The World Bewitched, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. That we ſee ſtill amongſt the preſent Pagans, the ſame Doctrines and Practices.
WE have ſpoken as much as it was neceſſary for our ſubject, of the Doctrines of the Antient Paganiſm, which reigned in the Countries we, inhabit. We have alſo ſpoken of the Nations, who introduced moſt of thoſe Arts and Sciences, of which we treat, It is now fit to conſider the Modern Heathens, to know how far their Sentiments and Practiſes concerning Spirits can reach, without the Light of the Holy Scripture, which never ſhined upon them. It is the more neceſſary to enter into that examination, that we ſhall ſee, withal, the Cuſtoms of very many Nations, arid that the proofs they ſhall furniſh us with, of the uniformity of Opinion, (that which we contend to be amongſt the Heathens) will then be more general and extended, then ſuch as are drawn from the Writings of thoſe we have already ſpoken of, of which Chriſtianity has taken place; ſince they inhabited only a ſmall part of life World, and have given us in their Writings but a ſlender account of the other Heathens. So that all theſe others, the number of which is far more conſiderable, are abſolutely unknown to us.
Sect. 2. Experience teaches us, that we cannot better divide the World, then as into three great Iſlands; one part of which was known to the antient Greeks and Romans, though not perfectly: The ſecond part is come to our knowledge, ſince about two hundred years: The third is yet for the moſt part unknown. The firſt is called for that Reaſon the Antient World, divided into Europe, Aſia, and Africa. But in the North of Europe, which continent is not much greater than one half of the other, there are ſtill many Heathen Inhabitants. In Aſia the Chriſtians are hardly the tenth part of the People, and about the third part of the reſt follow Mahomet; ſo that the greateſt number is ſtill Pagans. The Mahometans take up the North of Africa, and the Heathens poſſeſs the two third parts Eaſtward: The half of the third part is filled with Mahometans, and the other half by imperfect Chriſtians. In the new World, called America, or the Weſt Indies, the Southern part is almoſt as big as Africa; and the Northern, which is not yet fully known, is perhaps as big as Aſia. All that Country is Heathen, ſave a ſmall number of Chriſtians, gone thither from Europe, viz. ſome Spaniards, Portugueſe, Engliſh, French and Dutch, who bring over from time to time ſome Heathens, though very few, to Chriſtianity; at leaſt, the Engliſh are now very earneſt in it. In the mean while; thoſe Europeans may inform us of the State of thoſe Nations, as to what concerns their Belief and Religion, of which they have gotten a great knowledge, by the Commerce they have with them. But as to the Auſtral Country, (which is known only by the Conjectures that we can make upon its Circuit (their being no Inland Sea) 'tis perhaps as big as Europe and Aſia together. Now that great part, having never been enlightned by the Doctrine of our Saviour, muſt be preſumed to be ſtill altogether Heathen.
Sect. 3. But it will perhaps be ſaid, to what purpoſe is all that Narration? I anſwer, that having ſhown the Reader that three parts of the known World, conſider'd as divided into five, are ſtill Pagan, he cannot but infer, that we are not ſufficiently informed of the Cuſtoms and Sentiments of the Heathens concerning Spirits, by the Books of thoſe Nations that ſubſiſt no more, and who never made up the tenth part of the Inhabited World: and therefore we muſt not keep there; but 'tis likewiſe fit to examine the Opinions of thoſe many Nations, who are not yet Chriſtians, whoſe uniformity upon this queſtion, notwithſtanding ſo many other things, in which they differ, and with all the great diſtance of the places they Inhabit, which cuts of all manner of Communication betwixt them; ſo that the greateſt part of the one never heard ſo much as one word of the other: That Uniformity, I ſay, is an evident proof of the good, which the common light of the Underſtanding remained in Man after his Fall, has preſerved in him; and of the evil which the general corruption has brought to the fame. And when we come to the examination of the Sentiments of the Chriſtians, that will help us to diſtinguiſh betwixt thoſe general Truths, and thoſe impure mixtures of Corruption. For theſe Reaſons, I ſhall now ſpeak of the Belief and Practices of the preſent Heathens.
Sect. 4. But I need not to treat largely of it, for an entire Volume would not ſuffice. Neither do I intend to write a Hiſtory, but only to give Inſtances, in order to ſhow what the moſt pare of the Nations known to us, think in this matter. 'Tis not convenient to proceed in this enquiry farther, then it's requiſite to ſhow that all thoſe People agree together, as alſo with the Ancient Nations, thô there is never ſo great a difference in their Language, Country and time. The way is already more than half traced out, by the diligence of Carolinus; who, in his Modern Paganiſ…, has extracted, out of more than 50 Authors, whatever the Heathens of our time Believe and Practiſe as to Religion, in all Aſia, Africa, and part of Europe. 'Tis pity he has not lived long enough, to inform us of the Opinions of the new World. It would have proved very ſerviceable to me, for it would have ſpared me the trouble of conſulting a great many Writers, whence I have extracted them.
Sect. 5. In the mean while it will not be uſeleſs to obſerve, that all the Authors which Carolinus has follow'd, and which I am likewiſe oblig'd to follow, are Chriſtians; and therefore they have ſet down the Belief and Worſhip of thoſe Heathens, only upon the particular Information they received from the Heathens themſelves, or the things that they ſaw them practiſe, ſo that they cannot afford us ſuch a clear and neat knowledge of what they relate, as is that which may be gathered from the Writings of the Ancient Heathens, who have themſelves, in their own Tongue, treated of their own Affairs. And therefore we cannot relie ſo much upon the deſcriptions of the preſent Heatheniſm, which are made by Chriſtians who undoubtedly have but ſeen or learned part of the Sentiments and Cuſtoms of the People they ſpeak of, and who perhaps, are not diſpoſed to make ſuch a ſimple and natural relation of them, as could be deſired. Now I find that all thoſe Writers are in the fame prejudice, when they tell us, that there are many Nations who adore the Devil himſelf, vexing themſelves with grievous pains, and cruel torments, to be his Martyrs: But the miſtake of thoſe Authors, ſeems to me to diſcover it ſelf, for he that has been quoted before, ſays in the 7th Chap. of his 1ſt. Part, pa. 56. That Trigaltius teſtifies, that moſt of the Chineſe interrogated the Devil, or Familiar Spirits, as they call'd a them, of which there are many amongſt them, and that they eſteem it rather a Divine, than a Diabolical operation. I believe that 'tis the ſame with all the other Nations, woh are accuſed directly to adore the Devil, and am perſwaded, that if the thing were ſtrictly examined, it would be found, that they have not ſo much as a Notion of what we underſtand by the word Devil.
Sect. 6. For 'tis eaſie to conceive that thoſe that have not the ſame knowledge and ſentiments of God with us, cannot alſo have the ſame Ideas of the Devil, that the Chriſtians have, ſince he, that knows not God after the manner of the Chriſtians, cannot alſo know the Devil; and that is impoſſible that any rational Creature ſhould know the Devil as he is, and adore him. For as to what is ſaid by the Apoſtle, concerning the Heathens, that they offer their ſacrifices to the Devils, 1 Cor. 10.20. 'Tis not expreſly ſaid to the Devil, as to the Chief of the wicked Angels, no more then in St. Matth. 25.41. But to him, as the Chief of the Demons, of which we have formerly ſpoken. And 'tis obſervable, that the Greek word uſed by St. Paul, is not that of Devils but Demons, which is the name the Heathens gave to a ſort of inferior Gods, as has been already ſaid. After that Obſervation, let us ſee what conformity may be found, betwixt the ſentiments of the Ancient Pagans, and that of the Modern Heathen, as to Spirits; we ſhall begin with Europe, thence proceed to Aſia, and Africa, and at laſt, go over into America.