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

namelynamely,41 Speufippus, Xenocrates,- BookLIh Polit. of order, harmony, and proportion ; S-f '«? yi^ in toZto iwxuexi i^yov, iWx«i To7c- cvAyjn TO nciv, this is the work of divine power, which alfo contains thisuniverfe. Which Divinity containing and comprehending the whole natureand univerfe, muft needs be a Angle and folitary Being ;. according tothat exprcflion of Horace before cited,.Ncc viget juicquam ftmile aut fecundum^That, which hath nothing like it, nor feccnd to it. The next thing is, thataccording to the Pagan tradition, befides this iiniverfal Numen, there werecertain other particular and inferior deities a'.fo, that i«, underftanding beingsAiperior to men •, the animated ftars or fpheres, according tothe vu'gar apprehenfion, though Ariftotk\ phiiofophy would interpret thischiefly of their immovable Minds or Intelligences. Laftly, that all ths reftof the Pagan religion and theology,, thofe two things only excepted, werefibulous and fiditious, invented for the better perfuafion of the vulgar topiety, and the confcrving of them in obedience to civnl laws ; amongftwhich this may be reckoned for oae, that thofe gods are all like men orother animals ; and therefore to be worlhipped in images and ftatues ofthofe feveral forms ; with all that other fabulous farrago, which dependethhereupon. Which being feparated from the reft, the wxT^i.'^ cL^x, or an^cient tradition of their Pagan progenitors, would remain comprized withinthofe two particulars above mentioned •, that there is one fupremeDeity, that contains the whole univerfe, and that befidcs it, ths animatedftars or their minds are certain inferior gods alfo.To Ariflotle may be here fubfoined Speufippus and Xenocrates, his equalsand corrivals, they being Plato'^ fucceftbrs ; together with Theophrajltts, hiaown fcholar and fucceflbr. Concerning the former of which it is recordedUf A'. D. in Cicero, that agreeably with Plato^ he afterted vim quandam, qua omnia^^gi^^ilur, eamque animalem, one animal and intelleSfual force,rcap'xillby whiJj allp. 2898, things are governed ; by reafon whereof, Velleius the Epicurean complains2899. Tom. of him, as thereby endeavouring, evellere ex animis ccgnitionefn. dcorum, to.IX. Oper.]pli4(i^ QUI (,y (}pi njinds of men the notion of gods ; as indeed both he andPlato did tieftroy thofe Epicurean gods, which were all fuppofed to be independentand to have no fway or influence at all upon the governmentof the world ; whereas neither of them denied, a plurality of fubordinateand dependent deities, generated or created by one fupreme, andby him employed as his minifters in the ©economy of the univerfe : forhad they done any fuch thing as this, they would certainly have beeaS