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

440 SenecaV Former of the Uiiruerfe^ &c. Book T..error to them \ he wifely judging, that the foppery cf images would eaftly rendertheir gods contemptible.V^a/.cy.^[P. 537.L. Annam Seneca, the philofopher, was contemporary with (xir SaviourChrift and his Apoftles, who, though frequently acknowledging a pluralityof gods, did nevcrthelefs plainly aflert one fuprctne, he not only fpeak-'"§ ^^ ^'"^ fingularly, and by way of eminency, but alfo plainly defcrib-*. jj^g j^i^ ^^ j-^^l^ .^g ^vhen he calls him Formatorem univerfi ; rccforem £5?arbilri'.m ^ cujlodem mundi ; exqv.ofufpenfafuntomnia; animum ac fpiritum'i\.m. II. tmiverft; nmndani hujus cperis dominu;n £5? anificem ; cui nomen cmne cofivcnit •,Oper.J ex quo nata funt omnia; cujus fpiritu vivimus ; totum fuis parttbus inditum^i^ fe fuflinentem fua li ; cujus confiHo hide miindo providetur, ut inconcuffuseat, &" aStus fuos explicet ; cujus decreto omnia fiiint ; divinum fpiritum / eromnia maxima (s' minima aquali intenticne diffufum ; Deum potentem omnium ;F. 442. Lipf. j^infji ilium maximum potentijfimumque, qui ipfe vehit omnia ; qui ubique Uomnibus prafo ejl ; c^li (J deorum omnium Deum % a quo ifta numina, quafingU'la adoramus iS colimus, fufpenfa funt : and the like. The framer and formerof the univerfCy the governor, difpofer and keeper thereof; him, upon whom allthings depend ; the mind and fpirit of the world ; the artificer and lord ofthis whole mundane fabrick ; to whom every name belongelh ; from whom allthings fpring 5 by whoje fpirit wc live ; who is in all his parts, and fujtainethhimfelf by his own force \ by whofe ceunfel the world is provided for, and carriedon in its courfe conjiantly and uninterruptedly 5 by whofe decree all things aredone ; the divine fpirit, that is diffufed through all things both great and finalIwith equal intention ; the God, whofe power extends to all things ; the greatcjiand mojl powerful God, who doth himfdffuppcrt and uphold all things ; who isprefcnt every where to all things ; the Cod of heaven, and of all the gods,upon whom are fufpended all ihcje other divine powers, which we fvigly wor^-Civ. D. I. ().fi'-P ^'"d adore. Moreover, we may here obfcrve from St. yiuftm, that this*. 10. Seneca in a book of his againft fuperftitiona (that is now loll:) did notI?. IZ2.] only highly extol the natural theology, but alfo plainly cenfure and condemnthe civil theology then received amongft the Romans, and that withmore freedom and vehemency than Varro had done the fabulous or theatricaland poetical theology. Concerning a great part whereof he pronounced,,that a wife man weu'd obfrrve fuch things , tanquam Icgibus juffa, nsn tanquamdiis grata ; only as commanded by the laws (he therein exercifing civil,obedience) but not at all as grateful to the gods.M. Fabius ^.intiHanus, though no admirer of Seneca, yet fully agreed,with him in the fame natural theology, and fcts down this, as the generally''''^'received notion or definition of God, Deum effe fpiritum omnibus partibusimmiflum, That God is a fpirit mingled with and diffufed through all the partscf the world ; he from thence infi^rring Epicurus to be an Atheilf, notwithflandingthat he verbally alTerted gods, becaufe he denied a God accordingto this generally received notion, hL- beftovving upon hiS gods a circumfcribedhuman form, and p'acing them between the worlds. And the juniorPliny, though he were a pcrfecutor of ths Chriftians, he concluding,qualecunque