16 A View of the DEISTICAL Writers. Let. 2.

great corruption of religion in the heathen world. And as littbe was it to be expected from the lawgivers and great men of the ſtate, who generally patronized the eſtabliſhed ſuperſtition, of which they themſelves had been in a great meafure the authors or promoters, and were ready to puniſh any that oppoſed it. And if there were any of them who were for reforming and

correcting ſome abuſes in the public ſuperſtitions, and explod-

ing ſome of the groſſer fables that were received among the people, as his Lordſhip obſerves Mutius Scævola the chief pon- tiff, and Varro, were for doing, he owns that the attempts were vain and ineffectual, becauſe the errors and ſuperſtitions were become inveterate“. This being the true ſtate of the caſe, it is hard to ſee what other method could be taken, that would prove ſo effectual to recover mankind from their ſuperſtition and idolatry, as the giving an extraordinary revelation, attended with ſufficient credentials, to inſtruct men in the name of God, concerning the nature of true religion to aſſure them of the certainty of its great principles, and to inforce the practice of its important duties, by the ſtrongeſt and moſt prevailing motives. And accordingly, when Chriſtianity appeared with the moſt illuſtrious atteſtations of a divine miſſion and revelation from heaven, it effected what no precepts or doctrines of the philoſo- phers had been able to do. The pagan polytheiſm and ſuper- ſtition fell before it: and it hath actually produced this great advantage, that the principles upon which our author layeth ſo much ſtreſs, have been better known and underſtood, and more univerſally acknowleged, than they were before. It is incon- teſtible, that Chriſtians are more generally agreed in thoſe great principles, than ever men were in tlie Pagan world. They are ſet in a clearer light, and men come to à greater certainty about them. That they are ſo far preſerved among the Mahometans, was allo originally owing to the light of the ewiſb and Chriſ- tian revelation. And it is very probable that his Lordſhip him- ſelf is very much obliged to Chriſtianity, though he doth not acknowlege it, for the full perſuaſion he every-where expreſſeth as to thefe important articles; ſeveral of which were denied by ſome, and doubted by others of the ancient philoſophers. Though therefore it is not to be wondered at, that thoſe among the Deiſts who have an averſion to theſe principles when taken in their juſt extent, ſhould be againſt Chriſtianity, yet Lord Herbert, who aſſerteth them to be of ſuch vaſt conſe- quence, ought, one ſhould think, to have been very thankful

De Relig. Gent. p. 311. 80