[ $8 ] fo, Nines and Nimrod certainly were. * It has been likewife imagined, that Beles and Nines were mere ideal Characters. t But however that may be (as there is in- deed fome Reafon to doubt), it is thought, that Nim- rod, or (as Jofephus, after the Greeks, calls him) Ns- ppwd'ns Nebrod, did not decline from the Apoftacy of his Anceítors; but, on the contrary, carried the Impieties of the falle Religion to a much greater Length than all who went before him. Hence, as a Reproach (which is ufual in Scripture), he obtained among the true Pro felors the opprobrious Title of Nimrod, t or Hubborn Rebel, againft GOD; though,perhaps, his original Name might have been Nin, or Nines. Cedrenus fays it was Eumxi(A', Euechius. It is recorded of him, that he was a mighty one in the Earth, had acquired large In- fluence and Power, and was (according to the ori- ginal Text) a mighty Hunter againft the Face of the Lorin. § Ludovicus Vives, in his Commentaries upon St...lufiin, with fome other Expofitors, concurs with that great Man in this Senfe of Nimrod's Character : n And there is reafon to believe, that not only his Ambi- tion fpurred him on to eftablifh Defpotifm over the Li- berties, but that his Superftition prompted him alto to bunt after the very Souls, of Men. In both thefe refpefts, he feems to have acquired a diabolical Might, and to have well deferved the Epithet of Nimrod, or Rebel againft the LORD. All the oriental Nations con- fider him as the Author of the Sect of the Magi, or Worfhippers of Fire: ** WhichOpinion Clemens Roma- nes, writing to St. fames, feems to follow, in laying, that Nmroth was the first King, as well as Builder, of Bochan endeavoured to prove, that Belus was the fame as Nim- rod. GALE'S Court of the Gent. Vol. i. 1. R. p. jz. f BRYANT'S final.'Int. Myth. Vol. It p. 94. j HYDE ibid. § Gen. x. 8, 9. j Auc.deCivit.Dei.l.xvi.C. 3.LuD. VIVESin lot. Elin Ps. xch'. Esrtvs inGen. x. 9. EDwAEDS'sExcellencyEtc.ofSS. Vol. iii.p.104. ¶ Ezek. xiii. 18, zo. let. Univ. Hft. Vol, i. b. is c. 2: Babylon,
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