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

oQ How 'Phto s Trinity "B o o k I.another, they could not by thefe Platonifts be conckided to be any other tlianthree co-ordinate Gods, having only a generical or fpeciiical identity -, andfo no more one, than three men are one man : a thing, which the Platonicktheology is utterly vabhorrent from, as that which is inconfiftent with the perfeftmonarchy of the univerfe, and highly derogatory from the honour ofthe fupieme God and ftrft Caufc. For example, fhould three funs appearin the heaven all at once, with co-equal fplendour, and not only fo, but alfobe concluded, that though at firft derived (or lighted and kindled) from one,yet they were now all alike abiblute and independent ; thef^ three could notfo well be thought to be one fun, as three that Hiould appear gradually differingin their fplendour, two of them being but the Parhelii of the other,and eflfentially depending on it ; forafmuch as the fecond would be but thereRefted image of the firft, and the third but the fecond rcfradled. At leaflthofe three co-equal funs could not fo well be thought to be one thing, asthe fun, and its firft and fecondary fplendour, (which can neither be beheldwithout the fun, nor the fun without them) might be accounted one and thefame thingThe Platonifts, therefore, fiift of all fuppofe fuch a clofe and near conjunftionbetwixt the three hypoftafes of their trinity, as is no where elfe to beEn. ^ I I ^ jj-xXirx OTKV uci f/.o'-Oi, TO yi.rfKTXv X, TO "yiyewTtiAivov' o't«bSi 3^ TO clfirO'J « to'' ymriryXV., ej OtV^jX-i; TXiVinV xiri^ MJ T« ETEpOTUri f^-OWV X£p(^M^l-£«*• In;elle5l is [aid to behold the firft good; not as if it were feparaledfromit, but only becaufe it is after it, but fo as that there is nothing between them ;as neither is there betwixt jntelleB and foul. Every thing, which is begotten,defires and loves that, -which begat it ; efpecially when thefe txo {that which begat,and that which is begotten) are alone, and nothing befides them. Moreover,when that which begot, is abfolutely the beji thing, that, which is immediatelybegotten from it, tnufi needs cohere intimately with it, and fo as to befeparatedfrom tt only by alterity. Which is all one as if he fhould havefaid, that thefe three divine hypoftafes are fo intimately conjoined together,and united with one another, as that they are tantum non, only not, the veryfclf fame. Again, the Platonifts further declare, that thefe three hypoftafesof their trinity are dJiXi^nci, abfolutely indivifible and infeparable, as thed7tx-:>yx.xis adia/f £Tov from the (pa?, the fplendour indivifihly conjoined withthe light or fun. Which fimilitude alfo Athanafius often makes ufe of tothe fame purpofe. Thirdly, thefe Platonifts feem likewife to attribute totheir three divine hypoftafes juft fuch an 'Ey.^£^'i;)^up»5(rK, circumlnfffion, or mutualin-being, as Chriftians "do. For as dieir fecond and third hypoftafesmuft needs be in the firft, they being therein virtually contained ; ^omuft the firft likewife be in the fecond and third ; they being as it werebut two other editions thereof; or it felf gradually difplayed and expanded.But to fpeak particularly, the firft muft needs be in the fecond,the Tagathon in the Nous ; and fo both of them really one and the fameGod ; becaufe the common notions of all mankind attribute underftandingand