Greek Nation being loth that the World should take notice that they were beholden to the Phoenicians for this 13. Before I have shewed out of Clemens Alexandrinus that such Structures as were first the Sepulchres of the Dead afterwards being enlarged to a greater Magnificence came to be called the Temples of gods And Arnobius lib. 6. Quid quod multa ex his templa quae Tholis sunt aureis sublimibus elata fastigiis auctorum conscriptionibus comprobatur contegere cineres atque ossa defunctorum esse corporum sepulchra Nonne patet in promtu est aut pro Diis immortalibus mortuos vos colere aut inexpiabilem fieri numinibus contumeliam quorum delubra templa mortuorum superlata sunt bustis What shall we say to this that many Temples which are built with golden Arches and lofty Roofs do cover Ashes and Bones and that they are the Sepulchres of Men deceased as it appears by the Writings of divers Authors Is it not manifest and prone to conclude hereby that either you worship dead Men instead of gods or that you do the gods an Injury that cannot be expiated in that you build their Temples upon the Sepulchres of the dead Now the first Instance given in this kind by Clemens Alexandrinus in his Admonition to the Gentiles I find to be of the Temple of Minerva which was the Sepulchre of Acrisius Now this Acrisius was the 14th King of Argos by the Account of Appion the Grammarian alledged by Tatianus and represented by Ensebius in the â—â—th Book of his Evangelical Preparation p. 493. Graecolat And in the Fourth Generation after Danaus who came out of Egypt unto Argos in Grece upon the Confusion caused in Egypt partly by the Slaughter of the First Born and partly by the Destruction of Pharaoh and his Egyptians in the Red Sea when Moses led the Children of Israel through it towards the Land of Canaan by the Account of Mr. Lydiat in his Emendation of Times And that which Appion writeth hereof was out of Piolimaeus Mendesius Pausanias in his Boeotica speaks of a Temple dedicated to Hercules but whereas some imagine or might imagine that it was a Temple dedicated to Hercules the Son of Amphytrion he professeth that it was multo vetustius much more ancient than so and therefore he conceives rather the Dedication of it ought to be ascribed to a more ancient Hercules who was one of the Idaei Dactyli commonly called Hercules Idaeus Now these Idaei Dactyli were those Curetes to whose Care the Education of Jupiter was committed to wit Jupiter Cretensis the Son of Saturn who flying out of Crete and coming into Italy was there entertained by Janus which Janus reigned in Italy long after Moses as formerly hath been shewed The same Pausanias in the first of his Eliacks affirms Pelops was the first that erected a Temple to Mercury in Peloponnesus and in his Boeoticis reports that one Myron Byzantius a Writer of Heroick Verses and Elegies had delivered that Amphyon was the first of all Men that dedicated an Altar to Mercury Now Pelops is accounted but of the same time with Acrisius King of Argos the Fourth King after Danaus by Eusebius in his Evangelical Preparation lib. 10. p. 493. Graecolar And the same Tatianus in the same place of Eusebius maintains Moses to have been before Amphyon But of all the Temples known to Pausanias the most Ancient he professeth to have been the Temple of Apollo Thearius which was the Troezenians For albeit he takes notice of two other Temples which were very ancient yet this he saith was much more ancient than they and was reported to have been built by Pythius and as it was built by him so it was adorned by him also Now what time Pythius lived he sheweth forthwith when he saith that Bellerophon coming to Troezene where Pithias reigned he required of him Aethra to be given him to Wife but Aegeus married her King of Athens and she became the Mother of Thesous as Robert Stephanus writes and Pellerophon was deprived of his Kingdom of Ephyra by Praetos King of Argos as the same Author writeth Now this Praetus was the third King of Argos after Danaus by Tatianus his account related by Eusebius Praeparat Evangel lib. 10. and Danaus is by Lidiat's Account somewhat after Moses 14. But we proceed from the Grecians to the Egyptians because they are supposed by some to have found out and communicated to others the Names of Heathenish Gods and first erected Temples and Altars to them for so writes Caelius Rodiginus l. 18. c. 37. Traditur porro Aegyptios primos Deorum excitasse aras conflasse simulacra Templa construxisse But this learned Antiquary which is his usual fault tells us not his Authors Probably Herodotus lib. 2. Aegiptii primi Deorum cognomina in usu habuere ab illis Graeci fuerunt mutuati Item primi Diis aras simulachra delubra statuere And Pausanias in his Atticis testifies that amongst the Grecians the Athenians went beyond all others in Devotion towards the Gods Athenienses Deorum cultu studioque Religionis longè caeteras omnes civitates anteire And the Athenians had this from their King Cerops major as Lidiat writes Emend temp p. 18. Erat vero etiam Cecrops Magnus auctor superstitionis ac Idololatriae This Cecrops was called Diphyes because he was genere partim Aegyptius by Parentage an Egyptian and Coquaeus out of Eusebius relates this of Cecrops That primus Jovem appellavit simulacra reperiit aram statuit victimas immolavit nequaquam istiusmodi rebus in Graecia visis Coqu in Augustin de Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 8. Porphyry that enemy of the Gospel was wont much to magnify a certain Historian named Sanconiatho His History was much commended by one Philo Biblius who added a Preface thereunto wherein he writes Barbarorum Antiquissimi Phoenices imprimis Aegyptii a quibus caeteri deinceps populi morem illum accepere in maximorum Deorum loco eos omnes habuere qui res ad vit am agendam necessarias invenissent quique beneficium aliquod in genus humanum contulissent Eos nimirum quod sibi plurimorum bonorum autores esse persuaderent Divinis honoribus coluere ac templorum usu quae jam ante constructa fuerant hoc ad munus officiumque traducto columnas insuper statuasque ligne as ipsorum nomine consecrarunt eoque precipue religionis cultu prosecuti festos illis quoque dies longè celeberrimos dedicarunt In quo eximium illud fuit Regum suorum nomina universi hujus elementis ac quibusdam corum quibus divinitatem ipsi tribuebant imponerent Naturales vero Deos Solem Lumam reliquasque Stellase errantes cum Elementis caeteris cum eiâ—sdem affinitate conjunctis solos ex omnibus agnoscebant ut mortales quidem alios alios autem immortales cos haberent Where observe four things 1. That the first Founders of
Temples among the Egyptians Diogenes Laertius in the Life of Cleobulus writes that he was of Lindus or as some said of Carea and that he restored the Temple of Minerva built by Danars the Passage is somewhat imperfect but made compleat by Causabon with refeence to that which Diodorus Siculur writes lib. 5. cap. 13. where he writes Danaus ex Aegypto cum filiabus aufugiens in Lindiam Cypri appulit susceptusque ab incolis erecto Minervae Templo statuam ingentem dedicavit He adds that Cadmus about the same time being sent to Sea to seek Europa did perform his Vows at the same Temple Now Lidiat accounts Cadmus his leaving Phaenicia and sailing into Grece to have been at the same time that Joshua entered the Land of Canaan with his Ifraclites and on the same occasion affrighted with the Invasion made by Joshua and that Danaus his Expulsion out of Egypt by his Brother Aegyptus was originally derived from the Confusion that was brought upon the Land by reason of the slaughter of the First Born among them and the Destruction of Pharaoh and his Hoste in the Red Sea And in all likelihood this brought great Consusion in Egypt and amongst the Seed Royal whereupon fore Contentions might arise the issue whereof was as some prevailed so the expulsion of the Opposites Aegyptus himself being driven out afterwards as he had been a means of driving out Danaus before For so Pausanias writes in Achiacis Patrae and Aroe are all one Aegyptum Aroenvenisse tradunt Patrenses filiorum luctu confectum cum ipsum Argorum nomen exhorresceret imprimis à Danao sibi plurimum metneret And after this there were two Temples of Serapis built and in one of them was erected a Monument of Aegyptus the Son of Belut Herodotus ascribes the building of this Temple at Lindus to Danaus his Daughters about the end of his Second Book And whereas Diodorus Siculus reports the Temple to have been built in the Island of Cyprus Stephanus Bizantinus acknowledgeth no other City of Lindins or Lindia but that at Rhodes 16. Eusebius in his 9th Book of his Prepar Evangel and cb 23. Writes that two Temples one at Athens another at Heliopolis in Egypt were built by the Children of Israel in the time of their Bondage there But this he writes not according to his own Judgment only sets down the narration hereof out of one Artapanus an Heathen Author Now we have no Reason to give Credit to his Relation in this particular for albeit the Children of Israel were oppressed with sore Bondage and had Cruel Task-masters set over them who urged them to the making of Brick in abundance Yet the Scripture expresly tells us to what use these Bricks were employed Exod. 1.11 They did set Task-masters over them and they built the City Pithom and Raaemses for the Treasures of Pharaoh Thus they made them weary of their Lives by sore Labour in Clay and in Brick and in all Work in the Field with all manner of Bondage which they laid upon them most cruelly as v. 14. Herodotus makes relation of one Menon the first King of Egypt who built Memphis and therein Templum Vulcani a Temple to Vulcan great and memorable And this I confess was most Acient and long before the days of Moses if it be true which there is reported to him from the Priests of Egypt namely how they rehearsed to him out of a Book the names of three hundred and thirty Kings beginning from this Menon and ending with Mevis the Father of Sesostris who is supposed to be Shishak King of Egypt mentioned in Scripture who came to Jerusalem with a great Army and took it and carried away all the golden Shields that King Solomon had made The Providence of God being very remarkable herein as it is commended unto us 2 Chron. 12.5 6 7 8 Now Shishak's Depopulation of Judea came to pass in the fifth year of Rehoboam and Jeroboam the year of the World 3029. by Lydiat and 3033 in Usher Yet this Shishak was the Successor of Mevis the last of those three hundred and thirty Kings in Egypt whose names were related to Herodotus by the Priests of Egypt And this Menon King of Egypt in Herodotus is made all one with Amosis by Lydiat Euseb Prep Evangel l. 10. c. 9. I do not here mention how Porphyry makes Moses more ancient than Inachus who is more ancient then this Amosis nor how Africanus placeth him as Coaetaneous to Ogyges Nor how Appion the Grammarian makes him of the same time with Amosis Ibid. c. 10. as in whose days he led the Children of Israel out of Egypt Though in truth the Pastoral Nation which Manetho that Egyptian Historian mentioneth to have gone out of Egypt and planred themselves in the Neighbour-Country of Syria about Jerusalem were rather the Philistines who came of the Caslucheans and Caphtoreans who were of the Egyptian Nation and seized upon Palestine and Maritime Coast of Judea whose Trade also was the keeping of Sheep And to these refers that of Herodotus in the beginning of his History namely that the Phoenicians came from the Red-Sea by Phoenicians understanding Strians dwelling by the Sea Coast from Cassiolis the border of Egypt But these things are more clearly and truly shewn by Usher in his Annals from A.M. 2114. seq And how this was done in the days of Abraham many hundred years before Moses But if any Man shall hence conclude that therefore Temples were in Egypt many hundred years before Moses by the Testimony of Herodotus I answer That Herodotus's Testimony proceeded upon the Faith of the Egyptian Priests and their Registers which deserve no Credit with us Christians they making the King Menon to be many years more ancient than the World Yet Lydiat shews how to salve their Credit in a tolerable way namely by supposing that the first reigning in Egypt which he takes to have been sixty years after the Dispersion of the Gentiles which is a hundred sixty one years after Noah's Flood by the Computation made by George and Constantine Manasses out of the Fragments of ancient Historians and set down in their Chronicles all were not governed under one King but look how many Cities so many Kings like as Joshua found it in the Land of Canaan when he entred among them with the Israelites And the Years of the Reigns of each King might be reckoned as succeeding one another whereas indeed they reigned together in several Dynasties at the same time As that which followeth in the Relation of those Priests made to Herodotus namely That in that vast space of time the Sun changed his Course four times as having twice risen where now he sets and twice set where now he rises to astonish their Hearers with legends of great Admiration They had an addition also which was That before all these Kings their Gods reigned conversing familiarly with Men and the last of them was Orus the Son of Osiris
The same Herodotus writes That the Egyptians much differed from the Grecians in the Estimation of their Gods For whereas among the Grecians the last of their Gods were Hercules and Dionysius and Pan Contrariwise among the Egyptians Pan was Vetustissimus the most Ancient even of the number of the first Rank which were but eight and Latona was another of them as elsewhere he tells us Hercules was one of the second Rank which were twelve in number and Dionysius of the third Rank which contained such as were begotten of the former twelve This Dionysius is Osiris as he saith whose Son Orus was the last of the Deities regnant among the Egyptians 17. Of this Osiris Diodorus Siculus writes which is also related by Eusebius in his Preparat Evangel l. 2. c. 1. That babuit Jovi Junonique parentibus sacram aedem item Diis caeteris aurea Templa which carry a very ill Accent that to Jupiter and Juno his Parents he should dedicate a Holy House only and to other Gods golden Temples And withal he adds That whatsoever was indeed verified of Osiris the Egyptian that Orpheus the Poet transferred unto Bacchus for the Honour of the Grecians even to that Bacchus whom Jupiter begat of Semele Cadmus his Daughter as if Osiris were no ancienter than so but that Cadmus might have been his Grandfather Whereas we have very good Ground and Testimony concerning the Antiquity of Cadmus as a Man unknown to the Grecians till he left Phoenicia which was at the time that Joshua entered the Land of Canaan with his great Host of Israclites And I do not think the Gods of the Egyptians were a making in those days He was a great and a proud King that oppressed Israel and we know what Mischief befel him and his People Manetho makes mention of one Amenophis King of Egypt whose Fortunes were to be devoured of a Sea-Horse Probably this was that Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red-Sea Great Benefactors while they lived were honoured by Heathens with Divine Honour after their Death but this Pharaoh was a Plague to the whole Land and People and nothing likely that any of his Posterity came to be deified by the Egyptians and a long time after great Confusion seized upon that Nation witness Danaus flying out of Egypt into Thebes in Greece from the Fury of his Brother Aegyptus and after that Egyptus himself leaving Egypt and coming into Patre in Greece mourning for the loss of his Children And we read in Scripture of the Gods of Egypt while Israel lived under them yea and how they were corrupted by them Osiris was a great Euergetes or Benefactor chiefly for the Invention of Tilling of the Ground and Planting of Grapes that of Virgil Georgic 1. Uncique puer monstrator aratri touching the first Inventer of the Plow It was well saith Servius that he mentioned not his name but in general saith The Boy that found it out For it was not one Body that acquainted all the World with the Plow but divers Persons in divers Places And if you ask who is chiefly meant here His answer is That some say Triptolemus others Osiris Which is the truer of the two in the Judgment of Servius So Sabinus Pliny relates That Bizeser the Athenian some that Triptolemus did this But the Tradition is That Osiris was the first of all Mortals who Plowed with Oxen in memorial whereof two Oxen are honoured of the Egyptians Apis in the City Memphis and Meuris in Heliopolis and in the Offices of Isis Ears of Corn are carried before and in the time of Harvest Ears of Corn are consecrated unto her Now Isis was the Sister of Osiris saith Pomponius though that by the way is but a Figment and Probus confirms the same Nevertheless some have seemed to smell a Mystery in this And Coelius Rodiginus lib. 5. c. 12. observes That before the Temples of the Egyptians was wont to be placed the Figure of Sphinx to signifie thereby that the Wisdom of their Theology was obscure and vested in Fables and that in the City Sais there is a Temple of Palles which some think to be Pallas that hath this Inscription in the Face of it I am that which was and is and shall be my Veil no Mortal Man hath ever unfolded Yet I conceive these to be but Illusions of Satan to blanch and set a fair Face upon foul things under the Pretence of Mysterious Significations Coelius adds the Opinion of some to have been That by Osiris is meant no other thing than the River Nilus the overflowing whereof and the Mud which it brings soiling it is a great means for the enriching of that Land The same Interpretation is made by Eusebius Preparat Evangel l. 3. c. 10. p. 115. And Suidas on the word Serapis writes Hunc Deum alii Jovem esse dixerunt alii Nilum propter modium quod in capite habet cubilum mensuram aquae scilicet alii verò Joseph And in Forsterus there is a fair Derivation of Osiris from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bos ille for under such a shape he was worshipped and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in Hebrew the usual name of the River Nilus by reason of the blackness of the Mud which it brings with it Others conceive Osiris and Isis to signifie the Sun and Moon and first these natural things being glorious to behold were adored and invoked by them according to that in Virgil Vos clarissima mundi Lumina labencem Coelo quae dueit is annum Liber alma Ceres vestro si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista Poculaque invent is Acheloia miscuit uvis Here Liber and alma Ceres are no other than the Sun and Moon and Isis and Ceres are all one Euseb Preparat Evangel l. 2. c. 1. and the same things are attributed to them in their kind by the * Martianus in Nuptiis ad Solem Te Serapim Nilus Memphis veneratur Osirim Poet which are usually attributed to Osiris and Isis in their kind by Historians Namely the Prospering and Maturating of Corn and Wine according to their several proper Seasons wherein they are to be Sown or Planted and the Fruit thereof to be expected But leave we the Mysterious Signification and come to the Historical Truth Lydiat thinks that Menon the first King reigning over all Egypt by what variety of names soever called wherein there is found very great Variety as he shews was the Man that married Isis and commonly received to be Osiris or Serapis for these two are both one But others conjecture that Serapis being represented bearing a Bushel upon his Head doth fairly signifie Joseph who was so great a Benefactor to the whole Land of Egypt and to King Pharaoh himself and that especially in providing Corn for them against the seven sore years of Famine and that by a wise managing of the abundance of the seven plentiful years And this hath peculiar reference to that
c. John 4.23 24. And adds that now in these times of Grace we are brought to the same manner of Worship which was among the Patriarchs before Moses which he calls eadem benedictio like that of Gal. 3.14 And p. 23. introduceth the Lord Christ speaking The Law of Moses commanded men to go out of all other places to a certain definite place of the World there to worship God But I command you not to seek God out in any certain corner of the World nor in Hills nor in Temples made with hands but giving all men liberty from such restraint I command every one to worship and adore God at his own house and home Not that he held it unlawful to worship God in material Temples but only to shew that now there is no such necessity as ties men to the Service of God in Temples as if he were better served there than in other places Like as Austin Tom. 6. contra Serm. Arrian cui Templum non facimus sed nos ipsi sumus not as if no Temples were made by them or ought to be but in effect That we not only make a Temple but are his Temples As Xixtus Bishop of Rome and Martyr said Templum sanctum est Deo mens pura a pure Mind is a Temple holy unto God This sanctifies all places and the Prayers sent up unto him in such a Temple is always accepted of him And how little Consecrated places were insisted on in Constantine's time when Christianity was set up and countenanced by Authority may be seen in Athanasius's Apology for his preaching in such at Alexandria as was neither finished nor consecrated alledging Alexander his Predecessor for doing the like and others at Tryers and Aquilea We shall now proceed to enquire further into The Antiquity of Temples Whether there were any before the Sanctuary made by Moses WE read in the Old Testament of Altars very â—arly and frequently without any Temples Implyed in Cain and Abel's Offerings unto the Lord Gen. 4. exprest of Noah's building an Altar unto the Lord Gen. 8.20 so Abraham Gen. 12.7 Isaac Gen. 26.25 and Jacob at Bethel Gen. 35.7 Elias likewise in his Contention with the Priests of Baal 1 Kings 18.32 And in the New Testament of the Heathens Altar at Athens Acts 17.23 the Story whereof is related by Diog. Laertius in the Life of Epimenides and L. Vives on Austin de C. D. l. 7. c. 17. and others And Walafridus Strabo Writes That at first both the Worshippers of God and of the Devil performed their Service in the open Air but when they began to make Idols then and not till then and upon that occasion they began to build Temples I shall not trouble the Reader with a multitude of Authours that have written of the Original and Progress of Idolatry I think Mercerus judgeth right that there was none before the Flood And though some Rabbins I know and also Tertullian thought there were Idols and Idolatry in the old World yet Cyril l. 3. against Julian and Epiphanius in 's Panarium with many others the contrary And that the Sin of those days which provoked God to drown the World was Irreligiousness and Prophaneness rather than Superstition and Idolatry For the cause of the Flood is mentioned in general that all Flesh had corrupted their ways It was very general and therefore the Lord resolved to corrupt the Earth In Enoch's days it seems by his Prophesie mentioned by Jude that prophane Persons did spitefully speak and practise against God's Servants with which reproachful carriage carnal Men being overcome became prophane also and the good being taken away by death there was a general defection In special we read that the earth was full of violence and this increased upon the degenerate condition of God's People For the sons of God saw the daughters of Men that they were fair and they took them Wives of all that they liked Gen. 6.2 which provoked the Lord in an high degree vers 3. And hereupon there were Children born unto them which were mighty men and men of râ—… Then Carnal Security was very great as our 〈◊〉 signifieth Luke 17.26 27. which proceeded from 〈…〉 contempt of God's Word and also of his Patience and long suffering in his Works For he bare with them an 120 years and 〈◊〉 Noah a Preacher of Righteousness unto them thus the Goodness of God led them to Repentance both ways but they were disobedient 1 Pet. 3. and thereby treasured up wrath against the day of wrath and the Flood came and swept them all away save eight Persons In all this we have no Evidence of any Sin of Idolatry committed by them and had that been their sin it is unlikely the Holy Ghost would have pretermitted the mention thereof 2. After this the experience of God's wrath breaking forth into so sore a Judgment and causing so great a Devastation as to lay a whole World wast this I say might justly work in them the fear of God and make them generally become the more devout while the remembrance of so general a Deluge remained and this might well be continued for so many years as they survived who had seen the Flood Now we read that Noah lived 350 years after the Flood and Sem his Son 498 years How long Ham and Japhet survived after the Flood is not expressed This Devotion proceeding only from a natural cause as in all Persons unregenerate could prove but natural and therefore the more apt to be corrupted with Idolatry as indeed it was very timely even in the days of Terah Abraham's Father as we read Josh 24. though Noah himself the Father of them all survived a 128 years in the very days of Terah Abraham the Father of the Faithful being born but the third year after Noah's death Sem yet living 152 years after this as who died but ten years before Jacob and Esau the twin Sons of Isaac and Rebeckah were born This Jacob with all his Children went down into Egypt whither Joseph was gone many years before and in all the Sacred History concerning Egypt and the Children of Israel's dwelling there and the Egyptians vexing and oppressing of them until the Lord's wonderful Deliverance of them though we read of the Gods of Egypt Exod. 12.12 Numb 33.4 as also how the Children of Israel were corrupted with their Idols Ezech. 20.7 yet we read of no Temples they had And Pharaoh though he would have had them Sacrifice to their God in the Land of Egypt yet he knew full well they had no Temple for this and when he promised to give them leave to go into the Wilderness to Sacrifice there provided they went not far he knew there was no Temple for them But the third month after their coming out of Egypt at Mount Sinai the Lord took order for the building of a Sanctuary saying unto Moses Let them make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them Exod. 25.8 9. And I am
as Satan had never brought any to serve him by Sacrifices the ancient Heathens by Light of Nature discoursing against the unreasonableness of such a Service as we read in Diodorus Siculus if God had not gone before them in this instructing Adam and the Patriarchs even till the days of Noah after this manner to serve him and Noah leaving this course by tradition to his Posterity as Augustine writes to the like purpose Ep. 49. ad Deo gratias Hoc sanè praetereundum non est this is not to be omitted Had not the Devils those rebellious Angels conceived that Temple Priesthood Sacrifices and all other things pertaining thereunto were due to one that one true God they would never have urged their Worshippers to ordain any of these things to them In like sort the Devil had never brought them to build Temples for this use and service if God had not taken order with his People to build a Sanctuary unto him that he might dwell amongst them And accordingly though Heathens had Temples before Solomon built that Temple at Jerusalem for this appears both by the high places which King Solomon built for his outlandish Wives 1 Kings 11.7 8. and by the Philistims who had an House for Dagon 1 Sam. 5.2 and Judges 16.27 and 9.27 we read how the People went into the House of their God and did eat and drink and cursed Abimelech and vers 46. of the house of the god Berith and Judg. 8.33 yet I do not find sufficient evidence of any Temples in use with any before the Sanctuary was made and that to this end that God might dwell among them Exod. 25.8 And as Schindler writeth on the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was aedificium instar templi ex lignis confectum atque it a constitutum ut dissolvi in partes ac rursus compingi ac quocunque liberet deferri posset a structure Temple-like made of Timber in such sort as it might be taken asunder in all the parts thereof and again compacted together that so it might be removed from place to place whithersoever it pleased God to have it carried A notable instruction that God would be a Sanctuary unto them and dwell among them in all places whithersoever they should come Ezek. 11.16 And among other Temples of the Gentiles whereof we read in History one was portatile a portable Temple and removed from place to place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Temple borne or drawn by certain Yoke of Oxen and that in Phoenicia which is the Country of Palestine This Eusebius testifies in the first Book of his Evangelical Preparation and Chap. 10. And such a Tabernacle the Scriptures often call by such a word as is usually rendred by Temple as 1 Sam. 1.9 and 3.3 and 2 Sam. 6.17 and in the Psalms of David's enditing it is found very frequently For we know that in his days there was no other Temple than the Tabernacle For though it was sometimes in the heart of David to build a House to the Name of the Lord God of Israel 1 Kings 8.17 18 19.2 Sam. 7.2 when as yet the Ark of the Lord remained amongst the Curtains yet we know that the Lord answered him He took it well that he was so minded yet he had consulted with the Prophet Nathan first about the matter before he grew to a Resolution thereupon Nevertheless thou shalt not build me an House saith the Lord but thy son that shall come out of thy Loyns he shall build the House to my Name So that till Solomon's reign there was only a Tabernacle for the Ark of God wherein was the Mercy Seat and there the Lord is said to have dwelt and that in a Cloud Lev. 16.2 Between the Cherubims Neither have I yet found any evidence to the contrary either in Scripture or elsewhere Before the Flood no evidence of any though Mercer observes they had a place of Meeting for the Service of God as upon Gen. 4. where we read of Cain and Abel's Offering and God's acceptance of the one and disregarding of the other and that as it seems in a visible and sensible manner For hereupon Cain was provoked against Abel Likewise upon the birth of Enosh when it is said That men began to call upon the Name of the Lord Mercer makes the same observation Neither can we promise less unto our selves of Adam's care for the disciplining and instituting of his Family and Seth's after him and the like may be said of all the holy Patriarchs Gen. 6. This also is manifest by the distinction made between the Sons of God and Daughters of Men until the degenerate condition came on and the partition Wall was broken down by promiscuous Marriages But in all this not any evidence of Temples separate and set apart for this 7. After the Flood when Noah came out of the Ark there he built an Altar unto the Lord and offered a Burnt-offering of every clean Fowl and Beast After this in the Story of Genesis the Genealogies being dispatched and the dispersion of the People by the occasion of Confusion of Tongues we have the erecting of the two first Monarchies the Babylonian by Nimrod and after the same time the Assyrian by Assur who built Niniveh so called as it is thought by very probable conjecture from the name of his Son Ninus For it is apparent in Scripture that Places had their names from the names of some chief Persons that dwelt there Thus Egypt is called Misraim from Misraim the Son of Ham and the Land Canaan from Canaan and so Jonia from Javan and Assyria from Assur After these particulars dispatched in brief we have the Story of Abraham his Peregrination who built Altars where the Lord appeared unto him and so did Isaac and Jacob but we find no Monument of any Temple or separate House they had for God's Service Gen. 24.63 but we read of Isaac's going abroad into the Field to pray Likewise when Abraham went down into Egypt we find not the least indication of any such thing there nor among the Philistims whilst Abraham sojourned a good while with them and Isaac after him No nor among the Canaanites though we read of Melchisedek the Priest of the most High God and good Correspondency between Abraham and him yet no mention of any Temple or House of God wherein he performed any Religious Duties to that great God possessor of Heaven and Earth whose Priest he was Indeed if we should credit some uncertain Relations of fabulous Writers we may find Temples much earlier mentioned Albertus Cognatus in the fourth Book of Narrations cited by Hospinian Tr. of Images ascribes the beginning of Idolatry to Nimrod who as he pretends upon the loss of his first-born Belus to asswage his grief caused his Image to be made of Gold which he set up in a Temple built by him and worshipped it and ossered Sacrifices unto it Aventinus writes that Ninus the Son of Belus Jupiter
from the Creation considered in his works His best proof for this is out of Homer who brings in Jupiter and the rest of the Gods with him going in Progress into Ethopia both to the Sacrifices there made unto them and for the sweetness of the odours there And surely it is most congruous that such Gods as are devised by the fancies of Men and made at their pleasures should be well content to be served and worshipped according to the Fancies of Men and at their plea sure for undoubtedly Man hath as much power to devise a Divine and Religious Worship as to make a God any Service being good enough and too good to be bestowed upon the work of their own hands yea or upon their own Fancies either Yet the truth is there was a time when the Bridegroom of God's Church was pleased with bodily Sacrifices offered with good hearty and had his abode in the Mountains of Spices Cant. 8.14 Make haste my beloved and be thou like unto a Roe or to a young Hart upon the Mountains of Spices But this was only for a time until the day did break and the shadows fled away Cant. 2.17 The Lord Christ now adays is the most sweet smelling Savour both to God the Father and us by whom alone the Father is satisfied and our Souls sweetly refreshed Indeed I read that Hesiod and Homer were Primi Deorum opifices apud Graecos the first Crafts-masters in coining Gods among the Grecians in Herodotus lib. 2. p. 124. Graeco-Lat Hesiodus atque Homerus qui quadringent is non amplius annis ante me extitere fuere qui Graecis Theogoniam introduxerunt eisque cognomina honores diversa artificia figuras attribuerunt And p. 166. Ipsi Aegyptij extiterunt principes conventus pompas conciliabula factitandi ab iis Graeci didicerunt Cujus rei hoc apud me argumentum est quod illa constet priscis temporibus Graecanica verò recens fuisse institua And we know Homer lived after the Wars of Troy some say 80 years some 100 others 140 others 180 years after the taking of Troy Nay there are that make him 200 years yea 240 later than that yea some 400 others 500 later as Talianus gives instance in several Authors thus tar differing about the time of Homer as any may read in Eusebius his Evangelical Preparation Book 10. p. 492. Graeco-Lat We by the Word of God are brought acquainted not only with the Creation of Man but of the World also and how in 1656. it was drowned and all Flesh perished by the Waters of a general Deluge in whom was the breath of Life except those four couple eight persons in all who were reserved for a Seed to sow the World anew and preserved in the Ark which setled in Ararat commonly conceived to be a Mountain in Armenia though some think otherwise and from those parts near adjoyning and particularly from Babel after the Consusion of Languages began the dispersion of the People And as the Lord by his extraordinary Providence provided both for the making of the Ark and bringing all sorts of Creatures thereinto and maintenance for them and their preservation there did make himself known unto them after a degenerate time that came upon all both as a God of Vengeance in destroying others and also as a God of Mercy and Salvation in preserving them from that common Destruction promising withal never to destroy the World so again so from them and by them was the knowledge of God propagated to their Posterity which about 101. years after the Flood began to be dispersed over all the World And upon Nimrod's Usurpation Rebel-like his Nature answering to his Name it seems that both his Father and Grandfather and many of them separated themselves from him Cush into Ethiopia Misraim into Egypt Canaan into Palestine where we find Sidon a principal City by the Sea And as Egypt is called in Scripture the Land of Ham so by as good reason Ethiopia also Lydiat is of opinon concerning Ham that he was the eldest of Noah's three Children and by the younger Son of Noah Gen. 9.24 is meant Canaan Noah's Grandchild for even our Grandchildren we count our Children and Noah's Curse we know passed not upon Ham but upon Canaan which makes it probable that the lewd prank which gave such offence to Noah and he sound out by examination was play'd by Canaan and by him his Father Ham came to the knowledge of it who told his two Brethren thereof Sem and Japhet And thus indeed the Egyptians and Ethopians and whole house of Ham may be accounted the eldest House of the World if he were elder than his two Brethren Sem and Japhet But in this Lydiat is almost alone most Authors being for Sem or Japhet which is more likely being the eldest as may be seen at large in Usher's Chronol Sacra c. 4. Japhet separated towards the North both East and West but chiefly towards the West Sem's Posterity continued in the East towards the South Assur his Son having erected a Monarchy in Niniveh But as yet no testimony for Temples any where 9. Diogines Laertius an approved Writer in his fifth Book of the Lives of Philosophers in the Life of Epimenides saith of him That Construxit apud Athenienses phanum verendorum Deorum ut ait Lobon Argivns in libro de Poetis Fertur etiam primus domus atque agros expiasse delubraque erexisse This Epimenides of Crete built a Temple to the Gods call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dij reverends some that deserved to be reverenced as he thought more than all the pack and he alledgeth Lobon of Argos in his Book of Poets testifying this This Epimenides also is said to have been the first that shewed a course for the expiation of Houses and Fields and that erected Temples The expiation here spoken of was by Sacrifice as appears by the Story mentioned a little before For having mentioned how the fame of this Man flying throughout all Grece he was reputed a Man most dear to God thereupon an Instance thereof is given thus The Athenians were sometimes visited with a sore Pestilence who thereupon asking counsel hereabouts as their manner was at the Oracle of Delphos Pythia the Nun Priest answered them That the City of Athens was to be expiated And they being ignorant how this was to be performed dispatched Niceas the Son of Niceratus by Ship into the Island of Crete to Epimenides to intreat him to come over unto them Upon their intreaty he came and expiated or purged their City after this manner He took Sheep some white some black and brought them to Mars his Street and there let them go whither they would sending some after them to observe where they lay down and wheresoever any of them lay down there he gave charge they should be sacrificed peculiari cuipiam Deo to some peculiar God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Laertius to a