God appear’d to _Moses_ under the Form of a Fire burning in a Bush. The Camp of _Israel_ in the Wilderness was conducted in the Night by a Pillar of Fire. Now God having made several Revelations of himself, under the Appearance of Fire, might give occasion to the _Chaldeans_ and _Persians_ to entertain such enormous Veneration for Fire, which is a Symbol of the Deity: _The Lord thy God_, says _Moses, is a consuming Fire_. At their high Solemnities they set several Trees (hung with diverse Sorts of Beasts for Sacrifice) on fire; this they did after they had carried about these Fires in Procession. I Shall add here, a remarkable Contest that happen’d between the _Chaldean_ and _Egyptian_ Priests about the _Superiority of their Gods_.... In the time of _Constantine_ the _Chaldean Priests_, to prove that _Fire_, which was their God, excell’d all other Gods in Power, travell’d over the Earth, carrying _Fire_ with them, which soon consum’d all the Statues and Images of other Gods; whether of Brass, Silver, Stone or Wood, says _Suidas_[386], who gives a large Account of it, under the Word κανωπος. At length coming into _Egypt_, and making this Challenge; the _Egyptian Priests_ agreed upon a _Battle of the Gods_, and immediately brought into the Field one of their Idols, which was a large Statue of _Nilus, full of Water_, and full of little Holes, which they stopt with Wax not discernable, and so artificially, that the Water was kept in. Footnote 386: Vol. I. pag. 1368. The _Chaldeans_ (not aware of this Device) begun the Action, with much Assurance, and with Eagerness put Fire around the _Egyptian Statue_, which soon melted the invisible Wax, and the Water gushing forth from all Parts, immediately put out the Fire, and drown’d the hitherto _invincible Deity_ of the _Persians_; the Tragedy ended in a triumphant Shout of Laughter among the Spectators: And I might add[387] how the _Arabians_ and _Indians_, _Peruvians_, _Lithuanians_, and _Vandals_ worship’d Vegetables,—the _Scythians_ Iron. Trees and Plants have been made Gods. Leeks and Onions were Deities in _Egypt_. The ancient _Gauls_ and _Britons_ bore a particular Devotion to the _Oak_; from which their Priests took their Names. _Ceres_ and _Proserpina_, worship’d by the Ancients, were no other than Wheat, Corn, Seed.—The _Syrians_ and _Egyptians_ ador’d Fishes. What were _Tritons_, _Nereids_, _Syrens_, but Sea-Gods? Insects, as Flies, and Ants, had their Priests and Votaries: Yea, _Minerals_ were erected into _Deities_. The _Finlanders_ ador’d _Stones_. I don’t see what can be said for such an Instance of Stupidity. To say the Practice took its rise from _Abram_’s anointing the _Stone_ that he made use of for a Pillow, when he went to _Mesopotamia_, does not lessen the Reproach. The _Mahometans_ think that _Jacob_’s Stone was convey’d to the _Temple at Jerusalem_; and is still there in a _Mosque_ or _Turkish_ Temple, where the Temple at _Jerusalem_ stood before the final Desolation.