Works, Treatise · Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
Daemons (according to the Theology of the Gentiles) were 1. for their Nature and Degree a middle sort of Divine Powers between the Sovereign Gods and mortal Men. 2. For their Office they were supposed to be Mediators and Agents between the Celestial Gods and Men. This proved from Plato, Plutarch, Apuleius, Celsus in Origen, and S. Austin. The Doctrine of the Mediation of Daemons glanced at and reproved by the Apostle, Coloss. 2. 8. The distinction of Sovereign Gods and Daemons proved out of the Old Testament, and elegantly alluded to in the New, 1. Cor. 8. 5, 6.
MEAN-while let us first see what the Gentiles and their Theologists understood by Daemons: which when you have heard, I doubt not but you will confess the Deifying and worshipping of Saints and Angels, with other parts of their Idolatry which do this, to be as lively an image of the Doctrine of Daemons as could possibly be expressed; and such an one as whereby the Apostasie of the latter times is as by a character distinguished from the Heresies, false doctrines and corruptions of all other times whatsoever.
Daemons in the Gentiles Theology were Deastri or an inferiour sort of Deisied Powers, as a middle between the Sovereign Gods and mortal men. So saies Plato in Symposio, foreign. So say all the Platonists, and well-nigh all other Sects of Philosophers; I am sure the most do; for it is a very ancient doctrine, insomuch that Plutarch (De defectu Oraculorum) fetcheth this distinction between foreign, i. e. Sovereign Gods, and Daemons, as far as the antiquity of Zoroafter: foreign, &c. They seem to me (saith he) to have solved great and difficult doubts, who have placed the Daemons between the Gods and Men, and found out what in some sort uniteth and joyneth us with them: whether this be the doctrine of the Magi and Zoroafter, or the Thracian doctrine derived from Orpheus, or the AEgyptian, or Phrygian, &c. The Sovereign or Highest Gods, which amongst them were properly called foreign, were those whom they supposed to be in the Heavens, yea in the Sun, Moon and Stars; whence they called them Dii Superi, Dii Coelestes, whom they affirmed to have neither beginning nor ending: as Apuleius speaks de Daemonio Socratis, Immortales, sine ullo vel fine vel exordio, sed prorsus à retro aeviterni. And because they dwelt in the heavenly Lights, as it were Souls in Bodies, Plato thinks the name foreign first came quasi foreign, of the everlasting running and uncessant motion of the heavenly bodies: Plat. in Cratylo.
Now these Sovereign and Celestial Gods they supposed so sublime and pure, as might not be prophaned with approach of earthly things, or with the care and managing of mortal mens businesses; and therefore they bring in that Middle sort of Divine Powers which they call foreign, or foreign, Daemons, to be as Mediators and Agents between the Sovereign Gods and mortal men. Thus saith Plato in his Symposium, foreign. God is not approched by men, but all the commerce and intercourse between Gods and men is performed by the Mediations of Daemons. Will you see the particulars? foreign (saith he) foreign. Daemons are reporters and carriers from men to the Gods, and again from the Gods to men; of the supplications and prayers of the one, and of the injunctions and rewards of devotion from the other. And Apuleius in the place forequoted describes them, Mediae potestates, per quas & desideria nostra & merita ad Deos commeant; inter terricolas coelicolásque vectores, hinc precum, indè donorum; qui ultro citróque portant, hinc petitiones, indè suppetias, seu quidem utrinque interpretes & salutigeri; Daemons are middle Powers, by whom both our desires and merits pass unto the Gods; they are carriers between men on earth and the Gods in heaven, hence of prayers, thence of gifts; they bring to and fro, hence petitions, thence supplies: or they are certain interpreters on both sides and conveyers of recommendations. For, saith he, Neque enim pro majestate Deûm Coelestium fuerit haec curare, It beseems not the majesty of the Sovereign Gods to manage these things of themselves. Whence it is that Celsus in Origen terms his Daemons foreign, &c. l. 8. contra Celsum, pag. 940. The Peers, Presidents, Lieutenants and Officers of the most high God; who being neglected can do as much hurt as the Peers and Officers of the Persian or Roman Kings. Where note by the way, that Celsus, as some others did, acknowledges but one Sovereign God.
By reason of this Office of mediation, Plutarch (in his De desect. Orac.) calls the Order of Daemons foreign, also foreign, &c. agreeable to the doctrine of Plato, the Order of Agents and Ministers, &c. To stay no longer here, take the Sum of all in the words of Apuleius in the Book forenamed: Cuncta Coelestium voluntate, numine & authoritate fiunt, sed Daemonum obsequio, operà & ministerio; All things are done by the will, power and authority of the Celestial Gods; but withal by the service and ministery of the Daemons. And if I should bring all which I might to this purpose, I should be too tedious. Porphyrius in Eusebius, and Plutarch, skilful men in this kind of Philosophy, will satisfie them fully to whom this is not sufficient.
This was the Oecumenical Philosophy of the Apostles times and of the times long before them. Thales, Pythagoras, all the Academicks and Stoicks, and not many to be excepted, unless the Epicures, taught this Divinity. He that had rather read a Father of the Church, let him but turn over the eighth and ninth Books of S. Austin de Civ. Dei: the eighteenth Chapter of the former Book having this Title, Qualis sit Religio in qua docetur quòd homines, ut commendentur Diis, bonis Daemonibus uli debeant Advocatis; What a Religion is it that teacheth men to use good Daemons for their Advocates to commend them to the Gods? the one and twentieth Chapter this, An Daemonibus nuntiis & interpretibus Dii utantur; Whether the Gods do use Daemons for their messengers and Interpreters. And of the ninth Chapter of the ninth Book the Title is this, An amicitia Coelestium Deorum per intercessionem Daemonum possit homini provideri; Whether the friendship and favour of the Celestial Gods may be procured men by the intercession of Daemons: and of the seventeenth Chapter this, Ad consequendam vitam beatam non tali mediatore indigere hominem qualis est Daemon, sed tali qualis est unus Christus; To the attaining of blessedness, man hath no need of a Daemon for his mediator, but of Christ alone. The reading of which Titles alone were sufficient to shew what was the supposed Office of the Daemons among the Gentiles.
This Philosophy therefore so general was that, without doubt, whereof S. Paul admonisheth the Colossians to take heed lest they were spoiled with the vain deceit thereof,Col. 2. 8. as being after the traditions of men, and rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For some Christians even then under a pretence of humility, of not approaching too nearly and too boldly to God, would have brought in the worshipping of Angels in stead of this of Daemons: Verse 9.but S. Paul tells them, That as in Christ dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily, so that he needed no collegues of mediation; so also were they compleat in him, and needed therefore no Agents besides him.Verse 18. Let no man therefore (saith he) beguile you of your reward through humility, and worshipping of Angels; intruding into those things which he hath not seen, and not holding the head, &c.
Neither is the Holy Scripture ignorant of this distinction of Sovereign Gods and Daemons: The first whereof, the Celestial and Sovereign Gods, whether visible or invisible, it calls foreign the Host of heaven; the other sort it styleth by the name of Baalim, that is, Domini or Lords. And Manasseh that King of Idolaters was compleat for both of them: So we read 2 Chron. 33. 3. that he reared up Altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the Host of heaven, and served them. And 2 Kings 23. 5. that good Iosiah is said to have put down the Idolatrous Priests which burnt incense to Baal, to the Sun, and to the Moon, and to the Planets, and to all the Host of Heaven. And 2 Kings 17. 16. the Israelites are said to have worshipped all the Host of heaven, and to have served Baal. Now that these Baalims were no other than Daemon-gods appears by their*For cutting and launcing were Funeral ri…, as appears Levit. 21. 5. and chap. 19. 28. and Deut. 14. 1. Ier. 48. 37. and chap. 16. 6. and therefore retained in this Funeral-worship (as they call it) of those that were Deified after death. Quare, Did not God forbid his people this Rite, because abused to Daemon-Idolatry? yet did some transgressit, as Ier. 41. 5. Moses body therefore hidden. I may add to this observation, That for this cause the Scripture calls those false Gods foreign, which signifies as it were foreign, Such as had been sorrowed for, such as were mourned for, as being dead. (The word foreign is used of David's mourning for Absalom.) Quare, whether foreign signifies so properly the Images, as the supposed Gods themselves. See Psal. 106. 36, 37. where foreign are explained to be foreign Devils. See Esay 48. 5. where foreign is distinguished from graven and molten-Images. Where the word seems otherwise, it may be taken Metonymicé. Hence Hosea 13. 2. may be thus interpreted, They have made molten-Images of their silver, which are according to their understanding, foreign, informed, as they supposed, with those mourned-for-ones. That these Baalim were the Deified souls of the dead, is manifest from divers places of Scripture. Numb. 25. 2, 3. The Midianites called the people to the sacrifices of their Gods, and the people did …at. And Israel joyned himself to Baal-Peor. But Psal. 106. 28. it is said, They joyned themselves unto Baal-Peor, and a…e the sacrifices of the dead. Whence Apollinari… expresseth it by foreign. In the prophetical Song of Israel's Apostasie, Deut. 32. 15. They sacrificed unto Daemons, not to God; to Gods whom they knew not, to new ones that came newly up, whom their Fathers feared not. The Seventy foreign. Heb. foreign. Vide Isai. 65. 4. Idololatra in sepulchris. Item cap. 8. verse 19. Pro vivis ad mortuot. Loc. Isa. 8. 19. Targ. vertit, Nonne haec vi… est populorum colentium Idola? Vnusquisque populus ab Idolo suo requirit, vivi à mortuis. LXX. sic; foreign; Loc. Isa. 65. 3, 4. Targ. sic; In hortis sacrificant Idolis, & adolent aromata super lateres. 4. Qui babitant in domibus quae aedificantur de pulvere sepulchrorum, & cum cadaveribus filiorum beminum morantur. LXX, foreign. Videatur etiam Isa. 26. 14. Targum in locum. Multa huc adduc… possunt de Gigantibus foreign, quorum Moses meminit. Quin & Hieronymus in hunc locum Isaiae, per Dominos alienos in vers. 13. intelligit Idola & falsos Deo…; per Gigantes & mortuos in vers. 14. Simulachra itsque assiden…es Daemones. cutting and launcing themselves, who worshipped them, 1 Kings 18. 28. For these Tragick ceremonies are counted by those who treat about these mysteries as certain characters of Daemons. But this you shall have further confirmed in due place, where the arguments may be better understood.
This distinction also of Sovereign Gods and Daemons I suppose our Apostle alludes to 1 Cor. 8. 5, 6. where he saith, Though there be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or in earth; as there be foreign Gods many, (that is, Dii Coelestes, Sovereign Deities) foreign and Lords many, (that is, foreign, Daemons Presidents of earthly things:) Yet to us Christians there is but foreign one Sovereign God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we to him, (that is, to whom, as Supream, we are to direct all our services;) and but foreign one Lord Iesus Christ, (in stead of their many Mediators and Daemons,) foreign, by whom are all things which come from the Father to us, and through whom alone we find access unto him. The allusion, methinks, is passing elegant, and such as I think cannot be well understood without this distinction of Superior and Inferior Deities in the Theology of the Gentiles; they having a plurality in both sorts, and we Christians but one in each, as our Apostle affirmeth. There wants but only the name of Daemons, in stead of which the Apostle puts Lords, and that for the honour of Christ, of whom he was to infer foreign one Lord; the Name of Christ being not to be polluted with the appellation of an Idol: for his Apodosis must have been otherwise foreign, one Daemon. Or it may be he alludes unto the Hebrew name Baalim, which signifies Lords; and those Lords, as I told you, were nothing else but Daemons: For thus would S. Paul speak in the Hebrew tongue, There are foreign and foreign, many Gods and many Lords.