Essay on the Sacred Fire and on the Vestals

It has generally been the fashion to confuse it with the multitude of superstitions that have filled the world; one may be permitted to think that this is an error, & it will perhaps not be difficult to demonstrate it.

From the most remote antiquity, Fire has been an object of respect for men; how did this idea of veneration enter their minds?

Fire served in all religious ceremonies; there were no sacrifices where it did not have a place; it consumed the burnt offerings original: "holocaustes" of our first parents; it sometimes descended from Heaven to ignite them upon the altar; God himself never offered himself to their sight except clothed in a luminous body: what many reasons to render this element respectable! Men, witnessing these brilliant appearances and convinced of the spirituality of their Creator, did not dare to make an image of Him, because they could not conceive what form they might give Him; they sought, among the most magnificent objects in the Universe, that which they thought must best represent Him to their imagination. The Sun, filling the Earth & the Heavens with its rays, warming Nature & making it fertile, ripening the fruits, was soon regarded as the shining symbol of this beneficent Divinity; the Moon & the Stars, which cast their fires during the darkness of the night, seemed to them destined to embellish His dwelling & His

throne. They turned toward these Stars The author uses "Astres" to refer generally to celestial bodies including the sun and moon. every time they wished to adore the Supreme Being; the brilliance & the majesty of these objects lifted the soul & disposed it to admire the magnificence of their Author.

Such was undoubtedly the first worship, the simplest & the most within reach of the limited intelligence of humans. Soon the celestial bodies, accessible only to our sight, appeared too distant to them; they sought around them that which had the greatest resemblance to the Sun; they perceived only Fire; they lit it everywhere; it became the visible sign of an invisible Being, who was revered under this emblem. It was maintained with care; it was looked upon with respect; they knew that the Divinity had sometimes shown Himself in this display; they believed they saw Him there still. When by chance it ceased to burn, the flame, which warmed the imagination, no longer subsisting, it seemed that God had withdrawn from it; they hastened to revive it; zeal then hurried to nourish it; this opinion soon led to the thought of preserving a perpetual Fire, which became sacred when time had brought some shadows over the motive of this custom.

This is what can be said that is most reasonable regarding the origin of this worship. It is not that it would be difficult to imagine new conjectures. Few centuries have been as fertile in systems Here meaning "theories" or "philosophical frameworks." as this one, & few have been less credulous regarding these systems. I could re-