poses them as Enemies to Mankind, who are labouring to fubvert the Belief or Practice of it.

Nor are They infenfible of this Charge, nor unmindful to obviate it, by giving a very different Account of the Nature and Effects of that Holy Inftitution into which We have been baptized. They have taken Advantage of the Additions, Alterations, Perverfions, and Abuses, which Men of weak or wicked Minds have introduced into this Religion, by them to defcribe the Religion itself; and thus having formed their Notion of it, or pretended at least to do so, from thofe very Follies and Vices which it was intended to extirpate, They have then combated this Creature of their own Imagination, have openly avowed and even triumphed in their Undertaking, and claimed some Merit in attempting to rescue their Fellow-Creatures from that, which They would reprefent as fo fevere and injurious, fo flavish and terrifying a Yoke of Bondage. Having thus mistaken or admitted groundless Superfitions for true Religion, They have artfully endeavoured to confound entirely this Distinction, to make the Terms convertible, and to defcribe all the Dictates of true Religion as fo many groundless Superftitions. Under this Disguise They have avoided the Odium of ruining the Peace and Virtue of Men in this Life, and all

their Expectations in a better, have even guarded against the Imputation of Prophaneness, and have pretended to aim at doing Honour to God and Service to Men, by removing Institutions, which, We must indeed own, were they prejudicial to the Creatures, can never be to the Glory of the Creator. This Mifrepresentation has most unhappily fucceeded, has imposed upon fome well-meaning but lefs-difcerning Minds, and has done more real Prejudice to the Christian Cause, than all the Arguments of Objectors, or Oppreffions of Perfecutors.

It is an high Aggravation of the Guilt and Folly of Superftition, that it has given this Occafion to those who feek Occafion, to ridicule all extraordinary Attainments in Piety, to undermine the Principle and expose the Practice of it. It cannot but be Grief of Heart to all Rational Believers to fee the Exceffes of Devotees applied to the Discouragement of Devotion itself, and to hear Men arguing from those abfurd Practices, which have no Foundation in the Word or Will of God, against those useful Provifions for our present and future Welfare, which are therein inculcated. It is more ftrongly our Duty, and should be more earnestly our Care, to revive and infift on the forementioned Diftinction, to dif claim freely all fuperftitious Notions and Practi

ces,

ces, as not warranted by Reason and Revelation; and to establish and vindicate all thofe Doctrines and Duties, which have Divine Authority for their Support.

The Pfalmift, who excelled in Rational Devotion, and was in that Refpect particularly the Man after Gods own Heart, has here formed the Diftinction, and fet the Pattern. He declares his Abborrence of all fuch Practices, as under the Name and Pretence of Religion, were inconfiftent with Truth or Virtue; and points to the only fure and effectual Preservative against them, namely, a ftrict Adherence to and entire Trust in the Wisdom of God. The Terms in which He defcribes fuch Abfurdities and Follies as either are contradicted by, or are not warranted by Scripture and Reafon; the Deteftation of them which He expreffes, and the Rule of his own Faith and Practice, which He here specifies, will properly direct us to three principal Heads of Discourse on this Subject, the Nature of Superftition, the Mifchiefs of it, and the true Remedy against it. I have hated them, fays David, that bold of fuperftitious Vanities, and my Trust hath been in the Lord.

The Nature of Superftition is first proposed to our Attention, and is indeed a Point the most important of all; and perhaps the most difficult

as well as most neceffary to be ascertained. Many real Superftitions have met with plausible Advocates, and many innocent, nay fome useful Practices have groundlessly been loaded with this Imputation; so that much Time and more Charity have been loft in advancing warmly the Charge, when Both perhaps might have been preferved by stating plainly the Question. Were All Men agreed in the Idea of the Fault, which All are fo ready to ftigmatize, it would be more easy to apply the Rule to the Practice so cenfured; and therefore Every Attempt to prevent this Confufion, to clear the Notion as well as to stop the Progress of it may have its Ufe and Influence.

Little Strefs can be laid on the Etymology of the Term, and but little more on the Use which Heathen Philofophers have made of it in their Writings. Some have derived it from the Perfons erring, as if, outliving Others, and almoft, as it were, themselves, and failing in their Understandings, They gave Credit to Old Wives Fables; Others from the Objects of false Worship,

a Ab aniculis dicta Superftitio, quæ multis fuperftites per Etatem delirant & ftultæ funt. Servius in Æneid. VIII. and Tully seems to refer to this Derivation, (tho' He Himself proposes another) by fo frequently adding the Epithet of anilis Superftitio. de Nat. Deor. L. II. xxviii. de Div. L. I. iv. Orat. pro Domo fuâ ad Pontif.

as

b

с

d

as the Heavenly Bodies ftanding over them, or the furviving Spirits of dead Men; Others from the Subject Matter of their Petitions, as folicitously praying for the Survivorship of their Children; and lastly, Others from the Manner of the false Worship, as implying Excefs, as going beyond what is really prefcribed: and All have faid fo much in Favour of their respective Opinions, as to fhew how little Stress is to be laid on either of them. They serve to convince us of this only, that the Word Superftition arose at first from some particular Species of this Error, and from thence, as often happpens, in the After-Ufe of the Term, acquired in Time a larger Signification, and was used to express any Instance of erroneous Worship, or any Influence of

a Superftitio eft cœleftium & divinarum rerum, quæ fuper nos ftant, inanis & fuperfluus Timor. Auf. Popma de Diff. Verb. L. IV. P. 229.

b Superftitiofi vocantur aut ii qui fuperftitem memoriam defunctorum colunt; aut qui parentibus fuis fuperftites colebant imagines eorum domi tanquam Deos penates. Lactant. de Vera Sapientia. L. IV. P. 402. Ed. Sparke.

c Nam qui totos dies precabantur & immolabant ut sui fibi Liberi fnperstites effent, fuperftitiofi funt appellati. Cic. de Nat. Deor. L. II. xxviii.

d Superftitio erit quando in cultu ultra modum legitimum aliquid fupereft; five quando Cultus modum rectum fuperftat atque excedit. Imo hoc etymon magis etiam probo maxime enim Superftitionis naturam aperit. Voffii Etymologicon.

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