Chap. Vir. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 163 



and fcattered the fans of Jdam, be Jet bounds to the 7iatioiis according to 

 the number of the Angels of God*. And for this Mofes defires the peo- 

 ple of Ifrael to enquire at their fathers atid their elder s^ and they tvill 

 tell them fo'X. So that it appears to have been a conftant tradition 

 among the Ifraelites from the earhefl: times. It therefore appears, 

 that every nation had its guardian angel ; and I think we may rea- 

 fonably fuppofe, that thefe angels, being in rank inferior to the arch- 

 angels, were Dasmons, though perhaps fuperior to the Egyptian De- 

 mons, having bodies of a finer texture ; and, if not immortal, liv- 

 ing longer than the Egyptian Daemons did, though thefe lived very- 

 long, forae of them of the firft race, it is faid, 2000 years, as I re- 

 member. 



But if there were any doubt of there having been in antient times 

 Dsemons, on the earth, of the human form, there is a paflage in the 

 fixth chapter of Genefis, which, in my apprehenfion, puts the matter 

 out of all doubt. It is in the 2d verfe, where it fays. That the fans 

 of God faiv the daughters of men, that they ivcre fair^ and they took 

 them 'wives of ail 'which they cbofe. And in the 4th verfe we have 

 thefe words : There "were giants tn the earth in thofe days : Andalfo 

 after that^ 'when the fons of God came in unto the daughters of men^ 

 and they hare children to them ; the fame became mighty men^ 'which 



X 2. 'were^ 



* The words of the text are, *«ts S'ls^ij/^ii' « 'vi'iim? tint, 'tn hi^frn^it 'vnvt A^xu, ic- 

 mrtt 'ofici ihuv x«t' u^ilu37 'a'/'/E>i«v 0£ou : Which are thus tranflated in our Bible, 

 ff^Aen the mofl high divided to the naiwis their inheritance, -when he feparated the fons of 

 jidain, he fet the bounds of the peofle according to the number of the children of Ifrael. 

 This is one of the mofl: blundering tranflations in our Bible ; for it gives a meaning to 

 the paflage quite different from the true one ; which undoubtedly is, that God divided 

 the nations according to the number of the angels, affigning to each a nation as his 

 particular province. I have elfewhere obferved (Vol. II. of Origin of Lannuace, p. 84.^ 

 another blundering tranflation of a paflage in Exodus, (chap. 3.} where our tranflator'! 

 make nonfenfe of a very fublime Theological truth, 



t Verfe 7.. 



