Pagan heroes and demigods with Christian names. The Pantheon dedicated to Mary and all the saints

that agreeably to the sense of the purest ages of Christianity, are never mentioned in the imperial laws without the epithets of profane, damnable, impious, &c.

What opinion then can we have of the present practice of the church of Rome, but that by a change only of name, they have found means to retain the thing; and by substituting their saints in the place of the old demigods, have but set up idols of their own, instead of those of their forefathers? In which it is hard to say whether their assurance or their address is more to be admired, who have the face to make that the principal part of Christian worship, which the first Christians looked upon as the most criminal part even of Paganism, and have found means to extract gain and great revenues out of a practice which in primitive times would have cost a man both his life and estate. But our notion of the idolatry of modern Rome will be much heightened still and confirmed, as oft as we follow them into those temples, and to those very altars which were built originally by their heathen ancestors, the old Romans, to the honor of their pagan deities, where we shall hardly see any other alteration than the shrine of some old hero filled by the meaner statue of some modern saint. Nay, they have not always, as I am well informed, given themselves the trouble of making even this change, but have been content sometimes to take up with the old image, just as they found it; after baptizing it only, as it were, or consecrating it anew by the imposition of a Christian name. This their antiquaries do not scruple to put strangers in mind of in showing their churches; and it was, I think, in that of St. Agnes where they showed me an antique of a young Bacchus, which, with a new name and a little change of drapery, stands now worshipped under the title of a female saint.

(7.) The Gods of the Pantheon turned into popish saints.—The noblest heathen temple now remaining in the world, is the Pantheon, or Rotunda; which, as the inscription over the portico informs us, having been impiously dedicated of old by Agrippa to Jove and all the gods, was impiously reconsecrated by Pope Boniface IV., about A. D. 610, TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN AND ALL THE SAINTS.

PANTHEON, &c.

AB AGRIPPA AUGUSTI GENERO,

IMPIE JOVI, CÆTERISQ; MENDACIBUS DIIS,
A. BONIFACIO IIII. PONTIFICE,

DEIPARE & S. S. CHRISTI MARTYRIBUS PIO
DICATUM, &c.

With this single alteration, it serves as exactly for all the purposes of the popish as it did for the pagan worship, for which it was built. For as in the old temple, every one might find the God of his country, and address himself to that deity, whose religion he was most devoted to; so it is the same thing now; every one chooses the patron whom he likes best; and one may see here different services going on at the same time at different altars, with

Heathen idols changed into Christian saints.

Road gods.

distinct congregations round them, just as the inclinations of the people lead them to the worship of this or that particular Saint.

And what better title can the new demigods show, to the adoration now paid them, than the old ones, whose shrines they have usurped? Or how comes it to be less criminal to worship images, erected by the Pope, than those which Agrippa, or that which Nebuchadnezzar set up? If there be any real difference, most people will, I dare say, be apt to determine in favor of the old possessors. For those heroes of antiquity were raised up into gods, and received divine honors, for some signal benefits, of which they had been the authors to mankind; as the invention of arts and sciences; or of something highly useful and necessary to life Whereas of the Romish saints, it is certain that many of them were never heard of, but in their own legends or fabulous histories; and many more, instead of services done to mankind, owe all the honors now paid to them, to their vices or their errors; whose merit, like that of Demetrius, (Acts xix., 23), was their skill of raising rebellions in defence of an idol, and throwing kingdoms into convulsions, for the sake of some gainful imposture.

And as it is in the Pantheon, it is just the same in all the other heathen temples, that still remain in Rome; they have only pulled down one idol to set up another; and changed rather the name than the object of their worship. Thus the little temple of Vesta, near the Tiber, mentioned by Horace, is now possessed by Madonna of the Sun; that of Fortuna Virilis, by Mary the Egyptian; that of Saturn, where the public treasure was anciently kept, by St. Adrian; that of Romulus and Remus in the Via Sacra, by two other brothers, Cosmas and Damianus; that of Antoninus Pius, by Laurence the saint; but for my part, adds Dr. Middleton, I should sooner be tempted to prostrate myself before the statue of a Romulus or an Antonine, than that of a Laurence or a Damian; and give divine honors rather with pagan Rome, to the founders of empires, than with popish Rome, to the founders of monasteries.. In reply to these observations of Dr. Middleton, some may inquire whether there is anything wrong in the change of a heathen temple to a Christian place of worship, any more than in the change of theatres into churches, which is frequently done in the present day. To this objection we answer, that it is not to the change of the Pantheon into a Christian temple we object, but to the adoption of the pagan ceremonies into Christian worship, and the adoring the same images of heathen deities, under the names of Christian saints.

(8.) Road gods and saints.-But their temples are not the only places where we see the proofs and overt acts of their superstition: the whole face of the country has the visible characters of Paganism upon it; and wherever we look about us, we cannot but find, as Paul did in Athens (Acts xvii. 17), clear evidence of its being possessed by a superstitious and idolatrous people.

The old Romans, we know, had their gods, who presided pecu

Reverence of the papists for these road gods

Kissing the Pope's toe.

liarly over the roads, streets, and highways, called Viales, Semitales, Compitales: whose little temples or altars are decked with flowers, or whose statues at least, coarsely carved of wood or stone, were placed at convenient distances in the public ways, for the benefit of travellers, who used to step aside to pay their devotions to those rural shrines, and beg a prosperous journey and safety in their travels.

Now this custom prevails still so generally in all popish countries, but especially in Italy, that one can see no other difference between the old and present superstition, than that of changing the name of the Deity, and christening as it were the old Hecate in triviis, by the new name of Maria in trivio; by which title I have observed one of their churches dedicated in this city: and as the heathens used to paint over the ordinary statues of their gods with red or some such gay color, so I have oft observed the coarse images of those saints so daubed over with a gaudy red, as to resemble exactly the description of the god Pan in Virgil (Eclogue 10). In passing along the road, it is common to see travellers on their knees before these rustic altars; which none ever presume to approach without some act of reverence; and those who are most in haste, or at a distance, are sure to pull off their hats, at least, in token of respect: and I took notice that our postillion used to look back upon us to see how we behaved on such occasions, and seemed surprised at our passing so negligently before places esteemed so sacred.

(9.) The Pope and the Pontifex Maximus and kissing the Pope's toe. In their very priesthood, they have contrived to keep up as near a resemblance as they could to that of pagan Rome: and the sovereign pontiff, instead of deriving his succession from Peter, who, if ever he was at Rome, did not reside there at least in any worldly pomp or splendor, may with more reason and much better plea style himself the successor of the Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest of old Rome; whose authority and dignity was the greatest in the republic; and who was looked upon as the arbiter or judge of all things, civil as well as sacred, human as well as divine: whose power established almost with the foundation of the city, was an omen," says Polydore Virgil," and sure presage of priestly majesty, by which Rome was once again to reign as universally, as it had done before by the force of its arms."

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But of all the sovereign pontiffs of pagan Rome, it is very remarkable that Caligula was the first who ever offered his foot to be kissed by any who approached him: which raised a general indignation through the city, to see themselves reduced to suffer so great an indignity. Those who endeavored to excuse it, said that it was not done out of insolence, but vanity; and for the sake of showing his golden slipper, set with jewels. Seneca declaims upon it as the last affront to liberty, and the introduction of a Persian slavery into the manners of Rome. Yet, this servile act, unworthy either to be imposed or complied with by man, is now the standing

Pagan and popish processions.

The flagellantes, or self-whippers

ceremonial of Christian Rome, and a necessary condition of access to the reigning Popes, though derived from no better origin than the frantic pride of a brutal pagan tyrant.

(10.) Processions of worshippers and self-whippers.-The descriptions of the religious pomps and processions of the heathens come so near to what we see on every festival of the Virgin or other Romish saint, that one can hardly help thinking those popish ones to be still regulated by the old ceremonial of pagan Rome. At these solemnities the chief magistrates used frequently to assist in robes of ceremony, attended by the priests in surplices, with wax candles in their hands, carrying upon a pageant or thensa the images of their gods, dressed out in their best clothes. These were usually followed by the principal youth of the place in white linen vestments or surplices, singing hymns in honor of the god whose festival they were celebrating, accompanied by crowds of all sorts, that were initiated in the same religion, all with flambeaux or wax candles in their hands. This is the account which Apuleius and other authors give us of a pagan procession; and I may appeal to all who have been abroad, whether it might not pass quite as well for the description of a popish one. Tournefort, in his travels through Greece, reflects upon the Greek church for having retained and taken into their present worship many of the old rites of heathenism, and particularly that of carrying and dancing about the images of the saints in their processions to singing and music. The reflection is full as applicable to his own, as it is to the Greek church, and the practice itself is so far from giving scandal in Italy, that the learned publisher of the Florentine Inscriptions takes occasion to show the conformity between them and the heathens, from this very instance of carrying about the pictures of their saints, as the pagans did those of their gods, in their sacred processions. (Inscrip. Antiq. Flor., 377.)

In one of those processions made lately to St. Peter's in the time of Lent, I saw that ridiculous penance of the flagellantes or self-whippers, who march with whips in their hands, and lash themselves as they go along on the bare back till it is all covered with blood; in the same manner as the fanatical priests of Bellona or the Syrian Goddess, as well as the votaries of Isis, used to slash and cut themselves of old, in order to please the goddess by the sacrifice of their own blood, which mad piece of discipline we find frequently mentioned and as oft ridiculed by the ancient writers.

But they have another exercise of the same kind and in the same season of Lent, which, under the notion of penance, is still a more absurd mockery of all religion. When on a certain day appointed annually for this discipline, men of all conditions assemble themselves towards the evening in one of the churches of the city, where the whips or lashes made of cords are provided and distributed to every person present, and after they are all served, and a short office of devotion performed, the candles being put out, upon the warning of a little bell, the whole company begin to strip

Seneca's opinion of the self-whippers.

Pagan and papal mendicant monks

and try the force of these whips on their own backs, for the space of near an hour; during all which time the church becomes, as it were, the proper image of hell; where nothing is heard but the noise of lashes and chains, mixed with the groans of those self-tormentors; till satiated with their exercise they are content to put on their clothes, and the candles being lighted again, upon the tinkling of a second bell, they all appear in their proper dress.

Seneca, alluding to the very same effects of fanaticism in pagan Rome, says, "So great is the force of it on disordered minds, that they try to appease the gods by such methods as an enraged man would hardly take to revenge himself. But, if there be any gods who desire to be worshipped after this manner, they do not deserve to be worshipped at all; since the very worst of tyrants, though they have sometimes torn and tortured people's limbs, yet have never commanded men to torture themselves.'

(11.) Religious orders of monks, nuns, &c.-The great variety of their religious orders and societies of priests seems to have been formed upon the plan of the old colleges or fraternities of the Augurs, Pontifices, Selli, Fratres Arvales, &c. The vestal virgins might furnish the hint for the foundation of nunneries; and I have observed something very like to the rules and austerities of the monastic life, in the character and manner of several priests of the heathens, who used to live by themselves retired from the world, near to the temple or oracle of the deity to whose particular service they were devoted; as the Selli, the priests of Dodonæan Jove, or self-mortifying race. From the character of those Selli, or as others call them Elli, the monks of the pagan world, seated in the fruitful soil of Dodona, abounding, as Hesiod describes it, with everything that could make life easy and happy, and whither no man ever approached them without an offering in his hands, we may learn whence their successors of modern times have derived their peculiar skill or prescriptive right of choosing the richest part of every country for the place of their settlement.

Whose groves the Selli, race austere, surround;

Their feet unwash'd, their slumbers on the ground.-Pope, Il. xvii., 324.

But above all, in the old descriptions of the lazy mendicant priests among the heathens, who used to travel from house to house, with sacks on their backs, and, from an opinion of their sanctity, raise large contributions of money, bread, wine, and all kinds of victuals for the support of their fraternity, we see the very picture of the begging friars, who are always about the streets in the same habit and on the same errand, and never fail to carry home with them a good sack full of provisions for the use of their convent.

Cicero, in his book of laws, restrains this practice of begging or gathering alms to one particular order of priests, and that only on certain days; because, as he says, it propagates superstition and impoverishes families. Which may let us see the policy of the church of Rome, in the great care that they have taken to multiply