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

.fummus,Chap. IV. :\Oims afid^cv2i:pii the fuprefne Numen. 351wifdom, and the latter power and majefty (as Plutarch tclJs us ') who alfois thus defcribed in Apuleius, Deus deorum viagnorum potior, (^ majorum& fummorum maximus, ^ maximorum regnator, Ofiris : ^hat Godwho is the chief efi of the greater Gods, and the greatefl of the chiefefl, andwhich reigneth over the greatefl. Wherefore the fame Apuleius ^ aifo tellsus,that ^^and Ofiris were really one and the fame fupr^me Numen, thoughconfidered undei' different notions, and worfliipped with different rites, inthefe words -, ' ^anquam connexa, iiiw vera unica, ratio Numinis, religionifqueejjet, tamen teleta; difcrimen ejfe maximum : Though Ifis and Ofnis ie real'yone and the fame divine power, yet are their rites and ceremonies very different.The proper notion of Ofiris being thus declared by Plutarch, * to to-^wtov xJ)cup(MT«Tov srauTuu, r'aj/aS-u t«Jtoi/ es~i, that firft and higheft of all beings,which is the fame with good. Agreeably whereunto, Jamblichus ' affirmeth,ayx^m 7Joi»Ti>iOf wi/"Oiripif x£xAJiT«i, that God, as the caufe of all good, is calledOfiris by the Egyptians. Laftly, as for Serapis, though Origen ' tells us, thatthis was a new upflart Deity, fee up by Ptolemy in Alexandria, yet thisGod in his oracle '^ to Nicocrion the King of Cyprus, declares himfelf alfo tobe a univerfil Numen, comprehending the whole world, in thefe words,ifXHoj xotrfj.0^ xitpaXri, ^c. to this fenfe •, The Jiarry heaven is my head, thefea my belly, my ears are in the ather, and the bright light of the fun is my clearpiercing eye. And doubtlefs he was worfhipped by many under this notion.For as Philarchiis * wrote thus concerning him, Di^aTn? 'iwu-x t? to syS.v xoc,'/j-ivlog. That Serapis was the name of that God, which orders and governs theRihole world ; fo doth Plutarch ' himfelf conclude, that Ofiris and Serapiswere a,f/.(pu ko^iix >tj jona?