Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent.

  • Beaumont, John, -1731.
Date:
1724
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gleanings of antiquities / By John Beaumont, Gent. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    186/226 (page 172)
    and Ears, and in fhort, that of the Oracles them- felves. I fhall here add one Relation concerning thefe Matters, which feems to me to carry fome Weight. Origen, in his feventh Book againft Celfus, writes, that Celfus fays, at the Temples of Trophvnius, Am- phi avails, and Mopfus, their Gods were feen in hu¬ man Shapes; and that not in a falfe Appearance, but manifeftly confpicuous : to which Origen anfwers, not by denying the Fad, but faying, we know thefe to be Dromons, and to be fed with the Blood and Steams of exhaling Vidims, and that they are retained by thefe Baits in thofe Prifons, which the Greeks think to be the Temples of the Gods ; but we have certainly found, that they are the Habitations of impofturous Damons. Origen adds ; Celfus, after this, malicioufly fays, concerning the Yorefaid Gods pre- fenting themfelves in human Shape, that they did not pafs by once, as Chriil the Seducer did, but always familiarly difcourfed with thofe that deiired a C011- verfe with them : By which Words he feems to inti¬ mate, that he accounted Chriil for a Spedre when he was feen by his Difciples after his Refurredion, as tho* he had palled before their Eyes with a fudden Flight; but that thofe Gods to wrhom he afcribes a human Shape, denied not a perfonal Converfe with any one who deiired it. But could a Spedre (as he thinksj fwiftly palfing by, to deceive Men after an Illufion of their Eyes, operate fo efficacioufly, and convert the Souls oi fuch Men, and perfuade them to do all things according to the Will of God, who would call them to an account, in Judgment ? Flow could fuch a Spedre make Damons fly, and perform other great Works, not keeping to one Place, as thofe Gods he fpeaks of in a human Shape, but palling through the whole habitable World, and ga¬ thering and drawing to him by his divine Power, as many as he finds inclinable to live well ? So far Origen„