Great is Diana of the Ephesians, or, The original of idolatry together with the politick institution of the gentiles sacrifices.

Sect. I.

Before Religion, that is to say, Sacrifices, Rites, Ceremonies, pretended Revelations, and the like, were invented amongst the Heathens, there was no worship of God but in a rational way, whereof the Philosophers pretending to be Masters, did to this end, not only teach Virtue and Piety, but were also themselves great examples of it in their Lives and Conversations; whom the People chiefly follow'd, till they were seduced by their crafty and covetous Sacerdotal Order; who, instead of the said Virtue and Piety, introduced Fables and Fictions of their own coining; perswading the Vulgar, that as men could not by any natural abilities of their own, know the best manner of serving God, so it was necessary that He should re∣veal the same to his Priests in some extraor∣dinary manner, for the better instruction of the People. Whereupon pretermitting the Doctrines of Piety and Goodness for the

most part, they introduced a Religious wor∣ship of their own moulding, which amused and suspended mens minds in great part, and at last made the people relie so much upon them, that they neglected their pro∣per duties, consisting chiefly in the Sacrifices, Expiations, and Lustrations of their Priests; who finding they got more by the sins and ignorance of the common people, than by their virtue and knowledge, made divers things sins which otherwise were but indiffe∣rent, especially those things which mens na∣tures could with the most difficulty resist: which observation produced this ingenious Copy of Verses from a Modern Author, no less eminent for his Wit, than for his Qua∣lity.

Oh wearisom condition of Humanity! Born under one Law, to another bound: Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity, Created sick, commanded to be sound. What meaneth Nature by these divers Laws? Passion and Reason self-division cause.

Is it the mark or majesty of Power To make offences that it may forgive? Nature her self, doth her own self deslower, To hate those Errors she her self doth give: For how should man think that he may not do, If Nature did not fail and punish too?

Tyrant to others, to her self unjust, Only commands things difficult and hard: Forbids us all things which it knows is Lust, Makes easie pains, unpossible reward. If Nature did not take delight in blood, She would have made more easie way to good.

We that are bound by vows and by promotion, With pomp of Holy Sacrifice and Rites, To teach belief in good and still devotion, To preach of Heavens wonders, and delights; Yet when each of us in his own Heart looks, He finds the God there unlike his Books.

They forbad some meats as unclean, which yet were wholsom; commanding others to be used, which yet must be offer'd or sacrificed, that so they might have their parts; allotting some days to labour, and others to idleness: of all which, and many more conspicuous in pomp and ceremony, they constituted themselves the Patrons and Procurers. To whom no men were so odi∣ous as your incredulous honest men; for if a man were incredulous and vicious, that was the greater honour to the credulous party; or if a man were credulous and vi∣cious, that did not any more reflect upon their Religion, than one man's being hang'd for dishonesty, scandalizes a Government; besides they might pretend his Faith was

never sincere. But he that led an honest virtuous life, without any Faith for their Supersticions, he was the only person odious unto them, as a person that demonstrated unto the World how unnecessary the Priests and their Doctrines were to the propagation of Virtue. The Philosophers had their extra∣vagancies in Natural, but they all agreed in Moral Philosophy; nor was Virtue any where better delineated, than by those an∣cient Philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Plutarch, Epictetus, &c. in so much that Hyerophantae, or Teachers of Holy Doctrine, was a name anciently and primitively given to Philosophers. Sit pura mente colendus: A pure undefiled Spirit is the only Sacrifice which Philosophy commands them to offer unto God. But as that taught the know∣ledge of God in his works, and a rational way to serve him, so the Doctrines of their Priests introduced not only impertinent, but also absurd and impious Tenents concerning God and Religion, withdrawing them as well from the use of their Reason, as from the study of Truth: not allowing them any knowledge of God, or Religious worship, but what themselves taught. Nay they be∣tray'd the people into the Adoration of many Gods, because thereby they acquired to themselves much greater advantages by adoring many Deities, and introducing se∣veral

worships of them, than they could have expected from the single worship of one supreme God. All which serves but to confirm the verity of that Epigram, Vt me∣lius possis fallere, sume togam; This Sacer∣dotal villany was well known to Diogenes, as we may learn from the Answer he made to the Priest who came to convert him to be of his Order, in hopes of Elizium: Wilt thou (saith Diogenes) have me to believe that these famous men Agesilaus and Epimanondas shall be miserable, and that thou who art but an Ass, and doest nothing of any worth, shalt be happy only because thou art a Priest? So contempti∣ble was their profession in that wise man's opinion. But of this more hereafter.

Notes

• Chorus Sa∣cerldotum, ••d Brook's Mustapha.