^ O F S E R P E N T S. 205 



The firft Aft^v that were deified^ or made Gods, are fuppofed 

 to be the Heads of Families, Founders of Empires, and Bene- 

 factors of Provinces who, after their deceafe, were highly 



reverenced. Noah and his Sons feem to be the firftand chief ani- 

 mated Deities of the Pagans, under the Names o^ Saturn^ 'Jupi- 

 ter^ Neptwie and Fluto ; hence Demons^ another Name given to 

 Spirits, which were fuppofed to appear to Mortals, with intention 

 to do them Good or Hurt. 



The firfl: Notion of Demons, *tis Udd, fprung from Chaldea^ 

 thence it fpread among the Perftans^ Egyptians .... Pythagoras 

 and Shales were the firft that introduced Demons into Greece^ 

 where Plato fell in with the Notion, which he explains thus, 



.... By Demons^ he underftood Spirits inferior to Gods, and 

 yet fuperior to Men, which inhabiting the middle Region of the 

 Air, kept up the Communication between the Gods and Men, 

 carrying up the Prayers and Offerings of Men to the Gods, and 

 bringing down the Will of the Gods to Men. He allow'd of 

 none but good ones, tho' his Difciples (finding themfeives unable 

 to account for the Origin of Evil) adopted another kind of De- 

 mons, who were Enemies to Man *. 



The Apocryphal Book of Enoch abounds with the Names of 

 Angels and Devils ; but that Book is not of any great Antiquity, 

 tho* the Prophecy be : it does not appear to have been known by 

 the antient Jews. St. 'Jude is the firfl that cited it. The Autho- 

 rity which this fpurious Book of Enoch has received from fome 

 of the Antients, is the reafon of our meeting with feveral of its 

 Opinions, fcatter'd in their Writings. 3id. 



LACTANTIUS, one of the moft eloquent Authors of his time, 

 (and therefore called the Chriftian Cicero) was of Opinion there 

 were two Ibrts of Demons, celeftial and tcrreftrial -f: The ceiejiial 

 are the fallen Angels, who having been feduced by the Prince of 

 Devils, engaged themfeives in impure Amours ; the terre/irial are 

 they who iffued from the former, as Children from their Parents t 

 Thefe lafl:, who are neither Men nor Angels, but a Medium be- 

 tween the two Natures; were not plunged into Hell, neither 

 were their Fathers admitted into Heaven : The tcfreftrial Angels 



are 



* Gale's Court of the Ge?.tUefy p^rc I. chap^ viii. 



t Chamhrs's Cjc'o^ad. Ca'rf'efs H/Ji. Di6f. vol L. p..43+-f 



