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Price 2s. 6d, THE ISTOR^ ^i^-t^ Of the Propagation o w'^^/^ "^ ^^^^^ CHRISTIANITY, And the Overthrow of PAGANISM WHEREIN The Christian Religion is confirmed. The • Rife and Progrefs of Heathenish Idolatry is confidered. The Overthrow of Pa g a n i sm, and the fpreading of Christianity in the feveral Ages of the Church is Explained. The Prefent State of Heathens is inquired intoj and Methods for their Converfion propofed. s/ -^ By ROBERT MILLAR, M.A. VOL. II. LONDON: Printed for A. Millar, at Buchanan's, Head againft St. elements Church in the Strand. M.dcc.xxxi. U) THE HISTORY OF THE Propagation of Chriftianity, AND Overthrow of Paganifm. C H A p. V. Of the Vanity and Folly of Paganifm ; Where the Reafonings of the Trimitive Fathers againfl it^ and the Accufations of the Gentiles againft the Cliriftians, with their Anfwers, are explained. WE have, in the former chapter, ktn the ruin of Paganifm over the world, and particularly in the Roman em- pire, the clear fun-lhine of the Gofpel difpelling the thicl<: darknefs of heatheniih idolatry, Satan as lightning falling from heaven: " The idols " utterly abolifhed, gone into the holes of the rocks, " and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, " and the glory of his majefty •, men calling their idols " of filver and gold, which they made each one for " himfelfto worfhip, to the moles and to thebatts, to " go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of " the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and the Vol. II. B " glory ¥ The Vanity ofT.agantfm, •* glory of his majefty, when he arifeth to fhake terri" '* bly the earth *.'* Having feen the viftory gained, we might fing a triumph •, " Confounded be all they *' who ferve graven im.ages, that boaft themfelves of *' idols Zion heard and was glad, the daughters of '^ Jz/J^j^ rejoiced, becaufe of thy judgments, OLord-f'.'* In the primitive perfecutions, Chriftians overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their tefti- mony, and loved not their lives unto the death 1|. But now the kingdoms of this world are become the king- doms of our Lord, and of his Chrift, and he fliall reign for ever and ever 4:. To be fure, 'tis an invaluable mercy, that, by the knowledge of our Saviour, God has opened the eyes of the blind, has turned us from darknefs to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that we may receive the remiflion of fins, and in- heritance among them which are fanftified **. It is very remarkable, that whatever corruptions in doftrine, worfhip and government, whatever divifions, confu- fions and diforders have defiled the Chriftian Church, yet it never return'd again to the fiiateofheathenifm. What I have formerly advanced, in Gonfii'ining the truth of the Chriftian Religion, in difcovering the in- fufficiency of the light of nature in order to falva- tion, and in difplaying the ftate of idolatry over the hea- then world, before the coming of Chrift ; and of the propagating of Chriftianity, and ruin of Paganifm in the four firft centuries •, may fiiorten my work in this chapter. But that I may fet before my reader the wickednefs of Paganifm, and give a little view of the arguments by which Chriftians defended themfelves, and wounded the caufe of the Gentiles, to fuch as are not well acquainted with the writings of the ancients \ and to contribute my mite, that libertines, in this de- generate age, may not return us to a ftate of infidelity, from which we are, in the mercy of God, happily de- liver'd : let it be confidered. That "*Ifaiah2. 18 — zi, fPfalmp;. 7,8. 1| Revel ij. 11. :]:Revel.ii. I/, **A£tsz5. iS. Chap. 5. The Vanity of Taganifm. '3 That fince there is but one God, the author of all things, the polytheifm of the Gentiles is plainly abomi- nable: if they fay there are divrrs co-eternal and co-equal Gods, the opinion is inconfiftent. For if there be more Gods than one, they muft be either equal in power, or one muft depend upon another ; if equal, that 'equality makes,' that one muft depend upon another, and fo each cannot be God, otherwife the independency would be only in name, for one cannot aft without confcnt of another; if dependent, each cannot be God ; for, who can limit an independent Being ? Plurality of Gods can nevef agree with immenfity : If we fuppofe more Gods than one, each muft have his own province, which fuins immenfity : nor with infinite perfeftion ; for if one have perfections which are not in another, neither will be infinitely perfe6t : Every thing that is multiplied is imperfect. Unity, when not fufficient, makes many neceftary ; but when one is infinitely perfe6t and all- fufficient, no more of that kind can be conceived. If they maintain the old opinion of the Per/tans, the one God good, and the other evil, this is equally incon- fiftent -, for thefe two ading one againft another,' the one being the autiior of ail evil, the other of good, may tend to deftruftion, but can never govern the world in a beautiful order. B.fide, evil is but a defedt of the reditude whiih ought to be in the creature, and has, of itfelf, no pofitive exrftence. If, by the name of Gods, they underftand created fpirits fuperior to men, then they either mean good or bad fpirics -, if the firft, they ought to be well alfured fuch are indeed good fpirits, otherwife they commit the moft dangerous error, in re- ceiving enemies inftead of friends, traitors and run-a- ways inftead of ambafladors : good angels will never receive religious worftiip at their hand, 'tis the higheft contempt of the fupreme Being, to give that honour that's due to him to any creature. It is therefore the only fafe courfe to betake themfelves to the worfhip of one Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth •, fince to whom God is favourable, thefe good angels B 1 muft 4 The Vanity of Taganifm, muft of neceflity be ferviceable, being the fervants of the mofb high God. But it was not the good, but the evil fpirits the pa- gans worfhipped, as may be demonftrated by weighty rc^afons. Firjl^ Thele angels did not lead their wor- fliippers to the fervice of the true God, but, as far as they were able, labour'd to aboliili the fame* j" which good angels his fervants would never do, nor equal the honour they required with that due to the Almighty ; it being their whole care to encourage men to honour and ferve the only true God, who made heaven and earth. Secondly, The deities the Gentiles worfhipped procured all the mifchief they could to the worfliippers of the true God, by provoking both magiftrates and people to perfecute and punifh them : For, while it was allow'd to the poets to fing of the murders and adul- teries committed by the Gods, and to Epicureans to take away divine Providence -, while any other religion, tho' ever fo abfurd, ever fo different in rites, as the £- gyplian, Phrygian, Grecian, 1'hufcan, were all facred, and allow'd at Rome ; yet there the Jews were expofed to ridicule, call'd Cur it, Kecutiti, worfhippers of the clouds, of the fun, ^c.-f, and fometimes banifh*d || and expofed to many calamities : And as to the Chriltians, they were harafied with the moil bloody perfecutions that were ever heard of, as already in the third chapter of this treatife. No other reafon can be given of this condu6l, than that both thefe fefls did worfhip one God, whofe honour was impeach'd by the multi- tude of fuch Gods as the heathens adored, who did not fo much vie with one another as with him. Thirdly, This appears from the manner of their worfhip, which did no way become good and pure fpirits, as by facrifi- cing men unto demons, by the running of naked men in their temples in the prophane feafts call'd Lupercalia. Indeed, the well-attefted accounts we have given of their inhuman bloody facriiices to Moloch and Saturn, their * Vide Auguflinum de Civitate Dei, Lib. lo. Cap. i6, 19. f Vide fupra Vol. i. Cap. i, i- (i Suetonius in Tiberio, Cap. 36. chap. 5. The Vanity of Taganifm. $ their abominable obfcenities in the fervice of Baalberith, Cybeie, Venus^ Succothbenoth-, and other deteftable prac- tices explain'd in the fecond chapter of this Ej[fay^ which need not be here repeated, arefufficient to make any man to abhor that religion that authorized fuch a- bominations, and to value the great mercy of our God, who has deliver'd us from it. Such iniquity is to this day pra6lis'd among the barbarous people of Africa and America^ in their moft folemn ads of devotion to their heathen idols. Fourthly^ And which is more, there both anciently were, and now are, abundance of Fa- ganst who openly worfhip evil fpirits •, as the Perfians adored Armanius the author of evil, the .Greeks their CacodcsfimiSj the Latins their Vejoves *, and now many of the Ethiopians and Indians. Than this nothing can be imagined more impious *, for v/hat is religious wor- fliip, but a teftimony of infinite goodnefs, which we acknowledge to be in the objed we adore? If this be exhibited to a filfe wicked fpirit, 'tis evil and deceitful, implying no lefs crime thap high treafon ; forafmuch as the honour due unto the king is not only withdrawn from him, but conferr'd upon the enemy, who has treacheroufly revolted from him. It is vain to pretend God is good, and will not punifh the offence ; for mercy has its bounds and limits that it may be jufir, and where wickednefs abounds without meafure, there juflicedoes necelTarily require punifliment to be inflicted. Neither is it lefs blameable, that they pretend fear con- llrains them to honour wicked fpirits, fince God, who is abfolutely good, has fovereign dominion over all his creatures, as his workmanfbip, i'o as nothing can be done by any of them, which he defires to hinder ; and tlierefore, thefe evil fpirits can do no farther hurt to any man who has God favourable to him, than God for fome good purpofe or other thinks fi.t to permit, nor can a man obtain any real good from them. The gifts of enemies are mere fnares. Some, both of the ancient and modern heathens, tell us, they give honour and worfliip to the fouls ot men B 3 de- * Cicero de Natura Deorum, Lib. 3. §. 6z. 6 The Vanity ofTaganifm. departed : Bur, Firfi^ They fhould have made fome manifeft diftindion betwixt this honour, and that due to the moll high God. Secondly., AH the prayers made to thefe fouls departed are vain and fruitlefs, unleis thefe fpirits could afford us fome real good, which thofe wor- ihippers can have no ground to expedl •, yea, we may be lure they cannot know our neceffities, for they are not omnifcient, but ignorant of things done at fuch diftance, nor are they almighty to grant our defires. thirdly. Which is a further- difcovery of the folly of the Pagans J many of thole, to whom this glory was given, were nororioufly wicked perfons, addifted to fome filthy vice or other -, 5(2<:c/j«j a drunkard, /7/?r<:///^j effeminate, Romidus a villain who kill'd his brother, Jupiter with infamous tyranny expell'd his father out of heaven : So that their honour redounds to God's diihonour, and to the reproach of true piety and virtue, which he loves and recommends •, yea, to honour fuch monilers com- mends the practice of v/ickednefs and vice to men, as if it were not alluring enough of itfelf, till it be counte- nanced by the example of fuch patrons. Fourthly^ Is it not the alone fure way to wdrfhip only the one glorious God, Creator of the univerfe, who we are fure is om- nifcient to know all our thoughts, wants and defires ; yea, gracious and almighty to grant all that is truly good for us ? Of more antiquity among the heathen is the worfhip of ftars and elements, as fire, water, air and earth; wherein great ignorance and folly was committed, for prayers are the greatefl; a6t of religious worfhip, which cannot, without folly, be directed to any but intelligent patures : But fenfe tells us, the elements are no luch things ; and as for the ftars, if any fiy they are intelli- gent or rational, he v/ill never be able to prove it, fince nothing of it can be gathered from their operations ^nd influences •, yea, we may prove the contrary by their motion, which is not variable, like things en- ^ow'd with liberty of will, but conflant and unalte- rable. Befide, thefe flars are for the ufe of man : H[e does therefore injury to his ov/n dignity, to fubmit him- I felf Chap. 5. The Vanity of Taganifm. 7 felf to fuch things as God has made for his fervice ; he ought rather to render thanks to God for them, that cannot do it for themfdves. But nothing can be more unworthy of man than the idolatry of the Egyptiajis-, who became fo fottifh as to worfliip brute beafts, who have no underftanding, no rational fouls, can neither exprefs conceptions by diftin6t words nov writing. Man catches all forts of beafts, makes them fubjeft to his laws -, yea, from them that are more hurtful, draws fome profit, as medicine from ferpents, and this in a manner»utterly unknown to any of them : If man confiders matters, and weighs things in a due ballance, he'll be fo far from looking on other animals as gods, that he'Jl rather look on himfelf as conftituted by the moji high God, as a lord and ruler over them. We find alfo the Greeks and Romans worihipped thefe things which have no fubfiftence, but arcm-ere accidents. We read in Cicero *, that they had temples to Contu- mely and Impuder.ce^ an old altar to the Fever^ and a temple to Lue7Ke'\', To omit thefe uncouth deities, they adored accidents of the better fort, as Health, which is nothing but a right temperature of the parts of the body -, Good Fortune^ when the event anfwers man's defire •, the Jffeullons-, as L')ve^ Fear^ Anger ^ Hope^ and the reft, which proceed from'theconfideration ofiome- thing good or evil, eafy or difficult, and are motions of the mind united to the body, and influenced by the blood, which have no power of themfclves, but arc handmaids to the commands of the will. They wor- fhipped alfo the Virtues, as Frudeyice, in chufing what is profitable to us ; Fortitude^ in undertaking dangers j Jujlice, in abftaining from what is another man's ; and 'T'emperauce, in moderation of picafures. Thefe are only certain inclinations and propenfions in the mind unto that which is right, grown up by long cxercifes and pra6tice, which, as they may be augmented, fo they may by negled be diminiiliedj if not abolifhed„ B 4 As * De Legibus, Lib. 2, Operum pag. m, 1:197, f Ibid. pag. 1259. "S The Vanity ofTaganifm. As for Honour^ to which they erefted temples, it is other men's judgment or good opinion concerning one, whom they fuppofed endowed with virtue, or fome fupe- rior qualities, which is oft beftowed on bad men as well as good, by the natural pronenefs that is in men to err in judgment. Thefe things then having no fubfiftence, are not to be compared in dignity and worth, v/ith things that do fubfift i and fince they have no under- ftanding of men's prayers, or of any veneration paid to them, it is mofl abfurd to worfhip them as Gods. We ought only to worfhip God, who can give and preferve every virtue, and every excellency to us. Cicero him- felf derides this worfhip of accidents, when he fays *, " Thefe things need not be refuted by fubtile arguments; *' the Mifid,Failb, Hope, Virtue, Honour, Fi^ory, Health, " Concord, and the refl of that kind, are in the nature *' of things, not of gods— -And efpecially Fortune, *« which cannot be feparate from Inconjlancy and Rajh- '* nefs, which are unworthy of God." The Pagans, to recommend their religion, do pre- tend miracles, but fuch as may be juflly excepted a- gainfl i the wifeft of the heathens rejeded them, as fupported by no teftimony of any credible wirnefs, but plainly counterfeit and fabulous. Other miracles which they faid were done, happen'd in fome fecret place, or in the night-time, before one or two, whofe eyes the craft of the cunning priefl might eafily delude by falfe appearances, of which the learned Vandale gives many documents -f. Others that raifed great admiration, and pafs'd for wonders, merely becaufe they met with men who were ignorant of natural things, and of their hidden properties ; as for example, if one fhould draw iron with a loadftone, this might pafs for a miracle a- mong people who knew nothing of its virtue : In thefe arts, Simon Magus and Apollonius Tyanmis were very fkilful. I don't deny, but that fome things greater than thele were done, which by man's power alone could not be drawn out of natural caufes 5 yet did not depend * De Natura Deorum, Lib. 3. §. (ji. •f De Oraculis Ethnicorum. Chap. 5' The Vanity of Taganifm. 9 depend on a power truly divine or omnipotent, but might be performed by fpirits or demons, who by their fwiftnefs, efficacy, fubtility and diligence, can eafily carry things far diftant from one place to another, and compound things very different, to the producing of fuch effeds, as ftrike man with aftonifliment : But the fpirits who did this were not good, and therefore their Religion was not good, as appears from what is already faid. Good fpirits would never perfuade to worfhip any but the true God. Their wickednefs alfo appears in this, that they compelled men to do things even againft their wills, by the power of certain charms, when the wifeft of Pagans agree there can be no fuch virtue in words, only a power of perfuafion, and that no other way than by their fignification. *Tis another fign of their vile delufion, that they undertook to al- lure people, tho' ever fo backward, to love this or the other body, and performed a thoufand magick charms of that kind, forbidden even by the imperial laws ■■, as we have heard in the former chapter, as an abomina- ble piece of forcery. We need not wonder, that God fuffered fome lying miracles to be wrought by evil fpirits among the Gentiles^ fince they deferved to be cheated, who fo long time had forfaken the worfliip of the true God. This is alfo an argument of their weaknefs and impotency, that their works never pro- duced any confiderable good •, for, if any feemed to be called back to life after they were dead, they did not continue alive, neither could they exercife the functions of living creatures; or if it hapened, that any thing proceeding from a divine power appeared to the heathen, yet the fame was not foretold to come to pafs for the confirmation of their Religion -, and therefore, there might be other caufes and different reafons Vv^hich the divine efficacy propounded in doing thefe things. As for example, granting that Vefpafian reftored fight to one that v/as blind, it vvas, that he being for this counted more venerable, might more eafily obtain the Roman empire, to which he was chofen of God, that he might be a minifter of his judgment upon the Je vs. The TO The Vanity of Tagantfm. The like caufes may be given of other wonders, which can never recommend the heathenifh fuper- ftition. The fame anfwer may ferve to what the pagans ob- jeft concerning their oracles, that they defcrve to be 'given up todelufions, for contempt of that knowledge which reafon or ancient tradition fuggefted to every one of them *. The words of their oracles were for jnoft part ambiguous, and might receive an interpre-" tation from any event whatfoever ; as that to Crccfus "f, J/^Crcefus^o to fight againji the Perfians, he Jhall difjolve a great monarch'^ ; which may be interpreted, either he jhall lofe that of his own^ or he JJjall gain that of his enemies. Thus was the oracle to Pyrrhus very deceitful, j4io te^ iEacida, Romanos vincere pojffe ; which may lignify, either Fyrrhus ^all overcome the Kom3.ns, or they Jhall overcome him. If there was ever any thing foretold by thefe oracles that did certainly come to pafs, yet it 'Was either fuch as might be forefeen by natural caufes then exifting, as fome phyficians have foretold difeafes aproaching in fuch an age, or elfe fome probable con- jefture might be made by that which commonly falls out Thus fome perfons skilled in civil affairs, have inade notable gueffes at future events. Tho' we fup- pofe, that, among the Gentiles^ God did fometimes life the miniftry of fome prophets, to foretel things, which could have no certain caufe befide the will of God •, yet this did not confirm the heathen fuperftition, but rather overthrow it : as feveral expreffions in Vir- gil's ^ounh. Eclogue^ taken out of the Sybilline verfes, where the poet unwittingly gives us a hint of the coming of Chrijf^ and his benefits, as fome of the an- cients underftood it || ; tho' I conceive, the plain de- fign of the poet in that pafloral is, that the conful PoUio having his fon Saloi:inus born in the fourth year of A.:guftii:, Virgil, in giving thanks for his birth, flatters the conful, his fon, and the emperor Auguftus, promiling, * Vide Grotium de Veritate Rcligionis, Lib. 4. § 9. -j^ Herodot. Lib. i. Cap. jj. if ConftantiQi Magni kimo ad fandloruni ccstum, Auguftin dc CiV. Dei. Chap. 5- The Vanity of Taganifm. ir promifmg, the Qolden Age^ Jufiice^ and ^ new race of men fliall return to the earth -, and all thofe good things prophefied of by the Cumtzan S'^hil *. We read in Jujtin Mariyr f, that the Oracle told. That the Chaldeans and Jews are the only wife people^ who worfhip the felf- exiftent God and King, with a pure mind. If the hea- thens hearken to this Oracle, they'll abandon the worr fhip of Jupiter, Apollo, and the reft of their falfe deities ; or if they do not believe it, they make their God a lyar. After all, if thofe fpirits they worfhipped had intended the good of mankind above all things, they would have prefcribed a fafe and clear rule of life to men, and given fome certain affurance of a reward to thofe that lived according to it : neither of which was done by them, but on the contrary, their beft authors extol men for murdering themfelves, as CaiOy Brutus II, and others, or for the like abominable vices **, as we have more fully proved in fome former parts of this effay. Thofe who defire to be further in- formed how fraudulent and deceitful the heathen ora- cles were, may read the whole fifth book of Eufebius's Evangelick Preparations. Falfe as they were, they were put to filence upon our Redeemer's appearing in the world, as has been formerly illuftrated f f . Befide what has been hitherto faid, P^^^^f/;-^ minifters to us a mighty argument againft itfelf; for whenfo- ever it became deftitute of human force to fupport it, then it came ftreight to ruin, as if the foundations thereof were quite overthrown. If we take a view of all the kingdoms and ftates among Chriftians and Maho- metans, we Ihall find no memory of Paganifm but in books. The hiftory of the church informs us, that when the Roman Emperors endeavoured to uphold it, either by violence or perfecution, as they did for 300 years, * Spanheim. Hifl:. Chriftianx, Col. fofJ. t n«p£t/fSo-/f ad Grsecos, Operum Fag. 12. AuTTjytVtmv a.i'a.x.TU, (nCa^ouivot -S-joc ayvif II Tlutarch's Lives, Cato and BrntHs. ** Supra Vol. j . Cap. i. +f Supra Vol. i. Cap. 3. 12 The Vanity of Taganifm. years, or by learning and fubtilty, as Julian *, yet it decayed and dwindled into nothing, not by any violent oppofition, nor by brightnefs and fplendor of lineage and defcent, for Jefus was commonly clleemed as a Carpenter* s fon ; nor by flourifhes of learning, which they that taught the law of Chrijl ufed not in their fermcns ; nor by gifts and bribes, for they were poor ; nor by any foothing or flattering fpeeches : on the contrary, they taught all worldly advantages were to be defpifed, and all adverfity undergone for the fake of the Gofpel. Pagamf?n muft be very weak and im- potent, that by fuch means was brought to ruin, and Chriftianity very powerful : indeed this power is not of itfelf, but from the efficacy of almighty God, ac- companying the Gofpel, to the converfion of a finful world. This made wicked fpirits come out of pof- feffed perfons at the name of Chrijl, as has already been made evident *. Tertullian tclh Scapula, a pagan Prsefect in Africa, 'That the Chrijlians eje5led, difgraced^ and expelled Demons ever'j day, as many could bear witnefs +. The Gentiles have little to objed againft the Chrijlian Religion, fince all the parts thereof are of fuch honefty and integrity, as to convince the minds of men by their own light, fo far as there has not been wanting among the heathen, who here and there have faid many of thofe things which our Religion has in a body al- together. To give a few inftances : True Religion con- fifts not in rites and ceremonies, but in fincere fpiritual fervice. This is owned by Cato, when he fays, Since God is a Spirit, he is to be worjjjipped by us with a pure mind Ij. Cicero fays, The viofi excellent wor/hip of the Gcds is moft chafe, holy, and full of piety, that we always adore them with a pure incorrupt mind and voice t. In another place he fays, The law commands us to go to God with purity and chaftiiy, that is, of the mind, in which every thing is included ; neither does this take away 2 ■ the * Supra, Vol. i. Cap. ■^. f Ad Scapulam, Cap. i" Operum, Vag.cft^ — (i Diilicho primo. ± De Natura Deojiim, Lib, i. §.7'^ Operum, Tug. 1224., Chap. 5. The Vanity of Taganifm. 13 the purit-j of the body, hut the ?miid is more excellent than the hod) *. 'Tis a principle of our Religon, that we ought not to revenge injuries, and this is frequently- taught by Seneca^ Cicero^ Epcfetus^ and other heathen moralifts ; their lefibns concerning contentment and juh- miffion are fo full, as they need not be here repeated. Our Religion teaches us, not to look on a woman to liiji after her \ Seneca teaches the fame f, He is an adulterer who has even a defign or defire to coftimit adul- tery, Valerius Maximus fays ||, 'That the league of mar- riage was chaftly obferved among the Romans of old^ and that there was no divorce hetwixt husband and wife, *tiil five hundred and twenty years after the city was huilt. If there be fome points of Chriftianity hard to be believed, the like is to be found among the hea- thens, or much worfe. Julian the apoftate emperor thought the di.vine nature might be joined to the human, and gives an inftance in Jlfctilapius^ whom he conceived defcended from Heaven to teach men phy- fick :{:. The Crofs of Chrifi offends many j yet Plato a heathen philofopher, in the fecond book of his Com- monwealth fays, For a man to appear truly great and upright^ 'lis requifite his virtue be bereaved of outward crnajnents j that he be by ethers counted a wicked %vretch, fcoffed at, and at lafl hanged. We have many teftimonies of the heathens, owning the neceffary exiftence of God, and of divine Providence, and other points of natural Religion, in the firft chapter and other parts of this EJfay^ which I fhall not now repeat. But fhall offer fome few Reafonings of the primi- tive writers in the chriftian church againft the Gentiles. I can give but a fmall tafle on fuch a large fubjed:, to fhew by what methods they perfuaded the heathen world to renounce their idolatry and irreligion, and to be fubjecft to the kingdom • of Chrift. Alhenagoras, a chriftian * De Legibus, Lib. 2. §. 24. Operum, Vag. 1296. •f Seneca. Parer. Incefta eft etiam lincftapio quae cupit ftuprura. 11 Lib. z. Cap. i. Vag. m. 96. ± Apud Cyrillura contra Juliani Lib. O.Tin^, zoo, — — — 14 Reafonings of the Father's chrhlian philofopher at Athens, who flourifhed abouC the year of our Lord 177, in his embalTy or apology for the Chti/liaus, to the emperors M. Aurelius, An- iomnus, and L. Aurelius Commodus, &c. * lays, " "Why " fhould you be difplealed at our very name ? The *< bare name does not deferve your hatred ; 'tis wic- *' kednefs deferves punifliment. Your meeknefs and *' bounty towards others ought to be commended ; " every city enjoys their dignity conformable to the *' honour due to them -, yea the whole world, by your *' prudence, does poffefs profound peace : but we, who *' are called Chnjtians, are not taken care of. Yea, ♦' you allow us who commit no crimes, and, as-fhall *' appear in the progrefs of our difcourfe, who live " moft pioufly and righteoufly toward God, and even " toward your empire, to be toffed, haraffed, and " put to flight, without any law or reafon f.- If " we be convi6ted of any crime, lefler or greater, leE " us be punifhed, but not for the bare name of a " Chriftian ; for no Chriftian can be an ill man, unlefs " he a6t contrary to his profefiion (|. We are ac- " cufed, that we do not worjhip the fame Gods as 'jour *' cities^ and offer them facrifices j but confider, O em- *' perors %, that the maker and governour of this world *' ftands in no need of blood and fweet-fmelling in- " cenfe •, he delights in himfelf, nothing is wanting in *' him. ,This is the beft facrifice, that we know how « great a God he is, who has ftretched out the hea- «« vens above us, and fettled the earth on its centre ; who <•' has gathered the waters together, who has feparated " light from darknefs, who adorns the heavens with ** liars, who makes the grafs to grow, who made man *' and all creatures. Since we have fuch a God, who " preferves and governs all things with great wifdom, *' let us lift up pure hands to him. What greater *« hecatomb, or more magnificent facrifice than this " is needful .f* He requires a facrifice without blood, " that * Tl^i Edition i685, in Folio, ad calcem fufilni Martyr is. j-. Ibid. Vitge. t. \\ iHd. V^g. 3,4. 4^ Athtnagoriii.Ti^g. 13, 14. Ch2i^. S-againJi Taganifm. Atheiiagotas. i^ <• that we Ihould offer rational and acceptable fervice <* to God. As to what they demand of us, why we' *' do not adore their Jlatues^ or prefent our jupplicaticns " before them-, honouring the fame Gods with the refi " of the cities ; there is no reafon to accufe us of *« impiety for this, fince thefe cities ^k^ not agree " about thefe Gods. The Athenians own Ccleus and " Metaneira, as their deities ; the Lacedemonians^ Me- *' nelaus^ to whom they offer facrifices, and keep *' feflival days •, the Ilienfes will not hear of his name, *' but count him as their enemy, and celebrate their " own He^or. The Chians3.doTQ Arijleus, taking him " for Jupiter and Apollo. The ^hafians honour Thea- '' genes, who committed murders at the Olympick " Games \ and the Salmans, L-^fander, after all the " murders and mifchiefs he had done, ^c. Time " would fail me before I repeat them all. Since then " they do not agree about their deities themfelves, " why' do they reproach us for not confenting to *' them ? And how ridiculous are the ceremonies of " the Egyptians ? They moum for the death of their " Gods, and worfhip them as alive ; yea, give divine " honours to beafts : if thefe die, they fhave their *' heads, bury them within their temples, and all the " city goes into mourning. Shall we be counted *' wicked, becaufe we do not adore thefe ? Then other *' cities of the Gentiles fhall be wicked too •, for they *' do not all adore the fame deities. But tho' they " fliould agree, mufb we go to their ilatues, and " pray before them, when v/e know they are but *' tralh, and underftand the diflance that is betwixt *' God and vile matter ? — Shall we worihip images that ^' were but of yefterday made by men ? If they be " Gods, why were they not from the beginning ? Why " are they of fo late a date, as we know the men that " made them ^ Why did they ftand in need of work- *' men and art to give them a being ? To be fure, *' they are nothing but trafh, flones, and matter, " dreifed up by curious arc *." After he has dif- eouried * Athenagoras ubi fupra, Va^. 17. 1 6 Reafon'mgs of the Fathers courfed of the vile fabulous ftories of the generations of SaWn, Jupiter, Titan, Rhea, Bacchus, and the reft, he fiys, " Shall we approach thefe, or ftretch out *^ humble hands to fupplicate before them, whofe ge- <■* neration is no better than the beafts of the field, *' and their countenance filthy and deformed * ? " Whatever names of deities thefe take, they are but *' devils ', and this may be known by their anions, for " fome of them teach men to cut off their privities, as *' the priefts of Rhea ; to cut and flafh their own <' bodies, as the fervants of Di^«^ -, ytA, Diana Taurica " Kills her own guefts : To fpeak nothing of men <' who, by knives and knotted whips, torment their *' own bodies, nor of the different ibrts of De?nons "f". *' But our God is perfeftly good, and always does *' good -, we contrive nothing in Religion of our felves, " but explain. thofe truths that are delivered by the " holy prophets |1." Origen, the famous presbyter at Alexandria, who fiouriflied about the year of our Lord 230, in his ex- cellent book againft Celfiis, • his adverfary, having com- pared the Chriftian Religion with that of the Egypians, where one might fee ftately temples and groves, with fine porches and entries of great bulk and beauty, the wonders of the world, and v/khin thefe, their reli- gious myflical ceremonies were performed ^ : he an- fwers, " Is not the God and Lord of the whole world, " his divine prophecies, and the contempt of idolatry, *' things more magnificent ? Is Chrift crucified to be *' compared to the worfliip of brute beafts ? Of an " ape, a cat, a goat, a dog, or a crocodile ? Our " Redeemer fuffered for the benefit and falvation of " the world." When C^////j objefts the great eloquence of the heathen Philofophers, Origen ** tells him, «' The firft preachers who planted Chriftian Churches, *' their fermons had a mighty force ofperfuafion above " thofe who taught the pililofophy of P/^/o, or of any " other '* Ibid. P After he had named feveral other Roman deities *, he adds, " And the monfters, not the gods of Egjpt^—^ " of thefe this one account may be given, that they " deceive, cheat and ruin a fooHfli blinded people. ** Thefe deceitful wandring fpirits being drowned in *« earthly vice, and deprived of heavenly vigour, inftil •' their wickednefs into men ; thefe the poets call De- " mons. Socrates faid. He was governed and infiru^ed " by one of them. Hence the Magicians have power to " perform fuch wicked and odd things •, yet Hoftanes^ " a chief man among them, denies that men can fee " the form of the true God, and fays, good Angels do *' affiji at his throne. To which Plato agrees, who *' worfhipping one God, called all the reft Angels or *' Demons. Alfo Hermes I'rifinegjjhs owns one God, " and calls him Incomprehenfihle and Ineftimahle. Thefe " evil fpirits then lurk under the ftatues and confe- " crated images, they infpire their priefts, they govern *' the infpedlion of the entrails, the flight of birds, and ** the divination by lots ; they utter oracles, mixing " falfe things with true ; for they deceive, and are de- " ceived. They diforder man's life, difturb jiis fleep, *« terrify the mind, creeping in upon you infenfibly, *' diftort the body, break, the health, bring on difeafes : <« and all this they do to force you to worfhip them, " that being pleafed with the fmoke of your altars, " and the fat of your facrifices, by mitigating the *< difeafes themfelves brought on, they may feem uo «' perform fome great cure. This is the remedy when «< they ceafe to wrong you ; and they have no other *t defign but to hinder men from ferving the true *< God, and to allure them to the abominable wor- « fhip of Demons ; they, being under punifhment, «' feek to make you partakers of their crimes, that <« they may at laft have you companions in their tor- »« ments. But thefe impure fpirits being adjured by <' the true God by us Cbrijlians, do flraigiit give way, *« and are forced to leave the bodies they have poifcf- *' fed. You may fee them, by the invifible operaLion C 2 ^' of * Vide fupra, Vol. i. Cap.*^ 20 Reafontngs of the Father !i " of the divine majefty accompanying our word, to b6 «* tormented, burned as with fire •, their pains incrcafed,. *« they weep, groan, plead, and even confels before " thofe who worfhip them, whence tliey come, and *« whither they go-, they depart,, and immediately^, " or by degrees vanifli, by the faith of the patient, " and the grace of him who performs the cure. Hence *' the vulgar mob hates the name of a Chrijlian j *< they begin to hate us before they know us, for if " once they had known us, they woukl either imitate " our example, or duril not condemn us. There is " then but one God, the governor of the world, his " fublime majefty admits of no confort, fince he " alone poffelTes all power. He can neither be *' feen nor comprehended, he is brighter than to be " feen, purer than to be touched, greater than that *' we can know him i we only rightly efteem him " when we count him ineftimabl?. What temple can. " we build to God, who fills the whole world? If a *' man cannot be confined to one houfe, fhali we limit " divine majefty to it ? Let us dedicate our Souls to " him, and erc(5l a temple-for him in our own breafts. *' Neither ask for the name of God : There is ufe *' for names when a multitude isto be diftinguiflied *' by proper appellations •, but God is one, and fills *' all. If you ask what Chrifi is, and how falvation " comes to us by him ? Thus ftands the matter •, the " grace of God v/as firft difcovered to the Jews^ " they were juft, their flithers did maintain the true " Religion, and therefore their nation did flourifli, and " they had a numerous offspring ; but v/hen they be- " came flothful, proud, ret'ufing inftruftion, puffed " up with a confidence in the piety of their fathers^ *' they flighted the divine precepts, and loft an intereft *''■ in his favour. How profane was their life, how " highly they violate the bonds of Religion, them- " feives declare : tho' they confefs not with their tongue,, '*• the event proves it, being fcattered as vagabonds " thro' the earth, their own land having fpewed them '* put. God aifo foretold diis, Tbai in ih end of the " world Chap. 5. agalnfi Taganifm, Cyprian. i.x «« world he would feek out of every nation afid people* " thofe who would more faithfully worjhip hitn, and reap *•' the henefits of his divine goodnefs^ which the Jews had *' def-ifed. To preach this grace, our Lord and " Mailer, the Word and Son of God is fent, who was ** declared by all the prophets of old as the enlightner *' and teacher of mankind ; he is the wifdom and " glory of God, he becomes man, being conceived by *■' the power of the Holy Ghoft in the womb of the *' virgin, he is the mediator betwixt God and rrwn, " to bring us to the father. This Lord Jefus, as " was prophefied, did, by his word and power, caft " out devils,, healed the fick, cured the lepers, made " the blind to fee, the lame to walk, and the dead to " iivc ; the winds and the fea did obey him, the *' devils trembled before him. The y^fzc^j, who counted *' him a mere man, they called him a magician ; " their teachers and rabbies, whom he reproved by his " wifdom and powerful doctrine, moved with wrath, *' delivered him to Pontius Pilate, i^(7mi^;z deputy then *' in Syria, earneftly craving, that he might be cru- " cified : he himfelf foretold they would do fo, ac- ** cording to the teftimony of the prophets who had " gone before him, I'hat he niuji fiijfer and tafte of *•* death, that he inight live and return to heaven, to " difplay the glory of divine majejly. All this he ex- " aftly fulfilled -, for, being crucified, he willingly " yielded up his fpirit to God, and rofe of his own *' accord on the third day, appearing to his difcipics, " fo as they might know him. He remained with *' them forty days, teaching them thofe precepts of " life which they were to explain to others. Then " did he afcend to heaven in a cloud, that man, ^^ whom he loved, whofe nature he aflumed, whom " he relcued from death, he might carry triumphantly " to God. Laft of all, he is to come from heaven *' to punifh the devil, and to judge mankind with the " zeal of an avenger, and the authority of a judge, " His difciples, according to his word, being fcat- *' tered thro' the world, did preach the way of fal- ** vation, to bring men from darknefs to light, from C 3 . " blind- 22 ' Reafonings of the Fathers «« blindnefs and ignorance to the knowledge of the •' truth. That thei^r teftimony concerning Chrifi " might be more folid and convincing, they arc *« vexed by croffes, torments, and different forts of *' punifhments. Their pain is a teftimony to the truth, *' that Chrifi who gave life unto men, may be com- " mend-d, not only by do6lrine, but alfo by the tefti- " mony of fufferings. Let us follow and accompany *« him, taking him for our guide in our journey, as «« the fountain of our life, and the author of our fal- «< vation, feeking the enjoyment of heaven, and our «' heavenly father, as he has promifed to them that " believe : he is Chrifi, let us be Cbrifiians, imitating *' his example.'* By thefe, and the like arguments, Cyprian did perfuade many to abandon Paganifm, and to embrace Chrifiiamiy. ^ertullian, a presbyter in Carthage, who flouriihed about the year of our Lord 192 ; in his excellent apo- logy, fays to the Gentiles *, " AVe have left off to *' worfhip your Gods, fince we know them not to *« be fuch : you may require us to prove, 'That they *' are not Gods, and therefore not to he worjhipped, *' fur we fa'j the-^ are Gods to 'jou. We appeal from *' yourfelves to your confcience. Let that judge or *' condemn you : Dare you deny that thefe Gods were *' once men ? If you fay they were not, you'll be *' convi(fted of falfhood by the beft monuments of " your own antiquities, where there are evidences to *' this day on record, of the cities where they were *' born, of the countries where they converfed, and of *' the places where they were buried. It were need- *' lefs to run thro' all your new, old, barbarian, Scj- *' thian, Grecian, Roman, .ft ranger, captive, adoptive, *' proper, common, male, female, town, country, " feafaring and warlike deities. To be fhort, I'll put " you in mind, for you feem to have forgotten it, that " none of your Gods were before Saturn, all the *' ranks of them proceed from him j if we know the ** origin,. * Aplo^y, Cap. 10, ii. Fa^, a8, 29. Chap. 5* dgainft Taganifm. TertuUian. 25 *« origin, we lliall difcover the offspring. Now, a§ «' far as learning leads us, neither Biodorus the Grecian^ *' nor 'TballuSi nor Cqffius, nor Severus, nor Cornelius *' Nepos, nor any of your ancient writers, pretend he •* was any thing more than a man. If you demand *' convincing arguments, we have abundance of thefe *' from Italy itfelf, where he was received by Jams ; " the mountain where he dwelt is called Sattirnim^ *' the city which he built Saturnia^ and the whole *' country called by his name. Jupiter was his fon, " a man come of a man, and fo the whole race of *' them was mortal. As you dare not deny they were *' men, fo you affert they were made Gods after their '« death. Let us confider the reafon of this. Firjl of *' all, you muft acknowledge there is a great God, '« the origin of the divinity : Who made men to be " Gods? for they could not affume that divinity them- " felves which they had not, nor could any other, who *' did not properly pofiefs it, give the fame to them •, *' and if none could make them deities, in vain do *' they pretend to it. To be fure, if they could make *« themfelves Gods, they fhould never have been men, " when they had power to reap the advantage of a <« more happy condition. If they be made Gods, <' what is the reafon why thefe men are made Gods ? *' Certainly the glorious God flood in no need of dead " men to aflift him in any affairs. The fun, <' moon and ftars gave their light, the rain did fall " from heaven from the beginning of the world, be- <' fore there were any of the race of Saturn. Jupiter « himfelf was afraid of thunder, which you foolilhly X.o Alexander^ in profperity f'' to Poly crates, in eloquence to Demojlhenes ? who of " them is fo grave and wife as Cato., io excellent n «' foldier as Scipio-, fo mighty as Poinpey ; fo rich as " Craffus, or fo eloquent as Cicero ? Would not ^ ^' juft fovereign rather deify thefe, knowing who are " the befl: of men, and not fhut heaven in a hafte, and " now may be afhamed to find better people, than " thofe he has advanced to fuch a dignity, groaning " among the ghofts below V* I Ihould be too tedious, if I were to tranftribe all that thefe authors have writ upon this fubjedt \ and much more, if I fhould infift upon what Clemens Alexandri- 72US, Jujlin Martyr, Mimitius Felix, Arnobius, Lac- tantius, Chryfojiom, Theodoret, Aifgujlin in his twenty books cf the city of God, Cyril in his anfwer to Julian, or others, have wrote againft the Gentiles. I proceed therefore now to confider what the Heathens charged againft the Chrijtians, efpecially in the three firft centuries, and what they anfwered. Firjl, The heathens cried out againft Chriftianity, as a grand piece of atheifm and iinpiety \ as an affront to th^ir Religion^ uudermirdng the ver'^ hang and exifience of Chap. 5- Chrifiians of Atheifm, 2$ ef their Gods. Thus Civcilius the heathen in Minutius Felix *, accufes the Chriftians, as a defperate and un- lawful fa^ioHy who^ by way of contempt, did fnuff and fpit at the mention of 'their Gods, deride their worfhip^ feoff at their friefls, defpife their te^nples, as ho letter than charnel houfes, and heaps of dead hones. For thefe and the like realbns, Chriftians were every where counted a pack of Atheifts, and their religion frequent- ly called Atheifm by the emperor Julian. Thus Lucian brings in Alexander the impoftor, as an oracle-monger, and ranks the Chriftians with Atheifts and Epicureans, as thofe who were efpecially to be baniflied from the myfterious rites f. To this charge the Chrijiians anfwered % Firjl, That the Gentiles were incompetent judges, being wholly ig- norant of the true ftate of the Chrijiian Do^rine ; and therefore unfit to pronounce fentence againft it : Thus, when Crefcens the philofopher had traduced the Chri- itians as atheiftical and irreligious, Juflin Martyr an- fwersll, " That he talks of thofe things he underftands f ' not, when he calls Chriftians atheifts and ungodly *' men, to comply with the humour of thofe he had " feduced ; in reproaching the docftrine of Chrift, when ?' he was ignorant of it, he ftiew'd a moft wicked ♦' tempers or if he did underftand its greatnefs and '-^ excellency, then he ftiew'd himfelf much more bafc *' and diftngenuous, in charging upon it what he knew " to be falfe, concealing his inward fentiments, tor " fear he fhould be fufpe<5led to be a Chriftian." Se- condly, They did in fome fort confefs the charge, that according to the vulgar noticns the Heathens had of deities, they Were Atheifts, that is, ftrar.gers and enefnies to them. Thus the fame Jufti?! Martw tells the emperor:}:, ^' That the Gods of the Gentiles were at beft but De- " mons, impure and unclean fpirits, who had long im- *^ pofed upon mankind, and by their villany, fo- " phiftry, and adls of terror, had fo aff'righted the " common * Minutius Felix, pa?, m. 19. t Pleudomantis, Operum Luciani Tom. 2. pag. 888, i! Apologia prima, Operum pag. m. 45, 47. it- Apologia iecunda, Operura pag._f j, ^6, 26 The Anfmers ofTrimitive Chriftians «' common people, who knew not really what they *' were, that they called them Gods, and gave to every *« one of them that name the Demon was willing to « take to himfelf." That they really were nothing but Devils, the Chriftians manifefted at every turn, forcing them to confefs it, while by prayer, and invo- cating the name of the true God, they drove them out of poffefs'd perfons * ; and therefore they trembled to encounter with a Chriftian, as 05favius triumphantly tells Ccecilius f. The Chriftians alfo declared, that the Pagans entertain'd the moft abfurd and fabulous no- tions of their Gods, and ufually afcribed fuch things to them, as would be counted an horrible Ihame and diflionour to any wife or good man ; the worfliip and myfterious rites of many of them, being fo brutifh and filthy, that the honefter Romans were aftiam*d of it ; and therefore overturn*d their altars, and banilh*d them out of the roll of their Deities, tho* their degene- rate pofterity took them in again, as Teriullian ob- ferves 1|. Indeed their Gods were fo impure and beaftly, their worlhip was fo obfcene and deteftable, that Julius Firmicus advifes them ^ to turn their temples into the- atres, where the fecrets of their religion may be deli- vered on the ftage, and to make their players priefts, that the mob may fing the amours, fports, and paftimes, the wantonnefles and impieties of their Gods ; no other place being fo fit for fuch a religion. Befides, the Pagans afcribed to their Gods human bodies, with blemifties and imperfeftions ; yea, that they were liable to death itfelf, and were guilty of the molt prodigious villanies ; revenge, murder, inceft and luxury, rapes and adulteries, drunkennefs and intemperance, theft and unnatural rebellion againft their parents, and the like, of which the writings of their poets and beft au- thors are full ; which ferved only to corrupt and de- bauch the minds and manners of youth, as O^avius tells * Cyprian de Idolorum Vanhatc, ubi fiipra. f Minucius Felix, p3g.63. II 'Apologia, cap. 6, 7. 4: De Errore piofan. Religionum. Chap. 5 • to the Accufations of the Heathens. 2 7 tells his adverfary*, where he purfues the argument with great eloquence and reafon ; and at the fame time derides their image-worlliip, their foolifh falling down before images and ftatues, which were defpifed as infen- fible dead things by the meaneft of creatures. " The <' mice, fays he -f, the fwallows, batts, 6?r. gnaw, *' infult, fit upon your Gods, and, unlefs you drive «« them away, build nefts in their mouths, the fpiders •' weave their webs over their faces •, you firft make *' them, then clean, wipe and proted: them, that you *' may fear and worfhip them ; but you fliould know *« it is a God before you worfhip it- If we fhould *' view all your rites, there are many things juftly de- " ferve to be laugh'd at, others that call for pity and *' compaflion." Now, 'tis no wonder that Chri- ftians were not in the leaft afham'd to be call'd Atheifts, that is, who deny and oppofe fuch a religion as this. But Thirdly^ In the ftridl and proper notion of atheifm, they truly and confidently denied the charge, and ap- peal*d to their fevereft adverfaries, if thofe, who own'd fuch principles as they, could be Atheifts : none ever pleaded better, and more irrefragable arguments for the exiftence of one fupreme, infinite Being, who made and governs all things by infinite wifdom ; none more clear to produce a confeffion of their faith on this great article of religion than they. Juftin Martyr tells the emperor Antoninus ||, *' Can we be Atheifts, wicked, " and without God, who worfhip the great God the " Creator of the whole world, not with blodoy facri^ " fices, incenfe and oblations, which we know he *' ftands in no need of •, but we exalt him according to *' our power with prayer and praifes, in all the ad- «' drefiTes we make to him, believing this to be the only " honour that's worthy of him ? We do not confume ♦' creatures given for our ufe, and the comfort of thofe ** who want them, by burning them in facrifices i but *« approve ourfelves thankful to our God, by cekbra^ •' ting his praifes who created and preferves us, and [rives * Minutii Felicis 0£lavius, pag. m. 45* 49. f Ibid. pag. ^4, H Apologia fecunda, Operum pag. 60. Edit. Cologn. 1686, '^ 8 The Anfwers of Trimitive Chriftians " gives us eternal life. We ofFer our prayers to him " for all things we want, according to that faith and " trufl we repofe in him, as we are taught by our Lord *' and Mailer Jefiis Chrift^ who was crucified under " Pontius Pilate, in the reign of the emperor 'Tiherius *' Ctzfar, who is the fon of the true God, whom, with *' the Holy Spirit, we adore and worlliip. We are ac- *' cufed, fays Arnohitis *, that our religion is impious, *' unholy, and full of facrilege, profaning the ancient " ceremonies with rites of new fuperftition : This is " the reafon why the Gods are offended with us, and *' why you Gentiles do fo rage againft us, confifcating " our eilates, banifhing our perfons, beating, tearing, «' yea racking us to death ; yea, throwing us to be de- ** vour'd by the teeth of wild beafts. 'Tis not now " proper to explain who they are that fo condemn us, " how little they know or can do, how they are afraid " at the mention of the name o^ChriJi^ yet they hate us *' his difciples. But we Chrijlians are the worlhippers ** of the fupreme king and governour of the world, as *' we are taught by Chrift our mailer ; coniider, and " you'll find 'nothing elfe in our religion. This is the " fum of the whole affair, this is the end and defign of " our divine offices, before him we are wont to proitrate " and bow ourfclves, him we worfliip with common " and conjoin'd prayers ; from him we afk thofe things " that are juil and honell, and fuch as are not unwor- " thy of him to hear and grant— ——V/e adore the " mighty God, the Sovereign of the whole creation, " the Governour of the higheft powers •, we pray to " him daily with the moft obfequious reverence, and in " anafflid:ed flatelay hold on him with all our powers, ** love him and look to him Tell me, you men of " reafon, why is this a difmal and dcteftable religion ?'* Upon the whole we may fee, that the enemies of Chriflianit-j had little reafon to brand it with Alheifm and Irreligion. This charge proving ineffeclual, the Gentiles accufed cur religion of Novelty : This was alledg'd againft the Apoftk ♦ Advcrfas Gentes, Lib, i, pag. ra. 21. Sc fctj. i Chap. 5 ^ to the Accufations of the Heathens, 2 9 Apoftle PauU when he preached at Athens *, '^hat he was a fetter forth of Jirange Gods, becaufe he preached Jefus and the RefurreEiion, and was followed with a loud cry in fucceeding times. " You are wont to ob- " jed: to us, fays Arnohius t, that our religion is a no- " velty, ftarted up not many days ago, and that we " ought not to defert the antient religion of our fathers, " to efpoufe barbarous and foreign rites. And Eufebius tells us II, " The heathens were wont to reafon thus: " What ftrange religion is this ! what new way of life ! *' wherein we can neither difcern the rites ufed in *' Gr^^r^ among us, nor among any fe£t of the Barha- " rians ; who then can deny them to be impious ? Who *' have forfaken the cuftoms of their fathers, obferv*d *' before in all cities and countries, revolting from that *' wayof worlhip which had been univerfally receiv'd ** in all ages, both by Greeks and Barbarians, enter- " tain'd in cities and villages, countenanc'd by the " common confent of kings, law-givers, philofophers, *' and the greateft perfons whatfoever.'* Thus the hea- then m Minucim Felix f^^ys^, " What more excellent " and venerable, than to entertain the difcipline of " our fore-fathers, to folemnize that religion that has " been deliver'd to us, to worfhip thofe Gods, the *' knowledge of whom has been infufed into us by our " parents ; not boldly to determine concerning the Dei- *' ties, but to believe thofe who have been before us, " who in the rude ages of the infancy of the world, *' had either their Gods or Kings favourable to them ?" La^antius fpeaking of the heathens, fays **, " 'Tis " their religion moft obftinately to maintain the rites *' deliver'd down to them from their anceftors •, not *' fo much confidering what they are, as concluding ** them to be right and good, becaufe the ancients *' tranfmitted the fame to them : Nay, fo great is the " power and authority of antiquity, that *tis conceiv*d *' a kind of impiety to queflion or enquire into it." After * A£ts 17. T 8. f Lib. 2. pag. io5. II Praep. Evang. Lib.i. cap. 2. pag.^-. ^ Pag. mihi 14.. • ** De falfa Heligione, Lib.z, pag. 1x1.135-. 30 The Anfwers of Primitive Chriftians After Chriftianity had been fettled fome hundred years in the world, and became the prevailing religion, thac had in a manner banilh*d all others out of doors, this charge was ftill continu'd. Thus Julian the emperor, writing to the people of Alexandria concerning the Ga- lileans, (fo he ufed in fcorn to name the Chriftians*^) ** fwears by the Gods, he is afhamed that any among *< them fhould own himfelf a Galilean. The fathers *' of the true Hebre-ws of old ferved the Egyptians ; but «< you who have overcome Egypt, for your founder *' Alexander fubdued it, allow the old opinions of your *^ country to be contemned." Thus Lucian, long ht- fovejulian, fpeakingof our Saviour, calls him. That great man that was crucified in Paleftine, who introduced that new religion into the world -f". In anfwer to this charge, the Chriftians replied, Firfi^ That it was not true ; for many principles of Chriftia- nity are the fame with the law of nature, therefore from the beginning of all things ; and the Chriftian Religion is the fame with that of the ancient Jews^ which claims precedency of all others in the world. See what we have already advanced concerning the antiqui- ty of Mofes II . 'J'be antient Patriarchs, fays Eufebius^ were the Chriftians of the old world, who had the fame faith, religion, and worfhip common with us ; nay, the fame name too, as he endeavours to prove from that text, Pfalm cv. 15. 'Touch not i7iine anointed, roov Xpiar^cv fiovi iTiy Chrifts or Chriftians. And how far thefe patriarchs were fuperior in age to any thing upon record concerning the moft ancient Gentiles, even by their oldeft writers, Orpheus, Homer and Heftod, nay to the very Gods of the heathens, is hifficiently made evident by the firft chriftian writers**: That Mofesy by the eafieft computation, was fix hundred years be- fore Homer, yea long before Cadmus, the firft inventor of letters among the Greeks. Therefore Origin tells Celfus, * Epift. fi. Juliani Operum pag. m. 423. j-De Moite Peregrini, Operum Tom. 2. pag. m. f6j^. ? I) Supra Vol.1. Cap. i. ^ Demon. Evang. lib. i. cap. f. ** Theophilus Antiochcnus, Tatian, Clemen. Alex. Strom. Lib.K Chap. 5. to the Accufations of the Heathens. 31 Celfus*, " That Mofes was elder than Horner^ yea *' than the firft inventors of letters in Greece ; what he " has concerning the deftru6tion of Sodom and Gomor- *' rah^ he did not borrow from the ftory of Phaetoriy *' which is a fable invented after Homer^s time, who *« lived long after Mofes.** And in another place Origen fays f, " I would willingly afk Celfus, why he, who " \iT\o^s x\it\i\ikonQso^ xhs. Greeks 2ind Barbarians, and *' believes their antiquities, fhould only doubt of the *' antiquities of the Jews ? If the writers of other na- ** tions give a true account of their affairs, why do you " not believe the prophets among the Jews ? A *' greater man than Celfus, Numenius the P-jthagorean^ ♦' in his firft book, Yk^i Ta[a%Ui when he enumerates " the nations who conceived God to be incorporeal, " reckons the Jews among them ; nor was he afhamed *' to infert the very words of their prophets, and to in- " terpret the figures they ufed. 'Tis alfo faid, that '* Hermippus, in his firft book of lawgivers^ relates, that *' Pphagoras brought his philofophy from the Jews into *« Greece. The book of i/(?<:^/<^z^j, containing the hifto- " ry of the Jews, is ftill extant, {viz. in Origen's time, " tho' now loft) where he admires the wifdom of that '« nation.'* Yea, the Chriftians aflerted, that whatever ufeful or excellent thoughts the great men among the heathens advanced, were borrowed, or more truly fto- len from the writings of the ancient Jews, as is demon- ftrated by Eufehius \\ at large, and before him by Cle- mens of Alexandria %,. who calls Plato the Hebrew phi- lofopher •, and before them both, by Teriullian, who fays **, " Is a philofopher to be compared with a " Chriftian ? A fcholar in Greece with one taught " by heaven ? One that trades for fame, with him that " trades for life eternal ? A good life with empty *« words ? A builder with a deftroyer ? A friend *' with an enemy of truth ? A thief who fteals and *' corrupts truth, with one who preferves it pure and " entire? * Contra Celfum, Lib. 4. pag. 174. f Ibid. Lib. i. pag. 11, 15. II Praep. Evang. Lib. 10. per totum. ^ Stroraatum Lib. i. ** Apolog. cap. 47, Opcrum pag.ja. 3 2 The Anfwers of Trimlttve Ckriftians *' entire ? If I be not deceived, older than all the phi- *' lofophers is antiquity built on the holy Scriptures ; *' this is the treafure tor all pofterior wifdom. If I did " not fear to fwell my book into too great a volume, I " would run out upon the probation of this truth. *' Which of the poets, which of the fophifts, did nofi <« drink at the fountain of the prophets ? Thence the " philofophers did quench their thirft ; fo as they " compare with us by what they had from our Scrip- " tures." Upon thefe confiderations the accufatiort- appears falfe and unjuft, and Chrijliamty the oldeft reli- gion in the world. Secondly^ Admit the Christian Religion^ in a limited fenfe, to be of a later Handing than the religion of the Gentiles^ yet 'tis infinitely realonable to change for the better •, new truth is better than antient error. Thus pleads LaUantius *, " Reafon teaches you, that the " religion of your heathenifh Gods is not true: What " wilt thou do .? Wilt tiiou follow reafon or thy an- *« ceftors ? If reafon, then thou muft depart " from the cuftom and authority of thy forefathers, " becaufe that only can be right that is prefcribed by *' reafon: but if piety towards thy anceftors fway thee *' to follov/ them, then thou muft own them to be " fools, who invented a religion contrary to reafon, *' and thyfelf to be foolifli in worfhipping what thou " art convinced to be flilfe. Neither haft thou fo great " reafon to boaft of thefe anceftors ; an herd of vaga- " bonds gathered in by B^omiilus^ to plant and inhabit *' his new city, and to conftitute the fenate thereof, as " he there more fully demonftrates. Thus Arrwbius Hiys t, " As to what you objeft concerning the novelty " of our religion, Vv^as it any crime, in the early ages of " the world, that when they found out the ufe of bread " and corn, they would no more feed on acorns ; " when they found the ufe of convenient garments,, they " would no longer clothe themfelves with leaves and " barks of trees, or beafts fl^ins ? That they were no longer * De falfli Religione, Lib. 2. cap. 7. p. I?./, f ConuaGcnccs, Lib. z, pag. loO. Cii ap. 5 .' to the Accufations of the Heathens. 3 5 «' longer fond of bafe filly cottages, or chofe to dweU *« like wild beafts in rocks and caves, when they had " learned to build better habitations ? 'Tis realbnable *' for men to prefer better to what is worfe, good to *' evil, profitable to what is ufelefs, and to follow what " we know to be moft excellent, and can thereby ex- " ped falvation and faving advantage. Therefore, *' when you charge us with apoftacy from the religion *' of the ancients, you fhould rather confider the fa(5t, " and not upbraid us with what we have left, but ra- " ther confider what we have entertain'd : For, if «* merely to change our opinion, and to pafs from an- <« cient inflitutions to new, be a crime, then none fo *' guilty of it as yourfelves, who have changed your " cuftoms, rites, and manner of life, condemning *' thofe you have abandoned ; your eleftion of ma- ** giftrates, your clafling of your people, the rites of •'your religion, your idols, and every thing among *' you is new, more than among any fet of people :'* as he there more particularly demonftrates. Thus A7n- hrofe bifhop of Milan, anfwers Sy?}imachus the Pagan prsefedt of Rome, who, in a prolix oration, had ex- horted the emperors 1'heodofius, and Arcadius, and Ho- noriusy to favour his religion, faying*, " That old *' age has true caufe to blufh when alhamed to reform j " 'tis not multitude of years, but the goodnefs of man- " ners that makes grey hairs worthy of praife ; no age «' is too late to learn, 'tis no fhame to grow better, *' nullus pudor efi ad meliora tranfire' If you heathens «' be fo pleafed with old rites, how comes it to pafs, " that there has been even in Rome itfelf a fucceffion of " new and foreign rites ? Not to mention that your '* lliepherds cottages do now fhine with gold, why do *' you feek the Idols and Gods of cities you have con- " quered? Why do you receive and imitate the *' Itrange cuftoms of their religious fuperftition ? " Whence comes your Rhrygian priefts, the hateful " Qq^%o{ Carthage that were enemies to the Romajis, " the * Operum AmbrofiiTom. ^, pag- 1 iS.Scfeq. Epift, lib^j.Epift. 31 Vol. II. D ' 34 The Anfwers ofTrimittve Chriftians *« the Deities of the Africans^ and the Mithra of the *' Perjiansy &c. A Chriftian Emperor has learned «•' only to honour Chrifi*s altar *, would you force his. *' holy hands and pure lips to exhibit honour to your " lI\crilegious oblations ? Let the voice of our emperor "• only praife, only acknowledge Chrifi ; for the kings *' heart is in the hand cf the Lord." A third accufation the heathens ufed, to render Chri- ftiamly defpicable, relates to the circumftances of their external ftate and condition in the world. Thus the heathen Cecilius, in Minucius Felix, fays*, " The *« Chriftians are men of a defperate and unlawful fac- *' tion, who rage againft the Gods, who gather a com- *' pany of the very dregs and refuJe of the people, and " lilly credulous women, who by the weaknefs of their *' fex are eafily impofed upon, and combine into a " Vvficked confederacy ; who, by night-meetings, fo- " lemn fafts, and inhuman food, join in an unlawful " union ; a fet of people that lurk in corners and Ihun " the light, filent in publick, but very talkative in *' private." Thus Celfus the heathen alio alledged-f", " That among the Chriftians no wife learned men were «« admitted to the myfteries of their religion, that being " counted unlawful •, but if any be unlearned, an in- *' fant or an idiot, let him come with confidence: for " none but fools void of fenfe, flaves, women or little ** children, are fit difciples for the God they worftiip." Afterward he faysy, " We may fee thefe mountebank *' impoftors boafting of great things to the vulgar, not " in the prefence of wife men, that they dare not *, but ** wherever they fee a flock of boys, flaves, or weak " people, there they crowd in and boaft. You'll fee, ' as he adds %^ " weavers, taylors, fullers, and the moft " ruftick illiterate fellows at home, when before their *' elders and betters, as mute as fifties, but when they *' can get a few boys and filly women in a corner, *' then who is fo wife, fo full of talk, and fo able to *^ teach and inftrud as they ? They'll fay the boys « will • * Pag. mihi 19. f Origen contra Celfum, Lib. 5. pag. 137. {{ Origen contra Celfum, Lib. 3. pag, 141. 4: Ibid. pag. 144. Chap. 5 . to the Accufations of the Heathens. 3 5 *' will be happy if they hear them, and the whole fa- •*' mily for their fake." To this accufation Orlgen anfwers *, " That 'tis for *' the moft part falfe and calumnious \ the Chriftian " Doftrine invites to true wifdom." Z)^i;iJ defires the Lordmaymake hi?n to knowwifdo?n^ PfalmW. 6. How eminent for wifdom and learning were MofeSy Solomon^ Daniel, and other faints in the Old Tefiament ? and our Blelfed Redeemer promifed to fend prophets, wife men, andfcribes, Matth.xxm. 34. to propagate his dodlrine. The Apoftle Paul reckons the fpirit of knowledge and wifdom among the beft of gifts, iCor.xu. 8. If any where he refledts on wifdom and human learning, he only cenfures the abufe, never intending to blame the thing icfelf When he prefcribes the charader of a bilhop, he requires, that he he apt to teach, able ^y found doSfrine to exhort and convince gainfayers, Titus i. 9. That Chriflians are fo far from prohibiting any who come to be inftrufted, however wife, learned and pru- dent, provided the unlearned and fimple be not exclu- ded, that they are welcome, the Gofpel does pi-ovide a remedy for all. That learning does not hinder the know- ledge of God, but does mightily advance it. Origen alfo adds, '' 'Tis a calum.ny to compare us to wandring " impoftors •, for we, by our reading and expounding " the divine oracles, do only exhort the people tQ " piety towards the great God, and to the reft of the *' virtues which are its companions, and do refcue them " from brutifh and irregular paflions. Chriftians are *' fo far from admitting any, hand over head, that they " pre-examine the minds of chofe who defire to become " their auditors •, and when they perceive them fully " refolv'd to lead a pious and religious life, then they " admit them. 'Tis falfe to fay we apply ourfelves " only to women and children, and that in corners j " when we endeavour what we can, by all means, to " fill our focieties with wife, prduent perfons, and to " fuch we open the more fublime myfteries of religion ; *' ocherwife accommodating our difcourfes to the ca- D 2 " pacities * Ibid. pag. 138. 8c fequentibus. 3 6 The Anfwers of the Trimitive Chriftians *' pacities of meaner perfons, who (land in more need " of milk than ftrong meat. And whereas we are " accufed to feduce and circumvent filly women and " little children*, let him produce any fuch, anden- " quire of them, whether ever they heard better ma- *' fters than ours -, or if they did, why they fhould " leave fo grave difcipline, and fuffer themfelves to be *' feduced to a worfe ? But he'll find no fuch thing " to fallen upon us ; but on the contrary, we reclaim " women from immodefty, from failing out with their *« husbands, and parting from them i from the wild " extravagance of the fports and theatres, from all " fuperftirion whatfoever. The youth, who are prone " to vice and luxury, we reftrain, not only by telling " how bafe a thing lull is, but aifo into what danger " they precipitate their fouls, and what punilhment «' divine vengeance treafures up for fuch offenders. *' We openly, not in corners, promife eternal happi- *' nefs to thofe, who live according to the rules of " the Divine Law, who fet God always before their " eyes, and, in whatever they do, endeavour to ap- *' prove themfelves to him. . Is this the difcipline, thefe *' the doctrines of weavers, taylors, fullers, and the *' moft illiterate perfons? Surely no." The Chriftians in thefe times were alfo defpifed on account of their poverty and meannefs ; they . were looked on as the dregs of the people, fcarce a confi- derable man among them. See, fays the Heathen in Minulius Felix f, the moft and beft of all your party are diftreffed with poverty, cold and hunger. This charge, however impertinent, fince the goodnefs of any religion does not depend on the greatnefs of its profeffors, was alfo moft falfe ; the Chriftians ha- ving among them perfons of the beft rank and qua- lity ; and after fome years, the princes and potentates of the world, even the emperors themfelves ftruck fail to the fceptre of Chriji. But 1 have difcourfed more fully of the great increafe of Chriftianity, and of * Origen contra Celfum, !ib. 5, pag, m. Hf. t Pag. 26. Chap ,$' to the Accufattons of the Heathens, 3 7- of the ruin of heathenifli idolatry, in the two prece- ding chapters of this Effay, and therefore fhallnot now go upon that fubjed. Tho' we fuppofe the Chriftians to have been as mean and poor, as the malice and cruelty of their enemies did endeavour to make them, yet this was no real prejudice to their caufe. " That <* the moft part of us are called poor, fays the Chri- *« ftian in Minutms Felix *, is not our dilhonour, but *' our glory •, the mind, as it is difTolved by luxury, «* fo 'tis ftrengthened by frugality. But how can a '< man be poor who wants not, who covets not what *' is another man's, who is rich towards God ? That <' man is rather poor, who, when he has much, de- *' fires more ; no man can be fo poor as when he was ** born. The birds live without any patrimony, the, «' beads find pafture every day, and we feed on them, " and they are born for our ufe, which, when we do •* not covet, we enjoy. He goes happier to heaven, ** who is not burdened with an unneceflary load of *« riches. Did we think eftates fo ufeful to us, we *' would beg them of God, who being Lord of all, " would afford us what is necelTary i but we had ra- " ther contemn riches than poffefs them, and chufe *' innocency and patience, defiring rather to be good " than to be prodigal ; our courage is increafed by " infirmities, and calamity is oft the difcipline of vir- " tue, i£cr The Chriftians were alfo charged as very ufelefs, unferviceable people, who contributed nothing to the happinefs of the commonwealth ; nay, were dellrudive to human fociety, and the procuring caufe of the mif- chiefs and calamities that befel the world. That they were notfo unprofitable, 'Tertullian thus demonftratesf: *' How can this be, when we live among you, have " the fame diet, habit, manner and way of life ; we " are no Brachmans^ nor Indian Gy?nnofop hi/Is, who " live in woods, and banifh themfelves from all civil *' life •, we are not unmindful of what we owe to our " great Creator, and therefore defpife none of his D 3 " creatures, * Pag. mihi 82. f Apol. cap. 4.2. Operum pag, fo. 3 8 The Anfj^ers of the Trlmiti've Chrifltans *' creatures, tho' careful to ufe them with temperance " and fobriety : wherefore, we live not in the world " without the ufe of your markets, fhambles, baths, *' ta;verns, fliops, ftables, fairs, and other ways of hu- " man commerce : we go to fea with you, till and *' improve the ground ; we ufe merchandife and trade " among you, we exercife crafts andexpofe our work- " manfliip to file. How then are we unferviceable " to your affairs, with and by which we live ? I own, <* fays he *, if any have caufe to complain that Chri- «« ftians are unprofitable, 'tis the bawds, panders, " pimps, heftors and ruffians, fellers of poifon, ma- " gicians, foothfayers, wizards, and aftrologers ; to " be unferviceable to thefe, is attended with the greateft " fruit and advantage : but whatever lofs arifes to " your affairs by our feft, 'tis more than compenfed ; " for we cafl out devils, we pray for you that do *' not believe, and you have nothing to fear from us." The Chrillians did alfo plead they were ferviceable to the publick good ; firjl^ by reclaiming men from fin and vice, to a good and virtuous life ; by which they provided for mens higheft interefl, their eternal hap- pinefs in the life to come, and for the peace and welfare of the place where they lived: wicked men being the plague of human fociety. This is the ar- gument which Origen at every turn ufes to the honour of Chriftianity : *' A good man, fays he f, willefteem *' a phyfician who reftores the bodies of many fick *' people to health, as a favour from God.. How far *' better is he who heals and converts their fouls from *' the evil of their ways ? teaching them to depend " on God, to regulate their actions according to *' his will, and to fhun the leafl evil acflion that dif- *« pleafes him. Enquire % into the lives of fome " of us, compare our former and our prefent courfe, ** and you may perceive in what filthinefs and impieties *' men wallowed, before they entertained the Chriflian *' Doctrine ; but fince they entred into it, how jull, grave, * Apol. Operum cap. 43. f Contra Celfum, lib. i. pag 9. 4: Ibid. pag. zi. Chap. 5. to the ^ccufations of the Heathens. 39 '* grave, moderate, and conftant are they become ? *« Yea, fome fo inflamed with the love of purity and *< hoHnefs, that they forbear even what lawfully they <' might enjoy. The Church is full of thefe in every « place thro' the world *. How is it pofiible they <* can be peftilent and hurtful, who have converted " fo many from the fink of vice to the ftudy of *« virtue, to a life of temperance, agreeable to the " di6tates of right reafon ?" Theodoret difcourfing a- gainft the Genttles, of the excellency of the laws of Chrijly above any given by the beft philofophers, or wifell among the heathens f, gives them inftarices of whole nations, whom Chriftianity had brought off from the moft brutilh and favage manners. He tells of the Perfians, who, according to the laws given by Zarada., lived in incelluous mixtures with their own fifters, mo- thers and daughters, looking on it as a lawful practice : but fo foon as they entertained Chriftianity, they a- bandoned thefe abominable laws, and fubmitted to that temperance and chaftity the Gofpel requires. And whereas, they were wont to caft out the bodies of their dead, to be devoured by beafts and birds of prey ; fince they embraced the Chriftian Religion, they abftained from that piece of inhumanity, and decently buried them. The Majffagetcs^ who thought it the moft miferable thing to die any other than a violent death, and therefore made a law, 'That all perfons arrived to old age^ jhould he offered in facrifice and eaten \ no fooner fubmitted to Chriftianity, but they abhorred fuch bar- barous cuftoms. The Tihares^ who ufed to throw aged perfons down the fteepeft rocks, abandoned this upon their embracing the Gofpel. Nor did the Scythians any longer with their dead bury thofe alive, who had been their neareft friends and kindred. So great a change did the laws of Chrift make on the manners of men, and fo eafily were the moft barbarous nations perfuaded to entertain them ! A thing which Plato, tho' the beft of philofophers, could never effeduate D 4 among * Ibid. lib. 2. pag.78. ■j- Theodoret dc curandis Grxcorum affedibus. Serin. 9. 40 'the Anfwers of the primitive Chrifttans among the Athenians j he could never induce them to govern the commonwealth by the laws he had given. Where the Gofpel did not produce this efFeft to reclaim men from vice and vanity, and to bring them over to the religion of our Saviour ; yet it had this excellent influence, as it refined their underftandings, and filled their minds with more ufeful and pradlical notions about religion, than ever they had before. To this purpoie 'tis obfervable, the philofophers who lived in the time of Chriftianity, after the Gofpel publickly appeared in the world, wrote in a much more divine flrain, and entertained more honourable fentiments of religion, than thofe of their it^ who went before them ; of which no account can be given fo fatisfying, as, that the genius and fpirit of the Gofpel began then to fly abroad, and to breathe in a free air, and fo could not but leave fome tindure and favour upon the fpirits of men, tho' its moft inveterate enemies. Befides, many of them did converfe with the facred fcriptures, or with the writings of Chriflians, which they read ei- ther out of curiofity, or with a defign to confute them. This furnifhed them with better notions, and more ufeful rules of life, than are to be found in any of the old philofophers •, as appears by thofe uncommon Rules of morality that run thro* the writings of Seneca^ Epiofetus^ Antoninus^ Arr'ian^ Plutarch, Hierocles, Sim- ■plicius, Plotinus^ and others, who lived in thefe firfl ages of the Chriftian Church. See for example the prayer, v/hereby S'unpUcius concludes his comment on £pi5fetus *, which may be thus tranflated : / hefeecb thee, O Lord, thou who art the Father and Guide of cur rational -powers, grant, that we may he mindful of thofe 7iohle afid generous natures with zvhich thou hafi invefled us *, and affift us, that as perfons endowed with fclf-movinz^ principles, we may cleanfe curfelves from all bodily and hrutiJJ') pajjions, that zve may fuhdue and govern them, and in a due and decent manner vfe them only as organs and injlrumenis. Help us, thro* the Light of the Truth, * Simplicius in Epidletum, pag, ni. 3154. Cuveh primitive Chri- ftianity, pag.40. Chap. 5. to the Accufations of the Heathens, 41 ^ruth^ accurately to correct mir reafon, and unite it to thofe things that have a real exiftence. And in the third ^lace, I hefeech my Saviour, that he would perfe^ly dif- pel the miji that is before the eyes of our minds, that, ac- cording to Homer, we may rightly under/land what be- longs either to God or man. Here, there is fomething like an invocation of the Trinity, the Lord or Father, the Saviour or Chrijt, and the Light of 'Truth, which is a common Epithet of the Holy Spirit, tho' we cannot fay he intended this, idly. The primitive Chriftians ordinarily wrought fuch miracles as were very beneficial to the world, in curing difeafes, raifing the dead, and refcuing pofTeiTed perfons from the cruelty and rage of the devil, of which poifefled perfons there were very many in thofe times ; Providence permitting it to be fo, that there might be a fairer occafion of com- mending Chriftianity to the world. Of thefe miracu- lous cures done by primitive Chriftians, I have pro- duced feveral documents in the third chapter of this Effay, which I fhall not here repeat -, only remark, that Tertullian, writing to Scapula the Prefident, produces particular inftances of them *, telling him. He might he fatisfied by his own records, and thofe very advocates who had themfelves reaped this benefit by Chriftians, and by a certain notary, who, being poffejfed with a devil .^ was thus delivered, and the kinfman and child of another, be- fides divers others, perfons of note and quality ; not to fpeak of the meaner fort, who had been delivered either from the devil or defperate difeafes. Yea Severus, the father of Antoninus, having been cured by being anointed with oil by Proculus a Chriftian, he kept him in his palace to his death, whom Antoninus knew well, ha- ving been himfelf nurfed upon Chriftian milk. Tho' the cafe was thus evident how much the world was obliged to the Chriftians, yet they were looked upon as the peft of human fociety, and counted the common enemies of mankind ; as Tertullian com- plains t : "If the city be befieged, if any thing hap- " pen * Ad Scapulam, cap. 4. 'pag.Qi. t Apolog, cap. I, Operuni pag. m, 17. 42 The Anfiaers ofTrtmltive Chriftians «« pen ill in the fields, in the garrifons, in the iflanSs, *« prefently they cry out, ^Tis becaufe of the Chriflians. " They were counted a troublefome people*, the «' enemies of mankind. Our enemies, fays the fame *' author^ confpire the ruin of good men f, and thirft «' after the blood of the innocent, cloaking their hatred *< with this vain pretence, 'That the Chrifiians are the *' caufe of all publick calamities. If Tyher flows up to *' the walls, if the v'wtrNile do not overflow the fields, " if the heavens alter their courfe, if there be an *' earthquake, a famine, a plague -, prefently the cry " is. Away with the Chrijlians to the lions!" Arnohius tells us:J:, The Heathens were wont to objed: at every turn, and to conclude it as fure as if dictated by an oracle. That fince the Chriftians appeared in the world, the earth had been well nigh undone, mankind had been over- run with infinite kinds of evils, and the very Gods themfelves had withdrawn that folemn concern where- with they were wont to fuperintend human affairs. So hot and common was this charge among the Pagans, that Augufline Bilhop of Hippo ^ was obliged to write thofe excellent Books, Tie civitate Dei, on purpofe to ftop this objedion, when the Goths and Vandals broke in upon the Roman empire ; at his requeft, Orofius wrote his feven books of hiftory againfl: the Pagans. To this charge the Chriftians anfwered, firfl. That the Gentiles might find the true caufe of thefe things nearer home i there being juft caufe to think. Divine Providence was offended with them for their own fins. Tertullian tells them |1, the real ground of God*s dif- pleaiure was, that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like a cor- ruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beafts, and creeping things, as the apoftle had before told them. That it is more credible, God was ofi^ended with them who defpifed him, and worftiipped ftatues of wood and * Apolog. cap. 57. pag.4(j, f Ibid. cap. 40. pag,48. 4: Contra Gentes, lib. i . pag. i. j( Apolog. cap. 40, 41 . pag. 4$-. Chap. 5- totheAccufations of the Heathens. 45 and ftone, than with Chriltians, who worfliipped him according to the rule of his own word. Cyprian tells Demetrian, then Proconful*, " God is not angry «« with us who worlhip him, but thefe evils come upon *' you for your fins, who neither feek nor fear God, " nor leaving your vain fuperftitions, do you own the " true religion ; God alone is to be worfhipped and " ferved : hear his own words, 1'houjhalt worjhip the " "Lord thy God, and him only Jhalt thou ferve. Thou " Jhalt have no other gods hefore me. Thou Jhalt not *' SP ^f^^^ Ji^^^g^ ^oc/i, nor worjhip them.——' -f You " are difpleafed that God is angry, as if, in living ill, " you deferved well, and as if God had notpunifhed *' you lefs than your iniquities do deferve. Thou " who judgefl others, judge thy felf j infpc6t the retire- " ments of thy own Confcience, and behold thyfelf " now, who Ihalt one day be feen naked by all. Thou " art either puffed up with pride, fwelled with cove- " toufnefs, cruel in anger, fpendthrift in game, drunk *' with wine, full of envy, debauch'd with luft, or mad *' with cruelty: And why fhouldft thou wonder, that ** the flames of divine anger fhould rife higher, when *' the fins of men daily call for it ?" This anfwer he there profecutes to excellent purpofe, and exhorts the heathen Proconful %, *' Leave then your idols, which " the corrupt minds of men have devifed, turn unto " God ', if you feek him, he will help you ; believe on " Chrift, whom the Father hath fent to reftore us *' unto life ; give over hurting and perfecuting the fer- " vants of God and Chrift ; for divine vengeance will " purfue the perfecutors." Secondly, As to the thing itfelf charged upon the Chriftians, they denied it to be true, and that for two reafons ; i/, Becaufe the world had been fadly and frequently peftered with fuch miferies, long before the Chriftian Religion appeared in it. " Pray, fays Ter- " tullianW, what miferies did overwhelm the world, '* and * Cyprian contra Demetrianum, pag. m. 217. f Ibid. pag. a 1 9. :^ Ibid. pjg. 224. I! Apolog. cap. 4.0. Operum pag. 4.S. Edit. Colonic, 1(^17, Nods Pamelii. 2 44 "^ks Anfwers of the Primitive Chrijiians " and even Rome itfelf, before the times of Tiberius^ <« that is, before the coming of Chrift ? Have we not «' read of Hierapolis, and the iflands of Delos, Rhodes «« and Cos, deftroyed with many thoufands of men in «< them ? Does not Plato fpeak of the greater part of " yifm and Africk carried off by the Atlantick fea ? " All earthquake drank up the Corinthian fea, and *' the force of the ocean rent off Sicily from Italy. «' Were the Chriftians the great contemners of your «' gods then ? But, where were your gods themfelves, *« when the flood over-ran the world r Palejiine *' had not then received the Jewijh nation out of . *' Egypt ; much lefs had the Chriftians fat down there, " when Sodom and Gomorrah, with the adjacent places, " were burnt up by a Ihower of fire and brimftone, " of which the country fmells to this day ; if any *' apples or trees be {etn there, when touched, they «' turn into afhes. Nor could Tufcia^ o-nd Campania " complain of the Chriftians, when a fire from heaven *' deftroyed the Fol/inii^nd the Pompeii. None as yet " worfliipped the true God at Rome, when Hannibal *' at Canned made fuch a flaughter of the Romans, '^ that the very rings which he took, being the honour- " able badges of none but Roman Knights, were mea- ^' fured by the buftiel. Your gods were generally ^' worfhipped when the Gauls took the capitol itfelf." So does this grave author retort their arguments upon themfelves. Arnoblus does the fame*, and bids them run over the annals and records, which were written in all languages, and they'll find, that all nations had their common miferies and devaftations. The clearing of this argument was the great defign of Orofius, in drawing dovv^n the hiftory of the world thro' all ages. idly. The Chriftians anfwered. Since our religion en- tred into the world, affairs have been more profperous than before, efpecially when the Chriftian Religion was encouraged. Melito Bifhop of Sardis, in an oration which he prefented to the Emperor M. Antoninus, 2 (part • Contra Gentes,. lib. i . pag. m. lo', 1 1. Chap. 5^ to the Accufattons of the Heathens. 45. (part whereof is yet extant in Eufehius *) tells him, " That Chriftianity commencing under the reign of " Augufius, was a good omen of the profperity of the <« empire -, and ever fince, the Roman empire had in- " creafed: to which he, with hisfon, being the happy « fucceflbr, he could not better afTure it to himfelf, *' than by proteding that religion which had been " born and bred up together with the empire, and " for which his anceflors had an efteem and honour. " That it was a great argument that this religion con- «' tributed to the happinefs of the empire, with which *' it began and had grown up. That fince the reign *' of Augujlus no misfortune, but, on the contrary, " according to all mens wiflies, every thing had hap- " pened to be magnificent and profperous. Of all the " Emperors, only Nero and Domitian did perfecute " our doctrine : But your predeceflbrs did, by their « orders, reftrain attempts that way.'* Eufehius alfo once and again obferves t, that the aff'airs of the em- pire commonly flourifhed when Chriftianity was pro- tefted •, but when that was perfecuted, things went to rack, and their ancient peace and profperity could not be retrieved, till peace was reftored to the Chri- ftians. Therefore Cyprian tells the Proconful t, that their cruelty to the Chriftians was one of the crying fins that had provoked God to inflidt fo many heavy miferies upon them i not only refufing to worlhip God themfelves, but unjuftly perfecuting thofe that did, with all the methods of rage and cruelty. Why is your cruelty fo infatiable ? Either to be a Chriftian is a crime, or it is not ; If it be a crime, why do you not kill thofe who confefs it? If it be no crime, why do you punilh the innocent ^ Thus, tho' outward profpe- rity be no evidence of a true religion, Chriftians being to be judged rather by their holinefs than their pro- fperity, yet they made it evident, they were not the caufe of pulling down vengeance on the world -, their enemies rather pulled it down upon their own heads. The * Hift. Eccl. lib. 4. cap. 25. f Ibid. lib. 7. cap. i. lib. 8. cap. ix, ± Ad Demetrianum, pag. ra. 221, laz, 46 The Anfwers of Trimitive Chrijiians The fourth, and indeed the heavieft charge made by the Gentiles againft the Chri/tians, was on the ac- count of their moral carriage and behaviour. Here they are accufed at every turn of no lefs than facri- lege, fedition, and high treafon, of inceft and pro- mifcuous mixtures, of murder, and eating the flelh of infants. Of all thefe crimes the heathen in Minutius Felix * accufes the Chriftians ; the fame is to be feen in Athenagoras \. The Chriftians denied this charge as falfe and calumnious, maintaining their innocency, declaring by their lives, as well as by their apologies, they were men quite of another make and temper, than their enemies generally did reprefent them. Their Religion and way of life deferved the praife of all. " Who, fays Clement in his excellent epiftle to the *' Corinthians |I, did ever dwell among you, that did *« not approve of your excellent and unlhaken faith ? *' That did not wonder at your fober and moderate '« piety in Chrift ? Who did not declare the greatnefs *« of your hofpitality ? And did not judge your per- *' fe6l and ftable knowledge fit to make you happy ? *' You do all things without refpefl of perfons, walk- «' ing in God's ftatutes, fubjed: to thofe who rule *' over you in the Lord, and giving due honour to *' your elders. You command young men to live an *' honeft and fober life, women to behave without *' blemifh, to live chaftly and holily, keeping a con- " fcience void of offence, loving their husbands, as in <' duty they are obliged, managing their houlhold " affairs with all fobriety. You are humble, not *' proud, fubjedl rather than fubjedling, content *« with the daily bread God gives you, hearing dili- *« gently his word, enlarged in your bowels of charity, " as mindful of the fufferings of Chrijl. Thus you ** enjoy a profound peace, filled with a defire of doing *' good, having God's holy fpirit poured out upon " you.- — Doing all things in the fear of God, having " his * Minutius Felix, Tag. lo. 8c (eq. f Legatio pro Chriftianis, ? Cajus Sejus fj £Z^0(7^ »;^/z, only he is a Chrijiian ', or, / wonder at Lucius a good man^ hut lately turned a Chriflian. But the innocency of thefe faints fupported them againft the unjuft calumnies, and cruel perfecu- tions of their adverfaries. 'Thirdly, They appealed, for their vindication, to the judgment and confcience of their more fober and impartial enemies, and were acquitted by them as not guilty of any fuch heinous crimes. Pliny the younger being appointed by Trajan the emperor to give him an account of the Chriilians, tells him *, after the hejl ejlimate he could i/iake, and thefiri^eft inquifition he could take by tortures, (he being then proconful in Biihynia) he found no worfe of them, than that they were wont to vieet early for ferfonnwg folemn devotions, and hind them- fclves under the mofi facred obligations to commit no vice nor wickednefs, and that their Religion was nothing elfe put an untoward and immoderate fuperflition. After him, Serenius Granianus proconful of jifia v/rites to the em- peror Adrian, Trajan'^ fucceflbr, to reprefent to him "f , How unjufl it was to put Chrifiians to death, when no crime was duly laid to their charge, merely to gratify the tumultuous clamours of the people. To whom the em- peror anfwers. That they Jhould not he unjufily troubled, but if any thing was truly proved againfl them, he Jhould punijh them according to the nature of their fault ; hut if done out of malice or fpite, he jloould then punijh the accufer as a calutnniator.— — Next to Adrian, Antoninus Pius, in his epiftle to the Commons o^'^Jia, tells them II, They had traduced the Chrifiiajis, and had ob- je^ed thofe cri?ncs to them which they could not prove ; that 4: Apolog. Cap. 5. Paj-. ao. * Epift. Lib. 10. Epill. 97. f Apud Eufebium Hid:. Eccl. Lib. 4. Cap. 8,9. II Jullin Martyr, Apolog. z. Operum I'cg.ioo. Supra, Vol. i. Cap. 3. Chap. 5 . td the Acciifations of the Heathens', 5 1 that they were more Jinn and undaunte Ivi their profejfion than themfelves, and had a greater freedo?n and confidnce towards God ; and therefore he refohed to ratify and follow the determination of his fathers. After him comes M. Antoninus^ who having obtained the fignal vi<5lory againft the ^ades in Germany, confefles in his letter td the fenate i, " That it was obtained by the prayers of " the Chriftian Legion which was in his army, (as has been formerly more fully illuftrated **,) "and there- *' fore commands, that none be molefted for being *' Chriftians, and that if any accufe a Chriftian for •*« being fuch, without any fufficient crime proved *' againft him, he fhall be burned alive for his accu- *' fation. But a Chriftian, confefling himfelf to be one, " Ihall be fafe and fecure, and the governour of the *' province ftiall not drive him to renounce his profef- *' fion. And this he commands to be confirmed by *' the decree of the fenate/' So clear did the Chriftians appear to their greateft enemies, in their more calm and fober intervals. Even Trypho the Jew, his very nation fpeaks him enemy enough, confefles them clear of thefe foul afperfions : * " When Jujlin Martyr had " asked him, if he really believed the Chriftians did " eat man's flefh, and putting out candles ran together *' in promifcuous mixtures ? the Jew anfwers, Thefe *' things, whereof they were accufed by many, were " unworthy of belief, being extremely abhorrent to *' human nature -, and that the precepts commanded in " their Gofpel, which curiofity had prompted him to " read, were fo great and admirable, that he fuppofed " no man could be able to keep and obey them." Fi- nally, the heathen oracle itfelf pronounced in favour of the Chriftians f ; for Apollo giving forth his oracles, not as he was wont by human voice, but out of a dark anddifmal cavern, confefled, // was becaufe ofjujl men that lived upon the earth : And when Diocleftan enquired, E 2 ^ V ivho ■if. Juftin Martyr, Apolog. 2. Vfig. loi, io2.» ** Supra, Vol, i. Cap. 5. * Juftin Martyr Dialog, cum Tryphone, Operurri Tag. 217. t Eufeb. de Vita Conftantini, Lib. 2. Cap. 4.5". $ 1 The Anfui'ers of the Trimifi'Ve Chrijiians who thefe jujl men were ? one of the heathen priefts that ftood by anfwered, 'That they were the Chrijliam, This CoHjlantlne the Gf-eat fays, he himfelf heard, being then a young man, and in company with that emperor -, and he folemnly calls God to witnefs for the truth of the ftory. From the whole it appears, that even by the confcfllon of enemies, the Chrifl-ians were innocent of thofe tilings the Gentiles charged upon them. Origen triumphs in the innocency of their lives, faying ||, 'I'he churches of Gcd zvhich had embraced the difcipline of Chrijiy if compared to the common focieties of men, were cimjng them like lights in the world ; for who is there hut he mufi confefs^ the wcrfer part of our church is better than the potular ajfewhlies ? The church of God at Athens is meek and quiets ap/ roving itfelf to the great God-, whereas th^ popular a£hnhly at Athens is feditious and itimulluous. The fame may be faid of the churches of God, and the vulgar ajfemblies at Corinth or Alexandria-. Thus, Alinutius Felix fiys to the heathen %, " Should " we Chrijiians be compared with you, tho' our difci- *' pline fhould feem fomewhat inferior, yet we fliall " be found infinitely to tranfcend you. You forbid " adultery, and then praftife it, we keep intirely by *' our own wives ; you punifh wickednefs when com« " mitted, with us even a wicked thought is fin •, you " ftand in awe of thofe who are confcious of your " crimes, we of aothing but our own confciences, " without which we cannot be. In fine, 'tis with " your party the prifons are filled with criminals ; no " Chriftian is there, unlefs he be either a fliame to " his Religion, or an apollate from it.'* And a little after he tells his * adverlary " hew much they ex- *' ceeded the beft of philofophers, whom they knew to " be wicked men, adulterers, and tyrannical, eloquent *' to declaim againft thofe vices of which themfelves " were moil: guiJty : Bat we Chrillians do not meafure ** wifdom by mens clothes, but by their mind j we *' do •(I Contra Cclfum, Lib. 3. Fug. 128, 129. 4: Pag. mihi 8(. * Miuutius Felix, Pag. 88. Chap. 5- to the A<:cufations of the Heathens, 53 " do not fpeak great things, but live tiiem ; having *' this to boaft, we really attain to thofe things which " they earneftly fought, but could not find." In ano- ther place, the Hime author f Ipeaking of the crimes the heathens objeded to the Chriftians, fays, " None " would believe us guilty of thefe crimes, but thofe *' who dare commit them themfelves. I fee you hea- " thens expofe your young infants to be devoured by " birds and wild beafts, and fometimes ftrangle and »* kill them with miferable deaths •, your women drink " medicaments to deftroy the birth, being guilty of ■ " parricide before they bring forth. And this they de- *' fend by the dodtrine of their Gods, for Saturn ex- " poled and alfo devoured his own Children ; to him " in fome parts of Africa parents facrifice their chil- " dren, with kiffes keeping down their cries, left a *' weeping facrifice fhould be offered. It was the " cuftom of'Tauris, Pontus, and the Egyptian Biifiris-, to *' facrifice their guefts •, the G^^z^/j offer human or rather *' inhuman fiicrifices. Even the Romans kill a living '^ Greek man or Greek woman, a Gaul or a Gaulifh *' woman ; and Jupiter Laluflis is at this day worfhipped *' by homicide, a facrifice worthy of the fon oi Saturn, — *' But We Chriftians will neither fee nor hear of homicide, " our Religion is to live without fpot or blemifh.'* Therefore Eufebius tells us |1, That the Chriftian Faith had, by gravity, fincerity, modefty and holinsfs of life, conquered all oppofition ; that none durft befpatter or charge it with any of thofe calumnies, which the an- cient enemies of our Religion ufed to faften upon it. And 1'ertuUian openly declares X^ ^bat ix:hen tnen de-' part from the difcipline of the GofpeU they fo far ceafe among us to be accounted Chrijiians ; ize neceJJ'arily de- fire andftudy piet'j and virtue, that ijoe may fecure our o'wn falvation. He who defires to fee more of the primi- tive Chriftians, their piety to God, fobriety toward themfelves, and righteoufnefs to their neighbours, may E 3 read, f Ibid. Tag. 6g, 70. II Hift. Eccl.Lib. 4. Cap. 7. ^ Apolog. Cap. 46. Fag' S^' 54 7>&^ TVickednefs of Taganifm. read, be fide other authors, Dr. Cave*s Primitive Chri" Jlianit'j, Before I conclude this chapter, I fhall difcourfe a little of the abominable vices and extravagancies of the beft of the heathens, even of the Romans themfelves* I have before fpoke of their idolatry, polytheifm, wor- ship of demons, human facrifices, their obfcene wor- Ihip of Priapus, Berycinthia, and others, and of their vain divinations, confulting devils, in the fecond chap- ter of this treatife, and in this ; and alfo of their cruelty to J/^ws and Chrijiflns, manifefted in the feveral per- fecutions, of which in the third chapter -, and of Ju- lian's methods to rellore Pagamf?n, in the fourth chapter : none of which Ihall be now repeated. But their cruelty may farther appear in the civil wars of Mariiis and Sylla., Ccsfar and Po7npey^ in their tumults and feditions, of which the Roman hiftory is full ; in the emperors moft arbitrarily murdering their fubjedls without any ground or reafon, of which Tacilus and Suetonius give many inftances i and, which was more peculiar to them, in the fv#ord-fights of their gladiators upon the theatres, which were firll exhibited by Junius Brutus in honour of his father's funerals ; but, as Peter Martyr obfcrves, not to pleafe his father's manes or ghoft, but rather to pleafe the devil. Afterward thefe hired gladiators became very common j CcBfar in his ^dilefhip exhibited 320 pair ; 'Trajan, by the fpace of 123 days without intermiflion, exhibited ten thoufand. No war made fuch havock of mankind as thefe games of pleafure ; the Romans had theatres and amphithea- tres where an hundred thoufand perfons might behold them, and with a brucifh fatisfadion fee men murder one another, and fall like vidims to their demons. Thefe games were decryed by the pens of the firft Chriftian writers, as Laoiantius *, Tertullian f, Cy- prian li, and afterward by the> laws of Confiantine the Crec}t ' * Libro 6. de Vero Cultu, Cap. 20. Tag.va.^^^, f De Spedlaculis, Operum f(tg, i/i, & fcq. 5 Epift. ad Donatum. "■ % Chap. 5. *J^^^ Wickednefs of Taganifm. 55 Great *, and other Chriftian emperors who fucceeded him f, baniflied out of the v/orld. Not only were the Romans unmerciful, in expofing themfelves to death on their theatres by encountring men and beads, but alfo by holding it lawful, yea, in fome cafes, commendable to lay violent hands upon themfelves, extinguifliing the lamp of their own lives, of which I have given many documents already \\. Now, befide that this is inhuman and moft contrary to the laws of God, what courage is it for a man to turn away from mifery, that he dare not look death or dangers in the face ? What wifdom to commend fubjefts for difpatching themfelves at their own pleafure ? To rob the flate of a member, and perhaps of a ferviceable one too, as Cato was ? What juftice for men, thro' weaknefs of mind, or ifrength of paffion incapable of reafon, to pafs fentence, and do execution againft themfelves ? Yea, what impiety is in it to go off the world finning againft God in the moft horridmanner, renouncing that love they ought by the law of nature to have for themfelves ? Which fhould teach them to preferve the Being God has given in order to a well-being. The Romans alfo, by the laws of Romulus the founder of their ftate, as reported by Dionyftus Halicarnajfeus :j:, were allowed to expofefome of their children : He ordained, fays that author, I'bai every male Jhould he educated^ and of the females the firf-born, and that no child Jhould he -put to death lefore three years of age-, except they "joere maimed or monjiers from their hirth ; he ordered fuch Jhould he expofedy yet not before the -parents did Jhew it to five men of their neighbours, who Jhould approve of it. Seneca fays **, JVe kill monjirous births ; nay, our very children, if they be weak and deformed, we caji them forth. I might alfo difcourle of the exceflive covetoufnefs of the Ro- mans, of their robbing and fpoiling the provinces, of their monftrous uncleannefs of all kinds, of their luxury E 4 in * Eufeb. dc Vita Conftantini, Lib. 4. Cap. 24. -j- Codex Theodofii, Lib. ij. tit. f . De Spedtaculis. II Supra, Vol. i.Cap. i. if. Anti^. Rom. Lib. z. cap. \f. Tag. na. 86; **■ Dc Ira.i— * $6 The Wickednefs of Taganifm» in diet and apparel, in eating and drinking, in retinues of their fervants, in furniture of their houfes, bathing and anointing their bodies, prodigality in gifts, and in fetting forth plays and theatrical fhows, arrogancy and •vain-glory ; in all which their excefs was incredible: but particular infilling on thefe, is not neceilary to my purpofe. The wickednefs and folly of the impious fuperftition of the Gentiles, and the great bleflxng of the Chriftian Religion in delivering us from it, is evi- dent from what is already faid. They who are curious to know more of thefe vices among the ancient Ro- mans, may read Meurfius de Luxu Romanorum, and HackweWs Apology for the power and providence of God in the government of the world. Book IV. If it be objedted, Hozv can thefe things he charged on the ancient Romans, who were renowned for jufiice^