to the argument: For they are always such notions as are apt to be entertained and cherished by vulgar minds, whose current the wise Magistrate is accustomed to turn to his advantage. For to think him capable of new modelling the human mind, by making men religious whom he did not find so, is, as will be shewn hereafter, a senseless whimsy, entertained by the Atheist to account for the origin of Religion. And, when it is seen that all these various modes of superstition concurred to promote the Magistrate's purpose, it can hardly be doubted but he gave them that general direction. The particular parts of Gentile Religion, which further strengthen and confirm this reasoning, are not here to be insisted on. Their original will be clearly seen, when we come to shew the several methods which the Magistrate employed for this great purpose. What these methods were, the course of the argument now leads us to consider. SECT. II. IT hath been shewn in general, from the EFFECT, that Lawgivers and founders of civil policy did indeed support and propagate Religion. We shall now endeavour to explain the CAUSES of that effect, in a particular enumeration of the arts they employed to that purpose. I. The FIRST step the Legislator took, was to pretend a Mission and revelation from some God, by whose command and direction he had framed the Policy he would establish. Thuş Amasis and Mneves, lawgivers lawgivers of the Egyptians (from whence this custom spread over Greece and Asia) pretended to receive their laws from Mercury; Zoroaster the lawgiver of the Bactrians, and Zamolvis lawgiver of the Getes, from Vesta; Zathraustes the lawgiver of the Arimaspi, from a good spirit or genius; and all these most industriously and professedly propagated the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments. Rhadamanthus and Minos lawgivers of Crete, and Lycaon of Arcadia, pretended to an intercourse with Jupiter; Triptolemus lawgiver of the Athenians, affected to be inspired by Ceres; Pythagoras and Zaleucus, who made laws for the Crotoniates and Locrians, ascribed their institutions to Minerva: Lycurgus of Sparta, professed to act by the direction of Apollo; and Romulus and Numa of Rome put themselves under the guidance of Consus, and the Goddess Egeria*. In a word, there is hardly an old Lawgiver on record, but what thus pretended to revelation, and the divine assistance. But had we the lost books of Legislators written by Hermippus, Theophrastus, and Apollodorus†, we should have had a much fuller list of these inspired statesmen, and doubtless, many further lights on the subject. The same method was practised by the founders of the great outlying empires, as Sir William Temple calls them. Thus the first of the Chinese monarchs was called Fagfour or Fanfur, the son of Heaven, as we are told by the jesuits, from his pretensions to that relation. The royal commen * Diod. Sic. 1. i. & v. Ephorus apud Strabonem, 1. x.-teste veteri scriptore apud Suidam in [Avxáwr] -Arist. apud Schol. Pind. ad. Olymp. x. † Athen. 1. xiv. D. Laertius. taries of Peru inform us, that the founders of that empire were Mango Copac, and his wife and sister Coya Mama, who proclaimed themselves the son and daughter of the Sun, sent from their father to reduce mankind from their savage and bestial life, to one of order and society. Tuisco, the founder of the German nations, pretended to be sent upon the same message, as appears from his name, which signifies the interpreter*, that is, of the Gods. Thor and Odin, the lawgivers of the Western Goths, laid claim likewise to inspiration and even to divinity f. The Revelations of Mahomet are too well known to be insisted on. But the race of these inspired Lawgivers seems to have ended in Genghizcan, the founder of the Mogul empiret. Such was the universal custom of the ancient world, to make Gods and Prophets of their first kings and lawgivers. Hence it is, that Plato makes legislation to have come from God, and not from man§: and * Vide Sheringham, De Anglorum gentis origine, p. 86. Olim quidam magicæ artis imbuti, Thor videlicet & Othinus, obtentis simplicium animis, divinitatis sibi fastigium arrogare cœperunt.-Adeo namque fallaciæ eorum effectus percrebuit, ut in ipsis cæteri quandam numinum potentiam venerantes, eosque deos, vel deorum complices autumantes veneficiorum auctoribus solennia vota dependerent, & errori sacrilego respectum sacris debitum exhiberent. Saxo-Gram. 1. vi. Histor. p. 93. Francof. 1576. fol. + Ils ont attribué des revelations à Genghizcan; & pour porter la veneration des peuples aussi loin qu' elle pouvoit aller, ils lui ont donné de la divinité. Ceux qui s'interessoient à son elevation eurent même l'insolence de le faire passer pour fils de Dieu. Sa mere plus modeste, dit seulement qu'il etoit rILS DU SOLEIL. Petit de la Croix, le pere, Histoire du Genghizcan, c. 1. M. § Θεὸς ἤ τις ανθρώπων ὑμῖν, ὦ ξένοι, εἴληφε τὴν αἰτίαν τὴς τῶν νόμων διαθέσεως; ΚΑ. Θεός, ὦ ξένε, θεὸς, ὡς γε τὸ δικαιόταλον εἰπεῖν. De Leg. 1. i. lin. 1. that that the constant epithets to kings, in Homer, are ΔΙΟΓΕΝΕΙΣ born of the Gods, and ΔΙΟΤΡΕΦΕΙΣ bred or tutored by the Gods*. From this general pretence to revelation we may collect the sentiments of the ancient lawgivers concerning the use of Religion to Society. For we must always have in mind what Diodorus Siculus so truly observes, That they did this, not only to beget a veneration to their laws, but likewise to establish the opinion of the superintendency of the Gods over human affairs†. One may venture to go farther, and say, that to establish this superintendency was their principal and direct aim in all their pretensions to inspiration. The reader may observe, that Diodorus does not so much as suspect them of having a third end, distinct from these two; that is to say, the advancement of • Θυμὸς δὲ μέγας ἐςὶ διοτρεφές βασιλῆς. Ι. Β'. ver. 196. which title of διοτρεφέω. is not given, says Eustathius on the place, to signify that such a one is descended from Jupiter, but that he receives his honour and authority from him. Εφερμηνεύει διατί ΔΙΟΓΕΝΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΟΤΡΕΦΕΙΣ τις βασιλεῖς λέγει, ἐχ ὅτι ἐκ Διὸς τὸ γένω ἕλκεσι, ἀλλ' ὅτι ΕΞ ΕΚΕΙΝΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΙΣ Η ΤΙΜΗ. † Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν παλαιὰν τῷ κατ ̓ Αἴγυπίον βίε καλάςασιν, τὴν μυθολο γεμένην γερονέναι ἐπί τε τῶν θεῶν καὶ τῶν ἡρώων, πεῖσαι φασὶ πρῶτον Αγράπλοις νόμοις χρήσασθαι τὰ πλήθη βίεν τὸ Μνεύην, ἄνδρα καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ μέγαν καὶ τῷ βίῳ κοινότατον τῶν μνημονευομένων, προσποιηθῆναι δὲ αὐτῷ τὸν Ἑρμῆν δεδωκέναι τέτες, ὡς μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν αἰτίες ἐσομένες καθάπερ παρ' Έλλησι ποιῆσαι φασὶν ἐν μὲν τῇ Κρήτη Μίνωα, παρὰ δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις Λυκαρδον· τὸν μὲν παρὰ Διὸς, τὸν δὲ παρ ̓ ̓Απόλλων φήσαντα τέτες εἰληφέναι· καὶ σας' ἑτέροις δὲ πλείοσιν ἔθνεσι παραδέδοται τῦτο τὸ γένος τῆς ἐπινοίας ὑπάρξαι, καὶ πολλῶν ἀγαθῶν αἴτιον γενέσθαι τοῖς πεισθεῖσι —εἴτε καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὑπεροχὴν καὶ δύναμιν τῶν εὐρεῖν λεγομένων, τὰς νόμες ἀποβλέψαντα τὸν ἔχλον, μᾶλλον ὑπακέσεσθαι διαλαβόνας. L. i. p. 59. Edit. Stephe their own private interest. And this with great judgment. He knew well the difference between a LAWGIVER and a TYRANT; though the World soon after seems to have lost the memory of that distinction*. Such views became not the former; they destroyed his character, and changed him into his direct opposite; who applied every thing to his own interest; and this amongst the rest. Aristotle, in his maxims for setting up, and supporting a tyranny, lays this down for one,. to seem extremely attached to the worship of the Gods, for that men have no apprehension of injustice from such as they take to be religious and to have a high sense of providence. Nor will the people be apt to run into plots and conspiracies against those, whom they believe the Gods will, in their turn, fight for, and support t. And here it is worth noting, that, anciently, Tyrants, as well as Lawgivers, gave all encouragement to Religion; and endeavoured to establish their irregular Wills, not by convincing men that there was no just nor unjust in actions; but by persuading them that the privilege of divine right exempted the Tyrant from all moral obligation. Hence Quintilian L. VIII. C. 6. (pag. 415. Edit. Oxon. 1693, 4to) de Tropis, says that Pastor Populi, though used by Homer, is so POETICAL that he would not venture to use it in an oration: and ranks it with Virgil's-Volucres pennis remigare. What could occasion so strange a piece of Criticism, but that when Quintilian wrote under the Tyrants of Rome, the People had lost the very idea of the Kingly Office? † Ἔτι δὲ τὰ πρὸς τὸς θεὸς φαίνεσθαι ἀεὶ σπεδάζοντα διαφερόνως, ντόν τε γὰρ φοβῶνται, τὸ παθεῖν τι παράνομον ὑπὸ τῶν τοιέτων, ἐὰν δεισι δαίμονα νομίζωσιν εἶναι τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ φροντίζειν τῶν θεῶν καὶ ἐπιβελεύεσιν ήτίον, ὡς συμμάχες ἔχοντι καὶ τὰς θεός. Polit. 1. v. c. 11. T. III. p. 547. D. E. Edit. Paris. fol. 1639. may |