We may hence see the origin of idolatry, soon after these heroes we have recited; and it seems to have begun first in Phœnicia, which Eusebius always puts before Egypt, when speaking of the matter. Demaroon was Jupiter the supreme, Phut they deify’d into his son, Canaan they made the third divine person. But wherever idolatry began, whether in the call of Asia, or the west, it flew too soon into other countries, and they made a Jupiter, a Son, and a Mercury or Neptune who are the same, of their own; ’till with every hero and benefactor to mankind they fill’d the heaven of the heathens.
CHAP. XV.
A metaphysical disquisition concerning the nature of the deity, shewing how the Druids, by the strength of reason, might arrive to the knowledge of a divine emanation or person, from the supreme first cause, which we call the Son of God; and the necessity of admitting of such an emanation. All the philosophers and priests of antiquity had this notion; as we read in Plato and many more.
I HAVE given the reader an account of three eminent builders of these Dracontia, or serpentine temples, in the earliest times after the flood, and in the more eastern parts of the world; as well as described one of those works in our island. There are many more such builders and buildings, which will be easily found out by those that are conversant in ancient learning. This figure of the circle and snake, on which they are founded, had obtained a very venerable regard, in being expressive of the most eminent and illustrious act of the deity, the multiplication of his own nature, as the Zoroastrians and Platonists speak; and in being a symbol of that divine person who was the consequence of it.
We shall not wonder that the Druids had a perception of this great truth, when we consider that it was known, as far as necessary, to all the philosophic and religious sects of antiquity, as shewn at large by several learned writers. My opinion is, that it was communicated to mankind, originally, by God himself. ’Tis the highest point of wisdom which the human mind can arrive at, to understand somewhat of the nature of the deity; and the studious, the pious, and thinking part of the world, would not fail to improve this knowledge by reflexion and ratiocination.
Tho’ my business is to speak more fully of the religion of the Druids in the next volume, yet I judge it very pertinent to the present subject to anticipate that intention, so as to shew how far they might advance toward that knowledge, by the dint of reason; to further the works, wherein they have, in the largest characters that ever were made, consign’d their notions of this sort, remaining to this day, such as we have been describing; and which may induce us to have the same sentiment concerning them as Pere Marten in his Religion des Gaulois, tho’ he knew nothing of our antiquities; but thus he writes, “that the Druids worship’d the true God, and that their ideas of religion were truly grand, sublime, magnificent.”
We may therefore very justly affirm of them, that in their serious contemplations in this place, concerning the nature of the deity, which, as Cæsar tells us, was one part of their inquiries, they would thus reason in their own minds.
A contemplative person, viewing and considering the world around him, is ravish’d with the harmony and beauty, the fitnesses of things in it, the uses and connexion of all its parts, and the infinite agreement shining throughout the whole. He must belye all his senses to doubt, that it was compos’d by a being of infinite power, wisdom and goodness, which we call God. But among all the most glorious attributes of divinity, goodness is preeminent. For this beautiful fabric of the world displays thro’ every atom of it, such an amazing scene of the goodness and beneficence of its author; that it appears to such contemplative minds, that his infinite power and wisdom were but as the two hands, employ’d by the goodness of the sovereign architect.
Goodness was the beginning, the middle, the end of the creation. To explain, to prove, or illustrate this topic, would be an affront to the common understanding of mankind. The sum of what we can know of him is, that he is good, essentially good. We are not more assured of the existence of the first being, than that he is good, the good, goodness itself, in eminence. He is God, because he is good; which is the meaning of the word in english, and in many other languages. This, in God almighty, is the attribute of attributes, the perfection of his all-perfect nature. He made and maintains those creatures which he multiply’d to an infinite degree, the objects of his care and beneficence; those great characters of supreme love, that render him deservedly adorable.