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

49© Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, Book I.(Tiv T? iij/fiuonx? «UTB, ai Ms HegemoHtck aEled in the artificial fire. Now Plutarch' and Stobaus * teftify, that the Stoicks did not only call nature, butalfathe fupreine Deity itfelf, (the architedl of the whole world) rfx^A^iov ttu^, anartificial fire., they conceiving him to be corporeal, And Jamblichus^making Phtba to be the fame fup'^eme God, acnongll: the Egyptians, withQ/fm and Hammon, or rather, more properly, all of them alike the Ibul ofthe world, tells us, that Hepha;Jlus, in the Grcekifli theology, was the famewith this Egyptian Phtha ; "EAA»iU6; iU"}:ipXira'iy.irxXoc,u.Qii,-:>sin to\ 9;e, Tw Tv^uix«iJ.ivov TT^ocr^aXAcivlEf, amongfi the Greeks Hepl'UEftus (or Vulcan^ anfwersto the Egyptian Phtha. Wherefore as the Egyptians by Phtba, fo the Greeksby Hepb^fius, fometimes underftood no other than the fupremc God, or acleaft the foul of the world, as artificially framing all things.De Ben. I 4.Furthermore, Seneca gives us yet other names of the fupreme Deity, ac-(. 9, cording to the fenfe of the Stoicks ; Hunc & liberiitn fatrem, & Hcrculem,ac Mercurium nojiri putant, Liberum Pattern, quia omnium parens, &c.Herculcm, quod vis ejus invtifa fit ; Mercurium., quia ratio penes ilium ejiyTiurnerufque, (jf ordo, i^ fcientia. Furthermore, our philofophers take this auBorof all things to be Liber Pater, Hercules and Mercury ; the firfi, becaufe heis jarent of all things, &c. the fecond, becaufe his force and power is unconquerable,&c. and the third, becaufe there is in and from him reafon, numberorder, and knowledge. And now we fee already, that the fupreme Godwas fufficiently polyonvmous amongfi: the Pagans ; and that all thefe, Jupiter,Pan, Janus, Genius, Saturn, Cashis, Minerva, Apollo, Aphrodite Urania,Hepha:fiuss Liber Pater, Hercules, and Mercjiry, were not fo many reallydiftinft and lubftantial gods, much lefs felf-cxiftcnt and independentones-, but only feveral names of that one lupreme univerfal and all-comprehendingNumen, according to feveral notions and confidcrations of him.But befides thefe, there were many otlwr Pagan gods called by Servitisdii fpeciales, fpecial or particular gods ; which cannot be thought neither tohave been fo many really diftind and fubftantial beings (that is, natural gods)much lefs felf-cxiftcnt and independent, but only fo many feveral names ornotions of one and the fame fupreme Deity, according to certain particularpowers and manifeflations of it. It is true, that fome late Chriftian writersao-ainft the polytheifm and idolatry of the Pagans, have charged them withat Icaft a trinity of independent gods, viz. Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, asJfharing the government of the whole world amongfi: thefe three, and confequentlyacknowledging no one univerfal Numen. Notwithftanding whichit is certain, that according to the more arcane docftrine, and Cabala of thePagans, concerning the natural true theology, thefe three confidered as diftinftand independent gods» were accounted but dii poetici (^ cofnmentitii, poeticaland ficlitious gods, and they were really efteemed no other, than fo manyfeveral names and notions of one and the fame fupreme Numen, asadliing varioufly in thofe feveral parts of the world, the heaven, thefea, the earth, and hell. For firft, as to Pluto and Hades^ calledalfo' De Myfter. ^gyptior. Std, VIII. Cap.» De Pladt. Philof. Lib. I. Cap. VII. p.ISi.Oper. III. p. 159.* Edog. Phyf. Lib. I. Cap. II, p. 17.