_A few years ago I spent some time every summer in viewing, measuring,
and considering the works of the ancient Druids in our Island; I mean
those remarkable circles of Stones which we find all over the kingdom,
many of which I have seen, but of many more I have had accounts. Their
greatness and number astonish’d me, nor need I be afraid to say, their
beauty and design, as well as antiquity, drew my particular attention.
I could not help carrying my inquiries about them as far as I was able.
My studies this way have produc’d a vast quantity of drawings and
writing, which consider’d as an intire work, may thus be intitled_,
Patriarchal C H R I S T I A N I T Y:
O R,
A Chronological H I S T O R Y
O F T H E
Origin and Progress of true Religion, and of Idolatry.
_The parts of which the whole is compos’d are these_:
I. Canon Mosaicæ Chronologiæ, _or the year of_ Moses _settled, by
which he reckons time in the history of the old world; the time of
the year fix’d when creation was begun. This is done in a new manner,
and becomes an intire system of chronology from the creation to the_
Exodus, _and is exemplified by many particular Kalendars of the
most remarkable transactions; which are proofs of the truth of the
Canon. There are interspersed a great many astronomical and historical
illustrations of the sacred pages, particularly_ Sanchoniathon’_s
genealogies, and_ Manethon’_s_ Egyptian _Dynasties, are applied in a
new Method to the history and chronology of the Scriptures._
II. Melchisedec, _or a delineation of the first and patriarchal
religion, from the best light we can gather in the sacred history;
and from the most ancient heathen customs, which were remains of
that religion. In this Treatise it is shewn, that the first religion
was no other than Christianity, the Mosaic dispensation, as a veil,
intervening; that all mankind from the creation had a knowledge of the
plurality of persons in the Deity._
III. _Of the mysteries of the ancients, one of the first deviations
from true religion, to idolatry; this is chiefly pursu’d in an
explication of the famous table of_ Isis, _or_ Bembin-_table, publish’d
by_ Pignorius, Kircher, &c. _wherein that knowledge which the ancients
had concerning the true nature of the Deity, is further explain’d._
IV. _A discourse on the hieroglyphic learning of the ancients, and of
the origin of the alphabet of letters. Very many hieroglyphic monuments
of the_ Egyptians _are explain’d, more especially those that relate to
their true notions of the persons in the Deity. The time and rise of
the alphabet of letters is deduc’d from a new foundation. The present
square_ Hebrew _characters are shewn to be the primitive idea of
letters, from whence all others are deriv’d. Whence the idea of every
letter was taken? an explication of all the old_ Hebrew _coins with_
Samaritan _characters._
V. _The patriarchal history, particularly of_ Abraham, _is largely
pursu’d; and the deduction of the_ Phœnician _colony into the Island
of_ Britain, _about or soon after his time; whence the origin of
the_ Druids, _of their Religion and writing; they brought the
patriarchal Religion along with them, and some knowledge of symbols
or hieroglyphics, like those of the ancient_ Egyptians; _they had the
notion and expectation of the Messiah, and of the time of the year when
he was to be born, of his office and death._
VI. _Of the Temples of the Druids in_ Britain, _their religious rites,
orders, sacrifices, groves, tombs, their_ cursus’_s, places of sports
and exercises,_ &c. _particularly an ample and accurate description of
that stupendous temple of theirs at_ Abury _in_ North Wiltshire, _the
most august work at this day upon the globe of the earth; with many
prints of ground-plots, views and admeasurements of all its parts; of
their manner of sepulture; an account of my digging into many of their
barrows and_ tumuli, _with drawings of them,_ &c.
VII. _Of the celebrated_ Stonehenge, _another Temple of theirs, with
prints of that work; an account of the barrows I dug up, and what was
discover’d in them; of the knowledge the Druids had of the magnetical
compass, and conjectures of the particular times when these works were
made, long before_ Cæsar _arriv’d in_ Britain.
_I propose to publish these two first, and proceed to the speculative
parts afterwards; reserving them, God willing, to the maturer time of
my life._
_My intent is (besides preserving the memory of these extraordinary
monuments, so much to the honour of our country, now in great danger
of ruin) to promote, as much as I am able, the knowledge and practice
of ancient and true Religion; to revive in the minds of the learned
the spirit of Christianity, nearly as old as the Creation, which is
now languishing among us; to restore the first and great Idea of
the Deity, who has carry’d on the same regular and golden chain of
Religion from the beginning to this day; to warm our hearts into
that true sense of Religion, which keeps the medium between ignorant
superstition and learned free-thinking, between slovenly fanaticism
and popish pageantry, between enthusiasm and the rational worship of
God, which is no where upon earth done, in my judgment, better than in
the Church of_ England. _And seeing a spirit of Scepticism has of late
become so fashionable and audacious as to strike at the fundamentals
of all revelation, I have endeavoured to trace it back to the fountain
of Divinity, whence it flows; and shew that Religion is one system
as old as the world, and that is the Christian Religion; that God
did not leave the rational part of his creation, like the colony of
an ant-hill, with no other guide than instinct, but proportion’d his
discoveries to the age of the world, to the learning, wisdom, and
experience of it; as a wise parent does now to his children. I shall
shew likewise, that our predecessors, the Druids of_ Britain, _tho’
left in the extremest west to the improvement of their own thoughts,
yet advanc’d their inquiries, under all disadvantages, to such
heights, as should make our moderns asham’d, to wink in the sun-shine
of learning and religion. And we may with reason conclude, there was
somewhat very extraordinary in those principles, which prompted them
to such a noble spirit as produced these works, still visible with
us, which for grandeur, simplicity and antiquity, exceed any of the_
European _wonders._
_That the doctrines and works of the Druids have hitherto been so
little considered (since authors only transcribe from one to another,
the few remaining scraps to be found in classic writers) was an
incentive to me likewise in the following attempt, and at the same time
it pleads for me, and bespeaks the reader’s favour. I want likewise the
great advantages to be had from a knowledge of the remaining_ Celtic
_languages, books, manuscripts, and history, the_ Cornish, Welsh,
Irish, Highland, &c. _the chief repository now of their doctrines and
customs; so that in my own opinion I may very well say with the poet,_
Interea Dryadum silvas & saxa sequamur
Intactas, tua Mecænas haud mollia jussa. _Virgil._
_And tho’ there has been of late a large volume publish’d on the
subject of_ Stonehenge, _yet we may well say there has nothing
been wrote upon the subject. Nor have I any other notion of this
performance, than that it is as a first attempt to say something upon
those famous philosophers and priests the Druids, who are never spoken
of in antiquity but with a note of admiration; and are always rank’d
with the Magi of the_ Persians, _the gymnosophists of the_ Indians,
_the prophets and hierophants of the_ Egyptians, _and those sort of
patriarchal priests, whose orders commenc’d before idolatry began; from
whom the_ Pythagoreans, Platonists, _and_ Greek _philosophers learn’d
the best things they knew. To clear away rubbish, and lay a foundation
only, in this difficult and obscure work, is doing somewhat. The method
of writing which I have chose is a diffusive one, not pretending to a
formal and stiff scholastic proof of every thing I say, which would be
odious and irksome to the reader, as well as myself. The knowledge I
have acquired in these matters, was from examining and studying their
works; the proofs are deriv’d from distant and different topicks, and
it would be very inconvenient to marshal them syllogistically in a
work of this nature; the proof results from the intire work; in all
matters of so great antiquity it must be found out by the reader; and
to one that has proper sagacity and judgment, conviction will steal
upon him insensibly, if I am not mistaken; and he will own the evidence
in general, is as strong as the nature of the subject will bear, or
requires._
_It was very disagreeable to me that I was forc’d to combat against a
book publish’d in the name of the celebrated_ Inigo Jones, _for whose
memory I have the greatest regard. I wonder the publisher of that work
did not think of a very easy method to convince himself that he was in
an error. If_ Stonehenge _is a_ Roman _work, it was certainly built by
the_ Roman _scale; had he reduc’d his own measures to that standard, he
would have seen the absurdity of his opinion; for we cannot think that
a temple, or elegant building, as he would have it, should not shew its
founders by the scale on which it is form’d; they are all fractions in
the_ Roman _scale, undoubted evidence that the_ Romans _had no hand in
it. For there is no meaning, no design in the choice of the measures,
neither in general nor particular; a thing unworthy of a great
architect, or a great design. But it appears very evident to me, that_
Inigo Jones _had little or no part in that work, especially as it is
moulded at present; and I think I have reason to be of opinion that he
never drew the designs therein published, because I should be unwilling
to say he knowingly falsified them. I have very much shortened what I
had to say against that book, because I have no love for wrangling, and
barely mention’d what was necessary, that the reader may have a true
notion of this noble antiquity._
[Illustration: _P. 1._ TAB. I.
_A British Druid_
_Chindonax Britannicus_
_24 Feb. 1723/4._
_Stukeley designavit_ _G.V.Gucht Sculpsit_]
_S T O N E H E N G E_