4 Minifters, as Eolus to Govern the Winds, Nnptune the Sea, &c. Therefore they called them Dii Medioxumi, Inferior Gods, as ftanding in the Middle betwixt the Supreme God and us, to Succor or Punish us, according to His Orders. St. Auguftine, who knew them well, tells us what they Argued for themfelves, they faid, We do not Worship Evil Dæmons or Spirits, but we worship thofe whom you (Chriftians) call Non colimus mala De ̈. monta, Angelos quos disit is, ipfos&Nes coliVirtutes Dei Mag mi, & Myfteria Dei Magni. Auguftin Pfal. xcvi. Angels, the Powers of the Great God, the Mysteries of the Great God. But St. Auguftine answered them, That they must be Evil Spirits whom they Worshipped, because they Required Worship from Men, as the Devil did from our Saviour, which the Good Angels always Refused, and he quotes, Rev. xix. 10. xxii. 9. Where the Angel forbade John to Worship him. And the fame did the Saints upon Earth, as Peter refufed it from Cornelius and Paul and Barnabas from the Men of Lyftra, &c. A&.x. 26. xiv. 14, 15. L. But we fuppofe not that the Heathens had any Notion of the Supreme and True God, but that they Worshipped every one of their Gods as Supreme and Independent. G. Some Men make Monsters of others, to hide their own Deformity! Your Guides have fet up this Notion, to hinder the Parallel betwixt the Heathen Worship of their Inferior Gods, and yours of Saints and Angels. For ther ther is nothing more Evident than that the Heathen did acknowledge the One Supreme and True God, though in much Ignorance and Superftition. St. Paul faid that they knew God, that He was Manifeft 21, 22. 23. unto them, even His Eternal Pow Rom. i. 19, 20, A&t. xvii. 23 er and Godbead. So that they were without Excufe in their foolish Imagination, to change the Glory of the Uncorruptible God into an Image made like to Corruptible Man, &c. And he told the Athenians, Whom therefore ye ignorantly Worship, Him declare Tunto you. He did not preach a falfe God unto them, but they had blended the Worhip of God with these Inferior Gods or Damons, which was their Superftition, for fo the Word fignifies Aaaidagria, the fear of these Dæmons, and it is thus rendred every where in the New Testament, which we tranflate Superftition, and fo your own Vulgar Latin, Act. xvii. 22, and xxv. 19. And the Latin word Superftitio means the fame thing, and is derived, as Servius has it from Super Stare, as being a fear of those Heavenly Powers who Supra stant stand over us, and so Superftition is Superftantium rerum timor. Others derive it from Superftites, that these Devi ex hominibus facti, Men Deifyed after their Death, are ftill Superftites, and the fear of them as fuch is Superftition; or qui Superftitem Memoriam defanctorum Colunt, Who Worship the Memory of these Dead Men. The The Worship of these leffer Gods is what is forbidden in the First Commandment, which refpects the Object of Worship, that no Religious Worship is to be given to any but to the Supreme God alone. The Second Commandment relates to the Manner of Worship, that is, by Images. But this your Church has hid from the People, and divided the Tenth into Two to keep up the Number, that the People might think they still have the Ten Commandments. And it is thus in your very Catechifm ad Parochos. But of this hereafter. The Heathens had their Good and Evil Dæmones, as their Good and Evil Genii, but according to St. Augustine's Rule, they must be Evil Dæmons who accepted the Worship of Men,which were all the Heathen Demons, therefore the Word Demon is taken in the Worst Sense, and translated Devil throughout the New Testament, and what we tranflate the Doctrines of Devils, 1 Tim. iv. I. is the Doctrine of the Dæmones, or of the Worship of Dæmones, diaonania Δαιμονίων, and a various Ledion has it νεκροῖς Malpeúoves, who worship the Dead. The De mones of the Heathen were their Dead Heroes, whom they made Divi by an Apotheofis; as the Pope does Saints by a Canonization. But it is too Grofs to put it upon the Heathen, that they thought every one of thofe Gods whom they Made was the Supreme God who made themselves. They owned these to be Leffer Gods, ond only the Vertues and Powers of the Great God; and they thought that they they Honoured the Supreme God the more, by doing Honour to His Substitutes; and all their Worship was Ultimately Referred to Him. So that He only was Worshipped in all their Gods and Goddef fes; for they made him King of all their Gods and Goddeffes. Unus Jupiter. Auguft, de Hi omnes Dii Deæque fit Ipfum enim Deorum omnium Dearumque Regem effe volunt. Ib. c. ix. And the Common Appellation given to Jupiter in Homer is, Πατὴρ and Βασιλεὺς ἀνδρῶν τὸ Θεῶν τε, The Father and King of the Gods as well as of Men. And he reprefents Him as Commanding all the other Gods, fending them on his Errands, calling them to Account, and fometimes Chastizing them. He was called Majus Deus, the Great God. Lucian in his Dialogues brings in Neptune making Suit to Mercury, that he might speak with Jupiter. Dan. ii. 47. iii. 26. 29. iv. 34, 35. But befides all thefe, we have fufficient Teftimony in Scripture of the Heathens acknowledging the One Supreme and True God, Nebuchad nezzar calls him God of Gods, and Lord of Kings The most High God- And fays, I bleffed the most High, and I praised and honoured Him that Liveth for Ever and Ever, whofe Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion, and His Kingdom from Generation to Ge neration. And all the Inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as Nothing: And Fle dotb according to His Will in the Army of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth: And no Man Man can stay His Hand, or fay unto Him, What doeft Thou? 12. Ezra i. 2. vi. 16. Dan. vi. 26. Cyrus calls Him the Lord God of Heaven. And Darius the fame, in as High Expreffions as any Chriftian could use, The Living God, and stedfaft for Ever, and His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His Dominion fhall be even unto the End, &c. L. It is Strange that when they Acknowledged the Great God fo fully, they did not forfake their own little Gods. 27,33. G. No, for they did not think it Inconsistent to Acknowledge One God above all, and yet to Suppose that every Nation had its own God, or Gods, in Subordination to the Supreme God, and as Deputies under Him. This was their Notion. And they fuppofed that Judea had its own Tutelar God, as well as other Countries. Therefore the King of Affyria having Conquered it, sent to teach his People who went 2 Kin. xvii. 26. thither, the, Manner of the God of the Land, to appeale His Wrath who had Plagued them with Lions. But yet they forfook not their own Gods, for it is faid, They feared the Lord, and Served their own Gods. And they allowed the fame Liberty to the Jews, who were not Required in any of their Captivities to Renounce their own God; but only to Worship the Gods of the Nations where they lived. And of thefe Tutelar Gods, they fuppofed one might be Stronger or more Powerful than another, and |