_PYTHON_ is also taken for a prophetick Demon, by St. _Luke_[155].—_As we went to Prayer, a certain Damsel possest with a Spirit of Divination_, (having the Spirit of _Pytho_, according to the _Greek_) _which brought her Masters much Gain by Sooth-saying_, that is, by Predictions, telling of Fortunes. _Python_ of the _Greeks_ is supposed the _Typhon_ of the _Phenicians_, and the _Phœnician Typhon_ to be _Ogg_ King of _Bashan_, and _Apollo_ that slew it, to be _Joshua_. _Apollo_ is called _Pythius_ from this Serpent, or from some notorious Tyrant of that Name, slain by him, as the antient Geographer observes. So _Gesner_ from _Pausanias_. The Priestess of _Apollo_, that delivered the Sacred Oracles, was called _Pythia_ and _Pythonissa_. This _Pythonick_ Spirit among the Gentiles, was esteemed as a God, and by _Juvenal_ is styled _Vates_, a Prophet. Footnote 155: _Act._ xvi. 16.—Πνευμα Πυθωνος. The Priestess that delivered the Sacred Oracles, was called _Pythia_, from _Apollo Pythius_, and must be a pure Virgin. Most of the Fathers of the Church were of opinion, that it was the Devil gave the Answers, which were generally dubious, a Sign of his Ignorance about Futurity. One _Œnomaus_, a certain Pagan Philosopher, highly resenting it, that he had been so often befooled by the Oracles, speaks to _Apollo_ thus— “When we come to consult thee, either thou knowest Things to come or not. If thou knowest them, why dost not thou speak so as to be understood? If thou knowest not, why dost thou pretend to it? If Things necessarily come to pass, why dost thou amuse us with Ambiguities?[156]” Footnote 156: _Eusebius._ _F. BALTHUS_, a learned Jesuit, and _F. Bouchet_, say there were real Oracles, and such that can never be attributed to Priests and Priestesses; and that the Devil still gives Oracles in the _Indies_, and that not by Idols, which would be liable to Imposture, but by the Mouths of Priests, and By-Standers; and that the Devil becomes mute, in proportion as the Gospel prevails.—— “It is generally believed among the more Learned, that the Pagan Oracles were mere Frauds and Impostures, and calculated to serve the political Views of Princes, and covetous Ends of Pagan Priests.” According to the learned _Bayle_, they were meer human Artifices; and he is seconded by _Vandale_ and _Fontenelle_. But to return to the Oracle at _Delphos_, which was very antient and much in vogue before the _Trojan_ War: The Situation of the Place, where People were made to believe God spoke, was at the Mouth of a certain Cavern, whence they received their Intelligence. The Prophetess sat upon a _Tripodium_, a three-footed Stool, assisted in her Function by divers Priests. Under her Seat, ’tis said, that some time there appeared a Dragon, through whose Throat Responses were audibly deliver’d, with a loud and strong Voice: According to _Eusebius_, a Serpent rolled itself about the Tripod, on which the Priest sat.