A09977:164
Life eternalLife eternall
Life eternal or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithful and worthy minister of Jesus Christ, John Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty, master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inn.Life eternall or, A treatise of the knowledge of the divine essence and attributes Delivered in XVIII. sermons. By the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, D. in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometimes preacher of Lincolns Inne.
London: printed by Richard, 1631
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The second Argument,1 by which we confirm the truth of the Scriptures, is taken from the testimonies that are given to them by our enemies;2 the Gentiles themselves being Judges: As, to instance in the Flood, there are many that have made mention of it. Those Floods that are related by the ancient Greek Historians come so near it, that they must needs have the relation of it from the Jews, though they have mingled it with many falsehoods, we have not the Writings of them, but fragments in the Writings of others, as of Alexander Polyhistor, in Josephus and Cyril: They say that there was a great Flood, and that there was one Nicurus, to whom Saturn revealed it, and bade him make an Ark; and he did so, and gathered some of all beasts into it, and that the Ark was in Armenia, and that the fragments of it are in Heliopolis. And Abidenus saith, that it was a common opinion, that the men, that the Earth brought forth, gathered themselves together and builded a great Tower, which was Babel; and the gods being angry with it, threw it down with a great wind, and thence came the confusion of tongues. And for the pillar of Salt, Josephus saith, that some of it was remaining in his time. And for Abraham, many speak of him, and also of Moses, there are many that agree in their story of him, but the Chaldee Historians especially, and some of the ancientest Greek Historians. Diodorus ⟨p. 54⟩Siculus relates the history of him, though mingled with falsehoods, of what he did in Egypt, and what laws he gave the people, and how he cast out the Canaanites, and that he said he received his laws from a God called Jah, and that they were such laws as separated that people from all others, and that his God was such an one, as could not be seen, &c. And Strabo saith, that he reproved the Egyptians for worshipping visible gods, and therefore he was cast out, and his people with him, &c. After this, when Cyrus did restore the Kingdom of the Jews, and had overcome Darius, Zenophon reports this, that when he came into Babylon, he gave commandment, that no Syrian should be hurt: now Syria lies upon Judea, even as one Shire doth upon another, so that they were all called Syrians. Moreover, Megasthenes, the Chaldean Historian, relates, that Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Egypt, Phoenicia, and Syria, and all those parts he brought into captivity;