DEMON. 
firsilar pea iagees? of ee alcribing to him the pre- 
uman being: fo 
fa natural and of a 
to have reprefented the natural A Sia ard they Ww 
called by the fame names. The fun, ether, or air, or what- 
ever other part of nature was eite ee the ae ean cas of 
Pagans, was called in Egypt Ofiris, in Chaldza and Phe- 
nicia, Bel or Baal; and im many other coat. ene ; 
and it is Hala! known, that Jupiter, Bel, and Oftris, 
ortal men, who were fappofed to be ed- 
For the fame rea- 
principally regarded by the common people. 
faid, however, that no decifive evidence can be produced in 
order to prove, that religious oo were ever paid to any 
deceafed man, under the names o the fupreme deity 
of the Chaldzans, or Ofiris, the numen of the 
paid any religious her an the 
name Bel, who is faid by Berofus to have formed the oe 
and es oo the Chaldzans worthip at had never bee 
ama s did alfo the Greeks, under the appellation of 
u 
J iti is farther bit by thofe who maintain the fuperior 
rank aud nature of alan that they are defcribed as beings 
placed ae, the gods a But, on the other hand, 
It is argued, that this ae on refpeGts not their nature 
but their office, as mediators between men and the celeftial 
gods, and therefore agrees with fuch human fpirits as were 
thought to be advanced to the office of demons. 
blichus (apud Stob. Eclog. Phyfic. lib. i.) fays, that go 
men were recompented at death b being converted into 
angels and angelical fouls, meaning the fame ag demons; 
and it is allowed by the le > bain Jamblichus, Hierocles, 
Simplicius, and sh ufe t d demons and angels 
fad iene ely, erocles ie pe ({n Carm. Py- 
thag.), that the aie kinds of beings were called indif- 
ferently angels, or demons, or heroes; and as the latter 
ee human f{pirits, it is prefumed that the former belonged 
o the fame clafs. Philo fays (De Gigantibus), that fou's, 
[@) o 
a8 
on fhe one eh 
from heroes, who were the departed fouls of men; an 
the other, that demons were advanced to a rank an fla tion 
ea to that of heroes, and that this difference occafioned 
Accordingly thofe who adopt this opinion 
, that thofe dzemons who were the more imme ate 
and jultice, the fouls of virtuous men are advanced to the 
Vou. XI, 
rank of demons; and that from demons, if they are fe 
perly purified, they are exalted into gods, not by a Y po- 
litical eee but accor ding to right reafon.’? "Fn his 
ook (De Defe&. Orac.) he fpeaks of human fouls as com- 
mencing firft heroes, then dee zmons, and eae advanced 
If. et Ofir.), ae 
ae 
recorded the ancient hifto ory or tra 
public faith and worfhip were founded, affert ae the men 
of the golden age, who were fuppofed to be very goo 
came demons after death, and difpenfers of pe aes 
to mankind. 
This account of demons is fully apace by the other 
writings of the ancient heathens; and many paflages have 
been cited from thefe wri ings by cee learned men, batt 
cularly by Mr. Jof. Mede, and Dr. Sykes, in which dz 
mons muft have the fame meaning as in Heliod. It is not 
pretended, that the heathens did not acknowledge and wor- 
fhip celeftial or natural gods; for the defcription of demons 
as the more immediate objets of worfhip of itfelf implies, 
were ultimate obje€ts of it, who could be no 
other than thofe celeftial gods, whofe agents and minifters 
the former were fuppofed to be. oreover, it is fuppofed 
ie me demons, or fubaltern == either celeftial or 
rial, were acknowledged an 
et 
a 
ov 
mes 
tho fe t at were in th e€ mo 
even in mo 
barous. Among the nations Diariag by tale we may 
reckon the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Syrians, Phoenicians, 
omans, and’ alfo fuch Arabians as bore 
Egypt. That in pais nations divine 
honours were paid to dead men an is ftrenuonfly 
maintained by Mr. ae - whofe referees on this fubjec 
have been very ample and various. ilo yblus, who 
tranflated the hiftory of Sanchosiatho oa the Pheenician 
language into Gre Iv is preface to it, th 
m 
the Phoenicians and Eg 
er pe sale derived this cuft 
the GREATEST Gops, who had found out things moft ne- 
ceffary and ufeful in life, and had been beeen to man 
kind. Thefe they worfhipped a s gods; and, applying heic 
temples to this ufe, they confecrated to their names pil- 
lars and ftatues of wood, which the Phoenicians heid in 
high veneration, and inftituted the moft folemn felti vals in 
their honour. More efpecially did they give the names of 
their kings to the mundane elements, and to other things 
Yor 
things of the fame kind, did they acknowledge to be ftrict- 
7 and properly gods. So that fome of their gods were 
MORTAL, and others IMMORTAL Hence it is deduced, 
that the Pheenicians and other ancient nations, worthipped 
h men as had been benefactors to the 
men and women were the gods worthipped 
y all people, and in all cities and countries. It is farther 
ari by the learned writer now cited, that heroes 
gods of earthly origin were worfhipped by the Egyp- 
ae Hermes taiimeas (wid, Augul. Civ. Dei, 
1, XSvili. 
