Christian religion's appeal from the groundless prejudices of the sceptick to the bar of common reason by John Smith.

CHAP. IV.

Christian Religion concords with the highest Philosophical No∣tions.

§ 1. Divine Knowledg communicated from the Church to travelling Philosophers. Our Religion elder than Heathenism by Heathens confession. § 2. Christi∣an Articles implied in Pagan Philosophy's Positions. Man's happiness through Communion with God, and Conformity unto God. § 3. This Conformity and Communion effected by God-man. God manifest in the Flesh, born of a Virgin. § 4. Plato falter'd under the burden of vulgar Error. A man from God. Whence Multiplicity of God-Saviours. Pagan Independency. Their mutual indulging one another. § 5. Not many, but one Mediator, the result of the Heathen's second thoughts. Plato's Sentence sentenced by Platonicks. Nothing can purge but a Principle. St. John's Gospel in Pla∣tonick Books. The Christian Premisses yielded, their Conclusions denied by Gentiles. Plato's Sentence (under the Rose.)

§ 1. The Church gave life to, received none from, the Philosophers.

THe Apostles, however illiterate, might perhaps spin out of their own bowels a course-spun Warp, which might fit to an hairs-breadth the home-spun Woof of vulgar Conceptions. But then how came they to a Do∣ctrine so exactly suting the more refined Notions of the most eminent Philo∣sophers? [Quis docuit psittacum suum 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉;] If they were men of crazy or but vulgar Brains, whence learn'd they to dogmatize, to Grecize, in their di∣vine Philosophy, so profoundly? to distil a Doctrine so absolutely Philosophi∣cal, as it either ecchoeth to what was taught in the most learned Schools; or is such as the most sagacious Wits were hunting after, but could not start, and must ecchoe to, upon its Proposals, or recede from their own Principles. Hence that of R. Obad. Caon. (in Psal. 45.) Kings Daughters were among thy honourable Women: [id est, opiniones sapientùm Nationum exterarum] that is, the opinions of the wise Gentiles. And that of Lactantius: [Quod si extitisset aliquis qui veritatem distersam per singulos, per sectásque diffusam colligeret in unum, ac redigeret in corpus: is profectò non dissentiret à nobis.] (La∣ctant. de divino praemio, 7. 7.) If the Truth dispers'd among several Persons, and scatter'd among several Sects, were, by any man, collected into one, and dige∣sted into a body, it would, without doubt, not dissent from us.

When Apollodorus offer'd to Socrates a precious and gorgeous Tunick and Pall, to put on when he drank the poyson, and to be wrapped in when he was dead; Socrates, turning to Crito, Simacus, and Phaedo; what an honou∣rable opinion (saith he) hath Apollodorus of me, if he think to see Socrates in this Robe after I am dead; if he think, that that which will then lay at his feet, is Socrates, I know not my self who I am. (Aelian. var. hist. 1. 16.) This Socratical Aphorism Tully expresseth thus, [Mens cujusque, is est quisque.] Is one Egg more like another than this of the Schools to that of the Gospel, where Jesus concludes Abraham to be still living, from Moses his stiling God the God of Abraham so many years after his decease? That of Abraham he left behind him in his Sepulchre, is not Abraham, but that of him that still lives.

But it would require an Age to transcribe, by retail, those numerous Phi∣losophical Axioms which speak the Language of Scripture so perfectly; as the whole matter of controversie, betwixt the Fathers Apologizing for, and the Philosophers contending against our Religion, was brought by mutual consent to this point: Whether the wise men of the World receiv'd those Do∣ctrines from our Scriptures, or the Pen-men of the Scripture from their Schools?

Celsus in Origen contends earnestly, that whatsoever was solid in the Chri∣stian Religion was borrowed from the Philosophers: by whom it was better and clearlier delivered. He instanceth in our affirming God to dwell in light inaccessible; this (saith he) is no more than what Plato teacheth in his Epi∣stles, [that the first Good is ineffable.] In our Saviour's commending Humi∣lity. This is Plato's Doctrine (saith Celsus) teaching in his Book of Laws, that [He who would be happy must be a follower of Justice with an humble and well-composed mind.] In Christ's saying, 'Tis easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: what is this (saith he) other than that of Plato, [It is not possible that a man can be very rich and very good.] From the fame Fountain Celsus will have Christ to draw that saying, Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that lead∣unto life, and few there be that find it; and that our Doctrine of the fall of Angels, and their being reserved in chains, was derived from the Poet Phere∣cides and Homer, (vide l. 4. col. 9.)

The Patrons of the Christian Cause, on the other hand contended that the waters of the Academy were drawn from the wells of the Sanctuary: that the Sun of knowledg arose in the East, and thence displayed its Beams over the World. St. Ambrose proves that Plato borrowed of David in Psalm. 35. And upon that in Isaiah 40. [For she hath received at the Lords hand double to her ini∣quity,] saith he [Plato eruditionis gratiâ, in Aegyptum profectus, ut Mosis gesta, Legis praecepta, & Prophetarum dicteria cognosceret, &c.] (in psalm. 118. serm. 18.) St. Austin quotes St. Ambrose proving from Chronology, that the Gre∣cians borrowed of the Jews, not è contrà: and thence commends the reading of Secular History, (de Christiana Doct. lib. 2. cap. 28.) and, in his Epistle to Polinus and Therasias, writes thus; [Libros Ambrosii multùm desidero, quos adversùs nonnullos imperitissimos & superbissimos, qui de Platonis libris Dominum profecisse contendunt, dilligentissimè & copios ssimè scripsit:] (Aug. Epist. 34.) And not barely affirm'd it, but brought in evidence for the proof of it, either from common Principles of Reason, or the Authority of heathen Chronolo∣gers. St. Origen thus, (Contra Cels. lib. 6. cal. 1, 2, 3, &c.) [Moses was long before the most ancient of your Philosophers, and therefore they must borrow light from him; but it was impossible he could light his Candle at theirs, before they were lighted: and the Apostles were the unlikeliest men in the World to understand your Philosophers.]

The same Father (Origen contrà Celsum lib. 1. cal. 13.) in answer to Celsus objecting Moses his Juniority to the Heathen Theologues, saith: that Hermip∣pus (in his first Book of Lawgivers) declared how Pythagoras translated his Discipline from the Jews into Greece: and that there was extant a Book of Haecateus, in which he so approves of the Jewish Philosophy, as Herennus Philo (in his Commentar. de Judaeis) questions whether it be the genuine Book of Haecateus, whose name it bears; it seeming to him improbable, that an Heathen Philologer would write so much in their commendation. St. Austin in his eighteenth Book de Civitate, from Chap. 2. to the end of that Book, demonstrates by Chronology that our Prophets were elder than their Philoso∣phers. And (in his 8. 11. de Civitate Dei) affirms Plato to have transcribed the description of the first matter, in his Timaeus (mentioned also by Cicero, and thus translated, [Mundum efficere volens Deus, terram primo ignemque jun∣gebat, When God was about to frame the World, he first joyntly made the matter of Fire and Earth:] from that of Moses, [In the beginning God made the Hea∣ven and Earth (Gen. 1. 1.)] Plato by Fire understanding Heaven: And his notion of the Air upon the Water, to have been Plato's mis-conception of that of Moses [The Spirit moved upon the Waters:] And his Dogma, (in Phaedone) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] that [Every right Philosopher is a lover of God,] to have been derived from the sacred Fountains, where no∣thing flows more plentifully than such like Doctrine. But that which made this most learned Father, almost believe altogether that Plato had read Moses, was his observing Plato to have been the first Philosopher who called God by that

name, which God reveal'd himself by to Moses in his Embassy to Pharaoh: [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I am that I am, or, That that is.] A name appropriated to God by Plato, in his Timeus, calling God 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The ever-being:] and so familiar with the Platonicks, as in their Master's stile they super∣scribed their Treatises concerning God with this Title [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] Of him that is. A name (saith St. Austin) I find in no Books before Plato, save in those where it is said [I am that I am.] This was mo∣destly said of that cautious Divine; for the truth is) Alcimus writes to Amyn∣thas, that some Philosophers had got that Notion by the end before Plato, naming Epicharmus, and quoting those words of his, at which Plato lighted his Candle; and Plato himself in his Sophista confesseth little less. But it comes all to one, as to our Argument: for Epicharmus was a Pythagorian; and that Pythagoras the circumcised Philosopher, received that and all his o∣ther refined Notions from Moses his Writings, or by discourse from the Jewish and Egyptian Priests, at first or second hand; Isocrates (Busiridis laud. pag. 539.) gives as pompous a proof, as is to be met with any where. Of the Religion of the Egyptians (saith he) I could commemorate [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] many and great things, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉—] in the ob∣serving of which I am neither alone, nor first: but many both of this, and the former Age: among whom is the Samian Pythagoras, who travelling into Egypt, became their Disciple, and brought Philosophy and Religion into Greece: and Clemens Alexandrinus (Stromat. lib. 1.) as full and clear one as can be required, who out of the Pagan Records, affirmeth Pythagoras, to have been circumcised in Egypt; that he, having thereby liberty of going in∣to their holy places, might the better learn their mystical Theology: and that he learned there to call his School [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a word of the same impor∣tance with [Synagogue.]

The same assertion is made by Justin Martyr (in paraclesi ad gentes:) By Eusebius (in praeparat. Evang.) And, before them, by Aristobulus Judaeus (in his Epistles to Ptolemy Philometer, lib. 1.) quoted by Eusebius: to wit, that Plato did transfer many things into his, out of the Jewish Writings: up∣on which, saith Athanasius, [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Law was not for the Jews only; but that Nation was the sacred School of the whole World, concerning the knowledg of God, and the way of spiritual living.]

Clemens Alexandrinus, from their own stories, sheweth, that the Grecians did not only borrow, their best Notions from the Jewish Scriptures, but the manner of expressing them sententiously: A mode of teaching what Plato commendeth, as that which all the Greeks press after, but none attain'd to, but the Spartans: That they so esteem'd the form of uttering moral Rules in Proverbs, in imitation of Solomon, as they father'd such Sentences, as came nearest that Model, upon several Authors: as if they thought many of their wisest men must have put their heads together, for the production of one so compact a Sentence, as we have thousands of in Scripture: each one striving who should bear away the honour of being reputed its father, as the Cities of Greece strove for Homer. That which was thought worthy to be set over the Gates of Apollo's Temple [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] some attributed to Chilon: Cha∣maelio, in his Book of the Gods, ascribes it to Thales: Aristotle to Pythias: That other: [Nè quid nimis:] some father upon Chylon; Strato (in his Trea∣tise of Inventions) upon Stratodemus: but Didimus upon Solon. (Stromatum lib. 1.)

There is scarce a Sentence of note, either in the Poets or Philosophers, but what the same Clemens, in the same Treatise, patterns in our Scriptures; and demonstrates the Gentiles to have had theirs from thence, not è contrà, by computing the ages of the Founders of every Sect, and finding them, by their own reckoning, to be younger than Moses, by many hundreds of years.

Xenophon, the Author of the Eleatick, is said by Timaeus, to have lived in the Reign of Hieron the Scicilian Tyrant: by Apollodorus, in the time of Darius and Cyrus: so that this Sect is younger than most of the Prophets.

Thales the Father of the Ionicks, is said by Eudemus (in his history of Astro∣logy) to have fore-told that Eclipse which happen'd at the Battel betwixt the Medes and Lydians, in the reign of Cyaxeres the father of Astiages, to whom agrees Herodotus, in his first Book; this Cyaxeres was contemporary with Sal∣manassar, who carried the ten Tribes captive: so that the Kingdom of Israel was standing upon its last legs, before this Sect had got foot.

For the stating of Moses his age he brings the Testimony of Appion; (one who so far disgusted the Religion of Moses as he wrote that Book against it which Josephus answers) who making mention of Amasis King of Egypt al∣ledgeth the Testimony of Ptolomeus Mendesius (a Priest, who wrote the Hi∣story of the Egyptian Kings in three Books) and saith [that in the raign of A∣masis, the Jews, under the conduct of Moses, came out of Egypt:] which Amasis was contemporary (as he saith) to Icarus. And of Dionisius Halicar∣nassaeus, who in his Chronicles affirms the Argolicks, who derive their Pedi∣gree from Icarus, to be the most ancient of the Grecians: then whom the Atticks, who come of Cecrops, are younger by four Generations (as Tatianus saith) and the Arcadians who come of Pelasgus, nine: And the Photioticks, who come of Deucalion, fifteen: and the Wars of Troy twenty, that is, five hundred years. So much is the subject of Homer younger than Moses. Now Homer is the most ancient Heathen Author: and was therefore (Aelian. var. hist. 13. 22.) painted by Galaton, spewing Grecian Learning, and all other Poets licking up his Vomit. A posture wherein (bating the homeliness of the conceipt) Moses might with more reason be drawn. For whatsoever ma∣terial divine Truth the heathen World had (except the remains of the first Tradition by Noah and his sons) were but the fragments of his loaf, the crums they gathered up under the table of Shew-bread. Hence Eusebius spends the whole tenth Book, de preparat. Evangel. in accusing the Ethnicks of Ingratitude, for hating the Jews, from whom they learn'd the liberal Sci∣ences: and of Theft, for challenging those Ethick Precepts for their own which they stole out of the Hebrew Books. And the eleventh Book in prov∣ing the Platonick Philosophy to have been fetch'd out of Egypt and Judea: and the [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] writ over the Portal of the Delphick Temple (spoken of by Plu∣tarch) to have been borrowed from Moses his History of God's giving him∣self this name [I am that I am.] And the twelfth in instancing what Plato∣nick Sentences concur with Moses.

Besides those Pagan Authors quoted by Clement, we have Herodotus (Terpsi∣core.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] [The Ionians received the knowledg of letters from the Phaenicians;] hence all Learning is called Phaenician. And Eupolemus (libro de Judaeae Regibus) ait, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Moses was the first wise man. And for the juniority of most ancient Heathen Writers we have the Testimony of the same Herodotus, who (in the life of Homer) collects, out of Lesbian and Cumane Anti∣quities, that Homer was born 622. years before Xerxes his invasion of Greece: (circa finem.) And of Macrobius (in Som. Scip. 2. 10.) who affirmeth, that there is no Greek History extant which mentions any thing of note above 2000. years by-past, for beyond Ninus nothing famous is inserted into Books; Abhinc ul∣tra duo retrò annorum millia de excellenti rerum gestarum memoriâ, nè Graeca qui∣dem exstat historia; nam suprà Ninum nihil praeclarum in libros relatum est.] Now Macrobius lived under Theodosius (as Johan. Isaac, by Joseph Scaliger's in∣dication, observes, ex codice Theodosiani, lib. 6. titulo, de praepositis sacri cubicu∣li. And was, it seems, a Pythagorick Philosopher: and yet a Gentleman of that Christian Emperour's Bed-Chamber: vide Johan. Isaaci notas in Macro∣bium.

My desire to secure my Reader from stumbling at the Objection of Celsus, and to shew him the validity of that Reply, which the maintainers of the

Christian Cause return'd to it hath forc'd me to this Digression, from the pur∣suit of that Argument I was producing, to prove the consonancy of our Faith with the approved Maxims of Philosophy; drawn from each sides claiming the Primogeniture and pleading that theirs was the First-born. It being there∣fore manifest, by the confession of both parties, that Christianity and Philoso∣phy agree in their Maxims: I shall take this as a Supersedeas from that toyl∣som labour of collecting the several parcels of Christian Verity, out of the vast Ocean of Secular Authors, on whose surface they lay scatter'd: the ga∣thering up whereof is compared by Clemens Alexand. (Stromat. 1.) to the set∣ting together again of Pentheus dismember'd limbs: and requires more read∣ing, and a stronger memory than I dare pretend to: being not only of a courser Clay, but wanting the helps which those learned Fathers had, whom Tertullian (Testimon. animae. cap. 1.) affirms to have evidenced to the World, by an enumeration of Particulars, that Christian Religion propounds nothing new or portentous, but for which it hath the suffrage of Humane Learning and Pagan Writers. A Province so well administred by St. Clemens of old, and the incomparable Lord of Plessai of late, as renders it a needless work for me. I shall therefore only instance in two or three such heads of Chri∣stian Doctrine (which I have not observed others to have spoken of) as ap∣proach nearest to the Foundation, and are vulgarly reputed opposite to the Dictates of Philosophy, yet have been attested to by Philosophers.

§ 2. 1. That man in order to his being happy must be restored to Com∣munion with, and Conformity unto God is the Assertion of the Platonicks, as well as us Christians. Plotinus, that most refined mouth of Plato (as one (St. Austin, lib. 3. Academ. quest.) stiles him, who had more insight into Phi∣losophy than a thousand of our modern Blatterers.) In his first Book, de dubiis animae, writes thus; Father Jove, pittying labouring Souls, made the bonds wherein they were held, solvable, and allowed them some interval breathings and intermissions, wherein they might live from their Bodies, and from that of themselves which they had contracted by converse with their Bodies: and sometimes be there, where the Soul of the World is always: taking no thought of these inferiour things, (vide Jamblicum de mysteriis: tit. Via ad felicitatem.) The ground of this Sentiment he might have had from his master Plato, who, (in his Timaeus) distils from his pen these golden drops: while the soul lives below God, she meets with nothing but turbulency and uncertainty (the perfect print of Solomon's seal, of his [vanity and vexa∣tion of spirit:]) She must therefore fly to her native Countrey (expressed to the life in St. Paul's) [having our conversation in Heaven.] But where shall we have a Passage-boat? How shall I make my flight thither? There is but one expedit and certain way; to wit, becoming conformable unto God. A main point of Chri∣stian Philosophy: which his foresaid Scholar thus comments upon (Plotin. de contemplat.) [All beatitude flows from our contemplating that best and fairest Fa∣ther, whereby our souls (bidding farewel to the body, and freed from drudgery) enjoys, in that mean while, that happiness, which the soul of the Universe enjoys eternally and without intermission.—No man can attain to an happy life, that does not, in the purity of chast love, adhere to that one best Good the inocmmutable God.] With the like Doctrine Plato in his Convivio feasts his guests ears. [A blessed man, by the inspection of the Divine Pulcritude, not only produceth, but nourisheth in himself, not only appearances and shadows, but real and substantial Vertues such as lively express him whom we contemplate.] Was ever any thing said by Christian Theologues more resembling our Philosophy than these Pla∣tonick Dictates? Compare those with the Evangelical Notions, of [being changed into the same Image by beholding the glory of God, &c.] and then say, if they make not as perfect an harmony, as if these lessons had been set by the same Master. Now whether God did ever hang out to the World a more lively Picture of himself, than him whom the Apostle stiles the express Image of his Father's Person? or did ever throw out a stronger cord of love,

to knit men's affections to himself, than the Son of his love? I dare refer to the determination of Philosophy it self, after I have discussed some other Ma∣xims, common to that and Christianity.

§ 3. 2. The Original Tradition of the all-comprehending Evangelical Promise, [The seed of the woman shall break the head of the Serpent:] that grain of Mustard-seed, whence grew the tall Tree of the whole Gospel: that Rose of Sharon in the bud, which in process of time dilated its leaves to their full dimensions; deliver'd to the World by Noah, that Preacher of Righte∣ousness, was not wholly obliterated out of the memory of the Gentile-World. That it still retain'd the Tradition of Man's Apostacy from God: appears from Celsus (In Orig. lib. 6. cal. 20.) his quoting Pherecides for bringing in the Serpent Ophioneus, as heading a Party against Saturn, the father of all the Gods; and therefore cast down with his followers out of Heaven, and bound in chains. From Aelian's reporting (Var. hist. 3. 1.) that the Serpent which Apollo slew, had usurped the place of the Divine Oracle: a plain intimation of his presuming to wrest Gods Oracles; and of his setting up his own in their room, in his conference with Eve. The same Author in his description of Tempe, in the story of Python, gives us a perfect prospect of Eden: into which the Serpent had insinuated himself; and where he received his deaths wound, his fatal doom. Erithraea (quoted by Lactantius (de orig. erroris lib. 2.) the greatest part of whose writings are repositories of the old Tradition:) turns this part of Moses his History into Verse.

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Man was form'd by God's hand, but being seduc'd by the Serpents guile, be became obnoxious to death, and learn'd to know good and evil. Hyginus (in his Poetic. astronom. titul. Serpens) quotes Pherecides speaking of golden Apples; of a Serpent set by Juno to watch her Orchard: of a Serpent which the Gi∣ants (in their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,) set upon Minerva, and thrown by her to among the Stars. Manifest prints of the old Tradition. Indeed the corrupt Matter is∣suing from the Wound, was a dayly Monitor to humane kind, that it had been struck with the Serpents poysonful sting: and therefore it is hardly con∣ceivable, that they should wholly lose the Tradition of the Remedy, the Me∣mory of that soveraign Plant which would cleanse and heal them. Though, through the vanity of men's minds, and the craft of those who made them∣selves Lords over their Faith (on purpose that they might settle themselves in a more absolute Dominion over their persons) that Tradition was in time so corrupted; as it requires a more than ordinary sagacity to scent out the foot-steps of it (and I hope the candid Reader will take that for my Apology, if in hunting after it, I come not always within so full a view of the game, or fol∣low so hot a scent, as to have the whole pack of Readers, with one mouth, cry (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,) there, there.) Howbeit I despair not, but that (by the help of the Fathers pricking out some of the prints before me, and with the assistance of his Spirit whose cause I am pleading) I shall trace out the remains of this Tradition in secular Authors, so near its scent and first Original: as to make it probable, if no more, that what the Apostles delivered in Thesi touching the blessed Jesus, is suitable to what is taught in Hypothesi by the Philosophers: especially those of them, who (to vamp and furbish the sullied and almost worn-out knowledg thereof) travell'd into those parts where the Original of that Tradition was preserved.

I will begin with that of Plato in the Phaedra pointed out by (the best versed in humane Learning of all the Fathers) Clemens Alexandrinus, (Stromat. 1. 98.) who quotes that travelling Philosopher reporting this to have been the Opinion of those Barbarians, of whom he learn'd his Philosophy; as also of

the Brachmans, Odrysians, Getes, Aegyptians, Arabians, Chaldaeans, and all that inhabit Palestine: That certain blessed Souls (or Daemons) leaving their supercelestial place, vouchsafe to descend into this earthly Dungeon, and, in assumed humane Bodies, to undergo all the miseries that man is obnoxious to in this life: and undertaking the care of Mankind, to give Laws, and teach Philosophy. This, Origen (Contra Celsum, l. 5.) reminds Celsus of, charging it upon his Epicurean blockishness and want of reading, that he should need be told, that it is the common sentence of all Philosophers (who held the be∣ing of a God, and his Providence over man,) that some Gods have been manifested in humane flesh, assumed humane shape, that they might deliver Oracles, and bring releif to mankind. Jamblicus writes after Plato's stile (de myster iis, tit. quando alia numina, &c.) making the Heroes or Semidei to unra∣vel the Snarls which the Cacodemons make: assigning to these last, that they oppress and distemper the Body, that they draw the Soul downward, and hin∣der it in its motion toward Heaven: to the first, that they stir us up to good Actions, that they enliven and enlighten us, provoke us to great and gene∣rous Vertues, that they watch over our Souls, and loose them from corporeal and terrene Intanglements. and in the same Treatise, [tit. quae ratio sacrifi∣ciorum, &c.] he lays down this as a Principle, that we cannot attain to Com∣munion with the incorporeal Deity but by the Mediation of the corporeal or incarnate. A point which he transcribed out of his Master Plato, who (in his Convivium, thus dictates: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. God is not to be approached to by man: but all the communion betwixt God and man is through the mediation of Demons: that is, good Demons, or Gods made men: a middle betwixt God and man, the bond which uniteth and joyneth us and God; as Plutarch observes, in his Treatise de defectu oraculorum, where he commends this opinion, as that which salves many and difficult doubts [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.] Of this Ethnick Principle St. Austin takes notice, (de civitate lib. 8. cap. 18.) titul. homines ut commendentur diis, bonis Daemoni∣bus uti debent advocatis: and (lib. 9. cap. 9.) tit. an amicitia caelestium per in∣tercessionem Daemonum possit homini provideri; and (lib. 9. cap. 17.) tit. non iali mediatore indigere hominem qualis est Daemon. That as the Pagan Philoso∣phers held, that men must make use of good Demons to commend them to the Gods: whether the friendship of the Caelestials can be procured to man, by the in∣tercession of Demons? Man does not need such a Mediator as the Demon is. And as to that branch of it which asserts the Virgin-birth, St. Cyril gives his Ca∣techumens this item (Catech. 12.) [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.] If the Grecians question the possibility of Christ's Incar∣nation, they may be confuted by their own Mythologists. Upon which point Tertullian (apolog. cap. 21.) (after his common use) hath this excellent Ani∣mad version. [Recipite hanc fabulam, similis est vestris, &c.] If the story of Christs Incarnation be a Fable, ye ought to embrace it; you have no reason to think it strange, that the Son of God should be born of a Virgin: for how many Stories have you like this, and far less like to be true than this? You feign your Jove to have had Sons begot of Mortals, which even a good man would be a∣shamed to father: begot in Incest, of his Sister; in Adultery, of other mens Wives; in Fornication, of Virgins; in the shape of Fish, Fowl, and horned Beasts, &c.

Had not the World been prepossest with this Opinion, That God-saviour was to be Incarnate, and to assume the Womans Seed; how could it have been so easily induc'd to believe, that Persons of more than common Prowess, Vertue and Activity (especially in cultivating, protecting, rescu∣ing, or delivering humane Kind) whose Original on the Fathers or Mothers fide was obscure, had their extraction on the Fathers side from some Deity or other. Whence Pausanias (in his Corinthiacis;) though he bring different reports of the Original of A••sculapius, on the Mothers side, (so obscure was the Parentage of that great Succourer of all Mortals (as he is stiled in that Oracle

which his father gave to Apollophanes) whom the Dog and She-goat of Arestanus found on the Mount Epidaur) yet he fathers him, by common Vote, upon Apollo: and introduceth Apollo, thus resolving the Question of Apollophanes, concerning his Mother: That he was not the Son of Arsinoe, nor a Messenian; but an Epi∣daurian, the Off-spring of himself and the fair Coronis: And the same Au∣thor expounds Homer, as stiling Mochnon [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Man, the Son of God. Stesichorus, in his Fragments, collected by Henry Stephen, stiles Cly∣mene (after she had brought forth Children to Sol) his Virgin-wife [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] & virginalem uxorem. Nay if he were a person of extraordinary Beneficence to his Country, though he had been born in Wedlock, and during his Nonage reputed such a mans Son; yet after the performance of his hero∣ick, and more than humane exploits, some God or other claims him for his Son and makes his Father construe that Verse.

Hos ego filiolos genui, tulit alter honorem.

Thus Hercules shakes off his Father Amphitruo, for Jupiter; Plato would have discarded his Father Ariston; for Apollo; and Alexander his, for Ju∣piter Hammon. And so ambitious were the Females of the honour of be∣ing esteem'd Mothers of God-saviours, as they were contented to keep their Sons counsel, and to blow their Husbands Horn; (which it had been more for their credit, to have put in their pockets) had they not conceived, that the honour of that, would counterballanee the shame of this: Just as the Patriarchs zeal to have the promised Seed come from their Loins, over-weigh∣ed the sin and shame of their Polygamy. In which conceit, these good Women wrote after the Copy, which Mother Eve set them, at Cain's Birth; whom (thinking he had ben the promised Seed) she welcom'd into the World with this Congratulation [I have gotten a man from the Lord:] she thought she had got the Man of God, the promised Seed, by the fore-top, when she had the Seed of the wicked one by the heel. [Alii subtiliùs [possedi virum Dei:] quasi intelligeret Heva, jam se habere illum sibi promissum Serpentis vi∣ctorem: ità fidem Hevae laudant, quòd promissionem fide amplexa sit, de conte∣rendo per semen suum Diaboli capite: putant autem in persona vel individuo fu∣isse deceptam; quia ad Cain restrinxerit, quod de Christo promissum erat. (Calvin in Genes. 4. 1.) Hence Pharaoh caused Joseph, to be proclaim'd [Abrech] Saviour of the World: (St. Jerom, question. Hebraicis, Genesis 41. 43.) and as such they worshipped him afterwards, under the Symbol of an Oxe, as the Israelites did under the Image of a Calf. A great many such God-men were precipitated into the World, through its impatiency to stay, till the Fulness of Time wasco••••e. This is that which Origen (lib. 1. calum. 20.) gives in reply to Celsus his Jew, excepting against the Article of Christ's being born of a Virgin: We Christians (saith he) are not the only men that report Heroes to have been born of Virgins: of the truth of which Assertion, he there makes demonstration by several Instances. Of this extract were those whom Creon in Sophocles his Antigone stiles [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Deos indigends. Tully's Invention is stranded, in seeking a salvo for that Point of Secular Theology and Religious Custom, of inclining to canonize those rather, who were feign∣ed to have a God to their Father, than a Goddess to their Mother: a Custom which seems to him to contradict both the Civil and Natural Law; where the Mothers side is esteemed the surer side. [Quid quorum matres? opinor etiam magis: ut enim in Jure Civili, qui est de matre libera, liber est: item Jure Na∣turae, qui de Dea matre est, Deus sit necesse est—tales tamen nusquam coluntur:] (de nat. deor. l. 3. pag. 132.) But this Observation unties this Knot, viz. It was the Seed of the Woman which the World look'd after for Redemption, and had re∣spect to, in their canonizing of their Worthies. For the clearing of which; and that the Sparks of Evangelical Truth, raked up in the fore-alledged Se∣cular Authorities, may shine out, it will be necessary to blow away the Ashes they are raked up in.

§ 4. All these Quotations faulter under the weight of that Vulgar Error, which had the chief hand in corrupting the Original Tradition, by introdu∣cing the multiplicity of God-saviours. An Errour (I suppose) at first taken up in Policy, by the Heads of the first Schisms from the Patriarchal Church; who, forsaking the one Body, cleft the one Head, the one Seed, into many, to serve their own Interests: teaching their several Colonies to expect (each Faction in their particular Separations) the Birth of the promised Seed in their own Conventicle: (Just as our modern Separatists from the Unity of the Catholick Church teach their several Parties to believe, that they are that peculiar Society, out of which must procede those more than men who must effect those strange things of which they dream waking.) And when upon these suggestions, each Schismatical Confederacy had brought forth Saviours of their own flesh and bone, the Politicians were forc'd to allow this multi∣plicity, for peace sake, to suppress their otherwise-endless contendings, about the priority of those several Saviours, which each Nation, before mutual Commerce, had made to it self: and the Meliority of those various Religions, wherewith those Gods were worshipp'd. To prevent irreconcileable wrangl∣ing upon this diversity (appearing still more and more, as the Nations of the World came acquainted with one another: So as not so much as the Pit∣cher that stands upon Hydras back to tantalize the Crow, but was contended about: some affirming it to be, that wherein Matusius presented to Demo∣phon his Daughters Blood mixt with Wine; others, that wherein Icarius pre∣sented Wine to the Ligurians, &c. (Hygini poetic. astronom. tit. Hydra, 226.) they all came to this point, and (by universal Consent) centred in this Opinion, That the Genii or Angel-guardians of each Country, deputed by God, as so many Lords Presidents over their Provinces, under himself the Emperour of the whole World, suted themselves in their government of them, to the Nature and Constitution of the respective Climates within their Jurisdictions. Hence, as it were, according to the disposition of the Matrix, one Coun∣try produceth A Virgin-born God of one temper; another, of another; one a Male, another a Female Deity; here a Mars, there a Venus; here a Saturn, there a Jupiter, &c. Every one of which are best pleased with that kind of Divine Service that best sutes the Genius of the place of their Birth. Hence Jamblicus builds the greatest part of his Discourse, about Di∣vine Worship, upon this Foundation of Gods Presidents over several Countries and Commodities: (de mysteriis, quae ratio sacrificiorum:) And Symmachus his Arguments to Valentinian, Theodosius and Archadius, for in∣dulgence of the Gentile Polytheism, upon this Maxim: [Varios custodes ur∣bibus cunctis mens divina distribuit: ut animae nascentibus, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 populis fatales genii dividuntur:] (lib. 10. epist. 54.) The divine Mind hath distributed to all Cities various Guardians, as Souls are shared out to organized Bodies, so fatal Genii to Nations.

That this was their pacifick Salvo, for their Multiplicity of God-saviours, and of the Worship tender'd to them, is manifest, from the Discourse of Cel∣sus in Origen (lib. 1.) where he states the Case thus: [The Law-givers of particular Regions were directed by the Angel-guardians of the places, in a way of congruity to their particular Climes.] (In allusion to which St. Paul stiles some Devils [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] (Eph. 6. 12.) Of the same stamp in Christian Rome, apostatized to Heathenism, are their Mahuzzims, who together with God (to them (when Daniel wrote) a strange God) that Church worships, causeth to rule over many, and distri∣butes the Earth amongst them, for a Reward: (Dan. 11. 39. Vide Meed, Vol. 2. Book 3. cap. 17.) [Thence that diversity of Laws, (saith Celsus) yet all just; of Religions, yet all pleasing to the Gods to whom they are directed.] The Ethiopians about Meroe worship Jove and Bacchus; the Arabians, Bacchus and Urania; Egygpt generally, Osiris and Isis (some particular Provinces ex∣cepted, that have their peculiar Deities; as the Saitae, Minerva; the Nan∣cratitae,

Serapis.—) And that they may please such variety of Palats; one Country hath these, another other kind of Rites: one Country abstains from eating Sheep, another from Goats, another from Heifers, another from Cro∣codiles (as sacred to their Gods) which other Countries feed upon, without fear of displeasing their Deities. To which purpose he quotes, out of He∣rodotus, (Herodot. Euterpe, l. 2. 109.) this pleasant Story. The Inhabitants of Marea and Appis (Towns in the confines of Egypt and Lybia) disrelishing the Religion of Egypt, because it prohibited the eating of Heifers (after which their teeth water'd) were taught by that Master of Arts, the Belly, to plead, their Towns belonged to Lybia, not Egypt: upon which they dispatch Messengers to Jupiter Hammon the Lybian God, to tell his Holiness, that they belonged to his Dominion; that thenceforward they would re∣nounce Egypt and her Cow-goddess: neither would they ask her lieve to eat Beef: For being without Delta (the utmost bounds of Egypt) they were born under a better Planet, than to be kept Tantalizing, within the sight of so many fat Bullocks as their Country bred, whose flesh they must not eat, for fear of displeasing the Goddess: for their parts, having said their Grace to him, they were resolv'd to fall to, if he would say Amen. But he (whe∣ther, after the guise of the English Courtesie, he would yield to his Sister∣deity the upper hand at Table, the preheminence in carving; or whether he thought it not worth the while (with her displeasure, and so great an appearance of Injustice, as removing the old Land-marks might be interpret∣ed) to add to his Province so Belly-god a people, as hung to him by no∣thing but the Teeth, and would prove only Trencher-chaplains) would not give them their longings, but bound them to a perpetual Lent, as being within the Jurisdiction of Egypt, which was not bounded with Delta, but the Nile; out of which whosoever drank their Mornings draught, must not dine with Beef. This point of Gentilism Joshua disswaded the Israelites from imbra∣cing, in his sarcastical allowing them to chuse, whether they would serve the Gods of the Nation, from whence they came; or of the Nations of of whose Land they had got the possession: or of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jocob: of whose Faith this was the Crown, that coming into a strange Country, they neither brought their Penates with them, nor received the Gods of Canaan, but adhered to the true God who appeared to Abraham. Whereas Nahor's Family was tainted with the vulgar Error of Local Deities: so far, as Rachel (not daring to trust her self in a foreign Country without the salvifick presence of her Fathers Gods) stole away those consecrated Ima∣ges of them, into which she conceiv'd the Spirits of those Gods were entred: The purging his Family of which, and erecting an Altar, and adhering to the worship of that God appeared to him, was Jacob's commendation.

The Mixture of Religions in Samaria grew up of the same seed; as also the fearful Apostacies of Israel and Judah, both while they were one Com∣monwealth, and after they were divided into two Kingdoms. For, not con∣fiding in their own God, they called in, as it were to his aid, the Gods of Egypt (the golden Calves) the Gods of Moab, Baal-Peor, &c. whom while they sought to please, with services sutable to each Deity, they fell to these barbarous immoralities (of open Fornication, of Sacrificing Children, &c.) as ripened them for Transportation and Captivity. In which School of Affliction they so profitted, as after that they could never be induc'd, by the severest torments, to invocate the names of any foreign Gods. But to re∣turn to the Philosophers.

From this Distribution of Countries (saith Celsus) among Guardian∣angels, and their disposal of Religious Affairs, congruously to the Climates which fell to their lots; it comes to pass, that diverse Countries have diffe∣rent Funeral Rites: some by burning, some by interring, some by bury∣ing in their Kindreds Maws: each affirming their ownway best for themselves, and most pleasing to their Local Deities. So as the Scythians esteem Canni∣balism a sober and religious Custom; and some Indians account it an act of

Piety to kill and eat their decrepit Fathers. Of which different Sentiments we have a famous Example in the Story of Darius; who calling together his Grecian Companies, and asking at what price they would be hired, to devour their defunct Friends? received this answer from them, That they would not by any means be hired to commit so savage an Act: then calling his In∣dian Soldiers (whose Funeral Ceremony was, with a great deal of solemnity, and ostentation of Piety, to devour their deceased Parents) he propounded to them what wages he should give them to burn the Bodies of their dead Kindred? They holding up their hands, as Men astonish'd at the horror of this Motion, beseech him he would not pollute his Tongue and their Ears with such a more than barbarous proposal.

Hence Celsus can allow the Jew to adhere to the Religion of his own Coun∣try; but that he should impose upon all other Nations the God of Israel (one of the least and most contemptible Provinces of the World) this he can by no means digest. Hence Josephus (contrà Appion, l. 2.) is so shie of condemning the Religions of other Countries; that to the calumners of Lysimachus he promis∣eth he will not recriminate; it being sufficient for him to maintain the Re∣ligion of his own Country, without taxing others: their Law forbidding them to speak evil of the Gods. And that therefore what he should speak in disparagement of the Grecian Deities, should be no other, than what had been formerly said by their own most approved Authors. Though he was grosly mistaken in his interpretation of that Sentence [Thou shalt not speak evil of the Gods:] (that being intended of Magistrates, as his Contemporary St. Paul rightly applied it (Act. 23. 5.) Yet this argues how tender that great Politician was, of breaking the Bond of common Peace, which tack'd upon this Pin; Let every Nation abound in its own sence, as to Matters of Reli∣ligion. This makes me less wonder that Xenophon (the greatest Politici∣an, Soldier, Orator, and Philosopher, that ever met in one Man altogether) should, in that his Specimen of an absolute accomplish'd Prince, constantly represent Cyrus as having an equal Devotion for the Gods of those several Nations, through which he made his marches or conquests: (Xenophont. Cyrus, lib. 2. cap. 1.) In his Expedition for the relief of his Uncle Cyaxeres, at his approach to the utmost bounds of Persia, he presents him invocating [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] and beseeching the Gods and Heroes presiding over the Land of Persia, that they would propitiously dismiss him. At his entrance upon Media he presents him beseeching [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] the Gods of Media, propitiously to receive him, (Xenoph. Cyr. lib. 3. 19.) And at his entrance upon Assyria [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] he pacifies and propitiates with sacrifice the Heroes of Assyria. His custom of sacrificing [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] was observ'd by Alexander and the Romans, who upon no other account sacrificed at Jerusalem, to the God of the Jews, when they sojourned there; as, out of Apollonius Rhodius his Scho∣liast, is observed by Scaliger (in Eusebii chronic. num. 1685.) Upon this ac∣count the Crime, which Creon charged Polinices with, was, That he attempt∣ed to overthrow the Land of the Theban Gods and their Laws; their Laws extended no further than their Lands: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 whence the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 took their name: (Sophoclis Antigone.)

§ 5. How far this supposition, of Gods assigning the Regions of the World to the Guardianship of particular Angels, may stand with Scripture-grounds; either according to Mr. Meed's Scheme, who applies to this pur∣pose that Text of Zachary, [These are the serene eyes that run to and fro through the world:] or according to the compute of some of the Ancients, who apply to it that Text of Moses; [When the most high divided to the nations their in∣heritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people, according to the number of the children of Israel:] (in the Exposition of St. Jerome, in Daniel. cap. 7. vis. 6.) That is, as Israel was divided into Twelve

Tribes, so the World was parted into Twelve [majores Gentes] Ancient Na∣tions, and an Angel set as President over each of them: one of them conceiv∣ed by Daniel to be called, the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia: (Jerom in Dan. 10.) [Princeps autem regni Persarum restitit mihi 21 diebus:] Videtur mihi hic esse Angelus cui Persis credita 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (juxt à illud, [Quando dividebat al∣tissimus gentes—statuit terminos gentium juxt à numerum Angelorum Dei:] fa∣ciens pro credit â sibi Provincia, nè captivotum omnis populus dimitteretur, enu∣merans peccata populi Judeorum, quòd dimitti non deberent.) But the Prince of the kingdom of Persia resisted me one and twenty days. This seems to me (saith St. Jerome) to be that Angel to whom Persia was concredited; (according to that [When the Almighty divided the nations—he appointed their bounds ac∣cording to the number of the Angels of God:] an Agent for that Province that was committed to his trust, pleading, by commemorating before God the sins of the Jews, that they might not be dismist out of Captivity to the Persian Empire.) And because there were Twelve ancient Nations; hence these Presidents are altogether stiled by the Gentiles, [Duodecim Dii majorum gentium,] the Twelve Gods of the ancient Nations. How far (I say) this Hypothesis in general, and which of these ways of applying it is grounded on Scripture, would carry me too far out of my way to discuss: (Origen (lib. 5. contrà Celsum) hath an excel∣lent discourse upon this subject, whom they that have a mind may consult.) That which at present I am commending to my Reader, is the abstraction of Plato's Sentence, from the Errors of those times wherewith he was born down; yet so abstracted, it may afford us the Genuine sence of the Philoso∣phers, touching the end of God's Incarnation; viz. To communicate divine Oracles, and to relieve Mankind by suffering, that is, to be (in the Christian Dialect) our Priest and Prophet, our Lord-saviour. Whether this is to be perform'd, by piece-meal, for several Nations, by diverse Gods incarnate; or at once, for all, by one; according to the Dictates of the Philosophical Schools, where they speak under the Rose, out of the hearing of the Vulgar, and are not biass'd with fear of going against the Current of the Popular O∣pinion, is another Question, and comes next to be discuss'd: And let Plato's School determine it

By the mouth of his Scholar Porphyry (as malicious and potent an Adver∣sary as the Christian Cause hath met with) who affirms (as he is quoted by St. Austin (de Civit. 10. 23.) that this was the Respond from the divine Ora∣cle, That the humane Soul cannot be purged by the most perfect Sacrifices offer'd to the very chief of the Celestial Gods, (the Sun or Moon;) but only by a Principle. Upon which St. Austin hath this Animadversion; Thou mightest have spared the labour of telling us, that nothing can purge the Soul but a Prin∣ciple; after thou hadst said, The Sun or Moon, sollicited by the purest and eve∣ry way compleatest Sacrifices, could not do it: for if they cannot, who are the chief of the Heathen Gods, sure, 'tis out of the reach of the underlings to do it. Observe by the way, rhat Ludovicus Vives translates Telesmata, perfect Sacrifi∣ces: but Selden makes them all one with Teraphims, that is, Images; which were thought to be [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] replenished with the Deities of those Gods they were dedicated to: and whom they invocated after the per∣forming of sacrifice before them. (Such an one was Pope Gerebert taught to make by the Saracens of Spain; and our Bacon falsly reported to have erect∣ed.) Saving that the Teraphim was the head of a Man, bearing the name of one Deity alone; but the Telesmata had the Images and Names of all the Gods they could think of. Such were those of Apollonius Tyaneus, mention'd by Justin Martyr, (respond. orthodox. 24.) such as Scaliger (in his Epistle to Casau∣bon) affirms he had frequently seen. This therefore is manifestly the impor∣tance of Porphyry's Dictate, That the most religious worshippers of all the known Gods, cannot thereby be purged. But what means Porphyry by a Principle? That will best be discerned by observing (with St. Austin) that the Platonicks held Three Principles; the Father; the Intellect, Mind, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the Father: and the bond of these, viz. the Spirit: not the Soul of

Man, as Plotinus misinterprets it; (for that must have been postpon'd to the Father and his Mind; whereas Plato interpones it, that is, makes the Spirit the bond or tie betwixt them: (Vide testimonium Platonis (in Epimenide) de Patre Filióque; & Plotini verba (in libro quem inscripsit de tribus hypostasibus) citata ab Eusebio (in Praepar. Evang. 11. 10.) & Numenii testimonia de Trinita∣te; de primo Deo & Deo Creatore & Spiritu vivificante.) Thus also Zeno af∣firms, Fate (that is, the necessary Being) to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Word, God, and the Soul. And Plato himself (in his 6. Book de Legibus) brings in Socrates, after he had discoursed [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Of the one Good (that is, God) telling Glaucus, he will speak [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] Of him that is both the begotten of that Good, and his express Image: and in his Epistle to Hermius, he hath these expressions—swearing by [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] God the maker of all things, and the Lord-father of that Principle and Cause: And in his Epinomides, he mentions [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,] The Word, the most divine of all things; by which the World was framed, whom a wise man admiring, is inflam'd with desire to understand, how he may be happy in this Life and the future. As to the Third Principle, he saith, he knows not what Name to give it; except he should call it [the Soul of the World; because it gives Life and Being to all Creatures.] And in his Epi∣stle to Dionysius, he tells him that he writes [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] of the Trine Divinity, that is, as Porphyry (alledged by St. Cyril against Julian) expounds him, Three Subsistances (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) in the Essence of the Divinity. Con∣sonant to which Platonick Dictate, is that Respond which the Oracle of Se∣rapis gave to Thales King of Aegypt, at the time of the Trojan War, inquiring who was happier than he?

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Thus Macrobius stiles the First Person [The truly chief God;] the Second [the Mind or Thinking of that God;] the Third [The Soul or Spirit proceeding from that Mind.] Anima ex Mente processerat; Mens ex Deo procreata est: (Macrob. in som. Scip. 1. 17.) These Allegations bid fair for the proof of this Opinion, That the Philosophers were not wholly strangers to the Mystery of the Trinity: And in the last of them Macrobius makes confession of the Trinity, in as plain terms as we Christians do; and of the Order and Manner of the Procedure of the divine Persons, plainer than the Grecian Church would yield, or the Latin Church could prove the sacred Scriptures to declare. I appeal to their Contests about the word [Proceeding] and the Clause [de Filióque:] And to Macrobius a Greco-latin Platonick his so clearly asserting, That the Mind was begotten of God (the First Person) and the Spirit proceeded from the Mind. But that's more than I do (or need to) produce them for: the use that I have for them, is only to give testimony, that the Platonicks vouch∣safed the name of a [Principle] to nothing, but God the Father, God the Word, and God the Spirit: and therefore it is not (even by their Principles) in the power of any other God, by his Mediation, to bring the Soul by Purgation into Conformity to or Communion with God: nothing but a Principle can effect that; and there are but three Principles, Father, Son, and Spirit, say the Platonicks.

To this Platonick Notion of a Principle our Saviour seems to allude (John 8. 25.) where, to the Jews asking who he was? he answers [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. (in St. Austin's (de Civitate 10. 24.) and others (St. Ambros. Hexameron. lib. 1. cap. 4.) of the Fathers judgment) That he was the Beginning: [respondit se esse Principium.] To be sure the Platonicks did, in a peculiar Notion, denomi∣nate

God the Word, the Principle. Which made Amelius, when he read the Beginning of St. John's Gospel, (In the beginning was the Word [apud Deum esse, & Deum esse, & per ipsum omnia facta esse] the Word was with God, and was God, and by him were all things made) cry out [Per Jo∣vem! barbarus iste cum nostro Platone sentit Verbum Dei in ordine Principii esse:] This Barbarian is of our Plato's Opinion, that the Word of God is in the rank of Principles, &c. And that other Philosopher whom Simplicianus B. of Mil∣lain informs St. Austin of (de civitate 10. 29.) to protest [Those words of St. John [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] deserved to be writ in Letters of Gold, and to he hung up in the most conspicuous places, in all Churches:) and St. Austin, in his Confessions, say, that [he had read the beginning of St. John's Gospel in the Platonick Books, in sence, though not in the very same words:] (lib. Confess. 7. cap. 9.) [procurasti mihi quosdam Platonicorum libros, & ibi legi; non quidem his verbis, sed hoc idem omninò: There I read (saith he) and found proved by va∣rious Reasons, That in the beginnning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, that by it all things were made: Multis & multiplicibus suaderi rationibus, quòd in principio erat Verbum, & Verbum erat apud Deum.—There (in the Platonick Writings) I read; That the Soul of man, though it bear testimony of the Light, is not the Light, but God, the Word of God, is that true Light that—Et quòd hominis anima, quamvis te∣stimonium perhibeat de lumine, non est tamen ipsa lumen, sed Verbum Dei Deus est lumen verum, quod illuminat omnem hominem.—And that he was in this World, and the World was made by him, and that the World knew him not: & quia in hoc mundo erat, & mundus per eum factus est, & mundus eum non cognovit. But that he came unto his own, and his own re∣ceived him not,—I did not read there: Quià verò in suos venit & sui eum non reciperunt; quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit illis potestatem fi∣lios Dei, non legi ibi. There also I read, that God the Word was not born of flesh or blood, nor of the will of man, or the will of the flesh, but of God: Item ibi legi, quià Deus Verbum non ex carne, non ex sanguine, non ex voluntate viri, ne{que} ex voluntate carnis, sed ex Deo natus est: But that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, I did not read there: Sed quià Verbum caro factus est & habitavit in nobis, non ibi legi. In those Platonick Writings, I found it said in va∣rious and many forms of speech, That the Word, the Son, is in the form of the Father, counting it no robbery to be equal to God; because he is by nature God: Indagavi quippe in illis (Platonicis) literis variè dictum & multis modis, quòd sit Filius in forma Patris, non rapinam arbitratus esse aequalis Deo, quià na∣turaliter id ipsum est: But that he emptied himself (taking the form of a ser∣vant) to the death of the Cross—is not mentioned in those Books: Sed quià seipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens, in similitudinem hominum fa∣ctus, &c. non habent illi libri. Indeed that before and beyond all, thine only be∣gotten Son incommutably continueth coeternal with thy self; and that mens Souls do, out of his fulness, receive what makes them happy; and by participa∣tion of that wisdom that rests in him are made wise, is affirmed in those Platonick Books: Quòd enim ante omnia tempora & suprà omnia tempora incommutabi∣liter manet unigenitus Filius tuus coaeternus tibi, & quia de plenitudine ejus accipiunt animae ut beatae sint, & quia participatione manentis in se sapientiae re∣novantur ut Sapientes sint, est ibi, &c.

This is a Testimony so weighty, as we cannot question the truth of; it being given in his Confessions made to God: and so full, as it not only proves this Par∣ticular, That the Platonicks conceived the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to be the Son of God, by whom he made the World, to be in the Order and Degree of a Principle (which was all I produc'd it for in this Section) but my general Position, laid down in the first Section of this Chapter, That what the Gospel asserts in Thesi of our Jesus, the Platonick School asserted in Hypothesi, concerning him that was to relieve Mankind. Plato's Doctrine of Purgation came so near ours (saith St. Austin (de vera Religione, cap. 4.) as many Platonicks upon that account turn'd Christian [Paucis mutatis verbis & sententiis: aut si hoc non fa∣cerent,

nescio utrùm possent ad ea ipsa quae appetenda esse dixerunt cum istis fae∣cibus viscóque revolare: (ex Platonis Phaedro & de Legibus & Timaeo.) With the alteration of a few words and sentences; and if they had not, I cannot tell how they could, with the Birdlime and dregs of those their Errors (which Chri∣stian Religion confuteth) have flown back to that good they said was to be de∣sired, and those their sound Principles, which both we and they joyntly hold. The only thing they disgusted, being the application of those things to Christ; they stumbling at the same Stone, at which the Jews stumbled, the Cross of Christ: and taking it in scorn, that so mean a man as Jesus of Nazereth, should be reputed, to be the Saviour, to be that Principle, that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that Son of God, that was to enlighten every one that comes into the World; out of whose ful∣ness all our wants were to be supplied; by the participation of whose Wis∣dom we are made wise, &c.

For St. Austin, when he saith. [He could not find in their Books that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 was come into the World, came to his own and his own received him not, took up∣on him the Form of a servant, and humbled himself to the death of the Cross.] Must not be understood, to deny that it was to be found, or that himself had found in the Platonick Writings: that the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (in order to humane Re∣demption) was to come into the World, to assume our nature, to be wound∣ed for our Transgressions: for whoever it was by one (or more) that man-kind was to be relieved: that one (or more) must, as we have heard the Oracle (the God of Philosophers, as they stiled him) deliver, descend from his (or their) supercelestial place, into his Dungeon of Earth: and in 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (or their) assumed body (or bodies) endure all the miseries of this life, &c. as (Sect. 3. cap. 4.) hath been quoted; out of which sentence (not only of Plato, but of all that exchanged not the old Traditional Philosophy for the Kitching-Experiments of Greece, whom Jamblicus compares to Ships with∣out Balast; for that they had emptyed themselves of what they had received by the old Tradition, (de mysteriis, tit. de nominibus sacris,) we have been, all this while, boulting the Bran of their conceipted Multiplicity of God-saviours, by the Sierce of their more sober and considerate Doctrine, poured out into the bosom of their friends, sequestred from the Censure of the Vulgar (be∣fore whom it was not safe to speak all they thought:) [Difficile est negare, credo, si in concione quaeratur; sed in hujusmodi concessu facillimum: (Cicero de natura deorum, lib. 1.) It is an hard matter, I confess, to deny this in the hearing of the multitude; but very easie in such a select Assembly of friends and Philosophers.] And have thereby gain'd from them the unforc'd confession of this Evangelical Truth.

That man's restauration unto Communion with, and Conformity to God, cannot be obtained by the Incarnation of separate Spirits, or blessed Souls, but of God himself, descending into the Dungeon of this Earth, assuming our Nature, and in that Nature suffering what was due to us; and delivering to us the Divine Oracles. Plato therefore in assigning this effect to a Multi∣plicity of holy Souls or Spirits, coming down from Heaven, in several Ages, and Countreys, was a popular Complyance with the vulgar Errour: either out of fear to in〈…〉〈…〉 his Master Socrates his fortune, or out of design to have the World believe (as some of his great admirers did) that himself was one of those officious Spirits: or if he spake as he thought, it was the froth and e∣bullition of that vanity of mind judicially inflicted upon such; as knowing God, did not worship him as God. That this was his Errour, and such an Errour, as himself, in his lucid Intervals, renounc'd, and was forsaken in, by his own followers: hath been sufficiently cleared; if the weight of this point, and the dissatisfaction of some most deservingly eminent Modern Di∣vines, did not make it shake upon its strongest supporters, and (as it were by its nods) becken to us to strengthen it by Buttresses: I shall therefore beg my Readers patience (which I doubt not but to obtain of him if he can but con∣strue that of the Epigrammatist; [Non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis; Sed tu, Cosconi, disticha longa facis:] Mart.) while I make it yet more manifest.

Notes

• The Father, Word, and Spirit; (God alone:) That Cotternal Three in one.