SECTION II.
The brazen Serpent was a Figure of the flying Serpent, Saraph, which Moses fixed upon an erected Pole: That there were such, is most evident. Herodotus who had seen of those Serpents, says they very much resembled those which the Greeks and Latins called Hydræ: He went on purpose to the City of Brutus to see those flying Animals, that had been devour’d by the Ibidian Birds.
In Asiatic-Georgia, between the Caspian and Euxine Sea, are found winged Dragons, with anserine Feet and venemous Claws; and some of them are fortified with more terrible Pedestals than others: their Wings are generally composed of strong nervous Membranes, which when they walk, are scarcely visible, because of their close Adherence to their lateral Parts[[358]].
[358]. Paulus Jovius de Piscibus, cap 23. p. 140.
In the Atlantic Caves, and Mountains of Africa, is an infinite Number of these winged Dragons, whose Poison is so strong, that the Flesh of such as are wounded by them, immediately grows soft, languid, and incurable[[359]]. We read of flying Serpents transported from some Parts of Arabia into Egypt[[360]][[361]].
[359]. P. Belon in Johnstonus.
[360]. Teste Brodæo.
[361]. J. Leo’s Hist. of Africa, lib. 6, & 9.
These also have been seen in Florida in America, where their Wings are more flaccid, and so weak, that they cannot soar on high. Scaliger describes a certain flying Serpent that was four Foot long, and as thick as a Man’s Arm, whose Wings were cartilaginous, or gristly, ibid. History accounts for one of these flying Dragons that was killed in old Aquitania in France, a Present of which was made to King Francis, as a great Rarity of the Kind.
JEROM CARDAN informs us of some winged Dragons he had seen at Paris, so nicely preserved, that they very much resembled the Living; they were described with two Feet, weak Wings, a serpentine Head, and of the Bigness of a Rabbit.
Why was the Deliverance of Israel by a Machine made in the Form of a Serpent? Perhaps, these serpentine Strokes might be intended as Emblems, or Memento’s of the fatal Wound in Paradise, where Man’s Nature was first poisoned by the Devil, who made use of a real Serpent to seduce our first Parents.
What is moral Evil but the Venom of the old Serpent? A Venom as pleasant to the Taste, as the forbidden Fruit to the Eye, but the End is Bitterness. And what are Incentives to Sin, but delusive Insinuations of the subtle Serpent? And what is Enjoyment, but a pleasing Illusion, which is no sooner grasp’d, but glides away as a Shadow, leaving behind it a wounded Conscience, direful Apprehensions and Prospects.
And what are all sensual Entertainments but so many hot Gleams that portend the Approach of warring Winds and Storms? The Powers of Darkness that excel in Science, know how to regale the human Mind with pleasant Scenes, and how to divert the Senses with delightful Charms; Charms that have no Existence but in a deluded Imagination.
The Cure by a brazen Serpent, might also be to shew, that the Almighty in relieving distressed Supplicants, is not tied to any particular Medium. When the Israelites were poison’d by real Serpents, he heals them by the Image of a Serpent. When he would destroy Goliath the Tyrant, he does it by a Sling in the Hands of David a Youth, a very unlikely Person to encounter a Champion.
Thus God by the Figure of a Serpent mortifies the Pride of Lucifer, the old Serpent, by which he acquir’d greater Honour, than if he had sacrificed to the Fire all the Serpents in the Wilderness.
This may further intimate, that Providence may employ the same Kind of Instruments, either for the Display of Mercy or Justice upon Mankind. He who heals and wounds by the Mediation of Serpents, can turn Blessings into a Curse, or enable us to extract Sweetness out of the bitter Cup.
SECT. III.
This artificial Serpent might (as some have thought) prefigure the Messiah, the Healer of spiritual Maladies. Many take it for a Representation of his Passion and Crucifixion: The Analogy may be thus illustrated, viz. The Cures wrought by the Serpent and the Saviour, deriv’d their Efficacy from Divine Appointment.
If the brazen Serpent had been the mere Contrivance of Moses, it would not have answer’d the Intention: so all human Institutions adopted into Divine Worship will be as little available to true Happiness, (Who has required this at your Hand?) of that Sovereign, who accepts no Worship but what has the Sanction of his Wisdom and Will.
Both Cures were performed by the most unlikely Means. The Serpent that healed their Wounds, was made of Brass; a Prescription in which there was no Probability of producing that happy Effect: And where was the promising Aspect arising from the Manner of our Saviour’s Appearance on Earth? What great Things could be expected from a Root of a dry Ground? How improbable was it that a Person so mean in external Form should overthrow the Kingdom of Darkness, a Kingdom that had been strengthening its Barriers for about four thousand Years? Who could think that he had such powerful Interest in Heaven, who was of no Reputation on the Earth?
Behold here a Scene of Paradoxes! Patients recovered by the Death of the Physician. Upon Mount Golgotha we see Paradise, lost by the first Adam, regained by the Death of the second Adam; Principalities and Powers led captives by a dying Man; there we see Life restored by Death, a Crown of Glory purchased by an ignominious Cross. Were the Israelites healed by a Creature made in the Likeness of the Serpent that hurt? So Men are restor’d by one made like themselves.
How was this miraculous Cure in the Wilderness obtained? It was by an ocular View, that is, by looking at the artificial Serpent. None else were entitled to a Relief. Thus Salvation comes by Faith, which in the prophetick Dialect is represented by looking. Es. xlv. 22. Look unto me and be ye saved all the Ends of the Earth. The first Sin enter’d at the Eye; the Woman saw the Fruit was good. Thus our Restoration to the Divine Favour is by an Eye to Christ, the Tree of Life, but I must not strain the Metaphor too far.
SECT. IV.
Why was the Cure by a Serpent of Brass? I answer, not for any healing Virtue inherent in that Mineral, more than others, but to demonstrate his Almighty Power, who can save by improbable Means, or without the Application of any Means. Thus the blind Man was cured by a Piece of Clay temper’d with Spittle; John ix. 6.
Perhaps, this also may refer to our Lord, as he is compar’d to Brass, which, when polish’d, is of a most beautiful Colour, exceeding that of Gold. Revel. i. 15. His Feet like unto fine Brass. An Emblem of the high Qualities that glitter in him, whose Nature is divinely fair and glorious.
Those fiery Serpents, as they flew in the Air, might in Colour resemble that of burnish’d Brass, because the Serpent of Moses was form’d of Brass, a Metal that in itself is no Friend to Health; and some have said, that the Sight of the brazen Serpent ought naturally to increase the Distemper of the Wounded, instead of healing it; and that the Almighty, shew’d a double Efficacy of his Power, by healing with those Means, which ought to have a quite contrary Effect[[362]].
[362]. Buxtorf, Hist. de Serpente æneo.
Tho’ Brass in its natural State, may not be propitious to Health, yet when duly prepar’d it is beneficial: The Preparation of Copper has been accounted an universal Remedy, and an excellent Emetick, having this singular Virtue, that it exerts its Force, as soon as ever it is taken: Whereas other Emeticks lie a long time dormant in the Stomach, creating nauseous Anxieties, &c. but a single Grain of Verdegrease immediately vomits[[363]].
[363]. Boerhaave’s Method.
A Certain learned Gentleman of this Island, imagines that the brazen Serpent was a kind of Talisman; that is to say, one of those Pieces of Metal, which are cast and engraven under certain Constellations, from whence they derive an extraordinary Virtue to cure Distempers, &c. Some impute their Effects to the old Serpent, others to the Nature of the Metal, and to the Influence of the Constellation. This Author therefore would make us believe, that the brazen Serpent cured just as the Talismans cure certain Distempers, by the Sympathy there is between the Metals of which they are made, or the Influence of the Stars under which they are formed, and the Disease they are to cure. Every one may believe as he pleases[[364]].
[364]. Marsham Canon. Chronic. quoted by Calmet.
The Serpent that is always represented with Esculapius’s Image, and with Salus, the Goddess of Health, and often with the Egyptian Deities, is a Symbol of Health, or of Healing, very probably derives those Ensigns of Honour from the brazen Serpent of Moses.
SECT. V.
WHAT became of the brazen Serpent at last?
I answer, it was brought into the Land of Canaan as a sacred Relick, and religiously preserved among the Israelites down to the Time of Hezekiah the King, as a standing Memorial of divine Goodness to their Forefathers in the Wilderness; but being abused by them to Superstition and Idolatry, as appears by their burning Incense thereto, it was broke in pieces by the special Command of King Hezekiah, who, in Derision and Contempt, called it Mehushtan, a Piece of Brass, a Trifle, a Bauble, Shadow of a Snake. 2 Kings xviii. 4. May all the Ecclesiastical Nehushtans of Babylon, foisted into Divine Worship, from the Rising of the Sun, to the Going-down of the same, meet with the same honest and righteous Fate. In the Church of St. Ambrose at Milan, they pretend to keep a brazen Serpent, which they shew for that of Moses, tho’ there be no such thing now in being. In the Church of St. Ambrose there is a Dragon of Brass on a Column of Marble: Some think it to be that of Esculapius, others an Emblem of that in the Wilderness, upon which account many of the Pilgrims and common People worship it. The Inhabitants are very superstitious, and fond of holy Fragments, and pretend to have at the Church of St. Alexander, no less than 144,000 Martyrs from the Catacombs of St. Sebastian. The Cures effected by the artificial Serpent, derived that Efficacy from the divine Institution of that Medium: Had their Prescription been the meer Device of Rabbi Moses, that great and valuable End would not have been answered; therefore, since the Reason of that Institution ceased, ’twas highly criminal in them, to make any religious Use of it. It is the divine Impress upon Institutions that ushers in the Blessings intended by them; therefore to hope for Acceptance with God on account of meer human Ordinances, (as bowing to Images, to the Altar, to the East, and to make use of Crucifixes, Crosses, holy Water) is to hope for what God has never promised to give. No wonder to see the brazen Serpent ground to Powder, and the Dust scatter’d in the Air, that so no Fragments of it might remain, when Altars of divine Establishment, and sacred to Devotion, were intirely destroy’d, when they made Idols of them: And how a holy and jealous God may resent the Adoration of the Cross in the Popish Church, I pretend not to predict, much less to determine. This Destruction of the brazen Serpent, is reckon’d among the good Deeds of King Hezekiah, because it was made a Medium, and Part of Worship not prescrib’d by divine Authority.
CHAPTER IV.
This Chapter begins with the Original of Idolatry, as a Preliminary to the Adoration of Serpents, under three Sections.
SECT. I.
As introductory to the Divinity of Serpents, I shall make a brief Inquiry into the Original of sacred Images, and Idol-Worship; the first Period of which is hard to trace. Some make Cain the first Founder of it, because of his early Apostacy from the true Religion; which is not very improbable, since ’tis said, He went out from the Presence of the Lord.... He grew more wicked, and gave himself up to all sorts of Violence[[365]].
[365]. See Cluverius, and Dr. Cumberland.
That the old World was guilty of Idolatry, some gather from Gen. iv. 26. which they say will bear this Reading——Then Men prophaned, calling on the Name of the Lord, that is, by setting up Idols: Upon which some of the Rabbins paraphrase thus, viz. Then they began to call Idols by the Name of the Lord: With which agrees the Jerusalem Targum, that says, That was the Age, in the days of which they began to err, and made themselves Idols, and called their Idols by the Name of the Word of the Lord[[366]].
[366]. Schindl.
So they understand Gen. vi. 11. The Earth was corrupt, that is idolatrous. In defence of this Gloss, they quote the Idolatry of the golden Calf, which is expressed by this very Form of Speech, viz. The People had corrupted themselves. We read Gen. iv. 26. Then Men began to call upon the Name of the Lord. There is no room to doubt, but they called upon God before; the Particle then seems to refer to Enos, which is the next Antecedent: therefore ’tis said, They now applied themselves to the Knowledge of the Stars, which they apprehended were erected for the Government of the World, and consequently might be their Duty to adore them as God’s Representatives.
But the general Opinion is, that Idolatry did not begin till after the Deluge, and that perhaps the Deluge might be one Occasion of it; for the old World, as some suppose, was drown’d for Atheism——which coming to the Knowledge of Noah’s mediate Successors, they run into the other Extreme, chusing rather to have many Gods than no God.
IDOLATRY is of a more antient Date than Image-Worship: To see Men kneeling before a piece of Wood or Stone, has something so low and mean in it, that Men were not immediately brought to that abject and scandalous piece of Worship. The Sun, Moon, and Stars, were their natural Gods, and ador’d before deify’d Men, who were their animated Gods.
This Deification of Creatures, seems to begin about the time of the Confusion at Babel, or the Dispersion immediately consequent thereupon, particularly in the Family of Nimrod, the Son of Cush, Grandson of Noah. May not we date the Original of Paganism from that remarkable Person? ’Tis the Conjecture of some, that Nimrod was the first Man that was deify’d, and probably for the important Service he did to his Country, as a mighty Hunter, in destroying wild Beasts that otherwise would soon have devour’d the Inhabitants, which were not very numerous in those days. ’Tis certain, that such Benefactors to Mankind were rank’d among the Gods. If so, who will pretend to say, our modern Fox-Hunters don’t carry one Characteristic of Divinity about them?
Some think that the true Religion was universal for about four hundred Years after the Deluge, because it does not appear from Abram’s Traverse thro’ Mesopotamia, Canaan, Philistia, Egypt, &c. that those Countries were Idolaters. Others apprehend Abram himself was originally an Idolater, at least that Idolatry had overspread the Nations in his time, for which they quote Joshua xxiv. 2. Your Fathers ... even Terah the Father of Abraham ... served other Gods. It’s evident from hence, that Terah had fallen into Idolatry, and some are of Opinion, that Abram himself was an Idolater, till God made him sensible of the Vanity of Idol-worship, and that it was thro’ him that his Father Terah was brought under the same Conviction, by this Device, viz.
The Jews say that Terah was not only an Idolater, but also a Carver, and Dealer in Images and Idols; that one day when he went a Journey, he left Abram to take care of the Shop; but Abram being already convinced of the Sinfulness of Idols, ask’d all that came to buy Idol-Gods of him, How old are you? They told him their Age; and he replied to them, This God that you would buy and worship, is younger than you are; it was made but the other day, and of contemptible Matter, therefore believe what I say, and renounce this vain Worship. The Buyers struck with Confusion at these Reproaches, went away without buying, asham’d of their Stupidity[[367]].
[367]. Fa Calmet under Terah, vol. xiii.
Q. What might move Men to the first Idolatry?
Perhaps it might be a strong Attachment to the Senses, which they made their sovereign Judges in Spirituals: It was hard for vulgar Heads in those Days of Darkness to elevate their Thoughts above sensible Objects.
Another Reason, may be the Pride of the human Mind; that is not satisfied with rational plain Truths, but will adulterate them with foolish Imaginations: Hence it was that they would have such Objects of Worship, as might immediately strike their sensible Powers; nothing would serve their Turn but a Divinity visible to the Eye, therefore they brought down the Gods to the Earth, and represented them under certain Images, which by degrees commenced inferior Deities.
The Egyptian Priests not being able to persuade the People, that there were any Gods or Spirits superior to Men, were constrained to call down Demons, or Spirits, and lodge them in Statues, and then bring forth those Statues to be visible Objects of Adoration, and from hence sprung Idolatry.
Among the Pagans were various Opinions about religious Images. Some looked upon them as only Representatives of the true God, as Seneca, a Stoick Philosopher, and Plato a Native of Athens, and a noted Academick.
OTHERS said, they did not adore material Images, but the Gods in them, into which they were drawn by virtue of their Consecration, or, in a more modern Language, their Canonization[[368]].
[368]. Arnobius, lib. vi.
SOME were of Opinion, that after the Consecration of Images, the Gods actually incorporated with them, or were animated by them, as Man’s Body is by the Soul[[369]]. The vulgar Heathen paid their Adoration to Images as if they were real Gods; which monstrous Practice was ridiculed by the most sensible Pagans, as appears farther on[[370]].
[369]. Trismegistus, a learned Egyptian, a great Philosopher, a great Priest, and a great King.
[370]. See Lactantius, lib. ii.
The Use and Worship of Images has been long, and still is controverted. The Lutherans condemn the Calvinists for breaking the Images in the Churches of the Catholicks; and at the same time they condemn the Romanists (who are professed Image-Worshippers) as Idolaters. The modern Jews condemn all Images, and suffer no Pictures or Figures in their Houses, much less in their Synagogues, or Places of Worship.
The Mahometans have a perfect Aversion to all Images. This is it that made them destroy most of the beautiful Monuments of Antiquity, both sacred and profane, at Constantinople.
The old noble Romans preserved the Images of their Ancestors with no little Care, and had them carried in Procession in their Funerals and Triumphs.
SECT. II.
This Part entertains us with various Instances of Pagan Deifications, viz. of Men, Beasts, and Things without Life.
I. MEN transformed into Gods.
I Begin with their deified Men, that is, dead Men, who being canonized, past for reputed Gods. Note here, some are of opinion, that the word God, among the Heathen, did not mean the uncreated eternal Being, but some most excellent superior Nature; and accordingly, they gave the Appellation of Gods to all Beings of a Rank higher, and more perfect than Man.
The principal Gods among the antient Heathens were Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Apollo, Juno, Vesta, Minerva, &c. The next sort of Gods were called Demy-Gods, or Gods adopted; and these were Men canonized and deify’d. Now, as the greater Gods had possession of Heaven in their own Right, so these lesser Gods had it by Donation, being translated into Heaven, because they were Men renowned for their Virtues, and had lived as Gods upon Earth; and these at first were called Teraphim.
The first certain Account of these we have in Genesis, where ’tis said, Rachel had stoln her Father’s Images. Chap. xxxi. 19. the Teraphim of her Father in the Hebrew, which Laban, (ii. 30.) calls his Gods, Hebr. Eloha.
The word Teraphim is Hebrew, others say Egyptian: Be that as it will, we find it about thirteen times in our Bible, and is commonly interpreted Idols, Images, sacred, superstitious Figures. Spencer maintains the word to be Chaldee, and that those Images were borrowed from the Amorites, Chaldeans, or Syrians, and that the Egyptian Serapis is the same thing with Teraphim of the Chaldeans.
A Learned Jew says the Teraphim were in human Shape, and that when raised upright, they spoke at certain Hours, and under certain Constellations, by the Influence of the celestial Bodies. R. David de Pomis ... Cyclopædia.
This Rabbinical Fable seems to be grounded on Zech. x. 2. The Idols (Hebr. Teraphim) have spoken Vanity.... Some of the learned Jews will have it to denote the Knowledge of Futurity, and for this Signification they quote Ezek. xxi. 21. The King of Babylon stood ... at the Head of the two Ways ... he consulted with Images; with Teraphim, says the Hebrew.
The same Rabbi adds, that to make the Teraphim they kill’d a first-born Child, clove his Head, season’d it with Salt and Oil; that they wrote on a Plate of Gold the Name of some impure Spirit, laid it under the Tongue of the Dead, placed the Head against the Wall, lighted Lamps before it, prayed to it, and it talk’d with them.
Others hold, that the Teraphim were brazen Instruments which pointed out the Hours of future Events, as directed by the Stars.—Some think that the Teraphim were Figures or Images of a Star engraven on a sympathetic Stone, or Metal corresponding to the Star, in order to receive its Influences: To these Figures, under certain Aspects of the Stars, they ascribe extraordinary Effects.
This Talismanical Opinion, says a Learned Pen[[371]], appears the most probable.... All the Eastern People are still much addicted to this Superstition of Talismans. The Persians call them Telesin, a Word approaching to Teraphim. In those Countries no Man is seen without them, and some are even loaded with them. They hang them to the Necks of Animals, and Cages of Birds, as Preservatives against Evils. Such were the Samothracian Talismans, which were pieces of Iron, formed into certain Images and set in Rings....
[371]. Father Dom. Calmet.
The Labanic Images are supposed to be the most antient, if not the first religious Images, made of some precious Metal, and had their Birth in Laban’s Country, that is, Chaldea, or Mesopotamia.
From Laban’s History, it seems as if these Teraphim were Pictures or Images of certain Persons deceased; that is, they were a sort of Idols, or superstitious Figures venerated by them as Demy-Gods. That they were such artificial Portraitures of Men, is evident from that Instance in Michal, who, to deliver David her Husband from bloody Assassins that threaten’d his Life, laid an Image in his Bed, a Teraphim, says the Hebrew, that is, a material Image, probably a Figure of Wood, or Sticks hastily made up, drest in Man’s Clothes, to make those sent by King Saul to apprehend him, believe he was sick.
Why does Laban call them his Gods? Very probably because he believed they retain’d their Affection for Mankind in the invisible World, and being rank’d among the Gods, might be serviceable to his Family, therefore adopted them to be Guardians of his House. They were only his domestick Gods, and not the established Gods of the Country; and ’tis very likely they might be the Images of Noah and his Sons; or some other illustrious Ancestors, whom he had chosen for his Tutelary Gods.
The Scripture mentions another sort of Teraphim, sometimes consulted by the Jews as an Oracle, not imagining that thereby they abandon’d the Worship of the true God. Such was the Teraphim that Micha made and set up in his House, and to which he appointed a Priest of the Levitical Race, with an Ephod or Sacramental Garment, by the Influence of which he flatter’d himself that God would bless his House. This probably might be some Hieroglyphical Figure, to which the superstitious Jews attributed the Virtue of an Oracle, and the Power of foretelling Things to come: Hence speaking Teraphims.
From these Teraphim came the Lares, or the Household Gods of the old Romans, who before the Laws of the Twelve Tables, used to bury the Dead in their Houses; from whence arose that great Veneration they had for their Lares and Penates, a kind of domestick Divinities, worship’d in Houses, and esteem’d Protectors of Families, which were nothing else but the supposed Ghosts of those who formerly had belonged to the Family, whom they represented by Images, which they placed in the Chimney-Corner, or near their Doors.
These were also look’d upon as Guardians of the Highways, near to which their Images were fix’d for the Benefit of Travellers, therefore call’d Dii Viales, Gods of the Roads. ’Tis said by the Prophet, The King of Babylon stood at the parting of the Way, and consulted with the Images; with the Teraphim, says the Hebrew, Ezek. xxi. 21. which the Jewish Interpreters say were prophetick Images, endued with the Gift of Prediction; so far from being mere Idols, that they gave out Oracles, and foretold Things to come.
Some think Laban’s Teraphim to be such, and that Rachel, having observed how her Father did divine by them, and fearing, by consulting with them, he might know which way Jacob went, and follow after and murder him; to prevent so fatal a Catastrophe, she took away his Oracles.
Those sacred Images might, at first, be made in honour of departed Relatives, or illustrious Persons; but by degrees degenerated into religious Adoration. Thus the Manes of the Dead were worship’d by them under the Figure of their Teraphim, in some place of the House, and probably where they had deposited the Remains of their Ancestors, as some think.
The Lares were also called Penates: To these they paid religious Homage with Sacrifices; so the Roman Satirist says, and calls these images his dear little House-Gods; and then observes, that they were crown’d with Garlands of Flowers in Summer, and in Winter with Shaving of Horns colour’d. To these Waxen-Gods the Romans addrest themselves with Offerings of Frankincense and Cakes[[372]]....
Oh parvi nostrique Lares quos thure minuto
Hic nostrum placabo, Jovem Laribusque paternis
Thura dabo, atque omnes violæ jactabo colores
Cuncta nitent——
Juvenal. Sat. ix. v. 137. & Sat. xii. v. 89.
They were supposed to be the Spirits of such, who had lived well on the Earth, and in consequence of it, were happy; so on the other hand, those who lived ill here, did after Death wander up and down in Horror, and were supposed, by the Vulgar, to be Hobgoblins, call’d Lemures, i. e. restless Ghosts of departed Spirits, who return to the Earth to terrify the Living.
These are the same with Larvæ, which the Antients imagined to wander round the World, to frighten good People, and plague the bad. All these were imagin’d to be the Ghosts of the Dead: They pray’d to the Good for Protection, and sacrificed to the Evil to pacify their Rage: For this reason they had their Lemuria or Lemuralia at Rome, where on the 9th of May, a Feast was solemnized in honour of the Lemures, and to pacify the Manes of the Dead, especially those who died without Burial, to prevent their giving disturbance to the Living.
The first Men that were deified, or made Gods, are supposed to be the Heads of Families, Founders of Empires, and Benefactors of Provinces——who, after their decease, were highly reverenced. Noah and his Sons seem to be the first and chief animated Deities of the Pagans, under the Names of Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto; hence Demons, another Name given to Spirits, which were supposed to appear to Mortals, with intention to do them Good or Hurt.
The first Notion of Demons, ’tis said, sprung from Chaldea, thence it spread among the Persians, Egyptians.... Pythagoras and Thales were the first that introduced Demons into Greece, where Plato fell in with the Notion, which he explains thus, viz.
... By Demons, he understood Spirits inferior to Gods, and yet superior to Men, which inhabiting the middle Region of the Air, kept up the Communication between the Gods and Men, carrying up the Prayers and Offerings of Men to the Gods, and bringing down the Will of the Gods to Men. He allow’d of none but good ones, tho’ his Disciples (finding themselves unable to account for the Origin of Evil) adopted another kind of Demons, who were Enemies to Man[[373]].
[373]. Gale’s Court of the Gentiles, part I. chap. viii.
The Apocryphal Book of Enoch abounds with the Names of Angels and Devils; but that Book is not of any great Antiquity, tho’ the Prophecy be: it does not appear to have been known by the antient Jews. St. Jude is the first that cited it. The Authority which this spurious Book of Enoch has received from some of the Antients, is the reason of our meeting with several of its Opinions, scatter’d in their Writings. Ibid.
LACTANTIUS, one of the most eloquent Authors of his time, (and therefore called the Christian Cicero) was of Opinion there were two sorts of Demons, celestial and terrestrial[[374]]: The celestial are the fallen Angels, who having been seduced by the Prince of Devils, engaged themselves in impure Amours; the terrestrial are they who issued from the former, as Children from their Parents: These last, who are neither Men nor Angels, but a Medium between the two Natures; were not plunged into Hell, neither were their Fathers admitted into Heaven: The terrestrial Angels are impure Spirits, and Authors of all the Evils committed on Earth[[375]].
[374]. Chambers’s Cyclopæd. Calmet’s Hist. Dict. vol. i. p. 434.
[375]. Lactantius, lib. ii. cap. 14. Lugd. Bat. 1652.
Many of the Antients have allotted to every Man an Evil Angel, who is continually laying Snares for him, and inclining him to Evil, as his Good Angel does to what is Good. The Jews have still the same Sentiments at this day. Another Father thinks, that every Vice has its Evil Angel, presiding over it; as the Demon of Avarice, the Demon of Pride, of Uncleanness[[376]]....
[376]. Origen. Homil. xv. in Josh. Calmet. ibid.
In Pagan Theology, nothing more common than those good and evil Genii, and the same superstitious Notion got among the Israelites, by Commerce with the Chaldeans; but I don’t apprehend that by Demon, they meant the Devil, or a wicked Spirit, tho’ it be taken under that Idea by the Evangelists, and also some modern Jews[[377]].
[377]. Cyclopædia.
We are not without some Remains of those antient Representations: Among the various Rarities in the Musæum at Leyden in Holland, is the Effigies in Sculpture of Osiris, the Egyptian God; ’tis made of Wood, and now almost consum’d with Age: There are three other Egyptian Idols of Stone; an Image of Isis (who married Osiris, King of the Country) giving suck to her Orr. Another Effigies of Isis, the Egyptian Goddess, upon a little Egyptian Coffer, containing the Heart of an Egyptian Prince embalm’d therein.
The antient Pagans, had almost as many Goddesses as Gods; such were Juno, the Goddess of Air, &c. Queen of Heaven, and of the Gods; was represented sitting on a Throne with a Crown of Gold on her Head: This was the Patroness of the female Sex. Every Woman had her Juno, or Guardian; as every Man had his Genius. She was the Goddess of Marriages, which were not deem’d lawful without the Parties first addrest her. One Branch of her Office was to attend them in Labor, when they pray’d, Help, Juno Lucina[[378]].
[378]. Juno Lucina fer opem.
She was ador’d by all Nations; her Temple was open on the Top and had no Doors, it being impious to think of confining the Gods to a narrow Inclosure. Yea, many of the Antients would erect no devotional Temples, from a Persuasion that the whole World is the Temple of God. The Sicyonians would build no Temple to their Goddess Coronis: Nor would the Athenians erect a Statue to the Goddess Clemency, who they said was to live in the Hearts of Men, not within Stone-Walls. The Goddesses were numerous, but I shall add no more.
They did not only enroll Men and Women among their Gods, but they had also Hermaphrodite-Gods. Thus Minerva, according to several of the Learned, was both Man and Woman, and worshipped as such under the Appellation of Lunus & Luna. Mithras, the Persian Deity, was both God and Goddess; there were Gods of Virtue, Vice, Time, Place, Death ... Infancy. Not Men only, but every thing that relates to Mankind, has also been deified, as Infancy, Age, Death, Labor, Rest, Sleep, Virtues, Vices, Time, Place.... Infancy alone had a numerous Train of Deities. They also ador’d the Gods of Health, Love, Fear, Pain, Indignation, Shame, Renown, Prudence, Art, Science, Fidelity, Liberty, Money, War, Peace, Victory....
Thus we have seen, that nothing more common among Pagans, than to place Men among the Number of Deities; yea, some of them would not wait for their Deification till Death. Thus Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, procured his Image to be worshipped while he was living. Thus Augustus had Altars erected and Sacrifices offered to him while alive. He had Priests called Augustales, and Temples at Lyons, and several other Places. He was the first Roman who carried Idolatry to such a pitch: Having in a most respectful manner view’d the embalm’d Body of Alexander the Great, was ask’d, if he would see Ptolemy’s also? he answer’d, His Curiosity was to see a King, not a Man. His Favourite Poet complements him with the Title of God[[379]]. Yea, the Ethiopians deem’d all their Kings Gods.
——Deus nobis hæc otia fecit.
II. Inanimate Things turn’d into Gods. Things without Life were made into Gods by the Heathens: The Sun, Moon, and Stars seem to be the first Idols, or false Gods, to whom they paid a divine Regard. Possidonius defines a Star, a divine Body. The Zabii erected Images to the Stars, which they fancied to be so many Gods, and that they influenced the Images consecrated to them; yea, and communicated the prophetick Spirit to Men.
The Sun and Moon were by the idolatrous Israelites called the King and Queen of Heaven, and the Stars were supposed (as it were) to be their Militia, form’d for their Guards, with which they were always surrounded.
PHILO of Alexandria, (called Philo the Jew, a Platonick Philosopher) imputes to the Stars a great part of whatever happens on the Earth; and says, they are not only Animals, but even most pure Spirits; that our Air is replete with Animals and Spirits, which are continually descending to animate Bodies. He had borrow’d these odd Notions from his Master Plato, Chief of the Academicks. Origen one of the Fathers, who flourish’d in the third Century, was guilty of the same Mistake[[380]].
[380]. Philo Leg. Alleg. Origen. t i. Maimon. in Calmet. under the word Star.
The sacred Books, in some places, seem to ascribe Knowledge to the Stars, when they praised God at the beginning of the World, Job xxxviii. 7. but the Stars were not then created, therefore it’s generally supposed they were Angels. Since then the Sun, Moon and Stars are excited to praise the Lord; the Moon withdrew its Light, and the Sun stopt its Course at the Command of Joshua ... and perhaps one reason of their strange Opinions about the heavenly Bodies, might be owing to these and the like Expressions; not knowing that these Words were meerly popular, and not to be understood literally, for then we must say that the Earth, the Trees, the Waters, are animated, since we find in Scripture some Expressions that would insinuate as much.
The Arabians who sprung from Ishmael, worshipped the Sun, Moon and Stars, in which they were conducted by their Priests who were cloathed in white Vestments, wearing Mitres and Sandals, which at first were only Soles tied to the Feet with Strings. In Authors that speak of ecclesiastical Rites, and Ornaments, we find the word Sandals to signify a valuable kind of Shoes, worn by the Prelates at Solemnities[[381]].
[381]. Benedictus Baudovinus de Calceo Antiquo.
We find Sandals also used by the Ladies, very different in form: When Judith went to the Camp of Holofernes, she put Sandals on her Feet, at the sight of which he was captivated; for ’tis said, Her Sandals ravish’d his Eyes. These were a magnificent sort of Stockens, like Buskins, of an extraordinary Beauty[[382]], and were proper only to the Ladies of Condition, who generally had Slaves to carry them.
[382]. Judith x. 4.
N. B. The real Buskin was the Cothurnus, a very high Shoe rais’d on Soals of Cork, wore by the ancient Actors in Tragedy, to make them appear taller, and more like the Heroes they represented, most of whom were supposed to be Giants.
The Persians had no Temples, Altars, nor Images, holding such little Things improper for the high Gods. Therefore they worshipp’d upon the Top of Hills, where they offer’d Sacrifices to the Sun, Moon, and Stars. The Babylonians adored the Sun, to which the King offer’d every Day a white Horse richly furnish’d: The Sun was in high Esteem among the Phenicians, whose Priests were crown’d with Gold. The Tartars and Cathaians worship the Sun, and Stars, to which they offer the first Fruits of their Meat every Morning before they eat and drink themselves. They have divers Monasteries of Idols, to whom they dedicate their Children.
In Nova Zembla there is no Religion prescrib’d by Law, but they worship the Sun, so long as ’tis with them, and the Moon and North-Star in its absence. In China are great Numbers of sacred Temples, where the Priests have so much Power over their Gods, that they may beat them when they don’t answer their Expectation: Their chief Gods are the Sun, Moon, and Stars, where they are not christianis’d.
In the Philippine Islands, the Natives worship the Stars, which they hold to be the Children of the Sun and Moon: Their Priests, for the most part, are Women. The Japonians worship an Image, with three Faces, by which they mean, Sun, Moon, and the elementary World[[383]].
[383]. Acosta, and Jesuits Ep. in R. Oliver. Noort’s Navigation.
In America their chief Deities are the Sun and Moon; which they honour with Dances and Songs. In Virginia and Florida, when they eat, drink, and sacrifice, they use to throw up towards the Sun, some part of their Food: The Spaniards taking Advantage of this Superstition, made the poor ignorant People believe they were Messengers sent to them from the Sun; whereupon they submitted to the Spanish Yoke. Hacluyt, ibid. At Mexico, when they sacrificed a Man, they pull’d out his Heart, and offer’d it to the Sun.
In South-America, they worship evil Spirits in various Forms, and Sun and Moon. When it thunders, and lightens, they say the Sun is angry with them: When the Moon is eclipsed, they say the Sun is angry with her.
In Peru, next to their chief God, they worship’d the Sun, and after it, the Thunder. They took Sun and Moon for Husband and Wife. In the seventh Month they sacrificed to the Sun, and in the tenth to the Honour of the Moon.
The same Paganism was profest among the Europeans; yea the Greeks and Romans that were the most knowing and polite Nations, their chief Gods were Sun, Moon, and Stars.
The Air, and Meteors in it, were made into Gods: Thus the Persians ador’d the Wind; Thunder and Lightning were honour’d under the Name Geryon. Comets and the Rainbow also have been prefer’d from Meteors, to be Gods. Socrates deify’d the Clouds, if Credit may be given to Aristophanes.
Their high Veneration for Water was such, that to spit, to urine, or wash in a River was made a high Crime; perhaps, the Water of Jealousy that determin’d the Case about the Jewish Women, suspected of Adultery, might heighten their Veneration for this Element.
In Sicily, Rivers were worshipped by the Agrigentes (in the shape of a beautiful Boy) to which they sacrificed.... The Cathaians worship Earth and Water.
The Indians count the River Ganges sacred, and to have a Power of expiating their Sins. When the Idolaters wash in it, they cry, Oh Ganges, purify me! And when any are sick, they dip them in it, in order to recover their Health. The Water of this River is convey’d to such as live at a distance, and are not in a Capacity to travel; so that they ascribe as much Virtue to this River, as the Papists do to their holy Water, and chief Relicks.
The People of Bengal don’t only worship the River Ganges, but give Divine Honours to its Image. Bernier says, that Kingdom is well water’d by Channels cut out of the Ganges, which is visited by many Pilgrims, who think themselves happy if they can wash in it. There is also a Well in that Country, which they adore, and think, by washing therein, they are purify’d from their Sins. Their Priests travel about with the Water of the Ganges, which they sell at vast Prices; because the poor ignorant People are made to believe, that by drinking this Water, they obtain Pardon of their Sins.
The Inhabitants of Peru in America, fling the Ashes of their Sacrifices into the River, follow the same six Leagues, and pray the River to bring that Present to Virachoca, a superior Deity. Acosta.
The Persians and Chaldeans express their God by Fire, to which they perform Adoration, and bring it Food, crying to it, Eat, Oh my Lord Fire! To throw dead and dirty Things into the Fire, yea to blow it with their Breath, was High Treason.
The Magicians say, that this Fire was convey’d to them from Heaven; and that it was for this Reason that they kept it so religiously. That they preserve a constant Fire on their Altars, is evident from History. They are said to have Fires still subsisting, which have burnt above a thousand Years. We read of such Fire kept up with superstitious Care in the Temple of Jupiter Ammon, and in that of Hercules at Gades. So it is in Egypt, and in most of all the eastern Countries, and Virgil tells that Iarbas the Getulian could boast of a hundred Temples he had erected with Altars, blazing with perpetual Fire, the eternal Guard of the Gods[[384]].
Centum aras posuit, vigilemque sacraverat ignem,
Excubias divûm æternas.
Virg. Æneid. 4.
That which gave occasion to perpetuate the Fire in Pagan Temples, might be from the perpetual Fire kept in the Temple at Jerusalem, which descended from Heaven upon the first Victims sacrificed by Aaron and his Son. Hence the Vestals were appointed express, to keep up the sacred Fire of the Romans.
The Kings of Persia never went abroad without having some Portion of the sacred Fire carried before them: The Historian giving an Account of the March of Darius’s Army,—says, that they carried Fire upon Altars of Silver, in great Ceremony,—that they had it in great Veneration, calling it the sacred and eternal Fire, and that the Magi came after, singing Hymns according to the Persian Mode[[385]].
[385]. Quint. Curtius, lib. 1. Hyde de Pers. Relig. c. iii. p. 69.
God appear’d to Moses under the Form of a Fire burning in a Bush. The Camp of Israel in the Wilderness was conducted in the Night by a Pillar of Fire. Now God having made several Revelations of himself, under the Appearance of Fire, might give occasion to the Chaldeans and Persians to entertain such enormous Veneration for Fire, which is a Symbol of the Deity: The Lord thy God, says Moses, is a consuming Fire. At their high Solemnities they set several Trees (hung with diverse Sorts of Beasts for Sacrifice) on fire; this they did after they had carried about these Fires in Procession.
I Shall add here, a remarkable Contest that happen’d between the Chaldean and Egyptian Priests about the Superiority of their Gods.... In the time of Constantine the Chaldean Priests, to prove that Fire, which was their God, excell’d all other Gods in Power, travell’d over the Earth, carrying Fire with them, which soon consum’d all the Statues and Images of other Gods; whether of Brass, Silver, Stone or Wood, says Suidas[[386]], who gives a large Account of it, under the Word κανωπος. At length coming into Egypt, and making this Challenge; the Egyptian Priests agreed upon a Battle of the Gods, and immediately brought into the Field one of their Idols, which was a large Statue of Nilus, full of Water, and full of little Holes, which they stopt with Wax not discernable, and so artificially, that the Water was kept in.
[386]. Vol. I. pag. 1368.
The Chaldeans (not aware of this Device) begun the Action, with much Assurance, and with Eagerness put Fire around the Egyptian Statue, which soon melted the invisible Wax, and the Water gushing forth from all Parts, immediately put out the Fire, and drown’d the hitherto invincible Deity of the Persians; the Tragedy ended in a triumphant Shout of Laughter among the Spectators: And I might add[[387]] how the Arabians and Indians, Peruvians, Lithuanians, and Vandals worship’d Vegetables,—the Scythians Iron. Trees and Plants have been made Gods. Leeks and Onions were Deities in Egypt. The ancient Gauls and Britons bore a particular Devotion to the Oak; from which their Priests took their Names. Ceres and Proserpina, worship’d by the Ancients, were no other than Wheat, Corn, Seed.—The Syrians and Egyptians ador’d Fishes. What were Tritons, Nereids, Syrens, but Sea-Gods? Insects, as Flies, and Ants, had their Priests and Votaries: Yea, Minerals were erected into Deities. The Finlanders ador’d Stones. I don’t see what can be said for such an Instance of Stupidity. To say the Practice took its rise from Abram’s anointing the Stone that he made use of for a Pillow, when he went to Mesopotamia, does not lessen the Reproach. The Mahometans think that Jacob’s Stone was convey’d to the Temple at Jerusalem; and is still there in a Mosque or Turkish Temple, where the Temple at Jerusalem stood before the final Desolation. The monstrous Stupidity of Pagans in their Devotions will further appear in the Close of this Performance.
[387]. Ruffin. Hist. Ecclesiastica, lib. 2. Stanley’s Lives of the Philosophers, part 16. chap. 8. page 28.
Now among all these Instances of Idolatry, the Adoration of the Sun was the most excusable; for, who can behold that stupendous Globe of Fire and Light in perpetual Motion, Splendor, and universal Usefulness to Mankind, without awful Admiration, and warm Emotions of Mind? No wonder then to find that it has been the Object of Adoration so long, and in so many Places. It was the Sun very probably that was worship’d by the Phenicians under the Name of Baal, by the Moabites under the Name of Chemosh, by the Ammonites under the Name of Moloch; by the degenerated Israelites by the Name of Baal, the King of the Host of Heaven, to whom they join’d the Moon, whom they called Astarta or Queen of Heaven.
This Worship was perform’d upon high Places, in Groves, and upon the Roofs of their Houses, which in those Countries, were flat. It was against this kind of Worship that Moses warn’d the Israelites, and threatens the Transgressors with Death. Deut. iv. 19, ’tis said Josiah King of Judah took away the Horses, that his Royal Predecessors had given to the Sun, and were fix’d at the Entrance into the House of the Lord, and burnt the Chariots of the Sun with Fire.
III. Animal Gods. In the next place, I shall briefly touch upon some Brutes and Birds, &c. that received Divine Honours from the Pagan People, and even from those who were supposed to excel their Neighbours in Understanding and Wisdom.
Thus Crocodiles, Serpents, Eagles, Dogs, Cats, Wolves, Oxen, were worship’d by the People of Egypt, those celebrated Sons of Wisdom; but their greatest Solemnities were consecrated to the God Apis, or Serapis, under the Image of an Ox or Bull.
They had an Ox consecrated to the Sun, which they fed at Heliopolis in Egypt: They had another called Apis, dedicated to the Moon, and fed at Memphis, (for some time, the royal City) where he had his Temple, and the Devils gave out their Oracles. In the time of St. Jerom, who flourish’d in the fourth Century, they worshipped here a brass Bull as a God.
The famous God Osiris was adored under the Figure of this Beast, and when dead, it was buried with great Solemnity and Mourning: And ’tis observable, that his Birth-day was celebrated thro’ the whole Kingdom. N. B. ’Tis very probable, that the Israelites worshipped the golden Calf in the same manner as the Egyptians did their Bulls, their Cows and Calves.
Before I proceed, give me leave to speak something of this golden Idol, which was the Figure of a Calf, which the Israelites cast, and set up to worship in Moses’s Absence; who, upon his return from the Mount, burnt the Figure, ground it to Powder, and made the People drink it mixt with Water, Exod. xxxii. The Learned are divided in their Sentiments on this Article; that is, the golden Calf, that was burnt and pulverized.
To pulverize Gold and render it potable, is an Operation in Chymistry of the last Difficulty; and ’tis hard to conceive how it should be done at that time, before Chymistry was heard of, and in a Wilderness too, where they had no proper Instruments. Many therefore suppose it to be done by a Miracle. But the chymical Art seems to be of greater Antiquity, and was very probably practised in the antediluvian World by Tubal Cain. Moses is the next Chymist mention’d in the Bible, whose Skill in chymical Operations, in pulverizing the golden Calf, seems to be incontestable, and artificial.
The Art is now much improved. Bid a Chymist convert Gold into Glass; and by means of a burning Concave, or otherwise, he presently does it: Ask him to Shew you Gold in Powder, and by mixing a little Antimony with that Metal, he will soon render it pulverable[[388]].
[388]. Boerhaave’s new Method. Proces. 268, 317.
But to return: Among other living Creatures, the Egyptians also paid a great Devotion to Dogs and Cats. We read of a certain Roman Soldier, that was like to be torn to pieces by the People, for having kill’d a Cat by Accident; and that when a Dog happen’d to die, the whole House went into Mourning[[389]]: Yea, in case of a great Famine, they would eat Man’s Flesh, before they would touch their sacred Animals; ibid. The Stork, Raven, Eagle, Hawk, Ibis, and other Birds, have had divine Honours paid them in Egypt and other Places....
[389]. Diodor. Siculus, Herodot.
The City of Mendez in Egypt worshipped a Goat; the City of Mira, the Crocodile. In other Provinces they erected Altars to Lions, Baboons, Wolves.... The Hog was ador’d in the Island of Crete (now Candy) in the Mediterranean. Bats and Mice had Altars consecrated to them in Troas and at Tenedos.
Nothing can be supposed more ridiculous than the Adoration given by the Egyptians to their brutal Deities, which were either within or near their Temples; had Tables with delicious Meats and Beds prepared for them, and when any of them died, they went into Mourning, prepared sumptuous Funerals and magnificent Tombs for them, as may be seen at large in Diodorus Siculus, Herodotus, and others[[390]].
[390]. Plut. Herodot. Jurieu’s Critical History.
Some indeed ridiculed their senseless and stupid Neighbours, tho’ they themselves were not Masters of superior Sense in their Devotions. Anaxandrides reproaches the Egyptians for their wretched and foolish Idolatry; but after all, this was only one Idolater deriding another. Dionysius was the most notorious this way: And most knavish in this kind was the Painter, who, when he should have drawn the Picture of such a Goddess for a Grecian City, drew the Picture of his own Mistress, and so made her to be adored by the Citizens.
What Man could have forbore laughing, said the Greek Poet above, to see an Egyptian on his Marrowbones, praying to an Ox as to a God, or howling over a sick Cat, fearing lest his scratching God should die?
Upon the whole, ’tis no easy matter to discover the real Sentiments of the Heathens about their Gods: they admitted so many superior and inferior Deities, who shared the Empire, that all was full of Gods.
Some of the Antients say, that a certain subtile Matter that made Stars intelligent, did reside in their sacred Animals, Plants and Men, and escaped Death: And this made them fit to partake of such Worship, as they gave to the Stars.——Sanchoniatho meant only, that the celestial Bodies are intelligent, and see what is done here below, and therefore were to be adored as Gods[[391]].
[391]. Sanchoniatho’s Phœnician Hist. by the Learned Bp. Cumberland, vol. i. p. 20, 21.
SECT. III.
Adoration of Serpents.
The next thing that comes under Consideration is, the Worship of Serpents, which is observed thro’ all the Pagan Antiquity. The Devil, who, under the Shape of a Serpent, tempted our first Parents, has, with unwearied Application, labour’d to deify that Animal, as a Trophy of his first Victory over Mankind. The Conquest made by the old Serpent in Paradise, and the wonderful Cures made by the Shadow of a Serpent in the Wilderness, contributed very much towards making that hateful Creature so venerable in the Eyes of so many Nations.
God having past Sentence upon the Serpent, Satan consecrates that Form in which he deceived the Woman, and introduces it into the World as an Object of religious Veneration: This he did with a view to enervate the Force of the divine Oracle, the Seed of the Woman. Scarcely a Nation upon Earth, but he has tempted to the grossest Idolatry, and in particular got himself to be worshipped in the hideous Form of a Serpent.
The Almighty foreseeing this general Delusion, guarded the World against it, by inspiring Men with the greatest Aversion to that venemous Creature, and yet was the Tempter ador’d in most places under the Appearance of a Serpent. If you say, that Men worship other Creatures; I answer, Those are beneficial to Mankind, and not so odious and hurtful as those who carry Poison in their Tails and Teeth.
How surprizing this! that a Serpent, a Beast to which Mankind has a strong natural Aversion, should be ador’d by Creatures of Reason, and yet nothing more common, as will appear by the following Instances from Antiquity.
EGYPT was a Country that abounded with Variety of Serpents, and where they were generally held in the greatest Veneration. The supreme God was represented by them in the Form of a Serpent with a Hawk’s Head, because of the wonderful Agility of that Bird. We see no Table of Osiris and Isis, two Egyptian Idols, without a Serpent joined to them[[392]]. This Isis married Osiris, King of that Country, and govern’d with so much Wisdom and Gentleness, that the Egyptians paid divine Honours to them, who had been such Blessings to the Land.
[392]. Macrobii Oper. Sat. cap. xx.
In Egypt is a Serpent of the Aspick Kind, called Thermutis, to which they gave divine Worship; therefore crown’d with it the Statue of their Goddess Isis. In the Corners of the Temples, they built little Chapels under ground, where they carefully fed this Thermutic Serpent, as a sacred Genius[[393]].
[393]. Ælian de Animalibus, lib. x. Conrad. Gesner. de Serp. p. 32.
The Egyptians also paid divine Honours to the Crocodile, that monstrous kind of Serpent, particularly the Inhabitants of Arsinoë, and they who dwelt in the Neighbourhood of Thebes, and the Lake Mæris; among whom ’twas fed by their Priests with Bread, Wine, Flesh, and diverse Rarities[[394]].
[394]. In Jonstonus de Quadruped, cap. viii. p. 142.
THÆAUTUS, so often mentioned by Sanchoniatho, attributed some Deity to the Nature of the Serpent; an Opinion approved by the Phenicians, therefore look’d upon as holy and immortal, and comes into the sacred Mysteries[[395]].
[395]. Euseb. Præp. Evangel. l. i. c. 10. from Philo Biblius, the Translator of Sanchon.
They represented the World by a Circle, in the middle of which was a Serpent, representing the good Demon, or Genius of the World, by which ’tis animated, and is a Symbol of the Almighty Creator. Behold here the Blasphemy of Satan, in giving to God the Form of a Serpent, which he had borrow’d himself to make war against God in Paradise. They sometimes represented their Gods with the Bodies of Serpents, and honour’d those odious Animals with divine Worship, as Symbols of Apollo, of the Sun, and of Medicine, and were put into the Charge of Ceres and Proserpine.
HERODOTUS observes, that in his time, near Thebes, there were to be seen tame Serpents, adorn’d with Jewels, and consecrated to Jupiter, which did no harm to any body: When they died, they were buried in Jupiter’s Temple[[396]]. Ælian speaks of domestick Serpents, that were in the Houses of the Egyptians, and look’d upon as household Gods; and of another Serpent worshipped in a Tower at Melitus in Egypt, that had a Priest and other Officers attending it, and served every day upon an Altar with Meal kneaded up with Honey, which the next day was found to be eaten. In Melite Eg. Draco divinis honoribus afficitur in turri quadam ... adsunt ei sacerdotes & ministri; mensa ... ex farina subacta.... Herod. lib. ii. cap. 17.
[396]. ——Ex Crocodilis alunt. appendentes auribus vel gemmas—sacris in arnis sepeliant. Euterpe, lib. ii. p. 186.
The Phenicians also sacrificed to Dragons, calling them their good Angels, their propitious and kind Spirits. Nothing more common in the Heathen Religion, than the Appearance of a Serpent in some Form or other.
The Babylonians worshipped a Dragon, which the Prophet Daniel, by a Commission from the King, killed; which, one would think, was sufficient to convince the Royal Idolater of his egregious Stupidity in worshipping a Creature as Conservator of Mankind, that could not preserve its own Life. They represented the World by a Circle in the Form of a Greek Theta Θ, and the good Demon, by a Serpent in the midst of it; under which Figure, the Protectors of Countries and Cities, called tutelary Gods, were worshipped.
The Arabians reputed Serpents sacred Beings, and therefore would allow no Violence to be offered to them; and this Superstition yet remains among those People, according to Veslingius, says my Author. They take them into their Houses, feed and worship them as the Genii, or Guardians of the Place: Not only Men, but every kind of Things, had its peculiar Genius. Two were assigned to each Person, a good and evil Genius, and those were thought to attend them from the Cradle to the Grave. We read of a sacred Dragon that was kept in Phrygia in Asia Minor, whose Residence was in a Wood, dedicated to Diana, Goddess of the Woods.
Among other strange Animals in the East-Indies, Alexander found in a Cave, a monstrous Dragon, which the Inhabitants counted sacred, and was adored by them, and daily supplied with Food: The poor, ignorant, superstitious People, humbly addrest the Conqueror, not to attack that holy Place, and disturb the Repose of their God. The victorious Army hearing its hideous and dreadful Roarings, were not a little terrify’d; they only saw its monstrous Head, when stretch’d out of its Mansion, and its Eyes appeared to them to be as big as a large Macedonian Buckler, a Species of defensive Armour[[397]].
[397]. Conrad. Gesner. p. 44, 45. Gyllius.
The King of Calicut (in the East-Indies, the most powerful of all the Malabar Princes) causes little Cottages to be erected for sacred Serpents, to guard them against the Inclemency of the Weather, and ’tis made Death to hurt them, being they are look’d upon as heavenly Spirits; and they believe them to be such for this Reason, because they kill Men so suddenly by the Wound they give, which is only a little Puncture, and would not prove fatal if given by other Creatures.
It is observed by some, that Serpents at this day are highly honour’d in the Kingdom of Calicut, on this side the Ganges, where the Inhabitants call their King Samori, or Zamorin, that is, Sovereign Emperor, and God upon Earth. The Dragon being a Serpent of the vigilant Tribe, was constituted and made Guardian of their Houses, of their oracular Temples, and of all their Treasures.
These Protectors of Places and Possessions, they call’d Tutelary Gods, and were worshipp’d by them under the Symbol of Serpents, without whose Sanction no Methods of Protection were available.
It is remarkable, that where the Figure of two Serpents was erected in any place, it was look’d upon as a Sign of consecrated Ground; that is, that the Place was holy, being dedicated to some God; for which Superstition they are ridiculed by one of their own Writers, viz. Persius the Satirist, that lived under Nero, who tells us, that Children were forbid to empty themselves in those Places, and not so much as make-water, for the Place is holy, as appears by the Picture of the two Serpents; the Language of which is, Profane not holy Ground.
Would you, Sir, have your Poem pass for a sacred Composure, then paint two Serpents in the Front of it.
Behold here the Original of that Popish Superstition, which forbids Men to make-water in the Church-Yard[[398]].
Pinge duos angues, pueri, sacer est locus, extra
Meite——
Satir. i.
At Alba, in a Wood not far from Juno’s Temple, is a Dragon worshipp’d by the Inhabitants, and for their greater Honour, fed by Virgins, thereby intimating, that Innocence was a proper Attendant on the Gods.
In Epirus, south of Macedonia, is a certain place sacred to Apollo, and wall’d about, within which are kept sacred Dragons, fed likewise by a Virgin Priestess, uncloathed, which they believe to be most acceptable to their idol Gods[[399]]; called by Juvenal, one of their own Poets, wenching Gods.
[399]. Ælian. lib. ii. cap. 2. ἱερεια γυμνη παρθενος.
The Epiroticks, who highly venerated Apollo, honour’d his Temple with a consecrated Dragon, which they worshipp’d in solemn remembrance of his killing the Pythonic Serpent. It were well if the same Spirit of Gratitude reign’d amongst Britons, towards the Heroes that deliver’d their Country from the great Ecclesiastical Dragon, by the glorious Revolution.
Near Lavinium was a Grove of serpentine Gods, dedicated to Juno of Argos, which was a City in Peloponnesus (famous for the Shrine of Æsculapius) now the Morea, one of whose Rivers is called Styx; or rather a Well, whose Water is so cold and venemous, that it often kills such that drink thereof; and therefore design’d by the Poets, to be a River of Hell: ’Tis said by some, that Alexander was poison’d with it.
It’s well known what Worship was paid to the Serpent at Epidaurus, a Peleponnesian City, and the Manner how ’twas pretended that Serpent was brought to Rome, which is as follows, viz.
The Romans being sorely distrest by a Plague, they sent a Galley with Ambassadors to Epidaurus, to bring the Serpent consecrated to Æsculapius to Rome, which of its own accord went aboard the Galley, and which was landed in the Isle of Tyber, where divine Honours were paid to it; upon which the Plague ceased.——Take it as represented by the Historian, who says, ... That the Plague raging terribly at Rome, and in the Vicinity, above three Years, did not abate, by any divine or human Remedy, tho’ Men had tried both; therefore by the Counsel of the Delphic Oracle, ten Ambassadors were sent to fetch the Statue of Æsculapius, that was ador’d in the Body of the great Serpent; hereupon, a very strange thing ensued, and manifestly true, both from many faithful Historians, and building the Temple (dedicated to it) in the Isle of Tyber.
When the Roman Ambassadors had delivered their Commands to the Epidaurians, who brought them into the Temple of Æsculapius ... while they were admiring a huge Shrine, a great Serpent sliding of a sudden from the Adytum (which was a Place of Retirement in the Pagan Temples, where Oracles were given, into which none but Priests were admitted) upon sight of it the Priests, in a devout Posture, said to the Company, that the Deity shrouded itself in that Form, and when it appear’d in this Fashion, ’twas look’d upon as a happy Omen.
The Serpent was seen for two Days in the Temple, and afterwards disappeared, but on the third Day it past thro’ the Croud (which gazed on and worship’d) and went directly to the Port where the Roman Galley stood; and having enter’d into it, laid itself down in the Cabin of Q. Ogulnius, the chief Ambassador. They set sail from thence ... and soon arrived at Rome. The whole City came out to see this wonderful Thing——Altars were built, Incense burnt, and Sacrifices offer’d. The Serpent swam over to the Isle of Tyber, (which afterwards was called Æsculapius’s Isle) and since was never seen.
The Senate concluding this Island to be the Place chosen by the God, decreed that a Temple should be built for Æsculapius there—whereupon the Plague ceased. The Temple grew famous for rich Offerings, in Consideration of their Deliverance from the Plague by that Deity[[400]].
[400]. Livy. lib. xi. Quære, Whether the Historian’s Faith kept pace with his Pen?
VALERIUS MAXIMUS says, that the Priests looking into the Sibyls Books, observed there was no other way to restore the City to its former Health, but by bringing the Image of Æsculapius from Epidaurus ... upon which Ambassadors were sent[[401]].
[401]. Val. Maxim. lib. i. cap. 8. See Ovid. Metamorph. lib. 25.
The Poets and Mythologists, in order to shew there was no Distemper but Æsculapius could cure, said, he raised the Dead. Thus at the Request of Diana, he restor’d Hippolytus to Life, who had been torn to pieces by his Horses. We can’t doubt of the Credulity of the People in thinking him rank’d among the Gods, after so many Temples, Inscriptions, and Medals dedicated to his Memory.
The most famous Temples consecrated to Æsculapius, were that of Epidaurus[[402]], that in the Isle of Co, that of Cyrene, that of Pergamos, that in the Isle of Tyber[[403]].
[402]. Pliny Nat. Hist. lib. 4. c. 5.
[403]. For these, see Strabo, Val. Maximus, Herodot., Livy.
As to the Inscriptions in honour of Æsculapius, Gruterus has these following, viz.
Æsculapio, Hygeæ, & ceteris Diis & Deabus.
Deo Æsculapio, & Hygeæ, conservatoribus.
Deo Æsculapio, & Deæ Hygeæ.
N. B. The Title of Conservator, or Saviour, was the ordinary Elogium of Æsculapius.
In the Isle of Co, there was a Coin whereon Æsculapius was called the Saviour; and so on a Coin of Ancyra. Games are also mentioned, instituted in honour of him as Saviour. The Symbol of Æsculapius was a Serpent, or Dragon, about a little Rod, as may be seen in several Medals, and by the Testimony of the Poet[[404]]. Wherever he was worship’d in Statues of a human Figure, a Staff was put into his Left-hand, with a Serpent about it.
[404]. Ovid. Metam. lib. 5. Qualis in æde.... Esse solet, baculumque tenens agreste sinistra.
This seems to be the reason why Antiquity represents the first Masters of Physick (as Hermes, Æsculapius, Hippocrates, in their Statues and Medals) with a Viper added to their Figure; and also why they worship’d those Physicians under the Form of Serpents[[405]].
[405]. Salomonis Cellarii—Origines & Antiquitates Medicæ. Printed at Hall in Saxony.
The Serpent of Æsculapius, the reputed God of Physick, had its Rise from the miraculous Cures done by Moses’s Serpent in the Camp of Israel. Serpents of bright and golden Colour were all counted sacred to Æsculapius, and were cicur’d, or made tame by human Arts. A Dragon was usually annex’d to his Image, and to that of Health, nothing being thought available without the Presence of a Serpent.
At Pella in Macedonia, the Royal Seat, and Alexander’s Birth-place, were Dragons of a large Bulk, but of a gentle Nature, maintain’d at the Expence of the Government, as Creatures bearing a sacred Character, and worthy of the publick Regard. Because many tame Serpents were kept in that Place, the fabulous Poets said, Alexander was born of a Serpent.
The People of Argos in Greece, had Serpents in such great Veneration, that nobody was suffer’d to kill them with impunity[[406]]. The Pagan Temples were wont to be haunted with Serpents, in so much that it grew into a Phrase of Speech, the sacred Serpent[[407]]. And thus Serpents are deified and solemnly enrolled among the Gods.
[406]. Ælian. lib. xii. cap. 34.
[407]. Sacer anguis.
SANCHONIATHON, a Phœnician Historiographer, and Philo Biblius, who translated his Antiquities, have left us a full Account of the Origin of the Apotheosis, or Canonization of Serpents[[408]]; which leads me to say something of what the Ancients called Apotheosis of departed Souls, and the Strange Ceremonies used in the Apotheosis or Deification of the deceased Emperor, who had deserved well of their Country.
[408]. Sanchoniathon is supposed by some to be cotemporary with Gideon.
APOTHEOSIS among the Ancients was a Pagan Ceremony whereby Emperors and great Men were placed among the Gods, called also Deification, and Consecration: Temples and Altars were erected to the new Deities, viz. Serpents and Men, Sacrifices offered to them; and for that end, Colleges of Priests were instituted for the Honour of these Demi-Gods.
It was one of the Doctrines of Pythagoras, which he borrowed from the Chaldeans, that useful and virtuous Persons, after their Death, were raised into the Order of the Gods. Hence the Ancients deified all the Inventors of Things that were beneficial to Mankind, and those who had done Services of Importance to their Country.
By degrees these new Gods grew very numerous. One of their own Poets rallying them for frequent Deifications, introduces poor Atlas, who is said to bear the Heavens on his Shoulders, complaining, that he was ready to sink under the Number and Weight of so many new Gods, as were every day coin’d, and added to the Heavens, which made his Shoulders to warch. N. B. Atlas in Anatomy is the Name of the first Vertebra of the Neck, which supports the Head, and is the highest, so called in allusion to the famous Mountain Atlas in Africa, suppos’d to be the highest in the World, so that it seems to hold up the Heavens; and also to the Fable that makes Atlas King of Mauritania in that Country, to bear up the visible Heavens. I now proceed to the Description which we have in Herodian, a Greek Historian in the third Century, who in speaking of the Apotheosis of the Emperor Severus, gives us a very full Account of that strange Ceremony, viz.
... After the Body of the deceased Emperor had been burnt with the usual Solemnities, they placed an Image of Wax perfectly like him, but of a sickly Aspect, on a large Bed of Ivory, covered with Cloth of Gold, which they exposed to publick View at the Entrance of the Palace-Gate.
The greatest Part of the Day the Senate sat ranged on the left side of the Bed, drest in Mourning Robes; the Ladies of the first Rank sitting on the right side, in plain and white Robes, without any Ornaments.... This lasted for seven Days successively; during which, the Physicians came from time to time to visit the Sick, always making their Report that he grew worse, till at length they publish’d it, that he was dead.
This done, the young Senators and Roman Knights took the Bed of State upon their Shoulders, carrying it thro’ the Via sacra to the old Forum, where the Magistrates used to divest themselves of their Offices: There they let it down between two kinds of Amphitheatres; in the one, were the Youth, and in the other the Maidens of the first Families in Rome, singing Hymns set to solemn Airs in praise of the Deceased.
Those Hymns ended, the Bed was carried out of the City into the Campus Martius, in the middle of which Place was erected a kind of square Pavilion; the Inside thereof was full of combustible Matter, and the Outside hung with Cloth of Gold, and adorned with Figures of Ivory, and various Paintings.
Over this Edifice were several others, like the first in Form and Decoration, but less; always diminishing, and growing slenderer towards the Top, and a great many aromatick Perfumes, and odoriferous Fruits and Herbs were thrown all around: After which, the Knights made a Procession in solemn Measures about the Pile; several Chariots ran round it, those who conducted them being clad in purple Robes, and bearing the Images of the greatest Roman Emperors and Generals.
This Ceremony ended, the new Emperor came to the Catafalco or Pile with a Torch in his hand, and at the same time Fire was put to it on all sides by the Company, the Spices and all Combustibles kindling all at once. While this was doing, they let fly from the Top of the Building an Eagle, which mounting into the Air with a Firebrand, carried the Soul of the dead Emperor along with it into Heaven, as the Romans believ’d; and thenceforward he was ranked among the Gods. ’Tis for this Reason that the Medals wherein the Apotheoses are represented, have usually an Altar with Fire upon it, or however an Eagle taking its Flight into the Air, and sometimes two Eagles[[409]].
[409]. Herodian, who writ his History in 8 Books, from whom we have the Ceremonies of the Apotheosis of the Roman Emperors, lib. 4.
A certain Emperor being asked, what he had done to merit an Apotheosis? He answered, He had always studied to resemble the Gods. And being asked again, In what did he endeavour to be like them? He answered, In having as few Wants as possible of my own, and doing good in the most extensive Way to others.
There is no Place so remote in the World, but has been polluted with this monstrous Idolatry, of worshipping Serpents. The northern Historians tell us, the People of Lithuania in Poland worship’d Serpents; and ’tis not long ago, since that gross Idolatry was abolish’d, of which Sigismund Baron of Herberstein, gives us this memorable Story, viz.
——Returning, says he, from Massovia near Wilna, my Host acquainted me, he had bought a Hive of Bees, from one of these Serpent-Worshippers, whom with much ado he had persuaded to kill the Serpent, and worship the true God: Within a while after coming that Way, he found the poor Fellow miserably tortured and deformed, his Face wrinkl’d and turn’d awry; and demanding the Cause of it, he answer’d, viz.
THAT this Judgment was inflicted upon him for killing his God, and that he was like to endure heavier Torments if he did not return to his former Worship. Which brings to my Mind a Passage in one of the Fathers, relating to the Carthaginians, who having been compelled by Agathocles King of Sicily to leave off those horrid Sacrifices of human Victims to Saturn, forbore them a long time: But a great Calamity being brought upon them for disusing those human Sacrifices; and to atone for their Neglect, they sacrificed at once two hundred Children of the noblest Families in Carthage[[410]].
[410]. Cum victi essent ab Agathocle rege Siculorum, iratum sibi Deum putavisse, itaque ut diligentius piaculum solverent ducentos nobilium filios immolasse. Lactantius. Lib. 1. Sect. 21. p. 67. Lugd. Batav.
But to return to the Baron of the North, who adds, That in his Time, the People in Samogitia, East of the Baltick Sea, did still pay divine Honours to a Serpent as a Deity.... Some of those that inhabit the Deserts, adore a four-footed Serpent, under the Name of Givosit. Few Families there, are without Serpents, for their Domestick Gods, to whom they give more than ordinary Veneration, tho’ at the same time they profess the Christian Faith[[411]], which Jagello their Prince received Anno Domini 1386. ibid.
[411]. Atlas Europe, p. 261.
The English Cosmographer accounts for them thus, viz. “The People anciently had Fire and Serpents for their Gods, nourishing the last in their Houses, and keeping the other continually burning; the Priests of the Temple always adding Fuel, that it might not fail. The Vestal Fire was not kept more carefully at Rome, nor with greater Ceremony.... To this God, (whom they call’d, Lord of the Smoke,) they used to sacrifice young Pullets, to the other their Cocks[[412]].” The Seed of this Idolatry is so implanted in them, that ’tis said, that in a Village of the King’s, called Lovaniski, their chief City, they do, to this day worship Serpents. ibid.
[412]. Heylin’s Cosmogr. lib. 2. Poland p. 143.
The Lithuanians, ’tis said, ador’d three Gods, Fire, Wood, and Serpents. These last were counted their Guardian Gods. And according to a certain Historian, this kind of superstitious and diabolical Worship continues yet in some Parts of the Kingdoms of Norway and Vermolandia[[413]].
[413]. Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal. History of the Goths.
The Inhabitants of Prussia were barbarous and wild in the highest degree, having of old no manner of Religion, or next to none, and first began with the Worship of Serpents[[414]]. There are Countries in the Indies, says Jurieu, where Serpents are worship’d to this day.
[414]. Erasm. Stella in the Antiquities of Prussia. Lib. 1.
ARISTOPHANES, in the Comedy entitled Plutus, observes that the Deity gave the Sign, viz. by hissing; upon which two monstrous Dragons skip’d out of the Temple[[415]].
Δυω δρακοντ’ εκ του νεω. Fragmenta p. 52.
Dixerat hæc adytis cum lubricus anguis ab imis.
When Æneas sacrificed to the Manes, (the departed Soul) of his Father Anchises, he saw a Serpent come out of his Grave, which he concluded to be either the Tutelar God of his Father, or of that Place, which was counted a good Omen. We have an Account of some Priests in Asia that expose to publick View a Serpent in a brazen Vessel, attended with a great Variety of Musick. The Serpent appears in an erect Posture, opens its Mouth, and instead of a forked Tongue, appears the Head of a beautiful Virgin[[416]].
[416]. Phil. Melanchton.
NICHOLAS de Lyra makes mention of such another idle Conceit, viz. That the Serpent assumed the Face of a beautiful Maid, when it tempted Eve. N. B. In the German Bibles printed before Luther, among other Figures may be seen that of a Serpent with the Face of a very handsome Maid.
In short, so great was the Devotion paid to Serpents, that Persons and Things were denominated from them: Yea, some would be thought to proceed from Serpents, as the highest Degree of Honour. Cadmus’s Companion was called a Serpent, so the Giant in Homer, and a certain Prophet in Pausanias.
In the Primitive Church were an heretical Sect, called Ophites, that is Serpents. In Cyprus, and about the Hellespont, were a certain People that went by the Name Serpent. So a Soothsayer in Messenia, &c. But these came short of Alexander the Great, and Scipio Africanus, who were said to be born of Serpents, which they look’d upon to be the brightest Insignia in their Escutcheon; but more of this Serpentine Pride in the next Chapter.
In such wonderful Esteem were Serpents among them, that all manner of Creatures were called by their Name, as Stars, Animals, Plants, Trees, Herbs, Rivers, Stones, Islands, Proverbs.... Nothing was accounted Divine and Grand, unless graced by a Serpent[[417]]. From this Divinity ascrib’d to Serpents, Pherecides took occasion to make a Dissertation concerning the Deity called Ophion, from Οφις, a Serpent[[418]].
[417]. Conradus Gesner.
[418]. Euseb. Præparat. Evang.
CHAPTER V.
Contents.
Reasons for worshipping Serpents, seem to rise from Misapplication of some Scripture Passages: But especially, 1. From the Triumphs of the Paradisaic Serpent. Pagan History from Moses. In the primitive Church, a Sect of Christians worship’d Serpents, and said the Serpent in Paradise was a good Creature. 2. From the miraculous Cures done by the brazen Serpent. Alexander affected the Honour of being begot by a Serpent, ador’d as a God, by a Decree of the Priests.
WHAT Reason can be assigned for giving religious Worship to Serpents? I answer,
It is no easy Matter to find out the Original of Pagan Idolatry, having no authentick Records of those remote Times, therefore Conjectures, or nothing must content the honest Enquirer: Something may be offer’d, without going beyond our Depth. Before I proceed, it may be proper to observe, viz. That Knowledge sprung from the Sons of Noah, who doubtless instructed their Successors in the History of the Creation, the Conquest of Paradise by a Serpent, that introduced the Knowledge of Good and Evil upon Earth.
Those whom we call Heathens, at first were Members of the true Church; the further Men went from the Spring, the Streams grew more muddy, and strange Constructions were put upon the History of Adam and Eve, Noah, and his Progeny, which in process of Time was metamorphosed into a Narrative of Fooleries and fabulous Gods.
So the Mosaick History of their Travels thro’ the Wilderness, and the Promulgation of the Law upon Mount Sinai, were strange and stupendous Events, that soon spread over the Nations in some Shape or other.
In the Phœnician Theology, we find the Creation described, almost in the Terms used by Moses. Diodorus Siculus says, the Antients liv’d upon Roots and Fruits. The Phœnician Records mention Ujoris, i. e. Adam, the first that wore Garments made of Animal Skins. The Vulcan of the Heathen was the Tubal-cain of Moses, (Gen. iv. 22.) the first Artificer in Brass and Iron: Plato’s Atlanticus is a Fable founded upon the History of Noah’s Flood: The Fable of the Giants storming Heaven, is taken from the Builders of the Tower of Babel, as before: Yea, says a Learned Father (after Numenius, the celebrated Pythagorean and Platonist) what is Plato but Moses in an Athenian Dress[[419]]? But to be more particular,
[419]. Τι γαρ εστι Πλατων η Μωσης αττικιζων. Quid enim est Plato, nisi Moses qui loquitur Atticè? Or, Quid enim aliud est Plato, quam Moses Atticissans? Clementis Alexandrini Opera, Strom. lib 1. Coloniæ p. 342.
1. SATAN, who conducted the War in Eden, display’d his Art under the Form of a Serpent, which Moses represents as a Creature of superior Wisdom, and Illuminator of Mankind. Now the Tradition, that the first Serpent had not only the Gift of speaking, but of communicating Science, and had held a Conference with the first Woman, to the vast Increase of her Knowledge, might at last swell to such a degree, that ignorant People might attribute to that Serpent, and her Race, a kind of Divinity; and for this Reason also, because in the Perfections of the Mind she exceeded our first Parents, who being constituted Governors of the Earth, must be supposed to be furnish’d with extraordinary Accomplishments: But, says Tradition, here is one who infused greater Knowledge into them, and made them more wise; and they, for contesting with the Wisdom of the Serpent, were turned out of Paradise, and ordain’d their Dwelling to be among the Beasts of the Field.
Surely, might the People say, so great a Being as this Serpent merits our awful Regards. Now, how far such Thoughts might operate in those early days of Ignorance and Superstition, I determine not: The Serpent indeed, is said to be more subtle than the Beasts of the Field, but not more wise than Adam and Eve.
It is more strange, to think that in the primitive Church there were certain Hereticks call’d Ophites, took their Name from Ophis[[420]], who worshipped the Serpent that betray’d Eve, and ascribed all sorts of Knowledge to that Animal, maintain’d ’twas a good Creature, and that our first Parents were instructed by it to know Good and Evil. Yea, they believed, “the Serpent that tempted Eve was the Christ, who afterwards came down and was incarnate in the Person of Jesus: That it was Jesus, but not the Christ, that suffer’d; for which reason they made all Proselytes to their Sect, to renounce Jesus[[421]].” If a Sect of Christians speak after this manner, what Ideas must the Heathen form of things?
[420]. A Greek word that signifies a Serpent.
[421]. Calmet.
One of the Fathers speaking of these Hereticks, observes how they affirm’d,——That Wisdom made itself a Serpent——had given Knowledge to Man, and that the Position of Man’s Bowels, winding about like Serpents, shews that there is in us a hidden Substance that engenders the Figure of Serpents[[422]]. Surely those Fathers of the Church were Children in Understanding, that gave way to such mystical Conundrums. Call them no more Fathers, but Children of Antiquity.
[422]. Irenæus adv. Hæres. (lib. 1. cap. 34.—sophiam serpentem factam—) who flourish’d in the close of the 2d Century.
These Hereticks, in the Consecration of the Eucharist, always had a Serpent ready in a Box, which they produced on that Occasion, making it come out by certain Charms, and lick the Bread, and having kissed the same, they eat it[[423]]. Another Historian expresses it thus, viz. “When their Priests celebrated their Mysteries, they made one of these Creatures to come out of his Hole, and after he had roll’d himself upon the Things that were to be offer’d in Sacrifice, they said Jesus Christ had sanctified them, and then gave them to the People to worship them[[424]].” N. B. I don’t apprehend how the Learned Abbot makes them bring in the Name Jesus here, a Name which in the same Page he says, they obliged their Proselytes to renounce.
[423]. Bingh. Index Heret.
[424]. Calmet’s Histor. Dict. vol. ii. p. 668.
This strange Superstition seems to be derived from the Heathen, who at the Feasts of Bacchus, used to carry a Serpent, and to cry, Evia, Evia[[425]]: And Evia, says Clemens Alexandrinus, if it be asperated, Hevia, signifies in the Hebrew, a female Serpent. Dr. Lightfoot observes, that there being no such Word in the Hebrew, Clemens must mean the Chaldee, in which Hivia signifies a Serpent.
[425]. Ευια, ευια.
2. The Reputation gain’d by the Serpent in Paradise, was heighten’d by the wonderful Cures done by the brazen Serpent in the Wilderness. As this strange Occurrence was capable of various Glosses, so it must undergo different Constructions. The Brazen Serpent was brought to Canaan, where ’twas kept in remembrance of the miraculous Cures their Forefathers had received from it in the Wilderness; and, ’tis probable, the Israelites themselves were the first that paid divine Honours to it, and the Idolatry might begin in the days of the Judges; others say, under the Kings of Judah[[426]].
[426]. Jurieu, vol. ii. from Rabbi Kimchi, who says they burnt Incense to it, from the time the Kings of Judah had corrupted themselves ... in locum.
It lay quiet there, until those Days, the Children of Israel burnt Incense to it. That is, from the days Israel began to commit Idolatry, to the days of Hezekiah; who, to prevent the Growth of that Serpentine Idolatry, brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made. 2 Kings xviii. 4.
The Sound of the strange Cures done by the brazen Serpent, soon spread over the forsaken Nations, who, observing how the Wounded were healed by looking at it, conceived it to be a proper Instrument to be their Mediator, and consequently a fit Object for their Adoration, when even the Wounded in Israel, by addressing to its Shadow, were healed.
It is most probable, that the Adoration of Serpents by the Pagans, sprung from these two Fountains,
The Wisdom of the Serpent in Paradise, and the miraculous Cures done by the Shadow of a Serpent in the Wilderness; which were improved by the Devil to secure his Honour and Interest, who wanted not Priests to display the Glories of their Character, to make the Serpent honourable in the sight of his Vassals. From hence, the Egyptians, Phenicians, yea most Nations, did imagine the Serpent to have some Divinity in its Nature, and for that reason (as hinted before) honour’d it with sacred Homage; this the Devil did, with a view to lessen Men’s Esteem for the Almighty Creator.
Hence also some Men of superior Dignity have affected to be esteem’d more than meer Men, making this as an Argument, that they were begot by Serpents, as we observed already, therefore I shall only add, viz.
That Alexander the Great, after he had taken Rhodes, Egypt and Cilicia, addrest Jupiter Ammon to know his Original, for his Mother Olympias had confest to his Father Philip, that Alexander was not begot by him, but by a Serpent of vast Bulk; whereupon Philip was divorced from his Wife Olympias, and Alexander was saluted Son of Ammon, and by Order of the Priests, his Companions were enjoin’d to worship him as a God, and not as a King.
ALEXANDER, when he had conquer’d Darius III. surnam’d Codomannus, and was possest of the Persian Empire, writ to the Grecians, that they should decree him to be a God. Hereupon several Decrees were made: The Lacedemonians exprest their Compliance in this short Decree, viz. Forasmuch as Alexander would be a God, let him be a God. Thus with Laconick Brevity, fashionable among the Lacedemonians, they humour’d and reproved the Pride of their King at once[[427]].
[427]. Επειδἡ Αλεξανδρος βουλεται Θεδς ειναι εσο Θεος. Æliani variæ Hist. lib. ii. cap. xix.
VARRO was of Opinion, that all gallant and heroick Men should believe themselves, tho’ falsly, to issue from the Gods ... that upon this Supposition, they might attempt great things with more Courage, and prosecute them with more Ardency; and tho’ the Motive was but imaginary, yet might produce glorious Effects[[428]]. When Varro writ this, ’tis probable he had Alexander the Great in his view.
[428]. Ex Diis genitos—Aug. de Civitate Dei. cap. 4.
Such is their Opinion of their King in China, that they think he is descended from the Race of some Demi-God, and so adore him accordingly. They believe there is some Divinity in his Blood, in so much that he never marries any but his next Relatives, for fear of staining the Royal Blood[[429]].
[429]. Howel’s Londinopolis. p. 384.
Among the Antients, Serpents were Emblems of Power; therefore Epaminondas, the brave Theban General, to encourage his Army against a powerful Enemy, bruised the Head of a Serpent before them as a Prognostick of Victory.
Thus King James I. tho’ the Dupe of all Christendom, says a certain Gentleman, yet was the grand Idol of the Court-Clergy. That Pedantry which would have brought a School-Boy under the just Discipline of the Rod, in him was represented by his parasitical Preferment-hunting Ecclesiasticks, as divine Eloquence, and the Inspiration of the Almighty....
CHAPTER VI.
Reasons for worshipping hurtful as well as useful Creatures, founded on a Notion of two eternal contrary Principles: They believe God was good, and could not be the Author of moral Evil, therefore fram’d the Ditheistical Doctrine; an Error, espoused by some primitive Christians, confuted by the Sentence past upon the Serpent. Reasons for worshipping different Species of Animals by the Egyptians.
Whence arises the Honour given by Heathens to different Species of Beings, to the noxious and hurtful, as well as to the salutary and beneficent Tribe?
Probably, it might be from their observing the Mixtures of Good and Evil in the visible Creation, when as yet in their infantile State of Knowledge: The reason of this they could not otherwise account for, but by giving into the Notion of two distinct independent governing Powers; the one a good, the other an evil Genius: accordingly they worshipped Creatures that were useful, as being the Ministers of the good Genius; and those that were hurtful they paid Homage to, out of servile Fear, and to ingratiate themselves into their Favour. In the Morning they worshipped the celestial Gods; in the Evening, the infernal: On the Plain they worshipped the terrestrial Gods, on Hills the supernatural; in Grotos and Caves, the infernal.
Hence it is they asserted a Duplicity of Gods, viz. Two perceptive self-existent Beings, one the Principle of Good, and the other of Evil. This Opinion originally sprung from a strong, firm Persuasion, That God was invariably Good, and therefore could not possibly be the Author of the Evil upon Earth. Nor could they otherwise solve the Difficulty about the Entrance of moral Evil into our World, but by supposing another eternal self-existent evil Cause.
Yea, some among the primitive Christians fell into the Error of asserting this Ditheistical Doctrine; that is, two self-existent Principles in the Universe, to wit, a good God, and an evil Demon. Thus the Cerdonites, an heretical Sect, that sprung up in the second Century, held there were two Gods; one, the Author of all good, the other, of all evil Things. So the Marcionites held two contrary Gods; and in the third Century, the Manichees did the same.
Perhaps, this might be one reason why God past Sentence upon the Devil in the Serpent, in the presence and hearing of our first Parents, viz. to prevent the Error of imagining that there was any Principle of Evil, which was independent upon the Almighty. The Sentence past upon Satan in the Curse upon the Serpent, was a Conviction to Adam and Eve of his Dependency upon the Almighty Creator, before whose Tribunal he now was constrained to appear, to receive the Sentence merited by those, who make a Lye, and tempt their Fellow-creatures to rebel.
REASONS about the Adoration of different kind of Animals by the Egyptians.
If you ask, that if they worshipped a Serpent, why did they pay religious Honours to so many other Beasts? I answer, This monstrous Idolatry begun in Egypt, and the first occasion for it seems to be this, viz.
OSIRIS, a certain King of Egypt, who reign’d with great Equity and Mildness, having divided his Kingdom into several distinct Provinces, appointed Presidents over them, and in their Banners he placed the Figures, or Pictures of certain Animals, that bore some Similitude to the Peculiarities of those Countries, over which they were to preside: Thus to the Governor, whose Land was proper for Tillage, he design’d an Ox in his Standard, to which the Inhabitants of that Place paid a particular Veneration, which in process of time was worshipped by the whole Nation, for its Usefulness, and as the Symbol of Agriculture: Hence the Image of Osiris is set off with Horns.
The golden Calf which Aaron made in the Wilderness, and the Calves set up by Jeroboam to be worshipped in his Kingdom, were an Imitation of the idolatrous Adoration, which the Egyptians paid to their Bull Apis.
That part of the Country, in which was abundance of Water, the King set a Crocodile (an amphibious Animal) in his Banner, that was to govern there, which was had in high Veneration, especially in the City of Mira; and at last the Crocodile was worshipped all over Egypt.
Where the Country abounded with Wood, a Dog was fixt in the Governor’s Standard, to which the Egyptians gave no little Veneration, especially Sportsmen ... as the Poet observes[[430]].
Oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam.
The Dog whole Towns, Diana none implore.
Juvenal. Satir. xv.
That which gives some colour to this Partition of Osiris’s Kingdom, is, “that God ordained very near the same thing to be observed in the Encampments of the Israelites, when he divided the twelve Tribes into four Bodies, and allotted to one of the three Tribes, belonging to each Body, the Figure of an Animal to be placed in the Banner: Thus, that of Reuben carried the Figure of a Man; that of Judah, a Lion; that of Dan, an Eagle; and that of Ephraim, an Ox[[431]]”.
[431]. Jurieu’s Crit. Hist. vol. ii.
After this manner the Egyptian Monarch did place in their Banners the Figures of certain Animals, which by degrees were usher’d into their Religion and Temples. N. B. These Banners thus painted with different Animals, were fixt upon Poles, between their several Provinces, by which their Bounds were determined. Semiramis, being conquered by Staurobates, Antiquity feign’d she was changed by the Gods into a Dove, the Bird of Venus, which is the reason why the Dove was worshipped by the Babylonians, and why they gave it in their Ensign.
I Conclude this Part with some Instances, that are given of the Sottishness of Pagans in what they called religious Worship, which indeed is almost incredible, if they were not common, and well attested.—— The Egyptians did not only worship variety of Beasts, but also the Figures of them, as the Representatives of their Gods: Each City and District entertain’d a peculiar Devotion for some particular Beast or other, in honour of which they built Temples; yea, every one of the Pagan Deities had his own Beast, Tree and Plant consecrated to him. Thus the Pigeon was consecrated to Venus; the Dragon and Owl to Minerva; the Eagle to Jupiter; the Cock to Æsculapius and the Sun. This, says Jurieu, is the true Origin of the Egyptian Idolatry. Ibid. Who adds, The Egyptians assign’d to their Gods certain Animals, as their Representatives, and being introduced into the Temples, as the Images were in some Christian Churches, they at last began to worship them. This points out the Impiety of admitting any symbolical Representations of Divinity into Places of publick Worship.
Nothing more monstrous than the Divinity of the Pagans; their Gods were innumerable. Every thing on Earth, in the Sea, in the Heavens, yea, and in Hell, had their peculiar Gods. If Egyptians, who past for the wisest of Mortals, paid religious Adoration to meer Animals, not only to Serpents, but Apes, Wolves, yea, Dogs, Cats, ... and to Vegetables, as Onions, Garlick ... what shall we think of stupid Nations, who had no Claim to Wisdom?
Even in Athens (that celebrated Fountain of Light) were more Idols than in all Greece; yea, so numerous were their Idols, that they had almost as many Gods as Men[[432]].
[432]. Facilius possis Deum, quam hominem invenire.
STRABO, Procopius, and Ben Jonas say, the antient Persians kept and worshipped their perpetual Fire on Mount Albors, a Branch of Caucasus. The Japonese worship the Devil, and the Head of their Religion is called Dair, whom they worship as a God. Atlas.
I Should rather think the Persians ador’d the supreme God, under the Image of Fire, by reason ’tis Fire gives Motion to every thing in Nature, and therefore they made it an Emblem of Divinity.
The Hebrews kept up the holy Fire in the Temple, and the Vestals were appointed to keep the sacred Fire of the Romans.
VULCAN was worshipped among the Antients, and particularly the Egyptians, as the Inventor of Fire.
The People of Egypt exceeded most Nations in depreciating Divinity by gross Superstitions and Idolatry; they did not err in worshipping Mortals only, but they gave Reverence to Beasts, Birds, Insects, Winds, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Plants, &c. whom Rhodius Anaxandrides, one of themselves, derides in this manner:
I sacrifice to God the Beef, which you adore;
I broil th’ Egyptian Eels, which you as God implore.
You fear to eat the Flesh of Swine, I find it sweet:
You worship Dogs, to beat them I think meet,
When they my Store devour.[[433]]——
Bovem colis, ego Deis macto Bovem;
Tu maximum anguillam, Deum putas: ego,
Obsoniorum credidi, suavissimum,
Carnes suillas, tu caves, at gaudeo
His maximè. Canem colis, quem verbero.
Edentem, ubi deprehendo, forte obsonium.
Thus Juvenal, another Heathen Poet, ridicules their religious Fooleries:
Oh happy Nations! which, of their own sowing,
Have store of Gods, in ev’ry Garden growing.[[434]]
Porrum & cæpe nefas violare & frangere morsu,
Oh sanctas gentes quibus hæc nascuntur in hortis
Numina!——
Sat. xv. l. 8, 9, 10.
The Images of the Gods, says Seneca, are worshipped; these they pray unto and adore, and while they greatly admire them, at the same time despise the Workmen that made them[[435]]. Which also Sedulius their Poet scoffs at, saying,——Who worship Vanities ... despise their own Maker ... fear the Works of their own Hands.... What Madness! that Man should ugly Shapes adore, of Bulls, Birds, Dragons, the vile Half-Dog, or Half-Man, on Knees for Aid implore[[436]].——
[435]. Simulachra Deorum venerantur——fabros qui ilia fecêre, contemnunt.
[436]. Heu miseri vana colunt——ut volucrem, turpemque Bovem, torvumque Draconem, sem-hominemque canem supplex homo pronus adoret.
Yet among the Nations were some who thought it Impiety to represent their Gods by Images, as the Persians, Indian Brachmans, &c.[[437]] Yea, the Romans, for 170 Years, would not allow Images in their Temples, observing the Law of Numa. It was Tarquinius Priscus that followed the Vanity of the Grecians (a Nation of all others, excepting Egypt, most deluded by the old Serpent) set up the Images of their Gods, which even the Learned Varro bewailed and condemned. The Mahometans have a perfect Aversion to Images. The Jews hate all Images, will not allow any in their Houses, much less in Places of Worship. But to proceed:
[437]. Hospinian. de Origine Imaginum.
The apostate Indians worship both Gods and Devils, over which they acknowledge a Supreme, who sends forth other Deities as his Deputies; which they think to be the Souls of good Men; and Devils, the Souls of the Wicked.... They imagine the Sun and Moon to be Gods; their Idols are represented as Monsters of the kind[[438]].
[438]. Atlas Asia. page 662.
“In the Kingdom of Pegu in the East, the People are exceeding superstitious, and scruple not to worship the Devil, whom they reckon the Author of Evil; as they do God, of Good: And in all Calamities, their first Addresses are to the evil Spirit, for Deliverance; and they make Vows to him, which they perform upon their Recovery, with the Assistance of their Priests, whom they call the Devil’s Father, and he directs them to make sacred Feasts with Musick.” Many of them run about in the Morning with a Torch in one Hand, and Rice in the other; pretending to give the Devil his Breakfast, that he may not hurt them that Day. Others at their Meals, throw part of what they have over their Shoulders, to feed him, before they eat any themselves. Ibid. p. 662.
At Tavay in that Country, they replenish their Houses with Victuals, and leave them for three Months, that the Devils may dwell and feed there, and be favourable all the rest of the Year. ibid. They have a sort of Monks called Talapoins, who endeavour to root out this Devil Worship, but without effect.
The Aruspices, were an Order of Priests among the antient Romans, who pretended to foretell Events, chiefly by inspecting the Entrails of Beasts killed in Sacrifice ... Birds, and celestial Appearances. Cato, who was one of the Augurs, conscious of their impious Politicks, used to say, He wondered how one Priest could look at another without laughing in his Face. These Augural Priests made a College, or Community; they bore an Augural Staff or Wand, called Lituus, made in form of a Crozier, or a Bishop’s Staff, or Shepherd’s Crook, as the Ensign of their Office and Authority—— And what is most ridiculous is, that no Affair of Moment could be resolved upon, without first consulting these holy Cheats; and their Advice, be what it would, was by a Decree of the Senate appointed to be exactly and religiously observed. Ornithomancy, or Divination by Birds, was, among the Greeks, the same with Augury among the Romans.
At Angola and Congo in the East-Indies, wooden Idols, resembling Negroes, are erected in the midst of their Towns, which they daily worship. ’Tis their Belief they are never sick, but when their Idols are angry with them; therefore to appease them, they pour at their Feet the Wine of Palms. They wash, paint, and new cloath their Dead, and bury with them Meat, Drink, and some of their Goods, and sprinkle the Grave with the Blood of Goats. Their Priests are in such high Esteem, that they think Plenty and Famine, Life and Death, are in their power[[439]].
[439]. See Purchas.
The old Inhabitants of Virginia believed many Gods, but one principally, who made the rest ... and that the Woman was made before the Man, and propagated by the Help of one of the inferior Gods. The Natives are Anthropomorphites, giving to their Gods the Forms of Men.... When they go abroad, they carry their Gods about with them, and in Matters of Doubt ask Counsel of them. Much of their Devotion consists in howling and dancing about Fires, with Rattles in their Hands. Quære, Whether this Custom be not the Original of Castanets or Snappers in Dancing[[440]]?
[440]. Hackluit in Purchas.
Another Instance of monstrous Degeneracy, we have among the Phenicians, who offer’d yearly Sacrifices to Saturn of young Infants; and in the Temple of Venus, practised not only Whoredom, but the most unnatural Sin of Sodomy also; yea, by the Laws of their Religion, were bound to prostitute their Daughters to Venus, before they married them: In their Temple the Women who refused to be shaved, were obliged to yield up their Honour to Strangers for one day.
In the Country, now called New Spain, the old Inhabitants would neither eat nor drink, till they had cast towards the Sun, some part of their Food; nor would they smell a Flower, without throwing up in the Air some Leaves of it, thereby acknowledging the Gods to be their great Benefactors: Tho’ this be ridiculous, yet having an Air of religious Gratitude, it is commendable. Among other Idols ador’d at Mexico, they had one called Vitziliputzli, placed in an azure colour’d Chair, with Serpent’s Heads at each Corner.
Yea the Pagans, to authorize their own Crimes, and justify their vicious Lives, have constituted licentious, drunken, vicious Gods, &c. Instances of this kind we have in their religious Institutions, as the Saturnalia of the Romans, which were Feasts sacred to the God Saturn: This Feast was observed in December, at first kept for one day, then for three days, and afterwards for seven days. So sacred was this Festival, that while it lasted, no Criminals were to be executed, no War to begin.... And yet at the same time, a Sanction was given to universal Debauchery; all Rules of Virtue and common Decency were intirely banished, and all things run into a wild Scene of Distraction and Lewdness, and all this under the Umbrage of doing Honour to their Gods[[441]].
[441]. Uno die ... trium dierum ... septem dierum ... Bellum fumere nefas habitum——Macrobii opera, Londini, A. D. 1694. p. 155, 160, 168.
The same Game was acted in the Lupercalian Feasts, instituted in honour of the God Pan (under the shape of a Goat) whose Priests, on the Morning of the Feast, ran naked thro’ the Streets, striking the married Women they met, on the Hands and Belly with Straps cut out of Goats Skins, which was held an Omen, promising Fruitfulness, and happy Deliveries.
I shall only add the Bacchanalian Feasts, celebrated in honour of Bacchus, the God of Wine, and Master of the Revels; sometimes called Orgia[[442]], from a Greek Word that signifies Anger and Rage, because in the Celebration of it, People acted in so raging and furious a manner, as if they had been absolutely distracted. These religious Feasts were not only encumber’d with a great number of Ceremonies, but attended with most notorious Dissoluteness; for Men and Women met at them, all naked, except their Heads and Hips, that were shaded with Vine Leaves.
[442]. Οργη
The Women, who were installed Priestesses, during this Feast, ran thro’ the Streets, and other Places, cover’d with Tyger’s Skins, Scepters in one Hand, and Torches in the other, howling and roaring out the Praise of Bacchus, with Hair dishevell’d, dangling about their Shoulders. They were call’d Mœnades from their Madness, Thyades from their Rage, Bacchæ from their Intemperance.
The Poets tell us, that in the Bacchanalian Train, were a Croud of Nymphs and Naiades, a sort of Heathen Divinities; some crown’d with Ivy, their Hair loose, and intermix’d with Snakes, clothed with the Skins of Beasts, and girt about with large Serpents, and running frantick in the Woods and Mountains.
In short, their sacred Games, Festivals, and Sacrifices, were little more than drunken Banquets, nocturnal Revels, tumultuous Dancings, all wild, ridiculous and extravagant.
F I N I S.
