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

Chap. IV. from a Divine Cabala.549xfuJii, aAX' t\JX^ air'f JcaXX^ si^otTij^ajov zrta a-jr? zrpoiov And thiS HittUTe is Gcd^I fay a feeend God, offering himf elf to vieu\ before that other God can he feen^•uaho is feated above, this being as it v:ere the glorious throne of him. For it isnot fit, that he foould be immediately feated in any that is inanimate ; nor inweerfoul neither, but that there fhould be fuch an immenfe pulchritude andfplendourfhining before him, like the -pomp and proceffion before the great king. Healfo elfewhere mentions all thefe three gods together, making this world to bean image of them alj ; E'i'-otoj; »v Xiyirxi kt©^ o WTfAc; (ly.'2.\, aji clx.oA^oiJitv(ii' En 2. I. 5. e.xj v.xnx. avjj.^iSmoi: xivsue'us" IVIperefore this irorld may -well be called an image, itdepending upon that above, (as an image in a glafs) luhich is threefold. Whereofthe firfi and fecoyid God airwaysJiand immoveably ; the third likennfe is in it felfflable too, but accidentally moved, by reafon of the mobility of matter and thingsbelow it. And that we may here give a taftc of the myftical theology andenthufiafni of thcfe Platonirts too. Porphyrins in the life ofPlotinus^ affirmeth,that both Pbtinus and himfelf had fometimes experience of a kind ofecftatick union with the firft of thefe three gods, that which is above mind andUnderftanding : uJoXAaxij Ldyovlt ixjto'j lU rov stjutok xJ STrlxsiva Seiu TaTf Iwoixk;,{(pavn e«ivof fjrr; iJ.of(p-i;v^ ij.r t£ rtva iSsxv ly^vi, utteo Je vkk >c, 7r«u to i/orxoir iSyju.iiw;'^in hJ iytc U.of.'pi :iot aVa^ Xej/u zT>..r,(nx7xi xj i\iu:5^rMxi' Plotinus cftcn cndcavouringto raife up his niivd to the firft and highejl God, that God fometimes appearedto him, -jiho hath neither form nor idea, but is placed above intelle£l, and allthat is intelligible ; to whom I Porphyrins affirm -my felf to have been once unitedin the Jixty eighth year of my age. And again afterwards, t/aoj a^rZ xxi o-m-TTO; VJ, TO i'JU^-i.^iXI >Cf ZTlXuTXl TU iTTl TTXiTl Sff, ET-jp^E S\ TtrcX/.li ZTV OTS TuVtlfJiriJ «J-Tu T? (ry-oTTK T»Ts' Plotinus his chief aim and fcope tvas, to be united to, and conjoinedtvith the fupreme God, who is above all ; which fcope he attained untofour feveral times, zihilfi my felf was with hi-m, by a certain ineffable energy.That is, Plotinus aimed at fuch a kind of rapturous and ecftatick union withthe To £v, and 'fxyjA'.i, the firft of the three higheft gods, (called the one and thegood) as by himfcif is defcribed towards the latter end of this laft book ',where he calls it £tj:25w, and xc-apscn'ica £Virii,u>if n^eir^iova, and to' la.xwv wJlpov,Tw oion zTx-jTii^-j xEVTfw (TuiaTrlfiv, a kind of taSfual union^ and a certain prefence betterthan knowledge, and the Joining of our own centre, as it were, with thecentre of the univerfe. Thus we fee, that the Platonick trinity is a trinity ofgods, of which three gods therefore, the fecond and the third muft of neceflkybe inferiour gods, becaufe otherwife they would be three independentgods ; whereas the Pagan theology expredy difclaims a plurality of independentand ielf-originated deities.But fince, according to the principles of Chriftianity, which was partlydeligned to oppofe and bear down the Pagan polytheifm, there is one onlyGod to be acknowledged ; the meaning whereof notwithftanding feems tobe chiefly diredted againft the deifying of created beings, or giving religiousworfhip to any, befides the uncreated, and the creator of all : moreover,fince« Cap. XXIII. p. t^7. in Fabricii Bibiioth. » De Bono velUno, Ennead. VI. Lib. IX.Grace, Lib. IV. cap. XXVI. cap X. p. 772.