Another Reason, may be the _Pride of the human Mind_; that is not satisfied with rational plain Truths, but will adulterate them with foolish Imaginations: Hence it was that they would have such Objects of Worship, as might immediately strike their sensible Powers; nothing would serve their Turn but a Divinity visible to the Eye, therefore they brought down the Gods to the Earth, and represented them under certain Images, which by degrees commenced inferior Deities. The _Egyptian Priests_ not being able to persuade the _People_, that there were any _Gods_ or _Spirits_ superior to Men, were constrained to call down Demons, or Spirits, and lodge them in Statues, and then bring forth those Statues to be visible Objects of Adoration, and from hence sprung Idolatry. Among the Pagans were various Opinions about religious Images. _Some_ looked upon them as only Representatives of the true God, as _Seneca_, a Stoick Philosopher, and _Plato_ a Native of _Athens_, and a noted Academick. _OTHERS_ said, they did not adore material Images, but the Gods in them, into which they were drawn by virtue of their Consecration, or, in a more modern Language, their Canonization[368]. Footnote 368: _Arnobius_, lib. vi. _SOME_ were of Opinion, that after the Consecration of Images, the Gods actually incorporated with them, or were animated by them, as Man’s Body is by the Soul[369]. The vulgar Heathen paid their Adoration to Images as if they were real Gods; which monstrous Practice was ridiculed by the most sensible Pagans, as appears farther on[370]. Footnote 369: _Trismegistus_, a learned _Egyptian_, a great Philosopher, a great Priest, and a great King. Footnote 370: See _Lactantius_, lib. ii. The Use and Worship of Images has been long, and still is controverted. The _Lutherans_ condemn the _Calvinists_ for breaking the Images in the Churches of the Catholicks; and at the same time they condemn the Romanists (who are professed Image-Worshippers) as Idolaters. The modern _Jews_ condemn all Images, and suffer no Pictures or Figures in their Houses, much less in their Synagogues, or Places of Worship. The _Mahometans_ have a perfect Aversion to all Images. This is it that made them destroy most of the beautiful Monuments of Antiquity, both sacred and profane, at _Constantinople_. The old noble _Romans_ preserved the Images of their Ancestors with no little Care, and had them carried in Procession in their Funerals and Triumphs. SECT. II. This Part entertains us with various Instances of Pagan Deifications, _viz._ of Men, Beasts, and Things without Life. I. _MEN transformed into Gods._