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

368 Epicurus the only Philofopher Bo ok I..Ventofum, £i? iirbes, regnaque trijlia jDivofqtie, mortalefque turmas,Imperio regit UNUS icquoWhere from thofe words of Horace, folitis parentis laudibus, it appears, thatthe one fupremc Deity, the parent and maker of all things, was then wontto be celebrated by the Pagans as fuch, above all the other gods. Andwhereas thofe Pagans vulgarly afcribed the government of the feas particularlyto Neptune, of the earth and Hades or Inferi (which arc here called triftiaRegna) to Pluto, thefe being here attributed by Horace to one and the famefupreme and univerfal Deity ; it may well be concluded from thence, thatJupiter, Neptune and Pluto, were but three feveral names or notions of onefupreme Numen, whofe fovereignty notwithftanding was chiefly figiiified byJupiter. Which fame Is to be faid oi Pallas or Minerva too, that fignifyingthe eternal wifdom, that it was but another name of God alfo, though look'dupon as inferiour to that oi Jupiter and next in dignity to it ; unlefs we fhouldconclude it to be a fecond divine hypoftafis, according to the doftrine of thePythagoreans and Platonifts (probably not unknown to Horace) as alfo tothat Scripture CflZ'/r/rt, I was fet up from everlajlitig, or ever the earth was;•when there were no depths, I -was brought forth, ^c. But of this more afterwardLafl:ly, we fhall conclude with Manilius, who lived in the fame Augufteanand was a zealous oppofer of that atheiflical hypothefis of Epicurus andage,Lucretius, as appears from thefe verfes of his ;'^lis credat tantas op'erumfine numine moles.Ex minimis cacoque creatum fccdere mundum ?Wherefore he alfo plainly aflerts one fupreme Deity, the framer and governourof the whole world, in this manner, lib. 2.'-Namque canam tacita naluram mentepotentem,Inftifujnque Deum ccclo, terrifque, fretoque,Ingentem aquali moderantem fadere molem,Totumque alterno confenfu vivere inundum,Et rationis agi motu ; quum SPIRI^TUS UNUSPer cunSlas habit et partes, atque irriget orbem.Omnia pervolitans, corpufque animalefiguret, (s?c.And again,PIoc opus immenfi conflrunum corpore mundiVis anim.-e divina regit, facrcque meatuConfpirat Deus (J tacita ratione gubernat.And lib. 4.Faciem co^li non invidet orbiIpfe Deus, vultufque fuos, corpufque recludit,I.verr 49i, 495.' V'er. 515.« Lib.* Vcri: 6i,&;c.Semper