36 Of the "truth of Book I.
and before them, by the mod antient Writer, (I do not mean of thofe Hymns which go under hisName,) but of thofe Vcrfes which were (a) of Old called Orpheus'ss \ not becaufe Orpheus compofed them, but becaufe they contained his Dodrines. (h) And Empedocks ** pily, if they do not negleft Opinion, " that the Heaven *• the Gift bellowed on them " ^nd Earth were made by the ** by the moll High God " *• Divine Wifdom preceding: And in another Place, fpeak- *' and that then the Divine ing of Mofes, he has thefe *' Wifdom was the Foundation Words: Who is clearly of *' of the Univerfe."
(a) Of Old called Orphem's, &c. The Verfes are thefe; 1 fnjoear by that fir ji Word the Father /pake ^ When the Foundation of the Earth njuas laid.
They ate extant in the Admonition to the Greeks among the W^orks of Julian: As alfo thefe j I fpeak to thofe I ought, he gone, Prophane, A'-Mav: But O Mufaeus, hearken thou, T^hou Offspring of the Moon; I fpeak the Truth; Let not n^ain Thoughts, the Comfort of thy Life Defray; the Dinjine Reafon firidly wVtu, And fix it in thy Mind to imitate; Behold the great O eator of the World, Who''s only Perfect, and did all Things make ^ And is in all \ though <vje nvith mortal Eyes Cannot difcern him; hut he looks on us.
Thefe we find in the Admo- *' the Sun to be a great Heap nition to the Greeks; as alfo in '• of Fire." And he that wrote a Book concerning the Mo- \\itOpinionsof the Philofophers, narchy of the World, in the has thefe Words; ** Empedocles Works of Jufiin Martyr; in " faid, that the AEtherwsisfirfi Clemens Ale^andrinus, Strom. " feparated, then the Fire, and 5. and in the Xlllth Book of ** after That the Earth; the Eufehius's Gofpel Preparation " Superficies of which befrom ArifiobuLus. *' ing comprefTed by its violent (b) And Empedocles achionxj- " iVlotion, the Water burft Udged, &c ] Of whom La'er- ** out; from which the Air tins fays, •* U hat he affirmed " was exhaled; That the " Heavens Empedocles acknowledged, that the Sun was noC the Original Light, but the Receptacle of Light (the Storehoufe and Vehicle of Fire, as the anticnt Chriftians exprefs it), {a) Aratus^ and ij?) Catullus thought the Divine Refidence was above the ftarry Orb •, in which. Homer fays, there is a continual Light, (c) Tkales taught from theantient Schools, That God v/as the oldeft of Beings, becaufe not Begotten; that the World was moft beautiful, be- caufe the Workmanfhip of God; that Darknefs was before Light, which latter we find {d) in Orpheus's Verfes, {e) and Hefiod-, whence it was, that (f) the Nations Nations *' Heavens were compofed of *' Splendor from the Fire that ** ^^ther^ and the Sun of •' is in the World, and tranG- *' Fire." And Chap. 20. Em- ** mitting its Light to us.'* ■pedocles affirms, *' There are Anaxagoras, Democritusy Me* *' two Suns, one the Original, trodorus, affirmed the Sun to be " and the other the Appa- a certain Mafs of Fire; as you "rent." And P/ji/o/aiu,ixs we find it in the fame Place. And there alfo read, fays, *' That Defnocriius fnows, that thefe " the Sun is of the fame Na- were the moll antient Opini- *' ture as Glafs, receivlrg its ons, as Laeriius relates.
{a) Aratiis, &c.] Aratus; As far as the dire Gulph Eridanus, Under the Footftool of the Gods extends.
[b] Catullus, &c ] Catullus the Interpreter of Callbnachus, introduces Berenices Hairy {peaking after this Manner, jT^o' in the Night the Gods upon me tread.
{c) Thales taught, &c.] As fert him to have been original- we fee in DiogeJtes Lairtius; ly a Phoenician and Herodotus and Leander af- [d) In Orpheus'' s lerfes^ &c.] In his Hymn to Night; 1 fing the Night, Parent of Men and Gods.
[e) And Hffeod^Scc.'] Whofe itiy ^NicolausDamafcenus. And Verfes upon this Subject are Tacitus '^{R^ms of the Germans, cited above. that they do not, likens, compute [f) The Nations n.vho <voere the Number of the Days, but of the mof tenacious, &c.] The the Nights; fo they date their Numidians/»Lybiar£fX'(7«/Zv/> Decrees and Citations; Night Time not by Days, but by Nights, fecms to begin the Day ivitb D 3 them* 38 Of the "truth of Book L Nations who were mod tenacious of antient Cu- ftoms, reckoned the Time by Nights, {a) Anax- agoras affirmed, that all Things were regulated by the Supreme Mind; (^) Aratus^ that the Stars them. See the Speculum Saxo- nicunty Book I. Art. 3. 67. and in other Places So like- wife the learned Lindehrogius^ upon the Word Night, in his^o- cahu/ary of the German Laxvs. The Neighbouring People of Bohemia and Poland preferve this Cuftom to this very Day, and the Gaids ufed it of old. Cfrfav, in his Sixth Book of the Gallick War fays, That all their Dijlances of Time ivere reckonedy not by the Number cf Daysy but of Nights. And Fliny concerning the Druids^ in the Sixteenth Book of his AW. Hijioryy fays^ The Moon woith them began their Months and Tears. It is a known Cu- ftom amongft the Hebre-ivs. Gellius in his Third Book, Chap. II. adds the Atheniansy who in this Matter were the Scholars of the Phcenicians.
[a] Anaxagoras affirrned,kc.'\ His Words are quoted above, which are to be found in La'er- tiusy the Writer of the Opini- ons of the Philofophers, and others: As are alfo the Verfes of Timon concerning his Opi- nion.
[b] Aratusy &c,] In the Be- ginning of his Fban^mena j Begin fivith Jupiter, 'whofe EJfence is Ineffable by mortal Man, tvhofe Prefence Does all Things fill 'y AffemblieSy Courts y and Marts ^ The deep Aby/s, and Ports arefAVd ijoith Him. We all enjoy him, all his Offspring are, Whofe Nature is benign to Man; ivho Jiirs Them up to nvork, Jhe^ing the Good of Life. ^Tis He appoints the Time to Plonxs and Sonx-^ And Reap the fruitful Har<vejl ""Tivas He that in the Hea^vens fix' d the Stars, Allotting each his Place to teach the Tear, And to declare the Fate us Men attends'. That all Things are by certain Lanvs decreed. Him therefore let us firjl and lafl appeafe. O Father, the great Help ^e Mortals haa;e.
That by Jupiter we are here to underjland God, the true Maker of the World, and all Things in it, St Paul (hews us in the Seventeenth Chapter of the A^Sy Ver. 28. And we learn from LaSlantius, that Olid ended his Pheenomena with thefe Verfes: Such Stars were made by God; {a) Virgil^ from the Greeks^ that Life was infufed into Things by the Spirit of God; {h) Hejiody {c) Horner^ and Such both in Number and in Tornt^ did God Upon the Hea^'v ens place ^ and give in Charge To 'nlighten the thick Darknefs of the Night.
And Chalcidius to Timaus: ** limit the Times and Seafons *• To which thing the He- ** of the Year, and to be '* ^rfw^ agree, v/ho affirm that ** Signs of the Piodudions of *• God was the Adorner of *' Things." *' the World, and appointed [a) Virgil, froyn the Greeks, *' the Sun to rule the Day, &c ] In the Sixth Book of his *• and the Moon to govern jEneids, which Ser<vius fays *' the Night; and fo difpofed was compofed from many of '* the reft of the Stars, as to the antient Greek Writings.
At firji the Hea'v'n and Earth and <watry Seas, The Moons bright Orb^ and all the glittering Stars, Were fed and nouri/h^d by a Fo-Mer divine: For the ivhole World is aded by a Sun^ Which throughly penetrates it; ^.vhence Mankind, And Beajis and Birds have their Original; And Monjiers in the Deep produc^ d: The Seed Of eachf is a Divine and Heavenly Flame.
Which may be explain'd by thofe in his Georgicks IV.
Byfuch Examples t aught ^ and by fuch Marks. Some have afirni'd that Bees them/elves partake Of the Ccchpal Mind, and Breath.Liberia I, For God pervades the Sea, and Earth, and Heavens \ Whence Cattle, Herds^ Men, and all Kinds of Beajis Derive the flender Breath of fleeting Life.
\b) Hefiod, c^vx.] In his Poem upon Labour and Days: Then ordered Muiciber, ivilhout Delay, To mix the Earth and Water, and infufe A Human Voice. (f) Homer, hz.^ IliasVllL Tou all to Earth and Water muf return."
For all Things return from Events of Things j which \i whence they came. Euripides tranfcribed by Tully in his in his Hipfipyle (as Stobaus tells Third Book of Tufculan Queus in the Title) ufes this Argu- Aions: ment, for bearing patiently the D 4 All 40 Of the Truth of Book I.
and (a) CaUimachuSj that Man was formed of Clay j laftly, {b) Maximus Jyrius afferts, that it - ' Ail luhich in 'vain, us Mortals njex. Earth mufl return to Earth, for Fate ordains That Life, like Corn, mufl be cut off, in all. To the fame Purpofe Euripides in his Supplicants^ Fermit the Dead to he entomb'' d in Earth, Fram ^whence nve all into this Body came; And 'when nve die, the Spirit goes to Air, To Earth the Body j for ^tve can pojjefs Life only for a Time; the Earth demands It back again. All which, you fee, exactly agree with Mc/'^j, Gen. III. 19, and Solomon, Eccl. XII, 7.
[a] CalUmachuSy &C ] Who in his Season c?iW^Ma.n,Prome- tkeus^s Clay. Of this Clay we find mention made in fwvenal and Martial. To which we may add this Place of Cenfori- nits; Democritus tks Abderite tu/zj of Opinion^ that Men 'were fr ft formed of Clay and Water; and Epicurus njcas much of the fame AJind.
{b) MaximusTyrius, Sec] In his Firft DliVertation: " Not- •' withftanding the great Dif- •' cord, Confufion, and De- ** bates that are amongft Men; ** the whole World agree in •* this one conltant Law and *' Opinion, that God is the «* fole King and Father of al|; •' but tliat there are many ** other Gods, who are his *' Sons, and fhare in his Go- " vemment. This is affirmed *' by the Greek and the Bar- *' barian; by him who dwells " in the Continent, and by '* him who lives on the Sea- " fhore; by the Wife and by " the Foolifli."- To which may be added thofe Places cited in the Second Book of 45. And that of Antifhenes, related by Tully in his Firft Book of the Nature of the Gods, That there are many Vulgar Gods, but there is but one Natural God. And Ladantius^ Book I. Chap. 5. adds, from the fame Antifihenes; that He is The Maker of the ivhole World.
So likcwife Sophocles: There is really hut One God, The Maker of Heaven and Earths And Sca^ and Winds, Xo SeS. 1 6. the Chrijlian Religion. 41 was a conftant Tradition received by all Nations, that there was One Supreme God, the Caufe of all Things. And we learn {a) Womjofepbus, (b) Fhilo^ (c) Tibullus^ (d) Clemens Alexandrinus^ and (e) Lu- cian (for I need not mention the Hebrews) that the Memory of the Seven Days Work was preferved, not only among the Greeks and Italians^ by honour- ing the Seventh Day -, but alfo (f) amongft the Celt^e and Indians^ who all meafured the Time by Weeks, as we learn from {g) Philojiratus^ {h) Dion Caffius^ Caffius^ To which may be added that Place of Varro, cited by St Aujlin, in the Fourth Book, and Chap. 31. of his City of God {a) From Jofephm, &c.] A- galnfl: Jppion^ about the End of the Second Book, where he fays, There is no City, Greek or Barbarian, in which the Cuftom of Refting on the Se venth Day is not preferved, as it is amongft the Je^ws.
{b) Philoi &c.] Concerning the Seventh Day; // is a Fejii- fual celebrated, not only in one City or Country, but throughout the nvhole World.
[c) Tibullus, &c.] The Se- venth Day is /acred to the Jews.
[d] Clem. Alexandrinus,S£C.'\ Who in his Strom. V. quotes, out of Heftod, that the Se'venth Day njoas Jacred. And the like out of Homer and Callimachus. To which may be fubjoined, what Eufebius has taken out of Jrifiobulus, Book XIII. Ch. 1 2. TheophilusJntiochenus^BookXl. to Antolychui; Concerning the Seventh Day, ^ijbich is dijiinguijhedhy all Men. And Sue- tonius, in his Tiberius XXXII; Diogenes the Grammarian ufes to dijpute at Rhodes upon the Sabbath Day. (The feventh Day of the Month ought not to be confounded with the laft Day of the Week. See what John Selden has remarked upon this Subjed, in his Book of the La<^Ms of Nature and Nations, Ecoklll.Chap. ij.LeClerc.)
[e) Lucian, &c.] Who tells us in his Paralogijly fhat Boys njjere ufedto play on the ftventb Day.
[f) Amongft theCelta, &c.] As is evident by the Names of the Days among the different Nations of the Celt^y viz. Germans, Gauls, and Britons. Helmoldus tells us the fame of the Scla'vonians, Book I. Ch.
[g) Philojlratus, &c.] Book III Chap. 13. fpeaking ofthc Indians.
[h] Dion CaJJius, Sec.'] Book XXXIII. The Day called Sa^ turns. Where he adds, that the Cuftom of computing the Time by Weeks, was derived from 42 Of the Truth of Book I.
CaJJius^ and Juftin Martyr; and alfo {a) the moil ancient Names of the Days. The Egyptians tell us, that at firfl Men led their Lives (h) in great Simplicity, (^) their Bodies being naked; whence arofe the Poet's Fi^lion of the Golden Age, famous among the Indians^ (d) as Strah remarks, (e) Maimonides from the E^yptiajis to all Man- kind. And that this was not a new, but a very ancient Cii- ftom, Herodotus tells us in his Second Book: To which may be added Ifidore concerning the Romania Book V. Chap.
{a) The moji ancient Names &c.] See the Oracle, and Or- •pheus' sV tric'6 in Sca/igers Pro- legotnena to his Emendation of Times. (I fufpecl that the Foundation of Weeks was ra- ther from the Seven Planets, than from the Creation of the World in SevenDays LeCIeyc] [b] In great Simplicity, <Src.] See what we have foid of this Matter, Book II. Chap i. Sei>. XI- concerning the Right of War^ and the Notes be- longing to it..
(r) Their Bodies being naked. Sec i Whofe Opinion Diodoms Siculas thus relates, ** The •* firft Men lived very hardy, *' before the Conveniencies of " Life were found out; being *^ accuftomcd to go naked and *• wanting Dwellings and Fires; ** and being wholly ignorant *' of the Food of civilized Na- *' tions.'' And Plato, in his Politicks: *' God their Go- •' vernor/ed them, being their *' Keeper; as' Man, Vvho h a " more divine Creature, {^Q^i *' the inferior Creatures.*' And a little after: " They fed ** naked and without Gar- " ments in the open Air.'* And Dicearchus the Peripate- tick, cited both by Porphyry, in his Fourth Book againft eating Living Creatures; and to the fameSenfeby/^/7;To,concerning Country Affairs: " The An- *' cients, who were neareft to " the Gods, were of an ex- *'' cellent Difpofition, and led *' fo good Lives, that they ** were called a Golden Race.'* [d] As Strabo remarks, &c.] Book XV. where he brings in Calanus the Indian {peaking thus: *' Of old we met evtiy *' where with Barley, Wheat ** and Meal, as we do now a- *' days with Duft. The Foun- •' tains flowed, fome with " Water, fome with Milk; *' and likewife fome with Ho- ** ney, fome with Wine, and ** fome with Oil: But Men, '* through Fulnefs and Plenty, ** fell into Wickednefs; which *' Conditiony«/>//^r abhorring, ** altered the State of Things; ** and ordered them a Life of '' Labour."
{e) Maimonides, iSjc] In his Guide to the Doubting, Part III. Chap. 29.
Sed. 1 6. the Chrifilan Religion, 43 monides takes notice, that {a) the Hiftory o^ Adam, of Eve, of the Tree, and of the Serpent, was ex-, tant amongft the idolatrous Indians in his Time: And there are many [h) WitnefTes in our Age, who teftify, that the fame is ftill to be found amongft the Heathen dwelling mPeru, and the Phil- lippine Iflands, People belonging to the fame In- dia; the Name of Adam amongft the Brachmans; and that it was reckoned {c) Six Thoufand Years fince the Creation of the World, by thofe of Siam^ (d) Berofiis in his Hiftory of Chaldea^ Manethos in hi^ hi^ {a) TheHiJforyofJdamM'.^ In thofe Places whichi Phiio Bibliui has tranl^ted out of Sanchuniathon: The Greek ^ord IS ^o^Toyov^yFirJi-bomt is the fame with the Hebrenjo CZIIX Mam; and the Greek Word ctico'jy Agey is the fame with the Hebrenv Word mn Chanjahy E^ve. The firft Men found out the Fruit of Trees. And in the moft ancient Greek Myjleriesy they cried out'' Et^-rt, EnjUy and at the fame time fhewed a Serpent. Which is mentioned by Hefychius, Cle- mens in his Exhortations, and Plutarch in the Life oi Alexan- der. Chalcidius to Tim^us^ has thefe Words: " That, as Mofes ^* fays, God forbad the firft ** Man to eat the Fruit of «* thofe Trees, by which the *' Knowledge of Good and " Evil fhould fteal into their ^* Minds.'* And in another Place: « To this the Hebrenxjs *• agree, when they fay, that *' God gave to Man a Soul by *' a divine Breath, which they ** call Reafon, or a Rational ** Soul; but todumbCreatures, " and wild Beafts of the Fo- *^ reft, one void of Reafon: *' The living Creatures and *' Beafts being, by the Com- *' mand of God, fcattered over " the Face of the Earth; *' amongft which was thatSer- *^ pent, who by his t\i\ Per- ** fuafions deceived the firft of " Mankind.'* {b) Witnejfes in our Age, &:c.] See amongft others Ferdina7td Mendefius de Pinto.
\c) Six Thoufand Years, &c.] What Simplicius relates out of Por/^ry, CommentXVI. upon Book II. concerning the Hea- vens, agrees exadlly with this Number; that the Obfervations colledled at Babylon, which Ca- Ufthenes fent to Arifothy were to that Time cId Icccccii 1. which is not far from the Time of the Deluge.
[d] Berofus in his Hifiory^ &c.] Jofephus in the Firft Book, Chap. 4. of his Anci- ent Hiftory, quotes the Tefti- mony 44 Of the "Truth of Book I.
his of Egypt^ Hierom in his of Phcenicia^ Hefiiaus^ Hecat^us^ Hillanicus in theirs of Greece; and He- ficd among the Poets ♦, all aflert, that the Lives of thofe who defcended from the firft Men, were al- ipoft a thoufand Years in length •, which is the lefs incredible, becaufe the Hiftorians of many Na- tions, (particularly {a) Paufanias and {h) Philoftratus amongft the Greeks^ and {c) Pliny amongft the Romans) mony of all thefe Writers whole Books were extant in his Time J and befides thefe, jicujilaus, EphonuSy and Nicho- laus Damafcanfius Ser'vius in his Notes upon the Eighth Book of Virgil's, JEneids, re- marks that the People of Jr- cadia lived to three hundred Years.
. (^^) Paufanias, &c.] In his Laconics^ he mentions the Bones of Men, of a more than ordinary Bignefs, which were fhewn in the Temple o^ JEfcu- lapius at the City of Afepus: And in the Firfl: of his E Hacks ^ of a Bone taken out of the Sea, which aforetime was kept at Pifo, and thought to have been one of Pe/ops's.
(^') Philojiratus, &c.] In the Beginning of his Heroicks, he fays, that many Bodies of Gi- ants were difcovered in Pal- lem, by Showers of Rain and Earthquakes.
[c] Pliny, &c.] Book VII. Chap. 16. *' Upon the burft- *' ing of a Mountain in Crete ** by an Earthquake, there " was found a Bodyftanding ** upright, which was reported *• by iome to have been the Body of Orian, by others the Body of Eetion. Orefes's Body, when it was com- manded by the Oracle to be digged up, is reported to have been feven Cubits long. .And almpft a Thoufand Years ago, the Poet Homer continually complained, that Mens Bodies were lefs than of old." hn(}LSdlinus, Ch i. Were not all who were bora in that Age, lefs than their Parents? And the Story of Orejles's Funeral, teftifiesthe Bignefs of the Ancients, whofe Bones, when they were digged up, in the Fifty- Eighth Olympiad at Tegea, by the Advice of the Oracle, are related to have been fe- '• ven Cubits in length. And ' other Writings, which give • a credible Relation of an- • cient Matters, affirm this, ■ That in the War of Crete, ' when the Rivers had been ' fo high as to overflow and ' break down their Banks; ' after the Flood was abated; ■ uponthecleavingoftheEarth, ' there was found a Human '' Body of three and thirty ' Foot long; which L. Flaccus ** the Sedt. 1 6. the Chrijlian Religion, 45 Romans) relate, that {a) Mens Bodies, upon open- ing their Sepulchres, were tound to be much larger in old time. And {b) Catullus^ after many of the Greeks, *' the Legate, and Mete this *• himielf, being very defirous •' of feeing, were much fur- •* prized, to have the Satif- ** faftion of feeing, what they ** did not believe when they •* heard." See Jujiins Fif- teenth Book, Chap. 1 1. of the City of God, concerning the Cheek Tooth of a Man, which he himfelf faw.
{a) Mens Bodies, &c.] Jofe- phus. Book V. Chap. 2. of his Antient Hiftory: *' There re- ** mains to this Day fome of ** the Race of the Giants, ** who, by Rcafon of the ** Bulk and Figure of their *' Bodies, fo different from •• other Men, are wonderful " to fee or hear of: Their *' Bones are now (hewn, far ** exceeding the Belief of the ** Vulgar.'* GabiniiiSy in his Hirtory of Mauriianiay faid, that A7itfeus'^ Bones were found by Sertorius, which joined together were fixty Cu- bits long. Phlegon TraUianus, in his Ninth Chapter of Won- ders, mentions the digging up of the Head of Ida, which was three times as big as that of an ordinary Woman. And he adds alfo, that there were many Bodies found in Dalma- tia, whofe Arms exceeded Sixteen Cubits. And the fame Man relates out of Theopompus, that there were found in the Cimmerian BofphoruSy a Heap of Human Bones twenty four Cubits in length. And there is extant a Book of the fame Phlegon, concerning Long Life, which is worth reading. (That in many Places of old time, as as the prefent, there were Men of a very large Stature, or fuch as exceeded others, fome few Feet, is not very hard to believo; but that they fhould all of them have been bigger, I can no more believe, than that the Trees were taller, or the Channels of the Rivers deeper. There is the fame Proportion between all thefe, and Things of the like kind now, as there was formerly, they anfwering to one another, fo that there is no Reafon to think they have undergone any. Change. See Theodore Rickius''s Oration. a-« bout Giants. LeClerc),,.\<. (b) Catullus, „&cc. ] In his Epithalamium on PeUus and But 'when the Earth fwas Jiainjfnyith hednefs And Luji, and fujlice fed from e^very Breajl; Then Brethren njilely fhcd each other s Blood, And Parents ceas'^d to mourn their Cbildrem Death, The father wfnd the funeral of his Son; Thi 46 Of the T^riith of Book I.
Greeks^ relates, that divine Vifioris were made td Men before their great and manifold Crimes didj as it were, hinder God and (a) thofe Spirits that attend him, from holding any Correfpondence with Men. We almoft every where (h) in the Greek and (c) Latin Hiftorians, meet with the Sa- vage Life of the Giants, mentioned by Mofes* And it is very remarkable concerning the Deluge^ that the Memory of almoft all Nations, ends in the Hiftory of it, even thofe Nations which were unknown till our Forefathers difcovered them: (d) So th.2XVarro calls all that the unknown Time.
And ^he Son to enjoy the Father* s Relique 'vjijh' d: *The impious Mother yielding to the Child^ Feard not to jlain the Temple of the Gods. Thus Right and Wrong by furious Fajfion mix^d. Drove from us the divine propitious Mind, [a) Thofe Spirits that attend him, &c.] Of this, fee thofe excellent Things faid by Plu- tarch in his If 5; Maxim us Ty- rius in his Firit and Sixteenth DifTert. and Julian's Hymn to the Sun. The Name of Jngels is ufed, when they treat of this Matter, not only by the Greek Interpreters of the OldTeftament, but alfo by La- beusy Jrijiides, Porphyry y fam- blicus, Chalcidiusy and by Ho- Jlanes, who was older than any of them, quoted by Minutius: The foremen tioned Chalcidius relates an AiTertion of Hera- clitus, That fuch as deferved it, were forewarned by the Inftruftion of the Divine Pow- ers.
{b) In the Greek, &c.] Ho- mer, Iliad 9, and Hefod in his Labours. To this may be re- ferred the Wars of the Gods^ mentioned by Plato in his Se- cond Republick; and thofe di- llind and feparate Govern- ments, taken notice of by the fame Plato, in his Third Book of Lauos.
{c) Latin Hif or ians, &c.]See the Firft Book of Owd's Meta- morphofsy and the Fourth Book of Lucan, and Seneca''^ Third Book of Natural ^efions, Queft. 30. where he fays con- cerning the Deluge: That the Beafts alfo perif>edy into vjhofe Nature Men nuere degenerated.
{d) So that Varro calls M-] Thus Cenforinus: ** Now I " come to treat of that Space ** of Time which Farro calls " Hiftorical. For he makes ** three Dillindions of Time; " The l6. the Chrijlian Religio?!. 47 all thofe Things which we read in the wrapped up in Fables, fa Liberty they themfelves,) are delivered by Sea.
And Poets allow themfelves,) are delivered by the ancient Writers according to Truth and Reality, that is, agreeable to Mofes •, as you may fee in Be- rofus's {a) Hiftory of Chaldea^ {h) Ahydenus\ of Ajjyria^ «• The fiifl: from the Creation «♦ of Man to the firil Flood, *• which, becaufe we are igno- *• rant of it, is called the un- *' known: The fecond, from «* the firft Flood to the firll •' Olympiad; which is called *• the Fabulous, becaufe of the ** many fabulous Stories reJat- ** ed in it: The third, from •* the firft Olympiad to our ** Time, which is called the " Hiftorical, becaufe thethings ** done in it are related in a ♦' true Hiftory." The Time which Varro calls unknown, the Hebreiv Rabbins call 'void. Philo in his Book of the Eter- nity of the World rtmzx\is, that the Shells found on the Moun- tains, are a Sign of the univer- fal Deluge.
[a] Berofus's Eiftory, &c.] Concerning whom J'ofephus fays thus, in his firft Book againft Jppion: ** This Berofus, fol- *' lowing the moft antient •• Writings, relates, in the " fame Manner as Mofes ^ the *' Hiftory of the Flood, the *' Deftrudion of Mankind, the ** Ark or Cheft in which 'Noah •* the Father of Mankind, was ** preferv'd, by its refting on *• the Top of the Mountains *^ oi Armenia.'''' After having related the Hiftory of the De- luge, BerofuizA^^ thefe Words, which we find in the fame Jofephus, Book I. and Ch. IV. of his antient Hiftory: ** It ** is reported that Part of the *' Ship now remains in Armc' ** niay on theG5r^'^<3«Moun- ** tains, and that fome bring *■ Pitch from thence, which ** they ufe for a Charm.'"
{b) Abydenus's ofJJJyria.kc^ Eufebiiis has preferved the Place in the Ninth Book of his Pre- paration, Chz^^. 12. ^nd Cyril in his Firft Book againft Julian. ** After whom reigned many ** others, and then Sifithrus^ *' to whom Saturn fignified *' there ftiould be an abun- " dance of Rain on the fif- " teenth Day of the Month ** DefuSf and commanded him *' to lay up all his Writings ** in Heliopolis, a. City of the *' Sipparians; which when ** Sijithnis had done, he failed ** immediately into Armenia, •' and found it true as the God *'■ had declared to him. On ** the third Day after the Wa- " tcrs abated, he fent out ** Birds to try if the Water was ** gone oft" any Part of the " Earth; but they finding a *• vaft Sea, and having no •* where to reft, returned back *' to Siftthrus: In the fame " manner did others: And ** again the third Time, (when " their Of the Truth of Bodk I.
*» their Wings were daubed *' with Mud.) Then the Gods *' took him from among Men j ** and the Ship came into Jr- " menia^ the Wood of which *• the people there ufe for a *' Charm." 5jF/?//^^«fandOav^^j,' and Deucalion, are all Names fignifying the fame Thing in other Languages, as AW^does in the Hebre^ji\ in which Mofes wrote; who fo exprefled pro- per Names, that the Hebteivs might underlland the Meaning of them: For Inltance, Alex- o.nder the Hiftorian, writing Ifaac in Greek, calls him le- Ku->]cf., Laughter^ as we learn from Eufebtus; and many fuch like, we meet with among the Hiitorians; as in Philo concern- ing Rewards and Punifhments; *' The Greeks call him Deuca- •' liotiy the Chaldeans Noach, *' in vvhofe Time the great *' Flood happened." It is the Tradition of the Egyptians, as Diodorus teftifies in his Firft Book, that the univerfal De- luge was that of Deucalion. Pliny fays it reached as far as Italy. Book III. Chap. 14. But to return to the Tranfla- tion of Names into other Lan- guages, there is a remarkable Place inPlato^s Critiasconcern- ing it: " Upon the Entrance •' of this Difcourfe, it may be ** neceiTary (fays he) to pre- ** mife the Reafcn, left you *• be furprized when you hear ** the Names of Barbarians in *' Greek When Solon put this