Phiiofophers, Book H ch. 3. is very abfurd: Juft like a ^nd J/ fi( us InEurfli/is^Go^^d Man, who happening upon a Preparation, Book V. ch, 5. Houfe well furnifhed, fhould Le Clerc. deny that it was built for the \J)) The Good of "Man, &c.] Convenience of Men, who are Though not for iVJanonly, (for alone capable of enjoying it.
it doth not appear, that there Le Clerc.
are no other Intelligent Beings, [c) Who alloiv the U/ilverfe, in other Planets,) yet partly for cl'c] This was the Opinion Him, and fo far as He makes of the Stoicks; Sec Arrlus's ufe of them without any Detri- Difiertations upon Epi'^etui^ ment t0 other Creatures. Be- Book I. ch. 12. and Jtijfm Up" c.iufe we cannot live without Jhis in his Sioical Ph\Jirolog-., trie Sun J wt may well conclude Le Clerc, Sed:. II, 12. the Chrlfii an Religion, 19 particular Things in it. For if He were ignorant of any particular Thing (as fome of them fay,) He would not be thoroughly acquainted with himfelf. Neither will his Knowledge be Infinite (as we have before proved it to be) if it does not extend to Individuals. Now if God knows all Things, what ihould hinder his taking care of them; Efpecially fince Individuals, as fuch, are appointed for fome certain End, either Particular or General: And Things in General (which they themfelves acknowledge to be preferved by God) cannot fubfift but in their Individuals: So that if the Particulars be deftroyed by Providence's forfaking them, the Whole mull be deftroyed too.
Sedc. XII. ^his is further proved by the Prefervation of Empires, * The Prefervation of Commonwealths hath been acknowledged, both by Philofophers and Hiftorians, to be no mean Argument for the Divine Providence over Human Affairs. Firft^ in General; {a) becaufe wherever good Order in Government and Obedience, hath been once admitted, it has been always retained; and in particular, certain Forms of Government have continued for many Ages; as that of Kings among the Afjyrians^ Mgyptians and Franks; and that of Arijiocracy TiXnong the Venetians, Now tho' Humane Wifdom may go a good way towards this; yet if it be duly confidered, what a Multitude of wicked Men ther« are, how many external E^als, how liable Things are in their own Nature to change j we can hard- {a) Becaufe nvherenjer good ledl, that Men were created by Or^4-},&c.] Becaufe without it, divine Providence, that they there is no iuch thing as hu- might live inSociety,andmake man Society; and without So- ufe of Laws, without which ciety Mankind cannot be pre- there neither is, nor can be ferved: Whence we may col- ZT\y Socie":/. Le CIsrc.
20 Of the '\Criifh of Book L ly imagine any Government fhould fubfiil fo long without the peculiar Care of the Deity. And this is more vifible where it has pleafed God (a) to change a Government; For all Things (eventhofe which do not depend upon Humane Prudence) fucceed beyond their Wifh, (which they do not ordinarily in the variety of Humane Events, J to thofe whom God has appointed Inftruments for this Purpofe, as it were, deftined by him; (fuppofe 'Cyrus^ Alexander^ C^far the Didlator, (b) the Cingi amongft the 'Tartars^ (e) Namcaa amongft xhtChinefe:) Which wonderful Agreeablenefs of Events, and all confpiring to a certain End, is a manifeft Indication of a Provident Diredion. For though a Man may now and then throw a particular Gait on a Die by Chance; yet if he fhould do it a hundred times together, every Body would conclude there was feme Art in it.
Sea. XIII. And by Miracks. •., Bi^T|the moft'; certain Proof of Divine Providence is From Miracles, and the Predidcions we find in Hiftories: It is true indeed^ that a great many of thofe Relations ar^ fabulous; but there is no Reafon to dif- believe thofe which are attefted by Credible WitnelTes, to have been in their Time, „Men whofe Judgment and Integrity have never ment, k<:.\ [{y}"} LiureHi4ji\ off the leifcr Tdrtary. Kis ,thcByffUh'i,ofMen..^.^iM{,:.'^ publiflied at PariSy in 1710.
[hy IJjp. Cingi among fi^Mhe Le Clerc.
^la^tnrf^r^'^^. He. iccms to (f) Kamcaa amongji the Chi^ tne-A^p. G^trijht!?^ C/r7>i, \vho came Ke/e,&:Cr'] Here in Jultice Mafrout,0f E'tllern Tartan, and f/',f(.«/'/j'c'«/ ought ro be named, out of theCity C.j/-«r-rt, o;=w', and who was the founder of the fuhducd not only ^ art dry y but Empire of T'iiu. (vSee Garjialfo fhe NorLhern."/'w^?, and Jwz.t.l de la Vega^ in Incarkin India, jr'rom him fprang the Hijloria.)
Sed:. 13, 14. the Chrl ft i an Religion, 21 knowing and AlJ-powerful, why fliould we think him not able to fignify his knowledge or his Refolution to A61, out ot" the ordinary Courfe of Nature, which is his Appointment, and lubjed to hi^ Diredion and Government? If any one fliould objed againft this, that inferior intelligent Agent§ may be the Caufe of them, it is readily granted; and this tends to niake us believe it the more eafily of God: Befide, whatever of thjs Nature is done by fuch Beings, we conceive God does by them, or wifely permits them to do then) •, in the fame manner as in well regulated Kingdoms, nothing is done otherwife than the Law diraS:s, but by the Will of the Supreme Governor.
Sed. XIV. But more efpecially amcngft the Jews^ who Gught to he credited upon the account of the long Continuance of their Religion, Now that fome Miracles have really been feen, (though it fliould feem doubtful from the Credit of all other Hidories) the JewiJJj Religion alone may eafiiy convince us: which though it has been a long time deflitute of Humane Affiftance, nay expofed to Contempt and Mockery, yet it remains (^)tothis very Day, in al mod ail parts of the World ^ C 3 when [a) To this very Bay, &c.] preferved this plnce, In his firij //f-cv/^-^/v; conceniing the'/civ'/, Book i\<^x\\i\\. Afibion, and he which lived before the Time acids anorher Example out of o^ Alexander, ha<; thefe Words; the fame Hecat-riis^ rehiting to *' Though they be feverely Re- Alexanders Time, wherein ** pro ached by their Neigh- the y^Tu//& Soldiers perempto^ ** bours and by Strangers, and rily rcfafed to afliil at the Re- " many times harfn^y treated pairing the Temple of the God ** by the Verfian Kings and Belu^. And the fame Jofephus •' Nobility; yet cannot they has very well fliown, in his ** be brought off from their other Book agiinlty//);>/«?;;, thai *' Opinion, but will undergo the firm Perfnafion of the /^wj •' the moil cruel Torments of old, concerning God's be- *' and fh irpeft Death, rather ing the Author of their Law, *' than forfake the Religion of is from hence evident, becaufe .*' their Country." "jofcphm they have not dared, like other 22 Of the "trufh of Book I.
when (a) all other Religions (except the Chriftian, which is as it were the Perfedion of- the J^ie^i/??) have either difappeared as foon as they were forfaken by the Civil.Power and Authority, (as all the Pagan Religions did;) or elfe they are yet maintained by the lame Power as Mahojnetamfm is: For if any one fhould afl<:, whence it is that the Jewijh ReHgion hath taken fo deep Root in the Minds of all the Heh'ewsy as never to be forced out \ there can be no other pofTible Caufe afligned or imagined than this •, That the prefent Jews received it from their Parents, and they from theirs, and fo on, till you come to the Age in which Mofes and Jojhua lived \ they received, I fay, {h) by a certain and uninterrupted Tradition, the Miracles which were v/orked, as in other Places, fo more efpecially at their coming cut o^ Egypt ^ in their Journey, and at their Entrance into Canaan; of all which, their Anceftors themfelves were Witnefies. Nor is it in the lead- credible, that a People of fo obflinate a Difpofition, could ever be purfuaded any otherwife, to fubmit to a Law loaded with fo many Rites and Cere- People to alrer any thing in delivered about the Conftancy their Lftws; not even then, of the ^^-cw, in his Second and when in long Banifhments, un- Fourth Books againll Eating der foreign Princes, they have of living Creatutes; where he been tryed by all forts of mentions Antiachus, and parti-Threatnidgs and Flatteries. To cidarly the Ccnilancy of the this we may add fomething of BJfenes amongft the Je^s. Tncitus, about the Profelytes: [a) All other Religions, &c.]
" All that are coiiverted to Even thofe fo highly com-" tjiem, do the like; for the mended Laws of Lycurgus, as *' firft Prr^.iciple they are in- is obferved by Jofei>hus and ** flru<rted in, is \o have a Con- Theo'dorei. " tempt of the Gods; to lay {b) By a certain anduninter- *' afide their Love to their rupted 'Tradition, &f.] 7'o ** Country, and to have no which we give credit, becaufe *^' Regard for their Parents or it was worthy of God to infti-•' Brethren.'* That is, when tute a Religion in which it was the Law of God comes in com- taught, that there was one God petition with them; which this the Creator of all Things, who profane Author unjiiftly blames, is a fpiritual Being, and is alon^ bee farther what torphyrj has to be worfhipped. Le Clerc, Seft. ly th Chrijli an Religion, 23 Ceremonies; or that wifeMen, amongft the many Diflindtions of Religion which Humane Reafon might invent, fhould chufe Circumcifion -, which could not be performed {a) without great Pain, and {h) was laughed at by all Strangers, and had nothing to recommend it but the Authority of God.
Se6t. XV. From the Truth and Ayitlqiuty of Mofes. This alfo gives the greateft Credit imaginable to the Writings o^ Mofes^ in which thefe Miracles are recorded to Pofterity; that there was not only a fettled Opinion and conftant Tradition amongft: the Jezvs^ that this Mofes was appointed by the exprefs Command of God himfelf to be the Leader and Captain of this People •, but alfo becaufe (as is very evident) he did not make his own Glory and Advantage his principal Aim, but He himfelf relates thofe Errors of his own, which He could have concealed; and delivered the Regal and Sacerdotal Dignity to others (permitting his own Pofterity to be reduced only to common Levites). All which plainly fhew, that he had no occafion to falfify in his Hiftory •, as the Style of it further evinces, it being free from that Varniili and Colour, which ufes to give Credit to Romances j and is very natural andeafy, and agreeable to the Matter of which it treats. Moreover, another Argument for the undoubted Antiquity qf M?/^/s Writings, which no other Writings can pretend to, is this; That the Greeks (from whom all other Nations derived their Learning^ own, that they (c) had their Letters from Foreigioer^r:.!: which Letters {a) Without great Pam.kz.^ J^ ^ Whence t"h'e je^o; by the P/j/7c7 fay?, It was done ov///) Poets,.ar£. c-al led ^ropt, Cirtery great Pain. cumcifed, Fore-flynned.^ [b) Was laughed at, kc ] (0 fi^'^ /^^^''- Letters, kc] The fame PLIIo fays, // ivas a Htyodotuf i,a hWTerpfuhore,{d:y?,, Ihivg laughed at by fvery Bo- ** Th^t}he Jgifmf.M^ ^^^^^ 24 Of the Truth of Book I.
of theirs, have the fame Order, Name {a) and Shape, as the Syriack or Hebrew: And further ftill, the moil antient {h) Attkk Laws, from whence the Roman ** Letters from the Ple^ftici- ** cia», (as they ought to be) *'■ anSf and ufed them, with *' from tht. Ph^lf»ici a n s hr'mg-*' very little variation; which '* ing them.into Greece,'''' He ** afterwards appearing, thoff caj[is thetn. *•' Letters, were called Phcsnt- 'the Vh.'sninan Charailen of Cadmns. And Calimochui.
Qadmiu, from 'whom the GreekSj, ^keir tfivitten Books dsrvve.
And Plutarch calls them Phcenkiaji or Punick Letters, in his Ninth Book, and Third Broh. Qi^\\i%^yrr.poJtacks^ where he fays, K\iZX Alpha in the PhcBn'tcian Language, fignifies an Oxy which is very true. Eufolem::s, in his Book of the Kings of ^//j/je^?, fiys, ** That '*.MofeswKi. the firil wife Man, *' and th^t Letters were firft *' given by him to the ye-ivs, *• apd from them the Phcenl", '* ciafjs received them,"' That is, the ancient Language of the yenvs and Phoenicians wdi^ the fame, or very little different. Thus Luc: an. He fpuke jorns indijlina IVcrdc, like z/;-^" Hebrew or Phcenician. And Chaerilus in his Verfes concerning the Solimiy who, he fays, dwelt near the Lake, I fuppofe he me^ns Afphaltites.
Thefe 'VjiJ.h their 'tongue pronounced Phoenicia^ Words.
Sec alfo the Punick Scene of P/autus^^x^tTQ you have the Words that ai-e put in the Pu- 7»/V<^ Language, t^icc, by rea- )bn of the double writing; and aKo the Latifi Tranflation; whence >ou may eafily correal what is corrupted. And as the Phoenician aiid Hehre-iv La^iguagc, were the f ime, fo are the ancient Hebre-iv Letters the f.ime With thofe of t!t- Phoenicians. See the great Men aboufthis Matter. Jofph Seaiie^eri: Liairiha of the Eijj'chi,^n Year cId Ia>cxvii and the Firft Book, Ch X. o^'GerrardVofjhi^s Granrmar {and particularly Sam Bochart, in hi:> C/}anaan ) Vou nifiy ^'ddalfo. if yoepieafci Clement of andria, Strom. Book L and Eujehtus'^s Go'fpel Preparation, Book X. Chap. 5.
{a) And Shape, S:c ] H9 means the Samaritan Letters, which are the fame as xhcPh^znician, as Lud Capel. Sam Bochart, and others have fhown. I alfo have treated of the famp in French in the Biblioth. Se- ' [b) At tick Laivs, &C. ] You have a famous L-.ftance of this, in Thieves that rob by Night, which we have treated of \x\ the Second Book of IFar arid P.ecice,Q\\.{ SzCt I 2. and another in that La<v, which Sopaier recites. Let him that is next akin pc/ff'i'P the Heir e/s; which is thui eA'plained hy Terence. There Roman were afterwards taken, owe their Originai to the Law of Mofes.
Se(5l. XVI. From Foreign 1'eftmontes.
T o thefe we may sdd the Teflimony of a great Number, who were Strangers to the Jewijh Religion, which fhows that the moil ancient I'radition among all Nations, is exadlly agreeable to the Relation of Mojes. Fgr his Dcfcription qf the Original of the World, is almoff the very fame as in the {a) ancient Phcenician Hiftories, which are tranflated *There is a Lavjy by nvhich VVidoxvi ought to be married to the next Kitifmen^ and the famt La^w obliges thefe ^inf?n€n to marr^ them. Vonati'.s remarks upon this place thus: Thai the IVido-iv f^Duld be married tp the next Kinfman, and he marry her^ is the Aftick Laiv; f/z. taken from the Lav^ of Mofes in the lad Chap, of Numbers, which ne (hull have opportaiiity of ipeaking more of afteiward^. A great many other Things may be found to this purpofe, if any one fearch diligently for them: As the Tcail in >vhich they carried Clullers of Grapes, taken from the Feall of Tabernacles; the Law that the High Prieft fnould njarry none but a Virgin, and his .Countrywoman; that next after Silters, Kinfmen by the Father's fide flaould inherit: Wherefore the At tick L.iws agree with many of the Hehre-xv, becaufe the Attich owe many of their Cuftoms to Cecrops King of Egspt; and becaufe God cftablifhed many Laws amo.igll the Hebr'fwSf very much like thofe of the Egyptians, to which they had been accuftomed, only reforming fu.ch Things, as were bad in them; as we have often obferved in our Notes upon the Pentateuch,'dr\d before MZ,John Spencer in his Book about the Ritual Laws of the Jews. Le Clerc.
[a] Ancient Phcenician Hi fluries^ &c.] Eufebius has preferved them for us, in his Firft Book, Chap. 10. of his Preparation. ** The Theology of *' the PhcenicianSi fuppofes the ** Foundation of the Univerfc ** to have been a Dark and *^ Windy Air, or the Breath ** of a dark Air, and a difmal *' Chaos, covered with thick *' Darknefb; that thefe were ** Lifi.iite, and had no Bounds *' for niany Ag,es. But when *' This Spirit or Breath placed *• its Defiie or Love on thefe *' firft Principles, and a Mix- '' ture was pioduced thereby, " this Conjunflion was called *' Love; 'Ihis was the Begin- •' ning of the Creation of all " Things; Bat the Breath, or '? Spirit, was nol created, and ** from 26 Of the Truth of Book I.
flated by PMlo Biblius from Sanchuniathon*s Colledion 5 <* from its Embraces proceed- ** ed M&)T, Moty which fome ** call M^rf', others the Corrup- *• tlon of a watry Mixture; ** This was the Seminary and *' from hence were all things *' produced " In Mofes'^s Hiflory we find the Spirit or Breath, and the Darknefs; and the Hebrew Word DDH'-lQ Merachepheth fignlfies Lo've, Plutarch, Sympojiac. VIII. Prob. T. explaining of Plato, fays. That God is the Father of the World, not by the Emiflion of Seed, but by a certain Generative Power infufed into Matter; which he illuftrates by this Similitude.
^he Female Bird is oft impregnated.
By the quick Motion of the Wind. And M:'t, Mot. iDIDI whence Cv<t(t<^^ an Jhyfs already in the Greeks derive their MoO(^, Motion: For ''kQvT<7^-, ^hf-Motho', fignifies in Hebrew /^j, is in £««/«j nothing elfe but CDinn Tehom, in Greek "A- Mud, if I underftand himright.
From muddy Tartarus a Birth Gigantic fprung. This Mud feparated into Earth and Sea. Apollonius in the IVth of his Argonautich.
The Earth's produced from Mud.
*• Earth." Now this 2eno v.'as diPhcsnician, a Colony of whom were planted in G'/^/V/;?, whence the Hebrenjcs call all beyond the Seas, trD>nD Chittim. Not much different from which is that of Virgil, Eclogue VI.
Upon which place the Scholiaft fays: *' Zeno affirms. That ** the Chaos in Hefiod is Wa-•' ter, of which all Things ** were made; the Water fub-** fiding made Mud, and the ** Mud congealing made folid Then Earth began to harden, and include The Seas nvithin its Bounds, and Things to take Their proper Forms.
Numenius, cited by Porphyry about the Nymph's Den, affirms, That it 'was /aid by the Prophet (meaning Mofes) That the Spirit of God njjas mofed upon the Waters; The fame ExprefTion which Tertullian ufes concerning Baptifm Now hecaufe the Hebrew Word nDn"lD Merachepheth fignifies properly die Brooding of a Dove upon her Eggs; therefore it follows in Sanchuniathon^ that the Living Creature?, that is, the Conftellations, were in that Mud, as in an Egg; and hence That Spirit is called by the Name of the Do've: Under the Similitude of which Dove, Rabbi Solomon explains the Word DDniD Aierachepheth, Nigidius in the Sclioliaft of Ger?nanicus: fays, •* That there was found an Egg ** of a huge Bignefs, which be- " ing rolled about, was cafl " upon the Earth, and after a *• few Days Venus, theGoddefs '• oi Syria, was hatched there- ** \>y.'' Lucius Ampelius, in his Sed:. 1 6. ihe Chrijlian Religion, 27 Book to M^/A-/;/w; fays, " It that hUfes^ ufes immediately *' is reported that in the River ** Euphrates, a Dove fat many ** Days upon a Filli's Egg, and *• hatched aGoddef?,very kind *• and merciful to the Life of *' Man." il//2o-o^/«jrefembles the World to an Egg, in the Vllth Book and loch Chap, of his Saturnalia. It is faid to be the Beghmifig of Generation, in the Orphick Verfcs mentioned by Plutarch, Sympofiack XI. Ch. 3. and Athena goras. And hence, the Syrian Gods, are called hyArnohius, the Off'ipring of Eggs; by which Gods he means the Stars For it follows in the P ha^ni dan Theology; that The Mud -was iliuafter, I mean X'^'i^Ereti; where evidently that which was diycd from the Water is cailed r\'2)1> Jahafhah'y the fame Pherec'des, from the Authority of the Syrians exprefles himfelf thus, (as we are informed by others, but particularly by Jofephus, in his firft Book againit Appion;} Chthonia w/zj the 'Name gi'ven to the Earth after. that Jupiter had honoured it. This Place we find in Diogenes La'ertius and Others; and yifnaximander calls the Sea, that nx:hich remained of the firfi Moiflure of Things. That Things were confufed before their Separation, (concerning which you have the very Words of Mofes in Chalcidius's Explication of Tim^us) Linus informs us, as he was himfelf taught, That taught, That jninated ivith Light, njjhence ca7ue the Sun and Moon, and great and little Stars, You fee here as in Mofes, that Light w.a.'< before the Sun. The Word In the Beginning all Things nvere confufed. ^oAnaxagQras,All Things toere blended together, till the[ Divine) Mind fepar at ed them, and adorn* ed and regulated that nx:hich For Anaxngoras that Hero fanidy Was term d a iVIind, \aufe that ivas thought by him A Mind, H}jhich from Confufton Order brought. All this came from the Phos- " was dark as Night, in which n.'jas confufed. And for this Reafon, was the Name Mind given by Anaxagoras, as Philiafius allures us in his Timon; nician.\ who held a very ancient Correfpondence with the Greeks. The Ancients fay that Linus wasdefcended from Pha;-nix: So Orpheus had his Opinions from the Phoenicians, one of which vvas this in Athenagoras. That Mud proceeded from I'l^ater. After which he mentions a great Eggiplit into two Parts, Keaven and Earth. From the fame Orpheus, Timotheus the Chronographer cites this Paffage. *' The Chaos Darknefs all Things under "this Sky were involved; •' the Earth could not be {ttx\ *' by reafon of the Darknefs, *' till Light breaking from *' the Sky, illuminated every •* Creature." See the Place in Scaliger, in the Beginning of the firft Book of the Greek Chronicle of Eujebius. In that which follows of Sanchuniathon, it is called jScdctur, which. is certainly the ^^\1 holm of Mofes j And the Winds, -.8 Of the Truth cf Book I.
levflion; and a good Part of it is to be found {a) among the Indians (J?) and Egyptia7is j whence it is, that Winds, which are there called y^ohTTiat Kolpia^ are the fame with r\*'*D'% Kaiphijah, the Voice of the Mouth of God.
{a) Among the Indians^ &c.] Megajlhenes^ in the Fifteenth Book of Straoo, expreiTes their Opinion thus: '* That in ma- •' ny Things they agiee with *' the Greeks', as that the •* World had a Beginning, and *' will have an End; that it is *^ of a Spbericil Figure; that •* God the Creator and Go- " vcrnor of it, penetrates all ** Things i that Things had •* different Beginnings; and *' that the World was made of " Water.*' Clement has preferved the Words of Alegajihenn himfelf out of his Third Book of the Indian Hillory, Gtrom. I. *' All that was of old *' faid concerning the Nature of ** Things, we find alfo faid «' by the Philofophexs who •* lived out of Greece, the *^ Brachmans among the In- «* dianiy and they that are •' called Jeius in Syria.''
{h} And Egyptians. &cc ]Conceroing whoiu, (ee Lairtius in his Froamium\ ** The Foun-•' dation was a confufed Chaos, *' from wl\ence the Four Fle-" meats were feparated, and ** Living Creature', made." And a little after, *' 'Fhat as the "' World had a Eegiu.iiiig, io '■ it will have an End " Diodorm ^icuiuy t\^i^\\\i^ their O-.-pinioo, tUds; "In the Bcgin-■^* 4iing of ihe Creut40ii of all Things, the Heavens and thc- Earth had the fame Form and Appearance, their Natures being mixed together; but afterwards the Parts feparating from one another, the World received that Form iu which we now behold it, and the Air a continual Motion. The Fiery Part afcended highelljbecaufe the Lightnefs of its Nature, caufed it to tend upwards; for which Reafon, the Sun and Multitude ofSurs, go in a continual Round; the Muddy and groffer Part, together with the Fluid, funk down, by reafon of its Heavinefs. And this rolling and turning itfelf continually round, from \K^ Moifture produced the Sea, and from the more Solid Parts proceeded the Eartl;, as yet very foit and miry; but when thp Sun began to Urine upon it, it grew firm and hard; and the Warmth caufing the Superficies of it to ferment^ the MoiHure, in many Places fwelling, putfortiiceitain putrid Subilances.covered with Skins, fuch as we now fee in Fenny Mooriifi Grounds, when the Earch being cool, the Air happens to grow warm, not by a gradu'cil Change, but on. a fuddcn: Afterw*irds the foremen tioned Subllances, in the moiil pliices, hiivlng received Life Iroiu the licit in that ^' manner.
Sect. 1 6. the ChfljVian ** manner, were nouriftied in * '* the Night, by what fell from * ** the Cloud Turrounding them, ' and in the Day, they were * ftrengthened by the Heat. * Laftly, When thefe Fcetus\ * were come to their full * growth, and the Membranes • by which they were inclofed * broke by the Heat, all forts * of Creatures immediately ap- * peared; thofe that were of a * hotter Nature, became Birds, * and mounted up high; thofe • that were of a Groffer and * Earthy Nature, became * Creeping Things, and fuch * like Creatures which are con- * 'keligwt. 29 ■ fined to the Earth; and thofe ' which were of a Watry • Nature, immediately betook ■ themfelves to a Place of the ' like Quality, and were called ' Fifh. Now the Earth be- ' ing very much dried and ' hardned, by the Heat of the ' Sun, and by the Wind, was ■ no longer able to bring forth ' Living Creatures, but they ' were afterwards begotten by ' mixing with each other,' Eu- ' ripides feems not to contra - ' diill this Account, who was ' the Scholar of Anaxagoras ' the Philofopher: For he fays * thus in his Menalipfe; Hea'ven and Earth at firji 'vjere of one Form, But ^vhen their different Parts nvere feparate, Whence fprung Beafts^ FqvjIs, and all the Shoals ofSyhy I^ay^ even Men themjehes.,-.,--■ This therefore is the Account we have received of the Original of Things. And if it Ihould feem Itrange to any one, that the Earth fhould in the Beginning have a Power to bring forth Living Creatures, it may be further confirmed by what we fee comes to pafs even now. For z^Thehais in Egypt, upon the River Nile''?, very much overflowing its Banks, and thereby moiftning the Ground, immediately by the Heat of the Sun is caufcd a Putrefa6lion, out of which arifes an incredible Number of Mice. Now if after the Earth has been thus hardned, and the Air does not preferve ii'soriginul Temperature, yet fome Animals are notwirhlUnding produced j from " hence, they fay. It is mani- *' fell, that in the Beginning ** all forts of Living Creatures ** were produced out of the " earth in this manner." Ifwe add to this, that God is the Creator, who is called by Artnxagoras a Mind, you will find many Things agreeing with Mofes, and the Tradition of the Phceniciaftsi As the Heavens and Earth mixed together, the Motion of the Air. the Mud or Abyfs, the Light, the Stars, the Separation of Heaven and Earth, and Sea, the Birds, the Creeping Thing*, Fifbes and other Animals; and laft of all. Mankind, Macrolnus in his Seventh of his Saturnalia, Chap. 16. tranfcribed the followirg Words from the Egyptians; ** if we liUow, what our Ad- 30 Of the Truth of Book I.
that,, {a) in Linus^ {h) Heftod^ and many other Creek ** verfaries affirm, that the ** Things which now are, had " a Beginning; Nature firft ''^ formed all forts of Animals ** perfe6l; and then ordained, •' by a perpetual Law, that ** their Succeflion Ihould be ** continued by Procreation, •* How that they might be '* made perfect in the Begin- ** ning, we have the Evidence *' of very many Creatures pro- «* duced perfed, from the ** Earth and the Water; as in " ^gyp^* Mice, and in other ** Places, Frogs,.Serpents, and " the like/* And it is with juft Reafon that Ariftotle prefers Anaxagoras before any of the ancient Gr^^i Philofophers, Metaphyf. Book I. ch. 3. as a ■fober Man, when the reft were drunken; becaufe They referred every thing to Matter, whereas this Man added alfo a Caufe, which adts with Defign; which Caufe Arijiotle calls Nature, and Anaxagoras JVIind, w hich is better; and Mofes^ God; and fo diOto Plato. See Ldcrt'ius^ where iic treats concerning the firft Principles of Things, according 10 the Opinion of Plato; and Appuleiits concerning the Opinions of Plato. Thales, who was before Anaxagoras^ taught the fame; as Velleius in Cicero tells us, in his firft Book of the Nature of the Gods: ** For f hales Milefius, ** who was the firft that en-" quired into fuch Things as *' thefe, fays; that Water was '* the Beginning of all Things; ** and that God was that Mind ** which formed all Things ** out of Water." Where, by Water, he means the Chaos, which Xenopho7i and others call Earth; all of them well enough, if we rightly apprehend them.
Verfe quoted above.
The Rife of all Things ^vas a Chaos rude.
Whence fprang the fpacious Earth, a Seat for Gods j Who d^vell on high Olympus S?ionuy Top, Nor are excluded from the dark Ahyfs Beneath the Earth; from hence the God of Lo-ve.
Moft amiable of all., nvha frees the Breafis Of Men and Gods from anxious Cares and Thoughts i And comforts each of them ^uvith fft Delight; From hence rofe Erebus, and gloomy Night.
Thefe produced ^tl?cr, and the gladfome Day^ As Pltdges of their Love.
If we compart --th'tsy^'^ with quoted, it will feem to be thofc of the PheenicVans now taken from tliein. For liefiod lived Creek Writers, mention is made of a ChaoSy (fignified lived hard by the Ihehan Bee- 1'^V Ereb, which Night and otia, which was built by Cad- Day follow, in the Hymns nius the Vhoenician. ^'Ef »C(^, that are afcribed to Orpheut* Eurebusy is the fame as Mofes'*s All things that are, fprung from or Chaos vajl.
In the Argonauticksy which go under the fame Name: In Verfe he fang the Origin of 7hingSy Natiire^s great Change; honv Heanj' n on high nvas fram*d^ The Earth eflahlifJj dy and begirt nvith Sea.
Jionjj Lotve, created all Things by his Ponver, And ga've to each of them his proper Place, So alfo Epicharmus, the moll ancient Comic Poet, relating an old Tradition.
^Tisfaid that Chaos nvas before the Gods, And Arijiophanesy in his Play preferred by Lucian, in his called the Birdsy in a Paffage Philopatrisy and by Suidas, fir ft of all n)j as Q^yxo^ and Nighty ^^r/f Erebus and gloomy Tartarus; There nvas no Earth, nor Air, nor Hea^veny till dufky Night, By the If'ind's Pozver on the ivide Bofom of Erebus, brought forth an Egg, Of nvhich nvas hatch'' d the God of Love [when Time began j) nvho nvith his Golden Wings, Fixed to his Shoulders, feiv like a mighty Whirlwind i and mixing nvith black Chaos; In Tartarus dark Shadesy produced Mankind, and brought them into Light. For, before Lo've joined all Things, the Gods themfelves had no Exiftence; But upon this Conjun^iony all Things being mixed and blended^ ^ther arofe; And Sea and Earth, and the bleffcd Abodes of the Immortal Gods, Thefe appear, upon a very ans, who held an ancient Corflight View, to be taken from refpondence with the Inhabithe Tradition of the i'/^^w/c/- tants oi Attica, the moll ancient mfied by fome under the Name of an Egg,) and of the framing of Animals, and ahb of Marl's Formation after the Divine Image, and the Dominion given him over all living Creatures; which are to be feen in many Writers, particularly (a) in cient of the hnlans. We Merachepheth, fignifies Love, have already fpoken of £rf^w/. as was ihewn before: To Tartarus is CDinil Tehont. which agrees that of Par- ''AQvad^Abyps, and DDniD nunideSy love luas the.firfi of all the Gods.
{a) In Ovid, &c.] The of Mo/ts, and almofl the fame Place is no further than the Words, To that they afford Firft Book of his Metamorpho- much Light to whax has been fisy and is very well worth already fai.d, and are likewHe ■'reading; the principal Things much illuftrated by it: in It being fo very like thoie Before the Sea and Earth, and Heanjen^s high Roof Were fraiiiedy Nature had but one Form, one Face i 'The World ivas then a Chaos, one huge Mafs, Grnfs, undrgefied \ ^^Jjhere the Seeds of Things Lay in Confunon^ and Diforder hurVdj Without a Su?r to cherifh nvith his Warmth The rifng World', or paler horned Moin.
No Farthyjufpended in the Liquid Air, Bjrn up hy his own Weight; no Ocean vaf Through unknonvn Trafts of Land to cut his Way % Bui Sea and Earth and Air are mix* d in oJie j The Earth unfettled. Sea inna-vigahle.
The Air de-void of Light; no Farm remain d: For each reftfted each, being all confind; Hot jarred nvith Cold, and Moiji rejifed Dry; Bard, Soft, Light, Heavy, Jfrove ^Jjith migoty Force % ""Till God and Nature did the Strife comprfe.
By parting Hea'v n from Earth, and Sea from Land^ And from grofs Air the liquid Sky dividing; All avhich from lumpiflj Matter once difchargedy Had each his proper Place^ by La^M decreed: The Light andfery Farts up-war ds afcend.