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 THE 
 
 THEOLOGY 
 
 O F 
 
 PLATO, 
 
 COMPARED WITH THE 
 
 PRINCIPLES 
 
 OF ORIENTAL AND GRECIAN 
 
 PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 By JOHN OGILVIE, D.D. F.R.S.E. 
 
 Epigram, ap. Diogen. Laert. Plat. Lib. iii. p. 213. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. DEIGHTON, HOLBORN, 
 MDCCXC1I1.
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 OBSERVATIONS, 
 
 AND 
 
 GENERAL ARRANGEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SUBJECT. 
 
 THE character of die great author, of 
 whose theological principles it is here 
 proposed to exhibit a summary, has been 
 held up so uniformly by the classical writers 
 of all nations to the admiration of mankind ; 
 that curiosity to be made acquainted with the 
 cause of an effect so universal, is excited in 
 many readers by his illustrious name ; which 
 has been but imperfectly gratified. This 
 circumstance is particularly regretted by those 
 who know, that on that unbounded field 
 wherein the comprehensive mind of Plato 
 has expatiated, many objects occur of magni- 
 a, 2 tude
 
 tude to attract the attention of rational beings, 
 and of importance to merit the closest inves- 
 tigation. Questions that " come home to 
 the bosoms of men," are proposed and exa- 
 mined in the writings of Plato ; theories 
 that originate in the most refined ingenuity, 
 nnd that indicate the deepest research, are by 
 him explained and illustrated ; difficulties that 
 stagger the timid inquirer, and sometimes 
 overpower his intellect, are in many cases 
 successfully obviated ; and, in the course of 
 various and complicated disquisition, philo- 
 sophical discernment is embellished by the 
 elegance of attic composition, and by the 
 resources of the richest and most copious 
 imagination. 
 
 I propose to exemplify these observations in 
 the present essay, by an examination of the 
 Platonic doctrines on subjects that are at the 
 same time the most intricate, and most dif- 
 ficult of solution ; as these may fall to be 
 considered in the various departments of 
 theology. The theories of our author on 
 these topics, as well as his mode of expres- 
 sion, and peculiarity of sentiment, will ap- 
 pear
 
 pear in the best light by being compared 
 with those of other ancient philosophers, and 
 particularly of his immediate predecessors, on 
 the same questions. I shall therefore lay 
 before the reader the tenets of the latter, on 
 the various points which the present subject 
 will offer to be investigated ; as this view of 
 the matter, while it may afford diversified 
 and useful information, will most effectually 
 promote the ultimate purpose of the following 
 femarks. 
 
 The theological doctrines of Plato, which 
 make a figure by far the most conspicuous in 
 his multifarious writings, relate principally 
 cither to God, in the characters of the 
 creator, parent, and governor of his crea- 
 tures ; to the Universe, and to Man, the 
 inhabitant who is best known to us, as being 
 his workmanship; to Evil, as originating 
 in causes that are consistent with the divine 
 perfections and providence ; and, finally, to 
 the pre-existent state of man, the immorta- 
 lity of the soul, and the nature of that re- 
 ward or punishment of which it will finally 
 
 a 3 participate.
 
 participate. On points that rise out of these 
 principal subjects, Plato maintains peculiar 
 opinions, which it will be proper to illustrate 
 in a summary of his Theology : and the detail 
 will be closed most naturally, by an account 
 of the powerful influence of his arguments 
 on the lives and characters of illustrious men ; 
 particularly in the last scene of life ; and by 
 observations that arise from the subject. 
 
 ADVER-
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE following Essay was originally 
 written with the view of finding a place 
 in the Transactions of the Royal Society of 
 Edinburgh. It is offered to the public with 
 some confidence, as having been honoured 
 With the approbation of that learned and most 
 respectable body, who were pleased to trans- 
 mit their thanks to the author for his com- 
 munication, by one of their Secretaries* 
 The gentleman, (who performed this office 
 in terms the most polite and acceptable,) at 
 the same time acquainted him, by order of 
 the Society, that the subject of the work pre- 
 Tented them from complying with his request, 
 as " they were obliged by their regulations to 
 exclude all disquisitions of Theology from 
 their records." 
 
 The author is encouraged to present this 
 work to the public, as well by the approba- 
 
 a 4 tion
 
 tion of so respectable a body, as by that of 
 individuals, who are high in the public esteem ; 
 and he will venture to add, even by the na- 
 ture of the subject : for although Theology 
 be not the darling study of the present age, 
 yet attention is seduced by so many splendid 
 ornaments in the theories of Plato-, that they 
 can hardly fail of obtaining a courteous recep- 
 tion even among the lovers of the Belles 
 Lettres. The principles of our great author 
 attract regard amidst those of other illustrious 
 ancients, as predominant features of a coun- 
 tenance that are pregnant with character and 
 expression, a truth that is illustrated in the 
 present Essay by comparison. For this is the 
 philosopher of whom Quintilian pronounces, 
 that rising above prosaic tameness to a certain 
 divine and Homeric elocution, his mind seems 
 rather to have caught the afflatus of the Del- 
 phic oracle, than to be animated merely by 
 human genius. Hence it has happened, that 
 his maxims and opinions transfused into the 
 writings of succeeding Greek and Roman 
 philosophers, are blended so naturally with 
 their principles.- 
 
 The
 
 The following little work contains the doc- 
 trines of Plato on the principal questions of 
 Theology, arranged with those of the most 
 illustrious among his predecessors. It has 
 therefore some claim to attention, as profes- 
 sedly exhibiting speculations on the great sub- 
 jects of God and the Universe, which may be 
 said to have originated in human sagacity ; 
 and as establishing the truth of certain essen- 
 tial doctrines, by the testimony of mankind 
 in the purest ages. In the illustration of Pla- 
 tonic maxims and theories, an attempt is 
 made to explain certain obscure dogmas, by 
 collating passages from different dialogues of 
 this author, by which means his true mean- 
 ing is discovered and elucidated ; principles 
 that have been ascribed to him without ground, 
 by the most eminent of ancient philosophers, 
 are set aside ; his tenets in some cases are 
 shewn to be the same as those of some great 
 
 o 
 
 names among his predecessors, from which 
 they were judged to be opposite ; and charges 
 that would imply inconsistency are refuted, if 
 not with adequate ability, at least with that 
 impartiality and candour which the subject 
 seems peculiarly to prescribe. In short, an
 
 epitome of ancient Theology is here presented 
 to the public, in which it will easily be dis- 
 covered, that the author uninfluenced by pre- 
 ceding theories of whatever kind, has been 
 principally solicitous of adhering to truth. 
 
 THE
 
 THE 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 SECTION 1. 
 
 Doctrine of the Ancients, and particularly of Plato, 
 concerning the Divine Nature, Perfections, and Pro- 
 vidence. Page n . 
 
 Universality of the religious principle, and 
 belief of the divine existence and unity. Tenets 
 of the Zabeans, of Zoroaster, of the Magi, 
 of the Egyptians, of the Grecian poets and phi- 
 losophers on the nature and perfections of the 
 Deity. Platonic doctrine, in what respect pre- 
 'ferable to that of Epicurus. Various designa- 
 tions expressive of the unity of God. Explicit 
 declarations of our author on this subject. 
 Application of the term 0EO2 to the Supreme 
 Mind. Explanation of the celebrated distinc- 
 tion of FN xi TA nOAAA. Platonic ideas. 
 Mistake of Diogenes Laertius corrected. Surrn 
 
 niarv
 
 mary of the Platonic tenets respecting the na- 
 ture and perfections of GOD. Comparison of the 
 conduct of ancient and modern philosophers. 
 
 SECTION IL 
 
 Cosmogony of the Ancient 's. Of the nature, character* 
 and offices of the persons of the Platonic Triad, as 
 being interested in the formation^ and government of 
 the universe. Page 28 
 
 Cause of the attention of ancient writers to 
 cosmogony. Principles of the Chaldeans, Phse- 
 nicians, and Egyptians, concerning the birth 
 and generation of the universe. Successive views 
 of the doctrine of Thales, Anaximenes, Orpheus, 
 and Pythagoras, on this subject. Perfect con- 
 sonance of Plato's account to that of Moses on a 
 general summary. Of the Triad, as concerned 
 in this work according to Plato. An obscure 
 passage respecting their different offices. Pecu- 
 liar appellation and office of the First Person in 
 producing the world. Employment of the 
 Second Person, under the denomination of 
 AHMIOTPFOS, or ACFOS, in this work. Proper 
 meaning of the term AOFOS, the WORD, as used 
 by Plato. Mistake of a modern writer cor- 
 rected. The term applied strictly and properly 
 to the Second Person of the Triad. Introduc- 
 tion to the account of the Anima Mundi, or 
 
 Third
 
 Third Person, in an examination of our author's 
 principles respecting the formation and materials 
 of the universe. Refutation of those who ascribe 
 to Plato the belief of the eternity of matter. 
 Schemes of our author and of Anaximander the 
 same on this subject. N. Mistake of Aristotle, 
 in which he is followed by Plutarch, ibid. 
 Plato's account of the chaos more rational and 
 intelligible than that of other theorists. Exa- 
 mination of the constituent parts of the TAH, 
 or first matter. Order of creation by the inter- 
 mixture of various elements. The whole mass 
 actuated by the Anima Mundi, which occupies the 
 center of the globe. Objection of Aristotle an- 
 swered. N. Plato's account of this person-- 
 Various hypotheses of his followers. Judgment 
 of the whole.- Physical office of the Anima 
 Mundi as the cause of generation. Moral pur- 
 poses which he is employed in effecting.- Re- 
 view of the whole theory, as applied to illustrate 
 the obscure passage mentioned in the beginning. 
 Its import fully ascertained. Concluding re- 
 mark on the difference between the Platonic and 
 Christian account of this subject. . 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Middle order of beings. Inhabitants of the air and 
 elements, 66 
 
 Causes
 
 Causes of our belief in intermediate beings, 
 who participate of the divine and human nature. 
 Doctrines of the ancients on the nature of de- 
 mons or genii. Points concerning these intelli- 
 gences, in which they agree unanimously. 
 Opinions on the same subject wherein they differ, 
 - Nature of the demoniacal body, being neither 
 celestial nor corporeal. Operation whereby it i% 
 rendered visible. Division of genii into two 
 classics. Offices of the superior order- 1. As 
 mediators between God and man, in the opinion 
 ef the most illustrious ancients. Judgment of 
 Plutarch, Thales, Pythagoras, &c. to this pur- 
 pose. 2. As superintending the rites of sacrifice, 
 and 3s having dictated oracular responses. -3, 
 As employed in chastising arrogance and crimi- 
 nality. 4. As beings who, for these reasons, 
 *re objects of worship and veneration. Evil 
 genii of this order. Different opinions of Chris- 
 riun authors concerning them.- Nature and 
 duties of demons of inferior order, their peculiar 
 character and employment in the care of man- 
 kind. i. Intelligences who have the charge 
 of empires. -Genius of Carthage, or Rome, of 
 Fortune, &c. considered as conducting great 
 e-venls and revolutions. 2. Genii of provinces, 
 cities, &c. 3. Peculiar guardians of MAN.-* 
 Belief of mankind in the existence of guardian- 
 spirits ? and in their influence on conduct. 
 
 Selection
 
 Selection of these beings made, according to 
 Plato, in a pre-existent state. Guardians of 
 Cain and Abel, and of Octavius and Antony. 
 Remarkable story of Plotimis. Demon of So- 
 crates sometimes mistaken. Evil genii of this 
 order.--Phenomenon of dreaming. Examples 
 ~f prophetical dreams. A sentiment of Aris- 
 totle. N. Genius of Brutus.- 4. Dryads, ha- 
 madryads, satyrs, wood-nymphs, &c. genii of 
 the last order. Concluding remark on Grecian 
 ingenuity. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Of the creation and constituent principles of MAN. 
 
 Page 93 
 
 Opinions of the ancients respecting the origin 
 and constitution of man. Pre-existent spirits. 
 Union of mind with body. The latter purified 
 by the former, and finally translated to fuperior 
 regions. Account of this matter by Anaxagoras 
 similar to that of Thales. His inadequate idea 
 of the human soul censured by Aristotle. Tenet 
 of a sect of oriental philosophers on this subject, 
 an improvement of the doctrine of Epicurus.* 
 General remark. Pythagorean hypothesis.--Ex- 
 planation of the MONAD of Pythagoras. Intel- 
 lect distinguished by him from passion and ap- 
 petite in the human frame, by residing peculiarly 
 
 in
 
 ( xvi ) . 
 
 in the head, and by regulating the latter which 
 occupy the heart. Use of the veins, arteries, 
 nerves, &c. in retaining the divine and immor- 
 tal inhabitant. Man consists, according to 
 Plato, of three parts. Causes in the nature of 
 man, wherein this distinction is founded. Ra- 
 tional and sensitive soul. Nature, office, and 
 character of the former. Sensitive soul how com- 
 pounded. Causes of its superiority to mere 
 animal nature, to which it is most nearly allied. 
 Plato's remarkable account of the creation of 
 man, as well as of the inhabitants of planetary 
 worlds by the TO EN. His separation of the ra- 
 tional and sensitive soul. An account of their 
 various operations. Coincidence of the Pytha- 
 gorean and Platonic theories on this subject. 
 General illustration of the universe of Plato. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 Platonic doctrine' of* the origin of evil ', and its effects, 
 compared with those of oriental, and of Greek phi- 
 losophers on this subject. Page 109. 
 
 An inquiry into the origin of evil naturally 
 arises from a contemplation of the phenomena of 
 the universe. Causes that led to it at an early 
 period. The three principal schemes that were 
 invented to solve this difficulty, are those of 
 Zoroaster, Chrysippus, and Plato. Good and 
 
 evij
 
 ( xvii ) 
 
 evil principle of Zoroaster. Generation, and 
 offspring of Oromazes. Descent, character, and 
 actions of his great opponent Arimanius. Good 
 and evil blended in the universe as the conse- 
 quence of their contest. Office of the mediatory 
 being Mithra, or Miseles. General observa- 
 tions on this hypothesis, illustrated by a remark 
 on the Satan of Milton. Advantage of this 
 scheme above that of Epicurus, who denies the 
 superintendency of Providence. Chaldean and 
 Grecian notions of this subject, formed upon the 
 scheme of Zoroaster. Stoical account of it con- 
 tained in five propositions. Their agreement in 
 the belief of one Supreme Intelligence. Causes 
 of denominating this being Fate, Destiny, &c. 
 * Chrysippus definition of Fate. Origin of the 
 Parcas, or daughters of Necessity. 3. God, as 
 being the necessity of future events, is, accord- 
 ing to their doctrine, the author of evil. Dis- 
 tinction groundless by which Chrysippus would 
 avoid this charge. Good and evil essential prin- 
 ciples in the estimation of Stoical philosophers, 
 which subsist necessarily together. Plutarch's 
 admirable refutation of this affirmation. ^Obser- 
 vation of the author, 5. The world, according 
 to this sect, is a corporeal frame, of which the 
 parts are spontaneously compliant to the will of 
 Jupiter. Consequence of this dogma as an ac- 
 count pf the origin of evil. Enumeration of the 
 
 k incon-
 
 ( xviii ) 
 
 inconsistencies and absurdities of the Stoics.-*-" 
 Cause of this incongruity. Method of recon- 
 ciling passages on this subject in the writings of 
 the ancients, that are apparently inconsistent. 
 Excellent reflection of an ancient philosopher. 
 Plato unjustly represented by Plutarch, as main- 
 taining the doctrine of Zoroaster. The charge 
 stated. Answered by an appeal to the writings of 
 Plato. His modest declaration on this subject. 
 Two general observations made by him, that evil 
 operates within a limited sphere^ and in that 
 sphere that its existence is necessary.- The true 
 Platonic doctrine of the nature and origin of 
 evil, contained in four distinct propositions.- 
 i. Evils that originate in human imperfection. 
 Peripatetic principle of negation. Question 
 suggested by this inquiry concerning the origin 
 of moral evil. 2. Evils that arise from the innate 
 propensities, and tendency of matter. These 
 tendencies originally repelled by the Creator. 
 Retirement of the TO EN into the contemplation 
 of himself. Consequences of this retirement on 
 the state of the world, in which evil began to 
 make its appearance. Explanation of this doc- 
 trine, and remarks on it. 3. Theory and origin 
 of moral evil, according to our author in the 
 union of matter and spirit. Two questions arise 
 from this detail. The first respects the present 
 unequal distribution of reward and punishment , 
 
 the-
 
 -the ad. the causes for which souls arc sent into 
 this world from the abodes of happiness. Ge- 
 neral answer that the evils of this life will b$ 
 compensated in the next. A more particular 
 repiy in the celebrated doctrine of pre-exist ence. 
 Platonic apologues. Story of Er, the Arme- 
 nian. His account of pre-existent spirits, as well 
 as of souls that ascend from mortal bodies, in 
 order to be judged. Scenes that pass before the 
 entrance of the soul into its present state. 
 Purpose of this narrative. Illustration of the 
 Pythagorean and Platonic dogma of remenis- 
 cence, and of our author's philosophical idea of 
 equality.- General remarks on pre-existence, as 
 affording an easy solution of many difficulties. 
 Man at present in a state of exile. How far this 
 is a scriptural doctrine. -Two passages of the 
 Old and New Testament seem to favour it. 
 Examination of each. Pre-existence clearly an 
 apocryphal tenet, although not expressly revealed 
 in scripture. 2d. Quest'on concerning the causes 
 for which spirits are sent into this world. An- 
 swered by another beautiful narration or apo- 
 logue. Particular explanation of its meaning 
 and purpose. Objection answered. Summary. 
 of the whole section. Evil, in the idea of Plato, 
 and Pythagoras, an accident, and transitory ali- 
 enation from order, which will finally be cor- 
 rected. What ought to be the present occupa- 
 tion of man. 
 
 b 2 SEC-
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 Doctrine of the ancients on the nature and immortality 
 of the soul. Summary of the Platonic reasoning on 
 this subject y and of observations on future reward 
 and punishment. Page 166. 
 
 Testimony of mankind in all ages in behalf of 
 immortality. The voice of nature most clearly 
 heard in ignorant and unenlightened nations. 
 Advocates of immortality more numerous among 
 ancient than modern philosophers.The system 
 of Polytheism founded in the belief of future 
 existence.- Philosophy and poetry concur in 
 establishing this truth. Nature and state of the 
 soul according to Thales.- Notion of the Egyp- 
 tian philosophers, of Anaxagoras, of Aristotle, 
 of Hesiod, of Homer, of Cicero, on this sub- 
 ject. Plato, of all others, the most strenuous 
 advocate of immortality.* His observations 
 ranged under ve heads. i. The nature of the 
 soul. 2. Its desires and capacities. 3. Its 
 moral perfection, &c. 4, Its hope of immorta- 
 lity, and the present unequal and imperfect dis- 
 tribution. 5. Its pre-existence. His answer to 
 objections. i. The soul immaterial. Power of 
 the soul. Nature of those objects which it de- 
 lights in contemplating. Its resemblance to the 
 Divine Being, as a pure spirit, and consequent 
 immortality. It lays aside the body and grosser 
 
 appetites,
 
 appetites, by which however its researches are 
 often impeded. A true philosopher ought to 
 wish for death. 2. Argument for immortality 
 from the desire and capacity of the soul. This 
 desire is strongest in the best and worthiest 
 men. Effect of meditation of the divine per- 
 fections. The immense capacity of the soul, a 
 proof that it cannot be annihilated. Socrates 
 sublime description. Other proofs of its com- 
 prehension applied to this purpose. 3. The 
 moral perfection of the soul indicated by its 
 participation of the divine nature, and its aspi- 
 ration after the knowledge of God. 4. Argu- 
 ments drawn from the present situation of man 
 in behalf of immortality, and from present un- 
 equal distribution. 5. Sum of the author's 
 proof from pre-existence. ist. Objection that 
 what we denominate the soul is an harmony of 
 corporeal members, that is dissolved at death.- 
 2d. Objection, that granting it to be distinct 
 from body, it expires in its last form, after 
 having gone through many metempsychoses. 
 i st. Objection answered from the nature of the 
 soul, which is not dependent on the body as 
 harmony on the instrument, but at all times 
 opposed to it, by the application of the terms 
 more or less excellent to harmony, whereas more 
 or less spiritual cannot be, applied to the soul, 
 because the mind, considered as a concord, 
 
 ought
 
 ( xxii } 
 
 ought to be destroyed by vicious propensities 
 that would be opposite to its nature, as harmony 
 by discordant sounds. Finally, because in music 
 the harmony arises from the instrument, whereas 
 in man the %pul commands the body. Answer, 
 to the zd. objection, that as principles diame- 
 trically opposite cannot subsist in one subject, 
 the soul or principle of life cannot admit death, 
 which is opposite to it, and would be destructive 
 of its existence. State of the dead according to 
 ancient philosophers. Opinion of a follower of 
 Zoroaster, of Epicharmus, of Applionius, of 
 Tyana, of Aristotle, of Cicero. Doctrine of 
 immortality applied as consolatory to the un- 
 happy. Three states mentioned by Plato, as, 
 prepared for the unbodied spirit. His accou.nt 
 of the mansion of the Gods, of Hades, or the 
 state of purification ; opinion of the fathers on 
 this head. -Of purification, as fitted to different 
 orders of men. Gulph of Tartarus, for whom 
 prepared. Purpose of the metempsychosis. 
 Objection answerecj,-- Doctrine of immortality 
 applied by Plato to the purposes pf life. Ex-* 
 hortation to his disciples. Sum of his whole 
 argument. A general view qf mankind, as 
 having been animated in all ages by the hope 
 of immortality. Reasoning of Plato on this, 
 subject contains, in the judgment of all suc- 
 ceeding
 
 ( xxiii ) 
 
 needing writers* whatever the mind could sug- 
 gest on it. Cicero's eulogium of this great 
 master. Effect of the Platonic arguments in 
 behalf of immortality in the last moments of So* 
 crates, of Cato, of Cicero. Concluding ad- 
 dress.
 
 O N T H E 
 
 THEOLOGY 
 
 O F 
 
 PLATO. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 DOCTRINE OF THE ANCIENTS, AND PARTICU- 
 LARLY OF PLATO, CONCERNING THE NA- 
 TURE, PERFECTIONS, AND PROVIDENCE OF 
 GOD. 
 
 NO truth will be more readily acknowledged, 
 by him who examines the iv.U ure of man, 
 than that the religious principle is above all 
 others, charactcristical of the species. This prin- 
 ciple is coeval in its original with the human 
 mind ; of which, ia the history of all nations, it 
 B forms
 
 forms the strongest and most predominant fea- 
 tures. Men have indeed differed widely from 
 each other, and will most probably continue to 
 differ, in their notions of the various and com- 
 plex branches of Theology. But their general 
 belief of its leading truths is powerfully indi- 
 cated by their attempts to explain its inftitu- 
 tions, and to solve the difficulties, of which in- 
 vestigation hath in all ages been productive. 
 
 We may consider the following proposition as 
 a theological axiom ; that the first great object 
 whom this science presents before the mind, is 
 the Author of Nature, as His character is written 
 in the volume of the universe. 
 
 Ante mare, &: tellus, & quod tegit omnia coelum, 
 Unus erat toto Naturae vultus in orbe, 
 Quern dixeie Chaos, &c. 
 Hunc DEUS litem deremit. 
 
 Ovid, in the present instance, may be consider- 
 ed as deputed to speak the language of mankind : 
 for professed Atheists, in the strict sense of that, 
 term ; are so few, either among ancient or mo- 
 dern philosophers, that they ought to be viewed 
 as the solar macula?, which, although they be 
 discernible on the Kid of a telescope j yet, 
 neither diminish the heat, obstruct the influ- 
 ence,
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 cnce, nor obscure the splendour of that glorious 
 orb on which they are permitted to revolve. 
 
 i . It muft indeed be acknowledged, that ad- 
 miration of the fabrick of the universe, gave 
 birth at the same, time to religious sentiment, 
 and to idolatrous worship, among a simple race 
 of men, at an early period of society. Thus, 
 among the Chaldean philosophers, who soon be- 
 came proficients in the stud/ of astronomy; the 
 feet of Zabeans are said to have worshipped the 
 planetary orbs, of whose revolutions they were 
 often astdnimed spectators, from the summit of 
 their native mountains *. Nothin- however is 
 
 O 
 
 more certain, than that Zoroaster taught his fol- 
 lowers to distinguish the Creator and Father of 
 Nature, from his productions. I lhall have oc- 
 casion afterwards to mention particular circum- 
 stances concerning the life and principles of this 
 philosopher. At present it is proper to observe, 
 that he is not only said to have taught that all 
 things proceeded from one Spirit or Power of 
 
 * Vid. Diod. Sicul. Lib. ill. and Cicer. de Divinat. 
 Lib. i. cap. 41. among many others, where the Chaldrans 
 are mentioned as proficients in astronomy. The latter writer 
 observes that their pretensions to astrological divination 
 were ill founded ; upon the authority of Eudoxus, a dis- 
 ciple ef Plato, ibid. lib. ii. c. 42. 
 
 B 2 anima-
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 animation * ; but that his definition of this 
 Spirit as preserved by Eusebius, is at the same 
 time Comprehensive, appropriate, and sublimei 
 Zoroaster says he, the Magian, in his sacred 
 book of Persian Antiquities, has the following 
 words : 
 
 " God has the head, (or eye,) of an hawk. He 
 is the first of Beings that are incorruptible. He 
 is eternal, unbegotten, immaterial ; to whom no 
 object whatever has resemblance ; the Fountain 
 of rectitude, and disinterested equity ; the best, 
 the wisest, the most excellent ; the Father of 
 well constituted laws ; and the self-instructed, 
 and sole MAKER of all things -j-." I have selected 
 this passage particularly from many others of the 
 same import ; because it contains a more com- 
 
 The words of the original are E3-sv K 
 
 " All things originated in one fire ;" which 
 1 follow Pscllus in translating, spirit, or power of ani- 
 mation, Pselli Comment, ap. Oracul. Sybillin. Amstel. 
 1689 vol. ii. a fine. 
 
 f" Zv^currvf of Moyoj iv rri ii^at avvzyuyn TUIV IlE^o-JJcct--; tyr,tn KXTX 
 Xf^v. O 01 HOJ tr* (X uv XE^aTmv !otx.oj' Ovroc Er 
 K$9xproc t KMM, ayfvrrrof, ajUEprif, av<j^otoraTO, tjvi&p^ 
 
 ai/Tooicaxroj, &C. Euteb. Pxajpar. 
 Evangel. Lib. i. c ip. ult. 
 
 prehensive
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 prehensive description in few words, than I have 
 met with in the writings of any ancient author, 
 on the same subject. 
 
 The Persian Oromages, of whom an account 
 will afterwards be given, is described in the 
 same manner, as the offspring of the purest light ; 
 whose perfections, benevolence, truth, justice, 
 wisdom, and care, transformed by oriental genius 
 into inferior deities, whom He is said to have 
 framed after his own image j that they might 
 accomplish by disseminating those virtues, pur- 
 poses the most beneficial to mankind*. The 
 Persians therefore, who saw the Supreme Being 
 in every thing around them ; considered the 
 universe as his temple, and worshipped Him in 
 the open air, by prayer and oblation -f*. 
 
 2. After all that learned men have written, 
 concerning the descent of the Egyptians from 
 Ham, to whom they paid divine honours under 
 the name of Jupiter Hammon % ; their original 
 deities were the sun and moon, to whom they 
 
 * Plutarch, de Isid. & Osirid. Oper. v. ii. p. 
 f Herod. Lib. i. 
 
 I See Dia. Crit. Ant. Basnage Rein. B. & Univ. Hist. 
 v. i. p. 445. 
 
 B 3 gave
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 gave the designations of Osiris and Isis *. The 
 hieroglyphical appendages, as they may be 
 termed, of their divinity, are more expressive 
 of his perfections than the most significant epi- 
 thets, when their latent meaning is compre- 
 hended and explained. An hawk, whose pene- 
 trating eye discerns the object of his search on 
 earth, while he soars in the middle regions of 
 air ; is an image of the discernment, or rather, 
 of the instinctive perception of Deity -|~. A 
 serpent orbicularly twisted with its tail in its 
 mouth, is an emblem of his eternity. His wis- 
 dom and intelligence are figured by the same 
 animal, with the head of a falcon "{'. Under 
 the human form, a complexion dark, and deeply 
 shaded, emblematically pourtrayed the diffi- 
 culty of accounting for his operations ; the scep- 
 tre which he extends, denotes his imperial pre- 
 rogative ; an egg proceeding from his mouth, is 
 an image of the world which he framed j and the 
 
 * This was the common opinion. But by Osiris, fome 
 Egyptians understood the Nile, the imperial river which fer- 
 tili/.es while it adorns the land of Egypt ; by Isi?, the 
 region was understood over which it spreads in its progress ; 
 by Typon, the ocean, into whose capacious bosom its wa- 
 ters are finally discharged. Plutarch. Oper. Edit. Francf. 
 1620. v. ii. p. 563. 
 
 f Sybil. Orac. ubi fupon. & Euseb, Psap. Evan. L. iii, 
 c. 10. 
 
 J Auct. fup. calat. 
 
 plume
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 plume on his forehead, waving with every breath 
 of wind j of the ease, variety, and celerity of 
 his motion *. 
 
 It was in this land of mysterious wisdom, re- 
 nowned for its fertility, and frequented for the 
 acquisition of knowledge ; that the sages of an- 
 tiquity sought and gained instruction : and in 
 the explanation of hieroglyphical characters, 
 those enlarged ideas of God and nature opened 
 upon the minds of philosophers, which have ren- 
 dered their writings in all ages objects of re- 
 search, and admiration. An ancient historian, 
 therefore, is supported by the clearest evidence 
 in acknowledging, that the theological opinions 
 of the Greeks originated in Egypt -f- . 
 
 3. Among the poets and philosophers of 
 Greece, distinguished from the earliest ages as 
 the " lights of the world ;" the first cause is oc- 
 cupied in diiferent works, and is mentioned by 
 distinct appellations, according to the particu- 
 lar purpose of the author. The God of Or- 
 pheus in the abridgment of his supposed doc- 
 trines, which was written by Timotheus, and 
 preserved by Suidas ; is the Creator of the uni- 
 
 * Eufeb. ubi fup. & cap. 11. 
 
 T Sp^sdoy de XJM Tlwrst. TO. ovo/xara ruv SEW t AiyvlfTav tXiXvai. 
 
 Heradot. Euterpe. 
 
 B verse
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 verse in the proper sense of that term, who 
 brought order out of confusion ; and is the foun- 
 tain of life, wisdom, and felicity *. It must 
 indeed be acknowledged, that the Being who 
 presides over all things in the Iliad, is discrimi- 
 nated widely from Him whom Orpheus holds up 
 to us, in his nature and operations. In the 
 former work, we behold Him, sometimes invest- 
 ed in the majesty of sublime description^ with 
 the ensigns of omnipotence ; and sometimes de- 
 based by passions, and even by appetites, which 
 bring him down to the level of reptiles of the 
 dust. Alternately dignified, and mean ; just 
 and capricious ; reduced to threaten when he 
 ought to command, and to hesitate when he 
 should be unalterably determined ; we recognize 
 in his conduct the motives whereby our own 
 actions are influenced ; and we justify Plato, in 
 excluding from his commonwealth, the author 
 of an assemblage of jarring qualities, so un- 
 worthy the sovereign of the universe -j~. Of He- 
 siod, I need only to observe, that his first mover, 
 the offspring of earth and love, who brought the 
 turbid elements into order, is clearly distin- 
 
 * Suid. de Orph. p, 357. Procl. in Tim. Lib. ii, p. 117. 
 I consider the names of deities, and offices of which thofe 
 names are expressive, as having originated in the fame 
 region. 
 
 t DeRepub. Lib. ii. p. 04, Edit. Fixis. Francof. 1602. 
 
 guished
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 guished by the poet from his workmanship, as an 
 original and intelligent cause * j alight, wherein 
 we have seen that he is also contemplated by 
 Ovid, in his account of the formation of 
 things -J-. 
 
 In an explanation of the theology of the 
 Greek poets, it would be improper to omit that 
 of their dramatic writers, whose descriptions of 
 the Supreme Being, are in general consonant to 
 our present ideas of his nature, as well as to the 
 language of scripture. The shade of the mighty 
 Hercules, is introduced in the Philoctetes of 
 Sophocles, as addressing to that hero the fol- 
 lowing exhortation : " When you, with the son 
 of Achilles, from whom you cannot be separated, 
 shall have taken Troy, which must fall by my 
 arrows j when you proceed in laying waste every 
 hostile region ; cease not devoutly to supplicate 
 the Gods : for all things are under the govern- 
 ment of Jupiter, the father, as well as ruler of 
 the world |." It is well known, that the doc- 
 trine of Sophocles, in the preceding passage, is 
 also that of Euripides; who addresses the Su- 
 
 * Theog. ab. init. f Metamorph. ubi fup. 
 
 J Tot/TO $! W040-E0, OTCIY 
 
 ITop8jTf ysuxVf tvyfctw ? 1!r^oj 9f f . 
 fi; r'aXXa wavra dwryp wyureu vamtf 
 
 7,\v? Sophoc. Philoctet. a fine. 
 
 preme
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 preme Being as the Father and Governor of the 
 virorld, at the time when he represents FATE as 
 the daughter of his will. 
 
 Although the authors of those various exhibi- 
 tions conceived very differently of the nature ot 
 God, and of the causes of events; yet they do 
 iK>t, in the same manner as many philosophers, 
 confound the Creator with his workmanship. 
 They pay honour to the Lord of Nature, as ex- 
 alted above all other intelligences ; and consider 
 his power as exerted, at all times, with its pro- 
 per effect. 
 
 The theories of ancient Greek philosophers on 
 the present subject, will fall under review in the 
 following section, wherein we propose to exa- 
 mine the phenomenon and origin of the uni- 
 verse, In the mean time, after having con- 
 templated the God of the Chaldeans, the Persians, 
 the Egyptians, and of the Grecians, in the wri- 
 tings of their poets ; let us now proceed to con- 
 sider the Platonic doctrine on the nature and 
 attributes of this Being; a doctrine which con- 
 stitutes the foundation of diversified hypotheses. 
 
 In an estimate of the opinion of our great 
 philosopher on these topics, it is not a matter of 
 much consequence to inquire with Plutarch at 
 
 present,
 
 ( II ) 
 
 present, whether Anaximander or Plato was in 
 the right j the former, when he taught that the 
 first tause frames the universe, by giving motion 
 to the parts of matter, which he found originally 
 at restj or the latter, who said that these parts 
 were agitated and disordered, until the Omnific 
 Word interposed, and introduced arrangement, 
 and symmetry into the system*. It suffices at 
 this time to observe, that according to either 
 hypothesis, the Author of Nature is distinguished 
 from his production, as a MIND that possesses 
 intelligence, and is the parent of disposition. 
 
 A reader of Plato will find, that no truth is 
 more uniformly maintained in his writings, than 
 the immateriality of GOD, as a Spirit who existed 
 antecedent to Body, wherewith he ought at no 
 time to be confounded. Among many proofs of 
 this truth that may be drawn from his works, I 
 shall only mention two, (as I wish not to fatigue 
 the reader with unnecessary quotations;) which 
 appear to me to be decisive. The first is in the 
 
 * Platon. Tim. ap. Plutarch, de placit. Philos. Lib. i. 
 c. 7. The reader will see in the succeeding section, 
 wherein this subject is treated at length, that Plutarch, and 
 his followers were mistaken in their judgment of those two 
 great philosophers, who maintained the same principles in 
 accounting for the formation of the universe. Sect. ii. 
 f. 50. 
 
 dialogue
 
 dialogue entitled Epinomis, where he esta- 
 blishes as the foundation of his reasoning con- 
 cerning the Divine perfections, and providence, 
 this principle; that " MIND existed before 
 matter was produced, than which it is, he says, 
 nobler, and more divine*." The inference 
 arising from this affirmation, is surely too obvious 
 to require enlargement. The same doctrine is 
 taught in his Timseus, wherein he makes a very 
 remarkable distinction, between " that which 
 existed eternally without generation, and that 
 which is always producing, though it never 
 exists -f." By the former, which the under- 
 standing perceives to be always the same y he obvi- 
 ously points out, and discriminates from matter 
 the original cause of all things : by the latter, 
 he understands the substance, or materials of 
 which the world is framed ; subject to mutation, 
 and generating forms that are transitory, and 
 evanescent. 
 
 By establishing as his governing principle, a 
 maxim so consonant to reason, and so worthy of 
 the Deity ; our philosopher clears his system at 
 once of the lumber, and monstrous absurdities 
 of the Epicurean hypothesis, encumbered with 
 
 * Oper. p. 1008. f Id, p. 1046. 
 
 material
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 material Deities, and fortuitous coincidencies *. 
 He reasons from a truth, that has been con- 
 firmed by the testimony of mankind in all ages ; 
 and lays as his foundation, one of the most dis- 
 tinguished doctrines of revealed religion. 
 
 To the immateriality, it is well known that 
 Plato adds, as a fixed tenet which he at all times 
 inculcates, the unity of God. This truth is en- 
 forced with an attention, and particularity in the 
 volumes of this author, to which it does not 
 appear to me, that his numerous commentators 
 have done justice : and I shall not perhaps do an 
 unacceptable office to the reader, by entering at 
 some length into the subject. 
 
 Among many designations of the Maker, or 
 first cause, in the dialogues of Plato, the three 
 following ate peculiarly remarkable, as being 
 expressive either of his nature, his mode of ex- 
 istence, (as it may be termed;) or his supreme 
 dominion over all things. In the first sense he 
 is denominated the TO ON, and TO EN ; the former, 
 as the great Being, absorbing as it were, and 
 comprehending all others in his essence -f ; the 
 
 * These Gods of Epicurus are ridiculed by succeeding 
 philosophers, and particularly by Cicero De Natur Dcor. 
 Lib. i. sect. 63 and 91, &c. 
 
 t Vid. int. al. Rcpub Lib. vi. and vii. pafs. 
 
 latter,
 
 ( H ) 
 
 latter, as indicating the exclusion of equality, of 
 competition*. Another appellation that has 
 great significance when applied to the Deity, is 
 the term ESTI -j- HE IS, or he exists : for our 
 author justly observes, that the past and the 
 future denote inferior beings, who had an ori- 
 ginal ; but that the present is the only appro- 
 priated epithet to what is immutable, and eter- 
 nal. The last, and most common designation 
 of the divine kind, is EOS, GOD ; of which 
 we shall see afterwards, that Plato makes use with 
 great, and marked propriety. 
 
 That the charge of Pyrrhonism may not be 
 brought against our great philosopher, in a matter 
 so essential as the unity of God ; I shall select 
 some proofs of his belief of this truth, which 
 carry 'conviction along with them, from many 
 others that might be mentioned for this 
 purpose. 
 
 * Our author, by conjoining the designation TO ON, and 
 TO EN in one sentence, expresses his belief of the divine 
 unity in such clear and significant terms, as cannot be mis- 
 conceived. The words are remarkable. To yap EN, TO ON 
 an sX^> ** To ON, To EN. Parmen. These words do not 
 admit of a literal translation. Their import is, that Unity 
 is the essence of Deity. 
 
 fTinueus. The similarity of this term to the I AM of Moses, 
 will be obferved by those readers who believe that Plato 
 was indebted for many doctrines to the Jewish legislator. 
 
 It
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 " It must, he says, be acknowledged, that 
 the space which we denominate heaven and earth* 
 hath received many and peculiar advantages from 
 its Creator. Those participate of body, and are 
 subjected to change; but HE remains the same 
 amidst universal agitation. Let us not therefore 
 say, he continues j neither that the world moves 
 itself, or that two Gods conspire to turn its course 
 in opposite directions ; let us consider it as being 
 governed by one divine cause, e* A* ; and 
 let us behold life, and immortality, as proceed- 
 ing from its great Artificer*." In this whole 
 passage we must observe, that Plato useth 
 the singular number, A^crairro,-, &c. in charac- 
 terizing the Supreme Being, with the obvious 
 intention of establishing his unity ; and that in 
 the last part of it, he excludes the operation of 
 two causes in producing this effect, and ascribes 
 it wholly to one divine original. To the same 
 purpose he elsewhere observes, that " Oac 
 Being exists in nature, who framed all things, 
 and whom we denominate GOD -f-. This Mover, 
 or Supreme Intelligence, he describes, not only 
 as pervading all nature, but as containing within 
 himself, the beginning, the middle, and the 
 end.!;." Is it possible to use terms more ex- 
 
 * Polit. Oper. p. 536. f De Repub. Lib. viii. p. 750. 
 J DeLeg. 1. iv. p. 831. 
 
 pressive
 
 pressive of belief in the unity, ubiquity, and 
 omniscience of God ? He who contains in him- 
 self the beginning, the middle, and the end, 
 cannot surely have an equal : for no man will 
 say that two Beings can exist, of whose nature 
 these terms are expressive, more seriously than 
 he would assert, that the incommunicable per- 
 fections, omniscience, and ubiquity, can pertain 
 to efficients whose natures are distinct, and in- 
 dependent. 
 
 But why methinks it is asked, does this author, 
 who maintains so clearly the divine unity in the 
 passages above mentioned, adopt the language of 
 his countrymen in so many other parts of his 
 writings, wherein he mentions the Gods as 
 superintendants of human actions ; and points 
 out particularly the means by which they may be 
 conciliated, or appeased ? I might have recourse 
 in answering this question, to the popular dis- 
 tinction of the exoteric, and esoteric doctrines 
 of ancient, and particularly of Pythagorean phi- 
 losophers : and in following out the subject, I 
 might affirm, perhaps with truth, that when 
 Plato mentions the ancient mythological Deities, 
 he purposely adopts the language of the vulgar, 
 whose received opinions he judged that it was 
 useless, perhaps dangerous to combat : on the 
 other hand, it might be said, that when he dis- 
 course^
 
 ( I? ) 
 
 courses concerning God as the author of all 
 things, he uses words of which his disciples 
 comprehended all the energy, while the less in- 
 formed orders of men heard them without offence, 
 or apprehension. But without having recourse 
 to this distinction, the reader will perceive, that 
 the passage which I am going to quote, while it 
 contains the judgment of this writer on the pre- 
 sent subject, throws light upon many other 
 points of disquisition in his dialogues. 
 
 In the well known treatise entitled Timaeno, 
 Plato informs us, after having given an ironical 
 account of the generation of the ancient Gods, 
 Saturn, Rhsea, Jupiter, Juno, &c. that by these 
 he understands certain demons, or inferior deities, 
 who sprung from one great creator, of whose 
 address to them, when origmally framed, I shall 
 afterwards have occasion to examine the pur- 
 port *. My present purpose is to observe, that 
 the w r ords, while they contain an affirmation of 
 the unity of God, who assumes the designation 
 of AujKKWfyo,- xj iiar^, " the Maker and Father," 
 establish at the same time a distinction between 
 this Being, and those of inferior order, which 
 our author carries on in general throughout his 
 dialogues. An attentive reader of Plato will 
 
 * Oper. p 1054. 
 
 C observe,
 
 ( '8 ) 
 
 observe, that the term EOS in the singular 
 number, is most commonly applied in his wri- 
 tings, either to the cause of all things, whose 
 perfection excludes equality, or to the other 
 persons of his Triad, whose nature and offices will 
 afterwards be examined. By the EOT, on the 
 contrary, he understands certain inordinate 
 Beings, whose power, however great, and appa- 
 rently extended, is delegated, and circumscribed. 
 Thus, the rabble of mythological Deities shrink 
 from the eye of our divine philosopher ; and the 
 Gods of the Iliad are secondary operators in the 
 disquisitions of Plato ! 
 
 From the preceding observations on the na- 
 ture, and incommunicable attributes of the 
 Supreme mindj the reader will be enabled to, 
 form some idea of the fountain or source of 
 being, who was worshipped by the members of 
 the academy. God, in their estimation, was 
 one, eternal, immaterial, immutable, omni- 
 present, omnipotent, omniscient ; the first and 
 the last in the language of scripture ; and in that 
 of Plato, he who contains within himself, the 
 beginning, the middle, and the end of all things. 
 
 Having thus established the unity of God as 
 a doctrine of the Platonic school, I am naturally 
 led to examine a tenet of our author, as far as it 
 
 is
 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 is connected with his theological principles ; 
 which is maintained invariably throughout his 
 writings. I mean to consider here, (as the learned 
 reader has already perceived;) the celebrated dis- 
 tinction of EV KM 7* Uc>.\ x , " one God, and many 
 subordinate natures, or intelligences." It is pro- 
 per to observe in entering upon this subject, that 
 Plato delivers it, not as an original notion of 
 his own, the result of experience, and observa- 
 tion ; but as a tradition derived from the an- 
 cients, who were, he says, better men than those 
 who lived in his days ; and being nearer to the 
 Gods, were admitted into the knowledge of their 
 councils *. 
 
 We cannot hesitate to acknowledge, that our 
 author understands by the EN, the Father of the 
 Universe properly so called, to whom we have 
 seen, that this appellation is peculiarly appro- 
 priated. The difficulty in explaining this dogma 
 lies, is in ascertaining the precise sense of the TA 
 IIOAAA, a subject that was much agitated 
 among the ancients. 
 
 
 
 We may set aside without investigation, the 
 notion of some writers, who suppose the f?/W 
 
 O ^ttv TOaAato* XOST?OX? j i)ju.4>v xow tyyuTt^w 54,7 owcoum; 
 ej tvoj pit xai iraAAt-y. Fhileb, 
 
 C 2 Of
 
 of Plato to be meant by this phrase, because 
 himself declares that he includes under the term 
 what it naturally imports ; not a few, but many 
 Beings '*. In order to discover the nature and 
 properties of these intelligences, we must consider 
 our author's peculiar opinion concerning ideas, 
 as far as it relates to the present subject. With- 
 out entering into the metaphysic of the Par- 
 menides, wherein this doctrine is explained at 
 great length ; the following observations will, it 
 is hoped, exhibit its general acceptation. 
 
 i. God, the TO ITAN who comprehends the 
 universe, is the great archetype, or pattern, in 
 whom the images, or representations of all ob- 
 jects, whether incorporeal or sensible, are said 
 to have existed before the creation of the world. 
 Thus time, when it was created, is said to have 
 been nf*Sy/xa T< ouwiw <PUE:S, an image of the 
 eternal nature : and the world in the same 
 manner, is contemplated with pleasure by the 
 Being who framed it ; because, in corresponding 
 to the original exemplar, it exhibited a beautiful 
 resemblance of himself f, 
 
 * Owtovv awnjov ay TO 7rX>j9oj- CVTO TO Ev ov tiy ; Eoim tt t &C. Par- 
 men. Oper. Plat. p. 1120. 
 
 f fis & w;y, TE KVTO X.KI fv EVEVori^t Tt'V 3U\w Sswv ysyc/voj ayftX/^i* 
 o y;vvwa; IlaTnf, tiyocrSn TE, KM Ev^pavGci; IT* & /xaXXoy o/xowv r;o,- ie 
 8( Tim. p. 1051. 
 
 2. The
 
 2. The models above mentioned, having sub- 
 sisted in the divine mind from eternity, are de- 
 nominated with propriety, as opposed to material 
 objects that arc evanescent, and transitory j " self 
 existent, indivisible, and eternally generated *." 
 
 3. Those objects of which our senses take 
 cognisance, are according to Plato's own dis- 
 tinction, imitations that had an original, of an 
 archetype eternal, immutable, and intelligent, 
 who is not perceived by sense -f. It is obvious 
 from this passage, that the images or forms J, 
 (as Cicero denominates them) which subsist as 
 ideas in the divine mind, are wholly different 
 from the transcripts that are subjected to our 
 inspection. Hence the world was eternal, as 
 having subsisted, or, in Plato's language, existed 
 always in the thought of the TO EN, the Being who 
 framed it ; whereas the TO Ms/x^a, the imitation 
 of this great original had a beginning, and is an 
 object of sight. 
 
 Tim, 
 
 So;, wttr&riw vorinv, xa* 
 
 a* xara rat/ra o, ju.i//.]fia $t 7r*p^Ey^caToj* Anmpov yfsrv t^o 
 n*i op*To>. Tim. 
 
 J Cicero substitutes the word Forma, as of the same im. 
 port as the term JE%, in the platonic acceptation : and in 
 this sense the Latin phrase has peculiar significance. Oper. 
 Land. 1681. v. i. p. 171. 
 
 C 3 4- Of
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 4 Of these previous observations, supported 
 by the authority of our great philosopher, the 
 consequence is, that by the EN *** TAIIOAAA, he 
 understands, that all things are one when con- 
 templated in their archetype, and many when we 
 consider their nature and properties. In the 
 former case, they are parts of a complicated 
 machine conceived in the mind of the architect, 
 wherein they have a fixed purpose and arrange- 
 ment; in the latter, they are modifications that 
 are perceived by sense. Our author's doctrine, 
 however, on the present subject is in this sense 
 peculiar, that the original patterns of his ideas 
 are, as we have already seen, self existent, intel- 
 ligent, and eternal. It was by this view of the 
 subject that Plutarch was influenced in declaring, 
 that according to the doctrine of Plato, three 
 constituent principles entered into the formation 
 of the universe ; Cod, for mind,) Matter, and 
 Idea*. 
 
 In 
 
 * Oper. v. ii. p. 878. Laertius admits only two of these 
 principles, God and Matter, without mentioning the last. 
 Lib. iii. p. 228. It is somewhat surprising, that of those 
 authors, the latter particularly, who professedly details the 
 dogmas of our author, should consider matter as having 
 been in his (Plato's) estimation uncreated, notwithstanding 
 the most explicit declarations of the contrary in different 
 parts of his writings. It is indeed true, that God is ad- 
 mitted to be the operating cause. But Piato assigns to this 
 
 Being
 
 In the world of our author, which teems in 
 every part with animation, we Lave seen that the 
 living images, such as he describes them, cor- 
 respond to his TV. ?O&M> so as to afford sufficient 
 illustration of the maxim above mentioned. 
 The TO IIAHGOS, or multitude whom he mentions, 
 will be found in the inferior divinities and demons 
 of a middle order, whose nature and offices will 
 come afterwards to be considered. 
 
 It remains, in order to exhibit a full view of 
 the present subject, that our author's notions of 
 
 Being no other office in this great work, in the judgment cf 
 his biographer, than that of bringing into order Jiscordant 
 and jarring atoms, from whose combination he framed the 
 universe. His part, therefore, was no greater than is that 
 of a skilful artificer, who makes the best u-eofhis tools, 
 and materials, Laert. Plat. Lib. iii. p 228. The reader 
 must have perceived, that this account is wholly c iff -rent 
 from that of Plato himself, who not only says that spirit 
 existed before matter, but that God created heaven and 
 earth ; a doctrine for which he is very improperly censured 
 by Aristotle, as we shall sec afterwards. Epinom. p 1008. 
 De Legib. 1. x. p. 949. Tim p. 1054. Aristot. de Nat. 
 Auscult. Lib. 8. p 409, Lutet. Paris. 1619 v. I. Now if 
 matter were preceded by spirit, which is nob er and me e 
 excellent ; whence had matter its original ? Not surely from 
 itself, for it is mentioned as a rude and u ^.fashioned .-ub'tance. 
 Spirit therefore which existed from eternity, famed the 
 materials of which it fashioned the uni/crss. '\nd Laertius, 
 'instead of asserting that spirit and matter wer* the principle's 
 of all things, ought to have said, that God alone in Plato' 
 estimation, was their original. 
 
 C 4 the
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 the moral perfections and government of the 
 Deity, should be subjoined to the detail that has 
 been given of his natural, and incommunicable 
 attributes. 
 
 The declarations of our great philosopher on 
 this branch of his -theology, are animated, as 
 well as explicit. And his expression, dictated 
 by the heart, on points in which he is deeply 
 interested, hath sometimes peculiar energy and 
 significance. A few examples will illustrate and 
 justify these observations. 
 
 Plato distinguishes GOD at all times from every 
 inferior object of pursuit. " Knowledge and 
 truth proceed indeed from him as their original." 
 But these do not constitute the ch;ef good, accord- 
 ing to the false estimation of philosophers. This 
 ultimate dcsidtration of the wise and the virtuous, 
 is to be found In Gt/D only; in GOD, who as the 
 sun in the lower regions, is at the same time the 
 fountain of light, and of happiness*. This 
 B ing, the author of knowledge and truth, the 
 liberal s>ource of whatever is beneficent-^; ac- 
 tuated at no time by malevolence j, and impar- 
 tial in the allotment of reward and punishment ; 
 regards the prayers of his creatures with peculiar 
 
 * De Repub. 1. vii. p. 687. f Epir. 1006. 
 
 I Tlmet. p. 112. Jd. p. 129. 
 
 corn-
 
 complacency *, and regulates by his providence 
 the least, as well as the greatest events -\-. To 
 the question therefore, which of all the works of 
 God exhibits the most perfect resemblance of" 
 himself? our author replies, a good man ;{;. Fi- 
 nally, inattentive to oblations that are offered 
 from ostentation, and to requests which proceed 
 not from the heart j he looks with benignity 
 upon the just, and can be pleased only by a good 
 life. 
 
 Our autho r , after having enlarged in many parts 
 of his writings on the moral perfections of the 
 Deity, contemplates him, as being rendered by 
 their combination, the supreme and ultimate 
 object of desire. In this divine pattern of all 
 that is beautiful, or excellent, he represents the 
 TO KAAON, and TO AFAeoN, the standard of recti- 
 tude and goodness as being ultimately placed, 
 
 Id. ibid. f De Legib. Lib. x. p. 956. 
 
 J Epinom. p. 1008. There is no doubt a remarkable 
 consonancy of every part of this account, to various passages 
 of scripture; although not, in my opinion, sufficiently 
 strong to justify the supposition that the writers were mu- 
 tually acquainted with each other. The most striking re- 
 semblance is in Plato's description of God, as being pleased 
 with a good life rather than with sacrifice, as corresponding 
 to the sentiments of David's sacrifice and offering, Sec. and 
 of Hoseah, thus doth the Lord require of thee, &c. 
 
 ^ Conviv. p. 1199. 
 
 And
 
 And he follows the mind in its progress from the 
 contemplation of simple forms, to that of con- 
 summate excellence j by enumerating the steps 
 that lead to the summit to which it finally 
 ascends*. He exhorts therefore his disciples, 
 in an animated stile of the most sublime devotion, 
 " to fly from this evil world, by becoming assi- 
 milated to the divine mind in that wisdom, justice, 
 and holiness, which constitute the perfections of 
 his nature {-." 
 
 + 
 
 From the observations that have been made on 
 the subject of this section, illustrated by exam- 
 ples, the reader may form some idea of the 
 Being whom philosophy offered to her earliest 
 votaries as the object of adoration, He will per- 
 ceive from the rough draught that has been placed 
 before him, their various theories on the most 
 important doctrines, and will be confirmed in 
 believing, by subsequent remarks, and illustra- 
 tions, that the first teachers of mankind ascended 
 by the dim light that directed their path towards 
 the Father of the Universe. They acknowledged 
 his being, discerned his perfections, justified his 
 arrangements, confided in his wisdom j and left 
 to the philosophers of modern times, conducted 
 by clearer light, and possessed of superior advan- 
 
 * Tbaetet. Oper. p. 106. f Id. ibid. 
 
 tages
 
 tages, the task of discovering, in the contempt 
 of theory, the abolition of creative energy, the 
 rejection of religious principle, and the repro- 
 ducron of ancient anarchy; the extension of cul- 
 tivated thought, and the traces of enlightened 
 understanding. 
 
 SECT.
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 COSMOGONY OF THE ANCIENTS. OF THE NA- 
 TUUE, CHARACTER, AND OFFICES OF THE 
 PERSONS OF THE PLATONIC TRIAD, AS 
 BEING INTERESTED IN THE FORMATION, 
 AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE. 
 
 IN the first ages of society, when principles, 
 of which the effects are now conspicuous in 
 the establishment of order and subordination, 
 began to operate on the mind ; men were natu- 
 rally, and indeed peculiarly solicitous to be made 
 acquainted with their own origin, as well as with 
 that of the universe j and the first philosophers 
 advanced by a process perfectly easy and com- 
 prehensible, from admiration of effects of which 
 their senses took cognisance, to the investigation 
 of an adequate efficient. Hence it is, that the 
 few fragments of the most remote antiquity 
 which have reached the present times, consist 
 principally of hypotheses that were framed to 
 account for the origin, and to explain the phe- 
 nomena of the universe. The theories of philo- 
 sophers, who may be properly denominated self- 
 taught on these subjects, will naturally introduce 
 that of Plato, whose knowledge was more com- 
 prehensive : and the reader will receive enter- 
 tainment,
 
 tainment, if not beneficial information, from the 
 various objects which a view of this subject will 
 place successively before his mind. 
 
 The Chaldeans believed, that the great Author 
 of Nature, who is himself one uncompounded 
 essence, the source of whatever is excellent, pro- 
 duced originally seven worlds j and that our earth, 
 the last in estimation and utility, was placed be- 
 neath the lunar orb. It was therefore denomi- 
 nated Mwx+toHi;, on account of its darkness and 
 opacity. Of thofe they taught, that one was 
 composed of pure fire, three of ethereal fub- 
 stance, and the others of a grosser matter, some- 
 what similar to that of our own mansion, which 
 contained the oi/Snv, the foundation, or rude ma- 
 terials, of nobler and more perfect workmanship. 
 From productions composed of fuch discordant 
 materials, they judged that suitable governors 
 were appointed by the Supreme. Being ; the first 
 and principal Ruler being composed of the ele- 
 ment of fire, the fecond of ether, and the lad of 
 matter, accommodated to their various spheres of 
 operation *. The learned reader will obferve a 
 similarity of this mundane doctrine of the,.Chal- 
 deans, to the notions of Socrates in the celebrated 
 dialogue entitled Phedon ; which would induce a 
 belief, that he had either approved of, and 
 
 * Pselli Summer. Dogmat. Chaldaic. p. no. 
 
 adopted
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 adopted fome part of their principles, from con- 
 viction, that they were well founded i or that the 
 coincidence had been occasioned by the spon- 
 taneous ideas which the subject excited in his 
 mind *. 
 
 Whoever may consider the Phoenician doctrine 
 concerning the origin of the universe as it is de- 
 tailed by Sanchaniatho j will find in it the rudi- 
 ments of a scheme that was adopted by Hesiod, 
 and was improved afterwards into a regular sys- 
 tem, by the labour of fucceeding philosophers -f. 
 The dark spirit, and the fluctuating chaos brought 
 into order by voluntary and imperceptible mo- 
 tion that produced defire ; while it brings to our 
 mindi the generation of heaven, from earth and 
 love, in the language of the poet; exhibits a 
 striking proof, that in the judgement of the first 
 teachers of mankind, the purpofe of the Deity, 
 in fashioning the world, was the benevolent mo- 
 tive of producing arrangement. And it cannot 
 
 * Phed. ap. Plat. Dial. Oxon. 1752. p. 289, &c. It 
 ought particularly to be observed, that Socrates considers 
 in the same manner as our Chaldean philosophers this 
 earth, as consisting of dregs, or sediment, when compared 
 with the etherial regions, and the worlds on which he directs 
 that their attention should be fixed. AUTV & TW> yw x*9j*v 
 iv x9ja XcwSat ru tf^avai 5s tcararT6/xiv rxvroe, twou t &C. 
 p. 2 9 I, 
 
 t Vid. Euseb. dePraep. Evan, ubi. sup. 
 
 be
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 be supposed that evil entered in their estimation 
 into his work by bis appointment or permis- 
 sion *. 
 
 We have already seen the Egyptians repre- 
 senting the world under the symbol of an egg, 
 proceeding originally from the Creator of the 
 U.-.; verse. This symbol, which it is justly sup- 
 posed that Orpheus learned from this people ; he 
 applied in the judgment of a celebrated ancient, 
 to account for the principles of all things, accord- 
 ing to a doctrine which the reader will find ex- 
 plained upon philosophical grounds by that wri- 
 ter -f. We may observe in general on these hy- 
 potheses., that the idea of a dark night, and a 
 chaos, which are said to have preceded the forma- 
 tion of the world 3 coincide with the language of 
 scripuire, that " darkness was on the face of the 
 deep when the spirit of God moved upon the wa- 
 ters J." But we ought to reflect that the mind 
 adopts naturally this notion of original anarchy, 
 as prt- ceding order and beautiful disposition j and 
 that it readily employs superior agency in bring- 
 ing about this great purpose. \\ ithout therefore 
 some particular circumstance, such as that above 
 mentioned, to determine our judgment, or his- 
 torical evidence which is not easily procured, we 
 
 * Theogon. ab. init. 
 
 f Plut. Oper. v. ii. p. 636, &c. J Genes, i. 2. 
 
 cannot
 
 cannot be justified in pronouncing, that authors 
 in distant nations borrowed in the earliest ages 
 from each other, merely because an original 
 principle may be common to all. 
 
 Of the philosophers of Greece, Thales, and 
 Anaximenes, come first to be considered, as being 
 the most ancient, and conspicuous. Of those, 
 the former assigns water *, and the latter air as 
 the first productive element. The former sup- 
 ports his doctrine by the three following proper- 
 ties of water, which give plausibility to his system. 
 
 1. Animal life originates in humidity, as this 
 quality is essential to the seed of all animals. 
 
 2. To the same great principle we ascribe vege- 
 table subsistence. Plants derive their beauty as 
 well as their prolific quality from moisture; with- 
 out which they shrink, and speedily disappear. 
 
 3. He observed, that the fire of the sun himself 
 is nourished by the exhalations of which his heat 
 is productive, in the same manner as earth; 
 which participates of the benefit. Upon these 
 grounds he pronounced of water, that it is 
 A ? ^I TM- ovrfc'v, the original of all things. It ought 
 to be observed, that Thales is supported in this 
 opinion by Homer, who ascribes the original of 
 all things to the ocean. 
 
 Flat, de Phcit. Philos. Oper. v. ii. p. 875, 
 
 * Plut. de Placit Philos. v. ii. p. 875. Lactan. Lib. ii. c. 9. 
 
 It
 
 ( 33 > 
 
 It is doubtful whether Thales admitted a mind 
 into his system of the universe: for although 
 Cicero ascribes to him the tenet, c< that God was 
 the author of all things" *, yet he seems to con- 
 tradict this affirmation afterwards, by mentioning 
 Anaxagoras as the first philosopher by whom it 
 was maintained -f . The same charge may be 
 brought with justice against LaertiusJ. 
 
 Anaximenes, the successor of Thales, taught 
 that air, which is infinite, is the cause of all 
 things, being that from which the Gods them- 
 selves originally sprang . Motion as well as 
 matter he held to be eternal. But no intelligent 
 Being is introduced into the great work, either 
 by him or by his predecessor, Anaximander ||. 
 
 I have already observed, that Anaxagoras> 
 the scholar of the last mentioned philosopher, 
 was the first who admitted the agency of a pure 
 spirit into his system of the formation of things ^f. 
 In this scheme, which is more consonant than 
 
 * De Nat. Deor. L i. cap. 10. 
 
 t Id. ibid. J Laert. Anaxag. and Thai. 
 
 $ Aug. de Civit. Dei, 1. viii. c. 2. 
 
 || Plut. de placit. Philos. Lib. i. c. 3. 
 
 51 Diogen. Laert. Anaicag. Lib. ii. ab. init. Aristot. 
 Oper. v. i. p. 319, 620. Platon. Phaed. p. 72. Aug. de 
 Civit. Dei, Lib. iii. cap. 2. 
 
 D cither
 
 C 34 ) 
 
 cither of the former to that of revelation, it 
 ought to be remarked, that the Being who super- 
 intends all things, is introduced, not as the 
 creator, but as the first mover of parts, which, 
 without his influence, would have been for ever 
 at rest *; The same objection therefore lies 
 against his doctrine, as against that of his suc- 
 cessors j the admission of an eternal matter, which 
 existed independently of the first cause, who, 
 upon his hypothesis, is only the principle of 
 motion. 
 
 It is astonishing, that the atomic philosophy, 
 founded upon circumstances that are so opposite 
 to the simplest laws of nature, and to those that 
 are most easily comprehended, should have been 
 adopted by names of great eminence, and main- 
 tained among the most intelligent people of the 
 world during a succession of ages. That atoms 
 endowed merely with the three qualities, of figure, 
 magnitude, and weight, should have framed the 
 world in its present state fortuitously, after in- 
 numerable jostlings, and combinations, is an 
 hypothesis, which it would seem that reason 
 should reject as untenable as soon as it is men- 
 tioned. And I consider as one of the clearest 
 
 Juyw NOYN xivwas* TO RAN. Aristot. de Anim. Oper. v. i. 
 
 'p. 620. 
 
 proofs
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 proofs of the necessity of revelation, that notions 
 so replete with absurdity obtained credit among 
 the wise, and the learned, as a scheme whereby 
 the science of cosmogony might be explained in 
 a satisfactory manner, to a well informed under- 
 standing *. 
 
 I cannot agree with those philosophers, (and 
 particularly with the learned and judicious Cud- 
 worth j) who would persuade us that Pythagoras 
 was acquainted with the atomical system, and 
 that his Monads are in fact the atoms of Epicurus j 
 because I find such descriptions of the majesty 
 and perfections of God ascribed to him as are irre- 
 concilable to this belief-}-. Whether this cele- 
 brated philosopher understood by the term 
 Monad, GOD, as is generally believed, as the 
 great original of all things ; and by the epithet 
 Dyad, an evil!, a passive, or an indefinite prin- 
 
 * Leucippus is commonly considered as the author of the 
 atomical philosophy. He was followed by Democritus, 
 Epicurus, Strato, Lucretius, &c. of whom the principal 
 person, Epicurus, gained more followers, and obtained greater 
 honours, than any ancient philosopher with whom we are ac- 
 quainted; a circumstance, wliieh, when we consider the 
 absurdity of his tenets, powerfully evinces the necessity of 
 revelation. 
 
 f Vid. Clem. Alcxan. Stromat. Lib. iv. p. 477. Plut. 
 in Numa. p. 65. Hieron. Prsfat. in aur. car. Laert. 
 Pythag, 1. 12. 
 
 I Plutarch, de Placit. Philos. 1. i. c. 7. Id. c. 3. 
 
 D 2, ciple;
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 ciple * ; it is acknowledged that his followers 
 Ocellus Lucanus, and Philolaus, believed that 
 the world was eternal. And although there be 
 some reason to judge, that they differed in main- 
 taining this tenet from their master-, yet, as we 
 are left to collect his opinion of it from succeed- 
 ing writers, no certain knowledge can be ob- 
 tained of his genuine doctrine. 
 
 Without enlarging on the hypothesis of Zeno, 
 which is encumbered with the same difficulties as 
 those already mentioned -\- j I now proceed to ex- 
 amine the Platonic account of the creation of the 
 world, and of the departments that are occupied 
 by the persons who framed, and who preside over 
 it. In order to attain these purposes, it is proper 
 that a summary of our author's general doctrine 
 on the formation of the universe, should preeede 
 
 * Dacier Vie de Pythag. and Porphyr. in Vita Pythag. 
 
 f A great part of the difficulties wherein the followers of 
 Zeno found themselves involved, in accounting for the va- 
 rious phenomena of the universe, arose from the idea of a 
 corporeal God, or eternal matter animated by the Anima 
 Mundi, whose nature and offices will fall afterwards to be 
 examined. Vid. Senec. Natur. Quest. Lib. ii. c. 45. 
 where he writes concerning God in the following terms : 
 Vis ilium vocari mundura ? Non falleris. Ipse enim est 
 totum quod vides, totus suis partibus inditus, & se sus- 
 tinens vi sua. Vid. et. Laert. Zeno, and Cicer. de Nat. 
 Deor. Lib. ii. 
 
 an
 
 { 37 ) 
 
 an examination of tenets that are properly Pla- 
 tonic, and therefore require illustration. 
 
 i. A late ingenious writer observes justly con- 
 cerning Plato, that no man who considers his 
 definition of creation will deny that he had a suit- 
 able idea of it. " God, he says, is that Being 
 who confers existence on objects that were for- 
 merly unanimated." This writer's words seem to 
 me to be afterwards unintelligible, when he con- 
 siders matter as an eternal production : for what- 
 ever is created, must have had a beginning j and 
 to mention what is eternally created, is an absur- 
 dity of the same kind, as to talk of what is im- 
 mutably fluctuating *. 
 
 The opinion of our great philosopher, that 
 spirit existed before matter was produced, and the 
 consequence arising from it respecting the creation 
 of the latter, have already been mentioned. 
 This circumstance alone is suicrly decisive of the 
 present question : for the belief of the eternity of 
 matter cannot be imputed to that man, who 
 
 ur, ttfVrtfw ixrw, ita-Ttfw yjyvjcAa. Sophist, at. quoted by Mr. 
 Ramsay in his Theologie Ancienne. The observation of 
 this author is in these words: La matiere selon lui n'etoit 
 eternelle, que parcequ'elle ttoit profaitt di. teas t.mfs. And, 
 he afterward* considers it not comme une cmanaiion de sa 
 subftaiice, rnaii comnie une veritable production. 
 
 D 3 main-
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 maintains that it was preceded by a Being of su-. 
 perior order. This immense and incomprehen- 
 sible intelligence, who existed eternally himself 
 without generation *, determined to create the 
 universe at an appointed time ; and carried his 
 purpose into execution -f. He framed heaven, 
 earth, and the inferior deities J ; and as he fa- 
 shioned, he pervades all nature, being present at 
 once in heaven, earth, and hell, which are filled 
 by the infinitude of his essence . Time, which 
 had no being before the work of creation, origi- 
 nated at this period, when it became a mutable 
 image (xivwov wa owvoj, as our author terms it) of 
 duration, consisting of days, and months, and 
 years -, and containing the past and the future, 
 which make no part of eternity j|. 
 
 Such is our author's general account of the 
 creation of all things ; an account so consonant 
 to that of scripture, that we may consider it as a 
 comment on the words of Moses : " in the begin- 
 ning God created heaven and earth." He who 
 contemplates this sketch of the Platonic doc- 
 trines on the present subject, brought into one 
 point of view, and compared with the schemes of 
 former, or of succeeding philosophers, will ac- 
 
 * Ramsay's Theol. Ancien. p. 44. 
 
 f Tim. p. 1046. | Ibid. p. 1055. 
 
 De Repub. Lib. x. p. 749. i| Tim. p. 1051. 
 
 knowledge
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 knowledge the justice of Cicero's distinction, 
 when he denominates the God of Plato the maker, 
 and that of Aristotle, the governor of the uni- 
 verse *. 
 
 Thus far I have proceeded on plain ground, in 
 explaining the various parts of the Platonic theory 
 of creation. But I should do injustice to my 
 author, by omitting to enter into the more intri- 
 cate part of his scheme, and to examine particu- 
 larly the nature of that Being, by whom this 
 great work is said to be accomplished. I shall 
 lay before the reader, in the subsequent part of 
 this section, what appears to me as the genuine 
 doctrine of Plato on this subject ; and on those 
 concomitant points which are connected with it, 
 and form principal parts of his theology. 
 
 2. It is a circumstance nor easily to be ac- 
 counted for, that the most ancient nations should 
 have conceived the idea of three persons as being 
 interested in the creation, and government of the 
 universe; and having spheres assigned to them 
 that are distinct, and independent. Yet it has 
 formerly been evinced, that the Csiris, Isis, and 
 Typhon of the Egyptians are of this nature; al- 
 
 * Possumusne dubltare quin nuuulo priest aliqui; effector 
 ut Platoni videtur, vel modirato? tanti open* ut Aristoteli 
 placet. Cicer. Tuscul. Quest. Lib. i. 
 
 D 4 though
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 though we cannot with certainty trace the ori- 
 ginal cause of their belief*. Even Zoroaster ad- 
 mitted a mediating power, between his good, 
 and evil principle j and instituted rites, and ce- 
 remonies, by the performance of which his fol- 
 lowers might at all times conciliate her favour -f . 
 
 In the writings of Plato, I do not find that 
 three persons are either separately enumerated in 
 succession as occupying various departments, or 
 that they are distinguished as being united in one 
 work, by any common appellation, unless in one 
 passage, which will immediately be quoted. We 
 must therefore collect his ideas of this union, 
 not from the writings of his followers, Proclus, 
 Porphyry, &c. who are explicit in ascribing to 
 their master the belief of a trinity ; but from de- 
 clarations in various parts of his disquisitions, 
 which throw some light on his notions of this 
 esoteric and mysterious dogma. 
 
 That Plato had formed some idea of a trinity, 
 we might have inferred from an affirmation that 
 is indeed professedly enigmatical; although he 
 had not afterwards specified the persons who 
 
 * Sect. I. p. 8, &c. 
 
 W'paM TW MESITHN ovo/ju&^wnv E&aj jusv TW fiocTsci* Sfsiv xo* 
 X?,fKr-:r,nsi. Plut. de Isid. and Ourid. Oper. v ii. p. 
 
 compose
 
 compose it. The words to which I refer are in 
 his second letter to Dionysius, apparently written 
 in answer to one in which he had been required to 
 give a more explicit account than his former 
 letter had contained, of the nature of God. After 
 having said, that he meant to wrap up his mean- 
 ing in such obscurity, as that an adept only 
 should fully comprehend it; he adds expressions 
 to the following import : <f The Lord of Nature 
 is surrounded on all sides by his works : what- 
 ever is, exists by his permission : he is the foun- 
 tain, and source of excellence : around the second 
 person are placed thing* of the second order ; and 
 around the third, those of the third degree *." 
 
 Of this obscure passage, I acknowledge that 
 we can only conjecture the full purport, which I 
 shall afterwards endeavour in some measure to 
 elucidate. At present, it is sufficient to observe, 
 that there is in it*, an obvious distinction of per- 
 sons, who are separated in the last part of the 
 sentence; although they appear to be joined by 
 the epithet a <nxra, (King, or Ruler,) in the first. 
 
 From the general consideration of a Triad, in 
 the divine mind, (if 1 may thus express it,) I 
 
 WOMTfc'V TUV tU&Mll* AjVTf^OV <if Vj.'( TW 
 
 Tpi ra TjKTa. Oper. p. I 269* 
 
 HOY?
 
 ( 4* ) 
 
 now proceed to examine a surer evidence of our 
 author's knowledge of this tenet, arising from the 
 departments which they are represented to occupy < 
 
 Of the three persons then, the first, who is 
 distinguished particularly by the appellation 
 riATHp, Father*, is the TO EN of whom we have 
 already seen, that Plato writes in terms the most 
 sublime, and appropriate j the OEOZ. strictly so 
 called, in whose unsearchable eflence that of all 
 other Beings is absorbed, and comprehended. 
 His second person is the AHMIOTPFOS, or AOFOS, 
 to whom, as we shall see immediately, the work 
 of creation is particularly assigned by Plato, as it 
 is by the Evangelist. With these is conjoined the 
 f YXH TOV KOSMOY, or soul of the world, as the pecu- 
 liar cause of the preservation of animal, and ve- 
 getable life. I shall make a few observations at 
 present, on the nature and offices of the two latter 
 persons ; of whom the departments bear a parti- 
 cular relation to the present subject. 
 
 That Plato considers the second person of his 
 Triad, as having presided at the work of creation, 
 is obvious from a passage of his Epinomis, of 
 which the mode of expression is remarkably sig- 
 
 Tov Twy t<wry toy, Hys^uoyiTwy re ovrw x rwy jutXAoyrwy J ra Tt 
 Hytpovo? xai A*TWV IIATEPA, *a* KYPION tvropnjrro^. Plat. 
 Epist. 7. 
 
 nificant.
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 nificant. " The AOFOS, the WORD, he says, di- 
 vine above all other Beings, fashioned and ren- 
 dered the heavenly bodies conspicuous in their 
 various revolutions. This Being, an happy man, 
 will principally reverence, while he may be sti- 
 mulated by the desire of learning, whatever is 
 within the compass of human understanding : 
 being convinced, that he will thus enjoy the 
 greatest felicity in this lifej and that after death, 
 he will be translated into regions that are conge- 
 nial (9rpomx.oTa) tO VirtUC *." 
 
 By the term AOFOS in this sentence, I should be 
 inclined to understand nothing more than the 
 command, or word of the great Creator, which, 
 no doubt, is its most obvious import -f-, were it 
 
 not 
 
 * Ov traff AOFOS o HANTftN 1LIOTATOS, opaTCv, w o ^tv 
 siioeuftui tafurov jus tQai/^tacrfv* E-Bwa ^E tfuroe. E<r^. : ra xara^ao^!** 
 
 *7T(Xr<X 6v1TH ^t<T* ^l/VOT* WybfJ.^ KflffT OfTfc'j IVTV^JS-TOtTO. TV) OlX^llV ti 
 
 cwi v.hwTivrtx^ TE Trpo; roroaj t|v ^rposrrjxovTa-s apr>j. Platorv. Opcr. 
 p. 101!, 12. 
 
 f A learned author of the present age is of opinion, thac 
 " the translators of the New Testament were mistaken in ren- 
 dering ;jOTOS in the beginning of St. John's Gospel, bjr 
 U'ORD, which to him conveys no meaning at all. For how 
 can I understand, he says, that ivord, that is to say, speech, 
 or ideas expressed by articulation, is GOD?" Origin of 
 Language, v. i. p. 7. J do not see, that the Chiistiau 
 doctrine of the trinity would be injured by admitting this 
 author's explanation of it, as Aoyo; w^aSfro;, i. e. reason in 
 
 the
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 not that the following circumstances seem to 
 evince, that it hath here a more particular signi- 
 fication. 
 
 the mind of the Deuy. But his ingenuity will perhaps 
 reject as a frigid criticism his remark on the term AOFOS, 
 as improperly applied to denote the second person of the 
 trinity, because it signifies speech, when it suggests tc him, 
 that this articulate voice is the mean by which God is repre- 
 sented to have framed the universe. " He spake, and it 
 was done: he commanded, and it was brought to pass." 
 The substitution therefore cf the FIAT of the Creator, for 
 the Being who pronounced it, is a licence which neither 
 requires an apology, nor exceeds comprehension. No man, 
 while he contemplates the image which it places before hi 
 imagination, will find its energy impaired by the recollection 
 of the grammatical import of the term; or will judge that 
 it is applied with less propriety, beauty, and significance, 
 to denote the power of the Being who presided at this 
 work, than A and ft, (the first and last letters of the Greek 
 alphabet,) are to express his pre-existence, and dotation. 
 Our author himself seems indeed to have forgotten what he 
 here says on the sense of the term AOFOS, in a subsequent 
 part of his work, wherein are the following words, " AOroS 
 in its proper signification, denotes comparison, though it is 
 commonly used to denote all the operations cf intellect, and even 
 intellect itself" Origin of Lang. v. i. p. 109. N. Now if 
 we adhere in translating the words of the Evangelist, to the 
 common import of the term in this writer's estimation, their 
 literal meaning is that which follows : " In the beginning 
 was mind, or intellectual operation. And mind was with 
 God: and mind was God, &c." St. John, ch. i. v. i. 
 Thus in whatever acceptation we understand this term, the 
 of our translation seems to be that of the Evangelist. 
 
 I. The
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 1. The AOFOS here mentioned by Plato, is not 
 a thing, but a person, who is held forth in this 
 character, in the detail of a great transaction. 
 In the first sentence, he is the Maker of the Uni- 
 verse : in the following one, the epithet < is ap- 
 plied to him, in order to shew that the personi- 
 fication is preserved ; and happiness is said to be 
 found in supreme admiration of his perfections, 
 
 2. I do not find, that the epithet above men- 
 tioned is applied in any part of our author's wri- 
 tings, to signify the first, and original cause of 
 all things. It must therefore characterize some 
 other Being, who is distinguished from the former. 
 
 3. It appears from a passage of a letter written 
 by Plato to his three friends, Erastus, Hermias, 
 and Coriscus, that he had framed an idea of the 
 difference between the paternal and filial cha- 
 racter of the God-head : and as we have already 
 seen, that the term AOFOS is never applied to de- 
 nominate the former, the latter acceptation is that 
 which most properly belongs to it. His words 
 are, " You ought to repeat the words of this 
 letter frequently among yourselves, invoking 
 GOD, the supreme director of all present and fu- 
 ture events, and the Father, and Lord of thi* 
 director *." 
 
 * See the original in p. 39. 
 
 When
 
 When we add to these observations, that the 
 prosopopeia occurs more frequently in the writings 
 of our great philosopher, than in those perhaps 
 of any other author, we have laid a foundation oa 
 which we may establish the following conclusion j 
 that the AOFOS is not only personified in the pre- 
 sent case, but that this term hath the same im- 
 port in the work of the Heathen, as in that of the 
 Evangelist ; and is applied in both to denote the 
 second person of the God-head. 
 
 I come now to a branch of my subject, in ex- 
 plaining the natural offices of the rhird person of 
 the Platonic Triad, the Anima Mundi ; on which 
 many comments have been made, and many COIK 
 jectures offered, by ancient and modern theolo- 
 gists. It may perhaps be a doubtful question, 
 whether Plato was or was not the original author 
 of this celebrated dogma : but be that matter as 
 it may, no man who is acquainted with his wri- 
 tings will hesitate to acknowledge, that it is ex-, 
 plained and illustrated at greater length by him, 
 than by any of his predecessors among the an- 
 cients. As an introduction to the account which 
 I propose to give of our author's doctrine on this 
 head, and to the hypotheses of his numerous 
 Commentators, it will here be proper to examine 
 his principles concerning the formation of the 
 universe, and the materials of which it was framed. 
 
 I have
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 I have already endeavoured to refute the charge 
 that is brought against our great philosopher, as 
 having maintained the eternity of matter. I shall 
 add only farther, for the satisfaction of those who 
 may demand particular proof of his doctrine, that 
 his writings abound with declarations on the pre- 
 sent subject, of which the meaning cannot be 
 misapprehended. With this purpose he denomi- 
 nates at one time, the principles or substance of 
 all things, nvo/xara 9wv Anpcvpyov, the productions of 
 the efficient Deity*; and at others enters more 
 particularly into the question. Thus he ob- 
 serves, that many persons are ignorant of the na- 
 ture and power of mind or intellect, <e as having 
 existed at the beginning, antecedent to all bodies +" 
 Of this mind, he observes, that it is without 
 exception nav wpKrGvTw, " of all things the most 
 ancient | :" and he subjoins, in order to remove 
 all doubt of his purpose, that it is also Af% 
 WXWEWJ, " the cause or principle of motion ." 
 
 Assuming 
 
 Plat. Sophist, 
 
 f Ev wpwrotj Er Eftyxa-rwv /iWpoaa irpVTW ytw/xiwj. De Lcgib. 
 Lib. x. p. 952. 
 
 J Id. ibid. 
 
 $ This tenet of Plato will be fonnd upon examination to 
 throw considerable light on an important part of his philo- 
 sophy. The censure of Aristotle, and his preference of the 
 scheme of Anaxagoras, who taught that the particles of the 
 first matter were at rest, to that of our author, in whose 
 
 plan
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 Assuming then as a truth, the proposition, that 
 matter in the estimation of Plato, was preceded 
 by spirit, to which it o\*es its original, let us 
 proceed to examine the constituent parts of the 
 universe according to his philosophy, and the 
 
 plan they are agitated; and his reasoning in defence of it, 
 would have been superseded by recollecting, that the motion 
 of these particles or atoms is ascribed by Plato to the sfirit 
 <wbo traduced them; and who is therefore denominated in the 
 words immediately quoted, A^n Kwncrw;. He would have 
 discovered by attention to this circumstance, that the 
 schemes of both philosophers ultimately coincide, and would 
 have avoided the making an imaginary distinction. Plutarch, 
 whether misled by this author, or from inattention to the 
 doctrine of Plato, falls into the same errors, and represents 
 the principle of Anaxagoras, that all bodies were at rest 
 until the period at which he says, NOTN Kwicraj TO -rav, that 
 mind moved the universe, as opposite to our author's maxim, 
 who maintains, that the matter of the chaos had an original 
 disorderly motion. But let the intelligent reader find out if 
 he can, the distinction between the NOYS of Anaxagoras, 
 who is said to have moved the elements that were at rest, and 
 the fTXH of Plato, who is APXH KlNHIEns, the original of 
 motion in these elements. If he can discover any difference 
 of opinion between philosophers who establish this principle,, 
 in the consequence that results from it, I must have mis- 
 apprehended their purpose. But, if according to both theo- 
 ries, rest must have preceded the motion which MIND com- 
 municated to the first matter, observations that are built on 
 another foundation must fall to the ground. Vid. Aristot. 
 ds Cailo, Lib. iii. c. 7. Plutarch, de placit Philos. Lib. i. 
 c. 7. This distinction is strenuously maintained by Bayle. 
 Diet. Crit. Art. Anaxag. Rem. C. 
 
 laws
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 hws by which the Deity appears to have regulated 
 its natural government. 
 
 Before the period at which the omnific word 
 brought order and harmony inro its works, the 
 four elements, whereof all bodies are compounded, 
 were jumbled together, according to all the an- 
 cients who preceded Plato-, in a chaos, or crude 
 mass of the originals of things. The great point 
 therefore which they studied to determine, was, 
 not whether the world had an original, but of 
 what substance it was framed. Without entering 
 into the various theories of philosophers on this 
 subject, of which the principal were formerly 
 enumerated, I observe only at present, that our 
 author's hypothesis hath in one essential respect 
 the advantage of those of his predecessors. For 
 while they ascribe to one original element, or 
 principle, the production of bodies, his doctrine, 
 which comprehends the rudiments of all taken 
 together, rests upon a broader and more ade- 
 quate foundation. 
 
 Of this nature is the YAH, or first matter of our 
 great philosopher. It is principally in the Ti- 
 masus, that we find an account of this original 
 substance. 1 shall lay before the reader as much 
 of his description as is necessary to the present 
 purpose. 
 
 E Th
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 The YAH, of which the universe was framed, 
 without coming under the designation of any ele- 
 ment, contains, according to Timzeus, the seeds 
 or principles of all. It is on this account that he 
 terms it the original genus of all things *. In its 
 original state, after having been framed by the 
 Supreme Mind, the parts of this mass were con- 
 fused, conformed, and agitated during some time 
 in various convolutions j until the first mover, 
 directing the fluctuation to a particular end, in- 
 terposed more immediately to bring order out of 
 confusion -}~. 
 
 The first elements which God separated from 
 chaos in order to frame the world, were those of 
 fire and earth. These elements had precedency of 
 the others, because corporeal objects must be 
 rendered visible and tangible: and to have the 
 former quality, they must participate of fire; as 
 they receive the latter, by being compounded of 
 matter. But it is according to Timseus, with 
 bodies that are fashioned of different substances, 
 as with distinct numbers or quantities, of which 
 two are united by an intermediate mean, that 
 beais an equal relation to both. As earth and 
 fire are solrds which have depth as well as extent, 
 and can only be brought to cohere in one mass, 
 
 * Five* t?a TO TTAN <rtwrt8it. Tim. 
 f Id. Plat. Oper. p. 1047. 
 
 by
 
 ( 5< ) 
 
 by the aid of two such mediums, the Supreme 
 Being therefore created air and water. These, 
 by intermixing with the first elements, and by 
 facilitating at the same time that they perfect 
 their coalition, render the world a compact and 
 dense body, that is neither injured by accident, 
 nor subjected to decay *. 
 
 But by what means it will be asked, are ele- 
 ments apparently so discordant and hostile to 
 each other, brought to coalesce so perfectly into 
 a common mass or stratam, as to promote bene- 
 ficial instead of producing destructive effects ? 
 
 In reply to this question, Plato, in the cha- 
 racter of a cosmogonist, considers the forms of 
 the constituent parts of matter, and attempts to 
 analise its modifications. Of the four elements 
 that enter into this substance, he observes, that 
 three are peculiarly fitted by the triangular form 
 of their parts, which are volatile and fluctuating, 
 to operate in the fourth, a fixed and solid sub- 
 stance, constructed of cubical particles, to which 
 heat, air, and motion, give at the same time 
 stability and animation. Our author's theory of 
 fire in this enumeration, is particularly curious. 
 It consists, he tells us, of acute pyramiJical 
 parts, whose triangular sides, and penetrating 
 
 * Tim. p. 1048, 49. 
 
 E 2 points,
 
 points, are calculated to enter into all other 
 bodies- of which this singular conformation 
 dissolves the original disposition. We must 
 ascribe to the power of this all -pervading ele- 
 ment, originating perhaps in the cause above 
 mentioned, that it became in early ages a pecu- 
 liar object of religious adoration *. 
 
 Having followed our author in his account 
 of the constituent forms and structure of the 
 universe, we are naturally led to consider in the 
 third person of the Platonic Triad, the Being, to 
 whom, as the source of universal animation, 
 Plato gives the peculiar designation, ?& rev 
 or soul of the world. 
 
 This governing spirit, of whom the earth, 
 properly so called, is the body, consisted, accord- 
 ing to our author's philosophy, of the same and 
 the other ; that is, of the first matter, and of 
 pure intelligence, framed to actuate the machi- 
 nery of nature. The Supreme Being, after hav- 
 ing created, placed him in the middle of the 
 earth, which, in the vivid idea of Plato, seemed 
 itself to live, in consequence of an influence that 
 was felt in every part of it. From this seat his 
 power is represented as being extended on all 
 sides to the utmost limit of the heavens ; con- 
 
 * Tim. p. 1049, &c. 
 
 ferring
 
 ( 53 ) 
 
 fen ing life, and preserving harmony in the va- 
 rious and complicated parts of the universe*. 
 Upon this Being God is said to have looked with 
 peculiar complacency after having created him 
 as an image of himself, and to have given beauty 
 and perfect proportion to the mansion which he 
 was destined to occupy. 
 
 From the observations that have been made 
 on this dogma, the reader will perceive, that the 
 earth in Plato's estimation, is a living animal, in- 
 formed as the human body, by a spirit, whose 
 influence is felt in every part of it, and who acts 
 
 * Tim. and De Legib. Lib. x. p. 952. and Ciceron, Oper. 
 v. iv. p. $95. Plut. Tim. Oper. v. 2. Aristotle (who does 
 not always succeed in censuring his master,) attempts to 
 prove, in opposition to the doctrine of Timsus, that the 
 world which had no beginning, will have no termination: 
 and he finds fault with our author for asserting, that the 
 universe, although it was created by God, may yet remain 
 for ever incorruptible. Oper. v. i p. 450. But this affir- 
 mation is certainly unsupported by argument. For although 
 we should acknowledge the truth of the proposition, that 
 what had no original will never have an end; it will not 
 follow from this concession, that what had a beginning must 
 theiefore have a period. The preservation of the world from 
 corruption, or decay, depends not upon the circumstance 
 of its having originated, but upon the power of the Being 
 by whom it was proJuced, to prevent anarchy, or corrup- 
 tion, from taking place in his workmanship. And no man 
 will deny, that he who bamed the structure of the universe, 
 is equal to the task of preventing its dissolution. 
 
 3 in
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 in subserviency to the ends of his creation. In 
 order to facilitate the operation of this intelli- 
 gence, the form of the earth is perfectly orbi- 
 cular *, a shape of which the extremities that 
 are in all parts equidistant from the centre, be- 
 come susceptible in the same degree of an in- 
 fluence that is felt from this point, throughout. 
 the body. According to the doctrine of Ti- 
 maeus, the Supreme Being struck out from this 
 original mind, innumerable spirits of inferior 
 order, endowed with principles of reason ; and 
 he committed to Divinities of secondary rank the 
 task of investing these in material forms, and of 
 dispersing them as inhabitants of the sun, moon, 
 and other celestial bodies. He taught also, that 
 at death the human soul is reunited to the 
 *\>xn TOV KOT/UOU, as to the source from which it ori- 
 ginally came. 
 
 Such is the third person of the Platonic Triad, 
 in the writings of our great philosopher. Let 
 us now contemplate this Being in the comments 
 of his disciples. I select on this head the four 
 
 * Plato terms it c-$ap!& ? , and adds, that nothing can be 
 more perfectly circular than its form. The true figure of 
 the globe, is an oblate spherrid, projected at the equator, 
 and flatted at the poles by its diurnal rotation on ics own 
 axis; and the causes of this inequality were unknown to our 
 author, with, whose theory they do not perfectly correspond. 
 Tim. ubi supra. 
 
 following
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 following hypotheses, as the principal of those 
 to which the present subject has given occasion. 
 An enlargement on them at considerable length, 
 would be inconsistent with the professed purpose 
 of these observations. 
 
 i . By the soul of the world, some writers un- 
 derstand, that igneous and animating breath, 
 which was infused into the chaos, in order to in- 
 troduce symmetry and proportion into the work. 
 of the Deify. They found their notion upon 
 the Uvf ayayxaXoTarov &y-upyo of Plato, which Virgil 
 seems to have had in view, when mentioning the 
 heavenly bodies, he says, 
 
 Igneus est ollis vigor, & celestis orlgo seminibus. 
 
 . Lib. vi. 
 
 Zeno, the celebrated founder of the stoical 
 tribe, maintained also this opinion, when he de- 
 nominated fire a. fifth element, from which reason 
 and intelligence arose *. 
 
 2. Our author is represented by other philoso- 
 phers, to understand nothing more by his ruling 
 spirit, than the form and proportion of parts 
 
 * Stoici quatuor ex rebus omnia conetare diccrant. Cum 
 autem qusreretur num Quinta quxdam Natura videretur 
 essc, ex qua ratio & intelligentia oriretur? Zeno id dixit 
 esse Ign.m. Ciceron. Oper. Tom. iv. p. 335 and 354. 
 
 K 4 that
 
 (.56 ) 
 
 that are conspicuous in the works of nature, and 
 the elements whereby they are cemented. This 
 is the opinion of his commentator Serranus 
 among others *, and coincides indeed in some 
 measure with the doctrine of Timseus, who de- 
 fines the soul of the world by the terms, Avafoyux. 
 xcu Zvpfurftx, analogy and symmetry, -in opposition 
 to the body^ which he terms PTOV *i awrw, visible 
 and tangible. If, by those epithets thus ap- 
 plied, it be supposed that Plato understood the 
 harmonious concurrence of different mental 
 powers in producing a certain end, I know not 
 that any objection can lie against this accepta- 
 tion. But if the purpose be, to refine away the 
 sense of the whole doctrine, by insinuating that 
 our author holds forth an allegorical person in 
 his fvx* nv MTpw, nothing can be more opposite to 
 the spirit of his philosophy, or more irreconcila- 
 ble to the most explicit declaration. We have 
 already seen that this governing intelligence is 
 said by Plato to be the first or eldest of all 
 Beings ; that he is denominated the principle of 
 motion ; that his influence is universally ex- 
 tended, and that he was contemplated by the 
 Being who framed him with complacency and 
 pleasure. In the judgment of the great Roman 
 philosopher, this spirit is a Mind, or Divinity, 
 
 * Gale's Court of the Gent. P. II. Book ix. p. 324. c. 
 Aug. de Civit. Dei, 1. xii. c. 5. 
 
 who
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 who is invested by the earth, as by a body ; and 
 Is placed in the middle of it, as the place that is 
 best adapted to his operation. He is embraced 
 by the vast concave of heaven, wherein he ex- 
 patiates without embarrassment, or controul *, 
 
 3. In the last quoted passage, Cicero men- 
 tions the third, and most common acceptation 
 of the Vvw TOV xocrjuov, as a soul that actuates the 
 external orb of the world, in the same manner as 
 the human mind animates every part of the body 
 that is assigned to it ; and promotes its own 
 purposes by the instrumentality of the organs of 
 sense. 
 
 Principle, ccclum, & terras, camposque liquentes, 
 Lucentemque globum Lunae, titaniaque astra 
 Spiritus intus alit, totosque infusa per artus, 
 MENS agitat molcra. 
 
 . Lib. vi. 
 
 This sense of the term is that which Plato hira- 
 self appears to have adopted in the passages 
 above mentioned : and it is not therefore neces- 
 sary that I should enlarge at length on the cor- 
 responding sentiments of his later followers and 
 commentators. 
 
 * Animum in cjus (teme) medium collocavit, ita per 
 totum tetendit : deinde eum circumdedit corpora, & ves- 
 tivit extrinsecus ; cceloque solivago & volubili, & in orbem 
 incitato complexes est. Cicer. Oper. v. iv. p. 595. 
 
 4. From
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 4. From the offices wherein this spirit is said 
 to be occupied, and from his perfect resemblance 
 of the first cause, Christian writers, of much eru- 
 dition, have laboured in proving that our intel- 
 ligent philosopher had received by tradition some 
 idea of the third person of the trinity ; and that 
 the tvw no xoc-^ou of Timseus, is the spirit of the 
 Jewish legislator, who is said to have moved on 
 the face of the waters *. These authors quote 
 two passages of scripture in defence of their hy- 
 pothesis wherein this doctrine seems to be incul- N 
 cated. One is in Job, who in the 4th verse of 
 his 33d chapter, ascribes his own creation and 
 preservation to the spirit of God ; the other is 
 the 3oth verse of the iO4th Psalm, where this 
 Divine Being is said to be the efficient of the 
 universe, and the cause of its renovation. 
 
 Of those ingenious comments on the text of 
 Plato, we may pronounce without hesitation, 
 that the two former, and the latter, contain 
 some part of his doctrine, without however 
 placing a compleat view of it before the mind. 
 His genuine sense of the subject is exhibited 
 under the third division, and has been already 
 explained. It is only farther requisite, in order 
 to confirm the preceding observations, that after 
 
 * Vid. Ludov. VIv. Comment. Aug. de Civit. Dei, 1. x, 
 c. 23. Gale's Court of the Gent. B. III. ch. ix. p. 323. 
 
 / having
 
 ( 59 ) 
 having: thus endeavoured to illustrate the true 
 
 o 
 
 doctrine of Plato on the present topic, we should 
 follow his soul of the world, in obtaining a com- 
 pleat idea of the nature and offices of this go- 
 verning spirit, in his various spheres of ope- 
 ration. 
 
 According to our author's theory, this Bcing > 
 of whom we have already seen the origin and 
 place of residence, is employed in the two great 
 departments of physical and moral government. 
 Let us examine his peculiar office both in the 
 former and latter province. 
 
 i . It is with the purpose of marking the in- 
 fluence of his universal spirit on the globe which 
 we inhabit, that Plato denominates this mass of 
 animated matter^ r^^ov ** >**, " a Being en- 
 dowed with life and intelligence," wherein mind 
 is conspicuously predominant. The first prin- 
 ciple of life and motion in the body of this ani- 
 mal, is spirit, as has already been shewn. This 
 ethereal substance, agitating, pervading, and 
 invigorating all the parts of nature -f , is that 
 tire which penetrates the pores of all bodies, and 
 thus becomes the cause of vegetative life : his 
 
 ' Tim. ubi supra, p. 4. 
 
 -f- Plato calls him i'^r *.ciK.ii7a> \j.- :.;%:. j-a; <v aTacn. De 
 Legib. Lib. x. p. 95:. 
 
 influence
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 influence is not less powerfully felt in the solar 
 orb than in our terrestrial region *, wherein he 
 is alternately the Ceres that fructifies the earth, 
 and the Neptune who agitates the ocean : by his 
 breath therefore nature is prevented from lan- 
 guishing in her operations, or from sinking at 
 last under the ruin of an edifice which time is 
 perpetually undermining : finally, the concur- 
 rence of all these circumstances renders him, in 
 our author's estimation, a GOD by whom life is 
 preserved in all animals -f-. 
 
 2. While the Supreme Being accomplishes 
 such important ends by the ministration of this 
 spirit in the natural world, he is not less atten- 
 tive in effecting by his means, the great purpos.es 
 of moral government. Our author had, with- 
 out doubt, this sphere of operation in view, 
 when he represents his third person of his Triad, 
 as the ruling as well as the animating principle; 
 who renders the passions, opinions, and preju- 
 dices of men alternately subservient to the great 
 purpose of general felicity j, as much as the 
 
 succe'ssive 
 
 * HAwx ww!| wye* vx,v, &C. ibid. 
 
 t Tim. p. 1052, and De Legib. Lib. x. ubi sup. Plu- 
 tarch, in his summary of the Platonic doctrines, observes in 
 the same spirit, O EOS New; tr* rav xocr/xcv. De placit. Phil. 
 Oper. v. ii. p. 878. 
 
 ra.;
 
 ( 61 ) 
 
 successive changes of heat, and cold, tempest, 
 and sunshine ; changes, that contribute in the 
 course of providence, to preserve an order of 
 which they are apparently subversive. On other 
 occasions, Plato applies the term NOYS, mind, 
 as well as EOS to this universal agent ; and he 
 assigns as the reason of naming the universe a 
 Jiving animal, that its government is under his 
 direction *. 
 
 Thus I have endeavoured to make the reader 
 acquainted with the theories of the most eminent 
 ancients, and particularly with the doctrines of 
 Plato, on a theme, which they appear to have 
 considered as deeply interesting, and important. 
 I have been solicitous in explaining the philo- 
 sophy of the latter on this subject, to illustrate 
 the obscurity of the passage that was quoted 
 when I entered into it ; of which the meaning is 
 professedly enigmatical, and involved. It is 
 obvious, that our author assigns in that passage, 
 distinct spheres as appropriated to the persons of 
 his triad ; suited at the same time to their na- 
 tures, and to the order wherein they are placed. 
 We may now consider with a clear comprehen- 
 
 , &C. 
 
 flaw 01,- Ty^>i ^;pop.vr) Noun /xt> Trpoj ^a^tCatwra, t tov 0to? ovex, 
 ofix. xat tuoa^iova vnSotfyuyu Trara, OpCf. p. 952, 53. 
 
 * Id. ibid. 
 
 siorj
 
 ( 62 ) 
 
 sion of the Platonic doctrine, those persons as 
 occupying their various departments. 
 
 I have already rendered evident, that by the 
 *<rA<., the King, whom Plato distinguishes as 
 his first person, he understands the TO ON, the 
 self-existing and eternal principle by whom the 
 first matter was originally created. This is the 
 Being, whom, as I shall afterwards endeavour to 
 evince, our author elsewhere denominates Sa- 
 turn. He is held forth in the character of uni- 
 versal Father, as surrounded by all subordinate 
 intelligences, who wait to execute his com- 
 mands : and as the first and best of Beings, he 
 is said to have prevented the admission of evil 
 into the system of nature, during the happy 
 period of his administration *, 
 
 The 0f A^apyo; is distinguished with great 
 beauty and propriety by the term AOFOZ, as being 
 the instrument by whom the eternal Father 
 created all things j and to whose word or fiat, a 
 corresponding energy was therefore communi- 
 cated. When the TO EN having resigned for a 
 time the reins of government, retired into the 
 contemplation of himself Jf ; we must suppose that 
 
 * Polit. Oper. 537. 
 
 j* The words of Plato are, TOTE ra irctno; o fj.iv xiibEjvuT-j,-, 
 wi$Xn-v oxo; f/Jto?, eif THN AYTOY ITEPIftriHN awtrn. 
 
 p. 53*. 
 
 this
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 this person assumed the reins as the representa- 
 tive of his Father * : and although evil hath not 
 been wholly repelled by him, it is yet at all times 
 said to be opposite to his nature, and to have had 
 a necessary and independent original. The va- 
 rious revolutions therefore which are the subjects 
 of history, as well as events, of more immediate 
 importance to individuals, are conducted by this 
 universal Ruler, who will retain the dominion 
 wherewith he is invested, until the Father, at 
 an appointed season, will reassume his authority; 
 and having restored harmony, and beautiful 
 order to the universe, will put an end for ever to 
 old age, and death. 
 
 the third person of the Platonic Triad, 
 the t UX n nv xorjuou, is distinct from the two former, 
 and that he occupies a separate department, will 
 be acknowledged ; when we consider in one 
 point of view the circumstances on which we have 
 formerly enlarged : that the body wherewith he 
 is invested had an original j that he is said to be 
 compounded as man, of matter and spirit ; that 
 
 * This is obviously the sense of our author in the words 
 formerly quoted, wherein the Ai>ptufyo; is said to be vxvruv 
 6<oj, Hyr/xw fuv Tf cvTi-v x fitX^mnnv. Plato, (as we shall sec 
 more particularly afterwards ;) not only specifies the time at 
 which this reign commenced, but determines also the period 
 when the second person will deliver up the kingdom to the 
 Father. Polit. ubi snp. 
 
 his
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 his influence must be limited in duration ; and, 
 finally, that the sphere of his operation is inferior 
 and subordinate. Cicero was most probably 
 influenced by these considerations in forming his 
 opinion of the Anima Mundi, whom he not only 
 pronounces to have been produced by the Au- 
 thor of Nature for particular purposes, but to 
 act at all times in obedience to his direction *. 
 
 I have now attempted to execute one principal 
 purpose of the present section, in the illustration 
 of an obscure and mysterious dogma, that has 
 the most important truths as its objects : and the 
 observations that have been made on it will 
 have their proper effect, if the learned reader 
 should find that they throw some light on the 
 tenet formerly mentioned. " 'The Lord of 
 Nature is surrounded on all sides by his works : 
 whatever is, exists by his permission : around 
 the second person are placed things of the second 
 order ; and around the third, are those of the third 
 degree" 
 
 I cannot conclude this section without re- 
 marking, as an inference arising from the pre- 
 
 * Sic Deus ille eternus hunc perfecte beatum Deum pro- 
 creavit : sed aniraum haud ita cum corpus effecisset, in- 
 choavit: neque enim esset rectum minorem par ere majorem. 
 Ciceron. Oper. v. iv. p. 595. 
 
 ceding
 
 ceding illustration, that the doctrine of the 
 indents in general, as well as of Plato in par- 
 ticular, on the well-known subject of a Triad, 
 is somewhat different from that of the gospel, to 
 which it has apparent similarity. The God- 
 head, indeed, consists according to their united 
 declarations, of three persons, who have distinct 
 employments and departments. But I have en- 
 deavoured to evince beyond question, that the 
 appellation TO EN is applied by our author imme- 
 diately to the first person, as excluding equality, 
 or competition. HE is the EOS properly fo 
 called, as distinguished from the EOS AHMIOYPFOS, 
 or frxH T x*r/*. The sublime mystery of the 
 Trinity, as it was revealed to the inspired wri- 
 ters, is unquestionably more consonant to the 
 divine nature and perfections, than the theory 
 of unenlightened philosophers, on a subject that 
 exceeds comprehension. While therefore we 
 receive the former with reverence and gratitude, 
 as revealed with the best purpose, and established 
 by the highest authority, we may perceive with 
 emolument, in contemplating the latter, how 
 nearly the notions which fallible men conceived 
 of this doctrine, coincided with the testimony of 
 writers, who were commissioned to promulgate 
 it to mankind. 
 
 SECT-
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 INHABITANTS OF THE AIR, AND ELEMENTS. 
 FORMATION, AND CONSTITUENT PRINCI- 
 PLES OF MAN. 
 
 I-N an examination of the various orders and 
 departments of Pagan divinities, the beings 
 of middle rank, who may be said to fill up in 
 some degree the immense chasm between the 
 
 D 
 
 divine and human nature, form curious and in- 
 teresting objects of speculation. 1 propose in the 
 present section, to lay before the reader the doc- 
 trine of the ancients concerning the nature and 
 offices of those beings, who, in their estimation, 
 were immediate agents in the government of the 
 universe ; as it is essentially connected with the 
 Platonic theory of the origin, and constituent 
 principles of man. It is proper only to observe, 
 before I enter upon the subject, that as our 
 author's account of it does not differ materially 
 from that -of other philosophers, although it be 
 far more comprehensive and accurate, I shall 
 treat the doctrine at large, without making any 
 particular distinction. 
 
 In whatever light we regard the belief of an 
 intermediate nice of beings, a reflecting mind 
 
 will
 
 will consider it as having originated in notions 
 which men conceived at a very early period, of 
 the perfection of the Supreme Mind, and of their 
 own comparative weakness and impurity. Of 
 these they perceived without difficulty, that the 
 former rendered them unable, and the latter un- 
 worthy, to prefer their requests immediately to 
 a Being, who is at the same time perfectly good 
 and universally intelligent. And, in fact, no- 
 thing is more terrible to a heart that is conscious 
 of fatal propensities, whereof it can neither resist 
 the influence, nor efface the impressions, than 
 the sense of dependence upon an universal ruler, 
 whose discernment is the witness of crimes, which 
 justice forbids that he should pardon. 
 
 From this view therefore of the Deity, and of 
 themselves, men, who trembled in the presence 
 of perfect and uncreated excellence, wished to 
 remove the embarrassment of an approach to it ; 
 an approach rendered necessary by exigency and 
 imperfection. Hence, they were led to believe 
 in the existence of a certain middle order of 
 Beings, propitious to the supplications, and 
 compassionate to the frailties of mankind ; as 
 being placed between their own nature, and that 
 of perfect intelligence : and to them, as creatures 
 who participated of their own weakness and de- 
 F 2 pcndence,
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 pendence, they found consolation in making 
 known their desires. 
 
 But granting it may be said, that we have 
 here assigned the cause to which the doctrine of 
 intermediate orders owed its original, what is the 
 nature of those Beings, and of what kind are the 
 offices wherein their various classes are supposed 
 to be occupied ? To these questions, arising 
 naturally from the subject, the following obser- 
 vations are proposed as an answer : and my pur- 
 pose will be gained, if the learned reader should 
 find in them, some satisfactory account of the 
 point which they are meant to illustrate. 
 
 Without entering at once into particular in- 
 vestigation, I consider the Daemons or Genii, 
 who figure in the theology of the ancients, as 
 being, in general, either of the celestial or ter- 
 restrial order. Those of the first rank inhabit 
 the higher, and these of the second the lower 
 region of air : and the exterior form of each 
 class is adapted according to Plato, as we shall 
 see afterwards, to a particular sphere of opera- 
 tion *. Some general remarks on the demo- 
 niacal character v\ill introduce most naturally 
 those that may be made on each class separately 
 reviewed. 
 
 Epinom. Oper. p, ion. 
 
 Not-
 
 ( 6? ) 
 
 Notwithstanding the agreement of ancient 
 writers in believing the existence of Daemons, to 
 \vhich they were impelkd by the motives above 
 mentioned, they differ widely in their accounts 
 of the nature of those beings as distinguished 
 from each other. The points wherein they co- 
 incide on this subject are, their acknowledgment 
 that Daemons had an original, and that '.heir na- 
 ture is inferior to the divine, properly thus de- 
 nominated * ; that it is however superior to that 
 of mankind, whom they excel in power, com- 
 prehension, and intelligence -f- ; finally, that by 
 sharing the impassive and immortal nature of the 
 Gods ^, with the various passions of the human 
 species, they are peculiarly adapted to that mid- 
 dle state which they are destined to occupy . 
 In other important circumstances concerning 
 these intelligences, it would seem that men had 
 very different opinions. Thus they have been 
 alternately represented, as the souls of wicked 
 men, who retained in their state of separation 
 from the body, the appetites that prevailed in 
 it || ; as angels originally upright, whose na- 
 
 t .- 
 
 * Plutarch. Oper. v. ii. p. 415. f Plat. 1194. 
 
 J Aug. de Civit. Dei. I. viii. c. 14. p. 484. Plutarch 
 however seems to question their immortality. Oper. v. ii. 
 p. 419. 
 
 $ Aug. ubi supra, Laert. Pythag. 1. viii. p. 581 and 
 587. 
 - II Joseph. 
 
 F 3 tures
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 tures became contaminated by their intercourse 
 with mankind, of whom they were entrusted 
 with the charge * ; as spirits who assumed for 
 particular ends, bodies whereof the senses take 
 cognisance -j~ ; and finally, as Genii, who having 
 been cast out of heaven, fell upon the earth, the 
 water, and the air, in which they are perpetually 
 exciting commotions |. 
 
 An inquiry into the nature of the demoniacal 
 body, may be said to minister rather to curiosity 
 than to use. It is proper however to give some 
 account of it, as it is connected with other parts 
 of the subject. 
 
 In general then, the forms of the Daemons 
 participated according to the doctrine of the 
 ancients, of their disposition and character ; 
 being neither altogether celestial nor corporeal. 
 They consisted of air, not condensed as a cloud 
 that floats on the atmosphere, but so pure, sub- 
 tile, and rarefied, as not to be perceived by our 
 organs of sight, unless when the superior Being 
 chooses to render himself visible for any par- 
 
 * Lactan. de Orig. Error. 1. ii. c. 15. and Plat. p. 527. 
 
 t Lud. Viv. in Aug. de Civit. Dei, v. ii. p. 156. Hence 
 these Beings acquired the name of Incubi, familiar spirits, 
 &c. whom Supeistition enlisted as her attendants. 
 , J Apg. de Civit, Dei, v. i. 1. 10. c. 9. 
 
 ticular
 
 ( 7' ) 
 
 ticular purpose. He assumes in this case a ve- 
 hicle of grosser air, whose condensation renders 
 it discernible, and of which the yielding mate- 
 rials are with equal facility collected and dis- 
 solved. To bodies thus infinitely subtilised and 
 attenuated, they believed that a pure and un- 
 corrupted aliment was. suited by the Creator, 
 as different from that whereby we are supported, 
 as the forms to which it is adapted are from our 
 own *. 
 
 These remarks on the nature and general em- 
 ployment of Daemons, naturally introduce an 
 account of the two great classes into which it 
 was observed that tiiey are divided. 
 
 * Daemonum corpora Apuleius medio dicit, inter terrenam 
 & xthcream naturam ; multoque minus concreta quam 
 nubes, & longe subtiliora ex purissimo aeiis liquido & se- 
 reno alimento coalita, &c. Ludov. Viv. Comment. 1. viii. 
 c. 1. Plato distinguishes from each other the two great 
 orders of Daemons, by forms suited to the regions wherein 
 they expatiate. The superior are of pure aether, the in- 
 ferior of grosser air. Tv He $w> TOVTW ov, m T\* 6^o.-, 
 $*5J TI fo>, w fappau (fa* at/iw inarifin wau. Epinoin. 
 j>. ion. The term oXoy iii this application obviously implies, 
 lhat either order of these intelligences might be dimly and 
 partialty discerned by spectators. Our author (as we shall 
 see afterwards;) seems to consider this faculty elsewhere, as 
 being principally exercised by the Genii of the waters. 
 
 F 4 i. Those
 
 ( 7* ) 
 
 i. Those dignified employments, which with- 
 out respecting a city, or a province, comprehend 
 MAN as their object, are ascribed by the an- 
 cients to the superior order of Genii, who are 
 therefore placed in points of view the most con- 
 spicuous and attractive. Without entering at 
 length into the various disquisitions of author* 
 on this subject, I mention the following general 
 heads as containing whatever is most worthy of 
 observation. 
 
 i. The first and principal office of those spi- 
 rits, in the opinion of the most intelligent philo- 
 sophers of antiquity, is, that of mediating, or of 
 performing beneficent offices between God arjd 
 Man *. Many difficulties, says Plutarch, are 
 solved by those who believe that the Genii oc- 
 cupy a middle department between God and 
 Man, and that they are employed in reconciling 
 and uniting their natures -)- : and he afterwards 
 considers the loss of the orders of Genii as an 
 event, which by breaking the continuity of 
 things, would make a void in the universe, and 
 put an end to the intercourse between God and 
 his creatures, in the same manner as the dissolu- 
 tion of that body of air which fills up the space 
 between the earth and the moon, would loosen 
 
 * Vid. Auct. inf. citat. f Plat. Oper. v. ii. p. 415. 
 
 and
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 and annihilate the bands, whereby unity and 
 coherence are preserved in the system *. 
 
 Thales, who taught that all nature was re- 
 plete with Daemons -f, and Pythagoras, the 
 master of Plato, appear to have coincided in the 
 same opinion of their importance and utility J. 
 But our author himself, who seems to have 
 viewed the subject in all its extent, affirms, that 
 God interferes not in human transactions, unless 
 by the mediation of these subordinate Beings, 
 who are alternately employed in the office of 
 transmitting intelligence to the Gods, and to 
 men, of things wherein both are concerned . 
 It appears according to an author formerly 
 quoted, that the ancient Egyptians and Phry- 
 gians concurred in this opinion of the mediation 
 of Genii, which is likewise supposed to have 
 been the doctrine of Orpheus and Zoroaster |j. 
 The same author joins with Laertius **, in con- 
 sidering this dogma as having been inculcated 
 by Zeno, and the Stoics -f-f. From those joint 
 authorities we may therefore affirm, that the 
 belief of a middle order of Beings, who mediated 
 
 * Plut. ubi supra. t Lacrt. 1. xvi. p. 1$. 
 
 % Id. Lib. viii. p. 587. $ Plut. p. 1194. 
 
 || Plut. ubi supra. Laert. Zeno. 
 
 ft W. Pythag. p. 587. 
 
 between
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 between the Deity and his rational creatures,- 
 was in general prevalent among the ancients. 
 
 2. In their particular office of presiding over 
 mankind, these intelligences are the authors of 
 prophecy, and of divination : of the former, by 
 impressing in a supernatural manner the know- 
 ledge of futurity upon the thought of the Seer, 
 or Prophet ; of the latter, by their attention to 
 sacrifices, wherein the will of the Gods was con- 
 sulted. In the character of predicting future 
 events, I shall afterwards have occasion to exa- 
 mine the influence which it was believed that 
 Damons exerted in producing in many instances 
 the phenomenon of dreaming, when the visions 
 were ascribed to supernatural impulse. At pre- 
 sent it sufTiceth' to observe, that they are pecu- 
 liarly objects of estimation, when we consider 
 them as having dictated the oracle's responses, 
 whereby the fate of nations was announced *, 
 and influenced magicians in the work of divina- 
 nation -f . We cannot have clearer evidence that 
 
 * It is to this circumstance that Plato most probably al- 
 ludes when he mentions the &* rav t\%<rtourt*w as one of the 
 branches of divination carried on by the ministration of 
 daemon^ 
 
 f The best, and most complete account of the various spe- 
 cies of divination, is that of Ludovicus Vives, in his Com- 
 mentary on Aug. de Civit. Dei. v. i. 1. 7. p. 437. See also 
 Gales Court of the Gent. p. 3, 64, &c. 
 
 Demons
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 Daemons were employed in the former office than 
 the testimony of Plutarch, who ascribes the 
 ceasing of oracles to the desertion, extinction, 
 or migration of those Genii who presided in this 
 business *. The magical incantations in the 
 same manner, whereby futurity was developed, 
 were employed in calling up those spirits as the 
 authors of divination -f, which Plato considers 
 (I know not for what reason) as tending to pro- 
 mote friendly intercourse between the divine and 
 human nature . 
 
 When we consider the busy order of intelli- 
 gences as peopling all ihe elements, and presiding 
 at every great transaction that had the future for 
 its object, we are led to view their influence in 
 the rite of sacrifice as having been exerted with 
 peculiar efficacy . And it is on this account, as 
 we shall sec immediately, that they were wor- 
 
 * Plut. Oper. v. ii. p. 418. 
 
 f Philost. Vit. Apollon, 
 
 J Kt ij-'v i MavTixr? (fays our author) $iXaj 9t<ov xsa 
 
 TJOTtraW TW HXTOt KVaftinfOVf ffUTUtXf 00XC TWU 
 
 . Sympos. 
 
 5 Aio Toi/roVf xot n |u.cvrtx>) wa^a ^wpti, xxi i TW Hftw Tvv> rtv 
 TE Ttpi rag 0t/(7Kj xat T{ TiXtToj x* Tfltj t7rafJ;> xo* TW lutmuw 
 xourm, X5H xonTjy. Conviv. ubi sup. 
 
 shipped
 
 shipped with ceremonies that indicated religious 
 veneration *. 
 
 3. The beings above-mentioned are represented 
 in the execution of their charge over mankind, 
 to be the chastisers of pride, and the ministers 
 by whom God executes vengeance on atrocious 
 criminals-}*. This is the -consequence of con- 
 templating them as messengers who convey in- 
 telligence. They are naturally employed in pu- 
 nishing the crimes whereof they originally gave 
 information, 
 
 4. As intelligences who perform so many good 
 offices to the human race, and who are interested 
 so particularly in their concerns, they were pro- 
 per objects of worship in the judgment of Plato, 
 by whom they are denominated Siovs ywwovq *** 
 <ruy^wTf J; and the gifts that are offered to 
 them are said to be acceptable to God . 
 
 * According to the teftimony of Florus, Genii were vene- 
 rated in the moft barbarous ages. That hiftorian obferves of 
 the Gauls under Brennus, who facked Rome, that when they 
 entered the Forum, and beheld the aged fenators, ut deos 
 geniofiie VENERARI cceperunt. De Geft. Roman, lib. i. 
 cap. 13. 
 
 f Plut. v. ii. p. 417. J De Legib. 1. 13. & Polit. 
 
 Ibid. 1. iv. p. 832. & Epinom. p. 101 1. 
 
 > Thus
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 Thus far I have examined the offices of the 
 superior order of Daemons, who are in general 
 characterized as being the friends of men, and 
 as desirous at all times to promote their best in- 
 terest *. I do not deny, however, that in the 
 judgment of ancient, as well as of modern writers, 
 who carry the matter much farther than the for- 
 mer, some Genii, even of the higher ranks, are 
 said to bring evils upon mankind from a natural 
 depravity of disposition. Thus Plutarch mentions 
 as the joint opinion of Plato, Xenocrates, and 
 Chryssipus, that there are certain wicked and de- 
 praved beings of the demoniacal tribes, who de- 
 light in giving a bad propensity to human incli- 
 nations-}- : and Pythagoras, according to the testi- 
 mony of his biographer, was of the same opinion J. 
 But some Christian writers having found, (as 
 Origen observes, ) that the term Aai/xo>wi/ is always 
 taken in an unfavourable sense in the New Testa- 
 meat , enlarged on every offensive part of the 
 character; while others, overlooking in their de- 
 
 * 
 
 Hence the Aaw/xovwc has the fame ngnificacion af feljx or 
 divinus, happy or divine, in the wiitings of Plato. Kou op* 
 
 ftm T* TOUCVTX <?<$<> fcpyMMf *>'? ConViV. p. 1 194.. 
 
 t Oper. v. ii. p. 419. 
 
 J Laertius numbers disea.es as being inflicted on mankind 
 by daemons, in the opinion of Pythagoras TTO m-ru 7r(p\.ia&u 
 arQptnPVff Toy,- 7f ovitpov:, xa ra. ffr^uy. NO1OT' Kau oovoy Av3prwf, 
 aXX* xai 57fc,?j.rsK, &C. 1. Vlii. 587. 
 
 ^ Cont. Cel. p. 236. 
 
 sire
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 sire to prove that all religious information came 
 originally from the Jews, whatever in these spirits 
 is detrimental or offensive, dwell upon their me- 
 diatory employment, as it has already been ex- 
 plained, and find ideal resemblances in the dis- 
 quisitions of philosophy on this subject to the 
 various offices of Christ*. Accounts of the 
 same things so different, and apparently contra- 
 dictory, while they afford a cause of triumph to 
 the professed enemies of our religion, serve only 
 to make its friends admit with caution (in the 
 apprehension of .injuring the best cause) vague 
 and whimsical applications. 
 
 2. From an examination of the department of 
 Genii of primary order,! proceed to consider that 
 which is occupied by those of secondary rank, 
 to whom I apply the epithet terrestrial, as being 
 expressive of their particular appointment. Un- 
 der this designation I include all those intelli- 
 gences, who, in consequence of presiding more 
 immediately over the earth, are peculiarly occu- 
 pied in the care of its inhabitants. I observed 
 formerly that the terrestrial Demons are distin- 
 guished from the higher order by having bodies of 
 grosser air, suited to the atmosphere wherein they 
 expatiate. I add at present to this observation, 
 that those of this class who have the charge of 
 
 * Id. pass. 
 
 the
 
 < 79 ) 
 
 waters, and whom Plato denominates HMI0EOI, 
 become, according to him, slightly visible upon 
 some occasions *. Their appearance, however, 
 at those times was momentary, and calculated to 
 excite, rather than to gratify curiosity. This 
 race of active beings, who are perpetually present 
 with mankind, and are acquainted with their 
 most secret thoughts, possess at the same time 
 the most acute discernment and the most tena- 
 cious memory, as faculties that are equally sub- 
 servient to the purposes of acquiring and of pre- 
 serving knowledge. Qualified therefore in this 
 manner to give information, they have easy and 
 immediate access to the superior divinities, to 
 whom their communications are at all times ac- 
 ceptable. 
 
 Our knowledge of the existence of these 
 Genii, leads us naturally to inquire concerning 
 their subordination, and various employments ; 
 questions, that are suggested by their nature 
 and conformity of their motives and disposition 
 to our own. Those whom curiosity may induce 
 to gain information on this subject, will regret 
 that philosophy has not cast greater light on it. 
 We must therefore have recourse to history for 
 examples, whereby the defect of philosophical 
 or traditionary evidence may be in som,c measure 
 compensated. 
 
 * Plat, ubi <upra. 
 
 In
 
 In this record of transactions and events, 
 which originating most commonly in the pas- 
 sions of men, determine the character of na- 
 tions ; we mark the traces of four distinct orders, 
 or classes of our busy agents, who, hovering 
 over scenes, of which many are in perpetual 
 fluctuation, influence the thoughts, and direct 
 the actions of mankind. I shall consider each 
 class separately, according to the rank which 
 we suppose it to occupy. 
 
 i. It appears then from the testimony of his- 
 torians, that certain terrestrial Genii of pri- 
 mary importance and dignity, preside over em- 
 pires, of which they regulate by commission, 
 the various revolutions. Of this kind, is the 
 the genius of Carthage, who is mentioned by 
 Polybius *, that of Fortune, by whom Galba is 
 said to have been accosted -f ; and the Genius 
 Publicus, as he is denominated, who is said to 
 have appeared upon different occasions to the 
 emperor Julian, announcing his rise and his 
 downfal I'. The universal belief of this high 
 
 * Histor. Lib. xvii. 
 
 f Ulster. Roman. Sciipt. v. ii. p. 66. Aurel. Allob. 1609. 
 J Amniian Marcellin, apeosd. p. 461 and 501. Videt 
 squalidius (says our author) speciera iliam Genii publici, 
 quam cum ad augu c tum surgeret culmen, conspicit in 
 Gallis; velatocum capite cornu copia per aulsa tristius dis- 
 cedentem. 
 
 order
 
 ( Si ) 
 
 order of Daemons, that obtained among the Ro- 
 mans, is indicated not only by historians who 
 mention their agency, but by medals that are 
 inscribed to the genius of the empire, or that 
 bear his designation. When therefore we look 
 upon these, as guardian spirits of greater or 
 lesser estimation, according to their different 
 departments, we view them naturally as directing 
 certain events, and conceiving purposes, which, 
 on account of their uniformity and tendency, 
 cannot be attributed to chance. Hence a be- 
 liever in the doctrine of Genii, was led to regard 
 the many successful efforts of Roman courage 
 and perseverance j as the operation of some 
 tutelary agent of a superior degree, by whom 
 individuals were animated with the hope of 
 victory ; and armies conducted at all times, to 
 conquest, and renown. The mind is filled with 
 a great idea, when it contemplates the genius of 
 Carthage, as having contended during three suc- 
 cessive wars, with this mighty rival ; and having 
 yielded up at last a contest in her favour, by 
 which the fate of the world may be said to have 
 been determined. 
 
 2. We may place in the second rank of ter- 
 restrial Demons, those who in the opinion of 
 rhe ancients, presided over particular nations ; or 
 had the charge of provinces, or cities of distin- 
 G guished
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 guished eminence. Temples were raised in dif- 
 ferent cities to those beings, whose good offices 
 compensated in many instances, the attention 
 that was paid to them ; and who gave seasonable 
 warning of impending calamity, short enjoyment 
 or speedy dissolution *. I consider the different 
 appellations of Fortune, and the altars at 
 which she was worshipped -f- ; as monuments 
 erected to Daemons, or titles bestowed on them, 
 in commemoration of some signal benefit, which 
 it was believed that they had conferred. Athens 
 and EphesUs, under the protection of Minerva 
 and Diana, were indeed patronised by the Diis 
 Majorum Gentium. Cicero takes not ice of a beau- 
 tiful temple at Proeneste, that was erected to 
 Fortune under the name SORS j as a tutelary 
 genius 'j : arid in fact, this term had the same 
 signification as LAR among ancient writers, both 
 being expressive of local divinities, whose power 
 although circumscribed, was exerted with efta- 
 cacy in particular departments. 
 
 * Some striking examples of this nature are mentioned by 
 the author above quoted. See particularly Hist. Lib. xxiii. 
 ab init. 
 
 f Cicero mentions the various designations of Fortune, 
 in enumerating her temples; as the ejus dici of Gatnlus 
 after having defeated the Cimbii ; Respiciens, Sors, &c. 
 
 J Oper. p. 530. v. \v. 
 
 \ 
 
 3- The
 
 ( 83 ) 
 
 3. The third class of the demonical tribe, 
 and those in whom man is principally interested, 
 are the peculiar guardians of the human race, 
 to whom the charge of individuals is committed, 
 and who follow them without ceasing through 
 the various stages of their mortal course. As 
 the voice of antiquity, on a point in which hu- 
 man creatures are nearly concerned, must be 
 heard with attention. I shall lay before the 
 reader an account of it, that will tend to gratify 
 curiosity. 
 
 The general belief of mankind appears to 
 have been : that a certain order of Genii were 
 appointed by the Supreme Being as guardians of 
 the human race, who, as an inferior species, 
 require protection and defence *. Universal 
 testimony will confer importance in the estima- 
 tion of a philosopher, upon any tenet, of the truth 
 of 'which it establishes a favourable prepossession : 
 and this consent must have peculiar efficacy 
 in the 'present case with Christians, as it con- 
 firms a doctrine of revelation ~f . 
 
 * Laert. in Proem. Plut. ubi sup. & tie Isid. et OiiriJ. 
 & Ludov. Viv. Comment, v. i. p. 397. 
 
 f This subject is treated at length in a sermon of Dr. 
 James Ogilvie, of Egham, lately published ; to which the 
 reader, who may wish to have information on it, is re- 
 ferred. 
 
 G 2, From
 
 From Ovid's account of the genealogy of 
 the Lares *, or from other evidences that will 
 afterwards be brought forward : it appears that 
 two beings, of whom one is good, and the 
 other evil, are attendant upon each individual, 
 the former deriving satisfaction from the hap- 
 piness, and the latter from the misery of his 
 charge. Among those who did not admit 
 the existence of evil Genii j the good or bad 
 success of a man in the general-' occurrences of 
 life, was conceived to depend in a great degree 
 upon the original strength or weakness of the 
 Spirit or Dasmon, to whom he was given in 
 charge -f . 
 
 In order to obviate an objection, which will 
 be examined at length in the succeeding section; 
 Plato considers every human Being, as having 
 
 * The Lares were the two sons of Mercury, by the nymph 
 Lara. Of these, Lar was the good, and Larea the evil 
 genius, who took the charge of infants as soon as they came 
 into the world, and influenced all their future conduct. 
 These Genii were immediate inhabitants of the globe, or of 
 its atmosphere. The belief of their existence is of great 
 antiquity. Diod. Sicul. 1. ii. Aug. de Civit. Du. 1. x. 
 
 C. 2. 
 
 f According to this doctrine, every man was great or 
 mean, successful or unsuccesful in life, as his genius had 
 ascendency over others, or was subjected by jhem. Vid. 
 Dodwel Prelect, ii. p. I75t 
 
 elected
 
 elected in a pre-existent state, the attendant 
 spirit who is his guardian in the present *. And 
 as the Genii are in his estimation good beings, 
 who delight in performing benevolent offices -f- ; 
 the consequences of having made a proper or 
 an improper choice, which was left to the deci- 
 sion of fortune ; affected only comparatively the 
 happiness of the individual ; not according to 
 the uprightness or pravity, but in proportion to 
 the power, or impotency of his protector. 
 Hence it happens, that one man, superior per- 
 haps to another in natural abilities, is yet 
 abashed, and daunted in his presence ; the 
 Daemon to whom he is given in charge, being 
 overpowered by that of the latter. Of this 
 nature, was the genius of Cain, compared 
 with that of Abel, according to some writers J ; 
 and the guardian of Octavius when opposed to 
 that of Antony . Porphyry ascribes to the 
 same cause, the remarkable superiority of Plo- 
 tinus, the celebrated Platonic philosopher, 
 to other men ; upon whom he looked down 
 with contempt, as beings who shrunk before him 
 into insignificance ||. The wisdom of Socrates **, 
 
 * Oper. p. 1054. f Id. p. 537. 
 
 J Dodwell, ubi fupra, August, de Hicres. c. 18. 
 
 Plut. in Anton. & de Fortun. Roman. Oper. v. ii. p. jip. 
 
 II In Vit. Plotin. 
 
 * See particularly the account which Socrates gives of his 
 Daemon in the Theages of Plato. 
 
 G 3 the
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 the fortune . of Caesar *, and in general the ex- 
 altation of mean and often unworthy persons to 
 the highest dignity and dominion -f, will be con- 
 sidered as derived from this original by those 
 who believe what history relates concerning the 
 power of the Genii who had them separately in 
 charge J. 
 
 That this order of beings, so useful to the 
 human race, may be fitted for their peculiar 
 destination, they are said to participate of the 
 imperfections, and even to be actuated in many 
 instances by the passions of mankind . Enter- 
 ing therefore eagerly into the various and com-' 
 plicated scenes of our enjoyment or distress with 
 superior knowledge and discernment, they are 
 qualified at the same time to heighten our satis~ 
 faction in the former state, as much as to alle- 
 viate our pain in the latter; although their 
 power extends not in either case to the alteration 
 of events. We may observe, as a confirmation 
 of this remark, that the Daemon of Socrates 
 was as often unsuccessful in accomplishing the 
 purpose of his warnings, according to the philo? 
 
 * In his celebrated speech to the mariner, '* Thou car* 
 riest Caefar and his fortune" he considers the latter as a di- 
 vinity. Plut. in Cassar. 
 
 f Vitellius, Nero, Caligula, &c. 
 
 J Apul. ap. August, de Civit. Dei, 1. viii. c. 16. 
 
 $ Apul. ap. Aug. de Civit. Dei, 1. viii. c. 16. 
 
 sopher's
 
 sopher's own account of the matter, as the coa- 
 trary. This tutelary being obtained indeed his 
 end with Socrates himself. But the decisions of 
 destiny, under the direction of the A^ovpyo?, 
 were not levelled to the comprehension of either 
 party ; far less were these subjected to their 
 control. The former announced events which 
 he was unable to prevent, and the latter gave 
 warning of dangers that were neither averted 
 nor postponed *. 
 
 As far as we have yet gone our observations 
 have respected those of the present rank of 
 .Genii, who delight in the performance of good 
 offices. But I have already evinced, that of 
 this order the members are not universally up- 
 right, even in the judgment of ancient as well 
 as modern writers -f- j and according to both, 
 the calamities of life, and particularly the suf- 
 ferings of good men, point as immediately to 
 the hand of a bad, as more favourable circum- 
 stances to the agency of a good spirit. Final 
 events (as I have already observed) are out of 
 the question. I mean only to trace the slight 
 step of superior agents on the chequered path of 
 human life, and to render manifest the con- 
 
 * As in the cases of Charmides, Timarchus, Throsyllus, 
 &c. Plat, ubi sup. 
 t Plut. v. ii. p. 419. and in Brut. v. i. 
 
 G 4 cem
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 cern which they appear to take in its transac- 
 tions; 
 
 Among the various phenomena which philo- 
 sophy has in all ages attempted to illustrate, 
 that of dreaming has perhaps occasioned as 
 much speculation as any other *; the visions of 
 the night, which at some times are the reveries 
 of a sportful imagination, having exhibited upon 
 many interesting occasions, prophetic images 
 of events slumbering on the bosom of futurity. 
 Of representions thus diversified, some of which 
 the purpose was obviously beneficial, indicated 
 the care of a benevolent and watchful guardian ; 
 as others of an opposite tendency, discovered 
 the busy operation of a malevolent spirit, ob- 
 truding upon the thought scenes of misery, 
 whereof the effect was heightened by anticipation 
 and suspence. Of the former kind, was the 
 dream of Socrates recorded in Crito, and that 
 
 * Aristotle observes in his history of animal?, that there 
 have been instances of men and women who were never 
 known to drram. To some of these, he says, the first de- 
 viation from their usual insensibility have been followed 
 cither by death or sickness. Our great philosopher relates this 
 fact without accounting for it. The intelligent reader will 
 however judge, that the evils which, in the present case, were 
 consequent on dreaming, arose from the change of tempera- 
 ment that produced this phenomenon. Oper. v. i. p. 83 1 . 
 
 Of
 
 of Eudamas, mentioned by Cicero, as well as 
 many others of the same nature, which it is 
 unnecessary to enumerate. Of the latter deno- 
 mination, are those dark presages of future 
 events, ascribed in some instances to the agency 
 of evil Daemons ; that have at times produced 
 the worst effects on a gloomy and distempered 
 imagination *. 
 
 Now if we acknowledge, that favourable 
 presages of future events, have been suggested 
 on some occasion by good Genii ; we may admit 
 also that those of a contrary nature, and ten- 
 dency, derive their origin from beings of op- 
 posite disposition. I therefore infer with equal 
 reason, that there are bad spirits, by whose 
 operation, on the organs of sense, detrimental 
 consequences have been produced ; as the effects 
 of a nature altogether different, indicate the 
 existence and agency of those that have bene- 
 volence : and in this judgment we are supported 
 by the authority of the ancients f . 
 
 * Aug. de Civil. Dei, v. i. p. 718. 
 
 f- That dreams were held in reverence by the sages of 
 antiquity as presages of future events, will be obvious* 
 when we reflect that Plato considers dreaming as a species of 
 divination, of which we have seen that Daemons are acknow- 
 ledged to be authors. An cvEtpoxprnti, or an interpreter of 
 dreams was appointed, according to our author, as certainly 
 as a Pythia in the temple of Apollo, to receive the oracular 
 afflatus. 
 
 From
 
 ( 9 ) , 
 
 From the probable conjecture of philosophy 
 concerning the existence of evil Genii, when 
 we apply to history for positive evidence ; the 
 Story of Brutus is immediately recollected as a 
 fact that establishes this doctrine *. The proof 
 whereby the appearance of the evil genius of 
 the illustrious Roman is supported, makes the 
 whole account as credible, as any account can 
 be made by the concurrence of circumstances 
 in a case of this kind. And he, who believes 
 that Brutus, who was strictly virtuous, had such 
 an attendant ; will surely find no difficulty in 
 giving faith, either to any similar narration, or 
 to the general position which it is proposed to 
 concern. 
 
 4. I shall dismiss this branch of the present 
 subject, when I have observed, that we may 
 consider as a fourth class of terrestrial Genii, 
 inferior in ranjk to the former ; the Dryads, 
 Hamadryades, Satyrs, Wood-nymphs -J", and 
 
 in 
 
 * Plut. in Brut. Flor. 1. iv. c. 7. Appiau. 1. iv. 
 
 f- These were known by the various appellations of Or- 
 eades, J^ereides, Naiades, from the fields, fountains, and 
 rivers, over which they presided. Of the whole tribes, the 
 Hamadryads, (whose duration was coeval with that of the 
 tree which they inhabited 5) were the shortest lived, as well 
 as most dependent on the compassion of mankind. Some 
 pathetic tales have been founded on this circumstance. See 
 
 Ovid's
 
 ( 9' ) 
 
 in general, the whole race of beings who have 
 the charge of rivers, forests, fields and fountains ; 
 the subjects of many beautiful poetical fables. 
 
 Upon the whole therefore we may venture to 
 pronounce, that a review of the scenes which the 
 philosophers of ancient Greece have presented as 
 the theme of the preceding remarks, afford a 
 lively representation of the character of its inha- 
 bitants. The busy ingenuity of this happy race 
 imparted life to all obejcts indiscriminately ; 
 nature teemed around them with universal 
 animation ; the fields, the groves, the fountains, 
 the forests, the very air of this delightful region, 
 were prolific, and the face of the country dis- 
 playing alternately, villas and statues, lawns 
 and altars ; the harvests of Ceres, the shades, 
 of Diana, the haunts of the Naiads, and the 
 gardens of Pomona, presented testimonies in 
 every quarter of genius, elegance, and supersti- 
 
 Oyid's Metam.l. viii. v. 749, &c. Homer Hymn, in Vener. 
 Apollon. Rhad. 1. ii. v. 480. The combat of the river, 
 God Xanthus with Achilles, forms an interesting scene of 
 the Iliad. And in general, the interview of an hero with 
 a goddess ; or of a Wood-nymph, or Hamadryad with an 
 accidental traveller, furnished a suitable birth to some 
 prince, who was destined to figure in the fabulous ages, 
 and introduced him with dignity on the stage. 
 
 tious
 
 ( 9* ) 
 
 tious observance. The Athenians, wasting their 
 hours in the pursuit of novelty, cease when thus 
 contemplated to be regarded with wonder ; and 
 the altar inscribed to the lyvuro eu, among so 
 many other religious monuments, becomes 
 familiar as a characteristical indication. 
 
 SECT.
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 CREATION AND CONSTITUENT PRINCIPLES OF 
 MAN. 
 
 ^ 
 
 HAVING now examined at considerable 
 length the nature of the Being who framed, 
 and the invisible inhabitants, who people the 
 universe, according to the theory of Plato, as 
 well as of other ancient philosophers, I come to 
 a branch of my subject wherein human beings 
 are more immediately interested ; I mean the 
 creation and constituent principles of MAN. I 
 shall follow in treating of this doctrine, the 
 order which I observed formerly, by laying before 
 the reader the tenets and maxims of other phi- 
 losophers on these heads, as being introductory 
 to those of Plato j which they tend also to en- 
 force and illustrate. 
 
 Man, according to the Magi, who were fol- 
 lowers of Zoroaster, is principally constituted of 
 an intelligent and immortal spirit, which de- 
 scended from heaven, in order to communicate 
 its influence during a certain appointed season to 
 the body, wherein it is the cause or principle of 
 animation. Of regions that are occupied by 
 spirits in their state of pre-existence, they be- 
 lieved
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 lieved that some are splendid and luminous, 
 others involved in impenetrable night, and that 
 a third participated of both qualities. The spi- 
 rit by whom man is animated, descends origi* 
 nally from the enlightened region, to which, (if 
 it should merit the reward by adequate service ;) 
 it is permitted at the instant of its separation 
 from the body to return. Otherwise it is re- 
 ceived according to the degree of its demerit 
 into the middle region, or is cast into that of 
 darkness*. On this account, no precept was 
 enforced with greater energy by those teachers 
 of wisdom, than that which enjoins watchfulness 
 against contamination arising from the union of 
 mind with body. They represented the latter, 
 which is gross, mortal, and corruptible, as an 
 mcumbrance to the operation of the pure spirit ; 
 and the indulgence of its appetites, as termi- 
 nating in final destruction : figured in the high 
 eastern stile, by a translation to the horrible 
 abode of necessity -f . 
 
 Although the body of man, consisting of im- 
 purities collected from the four elements, is itself 
 of no estimation, yet when it is considered as 
 the habitation of an intelligent spirit, (which 
 
 * Plethon. Expos. Oractil. Magtcor. p. 81. 
 *t* EXW 
 Id. p. $2 
 
 those
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 those philosophers denominated a spark of fire 
 emitted from the Deity*;) we should err in 
 neglecting to pay proper attention to it : for the 
 purpose of its divine inhabitant is to purify it 
 gradually from every pollution, and to ascend in 
 it at last, as in a fiery vehicle, to the place from 
 which it came. In this account of the animal 
 nature of man, refined and purified by the spirit, 
 with which it mounts to the higher regions, it 
 will appear afterwards, that the Chaldeans 
 differ from the Greeks who considered the former 
 as mortal. I mention this tenet, however, as 
 containing a sublime, and perhaps an appro- 
 priated idea of the nature and influence of pure 
 spirit upon the mansion which it has occupied, 
 It brings before the mind the picturesque de- 
 scription of the ascent of Elijah by the inspired 
 historian " Behold,, there appeared a chariot 
 of fire, and horses of fire. And Elijah went up 
 by a whirl-wind into heaven -j*." 
 
 We have already seen that Anaxagoras was 
 the first of ancient philosophers, (according to 
 the testimony of some writers j) who introduced 
 mind into the universe. In his system, animals 
 
 f 2 Kings, chap. ii. v. u. 
 
 were
 
 were produced by the combination of humidity, 
 heat, and earth, or matter, coalescing into dif- 
 ferent forms, and constituting after this manner 
 the various species of creatures, who afterwards 
 generated each other *. A Mind, or Supreme 
 Architect, over-ruled in his theory the whole 
 procedure; and after having communicated these 
 qualities to the elements, superintended the 
 production of beings endowed with life, whom 
 he adapted to their different spheres of opera- 
 tion. The intelligent reader will perceive, that 
 this scheme is founded upon that of Thales, 
 which has been explained at some length. It 
 contains, however, a considerable improvement 
 of the hypothesis of that philosopher, and pre- 
 sents to imagination the spirit, who in the su- 
 blime language of the Bard of Paradise, 
 
 Dove-like sat brooding on the vast abyss, 
 And made it pregnant. 
 
 It ought to be remarked, that this philoso- 
 pher who accounts, as we have seen, for the origin 
 of body, is said to have entertained a very false 
 and inadequate idea of the human soul, which 
 he confounded with the animal, or sensitive 
 spirit -J- . His scheme therefore in this point 
 appears to have been essentially defective. 
 
 As 
 
 * Laert. Anaxag. 1. a. 
 
 t Aristotle animadverts, with great justice and propriety, 
 
 on
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 As Anaxagoras, in the preceding passage* 
 seems to have improved the system of Thales, a 
 sect of oriental philosophers, whose principles 
 are recorded by Maimonides, have made a similar 
 amendment on that of Epicurus. The atoms, 
 of which the fortuitous concourse framed the uni- 
 verse in the judgment of the latter* in that of 
 the former were created and animated by the 
 Supreme Being, Each particle also of those 
 ivhich compose the human form, has existence 
 according to their opinion. They maintain dif- 
 ferent notions concerning the nature of the soul, 
 and its place of residence. Some taught, that 
 of the many atoms by whose coalition the human 
 body is Constituted, the spirit informs some 
 single particle or substance : and that the whole 
 mass is said to be animated, in consequence of 
 the existence that is imparted to that portion of* 
 it. Others, on the contrary, believed, that the 
 
 on this error of Anaxagoras* ttoXAox*? TO mov ra *.aXug x 
 
 G^9w> TOV NOYN \tyu~ Tspw9s os TOV Noi/x wvat TW WI/TOV m Yyp^i?, tn 
 lt'Grc^ yu,f> VTroifXM f TO*J o? x ^nyaAof,-, y.ou ^uxpoj, &C. The 
 
 remark of our acute critic on this doctrine is, that the soul 
 Considered as comprehending intellect, far from being in all 
 animals, is not even in all men. On Qounrcu St o yt n*r* 
 
 Oper. v. i. p. 619. Perhaps the reader 
 will judge that the last words of this sentence are written in 
 the character of a satyrist, and are rather witty than philo- 
 sophicully true. 
 
 H soul
 
 soul consists of many subtle intermixtures, pos- 
 sessing some accident whereby existence is com- 
 municated to these, and is consubstantiated with 
 the body *. 
 
 We may observe in general concerning these, 
 and other theories on the same subject that 
 might be enumerated, that while their authors 
 consider the mind as a substance distinct from 
 the body, wherewith it i? said to be united, they 
 fail in distinguishing its powers of perception, 
 reason, intelligence, &c. as indicating a divine 
 original, from the passions and grosser appetites 
 which arise from its union with matter. The 
 reader will not receive much information in 
 knowing, that Aristotle gave to the mind, which 
 he defined to be a fifth nature or element, dis- 
 tinct from all others, the appellation EmX;ci, 
 as expressive of its perfection, or, according to 
 Cicero, of its immense activity + ; that by 
 Zeno, it was termed fire J, that its seat was by 
 some philosophers supposed to be the heart , 
 by others the brain ; and in investigating hype- 
 theses of similar import. Without therefore 
 enlarging farther on this branch of my subject, 
 
 * De More Nevoch. c. Ixxiii. p. 152, &c. 
 f Arist. de Anima, 1. i. c. 2. Laert. 1. v. p. 322. Cicer. 
 Oper. v. iv. p. 355. 
 
 t Id. ibid. Id. ibid. 
 
 I pro-
 
 ( $9 ) 
 
 t proceed to explain the doctrine of Pythagoras 
 on the present point, as being immediately in* 
 troductory to that of Plato. 
 
 The soul of man, according to the Pythago 
 rean notions, consists of four principles, or fa* 
 culties : mind, science or intelligence, opinion, 
 sense. In one or other of those intellectual 
 powers, all arts and sciences have their original. 
 The mind is a monad* or is essentially one, as 
 we may perceive by all its operations. This 
 truth will be obvious, if we reflect that whatever 
 the mind discerns, it discerns as having unity. 
 Thus sense is employed in taking cognisance of 
 a multitude of men, of whom we cannot com- 
 pute the number. But the mind forms, in con- 
 templating this multitude, the simple idea of 
 wrtw, to which nothing is similar. Judging in 
 the same manner concerning all other animals, 
 it discovers the radical quality, or character, 
 whereby the kind is distinguished, and defines 
 the species by that predominant disposition. 
 Thus man is a reasoning^ a horse, a neighing 
 animal, &c. We denominate therefore that in- 
 telligent principle one, with strict propriety, 
 which perceives at all times unity in the objects 
 of which it judges of the properties, or investi- 
 gates the nature *. 
 
 1 The oiiginal, which is too long to be inserted here, is 
 in Plutarch DC Plach. Philos. Oper. v. ii. p. 876. 
 
 H 2 It
 
 It cfught farther to be remarked, that we arc 
 made sensible by reflection, that man possesses, 
 with the faculty of reason, whereby he is distin- 
 guished from all other animals ; sense and pas- 
 sions, which he shares in common with them. 
 Intellect is characteristical of man properly so 
 called. It is not less discriminated from the 
 passions and grosser appetites by its place of re- 
 sidence, than by its operations. While those 
 have their seat in the heart, which they agitate 
 at pleasure, this ruiing faculty occupies the 
 head, or superior part of the body, wherein it 
 controlesand regulates the subordinate members. 
 Finally, while those corporeal qualities which 
 man possesses in common with other animals, 
 are'extinguished at death ; this emanation of 
 the Deity, by which he is essentially constituted, 
 is invisible and immortal *. The veins, nerves, 
 and arteries of the body, may be denominated 
 the chains which retain this inhabitant -during 
 a season in captivity -f. But, at the instant 
 when these are broken, it reascends to the ele- 
 ment of air, wherein it expatiates at freedom ; 
 retaining the human form which it formerly pos- 
 sessed ;};. 
 
 9avT0x' TK o; AotTa Surra. 
 e *va* rrjj ftipis, Tac ^X'ea; xa* 7a; urSiz;, r.zi Tot 
 
 $ Aioyfc'c, KOU TO. tfyoc,. 
 
 J Ey.yiE8s!Ta.v $t .urr/v 7T yf, 
 
 r. Laert. Lib. viii. p. 586. 
 
 These
 
 These outlines of the Pythagorean doctrine, 
 concerning the formation and constituent prin- 
 ciples of man, naturally introduce the Platonic 
 account of this important subject, the various 
 parts of which come now successively to be re- 
 viewed. 
 
 Man is compounded, according to Plato, of 
 three parts ; the NOTTS or mind, the intelligent 
 spirit, the sensitive soul or YU^JJ, and the Sw^u* or 
 body the receptacle of both. This division 
 (which is evidently that of the apostle St. Paul, 
 i Thessal. v. 23.) is founded in observations on 
 human nature, of which reflection will enable us 
 to comprehend the truth and propriety. 
 
 When we consider that microcosm, (as Plato 
 calls it,) the human mind, and attempt to ana- 
 lize its various qualities, operations that origi- 
 nate in this diversity are presented to us, which 
 are not without difficulty reconciled. A view of 
 this nature will serve to convince a rational in- 
 quirer, that reason and the passions are so oppo- 
 site to each other, the tendency of the latter 
 being at all times that of obstructing the in- 
 fluence of the former, that philosophers were 
 naturally led to consider each as having a distinct 
 original. They observed in following out this 
 idea, that the intellect acting at liberty, and 
 H 3 rcgii-
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 regulating the motions of subordinate propen- 
 sities, is no improper image of the Supreme 
 Mind, animating the parts and directing the go- 
 vernment of the universe : those sensibilities, on 
 the other hand, whereby the animal spirits are 
 disturbed and agitated, they judged to be in- 
 separably connected with corporeal substance, 
 wherewith it hath the same original and disso- 
 lution. Hence arose the celebrated distinction, 
 so familiar to Micient philosophers, of a rational 
 and sensitive soul. A particular account of the 
 former is at this time unnecessary, as I shall treat 
 of it at large in the succeeding sections. A few 
 general remarks it is hoover proper to intro- 
 duce. 
 
 The intelligent spirit of man is not derived, 
 according to our author, from the parent, but 
 pre-existed in its animation of a corporeal form in 
 a state of happiness with beings of superior or- 
 der*. This spirit participates of the nature 
 of God -}"> to whom it returns at the instant of 
 its separation from the body j, unless it be pol- 
 luted wiih crimes which render its purification 
 indispensibly necessary. In this case, it either 
 passes into different forms according to the na- 
 
 * P. 1008, 1073, and Phed. pass. 
 
 "f- ZuyyEVJij TU Siu KM avQot,)/a,TU x.a.1 uu ovn. De Repub. lib. X. 
 
 and p. 837. J P. 1148. 
 
 ture
 
 ture and tendency of its actions *, or suffers 
 through all time' the punishment of atrocious 
 wickedness, terminating in final impenitence, in a 
 place prepared for that purpose -)-. Finally, this 
 spirit is always distinguished by Plato, as we have 
 seen that it was by Pythagoras, from the ani- 
 mal or sensitive principle, as being nobler and 
 more excellent |. It is with this purpose some- 
 ' times termed Stiov, divine, by the former, and 
 sometimes H^OU/A^OI/, the ruling or governing spi- 
 rit, in order to denote its power and efficacy , 
 
 As the rational soul is thus the seat of under; 
 standing, so the animal or sensitive part of man 
 contains those irregular desires and that concu- 
 piscence which we share in common with inferior 
 creatures |j. This being, denominated TO S-UJTOK 
 or mortal, is compounded of elementary sub- 
 
 * P. 1054, 765, 1223, &c. 
 
 -f- The words of Plato are ^raw^owaj TOT a;i xpiwoy, p. 358. 
 The periphrasis whereby the duration of punishment is 
 here described, does not immediately imply eternity, to 
 signify which he would have -used the term ai&ovny, or CUUKV. 
 In the text theiefore, I adopt the same, that, in my opinion, 
 most obvious, as being that of our author, although I differ 
 from his commentators, and particularly from Dacicr in this 
 matter. 
 
 Plut. v. ii. p. 943. Cicr. and Laert. ubi supra Aristot. 
 de Anim. lib. i. c. 2. 
 
 $ Plat. p. 1054. || Laert. Plat. p. 240. 
 
 H 4 stances,
 
 stances, but has neither the same original, dig- 
 nity, character, or duration, as that which is an 
 image of the Creator. Upon the whole, there- 
 fore, it is considered as the vehicle or medium 
 whereby spirit is united to grosser matter. In 
 this respect also the sensitive soul of man has 
 the advantage of mere animal nature, that its 
 coalescence with intellect in the human species 
 renders those actions properly virtuous which in 
 brutes result from instinctive propensity, with- 
 out knowledge of circumstance, or apprehension 
 of danger. Thus the same impulse of propensity, 
 which in a lion, or a bear, is termed brutal fero- 
 city ; takes in a man, the nobler designation of 
 intrepidity or fortitude ; in consequnce of that 
 sagacity, whereby, as a rational agent, it ia sup-^ 
 posed that his actions are directed. 
 
 Thus distinguished in its nature from the 
 purer intelligence, the animal part of man is not 
 less distinct from the former, in its original. 
 An account of the doctrine of Plato on this 
 subject, will lead us into an examination of the 
 boldest and most ingenious of all his theological 
 tenets. 
 
 Among other new theories that are opened in 
 the Timasus, one particularly respects the 
 
 creation
 
 ( '05 ) 
 
 creation of Deities, who are said to be of an in- 
 ferior order, though they were worshipped by 
 heathen nations as having Supreme authority, 
 and dominion. These are Jupiter, Juno, Rhasa, 
 and the whole tribe of Pagan divinities, who 
 received existence, according to our author, 
 from one Supreme Mind, for certain purposes 
 which he enumerates ; of these, one of the 
 principal is, their partial interference in the 
 creation of man. 
 
 The TO EN, the great Creator, after having 
 called into existence the beings above mentioned, 
 acquaints them of his purpose to make a creature, 
 who would be rendered immortal by the practice 
 of virtue, and might be termed divine. He 
 observes, that if all the powers which would 
 meet in this production, should come from 
 himself, those who possessed them would be 
 equal with the Gods. " To you therefore, he says, 
 (addressing the inferior Deities,) I consign 
 the part of adding a mortal to the immortal 
 spirit which will proceed from myself.'* Having 
 thus spoken, he proceeded to create the inhabi- 
 tants of the stars, and planetary orbs, of the same 
 substance and materials as had been used in 
 constituting the Anima Mundi. These, after 
 having occupied the material forms prepared for 
 their reception by the younger offspring of hea- 
 ven,
 
 ( 106 } 
 
 ven, were dismissed to different places of resi- 
 dence. The human race consists of two sexes, 
 of the principal of which, the term man in its 
 most limited acceptation, is characteristical. 
 This workmanship of omnipotence, has, accor- 
 ding to our author, two souls, or intelligent 
 principles. Of these, one proceeding imme- 
 diately from the first mover, is pure as his own 
 essence, and is framed as the celestial Beings, 
 for immortality. Into the latter, which is mortal, 
 the passions enter and appetites that are inimi- 
 cal to happiness. 
 
 Having gone thus far, God willed that the 
 rational and sensitive spirit, so different from 
 each other in their nature should be placed apart. 
 He therefore constituted the head to be the 
 seat of intellect, where the divine inhabitant 
 remains uncontaminated by its communication^ 
 with sordid appetites. The animal substance, 
 the work of subordinate Deities, was placed by 
 them in the breast and heart, the seat of the 
 passions and desires. The operation of spirits 
 thus distinct, exerted in complicated senses, 
 and exciting alternate contempt, and admiration, 
 constitutes all that variety of character occa- 
 sioned by the collision of opposite and inde- 
 pendant qualities, which we include under the 
 simple, but comprehensive epithet MAN. 
 
 J have
 
 I have thus endeavoured to lay before the 
 reader, the principal of those many hypotheses, 
 whereby the wisdom of the ancients attempted 
 to account for phenomena, of the nature and 
 cause of which the mind is at ail times solicitous 
 to receive information. Every intelligent reader 
 will, no doubt, be ready to remark, the relation 
 which the scheme of Plato in the latter instance 
 bears to thaj: of Pythagoras. Resemblances qf 
 a similar nature will be found in all the branches 
 of our author's theology. The tenets however of 
 the Samian sage, improved and embellished, 
 by the splendid imagination of his illustrious 
 successor, are seen to the greatest advantage 
 by the dress wherein they are clothed, and by 
 the principles with which they are united ; and 
 the consonancy of those eminent philosophers 
 in their ideas, will at all times establish a pre- 
 possession in favour of the truth of doctrines that 
 are at the same time consistent with those of 
 revelation. 
 
 To the reader, who after having followed our 
 author through so many intricate disquisitions, 
 may find relief in contemplating even a feeble 
 imitation of his manner, I would observe, that 
 a view of the Platonic universe, peopled with 
 innumerable inhabitants, suggests the idea of an 
 hive, occupied by a busy community, and re- 
 plete
 
 plete with a treasure collected from all quarter's. 
 In this comparison, if we consider the exterior 
 frame of the cell surrounding and protecting the 
 insect tribes, as an image of that immense cir- 
 cumference whereby the globe is invested, the 
 ideas that live in the Divine Mind, and pour in 
 uninterrupted succession in all parts of its work- 
 manship will, be figured by the swarm, that 
 bursting from multiplied compartments, settle 
 promiscuously on objects, of which they extract 
 the essence, and exhibit the patterns : the queen 
 of these tribes, the soul as she may be termed 
 of the whole body, whose influence extends to 
 all parts of her dominion, is no inadequate em- 
 blem of the vital spirit, the Anima Mundi, who 
 fills and agitates the frame of the world : in 
 fine, the honey dropping on all sides into the 
 combs wherewith the hive is replenished, repre- 
 sents not improperly in this group of resem- 
 blances, the instructive nature of the Platonic 
 philosophy, and the sweetness of those periods 
 wherein its maxims are conveyed. 
 
 SECT,
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 THEORIES OF THE ANCIENTS, AND PARTICU- 
 LARLY OF PLATO, CONCERNING THE ORI- 
 GIN OF EVIL, AND ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 f^ROM the various prospects of the world,, 
 and its inhabitants, that have been offered 
 to observation in the preceding pages, our atten- 
 tion is now called in following out the present 
 subject, to points, in the contemplation of which 
 rational beings have exercised at all times the 
 powers of understanding. Of these, complex 
 and multiplied as they are, we may venture to 
 affirm, that no doctrine whatever has been more 
 universally investigated by men of speculation, 
 than that of which I propose to treat in this sec- 
 tion ; a circumstance, which the nature of the 
 subject will prevent us from considering as ex- 
 traordinary. 
 
 Admiration of the great Author of Nature, 
 and an high sense of his perfections, were suc- 
 ceeded in the minds of the first men by inquiries 
 that related immediately to their own particular 
 circumstances and situation. As soon as their 
 thoughts were turned into this channel from their 
 original objects, they felt that emotions excited
 
 ( no ) 
 
 in the heart by love and reverence of the Supreme 
 Mind, were checked almost as soon as they 
 arose, by the reflection that evil had crept by 
 some strange and unaccountable accident into 
 the grand and masterly faBric of the universe, 
 and by having marked the ruin and devastation, 
 that are attendant on her progress. A conse- 
 quence arising naturally from the consideration 
 of these defects was, that men of discernment 
 began to speculate concerning the causes for 
 which they were permitted to take place, and to 
 inquire whether this phenomenon in the work* 
 manship of the Deity could be accounted for 
 without being led to him as its original. Hence 
 it happened that a question, which the sages of 
 the first as well as of later, ages, have been em- 
 ployed at all times in resolving to satisfaction, i$ 
 that which relates to the origin of evil. 
 
 Of the various hypotheses whereby men who 
 were unacquainted with the doctrines of revela- 
 tion, have endeavoured to solve the difficulties 
 of this inquiry, the three following appear to me 
 as those that principally merit attention. These 
 are, the scheme of Zoroaster, the celebrated 
 author of the good and evil principle ; that of 
 Chrysippus, who inculcated the doctrine of fate 
 or necessity j and the theory of our author, 
 which, as I shall afterwards endeavour to evince, 
 
 is
 
 { I" ) 
 
 is different from both. The remarks of other 
 philosophers, who delight in cavilling at the 
 present dispensation of things without attempting 
 to vindicate its author, will naturally fall into 
 our examination. 
 
 i. The first view of this subject carries our 
 eyes towards the east, where we see Zoroaster 
 instructing the Persians at a very early period of 
 society *, in the knowledge of Zedydan and 
 Ahriman, or according to the Greek pronuncia- 
 
 *' It is not my present business to ascertain the time at 
 which Zoroaster or Zerdust, the legislator and teacher of 
 oriental nations, promulgated his doctrines. There would 
 indeed be some difficulty in accomplishing this purpose, as 
 authors differ widely from each other in their accounts of 
 Zoroaster. Thus, while according to one historian, he was 
 contemporary with Ninus, king of Assyria ; he is said by 
 another to have lived under Darius Hystaspes : and in the 
 same spirit, five hundred and five thousand years, before the 
 Trojan war, have been assigned as the period at which he 
 flourished. Justin, lib. i. Ammian. Marcellin. lib. x:dii, 
 Plin. lib. xxx. cap. i. Plutarch, de Isid. and Osiris. I 
 know no method of reconciling these relations, unless we 
 believe that they refer to different persons. All authors 
 however agree in ascribing the invention of magic to a man 
 who bore the name of Zoroaster, whom they also consider 
 as the first author of that ^scheme of the origin of evil, 
 which, under the appellation of the manichean hypothesis, 
 has been explained and supported^ as containing the only 
 rational account of this phcenomenon. 
 
 tion,
 
 ( H2 ) 
 
 tion, of Oromages and Arimanius, the two great 
 causes of good and evil. Our oriental philoso* 
 pher taught, in that stile of personification, 
 which was most acceptable to his countrymen j 
 that Oromages, who was himself the offspring of 
 the pureft light, created six inferior deities, who 
 were distinguished by the characters of benevo- 
 lence, truth, equity, wisdom, &cc. as beings who 
 participated of his nature, and would render his 
 influence universal*. He ascended afterwards 
 into the superior regions, peopled the heavens 
 with constellations, and inclosed (says our author 
 in a beautiful stile of imagery) many other di- 
 vinities in an egg, which was afterwards broken 
 and contaminated by the evil offspring of Ari- 
 manius. 
 
 This malignant principle, the natural enemy of 
 the source of rectitude and benevolence, employ- 
 ed that creative energy which he also possessed 
 in the production of intelligences who were hostile 
 to Oromages and his followers. Arimanius sprung 
 originally from darkness. He and his offspring, 
 having broken the egg of Oromages, mixed 
 among those purer spirits who were placed in it, 
 and spreading with them in common over the 
 world, obstructed at all times and marred their 
 operations. Hence, good and evil, right an4 
 
 * Plutarch, de Isid. and Osirid. 
 
 wrong,
 
 wrong, appear to be blended promiscuously in the 
 constitution and government of the universe. A 
 period however will come, at which Arimanius 
 and his followers will be finally exterminated , 
 when the earth also, divested of the mountains 
 that roughen its surface, will be the habitation of 
 happy men^ the members of one great commu* 
 nity, speaking the same language, and animated 
 by the same vital and universal principle. * 
 
 Between those powers, who are perpetually at 
 variance, Zoroaster placed a mediatory being, 
 named Mithra, and by the Persians, Mesites, who 
 appears to have executed the same office as the 
 goddess Appovnx, of the Chaldeans, and somewhat 
 similar to that of Hermes, the AJ**TO/>O?, or inter- 
 mediate messenger of the Greeks -f . 
 
 Such are the outlines of that celebrated doc- 
 trine, wherein modern philosophers of great emi- 
 nence have pretended to find the only rational ac- 
 count of the origin of evil. 
 
 When we consider the scheme of a good and 
 evil principle, apart from the fabulous circum- 
 
 * Plutarch, vol. ii. p. 370. As a confirmation that this 
 was the doctrine of Zoroaster, we may observe that it cor- 
 /esponds to the strain of an Arabian author, whose account 
 is quoted at large by Dr. Hyde in his work De Religion. 
 Vet. Fersar. c. 22. 
 
 t Ihad, lib. xxiv. 
 
 I stances
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 stances that embellish the narration, its antiquity, 
 as having originated among a simple race of men 
 at an early period of society, establishes a fa- 
 vourable prepossession of its truth, as being con- 
 genial (if we may thus express it) to the mind, 
 and suggested spontaneously by the first view of 
 the subject. A minute examination of this well- 
 known hypothesis would lead me from the pro- 
 fessed purpose of this essay, which is to explain 
 the theories of ancient theologians, without in- 
 vestigating at all times their nature or opposing 
 their evidence. I observe therefore only at pre- 
 sent, that men in general, and particularly that 
 good men, will find an insuperable objection to 
 jhe theory of Zoroaster and his followers, in the 
 difficulty, if not impossibility, of conceiving an 
 idea of a being of perfect pravity, whose pleasure 
 arises solely from the production of evil, and 
 whose highest enjoyment lies in the contempla- 
 tion of misery. I consider as one of the best 
 proofs, that there is a principle of benevolence 
 and rectitude in man, and ihat the good tenden- 
 cies of his nature surpass their contraries ; that 
 although his mind readily admits the idea of per- 
 fect excellence, it is invincibly repugnant to its 
 opposite. Some latent spark of commiseration, 
 some native propensity that is allied to virtue, 
 are ingredients of every character whereof he ex- 
 hibits a representation, or even forms a conception. 
 
 Hence
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 Hence Arimanbs, as a malevolent being, in 
 whom evil dispositions at all times predominate, 
 and are exerted to the injury of mankind, may 
 be supposed to have existence, while as an intel- 
 ligence, whose thoughts are wholly occupied in 
 effecting mischief, and in whose mind order and 
 harmony are alone the objects that produce dis- 
 quietude, we may venture to affirm, that he had 
 no fixed establishment even in the opinion of 
 philosophers who hold him up to observation * 
 
 But to whatever objections this doctrine may 
 justly give occasion, we may yet say with truth 
 that it was originally framed with the purpose of 
 
 * Some readers will find a striking evidence of the truth 
 of this remark in the SATAN of Milton, as it is displayed 
 in various points of view to our observance in his divine 
 poem. Our great poet was sensible, that in order to interest 
 his readers in the fate and actions of this personage it was 
 necessary that the native malignity and pravity of the Author 
 rf Evil should be checqucred with qualities' that excite ad- 
 miration. Hence, even in attempting to accomplish the 
 ruiu of mankind, unshaken fortitude, invincible courage, 
 adherence to his ultimate purpose in circumstances the most 
 hopeless and desperate, and even pity for the innocence 
 which he is about to violate, are throwa with exquifite dis- 
 cernment into his character. In this various and interesting 
 * rmblage we find that attention is kept constantly awake, 
 and that pa<sions are involuntarily and povferfully excited, 
 which, in the contemplation of a being furt'j evil, wouldhave 
 yielded co 'apathy or been ibsoibej in detestation. 
 
 I 2 vin-
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 vindicating God from the charge of being the 
 author of sin. In this respect, the plan of our 
 oriental philosopher has the advantage of that of 
 Epicurus, who states in very clear and forcible 
 terms, the argument against the moral perfec- 
 tions of the Deity arising from the introduction 
 of evil, as his words are quoted by Lactantius*. 
 Instead of attempting to substitute a better 
 scheme in place of that which he endeavours to 
 subvert, this philosopher leaves us no other re- 
 source, than that of denying the superintendency 
 of Providence over a world, in the government 
 of which, neither wisdom nor justice are conspi- 
 cuous. All these ends are accomplished with 
 great facility by Epicurus, who seems to have 
 been endowed for this purpose with an eye that 
 wandered over the universe, without marking 
 the traces of design in its formation, and with 
 appetites to which he accommodated his divini- 
 ties, that they might not obtrude reflection 
 upon his hours of enjoyment, or overshadow his 
 prospects by unwelcome anticipation. 
 
 The doctrine of the Chaldeans on this subject, 
 as it is laid down by Plutarch, is evidently 
 founded upon that of Zoroaster. They be- 
 lieved, that of the planets, whom they denomi- 
 
 . * Lactan- DC Iva Dei. 
 
 natcd
 
 ( II? ) 
 
 nated Gods, two were employed in good ofhccs, 
 two in evil occupations, and that three were of 
 a middle order, participating of the nature of 
 both. To the same source we may trace the re- 
 ceived opinion of the Greeks, who ascribed, as 
 our author observes, the good that takes place 
 in the world to Olympian Jupiter, and the evil 
 to infernal * Pluto. These correspond to Oro- 
 mages and Arimanius, in the same manner as we 
 have already seen, that the goddess Appovict, 
 Harmony, coincides with Mithra, the interme- 
 diate divinity of our oriental philosopher, whom 
 she resembles also in her office and department. 
 This being was said to have sprung from Mars 
 and Venus ; of whom the former is cruel and 
 contentious, the latter mild and genial. By 
 partaking therefore of the qualities of both, she 
 was peculiarly fitted for the middle station which 
 she was said to have occupied. 
 
 2. Hitherto, however inadequate the scheme 
 which we have mentioned may be to its ultimate 
 purpose, we cannot accuse the philosophers who 
 support it, of maintaining dogmas that are in- 
 consistent and contradictory. The doctrine of 
 
 * The Greek term is a-rrcpTouQ AJou, a term that is applied 
 to express the difficulty of egress from the dominions of 
 Pluto, and cannot be translated as an epithet applied to the 
 God. 
 
 13 a good
 
 a good and an evil principle is an uniform tenet, 
 of which the nature and tendency may be under- 
 stood without difficulty. But, with the opinion 
 of stoical philosophers on thissubject, the matter 
 is greatly different. Their notions of the origin 
 of evil are, at the same t ; me, so inconclusive 
 and undetermined, so various and incongruous 
 with each other, that the celebrity of the founders 
 is the principal cause for which. we bring their 
 tenets into one point of view, as without these 
 many readers might think that we had not done 
 justice to the subject. That I may not therefore 
 omit any theory on this head, that is or may be 
 judged to be material, I lay down the following 
 propositions, as comprehending whatever authors 
 *of this tribe have advanced on this interesting 
 (doctrine. 
 
 i . These philosophers agree in acknowledging, 
 that one Supreme Being (to whom however they 
 apply different designations,) presides in ' the 
 universe, whereof every part is animated by hi- 
 influence*. 
 
 Deum nr.mquc irr per omnes 
 
 Terrasque fractusque mam, ccelumque profundum 
 Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum, 
 Quemque sibi tenues nnscentem arcessere vitam. 
 
 Virgii. 
 
 * Ev TO wcu 9:o-/ xxi N/v, MU (uxf^nw, xo Aia, 7ro2xi; fi 
 
 vri^a; (M/UKCT* $ vfccroiopix, Qv^cH. Position, ap. Deogon, Laert. 
 Zenon. Lib. vii. p. 520. 
 
 2. To
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 L. To this Being ihey gave the appellation 
 fate, destiny, necessity, in order to evince the 
 truth of their great tenet, that all things whatever 
 originate in him, upon whom they have fixed an 
 unalterable dependence. Thus Chrysippus, ac- 
 cording to Cicero, denominated God the necessity 
 of future events * ; and Seneca applies to him the 
 term fate, as being expressive of the great cause 
 or principle to which all events are suspended -j~. 
 Fate, in the judgment of the former philosopher, 
 is the epithet whereby we express an eternal suc- 
 cession and revolution of things involving each 
 other in an uninterrupted series ;. To this series 
 it is that the poets allude in mentioning the Pare* 
 or destinies, the daughters, as Plato calls them, 
 of necessity , whom they sometimes confound 
 with that fate of whom they are said to be the 
 ministers. 
 
 3. From this account of the first cause, it fol- 
 lows, that the evil which we observe to take place 
 
 * Chrysippus Deum dicit esse fataletn umbram, & '- 
 fcnitatem rerum futurarum. De Natur. Deun. Lib. i. 
 cap. 15. 
 
 f Vis ilium FATUM vocare ? Non errabis. Hie est x 
 quo suspensi sunt omnia. Natur. Quest. Lib. ii. cap. 45. 
 
 J Fatum inquit Chrysippus, est sempitcrna qmtJ.un & 
 indeclinabilis series rerum et catena, volvens semetipsa sese, 
 -et implicans per aeternos consequents ordines, ex quibus 
 apta connexaque est. Aul. Cell. Lib. vi. cap. 2. 
 
 De Repub. Lib. x. 
 
 I 4 Ml
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 in the world, must^be traced up to him as its ori- 
 ginal $ otherwise, with -what propriety can it be 
 said, that all things are suspended under him as 
 the links of a chain that terminates at the hand by 
 which it was framed, and is supported*? It is 
 idle to distinguish with stoical philosophers, be- 
 tween causes that are perfect and principal, and 
 those that are assisting and approximate in the 
 production of this effect; or to say that the laws 
 of necessity operate upon the mind according to 
 its qualities and information -f- : for the decree 
 whereby the actions of an individual arc neces- 
 sarily regulated, must extend to the wholf spe^ 
 cies. He therefore who affirms that any distinc- 
 tion is made by the Author of Nature between a, 
 well and an ill-informed understanding, charges 
 him with weakness and injustice j weakness, in 
 
 * This consequence of the scheme of Chrysippus is urged 
 with great force by the author above quoted, Si Chrysippus 
 Fato putat omnia monere, et regi, nee declinari transcencTt- 
 que posse agmina Fati, & volumina; peccata quoque ho- 
 minum et delicta^ non sustentanda neque condiceuda sunt 
 ipsis voluntatibus eorum ; sed Necessitati cuidam, et in- 
 stanttz qua oritura FATO per quam necesse sit fieri quic- 
 quid futurum est. Aul. Cell, ubi supra. 
 
 f Quanquam ita sit, inquit Chrysippus, ut ratione qua- 
 darn principal! necessario coacta atque connexa sunt omnia 
 fato, ingenia tamen ipsa mentium nostrarum proinde sunt 
 fato obnoxia, utpropnetas eorum est ipsa, et qualitas : nam 
 si sint per naturam salubriter utiliterque ficta, omnem illam 
 vim quae de fato extrimecus ingruit inoffensius tractabilius- 
 que tranimittunt, &c. Ibid. 
 
 per-
 
 ( I" ) 
 
 permitting that his decrees should be influenced 
 at any time by the purpose to which qualities 
 may be applied that were conferred originally by 
 himself j and injustice, in making a distinction 
 that is founded in partiality, and is subversive of 
 the rights of mankind. 
 
 4. Gogd and evil, justice and injustice, were, 
 in the opinion of the Stoics, and indeed, as we 
 shall see afterwards, in the judgment of Plato 
 himself, self-existent and essential principles, of 
 which neither can subsist without its opposite. 
 Evil therefore was, in their estimation, thus far 
 subservient to the purpose of utility, that the 
 good which is blended with it in the universe, 
 may be said to exist in its contrary, whereof the 
 union is upon the whole beneficial *. Our ideas 
 of both, therefore, are always associated : and 
 as the thought of good excites at all times some 
 conception of the evil that is opposed to it, the 
 latter exists as indispensibly and immediately as 
 the former -f-. The absurdity of this doctrine is 
 exposed with much strength and propriety by 
 Plutarch, who observes, that according to it we 
 must believe, that at the period when God will 
 
 * H of y.a>ux ropoj TOI, \uv ffv/xTTTw/xara i%u X( m ' rVywi y 
 euny\ xctru. TO m,- $vs-i3j Kaym* Kat m; ot/rwj MTW x a^priarwj yvtrat 
 wfo$ rat oXa* cv^t yaj r'AyaSo* nv. Plutarch. Opcr. Vol. ii 
 p. 1065. 
 
 t Thaectet. p. 129. 
 
 reunite
 
 reunite all things in himself, and will finally 
 espel whatever is pernicious from the universe, 
 there will be no good in it, because there cannot 
 any longer be evil. He farther remarks, that 
 according to the same principle, we ought to pray 
 for the continuance of fraud, lying, hypocrisy, 
 and other similar vices in the world j because as 
 soon as these cease to operate in society, the op- 
 posite virtues must also be exterminated *. 
 
 T cannot dismiss this subject without observing, 
 tbat the followers of Chrysippus would have 
 found their account much more effectually in 
 maintaining, that the evils of life have their use 
 iu calling forth the manly virtues, resignation, 
 and fortitude into exercise, virtues that com- 
 mand the admiration of mankind, than in en- 
 deavouring to establish the absurd and unintelli- 
 gible maxim above mentioned, of which our 
 author has well explained the consequences. 
 The ills, as they are ^ermed, that take place in 
 <db world, answer the same purpose when con- 
 sidered in this poi-nt of view, as bitter or acid 
 ingredients mixed in a medicinal draught with 
 -more palatable materials, by improving at the 
 same time its qualities, and by rendering its ef- 
 . iicacy complete. 
 
 * I?lut. ubi *np. 
 
 5. Although,
 
 I "3 ) 
 
 5. Although we have seen that the Stoics made 
 use of a prosopopoeia in denoting the Supreme 
 Being by the term fate, or necessity j it is yet 
 certain that they considered Jupiter, the father 
 of the universe, as the only perfect and incor- 
 ruptible being ; the supreme governor, and dis- 
 poser of events. Of this ruling intelligence they 
 judged that matter is the corporeal frame, and 
 affirmed that its parts are obsequious to his will, 
 in the same manner as the various members of 
 the human form are spontaneously compliant to 
 the spirit that resides in it *. Now, as the 
 maLDtainers of these principles acknowledged at 
 the same time the existence and prevalence of 
 evil, it is obvious that this effect can be traced^ 
 according to their principles, to no other cause 
 than Jupiter himself. For it would, as Ph>- 
 tarcb observes, be grossly absurd to say, that 
 the world is an animal of which this Being is the 
 soul, and to deny at the same time that it is 
 subject to his will. We might say with equal 
 Iruth, that in the same animal the legs might 
 tnove the tongue to speak, and the horns strike 
 in opposition to that impulse whereby those 
 members are universally governed. If therefore 
 the parts of the universe be thus obsequious to 
 the will or influence of Jupiter as the spirit tha.t 
 presides in it, he must be accountable for their 
 
 * Plutarch, ubi sup. and p. 1075. 
 
 motions
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 motions and disposition, as well as for their con- 
 sequences ; and is thus, in the strictest sense of 
 that term, the author of evil. But this doctrine 
 the .author above mentioned justly reprobates, 
 as altogether unworthy the Supreme Intelli- 
 gence, in whom it is much better to say, that 
 power or knowledge is deficient, than to ascribe 
 to him *, with both in their greatest extent, all 
 the crimes that are committed in the world, and 
 the misery whereof they are the causes. 
 
 From the preceding account of the tenets of 
 this celebrated sect of philosophers on the pre- 
 sent important subject, it must be acknow- 
 ledged, that the charge of maintaining absurd 
 and inconsistent principles is proved against 
 them by incontestable evidence. God, in their 
 estimation, is at one time the fate or destiny, to 
 whose decrees at another he is said to be subr 
 jected -f . He is in the same, manner the greatest 
 and best Being, who will finally exterminate 
 evil from his workmanship J, This evil which 
 subsists necessarily as being opposite to good, 
 may yet be abolished ; while that which is con- 
 
 * Id. p. 1076. 
 
 f Necessitas et Deos alligat. Senec: Fieri igitur omnia 
 Fato, ratio coget fateri. Cicer. de Divinat. Lib. i. cap. 
 
 S5 
 
 | Plutarch, ubi sup, 
 
 trary
 
 trary to it, and exists by being contrary, will 
 continue to have influence * : finally, Jupiter, 
 who wills only what is good, is the soul of the 
 universe, by whose will all its parts are directed -f : 
 yet to this good being we must ascribe, accord- 
 ing to their hypothesis, all the evil, both physi- 
 cal and moral that prevails in the world ; unless 
 we should consider him as unable to regulate the 
 movements of a machine, wherein, as the ruling 
 spirit, he constantly operates. 
 
 Absurd and repugnant to each other as the 
 stoical dogmas on the doctrine of the origin of 
 evil, which have been enumerated, appear to be, 
 these are yet founded upon a principle, whereof 
 ancient and modern philosophers have equally 
 availed themselves in their examination of this 
 question, and have inculcated almost universally 
 in their writings. To the difficulty of recon- 
 ciling the establishments of necessity with that 
 freedom whereby they seem to be counteracted, 
 we must ascribe declarations that are apparently 
 opposite in the works of the ancients . Per- 
 haps 
 
 Id. ibid. 
 
 f* AUTOJ TW* xaxo:v Af%r,v AFA0ON or* TOV 9r rev<n' Ov yao 
 n yt iAi TO xaxox t| I*VTIJ TrafEj-^r.xtv, Plutarch 1076. 
 
 J Thus Plato himself, who so strenuously maintains, as 
 we have already seen, the superintendent/ of Providence, 
 yet assigns, in seeming opposition to this doctrine, the dis- 
 posal
 
 ( 126 ) 
 
 haps the best method of accounting for passages 
 of this import is to consider these in general as 
 relating in their first and ultimate sense to the 
 immutability of the divine nature and decrees, 
 of which the term Fate is particularly expres- 
 sive -, and in a secondary and subordinate accep- 
 tation, to the aspect of things according to our 
 imperfect and limited comprehension, wherein 
 chance and blind impulse appear to dispose of 
 them at pleasure. 
 
 I cannot more properly sum up the various 
 theories of ancient writers on the origin of evil, 
 
 posal of many occurences to chance and fortune. Sum-; pv 
 
 De J.egib. lib. x. Plutarch in the same spirit 
 adopts, in the following passage, the doctrine of Epicurus, 
 and censures both Plato and Anaxagoras, of whom he ap- 
 proves at all other times, even when defending contrary 
 principles, for differing from him in this instance in opinion. 
 v eti*.$vrif<x on TOV 9so ETronxrav E7riTTp5^0juvr/> rxv 
 Kfw TOV xo<7^ov Kot,Tourx.ivct, ovra. Oper. V. ii. 
 p. 88 1. In these words our author obviously defends the 
 dogma of Epicurus, whose Gods, residing constantly in 
 heaven, took no concern whatever in the business of man- 
 kind. These and many other examples of a similar nature 
 that might be produced, when considered as evidences of 
 human fallibility and imperfection, are incontestible proofs 
 of the necessity and use of revelation in opening a path 
 through the labyrinth wherein the greatest geniuses of an- 
 tiquity hast found thcmfciveb bewildered. 
 
 before
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 before entering into the Platonic doctrine, thau 
 in the words of Sallust the philosopher. Those 
 events, says he, which the power of God con- 
 ducts, beyond our expectation, towards a good 
 purpose, we ascribe (unjustly] to Fortune. Let 
 us not therefore wonder when we observe that 
 bad men prosper in life, and that the virtuous 
 :ire poor and depressed * j for riches have the 
 highest value in the judgment of the former, 
 and in that of the latter are of no estimation. 
 Prosperity cannot subdue in a bad man the pas- 
 sions that must render him miserable, and the 
 good find in the practice of virtue an adequate 
 and constant reward -\-. 
 
 3. In explaining the causes that are assigned 
 by Plato, as being adequate to the production of 
 evil, I must take leave of the philosopher whom 
 I have hitherto followed in his refutation of 
 Zeno and Epicurus ; as he appears to have erred 
 in detailing the principles of Plato on this sub- 
 ject, which he represents to coincide with those 
 
 * rioXXoi TO* 5rXtfTcn xaxw aySw 5s -K-M-.M. Hcsiod. 
 f H Tom,-* 7* ilisefof*) KM TK taxf s?.rJa yMpwx. rp; yafey 
 si-v, TTXH >o/x(^t^*. E*& xaxc* 
 c=. O< /usv ya^ Traura, a 
 -ran ^> xxk n f.TU^.w >. a? s^'Aw rn> 
 aya9w,- tj etpfn p*.w y.iffM, Df Dii$ Ct Mundo, Ap. OpUSC. 
 
 Mythol. p. 20, 
 
 Of
 
 ( 1*8 ) 
 
 of Zoroaster. On his judgment in this cise, it 
 is here proper to make some observations. 
 
 Plutarch, who seems himself to have favoured 
 this doctrine, wis no doubt ambitious of sup- 
 porting it by the authority of our great philoso- 
 pher. He produces with this purpose various 
 passages from his writings, but founds his charge 
 principally on one doctrine, of which we shall 
 examine the tenor. 
 
 Plato, after having related a fable concerning 
 an original revolution of the heavenly bodies, 
 very different from the present, in the dialogue 
 entitled Politicus, makes the following remark ; 
 " Although the world derives life and immorta- 
 lity from its great artificer, it may yet revolve, 
 when deprived of his influence, in a course op- 
 posite to that which was originally prescribed to 
 it, in consequence of the ungovernable dispo- 
 sition of the ruling spirit by whom it is agi- 
 tated *." To this spirit he gives, says Plutarch, 
 the name necessity, and ascribes to it that dis- 
 orderly motion which took place among the 
 parts of matter before the formation of the 
 world -f. According therefore to his commen- 
 tator, our author taught, that this being or spirit 
 
 Plat. p. 527. 
 
 t De Great. Anim. Oper. v.ii. p. 1014. 
 
 endea-
 
 endeavours at all times to re-establish the pri- 
 mary habit or tendency of those parts, and coun- 
 teracts in this manner the purpose of the wise 
 and good Creator of all things*. Here then, 
 two hostile and independent sovereigns appear 
 to preside in the universe ; and we cease to con- 
 template with astonishment the evils that pre- 
 vail in it, when they are considered as the effects 
 of a mighty contest between powers, whose cha- 
 racters are not more opposite than their influence 
 is universal. I make the following remarks, in 
 order to vindicate our author from the charge 
 that is here brought against him. 
 
 i. It must be obvious to any person who has 
 considered the preceding account of the dogmas 
 <t>f Plato, that he could not have adopted the 
 tenets of Zoroaster without lying open to the 
 imputation of inconsistence. An incontestable 
 proof of this truth was given in the various pas- 
 sages of his writings, that ascertain his belief of 
 the divine unity, to which the reader is referred 
 for satisfaction-)-. They who would render this 
 doctrine consistent with the notion of a good 
 and an evil principle, will find insuperable dif- 
 ficulty in proving, that a Being who is one (an 
 idea that excludes equality ;) can be success- 
 
 * Ibid. p. 1015, 
 t Sect. i. psss. 
 
 K fully
 
 ( 130 ) 
 
 fully opposed by a spirit of inferior order, whose 
 purposes, the intelligence must be limited that 
 does not detect, and the power circumscribed, 
 that is not adequate to restrain. Plato there- 
 fore, who considers both as being -perfectly united 
 in one object, cannot maintain the opinion which 
 Plutarch ascribes to him, consistently with truths 
 which we have seen that he inculcates. 
 
 2. The words which this philosopher quotes 
 from the writings of our author with the present 
 purpose, do not justify the conclusion which he 
 draws from them. For, although it be true that 
 Plato represents the order of nature as being 
 disturbed by the motions of a perverse and un- 
 quiet spirit, yet he attributes this perturbation 
 to the absence of the A/*oiipyo?, or Creator ; 
 and he describes the period of his absence, as 
 being marked by an unnatural revolution of the 
 heavenly bodies*, and by the miseries that arise 
 from it *. 
 
 3. Plutarch has either omitted to mention 
 through inadvertency, or has wilfully overlooked 
 a passage of the same dialogue, that is wholly 
 opposite to the doctrine of Zoroaster. " Let 
 
 * Tow fcrayrof 6 [tvi Kti&pyrmij v r5')aAy wanoj a^s^svo;, H; rn 
 txvrvv irefn,nrrtv oaticrn ' Tov of XOO-/ACV TraXsv ctvswrjtfv Ef^Kpivn, ** 
 p. 538. 
 
 US
 
 us not, says Plato, believe, that two Gods of 
 contrary natures turn the world in various and 
 opposite directions *." These words are indeed 
 so decisive of our author's sentiments on this 
 subject, that the reader may judge the pre- 
 ceding part of the vindication to have been su- 
 perfluous. It is however of material consequence 
 to obviate a misconceived opinion, before I 
 proceed to explain the real principles of Plato, 
 which leads to a wrong notion of them. And I 
 am solicitous to prove, that he is at all times 
 consistent in has account of the first cause, as it 
 has already been rendered evident, that the ap- 
 pellation EOS, GOD, characterizes in his wri- 
 tings the author of all good things, excluding 
 every claim to equality or independence. 
 
 Having thus examined Plutarch's account of 
 our author's doctrine on the present subject, it 
 remains, that we should explain the principles 
 upon which he attempts to answer the question 
 concerning the origin of eviL 
 
 A reader of common observation must be im- 
 pressed by the modesty and apparent diffidence 
 wherewith Plato enters into this inquiry. In 
 
 TOK 
 
 /-. ~.i an, ftr.rt ?: ATO TUS St.* yfovctrrc tatTO*,- ia>ria <rr(t$:w aar&v. 
 p. 536. 
 
 K 2 his'
 
 ( 1-2 ) 
 V X .5 Z / 
 
 his Timseus, he disclaims dogmatical assertion 
 on a subject that has given occasion to so many 
 theories, and guards us against being disap- 
 pointed by finding his account of the matter as 
 those of former philosophers, exceptionable and 
 imperfect. " Let us remember, O Socrates, 
 says this speaker, that as men our enquiries must 
 be bounded by probability. Certainty lies be- 
 yond our reach*." 
 
 In order to lay before the reader a full account 
 of our author's observations and reasonings on 
 the causes of evil, it is proper to remark, that 
 the sphere within which it has influence, is, ac- 
 cording to him, only a small part of the uni- 
 verse. Its operation is limited to beings who 
 are subjected to mortality, and to these inferior 
 regions of which they are inhabitants -p. The 
 pure residence of Deity remains at all times un- 
 contaminated by pollution, in the same manner 
 as the divine nature, which is wholly unsuscep- 
 tible of this impression J. 
 
 * Tim. p. 1057. et Laert. Pluton. 
 
 T)v of 6>r/Tw fyvmVf xou TOV TWV TOTTOV Trsp'TroAe* (% Avsc^/tr/;. Thaeet. 
 p. 129. 
 
 J EOS oyda^rj woctuMj acHKoj, a?.Aa.'; onsv f-. c-t:iaOTTO;. &C. 
 
 ibid. 
 
 In
 
 ( '33 ) 
 
 In the space wherein evil predominates, Plato 
 farther taught, that its existence is necessary. 
 Evils, he says, necessarily ( ANAFKHS) sur- 
 round the dwellings and habitations of mortals *. 
 This term is made use of, as we shall see imme- 
 diately, partly with the purpose of vindicating 
 the Supreme Being from the charge of admitting 
 these blemishes into his works, and partly as 
 relating to causes that are afterwards enume- 
 rated. 
 
 Those two points therefore being established, 
 what, it will be inquired, are the sources wherein 
 this effect, destructive of order, government, 
 and happiness, has its original ? I answer, the 
 following are those which he assigns as being 
 adequate to this purpose. 
 
 1 . The imperfection of man, the necessary con- 
 sequence of his being created, and subordinate. 
 
 2. That tendency which the parts of matter 
 retain in all forms and situations, to return 
 to that unquiet and agitated state wherein they 
 were originally involved. 
 
 3. The effect of matter upon the spirit, or 
 immaterial substance wherewith it is united in 
 the human form, so as to constitute man. 
 
 * Id. ibid. 
 K 3 Our
 
 ( '34 ; 
 
 Our author adds to this enumeration of the 
 causes of evil, that it is upon the whole pro- 
 ductive of good in many cases, and that to a 
 good man all evils will finally be beneficial. 
 
 i. The imperfection of man is so obviously 
 one cause of natural evil, that a late learned and 
 ingenious writer considers this circumstance 
 as alone sufficient to account for its admission *. 
 This tenet of Plato is the same as the peripa- 
 tetic principle of privation^ which is illustrated 
 So particularly by Aristotle and his followers. 
 This negation^ as it may be termed, is said by 
 him to imply a deficiency, whereby a creature 
 being necessarily imperfect, is subjected as ne- 
 cessarily to certain evils. Without entering into 
 all the distinctions of this acute metaphysician 
 on the present subject, (De Natur. auscult. 
 Lib, i. c. 10.) we may consider it as equal to 
 the production of those effects which he ascribes 
 to it. For nothing can be more plain, than that 
 if GOD, as a perfect Being, is exempted from 
 evil - 9 man, as an imperfect creature, is certainly 
 exposed to its influence. In fact, it is from the 
 imperfection of our nature that temptation de- 
 rives its efficacy. This term, which has no 
 meaning when applied to the Supreme Intelli- 
 
 * King's Origin of Evil. 
 
 gence,
 
 ( '35 ) 
 
 gence, who comprehends a whole, is the fruit- 
 ful source of evil to creatures who see only a 
 part. 
 
 Although our author does not enter so closely 
 into this matter as Aristotle, by using distinction 
 and definition, he yet traces up the evils of life 
 at great length, in various parts of his writings, 
 to their causes in human weakness and imperfec- 
 tion. With this purpose, after having traced 
 the passions, fear, anger, love, &c. to their cause, 
 as we shall see afterwards, in the union of mat- 
 ter and spirit, he adds, that those alone are ac- 
 ceptable to God, who, by a strenuous effort, con- 
 quer these passions, which propel them to the 
 commission of evil *. In the same spirit he re- 
 presents this propensity as an effect of that in- 
 ability to govern ourselves, which indicates the 
 imperfection of our nature and faculties, and 
 which the good are in some degree enabled to 
 overcome -J- Have you not observed, says he, 
 how acutely the little souls of those who are 
 bad, although they are denominated wise men, 
 discern the objects to which their sight is turned, 
 when they are compelled, as it were, to be the 
 slaves of depravity ? Evil dispositions keep pace 
 
 * Tim. p. 1055. 
 
 f De Legib. 1. i. p. 781. 
 
 K 4 in
 
 ( 136 -) 
 
 in the hearts of those men with the acutencs^ 
 and ardour of this contemplation *. 
 
 To him who considers natural evil as originat- 
 ing in this manner in human imperfection, our 
 author was awa.re, that the question would na^ 
 turally be suggested, What are the causes of 
 those peculiar characters of imperfection and of 
 depravity, so strongly and so particularly marked, 
 whereby the world and its inhabitants are distin- 
 guished ?r The answer to this query introduces 
 a position which may be termed the foundation 
 of the Platonic reasonings on these subjects, 
 that the parts of matter which were originally 
 unquiet and agitated, have at all times a propen- 
 sion to return to their primitive disorder, 
 
 2. That we may fully comprehend the theory 
 of Plato, as far as the present subject is concern- 
 ed, the reader must call to remembrance our 
 account of the T\ or first matter, whereof all 
 things were framed, as being compounded of 
 every elementary substance ~f. We have seen 
 that the forms of this mass, turbid and fluc- 
 
 * The Greek word here is tt^apwy, of which even the 
 Latin term animula does not convey the full import, as 
 the latter is expiessive of affection and the former of con,- 
 tempt. 
 
 f- >ee Sect. iii. pass. 
 
 tuating
 
 ( 137 ) 
 
 tuating in their first state, were brought into or- 
 der by the Author of Nature, who, in accom- 
 plishing this purpose, is emphatically said to have 
 made use of numbers, proportion, and har- 
 mony *. Although the Creator, in carrying his 
 purpose into execution, rendered his work exact 
 and beautiful, he yet did not deprive matter of 
 its original tendency to inquietude and agita- 
 tion, which our great philosopher sometimes 
 terms, an innate aptitude or propensity to mo- 
 tion, not destitute of spirit ; and sometimes, as 
 we have seen, a restless and turbulent mind, op- 
 posite to that of the beneficent Maker -f . The 
 substance therefore whereof the world, and 
 man its principal inhabitant, is framed, retains 
 the character or impression which it originally 
 received j and it is to this quality that he prin- 
 cipally refers when he mentions the mind con- 
 taining the passions and grosser appetites which 
 inferior deities placed in the heart of man, whose 
 inordinate motions are always opposed to those 
 of a pure and unbiassed understanding. 
 
 Of this representation the obvious consequence 
 is, that as Omnipotence was exerted in the ori- 
 
 AXX.' yms (vXij) iv rr&Qiw TaxTodaTo*; xa (j.ira,SoXeu{ 
 
 T>I roXX*)> aopEorjflW xaf w^/xjxsXiiay Ap/jcov, xa AvaXoyta* nan 
 
 Plut. v. ii. p. 1015. 
 f Yvxw ix*mo x aiTJTTxtoy TO Ay*9ovfyv. Id. ibid. 
 
 giiwl
 
 ginal task of bringing order out of confusion, 
 by framing the universe according to a noble and 
 beautiful pattern, such as it is said to have been 
 fashioned, so its influence was exerted with pe- 
 culiar efficacy during the first ages in maintain- 
 ing that harmony which it had established, and 
 to which the parts of matter are repugnant. 
 Our author's theory of the present subject will 
 appear to some advantage after these previous 
 observations. 
 
 God, therefore, who is himself the fountain of 
 all excelleace, framed the world after his own 
 image, according to the Platonic doctrine, with- 
 out any appearance of evil. So far it will be al- 
 lowed on all hands, that this tenet is consonant 
 to that of the Jewish legislator, who teaches, 
 that the work in its first state was worthy of 
 that Being who is the source of beauty and per- 
 fection *, In the same spirit our philosopher 
 taught, that, to a world thus constituted, the 
 Supreme Being adapted perfect inhabitants, of 
 whom himself condescended to be the guardian 
 and the guide -f . His description of this simple 
 and happy race, wandering in naked innocence 
 over the earth, and feeding upon the fruits and 
 herbage which it yielded spontaneously, presents 
 
 * Tim. ubi sup. 
 
 f Id. ibid, and Polit. p. 537. De Legib. 1. iv. p. 831. 
 
 before
 
 ( '39 ) 
 
 before imagination the first pair, enjoying the 
 productions, and reclining in the bowers of Para- 
 dise ; sometimes permitted to converse with the 
 Author of their existence, and sometimes with 
 angels, as the companions, as well as conductors 
 of their walks and occupations *. 
 
 The Creator of all things having now accom- 
 plished his purpose, and peopled heaven and 
 earth with inhabitants, ceased, at a certain pe- 
 riod, to counteract the innate tendencies of mat- 
 ter, by the immediate exertion of his omnipotence, 
 and permitted that these tendencies (under cer- 
 tain laws that limit their influence) should pro- 
 duce their natural effects. At whatever time 
 this change took place in the universe, the voice 
 of antiquity leads us to consider it as having 
 certainly happened. It is to this revolution that 
 our author alludes, when he represents the world 
 and its inhabitants as having passed from the 
 peaceful reign of Saturn, wherein the inhabitants 
 were blessed with propitious seasons, and with 
 unceasing abundance, to that of Jupiter and the 
 inferior deities. Violent concussions, that shook 
 the frame of the world and deformed its beauty, 
 are said upon this occasion to have announced 
 his departure. These changes declared, not that 
 evil then originated, but that its influence, sup- 
 
 * Genes, iii. 8. 
 
 pressed
 
 ( 1 4 ) 
 
 pressed under the former establishment, was 
 rendered conspicuous. It was at the time when 
 this disorder subsided, and the world again per- 
 formed its accustomed revolution, that men 
 became sensible of the change that has taken 
 place in the order of things ; an alteration which, 
 although it seems to threaten universal dissolu- 
 tion, will riot accomplish it. God will return at 
 last from his retirement, and, reassuming the 
 reins of government, will put an end for ever to 
 old age and death *, 
 
 From the different circumstances of this de- 
 tail brought into one point of view, the follow- 
 ing principles appear to be those which our 
 author assigns as the causes of evil : i . As the 
 operation of evil is circumscribed within the in- 
 ferior region tfiat is occupied by imperfect be- 
 ings, many kinds of it, being essentially and ne- 
 cessarily connected with imperfection, adhere 
 (if we may thus express it) to the nature of the 
 agent, and cannot even in thought be separated 
 from the idea of his existence. 2. As evils of 
 some kinds have their original in the nature of 
 man, others arise as necessarily from the sub- 
 stance whereof his body is compounded. Al- 
 though the Author of all things was actuated in 
 
 * Platon. Polit. 
 
 framing
 
 framing the universe by a general benevolence, 
 whereby he was prompted to impart some por- 
 tion of his own felicity to his creatures, yet in 
 creating MATTER he formed something oppo- 
 site to his own incorporeal nature, and necessarily 
 endowed with contrary qualities. 3. The in* 
 tiuence of those qualities was at first repressed 
 by the Maker, who was willing to render his 
 creatures happy during the first ages, by an im- 
 mediate and unremitted exertion of his omni- 
 potence. 4. Nothing more is understood by. the 
 retirement of the Supreme Agent from govern- 
 ment than his permission, at a certain period, 
 that things should proceed in their natural 
 course, when the effect of matter upon the spirit, 
 with which it is united, is forcibly represented by 
 the agitation that prevailed universally, and by 
 the immediate appearance of physical evil. 5. I 
 observe, in the last place, that at the time above- 
 mentioned, when matter reassumed the habit 
 that is essential to it, man, whose pure spirit i* 
 disturbed by its influence, felt the powerful 
 effects of passions and appetites that correspond- 
 ed to the external perturbations of nature, and 
 arose from the structure of material organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 3. Upon the whole, therefore, it is in the 
 union of matter and spirit that we find the causi? 
 
 of
 
 ( 142 ) 
 
 of those evils which we ascribe to human pas* 
 sions and propensities ; and in the tendency of 
 the first principles of things to agitation and dis- 
 order, we mark the origin of those subsequent 
 commotions to which they are subjected. Plato 
 denominates evils of the former kind, Ai/a ; 
 u,va,yY.ia, 5r0s/xaTa, terrible and necessary pertur- 
 bations : the latter we have seen that he attri-* 
 butes sometimes to innate propensity, and some- 
 times to a spirit IVO.VTW TO Ay&Qovpyu opposite to 
 the beneficent Maker, perhaps by a bold and 
 significant prosopopeia. 
 
 In answer therefore to the question of Plu- 
 tarch, by what means matter that has no efficacy 
 in itself should be the cause of evil ? I observe, 
 that our author no where says that it is the case. 
 He mentions, as we have already seen, that evil 
 is a consequence necessarily arising from the 
 union of body and spirit, and as the term where- 
 by we denote an effect whereof this coalition is 
 at all times productive ; otherwise, the unquiet 
 state of the parts of matter in their original 
 situation, and the turbulence of unruly elements 
 whereby this inquietude is maintained, could 
 not properly have been denominated evils as long 
 as there was no percipient to feel or suffer by this 
 commotion. The spirit (if any spirit there 
 were) who raised the tumuit, had pleasure in its 
 
 continuance j
 
 ( H3 ) 
 
 continuance ; and by us those circumstances arc 
 deemed to be pernicious only in consequence of 
 our particular feelings and perceptions. 
 
 But whence you inquire, arise injustice, op- 
 pression, discord, calumny, the waste of ambi- 
 tion, the insult of pride, the grasping of avarice, 
 and the purpose of malevolence ? From pas- 
 sions, in the opinion of Plato, that have their 
 seat in the heart of man, and correspond in their 
 violence and effects to the elements that lay 
 waste his habitation *. His body, compounded 
 of material substances, is exposed to natural 
 evils, which affect its inhabitant j and the soul, 
 of which God is the immediate author, governs 
 appetite and brutal impulse, without being able 
 at all times to counteract their influence. Evil 
 therefore arises necessarily from this union of 
 matter and spirit, and from the imperfection of 
 that being who is constituted by their union. 
 
 The preceding detail will suggest two ques- 
 tions to an intelligent reader, whereof our author 
 appears to have been aware ; and it is proper to 
 examine what he has said in answer to both. 
 The first respects the causes of the present un- 
 equal distribution of reward and punishment: 
 
 * Plit. p. 10-3. 
 
 the
 
 ( 144 / 
 
 the second regards the reasons for which souls 
 are sent down into this region of sorrow and 
 vicissitude, from mansions wherein they enjoyed 
 supreme and uninterrupted felicity. He, to 
 whom the former question is suggested by the 
 contemplation of the divine administration, will 
 argue in the following manner. 
 
 Granting, he will say, that the causes of evil 
 that have been assigned should be equal to the 
 production of this effect, even under the go- 
 vernment of a beneficent Being, whence is it 
 that his conduct in the order of things appears 
 sometimes to be regulated by caprice, and some- 
 times to be dictated by malevolence ? It is ap- 
 parently capricious, because we discover in it 
 few marks of rational choice, or indications of 
 equal and judicious distribution; on the other 
 hand, it is seemingly malevolent, when we recol- 
 lect some among many examples of benefits 
 conferred on mean and unworthy persons j of 
 the reward of virtue being withheld, and of 
 ungrateful returns to deeds of generosity and 
 beneficence that pass without animadversion of 
 any kind. 
 
 I shall examine in the subsequent section, the 
 use which our author makes of the present un- 
 equal and defective arrangement, as being the 
 
 evidence
 
 evidence of a future and more equal dispensa- 
 tion. We are called upon at present to follow 
 him in his account of a preceding scene, wherein 
 those who believe the Platonic doctrine on this 
 subject, will find an answer to their question. 
 
 Whether men, who had recourse to the doc- 
 trine of pre-existence in vindicating the conduct 
 of Providence, received it originally by super- 
 natural communication, or confided in it impli- 
 citly as delivered by legislators and philosophers ; 
 whether their knowledge of natural religion was 
 greater, as they were deficient in that of reve- 
 lation ; or finally, whether they were endowed 
 with some portion of that reminiscence, of whose 
 reality they appear to have conviction j it is yet 
 certain, that a belief of this doctrine obtained 
 among the ancients at a very early period, and 
 that it even obtained credit among fathers in the 
 first ages of the church. I shall make some ob- 
 servations on this latter testimony, after having 
 examined our author's account of this tenet, and 
 of the purpose to which it is applied. 
 
 The method of inculcating the most essential 
 truths by entertaining narrations, or beautiful 
 apologues, although not peculiarly character- 
 istical of our great philosopher, is however prac- 
 tised by him upon all occasions, and seems in- 
 
 L deed
 
 ( 146 ) 
 
 deed to have been congenial to his creative and 
 exuberant imagination. Of the truth of this 
 remark, the present subject exhibits an evidence 
 that demands particular regard. 
 
 Of narratives that claim attention in conse- 
 quence of their singularity, that of ER, the 
 Armenian, (whom Socrates calls an illustrious 
 man;) is undoubtedly one of the most extra- 
 ordinary in all its circumstances which we meet 
 with in the records of mankind. Many readers 
 will, perhaps, find difficulty in discovering, whe- 
 ther our philosopher ought to be considered in 
 this matter as relating a fact, or as inventing an 
 apologue *. But be that as it may, it will be 
 acknowledged on all hands, that its ultimate 
 tendency is to evince the wisdom of God, and 
 the impartiality of his various dispensations. 
 
 * It may not be improper to observe here, that in the 
 judgment of Origen, Plato related the story as a fact, to 
 wh'Ch his followers also appear to have given credit: for in 
 his refutation of the cavils of Celsus, he refers the heathen 
 who found difficulty in believing the doctrine of a resur- 
 rection, to the story of our Armenian, as a proof that thit 
 tenet was adopted by Plato. And he mentions with the 
 same purpose, a similar tale recorded bv Heraclitus. ET 
 
 uxt xa* irXswaw* Xfyoxra, UPON TOV apjusviov, f/.sm oodtKa 
 
 TJ irvfa.; EyEyipOa*, KM <x.irnyyi\>Mou ra vifi rxt j? AAON. Cont. 
 
 Cel. Lib. ii. p. 70. 
 
 On
 
 ( 147 ) 
 
 On the tenth day, after a battle wherein this 
 Armenian had i;.:L-n, his body, when drawn 
 from the heap of putrid carcasses, was found to 
 be uncorrupted ; and on the twelfth, when it 
 was laid on the funeral pile, was reanimated ; 
 the man being rendered capable to relate the 
 transactions of the interval between the time of 
 his supposed death, and resurrection. 
 
 The two principal circumstances of his nar- 
 rative are the following, i. The souls of those 
 who ascend from earth, and of those who de- 
 scend from superior regions to reoccupy 
 mortal bodies, meet together on a spacious field 
 or meadow, where they converse during seven 
 clay?, on the subject of terrestrial occurrences. 
 2. The latter after this conference, are prepared 
 for their mortal states, by drinking the water 
 of Lethe, which expels from their minds all 
 remembrance of the past. The journey of four 
 days, which these spirits then undertake to meet 
 the arbiters of fate ; the pillar of light, which 
 they behold descending from heaven to earth ; 
 the right orbs of the celestial sphere revolving 
 around the spindle of NECESSITY ; the three 
 daughters of FATE, seated on thrones, clothed 
 in white robes, and singing as they weave the 
 varied texture of events ; of the present, the 
 past, and the future, are incidents exquisitely 
 L 2 beau-
 
 beautiful, of which that mind must be void 
 of sensibility which does not feel the impression. 
 They approach at last to Lachesis, from whose 
 knees a prophet snatching the lots and tablets 
 of human events, and holding these up to view^ 
 addresses the beings assembled before him in 
 the name of the goddess, in words to the follow* 
 ing import. 
 
 " Ye spirits of one day, destinate to a mortal 
 state which must speedily be terminated by 
 death, know that the Daemon, or minister of fate, 
 who must wait upon you during life, is not 
 permit ted to select the person whom he is ap- 
 pointed to accompany, you must make a choice 
 for yourselves. He who draws the first lot, 
 first chooses the life to which by the irrevocable 
 decree of destiny, he must afterwards adhere. 
 Virtue alone is under no restraint. Those 
 who participate of her favour, or hope to be 
 benefited by her influence, will share of both, 
 according to the degree of estimation wherein 
 she is held by him. The fault is that of him 
 who chooseth. God is without blame *." 
 
 The reader will perceive, that the question 
 concerning the inequality of present distribution, 
 
 * De Reput. lib. x. p. 764. 
 
 is
 
 is answered in the circumstantial detail above 
 mentioned upon the following grounds; i. 
 What in our opinion is culpable inequality, 
 assumes this appearance, merely because we are 
 unacquainted with the particulars of a preceding 
 series of events, whereby the divine perfections are 
 fully vindicated, according to our author, in the 
 moral government of the universe. 2. In order 
 to understand the nature of this arrangement, 
 our attention is called to a doctrine by no means 
 improbable in the opinion of Plato, and con- 
 firmed in his judgment, by an actual revelation. 
 This doctrine is, that the soul of man, instead 
 of being created at the instant when it enters 
 inta the body, descends, on the contrary, at that 
 time from some superior region, and takes the 
 consequence of the lot which it draws, as well as 
 of the guardian ordained to be its attendant. 
 3. According to our author's principles, fate 
 and free-will are reconciled ; the former as having 
 fixed irreversible establishments ; the latter as 
 possessing an original freedom of choice among 
 objects that are placed before it, although not 
 the power of resuming a selection once made, or 
 of altering the series or order of events. 4. 
 When we consider that the state and circum- 
 stances wherein we are placed will terminate 
 in a translation to our original and native 
 regions ; we are induced, not merely to acquiesce 
 L 3 under
 
 ( 150 ) 
 
 under our present trial and chastisement, as 
 consequences that are attendant in our present 
 situation, but to look forward to that period 
 with animated hope, when we shall obtain, by 
 the exercise of perseverance and patience, an 
 higher station, and a more adequate reward. 
 
 I cannot dismiss this subject of pre-existence, 
 which makes so great a figure in the writings of 
 the ancients, as a Pythagorean * as well as a 
 Platonic doctrine, without making some remarks 
 on a congenial opinion frcm which our. know- 
 ledge of the former is judged principally to be 
 derived. This is the tenet of reminiscence, a 
 faculty wherein science, in the judgment of the 
 wisest ancients, is said to have its origin. 
 
 Our author, in the same manner as Pytha- 
 goras, is so thoroughly convinced of the pre- 
 existence of the human mind, that he lays down 
 as a fundamental principle, of which he endea- 
 vours to establish the truth, that all knowledge 
 originates in the remembrance of past trans- 
 actions 5 so that to learn, and to remember, are 
 
 Nos dixir Pythagoras, quasi in mercatus quandam cete- 
 britatem, ex urbe aliqua, sic in bane vitam ex alia vita &>" 
 natura profectos alios glorias scrvire> &c. Cicer, Oper. 
 
 T. iU. p. 393. 
 
 terms
 
 ( '5- ) 
 
 terms of the same import *. With this purpose 
 Plato makes some ingenious observations, tend- 
 ing to prove that our present ideas are only 
 transcripts of certain originals that existed in a 
 former state, of which reflection must ascertain 
 to us the reality. Concerning knowledge in ge- 
 neral he remarks, that at the time when our senses 
 present their objects before us, we not only have 
 some intuitive discernment of their nature, but 
 that dissimilar things bring each other immedi- 
 ately into, view. Thus the sight of an harp pre- 
 sents an image of the man who possesses, or of 
 the musician who useth it ; and the same effect 
 will be produced by a well executed drawing of 
 the instrument. This is what Plato denominates 
 remembrance ; and he considers the original 
 patterns and exemplars of all as having existed 
 and been impressed upon the mind in a former 
 state, and as being brought before it by this fa- 
 culty in the present. 
 
 As a principal illustration of the Platonic 
 dogma respecting a state of pre-existence, our 
 philosopher has recourse to an abstracted idea 
 which the mind conceives of equality ; whereof, 
 as a specimen, at the same time of philosophical 
 
 * H Msc6w*c oi/x aXXo r, ANAMNHZII tvyx*m ttrx; XM xot-rw 
 Ttrro avyx) ?ra r.-,:ti; iv 'CpTtpw TM Xfwx pt/*arx!v W amfUfjwif* 
 *op.&z.' Taroptv a&iv*TS JUT) TV -rrw r.psi TI ^'X.^ ^r" TO Tl 
 
 p. 195. 
 
 L 4 acumen,
 
 acumen, and of the most refined ingenuity, I 
 shall endeavour to exhibit a representation, 
 
 Equality Plato considers in two lights, as be- 
 ing either sensible or intellectual. Sensible 
 equality (as it may be termed) is that which we 
 perceive to take place between objects of equal 
 powers or dimensions. By the term intellectual 
 equality, on the contrary, he understands that 
 abstracted idea of it which the mind, he says, 
 has gained by remembrance, and is the standard 
 whereby we judge concerning equality either of 
 objects of sense, or of qualities intellectual or 
 moral. This standard our author represents as 
 being much more accurate than that of which 
 we have examples. Thus I can form an idea of 
 wisdom, sanctity, &c. to which no pattern, 
 wherewith I am acquainted, perfectly corresponds; 
 and I can in thought conceive, that the mind 
 may possess any or all of those excellencies in a 
 degree of perfect uniformity of which expen- 
 ence is not the parent. Now whence, says he, 
 is this notion of a perfect standard, conceived 
 amidst imperfect objects, and inconsistent with 
 present experience, derived ? Incompatible as 
 it is with whatever our thoughts and senses offer 
 
 C3 
 
 in this state to our observation, it must have 
 been derived from circumstances with which we 
 have been acquainted in a preceding one. It 
 
 has
 
 ( '53 ) 
 
 iias its origin therefore, according to the Pla- 
 tonic theory, in remembrance. We recollect upon 
 this occasion the past, instead of reasoning from 
 the present ; and in this manner a standard of 
 excellence is made known to us in our present 
 situation, to which nothing whereof we have 
 cognisance perfectly corresponds. 
 
 I am aware that it may be objected to this 
 argument, that although it should be granted 
 that we have an idea of perfect excellence, of 
 which, as being imperfect creatures, we cannot 
 produce an adequate imitation; it does not fol- 
 low that this idea has therefore been gained in a 
 pre-existent state, and that it is brought to the 
 mind by remembrance. The intellect, it will 
 be said, ascends towards the orginal by proores- 
 sive steps, and appears to exert no other power 
 in all this process than that of arranging objects 
 that are supplied by experience. This guide 
 does not, indeed, conduct us to the period at 
 which we wish to arrive ; but she leaves us at a 
 period when we can frame to ourselves the pre- 
 sent abstracted idea of equality, by the simple 
 operation of excluding in thought from the va- 
 rious models that arc placed before us, whatever 
 appears to be faulty or inaccurate. 
 
 A Platonist, in replying to this object ioa, 
 would acknowledge that it has weight when we 
 
 con-
 
 ( '54 ) 
 
 consider merely the nature of subordinate agents, 
 o the perfection of which we obtain an idea by 
 the method above-mentioned : but he would 
 observe, that when we substitute the term per- 
 fection in its strict sense, as being applied to the 
 Supreme Being, in place of the word equality, 
 which has the sam'e import, our conception of 
 that supreme excellence is that abstracted idea 
 which in Plato's estimation is not derived from 
 experience. It cannot be said that we gain the 
 knowledge, as far as we have any knowledge of 
 this absolute perfection, merely by the act of ex- 
 cluding, in thought from one model the faults 
 and inaccuracies which we have observed to be 
 prevalent in others. The mind ascends in this 
 process towards the great Original of all things, 
 without being restrained in its effort or bounded 
 in, its research. And it is the thought that 
 wanders through infinity, while it is employed 
 in this sublime contemplation, of which Plato 
 pronounces, that having existed in a former 
 state in the highest comprehension, its objects 
 are faintly presented by remembrance in the 
 present. 
 
 To our author's observations on this subject 
 it is only proper to add here, that by believing 
 that the souls of men have pre-existed, we avoid 
 the supposition of an uninterrupted exertion 
 
 of
 
 ( '55 ) 
 
 of creative energy employed in producing these 
 at the instant of original animation ; an argu- 
 ment which, no doubt, had principal weight with 
 Origen, and other of the later Platonists, who' 
 embraced this tenet of our great philosopher. 
 
 I have thus far entered into the metaphysic 
 of Plato, in explaining a doctrine which is so 
 conspicuous among his theological tenets, that it 
 could not be illustrated without a deduction of 
 this nature. In the belief of pre-existence, it 
 must be acknowledged, that the mind finds an 
 easy and pleasing solution of difficulties which 
 cmbarras its researches upon any other hypothe- 
 sis, and prevent it from establishing any positive 
 conclusion. Notwithstanding these advantages, 
 however enforced by all the learning and inge- 
 nuity of a celebrated modern writer, I cannot 
 think, that it is either consonant to the institu- 
 tions and spirit of Christianity, or sufficiently 
 authenticated by the declarations of scripture. 
 I shall here make some observations on the only 
 passages of the inspired writings that appear to 
 give authority to it, in order to compleat our 
 view of the subject. Of these, one is in the 
 Old, and another in the New Testament. In 
 the former we meet with the following words, in 
 the address of the Supreme Being to the prophet 
 Jeremiah, ** Before I formed, thee in the belly, 
 
 I knew
 
 I knew thee." These words, which imply that 
 God knew the prophet before he existed in the 
 present state, seem to have reference to his 
 knowledge of him in that which preceded it. 
 Commentators, indeed, understand the passage 
 as being expressive of the divine appointment 
 of Jeremiah to officiate in a certain character 
 and department. And this most probably is its 
 true import. Yet to the present interpretation, 
 the following objections may be urged with some- 
 plausibility. 
 
 i. The term I knew thee conveys a much 
 stronger meaning than the word appointed, which 
 would be substituted in its place, the former re- 
 ferring to some state wherein acquaintance was 
 contracted; and the latter implying nothing more 
 than the decisive purpose or determination of 
 an agent. 2. A distinction, it may be said s 
 seems to be made in the passage itself between 
 God's knowledge of the prophet, and his ap- 
 pointment or destination of him to the pro- 
 phetical office. " Before I formed thee in the 
 belly, I knew thee ; and before thou earnest 
 forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and or- 
 dained thee, &c." The advocate of the Pla- 
 tonic doctrine on this subject would consider 
 the following as the import of this declaration : 
 Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee 
 
 ifl 

 
 ( '57 ) 
 
 in thy pre-existent state ; and when thou de- 
 scendedst into thy present habitation, and wast 
 yet in the womb, I ordained thee to exercise the 
 prophetical office among the nations. 
 
 The second passage, wherein there appears 
 to be a tacit acknowledgment of this doctrine, 
 is that in John ix. 2, where the disciples refer to 
 their master the following celebrated question 
 concerning the blind man who was brought to 
 him : " Who did sin, this man or his parents, 
 that he was born blind ?" On this question the 
 following remarks would most probably be made 
 by one inclined to believe in the doctrine of 
 pre-existence. 
 
 i. It will occur to an attentive reader, that 
 this Pythagorean tenet was received, not merely 
 by a particular sect, but by the Jews in general; 
 because it is mentioned without hesitation as 
 being universally prevalent Accordingly we 
 learn from Josephus, that this opinion was pre- 
 valent among the Essenes, a well-known sect * j 
 and it was very probably derived from the Jews 
 of Alexandria, and spread by their means among 
 .their brethren in Judea, according the conjec- 
 ture of an ingenious commentator -f . 
 
 * DC Bell. Judaic. 1. ii. c. la. f Whitby, ap Loc. 
 
 a. No
 
 (158 ) 
 
 ;. No doubt can obtain respecting the mean- 
 ing of the question ; for if the man was born 
 blind as the punishment of sin, it must have 
 been of a sin that was committed in some state 
 . that preceded his birth; and the question im- 
 plies, that we may suffer in our present sphere of 
 action, in the opinion of those men, for sins of 
 which we were guilty in a former one. 
 
 3. If by the term disciples we understand here 
 the chosen twelve who accompanied Jesus in all 
 his ministrations, it will follow, that they had 
 been permitted to maintain this principle with- 
 out having been opposed in their belief, to say 
 the least of it, by their master; who, far from 
 reprobating the notion in his answer, seems, on 
 the contrary, tacitly to approve it. Neither 
 hath this man sinned, nor his parents, &c. In 
 th^se words it is obvious that the justification 
 of the man from the charge of having sinned 
 before he was born is a direct answer to the 
 question of the disciples, and that it contains 
 nn acknowledgement of the possibility of the 
 eveat. 
 
 4. A maintainer of this dogma would further 
 urge in defence of it, that whether it may or 
 may not bear to be denominated properly scrip- 
 tural, it is adopted in an apocryphal book by 
 
 the
 
 ( 159 ) 
 
 the author of the wisdom of Solomon, whops 
 words are, ch. viii. v. 20. " Being good, he 
 came into a body undefined, or free frcun any 
 notable infirmity.*' We have already seen, that 
 the air, according to the mythology of the an- 
 cients, was peopled with innumerable spiritual 
 beings*, of whom those who inhabit regions 
 that are contiguous to the earth, return back to 
 mortal bodies, wherein they wish, according to 
 Philo -f, or in the judgment pf Plato, are com* 
 petted 9 to reside J. 
 
 After all, I do not mention these passages, of 
 which the meaning is ambiguous, as direct 
 proofs that this doctrine is justified by the au- 
 thority of scripture, or can be considered as an 
 article of revealed religion. 
 
 Thus far I have examined our author's solu- 
 tion of the question concerning the present un- 
 equal distribution of reward and punishment. 
 
 Hence arose the occupation of Exorcists, as they were 
 termed, a business in which old women were employed, 
 who, by reading certain verses, and performing particular 
 ceremonies, wtre supposed to drive away spirits who fre- 
 quented houses, and terrified the inhabitants. 
 
 Et veniec quae lustret anus, lectumque locumque, 
 Przferet & tremula sulphur et ovamanu. 
 
 Ovid, de Art. Amand. 1. 2. 
 
 t De Swan, p. 455. J Platon. p. 1223. 
 
 But
 
 ( 160 ) 
 
 But that we may have a full view of his principles 
 on this subject, it is proper, that in examining 
 the second branch of our enquiry, we should 
 mention the causes for which, according to the 
 Platonic hypothesis, souls are sent down into a 
 region of sorrow and vicissitude, from mansions 
 wherein they enjoyed supreme and uninterrupted 
 felicity. I have already marked and exemplified 
 our author's method of seizing imagination 
 while he informs the understanding, in illus- 
 trating the maxims of his sublime philosophy. 
 In answering the present interrogatory, we must 
 follow him once more through the incidents of a 
 narrative, wherein he assigns the causes of this 
 degradation, and of the consequences that arise 
 from it. 
 
 Our spirits, says he, unlike the Gods who are 
 perfect beings, are actuated by desires, which 
 in the same manner as horses of unequal tempe- 
 rament, yoked in a chariot, pull different ways, 
 and destroy each other's influence. These are 
 the love of pleasure and of virtue, of which the 
 latter leads to the noblest attainments. When 
 Jupiter therefore conducts the inferior deities 
 to the highest celestial elevation, he is followed 
 with ease by such beings as himself, who feel 
 no impediment in the ascent ; but by others 
 with more difficulty. In these every nobler 
 
 passion
 
 passion is counterpoised by the desire of sensual 
 enjoyment. Becoming therefore gradually assi- 
 milated to those whom they contemplate with 
 satisfaction, they are no longer as their compa- 
 nions, entertained and enraptured by beholding 
 justice, temperance, and science, not merely as 
 ideal forms, but as objects that exist in the 
 divine mind. The wings of the soul (as they 
 are termed by Plato with great beauty and sig- 
 nificance,) i. e. the desires whereby it ascends 
 to the fountain of happiness, are impaired in 
 this manner, and finally are broken. The in- 
 habitants therefore of superior regions fall down 
 upon earth, where they act in characters that 
 are accommodated to their dispositions and de- 
 grees of intelligence. Hence arise philosophers, 
 heroes, legislators, poets, husbandmen, &c. 
 according to their former knowledge and attain- 
 ments *. 
 
 The purpose of Plato in this representation 
 obviously is, to assign the reasons for which 
 souls are sent down into their present state, and 
 to account for the departments which they oc- 
 cupy. Two circumstances are the foundation 
 of his theory. These are, that the inhabitants 
 of etherial mansions have powers whereby they 
 may secure felicity ; and that they are free ta 
 
 * Plat, ubi sup. 
 
 M exercise
 
 exercise those powers in whatever manner they 
 may judge to be most expedient. Passions 
 upon this hypothesis that are indulged in sen-, 
 sual contemplation, and desires that are per- 
 mitted to wander from their great original into 
 scenes of mortal pleasure and fruition, render 
 those in whom they predominate proper objects' 
 of divine displeasure. They drop therefore into 
 this world, or into the planetary orbs, as into 
 places of punishment, or rather of purification, 
 wherein an arrangement takes place that is con- 
 formed, not only to the present offence of the 
 individual, but to his peculiar character and 
 propensity. It ought also to be observed, that 
 in the punishment, which is not final, but ex- 
 piatory, strict attention is given to the justice 
 and paternal government of the Deity ; for, after 
 a certain number of ages, the soul purified and 
 refined in the various states through which it 
 has passed, as metal of which the dross is left in 
 different alembicks, returns into the regions of 
 happiness with its nature perfectly renovated, 
 and enters again into celestial enjoyment. 
 
 To our author's theory of this subject it has 
 been objected, that " the justice of God does not 
 permit that he should punish crimes of which 
 we have no consciousness or remembrance, and 
 
 which
 
 i 163 ) 
 
 which we cannot indeed conceive that we ever 
 committed," 
 
 In answer to this objection I observe, i. That 
 it combats an ideal hypothesis : for Plato no 
 where, as far as I know, mentions crimes as 
 having been committed in a pre-existent state, 
 or considers the evils of life as the punishment 
 of such offences. He who is fascinated by the 
 love of sensual pleasure, is indeed properly pu- 
 nished by being permitted to possess the objects 
 of his choice ; but as he is not accused of cri- 
 minal excess, the consequences of this choice 
 can be viewed only as effects of which the con- 
 duct of a free but imperfect agent is naturally 
 productive. 2. If we should grant all that is 
 affirmed in the objection, it will not surely fol- 
 low that it is inconsistent with justice to punish 
 a crime, merely because the criminal does not 
 remember, or is not conscious that he com- 
 mitted it. Guilt could neither be extenuated 
 nor pardoned by the plea of forgetfulness, even 
 if we should suppose (what cannot be the case) 
 that the Judge possessed a power of discerning 
 the heart, and knew that there was truth in the 
 affirmation. Divine justice may therefore pu- 
 nish crimes in a present state, that were com- 
 milted in a preceding one. 
 
 M 3 Upon
 
 ( 1 64 ) 
 
 Upon the whole, I have entered into the ex- 
 amination of the important and difficult inquiry 
 concerning the origin of evil, more particularly 
 upon the present occasion, from my desire to 
 lay before the intelligent reader the theories of 
 . philosophers, who appear to have followed in 
 their examination of this question the light of 
 their own understandings, without partiality or 
 fastidious disquisition. And after having justi- 
 fied Plato from a charge that is brought against 
 him without foundation, I have endeavoured to 
 form, from various parts of his writings, an 
 impartial estimate of his genuine theology on 
 this subject. 
 
 Natural evil therefore, in our author's esti- 
 mation, arises from that tendency which the 
 parts of matter, originally disordered and agi- 
 tated, have at all times to return to their former 
 fluctuation, under the influence of a power that 
 participates of this inquietude. Moral evil, in 
 the same manner, has its origin necessarily at 
 present in that union of matter and spirit which 
 constitues MAN ; and of which the coalescence 
 is productive of temporary disorder. The globe 
 therefore which we inhabit, as well as the pla- 
 netary orbs, are habitations fitted for imperfect 
 beings, who pass from one to another in a course 
 of expiatory trials, whereby their natures ac- 
 quire
 
 quire a likeness to that of Deity ; and they find 
 him the enjoyment of perfect felicity, as soon 
 as this purpose is accomplished. Evil therefore 
 is considered by Plato, as it was by his master, 
 Pythagoras, not as a principle, but as an acci<- 
 dent. It is a transient alienation from order and 
 rectitude, occasioned partly by appetites of 
 which matter is the parent, and partly by weak- 
 ness and human imperfection. Goodness, on 
 the contrary, is an essential perfection of God, 
 which is included in our idea of his existence. 
 Our business therefore in life is to gain a resem- 
 blance to the Divine Mind, by an imitation of 
 his moral perfections ; and to fly from this evil 
 world, or to live apart from it as much as our 
 nature and circumstances permit, by avoiding 
 to be misled by its allurements, or contami- 
 nated by its impurity *. 
 
 * Thaeet. p. 129. 
 
 M 3 SECT.
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 OF THE PLATONIC DOCTRINE OF IMMORTA- 
 LITY, AND OF THE NATURE OF FUTURE 
 REWARD AND PUNISHMENT. 
 
 HISTORY, as well as the narration of tra- 
 vellers who have visited distant regions, 
 are rendered at the same time entertaining and 
 instructive, by the variety of objects which they 
 offer to be contemplated, by the mind which 
 investigates the rise and progress, or examines 
 the manners and characters of nations. In the 
 detail of the historian, it will be acknowledged, 
 that the customs of the warlike and abstemious 
 Spartans differed almost as widely from those of 
 the effeminate and luxurious Asiatics ; as in that 
 of the traveller, the manners of the inhabitants 
 of Morocco or of Tetuan, are remote from those 
 of the people of London or Paris. Reflection 
 will convince us, that this observation holds 
 true, as much when it is applied to other cir- 
 cumstances, as to the civil customs and go- 
 vernment of nations. The modes of worship 
 and religious institutions of men, more especi- 
 ally in the early ages of society, were as different 
 in the Pagan world, as the principles that were 
 embraced in various parts of it, whereof speci- 
 mens
 
 inens have been exhibited in the preceding sec- 
 tions of this essay. 
 
 If it should be asked, whether or not, amidst 
 an almost infinite diversity of manners, customs, 
 prejudices, &c. there be any bond of intellec- 
 tual union among mankind, (if we may thus 
 express it ;) any truth which the species with- 
 out communication with each other have 
 adopted by general intuition ? I would answer, 
 that this general axiom is the belief of a state of 
 future existence and retribution. This concur- 
 rence, which may be regarded as the voice of 
 mankind, this tacit acquiescence of the inhabi- 
 tants of the earth in the truth of one doctrine, 
 who are so discordant and hostile in almost all 
 other circumstances, must impress the belief of 
 it very powerfully upon any mind that is not 
 steeled against its influence by the most unjusti- 
 fiable arrogance and self estimation. To these 
 passions therefore, co-operating with the love of 
 paradox and singularity, we may ascribe most 
 probably the conduct of a few philosophers, who 
 have attempted to subvert a principle that is so 
 essential to happiness ; and to that dread of 
 chastisement whereof reflection is the parent, 
 we must in the same manner attribute the pro- 
 pensity that appears in men of depraved hearts, 
 and of corresponding actions, to embrace their 
 M 4 opinion.
 
 opinion. The objection to the truth of this ar- 
 gument in behalf of a future state, that arises 
 from the conduct of a few individuals thus ac- 
 tuated, does not even deserve the name of an ex- 
 ception ; for it is in ignorant and unenlightened 
 nations that we hear most distinctly the voice of 
 nature. In those who boast of higher improve- 
 ment and civilization this voice is stifled, at one 
 time by occupations arising from confluence and 
 intercourse, and at another from fastidious and 
 laboured disquisition. 
 
 We may consider, as an evidence of the truth 
 of these observations, that we must search for 
 the advocates of annihilation rather among mo- 
 dern than ancient philosophers. Of the former, 
 many have attempted to disseminate this com- 
 fortable doctrine : of the latter, on the contrary, 
 who were unacquainted with the theological 
 discoveries of modern philosophy, and who lived 
 in times wherein the sources of enjoyment were 
 less multiplied than at present by experiments, 
 strenuous defenders of immortality arise on all 
 sides. Even their system of mythology indeed 
 clearly evinces, that a belief of this truth is 
 congenial to the nature of man. Observations 
 that tend to confirm these remarks shall precede, 
 as usual, our account of the Platonic doctrine 
 
 on
 
 ( 169 ; 
 
 on this subject, and of the arguments whereby 
 it is supported. 
 
 It will occur to every man who has heard of 
 polytheism, that its ceremonies and institutions 
 are founded in the hope and belief of a future 
 state, towards which they point with a precision 
 that indicates their popular estimation. The 
 plains of Elysium, the gloom of Tartarus, the 
 bark of Cerberus, and the boat of Charon, the 
 solitary margin of the Styx, and the oblivious 
 water of Lethe, are indications of thought that 
 carried its researches into regions wherein hope 
 delights to expatiate. Poetry seized at an early 
 period upon a tenet so pleasing to the powers of 
 imagination, and went hand in hand with philo- 
 sophy in describing the mansions and in pointing 
 out the employments of the blessed *. 
 
 Of philosophers we may observe in general, 
 that all who taught a metempsychosis, considered 
 the soul as being distinct from matter, by the 
 dissolution of which its existence cannot be af- 
 fected. Thales taught that the spirit, proceed- 
 ing originally from the Supreme Being, is re- 
 united to him at the time of its separation from 
 
 * The 'classical reader need not here be referred to the 
 Odyssey, and to the whole six books of the^neid. 
 
 the
 
 the body *. The Egyptian philosophers be- 
 lieved, according to Herodotus, that it came 
 from heaven, and that it will return to thi^ ce- 
 lestial mansion after having passed, during 2000 
 years, through various states of purification -f. 
 Anaxagoras, although he had no proper idea of. 
 the nature of the soul J, yet taught that it is 
 immortal. Its incorporeal nature was one of 
 the principles of the Aristotelian philosophy . 
 Finally, the opinion of the Pythagorean tribe of 
 this subject is well known, as having correspond- 
 ed with that of the philosophers above-men- 
 tioned || . Although the members of the Italic 
 school maintained this truth before life and im- 
 mortality were brought to light, by arguments 
 
 * Cicero, ap. Lactan. lib. vi. c. 3. 
 
 f Herodot. Euterpe* 
 
 | Via. Theod. de Grsec. affect. Serm. v. p. 547, 548, as 
 quoted by Boyle, Art. Anaxag. & Aug. deCivitat. Dei, v. i. 
 lib. ii. p. 650. 
 
 yxg tyvcnxit xa opyanxa 
 
 Laert. lib. v. p. 322. I have quoted the words of Laertius 
 here, because Augustine seems to consider this philosopher's 
 notion of the soul as being the same as that of Anaxagoras 
 above-mentioned. Aristoteles quintum corpus earn dixitesse. 
 Ibid. v. ii. lib. xxii. p. 700. His learned commentator re- 
 futes this assertion at great length. Est Aristoteles con- 
 c redone omni compositionique ac corpcre animum liberal, 
 &c. p. 701. Vid. et Cicer. Oper. torn. iv. p. 355. 
 j| Diogen. Laert. Pychag. 
 
 of
 
 ( '7' ) 
 
 of which the amount was probability, it is 
 certain that some of its most eminent scholars 
 found in the belief of immortality a source of 
 solid and permanent felicity *. 
 
 Of poets we may observe, that Homer, who, 
 it must be confessed, does not treat his deities 
 
 * I grant that Cicero is not at all times equally explicit 
 in maintaining the Platonic doctrine of immortality, which 
 Cxfar in his celebrated speech, recorded by Sallust, seem* 
 wholly to reprobate. V. Bell. Catalin. The language fifth* 
 former, however, when he seems to doubt of this truth, is 
 feeble, and betrays the fluctuation that arises from imper- 
 fect evidence. Etiam si non sit mihi tamen persuadere 
 vitam. Si non ero, sensu omni caribo, &c. Epist. lib. vi. 
 Ep. 3. But who will compare these and a few similar ex- 
 pressions, principally scattered through his Epistles, witk 
 his reasoning in defence of this doctrine in his admired trea- 
 tise De Senectutc, in that entitled Consolatio, or (not to 
 mention other parts of his writings) with the beautiful de- 
 scription of his Somnium Scipionis ? It is in these parts of 
 his writings that we find the real sentiments of this great 
 man disclosed without reserve on a subject that is to rational 
 beings of all others the most important. His doubts and ap- 
 parent hesitation, so feebly urged, and so readily retracted, 
 exhibit, in one view, the most convincing evidence of the 
 expedience, or rather of the necessity, of a revelation fronv. 
 God. The learned reader will find, upon examination, a 
 striking resemblance between the observations of Cicero in 
 his Cato Major, c. 21. and those of Socrates in a dialogue 
 of ^.schines, entitled Axiochus, in which the question is 
 examined, whether death- ought to be feared r Dial. iii. 
 p. 166. 
 
 with
 
 with much respect, yet adheres at all times to 
 the doctrine of future retribution. 
 
 HAu<nov Tr^iov, xat Tmpara ya,ir,<; 
 
 Tff[J.$/}S<ri 
 
 rrt Trip* fjrnj OT?J *. 
 
 Every classical reader knows, that in order to 
 learn the sentiments of the great Roman poet on 
 this subject, as corresponding with those of his 
 predecessor, we must transcribe compleatly his 
 sixth Eneid. 
 
 Among ancient writers who are advocates of 
 immortality Plato is undoubtedly pre-eminent, 
 not only as the various evidences of this truth 
 are explained and illustrated in his other writings, 
 but as one of his most laboured performances is 
 wholly employed in establishing it upon the 
 foundation of argument. Of his principal ob- 
 servations I shall here endeavour to exhibit a 
 summary, as containing whatever unassisted rea- 
 son cannot suggest with efficacy on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 In order to demonstrate a truth, in the belief 
 of which human misery has its surest refuge, 
 
 * Odys. Origen. cont. Cel. p. 350. 
 
 our
 
 our author considers successively the following 
 circumstances : i. The nature of the soul, as a 
 being distinct from matter, to which its opera- 
 tions are wholly dissimilar. 2. Its desires and in- 
 finite capacity, which are the surest evidences of 
 its immortality. 3. Its moral perfection, if we 
 may thus term it, which is constituted by its 
 congeniality and resemblance to the Divine 
 Mind, the source of perfection and of happi- 
 ness. 4. Its present situation, its hope of ad- 
 vancement, and the unequal distribution of re- 
 ward and punishment, 5. Its pre-existence, &c. 
 on which we have already made some observa- 
 tions. 6. Our great philosopher refutes the ob- 
 jections to which his theory is exposed, and 
 makes some remarks upon the nature of that 
 state into which the soul will be admitted when 
 emancipated from the present. 
 
 i . Whatever may be affirmed concerning the 
 notions which other philosophers conceived of 
 the nature of the human soul, its immateriality 
 is a fundamental principle in the writings of 
 Plato, from which his subsequent reasoning on 
 this subject derives its efficacy. Thus, in dif- 
 ferent parts of his writings he applies to the 
 mind the terms tpqipov, cKrup&Tov, pa,v<>u$ov t as 
 being expressive of that intelligence, spirituality, 
 and simplicity, whereby it is peculiarly distin- 
 guished
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 guished from unintelligent, corporeal, and com* 
 pounded substance *, Our author enlarges al- 
 ternately with this purpose on the power which 
 the mind exerts, on the objects which it con- 
 templates, and on the offices which it is em^ 
 ployed in discharging. Its power is exerted, as 
 we have already seen, in controuling appetites, 
 and subduing passions, which have their origin 
 in its union with matter, whereby its operations 
 are sometimes disturbed and interrupted. Its 
 objects are sometimes of a mutable nature in con- 
 sequence of this union, as being seen through 
 the medium of sense j and are sometimes pure 
 and eternal. While employed in the former 
 contemplation, the mind wanders from one point 
 to another, as the scenes vary that are presented 
 to the senses, and being affected by the muta- 
 bility of its objects, is like a man under the in- 
 fluence of intoxication. When on the con- 
 trary,, retiring within itself, it dwells upon im? 
 mutable subjects that are congenial to its nature, 
 it unites itself with ease to whatever has per- 
 manent excellence, and the actions of a spirit 
 thus uniformly regulated, are said to be directed 
 by wisdom. The soul therefore that conceives 
 ideas of what is pure, eternal, unchangeable, 
 resembles the Divine Being, of whom alone those 
 perfections are characteristical. It has, on the 
 
 ' 
 
 * Epinom. Repub. lib. x. Phaed. 
 
 contrary,
 
 contrary, no similarity to material substances, 
 which are constantly fluctuating : its essence, 
 simple and uncompounded, as is that of its ori- 
 ginal, cannot be dissolved, and is therefore 
 immortal *. 
 
 Attentive at all times to the distinction be- 
 tween matter and spirit, Plato, in mentioning 
 the offices iri which the soul is occupied, ob- 
 serves, that this pure intelligence lays aside the 
 body as much as possible in its search after ab- 
 stracted truths, that have no connection with 
 it. It ascends therefore at some times in its 
 proper sphere to the great original of excellence, 
 whose perfections it delights to contemplate, and 
 whose nature it is solicitous to investigate -f% 
 While thus employed, the grosser appetites 
 cease for a season to disturb its research. It 
 lays aside as much as possible the pleasures, the 
 appetites, the pains, the terrors, to which it is 
 exposed in the intercourse of society J. But it 
 finds the attempt to repel at all times corporeal 
 influence to be impracticable upon experiment. 
 Passions that precipitate the thought, and appe- 
 tites that are clamorous for gratification, disturb 
 
 * Plat. Phed. Oxon. Typograph. Clarendin. 
 f Epinom. 
 
 xaS ww JI/TO. Ibid. p. 22J, 
 
 the
 
 the soul in her seat of pure contemplation, and 
 overshade the serenity of her aspect. Hence 
 Socrates concludes with great probability, that 
 of two consequences one must necessarily follow ; 
 either that we can never discover truth, or that 
 we must discover it after death, for then, and 
 not sooner, will the soul be separated for ever 
 from its incumbrance *. Upon this foundation, 
 therefore, he builds his conclusion, that a true 
 philosopher ought to look forward with con- 
 fidence and satisfaction to that moment of sepa- 
 ration which we denominate death, as the instant 
 at which he will be emancipated from a prison, 
 from which he languished to be released -f . 
 
 2. To the immateriality of the soul, as afford- 
 ing a proof of its future existence, Plato adds 
 observations which tend to confirm this doctrine 
 on its desires and capacity. As the soul, after 
 having explored inferior objects, finds its chief 
 good in contemplating the divine nature and 
 perfections which cannot be comprehended in 
 its present state, the desire of immortality, 
 which is implanted in every heart, has operated 
 in all ages most powerfully upon the best and 
 worthiest of mankind {". Our author considers, 
 or rather follows this desire in its various effects, 
 
 * Ibid. p. 179. t p 182. 
 J Conviv. Platon. Oper. p. 1197. 
 
 according
 
 ( '77 ) 
 
 according to the characters and dispositions of 
 men : and after having followed, until he loses 
 it in the contemplation of Supreme excellence, 
 concludes, that he who by this contemplation, 
 and by the practice of virtue, becomes the friend 
 of God, will, (if any man can obtain it,) be 
 finally rewarded with the eternal enjoyment of 
 him *. Upon the whole, he considers that pure 
 and refined love which renders meditation on 
 the divine perfections a delightful exercise in 
 this life, as an indication of that recompence 
 which will be conferred upon it in another. 
 
 Our prospect of immortality is brightened, 
 according to the Platonic doctrine, by the con- 
 sideration of the vast capacity of the human soul. 
 That spirit, says Socrates, which from building 
 cities, and establishing commonwealths, ascends 
 to the contemplation of the heavens, marks the 
 revolutions of the celestial bodies, observes the 
 courses of the sun and moon, calculates the 
 eclipses of those bodies, and foretels their im* 
 mediate restoration ; considers the equinoctial 
 phsenomena, or double returns of the sun -J- ; 
 
 brings 
 
 * Ibid. p. 1 200. 
 
 f This constellation consisting of seven small stars in 
 Taurus, which me about the vernal equinox, were much 
 attended to by the ancients, on account of the rain and 
 
 N stormy
 
 ( I 7 S ) 
 
 brings intelligence from the pleiades concerning 
 the seasons, winds, showers, storms, and whirl- 
 winds ; that spirit which comprehends so many 
 great objects, cannot be annihilated at death. 
 It will enjoy perfect happiness in an immortal 
 state *, &c. Add to these remarks on the na- 
 tural capacity of the soul, what Plato mentions 
 concerning its contempt of inferior pursuits f , 
 and aspiration after the knowledge and fruition 
 of the Divine Mind, on which he represents it 
 as being fed and invigorated ; and some view 
 will be formed of the argument for immortality, 
 that arises from the soul's capacity and com- 
 prehension. 
 
 3. Our observations on that moral perfection 
 whereby this spirit is peculiarly assimilated to 
 Deity, are, in a great measure, anticipated by 
 former views of this subject. Our author's de- 
 clarations on it occur so frequently, and are so 
 explicit and particular, that an enumeration of 
 these at much length is rendered unnecessary. 
 The soul, as being a substance, wholly distinct 
 
 stormy weather that accompanied their appearance. Hence 
 their name in Greek is derived from the word ^-XEIV, to ra- 
 vigate, from the dangers 10 which sailors were exposed at the 
 time of their appearance. 
 
 * Vid, jEschin. Axioch. ubi sup. 
 
 f Placon. Oper. p. 126. 
 
 I Repub. Lib. vi. 
 
 from
 
 from the body of man, is, in the Platonic idea, 
 
 eternal, and cannot have an end, because it 
 
 never had a beginning * : it is allied to God as 
 
 the consequence of participating his nature -f- : 
 
 it acts in its proper sphere, when it aspires after 
 
 the knowledge of that Being to whom it is con- 
 
 scious of bearing a resemblance J : a virtuous 
 
 man is therefore the most perfect image of God 
 
 in this world ; and at death the spirit which 
 
 bears so many signatures of likeness to Deity |[, 
 
 will return to its original, and may look forward 
 
 to that event in the contemplation of virtuous 
 
 actions, with confidence and satisfaction **. 
 
 4. The most decisive arguments that can be 
 urged in behalf of a future state, are those which 
 will be suggested to a reflecting mind by the 
 present situation of man, by his hope of immor- 
 tality, and by an apparent inequality, and in- 
 deed injustice, in the immediate distribution of 
 reward and punishment. The discerning mind 
 of our great philosopher appears to have dwelt 
 
 Platon. Phoed. 
 
 f* O/xow; ? TW Stw, * 5'v*Tw, K9u noiiTd-j xcu /AQK>EO*< &C. 
 Phoedon. 
 
 J Repub. Lib. vi. 
 
 Thictet. and Epinom. 
 
 ** De Legib. Lib. xii. 
 
 N 2 SUCCCS
 
 successively on these evidences of immortality, 
 which are explained and enforced in different 
 parts of his writings. 
 
 Man, in the judgment of Plato, is, as we 
 have already seen, an imperfect creature, ex- 
 posed to natural and necessary evils, which he 
 can neither foresee nor prevent. He is the in- 
 habitant cf a world, well indeed adapted to the 
 gross and corrupted part of his nature - 3 but ill 
 suited to the faculties of a pure and divine in- 
 telligence. We appear to those who occupy 
 superior regions, as ants and frogs do to us, 
 scattered along the surface of an immense mass 
 abounding in inequalities, enveloped in a gross 
 atmosphere, darkened by clouds, and over- 
 flowed with water *. Of this mass, we have 
 followed our author in examining the consti- 
 tuent parts, and in observing the formation. 
 We have seen in what manner evil was intro- 
 duced into it according to his principles, and 
 we must now consider man as animated by the 
 hope of being translated to a scene that is ex- 
 empted from vicissitude. This delightful hopr 
 is at once the pledge of immortality, and tin- 
 
 * Kcu p.aj otx.iv ras p'-XPi HpaJtAtwjy j-iay urn 
 
 Tin fj.ofM dxrxig wtfi TtX^a [Wfu.iny.ct; 
 aXsfrrry oixyra$. JLacu yaj 
 
 c. Phe4. p. 390.
 
 ( ,8: ) 
 
 most powerful incentive to virtue*. It is the 
 pledge of immortality, because it originates in a 
 dissatisfaction with present enjoyments, and a 
 solicitude about the objects of a future state, 
 ;vhich indicates their existence -f . It operates at 
 the same time as a stimulus to the practice of 
 every virtue, by rendering the toil supportable 
 that leads to the enjoyment of the highest re- 
 ward J. 
 
 Amidst arguments for immortality drawn from 
 the nature, desires, and powers of the human 
 mind ; from its congeniality to the nature and 
 aspiration to the enjoyment of God ; from it& 
 present situation, and the hope whereby it is at 
 all times animated and supported ; Plato is not 
 inattentive to the great moral^ evidence of this 
 doctrine, the present imperfect and apparently 
 unequal distribution of reward and punishment. 
 Having established as a principle, that God is 
 intimately acquainted with the characters of 
 men, as they are distinguished by being just or 
 unjust, he observes, that the former must be 
 beloved, and the latter hated by him, without 
 
 * T/T<J Si tvfx* xyi\ 
 ^GMWW,- TO iw juTaa^H* Ka?.M ya^ TO <x/Vv, a n EATIIS 
 MWAAII. p. 304. 
 
 f Symp. Repub. Lib. x. 
 
 j Phedon. ubi sup. 
 
 N 3 regard
 
 regard to external circumstances or situation. 
 Poverty therefore, he says, diseases, or what- 
 ever in this life we denominate evil, will conduce 
 to the happiness of a virtuous man either here 
 or hereafter: for he who by the study and 
 exercise of virtue attempts to become assimilated 
 to the Divine Mind, will finally obtain from 
 him an adequate reward. This remark is en- 
 forced by illustrations, for which we must refer 
 the reader to the original *. In the same spirit 
 he enforces the proof of immortality from the 
 justice of God, in another part of his writings, 
 as being interested in the reward of virtuous, 
 and in the punishment of bad actions, in the 
 state after death ~' r . 
 
 5. The arguments in behalf of a future sta^te, 
 as far as these have yet been examined, are such, 
 as although few men perhaps would have disco- 
 vered, yet all will comprehend, and approve. 
 But the doctrine of pre-existence may be re- 
 garded particularly as a Platonic dogma, when 
 we consider it in the present point of view j', 
 To observations that have already been made on 
 this tenet, originally of the Pythagorean school , 
 
 * P. 759- 
 
 J- Platon. Gorg. p. 523. 
 
 J P. 195. et ubisup. 
 
 Cicer. Tu.sc. Quest. \. \~. c. 3. Digen, Latrt. in 
 
 proem. 
 
 it
 
 it is here only proper to add, that our author's 
 notion of pre-existence is not founded, as those 
 of his master, Pythagoras, are said to have been, 
 upon distinct remembrance of certain events *. 
 The sum of his argument, as it is detailed by 
 Plutarch, is, that as the mind received exist- 
 ence before the creation of the body, we. may 
 reasonably conclude that it will survive its dis- 
 solution -)<-. 
 
 2. In bringing forward, and establishing 
 those direct proofs of immortality, which have 
 been laid before the reader, Plato is particularly 
 attentive to obviate objections to which he was 
 aware that his theory lay open. Without men- 
 tioning incidental questions which arise from 
 various points in the course of his dialogues, the 
 friends of Socrates propose two difficulties in 
 the dialogue entitled Phedon, which he employs 
 some time in solving to their satisfaction. One 
 is, that what we denominate the soul, is an har- 
 mony arising from an exact proportion of the 
 various members of the body corresponding to 
 each other, and that it is more or less perfect, 
 according to the aptitude of these proportions, 
 in this sense it is fitly compared to the music 
 of an harp, whose strings are perfectly modu- 
 
 Pint, de Anijn. Procreat. Op. v. H. p. 1016. 
 t Phed. p. 230, &C- 
 
 N 4 lated
 
 ( 1 84 ) 
 
 lated to each other ; and tire instrument thus 
 tuned, is the body from which it proceeds. 
 The qualities, say the objectors, of immateri- 
 ality, indivisibility, &:c. may all be predicated 
 of this harmony, or musical concord, as much as 
 of what we term the soul : and we might affirm 
 
 o 
 
 with equal propriety, that the harmony remains, 
 or ought to remain, after we have broken the 
 instrument, as that the spirit subsists after the 
 dissolution of the body. The second objection 
 proceeds upon the supposition, that the mind, 
 although it be a substance distinct from body, 
 and superior to it, is not therefore indissoluble. 
 It is urged, that after having animated perhaps 
 many corporeal frames, it decays gradually, and 
 expires in the last body, as a man dies after 
 having worn different suits of clothes. 
 
 In answering the former objection, Socrates is 
 not satisfied to prove, that the idea of an har- 
 mony arising from corporeal proportions, and 
 constituting the governing principle, is incom- 
 patible with the former doctrine of pre-existence, 
 which .his hearers had concurred in acknowledg- 
 ing to be well founded. He enters more closely 
 into the subject; and while he adheres to the 
 strict meaning of the term harmony, or concord, 
 demonstrates by the following arguments the 
 futility of this hypothesis. 
 
 He
 
 He observes in the first place, that harmony 
 depends upon the perfection of the instrument, 
 and is injured by any accident whereby it may 
 be disordered. But it is surely otherwise with 
 the soul of man, which is independent of the 
 body, and is at all times opposed to it. Of 
 concordant sounds we observe in the same man- 
 ner, that the harmony is more or less perfect, 
 according to the temperament or constitution of 
 the parts from which it arises ; and we apply to 
 it those epithets with propriety, as it approaches 
 towards or recedes from a certain standard. But 
 these terms cannot be applied to the soul, as 
 being rendered by any operation whatever more 
 or less spiritual, if we may thus express it, with- 
 out the greatest absurdity. Again, when we 
 speak of virtue and vice, the former as consti- 
 tuting harmony, and the latter discord in life, 
 we must consider that which is incongruous and 
 dissonant, if the soul be essentially a concord, 
 as proceeding from a source or principle of 
 which incongruity is destructive. As harmony 
 therefore, properly so called, admits not of dis- 
 cordant vibrations, so neither would the soul, 
 considered as a concord, admit of vicious pro- 
 pensities. Lastly, in music the harmony arises 
 from the instrument, but in man, the soul com- 
 mands the body, which it can at all times retain 
 in subjection. It repels its appetites, contra- 
 dicts
 
 diets its desires, moderates its passions, cures its 
 diseases, governs it with an authority which it 
 cannot resist, and imposes upon it pennance, to 
 which it submits with reluctance. In no sense 
 whatever, therefore, can the mind, or intelli- 
 gent principle in man, be defined an harmony, 
 which originates m corporeal symmetry or pro- 
 portion. 
 
 Socrates having obviated in this manner the 
 first objection respecting the nature of the soul, 
 proceeds to remove the second, which regards 
 its duration. Here the philosopher has re- 
 course to one of the most ingenious theories of 
 his Phedon, that principles diametrically oppo- 
 site cannot meet and subsist together in the 
 same subject, any more than the constituent 
 forms of odd and even in the same number *., 
 The soul therefore, which is the principle of 
 animation in all bodies whatever, and is pro- 
 perly denominated life, cannot admit death, 
 that is opposite to, and would be destructive of 
 it, into its bosom ; according to a rule of un- 
 alterable permanency, which he explains at 
 great length, and enforces by particular ex- 
 amples -J-. 
 
 * P. 191, &G. 
 
 t P. *82. 
 
 *. The
 
 ( '7 T 
 
 3. The third great point to which our atten- 
 tion is called in examining the Platonic doctrine 
 on the subject of immortality, relates to the 
 employments and state of those spirits which 
 are released from the cares and vicissitudes of 
 
 One of the most conclusive arguments in be- 
 half of future existence, arises from that restless 
 curiosity whereby the mind of man is impelled, 
 in its present state, to pry into subjects which it 
 is forbidden to investigate, and to contemplate 
 regions of which it cannot discover the boun- 
 dary, or be made known to the inhabitants. 
 To this passionate desire, so ardent in the pur- 
 suit of this species of information, we must 
 ascribe the conjectures which men have indulged 
 in all ages concerning the exercises of the un- 
 bodied spirit, and its mode of enjoyment and 
 occupation. He who would examine the wri- 
 tings of the ancients on these matters with at- 
 tention and accuracy, after having selected the 
 points wherein all are agreed, ought carefully to 
 distinguish the reveries of imagination in a field 
 on which it delights to expatiate, from tenets 
 that are consonant to reason and to philosophy. 
 
 When we consider the present subject with 
 this object in view, we shall iii\d > that the wisdom 
 
 of
 
 of antiquity adopts as irrefragable one great 
 maxim ; that the soul of man was originally a 
 portion of the Divine Mind, to whom, if it be 
 not polluted by its union with matter in this 
 inferior situation, it returns at the moment of 
 dissolution. " Let us hasten (says one of the- 
 followers of Zoroaster,) to be reunited to the 
 light of the great Father of Nature, from whom 
 the human soul containing many inferior intelli- 
 gences, originally came **' Again The soul 
 participates of trie nature of God. It contains 
 nothing mortal, but is wholly assimilated to the 
 Divinity -j~. Epicharmus in the same manner 
 maintained, that man is compounded of two 
 parts, body and spirit, of which each goes back 
 at death to the place from which it sprung, the 
 body to dust, and the soul to the celestial re- 
 gion ^. It is true indeed, that, according to 
 the Pythagorean philosophy, many purifications 
 were necessary, in order to render the spirit that 
 had been contaminated in its earthly mansion, 
 fitted for the participation of divine enjoy - 
 
 * Xpl TE aTtwJttV TTfO? TO $0, XtU WpJ TSCTpOJ 
 
 Evfitv tTE/i^Qt? <ro* ft/%1 ToXvv trcr/x;) Not/v. 
 f* ^u^ri 
 
 Sybill. Orac. v. ii. p. 79. 
 Plut. De Censol. Op. v. ii. p. 1 10 
 
 men,t>
 
 mcnt *. But the souls of virtuous men were 
 placed, as soon as they left the body, in a state 
 of happiness suited to their nature and original. 
 Plutarch, (who quotes with approbation the 
 opinion of Epicharmus ;) considers man in his 
 present situation as in exile -f- At death, he 
 tells us, that the spirit which had been polluted 
 by the practice of vice, suffers the punishment 
 that is due to it : but those, on the contrary, 
 whose actions have rendered them acceptable to 
 God, after having been purified from the re- 
 mains of corruption in an unpolluted region, re- 
 turn into their native land with ineffable delight, 
 as men who are recalled from banishment, into 
 the country that is the object of their desires |. 
 Apollonius, the impostor of Tyana, comforts 
 his fellow-prisoners, the captives of Domitian, 
 by a similar consideration. The period, says 
 he, which we denominate life, is passed by the 
 pure and intelligent spirit in a state of improve- 
 ment, wherein it bears with reluctance the evils 
 of humanity . Aristotle, whose declarations 
 on this subject are not always explicit ||, appears 
 in his account of Eudamas, as quoted by Cicero, 
 
 * Herod. Lib. ii. Diogcn. Laert, Art. Pythag. 
 
 {- Plutarch, v. ii. p. 943. 
 
 J Id. ibid. p. 607. 
 
 t Philostrat. Vit. Apollou. p. 468. 
 
 l| Cicer. Tusc. Quest. 1. i. Op. v, ir. p. 355. 
 
 to
 
 to have adopted sentiments that. coincide in every 
 circumstance with those of the authors already 
 mentioned*. The illustrious Roman philoso- 
 pher and orator maintains, as we have already 
 seen, the same principles as the former in all 
 parts of his writings. " The spirit, he says, 
 that feels, that reflects, that lives, that reasons ; 
 which remembers the past, comprehends the pre- 
 sent, provides for the future , to which, among 
 the objects around us, we perceive nothing that 
 bears similarity ; had a celestial and divine ori- 
 ginal. It came from God, whom alone it resem- 
 bles, as being pure and uncontaminated -f . It 
 is in its present state imprisoned, unhappy, rest- 
 less, the sport of calamities, which press upon it 
 on all sides : the hour of death is that of libera- 
 ration, when it shakes off the shackles that in- 
 vest it, returns into its native regions, and blesses 
 the moment at which the key of the last mes- 
 senger opened to it the gate of immortality J." 
 
 From these and many similar observations, 
 which open upon all sides in the writings of the an- 
 cients, we may judge of opinions which philoso- 
 phers conceived of the nature of the soul, as be- 
 ing allied to the Divinity in its present state, 
 
 * Id. De Divin. lib. i. Oper. p. 446. 
 f De Divin. Oper. p. 359 and 475. 
 J I'd. De Divin. p. 4^6, and Confol. 
 
 and
 
 ( '9' ) 
 
 and of its employment in those abodes to which 
 it flies, or rather into which it returns at the 
 hour of separation. 
 
 It will no doubt occur to the intelligent reader, 
 that in this enumeration no mention is made of 
 the sensual pleasures, or of punishments that 
 correspond to those which we inflict : the stone 
 of Sisiphus, the water of Tantalus, the vulture of 
 Prometheus, or the wheel of Ixion. These fa- 
 bulous and fanciful representations, the embel- 
 lishments of poetry and admiration of the vul- 
 gar, were rejected by reason in her hour of calm 
 contemplation, for objects more suitable to the 
 subject. Of real philosophers we may observe, 
 that when they represent the happiness of a fu- 
 ture state, by scenes and exercises which are at 
 present the most familiar and agreeable, they 
 have most commonly one of two purposes in 
 view. This is either that of influencing the 
 actions of men in general, and particularly of 
 young persons, by motives adapted to excite at- 
 tention, or that of accommodating their dis- 
 course most efficaciously to the circumstances of 
 individuals, on the loss of friends, or in the 
 prospect of dissolution, by bringing before them 
 pleasing objects which soothe and captivate ima- 
 gination. It is thus that Plutarch consoles 
 Apollonius on the death of his son*i Cicero 
 * Plut. Consol. Oper. v. ii. p. 121. 
 
 alleviates
 
 alleviates by anticipation the infirmities of age *$ 
 and Socrates fortifies Axiochus against the 
 terrors of approaching death -f. They consider- 
 ed the axiom, that happiness or misery in a fu- 
 ture state will be consequent on the conduct of 
 the present, as being established both by reason 
 and philosophy ; and they selected amidst vari- 
 ous motives or arguments, those that were fitted 
 with greatest propriety to the circumstances or 
 situation of the person whom they addressed. 
 
 These observations, while they give some ge- 
 neral idea of the doctrine and opinions of the 
 ancients, may throw some light on that of Plato, 
 which I now proceed to examine, 
 
 He who studies attentively the philosophy of 
 this author will find, that he mentions three 
 states distinct from each other, as being pre- 
 pared for the departed spirit. Of those, the first 
 and principal is the mansion of the Gods in the 
 celestial regions, with whom the souls of the 
 just enjoy perfect felicity j the second, or middle 
 state, is that of AAH2 or AAEIA2, from the 
 term signifying sad or dark, as being properly 
 applied to its purpose, and to the exercises of 
 its inhabitants 3 the last, is that of Tartarus, pro- 
 
 * De Senectut. 
 f ^Eschin. ubi sup. 
 
 perly
 
 ( 193 ) 
 
 perly so called, a gulph into which the finally 
 impenitent were plunged without hope of re- 
 lease. 
 
 i. Of the states thus enumerated Socrates 
 modestly expresses his hope, in the dialogue en- 
 titled Phedon, of being admitted into the assem- 
 bly of good men, and into that particularly where 
 the Gods diffuse uninterrupted felicity. In or- 
 der to render his discourse on this subject enter- 
 taining as well as instructive to young men, who 
 were attracted most naturally by sensible repre- 
 sentations, he enters into a sublime description 
 of the superior regions of heaven, the habitation 
 of the Gods, and of the spirits of the just. 
 From a land blessed with a perpetual tempera- 
 ture of season, 
 
 Where from the breezy deep the bless'd inhale 
 The fragrant murmurs cf the weltern gale *, 
 
 from sacred groves and temples inhabited by the 
 Gods, who are the companions of those to whom 
 they utter their oracles; from happy isles en- 
 veloped in pure circumfluent aether, these happy 
 beings cast an eye of pity upon us, scattered, 
 as we have already seen, on the banks of rivers, 
 or along the shores of the ocean, as ants or frogs, 
 who have scooped out holes for their residence in 
 
 * Phd. p. 292, &c. 
 
 O the
 
 the neighbourhood of a marsh, or of some other 
 place, provided with air and water. And it is, 
 he says, on account of the gross and foetid air 
 which we breath in this impure region, which is 
 only the sediment of the other, that we cannot 
 see what is transacting in it, and in the habita- 
 tion of the blessed. 
 
 From this paradisiacal scene, our author re- 
 presents those whose minds are enlightened by 
 knowledge, and purified by contemplation, as 
 being translated to more refined and perfect en- 
 joyment, suited to the pure spirit disencum- 
 bered of body ; the nature of which it is not easy 
 to describe, or comprehend. 
 
 2. It is not my present business to examine 
 the various significations of the term AAH2, 
 by which Origen and the primitive Christians in 
 general certainly meant the mansion of the dead, 
 or receptacle of souls when separated from the 
 body *. It is used here as a term expressive of 
 
 that; 
 
 * The opinion of Origen on this subject is obvious, from 
 a passage already quoted in his remark on the story of Er, 
 the Armenian, as mentioned by Plato. Of this man he 
 says, eww/y^xii'OM ra, >asfi TW it AAOT. ubi sap. Hades is 
 here obviously die receptacle of departed souls, into which, 
 according to many of the fathers, a"nd not into hell, in the 
 more modern acceptation of that word, the soul of our 
 
 Saviour
 
 ( '95 ) 
 
 that state, wherein spirits which had been pol- 
 luted by their residence in corporeal forms, were 
 purified and fitted, in the judgment of PlatOj 
 for entering into the mansions of the blessed. 
 
 Of the means whereby this purification is ac^ 
 complished, it is not of much importance to in- 
 quire. The terms tt>x and exTrup&xnf, used by 
 Platonists and Stoics with the same purpose, 
 seem to point at a purification effected by fire 
 in a separate state, somewhat similar to the 
 doctrine of the Church of Rome on this subject. 
 It is of more consequence to know, that our 
 author considers the souls of men in their situ- 
 ation in three different points of view. Those 
 whose minds were enlightened by the know- 
 ledge of philosophy, and whose lives were uni- 
 formly regulated by the practice of virtue, as- 
 cended at death first, as we have already seen, 
 to a purer and happier region than the present, 
 and at last into the mansion of the Gods. The 
 second class consists of persons, who having 
 been guilty of great, although not of inexpiable 
 crimes, are consigned to punishments, which 
 although severe, are yet permitted to terminate 
 
 as soon as their purpose is accomplished The 
 
 i 
 
 Saviour migrated after his death, and remained to the clay 
 of his resurrection. Hence the article in the Cre< u, He 
 descended into HELL. The third he arose, &c. 
 
 O a last
 
 last order is of those whose guilt being of such 
 magnitude as cannot be pardoned, are given up 
 to torments of unceasing duration. 
 
 In order to render his doctrine on this sub- 
 ject adapted to general comprehension, Socrates 
 speaks of an immense abyss, into which four 
 mighty rivers roll their tides : the gulph into 
 which they descend is named Tartarus. Hither 
 criminals of every denomination are at first pre- 
 cipitated, after having taken their trial. Those 
 whose bad actions are expiated by suffering, are 
 thrown up by the river, and at last released from 
 their misery. Unceasing punishment is inflicted 
 only on the perpetrators of aggravated and ac- 
 cumulated crimes, who are no longer objects of 
 divine forgiveness *. 
 
 I observe only farther on this subject, that the 
 Pythagorean and Platonic metempsychosis is 
 undoubtedly a state of purification wherein the 
 soul was gradually prepared for reascending to 
 its native regions, by passing through different 
 states, and being engaged in occupations whereby 
 this purpose was gradually accomplished. It 
 has, I know, been urged with some apparent 
 reason, that this doctrine of metempsychosis is 
 
 * P. 302. 
 
 incon-
 
 I 1 97 ) 
 
 inconsistent with that which we have been at- 
 tempting to explain, concerning future reward 
 and punishment. But it ought to be observed, 
 that our author mentions the rewards conferred 
 on a life of uniform virtue, or the punishments 
 inflicted on crimes of enormous magnitude, or 
 the expiation necessary for those of a very par- 
 ticular nature, as offering violence to a parent, 
 killing a man in passion, &c. in the preceding 
 account *. In ordinary cases, the third purga- 
 tion as it was denominated, or state through 
 which the mind passed without being contami- 
 nated, was reckoned sufficient to qualify it for 
 enterin into the mansions of the blessed - . 
 
 
 Our great philosopher having thus examined 
 the nature, and evinced the immortality of the 
 soul, makes the proper use of his observations 
 
 * Id. ibid. 
 
 t The classical reader will be pleased to see this tenet in 
 the language of Pindar : 
 
 A~o 
 
 srapa X? "** T 
 
 x, &e. 
 Olymp. ad. 
 
 O on
 
 on this subject, by exhorting his disciples to 
 consider the care of this divine intelligence, as 
 being, in the language of inspired writers, the 
 one thing needful. " If, says he, the soul be 
 immortal, your attention ought to be employee} 
 in improving and in watching over it, as being 
 framed to live not only during the present, but 
 in all time whatever. It is, therefore, highly 
 dangerous to neglect its interest. If death, in-* 
 deed, were the dissolution of the whole man, 
 the bad part of the species would be unexpect- 
 edly fortunate, in being exempted at the time 
 when they leave the world, from the punish- 
 ment of crimes which they committed in it, and 
 in being liberated in this manner, at the same 
 instant, from their souls, their bodies, and their 
 vices. But now, when we have evinced that the 
 soul is immortal, no subterfuge nor safety re- 
 mains to bad men, unless in purifying it for its 
 new state by every salutary means ; for the spirit 
 carries nothing along with it in its separate state, 
 but the principles and instructions that have 
 been impressed upon it, which begin to operate 
 either to its advantage or prejudice, at the in- 
 stant of its arrival *." 
 
 Thus 
 
 E
 
 Thus I have laid before the reader a summary 
 of the arguments by which Plato became him- 
 self convinced of a truth, and impressed the 
 belief of it upon the minds of his disciples, with- 
 out the knowledge of which man might envy 
 the condition of the reptile upon which he treads. 
 " Let no useless parade, says he, in the full con- 
 viction of immortality, be made about the dead. 
 The body, which follows the soul while the 
 man lives, presents only the lifeless image of 
 him when he is gone. The immortal spirit goes 
 to the Gods, to render an account of its actions ; 
 an account, to which good men will look for- 
 ward with confidence ; but a cause of terror to 
 the bad, who, after death, can have no advo- 
 cate. To the dead we cannot be of use. Our 
 business is, to give every instructive lesson to 
 the living, that they may be prevented, by per- 
 severing in virtuous practice in this life, from 
 suffering under the punishment of final impe- 
 nitence in that which is to come *." 
 
 It 
 
 rw ^Evrc-fiaj* Oi/oay yap aAXo e; AAOT rj 
 :7s.jJ<aj xa TY, Tpj$r.;' A 01 MU ?.p)tT 
 
 iY TVI TrA-VTr^ravrat vJiui tv Kfxr, rn; ix.ttc's iro^stai. Phcdon. 
 p. 286, &C. 
 
 * De Legib. Lib. xii. Me who chooses to consult the 
 
 Phedon of Plato, will find in it many ingenious arguments, 
 
 and beautiful illustrations, wMch are nut mentioned here. 
 
 O 4 The
 
 ( 200 ) 
 
 It will occur to any attentive reader from a 
 review of the preceding observations on this 
 subject, that strenuous advocates of immorta- 
 lity arise on all sides among ancient philosophers. 
 But was it by philosophers only that this doc- 
 trine was taught ? or did it originate in polished 
 and cultivated ages? Let us contemplate in 
 imagination the first objects which history offers - 
 to the examination of mankind. Let us ascend 
 to the founders ; let us penetrate the recesses of 
 the mausoleums of Egypt. We shall find that 
 these were constructed as the receptacles of 
 bodies, near which the spirit was believed to 
 reside, and which, in the revolution of ages, it 
 was destined to reanimate *, 
 
 If, from these magnificent monuments of hu- 
 man conviction, we turn our eyes towards na- 
 tions in the first and simplest periods of manners 
 and society, the belief of this great truth, as 
 characterising mankind in general, will strike 
 an intelligent reader, in their festivals, ceremo- 
 nies, deifications, and ritual observances, of 
 which it is- here unnecessary to enumerate ex- 
 
 The author has endeavoured to select those arguments, 
 tthich, while they appear to be conclusive, arc be.-,:' adapted 
 to general comp.xbc'nsion. 
 
 * Kerodot. cbi sup. Also Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. and 
 Savary'i Lettr. sur L'Egypt. Lett. xxvi. 
 
 amples.
 
 amples. From the altars of Greece in her ear- 
 liest stage of progression, to the Pagodas of 
 India ; from the mausoleum of Artemisia *, to 
 the Morai of Oberea -f-> the same persuasion of 
 future existence appears to be an essential ar- 
 ticle in the creed of mankind; who in opposite 
 regions of the globe, practising different rites, 
 and regulated by contrary customs, are yet ani- 
 mated by one hope in the journey of life, and 
 look forward with one consent to the regions of 
 immortality. 
 
 Among philosophers in more enlightened ages 
 it will be acknowledged, that Plato takes the 
 lead from all who were unacquainted with reve- 
 lation, in maintaining the truth of this doctrine, 
 and in establishing it firmly upon the basis of 
 argument. He seems, indeed, to have ex- 
 hausted the subject in different parts of his wri- 
 tings, wherein he has alternately advanced in 
 examining it, whatever human understanding 
 could suggest of reason, or human ingenuity 
 supply, of illustration. Hence most probably 
 it has happened, that of his successors no indi- 
 
 * A pyramidical structure raised to the memory of her 
 husband, by one of the most illustrious heroines of an- 
 tiquity. 
 
 t Ha\vkcsworth's Voyag. v. ii. and Lett, sur L'Egypt 
 ubi $up, 
 
 vidual,
 
 ( 202 ) 
 
 viclual, directed merely by the light of nature, has 
 struck into a new path on the same field, or 
 confirmed this doctrine by closer investigation. 
 The great Roman philosopher, in particular, 
 acknowledges in terms of admiration, the merit 
 of his great original, to whose judgment he sub- 
 scribes with confidence, and whose hope he 
 embraces with exultation. 
 
 Let us remember, that in the prospect of im- 
 mortality, established by proof, of which a sum- 
 mary has been presented to the reader, the most 
 illustrious names that are recorded in history, 
 were supported in the trials which preceded 
 dissolution, and were animated at the moment 
 when it approached. It was by these that So- 
 crates was induced to make a libation from the 
 draught that was to terminate his present ex- 
 istence, with the wish of being carried suc- 
 cessfully on his journey. By this consolation 
 he was supported in his last moments, when he 
 told his friends, at the time when death was 
 already in possession of the extreme parts of his 
 body, that he was now about to depart or retire 
 from them. At the distance of many ages, we 
 behold the Roman patriot, the martyr of liberty, 
 
 * EiTTtV, OT* fK-E*$KV Kit: T Hftfiuk 
 
 Phedon. a fin. 
 
 stretched
 
 stretched on his bed, and in the transport which 
 those evidences of immortality kindled in his 
 heart ; feeling about his pillow for the sword 
 that was to emancipate the impatient spirit from 
 its prison, into the regions of freedom and feli- 
 city. Finally, the proofs of future existence, 
 which have been brought forward, were those, 
 where the comprehensive mind of Cicero found 
 consolation amidst the vicissitudes of an eventful 
 life. In the bower of retirement in the languor 
 of exile' in the vale of age amidst the horrors 
 of proscription -in flight in terror in appre- 
 hension of imminent danger and at the approach 
 of death the soul of this last of Romans, for- 
 tified by the principles, and animated by the 
 spirit of the theology of Plato, went onward 
 upon the whole with equanimity. To the im- 
 pression of these principles, and of those evidences 
 of future existence, we must ascribe that calm for- 
 titude with which a mind, naturally timid, 
 contemplated its exit, and his dignified invita- 
 tion to the minion of Antony, while he stretched 
 out his neck to the suspended weapon, " to ap- 
 proach and perform his office." 
 
 Ye votaries of pleasure, who, without exami- 
 nation or remorse, have heedlessly espoused the 
 cause of infidelity ! Ye leaders of the young and 
 the unwary, who boast of the numbers who pro- 
 nounce
 
 nouncc your names with acclamation; who, re- 
 coiling from the eye of that Being whom ye 
 would have blotted out from the universe, would 
 plunge, in the paroxysm of terrified apprehen- 
 sion, into the gulph of annihilation ! Can ye 
 hear the united voice of your species, claiming 
 immortality as their birth-right, and exulting in 
 the hope of possessing it, without being im- 
 pressed by a conviction which ye cannot repel ? 
 Does not this truth flash upon your minds from 
 every region, while you are employed in perusing 
 the history of mankind ? Does it not inform 
 among the sages of antiquity every eye that is 
 turned upon you with indignant reproach ? Shall 
 it be said, that the wisdom which formerly en- 
 lightened all nations is now concentrated within 
 the contracted focus of a few Utopian philoso- 
 phers, whom she has commissioned to loosen the 
 bonds of society, to proclaim liberty to the cap- 
 tive, to enlarge the dominion of vice, and to en- 
 courage the practice of suicide, by announcing 
 to their fellow men, that life and existence will 
 terminate at the same instant ? Alas! Me- 
 thinks I hear in every corner the children of 
 adversity, as well as the -victims of age and 
 decrepitude, complaining, that you have extin- 
 guished in their disconsolate hearts -the last feeble 
 ray that seemed to tremble beyond the grave 
 upon the temple of happiness ! But this pur- 
 pose
 
 pose ye can at best but partially effect. Ye 
 will still behold, upon casting your eyes abroad, 
 the delightful hope of immortality softening the 
 couch of pain, and chearing the heart of labour; 
 penetrating the homely cot, and animating the 
 dejected spirit ; darting, in short, through all 
 space, and irradiating every part of the universe, 
 unless, perhaps, the darkness of your owa for- 
 lorn and solitarv bosoms. 
 
 THE END.
 
 This Day is publifhed, in Two Vols, 
 Price I os. Boards, 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 POOR} 
 
 THEIR 
 
 RIGHTS, DUTIES, AND THE LAWS RESPECT- 
 ING THEM. 
 
 IN A SERIES OF LETTERS. 
 BY THO. RUGGLES, ESQ^ F.A.S. 
 
 O.NE OF HIS MAJESTY'S JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR 
 THE COUNTIES OF ESSEX AND SUFFOLK. 
 
 ALSO, 
 In Two Pocket Volumes, (Price 6s. fewcd) 
 
 THE 
 
 BARRISTER; 
 
 O R, 
 
 STRICTURES 
 
 ON THE EDUCATION PROPER FOR THE BAR. 
 
 AND, 
 ( Price 2s. 6d. fewed ) 
 
 ORIGINAL POEMS, 
 
 O N 
 
 VARIOUS OCCASIONS. 
 
 By a LADY. 
 Revifcd by W. C O W P E R, Efq. 
 
 OF THE INNER TEMPLE.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Line 4 For Oromages read Oromazes, pa/s 
 Note, for Fixis read Ficin 
 19 Dele of 
 3 read framed 
 
 10 For kind read mind 
 
 7 For neither read either 
 
 11 read Timaeus 
 
 7 for inordinate read fubordinate 
 1 8 read $v<rtu<; 
 
 17 read defideratum 
 IO read Scou Anuwi/pyou 
 10 o/~ M/*, raz</ errour 
 
 8 /"or conformed ra&/ deformed 
 
 3 o/" Note, for is r?</ as 
 
 1 8 read oracular 
 12 m?</ this 
 
 17 read <ruva%x<>rrt$ 
 
 4 of Note, read has 
 
 15 For concern read confirm 
 23 For fenfes read fcenes 
 
 9 For Zedydan read Yezdan 
 I of Note, read omoyxrouov 
 
 23 Dele to 
 
 23 For right read eight 
 
 22 .F0r him read them 
 
 , /r (be books read futh book.

 
 
 
 
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