SECT. XI. With regard to reafon or abfurdity. HERE is another obfervation to the fame purpose, and a new proof that the corruption of the best things begets the worft. If we examine, without prejudice, the ancient heathen mythology, as contained in the poets, we fhall not discover in it any fuch monstrous abfurdity, as we may be apt at firft to apprehend. Where is the difficulty of conceiving, that the fame powers or principles, whatever they were, which formed this visible world, men and animals, produced alfo a species of intelligent creatures, of more refined fubftance and greater authority than the reft? That these creatures may be capricious, revengeful, paffionate, voluptuous, is easily conceived; nor is any circumftance more apt, amongst ourselves, to engender fuch vices, than the licence of abfolute authority. And in fhort, the whole mythological fyftem is fo natural, that, in the vast variety of planets and worlds, contained in this univerfe, it feems more than probable, that fomewhere. or other, it is really carried into execution. THE chief objection to it with regard to this planet, is, that it is not afcertained by any just reafon or authority. The antient tradition, infifted on by the heathen. priefts and theologers, is but a weak foundation; and tranfmitted also fuch a number of contradictory reports, fupported, all of them, by equal authority, that it became abfolutely impoffible to fix a preference amongst them. A few volumes, therefore, muft contain all the polemical writings of pagan priests. And their whole theology must confist more of traditional stories and superftitious practices than of philofophical argument and controversy. BUT where theifm forms the fundamental principle of any popular religion, that tenet is fo conformable to found reafon, that philofophy is apt to incorporate itself with fuch a fyftem of theology. And if the other dogmas of that fyftem be contained in a facred book, fuch as the Alcoran, or be determined by any vifible authority, like that of the ROMAN pontif, fpeculative reafoners naturally carry on their affent, and embrace a theory, which has been inftilled into them by their earliest education, and which alfo poffeffes fome degree of confiftence and uniformity. But as these appearances do often, all of them, prove deceitful, philofophy will foon find herself very unequally yoaked with her new affociate; and inftead of regulating each principle, as they advance together, fhe is at every turn perverted to ferve the purposes of fuperftition. For befides the unavoidable incoherencies, which must be reconciled and adjusted; one may safely affirm, that all popular theology, especially the fcholaftic, has a kind of appetite for abfurdity and contradiction. If that theology went not beyond reafon and common fense, her doctrines would appear too eafy and familiar. Amazement must of neceffity be raised: Mystery affected: Darkness and obfcurity fought after: And a foun-dation of merit afforded the devout votaries, who defire an opportunity of fubduing their rebellious reafon, by the belief of the most unintelligible fophifms. ECCLESIASTICAL hiftory fufficiently confirms these reflections. When a controverfy is started, fome people pretend always with certainty to foretell the iffue. Which ever opinion, fay they, is moft contrary to plain fenfe is fure to prevail; even where the general intereft of the fyftem requires not that decifion. Tho' the reproach of herefy may, for fome time, be bandied about amongst the difpuUuu tants, tants, it always refts at laft on the fide of reafon. Any one, it is pretended, that has but learning enough of this kind to know the definition of ARIAN, PELAGIAN, ERASTIAN, SOCINIAN, SABELLIAN, EUTYCHIAN, NESTORIAN, MONOTHELITE, &c. not to mention PROTESTANT, whofe fate is yet uncertain, will be convinced of the truth of this obfervation. And thus a fyftem becomes more abfurd in the end, merely from its being reafonable and philofophical in the beginning. To oppofe the torrent of fcholaftic religion by fuch feeble maxims as thefe, that it is impossible for the fame thing to be and not to be, that the whole is greater than a part, that two and three make five; is pretending to ftop the ocean with a bull-ruth. Will you fet up profane reafon against facred myftery? No punishment is great enough for your impiety. And the fame fires, which were kindled for heretics, will ferve alfo for the destruction of philosophers. SECT. XII. With regard to doubt or conviction. We meet every day with people fo fceptical with regard to history, that they affert it impoffible for any nation ever to believe fuch abfurd principles as thofe of GREEK and EGYPTIAN paganifm; and at the fame time fo dogmatical with regard to religion, that they think the fame abfurdities are to be found in no other communions. CAMBYSES entertained like prejudices; and very impioufly ridiculed, and even wounded, APIs, the great god of the EGYPTIANS, who appeared to his profane fenfes nothing but a large fpotted bull. But HERODOTUS judiciously ascribes this fally of paffion to a real madness or disorder of the brain: Otherwise, fays the hiftorian, he never would have openly affronted any established worfhip. For on that head, continues he, every nation are beft satisfied with their own, and think they have the advantage over every other nation. Ir must be allowed, that the ROMAN catholics are a very learned fect; and that no one communion, but that of the church of ENGLAND, can difpute their being the most learned of all the chriftian churches: Yet AVERROES, the famous ARABIAN, who, no doubt, had heard of the EGYPTIAN fuperftitions, declares, that, of all religions, the most abfurd and non-sensical is that, whofe votaries eat, after having created, their deity. I BELIEVE, indeed, that there is no tenet in all paganifm, which would give fo fair a fcope to ridicule as this of the real prefence: For it is fo abfurd, that it eludes the force of almost all argument. There are even fome pleasant stories of that kind, which, tho' fomewhat profane, are commonly told by the Catholics themselves. One day, a priest, it is faid, gave inadvertently, instead of the facrament, a counter, which had by accident fallen among the holy wafers. The communicant waited patiently for fome time, expecting it would diffolve on his tongue: But finding, that it ftill remained entire, he took it off. I wish, cries he to the priest, you have not committed fome mistake: I wish you have not given me God the Father: He is fo hard and tough there is no fwallowing him. Lib. iii. c. 38. A FA A FAMOUS general, at that time in the MUSCOVITE fervice, having come to PARIS for the recovery of his wounds, brought along with him a young TURK, whom he had taken prifoner. Some of the doctors of the SORBONNE (who are altogether as pofitive as the dervifes of CONSTANTINOPLE) thinking it a pity, that the poor TURK fhould be damned for want of inftruction, follicited MUSTAPHA very hard to turn Chriftian, and promised him, for his encouragement, plenty of good wine in this world, and paradise in the next. These allurements were too powerful to be refifted; and therefore, having been well inftructed and catechized, he at laft agreed to received the facraments of baptifm and the Lord's fupper. The priest, however, to make every thing fure and folid, ftill continued his inftructions; and began his catechifm the next day with the ufual question, How many Gods are there? None at all, replies BENEDICT; for that was his new name. How! None at all! cries the prieft. To be fure, faid the honeft profelyte. You have told me all along that there is but one God: And yesterday I eat him. SUCH are the doctrines of our brethren, the Catholics. But to thefe doctrines we are so accustomed, that we never wonder at them: Tho', in a future age, it will probably become difficult to perfuade fome nations, that any human, twolegged creature, could ever embrace fuch principles. And it is a thoufand to one, but thefe nations themfelves fhall have fomething full as abfurd in their own creed, to which they will give a moft implicite and moft religious affent. I LODGED Once at PARIS, in the fame hotel with an ambassador from TUNIS, who, having paffed fome years at LONDON, was returning home that way. One day, I obferved his MOORISH excellency diverting himself under the porch, with furveying the fplendid equipages that drove along; when there chanced to pass that way fome Capucin friars, who had never seen a TURK; as he, on his part, tho' accustomed to the EUROPEAN dreffes, had never feen the grotefque figure of a Capucin And there is no expreffing the mutual admiration, with which they infpired each other. Had the chaplain of the embaffy entered into a dispute with these FRANCISCANS, their reciprocal furprize had been of the fame nature. thus all mankind stand staring at one another; and there is no beating it out of their heads, that the turban of the AFRICAN is not just as good or as bad a fashion as the cowl of the EUROPEAN. He is a very honeft man, faid the prince of SALLEE, fpeaking of de RUYTER, It is a pity he were a Chriftian. And How can you worship leeks and onions, we fhall fuppofe a SORBONNIST to say to a priest of SAIS? If we worship them, replies the latter; at least, we do not, at the fame time, eat them. But what ftrange objects of adoration are cats and monkies, fays the learned doctor? They are at least as good as the relicts or rotten bones of martyrs, anfwers his no lefs learned antagonist. Are you not mad, infifts the Catholic, to cut one another's throat about the preference of a cabbage or a cucumber. Yes, fays the pagan; I allow it, if you will confefs, that all those are still madder, who fight about the preference among volumes of fophiftry, ten thousand of which are not equal in value to one cabbage or cucumber. It is ftrange that the EGYPTIAN religion, tho' fo abfurd, fhould yet have borne fo great a refemblance to the JEWISH, that antient writers even of EVERY the greatest genius were not able to obferve any difference betwixt them. For it is very remarkable that both TACITUS and SUETONIUS, when Uuuz they EVERY by-stander will eafily judge (but unfortunately the by-ftanders are very few) that, if nothing were requifite to eftablish any popular fyftem, but the expofing the abfurdities of other fyftems, every votary of every fuperftition could give a fufficient reafon for his blind and bigotted attachment to the principles, in which he has been educated. But without fo extensive a knowlege, on which to ground this affurance, (and perhaps, better without it) there is not wanting a sufficient stock of religious zeal and faith amongst mankind. DIODORUS SICULUS' gives a remarkable inftance to this purpose, of which he was himself an eye-witness. While EGYPT lay under the greatest terror of the ROMAN name, a legionary foldier having inadvertently been guilty of the facrilegious impiety of killing a cat, the whole people rofe upon him with the utmost fury; and all the efforts of the prince were not able to fave him. The fenate and people of ROME, I am perfuaded, would not, then, have been fo delicate with regard to their national deities. They very frankly, a little after that time, voted AUGUSTUS a place in the celeftial manfions; and would have dethroned every god in heaven, for his fake, had he seemed to defire it. Prefens divus habebitur AUGUSTUS, fays HORACE. That is a very important point: And in other nations and other ages, the fame circumftances has not been efteemed altogether indifferent ". NOTWITHSTANDING the fanctity of our holy religion, fays TULLY, no crime is more common with us than facrilege: But was it ever heard, that an EGYPTIAN violated the temple of a cat, an ibis, or a crocodile? There is no torture, an EGYPTIAN Would not undergo, fays the fame author in another place, rather than injure an ibis, an afpic, a cat, a dog, or a crocodile. Thus it is strictly true, what DRYDEN obferves, "Of whatfoe'er defcent their godhead be, ABSALOM and ARCHITOPHEL. Nay, the bafer the materials are, of which the divinity is compofed, the greater devotion is he likely to excite in the breafts of his deluded votaries. They exult 66 they mention that decree of the fenate, under Ti. BERIUS, by which the EGYPTIAN and JEWISH profelytes were banished from ROME, exprefsly treat these religions as the fame; and it appears, that even the decree itself was founded on that fuppofition. "Actum & de facris ÆGYPTIIS, JUDAICISQUE pellendis; factumque patrum "confultum, ut quatuor millia libertini generis ea "fuperftitione infecta, quîs idonea ætas, in infulam "Sardiniam veherentur, coercendis illic latroci"niis; & fi ob gravitatem cœli interiffent, vile "damnum: Ceteri cederent Italia, nifi certem an"te diem profanos ritus exuiffent." TACIT. ann. lib. ii. c. 85. "Externas cæremonias, ÆGYP"TIOS, JUDAICOSQUE ritus compefcuit; coactis "qui fuperftitione ea tenebantur, religiofas veftes "cum inftrumento omni comburere, &c." Sug in their fhame, and make a merit with their deity, in braving, for his fake, all the ridicule and contumely of his enemies. Ten thoufand Croifes inlift themselves under the holy banners, and even openly triumph in those parts of their religion, which their adverfaries regard as the most reproachful. THERE Occurs, I own, a difficulty in the EGYPTIAN fyftem of theology; as indeed, few systems are entirely free from difficulties. It is evident, from their method of propagation, that a couple of cats, in fifty years, would ftock a whole kingdom; and if that religious veneration were ftill paid them, it would, in twenty more, not only be eafier in EGYPT to find a god than a man, which PETRONIUS fays was the cafe in fome parts of ITALY; but the gods must at last entirely ftarve the men, and leave themselves neither priefts nor votaries remaining. It is probable, therefore, that that wife nation, the most celebrated in antiquity for prudence and found policy, foreseeing fuch dangerous confequences, referved all their worship for the full-grown divinities, and used the freedom to drown the holy spawn or little fucking gods, without any fcruple or remorfe. And thus the practice of warping the tenets of religion, in order to ferve temporal interefts, is not, by any means, to be regarded as an invention of thefe latter ages. THE learned, philofophical VARRO, difcourfing of religion, pretends not to deliver any thing beyond probabilities and appearances: Such was his good sense and moderation! But the paffionate, the zealous AUGUSTIN, infults the noble ROMAN on his fcepticism and referve, and profeffes the most thorough belief and affurance *. A heathen poet, however, contemporary with the faint, abfurdly esteems the religious fyftem of the latter fo falfe, that even the credulity of children, he fays, could not engage them to believe it. Is it ftrange, when miftakes are fo common, to find every one pofitive and dogmatical? And that the zeal often rifes in proportion to the error? Moverunt, fays SPARTIAN, & ea tempeftate Judæi bellum quod vetabantur mutilare genitalia. If ever there was a nation or a time, in which the public religion loft all authority over mankind, we might expect, that infidelity in ROME, during the CICERONIAN age, would openly have erected its throne, and that CICERO himfelf, in every speech and action, would have been its most declared abettor. But it appears, that, whatever fceptical liberties that great man might ufe, in his writings or in philofophical converfation; he yet avoided, in the common conduct of life, the imputation of deism and profanenefs. Even in his own family, and to his wife TERENTIA, whom he highly trufted, he was willing to appear a devout religionist; and there remains a letter, addreffed to her, in which he seriously defires her to offer facrifice to APOLLO and ESCULAPIUs, in gratitude for the recovery of his health. POMPEY's devotion was much more fincere: In all his conduct, during the ci vil wars, he paid a great regard to auguries, dreams, and prophecies. AuGUSTUS was tainted with fuperftition of every kind. As it is reported of MILTON, that his poetical genius never flowed with ease and abundance in the spring; fo AUGUSTUS obferved, that his own genius for dreaming never was fo perfect during that feafon, nor was fo much to be relied on, as during the reft of the year. |