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

accordingChap. IV, Dcemons lament the Death of great Pan. 34.5to the Greeks, as the Egyptians, the firfl or fupreme God, and to syzv orwere really the fame thing.the iiniverfe,And here we cannot but by the way take notice of that famous and re^markable ftory of Plnlarch's in his Defeft of Oracles, concerning da.'mons lamentingthe death of the great P^fi. In the time of Tiberius (faith he jeertainperfons embarking from j^fia for Ita!y, towards the evening failed by theEchinadcs, where being becalmed, they heard from thence a loud voice callinooneThojnous^ an Egyptian mariner amongft them, and after the third timecommanding him, when he came to the Pc.lodes, to declare, that the greatPan was dead. He with the advice of his company refolvcd, that if theyhad a quick gale, when they came to the Palodes, he would pafs by filently ;but if they fhould find themfelves there becalmed, he would then performwhat the voice had commanded : but v/hcn the fhip arrived tiiitiier, thereneither was any gale of wind nor agitation of water. Whereupon ^T/^^w^jwjlooking out of the hinder deck towards the Palodes, pronounced thele wordswith a loud voice, l fjtyx; Ylxv ri(l.y,y.i, the greot Pan is dead ; which he hadro fooner done, but he was anfwered with a choir of many voices, makinga great howling and lamentation, not without a certain mixture of admiration.Plutarch, who gives ir.uch credit to this relation, adds, how lollicitousTiberius the emperor was, Hrll concerning the truth thereof, and afterwards,when he had fatisfied himielf therein, concerning the interpretation ;he making great enquiry amongft his learned men, who this Pan fliould be.But the only life, which that philofopher makes of this ftory, is this, to provethat daemons having bodies as well as men, (though of a different kindfrom them, and much more longeve) yet were notwithftanding mortal ; heendeavouring from thence to folve that pha;nomenon of the defeft of oracles,becaule the daemons, who had formerly haunted thofe places, were nowdead. But this being an idle fancy of Plutarch^i, it is much more probablyconcluded by Chriftian writers, that this thing coming to pafs in thereign of Tiberius, when our Saviour Chrift was crucified, was no other thana lamentation of evil demons (not without a mixture of admiration) uponaccount of our Saviour's death, happening at that very time ; they notmourning out of love for him that was dead, but as fadly prefaging eviito themfelves from thence, as that which would threaten danger to theirkingdom of darknefs, and a period to that tyranny and dominationwhich they had fo long exercifed over mankind •,to fuch paffagesof fcripture as thele. Now is the prince of this zvorld Judged ; andhaving fpoiled principalities and powers (by his death upon the crofs) hetriumphed over them in it. Now our Saviour Chrift could not be calledPan, according to that notion of the word, as taken for nothing but thecorporeal word devoid of all manner of life, or elfe as endued only witha plaftick nature •, but this appellation might very well agree to him, asP«« was taken for the xiyoi; urpo£-K? t» xic-y.^, that reafon and underjlandingyby which all things were made, and by which they are all governed, or for((>p-iwi^ (?iK sxy-uv ^ir.y.iKTct, that divine wifdom^ which diffufeth itfelf through allYy 2things^