406 titi annonrof Me ZíbítteZttríbute1 Chap. 2 t and (name that naturally attends them. They efteem- ed thofe things to be the means to obtain Happinefs, that were caufes of the contrary. They plac'd their Sovereign Good in extreme Evil, i e. finful Pleafures. They were encouraged towork all uncleannefs withgree- dinefs, notonly upon the account of prefent Impunity, for their Laws left almoft all Vices indifferent but what difturbed the tranquillity of the State; and not only by the multitudeof Examples, fo that Vices by their corn- monnefs had loa their names,and were ailed Vertues, Apud eos tota nay 'twas a Crime to appear innocent among the guilty; impuritas v?- but principally becaufe they thought themfelves fecure catur urbani- tas. M. Fel as to a future ftate : For either they wholly disbelieved it, and 'tis congruous that thofe who think to die like Beath, fhould live like Beafts ; or elfe by attributing to Et caneta lice_ their Deities thofePaffions and Vices that fo powerfully re credimus,Et reigned in themfelves, they were firongly perfwadedno fequimur magnorum ex- Punifhment would be infliéted. For howcould the gods zem 'PlaDe° make themSacrifices to theirJuftice, who were compa- tempting her nions with them in their Crimes ? Or revenge the imi- brother toin- tationof their own adions ? This was to caft down the cell. Ovid. .Met. l 9 P46. banks, and to let the torrent of corrupt Naturebreak 7 forth in all its fury. As St. Aulin obferves ofHomer, thefather ofPoeticalFi±ions, that reprefenting theMur- ders, Thefts and Adulteries of their gods, he made Confer. At_ thofe Sins divine Properties, and effeûually commend- que in Drum ed them to the Heathens: Ruifquis ea fecifset, non ho- (pi templa emit fumma minesperditosfedcaleffesDeos videbatur iuritátus. And Soniru tonal_ he gives an inflameof this from a Comedy of Terence, it,Ego hemun- cio hoc non where a vicious young man is introduced, reporting facerem:' Ego how he animated himfelf to fatisfie his bruitifh luft, as illud vero ita having no lets a Deity than Jupiter for his Matter and feci acluFcn Ter. Eunuch. Model. In fhorr, the Theology of the Pagans inflamed them to thebold comrtiifïion ofevery pleafant Sin. The Hiftory of their gods was fo interfpreft with the molt infamous
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