VI. I well know this sentiment of mine stands in need of much support, on account of the great numbers of literary men who are votaries to the opinion, that in the fables of the Gentiles, are involved or disguised the truths of the scripture; finding then that I can have but little hopes of aid from authority, I must appeal to reason; but I consider myself to have so good a plea at this tribunal, that I have great expectations judgment will be pronounced in my favour by all such of my readers, as are divested of prejudice or preoccupation. SECT. III. VII. The first thing that seems to have weight against this system, is the great opposition between the authors themselves who are the advocates for it, with regard to their application of the cases instanced by them; for in the same fable, in which one fancies he sees traces of one part of sacred history, another imagines he perceives those of a very different one. For example, Monsieur Huet conceives, that in the fabulous story of Hercules, is involved or disguised the history of Joshua; and Nicholas Butler finds in the same fable, the adventures of Adam. Mons. Huet fancies, that Moses is described in the fable of Perseus; and Mr. Butler, in the same fable, discovers the history of Jonas. Is it not clearer than the sun at noon-day, that the adventures of Joshua and Adam, as likewise those of Moses and Jonas, which are so different in themselves, can only by the force of violent and strained allusions, be made in one fable, to be descriptive of Joshua and Adam, and in another, of Moses, and Jonas? VIII. But the disagreement in what I am now about to mention, is much more enormous still. Mons. Huet, who, in the errors of paganism, fancies he discovers multiplied descriptions of Moses, imagines, he sees this hero painted to the life in the fable of Prometheus; and in the same fable, Father Tournemine finds depicted the crime and punishment of Lucifer. Such a striking contradiction, makes it manifest, that authors who employ themselves in such undertakings, are not guided by any firm or permanent lights which are thrown on the objects of their speculations, but by some false rays, which are furnished by their own imaginations. SECT. IV.