men or devils.

If it can be proved, that demons most ufually denoted amongst the Greeks (to whom St. Paul is writing) such spirits as are commonly meaned by devils; that this alfo is the known fenfe in which St. Paul and the rest of the apoftles use it in all other places; and that it best suits the occafion on which it is used here: in this cafe it must be allowed, that our tranflators had good reason for making him fpeak of devils. But if the very reverse of all this be true, we shall be fully justified in rejecting their interpretation.

With regard to the Greeks, it is a fact not to be difputed, that amongst them demons (in whatever fingular sense fome particular philofophers might use it) did, in common language, generally, if not univerfally, denote deities; thofe deities whom the Heathens worshipped, who

were

not devils, But Kuman ipirits St. Paul's acquaintance with the

confirmation of what is urged elsewhere t. on Mir. chap. iii. sect. 2.) to prove, that ons the Greeks understood deified human we may add a paffage from Herodotus, y Raphelius, on 1 Cor. x. 20. Τὴν δὲ δαίύτην τῇ θύεσι, λέγεσι αὐτοὶ Ταῦροι Ιφιγένειαν αμέμνονος εἶναι. Damonem autem hanc cui nt, ipfi Tauri aiunt effe Iphigeniam, Aganis filiam. Stobæus, (Eclog. lib. i. p. 128.) aximus Tyrius, (Diff. xxvii. ed. Oxon. p. cited by Ode, p. 185, 186, speak of the conof human fouls into demons, after their re from the body. The fame author obthat, in the Sibylline Oracles (lib. viii. p. d. Gallai) Rome is reproached with wor

ίμονας αψύχος, νεκρῶν εἴδωλὰ καμόντων.

nes exanimos, idola mortuorum fepultorum paffage confirms what was observed above, Hols and demons are equivalent terms, and s the use made of them by St. Paul. Tatian at. contra Græcos, p. m. 148.) having enud many of the heathen gods, and expofed haracters, fays, Τοιοῦτοι τινές εἰσιν οἱ δαίμονες, τὴν εἰμαρμένην ὥρισαν. Hujufmodi quidam funt emones) qui fatum determinarunt. Eufebius of a temple dedicated αἰσχρῶ δαίμου. Αφρο

Greek

Sirns, impuro Veneris numini. De Laudibus Conftantini, lib. iii, cap. 55. See alfo lib. iii, cap. 26. where Venus is called a lafcivious demon. Ode, De Angelis, p. 191. cites thefe paffages, amongst many others, to fhew that the fathers of the Chriftian church gave the title of demons to the heathen gods. And they prove more than this, viz. that they gave this title to thofe gods that were known to be of human extract. The fame author, in the forecited place, fays, chat Eufebius (Vit. Conftantini, lib. iii. cap. 56.) calls Æfculapius the demon of the Cilicians, (τὸν τῶν Κιλίκων δαίμονα,) though he himself did not allow him to be either a demon or a god, (that is, in the fenfe in which he was thought fuch by the Cilicians,) but an impoftor, ἐ δαίμων, ἐδέ γε θεὸς. Πλάνος δέ τις ψυχῶν. By the demon of the Cilicians, Eufebius did not mean Efculapius himself, but a spirit that lurked in his temple, and perfonated him. It is evident, however, from Eufebius's denying this spirit to be a demon, or deified human ghost, that the Gentiles regarded Æfculapius as fuch.

I cannot omit a remarkable paffage in Clemens Alexandrinus, because it ftrongly confirms the account here given of the sense in which demons were underfood by the Greeks. Αὐτίκα οἱ ἔμπειροι το λόγο, κατὰ τὰς ἱδρύσεις ἐν πολλοῖς τῶν ἱερῶν, καὶ χε

cation of demons amongst the s. Nay, it is certain in fact, that I know, that the Greeks by this expreffed gods taken from amongst For after preaching to the Atheconcerning the refurrection and

ας τας θήκας τῶν κατοιχομένων ἐνιδρύσαντο. μὲν τὰς τέτων ψυχὰς καλέντες, θρησκεύεσθαι ανθρώπων διδάσκοντες, ὡς ἂν ἐξεσίαν λαβύσας ρότητα τα βία, τη θεία προνοία, εἰς τὴν ἀνθρώ Αγίαν, τὸν περίγειον περιπολεῖν τόπον.

Jam

i funt eorum doctrinæ periti, in multis tanquam deorum ftatuas, omnes fere moroculos pofuere, dæmones quidem vocantes imas, eas autem coli ab hominibus docenuæ divina providentia propter vitæ puritatatem acceperint, ut ad hominum minifte um qui eft circa terram obirent. The f the Greeks were the tombs or fepulchres gods. Hence it is faid of Chriftians, (in Fel. cap. viii. p. 50. ed Davif.) Templa despiciunt. And Tertullian (de Spectac. O fays, Dum mortui et dii unum funt, dololatriâ abftinemus, nec minus templa onumenta defpuimus. Now St. Paul is of those gods who had temples erected to our, and confequently of fuch as were

gods, as our tranflators have here rendered the word; being themselves fenfible, that, in this place, it must neceffarily fignify deified men. Now, is it not more likely, that St. Paul, in writing to the inhabitants of Greece, would ufe the word in the common and ordinary fignification of it amongst that people, in which he knew they used it, and would understand him in ufing it ; than that he fhould, without giving any notice, affign it a different meaning, to which they were not accuftomed?

We are next to inquire, whether it was well known to Chriftians, not excepting thofe newly converted to the faith, that demons denoted devils, when used by St. Paul and the rest of the apostles. What a late writer hath copied from others,

C

b Acts xvii. 18, 22. Differt. on Mir. p. 203. Bp. Warburton, Serm. vol. ii. p. 70, note (z). hath