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right Reason to worship them as God; and He is rather to be worshipped upon their Account, who can give us them, and preserve them for us.

SECT. VIII.

An Answer to the Objection of the Heathens, taken from the Miracles done amongst them.

THE Heathens used to recommend their Religion by Miracles; but they were such as were liable to many Exceptions. For the wisest Men amongst the Heathens themselves rejected many of them, (a) as not supported by the Testimony of sufficient Witnesses, (b) but plainly counterfeit And those that seem to have been done, came to pass in some secret Place, in the Night, before one or two Persons, whose Eyes might easily be deceived with a false Appearance of Things, by the Cunning of the Priests. There were some, which only caused the People, who did not understand the Nature of Things, especially their occult Qualities, to wonder at them; much in the same Manner, as if any one should draw Iron with a Loadstone, before People, who knew nothing of it; and it is

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(a) As not supported by the Testimony, &c.] So Livy, in the Beginning; "I do not design either to affirm or deny those Things related before, or upon the Building of the City; as fitter for Poetic Fables, than the sincere Memorials of "Affairs that were transacted: Thus much must be allowed "Antiquity, that by mixing human Things with Divine, the 66 Original of Cities was rendered the more venerable."

(b) But plainly counterfeit, &c.] It were much better to acquiesce in this Answer, than to allow of their Miracles, or that such Things were done, as Men could not commonly distinguish from Miracles; such as Oracles, Wonders, curing of Diseases, which if they were done, could scarce be distinguished from true Miracles, at least by the common People. See what I have said upon this Matter in the Prolegomena to my Ecclesiastical History. Sect. II. Chap. 1. Le Clerc.

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related by many, (a) that these were the Arts in which Simon and Apollonius Tyanæus were so skilful. I do not deny, but that some greater than these were seen, which could not be the Effect of natural Causes, by human Power alone; but they were such as did not require a Power truly Divine, that is, Omnipotent; for these Spirits, who were inferior to God, and superior to Man, were sufficient for these Things; because by their Swiftness, Strength, and Cunning, they could easily remove distant Things, and so compound different Sorts of Things, as to produce Effects which should be very surprizing to Men. But the Spirits by whom this was effected, were not good, and consequently neither was their Religion good; as is evident from what was said before, and from this Consideration also, because they said that they were compelled (b) by certain Inchant

(a) That these were the Arts, &c.] Tatian: "There are certain Diseases and Contrarieties of the Matter of which we are compounded; when these happen, the Demons "ascribe the Causes of them to themselves."

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(b) By certain Inchantments, &c.] Thus the Oracle of Herate. in Porphyry:

I come, invok'd by well-consulted Prayer,

Such as the Gods have to Mankind reveal'd.

And again,

Why have

you call'd the Goddess Hecate

From Heaven; and forced her by a Charm Divine;

And that of Apollo in the same Writer,

Hear me, for I am forc'd to speak against my Will.

These are the Rites of their secret Arts, by which they address themselves to I know not what Powers, as Arnobius expresses it, as if they compelled them by Charms to be their Servants; so Clemens explains it. There is a form of their Threats in Jamblichus, Book V. Chap. 5, 6, 7. of his Egyptian Mysteries. The same we meet with in Lucan, Book IX. in the Words of Pompey the Less, and in Eusebius, out of Porphyry, Book V. Chap. 10. of his Gospel Preparat. Other

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Inchantments against their Will: And yet the wisest Heathens agree, that there could not possibly be any such Force in Words; but that they could only persuade, and this according to the Manner of their Interpretation. And a further Sign of their Wickedness is, that they would undertake many Times (a) to entice some to the Love of others, notwithstanding their own Endeavours against it, either by false Promises, or by doing them some hurt; (b) which Things were forbidden by human Laws, as Witchcraft. Neither ought any one to wonder that the Supreme God should suffer some Miracles to be done by evil Spirits; because they who were already fallen from the Worship of the true God, (c) deserved to be deluded by such Deceits. But this is an Argument of their Weakness, that their Works were not attended with any remarkable Good; for if any seemed to be called to Life again, they did not continue long in it, nor exercise the Functions of living Persons. If at any Time, any Thing proceeding from a Divine Power appeared in the Sight of the Heathen; yet it was 'not foretold that it would come to pass, in order to prove the Truth of their Religion, so that no

Forms of Threatenings you have in Lucan, where he speaks of Erichthon, and in Papinius about Tiresias.

(a) To entice some to the Love of others, &c.] See the Pharmaceutria of Theocritus and Virgil, and the Confession of Porphyry in Eusebius, Book V. Chap. 17. of his Preparat. and Augustine, Book X. Chap. 11. of his City of God. And the same Porphyry against eating living Creatures, Book II. and Origen against Celsus, Book VII.

(b) Which Things were forbidden by human Laws, &c.] L. Ejusdem, Sect. Adjectio D. ad Legem Corneliam de Sicasus & Veneficis, L. si quis sect. qui abortionis. D. de Panis. Paulus Sententiarum, Lib. V. Tit. XXIII.

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(c) Deserved to be deluded by such Deceits, &c.] Deut. xiii. 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10. Ephes. ii. 2, 3.

thing hinders, but the Divine Power might propose to itself some other End, widely different from this. For Instance; suppose it true, that a blind Man was restored to his Sight by Vespasian; it might be done, (a) to render him more venerable upon this Account; and that he might thereby the more easily obtain the Roman Empire; and was therefore chosen by God, to be the Executioner of his Judgments upon the Jews; and other like Reasons there might be for other Wonders, (b) which has no relation at all to Religion.

SECT. IX.

And from Oracles.

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AND almost all the same Things may be plied, to solve that which they alledge concerning Oracles; especially what was before said, that such Men deserved to be imposed upon, who despised that Knowledge, which Reason and ancient Tradition suggested to every Man. Moreover,

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(a) To render him more venerable, &c.] Tacitus, Hist. IV. Many Miracles were done, whereby the Favour of Heaven, " and the good Disposition of the Gods towards Vespasian, appeared." He had said before in Hist. I." We believe that "after previous good Luck, the Empire was decreed to l ́espa"sian and his Children, by the Secret Law of Fate, and by "Wonders and Oracles." Suetonius ushers in his Relation of the same Miracles thus, Chap. 7. "There was a certain Au"thority and Majesty wanting, viz. in a new and unthought-of "Prince; to which this was added." See the same Suetonius a little before, Chap. V. Josephus says of the same Vespasian, Book III. Chap. 27. of the Wars of the Jews. "That God "raised him up to the Government, and foretold him of the " Sceptre by other Signs."

(b) Which has no Relation, &c.] But see the Examination of Miracles, feigned to be done in Favour of Vespasian and Adrian, in my Ecclesiastical History, Century II. 138th Year. Le Clerc.

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the Words of the Oracles (a) were for the most Part ambiguous, and such as might be interpreted of the Event, be it what it would. And if any Thing was more particularly foretold by them, there is no Necessity of its proceeding from an Omniscient Being; because either they were such as might be perceived beforehand, from natural Causes then appearing, (b) as some Physicians foretel future Diseases; or they might with Probability be conjectured, from what we usually see come to pass; which we read was often done (c) by those who

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(a) Were for the most Part ambiguous, &c.] See the Places of Oenomaus, concerning this Subject, in Eusebius, Book IV. Chap. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. Hence Apollo was by the Greeks called Asia, Ambiguous. Cicero, in his Second Book of Divination, says, the Oracles of Apollo were ambiguous and obscure. "Whichsoever of them came to pass, (says he) the "Oracle was true." (Perhaps many of the Oracles were counterfeited after the Event: And there are many Reasons to suspect, that Abundance of Frauds were used by Diviners; concerning which, D. de Fontenelle has written an excellent Book in French which I refer you to, and what is said in Defence of it, Vol. XIII of the Choice Library; and what Antony Van Dale has written of this Matter above all others, in his Book of Oracles.)

(b) As some Physicians foretel future Diseases, &c.] Chalcidius on Timæus. "Men are forwarned, either by the flying "of Birds, or by Entrails, or by Oracles, some propitious "Dæmons foretelling, who knew all Things that will after"wards come to pass; just as a Physician, according to the "Rules of Physic, declares either Death or Health, and as "Anaximander and Pherecides did an Earthquake." Pliny, Book II. Chap. 79.

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(c) By those who were skilful in civil Matters, &c.] See the Writers of the Life of Atticus. "A plain Evidence of this Thing, besides those Books wherein he (Cicero) mentions it expressly, (which are published among the common People,) 66 are sixteen Volumes of Epistles sent to Atticus, from his Con"sulship to the End of his Days; which whoever reads, will "not think that he wants a complete and regular History of "those Times; there is such a full Description of the Inclina"tions of Princes, of the Vices of great Men, and the Alte"rations

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