^4 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book 111. 



tians, as Herodotus tells us, firft difcovered the immortality of the 

 foul ; and, 1 think, by the natural light of reafon, efpecially a rea- 

 fon lo much cultivated as theirs, by arts and fciences, the Egyptians, 

 if they applied their philofophy to religion, which they certainly did, 

 and had a philoibphical as well as a popular religion, muft have 

 difcovered, even without the afliftance of their Daemon Kings, not 

 only the immortality of the foul, as Herodotus tells us they did, 

 and a future ftate of rewards and punifhments, but all the other 

 dodrines, which they communicated to the initiated. 



Befides this dodrine of the Trinity, Plato, as I have obferved *, 

 maintained a pre-exiftent ftate of man, and a future ftate of rewards 

 and punifhments; and confequently he muft have believed in the 

 immortality of the foul: And the fame appears to have been the doc- 

 trine of Ariftotle, who has told us, that our intelledfual mind is never 

 in fo perfed a ftate as when it exifts by itfelf, difencumbered of the 

 body. 



This religious philofophy went from Greece to Italy, where it 

 was much cultivated among the Romans ; fo that the religion of the 

 philofophers of Egypt, that is the Priefts, was in this way fpread over a 

 coniiderable part of Europe. But ftill the popular religion of all the 

 nations of the earth, (the Jews only excepted), continued to be grofs 

 idolatry ; for they worftiipped Gods of flefti and blood, and who had all 

 the paffions belonging to men, and many of their vices, in which their 

 worftiippers, as was natural, were difpofed to imitate them. Then 

 it was a moft bloody religion, being accompanied with the flaughter 

 of fo many of the animal race, which muft have been very ofFen- 

 fivc to a gracious God, who defires the prefervation of all that 

 race, as far as is confiftent with the general fyftem of nature. 

 With fuch a religion, it was impoifible that a people could be happy 



in 



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