[ 42 j of fable Cloud, referved by Satan, to darken the Splen- dor of the Chriflian Day. Thefe Succeffors of fl'rifinegiftus hinted alto very plainly at the Fall of Man ; when they reprefented, Horns, or the World, or human Nature, as deftroyed by Typhon, or Satan (who was always defcribed as environ- ed with Dragons and Serpents), and who was explained to be the Agent and Author of every natural and mo- ral Evil. It is no Wonder that the Egyptians fhould re- tain an imperfe& Tradition of this great Event, when (as Lattantius obferves) the other Heathens had a ledge of ir, and the Sybil Erithrea [whofe Remark, whether theBooks of the Sybils, or the Cabala fo called, are authentic or not, proves the Exence of fuch a Tradition] afferts, That the Serpent deceived Man whbm GOD had made, and That he, by knowing Good and Evil, incurred the Penalty of Death. * They could not have not known this Circumflance, but through the fame Channel, by which they obtained their Knowledge of the Trinity. From this Confederation (as the learned Mr. Pemble obferved), " It is more than probable, that " Zoroafter, Hermes, Orpheus, Plato, and others, drew " their Knowledge, which they had in part of many high Myfleries, out of a deeper and clearer Fountain than the muddy (hallow Springs of their own natural Rea- " fon, though in the Paffage this Water was much " foiled by them, with the Filth of many idle Fables " and filly Conceits." t And a greater,Authority than this, viz. 7tßin, Martyr, who was not only a zealous Chriltian, but a learned Philofopher, of almolt the Apoftolic Age, deeply fkilled in the mythological Learn- ingof theHeathens, afferted not only that the Doctrine of the Trinity was known to Plato, and to other Philo- fophers ; but alto " that the Chriftians did not follow them in their Sentiments upon this Head, but they mimicked, or rather corrupted, the Sentiments of the LACT. de orig. error. 1. ii. C. iz, t Yindiciæ Gratiæ. p. 48, Chrift,"
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