rough and smooth hookey and crooked Atoms he judging these things to be nothing but the mere Dreams and Dotages of Democritus not teaching but wishing Here we see that Strato denied the World to be made by a Deity or perfect Understanding Nature as well as Democritus and yet that he dissented from Democritus notwithstanding holding another kind of Nature as the Original of things than he did who gave no account of any Active Principle and Cause of Motion nor of the Regularity that is in Things Democritus his Nature was nothing but the Fortuitous Motion of Matter but Strato's Nature was an Inward Plastick Life in the several Parts of Matter whereby they could Artificially frame themselves to the best advantage according to their several Capabilities without any Conscious or Reflexive Knowledg Quicquid aut sit aut fiat says the same Authour Naturalibus fieri aut factum esse docet ponderibus motibus Strato teaches whatsoever is or is made to be made by certain inward Natural Forces and Activities VI. Furthermore it is to be observed that though Strato thus attributed a certain kind of Life to Matter yet he did by no means allow of any one Common Life whether Sentient and Rational or Plastick and Spermatick only as Ruling over the whole mass of Matter and Corporeal Universe which is a thing in part affirmed by Plutarch and may in part be gathered from these words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strato affirmeth that the World is no Animal or God but that what is Natural in every thing follows something Fortuitous antecedent Chance first beginning and Nature acting consequently thereupon The full sence whereof seems to be this that though Strato did not derive the Original of all Mundane things from mere Fortuitous Mechanism as Democritus before him had done but supposed a Life and Natural Perception in the Matter that was directive of it yet not acknowledging any one Common Life whether Animal or Plastick as governing and swaying the whole but only supposing the several Parts of Matter to have so many several Plastick Lives of their own he must needs attribute something to Fortune and make the Mundane System to depend upon a certain Mixture of Chance and Plastick or Orderly Nature both together and consequently must be an Hylozoist Thus we see that these are two Schemes of Atheism very different from one another that which fetches the Original of all things from the mere Fortuitous and Unguided Motion of Matter without any Vital or Directive Principle and that which derives it from a certain Mixture of Chance and the Life of Matter both together it supposing a Plastick Life not in the whole Universe as one thing but in all the several Parts of Matter by themselves the first of which is the Atomick and Democritick Atheism the second the Hylozoick and Stratonick VII It may perhaps be suspected by some that the famous Hippocrates who lived long before Strato was an Assertour of the Hylozoick Atheism because of such Passages in him as these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is Vnlearned or Vntaught but it learneth from it self what things it ought to do And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature findeth out ways to it self not by Ratiocination But there is nothing more affirmed here concerning Nature by Hippocrates than what might be affirmed likewise of the Aristotelick and Platonick Nature which is supposed to act for Ends though without Consultation and Ratiocination And I must confess it seems to me no way mis-becoming of a Theist to acknowledge such a Nature or Principle in the Universe as may act according to Rule and Method for the Sake of Ends and in order to the Best though it self do not understand the reason of what it doth this being still supposed to act dependently upon a higher Intellectual Principle and to have been first set a work and employed by it it being otherwise Non-sence But to assert any such Plastick Nature as is Independent upon any higher Intellectual Principle and so it self the first and highest Principle of Activity in the Universe this indeed must needs be either that Hylozoick Atheism already spoken of or else another different Form of Atheism which shall afterwards be described But though Hippocrates were a Corporealist yet we conceive he ought not to lie under the suspicion of either of those two Atheisms forasmuch as himself plainly asserts a higher Intellectual Principle than such a Plastick Nature in the Universe namely an Heraclitick Corporeal God or Vnderstanding Fire Immortal pervading the whole World in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seems to me that that which is called Heat or Fire is Immortal and Omniscient and that it sees hears and knows all things not only such as are present but also future Wherefore we conclude that Hippocrates was neither an Hylozoick nor Democritick Atheist but an Heraclitick Corporeal Theist VIII Possibly it may be thought also that Plato in his Sophist intends this Hylozoick Atheism where he declares it as the Opinion of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Nature generates all Things from a certain Spontaneous Principle without any Reason and Vnderstanding But here the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be as well rendred Fortuitous as Spontaneous however there is no necessity that this should be understood of an Artificial or Methodical Unknowing Nature It is true indeed that Plato himself seems to acknowledge a certain Plastick or Methodical Nature in the Universe Subordinate to the Deity or that perfect Mind which is the supreme Governour of all things as may be gathered from these words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Nature does rationally or orderly together with Reason and Mind govern the whole Vniverse Where he supposes a certain Regular Nature to be a Partial and Subordinate Cause of things under the Divine Intellect And it is very probable that Aristotle derived that whole Doctrine of his concerning a Regular and Artificial Nature which acts for Ends from the Platonick School But as for any such Form of Atheism as should suppose a Plastick or Regular but Sensless Nature either in the whole World or the several parts of Matter by themselves to be the highest Principle of all things we do not conceive that there is any Intimation of it to be found any where in Plato For in his De Legibus where he professedly disputes against Atheism he states the Doctrine of it after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Nature and Chance produced all the first greatest and most excellent things but that the smaller things were produced by Humane Art The plain meaning whereof is this that the First Original of things and the frame of the whole Universe proceeded from a mere Fortuitous Nature or the Motion of Matter unguided by any Art or Method And thus it is further explained in the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c.
is not the Deity it self but a Thing very remote from it and far below it so neither is it the Divine Art as it is in it self Pure and Abstract but Concrete and Embodied only for the Divine Art considered in it self is nothing but Knowledge Vnderstanding or Wisdom in the Mind of God Now Knowledge and Understanding in its own Nature is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain Separate and Abstract thing and of so Subtil and Refined a Nature as that it is not Capable of being Incorporated with Matter or Mingled and Blended with it as the Soul of it And therefore Aristotle's Second Instance which he propounds as most pertinent to Illustrate this business of Nature by namely of the Physicians Art curing himself is not so adequate thereunto because when the Medicinal Art Cures the Physician in whom it is it doth not there Act as Nature that is as Concrete and Embodied Art but as Knowledge and Vnderstanding only which is Art Naked Abstract and Vnbodied as also it doth its Work Ambagiously by the Physician 's Willing and Prescribing to himself the use of such Medicaments as do but conduce by removing of Impediments to help that which is Nature indeed or the Inward Archeus to effect the Cure Art is defined by Aristotle to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Reason of the thing without Matter and so the Divine Art or Knowledge in the Mind of God is Vnbodied Reason but Nature is Ratio Mersa Confusa Reason Immersed and Plunged into Matter and as it were Fuddled in it and Confounded with it Nature is not the Divine Art Archetypal but only Ectypal it is a living Stamp or Signature of the Divine Wisdom which though it act exactly according to its Arthetype yet it doth not at all Comprehend nor Understand the Reason of what it self doth And the Difference between these two may be resembled to that between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reason of the Mind and Conception called Verbum Mentis and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Reason of External Speech the Latter of which though it bear a certain Stamp and Impress of the Former upon it yet it self is nothing but Articulate Sound devoid of all Vnderstanding and Sense Or else we may Illustrate this business by another Similitude comparing the Divine Art and Wisdom to an Architect but Nature to a Manuary Opificer the Difference betwixt which two is thus set forth by Aristotle pertinently to our purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We account the Architects in every thing more honourable than the Manuary Opificers because they understand the Reason of the things done whereas the other as some Inanimate things only Do not knowing what they Do the Difference between them being only this that Inanimate Things Act by a certain Nature in them but the Manuary Opificer by Habit. Thus Nature may be called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Manuary Opificer that Acts subserviently under the Architectonical Art and Wisdom of the Divine Understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which does Do without Knowing the Reason of what â—t Doth 12. Wherefore as we did before observe the Preeminences of Nature above Humane Art so we must here take Notice also of the Imperfections and Defects of it in which respect it falls short of Humane Art which are likewise Two and the First of them is this That though it Act Artificially for the sake of Ends yet it self doth neither Intend those Ends nor Vnderstand the Reason of that it doth Nature is not Master of that Consummate Art and Wisdom according to which it acts but only a Servant to it and a Drudging Executioner of the Dictates of it This Difference betwixt Nature and Abstract Art or Wisdom is expressed by Plotinus in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How doth Wisdom differ from that which is called Nature Verily in this Manner That Wisdom is the First Thing but Nature the Last and Lowest for Nature is but an Image or Imitation of Wisdom the Last thing of the Soul which hath the lowest Impress of Reason shining upon it as when a thick piece of Wax is thoroughly impressed upon by a Seal that Impress which is clear and distinct in the superiour Superficies of it will in the lower side be weak and obscure and such is the Stamp and Signature of Nature compared with that of Wisdom and Vnderstanding Nature being a thing which doth only Do but not Know. And elsewhere the same Writer declares the Difference between the Spermatick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reasons and Knowledges or Conceptions of the Mind in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether are these Plastick Reasons or Forms in the Soul Knowledges But how shall it then Act according to those Knowledges For the Plastick Reason or Form Acts or Works in Matter and that which acts Naturally is not Intellection nor Vision but a certain Power of moving Matter which doth not Know but only Do and makes as it were a Stamp or Figure in Water And with this Doctrine of the Ancients a Modern Judicious Writer and Sagacious Inquirer into Nature seems fully to agree that Nature is such a Thing as doth not Know but only Do For after he had admired that Wisdom and Art by which the Bodies of Animals are framed he concludes that one or other of these two things must needs be acknowledged that either the Vegetative or Plastick Power of the Soul by which it Fabricates and Organizes its own body is more Excellent and Divine than the Rational Or else In Naturae Operibus neque Prudentiam nec Intellectum inesse sedita solùm videri Conceptui nostro qui secundùm Artes nostras Facultates seu Exemplaria à nobismetipsis mutuata de rebus Naturae divinis judicamus Quasi Principia Naturae Activa effectus suos eo modo producerent quo nos opera nostra Artificialia solemus That in the Works of Nature there is neither Prudence nor Vnderstanding but only it seems so to our Apprehensions who judge of these Divine things of Nature according to our own Arts and Faculties and Patterns borrowed from our selves as if the Active Principles of Nature did produce their Effects in the same manner as we do our Artificial Works Wherefore we conclude agreeably to the Sence of the best Philosophers both Ancient and Modern That Nature is such a Thing as though it act Artificially and for the sake of Ends yet it doth but Ape and Mimick the Divine Art and Wisdom it self not Understanding those Ends which it Acts for nor the Reason of what it doth in order to them for which Cause also it is not Capable of Consultation or Deliberation nor can it Act Electively or with Discretion 13. But because this may seem strange at the first sight that Nature should be said to Act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sake of Ends and Regularly or Artificially and yet be
those Atheistick Arguments and so stand upon our defensive Posture but we shall also assault Atheism even with its own Weapons and plainly demonstrate that all Forms of Atheism are unintelligible Nonsence and Absolute Impossibility to Humane Reason As we shall likewise over and above Occasionally insert some as we think Undeniable Arguments for a Deity The Digression concerning the Plastick Life of Nature or an Artificial Orderly and Methodical Nature N. 37. Chap. 3. 1. That neither the Hylozoick nor Cosmo-plastick Atheists are condemned for asserting an Orderly and Artificial Plastick Nature as a Life distinct from the Animal however this be a Thing exploded not only by the Atomick Atheists but also by some Professed Theists who notwithstanding might have an undiscerned Tang of the Mechanically-Atheistick Humour hanging about them 2. If there be no Plastick Artificial Nature admitted then it must be concluded that either all things come to pass by Fortuitous Mechanism and Material Necessity the Motion of Matter unguided or else that God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do all things himself Immediately and Miraculously framing the Body of every Gnat and Fly as it were with his own hands since Divine Laws and Commands cannot Execute themselves nor be the proper Efficient Causes of things in Nature 3. To suppose all things to come to pass Fortuitously or by the Vnguided Motion of Matter a thing altogether as Irrational as it is Atheistical and Impious there being many Phaenomena not only above the Powers of Mechanism but also contrary to the Laws of it The Mechanick Theists make God but an Idle Spectator of the Fortuitous Motions of Matter and render his Wisdom altogether Vseless and Insignificant Aristotle's Judicious Censure of the Fortuitous Mechanists with the Ridiculousness of that Pretence that Material and Mechanical Reasons are the Only Philosophical 4. That it seems neither decorous in respect of God nor congruous to Reason that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do all things himself Immediately and Miraculously Nature being quite Superseded and made to signifie nothing The same further confuted by the Slow and Gradual Process of things in Nature as also by those Errors and Bungles that are committed when the Matter proves Inept and Contumacious arguing the Agent not to be Irresistible 5. Reasonably inferred that there is a Plastick Nature in the Vniverse as a Subordinate Instrument of Divine Providence in the Orderly Disposal of Matter but yet so as not without a Higher Providence presiding over it forasmuch as this Plastick Nature cannot act Electively or with Discretion Those Laws of Nature concerning Motion which the Mechanick Theists themselves suppose really nothing else but a Plastick Nature 6. The Agreeableness of this Doctrine with the Sentiments of the best Philosophers in all Ages Aristotle Plato Empedocles Heraclitus Hippocrates Zeno and the Paracelsians Anaxagoras though a Professed Theist severely censur'd both by Aristotle and Plato as an Encourager of Atheism merely because he used Material and Mechanical Causes more than Mental and Final Physiologers and Astronomers why vulgarly suspected of Atheism in Plato's time 7. The Plastick Nature no Occult Quality but the only Intelligible Cause of that which is the Grandest of all Phaenomena the Orderly Regularity and Harmony of Things which the Mechanick Theists however pretending to salve all Phaenomena can give no accompt at all of A God or Infinite Mind asserted by them in vain and to no purpose 8. Two Things here to be performed by us First to give an Accompt of the Plastick Nature and then to shew how the Notion of it hath been Mistaken and Abused by Atheists The First General Accompt of this Plastick Nature according to Aristotle that it is to be conceived as Art it self acting Inwardly and Immediately upon the Matter as if Harmony Living in the Musical Instruments should move the Strings of them without any External Impulse 9. Two Preeminencies of the Plastick Nature above Humane Art First that whereas Humane Art acts upon the Matter from without Cumbersomely and Moliminously with Tumult and Hurliburly Nature acting on it from within more Commandingly doth its Work Easily Cleaverly and Silently Humane Art acts on the Matter Mechanically but Nature Vitally and Magically 10. The Second Preeminence of Nature above Humane Art that whereas Humane Artists are often to seek and at a loss anxiously Consult and Deliberate and upon Second thoughts Mend their former Work Nature is never to seek nor Vnresolved what to do nor doth she ever Repent afterwards of what she hath done changing her Former Course Humane Artists themselves Consult not as Artists but only for want of Art and therefore Nature though never Consulting may act Artificially Concluded that what is called Nature is really the Divine Art 11. Nevertheless that Nature is not the Divine Art Pure and Abstract but Concreted and Embodied in Matter Ratio Mersa Confusa Not the Divine Art Archetypal but Ectypal Nature differs from the Divine Art as the Manuary Opificer from the Architect 12. Two Imperfections of the Plastick Nature in respect whereof it falls short even of Humane Art First That though it act for Ends Artificially yet it self neither Intends those Ends nor Vnderstands the Reason of what it doth and therefore cannot act Electively The Difference between the Spermatick Reasons and Knowledge Nature doth but Ape or Mimick the Divine Art or Wisdom being not Master of that Reason according to which it acts but only a Servant to it and Drudging Executioner of it 13. Proved that there may be such a thing as acts Artificially though it self do not comprehend that Art by which its Motions are Governed First from Musical Habits The Dauncer resembles the Artificial Life of Nature 14. The same further evinced from the Instincts of Brute-animals directing them to act Rationally and Artificially in order to their own Good and the Good of the Vniverse without any Reason of their own The Instincts in Brutes but Passive Impresses of the Divine Wisdom and a kind of Fate upon them 15. The Second Imperfection of the Plastick Nature that it acts without Animal Phancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Express Con-sense and Consciousness and is devoid of Self-perception and Self-enjoyment 16. Whether this Energy of the Plastick Nature be to be called Cogitation or no but a Logomachy or Contention about Words Granted that what moves Matter Vitally must needs do it by some Energy of its own distinct from Local Motion but that there may be a simple Vital Energy without that Duplicity which is in Synaesthesis or clear and express Consciousness Nevertheless that the Energy of Nature might be called a certain Drowsie Vnawakened or Astonish'd Cogitation 17. Instances which render it probable that there may be a Vital Energy without Synaesthesis clear and express Con-sense or Consciousness 18. The Plastick Nature acting neither Knowingly nor Phantastically acts Fatally Magically and Sympathetically The Divine Laws and Fate as to Matter not mere Cogitation in the Mind of
glomeravit in Orbes In semet reditura meat Mentemque Profundam Circuit simili convertit Imagine Coelum Wherefore as well according to Plato's Hypothesis as Aristotle's it may be affirmed of the Supreme Deity in the same Boetius his Language that Stabilisque manens dat cuncta Moveri Being it self Immovable it causeth all other things to Move The Immediate Efficient Cause of which Motion also no less according to Aristotle than Plato seems to have been a Mundane Soul however Aristotle thought not so fit to make this Soul a Principle in all Probability because he was not so well assured of the Incorporiety of Souls as of Minds or Intellects Nevertheless this is not the only thing which Aristotle imputed to his First and Highest Immovable Principle or the Supreme Deity its turning Round of the Primum Mobile and that no otherwise than as being Loved or as the Final Cause thereof as Proclus supposed but he as well as Anaxagoras asserted it to be also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cause of Well and Fit or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that without which there could be no such thing as Well that is no no Order Aptitude Proportion and Harmony in the Universe He declaring excellently that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnless there were something else in the world besides Sensibles there could be neither Beginning nor Order in it but one thing would be the Principle of another infinitly or without end and again in another place already cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not at all likely that either Fire or Earth or any such Body should be the Cause of that Well and Fit that is in the World nor can so Noble an Effect as this be reasonably imputed to Chance or Fortune Wherefore himself agreeably with Anaxagoras concludes that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mind which is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cause of Well and Right and accordingly does he frequently call the Supreme Deity by that Name He affirming likewise that the Order Pulchritude and Harmony of the whole World dependeth upon that One Highest and Supreme Being in it after the same manner as the Order of an Army dependeth upon the General or Emperour who is not for the Order but the Order for him Which Highest Being of the Universe is therefore called by him also conformably to Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Separate Good of the World in way of distinction from that Intrinsick or Inherent Good of it which is the Order and Harmony it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is to be considered also What is the Good and Best of the Vniverse Whether its own Order only or Something Separate and existing by it self Or rather Both of them together As the Good of an Army consisteth both in its Order and likewise in its General or Emperor but principally in this Latter because the Emperor is not for the Order of the Army but the Order of the Army is for him for all things are coordered together with God and respectively to him Wherefore since Aristotle's Supreme Deity by what name soever called whether Mind or Good is the proper Efficient Cause of all that Well and Fit that is in the Universe of all the Order Pulchritude and Harmony thereof it must needs be granted that besides its being the Final Cause of Motion or its Turning round the Heavens by being Loved it was also the Efficient Cause of the Whole Frame of Nature and System of the World And thus does he plainly declare his Sence where he applauds Anaxagoras for maintaining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Mind is the Cause not only of all Order but also of the whole World and when himself positively affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that from such a Principle as this depends the Heaven and Nature Where by Heaven is meant the whole World and by Nature that Artificial Nature of his before insisted on which doth nothing in vain but always acteth for Ends Regularly and is the Instrument of the Divine Mind He also somewhere affirmeth that if the Heavens or World were Generated that is Made in Time so as to have had a Beginning then it was certainly Made not by Chance and Fortune but by such an Artificial Nature as is the Instrument of a Perfect Mind And in his Physicks where he contends for the Worlds Ante-Eternity he concludes nevertheless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Mind together with Nature must of necessity be the Cause of this Whole Vniverse For though the World were never so much Coeternal with Mind yet was it in order of Nature after it and Juniour to it as the Effect thereof himself thus generously resolving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that though some that is the Atheists affirm the Elements to have been the First Beings yet it was the most reasonable thing of all to conclude that Mind was the Oldest of All things and Seniour to the World and Elements and that according to Nature it had a Princely and Sovereign Dominion over all Wherefore we think it now sufficiently evident that Aristotle's Supreme Deity does not only move the Heavens as being Loved or is the Final Cause of Motion but also was the Efficient Cause of this Whole Mundane System framed according to the Best Wisdom and after the Best manner Possible For perhaps it may not be amiss here to observe That God was not called Mind by Aristotle and those other ancient Philosophers according to that Vulgar Sence of many in these days of ours as if he were indeed an Vnderstanding or Perceptive Being and that perfectly Omniscient but yet nevertheless such as acted all things Arbitrarilily being not determined by any Rule or Nature of Goodness but only by his own Fortuitous Will For according to those ancient Philosophers that which acts without respect to Good would not so much be accounted Mens as Dementiae Mind as Madness or Folly and to impute the Frame of Nature or System of the World together with the Government of the same to such a Principle as this would have been judg'd by them all one as to impute them to Chance or Fortune But Aristotle and those other Philosophers who called the Supreme God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mind understood thereby that which of all things in the whole world is most opposite to Chance Fortune and Temerity that which is regulated by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Well and Fit of every thing if it be not rather the very Rule Measure and Essence of Fitness it self that which acteth all for Ends and Good and doth every thing after the Best manner in order to the Whole Thus Socrates in that place before cited out of Plato's Phaedo interprets the Meaning of that Opinion That Mind made the World and was the Cause of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That therefore every thing might be concluded to have been disposed of after the Best Manner possible
And accordingly Theophrastus Aristotle's Scholar and Successor describeth God after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That First and Divinest Being of all which willeth all the Best things Whether of these Two Hypotheses concerning God One of the ancient Pagan Philosophers that God is as essentially Goodness as Wisdom or as Plotinus after Plato calls him Decency and Fitness it self the Other of some late Professors of Christianity that he is nothing but Arbitrary Will Omnipotent and Omniscient I say whether of these Two is more agreeable to Piety and True Christianity we shall leave it to be considered Lastly it is not without Probability that Aristotle did besides the Frame of Nature and Fabrick of the World impute even the very Substance of Things themselves also to the Divine Efficiency nor indeed can there well be any doubt of any thing save only the Matter partly from his affirming God to be a Cause and Principle to all things and partly from his Commending this Doctrine of Anaxagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Mind was together with Well and Fit the Cause and Principle of Things themselves However that Aristotle's Inferiour Gods at least and therefore his Intelligences of the Lesser Spheres which were Incorporeal Substances were all of them Produced or Created by One Supreme may be further confirmed from this Definition of his in his Rhetorick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Divinity is nothing but either God or the Work of God Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is unquestionably used in way of Eminency for the Supreme Deity as in those other places of Aristotle's before cited to which sundry more might be added as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God possesseth all Good things and is Self-sufficient and again where he speaks of things that are more than praise-worthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such are God and Good for to these are all other things referred But here Aristotle affirming that there is nothing Divine but either God himself or the Work and Effect of God plainly implies that there was no Multitude of Self-existent Deities and that those Intelligences of the Lesser Stars or Spheres however Eternal were themselves also Produced or Caused by One Supreme Deity Furthermore Aristotle declares that this Speculation concerning the Deity does constitute a Particular Science by it self distinct from those other Speculative Sciences of Physiology and the Pure Mathematicks so that there are in all Three Speculative Sciences distinguished by their several Objects Physiology the Pure Mathematicks and Theology or Metaphysicks The Former of these that is Physiology being conversant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about Things both Inseparable from Matter and Movable the Second viz. Geometry or the Pure Mathematicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 About things Immovable indeed but not really separable from Matter so as to exist alone by themselves but the Third and Last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning things both Immovable and Separable from Matter that is Inorporeal Substances Immovable This Philosopher there adding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That if there were no other Substance besides these Natural things which are Material and Movable then would Physiology be the First Science but if there be any Immovable Substance the Philosophy thereof must needs in order of Nature be before the other Lastly he concludes that as the Speculative Sciences in General are more Noble and Excellent than the other so is Theology or Metaphysicks the most Honourable of all the Speculatives Now the chief Points of the Aristotelick Theology or Metaphysical Doctrine concerning God seem to be these Four following First That though all things be not Ingenit or Vnmade according to that in his Book against Xenophanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no necessity that all things should be Vnmade for what hinders but that some things may be Generated from other things Yet there must needs be something Eternal and Vnmade as likewise Incorruptible because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If all Substances were Corruptible then All might come to nothing Which Eternal Vnmade or Self-existent and Incorruptible Substance according to Aristotle is not Sensless Matter but a Perfect Mind Secondly that God is also an Incorporeal Substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Separate from Sensibles and not only so but according to Aristotle's Judgment likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indivisible and Devoid of Parts and Magnitude Nor can it be denied but that besides Aristotle the Generality of those other Ancients who asserted Incorporeal Substance did suppose it likewise to be Vnextended they dividing Substances as we learn from Philo into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Distant and Indistant or Extended and Vnextended Substances Which Doctrine whether True or no is not here to be discussed Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That in God Intellect is really the same thing with the Intelligibles Because the Divine Mind being at least in order of Nature Seniour to All things and Architectonical of the World could not look abroad for its Objects or find them any where without it self and therefore must needs contain them all within it self Whch Determination of Aristotle's is no less agreeable to Theism than to Platonism whereas on the contrary the Atheists who assert Mind and Vnderstanding as such to be in order of Nature Juniour to Matter and the World do therefore agreeably to their own Hypothesis suppose all Intellection to be by way of Passion from Corporeal things without and no Mind or Intellect to contain its Intelligibles or Immediate Objects within it self Lastly That God being an Immovable Substance his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Essence and Act or Operation the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There must therefore needs be some such Principle as this whose Essence is Act or Energy From which Theorem Aristotle indeed endeavours to establish the Eternity of the World that it was not made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Night and a Confused Chaos of things and from Nothing that is from an Antecedent Non-existence brought forth into being Because God who is an Immovable Nature and whose Essence is Act or Energy cannot be supposed to have rested or Slept from Eternity doing nothing at all and then after Infinite Ages to have begun to move the Matter or make the World Which Argumentation of Aristotle's perhaps would not be Inconsiderable were the World Motion and Time capable of Existing from Eternity or without Beginning Of which more elsewhere However from hence it is undeniably evident that Aristotle though asserting the Worlds Eternity nevertheless derived the same from God because he would prove this Eternity of the World from the Essential Energy and Immutability of the Deity We shall now conclude all concerning Aristotle with this short Summary which himself gives us of his own Creed and Religion agreeably to the Tradition of his Pagans Ancestors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It hath been
we invoke c. And as the Supreme Deity was thus considered only as a Perfect Mind Superiour to Soul so was the Mundane Soul and whole Animated World called by these Pagans frequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Second God Thus in the Asclepian Dialogue or Perfect Oration is the Lord and Maker of all said to have made a Second God Visible and Sensible which is the World But for the most part they who asserted a God Superiour to the Soul of the World did maintain a Trinity of Vniversal Principles or Divine Hypostases subordinate they conceiving that as there was above the Mundane Soul a Perfect Mind or Intellect so that Mind and Intellect as such was not the First Principle neither because there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in order of nature before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Intelligible before Intellect Which First Intelligible was called by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The One and The Good or Vnity and Goodness it self Substantial the Cause of Mind and All things Now as the Tagathon or Highest of these Three Hypostases was sometimes called by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The First God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Intellect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Second God so was the Mundane Soul and Animated world called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Third God Thus Numenius in Proclus upon Plato's Timaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numenius praising Three Gods calls the Father the First God the Maker the Second and the Work the Third For the World according to him is the Third God as he supposes also Two Opificers the First and the Second God Plotinus in like manner speaks of this also as very Familiar language amongst those Pagans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the World as is commonly said is the Third God But neither they who held the Supreme Deity to be an Immovable Mind or Intellect superiour to the Mundane Soul as Aristotle and Xenocrates did suppose that Mundane Soul and the whole World to have depended upon Many such Immovable Intellects Self-existent as their First Cause but only upon One nor they who admitting a Trinity of Divine Hypostases made the Supreme Deity properly to be a Monad above Mind or Intellect did conceive that Intellect to have depended upon Many such Monads as First Principles Co-ordinate but upon One only From whence it plainly appears that the Pagan Theologers did always reduce things under a Monarchy and acknowledge not Many Independent Deities but One Vniversal Numen whether called Soul or Mind or Monad as the Head of all Though it hath been already declared that those Pagans who were Trinitarians especially the Platonists do often take those their Three Hypostases subordinate a Monad Mind and Soul all together for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or One Supreme Numen as supposing an extraordinary kind of Vnity in that Trinity of Hypostases and so as it were a certain Latitude and Gradation in the Deity Where by the way Two things may be observed concerning the Pagan Theologers First that according to them generally the whole Corporeal System was not a Dead Thing like a Machin or Automaton Artificially made by men but that Life and Soul was mingled with and diffused thorough it All insomuch that Aristotle himself taxes those who made the World to consist of nothing but Monads or Atoms altogether Dead and Inanimate as being therefore a kind of Atheists Secondly That how much soever some of them supposed the Supreme Deity and First Cause to be Elevated above the Heaven and Corporeal World yet did they not therefore conceive either the World to be quite Cut off from that or that from the World so as to have no commerce with it nor influence upon it but as all proceeded from this First Cause so did they suppose that to be closely and intimately united with all those Emanations from it self though without Mixture and Confusion and all to subsist in it and be pervaded by it Plutarch in his Platonick Questions propounds this amongst the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why Plato called the Highest God the Father and Maker of All To which he answers in the First place thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That perhaps he was called the Father of all the Generated Gods and of men but the Maker of the Irrational and Inanimate things of the World But afterward he adds That this Highest God might therefore be styled the Father of the whole Corporeal World also as well as the Maker because it is no Dead and Inanimate thing but endued with Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Generation is the making or production of something Animate And the work of an Artificer as an Architect or Statuary as soon as it is produced departeth and is removed from the Maker thereof as having no Intrinsick dependance upon him Whereas from him that begetteth there is a Principle and Power infused into that which is begotten and mingled therewith that conteineth the whole nature thereof as being a kind of Avulsion from the Begetter Wherefore since the World is not like to those works that are Artificially made and compacted by men but hath a participation of Life and Divinity which God hath inserted into it and mingled with it God is therefore rightly stiled by Plato not only the Maker but also the Father of the whole World as being an Animal To the same purpose also Plotinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The World being made as a large and stately Edifice was neither cut off and separated from its Maker nor yet mingled and confounded with him Forasmuch as he still remaineth above Presiding over it The World being so animated as rather to be possessed by Soul than to possess it it lying in that great Psyche which sustaineth it as a net in the waters all moistned with Life Thus Plotinus supposing the whole Corporeal World to be Animated affirmeth it neither to be cut off from its Maker by which Maker he here understands the Mundane Soul nor yet that Mundane Soul it self to be Immersed into its Body the World after the same manner as our humane Souls are into these Bodies but so to preside over it and act it as a thing Elevated above it And though according to him that Second Divine Hypostasis of Nous or Intellect be in like manner Elevated above this Mundane Soul and again that First Hypostasis or Supreme Deity called by him Vnity and Goodness above Intellect yet the Corporeal World could not be said to be cut off from these neither they being all three Monad Mind and Soul closely and intimately united together XXX The Hebrews were the only Nation who before Christianity for several ages professedly opposed the Polytheism and Idolatry of the Pagan World Wherefore it may be probably concluded that they had the right Notion of this Pagan Polytheism and understood what it consisted in viz. Whether in
is their Personating and Deifying also the Parts of the World and Things of Nature themselves and so making them so many Gods and Goddesses too Their meaning therein being declared to be really no other than this That God who doth not only Pervade all things but also was the Cause of All things and therefore himself is in a manner All things ought to be worshipped in all the Things of Nature and Parts of the World as also that the Force of every thing was Divine and that in all things that were Beneficial to mankind The Divine Goodness ought to be acknowledged We shall now observe how both those forementioned Principles of Gods Pervading all things and his Being All things which were the Chief Grounds of the Seeming Polytheism of the Pagans were improved and carried on further by those amongst them who had no Higher Notion of the Supreme Deity than as the Soul of the World Which Opinion that it found entertainment amongst so many of them probably might be from hence because it was so obvious for those of them that were Religious to conceive that as themselves consisted of Body and Soul so the Body of the Whole World was not without its Soul neither and that their Humane Souls were as well derived from the Life and Soul of the World as the Earth and Water in their Bodies was from the Earth and Water of the World Now whereas the more refined Pagans as was before observed supposed God to Pervade and Pass thorough All things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnmixedly these concluded God to be according to that Definition of him in Quintilian taken in a rigid sence Spiritum omnibus Partibus Immistum a Spirit Immingled with all the Parts of the World or else in Manilius his Language Infusumque Deum Caelo Terrisque Fretoque Infused into the Heaven Earth and Seas Sacroque meatu Conspirare Deum and intimately to conspire with his own Work the World as being almost one with it Upon which account he was commonly called Nature also that being thus defined by some of the Stoicks Deus Mundo permistus God Mingled throughout with the World and Divina Ratio toti Mundo insita The Divine Reason inserted into the whole World Which Nature notwithstanding in way of distinction from the Particular Natures of things was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Communis Natura the Common Nature And it was plainly declared by them not to be a Sensless Nature according to that of Balbus in Cicero Natura est quae continet Mundum omnem eumque tuetur atque ea quidem non sine Sensu atque Ratione It is Nature by which the whole World is conteined and upheld but this such a Nature as is not without Sense and Reason As it is elsewhere said to be Perfect and Eternal Reason the Divine Mind and Wisdom conteining also under it all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spermatick Principles by which the things of Nature commonly so called are effected Wherefore we see that such Naturalists as these may well be allowed to be Theists Moses himself in Strabo being accounted one of them whereas those that acknowledge no Higher Principle of the World than a Sensless Nature whether Fortuitous or Orderly and Methodical cannot be accounted any other than Absolute Atheists Moreover this Soul of the World was by such of these Pagans as admitted no Incorporeal Substance it self concluded to be a Body too but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Most Subtil and Most Swift Body as was before observed out of Plato though endued with Perfect Mind and Vnderstanding as well as with Spermatick Reasons which insinuating it self into all other Bodies did Permeate and Pervade the whole Universe and frame all things inwardly Mingling it self with all Heraclitus and Hippasus thinking this to be Fire and Diogenes Apolloniates Air whom Simplicius who had read some of his then extant Works vindicates from that Imputation of Atheism which Hippo and Anaximander lye under Again whereas the more Sublimated Pagans affirmed the Supreme God to be All so as that he was nevertheless something Above All too he being Above the Soul of the World and probably Aeschylus in that forecited passage of his is to be understood after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter is the Ether Jupiter is the Earth Jupiter is the Heaven Jupiter is All things and yet something Higher than all or Above all those Pagans who acknowledged no Higher Numen than the Soul of the World made God to be All Things in a grosser sence they supposing the whole Corporeal World Animated to be also the Supreme Deity For though God to them were Principally and Originally that Eternal Vnmade Soul and Mind which diffuseth it self thorough all things yet did they conceive that as the Humane Soul and Body both together make up one whole Rational Animal or Man so this Mundane Soul and its Body the World did in lke manner both together make up One Entire Divine Animal or God It is true indeed that as the Humane Soul doth Principally act in some one Part of the Body which therefore hath been called the Hegemonicon and Principale some taking this to be the Brain others the Heart but Strato in Tertullian ridiculously the Place betwixt the Eye-browes so the Stoicks did suppose the Great Soul or Mind of the World to act Principally in some one Part thereof which what it was notwithstanding they did not all agree upon as the Hegemonicon or Principale and this was sometimes called by them Emphatically God But nevertheless they all acknowledged this Mundane Soul as the Souls of other Animals to Pervade Animate or Enliven and Actuate more or less its whole Body The World This is plainly declared by Laertius in the Life of Zeno. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks affirm that the World is governed by Mind and Providence this Mind passing through all the Parts of it as the Soul doth in us Which yet doth not act in all parts alike but in some more in some less it passing through some parts only as a Habit as through the bones and Nerves but through others as Mind or Vnderstanding as through that which is called the Hegemonicon or Principale So the whole World being a Living and Rational Animal hath its Hegemonicon or Principal Part too which according to Antipater is the Aether to Possidonius the Air to Cleanthes the Sun c. And they say also that this First God is as it were sensibly Diffused through all Animals and Plants but through the Earth it self only as a Habit. Wherefore the whole World being thus Acted and Animated by one Divine Soul is it self according to these Stoicks also The Supreme God Thus Didymus in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stoicks call the whole World God and Origen against Celsus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greeks universally affirm the World to be a God but the Stoicks the First and Chief God· And
too in another sence that is Produced and Derived by way of Emanation from that One who is every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnderived and Independent upon any other Cause And thus Proclus Universally pronounces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Gods owe their Being Gods to the First God He adding that he is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fountain of the Godhead Wherefore the Many Gods of the Intelligent Pagans were derived from One God and but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plutarch somewhere calls them The Subservient Powers or Ministers of the One Supreme Vnmade Deity Which as hath been before observed was frequently called by these Pagans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in way of Eminency as likewise were those other Inferiour or Generated Gods in way of distinction from him called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gods And accordingly the sence of Celsus is thus represented in Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Gods were the Makers of the Bodies of all Animals the Souls of them only being the Work of God Moreover these Inferiour Gods are styled by Ammianus Marcellinus Substantiales Potestates Substantial Powers probably in way of distinction from those other Pagan Gods that were not Substantial but only so many Names and Notions of the One Supreme God or his Powers severally Personated and Deified Which Substantial Powers of Am. Marcellinus as Divination and Prophecy was by their means imparted to men were all said to be subject to that One Sovereign Deity called Themis whom saith he the ancient Theologers seated In Cubili Solio Jovis in the Bed-chamber and Throne of Jupiter as indeed some of the Poets have made her to be the wife of Jupiter and others his Sister And Anaxarchus in Plutarch styles her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter's Assesor though that Philosopher abused the Fable and grosly depraved the meaning of it as if it signified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That whatsoever is done by the Sovereign Power is therefore Just and Right whereas the True Moral tâ—ereof was this That Justice or Righteousness sits in Counsel with God and in his Mind and Will prescribes Laws to Nature and the whole World Themis therefore was another Name of God amongst the 〈◊〉 according to his Universal Confideration besides those befoâ—â— mentioned and when Plato in his Book of Laws would have men to swear by the Names of those Three Gods Jupiter Apollo and Themis these were but so many several Partial Notions of the One Supreme Deity the meaning thereof being no other than this as Pighius observeth Timore Divino Veritate ipsa ac Aequitate sanciri debere Juramenta In Jove enim Summi Numinis Potestatem Falsi ac Perjurii Vindicem in Apolline Veritatis Lumen in Themide Jus Fas atque Licitum esse intelligitur Est enim Themis ipsa Lex aeterna atque Vniversalis Mundo ac Naturae praescripta or according to Cicero Ratio recta Summi Jovis And Ficinus in his Commentary as to the main agreeth herewith So that when the Pagan Theologers affirmed the Numen of Themis to preside over the Spirits of the Elements and all those other Substantial Powers from whom Divination was participated to men their meaning therein was clearly no other that this That there was One Supreme Deity ruling over all the other Gods and that the Divine Mind which prescribeth Laws to Nature and the whole World and conteins all the Fatal Decrees in it according to the Evolution of which things come to pass in the World was the Fountain from whence all Divination proceeded as these Secrets were more or less imparted from thence to those Inferiour Created Spirits The Philosophy of the Pagan Theology amongst the Greeks was plainly no other than this That there is One Vnmade Self-existent Deity the Original of all and that there are many other Substantial Powers or Spirits created by it as the Ministers of its Providence in the World but there was much of Poetry or Poetick Phancy intermingled with this Philosophy as the Flourish to it to make up their Pagan Theology Thus as hath been before declared the Pagans held both One God and Many Gods in different sences One Vnmade Self-existent Deity and Many Generated or Created Gods Onatus the Pythagorean declaring that they who asserted one only God and not Many Vnderstood not what the Dignity and Majesty of the Divine Transcendency consisted in namely in ruling over Gods and Plotinus conceiving that the Supreme God was most of all Glorified not by being Contracted into One but by having Multitudes of Gods Derived from him and Dependent on him and that the Honour done to them redounded unto him Where there are Two Things to be distinguished First that according to the Pagan Theists God was no Solitary Being but that there were Multitudes of Gods or Substantial Powers and Living Understanding Natures Superiour to men which were neither Self-existent nor yet Generated out of Matter but all Generated or Created from One Supreme Secondly that forasmuch as these were all supposed to have some Influence more or less upon the Government of the World and the Affairs of Mankind they were therefore all of them conceived to be the due Objects of mens Religious Worship Adoration and Invocation and accordingly was the Pagan Devotion scattered amongst them all Nor were the Gods of the Oriental Pagans neither meer Dead Statues and Images as some would conclude from the Scripture but Living Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men though worshipped in Images according to that Reply of the Chaldeans in Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar when he required them to tell his Dream There is none other that can shew this thing before the King Except Those Gods whose Dwelling is not with Flesh that is The Immortal Gods or who are exalted above the Condition of Humane Frailty Though some conceive that these words are to be understood of a Peculiar sort of Gods namely that this was such a thing as could not be done by those Demons and Lower Aerial Gods which frequently converse with men but was reserved to a Higher Rank of Gods who are above humane converse Now as to the Former of these Two Things that God is no Solitary Being but that there are Multitudes of Understanding Beings Superiour to Men the Creatures and Ministers of One Supreme God the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament fully agree with the Pagans herein Thousand Thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him and Ye are come to an innumerable Company of Angels But the Latter of them That Religious Worship and Invocation doth of right belong to these Created Spirits is constantly denied and condemned in these Writings that Being a thing peculiarly reserved to that one God who was the Creator of Heaven and Earth And thus is that Prophecy of Jeremy to be understood expressed in the Chalday Tongue
always Is and hath no Ortus or Generation and that which is Made but never truly Is. The Former of which being always like it self and the same is comprehensible by Intellection with Reason or is the Object of Knowledge the latter of them that which is Made and Perisheth but never truly Is is not properly Knowable but Opinable only or the Object of Opinion together with Irrational Sense Now every thing that is made must of necessity be made by some Cause The reason why Plato being to treat of the Universe begins here with this Distinction was as Proclus well observes because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is either one of our Common Notions or a thing Mathematically Demonstrable that there must be something Eternal or which was never Made but alwayes was and had no Beginning And it is evident by Sense and experience that all things are not such but that some things are Made and Perish again or Generated and Corrupted Now the Latter Platonists being strongly possessed with a Prejudice of the World's Eternity or that it had no Beginning have offered strange violence to Plato's Text in this place and wrested his words to quite a different sence from what he intended as if by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is Made he did not at all mean That which had a Beginning but only that whose Duration is Flowing and Successive or Temporary which might notwithstanding be without Beginning and as if he supposed the whole Corporeal World to be such which though it hath a Successive and Temporary Duration yet was without any Beginning And the Current ran so strong this way that even Boetius that Learned Christian Philosopher was himself also carried away with the force thereof he taking it for granted likewise that Plato held the Eternity of the World in this sence that is its Being without Beginning Non rectè quidam saith he qui cum audiunt visum Platoni Mundum hunc nec habuisse Initium Temporis nec habiturum esse defectum hoc modo Conditori Conditum Mundum fieri Coaeternum putant Aliud est enim per Interminabilem duci vitam quod Mundo Plato tribuit aliud Interminabilis Vitae totam pariter complexum esse praesentiam quod Divinae Mentis proprium esse manifestum est Neque Deus Conditis rebus Antiquior videri debet Temporis Quantitate sed Simplicis potius proprietate Naturae Some when they hear Plato to have held that the World had no beginning nor shall never have an end do not rightly from thence infer That Plato therefore made the World Co-Eternal with God because it is One Thing always to Be and another thing to possess an Endless Life all at once which is proper to the Divine Mind Neither ought God to be thought Older than the World in respect of Time but only in Respect of the Simplicity of his Nature To which purpose he adds afterwards Itaque si dignarebus Nomina velimus imponere Platonem sequentes Deum quidem Aeternum Mundum verò dicemus esse Perpetuum Therefore if we would give proper Names to things agreeable to their Natures following Plato we should say That God was Eternal but the World only Perpetual But as this Doctrine of the latter Platonists quite frustrates Plato's Design in this place which was to prove or assert a God because if the World had no beginning though its Duration be never so much Successive yet would it not follow from thence that therefore it must needs have been made by some other Cause so is it directly contrary to that Philosopher's own Words himself there declaring that by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ortum or That which is Made he did not understand only That whose Duration is Successive but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which had a beginning of its Generation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which begun from a certain Epocha of Time or that which Once was not and therefore must needs be brought into being by some other Cause So that Plato there plainly supposed all Temporary Beings once to have had a Beginning of their Duration as he declareth in that very Timaeus of his that Time it self was not Eternal or without Beginning but Made together with the Heaven or World and from thence does he infer that there must of neccessity be another Eternal being viz. such as hath both a Permanent Duration and was without Beginning and was the Cause both of Time and the World for as much as nothing can possibly be made without a Cause that is nothing which once was not could of it self come into Being but must be produced by some other thing and so at last we must needs come to something which had no Beginning Wherefore Plato thus taking it for granted that whatsoever hath a Temporary and Flowing Duration was not without Beginning as also that whatsoever was without Beginning hath a Permanent Duration or Standing Eternity does thus state the Difference betwixt Vncreated and Created Beings or betwixt God and Creature namely that Creature is That whose Duration being Temporary or Successive once had a Beginning and this is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is Made but never truly Is and that which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Must of necessity be Produced by some Cause but that whatsoever is without Beginning and hath a Permanent Duration is Vncreated or Divine which is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which always Is and hath no Generation nor was ever Made Accordingly as God is styled in the Septuagint Translation of the Mosaick Writings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that Truly is Now as for this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Eternal Nature which alwayes Is and was never Made Plato speaks of it not Singularly only as we Christians now do but often in the Paganick way Plurally also as when in this very Timaeus he calls the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Made or Created Image of the Eternal Gods By which Eternal Gods he there meant doubtless that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that First and Second and Third which in his Second Epistle to Dionysius he makes to be the Principles of All things that is his Trinity of Divine Hypostases by whose Concurrent Efficiency and according to whose Image and Likeness the whole World was made as Plotinus also plainly declareth in these words of his before cited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This World is an Images always Iconized or perpetually Renewed as the Image in a Glass is of that First Second and Third Principle which are always Standing that is fixed in Eternity and were never Made For thus Eusebius records that the Ancient Interpreters of Plato expounded this First Second and Third of his in the forementioned Epistle of a Trinity of Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These things do the Interpreters of Plato refer
appear Gradually differing in their Splendour Two of them being but the Parhelii of the other and Essentially dependent on it forasmuch as the Second would be but the Reflected Image of the First and the Third but the Second Refracted At least those Three Coequal Suns could not so well be thought to be One Thing as the Sun and its First and Secondary Splendour which can neither be beheld without the Sun nor the Sun without them might be accounted One and the Same Thing The Platonists therefore First of all suppose such a close and near Conjunction betwixt the Three Hypostases of their Trinity as is no where else to be found in the whole World To this purpose Plotinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intellect is said to behold the First Good not as if it were Separated from it but only because it is After it but so as that there is nothing between them as neither is there betwixt Intellect and Soul Every thing which is Begotten Desires and Loves that which Begat it especially when these Two that which Begat and that which is Begotten are alone and nothing besides them Moreover when that which Begat is absolutely the Best thing that which is Immediately Begotten from it must needs Cohere intimately with it and so as to be separated from it only by Alterity Which is all one as if he should have said that these Three Divine Hypostases are so Intimately conjoyned together and united with one another as that they are Tantum non Only Not the Very self same Again the Platonists further declare that these Three Hypostases of their Trinity are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Absolutely Indivisible and Inseparable as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Splendour Indivisibly conjoyned wih the Light or Sun Which Similitude also Athanasius often makes use of to the same purpose Thirdly these Platonists seem likewise to attribute to their Three Divine Hypostases just such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circuminsession or Mutual In-Being as Christians do For as their Second and Third Hypostases must needs be in the First they being therein vertually contained so must the First likewise be in the Second and Third they being as it were but Two other Editions thereof or it self Gradually Displayed and Expanded But to speak Particularly the First must needs be in the Second the Tagathon in the Nous and so both of them Really One and the same God because the common Notions of all Mankind attribute Understanding and Wisdom to the Deity but according to the Principles of Plato Plotinus and others the Deity does not properly Understand any where but in the Second Hypostasis which is the Mind and Wisdom of it And the Emperichoresis of the Second or Third Hypostases was thus intimated by Plato also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where having spoken of that Divine Wisdom and Mind which orders all things in the World he adds But Wisdom and Mind can never be without Soul that is cannot act without it Wherefore in the Nature of Jupiter is at once contained both a Kingly Mind and a Kingly Soul Here he makes Jupiter to be both the Second and Third Hypostases of his Trinity Nous and Psyche and consequently those Two to be but One God Which Nous is also said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. of the same kind and Co-Essential with the First Cause of all things To conclude as that First Platonick Hypostasis which is it self said to be above Mind and Wisdom is properly Wise and Vnderstanding in the Second so do both the First and the Second Move and Act in the Third Lastly all these Three Hypostases Tagathon Nous and Psyche are said by the Platonists to be One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divinity Just in the same manner as the Centre Immovable Distance and Movable Circumference of a Sphere or Globe are all Essentially one Sphere Thus Plotinus expresly writing of the Third Hypostasis or Psyche 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this Psyche or Third Hypostasis is a Venerable and Adorable thing also it being the Circle fitted to the Centre an Indistant Distance forasmuch as it is no Corporeal thing For these Things are just so as if one should make the Tagathon or First Good to be the Centre of the Vniverse in the next place Mind or Intellect to be the Immovable Circle or Distance and Lastly Soul to be that which turns round or the whole Movable Circumference Acted by Love or Desire These Three Platonick Hypostases therefore seem to be Really nothing else but Infinite Goodness Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Active Love and Power not as meer Qualities or Accidents but as Substantial things that have some kind of Subordination one to another all concurring together to make up One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divinity just as the Centre Immovable Distance and Movable Circumference concurrently make up One Sphere We have now given a full account of the True and Genuine Platonick and Parmenidian or Pythagorick Trinity from which it may clearly appear how far it either Agreeth or Disagreeth with the Christian. First therefore though some of the Latter Platonists have partly Misunderstood and partly Adulterated that ancient Cabala of the Trinity as was before declared confounding therein the Differences between God and the Creature and thereby laying a foundation for Infinite Polytheism yet did Plato himself and some of his Genuine followers though living before Christianity approach so near to the Doctrine thereof as in some manner to correspond therewith in those Three Fundamentals before mentioned First in not making a meer Trinity of Names and Words or of Logical Notions and Inadequate Conceptions of One and the Same thing but a Trinity of Hypostases or Subsistences or Persons Secondly in making none of their Three Hypostases to be Creatures but all Eternal Necessarily Existent and Vniversal Infinite Omnipotent and Creators of the whole World which is all one in the sence of the ancients as if they should have affirmed them to be Homoousian Lastly in supposing these Three Divine Hypostases however sometimes Paganically called Three Gods to be Essentially One Divinity From whence it may be concluded that as Arianism is commonly supposed to approach nearer to the Truth of Christianity than Photinianism so is Platonism undoubtedly more agreeable thereunto than Arianism it being a certain Middle thing betwixt That and Sabellianism which in general was that Mark that the Nicene Council also aimed at Notwithstanding which there is a manifest Disagreement also betwixt the Platonick Trinity as declared and the Now-received Doctrine in the Christian Church consisting in a different Explication of the Two latter Points mentioned First because the Platonists dream'd of no such thing at all as One and the Same Numerical Essence or Substance of the Three Divine Hypostases And Secondly because though they acknowledged none of those Hypostases to be Creatures but all God
For as every one that hath a Conception of a Plain Triangle in general doth not therefore know that it includes this Property in it to have Three Angles Equal to Two Right ones nor doth every one who hath an Idea of a Rectangular Triangle presently understand that the Square of the Substense is Equal to the Squares of both the Sides so neither doth every one who hath a Conception of a Perfect Being therefore presently know all that is included in that Idea Moreover men may easily mistake things for Absolute Perfections which are not such as hath been partly already shewed And now whereas the Atheists pretend in the next place to give an Account of that Supposed Contradictiousness in the Idea and Attributes of God namely that it proceeded principally from Fear or the Confounded Nonsence of mens Astonished Minds huddling up together all Imaginable Attributes of Honour Courtship and Complement without any Philosophick Truth Sence or Signification as also in part from the Fiction and Imposture of Politicians all this hath been already prevented and the Foundation thereof quite taken away by our shewing that there is nothing in the Genuine Idea of God and his Attributes but what is Demostrable of a Perfect Being and that there cannot be the least either Added to that Idea or Detracted from it any more than there can be any thing Added to or Detracted from the Idea of a Triangle or of a Square From whence it follows unavoidably that there cannot possibly be any thing either Contradictious or Arbitrarious in the Divine Idea and that the Genuine Attributes thereof are Attributes of Necessary Philosophick Truth namely such as do not only speak the Piety Devotion and Reverence of mens own Minds but declare the Real Nature of the thing it self Wherefore when a Modern Atheistick Writer affirmeth of all those who Reason and conclude concerning God's Nature from his Attributes That Losing their Vnderstanding in the very first attempt they fall from one Inconvenience or Absurdity to another without end after the same manner as when one ignorant of Court-ceremonies coming into the presence of a greater person than he was wont to speak to and stumbling at his entrance to save himself from falling lets slip his Cloak to recover his Cloak le ts fall his Hat and so with one disorder after another discovers his Rusticity and Astonishment We say that though there be something of Wit and Phancy in this yet as it is applied to Theology and the Genuine Attributes of the Deity there is not the least of Philosophick Truth However we deny not but that some either out of Superstition or else out of Flattery for thus are they stiled by St. Jerome Stulti Adulatores Dei Foolish Flatterers of God Almighty have sometimes attributed such things to him as are Incongruous to his Nature and under a pretence of Honouring him by Magnifying his Power and Sovereignty do indeed most highly Dishonour him they representing him to be such a Being as is no way Amiable or Desirable But the Atheists are most of all concerned to give an Account of that Vnquestionable Phenomenon the General Perswasion of the Existence of a God in the Minds of men and their Propâ—nsity to Religion in all ages and places of the world whence this should come if there be really no such thing in Nature And this they think to do in the Last place also Partly from mens Own Fear together with their Ignorance of Causes and Partly from the Fiction of Lawmakers and Politicians they endeavouring thereby to keep men to Civil Subjection under them Where we shall First plainly and Nakedly dâ—clare the Atheists meaning and then manifest the Invalidity and Foolery of these their Pretences to salve the forementioned Phenomenon First therefore these Atheists affirm That mankind by reason of their Natural Imbecillity are in perpetual Solicitude Anxiety and Fear concerning Future Events or their Good and Evil Fortune to come and this Passion of Fear inclining men to Imagine things Formidable and Fearful and to Suspect or Believe the Existence of what really is not I say that this Distrustful Fear and Jealousie in the Minds of men concerning their Future Condition raises up to them the Phantasm of a most Affrightful Spectre an Invisible Vnderstanding Being Arbitrarily Governing and Swaying the affairs of the whole World and at pleasure Tyrannizing over Mankind And when mens Exorbitant Fear and Fancy has thus raised up to it self such a Mormo or Bugbear such an Affrightful Spectre as this a thing that is really no Inhabitant of the World or of Heaven but only of mens Brains they afterward stand in awe of this their Own Imagination and Tremblingly worship this Creature and Figment of their own Fear and Phancy as a thing Really Existing without them or a God devising all manner of expressions of Honour and Reverence towards it and anxiously endeavouring by all ways conceivable to Propitiate and Atone the same And thus have they brought upon themselves a most heavie Yoke of Bondage and filled their Lives with all manner of Bitterness and Misery Again to this Fear of Future Events the Atheists add also Ignorance of Causes as a further Account of this Phenomenon of Religion so generally entertained in the world For Mankind say they are Naturally Inquisitive into the Causes of things and that not only of the Events of their Own Good and Evil Fortune but also of the Phaenomena of the World and the Effects of Nature And such is their Curiosity that wheresoever they can discover no Visible and Natural Causes there are they prone to Feign and Imagine other Causes Invisible and Supernatural As it was observed of the Tragick Dramatists that whenever they could not well extricate themselves they were wont to bring in a God upon the Stage and as Aristotle recordeth of Anaxagoras that he never betook himself to Mind or Vnderstanding that is to God for a Cause but only then when he was at a loss for other Natural and Necessary Causes From whence these Atheists would infer that nothing but Ignorance of Causes made Anaxagoras to assert a Deity Wherefore it is no wonder say they if the Generality of Mankind being Ignorant of the Causes almost of all Events and Effects of Nature have by reason of their Natural Curiosity and Fear Feigned or Introduced one Invisible Power or Agent Omnipotent as the Supreme Cause of all things they betaking themselves thereto as to a kind of Refuge Asylum or Sanctuary for their Ignorance These two Accounts of the Phenomenon of Religion from mens Fear and Solicitude about Future Events and from their Ignorance of Causes together with their Curiosity are thus joyned together by a Modern Writer Perpetual fear of Future Evils always accompanying mankind in the Ignorance of Causes as it were in the Dark must needs have for Object Something And therefore when there is nothing to be seen there is nothing to accuse for their Evil Fortune but some
them assigned meerly from Matter and Mechanism or the Necessary and Vnguided Motion thereof without Design or Intention for Ends and Good Wherefore to say that the Bodies of Animals became such meerly because the Fluid Seed by Motion Happened to make such Traces and beget such Stamina and Lineamentâ— as out of which that Compages of the whole resulted is not to assign a Cause of them but to Dissemble Smother and Conceal their True Efficient Cause which is the Wisdom and Contrivance of that Divine Architect and Geometer making them every way fit for the Inhabitation and uses of their respective Souls Neither indeed can we banish all Final that is all Mental Causality from Philosophy or the Consideration of Nature without banishing at the same time Reason and Vnderstanding from our selves and looking upon the Things of Nature with no other Eyes than Brutes do However none of the Ancient Atheists would ever undertake to assign Necessary Causes for all the Parts of the Bodies of Animals and their Efformation from meer Matter Motion and Mechanism Those small and pitiful attempts in order thereunto that have been made by some of them in a few Instances as that the Spina Dorsi came from the Flexure of the Bodies of Animals when they first sprung out of the Earth the Intestines from the Flux of Humours excavating a crooked and winding Channel for it self and that the Nostrils were broke open by the Eruption of breath these I say only showing the Vnfeisableness and Impossibility thereof And therefore Democritus was so wise as never to pretend to give an Account in this way of the Formation of the Foetus he looking upon it as a thing absolutely Desperate nor would he venture to say any more concerning it as Aristotle informeth us than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it always cometh so to pass of necessity but stopp'd all further Enquiry concerning it after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That to demand about any of these things for what Cause it was thus was to demand a Beginning of Infinite As if all the Motions from Eternity had an Influence upon and Contribution to whatsoever Corporeal thing was now produced And Lucretius notwithstanding all his swaggering and boasting that He and Epicurus were able to assign Natural and Necessary Causes for every thing without a God hath no where so much as one word concerning it We conclude therefore that Aristotle's Judgment concerning Final Causes in Philosophy is much to be preferred before that of Democritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Both kind of Causes Material and Final ought to be declared by a Physiologer but especially the Final the End being the Cause of the Matter but the Mâ—tter not the Cause of the End And thus do we see plainly that the Atomick Atheists are utterly ignorant of the Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Râ—â—uâ—ar and Artificial Frame of thâ— things in Nâ—ture and consâ—quently of the whâ—le Mundane Sâ—stem the True Knowledge whereof nâ—câ—ssâ—rily leadeth to a God But it is prodigiously strange that these Atheists should in this their Ignorance and Sottâ—shnâ—ss be Justified by any Professed Theists and Christians of Later times who Atomizing in their Physiology also would fain perswade us in like manner that this whole Mundane System together with Plants and Animals was derived meerly from the Necessary and Vnguided Motion of the Small Particles of Matter at first turned round in a Vortex or else jumbled all together in a Chaos without any Intention for Ends and Good that is without the Direction of any Mind God in the mean time standing by only as an Idle Spâ—ctator of this Lusus Atomorum this Sportful Dance of Atoms and of the various Results thereof Nay these Mechanick Theists have here quite outstripped and out-done the Atomick Atheists themselves they being much more Immodest and Extravagant than ever those were For the Professed Atheists durst never venture to affirm that this Regular System of things Resulted from the Fortuitous Motions of Atoms at the very first before they had for a long time together produced many other Inept Combinations or Aggregate Forms of particular things and Nonsensical Systems of the whole And they supposed also that the Regularity of things here in this world would not always continue such neither but that some time or other Confusion and Disorder would break in again Moreover that besides this World of ours there are at this very instant Innumerable other worlds Irregular and that there is but One of a Thousand or ten Thousand amongst the Infinite Worlds that have such Regularity in them The reason of all which is because it was generally taken for granted and look'd upon as a Common Notion that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle expresseth it that None of those things which are from Fortune or Chance come to pass constantly and always alike But our Mechanick or Atomick Theists will have their Atoms never so much as once to have Fumbled in these their Fortuitous Motions nor to have produced any Inept System or Incongruous Forms at all but from the very first all along to have taken up their Places and have Ranged themselves so Orderly Methodically and Discreetly as that they could not possibly have done it better had they been Directed by the most Perfect Wisdom Wherefore these Atomick Theists utterly Evacuate that grand Argument for a God taken from the Phaenomenon of the Artificial Frame of things which hath been so much insisted on in all Ages and which commonly makes the strongest impression of any other upon the Minds of men they leaving only certain Metaphysical Arguments for a Deity which though never so good yet by reason of their Subtilty can do but little Execution upon the Minds of the Generality and even amongst the Learned do oftentimes beget more of Doubtful Disputation and Scepticism than of Clear Conviction and Satisfaction The Atheists in the mean time laughing in their sleeves and not a little triumphing to see the Cause of Theism thus betrayed by its professed Friends and Assertors and the Grand Argument for the same totally Slurred by them and so their work done as it were to their hands for them Now as this argues the greatest Insensibility of Mind or Sottishness and Stupidity in Pretended Theists not to take the least notice of the Regular and Artificial Frame of things or of the Signatures of the Divine Art and Wisdom in them nor to look upon the World and things of Nature with any Other Eyes than Oxen and Horses do so are there many Phaenomena in Nature which being partly Above the Force of these Mechanick Powers and partly Contrary to the same can therefore never be Salved by them nor without Final Causes and some Vital Principle As for example that of Gravity or the Tendency of Bodies Downward the Motion of the Diaphragma in Respiration the Systole and Diastole of the Heart which was before declared to be a Muscular Constriction and
Incorruption Which Place being undoubtedly not to be Allegorized it may be from thence inferred that the Happy Resurrection-Body shall not be this Foul and Gross Body of ours only Varnished and Guilded over on the outside of it it remaining still Nasty Sluttish and Ruinous within and having all the same Seeds of Corruption and Mortality in its Nature which it had before though by perpetual Miracle kept off it being as it were by Violence defended from being Seised upon and devoured by the Jaws of Death but that it shall be so Inwardly changed in its Nature as that the Possessers thereof Cannot die any more But all this which hath been said of the Resurrection-Body is not so to be understood as if it belonged Vniversally to all that shall be Raised up at the last day or made to appear upon the Earth as in their own Persons at that Great and General Assizes That they shall have all alike wicked as well as Good such Glorious Spiritual and Celestial Bodies but it is only a Description of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Resurrection of Life which is Emphatically called also by our Saviour Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Resurrection from the dead or to a Happy Immortality as they who shall be thought worthy thereof are likewise Styled by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Children of the Resurrection Of which Resurrection only it is that S. Paul treateth in that Fifteenth Chapter of his to the Corinthians And we say that this Christian Resurrection of Life is the Vesting and Setling of the Souls of Good men in their Glorious Spiritual Heavenly and Immortal Bodies The Complete Happiness of a man and all the Good that can be desired by him Was by the Heathen Poet thus Summed up Vt sit Mens Sana in Corpore Sano That there be a Sound Mind in a Sound Body and the Christian Happiness seems to be all comprized in these Two Things First in being Inwardly Regenerated and Renewed in the Spirit of their Mind Cleansed from all Pollution of Flesh and Spirit and made partakers of the Divine Life and Nature and then Secondly in being Outwardly Clothed with Glorious Spiritual Celestial and Incorruptible Bodies The Scripture plainly declareth that our Souls are not at Home here in this Terrestrial Body and These Earthly Mansions but that they are Strangers and Pilgrims there in it which the Patriarchs also confessing plainly declared that they Sought a Country not that which they came out from but a Heavenly one From which passages of Scripture some indeed would infer that Souls being at first Created by God Pure Pre-Existed before this their Terrene Nativity in Celestial Bodies but afterwards stragled and wandered down hither as Philo for one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Soul saith he having left its Heavenly Mansion came down into this Earthly Body as a strange place But thus much is certain that Our Humane Souls were at first intended and designed by God Almighty the Maker of them for other Bodies and other Regions as their proper Home and Country and their Eternal Resting Place however to us that be not First which is Spiritual but that which is Natural and afterwards that which is Spiritual Now though some from that of St. Paul where he calls this Happy Resurrection-Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That house of ours that is from Heaven or which cometh out of Heaven would infer that therefore it will not be taken out of Graves and Charnel Houses they conceiving also that the Individuation and Sameness of mens Persons does not necessarily depend upon the Numerical Identity of all the Parts of Matter because we never continue thus the Same our Bodies always flowing like a River and passing away by Insensible Transpiration and it is certain that we have not all the same Numerical Matter and neither more nor less both in Infancy and in Old Age though we be for all that the self Same Persons yet nevertheless according to the best Philosophy which acknowledges no Essential or Specifical Difference of Matter the Foulest and Grossest Body that is meerly by Motion may not only be Chrystallized but also brought into the Purity and Tenuity of the Finest Ether And undoubtedly that Same Numerical Body of our Saviour Christ which lay in the Sepulchre was after his Resurrection thus Transformed into a Spiritual and Heavenly Body the Subtlety and Tenuity whereof appeared from his entring in when the doors were shut and his vanishing out of sight however its Glory were for the time suspended partly for the better convincing his Disciples of the Truth of his Resurrection and partly because they were not then able to bear the Splendor of it We conclude therefore that the Christian Mystery of the Resurrection of Life consisteth not in the Souls being reunited to these Vile Rags of Mortality these Gross Bodies of ours such as now they are but in having them Changed into the Likeness of Christ's Glorious Body and in this Mortal's putting on Immortality Hitherto have we seen the Agreement that is betwixt Christianity and the Old Philosophick Cabbala concerning the Soul in these Two Things First That the highest Happiness and Perfection of the Humane Soul consisteth not in a State of Pure Separation from all Body and Secondly that it does not consist neither in an Eternal Vnion with such Gross Terrestrial Bodies as these Unchanged the Soul being not at Home but a Stranger and Pilgrim in them and Oppressed with the Load of them but that at last the Souls of Good men shall arrive at Glorious Spiritual Heavenly and Immortal Bodies But now as to that Point Whether Humane Souls be always United to some Body or other and consequently when by Death they put off this Gross Terrestrial Body they are not thereby quite Devested and Strip'd Naked of all Body but have a Certain Subtle and Spirituous Body still adhering to them and accompanying them Or else Whether all Souls that have departed out of this Life from the very beginning of the World have ever since continued in a State of Separation from all Body and shall so continue forwards till the Day of Judgment or General Resurrection We must confess that this is a thing not so explicitely Determined or expresly Decided in Christianity either way Nevertheless it is First of all certain from Scripture That Souls Departed out of these Terrestial Bodies are therefore neither Dead nor Asleep till the Last Trump and General Resurrection but still Alive and Awake our Saviour Christ affirming That they all Live unto God the meaning whereof seems to be this that they who are said to be Dead are Dead only unto Men here upon Earth but neither Dead unto themselves nor yet unto God their Life being not Extinct but only Disappearing to us and withdrawn from our sight for as much as they are gone off this Stage which we still continue to act upon And thus is it said also of our Saviour Christ himself
Know Man according to this Rule That he is such a thing as hath Nothing to do with Absolute Truth and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We know nothing Absolutely concerning any thing and all our Knowledge is Opinion Agreeably to which he determined that mens Knowledge was diversified by the Temper of their Bodies and the Things without them And Aristotle Judiciously observing both these Doctrines That there is no Errour or False Judgment but every Opinion True and again That Nothing is Absolutely True but Relatively only to be Really and Fundamentally One and the same imputeth them both together to Democritus in these words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Democritus held that there was Nothing Absolutely True but because he thought Knowledge or Vnderstanding to be Sense therefore did he conclude that whatsoever Seemed according to Sense must of necessity be True not Absolutely but Relatively to whom it so Seemed These Gross Absurdities did the Atheistick Atomists plunge themselves into whilst they endeavoured to Salve the Phaenomenon of Cogitation Mind or Vnderstanding agreeably to their own Hypothesis And it is certain that all of them Democritus himself not excepted were but meer Blunderers in that Atomick Physiology which they so much pretended to and never rightly Understood the Same For as much as that with Equal Clearness teaches these Two things at once That Sense indeed is Phantastical and Relative to the Sentient But that there is a Higher Faculty of Vnderstanding and Reason in us which thus discovers the Phantastry of Sense and reaches to the Absoluteness of Truth or is the Criterion thereof But the Democritick and Epicurean Atheists will further Conclude that the only Things or Objects of the Mind are Singular Sensibles or Bodies Existing without it which therefore must needs be in Order of Nature before all Knowledge Mind and Vnderstanding whatsoever this being but a Phantastick Image or Representation of them From whence they Infer that the Corporeal World and these Sensible things could not possibly be Made by any Mind or Vnderstanding because Essentially Junior to them and the very Image and Creature of them Thus does Aristotle Observe concerning both Democritus and Protagoras that they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suppose the only Things or Objects of the Mind to be Sensibles and that this was the Reason why they made Knowledge to be Sense and therefore Relative and Phantastical But we have already Proved that Mind and Vnderstanding is not the Phantastick Image of Sensibles or Bodies and that it is in its own Nature not Ectypal but Archetypal and Architectonical of all That it is Senior to the World and all Sensible Things it not looking abroad for its Objects any where without but containing them within it self The first Original Mind being an Absolutely perfect Being Comprehending it self and the Extent of its own Omnipotence or all Possibilities of things together with the Best Platform of the whole and poducing the same accordingly But it being plain that there are besides Singulars other Objects of the Mind Vniversal from whence it seems to follow that Sensibles are not the only Things some Modern Atheistick Wits have therefore invented this further device to maintain the Cause and carry the Business on That Vniversals are nothing else but Names or Words by which Singular Bodies are called and Consequently that in all Axioms and Propositions Sententious Affirmations and Negations in which the Predicate at least is Vniversal we do but Add or Substract Affirm or Deny Names of Singular Bodies and that Reason or Syllogism is Nothing but the Reckoning or Computing the Consequences of these Names or Words Neither do they want the Impudence to Affirm that besides those Passions or Phansies which we have from things by Sense we know Nâ—â—hing at all oâ— any thing but only the Names by which it is calâ—â—d Then which there cannot be a greater Sottishness or Madness For if Geometry were nothing but the Knowledge of Names by which Singular Bodies are called as it self could not deserve that Name of a Science so neither could its Truths be the same in Greek and in Latine and Geometricians in all the several distant Ages and Places of the World must be supposed to have had the same Singular Bodies before them of which they Affirmed and Denied those Vniversal Names In the Last place the Epicurean and Anaximandrian Atheists agreeably to the Premised Principles and the Tenor of their Hypothesis do both of them endeavour to Depreciate and Undervalue Knowledge or Vnderstanding as a thing which hath not any Higher Degree of Perfection or Entity in it than is in Dead and Sensless Matter It being according to them but a Passion from Singular Bodies Existing without and therefore both Junior and Inferior to them a Tumult raised in the Brain by Motions made upon it from the Objects of Sense That which Essentially includeth in it Dependence upon Something else at best but a Thin and Evanid Image of Sensibles or rather an Image of those Images of Sense a meer Whifling and Phantastick thing upon which account they conclude it not fit to be attributed to that which is the First Root and Sourse of all things which therefore is to them no other than Grave and Solid Sensless Matter the only Substantial Self-Existent Independent thing and Consequently the most Perfect and Divine Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind are to them no Simple and Primitive Natures but Secondary and Derivative or Syllables and Complexions of things which Sprung up afterwards from certain Combinations of Magnitudes Figures Sites and Motions or Contemperations of Qualities Contextures either of Similar or Dissimilar Atoms And as themselves are Juniors to Sensless Matter and Motion and to those Inanimate Elements Fire Water Air and Earth the First and most Real Productions of Nature and Chance so are their Effects and the Things that belong to them comparatively with those other Real Things of Nature but Slight Ludicrous and Vmbratil as Landskip in Picture compared with the Real Prospect of High Mountains and Low Valleys Winding or Meandrous Rivers Towering Steeples and the Shady Tops of Trees and Groves as they are accordingly commonly disparaged under those Names of Notional and Artificial And thus was the Sence of the Ancient Atheists represented by Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They say that the Greatest and most Excellent Things of all were made by Sensless Nature and Chance but all the Smaller and more Inconsiderable by Art Mind and Vnderstanding which taking from Nature those First and Greater Things as its Ground-work to Act upon doth Frame and Fabricate all the other Lesser Things which are therefore Commonly called Artificial And the Mind of these Atheists is there also further declared by that Philosopher after this manner The First most Real Solid and Substantial things in the whole World are those Elements Fire Water Air and Earth made by Senslâ—ss Nature and Chance without
It is true indeed that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Thing Vnderstood is in order of Nature before the Intellection and Conception of it and from hence was it that the Pythagoreans and Platonists concluded that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind or Intellect was not the very First and Highest Thing in the Scale of the Vniverse but that there was another Divine Hypostasis in order of Nature before it called by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and The Good as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Intelligible thereof But as those Three Archical Hypostases of the Platonists and Pythagoreans are all of them Really but One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divinity And the First of those Three Superiour to that which is properly called by them Mind or Intellect is not supposed therefore to be Ignorant of it self So is the First Mind or Vnderstanding no other than that of a Perfect Being Infinitely Good Fecund and Powerful and vertually Containing all things comprehending it self and the Extent of its own Goodness Fecundity Vertue and Power that is all Possibilities of things their Relations to one another and Verities a Mind before Sense and Sensible Things An Omnipotent Vnderstanding Being which is it self its own Intelligible is the First Original of all things Again that there must of necessity be some other Substance besides Body or Matter and which in the Scale of Nature is Superiour to it is evident from hence because otherwise there could be no Motion at all therein no Body being ever able to move it self There must be something Self-Active and Hylarchical something that can Act both from it self and upon Matter as having a Natural Imperium or Command over it Cogitation is in order of Nature before Local Motion Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind are no Syllables or Complexions of things Secundary and Derivative which might therefore be made out of things devoid of Life and Vnderstanding but Simple Primitive and Vncompounded Natures they are no Qualities or Accidental Modifications of Matter but Substantial Things For which Cause Souls or Minds can no more be Generated out of Matter than Matter it Self can be Generated out of Something else and therefore are they both alike in some sense Principles Naturally Ingenerable and Incorruptible though both Matter and all Imperfect Souls and Minds were at first Created by one Perfect Omnipotent Vnderstanding Being Moreover Nothing can be more Evident than this that Mind and Vnderstanding hath a Higher Degree of Entity or Perfection in it and is a Greater Reality in Nature than meer Sensless Matter or Bulkie Extension And Consequently the things which belong to Souls and Minds to Rational and Intellectual Beings as such must not have Less but More Reality in them than the things which belong to Inanimate Bodies Wherefore the Differences of Just and Vnjust Honest and Dishonest are greater Realities in Nature than the Differences of Hard and Soft Hot and Cold Moist and Dry. He that does not perceive any Higher Degree of Perfection in a Man than in an Oyster nay than in a Clod of Earth or Lump of Ice in a Piece of Past or Pye-Crust hath not the Reason or Understanding of a Man in him There is unquestionably a Scale or Ladder of Nature and Degrees of Perfection and Entity one above another as of Life Sense and Cogitation above Dead Sensless and Vnthinking Matter of Reason and Vnderstanding above Sense c. And if the Sun be Nothing but a Mass of Fire or Inanimate Subtle Matter Agitated then hath the most Contemptible Animal that can see the Sun and hath Consciousness and Self enjoyment a Higher Degree of Entity and Perfection in it than that whole Fiery Globe as also than the Materials Stone Timber Brick and Morter of the most Stately Structure or City Notwithstanding which the Sun in other regards and as it s vastly Extended Light and Heat hath so great an Influence upon the Good of the whole World Plants and Animals may be said to be a far more Noble and Vseful thing in the Universe than any one Particular Animal whatsoever Wherefore there being plainly a Scale or Ladder of Entity the Order of Things was unquestionably in way of Descent from Higher Perfection Downward to Lower it being as Impossible for a Greater Perfection to be produced from a Lesser as for Something to be Caused by Nothing Neither are the Steps or Degrees of this Ladder either upward or downward Infinite but as the Foot Bottom or Lowest Round thereof is Stupid and Sensless Matter devoid of all Life and Vnderstanding so is the Head Top and Summity of it a Perfect Omnipotent Being Comprehending it self and all Possibilities of things A Perfect Understanding Being is the Beginning and Head of the Scale of Entity from whence things Gradually Descend downward lower and lower till they end in Sensless Matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind is the Oldest of all things Senior to the Elements and the whole Corporeal World and likewise according to the same Ancient Theists it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Nature Lord over all or hath a Natural Imperium and Dominion over all it being the most Hegemonical thing And thus was it also affirmed by Anaxagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Mind is the Soveraign King of Heaven and Earth We have now made it evident that the Epicurean and Anaximandrian Atheists who derive the Original of all things from Sensless Matter devoid of all Manner of Life can no way Salve the Phaenomenon of Cogitation Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind no more than they can that of Local Motion And the Reason why we have insisted so much upon this Point is because these Atheists do not only pretend to Salve this Phaenomenon of Cogitation without a God and so to take away the Argument for a Deity from thence but also to Demonstrate the Impossibility of its Existence from the very Nature of Knowledge Mind and Vnderstanding For if Knowledge be in its own Nature Nothing but a Passion from Singular Bodies Existing without the Knower and if Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind be Junior to Body and Generated out of Sensless Matter then could no Mind or Vnderstanding Being Possibly be a God that is a First Principle and the Maker of all things And though Modern Writers take little or no Notice of this yet did Plato anciently make the very State of the Controversie betwixt Theists and Atheists principally to consist in this very thing viz. Whether Life and Vnderstanding Soul and Mind were Juniors to Body and Sprung out of Sensless Matter as Accidental Modifications thereof or else were Substantial things and in order of Nature Before it For after the Passages before Cited he thus concludeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These men seem to suppose Fire Water Air and Earth to be the very First things in the Vniverse and the Principles of all calling them only Nature but
the Divine Art or Wisedom as the Manuary Opificer from the Architect Page 155 12. Two Imperfections of Nature in respect whereof it falls short of Humane Art First That though it act for Ends Artificially yet it self neither Intends those Ends nor Understands the Reason of what it doeth for which cause it cannot act Electively The Difference betwixt Spermatick Reasons and Knowledge That Nature doth but Ape or Mimick the Divine Art or Wisedom being it self not Master of that Reason according to which it acts but onely a Servant to it and Drudging Executioner thereof Page 156 13. Proved that there may be such a thing as acteth Artificially though it self do not comprehend that Art and Reason by which its Motions are Governed First from Musical Habits the Dancer resembles the Artificial Life of Nature Page 157 14. The same further Evinced from the Instincts of Brute Animals Directing them to act Rationally and Artificially in order to their own Good and the Good of the Vniverse without any Reason of their own These Instincts in Brutes but Passive Impresses of the Divine Wisedom and a kind of Fate upon them Page 158 15. The Second Imperfection of Nature that it Acteth without Animal Phancy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con-sense or Consciousness and hath no express Self-Perception and Self-Enjoyment ibid. 16. Whether this Energy of the Plastick Nature be to be called Cogitation or no Nothing but a Logomachy or Contention about Words Granted that what moves Matter Vitally must needs do it by some Energy of its own distinct from Local Motion but that there may be a Simple Vital Energy without that Duplicity which is in Synaesthesis or clear and express Consciousness Nevertheless that the Energy of Nature may be called a certain Drousie Unawakened or Astonished Cogitation Page 159 17. Severall Instances which render it probable that there may be a Vital Energy without Synaesthesis clear and express Con-sense or Consciousness Page 160 18. Wherefore the Plastick Nature acting neither Knowingly nor Phantastically must needs act Fatally Magically and Sympathetically The Divine Laws and Fate as to Matter not meer Cogitation in the Mind of God but an Energetick and Effectual Principle in it And this Plastick Nature the True and Proper Fate of Matter or of the Corporeal World What Magick is and that Nature which acteth Fatally acteth also Magically and Sympathetically P. 161 19. That Nature though it be the Divine Art or Fate yet for all that is neither a God nor Goddess but a Low and Imperfect Creature it acting Artificially and Rationally no otherwise than Compounded Forms of Letters when Printing Coherent Philosophick Sense nor for Ends than a Saw or Hatchet in the hands of a skillfull Mechanick The Plastick and Vegetative Life of Nature the Lowest of all Lives and Inferiour to the Sensitive A Higher Providence than that of the Plastick Nature governing the Corporeal World it self ibid. 20. Notwithstanding which forasmuch as the Plastick Nature is a Life it must needs be Incorporeal One and the self same thing having in it an entire Model and Platform of the Whole and acting upon several Distant parts of Matter cannot be a Body And though Aristotle himself do no where declare this Nature to be either Corporeal or Incorporeal which he neither clearly doth concerning the Rational Soul and his Followers commonly take it to be Corporeal yet according to the Genuine Principles of that Philosophy must it needs be otherwise Page 165 21. The Plastick Nature being Incorporeal must either be a Lower Power lodged in Souls which are also Conscious Sensitive or Rational or else a distinct Substantial Life by it Self and Inferiour Soul That the Platonists affirm Both with Aristotle's agreeable Determination That Nature is either Part of a Soul or not without Soul ibid. 22. The Plastick Nature as to the Bodies of Animals a Part or Lower Power of their respective Souls That the Phaenomena prove a Plastick Nature or Archeus in Animals to make which a distinct thing from the Soul would be to Multiply Entities without Necessity The Soul endued with a Plastick Nature the Chief Formatrix of its own Body the contribution of other Causes not excluded Page 166 23. That besides the Plastick in Particular Animals Forming them as so many Little Worlds there is a General Plastick or Artificial Nature in the Whole Corporeal Vniverse which likewise according to Aristotle is either a Part and Lower Power of a Conscious Mundane Soul or else something depending thereon Page 167 24. That no less according to Aristotle than Plato and Socrates Our selves partake of Life from the Life of the Universe as well as we do of Heat and Cold from the Heat and Cold of the Vniverse From whence it appears that Aristotle also held the World's Animation which is further Vndeniably proved An Answer to Two the most considerable Places in that Philosopher objected to the contrary That Aristotle's First Immoveable Mover was no Soul but a Perfect Intellect abstract from Matter which he supposed to move onely as a Final Cause or as Being Loved and besides this a Mundane Soul and Plastick Nature to move the Heavens Efficiently Neither Aristotle's Nature nor Mundane Soul the Supreme Deity However though there be no such Mundane Soul as both Plato and Aristotle conceived yet may there be notwithstanding a Plastick or Artificial Nature depending upon a Higher Intellectual Principle Page 168 25. No Impossibility of other Particular Plasticks and though it be not reasonable to think every Plant Herb and Pile of Grass to have a Plastick or Vegetative Soul of its own nor the Earth to be an Animal yet may there possibly be one Plastick Artificial Nature presiding over the Whole Terraqueous Globe by which Vegetables may be severally organized and framed and all things performed which transcend the Power of Fortuitous Mechanism Page 171 26. Our Second Undertaking which was to Show How grosly those Atheists who acknowledge this Artificial Plastick Nature without Animality Misunderstand it and Abuse the Notion to make a Counterfeit God Almighty or Numen of it to the exclusion of the True Deity First In their Supposing That to be the First and Highest Principle of the Vniverse which is the Last and Lowest of all Lives a thing as Essentially Derivative from and Dependent upon a Higher Intellectual Principle as the Echo on the Original Voice Secondly In their making Sense and Reason in Animals to emerge out of a Sensless Life of Nature by the meer Modification and Organization of Matter That no Duplication of Corporeal Organs can ever make One Single Inconscious Life to advance into Redoubled Consciousness and Self-Enjoyment Thirdly In attributing some of them Perfect Knowledge and Understanding to this Life of Nature which yet themselves suppose to be devoid of all Animal Sense and Consciousness Lastly In making this Plastick Life of Nature to be meerly Corporeal The Hylozoïsts contending That it is but an Inadequate Conception of Body as the onely
Aeolus in Arrianus seems to be taken for the Demons appointed by God Almighty to preside over the Winds Page 524 525 Lactantius his Reason why the Consentes and Select Gods vulgarly worshipped by the Romans could not be Single Demons or Angels Page 525 And from Aristotle's Observation against Zeno That according to Law or Civil Theology One God was chief for one thing and another for another Concluded that these Political Gods were not properly the Subservient Ministers of the Supreme and therefore could be nothing but several Names and Notions of One Natural God according to his Various Powers and Effects Page 525 526 And thus does Vossius himself afterwards confess That according to the Natural Theology all the Pagan Gods were but Several Denominations of one God Where notwithstanding this Learned and Industrious Philologer seems to take the Natural and Philosophick Theology for the Physiological he making the God thereof the Nature of things Whereas the Natural Theology was the True and Real and Philosophical opposed both to the Fictions of the Poets and the Institutes of Law-makers and Politicians As Varro affirmeth that in Cities those things were Worshipped and believed according to False Opinions which had no Nature nor Real Subsistence neither in the World nor without it The God of the Pagans not the Nature of things which could be the Numen of none but of Atheists but an Understanding Being the Great Mind or Soul of the whole World pervading all things Thus unquestionably true that the Many Poetical and Political Gods were but several Names or Notions of One Natural Real and True God Besides which there were other Inferiour Ministers of this Supreme God acknowledged to be the Instruments of his Providence and Religiously worshipped also A brief but full accompt of the Pagans Natural Theology set down by Prudentius Page 526 527 And when the more high-flown Pagans referred these Poetical and Political Gods to the Divine Idea's or Patterns of things in the Archetypal World which besides the Platonists the Egyptians in Celsus are said to have done making the Brute Animals worshipped by them but Symbols of the Eternal Idea's They hereby made these Gods to be but so many Partiall Considerations of One God neither as being All things or Containing in himself the Causes of all things as Julian himself declareth in his Sixth Oration Page 527 528 An Anacephalaeosis That much of the Pagan Polytheism was but the Polyonymy of One God he being worshipped under several Names First according to several General Notions of him as of Janus Genius Saturn Minerva Urania or the Heavenly Venus or Love and others before declared So also of Summanus according to S. Austin and Themis afterwards to be mentioned Page 528 529 And Secondly according to other more Particular Notions of him in their Special Gods as Acting in some Parts of the world onely or exercising some Particular Powers Page 529 530 And Lastly as Pervading All things and Being All things or the Cause of All things he was thereupon called by the Name of Every thing or Every thing by his Name The Pagans in S. Austin That their Ancestors were not so sottish as not to understand that those Things of Nature were but Divine Gifts and not Themselves Gods And the Pagans in Eusebius That the Invisible God the Cause of All things ought to be worshipped in his Visible Effects wherein he hath displayed himself Page 530 Though the Two former Kinds of these Gods onely called by Athanasius Poetical and Fictitious he opposing them to those of the Third sort that were Natural and Real things yet may these also be well called Poetical Fictitious and Phantastical Gods too because though themselves were Real things Existing in Nature yet was their Personation and Deification meer Fiction Fancy and Poetry And accordingly were they before called by Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meer Figments of the Greeks Page 530 531 XXXIV Of those Pagans who supposed the Supreme God to be the Whole Animated World Hitherto shewed that even the most Refined of the Pagans agreed in these Two things First in Breaking and Crumbling the One Simple Deity and multiplying it into Many Gods or Parcelling it out into several Particular Notions according to its several Powers and Virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being to these Pagans the same thing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then in Theologizing the whole World Personating and Deifying the Natures of Things Accidents and Inanimate Bodies They supposing God to Pervade all things and Himself to be in a manner All things Therefore every thing to the Religious Sacred and Divine and God to be Worshipped in All. Page 531 532 We shall now add that both those forementioned Principles of God's Pervading all things and his Being all things were carried on farther by those Pagan Theologers who had no higher Notion of the Supreme Deity then as the Soul of the World For First Whereas the more Refined Pagans supposed God to Pervade all things Unmixedly These Mingled and Confounded him with the whole World Some of them supposing him also to be a Subtile Body Page 532 533 Again Whereas the other more Sublimated Pagans affirmed God so to be All as nevertheless to be something also Above all These concluded him to be nothing Higher then the Animated World Page 533 And though they supposed that as well in this Mundane Animal as in other Animals there was something Principal and Hegemonical whether the Sun or Aether or Fire which therefore was Emphatically called God yet did they conceive the whole Matter thereof to be Animated and so to be All God Not barely as Matter but by reason of the Soul thereof Page 534 535 Now if the Whole World Animated be the Supreme God then must all the Parts and Members of the World be the Parts and Members of One God but not themselves therefore properly so Many Gods This affirmed by Origen as the True Sense of these Pagans against that unwary Assertion of Celsus That If the Whole were God then must the several Parts thereof needs be Gods Page 535 Wherefore though these Pagans Deified the Parts of the World and Natures of Things as well as the Powers of the Mundane Soul yet did not the Intelligent amongst them Worship them severally as so many True and Proper Gods but onely as the Parts and Members of one Great Animal or God or rather Worship the great Mundane Soul the Life of the whole World in them all This proved from S. Austin Page 536 537 The same plainly declared also by the Pagans in Athanasius That not the Divided Parts of the World were by them accounted so many several Gods but the Whole made up of them All One God which yet might be worshipped in its several Parts Page 537 The Pagans being thus divided as to their Opinions concerning the Natural and True Theology some of them Worshipped the World as the Body of God but others only as his Image or
THE True Intellectual System OF THE UNIVERSE THE FIRST PART WHEREIN All the REASON and PHILOSOPHY OF ATHEISM is Confuted AND Its IMPOSSIBILITY Demonstrated By R. CVDWORTH D. D. Origenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed for Richard Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred MAJESTY MDCLXXVIII VICTORY Aristotle 〈◊〉 Pythagoras THEISTS 〈…〉 CONFUSION 〈◊〉 Epicurus Aâ—â—â—â—mandes ATHEISTS 〈…〉 â—â—LIGION 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato L. 10. de leg To the Right Honourable HENEAGE LORD FINCH BARON of Daventry Lord High CHANCELLOVR of England and one of His MAJESTIE's most Honourable Privy Council MY LORD THE many Favours I have formerly Received from You as they might justly challenge whenever I had a fit opportunity a Publick and Thankfull Acknowledgment so have they encourag'd me at this time to the Presumption of this Dedication to Your Lordship Whom as Your Perspicacious Wit and Solid Judgment together with Your Acquired Learning render every way a most Accomplish'd and Desirable Patron so did I persuade my self that Your Hearty Affection to Religion and Zeal for it would make You not Unwilling to take that into Your Protection which is written wholly in the Defence thereof so far forth as its own Defects or Miscarriages should not render it uncapable of the same Nor can I think it probable that in an Age of so much Debauchery Scepticism and Infidelity an Undertaking of this kind should be judged by You Useless or Unseasonable And now having so fit an Opportunity I could most willingly expatiate in the large Field of Your Lordship's Praises both that I might doe an Act of Justice to Your self and provoke others to Your Imitation But I am sensible that as no Eloquence less then that of Your own could be fit for such a Performance so the Nobleness and Generosity of Your Spirit is such that You take much more pleasure in Doing Praise-worthy things then in Hearing the Repeated Echo's of them Wherefore in stead of pursuing Encomiums which would be the least pleasing to Your self I shall Offer up my Prayers to Almighty God for the Continuation of Your Lordship's Life and Health That so His MAJESTY may long have such a Loyal Subject and Wise Counsellour the Church of England such a Worthy Patron the High Court of Chancery such an Oracle of Impartial Justice and the whole Nation such a Pattern of Vertue and Piety Which shall ever be the Hearty Desire of MY LORD YOUR LORDSHIP' 's Most Humble and most Affectionate Servant R. Cudworth THE PREFACE TO THE READER THOVGH I confess I have seldom taken any great pleasure in reading other mens Apologies yet must I at this time make some my self First therefore I acknowledge that when I engag'd the Press I intended onely a Discourse concerning Liberty and Necessity or to speak out more plainly Against the Fatall Necessity of all Actions and Events which upon whatsoever Grounds or Principles maintain'd will as We Conceive Serve The Design of Atheism and Vndermine Christianity and all Religion as taking away all Guilt and Blame Punishments and Rewards and plainly rendring a Day of Judgment Ridiculous And it is Evident that some have pursued it of late in order to that End But afterwards We consider'd That this which is indeed a Controversy concerning The True Intellectual System of the Universe does in the full Extent thereof take in Other things the Necessity of all Actions and Events being maintained by Several Persons upon very Different Grounds according to that Tripartite Fatalism mentioned by us in the beginning of the First Chapter For First The Democritick Fate is nothing but The Material Necessity of all things without a God it supposing Sensless Matter Necessarily Moved to be the onely Original and Principle of all things Which therefore is called by Epicurus The Physiological by us the Atheistick Fate Besides which The Divine Fate is also Bipartite Some Theists supposing God both to Decree and Doe all things in us Evil as well as Good or by his Immediate Influence to Determine all Actions and so make them alike Necessary to us From whence it follows That his Will is no way Regulated or Determined by any Essentiall and Immutable Goodness and Justice or that he hath nothing of Morality in his Nature he being onely Arbitrary Will Omnipotent As also That all Good and Evil Morall to us Creatures are meer Theticall or Positive things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Law or Command onely and not by Nature This therefore may be called The Divine Fate Immorall and Violent Again There being other Divine Fatalists who acknowledge such a Deity as both suffers other things besides it self to Act and hath an Essentiall Goodness and Justice in its Nature and consequently That there are things Just and Unjust to us Naturally and not by Law and Arbitrary Constitution onely and yet nevertheless take away from men all such Liberty as might make them capable of Praise and Dispraise Rewards and Punishments and Objects of Distributive Justice they conceiving Necessity to be Intrinsecall to the Nature of every thing in the Actings of it and nothing of Contingency to be found any-where from whence it will follow That nothing could possibly have been Otherwise in the whole World then it Is. And this may be called The Divine Fate Morall as the other Immorall and Naturall as the other Violent it being a Concatenation or Implexed Series of Causes all in themselves Necessary depending upon a Deity Morall if we may so speak that is such as is Essentially Good and Naturally Just as the Head thereof the First Contriver and Orderer of all Which kind of Divine Fate hath not onely been formerly asserted by the Stoicks but also of late by divers Modern Writers Wherefore of the Three Fatalisms or False Hypotheses of the Universe mentioned in the beginning of this Book One is Absolute Atheism Another Immorall Theism or Religion without any Naturall Justice and Morality all Just and Unjust according to this Hypothesis being meer Theticall or Factitious things Made by Arbitrary Will and Command onely The Third and Last such a Theism as acknowledges not onely a God or Omnipotent Understanding Being but also Natural Justice and Morality Founded in him and Derived from him nevertheless no Liberty from Necessity anywhere and therefore no Distributive or Retributive Justice in the World Whereas these Three Things are as we conceive the Fundamentals or Essentials of True Religion First That all things in the World do not Float without a Head and Governour but that there is a God an Omnipotent Understanding Being Presiding over all Secondly That this God being Essentially Good and Just there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Something in its own Nature Immutably and Eternally Just and Unjust and not by Arbitrary Will Law and Command onely And Lastly That there is Something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or That we are so far forth Principles or Masters of our own Actions as to be Accountable to
parts we neither call Philology nor yet Philosophy our Mistress but serve our selves of Either as Occasion requireth As for the Last Chapter Though it Promise onely a Confutation of all the Atheistick Grounds yet do we therein also Demonstrate the Absolute Impossibility of all Atheism and the Actual Existence of a God We say Demonstrate not A Priori which is Impossible and Contradictious but by Necessary Inference from Principles altogether Vndeniable For we can by no means grant to the Atheists That there is no more then a Probable Persuasion or Opinion to be had of the Existence of a God without any Certain Knowledge or Science Nevertheless it will not follow from hence That whosoever shall Read these Demonstratâ—ons of ours and Vnderstand all the words of them must therefore of Necessity be presently Convinced whether he will or no and put out of all manner of Doubt or Hesitancy concerning the Existence of a God For we Believe That to be True which some have Affirmed That were there any Interest of Life any Concernment of Appetite and Passion against the Truth of Geometricall Theorems themselves as of a Triangle's Having Three Angles Equall to Two Right whereby mens Judgements might be Clouded and Bribed Notwithstanding all the Demonstrations of them many would remain at least Sceptical about them Wherefore meer Speculation and Dry Mathematical Reason in Minds Vnpurified and having a Contrary Interest of Carnality and a heavy Load of Infidelity and Distrust sinking them down cannot alone beget an Unshaken Confidence and Assurance of so High a Truth as this The Existence of One Perfect Understanding Being the Original of all things As it is certain also on the contrary That Minds Cleansed and Purged from Vice may without Syllogisticall Reasonings and Mathematical Demonstrations have an Vndoubted Assurance of the Existence of a God according to that of the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purity Possesses men with an Assurance of the Best things whether this Assurance be called a Vaticination or Divine Sagacity as it is by Plato and Aristotle or Faith as in the Scripture For the Scripture-Faith is not a meer Believing of Historicall Things and upon Inartificiall Arguments or Testimonies onely but a Certain Higher and Diviner Power in the Soul that peculiarly Correspondeth with the Deity Notwithstanding which Knowledge or Science added to this Faith according to the Scripture Advice will make it more Firm and Stedfast and the better able to resist those Assaults of Sophisticall Reasonings that shall be made against it In this Fifth Chapter as sometimes elsewhere we thought Our selves concerned in Defence of the Divine Wisdome Goodness and Perfection against Atheists to maintain with all the Ancient Philosophick Theists the Perfection of the Creation also or that the Whole System of things taken all together could not have been Better Made and Ordered then it is And indeed This Divine Goodness and Perfection as Displaying and Manifesting it self in the Works of Nature and Providence is supposed in Scripture to be the very Foundation of our Christian Faith when that is Defined to be the Substance and Evidence Rerum Sperandarum that is of Whatsoever is by a Good man to be hoped for Notwithstanding which it was far from our Intention therefore to Conclude That Nothing neither in Nature nor Providence could be Otherwise then it is or That there is Nothing left to the Free Will and Choice of the Deity And though we do in the Third Section insist largely upon that Ancient Pythagorick Cabbala That Souls are always United to some Body or other as also That all Rationall and Intellectuall Creatures consist of Soul and Body and suggest several things from Reason and Christian Antiquity in favour of them both yet would we not be Vnderstood to Dogmatize in either of them but to Submit all to better Judgments Again we shall here Advertise the Reader though we have Caution'd concerning it in the Book it self That in our Defence of Incorporeal Substance against the Atheists However we thought our selves concerned to say the utmost that possibly we could in way of Vindication of the Ancients who generally maintained it to be Unextended which to some seems an Absolute Impossibility yet we would not be supposed Ourselves Dogmatically to Assert any more in this Point then what all Incorporealists agree in That there is a Substance Specifically distinct from Body namely such as Consisteth Not of Parts Separable from one another and which can Penetrate Body and Lastly is Self-Active and hath an Internal Energy distinct from that of Locall Motion And thus much is undeniably Evinced by the Arguments before proposed But whether this Substance be altogether Unextended or Extended otherwise then Body we shall leave every man to make his own Judgment concerning it Furthermore We think fit here to Suggest That whereas throughout this Chapter and Whole Book we constantly Oppose the Generation of Souls that is the Production of Life Cogitation and Understanding out of Dead and Sensless Matter and assert all Souls to be as Substantiall as Matter it self This is not done by us out of any fond Addictedness to Pythagorick Whimseys nor indeed out of a meer Partiall Regard to that Cause of Theism neither which we were engaged in though we had great reason to be tender of that too but because we were enforced thereunto by Dry Mathematicall Reason it being as certain to us as any thing in all Geometry That Cogitation and Understanding can never possibly Result out of Magnitudes Figures Sites and Locall Motions which is all that ourselves can allow to Body however Compounded together Nor indeed in that other way of Qualities is it better Conceiveable how they should emerge out of Hot and Cold Moist and Dry Thick and Thin according to the Anaximandrian Atheism And they who can persuade themselves of the Contrary may Believe That any thing may be Caused by any thing upon which Supposition we confess it Impossible to us to prove the Existence of a God from the Phaenomena In the Close of this Fifth Chapter Because the Atheists do in the Last place Pretend Theism and Religion to be Inconsistent with Civil Sovereignty we were necessitated briefly to Unravel and Confute all the Atheistick Ethicks and Politicks Though this more properly belong to our Second Book Intended Where we make it plainly to appear That the Atheists Artificiall and Factitious Justice is Nothing but Will and Words and That they give to Civil Sovereigns no Right nor Authority at all but onely Belluine Liberty and Brutish Force But on the contrary as we Assert Justice and Obligation not Made by Law and Commands but in Nature and Prove This together with Conscience and Religion to be the onâ—ly Basis of Civil Authority so do we also maintain all the Rights of Civil Sovereigns giving both to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's And now having made all our Apologies and Reflexions we have
expressed by Sanchuniathon in his Description of the Phoenician Theology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Turbid and Dark Chaos and the Second is intimated in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit was affected with love towards its own Principles perhaps expressing the Force of the Hebrew word Merachepheth and both of them implyng an Understanding Prolifical Goodness Forming and Hatching the Corporeal World into this perfection or else a Plastick Power subordinate to it Zeno who was also originally a Phoenician tells us that Hesiod's Chaos was Water and that the Material Heaven as well as Earth was made out of Water according to the Judgment of the best Interpeters is the genuine sence of Scripture 2 Pet. 3.5 by which water some perhaps would understand a Chaos of Atoms confusedly moved But whether Thales were acquainted with the Atomical Physiology or no it is plain that he asserted besides the Soul's Immortality a Deity distinct from the Corporeal World We pass to Pythagoras whom we have proved already to have been an Atomist and it is well known also that he was a professed Incorporealist That he asserted the Immortality of the Soul and consequently its Immateriality is evident from his Doctrine of Pre-existence and Transmigration And that he likewise held an Incorporeal Deity distinct from the World is a thing not questioned by any But if there were any need of proving it because there are no Monuments of his Extant perhaps it might be done from hence because he was the chief Propagator of that Doctrine amongst the Greeks concerning Three Hypostases in the Deity For that Plato and his Followers held 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three Hypostases in the Deity that were the first Principles of all things is a thing very well known to all Though we do not affirm that these Platonick Hypostases are exactly the same with those in the Christian Trinity Now Plato himself sufficiently intimates this not to have been his own Invention and Plotinus tells us that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Ancient Opinion before Plato's time which had been delivered down by some of the Pythagoricks Wherefore I conceive this must needs be one of those Pythagorick Monstrosities which Xenophon covertly taxes Plato for entertaining and mingling with the Socratical Philosophy as if he had thereby corrupted the Purity and Simplicity of it Though a Corporealist may pretend to be a Theist yet I never heard that any of them did ever assert a Trinity respectively to the Deity unless it were such an one as I think not fit here to mention XXIII That Parmenides who was likewise a Pythagorean acknowledged a Deity distinct from the Corporeal World is evident from Plato And Plotinus tells us also that he was one of them that asserted the Triad of Divine Hypostases Moreover whereas there was a great Controversie amongst the Ancient Philosophers before Plato's time between such as held all things to Flow as namely Heraclitus and Cratylus and others who asserted that some things did Stand and that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain Immutable Nature to wit an Eternal Mind together with Eternal and Immutable Truths amongst which were Parmenides and Melissus the former of these were all Corporealists this being the very Reason why they made all things to Flow because they supposed all to be Body though these were not therefore all of them Atheists But the latter were all both Incorporealists and Theists for whosoever holds Incorporeal Substance must needs according to Reason also assert a Deity And although we did not before paticularly mention Parmenides amongst the Atomical Philosophers yet we conceive it to be manifest from hence that he was one of that Tribe because he was an eminent Asserter of that Principle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That no Real Entity is either Made or Destroyed Generated or Corrupted Which we shall afterwards plainly shew to be the grand Fundamental Principle of the Atomical Philosophy XXIV But whereas we did evidently prove before that Empedocles was an Atomical Physiologer it may notwithstanding with some Colour of Probability be doubted whether he were not an Atheist or at least a Corporealist because Aristotle accuses him of these following things First of making Knowledge to be Sense which is indeed a plain sign of a Corporealist and therefore in the next place also of compounding the Soul out of the four Elements making it to understand every corporeal thing by something of the same within it self as Fire by Fire and Earth by Earth and Lastly of attributing much to Fortune and affirming that divers of the Parts of Animals were made such by chance and that there were at first certain Mongrel Animals fortuitously produced that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as had something of the shape of an Oxe together with the Face of a Man though they could not long continue which seems to give just Cause of Suspicion that Empedocles Atheized in the same manner that Democritus did To the first of these we reply that some others who had also read Empedocles's Poems were of a different Judgment from Aristotle as to that conceiving Empedocles not to make Sense but Reason the Criterion of Truth Thus Empiricus informs us Others say that according to Empedocles the Criterion of Truth is not Sense but Right Reason and also that Right Reason is of two sorts the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Humane Of which the Divine is inexpressible but the Humane declarable And there might be several Passages cited out of those Fragments of Empedocles his Poems yet left to confirm this but we shall produce only this one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this Sence Suspend thy Assent to the Corporeal Senses and consider every thing clearly with thy Mind or Reason And as to the Second Crimination Aristotle has much weakened his own Testimony here by accusing Plato also of the very same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato compounds the Soul out of the four Elements because Like is known by Like and things are from their Principles Wherefore it is probable that Empedocles might be no more guilty of this fault of making the Soul Corporeal and to consist of Earth Water Air and Fire than Plato was who in all mens Judgments was as free from it as Aristotle himself if not more For Empedocles did in the same manner as Pythagoras before him and Plato after him hold the Transmigration of Souls and consequently both their Future Immortality and Preexistence and therefore must needs assert their Incorporeity Plutarch rightly declaring this to have been his Opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That as well those who are yet Vnborn as those that are Dead have a Being He also asserted Humane Souls to be here in a Lapsed State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wanderers Strangers and Fugitives from God declaring as Plotinus tells us that it was a Divine Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Souls sinning should
fall down into these Earthly Bodies But the fullest Record of the Empedoclean Philosophy concerning the Soul is contained in this of Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man falleth from his Happy State as Empedocles the Pythagorean saith By being a Fugitive Apostate and Wanderer from God acted with a certain Mad and Irrational Strife or Contention But he ascends again and recovers his former State if he decline and avoid these Earthly things and despise this unpleasant and wretched Place where Murder and Wrath and a Troop of all other Mischiefs reign Into which Place they who fall wander up and down through the Field of Ate and Darkness But the desire of him that flees from this Field of Ate carries him on towards the Field of Truth which the Soul at first relinquishing and losing its Wings fell down into this Earthly Body deprived of its Happy Life From whence it appears that Plato's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was derived from Empedocles and the Pythagoreans Now from what hath been already cited it is sufficiently manifest that Empedocles was so far from being either an Atheist or Corporealist that he was indeed a Rank Pythagorist as he is here called And we might adde hereunto what Clemens Alexandrinus observes that according to Empedocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If we live holily and justly we shall be happy here and more happy after our departure hence having our Happiness not necessarily confined to time but being able to rest and fix in it to all Eternity Feasting with the other Immortal Beings c. We might also take notice how besides the Immortal Souls of men he acknowledged Daemons or Angels declaring that some of these fell from Heaven and were since prosecuted by a Divine Nemesis or these in Plutarch are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those Empedoclean Daemons lapsed from Heaven and pursued with Divine Vengeance Whose restless Torment is there described in several Verses of his And we might observe likewise how he acknowledged a Natural and Immutable Justice which was not Topical and confined to Places and Countries and Relative to particular Laws but Catholick and Universal and every where the same through Infinite Light and Space as he expresses it with Poetick Pomp and Bravery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the asserting of Natural Morality is no small Argument of a Theist But what then shall we say to those other things which Empedocles is charged with by Aristotle that seem to have so rank a smell of Atheism Certainly those Mongril and Biforme Animals that are said to have sprung up out of the Earth by chance look as if they were more a-kin to Democritus than Empedocles and probably it is the Fault of the Copies that it is read otherwise there being no other Philosopher that I know of that could ever find any such thing in Empedocles his Poems But for the rest if Aristotle do not misrepresent Empedocles as he often doth Plato then it must be granted that he being a Mechanical Physiologer as well as Theologer did something too much indulge to Fortuitous Mechanism which seems to be an Extravagancy that Mechanical Philosophers and Atomists have been always more or less subject to But Aristotle doth not charge Empedocles with resolving all things into Fortuitous Mechanism as some Philosophers have done of late who yet pretend to be Theists and Incorporealists but only that he would explain some things in that way Nay he clearly puts a difference betwixt Empedocles and the Democritick Atheists in those words subjoyned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which is as if he should have said Empedocles resolved some things in the Fabrick and structure of Animals into Fortuitous Mechanism but there are certain other Philosophers namely Leucippus and Democritus who would have all things whatsoever in the whole World Heaven and Earth and Animals to be made by Chance and the Fortuitous Motion of Atoms without a Deity It seems very plain that Empedocles his Philia and Nichos his Friendship and Discord which he makes to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Active Cause and Principle of Motion in the Universe was a certain Plastick Power superiour to Fortuitous Mechanism and Aristotle himself acknowledges somewhere as much And Plutarch tells us that according to Empedocles The Order and System of the World is not the Result of Material Causes and Fortuitous Mechanism but of a Divine Wisdom assigning to every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not such a Place as Nature would give it but such as is most convenient for the Good of the whole Simplicius who had read Empedocles acquaints us that he made two Worlds the one Intellectual the other Sensible and the former of these to be the Exemplar and Archetype of the latter And so the Writer De Placitis Philosophorum observes that Empedocles made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two Suns the one Archetypal and Intelligible the other Apparent or Sensible But I need take no more pains to purge Empedocles from those two Imputations of Corporealism and Atheism since he hath so fully confuted them himself in those Fragments of his still extant First by expressing such a hearty Resentment of the Excellency of Piety and the Wretchedness and Sottishness of Atheism in these Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this Sence He is happy who hath his mind richly fraught and stored with the Treasures of Divine Knowledge but he miserable whose mind is Darkened as to the Belief of a God And Secondly by denying God to have any Humane Form or Members 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Or otherwise to be Corporeal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And then positively affirming what he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only a Holy and Ineffable Mind that by Swift Thoughts agitates the whole World XXV And now we shall speak something also of Anaxagoras having shewed before that he was a Spurious Atomist For he likewise agreed with the other Atomists in this that he asserted Incorporeal Substance in general as the Active Cause and Principle of Motion in the Universe and Particularly an Incorporeal Deity distinct from the World Affirming that there was besides Atoms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is express'd in Plato An Ordering and Disposing Mind that was the Cause of all things Which Mind as Aristotle tells us he made to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The only Simple Vnmixed and Pure thing in the World And he supposed this to be that which brought the Confused Chaos of Omnisarious Atoms into that Orderly Compages of the World that now is XXVI And by this time we have made it evident that those Atomical Physiologers that
Transmigrate into their respective Bodies or else come from God immediatly who is the Fountain of all and who at first created all that Substance that now is in the World besides himself Now the latter of these was a thing which those Ancient Philosophers would by no means admit of they judging it altogether incongruous to bring God upon the Stage perpetually and make him immediatly interpose every where in the Generations of Men and all other Animals by the Miraculous production of Souls out of Nothing Notwithstanding which if we well consider it we shall find that there may be very good reason on the other side for the successive Divine Creation of Souls namely that God did not do all at first that ever he could or would do and put forth all his Creative Vigour at once in a moment ever afterwards remaining a Spectator only of the consequent Results and permitting Nature to do all alone without the least Interposition of his at any time just as if there were no God at all in the World For this may be and indeed often hath been the effect of such an Hypothesis as this to make men think that there is no other God in the World but Blind and Dark Nature God might also for other good and wise Ends unknown to us reserve to himself the continual exercise of this his Creative power in the successive Production of new Souls And yet these Souls nevertheless after they are once brought forth into being will notwithstanding their Juniority continue as firmly in the same without vanishing of themselves into Nothing as the Substance of Senseless Matter that was Created many thousand years before will do And thus our Vulgar Hypothesis of the new Creation of Souls as it is Rational in it self so it doth sufficiently salve their Incorporeity their future Immortality or Post-eternity without introducing those offensive Absurdities of their Preexistence and Transmigration XXXV But if there be any such who rather than they would allow a future Immortality or Post-existence to all Souls and therefore to those of Brutes which consequently must have their Successive Transmigrations would conclude the Souls of all Brutes as likewise the Sensitive Soul in Man to be Corporeal and only allow the Rational Soul to be distinct from Matter To these we have only thus much to say That they who will attribute Life Sense Cogitation Consciousness and Self-enjoyment not without some footsteps of Reason many times to Blood and Brains or mere Organized Bodies in Brutes will never be able clearly to defend the Incorporeity and Immortality of Humane Souls as most probably they do not intend any such thing For either all Conscious and Cogitative Beings are Incorporeal or else nothing can be proved to be Incorporeal From whence it would follow also that there is no Deity distinct from the Corporeal World But though there seem to be no very great reason why it should be thought absurd to grant Perpetuity of Duration to the Souls of Brutes any more than to every Atom of Matter or Particle of Dust that is in the whole World yet we shall endeavour to suggest something towards the easing the minds of those who are so much burthened with this difficulty viz. That they may if they please suppose the Souls of Brutes being but so many particular Eradiations or Effluxes from that Source of Life above whensoever and wheresoever there is any fitly prepared Matter capable to receive them and to be Actuated by them to have a sense and frution of themselves in it so long as it continues such but as soon as ever those Organized Bodies of theirs by reason of their Indisposition become uncapable of being further acted upon by them then to be resumed again and retracted back to their Original Head and Fountain Since it cannot be doubted but what Creates any thing out of Nothing or sends it forth from it self by free and voluntary Emanation may be able either to Retract the same back again to its original Source or else to Annihilate it at pleasure And I find that there have not wanted some among the Gentile Philosophers themselves who have entertained this Opinion whereof Porphyry is one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every irrational Power is resolved into the Life of the Whole XXXVI Neither will this at all weaken the future Immortality or Post-eternity of Humane Souls For if we be indeed Theists and do in very good Earnest believe a Deity according to the true Notion of it we must then needs acknowledge that all created Being whatsoever owes the Continuation and Perpetuity of its Existence not to any Necessity of Nature without God and Independently upon him but to the Divine Will only And therefore though we had nâ—ver so much Rational and Philosophical assurance that our Souls are Immaterial Substances distinct from the Body yet we could not for all that have any absolute certainty of their Post-eternity any otherwise than as it may be derived to us from the Immutability and Perfection of the Divine Nature and Will which does alwaies that which is Best For the Essential Goodness and Wisdom of the Deity is the only Stability of all things And for ought we Mortals know there may be good Reason why that Grace or Favour of future Immortality and Post-eternity that is indulged to Humane Souls endued with Reason Morality and Liberty of Will by means whereof they are capable of Commendation and Blame Reward and Punishment that so they may be Objects for Divine Justice to display it self upon after this Life in different Retributions may notwithstanding be denied to those lower Lives and more contemptible Souls of Brutes alike devoid both of Morality and Liberty XXXVII But if any for all this will still obstinately contend for that ancient Pythagorick and Empedoclean Hypothesis That all Lives and Souls whatsoever are as old as the first Creation and will continue to Eternity or as long as the World doth as a thing more Reasonable and Probable than our Continual Creation of new Souls by means whereof they become Juniors both to the matter of the World and of their own Bodies and whereby also as they pretend the Divine creative Power is made too Cheap and Prostituted a thing as being Famulative alwaies to Brutish and many times to unlawful Lusts and undue Conjunctions but especially than the Continual Decreation and Annihilation of the Souls of Brutes we shall not be very unwilling to acknowledge thus much to them That indeed of the two this Opinion is more Reasonable and Tolerable than that other Extravagancy of those who will either make all Souls to be Generated and consequently to be Corporeal or at least the Sensitive Soul both in Men and Brutes For besides the Monstrosity of this latter opinion in making two distinct Souls and Perceptive Substances in every Man which is a thing sufficiently confuted by Internal Sense it leaves us also in an absolute Impossibility of proving the Immortality of
manner forasmuch as they made the Ocean and Tethys to have been the Original of Generation and for this cause the Oath of the Gods is said to be by water called by the Poets Styx as being that from which they all derived their Original For an Oath ought to be by that which is most Honourable and that which is most Ancient is most Honourable In which words it is very probable that Aristotle aimed at Plato however it is certain that Plato in his Theaetetus affirms this Atheistick Doctrine to have been very ancient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all things were the off-spring of Flux and Motion that is that all things were Made and Generated out of Matter and that he chargeth Homer with it in deriving the Original of the Gods themselves in like manner from the Ocean or Floating Matter in this Verse of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Father of all Gods the Ocean is Tethys their Mother Wherefore these indeed seem to have been the ancientest of all Atheists who though they acknowledged certain Beings superiour to men which they called by the Name of Gods did notwithstanding really deny a God according to the true Notion of him deriving the Original of all things whatsoever in the Universe from the Ocean that is Fluid Matter or which is all one from Night and Chaos and supposing all their Gods to have been Made and Generated and consequently to be Mortal and Corruptible Of which Atheistick Theology Aristophanes gives us the description in his Aves after this manner That at first was Nothing but Night and Chaos which laying an Egg from thence was produced Love that mingling again with Chaos begot Heaven and Earth and Animals and all the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First all was Chaos one confused Heap Darkness enwrapt the disagreeing Deep In a mixt croud the Jumbled Elements were Nor Earth nor Air nor Heaven did appear Till on this horrid vast Abyss of things Teeming Night spreading o'er her cole-black Wings Laid the first Egg whence after times due course Issu'd forth Love the World 's Prolifick Source Glistering with golden Wings which fluttering o'er Dark Chaos gendred all the numerous store Of Animals and Gods c. And whereas the Poet there makes the Birds to have been begotten between Love and Chaos before all the Gods though one might think this to have been done Jocularly by him merely to humour his Plot yet Salmasius conceives and not without some reason that it was really a piece of the old Atheistick Cabala which therefore seems to have run thus That Chaos or Matter confusedly moved being the first Original of all Things did from thence rise up gradually from lesser to greater Perfection First Inanimate things as the Elements Heaven Earth and Seas then Brute-animals afterwards Men and last of all the Gods As if not only the Substance of Matter and those Inanimate Bodies of the Elements Fire Water Air and Earth were as Aristotle somewhere speaks according to the sence of those Atheistick Theologers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First in order of Nature before God as being themselves also Gods but also Brute-animals at least if not men too And this is the Atheistick Creation of the World Gods and all out of Sensless and Stupid Matter or Dark Chaos as the only Original Numen the perfectly Inverted order of the Universe XVIII But though this Hypothesis be purely Atheistical that makes Love which is supposed to be the Original Deity to have it self sprung at first from an Egg of the Night and consequently that all Deity was the Creature or Off-spring of Matter and Chaos or Dark Fortuitous Nature yet Aristotle somewhere conceives that not only Parmenides but also Hesiod and some others who did in like manner make Love the Supreme Deity and derive all things from Love and Chaos were to be exempted out of the number of those Atheistick Materialists before described forasmuch as they seemed to understand by Love an Active Principle and Cause of Motion in the Universe which therefore could not spring from an Egg of the Night nor be the Creature of Matter but must needs be something Independent on it and in order of Nature before it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One would suspect that Hesiod and if there be any other who made Love or Desire a Principle of things in the Universe aimed at this very thing namely the setling of another Active Principle besides Matter For Parmenides describing the Generation of the Universe makes Love to be the Senior of all the Gods and Hesiod after he had mentioned Chaos introduced Love as the Supreme Deity As intimating herein that besides Matter there ought to be another Cause or Principle that should be the Original of Motion and Activity and also hold and conjoyn all things together But how these two Principles are to be ordered and which of them was to be placed first whether Love or Chaos may be judged of afterwards In which latter words Aristotle seems to intimate that Love as taken for an Active Principle was not to be supposed to spring from Chaos but rather to be in order of Nature before it and therefore by this Love of theirs must needs be meant the Deity And indeed Simmias Rhodius in his Wings a Hymn made in Honour of this Love that is Senior to all the Gods and a Principle in the Universe tells us plainly that it is not Cupid Venuses soft and effeminate Son but another kind of Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I 'm not that Wanton Boy The Sea-froath Goddess's only Joy Pure Heavenly Love I hight and my Soft Magick Charms not Iron Bands fast tye Heaven Earth and Seas The Gods themselves do readily Stoop to my Laws The whole World daunces to my Harmony Moreover this cannot be that Love neither which is described in Plato's Symposium as some learned men have conceived that was begotten between Penia and Porus this being not a Divine but Demoniack thing as the Philosopher there declares no God but a Daemon only or of a Middle Nature For it is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Love of Pulchritude as such which though rightly used may perhaps Wing and Inspire the Mind to Noble and Generous Attempts and beget a scornful disdeign in it of Mean Dirty and Sordid things yet it is capable of being abused also and then it will strike downward into Brutishness and Sensuality But at best it is an Affection belonging only to Imperfect and Parturient Beings and therefore could
Atheism And though we do not doubt at all but that Plato in his Tenth De Legibus where he attacques Atheism did intend the Confutation as well of the Democritick as the Anaximandrian Atheism yet whether it were because he had no mind to take any notice at all of Democritus who is not so much as once mentioned by him any where or else because he was not so perfectly acquainted with that Atomick way of Physiologizing certain it is that he there describes the Atheistick Hypothesis more according to the Anaximandrian than the Democritick Form For when he represents the Atheistick Generation of Heaven and Earth and all things in them as resulting from the Fortuitous Commixture of Hot and Cold Hard and Soft Moist and Dry Corpuscula this is clearly more agreeable with the Anaximandrian Generation of the World by the Secretion of Inexistent Contrarieties in the Matter than the Democritick Cosmopoeia by the Fortuitous Concourse of Atoms devoid of all manner of Qualities and Forms Some indeed seem to call that Scheme of Atheism that deduces all things from Matter in the way of Qualities and Forms by the name of Peripatetick or Aristotelick Atheism we suppose for this reason because Aristotle Physiologized in that way of Forms and Qualities educing them out of the Power of the Matter But since Aristotle himself cannot be justly Taxed for an Atheist this Form of Atheism ought rather as we conceive to be denominated from Anaximander and called the Anaximandrian Atheism XXV Now the Reasons why Democritus and Leucippus New-modelled Atheism from the Anaximandrian and Hylopathian into the Atomick Form seem to have been chiefly these First because they being well instructed in that Atomick way of Physiologizing were really convinced that it was not only more Ingenious but also more agreeable to Truth the other by Real Qualities and Forms seeming a thing Unintelligible Secondly because they foresaw as Lucretius intimates that the Production of Forms and Qualities out of Nothing and the Corruption of them again into Nothing would prepare an Easie way for mens Belief of a Divine Creation and Annihilation And lastly because as we have already suggested they plainly perceived that these Forms and Qualities of Matter were of a doubtful Nature and therefore as they were sometimes made a shelter for Atheism so they might also prove on the contrary an Asylum for Corporeal Theism in that it might possibly be supposed that either the Matter of the whole World or else the more Subtle and Fiery Part of it was Originally endued with an Understanding Form or Quality and consequently the Whole an Animal or God Wherefore they took another more Effectual Course to secure their Atheism and exclude all Possibility of a Corporeal God by deriving the Original of all things from Atoms devoid of all Forms and Qualities and having nothing in them but Magnitude Figure Site and Motion as the First Principles it following unavoidably from thence that Life and Vnderstanding as well as those other Qualities could be only Accidental and Secundary Results from certain Fortuitous Concretions and Contextures of Atoms so that the World could be made by no Previous Counsel or Understanding and therefore by no Deity XXVI We have here represented Three several Forms of Atheism the Anaximandrian the Democritical and the Stratonical But there is yet another Form of Atheism different from them all to be taken notice of which is such as supposes one kind of Plastick and Spermatick Methodical and Artificial Nature but without any Sense or Conscious Understanding to preside over the whole World and dispose and conserve all things in that Regular Frame in which they are Such a Form of Atheism as this is hinted to us in that doubtful Passage of Seneca's Sive Animal est Mundus for so it ought to be read and not Anima sive Corpus Naturâ Gubernante ut Arbores ut Sata Whether the whole World be an Animal i. e. endued with one Sentient and Rational Life or whether it be only a Body Governed by a certain Plastick and Methodical but Sensless Nature as Trees and other Plants or Vegetables In which words are two several Hypotheses of the Mundane System Sceptically proposed by one who was a Corporealist and took it for granted that all was Body First that the whole World though having nothing but Body in it yet was notwithstanding an Animal as our Humane Bodies are endued with one Sentient or Rational Life and Nature one Soul or Mind governing and ordering the Whole Which Corporeal Cosmo-zoism we do not reckon amongst the Forms of Atheism but rather account it for a kind of Spurious Theism or Theism disguized in a Paganick Dress and not without a Complication of many false apprehensions concerning the Deity in it The Second is that the whole World is no Animal but as it were one Huge Plant or Vegetable a Body endued with one Plastick or Spermatick Nature branching out the whole Orderly and Methodically but without any Understanding or Sense And this must needs be accounted a Form of Atheism because it does not derive the Original of things in the Universe from any clearly Intellectual Principle or Conscious Nature XXVII Now this Form of Atheism which supposes the Whole World there being nothing but Body in it not to be an Animal but only a Great Plant or Vegetable having one Spermatick Form or Plastick Nature which without any Conscious Reason or Understanding orders the whole though it have some nearer Correspondence with that Hylozoick Form of Atheism before described in that it does not suppose Nature to be a mere Fortuitous but a kind of Artificial thing yet it differs from it in this that the Hylozoick supposing all Matter as such to have Life Essentially belonging to it must therefore needs to attribute to every part of Matter or at least every Particular Totum that is one by Continuity a Distinct Plastick Life of its own but acknowledge no one Common Life as ruling over the whole Corporeal Universe and consequently impute the Original of all things as hath been already observed to a certain Mixture of Chance and Plastick or Methodical Nature both together Whereas the Cosmo-plastick Atheism quite excludes Fortune or Chance subjecting all things to the Regular and Orderly Fate of one Plastick or Plantal Nature ruling over the Whole Thus that Philosopher before mentioned concludes that whether the World were an Animal in the Stoical sence or whether it were a mere Plant or Vegetable Ab initio ejus usque ad exitum quicquid facere quicquid pati debeat inclusum est Vt in Semine omnis futuri ratio hominis comprehensa est Et Legem Barbae Canorum nondum natus Infans habet Totius enim Corporis sequentis aetatis in parvo occultoque Lineament a sunt Sic Origo Mundi non magis Solem Lunam Vices Syderum Animalium Ortus quà m quibus mutarentur Terrena continuit In his
that the Mediterranean Sea forced open that passage of the Herculean straits being a continual Isthmus or neck of Land before that many parts of the present Continent were heretofore Sea as also much of the present Ocean habitable Land So it cannot be doubted but that the same Strato did likewise suppose such kind of Alternations and Vicissitudes as these in all the greater parts of the Mundane System But the Stoical Atheists who made the whole World to be dispensed by one Orderly and Plastick Nature might very well and agreeably to their own Hypothesis maintain besides the Worlds Eternity one Constant and Invariable Course or Tenor of things in it as Plinius Secundus doth who if he were any thing seems to have been one of these Atheists Mundum hoc quod nomine alio Coelum appellare libuit cujus circumflexu reguntur cuncta Numen esse credi par est Aeternum Immensum neque Genitum neque Interiturum Idem rerum Naturae Opus rerum ipsa Natura The World and that which by another name is called the Heavens by whose Circumgyration all things are governed ought to be believed to be a Numen Eternal Immense such as was never Made and shall never be Destroyed Where by the way it may be again observed that those Atheists who denied a God according to the True Notion of him as a Conscious Vnderstanding Being presiding over the whole World did notwithstanding look upon either the World it self or else a mere Sensless Plastick Nature in it as a kind of Numen or Deity they supposing it to be Ingenerable and Incorruptible Which same Pliny as upon the grounds of the Stoical Atheism he maintained against the Anaximandrians and Democriticks the Worlds Eternity and Incorruptibility so did he likewise in way of Opposition to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Infinity of Worlds of theirs assert that there was but One World and that Finite In like manner we read concerning that Famous Stoick Boethus whom Laertius affirms to have denied the World to be an Animal which according to the language and sence of those times was all one as to deny a God that he also maintained contrary to the received Doctrine of the Stoicks the Worlds Ante-Eternity and Incorruptibllity Philo in his Treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Incorruptibility of the World testifying the same of him Nevertheless it seems that some of these Stoical Atheists did also agree with the Generality of the other Stoical Theists in supposing a successive Infinity of Worlds Generated and Corrupted by reason of intervening Periodical Conflagrations though all dispensed by such a Stupid and Sensless Nature as governs Plants and Trees For thus much we gather from those words of Seneca before cited where describing this Atheistical Hypothesis he tells us that though the World were a Plant that is governed by a Vegetative or Plastick Nature without any Animality yet notwithstanding ab initio ejus usque ad exitum c. it had both a Beginning and will have an End and from its Beginning to its End all was dispensed by a kind of Regular Law even its Successive Conflagrations too as well as those Inundations or Deluges which have sometimes hapned Which yet they understood after such a manner as that in these several Revolutions and Successive Circuits or Periods of Worlds all things should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exactly alike to what had been Infinitely before and should be again Infinitely afterwards Of which more elsewhere XXXIV This Quadripartite Atheism which we have now represented is the Kingdom of Darkness Divided or Labouring with an Intestine Seditious War in its own Bowels and thereby destroying it self Insomuch that we might well save our selves the labour of any further Confutation of Atheism merely by committing these several Forms of Atheism together and dashing them one against another they opposing and contradicting each other no less than they do Theism it self For first those two Pairs of Atheisms on the one hand the Anaximandrian and Democritick on the other the Stoical and Stratonical do absolutely destroy each other the Former of them supposing the First Principle of all things to be Stupid Matter devoid of all manner of Life and contending that all Life as well as other Qualities is Generable and Corruptible or a mere Accidental thing and looking upon the Plastick Life of Nature as a Figment or Phantastick Capritio a thing almost as formidable and altogether as impossible as a Deity the other on the contrary founding all upon this Principle That there is a Life and Natural Perception Essential to Matter Ingenerable and Incorruptible and contending it to be utterly impossible to give any accompt of the Phaenomena of the World the Original of Motion the Orderly Frame and Disposition of things and the Nature of Animals without this Fundamental Life of Nature Again the Single Atheisms belonging to each of these several Pairs quarrel as much also between themselves For the Democritick Atheism explodes the Anaximandrian Qualities and Forms demonstrating that the Natural Production of such Entities out of Nothing and the Corruption of them again into Nothing is of the two rather more impossible than a Divine Creation and Annihilation And on the other side the Anaximandrian Atheist plainly discovers that when the Democriticks and Atomicks have spent all their Fury against these Qualities and Forms and done what they can to salve the Phaenomena of Nature without them another way themselves do notwithstanding like drunken men reel and stagger back again into them and are unavoidably necessitated at last to take up their Sanctuary in them In like manner the Stoical and Stratonical Atheists may as effectually undo and confute each other the Former of them urging against the Latter That besides that Prodigious Absurdity of making every Atom of Sensless Matter Infallibly Wise or Omniscient without any Consciousness there can be no reason at all given by the Hylozoists why the Matter of the whole Universe might not as well Conspire and Confederate together into One as all the single Atoms that compound the Body of any Animal or Man or why one Conscious Life might not as well result from the Totum of the former as of the latter by which means the whole World would become an Animal or God Again the Latter contending that the Stoical or Cosmo-plastick Atheist can pretend no reason why the whole World might not have one Sentient and Rational as well as one Plastick Soul in it that is as well be an Animal as a Plant. Moreover that the Sensitive Souls of Brute Animals and the Rational Souls of Men could never possibly emerge out of one Single Plastick and Vegetative Soul in the whole Universe And lastly that it is altogether as impossible that the whole World should have Life in it and yet none of its Parts have any Life of their own as that the whole World should be White or Black and yet no part of it
Nature for that Motion Wherefore the Divine Law and Command by which the things of Nature are administred must be conceived to be the Real Appointment of some Energetick Effectual and Operative Cause for the Production of every Effect 3. Now to assert the Former of these Two things that all the Effects of Nature come to pass by Material and Mechanical Necessity or the mere Fortuitous Motion of Matter without any Guidance or Direction is a thing no less Irrational than it is Impious and Atheistical Not only because it is utterly Unconceivable and Impossible that such Infinite Regularity and Artificialness as is every where throughout the whole World should constantly result out of the Fortuitous Motion of Matter but also because there are many such Particular Phaenomena in Nature as do plainly transcend the Powers of Mechanism of which therefore no Sufficient Mechanical Reasons can be devised as the Motion of Respiration in Animals as there are also other Phaenomena that are perfectly Cross to the Laws of Mechanism as for Example that of the Distant Poles of the Aequator and Ecliptick which we shall insist upon afterward Of both which kinds there have been other Instances proposed by my Learned Friend Dr. More in his Enchiridion Metaphysicum and very ingeniously improved by him to this very purpose namely to Evince that there is something in Nature besides Mechanism and consequently Substance Incorporeal Moreover those Theists who Philosophize after this manner by resolving all the Corporeal Phaenomena into Fortuitous Mechanism or the Necessary and Vnguided Motion of Matter make God to be nothing else in the World but an Idle Spectator of the Various Results of the Fortuitous and Necessary Motions of Bodies and render his Wisdom altogether Useless and Insignificant as being a thing wholly Inclosed and shut up within his own breast and not at all acting abroad upon any thing without him Furthermore all such Mechanists as these whether Theists or Atheists do according to that Judicious Censure passed by Aristotle long since upon Democritus but substitute as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Carpenters or Artificers Wooden Hand moved by Strings and Wires in stead of a Living Hand They make a kind of Dead and Wooden World as it were a Carved Statue that hath nothing neither Vital nor Magical at all in it Whereas to those who are Considerative it will plainly appear that there is a Mixture of Life or Plastick Nature together with Mechanism which runs through the whole Corporeal Universe And whereas it is pretended not only that all Corporeal Phaenomena may be sufficiently salved Mechanically without any Final Intending and Directive Causality but also that all other Reasons of things in Nature besides the Material and Mechanical are altogether Vnphilosophical the same Aristotle ingeniously exposes the Ridiculousness of this Pretence after this manner telling us That it is just as if a Carpenter Joyner or Carver should give this accompt as the only Satisfactory of any Artificial Fabrick or Piece of Carved Imagery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that because the Instruments Axes and Hatchets Plains and Chissels happened to fall so and so upon the Timber cutting it here and there that therefore it was hollow in one place and plain in another and the like and by that means the whole came to be of such a Form For is it not altogether as Absurd and Ridiculous for men to undertake to give an accompt of the Formation and Organization of the Bodies of Animals by mere Fortuitous Mechanism without any Final or Intending Causality as why there was an Heart here and Brains there and why the Heart had so many and such different Valves in the Entrance and Out-let of its Ventricles and why all the other Organick Parts Veins and Arteries Nerves and Muscles Bones and Cartilages with the Joints and Members were of such a Form Because forsooth the Fluid Matter of the Seed happened to move so and so in several places and thereby to cause all those Differences which are also divers in different Animals all being the Necessary Result of a certain Quantity of Motion at first indifferently impressed upon the small Particles of the Matter of this Universe turned round in a Vortex But as the same Aristotle adds no Carpenter or Artificer is so simple as to give such an Accompt as this and think it satisfactory but he will rather declare that himself directed the Motion of the Instruments after such a manner and in order to such Ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Carpenter would give a better account than so for he would not think it sufficient to say that the Fabrick came to be of such a form because the Instruments happened to fall so and so but he will tell you that it was because himself made such strokes and that he directed the Instruments and determined their motion after such a manner to this End that he might make the Whole a Fabrick fit and useful for such purposes And this is to assign the Final Cause And certainly there is scarcely any man in his Wits that will not acknowledge the Reason of the different Valves in the Heart from the apparent Usefulness of them according to those particular Structures of theirs to be more Satisfactory than any which can be brought from mere Fortuitous Mechanism or the Unguided Motion of the Seminal Matter 4. And as for the Latter Part of the Disjunction That every thing in Nature should be done Immediately by God himself this as according to Vulgar Apprehension it would render Divine Providence Operose Sollicitous and Distractious and thereby make the Belief of it to be entertained with greater difficulty and give advantage to Atheists so in the Judgment of the Writer De Mundo it is not so Decorous in respect of God neither that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set his own Hand as it were to every Work and immediately do all the Meanest and Triflingest things himself Drudgingly without making use of any Inferior and Subordinate Instruments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If it were not congruous in respect of the State Majesty of Xerxes the Great King of Persia that he should condescend to do all the meanest Offices himself much less can this be thought decorous in respect of God But it seems far more August and becoming of the Divine Majesty that a certain Power and Vertue derived from him and passing through the Vniverse should move the Sun and Moon and be the Immediate Cause of those lower things done here upon Earth Moreover it seems not so agreeable to Reason neither that Nature as a Distinct thing from the Deity should be quite Superseded or made to Signifie Nothing God himself doing all things Immediately and Miraculously from whence it would follow also that they are all done either Forcibly and Violently or else Artificially only and none of them by any Inward Principle of their own Lastly
the World but the Fortuitous Mechanists who exploding Final Causes will not allow Mind and Vnderstanding to have any Influence at all upon the Frame of things can never possibly assign any Cause of this Grand Phaenomenon unless Confusion may be said to be the Cause of Order and Fortune or Chance of Constant Regularity and therefore themselves must resolve it into an Occult Quality Nor indeed does there appear any great reason why such men should assert an Infinite Mind in the World since they do not allow it to act any where at all and therefore must needs make it to be in Vain 8. Now this Plastick Nature being a thing which is not without some Difficulty in the Conception of it we shall here endeavour to do these Two things concerning it First to set down a right Representation thereof and then afterwards to show how extremely the Notion of it hath been Mistaken Perverted and Abused by those Atheists who would make it to be the only God Almighty or First Principle of all things How the Plastick Nature is in general to be conceiv'd Aristotle instructs us in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the Naupegical Art that is the Art of the Shipwright were in the Timber it self Operatively and Effectually it would there act just as Nature doth And the Case is the same for all other Arts If the Oecodomical Art which is in the Mind of the Architect were supposed to be transfused into the Stones Bricks and Mortar there acting upon them in such a manner as to make them come together of themselves and range themselves into the Form of a complete Edifice as Amphion was said by his Harp to have made the Stones move and place themselves Orderly of their own accord and so to have built the Walls of Thebes Or if the Musical Art were conceived to be immediately in the Instruments and Strings animating them as a Living Soul and making them to move exactly according to the Laws of Harmony without any External Impulse These and such like Instances in Aristotle's Judgment would be fit Iconisms or Representations of the Plastick Nature That being Art it self acting Immediately upon the Matter as an inward Principle in it To which purpose the same Philosopher adds that this thing might be further illustrated by an other Instance or Resemblence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature may be yet more clearly Resembled to the Medicinal Art when it is imployed by the Physician in curing himself So that the meaning of this Philosopher is that Nature is to be conceived as Art Acting not from without and at a Distance but Immediately upon the thing it self which is Formed by it And thus we have the first General Conception of the Plastick Nature That it is Art it self acting immediately on the Matter as an Inward Principle 9. In the next Place we are to observe that though the Plastick Nature be a kind of Art yet there are some Considerable Preeminences which it hath above Humane Art the First whereof is this That whereas Humane Art cannot act upon the Matter otherwise than from without and at a distance nor communicate it self to it but with a great deal of Tumult and Hurliburly Noise and Clatter it using Hands and Axes Saws and Hammers and after this manner with much ado by Knocking 's and Thrustings slowly introducing its Form or Idea as for Example of a Ship or House into the Materials Nature in the mean time is another kind of Art which Insinuating it self Immediately into things themselves and there acting more Commandingly upon the Matter as an Inward Principle does its Work Easily Cleaverly and Silently Nature is Art as it were Incorporated and Imbodied in matter which doth not act upon it from without Mechanically but from within Vitally and Magically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Here are no Hands nor Feet nor any Instrument Connate or Adventitious there being only need of Matter to work upon and to be brought into a certain Form and Nothing else For it is manifest that the Operation of Nature is different from Mechanism it doing not its Work by Trusion or Pulsion by Knocking 's or Thrustings as if it were without that which it wrought upon But as God is Inward to every thing so Nature Acts Immediately upon the Matter as an Inward and Living Soul or Law in it 10. Another Preeminence of Nature above Humane Art is this That whereas Humane Artists are often to seek and at a loss and therefore Consult and Deliberate as also upon second thoughts mend their former Work Nature on the contrary is never to seek what to do nor at a stand and for that Reason also besides another that will be Suggested afterwards it doth never Consult nor Deliberate Indeed Aristotle Intimates as if this had been the Grand Objection of the old Atheistick Philosophers against the Plastick Nature That because we do not see Natural Bodies to Consult or Deliberate therefore there could be Nothing of Art Counsel or Contrivanee in them but all came to pass Fortuitously But he confutes it after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is absurd for Men to think nothing to be done for Ends if they do not see that which moves to consult although Art it self doth not Consult Whence he concludes that Nature may Act Artificially Orderly and Methodically for the sake of Ends though it never Consult or Deliberate Indeed Humane Artists themselves do not Consult properly as they are Artists but when ever they do it it is for want of Art and because they are to seek their Art being Imperfect and Adventitious but Art it self or Perfect Art is never to seek and therefore doth never Consult or Deliberate And Nature is this Art which never hesitates nor studies as unresolved what to do but is always readily prompted nor does it ever repent afterwards of what it hath formerly done or go about as it were upon second thoughts to alter and mend its former Course but it goes on in one Constant Unrepenting Tenor from Generation to Generation because it is the Stamp or Impress of that Infallibly Omniscient Art of the Divine Understanding which is the very Law and Rule of what is Simply the Best in every thing And thus we have seen the Difference between Nature and Humane Art that the Latter is Imperfect Art acting upon the Matter from without and at a Distance but the Former is Art it self or Perfect Art acting as an Inward Principle in it Wherefore when Art is said to imitate Nature the meaning thereof is that Imperfect Humane Art imitates that Perfect Art of Nature which is really no other than the Divine Art it self as before Aristotle Plato had declared in his Sophist in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those things which are said to be done by Nature are indeed done by Divine Art 11. Notwithstanding which we are to take notice in the next place that as Nature
God as essentially including Vnity in it hath been entertained in all Forms of Religion An Accompt of that seemingly-strange Phaenomenon of Providence the Rise Growth and Continuance of the Mahometan Religion not to be attempted by us at least in this place I. HAving in the Former Chapter prepared the way we shall now procede with the Divine Assistance to Answer and Confute all those Atheistick Arguments before proposed The First whereof was this That there is no Idea of God and therefore either no such Thing existing in Nature or at least no Possible Evidence of it To affirm that there is no Idea of God is all one as to affirm that there is no Conception of the Mind answering to that Word or Name And this the Modern Atheists stick not to maintain That the Word God hath no Signification and that there is no other Idea or Conception in Mens Minds answering thereunto besides the mere Phantasm of the Sound Now for any one to go about soberly to confute this and to Prove that God is not the Only Word without a Signification and that men do not every where pay all their Religious Devotions to the mere Phantasm of a Transient Sound expecting all Good from it might very well seem to all Intelligent persons a most Absurd and Ridiculous Undertaking both because the thing is so evident in it self and because the plainest things of all can least be Proved for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that thinks all things to be Demonstrable takes away Demonstration it self Wherefore we shall here only suggest thus much that since there are different words for God in several Languages and men have the same Notion or Conception in their Minds answering to them all it must needs be granted that they have some other Idea or Conception belonging to those Words besides the Phantasms of their several Sounds And indeed it can be nothing else but either Monstrous Sottishness and Stupidity of Mind or else Prodigious Impudence in these Atheists to deny that there is any Idea of God at all in the Minds of men or that the Word hath any Signification It was hereofore observed by Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That if any man will oppose or contradict the most evident Truths it will not be easie to find arguments wherewith to convince him And yet this notwithstanding ought neither to be Imputed to any Inability in the Teacher nor to any strength of Wit in the Denier but only to a certain dead Insensibility in him Whereupon he further adds that there is a double 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mortification or Petrification of the Soul the one when it is Stupified and Besotted in its Intellectuals the other when it is Bedeaded in its Morals as to that Pudor that naturally should belong to a Man And he concludes that either of these States though it be not commonly so apprehended is a Condition little less deplorable than that of Bodily Death as also that such a person is not at all to be Disputed with For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Sword can one bring or what Fire by burning or slashing to make such a one perceive that he is dead but if he be sensible and will not acknowledge it then he is worse than dead being castrated as to that Pudor that belongs to a man Moreover that Philosopher took notice that in those times when this Denial of most Evident Truths proceeded rather from Impudence than Stupidity or Sottishness the Vulgar would be apt to admire it for strength of Wit and great Learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if any mans Pudor be deaded or mortified in him we call this Power and Strength Now as this was sometimes the Case of the Academicks so is it also commonly of the Atheists that their Minds are Partly Petrified and Benummed into a kind of Sottish and Stupid Insensibility so that they are not able to discern things that are most Evident and Partly Depudorated or become so void of Shame as that though they do perceive yet they will Obstinately and Impudently deny the plainest things that are as this that there is any Idea answering to the word God besides the Phantasm of the Sound And we do the rather insist upon this Prodigious Monstrosity of Atheists in this place because we shall have occasion afterwards more than once to take notice of it again in other Instances as when they affirm that Local Motion and Cogitation are really one and the self same thing and the like And we conceive it to be unquestionably True that it is many times nothing else but either this Shameless Impudence or Sottish Insensibility in Atheists that is admired by the Ignorant for Profoundness of Wit and Learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But shall I call this Power or Wit and commend it upon that accompt No more than I will commend the Impudence of the Cinaedi who stick not publickly to Do and Say any thing II. But whatever these Atheists deny in words it is notwithstanding evident that even themselves have an Idea or Conception in their Minds answering to the Word God when they deny his Existence because otherwise they should deny the existence of Nothing Nor can it be at all doubted but that they have also the same Idea of God with Theists they denying the Existence of no other thing than what these assert And as in all other Controversies when men dispute together the one Affirming the other Denying both Parties must needs have the same Idea in their Minds of what they dispute about or otherwise their whole Disputation would be but a kind of Babel-Language and Confusion so must it be likewise in this present Controversie betwixt Theists and Atheists Neither indeed would there be any Controversie at all between them did they not both by God mean one and the same thing nor would the Atheists be any longer Atheists did they not deny the Existence of that very same Thing which the Theists affirm but of something else III. Wherefore we shall in the next place declare what this Idea of God is or what is that thing whose Existence they that affirm are called Theists and they who deny Atheists In order whereunto we must first lay down this Lemma or Preparatory Proposition That as it is generally acknowledged that all things did not exist from Eternity such as they are Vnmade but that something were Made and Generated or produced so it is not possible that All things should be Made neither but there must of necessity be something Self-existent from Eternity and Vnmade because if there had been once Nothing there could never have been any thing The Reason of which is so evident and irresistible that even the Atheists confess themselves conquered by it and readily acknowledge it for an indubitable Truth That there must be something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something which was never Made or Produced and which therefore
Nihil est enim quod non Alicubi esse cogatur The Stoicks divided Nature into Two Things as the First Principles One whereof is the Efficient or Artificer the Other that which offers it self to him for things to be made out of it In the Efficienti Principle they took notice of Active Force in the Patient of Matter but so as that in each of these were both together forasmuch as neither the Matter could cohere together unless it were contained by some Active Force nor the Active Force subsist of it self without Matter because that is Nothing which is not somewhere But besides these Stoicks there were other Philosophers who admitting of Incorporeal Substance did suppose Two First Principles as Substances really distinct from one another that were Coexistent from Eternity an Incorporeal Deity and Matter as for Example Anaxagoras Archelaus Atticus and many more insomuch that Pythagoras himself was reckoned amongst those by Numenius and Plato by Plutarch and Laertius And we find it commonly taken for granted that Aristotle also was of this Perswasion though it cannot be certainly concluded from thence as some seem to suppose because he asserted the Eternity of the World Plotinus Porphyrius Jamblichus Proclus and Simplicius doing the like and yet notwithstanding maintaining that God was the Sole Principle of all things and that Matter also was derived from him Neither will that Passage of Aristotle's in his Metaphysicks necessarily evince the Contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God seems to be a Cause to all things and a certain Principle because this might be understood only of the Forms of things But it is plain that Plutarch was a Maintainer of this Doctrine from his Discourse upon the Platonick Psychogonia besides other Places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is therefore better for us to follow Plato than Heraclitus and loudly to declare that the World was made by God For as the world is the Best of all Works so is God the Best of all Causes Nevertheless the Substance or Matter out of which the World was made was not it self made but always ready at hand and subject to the Artificer to be ordered and disposed by him For the making of the World was not the Production of it out of Nothing but out of an antecedent Bad and Disorderly State like the Making of an House Garment or Statue It is also well known that Hermogenes and other ancient Pretenders to Christianity did in like manner assert the Self-existence and Improduction of the Matter for which Cause they were commonly called Materiarii or the Materiarian Hereticks they pretending by this means to give an account as the Stoicks had done before them of the Original of Evils and to free God from the Imputation of them Their Ratiocination to which purpose is thus set down by Tertullian God made all things either out of Himself or out of Nothing or out of Matter He could not make all things out of Himself because himself being always Vnmade he should then really have been the Maker of Nothing And he did not make all out of Nothing because being Essentially good he would have made Nihil non optimum every thing in the Best manner and so there could have been no Evil in the World But since there are Evils and these could not procede from the Will of God they must needs arise from the Fault of something and therefore of the Matter out of which things were made Lastly it is sufficiently known likewise that some Modern Sects of the Christian Profession at this day do also assert the Vncreatedness of the Matter But these suppose in like manner as the Stoicks did Body to be the Onely Substance VII Now of all these whosoever they were who thus maintained Two Self-existent Principles God and the Matter we may pronounce Universally that they were neither Better nor Worse than a kind of Imperfect Theists They had a certain Notion or Idea of God such as it was which seems to be the very same with that expressed in Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Animal the Best Eternal and represented also by Epicurus in this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Animal that hath all Happiness with Incorruptibility Wherein it was acknowledged by them that besides Sensless Matter there was also an Animalish and Conscious or Perceptive Nature Self-existent from Eternity in opposition to Atheists who made Matter either devoid of all manner of Life or at least of such as is Animalish and Conscious to be the Sole Principle of All things For it hath been often observed that some Atheists attributed a kind of Plastick Life or Nature to that Matter which they made to be the Only Principle of the Universe And these Two sorts of Atheisms were long since taken notice of by Seneca in these words Vniversum in quo nos quoque sumus expers esse Consilii aut ferri Temeritate quadam aut Naturâ Nesciente quid faciat The Atheists make the Vniverse whereof our selves are part to be devoid of Counsel and therefore either to be carried on Temerariously and Fortuitously or else by such a Nature as which though it be Orderly Regular and Methodical yet is notwithstanding Nescient of what it doth But no Atheist ever acknowledged Conscious Animality to be a First Principle in the Universe nor that the Whole was governed by any Animalish Sentient and Vnderstanding Nature presiding over it as the Head of it but as it was before declared they Concluded all Animals and Animality all Conscious Sentient and Self-perceptive Life to be Generated and Corrupted or Educed out of Nothing and Reduced to Nothing again Wherefore they who on the Contrary asserted Animality and Conscious Life to be a First Principle or Vnmade thing in the Universe are to be accounted Theists Thus Balbus in Cicero declares that to be a Theist is to assert Ab Animantibus Principiis Mundum esse Generatum That the World was Generated or Produced at first from Animant Principles and that it is also still governed by such a Nature Res omnes subjectas esse Naturae Sentienti That all things are subject to a Sentient and Conscious Nature steering and guiding of them But to distinguish this Divine Animal from all others these Desiners added that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Best and most Happy Animal and accordingly this Difference is added to that Generical Nature of Animality by Balbus the Stoick to make up the Idea or Definition of God complete Talem esse Deum certâ Notione animi praesentimus Primùm ut sit Animans Deinde ut in omni Natura nihil Illo sit Praestantius We presage concerning God by a certain Notion of our Mind First that he is an Animans or Consciously Living Being and then Secondly that he is such an Animans as that there is nothing in the Whole Vniverse or Nature of things more Excellent than Him Wherefore these
our selves namely that there is a certain Life or Vital and Moral Disposition of Soul which is much more Inwardly and thoroughly Satisfactory not only than Sensual Pleasure but also than all Knowledge and Speculation whatsoever Now whatever this Chiefest Good be which is a Perfection Superiour to Knowledge and Understanding that Philosopher resolves that it must needs be First and Principally in God who is therefore called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very Idea or Essence of Good Wherein he trode in the Footsteps of the Pythagoreans and particularly of Timaeus Locrus who making Two Principles of the Universe Mind and Necessity adds concerning the Former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The First of these Two is of the Nature of Good and it is called God the Principle of the Best things Agreeably with which Doctrine of theirs the Hebrew Cabalists also make a Sephirah in the Deity Superiour both to Binah and Chochmah Vnderstanding and Wisdom which they call Chether or the Crown And some would suspect this Cabalistick Learning to have been very ancient among the Jews and that Parmenides was imbued with it he calling God in like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Crown For which Velleius in Cicero representing the several Opinions of Philosophers concerning God perstringes him amongst the rest Parmenides Commentitium quiddam Coronae similitudine efficit Stephanem appellat continentem ardore lucis orbem qui cingit Coelum quem appellat Deum But all this while we seem to be to seek What the Chief and Highest Good Superiour to Knowledge is in which the Essence of the Deity principally consists and it cannot be denied but that Plato sometimes talks too Metaphysically and Clowdily about it for which cause as he lay open to the Lash of Aristotle so was he also Vulgarly perstringed for it as appears by that of Amphys the Poet in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What Good that is which you exâ—ect from hence I confess I less understand than I do Plato ' s Good Nevertheless he plainly intimates these two Things concerning it First that this Nâ—ture of Good which is also the Nature of God includes Benignity in it when he gives this accompt of Gods both Making the World and after such a Manner Because he was Good and that which is Good hath no Envy in it and therefore he both made the World and also made it as well and as like to himself as was possible And Secondly that it comprehends Eminently all Vertue and Justice the Divine Nature being the First Pattern hereof for which cause Vertue is defined to be An Assimilation to the Deity Justice and Honesty are no Factitious things Made by the Will and Command of the more Powerful to the Weaker but they are Nature and Perfection and descend downward to us from the Deity But the Holy Scripture without any Metaphysical Pomp and Obscurity tells us plainly Both what is that Highest Perfection of Intellectual Beings which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Better than Reason and Knowledge and which is also the Source Life and Soul of all Morality namely that it is Love or Charity Though I speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels and have not Love I am but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sounding Brass or a Tinkling Cymbal which only makes a Noise without any Inward Life And though I have Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and though I have all Faith so that I could remove Mountains and have not Love I am Nothing that is I have no Inward Satisfaction Peace or True Happiness And though I bestow all my Goods to feed the Poor and give my body to be burned and have not love it profiteth me nothing I am for all that utterly destitute of all True Morality Vertue and Grace And accordingly it tells us also in the next place what the Nature of God is that he is properly neither Power nor Knowledge though having the Perfection of both in him but Love And certainly whatever Dark Thoughts concerning the Deity some Men in their Cells may sit brooding on it can never reasonably be conceived that that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Most Self-sufficient and Self-happy Being should have any Narrow and Selfish Designs abroad without it self much less harbour any Malignant and Despightful ones towards its Creatures Nevertheless because so many are apt to abuse the Notion of the Divine Love and Goodness and to frame such Conceptions of it as destroy that Awful and Râ—vâ—rential Fear that ought to be had of the Deity and make Men Presumptuous and Regardless of their Lives therefore we think fit here to superadd also that God is no Soft nor Fond and Partial Love but that Justice is an Essential Branch of this Divine Goodness God being as the Writer De Mundo well Expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Impartial Law and as Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Measure of all things In Imitation whereof Aristotle concludes also that a Good Man in a Lower and more Imperfect sence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too an Impartial Measure of Things and Actions It is evident that the Atheists themselves in those former times of Paganism took it for Granted that Goodness was an Essential Attribute of the Deity whose Existence they opposed so that it was then generally acknowledged for such by the Pagan Theists from those Argumentations of theirs before mentioned the 12th and 13th taken from the Topick of Evils the Pretended Ill Frame of things and Want of Providence over Humane Affairs Which if they were true would not at all disprove such an Arbitrary Deity as is now phancied by some made up of Nothing but Will and Power without any Essential Goodness and Justice But those Arguments of the Atheists are directly Level'd against the Deity according to the True Notion or Idea of it and could they be made Good would do execution upon the same For it cannot be denied but that the Natural Consequence of this Doctrine That there is a God Essentially Good is this that therefore the World is Well Made and Governed But we shall afterwards declare that though there be Evil in the Parts of the World yet there is none in the Whole and that Moral Evils are not Imputable to the Deity And now we have proposed the Three Principal Attributes of the Deity The First whereof is Infinite goodness with Fecundity the Second Infinite Knowledge and Wisdom and the Last Infinite Active and Perceptive Power From which Three Divine Attributes the Pythagoreans and Platonists seem to have framed their Trinity of Archical Hypostases such as have the Nature of Principles in the Universe and which though they apprehended as several Distinct Substances gradually subordinate to one another yet they many times extend the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so far as to comprehend them all within it Which Pythagorick Trinity seems to be intimated by
may be added according to the Opinion of many That there is a kind of Necessity of some Evils in the World for a Condiment as it were to give a Rellish and Haut-goust to Good since the Nature of Imperfect Animals is such that they are apt to have but a Dull and Sluggish Sense a Flat and Insipid Taste of Good unless it be quickned and stimulated heightned and invigorated by being compared with the Contrary Evil. As also that there seems to be a Necessary Vse in the World of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Involuntary Evils of Pain and Suffering both for the Exercise of Vertue and the Quickning and Exciting the Activity of the World as also for the Repressing Chastising and Punishing of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Voluntary Evils of Vice and Action Upon which several accompts probably Plato concluded that Evils could not be uâ—terly destroyed at least in this Lower World which according to him is the Region of Lapsed Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is neither possible O Theodorus That Evils should be quite destroyed for there must be something always Contrary to Good nor yet that they should be seated amongst the Gods but they will of necessity infest this Lower Mortal Region and Nature Wherefore we ought to endeavour to flee from hence with all possible speed and our flight from hence is this to assimilate our selves to God as much as may be Which Assimilation to God consisteth in being Just and Holy with Wisdom Thus according to the Sence of Plato though God be the Original of all things yet he is not to be accounted properly the Cause of Evils at least Moral ones they being only Defects but they are to be imputed to the Necessity of Imperfect Beings which is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Necessity which doth often resist God and as it were shake off his Bridle Rational Creatures being by means thereof in a Capability of acting contrary to God's Will and Law as well as their own true Nature and Good and other things hindred of that Perfection which the Divine Goodness would else have imparted to them Notwithstanding which Mind that is God is said also by Plato to Rule over Necessity because those Evils occasioned by the Necessity of Imperfect Beings are Over-ruled by the Divine Art Wisdom and Providence for Good Typhon and Arimanius if we may use that Language being as it were Outwitted by Osiris and Oromasdes and the worst of all Evils made in spight of their own Nature to contribute subserviently to the Good and Perfection of the Whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this must needs be acknowledged to be the greatest Art of all to be able to Bonifie Evils or Tincture them with Good And now we have made it to appear as we conceive that Plutarch had no sufficient Grounds to impute this Opinion of Two Active Perceptive Principles in the World one the Cause of Good and the other of Evil to Plato And as for the other Greek Philosophers his Pretences to make them Assertors of the same Doctrine seem to be yet more slight and frivolous For he concludes the Pythagoreans to have held Two such Substantial Principles of Good and Evil merely because they sometimes talkt of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Contrarieties and Conjugations of things such as Finite and Infinite Dextrous and Sinistrous Eaven and Odd and the like As also that Heraclitus entertain'd the same Opinion because he spake of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Versatil Harmony of the World whereby things reciprocate forwards and backwards as when a Bow is successively Intended and Remitted as likewise because he affirmed All things to flow and War to be the Father and Lord of all Moreover he resolves that Empedocles his Friendship and Contention could be no other than a Good and Evil God though we have rendred it probable that nothing else was understood thereby but an Active Spermatick Power in this Corporeal World causing Vicissitudes of Generation and Corruption Again Anaxagoras is entitled by him to the same Philosophy for no other reason but only because he made Mind and Infinite Matter Two Principles of the Universe And Lastly Aristotle himself cannot scape him from being made an Assertor of a Good and Evil God too merely because he concluded Form and Privation to be Two Principles of Natural Bodies Neither does Plutarch acquit himself any thing better as to the Sence of Whole Nations when this Doctrine is therefore imputed by him to the Chaldeans because their Astrologers supposed Two of the Planets to be Beneficent Two Maleficent and Three of a Middle Nature and to the ancient Greeks because they sacrificed not only to Jupiter Olympius but also to Hades or Pluto who was sometimes called by them the Infernal Jupiter We confess that his Interpretation of the Traditions and Mysteries of the ancient Egyptians is ingenious but yet there is no necessity for all that that by their Typhon should be understood a Substantial Evil Principle or God Self-existent as he contends For it being the manner of the ancient Pagans as shall be more fully declared afterwards to Physiologize in their Theology and to Personate all the several Things in Nature it seems more likely that these Egyptians did after that manner only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Personate that Evil and Confusion Tumult and Hurliburly Constant Alternation and Vicissitude of Generations and Corruptions which is in this Lower World though not without a Divine Providence by Typhon Wherefore the only Probability now left is that of the Persian Magi that they might indeed assert Two such Active Principles of Good and Evil as Plutarch and the Manicheans afterwards did and we must confess that there is some Probability of this because besides Plutarch Laertius affirms the same of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there are Two Principles according to the Persian Magi a Good Demon and an Evil one he seeming to Vouch it also from the Autorities of Hermippus Eudoxus and Theopompus Notwithstanding which it may very well be Questioned whether the meaning of those Magi were not herein misunderstood they perhaps intending nothing more by their Evil Demon than such a Satanical Power as we acknowledge that is not a Substantial Evil-Principle unmade and Independent upon God but only a Polity of Evil Demons in the World united together under One Head or Prince And this not only because Theodorus in Photius calls the Persian Arimanius by that very name Satanas but also because those very Traditions of theirs recorded by Plutarch himself seem very much to favour this Opinion they running after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is a Fatal time at hand in which Arimanius the Introducer of Plagues and Famines must of necessity be utterly destroyed and when the Earth being made plain and equal there shall be but one Life and one
the Earth and Hell One being the God or Goddess of Learning and Wisdom Another of Speech and Eloquence Another of Justice and Political Order One the God of War Another the God of Pleasure One the God of Corn and Another the God of Wine and the like For how can it be conceived that a Multitude of Understanding Beings Self-existent and Independent could thus of themselves have fallen into such a Uniform Order and Harmony and without any clashing peaceably and quietly sharing the Government of the whole World amongst them should carry it on with such a Constant Regularity For which Cause we conclude also that neither those Dii Majorum Gentium whether the Twenty Selecti or the Twelve Consentes nor yet that Triumvirate of Gods amongst whom Homer shares the Government of the whole World according to that of Maximus Tyrius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sea being assigned to Neptune the Dark and Subterraneous Parts to Pluto but the Heaven to Jupiter which Three are sometimes called also the Celestial Marine and Terrestrial Jupiter Nor lastly that other Roman and Samothracian Trinity of Gods worshipped all together in the Capitol Jupiter Minerva and Juno I say that none of all these could reasonably be thought by the Pagans themselves to be so many really distinct Vnmade and Self-existent Deities Wherefore the Truth of this whole business seems to be this that the ancient Pagans did Physiologize in their Theology and whether looking upon the Whole World Animated as the Supreme God and consequently the Several Parts of it as his Living Members or else apprehending it at least to be a Mirror or Visible Image of the Invisible Deity and consequently all its Several Parts and Things of Nature but so many Several Manifestations of the Divine Power and Providence they pretended that all their Devotion towards the Deity ought not to be Hudled up in one General and Confused Acknowledgment of a Supreme Invisible Being the Creator and Governour of all but that all the Several Manifestations of the Deity in the World considered singly and apart by themselves should be made so many Distinct Objects of their Devout Veneration and therefore in order hereunto did they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak of the things in Nature and the Parts of the World as Persons and consequently as so many Gods and Goddesses yet so as that the Intelligent might easily understand the Meaning that these were all really nothing else but so many Several Names and Notions of that One Numen Divine Force and Power which runs through the whole World multiformly displaying it self therein To this purpose Balbus in Cicero Videtisne ut à Physicis rebus tracta Ratio sit ad Commentitios Fictos Deos See you not how from the Things of Nature Fictitious Gods have been made And Origen seems to insist upon this very thing where Celsus upbraids the Jews and Christians for worshipping One only God shewing that all that seeming Multiplicity of Pagan Gods could not be understood of so Many Distinct Substantial Independent Deities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To this Sence Let Celsus therefore himself shew how he is able to make out a Multiplicity of Gods Substantial and Self-existent according to the Greeks and other Barbarian Pagans let him declare the Essence and Substantial Personality of that Memory which by Jupiter generated the Muses or of that Themis which brought forth the Hours Or let him shew how the Graces always Naked do subsist by themselves But he will never be able to do this nor to make it appear that those Figments of the Greeks which seem to be really nothing else but the Things of Nature turned into Persons are so many distinct Self-existent Deities Where the latter Words are thus rendred in a Late Edition Sed nunquam poterit Celsus Graecorum Figmenta quae validiora fieri videntur ex rebus ipsis Deos esse arguere which we confess we cannot understand but we conceive the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there turned Validiora fieri is here used by Origen in the same sence with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that his meaning is as we have declared that those Figments of the Greeks and other Barbarian Pagans which are the same with Balbus his Commentitii Ficti Dii are really nothing else but the Things of Nature Figuratively and Fictitiously Personated and consequently not so many Distinct Substantial Deities but only several Notions and Considerations of One God or Supreme Numen in the World Now this Fictitious Personating and Deifying of Things by the Pagan Theologers was done Two manner of ways One when those Things in Nature were themselves without any more ado or Change of Names spoken of as Persons and so made Gods and Goddesses as in the many instances before proposed Another when there were distinct Proper and Personal Names accommodated severally to those Things as of Minerva to Wisdom of Neptune to the Sea of Ceres to Corn and of Bacchus to Wine In which Latter Case those Personal Names Properly signifie the Invisible Divine Powers supposed to preside over those several Things in Nature and these are therefore properly those Gods and Goddesses which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Givers and Dispensers of the Good Things and the Removers of the Contrary but they are used Improperly also for the Things of Nature themselves which therefore as Manifestations of the Divine Power Goodness and Providence Personated are sometimes also Abusively called Gods and Goddesses This Mystery of the Pagan Polytheism is thus fully declared by Moscopulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must know that whatsoever the Greeks or Pagans saw to have any Power Vertue or Ability in it they looked upon it as not acting according to such Power without the Providence Presidency or Influence of the Gods and they called both the Thing it self which hath the Power and the Deity presiding over it by one and the same Name whence the Ministerial Fire used in Mechanick Arts and the God presiding over those Arts that work by fire were both alike called Hephaestus or Vulcan so the name Demetra or Ceres was given as well to Corn and Fruits as to that Goddess which bestows them Athena or Minerva did alike signifie Wisdom and the Goddess which is the Dispenser of it Dionysus or Bacchus Wine and the God that giveth Wine whence Plato etymologizes the Name from giving of Wine In like manner they called both the Childbearing of Women and the Goddesses that superintend over the same Eilithuia or Lucina Coitus or Copulation and the Deity presiding over it Aphrodite or Venus And lastly in the same manner by the Muses they signified both those Rational Arts Rhetorick Astronomy Poetry and the Goddesses which assist therein or promote the same Now as the several Things in Nature and Parts of the Corporeal World are thus Metonymically and Catacrestically called Gods and Goddesses it is evident that such Deities as
of Darkness Another God makes a World out of it c. And again afterwards he writes further to the same purpose Discat ergò Faustus Monarchiae Opinionem non ex Gentibus nos habere sed Gentes non usque adeò ad Falsos Deos esse dilapsas ut Opinionem amitterent Vnius Veri Dei ex quo est Omnis qualiscunque Natura Let Faustus therefore know that We Christians have not derived the Opinion of Monarchy from the Pagans but that the Pagans have not so far degenerated sinking down into the Worship of false Gods as to have lost the Opinion of One True God from whom is all Whatsoever Nature XIV It follows from what we have declared that the Pagan Polytheism or Multiplicity of Gods is not to be understood in the sence before expressed of Many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many Vnproduced and Self-existent Deities but according to some other Notion or Equivocation of the word Gods For God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of those words that hath been used in many different sences the Atheists themselves acknowledging a God and Gods according to some Private Sences of their own which yet they do not all agree in neither and Theists not always having the same Notion of that Word Forasmuch as Angels in Scripture are called Gods in one sence that is as Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to men Immortal Holy and Happy and the word is again sometimes carried down lower to Princes and Magistrates and not only so but also to Good men as such when they are said to be Made Partakers of the Divine Nature And thus that learned Philosopher and Christian Boethius Omnis Beatus Deus sed Natura quidem Vnus Participatione verò nihil prohibet esse quamplurimos every Good and Happy man is a God and though there be only One God by Nature yet nothing hinders but that there may be Many by Participation But then again all Men and Angels are alike denied to be Gods in other Respects and particularly as to Religious Worship Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou Serve Now this is that which seems to be Essentially included in the Pagan Notion of the word God or Gods when taken in general namely a Respect to Religious Worship Wherefore a God in general according to the sence of the Pagan Theists may be thus defined An Vnderstanding Being superiour to Men not originally derived from Sensless Matter and look'd upon as an Object for mens Religious Worship But this general Notion of the word God is again restrained and limited by Differences in the Division of it For such a God as this may be either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ingenerate or Vnproduced and consequently Self-existent or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Generated or Produced and Dependent on some Higher Being as its Cause In the former sence the Intelligent Pagans as we have declared acknowledged only One God who was therefore called by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to that of Thales in Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is the oldest of all things because he is Vnmade or Vnproduced and the only thing that is so but in the latter they admitted of Many Gods Many Vnderstanding Beings which though Generated or Produced yet were Superiour to Men and look'd upon as Objects for their Religious Worship And thus the Pagan Theists were both Polytheists and Monotheists in different Sences they acknowledged both Many Gods and One God that is Many Inferiour Deities subordinate to One Supreme Thus Onatus the Pythagorean in Stobaeus declares himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seemeth to me that there is not only One God but that there is One the Greatest and Highest God that governeth the whole World and that there are Many other Gods besides him differing as to power that One God reigning over them all who surmounts them all in Power Greatness and Vertue This is that God who conteins and comprehends the whole World but the other Gods are those who together with the Revolution of the Vniverse orderly follow that First and Intelligible God Where it is evident that Onatus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Many Gods were only the Heavenly Bodies or Animated Stars And partly from those words cited but chiefly others which follow after in the same place that will be produced elsewhere it plainly appears that in Onatus his time there were some who acknowledged One Only God denying all those other Gods then commonly Worshipped And indeed Anaxagoras seems to have been such a one forasmuch as asserting One Perfect Mind Ruling over all which is the True Deity he effectually degraded all those other Pagan Gods the Sun Moon and Stars from their Godships by making the Sun nothing but a Globe of Fire and the Moon Earth and Stones and the like of the other Stars and Planets And some such there were also amongst the Ancient Egyptians as shall be declared in due place Moreover Proclus upon Plato's Timaeus tells us that there hath been always less doubt and controversie in the World concerning the One God than concerning the Many Gods Wherefore Onatus here declares his own sence as to this particular viz. that besides the One Supreme God there were also Many other Inferiour Deities that is Vnderstanding Beings that ought to be Religiously Worshipped But because it is not impossible but that there might be imagin'd One Supreme Deity though there were many other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnmade made and Self-existent Gods besides as Plutarch supposed before One Supreme God together with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Irrational Soul or Daemon Vnmade Inferiour in power to it therefore we add in the next place that the more Intelligent Pagans did not only assert One God that was Supreme and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most Powerful of all the Gods but also who being Omnipotent was the Principle and Cause of all the rest and therefore the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only Vnproduced and Self-existent Deity Maximus Tyrius affirms this to have been the general sence of all the Pagans that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One God the King and Father of all and many Gods the Sons of God reigning together with God Neither did the Poets imply any thing less when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was so often called by the Greeks and Jupiter by the Latins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Hominum Pater atque Deorum or Hominum Satórque Deorum and the like And indeed the Theogonia of the ancient Pagans before mention'd was commonly thus declared by them universally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Gods were Generated or as Herodotus expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every one of the Gods was Generated or Produced which yet is not so to be understood as if they had therefore supposed no God at all Vnmade or Self-exâ—stent which is Absolute Atheism but that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the
matter but taking Plato in all this to have been in very good earnest interprets these Poetick Gods or Demons mentioned by him to be the Gods below the Moon notwithstanding that the Earth was mentioned before by Plato calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gods that cause Generation and seeming to understand thereby the Animated Elements Jupiter being here not taken as he is often elsewhere for the Supreme God but only for the Animated Ether as Juno for the Animated Air. And upon this occasion he runs out into a long Dispute to prove that not only the Stars were Animated but also all the other Sublunary Bodies or Elements 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if the whole World be a Happy God then none of the Parts of it are Godless or devoid of Providence but if all things partake of God and Providence then are they not unfurnisht of the Divine Nature and if so there must be some peculiar Orders of Gods presiding over them For if the Heavens by reason of particular Souls and Minds partake of that one Soul and one Mind why should we not conclude the same concerning the Elements that they also by certain intermedious Orders of Gods partake of that One Divinity of the whole World Wherefore a little before the same Proclus highly condemns certain Ancient Physiologers whom he supposeth Aristotle to have followed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Elements were thought by most of the Ancient Physiologers to be Inanimate and to be moved Fortuitously without Providence For though they acknowledged the Heavenly Bodies by reason of that Order that appears in them to partake of Mind and Gods yet they left this Sublunary World or Genesis to Float up and down without Providence And these Aristotle afterwards followed appointing immoveable Intelligences to preside over the Celestial Sphears only whether Eight or more but leaving all the lower Elements Dead and Inanimate Lastly besides all those other Mundane Gods before mentioned as Generated together with the World though Proclus seem to be of another Opinion yet it is manifest that Plato doth not there in his Timaeus altogether forget those properly called Daemons elsewhere so much insisted upon by him but in the very next following words he plainly insinuates them after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gods which appear visibly to us as often as they please or which can appear and disappear at pleasure speaking also of their Genesis or Generation as part of the Cosmogonia and then again afterwards calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Junior Gods he describes them as those whose particular Office it was to superintend and preside over Humane Affairs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to govern this mortal Animal Man after the best manner possible so that he should no otherwise fail of doing well or being happy than as he became a cause of Evil and Misery to himself by the abuse of his own Liberty And thus much out of Plato's Timaeus but the same thing might be proved also out of his other Writings as particularly from that Passage in his Tenth Book of Laws where he takes notice again of the Theogonia of the Ancients and that as it had been depraved and corrupted by a great mixture of Impious and Immoral Fables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are saith he extant amongst us Athenians certain stories and traditions very ancient concerning the Gods written partly in Metre and partly in Prose declaring how the Heaven and the other Gods were at first made or Generated and then carrying on their fabulous Theogonia farther how these Generated Gods afterward conversed with one another and ingendring after the manner of men begat other Gods Where that Philosopher taking off his vizard plainly discovers his great dislike of that whole Fabulous Theogonia however he acknowledges elsewhere that it did contain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Physiological Allegories under it as a thing that was destructive of all Piety and Vertue by reason of its attributing all Humane Passions and Vices to the Gods However it plainly appears from hence that the Theogonia and the Cosmogonia were one and the same thing the Generation of the Gods being here the Generation of the Heaven and of the Sun Moon and Stars and the like Moreover this same thing is sufficiently manifest also even from Hesiod's own Theogonia which doubtless was that which Plato principally aimed at and if it were not absolutely the First yet is it the most ancient Writing now extant in that kind For there in the beginning of that Poem Hesiod invokes his Muses after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salvete natae Jovis date verò amabilem cantilenam Celebrate quoque immortalium divinum genus semper existentium Qui Tellure prognati sunt Coelo stellato Noctéque caliginosâ quos item salsus nutrivit Pontus Dicite insuper ut primùm Dii Terra facti fuerint Et Flumina Pontus immensus aestu fervens Astraque sulgentia Caelum latum supernè Et qui ex his nati sunt Dii datores bonorum Where we see plainly that the Generation of the Gods is the Generation of the Earth Heaven Stars Seas Rivers and other things begotten from them as probably amongst the rest Demons and Nymphs which the same Hesiod speaks of elsewhere But immediatly after this Invocation of the Muses the Poet begins with Chaos and Tartara and Love as the First Principles and then procedes to the Production of the Earth and of Night out of Chaos of the Ether and of Day from Night of the Starry Heavens Mountains and Seas c. All which Genesis or Generation of Gods is really nothing but a Poetical Description of the Cosmogonia as throughout the Sequele of that whole Poem all seems to be Physiology veiled under Fiction and Allegories And thus the Ancient Scholia upon that Book begin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must know that the whole Doctrine of the Theogonia contains under it in way of Allegory a Physiological Declaration of things Hesiod's Gods being not only the Animated Parts of the World but also all the other Things of Nature fictitiously Personated and Deified or Abusively called Gods and Goddesses Neither was this only the Doctrine of the Greeks that the World was thus Made or Generated and that the Generation of the World was a Theogonia or a Generation of Gods the World it self and its several Parts being accounted such by them but also in like manner of the other Barbarian Pagans For Diogenes Laertius hath recorded concerning the Persian Magi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they did both assert the Being and Generation of Gods and also that these Gods were Fire and Earth and Water that is That the Animated Elements were Gods as Proclus also before declared and
Father hath the fulness of Life in it and there is nothing in it through Eternity neither Whole nor Part which does not live for there neither is nor hath been nor shall be any thing Dead in the world The meaning is that all things vitally depend upon the Deity who is said in Scripture to quicken and enliven all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is God the Vniverse or All. And in this Vniverse there is nothing which he is not Wherefore there is neither Magnitude nor Place nor Quality nor Figure nor Time about God for he is All or the Whole but those things belong to Parts And the Arcane Cantion though that Thirteenth Book to which it is subjoyned be supposititious yet harps much upon this Point of the Egyptian Theology That God is All 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am about to praise the Lord of the Creation the All and the One. And again All the Powers that are in me praise the One and the All. Book the Fifteenth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any one go about to separate the All from the One he will destroy the All or the Vniverse for All ought to be One Book the Sixteenth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will begin with a Prayer to him who is the Lord and Maker and Father and bound of all things and who being All things is One and being One is All things for the fulness of All things is One and in One. And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are Parts of God but if all things be Parts of God then God is All things Wherefore He making All things doth as it were make himself Now by all this we see how well these Trismegistick Books agree with that Ancient Egyptian Inscription in the Temple of Sais That God is all that Was Is and Shall be Wherefore the Egyptian Theology thus undoubtedly asserting One God that was All things it is altogether impossible that it should acknowledge a Multitude of Self-existent and Independent Deities Hitherto we have taken notice of Two several Egyptian Names for One and the same Supreme Deity Hammon and Neith but we shall find that besides these the Supreme God was sometimes worshipped by the Egyptians under other Names and Notions also as of Isis Osiris and Sarapis For first though Isis have been taken by some for the Moon by others for the whole Earth by others for Ceres or Corn by others for the Land of Egypt which things in what sence they were Deified by the Egyptians will be elsewhere declared yet was she undoubtedly taken also sometimes for an Vniversal and All-comprehending Numen For Plutarch affirms that Isis and Neith were really one and the same God among the Egyptians and therefore the Temple of Neith or Minerva at Sais where the forementioned Inscription was found is called by him the Temple of Isis so that Isis as well as Neith or Minerva among the Egyptians was there described as That God who is All that Was Is and Shall be and whose Veil no Mortal hath ever uncovered that is not a particular God but an Universal and All-comprehending Numen And this may be yet further confirmed from that Ancient Inscription and Dedication to the Goddess Isis still extant at Capua TIBI UNA QUAE ES. OMNIA DEA ISIS Where the Goddess Isis is plainly declared to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and All things that is a Vniversal and All-comprehending Deity And with this agreeth also that Oration of this Goddess Isis in Apuleius En adsum tuis commota Luci precibus rerum Natura Parens elementorum omnium Domina seculorum Progenies initialis Summa numinum Regina marium Prima Coelitum Deorum Dearumque Facies uniformis quae coeli luminosa culmina maris salubria flamina inferorum deplorata silentia nutibus meis dispenso Cujus Numen unicum multiformi specie ritu vario nomine mùltijugo totus veneratur orbis Behold here am I moved by thy Prayers Lucius that Nature which was the Parent of things the Mistress of all the Elements the Beginning and Original of Ages the Sum of all the Divine Powers the Queen of the Seas the First of the Celestial Inhabitants the Vniform Face of Gods and Goddesses which with my becks dispense the Luminous Heights of the Heavens the wholesome Blasts of the Sea and the deplorable silences of Hell whose only Divine Power the whole World worships and adores in a Multiform manner and under Different Rites and Names From which words it is plain that this Goddess Isis was not the meer Animated Moon which was rather a Symbol of her but that she was an Universal Deity comprehensive of the whole Nature of things the One Supreme God worshipped by the Pagans under several Names and with different Rites And this is the plain meaning of those last words Numen Vnicum c. that the whole World worshippeth one and the same Supreme God in a multiform manner with various Rites and under many different Names For besides the Several Names of the other Pagans there mentioned the Egypptians worshipped it under the Names of Hammon Neith and others that shall be afterwards declared And thus was Isis again worshipped and invok'd as the unicum Numen or only Divine power by Apuleius himself in these following Words Tu sancta humani generis Sospitatrix perpetua dulcem matris affectionem miseris tribuis fatorum inextricabiliter contorta retractas litia fortunae tempestates mitigas stellarum noxios meatus cohibes Te Superi colunt observant Inferi Tu rotas orbem luminas solem regis mundum calcas Tartarum Tibi respondent sydera gaudent numina serviunt elementa Tuo nutu spirant flamina c. Thou holy and perpetual Saviour of Mankind that art always bountiful in cherishing Mortals and dost manifest the dear affections of a Mâ—â—her to them in their Calamities thou extricatest the involved threds of Fate mitigatest the tempests of Fortune and restrainest the noxious Influences of the Stars the Celestial Gods worship thee the Infernal Powers obey thee thou rollest round the Heavens enlightnest the Sun governest the World treadest upon Tartarus or Hell the Starrs obey thee the Elements serve thee at thy beck the winds blow c. Where Isis is plainly supposed to be an Universal Numen and supreme Monarch of the World Neither may this hinder that she was called a Goddess as Neith also was these Pagans making their Deities to be indifferently of either Sex Male or Female But much more was Osiris taken for the Supreme Deity whose name was sometimes said to have signified in the Egyptian Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which had many Eyes sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an active and beneficent Force and whose Hieroglyphick was an Eye and a Scepter the former signifying Providence and Wisdom and the Latter Power and Majesty as Plutarch tells us Who also is thus described in Apuleius Deus Deorum magnorum potior
Life is the Soul Concord contains Houses and Cities the cause of which Concord is Law and Harmony contains the whole World the cause of which Mundane Harmony is God And to the same purpose Aristaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Artificer is to Art so is God to the Harmony of the world There is also this passage in the same Stobaeus cited out of an anonymous Pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is the Principle and the First thing and the World though it be not the Supreme God yet is it Divine Timaeus Locrus a Pythagorean Senior to Plato in his Book concerning Nature or the Soul of the World upon which Plato's Timaeus was but a kind of Commentary plainly acknowledgeth both One Supreme God the Maker and Governour of the whole World and also Many other Gods his Creatures and subordinate Ministers in the close thereof writing thus concerning the punishment of wickedmen after this life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these things hath Nemesis decreed to be executed in the second Circuit by the Ministry of Vindictive Terrestrial Demons that are Overseers of humane affairs to which Demons that Supreme God the Ruler over all hath committed the Government and Administration of the World Which world is compleated and made up of Gods Men and other Animals all Created according to the best Pattern of the Eternal and Vnmade Idea In which words of Timaeus there are these Three several Points of the Pagan Theology contained First that there is One Supreme God Eternal and Unmade the Creator and Governour of the whole World and who made it according to the Best Pattern or Exemplar of his own Idea's and Eternal Wisdom Secondly that this World Created by God is compounded and made up of other Inferiour Gods Men and Brute Animals Thirdly that the Supreme God hath committed the Administration of our Humane Affairs to Demons and Inferiour Gods who are constant inspectors over us some of which he also makes use of for the punishment of wicked men after this life Moreover in this Book of Timaeus Locrus the Supreme God is often called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in way of eminency sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mind sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Very Good sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Principle of the Best things sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Maker of the Better Evil being supposed not to proceed from him sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Best and most Powerful Cause sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince and Parent of all things Which God according to him is not the Soul of the World neither but the Creator thereof he having made the World an Animal and a Secondary Generated God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God willing to make the world the Best that it was capable of made it a Generated God such as should never be destroyed by any other Cause but only by that God himself who framed it if he should ever will to dissolve it But since it is not the part of that which is good to destroy the Best of Works the World will doubtless ever remain Incorruptible and Happy the best of all Generated things made by the Best Cause looking not at Patterns Artificially framed without him but the Idea and Intelligible Essence as the Paradigms which whatsoever is made conformable to must needs be the Best and such as shall never need to be mended Moreover he plainly declares that this Generated God of his the World was produced in Time so as to have a Beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before the Heaven was made existed the Idea Matter and God the Opifex of the Best Wherefore whatever Ocellus and Philolaus might do yet this Timaeus held not the Worlds Eternity wherein he followed not only Pythagoras himself as we have already shewed but also the generality of the first Pythagoreans of whom Aristotle pronounces without exception 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they Generated the World Timaeus indeed in this Book seems to assert the Pre-eternity of the Matter as if it were a Self-existent Principle together with God and yet Clemens Alexandrinus cites a passage out of him looking another way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Would you hear of one only Principle of all things amongst the Greeks Timaeus Locrus in his Book of Nature will bear me witness thereof he there in express words writing thus There is One Principle of All Things Vnmade for if it were made it would not be a Principle but that would be the Principle from whence it was made Thus we see that Timaeus Locrus asserted One Eternal and Vnmade God the maker of the whole World and besides this another Generated God the World it self Animated with its several Parts the difference betwixt both which Gods is thus declared by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Eternal God who is the Prince Original and Parent of all these things is seen only by the Mind but the other Generated God is visible to our eyes viz. this world and those parts of it which are Heavenly that is the Stars as so many particular Gods contained in it But here it is to be observed that that Eternal God is not only so called by Timaeus as being without beginning but also as having a distinct kind of duration from that of Time which is properly called Aeon or Eternity he therein following Parmenides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time is but an Image of that Vnmade Duration which we call Eternity wherefore as this sensible World was made according to that Eternal Exemplar or Pattern of the Intelligible World so was Time made together with the World as an Imitation of Eternity It hath been already observed that Onatus another Pythagorean took notice of an Opinion of some in his time that there was One only God who comprehended the whole World and no other Gods besides or at least none such as was to be religiously worshipped himself in the mean time asserting That there was both One God and Many Gods or besides One Supreme and Vniversal Numen Many other Inferiour and Particular Deities to whom also men ought to pay Religious Worship Now his further account of both these Assertions is contained in these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They who maintain that there is only One God and not Many Gods are very much mistaken as not considering aright what the Dignity and Majesty of the Divine Transcendency chiefly consisteth in namely in Ruling and Governing those which are like to it that is Gods and in excelling or surmounting Others and being Superiour to them But all those other Gods which we contend for are to that First and Intelligible God but as the Dancers to the Coryphaeus or Choragus as the Inferior Common Soldiers to the Captain or General to whom it properly belongeth to follow and comply with their Leader and Commander The work indeed
is common or the same to them both to the Ruler and them that are Ruled but they that are ruled could not orderly conspire and agree together into one work were they destitute of a Leader as the Singers and Dancers could not conspire together into one Dance and Harmony were they destitute of a Coryphaeus nor Soldiers make up one orderly Army were they without a Captain or Commander And as the Supreme God is here called by Onatus the Coryphaeus of the Gods so is he in like manner by the Writer De Mundo stiled the Coryphaeus of the World or the Praecentor and Presultor of it in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in a Chorus when the Coryphaeus or Precentor hath begun the whole Quire compounded of men and sometimes of women too followeth singing every one their part some in higher and some in lower notes but all mingling together into one complete Harmony so in the world God as the Coryphaeus the Praecentor and Praesultor beginning the Dance and Musick the Stars and Heavens move round after him according to those numbers and measures which he prescribes them all together making up one most excellent Harmony It was also before observed that Ecphantus the Pythagorean and Archelaus the Successor of Anaxagoras who were both of them Atomists in their Physiology did assert the World to have been Made at First and still to be governed by One Divine Mind which is more than some Atomists of ours in this present age who notwithstanding pretend to be very good Theists will acknowledge We shall in the next place mention Euclides Megarensis the Head of that Sect called Megarick and who is said to have been Plato's Master for some time after Socrates his death whose Doctrine is thus set down by Laertius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which we understand thus That Euclides who followed Xenophanes and Parmenides made the First Principle of all things to be One the very Good called sometimes Wisdom sometimes God sometimes Mind and sometimes by other Names but that he took away all that is Opposite to Good denying it to have any Real Entity that is he maintained that there was no Positive Nature of Evil or that Evil was no Principle And thus do we also understand that of Cicero when he represents the Doctrine of the Megaricks after this manner Id bonum solum esse quod esset Vnum Simile Idem Semper to wit that they spake this concerning God that Good or Goodness it self is a Name properly belonging to him who is also One and Like and the Same and Alwayes and that the true Good of man consisteth in a Participation of and Conformity with this First Good Which Doctrine Plato seems to have derived from him he in like manner calling the Supreme Deity by those Two Names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the One and the Good and concluding true humane Felicity to consist in a Participation of the First Good or of the Divine Nature In the next place we shall take notice of Antisthenes who was the Founder also of another Sect to wit the Cynick for he in a certain Physiological Treatise is said to have affirmed Esse Populares Deos Multos sed Naturalem Vnum That though there were many Popular Gods yet there was but One Natural God Or as it is expressed in Lactantius Vnum esse Naturalem Deum quamvis Gentes Vrbes suos habeant Populares That there was but One Natural God though Nations and Cities had their Several Popular Ones Wherefore Velleius the Epicurean in Cicero quarrels with this Antisthenes as one who destroyed the Nature of Gods because he denied a Multitude of Independent Deities such as Epicurus pretended to assert For this of Antisthenes is not so to be understood as if he had therein designed to take away all the Inferiour Gods of the Pagans which had he at all attempted he would doubtless have been accounted an Atheist as well as Anaxagoras was but his meaning was only to interpret the Theology of the Pagans concerning those other Gods of theirs that were or might be look'd upon as Absolute and Independent that these though Many Popular Gods yet indeed were but One and the same Natural God called by several Names As for example when the Greeks worshipped Zeus the Latins Jovis the Egyptians Hammon the Babylonians Bel the Scythians Pappaeus these were indeed many Popular Gods and yet nevertheless all but One and the same Natural God So again when in the self same Pagan Cities and Countries the respective Laws thereof made mention of several Gods as Supreme and Absolute in their several Territories as Jupiter in the Heavens Juno in the Air Neptune in the Sea or as being Chief in several kinds and Functions as Minerva for Learning Bellona for War c. for this Aristotle takes notice of in his Book against Zeno 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That according to the Laws of Cities and Countries one God was Best for one thing and another for another Antisthenes here declared concerning these also that they were indeed Many Popular or Civil Gods but all really One and the same Natural God To Antisthenes might be added Diogenes Sinopensis of whom it is recorded by Laertius that observing a Woman too superstitiously worshipping the Statue or Image of a God endeavouring to abate her Superstition he thus bespake her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take you not care O Woman of not behaving your self unseemly in the sight of that God who stands behind you for all things are full of him Thereby giving her occasion more to mind and regard that Supreme and Universal Numen that filleth the whole World and is every where XXIII It hath been frequently affirmed that Socrates died a Martyr for One only God in opposition to those Many Gods of the Pagans and Tertullian for one writeth thus of him Proptereà damnatus est Socrates quia Deos destruebat Socrates was therefore condemned to die because he destroyed the Gods And indeed that Socrates asserted one Supreme God the Maker and Governour of the whole World is a thing not at all to be doubted In his discourse with Aristodemus in Xenophon's first Book of Memoirs he convinced him that the things of this world were not made by Chance but by Mind and Counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am now convinced from what you say that the things of this world were the workmanship of some wise Artificer who also was a Lover of animals And so he endeavoured to perswade him that that Mind and Understanding which is in us was derived from some Mind and Understanding in the Universe as well as that Earth and Water which is in us from the Earth and Water of the Universe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do you think that you only have Wisdom in your self and that there is none any where else in the whole World without you though you know that you
Being before his Will but his Will is Himself or he Himself the first Will. So that he is as he would himself and such as he would and yet his will did not Generate or Produce any thing that was not before And now we may in all Probability conclude that Lactantius derived this Doctrine from Plato and Plotinus which how far it is to be either allowed of or excused we leave others to judge only we shall observe that as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently attributed to God by Christians as well as Pagans seems to imply as much so the Scope and Drift of Plotinus in all this was plainly no other than partly to set forth the Self-existence of the Supreme Deity after a more lively manner and partly to confute that odd Conceit which some might possibly entertain of God as if he either Happened by Chance to be what he is or else were such by a Certain Necessity of Nature and had his Being imposed upon him whereas he is as much every way what he would Will and Chuse to be as if he had Made himself by his own Will and Choice Neither have we set down all this only to give an account of that one Expression of Plato's That God causeth Himself and all things but also to show how punctually precise curious and accurate some of these Pagans were in there Speculations concerning the Deity To return therefore to Plato Though some have suspected that Trinity which is commonly called Platonick to have been nothing but a meer Figment and Invention of some later Platonists yet the contrary hereunto seems to be unquestionably evident that Plato himself really asserted such a Trinity of Vniversal and Divine Hypostases which have the nature of Principles For first whereas in his Tenth Book of Laws he professedly opposing Atheists undertakes to prove the Existence of a Deity he does notwithstanding there ascend no higher than to the Psyche or Vniversal Mundane Soul as a Self-moving Principle and the immediate or proper Cause of all that Motion which is in the World And this is all the God that there he undertakes to prove But in other places of his Writings he frequently asserts above the Self-moving Psyche an Immovable and Standing Nous or Intellect which was properly the Demiurgus or Architectonick Framer of the whole World And lastly above this Multiform Intellect he plainly asserts yet a higher Hypostasis One most Simple and most absolutely Perfect Being which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in opposition to that Multiplicity which speaks something of Imperfection in it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goodness it self as being above Mind and Vnderstanding the First Intelligible and an Infinite Fecundity together with overflowing Benignity And accordingly in his Second Epistle to Dionysius does he mention a Trinity of Divine Hypostases all together Now the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and the Divinity in Plato seem sometimes to comprehend this whole Trinity of Divine Hypostases as they are again sometimes severally applied to Each of them accordingly as we have already observed that Zeus or Jupiter in Plato is not always taken for the First and Highest Hypostasis in his Trinity but sometimes the Second Hypostasis of Mind or Intellect is meant thereby and sometimes again his Third Hypostasis of the Universal and Eternal Psyche nevertheless the First of these Three Hypostases is that which is properly called by the Platonists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Fountain of the Godhead and by Plato himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of All things about whom are All things and for whose sake are All things and the Cause of all Good and Excellent Things And this First Divine Hypostasis which in Plato's Theology is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original Deity is largely insisted upon by that Philosopher in the Sixth of his Politicks under the Name and Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Good but principally there illustrated by that Resemblance of the Sun called by that Philosopher also a Heavenly God and said to be the Off-spring of this Highest Good and something Analogous to it in the Corporeal World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the same in the Intelligible World to Intellect or Knowledge and Intelligibles that the Sun is in the Sensible World to Sight and Visibles For as the Sun is not Sight but only the Cause of it nor is that Light by which we see the same with the Sun it self but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sun-like Thing so neither is the Supreme and Highest Good properly Knowledge but the Cause of Knowledge nor is Intellect precisely considered as such the Best and Most Perfect Being but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Boniform Thing Again As the Sun gives to things not only their Visibility but also their Generation so does that the Highest Good not only cause the Cognoscibility of things but also their very Essences and Beings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Highest Good being not it self properly Essence but above Essence transcending the same both in respect of Dignity and Power Which Language and Conceit of Plato's some of the Greek Fathers seem to have entertained yet so as to apply it to the whole Trinity when they call God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Super-essential But the meaning of that Philosopher was as we conceive no other than this that this Highest Good hath no Particular Characteristick upon it limiting and determining of it it being the Hidden and Incomprehensible Sourse of all things In the Last place we shall observe that this First Divine Hypostasis of the Platonick Trinity is by that Philosopher called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Father of the Prince and Cause of All things Wherein we cannot but take notice of an Admirable Correspondency betwixt the Platonick Philosophy and Christianity in that the Second Hypostasis of both their Trinities called also sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Platonists as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said to be the Immediate Cause of All things and the Demiurgus the Architect Maker or Artificer of the Whole World Now to Plato we might here joyn Xenophon because he was his Equal and a Socratick too though it seems there was not so good Correspondence betwixt them which Xenophon however in sundry places of his Writings he acknowledge a Plurality of Gods yet doth he give plain Testimony also of One Supreme and Vniversal Numen as this particularly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that both agitates all things and establisheth the Frame of the whole world though he be manifest to be great and powerful yet is he as to his Form Inconspicuous XXIV In the next place we come to Aristotle Who that he acknowledged more Gods than One as well as the other Pagans appears from his using the word so often Plurally As particularly in this Passage of his Nicomachian Ethicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
delivered down to us from very ancient Times that the Stars are Gods also besides that Supreme Deity which contains the Whole Nature But all the other things were Fabulously added hereunto for the better Perswasion of the Multitude and for Vtility of Humane Life and Political Ends to keep men in Obedience to Civil Laws As for example that these Gods are of Humane Form or like to other Animals with such other things as are consequent hereupon In which words of Aristotle these Three Things may be taken notice of First That this was the General Perswasion of the Civilized Pagans from all known Antiquity downwards that there is One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comprehends the whole Nature Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by Aristotle plainly taken for the Supreme Deity And his own sence concerning this Particular is elsewhere thus declared after the same manner where he speaks of Order Harmony and Proportion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Work of the Divine Power which also conteinâ— this Vniverse Which Divinity Conteining and Compâ—ehending the Whole Nature and Vniverse must needs be a Single and Solitary Being according to that Expression of Horace before cited Nec viget quicquam Simile aut Secundum That which hath nothing Like it nor Second to it The next thing is That according to the Pagan Tradition besides this Vniversal Numen there were certain other Particular and Infeferiour Deities also that is Vnderstanding Beings Superiour to Men namely the Animated Stars or Spheres according to the Vulgar Apprehension though Aristotle's Philosophy would interpret this chiefly of their Immovable Minds or Intelligences Lastly that all the rest of the Pagan Religion and Theology those Two Things only excepted were Fabulous and Fictitious invented for the better Perswasion of the Vulgar to Piety and the conserving of them in Obedience to Civil Laws amongst which this may be reckoned for one that those Gods are all like Men or other Animals and therefore to be worshipped in Images and Statues of those several Forms with all that other Fabulous Farrago which dependeth hereupon Which being separated from the rest the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ancient Tradition of their Pagan Progenitors would remain comprized within those Two Particulars above mentioned namely that there is One Supreme Deity that Conteins the whole Vniverse and that besides it the Animated Stars or their Minds are certain Inferiour Gods also To Aristole may be here subjoyned Speusippus and Xenocrates his Equals and Corrivals they being Plato's Successors together with Theophrastus his own Scholar and Successor Concerning the former of which it is recorded in Cicero that agreeably with Plato he asserted Vim quandam quâ omnia regantur eamque Animalem One Animal and Intellectual Force by which all things are governed by reason whereof Velleius the Epicurean complains of him as thereby endeavouring Evellere ex animis cognitionem Deorum To pluck out of the minds of men the Notion of Gods as indeed both he and Plato did destroy those Epicurean Gods which were all supposed to be Independent and to have no Sway or Influence at all upon the Government of the World whereas neither of them denied a Plurality of Subordinate and Dependent Deities Generated or Created by One Supreme and by him Employed as his Ministers in the Oeconomy of the Universe For had they done any such thing as this they would certainly have been then condemned for Atheists And Xenocrates his Theology is thus represented in Stobaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That both a Monad and Dyad were Gods the one Masculine having the order of a Father which he calleth Zen and Mind and which is also to him the First God the other Feminine as it were the Mother of the Gods which is to him the Soul of the Vniverse besides which he acknowledgeth the Heaven to be Divine that is Animated with a Particular Soul of its own and the Fiery Stars to be Celestial Gods as he asserted also certain Sublunary Gods viz. the Invisible Demons Where instead of the Platonick Trinity Xenocrates seems to have acknowledg'd only a Duality of Divine Hypostases the First called a Monad and Mind the Second a Dyad and Soul of the Vniverse And lastly we have this Testimony of Theophrastus besides others cited out of his Metaphysicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is one Divine Principle of all things by or from which all things subsist and remain XXV The Stoicks and their chief Doctors Zeno Cleanthes and Chrysippus were no better Naturalists and Metaphysicians than Heraclitus in whose footsteps they trode they in like manner admitting no other Substance besides Body according to the true and proper Notion thereof as that which is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Distant and Extended but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resisting and Impenetrable So that according to these Stoicks the Souls not only of other Animals but of Men also were properly Corporeal that is Substances Impenetrably Extended and which differ'd from that other part of theirs commonly called their Body no otherwise than that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more Thin and Subtil Body and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Hot and Fiery Spirit it being supposed by these Philosophers that Cogitation Reason and Vnderstanding are lodged only in the Fiery Matter of the Universe And though the Generality of these Stoicks acknowledged Humane Souls to have a certain Permanency after Death and some of them till the next Conflagration unless perhaps they should be crushed and broken all to pieces in their Passage out of the Body by the down-fall of some Tower Steeple or the like upon them yet did they all conclude against their Immortality there being nothing at all Immortal with them as shall be afterwards declared save only Jupiter or the One Supreme Deity And as for the Punishment of Wicked Souls after death though some of them seem to have utterly exploded the same as a meer Figment of Poets insomuch that Epictetus himself denies there was any Acheron Cocytus or Phlegethon yet others granted that as the better Souls after Death did mount up to the Stars their First Original so the Wicked wandred up and down here in certain Dark and Miry Subterraneous Places till at length they were quite extinct Nevertheless they seem to have been all of this Perswasion that the Frightning of men with punishments after Death was no Proper nor Accommodate means to promote Virtue because that ought to be pursued after for its own sake or the Good of Honesty as Vice to be avoided for that Evil of Turpitude which is in it and not for any other External Evil consequent thereupon Wherefore Chrysippus reprehended Plato for subjoyning to his Republick such affrightful Stories of Punishments after death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysippus affirmeth that Plato in the Person of Cephalus does not rightly deterr men from Injustice
by the Fear of Divine Punishments and Vengeance after Death since this opinion of Torments after death is liable to much Exception and the contrary is not without Probabilities so that it seems to be but like to Womens frighting of Children from doing unhappy tricks with those Bugbears of Accho and Alphito But how fondly these Stoicks doted upon that Hypothesis That all was Body may appear from hence that they maintained even Accidents and Qualities themselves to be Bodies for Voice and Sound Night and Day Evening and Morning Summer and Winter nay Calends and Nones Months and Years were Bodies with them And not only so but also the Qualities of the Mind it self as Virtue and Vice together with the Motions and Affections of it as Anger and Envy Grief and Joy according to that passage in Seneca Corporis Bona sunt Corpora Corpora ergo sunt quae animi nam hic Corpus est The Goods of a Body are Bodies now the Mind is a Body and therefore the Goods of the Mind are Bodies too And with as good Logick as this did they further infer that all the Actions Passions and Qualities of the Mind were not only Bodies but also Animals likewise Animam constat Animal esse cum ipsa efficiat ut simus Animalia Virtus autem nihil aliud est quà m Animus taliter se habens ergo Animal est It is manifest that the Soul is an Animal because it is that by which we are made Animals now Vertue and Vice are nothing else but the Soul so and so affected or modified and therefore these are Animals too Thus we see what fine Conclusions these Doters upon Body though accounted great Masters of Logick made and how they were befooled in their Ratiocinations and Philosophy Nevertheless though these Stoicks were such Sottish Corporealists yet were they not for all that Atheists they resolving that Mind or Vnderstanding though always lodged in Corporeal Substance yet was not first of all begotten out of Sensless Matter so or so Modified but was an Eternal Vnmade thing and the Maker of the whole Mundane System And therefore as to that Controversie so much agitated amongst the Ancients Whether the World were made by Chance or by the Necessity of Material Motions or by Mind Reason and Vnderstanding they avowedly maintained that it was neither by Chance nor by Material Necessity but Divinâ Mente by a Divine and Eternal Mind every way perfect From which One Eternal Mind they also affirmed Humane Souls to have been derived and not from Sensless Matter Prudentiam Mentem â Diis ad Homines pervenisse that Mind and Wisdom descended down to Men from the Deity And that Ratio nihil aliud est quà m in Corpus humanum Pars Divini Spiritus mersa Reason is nothing else but Part of the Divine Spirit merg'd into a Humane Body so that these Humane Souls were to them no other than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain Parts of God or Decerptions and Avulsions from him Neither were the Reasons by which these Stoicks would prove the World to have had a Divine Original at all Contemptible or much inferiour to those which have been used in these Latter days they being such as these First That it is no more likely this Orderly System of the World should have been made by Chance than that Ennius his Annals or Homer's Iliads might have resulted from the Fortuitous Projection or Tumbling out of so many Forms of Letters confounded all together There being as much continued and coherent Sence and as many several Combinations in this Real Poem of the World as there is in any Phantastick Poem made by men And since we see no Houses or Cities no Books or Libraries any where made by the fortuitous Motions of Matter it is a madness to think that this Admirable Compages of the whole World should first have resulted from thence Again There could not possibly be such an Agreeing and Conspiring Cognation of things and such a Vniversal Harmony throughout the whole World as now there is nisi ea Vno Divino Continuato Spiritu continerentur were they not all conteined by One and the same Divine Spirit Which is the most obvious Argument for the Unity or Onelyness of the Deity They reasoned also from the Scale of Nature or the Gradual Perfection of things in the Universe one above another That therefore there must be something Absolutely Perfect and that either the World it self or something presiding over it was à Principio Sapiens Wise from the Beginning or rather without Beginning and from Eternity For as in the Growth of Plants and Animals Naturae suo quodam Itinere ad Vltimum pervenit Nature by a Continual Progress and Journeying forwards arrives at length to the greatest Perfection which those things are respectively capable of And as those Arts of Picture and Architecture aim at Perfection ita in omni Naturâ necesse est Absolvi aliquid Perfici so in the Nature of the whole Vniverse there must needs be something Absolutely Perfect reach'd unto Necesse est praestantem aliquam esse Naturam qua nihil est Melius Since there is such a Gradual Ascent and Scale of Perfections in Nature one above another there must needs be some most Excellent and Perfect Being than which nothing can be Better at the Top of all as the Head thereof Moreover they disputed Socratically after this manner Vnde arripuit Homo Vitam Mentem Rationem Whence did man snatch Life Reason or Vnderstanding Or from what was it Kindled in him For is it not plain that we derive the Moisture and Fluidity of our Bodies from the Water that is in the Vniverse their Consistency and Solidity from the Earth their Heat and Activity from the Fire and their Spirituosity from the Air Illud autem quod vincit haec omnia Rationem Mentem Consilium c. Vbi invenimus unde sustulimus An caetera Mundus habebit omnia Hoc unum quod plurimi est non habebit But that which far transcendeth all these things our Reason Mind and Vnderstanding where did we find it or from whence did we derive it Hath the Vniverse all those other things of ours in it and in a far greater proportion and hath it nothing at all of that which is the most excellent thing in us Nihil quod Animi quodque Rationis est expers id generare ex se potest Animantes compotesque Rationis Mundus autem generat Animantes compotes Rationis Nothing that is devoid of Mind and Reason can Generate things Animant and Rational but the World Generateth such and therefore it self or that which conteins it and presides over it must needs be Animant and Rational or Intellectual Which Argumentation is further set home by such Similitudes as these Si ex Oliva modulatè canentes Tibiae nascerentur non dubitares quin esset in Oliva Tibicinis quaedam Scientia Quid si
maintain it in that forementioned Book De Iside so was it further cleared and made out as Damascius informs us by Two Famous Egyptian Philosophers Asclepiades and Heraiscus in certain writings of theirs that have been since lost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though Eudemus hath given us no certain account of the Egyptians yet the Egyptian Philosophers of latter times have declared the hidden truth of their Theology having found in some Egyptian Monuments that according to them there is one Principle of all things celebrated under the name of the Vnknown Darkness and this thrice repeated c. Moreover this is to be observed concerning these Egyptians that they are wont to divide and multiply things that are One and the Same And accordingly have they divided and multiplied the First intelligible or the One Supreme Deity into the Properties of Many Gods as any one may find that pleases to consult their writings I mean that of Heraiscus entitled the Vniversal Doctrine of the Egyptians and inscribed to Proclus the Philosopher and that Symphony or Harmony of the Egyptians with other Theologers begun to be written by Asclepiades and left imperfect Of which Work of Asclepiades the Egyptian Suidas also maketh mention upon the Word Heraiscus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But Asclepiades having been more conversant with ancient Egyptian writings was more throughly instructed and exactly skilled in his Country Theology he having searched into the Principles thereof and all the consequences resulting from them as manifestly appeareth from those Hymns which he composed in praise of the Egyptian Gods and from that Tractate begun to be written by him but left unfinished which containeth The Symphony of all Theologies Now we say that Asclepiades his Symphony of all the Pagan Theologies and therefore of the Egyptian with the rest was their agreement in those Two Fundamentals expressed by Plutarch namely the worshipping of One Supreme and Vniversal Numen Reason and Providence governing all things and then of his Subservient Ministers the Instruments of Providence appointed by him over all the parts of the world Which being honoured under several Names and with different Rites and Ceremonies according to the Laws of the respective Countreys caused all that Diversity of Religions that was amongst them Both which Fundamental Points of the Pagan Theology were in like manner acknowledged by Symmachu's The First of them being thus expressed Aequum est quicquid omnes colunt Vnum putari That all Religions agreed in this the Worshipping of One and the same Supreme Numen and the Second thus Varios Custodes Vrbibus Mens Divina distribuit That the Divine Mind appointed divers Guardian and Tutelar Spirits under him unto Cities and Countries He there adding also that Suus cuique Mos est suum cuique Jus That every Nation had their peculiar Modes and Manners in worshipping of these and that these external differences in Religion ought not to be stood upon but every one to observe the Religion of his own Country Or else these Two Fundamental Points of the Pagan Theology may be thus expressed First that there is One Self-Originated Deity who was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Maker of the whole World Secondly That there are besides him Other Gods also to be Religiously worshipped that is Intellectual Beings superiour to men which were notwithstanding all Made or Created by that One Stobaeus thus declaring their sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the multitude of Gods is the work of the Demiurgus made by him together with the world XXIX And that the Pagan Theologers did thus generally acknowledge One Supreme and Vniversal Numen appears plainly from hence because they supposed the whole World to be an Animal Thus the Writer de Placitis Philos. and out of him Stobaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All others assert the World to be an Animal and governed by Providence only Leucippus Democritus and Epicurus and those who make Atoms and Vacuum the Principles of all things dissenting who neither acknowledge the World to be Animated nor yet to be governed by Providence but by an Irrational Nature Where by the way we may observe the Fraud and Juggling of Gassendus who takes occasion from hence highly to extol and applaud Epicurus as one who approached nearer to Christianity than all the other Philosophers in that he denied the World to be an Animal whereas according to the Language and Notions of those times to deny the Worlds Animation and to be an Atheist or to deny a God was one and the same thing because all the Pagans who then asserted Providence held the World also to be Animated neither did Epicurus deny the World's Animation upon any other account than this because he denied Providence And the Ground upon which this opinion of the Worlds Animation was built was such as might be obvious even to vulgar undererstandings and it is thus expressed by Plotinus according to the sence of the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is absurd to affirm that the Heaven or World is Inanimate or devoid of Life and Soul when we our selves who have but a part of the Mundane Body in us are endued with Soul For how could a Part have Life and Soul in it the Whole being Dead and inanimate Now if the whole world be One Animal then must it needs be Governed by One Soul and not by Many Which One Soul of the World and the whole Mundane Animal was by some of the Pagan Theologers as namely the Stoicks taken to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The First and Highest God of all Nevertheless others of the Pagan Theologers though asserting the World's Animation likewise yet would by no means allow the Mundane Soul to be the Supreme Deity they conceiving the First and Highest God to be an Abstract and Immovable Mind and not a Soul Thus the Panegyrist cited also by Gyraldus invokes the Supreme Deity doubtfully and cautiously as not knowing well what to call him whether Soul or Mind Te Summe rerum Sator cujus tot nomina sunt quot gentium linguas esse voluisti quem enim te ipse dici velis scire non possumus sive in te quaedam vis Mensque Divina est quae toto infusa mundo omnibus miscearis elementis sine ullo extrinsecus accedente vigoris impulsu per te ipse movearis sive aliqua supra omne Coelum potestas es quae hoc opus totum ex altiore Naturae arce despicias Te inquam oramus c. Thou Supreme Original of all things who hast as many Names as thou hast pleased there should be languages whether thou beest a certain Divine Force and Soul that infused into the whole world art mingled with all the Elements and without any External impulse moved from thy self or whether thou beest a Power Elevated above the Heavens which lookest down upon the whole work of Nature as from a higher Tower Thee
oâ—herwise than as it is by Him appointed Likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because all things are by him Connected together and proceed from him unhinderably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because all things in the world are determined and nothing left Infinite or Vndetermined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he makes an apt Division and Distribution of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because his Power is such as that none can possibly avoid or escape him Lastly that Ingenious Fable as he calls it of the Three Fatal Sisters Clotho Lachesis and Atropos according to him meant nothing but God neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All this is nothing else but God as the noble and generous Plato also intimates when he affirmeth God to contain the Beginning and Middle and End of all things And both Cicero and Seneca tell us that amongst the Latins God was not only called Fatum but also Natura and Fortuna Quid aliud est Natura saith Seneca quam Deus Divina Ratio toti Mundo Partibus ejus inserta What is Nature else but God and the Divine Reason inserted into the Whole World and all its Several Parts He adding that God and Nature were no more Two Different Things than Annaeus and Seneca And Nonnunquam Deum saith Cicero Fortunam appellant quod efficiat multa improvisa nec opinata nobis propter obscuritatem ignorationemque Causarum They sometimes call God also by the name of Fortune because he surprizeth us in many Events and bringeth to pass things unexpected to us by reason of the Obscurity of Causes and our Ignorance Seneca thus concludes concerning these and the like Names of God Omnia ejusdem Dei Nomina sunt variè utentis sua Potestate These are all Names of one and the same God Variously Manifesting his Power But concerning most of these forementioned Names of God and such as are like to them it was rightly observed by St. Austin that they had no such Appearance or shew of Many Distinct Gods Haec omnia cognomina imposuerunt Vni Deo propter Causas Potestatesque Diversas non tamen propter tot res etiam tot Deos eum esse coegerunt c. Though the Pagans imposed all these Several Names upon One God in respect of his Several Powers yet did they not therefore seem to make so many Gods of them as if Victor were one God and Invictus another God and Centupeda another God and Tigillus another and Ruminus another c. Wherrefore there are other Names of God used amongst the Pagans which have a greater show and appearance of so many Distinct Deities not only because they are Proper Names but also because each of them had their peculiar Temples appropriated to them and their different Rites of Worship Now these are of Two sorts First such as signifie the Deity according to its Vniversal and All-comprehending Nature and Secondly such as denote the same only according to certain Particular Powers Manifestations and Effects of it in the world Of the First kind there are not a few For First of all PAN as the the very word plainly implies him to be a Vniversal Numen and as he was supposed to be the Harmostes of the whole World or to play upon the World as a Musical Instrument according to that of Orpheus or Onomacritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So have we before showed that by him the Arcadians and Greeks meant not the Corporeal World Inanimate nor yet as endued with a Sensless Nature only but as proceeding from an Intellectual Principle or Divine Spirit which framed it Harmoniously and as being still kept in tune acted and governed by the same Which therefore is said to be the Vniversal Pastor and Shepherd of all Mankind and of the whole world according to that other Orphick passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pascens Humanum Genus ac sine limite Terram And this Pan Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus plainly invokes as the Supreme Numen Pan therefore is the One only God for there cannot possibly be more than One Pan more than One All or Vniverse who conteined All within himself displayed All from himself framing the World Harmoniously and who is in a manner All Things Again JANVS whom the Romans First invoked in all their Sacrifices and Prayers and who was never omitted whatsoever God they sacrificed unto was unquestionably many times taken for a Vniversal Numen as in this of Martial Nitidique Sator pulcherrime mundi And again in this of Ovid. Quicquid ubique vides Coelum Mare Nubila Terras Omnia sunt nostra clausa patentque Manu Me penes est Vnum vasti Custodia Mundi From which passages it also appears that Janus was not the meer Sensless and Inanimate Matter of the World but a Principle Presiding over it And without doubt all the Beginnings of things were therefore referred to this Janus because he was accounted the most Ancient God and the Beginning of all things St. Austin concluding him to be the same with Jupiter therefore quarrels with the Pagans that is with their Civil Theology for thus making Two Gods of One. Cum ergo Janus Mundus sit Jupiter Mundus sit Vnusque sit Mundus quare Duo Dii sunt Janus Jupiter Quare seorsum habent Templa seorsum Aras diversa Sacra dissimilia Simulachra Si propterea quia alia vis est Primordiorum alia Causarum ex illa Jani ex ista Jovis nomen accepit nunquid si unus homo in diversis rebus duas habeat potestates aut duas artes quia singularum diversa Vis est ideo Duo dicuntur Artifices c. Since therefore Janus is the World and Jupiter is the World and there is but one World how can Janus and Jupiter be Two Gods Why have they their Temples apart their Altars apart distinct Sacred things and Statues of different forms If because the force of Beginnings is One and the force of Causes Another he is therefore called Janus from the former and Jupiter from the latter I ask whether or no if one Man have two Several arts about different things he therefore be to be called Two Artificers Or is there any more reason why one and the same God having Two Powers one over the Beginnings of things and another over the Causes should therefore be accounted Two Gods Where when Jupiter and Janus are both said to be the World this is to be understood properly not of the Matter but the Soul or Mind of the World as St. Austin himself elsewhere declares Sit Jupiter Corporei hujus Mundi Animus qui universam istam Molem ex quatuor Elementis constructam atque compactam implet movet Let Jupiter be the Mind of this corporeal World which both filleth and moveth that whole bulk compounded and made up of the four Elements Nevertheless as the Soul and Body both together are called the Man so was the whole Animated World by the Pagans
destitute of a Ruler or without a Superiour Government but all things full of Divine Names and of Divine Reason and of Divine Art Where his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Divine Names are nothing but Several Names of God as manifesting himself variously in the several Things of Nature and the parts of the world and as presiding over them Wherefore besides those Special Gods of the Pagans already mentioned that were appointed to preside over several Parts of the world there are Others which are but several Names of the Supreme God neither as exercising several Offices and Functions in the world and bestowing several Gifts upon mankind as when in giving Corn and Fruits he is called Ceres in bestowing Wine Bacchus in mens recovery of their Health Aesculapius in presiding over Traffick and Merchandizing Mercury in governing Military Affairs Mars in ordering the Winds Aeolus and the like That the more Philosophick Pagans did thus really interpret the Fables of the Gods and make their Many Poetical and Political Gods to be all of them but One and the same Supreme Natural God is evident â—rom the testimonies of Antisthenes Plato Xenocrates Zeno Cleanthes and Chrysippus who allegorized all the Fables of the Gods accordingly and of Scaevola the Roman Pontifex of Cicero Varro Seneca and many others But that even their Poets also did sometimes venture to broach this Arcane Theology is manifest from those Fragments preserved of Hermesianax the Colophonian amongst the Greeks and of Valerius Soranus amongst the Latins the former thus enumerating the chief Pagan Gods and declaring them to be all but one and the same Numen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pluto Persephone Ceres Venus alma Amores Tritones Nereus Tethys Neptunus ipse Mercurius Juno Vulcanus Jupiter Pan Diana Phaebus Jaculator sunt Deus Unus The Latter pronouncing Universally that Jupiter Omnipotens is Deus Vnus Omnes One God and All Gods Whether by his Jupiter he here meant the Soul of the World only as Varro would interpret him agreeably to his own Hypothesis or whether an Abstract Mind superiour to it but probably he made this Jupiter to be All Gods upon these two Accounts First as he was the Begetter and Creator of all the other Natural Gods which were the Pagans Inferiour Deities as the Stars and Daemons Secondly as that all the other Poetical and Political Gods were Nothing else but Several Names and Notions of him We shall add in the last place that St. Austin making a more Full and Particular Enumeration of the Pagan Gods and mentioning amongst them many others besides the Select Roman Gods which are not now commonly taken notice of does pronounce Universally of them all according to the sence of the more Intelligent Pagans That they were but One and the same Jupiter Ipse in Aethere sit Jupiter Ipse in Aere Juno Ipse in Mari Neptunus in Inferioribus etiam Maris Ipse Salacia in Terra Pluto in Terra Inferiore Proserpina in Focis Domesticis Vesta in Fabrorum fornace Vulcanus in Divinantibus Apollo in Merce Mercurius in Jano Initiator in Termino Terminator Saturnus in Tempore Mars Bellona in Bellis Liber in Vineis Ceres in Frumentis Diana in Sylvis Minerva in Ingeniis Ipse sit postremò etiam illa Turba quasi Plebeiorum Deorum Ipse praesit nomine Liberi Virorum Seminibus nomine Liberae Faeminarum Ipse sit Diespiter qui Partum perducat ad Diem Ipse sit Dea Mena quam praefecerunt Menstruis Faeminarum Ipse Lucina quae à Parturientibus invocatur Ipse Opem ferat nascentibus excipiens eos sinu Terrae vocetur Opis Ipse in Vagitu os aperiat vocetur Deus Vagitanus Ipse levet de Terra vocetur Dea Levana Ipse Cunas tueatur vocetur Dea Cunina Sit Ipse in Deabus illis quae fata nascentibus canunt vocantur Carmentes Praesit Fortuitis vocenturque Fortuna In Diva Rumina mammam parvulis immulgeat In Diva Potina Potionem immisceat In Diva Educa Escam praebeat De Pavore infantium Paventia nuncupetur De spe quae venit Venilia de Voluptate Volupia De Actu Agenoria De stimulis quibus ad nimium actum homo impellitur Dea Stimula nominetur Strenua Dea sit strenuum faciendo Numeria quae numerare doceat Camaena quae canere Ipse sit Deus Consus praebendo Consilia Dea Sentia sententias inspirando Ipse Dea Juventas quae post praetextam excipiat Juvenilis aetatis Exordia Ipse sit Fortuna Barbata quae adultos barba induit quos honorare voluerit Ipse in Jugatino Deo Conjuges jungat cum Virgini uxori zona solvitur Ipse invocetur Dea Virginensis invocetur Ipse sit Mutinus qui est apud Graecos Priapus si non pudet Haec omnia quae dixi quaecunque non dixi hi omnes Dii Deaeque sit Unus Jupiter sive sint ut quidam volunt omnia ista Partes ejus sicut eis videtur quibus eum placet esse Mundi Animum sive Virtutes ejus quae sententia velut magnorum multorumque Doctorum est Let us grant according to the Pagans that the Supreme God is in the Aether Jupiter in the Air Juno in the Sea Neptune in the lower parts of the Sea Salacia in the Earth Pluto in the inferiour parts thereof Proserpina in the Domestick harths Vesta in the Smiths Forges Vulcan in Divination Apollo in Traffick and Merchandize Mercury in the Beginning of things Janus in the Ends of them Terminus in Time Saturn in Wars Mars and Bellona in the Vineyards Liber in the Corn-fields Ceres in the Woods Diana and in Wits Minerva Let him be also that troop of Plebeian Gods let him preside over the seeds of men under the Name of Liber and of women under the name of Libera let him be Diespiter that brings forth the birth to light let him be the Goddess Mena whom they have set over womens monthly courses let him be Lucina invoked by women in child-bearing let him be Opis who aids the new born Infants let him be Deus Vagitanus that opens their mouths to cry let him be the Goddess Levana which is said to lift them up from the Earth and the Goddess Cunina that defends their Cradles let him be the Carmentes also who foretel the Fates of Infants let him be Fortune as presiding over Fortuitous events let him be Diva Rumina which suckles the Infant with the Breasts Diva Potina which gives it drink and Diva Educa which affords it meat let him be called the Goddess Paventia from the Fear of Infants the Goddess Venilia from Hope the Goddess Volupia from Pleasure the Goddess Agenoria from Acting the Goddess Stimula from Provoking the Goddess Strenua from making Strong and Vigorous the Goddess Numeria which teacheth to Number the Goddess Camaena which teaches to Sing let
Powers all of them salutiferous and procuring the good of that which is made c. Moreover by these Powers and out of them is the Incorporeal and Intelligible World compacted which is the Archetype of this visible World that consisting of Invisible Ideas as this doth of visible Bodies Wherefore some admiring with a kind of astonishment the Nature of both these worlds have not only Deified the whole of them but also the most excellent parts in them as the Sun and the Moon and the whole Heaven which they scruple not at all to call Gods Where Philo seems to speak of a double Sun Moon and Heaven as Julian did the one Sensible the other Intelligible Moreover Plotinus himself sometimes complies with this Notion he calling the Ideas of the Divine Intellect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intelligible Gods as in that place before cited where he exhorteth men ascending upward above the Soul of the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To praise the Intelligible Gods that is the Divine Intellect which as he elsewhere written is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and Many We have now given a full account of Apuleius his sence in that Book De Deo Socratis concerning the Civil and Poetical Pagan Gods which was not to assert a Multitude of Substantial and Eternal Deities or Minds Independent in them but only to reduce the Vulgar Theology of the Pagans both their Civil and Poetical into some conformity with the Natural Real and Philosophick Theology and this according to Platonick Principles Wherein many other of the Pagan Platonists both before and after Christianity concurred with him they making the Many Pagan Invisible Gods to be really nothing but the Eternal Ideas of the Divine Intellect called by them the Parts of the Intelligible and Archetypal World which they supposed to have been the Paradigms and Patterns according to which this Sensible World and all Particular things therein were made and upon which they depended they being only Participations of them Wherefore though this may well be look'd upon as a Monstrous Extravagancy in these Platonick Philosophers thus to talk of the Divine Ideas or the Intelligible and Archetypal Paradigms of things not only as Substantial but also as so many several Animals Persons and Gods it being their humour thus upon all slight occasions to multiply Gods yet nevertheless must it be acknowledged that they did at the very same time declare all these to have been derived from One Supreme Deity and not only so but also to exist in it as they did likewise at other times when unconcerned in this business of their Pagan Polytheism freely acknowledge all these intelligible Ideas to be Really nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conceptions in the Mind of God or the First Intellect though not such Slight Accidental and Evanid ones as those Conceptions and Modifications of our humane Souls are and consequently not to be so many Distinct Substances Persons and Gods much less Independent Ones but only so many Partial Considerations of the Deity What a Rabble of Invisible Gods and Goddesses the Pagans had besides those their Dii Nobiles and Dii Majorum Gentium their Noble and Greater Gods which were the Consentes and Selecti hath been already showed out of St. Austin from Varro and others as namely Dea Mena Deus Vagitanus Dea Levana Dea Cunina Diva Rumina Diva Potina Diva Educa Diva Paventina Dea Venilia Dea Agenoria Dea Stimula Dea Strenua Dea Numeria Deus Consus Dea Sentia Deus Jugatinus Dea Virginensis Deus Mutinus To which might be added more out of other places of the same St. Austin as Dea Deverra Deus Domiducus Deus Domitius Dea Manturna Deus Pater Subigus Dea Mater Prema Dea Pertunda Dea Rusina Dea Collatina Dea Vallonia Dea Seia Dea Segetia Dea Tutilina Deus Nodotus Dea Volutina Dea Patelena Dea Hostilina Dea Flora Dea Lacturtia Dea Matura Dea Runcina Besides which there are yet so many more of these Pagan Gods and Goddesses extant in other Writers as that they cannot be all mentioned or enumerated by us divers whereof have Very Small Mean and Contemptible Offices assigned to them as their names for the most part do imply some of which are such as that they were not fit to be here interpreted From whence it plainly appears that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing at all without a God to these Pagans they having so strong a Perswasion that Divine Providence extended it self to all things and expressing it after this manner by assigning to Every thing in Nature and Every part of the World and whatsoever was done by men some particular God or Goddess by name to preside over it Now that the Intelligent Pagans should believe in good earnest that all these Invisible Gods and Goddesses of theirs were so many Several Substantial Minds or Vnderstanding Beings Eternal and Vnmade really existing in the World is a thing in it self Vtterly Incredible For how could any possibly perswade themselves that there was One Eternal Unmade Mind or Spirit which for example Essentially presided over The Rockings of Infants Cradles and nothing else another over the Sweeping of Houses another over Ears of Corn another over the Husks of Grain and another over the Knots of Straw and Grass and the like And the Case is the very same for those other Noble Gods of theirs as they call them the Consentes and Selecti since there can be no reason given why those should all of them be so many Substantial and Eternal Spirits Self-existent or Vnmade if none of the other were such Wherefore if these be not all so many Several Substantial and Eternal Minds so many Selfexisting and Independent Deities then must they of necessity be either Several Partial Considerations of the Deity viz. the Several Manifestations of the Divine Power and Providence Personated or else Inferiour Ministers of the same And thus have we already shewed that the more High-flown and Platonick Pagans as Julian Apuleius and others understood these Consentes and Select Gods and all the other Invisible ones to be really nothing else but the Ideas of the Intelligible and Archetypal World which is the Divine Intellect that is indeed but Partial Considerations of the Deity as Vertually and Exemplarily conteining all things whilst others of them going in a more plain and easie way concluded these Gods of theirs to be all of them but several Names and Notions of the One Supreme Deity according to the Various Manifestations of its Power in the world as Seneca expresly affirmeth not only concerning Fate Nature and Fortune c. but also Liber Pater Hercules and Mercury before mentioned by him that they were Omnia ejusdem Dei Nomina variè utentis suâ potestate all Names of One and the same God as diversly using his power and as Zeno in Laertius concludes of all the rest or else which amounts to the same thing that they were the Several Powers and Vertues
sacravit We adore the rising Heads and Springs of great Rivers Every sudden and plentiful Eruption of Waters out of the hidden Caverns of the Earth hath its Altars erected to it and some Pools have been made Sacred for their immense Profundity and Opacity Now this is that which is properly called the Physiological Theology of the Pagans their Personating and Deifying in a certain sence the Things of Nature whether Inanimate Substances or the Affections of Substances A great part of which Physiological Theology was Allegorically conteined in the Poetick Fables of the Gods Eusebius indeed was of opinion that those Poetick Fables were at first only Historical and Herological but that afterwards some went about to Allegorize them into Physiological Sences thereby to make them seem the less impious and ridiculous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such was the ancient Theology of the Pagans namely Historical of men deceased that were worshipped for Gods which some late Vpstarts have altered devising other Philosophical and Physiological sences of those Histories of their Gods that they might thereby render them the more specious and hide the Impiety of them For they being neither willing to abandon those Fopperies of their forefathers nor yet themselves able to bear the Impiety of these Fables concerning the Gods according to the Literal Sence of them have gone about to cure them thus by Physiological Interpretations Neither can it be doubted but that there was some Mixture of Herology and History in the Poetick Mythology Nor denied that the Pagans of latter times such as Porphyrius and others did excogitate and devise certain new Allegorical sences of their own such as never were intended Origen before both him and Porphyry noting this of the Pagans that when the absurdity of their Fables concerning the Gods was objected and urged against them some of them did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apologizing for these things betake themselves to Allegories But long before the times of Christianity those First Stoicks Zeno Cleanthes and Chrysippus were famous for the great pains which they took in Allegorizing these Poetick Fables of the Gods Of which Cotta in Cicero thus Magnam molestiam suscepit minimè necessariam primus Zeno pòst Cleanthes deindè Chrysippus Commentitiarum Fabulalarum reddere rationem vocabulorum cur quidque ita appellatum sit causas explicare Quod cum facitis illud profecto confitemini longè aliter rem se habere atque hominum opinio sit eos qui Dii appellantur Rerum Naturas esse non Figuras Deorum Zeno first and after him Cleanthes and Chrysippus took a great deal more pains than was needful to give a reason of all those Commentitious Fables of the Gods and of the names that every thing was called by By doing which they confessed that the matter was far otherwise than according to mens opinion in as much as they who are called Gods in them were nothing but the Natures of things From whence it is plain that in the Poetick Theology the Stoicks took it for granted that the Natures of Things were Personated and Deified and that those Gods were not Animal nor indeed Philosophical but Fictitious and nothing but the Things of Nature Allegorized Origen also gives us a Taste of Chrysippus his thus Allegorizing in his interpreting an obscene Picture or Table of Jupiter and Juno in Samos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Grave Philosopher in his writings saith that Matter having received the Spermatick Reasons of God conteineth them within it self for the adorning of the whole World and that Juno in this Picture in Samos signifies Matter and Jupiter God Upon which occasion that pious Father adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the sake of which and innumerable other such like Fables we will never endure to call The God over all by the name of Jupiter but exercising pure Piety towards the Maker of the World will take care not to defile Divine things with impure Names And here we see again according to Chrysippus his Interpretation that Hera or Juno was no Animâ—l nor Real God but only the Nature of Matter Personated and Deified that is a meer Fictitious and Poetick God And we think it is unquestionably evident from Hesiod's Theogonia that many of these Poetick Fables according to their First Intention were really nothing else but Physiology Allegorized and consequently those Gods nothing but the Natures of things Personated and Deified Plato himself though no friend to these Poetick Fables plainly intimates as much in his Second De Rep. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fightings of the Gods and such other things as Homer hath feigned concerning them ought not to be admitted into our Commonwealth whether they be delivered in way of Allegory or without Allegories Because Young men are not able to judge when it is an Allegory and when not And it appears from Dionysius Halicarnass that this was the General opinion concerning the Greekish Fables that some of them were Physically and some Tropologically Allegorical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let no man think me to be ignorant that some of the Greekish Fables are profitable to men partly as declaring the Works of Nature by Allegories partly as being helpful for humane life c. Thus also Cicero Alia quoque ex ratione quidem Physicâ magna fluxit Multitudo Deorum qui induti specie humana Fabulas Poetis suppeditaverunt hominum autem vitam Superstitione omni refercerunt Eusebius indeed seems sometimes to cast it as an Imputation upon the whole Pagan Theology that it did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deifie the Inanimate Nature but this is properly to be understood of this Part of their Theology only which was Physiological and of their Mythology or Poetick Fables of the Gods Allegorized it being otherwise both apparently false and all one as to make them downright Atheists For he that acknowledges no Animant God as hath been declared acknowledges no God at all according to the True Notion of him whether he derive all things from a Fortuitous Motion of Matter as Epicurus and Democritus did or from a Plastick and Orderly but Sensless Nature as some Degenerate Stoicks and Strato the Peripatetick whose Atheism seems to be thus described by Manilius Aut neque Terra Patrem novit nec Flamma nec Aer Aut Humor faciuntque Deum per quatuor artus Et Mundi struxere Globum prohibentque requiri Vltra se quidquam Neither ought this Physiological Theology of the Pagans which consisted only in Personating and Deifying Inanimate Substances and the Natures of Things to be confounded as it hath been by some late Writers with that Philosophical Theology of Scaevola Varro and others which was called Natural also but in another sence as True and Real it being indeed but a Part of the Poetical first and afterward of the Political Theology and owing its Original much to the Phancies of Poets whose Humour
Exquiliis So great is the number of these Gods that even Hell or the state of death it self Diseases and Many Plagues are numbred amongst them whilst with a trembling fear we desire to have these pacified And therefore was there a Temple publickly Dedicated in the Palace to the Fever as likewise Altars elsewhere erected to Orbona and to Evil Fortune Of the latter Balbus in Cicero Quo ex genere Cupidinis Voluptatis Lubentinae Veneris Vocabula Consecrata sunt Vitiosarum rerum non Naturalium Of which kind also are those Names of Lust and Pleasure and Wanton Venery things Vicious and not natural Consecrated and Deified Cicero in his Book of Laws informs us that at Athens there were Temples Dedicated also to Contumely and Impudence but withal giving us this censure of such practices Quae omnia ejusmodi detestanda repudianda sunt All which kind of things are to be detested and rejected and nothing to be Deified but what is Vertuous or Good Notwithstanding which it is certain that such Evil Things as these were Consecrated to no other end than that they might be Deprecated Moreover as these Things of Natures or Nature of Things were sometimes Deified by the Pagans plainly and nakedly in their own Appellative Names so was this again sometimes done disguisedly under other Counterfeit Proper Names as Pleasure was Deified under the Names of Volupia and of Lubentina Venus Time according to the Opinion of some under the Name of Cronos or Saturn which as it Produceth all things so devours all things into it self again Prudence or Wisdom likewise under the Names of Athena or Minerva For it is plain that Origen understood it thus when Celsus not only approved of Worshipping God Almighty in the Sun and in Minerva as that which was Lawful but also commended it as a thing Highly Pious he making this Reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We speak well of the Sun as a good work of God's c. but as for that Athena or Minerva which Celsus here joyneth with the Sun this is a thing Fabulously devised by the Greeks whether according to some Mystical Arcane and Allegorical Sence or without it when they say that she was begotten out of Jupiter 's Brain All Armed And again afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it be granâ—ed that by Athena or Minerva be Tropologically meant Prudence c. Wherefore not only according to the Poetical but also to the Political and Civil Theology of the Pagans these Accidental Things of Nature and Affections of Substances Personated were made so many Gods and Goddesses Cicero himself in his Book of Laws approving of such Political Gods as these Benè verograve quod Mens Pietas Virtus Fides consecratur manu quarum omnium Romae dedicata publicè Templa sunt ut illa qui habeant habent autem omnes boni Deos ipsos in animis suis collocatos putent It is well that Mind Piety Virtue and Faith are consecrated all which have their Temples publickly dedicated at Rome that so they who possess these things as all Good men do may think that they have the Gods themselves placed in their minds And himself makes a Law for them in his own Common-wealth but with a Cautionary Provision that no Evil and Vicious Things be Consecrated amongst them Ast olla propter quae datur homini adscensus in Coelum Mentem Virtutem Pietatem Fidem earumque laudum delubra sunto Nec ulla vitiorum Solemnia obeunto Let them also worship those things by means whereof men ascend up to Heaven and let there be Shrines or Temples Dedicated to them But let no Religious Ceremonies be performed to Vicious things Notwithstanding all which according to that Theology of the Pagans which was called by Varro Natural whereby is meant not that which was Physiological only but that which is True and Real and by Scaevola Philosophical and which is by both opposed not only to the Poetical and Fabulous but also to the Political and Civil I say according to this Theology of theirs these Accidental Things of Nature Deified could by no means be acknowledged for True and Proper Gods because they were so far from having any Life and Sense in them that they had not so much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Real Subsistence or Substantial Essence of their own And thus does Origen dispute against Minervas Godship as Tropologically interpreted to Prudence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Athena or Minerva be Tropologized into Prudence then let the Pagans show what Substantial Essence it hath or that it Really Subsists according to this Tropology Which is all one as if he should have said Let the Pagans then shew how this can be a God or Goddess which hath not so much as any Substantial Essence nor Subsists by it self but is a meer Accidental Affection of Substances only And the same thing is likewise urged by Origen concerning other such kind of Gods of theirs as Memory the Mother of the Muses and the Graces all naked in his First Book where Celsus contended for a multiplicity of Gods against the Jews that these things having not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Substantial Essence or Subsistence could not possibly be accounted Gods and therefore were nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meer Figments of the Greeks Things made to have Humane Bodies and so Personated and Deified And we think there cannot be a truer Commentary upon this Passage of Origen's than these following verses of Prudentius in his Second Book against Symmachus Desine si pudor est Geniilis ineptia iandem Res Incorporeas Simulatis Fingere membris Let the Gentiles be at last ashamed if they have any shame in them of this their folly in describing and setting forth Incorporeal things with Counterfeit Humane Members Where Accidents and Affections of Things such as Victory was whose Altar Symmachus there contended for the Restauration of are by Prudentius called Res Incorporeae Incorporeal Things accordingly as the Greek Philosophers concluded that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qualities Incorporeal Neither is it possible that the Pagans themselves should be insensible hereof and accordingly we find that Cotta in Cicero doth for this reason utterly banish and explode these Gods out of the Philosophick and True Theology Num censes igitur subtiliore ratione opus esse ad haec refellenda Nam Mentem Fidem Spem Virtutem Honorem Victoriam Salutem Concordiam caeteraque ejusmodi Rerum Vim habere videmus non Deorum Aut enim in nobismet insunt ipsis ut Mens ut Spes ut Fides ut Virtus ut Concordia aut optandae nobis sunt ut Honos ut Salus ut Victoria Quare autem in his Vis Deorum sit tum intelligam cum cognovero Is there any need think you of any great Subtilty to confute these things For Mind Faith
as these there was an innumerable company amongst the Pagans And in their Civil Theology they were wont to be considered as certain Minds or Spirits appointed by the Supreme God to preside over the Affections fo Things They supposing that God whom they called the Best and the Greatest did not immediately himself take care of every thing since that must needs be a distraction to him and a hinderance of his happinessâ— but that he had as a King many He and She-Ministers under him which had their several offices assigned to them Thus Justice which was called also Astrea and Themis was by them thought to preside over all those actions in which Justice was concerned And Comus over all Revellings and the like Which Gods if considered after this manner will no otherwise differ from Angels good and bad than only in this that these Latter are Beings really created by God but the former the Figments of men only they according to the number of Affections that have any greater force in them devizing and imagining certain Minds to preside over each of them And the vulgar might therefore be the more easily led into this perswasion by their Priests because it seemed reasonable to them that that Supreme Mind who is the King of all the Gods should have many other Minds as his subservient Ministers under him both to free him from Solicitous Care and also to add to his Grandeur and Majesty And such was the Doctrine of the Civil Theology Where though Vossius speak Particularly of that kind of Pagan Gods which were nothing but Affections and Accidents Deified which no man in his wits could possibly suppose to be themselves True and Proper Gods they having no Subsistence of their own That these by the generality of the Vulgar Pagans were conceived to be so many Created Minds or Spirits appointed by the Supreme God to preside as his Ministers over those several Affections of Substances yet does he plainly imply the same of all those other Political Gods of these Pagans likewise that they were not look'd upon by them as so many Vnmade Self-existent and Independent Beings but only as Inferiour Minds or Spirits created by the Supreme God and by him appointed to preside over the Several Parts of the World and Things of Nature and having their Several Offices assigned to them Wherefore as to the main We and Vossius are now well agreed viz. That the ancient Pagans asserted no such thing as a Multitude of Independent Deities so that there only remain some Particular Differences of smaller moment betwixt us Our selves have before observed that Aeolus was probably taken by Epictetus in Arrianus not indeed for One but for Many Created Ministers of the Supreme God or Demons Collectively appointed by him to preside over the Winds in all the several Parts of the World And the Pagans in St. Austin seem to interpret those Deified Accidents and Things of Nature after the same manner as the Names of certain Unknown Gods or Demons one or more that were appointed to preside over them respectively or to dispense the same Quoniam sciebant Majores nostri nemini talia nisi aliquo Deo largiente concedi quorum Deorum nomina non inveniebant earum rerum nominibus appellabant Deos quas ab iis sentiebant dari aliqua vocabula inde flâ—ctentes sicut à Bello Bellonam nuncupaverunt non Bellum sicut à cunis Cuninam non Cunam sicut à segetibus Segetiam non Segetem sicuâ— Ã Pomis Pomonam non Pomum sicut à bobus Bobonam non Bovem Aut certè nulla vocabuli declinatione sicut res ipsae nominantur ut Pecunia dicta est Dea quae dat pecuniam non omninò pecunia Dea ipsa puâ—ata Ita Virtus quae dat virtutem Honor qui honorem Concordia quae concordiam Victoria quae victoriam dat Ita inquiunt cum Felicitas Dea dicitur non ipsa quae datur sed Numen illud attenditur à quo Felicitas datur Because our Forefathers knew well that these things do not happen to any without the special Gift and Favour of some God therefore were those Gods whose names they knew not called from the names of those very things themselves which they perceived to be bestowed by them there being only a little Alteration made in them as when the God that causeth War was called not Bellum but Bellona the God which presideth over Infants Cradles not Cuna but Cunina that which giveth Corn Segetia and that which affordeth apples Pomona c. But at other times this was done without any Declension of the Word at all they calling both the Thing and the God which is the Bestower of it by one and the self same name As Pecunia doth not only signifie Money but also the Goddess which giveth Money Virtus the Goddess which giveth Virtue Honor the God that bestoweth honour Concordia the Goddess that causeth Concord Victory the Goddess which affordeth Victory So also when Felicity is called a Goddess by it is not meant that thing which is given but that Divine Power from whence it is given Here I say the Pagans may seem to have understood by those Deified Things of Nature certain Inferiour Gods or Demons One or More the Ministers of the Supreme God appointed by him to preside over those several Things respectively or to dispense the same Neither can we deny but that in so much ignorance and diversity of Opinions as there was amongst the Pagans some might possibly understand those Political Gods and Deified Things also after the way of Vossius for so many Single Minds or Spirits appointed to preside over those Several Things respectively throughout the whole World and nothing else Nevertheless it seemeth not at all probable that this should be the General Opinion amongst the Civilized Pagans that all those Gods of theirs were so many Single Created Minds or Spirits each of them appointed to preside over some One certain thing every where throughout the Whole World and nothing else As for Example that the Goddess Victory was One Single Created She-Spirit appointed to bestow Victory to whosoever at any time enjoyed it in all parts of the World and so that the Goddess Justice should be such another Single Mind or Spirit created to dispence Justice every where and meddle with nothing else And the like of all those other Accidental Things or Affections Deified as Virtue Honour Concord Felicity c. And Lactantius Firmianus taking notice of that Profession of the Pagans to worship nothing but One Supreme God and his Subservient Ministers Generated or created by him according to that of Seneca in his Exhortations Genuisse Regni sui Ministros Deum that the Supreme God had generated other Inferiour Ministers of his Kingdom under him which were called by them also Gods plainly denies all the Pagan Gods save One to be the Created Ministers of that One Supreme he making this Reply Verum hi
neque Dii sunt neque Deos se vocari aut coli volunt c. Nec tamen illi sunt qui vulgo coluntur quorum exiguus certus est numerus But these Ministers of the Divine Kingdom or Subservient Created Spirits are neither Gods nor would they be called Gods or honoured as such c. Nor indeed are they those Gods that are now vulgarly worshipped by the Pagans of which there is but a Small and Certain number That is the Pagan Gods are reduced into certain Ranks and the Number of them is determin'd by the Utilities of Humane Life of which their Noble and Select Gods are but a few Whereas saith he the Ministers of the Supreme God are according to their own Opinion not Twelve nor Twenty nor Three Hundred and Sixty but Innumerable Stars and Demons Moreover Aristotle in his Book against Zeno supposing the Idea of God to be this the Most Powerful of all things or the Most Perfect Being objecteth thus that according to the Laws of Cities and Countries that is the Civil Theology there seems to be no One absolutely Powerful Being but One God is supposed to be most Powerful as to one thing and another as to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereas Zeno takes it for granted that men have an Idea ïn their minds of God as One the most Excellent and most Powerful Being of all this doth not seem to be according to Law that is the Civil Theology for there the Gods are mutually Better one than another respectively as to several things and therefore Zeno took not this Consent of mankind concerning God from that which vulgarly seemeth From which passage of Aristotle's we may well conclude that the Many Political Gods of the Pagans were not all of them vulgarly look'd upon as the Subservient Ministers of One Supreme God and yet they generally acknowledging as Aristotle himself confesseth a Monarchy and consequently not many Independent Deities it must needs follow as Zeno doubtless would reply that these their Political Gods were but One and the same Supreme Natural God as it were Parcell'd out and Multiplied that is receiving Several Denominations according to Several Notions of him and as he exerciseth Different Powers and produceth Various Effects And this we have sufficiently prov'd already to have been the general sence of the Chief Pagan Doctors that these Many Political and Popular Gods were but the Polyonymy of One Natural God that is either Partial Considerations of him or his Various Powers and Vertues Effects and Manifestations in the World severally Personated and Deified And thus does Vossius himself afterwards confess also That according to the Natural Theology the Many Pagan Gods were but so many Several Denominations of One God though this Learned Philologer doth plainly straiten and confine the Notion of this Natural Theology too much and improperly call the God thereof the Nature of Things however acknowledging it such a Nature as was endued with Sense and Vnderstanding His Words are these Dispar verò sententia Theologorum Naturalium qui non aliud Numen agnoscebant quà m Naturam Rerum eóque omnia Gentium Numina referebant c. Nempe mens eorum fuit sicut Natura esset occupata circa hanc vel illam Affectionem ita Numina Nominaque Deorum variare Cum igitur ubicunque Vim aliquam majorem viderent ita Divinum aliquid crederent eò etiam devenere ut immanem Deorum Dearumque fingerent Catervam Sagaciores interim haec cuncta Vnum esse Numen aiebant putà Rerum Naturam quae licet una foret pro variis tamen Effectis varia sortiretur nomina vario etiam afficeretur cultu But the Case is very different as to the Natural Theologers who acknowledged no other God but the Nature of Things and referred all the Pagan Gods to that For they conceived that as Nature was occupied about several things so were the Divine Powers and the Names of Gods multiplied and diversified And where-ever they saw any Greater Force there did they presently conceit something Divine and by that means came they at length to feign an innumerable company of Gods and Goddesses But the more sagacious in the mean time affirmed all these to be but One and the same God to wit the Nature of Things which though Really but One yet according to its various Effects both received divers Names and was Worshipped after different manners Where Vossius calls the Supreme God of these Natural Theologers the Nature of Things as if the Natural Theology had been denominated from Physicks or Natural Philosophy only whereas we have already shewed that the Natural Theology of Varro and Scaevola was of equal extent with the Philosophick whose only Numen that it was not a Blind and Vnintelligible Nature of Things doth sufficiently appear from that History thereof before given by us as also that it was called Natural in another sence as Real and as opposite to Opinion Phancy and Fabulosity or what hath no Reality of Existence any where in the World Thus does St. Austin distinguish betwixt Natura Deorum the True Nature of the Gods and Hominum Instituta the Institutes of Men concerning them As also he sets down the Difference betwixt the Civil and Natural Theology according to the Mind of Varro in this manner Fieri potest ut in Vrbe secundum Falsas opiniones ea colantur credantur quorum in Mundo vel extra Mundum Natura sit nusquam It may come to pass that those Things may be worshipped and believed in Cities according to False opinions which have no Nature or Real Existence any where either in the World or without it Wherefore if instead of this Nature of Things which was properly the God of none but only of such Atheistick Philosophers as Epicurus and Strato we substitute that Great Mind or Soul of the whole World which Pervadeth All Things and is Diffus'd thorough All which was the True God of the Pagan Theists this of Vossius will be unquestionably true concerning their Natural Theologers that according to them those Many Poetical and Political Gods before mentioned were but One and the same Natural or Real God who in respect of his Different Vertues Powers and Effects was called by several Names and worshipped after different manners Yet nevertheless so as that according to those Theologers there were Really also Many other Inferiour Ministers of this One Supreme God whether called Minds or Demons that were supposed to be the Subservient Executioners of all those several Powers of his And accordingly we had before this full and true account of the Pagans Natural Theology set down out of Prudentius In Vno Constituit jus omne Deo cui serviat ingens Virtutum ratio Variis instructa Ministris Viz. That it acknowledged One Supreme Omnipotent God ruling over all who displayeth and exerciseth his Manifold Vertues and Powers in the world all severally Personated and Deified
Powers of One God Personated and Deified by the Pagans though they had an appearance also of Many Distinct Gods yet were they really nothing but Several Denominations of One Supreme God who as yet is considered as a Thing distinct from the World and Nature But Lastly as God was supposed by these Pagans not only to Pervade All things and To Fill All things but also he being the Cause of All things to be Himself in a manner All things so was he called also by the Name of Every thing or Every thing called by His Name that is the several Things of Nature and Parts of the World were themselves Verbally Deified by these Pagans and called Gods and Goddesses Not that they really accounted them such in themselves but that they thought fit in this manner to acknowledge God in them as the Author of them all For thus the Pagans in St. Austin Vsque adeone inquiunt Majores nostros insipientes fuisse credendum est ut haec nescirent Munera Divina esse non Deos Can you think that our Pagan Ancestors were so sottish as not to know that these Things are but Divine Gifts and not Gods themselves And Cicero also tells us that the meaning of their thus Deifying these Things of Nature was only to signifie that they acknowledged The Force of all things to be Divine and to be Governed by God and that whatsoever brought any great Vtility to Mankind was not such Without the Divine Goodness They conceiving also that the Invisible and Incomprehensible Deity which was the Cause of All things ought to be worshipped in All its Works and Effects in which it had made it self Visible accordingly as they declare in that place of Eusebius before cited in part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they did not Deifie those Visible Bodies of the Sun and Moon and Stars nor the other Sensible Parts of the World themselves but those Invisible Powers of the God over all that were displayed in them For they affirm that that God who is but One but yet Filleth all things with his various Powers and passes through all things forasmuch as he is Invisibly and Incorporeally present in all is reasonably to be worshipped in and by those Visible Things Athanasius B p. of Alexandria in his Book against the Greeks reduces all the False Gods of the Pagans under Two general Heads the First Poetical Fictitious or Phantastical Gods the Second Creatures or Real Things of Nature Deified by them His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Since this Reason or Discourse of ours hath sufficiently convinced both the Poetical Gods of the Pagans to be no Gods at all and also that they who Deifie the Creatures are in a great Errour and so hath confuted the whole Pagan Idolatry proving it to be meer Vngodliness and Impiety there is nothing now but the True Piety left he who is worshipped by us Christians being the only True God the Lord of Nature and the Maker of all Substances From whence we may observe that according to Athanasius the Pagan Poetick Gods were no Real Things in Nature and therefore they could be no other than the Several Notions and Powers of the One Supreme God Deified or Several Names of him So that Athanasius his Poetick Gods or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods fabulously devised by the Poets were chiefly those Two Kinds of Pagan Gods first mentioned by us that is the Various Considerations of the One Supreme Numen according to its general Notion expressed by so many Proper Names and Secondly his Particular Powers diffused thorough the World severally Personated and Deified Which considered as so many distinct Deities are nothing but meere Fiction and Phancy without any Reality And this do the Pagans themselves in Athanasius acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They say that the names of those Gods are meerly Fictitious and that there does no where Really Exist any such Jupiter or Saturn or Juno or Mars but that the Poets have feigned them to be so many persons Existing to the deception of their Auditors Notwithstanding which that Third Sort of Pagan Gods also mentioned by us which were Inanimate Substances and the Natures of Things Deified may well be accounted Poetical Gods likewise because though those things themselves be Real and not Feigned yet is their Personation and Deification meer Fiction and Phancy and however the first occasion thereof sprung from this Theological Opinion or Perswasion That God who is In All Things and is the Cause of All Things ought to be worshipped In All Things especially he being himself Invisible yet the making of those things themselves therefore to be so many Persons and Gods was nothing but Poetick Fiction and Phantastry accordingly as their old Mythology and Allegorical Fables of the Gods run much upon this strain XXXIV Hitherto have we declared the Sence of the Pagans in General those also being included who supposed God to be a Being Elevated above the World That they agreed in these Two Things First the Breaking and Crumbling as it were of the Simple Deity and Parcelling out of the same into Many Particular Notions and Partial Considerations according to the Various Manifestations of its Power and Providence in the world by the Personating and Deifying of which Severally they made as it were so Many Gods of One. The chief Ground whereof was this because they considered not the Deity according to its Simple Nature and Abstractly only but Concretely also with the World as he Displayeth himself therein Pervadeth all and Diffuseth his Vertues thorough all For as the Sun reflected by Grosser Vapours is sometimes Multiplied and the same Object beheld through a Polyedrous Glass by reason of those many Superficies being represented in several places at once is thereby rendred Manifold to the Spectator So One and the same Supreme God considered Concretely with the World as Manifesting his Several Powers and Vertues in it was multiplied into Several Names not without the Appearance of so Many Several Gods Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with those ancient Pagans was the same thing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which hath Many Names all one with that which hath Many Powers According to this of Callimachus concerning Diana 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this of Virgil concerning Alecto Tibi Nomina Mille Mille nocendi Artes. And accordingly the Many Pagan Gods are in Plato's Cratylus interpreted as the Many Powers of One God Diffused through the World And the Pagan Theologers seemed to conceive this to be more sutable to the Pomp State and Grandeur of the Supreme God for him to be considered Diffusively and called by Many Names signifying his Many Several Vertues and Powers Polyonymy being by them accounted an Honour rather than to be contracted and shrunk all up into One General Notion of a Perfect Mind the Maker or Creator of the whole World The Second Thing in which the Pagans agreed
accordingly Manilius Quâ pateat Mundum Divino Numine verti Atque Ipsum esse Deum Whereby it may appear the World to be Governed by a Divine Mind and also it self to be God As likewise Seneca the Philosopher Totum hoc quo continemur Vnum est Deus est This whole World within which we are contained is both One thing and God Which is not to be understood of the Meer Matter of the World as it is nothing but a Heap of Atoms or as endued with a Plastick and Sensless Nature only but of it as Animated by such a Soul as besides Sense was originally endued with perfect Understanding and as deriving all its Godship from thence For thus Varro in St. Austin declares both his own and the Stoical Sence concerning this Point Dicit idem Varro adhuc de Naturali Theologia praeloquens Deum se arbitrari esse Animam Mundi quem Graeci vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hunc ipsum Mundum esse Deum Sed sicut Hominem Sapientem cum sit ex Corpore Animo tamen ab Animo dici Sapientem ita Mundum Deum dici ab Animo cum sit ex Animo Corpore The same Varro discoursing concerning Natural Theology declareth that according to his own sence God is the Soul of the World which the Greeks call Cosmos and that this World it self is also God But that this is so to be understood that as a Wise man though consisting of Soul and Body yet is denominated Wise only from his Mind or Soul so the World is denominated God from its Mind or Soul only it consisting both of Mind and Body Now if the Whole Animated World be the Supreme God it plainly follows from thence that the Several Parts and Members thereof must be the Parts and Members of God and this was readily acknowledged by Seneca Membra sumus Corporis magni We are all Members of One great Body and Totum hoc Deus est Socii ejus Membra sumus This whole World is God and we are not only his Members but also his Fellows or Companions as if our Humane Souls had a certain kind of Fellowship also with that Great Soul of the Vniverse And accordingly the Soul of the World and the whole Mundane Animal was frequently worshipped by the Pagans in these its several Members the chief Parts of the World and the most important Things of Nature as it were by Piece-meal Nevertheless it doth not at all follow from thence that these were therefore to them Really so many Several Gods for then not only every Man and every Contemptible Animal every Plant and Herb and Pile of Grass every River and Hill and all things else whatsoever must be so many several Gods And that the Pagans themselves did not take them for such Origen observes against that Assertion of Celsus That if the Whole were God then the Several Parts thereof must needs be Gods or Divine too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From hence it would follow that not only Men must be Divine and Gods but also all Brute Animals too they being Parts of the World and Plants to boot Nay Rivers and Mountains and Seas being Parts of the World likewise if the Whole World be God must according to Celsus needs be Gods also Whereas the Greeks themselves will not affirm this but they would only call those Spirits or Demons which preside over these Rivers and Seas Gods Wherefore this Vniversal Assertion of Celsus is false even according to the Greeks themselves That if the whole be God then all the Parts thereof must needs be Divine or Gods It following from thence that Flyes and Gnats and Worms and all kind of Serpents and Birds and Fishes are all Divine Animals or Gods Which they themselves who assert the World to be God will not affirm Wherefore though it be true that the Pagans did many times Personate and Deifie the Chief Parts of the World and Things of Nature as well as they did the Several Powers and Vertues of the Mundane Soul diffused through the whole World yet did not the intelligent amongst them therefore look upon these as so many True and Proper Gods but only worship them as Parts and Members of One Great Mundane Animal or rather Worship the Soul of the whole World their Supreme Deity in them all as its various Manifestations This St. Austin intimates when writing against Faustus the Manichean he prefers even the Pagan Gods before the Manichean Jam verò Coelum Terra Mare Aer Sol Luna caetera sydera omnia haec manifesta oculis apparent atque ipsis sensibus praesto sunt Quae cum Pagani tanquam Deos colunt vel tanquam PARTES VNIVS MAGNI DEI nam universum Mundum quidam eorum putant MAXIMVM DEVM ea colunt quae sunt Vos autem cum ea colatis quae omninò non sunt propinquiores essetis Verae Pietati si saltem Pagani essetis qui Corpora colunt etsi non colenda tamen vera Now the Heaven Earth Sea and Air Sun Moon and Stars are Things all manifest and really present to our senses which when the Pagans Worship as Gods or as PARTS OF ONE GREAT GOD for some of them think the Whole World to be the GREATEST GOD they Worship things that are so that you worshipping things that are not would be nearer to true Piety than you are were you Pagans and worshipped Bodies too which though they ought not to be worshipped yet are they True and Real Things But this is further insisted upon by the same St. Austin in his Book De C. D. where after that large Enumeration of the Pagan Gods before set down he thus convinces their Folly in worshipping the Several Divided Members Parts and Powers of the One Great God after that manner Personated Haec omnia quae dixi quaecunque non dixi non enim omnia dicenda arbitratus sum Hi omnes Dii Deaeque sit Vnus Jupiter sive sint ut quidam volunt omnia ista Partes ejus sive Virtutes ejus sicut eis videtur quibus eum placet esse Mundi Animum quae sententia velut magnorum multorumque Doctorum est Haec inquam si ita sint quod quale sit nondum interim quaero Quid perderent si Vnum Deum colerent prudentiori Compendio Quid enim ejus contemneretur cum ipse coleretur Si autem metuendum sit nè Praetermissae sive Neglectae Partes ejus irascerentur non ergo ut volunt velut Vnius Animantis haec tota vita est quae Omnes simul continet Deos quasi Suas VIRTVTES vel MEMBRA vel PARTES sed suam quaeque Pars habet vitam à caeteris separatam si praeter alteram irasci altera potest alia placari alia concitari Si autem dicitur Omnia simul id est Totum ipsum Jovem potuisse offendi si PARTES ejus non etiam
that so the Jews might have it in readiness for those Chaldean Idolaters when they came into Babylon Thus shall ye say unto them the Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens That is there shall come a time when none shall be Religiously Worshipped any where upon the face of the whole Earth save only that God who made the Heavens and the Earth and he without Images too Which Prophecy but in part yet fulfilled shall then have its complete accomplishment when the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And thus is the Controversie rightly stated betwixt the Pagans and the Christians by Lactantius Sed fortasse quaerat aliquis à nobis quod apud Ciceronem quaerit Hortensius Si Deus Vnus est quae esse beata Solitudo queat Tanquam nos qui unum esse dicimus Desertum ac Solitarium esse dicamus Habet enim Ministros quos vocamus Nuntios Et est istud verum quod dixisse Senecam suprà retuli Genuisse Regni sui Ministros Deum Verùm hi neque Dii sunt neque Deos se vocari aut coli volunt quippe qui nihil praeter Jussum ac Voluntatem Dei faciant As if we who say there is but one God therefore made a Solitary and Deserted Deity Whereas we acknowledge that God hath his Ministers whom we call Angels And we grant that to be true which was before cited out of Seneca That God hath Generated or Created Ministers of his Kingdom But these are neither Gods nor would they be called Gods nor worshipped forasmuch as they only Execute the will and command of God And again afterwards to the same purpose Si eos multitudo delectat non Duodecim dicimus nec Trecentos sexaginta quinque ut Orpheus sed innumerabiles arguimus eorum errores in diversum qui tam paucos putant Sciant tamen quo nomine appellari debeant nè Deum Verum violent cujus Nomen exponunt dum Pluribus tribuunt c. If Multitude delight them we say not that there are Twelve nor yet three hundred sixty five as Orpheus but innumerable And we tax their errour on the contrary who think them to be so few Nevertheless let them know by what name they ought to be called Lest they violate the true God whose Name is profaned when it is given to many From which passages of Lactantius it plainly appeareth that the main Controversie between the Christians and the Pagans was then only this Whether or no the Created Ministers of the Supreme God might be called Gods and Religiously Worshipped But this Pagan Objection against the Solitary Deity of the Christians is by some ancient Christian Writers also otherwise answered namely from those Three Hypostases or Persons of the Trinity they affirming upon that account that though Christians did not acknowledge such a Multitude of Gods as the Pagans yet did they not therefore make God a Solitary and Steril Being before the Creation neither as the Jews did but went in a middle way betwixt Jews and Pagans they interpreting also Moses his Faciamus Hominem to this sence XXXVI We shall now shew Particularly what these Many Gods of the Pagans were It hath been often observed That the Pagans were divided in their Philosophick or Natural Theology as to their Opinions concerning the Supreme God some of them thinking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Supreme Deity was an Abstract Being Elevated above Nature and the Whole World but others that he was nothing higher than an Anima Mundi or Soul of the World Now the former of these Two were chiefly amongst the Greeks the Pythagoreans and the Platonists who had accordingly several Distinctions amongst them concerning their Gods as between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Supermundane and the Mundane Gods The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eternal and the Generated Gods that Latter word being now taken in a narrower and more confined sence for such as were made in Time or had a Beginning of their Existence and Lastly the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Intelligible and the Sensible Gods And the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supermundane Eternal and Intelligible Gods of these Pythagoreans and Platonists were first of all and Principally those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plotinus calls them those Three Divine Hypostates that have the Nature of Principles in the Universe viz. Tagathon or Hen Nous and Psyche or Monad Mind and Soul That this Trinity was not first of all a meer Invention of Plato's but much ancienter than him is plainly affirmed by Plotinus in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That these Doctrines are not new nor of yesterday but have been very anciently delivered though obscurely the discourses now extant being but Explications of them appears from Plato's own writings Parmenides before him having insisted on them Now it is well known that Parmenides was addicted to the Pythagorick Sect and therefore probable that this Doctrine of a Divine Triad was one of the Arcanums of that School also Which is further confirmed from hence because Numenius a famous Pythagorean entertained it as such And Moderatus as Simplicius informeth us plainly affirmeth this Trinity of Principles to have been a Pythagorick Cabbala 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Moderatus declareth that according to the Pythagoreans the First One or Vnity is above all Essence that the Second One which is that which truly is and Intelligible according to them is the Ideas and that the Third which is Psychical or Soul partaketh both of the Frist Vnity and of the Ideas Lastly we have Jamblichus his Testimony also in Proclus to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there were Three Gods also praised by the Pythagoreans Now we have before shewed that Pythagoras his Philosophy was derived from the Orphick Cabala which Proclus in another place thus fully testifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the Theology of the Greeks was derived from the Orphick Mystagogia Pythagoras being first instructed by Aglaophemus in the Orphick Orgia or Mysteries concerning the Gods and Plato being the next who received a perfect knowledge of all these Divine things both out of the Pythagorick and the Orphick writings And that a Trinity was part of that Orphick Cabala we have already proved out of Amelius he affirming in Proclus that Plato's Three Kings were the same with Orpheus his Trinity of Phanes Vranus and Cronus Moreover since all these Three Orpheus Pythagoras and Plato travelling into Egypt were there initiated in that Arcane Theology of the Egyptians called Hermaical it seemeth probable as was before observed that this Doctrine of a Divine Triad was also part of the Arcane Theology of the Egyptians It hath been also noted
that there were some footsteps of such a Trinity in the Mithraick Mysteries amongst the Persians derived from Zoroaster as likewise that it was expresly conteined in the Magick or Chalday Oracles of whatsoever authority they may be Moreover it hath been signified that the Samothracians had very anciently a certain Trinity of Gods that were the Highest of all their Gods and that called by an Hebrew name too Cabbirim or the Mighty Gods and that from thence the Roman Capitoline Trinity of Gods was derived The second whereof was Minerva which amongst the Latins as Athena amongst the Greeks was understood to signifie the Divine Wisdom Lastly the Ternary or Triad was not only accounted a Sacred Number amongst the Pythagoreans but also as conteining some Mystery in Nature was therefore made use of by other Greeks and Pagans in their Religious Rites as Aristotle informeth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore from Nature and as it were observing her Laws have we taken this Number of Three making use of the same in the Sacrifices of the Gods and other Purifications Now since it cannot well be conceived how such a Trinity of Divine Hypostases should be first discovered meerly by humane Wit and Reason though there be nothing in it if rightly understood that is repugnant to Reason and since there are in the ancient Writings of the Old Testament certain significations of a Plurality in the Deity or of more than one Hypostasis we may reasonably conclude that which Proclus asserteth of this Trinity as it was conteined in the Chaldaick Oracles to be true that it was at first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Theology of Divine Tradition or Revelation or a Divine Cabala viz. amongst the Hebrews first and from them afterwards communicated to the Egyptians and other Nations Neither ought it to be thought any considerable Objection to the contrary because the Platonists Pythagoreans and other Pagan Theologers did not express this their Trinity in the very words of the Athanasian Creed nor according to the Form of the Nicene Council Forasmuch as this Mystery was gradually imparted to the World and that first but sparingly to the Hebrews themselves either in their Written or Oral Cabala but afterwards more fully under Christianity the whole Frame whereof was built thereupon Nevertheless was it not so distinctly and precisely determined nor so punctually and scrupulously stated amongst the Christians neither till after the rising up of Heresies concerning it Nor when all was done did the Orthodox themselves at first Universally agree in the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Co-essential or Consubstantial Nor lastly is it a thing at all to be wondred at that in such a Difficult and Mysterious Point as this there should be some diversity of apprehensions amongst the reputed Orthodox Christians themselves and much less therefore amongst Pagans and Philosophers However we freely acknowledge that as this Divine Cabala was but little understood by Many of those who entertained it among the Pagans so was it by divers of them much Depraved and Adulterated also For first the Pagans universally called this their Trinity a Trinity of Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First the Second and the Third God◠as the more Philosophical amongst them called it also a Trinity of Causes and a Trinity of Principles and sometimes a Trinity of Opificers thus is this Cabala of the Trinity styled in Proclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tradition of the Three Gods And accordingly is it said of Numenius by him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having praised the Three Gods Tragically or Affectedly called them the Grandfather the Son and the Nephew Numenius thereby intimating that as the Second of these Gods was the Off-spring of the First God so the Third called the Nephew of the First was derived both from him and from the Second from the First as the Grandfather and from the Second as the Father of him Harpocration likewise Atticus and Amelius are said by Proclus to have entertained this same Cabala or Tradition of the Three Gods the Latter of these styling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three Kings and Three Opificers or Makers of the whole world In like manner Plotinus speaking of the Second of these Three Hypostases that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First Mind or Intellect calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Second God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this Nature is God I say a Second God offering himself to view before that other God can be seen who is Seated above this being as it were the Glorious Throne of him For it is not fit that he should be immediately Seated in any thing that is Inanimate nor in meer Soul neither but that there should be such an immense Pulchritude and Splendour shining before him like the Pomp and Procession before the Great King He also elsewhere mentions all these Three Gods together making this World to be an Image of them all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore this World may well be called an Image it depending upon that above as an Image in a Glass which is Threefold Whereof the First and Second God always stand Immovably the Third likewise is in it self Stable too but accidentally moved by reason of the Mobility of matter and things below it And that we may here give a Taste of the Mystical Theology and Enthusiasm of these Platonists too Porphyrtus in the Life of Plotinus affirmeth that both Plotinus and Himself had sometimes experience of a kind of Ecstatick Vnion with the First of these Three Gods that which is above Mind and Vnderstanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plotinus often endeavouring to raise up his mind to the First and Highest God That God sometimes appeared to him who hath neither Form nor Idea but is placed above Intellect and all that is Intelligible to whom I Porphyrius affirm my self to have been once united in the Sixty eighth year of my age And again afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plotinus his chief aim and scope was to be united to and conjoyned with the Supreme God who is above all which scope he attained unto Four several times whilst my self was with him by a certain ineffable Energie That is Plotinus aimed at such a kind of Rapturous and Ecstatick Vnion with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First of the Three Highest Gods called The One and The Good as by himself is described towards the latter end of his Last Book Where he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Tactual Vnion and a certain Presence better than Knowledge and the joyning of our own Centre as it were with the Centre of the Vniverse Thus we see that the Platonick Trinity is a Trinity of Gods of which
the Intelligible or Archetypal World as making Apollo for Example to be the Intelligible Sun the Idea of the Sensible and Diana the Intelligible Moon and the like for the rest Lastly it hath been observed also that the Egyptian Theologers pretended in like manner to Worship these Intelligible Gods or Eternal Ideas in their Religious Animals as Symbols of them Philo indeed Platonized so far as to suppose God to have made an Archetypal and Intelligible World before he made this Corporeal and Sensible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God intending to make a Visible World first formed an Intelligible One that so having an Incorporeal and most God-like Pattern before him he might make the Corporeal World agreeably to the same this Younger an Image of that Older that should contein as many Sensible kinds in it as the other did Intelligible But it is not possible saith he to conceive this World of Ideas to exist in any place Nay according to him Moses himself philosophized also after the same manner in his Cosmopaeia describing in the First Five Verses of Genesis the making of an Intelligible Heaven and Earth before the Sensible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Creator first of all made an Incorporeal Heaven and an Invisible Earth the Ideas of Air and Vacuum Incorporeal Water and Air and last of all Light which was also the Incorporeal and Intelligible Paradigm of the Sun and Stars and that from whence their Sensible Light is derived But Philo does not plainly make these Ideas of the Intelligible and Archetypal World to be so many distinct Substances and Animals much less Gods though he somewhere takes notice of those who admiring the Pulchritude of both these Worlds did not only Deifie the whole of them but also their several Parts that is the Several Ideas of the Intelligible World also as well as the Greater Parts of the Sensible an Intelligible Heaven and Earth Sun and Moon they pretending to worship those Divine Ideas in all these Sensible things Which high-flown Platonick Notion as it gave Sanctuary and Protection to the grossest and foulest of all the Pagan Superstitions and Idolatries when the Egyptians would worship Brute Animals and other Pagans all the Things of Nature Inanimate Substances and meer Accidents under a pretence of worshipping the Divine Ideas in them so did it directly tend to absolute Impiety Irreligion and Atheism there being few that could entertain any thoughts at all of those Eternal Ideas and scarcely any who could thoroughly perswade themselves that these had so much Reality in them as the Sensible things of Nature as the Idea of a House in the mind of an Architect hath not so much Reality in it as a Material House made up of Stones Mortar and Timber so that their Devotion must needs sink down wholly into those Sensible Things and themselves naturally at length fall into this Atheistick Perswasion That the Good Things of Nature are the only Deities Here therefore have we a Multitude of Pagan Gods Supermundane and Eternal though all depending upon One Supreme the Gods by them properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intelligible or the Divine Ideas And we cannot but account this for another Depravation of the ancient Mosaick Cabbala of the Trinity that the Second Hypostasis thereof is made to be the Archetypal World and all the Divine Ideas as so many distinct Substances Animals and Gods that is not One God but a whole World of Gods But over and besides all this some of these Platonists and Pythagoreans did further Deprave and Adulterate the ancient Hebrew or Mosaick Cabbala of the Trinity the certain Rule whereof is now only the Scriptures of the New Testament when they concluded that as from the Third Hypostasis of their Trinity called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The First Soul there were Innumerable other Particular Souls derived namely the Souls of all Inferiour Animals that are Parts of the World so in like manner that from their Second Hypostasis called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The First Mind or Intellect there were innumerable other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Particular Minds or Intellects Substantial Derived Superiour to the First Soul and not only so but also That from that First and Highest Hypostasis of all called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The One and The Good there were derived likewise many Particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnities and Goodnesses Substantial Superiour to the First Intellect Thus Proclus in his Theologick Institutions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the First One and from it there are many Particular Henades or Vnities after the First Intellect and from it many Particular Noes Minds or Intellects after the First Soul many Particular and Derivative Souls and lastly after the Vniversal Nature many Particular Natures and Spermatick Reasons Where it may be obiter observed that these Platonists supposed below the Vniversal Psyche or Mundane Soul a Vniversal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Substantial Nature also but so as that besides it there were other Particular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seminal Reasons or Plastick Principles also As for these Noes and that besides the First Vniversal Mind or Intellect there are other Particular Minds or Intellects Substantial a Rank of Beings not only immutably Good and Wise but also every way Immovabl◠and therefore above the Rank of all Souls that are Self-moveable Beings Proclus was not singular in this but had the concurrence of many other Platonists with him amongst whom Plotinus may seem to be one from this Passage of his besides others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Souls are Immortal and every Mind or Intellect we have elsewhere largely proved Upon which words Ficinus thus Hîc suprà infrà saepè per verba Plotini notabis Plures esse Mentium Animarumque Substantias inter se distinctas quamvis inter eas Vnio sit Mirabilis Here and from many other places before and after you may observe that according to Plotinus there are many Substantial Minds distinct from Souls though there be a wonderful Vnion betwixt them Moreover that there was also above these Noes or Immovable but Multiform Minds not only one Perfect Monad and First Good but also a Rank of Many Particular Henades or Monades and Agathotetes was besides Proclus and others asserted by Simplicius also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Highest Good saith he produceth all things from himself in several Ranks and Degrees The First the Middle and the Last or Lowest of all But the First and the next to himself doth he produce like himself One Goodness Many Goodnesses and one Vnity or Henade Many Henades And that by these Henades and Autoagathotetes he means Substantial Beings that are Conscious of themselves appears also from these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those Beings which are first produced from the First Good by reason of their Sameness of Nature with him are
it though seemingly repugnant and clashing with one another yet in their opinion fairly Reconciled and Salved by this Trinity of Divine Hypostases Subordinate Lastly they pretend also that according to this Hypothesis of theirs there may be some Reasonable Satisfaction given to the Mind of Man both why there are so many Divine Hypostases and why there could be no more whereas according to other ways it would seem to have been a meer Arbitrary Business and that there might have been either but One Solitary Divine Hypostasis or but a Duality of them or else they might have been beyond a Trinity Numberless The Second Thing which we shall observe concerning the most Genuine Platonical and Parmenidian Trinity is this That though these Philosophers sometimes called their Three Divine Hypostases not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three Natures and Three Principles and Three Causes and Three Opificers but also Three Gods and a First and Second and Third God yet did they often for all that suppose all these Three to be Really One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Divinity or Numen It hath been already proved from Origen and others that the Platonists most commonly called the Animated World the Second God though some of them as for example Numenius styled it the Third God Now those of them who called the World the Second God attributed indeed not more but less Divinity to it than those who would have it to be the Third God Because these Latter supposed that Soul of the World to be the Third Hypostasis of their Trinity but the other taking all these Three Divine Hypostases together for One Supreme and First God called the World the Second God they supposing the Soul thereof to be another Soul Inferiour to that First Psyche which was properly their Third Hypostasis Wherefore this was really all one as if they should have called the Animated World the Fourth God only by that other way of reckoning when they called it a Second God they intimated that though those Three Divine Hypostases were frequently called Three Gods yet were they notwithstanding Really all but One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinity or Numen or as Plotinus speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divinity which is in the whole World Thus when God is so often spoken of in Plato Singularly the word is not always to be understood of the First Hypostasis only or the Tagathon but many times plainly of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First and Second and Third all together or that whole Divinity which consisteth or is made up of these Three Hypostases And this will further appear from hence because when the whole World is said in Plato to be the Image of the Eternal Gods as also by Plotinus of the First Second and Third by whom it is always produced anew as the Image in a Glass is this is not to be understood as if the World being Tripartite each Third part thereof was severally produced or Created by one of those Three nor yet can it be conceived how there could be Three Really distinct Creations of One and the same thing Wherefore the World having but one Creation and being Created by those Three Divine Hypostases it follows that they are all Three Really but One Creator and One God Thus when both in Plato and Plotinus the Lives and Souls of all Animals as Stars Demons and Men are attributed to the Third Hypostasis the First and great Psyche as their Fountain and Cause after a Special Manner accordingly as in our Creed the Holy Ghost is styled the Lord and Giver of Life this is not so to be understood as if therefore the First and Second Hypastases were to be excluded from having any Causality therein For the First is styled by Plato also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cause of all Good things and therefore doubtless chiefly of Souls and the Second is called by him and others too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cause and Artificer of the whole World We conclude therefore that Souls being Created by the Joynt Concurrence and Influence of these Three Hypostases Subordinate they are all Really but One and the same God And thus it is expresly affirmed by Porphyrius in St. Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Essence of the Divinity proceeds or propagates it self by way of descent downwards unto Three Hypostases or Subsistences The Highest God is the Tagathon or Supreme Good the Second next after him is the Demiurgus so called the Architect or Artificer of the World and the Soul of the World that is the Third for the Divinity extendeth so far as to this Soul Here we plainly see that though Porphyrius calls the Three Divine Hypostases Three Gods yet does he at the very same time declare that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Essence of the Godhead and the Divinity extends it self to all these Three Hypostases including the Third and last also which they call the Mundane Soul within the compass of it And therefore that even according to the Porphyrian Theology it self which could not be suspected to affect any compliance with Christianity the Three Hypostases in the Platonick Trinity are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Co-Essential both as being each of them God and as being all One God St Cyril himself also acknowledging as much where he writeth thus of the Platonists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That supposing Three Hypostases which have the Nature of Principles in the Vniverse they extend the Essence of God to all these three Hypostases Indeed many conceive that the Platonists making the Three Hypostases of Their Trinity to be thus Gradually Subordinate one to another could not for that very Reason acknowledge them to be One Divinity but the Platonists themselves do upon this very account and no other declare all these Three to be One Divinity because they have an Essential Dependence and Gradual Subordination in them the Second being but the Image of the First and the Third the Image both of the First and Second Whereas were these Three supposed to be Perfectly Co-Equal and to have no Essential Dependence one upon another they could not by these Platonists be concluded to be any other than Three Coordinate Gods having only a Generical or Specifical Identity and so no more One than Three men are One man a thing which the Platonick Theology is utterly abhorrent from as that which is inconsistent with the Perfect Monarchy of the Universe and highly Derogatory from the honour of the Supreme God First Cause For example should Three Suns appear in the Heaven all at once with Co-equal Splendor and not only so but also be concluded that though at First derived or Lighted and Kindled from one yet they were now all alike Absolute and Independent these Three could not so well be thought to be one Sun as Three that should
Power One Will and One Energy be much rather called One God But though it be true that Athanasius in this place if at least this were a Genuine Foetus of Athanasius may Justly be thought to attribute too much to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Common Nature Essence or Substance of all the Three Persons as to the making of them to be truly and properly One God and that those Scripture-passages are but weakly urged to this purpose yet is it plain that he did not acquiesce in this only but addeth other things to it also as their having not only One Will but also One Energy or Action of which more afterwards Moreover Athanasius elsewhere plainly implieth that this Common Essence or Nature of the Godhead is not sufficient alone to make all the Three Hypostases One God As in his Fourth Oration against the Arians where he tells us that his Trinity of Divine Hypostases cannot therefore be accounted Three Gods nor Three Principles because they are not resembled by him to Three Original Suns but only to the Sun and its Splendour and the Light from both Now Three Suns according to the Language of Athanasius have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Common Nature Essence and Substance and therefore are Coessential or Consubstantial and since they cannot be accounted one Sun it is manifest that according to Athanasius this Specifick Identity or Unity is not sufficient to make the Three Divine Hypostases One God Again the same Athanasius in his Exposition of Faith writeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither do we acknowledge Three Hypostases Divided or Separate by themselves as is to be seen corporeally in men that we may not comply with the Pagan Polytheism From whence it is Evident that neither Three Separate Men though Coessential to Athanasius were accounted by him to be One Man nor yet the Community of the Specifick Nature and Essence of the Godhead can alone by it self exclude Polytheism from the Trinity Wherefore the true reason why Athanasius laid so great a stress upon this Homoousiotes or Coessentially of the Trinity in order to the Vnity of the Godhead in them was not because this alone was sufficient to make them One God but because they could not be so without it This Athanasius often urges against the Arians as in his Fourth Oration where he tells them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they must needs introduce a Plurality of Gods because of the Heterogeneity of their Trinity And again afterwards determining that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one Species of the Godhead in Father Son and Spirit he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus do we acknowledge one only God in the Trinity and maintain it more Religiously than those Hereticks do who introduce a Multiform Deity consisting of divers Species we supposing only One Vniversal Godhead in the whole For if it be not thus but the Son be a Creature made out of nothing however called God by these Arians then must He and his Father of necessity be Two Gods one of them a Creator the other a Creature In like manner in his Books Of the Nicene Council he affirmeth concerning the Arians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they make in a manner Three Gods dividing the Holy Monad into Three Heterogeneous Substances Separate from one another Whereas the right Orthodox Trinity on the contrary is elsewhere thus described by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy and perfect Trinity Theologized in the Father Son and Spirit hath nothing Aliene Foreign or Extraneous intermingled with it nor is it compounded of Heterogeneous things the Creator and Creature joyned together And whereas the Arians interpreted that of our Saviour Christ I and my Father are One only in respect of Consent or Agreement of Will Athanasius shewing the insufficiency hereof concludeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore besides this Consent of Will there must of necessity be another Vnity of Essence or Substance also acknowledged in the Father and the Son Where by Vnity of Essence or Substance that Athanasius did not mean a Vnity of Singular and Individual but of General or Vniversal Essence only appears plainly from these following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For those things which are Made or Created though they may have an Agreement of Will with their Creator yet have they this by Participation only and in a way of Motion as he who retaining not the same was cast out of Heaven But the Son being begotten from the Essence or Substance of the Father is Essentially or Substantially One with him So that the Opposition here is betwixt Vnity of Consent with God in Created Beings which are Mutable and Vnity of Essence in that which is Vncreated and Immutably of the same Will with the Father There are also many other places in Athanasius which though some may understand of the Vnity of Singular Essence yet were they not so by him intended but either of Generick or Specifick Essence only or else in such other sence as shall be afterwards declared As for Example in his Fourth Oration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We acknowledge only One Godhead in the Trinity where the following words plainly imply this to be understood in part at least of One Common or General Essence of the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Because if it be not so but the Word be a Creature made out of Nothing he is either not truly God or if he be called by that name then must they be two Gods one a Creator the other a Creature Again when in the same Book it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Son and the Father are One thing in the Propriety of Nature and in the Sameness of one Godhead it is evident from the Context that this is not to be understood of a Sameness of Singular Essence but partly of a Common and Generical One and partly of such another Sameness or Unity as will be hereafter expressed Lastly when the Three Hypostases are somewhere said by him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Essence or Substance this is not to be understood neither in that place as if they had all Three the same Singular Essence but in some of those other Sences before mentioned But though Athanasius no where declare the Three Hypostases of the Trinity to have only One and the same Singular Essence but on the contrary denies them to be Monoousian and though he lay a great stress upon their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Specifick or Generick Vnity and Coessentiality in order to their being One God for as much as without this they could not be God at all yet doth he not rely wholly upon this as alone sufficient to that purpose but addeth certain other considerations thereunto to make it out in manner as followeth First that this Trinity is not a Trinity of Principles but that there is only One Principle
Imperfect is accounted such by the Diminution of that which is Perfect From whence it comes to pass that if in any kind any thing appear Imperfect there must of Necessity be something also in that Kind Perfect For Perfection being once taken away it could not be imagined from whence that which is accounted Imperfect should have proceeded Nor did the Nature of things take beginning from Inconsummate and Imperfect things but proceedings from things Absolute and Complete thence descend down to these lower Effete and Languid things But of this more elsewhere Wherefore since Infinite is the same with Absolutely Perfect we having a Notion or Idea of the Latter must needs have of the Former From whence we learn also that though the word Infinite be in the form thereof Negative yet is the Sence of it in those things which are really capable of the same Positive it being all one with Absolutely Perfect as likewise the Sence of the word Finite is Negative it being the same with Imperfect So that Finite is properly the Negation of Infinite as that which in order of Nature is before it and not Infinite the Negation of Finite However in those things which are capable of no true Infinity because they are Essentially Finite as Number Corporeal Magnitude and Time Infinity being there a meer Imaginary thing and a Non-Entity it can only be conceived by the Negation of Finite as we also conceive Nothing by the Negation of Something that is we can have no Positive Conception at all thereof We conclude To assert an Infinite Being is nothing else but to assert a Being Absolutely Perfect such as Never was Not or had no Beginning which could produce all things Possible and Conceivable and upon which all other things must depend And this is to assert a God One Absolutely Perfect Being the Original of all things God and Infinite and Absolutely Perfect being but different Names for One and the same thing We come now to the Fourth Atheistick Objection That Theology is nothing but an Arbitrarious Compilement of Inconsistent and Contradictious Notions Where First we deny not but that as some Theologers or Bigotical Religionists or later times extend the Divine Omnipotence to things Contradictious and Impossible as to the Making of One and the same Body to be all of it in several distant places at once so may others sometimes unskilfully attribute to the Deity things Inconsistent or Contradictious to one another because seeming to them to be all Perfections As for example though it be concluded generally by Theologers that there is a Natural Justice and Sanctity in the Deity yet do some notwithstanding contend That the Will of God is not determined by any Antecedent Rule or Nature of Justice but that whatsoever he could be supposed to Will Arbitrarily would therefore be Ipso facto Just which is called by them the Divine Soveraignty and look'd upon as a Great Perfection Though it be certain that these Two Things are directly Contradictious to one another viz. That there is something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in its own Nature Just and Vnjust or a Natural Sanctity in God and That the Arbitrary Will and Command of the Deity is the only Rule of Justice and Injustice Again some Theologers determining That Whatsoever is in God is God or Essential to the Deity they conceiving such an Immutability to be a Necessary Perfection thereof seem thereby not only to Contradict all Liberty of Will in the Deity which themselves notwithstanding contend for in a high degree that all things are Arbitrarily determined by Divine Decree but also to take away from it all Power of Acting ad Extra and of Perceiving or Animadverting things done sucessively here in the World But it will not follow from these and the like Contradictions of mistaken Theologers that therefore Theology it self is Contradictious and hath nothing of Philosophick Truth at all in it no more than because Philosophers also hold Contradictory Opinions that therefore Philosophy it self is Contradictious and that there is Nothing Absolutely True or False but according to the Protagorean Doctrine all Seeming and Phantastical But in the next place we add that though it be true that the Nature of things admits of nothing Contradictious and that whatsoever plainly Implies a Contradiction must therefore of necessity be a Non-Entity yet is this Rule notwithstading obnoxious to be much abused when whatsoever mens Shallow and Gross Understandings cannot Reach to they will therefore presently conclude to be Contradictious and Impossible As for example the Atheists and Materialists cannot Conceive of any other Substance besides Body and therefore do they determine presently that Incorporeal Substance is a Contradiction in the very Terms it being as much as to say Incorporeal Body wherefore when God is said by Theologers to be an Incorporeal Substance this is to them an Absolute Impossibility Thus a Modern Writer The Vniverse that is the whole Mass of all things is Corporeal that is to say Body Now every Part of Body is Body and Consequently every Part of the Vniverse is Body and that which is not Body is no part thereof And because the Vniverse is All that which is no part of it is nothing Therefore when Spirits are called Incorporeal this is only a name of Honour and it may with more Piety be attributed to God himself in whom we consider not what Attribute best expresseth his Nature which is Incomprehensible But what best expresseth our Desire to Honour him Where Incorporeal is said to be an Attribute of Honour that is such an Attribute as expresseth only the Veneration of mens Minds but signifieth nothing in Nature nor hath any Philosophick Truth and Reality under it a Substance Incorporeal being as Contradictious as Something and Nothing Notwithstanding which this Contradiction is only in the Weakness and Childishness of these mens Understandings and not the thing it self it being Demonstrable that there is some other Substance besides Body according to the True and Genuine Notion of it But because this mistake is not proper to Atheists only there being some Theists also who labour under this same Infirmity of Mind not to be able to Conceive any other Substance besides Body and who therefore assert a Corporeal Deity we shall in the next place show from a passage of a Modern Writer what kind of Contradictions they are which these Atheists impute to all Theology namely such as these that it supposes God to Perceive things Sensible without any Organs of Sense and to Vnderstand and be Wise without any Brains Pious men saith he attribute to God Almighty for Honours sake whatsoever they see Honourable in the world as Seeing Hearing Willing Knowing Justice Wisdom c. But they deny him such poor things as Eyes Ears and Brains and other Organs without which we Worms neither have nor can conceive such Faculties to Be and so far they do well But when they dispute of God's Actions Philosophically then do they
Power or Agent Invisible Moreover it is concluded that from the same Originals sprang not only that vulgar opinion of Inferiour Ghosts and Spirits also subservient to the Supreme Deity as the Great Ghost of the whole World Apparitions being nothing but mens own Dreams and Phancies taken by them for Sensations but also mens taking things Casual for Prognosticks and their being so Superstitiously addicted to Omens and Portents Oracles and Divinations and Prophecies this proceeding likewise from the same Phantastick Supposition that the things of the World are disposed of not by Nature but by some Vnderstanding and Intending Agent or Person But lest these Two forementioned Accounts of that Phaenomenon of Religion and the Belief of a Deity so Epidemical to Mankind should yet seem insufficient the Atheists will superadd a Third to them from the Fiction and Imposture of Civil Soveraigns Crafty Law-makers and Designing Politicians Who perceiving a great advantage to be made from the Belief of a God and Religion for the better keeping of men in Obedience and Subjection to themselves and in Peace and Civil Society with one another when they are perswaded that besides the Punishments appointed by Laws which can only take place upon open and convicted Transgressors and are often eluded and avoided there are other Punishments that will be inflicted even upon the secret violators of them both in this Life and after Death by a Divine Invisible and Irresistible Hand have thereupon Dextrously laid hold of mens Fear and Ignorance and cherished those Seeds of Religion in them being the Infirmities of their Nature and further confirmed their Belief of Ghosts and Spirits Miracles and Prodigies Oracles and Divinations by Tales or Fables publickly allowed and recommended According to that Definition of Religion given by a Modern Writer Fear of Power Invisible Feigned by the Mind or Imagined from Tales publickly allowed Religion not allowed Superstition And that Religion thus Nursed up by Politicians might be every way Compliant with and Obsequious to their Designs and no way Refractory to the same it hath been their great care to perswade the People that their Laws were not meerly their own Inventions but that themselves were only the Interpreters of the Gods therein and that the same things were really displeasing to the Gods which were forbidden by them God ruling over the world no otherwise than in them as his Vicegerents according to that Assertion of a Late Writer Deum nullum Regnum in homines habere nisi per eos qui Imperium tenent that God Reigneth over men only in the Civil Soveraigns This is therefore another Atheistick Account of Religions so generally prevailing in the world from its being a fit Engine of State and Politicians generally looking upon it as an Arcanum Imperii a Mystery of Government to possess the Minds of the People with the Belief of a God and to keep them busily employed in the exercises of Religion thereby to render them the more Tame and Gentle apt to Obedience Subjection Peace and Civil Society Neither is all this the meer Invention of Modern Atheists but indeed the old Atheistick Cabal as may appear partly from that known Passage of the Poet That the Gods were first made by Fear and from Lucretius his so fequently insisting upon the same according to the mind of Epicurus For in his First Book he makes Terrorem animi Tenebras Terrour of Mind and Darkness the Chief Causes of Theism and in his Sixth he further pursues the same Grounds especially the Latter of them after this manner Caetera quae fieri in Terris Coeloque tuentur Mortales pavidis quom pendent mentibu ' saepe Efficiunt animos humiles formidine Divûm Depressosque premunt ad terram proptereà quod IGNORANTIA CAVSARVM conferre Deorum Cogit ad Imperium res concedere Regnum Quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre Possunt haec fieri Divino Numine rentur To this Sence Mortals when with Trembling Minds they behold the Objects both of Heaven and Earth they become depressed and sunk down under the Fear of the Gods Ignorance of Causes setting up the Reign and Empire of the Gods For when men can find no Natural Causes of these things they suppose them presently to have been done by a Divine Power And this Ignorance of Causes is also elsewhere insisted upon by the same Poet as the chief Source of Religion or the Belief of a God Praeterea coeli rationes ordine certo Et varia annorum cernebant tempora verti Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis Ergo PERFVGIVM sibi habebant omnia Divis Tradere ipsorum nutu facere omnia flecti Moreover when a Modern Writer declares the Opinion of Ghosts to be one of those things in which consisteth the Natural Seeds of Religion As also that this Opinion proceedeth from the Ignorance how to distinguish Dreams and other strong Phancies from Vision and Sense he seemeth herein to have trod likewise in the Footsteps of Lucretius giving not obscurely the same Account of Religion in his Fifth Book Nunc quae causa Deûm per magnas Numina gentes Pervolgarit ararum compleverit Vrbes c. Non ita difficile est rationem reddere Verbis Quippe etenim jam tum Divûm mortalia Secla Egregias animo facies vigilante videbant Et magis in Somnis mirando corporis auctu His igitur Sensum tribuebant c. That is How the Noise of the Gods came thus to ring over the whole world and to fill all places with Temples and Altars is not a thing very difficult to give an account of it proceeding first from mens Fearful Dreams and their Phantasms when awake taken by them for Visions and Sensations Whereupon they attributed not only Sense to these things as really Existing but also Immortality and great Power For though this were properly an Account only of those Inferiour and Plebeian Gods called Demons and Genii yet was it supposed that the belief of these things did easily dispose the minds of men also to the Perswasion of One Supreme Omnipotent Deity over all Lastly That the Ancient Atheists as well as the Modern pretended the Opinion of a God and Religion to have been a Political Invention is frequently declared in the writings of the Pagans as in this of Cicero Ii qui dixerunt totam de Diis Immortalibus Opinionem sictam esse ab hominibus Sapientibus Reipublicae causa ut quos Ratio non posset eos ad Officium Religio duceret nonne omnem Religionem sunditus sustulerunt They who affirmed the whole opinion of the Gods to have been feigned by wise men for the sake of the Commonwealth that so Religion might engage those to their Duty whom Reason could not did they not utterly destroy all Religion And the sence of the Ancicient Atheists is thus represented by Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They First of all affirm that
Relaxation and there-not Mechanical but Vital We might also add amongst many others the Intersection of the Plains of the Equator and Ecliptick or the Earth's Diurnal Motion upon an Axis not Parallel with that of the Ecliptick nor Perpendicular to the Plain thereof For though Carâ—esius would needs imagine this Earth of ours once to have been a Sun and so it self the Centre of a lesser Vortex whose Axis was then Directed after this manner and which therefore still kept the same Site or Posture by reason of the Striate Particles finding no fit Pores or Traces for their passage thorough it but only in this Direction yet does he himself confess that because these Two Motions of the Earth the Annual and Diurnal would be much more conveniently made upon Parallel Axes therefore according to the Laws of Mechanism they should perpetually be brought nearer and nearer together till at length the Equator and the Ecliptick come to have their Axes Parallel to one another Which as it hath not yet come to pass so neither hath there been for these last two Thousand years according to the best Observations and Judgments of Astronomers any nearer approach made of them to one another Wherefore the Continuation of these â—wo Motions of the Earth the Annual and Diurnal upon Axes differâ—nt or not Parallel is resolvable into nothing but a Final and Mental Cause or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it was Best it should be so the Variety of the Seasons of the year depending hereupon But the greatest of all the particular Phaenomena is the Organization and Formation of the Bodies of Animals consisting of such Variety and Curiosity which these Mechanick Philosophers being no way able to give an account of from the Necessary Motion of Matter Vnguided by Mind for Ends prudently therefore break off their System there when they should come to Animals and so leave it altogether untouch'd We acknowledge indeed that there is a Posthumous Piece extant imputed to Cartesius and entituled De la Formation du Foetus wherein there is some Pretence made to salve all this by Fortuitous Mechanism But as the Theory thereof is wholly built upon a False Supposition sufficiently confuted by the Learned Harvey in his Book of Generation That the Seed doth Materially enter into the Composition of the Egg so is it all along Precarious and Exceptionable nor does it extend at all to the Differences that are in several Animals or offer the least Reason why an Animal of one Species or Kind might not be Formed out of the Seed of another It is here indeed Pretended by these Mechanick Theists that Final Causes therefore ought not to be of any Regard to a Philosopher because we should not arrogate to Our selves to be as Wise as God Almighty is or to be Privy to his Secrets Thus in the Metaphysical Meditations Atque ob hanc Vnicam Rationem totum illud Causarum genus quod à Fine peti solet in Rebus Physicis nullum Vsum habere existimo non enim absque Temeritate me puto investigare posse Fines Dei And again likewise in the Principles of Philosophy Nullas unquam Rationes circa Res Naturales à Fine quem Deus aut Natura in iis faciendis sibi proposuit admittimus quia non tantum nobis debemus arrogare ut ejus Consiliorum participes esse possimus But the Question is not Whether we can always reach to the Ends of God Almighty and know what is Absolutely Best in every case and accordingly make Conclusions that therefore the thing is or ought to be so but Whether any thing at all were made by God for Ends and Good otherwise than would of it self have resulted from the Fortuitous Motion of Matter Nevertheless we see no Reason at all why it should be thought Presumption or Intrusion into the Secrets of God Almighty to affirm that Eyes were made by him for the End of Seeing and accordingly so contrived as might best conduce thereunto and Ears for the End of Hearing and the like This being so plain that nothing but Sottish Stupidity or Atheistick Incredulity masked perhaps under an Hypocritical Veil of Humility can make any doubt thereof And therefore Aristotle justly reprehended Anaxagoras for that Absurd Aphorism of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Man was therefore the Wisest or most Solert of all Animals because he Chanced to have hands He not doubting to affirm on the Contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it was far more reasonable to think that because Man was the Wisest or most Solert and Active of all Animals therefore he had Hands given him For Nature saith he distributeth as a Wise man doth what is suitable to every one and it is more Proper to give Pipes to one that hath Musical Skill than upon him that hath Pipes to bestow Musical Skill Wherefore these Mechanick Theists would further alledge and that wiâ—h some more Colour of Reason That it is below the Dignity of God Almighty to condescend to all those mean and trivial Offices and to do the Things of Nature himself immediatly as also that it would be but a Botch in Nature if the Defects thereof were every where to be supplied by Miracle But to this also the Reply is easie That though the Divine Wisdom it self contrived the System of the whole World for Ends and Good yet Nature as an Inferiour Minister immediately Executes the same I say not a Dead Fortuiâ—â—us and meerly Mechanichal but a Vital Orderly and Artificial Nature Which Nature asserted by most of the Ancient Philosophers who were Theists is thus described by Proclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is the Last of all those Causes that Fabricate this Corporeal and Sensible world and the utmost bound of Incorporeal Substances Which being full of Reasons and Powers Orders and Presides over all Mundane affairs It proceeding according to the Magic Oracles from that Supreme Goddess the Divine Wisdom which is the Fountain of all Life as well Intellectual as that which is Concrete with Matter Which Wisdom this Nature always essentially depending upon passes through all things unhinderably by means whereof even Inanimate things partake of a kind of Life and things Corruptible remain Eternal in their Species they being contained by its Standing Forms or Ideas as their Causes And thus does the Oracle describe Nature as presiding over the whole Corporeal Word and perpetually turning round the Heavens Here have we a Description of One Vniversal Substantial Life Soul or Spirit of Nature Subordinate to the Deity besides which the same Proclus elsewhere supposeth other Particular Natures or Spermatick Reasons in those Words of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the first Soul are there particular Souls and after the Vniversal Nature Particular Natures Where it may be
observed by the way that this Proclus though he were a Superstitious Pagan much addicted to the Multiplying of Gods Subordinate to one Supreme or a Bigotick Polytheist who had a humour of Deifying almost every thing and therefore would have this Nature forsooth to be called a Gooddess too yet does he declare it not to be properly such but Abusively only viz. because it was no Intellectual Thing as he saith the Bodies of the Sun Moon and Stars supposed to be Animated were called Gods too they being the Statues of the Gods This is the meaning of those Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature is a God or Goddess not as having Godship properly belonging to it â—ut as the Divine Bodies are called Gods because they are Statues of the Gods Wherefore we cannot otherwise conclude concerning these our Mechanick Theists who will thus needs derive all Corporeal things from a Dead and Stupid Nature or from the Necessary Motions of Senslâ—ss Matter without the Direction of any Mind or Intention for Ends and Good but that they are indeed Cousin-Germans to Atheists or possessed in a Degree with a kind of Atheistick Enthusiasm or Fanaticism they being so far forth Inspired with a Spirit of Infidelity which is the Spirit of Atheism But these Mechanick Theists are again counterballanced by another sort of Atheists not Mechanical nor Fortuitous namely the Hylozoists who are unquestionably convinced that Opera Naturae sunt Opera Intelligentiae that the Works of Nature are Works of Vnderstanding and that the Original of these Corporeal things was not Dead and Stupid Matter Fortuitously moved upon which account Strato derided Democritus his Rough and Smooth Crooked and Hooky Atoms as meer Dreams and Dotages But these notwithstanding because they would not admit of any other Substance besides Matter suppose Life and Perception Essentially to belong to all Matter as such whereby it hath a Perfect Knowledge of whatsoever it self could Do or Suffer though without Animal-consciousness and can Form it self to the Best advantage sometimes improving it self by Organization to Sense in Brutes and to Reason and Reflexive Understanding in Men. Wherefore according to the Principles of these Hylozoists there is not any need of a God at all that is of one Perfect Mind or Vnderstanding Being presiding over the whole world they concluding accordingly the Opinion of a God to be only a Mistaking of the Inadequate Conception of Matter in General its Life and Energetick Nature taken alone Abstractly for a Complete Substance by it self Nevertheless these Hylozoick Atheists are no way able by this Hypothesis of theirs neither to salve that Phaenomenon of the Regularity and Harmony of the whole Universe because every Part of Matter being according to them a Distinct Percipient by it self whose knowledge extendeth only to its own Concernment and there being no one thing presiding over all the things of the whole World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which all things are Co-ordered together could never have fallen into One such Agreeing and Conspiring Harmony And as for those other Cosmo-Plastick Atheists who suppose the whole World to be as it were but One Huge Plant Tree or Vegetable or to have One Spermatick Plastick and Artificial Nature only Orderly and Methodically disposing the whole but without Sense and Vnderstanding these can no way do the business neither that is salve the forementioned Phaenomenon it being utterly Impossible that there should be any such Artificial and Regular Nature otherwise than as derived from and depending upon a Perfect Mind or Wisdom And thus do we see plainly that no Atheists whatsoever can Salve the Phaenomena of Naâ—ure and this Particularly of the Regular Frame and Harmony of the Vniverse and that true Philosophy or the Knowledge of Causes Necessarily leadeth to a God But besides these Phaenomena of Cogitation or Soul and Mind in Animals Local Motion in Bodies and the Artificial Frame of things for Ends and Vses together with the Conspiring Harmony of the Whole which can no way be Salved without a Deity We might here further add that the Fortuitous that is the Anaximandrian and Democritick Atheists who Universally asserted the Novity of this Mundane System were not able to give any tolerable account neither of the First Beginning of Men and those Greater Animals that are no otherwise begotten than in the way of Generation by the Commixture of Male and Female Aristotle in his Book of the Generation of Animals writeth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Men and Fourfooted Animals were ever Generated out of the Earth as some affirm it may be probably conceived to have been one of these Two ways either that they were Produced as Worms out of Putrefaction or else Formed in certain Eggs growing out of the Earth And then after a while he concludes again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That if there were any Beginning of the Generation of all Animals it is reasonable to think it to have been one of these Two forementioned wayes It is well known that Aristotle though a Theist elsewhere asserteth the World's Eternity according to which Hypothesis of his there was never any First Male nor Female in any kind of Animals but one begat another Infinitely without any Beginning a thing utterly repugnant to our Humane Faculties that are never able to frame any Conception of such an Infinity of Number and Time and of a Succesive Generation from Eternity But here Aristotle himself seems staggering or Sceptical about it If Men were ever Generated out of the Earth and If there were any Beginning of the Generation of Animals As he doth also in his Topicks propound it for an Instance of a thing Disputable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether the World were Eternal or no he ranking it amongst those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those Great things for which we can give no certain Reason one way nor other Now saith he If the World had a Beginning and If Men were once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earth-Born then must they have been in all probability either Generated as Worms out of Putrefaction or else out of Eggs he supposing it seems those Eggs to have grown out of the Earth But the Generality of Atheists in Aristotle's time as well as Theists denying this Eternity of the Mundane System as not so agreeable with their Hypothesis because so Constant and Invariable an Order in the World from Eternity hath not such an appearance or semblance of Chance nor can be easily supposed to have been without the Providence of a Perfect Mind presiding over it and Senior to it as Aristotle conceived in Nature though not in Time They therefore in all Probability concluded likewise Men at First to have been Generated One of these Two ways either out of Putrefaction or from Eggs and this by the Fortuitous Motion of Matter without the Providence or Direction of any Deity But after Aristotle Epicurus Phancied those First Men and other Animals to
of That the Vulgarly Received Tradition of Humane Souls after Death going into Hades might be Objected against them For the Satisfying whereof Plotinus suggesteth these Two Things First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That if by Hades be meant nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Invisible as many times it is then is there no more signified by the Souls going into Hades than it s no longer being Vitally united to this Earthy Body and but Acting apart by it self and so hath it nothing of Place necessarily included in it Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if by Hades be understood a Certain Worser Place as sometimes it also is What wonder is this since now where our Body is there in the same place is our Soul said to be also But you will Reply how can this be when there is now no longer any Body left We Answer that if the Idol of the Soul be not quite Separated from it Why should not the Soul it self be said to be there also where its Idol is Where by the Idol of the Soul Plotinus seems to mean an Airy or Spirituous Body Quickned and Vitalized by the Soul adhering to it after death But when the same Philosopher supposes this very Idol of the Soul to be also Separable from it and that so as to subsist apart by it self too this going alone into Hades or the Worser Place whilst that liveth only in the Intelligible World where there is no Place nor Distance lodged in the Naked Deity having nothing at all of Body hanging about it and being now not A Part but the Whole and so Situate nether here nor there in this High Flight of his he is at once both Absurdly Paradoxical in dividing the Life of the Soul as it were into Two and forgat the Doctrine of his own School which as himself elsewhere intimateth was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Our Soul though it shall quit this Body yet shall it never be disunited from all Body Wherefore Porphyrius answering the same Objection though he were otherwise much addicted to Plotinus and here uses his Language too yet does he in this depart from him adhering to the ancient Pythagorick Tradition which as will appear afterwards was this That Humane Souls are always Vnited to some Body or other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Souls being here upon Earth saith he is not its moving up and down upon it after the manner of Bodies but it s Presiding over a Body which moveth upon the Earth so is its being in Hades nothing but its presiding over that Idol or Enlivened Vaporoâ—â— Body whose Nature it is to be in a Place and which is of a Dark Subsistence Wherefore if Hades be taken for a Subterraneous and Dark Place yet may the Soul nevertheless be said to go into Hades because when it quits this Gross Earthy Body a more Spirituous and Subtle Body collected from the Spheres or Elements doth still accompany it Which Spirit being Moist and Heavy and naturally descending to the Subterraneous places the Soul it self may be said in this sense to go Vnder the Earth also with it not as if the Substance thereof passed from One Place to Another but because of its Relation and Vital Vnion to a Body which does so Where Porphyrius addeth contrary to the Sense of Plotinus That the Soul is never quite Naked of all Body but hath alway some Body or other joyned with it suitable and agreeable to its own present Disposition either a Purer or Impurer one But that at its first Quitting this Gross Earthly Body the Spirituous Body which accompanieth iâ— as its Vehicle must needs go away Fouled and Incrassated with the gross Vapours and steams thereof till the Soul afterwards by Degrees Purging it self this becometh at length A Dry Splendour which hath no Mysty Obscurity nor casteth any Shadow But because this Doctrine of the Ancient Incorporealists concerning the Humane Souls being always after Death United to some Body or other is more fully declared by Philoponus then by any other that we have yet met withal we shall here excerp some Passages out of him about it First therefore he declareth this for his own opinion agreeable to the Sense of the best Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Rational Soul as to its Energie is separable from all Body but the Irrational Part or Life thereof is Separable only from this Gross Body and not from all Body whatsoever but hath after Death a Spirituous or Aiery Body in which it acteth This I say is a True Opinion as shall be afterwards proved by us And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Irrational Life of the Soul hath not all its Being in this Gross Earthy Body but remaineth after the Souls Departure out of it having for its Vehicle and Subject the Spirituous Body Which it self is also compounded out of the Four Elements but receiveth its Denomination from the Predominant Part to wit Air as this Gross Body of ours is called Earthy from what is most Predominant therein Thus do we see that according to Philoponus the Humane Soul after Death does not meerly exercise its Rational Powers and think only of Metaphysical and Mathematical Notions Abstract things which are neither in Time nor Place but exerciseth also its Lower Sensitive and Irrational Faculties which it could not possibly do were it not then Vitally United to some Body and this Body then accompanying the Soul he calls Pneumatical that is not Spiritual in the Scripture-Sense but Spirituous Vaporous or Airy Let us therefore in the next place see what Rational Account Philoponus can give of this Doctrine of the Antients and of his Own Opinion agreeably thereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Humane Soul in those who are not Purged and Cleansed in this Life after its departure out of this Body is acknowledged or rather Demonstrated to go into Hades there to receive Punishment for its evil Actions past For Providence does not only take Care of our Being but also of our Well-Being Therefore is the Soul though lapsed into a Preter-Natural State yet not neglected by Providence but hath a Convenient Care taken of it in order to its Recovery And since Sinning had its Original from the Desire of Pleasure it must of necessity be Cured by Pain For here also Contraries are the Cures of Contraries Therefore the Soul being to be Purged is Punished and Pained in those Subterraneous Judicatories and Prisons in order to its Amendment But if the Soul be Incorporeal it is Impossible for it to Suffer How then can it be Punished There must of Necessity be some Body joyned with it Which being immoderately Constringed or Agitated Concreted or Secreted and Discordantly Moved by Heat and Cold or the like may make the Soul sensible of Pain by reason of Sympathy as it is here in this Life What Body therefore is that which is then Conjoyned with the Soul after the dissolution
So that it will still continue after death to live to God whether in a Body or without it Though according to Plato's Express Doctrine the Soul is never quite Naked of all Body he writting thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul is always conjoyned with a Body but sometimes of one kind and sometimes of another which many Christian Doctors also as is before declared have thought highly probable However our Christian Faith assures us that the Souls of Good men shall at length be clothed with Spiritual and Heavenly Bodies such as are in Aristotle's Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Analogous to the Element of the Stars Which Christian Resurrection therefore to Life and Immortality is far from being as Celsus reproched it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Meer Hope of Worms And thus much shall suffice in way of Confutation of the First Atheistick Objection against Providence which is the Twelfth Argumentation propounded in the Second Chapter The Thirteenth Atheistick Argument or Second Objection against Providence is from the Seeming Confusion of Humane Affairs That all things fall alike to all the Innocent and the Nocent the Pious and the Impious the Religious and the Prophane nay That many times the Worser Causes and Men prevail against the Better as is intimated in that Passage of the Poet though in the Person of a Theist Victrix Causa Deo placuit sed Victa Catoni And That the Vnjust and Vngodly often flow in all kind of Prosperity whilst the Innocent and Devout Worshippers of the Deity all their Lives long conflict with Adversity Whereas were there a God and Providence as they conceive Prophane and Irreligious Persons would be presently Thunder-struck from Heaven or otherwise made remarkable Objects of Divine Vengeance as also the Pious Miraculously protected and rescued from Evil and Harms Now we grant indeed that this Consideration hath too much puzled and staggered Weak Minds in all Ages Because Sentence against an Evil Work is not executed speedily therefore is the heart of the Sons of men fully set in them to do Evil. And the Psalmist himself was sometime much perplexed with this Phaenomenon the Prosperity of the Vngodly who set their Mouths against Heaven and whose Tongue walketh through the Earth so that he was Tempted to think He had cleansed his Heart in Vain and Washed his hands in Innocency till at length entring into the Sanctuary of God his Mind became Illuminated and his Soul fixed in a firm Trust and Confidence upon Divine Providence Whom have I in Heaven but thee c. My Flesh and my Heart faileth but God is the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever For as some will from hence be apt to infer That there is no God at all but that blind Chance and Fortune steer all the Fool hath said in his heart there is no God So will others conclude That though there be a God yet he either does not know things done here below How does God Know and is there Knowledge in the most High or else will not so far Humble himself or Disturb his own Ease and Quiet as to concern himself in our Low Humane Affairs First of all therefore we here say That it is altogether unreasonable to require that Divine Providence should Miraculously interpose upon every turn in Punishing the Vngodly and Preserving the Pious and thus perpetually interrupt the Course of Nature which would look but like a Botch or Bungle and a violent business but rather carry things on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Still and Silent Path and shew his Art and Skill in making things of themselves fairly unwind and clear up at last into a Satisfactory Close Passion and Self Interest is blind or short sighted but that which steers the whole world is no Fond Pettish Impatient and Passionate thing but an Impartial Disinteressed and Vncaptivated Nature Nevertheless it is certain that sometimes we have not wanted Instances in Cases extraordinary of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God appearing as it were Miraculously upon the Stage and manifesting himself in taking immediate Vengeance upon Notorious Malefactors or delivering his Faithful Servants from imminent Dangers or Evils Threatned as the same is often done also by a secret and Undiscerned overruling of the things of Nature But it must be granted that it is not always thus but the Periods of Divine Providence here in this World are commonly Longer and the Evolutions thereof Slower According to that of Euripides which yet has a Tange of Prophaneness in the Expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deity is Slow or Dilatory and this is the Nature of it For it is not from Slackness and Remisness in the Deity but either from his Patience and Long-suffering he willing that men should Repent or else to teach us Patience by his Example as Plutarch suggesteth or that all things may be carried on with the more Pomp and Solemnity or Lastly for other particular Reasons as Plutarch ventures to assign one why it might not be expedient for Dionysius the Tyrant though so Prophane and Irreligious a Person to have been cut off suddainly But Wicked and Ungodly Persons often times fail not to be met withal at last and at the long run here in this Life and either in Themselves or Posterity to be notoriously Branded with the Marks of Divine Displeasure according to that of the Poet Rarò antecedentem Scelestum c. It is seldom that Wickedness altogether scapes Punishment though it come slowly after limping with a Lame Foot and those Proverbial Speeches amongst the Pagans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mills of the Gods do slowly wind But they at length to powder grind And Divine Justice steals on Softly with Woollen Feet but Strikes at last with Iron Hands Nevertheless we cannot say that it is always thus neither but that Wicked Persons may possibly sometimes have an Uninterrupted Prosperity here in this Life and no visible Marks of Divine Displeasure upon them but as the generously vertuous will not Envy them upon this account nor repine at their own condition they knowing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is neither any thing truly Evil to the Good nor Good to the Evil so are they so far from being staggered herewith in their Belief of a God and Providence that they are rather the more confirmed in their Perswasions of a Future Immortality and Judgment after Death when all things shall be set straight and right and Rewards and Punishments Impartially Dispensed That of Plutarch therefore is most true here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That there is a Necessary Connexion betwixt those Two things Divine Providence and the Permanence or Immortality of Humane Souls one and the same Reason confirming them both neither can one of these be taken alone without the other But they who because Judgment is not presently Executed upon the Vngodly blame the Management of things as Faulty and Providence as Defective are like such Spectators
Co-Extended with its Rayes and Light it would see and perceive every Atom of Matter that it s out stretched Beams reached to and touched Now all Created Beings are themselves in some sense but the Rayes of the Deity which therefore cannot but Feel and Sensibly Perceive all these its own Effluxes and Emanations Men themselves can order and manage Affairs in several distant Places at once without any Disturbance and we have innumerable Notions of things in our Mind that lie there easily together without Crowding one another or Causing any Distraction to us Nevertheless the Minds of weak Mortals may here be somewhat eased and helped by considering what hath been before suggested That there is no necessity God Almighty should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do all things himself Immediately and Drudgingly but he may have his Inferiour Ministers and Executioners under him to discharge him of that Supposed Encumberment As First of all an Artificial Plastick Nature which without Knowledge and Animal Consciousness disposes the Matter of the Universe according to the Platform or Idea of a Perfect Mind and forms the Bodies of all Animals And this was the Reason why we did before insist so much upon this Artificial Regular and Methodical Nature namely that Divine Providence might neither be excluded from having an Influence upon all things in this Lower World as resulting only from the Fortuitous Motions of Sensless Matter unguided by any Mind nor yet the Deity be supposed to do every thing it self Immediatly and Miraculously without the Subservient Ministery of any Natural Causes which would seem to us Mortals to be not only a Violent but also an Operose Cumbersom and Moliminous Business And thus did Plato acknowledge that there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certain Causes of a Prudent that is Artificial and Orderly Nature which God makes use of as Subservient to himself in the Mundane Oeconomy Besides which those Instincts also impressed upon Animals and which they are Passive to directing them to Act for Ends either not understood or not attended to by them in order to their own Good and the Good of the Universe are another part of that Divine Fate which inserted into things themselves is the Servant and Executioner of Providence Above all which there are yet other Knowing and Vnderstanding Ministers of the Deity as its Eyes and Hands Demoniack or Angelick Beings appointed to preside over Mankind all Mundane Affairs and the Things of Nature they having their several distinct Offices and Provinces assigned them Of which also Plato thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are certain Rulers or Presidents appointed by that Supreme God who Governs the whole world over all the several things and Parts therein even to the smallest Distribution of them All which Inferiour Causes are constantly over looked and supervised by the Watchful Eye of God Almighty himself who may also sometimes Extraordinarily Interpose We need not therefore restrain and confine Divine Providence to a Few Greater things only as some do that we may thereby consult the ease of the Deity and its Freedom from Distraction but may and ought to Extend it to all things whatsoever Small as well as Great And indeed the Great things of the World cannot well be ordered neither without some regard to the Small and Little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As Architects affirm that great stones cannot be well placed together in a Building without little Neither can Generals of Armies nor Governours of Families nor Masters of Ships nor Mechanick Artificers discharge their several Functions and do their Works respectively as they ought did they not mind the Small things also as well as the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the forementioned Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us not therefore make God Almighty Inferiour to Mortal Opificers who by one and the same Art can order Small things as well as Great and so suppose him to be Supine and negligent Nevertheless the Chief Concernment and Employment of Divine Providence in the World is the Oeconomy of Souls or Government of Rational Beings which is by Plato contracted into this Compendium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There is no other work left for the Supreme Governour of all then only to Translate Better Souls into Better places and Conditions and Worser into Worser or as he after addeth to dispose of every one in the world in such a manner as might best render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue victorious and triumphant over Vice And thus may the slow and Imperfect wits of Mortals be satisfied that Providence to the Deity is no Moliminous Laborious and Distractious thing But that there is no higher Spring of Life in Rational Animals than Contracted Self Love and that all Good Will and Benevolence arises only from Indigency and Imbecillity and That no Being whatsoever is concerned in the welfare of any other thing but only what it self stands in Need of and Lastly therefore That what is Irresistibly Powerful and Needs nothing would have no manner of Benevolence nor concern it self in the Good and Welfare of any thing whatsoever This is but another Idol of the Atheists Den and only argues their Bad Nature Low-sunck Minds and Gross Immorality And the same is to be said also of that other Maxim of theirs That what is perfectly Happy would have nothing at all To Do but only enjoy its own Ease and Quiet whereas there is nothing more troublesome to our selves than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this having Nothing to Do and the Activity of the Deity or a Perfect Being is altogether as Easie to it as its Essence The Atheistick Queries come next to be Answered which being but Three are Naturally to be disposed in this order First If there were a God or Perfect Being who therefore was sufficiently Happy in the enjoyment of himself Why would he go about to make a World Secondly If he must needs make a World why did he not make it sooner this Late production thereof looking as if he had but newly awaked out out of a long sleep throughout Infinite Past Ages or else had in length of time contracted a Satiety of his Solitude Thirdly and Lastly What Tools or Instruments what Machines or Engines had be or How could he move the Matter of the whole world especially if Incorporeal because then he would run through all things and could not lay hold nor fasten upon any thing To the First therefore we say That the reason why God made the World was from his own Overflowing and Communicative Goodness that there might be other Beings also Happy besides him and enjoy themselves Nor does this at all clash with God's making of the world for his own Glory and Honour though Plotinus were so shy of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is ridiculous to say that God made the world that he might be Honoured this being to transfer the affections of humane Artificers and Statuaries upon him
different from the Hylozoick in that it takes away all Fortuitousness Subjecting all things Vniversally to the Fate of this One Methodical Unknowing Nature Page 132 XXVIII Possible that some in all ages might have entertained this Atheistical Conceit That all things are dispensed by One Regular and Methodical Senseless Nature nevertheless it seemeth to have been chiefly asserted by certain Spurious Heracliticks and Stoicks Vpon which account this Cosmo-plastick Atheism may be called Pseudo-zenonian Page 133 XXIX That besides the Philosophick Atheists there have been always in the World Enthusiastick and Fanatick Atheists though indeed all Atheists may in some sense be said to be both Enthusiasts and Fanaticks as being meerly led by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Irrational Impetus Page 134 XXX That there cannot easily be any other Form of Atheism besides these Four already mentioned because all Atheists are Corporealists and yet not all Corporealists Atheists but onely such of them as make the First Principle not to be Intellectual ibid. XXXI A Distribution of Atheisms Producing the forementioned Quaternio and shewing the Difference that is betwixt them Page 136 XXXII That they are but meer Bunglers at Atheism who talk of Sensitive and Rational Matter Specifically Differing And that the Canting Astrological Atheists are not at all considerable because not Vnderstanding themselves Page 137 XXXIII Another Distribution of Atheisms That they either derive the Original of all things from a meerly Fortuitous Principle and the Unguided Motion of Matter or else from a Plastick Regular and Methodical but Senseless Nature What Atheists denied the Eternity of the World and what asserted it Page 138 XXXIV That of these Four Forms of Atheism the Atomick or Democritical and the Hylozoick or Stratonical are the Principal which Two being once confuted all Atheism will be confuted Page 142 XXXV These Two Forms of Atheism being contrary to each other that we ought in all Reason to insist rather upon the Atomick nevertheless we shall elsewhere confute the Hylozoick also and further prove against all Corporealists that no Cogitation nor Life can belong to Matter Page 145 XXXVI That in the mean time we shall not neglect the other Forms of Atheism but Confute them all together as they agree in one Principle As also by way of Digression here insist largely upon the Plastick Life of Nature in order to a fuller Confutation as well of the Hylozoick as the Cosmo-plastick Atheism Page 146 1. That these Two Forms of Atheism are not therefore Condemned by us meerly because they suppose a Life of Nature distinct from the Animal Life however this be a thing altogether Exploded by some professed Theists therein symbolizing too much with the Democritick Atheists ibid. 2. That if no Plastick Artificial Nature be admitted then one of these two things must be concluded That either all things come to pass by Fortuitous Mechanism or Material Necessity the Motion of Matter Vnguided or else that God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe all things Himself Immediately and Miraculously framing the Body of every Gnat and Fly as it were with his own hands forasmuch as Divine Laws and Commands cannot execute themselves nor be alone the proper Efficient Causes of things in Nature Page 147 3. To suppose the Former of these that all things come to pass Fortuitously by the Unguided Motion of Matter and without the Direction of any Mind a thing altogether as Irrational as Impious there being many Phaenomena both Above the Mechanick Powers and Contrary to the Laws thereof That the Mechanick Theists make God but an Idle Spectatour of the Fortuitous Motions of Matter and render his Wisedom altogether useless and insignificant Aristotle's Judicious Censure of this Fortuitous Mechanism and his Derision of that Conceit that Material and Mechanical Reasons are the onely Philosophical Page 148 4. That it seems neither Decorous in respect of God nor Congruous to Reason that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe all things Himself Immediately and Miraculously without the Subserviency of any Natural Causes This further Confuted from the Slow and Gradual Process of things in Nature as also from those Errours and Bungles that are Committed when the Matter proves Inept and Contumacious which argue the Agent not to be Irresistible Page 149 5. Reasonably inferred from hence That there is an Artificial or Plastick Nature in the Vniverse as a Subordinate Instrument of Divine Providence in the Orderly Disposal of Matter but not without a Higher Providence also presiding over it forasmuch as this Plastick Nature cannot Act Electively or with Discretion Those Laws of Nature concerning Motion which the Mechanick Theists themselves suppose Really Nothing else but a Plastick Nature or Spermatick Reasons Page 150 6. The Argeeableness of this Doctrine with the Sentiments of the best Philosophers of all Ages Anaxagoras though a professed Theist severely Censured both by Plato and Aristotle as an encourager of Atheism meerly because he used Material and Mechanical Causes more than Mental and Final Physiologers and Astronomers for the same Reason also vulgarly suspected of Atheism in Plato's time Page 151 7. The Plastick Artificial Nature no Occult Quality but the onely Intelligible Cause of that which is the Grandest of all Phaenomena the Orderly Regularity and Harmony of Things which the Mechanick Theists however pretending to Salve all Phaenomena give no accompt of A God or Infinite Mind asserted by these in vain and to no purpose Pag. 154 8. Two things here to be Performed To give an accompt of the Plastick Artificial Nature and then To show how the Notion thereof is Mistaken and Abused by Atheists The First General Accompt of this Nature according to Aristotle That it is to be conceived as Art it self acting Inwardly and Immediately upon the Matter as if Harmony Living in the Musical Instruments should move the Strings thereof without any External Impulse Page 155 9. Two Preeminences of Nature above Humane Art First That whereas Humane Art acts upon the Matter without Cumbersomely or Moliminously and in a way of Tumult or Hurlyburly Nature acting upon the same from Within more Commandingly doth its work Easily Cleverly and Silently Humane Art acteth on Matter Mechanically but Nature Vitally and Magically Page 155 10. The Second Preeminence of Nature That whereas Human Artists are often to seek and at a loss Anxiously Consult and Deliberate and upon Second thoughts Mend their former work Nature is never to seek or Vnresolved what to doe nor doth she ever Repent of what she hath done and thereupon correct her Formâ—r Course Human Artists themselves Consult not as Artists but always for want of Art and therefore Nature though never Consulting nor Deliberating may notwithstanding act Artificially and for Ends. Concluded that what is by us called Nature is Really the Divine Art Page 156 11. Nevertheless That Nature is not the Divine Art Pure and Abstract but Concreted and Embodied in Matter the Divine Art not Archetypal but Ectypal Nature differs from
Love the First Created God or Lower Soul of the World before whose Production Necessity is said to have reigned that is the Necessity of Material Motions undirected for Ends and Good Page 374 375. That Pythagoras called the Supreme Deity not onely a Monad but a Tetrad or Tetractys also The Reasons for this given from the Mysteries in the Number Four trifling More probability of a late Conjecture that the Pythagorick Tetractys was the Hebrew Tetragrammaton not altogether unknown to the Hetrurians and Latins Page 375 376 Xenophanes a plain Asserter both of Many Gods and of One God called by him One and All. Simplicius his clear Testimony for this Theosophy of Xenophanes out of Theophrastus Xenophanes misrepresented by Aristotle as an Asserter of a Spherical Corporeal God Page 377 378 Heraclitus though a Cloudy and Confounded Philosopher and one who could not conceive of any thing Incorporeal yet both a hearty Moralist and a zealous Asserter of One Supreme Deity Page 378 379 The Ionick Philosophers before Anaxagoras being all of them Corporealists and some of them Atheists that Anaxagoras was the First who asserted an Incorporeal Mind to be a Principle and though not the Cause of Matter yet of Motion and of the Regularity of things The World according to him not Eternal but Made and out of Pre-Existent Similar Atoms and that not by Chance but by Mind or God This Mind of his purely Incorporeal as appeareth from his own words cited by Simplicius Page 380 Probable that Anaxagoras admitted none of the Inferiour Pagan Gods He Condemned by the Vulgar for an Atheist because he Ungodded the Stars denying their Animation and affirming the Sun to be but a Mass of Fire and the Moon an Earth This disliked also by Plato as that which in those times would dispose men to Atheism Page 381 Anaxagoras farther Censured both by Plato and Aristotle because though asserting Mind to be a Principle he made much more use of Material than of Mental and Final Causes which was looked upon by them as an Atheistick Tang in him Nevertheless Anaxagoras a better Theist than those Christian Philosophers of later times who quite banish all Mental Causality from the World Page 382 383 XXI Parmenides his acknowledgment of One God the Cause of Gods Which Supreme Deity by Parmenides styled One-All-Immovable That this is not to be taken Physically but Metaphysically and Theologically Proved at large The First Principle of all to these Ancients One a Simple Vnity or Monad This said to be All because virtually Containing All and Distributed into All or because All things are distinctly displayed from it Lastly the same said to be Immovable and Indivisible and without Magnitude to distinguish it from the Corporeal Universe Page 383 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One All taken in different Senses by Parmenides and Xenophanes c. Divinely for the Supreme Deity One most Simple Being the Original of all things but by others in Aristotle Atheistically as if all things were but One and the same Matter diversly Modified But the One-All of these Latter not Immoveable but Moveable it being nothing else but Body whereas the One-All-Immoveable is an Incorporeal Deity This does Aristotle in his Metaphysicks close with as good Divinity That there is one Incorporeal Immoveable Principle of all things Simplicius his Observation That though divers Philosophers maintained a Plurality or Infinity of Moveable Principles yet none ever asserted more than One Immoveable Page 385 386 Parmenides in Plato distinguishes three Divine Hypostases The First whereof called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One-All the Second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One All things and the Third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One and All things Page 386 c. But that Parmenides by his One-All-Immoveable really understood the Supreme Deity yet farther unquestionably evident from the Verses cited out of him by Simplicius Wherein there is also attributed thereunto a Standing Eternity or Duration different from that of Time Page 388 The onely Difference betwixt Parmenides and Melissus that the Former called his One-All-Immoveable Finite the Latter Infinite this in Words rather than Reality The Disagreeing Agreement of these two Philosophers fully declared by Simplicius Melissus his Language more agreeable with our present Theology Though Anaximander's Infinite were nothing but Sensless Matter yet Melissus his Infinite was the True Deity Page 389 That Zeno Eleates by his One-All-Immoveable meant not the Corporeal World neither no more than Melissus Parmenides and Xenophanes but the Deity evident from Aristotle Zeno's Demonstrations of One God from the Idea of a most Powerfull and Perfect Being in the same Aristotle Page 390 Empedocles his First Principle of All things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Unity likewise besides which he supposed Contention and Friendship to be the Principles of all Created Beings not onely Plants Brutes and Men but Gods also Page 391 c. Empedocles his Original of all the Evill both of Humane Soul and Demons from this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Discord and Contention together with the Ill use of their Liberty Page 393 XXII The Doctrine of divers other Pythagoreans also the same as Philolaus Archytas Ocellus Aristaeus c. Timaeus Locrus his God the Creatour of Gods Onatus his Many Gods and his One God the Coryphaeus of the Gods Euclides Megarensis his One the Very Good Antisthenes his Many Popular Gods but One Natural God Diogenes Sinopensis his God that Filleth all things Page 393 c. XXIII That Socrates asserted One Supreme God undenyable from Xenophon Page 398 399 But that he disclaimed all the other Inferiour Gods of the Pagans and died as a Martyr for One onely God in this Sense a Vulgar Errour Page 400 What the Impiety imputed to him by his Adversaries appeareth from Plato's Euthyphro viz. That he freely and openly Condemned those Fables of the Gods wherein Wicked and Vnjust Actions were imputed to them Page 401 That Plato really asserted One onely God and no more a Vulgar Errour likewise and that Thirteenth Epistle to Dionysius wherein he declared himself to be Serious onely when he began his Epistles with God and not with Gods though exstant in Eusebius his time Spurious and Supposititious He worshipping the Sun and other Stars also supposed to be animated as Inferiour Gods Page 402 Nevertheless Vndeniably evident that Plato was no Polyarchist but a Monarchist no Asserter of Many Independent Gods or Principles but of One Original of all things One First God One Greatest God One Maker of the World and of the Gods Page 403 404 In what Sense the Supreme God to Plato the Cause and Producer of Himself out of Plotinus and this notion not onely entertained by Seneca and Plotinus but also by Lactantius That Plato really asserted a Trinity of Universal Divine Hypostases that have the Nature of Principles The First Hypostasis in Plato's Trinity properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Original Deity the Cause and King of all things which
where he calls his Ideas Animals Nor was Apuleius Singular herein Julian in his Book against the Christians going the very same way and no otherwise understood by S. Cyril than as to make the Invisible Gods worshipped by the Pagans to be the Divine Ideas A Phancy of the same Julian who opposed the Incarnation of the Eternal Word that Aesculapius was first of all the Idea of the Medicinal Art Generated by the Supreme God in the Intelligible World which afterwards by the Vivifick Influence of the Sun was Incarnated and appeared in Humane Form about Epidaurus And that this Pagan Doctrine Older than Christianity proved out of Philo writing of a Sun and Moon Intelligible as well as Sensible Religiously worshipped by the Pagans That is the Ideas of the Archetypal World And thus were these Ideas of the Divine Intellect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intelligible Gods to Plotinus also Page 496 c. 501 Wherefore Julian Apuleius and those others who thus made all the Pagan Invisible Gods to be nothing else but the Divine Ideas the Patterns of Things in the Archetypal World supposed them not to be so many Independent Deities nor Really Distinct Substances Separate from one another but onely so many Partiall Considerations of One God Julian before affirming them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to have been Generated out of him so also to Coexist with him and Inexist in him Page 501 502 That the Pagans appointed some Particular God or Goddess by Name to preside over Every thing there Being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing at all without a God to them appeareth from that Catalogue of their Ignoble or Petty Gods Collected by S. Austine out of Varro Now it is Incredible that they should think all these to be so many Single Substantiall Spirits of each Sex Really Existing apart in the World they must therefore needs take them to be so many Partiall Considerations of the Deity either in the way of the more High-flown Platonists as his Ideas Exemplarily and Vertually containing all things or else in that more Common and easâ—y way of the Generality as so many Several Denominations of him according to the Several Manifestations of his Power and Providence or as the Pagans in Eusebius declares themselves those Several Vertues and Powers of the Supreme God themselves Personated and Deifyed Which yet because they were not executed without the Subservient Ministery of Created Spirits Angels or Demons appointed to preside over such things therefore might these also Collectively taken be included under them Page 502 503 But for the fuller clearing of this Point that the Pagan Polytheism was in great part Nothing but the Polyonymy of one God Two Things here to be taken notice of First that the Pagan Theology Vniversally Supposed God to be Diffused thorough all to Permeate and Pervade all and Intimately to Act all Thus Horus Apollo of the Egyptians Thus among the Greeks Diogenes the Cynick Aristotle the Italick and Stoicall Philosophers Thus the Indian Brachmans before Strabo Thus also the Latin Poets and Seneca Quintilian Apuleius and Servius besides others Page 503 504 That Anaxagoras and Plato also though neither of them Confounded God with the World but affirmed him to be Unmingled with any thing yet Concluded him in like manner to Permeate and Pervade all things Plato 's Etymology of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as taken for a Name of God to this purpose in his Cratylus Where a Fragment of Heraclitus and his Description of God agreeably hereunto a most Subtle and Swift Substance that Permeates and Passes through every thing by which all things are made But Plato disclaiming this Corporeity of the Deity will neither have it Fire nor Heat but a Perfect Mind that Passes through all things Unmixedly Page 505 Wherefore no wonder if the Pagans supposing God to be Diffused thorough all things called him in the Several Parts of the World and Things of Nature by several Names as in the Earth Ceres in the Sea Neptune c. This accompt of the Pagan Polytheism given by Paulus Orosius That whilst they believed God to be in Many things they indiscreetly made Many Gods of Him Page 505 506 Further to be observed That many of the Pagan Theologers seemed to go yet a Strain higher they supposing God not onely to Pervade all things but also to Be himself all things That the Ancient Egyptian Theology ran so high Evident from the Saitick Inscription A strong Tang hereof in Aeschylus as also in Lucan Neither was this proper to those who held God to be the Soul of the World but the Language also of those other more Refined Philosophers Xenophanes Parmenides c. they affirming God to be One and All. With which agreeth the Authour of the Asclepian Dialogue that God is Vnus omnia One all things and that before things were made he did then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hide them or Occultly contain them all within himself In like manner Orpheus Page 506 507 This not onely a further Ground of the Polyonymy of One God according to the Various Manifestations of himself in the World but also of another Strange Phaenomenon in the Pagan Theology their Personating the Inanimate Parts of the World and Natures of things and bestowing the Names of Gods and Goddesses upon them Thus Moschopulus before cited and Arnobius This Plutarch thinks to have been done at first Metonymically onely the Effects of the Gods being called Gods as the Books of Plato Plato And thus far not disliked by him But himself complaineth that aftewards it was carried on further by Superstitious Religionists and not without great Impiety Nevertheless that Inanimate Substances and the Natures of things were formerly Deifyed by the Ancient Pagans otherwise than Metonymically proved from Cicero Philo and Plato For they supposing God to Pervade all things and to be All things did therefore look upon every thing as Sacred or Divine and Theologize the Parts of the World and Natures of Things Titularly making them Gods and Goddesses But especially such things as wherein Humane Utility was most concerned and which had most of Wonder in them Page 507 510 This properly the Physiological Theology of the Pagans their Personating and Deifying the Natures of things and Inanimate Substances That the Ancient Poetick Fables of the Gods were many of them in their first and true meaning thus Physiologically Allegorical and not meer Herology affirmed against Eusebius Zeno Cleanthes and Chrysippus Famous for thus Allegorizing the Fables of the Gods Chrysippus his Allegorizing an Obscene Picture of Jupiter and Juno in Samos Plato though no Friend to these Poetick Fables yet confesses some of them to have contained Allegories in them the same doth also Dionysius Halicarnassaeus and Cicero likewise who affirmeth this Personating and Deifying the Natures of things to have filled the World with Superstition Page 510 512 Against Eusebius again That the whole Theology of the Pagans consisted not in thus Deifying the Natures of things and
Inanimate Bodies because he that acknowledgeth no Animant God acknowledges no God at all but is a downright Atheist Page 512 Neither ought this Physiological Theology of the Pagans that consisted in Personating and Deifying the Natures of things and Inanimate Bodies to be Confounded with that Natural and Philosophical Theology of Varro Scaevola and others which admitted of no other but Animant Gods and such as Really Existed in Nature for which Cause it was called Natural in opposition to the Fictitious and Phantastick Poetick Gods Page 512 S. Austin's just Censure and Condemnation of the Pagans for their thus Theologizing of Physiology or Fictitiously Personating and Deifying the Natures of things Page 512 513 But though the Pagans did thus verbally Personate and Deifie the things of Nature yet did not the Intelligent amongst them therefore account these True and Proper Gods Cotta in Cicero Though we call Corn Ceres and Wine Bacchus yet was there never any one so mad as to take that for a God which himself feeds upon and devours The Pagans really accounted that onely for a God by the Invoking whereof they might expect benefit to themselves and therefore Nothing Inanimate This proved from Plato Aristotle Lucretius Cicero and Plutarch Wherefore these Natures of things Deified but Fictitious and Phantastick Gods Nor can any other sense be made of them than this that they were really but so many several Names of one Supreme God as severally manifested in his works according to that Egyptian Theology That God may be called by the Name of every thing or every thing by the Name of God With which agreeth Seneca That there may be as many Names of God as there are Gifts and Effects of his and the Writer De Mundo That God may be Denominated from every Nature he being the Cause of all things Page 513 515 Wherefore these Deified Natures of things were not directly worshipped by the Intelligent Pagans but onely Relatively to the Supreme God or in way of Complication with him onely and so not so much Themselves as God worshipped in them The Pagans Pretence that they did not look upon the world with such Eyes as Oxen and Horses do but with Religious Eyes so as to see God in every thing They therefore worshipped the Invisible Deity in the Visible manifestations of himself God and the World together This sometimes called Pan and Jupiter Thus was the whole World said to be the Greatest God and the Circle of the Heavens worshipped by the Persians not as Inanimate Matter but as the Visible manifestation of the Deity displayed from it and pervaded by it When the Roman Sea-Captains Sacrificed to the Waves their worship intended to that God who Stilleth the Waves and Quieteth the Billows Page 515 516 These Pagans also apprehended a Necessity of permitting men to worship the Invisible God in his Visible Works This account given by them in Eusebius Plato himself approved of worshipping the Invisible God in the Sun Moon and Stars as his Visible Images And though Maximus Tyrius would have men endeavour to rise above the Starry Heavens and all Visible things yet does he allow the weaker to worship God in his Progeny And Socrates perswades Euthydemus to be contented herewith Besides which some Pagans worshipping the Elements directed their Intention to the Spirits of those Elements as Julian in Ammianus these being supposed also to be Animated or else to those Daemons whom they conceived to inhabit them or preside over them Page 516 518 XXXIII Further to be observed That amongst those Natures of things some were meerly Accidental as Hope Love Desire Memory Truth Vertue Piety Faith Justice Concord Clemency Victory Echo Night According to which the vulgar Athenians supposed S. Paul to have Deified Anastasis or made a Goddess of the Resurrection as well as a God of Jesus Vices also sometimes thus Deified by them as Contumely and Impudence to whom were Temples dedicated at Athens though to the end that these things might be Deprecated These Accidents sometimes Deified under Counterfeit Proper Names as Pleasure under the name of Volupia and Lubentina Venus Time under the name of Chronos or Saturn Prudence or Wisedom under the names of Athena or Minerva against which Origen in his answer to Celsus Cicero himself allowed of Dedicating Temples to Mind Vertue Piety Faith c. Page 518 520 But such Accidents and Affections of Things Deifyed could not possibly be Accounted True and Proper Gods they having not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any Reall Subsistence or Substantiall Essence of their own And thus does Origen again dispute against Minerva's Godship as Tropologized into Prudence As he doth also elsewhere upon the same Ground against that of Memory the Mother of the Muses and that of the Graces he concluding these and such like therefore to be nothing but Figments of the Greeks they being Things Personated and Feigned with Humane Members Thus the Pagans condemned by Prudentius also for Feigning Things Incorporeal with Counterfeit Members These Gods plainly Exploded by Cotta or Cicero in disguise as having onely Vim Rerum but not Deorum the Force of Things but not of Gods in them or being but Naturae Rerum and not Figurae Deorum Page 520 521 Wherefore the True meaning of these Deified Natures of Things could be no other then this that God was to be acknowledged and worshipped in All things or as the Pagans themselves declare it that the Force of every thing was both governed by God and it self Divine Pliny of this Breaking and Crumbling of the Deity into Parts Every one Worshipping that in God and for a God which himself most stood in need of This dividing of the Simple Deity and Worshipping it Brokenly by parcells and piece-meal as manifested in all the Several Things of Nature and Parts of the world Justly Censured and Elegantly Perstringed by Prudentius against Symmachus Where Prudentius grants that Symmachus who declared that it was One thing which all worshipped when he sacrificed to Victory did sacrifice to God Almighty under that Partiall Notion as the Giver of Victory This in the Egyptian Allegory Osiris Mangled and Cut in pieces by Typhon Victory and Vertue as well as Neptune Mars and Bellona but several names or Notions of Jupiter in the Prologue of Plautus his Amphitryo Page 521 522 Vossius his opinion that these Deified Accidents and Natures of Things as well as the other Pagan Invisible Gods were commonly lookt upon by the Vulgar as so many Single Substantiall Minds or Spirits Created by the Supreme God and appointed to preside over those several things respectively Where it is acknowledged that neither the Political nor the Poetical Gods of the Pagans were taken so much as by the Vulgar for so many Independent Deities Page 523 524 Probable that by these Gods the Wiser Pagans sometimes understood Demons in Generall or Collectively that is whosoever they were that were appointed to preside over those several Things or dispense them As
such as made the World to be the Third God Such a Trinity a Confounding of God and Creature together Page 551 552 And that this an Adulterated Notion of the Trinity evident from hence because no Reason why these Philosophers should stop here since the Sun Moon and Stars and their other Generated Gods differ not in Kind but onely in Degree from the World Page 552 Neither will this excuse them that they understood this chiefly of the Soul of the World Since if there were such a Mundane Soul as together with the VVorld made up One Animal this it self must needs be a Creature also ibid. This probably the Reason why Philo though acknowledging the Divine Word as a Second God and Second Cause yet no-where speaketh of a Third God lest he should thereby seem to Deify the whole Created World Though he call God also in some Sense the Soul of the World too whether meaning thereby his First or his Second God So that Philo seems to have acknowledged onely a Duality and not a Trinity of Divine Hypostases Page 552 553 Another Depravation of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theology of Divine Tradition or Cabbala of the Trinity That some of these Platonists and Pythagoreans concluding all those several Idea's of the Divine Intellect or Archetypall World to be so many distinct Substances Animals and Gods have thereby made their Second Hypostasis not One but a Heap of Innumerable Gods and Hypostases and consequently destroyed their Trinity Page 553 Though Philo again here Platonized so far as to suppose an Incorporeal Heaven and Earth and an Intelligible Sun Moon and Stars to have been made before the Corporeal and Sensible yet does he no-where declare them to be so many distinct Substances and Animals much less Gods but on the contrary censures that for Pagan Idolatry This Pretence of worshipping the Divine Idea's in all Sensible things that which gave Sanctuary and Protection to the Foulest and Sottishest of all the Pagan Idolatries The Egyptians worshipping Brute Animals thus and the Greeks the Parts of the World Inanimate and Natures of Things Page 554 A Third Depravation or Adulteration of the Divine Cabbala of the Trinity by Proclus and other latter Platonists asserting an innumerable Company of Henades Particular Unities Superiour to the First Nous or Intellect their Second Hypostasis as also innumerable Noes Substantiall Minds or Intellects Superiour to the First Psyche their Third Hypostasis Page 555 These Noes seem to be asserted by Plotinus also as likewise the Henades and Agathotetes were by Simplicius Page 555 556 A Swarm of Innumerable Pagan Gods from hence besides their Intelligible Gods or Idea's Particular Henades and Noes Unities and Intellects ibid. Now since these Particular Henades and Noes of theirs must needs be Creatures the Trinity of Proclus and such others nothing but a Scale or Ladder of Nature wherein God and the Creature are Confounded together the Juncture or Commissure betwixt them being no-where discernible as if they differ'd onely in Degrees A gross Mistake and Adulteration of the Ancient Cabbala of the Trinity Page 556 557 This that Platonick or rather Pseudo-Platonick Trinity by us opposed to the Christian viz. such a Trinity as confounds the Differences betwixt God and the Creature bringing the Deity by degrees down lower and lower and at length scattering it into all the Animated Parts of the World A Foundation for Infinite Polytheism Cosmolatry or World-Idolatry and Creature-Worship Hence the Platonists and Pythagoreans the Fittest men to be Champions for Paganism against Christianity Page 557 558 Concerning the Christian Trinity Three things to be Observed First that it is not a Trinity of meer Names and Words nor Logicall Notions or Inadequate Conceptions of God this Doctrine having been condemned by the Christian Church in Sabellius and others but a Trinity of Hypostases Subsistences or Persons Page 558 559 The Second thing Observable in the Christian Trinity That though the Second Hypostasis thereof were Begotten from the First and the Third Proceedeth both from the First and Second yet neither of them Creatures First because not made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from an Antecedent Non-existence brought forth into Being but both of them Coeternall with the Father Secondly because all Necessarily existent and Un-Annihilable Thirdly because all of them Universall or Infinite and Creatours of all other Particular Beings Page 559 The Third Observable as to the Christian Trinity That the Three Hypostases thereof are all Truly and Really One God not onely by Reason of Agreement of Will but also of a Mutuall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Permeation of each other and Inexistence Though no Instance of the like Unity to be found elsewhere in Nature yet since two distinct Substances Corporeal and Incorporeal make one Man and Person in our Selves much more may Three Divine Hypostases be One God ibid. Though much of Mystery in the Christian Trinity yet nothing of plain Contradiction to Reason therein that is no Nonsense and Impossibility The Ill Design of those who represent the Christian Trinity as absolutely Contradictious to Reason that they may thereby debauch mens Vnderstandings and make them swallow down other things which unquestionably are such Page 560 The Christian Trinity much more agreeable to Reason then the Pseudo-Platonick in the Three Particulars before mentioned First its making their Third Hypostasis the Animated World or Mundane Soul Which not onely too great a Leap betwixt the Second and Third but also a gross Debasement of the Deity and Confounding it with the Creature a Foundation for World-Idolatry and worshipping Inanimate Things as Parts and Members of God ibid. God to Origen but Quasi Anima Mundi As it were the Soul of the World and not Truly and Properly such All the Perfection of this Notion to be attributed to God but not the Imperfection thereof Page 560 561 Certain that according to the more refined Platonists their Third Divine Hypostasis not a Mundane but Supra-mundane Soul and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Opificer of the whole World So to Amelius Porphyrius and Plotinus A Double Soul of the World to Plato likewise The Third Hypostasis to these no Creature but a Creatour Page 562 So in their Second Particular whereby the forementioned Pseudo-Platonick Trinity no Trinity its making all the Idea's and Archetypal Paradigms of things so many Hypostases Animals and Gods This a Monstrous Extravagancy Not to be doubted but that Plato well understood these Idea's to be Nothing but Noemata or Conceptions of the Divine Mind existing no-where apart by themselves however called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essences or Substances because not such Accidental and Evanid things as our Humane Thoughts are they being the Standing and Eternall Objects of all Science As also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Animals to signify that they were not meer Dead Forms as Pictures upon Paper or Carved Statues And thus did not onely Amelius understand S. John
Peculiar to the Second as if the First were therefore devoid of Mind Reason and Wisedom This an Arcanum of the Platonick and Pythagorick Theology That whereas Anaxagoras Aristotle and the Vulgar make Mind and Understanding the Oldest of all things and the Highest Principle in the Universe this supposes Mind Knowledge and Wisedom to be not the First but Second Partly because there is Multiplicity in Knowledge but there must be Unity before Multiplicity And partly because there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Object or Intelligible before Intellect As also because Intellection or Knowledge is not the Highest Good or Happiness and therefore to be some Substantiall thing in order of Nature Superiour to Mind Hence concluded that the Supreme Deity is Better then Logos Reason Word or Intellect That not Logos from whence Logos is derived Thus Philo The God before Reason or Word better then all the Rationall Nature But this Difficulty common to Platonism with Christianity which likewise makes Word or Reason and Wisedom not the First but Second Hypostasis Thus does Athanasius denie that there is any Word Reason or Wisedom before the Son of God What then Is the First Hypostasis therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devoid of Reason and Mind Plotinus his Attempts to answer this That the First hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Simple Light different from that Multiform Light of Knowledge Again That the First is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intelligence it self and therefore Superiour to Intellect or that which hath Intellection For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intelligence it self doth not Understand Besides which another Attempt also to salve this Difficulty Page 583 586 The Ground of this Platonick Dependence and Subordination in the Divine Hypostases Because there is but One Fountain of the Godhead so that the Second must needs differ from the First as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Splendor from the Sun Page 586 587 Though the Second Hypostasis said to have been Begotten from the First yet this not to be taken for such a Generation as that of Men where Three Men Father Son and Grandson all Adult have no Essential Dependence upon one another nor Gradual Subordination This but an Imperfect Generation Page 587 Furthermore the Platonists would recommend this their Gradation in the Deity or Subordination of Hypostases from hence Because by this means not so great a Leap or Jump in the Creation as otherwise there must be nor the Whole Deity screwed up to such a Disproportionate Height as would render it Vncapable of having any Intercourse with the Lower World Were the whole Deity either One Simple Monade or else an Immovable Mind it could have no such Liberty of Will as is commonly attributed to it nor be Affectible with any thing here below nor indeed any fitter Object for mens Devotion then an Adamantine Rock Whereas all the Phaenomena of the Deity salvable by this Platonick Gradation Page 587 588 As also according to this Hypothesis some reasonable satisfaction to be given why just so many Divine Hypostases and neither Fewer nor More Page 588 The Second thing to be Observed concerning the Genuine Platonick or Parmenidian Trinity That though the Hypostases thereof be called Three Natures and Three Principles and Three Opificers and Three Gods yet they all Really make up but One Divinity For the World being Created by all Three and yet having but One Creation they must needs be all One Creatour Porphyrius in S. Cyril explicitly That according to Plato the Essence of the Deity extendeth to Three Hypostases Page 588 589 Platonists further adde That were it not for this Essential Dependence and Subordination the Three Divine Hypostases must needs be Three Co-ordinate Gods and no more One God then Three Men are One Man or Three Suns One Sun Whereas the Sun its Splendor and Derivative Light may all well be accounted One and the same Thing Page 589 590 These Platonists therefore suppose so close a Union and so near a Conjunction betwixt their Three Hypostases as no where else to be found in Nature Plotinus That there is Nothing between them and That they are Onely Not the very same They acknowledge also their Perichoresis or Mutuall Inexistence The Three Hypostases One Divinity to the Platonists in the same manner as the Centre Radious Distance Immovable and Movable Circumference of a Sphear all One Sphear The First Infinite Goodness the Second Infinite Wisedom the Third Infinite Active Love and Power Substantiall Page 590 591 From this full Account of the True and Genuine Platonick Trinity it s both Agreement and Disagreement with the Christian Plainly appeareth First its Agreement in the Three Fundamentall things before mentioned and consequently its Discrepance from Aâ—ianism Page 591 592 Secondly its Disagreement notwithstanding from the Now-received Doctrine in that it supposes the Three Hypostases not to have One and the same Singular Essence nor yet an Absolute Co-Equality but a Graduall Subordination and Essentiall Dependence Vpon which account sâ—id by some to Symbolize with Arianism hâ—wever different from it in the Main Point Page 592 Bâ—sides which the best of the Platonists sometimes Guilty of Extravagant Expressions Plâ—tinus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thâ—t our Humane Soul is of the same Species with the Mundane Soul or Third Hypostasis Thâ—t being but the Elder Sister Which indeed is to make it Co-Essentiall or Consubstantiall with us Men as S. Austine understood it This a Foundation for Creature Worship or Idolatry Why the Arians by Constantine called Porphyrianists But this Doctrine as Repugnant to Plato so elsewhere Contradicted by Plotinus himself Page 593 594 That notwithstanding a Platonick Christian would Apologize for Plato and the Genuine Pythagoreans after this manner First That having no Scriptures Councills nor Creeds to direct them in the Darkness of this Mystery and to guide their Language they the more excusable if not always Uniform and sometimes Extravagant More to be wondred at that they should approach so near the Christian Truth Page 594 595 And for their Gradual Subordination of Hypostasâ—s and Dependence of the Second and Third upon the First That these Platonists hâ—rein the more excusâ—ble because the Majority of Christian Doctors for the first Three Centuries seem to have asserted the same Page 595 596 The Platonick Christians further Apologie That the Platonists Intention in Subordinating their Three Hypostases onely to exclude a Plurality of Co-ordinate Independent Gods That none of Plato's Three Hypostases Creatures but that the Essence of the Godhead belongeth to them All they being all Eternal Necessarily Existent Infinite or Omnipotent and Creatours Therefore in the sense of the Nicene Councill Consubstantiall and Co-equall The Essence of the Godhead wherein all the Three Hypostases agree as well to the Fathers as Platonists Generall and Universall Page 596 597 Besides which the Genuine Platonists would
if God could not be Eternal otherwise then by a Successive Flux of Infinite Time But we say that this affordeth a Demonstration of a God Because since both the World and Time had a Beginning there must of necessity be Something whose Duration is not Successive but Permanent which was the Creatour of them both Wherefore the Atheists can here onely make Grimaces and Quibble upon Nunc-Stans as if this Standing Eternity of the Deity were nothing but a Pitifull Moment of Time Standing still and as if all Duration must needs be the same with ours c. Page 644 645 Concluded That Infinite and Eternal are not Words which signify Nothing in the thing it self but onely the Idle Progress of our Minds or our own Ignorance Stupid Astonishment and Veneration not meer Attributes of Honour and Complement but Attributes belonging to the Deity and that alone of the most Philosophick Truth And though we have no Adâ—quate Comprehension thereof yet must we have some Notion of that which we can Demonstrate to belong to Something Page 645 646 But the Thing which the Atheists Principally Quarrel with is Infinite Power or Omnipotence which they pretend also to be utterly Unconceivable and Impossible and a Name of Nothing Where indeed our Modern Atheists have the joint Suffrage of the Ancients also who concerned themselves in Nothing more then Disproving Omnipotence or Infinite Power ib. This Omnipotence either Wilfully or Ignorantly Misrepresented by Atheists as if it were a Power of doing things Contradictious An Irony of a Modern Atheist That God could turn a Tree into a Syllogism The Absurd Doctrine of Cartesius That God could have made Twice two not to have been Four or the Three Angles of a Triangle not to be Equal to two Right This to make one Attribute of the Deity Devour and Destroy another Infinite Will and Power Infinite Understanding and Wisedom To suppose God to Understand and be Wise onely by Will Really to give him no Understanding at all God not so Omnipotent as that he can destroy the Intelligible Natures of things which were to Baffle and Befool his own Wisedom Infinite Power That which can doe all that is Possible that is Conceivable or Implies no Contradiction The very Essence of Possibility Conceptibility And thus all the Ancient Theists Absurd for Atheists to say that a Power of doing Nothing but what is Conceivable is Unconceivable ibid. 646 But because Atheists look upon Infinity as such a Mormo we shall take off the Vizard from it by declaring That it is Really nothing else but Perfection Infinite Understanding and Knowledge Perfect Understanding without any Defect and the Knowledge of all things Knowable Infinite Power Perfect Power or a Power of doing all things Possible Infinite Duration Perfection of Essence Because Infinity Perfection therefore Nothing which includeth any thing of Imperfection in the Essence of it can be truly and properly Infinite as Number Magnitude and Time all which can but Counterfeit Infinity Nothing One way Infinite which is not so Every way or a Perfect Being Page 647 648 Now That we have an Idea of Perfection plain from that of Imperfection Perfection First in Order of Nature as the Rule and Measure This not the want of Imperfection but Imperfection the want of Perfection A Scale or Ladder of Perfections in Nature Perceived by means of that Idea which we have of a Being Absolutely Perfect the Measure of them Without which we could not take notice of Imperfection in the most Perfect of all those things which we ever had Sense of Boëtius That whatsoever is Imperfect in any kind Implies something in that kind Perfect from whence it was derived And that the Nature of things took not Beginning from any thing Incompleat and Imperfect but descended downward from what was Absolutely Perfect by steps and degrees Lower and Lower Page 648 Wherefore since Infinite the same with Perfect we having a Notion of the Latter must needs have of the Former And though the Word Infinite be Negative yet is the Sense Positive Finite the Negation of Infinite as which in order of Nature is before it and not Infinite of Finite However in things Vncapable of True Infinity Infinity being here a meer Imaginary thing and Non-Entity can be onely conceived by the Negation of Finite as Nothing is by the Negation of Something An Infinite Being Nothing but a Perfect Being such as never Was Not and could produce all things Possible or Conceivable Page 648 649 The Fourth Atheistick Pretence against the Idea of God That it is an Arbitrarious Compilement of Contradictious Notions Where First we deny not but that as some Religionists Extend the Divine Power to things Contradictious so may others compound Contradictions together in the Nature of the Deity But it does not follow from thence that Theology it self is therefore Contradictious no more then that Philosophy is so because some Philosophers also hold Contradictious things Or that Nothing is Absolutely True neither in Divinity nor Philosophy but all Seeming and Phantastical according to the Protagorean Doctrine Page 649 650 But though it be True That whatsoever really Implies a Contradiction is a Non-Entity yet is this Rule Obnoxious to much Abuse when whatsoever mens shallow Vnderstandings cannot reach to is therefore presently cried down by them as an Impossibility or Nothing As when the Atheists and Materialists explode Incorporeal Substance upon this Pretence or make it onely an Attribute of Honour expressing the Veneration of Mens Minds but signifying Nothing in Nature nor having any Philosophick Truth But the Atheists true meaning in this Objection and what kind of Contradictions they are which they impute to all Theology may appear from a Passage of a Modern Writer Namely such as these when God is said to Perceive Sensible Things and yet to have no Organs of Sense as also to Understand and yet to have no Brains The Vn-disguised meaning of the Writer That Religion is not Philosophy but Law and all meer Arbitrary Constitution nor God a Subject of Philosophy as all Real Things are he being no True Inhabitant of the World or Heaven but onely of mens Brains and Phancies and his Attributes signifying neither True nor False nor any thing in Nature but onely mens Reverence and Devotion towards what they Fear And so may any thing be said of God no matter what so it be agreeable to Civil Law But when men mistake Attributes of Honour for Attributes of Philosophick Truth that is when they will suppose such a thing as a God Really to Exist then is all Absurd Nonsense and Contradiction God's Understanding without Brains no Contradiction Page 650 651 Certain That no Simple Idea as of a Triangle or a Square can be Contradictious to it self much less can the Idea of a Perfect Being the most Simple of all This indeed Pregnant of many Attributes which if Contradictious would render the whole a Non-Entity but all the Genuine Attributes of the Deity as
Parallell with that of its Annual Cartesius his Confession that according to Mechanick Principles these should continually come nearer and nearer together which since they have not done Finall or Mentall Causality here to be acknowledged and because it was Best it should be so But the Greatest Phaenomenon of this kind the Formation and Organization of Animals which these Mechanists never able to give any Account of Of that Posthumous Piece of Cartesius De la Formation Du Foetus Page 684 685 Pretended That to assign Finall Causes is to presume our selves to be as Wise as God Almighty or to be Privy to his Counsells But the Question not Whether we can always reach to the Ends of God Almighty or know what is Absolutely Best in every Case and accordingly Conclude things therefore to be so but Whether any thing in the World be made for Ends otherwise then would have resulted from the Fortuitous Motion of Matter No Presumption nor Intrusion into the Secrets of God Almighty to say that Eyes were made by him Intentionally for the sake of Seeing Anaxagoras his Absurd Aphorism That Man was therefore the most Solert of all Animals because he Chanced to have Hands Far more Reasonable to think as Aristotle concludeth That because Man was the wisest of all Animals therefore he had Hands given him More proper to give Pipes to one that hath Musicall skill then upon him that hath Pipes to bestow Musicall skill Page 685 In the Last place The Mechanick Theists Pretend and that with some more plausibility That it is below the Dignity of God Almighty to perform all those Mean and Triviall Offices of Nature Himself Immediatly This Answered again That though the Divine Wisedom it Self Contrived the System of the whole for Ends yet is there an Artificial Nature under him as his Inferiour Minister and Executioner Proclus his Description hereof This Nature to Proclus a God or Goddess but onely as the Bodies of the Animated Stars were called Gods because the Statues of the Gods Page 685 686 That we cannot otherwise Conclude concerning these Mechanick Theists who derive all things in the Mundane System from the Necessary Motions of Sensless Matter without the Direction of any Mind or God but that they are Imperfect Theists or have a certain Tang of the Atheistick Enthusiasm the Spirit of Infidelity hanging about them Page 687 But these Mechanick Theists Counterbalanc'd by another sort of Atheists not Fortuitous nor Mechanicall namely the Hylozoists who acknowledge the works of Nature to be the works of Understanding and deride Democritus his Rough and Hooky Atoms devoid of Life they attributing Life to all Matter as such and concluding the Vulgar Notion of a God to be but an Inadequate Conception of Matter its Energetick Nature being taken alone by it self as a Compleat Substance These Hylozoists never able to satisfy that Phaenomenon of the One Agreeing and Conspiring Harmony throughout the whole Universe every Atom of Matter according to them being a Distinct Percipient and these Vnable to confer Notions with One another Page 687 Nor can the other Cosmo-Plastick Atheists to whom the whole World but one Huge Plant or Vegetable Endued with a Spermatick Artificiall Nature Orderly disposing the whole without Sense or Understanding doe any thing towards the Salving of This or any other Phaenomena it being Impossible That there should be any such Regular Nature otherwise then as Derived from and Depending on a Perfect Mind ibid. Besides these Three Phaenomena of Cogitation Motion and the Artificial Frame of things with the Conspiring Harmony of the Whole no way Salvable by Atheists Here further Added That those who asserted the Novity of the World could not possibly give an Account neither of the First Beginning of Men and other Animals not now Generated out of Putrefaction Aristotle sometimes doubtfull and staggering concerning the World's Eternity Men and all other Animals not produced at first by Chance either as Worms out of Putrefaction or out of Eggs or Wombs growing out of the Earth Because no Reason to be given why Chance should not as well produce the same out of the Earth still Epicurus his vain Pretence that the Earth as a Child-bearing Woman was now grown Effete and Barren Moreover Men and Animals whether first Generated out of Putrefaction or excluded out of Wombs or Egge-shells supposed by these Atheists themselves to have been produced in a Tender Infant-like State so that they could neither supply themselves with nourishment nor defend themselves from harms A Dream of Epicurus That the Earth sent forth streams of Milk after those her New-born Infants and Nurslings Confuted by Critolaus in Philo. Another Precarious Supposition or Figment of Epicurus That then no immoderate Heats nor Colds nor any blustering Winds Anaximander's way of Salving this Difficulty That Men were first generated and nourished in the bellies of Fishes till able to shift for themselves and then disgorged upon dry land Atheists swallow any thing rather then a God Page 688 689 Wherefore here being Dignus Vindice Nodus a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reasonably introduced in the Mosaick Cabbala to solve the same It appearing from all Circumstances put together that this whole Phaenomenon surpasses not onely the Mechanick but also the Plastick Powers there being much of Discretion therein However not denied but that the Ministery of Spirits Created before Man and other Terrestrial Animals might be here made use of As in Plato after the Creation of Immortal Souls by the Supreme God the Framing of Mortal Bodies is committed to Junior Gods Page 689 690 Furthermore Atheists no more able to Salve that ordinary Phaenomenon of the Conservation of Species by the Difference of Sexes and a due Proportion of Number kept up between Males and Females Here a Providence also Superiour as well to the Plastick as Mechanick Nature ibid. Lastly Other Phaenomena as Real though not Physical which Atheists cannot possibly Salve and therefore do commonly Deny as of Natural Justice or Honesty and Obligation the Foundation of Politicks and the Mathematicks of Religion And of Liberty of Will not onely That of Fortuitous Self-determination when an equal Eligibility of Objects but also That which makes men deserve Commendation and Blame These not commonly distinguished as they Ought Epicurus his endeavour to Salve Liberty of Will from Atoms Declining Vncertainly from the Perpendicular meer Madness and Frenzy Page 690 691 And now have we already Preventively Confuted the Third Atheistick Pretence to Salve the Phaenomenon of Theism from the Fiction and Imposture of Politicians we having proved That Philosophy and the true Knowledg of Causes inferre the Existence of a God Nevertheless this to be here further Answered Page 691 That States-men and Politicians could not have made such use of Religion as sometimes they have done had it been a meer Cheat and Figment of their own Civil Sovereigns in all the distant places of the World could not have so universally conspired in this one
by Methodius for asserting Souls to Have Bodies but for not asserting them to Be Bodies there being no truly Incorporeall Substance according to Methodius but the Deity This One of the Extreams mentioned And the Origenick Hypothesis to be preferred before that of Methodius Page 817 820 Already Observed That Origen not Singular in this Opinion concerning Humane Souls Irenaeus Philoponus Joannes Thessalonicensis Psellus and others asserting the same S. Austine in his De Gen. ad Lit. Granteth That Souls after Death cannot be carried to any Corporall Places nor Locally Moved without a Body Himself seems to think the Punishment of Souls before the Resurrection to be Phantasticall But gives Liberty of thinking otherwise In his Book De Civ D. He Conceives that Origenick Opinion not Improbable That some Souls after Death and before the Resurrection may Suffer from a certain Fire for the consuming and burning up of their Dross which could not be without Bodies Page 820 822 Hitherto shewed How the Ancient Asserters of Unextended Incorporealls Answered all the Objections made against them but especially that of the Illocality and Immobility of Created Incorporealls namely That by those Bodies which they are always Vitally United to they are Localized and made Capable of Motion according to that of Origen The Soul stands in need of a Body for Locall Motions Next to be considered their Reasons for this Assertion of Unextended and Indistant Substance so repugnant to Imagination Page 822 That whatsoever Arguments do Evince other Substance besides Body the Same against the Atheists Demonstrate that there is Something Unextended themselves taking it for granted that whatsoever is Extended is Body Nevertheless other Arguments propounded by these Ancients to prove directly Unextended Substance Plotinus his First To prove the Humane Soul and Mind such Either every Part of an Extended Soul is Soul and of Mind Mind or Not. If the Latter That no Part of a Soul or Mind is by it Self Soul or Mind then cannot the Whole made up of all those Parts be such But if every supposed Part of a Soul be Soul and of a Mind Mind then would all but One be Superfluous or Every One be the Whole which cannot be in Extended things Page 822 824 Again Plotinus endeavours to Prove from the Energies of the Soul that it is Unextended Because it is One and the Same Indivisible thing that Perceiveth the whole Sensible Object This further pursued If the Soul be Extended then must it either be One Physicall Point or More Impossible That it should be but One Physicall Point If therefore More then must every one of those Points either Perceive a Point of the Object and no more or else the Whole If the Former then can nothing Perceive the Whole nor compare one Part of it with another If the Latter then would every man have innumerable Perceptions of the whole Object at once A Fourth Supposition That the whole Extended Soul Perceives both the Whole Object and all the Parts thereof no Part of this Soul having any Perception by it Self Not to be Made Because the Whole of an Extended Substance nothing but All the Parts and so if no Part have any Perception the Whole can have none Moreover To say the Whole Soul Perceiveth all and no Part of it any thing is indeed to acknowledge it Unextended and to have no Distant Parts Page 824 826 Again This Philosopher would prove the same thing from the Sympathy or Homopathy which is in Animals it being One and the Same thing that perceives Pain in the Head and in the Foot and Comprehends the whole Bulk of the Body Page 826 Lastly He disputes further from the Rationall Energies A Magnitude could not Understand what hath no Magnitude and what is Indivisible whereas we have a Notion not onely of Latitude Indivisible as to Thickness and of Longitude as to Breadth but also of a Mathematicall Point every way Indivisible We have Notions of things also that have neither Magnitude nor Site c. Again all the Abstract Essences of things Indivisible We conceive Extended things themselves Unextendedly the Thought of a Mile or a Thousand Miles Distance taking up no more room in the Soul then the Thought of an Inch or of a Mathematicall Point Moreover were that which perceiveth in us a Magnitude it could not be Equall to every Sensible and alike Perceive things Greater and Lesser then it self Page 827 828 Besides which they might Argue thus That we as we can Conceive Extension without Cogitation and again Cogitation without Extension from whence their Distinction and Separability is Inferrible so can we not Conceive Cogitation with Extension not the Length Breadth and Thickness of a Thought nor the Half or a Third or Twentieth Part thereof nor that it is Figurate Round or Angular Thoughts therefore must be Non-Entities if whatsoever is Unextended be Nothing as also Metaphysicall Truths they having neither Dimensions nor Figure So Volitions and Passions Knowledge and Wisedome it self Justice and Temperance If the things belonging to Soul and Mind be Unextended then must themselves be so Again If Mind and Soul have Distant Parts then could none of them be One but Many Substances If Life Divided then a Half of it would not be Life Lastly no reason could be given why they might not be as well Really as Intellectually Divisible Nor could a Theist deny but that Divine Power might Cleave a Thought together with the Soul wherein it is into many Pieces Page 828 829 The Sense of the Ancient Incorporealists therefore this That in Nature Two kinds of Substances The First of them Passive Bulk or Distant and Extended Substance Which is all One thing without Another and therefore as Many Substances as Parts into which it can be divided Essentially Antitypous one Magnitude Joyned to another always Standing without it and making the Whole so much Bigger Body all Outside having nothing Within no Internall Energy nor any Action besides Locall Motion which it is also Passive to Page 829 Were there no other Substance besides this there could be no Motion Action Life Cogitation Intellection Volition but All would be a Dead Lump nor could any one thing Penetrate another Wherefore Another Substance whose Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Active Nature Life Self-Activity Cogitation which no Mode or Accident of Extension it having more of Entity in it Nor are these Two Extension and Life Inadequate Conceptions of One and the Same Substance A Thinker a Monad or One Single Substance Not Conceiveable how the Severall Parts of an Extended Substance should Joyntly Concurre to Produce One and the Same Thought Page 829 830 The Energies of these Two Substances very different The one Nothing but Locall Motion or Translation from Place to Place a meer Outside Thing The other Cogitation an Internall Energy or in the Inside of that which Thinks Which Inside of the Thinking Nature hath no Length Breadth or Profundity no Out-swelling Tumour because then it would
God but an Energetick and Effectual Principle and the Plastick Nature the true and proper Fate of Matter or the Corporeal World What Magick is and that Nature which acts Fatally acts also Magically and Sympathetically 19. That the Plastick Nature though it be the Divine Art and Fate yet for all that it it neither God nor Goddess but a Low and Imperfect Creature it acting Artificially and Rationally no otherwise than compounded Forms of Letters when printing Coherent Philosophick Sence nor for Ends than a Saw or Hatchet in the hands of a skilful Mechanick The Plastick and Vegetative Life of Nature the Lowest of all Lives and Inferiour to the Sensitive A Higher Providence than that of the Plastick Nature governing the Corporeal World it self 20. Notwithstanding which forasmuch as the Plastick Nature is a Life it must needs be Incorporeal One and the same thing having in it an entire Model and Platform and acting upon several distant parts of Matter at once coherently cannot be Corporeal and though Aristotle no where declare whether his Nature be Corporeal or Incorporeal which he neither doth clearly concerning the Rational Soul and his Followers conclude it to be Corporeal yet according to the very Principles of that Philosophy it must needs be otherwise 21. The Plastick Nature being Incorporeal must either be a Lower Power lodged in Souls that are also Conscious Sensitive or Rational or else a distinct Substantial Life by it self and Inferiour Kind of Soul How the Platonists complicate both these together with Aristotle's agreeable Determination that Nature is either Part of a Soul or not without Soul 22. The Plastick Nature as to Animals according to Aristotle a Part or Lower Power of their Respective Souls That the Phaenomena prove a Plastick Nature or Archeus in Animals to make which a distinct thing from the Soul is to multiply Entities without necessity The Soul endued with a Plastick Power the chief Formatrix of its own Body the Contribution of certain other Causes not excluded 23. That besides that Plastick Principle in Particular Animals forming them as so many Little Worlds there is a General Plastick Nature in the whole Corporeal Vniverse which likewise according to Aristotle is either a Part and Lower Power of a Conscious Mundane Soul or else something depending on it 24. That no less according to Aristotle than Plato and Socrates our selves partake of Life from the Life of the Vniverse as well as we do of Heat and Cold from the Heat and Cold of the Vniverse from whence it appears that Aristotle also held the worlds Animation with further Vndeniable Proof thereof An Answer to Two the most considerable places of that Philosopher that seem to imply the contrary That Aristotles First Immoveable Mover was no Soul but a Perfect Intellect Abstract from Matter but that he supposed this to move only as a Final Cause or as being Loved and besides it a Mundane Soul and Plastick Nature to move the Heavens Efficiently Neither Aristotle's Nature nor his Mundane Soul the Supreme Deity However though there be no such Mundane Soul as both Plato and Aristotle conceived yet notwithstanding there may be a Plastick Nature depending upon a Higher Intellectual Principle 25. No Impossibility of some other Particular Plastick Principles and though it be not reasonable to think that every Plant Herb and Pile of Grass hath a Plastick or Vegetative Soul of its own nor that the Earth is an Animal yet that there may possibly be One Plastick Inconscious Nature in the whole Terraqueous Globe by which Vegetables may be severally organized and framed and all things performed which transcend the Power of Fortuitous Mechanism 26. Our Second Vndertaking which was to shew how grosly those Atheists who acknowledge this Plastick Nature Misunderstand it and Abuse the Notion to make a Counterfeit God-almighty or Numen of it to the exclusion of the True Deity First in their supposing that to be the First and Highest Principle of the Vniverse which is the Last and lowest of all Lives a thing as Essentially Derivative from and Dependent upon a Higher Intellectual Principle as the Eccho on the Original Voice 27. Secondly in their making Sense and Reason in Animals to Emerge out of a Sensless Life of Nature by the mere Modification and Organization of Matter That no Duplication of Corporeal Organs can ever make One Single Inconscious Life to advance into Redoubled Consciousness and Self-enjoyment 28. Thirdly in attributing Perfect Knowledge and Vnderstanding to this Life of Nature which yet themselves suppose to be devoid of all Animal Sense and Consciousness 29. Lastly in making the Plastick Life of Nature to be merely Corporeal the Hylozoists contending that it is but an Inadequate Conception of Body as the only Substance and fondly dreaming that the Vulgar Notion of God is nothing but such an Inadequate Conception of the Matter of the Whole Vniverse mistaken for a Complete and Entire Substance by it self the Cause of all things CHAP. IV. The Idea of God declared in way of Answer to the First Atheistick Argument The Grand Prejudice against the Naturality of this Idea as Essentially including Unity or Onelyness in it from the Pagan Polytheism removed Proved that the Intelligent Pagans generally acknowledged One Supreme Deity What their Polytheism and Idolatry was with some Accompt of Christianity 1. The either Stupid Insensibility or Gross Impudence of Atheists in denying the word GOD to have any Signification or that there is any other Idea answering to it besides the mere Phantasm of the Sound The Disease called by the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Petrification or Dead Insensibility of the Mind 2. That the Atheists themselves must needs have an Idea of God in their minds or otherwise when they deny his Existence they should deny the Existence of Nothing And that they have also the same Idea of him with Theists they denying the very same thing which the others affirm 3. A Lemma or Preparatory Proposition to the Idea of God That though some things be Made or Generated yet it is not possible that all things should be Made but something must of Necessity Exist of it self from Eternity Vnmade and be the Cause of those other things that are Made 4. The Two most Opposite Opinions concerning that which was Self-existent from Eternity or Vnmade and the Cause of all other things Made One That it was nothing but Sensless Matter the most Imperfect of all things The Other That it was something Most Perfect and therefore Consciously Intellectual The Asserters of this latter Opinion Theists in a strict and proper sence of the former Atheists So that the Idea of God in general is a Perfect Consciously Vnderstanding Being or Mind Self-existent from Eternity and the Cause of all other things 5. Observed That the Atheists who deny a God according to the true Idea of him do often Abuse the word calling Sensless Matter by that Name and meaning nothing else thereby but a
Actual Infinity and more than an Infinity of Number but also because upon this Supposition there would always have been an Infinity of Time Past and consequently an Infinity of Time Past which was never Present Whereas all the Moments of Past Time must needs have been once Present and if so then all of them at least save One Future too from whence it will follow that there was a First Moment or Beginning of Time And thus does Reason conclude neither the World nor Time it self to have been Infinite in their Past Duration or Eternal without Beginning Here will the Atheist think presently he hath got a great advantage to disprove the Existence of a God Nonne qui Aeternitatem Mundi sic tollunt eâdem operâ etiam Mundi Conditori Aeternitatem tollunt Do not they who thus destroy the Eternity of the World at the same time destroy also the Eternity of the Creator For if Time it self were not Eternal then how could the Deity or any thing be so The Atheist securely taking it for granted that God himself could not be otherwise Eternal than by a Successive Flux of Infinite Time But we say that this will on the contrary afford us a plain Demonstration of the Existence of a Deity For since the World and Time it self were not Infinite in their Past-Duration but had a Beginning therefore were they both certainly made together by some other Being who is in order of Nature Senior to Time and so without Time before Time he being above that Successive Flux and compehending in the Stability and Immutable Perfection of his own Being his Yesterday and To day and For ever Or thus Something was of necessity Infinite in Duration and without Beginning But neither the World nor Motion nor Time that is no Successive Being was such therefore is there something else whose Being and Duration is not Successive and Flowing but Permanent to whom this Infinity belongeth The Atheists here can only smile or make faces and show their little wit in quibbling upon Nunc-stans or a Standing Now of Eternity as if that Standing Eternity of the Deity which with so much Reason hath been contended for by the Ancient Genuine Theists were nothing but a Pitiful Small Moment of Time Standing still and as if the Duration of all Beings whatsoever must needs be like our own Whereas the Duration of every thing must of necessity be agreeable to its Nature and therefore As that whose Imperfect Nature is ever Flowing like a River and consists in Continual Motion and Changes one after another must needs have accordingly a Successive and Flowing Duration sliding perpetually from Present into Past and always posting on towards the Future expecting Something of it self which is not yet in being but to come So must that whose Perfect Nature is Essentially Immutable and always the Same and Necessarily Existent have a Permanent Duration never losing any thing of it self once Present as sliding away from it nor yet running forwards to meet something of it self before which is not yet in being and it is as Contradictious for it ever to have begun as ever to Cease to be Now whereas the Modern Atheists pretend to have proved that there is Nothing Infinite neither in Duration nor otherwise and consequently No Deity meerly because we have no Sense nor Phantasm of Infinite nor can Fully Comprehend the same and therefore will needs conclude that the Words Infinite and Eternal signifie nothing in the thing it self but either mens own Ignorance and Inability to conceive When or Whether that which is called Eternal began together with the Confounded Non-sence of their Astonish'd Minds and their Stupid Veneration of that which their own Fear and Phancy has raised up as a Bugbear to themselves or else the Progress of their Thoughts further and further backward Indefinitely though they plainly confute themselves in all this by sometimes acknowledging Matter and Motion Infinite and Eternal which argues either their Extreme Sottishness or Impudence We have shewed with Mathematical Evidence and Certainty that there is really something Infinite in Duration or Eternal by which therefore cannot be meant Mens own Ignorance or the Confounded Non-sence of their Devotion nor yet the Idle Progress of their Minds further and further Indefinitely which never reaches Infinite but a Reality in the thing it self namely this that it Never was Not nor had any Beginning Moreover having Demonstrated concerning this Infinity and Eternity without Beginning that it cannot possibly belong to any Successive Being we confidently conclude against these Atheists also that it was not Matter and Motion or this Mundane System but a Perfect Immutable Nature of a Permanent Duration that is a God to whom it belonged To summ up all therefore we say that Infinite and Eternal are not Words that signifie nothing in the thing it self nor meer Attributes of Honour Complement and Flattery that is of Devout and Religious Non-sence Error and Falshood but Attributes belonging to the Deity and to that alone of the most Philosophick Truth and Reality And though we being Finite have no Full Comprehension and Adequate Vnderstanding of this Infinity and Eternity as not of the Deity yet can we not be without some Notion Conception and Apprehension thereof so long as we can thus demonstrate concerning it that it belongs to something and yet to nothing neither but a Perfect Immutable Nature But the Notion of this Infinite Eternity will be yet further cleared in the following Explanation and Vindication of Infinite Power For the Atheists principally quarrel with Infinite Power or Omnipotence and pretend in like manner this to be Vtterly Vnconceivable and Impossible and Subjected in Nothing Thus a Modern Atheistick Writer concludes that since No man can conceive Infinite Power this is also but an Attribute of Honour which the Confounded Non-sence of Astonish'd Minds bestows upon the Object of their Devotion without any Philosophick Truth and Reality And here have our Modern Atheists indeed the Suffrage and Agreement of the ancient Philosophick Atheists also with them who as appears from the Verses before cited out of Lucretius concern'd themselves in nothing more than asserting All Power to be Finite and Omnipotence or Infinite Power to belong to Nothing First therefore it is here observable that this Omnipotence or Infinite Power asserted by Theists has been commonly either ignorantly mistaken or wilfully misrepresented by these Atheists out of design to make it seem Impossible and Ridiculous as if by it were meant a Power of Producing and Doing any thing whatsoever without Exception though never so Contradictious As a late Atheistick Person seeming to assert this Divine Omnipotence and Infinite Power really and designedly notwithstanding abused the same with this Scoptick Irony That God by his Omnipotence or Infinite Power could turn this Tree into a Syllogism Children indeed have sometimes such childish apprehensions of the Divine Omnipotence and Ren. Cartesius though otherwise an Acute Philosopher was here no
less Childish in affirming that all things whatsoever even the Natures of Good and Evil and all Truth and Falshood do so depend upon the Arbitrary Will and Power of God as that if he had pleased Twice Two should not have been Four nor the Three Angles of a Plain Triangle Equal to Two Right ones and the like he only adding that all these things notwithstanding when they were once settled by the Divine Decree became Immutable that is I suppose not in themselves or to God but unto us Than which no Paradox of any old Philosopher was ever more Absurd and Irrational and certainly if any one did desire to perswade the World that Cartesius notwithstanding all his pretences to Demonstrate a Deity was indeed but an Hypocritical Theist or Personated and Disguised Atheist he could not have a fairer pretence for it out of all his Writings than from hence This being plainly to destroy the Deity by making one Attribute thereof to Devour and Swallow up another Infinite Will and Power Infinite Vnderstanding and Wisdom For to suppose God to Vnderstand and to be Wise only by his Will is all one as to suppose him to have Really no Vnderstanding at all Wherefore we do not affirm God to be so Omnipotent or Infinitely Powerful as that he is able to Destroy or Change the Intelligible Natures of things at Pleasure this being all one as to say that God is so Omnipotent and Infinitely Powerful that he is able to Destroy or to Baffle and Befool his own Wisdom and Vnderstanding which is the very Rule and Measure of his Power We say not therefore that God by his Omnipotence or Infinite Power could make Twice Two not to be Four or turn a Tree into a Syllogism but we say that Omnipotence or Infinite Power is that which can Produce and Do all whatsoever is Possible that is whatsoever is Conceivable and Implies no manner of Contradiction the very Essence of Possibility being no other than Conceptibility And thus has the Point been stated all along not only by Christian Theists but even the Ancient Pagan Theologers themselves that Omnipotence or Infinite Power is that which can do all things that do not imply a Contradiction or which are not Vnconceivable This appearing from that of Agatho cited before out of Aristotle That nothing is exempted from the Divine Power but only to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what hath been done to be Vndone or the like hereunto Now Infinite Power being nothing else but a Power of Doing whatsoever is Conceivable it is plainly Absurd to say That a Power of doing nothing but what is Conceivable is Vnconceivable But because the Atheists look upon Infinity as such a Desperate and Affrightful thing we shall here render it something more easie and take off that Frightful Vizard from it which makes it seem such a Mormo or Bugbear to them by declaring in the next place that Infinity is Really nothing else but Perfection For Infinite Vnderstanding and Knowledge is nothing else but Perfect Knowledge that which hath no Defect or Mixture of Ignorance with it or the Knowledge of whatsoever is Knowable So in like manner Infinite Power is nothing else but Perfect Power that which hath no Defect or Mixture of Impotency in it a Power of Producing and Doing all whatsoever is Possible that is whatsoever is Conceivable Infinite Power can Do whatsoever Infinite Vnderstanding can Conceive and nothing else Conception being the Measure of Power and its Extent and whatsoever is in it self Vnconceivable being therefore Impossible Lastly Infinity of Duration or Eternity is Really nothing else but Perfection as including Necessary Existence and Immutability in it So that it is not only Contradictious to such a Being to Cease to Be or Exist but also to have had a Newness or Beginning of Being or to have any Flux or Change therein by Dying to the Present and acquiring something New to it self which was not before Notwithstanding which this Being comprehends the differences of Past Present and Future or the Successive Priority and Posteriority of all Temporary Things And because Infinity is Perfection therefore can nothing which includeth any thing of Imperfection in the very Idea and Essence of it be ever Truly and Properly Infinite as Number Corporeal Magnitude and Successive Duration All which can only Mentiri Infinitatem Counterfeit and Imitate Infinity in their having more and more added to them Infinitely whereby notwithstanding they never reach it or overtake it There is nothing truly Infinite neither in Knowledge nor in Power nor in Duration but only One Absolutely Perfect Being or The Holy Trinity Now that we have an Idea or Conception of Perfection or a Perfect Being is Evident from the Notion that we have of Imperfection so familiar to us Perfection being the Rule and Measure of Imperfection and not Imperfection of Perfection as a Straight Line is the Rule and Measure of a Crooked and not a Crooked Line of a Straight So that Perfection is First Conceiveable in order of nature before Imperfection as Light before Darkness a Positive before the Privative or Defect For Perfection is not properly the want of Imperfection but Imperfection of Perfection Moreover we perceive divers Degrees of Perfection in the Essences of things and consequently a Scale or Ladder of Perfections in Nature one above another as of Living and Animate Things above Sensless and Inanimate of Rational things above Sensitive And this by Reason of that Notion or Idea which we first have of that which is Absolutely Perfect as the Standard by comparing of things with which and measuring of them we take notice of their approaching more or less near thereunto Nor indeed could these Gradual Ascents be Infinite or Without End but they must come at last to that which is Absolutely Perfect as the Top of them all Lastly we could not perceive Imperfection in the most Perfect of all those things which we ever had Sence or Experience of in our lives had we not a Notion or Idea of That which is Absolutely Perfect which secretly comparing the same with we perceive it to come short thereof And we might add here that it is not Conceiveable neither how there should be any Lesser Perfection Existent in any Kind were there not First something Perfect in that Kind from whence it was derived This of Boetius being the very Sence and Language of Nature in Rational Beings Omne quod Imperfectum esse dicitur id deminutione Perfecti Imperfectum esse perhibetur Quò fit ut si in quolibet genere Imperfectum quid esse videatur in eo Perfectum quoque aliquid esse necesse sit Etenim sublata Perfectione unde illud quod Imperfectum perhibetur exstiterit ne fingi quidem potest Neque enim à Diminutis Inconsummatisque Natura Rerum cepit exordum sed ab Integris Absolutisque procedens in haec extrema atque effaeta dilabitur Whatsoever is said to be