_ 306 
tions thefe zones, Heb. 1. ver. 2, where 
he afferts, “that they were produced by 
God through Chrift.” 
I farther add, that among thefe cones 
of the Valentinians were vous, ufos, ovyn» 
@AnSea, coPia, i. e. intelleB, a profun- 
a ty, filence, truth, and wifdom, which, as 
the learned Gale well obferves in his 
notes on Jamblichus de Myfteriis, &c. 
prove their dogmas to be of Chaldaic 
origin. For thefe words perpetually 
occur in the fragments of the Chaldaic 
oracles ; not to mention that the middle 
of the Chaldean intelligible triad, is de- 
Nominated aiwy, cor. 
Tt will be faid, perhaps, that thefe 
oracles were forged by certain heretical 
Chriftians ; but this may be eafily con- 
futed by confidering, that they were 
largely commented on by Porphyry, 
Jamblichus, and Proclus, who are well 
known to have been great enemies to 
the Chriftian religion; and that it is 
very unlikely, men of fuch uncommon 
Jearning and fagacity, fhould have been 
fo grofsly deluded*.. Befides, though 
thefe oracles were the fountains of the 
Valentinian dogmas, yet it will be found, 
by a diligent infpeétion, that they are 
repugnant in moft particulars to the lead- 
ing tenets of Chriftians of all denomina- 
tions. Hence Preclus has largely fhown, 
in.his books on Plato’s Theology, that 
the feveral orders of gods mentioned in 
thefe oracles, are perfectly conformable 
to thofe delivered by Plato in various 
parts of his works. 
* That fome of thete oracles may be confi- 
dently afcribed to Zoroatter, and that others of 
them are of much lefs antiquity, is, I think, 
evident from the following confiderations : in 
the firft place, Johannes Picus, earl of Miran- 
dula, in a letter to Ficinus, informs him, that 
he was in poffeffion cf the oracles of Zoro- 
after, in the Chaldean tongue, with a commen- 
tary on them, by certain Chaldean wife men. 
And that he did not {peak this from mere con- 
jecture (as Fabricius thnks, and miany other 
learned men have thought, he did) is evident, 
from his exprefsly afferting, in.a letter to Urbi- 
nats (Op. p. 256) that, after much labour, 
be had at length Icarned the Chaldean lan- 
guage. And {till farther, he has inferted in 
his works, fifteen conclufions, faunded on this 
very Chaldean manufcript, though they appear 
to' have efcaped the notice of all the critics. 
dn the next place, Proclus cites one of thefe 
oracles as prior, and another as pofterior, to 
Plato. And what is fti'l more; in his MSS. 
Scholia‘on the Cratylus, he fays, that certain 
oracles relpesting the intelligible and mtcllec- 
tual ordcis, were delivered by Theurgifts, un- 
dex the reign of Marcus Antoninus, 


The Enquirer. 
No. XI. [Feb. 
I only add, that as thefe gones of St. 
Paul, and the Valentinians, are the ex- 
emplars of the vifible univerfe, it is evi- 
dent that in this refpeét they are analo- 
gous to the ideas of Plato. 
I remain, fir, your’s, &c. 
THOMAS TAYLOR. 
Manor-Place, Walworth, Feb. 4. 
THE ENQUIRER. No. XI. 
QuEsTIon : Ought Error, in any cafe, 
to be defignedly propagated ? 
FOR TRUTH AND GOOD ARE ONE, 
AND BEAUTY DWELLS IN THEM, ANB 
THEY IN HER, 
Akenfide, 


WITH LIKE PARTICIPATION. 
A MORE important point of practical 
cafuiftry can fcarcely be canvaffed, 
than that which is propofed as the fub- 
ject of the prefent enquiry. It is in- 
terefting to all who are concerned in the 
education of children and youth, whe- 
‘ther as parents, or as official preceptors, 
who, if they be defirous of difcharging 
their duty faithfully, muft be folicitous 
to determine, whether they are bound, 
on all fubjeéts of inftruétion, ftrictly to 
adhere to their own opinions, and com- 
municate to their pupils the honeft refult 
of their beft judgment ; or whether they, 
ought, even contrary to their own pri- 
vate fentiments, to follow the general 
fenfe of the public, expreffed in its infti- 
tuted, or cuftomary, formularies., It is 
interefting to the whole body of public 
inftruétors, who mutt be defirous to fatisfy 
themfelves, whether they be under a 
moral obligation, in all their addreffes to 
the people, to adhere religioufly to that 
doétrine, which they judge to be true ; 
or whether they are at liberty to adopt 
popular errors, and fofter vulgar pre- 
judices, under the notion of deceiving 
men for their benefit. It might be 
added, that it is interefting alfo to the 
legiflator and magistrate, were it not fully 
proved, not only from theoretical fpe- 
culations on the nature and end of go- 
vernment, but from the long ftory of 
diforder and mifery, introduced into fo- 
ciety by the patronage which civil go- 
vernors have thought it neceflary to af- 
ford to one fet of religious opinions. in 
preference to another, that legiflators 
and magiftrates have nothing to do with 
the eftablifhiment of truth. 
Perhaps there are few young people, 
whofe minds have been imbued with 
fentiments of integrity, to whom it wil 
not appear ftrange, and almoft immoral,: 
to make it at alla queftion, ian ; 
A, 
