rally prevailed before their own age, time out of mind. And fome give their reafons, how it came to be fo, which they would never have done, if they had not verily thought the thing true in fact. Plato, for inftance, makes the general confent of all men, Greeks and Barbarians, in the belief of a God, one argument for the certainty of the thing. And both for this, and for the Soul's Immortality and Future Rewards and Punishments, which are things he often treats of, he frequently hints at the general opinion of former ages. And that Socrates, his great mafter, did use to argue from the fame topic, appears not only from Plato's doctrine, which was principally derived from him, but also from that discourse which Xenophon tells us, he himself heard from Socrates's own mouth, in a converfation with one Ariftodemus, a pretender to Infidelity at that time; in which, among other excellent arguments for a God and a Providence taking particare of mankind, he has this remarkable paffage,

cular

m Do you think,

fays

De leg. l. 10. p. 886.

αν

m Οἴει δ ̓ ἂν τὰς Θεὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δόξαν ἐμοῦσαι, ὡς ἱκανοί εἰσιν εὖ καὶ κακως ποιῶν, εἰ μὴ διατοὶ ἦσαν καὶ ἀνθρώπε, ἐξαν πατωμένες τα πάντα χρόνον ἀδέποτ ̓ ἂν αὐπίς; ἐκ όμως ότι

758

fays he, the Gods would have made this opinion, That they are able to reward and punish, so natural to mankind, if they were not able to it? Or that all men could have been deceived for all ages, and never yet have perceived it? Do you not obferve, that the most ancient cities and nations among mankind have ever been moft religious, and the most prudent ages fhewn the greatest regard to the Gods? Ariftotle, who is by fome thought not to have been over-favourable to Religion, tells us, n That all men have an opinion of the Gods, and all men affign the higheft place to the Divine Nature, both Barbarians and Greeks, whoever believe the Being of Gods. And the Author of the Book De Mundo, (who is by fome thought not to be Ariftotle, yet certainly an author of great antiquity, even of the age of Ariftotle himself, if his dedicating his Book to Alexander can be any Proof of it,) affirms, That

τὰ πολυχρονιώτατα και σοφώτατα ἢ ἀνθρωπίνων, πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη Θε οσεβέταλά έτι, καὶ αἱ φρονιμώτατας ἡλικίας Θεῶν ἐπιμελέςα]αι; Xenop. amour. lib. 1. cap. 4.

ο Πάντες ο άνθρωποι δεὶ Θεῶν ἔχεσιν υπόληψιν, καὶ πάντες ἀνωτάτω τῷ Θείῳ τόπον Σποδιδόασι καὶ βάρβαροι καὶ ἕλληνες, ὅσοιπες Åvas voμíÇ801 Otás, De Cœlo l. 1. cap 3.

That there is a very antient way of reafoning, or discourse, and such as all men receive from their forefathers, That all things are from God, and confift or are conftituted by God, and that no nature is of itfelf fufficient if deftitute of his prefervation. It would be endless, and is by no means neceffary, to produce all the testimonies that might be had to this purpose out of Greek and Latin writers, who all follow one another, especially those that lived in the times after thofe which I have already mentioned. I fhall only mention that remarkable one of Maximus Tyrius, in his difcourfe of, What the nature of God is according to Plato. About the nature of God, he tells us, men were infinitely divided, and every man speaks according to his own apprehenfions, But, says he, in fo great strife, confufion and difagreement of opinions, you

may

ο Αρχαίο μ εν τις λόγος καὶ πατριός ἐςι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, ὡς ἐκ Θεδ τὰ πάντα καὶ τὰ Θεῖ ἡμῖν συνέτηκεν· ἐδεμία 5 φύσις αυ τὴ καθ ̓ ἑαυτίω αυτάρκης ἐρημωθεῖσα ἐκ τότε σωτηρίας. cap. 6.

P Εν τοσέτῳ ἢ πολέμῳ καὶ τάσει καὶ Διαφωνίᾳ ἕνα ἴδοις ἂν τ πάσῃ γῇ ὁμόφωνον νόμον καὶ λόγον, ὅτι Θεὸς εἰς πάντων βασιλεὺς, καὶ πατήρ, καὶ Θεοὶ πολλοὶ Θε8 παῖδες συνάρχοντες Θεῷ· ταῦτα κα ο Ελλίω λέγει καὶ ὁ βάρβαρα λέγει, καὶ ὁ ἐπειρώτης καὶ ὁ θαλάσ 710, xj à copès x ó äoop.

0

vernment.

go

may obferve one law, or difcourfe, wherein all agree all the world over, viz. That there is one God, the King and Father of all, and many Gods, the offspring of this God and partakers of his This the Greek fays, and this the Barbarian fays, he that dwells upon the continent, and he that lives by the fea, both the wife and the unwife. Thus much therefore for testimony.

2. Let it be confidered, how agreeable this is to what we find to have been practised in all confiderable Nations, of which we have any good history; for the general practice of a nation, for a long time together, is the furest indication of what is the prevailing opinion upon which fuch practice is founded. Now I believe we may challenge all the hiftories in the world, of any credit, to name any civilized people, where there was not always fome form or other of Religious worship, fome publick place or other, either Temple, or Grove, or Mountain, or Altar, used and appointed for the performance of it. As to the particular kinds of Idolatry which prevailed in feveral nations, there may perhaps be fome account given how, and by whom, they were first introduced. But there is no ground in the world to affert, that because there was a time

when

when fuch a particular corruption of Religion first came in among a people, therefore there was also a time, when fuch a people had no Religion at all among them. A man may as well affert, that, because there was a time when men had not found out the way of sowing corn, or cultivating vines, for making of bread and wine, or because there may be yet fome uncultivated corners of the world, where it is not yet done, therefore there was also a time when all men generally did, and a place where some men now, do live without eating or drinking. 9 Orpheus is fuppofed by fome to have firft brought Religion into Greece out of Egypt, whither he went to learn it. But had they then no Religion at all in Greece before his time? Yes, certainly; though they had not that particular kind of Idolatry, or thofe rites and ceremonies which he brought among them. What new model he brought, or the time when, is very uncertain; but what Plato thinks is very probable, that the first inhabitants of Greece did worship the Sun, Moon, Earth, Stars and Heaven, as vifible Deities, as many of the Barbarous nations still did in his time, and they called them 9e from Jeiv

9 Diodorus Sic. lib. 1.

In Cratylo, p. 397.