1:4eDartnoupof tit Zibirsz Iftt íbfltt Chap, r 7 lefs than Men by worfhipping themarvile anddefpica- ble Creatures, and funk themfelves by the molt execra- ble Idolatry beneath the Powers of darknefs, to whom they offered Sacrifice. Now this Philofophical Prin- ciple is the molt palpable violation of theLaw of Na- ture : for that initrués us that God is the only obje&of Religion,and that we are toobey himwithout exception from any inferiour Power.Here'twas Confcience todif- obey the Law, and a molt worthy caufe wherein they Ihould have manifelted that generous contempt ofDeath Rom.1.23,2.4 they fo much boalted of. But they detained the truth in d vcrfa featio unrdghteoufnefs ; and although they knewGod,theyglorified rent, Templa him not es God, but changed the Glory ofthe Incorruptible hahereut corn- God, into an Ima e made like to a corruptible Man, and to mania cunt ó p populo. Aeg. Birds, andBeafls, andcreeping things : A fin offo pro- lib.4.cont.}rol. yoking a nature, that God gave them up to the vileft tufts, Carnal impuritybeing a juft punifhment ofSpiri- tual. 4. They arrogated to themfelves the foiepraife of their Venues and Happinefs. This Impiety is molt vifible in the writings of the Stoicks, the Pharifees in Philofophy. They were fo far from depending on God for Light and Grace in the cond.u7 oftheir Lives, and from praying to him tomake them vertuous,that they oppofed nothing with more pride andcontempt. They thought that Wifdom would lofe its value and lultre,that nothing were in it worthy ofadmiration,ifit came from above, and depended upon the Grace of another. They ac- knowledged that the natural Life, that Riches, Ho- nours, and other inferiour things,common to the worft, were Judicium hoc omniummortalium, for- tunama D2o petendam, a feipfo fu- mendam fapientiam. Cicero. Hoc in fapientia pretiofum arque magnificum ell, quod non obrenit,quod illam quif- que Gbi debec, quod non abalio peti- cur : quid haberes in philofophia quod fifpiceres, fi beneficiaria res effet ? Senec Epill. 9 Quis quod vir bonus effet gratias Dies egit unquam ? at quod chis, quod honoratus, quod in- columis. Cic. 1. 3. de nat. Duor. Vir- tutemnemo unquam acceptamDeo re- tulir ; nimirum rede. Propter virtu- temenìm jure laudamur, & in s irture re&è gloriamur, quod non contingeret fi id donum aDeo, non anobis habere- sous.
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