The Names by which they distinguished the Three, in this Trinity, were, Oromasdes, (whom they expressly called, The Father, which implies, A Son,) and Mithras, (which they sometimes called, Mether, & Mather,) & Arimanes, (which they also called Armianius,) on each of which they looked, as on God Almighty, & the Creator of the World. Antiquity assures us, That from the Mithras, (whom they styled, The Second Mind) the Persians did use to call any Mediator by that very Name. I will not recite here, what notable hints we find in Plutarch particularly, concerning these things. I hasten to add, They often understood the Sun by Mithras; but then they had yet an higher Notion of him, as, The Maker of all things, and therefore of the Sun it self. They distinguished between, The Intellectual Sun, and, The Visible Sun; as 'tis evident from the Orations of Julian, who calls the Second in their Trinity, by the Name of, The Sun. Compare Mal 4. 2.] They fancied the Sun to be the Representation of that Second, as the Fire ⟨p. 94⟩to be the Representation of the Sun. 'Tis probable, That Nebuchadnezzar in his Image did represent the Sun, the usual Idol of the Babylonians; & that the Representation might be the more complete, the Fire of an horrible Furnace (devoted unto the Service of that Idol) was added hereunto. Those that would not worship the Sun, the Idolaters of those Ages, did use to cast into the Fire: and the Jews tell us, that Abraham's coming out of Ur, was his being delivered out of this Fiery Trial. Such a Fire was now near unto the Image Erected by Nebuchadnezzar; and probably the Idolaters, would have them to be worshipped Both together: for which cause the Three Confessors here answered, We will not Serve thy Gods, in the plural Number. Now Nebuchadnezzar seeing in the Furnace, a Fourth, who was of a glorious Appearance, a Transcendent Majesty, a Countenance more than Humane, he might imagine, That this was most likely to be the Intellectual Sun, the Second Principle of their Trinity; whom his Country men, as Porphyry in the Life of Pythagoras tells us, held for to be like Light without, & like Truth within; and the Mediator between Spirit and Matter. Hence, 'twas very Natural for him to cry out, The Form of the Fourth, is like the Son of God.
The Names by which they distinguished the Three, in this Trinity, were, Oromasdes, (whom they expresly call'd, The Father, which implies, A Son,) and Mithras, (which they sometimes called, Mether, & Mather,) & Arimanes, (which they also called Armianius,) on each of which they look'd, as on God Almighty, & the Creator of the World. Antiquity assures us, That from the Mithras, (whom they styled, The Second Mind) the Persians did use to call any Mediator by that very Name. I will not recite here, what notable hints we find in Plutarch particularly, concerning these things. I hasten to add, They often understood the Sun by Mithras; but then they had yet an higher Notion of him, as, The Maker of all things, and therefore of the Sun it self. They distinguished between, The Intellectual Sun, and, The Visible Sun; as 'tis evident from the Orations of Julian, who calls the Second in their Trinity, by the Name of, The Sun. Compare Mal 4. 2.] They fancied the Sun to be the Representation of that Second, as the Fire ⟨p. 94⟩to be the Representation of the Sun. 'Tis probable, That Nebuchadnezzar in his Image did represent the Sun, the usual Idol of the Babylonians; & that the Representation might be the more compleat, the Fire of an horrible Furnace (devoted unto the Service of that Idol) was added hereunto. Those that would not worship the Sun, the Idolaters of those Ages, did use to cast into the Fire: and the Jews tell us, that Abrahams coming out of Ur, was his being delivered out of this Fiery Trial. Such a Fire was now near unto the Image Erected by Nebuchadnezzar; and probably the Idolaters, would have them to be worship'd Both together: for which cause the Three Confessors here answered, We will not Serve thy Gods, in the plural Number. Now Nebuchadnezzar seeing in the Furnace, a Fourth, who was of a glorious Appearance, a Transcendent Majesty, a Countenance more than Humane, he might imagine, That this was most likely to be the Intellectual Sun, the Second Principle of their Trinity; whom his Country men, as Porphyrie in the Life of Pythagoras tells us, held for to be like Light without, & like Truth within; and the Mediator between Spirit and Matter. Hence, 'twas very Natural for him to cry out, The Form of the Fourth, is like the Son of God.
