wherein all the reason and philosophy of atheism is confuted, and

Chap. IV. or Chaldakk Oracles. 293neither, may be concluded from that book of his, intitled, m^i t»;\- eh >,«.j'lMv ^iAo(3-o^iV.f, concerning the philofophy from oracles; which confifting ofmore parts, one of them was calied, t« txv XxxSx(uv xoyix, the oracles of theChaldeans : which, that they were the very fame with thofe we now fpeakof, fhall be further proved afterward. Now, though Pfellus affirms, thatthe Chaldean dogmata contained in thofe oracles were fome of them admittedboth by Ariflotle and Plato -, yet does he no: pretend thefe veryGreek verfes t.hemfelves to have been fo ancient. But it feems probablefrom Suichs, that Julian a Chaldean and Theurgift, the fon of Julian aphilofopher, (who wrote concerning Dsemons and Telefiurgicks) was thelirlt, that turned thofe Chaldee or Magick oracles into Greek verfe ; 'IsAiovoV,STTi Micxx 'Avto'jiw t» jS^triAEKf, iypx^^e ^inpymXy riXe^ixx, Xoy^cx. S^ Ittuv Julian,in the time of Marcus Antoninus the eviperor^ wrote the theurgick andteleftick oracles in verfe. For that there is fomething of the theurgical magickmixed together with myftical theology in thefe oracles, is a thing fomanifcft from that operation about the Hccatine circle, and other palTagesin them, that it cannot be denied ; which renders it ftill more unlikelythat they fhould have been forged by Chriftians. Neverthelefs, they carryalong with them (as hath been already obferved) a clear acknowledgmentof a divine monarch, or one fupreme Deity, the original of all things ;which is called in them the father, and the paternal principle, and that intelligible,' x^ri fl-E voiTv 108 Kifin, that cannot be apprehended otherwife than bythe flower of the mind; as alfo that ^ one fire, from whence all things fpring :Pfellus, thus gloffing upon that oracle, all things were the cff-fpring of onefire, TrdvTX Tx ovTx rare \;oriTX, t^ al^nrx, «7ro f/.o'vs C£b tiu UTroj-oKTiv tAxZov, yyKci^ [xovov S-£Oi/ ETTEj-paTrlai, &C. XTrlxiro'J av to Xoyiov, x, 7r?^r,cei; r>s V{J.iti^\s Soyfj-xr^-All things, whether intelligible or fenfible, receive their effence fromGod alone, and return back again only to him ; fo that this oracle is irreprehenftble,and full cf our do£irine. And it is very obfervable, that thefe veryfameoracles exprefly determined alfo that matter was not xyiy/d'^, umnadeor felf-exiflent, but derived in like manner from the Deity. Which welearn from Proclus upon Platans Tim^us, where, when he had pofuivelyaflerted, that there is 'ev ttxvtuv x'Itiov, one thing the caufe of all things; andrxyx^oM TTccvTui aiViov ov, il-jxi >^ \lxn; ciVioii, that the fuprcme good, being thecaufe of all things, is alfo the caufe of matter : he confirms this aflertion ofhis from the authority of the oracles, xiro TaJr-.); >^ t^? roi^eui; xj rx Xoyix nx- Pag. 1 1 S,^yn tW TToXuTTOixiAou vKx'j, EuS^fv cipS-'TJ ^'piocxii J'EVcO'if TToAiiTroixiAs CArjf" Fromthis order alfo do the oracles deduce the generation of the matter, in thefe words ;from thence (that is, from one fupreme Deity) altogether proceeds the genefisef the multivarious matter. Which unqueftionably was one of thofe veryMagick or Chaldee oracles ' ; and it may be further proved from hence, htcaufeit was by Porphyrins fet down amongft them, as appears from MneaiCazeus in his iheophrajlus * : « yx^ xyiwd^ iSi avx^^iD l^vpi^ilxi' I^cithcr was matter voidtf generation or beginnings which the Chaldeans and Porphyrias teach thee ; be' Oraculor. Sea.III. verf. jS. ' Scf". IF. verf. 5K ' Se!t. I. verf. 20, * P. 56.4inakifig