Satan, who imploy’d the Serpent in his Service, is supposed to be punish’d here under the Figure of a Serpent: But why in the Presence of our first Parents? Perhaps for such Reasons as these, viz. 1. To reproach their Inadvertency for suffering themselves to be imposed upon by a lying Spirit, who, if but resisted by a meer Negation, would have fled. 2. To let them see that no Creature, tho’ never so great, can rebel with Impunity; from whence they might conclude, what to expect from new Provocations. 3. They had no other way to see a Spirit punish’d, but under some visible Form. It could not but give them some secret Satisfaction to see their cruel Enemy tremble at the Bar.

It is observable here, that the Promise of the Messiah was made to Adam, before the Almighty past upon him the Sentence of Death. How surprizing this! to find the Death of Christ published, before the Death of Adam was pronounced. The Death of Christ, the Innocent; before the Death of Adam, the Criminal.

The last Remark I shall make here is, that the Earth, tho’ cursed for Man’s Sin, still puts on the Face of a Paradise, abounding with an innumerable Variety of good Things; yea, and those so delicious and pleasant to Mankind, that many wish to live in it for ever. Thus they confine their Hopes and Fears to the present State, and are so far from believing a Life to come, that they can hardly persuade themselves to believe, that they shall leave this present Life.

As the Bounties of Providence gives us no room to murmur at our present Province or Portion, so on the other hand, the Toils and Troubles of this State should cause us to aspire after the heavenly Paradise, where no Curse ever found Access, where none of the Thorns of Affliction, or the Briers of Sorrow grow.

CHAPTER II.

Contents. Of the fiery Serpents that annoy’d the Camp of Israel: The Reason of that judicial Stroke, i.e. Murmuring under a Dispensation of Miracles. Why punish’d by Serpents? Why called Fiery? The last Plague in the Desart. Flying Serpents.

It might be said with great Propriety of the People of Israel, that they were a Generation of Vipers. Ingratitude, Unbelief, Discontent and Murmuring, were the dominant Passions in the Wilderness; they were always quarrelling with God and Moses: never easy, no not under a Theocracy, a divine Government. No wonder that Rage and Faction haunt the Dwellings of good Princes, when we find perverse Spirits have murmur’d at a divine Administration.

A Magnificent Table was Spread for them in the Wilderness, their daily Entertainments were miraculous; they were fed by Manna, a delicious Food distilled from Heaven, admirably suited to every one’s Palate. He commanded the Clouds from above, and opened the Doors of Heaven, and rained down Manna upon them to eat, and gave them the Corn of Heaven^[350]. Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the Wilderness, for there is no Bread, neither is there any Water, and our Soul loatheth this light Bread^[351]: This vain and empty Bread, say the LXX.

They were also furnish’d with miraculous Drink, i. e. Water out of a Rock; Water that swell’d into a River, and follow’d ’em in all their Motions, till they arrived in the Land flowing with Milk and Honey; Terms, that include a Scene of Plenty and Pleasantness.

In all their Traverses through the Wilderness, they were always under the Guidance and Protection of the Shekina; by which Word the Jews understood the Presence of the Holy Spirit; of Christ, say the Christians. The Shekina was the most sensible Mark of the Presence of God among them, which rested over the Propitiatory, or the golden Cherubims, which adher’d to the Propitiatory or Covering of the Ark; there the Shekina abode in the Shape of a Cloud. The Rabbins tell us, that it first resided in the Tabernacle, and descended into it in the Figure of a Cloud, on the Day of Consecration. It past from thence into the Sanctuary of Solomon’s Temple, on the Day of its Dedication by that Prince^[352]; where it continued to the Destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and was not afterwards to be seen there.

Thus were they conducted and entertain’d by an unintermitted Train of Miracles. Now to fret and repine in such a Situation, was a Crime of a high and heinous Nature, no less than impeaching infinite Wisdom, and taxing it with erroneous Conduct: If Difficulties occurred in the way, their Duty was Resignation, a Temper obvious in Pagans, whose Religion forbid all indecorous Sallies of the Passions.

SOCRATES, a Philosopher of Athens, was a Philosopher in Prison, as well as in the Museum: When bound in Fetters, and he had nothing but Death before his Face, he then conversed with his Friends with perfect Equanimity, and without the least Reflexion upon Fate, upon God, and his Judges, notwithstanding his base Treatment, and the notorious Injustice of his Sentence. The Scripture represents Job as a Champion in Affliction, who by his passive Fortitude under it, became the proper Hero of an Heroic-Poem.

Perhaps it might be to put them in remembrance of the first Sin, that was introduced into Paradise by the old Serpent: This kind of Punishment could not but bring to their Mind that gloomy Moment in which the human Nature was morally and mortally wounded by that evil Spirit, in the Form of a Serpent. This being allow’d, we may infer, that Man’s Memory stands in need of a Remembrancer, even of Paradise lost. And oh! who can think of that inexpressible Loss, without dropping a silent and solemn Tear?

Some Learned Jews themselves, speaking upon this Subject, say, the Reason why they were chastised by Serpents, was because they had done the Actions of the old Serpent, in using an ill Tongue against God, against Moses, and Manna, the Bread of Heaven.

A natural and a moral Reason may be assigned for it.

1. The sacred Volume seems to account for the natural Reason, when it says, God sent fiery Serpents. The Hebrew word is Seraphim, that is Burners, because they appeared in the form of a Flame. The LXX calls them Serpents of Death^[353], because their Wounds proved mortal.

As soon as the People were wounded, their Blood was inflamed, and according to some Jewish Authors, they were scorch’d with insatiable Thirst. Of the Hebrew word Saraph, the Greeks, by changing the Position and Order of Letters, have borrowed the Name Prester, which is a kind of fiery venemous Serpent, called also Dipsas and Causon, whose Wound is accompanied with a most vehement Heat and Thirst, and generally incurable, as some have formerly said. They may be properly called Fiery, as their Colour was glowing, a proper Representative of Fire. In the West-Indies are Adders, red as Blood, about seven or eight Foot long, and appear by Night as a burning Coal^[354].

2. They might be called Fiery also, from a moral Consideration; for, that raging Heat in the Body might represent the outragious Disorders of the Mind, flowing from conscious Guilt, neither of which were the Attendants of an original State. Hence, perhaps, it is that Satan’s Temptations are styled fiery Darts, because when complied with, they kindle a Fire in the Conscience, a Prognostick, and Taste of the Unquenchable^[355].

And indeed, what are all uneasy Sensations, but the Venom of the old Serpent? thence, that long Train of Complaints and Groans. Remember from whence thou art fallen, is the Language of every Calamity, but no calamitous Impression so terrible, as that which alarms the Mind about the awful Futurity. Of Sin it is said, that at last, it will bite like a Serpent, and sting like an Adder^[356].

What fill’d Adam’s Mind with Horror and Consternation? What made him run with wild Confusion among the Trees to hide himself? What was he afraid of? He, who was Lord of the Earth, and Image of the Almighty? Was not he in Paradise, the Garden of God; whence then this sudden and mighty Panick? What produced this great and astonishing Change in one who had a friendly Intercourse with God a little before? Oh! ’twas Guilt, Guilt, Guilt. A Consciousness of his iniquitous Compliance with the Serpent. What were those anxious disquieting Thoughts that kindled the Fire in his Breast, but the venemous, fiery Darts of Satan?

JUDAS is another Example; a Person highly honour’d by Christ, who made him his Ambassador Extraordinary to the House of Israel, and Treasurer of his House and Privy Counsellor, on a sudden falls into Extremity of Anguish; and why? Guilt, Guilt ... struck with Horror of Mind for the Effusion of innocent Blood; was arraign’d, and sentenced by his own Conscience, and became his own Executioner: His Guilt was the Wound that bled within, and what Words can describe the Agony that made that wretched Man throw himself into Hell for Ease.

This gloomy Occurrence fell out in the last Year of their Pilgrimage. The Wilderness thro’ which they had travelled abounded with these venemous Creatures, but were under the Restraint of a kind Providence, and not suffer’d to distress the Camp of Israel till now. Deut. viii. 15. Who led thee through the great Wilderness, wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions.

Thus, for their repeated Provocations, they were pursued by divine Vengeance to the very Borders of Canaan.

Just as they were congratulating one another upon the glorious Prospect before them, an Army of venemous Serpents invade their Camp, and made a terrible Slaughter among them. Little did our first Parents suspect a Serpent in Paradise, nor Israel such a Visit from fiery Serpents upon the Confines of the holy Land, the western Border of Paradise.

This Plague in the Camp, was the last Punishment inflicted upon the House of Israel in the Wilderness. When they came out of Egypt, it appeared they were about six hundred thousand Men, besides Women and Children, and a mixt Multitude: Of that mighty Number, none but two, viz. Josua and Caleb enter’d into the promised Land; the rest, for their Unbelief and reiterated Offences, perish’d by the way^[357].

The flying and fiery Serpents. Ungrateful Israel wounded by them, and healed by the Figure of a Serpent. God hears the Intercession of Moses, when deaf to the Cries of that rebellious People. Conjectures why healed by a Machine in the Form of a Serpent. Sin in all its Appearances, the Venom of the old Serpent. The brazen Serpent a Representation of the Messiah. The Cures wrought by both were by very unlikely Means. The Wonders of Salvation. Why Israel was healed by a Serpent made of Brass; Opinions about it. The brazen Serpent was no Talisman, or a magical Image. The fatal Catastrophe of the brazen Serpent. Destroyed, when abused to Idolatry. The Serpent shewed in St. Ambrose’s Church at Milan, for that of Moses, a Cheat. Martyrs from the Catacombs of St. Sebastian. Divine Institution necessary to acceptable Worship. May the Destruction of the brazen Serpent, when abused to Idolatry, warrant us to guess at the Fate of a Cross abused to Idolatry!

SECTION I.

Among Serpents, we find some that are furnished with Wings. Herodotus who saw those Serpents, says they had great Resemblance to those which the Greeks and Latins call’d Hydræ; their Wings are not compos’d of Feathers like the Wings of Birds, but rather like to those of Batts; they love sweet smells, and frequent such Trees as bear Spices. These were the fiery Serpents that made so great a Destruction in the Camp of Israel.

In their Extremity, the People addrest their Mediator, Prophet, and General, Moses, saying, O pray to the Lord that he take away the Serpents from us! The meek Prophet did so; the mediatorial Voice reach’d Heaven, and mov’d the Almighty who directs Moses to make a Serpent of Brass, (which was a Figure of the Serpents that plagued the People) and fix it upon the Top of a Pole, conspicuous to all the Assembly, promising that all those who were bit by Serpents, and should look upon this brazen Image, should be presently healed. Astonishing Clemency! The Event was answerable to this Promise.

This Method of Cure was new and strange; but he who at first called the World out of nothing, can with equal Facility command Health out of a Piece of Brass. Another Observable here, is that when the Almighty refused to hear the Cries of the Wounded in their Distress, he readily hearkened to Moses’s Intercession in their favour. Thus God accepted the Prayers of Job for his three Friends, when he would not regard the Supplications they put up for themselves. Job lxii. 7, 8.

SECTION II.

The brazen Serpent was a Figure of the flying Serpent, Saraph, which Moses fixed upon an erected Pole: That there were such, is most evident. Herodotus who had seen of those Serpents, says they very much resembled those which the Greeks and Latins called Hydræ: He went on purpose to the City of Brutus to see those flying Animals, that had been devour’d by the Ibidian Birds.

In Asiatic-Georgia, between the Caspian and Euxine Sea, are found winged Dragons, with anserine Feet and venemous Claws; and some of them are fortified with more terrible Pedestals than others: their Wings are generally composed of strong nervous Membranes, which when they walk, are scarcely visible, because of their close Adherence to their lateral Parts^[358].

In the Atlantic Caves, and Mountains of Africa, is an infinite Number of these winged Dragons, whose Poison is so strong, that the Flesh of such as are wounded by them, immediately grows soft, languid, and incurable^[359]. We read of flying Serpents transported from some Parts of Arabia into Egypt^[360][361].

These also have been seen in Florida in America, where their Wings are more flaccid, and so weak, that they cannot soar on high. Scaliger describes a certain flying Serpent that was four Foot long, and as thick as a Man’s Arm, whose Wings were cartilaginous, or gristly, ibid. History accounts for one of these flying Dragons that was killed in old Aquitania in France, a Present of which was made to King Francis, as a great Rarity of the Kind.

JEROM CARDAN informs us of some winged Dragons he had seen at Paris, so nicely preserved, that they very much resembled the Living; they were described with two Feet, weak Wings, a serpentine Head, and of the Bigness of a Rabbit.

Why was the Deliverance of Israel by a Machine made in the Form of a Serpent? Perhaps, these serpentine Strokes might be intended as Emblems, or Memento’s of the fatal Wound in Paradise, where Man’s Nature was first poisoned by the Devil, who made use of a real Serpent to seduce our first Parents.

What is moral Evil but the Venom of the old Serpent? A Venom as pleasant to the Taste, as the forbidden Fruit to the Eye, but the End is Bitterness. And what are Incentives to Sin, but delusive Insinuations of the subtle Serpent? And what is Enjoyment, but a pleasing Illusion, which is no sooner grasp’d, but glides away as a Shadow, leaving behind it a wounded Conscience, direful Apprehensions and Prospects.

And what are all sensual Entertainments but so many hot Gleams that portend the Approach of warring Winds and Storms? The Powers of Darkness that excel in Science, know how to regale the human Mind with pleasant Scenes, and how to divert the Senses with delightful Charms; Charms that have no Existence but in a deluded Imagination.

The Cure by a brazen Serpent, might also be to shew, that the Almighty in relieving distressed Supplicants, is not tied to any particular Medium. When the Israelites were poison’d by real Serpents, he heals them by the Image of a Serpent. When he would destroy Goliath the Tyrant, he does it by a Sling in the Hands of David a Youth, a very unlikely Person to encounter a Champion.

Thus God by the Figure of a Serpent mortifies the Pride of Lucifer, the old Serpent, by which he acquir’d greater Honour, than if he had sacrificed to the Fire all the Serpents in the Wilderness.

This may further intimate, that Providence may employ the same Kind of Instruments, either for the Display of Mercy or Justice upon Mankind. He who heals and wounds by the Mediation of Serpents, can turn Blessings into a Curse, or enable us to extract Sweetness out of the bitter Cup.

This artificial Serpent might (as some have thought) prefigure the Messiah, the Healer of spiritual Maladies. Many take it for a Representation of his Passion and Crucifixion: The Analogy may be thus illustrated, viz. The Cures wrought by the Serpent and the Saviour, deriv’d their Efficacy from Divine Appointment.

If the brazen Serpent had been the mere Contrivance of Moses, it would not have answer’d the Intention: so all human Institutions adopted into Divine Worship will be as little available to true Happiness, (Who has required this at your Hand?) of that Sovereign, who accepts no Worship but what has the Sanction of his Wisdom and Will.

Both Cures were performed by the most unlikely Means. The Serpent that healed their Wounds, was made of Brass; a Prescription in which there was no Probability of producing that happy Effect: And where was the promising Aspect arising from the Manner of our Saviour’s Appearance on Earth? What great Things could be expected from a Root of a dry Ground? How improbable was it that a Person so mean in external Form should overthrow the Kingdom of Darkness, a Kingdom that had been strengthening its Barriers for about four thousand Years? Who could think that he had such powerful Interest in Heaven, who was of no Reputation on the Earth?

Behold here a Scene of Paradoxes! Patients recovered by the Death of the Physician. Upon Mount Golgotha we see Paradise, lost by the first Adam, regained by the Death of the second Adam; Principalities and Powers led captives by a dying Man; there we see Life restored by Death, a Crown of Glory purchased by an ignominious Cross. Were the Israelites healed by a Creature made in the Likeness of the Serpent that hurt? So Men are restor’d by one made like themselves.

How was this miraculous Cure in the Wilderness obtained? It was by an ocular View, that is, by looking at the artificial Serpent. None else were entitled to a Relief. Thus Salvation comes by Faith, which in the prophetick Dialect is represented by looking. Es. xlv. 22. Look unto me and be ye saved all the Ends of the Earth. The first Sin enter’d at the Eye; the Woman saw the Fruit was good. Thus our Restoration to the Divine Favour is by an Eye to Christ, the Tree of Life, but I must not strain the Metaphor too far.

Why was the Cure by a Serpent of Brass? I answer, not for any healing Virtue inherent in that Mineral, more than others, but to demonstrate his Almighty Power, who can save by improbable Means, or without the Application of any Means. Thus the blind Man was cured by a Piece of Clay temper’d with Spittle; John ix. 6.

Perhaps, this also may refer to our Lord, as he is compar’d to Brass, which, when polish’d, is of a most beautiful Colour, exceeding that of Gold. Revel. i. 15. His Feet like unto fine Brass. An Emblem of the high Qualities that glitter in him, whose Nature is divinely fair and glorious.

Those fiery Serpents, as they flew in the Air, might in Colour resemble that of burnish’d Brass, because the Serpent of Moses was form’d of Brass, a Metal that in itself is no Friend to Health; and some have said, that the Sight of the brazen Serpent ought naturally to increase the Distemper of the Wounded, instead of healing it; and that the Almighty, shew’d a double Efficacy of his Power, by healing with those Means, which ought to have a quite contrary Effect^[362].

Tho’ Brass in its natural State, may not be propitious to Health, yet when duly prepar’d it is beneficial: The Preparation of Copper has been accounted an universal Remedy, and an excellent Emetick, having this singular Virtue, that it exerts its Force, as soon as ever it is taken: Whereas other Emeticks lie a long time dormant in the Stomach, creating nauseous Anxieties, &c. but a single Grain of Verdegrease immediately vomits^[363].

A Certain learned Gentleman of this Island, imagines that the brazen Serpent was a kind of Talisman; that is to say, one of those Pieces of Metal, which are cast and engraven under certain Constellations, from whence they derive an extraordinary Virtue to cure Distempers, &c. Some impute their Effects to the old Serpent, others to the Nature of the Metal, and to the Influence of the Constellation. This Author therefore would make us believe, that the brazen Serpent cured just as the Talismans cure certain Distempers, by the Sympathy there is between the Metals of which they are made, or the Influence of the Stars under which they are formed, and the Disease they are to cure. Every one may believe as he pleases^[364].

The Serpent that is always represented with Esculapius’s Image, and with Salus, the Goddess of Health, and often with the Egyptian Deities, is a Symbol of Health, or of Healing, very probably derives those Ensigns of Honour from the brazen Serpent of Moses.

I answer, it was brought into the Land of Canaan as a sacred Relick, and religiously preserved among the Israelites down to the Time of Hezekiah the King, as a standing Memorial of divine Goodness to their Forefathers in the Wilderness; but being abused by them to Superstition and Idolatry, as appears by their burning Incense thereto, it was broke in pieces by the special Command of King Hezekiah, who, in Derision and Contempt, called it Mehushtan, a Piece of Brass, a Trifle, a Bauble, Shadow of a Snake. 2 Kings xviii. 4. May all the Ecclesiastical Nehushtans of Babylon, foisted into Divine Worship, from the Rising of the Sun, to the Going-down of the same, meet with the same honest and righteous Fate. In the Church of St. Ambrose at Milan, they pretend to keep a brazen Serpent, which they shew for that of Moses, tho’ there be no such thing now in being. In the Church of St. Ambrose there is a Dragon of Brass on a Column of Marble: Some think it to be that of Esculapius, others an Emblem of that in the Wilderness, upon which account many of the Pilgrims and common People worship it. The Inhabitants are very superstitious, and fond of holy Fragments, and pretend to have at the Church of St. Alexander, no less than 144,000 Martyrs from the Catacombs of St. Sebastian. The Cures effected by the artificial Serpent, derived that Efficacy from the divine Institution of that Medium: Had their Prescription been the meer Device of Rabbi Moses, that great and valuable End would not have been answered; therefore, since the Reason of that Institution ceased, ’twas highly criminal in them, to make any religious Use of it. It is the divine Impress upon Institutions that ushers in the Blessings intended by them; therefore to hope for Acceptance with God on account of meer human Ordinances, (as bowing to Images, to the Altar, to the East, and to make use of Crucifixes, Crosses, holy Water) is to hope for what God has never promised to give. No wonder to see the brazen Serpent ground to Powder, and the Dust scatter’d in the Air, that so no Fragments of it might remain, when Altars of divine Establishment, and sacred to Devotion, were intirely destroy’d, when they made Idols of them: And how a holy and jealous God may resent the Adoration of the Cross in the Popish Church, I pretend not to predict, much less to determine. This Destruction of the brazen Serpent, is reckon’d among the good Deeds of King Hezekiah, because it was made a Medium, and Part of Worship not prescrib’d by divine Authority.

CHAPTER IV.

This Chapter begins with the Original of Idolatry, as a Preliminary to the Adoration of Serpents, under three Sections.

As introductory to the Divinity of Serpents, I shall make a brief Inquiry into the Original of sacred Images, and Idol-Worship; the first Period of which is hard to trace. Some make Cain the first Founder of it, because of his early Apostacy from the true Religion; which is not very improbable, since ’tis said, He went out from the Presence of the Lord.... He grew more wicked, and gave himself up to all sorts of Violence^[365].

That the old World was guilty of Idolatry, some gather from Gen. iv. 26. which they say will bear this Reading——Then Men prophaned, calling on the Name of the Lord, that is, by setting up Idols: Upon which some of the Rabbins paraphrase thus, viz. Then they began to call Idols by the Name of the Lord: With which agrees the Jerusalem Targum, that says, That was the Age, in the days of which they began to err, and made themselves Idols, and called their Idols by the Name of the Word of the Lord^[366].

So they understand Gen. vi. 11. The Earth was corrupt, that is idolatrous. In defence of this Gloss, they quote the Idolatry of the golden Calf, which is expressed by this very Form of Speech, viz. The People had corrupted themselves. We read Gen. iv. 26. Then Men began to call upon the Name of the Lord. There is no room to doubt, but they called upon God before; the Particle then seems to refer to Enos, which is the next Antecedent: therefore ’tis said, They now applied themselves to the Knowledge of the Stars, which they apprehended were erected for the Government of the World, and consequently might be their Duty to adore them as God’s Representatives.

But the general Opinion is, that Idolatry did not begin till after the Deluge, and that perhaps the Deluge might be one Occasion of it; for the old World, as some suppose, was drown’d for Atheism——which coming to the Knowledge of Noah’s mediate Successors, they run into the other Extreme, chusing rather to have many Gods than no God.

IDOLATRY is of a more antient Date than Image-Worship: To see Men kneeling before a piece of Wood or Stone, has something so low and mean in it, that Men were not immediately brought to that abject and scandalous piece of Worship. The Sun, Moon, and Stars, were their natural Gods, and ador’d before deify’d Men, who were their animated Gods.

This Deification of Creatures, seems to begin about the time of the Confusion at Babel, or the Dispersion immediately consequent thereupon, particularly in the Family of Nimrod, the Son of Cush, Grandson of Noah. May not we date the Original of Paganism from that remarkable Person? ’Tis the Conjecture of some, that Nimrod was the first Man that was deify’d, and probably for the important Service he did to his Country, as a mighty Hunter, in destroying wild Beasts that otherwise would soon have devour’d the Inhabitants, which were not very numerous in those days. ’Tis certain, that such Benefactors to Mankind were rank’d among the Gods. If so, who will pretend to say, our modern Fox-Hunters don’t carry one Characteristic of Divinity about them?

Some think that the true Religion was universal for about four hundred Years after the Deluge, because it does not appear from Abram’s Traverse thro’ Mesopotamia, Canaan, Philistia, Egypt, &c. that those Countries were Idolaters. Others apprehend Abram himself was originally an Idolater, at least that Idolatry had overspread the Nations in his time, for which they quote Joshua xxiv. 2. Your Fathers ... even Terah the Father of Abraham ... served other Gods. It’s evident from hence, that Terah had fallen into Idolatry, and some are of Opinion, that Abram himself was an Idolater, till God made him sensible of the Vanity of Idol-worship, and that it was thro’ him that his Father Terah was brought under the same Conviction, by this Device, viz.

The Jews say that Terah was not only an Idolater, but also a Carver, and Dealer in Images and Idols; that one day when he went a Journey, he left Abram to take care of the Shop; but Abram being already convinced of the Sinfulness of Idols, ask’d all that came to buy Idol-Gods of him, How old are you? They told him their Age; and he replied to them, This God that you would buy and worship, is younger than you are; it was made but the other day, and of contemptible Matter, therefore believe what I say, and renounce this vain Worship. The Buyers struck with Confusion at these Reproaches, went away without buying, asham’d of their Stupidity^[367].

Q. What might move Men to the first Idolatry?

Perhaps it might be a strong Attachment to the Senses, which they made their sovereign Judges in Spirituals: It was hard for vulgar Heads in those Days of Darkness to elevate their Thoughts above sensible Objects.

Another Reason, may be the Pride of the human Mind; that is not satisfied with rational plain Truths, but will adulterate them with foolish Imaginations: Hence it was that they would have such Objects of Worship, as might immediately strike their sensible Powers; nothing would serve their Turn but a Divinity visible to the Eye, therefore they brought down the Gods to the Earth, and represented them under certain Images, which by degrees commenced inferior Deities.

The Egyptian Priests not being able to persuade the People, that there were any Gods or Spirits superior to Men, were constrained to call down Demons, or Spirits, and lodge them in Statues, and then bring forth those Statues to be visible Objects of Adoration, and from hence sprung Idolatry.

Among the Pagans were various Opinions about religious Images. Some looked upon them as only Representatives of the true God, as Seneca, a Stoick Philosopher, and Plato a Native of Athens, and a noted Academick.

OTHERS said, they did not adore material Images, but the Gods in them, into which they were drawn by virtue of their Consecration, or, in a more modern Language, their Canonization^[368].

SOME were of Opinion, that after the Consecration of Images, the Gods actually incorporated with them, or were animated by them, as Man’s Body is by the Soul^[369]. The vulgar Heathen paid their Adoration to Images as if they were real Gods; which monstrous Practice was ridiculed by the most sensible Pagans, as appears farther on^[370].

The Use and Worship of Images has been long, and still is controverted. The Lutherans condemn the Calvinists for breaking the Images in the Churches of the Catholicks; and at the same time they condemn the Romanists (who are professed Image-Worshippers) as Idolaters. The modern Jews condemn all Images, and suffer no Pictures or Figures in their Houses, much less in their Synagogues, or Places of Worship.

The Mahometans have a perfect Aversion to all Images. This is it that made them destroy most of the beautiful Monuments of Antiquity, both sacred and profane, at Constantinople.

The old noble Romans preserved the Images of their Ancestors with no little Care, and had them carried in Procession in their Funerals and Triumphs.

This Part entertains us with various Instances of Pagan Deifications, viz. of Men, Beasts, and Things without Life.

I Begin with their deified Men, that is, dead Men, who being canonized, past for reputed Gods. Note here, some are of opinion, that the word God, among the Heathen, did not mean the uncreated eternal Being, but some most excellent superior Nature; and accordingly, they gave the Appellation of Gods to all Beings of a Rank higher, and more perfect than Man.

The principal Gods among the antient Heathens were Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Apollo, Juno, Vesta, Minerva, &c. The next sort of Gods were called Demy-Gods, or Gods adopted; and these were Men canonized and deify’d. Now, as the greater Gods had possession of Heaven in their own Right, so these lesser Gods had it by Donation, being translated into Heaven, because they were Men renowned for their Virtues, and had lived as Gods upon Earth; and these at first were called Teraphim.

The first certain Account of these we have in Genesis, where ’tis said, Rachel had stoln her Father’s Images. Chap. xxxi. 19. the Teraphim of her Father in the Hebrew, which Laban, (ii. 30.) calls his Gods, Hebr. Eloha.

The word Teraphim is Hebrew, others say Egyptian: Be that as it will, we find it about thirteen times in our Bible, and is commonly interpreted Idols, Images, sacred, superstitious Figures. Spencer maintains the word to be Chaldee, and that those Images were borrowed from the Amorites, Chaldeans, or Syrians, and that the Egyptian Serapis is the same thing with Teraphim of the Chaldeans.

A Learned Jew says the Teraphim were in human Shape, and that when raised upright, they spoke at certain Hours, and under certain Constellations, by the Influence of the celestial Bodies. R. David de Pomis ... Cyclopædia.

This Rabbinical Fable seems to be grounded on Zech. x. 2. The Idols (Hebr. Teraphim) have spoken Vanity.... Some of the learned Jews will have it to denote the Knowledge of Futurity, and for this Signification they quote Ezek. xxi. 21. The King of Babylon stood ... at the Head of the two Ways ... he consulted with Images; with Teraphim, says the Hebrew.

The same Rabbi adds, that to make the Teraphim they kill’d a first-born Child, clove his Head, season’d it with Salt and Oil; that they wrote on a Plate of Gold the Name of some impure Spirit, laid it under the Tongue of the Dead, placed the Head against the Wall, lighted Lamps before it, prayed to it, and it talk’d with them.

Others hold, that the Teraphim were brazen Instruments which pointed out the Hours of future Events, as directed by the Stars.—Some think that the Teraphim were Figures or Images of a Star engraven on a sympathetic Stone, or Metal corresponding to the Star, in order to receive its Influences: To these Figures, under certain Aspects of the Stars, they ascribe extraordinary Effects.

This Talismanical Opinion, says a Learned Pen^[371], appears the most probable.... All the Eastern People are still much addicted to this Superstition of Talismans. The Persians call them Telesin, a Word approaching to Teraphim. In those Countries no Man is seen without them, and some are even loaded with them. They hang them to the Necks of Animals, and Cages of Birds, as Preservatives against Evils. Such were the Samothracian Talismans, which were pieces of Iron, formed into certain Images and set in Rings....