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

Orpheuswhichxxxvi The PREFACEfo creatures, befides the Creator ; they direfling their devotion, (as Jthana-Jius * plainly afRrmeth of them,) svl aj/furxM, y.x\ sroWoT; j/Evr.-oK, to cue uncreatedonly ; but, befides him, to many created gods. But as for the polemickmanagement of this controverfy, concerning idolatry, we leave it toother learned hands, that are already engaged in it.Moreover, we liave, in this fourth chapter, largely infilled aUb upon theTrinity. Tiie reafon whereof was, becaufe it came in our way, and our contentsengaged us thereunto, in order to the giving a full account of the Pagantheology ; it being certain, that the Platonicks and Pythagoreans at leaflr,if not other Pagans alfo, had their trinity, as well as Chriftians. And wecould not well avoid the comparing of thefe two together : upon which occafionwe take notice of a double Placonick trinity ; the one fpurious andadulterated, of ibme latter Platonifts ; the other true and genuine, of P/afohimfelf, Parmenides, and the ancients. The former of which, though it beoppofed by us to the Chriftian Trinity, and confuted, yet betwixt thelatter and that, do we find a wonderful correfpondence •,is largelypurfued in the Platonick Chriftian apology. Wherein, notwithftanding, nothingmuft be looked upon, as dogmatically afierted by us, but only offered,and fubmitted to the judgment of the learned in thefe matters •, wcconfining our felvcs, in this myfterious point of the Holy Trinity, withinthe compafs of thofe its three cirentials declared : Firft,that it is not a Trinityof meet names and words, or of logical notions only ; but of perfonsor hypoftafes. Secondly, that none of thofe perfons or hypoftafes are creatures,but all uncreated. And laftly, that they are all three, truely andreally one God. Neverthelefs we acknowledge, that we did therefore themore copioufly infill upon this argument, becaufe of our then defigned de-rfence of Chriitianity ; we conceiving, that this parallelifm, betwixt the an?cient or genuine Platonick, and the Chriftian Trinity, might be of fomcuk to fatisfy thofe amongft us, who boggle fo much at the Trinity, andlook upon it as the choakpear of Chriftianity ; when they fhall find, thatthe freeft wits amongft the Pagans, and the beft philofophers, who had nothingof fuperllition to determine them that way, were fo far from beingfhy of fuch an hypothefis, as that they were even fond thereof. And thatthe Pagans had indeed fuch a Cabala amongft them, (which fome perhapswill yet hardly believe, notwithftanding all that we have faid,J might be furtherconvinced, from that memorable relation in Plutarch f, of ThefpejtusSclenfiSi who, after he had been looked upon as dead for three days, reviving,affirmed, amongft other things, which he thought he faw or heardin the mean time in his ecftafy, this of three Gods in the form of a triangle,pouring in ftreams into one another •, his foul being faidto have arrived fo far ; accordingly as from the teftimonies of other Paganwriters we have proved, that a Trinity of Divine hypoftafes was a partof the Orphick Cabala. True indeed, our belief of the Holy Trinity isfounded upon no Pagan Cabala, but only Scripture revelation 5 it being• Oratione IV. contra Arianos T. I. Ope- f Libro de hLi, qui fero a Numine puniunrump.465>.. ror, Tona. II. Opsr. p. ^61. f.that