hence arofe the San£lion, and the 
 only fanSlion of civil Laws : for, that protedlion is no reward, in 
 the fenfe which thefe are punlfliments, is plain from hence, that 
 the one is of the eflence of Society itfelf ; the other an occafional 
 adjuntSl. But this will further appear by confiderlng the oppolite 
 to proteftion, which is cxpuljion, or banilhmeut ; for this is the 
 I 2 natural
 
 €o THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I, 
 
 natural confequence of withdrawing prote£lion. Now this, as we 
 faid, is no punifhment but by accident : and fo the State under- 
 flood it ; as we may colled, even from their manner of employing; 
 it ai a punipment on offenders : for banilhment is of univerfal ufe^ 
 with other punifliments, in all focietiea. Now where .withdraw- 
 ing protection is inflided as a punifliment, the pradice of all States 
 hath been to retain their right to obedience from the :banifhed 
 member; though, according to the nature of the thing, confidered 
 alone, that right be really difcharged ; obedience and protedion,, 
 as we obferved, being reciprocal. But it was neceflaiy all ftates- 
 (hould ad in this manner when they inflided exile as a punifli- 
 ment, it being no punifliment but by accident,- when the claim 
 to fubjedion was remitted with it. They had a r'ight to ad thus j; 
 becaufe it was in Aided on an offender ; who by his very offence had 
 forfeited all claim of advantage from that reciprocal condition. 
 
 II. The fecond proportion is, that by the nature of civil govern- 
 ment, the JanSi'ton of rewards could not be enforced by it : My realoii 
 is, becaufe Society could neither dlflinguifli the objeds of its fa- 
 vour ; nor reward them, though they were diflinguifhed. 
 
 I. Firfl, Society could not dl/iinguijh the oljeSls of its favour. To 
 inflid punifhment, there is no need of knowing the motives of 
 the offender ; but judicially to confer reward on the obedient, 
 there is. 
 
 All that civil judicatures do in punifhing is to find whether the 
 ad was ivilfully commited. They enquire not into the intention or 
 motives any further, or otherwite than as they are tne marks of a 
 voluntary aSi : and having found it fo, they concern themfelves no 
 more with the man's motives or principles of ading ; but punifli, 
 without fcruple, in confidence of the offender's demerit. And this 
 with very good reafon ; becaufe no one of a found mind, can be 
 ignorant of the principal offences againif right, or of the malignity 
 of thofe offences, but by fome fottifh negligence which hath 
 hindered his information ; or fome brutal paffion which hath pre- 
 judiced
 
 Sect. 2. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 6i 
 
 judiced his judgment ; both which are highly faulty, and deferve 
 civil punifliment. 
 
 It is otherwife in rewarding abftinence from trangreffion. Here 
 the motive muft be confidered ; becaufe as merely doing ill, i. e. 
 without any particular bad motive, deferves punifliment, a crime 
 In the cafe of wrong judgment being ever neceffarily inferred; fo 
 merely abjiaining from ill, i. e. without any /»i:7r//c«/rtr good 'motive, 
 cannot, for that very reafon, have any merit. 
 
 In Judicially rewarding, therefore, the motives muft be known, but 
 human judicatures cannot know them but by accident : it is only that 
 tribunal, which fearches the heart, that can penetrate thus far. We 
 conclude, therefore, that reward cannoty properly, be the fan5lion of 
 human laws. 
 
 If it fliould be faid, that though rewards cannot be equitably ad- 
 jniniftred, as punifhments may, yet, nothing hinders but that, for 
 the good of Society, all who obferve the laws fliould be rewarded, 
 as all who tranfgrefs the laws are puniflied ? The anfwer will lead 
 us to the proof of the fecond part of this propofition. 
 
 2. That Society could not reward, though it fiould dMcovtr the ob- 
 je£ls oj its favour ', the reafon is, becaufe no Society can ever find a 
 fund fufficient for that purpofe, without raifing it on the people 
 as a tax, to pay it back to them as a reward. 
 
 But the univerfal pra£lice of Society confirms this reafoning, and 
 is explained by it ; tlie fandlion oi piinifmmts only having, in all 
 ages and places, been employed to fccure the obfervance of civil 
 laws. This was fo remarkable a facfl, that it could not efcape the 
 notice of a certain admirable Wit and ftudious obferver of men and 
 manners ; who fpeaks of it as an univerfal defe£l : Although we 
 ufually (fays he) call reward and punijliment the two hinges, upon 
 •which all government turns, yet I could never obferve this maxim to be 
 put in pra£lice by any nation except that o/"Lilliput *. Thus he in- 
 troduceth an account of the laws and cuftoms of an Utopian Confti- 
 
 * Gulliver'3 Travels, vol. i. p. 97, 
 
 tutloa
 
 6z THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 tutioa of his own framing ; and, for that matter, as good, per- 
 haps, as any of the reft : and, had he intended it as a fatire againft 
 fuch chimerical Commonwealths, nothing could have been more 
 juft. For all thefe political romancers, from Plato to this Author, 
 make civil rewards and punifhments the two hinges of government. 
 
 I have often wondered what it was, that could lead them from 
 fa£t, and univerfal pradice, in fo fundamental a point. But with- 
 out doubt it was this : The defign of fuch fort of writings is to 
 give a perfedl pattern of civil Government ; and to fupply the fan- 
 cied defeds in real Societies. The end of government coming firft 
 under confideratlon ; and the general pradice of Society feeming to 
 declare this end to be only, what in truth it is, fecurity to our 
 temporal liberty and property ; the fimplicity of it difpleafed, and 
 the plan appeared defedive. They imagined, that, by enlarging 
 the bottom, they fhould ennoble the ftrudure ; and, therefore, 
 formed a romantic projed of making civil Society ferve for all the 
 good purpofes it was even accidentally capable of producing. And 
 thus, inftead of giving us a true piflure of civil Government, they 
 jumbled together all forts of Societies into one ; and confounded 
 the religious^ the literary^ the mercantile, the convivial, with the 
 CIVIL. Whoever reads them carefully, if indeed they be wortii 
 reading carefully, will find that the errors they abound in are all 
 of this nature; and that they arifc from the lofing, or never having 
 had, a true idea of the fimple plan of civil Government : a circum- 
 ftance which, as we have (hewn elfewhere*, hath occafioned many 
 wrong judgments concerning it. No wonder, then, that this mil- 
 take concerning the end of civil Society, drew after it others, con- 
 cerning the means ; and this, amongft the reft, that reward was 
 one of the JanSiions of human latvs. 
 
 On the whole then, it appears, that civil Society hath not, in 
 itfelf, the San5lion of rewards, to fecure the obfervance of its laws. 
 So true, ill this fenfe llkewlfe, is the obfervation of St. Paul, that 
 
 * See The Alliance between Church and State.
 
 Sect. 2. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 63 
 
 THE LAW WAS NOT MADE FOR THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT FOR THE 
 UNRULY AND DISOBEDIENT. 
 
 But it being evident, that the joint fandions of rewards and pu- 
 nilhments are but juft fufficient to fecure the tolerable obfervance 
 of Right (the miftaken opinion, that thefe are the two hinges of 
 government, ariling from that evidence) it follows, that, as re- 
 ligion ONLY CAN SUPPLY THE SANCTION OF REWARDS, WHICH 
 SOCIETY NEEDS, AND HATH NOT; RELIGION IS ABSOLUTELY NE- 
 CESSARY TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Thus, on the whole we fee, I. That Society, by its own pro- 
 per power, cannot provide for the obfervance of above one third 
 part of moral duties ; and of that third, but imperfedly. We fee 
 likewife, how, by the peculiar influence of its nature, it enlarges 
 the duty of the Citizen, at the fame time that it leflens his natural 
 ability to perform it. 
 
 II. We fee, which is a thing of far greater confeqiience, that 
 Society totally wants one of thofe two fandions which are owned 
 by all to be the neceflary hinges on which government turns, and 
 without which it cannot be fupported. 
 
 To fupply thefe wants and imperfections, fome other coadlive 
 power mufl be added, (which hath its influence on the mind of 
 man) to keep fociety from running back into confufion. But there 
 is no other than the power of religion; which, teaching an 
 over-ruling Providence, the Rewarder of good men, and the Pu- 
 nifher of ill, can oblige to the duties of imperfeSf obligation, which 
 human laws overlook : and teaching alfo, that this Providence is 
 omnifcient, that it fees the moft fecret aftions and intentions. 
 of men, and hath given laws for the perfecting their nature, will 
 oblige to thofe duties oi perfeSl obligation, which human laws can- 
 not reach, or fuffieiently enforce. 
 
 Thus have we explained in general the mutual aid, religion 
 and civil policy lend to one another : not unlike that which two 
 Allies, in the fame quarrel, may reciprocally receive againfl a 
 
 com-
 
 >64 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 common enemy : While one party is clofely preffed, the other 
 comes up to its relief; difengages the firft ; gives it time to rally 
 and repair its force : By this time the afiifting party is puftied in its 
 turn, and needs the aid of that which it relieved ; which is now 
 at hand to repay the obligation. From henceforth the two parties 
 a<fl in conjundlion, and, by that means, keep the common enemy 
 at a ftand. 
 
 Having thus proved the fervice of Religion in general, to Society; 
 and (hewn after what manner it is performed, we are enabled to. 
 proceed to the proof of the propofition in queftion : For by what hath 
 been faid, it appears that Religion doth this fervice folely, as it 
 tcacheth a Providence^ the rewarder of good men, and the pnnijher of 
 evil: fo that although it were poffible, as I think it is not *, that 
 there could be fuch a thing as a Religion not founded on the do6lrine. 
 of a Providence ; yet, it is evident, fuch a Religion would be of no 
 manner of ufe to Society. Whatfoever therefore is neceflary for the 
 fupport of this dodlrine is mediately neceflary for the well-being of 
 Society. Now the dodrine of A future state of rewards and 
 puuifliments is abfolutely and indifpenlably neceflary for the fup- 
 port of the general do6lrlne of providence, under its prefent difpen- 
 fations in this life ; as we fhall now (hew. 
 
 Religion eftablifhing a Providence, the rewarder of virtue, and 
 the puni(her of vice, men naturally expedt to find the conftant and 
 univocal marks of fuch an adminlftration. But the hiftory of man- 
 kind, nay even of every one's own neighbourhood, would foon in- 
 form the mod: indiligcnt obferver, that the affairs of men wear a 
 face of great irrregularity : the fcene, that ever and anon prefents 
 itfelf, being of diftrefled virtue, and profperous wickednefs ; which 
 unavoidably brings the embarra(fed Religionift to the neceflity of 
 giving up his belief, or finding out the folution [of thefe untoward 
 
 * St. Paul fuppofes there can no more be a Religion without a Providence, than with- 
 out a God : He that comcth to Goti, m»Jl believe that he is, and that be is a reivardar of them 
 that diUgcndy fctk him, Hebr. xi. 6. 
 
 appearances.
 
 Sect. 2. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 6s 
 
 appearances. His firft reflexion might perhaps be with the poet * : 
 
 omnia rebar 
 Confilio firmata Dei ; qui lege moveri 
 
 Sidera, qui fruges diverfo tempore nafci, 
 
 Sed cum res hominum tanta caligine volvi 
 Adfpicerem, laetofque diu florere nocentes, 
 Vexarique pios, rurfus labefacta cadebat 
 Religio. 
 
 But, on fecond thoughts, Reafon, that, from the admirable 
 frame and harmony of the material univerfe, taught him that there 
 muft needs be a fuperintending Providence, to influence that order 
 which all its parts preferve, for the fake of the Whole, in their con- 
 tinued revolutions, would foon inftru£l him in the abfurdlty of fup- 
 pofing, that the fame care did not extend to Man, a creature of a 
 far nobler nature than the mod confiderable of inanimate beings. 
 And therefore human affairs not being diipcnfed, at prefent, agree- 
 ably to that fuperintendence, he muil conclude, that Man (hall 
 exifl after death, and be brought to a future reckoning in another 
 life, where all accounts will be fet even, and all the prefent obfcu- 
 rlties and perplexities in the ways of Providenceu nfolded and ex- 
 plained. From hence Religion acquires refilllefs force and fplendor ; 
 and rifes on a folid and unfhaken baiis +• 
 
 * Claud. 
 
 f Hear an unexceptionable evidence to this whole matter: Et quidem (fays the free- 
 thinking Lord Herbert) premium bonis, & fupplicium nialis, vei hac invita, velpofthanc 
 vitam dari, ftatuebant Gentiles, — Nihil mage congruum naturae divinx efle docucrant, turn 
 philofopliorum, turn theologorum Gentilium priecipuorum fchola;, quam ut bona bonis, 
 mala malis remetiretur Deus. C^tcrum quum id quoque ceVnerenr, quemadmodum viri 
 boni calamitatibus niiferiifque oppreffi heic jacercnt; mali improbique e contra lautitiis om- 
 nibus affluerent ; ceniflimis ex juftitia bonitateque divina argumcntis deductis, bonis poll 
 hanc vitam pr^emium condignum, malis pocnam dari credebant : secus enim si esset, 
 
 KULLAM NECiUE JUSTITliE NEQ.XIE BONITATI! DIVIK^E RATIONED CONSTARE POSSE. 
 
 De rellgione Gentilium, cap, Pramium vcl fama. 
 
 Vol. I. K Now
 
 46 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 Now this dodrine of a FUTURE state being the only fupport 
 of Religion under the prefent and ordinary difpcnfations of provi- 
 dence, we conclude (which was what we had to prove) that th& 
 inculcating this dodlrine is necessary to the well-being of Society. 
 
 That it was the general fentiment of mankind, we fliall fee 
 hereafter ; where it will be Ihewn, that there never was, in any 
 time or place, a civilized People (the jewijli only excepted) who 
 did not found their Religion on this do£lrine, as being confcious it 
 could not be fuftained without it. And as for the neceffity of Re- 
 ligion itfelf to Society, the very enemies of all Religion are the 
 loudefl to confefs it : For, from this apparent truth, the Atheift of 
 old formed his famous argument agalnft the divine origin of Reli- 
 gion ; which makes fo great a figure in the common fyftems of 
 infidelity. Here then, even on our adverfary's confefTion, we might 
 reft our caufe ; but that we find (fo inconftant and perverfe is irre- 
 llgion) fome modern Apologifts for Atheilm have abandoned the 
 fyftem of their predeceflbrs, and chofen rather to give up an argu- 
 ment agalnft the divine original of religion, than acknovvledge the 
 civil ufe of it ; which with much frankuefs and confidence they 
 have adventured to deny. 
 
 Theje therefore having endeavoured to cut away the very ground^ 
 we ftand upon, in proof of our propotition, it will be proper to ex- 
 amine their pretenfioas. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 r'ff^HE three great Advocates for this paradox are commonly 
 J reckoned Pomponatius, Cardan, andBAYLE; who- are 
 put together, without diftindlion : whereas nothing is more certain 
 than that, although Cardan and i?rtj)'/^ indeed defended it, Pompona- 
 tius was of a very different opinion : but Baylc had entered him into 
 this fervice ; and fo great is Bayles authority, that nobody perceived 
 
 the
 
 Sect. 3- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 67 
 
 the delufion. It will be but juflice then to give Fomponattus a fair 
 hearing, and let him fpeak for himfelf. 
 
 This learned Italian^ a fiimous Peripatetic of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, wrote a treatife * to prove that, on the principles of Arijlotky 
 it could not be proved that the foul was immortal : But the doc- 
 trine of the mortality of the foul being generally thought to havfc 
 very pernicious confequences, he conceived it lay upon him to fay 
 fomething to that objedion. In his xiiith chapter, therefore, he 
 enumerates thofe confequences ; and in the xivth, gives diftinft an- 
 fwers to each of them. That which fuppofeth his dodlrine to affedt 
 fociety, is exprefled in thefe words : " Obj. 2. In the fecond place, 
 *' a man perfuaded of the mortality of the foul ought In no cafe, 
 " even in the moft urgent, to prefer death to life : And fo, fortl- 
 " tude, which teaches us to defpife death, and, when our coun- 
 ** try, or the public good requires, even to chufe it, would be no 
 *' more. Nor on fuch principles fhould we hazard life for a friend : 
 *' on the contrary, we ihould commit any wickednefs rather tliaa 
 *' undergo the lofs of it : which is contrary to what Arijlotk teacheth 
 •' in his Ethics t." His reply to this, in the following chapter, is 
 that virtue requires we ficuld die for our country or our friends ; and 
 that virtue is never fo perfeSl as when if brings no dower with it : 
 But then he fubjoins, " Philofophers, and the learned, only know 
 
 * De Immortalitate Animi, printed in iimci, An. 1534. It is of him chiefly that the 
 celebrated Melchior Canus feems to fpeak, in the following words : " Audivimiis Italos 
 " quofdam, qui fuis & AriJi^tcU & Averroi tantum temporis dant, quanturli facris Uteris 
 •' ii, qui maxime facra doiVrina deleftantur ; tantutn vero fidei, quantum Apoftolis & 
 " Evangeliftis ii qui maxime funt in Chrifti doflrinam religiofi. Ex quo nata iiiut in 
 " Italia peftifera ilia dogmata de mortaiUate antmi, & divina circa res humanas imj>rov:' 
 " JeKtia, a verum eft quod dicitur." 0/>cra, 1. x. c. 5. p. 446. Cufon, 160 J, 8vo. 
 
 f Secundo, quia flante animi humani mortalitate, homo in nullo cafu, quantumcun- 
 que urgentiffimo, dcberet eligere mortem : & fie lemoveretur fortitndo, qucB praclpit 
 rontcmncre mortem, &: quod pro patria & bono publico dcbemuj mortem eiigere : ne- 
 que pro amico debejemus exponere animam noflram ; imo quodcimquc fcelus & ncfas 
 perpetrare magis quam mortem fubire : quod eft contra Arith 3 Ethic, & 9 ejufdem. 
 r. 99. 
 
 K 2 ' " what
 
 68 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book. L 
 
 ** what pleafures the pradlice of virtue can procure ; and what mi- 
 *' fery attends ignorance and vice : — but men not underftanding the 
 *' excellence of virtue, and deformity of vice, would commit any 
 •' wickednefs rather than fubmit to death : To bridle therefore their 
 *» unruly appetites, they were taught to be influenced by hope of 
 "reward, and fear of punifliment*." — This is enough to flievr 
 what Potnponatius thought of the neceflity of Religion to the State. 
 He gives up fo much of the objedlion as urges the ill confequence 
 of the doftrine of the mortality to mankind in general ; but in fu 
 doing hath not betrayed the caufe he undertook : which was to 
 prove that the belief of the mortality of the foul would have no ill 
 influence on the pradice of a learned Peripatetic : he pretends not 
 that it would have no evil influence on the grofs body of mankind. 
 to the prejudice of Society. This appears from the nature and de- 
 fign of the treatife ; written entirely on peripatetic principles, ta 
 explain a point in that philofophy : by the force of which expla- 
 nation, whoever was perfuaded of the mortality of the foul, muft 
 give his aflent on thofe principles ; principles only fitted to in- 
 fluence learned men. It was his bufinefs therefore to examine, 
 what cffedts this belief would have on fucfa, and on fuch only. 
 And this, it muft be owned, he hath done with dexterity enough. 
 But that this belief would be moft pernicious to the body of man- 
 khid in general, he confefles with all ingenuity. And as his own. 
 words are the fuUeft proof that he thought with the reft of the 
 world, concerning the influence of Religion, and particularly of 
 the doftrine of a future ftate of rewards and punifhments, on So- 
 ciety, I {hall beg leave to tranfcribe them at large. " There arc 
 " fome men of fo ingenuous and well framed a nature, that they 
 
 * Soli enim philofophi & ftudiofi, iit dicit — Ariff. 6 Ethic, fciunt quantam delefta- 
 tionem generent virtutes^ & quantam miferiam ignorantia & vitia. — Sed quod homines 
 non cognofcentes excellentiam virtutis & foeditatem vitii, omne fcelus perpetrarent, pii- 
 i4fquam mori : quarc ad refraaandum diras hominum cupidjtates, data eft fpes primii 
 & timor punitiorvis, P. 119. 
 
 «^aEe
 
 Sect. 3- OF M O SE S DE MON S'l R AT ED. 69 
 
 *' are brought to the pradice of virtue from the fole confidcratioii 
 *' of its dignity ; aud are kept from vice on the bare profpe^t of its 
 " bafenefs : but fuch excellent perfons are very rare. Others there 
 " are of a fomewhat Icfs heroic turn cf mind ; and thefe, befides 
 " the dignity of virtue, and the bafenefs of vice, are woiked upon 
 " by fame and honours, by infamy and difgrace, to fhun evil and 
 " pcrfevere in good: Thefe are of the fecond ckfs of men. Others 
 *■' again are kept in order by the hope of fome real benefit, or the. 
 " dread of corporal punifhment ; wherefore that fuch may follow 
 '^ virtue, the Politician hath contrived to allure them by dignities»^ 
 *^' pofleffions, and things of the like nature ; inflidling mul£ls, de- 
 " gradations^ mutilations, and capital punifhments, to deter them 
 *•' from wickednefs. There are yet others of fo intraftable and 
 '■' perverfe a fpirit, that nothing even of this can move them, as- 
 *' daily experience fhews ; for thefe, therefore, it was, that the 
 *'^ Politician invented the doSlrine of a future Jlate % where eternal re- 
 ** wards are referved for the virtuous, and eternal punifhments, 
 '* which have the more powerful influence of the two, for the 
 *' wicked. For the greater part of thofe who live well, do fo, 
 *' rather for fear of the punifhment, than out of appetite to the 
 " reward : for mifery is better known to man, than that immea- 
 •^ furable good which Religion promifeth ; And therefore as this 
 '* laft contrivance may be dire<f;ed to promote the welfare of men: 
 *' of all conditions and degrees, the Legiflator,. intent on public 
 ** good, aj.id feeing a general propenfity to evil, eflabliihed the 
 " do6^rine of the immortality of the soul. Little felicitous for 
 *' truth, in all this, but intent only on utility, that he might draw 
 *' mankind to virtue. Nor is he to be blamed : for as the phyfician- 
 " deceives his patient in order to reflore his health, fo the lawgiver 
 *' invents apologues to form the manners of his people. Indeed 
 " were all of that noble turn of mind with thofe enumerated under 
 " the firfh clafs, then would they all, even on the fuppofition of 
 " the foul's mortality, exadly perform their mwtual duties to one 
 
 *'• anothefo.
 
 70 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 *' another. But as there are, upon the matter, none of this dijpojition, 
 " he muft, of neceflity, have recourfe to arts *, more fitted to the 
 *' general difpofition." 
 
 After all this, it is furprizlng that Mr. Bayle fliould To far mif- 
 take this book, as to imagine the author argues in it againjt the 
 ufefuhiefs of religion to facie ty : efpecially, when we coafider that Mr. 
 Bayle appears to have examined the book fo nearly as to be able 
 to confute a common error concerning It, namely, that ii was 
 norote to prove the mortality of the foul: Whereas he fhews, that it 
 was wrote only to prove, that, on the principles of Arifotle, nei- 
 ther that, nor the contrary, could be demonftrated. But let us hear 
 him ; *' That which Pomponatiiis hath replied to the reafoning 
 *' borrowed from hence, that the doftrine of the mortality of the 
 *' foul would invite men to all fort of crimes, deferves to be con- 
 
 * Aliqu: funt homines ingenui, & bene inftitiUx naturx, acleo quod ad virtutem in- 
 ducnntur ex fola virtutis nobilitate, & a vitio retrahuntur ex fola ejus focditate : & hi 
 optin:ic difpofiti funt, licet perpauci funt. Aliqui vero funt minus bene difpofiti ; & lii 
 priter nobilitatem virtutis, & focditatem vitii, ex primiis, laudibiis, & honpribus ; ex 
 pccnis, vituperiis, & infamia, ftudiofa operantur, & vitia fugiunt : & hi in fecundo gradu 
 funt. Aliqui vero propter fpem alicujus boni, & timore poenoe corporalis ftudiofi effici- 
 untur : qiiare, \it tales virtutem confequantur, ftatuunt politici vel aurum, vel dignita- 
 tem, vel aliquid tale ; ut vitia vero fugiant, ftatuunt vel in pecunia, vel in honore, vel. 
 in corpore, feu mutilando membrum, feu occidendo puniri. Qnidam vero ex ferocitate 
 & perverfitate nature, nullo horum moventur, ut quotidiana docct experientia ; ideo 
 pofuerunt virtuofls in alia vita prsmia sterna, vitiofis vero jeterna damna, qui maxime 
 terrerent ; majorquepars hominum, fi bonumoperatur, magis ex metu a;terni il.uiiniquain 
 fpe aeterniboni operaturbonum, cum damna funt npagis nobis cognita, quam ilia bona xter- 
 na: ic quoniam hoc ultimum ingenium omnibus hominibus pcteft prodeiTe, cujufcunque gra-. 
 dus fmt, refpiciens legiflator pronitatem viarum ad malum, intendens communi bono, fanxit 
 animam efle immortalem, non curans de veritate, fed tantiim de prqbitate, ut inducat 
 homines ad virtutem. Neque accufandus eft politicus : ficut namque medicus multa fin- 
 git, ut regro fanitatem reftituat ; fic politicus apologos format, ut cives reiaificet.— S 
 onines homines effent in illo primo gradu enumerato, ftante etiam animorum mort*litate, 
 ftudiofi fiereat ; fed quafi nulli funt illius difpofuionis ; c^uare aliis ing^eniis iucedere ne- 
 ccfle fuit. — Pag. 123, 124, 125. 
 
 «« fideretl
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 71 
 
 *' fidered *." And then he produces thofe arguments of Pompona- 
 tlus, which we have given above, of the natural excellence oj virtue ^ 
 and deformity of vice ; that happ'inefs tonffis in the praSlke of the 
 ine^ and mifery in that of the other , &c. Thefe he calls poor folu- 
 tions: Indeed poor enough, had it been, as Mr. Bayle fuppofes, 
 FomponatiuiS defign to prove that the dodlrine of the mortaliiy of 
 the foul did not invite the generality of men to wickednefs : for 
 the account given by Pomponatius himfelf of the origin of the con- 
 trary dodlrine, fhews, that, but for this, they would have run 
 headlong into vice. But fuppofing the Peripatetic's defign to be, 
 as indeed it was, to prove that the doftrine of the mortality would 
 have no ill influence on the learned followers oi Arifoile, then thefe 
 arguments, which Mr. Bayle calls poor ones, will be found to have 
 their weight. But he goes on, and tells us, that Pomponatius brings 
 a better argument from fa£i, where he takes notice of fever al, who 
 denied the immortality of the foul, and yet lived as well as their 
 believing neighbours. This is indeed a good argument to the pur- 
 pofe, fo^ which it is employed by Pomponatius i but whether it be 
 fo to that, for which, Mr. Bayle imagined, he employed it, fliall 
 be conlidercd hereafter, when we come to meet with it again in this 
 later writer's apology for atheifm. But Mr. Bayle was fo full of 
 his OW11 favourite quejlion, that he did not give due attention ta 
 Pomponatius s ; and having, as I obferved above, refuted a vulgar 
 error with regard to this tamcus traft, and imagining that the 
 impiety, fo generally charged on it, was folely founded in that 
 error, he goes on infulting the enemies of Pomponatius in this man- 
 ner : " If the charge of impiety, of which Pomponatius hath been 
 " accufed, was only founded on his book of the immortality of the 
 "foul, we muft needs fay there was never any accufation more 
 *' impertinent or a ftronger Inflance of the iniq^uitous perverfity of 
 
 * Ce que Pomponace a repondu a la raifon empnmtee de ce que le dograe de la 
 jnortalitc de I'ame porteroit les hommes a toutes fortes de crimes, eft digne de confidera- 
 tion. Dift. Hift, & Crit. Art. Pomionace, Rem. (H.) 
 
 « the
 
 72 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book f. 
 
 *« the perfecutors of the philofophers *." But V omponatius will not be 
 fo eafily fet clear: For let him think, as he would concerning the 
 foul, yet the account he gives of the origin of Religion, as the 
 contrivance of ftatefmen, here produced, from this very tra6l De 
 immortalitate anima, is fo highly impious, that his enemies will be 
 hardly perfuaded to give it a fofter name than downright atheifm. 
 Nor is it impiety in general, of which, we endeavour to acquit 
 him, but only that fpecies of it, which teaches that Religmi is ufe- 
 iefs to Society. And this we think we have done ; although it be 
 by fhewing him to have run into the oppofite extreme, which would 
 infinuate it was the creature of politicks. 
 
 Cardan comes next to be confidered : and him nobody hath in- 
 j\ired. He, too, is under Bayle's delufion, concerning Pompona- 
 tius : For, writing on the fame fubjedt +, he borrows the Peripatetic's 
 arguments to prove that Religion was even pernicious to Society. This 
 was fo bold a ftroke, that Mr. Bayle, who generally follows him 
 pretty clofely, drops him here : Nor do I know that he ever had a 
 fecond, except it was the unhappy philofopher of M^/z^^/^z/ry ; who, 
 fcorning to argue upon the matter, imperioufly pronounced, that 
 he who pre fumed to propagate Religion in a Society, without leave 
 ef the Magiftrate, was guilty of the crime of Lefe Maje/ly, as intro- 
 ducing a power fuperior to the heviathans. But it would be 
 unpardonable to keep the reader much longer on this poor lunatic 
 Italian, in ivhom, as Mr. Bayle pleafantly obferves, fenfe was, at 
 bejly but an appendix to his Jolly J. Befides, there is little in that 
 
 trail, 
 
 * Si I'on n'a fonde les impietez, dont on I'accufe, que fur fon livre de t iminortaliti Je 
 Fame, il n'y eut jamais d'accufation plus impertinente, que celle-la, ni qui foic une 
 marque plus exprefle de rentetement inique des perfecuteurs des philofophes. 
 
 f De immortalitate animorumlilcr, Lugd. ap. Gryph. 1545 ; et Opera omn'a, fol. Lug- 
 duni, 1663, Tom, II. p. 458. 
 
 X The charming picture he draws of hiaifcif, and which he excufes no otherwife than 
 by laying the fauU on his stars, will hardly prejudice any one in favour of his opinions. 
 How f.if it refcnibles any other of the brotherhood, they beft know, who have examined 
 
 the
 
 Sect. 3- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 73 
 
 trail, but what he ftole from Pomponatius \ the ftrength of which, 
 to fupport Cardatis paradox, hath been confidered already ; or what 
 Mr. Bdyle hath borrowed from him ; the force of which (hall be 
 confidered hereafter : But that little is (b peculiarly his own, that 
 as no other can claim the property, fo no one hath hitherto ufurped 
 the ufe. Which yet, however, is remarkable : for there is no trafli 
 fo worthlefs, but what feme time or other finds a place in a Free- 
 thinker's fyflem. We will not defpair then but that this paltry 
 rubbifti may one day or other have an honourable ftation in fome of 
 thefe fafhionable fabricks. And, not to hinder its fpeedy prefer- 
 ment, I fhall here give it the reader in its full force, without an- 
 fwer or reply- He brings the following argument to prove that 
 the dodlrine of the imwortality of the foul is even deftrudllve to fo- 
 ciety ; — " From this flattering notion of a future state, ill 
 " men get opportunity to compafs tlieir wicked defigns : and, on 
 *' the fame account, good men fuffer themfelves to be injurioufly 
 *' treated. Civil laws, relying on this fanciful affiftance, relax their 
 *' necefl'ary feverity ; and thus is the opinion produdive of much 
 *' mifchief tcr mankind *." And then, by another argument as 
 good, he fhews the benefits accruing to the ftate from the belief of 
 the foul's mortaliiy : " Thofe who maintain that tlie foul dies with 
 *' the body, muft needs be, by their principles, honefter men than 
 *' others, becaufe they have a peculiar intereft: in prcierving their re- 
 " putation ; this being the only future pioperty they pretend to: 
 
 the genius of modern infidelity. However, thus he fpeaks of his own amiable turn of 
 mind : " In diem viventem, nugacero, religionis contemptorem, injuria illatx menioreni, 
 '• invidum, triftem, infidiatorem, proditorem, mngum, incantatorem, fuorum oforeir, 
 *• turpi libidini deditum, folitariuni, inamocnum, auftcrum ; fponte etiara divinanteni, 
 •' xelotypum, obfcccnum, lafcivuiR, inaledicum, variiim, anoii)itcm, iinpurum, calum- 
 *' niatorem, Sec." We have had many Ftn-thinhers, but few fuch Frec-fpcakcn. But 
 though thefe fort of writers are not ufed to give us fo divcH a pifture of themfelves, yet 
 it hath been obferved, that they have unawares copied from their own tempers, in the 
 ungracious drawings they have made of Humax Nature nnd Reltcio;;. 
 
 * He Inimorlalltale animoruniy caji. ii. 
 
 • Vol. I. L "And
 
 74 THE D I V IN E LEGATI ON Book I. 
 
 " And the Profeffion of the Soul's mortality being generally efteemed 
 *' as fcandalous as that of ulury, fuch men will be mofl exa£t and 
 " fcrupulous in point of honour, as your ufurcr, to keep up the 
 " credit of his calling, is of all men the moft religious obftrver of 
 •♦ his word *." 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 MR. Bayle, the laft fupporter of this paradox, is of a very 
 different charaiter from thefe Italian Sophifts : A writer,. 
 who, to the utmoft flrength and clearneis of reafoning, hath added 
 all the livelinels, and delicacy of wit : who, pervading human na- 
 ture at his eale, fliuck into the province of paradox, as aii exercile 
 for the unwearied vigour of his mind : who, with a foul fuperior to- 
 the (harpeft attacks of fortune, and a heart praftifed to the beil 
 philofophy, had not yet enough of real greatnefs to overcome that 
 laft foible of fuperior minds, the temptation of honour, which the 
 ACADEMIC EXERCISE OF WIT is couccived to bring to its pro- 
 feffors. 
 
 A writer of this character will deferve a particular regard : for 
 paradoxes, which in the hands of a Toland or a Tmdal end in rank 
 ofFenfive impiety, will, under the management of a Bayle, always- 
 afford fomething for ufe or curiofity : Thus, in the very work we 
 are about to examine t> the many admirable obfervations on the 
 nature and genius of polytheifm, happen to be a full anfwer to all 
 which the Author of ChriJlianUy as old as the Creation hath advanced 
 againft the ufe of revelation. For a fkilful chemift, though difiip- 
 pointed in his grand magiflerium, yet often difcovers, by the way,. 
 fome ufeful and noble medicament j while the ignorant pretender 
 to the art, not only lofes his labour, but fills all about him with, 
 the poifonous fteams oijublimate. 
 
 * Cap. xxxiii. ejufd. tra£l. 
 
 f Penfees diverfes, ecrites a iin dofteur de Sorbonne i I'occafion de la coinete qui 
 parut au mois de Deceitibre, i6So. & — Contiauation des Penfees diyerfes, &c, ou Re- 
 ponfe a plufieurs difticultez, &c. 
 
 The
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 75 
 
 The prnfejftd defign of Mr. Buyle's work is to enquire, which is 
 leqfl hurtful to nmnkind, ajicient idolatry^ or modern atheifm : And 
 had he confined himlelf to that lubjeft, we had had no concern 
 with him, but (hould have left him in the hands of Mefl'. Jacquelot 
 and Bernard. I freely own they are both ftark naught : All the 
 difference is, that Atheifm diredly excludes and deftroys the true 
 fenfe of moral right and wrong; and Polytheifm fcts up ^ falfe 
 fpecies of it. 
 
 But the more particular, though lefs avowed, purpofe of this 
 elaborate treatife is to prove, that Atheifm is not defructive of Society ; 
 and here he falls under our notice ; no diftincl anlwer, that I know 
 of, having been yet attempted to this part of his performance. 
 
 His arguments in fupport of this Paradox, are occafionally, and 
 fo without any method, interfperfed throughout that large work : 
 But, to give them all the advantage they are capable of, I have here 
 colle£led and dllpofed them in fuch order, that they mutually fup- 
 port, and come in to the aid of one another. 
 
 It had been generally efteemed a proof of the deflruitive nature 
 of Atheifm to Society, that this principle excludes the knowledge of 
 moral good and evil; fuch knowledge being, as will be feen, pof- 
 terior to the knowledge of a God. His firft argument therefore for 
 the innocence of Atheifm is, 
 
 I. " That an Atheill: may have an idea of the moral difference , 
 *' between good and evil, becaufe Atheifts, as well as Theifts, may 
 " comprehend the firft principles of morals and metaphyfics, from 
 ** which this difference may be deduced. And in fa^fl (he fays) both 
 •' the Epicurean atheiff, who denied the providence of God, and the 
 ♦* Stratonic atheift, who denied his Being, had this idea *." 
 
 This often repeated argument is fo loofely exprefled, that it is 
 capable of many meanings ; in fome of which the afl'ertion is true, 
 but not to the purpofe ; in others to the purpofe, but not true. 
 
 * Voiez les Penfees diverfes, cap. clxxviii. &t fuiv. & I'addition a ces Penfees cap. 
 IV. Reponfe a la lo & li, la 73 objeiQioils, & h Continuation des Penf. div, cap. cxliii. 
 
 L 2 There-
 
 f6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book T 
 
 Therefore before any precife anfwer can be given to it, it will be " 
 neceffary to trace up moral duty to its firfl: principles. And though 
 an enquiry of this fort fliould not prove the moft amufing either 
 KTmyfelf or my reader, it may be found however to deferve our 
 pains. For a fpirit of difpiite and refinement hath To entangled and 
 confounded all our conclufions on a lubjefl:, in itfelf, very clear 
 •and intelligible, that I am perfuaded, were morality herfelf, of 
 which the ancients made a Goddefs. to appear iii perfon amongil 
 men, and be queflioned concerning her birth, fhe would be tempt- 
 ed to anfwer as Homer does in Liiclan, that her commentators had 
 io learnedly embarrafled the dlfpute, that fhe was now as much at a 
 lofs as They to account for her original. 
 
 To proceed therefore with all poffible brevity : Each animal hr.th 
 its inJlinB implanted by nature to diredl it to its greateft good. 
 Amongft thefe, man hath his ; to which modern philofophers have 
 given the name of 
 
 1. The MORAL SENSE : whereby we conceive and feel apleafure 
 iu right, and a diftafte and averfion to wrong, prior to all reflexion 
 on their natures, or their confequences. This is the firft inlet to the 
 adequate idea of morality ; and plainly, the moft extenfive of ail ;. 
 the Atheift as well as Theift having it. When inflind had gone 
 thus far, 
 
 2. The reafoning faculty improved upon its di(5tates : For, men 
 led by reflexion to examine the foundation of this moral fenfe, foon. 
 dlfcovered that there were real effential differences in the qualities 
 of human adtions, eftabliihed by nature; and, confequently, that 
 the love and hatred excited by the tyioral fenfe were not capricious 
 in their operations ; for, that in the eflential properties of their 
 objeds there was a specific pifference. Reafon having gone 
 thus far (and thus far too it might condud the Stratonic atheift) it 
 flopped ; and faw that fomething was ftill wanting wliereon to 
 eftablifh the morality, properly fo called, of actions, that is, 
 an OBLIGATION on men to perform fome, and to avoid others; and 
 
 that,
 
 ?ECT. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. -j-j 
 
 that, to find this fomething, there was need of calling in other 
 principles to its affiftance : Becaufe nothing can thus oblige but, 
 
 3. hjiiperior will : And fuch a will could not be found till the 
 being and attributes of God were eftablifhed ; but was difcovered 
 with them. 
 
 Hence arofe, and only from hence, a moral difference. 
 From this time human anions became the fubje>St of o^%a^/o;7, and 
 .not till now : For though instinct felt a difference in a£tions ; 
 and REASON difcovered that this difference was founded in the 
 nature of things ; yet it was will only which could make a com- 
 phance with that difference a duty. 
 
 On thefe three Principles therefore, namely the moral fenfe, the 
 eJJ'cntial difference in human actions, and the ivill of God, is built the 
 whole edifice of praJlical morality : Each of which hath its diftinct 
 motive to enforce it; Compliance with the moral Jenfe exciting a 
 pleafurable fenfation ; compliance with X.\it ejetitial tlifcrences of things 
 promoting the order and harmony of the univerfe ; and compliance 
 with the will of God obtaining an abundant reward. 
 
 This, when attentively confidered, can never fail of affedllng us 
 with the moft lively fenfe of God's goodnefs to Mankind, who, 
 gracioufly refpe£ling the imbecillity of Man's nature, the flownefs of 
 his reafony and the violence of his pajjlons, hath been pleafed to 
 afford three different excitements to the pradice of Virtue; that 
 men of all ranks, conflitutions, and educations, might find their 
 account in one or other of them ; fomething that -vould hit their 
 palate, fatisfy their reafon, or fubdue their -wi/L The firft princi- 
 ple, which is the moral fenfe, would ftrongly operate on thofe, 
 who, by the exa£l temperature and balance of the paffions, were 
 difengaged enough to feel the delicacy of it's charms; and have aa 
 elegance of mind to refpecTt the noblenefs of its diiEtates. The 
 fecond, which is the effential difference^ will have its weight with 
 the fpeculative, the abftracl and profound reafoners, and on all 
 thofe who excel in the knowledge of human nature. And the 
 third, which refolves itfelf into the ivill of God, and takes in all 
 
 the
 
 yi THE DIVINE LEGATION Book T. 
 
 the confequcuces of obedience and difobedience, Is principally adapt- 
 ed to the great body of Mankind. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected, to what is here delivered, i/jni the 
 true principle of morality pouid have the worthieji motive to enforce it : 
 Whereas the Will of God is enforced by the view of rewards and 
 puni/ljmetits ; on which motive, virtue hath the fmall ft merit. This 
 charafter of the true principle of morality is perfedlly right ; and 
 agrees, we fay, with the principle which we make to be the true : 
 For the legitimate motive to virtue, on that principle, is compliance 
 iviih the Will of God \ a compliance which hath the hlgheft degree 
 of merit. But this not being found of fufficient power to take in 
 the Generality, the confequences of compliance or non-compliance 
 to this Will, as far as relates to rewards and punifliments, were 
 firft drawn out to the people's view. In which they were dealt 
 with as the teachers of mathematics treat their pupils; when, to 
 engage them in a fublime demonftration, they explain to them the 
 ufe and fertility of the theorem. 
 
 To thefe great purpofes ferve the three principles while in 
 conjunftion : But now, as in the civil world and the affairs of men, 
 our pleafure, in contemplating the wifdom and goodnefs of Provi- 
 dence, is often diflurbed and checked by the view of fome human 
 perverfity or folly which runs acrofs that Difpenfation ; fo it is here, 
 in the intelleSiiial. This admirable provifion for the fupport of vir- 
 tue hath been, in great meafure, defeated by its pretended advo- 
 cates ; who, in their eternal fquabbles about the true foundation of 
 morality, and the obligation to Its pradlice, have fiicrilegioufly un- 
 twifted this threefold cord ; and each running away with the 
 part he efteemed the ftrongefl:, hath affixed that to the throne of 
 God, as the golden chain that is to unite and draw all unto it. 
 
 This man propofes to illuftrate the doftrine of the moral sense; 
 and then the morality of anions is founded only \vi^\h?Lt fetife : with 
 him, metaphyfics and logic, by which the ejential difference^ in 
 human actions, is demonflrated, are nothing but words, notions, 
 vifions ; the empty regions andfcid'yws oj pbilofophy. The profcflbrs 
 
 of
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES D E -M O N S T R A T E D. 79 
 
 of them are moon-blind ti-iis; and Locke himfelf is treated as a 
 fchool-man *. To talk of reward and punlfhment, confequent 011 
 the ivill ofafuperior, is to make the pradtice of virtue mercenary 
 and iervile ; from which, pure liumau uature is the moll: abhor- 
 rent. 
 
 Another undertakes to demonftrate THE essential differences 
 OF THINGS, and their natural fitnefs and unfitnefs to certain ends ; 
 and then morality is lolely founded on thofe differences ; and God 
 and his Will have nothing to do in the matter. Then the Will of 
 CJod cannot make any thing morally good and evil, juft and un- 
 juft ; nor confequentiy be the caufe of any obligation on moral 
 Agents : becaufe the cflences and natures of things, which confti- 
 tute adions good and evil, are independent on that Will ; which is 
 forced to fubmlt to their relations like weak Man's. And therefore, 
 if there were no natural juftice ; that is, if the rational and inteU 
 ledual nature were, of itfelf, undetermined and unobllged to any 
 thing, and fo deftitute of morality properly fo called, it were not 
 poffible that any thing fhould be made morally good or evil,- obli-i 
 gatory or unlawful, or that any moral obligation Ihould be begotten; 
 by any Will or pofitive command whatibever. — And then our 
 knowledge of moral good and evil is iblely acquired by abftradt rea- 
 foning : And to talk of its coming any other way into the mind,, 
 is weak and fuperflitious, as m.aklng God a£l unneceffarily and 
 fupeiBuoufly. 
 
 A third, who propofes to place morallly on the will of a fhperior, 
 which is its true bottom, a(5ls yet on the fame exterminating modeL 
 He takes the other two Principles to be merely viiionary : The 
 moral fenfe is nothing but the Imprefliou of education ; the love of 
 the fpecies romantic ; and invented by crafty knaves, to dupe the 
 young, the vain, and the ambitious. Nature, he fiith, hath 
 confined us to the narrow fphere oi felf-love ; and our moft pompous 
 pretences of pure dlfintereflednefs, but the more artful difgulfe of 
 
 ♦ Cliaca^eiiftics, paffim. 
 
 that
 
 So THE DIVINE LEGATION Book L 
 
 that very paffion. He not only denies all jnoral difference in adllons, 
 antecedent to the Will of God, which (as we (hall (hew anon) he 
 might well do ; but likewife, TiW/pecific difference: will not fo much 
 as allow it to be a rule to direft us to the performance of God's 
 will ; for that the notions of fit and unfit proceed not from that 
 difference, but from the arbitrary impofitions of Will only ; that 
 God is the free caufe of Truths as well as Beings ; and then, con- 
 lequently, if he fo wills, two and two would not make four. At 
 length his fyftem (hrinks into a vile and abje6t felfiftinefs ; and, 
 as he degrades and contrails his nature, he flips, before he is aware, 
 quite befides his foundation, whicii he profeiTes to be the IVUl of 
 God. 
 
 Thus have men, borne away by a fondnefs to their own idle 
 fyftems, prefumptuoufly broken in upon that triplk barrier*, 
 with which God has been gracioufly pleafed to cover and fecure 
 Virtue ; and given advantage to the cavils of Libertines and Infidels; 
 who on each of thele three Principles, thus advanced on the ruins 
 of the other two, have reciprocally forged a fcheme of Religion in- 
 dependent on Morality + ; and a fcheme of Morality independent 
 
 * St. Paul might have taught them better ; who, colleiling together and enforcing all 
 the motives for tlie practice of virtue, exprefleth himfclf in this manner: '■^Finally, 
 " brethren^ ivhatfoevcr things are true, ivhalfoever thin^^s are honeft, tvljat/ocver things arc 
 «< jilll" — To Aoi5ro», aJAJioj, oVa iriv AAH0H, oV» SEMNA, iVa AlKAIA—li^))9i evidently re- 
 lating to the ejjential difference of things ; o-s/xti (implying fomething of worth, fpleildour, 
 dignity) to the moral fcnfe which men have of this difference ; and iUant^juJl, is relative to 
 Will oi'L&w, The ApolHe proceeds — ^'^ -ivhatfoever things are ^MXt, •u.-hatfoever things ari 
 *' lovely, whatfoever things are of good report"— oVa ay'ia,, oaa w^oa^t^ri, o^x eu^r.fia. In 
 ihefe three latter charafters marking the nature of the three preceding : iy'i purr, re- 
 ferring to ahflra^ truth; ■u^ipr^^'h^ lovely, amiable, ia innate or inflinHivc honr/ly ; and 
 tiifr.fna. of good report, reputable, to the obfervation of W7// or Law. He concludes, " If 
 f^ there beany virtue, and if there ie tiny praKc, thini of titfe things," it Tt( i.^s^h, "tj f" t»{ 
 tVaiv®-, TaSra Jioyi^saSt. That is. If the moral fenfe and the eflential difference of things 
 can make the practice of morality, a virtue ; or obedience to a Jupericr ]V:ll, matter of 
 praife, think of thefe things. 
 
 f See The Fable of the Bees, and confer the enquiry into the original of Mcrnl virtue, 
 lad' t\\e fearch info the nature offoclety, with the body of the book. 
 
 on
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. ?i 
 
 on Religion * ; who, how different foever their employments may 
 appear, are indeed but twifting the fame rope at different ends : the 
 plain dclign of both being to overthrow religion. But as the 
 Moralift's is the more plaufible fcheme, it is now become moft in 
 fafliion : So that of late years a deluge of moral fyftems hath over- 
 flowed the learned world, in which either the moral fenje, or the 
 ejential difference, rides alone triumphant ; which like the chorus 
 of clouds in y^;-//?o/i/'<7WJ, the Aevao* N£<f>eX«<, the eternal rela- 
 tions, are introduced into the fceiie, with a gaudy outfide, to 
 fupplant "Jupiter, and to teach the arts of fraud and fophijlry ; but 
 in a little time betray themfelves to be empty, obfcure, noify, im- 
 pious Nothings. 
 
 In n word, with regard to the feveral forts oi Separatijlsy thole, 
 I mean, who are indeed friends to Religion, and who detefl the 
 Infidel's abufe of their principles, I would recommend to their in- 
 terpretation the following oracle of an ancient fage. OT TAP 
 ESTIN EYPEIN THS AIKAI0SYNH2 AAAHN APXHN OTAE 
 AAAHN TENESIN, H THN EK TOT AI02 KAI THS K0INH2 
 *YLT.X12. 
 
 This noble truth, that the only true foundation and or'igmal of mo- 
 ral'ily is the Will of God interpreted by the moral fenfe and ejfential 
 difference of things, was a random thought of Cbryfppus the Stoic. 
 1 give it this term, i . Becaufe the ancient philofophy teaches no- 
 thing certain concerning the true ground of moral obligation. 
 2. Becaufe Plutarch'' s quoting it amongft the repugnances of the' 
 Stoics, (hews it to be inconfiftent with their other doclrine. And 
 indeed, the following the ancient philofophers too fervilely, hath 
 occafioned the errors of modern moralifls, in unnaturally feparating 
 the three principles of pradical morality, Plato being the patron 
 oi^ht moral Jenfe\ Arijlotk oi \\\q, effential differences \ and Zeno of 
 arbitrary will. 
 
 * Seethe fourth Treaiife of the Charaderiflics, intituled, *' An Enquiry conceniing 
 Virtue and Merit." 
 
 Vol. I. M And
 
 82 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book L 
 
 And now, to come more direftly to our Adverfary's argument : 
 We lay then, 
 
 1 . That the Athelfl: can never come to the knowledge of the 
 MORALITY of adilons properly fo called. 
 
 2. That though he be capable of behig affeded with the moral 
 fenfe, and may arrive to the knowledge of the real ejjential 
 
 differences in the qualities of human aftions ; yet X.\\\?, fenfe and 
 
 thefe differences make nothing for the purpofe of Mr. Bay la's 
 
 argument : becaufe thefe, even in conjunclion, are totally in- 
 
 fufficient to influence fociety in the practice of virtue : which 
 
 influence is the thing in queftion. 
 
 Both thefe conclufions, Iprefume, have been clearly proved from^ 
 
 what hath been faid above, oi the origin of Society ; and, juft before,. 
 
 of the foundation of moral virtue : But that nothing may be wanting 
 
 to the argument, I (hall crave leave to examine the matter with a 
 
 little more exadlnefs. 
 
 I. And firft, that an Atheiff, as fuch, can Jiex'^cr arrive to the 
 knowledge of the morality of aSiions properly fo called, (hall be further- 
 made good againfl: the reafoning which Mr. Bayle brings to prove,. 
 that the Morality of human aSlions may be demonjlrated on the principles 
 of a Stratonicean, or atheiflic Fatalift ; whom he perfonates in this 
 manner : " The * beauty, fymmetry, regularity, and order, feeix 
 *' in the univerfe, are the effefts of a bhnd iiiintelligent Nature ;, 
 *' and though this Nature, in her workman(hip, hath copied after 
 •' no ideas, (he hath neverthelefs produced an infinite number of 
 *' fpecies, with each its diftind efTential attribute. It is not in 
 *' confequence of our opinion, that fire and water differ in fpecies^ 
 *' and that there is a like difference between love and hatred, affir- 
 " mation and negation. Their fpecific difference is founded in 
 *' the nature of the things themfelves. But how do we know 
 
 * La beautc, la fymetne, la regularite, I'ordre que Ton voit dans I'linivers, font 
 I'ouvrage d'une nature qui n'a point de connoiiTance, & qu'encore, &c. Contin. des 
 Penfees diverfef, c. cli. 
 
 " this ?
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 83 
 
 *' this ? Is it not by comparing the eiTential properties of one of 
 *' thefe beings with the effential properties of another of them ? 
 *' But we know, by the fame way, that there is a fpecific difference 
 *' between truth and falfhood, between good faith and perfidiouf- 
 " nefs, between gratitude and ingratitude, &c. We may then be 
 *' aflured, that vice and virtue differ fpecifically by their nature, 
 *' independent of our opinion." This, Mr. B-^jc/f calls their being 
 natural'y feparated from each other : And thus much we allow. 
 He goes on : " Let * us fee now by what ways Stratonic atheifts 
 ** may come to the knowledge of vice and virtue's being morally 
 *' as well as naturally feparated. They afcribe to the fame neceility 
 *' of nature' the eftabllfhment of thofe relations which we find to 
 *' be between things, and the eflabllfhment of thofe rules by 
 *' which we diflinguifh thofe relations. There are rules of rea- 
 *' foning independent of the will of man : It is not becaufe men 
 " have been pleafed to fix the rules of fylloglfm, that therefore 
 *' thofe rules are jufl and true : they are fo in themfelves, and all 
 •' the endeavours of the wit of man againfl their eflence and their 
 *' attributes would be vain and ridiculous." This likewife we grant 
 him. He proceeds : *' If then there are certain and immutable 
 *' rules for the operation of the underftanding, there are alfo fuch 
 *' for the determinations of the will." But this we deny. He 
 would prove it thus : " The t rules of thefe determinations are not 
 *' altogether arbitrary' ; fome of them proceed from the neceffity of 
 ♦' nature; and thefe impofe an indifpenflibls obligation. The moft 
 " general of thefe rules is this, that man ought to will what is mojl 
 *' conformable to right reafon : For there is no truth more evident 
 " than this, that it is fit a reafonable creature fhould conform to 
 " right reafon, and unfit tliat fuch a creature fhould recede from it." 
 
 * Voions comment ils pouvoitnt fnvoir qu'elles etoient outre cela feparees morale- 
 iment. I!s nttiibuoient, &c. Idem ibid. 
 
 f Les regies de ces aftes-la ne foiU pas toutes arbitraires ; il y en a qisi emancnt, 
 &;c. Idem ibid. 
 
 M 2 This
 
 84 T HE DIVINE LEGATION Book L 
 
 This is his argument. To which I reply, that from thence, no 
 moral difference can arife. He contends that things are both naturalh 
 and morally Je par able. He fpeaks of thefe ideas as very different 
 (as indeed they are) and proves the truth of them by difFereut ar- 
 guments. The natural effdtitial difference of things then, if we mean 
 any thing by the terms, hath this apparent property ; that it 
 creates ^fitnefi in the agent to a£l agreeably thereto : As the movdt 
 difference of things creates, befides this finefs, an obligation like- 
 wife : When therefore there is an obligation in the agent, there is 
 a moral difference in the things, and fo on the contrary, for they 
 are infeparable. If then we fhew, that right reafon alone cannot 
 properly oblige, it will follow that the knowledge of what is agree- 
 able to right reafon doth not induce a moral difference : Or that a 
 Stratonicean is not under any obligation to a<fl agreeably to right 
 reafon ; which is the thing Mr. Bajle contends for. 
 
 I. Obligation, neceffarily implies an Obliger : The Obllger mufr: 
 be different from, and not one and the flmae with, the obliged:. 
 To make a man at once the Obliger and obliged, is the fame thing; 
 as to make him treat or enter into compa£t with himfelf, which is 
 the higheft of abfurdities. For it is an unqueflioned rule in law 
 and reafon, that whoever acquires a right to aiiy thing from the 
 obligation of another towards him, may relinquifh that right. If 
 therefore the Obliger and obliged be one and the fame perfon, in 
 that cafe all obligation muft be void of courfe; or rather no obli- 
 gation would have commenced. Yet the Stratonic atheill: is guilty 
 of this abfurdity, when he talks of aftions being wor,?/ or obligatory^ 
 For what Being can be found whereon to place this obligaLion ? 
 Will he fay right reafon? But that is the very abfurdity we com- 
 plain of J becaufe reafon is only an. attribute of the perfon obliged, 
 .his afliflant to judge of his obligations, if he hath any from ano- 
 ther Being : To make this then the Obliger, is to make a mai> 
 oblige himfelf. If he fay, he means by reafon not every man's- 
 particular reafon, but reafon in general ; I reply, that this reafon is 
 
 a mere
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES demonstrated. 85 
 
 a mere abftra6l notion, which hath no real fubfirtence : and ho\T 
 that which hath no real fubfiftence fhould oblige^ is ftill more diffi- 
 cult to apprehend. 
 
 2. But farther, moral ohligntio?i, that is, the obligation of a free 
 agent, implies a Law, which enjoins and forbids ; but a Law is 
 the impofition of an intelligent fuperior, who hath power to exadt 
 conformity thereunto. But blind unintelligent Nature is no law- 
 giver, nor can what proceeds neceflarily from thence come under 
 the notion of a Law : We fay indeed, in common fpeech, the laio 
 of necejjity, and the law of reafon and nature ; but thefe are merely 
 popular expreffions : By the firft, we mean only to infinuate, that 
 necejfity hath, as it were, one property of a law, namely that of 
 forcing ; and by the fecond, we mean the rule which the fupreme 
 Lawgiver hath laid down for the judging of his Will. And while 
 this light and diredion of renfon or nature is confidered as a rule 
 only, given by the God of nature, the term may be allowed : Thofe 
 who fo confidered the term were the firft who fo ufed it. After- 
 writers retained the name ; but, by a ftrange abfurdity, feparated 
 the Law-giver from his Law ; on a fancy of its being of virtue to 
 oblige by its own intrinfic excellence, or by the good of which it is 
 produftive. But how any thing except a Law, in the proper phi- 
 Jofophic fenfe, can oblige a dependent reafonable Being endued with 
 will, is utterly inconceivable. The fundamental error in Mr. Boyle's 
 argument feems to be this : He faw the effential difference of things ; 
 he found thofe differences the adequate objed of the iinderjlanding ; 
 and fo too haftily concluded them to be the adequate objedt of the 
 laill likewife. In this he was miftaken : they are indeed jthe ade- 
 quate obje6l of the underftanding ; becaufe the under/landing is paf- 
 five in its perceptions, and therefore under the fole direction of thefe 
 neceflary ditferences. But the will is not paflive in its determinations : 
 for inilance, that three are lefs than five, the underflanding is ne- 
 ceffitated to judge, but the will is not neceffitated to chufe five be- 
 fore three : Therefore the eJBTentlal differences of things are not the 
 
 adequate
 
 86 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 adequate objed of the will; the Law of a Superior muft be taken 
 in to conftitute obligation in choice, or morality in adlions. 
 
 Hobbes feems to have penetrated farther into this matter, than 
 the Siratonicean of Mr. Bayle ; he appeared to have been fenfible 
 that morality Implied obligation^ and obligation a Azw, and a law a 
 Lawgiver: Therefore, having (as they fay) expelled the Legiflator 
 of the univerfe, that morality of aftions might have fome founda- 
 tion, he thought fit to underprop it with his earthly God, the 
 Leviathan ; and to make him the creator and fupporter of moral 
 right and wrong. 
 
 But a favourer of Mr. Bayle s paradox may perhaps obje£t, that 
 as he was allowed a fitnefs, and unfitnefi in actions, difcoverable by 
 the cffential ditlerence of things ; and as this fitnefs and unfitnefs 
 implies benefit and damage to the ador, and others ; it being in faft 
 feen, that the pradice of virtue promotes the happinefs of the Indi- 
 vidual, or at leafl: of the Species, and that vice obftruds it ; it may 
 be faid, that this will be fufficient to make morality^ or obligation^ 
 in the Stratonic fyftem ; if not in the (Irid fenfe of the word, yet 
 as to the nature of the thing. To this I reply, that in that Syflem, 
 whatever advanced human happinefs, would be only a natural good; 
 and virtue as merely fuch, as food and covering : and, that which 
 retarded it, a natural evil, whether it was vice, peftilence, or 
 unkindly feafons. Natural, I fay, in contradlftindtion to tnoral, 
 or fuch a good as any one would be obliged to feek or promote. 
 For 'till it be made appear that Man hath received his being from 
 the will of another ; and fo depending on that other, is accountable 
 to him for it ; he can be under no moral obligation to prefer good to 
 evil, or even life to death. From the nature of any adion, mora- 
 lity cannot arife ; nor from its cjf'eSis: Not from the firft, be- 
 ckufe, being only reafonable or unreafonable, nothing follows but 
 a fitnefs in doing one, and an abjurdity in doing the other : Not 
 from the f< cond, becaufe, did the good or evil produced make tlie 
 adion moral, brutes, from whole adions proceed both good and 
 evil, would have morality . 
 
 If
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. g; 
 
 If it be farther urged, that the obfervance of thefe eflential dif- 
 ferences is promoting the perfeftion of a particular fyftem, which 
 contributes, in its, concentration, to the perfection of the univerfe ; 
 and that therefore a reafonable creature is obliged to conform 
 thereto : I anfwer, firft, that (on the principles before laid down) 
 to make a reafonable creature obliged in this cafe, he mufl firft be 
 enforced by the Whole, of which he is part. This enforcement 
 cannot here be by intentional command, whofe objedl is free agency, 
 becaufe the Stratonic Whole, or univerfal Nature, is blind and un- 
 intelligible. It mufl force then by the necefiity of its nature ; and 
 this will, indeed, make men obliged as clocks are by weights, but 
 never as free agents are, by the command of an intelligent Superior, 
 which only can make actions moral. But fecondly> an uniform 
 perfedl Whole can never be the effe6l of blind fate ; but is the plain 
 image and impreffion of one intelligent felf-exiftent Mind. In a 
 word, as it is of the nature of the independent firft Caufe of all things 
 to be obliged only by his own wijdo-n ; fo it feems to be of the na- 
 ture of all dependent intelligent beings lO be obliged only by the will 
 of the firft Caufe. 
 
 " All things therefore (fays the great Mafler of reafon) do work, 
 *' after a fort, according to Law : All otlier things according to a 
 " LAW, whereof, fome Superior, to whom they are fubjedl, is 
 " Author; only the works and operations of God h.;vc him both 
 *' for their worker, and for the Law whereby they are wrought. 
 " The Being of God is a kind of Law to his working ; for that per- 
 " feiSloii which God is giveth perfection to that he doth *." 
 
 Nor does this contradifl what we have aflerted, and not only 
 afferted, but proved, in fpeaking of moral obligation, that nothing, 
 hut Will, can oblige: Becaufe our whole reafoning is confined to 
 matCs obligation. And if there be any thing certain, in the firft 
 principles of law or reafon, this muft be confefled to be of the 
 (lumber, that a man can neither oblige him/elf, nor be obliged by names 
 
 * Hooker's Eccl. Pol. B. T. Scft. 2. p. 3. circa fiiiem. 
 
 a/ld
 
 S8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 (ind jiotions ; lb that, to create an obligation, the Will of fome other 
 being mult be found out. A principle, which the common con- 
 ceptions of man, and the univcrfal pradice of human Ufe confirms. 
 But, as in our difcourfe of God, the weaknefs of our intelleds con- 
 ftralns us to exphain our conceptions of his nature by human ideas, 
 tlierefore wlicn we fpeak of the morality of hh adions, finding them 
 to be founded in no other, or fuperior Will, we fay, he is obliged 
 only by his own ivijdom : Obligation, when applied to God, meaning 
 no more than diredtion : for, that an independent being can be fubjed 
 to obhgation in the fenfe that a dependent being is fubjed, is, by 
 the very terms, an high abfurdity. Obligation, therefore, when 
 applied to man, being one thing ; when applied to God another ; the 
 ftrifteft rules of logic will allow different attributes to be predicated 
 of each. It is confefled, we have a clear and adequate idea of 
 obligation, as it relates to man ; of this obligation, we have affirmed 
 Ibmething plain and evident : It is likewife confeffed we have a very 
 obfcure and inadequate idea of obligation, as it relates to God : of 
 ibis obligation, too, we have affirmed fomething, whofe evidence 
 mufl needs partake of the imperfection of its fubjed. Yet there 
 have been found Objeftors fo perverfe, who would not only have 
 clear conceptions regulated on oh/cure', but what hjimply predicated 
 of God, to deftroy what hath been proved o^ man. 
 
 But to let this matter in a fuller light, I will jufl: mention two 
 objedlions {jiot peculiar to the Stratoniceans) againfl morality's being 
 founded in will. 
 
 Obj. I. It is faid, " That, as every creature necelTarily purfues 
 " happinefs, it is that which obliges to moral obfervance, and not 
 " the Will of God ; becaufe it is to procure happinefs that we obey 
 " command, and do every other adt : and becaufe, if that Will 
 " commanded us to do what would make us unhappy, we fhould 
 " be forced to difobey it." To this I anfwer, that when it is faid 
 morality is founded on Will, it is not meant that every Will obliges, 
 but that nothing but Will can oblige. It is plain the Will of an 
 
 inferior
 
 Sect. 4, OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 89 
 
 inferior or equal cannot be meant by it * : It is not fimply Will 
 then, but Will fo and fo circumftanced : And why it is not 
 as much Will which obliges, when it is tlie Will of a fuperior feek- 
 ing our good, as the Will of a fuperlor fimply^ I am yet to learn. To 
 i7\y then that happinefs and not Will makes the obligation, feems 
 like faying, that when in mechanics a weight is railed by an en- 
 gine, the whceh and pullies are not the caufe, but that univerfal 
 atfedion of matter called altraSlion. Obj. 2. If it be ftill urged, 
 " that one can no more be called the obligerthan the other ; becaufe 
 " though happinefs could not oblige without Will, on the other 
 •' hand, Will could not oblige without happinefs ;" I reply, 
 this is a miftake. Will could not indeed oblige to unhappinefs ; 
 but it would oblige to what fhould produce neither one nor the 
 other, though all confiderations of the confequence of obeying or 
 difobeying were away. 
 
 Obj. 3. It is faid, " That if, according to the modern notions of 
 *' philofophy, the will of God be determined by the eternal relations of 
 *' things, they are properly thofe relations (as Dr. Clarke would have 
 " it) which oblige, and not the will of God. For if A impel B j and 
 ** B, C, andC, D; it is A and not C that properly impels D." But 
 here I fufpeft the objedlion confounds natural caife and effeSi with 
 moral agent and patient ; which are two dlftinct things, as appears, 
 as on many other accounts, fo from their effects ; the one implying 
 natural neceffity, the other, only moral fitnefs. Thus, in the cafe 
 before us, the eternal relations are, if you will, the natural canf, 
 but the will of God is the moral agency : And our qucftion is, not 
 of natural necejjlty that refults from the former, but, oi moral ft nefs 
 that refults from the latter. Thus that which is not properly the 
 natural caufe of my acting, is the moral caufe of it. And fo on the 
 contrary. 
 
 * «* Whence comes the rertraint [of the Law of Nature] ? From a higher Power; 
 " nothing elfc can bind. 1 cannot bind my felfe, fori may untie my felie again; nor 
 *' an equal cannot bind me, for we may untie one another. It muft be a fuperior 
 " power, even God Almighty." Sllien's Table Talk, art. Law of Nature. 
 
 Vol. I. ' N On
 
 90 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book L 
 
 On the whole, then, it appears, that Will, and IFill only, can 
 con£xiiutQ obligation ; and, confequently, make aftions moral, i.e. 
 fuch as deierve reward and punifitnent . Yet when men refle£l on 
 the affedions of their own minds, and find there 2i fenfe of right and 
 wrong (o ftrongly imprefled as to be attended with a confcioufnefs 
 that the one deferves reward and the other punijhment, even though, 
 there were no God; this fo perplexes matters, as to difpofe them,. 
 In oppofition to all thofe plain deduBions, to place morality in tlie 
 ejfential dijjerence of things. But would they conlider that that very 
 fenfcJtion, which fo much mifleads us in judging of the true foun- 
 dation of morality, is the plaineft indication of will, which, for 
 the better fupport of virtue*, fo framed and conftituted the hu- 
 man mind ; a confliitution utterly inconceivable on the fuppofitiou 
 of no God; would they, I fay, but confider this, the difficulty 
 would intirely vanifh. 
 
 But fo it hath happened, this evident truth, that morality is^ 
 founded in will, hath been long controverted even among Theifts.. 
 What hath perplexed their difputes is, that the contenders for this. 
 
 * We have explained above the admirable difpofition of things, by the God of naturej, 
 for the fupport of virtue. And it was from this view that an able writer, who is for 
 moderating in the difpute about moral oiligaiiort, calls the ejjential difference ofthi!^!, dif- 
 coverable by reafon, t\\& internal obVgation, an<i the will of God, the exfer/jal. J'cnteiids 
 (dit-il) par obligation Interne celle qui eft uniquement produitepar notre propre raiion,. 
 confideree comme la regie primitive de notre conduite, et en confequence de ce qu'une 
 aiSion a, en elle-meme, de bon ou de mauvais. Pour Vohligation exiemc ce fera celle qui. 
 vient de la volonte de quelque etre, dont on fe reconnoit dependant, et qui coramande 
 ou defend certaines chofes, fous la menace de quelque peine. Bwlamaqai, Principcs du, 
 droit naiurcly p. 76. 
 
 If he had called the firft, the improper olligation,, and the other the proper, his terms- 
 had been a great deal more exaft. For it bein^g of the eflence of the relative term, ob- 
 ligation, to have an outward refpeft, or external relation, internal obligation muft be a 
 \e\y Jiguraii-ue, that is to fay, a very abfurd expreffion, when applied to man. Perhaps,. 
 indeed, thnt ruling Nature which draws all machines, whether brutal or rational (if 
 there be any of the latter kind) to purfue happinefs, may, in a philnfophic fenfe, be called 
 the internal olligation; but, furely, when applied to man, fuppofcd a free-agent, the 
 terms are mere jargon. 
 
 truth
 
 SEeT.4. OF. MOSES DEMONSTRATED. ^^ 
 
 truth have generally thought themfelves obliged to deny the na- 
 tural ejjential differences of things, antecedent to a Law ; fuppofing, 
 that the morality of aftlons would follow the conceflion. But tliis 
 is a miftake, which the rightly diftinguifhing between things natu- 
 rally and morally feparable (as explained above) will reftify. That 
 the dlftinftion hath not been made or obferved, is owing to the 
 unheeded appetite and averfion of the tncral fenfe : And their adverfa- 
 ries being in the fame delufion, that the one inferred the other, never 
 gave tliemfelves any farther trouble, but when they had clearly de- 
 nionftrated the natural ejjential dijfcnnce, delivered that as a proof 
 of the moral difference, though they be, in reality, two diftind 
 things, and independent of each other. More than one of our 
 ablefl writers have not efcaped this delufion. Dr. S. Clarke going 
 on the Principle, that Obligation was founded in the nature of 
 thhigs, to fupport it, was perpetually forced to confound moral liW^ 
 natural fitnefles with one another ; which makes him, contrary to 
 his charafter, very inaccurate and confufed * : And Mr. Wollafton f, 
 diflatisfied with all the principles, from which the preceding writers 
 of his party had deduced the morality of adlions, when he had de- 
 monftrated, with greater clearnefs than any before him, the natural 
 cJJcntial difftrence of things, unluckily miAook it for the moral dif- 
 ference', and thence made the formal ratio of moral good and evil, to 
 confjl in a conformity oj mens adiions to the truth of the cnfe^ or other- 
 ivife. For it is a principle with him, that things may be denied or 
 affirmed to be what they are, by deeds as well as words. But had 
 both parties been pleafed to confider this natural ejjcniial difference 
 of things, as, what it mud be con fe fled by both to be, the direc- 
 tion WHICH God hath given his creatures to bring them 
 
 TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL; AND THE RULE OF THAT WILL; 
 
 the difpute had been at an end : and they had employed this differ^ 
 ence, not as the atheift does, for x.\\c foundation of morality ; but, as 
 
 ♦ Evidence of natural and revealed Reli^;ion, 6th Ed. p. 5— -7. 
 f The Rclij^ion of Nature delineated. 
 
 N z all
 
 92 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book L 
 
 all true thelfts fliould do, for the medium to bring us to that only 
 found foundation, the will and command of God. Thofe wha 
 imagine, as the author of the principles of natural law feems to do, 
 that this is only a difpute about words*, are much deceived. Th« 
 man who regards the eflential difference of things as a command or 
 a Law properly fo called, hath a very different idea of it, from hini 
 who regards it only as a Rule or a Law improperly fo called. And 
 the reafon is plain, becaufe thefe relative terms have an effentlal 
 difference ; a Rule, referring lingly to thofe direfted by it ; but a 
 Law has a double reference ; to thofe governed by it, and to the 
 Lawgiver who gave it. He therefore who regards it as a Rule, flops 
 fhort, and refls obligation there, where no obligation can abide : 
 But he who regards it as a Law properly fo called (for thofe wha 
 confider it as a mere rule give it the name of lazv, becaufe they 
 make obligation to arife from it) refts obligation in a Lawgiver, and 
 purfues it to its true fource, the throne of Goth The difpute, 
 therefore, is not about words, but things : Or if we will needs 
 have it to be about words, it is of the proper and improper ufe of 
 them, which intimately concerns ihi?7gs ; indeed Truth itfelf and 
 COMMON SENSE. We fay 7i found is fweet, or a colour hot ; and as 
 nobody is mifled by thefe expreflions, we hold it foolifh to diveft 
 them of their figure, and formally to contend that (fbriftly and 
 philofophically fpeaking) inconfiftent properties are afcribed to them* 
 But fhould it once be affumed that z. found may be the fubjeil oi 
 tafle and a colour the fubjedt of touch, it would be time, I fuppofe, 
 to reftify an abfurdity which tends to confound all our ideas of 
 fenfatton : Juft fo it is, in the expreflions of trui& or happinefsy 
 OBLIGING : While thefe were confidered as the rule or reward of 
 
 * Je Gonclus — que les differences qui fe trouvent entre les principaux fyfiemes fur la 
 nature & I'origine de I'obligation, ne font pas auffi grandes qu'elles le paroiflcnt d'abord. 
 Si I'on examine de pres ces fentimens, I'on verra que des differentes idcee, reduites a, 
 leur jufte valeur, loin de fc trouver en oppoCtion, peuvent fe rapprocher — Burlamaquiy 
 
 adions^
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED, 93 
 
 anions, given and Impofed by a Mafter on his fervants, by a Creator 
 on his creature, the figure was neither forced nor Inelegant ; and 
 did not deferve to be quarrelled with. But when the queftion was 
 oi real obligation, in a metaphyfic fenfe, then, ferioufly to contend, 
 that it arlfes from truth or happinefs, or from any thing but will, 
 is the very philofophy oi tajiing found zndi feeling colour ; and equally 
 tends to the confulion of all our ideas of reflexion. 
 
 On the whole then we fee, that an Atheift, as fuch, cannot 
 arrive to the knowledge of morality *. 
 
 2. We now come to our fecond conclufion againft Mr. Bayh*s ar- 
 gument, " that the idea of the moral fenfe, and the knowledge of 
 " the natural ejfential difference of tbings, are, even in conjundlion, 
 " infulficient to influence Communities in the practice of virtue :'* 
 But we muft prevloufly obferve, that the arguments, which we 
 allow to be concluflve for the Str atonic atheift's comprehenfioii of 
 the natural eflential difference of things, take in only that fpecies 
 of atheifm : the other, which derive, all from chance and hazard, 
 are Incapable of this knowledge ; and muft be content with only 
 the moral fenfe for their guide. Let us therefore ;%// enquire what 
 this moral feife is able to do alone, towards influencing virtuous 
 pratftice ; and fecondly, what new force it acquires in conjunftion 
 with the knowledge of the natural effential difference of things. 
 
 1. Men are mlfled by the name of infinSl (which we allow the 
 moral fenfe to be) to imagine that its impreflions operate very ftrongly, 
 by obferving their force in brute animals. But the cafes are widely 
 different : In Beafts, the infthift is invincibly ftrong, as it is the 
 fole fpring of adion : In Man, it is only a friendly monitor of th« 
 
 * One would not have imagined any body could be fo wild to nfll-rt, that, on thefe 
 principles, it could not be proved, that a vicious Atheift deferved punifliment at the 
 hand of God. To fuch (hrewd difcerners, I would recommend the following cafe. Your 
 fervant gets drunk; and, in that condition, negledls your orders, forgets your relation 
 to hinn, and treats it as an impofture. Does he, or does he not, deferve punifhment ^ 
 When this is refolved, the point in quelllon will be fo too, 
 
 judgment :
 
 94 THE DIVINE LEGATION BookI. 
 
 judgment ; and a conciliator, as it were, between Reafon and the 
 fenfual appetites ; all which have their turn in the determinations 
 of the Will. It muft coniequently be much weaker, as but fliar- 
 ing the power of putting upon aftion with many other principles. 
 Nor could it have been otherwife without deftroying human liberty. 
 It is indeed of fo delicate a nature, fo nicely interwoven into the 
 human frame and conftitution, and fo eafily loft or effaced, that 
 fome have even denied the exiftence of a quality, which, in mofl 
 of its common fubjeils, they have hardly been able to obferve. 
 Infomuch that one would be tempted to liken it to that candid ap- 
 pearance, which, as the modern philofophy has difcovered to us, 
 is the refult of a mixture of all kinds of primitive colours : where, 
 if the feveral forts be not found in fit proportions, no whitenefs 
 will emerge from the compofition. So, unlefs the original paffions 
 and appetites be rightly tempered and balanced, the moral fenfe can 
 never fliew itfelf in any ftrong or fenfible tWtdi. This being the ftate 
 oi moral injlin£i, it muft evidently, when alone, be too weak to in- 
 fluence human praftice. 
 
 When the moral Jenje is made the rule, and efpecially when it is 
 the only rule, it is neceffary that its reftitude, as a rule, (hould be 
 known and afcertained : But this it cannot be by an Atheift : For 
 till it be allowed there was defign in our produdion, it can nev«- 
 be fhewn that one appetite is righter than another, though they be 
 contrarious and inconfiilent. The appetite therefore, which, at 
 prelent, is mofl importunate to be gratified, will be judged to be 
 the right, how adverfe foever to the moral fefifc. But, fuppofing 
 this moral fenfe not to be fo eafily confounded with the other appe- 
 tites ; but that it may be kept diftlnd, as having this peculiar qua- 
 lity fo different from the reft, that it is objeftive to a whole, or en- 
 _ tire fpecies ; whereas the others terminate in felf, or in the private 
 fyftem (though, as to whole and parts, an Atheift muft have very 
 {lender and confufed ideas) ; granting this, I fay, yet national Man- 
 ners, the iffue of ihoje appetites, would, in time, effeftually, though 
 
 infenfibly,
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. g$ 
 
 iiifenfibly, efface the idea of the moral fenfe, in the generality of 
 men. Almofl: infinite are the popular Cuftoms, in the feveral na- 
 tions and ages of mankind, which owe their birth to the more 
 violent paffions of fear, lufl:, and anger. The moft whimfical and 
 capricious, as w^ell as the moft inhuman and unnatural, have arifen 
 from thence. It mull needs therefore be, that cuftoms of this ori* 
 ginal ftiould be as oppofite to the moral Jenfe, as thofe appetites are, 
 from whence they were derived. And of how great power, Cuflom 
 is to erafe the ftrongeft impreffions of Nature, much ftronger than 
 thofe of the moral Jenfe, we may learn from that general praftice, 
 which prevailed in the moft learned and polite countries of the 
 world, of EXPOSING THEIR CHILDREN * ; whereby the ftrong in- 
 flinilive affeftion of Parents for their offspring was violated without 
 remorfe. 
 
 This would lead one into a very beaten common place. It fuf* 
 fices that the fa<ll is too notorious to be difputed. And what makes 
 more particularly for my argument is, that Cnjlom is a power which 
 oppofes the moral fenfe not partially, or at certain times and places,, 
 but unlverfally. If therefore Cuftom in the pollteft States, where 
 a Providence was taught and acknowledged, made fuch havock of 
 Virtue ; into what confufion muft things run, where there is na 
 
 * Of all the moral painters, Terence is the man who fcems to have copied huiTiarx 
 nature with moft exaftncfs. Yet, his Citizen ol" univerful benevolence, whom he draws 
 with fo much life, in that maftcrly ftroke, f.wmofum, hu,>tani ?i'L'l a f/ie alienum puto, is 
 the fame perfoft who coniniands his wife to expofe her new-born daughter, and falls into 
 a palfion with her for having committed that hard talk to another, by which means the 
 infant efcajjed death, — Ji mcum imperium exciui "joluiljis, intercmptam oporhtit. Hence even 
 the divine Plato reckons the expofing of infants, if not amongft the diiflates of nature, 
 yet amongft the prefcripts of right reafon : For in his hook of la-M, which he corapofed 
 for the reformation of popular prejudices and abufes in human Policies, he decrees, that 
 if the parents had children, after a certain age, they fliould expofe them ; and that fo 
 effedually, he fays, that they fliouId not efcape dj'ing by famine. Chreraes therefore 
 fpeaks both the ditStates of Philofophy and Cuftom, when he charaderizes fuch who 
 had any dregs of this natural inflina remaining, as perfons — qi<i nf.juc Jw. nequc bonum 
 atque (C'luum fiuntt 
 
 other
 
 96 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 other barrier than the feeble idea of the moral Jenje? Nor can it be 
 replied, that the culTroms here fpoken of, as fo deftruftlve to the 
 moral fenfe, are the produdt of falfe Religions ; which fpring and 
 fountain-head of evil, Atheifm at once dries up : For the inftance 
 here given is of a Cuftom merly civil ; with which Religion had no 
 manner of concern. And fo are a vaft number of others that are 
 carefully colleded by the two writers mentioned above. 
 
 2. But now, fecondly, for our Stratonic Atheift ; in whom, we 
 fuppofe, the moral fenfe, and the knowledge of the ejTential difference 
 of things aft in conjundion to promote virtuous pradice. And iu 
 conjundlion, they impart mutual ftrength to one another : For as 
 loon as the ejfential difference is eftabliflied and applied, it becomes a 
 mark to diftinguifh the moral fenfe from the other appetites, which 
 are irregular and wrong. And, the moral feiije being thus carefully 
 kept up and fupported, the mind, in its metaphyfical reafonings 
 on the ejfential difference, is guarded from running into vifionary re- 
 finements. 
 
 The queftion then is, " Whether a clear conviftion of right and 
 " wrong, abftrafted from all Will and Command, and confequently, 
 '* from the expeftation of reward and punifhment, be fufficient to 
 " influence the generality of Men hi any tolerable degree ?" That it 
 Is not, will, I fuppofe, be clearly feen by the following confidera- 
 tion. All, who have confidered human nature attentively, have 
 found *, that it is not enough to make men follow Virtue, that it 
 be owned to be the greatejl good ; which, the beauty, benefit, or 
 reafonablenefs of it may evince. Before it can raife any defire in 
 them, it muft firft be brought home to them ; and confidered by 
 them as a good that makes a neceflary part of their happinefs. For 
 it is not conceived needful, that a man's happinefs fhould depend on 
 the attainment of the greateft poflible good; and he daily forms 
 fchemes of complete happinefs without it. But the gratification of 
 craving appetites, moved ftrongly by fclf-love, being thought to 
 
 * Sec Locke's Eflay, Chap, Of Power, § 71. 
 
 contribute
 
 Sfctt. 4. O F M O S E 3 D E M O N S T R A T E D. 97 
 
 contribute much to human happuiefs, and bemg at the fame time 
 fo oppofite to, and inconfiftent 'with \ irtue, the generaUty will 
 never be brought to think, that the uniform practice of it makes a 
 neceffary part of human happinefs. To balance thefe appetites, 
 fomething, then, more interefting muft be laid in the fcale of 
 Virtue ; and this can be only rewards and puniihmcnts, which 
 Religion propofes by a moralily founded in Will, 
 
 But this may be farther underftood by what hath been obferved 
 above, concerning the nature and original of civil Society. Self- 
 iniere/lf as we there Ihew, fpurring to a<5lion by hopes and fears, 
 caufed all thofe diforders amongft men, which required the remedy 
 of civil Society. And Jelf-i titer ejl, agahi, operating by hopes and 
 fears in Society, afforded means for the redrefs of thofe firft difor- 
 ders ; fo far forth as Society could carry thofe hopes and fears. For 
 to combat this univerfal paffion oi f elf -love, another, at leaft as 
 ftrong, wjis to be oppofed to it ; but fuch a one not being to be 
 found in human nature, all that could be done was to turn this very 
 Paifion in an oppofite direftion, and to a contrary purpofe. There- 
 fore, becaufe Society failed (from the natural deficiency of its plan) 
 in remedying the diforders it was inftituted to correft, and confe- 
 quently was obliged to call in the aid of Religion, as is above ex- 
 plained ; it is evident it mull; proceedy?;// on the fame principles of 
 hopes find fears. But, of all the three grounds of Morality, the 
 third only thus operating, and an Atheifi: not having the third, Re- 
 ligion, which only can give it, muft be unavoidably nccelfary for 
 Society. Or in otiier words, the moral fenfe, and the knowledge 
 of the natural ejfenUal difference cf things in conjundion, will be al- 
 together infufficient to influence the generality in virtuous praclice. 
 
 SECT. V. 
 
 BUT Mr. Bayle, who well undcrftood the force of this Argu- 
 ment, is unwilling to reft the matter here ; and fo carts about 
 for a motive of more general influence. This, he thinks, he finds 
 Vol. I. O ill
 
 98 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 in that ftrong appetite for glory, praife, and reputation, which an 
 Atheift mufl: needs have as well as other men. And this makes his 
 fecond Argument. 
 
 II. *' It is moft certain *, (fays he) that a man devoid of all Re- 
 *' ligion may be very fenfible of worldly honour, and very cove- 
 *' tous of praife and glory. If fuch a one find himfelf in a country 
 *' where Ingratitude and knavery expofe men to contempt, and gene- 
 " rofity and virtue are admired, we need not doubt but he will 
 *' afte£l the character of a man of honour ; and be capable of re- 
 *' ftoring a truft, even where the Laws could lay no hold upon him^ 
 *' The fear of paffing for a knave would prevail over iiis avarice. 
 *' And as there are men, who expofe themfelves to a thoufand in- 
 *' conveniencies, and a thoufand dangers, to revenge an atfront, 
 *' which perhaps they have received before very few witneffes, and 
 ♦' which they would readily pardon, were It not for fear of incur- 
 *' ring Infamy amongft thofe with whom they had to do ; fo I be- 
 •' lieve the fame here; that this perfon, whom we fuppofe devoid 
 *' of Religion, would, notwithftanding all the oppofition of hl&, 
 " avarice, be capable of reftoring a truft, which It could not be 
 *' legally proved he had withheld ; when he fees that his good 
 " faith will be attended with the applaufes of the whole place 
 " where he refides j while his perfidy might, fome time or other,, 
 " be objedled to him, or at leaft fo ftrongly fufpe6led, that he could- 
 " not pafs In the world's opinion for an honeft man : For It is- 
 " that inward efteem in the minds of others, which we afpire at,. 
 *' above all things. The words and aftions, which mark this efteem,, 
 *' pleafe us on no other account, than as we imagine them to. 
 " be the figns of what paffes Ii> the mind : A machine fo ordered 
 *' as to make the moft refpeftful gefticulations, and. to pronounce 
 *' the cleareft articulate founds, in all the detours of flattery, would, 
 ** never contribute to give vis a better opinion of ourfelves, becaule 
 
 * II eft — fort certain, qu'un homrae deftitute de foi, pent etre foit fcnfible a I'hon. 
 neur du monde, l^c, Penf. div«.c, 179.
 
 Sect. 5. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 99 
 
 *' we (hould know they were not figns of efleem In the muid ot 
 *' another. On thefe accounts therefore, he, of whom I fpeak, might 
 *' facrifice his avarice to his vanity, if he only thought lie (hould 
 *' be fufpedled of having violated a trufl:. And though he might 
 *' even believe himfelf fecure from all fufplclon, yet, ftill, he could 
 *' eafily refolve to prefer the honourable part to the lucrative, for 
 *' fear of falling into the inconvenience, which has happened to 
 *' fome, of publifhing their crimes themfelves, while they flept, or 
 *' in the tranfports of a fever. Lucretius ufes this motive to draw 
 *' men, without Religion, to virtue." 
 
 To this, I reply, i. That it is indeed true, that commendation 
 and difgrace are ftrong motives to men to accommodate themfelves 
 to the opinions and rules of thofe, with whom they converfe ; and 
 that thofe rules and opinions, in a good meafure, correfpond, in 
 moft civilized countries, with the unchangeable rule of right, what- 
 ever Sextus Empiricus and MontaigJie have been pleafed to fay to the 
 contrary. For virtue evidently advancing, and vice as vlfibly ob- 
 ftrufting the general good, It is no wonder, that that aftlon Should 
 be encouraged with efleem and reputation, wherein every one finds 
 his account ; and that^ difcountenanced, by reproach and infamy, 
 which hath a contrary tendency. But then we fay, that feeing this 
 good opinion of the world may be almoft as furely gained, certainly 
 with more eafe and fpced, by a well aded hypocrify than by a fin- 
 cere pra6tice of virtue, the AthellT:, who lies under no reftraints with 
 regard to the moral qualities of hisaftions, will rather chufe to pur- 
 fue that road to reputation, which Is confiftent with an indulgence 
 of all his other pafiions ; than that whereby they will be at conflant 
 war with one another ; and where he will be always finding himfelf 
 under the hard necefilty oi facnficlng, as Mr. Bayle well expreffesit, 
 hh avarice to his vanity. Now this Inconvenience he may avoid by 
 refolving to be honed only before company, which will procure him 
 enough of reputation ; and to play the rogue In fecret, where he 
 may fully indulge his avarice, or what other paffion he is moft dif- 
 O 2 pofed
 
 loo THE DIVINE LEGATION Book L 
 
 pofed to gratify. That this will be his fyftem, who has no motive, 
 but popular reputation, to a£l virtuoufly, is fo plain, ihatMr.Bay/c 
 was reduced to the hardefl: fhifts imaginable to invent a reafon why 
 an Atheift, thus actuated by the love of glory, might poflibly behave 
 himfelf honeflly, when he could do the contrary without fufpicion. — 
 *' And though he might believe himfelf fecure from all fufpicion» 
 •* yet flill he could eafily refolve to prefer the honourable part to the 
 *' lucrative, for fear of falling into the inconvenience which hath 
 *' happened to fome, of publlfhing their crimes themfelves, while; 
 *' they flept, or in the tranfports of a fever." Lucretius, fays he,. 
 ufes this motive to draw men, without religion, to virtue. It had been 
 to the purpofe to have told us, what man, from the time of Lucre- 
 tius to his own, had been ever fo dra"jvn. But they mufl: know 
 little of human nature, who can fuppofe, that the coufideration of 
 thefe remote, poflible indeed, but very unlikely accidents, hath 
 ever any fliare in the determination of the Will, when men are de- 
 liberating on actions of importance, and diftraded by the Shifting 
 uncertain views of complicated Good an<l Evil, But granting it to 
 be likely, of common ; the man, Mr. Bayk defcribes., could never 
 get clear of the danger of that contingency, which way foever he 
 refolved to aft. Let us fuppofe him to take the honourable part,, 
 even then, fleep or a fever might as eafily deprive him of the repu- 
 tation he affefts : For I believe there is no man, of tliis turn, but 
 would be as afhamed to have it known, that all his virtuous a6lions- 
 proceeded from a felfifh vanity, as to be difcovered to have ftretched' 
 a point of juftice, of which civil laws could not take cognizanGCo. 
 It is certain, the Jirfi makes a man as contemptible, and much 
 more ridiculous in the eyes of others, than the latter ; becaufe the 
 advantage aimed at is fantaftical : And one dlfcovery ileep or a fever 
 is as likely to make as the other. 
 
 But, 2. Suppofing our Atheift to be of fo timid a complexion, 
 as to fear that, even in a courfe of the beft-aded hypocrify, he may 
 rifque the danger of being difcovered, yet as this practice, by which 
 
 he
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. lor 
 
 he Co well covers all the lucrative arts of fraud, enables him to pro- 
 vide well for himfelf, he will be eafily brought to hazard all the 
 inconveniences of a deteaion, to which, indeed, the courfe is liable, 
 but which it can fo ealily repair : for he has ample experience 
 that though indeed efteem is generally annexed to apparent good 
 adions, and infamy to bad; yet tlip.t tliere is no virtue which lb 
 univerlally procures popular Opinion as riebes and power^ there 
 being no infamy which they w^ill not efface or cover : and this 
 being a road to Opinion which leads him, at the fame time, to the 
 gratification of his other paffions ; there is no doubt but it will be 
 his choice *. 
 
 i^fter many detours, Mr. Bd'^^ is, at length, brought to own, 
 that Atheifm is, indeed, in its natural tendency, deftrudive of So- 
 ciety ; but then, he infifts upon it, that it never in fa£l becomes 
 Co. 
 
 III. Becanfe (and this is his next argument) men do not aSl aC' 
 cording t) their principles, nor ftt their praclice by their opinions. 
 He owns this to have very much of a myftery ; but for the fad he 
 appeals to the oblervation of mankind : " For if it were not fo," 
 lays he -j-» " how is it poffible that Chriftians, who know fo clearly 
 " by a Revelation, fupported by fo many miracles, that they muft 
 '• renounce vice, if they would be eternally happy, and avokl eter- 
 " nal milcry ; vvho have fo many excellent preachers — fo many 
 " zealous directors of confcience— fo many books of devotion ; how 
 *' is it pofiible, amidlT: all this, that Chrifliians Ihould live, as they 
 *' do, In the moft enormous diforders of vice ?" And again \^ 
 agreeably to this obfervation, he takes notice, " that Cicero hath 
 " remarked, that many Epicureansy contrary to their principles, 
 •* were good friends and honeH: men ; who accommodated their 
 *' adions, not to their principle, the defire of pleafure, but to the 
 
 ^ai,uo(i J' oTos er,3-Sa Hefiod. Opcr. & Dies, veifiis 311, 312. 
 
 f — Si cela n'etoit pas, comment, &c. Penfees diverfes, c.ip. cxr.xvi, 
 X Cictron I'a remarq^ue a I'cgard de plufitiirs Fpicunin*, &c. c, clxvii. 
 
 'V rules
 
 loz THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 " rules ofrealbn." Hence he concludes : " That thofe lived better 
 " tiian they talked; whereas others talked better than they lived. 
 ♦' The fame remark," lays he, " hath been made on the conduct 
 " of the Stoics: their principle was, that all things arrived by an 
 " inevitable neceflity, which God himfelf was fubjeft to. Now 
 *• this fhould naturally have terminated in inadion ; and difpofed 
 " them to abftain from exhortations, promifes, and menacing. On 
 *' the contrary, there was no fe£l of philofophers more given to 
 •* preaching ; or whofe whole conduiSl did more plainly fhew, that 
 ■•' they thought themfelves the abfolute mafters of their own def- 
 *•' tiny." The conclufion he draws from all this, and much more 
 to the fame purofe, is *, that " therefore Rehgion doth not do that 
 *' fervice towards retraining vice as is pretended ; nor Atheifm 
 " that injury in encouraging it : while each profeffor a£ls contrary 
 " to his proper principle." 
 
 Now from this conclufion, and from words dropped up and 
 down t, of the myfterious quality of this phaenomenon, one would 
 fufpedl Mr. Bayle thought that there was fome ftrange Principle in 
 man, that unaccountably difpofed him to ad in oppofition to his 
 opinions, whatfoever they were. And indeed, fo he muft needs 
 fuppofe, or he fuppofes nothing to the purpofe : for if it fliould 
 be found, that this Principle fometimes difpofes men as violently 
 to a£t according to their opinions, as at other times it inclines them 
 to a£t agii'tnjl them, it will do Mr. Bayle s argument no fervice. 
 And if this Principle fhould, after all, only prove to be the violence 
 of the irregular appetites, // will conclude dire£lly againft him. 
 And by good luck, we have our Adverfary himfelf confeffing, that 
 
 * Contin. des Penf. div. cap. cxlix. 
 
 t Je consols que c'eft une chofe bien etrange, qu'un homme qui vit bien morale- 
 rnent, & qui ne croit ni paradis, ni enfer. Mais j'en reviens toujours-la, que I'homme 
 eft une certaine creature, qui avec toute fa raifon, n'agit pas toiijours confequement a fa 
 creance ; ce fcroit une chofe plus infinie que de parcomir toutes les bizaireiies de 
 I'homme. Une Monflre plus monftrucux que Ics Centaures & que la Chimera de la 
 fable. Penfces diverfes, cap. clxxvi. 
 
 this
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 105 
 
 this is indeed the cafe : for though, as I faid, he commonly affedls 
 to give our perverfe condudl a myfterious air, the neceflary fupport 
 of the fophiftry of his conclufion ; yet, when he is off" his guard, 
 we have him declaring the plain reafon of it ; as where he fays, 
 " The* general idea we entertain of a man, who believes a God, a 
 *' heaven and a hell, leads us to think, that he would do every 
 " thing which he knows agreeable to the will of God ; and avoid 
 " every thing which he knows to be difagreeable to it : But the life 
 " of man (hews, he does the direft contrary. The reafon is this: 
 *' Man does not determine himfelf to one a6lion rather than another 
 *' by the general knowledge of what he ought to do, but by the 
 *' particular judgement he paffes on each diftind cafe, when he is 
 *' on the point of proceeding to adion. This particular judgement 
 ♦* may, indeed, be conformable to thofe general ideas oi fit and 
 *' right ; but, for the moft part, it is not fo. He complies 
 •' almojl always, "with the reigning pajfwn of the heart, to the bias of 
 " the temperament, to the force of contrasted habits,^'' &c. Now if 
 this be the cafe, as in truth it is, we muft needs draw from this 
 Principle the very contrary conclufion, That, \i men a£l, not ac- 
 cording to their opinions, and that it is the force of the irregular ap- 
 petites which caufes this perverfity, a Religionift will often aSi 
 ogainfl his principles ; but an Atheilt, always conformably to them : 
 becaufe an Atheifl: indulges his vicious paflions, while he a£ts ac- 
 cording to his principles, in the fame manner that a Religionift 
 does, when he a£ls againfl his^ It is therefore only accidental that 
 men a£t contrary to their ©pinions ; then, when they oppofe their 
 paflions : or in Mr. Bayle^s words, when the general knowledge of 
 what one ought to do, doth not coincide with the particular judgement 
 we pafs on each dijlindl cafe ; which judgement is generally direfted 
 by the pafl^ions : But that coincidence always happens in an Atheifl's 
 determination of himfelf to aftion : fo that the matter, when 
 ftripped of the parade of eloquence, and cleared from the perplexity 
 of the abounding verbage, lies open to this eafy anf\ver» 
 
 * L'jdee gencrale veut cjuc, &c, Ptnf. div. c. cxxxt. 
 
 We
 
 T04 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 We allow, men frequently a6l contrary to their opinions, both 
 mctaphyfieal and moraU in the cafes Mr. Bayle puts. 
 
 1 . In vietaphyfical, where the Principle contradicls common fen- 
 timents, as ihejfokal Jate, and chrijiian predejl'ination * : there, met\ 
 rarely a£l: in conformity- to their opinions. But this inftance doth 
 not at all atfeft the queftion, though Mr. Bay/e, by his manner of 
 urging it, would mfuiuate, that an Atheift might be no more in- 
 fluenced in pradice, by his fpeculative opinion of no God, than a 
 FataliCt, by his, of no liberty. But the cafes are widely different : 
 for, as the exiftence of God reftrains all the vicious appetites by en- 
 forcing the duties of morality, the difbelief of it, by taking off that 
 reftraint, would fuffer, nay invite, the Atheift to ad according to 
 his principles. But the opinion ot fate having no fuch effect on the 
 morality of adions, and at the fame time contradidiiig common 
 fentiments, we eafily conceive how the maintainers of it are brought 
 to ad contrary to their principles. Nay, it will appear, when 
 rightly confidered, that the Atheift would be fo far from not ading 
 according to his opinions, that were his principle of no God, added 
 to the fatalift's of no liberty, it would then occafion the fatalift to 
 ad according to his opinions, though he aded contrary to them 
 before; at leaft, if the caufe Mr. fiiTy/,? affigns for men's not con- 
 forming their pradice to their principles, be true : for the fole 
 reafon why the fatalift did not ad according to his opinions, was, 
 becaufe they could not be ufed, while he was a Theift, to the grati- 
 fication of his paflions ; becaufe, that though it appeared, if there 
 were no liberty, men could have no merit ; yet believing a God, 
 the rewarder and punifher of men, as if they had merit, he would 
 ad likewife as if they had. But take away from him the belief of 
 a God, and there would be then no caufe why he fhould not ad 
 according to his principle of fate, as far as relates to moral prac- 
 tice. 
 
 * Penf. div. c. clxxvj. 
 
 2. Next,
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 105 
 
 2. Next, ;« morals. We own that men here likewife frequently 
 aft contrary to their opinions : For the view (as we obferved above) 
 of the greateft confefled poflible good, which, to a religionifl:, is 
 the praftice of virtue, will never, till it be confidered as making a 
 neceflliry part of our happinefs, excite us to the purfuit of it : and 
 our irregular paflions, which are of a contrary nature, while they 
 continue importunate, and while one or other is perpetually foli- 
 citing us, will prevent us from thus confidering virtue as making 
 a neceflary part of our happinefs. Tliis is the true caufe of all that 
 <iiforder in the life of man, which Philofophers fo much admire ; 
 which the Devout lament ; and for which the Moralifl: could never 
 find a cure : Where the appetites and reafon are in perpetual 
 confli£l ; and the man's praftice is continually oppofing his prin- 
 ciples. But, on the other hand, an Atheift, whofe opinions lead 
 him to conclude, fenfual pleafure to be the grcatejl pojfible good^ mufl:, 
 by the concurrence of his paflions, confider it as making a necef' 
 fary part of hh happinefs : and then nothing can prevent his afting 
 according to his principles. 
 
 We own, however, that the Atheift, Mr. Bayk dcfci ibes, would 
 be as apt, nay apter, to a<9: againft his opinions than a Thelfl : but 
 they are only thofe flender opinions concerning the obligation to 
 •virtuous praElice which Mr. Bayk hath given him : for if men do 
 not purfue the greateft confefled poHiblc good, till they confider it 
 as making a neceflary part of their happinefs ; I alk, which is the 
 likeliefl: means of bringing them fo to confider it ? Is it the re- 
 flexion of the innate idea of the lovelinefs of virtue ; or the more ab- 
 flrad contemplation on its ejfential difference to vice ? (and thefe are 
 the only views in which an Atheifl: can confider it) or is it not ra- 
 ther the belief, that tlie practice of virtue, as religion tenches it, 
 is attended with an infinite reward ? To thofe opinions, 1 fay, an 
 Atheift is like enough to run counter : but his principles of im- 
 piety, which cherifli his paflions, we mufl: never look to find at 
 variance with his anions : for our adverfary tells us, that the reafon 
 why practice and principle fo much difl'ei-, is the violence of human 
 
 Vol. I. P appc-
 
 io6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I» 
 
 appetites : from which a plain difcourfer would have drawn the 
 contrary conclufion j that then, there is the greater neceffity to en- 
 force religion, as an additional curb to licentioufnefs ; for, that a 
 curb it is, at leaft in fome degree, is agreed on all hands. 
 
 And here, at parting, it may not be amifs to obferve, how much 
 this argument weakens one of the foregoing : There we are made 
 t(; believe, that the moral fenfe and ejfentiul differences are fufficient 
 to make men virtuous : Here we are taught, that thefe, with the 
 fanSl'ion of a Providence to boot, cannot do it in any tolerable de- 
 gree. 
 
 As to the lives of his Epicureans, and other Atheifts, which we 
 now come to ; the reader is firft of all defired to take notice of the 
 fallacy he would here obtrude upon us, in the judgement he makes 
 of the nature of the two different principles, by fetting together 
 the efFeds oi Atheifm, as they appear in the majority of half a fcore 
 men ; and thofe oi Religion, as they appear in the majority of infinite 
 multitudes : A kind of fophifm, which fmall fe£ls in religion have 
 perpetually in their mouths, when they compare their own morals 
 with thofe in large communities, from which they diflent. And 
 now, to come to his palmary argument taken from faft. For, 
 
 IV. In the lafl place, he fays*, " that the lives of the feveral 
 " Atheiffs of antiquity fully fliew, that this principle does not ne- 
 " cefTarily produce depravity of morals." He inflances " In Diago- 
 " ras, Tbeodorus, Evcmeriis, Nicanor, ^i\<\ Hippon: " whofe virtue 
 *' appeared fo admirable to a Father of the Church, that he would 
 »' enrich Religion with it, and make Theifls of them, in fpite of 
 ♦' all Antiquity." And then defcends to •' Epicurus, and his fol- 
 " lowers, whom their very enemies acknowledged to be unblameable 
 *' in their adions, as the Roman Atticus, Coffius, and the elder 
 ♦« Pliny :" and clofes this illuf^rious catalogue with an encomium 
 on the morality of Vanini and Spinofa : But this is not all ; for he 
 tells us farther +, of whole nations of Atheifls, " which modern 
 
 * Penf. diver, c. clxxivr. & Contin. desPenf. diver, c. cxliv. 
 t Contin. des Penf. div. c. Ixxxv. & c. cxliv. 
 
 «' travellers
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 107 
 
 •« travellers have difcovered in the Iflands or continents ofJfric and 
 " America, that, in point of morals, are rather better, not worfe, 
 *« than the idolaters who live around them. It is true, that thefe 
 *' Atheifts are favages, without laws, magiftrate, or civil policy : 
 " but this (he fays) * fupplies lilm with an argument a fortiori: for 
 *' if they live peaceably together out of civil fociety, much rather 
 *' would they do fo in it, where equal laws reflrain men from in- 
 *' juftice." He is fo pleafed with this argument, that he reduces it 
 to this enthymeme t : 
 
 *' Whole nations of atheifts, divided Into independent families, 
 *' have preferved themfelves from time immemorial without 
 «' law. 
 
 ** Therefore, much ftronger reafon have we to think they would 
 ** ftill preferve themfelves, were they under one common mafter, 
 ** and one common law, the equal dlftributer of rewards and pu- 
 ** nifhments." 
 
 In anfwer to all this, I fay (having once again reminded the 
 reader, that the queftlon between us is, whether atheijm would not 
 have a pernicious (ffe£l on the body of a people in fociety J i. That as 
 to the lives of thofe pliilofophers, and heads of fe<3:s, which Mr. 
 Bayle hath thought fit fo much to applaud, nothing can be col- 
 ledled from thence, in favour of the general Influence of atlieifm 
 on morality. We will take a view of the feveral motives thofe men 
 had to the praftice of virtue : for thereby it will be feen, that not 
 one of thefe motives (peculiar to their feveral chara£ters, ends, and 
 circumftances) reaches the grofs body of a people, felzed with the 
 infedion of this principle. Infotne of them it was the moral fenfe, 
 and the eJJ'ential difference of things, that inclined them to virtue : 
 but we have fully (hewn above, that thefe are too weak to operate 
 on the generality of mankind ; though a few ftudious, contempla- 
 
 * Contin. des Penf. div. c. cxviii. 
 
 t Des peuples athces divifes en families indcpcndantes fe font, &c. 
 
 P 2 tlve
 
 jo8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 tive Men, of a more refined Imagination and felicity of temperament, 
 might be indeed Influenced by them. In others It was a warm paf- 
 iioa for fame, and love of glory. But though all degrees of men 
 have this paffion equally ftrong, yet all have It not equally pure 
 and delicate : fo that though reputation is what all afFedl, yet the 
 grofs body of mankind is little follcitous f:om whence It arlfes ; 
 and reputation, or at lead the marks of it, which is all the people 
 afpire to, we have fhewn, may be eallly gained in a road very f;ir 
 from the real pra(3:Ice of virtue : In which road too, the people are 
 moft ftrongly tempted to purfue it. Very fmall then is the number 
 of thofe, on whom thefe motives would operate, as even Potnpona- 
 iius, in his ample confeflion taken above, hath acknowledged : and 
 yet thefe are the moft extenfive motives that thefe phllofophlc 
 Athelfts had to the praftlce of virtue : for. In the rejf, the motive 
 muft be owned to have been lefs legitimate, and reftralned to their 
 peculiar ends or circumftances ; as concern for the credit of the feift 
 they had founded, or efpoufed : which they endeavoured to ennoble 
 by this fpurious luftre. It is not eafy for a Modern to conceive, ho-^v 
 tender they were of the honour of their Principles : The conference 
 between Pompey and Pojidonius the Stoic, Is a well-known ftory * : 
 and if the fear of only appearing ridiculous by their principles were 
 ftrong enough to make them do fuch violence to themfelves, what 
 muft we believe the fear of becoming generally odious would do, 
 where the principle has a natural tendency, as we fee Cardan frankly 
 confeffed, to make the holder of It the objeft of public abhorrence ? 
 But if the fenfe of ftiame were not ftrong enough, felf-prefervatlon 
 would force thefe men upon the practice of virtue : for though, of 
 old, the Maglftrate gave great indulgence to phllofophlc fpecula- 
 tions ; yet this downright principle of atheifm being unlverfally un- 
 derftood to be deftruftive to Society, He frequently let loofe his fe- 
 vereft refentment agalnft the maintalners of It : fo that fuch had 
 no other way to difarm his vengeance, than In perfuading him by 
 
 ♦ Tufc. Difp. 1. ii. c. 25. Edit. Oxon. 4°. t. II. p. 297. 
 
 their
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 109 
 
 their lives, that the principle had no fuch deftrudlve tendency. In 
 a word then, thefe motives being peculiar to the leaders of fe£ts, 
 we fee that the virtuous praftice t.rifing from thence makes nothing 
 for the point in queftion. 
 
 2. But he comes much clofer to it, in his next inflance ; which 
 is of whole nations of modern Savages, who are all atheifts, and 
 yet live more virtuoufly than their idolatrous neighbours. And 
 their being yet unpolicied, and in a ftate of nature, makes, he 
 thinks, the inftance conclude more ftrongly for him. Now, to 
 let the truth of the fa<5t pafs unqueflioned ; though Homer feemed 
 to have a very different opinion of the matter, when he makes the 
 atheiftical Cvclofs to be the mod unjuft and violent, as well as moft 
 brutal, race of men upon earth. And what faith might be expcdled 
 from fuch a people, the poet gives us to underfland, in that fine 
 circumftance, where one of them was accofted by Ulyjfes, who was 
 then a ftranger to their Principles. This wary hero, imploring the 
 afliftance of a Cyclop, tells him with great opennefs who he was, 
 whence he came, and the fum of his adventures. But no fooner had 
 the Monfter profeffed himfelf a thorough free-thinker, than the 
 experienced traveller loft all hopes of faith or juftice from him ; and, 
 from that moment, put himfelf upon his guard, and would not 
 truft him with one word of truth, more. 
 
 But I fay, to let this pafs, I fhall endeavour to deted the fophiftry 
 of his conclufion (which I had before obviated in the fecond fec- 
 tion *, concerning the infufficiency of human Laws alone) in a 
 fuller explanation of that reafoning. 
 
 It is notorious, that man in Society, is incefihntly giving the af- 
 front to the public laws. To oppofe which, the Community is as 
 conftantly bufied in adding new ftrength and force to its ordinances. 
 If we enquire into the caufe of this perverfity, we fhall find it no 
 
 * See p. 55. 
 
 ether
 
 no THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I 
 
 other than the number and violence of the appetites. The appetites 
 take their birth from our real or imaginary wants : our real wants 
 are unalterably the fame; and, as arifing only from the natural im- 
 becillity of our condition, extremely few, and eafily relieved. Our 
 FANTASTIC wants are infinitely numerous, to be brought under no 
 certain meafure or ftandard ; and increafing exaftly in proportion 
 to our improvements in the arts of life. But the arts of life owe 
 their original to Society * : and the more perfe£t the Policy, the 
 higher do thofe improvements arife ; and, with them, are our 
 wants, as we fay, proportionably increafed, and our appetites in- 
 flamed. For the violence of thefe appetites, which feek the grati- 
 fication of our imaginary wants, is much ftronger than that raifed 
 by our real wants: not only becaufe thofe wants are more nume- 
 rous, which give conftant exercife to the appetites ; and more un- 
 reafonable, which make the gratification proportionably difficult ; 
 and altogether unnatural, to which there is no meafure ; but, 
 principally, becaufe vicious cuftom hath affixed a kind of reputation 
 to the gratification of the fantaftic wants, which it hath not done 
 to the relief of the real ones. So that when things are in this flate, 
 we have (hewn above, that even the mod provident Laws, with- 
 out other affiftance, are infufficient. But in a flate of nature, un- 
 confcious of the arts of life, men's wants are only real ; and thefe 
 wants, few, and eafily fupplied. For food and covering are all 
 which are neceflary to fupport our Being. And Providence is 
 abundant in its provifions, for thefe wants : and while there is more 
 than enough for all, it can hardly be, that there fhould be difputes 
 about each man's (hare. 
 
 * There is one remarkable circumftance in the Mnfalc hiftory, that 1 flioiild fancy, 
 muft needs give our free-thbikers a high idea of the •veracity or fcnetration of the author. 
 It is, where, having reprefented Cain as the firft who built a city, or made advances 
 towards civil fociety, he informs us, that his pofterity were the inventors of tlie arts of 
 life, in the inftances he gives of Jahal, Juhal, and Tuba'.-Cain, 
 
 And
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. m 
 
 And now the reader fees clearly how it might well be, that this 
 rabble of Atheifls fhould live peaceably in a flate of nature, though 
 the utmoft force of human Laws, in the improved condition of 
 Society, could not hinder them from running into mutual violence. 
 But the fophiftry of this enthymeme is furtlier feen from hence. 
 Not even Mr. 5*7);/^ himfelf would pretend, that thefe Atheifts, who 
 live peaceably in their prefent ftate, without the reftraint of human 
 laws, would live peaceably without this reftraint, after tliey had 
 underftood and pradliled the arts of life in credit amongft a civi- 
 lized people. In Society therefore, which the arts of life infepara- 
 bly accompany, an impofed curb, he will own, would be neceflary. 
 I then argue thus. If a people, who out of Society could live 
 peaceably without the curb of Law, could not live peaceably 
 without that curb in Society ; you have no reafon to believe, that 
 though out of fociety they might live peaceably without the curb 
 of religion, they could live peaceably, without that curb, in So- 
 ciety ? The anfwer to this muft bring on again the queftion. 
 How llrong the curb on man, in Society, (hould be ? which we 
 have fully examined in another place. This argument, therefore, 
 proves nothing but the folly of pretending to conclude, concerning 
 man in Society, from what we fee of his behaviour, out of it. 
 
 And here, in conclulion, once for all, it may not be amifs to ob- 
 ferve, the uniform (train of fophiftry which runs through all Mr. 
 Bayle^s reafonings on this head. The queilion is, and I have been 
 frequently obliged to repeat it, he fo induftrioully afieding to for- 
 get or miftake it, Whether Atheijm be dejlruolive to the body of a 
 Society f And yet he, whofe bufinefs it is, to prove the negative, 
 brings all his arguments from confiderations, which either afFedt 
 not the grofs body of mankind, or afFe£t not that body, in i:ociety : 
 in a word, from the lives of Sophi/ls or Savages ; from the example 
 of a few fpeculative men far above the view of the common run of 
 cithens ; or from that of a barbarous crew o{ favages much farther 
 below it. All his fadls and reafonings then being granted, they 
 ftill fall fhort and wide of his conclufion. 
 
 But
 
 iia THE DIVINE LEGATION Book T. 
 
 But the lad: ftroke of his apology Is more extravagant than all 
 the reft : for having proved atheifm very confiftent with a ftate of 
 nature, left it ftiould happen to be found not fo confiftent with civil 
 fociety, but that one of them muft rife upon the ruins of the other, 
 he gives a very palpable hint which of the two he thinks (hould 
 be preferved ; by making it a ferious queftion, difcufled in a fet 
 diflertation*, whether civil society be absolutely neces- 
 sary FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MANKIND t ? and Very gravely 
 refolving it in the negative. — And here let me obferve, that thefe 
 Philosophers (asMeff. Voltaire and D^AIembert call all thofe who 
 defpife Religion) never fuffer a good hint to lye unimproved. The 
 famous citizen of Geneva building upon this before us, hath fince 
 written a large Dlfcourfe to fhew, that Civil Society is even 
 
 HURTFUL TO MANKIND. 
 
 SECT. VI. 
 
 I Have here given, and to the beft advantage, all the arguments 
 M.V. Bay I e hzth. employed to prove Religion not necefiary to 
 civil Society ; by which it may be feen, how little the united force 
 of wit and eloquence is able to produce for the fupport of fo out- 
 rageous a paradox. 
 
 The reader will imagine, that now nothing can hinder us from 
 going on to oury^cow^ propofition ; after having fo ftrongly fupport- 
 ed thejSr/I. But we have yet to combat a greater monfter in morals 
 before we can proceed. 
 
 As the great foundation of our propofition, t/jai the do^rine of a 
 future fate of rewards and punifimenis is necejfary to civil fociety^ is 
 this, that religion is necejfary to civil fociety ; fo the foundation of this 
 latter proportion Is, that virtue is fo. Now, to the laftlng op- 
 probrium of our age and country, we have itzw a writer publicly 
 
 * Contin. des Penf. div. c. cxviii. 
 
 t Si les focietcz font abfolument neceffaires pour conferver le genre humain. 
 
 maintain.
 
 Sect. 6. O F M O SE S D E MO N ST R ATED. 113 
 
 maintain, in a book fo intituled, that private vices were public 
 BENEFITS. An unheard-of impiety, wickedly advanced, and im- 
 pudently avowed, againft the univerfal voice of nature : in which 
 mora/ virtue is reprefented as the invention of knaves ; and chrijlian 
 •virtue as the impofition of fools : in which (that his infult on com- 
 mon fenfe might equal what he puts on common honcfty) he af- 
 fores his reader, that his book is a fyftem of moft exalted morals 
 and religion : And that the juftice. of his country, which publicly 
 accufed him *, was pure calumny. 
 
 But I fhall undertake to (hew, and that In very few words, to 
 the admirers of the low buffoon ry and impure rhetoric of this wordy 
 declaimer, that his whole fabric is one confufed heap of falfhoods 
 and abfurdlties. 
 
 I. Firji then, it is to be obferved, that though his general por- 
 tion be, that private Vices are public benefits, yet, in his proof of it, 
 he all along explains it by Vice only in a certain tneafure, and to a 
 certain degree. And, as all other writers have deduced the necef- 
 fity on private men in fociety, to be virtuous, and on the magiftrate 
 feverely to punifh vice, from the maligtiiiy of the nature of Vice ; fo 
 he enforces this neceflity, on both, from the malignity of its excefs. 
 And indeed he had been only fit for Bedlam had he not given this 
 reftrldion to the general fenfe of his propofition. 
 
 However, this is full enough to expofe the falfhood of that af- 
 fertion, which his whole book Is written to fupport, namely, ibat 
 •vice is abfolutely necejaryfor a rich and powerful Society. For what- 
 foever is abfolutely ?iecejfary to the well-being of another in matter of 
 morals, muft be fo, by its effential properties ; the ufe of which 
 thing will be, then, in proportion to its degree. And this the 
 common morallfts obfer.ve of Virtue with regard to the State. But 
 whatfoever Is ufeful to another, only when in a certain degree, is 
 not fo by its effential properties ; if not by Its elTential properties, 
 
 * By the Granil-jury of JMiddlefcx. 
 
 Vol. I. .Q^ then,
 
 ii4 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book t 
 
 then, of courfe, by accident only ; and, if by accident, not ne- 
 ceflary. 
 
 Tlie firft part of the fornner affertion may be proved thus. If 
 A be abfolutely neceflary to B, it is, becaufe neither C, nor D, nor 
 any thing but A, can fupply the wants of B. But if nothing but 
 A can fupply thefe wants, it is becaufe the fupplial is afforded by 
 the ejcntial properties of A ; which eflential properties are incom- 
 municable to all other beings ; the communication of them to C, 
 D, (^c. making C and D the fame as A, which is abfurd : for if 
 the iupplial of the wants of B were caufed by what was not ejjentiat 
 to A, but accidental \ then might thefe wants as well be fupplied 
 by C, D, Sfc. as by A ; becaufe that which is accidental only, 
 may belong in common to feveral different beings. The fecond 
 part may be proved thus : Thefe effential qualities can never be ex- 
 cejfive ; as for inftance. There can never be too much Virtue in a 
 ftate. specific Virtues, indeed, may be pufhed to excefs ; but then 
 they lofe their nature, and become Vices ; in which ftate of things. 
 Society will be fo far from having too much, that it will have too 
 little Virtue. It is not fo with geiieric Virtue ; therefore that ejfen- 
 tial Quality in A, which in a lower degree profits B, muil: m a 
 higher degree be ftill more ufeful to B. On the other hand, acci- 
 dental ^alitics may be exceffive ; fo that, that accidental Quality in A, 
 which profiteth B in a lower degree, may injure B in a higher. 
 This is the cafe of real luxury, in its effevfts on Society; as 
 will be fhewn in the progrefs of this fedlion : for though a fpecific 
 Virtue carried to an excefs becomes Vice, yet a Vice, fo pufhed on, 
 never becomes Virtue ; but, on the contrary, by advancing in 
 malignity, more clearly evinces it's true nature, and expofes' its 
 baleful efFefts. 
 
 ■ From all this, it appears, that a great and powerful Community, 
 which is., in itfelf, a natural good, and, as fuch, defirable, may 
 procure and preferve its grandeur without Vice, though Vice fo 
 frequently produces and fupports it : becaufe this utility of Vice 
 
 not
 
 IS 
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 115 
 
 not arifing from Its eflential qualities, but from fome accidental 
 circumftances attending it, may be fupplied by fomething that 
 is not Vice, attended with the fame circumftances. As for 
 inftance, the confumption of the produSls of art and nature 
 the circumftance which makes States rich and flourifliing. Now 
 if this confumption may be procured by aftions not vicious, 
 then may a State become great and powerful without the aflif- 
 tance of Vice. That it may, in fad, be thus procured, fhall now 
 be fhewn, 
 
 II. The Author, defcending to tlie enumeration of his proofs, ap- 
 pears plainly to have feen, that Vice in general was only accidentally 
 prodndlive of good ; and therefore avoids entering into an examina- 
 tion of particulars ; but feleds, out of his favourite tribe, luxury, 
 to fupport his execrable paradox ; and on this alone refls his caufe. 
 By the affiflauce of this ambiguous term, he keeps fomething like 
 an argument on foot, even after he hath left all the reft of his City- 
 crew to fliift for themfelves. And it muft be owned, there is no 
 word more inconftantly and capricioufly applied to particular adions; 
 or of more uncertain meaning, when denominating fuch adlions, 
 than the term Luxury. For, unapplied, it has like all other moral 
 modes, an exad and precife (Ignification ; and includes in it, the abufe 
 of the gifts of Providence. The difficulty is only to know when this 
 queftion is abufed. Men have two ways of deciding : the one, by 
 the principles of Natural religion ; the other, by the pojitive injiiiu- 
 tions of Revealed. In thofe Principles^ all men are reafonably well 
 agreed ; but, concerning thefe Injli tut ions ^ when taken feparately 
 and independent on thofe Principles^ there are various opinions, 
 which fuperftition and fanaticifm have greatly diftorted : confe- 
 quently, thofe who eftimate Luxury by this latter rule, (where 
 obfcurity and, of courfe, confufion, are fo difficult to be avoided) 
 will difagree extremely about it : and amongft fuch diverfity 
 of notions, It would be ftrange Indeed, if fome or other had not 
 ideas of Luxury, which would ferve the wildeft hypothcfis ; and 
 Q 2 much
 
 ii6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 much ftranger, if fo corrupt a Writer did not take advantage 
 of them. He has done it Hke a mafter : and with a maUce and 
 cunning to intitle him, though he be but a follower, to be a Leader 
 of a fedt. 
 
 ivVy?, in order to perplex and obfcure our idea of Luxury^ he hath 
 laboured in a previous differtation, on the origin of moral virtue, to 
 deftroy thofe very principles, by whofe affiftance we are only able 
 to clear up and afcertain that idea : where he decries and ridicules 
 the effential difference of things, the eternal notions of right and 
 wrong ; and makes virtue, which common moralifts deduce from 
 thence, the offspring of craft and pride. 
 
 Nothing now being left to fix the idea of Luxury, but the po- 
 fitive precepts of Chrijllanlty, and he having ftript thefe of their only 
 true and infallible interpreter, the principles ol natural Religion; it 
 was eafy for him to make thofe precepts Ipeak in favour of any ab- 
 furdities that would ferve his purpofe, and as eafy to find fuch ab- 
 furdities fupported by the fuperftition and fanaticifm of fome or 
 other of thofe many Sefts and Parties of chrlpanlty, who, defpif- 
 ing the principles of the Religion of Nature as the weak and beggarly 
 elements^ foon came to regard the natural appetites, as the gracelefs 
 furniture of the old man, with his affeSllons and lujls. 
 
 Having got Christianity at this advantage, he gives us for 
 Gofpel, that meagre Phantom begot by the hypocrify of Monks on 
 the mifanthropy of yf/c^//ci: which cries out, an abuse! when- 
 ever the gifts of Providence are ufed, further than for the bare fup- 
 port of nature. So that by this rule every thing becomes Luxury 
 which is more than necejfary. An idea of Luxury exaftly fitted to 
 our Author's hypothefis : for if no State can be rich and powerful 
 while its members feek only a bare fubfiftence, and, if what is more 
 than a bare fubfiflence be Luxury, and Luxury be Vice ; the confe- 
 quence, we fee, comes in pat, private vices are public bene- 
 fits. Here you have the fole iffue of all this tumour of words. 
 
 But
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 117 
 
 But it is difficult to think, that a Writer of fuch depravity of heart, 
 had not farther ends in this wicked reprefentation of natural and 
 revealed Religion. We cannot doubt his purpofe, when we refleft 
 upon his gains, which are, the fixing of his followers in a propen- 
 fity for Vice^ and in a prejudice againfl: Cbrijlianity. For what can 
 be more in favour of Vice^ than, that there is no moral duty ? 
 WJiat more in difcredit of Chriftianity, than, that all the enjoy- 
 ments of life are condemned by it as evil ? 
 
 III. But the GOSPEL is a very different thing from what Bigots 
 and Fanatics are wont to reprefent it. It enjoins and forbids no- 
 thing in moral practice, . but what natural Religion had before en- 
 joined and forbid. ■ Neither indeed could it, becaufe one of God's 
 Revelations, whether ordinary or extraordinary, cannot contradift 
 another ; and becaufe God gave us the firfl, to judge of others, by 
 it. Accordingly we find, that though it be indeed one of the great 
 ends of Chrijiian'ity (but not the main and peculiar end) to advance 
 the. p'raftice of moral virtue amongft men, yet the New Teftament 
 doth not contain any regular or complete lyfrem or Digefl of moral 
 laws ; the detached precepts enforced by our divine Mafler in it, 
 how excellent and perfect foever, arifing only from the occafions 
 and circumftances which gave birth to thofe difcourfes or writings, 
 in which fuch precepts are delivered. For the refl, for a general 
 knowledge of the fyftem of moral- duty, the founders of our Religion 
 hold open to us the great Pandecl of the law of nature, and bid us 
 fearch and fludy that. Finally, fays the apoftle Paul, whatjbever 
 things are true, whatfaever things are honeji, whatfoever tMngs are 
 ju/i, whatfoever things are lovely, whatfoever t hi figs are of good report, 
 think on thefe things. But where vicious cuftom, or perverfe Inter- 
 preters, had depraved the Religion of Nature, there, particular care 
 was taken to remove the rubbifh of time and malice, and to rein- 
 ftate the injured moralities in their primitive dignity and fplendor. 
 
 The Religion of Nature, then, being rellored, and made the rule 
 to explain and interpret the occafional precepts of Chrijlianity ; what 
 
 is
 
 ii8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 is Luxury by natural Religion, that, and that only, muft be Luxury 
 by revealed. So that a true and precife definition of it, which this 
 Writer (triumphing in the obfcurity which, by thefe arts, he hath 
 thrown over the idea) thinks it impoflible to give, fo as not to fuit 
 with his hypothefis, is eafily fettled. Luxury is the ujing the gifts 
 of Providence, to the injury of the Ufer^ either in his per [on or fortune ; 
 or to the injury of any other, towards whom the JJfer flands in any 
 relation, which obliges him to aid and ajjijlance. 
 
 Now it is evident, even from the inftances this Writer brings 
 of the public advantages of confumption, which he indifcrimi- 
 nately, and therefore falfly, calls Luxury, that the utmoft con- 
 fumption may be made, and fo all the ends of a rich and power- 
 ful Society ferved, without injury to the Ufer, or any one, to whom 
 he ftands related: confequently without Luxury, and without Vice, 
 When the confumption is attended with fuch injury, then it 
 becomes Luxury, then it becomes a Vice. But then, let us take 
 notice, that this Vice, like all others, is fo far from being ad- 
 vantageous to Society, that it is the mofl: certain ruin of it. It 
 was this Luxury which deftroyed Ro7ne. And the very definition 
 given above, informs us of the manner how it came to pafs : namely, 
 by enervating the body, debauching the mind, beggaring the for- 
 tune, and bringing in the praftice of univerfal rapine and injuftice. 
 But the wretched abfurdity of fuppofing Luxury beneficial to fo- 
 ciety, cannot be better expofed, than by confidering, that, as Luxury 
 is the abufing the gifts of Providence, to the injury of himfelf and 
 of thofe to whom we ftand related ; and as the Public is that, to 
 which every man ftands nearefl related ; the confequence is, that 
 Luxury is, at one and the fame time, beneficial and injurious to 
 the Public. Nor can the abfurdity I here charge upon him, be 
 eyaded by faying it is deduced from a propofition of his, and a de- 
 finition of mine, fet together : Becaufe, however we may differ 
 whether the ufe of things, where no one is injured, be Luxury ; 
 yet we both agree in this, that where there is that injury in the 
 ufe, it is Luxury ; and Luxury, in this ^cnie, he holds to be bene- 
 ficial to Society, ' The
 
 Sect.6. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. n^ 
 
 The cafe I here put, of Luxury^s injuring the public, by depriv- 
 ing the ftate of that aid and afliftaijce from particulars, which, the 
 relation they ftand in to it, requires them to give, is no imaginary 
 or unlikely fuppofition. This effed of Luxury it was which con- 
 tributed, more immediately than any other, to the deftrudlion of 
 the Roman Commonwealth. For in the lafl: ftruggles for liberty 
 by a FEW, againft the humour of a debauched luxurious people, 
 when nothing but a fufficient fund was wanting to enable thofe god- 
 like men to reftore the Republic, the richeft citizens, who yet 
 wifhed well to their Country, could not be prevailed upon to re- 
 trench from their private Luxury, to fupport the Public in this 
 critical exigency : which therefore, having been long fhaken by the 
 Luxury of its enemies, fell now a facrifice to the Luxury of its 
 friends. Thus the great Roman patriot defcribes the fatal condition 
 of thofe times; Nos habemus luxuriam, afque avarilicmi ; publics 
 egejiatem, privatim opidentiam. 
 
 In a word then, it is not Luxury, but the confumption of the pro- 
 duds of art and nature, which is of fo high benefit to Society. That 
 this confumption may well be, without Luxury, appears plainly 
 from the definition given above. All the difference is, and that a 
 very eflential one, when the confumption is made without Luxury^ 
 infinitely greater numbers fliare in it ; when it becomes Luxury, it 
 is confined to fewer. The reafon of this, and the different effefts 
 this different confumption muft have on the Public, is very evident. 
 Had the confumption of the commodities and products of Greece 
 when conquered (which indeed were neceflary to render the Romans 
 polite and wealthy) been more equally made by that people, it 
 would have been extremely beneficial. But being unjuftly claimed 
 by one part, exclufive of the reft, " omnia virtutis praemia ambitio 
 «' poffidebat," it became luxury and deftrudion. The Hiftorian 
 (hews us how it was brought about : * There (fays he) the Roman 
 " people firfl began to intrigue, to debaucli, to affed a tafle for fta- 
 *' tues, pidures, and high-wrought plate. To come at which, 
 
 ** they
 
 120 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 "they opprefled the private, plundered the public, violated the 
 " temples of the Gods, and polluted and confounded every thing 
 " both facred and prophane*.'* Till at length, 
 
 *' Saevlor armis 
 " LuxuRiA incubult, vi6lumque ulcifcitur orbem." 
 
 HAVING endeavoured to {hew in this and the two following 
 Books, that the Priests and Lawgivers of former times all con- 
 currred in fupporting the belief of a future state, I am flopped 
 in the midft of my courfe, by a late noble Writer, who hath taken 
 advantage of this notorious truth, to reprefent the labours of thofe 
 Moderns, who have trode in the fame fteps, as A confederacy 
 BETWEEN Divines and Atheists to dishonour and degrade 
 THE God of the Universe. 
 
 " After pleading the caufe of natural and revealed Religion, (fays 
 " his Lordihip) I am to plead the caufe of God himfelf, againft 
 " Divines and Atheists in confederacy -f. 
 
 "The conduct of Chriftian Divines has been fo far from def- 
 '* fending the Providence of God, that they have joined in the cla- 
 " mour againft it. Nothing has hindered, even thofe who pretend 
 " to be his Meflengers, his Embafladors, his Pletiipotetitaries, from 
 " renouncing their allegiance to him, (as they themfelves have 
 " the front to avow,) but the hypothefis of a future state. 
 " On this hypothefis alone, they Infift ; and therefore, if this will not 
 *' ferve their turn, God Is difowned by them, as efFedually as if 
 " he was fo, In terms ];." " Divines, if not Atheifts, yet are 
 '* ABETTERS of Athelfm §." 
 
 * Ibi primum infuevit exercitus populi Roman! amare, pofare, figna, tabulas piflas, 
 vafa caelata mirari, ea privatim ac publice rapere, delubra fpoliare, facra profanaque 
 omnia poUuere. 
 
 + Lord Bolingbroke's Works, vol. V.p. 305. 
 
 X Vol. V. p. 487, 8. § Vol. V, p. ^^^85. 
 
 — " Divines
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. izi 
 
 " That there were fome men who knew not God hi all ages, 
 *' may be true : but the fcandalous talk uf combating his exis- 
 ** TENCE under the malk of Theilm, was referved for Metaphyfi- 
 *' cians and Theologians *." 
 
 *' Divmes are flill more to be blamed. A confederacy 
 
 «' WITH ATHEISTS becomes ill the profeflbrs of Theifm. No matter. 
 ** They persist, and have done their beft, in concert with their 
 ** allies, to DESTROY the belief of the goodness of God : — They 
 ** endeavour to destroy that of his goodness, which is a farther 
 ** article of their Alliance t." 
 
 *' The CONFEDERACY between Atheifls and Divines appears to 
 " have been carried very far — Nay the Atheifl: will appear, to 
 *' that reafon, to which they both appeal, more confiflent In his 
 *' abfurdity than the Divine |." " Divines upbraid God's good- 
 *' NESs, and censure his justice §." — " Injustice is, in this 
 " life, afcribed to God, by Divines ||." 
 
 *' The whole Tribe of Divines, like Wollafton and Clarke, do, 
 *' in effect, renounce the God whom you and I adore, as much 
 " as the rankeft of the Atheiftical Tribe. Your Priefts and our 
 ** Parfons will exclaim moft pathetically, and rail outrageously 
 «< at this aflertion. But have a little patience, and I will prove it 
 *' to their Hiame to be true**." 
 
 The Reader will give me leave, in a few words, to vindicate 
 the body of Divines from the horrid calumny of this imaginary 
 Confederacy. 
 
 He may be pleafed then to underftand, that Atheism has ever 
 endeavoured to fupport itfclf, on a fact, which has indeed all 
 the certainty that the evidence of fenfe and experience can give it ; 
 namelv, i/je unequal di/lributionoffnoralgoodandev:!, here beloiv, 
 *' Cum res hominum tanta caligine volvi 
 ** Adfpicerem, latojque diujiorere nocentes, 
 
 ' ' Vexar'ique p'os l a b l f A c r a c a d e b a t 
 
 ** Religio," 
 
 • Vol. V. p. 307. t Vol. V. p. 393. t Vol. V. p. 54S, 9. 
 
 § Vol. V. p. 417- tl Vol. V. p. 54.. •* Vol. V. P.4S5. 
 
 Vol. I, R ^vas
 
 122 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I. 
 
 was the common language of the impatient fufFerer. From hence 
 the Atheift inferred, that the Univerfe was without an intelligent 
 Ruler ; and that all things were driven about by that Fate or For- 
 tune, which firfi: produced them. Divines oppofed this Conchijion ; 
 for they did not venture to be fo paradoxical as (with his Lordfhip) 
 to call in queftion the Premises, a phenomenon which objecled itfelf 
 to all their Senfes. They firft demonflrated, flri£lly demonftrated^ 
 the Being of a God, and his moral attributes: and thea 
 fhewed, that if the whole of man's exiftence were included within 
 this life, the prefent diflribution of good and evil would contradict 
 that Demonftration. They, therefore, inferred, on their part, that 
 the whole of man's exiftence was not included within this life : 
 but that he was referved for an after- reckoning ; in which, an equal: 
 ciiJlribuUon of rewards and pun'ijhneiits would amply vindicate the 
 providence of a righteous Governor. 
 
 But Atheifts were not the only enemies whom 'Divines had to deal 
 with. There was a fet of men, who allowed an intelligent firft^ 
 Caufe, endowed with thofe moral attributes, which the Divines 
 had demonftrated : and, on that account, called themfelves Detst-s- 
 Yet they agreed fo far with Athetfm, as to confine the whole of 
 man's exiftence to the prefent life. Thefe, the Divine combated,, 
 in their turn ; and with the fame arms; but in aji inverted order. 
 In difputing with the Atheists, the principle held in common was 
 the prefent unequal dijiribut ion of Good and Evil. So that to cut oft" 
 their conclufion from it, of no God, he demonf rated the Being and 
 Attributes : and from that proof inferred that the inequality would 
 be fet right. With Deists, the common principle was the Being 
 and Attributes of God. Therefore, to bring them to the allow- 
 ance of a Future State, he appealed to the prefent unequal dif 
 tribuiion of good and evil, (which thefe Men, as well as his Lord- 
 fliip, were very backward to allaw and very induftrious not to fee;)' 
 and from that inequality inferred, that there muft be fuch a State 
 
 This is a iliort and true account of the Diviners conteft with 
 Atheists and Deists, fo iar as the fubjeft oi a future flat e came in 
 
 qutftion t
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 123 
 
 queflioii : In both controverlies ihT^t Jlatc is deduced from the moral 
 attributes : only with this dittcrcnce. In the difpute with Atheifts, 
 the demoiiftration of thofe attributes is vunk ; in the difpute with 
 Deifls, it is allowed. The final purpofe againft Atheifm is to prove 
 the BEING AND ATTRIBUTES of God ; the final purpofe .againft 
 Deifm is to prove a future state: For neither «i//«rrt/ nor r^- 
 vealed Religion can fubfift without believing that God is, and that he 
 is a REWARDER cf them thatjeek him*. Thus, we fee, the quejlion^ 
 in each controverfy, being different ; the premiffes, by which each 
 propofition was to be proved, muft needs be different. The differ- 
 ence is here explained ; the premiffes, in the argument againft 
 Atheifts, were the moral attributes ; the premifl'es, in the argument 
 againft Deifts, were the unequal dijlribution of good and evil. 
 
 What Enemy to Religion now, could ever hope to fee a Calumny 
 either thrive or rife on fo unpromifing a ground ? or flatter himfelf 
 with the expe«n:ation of an Advocate bold enough to tell the World, 
 that this condu6l of the Divines was a confederacy with 
 Atheists, to decry God's Providence \ to blot out his Attributes of 
 goodnefs and jujlice ; to combat his Government ; and to deny his very 
 Exifiencef The Right Honourable Author does all this : And 
 more; — he expefts to be believed. It is true, this is a fine believ- 
 ing age : Yet I hardly think he would have carried his confidence 
 in our credulity fo far, had he feen his way clear before him. — His 
 Lordfhlp is always fublime, and therefore often cloudy ; commonly, 
 at too great a diftance to look into the detail of things, or to eater 
 into their minutenefs : (for which, indeed, he is perpetually felici- 
 tating his Genius.) So that, in his general view of Thcologic mat- 
 ters, he has jumbled thcfe two Controverfies hito one ; and, in the 
 confufion, hath commodioufly flipped in one Fad for another. He, 
 all the way, reprefents Divines as making a future State the proof 
 of God's moral attributes: Whereas, we now fee, on the very face 
 of the controverfy, that they make the moral attributes A proof of 
 
 * St. Paul. Hebr. xi. 6. 
 
 R 2 a future
 
 124 THE DIVINE LEGATION. Book I. 
 
 a future State. Let us confider how the difpute ftands with the 
 Athelji, Thel'e men draw their argument againfl: a God, from the 
 condition of the moral world : The Divine anfwers, by demonftrat- 
 ing GoiTs Being and Attributes : and, on that demonftration, fatis- 
 fies the objeftion. Confider how it ftands with the Deijl. Here, 
 God's Being and Attributes is a common principle : And on this 
 ground the Divine ftands, to dLtdi\xct?L future Jl ate from the unequal 
 dlftributlon of things — But his mifreprefentatlon was to fupport 
 his (lander of a Confederacy : there was no room to pretend that 
 God's Being was made precarious by proving zfuturefate from his 
 Attributes ; but could he get it be believed, that Divines proved the 
 Attributes from a future fiatCy he would eafily find credit with his 
 kind Reader, for all the reft. 
 
 Well then, the whole amount of his chiisierical confederacy 
 comes to this, That Divines and Aiheifs bold a principle in common ; 
 but, in common too with all the reft of mankind ; namely, that there 
 are irregularities in the dlftribution of good and evil here below. And 
 did any thing forbid Divines to employ this common principle, in fup- 
 port of Religion agalnft Atheifm and Deifml But whatever his Lord- 
 Ihlp might think proper to difgulfe in this reafoning, there is one 
 thing, the moft carelefs Reader will never overlook ; which is, that, 
 under all this pomp of words and folemnity of accufation, you fee 
 lurking that poor fpecles of a Bigot's calumny, which, from one 
 principle held in common with an obnoxious Party, charges his Ad- 
 vcrfary, with all the follies or impieties which have rendered that 
 Party odious. This miferable artifice of impofture, had now been 
 long hifTed out of learned controverfy, when the noble Lord took 
 it up ; and, with true political Ikill, worked it into a sham Plot ; 
 to make Religion dlftruft it's beft Friends, and take refuge in the 
 FIRST Philosophy, 
 
 CONTENTS
 
 C »25 ] 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 O F 
 
 THE FIRST BOOK, 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 PROVES the neceffity of the doSlrines of a future flat e cf reward's 
 and punijhments to civil focieiy, from the nature of the things 
 p. 45—124. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 THE introdu£iion, the nature of internal evidence ; the occafion of 
 this difcourfe, and the propoftiony p. 45 — 52. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 F the original of civil fociety ; the caufes of its defective plan ; that 
 this deft £1 can be only fupplied by religion : that religion, under the pre-- 
 fent d'tjpenfation of providence^ cannot fubffl without the doSlrine of a 
 future Jlate of rewards and punijliments ; therefore that doSlrine nC" 
 cejfary to civil fociety y p. 52 — 66» 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 THE arguments of thofe who deny the necejjity of religion to fociety 
 confidered: Pomponatlusy^//^/)/ ranked in that number^ and vindicated z 
 Cardan chafa£terized and cenfured^ p. 66 — 74.. 
 
 SECT.
 
 126 CONTENTS OF BOOK I. 
 
 SECT IV. and V. 
 
 Air. Bayle, tbe great defender of this paradox in his apology for 
 atheifm^ examined. His arguments colkBed, methodized, and confuted. 
 In the courfe of this difputation, the true foundation of morality en- 
 quired into, and fjewn to be neither the eflential difFerence of things, 
 nor the moral fenfe, but the will of God. The canfes of the contrary 
 errors f^ewn : and the objeSiions againfi morality's being founded in the 
 will of God, anfweredf p. 74 — 112. 
 
 SECT. VI. 
 
 THE Author of the Fable of the Bees, ivho contends that it ts 
 Vice, andnotWxXViQythatisufefultofociety, examined^ expofed^ and 
 confuted, p. 112— 124. 
 
 B O OIK
 
 [ '27 3 
 
 BOOK IL 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 HAVING now proved the firft proposition, that inculcating 
 the doSlrine oj a future jiate of rewards and piinijhmcnts is ne- 
 cejfary to the well-being of Society, by confiderations drawn from the 
 nature of Man, and the genius of civil Society; and cleared it from 
 the objeftions of licentious Wits ; 
 
 I proceed to the fecond; which is, that all mankind, espe- 
 cially THE MOST WISE AND LEARNED NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY, 
 HAVE CONCURRED IN BEJ.IEVING AND TEACHING, THAT THIS 
 DOCTRINE WAS OF SUCH USE TO CIVIL SOCIETY. 
 
 This I fhall endeavour to prove, 
 
 ]. From the condudl of Lawgivers, and Inflitutors of civil 
 
 policy. 
 ]I. From the opinions of all the Learners and Teachers of wifdom 
 
 in the fchools of ancient philofophy. 
 
 I. From the conduct of lawgivers, and institutors of 
 CIVIL policy : who never omitted to propagate and confirm Reli- 
 gion, where-ever they eftabliflied Laws ; religion, I fay, which 
 was always firft in their view, and laft in their execution. They 
 ufed it as the inftrument to colleft a body politic ; and they applied 
 it as the bond to tye and keep that body together : they taught it 
 ill civilizing man ; and cftablijhed it to prevent his return to bar- 
 barity and a favage life. In a word, fo infeparable, in the ancient 
 
 World,
 
 128 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 World, were the ideas of lawgiving and religion, that Plu- 
 tarch (in his paradoxical preference of atlieifm to fuperftition) fup- 
 pofes no other Origin of divine worfhip than what was the work of 
 the Lawgiver. " How much happier had it been (fays he) for the 
 *' Carthaginians, had their firft Lawgiver been like Critias or Dia- 
 *' goras, who believed neither Gods nor Demons, rather than fuch 
 *' a one as enjoined the public facrifices to Saturn* !' 
 
 That the Magiftrate, as fuch, hath taken the greateft care and 
 pains to inculcate and fupport Religion, we ihall prove at large : 
 That this care and pains rnuft arife, and was employed, on account 
 of its confeffed and experienced utility to the State, will need no 
 proof. 
 
 But here it will be necefiary to remind the reader of this pre- 
 vious truth, That there never was, in any age of the worlds from the 
 mojl early accounts of time, to this prefent hour, any civil-policied 
 nation or people, who had a Religion, of which the chief foundation and 
 fupport was not the doSlrine o/^ future state of rewards and pu- 
 nifjtnents ; the jewish people only excepted. This, I prefume, our 
 adverfaries will not deny. Mr. Bayle, the indulgent fofter-father 
 of Infidelity, confefleth it in the fuUeft manner, and with the ut- 
 moft ingenuity : " Toutes les religions du monde, tant la vraie que 
 *' les fauffes, roulent fur ce grand pivot, qu'il y a un juge invifi- 
 *' ble qui punit & qui recompenfe, apres cette vie, les atftlons de 
 " rhomme tant exterieures qu'interieures. C'eft de la que roti 
 *' fupofe que decoule la principale utilite de la religion :" and thinks, 
 it was the utility of this do£lrine which fet the Magiftrate upon in- 
 venting a Religion for the State : " C'efl le principal motif qui eut 
 '• anime ceux qui I'aurolent inventeet." 
 
 * Tl Ji 'Ka.^xyiiim:, B« 'iKvaniXu Kfiriav XaCStrin rt Aiay-Jf«> >«ft(iO/T»|v lf.it' apx?5) fz-^iT Tiva SiS» 
 
 P. 171. torn. II. fol. 1599- Francof. 
 t Diit. Ciit. & Hift. Art. Spinoza, Rem. (K.) 
 
 This
 
 Sect.1. op MOSES demonstrated, h^ 
 
 This truth, we beg the reader always to have m mind : So that 
 Xvhen, hi the fequel of this dlfcourfe, he meets with ancient tefti- 
 monies for the neceflity of religion to Society, he may be fure, 
 that the doftrine of a future state of rewards and punifhments, 
 was the chief idea inckided in that term. And on this account it 
 is, that frequently, where the Ancients fpeak of theyo?^r<:^ of thofe 
 utiHties, which can proceed only from the dodrine of -xfuturejiate^ 
 they give it the common name of Religion : as, on the other hajid, 
 they often call Religion by the reftri6tive name of a future Jlate :' 
 On which account, I have not fcrupled, throughout this difcourfc, 
 to ufe the fame liberty of applying the generic or fpecific term, one 
 for the other, without any apprehenfion of being thought not to 
 tinderftand my argument, or of being mifunderftood by my reader: 
 Who, when he fees me bring fa£ls and opinions of Antiquity, 
 which fliew the utility of Religion in general, to prove the utility 
 of the dodrine of a future ftate in particular, will underhand that 
 I fpeak home to my purpofe, and to the full proof of my fecond 
 proportion. 
 
 So th?.t, had I done no more than pvod\.\ce Jiic^ f^^s and opinions^ 
 I had done all that was neceffary. But iince the bare neceJJ'ary is 
 efteemed almoft as poor and unhandfome a thing in literature as in 
 civil life, I have employed the greateft part of the prefent and fol- 
 lowing books to fhew, from ancient fafts and opinions, the more 
 than ordinary care and concern of nil the wife and learned for per- 
 petuating the fpecific do£lrine of a future ftate of rewards and pu- 
 nifhments. 
 
 Having premifed thus much to prevent miltakes, I proceed in 
 the firft place, 
 
 I. To fhew, in general, the civil Magiflratc's care in this mat- 
 ter. 
 
 The popular doftrine of a Providence, and, confequently, of a 
 future ftate of rewards and puiiifhmcnts, was, as we have faid, fo 
 tiniverfally received in the ancient world, that we cauJiot find any 
 
 Vol. 1. S civili/,cd
 
 iro THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 civilized country where it was not of national belief. The moft 
 ancient Greek poets, as Mufeeits *, Orpheus +, Homer, Hejiod, &c^ 
 who have given fyfbems of theology and religion, on the popular 
 creed of fuch nations, always reckon the doftrine of a future ftate 
 of rewards and punifhmerits as a fundamental article : And all fuc- 
 cecdlng writers have given teftimony to the fame concerted plaa. 
 /Efchylus, SophocleSy Euripides, Arijiophanes, whofe profeflion it was 
 to reprefent the manners and opinions of all civilized people, whe- 
 ther Greeks or thofe whom the Greeks called Barbarians, are full 
 and exprefs to the fame purpofe. Further, it is recorded in the 
 works of every ancient hiftorian and philofopher, which it would 
 be endlefs to recite. But Plutarch, the moft knowing of them all,. 
 Ihall fpeak for the reH: : " Examine |," fays he, in his traft againft 
 Colotes the Epicurean, " the face of the globe, and you may find 
 " Cities unfortified, unlettered, without a regular Magiftrate, or 
 " appropriated habitations ; without poffeflions, property, or the 
 *' ufe of money, and unlkilled in all the magnificent and polite arts. 
 *' of life : But a City without the knowledge of a God, or the prac- 
 *' tice of Religion : without the ufe of vows, oaths, oracles, and 
 " facrifices to procure good, or of deprecatory rites to avert evil, 
 *' no man can or ever will find." And in his confolation to ^pol~ 
 lonius, he declares it § was fo ancient an opinion that good men 
 JJjould be recompenfed after death, that he could not reach either to the 
 autloor or original of it. To the fame purpofe had Cicero and Seneca. 
 
 * Plato Rep. lib. xi. p. 364. E. T. II. Edit. Steph. 1578. fol. 
 t Plutarch, Vita Lucul. 
 
 OPXOH, (*»iJe juatlfi'aij, fJHtSi Sua-iaij It' ayaSoij, fiiiJi aTrolfoTTaTi y.ay.ut, aJtij sr'i' iSt irai yiyovui ^tatlif. 
 
 Edit. Francf. tol. T. II. p. 1 1 25. E,. 
 
 § — Kat Tav9' BTw; apx""* "^ waXaia hm%XiT »t»8/*i(r|iieva liiap if/~» iiri to iira^a.irat ajsij oT^£» ail 
 
 1-5 p^ovs riv i-^Xfl' ^^^ '"''" •^'''* wgi^To*, iMa to» »W£ifo» cilSia, ■nfx,iy)iJt Sux, Tt^Bf aru taonKTfiita, 
 
 Edit, otcpli. 8°, 157^. T. I. p. 201. 
 
 declared
 
 Sect.!. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 131 
 
 declared themfelves before him. The firfl: in thefe words ; 
 *' * As our hmate ideas dilcover to us that there are Gods, whofe 
 " attributes we deduce from reafon ; fo, from the confent of all na- 
 *' iiom and people, we conclude that the foul is immortal." The other 
 thus : " When f we weigh the queftion of the immortahty of the 
 *' foul, the confent of all mankind, in their fears and hopes of a future 
 ^'■Jlate, is of no fmall moment with us." 
 
 In a word, Sextus Empiricus, when he would difcredit the argu- 
 ment for the being of a God, brought from univerfal confent, ob- 
 ferves that it would prove too much ; becaufe it would prove the 
 truth of the poetic fables of hell, in which there was as general a 
 concurrence |. 
 
 But of all nations, the Egyptian was moft celebrated for its 
 care in cultivating Religion in general, and the doflrine of a future 
 ftate in particular : infomuch that one of the moft ancient Greek 
 hiftorians affirms. They were the fir jl ivho built altars and eredied 
 flatues and temples to the Gods ^.—The firfi nvho taught that the foul 
 ■cf man was immortal. hx\^ Lucian X.t\\% us ||, That they were f aid 
 to be the frfl who had the knowledge of the Gods. Which only 
 amounts to this, that they were the firft and wifeft civil-policied 
 people : as will appear prefently. 
 
 But, at prefent, to prove the Magif rate's care from hence. 
 
 For this account of the antiquity and univerfality of Religion is not 
 given to evince its truth ; for which purpofe other writers have 
 
 * — Ut Deos efle natura opinamur, qualcfiiuc fint ratione cor^nifcirmu ; fic perma- 
 neie animos arbitramur confenfu nationum omnium. Tiifcu!. Difp. 1. i. c. 16. in initio, 
 Ed. Oxon. 4°. T. 11. p. 245. 
 
 f Cum de animarum Kternitate difleiimus, non leve momentum ap;:d noshabct con- 
 fenfus hominum, aut timentinm inferos, aut colcntium. Ep. 117. 
 
 X Adv. Phyficos, 1. viii. c. 2. Comment. 
 
 § B(u/xt! Ti >^ a-/aXfta7a >i. naf BioTtri aironTjAen c(pi«.; wfiraj. Herod, Euterpe, C. 4.— 
 njaroi ii >C, Toih To» Aoyo' AiytVlic! e.Viv oi iiVo.Tij «; at^^u-a -^vxri aSaralc-'i Ift. Id. ib. C. 1 23. 
 
 II nj^Toi (XM »>Gfa-i,» Wyizlii >.iyinx> Ss^y 'i i'noi.:. ^«?i^K. De Dea Syria, § z. Edit. 
 Reitzii. 
 
 S 2 often
 
 132 THE DIVINE LEGATIQN Book IT. 
 
 often and luccefsfully employed it ;. but to manlfeft its use ; whicb 
 will be beft done by inquiring, what fhare the Magiftrate had; 
 in it. 
 
 I. Now though no civilized nation was ever witliout a Religioni 
 in general, and this do6\rine in particular ; and though it was of 
 general belief even before civil policy was inftituted amongft man- 
 kind ; yet were there formerly, as now there are, many favage 
 nations, that when firft difcovered, appeared to have long loft all 
 traces of Religion : A facl which implies fome extraordinary care 
 in the Mngiftrate for its fupport and prefervation'. For if Religion-, 
 hath been fupported in all places, at all times,^ and under ail cir- 
 cumftances, where there was a magiftrate and civil policy ; and 
 fcarce in any place, or under any circumftance, where thefe were 
 wanting ; what other caufe than the Magiftrate's care and contri- 
 vance can be afligned for its fupport ? 
 
 If it fhould be faid, which, I think, is the only plaufible thing 
 can be faid, that the rcafon why the Citizen had religion, and the 
 Savage none, might be, that, amongft the advantages of civil life,, 
 the improvement and cultivation of the mind is one ; and this ne- 
 ceflarily brings in the knowledge of God and religious obfervance : 
 It is fnfficient to reply, that all the national Religions of the 
 ancient and modern Gentile world are io grofs and irrational, that 
 they could not be the produft of refledion or improved reafon, but 
 were plainly of the Maglftrate's fitting up, adapted to the capacity 
 of minds yet rude and uncultivated, which could bear nothing of 
 a finer texture than what was made out of the ftuff he found, the- 
 genius of the Nation and the nature of the Government. 
 
 To give the proof of what we have been faying : The Mexicans 
 and Peruvians in the South, and the people of Canada in Njfth 
 Arnerica, were on a level with regard to fpeculative knowledge. 
 Or, if there were any natural advantage, the Canadians had it. 
 Thefe, when difcovered, feemed to have no rudiments of Religion : 
 The Mexicans and Peruvians had one formed, digefted, and eftab- 
 iilhed : but fuch a religion as difcovered fomething worfe than mere 
 
 ignorance,
 
 Sect. I. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 133 
 
 ignorance, but never could be the refult of improved thinking : 
 However a religion it was which taught the great articles of 
 the worfliip of a God, a providence, and a future ftate. Now how 
 happened it that thefe two great empires had a Religion, and the 
 Canadians none, but'that the Lawgivers of the former faw it necef- 
 fary to countenance, add to, and perpetuate what they found *, for 
 the benefit of the ftate ? which advantage the Canadians wanting, 
 they loft, in courfe of time, the very foot-fteps of Religion. If this 
 will not be allowed, it will be difficult to affign a reafon. 
 
 Let us fuppofe, according to the obje£lion, that genlile Religion 
 owes its birth to the improved and cultivated mind. Now, if we 
 make colleftions from the nature of things, it will be found more 
 likely that thefe northern Savages (hould longer preferve the notions 
 of God, and the pradices of Religion, than the fouthern Citizens, 
 uninfluenced by their Magiftrates. 
 
 The way of getting to the knowledge of a God, befl fuited to 
 the common capacity of man, is that very eafy one, the contem- 
 plation of the works of nature : For this employment the Savage 
 would have fitter opportunities given him by his vacant and feden- 
 tary life ; and by his coiiflant viev/ of nature, which all his labours, 
 and all his amufements, perpetually prelented to him naked and 
 unlbphifticated. The Comie de Boulainvilliers, a writer by no means 
 prejudiced in favour of religion, gives this reafon why the Arabians 
 preferved io long, and with (o much purity, their notions of the 
 Divinity +• 
 
 On the other hand, Nature, by which we come to the know- 
 ledge of a firft Caufe, would be quite hid from the fouthern Citizen, 
 bufied in the works of barbarous arts, and inhuman practices ; or 
 taken up with the (lavifh attendance on the will, and a more flavifb 
 imitation of the manners of a cruel and capricious Tyrant. 
 
 * See Book ni. Scft. 6. II. i. and pag. antepenult. 
 
 + La Vie de Mohammed, p, 147. Ed. Amft. 1731. Je reviens volontiers :\ la louange 
 de lafolitude des Arabes. Eile a conferve chcz eiix plus longtems, & avec moins de me. 
 lange, lefentimcnt naturel de la veritable diviiiite, of. 
 
 Nor,
 
 734 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Nor, it we may credit the relations of travellers, do the nor- 
 lliern people any more neglefl to exercife their reafon than the fou- 
 thern : It is conftant, they are obferved to have founder intelleds"^ 
 than thofe nearer the fun : which, being owing to the influence of 
 climes, is found to hold all the world over. Notwithftanding this, 
 the iflue proved juft the contrary ; and, as we faid, the Peruvians 
 and Mexicans had a Religion, the Canadians none at all. 
 
 Who then can doubt but that this was owing to the care and 
 contrivance of the Magiftrate ? But indeed (wliich makes this in- 
 ftance the more pertinent) the faSt confirms the reafoning. The 
 Founders of thefe two monarchies pretended to be the meflengers 
 and offspring of the Gods ; and, in the manner of the Grecian, and 
 other Legiflators (of whom more hereafter) pretended to infpiiation, 
 ellabliihed Religion, and conftituted a form of worfhip. 
 
 II. But not only the exijience, but the genius too of pagan Reli- 
 gion, fhews the Magiftrate's hand in its fupport. 
 
 Firf^ From the origin of their Gods. 
 
 Seccndiy, From the attributes given to them ; and 
 
 thirdly. From the mode of pub lick wcrjl.np. 
 
 FirJ}, The idolatry of the gentile States was chiefly the worfhip 
 of dead men; and thefe, Kings, Lawgivers, and Founders of civil 
 policy. The benefit accruing to the State both from the cenjecration 
 and the worjloip of fuch Gods, fhews it to be a contrivance of the 
 Lawgiver. For, i. Nothing could be a greater excitement to good 
 government than to fliew the Magiftrate that the public benefits, 
 which he (hould invent, improve, or preferve, would be rewarded 
 with an Immortality of fame and glory ? Cicero gives this as the 
 original of the civil apotheofis. " It may be eafily underftood, that 
 " the reafon, why moft Cities profccuted the memory of their va- 
 " liant men with divine honours, was to fpur up their Citizens to 
 *' virtue, that every the moft deferving of them might encounter 
 " dangers with the greater chearfulnefs, in the fervice of his country. 
 *' And for this very caufe it was that, at Athens, Ere»^heus and his 
 
 ** daughters
 
 Sect. X. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 135 
 
 " daughters were received into the number of the Gods*." 2. No- 
 thing could make the people fo obfervant of their Laws, as a belief 
 that the makers, framers, and adminiftrators of them were become 
 Gods ; and did difpenfe a peculiar providence for their protedioii 
 and fupport. 
 
 The records of antiquity fupport this reafoning. The Egyptians 
 were the firfl people who perfeded Civil-policy, and eftablifhed 
 Religion : And they were the firft, too, who deified their kings, 
 lawgivers, and publick benefaftors t ; as we may colled from the 
 paflage of Herodotus, quoted above, which fays, they were thejirfl 
 who built altars, and eredted statues and temples to the Gods: For 
 the &re&\ng Jlatues was, by this hiftorian, efleemed a certain mark 
 that the worfhipers believed the Gods had human natures ; as ap- 
 pears from the reafon he gives why the Perfians had no Jlatues of 
 their Gods, namely, becaufe they did not belitve as the Greeks, that 
 the Gods had human natures "^.^ that is, they did not believe the 
 Gods were dead men deified : This, as we fay, was a pradlice, in- 
 vented by the Egyptians ; who, in procefs of time, taught the reft 
 of the world their myftery §. So when arts and civil policy were 
 brought into Greece by Cadmus and Ceres (the firft, though a Pheni- 
 dan by birth, being an inhabitant of Thebes in Egypt ; and the 
 other, though coming immediately from Sicily, was yet a natural 
 
 * Atque in pleiifqiie civitatibus ititelligi pr.tcft, aiigenda? vlrtntis gratia, quo ]i- 
 bentiiis reipublicre caufa periculum adiret uptimus quilq\ie, virorum fortium memoriam 
 honore deorum immortalitim confecratam. Ob cam enim ipfamcaufam Ercchtheiis Athenis 
 filisque ejus in nvimero deoriuu funt. Nat. Deon 1. iii. c. 19. Edit. Ox. 410. T. IJ. 
 p. 503. 
 
 iw^rsffiai' mv^V-oTai t?; aOaiaffias w» s»itJ{ xj 0ao•l^!^5 yiyocmi x«ii rot A'iynflot. Diod. Sic. I. i, 
 j;. a. Sieph. Ed. 
 
 j 'Jl; (ni» lixol Joit(;i», on ix atipuirojlttixi ttif/.i!ra,i Tb,- 9i«5, xx^iirt^ cI'EX^rjy;; sTvai. Clio. L. 131, 
 
 And fee note [A], at the end of this Book. 
 
 § TTpiiJiafSfio-Ki ii atahcKt v^o^ rr,t at;6i5 aa^nniiai, xj tj)» tu-i ^tra juej©- ^iaJ»tiiTi>, oVi 01' •an- 
 Xaioralei tui Ba^Qa^ut, i|aif i'tuj Je Oc'/ixt's te )t) AirYnTIOI, ma( u» xj tl ^mtoi tsa^iSaSot arSfuvot,, 
 SiBS i»o'uifov fiiyWui Ta; Ta ■et^o; Ttit fiiulixriv Xf'"' 'ufo'las. 1 'C, xarec T» iS iroii^oitla; ta (9»i. it'.o- 
 yirai Tirirei iCi'Bio^.tiUi aiTtUi »ya62y hybiiJ-SKi, ii^BiUi ■afoTixiikii, Philo BJbl. npudEufeb.Pra.-p. 
 Lvang. 1, ii. c 9. 
 
 Egyptian]
 
 136 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 Egyptian) then, and not till then, began the cuftom of deifying 
 dead men ; which foon over-ran all Greece and the reft of Europe *. 
 2. The attributes and qualities ajfigned to their Gods, always cor- 
 refponded with the nature and genius of the government. If this 
 was gentle, benign, compaffionate, and forgiving; goodnefs.and 
 mercy were moft effential to the Deity : But if fevere, inexorable, 
 captious, or unequal j the very Gods were Tyrants ; and expiations, 
 atonements, luftrations, and bloody facrifices compofed the lydem 
 of religious worfliip. In the words of the great Poet, 
 
 " Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjuft, 
 
 '• Whole attributes were rage, revenge, and luft, 
 
 " Such as the fouls of cowards might conceive, 
 
 *' And form'd like tyrants, tyrants would believe f." 
 
 But 3. The mode of public worJJjip was alone fufficient to betray 
 the Mover of the whole machine. The obje£l of what we call Re- 
 ligion, being Gad, confidered as the creator and preferver of a fpecics 
 of rational beings, the fubjeB of it muft needs be each individual 
 of that fpecies. This is that idea of Religion, which our common 
 reafon approves. But now, in ancient paganifm, Religion was a 
 very different thing : It had for hsfubje^ not only the natural man, 
 that is, each Individual ; but likewife the artificial man. Society ; 
 by and for whom, all \.\\q public rites and ceremonies of it were in- 
 ftituted and performed. And while that part of pagan Religion, 
 whofe fubje£l were individuals, bore an inferior part, and was con- 
 
 * Sir Ifaac Newton, who, probably, had not this matter in his thoughts, hath yet a 
 emarkable paffage to this purpofe in his Chronology of the Greeks: " Idolatry (fays he) 
 ' began in Chaldiea and Egypt .—T\\e. countries upon the Tigris and the Nile being ex- 
 ' feeding fertile, were firft frequented by mankind, and grew firft into kingdoms ; and 
 ' THEREFORE began firft to adore their dead kings and queens : — Every city fet up the 
 ' woriliip of its own founder and kings, and by alliances and conquells they fpread this 
 ' worfliip, and at length the Phcenlcians and Egyftians brought into Europe the pradicc 
 ' of deifying the dead," Pag. 161. 
 
 f Effay on Man. 
 
 feffed
 
 Sect.i. of MOSES demonstrated. 137 
 
 fefled to be under an unequal Providence, the confideration of which 
 brought in the doftrine of a future ftate for the fupport of God's 
 government ; the other, whofe fubjedl was the artificial man, 
 Society, taught a more equal Providence, adminiftred to the State. 
 The confequence of which was, tliat ReHgion and Government ran 
 into one another ; and prodigies and portents were as familiar as 
 civil edicts ; and as conftantly bore their (hare in the public adnii- 
 niftration : For the Oracles, without which nothing was proje6lcd 
 or executed, always denounced them as rational diredlions, declara- 
 tive of divine favour, or difpleafure; in which particuljrs, as fuch, 
 were not at all concerned : So that to accept or to avert the omen ; 
 to gratulate the mercy, or deprecate the judgment, the conflant 
 method was the revival of old rites, or the inllitution o^ new. A 
 reformation of manners, or enforcement of fumptuary laws, never 
 made part of the ftate's atonement to the Gods. 
 
 The oddnefs and notoriety of this fad fo forceably ftruck Mr. 
 Bayles imagination, that, miftaking this for the whole of Paganifm, 
 he too haftily concluded, that the worjloip offalfe Gods in the ancient 
 •world, did not at all infuence morals*: And from thence formed an 
 argument to fupport his favourite queftion in behalf of Athtifm, 
 This was a ftrangc conclufion : For though it be indeed true, that 
 the public part of pagan Religion had no influence on morals, it is 
 utterly falfe that the private part had not : For in the dodrine of a 
 future ftate, which was the foundation of, and infeparable from, 
 this founder part of pagan Religion whofe fubjedt was the individual, 
 the merit and demerit, to which rewards and punifhments were an- 
 nexed, was virtue and vice only. This will be proved at large in 
 the fourth feftion of the prefcnt book : Though I am ready to allow, 
 that the nature and adminiftration of the public part of pagan Re- 
 ligion did lead individuals into many wrong conclufions concerning 
 the efficacy of exterior ads of worfliip. 
 
 * Penfees diverfes fur un comete, &c. And Rcponfc aux Quertions d'un Provincial. 
 And Continuation des Penfees diveri'ts, &c. 
 
 Vol. I. T But
 
 138 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 But what feems to have occafioned Mr. Bayks's miftake (befides 
 his following the Fathers, who in their declamations againft paga- 
 nifm have laid a great deal to the fame purpofe *) was his Hot re- 
 fle£ting that ancient Hiftory only prefents us with one part of the 
 influence of Paganifm, that which it had on the Public as a body : 
 The other, the influence it had on individuals, it paflTes over in filence, 
 as not its province. 
 
 Whoever now confiders the genius of Paganifm in this view, (and 
 unlefs he confiders it in this view he will never be able to judge 
 truly of it f) can hardly doubt but that the civil magiftrate had a 
 great hand in modelling Religion, What it was which enabled him 
 
 * Yet St. Auftin himfelf cannot but own that the Mysteries however (of which the 
 Reader will hear a great deal in the 4th Seftion of this Book) were principally inftituted 
 for the promoting of virtue and a good life, even where he is accufing Paganifm in general 
 for its negleft of moral virtue : " Nee nobis nefcio quos fufurros paucifliniorum auribus 
 *' anhelatos & arcana velut religione traditos jadent, quibus vitae probitas caftitafque 
 " difcatur." — Civ. Dei, 1. ii. c. 6. — " lidem ipfi Dxmones — perhibentur in adytis fuis, 
 *' fecretifque penetralibus dare quidam bona prscepta de moiibus quibufdam velut 
 •' eleftis facratis fuis — Proinde malignitas dsmonum nifi alicubi fe, quemadmodum 
 «' fcriptum in noftris litteris novimus, transfiguret in angelos lucis, non implet negotium 
 " deceptionis. Foris itaque populis celeberrimo ftrepitu impietas impura circumfonat, 
 " & intus paucis caftitas fimulata vix fonat : prsbentur propatula pudendis, & fecreta 
 " laudandis ; deciis latet, &: dedecus patet." 5:c. c. 26, 
 
 ■j- What is here faid of the genius of Paganifm well accounts for a circumftance in an- 
 cient hiUory, which very much embarrafles the modern critics. They cannot conceive 
 how it happened, that the beft ancient hillorians, who undeiftood fo well what belonged 
 to the nature of a Compofition, and how to give every fort of work its due form, and 
 were befides free from all vulgar fuperftition, fliould abound fo much in defcriptions of 
 religious rites and -ceremonies; and in relations of omens, prodigies, and portents. 
 Many an idle hypothecs hath been framed to give a folution of this difficulty; and many 
 a tedious work compiled to juflify thefe ancient hiftorians, upon mere modern ideas. 
 But now a plain and eafy anfwer may be given to it. This part of pagan Religion was 
 fo interwoven with the tranfadlions of State, that it became ejfential to civil hiftory. 
 And how much foever it may be fnppofed to have deformed ancient ftory, yet the Critic 
 and Philoibpher gain by what difgufts the delicacy of the Politician; the Greek and Roman 
 hiftory being the repofitory of all that concerns (ht public part of pagan religion. 
 
 to
 
 Sect. I. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 1.39 
 
 to give this extraordinary caft to Paganlfm, is not difficult to dif- 
 cover: It could be nothing but th^t popular difpojition arlling from, 
 and the neceflary confequcnce of, thofe general notions, which, by 
 his contrivance and encouragement, had overfpread the heathen 
 world? I. That there were local tutelary Deities, who had taken 
 upon themfelves, or were intrufted with, the care and protedlion 
 of particular Nations and People ; (of which, more hereafter.) 
 
 2. That thofe great benefadlors of mankind, who had reduced the 
 fcattered tribes and clans into civil Society, were become Gods. 
 
 3. and laftly, That their fyftems of Laws and civil Inftitutes were 
 planned and digefted by the diredion of the legiflator's patron- 
 Deity *. 
 
 On the whole then, The foregoing confiderations of the prefer- 
 vation of Religion in general ; the origine of the pagan Gods ; their 
 attributes ', and the mode of public worjfoip^ will, I am perfuaded, 
 incline the reader to think that, for the univerfality of religious 
 belief the world was chiefly indebted to the civil Magiilrate ; how 
 much foever the illegitimate or unnatural conftitution of particular 
 States, or the defediv^e views of particular Lawgivers, con- 
 tributed to deprave the true Religion of nature ; or, if you will, 
 the patriarchal. The learned St. Aufii)!^ who excelled in the 
 knowledge of antiquity, feems to have been determined by this 
 way of thinking, when he gives it, as the refult of his enquiries ; 
 that the civil Maglflrate had a large fliare in pagan fuperilitiou. 
 His words are thefe f? " — Which indeed feems to have been done 
 *' on no other account but as it was the bufinefs of princes, out of 
 '* their wifdom and civil prudence, to deceive the people in their 
 *• Religion — princes, under the name of religion, perfuaded the 
 
 * See the beginniug of the next fedion. 
 
 ^ —Quod utiqiie non aliam ob caufam fa£lum videtur, nifi quia hominiim princi- 
 pum veliit pnidentium !t fapientium negotium fult populum in religionibus fillere — 
 Homines principes ea, qui vana efle noverint, rcligionis nomine populis tanqiiam vera 
 fuadebant : Hoc mode eos civili locietati velut ardius allignntes, quo fiibditos pofiiderent. 
 De Civit. Dei, 1. iv. c. 32. 
 
 T 3 ♦' people
 
 i^o THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " people to believe thofe things true which they themfelves knew ta 
 *' be idle fables. By this means, for their own eafe in government^ 
 *• tying them the more clofely to civil Society." 
 
 But if now it fhould be objeded, that it was natural for the peo>- 
 pie, left to themfelves, to run into thofe fuperftitions, we may rea- 
 dily grant it without prejudice to the ai^gument : For they arc 
 always fuch notions as are apt to be entertained and cherilhed by 
 vulgar minds, whofe current the wife Magiftrate is accuftomed to 
 turn to his advantage. For to think him capable of new modelling 
 the human mind, by making men religious whom he did woljind 
 fo, is, as will be fhewn hereafter, a fenfelefs whimfy, entertained 
 by the Atheift to account for the origin of Religion . And, when it 
 is feen that all thefe various modes of fuperftition concurred to pro- 
 mote the Magiftrate's purpofe, it can hardly be doubted but he gave 
 them that general direction. The particular parts of gentile Re- 
 ligion, which further ftrengthen and confirm this reafoning, are not 
 here to be infifled on. Their original will be clearly feen, when 
 we come to fhew the feveral methods which the Magiftrate employed 
 for this great purpofe. What thefe methods were, the courfe of the 
 argument now leads us to confider, 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 IT hath been fhewn in general, from the effect, that Lawgivers 
 and founders of civil policy did indeed fupport and propagate 
 Religion. We fliatl now endeavour to explain the causes of that 
 efFe£t, in a particular enumeration of the arts they employed to 
 that purpofe. 
 
 ■ • I. The first ftep the Legiflator took, was to pretend a Miffion 
 and revelation from fome God, by whofe command and direction he 
 had framed the Policy he would eftablifh. Thus Amafis and Mneves,^ 
 lawgivers of the Egyptians (from whence this cuftom fpread over 
 
 Greece
 
 Sect. 2. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 141 
 
 Greece and yi/in) pretended to receive their laws froni Mercury; 
 Zoroajier the lawgiver of the Ba£irtanSy and Zamolxis lawgiver of 
 the Geies, from Fe/Ja ; Zathruujics the lawgiver of the Jlrimajp'i, 
 from a good fpirit or genius ; and all thefe moft induftrioufly and 
 profefledly propagated the dodrlne of a future flate of rewards and 
 punifliments. Rhadamanthus and Minos lawgivers of Crete, and 
 Lycaonoi A''cadia, pretended to an intercourfe with Jupiter; Trip- 
 tolemits lawgiver of the Athenians, affeded to be infpired by Ceres ; 
 Pythagoras and Zaleucus, who made laws for the Crotoniates and 
 Locrians, afcribed their inftitutions to Mimrva : Lycurgus oi Sparta, 
 profefled to acl by the dire6tiou of Apollo ; and Romulus and Numa 
 of Rome put themfelves under the guidance of Confus, and the 
 Goddefs Egeria'*. In a word, there is hardly an old Lawgiver on 
 record, but what thus pretended to revelation, and the divine afllf- 
 tance. But had we the loft books of Ltgijlators written by Hermippus, 
 Iheophrajlus, and Apollodorus t, we fhould have had a much fuller 
 lift of thefe infpired ftatefmen, and doubtlefs, many further lights 
 on the fubjedt. The fame method was pradlifed by the founders 
 o{\hQ great outlying empires , as Sir William Temple calls them. Thus 
 the iirft of the Chinefe monarchs was called Fagjotir or Fanfur, the 
 Jon of Heaven, as we are told by the jefults, from his pretenfions 
 to that relation. The royal commentaries of Peru inform us, that 
 the founders of that empire were Ma?igo Copac, and his wife and 
 fifter Coya Mama, who proclaimed themfelves the fon and daughter 
 of the Sun, fent from their father to reduce mankind from their 
 favage and beftial life, to one of order and fociety. Tuifco the 
 founder of the German nations pretended to be fent upon the fame 
 meflage, as appears from his name, which fignifies the interpreter J, 
 that is, of the Gods. Thor and Odin, the lawgivers of the Wejlern 
 
 * Diod. Sic. 1. i. & V. Ephorus apud Strabonem, 1. x.— telle vetcri fcriptore apud 
 Suidam in [Auitaai.] — Arift. apud Scliol. Find. ad. 01} mp. x. 
 •}• Athen. 1. xiv. D. Laertius. 
 J Vide Sheringham, De Anglonim gentis crigine, p. 86. 
 
 Goths^
 
 142 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book It. 
 
 Goths, laid claim likewife to infpiratlon and even to divinity *. The 
 Revelations of Mahomet are too well known to be infifted on. But 
 the race of thefe infpired Lawgivers feems to have ended in Gen^ 
 gbizcan the founder of the Mogul empire +. 
 
 Such was the univerfal cuflom of the ancient world, to make 
 Gods and Prophets of their firfl kings and lawgivers. Hence it is, 
 that Plato makes legijlation to have come from God, and not from 
 man % : and that the conftant epithets to kings, in Homer, are 
 AIOrENEIS born of the Gods, and AIOTPE<I)EI£ bred or tutored by 
 the Gods §. 
 
 From this general pretence to revelation we may colle£t the ici\' 
 timents of the ancient lawgivers concerning the ufe of Religion to 
 Society. For we muft always have in mind what Diodorus Siculus 
 fo truly obferves, That they did this, not only to beget a veneration to 
 their laws, but likewife to ejiablijh the opinion of the Juperintendency of 
 the Gods over human a^airs\\. One may venture to go farther, 
 
 and 
 
 * Olim quidam magics artls imbuti, Thor videlicet & Othinua,— obtentis fimplicium 
 animis, divinitatis fibi falligium arrogare coeperunt. — Adeo namque fallacia; eorum efFec- 
 tus percrebuit, ut in ipfis caeteri quandam numinum potentiam venerantes, eofque deos, 
 vel deorum complices autumantes veneficiorum auifloribus folennia vota dependereiit, & 
 errori facrilego refjieftum facris debitum exhiberent. Saxo-Gram. I. vi. Hiftor. p. 93. 
 Francof. 1576. fol. 
 
 -J- lis ont attribue des revelations a Genghizcan ; & pour porter la veneration dcs peii- 
 ples auffi loin qn'elle pouvoit aller, iis lui ont donnc de la divinite. Ceiix qui s'interef- 
 foient a fon elevation euient meme Tinfolence de le faire pafTer pour fils de Dieu. Sa 
 mere plus modefte, dit feulement qu'il etoit fils du soleil. M. Petit de la Croix, le 
 pere, Hiftoire du Genghizcan, c. i. 
 
 \ ©105? Ttj «.»6fiu9rai» i^r», tS 4i»(it, el^)J$l Tiy aiTl«» ■ri« Tin >of<.i<y AaSiVfoij; KA. 0£o?i u i,iitf 
 Sec?, Ui yt to JixaioTolov tiViTr. De Leg. 1. 1. lin. i. 
 
 § ©vfic; Ji /*£yfl!; r;i JkoTgslf =©■ ^3:(TAii(&'. 11. B'. ver. I96. which title of JiiT^t^f'^ is not 
 
 given, fays Euftathius on the place, to fignify that fuch a one is deicended from Jupiter, 
 but that he receives his honour and authority from him. 'E(p£pf*ii»£ti«i ^istI AlOFENElX xj 
 A10TPE<J)EIi; T»{ &».(H\u^ hiyu, t';i|; on \k A105 to J'l'*®- tXitScri, a?iV oVi ES EKEINOY AYTOir 
 H TIMH. 
 
 II Mtlii ya^ Ti» roaXai«» t5 x»t' Afyu7r1o» ^/e xotlarao-ii', tw (tuSoXoya^iiijv yS<,n-ia,k \ici Ti iHt Ssan 
 •^ ru» ^»v, oircrai f a;t 'sr^uToy aygaTrlois ro/xoi; p^^^s'^aSai to, ta\rMn ^iu> to* Myt^tiy, a<i\m,
 
 Sect. 2. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 143 
 
 and fay, that to ejiabhjl} this Juperlntendency was their prhicipal and 
 direft aim, in all their pretenfions to infpiration. 
 
 The reader may obferve, that Diodorus does not fo much as fuf- 
 pe£t them of having a third end, difl:in£l from thefe two ; that is to 
 fay, the advancement of their own private intereft. And this with 
 great judgment. He knew well the difference between a lawgiver 
 and a tyrant ; though the World foon after feems to have loft the 
 memory of that diflin£lion *. Such views became not the former ; 
 they deftroyed his charafter, and changed him into his dire6l oppo- 
 lite ; who applied every thing to his own intereft ; and this amongft 
 the reft. Arijlotle, in his maxims for fetting up, and fupporting a 
 tyranny, lays this down for one, to feem extremely attached to the 
 ivorjjiip of the Gods, for that men have no apprehenfion of injufice from 
 fuch as they take to be religious and to have a high fenfe of providence. 
 Nor will the people be apt to run into plots and confpiracies againfi 
 thofe, whom they believe the Gods will, in their turn^ fight for, and 
 fupport t- And here it is worth noting, that, anciently. Tyrants, 
 as well as Lawgivers, gave all encouragement to Religion ; and 
 endeavoured to eftablifti their irregular Wills, not by convincing 
 men that there wasno juftnor unjuft in adllons ; but by perfuading 
 
 Tafx Si AetKiicctjAOtlai: Avx5^fo>' t»v ^.tv ■aric^a Ajo;, Tov ^i- Taj' 'AtoXXui®' Ifna-a-na. ratU; nh-itfitai' k^ 
 mat ETSfOis Jt roXfioJiv aOtttri ira^xJiJoTfH tSto to y'tt&- ■xn-, i~iyowij i7raj|ai, xj zaoXXut ayaijiv airjj» 
 
 — Eire »c 1PP0S T»)v vwEPop^nv >y ovvx^i* rui* iv^sTv Xtyo^tvo'i', T«-- v&^yj a7riW/\o4'awa Ton op,^\oy, juaA^on 
 iffaxao-EO-Gai JiaXaSovlaj. L. i. p. 59. Edit. Steph. 
 
 * Quintilian L. VIII. C. 6. (pag. 415. Edit. Oxon. 1693, 4to). Jc Tropls, faya 
 that Pafior Populi, though ufed by Homer, is fo poetical that he would not venture to- 
 life it in an oration : and ranks it with Virgil's — f^olucres pettnis remigare. What could 
 ixicafion fo ftrange a piece of Criticifm, but that when Quintilian wrote under the Tyranti 
 of Rome, the People had loft the very idea of the Kingly Office ? 
 
 + "Et» Je Ta «§o« T»5 Seas ^aUeifSai kil <nr>iS%^ovl» Jiaipijojlaj, riT\i> te ya^ ^cQiilcct, to ma^iTv tj- 
 ■B>«f»vo(i6» iirJ Twv Toiaray, Jav SimSalfxiiia wj/Lil^uan iT»a» Toi ajjjovTa >^ JjodiC^iiv Ti«» SeJv <J iTttZtXii' 
 ttsit StIo., u,- avj^iia-X'^i rj^ovli Ji, ru.- Sii';. Polii. 1. V. C. 1 1. T. III. p. 547. D. E. Edit. Parif. 
 fol. 1639. 
 
 them
 
 14+ THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 them that the privilege of divine right exempted the Tyrant from all 
 moral obligation. Hence may be feea the abfiirdlty of Hobbes's 
 fcheme of Politics, who, for the fake of the Magiftrate, was for 
 eradicating Religion. But the ancients knew better ; and fo too 
 did fome of the moderns*. 
 
 The quertion then is, whether thefe pretenfions of the ancient 
 Lawgivers were feigned in the firji intention^ for the fake of Society 
 or of Religion ? For it is no queftion, but that what we here (hew 
 w.as contrived by the Magiftrate for the fervice of Religion, was 
 done ultimately for the fake of Civil Government. Or in other words, 
 the queftion, I fay, Is, Whether this pretence to Inrpiration was 
 made to eftabllfh a civil or a religious Society ? If a civil ; the ends 
 aimed at muft be the reception of Im policy, or provifwn for its perpe- 
 tuity. I fpeak not here of that third end, the fecuring a veneration^ 
 for them, to poferity ; and for a good reafon, becaufe this Is the very 
 thing I contend for ; fuch veneration being only to be procured by 
 the influence of Religion ; the peculiar mode of which, the pre- 
 tended infplratlon introduces. The ends then in queftion, are re- 
 ception for the policy ; or provifion for the perpetual duration of it. 
 
 I. For the reception, there would be fmall need of this expedient. 
 I. Civil laws are feen by all to be fo neceflary for the well being of 
 every individual, that one can hardly conceive any need of the 
 belief of divine command or extraordinary afllftance to bring men 
 to embrace a fcheme for aflbclatlng, or to manifeft the right they 
 have of fo doing. For (as the great Geographer fays) Man was born 
 •with this inclination to affociate. It is an appetite common both to 
 Greeks and Barbarians : for, being by nature a civil atjimal, he lives 
 readily under one common policy or law -}-. Befides feveral of thefe 
 
 . ♦ Et non e cofa piu neceflaria a parere d'havere che quefta ultima qualita [religione] 
 perche gli huomini in univerfale giudicano piu a gli occhi che alle mani, perche tocca a 
 vedere a ciafcuno a fentire a pochi. Machiavel del Principe, c. i8, 
 
 + ns'^VKi yaf BT«. Kal leoiyj* trijTSrii >^ to~i; "i-WriTt itj to"; Bajtafoi;* ^o^lllXoJ yaf itTZf, bti 
 
 arforaff**!®* "'"S {Hf"- Strabo, Geogr. 1. xvi. Edit. Cafaub. p. 524. lin. 16. 
 
 Legiflators
 
 Sect.2. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 14.5 
 
 Legiflarors gave laws to a wili'mg people^ on the ftrength of their 
 perfoual chara£l:er of virtue and wifdom; and were called upon to 
 that office, in which nothing was wanting to beget the neceflaiy 
 veneration to him who difcharged it. And though it might poffibly 
 have happened to a people to be fo far funk into brutality, as to 
 be difinclined towards the recovery of a reafonable nature, like 
 thofe with whom it is faid Orpheus had to deal ; who {being favages, 
 without the kno'wledge of morality or law) reduced them into fo- 
 ciety, by rcommending to them piety to the Gods, and inj}ru^ing ihem 
 in the ways of fuperfiltion * : yet this was not the cafe of the gene- 
 rality of thofe with whom tliefe Lawgivers were concerned : and 
 therefore if we would affign a caufe of this pretence to revelation as 
 extenfive as the flidl, it muft be that which is here given. But, 
 adly, we find, that where Religion was previoufly fettled, no in- 
 fpiration was pretended. On this account neither Draco nor Solon, 
 Lawgivers of Athens, laid claim to any : for they found Religion 
 well fecured by the inflitutions of Triptolemus and Ion. And we 
 know, that, had pretended infpiration been only, or principally, for 
 the eafier introduction and reception of civil policy, the fanguinary 
 laws of Draco had flood in more need of the fanClion of a revela- 
 tion, than any other of antiquity. Indeed, Maximus Tyrius goes 
 fo far as to fay, that Draco and Solon prefcribed nothing in their 
 laws, concerning the Gods, and their worfliip t ; which, if true, 
 would make as much againfl us, on the other hand. But in this 
 he is mlftaken. Porphyry quotes an exprefs law of Draco's con- 
 cerning the mode of divine worfhip. Let the Gods and our own 
 country heroes be publicly worfl}ipped, according to the efuiblifjjed rites ; 
 when privately, according to every niatCs abilities, with terms of the 
 greatejt regard and reverence \ with thi firfl fruits of their labours, 
 
 * — 'Oti 9ii{i;i«iij 0.1a,- THt a»6{i»rn;, >(J bti ("S^i, bti 'ioub;, iIJot*; ii'; ^fi7i?aiuo»/a» a-^ayif, k. 
 \m\ti %iatZut c?»j«««Xic-a5. Heraclit. de Incred. c. 23. 
 
 X^^nt ravra i^ild^mrn, hit So'>«ii 'i i:rip aiTr» yiyfapiv, vii cI Apxcil©- (7iu«; rouci. DiHert. 
 
 sixiy. p. J83. Edit. Lus^d. i6_30, 8vo. 
 
 Vol. I. U and
 
 146 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IT- 
 
 and with annual libatiotts *. Audocides f quotes another of Solon, 
 which provides for the due and regular celebration of the Eleusi- 
 NIAN MYSTERIES. Athenaus does the fame. And how confider- 
 able a part thefe were of divine worftiip, and of what importance to 
 the very effence of religion, we fhall fee hereafter. 
 
 2. As to a provifionfor the perpetuity of national laws and injh~ 
 lutions ; This entered not into the intention of the old Greek legif- 
 latlon ; nor, If it had, could it have been obtained by giving them 
 a divine original. Amongft the wild projefts of the barbarous 
 eaftern policy, one might find, perhaps', fomething like a fyftem 
 oi immutable \:i\\s; but the Grecian Lawgivers were too well ac- 
 quainted with the nature of man, the genius of Society, and the 
 viciffitude of human things, ever to conceive fo ridiculous a defign. 
 Befides, the Egyptian legiflation, from which they borrowed all 
 their civil wifdom, went upon very different principles. It direfted 
 public laws to be occafionally accommodated to the variety of times, 
 places, and manners. But had they aimed at perpetuity, the belief 
 of a divine impolition would not have ferved the turn; for it never 
 entered their heads, that civil inftitutes became irrevocable by their 
 iffuing from the mouth of a God ; or that the divinity of the fanc- 
 tion altered the mutability of their nature : the honour of this dif- 
 covery is due to certain modern writers, who have found out that 
 divine authority reduces all its commands to one and the fame 
 fpecies. We have a notable inflance of this in the condud: of 
 Lycurgus. He was the only exception to the general method, and' 
 fingular in the idle attempt of mxiking his laws perpetuah For his 
 whole fyftem being forced and unnatural, the. fenfe of that imper- 
 fcdion, it is probable, put him upon the expedient of tying them 
 
 * ©sai ti/aSv >^ "Hjwa; II^oipiss It %tntS, Ixofj-tux!; vs'/aoi; oralsloi;, iMa. xstli .hi)ia.jj.i» alt si^nixix >^ 
 
 awa5X«~i ""?"'''>'& '^'^'*'''"5 ^"''''''"f' De Abft. 1. iv. § 22. (Edit.,Cantabr..«i^^^, >8vo;) ac- 
 cording to the emendations of Petit and Valentinus. — The law is thus introduced, 
 
 + Orat. Usft UvTr.(i.m, apud Decern Orat. 
 
 . .on
 
 -Sect. j. OF MOSES D E M O N S T R A T E D. 1 47 
 
 on an utuvilling people. But then he did not apply divine authority 
 to this purpofe ; for, though- he pretended to infpiration hke the 
 reft, and had iiis revelations from Apollo, yet he well knew that 
 the authority of -i^/xj//;" would not be thought fufficient to change 
 the nature of pofitive laws : and therefore he bound the People by 
 an oath, to obferve his policy till his return from a voyage, which 
 
 = he had dttermined beforehand never to bring to that period. 
 
 -' Having (hewn that there was no need of a pretence to revelation, 
 for the eilabliniment of chil Folic) , it follows, that it was made for 
 the fake of Religion. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 THE SECOND ftep the Legiflators took to propagate and eftab- 
 lifti Religion, was to make the general dodrine of a Provi- 
 dence (with which tliey prefaced and introduced their laws) the 
 gr^at fanftion of their inftitutes. To this, Plutarch, in his traft 
 againft Colotes the Epicurean, refers, where he obferves, that Coloies 
 himjelf praijes it ; that, in civil Injlitutes, the firjl and 7noJi important 
 article is the belief of the Gods. And fo it was (fays he) that, -with 
 vows, caths, divinations, and omens, 1-ycurgus fanBified the Lace- 
 demonians, Numa the Romans, ancient Ion the Athenians, and Deu- 
 calion all the Greeks in general: And by hopes and fears kept up 
 amongjl them the awe a?id reverence of religion *. On this pradtice 
 was formed the precept of the celebrated Archpas the Pythagorean ; 
 which feifl, as we fhall fee hereafter, gave itfelf up more profefl'edly 
 to legiflation ; and produced the moffc famous founders of civil 
 policy. This Lawgiver in the fragments of his work de lege, pre- 
 ferved by Stobaus, delivers himfelf in this manner : The firji' law 
 
 * — 'A^^a fciv ii% yi K, K«XuT»i5 Jirainr Jialafiu; t3» voftoiy, vrptiT^n Iftt i <»tft Sict» ^s'|a, >y jiiytrot. 
 
 iut uy.a i^ <p6tm nolas^travlif. Edi;, Trancof. fol. 1599. p. 1225. D. 
 
 Us of
 
 148 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 of the Conjfhution/Jjouldbefor the fuf port of what relates to the Gods, 
 the Dtemons and our Parents, and, in general, of whatfoever is good 
 and venerable *. And in this manner, if we may believe Antiquity, 
 all their civil inftitutes were prefaced ; its conftant phrafe being, 
 when fpeaking of a Lawgiver, AIEK02MEI THN nOAITEIAN' 
 AnO GEriN APXOMENOS. 
 
 The only things of this kind now remaining, are the prefacus 
 to the laws of Zaleucus and Charondas, Lawgivers of the Lo' 
 erians and of the Chalcidic cities cf Italy and Sicily, contemporaries 
 with Lycurgus +• Thefe, by good fortune, are preferved in Diodo- 
 rus and Stobaeus. A great Critic has indeed arraigned their authori- 
 ty ; declared them fpurious ; and adjudged them for an impofture 
 of the Ptolotnaic Age |. And were it as he fuppofes, the fragments 
 would be rather ftronger to our purpofe ; for, in that cafe,- we muft 
 needs conclude, the very learned sophists who forged them had 
 copied from the general praftice of antiquity : And that very 
 learned they were, appears both from the excellence of the compo- 
 lition, and the age of the pretended compofers. Whereas, if the 
 fragments be genuine, they do not fo diredly prove the univerfality^ 
 as the antiquity, of the practice. But as my aim is truth, and truth 
 feeming to bear hard againft this learned Critic's determination, we 
 muft hold to the common opinion, and examine what hath been 
 offered in difcredit of it. 
 
 The univerfal current of antiquity runs in favour of thefe re- 
 mains, and for the reality of their author's leglflative quality. Arif- 
 totle, Theophraftus, Tully, Diodorus Siculus, and Plutarch, the 
 moft learned and inquifitive writers of their feveral ages, declare 
 for their being genuine. However, TiM^us thought fit to deny 
 that Zaleucus had given laws to the Locrians ; nay, that there was 
 
 * A(7 To» >sVo* Ta iBifi Sly; iC, Jalf^ovw; j^ yovs'w;, j^ o^«5 r» xaXa >tj tij*ik wfwT* Tifli^Sai, 
 
 Stob. de Rep. Serm. xli. p. 269. 1. 13. Tiguri, fol. 1599* 
 •f- Arift. 1. ii, c, 12. p. 449. Edit. Du Val. 
 X Differt. on the Epiitles of Phalaris, with an Anfwer to the objeftions of Mr. Boyle. 
 
 ever
 
 Skct. 3- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 149 
 
 ever fuch a Lawgiver exiting. We {hall be the lefs furprifed at this 
 paradox, when we come to know the charafter and ftudies of the 
 man : he was by profeffion an hiftorian, but turned his talents to 
 invent, to aggravate, and expole the faults and errors of all pre- 
 ceding writers of name and reputation. Polybius, Strabo, and Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, three of the wifeft and mofl: candid hlftorians of 
 Greece, have concurred to draw him in the moft odious colours. 
 The firft fpeaks of him in this manner: How he came to be placed 
 amojigft the principal •writers of h'Jlory^ I know not. — He deferves 
 neither credit nor pardon of a?iy one ; having fo manifejlly tranfgrejfed 
 all the rules of decency and decorum in his excejjive calumnies, fpringing 
 from an innate malignity of heart *. This envious rabid temper, 
 joined to a perverfity of mind, delighting in contradiftion, gained 
 him the title of EPITlMiEUS, the calumniator. And, what 
 is a certain mark of a bafe and abje£t heart, he was as exceffive in 
 his flattery ; as when he makes Timoleon greater than the greateji 
 Gods +. He took fo much pleafure in contradiding the moft re- 
 ceived truths, that he wrote a long treatlfe, with great fury and ill 
 language, to prove that the bull of Phalarls was, a inere fable. And 
 yet Diodorus and Polybius, who tell us this, tell us llkewlfe, that 
 the very bull itfelf was exlftlng in their time : To all which, he 
 was lb little folicitous about truth, that Suidas fays, he was nick- 
 named rPAOSTAAEKTPIA, a compofer of old wives fables. Polybius 
 informs us with what juftice it was given him. In cenfuring the 
 faults of others J he puts on fuch an air of feveriiy and confidence^, as 
 if he himf elf were exempt from failings, and flood in no need of indul- 
 gence. Tet are his own hiflories /luffed with dreams and prodigies, 
 ivitk the mofl wild and improbable fables. In port, full of old %vives 
 
 vn tfWptiM aix^Mt. Excerpt, ex 1. xii. Hill. 
 
 f Suidas in Timceo. Tir-at®- H i*iii" ^o'"' Tt,uoAie»l^ rit 'nfKpxnf^l*^v) @:u>, 
 
 wonders.
 
 150 THE DIVINE LEGx\TION Book II. 
 
 ivonders, and of the loweft and bafcft fuperjlitwn *. Agreeable to all 
 this, Clemens Alexandrinus gives him as the very pattern of a fa- 
 bulovis and fatyrie writer. And he appeared in every refpedt of fo 
 ill a character to Mr. Bayle, that this excellent Critic did not 
 Icruple to fay, that, " iii all appearance, he had no better authority 
 *' when he denied th-itZaleucus had given laws to the Locrians -f" 
 To fay all in a word, he was the Oldmixon \ of ihs Greeks ; and 
 yet this is the man whom the learned writer hath thought fit to 
 oppofe to all antiquity, againft Zaleucus's legiflation and exigence. 
 It appears the more extraordinary, becaufe he himfelf hath fur- 
 nifhed his reader with a violent prefumption againft limaeus's au- 
 thority, where he fays §, That Polybius charges him tvith falfe re- 
 prefentations relating to the Locrians. He adds indeed that nothing 
 is now extant that fiews Polybius thought Timzeus mijiaken concern- 
 ing Zaleucus. But fmce Polybius quotes a law as a law of Zaleu- 
 cus, it feems a proof, in fo exaft a writer, of his being well allured 
 that, amongft Timseus's falftioods concerning the Locrians, one 
 was his denying Zaleucus to be their Lawgiver. 
 
 Timsus's reafons are not come down to us from Antiquity : But 
 the fragments of Polybius ||, mentioning his outrageous treatment 
 tjf Ariftotle concerning the origin of the Locrians, fpeak of one 
 Echecrates a Locrian, from whom Tim^us boafted he had received 
 information on certain points in queftion : Hence the learned Critic, 
 as it would feem, concludes this to have been a part of the Lo- 
 crian' s intelligence, that there was no fuch man as Zaleucus **. As if, 
 
 * Out©- 7«f f» (*»» '*"« Tm* CTtXa; xaJn/oftatJ 'cro^xi^ \v\<pa[ni Jfivoxnla j^ i6\j/.a>' h Jf raK JJi'ai; 
 ■i7ro^i<r!o-»» hiicnm >^ TtfotTiuv t^ fUi^Zt a:ri9«»uv, ;^ ffu?.^^€J^lv j^ JsKri^iftoyia; iiyi»»as >i, Ttfoltiat ; 
 yt/vaixii^t sVi •Er^i?^l5■ Excerpt. de Virt. & Vit. ex 1 xii. 
 
 + Et apparemraent il ne fut pas mienx fonde, quand il nia que Zaleucus eut donne des 
 loix a ce people, [les Locriens.] Timee, Rem. F. 
 
 % See Clarendon and Whitlock compared. 
 
 § Diflert. upon Ph:;laris, p. 337. 
 
 Jl Excerpta ex Pol) bio de Virt. & Vitiis, ex I. xii. 
 
 ** P. 336. Differt. upon Phal.uis. 
 
 becaufe
 
 Sect. 3- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 15T 
 
 becaufe Timieus relied on Echecrates's information in the difpute 
 between him and Ariftotle, therefore Echecrates muft, of necel- 
 fity, fupport all his paradoxes concerning that people. But admit 
 Echecrates to have Seen of the fiame opinion with Timasus, in this 
 matter ; Is he, who, for aught we know, might be as fingular and 
 as whimfical, in his love of contradiftion, as Timaeus himfelf, aa 
 evidence to be oppofed to Cicero's ? who tells us, that his Clients 
 the Locrians had, in his time, a Tradition of Zakucui's legiflation *. 
 And we may well prefume, that Cicero, Inquifitive, and even 
 curious, as he was in matters of antiquity, would examine this 
 point with care ; and, had their archives reclaimed it, he had hardiv 
 thought it worth his while to mention their Tradition. But, fays 
 the learned Critic, if Echecrates, in that age, did not believe there 
 ivas any Zaleucus, he is certainly as credible as Cicero's Locrians, 
 ivho came fo many generations afterwards, after fo many revolutions and 
 changes in their Government -f. This reafoning has fmall force, 
 becaufe, from the fame premifes, we may argue juft the other way, 
 and fay, that if the Tradition kept its ground through all thofe 
 changes and revolutions of State, it would feem to have had a very 
 flrong foundation. 
 
 The authority then of Timaeus againfl the exlftence and legifla- 
 tion of Zaleucus in general, is of no weight. Let us next fee what 
 the learned Critic hath to urge againft the authenticity of thofe 
 laws which go under Zaleucus' s name. His arguments are of two 
 forts : the one drawn from the dialeSl, and from the ufe of feveral 
 -words, which are Indeed later than his time ; the other, from 
 Zaleucus''s being no Pythagorean. 
 
 i.Thfwords objedled to, are thcfe; Aeifldg ilj 'cs-ayj{ocg~l(TO}x.iXr,criov 
 — Kca-iiov — Tpuf(fSiMc. This, and the fragments being written in 
 the commoji dialect, Inftead of the Doric, are, in the Critic's opinion, 
 fufficient evidence of the forgery. 
 
 * De Legibus, 1. ii. c. 6. Edit. Ox. 4to. T. III. p. 141. 
 t P. 336. Diffcrt. upon Pliahiris. 
 
 He
 
 I5S THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II- 
 
 He has employed a deal of good * learning, to prove the words 
 \o be all later than the time of Za/eucus. 
 
 I^et us fee then the moft that can be made of this fort of argu- 
 ment. And becaufe it is the befl: approved, and readieft at hand, 
 for the detetflion of forgery, and fuppofed by fome not a little to 
 afFe6l the facred writings themfelves, we will enquire into its force 
 in general. 
 
 It muft be owned, that an inftrument offered as the writing of 
 any certain perfon, or age, which hath words or phrafes pofterior 
 to its date, carries with it the decifive marks of forgery. A public 
 Deed, or Diploma, fo difcredited, is loll: for ever. And to fuch, 
 was this canon of criticifm firft apphed with great fuccefs. This 
 encouraged following critics to try it on writings of another kind ; 
 and then, for want of a reafonable diftiniStion, they began to make 
 very wild work indeed. For though in compofitions of abJiraSl 
 Jpeculation, or of mere fancy and atnujenient ^ this touch might be 
 applied with tolerable fecurity, there being, for the moft part, no 
 occafion or temptation to alter the didlion of fuch writings, ef- 
 pecially in the ancient languages, which fuffered fmall and flow 
 change, becaufe one fort of thele works was only for the ufe of a 
 few learned men ; and the principal rarity, and often the beauty, 
 of the other fort, confifted In the original phrafe ; yet in public 
 and pradical writings of Law and Religion, this would be found a 
 very fallacious teft : It was the matter only which was regarded 
 here. And, as the matter refpedled the whole people, it was of 
 importance that the words and phrafes fhould be neither obfcure, 
 ambiguous, nor equivocal : This would neceffitate alterations iu 
 the ftyle, both as to words and phrafes. Hence it appears to me, 
 that the anfwer, which commentators give to the like objecflion 
 againft the Pentateuch, is founded in good fen fe, and fully juf- 
 tlfied by the folotion here attempted. The Religion, Law, and 
 
 * From p. 346 to 356 of the DiffcrtcUion. 
 
 Hiftor/
 
 Sect. 3- OF iMOSES DEMONSTRATED. ijj 
 
 Hiftory of the Jews were incorporated ; autl confequcntly, it was 
 the concern of every one to underftand the Scriptures. Nor doth 
 the fuperflitious regard, well known to have been long paid to the 
 nvords, and ev^en letters of fcripture, at all weaken the force of this 
 argument : for that fuperftitien arofe but from the time when the 
 maforet doftors fixed the reading, and added the vowel points. I 
 have taken the opportunity, the fubjefl afforded me, to toucli upon 
 this matter, becaufe it is the only argument of moment, urged by 
 Spinofa, againfl the antiquity of the Pt';;/r7rf«c/6 j on wiiich antiquity 
 the general argument of this work is fupported. 
 
 The application of all this is very eafy to the cafe in hand : 
 The fragment of Zaieucus was part of a body of Laws, which the 
 people were obliged to underftand ; fo that a change of old words 
 and obfolete phrafes would be neceflary : and to make this an 
 argument againfl: the antiquity of the fragment, would be the fame 
 good reafonlng as to fuppofe, that the remains of the Twelve 
 Tables, or the earlier laws in our common Statute books, were the 
 forgeries of later times, becaufe full of words unknown to the 
 refpe61:ive ages in which thofe laws were compofed and enafted. 
 But, indeed, the change of obfcure words, or obfolete phrafes, for 
 others more clear and intelligible, was a common pradice amongfl: 
 the Pagan writers. Porphyry, making a colle(5lion of heathen 
 oracles, profefles to have given them juft as he found them, with- 
 out the leaft alteration ; except, fays he, changing an obfcure 
 word, now and then, for one more clear : a pradice, which, for 
 its fairnefs and frequency, he ranks with amending a corrupted 
 word, or reforming the metre *. But this licence was not confined 
 to the Ancients ; for, being encouraged by the reafon of things, it 
 was likely enough (as is, in fad, the cafe) that all times fliould 
 
 * iTtii xdyu Ti S.-a? ftal^ufofwui^i,- aJtv bti ■srforiSjixa, UTf k^iTKoi rut %fr,78iM»i» »o>iftaTi'»' «i' fii 
 o-s Xe'Iu V»''e'!^«''"" ^'^e^D'-^^, i nPOSTO SA*ErrEPON METABEBAHKA, S to ixil^ov ^^Xe^TO» 
 it^wxifiirK, i Ti rSf /xi r,'os T^y ■srji9t<r»ir (n/liitiylut JiiV-a4'*. Porph. apud Eufeb. Pr:ep. Evang, 
 lib iii. cap. 7. 
 
 Vol. I. X afford
 
 154 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 afford examples of it. One of the editors of FroiJJart, fpeakiiig 
 of his author's text, fays, " touchant le ftile, & aucienne maniere 
 *' d'efcrire de noftre auteur, je ne doute point qu'il n'ayt efl:e 
 *' quelques autrefois change & aucunement renouvellc felon les 
 *' temps *." All the Editions of Jomville's life of St. Louis bear 
 teftimony to the fame praftice ; which was fo general thatPafquier 
 fays, " s'il y eut un bon livre compote par nos Ancetres, lorfqu'il 
 " fut queftion de le tranfcrire, les Copiftes le copioient non felon la 
 *' naife langue de I'Auteur, alns felon la leur t-" 
 
 As to the change of dialeSl, the great Critic thus exprefles him- 
 felf : The Iqfl argument IJJjall offer againf, the Laws of Zaieucus, is- 
 this^ that the Preface of them, which Stobxus has produced, is ivrit- 
 len in the common dialeSi, whereas, it ought to be in the T>onc, for 
 that was the language of thel^ocn. — The Lawi c/^ Zaieucus therefore 
 are cominentitious, becaife they are not in Doric %, 
 
 What hath been faid above will fhew this argument to have fmall 
 force ; but it is urged with a peculiar ill grace by the learned Critic, 
 who, in his dijjertaiion upon Phalaris, hath difcovered, that Ocellus 
 Lucanus wrote the treatife Of the nature of the univerfe in Doric § : 
 and from thence rightly concludes, it ought to he acknozvledged for 
 a genuine work, which hitherto learned men have doubted of, from this 
 very bufnefs of its being zvrit in the common dialeSl. For we now 
 fee that every word of the true book is faithfully preferved \ the Doric 
 being only changed into the ordinary language, at the fancy of fame 
 copier ||. Now, furely, the rafli fufpicions of thofe learned men in 
 the cafe of Ocellus Lucanus, fhould have made him more cautious 
 in indulging his own. He fliould have concluded, if this liberty 
 was taken with books of mere fpeculation, it was more likely to 
 be indulged in works fo neceflary to be underftood as a body of 
 
 * Dennis Saiivage, Avcrtifement aux Leifleurs. 
 
 t Rech. L. viii. c. 3. X P. 135, and 358. 
 
 § P- 47. I P- 49. 
 
 laws ;
 
 Sect. 3- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 155 
 
 laws ; efpecially when he had obferved (after Porphyry) that the 
 Doric is always clouded with obfcurity *. 
 
 Hence, doubtlcfs, trans-dtale^ing was no rare praftice. For, be- 
 fides this inftance of Ocellus Lucanus, we have another, in the 
 poems going under the name of Orpheus : which, Jamblichus fays, 
 were written in the 'Doric dialect. But now the fragments of thefe 
 poems, left us by thofe who did not write in Dori€, are in the com- 
 mon dialed. It is plain then, they have been tram-diak^led. 
 
 2. The learned Critic's other argument for the impofture runs 
 thus : Tloe Report of Zalcucus being a Pythagorean, was gathered 
 from fame pajfages in the fflem of laws afcribed to him, for where clfe 
 could they meet with it f fo that, if it can be proved he was more 
 ancient than Pythagoras, this falfe flory of his being a Pythagorean 
 being taken from that fyficm, mufl conviSl it of being a cheat f. He 
 then proceeds to prove him more ancient than Pythagoras ; which 
 he does, on the whole, with great force of learning and reafoning, 
 though his arguments are not all equally well chofen. As where, 
 he brings this for a proof that Zalcucus was no fcholar of Pythago-. 
 ras, " Becaufe he afcribed all his laws to Minerva, from whom he 
 *' pretended to receive them in dreams : which (in the learned 
 *' Critic's opinion) has nothing of a Pythagorean in it. For Py- 
 *' thagoras's fcholars afcribed every thing to their mafler : it was 
 " always ccvTcg e<poi with them, he faid it. Therefore, if Zaleucus 
 *' had been of that, fociety, he would certainly have honoured his 
 *' mafter, by imputing his laws to his inftruitions ];.'* But this 
 argument is of no weight : for, i . From what has been faid above 
 of the genius of ancient legiflation, it appears, that the general 
 praflice required, and the nature of the thing difpofed the Lawgiver 
 to afcribe his laws to the infpiration of fome God. 2. As to the 
 famous alrcg 'i<px, it was not peculiar to the Pythagoreans, but 
 common to all the fefts of Greece, jiirare in verba magifiri. A de- 
 
 * P. 317. t P-337. % P. 338. 
 
 X 2 vice
 
 156 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 vice to keep them diflin£t and feparate from each other ; and a 
 compendious way of arguhig amongfl thofe of the lame khool. It 
 would then have been ridiculous to have urged its authority to any 
 out of the fed ; more fo, to the common people ; and mod: of all, 
 to them, upon public and pradlical matters ; tlie avroi i(px being 
 u fed only in points of fpeculation, and in the fchools of philofo- 
 phy. Indeed, fo unlucky is this argument, that, on the contrary, 
 the reader will be apt to conclude, that this very circumftance of 
 Zakucus's afcribing his laws to Minerva, was one of the things 
 that gave rife and credit to the report of his being a Pythagorean. 
 And, doubtlefs, it would have much weight with thofe who did 
 «ot carefully enough attend to the chronology. For Zalciicu?, in 
 this, might be thought to follow both the example and the precept 
 of Pythagoras, who himfelf pretended to be infpired by Minerva ; 
 and taught it to his fcholars as the moft efficacious way of eflab- 
 lifhing civil juftice, to propagate the opinion of the Gods having an in-' 
 iimate inter courje with mankind *. 
 
 But notwithftanding the defecSfc of this argument, the learned 
 critic, as we faid, proves his point with great clearnefs, that Zaleu- 
 ctis was earHer than Pythagoras : and, in conclufion, draws the in- 
 ference abovementioned, in thefe terms : // ivas generally reported 
 Zaleucus was a Pythagorean ; // is proved he was not. This will 
 refute the book itfelf. For if any intimation was given in the book 
 that the author was a Pythagorean, the impojiure is evident. " And yet 
 *• // is hard to give any other reajbn, that Jliould induce the later 
 «' writers to call him a Pythagorean." Some impojior, therefore, 
 made ajyfem of laxvs under the name of Zaleucus, and in it gave a 
 broad hint that he was a fcholar <?/' Pythagoras. 
 
 Here he refts his point. If then, it be not hard to give another 
 reafon, that Jhould induce the later writers to call him a Pythagorean^ 
 his long difcourfe to prove Zaleucus the earlier of the two, is of no 
 
 * See Jamblichiis's Life of Pytlngoras, p. 147. edit, Kuft. 
 
 kind
 
 Sect. 3- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 15; 
 
 kind of ufe to convidl the pretended laws of impofture. I have al- 
 ready hinted at another not irnprobable reafon, which was his hav- 
 ing the fame infpiring Goddefs with Pythagoras : And this will be 
 much ftrengthened by the obfervation, that Minerva became the 
 peculiar patronefs of the Pythagorean Lawgivers, on account of 
 the affiftance (lie had given to their mafter. To which we may 
 add thefe further circumftances, that the laws were in Doric (and 
 fuppofing them genuine, they certainly were fo) which idiom was 
 peculiar to the Pythagoric fchool * : and, that the whole proem of 
 Zaleticus's laws was formed agreeably to the precepts of Pythagoras 
 in this matter ; who diredls, that, next after the worfhip of the 
 Gods, Damoiiy and Parent worfhip fhould be enjoined -f-. Now, 
 later writers, feeing thefe two vifible marks of a Pythagorean, 
 might, without further reflexion, be reafonably difpofed to think 
 Zaleucus of that feft. But, as the learned critic has well made out, 
 from fure chronological evidence, that this was a miftake, we muft 
 ieek for fome other caufe of the uniformity between them ; which 
 1 take to be this : Zaleucus, when Pythagoras flourilhed, was in the 
 higheft repute in Greece for legiflation ; which might incline tliis 
 philofopher to imitate him, both in his infpiring Goddefs, and in 
 the proem of his laws : fo that pofterity only mifirook the copy fi^r 
 the original. This they might very well do ; for Pythagoras and 
 his fcift had foon engrofled all the glory in the pra6lice of lawgiving: 
 and this leads me to another probable caufe of the common opinion 
 of Zaleucus's being a Pythagorean : The chara<3:er of this fedl, as 
 will be feen hereafter, was fo great for legiflation, that after-ages 
 thought nothing could be' done to purpofe in that way, which had 
 not a Pythagorean for its author. So, befides Zaleucus^ the ancients 
 fuppofed Charondas, Numa ;[, Zamolxis §, Phytius, Theocles, 
 
 * See note [B], at the end of this book. 
 
 ^MiTa JsToSero'yTiJ^To Jai/*a»iov, T^^!^^o»■5yon^a•^al Xoyonyon/aiy. Janib. Vit. Pyth. C. XXX. p. 148. 
 
 X Quinetiam arbitror propter Pythagoieonim admirationem, Niimam qnoque regem 
 Pyt/jagoreum a poilerioiibus cxiftimatum. Tull, Tiifc. Difp. lib.ivvc. i. Edit. Ox. 4to. 
 T.II. p. 33'- 
 
 § Hemd. 1 b. iv. c, 9;. Edit. G.ile. 
 
 Ellcaon,
 
 15S ^HE DIVINELEGATION Book IL^ 
 
 Elicaon, Ariftocrates, nay the very Druids*, the leglflators of 
 Gaul, and, in a word, all the eminent Lawgivers who lived any- 
 where about the time of Pythagoras, to be inftrudled by him. But 
 will the learned Critic fay, that, therefore, all thefe Legiflators were 
 imaginary perfons, and did not give laws to their feveral cities ? 
 This notion, ari(ing from Pythagoras's great charader and reputa- 
 tion, was nurfed up and improved by his followers themfelves, to 
 beget honour to their mafter ; as, in fad, appears from feveral paf- 
 fages in Jamblichus's life of that Philofopher. So that was there no 
 more in it than this ; as Zaleucus s Inflitutions were in great repute, 
 we might very naturally aocount for the miftake. 
 
 But, laftly, it is, indeed, very true, (as the learned Critic fuf- 
 pefted) that the principal ground of the report ij/Zaleucus being a 
 Pythagorean, was from fome pafjages in th? fyftem of lazvs afcribed to 
 him. He is only too hafty in his conclufion, that therefore theft 
 mufi needs conviS. thefyjlem of a cheat. What hurried him on, was 
 his fuppofing, that no fuch report could be gathered from paffages in 
 thefyfem, but fuch as muft be an intimation that the author was a 
 Pythagorean : and that there is no difference between giving and 
 takifig an intimation. If, then, this report might be gathered from 
 paffages which contained no intimation, and if the reader might un- 
 derfland that to be fuch which the writer never intended ; the con- 
 fequence will be, that the credit of thefe fragments will remain 
 unfhaken, though W£ grant the learned Critic his whole premifes, 
 and all the fa<3:s he contends for. 
 
 It feems, then, to be certain, that the report of Zaleucus's being 
 a Pythagorean arofe principally from a paffage in his fyftem of 
 laws. And it was not difficult to difcover what it was. Zu" 
 leucus in his preface fpeaks of an evil genius or Dicmon, AAK 
 MUN KAKOS, as influencing men to wickednefs. This, though 
 a notion of the highefl t antiquity, whofe origin and author are 
 
 much 
 
 * Ammian. Marcell. lib. xv. c. 9. p. 75. Edit. Gronov. fol. 1693. 
 
 •j- V«irol{'X»l? J' ev ■Brfi'TW ■nrifi ^^^03•c.f)la;, >4 'ErfEjoyl/^a; tiiai (Mayac) tut ArytJrliUH" K, Sio xar' 
 
 «£Tt)s ilwi if ?c*5) »7«6i» JcJfco.c, x; KAKON A.'IIMONA, Diog. Laert. Vit. Phil. Piooem. Seg. 9. 
 
 Edit.
 
 Sect. J. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 159 
 
 tauch dlfputed, yet became at length the diftinguu'huig doclrhie of 
 the Pythagoreans. Plutarch, fpeaking of Pythagoras's opuiion of 
 the firfl: principle, fays, that that philofopher called the Monady 
 God, and Duad^ the evil genius *. Which Duadxh^ Pythago- 
 reans ufed extremely to vilify, as the caufe of all evil, under the 
 name of the bad principle, as Plutarch would make us believe f. 
 The application of this doftrine I fuppofe Pythagoras might borrow 
 from ZaleuciiS^ and here again pofterity be miftaken only in the 
 original author. However^ we may colled from the fame Plutarch, 
 that that opinion was cultivated by all the ancient Lawgivers. For 
 this learned nian, who favoured the notion of two principles, 
 the one good, the other evil, affeds, I obferve, to draw every an- 
 cient writer, who but mentions an evil daemon, into his own fe6t» 
 In his treatife of Ifis and Ofiris, he fpeaks to this purpofe, *' That 
 " it was a moft ancient opinion, delivered as well by Lawgivers 
 *' as Divines, that the world was neither made by Chance, neither 
 *' did one Caufe govern all tilings, without oppofition |." 
 
 Edit.' Amftel. 1692, 410. Oi-i. JJ* |it5i TJTvnANY IIAAAinN rSt aroTwTa7o» ataynajdujiit- 
 
 li tJ x«?ia> K, ix/faioi, iSl^^io^©• ixiitut ^0155(5 fiila Ti» Tt^6i/1i» li^fujm' Plut. Vica Dioms, ia 
 initio. 
 
 * ll;9«')'0(a5 tJ» MfX^' TV' fivi ftoviJa Sscv, it, t' i^aSov v;ti{ iri» ''i t2 £»o; ^i/<ri;, atni: 5 >5,-' rJiir 
 a ai^ii-otoiaia, AAIMONA, ^ to KAKON, wt^l ^» \ri to u\ixoi trAnO©-. Dc PlaC. Phil. lib. i, 
 
 G.;^;. p. 1624. E. S. (T..II. p. 881. D. Edit. Francof. 1 599, fol.) 
 
 \ Oi jWEV Wv^a.yQPiy.oi 01a t^Aiir.'wy omfxcurui/ ;iaTr(|9py<n, t5 /xev aya05 To it w^ve^aTfAEvoff To /^"OS 
 TO sMu, TO ■sa^m-o-ot, to Tfi^ayutoi, to ^lov, to XajATjo*' tS ^s KAKOY, Tiii' AYAAA, to a—ti^ot, 
 TO ^i^oixwoti, TO xaf/.si;Xoy, To ajJIiov, to ETtjojuuxE;, To attaot. To a^ire^ov. To <ri!oliifo»* art TavToc; 
 
 »j)X«; ys»!oe4i< iTroKtijUf**?* n<»! IS. 19 CLIP. p. 660. St. Ed. I fuppofe the reafon, why Auij was 
 amongft the ill names faid to be given by the Pythagoreans, to the l-ad ftincipk, was, 
 becaulc, in their fuperllitioiis dcfignations of the vaiious qualities of numbers, this Awi; 
 
 is very heavily loaded. "Oti >i fj.\> MONAS xaji tw 'urirrUx k^ to /XE7fo» ^a/li£»»tTat• i Je Ava; 
 
 xa5' iTTt^oo^iy >(J £',\Xii%l/i». Anon. de Vita Pythag. apud Photium. Edit. Hccfchelii, fol. 1612. 
 pag. 1 3 14. 
 
 J Aio K^ wafiXaXai®- cc'Ctvi xa-Ttia-tv Ik 0;oXayx> >^ N'OMO©ETnN — u; ar aisv )cj aXoyot >^ axw 
 f/fvuloy aia^iiVai T« ayTof*aTai to wav, art itj iriv x^al!t xj «al!t9i/>»», oliririj oii»|i» S Ticri TiiSijiioi; 
 
 :^«Xiv«r« XqV®^ Ibid, dc l<r, et Os-ij. p. 658. 
 
 Tliis.
 
 t63 the divine legation BookII. 
 
 This notion therefore, delivered in the proem of Zaleucuss law, 
 might be very well takm for an intimation of the author's being a Py- 
 thagorean, and yet, not being fo gi'ven^ it has not the leaft tendency 
 to dilcredit the compilation. 
 
 ' On the whole then, I prefume, it appears, that the credit of 
 thefe remains (lands unfhaken by any thing the learned Critic has 
 advanced to the contrary ; and that we may fafely produce them as 
 of the antiquity they lay claim to. 
 
 Thus Zalencus begins his preface: " Every inhabitant, whether 
 " of town or country, fhould hril: of all be firmly perfuaded of 
 " the being and exiftence of the Gods : which belief he will be 
 *' readily induced to entertain, when he contemplates the heavens, 
 *' regards the world, and obferves the difpofition, order, and har- 
 " mony of the univerfe ; which can neither be the work of blind 
 *' chance, nor of man. Thefe Gods are to be worfhipped as the 
 *' caufe of all the real good we enjoy. Every one therefore fhould 
 " fo purify, and poffefs his mind, as to have it clear of all kinds of evil ; 
 *' being perfuaded that God is not honoured by a wicked perfon, nor 
 " acceptably ferved, like miferable man, with fumptuous ceremo- 
 *' nies, or taken with coftly facrifices, but with Virtue only, and 
 " a conftant difpofition to good and juft aftions. On which ac- 
 *' count, every one fliould labour all he can to become good, both 
 *' in practice and principle, whereby he will render himfelf dear 
 *« and acceptable to God ; fhould fear more that which leads to 
 ** ignominy and difhonour, than that which leads to lofs of wealth 
 ** and fortune ; and efleem him the befl Citizen, who gives up his 
 ** worldly goods, rather than renounce his honefly and love of 
 *' juflice : But thole, whofe headflrong appetites will not fufFer them 
 *' to be reflrained within the limits of thefe things, and whofe 
 »* hearts are turned with a natural bias towards evil, whether they 
 •' be men or women, citizens or fojourners, fhould be told, to have 
 *' the Gods always in mind, to think upon their nature, and of the 
 «' judgments they have In ftore for wicked men ; iofet before than-
 
 Sect. 3. OF MO SE S DEMONSTRATED. i6i 
 
 ^^ fc'hes the dreadjul hour of death, a period they muft all arrive at; 
 *' when the memory of evi! actions pajl willfcize the firmer with remorfe, 
 ^' accompanied with the fruit Icfs ivijlj, that he had fubmittcd his anions 
 " to the rules of jujlice. Every one, therefore, fhould fo watch 
 *' over his behaviour, as if that hour ivcre fill prefent with him, and 
 " attended all his motions : which will be the way to keep up in 
 ** himfclf an exa<5l regard to right and juftice. But if the wicked 
 
 ** DEMON BfC IN$Tx\NT TO INFLUENCE HIM TO EVIL, let him fly tO 
 
 " the altars and temples of the Gods, as the fureft afylum from that 
 *' crueleft and wickedeft of tyrants, Evil, and implore their aflii- 
 ** tance to drive her far from him. To this end, let him alfo have 
 ** recourfe to thofe, whofc reputations are high for probity and 
 ** virtue * ; whom h*? may hear difcourfe of the happinefs of good, 
 *' and the vengeance attending evil men +•" 
 
 * Meaning the men fet apart for the fervice of religion, fuch as Virgil dcfcribes in his 
 Elyfiiim, yEiieid. L, vi. p. 265. I. 21. Edit. Venet. 8iro, 163S. 
 Quiqiie facerdotes catli, dum vita maneb;it ; 
 Quitjue pii vates & Phccbo digna locuti. 
 Which not only fliews the Legiflator's fenfe of their life, but of the neceflity of their 
 prailifing what they teach to others. 
 
 -j- T»« xaloixa/Iat ri* -aiXit tt, ri* x"l"' '^»"'a; Wjirov wiTircrOai ;^{i, k, vofzl^iir Sii; tTjai, «^ 
 
 7ir»0f4!'»i». 'Kxarcr If 't'^nv k, vtu^at^nivi^ui etT tr,, alnt: 4"^X'''' «'«•''»•» Ti. ««<:» naSa^ii- «; i 
 Tt(*aT«i Sio? iT* KjCfvrra ^aiJXB, ii\ SsfaTiiIiTai Jonr«»«i?, B^i T^aWiai; rify a>.iaxotj.t\fUi, KaiixKtf' 
 
 iT»«i, t^ ■z^fci^u )(J OTfCKijfVii Tor fti>iAo»1a tff-e»-5sti Sio^iXij- Jfc fii foCi.crOai ri; ti; jfpuara fiif»i'»; 
 jtaiXXey Ta^» il; aiax^y'* Tti»oiT«i»' >|J ^oXiTr,y iif«ii>i>»a otoux^itt tin Tin B(ri«» ■Ff.it^not f»aAX«r t2 xa>.» 
 ;jj Axaia* iVoi{ ii f*>l f a'J.oj WjC-: TarTa T^y op^iy •5Ti-iro-9ai, Tny i'i ^^tx^» 'X"'" 'i*'"^" »f ^i i^"ii«»f 
 fcj' iy.:' laa^fyMu' «ra<ri Tor? Tciaroij wo>.tT«i.;, jj) CToXiTiai ><) Iosikoij fxifiiSySai Sii» i. Sv^y, i«J 
 iiKKi [Vnri/tTofluy To',- aJ.'Kotf Jt) T.'5i?5ai w^o i/i/iaTay Toy Kocifov tStov, if a' y.'xTai to ti'X*- i«ar« 
 T?5 aT«?.?.«y?t t5 ^y* roSs-i y«i tfiTiTln (*iTaf«»'?iti« Tors p.«?i?.B!Ti riXiurwi, /xi^tiifisyjtf wy aAxwaiTi, 
 )^ offifl t5 ^»^lc79al «T«f'a ariTfap^jOai Jixai'w? auTor;' Aio iu ixaroy cra^' jxarry Wj-ajiy aii rvniKuSi 
 To> xai»oy T«TM, it Ji arofoVIa* «T»» y«{ iy ftoAire t3 x»>.5 >t Ta JixaU* finHn'i' ii> J«' tm cr*f«r? 
 AMMHN KAKOS t^/t«» WfJ,- iJ.x.'ay JislfiSiiy itjc; yoo.t it ^i>/*0''! "t "/"'■'^'' ip'tV'^a t^i iJ.-IxJ 
 i; yi<Tiroita' ayifiraTJiv J«) ;(^aMff Jlarnv I'ziliJoyl* Tiv; Si«{ (rtyaril^sTriiy a»T«y' Ijiai Jt k) wjo; liJfac 
 e»|ay iyavla; I'jr' <i>^^ara9ia ixB«/iiy®- irifi li^aiftoi©- 0i«, >^ x«x*y «>^5Jy Ti/iffi'a," .".« aK-cl^Vfl ri^y 
 
 i;rx<..y •"{fwy. Apu'i Stobxuni, Serm. xlii. p. ^79. lin. i> Tiguri, fot. ijjg. 
 
 Vol. I. Y Oor
 
 i6i THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 One would wonder, that any man, who had attentively confi- 
 dered this admirable fragment, could think it the forgery of a So-, 
 phift. It is plain, the author of it underftood human nature and 
 fociety at another rate. He hath not only given us an exaft por- 
 trait of natural Religion ; but, in applying it to the State, hath ex-. 
 plained the ufe and fubferviency of its parts to the three great 
 qlafles of mankind. He hath recommended the intrinfic excellence 
 of virtue, and compliance with the IVi/I and example of the Gods, 
 to thofe who are of fo ingenuous and well framed a nature as to 
 be always dlfpofed to embrace truth and right : to others, of a lefs 
 heroic turn of mind, fuch who idolize their honour, he holds out 
 feme and ignominy, as the infeparable attendants of good and evil 
 a£tions : and, to the common run of more intradable and perverfe 
 tempers, he preaches up the doftrine of future rewards and pun'ij}:- 
 ments *. I will only obferve, it appears to have been from hence, 
 that PoMPONATius borrowed the beautiful paflage, which is quoted 
 at large, in the firft book of this difcourfe. 
 
 Thus Zaleucus. And much in the fame fl^fhion does Cha- 
 RONDAS introduce his Laws. 
 
 In imitation of the pradlice, Plato likevvife, and Cicero both 
 preface their Laws with the fandions of Religion. And though 
 thefe two great men were not, ftriftly fpeaking, Lawgivers in form ; 
 yet we are not to fuppofe that what they wrote in this fcience, was 
 like the dreams of the Sophifts, for the amufement of the idle and 
 curious. They were both well praclifed in affi\irs, and deeply con- 
 verfant in human nature ; and they formed their fpeculative Infti- 
 tutes on the plan, and in the fpirit and views of ancient legifla- 
 tion : the foundation of Plato's being the Attic Laws ; and the 
 foundation of Cicero's, the Twelve Tables : who himfelf takes care 
 tp warn us of this particular. " In imitation of Plato, the moft 
 «^ learned, and, at the fame time, the wifefl: of the philofophers, 
 «» who wrote beft f of a republic, and likewife, feparately, of the 
 
 *' laws 
 
 * Ste no e C, at the end of this Bo 'k, 
 
 t, I read here, with Turnebus, qui piiucefs de rep. confcripftt. La;Til:in objects to this 
 reading, bccaufe we gather from Ariflotle, that Flato was not thefrjl who wrote of a rcpaiUc; 
 
 he
 
 Srct. 3. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. t'6j 
 
 ^ laws thereof, I think it will be proper, before I give the law it- 
 <* felf % to fay fomewhat in recommendation of it : which, I ob- 
 ** ferve, was the method of Zaleucus and Charondas. For their 
 *' fyftem of laws was not an exercise of wit, or defigned for the 
 ** amufement of the indolent and curious, but compofed for the ufc 
 *' of the public in their feveral cities. Tbefe, Plato imitated-, as 
 *' thinking this likewife to be the bufinefs of Law ; to gain fome- 
 " what of its end by tiie gentler methods of perfuafion, and not 
 *' carry every thing by mere force and fear of punifhment t." 
 
 he fuppofing/nVc/i fignifiecl^r/z«w, whereas it means eptlmxs. This was Tally's opinioa 
 of Plato, as may be gathered from many places in his writings. And in this fcnfci 
 Turnebus, without doubt, underftood the word ; a fenfe familiar to his author, as in 
 fir, lib. iv. cap. 49. •' in qua [^Patrla] multis virtutibus &: beneficiis floruit prikcepj." 
 But the v,-nrd frimui itfelf is fometimes ufcd in Mj icnk o( frincfs ; as in Virgil, 
 Prima quod ad Trojam 
 
 * " Ut priufquam ipfam ic^ew recitem, de ejus legis laaJe dicani." This paflage it 
 not without its difficulty. If by Lex be meant the whole fyftem of his laws, which the 
 tenor of the difcourfe leads one to fuppofe ; then, by Laus, the rccommendatw': of it, 
 we are to underftand his fliewing, as he does in the following chapter, that the Gods 
 interefted themfclves very much in the obfervance of civil laws ; which implies, that 
 they were indeed their laws : and fo Tully calls them, in the 4th chapter of this book : 
 " Ita principem legem illam, & ultimam, mentem effe dicebant, omnia ratione aut co» 
 •' gentis, aut vetantis Dei; ex qua ilia lex quam Dii humano generi dederunt, refter 
 •' eft LAUDATA." And the fliewing that civil laws came originally from the Gods, was 
 the higheft recommendation of them. But if by lex \\e are to undcrftand only the 
 frji law of the fyftem, which begins, " Ad Divos adeunto cafte," &c. then by laus ii 
 meant his fliewing, as he does likewife in the following chapter, the ufc and fervice of 
 religion to civil fociety. 
 
 f Sed, ut vir doftiflimus fecit Plato, atque idem gravillimus philofophorum omnium, 
 qui princeps de republica confcripfit, idemque feparatim de legibus ejus, id mihi credo 
 clTe faciendum ; ut priufquam ipfam legem recitem, de ejus legis laude dicam. Quod 
 idem St Zaleucum & Charondam fecifle video ; cum quidem illi non ftudii & de!e<f\ationi», 
 fed reipublicK caufa leges civitatibus fuis fcripferunt. Quos imitatus Plato, videlicet hoc 
 quoque legis putavit effe, perfuadcre aliquid, non omnia vi nc ruinis cogere. Dc Legg. 
 lib. ii. cap. 6. Edit. Ox. 410. T. Ill, p. 141. 
 
 Y z Here,
 
 r64 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 Here, we fee, he intimates, that Plato and himfelf had the lame 
 view, in writing laws, with Zaleucus and Charondas : namely, 
 the fervice of a Public. The difference between them was, that the 
 two Originals were employed by their country ; and the two Co- 
 piefts generoufly undertook an office they were not called to. 
 
 However, Plato and Cicero are the greateft authorities antiquity 
 could afford, and the moft deferving to be heard in this matter. 
 Plato makes it the neceflary introduftion to his laws, to eftablifh 
 the being and providence of the Gods by a law againft sacrilege. And 
 he explains what he means by facrilege, in the following words :. 
 " Either the denial of the being of the Gods ; or, if that be owned,, 
 " the denial of their providence over men ; or, thirdly, the teach- 
 *' ing, that they are flexible, and eafy to be cajoled by prayer and 
 *' facrifice *." And afterwards ; " It is not of frnall confequence, 
 *' that what we here reafon about the Gods, (hould, by all means, 
 ^' be made probable ; as, that they are ; and, that they are good ; 
 •' and that their concern for juftice takes place of all other humaiT 
 ** confiderations. For this, in our opinion, feems to be the nobleft 
 *' and befl: preface that can be made to a body of laws f." In com-^ 
 pllauce with this declaration, Cicero's Preface to his laws, is con- 
 ceived in the following terms : " Let our citizen then be firft of ali 
 " firmly perfuaded of the government and dominion of the Gods j 
 " that they are the lords and mafters of the world ; that all things 
 *' are difpofed by their power, diredion, and providence \ and that 
 *' the whole race of mankind is in tlie higheft manner indebted to. 
 *' them ; that they are Intimately acquainted with every one's ftate 
 " and condition j that they know what he does, what he thinks ; with- 
 
 * aX>a *i lii Ti rut Tfi5» «7«Vx''>'5 « tSto — — «x iyaf^^i '> "'" ^'^'H''^ oHx^, t ^fturll^.-u avS^w- 
 Twv, 5 T^iTO*, tiTTafayLviiiTai tlvai, 9t«7.'ai5 Tf >c) tC^aTf crxjaJoftiSa-r- Ue Legg. lib. X, p. S85. B, 
 
 Tom. II. Edit. H. Steph. fol. 
 
 -j- Jiafif'fti J'' « cjutxfov «(*w<rytT«; wiS»*oT»1c» rmx tS{ ^oya5 vi^^i '%«iv, uj Sfoi t* eiai, j^ «y»8oi, 
 J.K71I Ti/*i»l!5 JiaiisfoyTw; ayQ^uTtui' ff^tion y«( tS'tc i^Tt ivfj aTirciliuii rSt lonut xaTMroy Ti >^ a^tron 
 vfteifxiet «» i>>i. Id. ibid. 
 
 ** what
 
 Sect.3. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 165 
 
 *' what difpofitioii of mind, aiid with what degree of pietv he pcr- 
 ** forms the afts and offices of religion ; and that, accordingly, they 
 " nfiake a diftinftion between the good and bad. The mind being 
 <' imbued with thefe opinions, will never deviate fi-om trutu 
 *' and UTILITY. And what truth is more evident than this, that 
 *' no one fliould be fo ftupidly arrogant, as to fnppole, there is 
 " Mind and Reafon in himfelf, and yet none in the Heavens and 
 *' the World ; or, that thofc things, whofe ules and direftions can 
 *' fcarce be comprehended with the utmoft ftretch of human fa- 
 *' culties, may yet perform their motions without an underftanding 
 " Ruler r But, Hj whom the courfes of the heavenly bodies^ t4ie 
 ** vicifiltudes of day and night, the orderly temperature of the 
 ** feafons, and the various bleflings which the earth pours out for 
 *' our fuflenance and plepcfure, will not excite, nay compel to gra- 
 *' titude, is miflt even to be reckoned lu the number of men. And 
 *' {ince things endowed with reafon, are more excellent than thofe 
 *' which want it ; and that it is impiety to fay, any particular is 
 *' more excellent than the univerfid Nature : we mufl: needs confefs 
 " this Nature to be endowed with reafon. That thefe opinions are 
 " likewifc ifjeful, who can deny, when he confiders what liability 
 *■* is derived to the Public from within, by tlie religion of an oath ; 
 *' and what fecurlty it enjoys from without, by thofe holy rites 
 V which affirm national treaties and conventions : liow efficacious 
 *' the fear of divine punifhment is, to deter men from wickednefs ; 
 " and what purity of manners mufl reign hi that Society, where 
 ** the immortal Gods themfelves are believed to interpofc both as 
 *' judges and witnefles ? Here you have the Proem of the law ; for 
 *'• fo Plato calls it *." 
 
 An* 
 
 • Sitigitur jam hoc a principioperfuafum civibus, doniinos efle omnium renim ac mo- 
 deratores Decs, eaque qux gerantur, eonim geri, ditione, ac niimine, eofdomque op- 
 time dc genere hominum mercri ; & qualis quifque fit, q\iid ag.it, quid in fe ndmittaf,. 
 ^ua meme, qua pietate colat religioncs. intueri ; piorumquc & impionini habere ratio. 
 
 Bern.
 
 i6(5 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 And then follow the laws themfelves; the firft of which is con- 
 ceived in thefe words : " Let thofe who approach the Gods, be pure- 
 ** and undefiled ; let their offerings be fealoned with piety, and all 
 " oflentation of pomp omitted : the God himfelf will be his own 
 *' avenger on tranfgreffors. Let the Gods, and thofe who were ever 
 *' reckoned in the number of Celeftials, be worfhiped ; and thofe 
 •' likewife, whom their merits have raifed to heaven ; fuch as Her- 
 *' cuLES, Bacchus, -^sculapius. Castor, Pollux, and Ro- 
 *« MULUS. And let chapels be erefted in honour to thofe quaUties, 
 ** by whofe aid mortals arrive thither, fuch as Reason, Virtue, 
 *' Piety, and Good-faith*." 
 
 S E C T. IV. 
 
 TH E NEXT ftep the Legiflator took, was to fupport and af- 
 firm the general dodlrine of a Providence, which he had 
 delivered in his laws, by a very circumftantial and popular method 
 of inculcating the belief of z future jiate of re-wards and punifJjtnents, 
 
 nem. His enim rebus imbutae mentes, baud fane abhorrebunt ab utili, & a vera fen- 
 tentia. Quid eft enim verius, quain neminem effe oportere tam ftulte arrogantem, ut 
 in fe rationem & mentem putet inelTe, in coelo mundoque non putet ? aut ut ea, qu» vix 
 fumma ingenii ratione comprehendat, nulla latiqne moveri putet ? Quern vero aftrorum 
 ordines, quern dierum nodiumque viciffitudines, quern menfium t^mperatio, quemquc 
 ea, qui gignuntur nobis ad fruendum, non gratum effe cogant, hunc hominem omnino 
 numerari qui decet ? Cumquc omnia, quae rationem habent, praeftent iis, qu* fmt ra- 
 tionis expertia, nefafque fit dicere, ullam rem praeftare naturae omnium renim : rationem 
 ineffe in ea confitendum eft. Utiles effe autem opiniones has, quis neget, cum intelligat^ 
 quam multa firmentur jurejurando, quantae falutis fint facderum religiones, quiimmultos 
 divini fupplicii metus a fcelere revocarit ; quamque fanfta fit focietas civium inter ipfos, 
 Diis immoitalibus interpoGtis turn judicibus turn teftibus. Habes legis prooemium ; fie 
 enim hoc appellat Plato. De Legg. lib. ii. c. 7. Edit. Ox. 4tn, T. III. p. i4t, 42. 
 * Ad divos adeunto caftc ; pietatem adhibento ; opes amovento. Qui fecus fa>it, 
 
 Deus ipfe vindex erit. Divos, & eos qui coeleftes femper habiti, colunto : & olios, 
 
 quos endo coelo merita vocaverint, Herculem, Liberum, ^Efculapium, Caftorem, PoU 
 iucem, Quirinum. Aft olla, propter qui datur homiiii adfcenfus in coclum, mentem, 
 virtutem, pietatem, fidem, earumque laudum deiubra funto. De Legg. lib. w, c. 8, 
 Hdit. Ox. 4to. T. III. p. 14*5 43- 
 
 This
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DE MO iJ^STR ATED. ^t^ 
 
 This was by the iuftitution of the Mystkries, the moft facred 
 part of pagan Rehgion ; and artfully framed to ftrike deeply aud 
 forcibly into the minds and imaginations of the people. 
 
 I propofe, therefore, to give a full and dillin(fl account of this 
 whole matter : and the rather, becaufe it is a thing little known or 
 attended to : the Ancients, who- wrote exprefly on the Mj^eries^ 
 fuch as Melanthius, Menander, Hicefius, Sotades, and others, not 
 being come down to us. So that the modern writers on this fub- 
 je£t are altogether in the dark concerning their origine and end ; 
 not excepting Meurfius himielf : to whom, however, I am much 
 Indebted, for abridging my labour in the fearch of thofe paflages of 
 antiquity, which make mention of the Eleusinian Myjleries, and 
 for bringing the greater part of them together under one view *. 
 
 To avoid ambiguity, it will be proper to explain the term. Each 
 of \.\\t pagan Gods had (befides the public and operi) zfecret worfiip + 
 paid unto him : to which none were admitted but thofe who had 
 been felefted by preparatory ceremonies, called initiation. This 
 fecret ijcorpip was termed the Mysteries. 
 
 But though every God had, befides his open w'orfhip, the fecret 
 llkewife ; yet this latter did not every where attend the former ; but 
 only there, where he was the patron God, or in principal erteem. 
 Thus, when in confequence of that intercommunity of paganifm, 
 which will be explained hereafter, one nation adopted the Gods of 
 another, they did not always take in at the fame time, the fecret 
 ivorpjip or MyjKries of that God : fo, in Rome, the public and 
 open worfhip of Bacchus was in ufe long before his Myjleries were 
 admitted. Bur, on the other hand again, the worfliip of the ftrangc 
 God was fometimes introduced only for the lake of his Myjler'us: 
 
 • Eleufinia : five de Cereris Eleufinae facio. 
 
 f Stiabo, in his tenth book of his Geography, p. 716, Gron. Ed. writes thus: 
 Koi»o» J>) t5t«, ti. Tat 'EXX^wv >^ r^y 6a^<^x^u> irJ, to ra; ii{ow«iia{ /n/li iAriu; iopiarix?{ wotiVa-Sai, 
 Tstf lilt (rill it^H^taajiu, T»,- Ji X''P'<' *• ''*'* >*" f*'^* f«»»tii;, T»,- ii f*n" KAt TAS MEM MTfSTl* 
 kfiS, TAS AE EN iJ)ANEPn>- kJ Tt9' h f iV.-- btu; loraAfit'ii.
 
 i6-8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 as, lu the fame city, that of Ifis and Ofiris. Thus ftood the cafe 
 in general ; the particular exceptions to it, will be feen in the fe- 
 <juel of this diflertation. 
 
 The firft and original Myjlerles^ of which we have any fure ac- 
 count, were thofe of Ifis and Ofiris in Egypt ; from whence they 
 were derived to the Greeks *, under the prefidency of various 
 Gods i", as the inftitutor thought moft for his purpofe : Zoroafter 
 brought them into Perfia : Cadmus and Inachus into Greece at 
 large]:; Orpheus into Thrace : Melampusinto Argis ; Tropnonlus 
 into Boeotia ; Minos into Crete ; Cinyras into Cyprus ; and Erech- ■ 
 theuslnto Athens. And as in Egypt they were to Ifis and Ofu-is; 
 fo in Afia they were to Mithras ; in Samothrace to the Mother of 
 the Gods ; in Boeotia to Bacchus ; in Cyprus to Venus; in Crete 
 to Jupiter ; in Athens to Ceres and Proferpine ; in Amphifla to 
 
 * Diod, Sic. lib. i. Eudoxus faid, as Plutarch informs -us, that the Egyptians in- 
 vented this fable concerning Jupiter Amnion, or the Supreme God, — That his Legs being 
 unfeparated, very Qiame drove him into folitude;; but that Ifis fplit and divided them, 
 and by that means fet him at 'liberty to walk about the World. <l>>io-; wtfi tS Aiij i eWoIo;, 
 
 AsTfiCtv. 'H Jf "lo-K StartiiSira j^ Jiar>Jff«o-» Ta ft-i^yi t«ut« tS cufJian;, a^ivoSx, -rm troftixt wafsV;;^!*. 
 Pe If. &.-Olir^ Vol. I. pag. 670. Edit. Steph. 8vo. The moral of the fable is plainly 
 ■this, as we fliall fee more ^plainly hereafter, That the first cause was kept unknown, 
 till the Egyptian ATyfu-ries of Ifis revealed him amongft their aiop'pla ; which Myjltries 
 were communicated to the Greeks, and, through them, to the reft of mankind. But 
 the Image under which the fable is conveyed, was taken from the form of the Egj'ptian 
 Statues of the Gods, wJiich the workmen made with their Legs undivided. When the 
 Greek Artifts firft lliewed them how to form their Gods in a walking Pofture, the attitude 
 fo alarmed their VVoriliipers, that they bound them with Chains, left they (hould defert 
 their own Country. For the People imagined that their Gods, on the leaft ill humour or 
 difguft, had a ftrange propenfity to fliew them a fair pair of heels. 
 
 ■j- "On Jf 1x1 Amvaluv, >y rut lla»a9r,va.'i.)», k, fxi'rioi rut Sta-fj^o^i^iui, xj T»» 'EXcvanivt TU( TlXl- 
 lir'Ogpii'!, a»fi; 'OifCcn;, tl; Ta,- "Afiira? i«o_uij«, ,^ si? AtrYIlTON atftKifJiU^, Ta tb; 'l<rii5'®- xj 
 tS '0<rifiJ®- lU Tu. Ti)« Anas <^ t5 l^totiaa juElaliStniv offta. Theodoretus, Therapeut. i. 
 
 X 'Extiflf* S'e O'^yC"' t'o'X' ■'■* '""'■(' "E\A»icri lAvrifioi Ti >^ Tl^s]a^ cj^orfjo* Wap AirTnTIOIS, ti} 
 mor^a, <>fuii, >^ Ooinjl, >c5 Baft)\o»ioif, xaKw; firmttoYit*"* nelirt^^iVla ti ei,- EKAtivaj c»T« t5; 7up 
 AirYnnnN X"?«>' i~^ Ka*,«» x} airu tS 'l»a<a. "A:rii&- Wfo'Tifs* x?>7i9fVl®-, >C oi'xsJo^j-ail®- Tvt 
 
 AI.V^Li*. Epiphan. adv. Hxt. lib. i. H«ref. iv, 
 
 Caftor,
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 169 
 
 Caflor and Pollux ; in Lemnos to Vulcan, and fo to others, in 
 other places, the number of which is incredible *. 
 
 But their end, as well as nature, was the fame in all ; to teach 
 the doctrine of a future state. In this, Origen and Celfus 
 agree ; the two moft learned writers of their feveral parties. The 
 firfl:, minding his adverfary of the difference between the future life 
 promifed by the Gofpel, and that taught in Paganifm, bids him 
 compare the Chriflian doctrine with what all the {i:<k'i, of Philofo- 
 phy, and all the Myfterles, amongft Greeks and Barbarians, taught 
 concerning it -f- : And Celfus, in his turn, endeavouring to fhew 
 that chriftianity had no advantage over paganifm in the efficacy of 
 flronger fandtions, exprefles himfelf to this purpole : " But now, 
 *' after all, juft as you believe eternal punifhments, fo do the Mi- 
 *' nifters of the facred rites, and thofe who initiate into, and prefide 
 *' in the Myjl cries j." 
 
 They continued long in religious reverence : fome were more 
 famous and more extenfive than others ; to which many accidents 
 concurred. The moft noted were the Orphic, the Bacchic, the 
 Eleusinjan, the Samothracian, the Cabiric, and the Mi- 
 
 THRIAC. 
 
 * Poftulat quidem magnitudo materia?, atque ipfius defenfionis ofHciiim, ut fimilitcr 
 ca'teras turpitudinum fpecies perfeqiiamur : vel quas produnt antiquitatis hiftori:r, vel 
 nnfteria ilia continent facra, quibils initiis nomen eft, & qux non omnibus vulgo, fed 
 paucorum taciturnitatibus tradi licet. Sed Sacrorum iunumeri rum, atque affixa deformi- 
 tas fing\ilis, corporaliter prohibet univerfa nos exequi. Arnob. adv. Gcntes, lib. v. 
 p. 165. Edit. Plantini, 8vo, 1582. 
 
 t —Kab'lxa^nt tpiXocri(fm aUimi WV-Wna-iA B(xp?a{oij S MYSTHPIIJAH. Orig. cont, Celf. 
 lib. iii. p. 160. Sp. Ed. 
 
 X MaXira /xEv, u /JtXTirt) wtTTig cv tit.Xa<Tit( alut'm; »Of<i^»i{' ktu >^ 01 t»i I'l^ai ix.iitut I'lii/ijTai 
 riXirai ft K, iivTctfxyoi, lib. viii. p. 408. And that nothing veiy heterodox was taught in 
 the inyfteries concerning a future ftate, I colleft from the anfwer Origen makes to Celfus, 
 who had preferred what was taught in the Myfteries of Bacchus on that point, to what 
 the Chi'iftian Religion revealed concerning it — «tfl f" 5» t5» Bax^^ixJy rAili/t i'~: tU if 
 «ri53:>s; Xoy®-, s'ti f^nJiij ToifT®-— lib. iv. p. 167. 
 
 Vol. I. Z Euripides
 
 I/O THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Euripides makes Bacchus fay, in his tragedy of that name *, that 
 the Orgies were celebrated by all foreign nations, and that he came 
 to introduce them amongft the Greeks. And it is not improbable, 
 but feveral barbarous nations might have learned them of the 
 Egyptians long before they came into Greece. The Druids of Bri- 
 tain, who had, as well as the Brachmans of India, divers of their 
 religious rites from thence, celebrated the Orgies of Bacchus, as we 
 learn from Dionyfius the African. And Strabo ha zing quoted Arte- 
 midorus for a fabulous flory, fubjoins, " But what he fays of Ceres 
 *' and Proferpine is more credible, namely, that there is an ifland 
 " near Britain, where they perform the lame ritts to thofe two 
 »' Goddefles as are ufed in Samothrace +•" But, of all the Mys- 
 teries, thofe which bore that name, by way of eminence, the 
 Eleusinian, celebrated at Athens in honour of Ceres, were by far 
 the mod renowned ; and, in courfe of time, eclipfed, and almoft 
 fwallowed up the reft. Their neighbours round about very early 
 pradifed thefe Mvfieries to the negleft of their own : in a little 
 time all Greece and Afia Minor were initiated into them : and at 
 length they fpread over the tvhole Roman empire, and even beyond 
 the limits of it. " I infift not," fays TuUy, " on thofe facred and 
 *' auguft rites of Eleusis, where, from the remoteft regions, men 
 ♦' came to be initiated |." And we are told in Zofimus, that 
 " thefe moft holy rites were then fo extenfive, as to take in the 
 " whole race of mankind §." Ariftides calls Eleufis, the common 
 temple of the earth ||. And Paufanias fays, the rites performed there 
 
 ♦ Aft. II. 
 
 cKoie ToV; i» Xa^uoS^aKu •ETi^l jJi/An/^Jil^av >^ t)i» Ko^w* Uoo-aoiUTOLi. Strabonis Geogr. lib. iv. p 137. 
 lin. 26. Edit. Cafaub, The nature of thef^ Samothracian rites is explained after- 
 wards. 
 
 X Omitto E1.EVSINAM fanftam illam & auguftam : ubi initiantur gentes orarum ul- 
 tiinx. Nat. Deor. lib. i. c. 42. Edit, Ox, 4*. T. ii. p. 432. 
 
 § Ti cvit-/j>i'o TO avO^i'TTdoy juiv®- kyiuTttia. fivrifta. lib. iv. 
 
 !| 'Ons i Miit,'» Ti i?5 ySsTi'/itv©- T>i» 'E?.iu<Tri» iyfrro. Ariftidis Eleufinla, in initio. 
 
 for
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 171 
 
 for the promotion of piety and virtue, as much excelled all other 
 rites, as the Gods excelled the Heroes *. 
 
 How this happened, the nature and turn of the People, who in- 
 troduced thefe Myfleries, will account for. Athens was a city the 
 nioft devoted to Religion of any upon the face of the earth. "On 
 this account their poet Sophocles calls it ihe facred building of the 
 Gods t, his figure of fpeech alluding to its fabulous foundation. Nor 
 was it a lefs compliment St. Paul intended to pay the Athenians* 
 when he faid, Afope? ' K^i^'jkToi, x«t« isravjx ug SiKTtcaifiovigigisg CfMts 
 ^iupuil. And Jofephus tells us, that tbey were univerjally ejleemed 
 the mop religious people of Greece §. Hence, in thefe matters, Athens 
 became the pattern and flandard to the reft of the world. 
 
 In difcourling, therefore, of the mysteries in general, we fliall 
 be forced to take our ideas of them chiefly from what we find prac- 
 tifed in the Elettfinian. Nor need we fear to be miftaken ; the end 
 t)f all being the fame, and all having their common original from 
 Egypt. 
 
 To begin with the general purpofe and delign of their luftitu- 
 tion. This will be underftood, by Ihewlng what they communis 
 cated promifcuoufly to all. 
 
 To fupport the docflrine of a providence, which, they taught, 
 governed the world ||, they inforced the belief of a future state 
 of rewards and punilhments **, by every fort of contrivance. But 
 
 Syov J.V»'"fa'i °5-"'^T«5 Siajtw.5rfO<r9Jir V*"' FhoClCJ, 1. X. C. 3I. p. 876. In this 
 
 elegant fimilitude he feems plainly to allude to the ftoei of the myjicrin; which, as we 
 fliall fee, confifted in an explanation of the origin of bcro-.^orjln^, and the naturt of the 
 Aify. 
 
 t Eleftra, aft. ii. fc. i. AeHNON TON SEOAMHTON.— 
 
 X Aft. Apoft. xvii. 22. 
 
 § — i^^eiraTOs T*» ■£^xwv azaiiii tSynaiu Cent. Ap. lib. ii. torn, II. edit. Oxon. folio, 
 1710. tap. 15. pag. 1373. lin. 12. 
 
 1; Plutarch, de If. & Ofir. 
 
 ** [Myfteriis] neque folum, &c.— Sedetiam cum sfe MELIore. mcrundi. Tull. d 
 Legg. Jib. ii. c. i4.^Edit. Ox. 4'. t. 111. p. 148. 
 
 Z 2 as
 
 172 THfi DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 as tills did not quite clear up the intricate ways of Providence, 
 they added the dodrinc of a metempsychosis, or the belief of a 
 prior Jlate : as we learn from Cicero, and Porphyry * ; the latter 
 of whom informs us, that it was taught in tlie Myjlertes of the 
 Perfian Mithras. This was an ingenious folution, invented by the 
 Egyptian Lawgivers, to remove all doubts concerning the moral 
 attributes of God t ; and fo, by adding z. prior to z. future Jlate ^ to 
 eftablifli the firm belief of his Providence. For the Lawgiver well 
 knew how precarious that belief was, while the moral attributes of 
 God remained doubtful and uncertain. 
 
 In cultivating the do6lrine of a future Ife, it was taught, that 
 the Initiated fliould be happier in that ftate than all other mortals : 
 that while the fouls of the profane, at their leaving the body, 
 ftuck faft in mire and filth, and remained in darknefs, the fouls of 
 the Initiated winged their flight diredly to the happy iflands, and 
 the habitations of the Gk)ds J. This doftrine was as necefiary for 
 the fupport of the Myjleries, as the Myfleries were for the fupport 
 of the doftrlne. But now, left it fhould be miftaken, thzt ifiitiatioft 
 alone, or any other means than a virtuous life, intitled men to this 
 future happinefs, the Mvfteries openly proclaimed it as their chief 
 bufinefs, to reftore the foul to its original purity. " It was the end 
 " and defign oi initiation*' fays Plato, " to reftore the foul to that 
 *' ftate, from whence it fell, as from its native feat of perfeftion §." 
 
 * K«i yoLf Jo/Jta ■n7a»1i'» e,-i rat tufuT^t, rnt METEMTYXfiSIN J>ai» o k. IjxlpctUtit UWairn h tok 
 tS Mi8f« ^^rn^lo^5. De Abft. lib. iv. § i6. Edit. Cantabr. 1655, Svo. 
 
 t So TiiHy. Ex qiiibus humanas vits erroribus & xrumnis fit, ut interdum veteres 
 i'li five vates, five in faeris Initiisque tradendis divine mentis interpretes, qui nos ob 
 aliqua fcelera fufcepta in vita fuperiore, poenarum luendaium caiifla, natos efle dixerunt, 
 aliqiiid vidifTe videantiir. Fragm. ex lib. dePhilofophia. 4^ 
 
 t Plato in Phidone, p. 69. C, p. 81. A. t. I. Edit. Henr. Stephani. — Ariflides 
 Eleufini'i, t.l. p. 454. Edit. Canteii, 8vo. & apud Stobceiim, Serai. 119, &c. Schol. 
 Arid, in Ranis. Diog. Laert. in vita Diog. Cynici. " 
 
 ii 'W o-fx^:- In Phxdone. 
 
 They
 
 Sect. 4. OF M O S E S D EiMO N STR ATE D. 173 
 
 They contrived that every thing fliould tend to (hew the necefiity 
 of virtue ; as appears from Epiclctus. " Thus the Myjleries become 
 " ufeful ; thus we feize the true fpirit of them ; when we begin to 
 " apprehend that every tiling therein was inflituted by the Ancients, 
 *' for infl:ruclion and amendment of Hfe *." Porphyry gives us 
 fome of thofe moral precepts, which were inforced iii the Myflerics, 
 as to honour their parents^ to offer up fruits to the Gods, and to forbear 
 cruelty towards animals +. For the accompUftiment of this purpofe, 
 it was required in the Afpiranl to the Myfteries, that he fhould be 
 of a clear and unblemifhed Character, and free even from the fuf- 
 picion of any notorious crime |. , To come at the truth of his 
 Charader, he was feverely interrogated by the Priefl or Hierophant, 
 impreliing on him the fame fenfe of obUgation to conceal nothing, 
 as is now done at the romau Confeflional §. Hence it was, that 
 Avhen Nero, after the murkier of his mother, took a journey into 
 Greece, ai\d had a mind to be prefent at the celebration of the 
 Eleufumn Myjierics, the confcience of his parricide deterred him 
 from attempting it II . On .the fame; account,, the good emperor 
 . ri:_^'iu^ cl: rl ^ih v/v;[. ijoij^tjinl -jJ.V h:\i: ^ .^ 
 
 0M ^altrx&n aatia ravra awi rai) ma\at3>. ■Apiid' A'niari.' Diflcit. Ill), iii. cap. 2 1. My rea- 
 ibn 'for craiillating. ffj' ?iai'Wix», ifi'tfiis ina■mler,•^V!as, 'becaufe 1 iihagined the author, in 
 thiioljfcdreeJcpiciTitih,; alluded to^thcciiflom in; this Myfteries of calling thofe who were 
 initiated only in the lefTer, Mtirai ; but thofe, in the greater, 'EtuV1«i. 
 
 j- TonTi Tifif/, ©id," xafToV," iyaWfiv, ^S» fA-h trivsffOai. De Abft. lib. iv. ^^ 2 2. Edit. Cant. 
 
 -.655, 8vo. . . • 
 
 J Otroi y«{ TO T* ikXx xaSapT; eT»ai roTf f/iJraiS i» xonai CTfoafo^i^tfj-iy, Jtot Ta; X''?'*^ '''^'' ^"X^'' 
 
 — iT/ai. 'Libaniu's Deci; xix.'p! 495! 'D.'E'dit'.' I\'loJe1li,'f6l. i6o6. 
 
 § As appears from the repartee which Plutarch records, in his Laconic apophthegms of 
 Lyfander, Edit. Francof. 1599. t: it. p.' 229. D. when he went to be initiated into the 
 Samothracean myfleries ; '£► Js Sa/ioSpxii xfirvi'aioi^iyu airu i .'ifiu,-' i^.^^stal. ilwuv !, t! iio- 
 
 ^»T«»icv cffof avTui It rZ 0iu CTiff^anlai ; croT<fCi» a» rS t3to xtXtiirailoi r, ruiv Oiut, rSro J:'.' «roii?» ; 
 tcru^^TrTi. <J)gtjaiy9y ^'f, TWf SiTv, ^v Toivvv, *^»5, sKTooaJv fA(v xxTc»rri5i, vaV.EM&i^ ipw iut 'Sjvt^ixtuvlan — 
 
 Why initiation' into the'fc Myfltrics is called, enquiriiig of the Oracle, will be feen 
 afterwards. 
 
 II Percgrinatione 'qu''^'^'" Grxci.T, Eicufiniis facii?, quorum initiatione impii Si fee- 
 Icrati voce pvxconis fubmovcrentur, iutertlfe nan aufus eft, Sucton. Vita Neron. 
 rap..j4; § i:. Edit. Pitifci. 
 
 M. An-
 
 174 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 M. Antoninus, when he would purge himfelf to the world of the 
 death of Avldius Caflius, chofe to be initiated into the Eleujinian 
 Myjleries * ; it being notorious, that none were admitted into them, 
 wlio laboured under the juft fufpicion of any heinous immorality- 
 And Philoflratus tells us, that Apollonius was defirous of being 
 initiated in thefe M)>fleries ; but that the Hierophant refufed to 
 admit him, becaufe he efteemed the Afpirant to be no better than 
 a Magician : for the Eleujinian flood open to none who did not 
 approach the Gods with a pure and holy worftiip f- This was, 
 originally, an indifpenfable condition of /wV/W/W, obferved in com- 
 mon, by all the Myfteries ; and inftituted by Bacchus, or Oiiris 
 himfelf, the firft in venter of them ; wlio, as Diodorus tells us, ini- 
 tiated none but pious and virtuous men \. During the celebration 
 of the Myfteries, they were enjoined the greatell landlity, and 
 higlieft elevation of mind. " When you facrifice or pray (fays 
 *' Epi(fletus in Arrian) go with a prepared purity of mind, and with 
 *' difpofitions fo previoufly ordered, as are required of you when 
 *' you approach the ancient rites and Myjleries §. And Proclus tells 
 us that the Myfteries and the Initiations drew the fouls of men 
 from a material, fenfual, and merely human life, and joined them 
 in communion with the Gods || . Nor was a lefs degree of purity 
 required of the Initiated for their future conduct **. They were 
 
 * Jul. Capit. Vita Ant. Phil and Dion Cnfl". 
 
 ■^- O iJi (ifopavI»5 HX. lQa\i\o ■tjaj/^^Eiv ra, ifji, /*» yij at oroli fiuSyai yor^a, ft>i it tJik Z\tv7'iix 
 
 i.or|ai Kv^fwTii n>i xaflafw T» AaijKMw. DeVita ApoUonii Tyanenlis, l.iv. c. j8. Edir, 
 Olearii, fol. 
 
 SUtt.nitffiava.a-x.57t. Lib. iii. p. 138. St. Ed. 
 
 § Kai f*fli 9«0-i«{ Jl, >^ fitr' tix^v, xj VfOrifnUMTa, jjJ ■c^^uhaxtlfi.nfov ri yiujin, oTi isjoTj Wferc 
 
 ?i£i/o-i1ai >^ iifcTq ■ax'Kaiti'i'i. Arrian. Diflert. lib, iii. cap. 21. 
 
 If Ta VI ftiTiJfia >(J Ta; TiXtli; ivayeiy fiXt a,xo tS; ivyAa JtJ 9»7ilo«j5s ^w?; to{ \<.)(li.i, xj (rvtivlnf 
 
 707; Siorf. In Remp. Plat. lib. i. 
 
 ** Kat TtJt.ftvrr.fi'-..:!! a^ui$s]ilhiit.r,)f 7^ T^i muf' iiuif i.^trrii ^aiiivjitii. Quidam apud Sopa- 
 truni, in Div. Quaft. 
 
 obliged
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 175 
 
 obliged by folemn engagements to commence a new life of ftricleft 
 piety and virtue ; into which they were entered by a fevere courfe 
 of penance, proper to purge the mind of its natural defilements. 
 Cjregory Nazianzen tells us, that " no one could be initiated into 
 the *' Mvfteries of Mkhras, till he [iad undergone all forts of mor- 
 *' tifying triids, and had approved himfclf holy and impaffible *.'* 
 The confideratlon of all this made Tertullian fay, that, in tlie 
 JMxfieries, " Truth herfelf took on every fhape, to oppofe and 
 *' combat Truth +." And St. Auftin, " That the devil hurried 
 *' away deluded Ibuls to their deftruftion, when he promifed to 
 **' purify them by thofe ceremonies, called initiations ];." 
 
 The initiated, under this difcipliue, and with thefe promifes, 
 were efteemed the only happy amongft men. Ariftophanes, who 
 fpeaks the fenfe of the people, makes them exult and triumph 
 after this manner : " On us only does the fun c^ifpenfe his bleffings; 
 *' we only receive pleafure from his beams : we, who are initiatedy 
 " and perform towards citizens and Grangers all a6ts of piety and 
 "juftice§." And Sophocles, to the fame purpofe, "Life, only 
 *' is to be had there : all other places are full of mifery and evil ||." 
 •' Happy (fays Euripides) is the man who hath been initiated into 
 " the greater Mv/?t77Vj, and leads a life of piety and religion**." 
 
 * iJsij Ji JJ»aT6xi TE^^^3•0al tk: t3 MiTfa TiXflij, il ftii Jii ■aacZt Twir xcJiaciuv fMi^jXOoi, ><J 
 
 Ju'lsi iai/1c» iwaflS x) jVio». I Orat. coiit. Julian. 
 
 f O.nnia adverfus veritatcni, de ipfa veritate conftrufta fimt. Apol. cap. 47. 
 
 X Diabolum — animas deceptas illiifaf(iiie pracipitaffe — quuni polliceretur purgatio- 
 ncm anima; per eas, quas TEAETAS appellant. DcTrinitate, lib. iv. c, 10. 
 
 Kat ^iFy'^ IXocfit triii, 
 
 "OcTot fiifjivifiib', ti- 
 
 »eS? T£ hrifoiiit ^ 
 
 T^iTToy, Vi^i Ti iitV; 
 
 Kai rui ihura^. Chorus in Ranis, ail. i. in fine. 
 
 II To"; Si ^o'yoi? txiT 
 
 Z?v ij-i" To"{ J aAXoi^t fra.r' i<tu xotxa. 
 
 Eliui, ^io]«F ayinC'.u BaccU. 
 
 And
 
 176 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 And the longer any one had been Initiated, the more honourable 
 was he deemed *. It was even fcandalous not to be hiitlated : and 
 however virtuous the perlbn otherwife appeared, he became fuf- 
 picious to the people : As was the cafe of Socrates, and, in after- 
 times, of Demonax +• No wonder, then, if the fuperior advan- 
 tages of the Initiated, both here and hereafter, (hould make the 
 Myjlerks univerfally afpired to. And, indeed, they foon grew as 
 comprehenfive in the numbers they embraced, as in the regions 
 and countries to which they extended : men, women, and children 
 ran to be initiated. Thus Apuleius \ defcribes the flate of the 
 Myfteries even in his time : " Influunt turbae, facris divinisinitiatac, 
 " viri foeminaeque, omuls Eetatls & omnis dignitatis." The Pagans, 
 we fee, feemed to think initiation as neceffary, as the Chriftians 
 did baptlfm. And the cuftom of initiating children appears from a 
 paflage of Terence §, to have been general. 
 
 " Ferietur alio munere, ubi hera pepererit ; 
 
 " Porro autem alio, ubi erit puero natulis dies, 
 
 " Ubi INITIABUNT." 
 
 Nay they had even the fame fuperftition in the adminiftration of 
 it, which fome Chriftians had of Baptifm, to defer it till the ap- 
 proach of death ; fo the honeft firmer Trygsus, in the Fax of 
 Ariftophanes : 
 
 The occafion of this folicitude is told us by the fcholiafl: on the 
 Ran^ of the fame poet. *' The Athenians believed, that he who 
 " was initiated, and inftrufted in the Myjieries, would obtain 
 
 • K«l 5 (xs» a.(liri>,ti; iJ.vrni arifxrjrif®' rS mciXai fiilrs. Ariftidis in Orat. tntfl orafa^Gfy/^aTS-. 
 
 t Lucian. Vit. Dem. t. II. p. 374, et feq. Edit. Reitzii, 4^^, Amlkl. 1743. 
 
 X Met. lib. xi. pag. 959- Edit. Lugd. 1587, 8vo. 
 
 § Phorm. aft. i. fc. i. And Donatus, ou the place, tells us, the fnme cuflom pre- 
 vailed in the Samothracian myfteries : " Terentiiis Apollodorum fequitiir, apiid quem 
 " legitur, in infula Samothracum a certo tempore pueros initiari, more Athenienfuim." 
 
 celeflial
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. i;; 
 
 *' celeftlal honour after death : and therefore all ran to be hii- 
 *' tiated*." Their fondnefs for it became fo great, that at fuch times as 
 the public Treafury was low, the Maglftrates could have recourfe to 
 the Myjferies, as a fund to fupply the exigencies of the State. 
 " Ariftogiton (fays the commentator on Hermogenes) in a great 
 ♦' fcarcity of public money, procured a law, that in Athens every 
 *' one fhould pay a certain fum for his iniliation^." 
 
 Every thing in thefe rites was myfterioufly conduced, and under 
 the moft folemn obligations to fecrecy ];. Which how it could agree 
 to our reprefentation of the Myjleries, as an iiiftitution for the ufc of 
 the people, wc fliall now endeavour to explain. 
 
 They were hidden and kept fecret for two reafons : 
 I. Nothing excites our cu iofity like that which retires from our 
 obfervation, and feems to forbid our fearch. Of this opinion we 
 find the learned Synefius, where he fays, " The people will de- 
 ** fpife what is eafy and intelligible, and therefore they niuft always 
 *' be provided with fomething wonderful and myderious in Religion, 
 " to hit their tafte, and ftimulate their curiofity §." And again, 
 " The ignorance of the myfteries preferves their veneration : for 
 " which reafon they are entrufted only to the cover of night ||." 
 
 f 'A^iroysiTiUV sir e-T(X»si y^^nyaxruv, yjapji vo'ft(i», vaf 'ASntaloK »*i«r95 fiu'c^cti. SyrianilS. 
 
 X Cum ignotis hominibus Orpheus facrorum ceremonina aperiret, nihil aliud ab Iiis 
 quos initiabat in primo veftibulo nifi jurisjurandi neceflfitatem, & cum terribili quadam 
 auftoritate religionis, exegit, ne profanis auribus inventx- ac coropofitse religionis fecreta 
 prodtreutur. Fermicus in limine lib. vii. Aftronom. — Nota funt hic Grxcx fuperfti- 
 tionis Hierophantis, quibus inviolabili lege interdidum erat, ne ha;c atque hujufmodi 
 Myfteria apud eos, qui his facris niinime initiati efTent, evulgarent. — Micetas in Gre- 
 gorii Nazianzeni Orat. ti,- Ta ayix f ura. This obligation of the initiated to fecrecy was 
 the reafon that the Egyptian hieroglyphic for them, was a grafs-hopper, which was fuppofcd 
 to have no mouth. See Horapollo Hieroglyph, lib. ii. cap. 55. Edit. Pauw, 1727, 410. 
 
 § To l\ f«ro» Ka'ayt^ayila. J Jja®-' ^rrai -/if T.ealilas. To the fame purpofe, Niccphorus 
 Gregoras, Hift. lib. v. p. 73. Edit. Bafil. fol. 1562. Ti r«s tcVj wa<r. wfix"^* «5»» " 
 
 II 'Ay-^a.-l <7.f*,.'rr,5 Jri TiMl-.' xj v^| t5to cr.r.cl.la. ri f.vr^j.«. Libro dc Providtatia. 
 
 Vol. I. A a " The
 
 178 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 *' The veil or mift (fays Clemens Alex.) through which things are 
 *' only permitted to be Jeen^ renders the truths contained under it 
 " more venerable and majeftic *." On thefe principles the Myf- 
 teries were framed. They were kept fccret, to excite curiofity : 
 They were celebrated in the night, to imprefs veneration and reli- 
 gious horror t : And they were performed with variety of fhews 
 and reprefen tat ions (of which more hereafter) to fix and perpetuate 
 thefe impreflions \. Hitherto, then, the Myjieries are to be con- 
 fidered as invented, not to deter, but to invite the curiofity of the 
 people. But, 
 
 II. They were kept fecret from a neceffity of teaching the Ini- 
 tiated fome things, improper to be communicated to all. The 
 learned Varro in a fragment of his book Of Religions, preferved by 
 St. Auguftin, tells us, that " There were many truths, which it 
 *' was inconvenient for the State to be generally known ; and many 
 " things, which, though falfe, it was expedient the People fliould 
 *' believe ; and that therefore the Greeks fhut up their mysteries 
 " in the filence of their facred inclofures §." 
 
 Now to reconcile this feeming contradiftion, in fuppofing the 
 Myjleries to be inftituted to invite the People into them, and, at the 
 fame time, to keep them from the People's knowledge, we are to 
 obferve, that in the Eleufmian rites there were two celebrations of 
 the Myfteries, the greater and the less [|. The end of the /efs- 
 
 * aA\ai T£ K, TOa»fl' iW Jia.Ti»o{ craBaxa?.tI(^(^<*''°? uvopaiterai, jjhI^udJc ts ty irfjuvoTsja* Si'tKivai Tr,y, 
 
 a.y.tkiay. Strom. L. v. pag. 419. lin. 3. Edit. Sylburgli. 
 
 t Euripides, in the Bacchantes, aft ii. makes Bacchus fay, that the orgies were ce- 
 lebrated in the night, becaufe darknefs has fonaething folemn and aiigufl in ir, and 
 
 proper 
 
 to fill the mind with facred horror. 
 
 Aio >^ TOO f4t/5-»gia h AAAHrOPIAIS XeVeIok, tt^o? £/-.7rX>i|iy «J (pfkr,),, urrxe^ It rKOTCi, j^ 
 
 NYKXr tw.i Je JsJ i aX^>!yof(a tu ctkotm i^ tri vii»1i. Demet. Phalereus de Elocutione, § 1 10.. 
 
 '§ Multa cffe vera, quae vulgo fcire non fit utile; multaque, quae, tametfi falfa 
 
 fint, aliter exiftimare populum expediat. Et ideo Graecos Teletas ac Mysteria 
 
 taciturnitate parictil)iif<jue claufiffe. Civ. Dei, lib. iv. cap. 31. 
 
 II 'H^av tx. fti» i/.!ya.\'x. tS; Aij/.nl^®'' T» it f«ixfa nifo-ffoy))? ri; aiiriis $uyalgo{. Interp. GrxC, 
 ad I'lut. Ariflophanis. 
 
 mufl;
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 179 
 
 muft be referred to what we fald of the Inftitutor's intention to in- 
 vite the people into them ; and of the greater, to his intention of 
 keeping fome truths from the people's knowledge. Nor is this faid 
 without iufficient warrant : Antiquity is very exprefs for this dif- 
 tindion. We are told that the lejfer Myjieries were only a kind of 
 preparatory purification for the Greater^, and might be eafily com- 
 municated to all f. That four years \ was the ufual time of pro- 
 bation for thofe greater Myiteries ; in which (as Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus exprefly informs us) the secrets were depofited §. 
 
 However, as it is very certain, that both the greater and lejfer 
 Myfteries were inflituted for the benefit of the State, it follows, 
 that the doctrines taught in both, were equally for the fervice of 
 Society; only with this difference; fome without inconvenience 
 might be taught promifcuoufly, others could not. 
 
 On the whole, the fecret in the kjer Myfteries was principally 
 contained in fome hidden rites and fJiews to be kept from the open 
 view of the people, only to invite their curiofity : And the fecret 
 in the greater, fome hidden doctrines to be kept from the people's 
 knowledge, for the very contrary purpofe. For the Shews com- 
 mon both to the greater and lejfer myjieries, were only defigiied to 
 engage the attention, and raife their devotion. 
 
 But it may be worth while to enquire more particularly into the 
 HIDDEN DOCTRINES of the greater Myfteries : for fo religioufly was 
 the fecret kept, that the thing feems ftill to lie involved in daik- 
 nefs. We (hall, therefore, proceed cautioufly ; and try, from the 
 obfcure hints dropped up and down in Antiquity, 
 " Pandere res alta terra & caligine merfas." 
 
 * "£r» ra. fiixf^. liWif «?foita3«^ffi;, >C, la^ociyiiuji: tJ» iiiyd>,tii. Schol, ad Plut. fcClllld. 
 
 Ariftoph. 
 
 •f 'gtritovvai liVfifia lifjLUX^ola, Schol. Ariftopli. 
 
 + — Ciim epoptas ante qiiinqnennium inftiiuunt, lit opinionem fufpcndio cognirionii 
 adificent. Tertiil. adv. Valentinianos, in initio. 
 
 § Mi'i ravTa it irt xi fxn^ f^vri^tx, JlJ«<n<«^!a; Tivi v-^liitrn "x"''"i "tj »»»Ta'aT««f5i? t;> 
 f4iX>io'»1««* Ta Si liiyxf.x Cffiji Tuv ay^Tra.luF « (xa>0»»i>y I'ti iToXiiTrilai, ivottliiut ii, >^ WifuoiVir 
 
 Ti» T« (fvdiy, K, T« wfolfita'u. Strom. V. pag. 424. C. Edit. Sylburgii. 
 
 A a 2 Filft,
 
 i8o THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IT. 
 
 Firft, as to the general nature of thefe hiclde7i doBrines, it appears, 
 they muft needs be fuch which, if promifcuoufly taught, would 
 bring prejudice to the State ; Why elfe were they fecreted ? and, at 
 the fame time, benefit, if communicated with caution and prudence; 
 Why elfe were they taught at all ? 
 
 From their general nature, we come by degrees to tl'.eir particular. 
 And firft, 
 
 I. To the certain knowledge of what they were not : which is 
 one ftep to the knowledge of what they were. 
 
 1. They were not the common doftrines of a Providence and fu- 
 ture ftate ; for ancient teflimony is exprefs, that thefe doctrines 
 were taught promifcuoufly to all the initiated ; and were of the very 
 eflence of thefe Rites — ^Thefe do£lrines were not capable of being 
 hid and fecreted, becaufe they were of univerfal credit amongft the 
 civilized part of mankind. There was no need to hide them ; be- 
 caufe the common knowledge of them was fo far from being detri- 
 mental to Society, that, as we have (hewn. Society could not even 
 fubfift without their being generally known and believed. 
 
 2. Thefe fecret dodlrines could not be the metaphyfical fpecu'a- 
 tions of the Philofophers concerning the Deity, and the human foul. 
 I. Becaufe this would be making the hidden do3rines of xhefchools 
 of Philofophy, and of the myfieries of Religion, one and the fame ; 
 which they could not be, becaufe their ends were different : the 
 end of pagan Philofophy being only Truth ; the end of pagan Re- 
 ligion, only Utility. Thefe indeed were their profefled ends. But 
 Both being ignorant of this imporatnt verity, T^hat Truth and general 
 Utility do coincide *, they Both, in many cafes, miffed fhamcfully 
 of their end. The Philofoplier, while he neglefted ufiliiy, falling 
 into the moft abfurd and fatal errors concerning the nature of God 
 an.d of the Soul t : And the Lawgiver, while fo little folicitous of 
 
 * See B. III. Sea. 2. 
 t See B. III. Sea. 4. 
 
 truths
 
 Sect. 4. OF M O 3E S DE MO NSTRATED. i8i 
 
 truth, encouraged a Polytheifm very mllchlevous to Society. How- 
 ever, as we fliall now lee, he invented and IbccefsfuUy employed 
 thefe M\Jieries to remedy the diibrders arifing from it. — 2. Bccaufe 
 revealing fuch metaphyfical fpeculations to the members of civil 
 Society, with what caution foever, would be injurious to the State, 
 and productive of no good to Religion ; as will be (tzn when we 
 come, in the third book, to examine what thofe metaphyfical fpe- 
 culations were. — 3. Becaufe fuch fpeculations (as we fhall then fee) 
 would overthrow every thing taught to all, in the Myji.rieit con- 
 cerning a Providence, and a future ftate : And yet we are told by 
 the Ancients, that the doftrines of a Providence, and future flate, 
 were the foundation of the \x\oxt Jccrct ones, after which we are 
 now enquiring. 
 
 I have been the more particular in refuting this notion, that the 
 fecret docftrines of the Schools., and of the Myjieries might be the 
 fame; becaufe 1 find it to be an error, into which fome, even of 
 the moil: knowing of the Ancients, were apt to fall. What mifled 
 them, was, i. That the Schools and My/leries both pretended to re- 
 Jlore the foul to its original purity and perfeSiion. We have fcen how 
 much the Mv/leries pretended to it. As to the Philofophers, Por- 
 phyry, fpeaking of Pythagoras, tells us, th.U " he profeffed philo- 
 " fophy, whofe end is to free and vindicate the foul from thofe 
 '• chains and confinements, to which its abode witli us hath made 
 «• it fubjefl*." 2. That the Schools and Myfteries had each their 
 hidden doftrincs, whicli went under the common name of AnOP- 
 ' PHTA ; and that, which had a common name, was underftood to 
 have a common nature. 3. And chiefly, that the Philofopher and 
 Lawgiver, being frequently in one and the fame pcrfon, and, con- 
 fequently, the Inftitutions of the Myjieries and the Schools efta- 
 blifhed by the fame hand, it appeared reafonable to think, that the 
 «7rcpp»j7«> ii^ both, were, the fame ; they not diftinguifhing the 
 
 iir^ut TCI /•.a1«»f;);;a{ia-f*i'Kiy r.^C.t tat. Dc Vita Pythag. Edit. Cantabr. 1655, 8vo. pajj. 201. 
 
 twofold
 
 i82 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book: 11. 
 
 twofold charafter of the ancient Sage, which fliall be explained 
 hereafter *. 
 
 II. Having, from the difcovery of the general end and purpofe of 
 thefe SECRET s, feen what they could not be, we (hall now be 
 enabled to find w4iat, in fa£t. they were. 
 
 To begin with a paflage of Clemens Alexandrinus. — " After thefe 
 *' (namely, luftrations) are the lesser Myjleries, in which is laid 
 *' the FOUNDATION of the hidden doSlrmes, and preparations for 
 *' what is to come afterwards t" From a knowledge oithtfowi- 
 daiion, we may be able to form an idea of the juperJlruSiure. This 
 foundation (as hath been fhewn) was the belief of a Providence, 
 and future ftate ; and, its confequence on practice, inducement to 
 a virtuous life. But there was one infuperable obflacle to a life of 
 purity and holinefs, the vicious examples of their Gods. Ego 
 HOMUNCio HOC NGN FACEREM \ ? was the abfolving Formula, 
 whenever any one was refolved to give a loofe to his appetit-s §. 
 But the mifchief went ftill farther ; They not only thought them- 
 felves excufed by the example, but even drawn, by a divine im- 
 
 * See B. III. Sea. 2. 
 
 \ Mi)a txyta- Si tri tx (x»:<pa jjt.v:i:^ix, JiJas-y-aXia; Titu u^iS'-Tit expvltx, 1^ 'Br^vrKfaaxevrit rut 
 pX^o^^4l». Strom. V. pag. 424. 'Aywir yip ;^ 5 •arpo«>4Jv, 1^ furi^ia. ta 'Bfo jAvrriflay, Strom, i. 
 pag. 203, I'm. 7. Edit. Sylburgh. 
 
 X Terence, Eiin. aft. iii. fc. vi — Euripides puts this argument into the month of 
 feveral of his fpeakers, up and down his tragedies. Helen, in the fourth a<5t of the 
 Tr.jan Dames, fays, "How could I rellft a Goddefs, whom Jupiter himfelf obeys ?" 
 Ion, in his play of that name, in the latter end of the firft a£l, fpeaks to the fame pur- 
 pofe : and in the fifth aft of Hercules Furens, Thefeus comforts his friend by the ex- 
 amples of the crimes of the Gods. See likewife his Hippolytus, aft ii. fc. ii. The 
 learned and ingenious Mr. Seward, in his traft of the Conformity between Popery and 
 Paganiim, has taken notice of a difficult paffagc in this tragedy, which he has very 
 ably explained, on the fyftem here delivered of the deteftion of Polytheifm in the facred 
 
 fiulaTut bJe.os ixE'^ETKi, SfoV; ojin aiiit trjoffxsiniia, Dion. Halicar. apud Eufeb. Praep. Evang. 
 lib. ii. cap. 8. 
 
 pulfe
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 183 
 
 pulfe of their Gods. When the young man in the Aulularla of 
 Plautus apologifes to Eucllo for having debauched his Daughter, 
 he fays, 
 
 *' Deus mlhi impulsor fuit, Is me ad lUam illexit *." 
 
 And by a paffage in his Amphltruo, where he makes Mercury joke 
 upon the office of a Parafite in the defcription he gives of his 
 own obfequiournefs to his father Jupiter, we fee it was grown up 
 uito an avowed Principle : 
 
 " Amanti [patri] fupparafitor, liortor, afto, admoneo, gaudeo. 
 " Siquld patri volup' eft, vokiptas ea mihi multo maxima eft. 
 " Amat, fapit : rede fiiclt, animo quando obfequitur fuo-f." 
 
 He then addrefies hlmfelf to the audience, and tells them gravely, 
 that men, in like manner, after the example of Jupiter, fhould in- 
 dulge their paffions, where they can do it decently. 
 
 " Quod omnes homines ficere oportet, dum id modo fiat bono.** 
 
 And the licentious rites, in the open worfliip of their Gods, gave 
 ftill greater encouragement to thefe conclufions. Plato, in his book 
 Of Lawsy forbids drinking to excefs ; unlefs, fays he, during the 
 feafts of Bacchus, and in honour of that God J. And Ariftotle, in 
 his Politi.s, having blamed all lewd and obfcene images and pic- 
 tures, excepts thole of the Gods, which Religion had fimdified. 
 When St. Auftin §h2d quoted the Ego homuncio hoc non facereniy 
 to ftiew his advcrfaries what mifchief thefe ftories did to the morals 
 of the people ; he makes the defenders of Paganifm reply, that it 
 was true ; but then (fay they) thefe things were only taught in 
 the Fables of the poets, which, an attention to the mysteries- 
 
 * Aft. 4. Sc, 10. 
 
 + AiS. iii. Sc. iv, 
 
 X Lib. vi. 
 
 § Civ. Dei, L. II. Cap. 7. in fine, ct 8. in initio, 
 
 would
 
 i84 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 would reftify : " At enlm non traduntur ifta s^ckis deorum, led 
 ** Fabulis poetarum *." 
 
 For the Mvjicries profeffed to exa£l nothing difficult, of the ini- 
 tiated f, which they would not affift him to perform. It was ne- 
 ceflary, then, to remedy this evil ; which they did, by flriking at 
 the root of it. So that, fuch of the 7«/>/^/f<f as were judged capable, 
 were made acquainted with the whole delufion. The mysfagogue 
 taught them, that -Jupiter, Mercury, Bacchus, Venus, Mars, and 
 the whole rabble of licentious Deities, were only dead mortals ; 
 lubjecl, in life, to the fame paflions and infirmities with themfelves; 
 but having been, on other accounts, Benefaftors to mankind, grate- 
 ful Pofterity had deified them ; and, with their virtues, had indif- 
 creetly canonized their vices. The fabulous Gods being thus routed, 
 the fupreme caufe of all things naturally took their place. Him 
 they were taught to confider as the Creator of the Univerfe, who 
 pervaded all things by his virtue, and governed all by his power. 
 But here it mult be obferved, that the difcovery of \\\\% Juprevie 
 Caufe they made to be confident with the notion of local tutelary 
 Deities, Beings fuperlor to men, and inferior to God, and by him 
 fet over the leveral parts of bis creation. This was an opinion 
 Mniverfally holden by learned Antiquity, and never brought into 
 queftion by any Theift. What the cVc'ppr?^ overthrew in their re- 
 formed theology, was the vulgar polytheifm, the worfhip of dead 
 men. From this time, the initiated had the title of EnOIITHX, by 
 which was meant one that fees things as they are, and laithout dlf- 
 ginfe ; whereas, before, he was called MTZTHS, which has a con- 
 trary fignification. 
 
 • This the Father could not deny; but obferves, however, that in the then corrupt 
 fate of the Afy/cries the remedy was become part of the difeafe : " Nolo dicere illa 
 " MYSTICA i.]uzm i&a thealrica eife turpiora." 
 
 f 'AAa' iaofitu Jia. ti.t ri>.nr.t WjOj isrJJcrav a^t%i Itoi^otoI®-" Sopat. in Div. Qnsft. KaG»- 
 
 Wjos Tn» S«i'a> ti» Siiir T£?,i'lr,» ia-iiyc'ftij®-, WkWhh) tUv ku-a^n^ta-xut iVtrBja^ov, Sopat. ibidem. 
 
 But,
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 185 
 
 Bur, befides the prevention of vice, their bringing the Initiated 
 acquainted with the national Gods had another important ufe, which 
 was to excite them to heroic virtue, by fliewing them what 
 honours the benefaftors of nations had acquired, by the free exerclfe 
 of It. And this (as will be fhewn hereafter) was the chief reafoii 
 why Princes, Statefmen, and Leaders of colonies and armies, all af- 
 plred to be partakers of the greater Mysteries. 
 
 Thus we fee, how what was taught and required in the IcJJer 
 Myjieries, became the foundation of inftrudllon in the greater : 
 the obligation to a good life there, made it neceffiiry to remove the 
 errors of vulgar polythelfm here \ and the dodrine of a Providence 
 taught previoufly in thofe, facilitated the reception of the fole caufe 
 of all things, when finally revealed in thefe. 
 
 Such were the truths which Varro, as quoted above, tells us 
 it was Inexpedient for the People to know : for indeed he fuppofed, 
 the error of vulgar Polythelfm to be fo inveterate, that It was not to 
 be expelled without throwing Society into convulfions. But Plato 
 fpoke out : he owned It to be " difficult to find the Father and 
 *' Creator of the univerfe : and, when found, impofllble to dlfco- 
 *' ver him to all the world *." 
 
 Befides, there was another reafon why the Inftitutors of the 
 Myjieries, who were Lawgivers, (hould be for fecreting this truth, 
 Tiiey themfelves had the chief hand in the rife of vulgar Polythelfm f. 
 They contrived It for the fake of the State ; and to keep the people 
 in awe, under a greater veneration for their laws. This Polythelfm, 
 the poets had depraved, by Inventing or recording vicious florles of 
 the Gods and Heroes, which the Lawgivers were willing fliould be 
 flifled |. And they were only fuch ftories, that, in their opinion, 
 (as may be feen in Plato) made Polythelfm hurtful to the State. 
 
 Scaevola, 
 
 * Ti> fih It witrHzt >C ©olt'fK tSJs t5 1!7«»1o5 iifi~» ri ("^foy, ^ iffJ»7« lU Wa)!*? aJi/'ioIor ^«yii». 
 
 In Timxo. 
 
 f See the fecond SeiSion of this Book. 
 
 X Plato has a remarkable paffage to this purpofe. Speaking, in the beginning of his 
 twelfth Book Of Laws, concerning theft, and fraud, and rapine, he takes notice of the 
 
 Vol. I. B b popular
 
 i86 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 ScEcvoIa, that moft learned Pontifex, as St. Auftin calls him, 
 gives this very account of the matter, where he lays, There were 
 three Syftems concerning the Gods, the Foeiic, the Philojophlc^ and 
 the Ck'il: the firft, he fays, was nugatory^ and therefore hurtful to 
 the virtue of the State : the fecond incongruous to public eftablifli- 
 ments, by creating diforder and confufion in the fpeculatlve opi- 
 nions of the People ; fuch as the teaching them, promifcuuufly, 
 that the Popular Gods were dead men deified. The dire£lors of 
 the third Syflem therefore prevented the mifchiefs of the/;// by 
 fuch a partial communication of the fecond Syftem, as was necef- 
 fary for that purpofe *. 
 
 That this account of the Secret, in the greater Myfier'ies^ is no 
 precarious hypothefis, (landing on mere conjedlure, I fhall now en- 
 deavour to (hew, 
 
 Firft, from the clear evidence of Antiquity, which exprefly in- 
 forms us of thefe two particulars ; That the errors of polytheism 
 were detected, and the doctrine of the unity was taught and 
 explained in the Myjieries. But here it is to be obferved, that when 
 the Ancients fpeak of Myjieries indefinitely, they generally meau 
 the greater. 
 
 popular (lories told of Mercury, as if he delighted in fuch things, and patronized thofe 
 who did ; the philofopher fays they are not true ; and cautions men from being led 
 away by fuch pretended examples. However, to make all fure, he takes up the method 
 of the myJlerUs, and adds, that if, indeed, Mercury did, or encouraged fuch things, he 
 was neither a God, nor of celeftial original. — nCKa-sn (*tv xf^l*'^'^'"'' atsXiiSf^it, aj^ay^ J5, 
 Matt7X''!\oD' rut AiJf ^ vUu> sJtis bte iiXoif, an ^ia x'^k"' ^'^iliT^SJEfx! ramy a^eVfjov" puJeij Sir 
 
 j^ x^IJr^iu> ri ^la^ofit^, oisVSw (ir,Je» alax^ov cjoisrv, a,\^' affif aiTol Stoi ^^wtrtt' tnt y»f a^uOfs, St* 
 fhoi' aX^' oV'5 J(a TOiSTomra^avonio?, bti Stt; ares war; iri wolt Sfiu». 
 
 * Relatum ell in Uteris, do£tiffimum Pontificem Scivolam difputafle tria genera tra- 
 dita Deorum ; unum a poetis, alterum a philofophis, tertium a principibus civitatis. 
 Primum genus nugatorium dicit efle— Secimdum non congruere civitatibus, quod ha- 
 beant aliqua — qux obfmt populis nofle-QusE funt autem ilia quse prolata in multitu- 
 dinemnocent? " Hxc, inquit ; non efle decs Herculem, yEfculapium, Caftorem, 
 " Pollucem : proditur enim a doftis, quod homines facrint, & huraana conuitione de- 
 •' f;cerjnt."-Auguftin. De CJvit. Dei, lib. iv. cap. 27. in initio. 
 
 It
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 187 
 
 It hath been fhewn, that the Grecian and Afiatic Myjleries came 
 originally from Egypt. Now of the Egyptian, St. Auftin giveth 
 us this remarkable account. — " Of the lame nature, too, are thofe 
 " things which Alexander of Macedon wrote to his mother, as re- 
 »* vealed unto him by one Leo *, chief Hierophant of the Egyptian 
 *' Myjleries : whereby it appeared, that not only fuch as Picus, aiid 
 *' Faunus, and ^neas, and Romulus, nay Hercules, and ^fcu- 
 *' lapius, and Bacchus the fon of Semele, and Caflor, and Pollux, 
 *' and all others of the fame rank, had been advanced, from the 
 " condition of mortal Men, into Gods ; but that even thofe Deities 
 *' of the higher order, the Dii inajoriim gentium^ thofe whom Cicero, 
 *' without naming, feems to hint at, in his Ttifculans, fuch as 
 *' Jupiter, Juno, Saturn, Neptune, Vulcan, Vefta, and many 
 " others (whom Varro endeavours to allegorize into the elements 
 " or parts of the world) were, in truth, only deceafed mortals. 
 *' But the Prieft being under great fears and apprehenfions, while 
 *• he was telling this, as confcious that he was betraying the 
 " SECRET OF THE MYSTERIES, begged of Alexander, when he 
 *' found that he intended to communicate it to his mother t, that 
 
 "he 
 
 • It is not unlikely but this might be a name of office. Porphyry, in his fourth book 
 Of Abftinence, § i6. Edit. Cantabr, 1655, 8vo, informs us, that the priefts of the 
 yl'/v/?m« of Mithras were called Z,/o«f; the prieftefles /./cnf/TTy ; and the inferior roinif- 
 
 ters, Ravens, Ta; (*!» ailTB» efyiei' fttJr*;, Ai»>1«5 naXiTi* Ta{ Ji yvKcrxa;' Asaiiz;. Tov^ i\ uTSrft- 
 
 liilocu K-ifCLKOi : for there was a great conformity, iu the pra<flices and ceremonies of the 
 fcveral Myjleries, throughout the whole pagan world. And this conjefture is fupported 
 by a paffage in Eunapius, which feems to fay, that it was unlawful to reveal the name 
 
 of the Hierophant. tS Ji 'l!fo$a.1>i, x*t' iX£r»o» to» xe"»' "S"'? 5» rairo^a 5 (««t StVij Vymr — 
 
 r',« Maximo, p. 74. Edit. Comelini, 8vo, 1616. — It looks as if the corruptions and de- 
 baucheries of feme of the MyJlcrles, in Liter times, had made this further provifion for 
 fecrecy, 
 
 t I fuppofe this communication to his Mother, might be with a purpofe to let her 
 
 ■underftand, that he was no longer the dupe of her fine ftory of Jupiter's invafion, and. 
 
 the intrigue of his divine original. For Eratofthenes, according to Plutarch, Edit. 
 
 Francof. fol. 1 599. T, I. p. 665, E. fays, that Olympias, when flie brought .Alexander on 
 
 B b a his
 
 i88 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 *' he would enjoin her to burn the letter, as foon as flie had read 
 
 u It *." 
 
 To underftand the concluding part, we are to know, that Cyprian 
 (who has alfo preferved this curious anecdote) tells us, it was the 
 dread of Alexander's power which extorted the fecret from the 
 hierophant f. 
 
 But TuUy brings the matter home to the Eleusinian Myjleries 
 themfelves. *' What (fays he) is not almoft all Heaven, not to 
 *' carry on this detail any further, filled with the Human race I 
 *' But if I (hould fearch and examine Antiquity, and from thofc 
 *' things which the Grecian writers have delivered, go to the bottom 
 " of this affair, it would be found, thit even tliofe very Gods 
 
 his way to the army, in his firft military expedition, acquainted him, in private, with 
 this fecret of his birth : aad exhorted him to beliave himfelf as beCame the fon of Jupiter 
 Hammon. This, I fuppofe, Alexander might boaft of to the Pritfi, and fo the murder 
 came out. 
 
 •* In eo genere funt etiani ilia — qirx Alexander Macedo fcribit ad matrem, fibi a 
 magno antiftite facrorum iEgyptiorum quodam leone patefafta : ubi non Picus & Fau- 
 nus, & jEneas & Romulus, vel etiam Hercules 8i ^fculapius, & Liber Semele natus, & 
 Tyndaridx fratres, & fi quos alios ex mortalibus pro diis habent ; fed ipfi etiam majo- 
 rum gentium dii, quos Cicero in Tufculanis, tacitis norainibus, videtur attingere, Ju- 
 piter, Juno, Satiirnus, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Vefta, & alii plurimi, quos Varro conatut 
 ad mundi partes five elementa transferre, homines fuifle produntur. Timens enim & 
 ille quafi revelata myfleria, petens admonet Alexandrum, ut cum ea matri confcripta 
 infinuaverit, flammis jubeat concremari. De Civit. Dei, lib. viii. cap. 5. 
 
 f — metu fus poteftatis proditum fibi de diis hominibus a facerdote secretum. De 
 Idol. Ven. circa init'ium. But this is a miftake, at leaft it is exprefled inaccurately. What 
 was extorted by the dread of Alexander's power, was not \\\^ fecret (which the initiated 
 had a right to) but the Priefl's confent that he fliould communicate the fecret to another, 
 which was contrary to the laws of the M^ifteries. Plutarch, in his life of Alexander, 
 Edit, Francof. fol. 1599, p. 680. E. appears to refer to this very Epiflle of Alexander 
 to his Mother, where he fays,— -'AA/lavJj-o; tir inro^f offo; tw /x«TEfa, 9>io-i» yvyonty.1 tiwj 
 uv\u («a»l£l«5a7ri.ff'^Ta5, a; Irtcmh&wt (f^asu vr^i; povny ImUw " Alexander in the Epiftle fays 
 that there were certain Oracular Myfteries imparted to him, which on his return he 
 would communicate to her under the fame feal of fecrecy," For at this time the Myjieries 
 foretold the future, as well as revealed the paft. 
 
 " themfelves
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 189 
 
 «♦ themfelves who are deemed the Dii majorum gentium, had their 
 *' original here below ; and afceadcd from hence into Heaven. 
 " Enquire, to whom thofe Sepulchres belong, which are fo com- 
 *' monly fhewn in Greece*. Remember, for you are initiated, 
 
 " WHAT You HAVE BEEN TAUGHT IN THE MYSTERIES ; YOU 
 " WILL THKN AT LENGTH UNDEKST AN P HOW F AR THIS MATTER 
 
 *' MAY BE CARRIED t." Indeed, he carries it further himfelf; 
 for he tells us, in' another place, that not only the Eltujtniun Myf- 
 ter'tes^ but the Samothracian likewife, and the Lemnian, taught the 
 error of polytheifm, agreeably to this fyftem ; which fuppofcs all 
 the MyJIeries derived from the fame original, and inflituted for the 
 fame ends. " What think you (fays he) of thcfe who affert, that 
 *' valiant, or famous, or powerful men have obtained divine ho- 
 *' nours after death ; and that thefe are the very Gods, now become 
 *' the obje£l of our worfhip, our prayers, and adoration ? Euheme- 
 *' iius tells us, when thefe Gods died, and where they lie buried. 
 *' I forbear to [peak oj the Jacred and augiijl rites of Eleusis — I pafi 
 *' by Samothrace, and the Myfteries of Lcmnos, 'nhoje hidden rites 
 ** are celebrated in darknejs^ and amidjl the thick jl:adss oJ groves and 
 ''foreP Xr 
 
 * Alluding to that of Jupiter in Crete. 
 
 ^ Qiiid ? totum prope coelum, ne plures perfeqiiar, nonne humana genere comple- 
 tum eft ? Si vero fcrutari Vetera, & ex his ea, quae fcriptores Gr^c/^rprodiderunt, eriieie 
 concr ; ipfi iUi, majorum gentium Dii qui habentur, hinc a nobis profe£li in coeliini rc- 
 periuntur. Quxre, quorum demonftrantur fcpulchra in Cracia: reminiscere, quo- 
 
 NIAM ES INITIATUS <i£ Jr. TRADANTUR MYSTERIIS; TUM DENIQ.UE QJJAM HOC LATE 
 PATEAT, INTELLIGES. Tufc. Difp. lib. i. Cap. 12, 13. Edit. Ox. 4to. T. II. p. 243. 
 See note D, at the end of this book. 
 
 X Qjiid, qui aut fortes, aut claros aut potentes viros tradunt, poft mortem ad Dcos ve- 
 nijpf eofque effe ipCos, quos nos colere, precari, vcnerarique foleamus — Ab Euhemero 
 Ss" mortes if fefuluirtc demonjirantar deorunt — Oraitto Eleufiuam fandam illam & auguftani— . 
 Pra'tereo Samethraciam, eaquc, qui 
 
 Lemni nofturno aditu occulta coluntiir 
 
 Silveflribus fxpibus dcnfa. De Nat. Deor. lib, i. cap. 4:. Edit, Ox. 4to. T. U. 
 p. 432, 33. Sec note E, at the end oi this Book. 
 
 Julius
 
 190 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Julius Fermlcus fpeaks much to the fame purpofe, and even 
 more tlire6Hy, " Adhuc fuperfunt aliae fuperfVitiones, quarumfecreta 
 «' pandenda funt Liberi & Liberae, qua omnia facris fenlibus veftris 
 *' fpeciallter iatimanda funt, ut in iftis profanis religionibus fciatis 
 *' MORTES ESSE HOMiNUM coNSECRATAS. Liber itaque, Jovis fuit 
 " fillus, regis fell. Cretici, &c *." 
 
 What hath been here faid, will let us into the rfieaning of Plu- 
 tarch's hint, in the following words of his traft Concerning the ceaf- 
 itig of oracles. *' As to the Myjleries, in whofe reprefentations the 
 " true NATURE OF DEMONS is clearlv and accurately held forth, 
 " a facred fileuce, to ufe an exprefiion of Herodotus, is to be ob- 
 " ferved f ." All this well illurtrates a pafiage in Lucian's Council 
 of the Gods; when, after Momus had ridiculed the monftrous 
 Deities of Egypt, Jupiter replies, " It is true thefe are abomi- 
 " nable things, which you mention of the Eg\ptian Worftiip. But 
 *' then, confider, Momus, that much of it is enigmatiCiil; and fo, 
 «' confequently, a very unfit fubje£t for the buffoonry of the Pro- 
 *' phane and Uninitiated." To which, the other anfwers with much 
 fpirit, " Yes, indeed, we have great occafion for the mysteries, 
 " to know that Gods are Gods, and monfters, monfters J." 
 
 Thus far in deteftion of the vulgar Polytheifm; — With regard to 
 the other part of the secret, the docirine of the unity, Clemens 
 Alexandrinus informs us,' that the Egyptian Myflagogues taught it 
 amongft their greater fecrets. " The Egyptians (fays he) did not 
 *' ufe to reveal their Myjleries indifcrlminately to all, nor expofe 
 *' their truths concerning their Gods to the Prophane, but to thofe 
 *• only who were to fucceed to the adminiftration of the State : and 
 
 * De errorre profan, relig. cap. vi. Edit. Oxon. 1662, i6mo, pag. g. 
 lurofMytot «i'ffB«, xafl' 'Hfo^olov. P. 742. lin. ^. Steph. edit. 
 
 1 Aicrpfpa 6j^ aXr,0w*5 tcivtoi tp/j^ ra fuf^l Twv Aiyvj/liuv' o^ft»5 o aif u Mw^e, to, w&X^a tcvTuv alnf' 
 fialu Irt '^ a ■»«"' Xe'"'«''«y«'^«' i'l^iiTcv Ma.- MflM. Havu >a, MYSTHPIIiN, u ZsJ, Jiriu.-j, 
 is tiJuat Sie; fiu Taj SfMj" xl^o^s(p»^B5 Ji Toij x<'»o»!?'»^«5' Edit. Reitzii, T. III. p. 534. 
 
 " to
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 191 
 
 *' to fuch of the Prlefts as were moft approved, by their education, 
 *' learning, and quality *." 
 
 But, to come to the Grecian Myfter'tes. Chryfippus, as quoted 
 by the author of the Efymol. magnum, fpeaks to this purpofe. 
 *' And Chryfippu.^ lays, that the fecret doftrines concerning divine 
 *' matters, are rightly called TEAETAI, for that ihefe are the laft 
 " things the initiated fliould be informed of: The foul having 
 *' gained an able fupport ; and, being poffeffed of her defires f , 
 «' can keep filent before the Uninitiated and Prophane +." To the 
 fame purpofe, Clemens : " The doftrines delivered in the greater 
 *' Myjierief, are concerning the universe. Here all inftruction 
 *' ends. Things are feen as they are ; and Nature, and the things 
 ** of Nature, are given to be compreheiided §." 
 
 Strabo b';ving laid ||, that Nature ditJated to men the hijlltution of 
 the Mvjieries, as well as the other rites of Religion, gives this re- 
 markable reafon for his alTertion, " that the fecret celebration of 
 ** the Myferies preferves the majelly due to the Divinity, and, at 
 *' the fame time, imitates its nature, which hides itfelf from ouv 
 " fenfes **." A plain intimation of what kind the Jecret was. 
 
 * Aiyj^'iiOJ a Tci; WHu^Sn fa «r«{a c-^i<rn atitiOiilo juursfia hSi ^iv /?aCiXo»{ rir Ti't SiiUK iWnffj' 
 i.li^sjoi', a-W' r, f/.o>c»! yi Tor,- f^i^^ao•l' Is-i rim ^oo-iAiiar OTplVrai* i^ rut i:^ew» To~{ xgi6ir<rt» iltai ioxi- 
 /nbi»Toi{ ixo tS{ Tj)«p?«, >^ 7?5 ■axihia; J^ rS jekJ!. Srroni. lib. V. p. 566. edit. Lilt. [p. 413. 
 1. t6. Edit. Sylburg.T 
 
 t i. e, miftrefs of herfelf, 
 
 X X^uaiTTTT'^ ds ^>ja"l, Ttf5 'B:tf^ run ^iLiti!/ T^oyn^ eIxgtw^ xsc^fTT^xt nXila^* %^^f«* yctp Tartfj TeXiy- 
 
 ci»a/it»>i5' /xi'Ja •>Kp ilvai to tiflAsv, iirtj Sswv axa^ai T« opBii, j^ fyxfaltr,- yjytVfla* «utu». Etymol. 
 Autlor, in TEAETH. 
 
 § Ta ^£ jxiya-^a wt^i ruv trv^irdvltav' a yt,ecwa.*ti trv t^oXsiTTEla*, iiroTtltvuv 8i a^ vitPiMnTv T^y r* 
 
 ^ian ^ Tii «r^aJ^aTa. Strom, V. p. 424. C. Edit. Sylburgh. , 
 
 II i ^i.V>5 arai; irayo^.t'si. lib. X. p. 467. Etlit. Parif. i6jo, fol. 
 
 ■•'■'' Sti xftJ-vJ/is i /xtr'x>ij rut 'u^un (TtjAyoirciu ri ^liOt, fixfi-UjjLiyn triv ipiait airS iKpUynrut iftSi ttii 
 «i5flij(r»». Ibid. Here Strabo takes in all that is faid, both of the Go^s, and of nature, 
 hi the two preceding paflages from Chryfippus and Clemens; and/liews that by naturt 
 is not meant the cofmicai but theoh^kal nature. 
 
 But
 
 192 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 But had there been any ambiguity, he prefently removes it, 
 where, fpeaklng of the different faculties exercifed in the different 
 rites of Rehgion, he makes Philojophy to be the obje6l of the Myf- 
 teries*. Plutarch exprefly fays, that the first cause of all things 
 is communicated to thofe who approach the temple of Ifis with 
 prudence and fandity -j-. By which words he means, the necejfary 
 qualificatiom for Initiation. 
 
 We have feen Tully exprefly declaring, that the Eleujinian and 
 Samothracian Myfieries were partly employed in detedling the error 
 of Polytheifm. We fliall now find Galen intimating, not obfcurely, 
 that the doftrine of the divine nature was taught in thofe very 
 Myferies. In his excellent trad Of the life of the parts of the human 
 body, he has thefe words — " The ftudy, therefore, of the uje of 
 " the farts, is not only of fervice to the mere phyfician, but of 
 *' much greater to him who joins Phllofophy to the art of heal- 
 *' ing ; and, in order to perfefl himfelf in this Myjiery, labours 
 *« to inveftigate the univerfal Nature. They who initiate themfelves 
 " here, whether private men or bodies, will find, in my opinion, 
 ♦' nobler inflrudion than in the rites either of Eleusis or Samo- 
 *' THRACE |." By which he means, that the fl:udy of the ufe of 
 the farts oj anijnals, leads us eafier and fooner up to the knowledge 
 of the FIRST CAUSE, than the mod: venerable of the Myfieries, 
 fuch as the Eleufmian and Samothracian. A clear implication, that 
 to lead men thither was their fpecial bulinefs. 
 
 But this fcems to have been fo well known to the learned in the 
 time of EusEBius, that where this writer takes occafion to obferve, 
 
 * — >^ TO ^iXeffo^irir. 
 
 ■J- — eiof«a^tViyag"lffiio» i{ iiiTc'^itonTo o», «» (*s1« ^oya "^ Off"'"! ii; 7a I'ifa •ara^tXSi'^fv T?s Si5. 
 \X. i^OS. Edit. Franc, fol. 1599. T. II. p. 3^2. A. in initio libri. 
 
 J!>i»); (fuai'^ii tsirV'" xlioaaiat o-5rft;^o»li, K^ x»t' avTW Xi'' '»'e^"''9ai rrin ri\cvTr,\i, atraflai yip, ij 
 filial, 1^ xar' iSv®-, J«J xar" «f iSfxcv at9[unraf, o'o-oi T» fAVuvni Jai/ra?, u^h ofioict 'x"'^'^ 'E?i(i/o-ivioi; t« 
 J,; Sa|Uo95»«;o«« i^loH' Gal. De ufu part. lib. xvii. c. 1. p. 702. E. F. Edit. Charterii, Fol. 
 Parif. 1679. Petit, inftead of iVci nuZcn ekkUs, reads very ingcnioufly oo-o' Tt n^i'c-n locv%(;. 
 Chaiterius, iVot Ti/xJai Siai. 
 
 that
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 193 
 
 that the Hebrews were the only people whofe ohjeOi, in their pul>- 
 lic and fiational ivorP:>ip, was tlie God of the universe, he iuits 
 his whole expreffion, by one continued metaphor, to the ufiges of 
 the Myfleries. " For the Hebrew people alone (fays he) was rc- 
 *' ferved the honour of being initiated into the knowledge of 
 " God the Creator of all things, and of being inflru<fl:ed in the 
 *' pra6lice of true piety towards him ^." Where, EflOriTElA, 
 which fignifies the inJpeSlion of the f cref eEXiPIA, the contempla- 
 tion of it ; and AHMIOTPrOZ, the Creator^ the fnbjea of it, are all 
 words appropriated to the Jecret of the greater Myjleries. 
 
 JoSEPHUS is ftill more exprefs. He tells Appion, that that high 
 and fublime knowledge, which the Gentiles with difficulty attained 
 unto, In the rare and temporary celebration of their Myjicries, was 
 habitually taught to the Jews, at all times. And what was thisf 
 fublime knowledge, but the do5:rine of the unity ? " Can any 
 " Government (fays he) be more holy than this ? or any Religion 
 " better adapted to the nature of the Deity ? Where, In any place 
 •' but in this, are the whole People, by the fpecial diligence of the 
 *' Prlefls, to whom the care of public inflruftion is committed, ac- 
 *' curately taught the principles of true piety ? So that the body- 
 " politic feems, as it were, one great Afj'embly, conftantly kept to- 
 «' gether, for the celebration of fome facred Myjleries. For thofe 
 " things which the Gentiles keep up for a few days only, that is, 
 '• during thofe folemi'Mtics they call Mysteries and initiations, 
 " we, with vafl delight, and a plenitude of knowledge, which ad- 
 " mits of no error, fully enjoy, and perpetually contemplate through 
 " the whole courfe of our lives. If you aik (continues he) the na- 
 *' ture of thofe things, which in our facred rites are enjoined and 
 *' forbidden ; I anfwer, they are fimple, and eafily underftood. The 
 
 AHMIOYPrOS 0fS, >i, tS? jij a^Tov a?.r,G5; limZi'ix:. Pr.-cp. Evaiig. lib. i. cap. 9. See note 
 F, at the end of this book. 
 
 VoL.T. Cc "firft-
 
 194 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " firft inftrufl:ion relates to the pEiTY, and teaches that God cobf- 
 *' TAINS AtL THINGS, and IS 3 Being every way perfe<n: and happy : 
 *' that he is felf-exiftent, and the sole Cause of all exiftence ; the 
 ** beginning, the middle, and the end of all things *," &c. 
 
 Nothing can be more explicit than the tefth-nony of this learned 
 Jew. He not only alludes to the greater Mvfterics, by the dire6l 
 terms of TEAerjj? and ^D^vi^ta, but ufes feveral expreflions relative to 
 what the gentile Myftagogties tTiU^it therem ; fuch as uXXscpuKot (pv 
 XuTJeiv « Suvuv]xt, referring to the unfitnefs of the doftrine of the 
 unity for general inftrudlion : fuch as [mto. •zjtoX^.jjV i^dov^g, m con- 
 tradiction to what they taught of the labours, pain, and difficulties 
 to be encountered by thofe who afpired to the knowledge of the 
 firft caufe ; fuch as u'z'kou ,^ y^upi[>t.oi, in contradiction to what 
 they taught of the great intricacy and obfcurity of the quef- 
 tion ; and fuch, again, as c esog sx^i tu -sra.vlx, the characterlflic of 
 the AHMIOTPrOS of the Myjleries. 
 
 Thus, I think, it appears, that the AFIOPPHTA, in the greater 
 mvjleries, were the detedion of the origine of vulgar Polytheifm t ; 
 and the difcoVery of the doftrine of the Unity ];. 
 
 But now I have gone thus far, I will venture one ftep further ; 
 and undertake to give the very history repeated, and the very 
 HYMN fung, on thefe occafions, to the imtiated. In theyfr/? of which 
 was delivered the true origine and progrefs of vulgar polytheism; 
 and in the other, the do£lrinc of the unity. 
 
 -Tiv®- T?{ i'>iii; iroK^i'mi olKOVoiMSfiii-ni i a yaf ihiyun yifxifut eljiS/iov lirtltihuoHii a\x6^vXot ^vXaTltiv H 
 iiyurcn ■Ejtpi 0i«, ^£7a3■», Qeo;_ix'' ''* ■K'i>Ia 'cratli'Krii «J fxaxa^i'SJ-, auTo; latiTo/ ^ -zraa-i* aiirajxij?, 
 
 i^jjn «; fxf'tra, >i; rtK^ ■adnui. Cont. Ap. lib, ii. cap. 22. pag. 1379, lin. 30. 
 
 ■f See note G, at the end of this book. 
 
 I Sec this account fupportetl, and the objeftions trT it clearly confuted, in a well 
 rtafoned traft lately printed, intitled, A DifTertation on the ancient I'agan Myftcries. 
 
 For
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 195 
 
 For I am much miftaken, if that celebrated fragment of San« 
 CHONIATHO, the Phoenician, tranflated by Philo-Byblius, and prc- 
 ferved by Eufebius, containing a genealogical account of the firft 
 ages, be not that very history ; as it was wont to be read to the 
 initiated^ in the celebration of the Egyptian and Phcenician MyJUries. 
 The purpofe of it being to inform us, that their popular Gods 
 (whofe chronicle is there given according to their generations) were 
 only dead men deified. 
 
 And as this curious and authcntick record (for fuch we fhall find 
 it was) not only ferves to illuftrate the fubjeft we are now upon, 
 but will be of ufe to fupport what is faid hereafter of the rife, pro- 
 grefs, and order of the fe'/eral fpecles of ancient idolatry, it may 
 not be improper to give a fhort extract of it in this place. 
 
 I. He tells us then, that, " of the two firft mortals, Protogonus 
 and ^Eon, (the latter of whom was the author of feeklng and pro- 
 curing food from forefi:- trees) were begotten Genos and Genea. 
 Thefe, in the time of great droughts, ftretched their hands upwards 
 to the SUN, whom they regarded as a God, and fole ruler of the 
 heavens. From thefe, after two or three generations, came Up- 
 fouranios and his brother Oufous. One of them invented the art 
 of" building cottages of reeds and rufhts ; the other the art of 
 making garments of the Ikins of wild beafls. In their time, violent 
 tempefts of wind and rain having rubbed the large branches of the 
 forefl-trees agalnfl one another, they took fire, and burnt up the 
 woods. Of the bare trunks of trees, they lirfl: made veflels to pafs 
 the waters ; they confecrated two pillars to fire and wind, and 
 then offered bloody facrifices to them as to Gods *." And here let 
 
 * Ai«*a >c Hfiloyoyov Siria? i'vj^a;, tiru xaXa^iiva,-* ivfu-i 'Si Ton Ai»iva tno aro r»r» aiiifjit Tjof ?». 
 tx TUTu> Ta,- y»vO(/in»; xXj)6))»e4i Ti'vof, K, Tivtit — alyjiut h yttoiAituv, Taj X'k"^ ofiTsi? «.\- iiattti Wfoj 
 TO. )j\io», tStoh yaf, (pr.tr',, Siok hii»i(<» ^ts»o» e^aiS xilfio. — iira (ptitrt to» 'T^-Hja.ioy oUJcai Tw^f, 
 ^:a^t'?a5 Ti srivoij^at kto «a>a(*uiv, k, Spuaiir, !<J ■aavu^tif fuiTia.'jat Si rafj? rj» aJ»X$o> O-iuxit' o<; 
 trxivnt ra <raf«a1i w^iT®- in St^iaiTut uv 'i^X""^ (rv)AaCi7t Sti^lut lufi, fuyixiut S\ ymo/nuoiy ifiS^jt i^ 
 <B»iti(»aTa» vrafolp'^iila Ta It 7ti TtlfW iitifcc ■ar^J i»ai^ai, «J Tr,t airoii u\ni xalaf At'Jxi. hiffH ii 
 AaSc/'ftivo* Tov Oi^uif >^ aTrcxXaStis-xtloc. vtfuTov ToXuvaai il; 9a\a<r<j-a» lnQvtaf a.i(3k7;(t it iio ri^.ai 
 tBv^l Tt >C Viiijiolt xj ■KjfcTici'/Srai, a/*» ti vsitiin auTaTir, i| u» >!y»itt Srifitit. 
 
 C C 2 It
 
 196 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 it be obferved, that this irorpip of the Elements and heavenly Bo- 
 dies is truly reprelented as the first fpecies of idolatry. 
 
 II. " After many generations, came Chryfor ; and he likewiie 
 invented many things ufeful to civil life; for which, after his 
 deceafe, he was worftiipped as a God*. Then flourilhed Ouranos 
 and his lifter Ge ; who deified and offered facrifices to their fatlier, 
 Upfiftos, when he had been torn in pieces by wild beafts f. After- 
 wards Cronos confecrated Muth his fbn, and was himfelf confe- 
 crated by his fubieds ];." And this is as truly reprefentcd to be the 
 SECOND fpecies of idolatry ; the worjhip of dead men. 
 
 III. He goes on, and fays, that " Ouranos was the inventor of 
 the B^tylia, a kind of animated ftones, framed with great art §. 
 And that Taautus formed allegoric figures, charaders, and images 
 of the celeftial Gods and elements ||." In which is delivered the 
 THIRD fpecies of idolatry, 7?^/^/^ and brute 'worfiAp. For by the 
 animated ftones, is meant ftones cut into a human (hape ** ; brute, 
 unformed ftones being before this invention confecrated and adored. 
 As by Taautus's invention of allegoric figures, is infinuated (what 
 was truly the fa<5l) the origine of brute worft^ip ft fron^ the ule of 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS. 
 
 This is a very fliort and imperfect extraft of the Fragnmit : many 
 particulars, to avoid tedioufnefs, are omitted, which would much 
 
 * j| Ml ysii/o-Sa* Ju'o aJsMps? o-i?»fa t^fsli;, j^ t?,- thts leTxj'iO.c- 2> S^rifcv Ton "Hpan-cf. 
 
 * — Kai /iST s «JoXu, STS^OJ airS isaT^ct alio 'P/aj ovfi/«t^o/^irov MS9 aToiccviila «$ii£(io~ — Kfo'r©- 
 T0ivu», P»a-iXiuiit T?5 X"?*?! 'b "S"'-?" ^'sl* Ti/' t5 gi'a Ti?nuT>i> tij T«v t3 Kfotn ari^a, xafljt^ii'Seif. 
 
 II — <3je Js Tsrwv 3fo{ Taaulo; /vnwyaj^"®* Tcy Ovfovon Tu» Ssiy o-V'K} K^c'»s re JtJ Aayiiy®', ?^ 
 tZi 7-.ai-uy liii'^1! uriii Tit; lE^a; Taiv ro>Xf»'a» ^apaxISjaf, &C. 
 
 ** So when the Egyptians firft faw the Grecian artifts fepaiate the legs of their flatiies, 
 they p\it fetters on them, to prevent their running away. 
 ■\\ See Div. Leg. book iv. § 4. 
 
 fiipport
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES D E xM O N ST R A TED. 197 
 
 fupport what we are upoi), particularly a minute dftall of the prin- 
 cipal arts Invented for the ufe of civil life. But what has been 
 feledted on this head will afford a good comoient to a celebrated 
 pafiage of Cicero, quoted, In this fecllon, on another occafion. — 
 As the two Important dodtrines, taught in fecret, were the detec- 
 tion of Pclytheifm, and the dlfcovery of the Unity ; fo, the two ca- 
 pital doflrines taught more openly,, were the origine of Society with 
 the arts of life, and the exlftence of the foul after death, in a ftate of 
 reward or punifhments. Thefe latter doctrines Tully hints at in the 
 following words : " — mihl cum multa exlmla dlvlnaque videntur 
 " Athenae peperiffe — turn nihil melius illis My/leriis, qui[)us ex 
 " AGRESTi immanique vita exculti ad humanltatem & mltigati 
 *' fumus : — neque folum cum laetitla vivendi rationem acceplmus, 
 ** fed etlam cum fpe mellore morlendi*." The Fragment explains 
 what Tully meant by men's being drawn by the Mxjleriesfrom an ir- 
 rational and favage life,, and tamed, as it "were, and broken to huma- 
 nity. It was, we fee, by the information given them, concerning 
 the origine of Society, and the Inventors of the arts of life ; 
 and the rewards they received from grateful Ppflerity, for having 
 inade themfelves Benefaftors to mankind. Tully, who thought this 
 a ftrong excitement~to public virtue, provides for it in his Laws: — 
 " Divos, & eos, qui c^eleftes femper hablti, colunto : & olios, quos 
 " endo caelo merita vocaverlnt Herculem, Llberum, ^fcula- 
 ♦' plum -}->" &c. 
 
 The reafons which Induce me to think this Fragment the very 
 Hiftory narrated to the '"EttottIx, la the celebration of tlie greater 
 Myjleries, are thefe : 
 
 I. It bears an exaift conformity with what the Ancients tell us 
 that Hifiory contained in general, namely, an inftrudlon, that all 
 the national Gods, as well thofe vmjorum (fuch as Hypfiftus, Ou- 
 
 * De Legg. lib. ii. cnp. 14. Edit. Ox. 4to. T. III. p. 148. 
 f Pc Legg. lib. ii. cap. 8.
 
 198 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 raiios, and Cronos) as thofe minorum gentium^ were only dead men 
 deified ; together with a recommendation of the advantages of civil 
 life above the ftate of nature, and an excitement to the moft con- 
 fiderable of the initiated (the Jummati bus vin's, as Macrobius calls 
 them), to procure it. And thefe two ends are ferved together, in 
 the hiftory of the rife and progrefs of idolatry as delivered in this 
 Fragment. In the date it gives to the origine of idolatry, they were 
 inftrufted that the two firft mortals were not idolaters, and con- 
 fequently, that idolatry was the corruption of a better Religion ; a 
 matter of importance, where the purpofe was to difcredit Polytheifm. 
 The Hiftory fhews us too, tliat this had the common fate of all 
 corruptions, of falling from bad to worfe, from elementary worfhip 
 to human, and from human to brutal. But this was not enough ; it 
 was neceflhry too to expofe the unreafonablenefs of all thefe modes 
 of fuperftition. And as this could be only done by (hewing what 
 gave birth to the feveral fpecies's, we are told that not any oc- 
 cult or metaphyfic influences of the heavenly or elementary Bodies 
 upon men, but their common phyfical efFedls felt by us, occafioned 
 the firft worfhip to be paid unto them : that no imaginary Divinity 
 in the minds of patriarchs and heroes occafioned Pofterity to bring 
 them into the number of the Gods ; but a warm lenfe of gratitude 
 for what they had invented for the introdu6tion and promotion of 
 civil life : and that even briite-'worji.np was brought in without the 
 leaft confideration to the animal, but as its figure was a fymbol 
 only of the properties of the two other fpecies's. Again, in order 
 to recommend civil life, and to excite men to promote it's advan- 
 tages, a lively pidlure is given of his miferable condition ; and how 
 obnoxious he was, in that ftate, to the rage of all the elements, 
 and how imperfedlly, while he continued in it, he could, with all 
 his Induftry, fence againft them, by food of acorns, by cottages of 
 reeds, and by garm.ents of Ikins : a matter the Myjlerles thought fo 
 neccflary to be imprefled, that we find, by Diodorus Siculus, there 
 was a fcenical reprefentatlon of this ftate exhibited in their shfavs. 
 
 And
 
 Sect. 4. O F MO S E S DE M O N ST R A TE D. 199 
 
 And what flronger excitement had heroic minds, than to be tiught, 
 (as they are in this Fragment) that pubUc benefits to their fellow- 
 creatures were rewarded with immortality. As all thefe things, 
 therefore, fo eflential to the inflruction of the Mxjleries^ are here 
 taught with an art and difpofition peculiarly calculated to promote 
 thofe ends, we have reafon to conclude, that this Hiftory was com- 
 pofed for the ufe of the Myjieries. 
 
 2. My fecond reafon for fuppofing it to be that very Hiftory, is 
 our being told, that Sanchoniatho tranfcribed the account from fe- 
 cret records,' kept in the penetralia of the temples, and written in a 
 facred facerdotal charadter, called the Ammonean *, from the place 
 where they were firft depolited ; (which, as Marfham reafonably 
 fuppofes, was Ammonno, or Thebes, in Egvpt -f-) a kind of Writ- 
 ing employed, as we have fhewn elfewhere, by the Hierophants of 
 the Myjieries. 
 
 3. Thirdly, we are informed, th.it this facred commentary was 
 compoled by the Cabiri, at the command, and by the diredlion, 
 of Thoth j. Now Thefe were the principal Hierophants of the 
 Myflenes. The name Cabiri is, indeed, ufed by the Ancients, 
 to fignify indifferently three feveral perfons ; the Gods, in whofe 
 honour the Myjieries were inflituted ; the imstitutors of the Myf- 
 ttries ; and the principal hierophaxts who officiated in them. la 
 the firft lenfe we find ir ufed by Herodotus, who fpeaks of the images 
 of the Cabiri in the Egyptian temples § ; and by the fcholiaft on Apol- 
 lonius, who tells us, there were four famothracian Cabiri^ Axieros, 
 Axiokerfa, Axiokerfos, and Cafmilus ; that is to {.■^y, Ceres, Profer- 
 
 * —0 Vi av^aXiii ToV; aTo tZt 'jL^ltut il^x^Haa^ aTo»piI^o»s 'Auf/.antu) y^aiA^affi avyKUfitiaic, a ih 
 UK. 5» ■craffi yiuftjiM, tm (ladn^m a'Xx.tTuv avTOi jjyxftrs. 
 
 f Chron. Can. p. 234. Lond. edit. 
 
 I Tavza Jf, $>io-;, tafurot wailwf tn-jfini/ioiiVa/Io 01 «s1* Stotx •aiThf KABEIPOI, J^ Sy^o©- 
 avTuf iJi?4o{ 'A<7x.X7irio;, U{ auror? IvtltiAalo Sios Taa;/io'j. 
 
 § K.af£i<rn; — IcX^Si Jf >^ Is rii KaSii§ii» to if o», U to b 9if*iTo» iVi lautiat a\J>or yt S to> I'jt'a. 
 r«i/Ta Ji T iyaX(*ala t^ i.iVjwi, «roAX» xaWiavJ^aj, lib. iU. Cap. 37. p. J 76. Edit. Galc. 
 
 pine,
 
 200 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 pine, Pluto, and Mercury. Paufanias, in his Bcoiics, ufes the 
 word in the fecond fenfe, where he makes mention of the Cabirl 
 Prometheus and his Ton ^tn^us, to whom was committed the fa- 
 cred depofit of the Myfierles by Ceres *. And Strabo ufes it in the 
 third fenfe, where he fpeaks of the Cahiri as Minifters in the fa- 
 cred Mvfteries f. It is no wonder there fhould be this ditFerence 
 amongfi: the ancients in their accounts of thefe Wights. Cabiri 
 was a facred appellation, which was transferred from the God of 
 the Myfteries, through the Injlitutors of them, down to the M'lni- 
 Jlers who officiated in them. And in this laft fenfe it is ufed by San- 
 choniatho. The fame kind of confufion, and proceeding from the 
 fame caufe, we find in the ancient accounts concerning the founder 
 of the Eleujinian Mv/Ieries, as we fhall fee hereafter ; Some afcrib- 
 ing the inftitution to Ceres or Triptolemus, the Gods in whofe lio- 
 uour they were celebrated; others, to Ereflheus, who indeed found- 
 ed them : others again, to Eumolpus and Mufieus, the firft who 
 niiniflred there in the office of Hierophants. 
 
 4. But, fourthly and laftly, We are told, that when this genea- 
 logical hiftory came into the hands of a certain fon of I'habion, the 
 firft Hierophant on record amongft the Phoenicians, he, after hav- 
 ing corrupted it with allegories, and intermixed phyfical and cof- 
 mical affedions with hiftorical (that is, made the one fignificative 
 of the other) delivered it to the prophets of the orgies, 
 AND the hierophants OF THE MYSTERIES; who left it to their 
 fucceflbrs (one of which was Ofiris) and to the Initiated |. So 
 
 * IloXir ya^ •wole h Taru pcKTu) iltat Tu X"?'"' "& k'^?*! «»o/*a^<ijH£'»Bc KafiifUf. rifOjur/Ssr Jt ill 
 Taiv KaQit^alm >^ AiTon'u TjT YlfOfjLn9ius a$iito^£»r,> Aiftnr^ar I5 ytuati tirajasxalaS/o-Gai cr^iaiv, 
 JiTt? ,usf Sii ri» h roupax«7«9ijc);, x) m 15 airiii •yiiofaxx, «* e^aUilo oa-iit fnoi yfipiiv. An/A'hlfof ySy Ka- 
 Ciipaiei; Jilfoflr'v i TjXfli. Bsot. lib. ix. cap, 25.pag. 758, 59. Edit. Kuknii, fol, Lipf. 1696. 
 
 ■J- — tm» («iy, Tt!{ xvTiii ToTi Kof?(Tt Ti-j K«jv?a>1x5 xj KABEIPOYS 1^ 'ijaia; AaMfM:;, >^ TiXvTyuf 
 awo^«i»ovT-w»' Tilv Si a-vfyiveii a.X>.^?.6)v, >y ^ixfa; Tiv«; avjUt •Erfis a?i?i«Aaj Jiafoji; Jtan^JiovIwy. 
 
 lib. X. p. 466. C. Edit. Parif. folio. 1630. 
 
 J Tatrcc 'axtlct. ©aCii'ir©' •Erai?, ij^aJT©' rut civ alS>®' yf/o»oTii» <l>io»ixwv i6jo\]/av1»i5 aXXjiyo^jjuac, 
 ToTj T. (p-jo-moii jC, i!ocr(*tKo7; waSfcriv ana/^t'laj roajiJ^E TcT; OPrinSl «^ TEAETfiN >ia\a.fxSTi TIPO- 
 CHTAIJ. 01 Jt To» tvlfoi ai^iit U nrajloj iTrivoSti:?, ro7i avTut JiaJo'xcu; -ax^i^ucat 1^ Toil E~eic-aK''oi5-. 
 
 that
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 201 
 
 that now we have an exprefs teftimony for the fad here advanced, 
 that this was the very hijlory read to the EnonTAI in the celebra- 
 tion of the great Myjleries, 
 
 But one thing is too remarkable to pafs by unobferved : and that 
 is, Sanchoniatho's account of the corruption of this Hiftory witli 
 allegories ^wdi phyjical nffediions^ by one of his own countrymen ; and 
 of it's delivery, in that ftate, to the Egyptians, (for Ifiris is the 
 fame as Ofiris) who corrupted it ftill more. That the Pagan My- 
 thology was, indeed, thus corrupted, I have (hewn at large, in fc- 
 veral parts of this work : but I believe, not fo early as is here pre- 
 tended ; which m.akes me fufpeft that Sanchoniatho lived in a later 
 age than his interpreter, Philo, afligns to him. And what con- 
 firms me in this fufpicion, is that mark of national vanity and par- 
 tiality, common to after-times, in making the Myf.eries of his own 
 country original, and conveyed from Phoenicia to Egypt. Whereas 
 it is very certain, they came firft from Egypt. But of this elfe- 
 where. However, let the reader take notice, that the queftion con- 
 cerning the antiqtiiiy of Sanchoniatho does not at all afted our infer- 
 ence concerning the nature and ufe of this Hiftory *. 
 
 We now come to the hymn celebrating the Unity of the Godhead, 
 which was fung in the Elei/Jiniati Myflerki by the Hierophant, 
 habited like the creator +. And this, I take \ to be the little OR- 
 
 * See note H, at the end of this book. 
 
 -f- 'E» Vi ToT.; xkt' EAEYSINA (/irifisi;, o ^iir 'ifjoipairliis i>( iixow t3 Ju/xia^ya ttirictvoil^Sai- 
 Eufeb. Prxp. Evang. lib. iii, A paflage in Poiphyry well explains this of Eufebius, and 
 fliews by what kind ofperfonage the Creator was reprefented ; and that this, like all 
 the reft, was of Egyptian original; and introduced into thefe fecret myfteries, for the 
 
 reafon above explained. Ti it ru> AinfnTinN waAin roiaSra f„<7tt txf" <^,"^o?ia. To» 
 AHMIOYPrON, o» K»ip, oJ A\yvrT[\<ii •afoaafofiinjit ANQPfinOEIiiH, 7ni Si ^aay ix ni/arS fii' 
 'Kat^ ivailaf xfala/la fi^mv >^ (rx?ir1^o»* «ti Jj t?( xt JaX?;, "oliflt ^jiaiXtioi 'aifmii/moy, OTI AOFOS 
 AYSEYPET02 KAI KEKPYMENOS, KAI OY OANOS, 19 i'n ^uoToii,-, ?C "i (ixjAsl:, .^ ou 
 vofjw? xiKerrai" ^10 i th oili^t; (pv(rii iv t^ x(fa^>i xiTTai. Apud Eufeb. Pl"xp. Evang, lib, iii. 
 cap. II. 
 
 X M. Voltaire, in his remarks on hii fine Tragedy of Olympia, has done nie the 
 honour of advancing this conjeiflure into a certainty ; and what is more, of a known and 
 acknowledged fafl. " On chantait (fays he) I'Hymrn de Orf/jct"—:ind then 'gives it as 
 he finds it here. ■ 
 
 Vol. I. Dd ruic
 
 202 T HE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 THic poem quoted by Clemens Alexandr'inus * and Eufeblus -f ; 
 wirich begins thus : " 1 will declare a secret to the Initiated ; but 
 ** let the doors be (hut againft the profane. Bnt thou, O Mufeus, 
 ** the offspring of bright Selene, attend carefully to my fong ; for 
 *' I fhall deliver the truth without difguife. Suffer nor, therefore, 
 " thy former prejudices to debar thee of that happy life, which the 
 ** knowledge of thefe fublime truths will procure unto thee : but 
 ^' carefully contemplate this divine Oracle, and preferve it in purity 
 " of mind and heart. Go on, in the right way, and contemplate 
 
 " THE SOLE GOVERNOR OF THE WORLD : HE IS ONE, AND OF HIM- 
 *• SELF alone; and TO THAT ONE ALL THINGS OWE THEIR 
 *' BEING. He OPERATES THROUGH ALL, WAS NEVER SEEN BY 
 *' MORTAL EYES, BUT DOES HIMSELF SEE EVERY ONE |." 
 
 The reafons which fiipport my conje61:ure are thefe : i. We learn 
 from the fcholiaft on Ariftophanes and others, that hymns were 
 fung in the myfteries, and what were the fubjeft of them. And 
 Dion. Chryf. in his Oration De dlvina Civitate aut Gubernatione, 
 fays expreflly, that in the Mithriac Myfteries the Magi fung an 
 awful Hymn in which the glories of the fupreme God who governs 
 all things were celebrated § — And further fays, that this knowledge 
 of the One fupreme was kept a secret amongfl the intiiaicd Per- 
 
 * Admoiiitio ad gentcs, pag. 36. B. Edit. Sylbiirgh. 
 •|- I'rxp. Evang. lib. xiii. 
 
 X «'?=^|onai 0T5 S£>«5 in, Su?a? h' Wi^'.a^i /3s€^Ao^ 
 
 E15 J' i'r* auToyefri?, ivof s'xyofa.-Erottla TfTt;»li»l, 
 
 EiVojaa ^triiwty awTo; i'l yt ■ad,!\af Sfarai. 
 § j<59o5 I'y iirof f'^Toij TsXilarj iwo Maya™ i»8fwv aSflat €)a\ifi::.^ofAiy»!, ct tit 3iO» TSro) VfitUfftt lii 
 
 fialiS'
 
 Sect. 4- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 20J 
 
 fians. 2. Orpheus, as we have fald, fwQ: brought the MyJJdn'es 
 from Egypt into Thrace, and even Religion itfeU': hence it w.-^s 
 called Q^tjo-iCBixy as being fuppoied the invention of the Thracian. 
 
 3. The verfes, which go under the name of Orpheus, arc, at leaft, 
 more ancient than Plato and Herodotus ; though fince interpolated. 
 It was the common opinion, that they were genuine; and thofe 
 who doubted of that, yet gave them to the earlieil Pythagoreans *. 
 
 4. The fubjed of them are the Myjieries^ under the feveral titles 
 of -f- QpovKTiioi fi-^puoi Te\ejcc\, Upcg Ac^©o, and ^ e<V uSis KciluQaa-is. 
 
 5. Paufanias tells us, that Orpheus's hymns were fung in the rites 
 of Ceres, in preference to Homer's though more elegant, for the 
 reafons given above ];. 6. This hymn is addreffcd to Mufitus, 
 his difciple, who was fald, though falfely, to inftitute the Myjle~ 
 r'tes at Athens, as his mafter had done in Thrace § ; and begins 
 with the formula ufed by the Myftagogue on that occafion, 
 warning the prophane to keep at diftance ; and in the fourth 
 line, mentions that new life or regeneration, to which the Ini- 
 tiated were taught to afpire. 7. No other original than finging 
 the hymns of Orpheus in the Eleufinian My/leries, can be well 
 imagined of that popular opinion, mentioned by Theodoret, that 
 Orpheus inftituted /Z^g/^ Myjleries\\, when the Athenians had fuch 
 certain records of another Founder. 8. We are told that one ar- 
 ticle of the Athenians' charge againft Diagoras for revealing the 
 
 •* Laertius in Vita Pythng. and Suidas, voce 'Offii/';. 
 
 f The following paflage of Dion. Chryf. will explain the meaning of thii O^nff^uo,-— • 
 
 Orat. xii. 
 
 X "Os->{ i\ wifi woii<TiUi lvo\vir^afiJiOiri7!t, ^J» TBj 'Offiu; vfiyHf oTJi» ovI«{, t^arit T« eCrSt, £«•» 
 Pfaxiralnf, >^ to aijJLirat ax U a?'9^'•» ^oXvv criwoiJif«ii«?>. AuxofiSJa* ii 'r»ai Ti i^ iTaanri To^ ifu- 
 >4t«(H5- KiaiAU ftiv Ji ru> Iviji hvli^u* f i'joi.lo »», /xsli 'Oia^^s yz Taj 5(*»»;' Tij«n{ ii « t{| S.i'm <^ U 
 
 v\io, UiUni, 'i-/ti<ri. Paufan. lib. ix. cap. 30. fub fin. pag. 770. Edit. Kuhr.ii, fol. Lipf. 
 1696. and again, to the fame piirpofe, cap. 27. 
 
 § Tertull. Apol. 
 
 II Sec note p. 123. 
 
 D d 2 My/leries,
 
 204 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 M)Jlenes, was his making the Orphic-fpeech^ or hymn, the fubjecl 
 of his common converfatioa *. 9. But laflly, the account, which 
 Clemens gives of this hymn, feems to put the matter out of quef- 
 tion : his words are th^fe : "But the Thracian Myftagogue, who 
 *' was at the fame time a poet, Orpheus, the fon of Oeager, after 
 " he had opened the MyJIeries, and fung the whole theology of 
 *' IDOLS, recants all he had faid, and introduceth Truth. The 
 " Sacreds then truly begin, though late, and thus he enters upon 
 *' the matter -j--" To underftand the force of this paflage, we are 
 to know, that the Myftagogue explained the,«eprefentatious in the 
 Myferies ; where, as we learn from Apuleius |, the fupernal and 
 infernal Gods pafled in review. To each of thefe they fung an 
 hymn; w\\ich Clemens czWs tht theology of images, ot idols. Thefe 
 are yet to be feen amongfl: the works afcribed to Orpheus. When 
 all this was over, then came the AnOPPHTA, delivered in the 
 HYMN in queftion. And, after that, the Aflembly was difmiffed, 
 with thefe two barbarous words, KOFH OMOAH, which fliews 
 the My/ieries not to have been originally Greek. The learned Mr. 
 Le Clerc well obferves, that this feems to be only an ill proiioun- 
 ciation of kots and omphets, which, he tells us, fignify in the Phoe- 
 nician tongue, laatch and ahjlain from evil §. 
 
 Thus the reader is brought acquainted with the end and ufe both 
 of the greater and leffer Myfieries ; and fees that, as well in what 
 they hid, as in what they divulged, all aimed at the benefit of the 
 State. To this end, they were to draw in as many as they could 
 to their general participation ; which they did by fpreading abroad 
 
 * Aiayc'p* (X£» yaj ti>coT«,- honLhtiv 'ASwaroi, fiM f-int Tov 0P<1>IK0N si; j/£<ro» xa1j:7iflivli AOrON, 
 )C, m U 'E^tujm, K, TO. Tijv Kafiifwv h.uiio!\t fxvrif^a- Athenagoras in Legat. 
 
 f 'O Je ©^axi'^ U^!i((ia.v1rii J<J ■rooin'i; a,jA.ec, o t5 Oiayja 'Of Jtu?, //sra rnt tu-j 'O^/i'm li^n^atVat, -^ 
 t;> tJJwXiy T)!» SioXoyia», ^!^a^lvaJl'a» a^ll9tia; tlaayli, rot isgiv o»I«,- o-^e •too!:, i'j^u;,- J' It a^ut \iyot. 
 
 Admon. ad Gentes, pag. 36. A. Edit. Sylburgh. 
 
 X Acceffi confinium mortis, deos inferos, & deos fuperos acceffi coram, & adoravi 
 de proximo. Met. lib. xi. p. 1000. circa finem. Edit. Lugd. 1587. Svo. 
 
 § Bill, Univ. torn. vi. p. Of, 
 
 the
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 2*5 
 
 the dodlrine of a Providence, and a future ftate ; and how much 
 happier the Initiated fhould be, and what fuperior fehcities they 
 were intitled to, in another Hfe. It was on this account that Antiquity 
 is fo full and exprefs in this part. But then, they were to make thole, 
 they had got in, as virtuous as was poflible ; which they did, by 
 difcovering, to fuch as were judged capable oithefecret, the whole 
 delufion of Polytheifm. Now this being fuppofed the fhaking of 
 foundations, was to be done with all poflible circumfpe6lion, and 
 under the raoft tremendous feal of fecrecy *. For they taught, 
 that the Gods themfelves puniftied the revealers of the secret ; and 
 not them only, but the hearers of it likewife -f. Nor did they al- 
 together truft to that alone : for, more effeftually to curb an un- 
 governable curiofity, the State decreed capital punifhment againft 
 the betrayers of the Mxjleries, and infli£ted it with mercilefs fe- 
 verity|. The cafe of Diagoras, the Melian, is too remarkable to 
 be omitted. This man had revealed the Orphic and Eleujinian 
 Mvjieries : and fo, paffed with the people for an Atheift : which at 
 once confirms what hath been faid of the objed of the fecret d^x- 
 trinesy and of the mifchief which would attend an indifcreet com- 
 munication of them. For the charge of Atheism was the common 
 lot of all thofe who communicated their knowledge of the one only 
 God', whether they learnt it by natural light, or were afterwards 
 taught it by Revelation. He likewife diffuaded his friends from being 
 .initiated into thefe rites: the confequence of which was, that the 
 /city of Athens profcribed him, and fet a price upon his head §. While 
 
 * See cap. 20, of jMevuTins's Eleufinia. 
 
 t — Qusras forfitan fatis anxie, ftudiofe leaor, quid deinde div^iim, quid faaum ? 
 Dicerem, ii dkereWctxtX; cognofceres, fi liceret a«<^;>v ; fed pareni noxam contraherent 
 auresi^ lingua temeraria curiofitatls. Apul. Met. lib. xi. p, 1000. Edit. Lugd. Svo, 1587. 
 
 X Si quis arcaox myfteria Ccreris facra viilgalTet, lege morti addiccbatur. To. i|i.«-o.7» 
 T» fiurift* "S^'K'. Meminit hujus legis Sopater in Divifionc quxftionis. Sam. Petit, in 
 Leges Atticas, p. 33. 
 
 § Suidas, voce Jtwyi^*^ I uiit.i&- . ■ ' Sc etiaai Athenagoras in Lcgntionc. 
 
 Socrates,
 
 2o6 THE DIVINE LEGATIONT Book II. 
 
 Socrate;^, who preached up the hitter part of this doctrine (and was 
 on that account a reputed Atheift hkewiie) and Epicurus, who 
 taught the former fand was a real one) were fuffered, becaufe they 
 delivered their opinions only as points of philofopliic fpeculatlon, 
 amongfi: their followers, to live a long time unmolefted. And to 
 avoid the danger of thofe laws, which fecured the fecret of the 
 Myfteries, was perhaps the reafon why Socrates declined initiation *. 
 And this appearing a fingular afFedation, expofed him to much 
 cenfure +• B^'t he declined it with his ufual prudence. He re- 
 membered, that TEfchylus \, on a mere imagination of his having 
 given a hint of fomething in tlie Myferies, had like to have been 
 torn in pieces on the ftage by the people ; and only efcaped by an 
 appeal to tlie Areopagus : which venerable court acquitted him of 
 this dangerous Charge, on his proving that he had never been ini- 
 tiated. The famous Euhemerus, who aflumed the fame office of 
 Hierophant to the People at large, with more boldnefs than So- 
 crates, and more temper than Epicurus, employed another expe- 
 dient to fcreen himfelf from the laws, though he fell, and not (like 
 the reft) undefervedly §, under the fame imputation of Atheifm. 
 This man gave a fabulous relation of a voyage to the imaginary Ifland 
 of Panchica ||, a kind of ancient Utopia ; where, in a temple of 
 Jupiter, he found a genealogical record, which difcovered to him 
 the births and deaths of the greater Gods ; and, in (hort, every 
 thing that the Hierophant revealed to the Initiated on this fubjed. 
 Thus he too avoided the fufpicion of a betrayer of the Myjieries. A 
 character infamous in fecial life. And to this the Son of Sirach 
 
 •"* For that he had a good opinion of the Mijicr'm appears from the P^yaAo of Plate. 
 
 f KaTrro{5v1««— HTi s/xviSufion©- iTanlain rarj 'E^lUlrl»^«ls. Lucianus, Demonadte, T. 11. p, 
 380. Edit. Reitzii, 4to. Amftel. 1745. 
 
 X CleiT). Alex. Strom, ii. pag. 283. B. Edit. Sylbiirg. & .\rift. lib. iii. cap. 1. 
 Nicom. Eth. 
 
 § See note I, at the end of this book. 
 
 H Eufeb. I'riEp. Evang. lib. ii. cap. 2. 
 
 alludes.
 
 StcT. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 207 
 
 alludes, where he fpcaks of this fpecles of hifidelity in general * — 
 " Whofo difcovereth secrets [i^v^^^kkX lofeth his credit, and fhall 
 *' never find friend to his mind." This, tiierefore, is the reafon 
 why fo little is to be met with, concerning the AnOPPHTA. Varro 
 and Cicero, the two mofl: inquifitive perlbns in antiquity, aftord- 
 ing but a glimmering light. Thefiijl giving us a fliort account of 
 the catife only of the secret, without mentioning the dodlrine; and 
 the other ^ a hint of the doSIrinc, without mentioning the caufe. 
 
 But now a remarkable exception to all we have been faying, 
 concerning the fecrecy of the Myjieries, obtrudes itfelf upon us, in 
 the cafe of the Cretans; who, as Diodorus Siculus afl'ures us, 
 celebrated their Myjlcrtes openly, and taught their ci7r6ppy]]at with- 
 out referve. His words are thefe : " At Cnoffus in Crete, it was 
 " provided for, by an ancient law, that thefe My/ieries (hould be 
 " (hewn openly to all : and that thofe things, which in other 
 " places were delivered in fecret, (hould be hid from none who 
 " were defirous of knowing themf-" But, as contrary as this 
 feems to the principles delivered above, it will be found, on atten- 
 tive refledtion, altogetlier to confirm them. We have (hewn, that 
 the great fecret was the detection of Polytheifm ; which was done 
 by teaching the original of the Gods ; their birth from mortals ; 
 and their advancement to divine honour, for benefits done to their 
 Country, or Mankind. But it is to be obferved, that the Cretans 
 proclaimed tiiis to all the world, by (hewing, and boafting of the 
 tomb of Jupiter himfelf, the Father cf Gods and Men. How then 
 could they tell that as a fecret in their Myjieries, whicii they told 
 to every one out of them ? Nor is it lefs remarkable that the Cretans 
 themlelves, as Diodorus, in the fame place, tells us, gave this very 
 
 * 5 aT»xa^IJ^r%» MYSTHPIA, u.TLl.i7i rairif, >t) J /*i it;>i ^i\o> ■rr-foj rif \uyr,i oltS. C.ip. 
 xxvii. ver. 17. 
 
 t Kola Ji Ti» Kj^Tur vi Kvus-cfuT vo(ii^oi \% afx"'!^' »>>»' fa^ifui Tctj rAi'Jaj TavTuf •acict irajaai- 
 ioa^on, Kj T* i!7a§a to75 (x^Aol^ it avof'fnTu i^x^ethiojj.i»», waf' ainTi firiSita x^uvltit tatt ^f^ofifw 
 r» ToiaExa yitijTKini, Biblioth. lib, v. 
 
 circumftancc
 
 2oS THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 crrcumftance of their celebrating the Myjleries openly as a proof of 
 their being tlie firfl who had confecrated dead mortals. ** Thefe 
 '■' are the old flories which the Cretans tell of their Gods, who, 
 '* they pretend to fay, were born amongft them. And they urge 
 *' this as an invincible reafon to prove that the adoration, the 
 " worlhip, and the mysteries of thefe Gods were firft derived 
 " from Crete to the reft of the world ; for, whereas, amongft 
 *' the Athenians, thofe moft illuftrious Myjlerks of all, called the 
 " Eleufin'ian, thofe of Samothrace, and thofe of the Ciconians in 
 " Thrace, of Orpheus's inftitution, are all celebrated in secret : 
 " yet in Crete*" and fo on as above. For it feems the Cre- 
 tans were proud of their invention ; and ufed this method to pro- 
 claim and perpetuate the notice of it. So when Pythagoras, as 
 Porphyry -j- informs us, had been initiated into the Cretan myjier'iest 
 and had continued in the Idean cave three times nine days, he wrote 
 this epigram on the tomb of Jupiter, 
 
 "^Xl^g ^avuv KiiTott ZccVf ov At'a xiKX>i(rKiS(riv. 
 
 Za/jf ivhom men call Jupiter^ lies here deceafed. 
 
 It was this which fo much exafperated the other Grecians againft 
 them ; and gave birth to the common proverb of KPHTEZ AEI 
 TEY2TAI J, The Cretans are eternal liars. For nothing could more 
 
 * Xli^i f-\i 5» tSt ^iut 61 Kajrss Ta» siaf ainXi Xfyo/i£vwv yt»»)j9?vat ToiauTa jut9oAoy5o-i* Taj It 
 rijxai JC, $vffi'a5 >^ Taj cteji ra ij.vri^i» TE^£ias ex KpixJij ti; laj aXXsj atQfaiirnt 'iaccfaSiSoa-6ai ^syovlfj, 
 tCto tpffseni, us oio»]a», fisyiro* T6x^ifio»* t^vIs yaj ma^' Afiii»a(oi{ \» 'BXixiaXn yitofj-tir,) Tl^l1>l», stti- 
 
 f De vita Pythag. n. xvii. 
 
 J Kj?Tf; ati ■^■ivrat' >^ TAP ra-fov, u aya, triTo 
 
 Kj?TS! Irixlritaflo, Callim. Hymn, in Jovem. 
 
 And Nonnus ; 
 
 Ou yig iel wajit/*ifcn Aii; YE^AHMONI TYMBn.. 
 TigTO(*£»D Kfirt^'criv, iTTil w£^o^ vtirtfoTimi, Dionyf. lib. viii. 
 And L\ican ; 
 
 Tarn mendax Magi>i tumulo, quam Creta Tonantif. lib, viii. 
 
 affront
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 209 
 
 affront thefe lupei ftitlcus idolaters than aflertiiig the fait, or more dlf- 
 pleafe the politic protestors of the MJleries tlian the divulging it *. 
 The MYSTERIES then being of fo great fervice to the ftate, we 
 fhall not be furprized to hear the wileft of the Ancients fpeaklng 
 I'.ighly In their commendation ; and their ableft Lawgivers, and 
 reformers, providing carefully for their fupport. " Ceres (fays 
 " Ifocrates) hath made the Athenians two prefents of the greatert 
 " confequence : corn, which brought us out of a ftate of brutality; 
 ♦' and the mysteries, which teach the initiated to entertain tho 
 " moft agreeable expeftations touching death and eternity -f-." And 
 Plato Introduceth Socrates fpeaklng after this manner ; '* In my 
 *' opinion, thofe who eftabllflicd the Mysterits, whoever they 
 *' were, were well fkilled in human nature. For in thefe rites it 
 " was of old fignlhed to the afplrants, that thofe who died with- 
 " out being initiated, ftuck fafl: in mire and filth ; but that he who 
 *' was purified and initiated, (hculd, at his death, have his habita- 
 " tion with the Gods "J;." And Tully thought them of fuch ufe 
 to Society, for preferving and propagating the do6trine of a future 
 flate of rewards and punldiments, that in the law where he forbids 
 nodlurnal fiacrifices offered by women, he makes an exprefs excep- 
 tion for the Myf cries of Ceres, as well as for the facrifices to the 
 GOOD GoDPEss. *' No6lurna mullerum facrificla ne funto, pr«ter 
 " olla, qua? pro populo rite fiant. Neve quem initianto, nlfi, ut 
 " aflblet, Cereri, Cir;i?co facro." Which law he thus comments : — 
 •• M. But now, Tltiis, as to what follows, I would fain know how 
 " vou can give your aflent, or I blame you for with-holding it? 
 
 * See note K, at the end of this Book. 
 
 •f- A>)/x>il5®- ^»i,- Jujfaj Jirla,-, aiVif (*s'-,»r«t Tt//xa»BO->» »»ai" T«,- Tl ii«{Tt,j o'l t5>Ji 5>1;-iu- 
 
 Jui i,r,t T.ncci amoi ytyitairi. jC. tin ri>.Arii, ?« ci ^i1«xo>1is wipi Tl T«! Ta &>a iiXiuiS;, »cj tS a-J.u- 
 n-avliS^ a;;.®- riii«s ri; iMr.'Jas iX^cu. PanegJT. 
 
 t Kai xivJtnuB«-i K, oi Tat TsXilaj r,yiit Jrot xaiari(7af\ii, « jSwXoi Tinif iT.ai ixXa ti oilt »ra>ai 
 a.'.iTlio-Sai, on 05 eit Xf^inl^; xJariXir®-, «i; »5B if ixilai, ir B'^ofti Kilruxf 5 oi xi.aSaf.ui'.d- ri 
 j^ TiliXiy^iA®-, 'xiio-t a^ixoft!.©-, litTA SiSt olK>i7it. Inrhariloiie. 
 
 Vol. I. E e " yl. What
 
 2IO THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 *' A. What is that, I pray you ? M. The law concerning the noc- 
 " turnal facrifices of women. A. I afl'ent to it, efpecially as there 
 " is an exprefs exception to the public and Iblemn . facrifice. 
 *' M. What then will become of our Eleujinian Rites, thofe re- 
 " verend and augufk Myjleries^ if, indeed, we take away uodlurnal 
 " celebrations ? For our laws are calculated, not onlyjor the Roman, 
 ^* but for all jujl and well ejlablift:ied policies. A- I think you except 
 " thofe, into which we ourfelves have been initiated. M. Doubtlels I 
 " do : for as, in my opinion, your Athens hath produced many ex- 
 *' cellent and even divine inventions, and applied them to the ufe 
 " of life : fo has (he given nothing better than thofe Myjleries, 
 «' by which we are drawn from an irrational and favage life, 
 '* and tamed, as it were, and broken to humanity. They are 
 *' truly called initia, for they are indeed the beginnings of 
 " a life of reafon and virtue, Fron\ whence we not only re- 
 *' ceive the benefits of a more comfortable and elegant fublillence 
 *' here, but are taught to hope for, and afpire to a better life hereafter, 
 *' But what it is that difpleafes me iu nodlurnal rites, the comic 
 *' poets will fliew you *. Which liberty of celebration, had it been 
 *' permitted at Rome, what wickednefs would not He ^ have 
 " attempted, who came with a premeditated purpofe of indulging 
 " his luft, to a Sacrifice where even the mifhehaviour \ of the eye 
 ** was deeply criminal §." 
 
 We 
 
 * See note L, at the end of this Book. 
 
 •f- See note M, at the end of this Bonk. 
 
 \ The Ancients efteemed that to he the greateft miftehavioar of the eye, where the 
 fight of men obtruded, though only by accident, upon thofe Afyjlerics, which it was 
 only lawful for 'women to behold. 
 
 § M. At vero, quod fequitur, quomodo aut fu aflentiare, aut ego reprehendam, fane 
 qua;™, Tite. J. Qiiid tandcTn id eft ? M. De nofturnis facrificiis mulierum. ji. Ego 
 vero affenticr, excepto pra:fertim in ipfa lege folemni facrificio ac publico. M, Quid 
 ergo aget lacchus Eumolpidaeque veflri [noftri alii], & augufta ilia inyfteria, fiquidem 
 facra nofturna tollimus? non enim populo Romano, fed omnibus bonis firniifque po- 
 pulis leges damus. A. Excipis, credo, ilia, quibus ipfi initiati fumus. J\4. Ego vero 
 
 cxcipiam.
 
 Sect. 4. O F M O S E S D E M O N S T R A T E D. 211 
 
 We have {een, that the other exception to this law ngaiiift 
 nofturnal facrifices, was in favour of the rites performed to the 
 GOOD Goddess, called iAe fuhlic and J'olernn facrijice. This was 
 offered pro populo, for the fafely of the people. So that Cicero, rank- 
 ing the E/etiJin/an with thefe rites, appears to have thought them in 
 the number of fuch as were celebrated for the public fafetv. Solon, 
 the famous lawgiver of Athens, long before him, had the fame 
 high opinion of thefe Myjleries, as is feen by the care he took of 
 their regulation ; and fo had Praetextatus, a moft accomplifhed 
 Roman Magiflrate, long after hira : For when his mafter, Valen- 
 tinian, had divided the Empire with his brother, and projeded a 
 general reform of the laws, and, amongfl: the reft:, had forbid noc- 
 turnal SACRIFICES ; he was perfuadcd by Priutextatus, who go- 
 verned for him in Greece, to make an exception for the Myjlerics 
 of Ceres \ which had been brought to Rome very early *, aiid in- 
 corporated into the national worfhip t» and long afterwards regu- 
 lated anew by the wife emperor Hadrian \. 
 
 Zofimus tells the ftory in this manner : " The fupreme power 
 *' being thus divided, Valentinian entered on his new command 
 " with a more ferious attention to his office* He reformed the 
 
 excipiam. Nam niihi cum multa eximia divitiaque videntur Atlicni tux peperiiTe, at- 
 tpe in vita hominnm attulifle, turn nihil melius iilis myileriis, quibus ex agrelli imma- 
 nique vita exculti ad humanitatem, & mitigati fumus ; iniiiaque, ut appellantur, ita re 
 vera principia vitx cognovimus ; neque folum cum lititia vivendi rationem accepimus, 
 fed etiam cum fpe meliore moriendi. Quid autem mihi difpliceat in nocturnis, Poet* 
 indicant Comici. Qua licentia Romx data, quidnam cgiffet iile, qui in facrificium cogi- 
 tatam libidinem intulit, quo ne imprudentiam quidem oculorum adjici fas fuit ? De 
 Legg. lib. ii. cap. 14. Edit. Ox. 410. T. III. p. 148, 49. 
 
 * As appears by Tully's Oration for Corn. Balbus, and by a paflage in his fccond 
 book, cap. 24. Of the nature of the Gods, quoted above; and likeuifc from Dion)f. 
 Hal. lib. i. cap. 33. Antiq. 'lJe''3'*»'!<« *« «) ^t,u/lj®- it;h, <c) tat ^vc-ias ailrii ^ y.,a«i. 
 
 t Suetonius, Vita Aug. cap. 93. T. I. p. 354. Edit. Pitilci, 17:4, 4ro. 
 { Aurel. Vidor. in Hadr. 
 
 E e 3 " Mag ill racy.
 
 2J2 THE DIVINE LEGATION Bouk II. 
 
 " Magiftracv, he regulated the Revenue, and, by a rigid exaftioii 
 " of the Duties, fecured the pay of the foldiery, which arofe ouE 
 " of that fund : and having determined likewlfe to new model and 
 " promulge the imperial Inftltutes, beginnings as they fay, from 
 ♦' the foundation, he forbad the celebration of all nocturnal rites 
 " and facrifices ; with defign to obviate the enormities which the 
 " opportunity of thefe feafons gave birth to, and enfiamed. But 
 " when Przetextatus, a man adorned with every virtue both of 
 " public and private life, who then governed Greece in quality of 
 *' proconful, had given him to underftand that this law would oc- 
 " cafion great diforders in Greece, and even throw the inhabitants 
 *' into defpair, when they fliould find that they were forbidden to 
 " celebrate, according to ancient cuftom, thofc moft holy Myjie- 
 *' rics, which had now taken in the whole race of mankind, he 
 '« gave leave to a fufpenfion of his law, with regard to Thefe ; on 
 " condition, however, that every thing fhould be reduced to the 
 " primitive purity and fimpliclty *." Thus the Eleusinian Mys- 
 teries got a reprieve, till the reign of Theodofius the elder, 
 when they were finally aboliflied. The terms Prsetextatus ufed to 
 fhew the ill confequence of the fuppreflion, are very remarkable: 
 he fald, the Greeks would, from thenceforth, lead ABIXITON 
 BION, a conifort/cfs I'felcfs life. But this could not be fald, witli 
 any truth, or propriety, of the taking away a mere religious rite» 
 how venerable foever it was become by its antiquity. To appre- 
 hend the force of the expreflion, we muft have in mind what hath 
 been faid of the dodlrlnes taught in thofe Rites, namely, a Providence^ 
 
 aKPiCf'rai^ i'' eTti Jf "^ vo(*aiv fia^ogi; h/iuixti raoi^o-JiaSai, a(p tri'x? uaTrt^ af^af^it'^, Taj tvuli- 
 pifaf l<u^ut Suirlaii Iz-iliXiTffiat, roTq (/.VTa^uf fxt» u» w^arlofiivoi; f(*woJiu» Six Ta roiSh »o/:<B ye»io-6ai 
 giiXs'/ifv®-- ETTij Js fTpatlf^TaT©-, » T?? 'EA>iaJ©- Tr,v avGiwalov iX"' "■fX'"> *'^? «' '='««■'«'! Ji«Tpiir»;» 
 TaTi ifilaT;, rZiO' t?ri Tov (o'^ov ABIHTON -rcTi "EXXwi Ka']arr,(rt» To> BION, (i |i»«A^oii» xuXitir9at 
 
 <r^«Tli<74ai Si adiitt, kum to ;| i^x^; roxrjia. Lib. iv. Hift. Novae. 
 
 and
 
 Sect. 4- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 213 
 
 and a future fate of rewards and pun'tpments^ on whofe fole account 
 the Rites were inftitutcd. Now thele dodlrines being in themfelves 
 of the moft engaging nature ; taught here in the moft interefting 
 manner ; and receiving from hence their chief credit ; it was no 
 wonder that the Greeks fliould efteem the abolition of the Myste- 
 ries as the greateft evil : the life of man being, indeed, without 
 the comfort and fupport of thefe doctrines, no better than a Ih'tng 
 death: hence it wns, that the fage Ifocrates called the Mysteries, 
 the thing, human nature principally funds in need of*. And that 
 Arlftides faid, the welfare of Greece was fecnred by the Kleufnian 
 Myferies alone -f. Indeed the Greeks feemed to place their chief 
 happinefs In them: fo Euripides makes Hercules lay if, I ivas bleji 
 ivhen I got a fight of the ntyferies : and it was a proverbial fpeech', 
 when any one thought himfelfin the higheft degree happy, to fay, 
 Ifeem as if I had been initiated in the higher myferies §. 
 
 I. But now, fuch is the fate of human things, Thefe M^'ste- 
 RiES, venerable as they were, in their firft inftitution, did, it mull 
 be owned, in courfe of time, fearfully degenerate ; and thofe very 
 provifions made by the State, to enable the Myferies to obtain the 
 end of their eftablifli men t, became the very means of defeating it. 
 For we. can aflign no furer cause of the horrid abufes and corrup- 
 tions of the hhfleries (befides time, which naturally and fiitally 
 depraves and vitiates all things) than the season in which they 
 were reprefented.; and the profound silence in which they were 
 buried. For night gave opportunity to wicked men to attempt 
 evil a£tions ; aad secbecy, encouragement to perpetrate them; 
 and the Inviolable nature of that fecrecy, which encouraged abufes, 
 kept them from the Magiftrate's knowledge fo long, till it was too 
 late to reform them. la a word, we muft own, that thefe Myf- 
 
 * OJ ur§;To» i (pi'o-i? i^;» 'I'ixiAr,. Panegyr. 
 
 •j- fto»oi4 'EJvfuai'iois iyieiytv i 'E^^a5• Eleuf. 
 
 t Ta fitruf *' oj/; fuTiJxtiiT' \l^u Here, furcns, vcr. 613.
 
 214 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 teries^ fo powerful in their fiift inftitution for the promotion of 
 VJRTUEand knowi^edge*, became, in time, horribly lubfervient to 
 the gratification of l usT and revenge f. Nor will this appear at all 
 ftrange after what hath been faid above. A like corruption, from 
 the lame caufe, crept even into the Church, during the pureft 
 ages of it. The primitive chriflians, in imitation, perhaps, of thefe 
 pagan rites, or from the fame kind of fpirit, had a cuftom of cele- 
 brating Vigils in the night; which, at firft, were performed with 
 all becoming fancflity : but, in a little time, they were fo over-run 
 with abufes, that it was neceflary to abolifh them. The account 
 Bellarmine gives of the matter, is this : '* Quoniam occafione noc- 
 " turnarum vigiliarum abufus quidam irrepere coeperaut, vel potius 
 " flagitia non raro committi, placuit ecclefiae no^lurnos conventus 
 " & vigilias proprie didlas intermittere, ac folum in iildem diebus 
 «' celebrare jejunia ;};." And the fame remedy, Cicero § tells us, 
 Diagondas the Theban was forced to apply to the diforders of the 
 Myfieries. 
 
 2. However, this was not the only, though it was the moft 
 powerful caufe of the depravation of the Myfieries. Anotlier doubt- 
 lefs was their being fometimes under the patronage of thofe Deities, 
 who were fuppofed to infpire and prefide over fenfual paflions, fuch 
 as Bacchus, Venus, and Cupid ; for thefe had all their Myfieries : 
 And where was the wonder, if the Itiiiiated fliould be fometimes 
 inclined to give a loofe to thofe vices, in which the patron God 
 was fuppofed to delight ? And in this cafe, the hidden doctrine 
 came too late to put a flop to the diforder. However, it is remailc- 
 
 * T» (ivr^gia — oTi In-I craiJsia tij Ivusa^^uau t5 ^I's xaleraOn wavla Toira v-rro rut ^uxXativ. 
 
 ■j- 'H ya^ ri»»a(pitUi TEAETA2, i KPT<1>1A MYZTHPIA, 5) i(//>iK»s:? i| «XA«f Sitr^ii. xj/iui 
 
 ty'»1*5, Oirt ^lui UTt yafiBs xaSafris i'ri (pt/^a<rffa3■l., irtj®- J' etejov i AOXDN ANAIPEI, 'i, NO- 
 
 ©EYfiN OAYNA. Wifdom of Solomon, xiv. 23, 24. 
 
 J De Eccl. Triumph, lib. iii. cap. iilt, 
 
 § — Atque omnia noftiirna, ne nos duriores forte videamur, in media Graecia Dia- 
 gondas Thebanus lege perpetua I'ulUilit. De Legg. lib. ii. cap. 15. Edit. Ox. 410. 
 Tom. III. p. 149. 
 
 able,
 
 'Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 215 
 
 able, and confirms what hath been faid concerning the origin of 
 the Myjieries, and of their being invented to perpetuate the dodlrine 
 of a future ftate, that this doftrine continued to be taught even 
 in the moft debauched celebrations of the Myfteries of Cupid * and 
 Bacchus -f-. Nay, even that very flagitious part of the myllerious 
 rites when at worft, the carrying the KTEIE and $AAAOS in pro- 
 cejjion, was introduced but under pretence of their being emblems | 
 of the myftical regeneration and new life, into which the Initiated 
 had engaged themfelves to enter. 
 
 3, The laft caufe to which one may afcribe their corruption, was 
 the Hierophant's withdrawing the Myjlerics from the care and in- 
 fpedtion of the civil Magiftrate ; whofe original Inftitution they 
 were : and, therefore, in the purer ages of Greece, the deputies of 
 
 * 'Aya9J» fisv, a tTciXfi, T?f It 'i.\iva~»t TiXelij iJi.i\tt,v^Ci, \yu $\ oj« toTi EPIiTOS oj/iaraT{ )^ 
 /iiJra's £» aSu 0'Almoc f^Tfxt li-at. Pliitarchus 'Z^Ar.u. 
 
 -(■ KeAit©' — o*tlai yi itt* Sa^Cit rajv IStu^iwn rav^' ^/^a; troiErv, i^i dl TaX»i9>i •nri^) xoXoiffiuir Xs- 
 ycyla.; ivayxaluv Torj hii^fiwai' JioVij 'doficToi ruSj To~5 i» Tar; BAKXIKAIX rit^tlccii ri fioftx^a 
 jyiiij^aloi ts^cn^iyaai. Oiig. contra Celfum, lib. iv. p. 167. Sp. 
 
 } Kai yof «i TtXslai, Jt^TaJf/Ia, ta-rinui £T;^;;f» AINIFMATA. Tin «!/>« /aih « 'EXei/:-i\-, tilfaX- 
 
 Xafa'ri* ^s To» OaXXQ*. Theodoiet, Therapeut. lib. i. Htre the father ufes the word 
 aW/Jcala ironically, and in derilion of the Pagans, who jjretended, that thcfe procef- 
 fions were myftica!, fymbolical, and enigmatical ; othenvife he had ufed the word im- 
 properly ; for the xl"? and ^aW.c,- could never be the aiMy/nala of the pollutions com- 
 mitted by thein : «f>ij><» fignifying the obfcure imitation of a thing reprcfented by a 
 different image. — So Tertullian againft the Valentiniaiis fays, " Virile membnim totuiu 
 " efle MYSTERiUM." Jamblichus gives another reafon for thefe things : J'* tSro h ts 
 
 xuiiuVia, K. Tfocfijiiix aXXoT^ia «rafin divfu/lt;, iyapti rot, oUua ■aaQn, )C ii(\(i^T(fa airi^/a^o^ida, >c^ 
 awxaOaUo^fr* ev ti to7v lifot^^ BiecjAaffi Tiffi ^ nKu^fxaffi rut oua^f^f^ a^oXfo^cQot Tq; ixt r£s 
 
 Jjli, iw' auTwKTwjirniiwni? ^Xa^»n. De myfteriis, § i. cap. ii. However, in common life, 
 Rgiiram pudendi virilis ad fafcinl amne genus expugnandum mullum •vakrc cicderent. A fu- 
 perftition, which, without doubt, aiofe from its enigmatic ftation in the myjlerics; 
 and to this day keeps its hold amongft the common people in Italy, — On les portoit 
 comma des prefervatifs centre les charmes, les mauvais regards & les enchantements. — 
 Cette praftique fuperftitieufe ne s'en eft pas moins confervee jufqu'a prefent dans le 
 bas Peuple du Royaume de Naples. L'on m'a fait voir plufieurs de ces Priapes, que 
 des gens ont la fimplicite de porter au bras ou fur la poitrine. Wiukelman fur les decou- 
 vertes d'Herculaneum, p. 41. 
 
 the
 
 2i6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 the States prefided in them : and, Co long, they were fafe from 
 notorious abufes. But in after-times it would happen, that a little 
 priefl, who had borne an inferior fhare in thefe rites, would leave 
 his ibciety and country, and fet up for himfelf ; and in a clandef- 
 tine manner, without the allowance or knowledge of the Magiftrate, 
 inftitute and celebrate the Myjler'ies in private' Conventicles. From 
 rites {o managed, it is eafy to believe, many enormities would arife. 
 This was the original of thofe horrid impieties committed in the 
 My/leries of Bacchus at Rome ; of which the hiftorian Livy has 
 given fo circumftantial an account : for, in the beginning of his 
 ftory, he tells us, the mifchief was occafioned by one of thefe 
 priefts bringing the Myjieries into Etruria, on his own head, un- 
 commiffioned by his fuperiors in Greece, from whom he learnt 
 them ; and unauthorized by the State, into which he had intro- 
 duced tliem. The words of Livy fliew that the Myjleries were, 
 in their own nature, a very different afEiir ; and invented for the 
 improvement of Knowledge and Virtue. " A Greek of mean ex- 
 " tradlion (fays he *) a little prieft and foothfayer, came firft into 
 " Etruria, without any skill or wisdom in mystkrious 
 
 " RITES, MANY SORTS OF WHICH, THAT MOST IMPROVED 
 *' PEOPLE HAVE BROUGHT IN AMONGST US, FOR THE CULTURE 
 
 " AND PERFECTION BOTH or MIND AND BODY t-" It is farther obfer- 
 vable, that this priefi: brought the M}Jieries -^iwe with him out of 
 Greece, and that they received their corruption in Italy ; for, as 
 Hifpala tells the ftory to the Conful, at firft women only cele- 
 brated the Rites ; till Paculla Minia Campana became prieflefs ; 
 who, on a fudden, as by order of the Gods, made a total altera- 
 
 * Grxcus ignobilis in Etruriam prinnim vcnir, nullla cum arte earum, cjuas 
 
 MUI-TAS An ANIMORUM CORPORUMCVUE CULTUM NOBIS ER UDI TISSIMA OMN lUM GENS 
 
 iNVExiT, fed facrificulus & vates. Hid. lib xxxix. 
 
 ■\ What Livy means by the culture of lie Icdy, will be feen hereafter, when we come 
 to fpeak of the piobaticnary and toilfome trials undergone by thofe afpiranit to the 
 Myjltrlcsy called the soldiers of Mithras. 
 
 tion
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 21; 
 
 tion in the Ceremonies, and initiated her sons ; which gave occa- 
 fioii to all the debaucheries that followed *. The confequence of 
 this difcovery was the abolition of the Riles of Bacchus throughout 
 Italy, by a decree of the Senate -j-. 
 
 However, it is very true, that in Greece itfelf the Myjleries be- 
 came abominably abufed j : a proof of which we have even in the 
 condudl of their Comic writers, who frequently lay the adion of 
 the Drama (fuch as the rape of a young girl, and the like) at the 
 celebration of a religious Myftery ; and from that Myfiery deno- 
 minate the Piece §. So that, in the time of Cicero, the terms 
 my/ttries and abominations were almoft ly nonymous. The ylcademk 
 having faid they had fecrets and Myjlcrtes^ Lucullus replies, 
 *' Quae funt tandem ifta mysteria? aut cur cclatis, quaii turpe 
 *' aliquid, veltram fententiam || ?" However, in fpite of all occa- 
 fions and opportunities, fome of thefe Myficries, as the Eleusinian 
 particularly, continued for many ages pure and undefiled. Tha 
 
 * Hifpala's confeffion will fully inftruct the reader in the nature and degree of thefc 
 eorruptions. — " Turn Hifpala originem facrorum expromit, Primo facrarium id foe- 
 " minarura fuiffe, nee qnemquam virum eo admitti foliiuni. — PaciiUam facerdotem 
 '* omnia, tanquain Deum monitis, immutafle : nam & viros earn primam fuos filios ini- 
 " tiafle : & nodurnum facrum ex diiirno, & pro tribus in anno diebus quinos fingulis 
 " menfibus dies initiorum fecifle. Ex quo in promifcuo facra fint, & permifti viri fge* 
 "minis, & no£lis licentia accefferit ; nihil ibi facinoris, nihil flagitii praetermiflum j 
 *' plura virorum inter fefe, quam foeniinarum effe ftupra. Si qui minus patientes dede- 
 •• coris fint, & pigriores ad facinus, pro vidimis immolari : nihil nefas ducere. Hanc 
 " furamam inter eos religionem effe ; viros velut mente capta cum jaftatione fanatica 
 " corporis vaticinari — ^Raptos a Diis homines dici, quos machiaa illigatos ex con- 
 *' fpe£lu in abditos fpecus abripiant ; eos effe, qui aut conjurare, aut fociari facinoribus, 
 " aut ftupium pati noluerint Multitudinem ingentem, alterum jam prope populum effe: 
 " in his nobiles quofdam viros, foeminafque. Biennio proximo inllitutum effe, a* 
 ♦' quis major vigiati annis initiaretur ; captari xtatis & erroris & ftupri patientes." 
 
 t See note N, at the end of this Book. 
 
 X See Clemens Ahxandrinus, in his Admonitio ad Gcntes. 
 
 § See Fabricius's Notitia comicorum deperditorum, in hit' fnil volume of the Bibl. 
 Gr3ec. lib. ii. cap. ii. 
 
 H Acad. Qnxft. lib. i. 
 
 Vol. 1. F f two
 
 2i8 THEDIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 two capital corruptions of the Myfteries were magic and impuri- 
 ties. Yet, fo late as the age of Apollonius Tyan ; the Eleitfinian 
 kept fo clear of the firft imputation, that the hierophant refufed to 
 initiate that impoftor, hecaufe he was fufpeded to be a Magician *. 
 And, indeed, their long-continued immunity, both from one and 
 the other corruption, will not appear extraordinary, if we confider, 
 that, by a law of Solon, the fenate was always to meet the day 
 after the celebration of thefe Myfteries, to fee that nothing had 
 been done amifs during the performance t- So that thefe were 
 the very laft that fubmitted to the common fate of all human in- 
 ilitutions %. 
 
 It is true, if uncertain report were to be believed, the MyJlcrleS' 
 were corrupted very early; for Orpheus himfelf is faid to have 
 abufed them §. But this was a figment which the debauched Myfte 
 of later times invented to varnlfh over their enormities; as the de- 
 teftable P^ederafts of after-ages fcandalized the blamelefs Socrates, 
 Befides, the ftory is fo ill laid, that it is deteded by the fureft re- 
 cords of Antiquity: for, in confequence of the crime which they 
 fabled Orpheus committed in the Myf cries, they pretended, that 
 he was torn in pieces by the women : whereas it appeared from the 
 infcription on his monument at Dium in Macedonia, that he was 
 ftruck dead with lightning, the envied death of the reputed favou- 
 rites of the Gods ||. 
 
 And here the chriftian fathers will hardly efcape the cenfure 
 of thofe who will not allow high provocation to be an excufe for 
 an unfair reprefentation of an adverfary. I fay, they will hardly 
 
 * 'O Tt "li^of a»]jii »x sft-Xfio 'aa^iyiii To, isfi, fti y«g at 'mill fivicat yorUa, fin is Tr,> 'EhevaTix 
 a«oi|«l aiS^o^n-u (^r; xu9acu ru Jai^ona. Philoft, lib. iv. Cap. l8. 
 
 •^ n yaf ^ahh ixu xaitSua^xi tjus^^l, xara to» SoAw*©- »o//ov, 05 xeAei'ii, T»i iftfaiK, run f*«r»jiarj 
 iJfa* liroitrir i» T« 'EXivffiHU. Andoc. Orat. 
 
 •1; See note O, at the end of this Book, 
 
 § See Diog. Laert. Proccmium, Segm, 5. 
 
 Jl Idem, ibid. 
 
 efcape
 
 Sect. 4. OF M O SE S DE MO NSTRATED. 219 
 
 efcape cenfure, for accuftoming themfelves to fpeak of the Myf- 
 teries as grofs impieties and im!r.oralities in their very original*. 
 Clemens Alexandrinus, in a heat of zeal, breaks out, " Let him 
 *' be accurfed, who firfl: infeded the world with thefe impoftures, 
 *' whether it was Dardanus— or — ^c. Thefe I make no fcriiple to 
 «* call wicked authors of impious fables ; the fathers of an exe- 
 '* crable fuperftition, who, by this Inftitution, fo'ved in human 
 *' life the feeds of vice and conuptionf." But the wifefl and beft 
 of the pagan world invariably hold, that the Myfleries were infti- 
 tutcd pure ; and propofed the nobleft end, by the worthicft means. 
 And even though the exprefs teftimony of thefe writers, fupported 
 by the reafon of the thing, flijuld be deemed infufficient, yet the 
 charader and quality of their Inftltutor muft put the matter out of 
 all doubt. This Inflitutor, as will be ^ecn prefently, was no other 
 than the Lawgiver, or civil magistrate himfelf. Wherever 
 the Myferies found public admittance, it was by his introduction ; 
 and as oft as ever they were celebrated, it was under his infpeftion. 
 Now virtue is as eflential to the prefervation, and vice to the de- 
 flrudion of that Society, over which he prefides, as obedience and 
 difobedience are to his office and authority. So that to conceive him 
 difpofed to bring in, and to encourage, immoral praftices under the 
 ma(k of Religion, is the fame thing as to fufpcct the Phyfician of 
 mixing Polfons with his antidotes. 
 
 The truth of the matter was this : the Fathers bore a fccret 
 grudge to the Mvjieries for their injurious treatment of Chriftianity 
 on its firft appearance in the world. We are to obferve, that 
 Atheism, by which was meant a contempt of the Gods, was 
 reckoned, in the Myjleries^ amongfl the greateft: crimes. So, in 
 the fixth book of the Mneii (of which more hereafter) the hottefl: 
 
 • See note P, at the end of this book. 
 
 "{■ "O^-Xoilo ttv rSo-Ji a{|a? ixn-*T>;{ (i>5»i7roi?' ifrj o AxfJai©' — iiri — Taras Xyiiy at a,^x,'ni)umt 
 )p'n<riniit /it'8o» i5/cf, x^ Jtio-iJaiftoviatj oXiSjia •mali'faj, irff;'ffc» xaxiaj k, j9of»; lyxalaf Jlii/Varla; Tii 
 
 S'U ret jAvrv^i*. Admonitio ad Gentes, pag. 8, A. B. Edit. Sjlburg. 
 
 F f 2 feats
 
 2/20 TH E D I V I N E L E G A T I O N Book II. 
 
 leats la Tartarus are allotted to die Atheift, fuch as Salmoneus, 
 Tityus, and the Titans, &c. Now the Chriflians, for their con- 
 tempt of the national Gods, were, on their firft appearance, deemed 
 Atheill-s by the people ; and fo branded by the Myftagogue, as we 
 find in Lucian *, and expofed amongft the reft in Tartarus, in their 
 folemn fhews and reprefentations. This may be gatliered from a 
 remarkable paflage in Origen, where Celfus t2;us addreffes his ad- 
 verfary : " But now, as you, good man, believe eternal punifti- 
 " ments, even fo do the interpreters of thefe holy Myjieries, the 
 " Ilierophants and Initiators ; you threaten others with thefe pu- 
 " nifliments : these, on the contrary, threaten you t-" This 
 explains a paflage in Jerom's catalogue of ecclefiaftical writers ; and 
 will be explained by it. The Father, fpeaking of Quadratus, fays ; 
 " Cumque Hadrianus Athenis exegiflet hiemem invifens Eleufinem,. 
 " & omnibus pene Grzecise facris initiatus, dediflet occalionem iis, 
 ♦' qulChriftianos oderunt, abfque prscepto Imperatoris vexare cre- 
 " dentes, porrexit ei librum pro religione noftra." Now what oc- 
 cajion was afforded at this jundure to the eneixiies of Chriftianity, 
 but only this. That, the Grecian Myjlerks reprefenting the Faithful 
 in an odious light, the Emperor (who but juft then had been ini- 
 tiated into almoft all of them) might be reafonably thought efliranged 
 and indifpofed towards Chriilianity ; and fo the ealier drawn to 
 countenance, or connive at, any injuftice done unto it ? 
 
 This, without doubt, was what fharpened the Fathers againft 
 the Myjleries ; and they were not over tender in loading what they 
 did not approve. On this account they gave eafy credit to what 
 had been told to them of the abominations in the Myjleries ; and 
 the rather, perhaps, on account of the fecrecy with which they 
 
 XPISTIANOJ:, ^ Eii»««ptii&-, wi jiaWxos-©- Tut i^yUt (ptvyir u —Vfendomzat'is, T. II. pag. 
 244. Edit.Reitzn, 410. Amftd. 1743. 
 
 t Ma?iir» p"») " ^t^1lri, u^v.f av xoXaj-si; uluyies youi^fi?" bth )^ oi rut !t(u!t uttivuf l^vfr^ral 
 r4>.if«i Ti "^ livrafayoi' »; B'v f*i» Torj a^^ols »7lt^I^j, tKtTnt ^1 0"ot« Hb. VIU. 
 
 were
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 221 
 
 were celebrated. The fame Secrecy in the Chrlftian Rites, and 
 the fame language introduced by the Fathers in fpcaking of them, 
 as we fee below, procorcd as eafy credit to thofe calumnies of 
 murder aad inceft charged upon them by the Pagans. Nay, what 
 is ftill more remarkable, thofe fpecific enormities, in which their 
 own Myjieries were known to offend, they objefled to the Chriftians. 
 *' Alii eos [Chriftianos] ferunt ipfius Antiftitis ac Sacerdotis colere 
 *' genitalia*." But here comes in the flrange part of the (lory; 
 that, after this, they fhould fo ftudioufly and formally transfer the 
 terms, phrafes, rites, ceremonies, and difcipline of thefe odlcm 
 Myjieries into our holy Religion ; and, thereby, very early vitiate 
 and deprave, what a pagan writer f could fee, and acknowledge, 
 to be ARsoLUTA 6c SIMPLEX, as it came out of tlie hands of its, 
 Author. Sure then it was fome more than ordinary veneration the 
 People had for thefe Myjieries, that could incline the Fathers of the 
 Church to fo fatal a counfel : however, the thing is notorious |, 
 and the effeds have been feverely felt. 
 
 We have all along fuppofed the Myjieries an invention of the 
 Lawgiver : and, indeed, we had nothing to do with them, but in 
 that view. Now though, from what hath beeii faid, the intelligent 
 reader will colleft, we have not fuppofed amifsj yet fince the per- 
 tinency of the whole difcourfe, as here applied, depends upon it, 
 he may perhaps expert us to be a little more particular. 
 
 That the Myjieries wtxc invented, eftabliflied, and fupported by 
 LAWGIVERS, may be feen, 
 
 I. From the place of their original ; which was Egypt. This,- 
 Herodotus, Diodorus, and Plutarch, who colled from ancient tef- 
 timonies, exprefly affirm ; and in this all Antiquity concurs : the 
 Eleujmian Myfteries, particularly, retaining the very Egyptian Gods, 
 in whofe honour they were celebrated ; Ceres and Triptolemus 
 
 • Caicil. apud Minut. in Oiftav. 
 
 + Amm. Marcellinus, lib. xsi. cap. i6. HiH. 
 
 \ See note Q^ at the end of this Book, 
 
 beinjr
 
 222 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 being only two other names for Ills* and Ofirls : as we have feen 
 above from Theodoret : and fo TlbuUiis, — 
 Prunus aratra manu follertl fecit Osiris, 
 Et teneram ferro follicitavit humum f- 
 
 Hence it is, that the universal nature, or \htfi>'jl Caufcy the 
 objedl of all the Mvfieries^ yet difguifed under diverfe names, fpeak- 
 ing of herfelf in Apuleius, concludes the enumeration of her various 
 niyftic rites, in ihefe words, — '' Prifca<^ue doclrina poUentes 
 " yEoYPTii, CEREMONiis me piorfus PiioPRiis \ percolentes, 
 " appellant vero nomine reginam Isidem §." 
 
 But the fimilitude between the Rites praftifed, and the Doclrines 
 taught in the Grecian and Egyptian Myjieries, would be alone fuf- 
 ficient to point up to their originah fuch as \X\t Jecrecy required of 
 the Initiated ; which, as we fiiall fee hereafter, peculiarly charac- 
 terized the Egyptian teaching ; fuch as the dodrines taught of a 
 vieiempfychoj'is, and a future ftate of rewards and punifhments, which 
 the Greek writers agree to have been firft let abroach by the Egyp- 
 tians II ; fuch as ahjltnetice enjoined from domeftic fowl, fifh, and 
 beans**, the peculiar fuperftition of the Egyptians; fuch as the 
 Ritual compofed in hieroglyphics^ an invention of the Egyptians ft. 
 
 But 
 
 * "13-15 Yi ifi xoli tm '£^^iw» y'KaKTaai Anfiirr,^, Hei'odot. lib. ii, cap. 59. And again 
 
 cap. 156. A>If«r,T>l{ Of "lal;. 
 
 f See note R, at the end of this B.ok. 
 
 % See note S, at the enC of this Book. 
 
 § Metam. lib. xi. 
 
 II Timxus the Locrian, in Iiis book Of the foul of the world, fpeaking of the neceffity 
 of inculcating the doflrine of future punifhments, calls them TiMfiPiAI SENAI, foreign 
 torments: by which name both Latin and Greek writers generally mean, Egyptian, 
 where the fubjeft is Religion. 
 
 ** See Porphyriu.-! De Abllin.- 
 
 ft Senex comillimus ducit me protinus ad ipfas fores .nedis ampliflimnc, rituque fo- 
 ienni afperfionis celebrate myfterio, ac matutino perado facrificio, de opertis adyti pro- 
 fert quofdam libros, Uteris ignorabilibus prsuotatos ; partim ficwris cujuscemodi 
 
 ANIMALIUM,
 
 Sect. 4. O F M O S E S D E x\IO N S TR A T E D. 22j 
 
 But it would be endlcls to reckon up all the particulars in which 
 the Egyptian and Grecian Myilerles agreed : it ihall fuiTice to lay, 
 that they were in all things the lame *. 
 
 Again ; nothing but the fuppofition of this comn:ion original to 
 all the Grecian My/ieries can clear up and reconcile the dil'putes 
 which arofe amongft the Grecian States and Cities, concerning tlie 
 original of thefe rites ; every one claiming to be the Prototype to 
 the reft. Thus Thrace pretended that. they came firft from thence; 
 Crete contefted the honour with thofe barbarians ; and Athens 
 claimed it from both. And at that time, when they had forgotten 
 the true original, it was impofiible to fettle and adjuft their dif- 
 ferences ; for each could prove that he did not borrow from others; 
 and, at the lame time, feeing a fimilitude in the Rites -j-, would 
 conclude that they had borrowed from him. But the owning 
 Egypt for their common Parent, clears up all difficulties : by ac- 
 counting for that general likeneis which gave birth to every one's 
 preteufions. 
 
 Now, in Egypt, all religious Worfnip being planned and efta- 
 bliflhed by Statefmen, and diredted to the ends of civil policy, we 
 mult conclude, that the Mxfleries were originally invented by le- 
 gislators. 
 
 2. The Sages who brought them out of Egypt, and propagated 
 them in Afia, in Greece, and Britain, were all Kings or Law- 
 givers ; fuch as Zoroafter, Inachus, Orpheus %, Melampus, Tro- 
 phonius, Minos, Cinyras, Ereftheus, and the Druids. 
 
 ANIMALIUM, CONCEPTI SERMONIS COMPENDIOSA VERBA SUGGEREN TE9, partim nO- 
 
 dofis, & in modum rota: tortuofis, capreolatimque condenfis apicibus. Apul, Metam. 
 lib. xi. 
 
 7x T! ■at^l T«5 ^valaf >y Tai a^X"'"'^''''*' w<^a'''T«! t'x"' 'AC^ra.'B,- >^ TB« Aiyy^l^s. T>loA. bic. lib. i. 
 
 ■j. Kai TO. li^a, TfoVov Tiwi xoiaoirour^Gai' TavTx ri, xj tSi SapcS^aiur, xj Ta i» A^iu, xj 
 
 «aX« w^ilu• Jii ri TH« vj^cjTCXni Xiyia^ai rtn aiT«,-. Strabo, lib. X. p. 466. D. Edit. Parif. 
 1620. fol. 
 
 X Of whom Ariftophancs fays, 'O^^fi? f»" yip TiXiii; ^ iu:, na'iiti^i, ip«>*r t' iT/j/KrGa.' 
 " Orpheus taught us the My/lcries, and to abftain from murder," i. c. from a life of 
 rapine and violence, fuch as n>en lived in ihejate of nature,- 
 
 3- They
 
 2^:4 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 2. They were under the fuperhitendence of the State. A Ma- 
 
 ' iman 
 
 giftrate intitled BASIAEYS, or King, prefided in the Eleufii 
 Mxfteries, Lyfias hiforms us, that this King was to offer up the 
 public prayers, according to their country Rites ; and to fee that 
 nothing impious or immoral crept into the celebration *. This title 
 given to the Prefident of the MyJIerles, was, doubtlefs, in me- 
 mory of the hrft Founder: to whom were joined four officers, 
 chofen by the people, called EniMEAHTAI or Curators f ; the 
 priefls were only under-officers to thefe, and had no fhare in the 
 direftion : for this being the Legiflator's favourite inftitution, he 
 took all pofiible care for its fupport ; which could not be done more 
 efleclually, than by his watching over it hlmfelf. On the other 
 hand, his interfering too openly in religious matters would have 
 defeated his end ; and the people \vould foon have come to regard 
 this high folemnity as a mere engine of State ; on which acceunt 
 he carefully kept behind the curtain. For though it be now apparent 
 tliat the M^Jleries were the invention of the Civil Magiflrate, yet 
 even fome Ancients, who have mentioned the Myjleries, feemed. 
 not to be apprized of it ; and their ignorance hath occafioned great 
 embroilment in all they fay on this fubje£l. The reader may fee 
 by the fecond chapter of Meurfius's Elcujinin, how much the An- 
 cieuts were at a lofs for the true founder of thofe Myjierks ; fome 
 giving the inftltution to Ceres ; fome to Triptolemus ; others to 
 Eumolpus ; others to Mufaeus ; and fome again to Eredlheus. How 
 then Ihall we dilengage ourfelves from this labyrinth, into which 
 Meurlius hath led us, and in which, his guard of Ancients keep 
 us inclofed ? This clue will eafily condu£t us through it. It ap- 
 pears, from what has been faid, that Ere(a:heus, king of Athens, 
 eftablifhed the Myjier'ies \ ; but that the people unluckily confounded 
 
 * — Kai ii/ixi [i'|t]»i xali ri «7»Tfi» — oVaj ay fuiJsi;,' aJiJ-.ii, (*iiJi u.ai'^ iPfgi Ta ii^*— 
 in Andoc. 
 
 f See Meurfius's Eleufinia, cap. xv. 
 
 X And fo fays Diodorus Siculus, lib, i. Bibl. 
 
 the
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 225 
 
 the Inftltutor, with the priests, Eumolpus and Mufxus, who 
 firil officiated in the rites ; and with Ceres and Triptolemus, the 
 DEI/TIES, In whofe honour they were celebrated. And thefe mif- 
 takes were natural enough*: the poets would be apt, in the licence 
 of their figurative ftjle, to call the Gods, in whofe name the Myf- 
 ieries were performed, the Founders of thofe MyjUries ; and tiie 
 people, feeing only the minijftry of the officiated priefts (the Legif- 
 lator keeping out of fight) in good earneft believed thofe Myfta- 
 gogues to be the founders. And yet, if it were reafonable to exped 
 from Poets or People, attention to their own fancies and opinions, 
 one would think they might have diftinguilhed better, by the help 
 of that mark, which Eredtheus left behind him, to afcertain his 
 title ; namely, the eredlon of the officer called l3ct<riKeve, or K/ng. 
 
 4. But this original is ftill further feen from the qualities re- 
 quired in the afpirants to the Myjleries. According to their original 
 Inftitution, neither Jlaves nor foreigners were to be admitted into 
 them t. Now if the Myjleries were inftituted, primarily for the 
 fiike of teaching religious truths, there can be no rcafon given why 
 every man, with the proper moral qualifications, fhould not be 
 admitted : but fuppofing them inftituted by the State for civil pur- 
 pofes, a very good one may be affigncd ; {or Jlaves and foreigners 
 have there, neither property nor country. When afterwards the 
 Greeks, by frequent confederations agalnft the Perfian, the common 
 enemy of their liberties, began to confider themfelves as one people 
 
 * They were committed where nd Myftery was affe£\ed, in what concerned the open 
 worfhip of their Gods. Tacitus, fpeaking of the Temple of the Paphian Venus, fays, 
 •' Conditorem Templi Regem Acrian vetus memorla, quidam ipfius Dc« nomcn id per- 
 '< hibent," Hid. lib. ii. 
 
 ■{■ — ^a9i ['Hjai-.X??] erfo; EiuoXTov «it 'EXiwo-^iX, ^aXaV"®* f*t"i9nv«i' Jx ^\ bx i^o» SENOIS ToVf 
 
 nuircrQai— Schol. Hom. 11.0. It was the fame in the CabiricMyfteries, as we learn 
 from Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. who fpeaks of the like innovation made there. — ioKiX i\ 
 tlfci wfi,-©- HENOTS (ti/So-ai. As to flaves, hear Ariftophanes in his QtirfMipifiK^. 
 
 — — ^ <rv y kctS' Z 0;5tT Uvo^uf 
 AOYA0I2 y«j an, (|ir axaii» Ti» 'h.iyuvt 
 
 Vol. I. G g and
 
 226 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 and Community, the Myjlcria were extended to all who fpoke the 
 Gi^EEK LANGUAGE. Yet the Auclents, not reflcding on the ori- 
 ginal and end of their inftitution, were much perplexed for the rea- 
 fons of an exclufion fo apparently capricious. Lucian tells us, in 
 The life o/'his friend Demonax, that this great philofopher had the 
 courage, one day, to afk the Athenians, why they excluded bar- 
 barians from their M^v/ieries, when Eumolpus, a barbarous Thracian, 
 had eftabliflied them *. But he does not tell us their anfwer. One 
 of the moft judicious of our modern critics was as much at a lofs ; 
 and therefore thinks the reftraint ridiculous, as implying, that the 
 Inftitutors fuppofed that fpeaking the Greek tongue contributed to. 
 the advancement of piety -}■• 
 
 5. Another proof of this original may be deduced from what was 
 taught promifcuoufly to all the Initiated; which was, the neccjjlty 
 of a virtuous and boh life, to obtain a happy Immortality.. Now this^ 
 we know, could not come from the facerdotal warehoufe : the 
 priefts could afford a better penny-worth of their Elyfium, at the 
 eafy expence of oblations and facrifices : for, as our great Philofo- 
 pher well obferves (who, however, was not aware of this extraor- 
 dinary inftitution for the fupport of virtue, and therefore concludes 
 too generally) " The Priefts made it not their bufinefs to teach the 
 ** people virtue : if they were diligent in their obfervations and cere* 
 «' monies, punctual in their feafts and folemnities, and the tricks 
 *' of religion, the holy tribe afllired them that the Gods were 
 
 * 'EToX/a»)o-i Ji wol; )^ 'Afinvais? [jJI^trai Jn/^oaU, T«; ts^offiffiut aKatroe;, Jia Tiva aiTi'av (xiro« 
 
 But the faft, that they were not a gredau but ^foreign, that is, barbarous invention, is 
 proved by their very name, f^vri^ia., from the eaftern dialeft, mijlor, or mijur, res aut 
 locus abfconditus. 
 
 f Auftor tft Libanius in Corinthionim aftione, myftagogos fumma diligentia initian- 
 dos ante omnia monuifle, ut manus puras animumque fibi fervarent purum : >y -rw (p«w 
 •Exx»i»«i tT»ai ; fs" utin voce {xve/ermone Graces fe frajiarcnt : hoc quidem profefto ridicu^ 
 lum, quafi facertt ad veram pietatem, Graeca potius quaiB alia lingua loqui. If. Cafau- 
 boni Excicit, xvi. ad Annales Eccl. Baron. 
 
 " pleafed,
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 227 
 
 " pleafed, and they looked no further : few went to the fchools of 
 '* Philofophers, to be inftru6led in their duty, and to know what 
 *• was good and evil in their adlons : the Priefts fold the better penny- 
 '* worths, and therefore had all the cuftom ; for luftrations and facrl- 
 *' fices were much eafier than a clean confclence and a fteddy courfe 
 " of virtue ; and an expiatory facrifice, that atoned for the want of 
 " it, much more convenient than a ftridl and holy life*." Now 
 we may be aflured, that an Inftitution, which taught the neceflity 
 of a ftriiSt and holy life, could not but be the invention of Law- 
 givers, to whofe fchemes moral virtue was fo neceffary. 
 
 6. Another fl:rong prefumption of this original is the great ufe 
 of .the Myjierics to the State : fo amply confeflLd by the wifeft 
 writers of antiquity, and fo clearly feen from the nature of the thing 
 itfelf. 
 
 7. But, laftly, we have the teftlmony of the knowing Plutarch 
 for this original ; who, in his treatife Of IJis and OJtris, exprefly 
 tells us, that it was " a moft ancient opinion, delivered down, 
 " from LEGISLATORS and Divines, to Poets and Philofophers, the 
 *♦ author of it entirely unknown, but the belief of it indelibly efta- 
 " bliflied, not only in tradition, and the talk of the vulgar, but in 
 *' the MYSTERIES aud in the facred offices of religion, both amongft 
 " Greeks and Barbarians, fpread all over the face of the globe, 
 •* That the Unlverfe was not upheld fortultoufly, without Mind, 
 ** Reafon, or a Governor to prefide over its revolutions +•'* 
 
 It is now fubmltted to the candid reader. Whether it be not 
 fairly proved, that the mysteries ivere invented by the legis- 
 lator, to affirtn and ejiablip the general do5lrine of a Providence, by 
 
 * Locke's Reafoiiablciicfs of Chrifiianit)-. 
 
 iMixif, iXXo. h TI TEAETAir, in 71 Si/j-i'aij, >^ ^aj^aj-oij ly "EMniri ijoXXa;)^? WJpif i{Of*i»)i», u; bt* 
 a>un >C ^c^<lIJy ><J axvf/fClJor cilu^uTXt 7u aiiTOfiaTu To ro«».— Edit. Francof. fol. T. H. p. 
 
 369. B. 
 
 G g 2 inculcating
 
 228 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book U. 
 
 incul iit'ing the belief of a future fi.Ue of reu-arJs and punif:ments. 
 Indeed, if we may believe a certain Ancient, who rppears to have 
 been well verfed in thefe matters, they gained their end, by clear- 
 ino up all doubts concerning the righteous government of the 
 Gods * 
 
 We have feen in general, how fond and tenacious ancient Paga- 
 nifm was of this extraordinary Rite, as of an lufritution fupremdy 
 ufeful both to society and religion. But this will be feen more 
 fully in what I now proceed to lay before the Public ; an examina- 
 tion of two celebrated pieces of Antiquity, the famous Sihth book 
 OF Virgil's tEneis, and the Metamorphosis of Apuleius : 
 The firft of which will {hew us of what ufe the Myfieries were 
 . efteemed to society; and the fecond, of what fupport to religion. 
 An inquiry into ^^neas's adventure to the Shades, will have this 
 farther advantage, the inftrudling us in thefJjews and reprefentations 
 of the mysteries; a part of their hiftory, which the form of this 
 difcourfe hath not yet afforded us an opportunity of giving. So 
 that nothing will be now wanting to a perfed knowledge of this 
 moft extraordinary and important Inftitution. 
 
 For, the defcent of Virgil's Hero into the infernal regions, I pre- 
 fume, was no other than a figurative defcription of an initiation; 
 and particularly, a very exad pifture of the spfctacles in the 
 Eleusinian mysteries ; where every thing was done in fhew 
 and machinery ; and where a reprefentation -j- of the hiflory of 
 Ceres afforded opportunity of bringing in the fcenes of heaven, hell, 
 elyfium, purgatory, and whatever related to the future ll:ate of men 
 and heroes. 
 
 * 'O Jt Tor? fiUrntoiV \yii.a.^i^<Xtt.\ «^BfaJy£^(*al<^^^ ijrojufiya?, itj ct§«s Tas Tl^ll*j alrac, lio-iSJjj xaflo 
 iiicnjaifiwv ytvo;ui»©-* rofgi a^tvoj iVi T>;i' raff! T»J Sia; «;ijii Sgna'xtia)' aftiflSoXo*. Sopater in Divif. 
 
 Qusft. 
 
 4. — (i^^' o f*i» nxtj1sy« Tijn Kogn» XpTacre* >^ i A^/xnlga iXw/ism xotra tk? J^tjfiSj to T£x»ov Xc^tn, 
 ti tStm Ti» f«i!So» eU l\'&- riyaft to U 'EXiwm wSj. Juft. Mart. Oral, ad Grac, prope init. 
 An<i if '^ K.o^r) ^fujiu. iiJu iy!«'»0«» (xurixo»* xj Tri» •aT^a.tnf, >^ t^. a.oirayr,t, j<J to ronfi©- aircut 
 
 '£Mv(r)s JaJax'""' Clemens Alex, in Protreptico, f. 7. E. Edit. Sylburgh. 
 
 But
 
 cor- 
 
 lave 
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 229 
 
 But to foften this paradox all we can, it may be proper to en- 
 quire into the nature of the JRneis. 
 
 Homer's two poems had each a plain and entire ftory, to convey 
 as plain and fimple a moral : and in this, lie is juftly efteemed 
 excellent. The Roman poet could make no improvements here : 
 the Greek was complete and perfeft ; fo that the patrons of \ irgij, 
 even Scaliger hlmfelf, are forced to feek for his fuperior advantages 
 in his epilbdes, defcriptions, fu-nilies, and in the chaftity and 
 rednefs of his thoughts and diftion. In the mean time they 
 all overlooked the prhicipal advantage he had over his gre'at 
 Exemplar. 
 
 Virgil found the epic poem in the firft rank of human compo- 
 fitions ; but this was too narrow a circuit for his enlarged ambition : 
 he was not content that its fubje6l fhould be to inftruft the world 
 in morals; much lefs did he think of physics, thouoh he was 
 fond of natural enquiries, and Homer's AUegcrizers had opened a 
 back-door to let in the Phllofopher with the Poet ; but he afpired 
 to make it a system of politics. On this plan he wrote the 
 Mneis ; which is, indeed, as compleat an Inftitute in verfe, by 
 EXAMPLE, as the Republics of Plato and Tully were in profe by 
 precept. Thus he enlarged the bounds, and added a new pro- 
 vince to epic poefy. But though every one faw that Augustus 
 was fhadowed in the perfon of /Eneas, yet it being fuppofcd that 
 thofe political inftrudions, which the poet defigned for the fervice 
 of mankind, were folcly for the ufe of his Mall:er, they mifled of 
 the true nature of the poem. And in this ignorance, the fucceed- 
 ing epic writers, following a work whofe genius they did not un- 
 derftand, wrote worfe than if they had only taken Homer, and his 
 fimpler plan, for their dircdion. A great modern Poet, and befi: 
 judge of their merit, aflures us of this faft ; and what has been 
 faid will help us to explain the reafon of it : " The other epic poets 
 *' (fays this admirable writer) have ufed the fame pradice [that of 
 •' Virgil, of running two fables into onej but generally carry it 
 
 •'fo
 
 -30 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " fo far, as to fuperinchice a multiplicity of fables, deftroy the unity 
 *' of a£lion, and lofe their readers in an unreafonable length of 
 •'time*." 
 
 Such was the revolution Virgil brought about in this nobleft 
 region of poefy ; an improvement fo great, that the trueft poet 
 had need of all the afTiftance the fublimeft genius could lend 
 him : nothing lefs than the joint aid of the Iliad and Odyfles being 
 able to furnifh out the execution of his great idea : for zfyjlem of 
 Politics delivered in the example of a great Prince, muft fhew hina 
 in every public adventure of life. Hence ^Eneas was, of neceflity, 
 to be found voyaging, with Ulyffes, and fighting, with Achilles. 
 
 But if the improved nature of his fubjeil compelled him to depart 
 from that fimplicity in the fable, which Ariflotle, and his befl in- 
 terpreter, Boflu, find fo divine in Homer t ; he gained confiderable 
 advantages by it in other circumftances ©f the compofition : for 
 now, thofe ornaments and decorations, for whofe infertion the cri- 
 tics could give no other reafon than to raife the dignity of the 
 Poem, become f^«//V?/ to the Subjeft. Thus the choice of Princes 
 and Heroes for his perfonages, which were, before^ only ufed to 
 grace the fcene, now conftitute the nature of the adion | : and 
 the machinery of the Gods, and their intervention on every occa- 
 fion, which was to create the marvellous, becomes, in this im- 
 provement, an indifpenfable part of the poem. A divine interpoji- 
 
 * Preface to the Iliad of Homer. 
 
 f Nous trouverons point, dans la fable de I'Eneide, cette fimplicite qu'Ariftote a 
 trouvee i\ divine dans Homere. Traite du poeme epiqiie, lib, i, cap. xi. 
 
 X — " Le retoiir (fays BofTu) d'un homme en fa maifon, & la querelle de deux au- 
 " tres, n'ayant rien de grand en foi, deviennent des actions illuftres & importantes, 
 " lorfque dans le ehoix des noms, le poete dit que c'eft I'Ulyffe qui retourne en Itha- 
 " que, & que c'eft Achille & Agamemnon qui querellent." — He goes on, " Mais il y 
 " a des a£lions qui d'elles memes font tres importantes, comme reJlabUJJement, ou la ruine 
 •• <r«» etat, ou iTune religion. Telle eft done I'adlion de I'Eneide." lib. ii. cap, 19. He 
 faw here a remarkable difference in the fubjefts ; it is ftrange this fliould not have led 
 liim to fee that the JEticis is of a different fpecies. 
 
 tion
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 231 
 
 ti'-n is In the very fpirlt of ancient legiflation ; where, we fee, the 
 principal care of the Lawgiver was to poflefs the people with the full 
 belief of an over-ruling Providence. This is the true reafon of fo much 
 machinery in the ^Eneis : for which, modern critics Impeach the 
 author's judgment, who, in a poem written in the refined and en- 
 lightened age of Rome *, followed the marvellous of Homer fb 
 clofely. An excellent writer, fpeakingof \'irgil in this view, lays, 
 " If there be any inftance in the ^neid liable to exception upon 
 " this account, it Is in the beginning of the third book, where 
 ** ^neas is reprefented as tearing up the myrtle that dropped blood. 
 *' This circumftance feems to have the tnarvelhus without the pro- 
 ** bable, becaufe it is reprefented as proceeding from natural caufes- 
 "without the interpofition of any God,, or rather, fupernatural 
 •' power capable of producing It +•" But furely this inflance was 
 ill chofen. The poet makes -(^neas fay, on this occafion, 
 Nymphas venerabar agreftes, 
 
 Gradlvumque patrem, Getlcls qui praefidet arvls, 
 
 Rite fecundarent vlfus oMENque levarent |. 
 
 Now omens were of two kinds §, the natural and fupernatural. 
 This in queftlon, was of the latter fort, produced by the Interven- 
 tion of the Gods, as appears by his calling this adventure, monstra 
 DEUM : it was of the nature of X.\\ok portentous /liowers of blood fb 
 frequently occurring in the Roman hiftory. And the poet was cer- 
 tainly within the bounds of the probable, while he told no more 
 than what their graveft writers did not fcruple to record in their 
 annals. 
 
 But this was not done merely to raile admiration. . He Is here 
 (as we obferve) in his leglflative charadler ; and writes to poflefs the 
 
 * Ce qui eft beau dans Ho'-nere pourroit avoir etc mal re<;il dans les ouvragcs d'lin 
 poete du tems d'Augurte. Idegn, lib. iii. cap. 8. De tadmirahU. 
 t Mr. Addifon's Works, vol. iii. p. 316. quarto edit, i7»i, 
 X Lib. iii. 
 \ See note T, at the end of this bocVi 
 
 people
 
 232 THE DIVINE LEGx\TION Book II. 
 
 people of the interpofition of the Gods, in omens and prodigies. 
 This was the method of the old Lawgivers. So Plutarch, as quoted 
 above, tells us, " that with divinations and omens, Lycurgus fanc- 
 *' tified the Lacedemonians, Numa the Romans, Ion the Athenians, 
 " and Deucalion all the Greeks in general ; and by hopes and fears 
 " kept up in them the awe and reverence of Religion." The fcene of 
 this adventure is laid, with the utmofl propriety, on the uncivilized 
 inhofpitable (liores of Thrace, to infplre horror for barbarous manner s^ 
 and an appetite for focial life. On this account it is that our poet 
 here deferts the Mythologifts, and makes the age of civil policy, 
 (the time when men were firft brought out of a ftate of nature) 
 the golden age, and Saturn to govern in it. Thus Evander fays, 
 
 Haec nemora indigenae fauni nymphasque tenebant 
 
 Queis neque mos, neque cultus erat ; neque jungere tauros, 
 
 Aut componere opes norant, aut parcere parto : 
 
 Sed rami atque afper vi£lu venatus alebat. 
 
 Primus ab aetherio venit Saturnus Olympo — 
 
 Is genus indocile, ac difperfum montibus altis, 
 
 COMPOSUIT, LEGESQUE DEDIT *. 
 
 Whereas Ovid, who fpeaks the fenfe of the Mythologifls, make* 
 the golden age to be the Jlate of nature, and Saturn to govern there, 
 before the eredlion of civil policy. 
 
 Aurea prima fata eft stas, quae, vindice nullo, 
 
 Sponte fua, sine lege fidem redlumque colebat. 
 
 Poena metufque aberant : nec verba miNacia fixo 
 
 JExe Icgebantur : nec fupplex turba timebant 
 
 JuDicis ora lui. 
 
 Ipfa quoque immunis raftroque intacfla, nec ullis 
 
 Saucia vomeribus, per fe dabat omnia telius: 
 
 Contentique cibis nullb cogente creatis, 
 
 Arbuteos foetus, montanaque fragra legebant, 
 
 ■* Lib. viii, 
 
 Cornaque
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 233 
 
 Coniaque & in duris haerentia mora rulietis, 
 
 Et quae deciderant patiila Jovis arbore glandes. 
 
 Ver erat geternum — — 
 
 Poftquam Saturno tenebro{i\ in Tartara mifTo — 
 
 Turn prlmum fubjere domos — - — 
 
 Semina turn primum longls Cerealia fulcis 
 
 Obruta funt, preffique jugo gemuere juvenci*. 
 For it ferved the grave purpofe of the philofophlc Poet to decry the 
 ftate of nature ; and it fulted the fiuiciful paintings of the mytho- 
 logic Poet to recommend it. 
 
 But every thing in this poem points to great and public ends. 
 The turning the/Joips into [ea- deities^ in the ninth book, has the ap- 
 pearance of Ibmething infinitely more extravagant, than the myrtle 
 dropping bloody and has been more generally and feverely cenfured ; 
 and indeed, if defended, it muft be on other principles. The phi- 
 lofophic commentators of Homer's poem, had brought the fantaftic 
 refinement of Allegory into great vogue. We may eftimate the 
 capacity of Virgil's judgment in not catching at fo alluring a bait, 
 by obferving *that Ibme of the greateft of the modern epic poets, 
 who approached neare/l to Virgil in genius, have been betrayed by 
 it. Yet here and there, our poet, to convey a political precept, 
 has employed an Ingenious allegory in paffing. And the adven- 
 ture in queftion is, I think, of this number. By the transforma- 
 tion of the (hips into fea- deities, he would infinuate, I fuppofe, the 
 great advantages of cultivating a naval power; fuch as extended 
 commerce, and the dominion of the Ocean ; which, in poetical 
 language, is hecommg deities of the fea. 
 
 Mortalem eripiam formam, magnique jubebo 
 
 T^quoris efle Deas 
 
 He explains the allegory more clearly in the following book, where 
 he makes thefe transformed fea-nymphs accompany iEneas, and Ins 
 fleet of auxiliaries, through the Tyrrhene fea. 
 
 * Metam. lib. i. 
 
 Vol. I. H h Atque
 
 234 THE DIVINE LEGATION Bjok II. 
 
 Atque illl medio in fpatio chorus, ecce, fuarum 
 Occurrit comitum : nymphae, quas alma Cybele, 
 Numeu habere maris, nymphafquc e navibus efle 
 
 Juflerat ■ 
 
 Agnofcunt longe regem luftrantque choreis. 
 
 This Miniflerial hint was the more important and feafonable, as all 
 Odavius's traverfes, in his way to Empire, were from his want of 
 a fufficient naval Power ; firft in his War with Brutus and Caffius, 
 and .afterwards with Sextus, the fon of Pompey the Great, Nor 
 was it, at this time, lefs flattering to Auguftus ; to whom the 
 Alexandrians erefted a magnificent Temple, Porticoes, and fa- 
 cred Groves, where he was worftiiped under the title of CtESAR 
 THE PROTECTOR AND PATRON OF SAILORS, bo he 
 became a Sea-God and at the head of thefe Goddejes. For as one 
 of his Flatterers faid, 
 
 *' Prxfenti tlbi maturos largimur honores : 
 
 *' Jurandafque tuum per nomen ponimus aras." 
 
 As the not taking the true fcope of the Mneis^ hath occafioned 
 miftakes, to Virgil's difadvantage, concerning the plan and conduU 
 of the poem ; fo hath it llkewife, concerning the Chara£lers. The 
 PIETY of Tineas, and his high veneration for the Gods, fo much 
 offends a celebrated French writer*, that he fays, the hero was 
 Jitter^ to found a religioti t than a monarchy. He did not know, 
 that the image of a perfed Lawgiver is held out to us in ^Eneas : 
 and had he known that, he had perhaps been ignorant, that it was 
 the office of fuch a one to found religions and colleges of priefls |, 
 
 * Monfieur de St. Evremond. 
 f i, e. a community of monks. 
 
 "Oi -aftm- noiHSE noAEiz «; eaeimato nhots 
 
 AQANATOlj;, CT^^T®. l\ >^ ANQpnnnN BAZ:iAEYSEN,
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DExMONSTRATED. 23^ 
 
 as well as ftates and corporations. And Virgil tells us this was 
 the office of his hero, 
 
 Dum conderet urbem, 
 Inferretque pecs Latio 
 
 On the other hand Turn us, whofe manners are contrafted with 
 thofe of our Hero, is, on his very firfl- appearance, marked out by 
 his Irreverence to the Prieflefs of Juno. But the humanity of 
 ^neas offends this critic as well as his piety ; he calls him a mere 
 St. Swithin, always raining. The beauty of that circumllance 
 efcaped him. It was proper to reprefent a perfect Lawgiver as 
 quickly touched with all the affections of humanity : and the ex- 
 ample was the rather to be inforced, becaufe vulgar Politicians are 
 but too generally {een divefled of thele common notices ; and the 
 habit of vulgar heroifm is apt to induce paflions very oppofite to 
 them. Thus Virgil having painted Turnus in all the colours of 
 Achilles, and ^-Eneas in thofe of Hedlor (for the fubje£t of the I/iad 
 being the deflru£tion of a vicious and corrupt Community, the 
 fittefl inftrument was a brutal warrior, acer, iracundus^ fuch as 
 Achilles ; and the fubjedl of the Mneid hcmg the ereftion of a great 
 and virtuous Empire, the fittefl inftrument was a pious patriot, 
 like Heftor,) Turnus, I lay, was to be chara61:erifed as one de- 
 lighting in blood and flaughter. 
 
 Saevit amor ferri, 6c scelerata infania belli, 
 
 Ira fuper * 
 
 And, to make this paflion the more deteftable, the Poet tells U3 
 it was infpired into him by a Fury. But when he reprefcnts 
 ^neas as accepting the favourable figns from Heaven, which puflied 
 him on to war, he draws him, agreeable to fuch a charaftcr, com- 
 paflionating the miferies which his very enemies, by their breach 
 of faith, were to fuffer in it. 
 
 * Lib. vii. V. 461. 
 
 H h z Heu,
 
 -36 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 lieu, quanta^ miferis caedes Laurentlbus inftant ! 
 
 Quas poenas mihi, Turne, dabis ! quam multa per uiulas 
 
 Scuta vimm, galeafque, & fortia corpora volves, 
 
 Tibri pater ! pofcant acies, & foedera rumpant *. 
 
 But the circumftances of his Miftrefs, as well as thofe of his 
 Rival, are artfully contrived to fet off His Piety. On excufing 
 his departure to the enraged Queen of Carthage, as forced by the 
 command of the Gods, Ihe is made to anfwer him with tills Epi- 
 curean fcofF, 
 
 Scilicet is fuperis labor efl, ea cura quietos 
 
 SOLLICITAT t 
 
 very properly put into the mouth of a Woman immerfed in vo- 
 luptuous plealures. Yet the Poet takes care to tell us, that her 
 impiety, like Turnus's delight in blood and flaughter, was infpireci 
 by the Furies. 
 
 Heu ! Furiis incenfa feror. 
 
 But there is a further beauty in this circumftance of the Epifode. 
 Thefe two Lovers are made the Founders of the two Hoftile States 
 of Rome and Carthage. So, this was to infinuate (in fupport of 
 the author's main purpofe) That it was want of religion which 
 occafioned the Punka Fides ; and the pious culture of it, which 
 created the 
 
 Aha Moenia Roma. 
 
 Again, the Hero was to be drawn no lefs mafter of himfelf, under 
 the charms of the fofter paffions, than under the violence of the 
 rougher and more horrid, M. Voltaire fays,. 
 Virgile orne mieux la raifon, 
 
 A plus d' art, autant d' harmonic ; 
 Mais il s' epuife avec Didon, 
 Et rate a la fin Lavinie. 
 
 * Lib. Tiii, v, 537, f Lib. it. 
 
 But
 
 Sect. 4^ OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 237 
 
 But this ingenious man did not coniider, that the Epifode of Dido 
 and ^neas, was not given to ornament his poem with an amudng 
 tale of a love adventure, but to expofe the public milchiefs which 
 arife from Rulers' indulging themlclves in this voluptuous wcaknefs, 
 while they become 
 
 Regnorum immcmores, turpiquc cupiilinc captos. 
 The Poet therefore had defeated his own defign, if when he had 
 recovered his Hero from this weaknefs, and made him fay of his 
 deftined Empire in Italy, 
 
 — hie Amor, haec Patria eft . 
 
 if when he had perfeded his Chara6ler, and brought liim to the end 
 of his labours, he had ftill drawn him ftruggling with tliis impo- 
 tent and unruly paffion. 
 
 Nor is the view, in which we place this poem, lefs ferviceablo 
 to the vindication of the Poet's other charadlers. The learned au- 
 thor of the Enquiry into the life and writings of Homer, will allow 
 me to differ from him, in thinking that thofe uniform mannen in 
 the j^neis, which he fpeaks of, was the effed of defign, not, as he 
 would have it, of cuftom and habit : " Virgil, fays he, had (ccxi 
 *' much of the fplendor of a court, the magnificence of a palace, 
 " and the grandeur of a royal equipage : accordingly his reprefenta- 
 " tions of that part of life, are more auguft: and ftately than Ho- 
 " mer's. He has a greater regard to decency,, and thofe polifhed 
 " manners, that render men fo much of a piece, and make them 
 •* all refemble one another in their condu61: and behaviour *." For 
 the ^neis being a fyftem of Politics, what this writer calls the 
 eternity of a government, the form of a magijlrature, and plan of do- 
 minion, mufl needs be familiar with the Roman poet ; and nothing 
 could be more to his purpofc, than a reprefentation of polficd 
 manners ; it being the Lcgiflator's office to tame and break men to 
 humanity ; and to make them diCguife, at leaft, if they cannot be 
 brought to lay aftde, their favage habits. 
 
 * Page 3J£. 
 
 But
 
 238 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 But this key to the ^Eneis not only clears up many paflages ob- 
 noxious to the critics, but adds infinite beauty to a great number 
 of incidents throughout the whole poem ; of which take the fol- 
 lowing inftances, the one, in Religion, and the other, in civtl Policy. 
 
 I. ^neas, in the eighth book, goes to the Court of Evander, iii 
 order to engage him in a confederacy againfl: the common enemy. 
 He finds the king and his people bufied in the celebration of an an- 
 nual facrifice. The purpofe of the voyage is diipatched in a few 
 lines, and the whole epifode is taken up in a matter altogether 
 foreign to it, that is to fay, the facrifice, the feafl, and a long hif- 
 tory of Hercules's adventure with Cacus. But it Is done with 
 great art and propriety ; and in order tointroduce, into this poli- 
 tical poem, that famous inftitute of Cicero, (in his book Of Laws) 
 defigned to moderate the excefs of labouring fuperftition, the ignot<e 
 ceremonia, as he calls them, which at that time fo inuch abounded 
 in Rome — -" Divos & eos, qui cceleftes femper habiti, colunto, 
 
 " & olios, QUOS ENDO,COELO MERITA VOCAVERINT, HeRCULEM, 
 
 -*' Liberum, ^fculapium, Caftorem, Pollucem, Quirlnum" — Thus 
 copied by Virgil, in the beginning of iivander's fpeech to -iiEneas. 
 
 Rex Evandrus ait : Non h«c folemnia nobis. 
 
 Has ex more dapes, hanc^tanti numinis aram 
 
 VaNA SUPERSTITIO VETERUMCiyE IGNARA DEORUM 
 
 Impofult. Savis hofpes Trajane, pericUs 
 
 Servati facimus, meritosojue novamus honores 
 
 A leffon of great ^importance to the pagan Lawgiver. This Vana 
 Juperjiitio ignara veterum deorum was, as we have fhewn, a matter 
 he took much care to redlify In the Myjleries ; not by deftroying 
 that fpecies of idolatry, the worfhip of dead men, which was in- 
 deed his own invention, but by (hewing why they paid that worfhip . 
 namely, for benefits done to the whole race of mankind, by thofe 
 deified Heroes. 
 
 Quare agite, o]\xvems,\ tantarum in munere laiidum, &c. 
 
 The
 
 Sect. 4- O F MO S E S D E M O N STR ATED. 239 
 
 The conclufion of Evander's fpccch, 
 
 CoMMUNEMQUE vocATE DKUM, & date vina volente?, 
 
 alludes to that other inftltute of Cicero, in the fame book Of Laws. 
 " Separatim nemo habeffit Deos ; neve novos, neve advenas, 
 *' nifi publice adfcitos, privatim colunto." Of which he gives 
 the reafon in his comment, " fuofque Deos, aut Novos aut Alie- 
 " nigenas coli, confufionem habet religionum, & Ignotas ccre- 
 " monias." 
 
 Nor (hould we omit to obfcrve a further beauty in this epifodc ; 
 and, in imitation, ftill, of Cicero ; who, in his book Of Laws, 
 hath taken the beft'of the Roman Inftitutes for the foundation of 
 his fyftem : For the worfhip of Hercules, as introduced by 
 Evander, and adminiftred by the Potitii on the altar called the 
 ARA MAXIMA, was, as Dion. Hal. and Livy tell iis, the oldeft 
 eftablifhment in Rome ; and continued for many ages in high vene- 
 ration, To this the following lines allude, 
 
 Hanc ARAM luco ftatuit, qu^e maxima femper. Sec. 
 
 — Jamquc facerdotes, primufque PoTiTius, ibant. 
 
 But Virgil was fo learned in all that concerned the Roman ritual, 
 that it was a common faying, (as we colle£l from Macroblus) 
 Firgilius nojier Pontifex tnax'imus viJetur : And that writer not ap- 
 prehending the realbn of fo exa£l an attention to facred things, be- 
 ing ignorant of the nature of the poem, fays, mirandum eft hujus 
 poet» et circa noftra et circa externa facra do6trinam *. 
 
 2. In the ninth book we have the fine epifode of Nifus and Eu- 
 ryalus ; which prefents us with many new graces, when confidered 
 (which it ought to be) as a reprefentation of one of the moft fa- 
 mous and finguiar of the Grecian Inftitutions. Crete, that an- 
 cient and celebrated School of legiflation, had a civil cuftom, which 
 the Spartans firft, and afterwards all the principal cities oi Greece '\; 
 
 * Saturn. 1. iii. c. 6, I See note U, at the end of this Book, 
 
 borrowed
 
 240 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 borrowed from them, for every man of diftinguilhed valour or 
 wifdom to adopt a favourite youth, for whofe education he was an- 
 fwerable, and whofe manners he had the care of forming. Hence 
 Nifus is faid to be 
 
 ACERRIA5US ARMIS, 
 
 Hyrtacides ; 
 And Euryalus, 
 
 Comes Euryalus, quoPULCHRiOR alter 
 Non fuit ^neadum, Trojana neque induit arma ; 
 Ora PUER prima fignans intonsa juventa. 
 
 The Lovers (as they were called) and their youths always ferved 
 
 and fought together-; fo Virgil of thefe : 
 
 His amor unus erat, pariterque in bella ruebant, 
 Tum quoque comm.uni portam ftatione tenebant. 
 
 The Lovers ufed to make prefents to their favourite yo-uths.— So 
 Nifus tells his friend : 
 
 Si, TiBi, quye posco promittunt (nam mihi fatSbi 
 
 FMia fat eft) &c. 
 
 The ftates of Greece, where this Inftitution prevailed, reaped fo many 
 advantages from it, that they gave it the greateft encouragement by 
 tlieir laws : fo that Cicero, in his book Of a republic, obferved, 
 ** opprobrio fuiffe adolefcentibus fi amatores non haberent ?" Virgil 
 has been equally intent to recommend it by all the charms of poetry 
 aiid eloquence. The amiable charafter, the affecting circumftance, 
 the tendernefs of diftrefs, are all inimitably painted. 
 
 The youth fo educated, were found to be the bell; bulwark of 
 their country, and moft formidable to the enemies of civil liberty. 
 On which account, the Tyrants, wherever they prevailed, ufed all 
 their arts to fupprefs an Inftitution fo oppofite to private intereft 
 and ambition. The annals of ancient Greece afford many examples 
 of the bravery of thefe Bands, who chearfujly attempted the moft 
 
 hazardous
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 241 
 
 hnzardous adventures *. So that Virgil did but foUew the cuftom 
 of the befl policied States (which it was much for his honour to 
 do) when he put thefe two friends on one of the moft daring actions 
 of the whole war ; as old Aletes underftood it : 
 
 Di patrli, quorum Temper Tub numine Troja efl-, 
 
 Non tamen omnino Teucros delere paratis, 
 
 Cum tales animos juvenum, & tarn certa tuliftis, 
 
 Pe^ora. 
 
 Plutarch, fpeaking of the Thebans, in the Life of Pelopidas, fays, 
 that " Gorgias firft enrolled the sacred band, confifting of three 
 " hundred chofea men ; and that this corps was faid to be com- 
 " pofed of LOVERS and their friends. It is reported, fays he, 
 *• that it continued unconquered till the battle of Chaeronea ; and 
 ** when, after that a6lion, Philip was furveying the dead, and came 
 *' to the very fpot where thefe three hundred fell, who had charged 
 *' in clofe order fo fatally on the Macedonian lances, and obferved 
 ** how they lay heaped upon one another, he was amazed, and be- 
 *' ing told, that this was the band of Lovers and their Friends, he 
 *♦ burfl into tears, and faid, Accurfed be they who can fifpe£l that 
 *' thefe nun either did or fiiff'ered any thing difhonefl. But certainly 
 *' (continues my author) this inftitution of Lovers did not arife ia 
 *' Thebes, as the poets feigned, from the passion of Laius, but 
 *< from the wisdom of Legiflators +." Such was the Friendfhip 
 our poet would here reprefent, where he fays, 
 
 Nifus AMORE Pio pueri — 
 
 * See note X, at the end of this Book. 
 
 ii fatriv [| E^rc^v kJ l^ufAttu'i yi/tatai To nrrijM t5t«,— — ^l}'li«» ^i iiafiuiat ji'txi* Tiif it Xai^VKisc 
 IMOLxn; a^i'iTilov" w{ ^i fitia t'r,, ix»x,i' Ifo^H' -»5 nx^i o OIAittx©-. trv xali. t5to ri X"/'^"' '" V 
 vvttlvfx'^" x'^»'Sai TBS T{iaxoo-.'»v fiaylis; i?ir,»l7ixoTa5 Tars <ra{iaerai; axailiXi if tok rt»oTi oTXotf, >^ 
 
 ^a«{i!o-ai, ^ tiiruy, 'AwoXotvlo xaxw! oi raraj ti 'aoiiTti OTa<7';^tiii aKT^^ot i!ro»o5»li{. 'OXuf il t?j cbi^} tu; 
 Ifaras <7-uv»i3(iaf, «x »'0''"f »' womlal Kiyuai, ©uCrei'eij to Aaiij mdsl'&- afX'* f^»(i(rx"' "^'o' NOMO0E- 
 
 TAI. Tom. I. p, 287. B. ct E. Francof. Edit. fol. 1599. (Vol. II. p. 218, 219. ed. Brian.) 
 
 Vol. I. I i and
 
 242 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 and where he makes Afcanius call Euryalus,. 
 Venerande puer — 
 
 The one dies hi defence of the other ; revenges his death ; and theu- 
 falls with him, like the Lovers in the sacred band : 
 moriens animam abflulit hofli. 
 
 Turn fuper exanimem {t{e projecit amicum 
 
 Confoflus, placidaque ibi demum morte quievit. 
 
 And here let it be obferved, that, as this epifode is given for a pic- 
 ture of this Inftitution in it's purity; fo, in the Enerr.ies' quarter,., 
 he hath given another drawing of it, in it's degeneracy and corrup- 
 tion : for the sacred band, like the mysteries, underwent the,, 
 common fate of time and malice. 
 
 — Tu quoque flaventem prima lanugine malas 
 Dum fequeris Clytium infelix, nova gaudia Cydon 
 Dardania fliratus dextra fecurus amorum 
 Qui juvenum tibi femper erant, miferande jaceres *.. 
 
 The poet hath obferved the fame condudl, as we {hall fee hereafter^^, 
 with regard to the^«r^ and the corr?^/ mysteries. 
 
 Before I leave thefe previous circumftances, permit me only to 
 take notice, that this was the fecond /pedes of the epic poem ; our 
 own country-man, Milton, having produced the third: for juft as 
 Virgil rivaled Homer, fo Milton was the emulator of both. He 
 found Homer pofleffed of the province of morality; Virgil of 
 POLITICS : and nothing left for him, but that of religion. This 
 he feized, as ambitious to fhare with them in the Government of 
 the poetic world : and by means of the fuperior dignity of his fub- 
 je£t, hath gotten to the head of that Triumvirate which took fb 
 many ages in forming. Thefe are the three /pedes of the Epic 
 poem; for its largeft fphere is human action; which can be 
 only conhdered in a moral, a political, or religious view : and theic 
 
 * L. X. ver. 3:4, 
 
 the
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 243 
 
 the three great makers; for each of their Poems was ftruck out at a 
 heat, and came to perfeclion from its firft eflay. Here then the grand 
 Scene was clofed : and all further improvements of the Epic at an end. 
 
 It being now underftood, that the ^neis is in the ftyle of ancient 
 legiflation, it would be hard to think that fo great a mafter in his 
 art, fhouid overlook a DOCTRINE, which, we have (hewn, was the 
 foundation and fupport of ancient Politics; namely -x future Jl ate of 
 rewards and punipsmenls. Accordingly he hath given us a com- 
 plete fyftem of it, in imitation of his models, which were Plato's 
 vifon of Rrus, and TuUy's flV-^dw of Scipio. Again, as the Law- 
 giver 'took care to fupport this DoSirine by a very extraordinary 
 Infl:itution, and to commemorate it by a rite, which had all the 
 allurement of fpedlacle ; and afforded matter for the utmoft embel- 
 lifhments of poetry, we cannot but confefs a defcription of fuch a 
 Scene would add largely to the grace and elegance of his work ; 
 and muft conclude he would be invited to attempt it. Accordingly, 
 we fay, he hath done this likewife, in the allegorical defcent of 
 ^neas into Hell ; which is no other than an enigmatical reprefen- 
 tation of his initiat.'on into the mysteries, 
 
 Virgil was to reprefent an Heroic Lawgiver in the pcrfon of 
 ^neas; now, initiation into the A^^r/Vj was what fandtified 
 his Charader and enobled his Funftion. Hence we find all the 
 ancient Heroes and Lawgivers were, in faft, initiated *. And it 
 was no wonder the Legiflator fhouid endeavour by his example to 
 give credit to an inftitution of his own creating. 
 
 Another reafon for the Hero's initiation was the important in- 
 ftrudions the founders of Empire received in matters that concerned 
 their office +, as we may fee in the fecond fedion of the third book. 
 
 Hoineri Fraghi. Hymn, in Cer. apud Panf. Corinth. 
 
 t — y{.£<r9a. St (p«<7i ^ ti<r,Qtf^»i >^ J.,a.o1.'eB; ^ xari o-(X.1« gi^l.'wvas iaviH, T«< tZ, ^rrfU*- 
 ffsliixi-:, Sii rhf riy Sii* t&t«» l-iipamxr. Diod. p. 22^, 
 
 I I z A third
 
 244 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 A third reafon for his uiitiation, was their cuftom of feeking 
 fupport and infpiration from the God who prefided in the Myjleries *. 
 
 A fourth reafon for his initiation, was the circumftance in which 
 the poet has placed him, unfettled in his affairs, and anxious about 
 his future fortune. Now, amongft the ufes- of initiation, the ad» 
 vice and direction of the oracle was not the leaft : and an oracular 
 bureau was fo necefl'ary an appendix to fome of the Myjieries, as 
 particularly the Samothracian^ that Plutarch, fpeakingof Lyfander's 
 initiation there, expreffes it by a word that fignifies conjulthig the 
 oracle, 'Ev II l,uf/.o9^xH,yi ^py;g-/!^toi^c^sv@^f &c. On this account, Jafon^ 
 Orpheus, Hercules, Caftor, and (as Macrobius fayst) Tarquinius 
 Prifcus, were every one of them initiated into the Myjierles. 
 
 All this the poet feems clearly to have intimated in the fpeech: 
 of Anchifes to his fon : 
 
 Le£los juvenes fortiffima corda, 
 
 Defer in Italiam. — Gens dura atque afpera cuitu 
 
 Debellanda tlb'i Latio eft. Ditis tamcn ante 
 
 Infernas accede domos — 
 
 Turn genus omne tuum, &, qu^e dentur ma^nia, disces J. 
 
 A fifth reafon was the conforming to the old popular tradition^ 
 which faid, that feveral other Heroes of the Trojan times, fuch as 
 Agamemnon and Ulyfles, had been initiated §. 
 
 A fixth and principal was, that Augustus, who was fhadowed 
 in the perfon of -ffineas, had been initiated into the Eleusinian 
 Myjleries \\. 
 
 * Lib. ii. cap. 4. 
 
 •f- The rhetor Sopater, in his Aiai^iiru; f«1>iiitaT«iy, malces Pericles {3y,.Utriiu t«~j U 
 
 'EXivirm Sia";, tStoj fxoi Ix^iCnu'ivai Tor y3/, «J to rpaliiyojLi* tSto t| iyaxlsjur iatcn lui jt.vruS>, 
 % Mn. V. ver. 729, & feq. 
 
 § 'Aya^fVvov* ^a<T< /^Entij^eiov, \» ra/iax^ <>ii1a. rooX^ii xala T^oiixv, Ji' axalaraa-lav tuh 'Ewimy, . 
 ■aavtzat tii» r<»»''», •aoftpv^l^a. ix,'»'^<* — 'Oiu<raia lpc^a\ /j-ifiWijituDi ii XafioBfaKri p^pn^acrSoti ra xf»iJt^>« 
 i»lt Tuitiaf. Scholia Apollon. Rhod. Arg. lib. i. ver. 916. 
 "0^5« Soiltlii 
 'A^fijula? iyavro-t TiXi(7(f!o^())3-i 5tfxif«{ • 
 "net. 0£t, c. xcili. See note Y, at the end of this Book. 
 
 While
 
 Sect. 4- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 245 
 
 While the Mvfleries were confined to Egypt, their native country, 
 and while the Grecian Lawgivers went thither to be initiated, as a 
 kind of defignntion to their office, the ceremony would be naturally 
 defcribed, in terms highly all^goricah This was, in part, owing 
 to the genius of the Egyptian mnnners ; in part, to the humour of 
 Travellers; but moft of all, to the policy of Lawgivers ; who, re- 
 Uirning home, to civilize a barbarous people, by Laws and Arts, 
 found it ufeful and neceflhry (in order to fupport their own cha- 
 raders, and to eftablifh. the fundamental principal of a future 
 state) to- reprefent //6«/ initiation, in which, was {etn the con- 
 dition of departed mortals in machinery, as an actual descent 
 into hell. This way of fpeaking was ufed by 0>-pheus, Bac- 
 chus, and others ; and continued even after the iV^^r/Vj were in- 
 troduced into Greece, as appears by the fables of Hercules, Caftor, 
 Pollux, and Thefeus's defcent into hell. But the allegory was ge- 
 nerally fo circumftanced, as to difcover the truth concealed under 
 it. So Orpheus is faid to get to hell by the power of his harp : 
 Threicia fretus cithara, fidibufque cmoris : 
 
 that is, in quality of Lawgiver ; the harp being the known fymboL 
 of his laws, by which he humanized a rude and barbarous people. 
 So again, in the lives of Hercules and Bacchus, we have the true 
 hiflory, and the fable founded on it, blended and recorded together. 
 For we are told, that they were in fa£l initiated into the Elcujin'ian 
 Myjieries ; and that it w^is juft before their defcent into Hell, as 
 an aid and fecurity in that defperate undertaking *. Which, in 
 plain fpeech, was no more, than that they were initiated into the 
 kjer My/leries before they were admitted into the greater. The 
 fame may be faid of what is told us of Thefeus's adventure. Near 
 Eleufis there was a Well, called Callichorus ; and, adjoining to^ 
 that, a Jlone, on which, as the tradition went, Ceres fat down, . 
 
 fad
 
 246 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 fad and weary, on her coming to Eleufis. Hence the ftone was 
 named Ageiaftus, the melancholy Jione^ . On which account it was 
 deemed unlawful for the Initiated to fit thereon. " For Ceres (fays 
 *' Clemens) wandering about in fearch of her daughter Proferpine) 
 *' when (he came to Eleufis, grew weary, and fat down melancholy 
 "on, the fide of a well. So that, to this very day, it is unlawful 
 *' for the Itfitiated to fit down there, left they, who are now become 
 *' perfect, ftiould feem to imitate her in her defolate condition f." 
 Now let us fee what they tell us concerning Thefeus's defcent into 
 hell. *' There is alfo a ftone (lays the fcholiaft on Ariftophanes) 
 " called by the Athenians, Agelaflus ; on which, they fay, Thefeus 
 "fat when he was meditating his defcent into hell. Hence the 
 " ftone had its name. Or, perhaps, becaufe Ceres fat there, weep- 
 " ing, when fhe fought Proferpine 4:." Ail this feems plainly to 
 Intimate, that the dejcent of Thefeus was his entrance into the 
 Kleujinian Myjicrici. Which entrance (as we ihall fee hereafter) 
 was a fraudulent intrufion. 
 
 Both Euripides and Ariftophanes feem to confirm our interpreta- 
 tion of thefe dejcents into hell. Euripides, in his Hercules furens, 
 brings the hero, juft, come from hell, to fuccour his family, and 
 deftroy the^ tyrant Lycus. Juno in revenge, perfecutes him with 
 the Furies ; and he, in his tranfport, kills his wife and children, 
 whom he miftakes for his enemies. When he comes to himfelf, 
 he is comforted by his friend I hefeus ; who would excufe his ex- 
 ceffes by the criminal examples of the Gods.: a confideration which, 
 
 * 'AyiXar©- wtTja. So Ovid : 
 
 Hie primutn fedit gelido moeftiffima faxo ; 
 Illud CecropidsB nunc quoq-ue trljte vocant. 
 
 ^- *A^«pl^>l yap i A»jw r.%\k ^nr,aty T?? 5vyx\i( T?; aofuf, WEfJ' rvf 'EX«/«»a,— »t/TOxa/«wi, i^ 
 ^«'a1i ETTiititSi^ii }\iiiriii^.'.vri. T3to Toij |W!fii;D|i4£»oi{ iirafo^eielxi fiV/ri vtiy, iV« ixri iiiKnttv oi TslsXfo-^tirS* 
 
 fHfifTa-Gai Ti> oJi'^o.ixEKJii'. Clemens Protrept. pag. lo. A. Edit. Sylburg. 
 
 J "En ^6 Ki 'Ays\ar^ tsir^x iu.'KBfA.im raa^a tok 'Afitivaioi;, oVs xa6»Vai ^xcn Qncrta /xtXXovf* 
 xaiaSa(»£ii' eii fhi' i'9i» \^ Ta»o/x«i t^ mitfo.' i in IkC sH«0ii7iy « Aiijc^TiiP xAaiBo-«, oroit liJiTit til' xo^tif. 
 
 Schol. Equit, Ariftoph.l. 782. 
 
 as
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 247 
 
 as I have obferved above, greatly encouraged the people in their ir- 
 regularities ; and was therefore obviated in the Myfteries, by the 
 deteftion of the vulgar errors of polytheifm. Now Euiipides feems 
 plainly enough to have told us what he thought of the fabulous 
 delcents into hell, by making Hercules reply, like one jufl: come 
 from the celebration of the Myfteries, and entrufted with the 
 «7rdppij7«. " The examples (fays he) which you bring of the Gods, 
 *' are nothing to the purpofe. 1 cannot think them guilty of the 
 *^ crimes imputed to them. I cannot apprehend, how one God can 
 *' be the foverelgn of another God, — A God, who is truly fo, (lands 
 « in need of no one. Reje6t we then thefe idle fables, which the 
 " poets teach concerning them." h fecret^ which we muft fuppofe, 
 Thefeus (whofe entrance into the Mv/leries*wz% only a fraudulent 
 intrufion) had not yet learnt. 
 
 The comic poet, in his Fro^^, tells us as plainly what he too 
 xmderftood to be the ancient heroes' defcent into hell, by the equi- 
 page, which he gives to Bacchus, when he brings him in, enquir- 
 ing the way of Hercules. It was the cuftom at the celebration of 
 the EkuHnian myfteries, as we are told by the fcholiafl: on the place, 
 to have what was wanted in thofe rites, carried upon afle.s. Hence 
 the proverb, Afmus portat nyfleria : accordingly the poet introduces - 
 Bacchus, followed by his buffoon fervant Xanthius bearing a 
 bundle in like manner, and riding on an afs. And, left the mean- 
 ing of this fhould be miftaken, Xanthius, on Hercules's telling 
 Bacchus, that the inhabitants of Elyfium were the Initiated, puts 
 in, and fays, " And I am the afs carrying Myfteries." This was 
 fo broad a hint, that it feems to have awakened the old dreaming 
 fcholiaft ; who, when he comes to that place, where the Chorus 
 of the Initiated appear, tells us, we are not to underftand this 
 fcene as really lying in the Elysian fields, but in the Eleusi- 
 NiAN mysteries *. 
 
 • in'ov J«, iVt II K, li'cc T«{ It ah fiis-Xi Oai'niat X/j^ilv »^^l» r}. i.^7;9(i'« Jii Tfci J> 'E^» (Ton, i»1*t9»- 
 
 '^,iflr«1» J (TKwi T« J^a^oles in ver. 357. 
 
 Here
 
 2+8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book H. 
 
 Here then, as was the cafe in many other of the ancient fa- 
 bles, the pomp of expreffion betrayed willing pofterity into the 
 marvellous. But why need we wonder at this in the genius of more 
 ancient times, which delighted to tell the commonefl things in a 
 highly figurative manner, when a writer of fo late an age as Apu- 
 Icius, either in imitation of Antiquity, or perhaps in compliance to 
 the received phrafeology of the Myjlerles, defcribes his initiation in 
 the fame manner. " Accefii confinium mortis ; & calcato Profer- 
 " pin« limine, per omnia ve6tus elementa remeavi : nofte media 
 " vidi folem candido corufcantem lumine, Deos inferos & deos fu- 
 *• peros. Accefli coram, & adoravi de proximo *." ^neas could 
 not have defcribed his night's journey to his companions, after he 
 had been let out of the ivory gate, in properer terms, had it been 
 indeed to be underftood of a journey into Hell. 
 
 Thus, we fee, Virgil was obliged to have his Hero initiated ; and 
 he a£lually had the authority of Antiquity to call this initiation A 
 Defcent into Hell, 'H EIX AAOT KATABAIIE. Hence fome of the 
 pretended Orphic odes, fung at the celebration of the Myjleries, 
 bore this title, a name equivalent to TEAETAI, or 'IEP02 AOrOS-. 
 And furely he made ufe oS his advantages with great judgment ; 
 for fuch a ficStion animates the relation, which, delivered out of 
 allegory, had been too cold and infipid for epic poetry. 
 
 We fee, from ^neas's urging the example of thofe Heroes and 
 Lawgivers, who had been initiated before him, that his requefl: 
 was only for an initiation : 
 
 Si potuit manis arceflere conjugis Orpheus, 
 
 Threicia fretus cithara fidibufque canoris : 
 
 Si fratrem Pollux alterna morte redemit, 
 
 Itque reditque viam toties : quid Thefea magnum, 
 
 Quid memorem Alciden ? & mi genus ab Jove fumma 
 It is to be obferved, that Thefeus is the only one of thefe ancient 
 Heroes not recorded in hiflory to have been initiated, though we have 
 
 * Lib. xi. prope fincm. 
 
 fhewn
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. Z49 
 
 fhcwn that his dejcent into hell was, like that of the reft, only a view 
 of the MyjUries. The reafon is, his entrance was a violent intru- 
 iion. 
 
 Had an old poem, under the name of Orpheus, intituled, A 
 DESCENT INTO HELL, been now extant, it would, probably, have 
 Ihewn \is, that no more was meant than Orpheus's initiation ; and 
 that the idea of this fixth book was taken from thence. 
 
 But further, it was cuftomary for the poets of the Auguflan age 
 to exercite themfclves on the fubje£t of the Myjieries, as appears 
 from Cicero, who defires Atticus, then at Athens, and initiated, to 
 fend to Chilius, a poet of eminence *, an account of the Kleujinian 
 myfteries; in order, as it would fecm, to infert into Ibme poem he 
 was then writing +. Thus it appears, that both the ancient and 
 contemporary poets afforded Virgil a pattern for this famous epi- 
 fode. 
 
 Even Servius faw thus far into Virgil's defign, as to fay, that 
 many things were here delivered according to the profound learning of 
 the Egyptian theology |. And we have fhewn, that the do£lrlnes 
 taught in the Myjiirics, were invented by that people. But though 
 I fay this was our poet's general defign, in this famous epifode, I 
 would not be fuppofed to mean, that he followed no other guides 
 in the particular circumftances of it. Several of them are borrowed 
 from Homer : and feveral from the philofophic notions of Plato : 
 fome of thefe will be taken notice of, in their place. 
 
 The great Agent in this affair is the sibyl : and, as a Virgin, 
 fhe fuftains two principal and diftindl parts : that of tlie Infpired 
 Priefiefsy to pronounce the oracle (whofe connexion with the 
 M\f erics isjfpoken of above) ; and that oi Hierophant, to coudu(5t 
 the Initiated through the whole celebration. 
 
 * Sec lib. i. ep. i6. ad Atticum, Edit. Ox. ^to. T. III. p. 25. 
 
 ■j- Chilius te rogat & ego ejus rogatu EYMUAHlAnN OATi-lA. lih. i. epift. 9. ad Atti- 
 cum, Edit. Ox. 4to. T. Ill p. 9. On which Virtoi ins olifcrves, " m»T;ia fere omncs cxcufi, 
 " quemadmodum eft in antiquis, habent : ut intelligat ritiis patnos & inftitutionis 
 " illiui fiicrre familiae, & auguft.i mylleria, >if inquit Cicero, ii. Dc leg;j." 
 
 + V\ilta"pcr alt:un fcicnti.-'.in thtologicorum j^^'gyptivrum. 
 
 Vol. 1. K k Her
 
 250 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Her firft part begins, 
 
 Ventum erat ad limen, cum Virgo, Pofcerefata. 
 
 Tempus, ait. Di;us, ecce, Deus — 
 
 O tandem magnis pelagi defunfte periclis, &c, 
 and ends, 
 
 Ut primum ceffit furor, & rabida ora quierunt. 
 
 Her fecond part begins at. 
 
 Sate languine divum, 
 Ties Anchifiade, &c. 
 and continues through the whole book. For as we have obferved, 
 the Initiated had a guide or conductor, called 'Upo(poiVTyic,.^ M^^c^^i'oj'yogy 
 'lepivsi indifferently of either fex *, who was to inftrudl him in 
 the preparatory ceremonies, and lead him .through, and explain to 
 him, all the fhews and reprefentatlons of the Myjlcries. Hence 
 Virgil calls the Sibyl magna sacerdos, and docta cqmes, words 
 of equivalent fignihcation : and this, becaufe the Myfieries of Ceres 
 were always celebrated in Rome by female prieftsf- And as the 
 female Myjlagogue^ as well as the male ;|;, was devoted to a fingle 
 life, fo was the Cum^an Sibyl, whom he calls Cajla SibyUj. Ano- 
 ther reafon why a Prieftefs is given to condu6t him, is, becaufe . 
 Profcrpiue prefides in this whole affair. And the name of the 
 
 * Ta; isg£i«« [A«f<ii1^©-] MAiVo-os; Jxa\sv oi rooujiui. Schol. Eiuip. Hippol. MAio-o-a; xtj/ai; 
 Taj trii A^iumI^®- li^tMi p>ia-i. Scliol. I'ind. Pythion. 
 
 f So the fatyrift, 
 
 Paucx adeo Cereris viftas contingere dignre. Juv. Sat vi. 
 
 J; Hierophanta apud Athenas eviratur virum, & xterna debilitate fit caftus. Hieron. 
 ad Geron, De Monogamia. Cereris faccrdotes, viventibus etiam vipis, Sc confentienti- 
 bus, arnica feparatione viduantur. Tertul. De Monogamia, fub finem. Kai to» lEPO- 
 OANTHN xj TKi lEPO^ANTIAASj >^ tov %JS;i{;o», >cj t«? aXKa.^ ie^ttaf- iJ.v^fi»nf sxf" rEf»»ov* it' » 
 
 j^ T? Ai/x>i1pi CTfoj'flj'crGai, rciVTrit ^ruTi. Schol. Sophoc], Oedip. Col. V. 674. — It was for this 
 reafon that thefe female Hierophants were called M/Mo-s-ai, as is well obferved by the 
 Schol. onPind. in Pyth, the Bee being, among the ancients, the fynibol of chaftity : 
 
 Quod nee concubitu indulgent, nee corpora fegnes 
 
 In Venerem folvunt. 
 
 Prieflefs
 
 ■Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 251. 
 
 Pricftefs in the Ekujin'ian Myjleries fliews that flie properly belonged 
 to Proferphie, though fhe was alfo called the Prieftefs of Ceres. 
 " The Ancients (fays Porphyrins) called the Prieftefles of Ceres 
 *' MeXia-a-ai, as being the minifters or Hierophants of the fubterra- 
 *' neous goddefs ; and Proferpine herfclf, Mt'Knuhi *•" And 
 ^neas addreffes her in the language of the Afplrant, to the Hiero- 
 phant : 
 
 Potes namque omnia : nee tc 
 Nequidquam lucis Hecate prasfecit Avernis. 
 
 and fhe anfwers much in the ftyle of thofe {licrcd Minifters, 
 Quod fi tantus amor, &c. 
 
 & iNSANo juvat indulgere labori ; 
 Accipc quae peragenda prius. 
 
 For in/anus is the fame as e^ytag-ixog, and this, as we are told by 
 Strabo, was an infeparable circumftance in the celebration of the 
 Mxfieries -f. 
 
 The firft inftru(£lion the Prieftefs gives iEneas, is to fearch for 
 the GOLDEN BOUGH, facred to Proferpine ; 
 
 Aureus & folils & lento vimine ramus, 
 
 yunojii inferna facer. 
 
 Servlus can make nothing of this circumftance. He fuppofes it 
 might pofiibly allude to a tree in the middle of the fiicred grove of 
 Diana's temple in Greece ; where, if a fugitive came for fanfluary, 
 and could get off a branch from the tree, which was carefully guarded 
 by the priefts, he was to contend in fingle combat with one of 
 them ; and, if he overcame, was to take his place |. Though 
 nothing can be more foreign to the matter in queflion than this 
 
 * Ta; A^/*rI»©- ie^eiiz;, i; p^Oojia; StS; fit;i-iJK(. ^^f^^a■ffa! u oa'.ai^i ina/.Hii, alsn-i ti Tt> KofnF 
 
 MtXiT«>n. De Antro nymph. 
 
 f Tji AJ/*»i1{1 rri Ai'a To OPriAZTlKON «?a», ^ to Ba>tx»t<>> K, to ;^i;i)tir, Kj to crij-i Taj T^^I7x^ 
 (ixtT'K". lib. X. p. 468. B. Edit. Parif. 1620. fol. 
 
 X See note Z, at the end of this Book. 
 
 K k 2 rambling
 
 ?52 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 rambling account, yet the Abbe Banier is content to follow it*, 
 for want of a better +• But the truth is, under this branch, is 
 figured the wreaib of myrtle, with which the Initiated were crowned, 
 at the celebration of the M}Jieries j. i. The goldai bough is faid 
 to be facred to Proferpine, and fo, we are told, was the myrtle : 
 Proferpiue only is mentioned all the way ; partly, becaufe the 
 Initiatiiti is defcribed as an a<£lual delcent into hell; but princi- 
 pally, becaufe, when the rites of the Myjleries were performed, 
 Ceres and Proferpme were equally invoked ; but when the shews 
 were reprefented, as in the firft part of this Epifode, then Proferpine 
 alone prefided. 2. The quality of this golden bough, with its lento 
 i)imine, admirably defcribes the tender branches of myrtle. ^. The 
 doves of Venus are made to dire£l ^neas to the tree : 
 Turn maximus heros 
 Maternas agnofcit aves. 
 
 They fly to it, and delight to reft upon it, as their miftrefs's favou- 
 rite tree. 
 
 Sedibiis optatis gemina fuper arbore fidunt. 
 
 For the myrtle, as is known to every one, was confecrated to Venus. 
 And there is a greater propriety and beauty in this difpofition, than 
 appears at firft fight. For not only the myrtle was dedicated to 
 Proferpine as well as Venus, but the doves likewife, as Porphyry 
 informs us §. 
 
 But the reader may a(k, why is this myrtle-branch reprefented 
 to be of go/dP not merely for the fake of the marvellous, he may 
 be afllired. A golden bough was literally part of the facred equi- 
 page in the Jheivs, a burthen which the ^fs, who carried the myjle- 
 ries, we may be fure, was chiefly proud of. This branch was 
 
 * Expllcat. hiftor. des fables, vol. ii. p. 133. Ed, 1715. 
 •J- See note AA, at the end of this Book. 
 
 J Mwfiri'ms r£?a»w sre^avSvlo oi(«E(*u>)(*£roi. Schol. Ariftoph. Ranis. 
 
 § T?« Jt OtfE^Kxltif, wafa to $i/^fti» t\i (pirlat, ^ttah ot ■woXXoi Ta«fi(x tuk SioXoyar. ttflt yaf 
 «vr?i h firla. Porph. De Abft. lib. iv. § 16. 
 
 foraetimes
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 253 
 
 fomctlmes wreathed into a crown, and worn on the head ; at other 
 times, it was carried in the hand. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us*, 
 from Dionyfius Thrax the grammarian, that it was an Egyptian 
 cuflom to hold a branch in the ad of adoration. And of what 
 kind thejc branches were, Apuleius tells us, in his defcription of a 
 proceflion of the Initiated in the Myjierles of Ills. " Ibat tertius, 
 *' attollens pai.mam auro saBTiLiTER foliatam, nee non mtr- 
 *' curialem etiam caduceum -f-." The Golden branchy then, and 
 the Caduceus were related. And accordingly Virgil makes the for- 
 mer do the uiual office of the latter, in affording a free paflage into 
 the regions of the dead. Again, Apuleius, defcribing the fiftli 
 perfon in the proceffion, fays, *' Qiiintus auream vannum aureis 
 *' congeftam ramul;s \." So that a golden bctigh, we fee, was an 
 important implement, and of very complicated intention in the shews 
 of the Myjieries. 
 
 ^neas having now pofleffed himfelf of the Golden bough, a 
 pafTport as necefl'ary to his defcent as a myrtle crown to initlaiion^ ^ 
 (Sed non ante datur telluris operta fubire, 
 Auricomos quam quis decerpferit arbore foetus,) 
 carries it into the Sibyl's grot : 
 
 Et vatis portat fub teda fibyllse. 
 
 And this was to defign initiation Into the Icjfer Myftmes : for Dion 
 Chryfoftom § tells us, It was performed Iv cIk'^i/.oJi [^ikcu, in a little 
 narrow chapel, fuch a one as we muft fuppofe the Sibyl's grot to 
 be. The Initiated into thefe rites were called MTITAI. 
 He is then led to the opening of the defcent : 
 Speluncae alta fuit, i}aJloque immanis biatu 
 Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebrls. 
 
 • — «j«fi Ai-/t<ff1!aj)i )^ TO Tw» Sa^^5» t5» JiJbf*i»«» To~s cjsfficMHtri. Strom, lib. v. p. 568. 
 p. 414, D. Edit. Sylburg. 
 
 f Metam. lib. ad. p. 383, % Ibid. § Orat. ij. 
 
 And
 
 254 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book li. 
 
 And his reception is thus defcribed : 
 
 Sub pedibus mugire folum & juga coepta moved 
 Sylvarum ; vifeque canes ululare per umbram, 
 Adventante dea. 
 All this is exadly funilar to the fine defcriptlon of the poet Clau- 
 dian, where he profefledly, and without difguife, fpeaks of the 
 tremendous entry into thefe myfl:ic Rites : 
 
 Jam mihi cernuntur trepidis delubra moveri 
 Sedibus, & claram difpergere fulmina lucem, 
 Adventum teftata Dei. Jam magnus ab imis 
 Auditur fremitus terris, templumque remiigit 
 Cecropium ; fanSlafque faces attolltt Eleusin ; 
 Ungues Triptolemijlridunt, & fquamea curvis 
 Colla levant attrita jugis- — 
 Ecce procul ternas Hecate variata figuras 
 Exoritur *. 
 Both thefe defcriptlons agree exadly with the relations of the an- 
 cient Greek writers on this fubje£t. Dion Chryfoftom, fpeaking of 
 initiation into the M)>/?eries, gives us this general idea of it : Juft fo 
 ** it Is, as when one leads a Greek or Barbarian to be initiated in a 
 *' certain myftic dome, excelling in beauty and magnificence ; 
 " where he fees many myfVic fights, and hears in the fame manner 
 *' a multitude of voices ; where darknefs and light alternately af- 
 " fed his fenfes ; and a thoufand other uncommon things prefent 
 *' themfelves before him -}-•" 
 
 Our poet next relates the fanatic agitation of the MyJlagoguCy on 
 thisoccafion : 
 
 Procul, o procul efte, profani, 
 Conclamat Vates, totoque abfiftite luco. 
 Tantum efFata furens antro fe immifit aperto. 
 
 * De raptii I'jolcrp. fub initio. 
 
 ■\ j;;^;£^sv an Ofioion, uamf iirij avJ'fa"E^^>•,?as, S BajSajov fH/iraSai i!;ao(ioi5'«5 fij nt<rixo» TIKI oTxovj 
 vTSf^iS laXKii >C, fi.iyiSii, ■iroXXa /A) o^wtla fiKn'ia Stafiala, ■maXXaiv a\ i,HSa^a, rouTur fmuf, o-X9T»s 
 ♦J j^^1o5 haXXa^ airu (panoixituvy aXKut n fiv^iut ymiiitm. Or.lt. 12. 
 
 So
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES demonstrated. 255 
 
 So again, Claudian, where he counterfeits- the raptures and afto- 
 nifliment of the Inititited^ and throws himfelf, as it were, like the 
 Sibyl, into the middle of the fcene : 
 
 Greffus removete, profani, 
 Jam furor humanos noflro de pe6tore fenfus 
 Expulit. 
 The PROCUL, o PRocuL ESTE, PROFANI of the Sibyl, Is a literal 
 tranflation of the formula ufed by the Myflagogue, at the opening 
 of the Myjleries : 
 
 EKAS, EKAE ESTE, BEBHAOI. 
 But now the poet having determined to accompany his Hero 
 through all the myfterious rites of his initiation, and confcious of 
 the imputed impiety, in bringing them out to open day, flops 
 Ihort in his narration, and breaks out into this folemn apology : 
 Dii, quibus Imperium eft animarum, umbraeque filentes ; 
 Et Chaos & Phlegethon loca no£le filentia late, 
 Sit mlhi fas audita loqui : fit numine veftro 
 Pandere res alta terra & caligine merfas — 
 And here let me obferve, that this pretended apprehenlion of the 
 Ancients, that they were doing an unlawful thing- when they re- 
 vealed the fecrets of the Realm of Dis, arofe from the cufiom of 
 the Myfteries, where thefe fights were reprefented. For they had 
 none of thefe fcruples where they fpeak of the Habitations of the 
 Celeftial Gods. Claudian, who (as we have obferved) profelTes 
 openly to treat of the 'Eleiifinian Myfteries, at a time when they 
 were in little veneration, yet, in compliance to old cuftom, ex- 
 cufes his undertaking in the fame manner : 
 Dii, quibus in numerum, ^c. 
 Vos mihi facrarum penetralia pandite rerum, 
 Et veftri fecreta poli, qua lampade Ditem 
 Flexit Amor, quo dudla ferox Proferpina raptu 
 Pofledit dotale Chaos ; quantafque per oras 
 Sollicito genetrix erraverit anxia curfu ; 
 
 Unde
 
 ts6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 Unde datas populis leges, et, glande relida, 
 
 Cefferit hiventis Dodonia quercus ariftis *. 
 Had the revealing the Myjlerles been as penal at Rome, as it was in 
 Greece, Virgil had never ventured on this part of his poem. But 
 yet it was efteemed impious f ; and what is more, it was infamous. 
 — vetabo qui Cereris factum 
 
 Vulgarit arcanai, fub iifdem 
 
 Sit trabibus fragllemque mecum. 
 
 Solvat phafelum Hon. 
 
 He therefore does it covertly ; and makes this apology to fuch as 
 faw into his meaning. 
 
 The Hero and his Guide now enter on their journey : 
 
 Ibant obfcuri fola fub node per umbras : 
 
 Perque domos Ditis vacuas, & inania regna. 
 
 Quale per incertam lunam fub luce maligna 
 
 Eft iter in fylvis : ubi ccelum condidit umbra 
 
 Jupiter, & rebus nox abftullt atra colorem. 
 This defcription v^^lU receive much light from a paffage in IvUciau's 
 dialogue of the Tyrant, As a company made up of every condition 
 of life are voyaging together to the other world, Mycillus breaks 
 out and fays ; " Blefs us ! how dark it is ! What is become of the 
 " fair Megillus ? In this iltuation, who can tell, whether Sim- 
 ** miche or Phryne be the handfomer ? Every thing is alike, and 
 *' of one colour ; there is no room for comparing Beauties. My 
 *' old cloak, which but now prefented to your eyes fo irregular 
 *' a figure, is become as honourable a wear as his Majefty's purple. 
 *' They are, indeed, both vanllhed J, and retired together under 
 
 "the 
 
 * De raptu Proferpinae, lib. i. fub iiiit. 
 
 + Athenis initiatiis [Augiiftus] cum.poftea Romx pro tribunali de privilegio facerdo- 
 turn A'ticae Cereris cognofceret, ic quxdam fecretoria proponerentur, dinii(ri> coacilio it 
 corona circumftanliura, folus audiit difceptantes. Sueton. lib. ii. Oftav. Aug. cap. 93. 
 
 X The original has a peculiar elegance. 'A<J)ANH ya^afj-pui, &c. alludts to the ancient 
 Greek options concerning the Jirfi matter, which they called ipathf, 'iKvifiblt, as being 
 
 without
 
 Sect. 4. OF M/OSES DEMONSTRATED. 257 
 
 ** tlie fame cover. But my friend, the Cynic, where are You! 
 *' give me your hand vy^ou art inhiakd in- the EtEirsiNiAN MYS- 
 *' TERiES. Tell me now ^ do you not ihirik ih'n very like the blind 
 *■'■ march the good company make there '? Cy. Oh^ extremely: and fee ^ 
 *' here comes one of the Furies^ as 1 guefs by her equipage, her torch, 
 ** and her terrible looks *." 
 
 The Sibyl, on their approach to the mouth of the cave, had ad- 
 vlfed v51neas to fummon up all his courage, as being to undergo 
 the feverefl: trial : 
 
 Tuque invade viam, vaginaque eripe ferrum : 
 Nunc aniinis opus, ^nea, nunc pe6lore firmo. 
 Thefe trials were of two forts : the encountering real labours and 
 difficulties ; and the being expofed to imaginary and filj'e terrors. 
 This latter was objefted to all the Initiated in general : the other 
 was referved for Chiefs and Leaders. On which account, Virgil 
 defcribes them both, in their order ; as they were both to be under- 
 gone by his Hero. The real labours are figured under thefe words : 
 Vejftibulum ante ipfum, primifque in faucibus Orci, 
 Ludlus & ultrices pofuere cubilia Curas : 
 Pallentefque habitant Morbi +, triftifque Seneftus, 
 
 without the qualities o^ form TivA colour. The invefting Matter with thefe qualities, \vas 
 the produ£lion of bodies, the t» ^ai»o(*ii'» : and their diiTolution, a return to a (late of 
 inviftbility, — it; 'a*ANES xufti" to, StaXvojuta, as the pretended Merc. Trifnnag. has it, 
 cap. xi. Matter, in this ftate of invifibility, was, by the earlier Greeks, called 'aaHS. 
 Afterwards, the ftate itfelfwas fo called ; and at length it came to fignif}- the abode of 
 departed fpirits. 
 
 * MI. 'HfaxXeij tS ^'^B' "aS wn o xa^o5 Miyt><X&; i tJ haytu tn e»laJ9a tl k«!>AU'» <^fvtr; 
 "ilifiyXx^, tsraiJa yij Jcra, k^ ljj.iyjiaa., tl, aJi» 5t« xa^ov, are xctWiai' aXX' riin >y To Tji?afia», ■crpaTJfOF 
 tik; a/iOf$oip ii»ai ^okSh, IjorifiOt ylyttlai iri mofJiVflSi tS /SafftXi'wj' afatri yaf Uf/itpi:, iC vtto tu airu 
 •rxoTM xoIaJt^xoTa. Ki;i.<rx£, cv it vr5 mrt afx ut tvfx^artii i — ejjSxf^i i^oi T»» Js*iair* iiVs /io», 
 JtiXeoSd? yaf, w Kt/vitnti, T» EAEYSINIA, a;j OMOIA ToTs UfT ikBoiJe rot ioKiT; KTN. iZ \(yti;' iSu 
 ay «r{ocr/f;^e1at JaJe^Sact T15, poSifiy Tl, xj a.viiXvl'<'ot infoaQy-iviira,' S ai». fuS 'Ephuj Irn ; 
 Luciani Cataplus, T. I. p. 643. Edit. Reitzii, 4°, Aniflel. 1743. 
 
 f Quint, is miftaken in fuppofing pallentefque, &c. a metonamy. Had this been tha 
 defcription of an Hofpital he had been right : For then, indeed, in thefe words, the 
 cauft would have been put for the ffftR. 
 
 Vol. I. LI Et
 
 *58 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Et metus, & malefuada Fames, & turpis Egeftas: 
 Terfibiles vifu formae ; Lethumque, Labofque:. 
 Turn confanguineus Lethi Sopor, & mala mentis' 
 Gaudia, mortiferumque adverib in limine Be.lium, 
 Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, & Difcordia demens 
 
 To underftand the force of this defcription, it will be neceflary tO" 
 tranfcribe the account the ancients have left us of the probationary 
 trials in xho. Myjleries of Mithras, whofe participation was more 
 particularly afpired to, by Chiefs and Leaders of armies ; whence, 
 thefe Initiated were commonly called the soldiers of Mithras*. 
 *' No one, fays Nonnias, could be initiated into thefe Myfterits [of 
 •* Mithras] till he had pafl'ed gradually 'through the probationary 
 " labours [by which he was to acquire a certain apathe and fane- 
 *' tity.] There were eighty degrees of thefe labours, from lefs ta 
 *♦ greater : and when the afpirant has gone through them all, he is 
 " initiated. Thefe labours are— ^to pafs through fire, to endure cold, 
 " hunger, and thirft, to undergo much journeyingsi and, ia a 
 " word, every toil of this nature -j-." 
 
 The fecond fort of trial were the panic terrors^ of the Myjleries j 
 and thefe, Virgil reprefents next. And to diflinguifh them from 
 the figurative defcription of the real labours preceding, he feparates 
 the two accounts by that fine clrcumftance of the tree of dreamSy 
 which introduces the fecond fort : 
 
 In medio ramos annofaque brachla pandit 
 Ulmus opaca, ingeiis : quam federa fomnia vulgo. 
 
 • Erubefcite, Romani commilitones ejus, jam non ab ipfo jncficandi, fed" ab alKjuo 
 mithrjE MiLiTE : qui cuiTi initiatur in fpelso, &c. TertuU. De corona railitis. 
 
 -j- a Ji/vai«» a» rt? tij airot TsXiaGSvai, ei fi.ri ■ra-fOTtfOv ha ran ^aQ/jiUt ruu. xokaa-iut waj/xSoi. 
 
 7<t Ta? iXa^foTrfct;, «i~a t«5 SfXfiaurcpa;. ic, uS' BT« /isri to aafiXSut Jia tsaa-uv run KoXaaiUt, 
 tire TsXeTrai o teXb/^ei©-' ai Js noXatrin tlffVra Jia roujos 'aa(£\&u>, Tf Jia x^inf, Sta ■ra-um; J^ ^''J'r,!, 
 
 Jia oJonrofiK? tuoAXS;, K, aTXSi Sci. tfaaut rut rotirm. Nonnus, in Secundam Nazianz, Stele- 
 teuticam. And again he fays, vh)% l\ iiie^ou TsTmaSai rij tS Mifl^a ii^slij, li ^xii Jia vtaaS^ 
 tu) lIO^((crl«r or«jfX6ci, kJ Ji.'loi ixvlU iTofS; T.')« jcJ JVio», SiC. 
 
 Vana
 
 Sec.t.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 85, 
 
 Vana tenere ferunt, foliifque fub omnibus haerent. 
 Multaque praeterea variarum monftra ferarum, 
 Cetitauri in foiibus ftabulant, Scyllajque biformes^ 
 Et centum gemlnus Briareus & bellua LernsB ; 
 Horrendum ftridens, flami-nifcjue, armata Chimaera : 
 Gorgones, Harpyaeque, & forma tricorporis umbrae. 
 
 Thefe terribiles vifu forma are the fame which Pletho, in the 
 place quoted above, calls a\\oKo]ot. tks fioptpce; (poio-f^etloc, as they were 
 feen in the entrance of the Myjleries ; and which Celfus tells us, 
 were likewife prefented in the Bacchic rites ; roTg Iv rxTg Bxxx'xaTc 
 'TiXsjeii's Tct (pacTfjLujoi t^ Seff/,ot]at -sr^oSKrctyisa-i *. 
 
 But it is reafonable to fuppofe, that though thefe things had the 
 ufe here afligned to them, it was fome circumftance in the recon- 
 dite phyfiology of the Eaft, which preferred them to this flation. 
 We are to confider then this dark entrance into the Myjieries, as a 
 reprefentation of the Chaos, thus defcribed : 
 Ibant obfcuri fola fub node per umbram, 
 Perque domos Ditis vacuas & inania regna. 
 
 And amongft the feveral Powers invoked by the Poet, at his en- 
 trance on this fcene, Chaos is one : 
 
 Di, quibus imperium eft animorum umbraeque filentes : 
 Et Chaos & Phlegethon, loca no5le taceniia late. 
 
 Now a fragment of Berofus, preferved by George Syncellus, de- 
 fcribes the ancient Chaos, according to the phyiiology of the 
 Chaldeans, in this manner,—" There was a time, they fay, when 
 *' all was water and darknefs. And thefe gave birth and habitation 
 
 ♦' to MONSTROUS ANIMALS OF MIXED FORMS AND SPECIES. For 
 
 *' there were men with two wings, others with four, and fome 
 •• again with double faces. Some had the horns of goats, fome 
 *' their legs, and fome the legs of horfes ; others had the hind- 
 
 * Oiigen, contra Celf. lib. iv, p. ib-j. 
 
 '■ "' LI 2 " parts
 
 %6o THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 ** parts of horfes, and the fore-parts of men, like the hippocen- 
 *' taurs. There were bulls with human heads, dogs with four 
 *' bodies ending in fiflies, horfes with dogs heads; and men, and 
 " other creatures ivith the heads and bodies of horfes^ and ivith the 
 ''^ tails of'Ji/ljet.-AnAA number of animals, whofe bodies were a 
 J' MONSTROUS coMPouNDof thediilimilar parts of beafts of various 
 "kinds. Together with thefe, were fifties, reptiles, ferpents, and 
 " other creatures, which, by a reciprocal tranflation of the parts to 
 " one another, becam,e all portentoufly deformed : the piftures and 
 *' reprefentations of which wer^ hung up in the temple of Belus, 
 *' A woman ruled over the whole, whofe name was Omoroca, ia 
 *' the Chaldee tongue Thalath, which. In Greek, fignifies the Sea ; 
 *' and (on account of their powerful connexion) the Moon * ^, 
 This account feems to have been exadly co|)iedjia,th,? JV^fWJ,.. {^ 
 appears from the defcription of the poet,: , / T^,,. ^,, ." , .^^j- 
 
 Multaque pra3terea variarum monftra ferarum 
 Centauri in foribus flabulant, Scyllasque biformes, 
 Et centum geminus Briareus, & bellua; Lernae 
 Horrendum ftridens, flammifque armata Chim^era : 
 Gorgones, Harpyia°que, & forma tricorporis umbrge. 
 
 The CANINE figures have a confiderable ftation in this region of 
 monfters : And he tells us, 
 
 — vifa?que canes ululare per umbram i 
 
 * rtvt'o-Sai ^Dj) ^^fotoy, h if to roSy, o-xotoj >y liJoig flrai, >^ ev tbtoI; ^Za. TifaluJtj, >^ iMt^vui Taj 
 
 f>.a aiym o-xiAn >^ xffolst tx^tlxf, tbj il lirmiroiat, Ttr; ii ra hst'urm f«» jtn'^ri iVtwi, to, li EftTrjotrSer 
 iiQfu'^m, at IwoHty'la.v^Hi riv ISiar ii»at. Xuayonndmai it t^raifH;, ati^uz-vt xs(pa\a,q ^JCovlas' «J 
 ii;;.x5 TilfacroJ/iaTa; K^a« lx^i<&- It T«» Stio-Su /xejwk £Xo>7a;, j^ iWai xufOKt^aXsj, >c a»GfW!r«j, ^ 
 
 fio^ipas t'xi>»la- rifof Ji TBTdi;, iX^"I»S) "^ tfTfla, jjJ olpeif, <tj aX\a ^wa TOXeio»a Satifiara >cj •lErafii^- 
 
 ■navluiy y-jmrna, i! o>ofK» 'O/»0fu7ra. Eivai J« tSto XaXjaifl ft" ©aXai9, sAXi)»ir» ^ (ifOf^fi^vsiIilai 
 
 !;»,\affaa, x»l» Ji »ffo4^>i?»o» Zi>.?»ii». Georg. Syncel. Chronogc. 
 
 which
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 261 
 
 which Pletho explains in his fcholia on the magic oracles of Zoro- 
 afler. *' It is the cuftom, in the celebration of the Myjleries^ to 
 " prefent before many of the Initiated, phantafms of a canine 
 *' figure, and other monftrous (hapes and appearances *.'* 
 
 The woman, whofe name "Thalath coincides with that of the 
 Moon, was the Hecate of the Greeks, who is invoked by ^neas ou 
 this occafion : 
 
 Voce vocans Hecaten c^lo Ereboc^xQ potentem. 
 
 Hence terrifying vifions were called Hecatea -}-. The reafon why 
 Hecate, or the Moon, came to be one of the Governefles in thefe 
 rites, was, becaufe fome had placed Elyfium in the Moon; the 
 Elyfian fields being from thence called the fields of Hecate. The 
 ancients called Hecate, Diva trifoRmis. And Scaliger obferves 
 that this word Thalatb, which Syncellus, or Berofus, fays, was 
 equivalent to the Moon, fignlfies tria. 
 
 And now we foon find the Hero in a fright ; 
 Corripit hie fublta trepidus formldlne ferrum 
 vEneas, ftrlclamque aclem venientlbus offert. 
 
 With thefe affedlons the Ancients reprefent the Initiated ^i-i poffefled 
 on his firft entrance into thefe holy Rites. •' Entering now into the 
 " myftic dome (fays ThemifHus) he is filled with horror and 
 .*' amazement. He is feized with folicitude, and a total perplexity: 
 *' he is unable to move a ilep forward, and at a lofs to find the en- 
 " trauce to that roadvvhich is to lead him to the place he afpires to. 
 '' Till the Prophet [the vatef^ or Condu£lor, laying open the vef- 
 *' tibule of the temple |" — To the fame purpofe Proclus : '* — As 
 
 * Eiiufii TO?; woXXo'ii Tki* TjXafif'lwv faiVfffSosi KoIa t«; T^^«^a5 xunui^ Tiva., ^ aA^oi; a7l^oxo^» T»5 
 
 ■j. Schol. ApoUon. Argon. 1. iii. v. 859. 
 
 J O fiXt K5I1 'd^oatin toil; aJin-ot;, ^{ixu; rt a»tTi'/iT>aIo >i^ iXiy/a* aJi)fio»(i« rt i"xt^o "tj awe^la. 
 VVfuitaari, vit txiiii XaSiaOat oloi T£ ay, an a^JJ?! iirtfo<T3i lTiJja|otff9«i I'ru (pifiijns inn it a 
 tjp^iTrii r«ir»®- (ijaTilao-aj T« m^iriT^a.xa Ta ttu, Orat, in PatreiD, 
 
 "in
 
 i6i THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 ** ill the moft holy Myjleries^ before the fcene of the myftic vlfions, 
 *' there is a terror infufed over the minds of the Initiated, fo," 
 &c *. 
 
 The adventurers come now to the banks of Cocytus. ^neas is 
 furprized at the crowd of ghofts which hover round it, and appear 
 impatient for a pafl'age. His Guide tells him they are thofe who 
 have not had the rites of fepulture performed to their manes, and 
 io are doomed to wander up and down for a hundred years, before 
 they be permitted to crofs the river : 
 
 Nee ripas datur horrenda? , nee rauca fluenta 
 
 I'ranfportare prius, quam fedibus ofla quierunt. 
 
 Centum errant annos, volitantque haec litora circum. 
 
 Tum demum admifli ftagna exoptata revifunt. 
 
 We are not to think this old notion took its rife from the Vulgar 
 fuperflition. It was one of the wifeft contrivances of ancient poli- 
 tics ; and came originally from Egypt, the fountain-head of legif- 
 lation. Thofe profound mafters of wlfdom, in projedling for the 
 common good, found nothing would more contribute to the fafety 
 of their fellow citizens than the public and folemn interment of 
 the dead; as without this provifion, private murders might beeafily 
 and fecurely committed. They therefore introduced the cuftom of 
 pompous funeral rites : and, as Herodotus and Diodorus tell us, 
 were of all people the moft circumftantially ceremonious in the ob- 
 fervance of them. To fecure thefe by the force of Religion, as 
 well as civil cuftom, they taught, that the deceafed could not re- 
 tire to a place of reft, till thefe rites were performed. The notion 
 fpread fo wide, and fixed its roots fo deep, that the fubftance of the 
 fuperftition remains, even to this day, in moft civilized countries. 
 By fo effe(aual a method did the Legiflature gain its end, the fecu- 
 rity of the citizen. There is a circumftance in claflical antiquity 
 
 In Plat. Theol. lib. iii. cap. i8. 
 
 which
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 263 
 
 which will Sufficiently inform vjs of how great moment thefe rites 
 were efteemed. Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides, are confeffed 
 to be the greateft mafters of their art, and to have given us the beft 
 models of it. Yet, in the judgement of modern critics, the funeral 
 rites for Patroclus, in the Iliad, and for AjaK and Polynices, in the 
 Ajax and the Phoenicians, are a vicious continuation of the ftory, 
 which violates the unity of the acfion. But they did not confider, 
 that funeral rites were anciently deemed an infeparable part of the 
 Hero's ftory : And therefore thofe great mafters of defign could 
 not underftand the adlion to be complete, till that important office 
 to the dead was difpatched *. Nay fo dreadful was the apprehenfion 
 of the want oi funeral Rites, that the ITiftorians tell us, it was one 
 of the principal caufes of the Spartan bafhfulnefs, in that War in 
 which Tyrtaus was employed to reftore them to their ancient Spi- 
 rit. Who when he had diffipated this fiiperftltious terror by the 
 magic of his martial numbers, they rufhed on to the charge with 
 a refolution to conquer or to die. 
 
 But the Egyptian Sage found, afterwards, another ufe in this 
 opinion ; and by artfully turning it to a punifliment on inlblvent 
 debtors, ftrengthened public credit, to the great advantage of com- 
 merce, and confequeirtly of civil comnwnity. For, infteadofthat 
 general cuftom of modern barbarians to bury inlolvents alive, this 
 polite and humane people had a law of greater efficacy, which de- 
 nied burial to them when dead. And here the learned Marfham 
 feems to be miftaken, when, he fuppoies, that the Grecian opinion 
 of the wandering of unburied ghofts arole from this interdidion of 
 fepulchral rites -)-. On the contrary it appears,, that 'the law was 
 
 * n{or«6«»«i ii ?Ti TiiTu lu yo^w TuvJe, to« AJo/la TO Xi^'^^ 'ii ''■'"i^'^i xfal/siv t?s tS XajLiCaiovlo? 
 S^«>H' tJ Si vToliBsvli rSra To hi)(v^ti)i rr.yii tTutai fi)//i>i», >C, /J-h ffuXofiitu i-oSiiat to X;/®-, jA-nis 
 avTu IkiUu, TiXei/l^cjaj'li itva* ra.^v^ Kff>JT«» /xJ7T Si» EKEivw xw cjotl^iyw ra^at, ^ix* ev ccX^w^xTl^JV*, uiir 
 
 iL^>io» iMiiitwroD iuvry a.tttyitoneiQt^Sa.i'Xk. Herud. lib. ii. Cap. 136. Edit, G;ile, p. 142. 
 iin. 8. 
 
 f Ab interdiftae apud yEgyptios fepultvirae poena, inolevit apiid Gncos opinio infe- 
 pultorum corporum animas ;\ Chaionte non effe admifl^s. Caaon Chronicus, Sec^- 
 lonj xi. fee. 3. 
 
 fouudsd
 
 2^4 T H E D I V I N E LE G A ri O N Book II. 
 
 founckd on the opinion, originally'Egyptian, and not the opinion 
 on the law ; for the law had no other fandion than the opinion. 
 
 In a word, had not our poet conceived it a matter of much im- 
 portance, he had hardly dwelt fo long upon it, or returned again to 
 it *, or laid fo much ftrefs on it, or made his hero fo attentively 
 confider it : 
 
 Conftitit Anchifa fatus, & veftigia preffit, 
 
 MULTA PUTANS. 
 
 But having added, 
 
 — Sortemque animo miferatus iniquam ; 
 and Servius commented, " Iniqua enim fors eft puniri propter alte-. 
 «' rius negligentiam : nee enim quis culpa fua caret fepulchro ;'* 
 Mr. Bayle cries out f. " What injuftice is this ! was it the fault of 
 *' thefe fouls, that their bodies were not interred ?" But neither 
 of them knowing the origin of this opinion, nor feeing its ufe, the 
 latter afcribes that to the blindnefs of Religion, which was the 
 iffue of wife Policy. Virgil, by his fors iniqua, means no more 
 than that in this, as well as in feveral other civil inftitutions, a 
 public benefit laas often a private injury. 
 
 The next thing obfervable is the ferry-man, Charon ; and he, 
 the learned well know, was a man of this world, an Egyptian of a 
 well-known Charadler. This People, like the reft of mankind, in 
 their defcriptions of the other world, ufed to copy from fomething 
 they were well acquainted with in this. In their funeral rites, 
 which, as we obferved, was a matter of greater moment with them 
 than w^ith any other people, they ufed to. carry their dead over the 
 Nile, and through the marfti of Acherufia, and there put them 
 into fubterraneous caverns; the ferry-man employed in this bufuief& 
 being, in their language, called Charon. Now in their Myferies, 
 the defcription of the paflage.into the other world was borrowed, 
 
 * Ver. 373. & feq, 
 
 f Refponf. aux Queft. d'un Provincial, p. iii. cap, zi.
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 265 
 
 as was natural, from the circumftances of their funeral rites. So 
 that the Charon hdow might very well refufe to charge his Boat 
 with thofe whom his namefake above had not admitted. And it 
 might be eafily proved, if there was occafion, that the Egyptians 
 themfelves transferred thefe realities into the MT0OE, and not the 
 Greeks, as later writers generally imagine. 
 
 Charon is appeafed at the iight of the golden bough : 
 Ule admirans venerabile donum 
 
 Fatalis virgae, longo post tempore vifum. 
 But it is reprefented as the paffport of all the ancient Heroes who 
 had defcended into hell ; how then could it be faid to be longo tojl 
 tempore vifum, ^^Eneas being fo near the times of thofe Heroes ? To 
 explain this, we mufk have in mind what hath been faid above of a 
 perfe<St Lawgiver's being held out in ^neas, and of Auguftus's 
 being delineated in the Trojan chief. So that here Virgil is point- 
 ing to his Mafter ; and what he would infinuate, is, that the Roman 
 emperor, initiated in the Eleufinian rites, fhould, in a later age, 
 rival the fame of the firft Grecian Lawgivers. 
 
 But ^neas hath now crofled the river, and is come into the 
 proper regions of the dead. The firft Apparition that occurs is the 
 dog Cerberus : 
 
 Haec Ingens latratu regna trifauci 
 
 Perfonat, adverfo recubans immanis in antro. 
 This is plainly one of the phantoms of the Myjleries, which, Pletlio 
 tells us above, was in the (hape of a dog, xwuSr; rtvcc. And in the 
 fable of Hercules's defcent into hell, which, we have fhewn, lig- 
 nified no more than his Initiation into the M^erles, it is faid to 
 have been, amongft other things, for fetching up the dog Cerberus. 
 The Prophetefs, to appeafe his rage, gives him a medicated cake, 
 which cafls him into a flumber : 
 
 Cui vates, horrere videns jam colla colubris, 
 
 Melle foporatam ei medic ath frugibui qffhm 
 
 Objicit. 
 VeL. I. Mm lu
 
 266 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 In the Myjieries of Trophonius (who was faid to be nurfed by Ceres *^ 
 that is, as I underftand it, to derive his rites from the Eleulinian) 
 the Initiated carried the fame fort of medicated Cakes to appeafe 
 the ferpents he met with in his paflage f- Tertulllan, who gives 
 all Mj^Jieries to the devil; and very equitably, as the good man 
 makes him the author of all that is done there, mentions the otFer- 
 ing up of thefe cakes, cekbrat et pants ohlationem \. This in quef- 
 tion was of poppy-feed^ made up with honey ; and fo I underfland 
 medicatisfrugibus, here, on the authority of the poet himfelf, who, 
 in the fourth book, makes the prieftefs of Venus prepare the fame 
 treat for the dragon who guarded the Hefperian fruit : 
 Spargens humida mella foporifcrumque papaver. 
 
 Honey, as we have ftiewn above, was facred to Proferplne, who on 
 that account was called MiXdulrn ; and the poppy was confecrated 
 to Ceres : *' Cereale Papaver," fays Virgil ; on which words Servius 
 thus comments : " Vel quod eft ufui, ficut frumentum, vel quo 
 " Ceres ufa eft ad oblivionem doloris ; nam ob raptum Proferpinae 
 " vigiliis defatigata, guftato eo ada eft in foporem §." 
 
 But, without doubt, the images, wliich the fpifcated juice of 
 poppy prefents to the fancy, was one reafon why this drug had a 
 place in the ceremonial of the shews : not improbably, it might 
 be p-Iven to fome at leaft of the Initiated, to aid the impreffion of 
 thofe myftic vifions which pafled before them. For that fomething 
 like this was done, that is, giving medicated drugs to the Afpirants, 
 we are informed by Plutarch ; who fpeaks of a fhrub called Leu- 
 cophyllus ufed in the celebration of the Myjieries of Hecate, which 
 drives men into a kind of frenzy, and makes them confefs all the 
 
 * Ai5fin\i — tS Tfoipwu'a iT»a» T^o^on. Paufan. Boeot. c. 39. pag. 790 Edit. Kuhnii, folio, 
 Lipf. 1696. 
 
 f MAirlavlas JirayovV E» Tar'v ;)(;Efc:v, fxB^.Tfifcla ipilw». Philof, Vit. Apoll. 1. \i'.i. C. 15. 
 
 \ De prifcr. adver. liaeret. 
 § Ad lib. i. Georg. ver. 212. 
 
 wick-
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 267 
 
 wickediiefs they had done or intended. And confejjion was one no- 
 Ceflary preparative for initiation. 
 
 The regions, according to Virgil's Topography, are divided into 
 three parts : i. Purgatory. 2. Tartarus. 3. Elysium. For 
 Deiphobus (in the firft) fays, 
 
 Difcedam, explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris *. 
 And, in the fecond, it is faid of Thefeus, 
 Sedet, .ETERNUMque fedebit 
 Infelix Thefeus.' 
 
 The Mvfteries divided them in the fame manner. So Plato, in the 
 paffiige t quoted above (where he fpeaks of what was taught in 
 the Myjleriei) talks of fouls flicking fafl: in mire and filth, and 
 remaining in darknefs, till a long feries of years had purged and pu- 
 rified them ; and Celfus, in Origen \, fays, that the M)jlerics taught 
 the dodtrine of eternal punifhments. 
 
 Of all the three States this of Tartarus only was eternal. There 
 was, indeed, another, in the ancient pagan theology, which had 
 the fame relation to Elyfium, that Tartarus had to Purgatory, the 
 extreme of reward, as Tartarus of punifhment. But then this 
 ftate was not in the infernal regions, but in Heaven. Neither was 
 it the lot of common Men, but referved for heroci and damons ; 
 Beings of a fuperior order, fuch as Hercules, Bacehus, &c. who 
 became Gods on their admiflion into Heaven, where eternity was 
 the confequence of their deification. 
 
 Cicero diftinguifiies the two orders of fouls, according to the 
 vulgar Theology, in this manner : " Quid autem ex hominura 
 *' genere confecrntos, ficut Herculem & CiEteros coli lex jubet, in- 
 *' dicat omnium quidem animos immortales efle : fortium bonorum- 
 
 " QUE DIVINGS §." 
 
 * But the nature and end of this purgatory the poet defcribes at large, from ver. 736, 
 to ver. 745. 
 
 f See note (J) p. 209. J See note (t) ?• 2^0. 
 
 - % De Legg. lib. ii. cap. i>, 
 
 M m 2 And
 
 i68 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 And here it is to our purpofe to obferve, that the Virtues and 
 Vices, which flock thefe three Divifioiis with inhabitants, are 
 fuch as more immediately afFeft Society. A plain proof that the 
 poet followed the views of tlie Legiflator, the inftitutor of the 
 M\jieries. 
 
 Purgatory, the firll: divifion, is inhabited by fuicides, extrava- 
 gant lovers, and ambitious warriors : And, in a word, by all thofc 
 who had indulged the violence of their paffions ; which made them 
 rather wretched than wicked. It is remarkable that amongft thefe 
 we find one of the Initiated : 
 
 Cererique facrum Polyboeten. 
 
 This was agreeable to the public dodlrine of the Myjleries^ which 
 taught, that initiation with virtue procured men great advantages 
 over others, in a future ftate ; but that without virtue, it was of no 
 avail. 
 
 Of all thefe diforders, the poet hath more diftin^tly marked out 
 the mifery of Suicide : 
 
 Proxlma deinde tenent moefti loca, qui fibi lethum 
 
 Infontes peperere manu, lucemque perod 
 
 Projecere animas. Qiiam vellent asthere in alto 
 
 Nunc & pauperiem & duros perferre labores [ 
 
 Here he keeps clofe to the myfteries ; which not only forbad 
 fuiciJe, but taught on what account it was criminal. " That 
 ♦' which is faid in the mysteries (fays Plato) concerning thefe 
 ** matters of man's being placed in a certain watch or ftatioii, which 
 " it is unlawful to fly from, or forfake, is a profound dodtrine, 
 •' and not eafily fathomed *." Infontes, fays the Poet, to diflin- 
 guifli Suicides (properly fo called) from tliofe whom the Laws 
 condemned to be their own Executioners : for this inhuman treat- 
 
 * *0 (*i» «v tv AnOPPHTOIS y.iyoij.tt®' ■a((t ttirit ^o'y©-, «5 " Ti»i IpfBff la-fAt oi a»9ja;n-!« ^ 
 « itX ^ iy.v\at Ik Tai/Tu; Xvii», aJ aTToJiJ^ao-xfiv, fityaf Tt Ti; fioi (paitt.at >^ a fCfli&- Si'iout' 
 
 Phged. p. (>2. Ser. ed. torn. i. See note BB, at the end of this Book. 
 
 ment
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 269 
 
 ment was amongfl the capital inflidions, in the Criminal Code of 
 the Ancients. 
 
 Hitherto all goes well. Bat what n::iull: we {ay to the poet's 
 putting- new-born infants, and men falfely condetnned, into his pur- 
 gatory ? For though the faith and inqiii/ition of modern Rome fend 
 many of both forts into a place of punifhment, yet the genius of 
 ancient paganifm had a gentler afpeft. It is, indeed, difficult to 
 tell what thefe inmates have to do here. Let us confider the cafe 
 of the infants ; and if we find it can only be cleared up by the ge- 
 neral view of things here given, this will be confidered as another 
 argument for the truth of our hiterpretation of the Descent : 
 XTontinuo audita voces, z^agitus et ingens, 
 
 Infantumque animse flentes in limine prime : 
 
 Quos dulcis vitae exortes, & ab ubere raptos 
 
 Abftulit atra dies, &cftinere merfit acerbo, 
 
 Thefe appear to have been the cries and lamentings that, Proclus- 
 tel's us, were heard in the Myfteries*. So that we onlv want fo 
 know the original of fo extraordinary a circumilance. VVhich I take 
 to have been juft fuch another provifion of the Lawgiver for the 
 fecurity of INFA^XY, as that ?iho\.\t funeral rites was for the adult.. 
 For nothing could more engage Parents in the care and prefervation 
 of their young, than fo terrible a do*Slrine. Nor are we to imagine, 
 tliai their natural fondnefs needed no inforcement, or fupport : for 
 that mofl degenerate and horrid practice among the ancients, of 
 EXPOSING INFANTS, was univerfal t ; and had almoft erafed mor- 
 tality from the minds of the befl: inftrufted, and irflinSi from the 
 breafts of the moft tenderly affedled \. St. Paul feems to have had 
 this in his eye, when he accufed the pagan world of being without 
 
 • Kai TOK utrnf 1015 tk; (xuriKKS ©I'HNOS /ii/rizJ; ■mx^m.Xri'-^au.it, In Comment, in Platoais 
 Rcmp. lib. X. 
 
 t See note CC, at the end of this Book. 
 
 \ See what has been further faid on this luhjeit B. I. Sect. 4. 
 
 NATURAL.
 
 270 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IE 
 
 NATURAL AFFECTION*. It needed therefore the ftroiigeftand fevereft 
 check : and I am well perfuaded it occafioned this covinterplot of the 
 Magiftrate, in order to give inftinft fair play, and call back ba- 
 nifhed nature. Nothing, indeed, could be more worthy of his care : 
 for the deftruftion of children, as Pericles finely obferved of youth, 
 is like cutting off the fp ring from the year. Accordingly we are told 
 by Diodorus, that the Egyptians had a lawf againft this unnatural 
 practice, which law he numbers amongft the fuigularities of that 
 highly policied nation. " They are obliged (fays he) to bring up 
 " all their children, in order to render the country populous ; this 
 *' being efteemed the belT: means of making ftates flouriftiing and 
 ** happy X-" And Tacitus fpeaks of the prohibition as no lefs lin- 
 gular amongft the Jews : " AugendiE multitudini confulitur. Nam 
 
 " & NECARE QUEMQUAM EX GNATIS, NEFAS §." 
 
 Here again Mr. Bayle is much fcandalized : " The firft thing 
 " which we meet on the entrance into the other world, is the fta- 
 *' tion affigned to infants, who cried and lamented without 
 *' ceafmg ; and next to that, the ftation of men unjuilly condemned 
 " to death. Now what could be more (hocking or fcandalous than 
 *' the punifhment of thofe little creatures, who had yet committed 
 " no fin, or of thofe perfons whofe innocence had been opprefl'ed 
 *' by calumny || ?" The hi-ft difficulty is already cleared up : the 
 fccond (hall be confidered by and by. But it is no wonder Mr. Bayle 
 could not digefl: this doctrine of the infants ; for I am much mif- 
 
 * I Cor. i. 31. t See note DD, at the end of this Book. 
 
 (ttvni TOfo; BiSaifj-otiav X"?"'' '''^ 'b '"'''''■■''"• Lib. i. Hiftof. 
 
 § Tacit. Hift. lib. V. 
 
 II La premiere chofe que I'on rencontroit a. I'entree des Enfers, etoit la ftation des 
 petits enfans, qui ne ceffoient de pleurer, & puis celle des perfonnes injuftement con- 
 damnees ii la mort. Qiioi de phis choquant, de plus fcandaleux, que !a peine de ces 
 petites creatures, qui n'avoient encore commis nul pcche ; ou que la peine de ceux, dont 
 I'innocence avoit cte opprimee par la calomnie. Rerponf. aux Quxft. d'un Prov. p. 3. 
 cap. xxii. 
 
 taken.
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 271 
 
 taken, if it did not flick with Plato himfelf ; who, relating the 
 Vifion of Eras, the Pamphilian^ concerning the diftribution of re- 
 wards and punifliments in another lil'e, when he comes to the con- 
 dition of infants, pafles it over in thefe words : " But of chil- 
 
 " dren who died in their infancy, he reported certain other things 
 
 ** NOT WORTHY TO BK REMEMBERED *." Erus's aCCOUnt of what 
 
 he faw in another world, was a fummary of what the Egyptians 
 taught in their Myjier'm concerning that matter. And I make no 
 doubt but the thing 7iot ivorthy to be remembered, was the dodrine 
 of infants In purgatory : which appears to have given Plato much 
 fcandal, who did not, at that time at leaft, refledt upon its original 
 andule. But here let us take notice, for the honour of humanity, 
 that while Pagans both old and new could be fhocked at this punilh- 
 ment, modern paplfts, to the eternal difgrace of Superstition, can 
 condemn unbaptifed Infants, without remorfe, to infinitely greater. 
 
 But now, as to the falsely condemned, we mufl feek another 
 folution : 
 
 Hos juxta, falfo damnati crimine mortis ; 
 'Nee yero hae fine. forte datae, fine judlce fedes. 
 
 Qiiaefitor Minos u.rnam movet : ille filentum 
 - -I IGonfrBamque vocat, vitalque & crimiua dilcit. 
 
 This defignment appears both iniquitous and abfurd. The fafe/y 
 accufeiif are not. only in a place of punifhment, but, being firfl 
 delivered under tliis fingle predicamenrt, they are afterwards diflin- 
 guifhed into two forts; fome as blameable, others as innocent. To 
 clear up this confufion, it will be necelTary to tranfcribe an old 
 ftory, told by, Plato, in his Gorgias : — ; — *' This law, concerning 
 " mortals, was ena£ted in the time of Saturn, and is yet, and ever 
 *' will be, in force amongfl the Gods ; that he who had lived a juft 
 
 * Tm Js siSt? yfjcyMuv, >^ l^iyon xi^'"" P'a'l*" •o'^pi a?^^» ''>■«>!» OTK AEIA MNHMH2. 
 De rep. lib. x. p. 6:5. Setr. edit. 
 
 •f Servius, on the place, charafterizes them in this manner — " (jui fibi per firaplici- 
 " tatem adeffe nequiverunt." 
 
 *' and
 
 t'7 2 
 
 THE D 1 \M N E LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " and pious life, fhall, at his death, be carried into the iflands of 
 *' the bleffed, and there poflefs all kinds of happinefs, untainted 
 *' with the evils of mortality : but that he who had lived unjuftly 
 " aud impioufly, fliall be thruft into a place of puni(hment, the 
 *' prifon of divine juflice, called Tartarus. Now the judges, with 
 " whom the execution of this law was intruded, were, in the time 
 " of Saturn, and under the infancy of Jove's government, living 
 " men, fitting in judgment on the Jiving ; and paffing fentence on 
 ** them, upon the day of their deceafe. This gave occalion to unjuft 
 " judgments : on which account, Pluto, and thofe to whom tlie 
 *' care of the happy iflands was committed, went to Jupiter, and 
 " told him, that men came to them wrongfully judged, both when 
 ** acquitted, and when cotidemned. To which the Father of the 
 *' Gods thus replied : I will put a flop to this evil. Thefe wrong 
 *' judgments are partly occafioned by the corporeal covering of the 
 *' perfons judged ; for they are tried while living : now many have 
 " their corrupt minds hid under a fair outfide, adorned with birth 
 *' and riches ; and, when they come to their trial, have witnefles 
 " at hand, to teftify for their good life and converfation ; this per- 
 *' verts the procefs, and blinds the eyes of juftice. Befides, the 
 " judges themlelves are encumbered with the fame corporeal co- 
 *' vering : and eyes and ears, and an impenetrable tegument of flelh, 
 *'' hinder the mind from a free exertion of its faculties. All thefe (as 
 " well their own covering, as the covering of thofe they judge) are 
 *' bars and obftacles to right judgment. In the firfl: place then, fays 
 *' he, we are to provide that the foreknowledge which they now 
 *' have of the day of death, be taken away ; and this fliall be given 
 *' in charge to Prometheus ; and then provide, that they who come 
 " to judgment, be quite naked * ; for from henceforth they fhall 
 " not be tried, till they come into the other world. And as they 
 
 * This evidently refers to the old Egyptian cuftom, when the judges beheld and exa- 
 iTiined their kings naked ; atu i^ o"Afj^«»» iixarns i» ii tiX^ caXajolifcis xf°*°'5» y/^'o' tSfiJjii to» 
 &»<Ti\ia, Horapollinis Hierogl. lib. i. cap. 40. 
 
 « are
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES'DEMONSTRATED. 273 
 
 *' are to be thus ftripped, it Is but fit their judges fliould await them 
 " there in the fame condition ; that, at the arrival of every new 
 *' inhabitant, foul may look on foul, and all family relation, and 
 ** every worldly ornament being dropt and left behind, righ- 
 ** TEOU3 JUDGEMENT may at length take place. I, therefore, who 
 " forefaw all thefe things before you felt them, have taken care 
 *' to conftitute my own fons to be the judges : two of them, Minos 
 " and Rhadamanthus, are Afiatics ; the third, ^acus, an Euro- 
 *■' pean. Thefe, when they die, fhall have their tribunal erefted in 
 *' the (hades, jujl in that part of the highway, where the two roads 
 *' divide, the one leading to the happy iflands, the other to Tar- 
 *• tarus. Rhadamanthus fliall judge the Afiatics, and ^acus the 
 " Europeans; but to Minos I give the fuperior authority of hearing 
 *' appeals, when any thing obfcure or difficult fhall perplex the 
 *' others' judgments ; that every one may have his abode afllgned 
 ** him with the utmoft: equity *." 
 
 * 'H» hi sifj.^ oJe wsf» a-ii^uv iiv (iri K^mb, kj at] j^ tvt sTi jrtv l» SeoT;. tSv a¥5^uTTUt Toy jAt Juaiii; 
 
 ixroi yaxuf ret is a^Uuf >^ a^sai;, ii; To r»i Tiaia; te >^ ^ixb; ^S(7';u.«1ij51ov, 5 ai Ta^a^ot xaXScriy, i/»at. 
 Tarwy Ss Oixa^Tcci ett* K^ovy, Kj et* i-eot* tS Ato-: T>!V a^p^tjr E;^oyl0', ^aJvlEf vi^av t^unuiv^ £KEt*J) >j^/^a. aiKcc^oy** 
 TE5 ^ f*iX>ioiEv TE^il'1a^• xawi^; ay a\ SUat infitetlo. "Ots «y HXaTWy )C^ oi EffiftiXvIla* ex (xaxifuy naut Ui'lsst 
 i'Myoi <7§o; Toy Aia, OTt ^''V" *"?'' «•&?""■«' ixaltfua-i atd^toi, tiVty iit o Ziv(, 'A^^' iyu (?f>l) 
 vjaiau tSto ytfii/xitot' viif fAi ya{ Kaxuf at Ji'xai Jixa^ovlat. iftvep^ofityoi yu( (tip))) oi xjiyojufyoi x{iyo»1«i* 
 ^ajylij yap xjiyoylai, n»?.Xoj 5» 4'''X''s wo"!?*? ?x;°'''f» V^'f'H"'" ^'<''' ^i^iieila, Tt xaXi, >^ yam )^ 
 crXaTB;' >^ ETTtiJay « x^/irij 5i if^^oylat airor; woXXoi /xajTfjE;, /xaflypicravit; «{ Jivaiiuj (3»£iw«off'i». 
 Ot ay i'iKar»" uTo Ti TaToiy JxTrXiTloylat, x) aj^a >^ avToJ ap7r£;^ojut»oi Jixa^Hiri, •etjo tJ; il-yx^s tJj 
 a^rwy o^ctX/xi,--- JtJ wxa ^ cAoy Te cu^ec T7PO/CExaXf/-cju£yo»* Ta^Ta oe avToT^ «Tay1« XiriTfocr^iv yiytslatf 
 xj Ta auToJy a(i$ieV^a]a, >^ Ta T<i» xftyofAEywy. IlfaiToy /*£y Bv (£'?»l) tsavrioy Irl ■KTfoEiJi)Ta{ auTa{ Toy 
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 Hpilsov uTtA'lut niruv. r;(iiiiu;Ta( yap ^sr xpiytaOat* )^ Toy xgtJw iJe? yu^yoy Eiyai, TsflyiiiTa, auri) t^ 
 ^■JXii airv' yiy iJ'tX'" Ssn^Sila, i|aiip»r.; aaoSayoMo.-Esarfj sjumo* adilM rui <7:-) fivuit' xotlaM^atla It} 
 tJs y^j wa'yia EXi7yo» Toy xoo-(*oy, (')at Jtxoi(« i x^i'trtj ?. 'Eyw (*£» ay tsSt* £yy4)x«{ ■crfoTEs©- ) 
 £;<Er$, (TTOir.o-af/tny jixafa; ttE?; l^aulS. ^;io |UEy U Tiis 'Acria;, Miyu TE )^ 'Pa^»f/io^ydt/y' evs ^£ ex T4; 
 Ei3«iDffii!, Ai'axo*' OuToi ky EWsiJiy TEXEnlwAie-i, Jixacratriy iy ru ?.EifiMi, ly Tw Tfioji), e| Jj ^j'psloy T« 
 oW, i /;t£» 115 fiaxajojy y^ffS;, i J' eij Tajlofoy" ;^ tsj /iey t« TJi? 'A(7»a;'PaJ»(x(»yfiws xjiyET, Ta,- ^i sx. 
 T^; 'Ev^uvni Aiaico's. Mi'yiu ^e tir^ev^iia iuTU, IffiJiaxj i?£iy, tav J Umffr^lin Ti Tu tT«fu, "ya w{ JtxoKo- 
 Tair, i xjio-ij ^ «rifi T?j raofEi'a; Tors a»0f*7r6»«. Tojll. i. p. 523, Serf, Edit. 
 
 Vol. I. N a The
 
 274 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 The matter now begins to clear up ; and we fee plainly, that the 
 eircumftance of the falfely condemned alludes to this old fable : fo 
 that hy falfo damnati crimini mortis (if it be the true reading) Virgil 
 did not mean, as one wovdd fuppofe, mnoQentes addiBi morti cb in- 
 jujlam calumniam, but loomines iiidignc et perperam adjudicali ; not mett 
 falfely condemned^ but wrotigfully judged, whether to acquittal or 
 conviction ; but condemnation being ofteneft the fentence of juftice, 
 the greater part is put figuratively for the whole. 
 
 He who thinks this too licentious a figure, will perhaps be in- 
 clined to believe, that the poet might write, 
 
 Hos juxta, falfo damnati tempore mortis : 
 
 which not only points up to the fable, but hints at the original of 
 it ; and befides, agrees befi: with the context. But as the words, 
 tempore mortis, are only to be explained by this paffage of Plato, a 
 tranfcriber might be eafily tempted to change them to fomething^ 
 more intelligible. 
 
 One difficulty only remains ; and that, to confefs the truth, hath 
 arifen rather from a mlftake of Virgil, than of his reader. We 
 find thefe people yet unjudged, already fixed, with other criminals, 
 in the afligned diftri£t of purgatory. But they arc mifplaced, through 
 an ovcrfight of the poet ; which, had he lived to perfect the ^neis, 
 he would probably have correfted : for the fable tells us they fliould 
 be flationed on the borders of the three divifions, in that part of the 
 high road, which dividing itfelf in two, leads, the one to Tarta- 
 rus, the other to Elyfium, thus defcribed by the poet : 
 
 Hie locus eft, partes ubi fe via findit in ambas, 
 
 Dextera, qu^ Ditis magni fub moenia tendit : 
 
 Hie iter Elyfium nobis ; at laeva malorum 
 
 Exercet poenas, & ad impia Tartara mittit. 
 
 It only remains to confider the origin or moral of the fable ; whlcli, 
 I thi ik, was tl iis : it was an Egyptian cuftom, as we are told by 
 Diodcrus Sicu/us, for judges to fit on every man's life, at the time 
 
 of
 
 StcT.4. OF MOS^S DEMONSTRATED. 275 
 
 of his interment ; to examine his paft a<^ions, and to condemn and 
 acquit according to the evidence before them. Thefe judges were 
 of the priefthood ; and fb, it is probable, taught, like the priefts 
 of the church of Rome, that their decrees were ratified in the other 
 world. Partiality and corruption would, in time, pervert their de- 
 crees ; and fpite and favour prevail over juftice: As this might fcaii- 
 dalize the people, it would be found neceflary to teach, that the 
 fentence which was to influence every one's final doom, was re- 
 ferved for a future judicature. However, the Prieft took care that 
 all fhould not go out of his hands ; and when he could fit no longer 
 Judge, he contrived to find his account in turning Kvidence : as 
 may be feen by the fingular cafl of this ancient infcription : " Ego 
 *• Sextus Anicius Pontifex testor honefle hunc vixifie : manes 
 *' ejus inveniant quietem *." 
 
 How much this whole matter needed explaining, we may fee by 
 what a fine writer makes of it, in a difcourfe written to illuflrate 
 ./Eneas's defcent into hell : " There are three kinds of perfons (fays he) 
 *' defcribed as being fituated on the borders ; and I can give no 
 *' reafon for their being flationed there in fo particular a manner, 
 *' but becaufe none of them feem to have had a proper right to a 
 *' place among the dead, as not having run out the thread of their 
 *' days, and finifhed the term of life that had been allotted them 
 *' upon earth. The firft of thefe are the fouls of infants, who are 
 " fnatched away by untimely ends ; the fecond are of thofe who 
 " are put to death wrongfully and by an unjuft fentence ; and the 
 *' third, of thole who grew weary of their lives, and laid violent 
 *' hands upon themfelves ■}-•'* 
 
 After this, follow the epifodcs of Dido and DeVphobus, in imi- 
 tation of Homer ; where we find nothing explanatory of the true 
 nature of this epifode, but the ftrange defcription of Deiphobus ; 
 whofe mangled phantom is drawn according to the philofophy of 
 
 * Fabius Celfus Infcri])t. Antiq. lib. iii. 
 
 f Mr. Addifoii's Works, vol. ii. p. 300, quarto edit. 1721. 
 
 N n 2 Plato ;
 
 276 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Plato ; which teaches that the dead not only retahi all the paffions 
 of the mind, hut all the marks, and blemifhes of the body*. A 
 wild dodlrine, which Luclan agreeably rallies in his Memppus; who 
 is made to fay, that he faw Socrates In the Shades, bufied at his 
 old trade of Difputation : but that his legs yet appeared fwelled, 
 from the efFe£ls of his lafl-deadly potion f. 
 
 ^Eueas, having pafled this firft divilion, comes now on the con- 
 fines of Tartarus ; and is inftru£led in what relates to the crimes 
 and punlfliments of the inhabitants. 
 
 His guide here more openly declares her office of hierophant, 
 or interpreter of the Myjieries : 
 
 Dux inclyte Teucrum, 
 NuUi fas cafto fceleratum infiftere limen : 
 Sed ME cum fuels Hecate pr^fecit ^verm's, 
 Ipfa Dei'mi pcetiis docuit, perque omiia duxit— 
 
 It is remarkable, that ^Eneas is led through the regions of Purga- 
 tory and Elyfium ; but he only fees the fights of Tartarus at a dif- 
 tance, and this could not well be otherwife in the fhews of the 
 Mvfleries, for very obvious reafons. 
 
 The criminals deftined to eternal punifhment, in this divifion, 
 are, 
 
 I. Thofe who hzAJinnedfo fecrctly as to ejcape the animadverjiofi 
 of the Magi/irate : 
 
 Gnoffius hsec Rhadamanthus habet duriflima regna :] 
 Caftlgatque auditque dolos, subegitque fateri 
 Quae quis apud fuperos, furto Isetatus inani, 
 Diftulit in feram commiffa piacula mortem* 
 
 3^ TfQyfWT®- ra.vTa s>or\Xcc' ht 01 T^oyu Oi^ s»»a» 'srx^iO'Ktvaro ro (ru^cn ^un^ I'corj^* TocvTx >^ teXei/ijj- 
 cavl©- J» 'cjaylot., v-ix woXXa sTi Ti»a p^foro*. 'Georg. p. 524.. 
 
 t £Ti nfirloi sVe^iJ^dIo atTu, ^ hiiiwu EX T«; ^af^anoiToaJas t« o-xsXd, T, I. p, 48 1. Edit. Reit- 
 2ii, 4°, Amftel. 1743. 
 
 And
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONS^TRATED. 277 
 
 And it was principally on account of fuch crimes that the Law- 
 giver inforced the doftrine of a future llate of punifliment. But it 
 is worth while to obferve, that, according to the teaching of the 
 Myjieries, the rack to extort confession, came originally from 
 THE PLACE OF THE DAMNED, where Only it could be equitably 
 applied. 
 
 2. Thofe whofe principles diffolve the firfl bonds of affociation, 
 and fociety, the atheists and defpifers of God and religion : 
 
 Hie genus antiquum terrae Titania pubes. 
 
 This was agreeable to the laws of Charondas, who fays : " Be 
 *•' the contempt of the Gods put in the number of the moft flagi- 
 *' tious crimes *," The poet dwells particularly on that fpecies of 
 impiety which afFcfls divine honours : 
 
 Vidi & crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas, 
 Dum flammas Jovis & fonitus imitatur Olympi. 
 And this without doubt, was an oblique caftigation of the apo- 
 theosis, then beginning to be paid and received at Rome. 
 
 3. The infringers of the duties of imperfect obligation, which 
 civil laws cannot reach : fuch as thofe without natural affedion to 
 brothers, duty to parents, protection to clients, or charity ta the 
 poor : 
 
 Hie quibus invlfi fratres, dum vita manebat; 
 Pulfatufve parens ; & fraus innexa clienti •+ ; 
 Aut qui divltiis foli incubuere repertis, 
 Nee partem pofuere fuis ; qu:E maxima turba eft. 
 
 4. Thofe pefts of public and private peace, the traytor and 
 the ADULTERER ; with all their various fpawn, of perjury and, 
 incejl : 
 
 * "Eru ^i fityir* a.Siitr,[ia1a Stwy yala(p^i»n<rti, Apud Stobai Serm. xlii. p. 29O. lin. 34. Ti- 
 giiri, fol. 1559. 
 
 t So the law of the Twelve Tables : Patronus si chenti fraudem fecerit,. 
 
 (ACER ESTO. 
 
 Quiqiie
 
 27^ THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IF. 
 
 Quique ob adulterium caefi, quique arma fecuti 
 Impia, nee veriti dominorum fallere dextras — 
 Vendidit hie auro patriam, domiaumque potentem 
 Impofuit ; fixit leges pretio, atque rehxlt. 
 Hie thalamum invafit natse, vetitofque hymensos. 
 It is obfervable, he does not fay, limply, adulter}, but ob adulterium 
 ccejt ; as implying, that the greateft civil puniOiment pleads for no 
 mitigation of this crime at the bar of divine juftice. 
 
 5. The INVADERS AND ViOLATERS OF THE HOLY MYSTERIES, 
 
 held out in the perfon of Thefeus, make the fifth and laft clafs of 
 
 offenders : 
 
 Sedet, aeternumque fedebit 
 Infelix Thefeus ; Phlegyafque * miierrimus omnes 
 Admonet, & magna teftatur voce per umbras : 
 
 DiSCITE JUSTITIAM MONITI, ET NON TEMNERE DIVOS. 
 
 The fable fays, that Thefeus and his friend Pirithous formed a de- 
 fign to fteal Proferpine from hell ; but being taken in the fadl, 
 Pirithous was thrown to the dog Cerberus, and Thefeus kept in 
 chains t» till he was delivered by Hercules : which without doubt 
 means the death of one, and the imprifonment of the other, for 
 their clandeftine intrufion into the Myjlerki. We have already 
 offered feveral reafons, to (hew that the defcent of Thefeus into 
 hell, was a violation of the Mjjieries : to which we may add what 
 the ancients tell us of the duration of his imprifonment, which 
 was four years ; the interim between the celebrations of the greater 
 Mvjleries. So Seneca the tragedian makes him fay : 
 
 * ThePhlegyx here mentioned, T take to be thofe people of Boeotia fpoken of hj 
 Paufanias, who attempting to plimder the temple of Apollo at Delphi, were deftroyed 
 by lightning, earthquakes, and peftilence ; hence Phlegyse, I fuppofe, fignified im- 
 pious, facritegious perfons in general ; and is fo to be uiiderftood in this place, 
 
 Jo. Tzetzes, C, ii. cap. 51. 
 
 Tandem
 
 Sbct. 4- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 279 
 
 Tandem profugi no<51:is seternae plagam, 
 Vaftoque maaes carcere umbrantem polum. 
 Ut vix eupitum fufferunt oculi diem ! 
 Jam QUART A Eleujis dona Triptolemi fecat, 
 Paremque toties Libra compoluit diem ; 
 Ambiguus ut me Tortis ignarac labor 
 Detinuit inter mortis & vitae mala *. 
 
 This may reconcile the contradidlory accounts of the fable con- 
 cerning Thefeus ; fome of which fay he was delivered from hell ; 
 others, that he was eternally detained there. The frji relates to 
 the liberty given him by the president of the Myjieries at the en- 
 fuing celebration : the other, to what the Myjieries taught he and 
 all would fuffer in the other world 'iox 'vwlat'mg them. This leads 
 us to a circumflance which will much confirm the general inter- 
 pretation of this famous Epifode. In yEneas's fpeech to the Sibyl, 
 Thefeus is put amongft thofe heroes who went to, and returned 
 from, hell: 
 
 Quid Thefea magnum, 
 Quid memorem Alciden ?• • 
 
 But in the place before us he is reprefented as confined there eter- 
 nally. Julius Hyginus, in his Commentaries on Virgil \^ thinks 
 this a grofs contradiction ; which Virgil would have corrected, had 
 he lived to finifh the poem. Bat can it be fuppofed, the poet was 
 not aware of this, in two paflages fo near one another, in the fame 
 book ? \\\ trutli, his employing thefe differing circumflances, con- 
 firms the general interpreCati<)n ; and the general interpretation 
 helps to reconcile the difference, ^neas wanted to be initiated ; 
 and when he fpeaks to the Sibyl, or Mvftngogue,^ he enumerates 
 thofe heroes who had been initiated before him ; that is, fuch 
 who had' feen the fiews of the Myjieries, of which number was 
 Thefeus, though he had intruded violently. But when Virgil 
 
 * Hippol, f A. Gellii Noa. Att. lib. x. cap. i6. 
 
 comes
 
 a8o THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 comes to defcribe thefe Shews, which were fuppofed to be a true 
 reprefentation of what was done and fuffered in Tartarus, Thefeus 
 is put among the damned, that being his ftation in the other world. 
 
 This will remind the learned reader of a ftory told by LIvy. 
 *' The Athenians (fays he), drew upon themfelves a war with 
 ** Philip, on a very flight occafion ; and at a time when nothing 
 •• remained of their ancient fortune, but their high fpirlt. Two 
 *' young Acarnanians, during the dsys of initiation, themfelves 
 " uninitiated, and ignorant of all that related to that fecret worfhip, 
 *' entered the temple of Ceres along with the crowd. Their dif- 
 " courfe foon betrayed them ; by making fome abfurd enquiries 
 *' into the meaning of what they faw : fo being brought before the 
 '* Prefident of the Myjleries, although it was evident they had en- 
 " tered ignorantly and without defign, they were put to death, as 
 *' guilty of a moft abominable crime *." 
 
 The office Thefeus is put upon, of admonifhing his hearers againfl: 
 IMPIETY, could not, fure, be difcharged in th.eiejhews by any one 
 fo well, as by him who reprefented the Violator of them. But 
 the critics, unconfcious of any fuch defign, confidered the talk 
 the poet has impofed on Thefeus, of perpetually founding in the ears 
 of the damned, this admonition : 
 
 DiSCITE JUSTITIAM MONITl, ET NON TEMNERE DIVOS, 
 
 as a very impertinent employment. For though it was a fentence 
 of great truth and dignity, it was preached to very little purpofe 
 amongfl: thofe who were never to hope for pardon or remiffion. 
 Even the ridiculous Scarron hath not uegleded to put it in this 
 
 * Contraxerant autem cnm Philippo belhim Athenienfes haudquaqnam digna caufa, 
 dijm ex vetere fortuna nihil prxter animos fervant. Acarnanes duo juvenes per initio- 
 rum dies, non initiati, templum Cereris, impnidentes religionis, cum cetera tiirba in- 
 greffi funt. Facile eos fermo prodidit, abfiirde quadam percunftantes ; dedu£Hque ad 
 antiftifes templi cum palam eflet per errorem ingreflbs, tanquam ob infandum fcelus 
 interfedi funt. Hill. lib. xxxi. 
 
 abfurd
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. zSt 
 
 abfurd light * ; and it muft be owned, that, according to the com- 
 mon ideas of iEneas's defcent into hell, it can hardly be ieeu iu 
 any other. 
 
 But, fuppofe Virgil to be here relating the admonitory maxims 
 delivered during the celebration of thefe mystic shews, and nothing 
 could be more juft or ufeful ; for then the difcourfe was addreffcd 
 to the vajl multitude of living Jpe3iators. Nor is it a mere fuppofition 
 that fuch difcourfcs made part of thefe reprefentations. Ariftidcs 
 exprefsly fays +, that in no place were more aftonifhing words pro- 
 nounced or fung, than in thefe Mv/leries. The reafon, he tells us, 
 was, that theyo««^j and the j%^ might mutually aflift each other 
 in making an impreffion on the minds of the Initiated. But, from 
 a paflage in Pindar, I conclude, that in thefe fhews (from whence 
 men took their ideas of the infernal regions) it was cuftomary for 
 each offender, as he paffed by, in machinery, to make an admoni- 
 tion againft his own crime. " It is reported (fays Pindar) that 
 " Ixion, by the decrees of the Gods, while he Is inceflantly turning 
 *' round his rapid wheel, calls out upon mortals to this effect, 
 *' That they (hould be always at hand to repay a benefador for 
 *' the fervices he had done them %." Where the word BPOTOI, 
 jiving men, feems plainly to (hew that the fpeech was at flrfl: made 
 before men in this world. 
 
 The poet clofes his catalogue of the damned with thefe words '. 
 Aufi omnes immane nefas, ausoohe potiti. 
 
 * Cette fontencc eft bonne & belle, 
 JAais en Enfer de quoi fert-elle ? 
 
 Jiv, ti niiWai tU s?'af^l^^o^ nodiri Ta"; ar.oaTi T« o^(*8»a ; Eleuf. 
 'iiUta, ^etvli Tatrx 
 
 To» litfycTat iyutaT^ aftoifaVj 
 'E3-oixoc"«; TivscrOai. i Pvth. 
 
 Vol. I. O o For
 
 282 YHE divine legation Book TL 
 
 For the antients thought that an a<5lIon was fandified by the fuc- 
 cefb ; which they efteemed a mark of the favour and approbation of 
 the Gods : 
 
 Vitftrix Caufa Dlis placuit, fed vi61:a Catoni. 
 
 As this was a very pernicious doftrine, it was neceflary to teach, 
 that the imperial villain who trampled on his country, and the 
 baffled plotter who expired on a gibbet, were equally the objeds of 
 divine vengeance. 
 
 ^neas has now pafied Tartarus ; and here end the lesser mys- 
 teries. Their original explains why this fort ofj/jews was exhibited 
 in them. We are told, they were iiiflituted for the fake of Her- 
 cules, when about to perform his eleventh labour, of fetching 
 Cerberus from bell *, and were under the prefidency of Pro/er- 
 mine +. 
 
 The Hero advances to the borders of Elysium, and here he un- 
 dergoes the lujlration : 
 
 Occupat ^neas aditum, corpujque recentt 
 Spargit aqua, ramumque adverfo in limine figit. 
 
 ** Being now about to undergo the luflrations (fays Sopater) which' 
 *' immediately precede initiation into the greater Myjieries^ they 
 «« called me happy J." 
 
 Accordingly, ^neas now enters on the greater mysteries, 
 and comes to the abodes of the bleffed : 
 
 Devenere locos lastos, & amoena vireta 
 
 Fortunatorum nemorum, fedefque beatas : 
 
 Largior hie campos aether, & lumine veflit 
 
 Purpureo : folemque fuum, fua fidera norunt. 
 
 * ci 'EXiKC'i'i'ioi lit' auTu Ta ftixfi iTctwaito (nyr^jia 'EjJLiii^ri sy 'SXtvc-Tii Ta A' airiy ['H^-a- 
 
 KXf'a] JieyofiEva MIKPA fj-vrifnt, Tzetz. in Lycoph. 
 
 f <ra it /^iKga rTijo-.^J/tis Schol. Ariftoph. ad Plut. fecund. 
 
 J MiWm Jt Tor? )«c9»gT!oi;, Torj crjo T?s rthilrji, i»ltj^a»!iy, ii<i\>it li^nljMitc IfiaiJlo). In Divif» 
 
 Thefe
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. aftj 
 
 Thefe two fo different fcenes of Tartarus and Elyfium explain 
 what Ariftides meant, when he called the fliews of Eleufiiian Myf- 
 t cries, that mojl Jhock'mg, and, at the fame time, moji ravijhing repre- 
 fetitation *. 
 
 The Initiated, who till now only bore the name of MuVa<, are 
 called EnonXAI, and this new vifion, AYTOTIA. " The Ku-vo^ia 
 " or the feeing with their own eyes (fays Pfellus) is when he who 
 " is initiated beholds the divine lights f ." 
 
 In thefe very circumftances Themiflius defcribes the Initiated, 
 when jufl entered upon this fcene. " It being thoroughly purified, 
 *' he now difclofes to the Initiated, a region \ all over illuminated, 
 *' and ihining with a divine fplendor. The cloud and thick dark- 
 
 * tStov ^fixaX/ralo* ts j^ ^atJ^oToIoi'. Eleuf« 
 
 ■j- K\nt.\'M Wi'i oV«» airos o r%y^u\).ii9h to. hua ^uta. o^a. In Schol. in Orac, Zofoaft. 
 
 I This which was all over illuminaled, and which the prieft had thoroughly furijied, 
 was ayaX^a, an image. The reafon of transferring what is faid of the illumina- 
 tion of the image, to the illumination of the region, is, becaufe this image reprc" 
 fented the appearances of the divine Being, in one large, uniform, extenfive 
 light. Thus Jamblichus De myfteriis : Mtli in raura rSr aiTopatat ATAAMATOM 
 
 ^oya; a(po^itrijU^a.' UxZ)i It fxin rocTf Twi Sfiun AVTOflAIS, lv«^yeri{» >^ «i)t5{ t«; iXufltiatf 
 i^»Ta.t Ta St»/xala, iitfiCwj T« JiaXa/xTd, xj ^n!fG{«(jij»a "kafiVfSi ix$iaj>i1ai. — And again, 
 'flcawTw; Toiiyv k, \~'i tS <l>nTOS* to. fj.h rati Siuv APAAMATA ^ulof tshtoi arfwTlii — to f.tif ruf 
 Stwv ■av^, aTOjAii, a^Oi/ijIiy ExXa^TTii' >^ <Bi\r.(0!i to, iha, 0a,Qyi t£ xo'tr/iSJ crvfltcf, <«^X' i wsjixoo/i/a;. 
 § ii. cap. 4. He fays, too, that it was voithout figure, ^v^ni it rij f«i> o\i){, «J U iicl 
 <rui xala fci'^®- fWii xalixoi*ini wSf ofirai anlhoi — Cap. 7. To this image, the following 
 lines in the Oracles of Zoroafter allude : 
 
 Mi (pi;Vii)s xaXitrn; AYTOnrON AFAAMA, 
 
 Ob ya; xf'' "">'«'>' " 0?.iirfi» •crpw ailJ/xa TEAESQHi. 
 
 •' Invoke not the felf-confpicuous image of nature, for thou muft not behold thcfc 
 «' things before thy body be purified by initiation." This a^Towlov ayax^na was only a 
 diffiifive fliining light, as the name partly declares, t4ius defcribed prefently after, in the 
 fame Oracles : 
 
 Aaii,-xijj.niiv cxif; iot oAs xaTa |3i»aia xCj^jlO, 
 KXP'i arujcs ^utfit. 
 .And ihc Jig/jt of this divine fplendor was what the Myfteries called, AYTftTlA. 
 
 O o 2 ^' nefs
 
 284 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 " uefs are difperfed* ; and the mind emerges, as it were, into day, 
 " full of light and chearfuhiefs ; as before, of difconlblate obfcu- 
 "•♦ rity t." 
 
 Let me obferve, that the lines, 
 
 Largior hie campos astlier, & lumine veftit 
 Purpurea: soLEMque fuum, fua fidera norunt, 
 are in the very language of thofe, who profefs to tell us what they 
 faw at their initiation into the greater Myjleries. " Nofte media 
 " vidi soLEM Candida corufcantem lumine |," fays Apuleius on that 
 occafion : for candido and purpurea lumine fignify the very fame 
 thing. 
 
 Here Virgil, by leaving his Mafter, and copying the amiable 
 paintings of Elyfium as they were reprefented in the Myjleries, 
 hath artfully avoided a fault, too juftly objedled to Homer, of 
 giving fo dark and joylefs a landfcape of the fortunata nemora, as 
 could raife no defire or appetite for them : his favourite Hero him- 
 felf, who inhabited them, telling Ulyfles, that he had rather be a 
 day-labourer above, than command in the regions of the dead. 
 Such a reprefentation defeats the very intent of the Lawgiver, iu 
 propagating the do<a.rine of a future ftate. Nay, to mortify every 
 excitement to noble anions, the Greek poet makes reputation, 
 fame, and glory, the great fpur to virtue in the pagan fyftem, to 
 be vifionary and impertinent. On the contrary, Virgil, whofe 
 aim, in this poem, was the fervice of Society, makes the love or" 
 
 • Pletho tells us with what thefe clouds were accompanied, viz. thunder and light- 
 ning, and other meteoric appearances. Ta Si Tf^B(*f«t{ fai»opey«, xc^avto), >C, oSj, xj t" tj 
 aAXo, aii^toXa. «Wiu« ItU, a SsS t.'s ipvat;. In Schol. ad Orac. Mag. Zor. He fays they 
 were fymbols, but not of the nature of the deity : and this was true ; for the fymbol of 
 this Nature was the auToTrlo* ayaX^a. which followed. Hence, as we fee above, it was 
 KMithout figure, 
 
 4. —a.'xiia\i.rii^oi,^ <aa.T[aylAn, iTrsJiixvu t« }t.vH^iia /tafftapo-irGV re >iSii, ;^ awyj) xal«X«fC!raft(>io» 
 StamirU, >iTt iyiix^v Usim, x^ To k'9^ «6^co» i7!iffiytu%' «; i^ctpaUtlo a >3j U tS ^»6»5, Ifiy^ijs 
 
 (trasr^eus >^ «)>>.«.«? atll Ts cr^oTtgov cxsTa. Orat. in Patrem. 
 X Met. lib. xi.
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 285 
 
 glory fo ftrong a pnflion in the other world, that the Sibyl's pro- 
 rnife toPalinurus, that his name fhould be affixed to a promontory, 
 rejoices his fhade even in the regions of the unhappy : 
 
 JEternumqiie locus Pallnuri nomen habebit : 
 
 His diftis curas emotae, pulfufque parumper 
 
 Corde dolor trifti ; gaudkt cognomine terra. 
 They were the licentious ftories of the Gods, and this ungracious 
 defcription of Elyfium (both fo pernicious to fociety) which made 
 Plato drive Homer out of his Republic. 
 
 But to return. The poet having defcrlbed the climate of the 
 happy regions, fpeaks next of the amufements of its inhabitants : 
 
 Pars in gramineis exercent membra palseftris ; 
 
 Contendunt ludo, & fulva luftantur arena. 
 
 Befides the obvious allufion, in thefe lines, to the phllofophy of 
 Plato, concerning the duration of the paflions, it feems to have a 
 more fecret one to what he had all the way in his eye, the Eleujinian 
 Mvjleries', whofe celebration was accompanied with the Grecian 
 Games *. On which account too, perhaps, it was that, in the 
 dlfpofition of his work, his fifth book is employed in the Games 
 as a prelude to the Defcent in the fixth. 
 
 I . The firfl place, in thefe happy regions, Is affigned to Legis- 
 lators, and the founders of Society^ ijoho brought men from a fiv.ige 
 to a civil life. 
 
 Magnanimi Heroes, nati mellorlbus annis. 
 
 At the head of thefe is Orpheus, the moft renowned of the Euro- 
 pean Lawgivers ; but better known under the charader of Poet : 
 for the firft laws being written In meafure, to allure men to learn 
 them, and, when learnt, to retain them, the fable would have it, 
 
 * 'EvJoIotwIoi •ETctiiisJy 01 xal» t>i» 'EAAaJa aywve;* j^ fii» tirm ■ErjeffCtTo!®' o Tw» navaSuyaicuv* it 
 Je 5«^i^, tSv \'hivuii\-j:v. Ariftides Panath. — lAvrfirmi l\ ^Uui 'a^uruf 'H^aiuJa, >^ AiooKafsj' 
 ►)«»» Tt yujunKcp ysjeVSat 'UT^Stcii 'EAeuwi t?; 'AtIw?j. Idem EleuCn. 
 
 that
 
 i%6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 that by the force of harmony, he foftened the favage inhabitants 
 of Thrace : 
 
 Thre'icius longa cum vefle facerdos 
 Obloquitur numcrls feptem difcrimlna vocum. 
 
 But he has the firft place ; becaufe he was not Only a Leg'iflator, 
 but the Introducer of the Myfteries into that part of Europe. 
 
 2. The next is allotted to patriots, and thofe who died for ths 
 fervice of their country : 
 
 Hie manus, ob patriain pugnando vulncra paHi. 
 
 3. The third to virtuous and pious priests : 
 Quique facerdotes cafti, dum vita manebat : 
 Quique pii vates & Phoebo digna locuti. 
 
 For it was of principal ufe to Society, that religious men (hould 
 lead holy lives ; and that they fhould teach nothing of the Gods 
 but what was agreeable to the divine nature. 
 
 4. The laft place is given to the inventors of arts mechanical 
 find liberal : 
 
 Inventas aut qui vltam excoluere per artes : 
 Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo. 
 
 The order is exa£t and beautiful. The firft clafs Is of thofe who 
 FOUNDED Society, heroes and lawgivers : the fecond, of thofe who 
 supported it, patriots and holy priefts : and the third, of thofe 
 who adorned it, the inventors of the arts of life, and the recor- 
 ders of worthy actions. 
 
 Virgil has all along clofely followed the dodrine of the Myferies, 
 which carefully taught that virtue only could entitle men to hap- 
 plnefs ; and that rites, ceremonies, luftrations, and facrifices would 
 not fupply the want of it. 
 
 Nor has he been lefs ftudioUs In copying then fjcws and repre- 
 fentations ; in which the figures of thofe heroes and heroines, who 
 
 were
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 2S7 
 
 were moft celebrated ia the writings of the ancient Greeks, paffed 
 in proceffion *. 
 
 But, notwithftanding this entire conformity between the poet's 
 fcenes and thofe reprefented ia the My/ierics, fomething is ftiU 
 wanting to complete the proofs : and that is, the famous sECREr 
 of the Myjieries, the unity of the godhead, of which fo much 
 hath been faid above. Had Virgil aegleded to give us this cha- 
 ra6leriftic mark, tiiough, even then, we could not but fay, his in- 
 tention was to reprefent an Initiation ; yet we muft have been forced 
 to own he had doae it but impeifedly. But he was too good a 
 painter, to leave any thing ambiguous ; and hath therefore con- 
 cluded his hero's Iniiiation, as was the cuftom, with inftrufting 
 him ia the AnOPPHTA, or the do£lrine of the i;nitv. Till this 
 was done, the Initiated was not arrived to the highefl: ftage of per- 
 fe6tion ; nor, in the fulleft fenfe, intitled to the appellation of 
 
 EnonTHS. 
 
 Muf^us, therefore, who had been Hieropbant at Athens, takes 
 the place of the Sibyl (as it was the cuftom to have different Guides 
 in different parts of the celebration) and is made to conduft him ta 
 the recefs, where his Father's (hade opens to him the do5lrine ofTrutb^ 
 m thefe fublime words : 
 
 Principio ccelum, ac terras, campofque llquentes, 
 Luceatemque globum Lun^e, Titaniaque aftra 
 Spiritus INTX7S ALiT, totamque infufa per artus 
 AIens agitat molem, & magno fe corpore mifcet. 
 Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitieque volantum,. 
 Et quae marmoreo fert monftra fub zequorc pontus. 
 
 This was no other than the doftrine of the old Egyptians, as we 
 are aflured by Plato; who fays they taught that Jupiter was the 
 
 SPIRIT WHICH PERVADETH ALL THINGS -jr. 
 
 ^aajtaan' u, J' ei; to fticrtv wonjlai, yy Xoyowoioi >^ (rvfy^xipu.; raayltj i/tvairi— Arillid. 
 
 f 'iSufxit Ji >^ TO! TaT4i» ■maXalrulx,' h ii roc Aiyilirlia' Tm "la't/ ipaff-i, &C. — kJ Ai'a fih, t» 
 AU HANTKN xnPOYN IINEYMA. In Cratylo. 
 
 We
 
 288 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book Ii: 
 
 We fhall fhew how eafily the Greek Philofophy corrupted this 
 principle into (what is now called) spinozism *. Here Virgil has 
 approved his judgement to great advantage. Nothing was more 
 abhorrent from the Mvfteries, than Spinozifm, as it overturned t 
 the do£lrine of a future ftate of rewards and puniftiments, which 
 the Myjleries fo carefully inculcated ; and yet the principle itfelf, 
 of which Spinozifm was the abufe, was cherifhed there, as it was 
 the confequence of the doctrine of the Unity, the grand fecret of 
 the Mvjleries. Virgil, therefore, delivers the principle, with great 
 caution, and pure and free of the abufe ; though he underftocd 
 the nature of Spinozifm, and (by the following hnes in his fourth 
 Georgic, where he delivers it) appears to have been iufe£ted with it : 
 
 — Deum namque ire per omnes 
 
 Terrafque traftufque maris, coelumque profundum. 
 Hinc pecudes, armenta, vires, genus omne ferarum 
 Quemque fibi tenues nafcentem arceflere vitas. 
 
 Scilicet HUG REDDI DENIQUE AC RESOLUTA REFERRI 
 
 '• Omnia - 
 
 But the Myjleries did not teach the doctrine of the Unity for mere 
 fpeculation ; but, as we faid before, to obviate certain mifchiefs of 
 polytheifm, and to fupport the belief of a Providence. Now, as a 
 future ftate of rewards and puniftiments did not quite remove the 
 objeftions to its inequalities here, the Myjleries added to it the doc- 
 trine of the metempsychosis, or the belief of a prior ftate ];. And 
 this, likewife, our poet has been careful to record. For after hav- 
 ing revealed the great fecret of the Unity, he goes on to fpeak of 
 the Aletempfychojis, or tranfmigrarion, in this manner : 
 Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos, 
 Lethicum ad fluvium Deus evocat agmine magno 
 Scilicet immemores fupera ut convexa revifant, 
 Rurlus & incipiant in corpora velle reverti. 
 
 * Book i.ii. Se^t. 4. + See Book iii. Scft 3. &: 4. 
 
 J Vid. Porph, de Abil. 1. iv. kd. 16. & Cic. Frngm. ex lib. de Philofophia. 
 
 And
 
 Sect. 4. O F M O SE S D EM O'N STR ATE D. 289 
 
 And thence takes occafion to explain the nature and ufe of a Popifh 
 PURGATOKY, whlch, in bis hero's paflage through that region, 
 had not been done : this affords him too an opportunity for that 
 iioble epifode, the proceffion of the hero's pofterlty, which pafles 
 in review before him-. And with tills the fcene clofes. One might 
 well allow Virgil the ufe of -fo important a dlgrefiion, (confidering 
 whom it was he celebrated under the charafler of -^neas) though 
 it had been foreign to the nature of the M]i/leries he is defcriblng. 
 But indeed he was even here following their cuftoms very clofely. 
 Jt was then, and had been for fome time, the praflice of the My/' 
 ieries, when communicated to any afpirant of diftingulfhed quality, 
 to exhibit to him, in their JJjeiVi and reprefentations, fomethlng 
 ORACULAR, relating to his own fortune and affairs. Thus Hime- 
 rius tells us, that Olympia, on her uprifing, after the birth of 
 Alexander, was Initiated into the Samothracian Mv/ieries ; Where, 
 in the Jheivs, fhe faw her hufband Philip, at that time in Potidaea*. 
 In attending the hero's progrefs through the three eftates of the 
 dead, I have fhewn, at almoft every fl:ep, from fome ancient writer 
 or other, the exadt conformity of his adventures to thofe of the 
 Initiated in the M\Jleries. We fhall now colled thcfe fcattered 
 lights to a point; which will, I am perfuaded, throw fuch a luflre 
 on this Interpretation, as to make the truth of It Irrefiftlble. To 
 this purpofe, I fhall have nothing to do, but to tranfcribe a palTage 
 from an ancient writer, preferved by StobiEus ; which profeffes to 
 explain the exaft conformity between death, or a real defcent to 
 the infernal regions, and initiation, where the reprefentatlon of 
 thofe regions was exhibited. His words are thefe : The mind is 
 
 AFFECTED AND AGITATED IN DEATH, JUST AS IT IS IN INI- 
 TIATION INTO THE GRAND MYSTERIES. AnD WORD ANSWERS 
 TO WORD AS WELL AS THING TO THING : FOR TEAETTAN IS TO 
 
 '» Aiyilal tuili ^ '0\Vfii.T:i%ax, tr.t \-r,\ to"; A/.iliv^js tokcij liJai.dova i^yiu?ii7a> rk Ka^iii-ui It 
 
 2aficGfa'z>) f*i/ri{ia, IJ;; xxV/. rh T(?.ili» To» ^lAirToy. ]n Eclog, Declam. apud Photium, 
 Cod. 165. 243. 
 
 Vol. I. Pp die;
 
 apo THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IT. 
 
 DIE ; AND TEAEII0AI, TO BE INITIATED. ThE FIRST STAGE 
 IS NOTHING BUT ERRORS AND UNCERTAINTIES ; LABORIOUS 
 wanderings; a rude and fearful MARCH THROUGH NIGHT 
 AND DARKNESS. AnD NOW ARRIVED ON THE VERGE OF DEATH 
 AND INITIATION, EVERY THING WEARS A DREADFUL ASPECT: 
 IT IS ALL HORROR, TREMBLING, SWEATING, AND AI'FRIGHT- 
 
 aiENT. But this scene once over, a miraculous and di- 
 vine LIGHT DISPLAYS ITSELF; AND SHINING PLAINS AND 
 
 flowery meadows open on all hands before them. 
 Here they are entertained with hymns, and dances, 
 
 WITH the sublime DOCTRINES OF SACRED KNOWLEDGE, AND 
 WITH REVEREND AND HOLY VISIONS. AnD NOW BECOME PER- 
 FECT AND INITIATED, THEY ARE FREE, AND >fo LONGER UN- 
 DER RESTRAINTS ; BUT CROWNED AND TRIUMPHANT, THEY 
 WALK UP AND DOWN THE REGIONS OF THE BLESSED ; CON- 
 VERSE WITH PURE AND HOLY MEN; AND CELEBRATE THE 
 SACRED MYSTERIES AT PLEASURE *. 
 
 * Tn Je 'oa3-;^;sii' wkS®-, tXoti cl Ts^s1c<,l{ /*sya?iai,- Jtalofj-ix^oftsioi' Jio ;^ To fJf^K Tu p^i/cri, kJ to 
 Jfysv Tw ({yw tS Tt\tvlat j^ Ti^irj9ai ■nrjoo'to-iKt, ■ro'>.avai to, ib^Stoc >^ tffifijfofiaj xotmJm;, >y ita 
 CKora; Ti»o< fcoirloi wog'-i'att )C^ iiiXtro'" f'Ttt 'ff{o Ta Ti^a^ biItS Ta'Suta, mafU, ^^ir.n, '^ Tfofi©', 
 1^ iJeiuf, .cj ^xi/.^®-' in Je Taxs, (f*< Ti Savjida-iov aimyinTEn, n totoi xaSapoi, tc^ Xn/Auvt! 6&|ailff, 
 fjjfji >y /jifiiai; 1^ aii/.tijinla.': a«acr|itaTair It^^t, >^ (pavW/zaTu* ayii)/ cx'^tlii' U ul; o ■sra/liXr,; 'ih >^ 
 
 «,»'5'paffi. Sermocxix, p. 605. lin. 33. Tiguri, fol. 1559. The Son of SiiMch, who was 
 full of Grecian ideas, and hath embcUilhcd his admirable work of Ecclesiasticus 
 with a great deal of Gentile learning, hath plainly alluded, though in few words, to 
 thefe circuinftances of initiation, where encouraging men to feek after ■uvJ/d'o/», he 
 fays : — " At fiift flie will walk with hini by crooked ways, and bring fear and dseaI) 
 " upon him, and torment him with her discipline, until (he may trust his foul, 
 •♦ and TRY him by her laws. Then will flje return the straight way unto him, aad 
 *' comfort hill), and fhew him her sEcbets." — iiErja^/^siaj urojsil/lai fxtT airi It u^wrais* 
 ♦OBOM il k; AEIAIAN fV»|6i ett' airit, j^ BASANIIEI AYTON 'EN HAIAIA ATTHS, tui a 
 EMniSfETSHi TJf il-t/xri «"«• >tJnEIPASH a»7oi/ B» ToTj hxaiijLa.a-iiB.iTic. Kbi «7aA(» Ittod^ii 
 •ax' i.;8E:av ©5^; aM,, k) EY<t>PANEI airi., \J AHOKAAYYEI airu t» KPYHTA uirii. 
 Chap, iv, ver. 17, i8. 
 
 The
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 29, 
 
 The prog re fs fiuKhed, and every thing over, ^neas and his 
 Guide are let out again to the upper regions, through the ivory gate 
 of DREAMS. A circuniftance borrowed from Homer, and very 
 happily applied to this fubjea: ; for, as Euripides elegantly ex- 
 prefies it, 
 
 "THNOZ: T« MTKPA tk ^uvdrv MYITHPIA. 
 A DREAM is the LESSER MYSTERIES oi death. 
 
 But, befides this of i'Oory, there was another of hofn. Through 
 the firfl iflued falje vifions ; and through the latter, true. 
 
 Sunt geminas Sorani portae : quarum altera fcrtur 
 Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbrls : 
 Altera candenti perfefta nitens elephanto ; 
 Sedfa//a ad coelum mittunt infomnia manes. 
 His ubi turn natum Anchlfes^ unaque Slbyllam 
 Profequitur didis, portaque emittit ehurna. 
 
 Servius, with the rank fpirit of a grammarian, who feldom finds 
 any thing to ftop at but a foleclfm in expreffion, fays very readily, 
 ** Vult autem intelligi, falfa efle omnia qu£e dixit. He would have 
 *' you underftand by this, that all he has been faying is falfe and 
 *' groundlefs." The following critics give the fame folution. 
 Rusus, one of the beft, may fpeak for them all : " Cum igitur 
 *' Virgllius ^Eneam eburnea porta emittit, Indicat profedo, quid- 
 '* quid a fe de illo inferorum aditu diflum eft, in fabulis efle nu- 
 *' merandum." This interpretation is flrengthened by Virgil's 
 being an Epicurean ; and making the fame conclufion In his fecond 
 Georgic : 
 
 Felix, qui potuit rerum cognofcere caufas, 
 Atque metus omncs & inexorabile fatum 
 Subjecit pedibus, frepitumque Acberoniis avari ! 
 
 But Virgil wrote, not for the amufemcnt of women and children 
 
 over a winter's fire, in the taftc of the Mifrjian fables ; but for the 
 
 Pp 2 ufe
 
 292 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 •ofe of men and citizens; to inftrudl then:i in the duties of huma- 
 nity and fociety. The purpofe, therefore, of fuch a writer, when 
 he treats of a future state, muft be to make the do£Vrine in- 
 terefting to his reader, and ufeful in civil life : Virgil hath' done 
 the firft, by bringing his Hero to it through the moft perilous at- 
 chievement ; and the fecond, by appropriating the rewards and 
 punifhments of that ftate to virtue and to vice only. Now if we 
 will believe thefe critics, when the poet had laboured through a 
 whole book, and employed all his art and genius to compafs this 
 important end, he fooliftiiy defeats his whole defign with one wan- 
 ton dafh of his pen, which fpeaks to this efFe6t : " I have laboured, 
 *' countrymen, to draw you to virtue, and to deter you from vice, 
 *' in order to make particulars and focieties flourifhing and happy. 
 ** The truths inforced to this purpofe, I have endeavoured to re- 
 *' commend by the example of your anceflor and founder, ^neas ; 
 " of whom (to do you the more credit) I have made an accom- 
 " plifhed hero; and have fet him on the moft arduous and illuf- 
 *' trious undertaking, the eftablifhment of a civil community : and 
 *' to fan(5tify his character, and add reverence to his laws, i have 
 ♦' fent him upon the errand you fee here related. But, left the 
 *' bufincis ftiould do you any fervice, or my hero any honour, I 
 *' muft inform you, that all this talk of z future Jiate is a childifh 
 *' tale, and ^neas's part in it, only a fairy adventure. In a word, 
 " all that you have heard, muft pafs for a lenten dream, from 
 " which you are to draw no confeq^uences, but that the poet was 
 <' in a capricious humour, and difpofed to laugh at your fuper- 
 '* ftitlons." Thus is Virgil made to fpeak in the Interpretation of 
 ancient and modern critics *. And this the conclufion he was pleafed 
 to give to the mafter-piece of all his writings* 
 
 * This abfurdjty did not efcape the learned Dacier, who, in his note on. porta 
 fugiens eburna, 1, lii. Od. xxvii. of Horace, fays, — Mais ce qu'il y a d'etonnant, 
 c'eft que Virgile fait fortir Anchife par la porte d'yvoire, qui eft celle des faux fonges ;■ 
 par la U detruit toutes lea grandes chofes qu'il a dues de Rome & d'Augiifte. 
 
 Th«
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED, 295 
 
 The truth is, the difficulty can never be gotten over, but by 
 
 fuppofing THE DESCENT TO SIGNIFY AN INITIATION INTO THE 
 
 MYSTERIES. This Will Unriddle the enigma, and reftore the poet 
 to himfelf. And if this was Virgil's purpofe, it is to be prefumed, 
 he would give Tome private mark to afcertain his meaning : for 
 which no place was fo proper as the conclufion. He has, therefore, 
 with a beauty of invention worthy of himfelf, made this fine im- 
 provement on Homer's (lory of the /xo gates ; and by imagining 
 that of horn for true vifions, and that of ivory for falfe, infinuates, 
 by the firft, the reality of another ftate ; and by the fecond, the 
 Jhadovcy reprefcntatlons of it in the (hews ol x\\q Myjieries : fo that, 
 not the things themfelves, but only the pidures of them, objeded 
 to iEneas, were falfe ; as the Scene did not lye in hkll, but in 
 the TEMPLE OF Ceres. This reprefentation being called MTeor, 
 xuT l^oxnv. And this we propofe as the true meaning of. 
 Altera candenti pcrfe<fta nitens elephanto : 
 Sed FALSA ad coelum mittunt infomnia manes. 
 
 Tor falfa Infomnia do not (ignify lying, but fhadowy dreams. Thus 
 the Roman widow, in the famous fepulchral infcription *, begs 
 the pii manes to be fo indulgent to her hufband's (hade, that (he 
 may fee him in her dreams ; that is, feem to fee him, as the (hade 
 of Heftor was feen by ^neas. 
 
 In fomnis ecce ante oculos moedifTuTius Hector 
 
 Vifus adefle mihi 
 
 and this, in diftin£tion to what the Roman Widow makes the other 
 part of her prayer, to be rfrt/Z^ joined to him in the other world. 
 
 * ITA PETO VOS MANES HORIS NOCTVRNIS 
 
 SANCTISSIMI TT EVM VIDEAM 
 
 COMMENDATVM HAEEATI3 ET ETIAM ME FATO 3VADERE 
 
 MEVM CONIVGEM ET VEL- VELLIT VT ET EGO P03SIM 
 
 LITIS _ DULCIV3 ET CELERIVS 
 
 HYIC INDVLGENTISSIMI ESSE APVD EVM PERVENIRE. 
 
 Apud Grut. p. 786. 
 
 But
 
 294 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 But though the vlfious which iffued from the ivory gate were 
 unfjJjJantial, as being only reprefentative ; yet I make no queftion, 
 but the ivory gate itfelf was real. It appears, indeed, to be no 
 other than the fumptuous door of the temple, through which 
 the Initiated came out, when the celebration was over. This temple 
 was of an immenfe bignefs, as appears from the words of Apuleius ; 
 «' Senex comiffimus ducit me protinus ad ipfas fores ^Dis amplis- 
 *' siM^*. Strabo is more particular: Next (fays he) is Eleufis, 
 " in which is the temple of the Eleufinian Ceres, and the myftic 
 " cell built by Ictinus, capable of holding as large a num- 
 »' BER ASA THEATRE t." But Vitruvius's defcription of it is ftill 
 more curious : " ELEUsiNiE Cereris 6c Proferpin^e cellam immani 
 " MAGNiTUDiNE I<3;inus Dorico more, fine exterioribus columnis 
 «' ad Idxamentum ujus facrifciorum, pertexit. Earn autem poftea, 
 *' cum Demetrius Phalereus Athenis rerum potiretur, Philon ante 
 " templum in fronte columnis conftitutis Proftylon fecit. lia 
 *< auSfo vrjiibuh laxamentum iniliantibiis operifque fummam adjecit 
 " autorltaiem ];." And Ariftides thought this the moft extraordi- 
 nnry circumftance in the whole affair : " But the thing mofl won- 
 *' derful and divine was, that of all the public aflemblies of Greece, 
 *' this was the only one which was contained within the walls of 
 " one edifice §." Here was room, we fee, and fo purpofely con- 
 trived, for all their shews and representations. 
 
 And now, having occafionally, and by parts only, faid fo much 
 of thefe things, it will not be amifs, in conclufion, to give one gene- 
 ral and concife idea of the whole. I fuppofe the fubftance of the 
 celebration to be a kind of drama of the hiftory of Ceres; as thofe 
 under the patronage of the other Gods reprefented their Hiftory ; 
 
 • Metam. I. xi. p. 996. Edit. Lugd. 8vo, 1587. 
 X'.Lao\%, '1k.V>©-, gx^6» Si»Tfa Jf'laaSai Ju»X(xiyuv. — lib. ix. Geog. Edit. Cafaub. p. 2;2. 
 
 lin. JO. X De Architcft. Pnf. ad 1. vii. 
 
 § To Ji ^\ ^sV'ro' »J SiiOTolcy, ftJmi y»j TB>rn» wwnj't'piii* ii? J*®- (nM^ui «T;^'' Eleufin. 
 Otat. 
 
 lo
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRA TE t), 295 
 
 fo Hkrcules and Mythras, who protedled the opprefTed from 
 the ravages of wild Beafts or more crut-l A^en, had their labours in 
 war and hunting dramatically held out. The Story of Ceres afforded 
 opportunity to reprefent the three particulars, about which the 
 myfteries were principally concerned, i. The rife and ejiabli/ljment 
 of civil foci ety. 2. The do^rine of a future fate of reivards and 
 punjjhmeiits. 3. The error of polytheifm, and the principle of the unity. 
 The Goddefs's legiflation in Sicily and Attica (at both which 
 places (he was faid to civilize the favage manners of the inhabi- 
 tants) gave birth to the^r/l*. Her fenrch for her daughter Profer- 
 pine in hell, to the fecond; and her refentments againft the Gods 
 for their permiflion of, or connivance at, the rape, to the third -f. 
 My fuppofition, of the dramatic nature of the fhews, is not made 
 without good authority. Luciaiij in his Alexander, where he gives 
 a large account of the impoftures of that falfe prophet, fpeaking of 
 the Myferies which he iuftituted, in honour of his new-found 
 .God, Glyco ; fays, they were celebrated (after the ufual prepara- 
 tory rites of torch-bearing, initiation, and public notice to the 
 prophane to keep at a dlftance) by a three Days feftival : " On the 
 *' firft day was reprefented the labour of Latona and the Nativity 
 *' of Apollo ; the nuptials of Ceronis ; and the birth of yEfculapius, 
 *' On the fecond, the appearance of Glyco, and the generation of 
 '* the god: and on the third, the marriage of Podalirius with the 
 ** mother of Alexander |." Every thing in thefe rites being per- 
 formed, as the turn of the learned author's relation neceflarily im- 
 
 * Teque, Ceres & Libera, qiiarum sacra— a quibus inicia vit.-e, atque vidus, leguni, 
 morum, manfuetudtnis, humanitatis exempla hominibiis et civitatibiis data, ac difpertit;\ 
 efle dicuntur. Cic. in Verr. v. c. 72. Edit. Ox. 4". T. IV. p. 478. 
 
 •f- This circumftance ApoHodonis informs us of. His words are thefe : — At»9SiTa l\ 
 ma.{ i^iAmm, IVi nxirm airhv i>3-«o-j», OPTIZOMENH eEOIS AHEAinEN OYPANOfJ- tlxxirSt^'ao: 
 h yvmixi, vxtv tti E\iua7>», 
 
 T A>n55 (ylfyilo Xox^ia, j^ 'A'-iWrno^ yatal, k, Ko^udJoj ya/zo;, H^ ' Aax\r,riii, tr.'MiTo" it il Tr, 
 
 V^/ios, &c. T.II. pag. 245. Edit. Reitzii, Araftd, 1746. 4°. 
 
 plies.
 
 296 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 ■ plies, in imitation of ancient ufage. But here let it be obferved, 
 
 • that the fecrets of the Myjferies were unfolded both by words and 
 
 • adiions: of which Ariftides, quoted above, gives the realon ; *' That 
 " fo the founds and fights might mutually affift each other in 
 " making an impreffion on the minds of the Initiated^ The error 
 of pdythe'iftn therefore was as well expofed by the dark 'wanderings- 
 in the fabterraneous paflages through which the- Initiated began 
 his courfe, as by the Information received from the Hierophant : 
 and the tt«/(y as flrongly illuflrated by the ulxo-Tf[ov Kyoth^K, the 
 
 jelf-Jeen mage *, the dlfFufive finning light, as by the hymn of Or- 
 pheus t, or this fipeech of Anchifies. 
 
 On the whole, if 1 be not much deceived, the view in which I 
 place this famous epifode, not only clears up a number of difficul- 
 ties, inexplicable on any other fcheme ; laut likewife heightens and 
 ennobles the whole poem ; for now the epifode is feen to be an ef- 
 fential part of the main fubjeft, which is the erection of a civil 
 POLICY and A religion ; cuftom having made initiation into th^ 
 Mxfteries a necefl'ary preparative for that arduous undertaking. 
 
 But there is no place in this admirable Poem, even to the shield 
 OF i^NEAs, which will not infrrud us how confiderable a ftation 
 the Mysteries held in poblic life; and how neceiTary they were 
 fuppofedto be, to compleat the equipage of a Hero. 
 
 The ornaments on this fhield reprefent two famous Hiftories of 
 different periods, and very differently executed. The firO, a loole 
 fketch of the foundation and early fortunes of Rome ; the fecond, 
 a highly finifhed pldure of the vidlory of Adlium. Thefe fo difll- 
 mllar pieces feem to be as oddly connefled; by a fudden jump 
 unto the other world. 
 
 nine procul addit 
 Tartareas etlam fedes, alta oftia Ditls ; 
 Et fcelerum poenas, & te, Catillna, mlnnci 
 Pendentem fcopulo, Furiarumque ora trementcm ; 
 Secretofque pios ; his dantem jura Catonem |. 
 
 * See note (J) p. 283, f See p. 20J, % Lib. viii. 
 
 But
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 297 
 
 But there is more in this difpofitlon than appears at firfl fight. The 
 leveral parts make an uniform and conne£ted Syftem. The firfl 
 of the two principal parts, we have obferved, is a view of the 
 foundation and firfl: eftabUfliment of ancient Rome. Now Diony- 
 fius of Halicarnaflus tells us, that this city was in nothing more 
 excellent, or worthy of imitation, than in the genius of its national 
 Religion ; which was fo conftrufted, as to be always ready to ren- 
 der fervice to the State. Hence, Virgil, when he has brought us 
 to the time in which their civil eflablifliment was perfedly fe- 
 cured by the flaughter and difperfion of the Gauls, 
 
 (Scutis prote£li corpora longis), 
 goes on to the religious conftitution : 
 
 Hie exultantes Sallos, nudofque Lupercos, 
 
 Lanigerofque apices, & lapfa ancilia coelo 
 
 Excuderat : caftae ducebant facra per urbem 
 
 Pilentis matres in mollibus 
 
 Now Strabo obferves, that the ancient pagan religion confifted of 
 two parts, the open and the secret *. The open, Virgil hath 
 given us in the Salian and Lupercal rites. What remained was the 
 fecret , and this he prefents to us in an oblique defcription of the 
 Mxjleries ; where (as we have (hewn) the fcenes of a future ftate 
 were exhibited to the Initiated. 
 
 Hinc procul addit 
 
 Tartareas etiam sedes, alta oftia Ditis ; 
 
 Et fcelerum poeuas, & te, Catilina, minaci 
 
 Pendentem fcopulo, Furiarumque ora trementem ; 
 
 Secretosque pios ; his dantem jura Catonem. 
 
 So that, as before, a particular initiation into the Myjlerles was 
 meant by -^neas's defcent to the infernal regions ; here, the gene* 
 ral celebration of them is to be underftood by this contraded 
 view of Tartarus and Elyfium. 
 
 * Lib. X, p. 467. C. Edit. Paris, 1620. fol. 
 
 Vol. I. Q q As
 
 298 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 As this meaning feems neceffary to give common propriety to the 
 defcription of the fhield, there is reafon, 1 think, for receiving it. 
 And if we allow, that the Mysteries are here reprefented under 
 the idea of the infernal regions, we gain a new argument in favour of 
 the interpretation of the fixth book. 
 
 If it be afked why Cato is put, as it were, in the place of Minos ; 
 and Catiline, of Tityus : the anfwer will let us into another 
 beauty. It is a fine infinuation, that thefe foreign rites of Eleufis 
 deferved to be naturalized at Rome, In which he only followed the 
 opinion of Cicero *. 
 
 Here it may not be improper to take notice of a vulgar mlftake, 
 as old at leaft as Servius, that Cato the cenfor, and not Cato of 
 Utica, is meant in this place ; as if the Court-poet would not dare 
 to celebrate the profefled enemy of the Julian houfe. This made 
 the critics feek out for a Cato of a diftant age, to brave Catiline in 
 Hell ; when they might have feen it could be no other than his 
 great contemporary, who had before withftood him in Rome. The 
 laft line, 
 
 Sepretosque pios ; his dantem jura Catoncm, 
 was probably a compliment to Cato in his little fcnate of Uticfl. 
 
 All this confidered, we fee the reafon, the great artift had to call 
 his pidurc, his portraiture on the fhield, 
 
 Clypei NON enarrabile textum ; 
 
 au ^ENIGMATICAL pi(flure. 
 
 And now the nature and purpofe of ihejixlh book being further 
 fupported by this collateral circumftance, it will enable us to dif- 
 cover and explain another beauty in the/eventh ; which depending 
 on this principle, could not be feen till it was eftablifhed. 
 
 If the recommendation of the Myjleries was of fuch importance 
 in an epic poem of this fpecies ; and if, at the time of writing, 
 many of the Myjleries were become abominably corrupt, we cau 
 
 * See p. 209. 
 
 hardly
 
 •Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 199 
 
 hardly believe but that the poet, after he had fo largely expatiated 
 in pralfe of thofe that were holy and ufeful, vrioxM take care to 
 ftigmatize fuch as were become notorioufly profligate: becaufe 
 this tended equally with the other, to vindicate, what he had in 
 view, the honour of the inftitution. And what ftrengthens this 
 conjedure, is the limilar condud of another great writer of anti- 
 quity upon the fame fubjeft, whom we are now coming to, 
 Apuleius of Madaura, whole Metainorpholis is written altogether 
 Jn this view oi rccovimmding the Pagan Myjieries ; in which, as we 
 fhall find, he hath been no lefs circumftantial in reprobating the 
 corrupt Myjla'tes of the Syrian goddess than in extolHng the pure 
 rites of the Egyptian Isis. A condu6t fo much alike, that the 
 two cafes will ferve mutually to fupport what is here faid of 
 either. 
 
 This then feemed a neceflhry part in the plan of Virgil's Poem, 
 ^ut it was no eafy matter to execute it. Another allegory would 
 have been without grace ; nor was there any repofe in the latter 
 part of the aiflion of the poem, as in the former, to admit a di- 
 greffion of fuch a length. On the other hand, to condemn all cor- 
 rupt Myjlerks, in the plain way of a judiciary fentence, did not fuit 
 the nature of his poem : nor, if it had fuited, could it have been ufed, 
 without hurting the uniform texture of the work : after the pure 
 rites had been fo covertly recommended under figures and fi6lions. 
 The poet, therefore, with admirable invention, hath contrived, 
 in the next book, to render the moft corrupt of the Myfitrks, the 
 fecret rites of Bacchus, very odious, by making them the infl:ru- 
 mcnt to traverfe the defigns of Providence, in the eftablifliment of 
 his Hero, and by putting a Fury on the office of exciting the 
 ofpirants, to the celebration of them. Amata, the mother of La- 
 vinia, in order to violate the league and alliance between ^Eneas 
 and Latinus, contrives, at the Inftigation of Ale£to, to fecrcte her. 
 daughter ; and to devote and confecrate her to Bacchus, in an /;;///- 
 ■I'ion ip,toone of his abominable rites: 
 
 Q^q 2 SiMULATO
 
 300 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 SiMULATO numlne Bacchi 
 Majus adorta nefas, majoremque orfa furorem, 
 Evolat, & natam frondofis montibus a edit * ; 
 Quo thalamum eripiat Teucris, tedafque moretur : 
 Evoe, Bacche ! fremens solum te virgine dignum * 
 
 Vociferans 
 
 Fama volat : Furiifque accenfas peftore matrcs. 
 Idem omnis fimul ardor agit, nova quagrere teda 
 
 Deferuere domos 
 
 Clamat : lo, matres 
 
 Solvite crinales vittas, capite org'ia mecum. 
 Talem inter fylvas, inter deferta ferarum 
 Reginam Alecto stimulis agit unpique Bacchi +. 
 The Myfteries of Bacchus were well chofen for an example of 
 corrupted Rites, and of the mifchlefs they produced ; for they 
 were early and flagrantly corrupted. But his principal reafon for 
 this choice, I fuppofe, was a very extraordinary ftory he found in 
 the Roman annals, of the horrors committed in that city, during 
 the clandeftine celebration of the Bacchic r/V« ; which Livy has 
 tranfcribed very circumftantially into the thirty-ninth book of his 
 
 Nor did the poet think he had done enough in reprefenting the 
 corrupt Mxjleries under thefe circumftances of difcredit, without 
 fpecifying the mifchlefs they produced ; nor that he had fufficiently 
 
 * Livy, we have feen, in his account of thefe rites of Bacchus, fays, "Raptos aDiis 
 " homines dici, quos machinie illigatos ex confpeftu in abditos fpecus abripiant." 
 
 f Lib. vii.— Phitarch defcribes thefe corrupt Myfteries, in the fame manner; but 
 adds, that they were not celebrated in honour of any of the Gods, but to prevent mif- 
 chief from evil Demons, whom, by fuch fort of Rites, they would appeafe and render 
 
 nnoCUQUS. — Jo^las ^' '^ Sumis ua'^t^ i,ut^a! airoJ/^aSa; >^ <TiiiiOfawct,f £> ai; ui^o^ixyiat JC ^i%a7:ov7- 
 
 fi%j'Bt5;/tyi<7M x^on•, ^iwt ^l.tt »Jf»i, AA.IMANn^i Jt OAYAfiN, awolpow?; «»fx« ^io-ai^i' av rtKut 
 HSiXi;tia K, wafa/Ai'Qia.— wipi t5» U^ll^olTonl;» Xi^'^^''"'' Edit, Fiancof. fol. 1 599. T. II. 
 
 B. 417. t-. 
 
 dilllnguiftied
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 301 
 
 diftinguiflied them from the pure^ without fhewing thofe mifchiefs 
 to be fuch as the pure had taken care to obviate. 
 
 The next news, therefore, we hear of Amata, after her celebra- 
 tion of the rites of Bacchus, is her suicide, and a fuicide of the moil 
 ignominious kind : 
 
 Purpureos morltura manu difcindit amiftus, 
 
 Et nodum mformh leti trabe ne£tit ab alta. 
 
 This difafter, the poet makes Jupiter charge upon Juno ; who, by 
 the miniftry of Aledto, excited Amata to an initiaticn : 
 Terris agitare vel undis 
 Trojanos potuifli : infandum accendere bellum, 
 Deformare domum, & lu£lu mifcere hymen^os. 
 
 Suicide, as we learn by Plato*, the boly mj/ier'tes exprefly forbad 
 and condemned. On which account our poet, in his allegorical 
 defcription of what was reprefented in the Ekujitiian, has placed 
 thefe criminals in a ftate of mifery : 
 
 Proxima deinde tenent moefti loca, qui fibi lethum— — 
 
 Thus nobly hath Virgil completed his defign on the fubjedl of the 
 MYSTERIES. The heio of the poem is initiated into the moft pure 
 and holy of them ; his capital Enemy, into the moft impure and 
 corrupt ; and the fchemes and intrigues of each party have a corre- 
 fpondent ilTue. 
 
 To conclude, the principles here affumed, in explaining this fa- 
 mous poetical fiftion, are, I prefume, fuch as give folidity, as well 
 as light, to what is deduced from them ; and are, perhaps, the only 
 Principles from which any thing reafonable can be deduced in a piece 
 of criticifm of this nature. For, from what I had fhewn was taught, 
 and reprefented in the MyJier'teSy I infer that i^neas's descent into 
 HELL lignifies nn initiation ; becaufe of the exa£l conformity, int 
 all circumftances, between what Virgil relates of his Hero*s adveii- 
 
 • See above, p. 268^
 
 302 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 ture, and what antiquity delivers concerning the shews and doc- 
 trines of thofe MYSTERIES, into which Heroes were wont to be 
 initiated. On the contrary, had I gratuitoufly fuppofed, without any 
 previous knowledge of what was pradifed in the M\Jleries, that the 
 defcent was an initiation^ merely becaufe Auguftus (who was fha- 
 dowed under the perfon of ^neas) was initiated ; and thence in- 
 ferred, that the Myfieries did exhibit the fame fccnes which the 
 Poet hath made Hell to exhibit to his Hero, my explanation had 
 been as devoid of any folid inference, as of any rational principle. 
 And yet, if authority could fupporf fo impertinent a condudt, one 
 might have ventured on it. A celebrated writer*, in a traft intitled 
 Reflexions on the charaSler of lapis in Virgil, goes altogether on this 
 gratuitous kind of critrcifm. Without any previous knowledge of 
 the life aiid fortunes of Antonius Musa, the phyfician of Auguf- 
 tus, he fuppofes that Virgil meant this perfon by Iapis, merely be- 
 caufe Auguftus was meant by ^neas. And then, from what the 
 poet tells us of lapis's hiftoryi the critic concludes it mnft have 
 made part of the hiftory of Mufa ; and fo,-inftead of explaining a 
 fable by hiflory, he would regulate hiftory on a fable. Whereas 
 the principles of true criticifm (hould have direfted him to inquire 
 previoufly what Antiquity had left us, concerning the perfon of An- 
 tonius Mufa: and if, on comparing what he found there, with wha^ 
 Virgil has delivered concerning lapisj any flrong refemblance was 
 to be found ; then, and not till then, his ingenious conjedure, 
 that lapis was Mufa, would fland upon a reafonable bottom. 
 It was not thus that an able critic t lately explained Virgil's 
 noble allegory, in the beginning of the third Georgic ; where, 
 under the idea of a magnificent Temple, to be railed to the Divi- 
 nity of Auguftus ; the poet pro.xifes the famous epic poem which 
 he afterwards ere£led in his honour ; or, as our Milton fays, 
 — — — -" built the lofty rhime." 
 
 * Dr. Atterbury, BiQiip of Ro;hefler. [See his Epiftolary Correfpondence, 1783, 
 Tol. 1. p. 3J9.J 
 
 f See Hor. Ep, ad Augulhim, with an Englifli Commentary, and Notes, p. 36. 
 
 But
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES demonstrated. 303 
 
 But had the exigence of fuch a poem never come to our ^v'Towledge, 
 I am perfuaded, this excellent writer had never troubled the world 
 with lb flender a conjedure that a Temple lignified an epic poem : 
 and therefore that Virgil executed, or at leaft intended, fuch a work. 
 In truth, Critics fhould proceed in thefe enquiries about their author's 
 fecret meaning, with the fame caution and fobriety which Courts 
 of Juftice employ in the detedtion of concealed criminals; who 
 take care, in the firfl place to be well affured of the corpus deli^i, 
 before they venture to charge the fa<5t upon any one. 
 
 Thus far concerning the uje of the mysteries to society. How 
 ejential they were elteemed to religion, we may underftand by 
 the METAMORPHOSIS OF Apuleius ; a book, indeed, which from 
 its very firft appearance hath pafled for a trivial fable. Capitolinus, 
 in the life of Clodius Albinus, where he fpeaks of that kind of tales 
 which difconcert the gravity of philofophers, tells us that Severus 
 could not bear with patience the honours the Senate had conferred 
 on Albinus ; efpecially their diftlnguifliing him with the title of 
 learned, who was grown old in the ftudy of old- wives- fables, fuch 
 as the Milefian-Punic tales of his countryman and favourite, Apu- 
 leius: " Major fuit" (fays Severus, in his letter to the fenate on 
 this occafion) *' dolor quod Ilium pro literaio laudandum plerique 
 " duxiftis, quum ille na,Miiis quibufdam anilibus occupatus inter 
 *' Milejias Punicas y^puleii Jut et ludicra literaria confenefceret.'* 
 That poor, modern-fpirited critic Macrobius, talks too of Apuleius 
 
 in the fame flrain. -" Nee omnibus fiibulis Philofophia repugnat, 
 
 " nee omnibus acquiefcit — FabuliE, aut tantum conciliandac auri- 
 *' bus voluptatis aut adhortationis quoque in bonam frugem gratia 
 *' repertse funt, auditum mulcent ; velut comoediae ; quales Me- 
 *' nander ejufve imitatores agendas dederunt : vel argumenta 
 *' fidis cafibus amatorum referta ; quibus vel multum fe Arbiter 
 " exercuit, vel Apuleium nonnunquam lujiffe miramur. Hoc 
 *' totum fabularum genus, quod foias aurium delici as profit etur, e fa- 
 '« crariofuQ in nutricum cunasfapientics tradiatus eliminat *." — How- 
 
 * Lib. i. c. J. 
 
 ever
 
 304 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 ever he feir.is to wonder that Apuleius fhould trifle fo egregioufly : 
 and well he might. For the writer of the Metamorphofis was one 
 of the graveft and moft virtuous, as well as moll learned, philolb- 
 phers of his age. But Alblnus appears to have gone further into 
 the true charafter of this work, than his rival Severus. And if we 
 may believe Marcus Aurelius, who calls Albinus *' homo exer- 
 *' citatus, vita triftis, gravis moribus *," he was not a man to be 
 taken with fuch trifling amufements as Milefian fables. His fond- 
 nefs therefore for the Metamorphofis of Apuleius (hews, that he con- 
 fidered it in another light. And who fo likely to be let into the 
 author's true defign, as Albinus, who lived very near his time, and 
 was of Adrumetum in the neighbourhood of Carthage, where Apu- 
 leius fojourned and fludied, and was honoured with public marks 
 of diftindion ! The work is indeed of a different charader from what 
 fome Ancients have reprefented it ; and even from what modern 
 Critics have pretended to difcover of it. Thofe Ancients, who 
 ftuck in the outlide, confidered it, without refinement, as an idle 
 fable : the Moderns, who could not reconcile a work of that nature 
 to the gravity of the author's charader, have fuppofed it a thing of 
 more importance, and no lefs than a general fatire on the vices of 
 thofe times : " Tota porro haec metamorphofis Apuleiana (fays 
 " Mr. Fleuri t) & ftylo & fententia, fatyricon eft perpetuum, ut 
 " refte obfervavit Barthius, Adverf. lib. ii. cap. ir. in quo magica 
 *' deliria, facriticulorum fcelera, adulterorum crimina, furum & 
 " latronum impunit<e fiidiones palam differuntur." But this is 
 far (hort of the matter. The author's main purpofe was not to 
 fatyrize the fpecific vices of his age (though, to enliven his fable, and 
 for the better carrying on his flory, he hath employed many circum- 
 ftances of this kind) but to recommend Pagan Religion as the 
 only cure for all vice -whatfoever. 
 
 To give what we have to fay its proper force, we muft confider 
 the real charadter of the writer. Apuleius, of Madaura in Afric, 
 
 * Capitolinijs, in Claud. Alb. -j- Ed. Ap. in uf. Delph.
 
 S'ect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 355 
 
 was a devoted Platonlft ; and, like the Platonifts of that age, an 
 inveterate enemy to Chrlflianity. His zeal for the honour oj philo- 
 fophy IS fcen in that folenrin affirmation, when convened before a 
 court of juftice, *' Philofophi;^ honorem qui mihi falute mea anti- 
 " quior eft, nufquam minui *." His fuperftitious attachment to the 
 Religion of his country is feen in his immoderate fondnefs for the 
 MYSTERIES, He was initiated, as himfelf tells us, into almoft all 
 of them : and, in fome, bore the moft diftinguifhed offices. In his 
 Apology before the proconful of Africa, he fays, " Vin' dicam, 
 " cujufmodi illas res in fudario obvolutas, laribus Pontiani commen- 
 " darim ? Mos tibi geretur. Sacrorum pleraque Initia inGreecia par- 
 ** ticipavi. Eorum quasdam figna & monumenta tradita mihi a fa- 
 " cerdotibus fedulo confervo. Nihil infolitum, nihil incognitum 
 *' dico : vel unius Liberi Patris Symmiftze, qui adeflis, fcitis, quid 
 ** domi conditum celetis, & abfque omnibus profanis tacite venere- 
 *' mini. At ego, ui dixi, multijuga facra et plurimos ritus, van as 
 *' ceremonias, studio veri et officio erga Deos, didici. Nee hoc ad 
 *' tempus compono : fed abhinc ferme triennium eft, cum primis 
 *' diebus quibus OEam veneram, publice dijferens de ^sculapii 
 " MAJESTATE eadem ifta pras me tuli, & quot facra noffem percen- 
 *' fui. Ea difputatio celebratiffima eft ; vulgo legitur ; in omnium 
 " manibus verfatur ; non tam facundla mea, quam mentione ^^^f- 
 
 " culapii religiofis OEeniibus commendata. Etiamne cuiquam 
 
 " mirum videri poteft, cui fit uUa memoria religionis, hominem tot 
 *' Mxftcriis Deim confcium quasdam facrorum crepundia domi adfer- 
 " vare t?" His attachment to the open worfliip of Paganifm was 
 not inferior to that of \}^q fecret, as appears by what follows from 
 
 the fame Apology: " Morem mihi habeo, quoquo eam, limu- 
 
 *' lacrum alicujus Dei inter llbellos conditum geftare : eique diebus 
 ♦' feftis thure & mero & aliquando vidlimis fupplicare :{:." His 
 
 * Apologia, p. 114. Ed. Prica^i, Par. 1635. 410. in fine. 
 •f Ibid. p. 63 — 4. 
 % Ibid. p. 72. lin. 5. 
 
 Vol. I. R r great
 
 3o6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IT. 
 
 great devotion to Paganifm, therefore, muft needs have been at- 
 rended with an equal averfion to Chriflianlty ; and it is more than 
 probable, that the oration he fpeaks of as made in honour of ^fcu- 
 lapius, was in the number of thofe invectives, at that time fo well 
 received by the enemies of our holy faith. For, not to infifl: on 
 the fuccefs of his oration, which, he tells us, was in every body's 
 hands, a thing common to difcourfes on fubje(£ls that engage the 
 public attention, but rarely the fortune of fuch ftale ware as pane- 
 gyrics on a God long worn into an eftablifliinent ; not, I fay, to 
 infift upon this, we may obferve that iEfculapius was one of thofe 
 ancient heroes *, who were employed, by the defenders of Paga- 
 nifm, to oppofe to Jesus ; and the circumftances of vEfculapius's 
 flory made him the fitteft of any in fabulous antiquity, for that pur- 
 pofe. Ovid, who lived before thefe times of danger to the pagan 
 Gods, and indeed, before the coming of that Deliverer who gave oc- 
 cafion to fo many impious comparifons, hath yet made Ochirroe, 
 in contemplation of his future actions, prophefy of him in fuch 
 ftrains as prefented to his excellent Tranflator the image of the 
 true phyjician of mankind ; and thereby enabled him to give a fiib- 
 lime to his verfion, which is not borrowed from his original : 
 Ergo ubi vaticinos concepit mente furores, 
 Incalultque Deo, quem claufam peilore habebat ; 
 Afpicit infantem, totique falutifer orbi 
 Crefce puer, dixit : tibi fe mortalia fcepe 
 Corpora debebunt : animas tibi reddere ademptas 
 Fas erit. Idque femel, dis indignantibus, aufus, 
 Poffe dare hoc iterum flamma prohibebere avita t 
 Eque deo corpus fies exfangue ; deufque, 
 Qui modo corpus eras, & bis tua fata novabis. Ovi&. 
 
 Once as the facred infant (he furvey'd, 
 The God was kindled in the raving maid, 
 
 • Juftin Martyr. Apol. 2 . °Tt Js roaXiy sftaflov aT;0?i)iTtt6tv?» ^i^xvivativ Lvrlt yicot, KotX 
 
 ttH(i!i »n>if<rv, To» 'Ao-KAr,^io» tusi^hiyKoiii. — — Scc C) rill. cont. Julian. 1. vi. 
 
 And
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 30; 
 
 And thus (he utter'd her prophetic tale : 
 
 " Hail, great phyfician of the world, all hail ; 
 
 *' Hall, mighty Infant, who in years to come, 
 
 " Shalt heal the nations and defraud the tomb ; 
 
 ** Swift be thy growth, thy triumphs unconfin'd 
 
 •' Make kingdoms thicker, and increafe mankind. 
 
 *' Thy daring art fhall animate the dead, 
 
 *' And draw the thunder on thy guilty head : 
 
 " Then (halt thou die. But from the dark abode 
 
 " Rife up vidlorlous, and be twice a God." Addison. 
 
 Bat the Reformers of Paganlfm having lately refolved all the Po- 
 pular Gods into the Attributes and Manifeftatlons of the first 
 Cause, ^Efculapius bore a very diflingulfhed rank in this new 
 Model. Paufanlas tells us, that in Phocis there was a celebrated 
 Temple dedicated to him, where he was worfhlped, as the Author 
 and or/'gifuii of all things *. 
 
 Having {qcw what there was in the common paffion of his Sed, 
 and in his own fond mode of fuperflltlon, to indlfpofe Apulelus to 
 Chr'ijiumhy ; let us inquire what private provocation he might have 
 to prejudice him agalnft it ; for, a private provocation, I am per- 
 fuaded, he had ; occafioned by a perfonal Injury done him by one of 
 THIS PROFESSION ; whlch, I fuppofe, did not a little contribute to 
 exafperate his bigotry. He had married a rich widow, agalnft the 
 good liking of her tlrft hufband's Relations ; who endeavoured to fet 
 afide the marriage on pretence of his employing forcery and en- 
 chantments to engage her afFe(5lions. Of this, he was judicially 
 accufed by his wife's brother-in-law, Liclnlus y^milianus, before 
 the Procunful of Africa. Now his Accufer, if I am not much mif- 
 taken, was a Christian, though this intereftlng clrcumftance hath 
 efcaped the notice of his commentators. However, let us hear the 
 
 "■* STaJ.'oi; l\ avJii^a TiSof/a; sf Jo|U.^ito»1a vaJi srir 'As-xXutiS, xaXErrai Si 'Afyayira.;. Ti/«aj ^i 
 tafi iv\Zt 'Ix^i Tiiof.ut, xj tTTiVtis -Krafi ^ux.iuii tw» aXAuv. Lib. X. C, KXxii, pag. 879, Edit, 
 
 Kvihnii, fol, Lipf. 1696. 
 
 R r 2 charadcr
 
 3o8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 character Apuleius himfelf gives of his Party. — " Atqui ego fcio 
 nonnuUos, et eum prlmis MmUianum iftum, facetiee iibi habere res 
 dlvinas deridere. Nam, ut audio, percenfentibiis ils qui iftum no- 
 vere, nulli deo ad hoc <:evi fuppUcavit \ nullum templum frequentavit. 
 Si fanum aUquod prstereat, nefas habet adorandi gratia 
 MANUM LABRis ADMOVERE. Ifte vero uec diis rurationis, qui eum 
 pafcunt ac veftiunt, fegetis ullas aut vitis aut gregls primitias im- 
 partit ; nullum ia villa ejus delubrum litum, nee locus aut lucus 
 confecratus, At quid ego de luco aut delubro loquor ? Negant vi' 
 difeje, quifuere, iinum Jaltem in finibus ejus aut lap'idem iinSium, aut 
 ramum. coronatum. Igitur agnomenta ei duo iiidita : Charon, ob oris 
 et animi d'mtatem\ fed alterum, quod libentius audit, ob deo- 
 rum contemptum, Mezcfitius^." And now let us fee how this 
 agrees with what Arnobius tells us, the Pagans objeded to 
 his Se61: — " In hac enim confueftis parte crimen nobis maxi- 
 mum impietaiis affigere, quod neque cedes facras 'veiieration'is ad 
 Officia conftruamus, nee Deorum alicujus fimuldcrum conftituamus, 
 aut formam : non altaria fabr'icemus, non aras, non citforum fau- 
 guinem animantium demus, non liira, nonfrugas falfcis, non deni- 
 que vinum liquens paterarura efFufionibus inferamus. Quce quidenx 
 nos celfamus non ideo vel exa^dificare, vel facere tanquam impias 
 gerarnus ^ feeler of as -mentes, aut all quern fumpfermus temeraria In Deos 
 defperatione co'i^rEMPrvM : fed quod, &c. f" Again, where Apu- 
 leius apoftrophifes his Adverfary in another place, he fays, agreea- 
 bly to the Charadler before given of him si qvid credis, 
 
 jEmiliane4;! and again, after explaining a fpiritual doftrine of 
 
 Plato, he adds with a fneer attamen fi audire verum velis, 
 
 i^miliane § ! But the repetition of this charadleriftic word with 
 an ironical emphafis in his conftant formula when he addreffes ^mi- 
 
 lianus, longe a vero aberrafle neceffe habeat confiteri || Immo 
 
 fi VERUM velis ** plane quidem fi verum velis -}-+• !• Now, 
 
 irreligiou and atheifm, we know, were the i;ames Chriftianity at 
 
 * Apol. p. 64, 5. t Arnob. aclver. Gentes. L. vii. fub init. 
 
 I P. 26. § P. 14. II V. Tj. ** P. 98. ft P. 108. 
 
 that
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 309 
 
 that time went by, for having dared to renounce the whole fa- 
 mily of the gentile Gods together. To this opprobriunn, Origen 
 alludes, when he retorts it on Polythelfm, in this elegant manner — 
 ol Ts-ep) etyahfidTuv ;t rr^g A0EOT ru-oXvOioT'^og. i^imilianus we fee 
 had' made fuch clear work, that there was not fo much as an 
 anointed Jloiie, or a tree adorned with con fee rated gar lands , to be 
 found throughout his whole Farm. That the Atheifm of ^milia- 
 nus was of this fort, and no courtly or philofophk impiety, appears 
 from his Characfter and Station. He was neither a fine Gentle- 
 man, nor a profound Inquirer into nature ; charafters indeed which 
 arc fometimes found to be above Religion ; but a mere Ruftic, in 
 his life and manners. Now plain, unpolifhed men, in fuch a con- 
 dition of life, are never without fome Religion or other : When 
 therefore, we find ^.milianus not of the ejlabliped, we muft needs 
 conclude him to be a SeBary and a Christian. 2. His negledt 
 of his country Gods was not a mere negative affront of forgetful- 
 nefs. He gloried in being tlieir defpifer ; and took kindly to the 
 
 name of Mezentius, as a title of honour alterum, qtiod liben- 
 
 tius audit, ob deorum contemptwn, Mezentius, which I would con- 
 fider as a further mark of a Chrijlian, conviSl. 3. He even held it 
 an abomination fo much as to put his hand to his lips, (according to 
 the mode of adoration in thofe times) when he pafled by an Hea- 
 then Temple ; nefas habet, adorandi g'ratia, roanum labris admo- 
 vere, the mofl charafterifilc mark of a primitive Confejfor, by which 
 he could never be mlftaken ; nor, one would think, fo long over- 
 looked *. 4. By the frequent and farcaftical repetition of the word 
 •uerum, Apuleius feems to fneer at that general title which the 
 Faithful gave their Religion, of the truth. 
 
 ^Emilianus, it feems, had mif-reprefented a little image of A/i^r^z/ry, 
 which Apuleius ufed to carry about with him, as a fqualid magical 
 figure. On which occafion the Accufed, in great rage, deprecates 
 his Accufer " At tibi, ^mlliane, pro iflo mendacio, duat Deus 
 
 ^ See note EE, at the end of this Book. 
 
 iile.
 
 jio THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 ijfle, Superum & Inferum commeator utrorumque Deorum malam 
 gratiam, femperque obvias fpecies mortuorum, quidquid Umbrarum 
 eft ufquam, quidquid Lemurum, quidquid Manium, quidquid Lar- 
 varum, oculis tuis oggerat : Omnia noBium occiirjacula, omnia BuJ- 
 torum formidamina, omnia Jepulcrorum terriculamentay — This was 
 the common curfe and fuppofed to be the common punifhment of 
 impiety and Athetjm. But it has here a peculiar elegance as de- 
 nounced againft ^milianus. The Bufta, or Repofitory of dead 
 bodies, fo abhorred by the Pagans, were the very places in which 
 the Chriftians alTembled for no6lurnal Worship. 
 
 The averfion, therefore, which Apuleius had contracted to his 
 Chriftian accufer, (and we fee, by what is here faid, it was in no 
 ordinary degree) would without doubt increafe his prejudice to that 
 Religion. I am perfuaded he gave the Charafter of the Baker's 
 wife, in his Golden Afs, for no other reafon than to outrage our holy 
 faith. Having drawn her ftalned with all the vices that could de- 
 form a Woman ; to finifli all, he makes her a Chriftian. " Nee 
 
 " enim vel unum vitlum nequiffimae ille femlna; deerat : fed omnia 
 " prorfus, ut in quandam coenofam latrinam, in ejus animam flagi- 
 " tia confluxerant, faeva, viriofa, ebriofa, pervicax, in raplnis tur- 
 " pibus avara, in fumptibus foedis profufa : inimica fidei, hoftis 
 " pudicitia;. Tunc fpretis atque calcatis divinis numinibus, in vicem 
 
 " CERTjE RELIGIONIS MENTITA SACRILEGA PR^SUMPTIONE DEI, 
 *' QUEM PRiEDICARET UNJCUM, CONFICTIS OBSERVATIONIBUS, 
 
 " VACUis, fallens omnes homines, ©'c. *" So again in the fourth 
 book, defcribing certain mngnlfic Shews exhibited to the people by 
 one Demochares ; when he comes to fpeak of the criminals thrown 
 
 to wild-beafts, he exprefles himfelf in this manner : Alibi noxii, 
 
 PERDITA SECURITATE, fuls epulis beftlarum faginas inftruentes 
 [p. 72.] The Oxf. MS. iox fecuritate xtTnAs feveritate : on which 
 Price obferves, ego nee hoc nee illud i?iielle5lum habeo. Apuleius by 
 noxii apparently meant the condemned Chri/iians ; and pcrditajecuri- 
 
 * Met. 1. ix. p. 186, Ed. PricKi. 
 
 iatf.
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 311 
 
 tate, which is the true reading, cenfures either their reafonable hope 
 of a happy immortality, or their falfe confidence that the beafts 
 would not hurt them. 
 
 Let us fee now how this would influence his writings. There 
 was nothing the Philosophers of that time had more at heart, 
 efpecially the Platon'jls and Pythagoreans, than the fupport of fink- 
 ing Paganifm. This fervice, as hath been occafionally remarked, 
 they performed in various ways and manners : fome by allegorizing 
 their Theology ; fome by fpirituaiizing their Philofophy ; and fome, 
 as Jamblicus and Philoftratus, by writing the lives of their Heroes^ 
 to oppofe to that of Christ ; others again, as Porphyry, with this 
 view collected their oracles-, or as Melanthius, Menander, Hicefius, 
 and Sotades, wrote defer iptive encomiums on their Mysteries. Which 
 laft, as we (hall now fhew, was the province undertaken by Apu- 
 leius ; his Metamorphofs being nothing elfe but one continued re- 
 commendation of them. 
 
 But to give what we have to fay it's proper force ; let us, i. en- 
 quire into the motives our Author might have for entering at all 
 into the defence of Paganifm : 2. His reafons for chufmg this to- 
 pic of defence, the recommendation of the Mfleries. 
 
 1. As to his defence of paganifm in general, we may obferve, 
 1. That works of this kind were very much in fafliion, efpecially 
 amongft the Philofophers of our author's Seft. 2. He was, as we have 
 feen, moft fuperftitioufly devoted to pagan worfhip : and, 3. He 
 bore a perfonal fpite and prejudice to the Chriftian profeffion. 
 
 2. As to his making the defence of the Myfieries his choice, fl:ill 
 ftronger reafons may be afligned. i. Thefe were the Rites to which 
 he was fo peculiarly devoted, that he had contrived to be initiated 
 into all the Myfieries of note, in the Roman world ; and in feveral 
 of them had borne the mofl: diflinguiftied offices. 2. The Myfieries 
 being at this time become extremely corrupt, and confequently, in 
 difcredit, needed an able and zealous Apologift : both of which qua- 
 lities met eminently in Apuleius. The corruptions were of two 
 
 kiudsj
 
 312 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 kinds, Debaucheries and Magic. The Debaucheries we have 
 taken notice of, above : their Magic will be confidered hereafter. 
 But, 3. Our author's clofe attachment to Myjlerious rites was, with- 
 out queflion, the very thing that occafioned all thofe fufpicions and 
 reports, which ended in an accufation of Magic : And, conlidering 
 what hath been faid of the corrupt ftate of the Myjleries, the rea- 
 der will not wonder that it Ihould. 
 
 Such then being the general charafter of the Myferies, and of 
 this their great Devotee, nothing was more natural than his pro- 
 jefting their defence ; which, at the fame time that it concurred to 
 the fupport of Paganifm in general, would vindicate his own cre- 
 dit, together with an Inftitution of which he was (o immoderately 
 fond. And the following confiderations are fufficient to (hew, that 
 the Meiamorpbojis was written after his Apology: for, i. His accu- 
 fers never once mention the fable of the Golden Afs to fupport their 
 charge of Magic, though they were in great want of proofs, and 
 this lay fo ready for their purpofe. For, we are not to fuppofe that 
 he alludes to the Metamorphofis in the following ^yords of the Apo- 
 logy, Aggredior enim jam ad ipfum crimen Magia, quod in- 
 
 genti tumultu, ad invidiam mei, accenfum, fruftrata expeftatione 
 omnium, per nefcio quas anileis fabulas deflagravit. p. 29, 30. 
 The idle tales here hinted at, are the goffiping {lories which went 
 about of him, and which he afterwards expofes in the courfe of this, 
 defence. 2. He pofitively afferts before the tribunal of Maximus 
 Claudius that he had never given the leaft occafion to fufpedl: him 
 oi Magic: '■'■ Nnfquam ■^■a.^ws fum vel exiguam fufpicionem ??iagi^ 
 " conliftere *." 
 
 Now Antiquity confidered initiation into the Mysteries aS' 
 a delivery from a living death of vice^ brutality, and mifery \ and the 
 beginning of a new life of virtue, reafon, and happincfs \. This, there- 
 fore, was the very circumftance which our Author chofe for the 
 fubjeft of his recommendation. 
 
 * P. 100, lit! II. 
 
 ■\ See what hath been faid above, in the difcourfeof the Myfteries. 
 
 And
 
 Sect. 4- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 313. 
 
 And as in the M\jlerics, their moral and divine truths' were re- 
 prefented in Jhews and allegories, fo, in order to comply with this 
 method of inflruftion, and in imitation of the ancient Mafters of 
 wifdom*, who borrowed their manner of teaching from tlience, 
 he hath artfully infuuiated his dodlrine in an agreeable Fable ; and 
 the fitteft, one could conceive for his purpofe, as will be feen when 
 we come to examine it. 
 
 The foundation of this Allegory was a M'llefian Fable, a fpecies of 
 polite trifling then much in vogue, and not uillike the modern 
 Arabian tales. To allure his readers, therefore, with the promife 
 o^ z faJJ.nonable work, he introduces his Metamorphofis in this man- 
 ner : At ego tlbifermone ijlo Milejlo varias fabtilas confer am, aures- 
 QUE TUAs henevolas lepido fufurro permulceam ; plainly intimat- 
 ing that there was fomething of more confequence at bottom. But 
 \\\&faJ}dionable people took him at his word ; and, from that day to 
 this, never troubled their heads about a further meaning. The 
 OUTSIDE engaged all their attention, and fufficiently delighted them; 
 as we may gather from the early title it bore of Asinus Aureus. 
 And, from the beginning of one of Pliny's epiftles, I fufpefl that 
 Aure^ was the common title given to the Milejian, and fuch like 
 tales as Strolers ufed to tell for a piece of money to the rabble in a 
 circle. Pliny's words are thefe — aflem para, et accipe auream 
 fabulam f- Unlefs we will rather fuppofe it to have been beftowed 
 by the few intelligent readers in the fecret ; for, in fpite of the 
 Author's repeated preparation, a fecret it was, and fo, all along 
 continued. 
 
 Upon one of thefe popular Fables, he chofe to ingraft his in- 
 flru£lion'; taking a celebrated Tale from the collections of one 
 
 * Strabo acquaints us with the inducements which the ancients had to pradice this 
 
 method of Inftruiftion. " Orav ft ts^f>';n >i, tl Saf/iaro* k, to TijaTulJis, iTiCium tn-i riSct'nt, ijTfj 
 
 tri t3 /xavS»»siy cpl^.Tinv. Kalce^^a; fj.tt kv a-tiyxri Toiarois iWhaai p^j^aSat" UfoVoi/Viis fi rra >i?.ixia{ 
 iTTi T)!v Tu» o»1m /xaSijtny ayeiv, ri^n Tijs ^lavo.'a; fffujAur,^, li^ fjinxirt ^eo(is»j)5 xoaukuii, Kai iStuiTK; Si 
 v:u;>^ iffalJiilt;, tjoVoj Tiy» ■aaTi ii-i, ipi>,»,ui9trT! ajatTiij. Geog. I. i. p I9. A. Edit. Parif. 
 fol. 1620. •]■ I,, ii. Ep. CO. 
 
 Vol. I. S s Lucius
 
 314 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book -11. 
 
 Lucius of Patrns ; who relates his transformation into an Afs, and 
 his adventures under that (hape. Lucian has epitomifed this ftory, 
 as Apuleius feems to have paraphrafed it : and the fubjeft being a 
 Metamorphosis, it admirably fitted his purpofe ; as the Metemp- 
 sychosis, to which that fuperftition belongs, was one of the funda- 
 mental doctrines of the Myjler'iei. But from Photius's account of 
 Lucius Patrenfis one would be inclined to rank him amongft thofe 
 who compofed books of Metamorpbojh [fee B. iil. Sedl. 3.] accord- 
 ing to the popular Theology, rather than a writer of Milefian fa- 
 bles. He entitles Lucius's work iA,ija.[j.op(pucreug Xoyoi ^ice,(popoi. And 
 after having faid that Lucian borrowed his ^fs from thence, to 
 ridicule pagan religion, he goes on *; " but Lucius giving a more 
 ferious turn to his Metamorphofis, and treating as realities thefe 
 changes of Men into one another, of Men into Beafls, and fo on 
 the contrary, hath weaved together thefe and many other of the 
 trifles and abfurdities of the Ancient Mythology, and committed 
 them to writing for the entertainment of the Public." This will 
 account for the oddnefs of Apuleius's expreflions, with which he 
 
 introduces his Fa6/e Et figuras fortunafque homlnum in alias 
 
 imagines converfas et in fe rurfum mutuo nexu refedlas, ut mife- 
 
 ris, exordior, words by no means fuiting with the fuigle trans-, 
 
 formation, and flory of the goIJe?i afs, but very expreflive of the 
 nature of fuch a work as that of Lucius Patrenfis, according to the 
 idea which Photius gives u3 ot" it. From whence 1 conclude, that 
 Apuleius might tranflate thefe very words from his original 
 author. 
 
 The Fable opens with the reprefentation of a young man, per- 
 fonated by himfelf, fenlible of the advantages ofv/r/ue and pie/y, 
 but immoderately fond of pleasure, and as curious of magic. 
 Apuleius takes care to keep up the firft part of this charafter as he 
 
 waftSi^ TKVTa, x) eu»ifa»c>. Bibl. £d. Gen, p. 511. 
 
 goes
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES demonstrated. J15 
 
 goes zlong, familiarh cvviiosirA-rii admonitus, 1. \\\. familian cv~ 
 RiosiTATE attoniiits, 1. ix. And Curiofus and Magus were ufed 
 by the Antients as Synonymous. So Apuleius himfelf. — At ego 
 cuRiosus alioquin^ ut frimum artis ^ii hG\c Mfemper optatum nomen 
 audhi, p, 24. Hence it is that he is reprefented as having been 
 initiated in all the corrupt Myjieries, where Magic was profefledly 
 pradlifed. Fotis, the inferior Prieftefs in the magic rites of the In- 
 chantrefs, Pamphile, enjoining him filence, {zys, facris pluribus in'i' 
 t'latus, profefto nofti fanftam filentii fidem *. As to the fecond, 
 we have his adventure \^\xk\ Byrrhena and Pamphile, which feems to 
 be borrowed from Prodicus's fable of the contefl: between Virtus 
 and Pkajure for the young Hercules. Byrrhena meets our adven- 
 turer, pretends to be his relation t, and tells him that fhe brought 
 him up from his infancy : by which is intimated that virtue was 
 moft natural to him. She leads him home to her houfe, which is 
 defcribed as a magnificent palace : one of its principal ornaments is 
 the hiftory of Diana % ; where the punifhment of Aiflaeon is not 
 forgotten §, as a feafonable leflbn ag-ainfb vicious curiojity. And to 
 keep him to herfelf, fhe promifes to make him heir of all her for- 
 tunes. Then taking him apart, flie w^arns him to beware of the 
 mifchievous pra6lices of his hoftefs Pamphile. "Per banc, inquit, 
 " Deam (Dlanam) 6 Luci cariflime, ut anxie tibi metuo, et, utpote 
 *' pignori meo, longe provifum cupio, cave tibi, fed cavefortiter, a 
 *' mails artibus, et facinorofis illecebris Pamphiles illius, — Maga 
 •' primi nominis, et omnis carminis fepulcralis magiftra creditur : 
 ♦' qute furculis et lapilUs, et id genus frivolis inhalatis, omnem iftani' 
 *' lucem mundi fideralis imis Tartari, et in vetuftum chaos fubmer- 
 
 * P. 53- 
 
 t Ego te, o L\ici, meis iftis miiiiibus ed\icavi : quldni ? parentis tux non modo fan- 
 guinis, veriim alimoiiiarum etiam Ibcia Uii, p. 23. 
 
 X Ecce lapis Pariiis in Dianam fadns tenet libratum totius loci medietatem, fignum 
 perfefte luculentnm, — introeuntibus obvium, & majeftate niiminis venerabile, &c. p. 22. 
 
 § Inter medias frondes lapidis Aditonis fimulacrura, curiofo obtutu in dorfum pro- 
 jeftus, &;c. p. 23. 
 
 S s 2 " gere
 
 3i6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " gere novit. Nam cum quemquam confpexerit fpeclofa form<£ 
 *'juvenem, venuflate ejus lumitur : et illico, &€." 
 
 But Lucius makes a choice very ditTerent from that of Hercules. 
 He had promifed to obferve Byrrhenas admonitions, and to return 
 to her again : but a circumftance of immoderate mirth intervening, 
 he found in himfelf a more than ordinary averfion to keep hia 
 word. Ad hasc ego formidnns et procul perhorrefcens etlam ipfam 
 domum ejus, &c. * This is a fine circum.ftance, nothing being fo 
 great an enemy to modefty and chaftity (hgured in the perfon of 
 Byrrhena) as immoderate mirth. He gives a loofe to his vicious 
 appetite for P/eafure and Magic : and the crimes and foUies into 
 which they lead him foon ends in his transformation to a Bkute. 
 
 This contrivance of the introductory part is artful ; and finely 
 infmuates the great moral of the piece, that brutality at- 
 tends VICE AS it's punishment : and puniihment by adluat 
 transformation was keeping up to the popular opinion t. His 
 making a paflion for Magic contribute to this dreadful change is no 
 lefs ingenious, as it cleared both hivijelf and the Myjleries from that 
 imputation ; for it appeared that Magic was fo far from being in- 
 nocent, that in his opinion, it was attended with the fevereft 
 punifhment ; fo far from behig encouraged by the Myjleries, thatr 
 they only could relieve men from the diftrefles which this vicious 
 curlofity brought upon it's votaries ; as is (hewn by the cataftrophe 
 of tlie Piece. 
 
 St. Auftin permitted himfelf to doubt whether Apuleius's account 
 of his change into an ass was not a true relation. — Sicut /ipukius, 
 in libris quos AJini aiirei tilulo injcri'pft, fibi ipji acciJiJJe, ut accepta 
 'veneno^ humano aniino pennanenle, afinus Jierct, aut indicavit 
 aut Jinxit +. I fhall fay nothing to fo extravagant a doubt, but 
 only obferve, that it appears from hence, that St. Auftin efteemed 
 Apuleius a profligate in his manners, and addided to the fuper- 
 
 * P. 51. t SeeB.iii. Sea. 3. 
 
 t X Civ. Eei, l.,xviii. C.18. 
 
 ftltlons
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 317 
 
 ftitions of Magic. And yet it is by no means credible, that he 
 who took fo much pains, in a very ferious and public way *, to 
 free himfelf from thefe imputations, fliould afterwards wantonly 
 undo all he had fo fucccfsfully pei formed in fupport of a doubtful 
 reputation, by an uiineceflary narrative of his own early debau- 
 cheries. But it may be faid, that all this happened in his youth ; 
 and that liis fubfequent Initiations had purified his manners : But 
 neither will his Apology admit of this fuppofitlon ; for there he 
 exprefly infifts on the virtue of his youth. " De eloqucntia vero, 
 *' li qua mihi fuiflet, neque mirum, neque invidiofum deberet 
 *' videri, fi ab ineunte avo unis fludiis litterarum ex fummis viribus 
 *' deditus, omnibus aliis fpretis voluptatibus ad hoc avi, haud 
 *■' fciam anne fuper omneis homines impenlo labore, diuque nodu- 
 *' que, cum defpedtu et difpendio bonae valetudinis, eam quasfifTem 
 *' — Qiiis enim me hoc quidem pa6lo eloquentior vivat ? quippe 
 ** qui nihil unquam cogltavi quod eloqui non. auderem, Eundem 
 *' me aio facundiffimum ; nam omne peccatwn femper nefas habul. 
 *' Eundem difertiffimum ; quod nullum meum f;i£lum vel didlum 
 *' extct, de quo dilicrere publice non pollim t." What have we 
 then to conclude but that the reprefentation of himfelf in this 
 Fable^ under a debauched chara£ler, is entirely feigned ? Yet ftill 
 it would be as abfurd to imagine that a grave and moral Philofopher 
 Ihould chufe to exhibit himfelf to the public in the odious, and falfe 
 light of a Magician and Debauchee; and take a pleafure in dwelliiig 
 upon the horrors of lo deteftable a Charafter, for no other purpofe 
 than to amufe and entertain a fet of diflblute readers. We raufl: 
 needs therefore go a ftep further, and conclude that he affumed it 
 only for the fake of the general moral, and the better to carry 
 on his Allegory; which was, to recommend the Mysteries as the 
 certain cure for all the disorders op the will. 
 
 This being his end, he was but too much encouraged by the 
 example of the moil moral of the ancient Satirifts, to particularize 
 
 * His Apology. -J- P. 6. lin. lo. 
 
 the
 
 3i8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 the various maladies to which he was applying a remedy. Let this, 
 and his copying only what he found in his original Author, ftand 
 for fome kind of excufe in a wretched Pagan ; and it is the beft 
 we have, for all the obfcenitles with which his Fable abounds. 
 
 But to proceed with his plan. Having now fliewn himfelf tho- 
 roughly brutalized by his- crimes; he goes on to reprefent at large 
 the miferies of that condition, in a long detail of his mifadventures ; 
 in the courfe of which he fell, by turns, under the dominion of 
 every vicious paffion ; though the incidents are chiefly confined to 
 the mifchiefs of unlawful love : And this, with much judgment, 
 as one of the principal ends of the Myjienes was to curb and fub- 
 due this inordinance, which brings more general and lading mifery 
 upon Mankind than all the other. And as it was the great moral 
 of his piece to fliew that pure religion (fuch as a platonic Philofo- 
 pher efteemed pure) ivm the only remedy for human corruption ; fo, 
 to prevent the abufe or miftake of this capital Principle, he takes 
 care to inform us, that an attachment to fupcrjlitious and corrupt Re- 
 ligion does hut plunge the wretched vi^iru into Jlill greater miferies. 
 This he finely illuftrates, in tlie hiftory of his adventures with the 
 BEGGING Priests of Cybelf, whofe enormities are related in the 
 eighth and ninth books ; and whofe corrupt Mysteries are in- 
 tended as a contraft to the PURii rites of Isis : With which, in 
 a very ftudied delcription and encomium, he concludes the Fabie. 
 
 In the mean time, matters growing from bad to worfe, and Lu- 
 cius plunged deeper and deeper in the fink of vice, his affairs come 
 to a crlfis. For this is one great beauty in the conduct of the Fa- 
 bl-e, that every change of ftation, while he remains a brute, 
 makes his condition ftill more wretched and deplorable. And being 
 now (in the ninth book) about to perpetrate one of the mod (hock- 
 ing enormities ; Nature, though fo deeply brutalized, revolts; 
 he abhcrs the idea of his projedled crime; he evades his keepers; 
 he flies to the fea-(hore ; and, in this folitude, begins to reflecl 
 more ferioufly on his lofi; condition. This Is finely imagined ; for 
 
 we
 
 Sect,4- of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. jr^. 
 
 we often fee men, even after a whole llf-i of honors, come fuddenly 
 to themfelves on the hideous afped of fome Monftcr-vice too 
 frightful even for an hardened Reprobate to bear. Nor is it with lefs 
 judgment that the Author makes thefe beginnings of reformation 
 confirmed by folitude ^ when the unhappy vidim of Pleasure 
 hath broken loofe from the companions and partakers of his follies. 
 And now, a more intimate acquaintance with his hopelefs con- 
 dition obliges iiim to fly to Heaven for relief. The moon is in full 
 fplendour; and the awful filence of the night infpires him with 
 lentiments of Religion, — " Video priemicantis Lunse candore nimio 
 *' completum orbem, — naclufque opacae noflis filentiofa fecreta, 
 " certus etiara summatem Deam pr?ecipua majeftate pollere, ref- 
 " que prorfus humanas ipfius regi procidentia, etc *." He then 
 purifies himfelf in the manner prefcribed by Pythagoras f; the 
 Philofopher moft addidled to Initiations of all the early Sages, as 
 Apuleius, of all the later ; and fo makes his prayer to the Moon 
 or Isis ; invoking her by her feveral names of the Ekufinian Ceres, 
 the celejiial Venus, Diana and ProJ'erpine: when betaking himfelf 
 to repofe, fhe appears to him in a dream |. This was not a cir- 
 eumftance of the Fabulifl's mere invention. Paufanias tells us 
 •* that in Phocis there was a Chapel confecrated to Ifis, of all the 
 " places of worfhip, which the Greeks ere<5led to this Egyptian 
 " Goddefs, by far the mofl holy : that to this facred place it was 
 *' not lawful for any to approach, but fuch whom the Goddefs had 
 
 * P. 238. 
 
 f — meque -protinus, purificandi ftudio, marino lavacro trado : feptiefque fubmerfo 
 fluiflibus capite, quod eiim numerum pracipae religion! aptiilimum divinus ille Pytha- 
 goras prodidit — p. 238. 
 
 X Artemidorus fays, that for a man to dream that Ceres, Proferpine, or Bacchus ap- 
 pears to him, betokens fome extraordinary/ good fortune to happen to liim. Ari^irr,^ >^ 
 
 KojM >^ 5 ^EysftEvos "lax;^©* Toi? i/.i(tVr>i/.csots TaT; Siatf ayaiot Ti kJ » to tl;^o» ia-ofj-evos <7r,ij.a,tcv-u 
 
 1. iv. c. 44. The ancient onirocritics, as we have obferved, B. iv. Seel. 4. were 
 not founded on the arbitrary fancies of the impoftors who profefled that art, but on tiie 
 cuftoms and fuperftitions of the times, and with a principal reference to the Egyp- 
 tian Hieroglyphics and Mvi if.riss. 
 
 '* invited.
 
 320 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " invited, and appeared to, in a Dream, for that purpofe *," Here 
 fhc appears under the shining image fo much fpoken of by the 
 Myjiics, as reprefentlng the divine nature in general t- " Necdum 
 " fatis conniveram : et ecce pelago medio, venerandos Diis etiam 
 " vultus attollens, emtrgit divina facies^ ac dehinc paulatim toto 
 *' corpora per lucidum .simulacrum, excuffo pelago, ante me 
 *' conftitifle vifum eft. Ejus mirandam fpeciem ad vos etiam re- 
 " ferre connitar — Corona multiformis, variis floribus fublimem dif- 
 *' tinxerat verticem : cujus media quidem fuper ixonte plana rotun- 
 *' ditas, candidum lumen emicabat. Dextra l^vaque fulcis infurgen- 
 *' tium viperarum cohibita, fpicis etiam Cerealibus defuper porreftis. 
 *' — Etquae longe longeque etiam meum confutabatobtutum, palla 
 *' nigerrima, fplendefcens atro nitore ; qus circum circa remeans, — 
 *' per intextam extremitatem, et in ipfa orae planitie, Jlella difperfas 
 *' corufcabant : earumque media femeftris Luna flammeos fpirabat 
 " ignes. — Dextera quidem ferebat ^reum crepilaculum : cujus per an- 
 " guftam laminam in modum balthei recurvatam, trajedlie medis 
 *' paucae virgulae, crifpante brachio tergeminos ja£lus, reddebant, 
 '• argutum Ibnitum ;j;." Thefe feveral fymbolic Attributes, the 
 lucid Roui.d, the JuaAcs, the ^<3;i of corn, and tht fifxrum, reprefent 
 the tutelar Deities of the Hecataan, Bacchic, Eleujinian and Ijia€ 
 Mysteries. That is, mystic rites in general ; for whofe 
 fake the allegory was invented. As the black Palla in which fhe is 
 wrapped, embroidered with a filver-moon, and ftars, denotes the 
 .. TIME, in which the Myfteries were celebrated, namely the dead of 
 night ; which was fo conftant and infeparable a circumftancc, that 
 the author calls initiation, noctjs societas. 
 
 In her fpeech to Lucius (lie gives this extraordinary account of 
 herfelf, " En afi'um, tuis commota Luci precibus, kerum natura 
 
 * T5 ^8 'Atry.XnffiS tiJE^i TfO-i7«^axo»la airiyjn ra^i«! tctjifoXo;, x^ kWov iiji* "ic-iJoj ayiu- 
 lalo» iviaa "EX?.i)Vi! Siw tv 'xVtynTrlia tnnrcintlai. Oirt yu^ crspiouTu' I»)ai9« oi TiOofaisrs yofi't^fva-iv, 
 art «<ro^os t$ to a^tloy aXAot^ yt n iKtUtu^ tri^j a^ a,^it,-S\vi -wpolifAiiffaffCt ri Itrij xaXejjj c^aj ^* 
 
 Lil). X. c. 32. p. 880. Edit. Kiihnii, Lipf. iol. 1696. 
 
 f See above, p. 283. note {I.) % P. 239, 240.
 
 Sect. 4. O F M O S E S D E M O N S T R A T E D. 311 
 
 " PARENS, elementorum omnium Domlua, fjeculorum progenies 
 ** inkialis, Summa numinum, Regina manlum, Prima coelitum, 
 *' Deorum Dearumque facies uniformis : quascoeliluminofaculmina, 
 " maris fiUubrla fiamina, inferorum deplorata filentia nutibus meis 
 *' difpenfo. Cujus numen unicum, multlformi fpecie, ritu vario, 
 *' nomine multijugo totus veneratur orbis — prifcaque do6triua pol- 
 *' lentes ^gyptii, ceremoniis me prorfus propriis percolentes, 
 " appellant vero nomine reginam IsrDEM *." This was exaftly 
 adapted to the defign of the Myjlerks ; and preparatory to the com- 
 munication of the AnOPPHTA. It had likewife this further ufe, to 
 patch up and recommend the pagan Religions ; by fliewing that 
 their Polytheifm confifted in nothing elfe than in giving the supreme 
 God various names, merely expreflive of his various attributes. 
 This was the fafhionable colouring, which, after the appearance of 
 Chriftianity, the advocates of paganifm employed to blanch their 
 Idolatry. I will only obferve further, that the words, Mgyptii cere^ 
 moniis me prorfus propriis percolentes, infinuate, what was true, that all 
 Mysterious worship came firftfrom ^gypt ; this people hav- 
 ing penetrated furtheft into the nature of the Gods : As the calling 
 HER, who reprefents the Myjleries in general, rerum Natura 
 PARENS, (hews plainly what were the AITOPPHTA of them all. 
 
 Parent nature then reveals to Lucius the means^of his-re- 
 covery. Her feftival was on the following day ; when there was to 
 be a Proceflion of her "Votaries. The PriefT: who led it up ((he told 
 him) would have a chaplet of Roses In his hand, which had the 
 virtue to reftore him to his former (hape. But as breaking through 
 a habit of vice is, of all things, the mofl difficult ; fhe adds en- 
 couragements to her promifes, " nee quidquam rerum mearum re» 
 *' formides, ut arduum. Nam hoc eodem momento, quo tibi venio, 
 ** fimul et ibi pr^sens, quas funt confequentia facerdoti meo per 
 *' quietem facienda praecipio +•" Alluding to what was taught in 
 
 * P. i\i. i P. 24*. 
 
 Vol. I. Tt the
 
 322 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 the Mvflerics, that the ajjiflance of Heaven was always prefent to fe- 
 cond the efforts of virtue. But in return for the favour of releafing 
 him from his brutal fhape, i. e. of reforming his manners by Initia- 
 tion ^ ihe tells him fhe expeded the fervice of his whole life ; And 
 this, the Myjieries required : Nor Ihould her fervice (fhe fald) go 
 unrewarded, for he (hould have a place in Elysium hereafter; And 
 this, too, the Myjhries promifed. " Plane memlneris, et penita 
 *' mente conditum Temper tenebis, mihi reliqua vita" tu^ curricula, 
 *' ad ufque terminos ultimi fpiritus vadata. Nee injurium, cujus 
 " beneficio redieris ad homines ei totum debere quod vives. Vives 
 *' autem heatus^ vives, in mea tutela, gioriofus: et cum fpatium fe- 
 " culi tui permenfus ad Inferos demearis ; ibi quoque in Ipfo fub- 
 ♦* terraneo femirotundo, me, quam vides Acherontis tenebris inter- 
 " lucentem, ftygiifque penetralibus regnantem, campos Elysios 
 *' mcokns ipfe, tibi propitiam frequens adorabis *.'* 
 
 Lucius is at length confirmed in his refolution oiafpirlng to a life 
 of virtue. And on this change of his difpofitions, and intire con- 
 queft of his paffions, the Author finely reprefents all Nature as 
 putting on a new face of chearfulnefs and gaiety. " Tanta hllari- 
 " tudine praeter peculiarem meam geftire mihi cunfta videbantur; 
 " ut pecua etiam cujufcemodi, et totas domos, et ipfum diem ferena 
 " facie gaudere fentirem t-" And to enjoy Nature, in thefe her befl 
 conditions, was the boafted privilege of the initiated^ as we may 
 ice from a Chorus in the Frogs of Ariflophanes |. 
 
 And now the Proceffion, in honour of Isis, begins.. Where by 
 the way, we mufl obferve, that the twofirji days of the celebration 
 of the Eleufinian Mvjieries are plainly defcribed : the one called 
 AFTPMOE, from the multitude aflembled; the other AAASE MY£- 
 TAI, from the Procefiion made to the fea-fhore. " Tunc influunt 
 
 * P. 24'. t !'• »43. 
 
 "Ofct (KEf*ti>)f«i6'— Aft. i. 
 
 Turba
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 323^ 
 
 ** Turbce facris divlnis initiatse * — jam rjpam maris proximamus +." 
 The Priefb or Hierophant of the Rites leads up the train of the Ini- 
 tiated with a garland of Rofes in his hand. Lucius approaches, 
 devours the Rofes, and, according to the promife of the Goddefs, is 
 reflored to his native Form : by which, as we have faid, no more 
 was meant than a change ©f Manners, from vice to virtue. And 
 this the author plainly intimates by making the Goddefs thus 
 addrefa him under his brutal Figure, " pefTunas mihique detefta- 
 *' bilis jamdudum beluas iftius corio te protinus exue J." For an Afs 
 was fo far from being detejlable^ that it was employed in the cele- 
 bration of her rites ; and was ever found in the retinue of Ofiris or 
 Bacchus. The garland plainly reprefents that which the afpirants 
 were crowned with at their initiation : juft as the virtue of the Rofes 
 defigns the My/leries. At his transformation he had been told, 
 that ROSES were to reftore him to Humanity : fo that, amid' all 
 his adventures, he had ftill this remedy in view. Particularly in a 
 circumftance of great dlftrefs, he met with a fpecies of them called 
 rofa laiirea ; but on examining its properties, he found that, in- 
 ftead of a reftorative, it was a deadly poifon to all kind of cattle — 
 " quarum cunfto pecori cibus lethalis eft." Who can doubt then, 
 but by this rofe-laurel was meant all debauched^ magical, and corrupt 
 Myjleriei, fuch as thofe of the Syrian Goddess, whofe Minifters 
 he reprefents in fo abominable a light § ; in oppofition to what he 
 calls " fobiias religionis oblervatio :" and in thofe Rites, initiation 
 was fo far from promoting a life of virtue, that it plunged the de- 
 luded Votary into ftill greater miferies. Thefe emblematic Rofes 
 were not of our author's invention. For the rose, amongft the 
 Ancients, was a fymbol of silence, the requifite quality of the 
 Initiated. And therefore the ftatues of Ifis or Diana Multimammea, 
 (images confecrated to the ufe of the Myjieries) are crowned with 
 chaplets of Rofes ; defigning what we now mean, when we fay, in 
 proverbial fpeech, under the rose. 
 
 » P. 245. t P- 249- X P- *4^' S L. viii.p. 174. 
 
 T t z Our
 
 324 THE DI VINE LEGATION Book IT. 
 
 Our Author proceeds to tell us, that the people wondered at this 
 Inftantaneous Metamorphofis. Populi ir.irantur, reltgioji venerantur 
 tarn evidentem maximi numinis potentiam — tt facilitatem reforma- 
 tionis *. For the Myjleries boafted the power of giving a fuddeu 
 and entire change to the mind and affcdions : And the advocates 
 of Paganifm againft Chriftianity ufed to oppofe this boafl to tlie 
 real and miraculous efficacy of Grace. 
 
 As foon as Lucius had recovered the integrity of his nature, by 
 inhiaiion, the Prieft covers him, naked as he was, with a linen 
 garment + : A habit always beftowed upon the Alpirant, on his 
 admiffion to the Myfleries ; the rationale of which, Apuleius him- 
 felf gives us in his Apology |. 
 
 When all was over, the Prieft accofts his Penitent in the fol- 
 lowing manner. " Multis et variis exantlatis laboribus, magnif- 
 ** que Fortunas tempeftatibus, et maximis adiis procellis, ad portum 
 ** quietis et aram Mifericordice tandem, Luci, venifti : nee tibi na- 
 " tales, ac ne dignitas quidem vel ipfa, qua flores, ufquam dodrina 
 *' profuit : fed lubrico virentis aetatuloe, ad jerviks delapfusvoluptates, 
 " cuRiosiTATis IMPROSPER^ fuiillrum premium reportafti. Sed 
 " utrinque Fortunie caecitas dum te peflimis periculis difcrutiat, ad 
 " reltg'iofam ijiam habltudlnem improvida produxit malitia. Eat nunc, 
 " et fummo furore faeviat, et crudelitati luae materiam quaerat aliam. 
 " Nam in eorum vitas, quorum Jibi fervitiiim Dea nojlrce majejlas 
 " vindicavit, non habct locum cafus infejlus. Quid latrones, quid 
 " fer«, quid fervitium, quid afperrimorum itinerum ambages reci- 
 " procze, quid metus mortis quotidianas nefaria Fortunae profuit ? 
 
 * P. 247, 248. 
 
 -j- Sed facerdos, \i\.c\\nc\yic dtvino monitu cognitis ah engine cu/iHis daililus meis, qnam- 
 quam et ipfe infigni permotus miraculo, nutu fignificato prius praecipit, tegendo mihi 
 LiNTEAM dari laciniam. P. 248. 
 
 l Lana fegniffimi corporis excrementum, pecori detraiSa, jam inde Orphei et Pytha- 
 gori fcitis, profanus veftitus eft. Sed enim mundiffima lini feges, inter optimas fruges 
 terrx exoi ta non modo hidutui et amiSui fanllijjimis JEgyptiorum facerdotiiuSy fed opertui 
 cjuoque in rebus J'acrii ufurpatur. Apol, p. 64. 1. 17.
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 325 
 ** in tutelam jam receptus es foutv^je, /'^'^videntis ; ^ua svm 
 *' LUCis SPLENDORE ccteros etiam deos lUummai. Sume jam vultum 
 *' laetiorem, candido ijlo hab'itu tuo con9,ruentem ; comitare pompam 
 «' Deae sospitatricis innovanti gradu ; videant irreligiosi: 
 
 *' VIDEANT, ET ERROREM SUUM RECOGNOSC ANT. Etl CCCC pfil- 
 
 *' tinis aerumnis abfolutus, Isidis niagn^e provident i a gaiideni 
 " Lucius de fua fortuna triumphat *." 
 
 Here the moral of the fable is delivered in plain terms ; and, 
 jtn this moral, all we have advanced, concerning the purpofe of the 
 work, fully confirmed. It is exprefly declared, that vice and 
 inordinate curiosity were the caufes of Lucius's difafters ; from 
 which the only relief was initiation into the mysteries. 
 Whereby the Author would infinuate, that nothing was more ab- 
 horrent from thofe holy rites than debauchery and magic j the 
 two enormities they were then commonly fufpeded to encourage. 
 
 It hath been obferved above, that by Lucius's return to his proper 
 Form, was meant his initiation; and accordingly, that return is called 
 (as initiation was) the being born again — ut renatus quodammodo, 
 and — fua providentia quodammodo renatos ; but this was only 
 to the LESSER, not the greater myjleries. The firfl was to purify 
 the mind : hence it was called by the Ancients, Kax/ag- dpxipia-iv, a 
 feparation from evil: the fecond vf^s to enlighten \X., when purified, 
 and to bring it to the knowledge of divine fecrets, as Hierocles 
 fpeaks, iTTtllx isTCfj iTTiSoiXhsi T-n raiv ^itoji^uy yvuim. Hence they 
 named the one KA0AP2IN, and the other TKAEIOTHTA, puri- 
 fication and PERFECTION. The Jirji is here reprefented in th» 
 incident of Lucius's being reftored to humanity by the ufe of rofes : 
 The femid, as the matter of chief importance, the Author treats 
 more circumflantially. 
 
 He begins with making the Prieft take occafion, from the be- 
 nefit already received, to prefs Lucius to enter into the greater 
 MYSTERIES of Ifis. " Quo tibi tamen tutior fis, atque munitior ; 
 
 * P. 248, 349,. 
 
 "da
 
 226 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " da nomen hxiicfanSfa militia^ cujus olim faciamento etiam Izeta- 
 " beris ; teque iam nunc obfequio religionis noftras dedica, et minif- 
 ** teriijugum fubi voluntarium. Nam, cum cceperis Dea fervire, 
 *' tunc tnngis Jenties fruSium tua libertath^." But at the fame time 
 makes him inform the Candidate, that nothing was to be precipi- 
 tated : for that not only many previous Rites and Ceremonies, con- 
 cerning religious diet, and abftineuce from prophane food, were to 
 be obferved ; but that the Afpirants to thefe higher Myjieries were to 
 wait for a call. " Quippe cum aviditati contumacigeque fumme 
 " cavere, et utramque culpam vitare, ac neque vocatus morari, nee 
 " non juffus feftinare deberem. Nee tamen efle quemquam de fua 
 *' numero tarn perditae mentis, vel immo deftinatae mortis, qui noa 
 " fibi quoque feorfum, jubente Domina, temerarium atque facrile- 
 «' gum audeat minifterium fubire, noxamque letalem contrahere. 
 " Nam et inferum clauftra, et falutis tutelam in Deve manu pofita 
 " ipfamque traditionem ad inftar voluntariae mortis et praecariai fa- 
 «' lutis celebrari t-" Accordingly, he is initiated into the greater 
 MYSTERIES. The ceremony is defcribed at large | ; and we find It 
 to agree exadlly with what, we have (hewn, other ancient writers 
 more profeffedly deliver concerning it. 
 
 The Author, by the doubts and apprehenfions which retarded 
 his initiation, firfl: gives us to underftand, that the highefl degree 
 of fanftity was required of thofe who entered into the Myjieries. — 
 " At ego, quamquam cupieuti voluntate praeditus, tamen religiofa 
 ** formidine retinebar. Quod enim fedulo percontaveram, difficile 
 ** religionis obfcquium, et cajtimoniorum abjiinentiam fatis arduam, caii- 
 *• toque circwnfpettu vitam, quce multis cafibus Jubjacet, ejfe munien- 
 " dam §." Tliefe difficulties now fiirmounted, he is initiated with 
 the accuftomed Ceremonies. He then makes his Prayer, In which 
 the grand AHOPPHTA of the Mypries is ftill || more plainly re- 
 
 * P. J*9. t P. 2J3, 2S4. • % P. 255. 256, 257. § p. 1^2. 
 
 It See the quotation above. — For.'.-tn.t FiJcntis, qua fua lucis ffUnJorc cetera etiam 
 Deoi illumlnat, 
 
 ferred
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 327 
 
 ferred to. " Tu quidem fandla et humani generis sospitatr.x per- 
 *' petua, femper fovendis mortalibus munifica, dulcem matris af- 
 " fe£lionem miferorum calibus tribuis. — Te superi colunt ; ob- 
 *' servant infer i ; tu rotas orbkm ; luminas solem ; regis 
 " mundum ; calcas tartarum; tibi respondent stdera * ; 
 " gaudent lumina ; redeunt tempora; serviunt ele- 
 "menta; tuo nutu spirant flamina; nutriuntUr nu- 
 
 " BILA ; GERMINANT SiMINA; CRESCUNT GERMINA ; TUAM 
 
 " majestatem perhorrescunt aves coelo meantes; fer;e 
 
 *• MONTIBUS ERRANTEs; SERPENTES solo LATENTES ; BELUiE 
 *' PONTO NATANTES-f." 
 
 The affair thus over, and the honour attendant on initiation hito 
 tht greater Mvjleries behig marked out in the words — comiticibar fa^ 
 cr avium ; loti^ civitati notus ac confpicuus^ digitis hominum nutibufque 
 notabilis \ ; the Author, in the next place, takes occafion, agreeably 
 to his real pradice and opinions, to recommend a multiplicity 
 OF INITIATIONS. He tells us how IJis counfelled him to enter into 
 the Myjleries of OJiris : how, after that, (he invited him to a third 
 initiation : and then rewarded him for his accumulated Piety with 
 an abundance of temporal Bleffings. 
 
 All this confidered, we can no longer doubt but that the true 
 defign of his work was to recommend initiation into the 
 
 JiIYSTERIES, in OPPOSITION TO THE NEW RELIGION. We fee 
 
 the Cataftrophe of the piece, the whole Eleventh Book, entirely 
 taken up with it ; and compofed with the greateil ferioufuefs and 
 fuperftition. 
 
 And, furely, nothing could be better conceived, to recommend 
 the MjJierieSf than the idea of fuch a plan ; or better contrived than 
 his execution of it. In which he omits no circumftance that might 
 
 * Ri-fpoiulint fidera. This, 1 fuppofe, relates to the mufic of the fphera. The image 
 is noble and fublime. It is taken from the conjint in the lyre, to anfwer to, and obey 
 the hand of the Mailer who had put them into tune. 
 
 t P. ^57. 258. X P- ^9- 
 
 bS5
 
 32S THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 be plaufibly oppofed to Christianity ; or that might recommend 
 the Mysteries with advantage to the Magiflrate's protection : as 
 where he tells us, that in thefe Rites, they frayed for th'prqfperity 
 of all Orders in the State — " faufta vota praefatus principi magno, 
 *' fenatuiqueet equiti, totique populo Romano." 
 
 This interpretation will throw new light on every part of the 
 GOLDEN ASS. But I have been fo long upon the fubjedl, that I 
 have only time to give one inftance ; and this, chiefly becaule it 
 reflefts light back again on my general interpretation of the Fable. 
 In the fifth and fixth books is the long epifode of Cupid and 
 Psyche ; viiibly allegorical throughout ; and entirely foreign to all 
 the reft of the work, confidered as a mere Milefian fable ; but very- 
 applicable to the Writer's purpofe, if he had that moral to inculcate 
 which we have here affigned unto him. 
 
 There was no man, though he regarded the golden Afs as a thing 
 of mere amufement, but faw that the ftory of Cupid and Psyche 
 was a philofophic allegory of the progrefs of the foul to perfeEllon^ in 
 the pojfej/ion of divine love and the reward of immortality. The Amour 
 of Cupid cind Pfyche was a fiibjed which lay In common amongft 
 the Platonic writers. And though originally founded on fome ob- 
 fcure tradition of the Fail of Man^ yet every one fafhioned this 
 agreeable fiftion (as our Author has done here) according to the 
 dodrines he had to convey under it. By this means it could not 
 but become famous. The remaining monuments of ancient fculp- 
 ture convince us that it was very fiimous ; in which, nothing is 
 ib common as the figures of Cupid and PsYCHE-in the various clr- 
 cumftanccs of their adventures. Now we have fhewn at large, that 
 the profefled end of the Myferies, In the later ages of their cele- 
 brity, was to reftore the foul to it's original rectitude, and, 
 in every age, to encourage good men with the promlfes oi bappinefs 
 in another life. The fable, therefore, of Cupid and Pfyche^ in the 
 fifth and fixth books, was the fincfl and mofl artful preparative for 
 the fubjedl of the eleventh, which treats profeffedly of the Myfleries, 
 
 But
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES demonstrated. 329 
 
 But if we look more nearly into this beautiful Fable, we fliall 
 find that, befides it's general purpofe, it has one more particular. 
 We have obferved that the corrupt Jlate of the Myjieries^ in the time 
 of Apuleius, was one principal reafon of his undertaking their 
 apology. Thefe corruptions were of two kinds, debaucheries 
 and MAGIC. T\\^\x debaucheries have been taken notice of above. 
 Their magic was of three forts: i. The Magic of invocation or 
 J^ECROMANCY. 2. The Magic of transformation or Metamor- 
 phosis. 3. And the Magic of divine communication under a vifible 
 appearance or THEiiRGY. The oracular responses, introduced 
 late into the Mvjleries, feem to have given birth to the firfl : The 
 Doftrine of the Metempsychosis taught therein, to the fecond : 
 and the AnOPPHTA concerning the divine Nature, to the third. 
 The abomination of the two firft forts was feen by all, and frankly 
 given up as criminal : but the fanatic Platonifts and Pythagoreans 
 of the latter ages, efpoufing the third, occafioned it to be held in 
 efteem and reverence. So that, as Heliodorus tells us, the Egyp- 
 tian priefls (between whofe fanaticifm and that of the Platonifts 
 there was, at this time, a kind of coalition *) afFedled to diftin- 
 guiili between the magic of Necrof?iancy and the magic of Tbeiirgy; 
 accounting the firft infamous and wicked ; but the lafl: very fair, 
 and even commendable. For now both thofe philofophic Enthu- 
 fiafts had their m)jr.erioui Rites, which confifted in the pradice of 
 this TheUrgic magic. Thefe were the M)i/leries, to observe it by 
 the way, of which the Emperor Julian was fo fond, that he placed 
 his principal felicity (in what the Chriftians placed his principal 
 crime) their celebration. But our Author, who had imbibed his 
 Platonifm, not at the muddy ftreams of thofe late Fanatics, but at 
 the pure fountain head of the Academy itfelf, well underftood how 
 much this fuperftition, with all it's plaufible pretences, had pol- 
 luted the Myferks ; and, therefore, as in the courfe of the adven- 
 tures of his golden Jlfs, he had ftigmatized the two other kinds of 
 
 * See Book iii. Sei'^. iv. towards the end. 
 
 Vol. T. U u / Magic,
 
 J30 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 Magic, he compofed this celebrated tale (hitherto fo little under- 
 ftood) to expofe the Magic of Theurgy. It is, as we laid, a phi- 
 hfophic JUcgory of the progrefs oj the Saul to perfeSlion, in the pof- 
 Jejfion of 'Divine Love and the reward of iimnortality, delivered in the 
 adventures of Psyche, or the Sold: whofe various labours and 
 traverfes in this Progrefs, are all reprefented as the effe(£ls of her 
 indlfcreet pafTion for that fpecies oi magic called Theurgy. 
 
 To underftand this, we mufl obferve, that the fanatic Platonifts^ 
 in their purfuit of the Supreme Good, the Union with the Deity, 
 made the completion and perfeftion of it to conhft in the Iheurgic 
 Vlfion of the AvtottIov " AyeeXfA.cc or SELF- SEEN IMAGE, i. e. feen by 
 the fplendour of its own light. Now the ftory tells us, there were 
 three Sifters, the youngeft of whom was called Psyche ; by which 
 we are to underftand, the three peripatetic fouls, the fenftive, the 
 animal, and the rational ; or in other words, fenfe, appetite, and 
 reafon. 
 
 That the two elder Sifters, Senfe and Jlppetite, were foon dlfpofed 
 of in marriage ; but that the younger. Psyche or the rational Soul, 
 was of fo tranfcendant and divine a beauty, that though men for- 
 fook the altars of the Gods' to follow and worftiip her *, having 
 paid her their full homage of admiration, not fo much as one af- 
 pired to a clofer union with her : Intimating the general preference 
 given to temporal things above fpiritual : 
 Virtus laudatur & alget. 
 
 However, amidft this negleft, fhe Is happily contraded to, and 
 poffeffes, the celefial Cupid, or pivine love, who cohabits with her 
 invisibly amidft a fcene of paradifaical pleafures and enjoyments. 
 But is warned by Ciipld not to hearken to the pernicious counfel of 
 her fifters, whole envy at her happinefs, from their own choice of 
 hulbands difeafed and avaricious t? the lot of thofe under the do- 
 
 * Apuleii Met. ed. Pricai, p. 85. Interea Pfyche, cum fua fibi prxcipua pulchri- 
 tudine nullum decoris fuifruiftum percipit. Spedatur ab omnibus; laudatur ab omnibus, 
 nee quif<juam — cupieus ejus n\iptiarum petitur accedit. 
 
 minion
 
 Sect. 4. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 331 
 
 minion of their appetites, would foon bring them to attempt her 
 ruin, in perfuading her to get a fight of her inv'tfible fpoufe. Againft 
 which SACRILEGIOUS CURIOSITY, as what would deprive her of all her 
 happinefs*, and to which her fifters would endeavour to inflame 
 her mind, he carefully warns her. By all which the Author, 
 would infiiiuate, that they are the irregular paflions and the un- 
 governable appetites which flir up men's curiojuy to this fpecies of 
 tnagiCf the Theurgic Vision. However, Pfyche falls into the 
 fnnre her fiflers had laid for her, and againfl the exprefs injunftioa 
 of the God, facrilegioufly attempts X.\\\s forbidden fight ; though he 
 afliired her 1 5 that if fhe kept the religious fecret, the child to be 
 born of them fhould be immortal ; but if fhe prophaned it, the 
 child would be mortal, intimating, that Theurgic Magic was fo 
 far from rendering the participants divine, that it loaded them with 
 impiety. In a word, (he indulges her inordinate appetite, and is 
 undone : Divine Love forfakes her ; the happy fcenes of her abode 
 vanifh ; and flie finds herfelf forlorn and abandoned, furrounded 
 with miferies, and purfued with the vengeance of heaven by its in- 
 flrument the Celejiial Venus. 
 
 hi this diltrefs (he firft comes to the temple of Ceres for pro- 
 tection ; by which is meant the cuftom of having recourfe to the 
 Myjieries againft the evils and difafters of life, as is plainly intimated 
 in the reafon given for her application — " nee ullam vel dubiam 
 *' f.PEi MELioRis viam volens omittere |." Spes melior being the 
 common appellation for what was fought for in the Myjieries, and 
 what they promifed to the participants. With thefe fentiments (he 
 addreflfes Cere^ in the following obfervation': " Per ego te frugiferam 
 tuam dextram iftam deprecor — -per tacita facra ciftarum — per — per, 
 tt ctttiz qine Jilentio tegit Ekujinii Attica Jacrarium §" But 
 
 * Identidem monuit, ac fspe terniit, ne quando fororum perniciofo confilio fuafa, de 
 forma Jl/ar/r; quaerat : neve fe sack ilega curiositate de tanto fortunarum luggellu 
 peiTiim dejiciat ; nee fuum poflea contingat ?mplexum. P. gz. 
 
 t Infantem — fi texeris noftra fecieta filentio, divinum ; fi profanaveris, moitalem, 
 P.96. X P. 112. § P. in. 
 
 U u 2 Pfyche
 
 332 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Plyche is denied any proteftion both licre and at the temple of 
 Juno : for the purer Myfiaies dilcouraged all kind of magic, even 
 the moft fpecious. However, Ihe is pitied by both. The reafou 
 Ceres gives her for not complying with her requeft is remarkable. 
 She had entered, flie faid, into an ancient league with Venus, 
 which fhe could not violate*. By which is intimated, that all 
 the Myjlerks had one and the fame end. And Plyche, fhe faid, had 
 reafon to thank her that Ihe did not feize on her and detain her 
 prlfoner + ; alluding to the obligation that all were under to bring 
 to punifhment the violaters of the Myjieries. 
 
 Juno excufes herfelf, from imparting any afTiftance, "out of 
 reverence to the Laws, which forbid any one to entertain another's 
 runaway fervant |." For thofe who had violated the Myjieries of 
 one God could not be admitted to thofe of another. 
 
 In this diftrefs Psyche refolves at laft to render herfelf to the 
 offended Parties, and implore their pardon. Venus impofes on her 
 a long and fevere penance ; in which the author feems to have 
 fhadowedout the trials and labours undergone by the afpirants to the 
 M'Jleries, and the more fevere in proportion to the delinquencies of 
 the afpirants, intimated in the words of Venus to her. — Sed jam 
 nunc ego fedulo perlclitabor an oppido ferti animo, fnigularique 
 prudentia fs praedita §. 
 
 During the courfe of thefe trials Psyche falls once more into 
 diftrefs by her rafh curiofity jj, and would be undone but for the 
 divine afliftance, which all along fupports and aids her in her dif- 
 ficulties. In which the author hints at the promifes made to the 
 afpirants on thefe occafions. — Nee Providenti^e bon;£ graves oculos 
 innocentls anlma latuit ccrumna. In her greateft diftrefs, in the 
 repetition of her firft capital fault, (he is relieved by Cupid himfelf; 
 
 * — cum qua etiam antiquum foedus amicitix colo, P. iir. 
 f quod a me retenta cufloditaque non fueHs optimi confute. P. 112. 
 J —tunc etiam Legibus, qux fervos aiienos profugos, invitis Dominis, vetant fufcipi, 
 prohibeor. P. i ii. 
 
 § P. ij8. II Mente capitur TEMERiTATE cuRiosiTAT^, p. 119, 
 
 intimating,
 
 Sect.4. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 333 
 
 intimating, that nothing but the divine aid can overcome human 
 weaknefs ; as appears from thefe words of Cupid to his fpoufe — Et 
 ecce, inquit, rurfum perieras mifellay?/«/A curiojitate. Sed interim 
 quidem tu provinciam, qua? tibi matris meae precepto mandata eft, 
 exequere gnaviter : cetera egornet videro *. When in thefe trials the 
 afpirant had done his heft, the Gods would help out the reft. 
 
 With this affiftance, (lie performs her penance, is pardoned, and 
 reftored to favour: put again into poifeffton of divine love, and 
 rewarded with immortality, the declared end of all the mys- 
 teries. 
 
 There are many other circumftances in this fine Allegory equally 
 ferving to fupport the fyftem here explained : as there are others 
 which allude to divers beautiful platonic notions, foreign to the 
 prefent difcourfe. It is enough that we have pointed to its chief, 
 and peculiar purpofe ; which it was Impofllble to fee while the 
 nature and defign of the whole Fable lay undifcovered. 
 
 But now perhaps it may be faid, " That all this Is very well. 
 An Allegory is here found for the golden ass, which, it muft be 
 owned, fits the Fable. But ftill it may be aftced. Was it indeed 
 made for it ? Did the Author write the tale for the moral ; or did 
 the Critic find the moral for the tale ? For an i^llegory may be 
 drawn from almoft any ftory : and they have been often made for 
 Authors who never thought of them. Nay, when a rage of al- 
 legorizing happens to prevail, as it did a century or two ago, the 
 Author himfelf will be either tempted or obliged, without the 
 Commentator, to encourage this deluhon. Jriojio and 7qlJo, writers 
 of the higheft reputation, one of whom wrote after the Gothic 
 Romances, as the other after the C/^c Fables, without ever con- 
 cerning themfelves about any other moral than what the natural 
 circumftances of the ftory conveyed ; yet, to fecure the fuccefs of 
 their poems, they fubmitted, in compliance to faftiion and falfe 
 tafte, to the ridiculous drudgery of inventing a kind of pofthumous 
 
 * P. laj. 
 
 Allegory,
 
 334 T M E DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Allegory, and fometlmes more than one ; that the reader himfelf 
 might fealon their Fables to his own tafte. As this has been the 
 cafe. To (hew that I neither impofe upon myfelf nor others, I have 
 referved the Author's own declaration of his having an Allegoric 
 meanings for the laft confirmation of my fyilem. It is in thefe 
 words, 
 
 At ego tibi fermone iflo Milefio 
 Varias Fabulas couf&ram, aurefque tuas 
 Benevolas lepido fufurro permulceam ; 
 
 Alodo fl PAPVRUM ^GYPTIAM ARGUT^IA 
 
 NiLoTici CALAMI INSCRIPTAM, uon fprcveris 
 lufpicere * 
 
 A dire£t infinuatlon of its being replete with the profound Mgyp- 
 t'ian w'rfdom ; of which, that Nation, by the invention of the 
 MYSTERIES, had couvcyed fo confiderable a part tothcGreeks. 
 
 Before I totally difmifs this matter it may not be improper to 
 obferve, that both Virgil and Apuleius have reprefented the 
 genuine Mysteries, as Rites of perfed fanftity and purity ; and 
 recommended only fuch to their Countrymen ; while they expofe 
 impure and impious Rites to the public execration ; for it was 
 their purpofe to ftigmatize the reigning corruptions, and to re- 
 commend the ancient ianftity. On the other hand, a man attached by 
 his office to the recommendation of the M}Jieries, as then pra£tifed, 
 was to do the beft he could, when deprived of the benefit of this 
 diftindlion ; and was to endeavour to give fair colours to the fouleft 
 things. This was the cafe of Jamblichus. His friend Porphyry 
 had fome fcruples on this head. He doubts whether thofe Rites 
 could come from the Gods, which admitted fuch a mixture of 
 lewdnefs and impurity. Such a mixture Jamblichus confefles ; 
 but, at the fame time, endeavours to account for their divine 
 
 * In init. Fab. 
 
 original,
 
 CT. 4- O^ MOSES DEMONSTRATED. ^35 
 
 original, by (hewing, tiiat they are only the emblems of natural 
 Truths ; or a kind of moral purgation of the inordinate pal^ 
 fions *. You will fay, he might have given a better anfwer ; 
 That they were modern abvifes and corruptions. He aiks your 
 pardon for that. Such a confeflion would have been condemning 
 his own Platonic fivnaticifm ; that very fanaticifm which had 
 brought in thele abominations. He was reduced therefore to the 
 iiecelTity of admitting that they were nO' after-corruptions, but 
 coeval with the Rites themfelves. And this admiffion of fo 
 learned a Hierophant, is, as far as I am able to colledl, the only 
 fupgort which any oiie can now have for faying, that the 
 AJy/ieries were impure and abominable, ez e?i from their Jirji hijii- 
 tution. 
 
 Hitherto we have confidered the Legiflator's care in perpetu- 
 atmg the doftrine of a futupe state. And if I have been 
 longer than ordinary on this head, my excufe is, that the topic 
 was new i-> ^nd the dodlrine itfelf, which is the main fubjeiSt of 
 the prefent inquiry, much interefted in it. 
 
 A very remarkable circumflance (for which we are indebted 
 to the obfervation of modern travellers) may convince us, that 
 Rulers and Governors cultivated the belief of this doctrine with a 
 more than common affuluity. Many barbarous nations have been 
 difcovered in thefe later times, on the coafts of Africa, which, 
 
 * De myfteriis, Seft. i. cap. ii. 
 
 ^ A well-known writer, Mr. Jaclifon (not to fpeak at prefent of Others of a 1 atr 
 date) who had long and fcurrilotifly railed at the authoi of the D. L. in a number of 
 niiferable pamphlets, hath at length thought fit in a Thing, called Chronological Anti- 
 quities, to borrow from this hook, without any acknowledgment, all he had to give the 
 public concerning the pagan Mysteries ; and much, concerning the hieroglyphics 
 and origin of idolatry. But this is the common praftice of fuch fort of writers : and is 
 only mentioned here to fhew the reader to what clafs they belong. The treatment thefe 
 volumes have met with from feme of the moft worthlefs of my Countrymen, made me 
 think it expedient to contr.ift their behaviour with that of the moft learned and ref])e(5ta- 
 bie foreign Divines and Critics of France, Germany, and Holland, in their animadvei- 
 fions on this work, occafionally inferted iii the notes.
 
 y,6 THE DIVINE LEGATION. Book U- 
 
 in the dlftraf\ions of Government, and tranfmigrations of People, 
 have, it is probable, fallen from a cwilized to a fdvage ftate of 
 jife. Thefe are found to have little or no knowledge of a God, 
 or obfervance of Religion. And yet, which is a furprifing para- 
 dox, they ftill retain the fettled belief and expeftation of a future 
 STATE. A wonder to be accounted for no other way than by 
 what hnth been faid above of the Legiflator's principal concern 
 for the fupport of this Doftrine ; and of the deep root, wliich 
 by its agreeable nature, it takes in the Mind wherever it has 
 been once received. So that though, as it hath been obferved, 
 no Religion ever exifted without the doSlrine of a Future State, yet 
 the dodrine of a Future State hath, it feems, fometimes exifted 
 without a Religion. 
 
 APPEN"
 
 C 337 3 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 TO BOOK 11. 
 
 WE have feen with what art, and care in contrivance, the Sages of the 
 Gentile World endeavoured, by the intervention of the Myste- 
 ries, to prevent the memory of the fist Cal'se of all things from being 
 totally obliterated from the minds of men ; while the pcrverfe conlHtution 
 of the National Idolatries prevented the true God's being received into any 
 PUBLIC Worfhip. To the Secret of the Myjleriss it was, that thefe 
 Pfeudo Evangelifts invited their more capable Difciples, awfully admonifh- 
 ing them to give heed unto il, as unto a light Ihining in a dark flace. For it 
 was no more than fuch a glimmering, x\\\x.h,Q rijlng of the day-Jiar oi tht 
 Gofpel, in the hearts of the Faithful. 
 
 But if the late noble Author of the first Philosophy defcrves cre- 
 dit ; all this care was as abfurd as it was fruitlefs. 
 
 The Inftitutors of the Myjlcries imparted this secret, as the true and 
 only folid foundation of Religion; for the first Cause was, in their 
 ideas, a God whofe essence indeed was incomprehenfible, but his attri- 
 EUTts, as well moral as natural, difcoverable by human reafon. Such a 
 God was wanted for that foundation : for vnajpjled reafon taught than, as, 
 in its moft aj/ijied ftate, it had taught St. Paul, Ihat he who coiveth to God, 
 mujl believe that he is ; and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently fcek 
 him. Thus Plato, in his Book of Laws, fpeaking of Religion, and it's ufc 
 to civil Society, fays, " It is not of fmall confequence, that what we here 
 " reafon about the Gods, fliould, by all means and methods, be made 
 " probable ; as that they are, and that they are good *." Hence, though 
 their miftaken inode of teaching deprived the pagan world of the/r«/V of 
 the Dodtrinc, the purpofe ho.vever was laudable and rational. 
 
 * u; Sfol t' flVl, K, aycM, 
 
 Vol. I. X X ^ But
 
 338 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 But now comes a modern Sage * — Philosopher and Statesman like the 
 Ancient, (in all things elfe how unlike !) who tells us " that they made the 
 Bafis of Religion far too wide ; that men have no further concern with God 
 than 1 o BELIEVE that he is, which his phyfical Attributes make fully ma- 
 nifeft ; but, That he is a rewarder of them who diligently feel' hi))!, Religion 
 doth not require us to believe, fince this depends on God's morar attri- 
 butes, of which we have no conception." In this manner, by the turn of 
 a hand, hath our Noble Philofopher changed Natural Religion into Natu- 
 ralism; and made this care of the ancient Sages as ridiculoufly conceived 
 as it was ineffeftually profecuted. 
 
 But to do juftice to the weak endeavours of thofe Friends and Servants of 
 Mankind, who furely deferve a grateful memory with Pofterity, I ihall 
 take the liberty to examine his Lordfhip's reafoning on this branch of his 
 first Philosophy ; which cafts fo malignant a fhade over the whole reli- 
 gious World. 
 
 He pretends to prove That we have no adequate ideas of God's moral 
 attributes, his goodness a«^ justice, as we have of his natural, his IVifdom 
 and Tower. Here let me obferve, that his Lordfhlp ufes the words, inu' 
 dequaie ideas, and, no ideas, as terms of the fame import. And I think, 
 not improperly. 1 have therefore followed him in the different ufe of cither 
 expreffion. For the reafon of his calling our ideas of God's moral attributes 
 inadequate, is, becaufe he denies that goodncfs and juftice in God, and 
 goodnefs and juftice amongft Men, are the fame in kind. But if not the 
 fame in kind, we can have no idea of them ; becaufe we have no idea of 
 any other kind of goodnefs and juflice. 
 
 He lays down thefe three Propofitions. 
 
 1. That, by metaphysics, or by reafoning a priori, we can gain no 
 knowledge of God at all. 
 
 2. That our knowledge of his Attributes is to be acquired only by a 
 contemplation on his Works, or by the reafoning apofierlori. 
 
 3. That in this way, we can only arrive at the knowledge of his natu- 
 ral Attributes, not of his moral. 
 
 *' It is from the constitution of the world alone (fays his Lord- 
 ** Ihip) and from the ftate of mankind in it, that we can acquire .any 
 " ideas of the divine attributes, or a right to affirm any thing about them\" 
 
 * Lord Bolingbroke. -j- Vol. V. p. 331. 
 
 " The
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 3^9 
 
 *' The knowledge of the Creator is, on niany accounts, neceffary to fucli 
 " a creature as man : and therefore we are made able to arrive by a proper 
 •' cxercifeof our mental hcvhies, from a knowledge of God's works to a know- 
 " ledge of his exijience, and of that infinite power and wisdom which are 
 *' demonftraied to us in them. Our KNowLEDGt cokcerning Gud goes 
 
 " no FURTHER *." 
 
 '* Artificial Theology connefts by very problematical reafoniag a priori, 
 *•' MORAL ATTRIBUTES, fuch as wc conccivc them, and fuch as they are re- 
 *' latively to us, with the f<h\fi a! altribuies of God ; though there be no, 
 " fufficient foundation for this proceeding, nay, though the phanomena are 
 " in feveral cafes repiigno.nl -f ." 
 
 Having thus affured us that the ideas of God's moral altribuies are to 
 be got by no confequential reafoning at all, either a priori or a pojieriori, 
 the two only ways we have to knowledge ; He rightly concludes, that if 
 Man hat^ fuch ideas, they were not found but invented by him. And 
 therefore, that nothing might be wanting to the full dilucidation of this 
 curious point, he acquaints us who were the Authors of the fiction, and 
 how ftrangely the thing came about. 
 
 " Some of the Philofophers (fays his Lordfhip) having been led by a 
 *' more full and accurate contemplation of Nature to the knowledge of a 
 *• fupreme felf-exiilent Being of infinite power and zvifdom, and the firfl 
 " Caufe of all things, were not contented with this degree of knowledge. 
 " They made a System of God's moral as well as phyftcal attributes, 
 *'by which to account for the proceedings of his providence X" 
 
 Thefe Philofophers then, it feems, invented the fyftem of God's moral 
 atlribvtes, in order to account for the difficulties arifing from the view of 
 God's moral government. If the World till now had been fo dull as to have 
 no conception of thefe Attributes; his Lordfhip's Philofophers, we fee, 
 made amends ; who were fo quick-witted to conceive, and fo (harp-fighted 
 to find out, the obliquities of a crooked line before they had got any idea 
 oi nftraight one. For juft to this, neither more nor lei's, does his Lord- 
 ■fliip's obfervation amount, that— — ,they made a Syjlem of God's moral al tri- 
 butes, by vohich to account for the proceedings of his Providence, 'Till now, 
 aione of us could conceive how any doubts concerning moral Government 
 couid arifc but on the previous ideas of the moral attributes of the Go- 
 
 * \'ol. IV. p. 86. t Vol. V. p. 316. J Vol. IV. p. 48. 
 
 X X 2 i^rnnr.
 
 540 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11 
 
 vernor. This invention of his Lordfliip's old Philofophers puts me in mind 
 of an Ingenious Modern, the curious Sancho Pancha ; who, as h's hiflo- 
 rian tells us, was very inquifitive to difcover the author of that very ufeful: 
 invention we call Sleep : for, with this worthy Magiftrate, Sleep and good 
 Cheer were the First Phiiosophv. Now the thrngs fought after by 
 Sancho and his Lordfhip, were at no great diftance ; for if Sleeping began 
 when men firft fhut their eye's, it is certain the idea of God's Coochiefs ap- 
 peared as foon as ever they opened them. 
 
 Dr. Clarke's Demonftration of the moral attributes a priori, I fliall leave,. 
 as his L.ordftip is pleafed to do, in all it's force. If the Dodtor's followers- 
 think their Mailer's honour concerned, where his arguments are not, they 
 have a large field and a fafe to Ihew their prowefs. I rather chufe to under- 
 take tlie NOBLE Philosopher on his own terms, without any other arms, 
 than the arguments a pojleriori. For he is fuch a Champion for the good 
 Caufe, that he not only appoints his Adverfaries the Field, but 'prefcribes 
 to them the ufe of their weapons. 
 
 But his Lordfliip, like other great men, is not eafily approached ; and 
 when he is, not always fit to be feen. You catch his first Philosophy, 
 as Butler's Hero did Ariftotle's first matter, undrejfed, and ivitkout a 
 rag of form ; however flaunting and fluttering in fragments. To fpeafe: 
 plainly, his Lordfhip's entire negleft or ignorance of Method betrays him 
 into endlefs repetitions : and, in thefe, whether for want of precifion in his 
 ideas, propriety in his terms, or art in his compofition, the queftion is 
 perpetually changing ; and rarely without being new-covered by an equi"- 
 vocal expreflion. If you add to this, the perpetual contradiSlions into which 
 he falls, either by defedt of memory, excefsof paffion, or diftrefs of ar- 
 gument, you will allow it to be no eafy matter to take him fairly, to know 
 him fully, and to reprefent him to the bcft advantage : in none of which 
 offices would I be willingly defedive. Indeed, when you have done this-, 
 the bufincfs is over ; and his Lordfliip's reafoning generally confutes itfelf. 
 When I refled: upon what this hath cofl: me, the reading over two or 
 three bulky volumes to get poflTeflion of a fingle argument ; which now 
 you think you hold, and then again you lofe ; which meets you full when 
 you leafl: cxpedt it ; and flips away from you the very moment it promifes 
 to do moft : when, I fay, I rcfled uport all this, I connot but lament the 
 hard luck of the Enghfh Clergy, who, though apparently Icaft fit, as 
 being made Parties ; certainly the leaft concerned as there is nothing that 
 
 can
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 341 
 
 can impofe on a Scholar, though a great deal that may miflcad the Peo- 
 ple, are likely to be the men mofl: engaged with his Lordfhip in this contro- 
 verfy. Time was, when if a Writer had a difpofuion to fcek cbjed:ions 
 againft Religion, though he found them, hardly, and urged them heavily, 
 yet he would digell his thoughts, and methodize his reafoning. 1 he Clergy 
 had then nothing to do but to anfwer him, if they found themfelves able. 
 But fince this flovenly cuftom ("as Lord Shaftesbury calls it) has got 
 amongft our Free-thinkers, of taking their phyfic in public, of throwing 
 about their loofe and crude indigeftions under the name of fragments, 
 things which in. their very name imply not fo much the iudnt,-zs the exclu- 
 fion of all form, the Advocate of Religion has had a fine time of it : he 
 mufl: work them into confiftence, he muft mould them Into fhape, before 
 he can fafely lay hold of them himfelf, or prelent them handfomely to the 
 Public. But thele Gentlemen have provided that a Clergyman fhould ne- 
 ver be idle. All, he had of old to attend, was the faving the fouls of thofe 
 committed to his care. He mull now begin his work a great deal higher; 
 he muft firft convince his flock that they have fouls to be faved. And the 
 fpite of all is, that at the fame time his kind mafttrs have doubled his taflcj 
 they appear very well difpofed to leflen his wages. 
 
 We have obferved, that the denial of God's moral attributcs'xi. the great 
 barrier againft Religion in genera,! : but it is more efpecially ferviceable in 
 his Lordfhip's idiofyncratic terrors, the terrors olz. future State. To thefc we 
 ©we his famous book of Fragments, compofcd occafionally, and taken as 
 an extemporaneous cordial, each ftronger than the other, to fupport himfelf 
 under his frequent paroxyfms. For, fet the moral attributes afide, and we 
 can neither form any judgment of the end oi man, nor of the nature of 
 God's government. All our knowledge will, be confined to our prefent ftate 
 and condition •*. It is by the moral at tributes, we learn, that man was made 
 for happinefs : and that God's difpenfation to us here is but part of a general 
 fyftem : This naturally extends our views to, and terminates our knowledge 
 in. Futurity. 
 
 The fate of all Religion therefore being included in the queftion of God's 
 moral attribiiteSy I hold it of much Importance to prove againft his Lord- 
 
 * One of his Lordfliip's Corollaries therefore from the Propofition of no moral attributes, 
 is this, " Our Knowledge concerning God goes no further than for the neceffaiy ufe of 
 "human life." Vol. IV, p. 486. 
 
 ihip.
 
 342 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Ihip, that MEN MAY ACQ.U1RE ADEC^UATE IDEAS OF THKM lU the fatlte 
 
 way, and with equal certainty, in which they acquire the knowledge of 
 God's natural attributes : And the knowledge of thefe latter his Lordlhip 
 deduces from its original in the following words. 
 
 " All our knowledge of God (fays he) is derived from his works. Every 
 *' part of the immenfe Univerfe, and the order and harmony of the Whole, 
 " are not only conformable to our ideas or notions of wisdom and power, 
 •' but thefe ideas and notions were imprcffed originally and principally by 
 *' them, on every attentive mind ; and men were led to conclude, with the 
 " utmoft certainty,- that a Being of infinite a'//£/<//« and />ow£';- made, preferv- 
 " ed, and governed the fyftem. As far as we can difcover, we difcern thefe 
 *' in all his works ; and where we cannot difcern them, it is manifeftly due 
 *' to our imperfe<5tion, not to his. This now is real knowledge, or there 
 *' is no fuch thing as knowledge. We acquire it immediately in the ob-- 
 **je<S:s thcmfelves, in God, and in Nature, the work of God. We 
 " know what -wifdom and pozver are : we know both intuitively, and by 
 *' the help of our fcnfes, that fuch as we conceive them to be, fnch they 
 ^' appear in the Work : and therefore we know demonftratively that fuch 
 " they are in the Worker *." 
 
 All this is mighty well : and on thefe very grounds I undertake to prove 
 that men may get as clear and precife ideas of God's goodness and 
 
 JUSTICE. 
 
 But, to prevent, or, indeed, now things are gone thus far, rather to 
 redrcfs all ambiguity in the terms, and equivocation in the ufe of them ; it 
 will be proper to explain what true Philosophy means by God's works, 
 \\\\el\\^x phyfical or moral. 
 
 Now, It means, if 1 am not much miflakcn, that constitution of 
 THINGS which God hath eftabliflied, and direfted to a plain and obvious 
 end : no regard being had to thefe impediments or obftrudions in it's courfe, 
 which the Author of nature hath permitted to arife from any part of the ;/w 
 terial, or tnidle^ual Creation. 
 
 Thus, when we confider his phyfical works, in order to make our eftimate 
 of his wifdom znd. power, we conceive them as they are in themfelves ; and 
 in the perfedion of their firft conftitution ; though the greater portions of 
 the fhyfi.al fyftem may, from the int>radability of Matter, be fubjed to 
 fome inconf.derable irrrguhiritles ; which, as the true Philosofher -j^ ob- 
 
 * Vol. V. p. 5:4. ■\ Newton. 
 
 fervfs,
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 343 
 
 ferves, •will be apt to incrcafe till this Syjiem wants a reformation : and though 
 the fmaller Portions of it, fueh as the bodies of animals, may, from various 
 accidents in their conception and birth, often want that convenient form, 
 in the adaption of their parts, from the wonderful contrivance of which, 
 in the various bodies of animals in general, arifes fo illuftrious an evidence 
 of the wifdom and power of the Creator. 
 
 Surely, then, common fenfe guided by equitable meafure requires us to 
 eftimc^.e God's moral IVorki on the fame ftandard ; to confider what the 
 moral conjiituti'm is in itfclf : and (when the queftion is of GqA\ goodnefs 
 and juftice) to keep that confid^rration diftindt ; snd not fuffcr it to be dif- 
 turbed by the view of any interruptions occafioned by the perverfe influence 
 of the paflion or adtion of material or immaterial Beings. For, here, 
 Both concur to violate the Conftitution : In the natural fyftem, man's 
 Free-will hath no place : in Uie moral, the abufe of Free-will occafions the 
 greateft of it's diforders. 
 
 In profecuting this queftion, therefore. As, in order to acquire and con- 
 firm our ideas of God's wifdom and power, we confider the natural fyflem fo 
 far forth only as it's order and harmony is fupported by the general Laws 
 of matter and motion; fo, in order to acquire and confirm our ideas of 
 his goodnefs zndjufice, we fliould regard the monil fyjhm fo far forth only 
 as it's order and harmony is fupported by that general law, which an- 
 nexes happinefs to 'virtue, and to vice, mifcry, and riiin. 
 
 Thus much, and only thus much, is God^s Work in either fyftcm : and 
 it is from God's JVork, he tells us, we are to dcmonflratc his Attributes. 
 The reft (where diforders real or apparent obtrude themfelves to obftrucft 
 our views in thefe difcoveries) proceed from Mitter and Mind.. 
 
 And It is not to be forgotten, that the conclufion, Religioniftsdraw from 
 hence, in fupport of x\\t\x adequate ideas of God's wori?/ attributes, hath 
 the greater ftrength upon his Lordftiip's own principles ; who holds, that 
 this Conftitution 2J\its folely from the will of God : For then we are fure 
 that the will, which annexes happinefs" to virtue, and mifery to vice, 
 muft arife from God's tnoral rather than from h\s pb)fical nature. 
 
 Having preraifed thus much ; no more, indeed, than ncceflary to ob- 
 viate one continued Sophism, which runs through all his Lordlhip's rea- 
 fonings, againft the »;;;■«/ at/ributes (where, x.\^e. courfe and operation of that 
 moral Conflitution, as it appears under the difturbanccs occafioned by man's 
 
 free-
 
 3+4- THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 free-will, is perpetually put for the Conjiitutien it/elf) I now proceed to fhew, 
 that, from God's works, we have as precife ideas of his goodness and 
 JUSTICE as of his power and ivifdom. 
 
 His Lordfhip obferves, that/r<?;n every part of the immenfe Univerfe, and 
 from the harmony of the Whole, men are led to conclude, •with the utmojl certainty, 
 that a Beinrr of infinite wisdom and power made, preferved, and governed 
 the Syflem. This, he obferves in favour of the natural attributes. And 
 what ihould hinder men from making the fame obfervation in favour of the 
 moral, viz. That the happinefs and mifery by the very conftitution of na- 
 ture, attendant on Virtue and on Vice, lead men to conclude, with equal 
 certainty, that a Being of infinite goodness and justice made, preferves, 
 and governs the fyllcm ? 
 
 The exigence of this moral Conftitution in the natural connexion between 
 vice and mifery, virtue and happinefs, his Lordfhip amply acknowledges, 
 let us confuler it, therefore, both as it refpeds bodies of men, and 
 
 INDIVIDUALS. 
 
 That Communities arc always happy or miferable in proportion as their 
 Manners are virtuous or vicious, his Lordfhip himfelf is, on all occafions, 
 readv to demonllrate. If fuch a Conftitution of things do not befpeak the 
 Author of it, ^ccd and JuJI, how is it poffible to conclude any thing of the 
 charafter of the Creator, from bis Works? His Lordfhip thinks, "that 
 from the marks of wifdom and power in tht ph)fical fyfiem we learn with 
 the utmoft certainty that God is -zi;//?' ■md pozverful ; and he fays, that we 
 acquire this knowledge immediately, as it were, by our fenfes." Are there 
 not the felf fime marks of goodncfs and juftice in this part at leaft of the 
 moral fy/lem which refp.^fts Com.iiunities ? And do not we come to know 
 as immediately by our fenfes, and as certainly by our reafon, that God is 
 good and juft ? 
 
 If we confider the moral Conftitution, as it refpefts Particulars, we fee 
 virtue and vice have the fame influence on our happinefs and mifery, Here^ 
 indeed, we find more interruptions, in the means to the end, than in the 
 other part. Our material and our intelleftual Natures are here of more 
 force, to dllbrdcr the harmony of the Syflem. In Communities, it can 
 rarely be difturbed, but by a Peftilcnce, or that other, moral, Plague, a 
 Ikro or a Conqueror. Amongft Particulars, indeed, phyfical evil and 
 the abufc of free-will operate more llrongly: But when once the demon- 
 
 Itration
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 345 
 
 flration of the moral attributes is clearly made from that part of the Con- 
 ftitution which regards Communities , it can never afterwards be fliaken by 
 the diforders in that other part which regards Particulars. The eflablifhed 
 truth is now a Principle for further difcoveries ; and all we can fairly 
 deduce from thefe diforders is the certainty of 2i future State. But this 
 by the way. 
 
 What I infift upon at prcfent is, that, to decide the queftion concerning 
 God's Attributes, we are to confider the Conftitution of things, as it is in 
 itfelf. This is, properly, God's work. The diforders in it, occafioned by 
 the abufe of man's /r^^-w///, is not his work, but man's. This, his Lord- 
 lliip too, upon another occafion, namely, when he combats the argument 
 of a future flate, from an unequal Providence, is perpetually repeating. 
 So that thefe diforders muft, even on his Lordlhip's own principles, be 
 excluded from the account, when we eftimate God's Nature and /It tributes, 
 from his Works. 
 
 " But we fee not thofe diforders in the natural world, which we both fee 
 and feel in the moral." This would be fome objedtion did God in the moral, 
 as in the natural fyflem, dircdt immediately, or conftitute things mechanically; 
 or had Free-will the fame influence on the natural as on the inoral fyflem. — 
 Did God diredt, immediately or mechanically in both Conftitutions, or 
 did he direift immediately and mechanically in neither, and that yet the 
 vtoral remained more fubjedt to diforder than the natural., it might indeed 
 follow that we had not fo clear ideas of God's ^(?(7a'«^ 3.nd Jujlire as of his 
 7vifdom and power : But fince He has thought fit to leave man, free ; and 
 hath been pleafed to fuffer the abufe of free-will to affeft the moral fyftem, 
 and not the natural ; as this, I fay, is the cafe, the greater irregularities 
 in the one do not take off from the equal clearnefs of the demonflration, 
 which refults from the nature of both one and the other Conftitution. This 
 difference is not to be afcribcd to a contrary condud: in the Governor of the 
 two Syftems, but to the contrary natures of the Subjefts. Paflive matter 
 being totally inert, it's refiftance to the Laws imprelfed upon it, muft be 
 extremely weak : and confequcntly the diforders arifing from that refift- 
 ance, proportionably flow and unheeded : while that adive fclf moving 
 principle, the Mind, flies out at once from the centre of its direftion, and 
 can every moment defied; from the line of truth and equity. Hence moral 
 diforders began early, became exceflive, and have continued, through all 
 ages, to difturb the harmony of the Syftem. 
 
 Vol. I. y y What
 
 346 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 What is here faid will, I fuppofe, be fufficient to to confute the follow- 
 ing aflertions; and to deteft the miftake on which they arife. 
 
 " Every thing (fays his Lordfhip) fhews the ■wi/dom and power of God 
 *' conformably to our ideas of wifdom and power in the phyfical world and 
 " in the moral. But every thing does not /hew in like manner /i"^ juflice and 
 " goodncfs confor7nahly to our ideas of thefe attributes in either. The phy- 
 "fual attributes are in their nature more glaring and lefs equivocal *." 
 
 And again ; " There is»o fufficient foundation in the phjenoniena of Na- 
 " ture to conned: the moral attributes with the phyfical attributes of God. 
 " 'Nay, the phenomena are in fever al cafes repugnant -)--." 
 
 But fince he goes fo far as to talk of the want of a foundation, and even 
 a repugnancy ; Before I proceed with the main braneh of my reafoning, I 
 will juft urge one fingle argument for the reality and full evidence of the 
 vioral attributes : and it fhall be taken from his own conceffions, and Ihall 
 conclude on his own principles. 
 
 He tells us, that fuch as he, " who apply themfelves to xhtfirjl Fhilo. 
 " fophy, apply themfelves to the nobleft ohjedts that can demand the attention 
 *' of the mind — To the fignification of God's will, concerning the du- 
 *' ties we owe to him, and to one another \." 
 
 And again, *' It is fufficient to eftablifh our ?7ioral obligations that we 
 " confider them relatively to our own fyftem. From thence they arife : and 
 *' fince they arife from thence, it muft be the will of that Being who 
 " made the fyftem, that we ihould obferve and pradtife them §." 
 
 Let me afk then, Whence it is that we colled this will from the ob- 
 jeds which his Lordfhip allows us to contemplate, namely, his works 
 in this fyflem ? He will fay from certain qualities in thofe objeds — What 
 
 are thofe qualities ? He will reply, the fitneffes of means to ends. 
 
 Who was the Author of thefe fitneffes? He hath told us, the God of 
 
 ■nature It was God's will then, that we fhould ufe the means, in order 
 
 to obtain the ends. No.v, in the moral Syftem, the means are virtuous 
 pradice ; the end, happinefs. Virtue therefore muft needs be pleafing to 
 him ; and Vice, as it's contrary, difpleafing. Well, but then, as to this 
 approbation and difiike ; it muft be either capricious, or it muft be re- 
 gulated on the nature of things. Wifdom, which his Lordihip condefcends 
 to give his Maker, will not allow us to fuppofe it capricious. It is regu- 
 
 » Vol. V. p. 5H- t Vol. V. p. 316- X Vol. V. p. 447. § Vol. V. p. 452, 
 
 lated
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 347 
 
 lated therefore on the nature of tilings. But If the nature of thir.gi be, as 
 his Lordfliip holds it is^ the conftitution of God, and dependent on his will, 
 then he who is pleafed with virtue, and difpieafed with vice, muft needs 
 be himfelf gocd znAjuJi. 
 
 To proceed now with the principal branch of our reafoning. His Lord- 
 fhip goes on thus. But men not only might colle£t God's natural attributes 
 from the pijyftcalfyjlem, but in effeB they did ; and all men, at all times, had 
 thefe Kotions fo Jlrongly imfreffed on them, that they -were led to conclude with 
 the utmoft certainty for a Being of infinite power and wifdom. 
 
 I defire to know in what time or place it ever happened, before his 
 Lordfliip philofophifed at Batterfea, and could find no foundation, in the 
 pbcsnomena of nature, to conneSl the moral with the phyftcal attributes of God, 
 that a Man, who believed God's infinite wifdom and power, did not with 
 equal confidence believe his infinite goodnefs and juftice ? In truth, thefe 
 two fets of ideas, the phyfical d^wA mor^/ attributes of the Deity, were equally 
 extcnfive, they were equally fleddy, and, till now, they were always in- 
 feparable. 
 
 He fays, that as far as we can difcover, ive difcern infinite wifdom and 
 power in all God's works: and where we cannot difcern them, it is manifefily 
 due to our imperfedion, not to his. 
 
 What his Lordfliip here fays will deferve to be confidered. A eomparifon 
 is infinuated between our difcovery of infinite power and wifdom from the 
 ph)ftcal works of God ; and our difcovery of infinite goodnefs and iuftice 
 from his moral works ; In which, the advantage is given to the former. Now, 
 in order to come to a juft decifion in this point (omitting at prefent the no- 
 tice of his general Sophll'm which operates in this obfervation, as in the refl) 
 we muft dilVinguilh between the means of acquiring the knowledge of God's 
 Attributes, and that knowledge zvhen acquired. 
 
 As to the firft, (the ?neans of acquiring,) there feems to be fome advan- 
 tage on the fide of God's physical works. For, as his Lordfliip rightly 
 obferves, where we cannot difcern wifdom and power in the phyfical works it 
 is due to our imperfeilion, not to his : for as men advance /« the knowledge of 
 nature, we fee more and more of wifdom and power. And he infinuates, we 
 cannot fay the fame concerning the difficulties in the moral fyftem. It is 
 true, we cannot. But then let me tell him, neither can we fay the con- 
 trary. The reafon is. The phyfical fyftem lies open to our enquiries i 
 
 Yy 2 and
 
 348 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 15. 
 
 and by the right application of oui fenfes to well-tried experiments, we 
 are able to make confuleiable advances in the knowledge of Nature, it 
 is not fo in the moral fyftem ; all we know here are a few general prin- 
 ciples concerning its Conftitiition ; and further than this, human wit or 
 induftry is unable to penetrate, Thefe general principles are, indeed, 
 amply fufficient to deduce and eftabliih the moral attributes from the morc^l 
 fyftem ; but not fufficient to remove all difficulties that arife from what 
 we fee of the aftual adminiftration of that Syftem. So that, though ivc 
 cannot fay, that as we advance in the knowledge of the moral fyftem we fee 
 viore and more of goodnefs and jujlnef ; So neither can his Lordfhip fay 
 (though his words feem to infinuate he could) that as we advance, we fee 
 Icfs and lefs. Whereas the truth is, beyond thofe general principles, we 
 cannot advance at all. 
 
 But then, as to the fecond part in the dillinftion (the knowledge of the 
 attributes, when acquired) I hold the advantage, and a great one it is, 
 lies altogether on the fide of the moral. And thus I argue: Though 
 the idea of God's natural attributes be as clear in the abftraft, as that of 
 his morali yet the idea of his moral attributes is, in the concrete, more 
 adequate than that of his natural. The reafon feeras convincing, live 
 moral relation in which we ftand to God, as free agents, is juft the fame 
 whether man exifts alone, or whether he be but a link in the chain of in- 
 numerable orders of intelligences furrounding the whole Creation. Hence 
 we muft needs have a full knowledge of our duty to him, and of his dif- 
 pofition towards us : on which knowledge is founded the exadtnefs of our 
 conceptions of his moral attributes, his jujiice and goodnefs. But the 
 natural relation in which we, or any of God's creatures, ftand towards 
 him, as material Beings, is not the fame when confidered fimply, as 
 v/hen confidered to be a portion of a dependent and connedted Whole. 
 Becaufe whenever fuch a Whole exifts, the harmony and perfedion of it 
 muft firft of all be confulted. This harmony arifeth from the mutual fub- 
 ferviency and union of its parts. But this fubferviency may require a 
 miniftration of government, with regard to certain portions of Matter thus 
 allied, different from what might have followed had thofe portions flood 
 alone, becaufe that precife difpofition, which might be fit in one cafe, might 
 be unfit in the other. Hence we, who know there is a Whole, of which 
 our material fyftem is a Part; and yet are totally ignorant both of its 
 nature and extent, can have but a very confufed idea of that phyficai 
 
 relation
 
 Append, OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 349 
 
 relation in which we ftand towards God : fo that our conceptions of his 
 natural attributes, his pozuer and ivtfdom, which are founded on that idea, 
 mufl in the concrete be proportionably vague and inadequate. 
 
 But it may be alked, perhaps, Whence arifes this reciprocal advantage 
 which the moral and the natural attributes have over one another, in the 
 vieans of acquiring the knowledge of the Attributes, and the precifion of 
 that knowledge when acquired ? I will tell the Reader in two words. Of 
 our own piyfical fyflem, we know many particulars (that is, we difcover 
 much of the means, but nothing of the end) ; and of the univerfal phyfical 
 fyftem we are entirely ignorant. On the other hand, we know but few 
 particulars of <7Mr own ?n ral fyftem (that is, we difcover only the end, and 
 not the means) ; and of the univerfal moral fyftem we underftand the gene- 
 ral principles. 
 
 His Lordlhip proceeds. This now [the knowledge of God's natural at- 
 tributes] is real knowledge ; or there is no fuch thing as knowledge. We ac- 
 quire if immediately in the ohjefts thcmfelves, in cod, and in nature the ivork 
 of God. 
 
 What his Lordlhip means bv, in God, in diftinftion from the luork of 
 God, I confefs I do not underftand : Perhaps it may be intended to infi- 
 nuate, in honour of the natural attributes, that they may be even proved 
 a priori ; for this is not the firft time by many, when, after having heartily 
 abufed a thing or perfon, he has been reduced to fupport himfclf on the 
 authority, or the reafoning they afford him. Or perhaps, it was only 
 ufed to round the period, and fet off his eloquence. However, I agree 
 with him, that this is real k?iozi;ledgc. And fo too, I think, is the know- 
 ledge of the ?noral attributes, fo gained. Why truly, fays his Lordfliip, 
 I do allow jujl fo much goodnefs andjuftice in God as ive fee in that consti- 
 tution, which annexes happinefs to virtue, and mifery to vice. But this, 
 fays he, I think, had better he called wisdom. I think fo too, if hy fa 
 much, he means no more than what concerns God's natural Goverxment : 
 and that he means no more is plain from his making the natural confe- 
 quence of vice and virtue the only fandtion of the moral Law. But I will 
 venture to go further, and fay, that, from what we fee in this G.mJlitution, 
 we may coUeft perfect goodness and justice. Matter and man's 
 Free-will difturb the Syftem : But if the C(?/{y??V?//MM be the eifeft of God's 
 Will, as his Lordfliip holds it is ; and the mark of his Wifdom, as all man- 
 kind hold with him ; Does not that Wifdom require that his Will Ihould 
 
 not
 
 350 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IT. 
 
 not be defeated ? Would it not be defeated, if the diforders occafioned 
 by the perverfity of his creatures were not remedied and fet right ? And 
 is not A REMEDY the cleareft mark of -pirfeEl goodnefs znAjuJiice? 
 
 Take it in another light. Free-will croffes that Cotifiitution, which 
 God, by eftablifhing, fhews he intended fliould take place. This prefent 
 difturbance could not have been prevented, becaufe, according to my 
 Lord and his ill-uled Poet, it was neceffary to the fchemes of divine wif- 
 dom, that there ihould be fuch a creature as Man : 
 " For in the fcale of reafoning life, 'tis plain 
 ** There mull be, fomevvhere, fuch a rank as man." 
 
 The confequence is, that the diforder will be hereafter redified. 
 
 Had Man indeed been made unneceffarily ; and had this Man broke in 
 upon God's general Syftem, his Lordfhip might have had fome pretence 
 to fay, as he does, that God meant the System should not be further 
 pursued; that is, that the fcheme which annexes happinefs to virtue, 
 and mifery to vice, fhould remain in its prefent condition of an incom- 
 plete Difpenfation, to all eternity. But fince Man is acknowledged to be 
 a vecejfary part of a general Syftem, complete in all its members, it is 
 nonfenfe to talk of God's not meaning the particular Syjlem fiould be further 
 purfiied, when xhzi further purfuit is only to bring it to its natural period ; 
 ihort of which, it would remain unfinilhed, nay, unformed. 
 
 He goes on. We know 7vhat wisdom and power are. We know both 
 intuitively , and ly the help of our fenfes, that fuch as we conceive them to be, 
 fuch they appear in the work ; and therefore we know demonflratively that fuch 
 they are in the worker. 
 
 And do we not know what goodness and justice are ? And by the 
 very fame means ? Do we not intuitively, and by the help af our fenfes 
 know, that fuch as we conceive them to be, fuch they appear in the work, 
 namely, in that conflltution of things, which, his Lordfhip tells us, annexes 
 happinefs to virtue, and mifery to vice ? And may we not demonflratively 
 colleft from thence that fuch they are in the worker ? fince this Con- 
 Jlitution, his Lordfhip tells us again, is the efFedt of God's will. On 
 his own principles, therefore, applied to his own flate of the reafoning a 
 pojieriori, it appears, that God is of infinite goodnefs and juflice, as well as 
 of infinite wifdom and poiver. 
 
 But
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 351 
 
 Bnt to give Authority to his partial reafoiiing (the ufual fuppoit of 
 all partialities), he makes Anaxagoras inflrudt us, what we are to think of 
 this matter. *' Should you aik A.iaxagoras (fays he) what goodnefs is, or 
 *■'■ jujiice ? He might bid you, perhaps, turn your eyes inward, firft; 
 ** then, furvey mankind ; obferve the wants of individuals, the benefits of 
 " fociety, and, from thefe particulars, frame the general notions of ^00^- 
 " nefs and jujlice. He might go a ftep further ; and add, this is human 
 " goodnefs and /:;«wa« juftice, fuch as we can comprehend, fuch as we can 
 " exercife, and fuch as the fupreme mind has made it both our duty and 
 *' intereft to exercife, by the conftitution of the human fyfiem, and by 
 " the relations which arife in it: from all which our notions of ^ou^'w^^y} 
 *' andyz(/?/« refult, and are compounded." 
 
 We know then, according to our mock Anaxagoras, what goodnefs and 
 jufiice are, as certainly as what IVifdom and Tower are : Since this quater- 
 nion of Attributes are all known by the fame means and by no other : 
 lae knoxv both intuitively and by the help of our fenfes, that fuch as we con- 
 ceive them to be, fuch they appear in the work. For he bids us turn our eyes 
 imvard; then fuwey mankind; and laftly, obferve how reafon, from the 
 confiltution of human nature^ confirms our intuitive knowledge, and that 
 which wc gain by the help of otir fenfes. — But what does all this fignify, 
 if Anaxagoras or his Lordfhip be in an humour of concluding againfi: their 
 own premifles? Hear then how the fpeech ends, — " Oi divine goodnefs 
 *' and divine juftice, might this Philofopher conclude, I am unab.'.e to 
 "frame any adequate notions*." What? Unable to frame thofe 
 notions which God, by his tnoral Confitution, has put into our hands -, and 
 by the declaration of his will has taught us to apply .^ Yes, he bids us 
 conclude, that we are unable to frame any adequate notion of divine good- 
 ness and jiTSTicE, and yet, on the force of the very fame reafoning, to 
 conclude as fteadily, that we are able to frame an adequate notion of divitie 
 Wisdom and Power. — This old Philofopher, I fuppofe, was not brought 
 in to be laughed at, like his drunken Church-HfiLOTES -j~ ; yet, he plays 
 
 * Vol. IV. p. 116, 117. 
 
 t — " far be iriVom nie to wifii (fays his Lortlfliip) that the race of Metaphyficians 
 " and Cafuifts Ihould increafe. — But fince there will be fuch men, it is very reafonable 
 ** to wifh that they inny ferve to the fame good purpofe that the Helotes, the drunken 
 " flaves, did at Sparta," &c. Vol. V. p. 446. 
 
 the
 
 352 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 the fool to admiration.— /^'i? do know, fays Anaxagoras, what Goodnefs 
 and Juftice are : we know both intuitively, and by the help of our fenfes, that 
 fuch as -we conceive them to be, fuch they appear in the work ; and th err- 
 fore we DO not know that fuch they are in the worker. 
 
 Might I be permitted to addrefs myfelf to this Renegado Sophift, I 
 would fay, — Your brethren, the antient Philofophers, reafoned a pojieriori 
 in this manner, " Can you think there is wijdom and power in you, and 
 none in your Maker ?"— By no means. They reafoned well. — Let me 
 afk you then, is there goodnefs zndjujlice in you, and none in your Maker?" 
 His anfwer, 1 fuppofe, would be the fame. But, prompted by his Lord- 
 fhip, into whofe fervice he is now entered, he adds. That, from human 
 goodnefs and jujlice we cannot come to the nature of the divine. What 
 fliould hinder us, I pray you .^ Is it not from our intuitive conception of 
 our own wifdoin and power that we gain an adequate idea of God's ? Arc 
 wifdom znOi power more perfect, as tkey are found in man, thz.n goodnefs 
 2i\\d J ii/iice ? If therefore the imperfection of thefe attributes in Man 
 hinder our acquiring an adequate idea of thofe in God, we can have no 
 adequate idea of his wifdom and power: If the imperfection does not 
 hinder, then we may have an adequate idea of his goodnefs and jujiice. 
 
 •But, the inference to God's pozcer and wifdom, his Lordlhip fays, is 
 fupported by what men fee of the cffeds of them, in his Works ; the 
 order and harmony of the phyfual Syllem. Do we not fee likewife the 
 eifcfts of God's goodnefs and juftice, in the order and harmony of the 
 moral, in the happinefs that naturally attends virtue, and the mifery con- 
 fequent on vice ? And is not the moral Syftem as much God's Work, as 
 the phyfical ? 
 
 Thus, we fee, that by the very reafoning, his Lordihip employs to 
 prove tlie natural attributes, and by the very method he prescribes to us 
 for proving the moral attributes, we have demonftrated the moral with a 
 precifion and a certainty, at leaft equal to the natural. His Lordfhip feems 
 to have been aware of the event ; and therefore when he had fet us at 
 defiance, he tried to put the change upon us, under pretence of reminding 
 us, that the ynoral attributes Ihould be examined by, or applied to, the 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE WORLD AND THE ST AT EOF MANKIND IN IT*. I had 
 
 full as much reafon to be aware of his Lordfhip. And therefore in ftating 
 
 * Vol V. p. 331. 
 
 the
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 3^3 
 
 the qucllion, at my entrance on the fubjedt, I obviated this mifcrable 
 Sophifm. I call it by no better name, becaufc it is not the conjlilutiori of 
 the world or the fiate of mankind in it, but the constitution ok the 
 MORAL SYSTEM, or the nature of Virtue and Vice as they naturally operate 
 to produce happinefs and mifcry, by which God's moral attributes are to 
 be tried and afcertained. But this, which, by a fteady light, gives us an 
 uniform view, he would have us turn from ; to contemplate that obfcure, 
 difturbed, and fliifting fcene, the aftual ftate of vice and virtue, of 
 mifery and happinefs, amongft men. I'hat is, he would have us con- 
 clude concerning God's nature, not from his voluntary Constitution 
 of things, but from the breaches in that Conftitution made by the abufe 
 of man's free-will : which yet ("when he is arguing /cr an eqtial providence) 
 he again and again confefles ought not to be charged upon God ; and de- 
 claims violently againft the folly of thofe who impute the effefts of that 
 abufe to him. Though here (in his various attempts to blot out the idea of 
 God's moral attributes) he be full of the diforders of the moral Syftcm, con- 
 fidered as part of God's defign. 
 
 But fince I have mentioned his arguments for an equal providence^ I 
 fhould be unjuft to my arguinent, if I concealed from the Reader, another 
 of h;s contradiiftions. — He had Man's future State as well as Cod's moral 
 attributes to throw out of the religious World ; or, to fpeak more pro- 
 perly, he had Religion to overturn, by taking away its very essence : 
 and as the irregularities in the prefent adminiftration of God's moral Pro- 
 vidence flood in the way of his firft attempt; and the confijlency of the 
 moral S\Jlem itfelf in the way of the other; when he argues againft a fu- 
 ture State, You would think there were no irregularities ; and when he 
 argues againft the moral attributes. You would think there was no 
 confjlency. 
 
 We now come to his Lordftiip's particular objedions againft the moral 
 attributes. One of them is that they are bounded. 
 
 " The/ [the Divines] go further. As God is perfed:, and man very 
 ** imperfctft, they talk of his infinite goodnefs and jujlice, as of his infinite 
 *' wifdom and powxr ; though the latter may preferve their nature without 
 " any conceivable bounds, and the former muft ceafe to be what they are, 
 " unlefs we conceive them bounded. Their nature implies neceflarily a 
 " limitation in the exercife of them. Thus then the moral attributes, ac- 
 " cording to this Theology, requires infinitely more of God to man than 
 
 Vol. I. Z z « men
 
 ^54 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 " men are able, or would be obliged if they were able, to exercife to one 
 " another ; greater profufion in bellowing benefits and rewards, greater 
 " rigour in punilhing offences *." 
 
 You have here his Lordfhip's own words ; and nothing Ids could induce 
 any one to think fo difadvantageoufly of this Philofopher of the firft head, 
 as they neceffarily hnply. Let us confider the prcmijfes^ and examine the 
 inferences both implied and exprejfed. 
 
 He favs, i. That the 7/;orfl/ attributes are hounded \ 2. That \.\\q natural 
 are not bounded. Let us fee to what the firfl propofition amounts \ and 
 how much truth there is in the fecond. 
 
 1. 'Ihe moral attributes are confidered by us as relative to intelligent 
 creatures : The natural are not fo confidered. Thus, the goodncfs and 
 juftice when relative to man, are greatly bounded ; a certain low degree of 
 reward fuffices for his good; a certain low degree of puuifhment for his 
 evil aiftions. Let God's goodnefs and juftice refpeft a higher rank of in- 
 telligent Beings, and they will be then lefs bounded; for greater rewards 
 and punilhments will be required : and fo on, to the highert rank of intel- 
 ligent creatures. Yet as the higheft is at infinite diftance from the Creator, 
 the exercife of the moral attributes, as they bear relation to his intelligent 
 creatures, muft be dill bounded. 
 
 2. His fecond propofition is, that the natural attributes are net bounded. 
 It is true, thefe cannot be confidered as relative to God's intelligent crea- 
 tures ; yet fincc, in their exercife, they muft be confidered as relative to 
 his Creation at large; and fince Creation, however immenfe, is not infinite, 
 the natural attributes fo confidered are not infinite : but if not infinite, they 
 are bounded. There is no difference therefore, in the exercife of God's 
 attributes, between the moral and the natural, fave only in the degree. 
 
 But if we confider God's tnoral and natural attributes more abftradtedly, 
 not as they are in the exerdfe, and relative to intelligent Beings, and to 
 aftual Creation, but as they are in his nature, then they are both un- 
 bounded. '1 hus we fee his Lordfhip's notable diftindion is both imaginary 
 and ufelefs. 
 
 However, let us give him all he afks \ and then fee what he will be able 
 to infer from it. 
 
 * Vol. V. p. 528. 
 
 1. His
 
 Append. OF MOSKS DEMONSTRATED. 355 
 
 1. His firft inference feems to be this : " As the moral attributes arc 
 bounded, and not infinite like the natural, our idea of them muft be ob- 
 fcure and inadequate." What ! becaufe they are better adapted to human 
 contemplation? as things bounded certainly arc better adapted than things 
 infinite. Our idea of fuch of God's attributes as bear relation to a Being, 
 whofe nature and properties we know, namely man, muft needs be more 
 adequate and better defined than the idea of fuch attributes as bear relation 
 to Beings, whofe nature and properties wc know not, namely the grofs of 
 thofe which make up the universe. 
 
 2. His other inference, is expreflcd in thefc words : Thus then the moral 
 ritributes, according to this Theology, requires infinitely more of God to man 
 than men are able, or ivould be obliged if ihey were able, to exercife to one 
 another. To fay, the moral attributes, according to Chriftian Theolcgr, 
 or, as he is pleafed to call it, artificial Theology, requires infinitely 
 more, is an extravagant hyperbole. To fay, it requires more, is true. And 
 for this plain reafon : the relation between Creator and Creature is much 
 more intimate than that, between Fellow-creatures ; therefore the divine 
 goodncfs is more abundant : The relation betwwen Lord and Servant is 
 more appropriate than that between Fellow-fervants ; therefore the divine 
 jujlice is more fcvere. And had it not been deemed too prefuming to refer 
 his Lordfhip to Scripture for inftruftion (efpecially in a matter where the 
 abufc of Scripture was chiefly intended) I might there have pointed to a 
 Parable which would have fet him right : and has always kept artificial 
 Theology, whatever he might think, from going wrong. But infinite, 
 when applied to the cxercife of a moral attribute in reference to Man, is 
 his LordlTiip's nonfenfe, with due reverence be it fpoken, not the nonfenfe 
 of artificial Divines. They were not ignorant, that the rule infirmiorem 
 vel deteriorem partem fequitur covfequcntia , held as well m Morals as in 
 Logic. Though God be infinite, man is finite ; and therefore, with refpedl 
 to man, the exertion of a moral attribute is finite, not infinite. His Lord- 
 fhip himfelf faw fomething of this, as appears by his own words. Tht 
 nature of the moral attributes impl'es neceffarily a limitation in the ufe of them. 
 And why would he fuppofe. Divines could not fee as far into this matter 
 as himfelf ? 
 
 But if there be an error in artificial Theology he is as fure, at one time or 
 
 other, to efpoufe it ; as he is ready at all times to calumniate the Divine 
 
 who holds it. Men, in their ill-advifed zeal to defend the Scripture doc- 
 
 Z z 2 trin?
 
 3^6 TPIE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 trine of the Son's Divinity, were not always fufEciently careful in fekding 
 their arguments. Amongft fuch as had perhaps been better let alone, 
 they emplo}cd this; That as man's ofience was againll an infinite Being, 
 it required aii infinite fatisfadtion ; which none but fuch a Being could 
 give. Now his Lordfhip, we fee, efpoufes this very principle todilcredit 
 God's moral attributes, and the artificial Theology of Jefus Chrifl ; which 
 fpeaks, indeed, of infinite rewards ; but not as matter of due, but of 
 grace. 
 
 As the being bounded is one of his Lordflilp's objedions againft the 
 moral attributes, fo the being merely human, is another. 
 
 " After Dr. Clarke (fays he) has repeated over and over, that all the 
 " moral attributes are the fame in God as in our ideas ; and that he, who 
 '* denies them to be fo, may as well deny the divine phyfical attributes, 
 " the Dodtor infills only on two of the former, on thofe of jtiflice and 
 ** goodnefs. He was much in the right to contrad: the generality of his 
 " alfcrtion. The abfurdity of afcribing temperance, for inftance, or 
 •' FORTITUDE, to God, would havc been too grofs, and too vifible even to 
 " eyes that prejudice had blinded the moft. But that, of afcribing y«/^/f^ 
 " and goodnefs to him, according to our notions of them, inight be better 
 " covered, and was enough for his purpofe, though mot less really 
 
 " ABSURD *." 
 
 Which fliall we moil admire : His Knozvledge or his Ingenuity? Or fhall 
 we follow the advice of his own Motto ■j-, and Wonder at nothing ? 
 
 When men contemplate what they call, moral virtue, or the attributes 
 of Humanity, they divide them into two clafles, perfeftly diftind from 
 one another. In the firfl are comprized thofe which belong to man under 
 the idea of a free intelligent Being, fuch as goodnefs and jufiice : in the 
 fecond, thofe which belong to him under the idea of a creature of his 
 own frail fpecies, fuch as temperance 7xr\d fortitude. The firfl belong to all 
 free intelligent Beings ; the latter, only to fuch a Being as man : Thofe 
 arife out of the nature of free intelligence, and fo are common to all : 
 Thefe, from the imperfeftions of a very inferior creature, and fo are pecu- 
 liar to Humanity ; for we eafily conceive a higher Order of free created 
 Intelligences, in which the moral virtues of the fecond clafs have no place. 
 They are fuperior to the imprefiions of "fear, and fo have no room to exert 
 
 p. 311. f Nil admirari. 
 
 for-
 
 Append. OF xM O S E S- D E M O N S T R A T E D. 
 
 \S7 
 
 f rtitude : They are removed from the temptation of excefs, and fo have no 
 need to exercife temperance. Now when Clarke, after other Divines, had faid 
 that ihe moral attiibutes are the fame in God as in nur ideas, What Attributes 
 could they poffibly mean but thofe of the Jrjl clafs ; thofe which belong 
 to Beings under the idea of free Intelligences ? Stupid as his Lordfliip 
 is pleafed to make Divines, they could never blunder at fuch a rate as to 
 conceive, that thofe virtues or moral attributes, which proceed from the 
 iniperfeilion of the Creature, might belong in any manner to the Creator, 
 whom they fuppofed to be all perfeSi. They held, with his Lordihip, 
 and they will hold without him, that the great God is infinitely wife and 
 powerful. Were they then in any danger to give him temperance, which 
 implied his being obnoxious to folly ; or fortitude, which argued impui- 
 fance ? Infinite vvifdom, therefore, and infinite power, exclude from God 
 the very ideas of temperance and fortitude. But do infinite wifdom and 
 infinite power exclude from God the ideas of goodnefs and jufiice ? On the 
 contrary, his Lordfliip, as we iliall fee prefently, is reduced to the poor 
 fhift of owning goodnefs and jujlice to be contained in infinite zvlfdom and 
 power; after he had faid, as here he does. That the afcribing goodnefs and 
 jujiice to God is no LV-ss really absurd tha?i the afcribing temperance and 
 fortitude to him. 
 
 — But Clarke contracted the generality of the afftrtion to ferve a purpofe. 
 I think he did ; and for one of the beft purpofes in the world, that of 
 COMMON SENSE. Had his Lordfliip been pleafed to cont rati h'lmkM ow 
 the fame principle, he might have paffed, perhaps, for a greater Philofo- 
 pher ; though he had certainly been a lefs Writer. 
 
 But then, if 3fou afk. What purpofe his Lordfliip had to ferve, when he 
 ufed the equivocal word all, (which may fignify either all of one kind, 
 or all of every kind) where he obferves, Clarke holds, that all the moral 
 attributes are the fame in God, &c ? I anfwer, it was to give himfelf the 
 poor pretence to fay, that Clarke afterwards contrailed his generality, or, in 
 other words, that he contradifted himfelf. 
 
 A third objedion againft the moral attributes is, "That passions and 
 AFFECTIONS mix with our goodnefs and juflice ; which therefore cannot be 
 fuppofed to be the fanie in kind with God's ; though our wifdom and power, 
 with which no paffions or aifedions mix, mull be the fame in kind with. 
 his." 
 
 Were
 
 358 Til E DIVINE LEGATION Book 1L 
 
 Were paflion and affcdion wfiparable from human goodnefs and juftice, 
 the objeftion might fcem to have fome force j indeed, not much even 
 then. But how miferable muft the objeftion appear to thofe who fee, as 
 all men may, that they are feparable ? Separable, I mean, in practice as 
 well as fpeculation : (Of which we have at prefent * one great Example 
 at leaft, in a high Tribunal where they flilne the moft.) So that the true 
 idea even of human goodnefs and juftice excludes all paffion and affedtion. 
 What hinders then our rifing, from that idea, to Divine goodnefs and 
 juftice, any more than our rifing, from the idea of human wifdom and 
 power, to the Divine wifdom and power; and from perceiving, that as 
 well the moral, as the natural attributes, are the fame in kind, both in 
 God and man ? 
 
 But this is not all that may be fairly faid in favour of our adequate idea 
 oi God.^ moral attributes, when compared with the k^/wm/. For though 
 PASSION mixes not with the human attributes of wifdom and power, yet 
 fomething elfe does, much more difficult to be feparated than pa//ioti, from 
 the human attributes of goodnefs and juftice, I mean the instrumenta- 
 lity OF MAT7 ER. We Can conceive nothing of human power without 
 the ufe of fuch an inftrument : yet this, by his Lordfliip's own confeflion, 
 does not hinder us from rifing from the idea of our own wifdom and power, 
 to the wifdom and power of God ; nor from feeing that they are the fame 
 in kind. Why then fliould the other foreign combination hinder us from 
 feeing that goodnefs and juftice are the fame in kind? 
 
 Still, further. The manner of knoiving in God, oh which depends his 
 natural attribute of wisdom, is confefledly different from what it is in 
 man ; and, at the fame time, is a thing of which we have no conception : 
 yet this, according to his Lordfliip's account, does not hinder our attain- 
 ing to an adequate idea of divine wifdom, though it rifes only from what 
 we fee of the human. 
 
 How happens it then, that, in both thefe cafes, notwithftanding the 
 foreign mixture of the injlrumentality of matter, and the manner of knowing, 
 we attain an adequate idea of God's wifdom and power? His Lordfliip 
 will tell you, it is by feparating what is foreign, from what is native to 
 the ideas of wifdom and power. And ftiall not I have as much credit with 
 my Header, when I tell him, we acquire an adequate idea of God's good- 
 
 * 1765. 
 
 nefs
 
 APPEND. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 359 
 
 nefs and juflice, by feparating from the idea of human goodnefs and juftice 
 the foreign mixture of pajjion and affeHion ? 
 
 But his Lordfliip has a greater quarrel than all this, with the moral 
 ATTRIBUTES. Thcv give rife to cmbarraffed queftions, difhonourable to 
 God, and mifchievous to Religion. 
 
 " As they [the Divines^ modeled God's government on a human plan, 
 *' fo they conceived his perfe(3:ions, 7mral as well as phyfical, by human 
 *' ideas. — Thus God was faid to be the first good : but then the general 
 " notion or abftradt idea of this good was not only taken from human 
 *' goodnefs, but was confidered too with little or no other relation than la 
 ** man — A queftion arofe therefore on thefe hypothefes. How could evil 
 *' come into a fyjlem of which God was the author? — this queftion made a 
 " further hypothefis neccflary ; another firft God, another coeternal and 
 " coequal principle was introduced to folve it ; a firjl caufe of all evil, as the 
 *' other was of all good* " 
 
 The falfe reprefentation of this fadt I referve for another occafion : the 
 falfe inference from it is what I now propofe to confider. 
 
 His Lordlhip fuppofes, that the notion of God's moral attributes gave 
 birth to an infoluble queftion concerning the origin of evil; and that this 
 occafioned the invention of the mifchievous hypothefis of the two Principles* 
 Who would have fufpetled all this evil to arife from the first Good f 
 Yet fo it was : And therefore the notion of fuch a good muft he falfe; or 
 at leaft, very hurtful. 
 
 I. As to the firft, if his Lordfliip's inference be right, it will unfettle all 
 ufeful knowledge; bccaufe there is no great principle, either in /»/^_^fj, or 
 in natural Theology, but which, if we be not on our guard, and wife 
 enough to flop at the extent of our ideas, will lead us into inextricable 
 difficulties : As one might inftance in a point that arifes out of both the 
 fciences, phyfics and morals together — The agreement between free-will and 
 prefcienee. This is a well-known cafe : And as his Lordlhip pretends tO' 
 untie this knot, which hath fo long kept the learned world intangled, let 
 us examine his great talents on what is worthy of them. " Our ideas (fays 
 " he) of divine intelligence and wifdom may be neither fantaflical nor 
 *^ falfe, and yet God's manner of knowing may be fo different from ours, 
 ** that fore-knowledge, as we call it imprjpirly in kirn, may be confiftent 
 
 * Vol. IV. p. 88. 
 
 *' with
 
 360 THE D 1 V I K E LEGATION Book II. 
 
 '•' with the contingency of events ; altjiough that which we call properly 
 " fore-knowledge in ourfehcs, be not fo *." 
 
 1 have two or three remarks to make on thcfe words. 
 
 1. Our ideas of God's moral attributes, his goodnefs and juftice, he 
 xmk'zsfantapcal and falfe, on account of difficulties arifing from them : 
 yet God's natural attributes, his intelligence and wifdom, may, he fays, be 
 neither fantajiical nor falfe, though a difficulty as great arifes from them ; 
 namely, the apparent difcordancy between free-will and prefcience. 
 
 2. My fecond remark is, that his folution is more fantajlic and falfe 
 than the wildeft chimera of School-mctaphyfics. The difficulty in recon- 
 cilino- God's prefcience to man's free-will does not arife from our ignorance 
 
 in God's MANNER OF KNOWING, but from God's ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 3. My third remark is, that his Lordfhip, who is here fo penetrating, 
 that he can eafily reconcile prefcience zwdfree-'will, is yet, in another place, 
 fo cloudy, that he cannot fee how an " equal provuknce zndfree agetuy may 
 " ftand together f." 
 
 4. My laft remark is (and it rifes out of the foregoing) that where 
 Relio-ion is not concerned, his l.ordlhip fees no difficulty in any part of the 
 fyftem of Creation : But as foon as ever Religion appears, then difficulties 
 Hart up by dozens. Of this, take an inftance from, as it will lead us 
 back to, the cafe in hand. Our ideas of God's moral attributes, he fays, 
 muft needs be falfe, becaufe the conceiving of them by human goodnefs 
 and iuftice railcs up the queftion of the oyigin of evil, confidered morally. 
 Well. And does not the conceiving of God's phyfical attributes, by hu- 
 man wifdom and power, lead to the queftion of the origin of evil, con- 
 fidered naturally ? Yet our ideas of the phyfical attributes are neither 
 falfe nor fantajiical. But to this, his Lordlhip replies, Evil, confidered 
 naturally, is not real, but apparent only. Why fo ? Becaufe it contributes 
 to the o-reater good of the whole. May not the fame thing be faid of Evil, 
 confidered morally F Nay, hath it not been aftually faid, and proved too, 
 on the fame principles ? It follows then, that they are either both real, 
 or hoxh fantafiic. 
 
 In a word, the truth Is no more than this, Prefumptuous man knows 
 not where to flop : he would penetrate even to the Arcana of the Godhead : 
 " For Fools rulh in, where Angels fear to tread." 
 
 * Vol. V. p. 5. '5. 
 
 f Sue mv obleivat ions on this Tiopofed difficulty in the Appendix to the Fifth Book 
 of the Divine Legation. 
 
 And
 
 Append. OFMOSES DEMONSTRATED. 361^ 
 
 And this impious humour it was which gave birth to the abfurd h)'pothefi3. 
 of TWO PRINCIPLES. But is the folly to be charged upon our idea of the 
 moral attributes? Ridiculous ! We fee it's caufc is in vanity and felf-conceit : 
 paffions that operate alike on all Syilems; and find materials to gratify 
 their extravagance, equally in the phyfical as in the rnoral attributes of the 
 Deity. 
 
 II. As to his Lordfhip's fecond inference, that this idea is at lead: pro- 
 dudtive of much mijchief, and therefore it would be better to have non» at 
 all ; Let me obferve, that the idea of God's very exiftence is productive of 
 much mifchief, even all the mifchiefs of Superftition. Is it therefore better 
 to be without a God? Who befides his Lordfliip would fay fo*? Why 
 then fhould we think it better to be without the idea of the ynoral attributesy 
 even though the evils it produced were nuefjary? But that is not the cafe. 
 They are cafual only : the iflue of pride and prefuniption ; which the idea 
 of the moral attributes does not at all influence. 
 
 III. However, thefe, if not hurtful, are useless; and this is his next 
 cavil. " Infinite zvifdom and pozver (fays his Lordfliip) have made things 
 *' as they are : how goodnefs and jujiice required they fhould be made is 
 " neither cora7n judicc, nor to any rational purpofe to enquire -|-." To 
 inquire how the univerfe of things Jhould be made, which refers to God's 
 power and zvifdotn, ferves indeed to no rcafonable purpijfe. But to inquire 
 concerning our own flate and condition in this Univerfe, which refers to 
 God's goodnefs and juftice, is either coram judicc, or we were fent into 
 the world to no purpofe. His Lordfhip's fophiftry fcems to confound two 
 things that plain fenfe hath always diftinguiflied ; viz. our own bufmefs 
 
 from other ?nen's. When the King holds a ScfTion of juftice, 'tis not for 
 every Particular to inquire into all his meafures ; but every Parti- 
 cular, who is fumrnoned to attend the Court, is much concerned to 
 know how he himfelf fliali be dealt with. His Lordfhip, indeed, is 
 ready to fay. We are not ftanmoned', that is, we are not accountable creatures. 
 But this is begging the queflion. 
 
 Again, to inquire, much more to prefcribe, how things fjjoutd be made, 
 in any particular Syflem, has all the folly, prefnmption, and impiety, 
 which his Lordfhip charges upon it : Becaufe the Parts having a relation 
 
 * He indeed fays, hf /.'at! rather he an Athcijl than acknowledge the Chrijlian Theol')^ ; 
 and we may belitve him. See vol. iv. p. 34. 
 t Vol. V. p. 363. 
 
 Vol. I. A a a to
 
 362 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 to the \^'Tiole, an all -wife Architedt makes them in conformity to that 
 Whole, of which, we know nothing ; and therefore our only conclufion 
 fliould be, that the Part we do know, is conftituted for the belt. But it 
 is another thing to fay (which is all that Divines have faid, how differently 
 foever his Lordfhip is pleafed to reprefent the matter) that God will aft 
 equitably with his rational Creation, by diftributing good and evil to them 
 according to their deferts; becaufe this does not depend upon any Whole, 
 of which we know nothing, but on his attributes of goodnefs and juftice, 
 of which, we know enough to determine with certainty concerning his 
 final dealing with every rank of free and reafonable Beings. In this cafe 
 to pafs our judgment is fo far from folly or impiety, that not to do it 
 would be ftupidity or hypocrify. To call this proceeding, as his Lordlhip 
 does, the patching or botching up one Syftem with another, is a grofs 
 mifreprefentation. 
 
 At length, he ends jufl where he fet out, That we have no ideas of 
 the moral attributes at all. " Upon the whole matter (fays he) we may 
 *' conclude fafely from error, and in diredt oppofition to Clarke, that 
 *' goodnefs and jujlice in God cannot be conceived, -without manifejl prefumpticn 
 " and impiety, to be thefatne as in the ideas -we frame cf thefe perfections -when 
 " tve conjider them in men, or when we reafon about them abJhaBedly in them- 
 *' f elves ; but that in the fupreme Governor of the World they are foraething 
 " TRANSCENDENT, and of which we cannot make any true judgment, nor 
 " argue with any certainty about them *." It was for jargon like this that 
 a famous Schoolman got the name of the transcendent Doctor. Yet 
 he affures us that he is juftified by the authority of St. Paul and Dr. 
 Barrow, ^efe two great Divines (fays he) are on my fide -f- . Two noble 
 pporters, (it muft be confeffed) to his Lordfliip's Atchievements ! One 
 thing I have obferved, which may be worth reflecting on — A ftrange pro- 
 penfity in Free thinkers to miflake their enemies for their friends, and as 
 firange a propenfity in the Clergy to miftake their friends for their enemies. 
 This different turn is odd enough : and, at firft view, fcems a little my fterious ; 
 when, perhaps, there may be no more in it than this. — Free-thinkers have 
 invented the trick, to amufe the Clergy, in order to raife their fufpicions, 
 and excite their jealoufy againft their bell Friends : And, unhappily, the 
 Clergy have, now and then, fallen into the fnare. 
 
 • Vol, V. p. 359. f Vol. V. p. 36a.
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 563 
 
 But, after all, who would expedl that the kather-drejfing Pontiff* of all 
 men fhould have been thought worthy to fuppoit t\\tjirjt Pbilofophy ! What 
 has St. Paul done at laft to deierve this honour ? Why, in anfwer to the 
 objections againft God's diipenfations in the religious World, the Apoftle. 
 refers us, " for intire fatisfadtion, to the incomprchenfible wifdom of God, 
 ** who frequently in the courfe of his providence ordereth things in me- 
 " thods tranfcending our abilities to difcover-or to trace f." This folution, 
 which is here extolled for its great modejly, is referred to, in another place, 
 for it's greater impudence %. 
 
 But St. Paul fays, we mull have rccourfe to the inconiprehenfible wifdom 
 of God, In good time. But how does this prove that, in Paul's opinion, 
 wc have no adequate idea of the moral attributes? Unlcfs the quality of an 
 Agent, and his adio», be one and the fame thing. 
 
 Dr. Barrow, I prefume, will Hand his Lordlhip in no better {lead than 
 St. Paul. " As the dealings of every wife man (fays the Dodlor) are fome- 
 " times founded upon maxims, and admit j unifications not obvious or pc- 
 *' nctr:ible by vulgar conceit; fo may God adt according to rules of wifdom 
 *• and juftice, which it may be quite impoffible by our faculties to appre- 
 *• hend, or with our means to defcry. As there are natural modes of Being 
 " and operation, fo there may be prudential and moral modes of pro- 
 ** ceeding, far above our reach, peculiar objefts of divine wifdom not to 
 ** be underftood by any creature, efpecially by creatures who Hand in the 
 *' loweft form of intelligence; one remove from beafts. In fine, thofe 
 *' rules of equity and experience which we in our tranfadlions with one 
 '* another do ufe, if they be applied to the dealings of God will be found 
 " very incongruous or deficient, the cafe being vaftly altered from that in- 
 *' finite diftance in nature and ftate between God and us, and from the 
 " immenfe difference which his relations towards us have from our rela- 
 '• tions to one another §." What now has all this (which relates only to the 
 incomprebenfible nature of Gd' s providence) to do with our inadequate ideas of 
 his moral attributes ? At leaft, if his Lordlhip will contend, that the man 
 who thinks God's providence incomprehmfible, muff needs think our ideas 
 of his moral attributes inadequate, he mufl go a ftep further, and confefs, 
 that Barrow fuppofed our ideas of the ?jc7/«/-d/ attributes to be inadequate like- 
 
 *This is the title with which he dignifies Saint Paul, in his IVth vol.p. 433. \Vh;U 
 Pity was it, his Lordfliip did not know that Tt'eodore: hzd called him a downright Cobler. 
 t Vol. V, p. 360. 1 Vol. Ill, p. 307. § Vol. V. p. 36r, 363. 
 
 A a a 2 wife ;
 
 364 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 wife; for he puts both on the fame foothig. As there are natural 7nodes 
 of Being and operation (fays the Dodtor),yo there may be -prudential and 
 uoK Ah modes proceeding far above our reach. But as this would be going 
 too far; farther than the first Philosophy will allow of, I fuppofe his 
 Lordfhip would be content to give up this quotation from Barrow, as no- 
 thing to the purpofe. 
 
 At last, and when )'ou would leaft expe<ft it, Common-fenfe and Com- 
 mon-fentiments return. And God's moral attributes, after much ado, are 
 allowed to be in Nature. " Where Religions (fays his Lordfhip) which 
 •' pretend to be revealed, prevail, anew charadter of God's ^ow/w/jr arifcs — 
 •* an artificial goodnefs which flands often in the place of the natural *.'* 
 And this, after he had fo often told us, that we have no adequate idea, 
 of any goodnefs at all. Well, but as aukwardly as God's natural goodnefs 
 comes (and, in every fenfe) a pojleriori, yet it comes, and deferves to be 
 made welcome. " All the knowledge (fays he) that God has given u& 
 " the means to acquire, and therefore all he defigned we fliould have of 
 " his phyfical and moral nature and attributes, is derived from his works, and 
 " from the tenour of that providence by which he governs them t-" 
 
 You will obferve the words — the tenour of that Providence 1 have de- 
 
 tedted the fophiftry of them before, where I have ftated the meaning of 
 the terms, God's works, I bid you obferve them now, to judge of the 
 following climax (if I may fo call it), or his walk down (lairs. The "juijdom. 
 " is not fo often difcernible by us [in God's works! as the power of God, 
 " nor xkit goodnefs as the wifdom \*' As fcanty and llender as the know- 
 ledge is of God's moral attributes, which his Lordfhip here allows us ta 
 coiled: from his works, yet it flatly contradifts what bis Syftem had ob- 
 liged him over and over to maintain ; particularly in the following words — 
 Of divine goodnefs and divine juflice (fays his Lordfliip in the pcrfon of 
 Anaxagoras) / am unable to frame any adequate notions §, from God's works. 
 This Mock-conceflion is again repeated, and as carefully guarded* 
 " By natural Theology (fays his Lordfhip) we are taught to acknowledge 
 ** and adore the infinite wifdom and power of God, which he has niani- 
 " felled to us in fome degree or other in every part, even the mofl minute, 
 " of his Creation. By that too, we are taught to afcribe goodness and 
 " justice to him, wherever he intended we fhould fo afcribe them, that is, 
 
 * Vol. V. p. 431. t Vol. V. p. 523, 524. 
 
 X Vol. V, p. 335. § Vol. IV. p. 116, n;. 
 
 " wherever
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 365 
 
 " wherever either his works, or the difpenfations of his providence, do as 
 *' NECESSARILY communicate thefe notions to our minds, as thofe of wif- 
 " dom and power are communicated to us, in the whole extent of both *." 
 What his Lordlhip would have you infer from this is, that we are Ka 
 WHERE taught to afcribe goodnefs and jujlice to God ; fjnce the difpenfa- 
 tions of bis providence do iJo v,'heke, in his Lordihip's opinion, necessarily 
 communicate thefe notions. But allow him his premifcs, that neither God's 
 Works nor Difpenfations do necessarily communicate to us the notions 
 of God's goodnefs and juftice; Would his conclufion follow, that there- 
 fore we are no where taught in thefe works and difpenfations to afcribe thofe 
 attributes unto him ? Suppofe thefe works and difpenfations did only pro- 
 bably communicate thefe notions to our minds ; will not this probability 
 teach us to afcribe goodnefs and juftice to him ? God hath fo framed the 
 conflitution of things, that man, throughout his whole condud: in life, 
 fhould be neceflarily induced to form his judgment on appearances and 
 probable arguments. Why then not in this, as well as the reft > or rather, 
 why not in this, above the reft ? if fo be God indeed had not (as I have fhewn 
 
 he hath) neceflarily communicated thefe notions But ftill, what is this 
 
 to our adequate idea of the moral attributes, the point in queftion ? God's 
 not necejjkii/j communicating, afFedts only the reality, not the precifion of the 
 idea. All therefore we learn by the obfervation, which would thus put 
 the change upon us, is, that his Lordfhip has a very ftrong inclination, 
 that God Ihould have neither ^ooi^^/ir nox jujiice -, fo far as they carry with 
 them any disposition to reward or punijh. For as to the Attributes them- 
 felves, diverted of their confequences ; and undifturbed by our impious 
 imitation -|~, he has little or no quarrel with them. His Lordfhip cer- 
 tainly never intended to teacb the common Reader more of the fecrets of 
 his Philofophy than what necessarily arifes from his prof e^ons. But to 
 make God treat Mankind in this manner, to communicate to their minds 
 the appearance of Attributes which he has not, is drawing an image of the 
 Deity from his Lordfhip's own likenefs ; the very fault he fo much cen- 
 fures in Divines. But if it muft needs be, that God is to be reprefented 
 either after Them, or after his Lordfhip, I Ihould chufe to have the 
 
 * Vol. V. p. 5-27. 
 
 -j- Our obligation to imitate god is a false and jrofane doctrine. 
 Vol. V. p. 65. 
 
 Clergy^
 
 366 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Clergy's God, though made out of no better fluff than artificial 
 Theology (becaufe this gives him both goodnefs 2iwiS. jujiice), rather than his 
 Lordfliip's God, which has neither ; although compofed of the more re- 
 fined materials of the first Philosophy. In the mean time, I will not 
 deny but He may be right in what he fays, That men conceive of the 
 Deity, more humano ; and that his Lordlhip's God and the Clergy's God 
 are equally faithful copies of themfelves. 
 
 In a word, if God teaches, whether clearly or obfcurely, he certainly in- 
 tended, we fliould learn. And what we get even by appearances, is real 
 knowledge, upon his Lordfliip's own principles. For if Truth be, as he 
 aflures us it is, of fo precarious a nature as to take it's Being from our 
 own Syftem, it mufl. be real as far as it appears. " Our knowledge (fays 
 " this great Philofopher) is fo dependent on our own fyftem, that a great 
 " part of it would not be kno%uledge perhaps, but error in any other *." 
 
 It is thus he involves himfelf in perpetual contradidions : And it will be 
 always thus, when men difpute (for believe they cannot -f-) againft common 
 notices, and the moft obvious truths; fuch as liberty of wilt -, the certainty 
 cf knowledge ; and this, which (I reckon) obtrudes itfelf upon us as forcibly 
 as either, the moral attributes of the Deity. 
 
 But the game is now on foot, let us follow it clofe. We have unravelled 
 him through all his windings ; and we may foon expedt to fee him take 
 ihelter in the thick cover of God's incomprehenfible Nature ; and rather 
 than allow (more than in jeft) the moral attributes of the Deity, ready to 
 refolve all his Attributes, both /2rt/«ni/ and moral, into one indefinite 
 perfection. 
 
 But foft. Not yet. We muft come to it by degrees and regular ad- 
 vances. Firft, the 7noral attributes are to be refolved into the natural. 
 
 " If they [the natural and moral attributes] may be confidered 
 
 ** feparately, as we are apt to confider them ; and if the latter, and every 
 ** thing we afcribe to thefe, are not to be resolved rather into the 
 
 *^ former; into his infinite intelligence, wifdom, and power |." It is yet, 
 
 we fee, but a queftion ; and that only, whether the moral attributes are not 
 
 * Vol. ill. p. 356. 
 
 f Hear what he himfelf fays of fbee-wii.l. The free-ivill of man no one cart deny he 
 has, without LYING, or rchouiu'tng hii intuiti'vc kiwxhdge. Vol. V. p. 406. 
 J Vol. V. p. 523, 524.
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. -^(^-j 
 
 to be refolved into the natural. In the next paffage the matter is deter- 
 mined. " 1 think (and what he thinks, he holds it but reafonable we 
 " Ihould all think) that the moral attributes of the fuprcme Being are 
 " abforbed in bis ivifdom; that we Ihould confider them only as difierent 
 " modifications of this phyjical attribute *." 
 
 We are not yet near the top. However, before we go any higher, let 
 us fet together his inconsistences, as they appeair in this fituation. Some- 
 times the ideas of divine luifdom are better determined than thofe of divine 
 goodnefs -j- ; Sometimes we have no ideas at all of divine goodnefs % '• And 
 fometimes again (as in the place before us), the divine goodnefs is the fame 
 as ivifdom, and therefore, doubtlefs, ; notwithftanding his Lordfliip) the idea 
 of it as well defined. Now, of all thefe affertions, to which will he flick? 
 To which, do you afk ? To none of them, longer than they will flick to 
 him : And draggling, undifciplined Principles, picked up at adventures, 
 are not apt to flick long to any fide : As foon as they begin to incline to- 
 wards the enemy, he has done with them. Come, if you will needs have 
 
 it, you fliall. The fecret is this. The attributes are mere names; and 
 there is an end of them. All that remains, worth fpeaking of, is one un- 
 defined ETERNAL REAson : and fo the Farce concludes. 
 
 " The moral ATTRrsuTEs (fays he) are barely names that we give to 
 " various manifeflations of the infinite wifdom of one fttnple uncompounded 
 " being §."' 
 
 " Of divine goodnefs and divine juftice I am unable to frame any ade- 
 " quate notions ; and inftead of conceiving fuch diftindt moral attributes in the 
 " fupreme Being, we ought, perhaps^ to conceive nothing more than this, that 
 
 " THERE ARE VARIOUS APPLICATIONS Ol- ONE ETERNAL REASON, WHICH 
 *' IT BECOMES US LITTLE TO ANALYZE INTO ATTRIBUTES |.[." 
 
 To this miferable refuge is his Lordfliip reduced, to avoid divine 
 JUSTICE. But why, the Reader will fay, did he not fpeak out at firft, and 
 end his quarrel with the rnoral attributes at once ? Your humble fervant for 
 that. Barefaced Naturalism has no fuch charms as may make her re- 
 ceived when and wherever flie appears. There is need of much prepa- 
 ration, and not a little difguife, before you can get her admitted even to 
 what is called good company. But then, you will fay, after he had re- 
 
 » Vol. V. p. 335. -\ Vol. V. p. 341. 526. X Vol. IV. p. 116, 11;, 
 
 § Vol. V. p. 453. II Vol. IV. p. 1 1 7. 
 
 folved
 
 568 THE DIVINE LEGATION booK ... 
 
 folved to fpeak out, Why did he flop again in his career ; and, when his 
 premiires are general againil: all attributes, his conclufion became particular, 
 againft the fnoral only ? Not without reafon, I afTure you. He had need 
 of the natural attributes, to fct up againft the moral ; and therefore had 
 himfelf anahzed this eternal reafon into the fpecific attributes of wifdom and 
 ■power. But when he faw his Adverfaries might, by the fame way, ana- 
 lyze it into goodnefs and jujlice, he then thought fit to pick a quarrel with 
 his own method : But it was to be done obliquely. And hence arifes all 
 this embarrafs and tergiverfation. He would willingly, if his Readers 
 would be fo fatisfied, analyze the eternal reafon into wifdom and power : 
 but there he would flop ; and leave the other fide of the eternal reafon, 
 unanalyzed : and if goodnefs and jujlice fliould chance to ftart out, he has 
 a trick to rejolve and abforb them into wifdom and power, as only dif-erent 
 modifications of the phyftcal attributes. But if this fliould revolt his Readers, 
 and they expeft equal meafure ; then, rather than give them back the 
 goodnefs 2Lnd jujlice which he has been at all this pains to profcribe, he will 
 throw wifdom and pozver after them, and refolve all into the one eternal 
 
 REASON. 
 
 Balhful Naturalism has now thrown afide her Veil ; and is, we fee, 
 ready to face down and defy her Rival ; whom till now flie was content to 
 counterfeit. Give me leave, therefore, to reprefs this laft effort of her 
 infolence and of his Lordfliip's fuperior Wifdom. He now tells us, " that 
 thefe pretended attributes, as they are commonly fpecified, and diftin- 
 guifhed into natural and moral, are a mere human fid:ion ; invented, by aid 
 of analogy from the adtions, paffions, and qualities obfervable in man : and 
 that the fimple nature of Deity is one uniform perfeftion ; of which. In- 
 finity being the bafe, we can have no diftindt idea or conception." 
 
 To this I reply, that it is indeed true, that thefe fpecific attributes, from 
 which we deduce all our knowledge of the nature and will of God, are 
 formed on analogy, and bear relation to ourfelves. But then we fay fuch 
 attributes are not on that account the lefs real or eflential. The light of the 
 Sun is not in the orb itfelf, what we fee it in the Rainbow. There it is one 
 candid, uniform, perfedt blaze of glory : here we feparate it's Perfedtion 
 into the various attributes of red, yellow, blue, purple, and what elfe the 
 fubtle optician fo nicely diftinguifhes. But ftill the folar light is not Icfs 
 real in the Rainbow, where it's rays become thus.untvvifted, and each dif- 
 fering
 
 Append. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 569 
 
 ■fering thread diftindly fcen in its effcd:, than while they remained united and 
 ancorporated with one another in the Sun. Juft fo it is with the divine Nature ; 
 -it is one fimple individual Pcrfedion in the Godhead himfelf : but when re- 
 frafted and divaricated, in paffing through the medium of the human 
 mind, it becomes power, jullice, mercy ; which are all feparatcly and 
 ADEQUATELY reprefentcd to the underftanding. But that his Lordlhip fo 
 frequently difcards his own principles, I ftiouJd hope he would fubmit to 
 this illuftration, fince he owns that it-e fee the Deity in a refiefled, not in a 
 ^ircd light *. 
 
 It is a true light then, and not a falfe : and the knowledge which it 
 conveys is real, not fantaftic : For mirrors are not wont to refled the fpe- 
 cies of the mind's vifions, but things exterior and fubftantial. To turn us, 
 therefore, from God's attributes, (though the indited:, yet the well-defined. 
 Image of him) becaufe they difcover fomething to us we may not like, a 
 HELL and a future judgment, to turn us, I fay, from thefe, to the 
 undefined eternal reufon, is doing like certain French Philofophers, who, 
 uhen they quarrelled with Newton's Theory of light and colours, contrived 
 " to break the Prifm by which it was demonftrated. 
 
 And now. Reader, let me afk, Who is there that deferves the name of 
 MAN, and will not own, that they are the moral attributes of the Deity 
 which make him amiable'; juft as the natural attributes make him rc' 
 •Dered? — What is his Lordfhip's quarrel with the God of Moses and Paul, 
 but that he is made unamiable, and reprefented \v\ih.0ViX. goodncfs ox jujiice ? 
 Their God, therefore, he exprefly tells us, /hall not be his God -f. Well 
 then : He has his God to make. And who would not exped to find him, 
 when made by fuch a Workman, a God of infinite goodncfs and juftice? 
 No fuch matter : Thefe qualities come not out of his Lordfhip's hands ; fo, 
 cannot enter into the compofition of his God : They are barely names that men 
 give to various manifcjtations of the infinite ijiifdotn of one fimple uncompounded 
 Being. The pretended want of them in the God of the Jews afforded his 
 Lordfhip a commodious cavil; for he had Religion to remove out of 
 his way: But when he came to ered Naturalism in it's ftead^ it had 
 been very inconvenient to give them to his own Idol. 
 
 • Vol. V. p. 524- 
 
 f " Can any man prefume to fay, that the God of Mofes or the God of Paul is the 
 true God ? &c." Vol. V. p. 567. , 
 
 Vol. I. Ebb Honeft
 
 370 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 Moneft Plutarch, though a Prieft, was as warm an enemy to Priest- 
 craft as his Lordfhip. He derives all the evils of Supcrftition from 
 men's not acquiring the idea of a God injinitely good andjtift. And propofes 
 this knowledge as the only cure for Superftition. This is conhftent. But 
 what would the ancient World have thought of their Philofopher, had his 
 remedy, after hunting for it through a hundred volumes, been a God 
 without any goodnefs and juftice at all ? 
 
 Nature tells us, that the thing moft defirable is the knowledge of a 
 God whofc goodnefs and juftice gives to every man according to his vvorks» 
 His Lordship tells us, that Reason or natural Pveligio^ difcovers to- 
 ns no fuch God. Now, if both fpeak truth, How much, are we indebted 
 to Revelation ! Which, when natural Religion failed us, brings us to 
 the knowledge of a God infinitely good and juft ; and gives us an adequate 
 idea of thofe attributes ! I fay no more than his Lordfliip has confefTed. — - 
 Chrijiianity^ fays he, discoweks the leve of God to mti/i ; his iii^nite justice 
 and GOODNESS *. 
 
 Is this a blefling to be rejecfled ? His I.ordfhip has no room to fiiy fo^ 
 fince the difcovery is made in that very way, in which, upon his own Prin- 
 ciples, it only could be made. He pretends, " We have no other natural 
 way of coming to the knowledge of God but from his works. By thefe, 
 he fays, we gain the idea of his phyfical attributes ; and if there be any thing. 
 in his works which feems to contradicft thofe attributes, 'tis only feeming i 
 For as men advance in the knowledge of nature, the difficulties vanifti. Ic 
 is not fo, he fays, with regard to the moral attributes. There are fo many 
 phcencniena which contradift thefe, and occafion difficulties never to be 
 cleared up, that they hinder us from acquiring an adequate idea of the- 
 moral attributes." Now admitting all this to be true, (for generally, his. 
 Lordfhip's aflertions are fo extravagant, that they will not even admit a 
 fuppofition of their truth, though it be only for argument's fake,) What 
 does it effect but this, the giving additional credit to Revelatio/i ? The 
 phrftcal difficidties clear up as we advance in our knowledge of Nature, and 
 we advance in propoi'.ion to our diligence and application. But the moral 
 difficidties never clear up, bccaufe they rife out of tlie Whole Syjlem of God's 
 moral dilpenfation; which is involved in clouds and darknefs, impenetrable 
 to mortal fight ; and ail the force of human wit alone will never be able to 
 
 * Vol. V. p. 532. 
 
 draw
 
 APPEND. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 371 
 
 draw the veil. The affiftance muft come from another quarter. It muft 
 ■come, if it comes at all, from the Author of the Difpenfation. Well; 
 Revelation hath drawn this veil, and fo, removed the darknefs which ob- 
 ftruded our attaining an adequate idea of the wor^/ attributes. Shall we 
 yet fland out ? And, when we arc brought hither upon his Lordfhip's own 
 principles, ftill with-hold our affent ? Undoubtedly you mult. Beware (fays 
 he) of a pretended Revelation. Why fo ? " Becaufe the Religion of nature 
 " is perfe<ft and abfolute : and therefore Revelation can teach nothing but 
 *' what Religion hath already taught *." Strange; Why, Revelation teaches 
 thofe moral attributes ! which you, my Lord, own, natural Religion does 
 cot teach — —Here we ftick. 
 
 " Die aliquem fodcs, die, Quintillane, colorem : 
 
 Haremus " 
 
 And here, we are like to ftick. His Lordfhip leaves us in a Riddle. Will 
 you have the folution ? It is foolifli enough ; as the iblution of fuch kind of 
 things generally are. But if the Reader hath kept his good humour, which, 
 I confefs, is difficult amidft all thefe provocations of impiety, it is enough 
 to make him laugh. I faid before, that his Lordlhip borrowed all his rea- 
 foning againft Revelation, from fuch as Tindal, Toland, Collins, Chubb, 
 and Morgan. This folemn argument particularly, of the perfection ok 
 NATURAL R.ELIGION, and the fuperfeded ufe of Revelation, he delivers to 
 us juft as he found it in Tindal. Now Tindal, who pretended to hold 
 that riatural Religion taught both the moral attributes and a future Jiate, 
 had fome pretence for faying that // was perfcd and abfolute. But what 
 pretence has his Lordfhip to fay it after him, who holds that natural Re- 
 ligion taught neither one nor the other ? The truth is, he refufed no arms 
 againft Revelation j and the too eager purfuit of this his old enemy 
 through thick and thin has led him into many of thefe fcrapes. 
 
 To fee his Lordfnip ufe Tindal's arguments againfi Revelation, and 
 for the perfeLlion of Natural Religion, along with his own principle? of wa 
 moral attributes and no future State, muft needs give the Reader a very un- 
 common idea of his abilities : for the fir.ft of thefe principles makes one 
 entire abfurdity of all he borrows from Tindal againft Revelation ; and the 
 fecond takes away the very pretence io\- perfecVon in natural Religion. 
 * Vol. y. p. 544. 
 B b b 2 His
 
 372 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 His Lordfhip's friend, Sivift, has fomewhere or other obfeived, that no 
 fubjedt in all Literature but Religion could have advanced Toland and 
 AsGiLL into the clafs of reputable Authors. Another of his friends feems 
 to think that no fubjeft but Religion could have funk his Lordfhip fo far 
 below it : if ever Lord Bolingbroke trifles (fays Pope), it will 
 BE WHEN HE WRITES ON DIVINITY*. But fuch is the fate of Authors, 
 when they chufe to write upon fabjeds for which they were not qualified 
 either by naiure or grace. For it is with authors as with Men : Who can 
 •guefs ivbich Vejfel was made for honour ^ andwhichfor dtjhonour ? whenfome- 
 times, one and the fame is made for both. Even this choice Piece of the 
 FIRST PHILOSOPHY, hls Lordfhip's facred pages-, is ready to be put to very 
 different ufes, according to the different tempers in which they have found 
 his few Admirers on the one fide, and the Public oa the other ; like the 
 china Utenfil in the Dunciad, which one Hero ufed for a p — pot, and ano- 
 ther carried home for his Head piece. 
 
 * Pope's Works, V. IX. Lett.xiv.. 
 
 NOTES
 
 [ 373 1 
 
 NOTE 
 
 ON THE SECOND B O O K. 
 
 P. 135. [A]. Vatla explains tRe word «\5p!o-o?uta; by ^.v /jomtnihr 
 ortos ; and, I think, rightljf. But our learned Stanley, in Fiis notes to tlie 
 Pcrftans of JEfehylus, underftands it othervyift : and tiiat it rather fignifiis 
 humana forma prceditos. I fuppofe it appeared harlh to him, that any one 
 could imagine the Gods had human natures ; but the meaning is explained 
 above. Yet the ingenious writer of the Letters concerning mythology, p. 217. 
 fides with our country man, and underftands d\,^f'^no(p-jr; to fignify, — made 
 like a man- — or, of the fha-pe and figure of a man. But if we regard the literal 
 meaning of the two Cmples which make up this compound, we cannot 
 avoid underftanding it to fignify, being of man's natute. How then does 
 this learned writer fupport his criticifm ? By a paflage from Hecataeus ; 
 who, on pretty much the fame occafion, ufes (as he fuppofes) avSjiM7rc/;y.op^o?, 
 in the place of avSpwro?io»if ; and a'vSfwTrcfAo'pipo?, he thinks, all will agree, muft 
 fignify, ofthefoape and figure of a man. No, not if his own method of in- 
 terpretation be right : for, if ci've^wTroipb^ (transferrred from the literal, to 
 the figurative fenfe) mufl; fignify of man's fornty then «i-9pwT6fA5??9f fo 
 transferred, muft fignify of man's nature. But it is not true, that Heca- 
 tffius ufes c^u^fuiTO'i^opipoi in the place of »i^(un:o<p\jyi;. The propofitions of He- 
 rodotus and Hecat£eus are different, and therefore we may well fuppofe 
 thefe two words, in the predicate of each, to be different. Herodotus, 
 fpeaking of the Persians, fays, they had no ftatues of their Gods, becaufe 
 they did not believe, with the Greeks, that the Gods Lid human natures 
 [w'kfipwTToiputasl. And Hecatasus, fpeaking of Mosr.s, fays, he permitted no 
 images of the Gods, becaufe he did not hold, with the Gentiles, that God 
 had a human form [Mfu-i^Jioptpci]. And their ufe of different words, as we 
 Ihall now fee, was with accuracy and difcernment ; for they were afferting 
 different things. The queftion between the Perfians and the Greeks (who 
 
 wor-
 
 374 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 vvorfhiped many gods in common) was, whether ihefe Gods were partakers 
 cf human nature, du^pxTtofvUi ; that is, whether they were dead men deified. 
 13ut the quefiion between Mofes and the Gentiles, was, whether the God 
 ot" the univcrle had a human form, Mpundy.op(po', ; not whether the gods had 
 human natures; for thcfe Gods, the Jews had nothing to do with; they 
 worfhiped only the one God : and feveral of the Gentiles, who had fome 
 knowledge of this one God, imagined he might have a human farm. So that 
 we fee, the ufe of thefe two terms, on the fame occafion, is fo far from 
 fliewing their fignification to be the fvne, as the learned writer fuppofes, 
 that the occafion demonftrably fliews their fignification to be different. Lee 
 me only obferve, it appeared fo evident to Eufebius, that the cultom of 
 making the ftatues of the Gods in human form was an indication of their 
 original from mortality, that he fays, 'oy'i rot a\n9»'; Ao'y©^ (2o-x xal my-pcJi, y.o' 
 
 v:;vx^i <pu]/Yiv aV'fk) Skrls; ai/^pjt; (Aaflvfm yiyovivon rii SnXufxivsi. Eu^yf. sfona^. |3. y. 
 
 P, I.;;. [B]. This we are told by Jamblichus: his words are, \iy{ixi rol- 
 
 VMM Wf (fnivri ;^p?t6«i t^ moD.p'icx. txafoi? nrapuT'yfX^ei/, Vit. Pytliag. 1 94. Kull. £d. 
 
 Dr. Bentley underftands them to fignify, that every one fljould ufe his own 
 mother -tongue. And, indeed, without reading the context, one could fcare 
 avoid giving this fenfe to the paffage. Vizzanius, — that every one Jhould 
 ufe the mother-tongue of Crotona 5 which was the Doric. Of thcfe, the learned 
 Critic fays, which is the true, perhaps all competent readers will not be of one 
 mind, p. 386. But I believe there will be no great difference of opinions 
 amongft thole who weigh the following reafons : i. Jamblichus adds, 
 tl yxp ^En'^Eiv sj< EcWi'pia^oy ; by which I underrtand him to mean, that the 
 P\'thagoric fJi did not approve of a foreign or fir anger dialed. For if he 
 meant, not the fed: in general, but the particulars of which it was com- 
 pofed, the feveral provincial Greeks who entered into it, no dialeli could be 
 called foreign to one or other of them : if he meant the Se£t, which we 
 mav fuppofe had a diale£i peculiar and confecrated to the Community, all, 
 but that, was foreign to it; and the expreflion becomes proper and per- 
 tinent. 2. Jamblichus, in the fame place, tells us, that Pythagoras valued 
 the Doric above the other Greek Diaitd:s, as molf agreeable to the laws of 
 harmony, Tr,v Si Au'f<av Stdxi-Jlov ivafjMo-nixv fTtaj : Now having made the effence 
 of the foul to be harmony, it was no wonder he Ihould chufe a dialedt, 
 which he fuppofed approached nearefl to its nature ; that the mind and 
 tongue might go together. 3. Pythagoras I'cems liere to have imitated his 
 
 mailer
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 375 
 
 piaftcr Orpheus, from whom, as we fhall fee hereafter, he boriovvcJ^much 
 of his philofophy ; for Jainblichus tells us, that the old writings that went 
 under the name of Orpheus, were compofed in Doric. 4. But, laftly, a 
 palFage in Porphyry's Life of Fythagoias feems alone fufficient to deter- 
 mine this niatter : Porphyry giving the caufes of the decay of the Pythago- 
 ric philofophy, affigns this for one, that their commentaries were ivriiten in 
 
 Doric. "En-eila <^ia TO xai T£» ■)'sr(>(*/-i,UEWJ', Awfi'Jt yfr^seipSai, p. 49. Kufl. Ed. This 
 
 is the cleareft comment on the words in quelfion, and determines them to 
 the fenfe contended for. One would wonder, indeed, that fo learned a 
 Critic could take thern in any other. But the fecret was this. Dr. Eentley 
 having pretended to difcover, that Ocellus Lucanus did not write his 
 book in the common dialedt, as it is now extant, but in Doric ; (Differt. 
 upon Phalaris, i^c. p. 47.) his adverfaries ( Dijfert. examined, p. 54.) charge 
 him with having ftolen this difcovery from rizzanius. This, Dr. Bentley 
 flatly denies; {Dijfert. defended, p. .-,84.) But the only proof he gives of 
 his innocence, is, that the Greek pafTige, quoted above from Jamblichus, 
 on which both he and Vizzanius had founded their difcoveries, is differently 
 tranflated by them. " The thing, as 1 faid it (fays the Dr ) is thus ; the 
 •' Pythagoreans enjoined all the Greeks that entered themfelves into the fo- 
 " ciety, to ufe every man his mother tongue (^ tc^^ j^p^o-flcn tjJ walpa's;.) Ocellus^ 
 " therefore, being a Dorian of Lucania, mud have writ in the Doric. This 
 •' I took to be Jamblichus's meaning. But Fizzajiius has reprefented it 
 *' thus : that they enjoined all that came to them to ufe the mother-tongue 
 **' of Crotona, which was the Doric. — Whether Vizzanius or I have hit 
 ** upon the true meaning of Jamblichus, perhaps all competent readers 
 *' will not be of a mind." The diffidence of this conclpfion would make 
 one fufpedt the Dr. was now convinced, that yizzanius's was the right 
 meaning.. Yet, I will, venture to fay, that the vvords of Jamblichus, as 
 quoted by Vizzanius without the context, would have been underftood by 
 every man, fkilled, as Dr. Bentley was, in Greek, in the different fenfe he 
 has given to them. From whence I conclude, that, when Dr. Bentley wrote 
 his Dijfertation on Phalaris, he had feen the words of Jamblichus no where 
 but in Vizzanius. 
 
 P. 162. [C]. Some have affcfted not to underftand, where it is, in the 
 foregoing paflage, that Zaleucus inculcates this dodrine. The place, 
 niethinks, was not bard to find ; it is, where wicked men aje bid to Jet 
 
 before
 
 3/6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book If. 
 
 before themfehes the' dreadful hour of death. For how (hould a pidVure of 
 this fcene allure meii to virtue, or deter them from vice, but as it opens 
 to them a view of thofe rewards and punilhments they are juft going to 
 receive? Hence, too, we learn what thofe hopes and fears were, which 
 Plutarch, in the pafluge p. 165, fays the ancient lawgivers imprefled upon 
 the minds of the people, to keep up the awe and reverence of religion : 
 for Plato aflurcs us it was their general pradtice, to inculcate the diftindion 
 between foul and body ; and to teach, that, at their feparation, the 
 foul furvived the body ; and this, fays he, we Ihould believe upon their 
 word, unlefs we would be thought to be out of our fenfes. — smeuitv S' «3 
 «^i Tor? NOMO0ETOT1I raJO ^'tiu! '^X.^'Ti avKip ;*« OTOivIaTraTjv afpovi^ (pxlv(i:vloc\, 
 De Legg. lib. xi. But, in his next book, he informs us, more at large, 
 why the ancient Lawgivers inculcated that diJlintJion. It was, in order to 
 build upon it the heVief oi a future fate of rewards and pttiiijhnients : for he 
 fays, the Lawgivers were to be believed, when they teach the total dif- 
 ference between foul and body, that the former is immortal, and that when 
 it is on the point of departing for the regions of immortality (where it muft 
 give an account of its conduft in the body) the good man will meet death 
 with courage and conftancy, and the evil man with affright and terrour. 
 And then takes occafion to mention the punifliments referved for the latter: 
 ist'Sw^M (J' ffj T^ rofAo9£T>] ;^p=u;i/ TOTE oi>.\a, Koci Xiyovli 4'^)(riv <rwp.a;'I(^ uvxt to to-«i> 
 J'lji^fpao'ai'.— Tov (Te -oiiJo! rijxwv sV-arov 6^']^)f u&xfMov (ivxi, »J/uj^*iv E7r!;l'l>J^*o^^5'ftE^ov, wapix 
 l&£s; aXXn; aVitWi Swjovlx hoyov, xx^xTsp vifj.^ rsoirfu^ xiyii, tw jxiv dya^io 
 '^xl'fxxiov, Tu 3'e xaxu f/.d'ka, ^o^ipw — aTi(xuT?)p©J av xaxwv aff.a.^n\/.oi,T<tiv iytyviJo riav 
 utU Tov ly^icii (S/oK. De Legib. L. XII. T. 11. pag. 959. A. B. C. Edit. 
 H. Steph. fol. And here let me obferve, that Plato, in the words t« dyx- 
 €a SaippAfov, &c. feems to have had the very paflage of Zaleucus in his 
 
 eye, Ti'Sto-flai wjo o[Ap.«Ttcv isv Kocipov tStov, &c. But this cavil had been 
 
 obviated, Seft. I. of this Second Book, p. 127. 
 
 P. 189. [D]. Paul Ernejl Jablonfki, a learned German Divine, In his 
 book called Pantheon /E^ptiorum, five de Diis eorum Comnientarius, hav- 
 ing taken it into his head, for fome reafon or other, to contend that the 
 ^Egyptian Gods were not dead men deified, thought rightly that this ac- 
 count of the Myficries flood in his way. " Inter omnia argumenta (fays he) 
 <juibus utuntur viri do<fti, ad probandum, JEgyptios coluiffe homines, poll: 
 uioftem divinis honoribus, donates illud fine dubio primum meretur locum, 
 
 quod
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 377 
 
 quod ex Mysteriis Grscorum et ipforum quoque ^gyptiorum petitum 
 eft. Obfervavit nerape Theologus Anglus prjeftantiffimus, omnique doc» 
 trins generecukus, in Myfteriis Grsecorum, banc etiam initiatis uodlilnaiu 
 tradi confueviffe, Deos illos, quos vulgo adorarent omnes, re ipfa mortalcs 
 extitifle homines, idque teftimoniis quibufdam e Cicerone perquam op- 
 portune allatis demonftralle, et extra omneni dubitationis aleam pofuifle 
 videtur. He then quotes this paflage of the Tufcular quejhons, and the fol- 
 lowing from the firft book, of the nature of the Cods : and thus proceeds— 
 Cui quidem loco ex priori, lux eft accendenda. Jubebantur ergo omncs, 
 initiati Gra:corum Myfteriis, credere Deos quos Grsecia coleret cund:os, in 
 lucem hanc aliquando editos fuiffe, inter homines vixifle et tandem mortem 
 quoque oppetiifle. All this is faid with the candour of a true fchoJar. How 
 inilike to that mifcrable chicane lately publiftied at home on this queftion ! 
 Where things are denied no lefs inconteftible than that two and two make 
 four. However the learned Dodor Jablonfki muft not defert his Syftem. 
 His firft evafion therefore of the force arifing from my account of the 
 
 Myferies is this, 1 had reprefented them as the invention of Legiflators; 
 
 and had fticwn that it was the pra(ftice of ancient Lawgivers and Philo- 
 fophers to teach one dodtrine openly and another fecretly. Having got me 
 at this advantage. Who knows then, fays he. Whether thefe Inftitutors 
 of the Myjlevies believed what they taught? But hear him in his own 
 words — " At quari non immerito poteft, fuerintne Legiflatores & Condi- 
 tores Myfteriorum, de eo, quod credere volebant alios, ipfi certo perfuafi. 
 Docere nos voluit ingeniofus ille Audlor, qui arcana Myfteriorum Eleufi- 
 niorum nobis non line fuccelTu explicare conatus eft, Legiflatores et Phi- 
 lofophos veteres permulta fuls inculcaffe, et vehementer commendaffe, 
 qua credebant hominibus fore utilia, etiamfi ea reipfa judicarent efle falfa. 
 ^lid veiat nos credere ex illorum numero fuifle etiam dodrinam in Myjleriis 
 
 traditam de mortalibus ad honores divinos evedfis Prolegom. Sedt. xii. — 
 
 Nay I know of nothing that hinders us from believing, but common fenfe : 
 Which aflures us, that if thefe Men pradifed the method of the double 
 dolfrine, one fet of opinions taught publicly to all, and another fecretly to 
 a few feledt Auditors, in whom they could particularly confide, the opi- 
 nions believed by them were certainly the latter. But he has another 
 evafion, In fupport of his Syftem. Though the Grecian Myjleries taught 
 the human nature of the National Gods, how docs it appear that the 
 Vol. I. C c c Egyftian-
 
 573 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 Egyptian Myjleries taught the fame ? I aiifwer, From the Grecian Myjieriet 
 being borrowed from the Egyptian, and from a thoufand teftimonies be- 
 fides ; particularly from the famous tranfaition between Alexander th(? 
 Great and Leo the Egyptian prieft. This the learned Writer confiders as 
 a fable, a very ready way of getting rid of difficulties which obllrudt our 
 Syftems. — He endeavours to prove, that in the accounts which Miniitius 
 Felix and Athenagoras give of this matter, there were fome circumflances. 
 inconfiftent with the avowed hiftory of Alexander : and from thence he 
 concludes—'* Ita ad conftituendam illam Fabcllam, mcndaciis merifque 
 figmentis opus erat." Sed:. xv. But if this be fufficient to convift the ad- 
 venture of impofture, the befl attefted fadts of Antiquity will be in danger , 
 fueh, for inftance, as the defeat of Julian's impious purpofe to rebuild the 
 Temple of Jerufalem ; to the true circumflances of which defeat, the Re- 
 lators of it have added many very fabulous, and abfurd. However he- 
 acknowleges, that if Alexander did write fuch a Letter to his mother, th« 
 Fadl will admit no further controverfy. But the Letter, he fays, was a 
 forgery of fome indifcreetChrirtian Writers, who being notorious Trickftcrs^ 
 and at the fame time got into the general Opinion that the national Gods of 
 the Pagans were dead men — what then ? — " Eftne igitur mirum Tenebrionem) 
 nefcio quern, in eorum gratiam talem Alexandri Epiflolam confinxifle, ean> 
 que pofliea certatim alios in ufum fuum ccMivertiUe." Sedt. xvi. Falfarys, 
 of whatever time or profeffion, I fuppofe never forge but to fupply fome 
 imaginary or real want. Thus thefe Chriflian Falfarys (as this learned 
 welter obferves) forged fome Sibylline Oracles and books of Hermes Irifme- 
 gijlus. But why did they fo ? Becaufe they fooliihly imagined the Faitk 
 wanted fome fupport from the Prophecies and doiflrines of the Pagans 
 themfelves. But with regard to the Opinion that their Gods were dead men 
 deified, the Prophane Writings of beft Authority were now full. Nothing 
 therefore can be lefs founded than this fufpicion. His next argument 
 againft the authenticity of the Epistles is indeed a pleafant one. If, fays 
 he, the ancient Philofophers had known any thing of this Epijile, their 
 eternal dil'putations concerning the effence, nature and origine of the Egyp^ 
 tian Gods mutt have been at an end. " Si Epiflola ilia, quam Patjes 
 laudant, genuina effet, turn quaiftio de eflentia, natura, & origine Deonim 
 JEgyptiorum quje veteres Philofophos tantopere exercuit, fic decifa et pe- 
 tiitus finita fuiffet, ut nemini amplius dubium fuperefle potucrit." Scd. xvi. 
 
 Did
 
 J^oTES. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 579 
 
 Did not the ancient Philofophers difpute full as much concerning the 
 Eflence, nature and origin of the Grecian Gods ? And yet this learned 
 Writer confeffes that the Grecian Myfteries taught that they were dead men 
 deified. He muft know little of the temper of the ancient Philofophers, 
 who fuppofes that even an Oracle, whether without or within the walls 
 of the Myfieries (for oracular Refponfes were given there as well as at 
 Delphi), could ftop them in the career of Difputation. Cicero 'we know), 
 who is the Reprefentative of them all, did not fuffer his knowlege of what 
 the Eleufinian Myfteries taught, to debar him from advancing a hundred 
 different tenets and conjedtures concerning the effence, nature and origin 
 both of the Egyptian and Grecian Gods. 
 
 But, continues the learned Dodior, " none of the prophane Writers, 
 Greek or Roman, ever mention this Epiftle." " Non certe videmus unquam 
 aliquem ad hoc oraculum ccnfugere, aut ejus vel leviffimam mentionem 
 facere ; non Varronem — non Ciceronem — non Diodorum Siculum — noil 
 Plutarchum"— Seft. xvi. Nothing indeed is more common, yet nothing 
 is more fophiilical, than to argue againft a faft recorded by one fingle 
 Ancient, or by one fet of Ancients, becaufe we cannot find it in any 
 other. As if we had all Antiquity before us, and did not know that a 
 few fragments only, of that rich Cargo remain, of the Wreck of Barba- 
 rous Times, Befide, the filence (on this head) in thofe fragments we have 
 gathered up, may be naturally accounted for. What the Myfteries every 
 where taught was fo well known to the Learned, from numerous and au- 
 thentic teftimonies, concerning the Eleufinian and others, that it was nothing 
 ftrange that neither Varro, Cicero, nor Diodorus Siculus ftould take any 
 particular notice of this Epistle. I do not put Plutarch into the number 
 of the filent, becaufe the learned Dr. himfelf is forced to confefs that, in 
 the opinion of fome learned men, this Ancient hath alluded to the Epiftle 
 in queftion. The words of Plutarch quoted above run thus, Alexander in 
 his Epiftle to his mother fays, that there -were certain Oracular Myfteries imparted 
 td him, which, on his return, he would communicate to her under the fame feal 
 of Secrecy. Our learned Dr. thinks otherwife : and that what is faid, in the 
 Epiftle quoted by Plutarch, means the refponfe of a Common Oracle ; while 
 the Epiftle mentioned by the Chriftian Writers refers to what Alexander 
 learnt in the Myfteries. " Verum an dices, obfecro, hanc eife Epiftolam 
 iUam, quam Patres laudant ? Sed in hac agebatur de dodrinis Myfticis The- 
 C c c 2 olo'jits
 
 380 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IT. 
 
 clogia /Egyptiorurn, ante non auditis, in ilia, Sermo tantum eft de divinitio- 
 nibus et pradiSiiombiu fibi divinitus faults" &c. £ed xvi. This flender 
 reafoning, is fpun out of his ignorance, that the words, ^aviilaa otTroppytlm, 
 here ufed by Plutarch, can only fignify Oracles delivered in the ceUhration of 
 ihe Myjleries. The cafe was this, The Hierophants of the Myfteries had 
 by this time, to invite cuftom, erefted their Oracles alfo, like to thole at 
 the other public Shrines of the Gods : Of which, an account is given clfe- 
 •where. 
 
 P. 189. [E.] The words that follow, are, " Quibus cxplicatis ad ratio- 
 *' nemque revocatis, rerum magis natura cognofcitur, quam Deorum." 
 Which M. Pluche, in his Hiftoire du del, brings to prove, that the pur- 
 pofe of the Mj/leries was not to explain the nature of the Gods ; and 
 tranflates thus, " Quand ces myfteres font expliques & ramenes a leur vrai 
 •' fens, il fe trouve que c'eft moins la nature des Dieux, qu'on nous y 
 " apprend, que la nature des chofcs metnes, ou des verites dont nous avons 
 " befoin." P. 401. Hift. du Cicl, feconde edit. But had he attended to 
 the difpute carried on in the dialogue, from whence thefe words of Cicero 
 are quotedj he could hardly have thus groily miftaken the fenfe of his au- 
 thor. The reader has now the whole paflage before him ; in which It is 
 faid, that Euhemerus taught the nature of the Gods j that they were dead 
 men deified : and in which, it is clearly enough intimated, that the Ehu- 
 fv.ian and Samothracian Mypries taught the fame dodrine. Yet, accord- 
 ing to this tranflator, Tuliy immediately adds, that, " when thefe Myf- 
 " teries are explained and brought back to their true fenfe, it is found, 
 "" that not fo much the nature of the Gods is taught in them, as the nature 
 " of things, or thofe truths which our wants require us to be inftrudted in." 
 That is, the Myfteries did, and they did not teach the nature of the Gods. 
 But it is not for fuch kind of prate that Cicero has been fo long admired. 
 The words, quihus explicat'ts, ad ratiouemque revocatis, he have a quite 
 different meaning. Velleius, the Epicurean, had undertaken to explain 
 the nature of the Gods. Cotta, the Academic, fhews, in his anfwer, that, 
 under pretence of teaching the nature of the Gods, he, Velleius, took 
 away all Religion ; juft as thofe did, who faid, the notion of the Gods was 
 invented by Politicians, for the ufe of Society j juft as Prodicus Chius 
 did, who faid, men made Gods of every thing they found beneficial to 
 them; juft as Euhemerus did, who faid, they were dead men deified: 
 
 I fo bear
 
 Notes. O F M O S E S DEMONSTRATED. 381 
 
 I forbear (fays Cotta) to fpeak of what is taught in tlie Myjioies: and then 
 follow the words in queflion : " Quibus explicatis, ad rationemque revo- 
 •' catis, rerum magis natura cognofcitur quam deoruni." That is, " If 
 " you will weigh (fays Cotta) and confidcr all thefe opinions, fo like your 
 ** own, they will lead you to the knowledge, not of the nature of the 
 ** Gods, which you, Velleius, propofed to difcourfe of, but to the nature 
 "of things, which is quite another confideration." Or, in clearer terms, 
 it was, he tells us, Velleius's drift to bring men from Religion to Natu- 
 ralifm. This obfervation is to the purpofe ; and fhews that Velleius had 
 deviated from his argument. But what M. Pluche makes him fay, is to 
 nobody's purpofe but his own. In a word, quibus explicatis, &c. relates 
 to all that Cotta had faid of the Epicureans — of thofe who made reliCTton 
 the invention of Statefmen — of Prodicus Chius— of Euhemerus, and of the 
 Myjieries. But M. Pluche makes it relate only to the Myjlcries. It had 
 hardly been worth while to mention this M. Pluche, had it not been evi- 
 dent, that his purpofe in this interpretation of Cicero was to difguife the 
 liberty he took of tranfcribing the general explanation of the mysteries, 
 as delivered in the firll; edition of this volume, printed in 1738, into the 
 fecond edition (for when he publifhed the firji, he knew nothing of the 
 matter) of his book, called Hijioire du del, printed 1741, without the 
 leaft notice or acknowledgment. But for a further account of this piece of 
 plagiarifm, I refer the reader to a difcourfe, intitled Ohftrvations fur I'ex- 
 flication que M. /' Abbe Flucbe donne des myjieres iS de la mythologie des pavens 
 dans fon Hijioire duCiel, written with much judgment and folidity, by M. de 
 Silhouette : who has intirely fubverted M. Fluche's fanciful fyflem, as 
 well as proved, that he took his idea of the Myjieries from the Divine Le- 
 gation. It is in the fifth differtation of a work, intitled Differtalions Jur 
 funion de la religion, de la morale, & de la politique. 
 
 P. 193. [F.] Eiijebius fays, Scripture tells us this, tSto Si xa> ol j'tpoi x«9' 
 r/*«f (JJaVxao-t xoyoi. __ And fo indeed it does even in the general tenor of its 
 hiftory. But I am perfuaded this learned writer had his eye on fome par- 
 ticular paflage ; probably on the xlvth chapter of IJdial.\ where the pro- 
 phet, foretelling the conquefls of Cyrus, and the exaltation of his Empire, 
 apoftrophizes the God of Ifrael in this manner, Verily thou art a God that 
 HiDEST THYSELF, Go<i <?/ Ifracl, tbe Saviour, ver. 15. This was faid 
 with great propriety of the Creator of all things, the fubjedt of the Anop- 
 
 jPHT.A,
 
 ^Sx THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I!. 
 
 PHTA, or Secret, in all the Myfteries throughout the Gentile World ; and 
 particularlv of thofe of Mithras, in that country which was the fcene of 
 the prophecy. That this is the true fenfe of this obfcure paflage, appears 
 from the following words of the fame chapter, where God himfelf ad- 
 dreffeth the Jewifh people : Ihave notj'poken in secret, in a dark place 
 of the earth: I /aid not unto the feed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain, ver. 19'. 
 This was faid, to fliew that he was taught amongft them in a different waf 
 from that participation of his Nature to a fetu fele£i Gentiles, in their 
 Myfteries; celebrated in fecret, and in dark fubterraneous places; which 
 not being done in order to give him glory, by promoting his public and 
 general worlhip, was done in vai?!. Thefe were the two places (explained 
 by one another) which, I prefume, furniflied Eufebius with his obfervation. 
 That for the Hebrew people alone was referved the honour of being initiated 
 into the knowledge of God the Creator of all Things, and of being inftruiled in 
 the practice of true piety towards him — This naturally leads us to the ex- 
 planation of thofe oracles of Jpollo, quoted by Eufebius [Frap. Evatig. 1. ix« 
 c. x.] from Porphyry ; the fenfe of which neither thofe ancient writers, nor 
 our Sir John Marfham, feem rightly to have underftood. The firft is in thefe 
 Words, 
 
 A'tteiv?!^ yap ocJ'is fn-xxdfj.-v, Tpii;^£ia!' re T^oXXoVf 
 
 'ArpoiTrHoi^l iWo-ti/ a.QiiT(pxlot lyhyavTcct, 
 "a? Tiypuroi (j.(ponn:v £7r* d'Tnlfava, Tjpri^iv \(pv(Ta,v 
 Ol T9 KxXhv ■s:Iv(jv\h uJwp NtiXtoTiiJ^J amf. 
 
 The Way to the Knozvledge of the Divine Nature is extremely rugged, and of 
 difficult Afcent. The Entrame is fecured by brazen gates, opening to the ad- 
 venturer ; and the winding roads^ to be pajfed through, impojfble to be de- 
 fcribed. Thefe, to the vajl benefit of mankind, were firft marked out by the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 The fecond is as follows : 
 
 Mavoi XaA^'aToi irofiixv ha^ov n5' af 'E^paToi, 
 
 Truewifdom was the lot only of the Chaldeans and Hebrews, who wor- 
 fiiip the Governor of the world, the felf-exifent Deity, with pure and holy 
 rites. 
 
 Marfham,
 
 Notes.' OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. jSj 
 
 Mnrjham, fuppofing after Evfcbius, that the same thing was fpoken of 
 in both the Oracles, fays, Certe nulla eji contrcverfia qiiin wtp \>.o\ioc^'xixi, de 
 «j!ius regimine five de unico Deo, reverem fuerit ^ redifima Ebrceorum, non 
 item rcEla Egypt ioru77i eaiflmatio. And again, — Veriim Apollo parumfibi con^ 
 fans [Canon. Chron. p. 255, 256. edit, ir.], becaufe in the one Oracle, 
 the Egyptians are faid to be the firji ; and in the other, the Chaldeans and 
 Hebrews the only People who knew the true God. But they are very con- 
 fiftent; they treat of different things: The firft, of the Knowledge of 
 the true God; and the fecond, of his public Worjhip. This appears by 
 the different terms in which the Oracles are delivered : The Hebrews, 
 whom the Oracle calls Chaldteans, were well known to be the only people 
 who publicly worjhiped the true God. But the knozvledge of him being like- 
 wife taught, though to few, all over the Gentile world, and only in the 
 Myjleries, and the Myfteries coming, as we have fliewn, originally from 
 Egypt, the Oracle fays, that the Egyptians fir ft taught men the knowledge of 
 the divine Natures. But that it was in this way, his words plainly inti- 
 mate : 
 
 'ATfxvUol Si ta<r(riv a9ia-(pixloi lyMxnTxi, 
 
 which exaftly defcribe the embarraffed and perplexed condition of the 
 Initiated before they came to the participation of this knowledge. But 
 when the fame Oracle fpeaks of the Hebrews' knowledge of God, he ufes a 
 very different language, 
 
 evidently refpe(ft:ing the calm and fettled ftate of public worfhip. I will 
 only obferve, that the frights and terrors to which the initiated were ex- 
 pofed, gave birth to all thofe metaphorical terms of Difficulty and Danger 
 fo conftantly employed by the Greek writers, whenever they fpeak of the 
 Communication of the true God. 
 
 P. 1 94. [G 1 What hath been faid will give light to a ftrange ftory told 
 by Thucydides, Plutarch, Cornelius Nepos, Juftin, and others, of a debauch 
 and night-ramble of Alcibiades, juft before his expedition to Syracufe, 
 In which, they fay, he revealed to, and afted over with, his companions, 
 the Myfteries of Ceres : that he affumed the office of Hiercphant, and called 
 fome of thofe he initiated MuV«i, and others, 'EroTclctt : and that, laftly, they 
 broke all the flatues of Hermes. Thcfe are mentioned by the Kiftorians 
 as diftin^ aftiojis, and unconnefted with one another. But now we fee 
 
 their
 
 384 THEDIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 their relation, and how one arofe from the other : for Alcibiadcs having 
 revealed the origin of Polytheifm and the dodtrine of the Unity tq his 
 companions, nothing was more natural than for men, heated with wine, to 
 run forth, in a kind of religious fury, and break the ftatues of their idols. 
 For, what he afted over, was the celebration of the greater myfieries, as 
 appears from Plutarch's calling them the Myfteries of Ceres, fhe prefiding 
 in the greater, as Proferpine prefided in the lejfer ', and from Alcibia- 
 dcs's calling fomc 'EiroTrlaj, the name of thofe who participated of the 
 greater Myfteries. 
 
 P. 20 1. I^Hj A critlcifm of that very knowing and fagacious writer. 
 Father Simon of the Oratory, will fhew the reader how groundlefs the 
 fufpicions of learned men are concerning the genuinenefs of this Fragment. 
 Father Simon imagines that Porphyry forged the hiftory of Sanciioniatho, 
 under the name of a tranflation by Philo Byblius ; and conjedtures that 
 his purpofe in fo doing was to fupport Paganifm ; by taking from it, its 
 Mythology and Allegories, which the Chriflian writers perpetually objedted 
 to it. " 11 fe peut faire — pour repondre aux objections qu'on leur faifoit 
 " de routes parts, fur ce, que leur Theologie etolt une pure Mythologie — 
 " ils remonterent jufques aux tems qui avoicnt precede les allegories & les 
 " fiftions des facrificateurs." Bib. Crit. vol. I. p. 140. But this learned 
 man totally miftakes the matter. The Chriftians objf died to vulgar Paga- 
 nifm, that the ftories told of their Gods, were immoral. To this their 
 Priefts and Philofophers replied, that thefe ftories were only mythologie 
 Allegories, which veiled all the great truths of Theology, Ethics, and Thyftcs. 
 The Chriftians faid, this could not be ; for that the ftories of the Gods 
 had z fubjlantial foundation infaEl, thefe Gods being only dead men deified, 
 who, in life, had like paftions and infirmities with other mortals. For 
 the truth of which they appealed to fuch writers as Sanchoniatho, who had 
 given the Hiftory both of their mortal and immortal ftations and condi- 
 tions. How then could fo acute an adverfary as Porphyry, deeply en- 
 gaged in this controverfy, fo far miftake the ftate of the queftion, and 
 grounds of his defence, as to forge a book in fupport of his caufe, which 
 totally overthrew it ? 
 
 P. 206, [I] Some modern Critics think, with Theopbilus, that Euheme- 
 
 rus was rightly charged with Atheism; fome think, with Clemens Alex, 
 
 that he was not. There is a circumftance in the- cafe which fecms to me 
 
 decifive, and would incline one to conclude, concerning him, with the 
 
 ,. generality
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 385 
 
 generality of the Ancients : It is this, that the earlier policy of the Myf- 
 teries and the later of the Philofophers concurring to think it expedient for 
 the fake of Religion to keep that truth a fecret which Euhemerus divulged. 
 He who, by divulging it, overthrew Paganifm, and never troubled hinifelf 
 to fubftitute any other fcheme of Public VVorfhip in its room, might fairly 
 be fuppofed to intend the dcftrudtion of Religion in general. 
 
 P. 209. {_K] The celebrated French Poet, in a late work intituled, La 
 Philofophie de I'Hiftoire, c. 37. Des Mifteres de Ceres Eleufine, hath 
 tlone me the honour of giving his Reader an exadt abridgement of all that 
 is here faid on the fubjedt of the Myfteries : not as colledlcd from the Divine 
 Legation, but as the refult of his own refearches in Antiquity; fave that 
 when he fpeaks of the Sixth Book of Virgil, he fays : ♦' De tres favants 
 '* hoiumes ont prouvc que le fixieme llvre de I'Eneide n'cft que la peinture 
 " de ce qui fe pratiquait dans ces fpedtacles [des Mifteres de Ceres Eleuf. j 
 " fi fecrets & fi renommes :" and when he fpeaks of the unity of the God- 
 head revealed in thefe Myfteries he fays, " Le favant Eveque Warburton, 
 *' quoique tres injufte dans plufieurs de fes deciftons audacievfes^ donne beau- 
 " coup de force a tout ce que je viens de dire de la neceffite de cacher le 
 " dogme de I'unite, &c." 
 
 My audacious decifions, I fuppofe, are nothing elfe than my un marking 
 the ignorance and ill faith of thofe moderns, which he and his Colleague 
 D'Alembert conftantly call the Philosophers, meaning thereby all kind 
 of Unbelievers whatfoever. 
 
 P. 210. [L] The common reading, in which all the MSS. agree, is, 
 ^id mihi difpliceat, innocentes poeta indicant comici. Vidtorius conjec- 
 tured, that, inftead of innocentes, Tully wrote in nocturnis, which is 
 certainly right. By the poetce comici, I fuppofe, Cicero meant the writeri 
 of the NEW COMEDY. The abufes he hints at, as perpetrated in the 
 Myfteriesy were of a libidinous kind : which occafioned an intrigue proper 
 for the new comedy. And we may fee by Fabricius's Botitia comicorum 
 deperditoriim, BibL Grac. lib. II. cap. 22. how frequently the writers of 
 the new comedy laid the fcene of their plots in a religious feftival or 
 Afyftery. Plautus, who copied from them, opens the fubje(2 of his/f«/a- 
 /flrw in thefe words, 
 
 Senex 
 
 Is adolefcentis illius eft avunculus. 
 
 Qui eaai ftupravit noftu Cereris vigiliis. 
 
 Vol. I. Ddd P. 2 to.
 
 386 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book n. 
 
 P. 210. [M] By ilk is here meant P. Clodlus, the mortal enemy of 
 Cicero. So that his reafoning feems to ftand thus — " I allow an exception 
 for the Eleufinian myfteries, on account of their great ufe to civil life. 
 But yet their celebration in the night is attended with flrange inconve- 
 niencies, as appears from the comic poets. And had this liberty of cele- 
 brating nodturnal rites by men and women promifcuoufly, as in the Eleu- 
 finian Nhfterics, been pratftifcd in Rome, what enormities mufl we believe 
 fuch a one as Clodius would have committed, who contrived to violate 
 the nodturnal rites of the good goddess, to which only women were ad- 
 mitted ?" For that the Grecian Myfteries were thus promifcuoufly cele- 
 brated, appears from what Dionyfius Halicarnaflenfis obferves of the purity 
 of the early Rouian worfhip ; where no nodlurnal vigil (fays he) was kept 
 promifcuoufly by men and women, in the celebration of their Myfteries, 
 
 P. 217. [N] After I had thus diflinguiihed, as here, and elfevvhere (in 
 my difcourfe on the Sixth ^neis and on the Golden Afs of Apuleius) the 
 PURE from the corrupt Myfteries, the reader will be furprized at the 
 following paffage of the very learned and candid Chancellor Mojbeim — 
 " Pererudite non ita pridem, quanquam non tam femper feliciter quam 
 ingeniofe, de Mysterus difputavit Wilhelmus Warburtonus libro cele- 
 berrimo, ' The Divine Legation of Mofes demonftrated.' Cenfet vir eru- 
 ditiffimus, ad humanarum m.entium iramortalitatem doccndam omnia in- 
 ftituta fuiffe Mysteria. Dcderim, in nonnullis religionis illius, quam 
 refta ratio tradit, prscepta inculcata, & publicarum religionum vanitatem 
 patefadtam fuiffe : omnium vera banc rationem fui/fe, nunquam fibi -perfua- 
 debit, qui vet Bacchi Mysteria cogitaverit, qua tejle Livio Romani ferre 
 nolebant. De rebus Chriftianorum ante Con/tantinum M. Commentarii. Cap. i, 
 Sed. 13. not. (***). But as to the pure and uncorrupt Myfteries of Bac- 
 chus, authorized by the magiftrate, the learned Writer might have feen, 
 p. 169, note (J), that Celfus exprefly affirms, even thefe taught a future 
 ftate ; which truth his adverfary Origen confeffes. 
 
 P. 218. [Oj This Ihort hiftorical deduftion of the rife and fall of the 
 Myfteries will afford much light to the following paffage of St. Paul, fpeak- 
 ing of the leaders and infirudors of the Gentile world, — " So that they are 
 " without excufe : becaufe that when they knew God, they glorified him not 
 " as God, neither vvere thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations^ 
 " and their foolifh heart was darkened. Profeffing themfelves to be wife, 
 * «♦ ihey
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 3S7 
 
 •' they became fools : and changed the glory of the vncorrupttble GoJ intoan 
 *' mage made like a corruptible man, and to birds and four-foctcd bcafts, and- 
 " creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up to uncleannefs, through 
 ** the lufts of their own hearts, to diihonour their own bodies between 
 " themfelves. Who changed the truth of Cod into a lie, and worfliiped 
 " and ferved the creature more than the Creator, who is bleffed for evef, 
 " amen. For this caufe God gave them up unto vile qf'eSions," &c. 
 Rom. i. 20, ^ feq. In thefe words, tlie holy apoftle evidently condemHS 
 the foolifli policy of the Gentile fages, who, when they knew God (that is, 
 difcovered God, as Paul intimates, by the light of nature) yet glorified 
 him not as God, by preaching him up to the people ; but, carried away, in 
 the vanity of their imagination, by a millaken principle of politics, that a 
 vulgar knowledge of him would be injurious to fociety, fhut up his glory in 
 their mysteries, and gave the people, in exchange for an uncorruptible 
 God, an image made like to corruptible man and birds, i^c. Wherefore 
 God, in punifhment for their thus turning his truth into a lie, fuffcred even 
 their Myfteries, which they eredted (though on thefe wrong principles) for 
 a fchool of virtue, to degenerate into an odious fink of vice and immora- 
 lity ; giving them up unto all uncleannefs and vile affeflijns. That this was 
 the apollle's meaning, appears not only from the general tenor of the 
 pafl'age, but from feveral particular expreflions ; as where he fpeaks of 
 changing the glory of God to birds, beafts, and creeping things : for this was 
 the peculiar fuperftition of Egj'pt : and Egypt we have (hewn to be the 
 firft inventrefs of the Myfteries. Again, he fays, they worfhiped and ferved 
 the creature more than the Creator, -sapx thv xl.VavJa. This was ftrittly true 
 with regard to the mysteries : the Creator was there acknowledged by 
 a fmall and feledt number of the Participants ; but the general and folemn 
 worlhip even in thefe celebrations was to their national idols. In the 
 OPEN worfhip of paganifm, either /«i^//V or particular, it was not at all true, 
 for there the creature was the fole obje<fl of adoration. 
 
 P. 219. [P] What hath been faid above, fhews that M. Le Clerc hath 
 gone into the other extreme of party prejudice, when he contends {BibL 
 Univ. torn. vi. p. 73.) that the Myfteries were not corrupted at all. I can 
 conceive no reafon for fo violent a paradox, but as it favoured an accu- 
 fation againft the Fathers, who have niuch infifted on the corruption of 
 them — '* Les peres ont dit qu'on commettoit toute forte d'ordures dansces 
 • ceremonies : mais quoi qu'ils difent, il n'cft pas croiable que toute la 
 D d d 2 •' Grece,
 
 S88 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IF. 
 
 " Grece, quelque corrompue qu'elle ait ete, ait jamais confenti que les 
 **"filles & les fcmmes fe proftituaffent dans les myfteres — Mais quelqvies 
 ** auteurs chretiens n'ont fait aucune difEculte de dire mille chofes peu 
 ** conformes a la verite, pour diffamer le paganifme : de peur qu'il n'y 
 *' cut que les payens a qui ou puc reprocher leur calomnies." Bibl. Univ. 
 torn. vi. p. 1 20. 
 
 P. 221. [Q^] The reader will not be difpleafed to find here an exaft 
 account of this whole matter, extracted from a very curious diflertation of 
 If. Cafaubon, a great and unexceptionable writer, in his Sixteenth Exer- 
 citation on the Annals of Baronius. — " Pii patres quum intelligcrent, quo fa- 
 *' cillus ad veritatis amorem corruptas fuperftitione mentes traducerent; & 
 " verba facrorum illorum quamplurima, in fuos ufus tranftukrunt ; & 
 " cum dodtrins verte capita aliquot fie tradtarunt, turn ritus etiam nonnullos 
 *• ejufmodi inftituerunt ; ut videantur cum Paulo dicere gentibus voluiflTe, 
 " a xyvoHvli( luaiSiiTC, rmrx, aala.^yiX'kofAiti ^jj-Tv. Hinc igitur eft, quod facra- 
 
 *' menta patres apellarunt myjleria, f<,unVe»f, tixiIix;, teAeiwo-ei?, IroTtlsiai, five 
 *' Irro^Hoci, TfX£f>if«a ; interdum etiam of!tx, fed rarius : peculiariter vero 
 ** euchariftiam tiX'HuI-v nxSm. Dicitur etiam antonomacite rh /xur^pio*, aut 
 " numero mukitudinis to. {xufo'pia;. Apud patres paffim de facra commu- 
 " nione leges tpfmrx [Aupfpi* vel rh {U7ropp'»1ov fAur>iV»«v ; Gregorio Magno, mag- 
 " num 6f pavendum yfterium. Muna-flai in vetcrum monumentis hepe leges 
 *' pro coenaj dominicje fieri particeps ; p.uViv pro ipfa adtione ; /ixufus eft 
 " facerdos, qui etiam dicitur lAurafwT'aK & U^u%-Kt^r.;. In liturgiis Grjecis 
 " & alibi etiam >> I'epa T£Xf7ii, & n xpuiplx -axi i'n-l^o^©' tsXhtti, eft euchariftia. 
 " Quemadmodum autem gradus quidem in myfteriis paganicis fervati funt, 
 *' fie Dionyfius univerfam tuV riXnUv nin itpxpy/av, traditionem facramento- 
 " rum diftinguit in tres adliones, quae & ritibus & temporibus erant divi- 
 " I'x : prima eft xa'Sapo-i;, purgaiio\ altera /*u'»io-i;, imtiatio ; tertia, TtAtiWtf, 
 " confummatio ; quam & i-rro^Uv fa?pe nominat. Spem meliorem morien- 
 " tibus attuliflc myfteria Attica dicebat paulo ante M. Tullius. Patres 
 " contra, certam falutem & vitam aeternam Chrifti myfteria digne percipi- 
 " entibus afFerre, confirmabant : qui ilia contemnerent, fcrvari non poflTe : 
 j" finem vero & fruftum ultimum facramentorum ^im<in, deificationem, di- 
 " cere non dubitarunt , quum fcirent vanarum fuperftitionum audtores, 
 " fuis epoptis eum honorem audere fpondere. Paflim igitur legas apud 
 ♦'Patres, t« I'sfa? fiufafoyia? tea©' trvai StWiv, finem' facramentorum efle, ut 
 «' qui vera fide ilia perciperent, in futura vita dii evadant. Athanafius 
 
 ** verba
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 39^ 
 
 ** verbo 3-tcffot.-7(r9ai in earn rem eft ufus ; quod mox ab eo<.lem explicatur, 
 ** participations fprhus conjungimur deitati. De fynibolis faeramentorum, 
 " per quffidivina ills ceremonije celebrar.tur, nihil attinet hoc loco dicere; 
 " illud vero, quod eft & appellatur fidei fymbolum, diverfi eft generis, & 
 *' fidelibus teflerze uftjm przeftat, per quam fe mutuo agnofcunt, qui pie- 
 *' tati facramento dixerunt ; cujufmodi tefferas fuifTe etiam in paganorum 
 *' myfteriis oftendimus. Formula illi in myfteriis peragcndis ulurpatoE", 
 *' Procul efie profani, refpondet in liturgia hsc per diaconos pronuntiari 
 
 * follta ; oVoi xalKj^s'/xfvoi srpoiXSslt ; Vel, i'^u tj£pixaT£rT£ offoi eVi/jyj/fxfKij, oVoi ap.Dji]ot; 
 *' omnes catechume)n, foras difccdite, omncs pqffljji, omnes non initiati. Nodtu 
 *' ritus multi in myfteriis peregebantur ; nod:u etiam initiatio Chriftianorum 
 " inchoabatur : Gaudentio nominatury/)/fW/V/^wfi nox vigiliarum. Quod 
 *' autem dicebamus de filentio in facris opertaneis fervari a paginis folito, 
 *' id inftitutum vetcres chriftiani fie probarunt, ut religiofa ejus obferva- 
 " done myftas omnes longe fuperarint. Quemadmodum igitur dicit 
 *' Seneca, landtiora facrorum folis iniciatis fuiffe nota, & Jamblichus de 
 «' Philofophia Pyrhagoreorum in rd aVop/nla, qu£e efferri non poterant, & 
 *' T«£>cfofa, quae foras efFerre jus erat ; ita univerfam doftrinam chriftianam 
 •* veteres diftinguebant in rat 'ix<popai, id eft, ea quse enuntiari apud omnes 
 '* poterant, & tx d-Kiff-^a, arcana temere non vulganda ; rx Hy^o^x, inquit 
 " Bafilius, (TMirxrxi' ra St xyi^vljjiccloi ^nixuaumlfxi, dog7iiata Jilentio premuntur j 
 " precoma publicantur. Chryfoftomus, de iis qui baptizantur pro mortuis^: 
 " Cupio quidem perfpicue rem dicere ; fed propter non tnitiatos non audeo : hi 
 *' interpretationem reddunt nobis difficiliorem ; dum nos cogimt, cut perfpicue 
 " non^iicere, out arcana, qute taceri debent, apud ipfos ejferre. Atque ut 
 " «^opX"<^9«' '■* /^"f'f* dixerunt pagani, de iis qui arcana niyfteriorum 
 "evulgabant; ita dixit Dionyfius, Vide ne enunties, aut parum reverenter 
 *'■ habeas fann a fan3ortm. Paffim apud Auguftinum leges, Sacr amentum 
 " quod norunt fideles. In Johannem tradt. xi. autem fie; Omnes catechumeni 
 ** jatn credunt in nomine Chrifii, Sed Jesus non se credit eis. Mox In- 
 *' terrogemus catechumenim, Manducas carnem Jilii hominis? nefit quid dici- 
 " mus. Iterum, Nefclunt catechumeni quid accipiant chrijiani : erubefant 
 *' ergo quia nefciunf." But the worft part of the ftory is ftill behind, 
 which the concluding words of the quotation will not fuffer me to pafs 
 over in filence. Thefe Fathers ufed fo ftrange a language, in fpeaking of 
 the iaji Supper, that it gave occafion to a corrupt and barbarous Church, in 
 after-times, to ingraft upon it a dodrine more ftupendouily abfurd and 
 
 blaf-
 
 390 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 blalphemous than ever Iffued from the mouth of a Pagan Prieft. What 
 is further to be lamented in the affair is this, that the Fathers, who fu 
 cpmphiilantly fuffered themfelves to be mifled by thefe Myfteries, in their 
 reprefcntation of the Chriftian Faith, would not fuffer the Myfterics to fet 
 theai right in the meaning of a term frequently found in the New Tefta- 
 ment, and borrowed from thofc Rites, namely the very word itfelf, Mys- 
 tery : which, amongfl: the men from whom it was taken, did not fignify 
 the revealing of a thing incomprehenfible to human reafon ; but the re- 
 vealing of a thing kept hid, and fecreted, which yet, in its nature, was very 
 plain and intelligible. 
 
 P. 222. [R] Mr. Le Clercowns, that Plutarch, Diodorus, and Theodo- 
 ret, have all faid this ; yet the better to fupport his fcheme in the inter- 
 pretation of the hiftory of Ceres, he has thought fit to contradidl them j 
 but his reafon is very Angular: — " C'etoit la coutume des payens de dire 
 *' que des divinitez etoient les memes, lors qu'ils avoient remarque quelque 
 *' legere reflemblance enrre elles, dam la faujfe petifes cu Us etoient que les 
 *' plus grands de lews dieux f etoient fait connoitre dans toute la ierre : au 
 *' lieu qu'il n'y en avoir aucun qui ne fut topi que, c'eft a dire particulier 
 «' a un lieu — On en trouvera divers exemples dans le petit traite De la 
 *'■ deeffe de Syrie^' Bibl.univ. tom. vi. p. izi. It is very true, that the 
 Gods of the Pagans were local deities ; but to think the Ancients could 
 be ignorant of this, when it is from the nature and genius of Paganifm, as 
 delivered by them, that we come to know it, is a very extraordinary 
 conceit. Indeed the Moderns, poflefled with their own ideas, were and 
 are generally unattentive to this truth ; and fo have committed many 
 errors in their reafonings on the fubjedt. But that principle of the inter- 
 community of worfhip in ancient paganifm (explained in another place) 
 would have the fame effedt in fpreading the worfhip, as if their Gods 
 were univerfal and not local ; which fhews the Ancients not miftaken in 
 the point in qucftion. Yet Mr. Le Clerc, in another place, could fee that 
 Aftarte was certainly liis, as Adonis was Ofiris -, and this, merely from the 
 fimilitude, or rather, identity of their ceremonies. 
 
 Ibid. [S] There is a remarkable paffage in Syncellus relating to this 
 fubjedt, which hath been little underftood. This Writer fpeaking, from 
 Africanus, of the very early Egyptian King, Suphis, fays, arof Si xai 
 IlEPIoriTHS eis Bm tylmQ v.oi\ rw lipciv (TuviyfM^t (Si'Sxov, T/jts King Was a Contem- 
 ■flator of the Cods, and wrote a facred Bosk, The Reader may fee, by what 
 
 Sir
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DE xMONST RATED. 391 
 
 Sir J. Marfham hath faid on this paflage [Can.Chron. p. 53.] how much 
 it wants explaining. What incteafes the difficulty is the contrary account 
 which Eufebius, in Syncellus, gives of this matter. He fays that this 
 Kingw.u a Contemner of the Gods, and that on his repentance he wrote a fa ere d 
 
 book ; 0; xat TIIHPOriTHS In; Sesf yiyoviv, uii ^Sa.vor,(Tav\a, dyrov rriv li^xu a\ly!'pd^l/ca 
 
 ft!t).ov. Thefe obfcure and inconfiftent trads of Hiflory can be only ex- 
 plained and reconciled by what is here delivered concerning the Myfleries 
 (originally Egyptian) which had for their grand fecrets or AnoPPHTA the 
 detedion of Polytheifm, and the doftrine of the firft Caufe. I regard 
 therefore this paflage of Africanus, as a remarkable piece of hirtory, which 
 conveys to us the memory of the firft Inftltutor of the AilOPPHTA of the 
 Myfteries. The term ■n-EpioTrlis peculiar to thefe Rites, and the (.<pa (S/S^.o;, 
 the name of that book which was read to the Initiated, very much fup- 
 port this interpretation. To which let me add this further circumftance : — 
 Suphis, according to Marlham, died about forty years after Abraham. 
 The Patriarch without quedion inftrufled the idolatrous Egyptians in the 
 knowledge of the true God. Suphis therefore might take advantage of 
 that knowledge (which he found amongft the priefts, with whom Abra- 
 ham, as Damafcenus in Eufebius informs us, had many difputes and con- 
 ferences about Religion) and apply it to this purpofe : And then Eufc- 
 bius's account that Suphis was a contemner of the Gods will be fo far from 
 giving us any trouble to reconcile it to Africanus's, who calls this fame 
 Suphis a Contemplaior of them, that they jointly tend to elucidate the 
 general fubjeift. For if Suphis inftltuted aVoppnla! in his Myjleries, which 
 expofed and difgraced Polytheifm, he certainly would be efteemed, by 
 all thofe who had heard it, as an atheist or Contemner of the Gods ; the 
 charadler given to all who oppofed Polytheifm both in the earlier and 
 later times of Paganifm. Now Eufebius finding this charged upon Sunhis, 
 by the fame authority which fays he lAjrote a facred Book, not apprehending 
 to what the thing referred, and not conceiving how 2,prophane man fhould 
 be difpofed to write a facred Book or a Ritual of Worlhip, he tried to re- 
 concile matters, by fuppofing that the Monarch repented of his impiety 
 before he wrote his book. Laflly, to confirm all that hath been here faid, 
 we may obferve, that the mode of fpeech here ufed concerning Suphis, is 
 the very fame which the Egyptian Chroniclers employ when they fpeak 
 more plainly of the initiations of their fucceeding Kings. Jofephus 
 from Manetho, fpeaking of Amenophis, hath a remarkable paflage to 
 
 this
 
 392 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 this purpofc. ^yi<r) thtov ini^iMKrxi ©iuv yivtVOai 0EATHN, uvntp^ilfoi eT; ruv 
 
 ea-o/i'vi)'/ t»ir£ri( sv aulu tbtov to» i5jji.m'vii(ji.o>, 6V» juvr'TsIaj 0£8f lAEIN, I'l xaBapav aVo 
 Tf \£7rpcyK x,x» Ttuv xWuv fjnypwu anSpWTraJK rrv X,'^p*v xxxcrxv ■sFtun'riilv. \Cont. Apion. 
 1. i. c. 26.] " He fays, that Amenophis dejired to be made a Conteniplator 
 " of the Gods, as was Orus one of his Predeceflbrs in the Kingdom : and 
 *' that he communicated this defire to his namefake Amenophis, the fon 
 *' of Papis, who, by his wifdom and prefcience of futurity, was under- 
 " flood to \iz\<i participated of the Divine Nature. His namefake hereupon 
 " told him that he might have the Privilege o^ feeing the Gods, if he would 
 ^^ purge the whole country from leprous znA unclean perfons." We fee 
 plainly that what was here defired by Amenophis, of his namefake, was 
 an INITIATION. This fon of Papis appears to have been the hierophant 
 of the Mj/mi-f , and under that charader celebrated for his fkill in divin- 
 in^. The requeff is enforced by the favour granted to his PredecelTor, 
 Orus, as ^neas's requeft to the Sibyl, that he might vifit the infernal 
 Regions, by the example of Opheus, Hercules, &c. 
 
 ** Si potuk Manis arceffere conjugis Orpheus, &c." 
 The propofed adventures are related in the high terms oi feeing the Gods 
 ard vifiting the infernal Regions, agreeably to what has been, and will pre- 
 fently be further explained concerning this fublime phrafeology, arifing 
 partly from the high veneration paid to initiation into the M)fteries, and 
 partly from the amazement occafioned by the Shews and the Machinery 
 exhibited in the celebration of them. The Jfpirant is required by his 
 namefake the Hierophant, to purify the land from the unclean, in confor- 
 mity to thofe previous ceremonies of luftration which we have ihewn were 
 to be performed before admiffion to the Myfteries. And now we fee of how 
 little avail, to the fervice of infidelity, that Parallel is, which Sir J. Mar- 
 fham has drawn between all thefe paffages from Africanus and Manatho, 
 and Mofes's Vifons of God at the Bujh and in the Mount. 
 
 P. 231. [T] Ulyffes, in Homer, mentions both thefe forts in the fol-. 
 lowing lines, 
 
 ZTu waTEp, ii (A— — 
 
 ^r^^nv Ti'j fj.o\ fa'ffGw iy£»(5o(A£vwv «>0^wV<dv 
 
 "i.MlVp £x7cO-fiE> Si A)0{ T£{«5 9.KK0 f^»»iTW. 
 
 The
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 393 
 
 The word omen in its proper fenfe fignifies/w/f/riS reiftgnum, quod ex fermone 
 loqiientis capitur. Tully f35'S, lib. i. Divin. " Pythagorei noii folum voces 
 *' deorum obfervarunt, fed etiam hominum, quae vocant omina." This 
 fort of omen was fuppofed to depend much upon the will of the perfon 
 concerned in the event. Hence the phrafcs accepit omen, arripuit omen. 
 This, as we fay, was its firfl and proper fignification. It was afterwards 
 applied to things, as well as nords. So Paterculus, fpeaking of the head 
 of Sulpicius on the roftrum, fays it was velut omen immineniis prQfcripiionis. 
 And Suetonius of Auguftus : " Aufpicia qutedam & omina pro certiffimis 
 " obfervabat. Si mane fibi calceus perperam, ac finifter pro dextero in- 
 *' duceretur, ut dirum." It was ufed ftill in a larger fenfe to fignify an 
 augury, as by Tully, De Div. lib. i. 
 
 Sic aquilse clarum firmavit Jupiter ovien. 
 And laftly, in the moft general fenfe of all, for a portent or prodigy in 
 general, as in the place before us. 
 
 P. 239. [UJ The Etrufci feem to have had the fame cuftom, in which 
 the public repofed its laft confidence. Livy tells us, that in the 444th 
 year of Rome, when the affairs of this people were grown defperate by 
 the repeated defeats of their armies, they had recourfe to the lex faera, as 
 their laft refuge. Of which the hiftorian gives this fuccindt and obfcurc 
 account, — " ad Vadimoniis lacum Etrufci lege Jacrata coafto exercitu, 
 " quum "uir virum legjjfet, quantis nunquam alias ante fimul copiis, fimul 
 ** animis dimicarunt," &c. lib. ix. The commentators are at a lofs for 
 the meaning of x}:i\%f acred law, in raifing an army where every foldier was 
 to chufe his fellow. I certainly think it to be the Inflitution in queftion : 
 the Etrufci were defcended from the Pelafgi, and had afterwards civilized 
 and polilhed themfelves by Grecian cuftoms, as one may well fuppofc 
 from the character Livy gives of them in this book — " Csere educatus 
 " apud hofpites, Etrufcis inde Uteris eruditus erat : — habet autores, vulgo 
 " tum Romanos pueros, ficut nunc Graecis, ita Etrufcis Uteris erudiri foli- 
 " tos." But, in general, the giving a traditive original even to the moft 
 charafteriftic cuftoms, is very fallacious. Mahomet, who certainly 
 did not borrow from the ancient Grecian praftices, yet eftabliftied the 
 fame kind of Fraternity amongft his followers, in the firft year of the 
 Hegira. See Abul-feda Be vita Mahommedis, cap. 26. init. De Fralernitaie 
 inptuta inter Mojlcmos. And, what is ftill more extraordinary, the Miflion- 
 VoL. I. E e c aries
 
 354 THE D I VI NE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 aries affure us, that it is one of the moft facred Inftitutions amongft the 
 warrior-nations of the free people in North America. Which, becaufe it 
 fo exa(3:ly refembles the Grecian in all its circumftances, I fliall give, as, I 
 find it defcribed by one of their bcfl: writers. " Chacun parmi eux a un 
 " ami a peu pres de fon age, auquel il s'attache, et qui s'attaehe a lui par 
 " des liens indiflblubles. Deux homines ainfi unis pour leur interet com- 
 *' mun, doivent tout faire & tout rilquer pour s'entr'aider, & fe fecourir 
 " mutuellement : la mort mime, a ce qu'ils croyent, ne les fepare que pour un 
 " iems : Us comptent bien de fe rejoindredam I' autre monde pour ne fe plus 
 " quitter, perfuades qu'ils y auront encore befoin Tun de I'autre. — On 
 " ajoute, que ces amis, quand ils fe trouvent eloignes les uns des autres, 
 " s'invoquent reciproquement dans les perils, ou ils fe recontrent ; ce 
 *' qu'il faut fans doute entendre de leurs genies tutJlaires. Les presens 
 "font les noeuds de ces affociationsy I'interct & le befoin les fortifient; c'eft 
 ♦• un fecours fur lequel on peut prefque toujours compter, ^elques uns 
 " pretendent qu'ils s'y glijfe du defordre ; mais j'ai fujet de croire qu'au moiens 
 " cela n'efl: pas general." Journal d'un Voyage dans I'Amerique Septentrio- 
 nale par le P. de Charlevoix, tome vi. p. 14. 
 
 P. 241. [X] One can hardly account for that ftrange miftake of the 
 Abbe Velly in his elegant Hiftory of France, where fpeaking of thefe 
 fraternities in arms amongft the Northern Nations (for nature didates the 
 fame pradlice to all, in the fame circumftances), he fays — " On n'en trouve 
 *' AucuN VESTIGE chez CCS fiercs Rcpubliqucs qui s'etoient attribue I'efjirit 
 " et la politelTe a I'exclufion de tout autre Peuple : mais elles font de toute 
 " anciennete chez les Nations Septentrionales, que la Grece et I'ltalie 
 " plutot civilifces ont juge apropos de nommcr Sauvages et .Barbares. 
 Tom. V. p. 58. 
 
 P. 244. [YJ Hence the reader will be able to judge of the delicacy o 
 tafte, and accuracy of difcernment, in a late Writer; who, in a book 
 called Elements of Criticifm, correfts Virgil's want of judgement in this part 
 of the yEneis, after having given inftances of defe<5ts full as notorious, in 
 the Georgics. " An epifode in a narrative Poem (fays this Man of Tafte) 
 *' being, in efFedt, an AccefTory, demands not that ftri£t union with the 
 " principal fubjeft, which is requifite betwixt a w^hole and its conftituent 
 " parts. The relation, however, of Principal and Accejfory being pretty in- 
 " timate, an Epifode loosely connected with the principal fubjedt will 
 
 " never
 
 Notes. OF MOSES D EM O N ST R A T^E D. 395 
 
 *' never be graceful. I give for an example the dcfcent of Eneas into 
 " Hell, which employs the Sixth Book of the ^neid. The Reader is xor 
 *' PREPARED for this important event. No cause is assigned that can 
 " make it appear necessary, or even natural, to fufpend, for fo long a 
 ** time, the principal aftion," &c. &:c. vol.1, p. 38. — Ihe Critic having 
 told us that a Jlrifi union is 7iot required betweei^'the Principal and Acceffory, 
 finds fault with the Accejjory, that no caufe is given to make it appear, 
 that it is NECESSARY to the frincipal. However, I ought not to be too 
 fevere on this great Critic, fince the Obfervation was certainly made on 
 purpofe to recommend my interpretation of this defcent into Hell ; which 
 fhews, if not the necfjftty, yet the infinite grace and beauty of this noble 
 Accejfory, and the clofe and natural connexion it has with its Principal. 
 
 P. 251. [Z] But Servius, in his explanation of the branch, went upon 
 the abfurd fuppofition that ^neas's dcfcent into hell was the fame wlrh 
 that of Ulyfies, in Homer, a necromantic incantation by facrifice, to call u[) 
 the fhadows of the dead. " Ramus enim neceffe erat, ut & unius caufa 
 " eflet interitus, unde & flatim mortem fubjungit Mifeni : & ad facta 
 " Proferpinse accedere, nifi fublato ramo non poterat. Inferos autem fub- 
 " ire, hoc dicit facra celebrare Proferpinae." And again, ad ver. 149. 
 '• Praterea jacet exanimum tibi corpus amici. Ac fi diceret; Eft & alia op- 
 " portunitas defcendendi ad inferos, id eft, Proferpinse facra pcragendi. 
 " Duo enim horum facrorum genera fuifle dicuntur ; unum nekyoman- 
 ** Ti^, quod Lucanus exfequirur i & aliud scioMANXiiE, id eft, divina- 
 " tionis per umbras ; a-nU enim umbra eft, & fxx^JlitXs vaticuiium, quod in 
 *' Homero, quern Virgilius fequitur, ledum eft." 
 
 P. 252. [AA] The learned Selden, in his comment on the ninth book 
 of Poly-olbion,. feems to approve the abfurd conjecture of P. Crinitus, that 
 the golden-bough fignifies mijletoe : and would confirm it by that very reafon, 
 which abfolutely overthrows it; viz. that Virgil compares it to the mjleioe : 
 for it is contrary to all the rules of good writing, whether fimply figurative, 
 or allegoric, to make the cojnparifon to the cover, the cofitents of the cover ; 
 a COMPARISON neceflarily implying, that the thing, to which another is 
 compared, fliould be different from that other. 
 
 P. 268. [BB] The very learned Mr. Dacier tranftates U aVoppjiroK, dans 
 
 les Myfleres ; and this agreeably to his knowledge of antiquity. For awlffnix 
 
 was ufed by the ancients, to fignify not only the grand fecret taught in the 
 
 E e e 2 Myjleries,
 
 -^^(i THtE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Myfteries, but the Myfteries themfelves ; as appears from Innumerable 
 places in their writings. Yet the celebrated French tranllator of Puffen- 
 dorf's Law of Naiwe and Nations, lib. ii. cap. 4. §19. notefi), accufe? 
 him of not underftanding his author : *' Mr. Dacier fait dire a Platon que 
 *' I'on tcnoit tons les jours ces difcours au feuple dans les ceremonies & datis 
 " les Mjifleres^ 11 feroit a foOhaiter qu'il eut allegue quelque autorite pour 
 " etablir un fait fi remarquable. Mais il s'agit Ici manifeftement des in- 
 " ftrudtions fccretes que les Pythagorlciens domioient a leurs inltiez, & 
 " lefquelles lis decouvroient les raifons les plus abftrufes, & les plus par- 
 ** ticuliers des dogmes de leur philofophie. Ces inftruCtions cachees s'ap- 
 *• pelloient unifp^la. • Ce que Platon dit un peu auparavant de Philolaus, 
 ** philofophe Pythagoriclen, ne permit pas de douter que la ralfon, qu'iL 
 " rapporte ici comme trop abftrufe & difficile a comprendre, ne folt celle 
 " que donnoient les Pythagorlciens." He fays, // ivere to be zvijhed Dacier 
 had fome authorit) for Jo remarkable a fad. He hath this very paffage^ 
 which is fufficlent ; for the word aTroppi-Jc* can mean no other than the 
 Myjieries. But thofe who want further authority, may have enough, of it^ 
 in the nature and end of the Myfteries, as explained above. — He fays, " It 
 " is evident, Plato is here talking of the fecret Inflrudtlons which the 
 " Pythagoreans gave to their Initiated, in which they difcavered their 
 " moft abftrufe and particular doftrlnes." This cannot be fo, for a very 
 plain reafon. The philofophy of the Pythagoreans, like that of the other 
 lefts, was divided into the exoteric and efoteric ; the open, taught to all ; and 
 the fecret, taught to a feleft number. But the impiety of fuicide was in the 
 firft clafs, as a doftrine ferviceable to fociety : " Vetatque Pythagoras in- 
 *' juiTu imperatoris, id eft, Dei, de prafidio & ftatlone vit£B decedere," 
 fays Tully, in his book Of old age\ who, in his Dream of Scipio, written 
 in the exoteric way, condemns fuicide for the very fame reafon ; but in an 
 epiftle to a particular friend, which certainly was of the efoteric kind, he 
 approves of it ; " Ceteri quideni, Pompeius, Lentulus tuus, Sclpio, Afra- 
 " nius, foede perierunt. At Cato prjeclare. Jam iftuc quidem, cum 
 " volemus, licebit." lib. ix. ep. 18. It could not be, therefore, that the 
 Impiety of fuicide ftiould be reckoned amongft the dirof'fnla, of philofophy, 
 lince it was one of their popular doftrlnes. But this v/Ul be fuller feen, 
 when we come to fpeak of the philofophers, in the next book. Mr. Bar- 
 beyrac concludes, that, " as Plato had fpoken of Philolaus a little before, 
 " it cannot be doubted but that he fpeaks of the reafon againft fuicide^
 
 Notes. OFMOSES DEMONSTRATED. 
 
 y)l 
 
 ** as a doftrine of the Pythagorean philofophy." What has been faid 
 above, utterly excludes this interpretation. But though it did not, there 
 is nothing in the context which fhews, Plato thought of Philolaus in this 
 place. It is allowed, this was a dodtrine of the Pythagoric fchool, though 
 not of the efoteric kind. The Myjhries, and that School, held a number of 
 things in common ; this has been fhewn, in part, already : and when we 
 come to fpeak of Pythagoras, it will be feen how it happened. 
 
 P. 269. [CC] We may well judge it to be fo, when we find it amongft 
 the Chinese (fee M. Polo. lib. ii. cap. 28.) and the Arabians, the two 
 people leaft corrupted by foreign manners, and the vicious cuftoms of more 
 civilized nations. The Arabians, particularly, living much in a ftate of 
 nature, where mens wants are few, and confequently where there is fmall 
 temptation to this unnatural crime, yet were become fo prone to it, that 
 their lawgiver Mahomet found it neceflary to exa£t an oath of the Ara- 
 bian women, not to deflroy their children. The form of this oath is given 
 us by Gagnier, in his notes on Abel-feda's Life of Mahomet, and it is in 
 thefe words; " — Ne deo rem ullam aflbcient ; ne furentur ; ne fornicen- 
 " tur ; NE LiBEROS suos occiDANT [mctu paupertatls uti habetur, Sur 
 " vi. V. 151.] neque inobedientes fint Apoftolo Dei, in eo quod juftum eft.'' 
 p. 41. n. (a). 
 
 P. 270. [DD"' The Egyptian laws were faid tahave been of Ifis's own 
 appointment. This will Ihew us with what judgment and addrefs Ovid has 
 told the tale of Lidgus the Cretan, in his Meiamorphofis j (of the nature 
 and art of which Work more will be obferved hereafter.) Lidgus (in the 
 ixth book, fab. 12.) is reprefented as commanding his pregnant wife, 
 Telethufa, to deftroy the expeded infant, if it proved a female. Yet iS' 
 this Cretan thus charadlerized, 
 
 vita fidefque 
 Inculpata fuit 
 
 in a word, juft fuch another as Terence's man of univerfal benevolence, 
 (mentioned above) the Author of the famous maxim, homo fum, humani 
 nihil a mc alienum puto, and of the very fame command of infanticide to 
 his Wife ; who for not obeying it is reckoned by him, amongft thofe, qui 
 neque jus neque bonum atque aqttum fciunt. Telethufa, however, as com- 
 mon as fuch a command was, and as indifferent as it was efteemed, is much 
 alarmed with the apprehenfion of falling into the cruel fituation of being 
 
 obliged
 
 598 'THE DIVINE LEGATION Book Il> 
 
 obliged to execute it. In this diftrefs Ifis appears to her in a dream, pro- 
 mifes her affiftance, and orders her to deceive her hufband, and bring up 
 whatever the Gods fliould fend : 
 
 Pone graves curas, mandataque falle mariti ; 
 
 Nee dubita, cum te partu Lucina levarit, 
 
 Tollere quicquid erit 
 
 Ovid's moral of his tale is this, " That Egypt had oppofed very wife and 
 " humane laws to the horrid pradiice of infanticide, now become ge- 
 " neral, and continuing unchecked by all other civil inftitutions." 
 
 P. 309. [EE]. On what is here faid concerning the Charadter of ^mi- 
 lianus the moft learned Chancellor Mofheim obferves as follows : " Plato- 
 nicis Chriftianam Religionem aftu fubvertere fludentibus, ApuLEiiTMnon ita 
 pridem addidit vir ingenio aeque magnus atque do6\rina, Guil. IFarbitrtonus 
 in Demonjiratione divina Legationis Mofis. Hunc enim in notiffima ilia de aureo 
 Afino fabula feu Metamorphoji id cgiffe putat, ut Myjieria Deorum fumma 
 virtute ad fanandas & purgandas hominum mentes efll prsdita, facrifque 
 Chriftianis idcirco longe anteferenda, demonftraret, hominem nempe im- 
 primis fuperftitiofum, Chriflianifque et publico Sedtx, quam probabat, & 
 privato nomine inimicum. Obfervavit Vir egregius qua eft fagacitate, 
 rerumque vetcrum peritia, in Apuleio nonnulla nemini ante ipfum obfer- 
 vata : in quibus id placet maxime, quod Licinium jEmilianum, qui Aru- 
 LEiuM apud Africie Proconful A'/^^/<2 accufaverat Christianum fuiffe ex 
 Apologia, quse extat, accufati, non fine magna veri fpecie fufpicatur. De 
 confilio vero FabuIcB de A/ino, quod commentationem Myjieriorum ct Chrif- 
 tian£B Religionis contemtionem vir doftiffimus efle conjicit, dubitare mihi 
 liceat, quum nihil afferri videam ex ea, quod difEculter in aliam par- 
 tem accipi poffit." De rebus Chrijl. ante Conjlant. M. Commentarii Seculum 
 tert. Sedt. 21. not. (***) The Englifh of which conclufion amounts to 
 this, " That another interpretation might be given of the Golden Afs." I 
 believe fo. It might be fhewn to contain a proccfs for the difcovery of 
 the Pbilofopher's Stone. And a certain German Chymift, if I be not mif- 
 taken, has extradled this fecret out of the Fable. 
 
 CONTI-
 
 t ^99 ] 
 
 CONTINUATION OF BOOK II. 
 
 SECT. V. 
 
 HITH ERTO we have fliewn the Magiftrate^s care in propa- 
 gating the belief of a God — of his Providence over human 
 affairs — and of the way in which that Providence is chiefly dif- 
 penfed ; namely, by rewards and punifliments in d. future Jlate, 
 Thefe things make the eflence of Religion, and compofe the body 
 of it. 
 
 His next care was for the support of Religion, fo propagated. 
 And this was done by uniting it to the State, taking it under 
 the civil protection, and giving it the rights and privileges of an 
 establishment. Accordingly we find that all ftates and people, 
 in the ancient world, had an established religion; which was 
 under the more Immediate protection of the civil Magiftrate, in con- 
 tradiftinftion to thofe which were only tolerated. 
 
 How clofe thefe two Interefts were united in the Egyptian Poli- 
 cy, is well known to all acquainted with Antiquity. Nor were the 
 politeft Republics lefs folicitous for the common interefts of the 
 two Societies, than that fage and powerful Monarchy (the nurfe 
 of arts and virtue) as we Ihall fee hereafter, in the condu6t both of 
 Rome and Athens, for the fupport and prefervation of the ejlablijjjed 
 worlhip. 
 
 But
 
 400 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 JBut an eJiabllJJded Religion Is the voice of Nature ; and not con- 
 fined to certain ages, people, or religions. That great voyager 
 and fenfible obferver of men and manners, J. Baptifte Tavernier, 
 .{peaking of the kingdom of Tunquin, thus dcHvers himfelf con- 
 cerning this univerfal policy, as he faw it pradifed, in his time, 
 both in the Eaft and Weil: ; " I come now to the political defcrip- 
 "tionofthis kingdom, under which I comprehend the religion, 
 ** which is, ahnojl every where, in concert ivitb the civil government, 
 ^' for the mutual fupport of one another *y 
 
 That the Magiflrate eflablifhed Religion, united it to the State, 
 and took it into his immediate protedion for the fake of civil Soci- 
 ety, cannot be queftioned ; the advantages to Government being lb 
 apparent. 
 
 But the neceffity of this union for procuring thofe advantages, 
 as likewife the number and extent of them, are not "i^ eafily un- 
 derftood. Nor indeed can they be underfliood without a perfed 
 knowledge of the nature of an established religion, and of 
 thofe principles of equity, on which it arifeth. But as this mafter- 
 piece of human policy hath been of late, though but of late, called 
 in queftion, after having from the firfl: inftitution of Society, even 
 to the prefent age, been univerfally praftifed by the Magiflrate, 
 and as univerfally approved by philofophers and divines ; and as our 
 queftion is the condu6l of Lawgivers, and legitimate Magiftrates, 
 whofe inftitutions are to be defended on the rules of reafon and 
 equity ; not of Tyrants, who fet themfelves above both ; it will 
 not be improper to examine this matter to the bottom ; efpecially 
 as the enquiry is fo neceflary to a per/e6l knowledge of the civil 
 advantages, refulting from an eflablijloed religion. 
 
 We muft at prefent then lay afide our ideas of the ancient modes 
 of civil and religious focieties ; and fearch what they are in them- 
 felves, by nature ; and thence deduce the inftitution in queftion. 
 
 * Je viens a la defcriptioft politique de ce royaume, dans laquelle je comprens la 
 religii n, qii eli frefc^ue en tout lieax de concert avec k gouvernement civil pour Vappuy reciproqiie 
 dc fun et de fautre. Relation nouvelle du Royaume de Tunquin, c. x, a la fin. 
 
 Ifliall
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEiMO N ST R ATE D. 401 
 
 I Iball do this in as few words as poflible ; and refer thofe, who 
 defire a fuller account of this matter, to a feparate difcourfe, in- 
 tituled, The alliance between church and state. 
 
 In the beginning of the firft book, where we fpeak of the origin 
 of civil Society, the reader may remember we have fhewn the 
 natural deficiency of its plan ; and how the influence and fancStion 
 of Religion only can fupply that defeft. 
 
 Religion then being proved neceflary to Society ; that it fliould 
 be i^o ufed and apphed, and in the beil way, and to moft advan- 
 tage, needs no proof. For it is as infllnftive in our nature to 
 improve, as to inveftigate and purfue Good : and with regard to 
 the improvement of this in queftion, there is fpecial reafon why it 
 fliould be ftudied. For the experience of every place and age in- 
 forms us, that the coadivity of civil Laws and Religion^ is little 
 enough to keep men from running into diforder and mutual 
 violence. 
 
 But this improvement is the efFe£t of art and contrivance. For 
 all natural Good, every thing conftitutionally beneficial to man, 
 needs man's induftry to make it better. We receive it at the pro- 
 vident hand of Heaven, rather with a capacity of being applied to 
 our ufe, than immediately fitted for our fervice. We receive it 
 indeed, in full meafure, but rude and unprepared. 
 
 Now, concerning this technical improvement of moral good, it 
 is in artificial habits as in natural ; two may be fo effentially con- 
 ftituted, as to be greatly able to adorn and ftrengthen one another : 
 But then, as in this cafe, a mere juxta-pofition of the parts is not 
 fufficient ; fo neither is it in that : fome union, fome coalition, 
 fome artful infertion into each other will be neceflary. 
 
 But then again, as in natural bodies the artift is unable to fet 
 about the proper operation, till he hath acquired a competent know- 
 ledge of the nature of thofe bodies, which are the fubjedt of his 
 (kill ; fo neither can we know in what manner Religion may be bed: 
 applied to the fervice of the State, till we have learned (he real 
 Vol. I. Fff and
 
 402 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 and eflentlal natures both of a State and a Religion. The obvious 
 qualities of both fufficiently fhew, tliat they muft needs have a 
 good efFea on each other, when properly applied ; (as our artift, 
 by his knowledge of the obvious qualities of two natural bodie5, we 
 fuppofe, may make the like conclufion) though we have not yet got 
 fufficlent acquaintance with them to make the proper application. 
 
 It behoves us therefore to gain a right knowledge of the nature 
 both of a civil and of a religious Society. 
 
 I. To begin with civil Society : It was inftituted either with the 
 fiurpofe of attaining all the good of every kind, it was even acci- 
 dentally capable of producing ; or only of fome certain good, which 
 the Inftitutors had in view, unconcerned with, and unattentive to 
 any other. To fuppofe its end to be the vague purpofe of acquiring 
 all poffible accidental good, is, in poUtics, a mere folecifm ; as 
 hath been fufficiently (hewn by the writers on this queftion *. And 
 how untrue it is in fad, may be gathered from what hath been 
 faid in the beginning, of the origin of Society. Civil fociety then, 
 I fuppofe, will be allowed to have been inftituted for the attainment 
 of fome certain end or ends, exclufive of others : and this implies 
 the neceffity of diftinguifhing this end from others. Which dif- 
 tindion arifes from the different properties of the things pretend- 
 ing. But again, amongft all thofe things, which are apt to ob- 
 trude, or have, in fa£t, obtruded upon men, as the ends of civil 
 government, there is only this difference in their properties, as 
 ends ; Thaty one of them is attainable by civil Society only, and all the 
 rejl are eajily obtained without it. The thing then with that pro- 
 perty or quality muft needs be the genuine end of civil Society. 
 And this end is no other than security to the temporal 
 LiRERTY AND PROPERTY OF MAN. For this end (as we have 
 fhewn) civil Society was invented ; and this, civil Society alone is 
 
 * See Locke's Defences of his Letters on Toleration. This appears to have been 
 
 Ariftotle's opinion ^iat\ fiXt a» Jtufirai to Sii^u, x^ to iSko)' .i^lt y»p i if ilo-ij croiei ToiuToi', 
 
 «Iij> ;;^a^xoTWOl T»l» Al^|pt!^i» ftap^atjan roi»;{;{»5, aM' h wjoj tv, &C. Polit. 1. 1. C. 3. 
 
 able
 
 Sect. 5- OF M O SES DEM O NSTR ATE D, 403 
 
 able to procure. The great, but fpurious rival of this end, the 
 SALVATION OF SOULS, or the fccurity of imj\s future happinefs, 
 belongs therefore to the other divifion. For this not depending on 
 outward accidents, or on tite will or power of another, as the body 
 and goods do, may be as well attained in a ftate of nature, as in 
 civil fociety ; and therefore, on the principles here delivered, can- 
 not be one of the caufes of the inftitution of civil government ; 
 nor, confequently, one of the ends thereof But if fo, the pro- 
 motion of it comes not within the proper province of the Magif- 
 trate. 
 
 II. Second/y, as to religious Society, or a Church. This being 
 inftituted to preferve purity of faith and worfliip, its ultimate end is 
 the SALVATION OF SOULS : From whence it follows, 
 
 I. That the religious Society mujl needs be sovereign, and in- 
 dependent ON THE CIVIL. Natural dependency of one Society 
 on another, arifes either from the law of nature, or of nations. 
 Dependency by the law of nature, is from effence or generation. 
 Dependency from ejfence there can be none. For this kind of de- 
 pendency being a mode of natural union and coalition ; and coali- 
 tion being only where there is an agreement in eodem tertio ; and 
 there being no fuch agreement between two Societies eflentially 
 different, as thefe are, there can poflibly be no dependency. De- 
 pendency from generation is where one Society fprings up from 
 another ; as corporations, colleges, companies, and chambers, in 
 a city. Thefe, as well by the conformity of their ends and means, 
 as by their charters of incorporation, betray their original and de- 
 pendency. But religious Society, by ends and means quite different, 
 gives internal proof of its not ariling from the State ; and we have 
 (hewn by external evidence *, that it exifted before the ftate had 
 any being. Again, no dependency can arife from the law of nations, 
 or the civil law. Dependency by this law is, where one and the 
 fame people compofing two different Societies, the imperium of the 
 
 * See Book III. fcft. 6. 
 
 F f f 2 <^ne
 
 404 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 one clafhes with the impcrlum of the other. And, in fuch cafe, 
 the lefler Society becomes, by that law, dependent on the greatei' ; 
 becaufe the not being fo, would make that abfurdity in politics, 
 called hnperium in imperio. Bat no\f civil and religious Society, 
 having ends and means entirely different ; and the means of civil 
 Society being coercive power, which power therefore the religious 
 hath not ; it follows, that the adminiftration of each Society is 
 exercifed in fo remote fpheres, that they can never meet to clafh : 
 And thofe Societies which never clafh, neceflity of ftate cannot 
 bring into dependency on one another. 
 
 2. It follows, 'That this independent religious Society hath not, in 
 and of it [elf, any coaBive power of the civil kind: Its inherent 
 jurifdiction being, in its nature and ufe, entirely different from 
 that of the State. For if, as hath been proved, civil Society was in- 
 flituted for the attainment of one fpecies of good (all other good, 
 requilite to human happinefs, being to be attained without it) and 
 that civil Society attains the good, for which it was ordained, by 
 the fole mean of coercive power ; then it follows, that the good, 
 which any other kind of Society feeks, may be attained without 
 that power ; confequently, coercive power Is unneceflary to a reli- 
 gious Society, But that mean, which is unnecejjary for the attain- 
 ment of any end, is likewife unfit ; in all cafes, but in that, where 
 fuch mean is rendered unneceiTary by the ufe of other means of the 
 fame kind or fpecies. But religious fociety attains its end by means 
 of a different kind ; therefore coercive power is not only unnecef- 
 fary, but unfit. Again, Ends, in their nature different, can never 
 be attained by one and the fame mean. Thus in the cafe before 
 \is: c^J^raw power can only influence us to outward practice; by 
 outward praftice only, is the good which civil Society aims at, im- 
 mediately effefted ; therefore is coercive power peculiarly fit for 
 civil Society. But the good, which religious Society aims at, cannot 
 be effedted by outward praftice ; therefore coercive power is alto- 
 gether unfit for this Society. 
 
 Having
 
 Sect. 5. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 405 
 
 Plaving thus by a diligent enquiry found, 
 
 I. Fir ft, 'That the care of the civil Society extends only to the body, 
 and its concerns ; anJ the care of the religious Society only to the foul : 
 it neceffarily follows, that the civil Magiftrate, if he will improve 
 this natural influence of Religion by human art and contrivance, 
 muft: feek fome union or alliance with tht Church. For his 
 office not extending to the care of fouls, he hath not, in himfelf, 
 power to enforce the influence of religion : and the Church's prO' 
 vince not extending to the dody, and confequently being without 
 coa6tive power, ftie has not, in herfelf alone, a power of applying 
 that influence to a'l;// purpofes. The conclufion is, that their joint 
 powers muft co-operate thus to apply and inforce the influence of 
 religion. But they can never act conjointly but in union and 
 alliance. 
 
 II. Secondly, having found that each fociety is fovereign, and in- 
 dependent on the other, it as neceflarily follows, that fuch union can 
 be produced only by free convention and mutual compact : 
 becaufe, whatever is fovereign and independent, can be brought to 
 no adt without its own confent : but nothing can give birth to a 
 free convention, but a fenfe of mutual wants,, which may be 
 fupplied ; or a view of mutual benefits, .which may be gained 
 by it. 
 
 Such then is the nature of that Union which produceth a reli- 
 gion BY LAW established: and which is, indeed, no other than 
 a public league and alliance for mutual fupport and defence. For the 
 State not having the care of fouls, cannot inforce the influence of 
 religion ; and therefore feeks the concurring aid of the Church : and 
 the Church having no coercive power (the confequence of its care's 
 not extending to bodies') as naturally flies for proteftion to the State: 
 this being of that kind oi Alliance which Grotius calls foedus 
 
 in^quAle " Inzequale fcedus (fays he) hie intelligo quod ex 
 
 " ipfa vi paftionis manentem prcelationem quandam alteri donat : hoc 
 " eft, ubi quis tenetur alterius imperium ac mnjeftatem confervare 
 
 *' UT
 
 4o6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 '< Vr POTENTIORI PLUS HONORIS, INFIRMIORI PLUS AUXILII DE- 
 *' FERATUR *." 
 
 An ylHiance, then, by free convention, being in its nature fuch 
 that each party muft have its motives for contradling ; our next 
 enquiry will .be, 
 
 I. What thofe motives were, which the State had for feeh'ng, and 
 the Church for accepting, the offers of an union : And, 
 
 II. The mutual benefits and advantages thereby arifing. 
 
 The motives the Magiftrate had to feek this alliance, were 
 thefe : 
 
 I. To preferve the effence and purity of religion. 
 
 II. To improve its ufefulnefs, and apply its influence in the beft 
 manner. 
 
 III. To prevent the mifchief which, in its natural independent 
 flate, it might occafion to civil fociety. 
 
 I. The Magiftrate was induced to feek it, i. As the 7iecejary 
 means of prcferving the being of religion. For though (as hath been 
 fhewn in the treatife of the Alliance t) religion conftitutes a Society ; 
 and though this Society will indeed, for fome time, fupport the 
 exiftence of religion, which, without it, would foon vanifh from 
 amongft men ; yet, if we confider that religious Society is made 
 up of the fame individuals which compofe the civil ; and deftitute 
 likewife of all coercive power ; we muft needs fee, that a Society, 
 abandoned to its own fortune, without fupport or protedion, 
 would, in no long time, be fwallowed up and loft. Of this opi- 
 nion was a very able writer, whofe knowledge of human nature 
 will not be difputed : " Were it not, fays he, for that fenfe of 
 *' virtue, which is principally preferved, fo far as it is preferved, 
 
 *' BY NATIONAL FORMS AND HABITS OF RELIGION, men WOuld 
 
 " foon lofe it all, run wild, prey upon one another, and do what 
 *' elfe the worft of favages do |." 
 
 * De Jure Belli et Pac. 1. 1, c. 3. § 21. 
 •f- Book I. § J. 
 
 X Wollafton's Religion of Nature delineated, p. 124. Quarto Edit. 1725. 
 
 2. But
 
 Sect. 5. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 407 
 
 2. But of whatever ufe an Alliance may be thought, for preferv- 
 ing the being of religion, the neceffity of it, for preferving its 
 purity, is moft evident : for \i iruib, ?ii\d public uii/iiy coincide, the 
 nearer any religion approacheth to the truth of things, the fitter 
 that religion is for the fervice of the State. That they do coincide, 
 that is, that truth is produflive of utility, and utility indicative of 
 truth, may be proved on any principles, but the atheiflic ; and 
 therefore we think it needlefs, in this place, to draw out the ar- 
 gument in form*: Let us then confider the danger religion runs 
 of deviating from truth, when left, in its natural flate, to itfelf. 
 In thofe circumftances, the men of highefl credit, are llich as are 
 famed for greateft fandlity. This fan£tiiy hath been generally iin- 
 derftood to be then moft perfeft, when moft eftrangpd from the 
 world, and all its habits and relations. But this being only to be 
 acquired by feceffion and retirement from affairs ; and that fecef- 
 fion rendering man ignorant of civil Society, and of its rights and 
 interefts ; in place of which will fucceed, according to his natural 
 temper, the deftruftive follies either of fuperftition or fanaticifm, 
 we muft needs conclude, that religion, under fuch directors and 
 reformers, (and God knows thefe are generally its lot) will deviate 
 from truth ; and conl'equently from a capacity, in proportion, of 
 ferving civil Society. I wifh I could not fay, we have too many 
 examples to fupport this obfervation. The truth is, we have feen, 
 and yet do fee religious Societies, fome grown up, and continuing 
 nnfupported by, and ununited with the State ; others, that, when 
 fupported and united^ have by ftrauge arts brought the ftate into 
 fubjedlion, and become its tyrants and ufurpers ; and thereby de- 
 feated all the good which can arife from this alliance ; fuch So- 
 cieties, I fay, we have feen, whofe religious doftrines are fo little 
 ferviceable to civil Government, that they can profper only on the 
 ruin and deftrudion of it. Such are thofe which teach the holinefs 
 
 * See Book III. § 6. 
 
 Of
 
 4o8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 of celibacy and afceticifm, the Jinfulnefs of defenfive war, of capita! pu- 
 nijlmients, and even of civil magijlracy itfelf. 
 
 On the other hand, when rehgion is la Alliance vvitli the State, 
 as it then comes under the Magiftrate's dlre£lion, thole holy 
 leaders having now neither credit nor power to do mifchief, its 
 purity muft needs be reafonably well fupported and preferved ; for 
 truth and public utility coinciding, the civil MagUlrate, as fuch, 
 will fee it for his interefl: to feek after, and promote truth in reli- 
 gion : and, by means of public utility, which • his office enables 
 him fo well to undferftand, he will never be at a lofs, where fuch 
 troth is to be found: fo that it is impoflible, under this civil in- 
 fluence, for religion ever to deviate far from truth ; always fuppof- 
 ing (for on-jfoch fuppofition this whole theory proceeds) a legi- 
 timate government, or civil policy, eftablKhed on the princi- 
 ples of the natural rights and liberties of man : for an unequal 
 and unjuft Government, which feeks its own, not public utility, 
 will always have occafion for error : and fo, mufl: corrupt religion 
 both in principle and pratSlice, to promote its own wrong interefts. 
 
 IL Secondly, the Maglftrate was induced to feek this Alliance, 
 as the necejfary means to improve the ufefulnefs, and to apply in the 
 bejl manner the influence of religion for hisfervice. And this an Alliance 
 does by feveral ways. 
 
 I . By hef owing additional reverence and veneration on the pcrfon 
 of thecivil magistrate, and on the-LKVJSoftheJlate. For, In 
 this alliance, where the religious Society is taken into the proteftion 
 of the State, the fupreme Maglftrate, as will be fliewn hereafter, 
 is acknowledged head of the religion. Now nothing can be ima- 
 gined of more efficacy for fcCuring the obedience of the people. 
 Thofe two great mafters in politics, Ariftotle and Machiavel, as we 
 have feen, thought it of force enough to gain reverence and fe- 
 curity to a tyrant. What then mufl: we fuppofe its efficacy in a 
 legitimate Maglfl:rature ? The fame veneration will extend itfelf 
 over the Laws likewife : For while fome of them are &mployed by 
 
 the
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 409 
 
 the State for the fuppori cj the Church, and others lent to the Church 
 to be employed in they^rw'c^ of the State, and all of them enaded 
 by a legijlalure. In which churchmen have a confiderable JJiare (all 
 thefe things being amongft the conditionsof ^///^Wd" *) laws under 
 fuch direction, muft needs be regarded with the greateft reverence. 
 2. By lending to the Church a coactive power. — It may be re- 
 membered, that, in fpeaking of the innate defedls of civil Society, 
 we obferved, that there were feveral forts of duties which civil laws 
 could not inforce; fuch as the duties of imperfect obligation ; 
 which a religious Society, when endowed with coercive power, to 
 invigorate the influence of religion, is capable of exa£ling : and 
 SUCH likewife of the duties of perfect obligation ; whofe breach 
 is owing to the intemperance of the fenfual appetites ; the fevere 
 prohibition of which threatens greater and more enormous evils : 
 for while thefe unruly paffions overflow, the flopping them in one 
 place is caufing them to break out with greater violence in another; 
 as the rigorous punifliment of fornication hath been generally feea 
 to give birth to unnatural lufts. The efFe^lual correilion there- 
 fore of fuch evils muft be begun by moderating and fubduing the 
 paflions themfelves. But this, civil laws are not underftood to pre- 
 fcribe-f ; as punifhing thofe paffions only when they proceed to a5i ; 
 and not rewarding the attempts to Jubdue them : it muft be a tri- 
 bunal regarding irregular intentions as criminal, and good defires 
 as meritorious, which can work this efled ; and this can be no 
 other than the tribunal of religion. When that is once done, a 
 coa£live power of the civil kind may be applied to good purpofe ; 
 but not till then : And who fo fit to apply it as that Society, which 
 prepared the fubjeft for its due application and reception ? \ Again, 
 
 it 
 
 * See the Alliance between Church and State, Book II. c. 3. 
 
 t See note [FF] at the end of this Book. 
 
 X A jurifdidtion fomewhat refemblingthis we find in the famous court of AREofACUs 
 at Athens : which city was once the model ol civil prudetict as well as of religion, to the 
 improved part of mankind. Ifocrates fpeaking of this branch of jurifdiftion in the 
 
 Vol. I. G g g Areopagus,
 
 410 THE DI VINE LEG ATI O N Book IL 
 
 it hath been obferved *, that the State punifhes deviations from the 
 rule of right as crimes only ; and not as fuch deviations, or zsfins ; 
 and, on the idea of crimes, proportions its punifhments ; by which 
 means fome very enormous deviations from the rule of right, 
 which do not immediately afFedt fociety, and fo are not confidered 
 as crtjncs, are overlooked by .the civil tribunal : yet thele, beings 
 though mediately, very pernicious to the flate, it is for its interefls 
 they (hould be brought before fome capable tribunal. But, befides. 
 the civil, there is no other than the ecclefialftical, endowed with 
 coadive power. Hence may be deduced the true, and only, end and 
 ufe of SPIRITUAL COURTS. A church tribunal then, with coaftive 
 power, being neceffary in all thefe cafes ; and a religious Society 
 having, in itfelf, no fuch powei-, it muft be borrowed from the 
 State ; but a State cannot lend it, without great danger to itfelf, 
 iut on the terms of an Alliance ; a State therefore will be induced 
 to feek this Alliance, in order to improve the natural efficacy of 
 religion. 
 
 3. By conferring on the State the application of the efficacy of reli- 
 gion, and by putting it under the Magijlrate's direSiim. There 
 
 are certain junctures when the influence of religion is more than 
 ordinarily ferviceable to the State : and thefe, the civil Mngiftrate 
 only knows. Now while a Church is in its natural ftate of inde- 
 pendency, it is not in his power to improve thofe conjundtures to 
 the advantage of the State, by a proper application of religion : but 
 when the Alliance is made, and confequently the Church under his 
 direftion, he hath then authority to prefcribe fuch public exercifes 
 of religion, and at fuch times, and in fuch manner, as he finds the 
 exigencies of State require. 
 
 4. By engaging the Church to apply its utmofl endeavours in the 
 fervice of the State. For an Alliance laying an obligation on the 
 
 Areopagus, favs, " It was not exerted to puwish crimes, but to prevent them. 
 
 i t5to racwTcn lirxo'ruv, Ji' «» x.uki.a'Hn raj a<oiT(*S»la5, iXX' \i an at xalatrKtud^nat (*>;?(» auTaj i|ioii 
 
 {fl^ias 0ilXr,irta^iii a^a^iimf iyS'lo >«? tSto (xt» avTuf e'f yo » iT»a». APEIOn. AOF. 
 
 * See the Alliance, Book I. § 4. 
 
 StatG
 
 Sect. 5- OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 411 
 
 State to proteft and defend the Church, and to provide a fettled 
 maititenance for its minifters, fuch benefits muft needs produce 
 the higheft love and efteem for the benefadlor : which will be re- 
 turned, out of motives both of gratitude and intereft, in the moft 
 zealous labours for the fervice of civil government. 
 
 III. Laftly, the State was induced tofeek this Alliance^ as the only 
 vieans of preventing the mlfchiejs^ ivhich the Church, in its natural 
 independent condition, might occafion to civil Society. For, in this 
 ftate the Church having, of itfelf, a power of aflembling for reli- 
 gious worfhip, fadious men may commodioufly, under that covei", 
 hatch and carry on defigns againft the peace of civil government : 
 and the influence which popular and leading men gain over 
 the confciences of fuch aflemblles, by the frequency of occafional 
 harangues, may eafily ripen thefe contrivances into act, when 
 ftrengthened with the fpecious pretext of religion : all which evils 
 are effcdually remedied by this Alliance. For then, the civil Mt- 
 giftrate being become protedor of the Church, and, confequently, 
 fupreme Head and dlre«£lor of it, the miniftry is moftly in his 
 power ; that mutual dependency, between the clergy and people, 
 being, by means of a fettled revenue, quite broken and deftroyed. 
 He admits and excludes to the exercife of their fumflion, as he fees 
 fit ; and grants it to none, but fuch as give a previous fecurity fo? 
 their allegiance to him : by which means, all that influence, which 
 the minifters and leaders in a Church had over it before the Alliance, 
 as the protcBors of religion, is now drawn oiFfrom them, and placed 
 folely in the civil Maglftrate. 
 
 Another mifchief there is in this unallied condition of the Church, 
 ftill as certain and fatal, whenever more than one religion is found 
 in a State. For in thefe latter ages, every fedl thinking itfelf the 
 only /rwtf church, or, at leaft, the mojl perfcSt, is naturally pufiied 
 on to advance its own fcheme upon tjie ruins of the reft : and 
 where argument fails, civil power is brought in, as foon as ever a 
 party can be formed in the public adminflratiou : and we find, 
 G g g 2 they
 
 412 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 they have been but too fuccefsful in perfuacUng the Magiflrate that 
 his Interefts are concerned hi their religious differences. Now the 
 moft effecflual remedy to the dangerous and ftrong convulfions, into 
 which States are fo frequently thrown by thefe flrugglcs, is an 
 Alliance, which eftablifhes one church, and gives a full toleration to 
 the reft ; only keeping feftaries out oi the public adniiniftration: From 
 a heedleis admiffion into which, thefe diforders havearifen. 
 
 Having now (hewn the principal motives which engaged the 
 State toy^^^ an alliance with the Church ; 
 
 I come, in the next place, to confider the motives which the 
 Church had to accept of it. For this being, as is obferved, a free 
 CONVENTION, unlefs the Church, as vi^ell as State, had its proper 
 views, no Alliance could have been formed. To difcover thefe 
 motives, we muft recoiled what hath been faid of the nature and 
 end of a religious Society : for the benefits adapted to that nature and 
 end, muft be her legitimate motive : but if fo, this benefit can be 
 no other than security from all external violence. The 
 State indeed could not juftly oflfer it, had no Alliance been made : 
 but this is no reafon why the Church fhould not think it for its 
 intereft to fecure Its natural right by compact ; any more than that 
 one State Ihould not ftipulate with another not to do it violence, 
 though that other was under prior obligations, by the law of nature 
 and nations, to forbear. 
 
 But by this Alliance between the two Societies, the State does 
 more : it not only promifes not to injure the Church confederated, 
 but to ferve it j that is, to proted it from the injuries of other 
 religious Societies, which then exift, or may afterwards arife in the 
 State. How one religious Society may be injurioufly affeded by 
 another, hath been fhewn juft before ; how great thofe injuries 
 may prove, will be fhewn hereafter. It muft needs then be the 
 firft care of a Church, and a reafonable care, to preferve Itfelf, by 
 all lawful ways, from outward violence. A. State then, as hath 
 been faid, in order to induce the Church's acceptance of this offer, 
 
 muft
 
 Sect. 5. O F MO SES DEMO N STR ATE D. 413 
 
 muft propofe fome benefit by it : and becaufe this is the only 
 legitimate benefit the Church can receive, it muft propofe this: 
 which, therefore, being confiderable, will be the Church's motive 
 for Alliance. 
 
 There are only two other conliderations that can be efteemed 
 motives: the one, to engage the State to propagate the eJlabliJJoed 
 religion by force : and the other, to bejlow honours, riches, and 
 powers upon 'it. Now, on recurring to the nature and end of the 
 two Societies, thcfirft motive will be found utijuf ; and the feconJ, 
 impertinent. It is unjujl in the Church to require the engagement; 
 becaufe the performing it would be violating the natural right 
 every man hath of worfhipping God according to his own con- 
 fcience. It is imjuji in the State to engage in it ; becaufe, as we 
 have {hewn, its jurifdidion extendeth not to opinions. 
 
 It is impertinent in a Church to aim at riches, honours, and 
 powers, becaufe thefe are things; which, as a Church, fhe can 
 neither ufe nor profit by ; for they have no natural tendency to 
 promote the ultimate end of this Society, falvation of fouls ; nor 
 the immediate end, purity of voorfnp. " Nihil ecclefia fibi nifi fidem 
 " poffidet*," fays St. Ambrofe. We conclude, therefore, that 
 the only legitimate motive fhe could have, was fecurity and protec- 
 tion from outtvard violence. 
 
 On thefe mutual motives was formed this free alliance ; 
 which gave birth to a church by law established. 
 
 Now as from the nature of the two Societies is difcovered what 
 kind of union only they could enter into ; fo from that confidera- 
 tion, together with the motives they had in uniting, may be de- 
 duced, by neceflary inference, the reciprocal terms and condi- 
 tions of that union. 
 
 From the mutual motives inducing thereunto, it appears, that 
 the great preliminary and fundamental article of Alliance is this, 
 
 * Epift. contra Synimachura.
 
 414 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 THAT THE CHUKCH SHALL APPLY ITS UTMOST INFLUENCE IN 
 THE SERVICE OF THE STATE ; AND THAT THE STATE SHALL SUP- 
 PORT AND PROTECT THE CHURCH, 
 
 But in order to the performance of this agreement, there muft 
 be a mutual communication of their refpeSlive powers : for the pro- 
 vince of each Society being naturally diftinft and different, each can 
 have to do in the other's, but by mutual conceffioh. 
 
 But again, thefe Societies being likewife as naturally independent 
 one on the other, a mutual conceffion cannot be fafely made, with- 
 out one of them, at the fame time, giving up its Independency : 
 from whence arifes what Grotius, we fee, called man ens prje- 
 LATio : which, in his Fcsdus itucquah\ the more powerful Society 
 hath over the lefs. 
 
 Now from thefe two conclufions, which fpriiig neceflarily from 
 the great fundamental article of union, we deduce all the terms, 
 conditions, mutual grants, and conceffions, which complete this 
 Alliance. 
 
 For, from this obligation on the Church to apply its influence in 
 the fervice of the State^ arife a settled maintenance for the 
 MINISTERS OF RELIGION ; and an ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
 with coaBive power: which things introduce again, on the other 
 fide, the dependency of the clergy on the state. And from 
 the State's obligation to fuppo7't and protein the Church, arifeth the 
 
 ecclesiastical SUPREMACY OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE; which 
 
 again Introduceth, on the other hand, the right of churchmen to 
 
 PARTAKE OF THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Thus are all thefe Rights and Privileges clofely interwoven and 
 mutually conneifled by a neceflary dependence on each other. 
 
 But to be more particular in the grounds and reafons of each 
 grant and privilege, we will now, in a different and more commo- 
 dious order for this purpofe, examine, 
 
 I. What the Church receives from the State. 
 
 II. What the Church gives to it. 
 
 Which
 
 Sect.5. of MOSES demonstrated. 415 
 
 Which will prefent us with a new vievif of the two Societies, as 
 ihey appear under an RJiablifiment ; and leave nothing wanting to 
 enable us to form a perfe6t judgement of their natures. 
 
 I. What the Church receives from the (late by this Alliance, is, 
 
 1. Firft, A public and fettled endo%vment Joy its minifters. The 
 reafons of it are, 1. To render the religious Society, whofe affiftance 
 the State fo much wants, more firm and durable. 2. To invite 
 and encourage the clergy's beft fervice to the State, in rendering 
 thofe committed to their care, virtuous. But, 3. and principally, 
 in order to deftroy that mutual dependency between the clergy and 
 people, which arifes from the former's being maintained by the 
 voluntary contributions of the latter ; the only maintenance the 
 clergy could have, before the two Societies were allied ; and which 
 dependence, we have (hewn to be produdlive of great mifchiefs to 
 the State. Add to all this, that as the clergy are now under the 
 Magiftrate's dire£tion, and confequently become a public Order in the 
 flate, it is but fit and decent, that the State Ihould provide them 
 with a public maintenance. 
 
 2. The fecond privilege the Church receives from this Alliance 
 is, a place for her reprefentatives in the Legiflature. For, as it ne- 
 >ceflarily follows, from that fundamental article of Alliance of the 
 State's fupporting and proteSiing the Ckirch, that the Church muft, 
 in return, give up its independency to the State, whereby the State 
 becomes empowered to determine In all church-matters, fo far as 
 the Church is confidered under the idea of a Society ; as this, I fay, 
 -iieceffarily follows, the Church muft needs have its reprefentative* 
 in the Legiflature, to prevent that power, which the State receives 
 in return for the protcdion it affords, from being perverted to the 
 Church's hurt : for the giving up its independency, without re- 
 fcrving a right of reprefentation in the legiflature, would be mak- 
 ing itfelf, iaftead of zfubjeB, zjlave to the State. Befides, without 
 thefe Reprefentatives no laws could be reafonably made concerning 
 the Church : becaufe no free man, or body, can be bound by laws, 
 
 to
 
 4i6 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 tt) which they have not given their confent, either in perfon, or 
 by reprefentative. So that, as the Church when (he entered into 
 alHance, cannot jujlly, we may prefume flie did not 'willingly^ 
 give up her independency without the refervation of fome fuch 
 prerogative. 
 
 3. The third and lafi: privilege is, a juriJJiEllon, inforced by civil 
 coaBive power, for reformation of manners. It is one of the 
 preliminary articles of this Alliance, that the Church JJ^ould apply its 
 beji influence in the fervice of the State. But there is no way in which 
 it can be fo effedually inforced as by a jurifdiftion of this kind. 
 It hath been (hewn above, that there are a numerous fet of du- 
 ties, both ol imperfeSi obligation, which civil laws could not reach ; 
 and feveral of perfeSl obligation, which, by reafon of the intempe- 
 rance of the fenfual pallions, from whence the breach of thofe 
 duties proceeds, civil laws could not efFc6lually inforce ; as their 
 violence yielded only to the influence of Religion ; both which, 
 however, the good of the Community requires (hould be inforced ; 
 and which an ecclefiaftical tribunal, intruded with coaftive power, 
 is only able to inforce. And, indeed, the fenfe of thofe wants and 
 defeats, which thefe courts do fuppl}», was the principal motive of 
 the State's feeking this Alliance. On the other hand, the Church 
 having now given up her fupremacy, (he would without the ac- 
 cefTion of this authority, be left naked and defencelefs, and reduced 
 to a condition vmbecoming her dignity, and dangerous to her 
 fafety. 
 
 II. Let us now fee, what the Church gives to the State. It is, 
 in a word, this : The refigning up her independeiicy ; ajid making the 
 civil Magijlrate her supreme head, -without ivhofe approbation and 
 allowance Jlje can adminijler, tranfaB, or decree nothing in quality of 
 a policied Society. For as the State, by this Alliance, hath under- 
 taken the protedion of the Church ; and as no Society can fafely 
 afford protedlion to another over which it hath no power, it ne- 
 cefiarily follows that the civil Magijlrate muji be fupreme. Befides, 
 
 when
 
 SfEcT. 5. ^F MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 4,7 
 
 when the State, by this convention, covenanted to afford pro- 
 tedion to the Church, that contrad was made to a particular 
 Church of one denomination, and of fuch determhied dodrine and 
 difcipline. But now, that proteftion, which might be advantageous 
 to the State in union with fuch a Church, might be difadvantageous 
 to it, in union with one of a different doftrine and difcipline : 
 therefore, when protedion is given to a Church, it mufl be at the 
 fame time provided, that no alteration be made in it, without the 
 State's approbation and allowance. Farther, the State having endowed 
 its clergy^ and beftowed upon them zjurifdi^ion with coatlive power ^ 
 thefe privileges might create an imperiwn in imperio^ had not the 
 civil Magiftrate, in return, the fupremacy of the Church. The ne- 
 ceffity of the thing, therefore, invefls him with tiiis right and 
 title. 
 
 Thus have we ftiewn the mutual privileges given and received 
 by Church and State, in entering into this famous convention : the 
 aim of the State being, agreeably to its nature, utility ; and the 
 aim of the Church, agreeably to its nature, truth. From whence 
 we may obferve, that as thefe privileges all took their rife, by ne- 
 ceffary inference, from the fundamental article of the convention^ 
 which was, that the Church JJ:ould ferve the State ; ami the State 
 protect the Church ; fo they receive all poffible addition of flrength 
 from their mutual connection with, and dependency on, one ano- 
 ther. This we have caufe to defirc may be received as a certain mark 
 that our plan of Alliance is no precarious arbitrary hypothelis, but 
 a theory, founded in reafon, and the invariable nature of things. 
 For having, from the real effence of the two Societies, colleded 
 the necejjity of allying, and the freedom of the compa£V ; we have, 
 from the necejjity^ fairly introduced it ; and from \\.'~> freedom y eon- 
 fcquentially eflablifhed every mutual term and condition of it. So 
 that now if the reader fliould alk, where this charter or treaty of 
 convention for the union of the tino Societies, on the terms here deli- 
 vered, is to be met with ; wc are enabled to anfwer him. We fay, 
 
 Vol. I. H h h it
 
 4i8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book H. 
 
 it may be found m the fame archive with the famous original 
 COMPACT between mngiflrate and people, fo much infifted on in 
 the vindication of the common rights offubjedis. Now, when a fight 
 oi th\s compaB \s required of the defenders of civil liberty, they 
 hold it fufficient to fay, that it is enough for all the purpofes of 
 fa£l and right, that fuch original compa£i is the only legitimate 
 foundation of civil Society : that if there were no fuch thing for- 
 vially executed, there was virtually: that all differences between 
 magiftrate and people, ought to be regulated on the fuppofition of 
 fuch a compaB ; and all Government reduced to the principles 
 therein laid down : for, that the happinefs, of which civil Society 
 is productive, can only be attained, when formed on thofe princi- 
 ples. Now fomething like this we fay of our alliance between 
 
 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 Hitherto we have confidered this Alliance as it produceth an 
 ejlahlijhment^ under its mofl: fimple form ; i e. where there is but 
 one Religion in the State : but it may fo happen, that, either at 
 the time of convention, or afterwards, there may be more than one. 
 
 1 . If there be more than one at the time of convention, the State 
 allies itfelf with the Inrgeji of the religious Societies. It isft the 
 State fhould do fo, becaufe the larger the religious Society is (where 
 there is an equality in other points) the better enabled it will be to 
 anfwer the ends of an Alliance ; as having the greateft number 
 under its influence. It \%fcarce pojible it (hould do otherwife ; be- 
 caufe the two Societies being compofed of the fame individuals, the 
 greatly prevailing religion muft have a majority of its members in 
 the aflemblies of State ; who will naturally prefer their own reli- 
 gion to any other. With this Religion is the alliance made ; and 
 a full TOLERATION given to all the reft ; yet under the reftric- 
 tion of a test law, to keep them from hurting that which is 
 ejlabliped. 
 
 2. If thefe different religions fpring up after the Alliance hatk 
 been formed ; then, whenever they become confiderable, a tefi law
 
 Sect.5. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 419 
 
 is neceflary, for the fecurlty of the ejlablijljed church. For amongft 
 diverfities of fedts where every one thinks itfelf the only true, or at 
 leaft the moji pure, every one aims at riling on the ruins of the 
 reft ; which it calls, bringing info conformity with itfelf- The means 
 of doing this, when reafon fails, which is rarely at hand, and more 
 rarely heard when it is, will be by getting into the public adminif- 
 tration, and applying the civil power to the work. But when one 
 of thefe Religions is the eJlabliJJjed, and the reft under a toleration , 
 then envy, at the advantages of an ejiablijjjment, will join the tole- 
 rated churches in confederacy againft it, and unite them in one 
 common attack to difturb its quiet. In this imminent danger, the 
 allied church calls upon the State, for the performance of its con- 
 traft; which thereupon gives her a test law for her fecurlty: 
 whereby, the entrance into the Adminiftration of public affairs (the 
 only way, the threatened mifchief is effected) is ftiut to all but 
 members of the ejlabli/l.ied church. 
 
 Thus a TEST LAW took its birth, whether at or after the time of 
 Alliance. That the State is under the higheft obligations to provide 
 the Church with this fecurity, we ftiall ftiew, 
 
 1. By the /Alliance, the State promifed to proteft the Church, 
 and to fecure it from the injuries and infults of its enemies. An 
 attempt in the members of any other church to get into the ad- 
 miniftration, in order to deprive the e/lab/ijhed church of the cove- 
 nanted rights which it enjoys, either by ftiaring tliofe advantages 
 with it, or by drawing them from it to itfelf, is highly injurious. 
 And we have (hewn, that where there are diverfities of religions, 
 this attempt will be always making. The State then muft defeat 
 the attempt: but there is no other way of defeating it, than by 
 hindering its enemies from entering into the Adminiftration : and 
 they can be hindered only by a te^ law. 
 
 2. Again, this promife of protection is of fuch a nature as may, 
 on no pretence, be difpenfed with. For protedlion was not fimply 
 a condition of Alliance^ but, on the Church's part, the only condi- 
 
 H h h 2 tion
 
 420 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 tion of it. We have {hewn, that all other benefits and advantages 
 are foreign to a Church, as fuch, and improper for it. Now, not 
 performing the only condition of a contraft, virtually breaks and 
 diffolves it : efpecially if we confider that this only condition is both 
 necejjary zw^jujl. Necejjary^ as a free convention muft hzvQmutual 
 conditions ; and, but for this condition, one fide would be with- 
 out any : Juft, as the convention itfelf is founded on the laws of 
 nature and nations ; and this the only condition which fuits the 
 nature of a Church to claim. If it be pretended that debarring 
 good fubjedls from places of honour and prof t, in the difpofal of the 
 Magiftrate, is unjujl ; I reply, that the aflertion, though every 
 "where taken for granted, is falfe ; it being founded on the principle, 
 that reward is one of the fanBions of civil laws, which I have fhewn 
 to be a miftake * ; and that all, a member of Society can claiiny 
 for the difcharge of his duty, is proteSlion. So that, farther re- 
 ward than this, no fubjed having a right to, all places of honour 
 and prof t are free donations, and in the abfolute difpofal of the Ma- 
 giftrate. 
 
 3. But again, the Church, in order to enable the State to perform 
 xK\sfole condition of proteftion, confented to the giving up its fupre- 
 macy and independency, to the civil Sovereign : whence it follows, 
 that, whenever the enemies of the efiablifoed Church get into the 
 magiftrature, to which, as we have faid, the fupremacy of the 
 Church is transferred by the Alliance^ fhe becomes a prey, and 
 lies entirely at their mercy ; being now, by the lofs of her fupre- 
 macy, in no condition of defence, as fhe was in her natural ftate, 
 unprotefted and independent ; fo that the not fecuring her by a iefi 
 law, is betraying, and giving her up bound to her enemies. 
 
 4. But laftly, had no promife of protection been made, yet the 
 State would have lain under an indifpenfable neceflity of providing a 
 teft law, for its own peace and fecurity. It hath been obferved, that 
 wherever there are diverfities of religion, each fed, believing its 
 
 * See Book I. fed. 2.
 
 Sect. 5. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 421 
 
 own the true, ftrlves to advance itfdf on the ruins of the reft. If 
 this doth not fuccecd by dint of argument, thefe partlfans are apt to 
 have recourfe to the coercive power of the State : which is done by 
 introducing a party into the public adminiftration. And they have 
 always had art enough to make the State believe that its interefts 
 were much concerned in the fuccefs of their religious quarrels. 
 What perfecutions, rebellions, revolutions, lofs of civil and reli- 
 gious liberty, thefe inteftine ftruggles between feils haveoccafioned, 
 is well known to fuch as are acquainted with the hiftory of man- 
 kind. To prevent thefe mifcliiefs was, as hath been fhewn, one 
 great motive for the State's feeking Alliance with the Church : for 
 the obvious remedy was the eJlabliJJ;>ing one church, and giving a 
 free toleration to the reJL But if, in adminiftring this cure, the 
 State (hould flop fhort, and not proceed to exclude the tolerated re- 
 ligions from entering into the public adminiftration, fuch imper- 
 fe(3: application of the remedy would infinitely heighten the dif- 
 t-emper : for, before the Alliance, it was only a miftaken aim in 
 propagating truth, which occafioned thefe diforders : but now, the 
 zeal for opinions would be out of meafure inflamed by envy and 
 emulation ; which the temporal advantages, enjoyed by the efta- 
 blifhed church, exclufive of the tfeft, will always occafion : And 
 tvhat raifchiefs this would produce, had every fed a free entry into 
 the adminiftration, the reader may eafily conceive. If it be faid, that» 
 would men content themfelves, as in reafon they ought, with en- 
 joying their own opinions, without obtruding them upon others, 
 thefe evils, which require the remedy of a tejl law, would never 
 happen. This is very true : and fo, would men but obferve the 
 rule of juftice in general, there would be no need to have recourfe 
 to civil Society, to rcdlify the violations of it. 
 
 In a word, an established religion with a test law is 
 rhe univerfal voice of Nature. The moft favage nations have em- 
 ployed it to civilize their manners ; and the politeft knew no other 
 way to prevent their return to barbarity and violence. 
 
 Thus
 
 422 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 Thus the city of Athens, fo humane and free, exafted an oath 
 of all their youth for the fecurity of the eftablifhed religion : for, 
 Athens being a democracy, every citizen had a conftant fhare in the 
 adminiflration. A copy of this oath, the ftrongeft of all tejls^ is 
 preferved by Stobaeus, who tranfcribed it from the writings of the 
 Pythagoreans, the great fchool of ancient politics. It is conceived 
 in thefe words : " I will not difhonour x\\& facred arms *, nor de- 
 " fert my comrade in battle : I will defend and protect my 
 " COUNTRY AND MY RELIGION, whether alone or in conjundion 
 ** with others : I will not leave the public in a worfe condition 
 " tlian I found it, but in a better : I will be always ready to obey 
 *' the fupreme magiftrate, with prudence; and to fubmit to the 
 " eftablifhed laws, and to all fuch as fliall be hereafter eftablifhed 
 " by full confent of the people : and I will never connive at any 
 *' other who (hall prefume to defpife or difobey them ; but will re- 
 " venge all fuch attempts on the fandity of the republic, either 
 ** alone or in conjunftion with the people : and laftly, I will con- 
 
 ♦' FORM TO THE NATIONAL RELIGION. So help me thofc gods 
 
 *' who are the avengers of perjury t" 
 
 Here we fee, that after each man had fworn, to defend arid pro- 
 teSi the religion of his country^ in confequence of the obligation the 
 State lies under to prote£l the ejiabli/hed worfjip, he concludes, / 
 will conform to it', the diredefl: and ftrongefl of all tefs. 
 
 * "Oic'Ka, ta U^ct, the facred arms, by what follows, feems to mean thofe which the 
 lovers prefented to their favourite youths. Concerning this inftitution, fee what is faid 
 in the explanation of Virgil's eplfode of Nifus and Euryalus, in fed. iv. of this 
 book. 
 
 •f Ou xa1«i(rx;i"»' oTT^ia T« iija, aJ' £yxa1aX(t'4'« Tov wafararnj hu at ro'xio-a' AMYNn iiE KAI 
 YITEP lEPfiN, >^ iri/> otri'uF >^ (iov®-, )c) /*s1ix «t<iXX«», rm roolfiJa Jt ax iXa<7-ff« OBfaJwaw, -aUiu 
 Si 1^ ifiiw, ua-rit «» wajaJE'lofiai' <tj eu»xo^o-u Tit» a'sl xpivotlay fiA.if^oiui, xj Tor; Ss^fto?,- toTi Jjft;f«iroi{ 
 TOsW^av, )^ B? Tivaj at aXXB; to crX^9&- iSfi^tfiai oftopjo'twj- j^ a» Ti; a»«i^B th{ 9i!r/«B,- J jii wti- 
 finlai, Bx iirilf i'iV«, «/*u»« Jt >^ i^oku '^ /*i1« wa»1w»- ^ lEPA TA RATPIA TIMHSO" I'rofis ©«i)t ruTtiy. 
 
 Joan. Stobici </r Rrf. Sum. xli. p. 243, Liigd. Ed. 1608. 
 
 But
 
 Sect. 5. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 42J 
 
 But a teft of conformity to the eftablilhcd worfliip, was not only- 
 required of thofe who bore a fhare In the civil adminiftration, but 
 of thofe too who were chofen to prefide in their religious rites. 
 Demofthenes hath recorded the oath which the prieftefles of Bac- 
 chus, called re^ui^ct), took on entering into their Office. " I ob- 
 " ferve a religious chaftity, and am clean and pure from all other 
 *' defilements, and from converfation with man : and i celebrate 
 
 " THE THEOINEIA AND lOBACCHIA TO BACCHUS, ACCORDING TO 
 ** THE ESTABLISHED KITES, AND AT THE PROPER SEASONS*." 
 
 Nor were the Romans lefs watchful for the fupport of the 
 ejlablified religion, as may be feen by a fpeech of the conful Poft- 
 humius in- Livy, occafioned by fome horrid abufes committed, 
 through the clandeftine exercife of foreign worftiip. " How often, 
 " fays he, in the times of our fathers and forefathers, hath this 
 «' affair been recommended to the Maglftrates ; to prohibit all 
 *• foreign worfliip ; to drive the priefts and facrifices from the 
 '-■** cirque, the forum, and the city ; to fearch up, and bum books 
 " of prophecies ; and to abolifli all modes of facrificing, differing 
 " from the Roman difcipline ? For thofe fage and prudent men, 
 •' inftruded in all kind of divine and human laws, rightly judged 
 " that nothing tended fo much to overthrow religion, as when men 
 " celebrated the facred rites, not after their own, but foreign 
 " cuftoms -j-." 
 
 ©iOi»i«, >^ 'lo€axx'"» 7'?'"'?*' '■? Aiovtffw KATA TA IIATPIA, xj i) roTi xaitiKUat xf""'!' Orat. 
 torn. Nearnm. 
 
 f Quoties hoc patnim nvonimqne xtate negotium eft magiftratibus datum, ut facra 
 txterna fieri vetarent ; f:icrificulos, vatcfque foro, circo, urbe prohiberent ; vaticinos 
 iibros conquirerent, comburerentquc ; omnem difciplinam facrificandi, prxterquam 
 more Romano, abolerent ? Jvidicabant enim prudentiffimi viri omnis divini humaniqu« 
 juris, nihil xque diflblvend:e religionis effe, quam ubi non patrio, fed extern© ritu fa- 
 crificaretur. Hill. lib. xxxix. 
 
 But
 
 424 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 But when I fay all regular policied ftates had an ejlabltjhed religion^ 
 I mean no more than be would do, who, deducing Society from its 
 true original, fhouid, in order to perfuade men of the benefits it 
 produceth, affirm that all nations had a civil policy. For, as this 
 writer could not be fuppofed to mean that every one conftituted a 
 free State, on the principles of public liberty (which yet was the 
 only Society he propofed to prove was founded on truth, and pro- 
 dudlive of public good) becaufe it is notorious, that the far greater 
 part of civil policies are founded on different principles, and abufed 
 to different ends ; fo neither would I be underflood to mean, when 
 I fay all nations concurred in making this union, that they all 
 exa<5tly dijcrim'mated the natures^ and fairly adjujled the rights of 
 BOTH SOCIETIES, on the principles here laid down; though an 
 ESTABLISHMENT refulting from this difcrimination and adjuft- 
 ment, be the only one I would be fuppofed to recommend. On 
 the contrary, I know this union hath been generally made on mif- 
 taken principles ; or, if not fo, hath degenerated by length of 
 time. And, as it was fufficient for that writer's purpofe, that 
 thofe Societies, good or bad, proved the fenfe, all men had of the 
 benefits refulting from civil policy in general, though they were 
 oft miftaken in the application ; fo it is fufficient for ours^ that 
 this univerfal concurrence in the two Societies to unite, (hews 
 the fenfe of mankind concerning the utility of fuch union. And 
 laftly, as that writer's principles are not the lefs true on accouut 
 of the general deviation from them in forming civil Societies ; fo 
 may not ours, though fo few ftates have fuffered themfelves to be 
 direfted by them in praSlice^ nor any man, before, delivered thern 
 in /peculation. 
 
 Such then is the Theory here offered to the world ; of which, 
 whoever would fee a full account, and the feveral parts cleared 
 from objeftions, may confult the treatife mentioned before, inti- 
 tuled, The jiUiance between Church and State; in which we pretend 
 
 to
 
 Sect. 5. OF MOSETS DEMONSTRATED. 415 
 
 to have difcovered a plain and fimple truth, of the highefl: con- 
 cernment to civil Society, long loft and hid under the learned ob- 
 fcurity arifing from the collifion of contrary fldfe principles. 
 
 But it is now time to proceed with our main fubje£t. We have 
 here given a fliort account of the true nature of the Alliance be- 
 iween Church and State ; both to juftify the conduct of the ancient 
 Lawgivers in eftablifhing religion ; and to fhew the infinite fervice 
 of this inftitution to civil Society. Another ufe of it may be the 
 gaining an exadler knowledge of the nature of the eftabli(hed re- 
 ligions in the pagan world : for, having the true theory of an Eftab- 
 lifliment, it ferves as a ftraight line to difcover all the obliquities 
 to which it is applied. 
 
 I fhall therefore confider the caufeSy which facilitated the ejlab^ 
 lijhment of religion in the ancient world : and llkewife thoj'e caufes 
 which prevented the efiabl'ijliment from receiving its due form. 
 
 I. Ancient pagan religion confifted in the worftiip of local tute- 
 lary Deities ; which, generally fpeaklng, were fuppofed to be the 
 authors of their civil Inftitutes. The confequence of this was, that 
 the ^SV^/f, as well as particulars^ was the subject of religion. Sd 
 that this religion could not but be natimal and ejlabli/ljed \ that is, 
 protected and encouraged by the civil Power. For hov/ could that 
 religion, which had the 7%atlonal God for its ohjeSl ; and the State ^ 
 as an artificial man, for its fubjeUty be other than national and 
 fjiablijhed ? 
 
 II. But then thcfe very things, which fo much promoted an 
 ejiablijked religion, prevented the union's being made upon a juft 
 and equitable footing, i. By giving a wrong idea of ci-vil Society 
 2. By not giving a righty^rw to the religious. 
 
 I. It is nothing ftrange, that the ancients fhould have a wrong 
 idea of civil Society ; and fhould fuppofe it ordained for the cogni- 
 zance of religious^ as well as of civil matters, while they believed 
 in a local tutelary Deity, by whofe dlre»5lion they were formed 
 
 Vol. I. I i i i"to
 
 426 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 into Community ; and while they lield that Society, as fuch, was 
 the Jubjedi of religion, contrary to what has been (hewn above, 
 that the civil Society's offer of a voluntary alliance with the re- 
 ligious, proceeded from its having no power in itfelf to inforce the 
 influence of religion to the fervice of the State. 
 
 2. If their religion conftituted a proper Society, it was yet a 
 Society dependent on the State, and therefore not fovereign. Now 
 it appears that no voluntary alliance can be made, but between two 
 independent fovereign Societies. But, in reality, Pagan religion 
 did not conftitute any Society at all. For it is to be obferved, that 
 the unity of the objed of faith, and conformity to a formula of 
 dogmatic theology, as the terms of communion, are the great foun- 
 dation and bond of a religious Society *. Now thefe things were: 
 wanting in the feveral national religions of Paganifm : in which 
 there was only a conformity in public Ceremonies. The national 
 Pagan religion therefore did not properly compofe a Society ; nor 
 do we find by Antiquity, that it was ever confidered under that 
 idea ; but only as part of the State ; and in that view, indeed, had 
 its particular Societies and Companies, fuch as the colleges of 
 Priefts and Prophets. 
 
 Thefe were fuch errors and defers as deftroyed much of the 
 ■utility, which refults from religious EJlahlifliments, placed upon a 
 right bottom. But yet religious EJiabliJlmients they were ; and,, 
 notwithftandlng all their imperfedions, ferved for many good pur- 
 pofes : fuch us preferving the being oj Religion : — bejlowing additional 
 veneration on the per/on of the Magijiratey and on the laws of the 
 State : — giving the Magi/irate the right of applying the civil efficacy of 
 religion : — and giving Religion a coaSiive power for the reformation of 
 manners. And thus much for establishments. 
 
 • See The Alliance between Church and State, Book I. § 5. 
 
 ■ SECT.
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 427 
 
 SECT. VI. 
 
 TH E laft inftance to be affigned of the Magiftrate's care of 
 religion, (hall be that univerfal pradlice, in the ancient world, 
 of religious TOLERATION ; or the permitting the free exercife of 
 all religions, how different foever from the National and EjiabliJJjed. 
 For though the very nature and terms of an Eftablified religion 
 implied the Magittrate's peculiar favour and protedion ; and 
 though in fa£l, they had their Tejl-laws for its fupport, wherever 
 there was diverfity of worfhip ; yet it was ancient policy to allow a 
 large and full toleration. And even in the extent of this allow- 
 ance they feem generally to have had jufter notions than certain 
 of our modern Advocates for religious Liberty. They had no con- 
 geption that any one (hould be indulged in his prefumption of ex- 
 tending it to Religions Rites and practices hurtful to Society, or dif- 
 honourable to Humanity. There are many examples in Antiquity 
 of this fage reftriftion. I fhall only mention the univerfal concur- 
 rence in punifhing Magical Rites, by which the health and fafety 
 of particulars were fuppofed to be injurioudy affefted. And Sueto- 
 nius's burning the facred grove in Anglefea*, in which human 
 facrifices were offered up by the Druids, was but the beginning 
 of what thofe modern Advocates, above mentioned, would call a 
 Perfecution againft the Order itfelf, whofe obftinate perfeverance in 
 this infernal pradice could not be overcome but by their total ex- 
 tirpation. 
 
 Two principal caufes induced the ancient Lawgivers to the fage 
 and reafonable condudof a large and full toleration. 
 
 * — " Prxfidium poUhac impofitum viiSis, excifiquc Luci, saevis fuperflitionibus 
 facri. Nam cruore captivo adolere aras, et hominum fibris confulere deos fas habe- 
 
 bant." Tac. Ann. 1. xiv. c. 30. Superjiition amongll the Greeks nnd Romans had its 
 
 free courfe. 'Q\it \.\\tfavafuferJ}itiones, the /avage and cruel Riiet, injurious and dilh)n- 
 ourable to human nature and civil Society, were rigocouily forbidden. 
 
 I i i 2 I. Thev
 
 428 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 I. They confidered that Religion feldom or never makes a real 
 imprejjion on the mhids of thofe who are forced into a profeflion of 
 it ; and yet, that all the fervice Religion can do to the State, is 
 by working that real imprejjion *. They concluded, therefore, that 
 the profeffion of Religion fhould be free. 
 
 Hence may be underftood the flrange blindnefs of thofe wc^i?;;; 
 Politicians, who expeft to benefit the State by forcing men to out- 
 ward conformity ; which only makhig hypocrites and atheifts, 
 deflroys the fole means religion hath of ferving the State. But 
 here, by a common fate of Politicians, they fell from one blunder 
 into another. For having firft, in a tyrannical adherence to their 
 own fcheme of Policy, or fuperftitious fondnefs for the eftablifhed 
 Syftem of Worfhip, infringed upon religious Liberty ; and then 
 beginning to find, that diverfity of Seds was hurtful to the State, 
 as it always will be, while the rights of Religion are violated; 
 inftead of repairing the miftake, and reftorlng religious Liberty^ 
 which would have fllfled this pullulating evil in the feed, by af- 
 fording it no further nourifhment, they took the other courfe ; and 
 endeavoured, by a thorough difcipline of Conformity, violently to 
 rend it away : and with it they rooted up and deilroycd all that 
 good to Society, which fo naturally fprings from Religion, when 
 it hath once taken faft hold of the human mind. 
 
 II. This was the moft legitimate principle they went upon, 
 and had the moft laftlng efFedt. They had another, which, though 
 lefs ingenuous, was of more immediate influence ; and this was 
 the keeping up the warmth and vigour of religious impreffions, by 
 the introduftion and toleration of new Religions and foreign Wor- 
 fhip. For they fuppofed that " piety and virtue then chiefly in- 
 
 *In fpecie autem fidae fimulationis, ficut reliquae virtiites, ita pietas ineffe noa 
 poteft ; cum qua fimul et fanditatem et religionem tolli neeeffe eft : quibus fublatis^ 
 perturbatio vitae fequitur et magna confufio. Atque baud fcio, an pietate adverfus 
 deosfublata fides etiam, et focietas humani generis, et una excelkntiflima virtus, juftitia 
 tollatur. Cic, Denat. deor. l.I. c. i. 
 
 *' flueace
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DE MONSTR ATE D. 429 
 
 •* fluence the mind, while men are bufied in the performatice of 
 " religious Rites and Ceremonies * ;" as Tully obferves, in the 
 words of Pythagoras, the moft celebrated of the pagan Lawgivers. 
 Nor does this at all contradict the Roman maxim, as delivered by 
 Pofthumius in Livy [fee p. 423.] For that maxim relates to 
 public Religion., or the Religion of the State ; this concerns private 
 Religion, or the religion of Particulars. Now vulgar Paganifm 
 being not only fidfe, but highly abfurd, as having its foundation 
 folely in the fancy and the paffions ; variety of Worfhips was ne- 
 ceffary to fuit every one's tafte and humour. The genius of it dif- 
 pofing its followers to be inconftant, capricious, and fond of novel- 
 ties ; weary of long- worn Ceremonies, and immoderately fond of 
 new. And in effeft we fee amongfl: the fame people, notwith- 
 ftanding the univerfal notion of tutelary Deities, that, in //j/V age, 
 one God or mode of worfliip, in that, another mode had the vogue. 
 And every new God, or new ceremony, rekindled the languid fij-e 
 of Superftition : juil: as in modern Rome, every laft Saint draws 
 the Multitude to his flirine. 
 
 For, here it is to be obferved, that in the Pagan world, a toJe- 
 rated Religion did not imply dijention from the efiablijlied, according 
 to ouf modern ideas of toleration. Nor indeed could it, according 
 to the general nature and genius of ancient Idolatry. Tolerated 
 Religions there are rather fubfervient to the ejlablijljed, or fuper- 
 numeraries of it, than in oppofition to it. But then they were far 
 from being on a footing with the ejlabliped, or partakers of its 
 privileges. 
 
 But men going into Antiquity under the impreffion of modem 
 ideas, muft needs form very inaccurate judgements of what they 
 find. So, in this cafe, becaufe {q\v tolerated Religions are to be met 
 with in Paganifm, according to our fenfe of toleration, which is 
 
 * — Siqviidem et illud bene didiim eft a Pythagora, docftiffimo viro, turn niaxiriie et 
 pietatem ct religionem vcrfari in aniniis, cum rebus divinis operam daiemus. 
 
 DeLeg. 1,11. c. ii. 
 the
 
 430 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 1!, 
 
 •the allowance of a Religion opposed to the national; and confe- 
 quently, becaufe iio one is watched with that vigilance which ours 
 demand, but all ufed with more indulgence than a Religion, repro- 
 bating the eJiabUped, can pretend to ; on this account, I fay, a 
 falfe opinion hath prevailed, that, in the Pagan 'world, all kinds 
 of Religion were upon an equal footing, ivith regard to the Slate. 
 Hence, we hear a noble writer perpetually applauding * wife Anti- 
 quity, for the full and free liberty it granted in matters of Religion, 
 lo agreeable to the principles of truth and public utility ; and per- 
 petually arraigning the unsociable humour of Christianity 
 for the contrary pradice ; which, therefore, he would infinuate, 
 was built on contrary principles. 
 
 On this account, it will not be improper to confider, a little, 
 the genius of Paganifm, as it is oppofed to, what we call, true 
 Religion: Which will fhew us how eafily the civil Magiftrate 
 brought about that Toleration, which he had fuch great reafons of 
 State to promote ; and at the fame time, teach thefe obje£lors to 
 know, that the good effeft of this general tolerance, as far as the 
 genius of Religion was concerned in its promotion, was owing to 
 the egregious falfliood and abfurdity of Paganifm : and that, on 
 the other hand, the evil effects of intolerance under the Chriftian 
 religion, proceeded from its truth and perfedlion ; not the natural 
 confequence, as thefe men would infinuate, of a falfe Principle, 
 but the abufe of a true one. 
 
 Ancient Paganifm was an aggregate of feveral diftindl Religions, 
 derived from To many pretended revelations. Why it abounded in 
 thefe, proceeded, in part, from the great number of Gods of hu« 
 man invention. As thefe Rehgions were not laid on the founda- 
 tion, fo neither were they raifed on the deflru£lion of one another. 
 They were not laid on the foundation of one another \ becaufe, having 
 given to their Gods, as local tutelary Deities +> contrary natures 
 
 * See the Charafteriftics, paffim. 
 
 \ See note [GGJ at the end of this Book, 
 
 and
 
 Sect. 6. OF MO SE S DE MO N STR AT E D. 431 
 
 and difpofitions, and difbinil and feparate Interefts, each God fet 
 tip, on his own bottom, and held little in common with the reft*. 
 Ihey were not raifed on the deJiriiSiion of one another ; becaufe, as 
 hath been obferved, the feveral Religions of Paganifm did not 
 confift in matters of belief, and dogmatic theology, in which, 
 where there is a contrariety, Religions deftroy one another ; but in 
 matters of practice, in Rites and Ceremonies ; and in thefe, a con-- 
 trariety did no harm : For having given their Gods different na- 
 tures and interefts, where was the wonder if they clafhed in their 
 commanded Rites ; or if their worfhippers fhould think this no 
 mark of their falfe pretenfions ? 
 
 Thefe were horrible defers in the very eflence of Pagan theolo- 
 gy : and yet from thefe would neceffarily arife an unherfal tolera- 
 tion: for each Religion admitting the other's pretenfions, there 
 muft needs be a perfe6l harmony and intercommunity amongft 
 them. Julian makes this the diftinguifhing charafter of the pagan 
 Religion. For the imperial Sophift writing to the people of Alex- 
 andria, and upbraiding them for having forfaken the religion of 
 their country, in order to aggravate the charge, infinuates them 
 to be guilty of ingratitude, as having forgotten thofe happy times 
 when all Egypt t^o'Jhipped the Gods in common, — ^ Qx ela-epx^cet 
 fivrifirt "^fiS TtTciKoiicKg i^ocg £xe«yi;f evoxty-oi/iag, -^vIku ijv KOINXINIA [/.s'j 
 ZtTpof ©EKj A.lyx)Tfl(xi T>i •ar«'o-»i, "sroXXoiv ^e K'^sKoi\jo[/,sv txyaSouv. And, ill 
 his book againft the Chriftian Religion, he fays, there were but 
 two commands in the Decalogue, that were peculiar to the Jews, 
 and which the Pagans w^ould not own to be reafonable, namely, 
 the obfervation of the Sabbath, and the Saving no other Gods but the 
 Creator of all things. noTov e^;©- l^) (fays he) vrpog ruv Beuve^u tk, 
 OJ zirpoa-KVvria-eis ©so~g erepoig, x, tS, M>»?(r5i?7' Ti^v traGSxTuv, fi?; rocg 
 aXXocg oiiijoii %f^)'«< (pv'Ku7]iiv IvjoXag +. The Firft Caufe of all things, 
 we fee, was acknowledged by the Gentile Sages : what ftuck with 
 
 * See note [HH] at the end of this Book, 
 ■f Ap. S. Cyril, cont. Julian. I. v. 
 
 them
 
 432 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 them was the not worfhipping other Gods in common. For ac- 
 cording to the genius of Paganifm, as here explained, no room 
 was left for any other difputes, but whofe God was moft powerful ; 
 except where, by accident, it became a queftion, between two 
 nations inhabiting the fame country, who was truly the tutelar 
 Deity of the place. As once we are told happened in Egypt, and 
 broke out into a religious war ; 
 
 Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum 
 
 Odit uterque locus, cum soLos credit habendos 
 
 Efle deos, quos ipfe colit *. 
 
 Here the queftion was not, which of the two worfhipped a Phantom, 
 and which a God, but whofe God was the tutelar God of the place. 
 Yet to infult the tutelar Gods of the place was a thing fo rare, and 
 deemed fo prodigious, that Herodotus thinks it a clear proof of 
 Cambyfes's incurable madnefs that he outraged the Religion of 
 Egypt, by ftabbing their God Apis and turning their monkey 
 Deities into ridicule +. Notwithflanding a late noble writer, from 
 this account of Juvenal, would perfuade us J, that intolerance was 
 of the very nature and genius of the Egyptian theology, from 
 whence all Paganifm arofe. *' The common heathen religion (fays 
 " he) was fupported chiefly from that fort of enthufiafm, which 
 ** is raifed from the external objeds of grandeur, majelty, and what 
 *' we call auguft. On the other hand, the Egyptian or Syrian 
 *' religions, which lay mofl: in myftery and concealed rights, having 
 " lefs dependance on the Magijlrate^ and lefs of that decorum of art, 
 *' politenefs, and magnificence, ran into a more pufillanlmous, fri- 
 *• volous, and mean kind of fuperflition ; the obfervance of days, 
 " the forbearance of meats, and the contention about traditions, fe- 
 *' niority of laws, and priority of godfhips. 
 
 * Juvenal, Sat. xv, 
 
 Thalia, c. 30. in initio. 
 
 X Charafteriftics, vol. iii, Mifccl. 2, 
 
 *' Summus
 
 Sect.6. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 453 
 
 *' Summus utrimque 
 " Inde furor vulgo, <&?c*/' 
 Well might he fay» he fufpefted " that It would be urged agalnft 
 *« him, that he talked at random and without book f." For the 
 very contrary of every thing he here fliys, is the truth. And his 
 fuppofmg the Egyptian and Syrian religions had lefs dependence 
 on the Magiftrate than the Roman ; and that the Egyptian, and 
 Syrian (as he is pleafed to call the Jewijh) were the fame, or of a 
 like genius, is fuch an inftance of his knowledge or ingenuity, as 
 is not eafily to be equalled. However, fince the noble writer hatli 
 made fuch ufe of the Satirift*s relation, as to inlinuate that the 
 Ombites and Tentyrites adled in the common fpirit and genius of 
 the Egyptian theology, and became the model oi intolerance to the 
 Jewifli and Chriftian world, it may not be amifs to explain the 
 true original of thefe religious fquabbles, as Antiquity itfelf hath 
 told the flory : whereby it will appear, they had their birth from 
 a very particular and occafional fetch of civil policy, which had no 
 dependence on the general Superftition of the Pagan world. 
 
 The inftance ftands almoft fingle in Antiquity. This would in- 
 cline one to think that it arofe from lio common principle : and if 
 we enquire into the nature of the Egyptian theology, it will appear 
 impoffible to come from that. For the common notion of local 
 and tutelary deities, which prevents all intolerance, was originally, 
 and peculiarly, Egyptian, as will be feen hereafter. It may then 
 be alked how this raifchief came about ? I believe a paflage in 
 Diodorus Siculus, as quoted by Eufebius, will inform us. A cer- 
 tain king of Egypt, finding fome cities in his dominions apt to plot 
 and cabal againft him, contrived to introduce the diflinft worlhip 
 of a different animal into each city ; as knowing that a reverence 
 for their own, and a ncgleft of all others, would foon proceed to 
 an EXCLUSION ; and fo bring on fuch a mutual averfion, as would 
 never fuffer them to unite in one common dcfign. Thus, was 
 
 * Voi.m. p. 41. t P- 82. 
 
 Vol. I. Kkk there
 
 434 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 there at firfi: as little of a religious ivar on the principles of intolerance 
 in this affair of the Ombltes and Tentyrites, as in a di-unkeii 
 fquabble between two trading Companies in the church of Rome 
 about their patron faints. But Diodorus deferves ta be heard in his 
 own words : who, when he had delivered the fabulous accounts 
 of the original of brute-worfliip, fubjoins that which he fuppofed 
 to be the true. " But fome give another original of the vvorfhip of 
 *' brute animals : for the feveral cities being formerly prone to> 
 *' rebellion, and to enter into confpiraci«s againft Monarchical 
 " government, one of their Kings contrived to introduce into each: 
 " city the worfhip of a different animal : fo that while every one- 
 " reverenced the Deity which itfelf held facred, and defplfed what 
 " another had confecrated; they could hardly be brought to join, 
 •' cordially together in one common defign, to the difturbance of 
 •' the Government *." 
 
 But to return : fuch then was the root and foundation of this. 
 SOCIABILITY of Religion in the ancient world, fo much envied by 
 modern Pagans. The effed of their abfurdities, as Religions ; and 
 of their imperfe£lioas, zs, Societies. Yet had univerfal cuftom made 
 
 * AiTia; ii \^ cLWai; (fatri Tiiie; t«? tut aXoym ^uim Tijj.^i' r3 yap ■^^^^9B; To wa^aion a^i^ajiiia 
 Tin ^acriXf«», >^ iTf(*Jfo»5>?&' ii; ri /i»«fTt j3«i7iX«ufcrOai, s7ri»o?3-«i'Tiva Jiapoja (TiCao-juola atrors tk* 
 ^iuv ^a^aTy(i~i, oV«; iio.rat to fi.lt ■nraj' airoTi; TJ/*W(xi»o» o-sSo^txnv* tS Je •sra^a Tof; m?iXo»{ a^»(f«/iin»- 
 «ala+)po>a>1ai», (XnJeTrolt o/xo»o?3-ai Siyuitlxt tocciOj; oi leaT* A'yvvliiii, Euleb. Prap. Evang. p. 32^ 
 
 eel. Rob. Steph. Plutarch. gives us an account of another of thefe fquabbles (if indeed 
 it was not the fame with Juvenal's) which happened much about the fame time, between 
 the Oxyrynchitas and _the Cynopolita ; and confirms what is here faid of the original of 
 this mutual hatred. ^"AAXoi SI ruth tJ5» Sutuii t»v» >^ ■srayKgyuv 0ccfft7\im IfofSai, Taj AlyvTtlltli 
 xala/xa6o'»Ia T^ /ih ^vcrti. xb^s; kJ ia^o<, fi.fr aZti\r,t t^ ytuli^ia-jion 5|»ffoVB« otlag, ajj^ax" ^^ "& JvtrxaSeit- 
 'lov vTTQ -crXijQw^ ovvX[jHv Iv Tw cr'ji(p^an7ii i^ xoito'ir^xyiTv i^ovlct^f atotov avToT; It y.ala.o'Xofa. ci'i^cctla, 
 tfiwiJat/xoyia* tfix^o^a; aTTxifS 'af6(pa(ri)' Tut yog Siifluv a Ks^offira^it aXAoif aWa, n/iav ^ o-ZSiaGa*-- 
 hitTfiCtui >^ •sro>i(!xi!tw; aX^i^Olf trjoa-^tpoft/tii'y, ly T^ot^iiir tTfjav Iri^Sf •cr^otrisffSat ■CTStpi/xoVa;, «/iiIyo»»- 
 Taj, an ToTq oWtioti ixaroi t^ Xfl>^^iiut; aJixH/xEm; (fi/povlE?, EAa»9a»o» Tijv tut ^n^'taJt £;^0^ai5 crvtiXKonini, 
 >^ ainxrs^e^Hfiooi crpoj aXX^^^a;' (xo»oi yaf ?r» tvt Aiyv'n'liut AvKovoXTrat tojoCoIo* EO-Siacrin, Jjrti. 
 j(^ Aiix©-, o» S<o> »ofi!^8triii- ot J« '0|<;gt)/^rT«i x«9' iftS; Ta!» Kt/noffoXirS* To» o^ifvf)(e> lx,^vf ItSiotliit, 
 KUtai <rv>,Xa^iiit( >y ^va-aslii, ii; it^uot Kuii^uyot' |x ^i T»rB xalaretrt; Et{ ■aikijt.ot, aXLriXS} trei. 
 iuirtxar Kxxij, )«; irijof tTo 'P«/x«l»i» xoXa^o/iiyoi JuljSMcrai'. IIejJ 12. >^ 02. 676, 677.. 
 Steph. ed. 
 
 this
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 435 
 
 this principle of intercommunitv, fo eflential to Paganifm, that 
 when their Philofophers and men of learning, on the fpreading of 
 Chriftianity, were become afhamed of the grofliiefs of Polytheifm, 
 and had fo refined it by allegorical interpretations of their Mytho- 
 logy, as to make the feveral Pagan deities but the various attributes 
 of the one only God; they ftill adhered to their darling principle 
 (for Paganifm iVill continued to be without a dogmatic theology, 
 or formulary of faith) and contended, that this diverfity was har- 
 mony, a mufical difcord, well pleafing to the God of heaven and 
 earth. " It is but reafonable for us (fays Symmachus*) to fup- 
 *' pofe, that it is one and the fame being whom all mankind 
 *' adores. We behold the fame ftars ; we live under the influence 
 *' of one common heaven ; we are incompafled by the fame uni- 
 ** verfe. What matters it, what device each man ufes in his fearch 
 ** after truth ? One road is plainly too narrow to lead us into the 
 ** initiation of fo grand a mystery." Elegantly alluding to the 
 fecret of the greater M\fteries, where, after the Hiftory of the 
 Popular theogony had been delivered to the Initiated, the orphic 
 Hymn, revealing the doftrine of the Unity, concluded the enter- 
 tainment. ** The great lord and governor of the earth ({ays The- 
 *• miftius) feems to be delighted with thefe divcrfities of Reli- 
 *' gions. It is his Will that the Syrians worrtiip him one way, the 
 «♦ Greeks another, and the Egyptians yet another t-" The reader 
 fees that the foundation of this way of thinking, was the old prin- 
 ciple of intercommunity in the worftiip of local tutelary Deities. 
 But, what is remarkable, it appears even to this day, to be eflen- 
 tial to Paganifm. Bernier tells us, that the Gentiles of Hindouftan 
 defended their religion againft him in this manner : " They gave 
 
 * ^Equum eft, quicqiiid omnes colunt unum putari ; eadem fpeftamus aftra ; com- 
 iMunc coelum elt ,- idem iios mundus involvit : ^Id inttreft qua qni/que frvJentid wrum 
 riquirat? UNO itinere non fotcjl peri'enWi ad tarn GRANDE SECRETUM, Lib. X. Ep. 6l. ad 
 FaUnt. Thcod. et Arcad. Augg. 
 
 f ToiIt>i yofii^i yajvio-Oai T^ <any.\>.\ii To» tS ■oa»T6>- 'A^X'7*'''^'' "''■^■*'>' Si-'f! ia/Aii ?fr,3-<!t.'ii», 
 
 i>.^#t '£^^Il^af, S^^»rf AiyvrliBt. Oral. XII. 
 
 Kkk 2 '*me
 
 436 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book «► 
 
 " me (fays he) this pleafant anfwer ; that they did not at all pre- 
 " tend that their Law was univerfal — that they did not in the leaflr 
 " iufped that ours was talfe: it might, for what they knew, ba 
 " a good Law for us, and that God may have made many dif- 
 
 ♦' FERENT ROADS TO LEAD TO HEAVEN ; but they WOuld by HO' 
 
 *' means hear that ours was general for the whole world, and theirs 
 " a mere fable and invention *." Bernier indeed fpeaks of this. 
 as a peculiar whimfey, which had entered the head of his Brachman. 
 But had he been as converfant in hiftory and Antiquity, as he was- 
 in modern philofophy, he would have known that this was a prin- 
 ciple which accompanied Paganifm through all its flages. 
 
 Let us now fee the nature and genius of thofe Religions which 
 were founded, as we fay, in true revelation. The firft is the- 
 Jewish; in which was taught the belief of one God, the Maker 
 and Governor of all things, in contradiftinftion to all the falfe 
 gods of the Gentiles : This neceflarily introduced a dogmatic 
 THEOLOGY. So that the followers of this Religion, if they believed 
 it true, in the fenfe it was delivered to them, muft needs believe 
 all others to be falfe. But it being inftituted only for themfelves„ 
 they had, direBly, no further to do with that falfhood, than tO' 
 guard themfelves againft the contagion of it, by holding no fellow- 
 fhip or communion with the Gentiles. 
 
 Yet fo ftrong was this general prejudice of intercommunity, 
 that all the provifions of the Law could not keep this brutal people 
 from running into the idolatries of the Nations : For their frequent 
 defections, till after the Babylonian Captivity, were no other than 
 the joining foreign Worship to the Worfhip of the God of IfraeL 
 
 After this Religion, comes the Christian, which taught the- 
 belief of the fame God, the fupreme Caufe of all things : and 
 being a Revelation, like the other, from Heaven, mufl: needs be 
 built upon that other ; or at leaft on the fuppofition of its truth. 
 And, as this latter was not national, hke the other, but given to* 
 
 * See note [1 1] at the end of. this Book. 
 
 all
 
 Sect.6. of MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 437 
 
 all mankind. For that reafon, but cfpecially for fonie others, 
 which will be fully confidered in their place, it had a More com- 
 plete fyftcm of dogmatick theology. The confequence of this 
 was, that its followers muft not only think Paganifm falfe, and 
 Judnifm abolifhed, and fo refufe all fellowfhip and communion 
 with both ; but mulT: endeavour to propagate their Religion through- 
 out the world, on the deflrudion of all the reft. And their dog- 
 matic theology teaching them that Truth (and not utility*, 
 as the Pagans, who had only public Rites and Ceremonies, fup- 
 pofcd) was the end of Religion ; it was no wonder, their averfion 
 to falfljood fliould be proportion ably increafed. And fo far all was 
 right. But this averfion, cheriftied by piety, unhappily produced a 
 blind, ungovernable zeal; which, when arguments failed, hurried 
 them on to all the unlawful ufe of force and compuUion. Hence 
 the evils of persecution, and the violation of the laws of huma- 
 nity, in a fond paffion for propagating the Law of GoD -}•• 
 
 This is a true reprefentation of the ftate of things, both in the 
 Pagan, and in the Believing world. To give it the utmoft evidence, 
 we will next confider the reception true Religion met with amongft 
 idolaters. 
 
 The Pagan world having early imbibed this inveterate prejudice 
 concerning intercommunity of -worjiyip, men were but too much ac- 
 cuftomed to new Revelations, when the Jewish appeared, not to. 
 acknowledge its fuperior pretences. Accordingly we find by the 
 hiftory of this People, that it was efteemed a true one by its neigh- 
 bours. And therefore they proceeded, in their ufual way, to joini 
 it, on occafion, to their own : as thofe did, whom the king of 
 Affyria fent into the cities of Ifrael in the place of the ten Tribes.. 
 Whereby it happened (fo great was the influence of this Princi- 
 ple) that in the fame time and country, the Jews of Jcrufalem 
 
 * For this the reader may fee Dion. HarlicamaiTcus's difcourfc of the religion which 
 Romulus introduced in his republic ; and for his reafon, fee Book III. and IV. 
 t See note [KK], at the end of this Book. 
 
 addet)
 
 438 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 added the Pagan idolatries to their Religion ; while the Pagans of 
 Samaria added the Jewifti religion to their idolatries. 
 
 But when this people of God, in confequence of having their 
 dogmatic 'Theology more carefully inculcated to them after their 
 return from the Captivity, became rigid in pretending not only 
 that their Religion was true, but the only true one ; then it was, 
 that they began to be treated by their Neighbours, and afterwards 
 by the Greeks and Romans, with the utmofi; hatred and contempt 
 
 for this THEIR INHUMANITY AND UNSOCIABLE TEMPER. To this 
 
 caufe alone we are to afcribe all that fpleen and rancour which 
 appears in the hiftories of thefe latter Nations, concerning them. 
 Celfus fairly reveals what lay at bottom, and fpeaks out, for them 
 all : " If the Jews, on thefe accounts, adhere to their own Law, 
 ** it is not for that, they are to blame : I rather blame thofe who 
 ** forfake their own country religion to embrace the Jewifli. But 
 *' if thefe People give themfelves airs of fublimer wifdom than the 
 ** reft of the world, and on that fcore refufe all communion with it, 
 *' as not equally pure ; — I mufl: tell them that it is not to be believed 
 ** that they are more dear, or agreeable to God, than other na- 
 *' tions *." Hence, amongft the Pagans, the Hebrew People came 
 to be diftinguifhed from all others by the name of genus hominum 
 INVISUM DEIS t, and with good reafon +. 
 
 This was the reception the Jews met with in the world : but 
 not pretending to obtrude their Religion on the reft of mankind, as 
 it was given properly to the Pofterity of Abraham, they yet, for the 
 moft part, efcaped perfecution. 
 
 When Christianity arofe, though on the foundation of Juda- 
 ifm, it was at firft received with great complacency by the Pagan 
 world. For they were fuch utter ftrangers to the idea of one Re- 
 
 * E> y.11 Ji xari ratjTix wi{.riXXoii» 'leJaroi to> i^i<i» »o^ov, h (iiftTli uuTkit' iJt/i»«» it ficiXKot Tut 
 xitla>.nrir\u> to. afiri^*, >t) ri 'ibJalaii W{0ff7rci(?jui»fti»' 11 J' «!f tI <j-o^«ti{Ov m'^o'tis at)/.>v:o!\%l t», j^ 
 fill aXXut MHUttai ax i^ itra xa9af5» a,vor^i^oi\a.i — i fiMt »J' luJoxifti"* «ra{a Tu Si» ^ rt/yKriat 
 
 iiccfofuf Ti T«F aWiun TuTBj 11x05. Orig. cont. Celfum, 1. v. p. J59. 
 ■f Tacit. Hift. 1. v. J See note ♦, p. 441. 
 
 ligion's
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 439 
 
 ligion's being built, or dependent on another, that it was a long 
 time before they knew this connexion between them. Even Celfus 
 himfelf, with all his I'ufficiency, faw fo little how this matter 
 flood, that he was not fatisfied whether the Jews and Chriftians 
 worlhiped the fame God ; — was fometimes inclined to think they 
 did not. This ignorance, which the propagators of our Re- 
 ligion were not too forward to remove *, for fear of hindering the 
 progrefs of the Gofpcl, prevented the prejudice which the Pagans 
 had to Judaifm, from indlfpofing them to Chriftianity. So that 
 the Gofpel was favourably heard. And the fuperior evidence, with 
 which it was inforced, inclined men, long habituated to pretended 
 Revelations, to receive it into the number of the Eftabllfhed. 
 Accordingly we find one Roman emperor introducing it amongfl: 
 his clofet Religions t; and another propofing to the Senate |, to 
 give it a more public entertainment §. But when it was found to 
 carry its pretenfions higher 1|, and to claim, like the Jewlfli, the 
 title of the only true one, then it was that it began to incur 
 ..the fame hatred and contempt with the Jewifli. But when it went 
 ftill further, and urged a neceffity for all men to forfake their 
 national Religions, and embrace the Gofpel, this fo fhocked** the 
 Pagans, that it foon brought upon itfelf the bloody ftorms which 
 followed, Thus you have the true origin of perfecution for Religion 
 (though not of the intolerant principle, as we (hall fee before we 
 come to the end of this fedion). A perfecution not committed, 
 but undergone, by the Chriflian Church. 
 
 Hence we fee how it happened, that fuch good Emperors as 
 Trajan and M. Antonlne came to be found m the firfl rank of 
 
 * See note [LL], at the end of this Boot, 
 f Alexander Seveius. Lampridii, c. ag. 
 
 X Tiberius retulit ad fenatum ut inter cetera sacra rcciperctur. Hier. See 
 aote [MM], at the end of this Book. 
 
 § See note [NN], at the end of this Book. 
 II See note [00], at the end of this Book. 
 *» See note [PP], at the end of this Book. 
 
 perfecutors.
 
 440 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book It. 
 
 perfecutors. A difficulty that hath very much embarrafled the 
 enquirers into ecclefiaftical antiquity ; and given a handle to the 
 Deifts, who empoifon every thing, of pretending to fufpefl that 
 there mufl be fomething very much amifs in primitive Chriftia- 
 ■nity, while fuch wife magiftrates could become its perfecutors. 
 But now the reafon is manifeft * : the Chriftian pretences over- 
 threw a fundamental principle of Paganifm, which they thought 
 founded in nature ; namely, the friendly intercommunity of ivorjhip. 
 And thus the fimous paffage of Pliny the younger becomes in- 
 telligible. '* For I did not in the leaft heiitate, but that whatever 
 *' (hould appear on confeffion, to be their faith, yet that their fro- 
 *' wardnefs and inflexible ohjlinacy would certainly deferve punifh- 
 ** mentt-" What was thXs inflexible obflinacy? It could not con- 
 fift in profeffing a new Religion : that was a thing common enough. 
 It was the refufmg all communion with Paganifm ; refufing to 
 throw a grain of incenfe on their altara, For we muft not think, 
 as is commonly imagined, that this was at firft enforced by the 
 Magiftrate to make them renounce their Religion : but only to give 
 a tefl of Its facial and hofpit able temper. It was indeed, and right- 
 ly, underftood by the Chriftians to be a renouncing of their Reli- 
 gion ; and fo, accordingly, abftained from. The misfortune was, 
 that the Pagans did not confider this inflexibility as a mere error^ 
 but as an immorality likewife. The iinfociabh\ uncommunicable tem- 
 per, in matters of religious worfhip, was efleemed by the beft of 
 them, as a hatred and averfion to tnankind. Tacitus, fpeaking of 
 the burning of Rome : " Haud perinde in crimine incendii quam 
 " oDio HUMANi GENERIS convi£li funt I [Chriftiani]," ConviBed, 
 he fays, of hate to all mankind. But how ? The confeffion of the 
 Pagans themfelves, concerning the purity of the Chriftian morals, 
 Ihews this could be no other than a conviStion of their rejeding all 
 
 * See note [QCiJ, at the end of this Book. 
 
 t Neque enim dubitabam, qualecunque ejfet quod faterentur, certe, pertinaciam ef 
 inJicxihiUm ohjiinationem debere puniri. Lib, x, Ep. 97. 
 X Ann. XV. Sed. 44. 
 
 intercommunity
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 441 
 
 intercommunity of JVorJl/ip ; which, fo great was their prejudice, 
 they thought could proceed from nothing but hate to mankind. 
 The like charadler the fame hiftorian gives of the Jews : " Apud 
 *' ipfos FIDES oBSTiNATA, fed adverfus omnes alios hostile 
 *' ODIUM *." Now the Jews andChriftians had nothing in common 
 but tliis unfociable and uncommiinicable temper in religious matters, 
 this objlinata JiJes which gave fo much offence to Paganifm. We 
 are not to imagine, thefe excellent Pagan moralifts fo blind as not 
 to fee all the merit of a firm and fixed refiolution of keeping a good 
 confcience. They did fee and own it, as appears by the famous 
 *' Juflum et tenacem propofiti virum," &c. of one of their moral 
 poets. But, unluckily for truth, they did not fee the pervicacia et 
 infiexibilis ohflinatio of the Chriftians in that light. Though it was 
 Jiothing more thau fuch n fixed refiolution^ as one who moft feverely 
 cenfured them for it, the good emperor Marcus Antoninus, fairly 
 confefles. In his book oi Meditations, fpeakingof a wife man's readi- 
 nefs to die, he fays, " He fliould be fo prepared, that his readinefs 
 " maybefeen to be the effe6l of a well-weighed judgement, not of 
 " MERE OBSTINACY, like that of the Chriftians +." This is a very 
 heavy charge on the primitive Martyrs. But he himfelf removes 
 it in hisConftitution to the Community of Ajia, given us by Eufebius. 
 " I know, fays he, the Gods are watchful to difcover fuch fort of 
 ** men. For it is much more fit that they themlelves fliould punifli 
 " thofe who REFUSE TO -WORSHIP THEM, than that we fhould 
 *• interfere in it ;];." Why then was it called mere objilnacy ? The 
 reafon is fecn above: univerfal prejudice had made men regard a 
 refufal of this intercommunity as the moft brutal of all diflbciability. 
 And the emperor Julian, who underftood this matter the beft of 
 any, fairly owns, tiiat the Jews and Ciiriftians brought the exe- 
 
 * See note [RR]> at the ciul ot' tliis Book. 
 f See note [SS], at the end of thjs Book, 
 
 xcXaa-aii* ar TB,- (*r! pB\t.fti)«;; stO-^.; 1ir§orKVi»;» ^ tu.r?. EulVl), Lccl.llilt. 1. iv. f. I3. 
 
 Vol. I. I. 1 1 cration
 
 4+2 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 cratlon of the world upon them by their averfion to the Gods of 
 Paganifm, and their' refufal of all communication vAth them *. 
 
 On this occafion, it may not be improper, once for all, to ex- 
 pofe the ignorance and malice of thofe, whom the French call 
 Philosophers, and we Englifli, Free-Thinkers ; who, with no 
 more knowledge of Antiquity, than what \\\t moderji fenje of a few 
 Latin and Greek words could afford them, have his odium humanl 
 generis perpetually in their mouths, to difgrace the chofen People 
 of God, or rather the Author of their Religion. Their favorite 
 author, Tacitus himfelf, by extending the abufe, difcouutenances 
 it. He makes this odium humani gefieris the charadteriftie both of 
 Jews and Chrijlians ', and by fo doing, flaews us, in what itcon- 
 fifted. Nor do the Ancients in general, by affixing it as the com- 
 mon brand to thefe two inhofpitable Religions, contribute to thl& 
 calumny, any othei-wile than by the incapacity of our Philofophers 
 to underftand them. Diodorus Siculus, fpeaking -f of Antiochus's 
 profanation of the JewiJ}} Temple^ and his contemptuous deftruflioa 
 of the Sacred Books, applauds the Tyrant's exploits, as thofe Books 
 contained t« fjna-oliva vci^tf/.a. Laws, which bore hate and enmity to 
 all the reji of Mankind. This pretended odium htunani generis, we 
 find then, was not any thing in the perfonal temper of the Jews, 
 but in the nature and genius of their Law. Thefe Laws are extant 
 and lie now before us ; and we fee, the only hate they contain is 
 the hate of Idols. With regard to the race of Mankind, nothing 
 can be more endearing than the Mofaic account of their common.' 
 original', nothing more benign or falutary than the legal direc- 
 tions to the Jews concerning their treatment of all, out of the 
 Covenant. Whatever there might be of this odious temper fairly 
 afcribed to the Jews, by our Philofophers, it received no counte- 
 
 * 'A^^a To, a •a(iioM)n<ri\% Siorj cTifoij* S Ji jiity* f?; sjifi to» ©eo'k ^-nai Jla?o^?;• 0to{ yap: 
 
 ^rAwl^? ^>i!7» a^ilt tSto» Ton Xipo», >^ fti TDXixavT')!' t^' if^Sj «tTt(> iA«t1« ^has-f'ijj.iav. Apud 
 
 Cyrill. eont. Jul. 1. v. 
 
 -f- Eclcs;. I. ex Diod. Sic. 1. 51.
 
 Sect.6. of MOSES demonstrated. 443 
 
 nance from the Law, and isexprefsly condemned by the Almighty 
 Author of it, when it betrayed itfelf amongft certain corrupt and 
 apoftate members of that Nation. Thefe, indeed, the Prophet 
 Ifaiah defcribes, as faying to all others, — Stajid by thy/elf y come not 
 near vie ; for I am holier than thou *. And left this fhould be raif- 
 taken for the fruits of the unhofpitable genius of the Law, he takes 
 care to inform us that thefe men were the rankeft and moft aban- 
 doned Apoftatcs. A rebellious People whoficrifce in gardens, and 
 
 burn incenfe upon Altars of Brick who remain among f the graves, 
 
 and lodge in the vionunienis, which cat ftvine' s fief}.\ &cc f . that is, a 
 People thoroughly paganized. 
 
 Thus have 1 endeavoured to explain the true origin of that 
 univerfal toleration (as far as Religion influenced it) under 
 Paganifm ; and the accidental caufes of its violation under Chrijii- 
 anity. The account will be further ufeful to many confiderable 
 purpofes, as will be feen hereafter. At prefent I fhall only take 
 notice how well it obviates one fpecious objedion againft Chrifti- 
 anity. " If this Rehgion, liiy the Deifts, were accompanied with 
 fuch illuftrious and extraordhiary marks of truth, as is pretended ; 
 how happened it, that its truth was not leen by more of the beft 
 and wifcft of thofe times ? And if it were feen (as it certainly was), 
 how could they continue Pagans ?" 7 he anfwer is eafy. The 
 convidion of the truth of a new Religion was not deemed a fuffi- 
 cient reafon, by men, overrun with I he general prejudiceof inter- 
 communitv, to quit their old ones. 
 
 The cafe indeed was different in a Jew, who held none of this 
 intercommunity. If fuch a one owned the truth of Chriftianity, he 
 muft needs embrace it. We conclude, therefore, tliat the paflage 
 of Jofephus (who was as much a Jew as the Religion of Mofes 
 could make him) which acknowledges, fefus to be the Christ ;};, 
 
 * Ifai. c. Ixv. ver. 5. t ^er. 2, 3, 4. 
 
 I — 'inrSi, iro^M a/tp' ifyi ' ArJfa aiTor >.iy<ir J^fi' rit ya^ mct^aioivi tfyui Ti!Oir%;. AiJaVxa?.®" 
 <i»e{*7ri;r, tSv h^ti ri\rM Jixofti'n.*.— XPISTOi; OTfTOJ: HN.— 'Efa».i y<i{ airoTi tjItdj t'^iv 
 
 Antiq. xviii. 5. 3. 
 
 L 1 1 2 is
 
 444 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 is a rank forgery, and a very ftupid one too *. But it hath beeii. 
 faid, that Jofephus was a JewiJJ} Convert. If fo, it muft be ta 
 Judaifm, and not from it. For where he affirms, againft Apion, 
 that there ought to he but one Temple for one God f, he fpeaks the 
 very fpirit of the Law. 
 
 We have now feen the motives the civil Magiftrate had \.o tole- 
 rate : Of what nature that toleration was: And how eafily 
 
 it was brought about. 
 
 But then, left the People fhould abufe this right of worfhipping, 
 according to their own will, to the detriment of the State, in pri- 
 vate and clandeftine conventicles (which right the Magiftrate fup« 
 ported for the civil benefit of it), he took care that fuch worfhip 
 fhould have the public approbation and allowance, before it was 
 received on the footing of a tolerated Religion. So, by the laws o£ 
 Athens, no Jlrange God^ wox foreign War Jlnp was permitted, till 
 approved and licetifed by the Court of Areopagus. This is the. 
 reafon why St. Paul, who was regarded as- the hringer in oi. foreign, 
 Gods, SENXiN AAIMONiriN, was had up to that Tribunal. Not 
 as a criminal |, but rather as a public benefadlor, who had a new: 
 Worfip to propofe to a people, religious above all others, OS. 
 AEl2[AAIMONESTEPOI ; moft addi£led, as Strabo tells us, tO: 
 the recognition of J^r^/^w Worfip\\ and " of all the Greeks, as 
 *' Julian obferves, moft devoted to Religion, and moft hofpitable. 
 " to ftraugers 1|." Tully ** makes Solon the founder of this Court- 
 But the Arundel marbles, and Plutarch in his life of that Law- 
 giver tt> contradid this opinion ; and the latter, in fupport of his 
 
 * See a further proof of it, vol. II. Book V. fed. 4. f Lib. II. 
 
 + See note [TT], at the end of this Book. 
 
 4<"XKI iffaiF TOajiJ-laiilo. Geogr. 1. X. 
 
 I w; 1^ ^i^o'Smi /iaXir» 'Bo.ilm tiVt, t^ Js'lioi rojoj T»{ |f»aj, Mifopog. 
 
 ** De Officiis, lib. i. c. 22. 
 
 *-|- VUsparall vol.i. p. 194. edit. Bryan, 
 
 OWHk.
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 445 
 
 own, quotes a law of Solon's, which makes mention of the Areo- 
 pagus as already exirting. The difficulty is how to reconcile thele 
 accounts. . I imagine this might be the cafe : Solon, we know, was 
 employed by the Athenians to ncw-modcl their Commonwealth, 
 by reforming the ill Conftitutions, and fupplying fuch as were de- 
 fedive. So that in the number of his regulations, this might be 
 one; The adding, to the Court of Areopagus, the peculiar jurif- 
 diftion in queftion ; as of great moment to public utility. And 
 having thus enlarged and ennobled its Jurifdiftion, he was after- 
 wards regarded as its founder. A paflage in TElchylus feems, at 
 firft fight indeed, not to favour this opinion ; but to inlinuate, that 
 this Jurifdidion was coeval with the Court. In the fifth a£l of liis 
 Etanenides, he makes the worfhip of the Furies^ or the venerable 
 Goddtjjes, as they were called, to be received and recognized in 
 Athens, by a decree of Minerva, as head of the college of Areopa- 
 gus, which the poet feigns fte had juil then iuflltuted. But this 
 plainly appears to have been contrived only for the fake of a poeti- 
 cal embellifliment ; and ^fcbylus feems to employ one circum- 
 ftance in this fcene, defignedly to inform us of the order of time, 
 in which the Court received its two different jurifdidlions. It is, 
 where he makes the criminal caufe of Orefles, the firfl: which was 
 judged at that Tribunal ; and the religious one, of the reception of 
 the Eumenides, but the fecond. However this be, the Areopagus 
 was, by far, the moft formidable judicature in the republic. And 
 it is obfervable, that Arilliophancs, who fpares neither the fleets, 
 the armies, the Courts of juflice, the perfon of the fupreme Ma- 
 giftrate, the Afl'emblics of the people, or the Temples of the Gods 
 themfelves, does not dare to hazard the leaft injurious reflection on 
 that venerable body. 
 
 The Romans had a law to the fame purpofe ; which, as often as 
 it was violated, was publicly vindicated by the authority of the 
 State : as appears from the words of Poflhumius in Livy, quoted 
 in the lafl fedion : " Quoties hoc patrum avorumque astate negotium 
 
 '^efl;
 
 44^ THE DIVINE LEGATION Book It 
 
 " ed: magiftratibus datum, ut facra externa fieri vetarent, facrlficu- 
 " los vatefque fore, circo, urbe prohiberent, vaticinos libros con- 
 *' quirerent* ?" Sec. Which fhews their care to have all tolerated 
 religions under the Magiftrate's infpedlion. And, if I am not 
 much miftaken, Tully, in his Books of Laws, the fubftance of 
 which is taken from the Twelve tables, gives us that very law ; 
 whereby, as we faid, all foreign and clandefline worfliip, unau- 
 thorized by the civil magiftrate, was forbid. Separatim nemo 
 
 HABESSIT DEOS : NEVE NOVOS, NEVE ADVENAS, NISI PUBLICE 
 
 ADSCiTos, PRiVATiM coLUNToi"' " No man (hall worfliip the 
 ** Gods clandeftinely, or have them feparately to himfelf : nor 
 *' (hall any new or foreign God be wor(hipped by particulars, till 
 " fuch God hath been legally approved of, and tolerated by the 
 •• magiftrate." The comment, as concife, and confequently as 
 obfcure as the text, follows In thefe words : SuosQirE deos, aut 
 
 NOVOS, AUT ALIENIGENAS COLI, CONFUSIONEM HABET RELI- 
 GIONUM, ET IGNOTAS CEREMONIAS: NON A SACERDOTIBUS, NON 
 A PATRIBUS ACCEPTOS DEOS, ITA PLACERET COLI, SI HUlC LftGI 
 
 PARUERANT iPsi J. " For each man to have his Gods in pecu- 
 *♦ liar, whether new or Jiranger Gods, without public allowance, 
 " tends to defeat and confound all religion, and introduce clan- 
 •' deftine wor(hip : and had the priefts and our forefathers had a 
 " due regard to this law, we (hould never have approved of that 
 «' kind of worfliip which we now pay to the Gods they introduced 
 «' amongft us." 
 
 But notwlthftanding all this, Mr. Bayle, from the words above 
 quoted from the fpeech of Pofthumius in Livy, would perfuade us §, 
 that the Romans did not admit or tolerate foreign wor(hip ; and 
 that the care of the Magiftrate, there taken notice of by the Conful, 
 
 * Lib. xxxix. Hift. 
 
 •f See note [UU], at the end of this Bookt 
 I See note [XX], at the ead of this Book. 
 ^ Penf. div. c. 331.
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 447 
 
 Avas to prohibit all religions, hut the ejlablified : an opinion which 
 the whole Ronnaii hiliory dilcredits ; where we find the Magif- 
 trate, frona time to time, tolerated all foreign religions with the 
 utmoft facility. The care then, which Pofthumius meant, was 
 furely that of preventing all clandcftine worlhip, unlicenfed by the 
 Magilh-ate : This appears even from that other paflage brought by 
 Mr B. from Livy to fupport his aflertion : " Nee corpora modo 
 " atFecla tabo, fed animos quoque multiplex religio et pleraque ex- 
 " terna invatlt, novos ritus facnficando, vaticinando Infcrentibus in 
 *' domoSf quibus quafiui funt capti fuperftitionc animi * :" But 
 more particularly from tlie very affair, Poflhumius was here en- 
 gaged in. At this jundure, the State was above meafure exafpe- 
 rated by the monflrous enormities committed in the clandeftine 
 rites of Bacchus : yet it is obfervable, that, in the edidl pafTed in 
 the vaxy height of their rcfentment, the right of toleration was pre- 
 ferved inviolate : the Decree of the Senate forbidding " any cele- 
 *' bration of the Bacchanals either in Rome or Italy. But that if 
 " any one fhould be pofl'elTed with a belief that this fort of rite was 
 *' due by cuftom, and necefTary ; and that he could not omit the 
 *' celebration of it without irrellgion and impiety, he fhould lay 
 "his cafe before the city Pretor ; the Pretor fhould confult the 
 *' Senate, when there was not lefs than an hundred in council, to 
 *' know if they approved of it. Thefe cautions obferved, the rites 
 *' might be celebrated, provided that not more than five afiifled at 
 *' the facrificc, that they had no common ptirfe^ no priejl, nor a niaf- 
 *' ter of the folemnities -f." 
 
 ♦ Lib. iv. Hift. 
 
 t — Ne qua Bacchanalia Roma-, neve in Italia eflent. Si qviis tale facrum foienne 
 ct neceflarium diiceret, nee fine rcligione et piaciifo fc id omittere pofTe apud Pritorem 
 urbanum profiteretur; Pntor fenatum confuleret, fi eipermiffum eflct, quum in fenatu 
 centum non minus eflent, ita id facrum ficcret, dum ne plus quinque facrificio inter- 
 ertent, neu qua pecunia communis, neu quis magifter facrorum, aut facerdos effet. 
 Lib. xx:ii:c. 
 
 As
 
 448 THE DIVINE LEGATION Boos IT. 
 
 As here, the Magiftrate's care, hi expelUng foreign religions, 
 was to prevent clandeftine worfhip amongft the tolerated; i'o at 
 other times, the ll^me care was employed in preventing thofe foreign 
 religions from mixing with the eJiabUJIied, as we are informed by- 
 Valerius Maximus *. But neither in that cafe, nor in this, was 
 the liberty of particulars, to worfhip as they thought fit, at all in- 
 fringed, or impaired. 
 
 Dionyfius of HalicarnalTus plainly diftinguifhes between their 
 ejiabliped and tolerated religions. The pafl'age is curious ; and will 
 not only ferve to confute Mr. B.'s notion, but will afford us an 
 opportunity of explaining what is further neceflary to clear up this 
 embarrafied fubje£t. The words of this diligent enquirer into the 
 Roman Conflitution are thefe : " What, above all things, raifed 
 *' my admiration was, that, notwithftanding the vafl: multitudes 
 *' which throng from all parts to Rome, vviio mufi: there, confe- 
 *' quently, worfhip their own country Gods, according to their 
 *' country rites ; yet the city never adopted any of thefe foreign 
 " worfhips into tiie public religion; as hath, been the cuflom for 
 *' many other ftates to dot-" Whence it appears, i. That all 
 flrangers might freely worfliip in Rome according to their own 
 way ; the being debarred of that liberty, was not deemed, by him, 
 a conceivable cafe : That {uch. particulars as were fo difpofed, might 
 join with them ; and that, befides thefe tolerated religions, there 
 was one public, and ejlablijlied, which admitted of no foreign mix- 
 tures. 2. We are not to underfl:and the author as if his wonder 
 was caufed by the Romans having an eftablified religion diflinft 
 from the tolerated ; but, for that they mixed, or introduced into 
 the ejlablijljed few or no foreign rites ; which was the cuflom in 
 the cities of Greece : for thefe are the other Jlales, vvliich the hifto- 
 rian hints at. But modern writers not adverting to this, when 
 
 * Lib. i. c. 3. 
 
 vn\>^ aiayitri <r«Cjiii Ta« waslfiaf Sia; To~,- ol'xo6i)' vo^i'fioij, thto^ tU ^'My sAijXuSt rfc> |ni/ii;> sTrili)- 
 itUfiiTui i mMi ^»ifiOffia, a •oroW.srs ?,Jj) ffti»('o>i ■aaSii't. Antiq. lib. II. 
 
 they
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 449 
 
 they read of the Roman praftlce of admitting no foreign worfhip 
 into their ^wMc religion, concluded wrongly, that they allowed no 
 toleration : and when they read of the Greek practice of naturalizing 
 foreign religions, by adopting them into their public worlhip, con- 
 cluded, as wrongly, that they had no efablijljtmnts. 3. The 
 words H nOAIS AHMOSIA, are remarkable: He does not fay, the 
 city -rejedled foreign worfhip, but, that it admitted not of it pub- 
 licly ; that is, did not bring it into the public religion of the 
 State. For, as we obferved before, Paganifm had two parts, the 
 one public, the other private : the State^ as fuch, was the fubjecfl 
 of the one; and Particulars^ as fuch, of tlie other. But they ad- 
 mitted of foreign rites privately ; that is, Mowed particulars to uih 
 them, after the Magiftrate's licence had been obtained for that pur- 
 pofe. So that the eJlabUfHd religion, every where, related to the 
 public part of Paganifm ; and the tolerated, to the private part. 
 4. The hiftorian obferves, that, in this conduiSt, Rome differed 
 from many other cities, meaning the Grecian. And indeed, it was 
 lefs a wonder than he feems to make it : For Rome, rifing on her 
 own foundation, independent on, and unrelated to any other State, 
 and early poflefTed with the high enthufiafm of diftiaiSlion and 
 empire, would naturally efteem her tutelary Gods as her own pecu- 
 liar; and therefore would rejeft all foreign mixtures. On the contrary, 
 the Grecian States, related to, and dependent on one another, would 
 more eafily admit of an aflbciation and combination amongft their 
 national Deities. 
 
 Such was the nature of toleration in the Pagan world; and 
 this the wife provlfion of ancient Policy, while Civil liberty could 
 keep its own. But when now Government began to degenerate, 
 and all, prepofteroufly to fubmit to the will of one j when the 
 Magiftrate came to have a good, diftindl from that of the People ; 
 and civil peace was eftimated, not by the bleflings it produced, 
 but by the degree of fubjedion it was able to inflid ; then the fa- 
 shionable fcheme of Politics began to turn folely on the mainte- 
 
 VoL. L M m m nance
 
 450 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 nanceof a Tyrant's power: and He having obfervcd, that, though 
 the toleration of religion, under the regulations above defcrlbed,, 
 was evidently for the advantage of Society ; yet, as thofe regula- 
 tions were too apt to be neglected, he thought it befc, by an abfo- 
 lute intolerance, and a thorough unijormny, to cut ofF all occafions> 
 and opportunities of mifchief to hin^felf, from private conventicles- 
 and conventions. 
 
 Agreeably to this fyftem of power, we find MiECcnas, in Dions 
 Caffius*, difluadlng Auguftus from allowing any toleration of reli- 
 gion at all: as, an indulgence in this matter,, would indifpofe 
 men towards the Magiftrate, and make them Icfs fond of the civill 
 and religious Conflitutions of their country ; from whence fac- 
 tions, and confederacies againft tlie State would unavoidably arife.. 
 He concludes his advice againft toleration in thefe remarkable words :': 
 AHEP HKISTA MONAPXIA LYJVKE'EPEI ; " as a thing by no means. 
 " agreeing with arbitrary power." And Tacitus informs us -h, the 
 tifurper foUow^ed it. Thus, we fee, that the famous declaration, 
 of, ONE KING AND ONE RELIGION, Is uot z new maxim, for vvhichi 
 we are indebted to French Politics. 
 
 So noble an original had the principle of intolerance : and; 
 fo iniquitous are the adverfarles of our holy religion, to throw it 
 upon the Chrl/lian Faith ; when it appears to have been the pure: 
 offspring of civil Tyranny ; how well foever it may have been after- 
 wards nurfed and fondled by fome Fathers of the Church. 
 
 Thus have I attempted to give a plain account of the general, 
 methods ufed by ancient Policy to inculcate aad fupport Religion. 
 Were I to fpeak, as I once intended, of thofe which particular 
 Lawgivers and Maglftrates employed for the ufe of their proper. 
 
 ♦ Lib, Hift. 52. 
 
 f Aftum et de facris jEgyptiis Judaicifque pellendis : faftumque patrum confultum, 
 lit quatiior millia libertini generis ea fuperftitione infeda, quis idonea aetas, in infulam. 
 Sardiniam veherentur, coercendis iilic latrociniis, et fi ob gravitatem coeli interiflent, 
 vile damnum: ccteri cederent Italia, nifi, certain ante diem profanos ritus exuiflent,. 
 
 Tac. Annal. I. 11. c 85. 
 
 Societies,.
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 451 
 
 Societies, I fliould have it in my power to throw great light upon 
 the argument. But this, though the mofl curious part of all, muft 
 be omitted at prefent, by rcafon of its length. In the mean time, 
 I prefume, more than enough hath been faid, even in thofe places 
 which only (hew the Legiflator's care for religion in general, to 
 prove the truth of the propofition, Thnt, in the opinion of ancient 
 policy^ the doSIritJC of afuturejlate of rewards and punijhments was 
 indijpenfably ufefid to civil Society : For having (hewn that the doc- 
 trine of a future ftate was an infeparable part of Pagan religion, 
 and indeed the fole fupport of it, the proving their care for religion 
 in general, proves their care for this doftrine in particular. Where, 
 it is worth obferving, that, though the ancient Lawgivers deviated 
 from truth, and differed from one another, even in the moll im- 
 portant points, concerning property^ marriage^ dominion, (^c. yet 
 they unanimoufly agreed in owning the ufe, and propagating the 
 belief of a future ftate of rewards and punifliments : And what 
 flronger proof would any one defire of the neceffity of that dodrine 
 to Religion and Society ? 
 
 We now fee the clofe connexion between Civil grjverriment and 
 Religion. The following obfervation will ftill further explain the 
 neceflity of this union. 
 
 That benevolent fplrit of Antiquity, defcribed above, which (et 
 their Heroes upon poli(hing the barbarous manners- of their fellow- 
 creatures, and imparting to them the bleffings of civil life, as 
 divine as it appears, hath yet been far exceeded by the charity of 
 thefe later ages, which fends missionaries Into the furt heft re- 
 gions of the eaft and weft, with the ineftimable blefling oi the glad 
 tidings of the Gofpel. But nothing is matter of more grief to ferious 
 men than the conftant ill fuccefs of fo charitable an undertaking. 
 Something fure muft have been greatly amifs, to defeat a defign 
 which all nature confpires to advance. This would be accounted 
 for. Catholic (as they call themfelves) and Proteflant Millionaries 
 go promifcuoufly to either India. The Catholics have laboured 
 M m m 2 moft
 
 452 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 1 1. 
 
 mofl: in countries civilized ; but, giving a commentitious fyiftem 
 for the gofpel of Chrid:, it is no wonder the Pagans fhould not be 
 greatly difpofed to cliange old fables for new. And though the 
 frotejlant Miflionaries carry the genuine Gofpel with them into 
 America, yet they preach it to Savages, with no better fuccefs. 
 The realbn feems to be becaufe they are Savages, without Govern- 
 ment or Laws ; and confequently of very rude, uncultivated minds. 
 Now Chriftianity, plain and hmple as it is, and fitted in its nature 
 for what it was defigned by its Author, requires an intellect above 
 that of a mere Savage to underfland *. Something then mufl be 
 previous to it. And what is that fomething but civil society ? 
 This is not at all to its dishonour. And if it hath fometimes hap- 
 pened, through the indefatigable labours of thefe Miflionaries, both 
 of the one and the other Communion, that numbers of favage 
 converts have been made, they could never long preferve, or pro- 
 pagate amongft their tribes, the Chriftianity they had been taught t 
 but their fucceflbrs have always found the work was to begin anew, 
 and in a little time, nothing left of the others labours to advance 
 upon. And if what we have faid in this book be true, Hhat religion 
 cannot long fubjiji without the aid of civil government, we are not to 
 wonder at it : for, from hence, we conclude, they began at the 
 wrong end ; and that to make our holy religion rightly underftood, 
 much more to propagate and perpetuate it, they fhould firft have 
 taught thefe Savages the arts of life : from whence (befides the 
 benefit of that previous knowledge abovementioned) would have 
 refulted this further advantage, that men fo fenfibly obliged, would 
 have given a more favourable attention to their benefadtors. As it 
 is, I am afraid, thefe Savages obferving in the Miflionaries (and 
 they have fenfe enough to obferve that the Europeans keep many 
 things from them which it would be ufeful for them to know) a 
 total difregard of their .temporal concerns, would be hardly brought 
 K) think the matters preffed upon them of much importance, or 
 
 * See note [YYJ at the end of this Book. 
 
 the
 
 Sect. 6. OF MOSES DEMON STRATED. 
 
 45' 
 
 the teachers greatly m earnefl:. The civilizing a barbarous people 
 rs in itfelf a work of fuch exalted charity, that to fee it neglected, 
 when a far nobler end than the arts of life may be procured by it, 
 Is matter of the utmort aftonifliment *. But it is partly owing to 
 this, that many of botli miflions have had too much of th:it fana' 
 ticifm in their temper, which difpofes men to an utter contempt of 
 worldly things : they are therefore fo far from preaching up the ad- 
 vantages of Society, and recommending civil Manners, that they 
 are more difpofed to throw afide their own ;. and have rccourfe tO' 
 the dried ikins and parched corn of the Savages. While others of 
 them, of a colder turn, and lower form of JuperJlUlon^ havingj; 
 taken it into their heads, that the vices of improved life wouli 
 more imiifpofe the Indians to the precepts of the Gofpel, than their 
 prefent brutality incapacitates, them; from comprehending the doc- 
 trines of it, have concluded it beft, upon the whole, to keep their 
 eyes (hut to the advantages of civil life f.. But without doubt fb 
 fatal a condufl arifes chiefly from the falfe and inhumane policy of 
 the European Colonies, a policy common to every feft and profef- 
 fion, which makes them do all in their power to keep the natives- 
 in a fivage ftate ; as fufpetfling that the neighbourhood of a civi- 
 lized people would be too unfriendly to their private interefls. 
 However, this policy, as bad as it is, has yet fomething lefs 
 diabolical in it than that other part of Colony-religion, whichi 
 robs the oppofite Continent of fo many thoufands of our fpecies,. 
 for a yearly facrifice to their great idol, Mammon, the God of 
 Gain. Thefe Colonifts, indeed, pretend to obferve a kind of 
 averfion in the favages to a civilized State. And it is no wonder" 
 if they fhould not be very forward to imitate the manners of their 
 oppreffors. But this is not the natural condition of things. Bar- 
 barians are never backward to partake of thofe advantages of civil; 
 life which they underftand ; except where ill ufage has given them. 
 
 * See note [ZZ] at the end of this Book, 
 t See note [AAA] at the end of this Book,.
 
 454 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book ll. 
 
 an abhorrence for their Inflrudlors. The Goths and Vandals in 
 Europe, together with the other benefits of their Conquefts, joy- 
 fully embraced the Chriftian Faith : And the Turks in Afia, and 
 other clans of Tartars in China, readily received Religion and 
 Civility from the conquered nations. On the whole, however, I 
 dare venture to foretel, that no great good will ever come of thefe 
 Miffions, till the two projeds of civilizing and facing be joined 
 in one. 
 
 As the matter (lands at prefent, the forefls of North and South 
 America are good for little but to be made nurferies for Philoso- 
 phers and Free-thinkers. The inhabitants, by following Am- 
 ple nature, are already in pofleffion of that blefling, which thefe 
 illuftrious Inftru£lors fo vainly wifhed for at home ; namely the 
 removal of all religious prejudices from the education of their 
 children. A learned voyager, who has been lately on a mathe- 
 matical miffion to the Equator, defcribes this happy and envied 
 condition in very emphatic terms ; which the reader may find 
 below *. What crops of Free-thinking may not be expected from 
 fo happy a climate ! But our Philofophers perhaps, on refledion, 
 
 * — J'ai cru reconnoitre dans tons [les Indiens Ainericains, quoique differentes en 
 langues, moeurs, et coutumes] un meme fonds de chara£lere. L'infenfibilite en fait le 
 bafe. Je laifle a decider fi on la doit honorer du nom d'apathie ; ou I'avilir par celui de 
 ftupidite. EUe nait fans doute du petit nombre de leurs idees, qui ne s'etend pas au 
 dela de leurs befoins. Gloutons jufqu'a la voracite, quand ils ont de quoi fe fatisfaire ; 
 fobres, quand la neceffite les y oblige, jufqu'a fe paffer de tout, fans paroitre rien defi- 
 rer ; pufiUanimes et poltrons a I'excLS, fi rivrelTe ne les tranfporte pas ; ennemis du 
 travail, indifterens a tout motif de gloire, d'honneur, ou de reconnoiffance ; unique- 
 ment occupes de I'objet prefent, et toujours determines par lui ; fans inquietude pour 
 I'avenir ; incapables de prevoyance et de reflexion ; fe livrant, quand rten ne les gene, 
 a une joie puerile, qu'ils manifeflent par des fauts et des eclats de rire immoderes, fans 
 objet et fans deffein; ils paflent leur vie fans penfer, et ils vieillifTent fans fortir de I'en- 
 
 fance, dont ils confervent tous les defauts on ne pent voir fans humiliation combien 
 
 I'homme abandonne a la fimple nature, prjve d'education et de fociete, differe peu dc la 
 bete. Relation d'un voyage dans I'Amerique merklionale, par M. dc la Condamine, 
 p. 51, et feq. 
 
 may
 
 Sect. 6. O F M O 3 E S D E M O N S T R A T E D. 455 
 
 may think their favourite maxlin here puflied a little too far. 
 However, this freedom from religious prejudices, iii the purity o£ 
 its ftate here, may be of ule, in difpofing our Fhilofophers to review 
 their favourite maxim ; and to confider whether they be well found- 
 ed, in recommending it in that extent in which it is here praclifed. 
 It is true, a fuperftitious education is produdivo of great evils. But 
 what then ? If, through thele prejudices, the OniaLUias of the fouth- 
 ern continent think it piety, at the birth of their children, to flat- 
 ten their heads, like a cheefe, between two boards, that their faces 
 may refemble their Deity, the full moon ; Should the ridicule of 
 this cuflam make it thought abfurd in us, to bring up our children 
 in the love of juftice, of purity, and benevolence, that they may 
 refemble the God of the Chriftians, whom we adore ? Our Fhi- 
 lofophers will fay. So far they are not unwilling to go. What 
 they would have is, that the infant-mind be kept free from the 
 deformed impreffions of positive religion. But they mufl: par- 
 don us if we think, that in fuch minds, precepts are beft enforced 
 by example ; and that the beft example is that of the Deity in his 
 difpenfations to mankind, as delivered by pofitive religion. 
 
 Was the full definition of man.^ a good philosopher, and his 
 only bufinefs, fpeculative truth, fomething might be faid in favour 
 of preferving his mind, a rafa tabula^ till lie was himfelf able to 
 judge what was fit to be written on it. But as he was fent into 
 the world to make a good citizen, in the obfervance of all the 
 relations of civil, focial, and domeftic life ; as he was born for 
 practice and not for fpeculation ; I fhould think that virtues, fo ne- 
 ceffiuy for the dilcharge of thofe relations, could not be infinuated 
 too foon, or imprelTed too frequently ; even though the confequence 
 might happen to be, the acquiring an obftinate and unconquerably 
 prejudice in favour of Religion. 
 
 On the whole, then, we fee, that the ancient Lawgivers were 
 as much fuperlor to the modern MifTionaries in the execution, as 
 Thefe are, to Them in the defign. Thofe Sages faw plainly that 
 
 religioa
 
 456 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book IL 
 
 religion and civil policy were infeparable ; and therefore they always 
 taught them together. The experience of all ages juftified their 
 condud ; and the truth, on which they a£led, gives us the moft 
 tranfcendent idea of Divine goodnefs, which hath fo clofely united 
 our temporal to out fpiritual happinefs. The fum of all is this, 
 that whoever would fecure Civil Government, mufl fupport it 
 by the means of Religion ; and whoever would propagate Reli- 
 gion, mull perpetuate it by the means of Civil Government. 
 
 NOTES
 
 [ 457 ] 
 
 NOTES on the Continuation of BOOK IT. 
 
 P. 409. np'HESE were the confiderations, doubtlefs, which induced 
 C^^'J A the excellent author De I'efprit des laix to fay, " II eft aifc 
 de regler par des loix ce qu'on doit aux autres ; il eft difficile d'y com- 
 prendre lout cc qu'on fe doit a foi meme." Vol. I. p. 167. 410. 
 
 P. 4JO. [GG ■ See Book IV. — Nay, fo fond were they of this notion of 
 local tutelary Deities, that they degraded even Jupiter himfelf, their 
 Father of gods and men, into one of them, as appears by his feveral appel- 
 lations of Jupiter Amman, Olympicus, Capitolinus, etc. This deceived Dr. 
 Bentley, who finding Jupiter, in the popular theology, to be a local Deity, 
 concluded him not to be one but many. So that in the laft edition of his excel- 
 lent Remarkson that foolifti book, czWcd A difcourfe of free-thinking, hereproves 
 the tranflator of Lucan for calling Jupiter Ammon, this greatejl of the Gods, 
 this mighty chief: — •' A Roman would never have faid that Juppiler Ammon 
 " was as great as Juppiter Capitolinus ; though the tranflator took it for 
 " granted that all Juppiters mujl needs be the fame. But a known paflage 
 " in Suetonius may corredt his notion of the heathen theology. — Auguftus 
 •• had built a temple to Juppiter Tonans, within the area of the capitol : 
 " whereupon he had a dream, that Capitolinus Juppiter complained his wor- 
 " ftiipers were drawn away : Auguftus, in his dream, anfvvered, that he 
 " had dedicated Tonans there, only as the other's porter : and accordingly, 
 " when he waked, he hung (as a porter's badge) that temple round with 
 *' bells. — Now \i' Capitolinus would not bear the veiy Thunderer by him, but 
 " in quality of his porter ; much lefs would he have fuffered poor beggarly 
 " Ammon (for all he was his name-fake) to be ftyled the mighty chief." 
 p. 281. Here he had one poet to contradict; who " thought" (he fays) 
 " all Jupiters the fame." When he wrote his notes on Milton he had ano- 
 VoL. I. N n n ther
 
 458 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 ther on his hands, who, it feems, did not think them to be the fame, 
 and he chufes to contradict him, likevvife. 
 
 " Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline, was feen 
 
 " He with Olympias, this with her who bore 
 
 " Scipio " Par. Loft, Book ix. 508. 
 
 On which, the Critic obferves with fome contempt — " Then he brings 
 '• more ftories — and (fomething ftrange) two Jupiters." However in 
 his former humour he will have it, that according to the popular theohgyy 
 " all Jupiters were not the fame." This will deferve to be confidered. 
 The PEOPLE of Antiquity, in excefs of folly and flattery, were fometimes 
 wont to worfhip their good kings and benefadtors under the name of 
 JupHe-, the Father of gods and men, who, by thus lending his titles, re- 
 ceived, in a little time, from pofterity, all that worfliip which was firfc 
 paid to the borrowers of his name ; all their particular bcnefaftors being 
 fwallowed up in him. And this was one principal reafon of Jupiter's be- 
 ing a tutelary deity. But their philosophers, fearching into the ori- 
 ginal of the Pagan theology, found out this loft fecret, That their kings 
 had given occafion to the worfhip of this local tutelary Jupiter; whom, 
 therefore, they regarded, as different Jupiters ; that is, as fo many kings 
 who had afTumcd his name. Hence Varro in TertuUian reckons up no lefs 
 than three hundred. The refult of all this was, that in the popular theology 
 there was but one Jupiter; in the philofophic theogony there were many. 
 Juft as, on the contrary, in the popular mythology there were many Gods ; 
 in the philofophic phyjiology, but one. 
 
 What (hall we fay then to the flory from Suetonius, which is brought to- 
 prove that, according to the popular theology, all Jupiters -uere 72ot the 
 fame? For furely the Komans regarded the Capitoline Jupiter and the 
 Thunderer as the fame perfon : If it be aiked, Why then, had they dif- 
 ferent names ? Suetonius will inform us : v/ho relates that Auguftus con-. 
 fecrated this temple 10 Jupiter Tonans, on his being preferved from a 
 dreadful fl:ifli of lightning, in his Cantabrian expedition. And fo Minucius 
 Felix underftood the matter, where he thus addrefles the Pagan idola- 
 ters — Quid ipfe Jupiter vefter ! modo imberbis ftatuitur, modo barbatus 
 locatur : et cum Hammon dicitur, habet cornua; ct cum Capitolinus, 
 tunc gerit fulmina. Cap. 21. And Eufebius, who was perfedly well ac« 
 qviainted with the pagan theology, fays exprefly, that Ammon was one 
 
 "of
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 459 
 
 of the Stv names of Jupiter — ;V. SI Ai'* rlv Jtto nvav AMMnNA w^oo-ayopao- 
 jufvoy. Prap, Evung. 1. lit. c. 3. And Cicero in his book of tbf vature of 
 the Gods makes Cotta take it for granted, that the Capitoline and the Am- 
 monian Jupiter were one and the fame ; for, fpeaking of the form and 
 figure of the Gods againfl Velleius, he fays, El quiJcm alia ffpecies] ncbis 
 CMpitchni, alia Atris, Ammonis Jovis. Where all the weight of the obfer- 
 vation confifts in the fuppofition, that the Capitolinc and Ammonian Jupiter 
 were one and the fame God. However, this muft be confcfied, that Capi- 
 tolinus and Tonans appear to Augiiftus in a dream, as two different pcr- 
 Ibns, and are fo confidered by him when azvake. The true folution of the 
 difficulty is this : The Pagans worfhipped their Gods under a material vifible 
 image. And their Statues, when confecrated, were fuppofed to be infonr.td 
 by an Intelligence, which the God, to whofe worfhip they were erctf^ted, 
 lent into them, as his Vicegerent. This general notion furnilhcd Lucian 
 with a pleafant incident in his Jupiter Tragicus, who, calling a grand fynod 
 ..of the Gods, is made to fummon all thofe of gold, filver, ivory, {tone, 
 and copper. Now, in Auguftus's dream, it was the Intelligence, or Vice- 
 gerent, in the ftatue of Jupiter Capitolinus, who complained of his new 
 brother, in that of Tonans, as getting all the cuftom from him. This 
 being the whole of the myfiery, Jupiter's popular unity remains un- 
 fhaken. 
 
 But what fhall we fay to the Critic ? He cenfures Rowe, for not faying 
 what Milton had laid ; and afterwards cenfures Milton for not faying what 
 Rowe had faid ; and is yet fo unlucky as to be doubly miftaken. The cafe 
 is this, Where Milton fpcaks of two Jupitcrs, he is delivering the fenfe 
 of the Philufcphers -, where Rowe fays there was but one, he is delivering 
 the fenfe of the people ; and both were right. But the Critic, being in a 
 contradidting humour, will have both to be in the wrong. 
 
 P. 431. [HH] Dcnicpie ct antcquam commerciis orbis pateret, & ante- 
 (juam gcntes ritus fuos morclque mifccrent, unaquseque natio conJitorcm 
 fuum, aut ducem inclytum, aut reginam pudicam fexu fuo fortiorcm, aut 
 alicujus muneris vel artis repertorcm venerabatur, ut civem bonje mcmorice. 
 Sic et dcfunftis premium, et futuris dabatur exemplum. Minuc. Fel. c. 
 XX. Hence may be feen the falfhood, both \n fa/1 and rig/jt, of the foun- 
 dation principle of the book called 7 he grounds and reaj'uns of the Chrif- 
 
 iion Religion ; that " it was a common and nccejciry method for new Reve- 
 N n n 2 " lations
 
 460 THE DI VINE LEGATI ON Book II. 
 
 *' lations to be built and grounded on precedent Revelations." Chap. iv. 
 p. 20, 26. See this pofition confuted more at large in the fecond volume 
 of the Divine Legation, Book vi. fed:, vi. 
 
 P, 436. [11] lis me donnoient cette refponfe affez plaifante; qu'ils ne 
 pretendoient pas que leur Loi fut univerfelle— qu'ils ne pretendoient point 
 que la notre fut fauffe; — qu'il fe pouvoit faire qu'elle fut bonne pour 
 nous, et que dieu pouvoit avoir fait ilusieurs chemins differens 
 POUR ALLER Au ciEL J mais ils ne veulent pas entendre que la notre tant 
 generale pour toute la terre, la leur ne peut etre que fable et que pure 
 invention. Voyages de Fr. Bernier, torn. ii. p. 138. Friar William dc 
 Rubruquis, a French Minorite, who travelled into Tartary in the year 
 125^, tells us, c. xliii. that Mangu Chan, Emperor of Tartary, talking 
 to him of religion, faid, " As God hath given unto the hand divers fingers, 
 *' fo he hath given many ways to men to come unto him i he hath given 
 " the Scriptures unto you ; but he hath given unto us foothfayers, and 
 " we do that which they bid us, and we live in peace." The Jefuit Ta- 
 chard tells us, that the king of Siam made much the fame anfwer to the 
 French embaffador, who moved him, in his mailer's name, to embrace 
 the Chriftian religion — Je m'etonne que le roy de France mon bon ami 
 s'intrefle fi fort dans one affaire qui regarde Dieu, ou il femble que Dieu 
 rneme ne prenne aucune intereft, ct qu'il a entierement laifle a notre difcre- 
 tion. Car ce vray Dieu, qui a crei le ciel et la terre et toutes les crea- 
 tures qu'on y voit et qui leur a donne des natures et des inclinations fi dif- 
 ferentes, ne pouvoit-il pas, s'il eut voulu, en donnant aux hommes des 
 corps et des ames femblabes, leur infpirer les memes fentimens pour la 
 religion qu'il faloit fuivre, et pour le culte qui !uy etoit le plus agreable, 
 et faire naitre toutes les nations dans une meme loy ? Cet ordre parmi les 
 hommes ct cette unite de religion dependant abfolument de la Providence 
 divine, qui pouvoit aufli aifement introduire dans le monde que la diver- 
 lite des feftes que s'y font ctablies de tout terns; ne doit on pas croire 
 que le vray Dieu prend autant de plaiftr a ejlre bonore par des cukes et des 
 aremonies dijferentes, qu'a eftrc glorifie par une prodigieufe quantite de 
 creatures qui le loiient chacune a fa maniere ? Cette beaute et cette 
 variete que nous admirons dans I'ordre naturelle, feroient elles moins 
 ijdmirables dans I'ordre furnaturel, ou moins dignes de la fageffe de Dieu ? 
 Voyage de ^iam^ 1. v. p. 231, 232. Amft. ed. 1688. The Abbe de Choifi, 
 
 a cpad-
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 461 
 
 a coadjutor in this embaffy, tells us, thai the people were in the fame 
 way of thinking with their king. — Jufques ici ils (les miflionnairesj n'ont 
 pas fait grand chofe dans le royaume dc Siam. Les Siamois font des efprits 
 doux, qui n'aiinent pas a difputer, et qui croyent la pliipart de ioutes les 
 religions font bonnes. 'Journal du I'oyage de Siam, p. 200. ed. Amft. 1688. 
 
 P. 437. lKK"! M. Voltaire, in his Le Siecle de Louis xiv, having fpoken 
 of this pcrfecuting fpiiit amongft the followers of Chrift, and obferved 
 that it was unknown to Paganifm, fays very gravely, that " after having 
 long fearched for the caufe of this dilference between the two religions, 
 both of which abounded with dogmatids and fanatics, he at length found 
 it in the republican spirit of the latter." — This was only miftaking the 
 effetl for the caufe ; and was no great matter in a writer, who in the fame 
 place can tell us, not as problematical, but as a known and acknowledged 
 truth, that the Jews as well as Gentiles oifered human facrifices. — Cette 
 fureur fut inconnue au Paganifme. II couvrit la terre de tenebres, mais 
 il ne I'arrofa guerres que du fang des animaux ; et fi quelquefois chez 
 iES juiFS et chez les PaVens on devoiia des vitiimes bumaines, ces devoe- 
 mens, tout horribles qiiils etaient, ne cauferent point de guerres civiles.— 
 J'at recherche longtems comment et pourquoi cet efprit dogmatique, 
 qui divifa les ecoles de Tantiquite payenne fans caufer le moindre trouble, 
 en a produit parmi nous de fi horribles. — Ne pourrait-on pas trouver peut- 
 ^tre I'origine de cette nouvelle pefle qui a ravage la terre, dans l'esprit 
 REPUBLicAiN qui anima les premieres cglifes ? Tom. ii. chap. 32. Du 
 Cahinifme, p. 23. Strange! that he Ihould miftake thus, when he had 
 the true caufe almoft in view, as he had when he made the following ob- 
 fervation : La religion des Paiens ne confiftait que dans la morale et dans 
 des fetes. And again, in his Abrege de Vliijloire Univerfelk — la raifon en 
 eft, que les Payens dans leurs crreurs groffiercs n'avoient point de doqmes, 
 p. 63. The firft queftion is, How he came by his obfervation ? That it 
 was no deduftion of his own appears from his not feeing the confequence 
 of the fadt contained in it, which was great indifference in Religion : for 
 he goes on with that old encomium on Paganifm, which our Free- 
 thinkers (who did not fee from whence the indifference arofc) are always 
 ready to give unto it. See p. 164. vol. L of the Abrege. The fecond 
 queftion is. How the Chriftians came by their republican fpirit ? And this 
 only is worth an anfwcr. Without doubt it was the spirit of their re- 
 lic loy.
 
 462 T H E D I V I N E LEGATION Book U. 
 
 LiGiON which gave it to them, when the followers of Paganifm had it 
 not. Chriftianity confifls in the belief of certain propofitions neceffary to 
 falvation ; which peadiarity virtually condemns all other Religions. So 
 that thefe other having the civil power on their fide, would endeavour to 
 fupprefs fo inhofpitable a Novelty. And this direftly violating ccnfcience, 
 produced the Republican fpirit, or the fpirit of refiftance ; whofe natural 
 aim goes no further than Liberty ; not. to Dominion. Agreeably hereto, as 
 is obferved above, the firft perfecution for Religion was borne, not infliUed^ 
 by the Chriflian Church. 
 
 P. 439. [LL] To this old Pagan blindnefs, fome modern Chriftians 
 feem to have fucceeded. They pretend, that what is faid in Scripture 
 of the dependency and foundation of Chriftianity on Judaifm, is faid by 
 way of ACCOMMODATION to the prejudices of the Jews; but that when 
 the preachers of the Gofpel applied themfelves to the Gentiles, they 
 preached up Jefus fimply, as a divine Meflenger, omitting the Jewifh 
 charaiflers of the MefFiah. Now, though nothing can be more falfe, or 
 extravagant ; yet the method employed by the firft Preachers of the Gof- 
 pel, to introduce Chriftianity amongft the Gentiles, gives this foolifh 
 Do(2:rine the little countenance it hath. 
 
 P. 439. [MM] This, the Father fays on the authority of Tertullian 
 and Eufebius. M. Le Clerc, in his Hijl. Eccl. am, xxix. rejefts the whole 
 ftory, though it be as ftrongly fupported as a civil fatft can well be. 
 What he urges againft it is fully obviated by the principles here delivered. 
 Indeed the chief force of his objection arifes from feveral/^^ additions 
 to the fad : A circumftance, which may be found in, and hath been 
 brought to the difcredit of, the beft attefted fafts of antiquity; fuch as the 
 defeat of Julian's attempt to rebuild the Temple of Jerulalem. See my 
 difcourfe on that fubjtft. 
 
 P. 439. [NNJ The not attending to the genius of Paganifm, hath 
 mifled fome of the beft Critics into a very lame judgement on the firft 
 Apologifts ; who, they pretend, have unlkilfully managed, in employing 
 all their pains to evince what was fo eafy to be done, the falfhood of 
 Paganifm, rather than to prove the truth of their own Religion. For, fay 
 thefe critics, were Paganifm proved falfe, it did not follow that Chrftia- 
 nity was true ; but were the Chriftian Religion proved true, it followed 
 that the Pagan was falfe. But the matter, we fee, was juft otherwife ; 
 
 " and
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEM OlsT S T R A T E D. 463 
 
 and the Apologifts afted with much good judgment. Thetruth of Chrillianity 
 was acknovvk dged by the Pagans j they only wanted to have the compH- 
 nienc returned. As this could not be done, there was a neccflity to affign 
 the realbns of their rcfufal. And this gave birth to fo many confutations 
 ot idol3ti:ous Woifliip. Jt is true, when their adverfarics found them per- 
 fifl ui their unfociable pretences, they paid this harfli treatment in kind ; 
 and accufed ChrilHanity, in its turn, of falfhood : but this was not till. 
 aft«rwards, and then faiiitly,. and only by way of acquit. For want of due 
 refle<3:ion on thefc things, both F^MiRicius and L'enfant have been be- 
 trayed into this wrong judgment. — Facilius fubfcribo (fays the firft) judi- 
 cio viri cclebcrrimi atque eruditiffimi J;icobi L'enfant, in Diario Londi- 
 nienfi, Hiji. of the works of the Learned., J. 1709. p. 284. II y a long 
 tems, qu'on a eu lieu, dc remarquer, que la religion Chretienne eft une. 
 bonne caufe, qui de tout tems a ete fujette a etr.e auITi mal defcnduii, que 
 mal attaquce. Ses premiers apologistes la foutinrent mieux par leur 
 zele, par leur pietc, et par leurs foufrances, que par Ics Apologies, qu'ils. 
 Hous en ont laiffces.- — Dcle^us arguvu et fyllabus feript. qui re tig. Chrijl, offer. 
 p. 209. 
 
 P. 439. [CO] This was not undcrftood immediatt-ly by the Pagans, as 
 appears from a remarkable paffagc of Lampridius in his life of Alexander 
 Severus — Cbrifto tempKim facere voluit [Alex. Scverus] cumque inter 
 deos recipere — Sed prohibitus eft ab iis qui, confultntes facra, repererant 
 omnesChriftianos futuros fi id optato eveniffct, et templa reliqua defercnda. 
 Now thofc wlio reftcd this conclufion on an oracle, or divine premonition, 
 could have no knowledge of the miture of Chriftianity. 
 . P. 439. fPPj The reader will not be difpleafed to hear a curious ftory, 
 from the life of St., Anfcharius, which tends much to illuftrate what wc 
 fay, concerning the genius of Paganifm, and the reafon of its averfion to 
 Chriftianity. This Saint travelling amongft the people of the North, fell 
 into the following adventure : — Pervenit ad Byrcam, ubi invenit regem et 
 multitudinem populi nimio errore confufam. Inftigante enim Diabolo, 
 contigit, eo ipfo tempore, ut quidam illo adveniensdiceret, fe in conventu 
 deorum, qui ipfcuii terrain pcjjidere credebantur adfuifle, et ab iis mifTum, 
 ut ha2C regi et populis nuntiaret : "Vos, inquiunt, nos vobis propitios diu 
 habuiftis, et terram incolatus veftri cum multa abundantia noftro adjutorio 
 in p:ce ct profperitate longo tempore tenuiftis. Vos quoqiic nobis facri- 
 
 ficia
 
 464 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book II. 
 
 ficia et vota debita perfolviflis. At nunc et facrificia folita fubtrahitis, et 
 vota fpontaneafegnius offertis, et, quod magis nobis difplicet, alienum Deutn 
 fuper vos introducitis. Si itaque nos vobis propitios habere v\iltis, facri- 
 ficia omifla augete, et vota majora perfolvite. Alterius quoque Dei cul- 
 turam, qua coiUraria nobis docetur, ne apud vos recipiatis, et ejus fervitio 
 ne intendatis. Porro fi etiam plures Deos habere deftderatis, et vobis non 
 fuffidmus, Ericiim quondam regem veftrum nos unanimes in collegium nojirum 
 adfcifcimus, ut fit unus de nttmero Deorum. Mabillon, Adt. SS. Ord. S. Be- 
 ned. Siec. iv. p. 2. And how little thefe Pagans doubted of Chriftianity's- 
 being a real Revelation from a God, we may fee in another place of 
 the fame Life, where one of their piratical kings propofes, according to 
 their cuflom, to enquire by divination what place they Ihould next in- 
 vade : — Interim rex prsefatus cum Danis agere coepit, ut forte perquire- 
 rent, utrum voluntate deorum locus ipfe ab eis devaftandus eflet. Multi, 
 inquit, ibi funt Dii potentes et magni, ibi etiam olim ecclefia conftrudla eft, 
 et cultura Chrifti a multis Chriftianis ibi excolitur, qui fortijfimus eji 
 Deorum, et poteft fperantibus in fe quomodo vult auxiliari — Qusfitum eft 
 igitur fortibus, etc. Cap. xvi. 
 
 P. 440. lQ2] The very learned and acute M. Moyle fays, it was the 
 greatejl misforiur.e that could have befallen the Chrijlians to be perfecuted by fo 
 great and good a man [M. Antonine.] Po/?. If'orks, v. ii. p. 274, And 
 Lord Shaftesbury obferves, that nothing could have been a greater honour 
 or advantage to Chrifiianity than to be perfecuted by j Nero. Letter con. Enthuf. 
 Sedt. III. We fhall know what to think of thefe obfervations, when we have 
 confidered how the cafe flood with regard x.o perfccuting Emperors. In this 
 clafs we find, on one fide, Nero, Domitian, and the Maximiani ; on the 
 other, Trajan, the Antonines, and Valerian. Had the Perfcutors been all 
 like rhe firft fet, Unbelievers would have faid, " No wonder that force and 
 violence failed to root out the Chriftian fed, when employed by fuch 
 Monfters as were hated by Gods and Men.'* Had the Perjecutors, on the 
 contrary, been all of the other kind, Unbelievers would then have faid, 
 •* There muft needs have been fomething very wrong in the Chriftian 
 practice, or very impudent in the impofture of their pretences, to provoke 
 the fanguinary refentments of Emperors fo wife and clement." But now, 
 to- lee Christianiiy perfecuted indifferently by the Good and Bad, is 
 
 fufficicnt
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 465 
 
 fufficient to reduce the enemies of Revelation to filence upon this topic : 
 and is enough to fatisfy unprejudiced men, affiled in their judgment by 
 what has been faid above, that Providence appeared anxious (as it were) 
 to fhevv, by this difpofition of things, that matters very foreign to the 
 vierits of the cafe fet this violent machine a-going ; whofe ifliie, it was de- 
 creed, fliould convince the World that all it's Power was weaknefs, when 
 oppofed to the progrefs of the Gospel. 
 
 P. 441. [RR]. St. Paul tells us in what this hoflile odium confided, 
 where fpeaking of their obftinate adherence to the Law againft all the con- 
 vidion of the Gofpel, he fays, And they plcafed not God, and are contrary 
 TO ALL MEN, I Tbeff. ii. 15. They were not contrary to all men in their 
 having different Rites ; for each nation had rites different from one ano- 
 ther : but in their condemning and reprobating all Rites but their own : 
 which being (till the coming of Chriftianity) peculiar to themfelves, was 
 afcribed to their hatred of mankind. 
 
 P. 44'* L J ^° ^^ EToipwv TSTo, 'Ua, im iJixifj yp!(rtu; tf^^ati., p.^ xara vJ/iXt/ 
 
 ■zrapaTa^iv, w'f oi Xpifiavoi'. Lib. xu § 3. But h)' xhh mere obflinac)', no more 
 poffibly might be meant than a rigid adherence to truth, which was not one 
 of the diftinguilhing virtues of this royal Philofopher, as appears even from 
 thcfe Meditations. He reprefents L. Verus, his Colleague in the Empire, 
 as a pattern of vigilance, fobriety and decency ; and his Wife Faufiina, 
 as exemplary for her conjugal tendernefs and fidelity. Might not then the 
 fame sioical pride which thought fit to cover Luxury and Luft under 
 the names of Temperance and Chaftity, be ready to call the divine Heroifm 
 of the Chriflian Martyrs a brutal objlinacy ? 
 
 P. 444. [TT]. St. Chryfoftom fuppofed the Apoftle was convened be- 
 fore the Areopagus as a criminal : and his authority hath made it the 
 general opinion : From whence, the learned Author of a Trad: intituled, 
 Obfervations on the convcrfion cf St. Faul, hath received it. I would rather 
 think, that the Philcfophcrs, who encountered him, invited him thither as a 
 PUBLIC BENEFACTOR, who had a new Worfhip to propofe to the people. 
 I\iy rcafons are thcfe : 
 
 I. St. Paul was taken up to this Court by the Philosophers. Ads 
 xvii. 19.— But the Philofophcrs, of that time, abhorred the charadcr of 
 delators or perlccutors for Religion : this was a temper which fprung up 
 amorgft them with the progrefs of Chrillianity. The worft opinion they 
 
 Vol, \. O o had
 
 466 TPIE DIVINE LEGATION Book IJ. 
 
 had of Pa\il was his bt'hig a bni>kr, as the Fpicureans called him •, though 
 the Stoics thought more reverendly of his charader, as a fetter forth of 
 ftrange gods, I'^vm Jaif^ouV/ xolafyiXtuf, a difcoverer of iome foreign Gods ; for 
 their hofpitality extended to zWJirangers, (as Julian tells us) whether Gods 
 or Men ; and this could not but be a welcome office to a people difpofed 
 to raife altars even to Gods unknown, v. 2:. 
 
 2. Their addrefs to him, when they had brought him thither, [inay we 
 know what this dodrine, whereof thou /peakef, is, v, 19.] implies rather a 
 requeft to a Teacher than an interrogatory to a Criminal. 
 
 3. At leaft, the reafon they give for their requeft goes no further than 
 
 to imply a defire of fatisfadtion concerning a doubtful matter For thou 
 
 bringcjl certain firaiige things to cur ears, v. 20. ^iviCttvlx nm, certain foreign 
 ceremonies or cufloms. And Strabo, as we fee, tells us, the Athenians were 
 mod addifted to foreign worfhip, 
 
 4. But the very words of the hiftorian fully explain the whole matter; 
 for having told us that thefe Philofophers took Paul, and brought him to 
 Areopagus, he fubjoins the motive of their proceeding in thefe words,— 
 For all the Athenians, and flrangers which were there [/. e, fuch as refided 
 there for education, or out of love for the Athenian manners] j^^«/ their 
 time in nothing elfe but either to tell or to hear fame new thing. Now had the 
 writer underflood the citation to be of the criminal /or;/;, he would have 
 given a more pertinent reafon for their conduct; fuch as jealoufy of danger 
 to the State, or the eftabliftied Religion. 
 
 5. St. Paul's fpeech to the Court hath not the leaft air of an apology 
 fuiting a perfon accufed; but is one continued information of an important 
 matter, fuch as befitted a Teacher or Benefaftor to give. 
 
 6. Had he appeared as a Criminal, the charge againft him would have 
 been Amply, The fitting forth of Jirange Gods. Now this charge of lefs 
 importance he declines to anfwer ; and yet confeffes a much greater crime, 
 of which he was not accufed, namely a condemnation of their eftabliftied 
 VVorfliip And the times of this ignorance God winked at, etc. v. 30. 
 
 7. The behaviour of the Court towards him fliews he was not heard 
 as a Criminal. He is neither acquitted nor condemned : but difmifled 
 as a man, coram non judice. — And when they heard of the refurreSiion of the 
 dead, fome mocked. : and others faid, We will hear thee again, of this mattery 
 V. 52. 
 
 8. He
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 467 
 
 8. He left the Court, as one thus difmiffed.— 5o Paul departed from 
 amongjl them, v. 33. A ftrange way of intimating a juridical acquittal : 
 but very naturally exprefllng a refentmcnt for a flighted million. For as 
 fome mocked, and others referred him to an indefinite time of audience, 
 nothing was left him but to depart, and, according to his mafter's direc- 
 tion, to Jhake the diiji from off his feet. 
 
 9. The hiftorian's reflection on the whole fupports all the foregoing rca- 
 
 fons Hozvbeit, certain men clave unto him, and believed, etc. v. 34. A 
 
 very natural conclufion of the ftory, if only a tranfacflion within the fphcrc 
 of his Million ; for then, having related its ill fuccefs in general, fonie mock- 
 ing, and others pitting off the hearing, he adds, that however it was not 
 altogether without effed, for a few converts he did make, etc. But if we 
 fuppofe it a narrative of a juridical procefs, we fliall not find in it one cir- 
 cumftance of a proper relation. We are not fo much as told whether he 
 was acquitted or cenfured, or gave caution for a new appearance : But, as 
 if fo illuflrious a profecution (where the moll learned of the A pottles 
 was the Criminal, the Greek Philofophers his Accufers, and the Court of 
 Areopagus his Judges) was below the hiftorian's notice, we are told a 
 thing quite foreign to the matter, — That he made but few converts. 
 
 In a word, take this hiftory in the fenfe here explamed, and the whole 
 narrative is fimple, exaft, and luminous : Take it in the other, and it 
 fcarce affords us one fingle quality of a pertinent relation, but is obfcurcd 
 from one end to the other, both by redundancies and omiflions. 
 
 But had the interpreters not overlooked a plain fadl, they would have 
 given a different fenfe to this adventure. When Chriftianity firft appeared, 
 its two enemies, the Jews and Gentiles, had long adminiftered their fuper- 
 ftitions on very different principles. 1 he Jews employed /"(fr/^rw/Zow | but 
 the Gentiles gave a free toleration. And, though, foon after, the latter 
 went into the intolerant meafures of the other, yet, at this time, they ftill 
 adhered to the ancient genius of Paganifm. So that, of the many various 
 perfecutions of the Chriftian Teachers, recorded in The J£is of the Jpojilesy 
 there is not ore but what was begun and carried on by Jewifti Magiftrates, 
 or at leafl excited by their emiffaries ; if we except that at Philippi, which 
 too was on pretence of an injury to private property.— —tuB the good 
 Father, like more modern Interpreters, was full of the ideas of his own 
 times, when the Perfccution of the Chriftian Faith was far advanced, rather 
 than thofe of St. Paul, when it was not yet begun. And fo I leave it (as 
 it is a miltake) to be obltinately perfiffed in. 
 
 O o 2 P. 446.
 
 4^8 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book I L 
 
 P. 446. [UU]. Lib. ii. c. 8. Thus, I think, the words ought to be 
 read and pointed. The common reading is, feparaiim nemo habejfit deos 
 neve novos : fed ne advenas, nifi publke adfcitas, privatim colunto : which is 
 abfurd and unintelligible. The manufcrlpt quoted by Manutius reads, 
 neve novos five advenas. In a word, this Law feems not have been under- 
 ftood by the critics, from their not apprehending the nature of Paganilin, 
 and the diftinftion between their tolerated and eflablifhed xt\\g\or\s. By the 
 firft branch, feparaiim nemo habejfit deos, is meant that the Gods in general 
 Ihould not be worfliipped in private conventicles, or be had, as it were, 
 in propriety 5 ("Saoj deos, fays the comment) but lie in common to all the 
 Citizens. And by the fecond branch, neve novos, neve advenas^ mfi pub- 
 lice adfcitos, privathn colmlo, is meant that PARTICULARS ihould not wor- 
 ship any new ox foreign god without licence and authority from the State. 
 For we muft remember what hath been faid, in the firft fedtion of this 
 book, concerning the two parts of Pagan religion; the one public, and 
 the other private ; the one, which had the State for its fubjefl ; the other, 
 particulars. Now the S/^/f, as fuch, worfliipped only the country gods ; 
 and this was properly the ejlablifloed religion. Particulars, as fuch, fre- 
 quently grew fond of new and foreign gods, and modes of worfhip : and 
 thefe, when allowed by the ftate, were their tolerated religions. Privatim 
 therefore fignifies \_hy particulars'] not \_privately'], which latter fenfe would 
 make a contradidtion in the fentence : l^ifi pub lice adfcitos, privatim colunto : 
 " Let them not worfhip them privately, unlefs they be publicly al- 
 " lowed." For how could thofe be faid to be privately worlhipped, that 
 were publicly owned ? By deos novos, both here and in the comment, I 
 fuppofe, is mezxil gods newly become fuch: which in another place he calls 
 — quafi Novos et adfcriptitios cives in ccelum receptos. — De nat. deor. 1. iii. 
 c. 15. For the ^/7 mi norum gentium were a kind of every-day manufac- 
 ture : fuch as Tuliy in the words immediately following thus defcribes : 
 Olios quos endo celo merita vocaverint ; or, thofe zvho had nrculy difcovered 
 themfelvcs to men. And by advenas, the known local gods of other 
 countries. 
 
 P. 446. [XX]. Lib. ii. c. 10. Thus I venture to correcfl the pafTage. 
 The common editions have it — Non a facer dotibus, non a patribus acccptos 
 deos, ita placet coli,Ji huic legi paruerunt ip/I. Gruter fays : Ita me Deus 
 
 amet, vix intelligo : hareo, adhuc haereo. And none of the critics have 
 
 pretended to make fenfe of it, but Petit, in his comment on the Attic laws : 
 
 De
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 469 
 
 Dc advenis Diis {fays he) fibl facit objici Tiillius, an non liceat acceptos a 
 facerdotibus aut a patribus alicnigcnas Dcos colere ? Refpondet Cicero, 
 liccre, fi, prout hac cavebatur lege, publice fint adfciti, non privata patruni 
 auc facerdotcm aucloricate. Hie igitur verboruni Tiillii Icnfus eft, qui 
 latet et ledores fugit, qui excidit interrogatlonis nota, loco fuo rcftituenda 
 et reponenda ad hunc modum. Suofque deos, aut novos aut alienigetias coli, 
 co7ifuJionem habet religionum, et igmtas cerenioniai. Non a facerdotibus, non 
 a patribus acceptos deos ? Ita placet coli, ft huic legi pa r utRiNx ipji. But as 
 plaofible as this appears, it cannot, I think, be the true interpretation. 
 Cicero is made to objedl impertinently : for who, from the words neve 
 novos, neve advenas, nifi publice adfcitos, privatim colunto, could form any 
 fufpicion that, by this law, ike gods received by the priejls or their fore- 
 fathers (which certainly had long enjoyed the public allowance) were forbid 
 to be worftiipped ? And thofe not publicly allowed, were forbid, from 
 whatever quarter they were brought in. On the other hand, the propriety 
 of the fenfe, given above, is feen from hence : i. That the obfervatlon is 
 of the nature of an example to a precept. He delivers a lazv concerning 
 the licenfing new religions by the Magiftrate; and then takes notice that, 
 had it been well oblerved in Rome, it had prevented a great deal of fuper- 
 ftition. 2. The frequent breach of xhislaw in Rome was a notorious fadl; 
 as appears by thefpeech of Pofthumius in Livy, quoted above; and there- 
 fore very likely to be taken notice of by Tully, when he was upon this 
 fubjcdt. And what St. Auftin fays, in his fecond book of the City ofGod, 
 concerning the adtions told of the gods in their public worfhip at Rome, 
 and the lubricity of that worfhip, fhews the fealbnablenefs of this animad- 
 verfion. Further, as the general fenfe of the law juftifies the emendation 
 in the Comment ; fo the words, aut novos, aut alicnigenas, in the Comment, 
 confirm the correcftion in the lazv. — By, confufionem religionum, I fuppofe 
 Tully meant, fuch a confufion of ceremonies, as would leave no diftlnc- 
 tion between the eJlabHJ}:)ed and the tolerated worfhip ; and thereby reduce 
 Religion to fo impotent a ftate, as to render it ufelefs to civil Society : 
 And by, ignotas ceremonias, rites, which the Magiftrate, by reafon of their 
 celebration in private conventicles, could not take cognizance of : which 
 might hurt the morals of fociety, by their lewdnefs, as happened in the 
 Bacchanals at Rome ; or endanger its peace by cabals and fadions, fup- 
 ported and encouraged by the fecrecy of their celebration. In the re- 
 maining words, Cicero gives a plain intimation, that, had this law been 
 
 obfervcd.
 
 470 THE DIVINE LEGATION Book 11. 
 
 obferved, many fiiperftltions both in the ejlahlijloed and tolerated religions 
 had been avoided ; which he hints had been introduced, without warrant 
 from the State, by an interefted Priefthood and an ignorant Anceflry. 
 To conclude, the negled: of this law in Rome was very notorious : and, 
 probably, owing to their having no Handing judicature, as at Athens, for 
 that purpofe. 
 
 P. 452. [YY]. An intelligent rriiffionary feemed to fee where the thing 
 ftuck, when he fays, Pour ce qui eft des converfions, qu'on peut faire de 
 ces gens-la touchant I'Evangile, on tie Jauroit faire aucun fond far eux, Ces 
 fauvages, de meme que tous ceux de I'Amerique, font fort peu difpofez 
 aux lumieres de la foi, parce qu'ils font brutaux et flupides., et que leurs 
 mceurs font extremement corrotnpues, et oppofees au Chriftianifme. Nouvelle 
 Deconv. dans rAmeriq. Sept. par le R. P, Louis Hennepin Mifjionaire Recoiled 
 et Notaire Apoftolique, a Utr. 1697. p. 221. The corrupt manners of the 
 favages here complained of, as indifpoiing them to the Gofpel, we find, 
 from this writer and others, are of fuch a kind as arife only from the want 
 of civil government ; and which civil government every where reflifies ; 
 fuch as rapine, cruelty, and promifcuous mixtures. Hans Egede, a Danifh 
 miffionary, who had been five and twenty years in Greenland, in his de- 
 fcription of that country, fpeaks to the fame effect : " It is a matter 
 " which cannot be queftioned (fays this fenfible writer) that, if you will 
 •* make a man a Chriftian out of a mere favage and wild man, you muft 
 *' firft make him a reafonable man. — It would contribute a great deal to 
 *' forward their converfion, if they could, by degrees, be brought into a 
 " fettled way of life," &c. p. 2 1 1, 212. 
 
 P. 453. [ZZ]. This juftice is due to the Jesuits, That they have been 
 wifer in their attempts on Paraguay, and on the coaft of California ; 
 where they have brought the favage inhabitants to a love of agriculture 
 and the mechanic arts. The miflion in California was founded at the 
 expence of a certain marquis de Valero ; for which the reverend perfon, 
 whofe name was permitted to be put to the Account oi Lord Anfon's Voyage 
 Round the World, has fufFered the Marquis to be called a mofl magnificent 
 Bigot. 
 
 P. 433. [AAA]. This is the fyftem oi Charlevoix in the following paf- 
 fage ; which is well worth the reader's notice : After having fpoken of 
 the fhocking miferies attending the uncivilized condition of the Canadian 
 iaviiges, he goes on thus : 11 faut n^'anmoins convenir que les chofes ont 
 
 un
 
 Notes. OF MOSES DEMONSTRATED. 471 
 
 un peu change fur tous ces points, depuis notre arrivce en ce pays •, J'en 
 ai meme vu chercher a fe procurer des commodites, dont ils auront pcut- 
 etre bientot de la peine a fe pafler. Quelques-uns commencerent audi a 
 prendre un peu plus leurs precautions pour nc pas fe trouver au depourvu, 
 quand la chafle leur nianquera ; et parmi ceux, qui font domicilies dans 
 la colonie, il y a bien peu a ajouter pour les faire arriver au point d'avoir 
 unneceflaire raifonnable. Mais qu'il eft a craindre que, quand ils en feront 
 la, ils n'aillcnt bientot plus kin, et ne donnent dans un fuperflit, qui les rende 
 plus malheurcux encore, qu'ils ne font prefentement dans le fcin de la plus 
 grand indigence. Ce ne fera pas au mains les mijfwnuaires, qui les expofcrent 
 a ce danger ; perfuades qu'il eft moralement unpoffible de bien prendre ce 
 jufte milieu, et de f'y borner, ils ont beaucoup mieux aimc partager avec 
 ces peuples ce qu'il y a de penible dans leur maniere de vivre, que de leur 
 . ouvrir les yeux fur les moyens d'y trouver des adoucijfemens. Auffi ceux- 
 memes, qui font tous les jours temoins de leurs foufFrances, ont-ils encore 
 bien de la peine a comprendre comment ils y peuvent refifter, d'autant 
 plus qu'elles font fans relache, et que toutes les faifons ont leurs incommo- 
 dites particulieres. Journal Hijior. d'un Voyage dans I'Jmeriq. Septent. 
 vol. VI. p. 57, 58. 
 
 CON-
 
 t 4-3 ] 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 O P 
 
 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 BOOK n. 
 
 PROVES the necejfity of the doSirine of a future Jl ate iofociety\ 
 from the condutt of the ancient lawgiver s^ and founders of civil 
 fciicy, p, 127—398. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 THE magijlrate^s care in cultivating religion, Jhewn, t. From the 
 •unlverfality o/"//, among ft all civil poUcied nations. 2. From the ^z- 
 luus of pagan religion,, both with regard to the nature of their gods^ 
 the attributes ajjigned to them, and the mode of worfhip in civil uft 
 amongft tkem, p. 127 — 140. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 THE particular arts the legijlalor emphyed to this ptirpofe : as, 
 I. the univerfal praUiice of pretending to infpiration. It is floewn that 
 this was done to eftablifb the opinion of the fuperintendency of the gods 
 over human affairs : not to fecure the reception of their laws ; nor to 
 render ihofe /rtWi perpetual ^W immutable when received, p. 140 — 
 147. 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 THE next art the legiftator ufed was to preface his laws with tht- 
 dcBrine of a providence in its full extent. The prefaces to the laws 
 of Zaleucus and Charondas, the only remains of this kind, proved gc- 
 nulne againfl the arguments of a learned critic, p. 147 — 166. 
 
 Vol I. P P p SECT
 
 474 CONTENTS OF THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 THE next art nvas the legljlaior' s invention of the mydtnti, folely 
 inji'ituted for the propagation and fupport of the dodlrine of a future flate 
 of rewards and punifiments. Their original and progrefs deduced: 
 their nature and end explained: their fectets reveale^d : and the catfes 
 of the I degeneracy accounted for. Togwe a.compleat idea of this impor- 
 .tant injiitution, the fxth 6ook of Virgil is examined, and the dejccnt 
 of M\\QZ% into hell, Jhewn to he only an initiation into, and reprefenta- 
 .tion of the fhews of the \Xiy^txvt%, p. i66 — 336. 
 
 Appendix and Notes to the Four Fir Ji SeElicns, p. 337 — 398. 
 
 SECT. V. 
 
 THE next Infiance of the maglfl rate's care of religion, in efdhlipj^ 
 ing a national worfip. That an eftablilhed religion is the univerfal 
 "u/yice of nature. The right of ejiablijjying a religion juftified, in an ex- 
 planation of the true theory of the union between Church and State. 
 This .theory applied as a rule to judge of the ^r/a^/ eftablifhments in 
 /v^^ pagan world. The cmfes that facilitated the efablifment of reU~ 
 gion ainongjl them ; as likewife thofe caufes that hindered their efta- 
 blifiimentsyr^/W receiving their due form, p. 399 — 426. 
 
 SECT. VI. 
 
 THE laf injlancc of the rnagijlrates care f err the fupport of reli- 
 gion ; in the alloit-aitce of a general toleration : the meafure and caufes 
 of it : the nature of the ancient tolerated religions: how, under the fu- 
 'pervifon and direSlion of the mag'flrate : and how firfi violated and 
 dejiroyed by cln)il tyranny, p. 427 — 456, 
 
 Notes to the Fifth and Sixth Se5lions, p. 457 — 471. 
 
 THE END OF THE FIRST VOLUME,
 
 •ERRORS OF THE PRESS IN VOL. 1. 
 
 •^ol. I. p. 56. /. 4. from the bottom, i<ix far, r. for. 
 
 96. /. 7. for the iiuo ivrittn mentioned above, r. Sextus Empiricus and Monta'gne. 
 139. /. 5. after itWiV, a period. 
 
 238. /. 10. from the bottom, ifcet fituh a comma; and for Trajane, r, Trojane. 
 141. /. 7. after tuli/lis <]ele the comma. 
 242. /. 14. liiet gaudia and after Cydon add a comma. 
 250. /. 2. after /a/a dele the period. 
 260. /. 5. from the bottom for bellutf, r. bellua. 
 266. /. 9. from the bottom for fpiffated, r. fpif^ated. 
 269. /. 4. from the bottom for mortality, r. molality, 
 274. /. 3. for crimini, r. crimirif. 
 S176. /. 15. for poenis, r. pcenas. 
 
 /. 3. from the bottom for fubfgitque, r. fubigitquc. 
 306. /. 10. from the bottom, for claufam, r. claufwrn. 
 310. /. 18. for ill*, r. ill;, 
 
 3 14. /, 1 1 . from the bottom for mi/eris, r. mircris. 
 332. /. 9. from the bottom for dru, r. fcrti. 
 
 n. ||. for temeritate curiofitatae, r. temeraria curiofitate, for p. 119, r. 123. 
 377. /. 7. for Tufcular, r. Tufcula». 
 388. /. iS. for antonomanVe, r. antonomay7;Ve. 
 393. /. 21. for Vadimoniis, r. Vadimonif. 
 437. /. I. for mankind. For, r. mankind, fof. 
 
 442. /. 7. for bis odium, r. this. ^ 
 
 444. /. 7. from the bottom for 01, r. us. 
 
 459. /. 6. for A/ris, r. A/ris. 
 
 460. /. 8. for notre tant, r. nitre etanr, 
 
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