Hence it is they asserted a Duplicity of Gods, _viz._ Two perceptive self-existent Beings, one the Principle of Good, and the other of Evil. This Opinion originally sprung from a strong, firm Persuasion, _That God was invariably Good, and therefore could not possibly be the Author of the Evil upon Earth_. Nor could they otherwise solve the Difficulty about the Entrance of moral Evil into our World, but by supposing another eternal self-existent evil Cause. Yea, some among the primitive Christians fell into the Error of asserting this _Ditheistical_ Doctrine; that is, two self-existent Principles in the Universe, to wit, a _good God_, and an _evil Demon_. Thus the _Cerdonites_, an heretical Sect, that sprung up in the second Century, held there were two Gods; one, the Author of all good, the other, of all evil Things. So the _Marcionites_ held two contrary Gods; and in the third Century, the _Manichees_ did the same. Perhaps, this might be one reason why God past Sentence upon the Devil in the Serpent, in the presence and hearing of our first Parents, _viz._ to prevent the Error of imagining that there was any Principle of Evil, which was independent upon the Almighty. The Sentence past upon Satan in the Curse upon the Serpent, was a Conviction to _Adam_ and _Eve_ of his Dependency upon the Almighty Creator, before whose Tribunal he now was constrained to appear, to receive the Sentence merited by those, who make a Lye, and tempt their Fellow-creatures to rebel. _REASONS about the Adoration of different kind of Animals by the_ Egyptians. If you ask, that if they worshipped a Serpent, why did they pay religious Honours to so many other Beasts? I answer, This monstrous Idolatry begun in _Egypt_, and the first occasion for it seems to be this, _viz._ _OSIRIS_, a certain King of _Egypt_, who reign’d with great Equity and Mildness, having divided his Kingdom into several distinct Provinces, appointed Presidents over them, and in their Banners he placed the Figures, or Pictures of certain Animals, that bore some Similitude to the Peculiarities of those Countries, over which they were to preside: Thus to the Governor, whose Land was proper for Tillage, he design’d an _Ox_ in his Standard, to which the Inhabitants of that Place paid a particular Veneration, which in process of time was worshipped by the whole Nation, for its Usefulness, and as the Symbol of Agriculture: Hence the Image of _Osiris_ is set off with Horns. The _golden Calf_ which _Aaron_ made in the Wilderness, and the Calves set up by _Jeroboam_ to be worshipped in his Kingdom, were an Imitation of the idolatrous Adoration, which the _Egyptians_ paid to their _Bull Apis_. That part of the Country, in which was abundance of Water, the King set a _Crocodile_ (an amphibious Animal) in his Banner, that was to govern there, which was had in high Veneration, especially in the City of _Mira_; and at last the _Crocodile_ was worshipped all over _Egypt_.