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

594- The Platomck'Ba,'^}i.o\ cenfured. HookLand ftars, though elder indeed than they ; they being all made goddefles byher. Where there- is a confufed junible of things contradiftious together ;that Soul of the world being at once fuppofed to be a filler to other fouls, andyet, notwithfbanding, to deify them ; whereas this fiflerJy relation and confanguinitybetwixt them would, of the two, rather degrade and creaturizethat mundane Soul, which is their third God, or divine hypoftafis, thanadvance and deify thofe particular created fouls. Here therefore we fee theinconvenience of thefe Platonick fic^Vol, Jiories, flairs and gradations in theDeity, that it is a thing liable to be much abufed to creature-worfhip andidolatry, when the diftances ars made fo wide, and the loweft of the Deityis fuppofed to differ but gradually only from the high eft of createdbeings. And becaufe Porphyrhcs trode in Plotinas his footlleps here, aselfewhere, this was, in all probability, the true reafon, why the Arians (asSocrates recordeth ') were by Conftantine called Porphyrianifts ; not becaufetheir trinities were exaftly the fame, but becaufe Arius and Porphyrins di^both of them alike (though upon different grounds) make their trinity afoundation for creature-worfhip and idolatry. But neverthelefs, all this(as many other things) was but heedlefly and inadvertently written byPlotinus; he, as it were', droufil)^ nodding alt the while, as it was alio butfupinely taken up by Pf^r/i^jr/Kj after him: it being plainly inconfiftent withthe genuine tenour of both their hypothefes, thus to level the third hypoftafisof the trinity with particular created fouls, and thereby to make fo difproportionatea diftance, and fo vaft a chafm, betwixt it and the fecond. ForPlotinus himfelfi when in a more fober mood, declares, that third hypoftafisnot to be the immediate, informing foul of the corporeal world, but a higherfeparate foul, or fuperiour Venus^ which alio was the Bemiurgtis, the makersboth of other fouls, and of the whole world. As Plato had before exprcflyaffirmed him to be the Infpirer of all life, and Creator of fouls,, or the Lordand Giver of life : and likewife declared, that amongft all thofe things, whichare a;9f ajTr/mf \\ix'\% T'jfytvyi, congeyurous and cognate ivith our hitman fotds^ thereis ioiv T018T0, nothing any zi-kere to be found at all like unto it. So that Plato,though he were alfo a itar-worfliipper and idolater, upon other grounds, yetin all probability would he not at all have approved of Plotinus his ouoaSkS\ xai vy.tTi^x, our fouls being of the fame fpecies itith that third hypoftafis ofthe divine triad; but rather have faid, in the language of the Pfalmiil, It isbe that hath made us, and not ive our felves ; we are his people, and the fJjeepofhisp/flure.Notwithftanding all which, a Chriftian Platonift, or Platonick Chriftian^would, in all probability, apologize for Plato himfelf, and the ancient andmoft genuine Phtonifts and Pythagoreans, after this manner, Firft, thatfince they had no fcriptures, councils, nor creeds, to dire