1ntroc Chriftiaii Rdigioa is moil antient. Chap. i T. the certaintyof them. 4. From the end whereto they tend , for we areto joyn both the Word of God and Chriftian Religion in all the arguments fubfe'quent, except fonoe few. t. Touching the Antiguit y, we fay, that Peeing that -à Man is to come to God by fame way or means,and that (as We have Peen ) Religion is the only way ; it mint neceffarilyfollow, that this way is asantient.as Man himfelf; elfe Man fhould have been fomtime without a way to come to his Creator, if at any time he had been withoutReligion ; and fo confequently havebeen fruftrate ofthe end ofhis Creatión. For religio e.ff copula relations, Religion is the cement ofRelationbetweenGodand Man, the Creatorandthe Creature. . is Tertnllian faith , gaud pYiinuw, id veriens, that which is fir{, ïs true, and this De preJtriptü- maxime holdeth as wellin Religion, as in other things. For thePhilofophers fay,neadverJ4sáe Prima entia fontmaxime vera, the firft effence are molt real and true. Becaufe that as retie, the truth is an affcfìion of that, that is, fo falfliood is an affectionof that Which is not : for falfhood cannot cenfiffere infirm, red in ¡limo, confift in any thing which is its own, but fromanother. Therefore falfhood tnuft beafter truth. But the Chriftians Religion is in tome fort included in that which the ?eves had before Chrift, fo that the Lawmay be called the Old Gofpc , and the Gofpel the New Law. In the Law is Evangelium abfconditum, the Gofpel under a vail : in the Gofpel is Lex revelata the revealed Law. So that the yeas agreed with us till the coming ófChrift, and then left us. As for the Heathen Religion; part of their ltories, Which are the records thereof, is fabulous and pare true: i. That part which is fabulous began with their Gods, and their Original : fur- ther than that they cannot go. And Homer and Orpheus write not ofthem till after the Trojan war, and lived after the time ofMofes above eight hundredyears, and almoft three thoufand years after the Chronology ofthe Bible began, whichmay be gathered out ofdivers of their 'ownwriters. 2, Mid if their fabulous part come {hurt of our Religionfor Antitjuity , then Much fhorter muffthat part needsbe which istrue. For¡arro (whó livednot above fifty years before our Saviours time) faith, that the true ftoryof the Heathencould not be derived above feventy years beforehis time. And it is fury that the molt anti- ent records of theirs which are true, began with the feven wife Men ofGreets, , of whom Solonwas the chief and Molt antient : and he was contemporary withCrofur; he with Cyrus, and Efdrat with him: Now Efdras was oneofthe fall Canonical -wri- ters of the Old Teftament. So that we may fafely conclude this againfi the Heathen Re- ligion,that almoft the whole Rory of the Bible was written , before anyauthentique writer or record was extant of the Heathen Rory : and molt pact ofit was Written before thefabulous part of it was deliveredto them in writing Their antientef Hiftoriographer is Herodotut, who beginneth his Rory with the as of Cráfui. By all which we may plainly perceive ; that Chriftian Religion is of far greater antiquity than the Heathen. This alto we may add, that whatfoevcr is either good or true in their Religion was had from the }ews. For the Deruides among the Gauls, and the Bardi (an Offfpring of them ) derive, all theirs from the Greeks, as alto the Roman, and the Greeks, from Cecrops an esEgpprias, as alfo the Carthaginians from Cadmus a Phoenician: Now Phoenicia bordereth Northward upon 7ur), and i.&gjpt Southward. So that all that was good in the Heathen Religion muff be derived from the 7ems. The wife Men of Greece engdiring of their Oraclesi how they might get Wifdom, and from whence the knowledge of Arts was to be had, received this anfwer , that -it was to be had from the Chaldees. Solis urique Chal- delis fapiens, the Chaldean was truly the only wife Man. Which Speech hi the Greek; idiotifine denoteth tome particular -part of the Chal- deans , which was the gews. FM Abraham coming from Cbaldea; was reputed a Chaldean , and the yews from him , sere termed Chaldeani. Orpheus alto the Poet faith , that when Cod (being angry with Mankind) had neflroyed all t he resealed all knowledge and wifdom ski Cháldeo , to F a one 214
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