GENERAL SCHOLIUMFOOTNOTE I.Dr. Pocock derives the Latin word Deus from the Arabic du (in the oblique case di), which signifies Lord. And in this sense princes are called gods, Psal. lxxxii. ver. 6; and John x. ver. 35. And Moses is called a god to his brother Aaron, and a god to Pharaoh (Exod. iv. ver. 16; and vii. ver. 1). And in the same sense the souls of dead princes were formerly, by the Heathens, called gods, but falsely, because of the want of their dominion. FOOTNOTE II.This was the opinion of the Ancients. So Pythagoras, in Cicer. De Nat. Deor. lib. i. Thales, Anaxagoras, Virgil, Georg. lib. iv. ver. 220; and Ĉenid, lib. vi. ver. 721. Philo Allegor, at the beginning of lib. i. Aratus, in his Phaenom. At the beginning. So also the sacred writers; as St. Paul, Acts, xvii. ver. 27, 28. St. Johns Gosp. Chap. xiv. ver. 2. Moses, in Deut. iv. ver. 39; and x. ver. 14. David, Psal. cxxxix. ver. 7, 8, 9. Solomon, 1 Kings, viii. ver. 27. Job, xxii. ver. 12, 13, 14. Jeremiah, xxiii. ver. 23, 24. The Idolaters supposed the sun, moon, and stars, the souls of men, and other parts of the world, to be parts of the Supreme God, and therefore to be worshipped; but erroneously. |
|