The Labanic Images are supposed to be the most antient, if not the first religious Images, made of some precious Metal, and had their Birth in Laban’s Country, that is, Chaldea, or Mesopotamia.

From Laban’s History, it seems as if these Teraphim were Pictures or Images of certain Persons deceased; that is, they were a sort of Idols, or superstitious Figures venerated by them as Demy-Gods. That they were such artificial Portraitures of Men, is evident from that Instance in Michal, who, to deliver David her Husband from bloody Assassins that threaten’d his Life, laid an Image in his Bed, a Teraphim, says the Hebrew, that is, a material Image, probably a Figure of Wood, or Sticks hastily made up, drest in Man’s Clothes, to make those sent by King Saul to apprehend him, believe he was sick.

Why does Laban call them his Gods? Very probably because he believed they retain’d their Affection for Mankind in the invisible World, and being rank’d among the Gods, might be serviceable to his Family, therefore adopted them to be Guardians of his House. They were only his domestick Gods, and not the established Gods of the Country; and ’tis very likely they might be the Images of Noah and his Sons; or some other illustrious Ancestors, whom he had chosen for his Tutelary Gods.

The Scripture mentions another sort of Teraphim, sometimes consulted by the Jews as an Oracle, not imagining that thereby they abandon’d the Worship of the true God. Such was the Teraphim that Micha made and set up in his House, and to which he appointed a Priest of the Levitical Race, with an Ephod or Sacramental Garment, by the Influence of which he flatter’d himself that God would bless his House. This probably might be some Hieroglyphical Figure, to which the superstitious Jews attributed the Virtue of an Oracle, and the Power of foretelling Things to come: Hence speaking Teraphims.

From these Teraphim came the Lares, or the Household Gods of the old Romans, who before the Laws of the Twelve Tables, used to bury the Dead in their Houses; from whence arose that great Veneration they had for their Lares and Penates, a kind of domestick Divinities, worship’d in Houses, and esteem’d Protectors of Families, which were nothing else but the supposed Ghosts of those who formerly had belonged to the Family, whom they represented by Images, which they placed in the Chimney-Corner, or near their Doors.

These were also look’d upon as Guardians of the Highways, near to which their Images were fix’d for the Benefit of Travellers, therefore call’d Dii Viales, Gods of the Roads. ’Tis said by the Prophet, The King of Babylon stood at the parting of the Way, and consulted with the Images; with the Teraphim, says the Hebrew, Ezek. xxi. 21. which the Jewish Interpreters say were prophetick Images, endued with the Gift of Prediction; so far from being mere Idols, that they gave out Oracles, and foretold Things to come.

Some think Laban’s Teraphim to be such, and that Rachel, having observed how her Father did divine by them, and fearing, by consulting with them, he might know which way Jacob went, and follow after and murder him; to prevent so fatal a Catastrophe, she took away his Oracles.

Those sacred Images might, at first, be made in honour of departed Relatives, or illustrious Persons; but by degrees degenerated into religious Adoration. Thus the Manes of the Dead were worship’d by them under the Figure of their Teraphim, in some place of the House, and probably where they had deposited the Remains of their Ancestors, as some think.

The Lares were also called Penates: To these they paid religious Homage with Sacrifices; so the Roman Satirist says, and calls these images his dear little House-Gods; and then observes, that they were crown’d with Garlands of Flowers in Summer, and in Winter with Shaving of Horns colour’d. To these Waxen-Gods the Romans addrest themselves with Offerings of Frankincense and Cakes^[372]....

They were supposed to be the Spirits of such, who had lived well on the Earth, and in consequence of it, were happy; so on the other hand, those who lived ill here, did after Death wander up and down in Horror, and were supposed, by the Vulgar, to be Hobgoblins, call’d Lemures, i. e. restless Ghosts of departed Spirits, who return to the Earth to terrify the Living.

These are the same with Larvæ, which the Antients imagined to wander round the World, to frighten good People, and plague the bad. All these were imagin’d to be the Ghosts of the Dead: They pray’d to the Good for Protection, and sacrificed to the Evil to pacify their Rage: For this reason they had their Lemuria or Lemuralia at Rome, where on the 9th of May, a Feast was solemnized in honour of the Lemures, and to pacify the Manes of the Dead, especially those who died without Burial, to prevent their giving disturbance to the Living.

The first Men that were deified, or made Gods, are supposed to be the Heads of Families, Founders of Empires, and Benefactors of Provinces——who, after their decease, were highly reverenced. Noah and his Sons seem to be the first and chief animated Deities of the Pagans, under the Names of Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto; hence Demons, another Name given to Spirits, which were supposed to appear to Mortals, with intention to do them Good or Hurt.

The first Notion of Demons, ’tis said, sprung from Chaldea, thence it spread among the Persians, Egyptians.... Pythagoras and Thales were the first that introduced Demons into Greece, where Plato fell in with the Notion, which he explains thus, viz.

... By Demons, he understood Spirits inferior to Gods, and yet superior to Men, which inhabiting the middle Region of the Air, kept up the Communication between the Gods and Men, carrying up the Prayers and Offerings of Men to the Gods, and bringing down the Will of the Gods to Men. He allow’d of none but good ones, tho’ his Disciples (finding themselves unable to account for the Origin of Evil) adopted another kind of Demons, who were Enemies to Man^[373].

The Apocryphal Book of Enoch abounds with the Names of Angels and Devils; but that Book is not of any great Antiquity, tho’ the Prophecy be: it does not appear to have been known by the antient Jews. St. Jude is the first that cited it. The Authority which this spurious Book of Enoch has received from some of the Antients, is the reason of our meeting with several of its Opinions, scatter’d in their Writings. Ibid.

LACTANTIUS, one of the most eloquent Authors of his time, (and therefore called the Christian Cicero) was of Opinion there were two sorts of Demons, celestial and terrestrial^[374]: The celestial are the fallen Angels, who having been seduced by the Prince of Devils, engaged themselves in impure Amours; the terrestrial are they who issued from the former, as Children from their Parents: These last, who are neither Men nor Angels, but a Medium between the two Natures; were not plunged into Hell, neither were their Fathers admitted into Heaven: The terrestrial Angels are impure Spirits, and Authors of all the Evils committed on Earth^[375].

Many of the Antients have allotted to every Man an Evil Angel, who is continually laying Snares for him, and inclining him to Evil, as his Good Angel does to what is Good. The Jews have still the same Sentiments at this day. Another Father thinks, that every Vice has its Evil Angel, presiding over it; as the Demon of Avarice, the Demon of Pride, of Uncleanness^[376]....

In Pagan Theology, nothing more common than those good and evil Genii, and the same superstitious Notion got among the Israelites, by Commerce with the Chaldeans; but I don’t apprehend that by Demon, they meant the Devil, or a wicked Spirit, tho’ it be taken under that Idea by the Evangelists, and also some modern Jews^[377].

We are not without some Remains of those antient Representations: Among the various Rarities in the Musæum at Leyden in Holland, is the Effigies in Sculpture of Osiris, the Egyptian God; ’tis made of Wood, and now almost consum’d with Age: There are three other Egyptian Idols of Stone; an Image of Isis (who married Osiris, King of the Country) giving suck to her Orr. Another Effigies of Isis, the Egyptian Goddess, upon a little Egyptian Coffer, containing the Heart of an Egyptian Prince embalm’d therein.

The antient Pagans, had almost as many Goddesses as Gods; such were Juno, the Goddess of Air, &c. Queen of Heaven, and of the Gods; was represented sitting on a Throne with a Crown of Gold on her Head: This was the Patroness of the female Sex. Every Woman had her Juno, or Guardian; as every Man had his Genius. She was the Goddess of Marriages, which were not deem’d lawful without the Parties first addrest her. One Branch of her Office was to attend them in Labor, when they pray’d, Help, Juno Lucina^[378].

She was ador’d by all Nations; her Temple was open on the Top and had no Doors, it being impious to think of confining the Gods to a narrow Inclosure. Yea, many of the Antients would erect no devotional Temples, from a Persuasion that the whole World is the Temple of God. The Sicyonians would build no Temple to their Goddess Coronis: Nor would the Athenians erect a Statue to the Goddess Clemency, who they said was to live in the Hearts of Men, not within Stone-Walls. The Goddesses were numerous, but I shall add no more.

They did not only enroll Men and Women among their Gods, but they had also Hermaphrodite-Gods. Thus Minerva, according to several of the Learned, was both Man and Woman, and worshipped as such under the Appellation of Lunus & Luna. Mithras, the Persian Deity, was both God and Goddess; there were Gods of Virtue, Vice, Time, Place, Death ... Infancy. Not Men only, but every thing that relates to Mankind, has also been deified, as Infancy, Age, Death, Labor, Rest, Sleep, Virtues, Vices, Time, Place.... Infancy alone had a numerous Train of Deities. They also ador’d the Gods of Health, Love, Fear, Pain, Indignation, Shame, Renown, Prudence, Art, Science, Fidelity, Liberty, Money, War, Peace, Victory....

Thus we have seen, that nothing more common among Pagans, than to place Men among the Number of Deities; yea, some of them would not wait for their Deification till Death. Thus Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, procured his Image to be worshipped while he was living. Thus Augustus had Altars erected and Sacrifices offered to him while alive. He had Priests called Augustales, and Temples at Lyons, and several other Places. He was the first Roman who carried Idolatry to such a pitch: Having in a most respectful manner view’d the embalm’d Body of Alexander the Great, was ask’d, if he would see Ptolemy’s also? he answer’d, His Curiosity was to see a King, not a Man. His Favourite Poet complements him with the Title of God^[379]. Yea, the Ethiopians deem’d all their Kings Gods.

II. Inanimate Things turn’d into Gods. Things without Life were made into Gods by the Heathens: The Sun, Moon, and Stars seem to be the first Idols, or false Gods, to whom they paid a divine Regard. Possidonius defines a Star, a divine Body. The Zabii erected Images to the Stars, which they fancied to be so many Gods, and that they influenced the Images consecrated to them; yea, and communicated the prophetick Spirit to Men.

The Sun and Moon were by the idolatrous Israelites called the King and Queen of Heaven, and the Stars were supposed (as it were) to be their Militia, form’d for their Guards, with which they were always surrounded.

PHILO of Alexandria, (called Philo the Jew, a Platonick Philosopher) imputes to the Stars a great part of whatever happens on the Earth; and says, they are not only Animals, but even most pure Spirits; that our Air is replete with Animals and Spirits, which are continually descending to animate Bodies. He had borrow’d these odd Notions from his Master Plato, Chief of the Academicks. Origen one of the Fathers, who flourish’d in the third Century, was guilty of the same Mistake^[380].

The sacred Books, in some places, seem to ascribe Knowledge to the Stars, when they praised God at the beginning of the World, Job xxxviii. 7. but the Stars were not then created, therefore it’s generally supposed they were Angels. Since then the Sun, Moon and Stars are excited to praise the Lord; the Moon withdrew its Light, and the Sun stopt its Course at the Command of Joshua ... and perhaps one reason of their strange Opinions about the heavenly Bodies, might be owing to these and the like Expressions; not knowing that these Words were meerly popular, and not to be understood literally, for then we must say that the Earth, the Trees, the Waters, are animated, since we find in Scripture some Expressions that would insinuate as much.

The Arabians who sprung from Ishmael, worshipped the Sun, Moon and Stars, in which they were conducted by their Priests who were cloathed in white Vestments, wearing Mitres and Sandals, which at first were only Soles tied to the Feet with Strings. In Authors that speak of ecclesiastical Rites, and Ornaments, we find the word Sandals to signify a valuable kind of Shoes, worn by the Prelates at Solemnities^[381].

We find Sandals also used by the Ladies, very different in form: When Judith went to the Camp of Holofernes, she put Sandals on her Feet, at the sight of which he was captivated; for ’tis said, Her Sandals ravish’d his Eyes. These were a magnificent sort of Stockens, like Buskins, of an extraordinary Beauty^[382], and were proper only to the Ladies of Condition, who generally had Slaves to carry them.

N. B. The real Buskin was the Cothurnus, a very high Shoe rais’d on Soals of Cork, wore by the ancient Actors in Tragedy, to make them appear taller, and more like the Heroes they represented, most of whom were supposed to be Giants.

The Persians had no Temples, Altars, nor Images, holding such little Things improper for the high Gods. Therefore they worshipp’d upon the Top of Hills, where they offer’d Sacrifices to the Sun, Moon, and Stars. The Babylonians adored the Sun, to which the King offer’d every Day a white Horse richly furnish’d: The Sun was in high Esteem among the Phenicians, whose Priests were crown’d with Gold. The Tartars and Cathaians worship the Sun, and Stars, to which they offer the first Fruits of their Meat every Morning before they eat and drink themselves. They have divers Monasteries of Idols, to whom they dedicate their Children.

In Nova Zembla there is no Religion prescrib’d by Law, but they worship the Sun, so long as ’tis with them, and the Moon and North-Star in its absence. In China are great Numbers of sacred Temples, where the Priests have so much Power over their Gods, that they may beat them when they don’t answer their Expectation: Their chief Gods are the Sun, Moon, and Stars, where they are not christianis’d.

In the Philippine Islands, the Natives worship the Stars, which they hold to be the Children of the Sun and Moon: Their Priests, for the most part, are Women. The Japonians worship an Image, with three Faces, by which they mean, Sun, Moon, and the elementary World^[383].

In America their chief Deities are the Sun and Moon; which they honour with Dances and Songs. In Virginia and Florida, when they eat, drink, and sacrifice, they use to throw up towards the Sun, some part of their Food: The Spaniards taking Advantage of this Superstition, made the poor ignorant People believe they were Messengers sent to them from the Sun; whereupon they submitted to the Spanish Yoke. Hacluyt, ibid. At Mexico, when they sacrificed a Man, they pull’d out his Heart, and offer’d it to the Sun.

In South-America, they worship evil Spirits in various Forms, and Sun and Moon. When it thunders, and lightens, they say the Sun is angry with them: When the Moon is eclipsed, they say the Sun is angry with her.

In Peru, next to their chief God, they worship’d the Sun, and after it, the Thunder. They took Sun and Moon for Husband and Wife. In the seventh Month they sacrificed to the Sun, and in the tenth to the Honour of the Moon.

The same Paganism was profest among the Europeans; yea the Greeks and Romans that were the most knowing and polite Nations, their chief Gods were Sun, Moon, and Stars.

The Air, and Meteors in it, were made into Gods: Thus the Persians ador’d the Wind; Thunder and Lightning were honour’d under the Name Geryon. Comets and the Rainbow also have been prefer’d from Meteors, to be Gods. Socrates deify’d the Clouds, if Credit may be given to Aristophanes.

Their high Veneration for Water was such, that to spit, to urine, or wash in a River was made a high Crime; perhaps, the Water of Jealousy that determin’d the Case about the Jewish Women, suspected of Adultery, might heighten their Veneration for this Element.

In Sicily, Rivers were worshipped by the Agrigentes (in the shape of a beautiful Boy) to which they sacrificed.... The Cathaians worship Earth and Water.

The Indians count the River Ganges sacred, and to have a Power of expiating their Sins. When the Idolaters wash in it, they cry, Oh Ganges, purify me! And when any are sick, they dip them in it, in order to recover their Health. The Water of this River is convey’d to such as live at a distance, and are not in a Capacity to travel; so that they ascribe as much Virtue to this River, as the Papists do to their holy Water, and chief Relicks.

The People of Bengal don’t only worship the River Ganges, but give Divine Honours to its Image. Bernier says, that Kingdom is well water’d by Channels cut out of the Ganges, which is visited by many Pilgrims, who think themselves happy if they can wash in it. There is also a Well in that Country, which they adore, and think, by washing therein, they are purify’d from their Sins. Their Priests travel about with the Water of the Ganges, which they sell at vast Prices; because the poor ignorant People are made to believe, that by drinking this Water, they obtain Pardon of their Sins.

The Inhabitants of Peru in America, fling the Ashes of their Sacrifices into the River, follow the same six Leagues, and pray the River to bring that Present to Virachoca, a superior Deity. Acosta.

The Persians and Chaldeans express their God by Fire, to which they perform Adoration, and bring it Food, crying to it, Eat, Oh my Lord Fire! To throw dead and dirty Things into the Fire, yea to blow it with their Breath, was High Treason.

The Magicians say, that this Fire was convey’d to them from Heaven; and that it was for this Reason that they kept it so religiously. That they preserve a constant Fire on their Altars, is evident from History. They are said to have Fires still subsisting, which have burnt above a thousand Years. We read of such Fire kept up with superstitious Care in the Temple of Jupiter Ammon, and in that of Hercules at Gades. So it is in Egypt, and in most of all the eastern Countries, and Virgil tells that Iarbas the Getulian could boast of a hundred Temples he had erected with Altars, blazing with perpetual Fire, the eternal Guard of the Gods^[384].

That which gave occasion to perpetuate the Fire in Pagan Temples, might be from the perpetual Fire kept in the Temple at Jerusalem, which descended from Heaven upon the first Victims sacrificed by Aaron and his Son. Hence the Vestals were appointed express, to keep up the sacred Fire of the Romans.

The Kings of Persia never went abroad without having some Portion of the sacred Fire carried before them: The Historian giving an Account of the March of Darius’s Army,—says, that they carried Fire upon Altars of Silver, in great Ceremony,—that they had it in great Veneration, calling it the sacred and eternal Fire, and that the Magi came after, singing Hymns according to the Persian Mode^[385].

God appear’d to Moses under the Form of a Fire burning in a Bush. The Camp of Israel in the Wilderness was conducted in the Night by a Pillar of Fire. Now God having made several Revelations of himself, under the Appearance of Fire, might give occasion to the Chaldeans and Persians to entertain such enormous Veneration for Fire, which is a Symbol of the Deity: The Lord thy God, says Moses, is a consuming Fire. At their high Solemnities they set several Trees (hung with diverse Sorts of Beasts for Sacrifice) on fire; this they did after they had carried about these Fires in Procession.

I Shall add here, a remarkable Contest that happen’d between the Chaldean and Egyptian Priests about the Superiority of their Gods.... In the time of Constantine the Chaldean Priests, to prove that Fire, which was their God, excell’d all other Gods in Power, travell’d over the Earth, carrying Fire with them, which soon consum’d all the Statues and Images of other Gods; whether of Brass, Silver, Stone or Wood, says Suidas^[386], who gives a large Account of it, under the Word κανωπος. At length coming into Egypt, and making this Challenge; the Egyptian Priests agreed upon a Battle of the Gods, and immediately brought into the Field one of their Idols, which was a large Statue of Nilus, full of Water, and full of little Holes, which they stopt with Wax not discernable, and so artificially, that the Water was kept in.

The Chaldeans (not aware of this Device) begun the Action, with much Assurance, and with Eagerness put Fire around the Egyptian Statue, which soon melted the invisible Wax, and the Water gushing forth from all Parts, immediately put out the Fire, and drown’d the hitherto invincible Deity of the Persians; the Tragedy ended in a triumphant Shout of Laughter among the Spectators: And I might add^[387] how the Arabians and Indians, Peruvians, Lithuanians, and Vandals worship’d Vegetables,—the Scythians Iron. Trees and Plants have been made Gods. Leeks and Onions were Deities in Egypt. The ancient Gauls and Britons bore a particular Devotion to the Oak; from which their Priests took their Names. Ceres and Proserpina, worship’d by the Ancients, were no other than Wheat, Corn, Seed.—The Syrians and Egyptians ador’d Fishes. What were Tritons, Nereids, Syrens, but Sea-Gods? Insects, as Flies, and Ants, had their Priests and Votaries: Yea, Minerals were erected into Deities. The Finlanders ador’d Stones. I don’t see what can be said for such an Instance of Stupidity. To say the Practice took its rise from Abram’s anointing the Stone that he made use of for a Pillow, when he went to Mesopotamia, does not lessen the Reproach. The Mahometans think that Jacob’s Stone was convey’d to the Temple at Jerusalem; and is still there in a Mosque or Turkish Temple, where the Temple at Jerusalem stood before the final Desolation. The monstrous Stupidity of Pagans in their Devotions will further appear in the Close of this Performance.

Now among all these Instances of Idolatry, the Adoration of the Sun was the most excusable; for, who can behold that stupendous Globe of Fire and Light in perpetual Motion, Splendor, and universal Usefulness to Mankind, without awful Admiration, and warm Emotions of Mind? No wonder then to find that it has been the Object of Adoration so long, and in so many Places. It was the Sun very probably that was worship’d by the Phenicians under the Name of Baal, by the Moabites under the Name of Chemosh, by the Ammonites under the Name of Moloch; by the degenerated Israelites by the Name of Baal, the King of the Host of Heaven, to whom they join’d the Moon, whom they called Astarta or Queen of Heaven.

This Worship was perform’d upon high Places, in Groves, and upon the Roofs of their Houses, which in those Countries, were flat. It was against this kind of Worship that Moses warn’d the Israelites, and threatens the Transgressors with Death. Deut. iv. 19, ’tis said Josiah King of Judah took away the Horses, that his Royal Predecessors had given to the Sun, and were fix’d at the Entrance into the House of the Lord, and burnt the Chariots of the Sun with Fire.

III. Animal Gods. In the next place, I shall briefly touch upon some Brutes and Birds, &c. that received Divine Honours from the Pagan People, and even from those who were supposed to excel their Neighbours in Understanding and Wisdom.

Thus Crocodiles, Serpents, Eagles, Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Oxen, were worship’d by the People of Egypt, those celebrated Sons of Wisdom; but their greatest Solemnities were consecrated to the God Apis, or Serapis, under the Image of an Ox or Bull.

They had an Ox consecrated to the Sun, which they fed at Heliopolis in Egypt: They had another called Apis, dedicated to the Moon, and fed at Memphis, (for some time, the royal City) where he had his Temple, and the Devils gave out their Oracles. In the time of St. Jerom, who flourish’d in the fourth Century, they worshipped here a brass Bull as a God.

The famous God Osiris was adored under the Figure of this Beast, and when dead, it was buried with great Solemnity and Mourning: And ’tis observable, that his Birth-day was celebrated thro’ the whole Kingdom. N. B. ’Tis very probable, that the Israelites worshipped the golden Calf in the same manner as the Egyptians did their Bulls, their Cows and Calves.

Before I proceed, give me leave to speak something of this golden Idol, which was the Figure of a Calf, which the Israelites cast, and set up to worship in Moses’s Absence; who, upon his return from the Mount, burnt the Figure, ground it to Powder, and made the People drink it mixt with Water, Exod. xxxii. The Learned are divided in their Sentiments on this Article; that is, the golden Calf, that was burnt and pulverized.

To pulverize Gold and render it potable, is an Operation in Chymistry of the last Difficulty; and ’tis hard to conceive how it should be done at that time, before Chymistry was heard of, and in a Wilderness too, where they had no proper Instruments. Many therefore suppose it to be done by a Miracle. But the chymical Art seems to be of greater Antiquity, and was very probably practised in the antediluvian World by Tubal Cain. Moses is the next Chymist mention’d in the Bible, whose Skill in chymical Operations, in pulverizing the golden Calf, seems to be incontestable, and artificial.

The Art is now much improved. Bid a Chymist convert Gold into Glass; and by means of a burning Concave, or otherwise, he presently does it: Ask him to Shew you Gold in Powder, and by mixing a little Antimony with that Metal, he will soon render it pulverable^[388].

But to return: Among other living Creatures, the Egyptians also paid a great Devotion to Dogs and Cats. We read of a certain Roman Soldier, that was like to be torn to pieces by the People, for having kill’d a Cat by Accident; and that when a Dog happen’d to die, the whole House went into Mourning^[389]: Yea, in case of a great Famine, they would eat Man’s Flesh, before they would touch their sacred Animals; ibid. The Stork, Raven, Eagle, Hawk, Ibis, and other Birds, have had divine Honours paid them in Egypt and other Places....

The City of Mendez in Egypt worshipped a Goat; the City of Mira, the Crocodile. In other Provinces they erected Altars to Lions, Baboons, Wolves.... The Hog was ador’d in the Island of Crete (now Candy) in the Mediterranean. Bats and Mice had Altars consecrated to them in Troas and at Tenedos.

Nothing can be supposed more ridiculous than the Adoration given by the Egyptians to their brutal Deities, which were either within or near their Temples; had Tables with delicious Meats and Beds prepared for them, and when any of them died, they went into Mourning, prepared sumptuous Funerals and magnificent Tombs for them, as may be seen at large in Diodorus Siculus, Herodotus, and others^[390].

Some indeed ridiculed their senseless and stupid Neighbours, tho’ they themselves were not Masters of superior Sense in their Devotions. Anaxandrides reproaches the Egyptians for their wretched and foolish Idolatry; but after all, this was only one Idolater deriding another. Dionysius was the most notorious this way: And most knavish in this kind was the Painter, who, when he should have drawn the Picture of such a Goddess for a Grecian City, drew the Picture of his own Mistress, and so made her to be adored by the Citizens.

What Man could have forbore laughing, said the Greek Poet above, to see an Egyptian on his Marrowbones, praying to an Ox as to a God, or howling over a sick Cat, fearing lest his scratching God should die?

Upon the whole, ’tis no easy matter to discover the real Sentiments of the Heathens about their Gods: they admitted so many superior and inferior Deities, who shared the Empire, that all was full of Gods.

Some of the Antients say, that a certain subtile Matter that made Stars intelligent, did reside in their sacred Animals, Plants and Men, and escaped Death: And this made them fit to partake of such Worship, as they gave to the Stars.——Sanchoniatho meant only, that the celestial Bodies are intelligent, and see what is done here below, and therefore were to be adored as Gods^[391].

The next thing that comes under Consideration is, the Worship of Serpents, which is observed thro’ all the Pagan Antiquity. The Devil, who, under the Shape of a Serpent, tempted our first Parents, has, with unwearied Application, labour’d to deify that Animal, as a Trophy of his first Victory over Mankind. The Conquest made by the old Serpent in Paradise, and the wonderful Cures made by the Shadow of a Serpent in the Wilderness, contributed very much towards making that hateful Creature so venerable in the Eyes of so many Nations.

God having past Sentence upon the Serpent, Satan consecrates that Form in which he deceived the Woman, and introduces it into the World as an Object of religious Veneration: This he did with a view to enervate the Force of the divine Oracle, the Seed of the Woman. Scarcely a Nation upon Earth, but he has tempted to the grossest Idolatry, and in particular got himself to be worshipped in the hideous Form of a Serpent.

The Almighty foreseeing this general Delusion, guarded the World against it, by inspiring Men with the greatest Aversion to that venemous Creature, and yet was the Tempter ador’d in most places under the Appearance of a Serpent. If you say, that Men worship other Creatures; I answer, Those are beneficial to Mankind, and not so odious and hurtful as those who carry Poison in their Tails and Teeth.

How surprizing this! that a Serpent, a Beast to which Mankind has a strong natural Aversion, should be ador’d by Creatures of Reason, and yet nothing more common, as will appear by the following Instances from Antiquity.

EGYPT was a Country that abounded with Variety of Serpents, and where they were generally held in the greatest Veneration. The supreme God was represented by them in the Form of a Serpent with a Hawk’s Head, because of the wonderful Agility of that Bird. We see no Table of Osiris and Isis, two Egyptian Idols, without a Serpent joined to them^[392]. This Isis married Osiris, King of that Country, and govern’d with so much Wisdom and Gentleness, that the Egyptians paid divine Honours to them, who had been such Blessings to the Land.

In Egypt is a Serpent of the Aspick Kind, called Thermutis, to which they gave divine Worship; therefore crown’d with it the Statue of their Goddess Isis. In the Corners of the Temples, they built little Chapels under ground, where they carefully fed this Thermutic Serpent, as a sacred Genius^[393].

The Egyptians also paid divine Honours to the Crocodile, that monstrous kind of Serpent, particularly the Inhabitants of Arsinoë, and they who dwelt in the Neighbourhood of Thebes, and the Lake Mæris; among whom ’twas fed by their Priests with Bread, Wine, Flesh, and diverse Rarities^[394].