" So great au apprehension indeed, rays Dr. Stillingfleet,' had the Heathen? of ihe Mceaarty of appropriate acts of divine worihip, that some of them have chosen to die, rather than to give them to what they did not believe to be God. We have a remarkable rtorv to this purpose in Arrian and Curtius* concerning CaUiathenes. Alexander arriving at that degree of vanity, as to desire to have divine worship given him, and the matter being started out of design among the courtiers, either by Anaxarchua, aa Arrian, or Cleo the Sicilian, as Curtius says ; and the way of doing it proposed, viz. by incense and prostration; CaOUtheaea vehemently opposed it, at that which would confound' the difference of human and divine worship, which had been preserved inviolable among them. The worship of the Gods had been kept up in temples, with altars, and images, and sacrifices, and hymns, and prostrations, and such like ; but it it by no meant fitting, says he, for U4 to confound thete things, either by lifting up nun to the honours of the Gods, or depressing the Gods to the honours of men. For neither would Alexander suffer any man to usurp his royal dig- nity by the votes of men ; how much more justly may the Gods disdain for any man to take their houonra to himself. And it appears by Plutarch,1 that the Greeka thought it a mean and base thing for any of them, when sent on an embassy to the kings of Persia, to prostrate themselves before them, because this was only allowed among them in divine adoration. Therefore, says he, when Pelopidas and Ismenias were sent to Arlax erics, Pelopidas did nothing unworthy, but Ismeniaa let fall bis ring to the ground, and stooping for that was nought to make his adoration ; which was altogether as good a shift as Use Jesuits advising the crucifix to be held in the Mandarin*' hands while they made their adoration* in the Heathen temples in China.
" Conon* also refused to make his adoration, ns n disgrace to his city; and Isocrates' accuses
' Answer to Catholics no Idolaters Lond. 1876. p. tit. 1 Arrian.de Exped. Alex. I. 4. et Curt. lib. 8.
• Viu Aruxen. /Elian. Var. hist. lib. 1. c. tl.
♦ Justin, lib. 6. > Paaegyr.
Digitized by Google
IXTROBUCTIO M.
the Persians for doing it* because hertin they shewed, that they despised the Gods rather than men, by prostituting their honours to their princes. Herodotus* mentions Sperchius and Brdis, who could not with the greatest violence bo brought to give adoration to Xerxes, because it was against the lavs of their country to give divhie honour to men.' And Valerius Maximus* says, the Jthe- . mans put Timagorat to death for doing it ; so strong an apprehension had possessed them, that . the manner of worship which the) used to their Gods, should be preserved sacred and inviolable." The philosopher Sallusl also in his treatise On the (Jods and the World says, " It is not unreasona- ble to suppose that impiety is a species of punishment, and that those who bave had a knowledge of the Gods, and yet despised ineni, will in another life be deprived of this knowledge. And it is requisite to make the punisliment of those who have honoured their kings as Gods to consist in being expelled from the Gods."'
When the ineffable transcendency of the first God, whith was considered as the grand principle in the Heathen theology, by iu most ancient promulgators Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Plato, was forgotten, this oblivion was doubtless the principal cause of dead men being deified by the Pagans. Had they properly directed their attention to this tram cendency they would have perceived it to be so immense as to surpass eternity, infinity, self-subsistence, and even essence itself, and that these in reality belong to those veiu-rable natures which are as it were first unfolded into light from the unfathomable depihsof that truly mystic unknown, about which all kuowledgc is refunded into ignorance. For as Simplicius justly observes, " It is requisite that he who ascends to the princi- ple of things should investigate whether it is possible there cau be any thing better than the sup- posed principle : and if something more excellent is found, the same enquiry should again be made respecting that, till we arrive at the highest conceptions, Uian which we have no longer any more venerable. Nor should we stop in our asceiit till we find this to be the case. For then- is no occasion to fear that our progression will be through an unsubstantial void, by conceiving some- thing about the first principles which is greater and more transcendent than their nature. For it is not possible for our conceptions to take such a mighty leap as to equal, and much less to pass beyond the dignity of the first principles of things." He adds, '« This therefore is oue and the best extension [of the soul] to [ihe highest] God, and is as much as possible irreprel.enrille ; viz. to know firmly, lliat by ascribing to him the n,o.-t venerable excellencies we can couceive, and the mmt holy and primary names and things, we ascribe nothing to hi.n which is suitable to bis dignity.
' r.ib.T.
' l.:h. 6 Cap. 3.
Digitized by Google
It is sufficient however, to procure our pardon [for the attempt,] that we can attribute to him superior.'" If it is not possible therefore to form any idea, equal to tbe dignity of the : progeny of the ineffable, i. e. of the first principle* of things, how much less can our conceptions reach that thrice unknown darkuess, in the reverential language of the Egyptians,1 which is even beyond these? Had the Heathens therefore considered as they ought this trans- cendency of the supreme God, they would never have presumed to equalize the human with the divine nature, and consequently would never have worshipped men aa'Gods. Their theology, however, is not to be accused as the cause of this impiety, but their forgetfolness of the sub- of its dogmas, and tbe confusion with which this oblivion wa
lu the last place, I wish to adduce a few respectable testimonies to prove that statues were not considered nor worshipped by any of the intelligent Heathens as Gods, but as the resemblance* of the Gods, as auxiliaries to tbe recollection of a divine nature, and tbe means of procuring its assist- ance and favour. For this purpose, I shall first present the reader with what the philosopher Sallust says concerning sacrifices and the honours which were paid to the divinities, in his golden treatise On the Gods and the World. " The honours, says he, which we pay to the Gods are per- formed for the sake of our advantage ; and since the providence of the Gods is every where extended, a certain habitude or fitness is all that is requisite in order to receive their beneficent communications. But all habitude is produced through imitation and simiUtude. He imitate the heavens, but altars die earth ; statues resemble life, and on this account to animals; prayers imitate that which is intellectual; but characters superior ineffable power* ; herbs and stones resemble matter ; and animals which are sacrificed the irrational life of oar souls. But from all these nothing happens to the Gods beyond what they already possess ; for what acces- sion can be made to a divine nature ? But • conjunction with our souls and the Gods is by these
" I think however, it will be proper to add a few things concerning sacrifices. And in the first
■ Kat xf rn l¥' ni "fX*! »»fimmrm ^v>'», »• Ivwit "w *> *f*m m s/mitunt «fX'r "f* ,l,f**ft ■»«•» fittir, live *' "C T*r lmt*f <x9atpn, mv ovxjti rift»oT<paf »x«fAn'nai pi mm TV rnmfinrtt, Ovti J*f niMfiirm /a*
xm^JSaTwpuf, ntu *** V9i^fi*tmrm r»; 9fmc *fxa( T'M •vfwr nrnmnn;. Ov ynf tmmnr rqXuirjTH *ii<\\jun riiistu rn{
•qurt(*{ mn[, m; n*mAnt*i tj «fi» twt tpmn *(X""i •* «■• wrif*Tsw |u* fafavrs Vf aftrrs, ««• *t
Jvmtw •«t<M(TT»f . K». wmnffAn nyaitn n «)»»•«, hi ayiwnn, «o. «j«T»t-)w, ui m^uira, w ipjfun »v*» nmlnnf i.Jo.. £iJ5a.»t, mi i^t>n ■wriSnw^n «{uw urn., it vur I* wrfif-K, n pvtn iXn. nuixw WfTi/w. Siniplic. in Epiet. Enchir. p. 307. Lond. 1670. 8vo.
1 Of the first principle, says Dam&scius (in M. S. «f» "fx4") the Egyptians said nothing, but celebrated it a* a darkness beyond all intellectual conception, a thrice unknown darkness, »^nt«/x" mim—n; nan; v*f «•#«
Proc. Vol. 1. e
Digitized by Google
IMtV
place, fince we pones* every thing from the Gods, ami it U but just to offer the first fruits of gifts to the givers ; hence, of our possession* we offer the first fruitit through consecrated gifts ; of our bodies through ornaments ; and of our life through sacrifices. Besides, without sacrifices, prayers are words only ; but accompanied with sacrifices they become animated words ; the words indeed corroborating life, but life animating the words. Add too, that the felicity of every thing is its proper perfection ; but the proper perfection of every thing consists in a conjunction widi its cause. And on this account we pray that we may be conjoined with the Gods. Sbce therefore life pri- marily subsists in the Gods, and there is also a certain human life, but the latter desires to be united to the former, a medrum is required ; for natures much distant from each other cannot be conjoined without a medium. And it is necessary that the medium should be similar to the con- necteri natures. Life therefore must necessarily be the medium of life ; and hence men of the present day that are happy, and all the ancirnts, have sacrificed animals. And this indeed not rashly, but in a manner accommodated to every God, with many other ceremonies respecting the cultiva- tion of divinity.'"
In the next place, the elegant Maximum Tyrius admirably observes concerning the worship of statues ' as follows : " It appears to me that as external discourse has no need, in order to its com- position, of certain Phoenician, or Ionian, or Attic, or Assyrian, or Egyptian characters, but human imbecility devised these marls, in which inserting its dulness, it recovers from them its memory ; in like manner a divine nature has no need of statues or altars ; but human nature being very imbe- cile, aud as uiucb distant from divinity as earth from heaven, devised these symbols, in which it inserted the names and the renown of the Gods. Those, therefore, whose memory is robust, and who are able, by directly extending their soul to heaven, to meet with divinity, have, perhaps,* uo need of statues. This race is, however, rare among men, and in a whole nation you will not find one who recollects divinity, and who is not in want of this kind of assistance, which resembles that devised by writing masters for hoys, who give them obscure marks as copies ; by m riling over
• See chap. 15 and 16, of my translation of this excellent work.
* See Vol. t of my translation of his Dissertations, Disserlat. 38, the title of which i«, " Whether statues should be d«dicatcd to the Gods."
» The philosopher hidoru* was a man of this description, as we are informed by Damnum? in the extracts front his life preserved by Photius. For he says of him i ™ .*•>*,, ,i, „• ,vtw( Tlw>.
TW?i»T»Kf trrmt ; tjvn Jiipw aTr^yTf Mat Tot***" tat r*f ti »X>.ff * aytatrn; t/tt • ifttf j xai rtm rturt $a^i„, tvaetr u mufw inf.- i.»n» imlsmm, mi m**< y> nit, \. e. " He was not willing to adore statues, hut approached to
the God. themselves, w ho aie inwardly concealed not in adyta, but in the occult itscllj whatever it may be of alt- perfect ignorance. Uow therefore 10 them being such did he approach ? Through vehement love, this also being occult. And what else indeed, could conduct him to them than a love which is also unknown f What my meaning i§ those who have experienced this love know ; but it is impossible to reveal it by words «"1 >* no less difficult to understand what it is."
«hicb, their hand being guided by that of the matter, they become, through memory, accustomed to the art. It appear* to me therefore, that legislator* devised these statues for men, as if fur a certain kind of boys, as tokens of the honour which should be paid to divinity, und a certain duction as it were and path to rcaiiuiscctice.