Swearing; (a) that in Meat and Clothes, they ought to be content with what is necessary to supply Nature. And if there be any Thing in the Christian Religion difficult to be believed, the like is to be found amongst the wisest of the Heathens, as we have before made appear, with respect to the Immortality of the Soul, and Bodies being restored to Life again. Thus Plato, taught by the Chaldeans, (b) distinguished the Divine Nature

scription of a good Man, says, "such an one needs no Oath.". Sophocles in his Oedipus Coloneus :

I would not have you swear, because 'tis bad.

Clinius the Pythagorean would sooner lose three Talents in a Cause, than affirm the Truth with an Oath. The Story is related by Basilius concerning reading Greek Authors.

(a) That in Meat and Cloaths, &c.] Euripides:
There are but two Things which Mankind do want,
A Crust of Bread, and Draught of Spring Water;
Both of which are near, and suffice for Life.

And Lucan:

There is enough of Bread and Drink for all. And Aristides:

We want nothing but Cloaths, Houses and Food.

(b) Distinguished the Divine Nature, &c.] See Plato's Epistle to Dionysius. Plato calls the first Principle the Father, the second Principle, the Cause or Governor of all Things, in his Epistle to Hermias, Erastus, and Coriscus. The same is called the Mind by Plotinus, in his Book of the three Principal Substances. Numenius calls it the Workman, and also the Son: And Ameltus the Word, as you may see in Eusebius, Book XI. Chap. 17, 18, 19. See also Cyril's, Third, Fourth, and Eighth Books against Julian, Chalcidius on Timeus, calls the first the Supreme God; the second, the Mind, or Providence; the third, the Soul of the World, or the Second Mind. In another Place he distinguishes these three thus: The Contriver, the Commander, and the Effecter. He speaks thus of the second: "The Reason of God, is God "consulting the Affairs of Men; which is the Cause of "Men's living well and happily, if they do not neglect that

Nature into the Father; the Father's Mind, which he also calls a Branch of the Deity, the Maker of the World; and the Soul, which comprehends and contains all Things. That the Divine Nature could be joined with the Human, (a) Julian, that great Enemy to the Christians, believed, and gave an Example to Esculapius, who he thought came from Heaven to deliver to Men the Art of Physic. Many are offended at the Cross of Christ; but what Stories are there, which the Heathen Authors do not tell of their Gods? Some were Servants to Kings, others were struck with Thunder-bolts, ripped up, wounded. And the wisest of them affirmed, that the more Virtue cost, the more delightful it was. (b) Plato,

66

in

"Gift which the Supreme God has bestowed on them. The Pythagoreans assign to the Supreme God the Number Three, as perfect," says Servius, on the Seventh Eclogue. Not much differing from which, is that of Aristotle, concerning the same Pythagoreants, in the Beginning of his First Book of the Heavens. (This is more largely handled by the very learned R. Cudworth, in his English Work of the Intellectual System of the World, Book I. Chap. 4. which you will not repent consulting.)

(a) Julian, that great Enemy to the Christians, &c.] Book VI. "Amongst those Things which have Understanding, "Jupiter produced Esculapius from himself, and caused him, "to appear upon Earth, by means of the fruitful Life of the "Sun; he, taking his Journey from Heaven to Earth, ap

peared in one Form in Epidaurus." Thus Porphyry, as Cyril relates his Words in his forementioned Eighth Book: There " is a certain kind of Gods, which in proper Season are trans"formed into Men." What the Egyptians' Opinion of this Matter was, see Plutarch, Sympos. VIII. Quæst. I. to which may be added that Place of Acts xiv. 10.

(b) Plato, in his Second Republic, &c.] The Words are these, translated from the Greek: "He will be scourged, "tormented, bound, his Eyes burnt out, and die by Crucifixion, after he has endured all those Evils." Whence he had that, which he relates in his Third Book of Republic : "That a good Man will be tormented, furiously treated, "have

in his second Republic, says, in a Manner prophetically, that for a Man to appear truly good, it is necessary that his Virtue be deprived of all its Ornaments, so that he may be looked upon by others as a wicked Man, may be derided, and at last hanged: And certainly to be an Example of eminent Patience is no otherwise to be obtained.

"have his Hands cut off, his Eyes plucked out, will be "bound, condemned, and burnt.” Lactantius in his Institutions, Book VI. Chap. 17. has preserved this Place of Seneca: "This is that virtuous Man, who though his Body suffer Torments in every Part; though the Flame enter into his Mouth, "though his Hands be extended on a Cross; does not regard "what he suffers, but how well." Such an one Euripides represents to us in these Verses:

66

Burn, scald this tender Flesh; drink your full Glut
Of purple Blood. Sooner may Heaven and Earth
Approach each other, and be join'd in one,

Than I on you express a flattering Word.

To which that of Eschylus, mentioned by Plato, in the forecited Place, exactly agrees:

He strives to be, not to be thought, the best;
Deep-rooted in his Mind he bears a Stock,
Whence all the wiser Counsels are derived.

BOOK

BOOK V.

SECT. I.

A Confutation of Judaism, beginning with an Address to the Jews.

Now we are coming out of the thick Dark

ness of Heathenism; the Jewish Religion, which is a Part and the Beginning of Truth, appears to us, much like Twilight to a Person gradually advancing out of a very dark Cave: Wherefore I desire the Jews, that they would not look upon us as Adversaries. We know very well, (a) that they are the Offspring of Holy Men, whom God often visited by his Prophets and his Angels; that the Messiah was born of their Nation, as were the first Teachers of Christianity: They were the Stock into which we were grafted; to them were committed the Oracles of God, which we respect as much as they; and with Paul put up our hearty Prayers to God for them, beseeching him that that Day may very speedily come, (b) when the Veil which now hangs over their Faces, being taken off, they, together with us, may clearly perceive (e) the fulfilling of the Law; and when, according to the ancient Prophecies, many of us, who are

(a) That they are the Offspring of holy Men, &c.] This, and what follows, is taken out of the ixth, xth, and xith, of the Romans; to which may be added Matt. xv. 2.

(b) When the Veil, &c.] 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15, 16.

(c) The fulfilling of the Law, &c.] Cor. iii. 24. viii. 14. x. 4. xiii. 24.

Strangers,

Strangers, shall lay hold of (a) the Skirt of a Jew, praying him, that with equal Piety we may worship that one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

SECT. II.

That the Jews ought to look upon the Miracles of Christ as sufficiently attested.

FIRST, therefore, they are requested not to esteem that unjust, in another's Cause, which they think just in their own: If any Heathen should ask them, why they believe the Miracles done by Moses; they can give no other Answer, but that the Tradition concerning this Matter has been so continual and constant amongst them, that it could not proceed from any Thing else but the Testimony of those who saw them. Thus, (b) that the Widow's Oil was increased by Elisha, (c) and the Syrian immediately healed of his Leprosy; (d) and the Son of her, who entertained him, raised to Life again; with many others; are believed by the Jews for no other Reason, but because they were delivered to Posterity by credible Witnesses. And concerning (e) Elijah's being taken up into Heaven, they give Credit to the single

(a) The Skirt of a Jew, &c.] Zechar. viii. 20. and following. Isaiah ii. 2. xix. 18. and 24. Micah iv. 2. Hosea iii. 4. Rom. xi. 25.

(b) That the Widow's Oil was increased, &c.] 2 Kings, Ch. iv. (c) And the Syrian immediately healed, &c.] Ch. v. (d) And the Son of her, who entertained him, &c.] In the forementioned ivth Chapter.

(e) Elijah's being taken up into Heaven, &c.] Chap. ii. of the forecited Book.