Chapter 6: The Progress of Idolatry and Its Ancient Defenders

OR, ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF IDOLATRY. — Chap. IV.

Another corruption of natural theology — The pretext of some for worshipping natural things under the mask of dead men — The allegorical exposition of the so-called physical theology — The renewed method of philosophizing — The theology of the Stoics, of Zeno and Chrysippus, refuted by Philo of Byblos and by Eusebius — Idolatrous confusion — Whether the Sun and Apollo are the same — The tradition of the history of Jacob in the service of Apollo — The absurdities of philosophers in excusing the ancient idolaters — A comparison of ancient and modern idolaters — The deceits of charlatans in excusing men's sins — Of the Pharisees, of the Jesuits — The art of exorcising demons common to Gentiles, Jews, and papists.

I. We have shown that the sun, and the rest of the host of heaven, first occupied in the world the place and dominion of the divine being, through the depraved superstition of men. From this, as time went on, another and most pernicious superstition sprang up, which they call physical theology. We shall also recount its beginnings, but in passing, and as it were by way of digression.

II. According to the precepts of natural theology, the works of nature were designed for the promotion of the true worship of the Creator of all things. We demonstrated this in the exposition of that theology in Book One. The first idolaters taught that religious worship was owed to those very works — which we likewise showed. They called their worship natural theology, because the things that were worshipped were natural things; whereas natural theology truly teaches that evidence is to be drawn from natural things for the promotion of the worship of the Author of nature. We shall see below that another kind of idolatry was introduced in the course of time. It drew its origin from fabulous traditions and the impious and imaginary inventions of ungodly men. But after some had begun to philosophize somewhat more rigorously, and more refined opinions concerning the divine nature had prevailed among many, the wise began to be ashamed of those gods which the iron ages had put forward, wholly given over to ignorance and darkness. They therefore contended that all the things commonly celebrated about the fictitious gods — Jupiter, that is, and the whole sacred pageantry of Hellenism — had been figurative representations of natural things among the ancient mythologists. This theology they call physical, claiming it was nothing other than the allegorical teaching of natural science. Diodorus Siculus, lib. i., and Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris, begin to weave this web, as do very many others in Eusebius, that most excellent treasury. Thus Jupiter was nothing but the Sun or the Air; Juno, the Moon or the Earth; and the other idols of earlier ages, whose origins we shall show later, were either elements or natural causes of things. Later poets also hint at this everywhere. Thus Juvenal, Sat. v. 78:

"When the spring sky would roar fiercely with hail,"

Jupiter." And before him Virgil, Georgics, ii, 324-327: "In spring the earth swells, and calls for the seeds of generation. Then the almighty Father, the Aether, descends with fertile rains into the lap of his joyful spouse, and, mingled with her great body, nourishes all her offspring."

And before him Lucretius the Epicurean, lib. ii, v. 654-658: "If anyone decides to call the sea Neptune, and grain Ceres, and prefers to misuse the name of Bacchus rather than to give the liquid its proper name, let us grant that he calls the circle of the earth the Mother of the Gods, provided that in reality he refrains from defiling his mind with foul religion." And earlier Greek authors: Orpheus: "Demeter, the mother of all things" — for Demeter was the Earth, as Diodorus testifies. Also Empedocles, in the verses which Athenagoras records in his Apology: "Jupiter the flashing fire, Juno the life-giving, and Pluto the lowest of the gods, and Nestis whose tears are the source of moisture for mortals." And another: Ennius, in Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, lib. iii, Cap. XXV:

"Look upon this thing shining on high, whom all invoke as Jupiter."

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III. Such also were the opinions of the Stoics. Thus concerning Zeno, Velleius the Epicurean in Cicero, lib. i, On the Nature of the Gods, cap. xiv., says: "When he interprets Hesiod's Theogony," he says, "he entirely removes the usual and received conceptions of the gods; for he does not reckon Jupiter, Juno, Vesta, or anyone who is called by such a name, among the gods, but teaches that names have been assigned by a certain symbolic usage to inanimate and speechless things." And shortly after, concerning Chrysippus: "He likewise argues that the Aether is that which men call Jupiter; and that the air which flows through the seas is Neptune; and that the earth is what is called Ceres." Seneca, in his Natural Questions, lib. iv, cap. vi-vii, observes that sacrifices were offered to the clouds, lest they send down hail and storms.

IV. The later Platonic-Pythagoreans followed the same path: Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Amelius, Eumenius, and others. Let the fable of Porphyry serve as an example — the allegorical interpretation of Saturn castrating his father Heaven and Jupiter, and its application to celestial causes of things. Saturn, he says, is bound and castrated, just as Heaven is, because the theologian — that is, Musaeus — hints that divine essences are bound by the allurement of pleasure and led down into generation, and that certain powers, released by pleasure, are scattered abroad; hence Heaven, descending into the Earth out of desire to unite with her, is castrated by Saturn: for Saturn and his sphere are the first to move contrary to Heaven, and certain powers descend both from Heaven and from the wandering stars. But the powers of Heaven Saturn receives; and those of Saturn Jupiter receives in turn. So he says, in the book On the Cave of the Nymphs in Homer. He maintains, that is, that the procreative power of Heaven is received by Saturn, who nearest to it moves contrary to its motion, in such a way that it cannot descend immediately into the earth; and that the influence of Saturn is in turn intercepted by the power of Jupiter — this, he contends, is what that fable signifies. By this fabrication, I say, they labored to disguise with a veneer the stupidity of the first idolaters and the madness of Hellenism.

V. Philo of Byblos, in Eusebius, On the Preparation of the Gospel, lib. i, cap. ix., shows at length that the philosophers fabricated these things most absurdly, when the matter was altogether different: "But," he says, "the more recent theologians, setting aside the things that happened from the beginning, invented allegories and myths, and, having fabricated a certain affinity with the phenomena of the universe, established mysteries."

VI. Eusebius attacks this vanity at greater length in Praep. Evang. lib. iii, cap. 1. For the situation was then urgent for Christians. After the light of the gospel had struck the world so thoroughly with its rays that the shameful madness of the old superstition had come into contempt even among the common people, the more sharp-witted sophists, as I have said, clung most stubbornly to this fiction — to which all historical credibility is opposed — in order to make that folly attractive by giving it a new coloring. Indeed, to mention it in passing, the entire manner of philosophizing was renewed among the pagans themselves in the earliest times of the church. For after Ammonius of Alexandria, the leader of the philosophers of his age — whose students were Origen, Herennius, and Plotinus, the latter being the teacher of Porphyry, as Porphyry was of Iamblichus — had sown certain seeds of celestial wisdom into the minds of his hearers through his philosophical discourses, those who were unwilling to embrace the Christian religion on account of deep-rooted prejudices and the world's hatred of it nevertheless did not cease to cultivate those seeds to the best of their ability, diverting little streams of truth into the gaps of Plato. Add to this that others had drawn very many things from the most hidden mysteries of the gospel through the reading of our books. Among these were Numenius, Amelius, Plotinus, Herennius, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Hierocles, Marinus, Damascius, and others, who, although they did not abandon either the curious speculations of the Platonists or the magical incantations of the Pythagoreans, yet mingled with them a greater number of sparks of celestial truth.

VII. Among the ancients, however, all was confused and uncertain. Plutarch debates at length whether Apollo was distinct from the sun, in the book On Why the Pythia No Longer Gives Oracles in Verse. The most ancient poets teach in their very same hymns that he is the sun, and set forth where he was born and who his parents were. Thus the Arcadians could claim to be older not only than the Moon but also than the Sun. They also add myths stitched together from ancient traditions. Such is what they write about the pastoral exile of Apollo, which Callimachus celebrates in such a way that I would almost believe the fable represents Jacob leading that manner of life with Laban the Syrian. He teaches that the cause of the journey and the undertaking was love.

"Inflamed with love for the youth Admetus" —

— just as the cause of Jacob's pastoral servitude was love. Now, in assigning the cause of Apollo's servitude, since Callimachus departs from the rest of the crowd of poets, there is no doubt that the report of some obscure tradition gave him the occasion for doing so. He then splendidly depicts the remarkable increase of the young livestock under Apollo's care.

"Easily the pasturage abounded for the herds, nor did the she-goats lack young, nor did the ewes mixed among the sheep, to whose eyes Apollo, as he tended them, gave his care; nor were the sheep without milk, nor barren, but all had lambs beneath them, and she who had been a bearer of one became straightway a bearer of twins."

THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF IDOLATRY. [Book 3. Title.

"Easily the pasturage abundeth for the herds, nor do the she-goats lack young mixed among the sheep, to which Apollo as they grazed turned his eye, nor were the sheep without milk, nor barren, but all had lambs beneath them, and she who had borne one became straightway a bearer of twins." If one were pleased to examine the poet's words separately, very many things would be found which marvelously fit the history of Jacob; but since a diligent reader will perceive this at first glance, and we have other business, it does not please us to dwell on them here. VIII. Now this new mystical natural theology was the most putrid fabrication of men blinded in ignorance and malice. Very many mortals worshipped the sun, moon, and other stars of heaven with divine honors, long before the fables of Hellenism had origin or occasion. Greece was, so to speak, the fatherland of man-made gods and the workshop of idols. That the Greeks themselves in antiquity worshipped no gods other than the sun, moon, and stars, we have shown above from Plato. But the new teachers thus took pleasure in championing the ignorance and darkness of ancient times, being themselves no whit wiser than those of whom they were most ashamed. In the same way today the Jewish rabbis twist all the monstrosities of the Talmud into I know not what allegories; it is remarkable why the Jesuits did not do the same with their own legends. They would perhaps have acted more prudently and modestly if, following the example of the philosophers and rabbis, they had devised clever falsehoods to win credence for those legends, rather than — after having led so many thousands of men through the byways of the most abominable errors for so many years — bringing this about by rejecting them thoroughly and openly. But you will say, it is an injury, no, even an outrage, to wish to compare and equate the most holy fathers of the Society of Jesus with philosophers and rabbis. Come then, let us consider by one example (or perhaps two), of the greatest importance, whether they follow in their footsteps or not. No one can inflict a more atrocious injury upon the immortal souls of mortals, upon human society, upon the obedience owed to the supreme Being, than he who so labors in cloaking and excusing the crimes of sins that men thereby take heart to commit them yet further and more freely. What the masked hierophants among the pagans accomplished to this end, the divine philosopher teaches at length in the second book on the Republic. Vagabond priests and soothsayers, he says, come to the doors of the rich and persuade them that it is in their power, through sacrifices and incantations provided by the gods, to expiate with pleasures and festivals whatever sin has been committed by the man himself or by his ancestors, and that if one wishes to do harm to an enemy, they can for a small outlay harm both the just and the unjust alike, since by certain enticements and binding-spells they persuade the gods, as they claim, to serve them. And to these discourses they adduce as witnesses the poets, those who teach about the ease of vice —

That the road of virtue is rough and steep at the outset, but that it leads upward by a smooth and easy path, as those who invoke Homer attest, since he also says somewhere that the gods themselves —

And some by sacrifices and easy vows can be propitiated,

With libations and the savor of burnt offerings,

— praying to be released, since there is a respite for those who go to extreme and shameless living. And those who lead people astray by displaying the writings of Musaeus and Orpheus, as they say the sons of the Moon and the Muses, and who convince not only private persons but also whole cities that there are indeed releases and purifications from sin through sacrifices and pleasurable games — both for the living and for those who have died — which they call initiations, and which deliver us from the evils of the next world, while terrible fates await those who have not performed the rites. — Vagabond priests and soothsayers who frequent the houses of the rich declare that they possess a certain power, granted them by divine authority, whereby they can expiate by certain rites of sacrifices and incantations any crime whatever, whether committed by the man himself or by his ancestors, so that pleasure and festivity follow; and if anyone wishes to take vengeance on an enemy, this can be done at small expense by those who are within the power of both the just and the unjust; they allure and win over all the gods to themselves by certain incantations and binding-spells, so that even the gods obey them. To these monstrous discourses they adduce the testimonies of poets, who teach how easy is the descent to vices — indeed,—

"Vice seizes mortal minds with a headlong onset —"

Compressed together: "The way is equal, and indeed nearer and more accessible to them; yet the gods themselves have set toils before virtue, and a long and strange path." But they bring forward Homer as a witness that the gods can be moved and turned from their purpose by men, since he said: "The very divinity of the gods is bent; for vows and prayers and the smoke of sacrifice and libations and burnt offerings soften them, whenever any man has sinned and made supplication." And they stir up a great heap of books from Musaeus and Orpheus, who are said to be descended from the Moon and the Muses; and according to their prescriptions they perform sacred rites, persuading not only private persons but also whole cities that there are deliverances and purifications from crimes, accomplished through sacrifices and festive entertainments — for the benefit of both the living and the dead; these they call initiatory rites of purification for the shades of the departed, which they say will free men from the penalty of those evils after death; but for those who have not sacrificed, severe punishments remain. This superstition, inasmuch as it works the confusion of all duties and indeed the ruin and destruction of all of life, the philosopher rebukes at length. IX. Let the reader learn from this that there is scarcely anything new in the schemes of those who, putting on the mask of religion, either serve the various lusts of the flesh, or covet wealth, or lust after dominion over the consciences of blinded men. That the Pharisees among the Jews — most like these mountebanks in wickedness, audacity, and superstition — devised twin falsehoods from their schemes, by which they might extract an excuse for sins, our most holy

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our Savior showed — He who is the way, the life, and the truth (Matthew 5, 7). That among the Jesuits there is equal greed, like dishonesty, the same shamelessness, and twin audacity — in minimizing, excusing, and atoning for the sins and crimes of the most villainous scoundrels, in sharpening and inflaming men's minds toward vices, in blunting every prick of conscience — was not long ago made publicly known by one who exposed their secrets in a special book. Let the reader compare what we have adduced from Plato with what the learned man has excerpted from the books of the Jesuits; he will scarcely find egg more like egg than the dogmas of these men resemble the opinions of those mountebanks.

X. I will add another example, which also pertains to profit-seeking and vainglory. Let us take it from the exorcisms of demons. Philostratus, in book 4 of the Life of Apollonius, ch. 6, narrating the casting out of a demon from a young man by Apollonius, and having set forth the frenzy and licentiousness of the possessed youth, adds: And the many thought that his wantonness and unruly youth were the cause of all these things. But the youth was acting under the impulse of a demon, and seemed to rave when Apollonius fixed his gaze upon the raging spirit. The apparition, uttering cries now of one who fears, now of one who is enraged, and such as are the cries of those weeping or in some torment, swore that it would release the youth and enter into no one else. Apollonius then addressed it with the words that masters use against slaves, calling it shifty, wicked, and shameless, and with threatening anger commanded it, upon giving some sign of its departure, to leave the youth — specifically, to throw down a certain statue, indicating one of those that stood in the royal portico, beside which these events were taking place. With these words the statue then, first nodding slightly, fell. Whether these things truly happened in this way I do not know. Eusebius repeatedly caught Philostratus lying in his work against Hierocles. But I know that things like these are done or feigned daily among the fathers of the Society. It is also remarkable how much agreement there is between them and him. You would think you were hearing Mengus, Thyraeus, Sprenger. Now, just as that Apollonius was more perceptive than other mortals — so much so that he could discern a demon in a drunken youth, when all others saw nothing in him except what they judged should be attributed to licentiousness and wantonness — so it very often happens that the fathers of the Society perceive impure

1 Les Provinciales, by B. Pascal, 1658, etc. — Ed. spirits in them, especially in young men and girls, in whom other mortals — blinder than moles, of course — can discern nothing at all, except what they judge should be attributed to some persons' ravings or others' illusions. Furthermore, the apparition of Philostratus did not tremble any more at the presence and sight of the magician Apollonius than it is customary for Jesuit apparitions to do at the presence, gaze, or touch of a pontifical priest. Among others, the petty priest Edmundus himself instructs us in this, in his miraculous account of events that occurred in England around the year 1585 and thereafter. "Scarcely had I begun," he says, "the exorcisms and laid hands upon the head, when he" (the Jesuit youth) "immediately began to rage, to be hurled upward, to struggle with hands and feet, to thrust away the priest's hand, to fill everything with cries, oaths, and blasphemous curses" — so that this youth of Philostratus was plainly no match for him. But as regards the abuse that must be directed at the demon, it will be plainly evident that Apollonius was a mere child, if compared with our present masters. He called the spirit shifty, wicked, and shameless. But if anyone wishes to consult Mengus, Fustis Daemonum Exorcista, ch. 4, he will easily perceive how worthless those are compared to the terms which he teaches the fathers to use in exorcisms: "Hear, says the priest, you senseless one, you false one, you reprobate, master of demons, most miserable creature, tempter of men, deceiver of wicked angels, deceiver of souls, leader of heretics, father of lies, you foolish, brutish, senseless, drunken one, infernal plunderer, most iniquitous serpent, most rapacious wolf, lean and famished and most unclean sow, scabrous beast, most truculent beast, cruel beast, blood-soaked beast, most bestial beast of all beasts, spirit of Acheron, sooty spirit, spirit of Tartarus." Away with the trifles of Apollonius; let the demon himself learn from here how to be reviled. The spirit must be truly untameable and utterly stubborn that is not terrified by such abuse. Without doubt the holy Michael did not dare to use such a torrent of blasphemies (Jude 9). These new masters also imitate the overturning of the statue at the demon's departure. But here they sink far below Apollonius in a shameful way. For they rarely proceed beyond the extinguishing of a candle or the breaking of a window. To cast down statues is not within the power of just any petty priest. Moreover, the Jews received this art of exorcising demons from the Gentiles; the papists received it from both. As Justin Martyr says in the Dialogue with Trypho: "Your exorcists certainly now use some art, just as the Gentiles do in their adjurations, and they employ incense and bonds."

XI. But we must return from the digression to the main road. The worship of the heavens and of the sun flourished for a long series of years, when it had not yet entered men's minds to elevate those like themselves to the throne of God; nor did he escape punishment even among the Greeks themselves who said that the Sun was nothing but glowing fire.

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