THE 



T H K 



Tlluflrlout men, exalted to divine honours. There is no fuf- 

 iicient proof, that Orpheus, Hefiod, or any other Grecian 

 cofniugonift, fuppofed two independent principles in nature : 

 (Or, though they afcribe the origin of evil to Chaos, they 

 might, neverthclefs, be of opinion, as we !h;\ll find to liave 

 been the cafe with many later philofophcrs, that matter is 

 derived from God. 



There were, perhaps, different opinions among the ancient 

 cofmogonifts, concerning the firft caufe of nature. Some 

 might, poiTibly, afcribe the origin of all things to a ge- 

 nerating force, deftitute of thought, which they conceived 

 to be inherent in matter, without looking to any higher 

 principle. But it is probable, that the general opinion 

 among thsm was that which had prevailed among the Egyp- 

 tians and in the Eaft, and was communicated by tradition 

 to tlie Greeks, that matter, or chaos, exifled eternally 

 with God, and that by the divine energy of emanation, 

 material forms were fent forth from him, and the vifible 

 world arofe into exiftence. This principle being admitted, 

 the whole fyftem of the ancient theogonies appears confift- 

 ent, and a fatisfaftory explanation may be given of moft of 

 the Grecian fables. Upon tliis fuppofition, the lum of the 

 doftrine of the theogonies, divefted of allegory and poetry, 

 will be as follows : 



The firft matter, containing the feeds of all future being, 

 exifted from eternity with God. At length, the divine 

 energy upon matter produced a motion among its parts, by 

 which thofe of the fame kind were brought together, and 

 thofe of a different kind were feparated, and by which, 

 according to certain wife laws, the various forms of the 

 material world were produced. The fame energy of ema- 

 nation gave exiftence to animals and men, and to gods who 

 inhabit the heavenly bodies, and various other parts of 

 nature. Among men, thofe who pofiefs a larger portion of 

 the divine nature than others, are hereby impelled to great 

 and beneficent actions, and afford illuftrious proofs of their 

 divine original, on account of which, they are after death 

 raifed to a place among the gods, and become objefts of 

 religious worfhip. 



Upon the bafis of thefe notions, it is eafy to conceive, 

 that the whole mythological fyftem, and all the religious 

 rites and myfteries of the Greeks, might be founded. 

 Brucker's Hift. Phil, by Enf. vol.i. 



Among the moft ancient writers. Dr. Burnet obferves, 

 that theogony and cofmogony fignified the fame thing. (See 

 Cosmogony. ) In effeft, the generation of the gods or the 

 ancient Perfians, fire, water, and earth, is apparently no 

 other than that of the primary elements. 



THEOLOGICAL Crii^icism. See Criticism. 



Theological Prebend. See Prebend. 



THEOLOGIUM, formed from ©ro,-, and \oyoi fpeech, 

 or difcourfe, in the ancient theatre, was a place, or little 

 ftage, above that on which the ordinary aftors appeared. 

 See Theater. 



The theologium was tlie place where tieir gods appeared. 

 It alfo included the machines on which they defcended, 

 and from which tliey fpoke. 



There was a theologium required for the reprefentation 

 of the Ajax of Sophocles, the Hippolitus of Eiu-ipides, 

 &e. Seal. Poet. lib. i. cap. i. 



THEOLOGY, compounded of ©soj, God, and Xoyoc, dif- 

 courfe, divinity ; a fcience, which inftrufts us in the know- 

 ledge of God, and divine things ; or which has God, and 

 the things he has revealed, for its objeft. 



Theology is a fcience which (hews us what -we arc to be- 

 lieve of God, and the manner in which he would be ferved. 



It h divided into turo branches, the natural, and the revealtd 



or fuptrnatural. 



TiiEOLOGV, Natural, is the knowledge we hare of God 

 from his wor' , by the light of nature, and reafon. 



Theolog; , Supernatural, is that wliich we learn from re- 

 velation. See Religiok. 



Theology, Pofitive, is the knowledge of the iioly Scrip- 

 tures, and of the fignificatiou of them, confoimably to the 

 opinions of the fathers and councils ; without the afTiftance 

 of any argumentation. But fome will have it, that this 

 ouglit to be called expofttive, rather than poftti'ue. 



Theology, Moral, is tliat which teaches us die divine 

 laws relating to our manners and aiAions ; in contradiftinc- 

 tion to 



Theology, Speculative, which explains and eftablifhes the 

 doftrines of rehgion, as objeds of faiUi. 



Theology, Schola/lic, or School, is that wliich proceed* 

 by reafoning ; or that derives the knowledge of feveral 

 divine things from certain cftabhftied principles of faith. 

 See Scholastic Divinity. 



The ancients, according to Varro, Scxvola, and Plu- 

 tarch, had a tluee-fold theology ; the firft fiv^LKn, mythic, 

 fabulous, which fiourifhed among the poets ; and was 

 chiefly employed in the theogony, or genealogy, and hif- 

 tory of tlie gods : to whom all things were attributed, 

 which men, and even the vileft of men, could be guilty 

 of. Neverthclefs, the popular religion and worfliip were 

 in a great meafure founded upon that mythology, which 

 run through the whole of their religion, and was of great 

 authority with the people. Many unexceptionable proofs 

 of this are produced by Dr. Leland, in his " Advantage 

 and Ncceffity of the Chriftian Revelation," vol. i. part i. 

 chap. 6. 



The fecond, raoXiTixr, political, or civil, was that efta- 

 bllfhed by the Roman laws, and chiefly embraced by the 

 politicians, priefts, and people, as moft fuitable and expe- 

 dient to the fafety, quiet, and profperity of the ftate. 

 This, though not the true, was the vulgar theology, and 

 conftituted the pubhc and authorized religion. It was 

 that which the philofophers themfelves, whatever private 

 opinions or fpeculations they might entertain, or difpute of 

 in their fchools, univerfally conformed to in their own prac- 

 tice, and alfo exhorted others to do fo. Varro informs us, 

 that tliis theology particularly determined what gods they 

 were publicly to worftiip, what facred rites they were to 

 obferve, and what facrifices to offer. 



Although even the vulgar among the Pagans feem, in ge- 

 neral, to have had fome notion of one fupreme God, yet 

 their theology was properly polytheifm ; and the providence 

 they acknowledged, was the providence, not of one God, 

 but of many gods. The learned Dr. Cudworth, who 

 feems inchned to put the moft favourable conftruftion upon 

 the Pagan theology, acknowledges, that the civil theology, 

 as well as the poetical, had not only many fantaftic gods 

 in it, but an appearance of a plurality of independent dei- 

 ties ; feveral being made fupreme in their refpeftive territo- 

 ries or fundlions. Ariftotle (Oper. torn. i. p. 1246. edit. 

 Paris, 1629) intimates, that according to the laws of cities 

 and countries, that is, in the civil or political theology, there 

 feems to be no one abfolutely powerful or all-perfeft being, 

 but a plurality of gods, one of whom Is fuppofed to be 

 more powerful in one refpeft, and another in another refpeft. 

 Eefides, the pubhc religion was made up partly of the phy- 

 fical, and 'partly of the poetical theology. Thofe poetical 

 tables, which Varro cenfurcs as unworthy of the gods, and 

 as afcribing to them aftions which none but the viJeft of 



