him (b); but was anfwered, that he was not capable of it (c), and accordingly at that Time, while the Glory of the Lord paffed by him, Mofes was put in a Clift of the Rock, and the Lord covered him with his Hand, while he paffed by (d): But here upon the Nobles of Ifrael he laid not his Hand (e): They had an unintercepted View of his Appearance, and confequently he appeared to them, with a leffer Degree of Glory, fuch as Men might fee and live.

As to what may be pretended of the wise and learned Heathens; that they by the Light of Nature would have judged fuch an Appearance, as is here fpoken of, abfurd and impoffible; I would obferve of them, That it is indeed true, that their earliest Philofophy led them to think, that the Lights of Heaven were the Gods that governed the World (f), and to afcribe no human Shape to thefe Divinities, nor to fet up Idols of human Form in their ancient Image-worship, but rather to confecrate facred Animals, and to dedicate their Images; the Images of Birds, and fourfooted Beafts, and creeping things (g): These they imagined to be proper Objects or Directors of their Worship, and they have left us, what they thought a philofophical Reason for the Use they made of them (5): But notwith

ལ

(b) Exod. xxxiv. 18. (c) ver. 20. (d) ver. 22. (e) xxiv. II. (f) Wisdom xii. 34. See Vol. I. B. V. B. I. Vol. II, B.. VIII. (g) Vol. II. B. VIII. (b) AyaлитέOV V & TAUTα τιμῶντας, ἀλλὰ διὰ τέτων τὸ θεῖον, ὡς εναργεςέρων ἐσόπτρων PUTH DEVOVÓTay. Plut. de Ifide et Ofiride, p. 382.

D 4

ftanding

ftanding all this, in Time a newer Theology fucceeded among them, and in all Nations, except the more Eaftern, which had but little Knowledge of, or Concern in what happened in Canaan and the Countries adjacent to it, or which were inftructed from it, Gods of human Form were introduced into every Temple, and human Images were erected to them: And yet in After-times, when their Philofophers came to fpeculate upon this Subject, both this Worship and Theology was thought by them to have been the Invention of Fabulifts and Poets, and not to have been derived from Reafon and Truth (i); They thought it mythic or popular, but in no wife agreeable to their Notions of the Nature of divine Beings (k), but rather contrary to them. It is remarkable, that this their later Theology was never thought of in any Nation, until after the Lord had appeared unto Abraham, unto Ifaac, unto Jacob, unto Mofes, until after an Angel had appeared unto Balaam (1), unto Joshua (m), and to divers other Perfons, not until after the Fame of these Appearances had fpread into, and obtained Credit in divers Countries. From all which I am apt to conclude, that not Science or Speculation, but a Belief of Facts well attefted, led the Heathens into this their newer

(i) Vid. Plat. de Rep. 1. 2. (k) Tria funt genera Theologiæ, eorumq; unum Mythicon appellatur, alterum phyficon, tertium civile. Mythicon appellatur, quo maximè utuntur Poetæ, phyficon, quo Philofophi; primum quod dixi, in eo funt multa contra dignitatem et naturam immortalium ficta, &c. Varro in Fragment. P. 31. (1) Numbers xxii. (m) Joh. v. 13.

Theology

Theology (n).

What was faid of the Appear

ances of Angels unto Men amongst the Hebrews, and to fome other Perfons of other Nations, was known to have been Fact, beyond a Poffibility of Contradiction: And hence it came to pass, that tho' Philosophy fuggefted no fuch Innovation; yet the Directors of the Sacra of Heathen Kingdoms could not well avoid an Imitation, of what, as Fact, could not be denied to have happened in the World; and this by Degrees led them to their New-Gods. And thus if we confult the ancient Heathens, inftead of finding from their Philofophy Objections fufficient to weaken the Credibility of what the Scriptures record concerning the Appearances of divine and fuperior Beings, we may, from the Alteration which they made in their facred Inftitutions, be induced to think, thefe Scripture Facts to have been fo well attefted to the World, that even Nations not immediately concerned in them, could not but admit the Truth of them, and think them of weight enough to cause them to vary from what they had before esteemed the Principles both of their Science and Religion. But

Mofes is faid to have remarked to the Ifrae

(n) There are many Paffages in the Heathen Writers, which_intimate them to have thought it a Fact, which could in no wife be denied, that the Gods had appeared unto Men. Thus, Sæpe vifæ Formæ Deorum quemvis non hebetem aut impium Deos præfentes effe confiteri coegerunt. Tullius de Nat. Deor. 1. 2. c. 2. Again, Præterea ipforum Deorum præfentiæ, quales fupra commemoravi, declarant, ab his et civitatibus, et fingulis hominibus confuli. Id. ibid. c.66.

lites, that they had feen no manner of Similitude. I anfwer, Nothing can, I think, be concluded from the Paffage alluded to (0), to contradict what Mofes relates Exod. xxiv. that he, and the Elders faw the God of Ifrael. The Paffage cited from Deuteronomy exprefly refers to the Day in which God delivered, in an audible Voice, the Ten Commandments from the Mount to the People: And Mofes's Defign in it was, to caution them, by a due Regard to that Day's Tranfactions, to be exceeding careful not to fall into Idolatry. He exhorts them Ver. 9, 10, never to forget the Things which their Eyes had feen, on the Day that they stood before the Lord in Horeb: He reminds them, Ver. 12, that in that Day the Lord Spake unto them out of the midst of the Fire, that they heard the Voice of the Words, but faw no Similitude, only they heard a Voice: He then again charges them to take good heed to themselves, left they fhould make the Similitude of any Figure, by observing again to them, Ver. 15. that they faw no Similitude, on the Day that the Lord Spake unto them in Horeb, out of the midst of the Fire. On this Day it was, that God inftructed them how he would be worshipped, and commanded them to make to themselves no manner of Image (p); and therefore to this particular Day's Tranfaction Mofes might well appeal, in order to charge them in the strictest manner

(0) Deut. iv. 15.

(p) Exod. xx. 4, 5.

to

to be careful to obferve this Commandment: and accordingly, what he here offers is by his own express Words limited and confined to the Tranfactions of the Day here referred to; and I do not fee, how any thing can be concluded from what is here faid, against what he may have fuggefted to have happened on any other Day whatsoever.

About thefe Times Lelex, who was the first King of Laconia, flourished in that Country: Lelex feems to have been fomewhat elder than Mofes: He came originally from Egypt (a), made divers Settlements in many Places; in Caria (b), in Ionia (c), at Ida near Troy (d), and afterwards in Greece, in Acarnania (e), in Etolia (f), in Baotia (g), and laft of all in Laconia. When Lelex began his Travels, he took the fame Rout, that Cecrops and the Father of Cadmus had before taken: He went up into Phenicia, thence into the leffer Afia, and from thence he croffed over into Greece, and made Settlements in many Places, until at length he came into Laconia: In all Parts where he made any Stay, he endeavoured to form and civilize the uncultivated People, and probably, when he removed, he left fome of his Followers to complete his defigns, and upon every Proceffion to a new Country, he

(α) Λέγεσιν οἱ Μεγαρείς Λέλεγα ἀφικόμενον εξ Αιγύπτε Carindal. Paufan. in Atticis. c. 39. (b) Vid. Strab. Geog. lib. 7. p. 321. lib. 13. p. 611. Hom. Il. p. v. 86, 87. (c) Strab. lib. 14. p. 640. (d) Id. lib. 7. p. 321. (e) Id. ibid. (f) Id. ibid.

(g) Id. ibid. et in lib. 9. p.

took