PROPOSITION XXXV.

PROVING THE DOCTRINE FROM TRADITION, AMONG THE ROMANS.

IN treating of the doctrine as handed down by tradition in Italy, it is most natural to suppose, that the opinions of the Greek philosophers upon that subject, would readily find their way among the Romans. This will account for the doctrine being known by many of the Italian literati, long before any thing like it was known among the vulgar.

Another evidence of the doctrine having been handed down by tradition in Italy, is not to be omitted. This is the circumstance of the Cabiri being very early established in the island of Samothracia. Herodotus tells us, that there was a temple of the Cabiri,, (the great, high, excellent, surpassing ones,) in Memphis; and so sacred was that edifice, that none but the priests were permitted to enter it. The history of the Cabiri is involved in many inextricable difficulties; so that we must be content with less direct information than could be wished upon that subject. Cicero tells us they were in number three, and that their names were Tretropatræus, Eubuleus, and Dionysius. The most we can ascertain concerning them is, that they were considered by

their worshippers to have been the THREE MIGHTY GUARDIAN GENII of the universe. They were held very sacred, and worshipped with great solemnity. in Samothracia, and with rites and ceremonies the most profound of any that antiquity can boast. They were sometimes called Avaxes; and there was a yearly festival held sacred to them which was called Avana. And Potter tells us, that the sacrifices offered to them were called Evo, because those deities were evo, or strangers; and these sacrifices consisted of what were called Tea. The worship of a triple power under the former name, Dr. Horseley is of opinion, was carried from Samothrace into Phrygia, by Dardanus, so early as the ninth century after the flood. The Trojans imported it from Phrygia into Italy; and he asserts, that vestiges of this acknowledgment and adoration of a Trinity are visible in the joint worship of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the triad of the Roman capital. Now, if these views of the learned bishop be correct, as they appear very evidently to be, then it follows, that all ranks of the Romans held some opinions concerning a Trinity, more or less perfect; for all ranks acknowledged the supremacy of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva: and though they, like the Greeks before them, degenerated from the foregoing view, yet it is clearly evident, that originally the doctrine of the Trinity was handed down by tradition among both nations. The

Romans had particular respect for the number three. The fates were three; the furies three; the graces three; and the celestial muses, according to Varro, were originally included in the same solemn and mysterious number, three.Their mythology, when traced to the original, proves this. And thus the doctrine of the Trinity is found, by tradition, to have been known among the Romans.

PROPOSITION XXXVI.

PROVING THE DOCTRINE FROM TRADITION, AMONG THE GERMANS.

In treating of the doctrine of the Trinity as found handed down by tradition in Germany, we may observe, that as the system of Druidism prevailed all over Germany, as well as the other northern nations, so we may expect a view of the doctrine in Germany, similar to that we have found in them. And if so, then Oden, Frea, and Thor, formed the triune deity of the ancient Germans, as well as of the Scandinavians, at a very early period. It is admitted on all hands, that the Druids inhabited Gaul: and Montfaucon, treating of the Gaulic antiquities, presents us with several assemblages of little deities in triple groups. And Gruter shews us groups of triple deities exactly similar; so that we find the doctrine brought from Scythia into all the nations of the north by the Druids, the offspring of Scythia. The triple deities of the ancient Germans were called Maira; and one is thus described: "In honorem Domus divinæ Diis Mairabus,"

In honour of the divine house to the goddesses Mairæ.' These goddesses were, indeed, rural deities, as well as the triple Suleva and Vacallin eha of the Hetrusci; but this notion is easily to

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be accounted for, in the debased theology of those who made the earth the grand primeval deity, and adored it under the female form of Cybele, the mother of gods and men. And we may evidently trace, throughout all periods of antiquity, a wonderful disposition of dividing every thing into three, which they either considered sacred, or an object of worship. And whence could this arise, except from a mutilated tradition of a triune God. The very circumstance of the Druids infers, that the ancient Germans believed the doctrine of the Trinity taught by these sacred societies, as well as the other northern nations where these societies took up their abode.