lilt, it S*prft\t. 



Xjr, Per fie. I. \. 



Lib.}.f<tl. 8 Gmzr. 



lit. U.Gey, 



H <JL ME%I C A. Chap. II. 



the Emperor Adrians Reign, fo continuing till the time of Tertullian, Latlanti- 

 us, and Eufebius. The Greeta which inhabited the utmoft part of Italy, em- 

 ploy'd themfelves daily in Sacrificing Strangers to Saturn, and fometimes one 

 a^omt^ the facriH " another. But at laft this formal Cruelty became a ridiculous Cuftom . for the 

 %omam by fevere Edicts ftri&ly forbad all fuch Humane Offerings: Yet that they 

 might retain fomememory of their former Sacrifices, they order'd thirty Ima- 

 ges to be made of Rufhes, which every year on the fifteenth of April, were by 

 the %pman Priefts and Veftal Nuns, to be thrown from the Mtlyian Bridge into 

 the Tyber. 



Moreover, Manethon relates, « That the Egyptians in Heliopolis us'd to offer 

 three Men at once to Juno . which Cuftom was obferv'd till King Amafis or. 

 der'd, That in ftead of Men,they fhould ferve her with Wax Candles. 



Amejlris y Queen to the famous Xerxes, caus'd twelve Men to be burn'd alive 

 as an Oblation, to pacifie and oblige Tluto to maintain them, in their prefent 

 Grandeur. 



Trocopius relates of the People about the Arabian Gulph, « That they often- 

 €C times SacrifiYd Men to the Sun. 



u The Indians, faith Vomponius Mela, kill their neareft Relations and Parents, 

 " before they decay by Sicknefs or Age, and judg'd it fit and moft Religious to 

 " Feaftand Banquet themfelves with the Entrails of the (lain. 



The Albanians, zsStrabo relates, offer yearly one of their Priefts to the 

 Moon. 



The fame Mela relates of the Tauri, That they us'd'to cut the Throats of 

 Strangers, whenever they came near to the Place of their Sacrifice. 



The Egyptian Idol Typbon, as you may read in Manethon, was daily made red- 

 hot, and living People put in, and broyl'd to death. 



But to pafs by feveral other People guilty of fuch bloody Idolatry, How 

 did the Altars erected in the Woods in Gaul and Germany, for Taran, He/us, Teu* 

 tates, and Woden, continually fmoke with the Blood of Humane Expiations ? 

 Of which Cdfar faith thus in his Commentaries ; " The Gauls are a very Devout 

 " and Superfluous Nation . and therefore when any were dangeroufly fick 

 « or likely to be worfted in Battel, they vow'd to feaft their Gods that fav'cj 

 "them with Humane Flefli, and if need were, would make themfelves a 

 " thankful Sacrifice to thofe that helped them off in fuch an Exigence. Con- 

 deeming thefe bloody Rites, they con fulted and imploy'd the Druydes, by 

 " whofe advice they all believ'd that no Victim was fo acceptable to the 2fy- 

 "mens, as pour'd-out Humane Blood, but efpecially that of Malefactors- 

 " which Dainty if they 'could not procure, their Gods muft be treated with 

 u the Lives of the Innocent. 



Laftly ,the Holy Scripture faith thus, When the %ing of Moab fa* that the Battel 

 was too fore for lim, be took Tfiitb him feven hundred Men that drew Swords, to break 

 through eyen to the Kjng of Edom . but they could not. W>en he took his eldejl Son, that 

 Jlmdd have reigned in his Jle a d, and offered him for a Burnt- offering on the Wall. 



Thefe Teftimonies are fufficient WitnefTes, That the Ancient Heathens ex. 

 prefs'd the height of their Devotion, and fury of mad Zeal, in fuch execrable 

 Rites, as to this day the like is praftifed by the Indians, Chinefes, Japanners, and 

 others: Wherefore it can no ways be a fufficient ground to prove, that the 

 Americans are deriv'd from the neniaans, becaufe of their Humane Sacrifices 

 for that they were ufual Cuftoms in all Places. 



Lit. z.capl' 



Bell. Call Cmm. 



tBji^.v^^y. 



Tfe< 



