is so in this point; for all the Fathers of the Church,
and ecclesiastical writers of all ages, maintain, and attest, that the
devil was the author of idolatry in general, and of oracles in particular.

This opinion does not hinder our believing that the priests and
priestesses were frequently guilty of fraud and imposture in the answers
of the oracles. For is not the devil the father and prince of lies? In the
Grecian history, we have seen more than once the Delphic priestess suffer
herself to be corrupted by presents. It was from that motive, she
persuaded the Lacedaemonians to assist the people of Athens in the
expulsion of the thirty tyrants; that she caused Demaratus to be divested
of the royal dignity, to make way for Cleomenes; and drest up an oracle to
support the imposture of Lysander, when he endeavoured to change the
succession to the throne of Sparta. And I am apt to believe that
Themistocles, who well knew the importance of acting against the Persians
by sea, inspired the god with the answer he gave, "to defend themselves
with wooden walls." Demosthenes, convinced that the oracles were
frequently suggested by passion or interest, and suspecting, with reason,
that Philip had instructed them to speak in his favour, boldly
declared,(99) that the Pythia "philippized;" and bade the Athenians and
Thebans remember that Pericles and Epaminondas, instead of listening to,
and amusing themselves with, the frivolous answers of the oracle, those
idle bugbears of the base and cowardly, consulted only reason in the
choice and execution of their measures.

The same father Baltus examines, with equal success, a second point in
dispute, namely, the cessation of oracles. Mr. Vandale, to oppose with
some advantage a truth so glorious to Jesus Christ, the subverter of
idolatry, had falsified the sense of the Fathers, by making them say,
"that oracles ceased precisely at the moment of Christ's birth." The
learned apologist for the Fathers shows, that they all allege that oracles
ceased after our Saviour's birth, and the preaching of his Gospel; not on
a sudden, but in proportion as his salutary doctrines became known to
mankind, and gained ground in the world. This unanimous opinion of the
Fathers is confirmed by the unexceptionable evidence of great numbers of
the Pagans, who agree with them as to the time when the oracles ceased.

What an honour to the Christian religion was this silence imposed upon the
oracles by the victo