PART Xlil.

EPICURUS.
takes no care of the Affairs of Men, How can they come to be otherwife than they are ? In them there is an equal, or rather greater Imbe¬ cility than in other Creatures, equal inconve¬ niences, equal ills : Softie of them, making Vows, are prefervcd from Shipwrack ^ How ma¬ ny have made Vows, and yetperifhed? Many pray for Children, and obtain them 9 How ma¬ ny pray for Children in vain ?
But, to be brief, why, if God takes care of the Affairs of Men, is it ill with the Good, well with the Bad ? Truly it is an Argument with me, when I fee Croffes always happen to the Good, Poverty, Labours, Exile, lofs of Friends *, on the other fide, wicked Perfons to be Happy, to in- creafe in Power, to be honoured with Titles i That Innocence is unfafe, wicked Actions go nnpunifhed •, That Death exercifes his Cruelty without obferving Manners, without order and diftinftion of Years *, Some arrive at old Age, others are fnatch’d away in their Infancy, others in their full ftrength *, others in the flower of their Youth are immaturely cut off ^ In War, rather the beft are vanquifhed and perifli. But that which prevails moft with me, is. That the moft Religious Perfons are afflicted with the greateft Ills ^ but to them, who either wholly negleft the Gods, or worfhip them not Religi- oufly, happen either the leaft Misfortunes, or none at all.
Moreover, I think it may not be ill argued thus : Either God would take away Ills and can¬ not, or he can and will not, or he neither will nor can, or he both will and can. If he would and cannot, he is impotent, and confequently not God j if he can and will not, envious, which is equally contrary to God’s Nature •, if he nei¬ ther will nor can, he is both envious and impo¬ tent, and confequently not God ; if he both will and can, which only agrees with God, Whence then are the Ills ? Or, why does he not take them away ?
C H A P. VI.
Digrejfton, concerning Genii or Daemons.
IT is all one, whether God takes care of things by Himfelf, as fome will have it, or ( as others hold,) by Minifters, whom they generally call Genii and Daemons ^ for things happen no otherwife, than as if we Ihould fuppofe no fuch Minifters , and tho it were granted, that there are fome, yet can they not be fuch as they feign whereby ffaid they,) it was fignify’d, that thole
them, that is, of a Human Form, and having a Voice that can reach to us : To omit, fince for the moft part they are faid to be ill and vicious, they cannot be happy and long-liv’d» fince both much Blindnefs and a Pronenefsto Deftrudion perpetually attends Wickednefs.
How much were it to be wifhed, that there were fome who might take care of us» and fup- ply what is wanting to our Prudence, and to our Strength ? Efpecially, how much were it to be wifhed, by fuch as are Leaders in War of moft Pious and Honeft Attempts, that they fnight confide not only in Arms, Horfes, Ships, but alfo in the afliftence of the Gods them- felves ?
_ And indeed, fome are faid to appear fome- times to fome Perfons ^ and why may it not be, that they who affirm Demons to have appeared to them, either lye and feign, or are melancholy, and fuch, that their diftemper’d Body either ftrangely raifeth, or diverts their Imagination to extraordinary conceits. It is well known, that nothing is more apt to be moved and transform¬ ed into any Species (altho there be no real ground,) than Imagination. For the impreflion made upon the Mind is like that in Wax, and the Mind of Man having within it felf that which reprefents, and that which is reprefented, there is fuch a power in it, that, taking even the very leaft of things feen or heard upon fome occafion, it can of it felf eafily vary and tran fi¬ gure the Species, as is manifefted by the commu¬ tations of Dreams which are made in Sleep, from w%ich we perceive, that the imaginative’ Faculty puts on all variety of Affedions and Phantafies • fo that it is no wonder, if, where the Faculty is unfound, they feem to fee mans, or other things,' of which they have had any foretaken conceit.
Moreover, they ufe to alledge Divination as an argument to prove both Providence and the exiftence of ; But I Um afhamed at Hu¬
mane Irabecillity, when it fetcheth Divinations even out of Dreams, as if God walking from Bed to Bed did admonifh fupine Perfons, by in¬ dited Vifions, what lhall eome to pafs ^ and out of all kinds of Portents and Prodigies ; as if Chance were not a fufficient Agent for thefe Effeds ; but we muft mix God, not only with the Sun, and with the Moon, and feveral other living CreatureSj but Alfo. with all Brafs.and Stonets;:
Butlto inftance in Oracle Only : Many ways may it be evinced, that they are meet Impo- fturesiof, priefts, as may particularly be difto- ver’d, for that the Verfes which proceed froni them are bad, being, for the moft part maimed in the beginning, imperfed in the middle, lame in the clofe ; which conld not be, if they came from Divine InfpiratiOn^ fince from God no¬ thing can proceed, but what is well and decent.
And I remember, that, when in my younger days I lived at Samus^ that Oracle was much cri¬ ed up, by which (as they reported,) Polycratei King of that Ifland, celebrating the Pythian and Delian Games, fent at the fame time to demanding of ^poUo., Whether he Ihould offer Sacrifice at the appointed time.? Pythius anfwer- ed, Thefe to thee are the Pythian and the Delian ^
fhould be his laft, for foon after he happen’d to be flain. But how could it be 'fignify’d by that Anfwer, that thefe Sacrifices flibuld be the laft rather than the middle ? But that the vulgar fort of Men are moft commonly led by Hear- fay, and are greedy of ftrange.Stories.
CHAP.