Gregorii posthuma, or, Certain learned tracts written by John Gregorie. Together with a short account of the author's life and elegies on his much-lamented death published by J.G.

Belus 2.

THis Belus whether hee were this Son or Nephew of Nimrod, or what affinitie to him hee might have, Antiquitie discovereth not. Reynecci∣us is bold to conceiv, that this was Arphaxat; if yee ask the reason, hee answe∣reth, Becaus S. Cyril cal∣leth this Belus Arbelus, which hee indeavoureth to wring out of Arphaxat; the conceit as I conceiv is slender, though this Au∣tor deserveth well of all Historians.

Sanchuniathen, an anti∣ent Autor among the Phoenicians, affirmeth that this Belus was the Son of Saturn: This was Nimrod so called by the profane Autors, as manie have conceived: if so, then Nimrod is hee of whom Ovid speak's, that in his time the Golden age flou∣rished, So Eupolemon.

Certainly that Conceit of the Poëts, in compa∣ring the Ages of the World to Metals, seemeth to have sprung from Da∣niel's own Comparison, which hee relateth out of the Kings dream concern∣ing

the Head of Gold, the Arms and Shoulders of Silver, &c. In that sens, Nimrod might bee Saturn; & Belus might bee his suc∣cessor, to wit, Jove; for so this Bel was called: And thus, forgiving Ovid the fable, this is nothing els, but what hee hath said, That the golden Age, that is, the Age designed by the head of Gold, was in the daies of Saturn, that is, Nimrod. 'Tis ordina∣rily granted, that Ovid had seen the books of Moses, and under the same privilege hee might also read the Prophet Daniel, fetching his golden daies from hence, and Saturn from thence.

Whereas this Bel was called Jove, it is to bee un∣derstood, that as Bel was a name proper, first to the true God (for so hee is called in Osee,) so Jehovah also was a sacred expression of the Trinitie in Ʋnitie at the first, and afterwards by the Sacrilege of a croo∣ked generation unaptly given to these arrogant Kings. Belus perhaps first called the Sun so, and himself afterwards; as Nimrod did the Sun by the name of Bel: which name the Sun still kept in Phae∣nicia long after these times, for there they called the S••n Baalsemen, that is the Lord of Heaven. And that the Sun was called Jove, the Devil confesseth in the Oracle of Apollo Clarius.

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When or where this Bel died it is unknown; and how manie years hee lived, is altogether as uncer∣tain: this onely is true, that 60 years must bee distributed between him and his predecessor, but at what proportion this distribution should bee made is no waie manifest.