Volume I, pages 424–441 of the 1732 edition, from DEL to DEV: everything printed on these pages, in order.
Continued from Deluge
sense we say, an inundation of evil and afflictions. In the style of Scripture, great waters mean often great calamities.
But we understand principally by the word Deluge, that which happened in the time of Noah, wherein, as St. Peter says, there were but eight Persons saved. Gen. vi.Moses’s account of this matter is as follows. The men of Seth’s family having corrupted themselves with the daughters of Cain’s race, God resolved upon their destruction, and said within himself, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. These last words may admit of several senses; for example, I will shorten the life of man, and reduce it from between eight and nine hundred years, which was the length of it before, to an hundred and twenty; or else I allow them no more than an hundred and twenty years of life from this time to the Deluge: all which time was required, they say, for Noah’s building of the Ark, and collecting all the necessary provisions.
God therefore having determined to destroy sinful man, and the animals which he had created for him, said to Noah, Make thee an Ark of Gophar wood, rooms shalt thou make in the Ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.——Behold I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven: and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the Ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee. He performed all that God commanded Gen. vii. 17.him. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened—and the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters encreased and bare up the Ark, and it was lift up above the earth——All the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered with it, and the waters rose fifteen cubits above the highest mountains—All men died, and generally every thing that had life, and breathed under heaven.
We have discoursed in another place of the Ark, and every thing relating to it. See the word Ark; as also the article Noah. We confine ourselves here to what regards the Deluge, its Causes, Circumstances, Universality, and Effects. The sins of mankind, the measure whereof was now compleated, were the occasion of the Deluge, as Moses in several places inculcates. But why did God take this method rather than any other? This we are not permitted to search into; and if he had made use of any other way to extirpate sinners, the curiosity of man would not fail to form still other questions as little reasonable as this.
The Commentators are very well agreed as to the Year of the Deluge, which happened 1656 Years after the creation of the World; but there is more difficulty as to the month wherein the Deluge began. Several of the Fathers were of opinion, that it began and ended in the spring; they understood the second month mentioned by Moses to be the second in the ecclesiastical Year, beginning at the month Nisan, which answers to March, about the vernal Equinox. Among other proofs of this, they borrow one from the Dove’s bringing back the olive-leaf to Noah, which was, they say, a tender shoot of that year. We believe however with the most learned Chronologists, that the sacred Author spoke in this place of the second month in the civil year, which began in Autumn, about our October, and that this second month answered partly to October and partly to November: so that the Deluge began in Autumn, and in the beginning of Winter. Here follows a Calendar of this melancholy year 1656, according to M. Basnage, who is in some Antiq. Judaiq. t.2. p.399.manner of our opinion.
The year of the world’s creation M.D- C.LVI. I. Month, September. Methuselah died at the age of 969 years. II. October. Noah and his family entered the Ark. III. November, the 17th. The fountains of the great deep were broke open. IV. December, the 26th. The rain began and continued forty days and forty nights.
V. January. All the men and beasts that were upon the earth, were buried under the waters. VI. February. The rain continued. VII. March. The waters remained in their elevation till the 27th, when they began to abate. VIII. April, the 17th. The Ark rested on mount Ararat in Armenia. IX. May. They did nothing while the waters were retiring. X. June, the 1st. The tops of the mountains appeared. XI. July, the 11th. Noah let go a raven, which return’d no more to him.
the 18th. He let go a dove, which returned.
the 25th. The dove being loosed a second time, brought back the olive-branch. XII. August, the 2d. The dove went out a third time, and returned no more. The year of the world’s creation M.D- C.LVII. I. Month, September, the 1st. The dry land appeared. II. October, the 27th. Noah went out of the Ark with his family.
The question concerning the universality of the Deluge, is of the most serious and important nature. Some learned men have denied it, and pretended that to maintain it, were an absurdity, and a great argument of want of reason; that to believe God capable of making things contrary to nature and reason, were to form a mistaken idea of his power and greatness; that the universality of the Deluge is contrary to both; that it may be geometrically demonstrated, that although all the clouds in the air were reduced to water, and fell upon the earth, yet would they not cover the whole superficies of it to the height of a foot and an half; and that if all the water contained in rivers and in the sea, were to be spread over the earth, it would never rise to the height of four thousand paces, so as to reach the tops of the highest mountains, unless it was rarified in an extraordinary manner, and then it would not be in a condition to support the weight of the Ark; that if all the air which encompasses the earth were changed into water, this would not make above one and thirty feet of water, which would be very far from what were necessary to cover the whole surface of the earth and the highest mountains so far as fifteen cubits above their tops.
All this seems contrary to Reason, and what follows, to Nature. The rain does not fall upon eminences above 600 paces high: it does not descend from a greater altitude than this, and there can be no rain formed higher which would not immediately be frozen by the cold that prevails there: whence then came the water which was to cover the tops of those mountains that are above the middle region of the air? Will any one say, that the rain found a way back again? How could the plants be preserved so long under water? How could the animals that came out of the Ark, disperse themselves throughout the whole world? Besides, all the Earth was not then peopled: why then should the Deluge be intended to be universal? Was it not sufficient for it to reach those countries which were inhabited? How were beasts brought from the extremities of the world into the Ark?
These are the principal objections which are form’d against the universality of the Deluge1. Isaac Vossius mentioned them in a dissertation composed particularly by him, under the title, de Ætate Mundi, in his epistle to Andrew Colvius, and in his answers to Andrew Scotanus, and George Hornius. This opinion was examined while F. John Mabillon was at Rome, in the journey which he made thither in 1685. And the counsellors of the Sacred Congregation de l’Indice having done him the honour to advise with him concerning it2, he set forth the reasons to them which might be alledged against Vossius, and at the same time those which might be offered to excuse him. He observes, that his opinion contains nothing contrary either to faith or good manners; that Vossius proposed this System with no other design but to reply more easily to the objections of such Libertines, who made use of what was said concerning the universality of the deluge, to destroy the authority of the Holy Scriptures.
That Vossius said nothing exasperating or injurious to the church of Rome, nor against those who maintain the opinion which he opposes, but only declared his own as the most probable: that it is of advantage to receive, or at least tolerate, diverse senses in the explanation of the Scripture, provided they do not contradict the manifest authority of the Sacred Writings, and the Church. That these expressions omnis terra, omnes montes, omnis caro, may be construed with restriction, and so are often understood in Scripture. That some Catholick Doctors, such as Cajetan, believed that the mountain upon which he supposes Paradise to have been situated, was not covered with the waters of the Deluge. That as this opinion of Vossius had hitherto produced no disturbance among Catholicks, and had been attack’d by Protestants only, there was no danger in tolerating it; and that it were better to leave it without censure, than to concern themselves in disputes which are carried on among Protestants: that however, if the Congregation were inclined to stigmatize this opinion by any censure, they should farther censure Hornius’s confutation of it, because of his injurious reflexions on the Pope and the Catholick Church. Such was the advice of this wise and learned Monk.
We shall now show whether Vossius had reason to depart in this particular from the common opinion of the Fathers, and of all Commentators, as well Catholicks as Protestants. He visibly departs from the Text of Moses which we have related, and which cannot more clearly evidence than it does, the universality of the Deluge.
But the universality of the Deluge, says Vossius, is impossible and unnecessary; why should the whole Earth be overflowed to destroy all mankind? was it not sufficient to pour forth the waters into countries where there were men? But who told Vossius that the World was not then intirely peopled, after above two thousand years continuance? for, according to the Septuagint, whose Chronology is supported by
him, the World was above 2200 years old in the beginning of the Deluge: Was a longer time necessary for the settling inhabitants in all the countries in the World? Besides, did he think to find less considerable difficulties in the system of a particular Deluge? Supposing this, what necessity was there to build at great expence a prodigious Ark, to bring all sorts of animals into it, to oblige eight persons to enter into it? Was all this done to secure them from an inundation which was to cover some part only of the Earth? Was it not more easy to command these people to stay in those countries which the Deluge was not to reach, and by a particular providence to conduct those animals thither, which as yet were not there?
How could the waters continue at the height of fifteen cubits above the tallest mountains of Armenia, for example, Chaldæa or Persia, without spreading into the neighbouring countries? How should such a vessel as the Ark float for many months upon a mountain of water, without sliding by its own weight down the declivity of it? Now Vossius himself confesses, that supposing a particular Deluge, this would be the situation of the Ark upon the waters.
He says, that if the Deluge had extended itself throughout all the World, the plants and trees would have died: that according to his own System they did not, since Noah and his family, and the animals which he had preserved in the Ark, when they went out of it, lived and settled in those very countries, to which, by his confession, the Deluge did extend; that is to say, round about mount Ararat, in Mesopotamia and Chaldæa. If the plants and trees did not die in this country, why should they die elsewhere? And if Noah could have stored the country afresh with them, supposing they did die, why might he not have done the same in the rest of the World in time, and a succession of Ages? And if the waters of the Deluge, which he asserts to have been particular only, corrupted all the trees and plants wherever they reached, whence came the branch or shoot of the Olive-tree, which the Dove brought to Noah? We have many experiments of an infinite fertility of nature in the production and reproduction of plants; we know of many wonderful effects from the preservation of seeds, both under the water in the Earth, and out of the Earth for many years, and which are afterwards as fruitful as before; we know that water, with respect to plants, is a principle of fertility infinitely more proper to preserve than to destroy them: that many plants grow under water, that all require moisture to produce and multiply; the dung Plin. l. 13. c. 25. See M. le Pelletier of Rohan, his Dissertation on Noah’s Ark, c. 33.of beasts and birds reproduces Licet. l. 3. c. 7. De his quæ diu vivunt sine alimento. Scalig. in Cardan. Exercit. 14.those grains in the fields which have been eaten by them; virgin earth exposed to the air produces herbs which were never sown there; earth taken from under the water will do the same. No one can boast that he knows those wise precautions which the Author of nature has taken for the preservation of the species. Trunks of trees have been seen to grow green again, and become fruitful, after having been ten or eleven years plucked up by the roots.
Gen. viii. 3, 4.Add to all this, that the waters of the Deluge did not cover the whole surface of the earth for more than about an hundred and ten days: for from the first day of the tenth month they began to discover the tops of the mountains. Noah entered the Ark upon the seventeeth day of the second month, after which the rain fell forty days and forty nights, and 256 days before the end of the Deluge the waters began to rise again in vapours; so that the time of all the seeds and plants continuing under water, was far from being a whole year.
The difficulty of bringing beasts from all places of the world to Noah, is not so great as may be imagined. The number of beasts created in the beginning, is not so considerable as we might believe. God created one man and one woman, and probably a couple of every kind of animals, male and female. From this couple, of horses, for example, of dogs, or goats, all the animals that we know of, of the same species, were born. The difference which is observed between the different sorts of dogs and horses, is not greater than that which we see between the different sorts of men, of whom some are white, and others black, others of an olive colour, others red; some have a beard, others have none.
Besides, there were all the several species of animals in the places round about Paradise, since God brought all sorts of them to Adam, in order to be named by him. It is very credible that the terrestrial Paradise was not far from Armenia, and the source of the Tigris and Euphrates, which are expressly mentioned by Moses in Gen. viii. 11. Gen. ii. 19. Gen. ii. 8, 9, 10, 11.his description of this garden. Lastly, there is scarce any doubt to be made, but that Noah’s Ark was built in Mesopotamia, somewhere towards Chaldæa. It is very probable therefore, that there were as many animals in this country and the places adjacent, as were necessary to be put into the Ark. If there are some, that through long habit, which becomes as it were a second nature, cannot now live in this part of the world, which however I think very difficult to prove, it does not follow that there were any such in Noah’s time. If on a sudden any men or beasts were to be conveyed from the warmest parts of Africk
to the coldest places in the North, it is very credible, that both would perish there; but the case would not be the same, if they were to be removed by insensible degrees nearer to these places, or were to be bred there from their being young: and if there are some beasts which are to be found only in particular countries, we are not to infer from thence, that there never were any of them elsewhere. We know very well, that formerly there were many beasts of a particular species in some countries, where at present very few or none at all of the same kind are to be met with, such as the Hippopotomi in Egypt, wolves in England, and beavers3 in France.
But the strongest objection proposed against the universality of the deluge is taken from the impossibility of finding so much water in nature, as was requisite to cover all the Earth to the height mention’d by Moses; that is to say, of fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, which are supposed be about a thousand or twelve hundred paces in perpendicular height. The question is, whether the waters of the Earth may be sufficient to cover it to such an height; that is to say, whether the waters of the sea, of fountains, rivers, and the conservatories of water upon Earth, together with the clouds in the air, could suffice for the purpose we are speaking of.
It has been believed, that tho’ all the air in the world, that is to say, in the atmosphere, which extends itself between us and the moon, were to be condensed into water, it would not yield a depth of water of above two and thirty feet over all the earth; because it has been supposed, that a column of air from the earth to the top of the atmosphere, does not weigh more than two and thirty feet of water: and this supposition is founded upon the best experiments which have been made to prove the gravity of the air. Nevertheless, these experiments are contradicted by other experiments, which seem to be as exact and certain as the former, Le Pelletier Differt. sur l’Arche de Noë, p. 36.and leave room to question at least the truth of this principle, viz. that the weight of the air is the cause of the water or quicksilver’s continuing suspended in the tubes wherein they have been placed, in an equilibrium with the air. Besides, it is demonstrated, that if it be true, as they say it is, who have carried their experiments of the air’s gravity to the greatest perfection, that five hundred fathoms of elevation sink the quicksilver included in tubes stopped at one end, seven and thirty lines and an half, and that the same quicksilver continues suspended at the height of eight and twenty inches and an half, in places which are upon a level with the sea; upon these suppositions, I say, it is demonstrable, that there cannot be more than two leagues and sixty fathoms of air in height, which could gravitate about the terrestrial globe, tho’ the philosophers will have it, that the earth is eighty five or eighty six thousand leagues distant from the moon, and consequently a like extent of air which should gravitate like that which is immediately about the earth.
Now supposing that it really does gravitate, and comes to be reduced to water, what quantities of it will it not produce4? And if it does not gravitate, there can be nothing concluded from its weight either for or against the universality of the Deluge. The truth is, that the weight of the air is, in my opinion, nothing else but the effort which the air makes to get away from the center of its motion, which is supposed to be circular about the earth; and that the weight of bodies in the air consists only in the pressure of the air, which by the same effort that we have been speaking of, repels them towards the earth, and acts upon them with more or less force, according as these bodies are more solid, dense, and earthy, or more subtile, porous, and airy. And all this is nothing to the question of the Universality of the Deluge, and whether there is in nature so much water as may suffice to cover the whole earth as high as we have mention’d, that is to say, to about twelve thousand feet in thickness quite round the terrestrial globe.
In the beginning of the creation the terrestrial Gen. i. 2, 3.globe was all hemmed in with water, the earth was a Chaos, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and darkness covered the whole face of the deep, as Moses says. The Psalmist expresses himself in as particular a manner, Thou layest the foundations of the earth, that it never should be moved at any time, thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of thy thunder they were afraid. They go up as high as the hills, and down to the valleys beneath, even unto the place which thou hast appointed for them. Thou hast set them their bounds which they shall not pass; neither turn again to cover the earth. Ps. civ. 5, 6, 7.
Here therefore is an universal Deluge clearly described in the beginning of the world; and what prevents its returning a second time? What but the commands of God, who has said to the waters of the sea, Job. xxxviii. 11.Hither shalt thou come, but no far
Prov. viii. 27, 29.ther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. And Wisdom in the Proverbs, When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth.
Gen. i. 6, 7, 8.But, it will be said, to reduce things to the first state wherein Moses describes them, God must not only have spread the waters of the sea, fountains, and rivers over the earth, which seems impossible without disordering the whole œconomy of the terrestrial globe; but likewise must have recalled the waters which he had rais’d above the firmament, and have brought them down upon the earth. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. The waters below the firmament are indubitably the waters of the sea and rivers; the waters above it are those which are rarified in the atmosphere itself: in short, in what place soever these waters may be, and whatsoever may become of them, it is certain that they are not annihilated; that it was altogether as easy for God to reduce them to their first state, and form them into waters at the time of the Deluge, as it was for him in the beginning of the world, to reduce them into air or vapours; however, this demonstrates that there is nothing in the universal Deluge contrary to the laws of nature, nor impossible to the power of God.
Moses, to shew us the change which happened at that time in nature, tells us, That Gen. vii. 11, 12.the fountains of the great deep were broke open, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. As if he had said, that the earth was reduced to very near the same state wherein it was in the beginning, that it returned in some sort to a Chaos. The barriers and banks, which restrained the waters of the sea, were broken down; the cataracts of the firmament were opened, the lower and upper waters were again collected together, as in the beginning.
But supposing the Ark to have been rais’d fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, how could the men and beasts in it, live and breathe amidst the cold and extreme subtility of the air in the middle region, wherein some affirm that no animal whatsoever can live long? Two things may be said in reply to this: first, that the arguments and supposed experiments which are produced to prove, that there is no living on the highest mountains in the world, are by no means certain. It is indeed colder, and the air is finer and sharper on the tops of the highest mountains, but it is not true that people die there, as we know from many very certain relations.
Secondly, the middle region of the air ought not to be looked upon as a fixed point, and a limited region, which never either rises or falls; it is with respect to us more or less elevated, according to the greater or lesser heat of the Sun. During winter it is much nearer the Earth than in the warmth of summer; or to speak more properly, the cold which reigns in the middle region of the air during the summer, reigns likewise in the lower region during winter. Thus supposing the Deluge to be universal, it is evident, that the middle region of the air must have risen higher, and removed to a greater distance from the earth and waters; and on the contrary, the lower region must have approached nearer unto both, in proportion as the waters of the Deluge encreased or decreased. So that the Ark was all along in the lower region of the air, even when it was carried fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, and the men and beasts, which were enclosed in it, breathed the same air as they would have breathed on Earth, a thousand or twelve hundred paces lower, if the Deluge had not happened.
We do not however pretend by all these arguments to prove, that the universal Deluge was produced without a miracle; we acknowledge that it was a very extraordinary one, and particularly remarkable in the fall of the waters for forty days, and in their evaporation, or return into the Deep and Air, in what manner soever this may have been effected. We confess that this terrible event does involve almost inexplicable difficulties, as well according to the system which maintains it to be universal, as that which supposes it to be only particular; and since it is necessary to admit a chain of miracles in both systems, we had better, methinks, adhere to the common opinion of the Fathers, and Interpreters in all Ages and Communions, than hunt after new ways which engage us in perplexities equal to those which we endeavour to avoid. For if it is our design, by allowing the system of a particular Deluge, to stop the mouths of Libertines, and secure the authority of the Holy Scriptures; how should we succeed, while we offer violence to the text, and make it say that the Deluge covered but a part only of the Earth, while Moses and all the Sacred Authors, who have spoken of it, shew so distinctly the universality of it? Dr. Thomas Burnet, an English Author, in his book intitled, Telluris Theoria Sacra, Libri duo priores de Diluvio & Paradiso, printed in 4to at London 1681, has pretended to explain in a physical manner, how the Deluge was produced. He supposes the earth to have been in its beginning round, smooth
and even throughout, without mountains or valleys; that in the center of the Earth there was a great abyss full of water; that the earth having sunk in many places, the consequence of different shocks and divers earthquakes, and risen in others, had opened a passage for the waters, which issued out with impetuosity from the center where they had been shut up, and spread over all the earth; that these shocks and earth-quakes, and lands confusedly heaped together, formed mountains and valleys; that in the beginning the axis of the Earth kept exactly parallel with the axis of the world, moving always directly under the Æquator, and producing a perpetual Æquinox; that indeed the torrid Zone was utterly uninhabitable, but in return there was a perpetual spring over all the earth besides; that in the first world there were neither seas, nor rain, nor rain-bow; that at last the Earth which we inhabit having passed through fire, will one day re-assume its pristine form, till at the last day of judgment it be changed into a fixed star.
We do not attempt here to confute this system, it is sufficient for us to have proposed it. It appears evidently enough from Moses, that before the Deluge, there were mountains, seas, and vicissitudes of seasons. Leidekker, and some other Protestant Authors have written against Burnet, and these the reader, if he pleases, may consult.
Another English Author, whose name is Woodward, in a Book intitled Naturalis Historia telluris illustrata, &c. printed at London in 1714, asserts, that the whole Mass of the Earth having been dissolved by the waters of the Deluge, a new Earth was afterwards formed, composed of different beds or lays of terrestrial Matter which was swimming in this fluid: That these lays were disposed one upon the other almost according to their different degrees of gravity; so that the Plants or Animals, particularly shell-fish, and other fishes, which as yet were not dissolved as well as the rest, remain’d confounded with mineral and fossile materials, which have preserved them whole, or at least have retained the different impressions of them either raised or hollow.
By this Hypothesis he explains the Shells we meet with in places very remote from the sea, the Elephant’s teeth and bones of Animals, the petrified Fishes, and an hundred other things which we find upon the tops of mountains, and in places at a great distance from the sea. He asserts, that these having been all buried in the earth at the time of the universal Deluge, the bituminous matter and salts that are in the earth, penetrated, and preserved them intire, and even sometimes petrified them. The Reader may consult the Author whom we have cited, in whose work he will find many very curious things relating to the Deluge. See likewise Ray’s Consequences of the Deluge, and Scheutzer’s Piscium querelæ, and Herbarium diluvianum, printed at Zurich, the first in 1708, the second in 1709. Nouvelles de la Rep. des Lettres, Mars 1704. Edm. Halley Dissert. in Actis Philosophicis, Londin. p. 104. The Dictionary of Trevoux, under the words Deluge, Coquillage, Fossiles.
The Mussulmen, Pagans, Chinese, and the very people of America, have preserved the tradition of the Deluge. They all relate it after their own particular manner. JosephusJoseph. l. 1. contra Appion. p. 1043, 1044. Apud Eu-seb. præpar. l. 9. c. 12. cites Berosus, who upon the testimony of some ancient monuments spoke of the Deluge much as Moses did. He said something of Noah and the Ark, and of the mountains where it rested. Abydenus relates, that one Sesistrus was informed by Saturn of a Deluge which was to drown all the earth; that Sesistrus having embarked in a covered vessel, sent forth birds to learn in what condition the earth was; and that these birds returned three times. Alexander Polyhistor told the same story with Abydenus, and added withal, that the four-footed beasts, the creeping things and birds of the air, were preserved in this vessel. Lucian in his Book concerning the goddess of Syria, says, that mankind having given themselves up to the utmost irregularities, the earth was drowned with a Deluge, so that none but Deucalion remained upon it, he having taken shelter in a vessel, together with his
Apollodor. Bibl. l. 1. c. 1. Ovid. Metam. l. 1. v. 270, &c.family and animals of all sorts. Apollodorus, Ovid, and many others have discoursed at large of Deucalion’s Deluge; but they have intermixed many circumstances in their recital, which agree only with that of Noah.
The Chinese maintain, that the Deluge did not overflow their country; that it did not reach so far as the Indies. This is what we see in the account given by two Mahometan Arabians, who travelled into this Renaudot Voyage de deux Arabes en Egypte au neuvieme Siecle, imprimé à Paris 1718.country in the ninth Century; but the Arabians made no difficulty of believing it.
We have spoken above, under the word Apamæa, of the tradition which asserted Noah’s Ark to have rested near this city, which for this reason was called Kibotos, that is to say, the Ark. Two Medals have been published, coined in the same city: one represents on one side the Emperor Philip’s Head with this legend in Greek, The Emperor Cæsar Julius Philippus Augustus, and Octav. Falconer Inscriptiones Atleticæ Rom. 1668. p. 163. Kircher de arcâ Noë, p. 138.on the reverse is an Ark, wherein Deucalion and Pyrrha, or Noah and his wife, are shut up: upon the top of the Ark are two pigeons, one whereof holds the branch of an olive-tree. On one side of the Ark we read the word Noe: and about the reverse, Under Marcus Aurelius Alexander
second Pontiff of the Apamæans. The second Medal resembles the first with this difference, that it represents the Head of Lucius Septimius Severus Pertinax, and that on the reverse we read these Greek letters, NHTΩN upon the Ark; and about the reverse, Under him who presides over the combats of the Magnesians and Apamæans. F. Kircher believed these Greek letters NΩE, which signify Noah, to have been the last letters of the word AΠAMEΩN reversed. Others mention that these medals were forged. It would be necessary to see and examine them: This is certain, that the people of Apamæa in Asia, valued themselves upon having been first founded by Deucalion and Pyrrha, or Noah and his wife, when they came out of the Ark, after the Deluge.
Mahomet speaking of the Deluge, says, Alcoran. cap. Hond.That when the time which God had prescribed for the punishment of Mankind was come, and that the oven began to boil and run over, God said to Noah, take and carry two couple of Animals of all kinds into the Ark with you. An oven which begins to boil is in Arabic called Tannour, and the Mahometans tell us, that Eve made use of this oven in baking bread; and that it came by succession down to Noah: it is different from our common ovens, and has a very narrow mouth at the top of it. It is generally made of stone, of a sort of brown freestone. They heat it by throwing wood into it at the top, and the dough is placed without all round the oven, or within on little white flints, with which the hollow of it is half full.
Coloss. iv. 14.When therefore the oven began to boil, that is to say, the waters of the Deluge began to rise with impetuosity from the bottom of the earth, God commanded Noah to go into the Ark with his family, and those righteous persons whom he should appoint to enter into it: these were fourscore in number; but Canaan refused to go on board. After six months continuance of the Deluge, for they allow it to have been of no longer duration, God commanded the earth, and said, Earth swallow up thy waters; Heaven draw up those which thou hast poured out. The water hereupon began immediately to diminish, and the order of God was executed. The Ark settled on mount Gioudi, and a voice was heard from heaven, saying, Wo to the wicked. The Interpreters observe, that this verse is the most eloquent and sublime in the Alcoran, both for the sense and words of it.
I. DEMAS, whom St. Paul speaks of in his Epistles, was of Thessalonica. He was at first one of the most zealous Disciples that this Apostle had. He was very serviceable to him at Rome during his imprisonment. But some years after, (about the year of Jesus Christ 65.) he forsook him to follow a more secular life, and withdrew to Thessalonica, the place of his birth. Epiphanius informs us, that he renounced the faith, and was engaged in the heresy of Cerinthus, Ebion, and others, who held Jesus Christ to be a mere man. Dorothæus in his Synopsis says, that when he came to Thessalonica, he became a Priest to some of Est. Grot. Menoc. Cornel. in 2 Tim. iv. 2 Tim. iv. 10. Epiphan. hæres. 51.the Idols of the Country. Others affirm, that he recovered after this fall; and Estius conjectures, that St. Ignatius in his Epistle to the Magnesians speaks of him, calling him, their Bishop worthy of God. But all this is grounded only upon a false supposition, that the second Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy was written during this Apostle’s first imprisonment at Rome, and before the Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon.
II. DEMAS. One of the Thieves crucified with Jesus Christ, is by some called by this name; by others he is called Dumachus.
I. DEMETRIUS PHALEREUS, a Peripatetick Philosopher, and the Disciple of Theophrastus. His extraordinary qualities recommended him to the government of the Athenian Commonwealth for ten years, where three hundred and sixty Statues in brass were erected to his honour. But after this he fell into disgrace with the Athenians, who during his absence condemned him to death, and overthrew all his statues. He retired to Ptolemy the son of Lagus, King of Egypt, whom he would have persuaded to exclude his eldest son Ptolemy Philadelphus from his succession to the kingdom, and to substitute in his room the children of Eurydice. But Philadelphus coming to the crown, banished Demetrius out of his dominions, who About the year of the World 3723, or 3724. Philadelphus ascended the throne in 3721. Diogen. Laert. in Demetrio Phalereo. l. 5. segm. 78, 79. Cicero Orat. pro Rabirio. Vide Menag. notas in Diogen. l. 5.thereupon killed himself with the biting of an Asp. This is the account which we have from Diogenes Laertius in his life of this Philosopher.
We take notice of him in this Dictionary for no other reason, but because it is by some pretended, that King Ptolemy Philadelphus at his persuasion set people to work upon translating the Scriptures of the Hebrews into Greek. But the bare relation of his life, as we have given it, is intirely contrary to this opinion. Demetrius was never in any favour or credit in Egypt under Philadelphus. This we shall examine more at large in the Article of the Seventy Interpreters.
II. DEMETRIUS SOTER, King of Syria, reigned twelve years, from the year of the world 3842 to 3854, before Jesus Christ 146, before the Vulgar Æra 150. He was the son of Seleucus IV. surnamed Philopater; but did not immediately succeed him, because he was an hostage at Rome, when his father died, and his uncle Antiochus
Antiochus Epiphanes, who in the interim arrived in Syria, procured himself to be acknowledged King, and reigned eleven years, and after him his son Antiochus Eupator, two. At length Demetrius Soter was seated in his father’s throne, in the year 3842, as we before observed. He is often mentioned in the Books of the Maccabees.
Alcimus, who had intruded into the office of High-priest of the Jews, with some other malecontents of the same nation, so exasperated Demetrius against Judas Maccabæus, that this prince sent Bacchides with an army against him. But Judas 1 Macc. vii. and 2 Macc. xiv.Maccabæus defended himself with so much bravery, that Bacchides could get no advantage over him. The year following, the King sent Nicanor into Judæa; but Nicanor was intirely defeated, and lost his life in the action. At last Bacchides coming 1 Macc. xv. and 2 Macc. vii. 1 Macc. ix. 2—20. World 3843. before J. C. 157. before the Vulgar Æra 161. 1 Macc. ix. 28.a second time into Judæa, bore down Judas with the number of his troops, and overwhelmed all the Jews, who had continued faithful to the Lord, with great calamities. Jonathan succeeded Judas in the government of his people. Demetrius endeavoured to surprize and kill him; but Jonathan kept his ground during the whole time of Demetrius’s reign, and governed for a long time after him.
Alexander Balas, who called himself the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, having got himself to be acknowledged king of Syria In the year of the World 3851. before J. C. 149. before the Vulgar Æra 153. 1 Macc. x. 1, 2.by the garrison of Ptolemaïs, Demetrius put himself at the head of his army, and marched against him. He wrote to Jonathan Maccabæus, and desired troops of him against Balas. But Jonathan prefer’d the offers and conditions which Alexander Balas proposed to him, and embraced his party against Demetrius; who wrote a second time to him on the same subject, but Jonathan would not rely upon his promises. At length Demetrius giving battle, he was killed fighting valiantly in the year of the world 3854, before Jesus Christ 146, before the Vulgar Æra 150. He 1 Macc. x. 49, 50. Joseph. l. 13. Antiq. l. 5. Justin. l. 35.was succeeded by Demetrius Nicanor, of whom we shall now proceed to speak.
III. DEMETRIUS NICANOR, or Nicator, the son of Demetrius Soter, in the beginning of the war against Balas, was sent by his father into the isle of Cnidus, to secure him against all the accidents, which might happen to him during this time. After the death of his father, he continued for some time in repose, waiting an opportunity to declare himself, and recover the kingdom, which was his right. At length, five years after the death of Demetrius, in that of the World 3856, before the Vulgar 1 Macc. x. 68, 69. Joseph. Antiq. l. 13. c. 8. Justin. l. 35. c. 2.Æra 148, young Nicanor passed into Cilicia with some troops. Soon after Apollonius, governour of Cæle-Syria, joined him; and as Jonathan Maccabæus persisted in his alliance with Balas, Apollonius made war against him with very little success. In the mean time Balas’s affairs went worse and worse, and Nicanor fortified himself more and more in Syria.
In the year of the World 3858, Ptolemy Philometor came into Syria with an army, in appearance to assist Balas his son-in-law, but in reality to make himself master of his kingdom. He was so fortunate as to get admittance into Antioch, and was there acknowledged King of Syria. But he declared to the Syrians, that they would do a very agreeable thing to him, if they would give the crown to his son-in-law Demetrius Nicanor; (for he had married his daughter Cleopatra to him, after having taken her from Alexander Balas.) Thus Demetrius was once more seated on the throne of his ancestors, and his competitor Balas was 1 Macc. xi. 14—18. Joseph. l. 13. c. 8.killed soon afterwards.
Jonathan taking advantage of these disturbances in Syria, grew stronger in Judæa, and undertook the siege of the Citadel in Jerusalem, which was still in the possession of the Syrians. Demetrius having notice of it, sent for Jonathan to come and give an account to him of his conduct at Ptolemaïs, where he was. Jonathan went thither with large sums of money, and won so effectually the good graces of the King, that he obtained from him the confirmation of the dignity of High-priest, and liberty for all the provinces in Judæa, upon paying down three hundred talents, which he promised the King.
Demetrius seeing himself peaceable possessor of Syria, gave himself up to all manner of excesses, so that he became odious and contemptible to his subjects. One Diodotus, who had had some command in Alexander Balas’s armies, undertook to dispossess Demetrius, and to put young Antiochus upon the throne, the son of Alexander Balas, who was then a child, and lived with Elmachuel, King of the Arabians. Demetrius once more ruined his affairs, by provoking the inhabitants of Antioch, whose arms he had ordered to be taken from them; and in a sedition, which happened upon this occasion, killed a great number of them. As soon as Diodotus, otherwise called Tryphon, appeared in Syria with young Antiochus, the Syrians flocked in crowds to acknowledge him, and offer him their services. He saw himself very soon at the head of a good army, gave Demetrius battel, beat him, and obliged him to fly to Seleucia.
Jonathan Maccabæus sollicited by Tryphon, abandoned Demetrius’s party, and espoused that of young Antiochus Theos, who permitted him to make war upon the people and cities of Phœnicia and Syria, which still held out for Demetrius. He
was very succesful in his attempts, and both he and his brother Simon acquir’d the reputation of being very brave men.
Diodotus, who had raised young Antiochus to the throne with a design only of reigning under his name, was not satisfied with the honours and power of royalty, but was impatient to wear the title and marks too of it: he therefore put Antiochus to death, and procured himself to be acknowledged King of Syria under the name of Tryphon. He had a little before treacherously killed Judas Maccabæus, who was one of the most powerful supports which that young prince had. Simon, Jonathan’s brother and successor, abhorring the cruelty of this Usurper, sent a Crown to Demetrius Nicanor, acknowledged him for King, and intreated him to grant the Jews an exemption from paying tribute. This Prince, who was then, as it were, banished to Seleucia in a corner of his dominions, readily consented to his request, granted him a general amnesty for what was passed, and confirmed all the favours and privileges which had been before granted to Jonathan. So that in this year 3861, before Jesus Christ 139, and before the Vulgar Æra 142, the Jews were intirely freed from all subjection to the Gentiles.1 Macc. xiv. 38—41. and xiii. 35—42. Joseph. Antiq. l. 13. c. 11. In the year of the World 3863 before J. C. 137. before the Vulgar Æra 140. Joseph. Antiq. l. 13. c. 9. 1 Macc. xiv. 1, 2, 3, &c.
Demetrius observing that the Cities generally forsook his party, and that his troops despised him for his negligence, resolved to make war against the Parthians; but he was not successful in it. He was treacherously taken, and put into the hands of the King of Parthia, who treated him with honour, and gave him his own daughter in marriage. Cleopatra his first wife, whom he left at Seleucia with his children, seeing him engaged in another marriage, sent an offer of the Kingdom of Syria to Antiochus Sidetes, brother to her husband Demetrius, upon condition, that he would make her his wife. Antiochus consented, and coming into Syria, assumed the title of King, and wrote to Simon Maccabæus desiring his friendship. He reigned nine years from the year of the world 3865 to 3874. Having undertaken to get his brother Demetrius out of the hands of the Parthians, he declared war against them; but after Vulgar Æra 139. Vide 1 Macc. xv. 10, &c.a great deal of good success, he at last perished with his army, and Demetrius returned into Syria, and was once more placed upon the throne. He reigned four years after this, and was killed in the year of the World 3878, before Jesus Christ 122, before the Vulgar Æra 126. He was succeeded by his eldest son Seleucus, to whom he left a dangerous rival in the person of Alexander, surnamed Zebina.
IV. DEMETRIUS, surnamed Eucærus or Eukairus, the son of Antiochus Gryphus, is not mentioned in the sacred Writings; but Josephus speaks of him, and says he made war against Alexander Jannæus King of the Jews. Alexander JannæusJoseph. Antiq. l. 13. c. 21. was so odious to the Jews, his subjects, that having one day asked them what they would have him do to satisfy them, they answer’d, that the most obliging thing he could do to them, would be to go and hang himself; at the same time they sent to Demetrius Eucærus, desiring troops from him to be employ’d against their own King. Demetrius came with forty thousand foot and three thousand horse, and incamped at Sichem. Alexander marched against him at the head of twenty thousand Jews of his party, and six thousand foreign soldiers. The battle was fought, Alexander was conquered, and obliged to fly to the neighbouring mountains. Whereupon the Jews compassionating the misfortune of their King, resorted to him from all parts, so that in a little time he had a body of six thousand men. Demetrius fearing lest their number should increase, thought it convenient to retire. Eucærus was established in the kingdom by Ptolemy Lathyrus, in the year of the World 3912. He was taken and delivered to the Parthians some years after. Mithridates, King of Parthia, treated him in an honourable manner, and Demetrius died of some indisposition in this Prince’s Antiq. l. 13. c. 22; p. 461.court.
V. DEMETRIUS, a Goldsmith of Ephesus, whose principal trade it was to make niches or little chapels for Diana of Ephesus, which he sold to foreigners. This man observing the progress which the Gospel made, not in Ephesus only, but in all Asia besides, called together those who got their livelihood, as he did, in making little chapels, and represented the great prejudice their trade would suffer by this new doctrine which St. Paul preached; he told them, that not only their trade would suffer much by it, but the worship of the great Diana of Ephesus would be in danger of being intirely forsaken. At these words they were enraged, and began to cry, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! The whole city was immediately in an uproar, and they seized on Gaius and Aristarchus, St. Paul’s companions, and brought them in a tumultuous manner to the Theatre. St. Paul himself had an inclination to be present there, but his friends prevented him.
They afterwards laid hands on one Alexander a Jew, whom they dragg’d to the Assembly; but as soon as he attempted to speak, and it was perceived that he was a Jew, they repeated their cries, and continued them for two hours, so that nothing was heard every where but these words, Great is the Diana of Ephesus! At last the Town-Clerk of the City coming into the Assembly, told them, That no one intended any thing to the prejudice of the Great Diana and her honour; that all the world
was convinced of their zeal for her service and worship; and that if they continued their cries in this manner, they might be accused of raising a sedition. Lastly, that if Demetrius had any contest with any one, he might address himself to the magistrates, without filling the City with confusion in such a manner. The Ephesians submitted to these reasons, and every one returned to his own house.
VI. DEMETRIUS, one whom St. Paul mentions as a very virtuous Christian. Some believe him to be the same person, whom we Serar. in 3. Ep Joan.have been just speaking of, and who renounced Heathenism to embrace Christianity. But this opinion wants proof, as well as their conjecture, who make Demetrius a Bishop: I Catharin. Salmeron.say nothing of the chronicle written by the pretended Lucius Dexter, which asserts Demetrius to have been brother to that Caius, to whom St. John addressed his Epistle.
Δαίμων Dæmon.DEMON, or Dæmon, comes from the Greek Daimon, which signifies knowing, learned. Good and bad Angels, but much more generally bad angels are called in Greek and Latin, Demons or Dæmones. The Hebrews express the name of Demon by that of Serpent, שטןSatan. שדים Vastatores.Satan, or Tempter, Scheddim, or Destroyer; Sehirim, goats or hairy; and in Greek authors we find the names Dæmones, or Diabolus, that is to say, Calumniators, or impure שעירים Hirsuti.Spirits, or others of the like significancy. The Prince of Demons or Devils, is called Beelzebub, Sammaël, Asmodæus, Belial, Satan, Dragon, destroying Angel, Prince of the powers of he air.
Several of the ancient fathers, being imposed upon by the apocryphal book of Enoch, which was of great authority with them, and by some passages of the Septuagint, wherein it Genes. vi. 2.is said, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and took them wives of all which they chose, from whom the Giants descended: several of the ancient fathers, I say, have from hence asserted Angels and Demons to have certain subtile bodies, and particular passions, which can be consistent only with material substances. But the opinion of the Church, which has been commonly followed by the Fathers, is, that good and bad Angels are all Spirits disingaged from matter, that they were all created at the same time and with the same degree of Grace; but that some of them, which kept not their first state, and left their own habitation, were precipitated into hell; and the rest, who continued Jude 6.faithful to their Creator, were confirmed in Grace, and established in a fixed state of eternal glory.
The Rabbins are divided in their opinions concerning the nature and original of Demons. Berefchith Rabb. Sect. 7. col. 3.Some of them maintain, that they are Spiritual, that God had not leisure to give them bodies, because the Sabbath began at that very instant when he was going to Manasse form such for them. Others pretend that Ben-Israel de creat. they are corporeal, are distinguished by the problem. difference of sexes, are capable of multiplying 23. themselves by generation, and are subject to death. Some teach that they were produced by a conjunction between Sammaël prince of the Demons, and Eve, before Adam knew her. Others say, Adam was their father, and Lilith their mother. They tell us, that Adam having been expelled Paradise, continued an hundred and thirty years under excommunication, and that during all Vide Rabb: this time, the male Angels had access to Eve, Salom. and begat Demons. Adam on his part was in Ps.
lxxxix. conversant with female Demons, and begot 23. likewise Demons. That when these hundred Rab.
Jerem. and thirty years of penance were expired, fil. Adam began to have children of his wife after Eliezer, his own image and resemblance. These &c. are fancies of a most extraordinary nature.
Basnage hist. des Juifs, t. 4. l. 6. c. 11. p.170.Some Jewish Doctors tell us, that after the creation of Adam, God appointed two Angels to descend from Heaven, and attend him every where, one at his right, the other at his left hand. After the Fall, the Angel on the left hand ingendered other Spirits, which peopled the air, and are employed in scourging and afflicting mankind. They moreover believe, that the souls of the damned are for some time changed into Devils, in order to be employ’d in tormenting men; that they visit their graves, and go to see the worms which prey upon their own dead bodies, which is a very grievous spectacle to them; and that after this they return to hell. These Devils have three advantages in common with the Angels; they know what is to come, they have wings wherewithal to raise themselves up into the air, and they fly in a moment from one end of the world unto the other. They have likewise three imperfections in common with mankind; they procreate, and multiply; they eat and drink; and lastly, are subject unto death.
Excerpta Gemarræ apud Hottinger. p. 124. 1 Kings xxii. 19, 20, 21. Matth. xxv. 41.The Jews represent the evil Angels at the left hand of God’s throne, to receive his orders, while the Angels at his right hand are ready there to execute his will. They seem to have taken this opinion from what is said in the first book of Kings, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left: and the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab? And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets. In the Gospel likewise the Devils and the reprobated part of mankind are seated on the left hand of the supreme Judge.
Vide Bartolocci Bibl. Rabbin. t. 1. p. 295.Other Doctors say, that the Souls of men withdraw from the body during the time of sleep, and that the Devils taking the advantage of their absence, steal into the body, in order to produce some pollution. Hence it is that the Jews every morning are very careful in washing themselves, and thank God for vouchsafing to restore their souls to their bodies. Blessed art thou, O Lord, for that thou restorest the souls of men to their dead bodies. They look upon sleep as a kind of death, because in reality the soul at that time shews no sign of its presence; its faculties are as it were annihilated, and they believe that the Devil takes this opportunity of its inaction, to produce such impressions in the body as are capable of altering its purity.
The Scripture informs us, that Sin came into the world through the envy of the Wisd ii. 24.Devil: God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side, do find it. This great event is explained by the Rabbins after the following manner. God conversing one day with the Angels, observed that they were envious of man; they maintained that man was nothing but vanity, and that he had done unadvisedly in giving him so great a power over the creatures. God asserted the dignity of his own work with these two reasons; first, in that man was appointed by him to praise him upon earth, as the Angels do in heaven; secondly, that Adam knew the names of all the creatures, wherein he was superior to the Angels, who were not acquainted with them. Sammaël, chief of the rebel spirits, resolved to deprive man of his most valuable prerogatives; to this end he came down upon earth, and having observed that the serpent was the most cunning and subtile of all animals, he made use of him to tempt Eve, and inspire her with notions of independancy and pride. Eve was seduced, and Adam was so complaisant as to imitate the vanity and disobedience of his wife. Here we see that the Jews call the chief of the Devils Sammaël, as we give him the name of Lucifer. They add, that Sammaël came to tempt Eve mounted upon the Serpent, that he corrupted and abused her, and that she thereupon conceived and was delivered of Cain.
It is remarkable, that we do not read the name of any evil spirit in the Hebrew books of the Old Testament, and those written before the captivity of Babylon; but only general names which describe the chief of the Devils, or the Devils his agents. We read there of Satan: but this is a generical name, signifying accuser or calumniator, and has a good deal of relation to the Greek Diabolos, which has the same import. Tobit has taught us the name Asmodeus, and in the Gospel we read of Beelzebub, prince of the Devils. The apocryphal book of Enoch abounds with the names of Angels and Devils: but this book is not of any great antiquity; it does not appear to have been known by the ancient Jews. St. Jude is the first who cited it.
You have here, in the following account, a summary of this famous work: The daughters of men being multiplied, the Egregori or watchful (for thus the Chaldæans call the Angels) said one to another, Let us take wives from among the daughters of men. They were two hundred in number, and Semexias or Semiexas was at the head of them with nineteen others, namely, 2. Lotarenph. 3. Aracie. 4. Chababiel. 5. Orammanes. 6. Ramiel. 7. Sapsick. 8. Zaciel. 9. Balciel. 10. Azalzel. 11. Pharmarus. 12. Amariel. 13. Anagemas. 14. Thausaël. 15. Samiel. 16. Sarinas. 17. Eremiel. 18. Tyriel. 19. Sariel. They engaged themselves by oath to do what they should see Semexias their chief do. They took therefore wives from among the daughters of men, and were polluted with all sorts of vileness. Now from those marriages sprung up giants, of whom all antiquity has so much spoken.
Azalzel, the tenth of these evil Angels, taught men the art of making arms, and of casting metals in order to make money of them. He moreover shewed women the art of using paint, and ornaments in dress. Semexias likewise taught the Giants how to use their strength, and work upon the passions. Pharmarus instructed them in the virtue of Simples, and the force of Poisons, inchantments, bewitching, and in the means of rendring all these useless, whenever they would prevent the effects of them. Balciel taught men astronomy; Chababiel astrology; Zaciel divination by signs in the air; Araciel the signs on the Earth; Sapsick those in the moon. Such were the inventions wherein the rebel Angels instructed their wives and children; and from hence sprung that deluge of mischief and disorder, which spread over the earth, and drew down the utmost effects of God’s justice.
The good Angels, captains of the host of Heaven, such as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, being informed of the irregularities committed in the world by their rebellious brethren, complained to the Almighty, who gave them orders to stop the progress of them: Go, said he to Uriel, go to Noah the son of Lamech, and bid him conceal himself for a time: for I must send a deluge upon the earth, which will destroy every thing that is to be met
with upon the surface of it: instruct him what to do in order to secure himself from this calamity, that so he may become the father of a new race.
Afterwards God said to Raphael, Go, bind Azazel, load him with chains, cast him into darkness: open the deepest part of the wilderness of Dudail, and throw in this wicked wretch: lay a heap of rough stones upon him, cover him with darkness so that he may not see the light; and at the day of judgment he shall be cast into the fire. Repair the evil which the Egregori, or watchers, have occasioned upon earth, by that mystery of iniquity which they have taught their wives and children.
After this, the Lord commanded Gabriel to march against the giants, sons of the Egregori, and embroil them together, that so they might destroy one another, and none of them might remain upon the earth.
Lastly, he ordered Michael to bind Semexias, and the rest who adhered to him, and that when they had been witnesses to the violent death of the Giants their sons, they should continue chained in the woods for seventy generations to the day of judgment: then they will be thrown headlong into the eternal chaos, into the fire which will never be extinguished. As for those men who shall imitate their irregularities, and merit condemnation, they shall be precipitated with them into the dark prisons.
According to the account given in this famous work, it was not till long after the creation of the world, that the evil Angels rebelled against God upon the occasion of their marriage with the daughters of men; they are said to be corporeal, capable of shameful passions, and of begetting men; and at present are chained in wildernesses or forests, and so will remain till at the day of judgment they are plunged into hell.
The authority which this spurious book of Enoch has received from many of the Ancients, is the reason of our meeting with several of these opinions scattered in their writings. Lactant. l. 2. c. 14.Lactantius believed there were two sorts of Demons, celestial and terrestrial: the celestial are the faln Angels, who having been seduced by the prince of Devils, engaged themselves in impure amours. The terrestrial are they, who issued from the former, as children from their fathers. These last, who are neither Men nor Angels, but are a medium between these two natures, were not plunged into hell, neither were their fathers admitted into heaven. The terrestrial Angels are impure Spirits, and authors of all the evils committed upon earth.
Hieron Epist. ad Avitum.Others of the Fathers are of opinion, that God to punish the rebellion of the evil angels, cloathed them with airy bodies. Saint Jerom says, that this was one of Origen’s errors: Quòd Dæmones ob delicta aëreis corporibus sunt vestiti. St. Austim seems to be of the same opinion: he says, the Aug. de Gen. ad Litter. l. 3. c. 17. vide & lib. 15. de civit. c. 23. & l. 1. contra Academic. c. 7. & l. 2.rebel Angels, before their fall, had celestial and spiritual bodies; but that since they are invested with airy bodies, which render them capable of feeling the impressions of fire. Faustus of Riez had advanced the same thing in an epistle confuted by Claudian Mammert. The Greeks in the Council of Florence maintained, that those Angels who before their fall were spiritual, became de ordine c. 9. Matth. viii. 28, 30.afterwards in some sort material and carnal; hence proceeded their inclination for bodies, as may be seen in those who are possessed, and in the Legion of Devils who desired leave to enter into the herd of swine.
There are three different opinions remarkable in those authors, who have written concerning the fall of Angels: some have attributed the cause of it to their pride and vain presumption: others to their envying men: and the third to their irregular love of women. Many join the two first causes, I mean the pride of Lucifer, and his vain complacency in his own perfections, the glory whereof he did not refer to God; and the envy he conceived against man, whom he saw like a little God set over the works of the Lord. This last opinion is almost the only one received at present in the Church; that which we have observed in the book of Enoch, which attributes their fall to their irregular love of women, is absolutely given up by Divines.
Many of the Ancients5 have allotted to every man an Evil Angel, who is continually laying snares for him, and inclining him to evil, as his Good Angel inclines him to what is good; an opinion borrowed in all probability from Hermas Pastor6. The Jews7 have still the same sentiments at this day; and the same principles may be remarked in some of the old philosophers8. Origen9 thinks that every vice has its evil Angel presiding over it, the Demon of avarice, the Demon of fornication, and the proud man’s Demon. The Church prays for the faithful, that they may be delivered from the Demon of fornication. We see in the Gospel, that the generality of uneasinesses and diseases were attributed to the Devil. We find there a dumb Spirit, or a Demon who made the man dumb. Saint Matth. ix. 32, 33. Luke xiii. 12, 16.Luke speaks of a woman who had a spirit
of infirmity, and whom Satan had bound eighteen years.
We commonly hold that the Devils are in Hell, where they suffer the punishment of their rebellion, and where they exercise the avenging justice of God upon sinners. Rev. xx. 1, 3.St. John in the Revelation, says, that God sent an Angel from Heaven with the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hands; that he laid hold of the Dragon, the old Serpent, who is the Devil, Satan; that he bound him, cast him into the bottomless pit, shut the door upon him, and sealed it for a thousand years. But the ancient Fathers had other sentiments of this matter: they placed the Devils in the air; and St. Jerom says, that it was the common opinion of all the doctors in the Church, that the air which is between heaven and earth is quite filled with evil spirits. Hæ autem Hieron. in Ephes. vi. 12.omnium Doctorum opinio est, quod aër iste, qui cælum & terram medius dividens, inane appellatur, plenus sit contrariis potestatibus. St. Austin10 believes that they fell from the highest and purest region of the air into that which is nearest to the earth, which is nothing but darkness in comparison of the serenity and clearness of that from which they were precipitated.
St. Chrysostom (in Ephes. vi. Hom. 4.) was persuaded that the Devils after their fall, did not forfeit the dominion which God had given them over the air. But others of the Fathers assert, that if they are in the air, it is with design that they should suffer the punishment of their sins there, till the day of judgment came, when they would be plunged into Hell. Several of the Ancients11 explain what the Apostles St. 2 Pet. ii. 4. Jude 6.Peter and St. Jude teach us, concerning the present state of Demons, as meaning the lower region of the air, where they suppose them to be banished. These Apostles represent them to us as fettered with the chains of Hell, and cast down into tartarus; Rudentibus inferni detractos in tartarum tradidit cruciandos; but several of the Fathers understand it of the lower air, which with respect to heaven should be considered as an abyss, and place of darkness, a prison, a black dungeon.
The request proposed by the Devils to our Saviour, that he would not send them into the deep, but permit them to enter into the herd of Swine, intimates that these evil Matth. viii. 29. Luke viii. 31.Spirits found some refreshment upon earth; and their complaint to our Saviour, that he was come to torment them before the time, shews, that the time of their punishment was not yet come. And when our Saviour pronounces Matth. xxv. 14. Greg. l. 4. Moral. c. 10.sentence against the wicked, he does so in these terms; Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. This everlasting fire therefore was only prepared for the Devil, this evil Angel did not as yet endure the pain of it. It is true, many of the ancient Fathers12 believe that Devils are indeed condemned to eternal torture, but will not in reality be subject to it till the day of Judgment. We are not to believe that at present they suffer nothing; grief, despair, and rage to see themselves fallen from supreme happiness, and condemned to infinite and eternal misery, is to them a very great punishment. The fire which they suffer at present, says Pope Gregory, is different from that which they will endure after the last day. Their sentence is determined, says St. Bernard, but Bernard. Serm. de transitu S. Malachiæ. Beda in Jacob. iii.not yet promulged; the fire is prepared for them, but as yet they are not cast headlong into it. Venerable Bede compares the present state of Devils to that of one sick of a fever, who, however he may change his place, or posture, carries his fever and misfortune with him. Ubicunque vel in aëre volitant, vel in terris, aut sub terris vagantur, sive detinentur, suarum secum ferunt semper tormenta flammarum instar febricitantis. And this is the common opinion of Divines at this day.
That the Devil formerly affected divine honours, and that whole nations were so far blinded as to pay them, is what cannot be questioned after the express testimonies of Scripture. They sacrificed to devils, not to God, whom they knew not. And again, They sacrificed their sons and their daughthers unto devils. And Baruch, Ye provoked him that made you, by sacrificing to devils, and not to God. And in Leviticus, God forbids the Hebrews to sacrifice to Devils, to Goats, as they had hitherto done. The Philistins worshipped Beelzebub the prince of Devils, and the King of Israel sent to 2 Kings i. 23. Deut. xxxii. 17. Psal. cvi. 17. Baruch iv. 7. Levit. xvii. 7.consult this false deity, which was paying him a kind of worship, by believing him capable to foretel what was to come. I confess notwithstanding, that the Hebrews never, that I know, paid any worship to the Devil, in our sense of this word, as we understand by it Satan, the old Serpent, or Sammaël; but in reality as often as they adored Idols, they did in one sense worship Devils, since false Gods are no better than Devils; their worship is an invention of the Devil’s; and they adore sin, immodesty, pride, and cruelty. What other Deity besides the Devil could require human victims, like those which were sacrificed, for example, to Moloch? The Hebrew word translated by the Septua
Elilim, vana Idola terriculamenta.gint and Vulgate dæmonia, signifies properly gods of no value, vain things, scarecrows; and in this sense it may be said with truth, that all the heathen gods are Devils: Omnes Dii gentium Dæmonia.
As for the Heathens, we know they worshipped Pluto, or Hades, the god of Cicero de naturâ Deorum. Valer. Maxim. l. x. c. 5.hell, and other infernal Deities, Manes, Furies, evil and pernicious Gods; such as Fevers, Orbona, whom parents invoked to divert the death of their children, Ill Fortune, Paleness, Fear, Tempests, Discord, Impudence, Calumny, Envy, Necessity, and Violence. You may say, if you please, that as the Greeks and Romans had not the same idea of the Devil as we have, they did not pay him divine honours; but they paid them to things which did not better deserve them, and are no less dangerous than Aug. in Psalm. xciv. 4, 6. & de Civit. l. 5. c. 32. Idem de consensu Evang. l. 1. c. 18.the Devil; and St. Austin assures us, that Temples were consecrated, and altars erected to the Devil throughout the world, and the Romans enjoined their people to invoke good Genius’s, and appease the bad with sacrifices.
It is affirmed, that the Persians, who acknowledged two principles, one good, the other bad; the first called Oromazes, and Plutarch. de Iside & Osiride.the second Arimanes; offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to the first, and to the second sacrifices to divert misfortunes. They took an herb called Omomi, which they bruised in a mortar, invoking at the same time the god of hell and darkness: they mingled with it the blood of a wolf which they had killed, and carried this composition to a place, where the rays of the sun never entred; here they threw it down, and left it. It is said that certain people of America pay a superstitious worship to the Devil, that is to say, to this evil Principle, under whose direction they suppose the government of the earth to be.
The Dæmon of Noon-day, mentioned in Psalm xci. 6. Non timebis a terrore nocturno … ab incursu & dæmonio meridiano,Vide Genebrard. in Ps. xc. & Chaldæum. is differently explained. The Rabbins for the most part understand by it the most dangerous and violent Demon, who dares to attack us in broad day-light; whereas others assault us only in the night. It was the opinion of the common people, say Theodoret and St. Jerom, that there were certain Demons which were dangerous at noon-day. In the hot countries where it is a custom generally to sleep at noon, and none dare expose themselves to the sun in its full force, the common people are afraid of Spectres and Apparitions at noon, as well as at night, by reason of the solitude and silence which prevail at both these times. They do not fear Spirits nor Demons when they are in company, and have people about them. Some suppose a sudden and violent disease to be meant by this expression, such as the plague, which kills immediately; or an epilepsy, which deprives the patient of his senses, and quite overwhelms him; these diseases are imputed to the operation of the Devil. The Hebrew Keteb is a word, the signification whereof is not well fixed.
Vaheb the son of Monbah, a Mussulman of the greatest authority in the point of traditions, which the Mahometans pretend to have received from the mouth of their Prophet, relates, that God before the creation Bibl. Orient. p. 198.of Adam, created the Dives or Diss, who are neither Men nor Angels, nor Devils, but Genius’s or hurtful Demons. God gave them the World to govern for the space of seven thousand years; after which the Peris, another species of Demons less mischievous than the former, or Hobgoblins, succeeded them for two thousand years under the government of Gianben-Gian, their only monarch. These two sorts of creatures, the Dives and the Peris, having rebell’d against God, God set Eblis over them, who being of a more noble nature, and having something in him of the Element of Fire, had been brought up among the Angels.
Eblis therefore descending from heaven to earth, made war with the Dives and Peris, who united for their common defence. Nevertheless there were some Dives, who submitting to Eblis, continued in this world till the formation of Adam, and even to Solomon’s time, who had some of them in his service. Eblis attacked Gian, beat this monarch, and soon made himself master of all the lower world, which was then peopled only by the Dives and Peris. But he forgot his dependance in a short time, rebel’d against God, and began to say, Who is like to me? I ascend up to heaven when I please, and if I remain on earth, I behold it intirely subject to my will.
God provoked at his insolence, resolved to humble him, and create mankind. He therefore formed Adam out of the earth, made him monarch of it, and intended to oblige Eblis and the other Angels to adore this new creature. Eblis, seconded by a company of his people, refused to comply, was divested of his sovereignty, and incurred the curse of God. Upon this account he was called Iba, that is to say, refractory; Satan, which signifies calumniator; and Eblis, or desperate: for his first name was Hareth, which signifies governour or guardian.
According to this system, there were three species of creatures long before Adam; the Angels, the Dives and Peris; the two latter are what the Greeks call good and bad Genius’s, or Dæmons.
Philo de Gigantib. p. 286. & alibi.Philo believed that Angels, Demons, and the souls of men were of the same nature and quality, and that Angels or spiritual substances by inclination and some natural attraction, came and joined them
selves to bodies, and animated them; and that the souls of men, after having been for a long time united with bodies, returned to the place of their first abode in the air.
Joseph. l.7. de Bello,c.25. p. 181.Josephus tells us, that the Demons which possess certain persons, and sometimes torment them so far as to kill them, are nothing, else but the souls of the wicked, which have seized on the bodies of those who are Idem, Antiq. l. 18. c. 2. & lib. 2. de Bello, p. 788.thus possessed. He says moreover, that the Pharisees have the same notions almost of the soul as the persons just now mentioned in Philo. From whence we may conclude, that these two Authors, as well as many other Jews of their time, held a kind of transmigration, and that they made no other difference between an Angel and a Demon than what consisted in moral goodness or wickedness.
The Scripture represents Demons as continually employ’d in deceiving, tempting, hurting, and tormenting us. Untimely and extraordinary kinds of death, bodily diseases, those especially, which are most obstinate and unknown to us, are attributed Matth. ix. 32, 33. Luke xi. 14. xiii. 16.to Demons. We see men in the Gospel, who were made mute, lame, or crooked by some Demon. The destroying Angel put to death the first-born in Egypt, the mutineers in the wilderness, the seven first husbands of Sarah the daughter of Raguel. It was this evil Spirit which tempted Eve in Paradise, Jesus Christ in the wilderness, David in his palace, and inspired him with the design of 1 Chron. xxi. 1. 1 Pet. v. 8. 1 Kings xxii. 21.numbering all his people. St. Peter represents him to be one that goeth about seeking whom he may devour. In Scripture we read of lying Spirits, of unclean Spirits, of weak and wicked Spirits. St. Paul tells us, that the Devil is like an enemy armed with fiery darts, wherewith he endeavours to Ephes. vi. 16.pierce our very souls.
Altho’ there is no question made but that there is the same subordination almost among Demons, as among Angels, nevertheless we cannot point out the particular degrees of it, because the sacred Writings say nothing to us concerning it. There is mention Matth. xii. 24. Luke xi. 15, 18.made in the Gospel of Beelzebub Prince of Devils; and the Jews accused Jesus Christ with casting out Devils in the name only and by the authority of Beelzebub. Our Saviour denied that he cast out Devils in this manner, and shewed, that if Beelzebub cast out Devils, his kingdom would be divided and destroy’d. He does not however deny, but that there is some kind of subordination among Devils. He seems even to suppose it, when, in the parable of the strong armed Luke xi. 25, 26.man, he says, that the Devil being forced out of his house, returns with seven others more wicked than himself. Lastly, St. Paul Eph.vi.12.speaks of Principalities, and Powers, of the Rulers of the darkness of this world, and of spiritual Wickedness,or wicked Spirits in high places. The Reader may consult our Dissertation concerning good and bad Angels, prefixed to our Comment on St. Luke.
I do not take notice of the opinions which the Heathens had of Demons, nor shall I relate many things which are to be met with in the Fathers on this subject; because I confine myself as much as possible to the Bible, according to the title of this Dictionary.
DEMOPHON, one of the Officers of Antiochus Eupator’s army, who was left in Judæa after the Truce concluded between this Prince and Judas Maccabæus.
Mark xii. 15. Luke xx. 24. Matth. xxii.19.DENARIUS, a sort of Roman money, generally valued at seven pence three farthings English, and was worth four Sesterces13. We do not read the word Denarius any where in the Old Testament, but we frequently meet with it in the New, where it is taken for a piece of money in general; that is to say, for a Shekel, which was the most common coin among the Hebrews, before they were made subject to the Greeks and Romans. St. Mark and St. Luke call that Denarius, which St. Matthew calls numisma census, the piece of money which was paid in Judæa to the Romans in the way of Capitation. But the true value of it is not known to us. The Rabbins by the word Maimon. Halac. Siclim.c.1. §. 3.Denarius generally understand a quarter of a shekel, that is to say, about seven pence of our money.
Acts xiv.6.DERBE, a city of Lycaonia, whither St. Paul and Barnabas retreated after having been driven from Iconium, in the year of Jesus Christ 41. Gaius a disciple to St. Paul and St. John the Evangelist, was a native of Acts xx.4. Vide, si lubet, Reland. Palæst. c. 1. p. 375.Derbe.
DESART. This is a word very well known. The Hebrews, by Midbar, Desart, mean every uncultivated place, particularly mountains. There were Desarts intirely dry and barren; others were very beautiful, and abounded with good pastures; for which reason the Scripture in several places speaks of the beauty of the Desart, Pinguescent speciosa deserti, Ps. lxiv. 13. And, Super speciosa deserti planctum assumam, Jerem. ix. 10. And Ignis devorabit speciosa deserti, Joel i. 20. The Scripture names several Desarts in the Land of Promise, and there was scarce a town without a Desart belonging to it, that is to say, without uncultivated places for woods and pastures.
The Desart of Arabia, wherein the Israelites sojourned forty years after their departure out of Egypt, is particularly called the Desart. In the article Incampment, and in the geographical Map, any one may see
the different stations of the Israelites during this whole space of time. The Mahometans Karik. Montekhebshorten it mightily, by reducing their forty years sojourning to forty days. They do not scruple to say, that Moses, Aaron, and their sister Miriam died there. One of their poets ridiculing the superstition of the Jews, says, that they are always wandering in the Desart.
Deut. viii. 4.Moses assures us, that during their journey, their clothes did not wear out; nor were their feet swelled. Vestimentum tuum quo operiebaris, nequaquam vetustate defecit, & pes tuus non est subtritus; en quadragesimus Justin. Dial. cum Tryphon.annus est. St. Justin the Martyr, and many Interpreters as well Jewish as Christian, still farther enhance the miracle, by saying, that the children’s clothes grew with them, and were proportion’d to their Hieron. Ep. 38. Nov. Edit. p. 325. Cosmas Monach. in Depleust. l. 5. p. 205. Est. in Deut. viii. Jun. Druf. Cler.size and stature. St. Jerom reports something still more incredible, which is, that their hair and nails did not grow during these forty years. But others speak in a more credible manner, affirming that the particular providence of God provided so well for the necessities of the Hebrews, that they wanted nothing, neither food nor clothes, nor covering for their legs and feet.
We have observed likewise under the articles Chion and Remphan, that many of the Israelites worshipped Idols in private, during their sojourning in the Desart. And the Psalmist says, that God was grieved forty Ps. xcv. 10. LXX.years with this generation: they did nothing but provoke him, offend him and murmur against him.
The Desart of SHUR, lies towards the point of the Red Sea. Hagar being driven from Abraham’s house, wandered in this wilderness. The Israelites, after their march through the Red Sea, went into the Desart of Shur. There was, in all probability, a city of this name anciently in these parts.
The Desart of PARAN was in Arabia Petræa, in the neighbourhood of the city of Paran. Ishmael, the son of Abraham, dwelt Gen. xxi. 11. Hab. iii. 3.in the wilderness of Paran. Habakkuk says, that the Lord appeared to his people in the mountains of Paran. The Hebrews sojourned a long time in this Desart. See PARAN.
The Desart of SIN. There are two Desarts of this name in Scripture, the first is written with a Samech, this lies between Elim and Mount Sinai. The second is written with a Tzade. It is near Kadesh Barnea; Exod. xvi. 1. and Numb. xxxiii. 12. Numb. xx. 1. and xxxiii. 36. Tzin. Exod. xix. 2.this town was in the Desart of Sin or Zin.
The Desart of SINAI is that which lies about, and is adjacent to Mount Sinai. The people incamped there a long time, and received the generality of those Laws which are written in the books of Moses.
The Desart of ARNON, or AMON, which is in the Wilderness. Arnon is a Brook which runs along the Desart of Gilead, or the frontiers of Arabia deserta.
The Desart of ZIPH, whither David retired when he fled from Saul. See ZIPH.
The Desart of MAON lay in the country, and perhaps near the capital city of the Maonians, or Meonians in Arabia petræa, at the extremity of the inheritance belonging to Judah.
The Desart of KADESH, about Kadesh Barnea, in the southern part of Judah, and in Arabia petræa.
The Desart of EDOM. We cannot exactly point out the extent or limits of it; for Edom itself extended very far into the mountains of Arabia.
The Desart of PALMYRA. Solomon built Palmyra in the Desarts which lie between the Euphrates and the rivers Orontes and Chrysorroas. Palmyra was in Syria incompassed every way with Desarts.
The Desart of DIBLAH, all about this city, which was situated in the land of Moab. Jerem. xlviii. 22.
The Desart of EGYPT, in Ezekiel seems to denote the Desart, wherein the Hebrews sojourned forty years after their departure out of Egypt. Tobit speaks of the Desarts of upper Egypt, probably of the Thebais, where the Demon Asmodeus was banished, and chained up.
The Desart of JUDÆA, where St. John the Baptist preached about Jericho in the partition of the Tribe of Judah.
The Desart of TEKOAH, the Desart of BOSOR, the Desart of GIBEON. See TEKOAH, BOSOR, GIBEON. Their Desarts signify the uncultivated places near these cities.
The DESART, absolutely speaking, signifies very frequently the Desarts of Arabia, which lay between Jordan and the mountains of Gilead, and the river Euphrates: for example, God promised the children of Israel all the land lying between the wilderness and the river, that is to say, all that country which extends itself from the mountains of Gilead as far as the Euphrates. And in another place he promises them all that lies between Libanus, the Desart, the Euphrates, and the Mediterranean Sea.
DESCENDERE, to go down, and go up: We go up to Jerusalem: He goes down to Jericho. Abraham came up from Egypt: Jacob went down into Egypt. Go up to Ai: They went down to Cæsarea. By all which nothing more is meant, than that they went to Jerusalem, into Egypt, to Jericho, Ai, and Cæsarea; but the situation of the place they were going to, is described by the words going up and going down.
5 Y Descen-
Descendere in Infernum; to go down to the grave, the place where the dead are. Descendant in infernum viventes. Let them go down alive into the grave, like Corah, Dathan and Abiram. The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord, nor they who go down into Hell, into the Grave. All they who go down to the earth shall worship him: In conspectu ejus cadent omnes qui descendunt in terram. They who go down to the earth, may signify either mortal men who are born in this world, or the poor who go down to the dust, according to the Hebrew; or the dead who go down to the grave, the dust.
Hosea xi. 12.Hosea says, that Judah descended with God, Judas testis descendit cum Deo & cum sanctis fidelis. This is interpreted as relating to the Tribe of Judah, which descended first into the red Sea, the other Tribes not daring to venture. It may be understood likewise of the Tribe of Judah, which continued firm to the worship of God, and the house of David; while Ephraim and the other Tribes rebelled against Rehoboam, and forsook the Lord.
Descendere in lacum, that is to say, to die, to descend into the grave. Lacus in this place signifies caves, graves dug in rocks, or under ground, into which the dead were let down.
They who go down to the Sea, are the Ps. cvii. 23.merchants who make voyages upon the Sea. Jonah says, that he went down to the very foundation of the mountains; that is to say, to the bottom of the Sea, where the mountains have their basis and foundation.
DESSAU, a town or castle near unto which the Israelites lodged themselves, under 2 Macc. xiv. 16.the conduct of Judas Maccabæus. The situation of it we are not acquainted with.
DESTINY, in Latin Fatum. We do not meet with this word in Scripture. By Destiny we understand an order, or chain of second causes, which carries with it a necessity of the event. The Heathen Philosophers not daring, on one side, to impute those misfortunes to the Gods, which befel them, as they pretended, unjustly; and being unwilling, on the other, to acknowledge that they were any way owing to their own faults, forged this chimæra of Destiny, whereof they never had any distinct Idea. The ancient Hebrews ascribed every thing to God, every thing both good and evil, except sin: the just and avenging Deity sent misfortunes, diseases, war, and pestilence; the good and merciful God granted favours and prosperity of all kinds: he made use of good Angels in doing good to mankind, and evil Angels in inflicting evils on them. All evil was sent either for the punishment of our own sins, or of those committed by our parents, princes or children, or to display the works of God. This is the System of the Hebrews, adopted by the Christian Church.
They believed that all events, even those which seemed most casual, were ordained by Providence ; that not so much as a bird fell to the ground without the direction of our heavenly father ; that the hairs of our head were numbred ; that Providence extended to the least animals, and plants. The question here is only, whether the looser and more debauched Jews believed a Destiny, and whether we find any footsteps of this opinion in the Scripture ? It appears that the wicked, whose sentiments are expressed by Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiastes, were of the opinion of the Stoicks, that every thing was ordained by a superior cause, which nothing was capable of resisting. I have seen just men afflicted, as if they had been guilty of all the practices of the wicked, and I have seen wicked men who lived with as much assurance, as if they had done all the good that ever was performed by the most righteous.——I found that man was not able to penetrate the reason of God’s works, and that the more he labours to discover it, the farther he is from finding it.——Man doth not know whether he deserves love or hatred. Every thing happens equally to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and bad, to him who sacrifices, and to him who despises sacrifices, &c. I have observed that the race is not to the swift, nor the battel to the strong, nor bread to men of understanding, nor favour to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. Here methinks Destiny seems to be clearly described.
Josephus14 the Historian speaking of the several Sects which prevailed in his time among the Jews, says, that the Pharisees imputed every thing to Destiny, but nevertheless without robbing man of his free will, and the liberty of determining himself, because God uses such a medium with man, that altho’ all things happen by his decree or will, man notwithstanding preserves the liberty of chusing either vice or virtue. In another15 place he says, that the Pharisees attribute all things to Destiny and God: that generally the doing good or evil depends on man, but that Destiny assists him in doing either the one or the other. Here is an Idea of Fate rectified by the Jewish Religion, which acknowledged God to be just, good, merciful and powerful ; but I do not know what he underunderstood
by Destiny, nor how far he extended its power, nor allowing this, what could be left for man? Notwithstanding he pretends, that to do good or evil was for the most part in his power. It is doubtless very hard to reconcile all this, and distinguish acurately in one and the same good or bad Action the several parts which God had, Destiny, and Man.
Bullus Harmon. Apost. Dissert. post. c. 15. See Basnage hist. des Juifs. l. 3. c. 2.Some have been of opinion, that they attributed necessary events to Destiny, or the influences of the stars, excepting only a very small number, for which they left a kind of liberty; nay, they insisted that God was aiding in free actions. Thus we are to understand the following axiom of the old Rabbins, Every thing is in the hand of heaven, excepting the fear of God. That is to say, that every thing happens necessarily and by an absolute fatality, and that the Will of man is free only in matters which relate to Religion. The Chaldee Paraphrast Eccl. ix. 2.explaining the words of Solomon, All things come alike to all, there is one event to the righteous and the wicked, says that this is owing to Destiny; but he adds immediately, that it was so ordained in heaven, and that it was the resolution of God. This has a respect to such events only as we call natural, and not to actions morally good or evil, which are produced by the free Will of Man, but assisted by Destiny, according to Josephus, probably because of the co-operation of God, and the concurrence of second Causes and Circumstances, which help the Will, and remove the obstacles which might determine it to the contrary. The modern Jews allow a great deal to the influences of the stars; they confess that there is no dispute among wise men on this subject: Their wish to their friends upon their wedding-day is, That their planet may be Maimon. More Nevoch. part. 2. c. 10. Thalmud. in Moed. Katm. fol. 28. Abenezra, Abarbanel, &c.happy, and they carefully observe under what planet, and what sign of the Zodiack their children are born: notwithstanding all which, they are not induced by it to abstract any thing from the privileges of God’s omnipotency, and power over the Heart and Will of Man; but they have not disputed near so much concerning grace and liberty, and the manner of reconciling both, as we have done in the Christian Schools.
DESTROYING ANGEL. See ANGELS and DEVILS.
Job xxvi. 6.DESTRUCTION. By this word is generally meant an unhappy death sent by Deut. xxxii. 35. Job xxi. 30.God for the punishment of Sin. The day of destruction is at hand. And Job, The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. God preserves the wicked only to destroy them, and display his vengeance against them. Destruction is likewise taken for Hell, for the place where the wicked in eternal torments expiate their past sins. Thus Job says, That hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. And again, Destruction and death say, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears. We know Wisdom by fame and reputation only. Prov. xv. 11.And the wise Man, Hell, or the grave, and destruction are before the Lord: he knows them, he sees them plainly, how much more then the hearts of the children of men.
Wisd. v. 7.The wicked in the Book of Wisdom confess that they have wearied themselves in the way of wickedness and destruction. In Ecclesiasticus it is said, That a thief is better than a man that is accustomed to lye: but they both shall have destruction to heritage;Hosea xiii. 9. an unhappy death. Hosea threatens the Israelites with the utmost misfortunes; God will fall upon them like a mad bear, and as a roaring lion. He concludes, O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self, but in me is thy help. Thy misery, thy destruction proceeds only from thy self, it is thine own proper act; and thou hast no succour to hope for but from me: in vain wilt thou seek for it elsewhere.
John xvii. 12.In the Gospel, Judas is called the son of perdition, as is Antichrist in like manner by 2 Thess. ii. 3. Matth. vii. 13.St. Paul. St. Peter says to Simon the Magician, Thy money perish with thee. And our Saviour in St. Matthew; Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. The Latin word perditio is most frequently taken for merely loss or waste; for example, Ut quid perditio ista unguenti facta est, Mark xiv. 4.
DEUEL, of the Tribe of Gad, the father Numb. vii. 47.of Eliasaph.
DEVIL. See DEMON and DIABOLUS.
DEVOTING. The most ancient example of Devoting that we have, is that which Balak King of Moab would have had Balaam use against the army of Israel, which was incamped in the borders of his country. Numb. xxii. 6.Balak therefore sent Deputies to Balaam with directions to say to him, Come and curse, devote this people, for they are too mighty for me, and I dare not attempt to force them, to the end that I may see if by any means I may engage and drive them from my territories; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. Balaam therefore came with Balak’s messengers, tho’ with a great deal of reluctancy, as may be seen in the Article Balaam. Upon his arrival in the land of Moab, Balak carried him up to the high places of Baal, and from thence shewed him the extremity of the Israelitish camp. Hereupon Balaam appointed seven Altars to be erected, and offered sacrifices, after which he retired by himself, waiting for the inspiration of God. Then the Lord put the following words into his mouth; Balak King of Moab hath
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Footnotes
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M. le Pelletier of Rohan in the preface to his Dissertation on Noah’s Ark, says, that he demonstrates there the Deluge to have been necessarily universal, as the Scripture describes it, and as the constant tradition of the Jewish and Christian Churches has always represented it. Yet he says the contrary, p. 344. and p. 416. ↩
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Votum D. Joan. Mabill. de quibusd. Isaaci Vossii opuscul. t. 2. edit. operum posthum. ejusdem Mabill. Anno 1724. p. 59, &c. ↩
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This is a Water-Fowl with a long beak, jagged and hooked at the end; it has a crest upon its neck, its back is ash-colour’d, its belly almost white, and its feet reddish ↩
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The Author whom we have cited, shews, that there might arise from it 16514 times more than is necessary to cover the whole earth, to the height mentioned by Moses. See pag. 384, 385, 386. ↩
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Origen. homil. 35. in Luc. & l. 3. de princip. c. 11. Antioch. homil. 65. Nyssen. de vitâ Mosis, p. 139. Oper. imperfect. in Matt. homil. 5. ↩
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Hermas l. 2. mandat. 6. ↩
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Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. c. 10. Basnage hist. des Juifs, l. 6. c. 19. ↩
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Orpheus Hymn. ad Musas. Plutarch. in Bruto. Servi. in Æneid. VI. ↩
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Origen. homil. 15. in Josue. ↩
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Aug. de Genes. ad Litter. l. 3. c. 10. Enchirid. c. 28. in Psalm. cxlix. Greg. Mag. l. 12. Moral. c. 17. Beda in 2 Petri ii. Rupert. in Gen. xvii. Justin. Martyr. Apolog. utraque. Minut. Felix in Octav. Lactant. l. ultimo. Origen. homil. 8. in Exod. &c. ↩
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Vide Aug. in Psalm. xlix. ↩
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Tertull. Apolog. c. 27. Institut. Tatian. contra Gentes. ↩
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Translators’ note. See Dr. Arbuthnot of the Denarius, who discourses of it more at large, and with his usual accuracy and lear- ning. Tables of Ancient Coins, &c. p. 15. ↩
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Joseph. Antiq. L. 18. c. 1. Πρῶτος εἱμαρμένῃ τὰ πάντα ἀξιοῦντες, οὐδὲ τὸ ἀνθρώπειον τὸ βουλόμενον τῆς ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς ὁρμῆς ἀφαιρεῖσθαι, δοκῆ τῷ θεῷ κρᾶσιν γίνεσθαι, καὶ τῷ ἐκείνης βουλευτηρίῳ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῷ θελήσαντι προσχωρεῖν μετ’ ἀρετῆς ἢ κακίας. ↩
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Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 12. Εἱμαρμένῃ τε καὶ θεῷ περισσόπλησι πάντα, καὶ τὸ μὲν πράττειν τὰ δίκαια, καὶ μὴ, κατὰ τὸ πλεῖστον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κεῖσθαι. Βοηθεῖν δ’ ἕκαστον καὶ τῇ εἱμαρμένῃ. ↩