St. Eloy tells his people plainly, that whoever pays attention to what
he meets at his first going out or coming in, or to any particular
voice, or to the chirping of a bird, is so far a Pagan. Indeed, all
these, and innumerable others of the same description of superstitious
among Christians, are remnants of ancient paganism; as they have been
denounced by the censures of popes, provincial councils, synodical
decrees, and other grave authorities. And, though there were not such a
cloud of witnesses, there would be no difficulty in proving the disease
of pagan origin. For, independent of those who preached the gospel of
our Saviour, having never promulgated such notions, we learn from
several ancient authorities, that the Gentiles had all these
superstitions in the highest regard. It was one general opinion among
them, that the eclipses of the moon were the consequence of certain
magic words by which sorcerers could wrench her from the skies, and drag
her near enough the earth to cast a frothy spittle on their herbs--one
of the principal ingredients in their incantations.
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