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

Chap. IV. Trimty ', or Cabiri. 451Neverthelels it may juftly be rufpecled, as G. /. Voffius ' hath already obferved,that there was yet fomi higher and more facred myftery in this Capitolinetrinity, aimed at; namely, a trinity of divine hypoflafes. Forthefe three Roman or Capitoline gods were faid to have been firft broughtinto//^/>'out of P^r);^/rt by the Trojans, but before that into P/&n^.Vj by Drt?'-danus, out of the Samochracian ifland ; and that within eight hundred yearsafter the Noachian flood, if we may believe Eufcbitis. And as thefe werecalled by the Latins D/i Penates, v/hich Alacrobhis thus interprets *, Diiper q^uos fenltus fpirnmus, per quos habemus corpus, per qttos rationem animipoJfidemtiSy that is, the gods, by i.jhom ive live, and move, and have our being ;\i\i\.Varro\\\ Arncbius', Dii, qui funt intrinfecus, atque inintimis penetralibuscceli, the gods, ivho are in the moji inward rece£es of heaven : fo were they calledhy the Samothracians Y^y-tu^m, or Cabiri, that is, as Varro ^ rightly interpretsthe word ^io\ S'j'jxli), or divi potes, the powerful and mighty gods.Which Cabiri being plainly the Hebrew CD'TDD, gives jufl: occafion to fufpcdt,that this ancient tradition of three divine hypoftafes (unqueftionablyentertained by Orpheus, Pythagoras, and Plato amongfl the Greeks, andjirobably by the Egyptians and Perfians) fprung originally from the Hebrews; the flrft of thefe divine hypoftafes, called Jove, being the fountainof the godhead ; and the fecond of them, called by the Latins Minerva,(which, as Varro ' interprets it, was, that wherein ide^s & cxempla rerum, theideas and firjl exemplars or patterns of things zvere contained) fitly expreflinothedivine Logos ; and the third y^"") called a>nor ac delicium Jovis, well p' ^^'''^"'*enough anfwering (as ^'(S^?^j thinks) to the divine Spirit. ^/'j^But La JJcintius hath yet another objecSt ion againft riie Roman yupiter's P.6i.being the fiipreme God ; ^id ? quod bujus nominis proprietas non divinamvim fed hi'.m.inam e.vprimit ? Jovem enim Junonemj.'/i? a Juvando effe diSiosCicero intcrpretatur. Et }w\^\x.tx quafi J weans pater dicitur. ^od nomenin Deum minimi eonvenit, quia juvare hominis cfi, i£c. Nemojic Deum precalur,ut fe adjuvet,, fed ut fervet, i^c. Ergo non imperitus modo, fedetiam impius eft, qui nomine J-ovis virtutem fumma potefiatis imminuit.What if voe add, thai the propriety of this word Jupiter does }iot exprefs adivine, but only a human force ? Cicero deriving both Jove and Juno alikea juvando, that is, from helping: for Juvans Pater, or a helping father,is not a good defcripticn of God ; forafmuch as it properly belongeth to mento help. Neither doth any one pray to God to help him only, but to favehim. Nor is a father faid to help his fon, whom he was the begetter of.Sec. Wherefore he is not only unskilful, but impious aifo, who, by the namecf Jove or Jupiter, diminifhes the power of the fupreme God. But as thisofLa5fantius feems otherwife weak enough ; \'o is the toundation of it abfolutelyruinous,, the true etymon of Jupiter (though Cicero knew not fomuch) being without peradventure, not Juvans Pater, but Jovis pater^Jove the father of gods and men ; which Jovis is the very HebrewTetragrammaton(however thefe Roniaiis came by it) only altered by a Latin termination.' De Theolog. Gentill, Lil. VIII. Cap. De Lingui Latin. Lib. IV. p. 66.XIL p. 750, 751. s ApuJ .4ugiiHinum de Civitate Dei, Lib.1 SnturnaL Lib. III. Cap. IV. p 391. VN. Cap. XXVlII.p. 141. Tom. VII.OpcJu^ Ajverf. Gcntcs, Lib. III. p. i55.