Poets is the pleasant Cadence of their Verse which flatters our Ears after the same manner as Music does When an Air pleases us we never consider the Words as we find it by experience at an Opera which we are not able to read with any tolerable patience but when 't is represented on the Theatre we hear it with admiration As Music charms our Ears by striking them differently at several certain measur'd times by never passing all on the sudden from one extreme Tone to another which is quite opposite to it by carrying no Tone too high for fear of shocking our Ears but by employing Tones that are proportion'd to our Organs and lastly by making us hear the same Cadences in the same Order more than once After the same manner the Poets by using Syllables of a certain quantity I speak of the Latines and Greeks in certain places by choosing Words of an agreeable Sound by breaking their Course which wou'd otherwise seem harsh with Caesuras and by making us feel this Harmony some time after fill our Ears so deliciously that they obtain our Favour for a world of false Thoughts To be convinced of the truth of this Assertion a Man need only set the finest Passages of the Poets in the natural order of Construction and he will find nothing in them to please him Altho' we may there discover Disjecti membra Poetae to use Horace's Expression 't is all of it nothing but a cold heap of great Words Let us take for Instance the beginning of Simon 's Speech in the second Book of the Aeneis which is assuredly the most artificial Speech that can be made and Charms every one that reads it Equidem Rex fâ—â—t â—bor tibi cuncta quaecunque sucrint vera neque negaâ—â—o nâ—e de gente Argolicâ Hoc primum nec si improba fortuna finxit Sinonem miserum finget etiam vaâ—â—â—â— mendacémque Here indeed is a Latin Discourse however it does not come up to the Majesty of Verse I will not give any more Instances of this Nature because every Man may try this Experiment in any place he thinks fit to single out 'T is likewise easie to transpose after the same manner the description of Aeolus's Den and the Reader will soon perceive that the Cadence of the Verse serves very much to help it off The Inconveniences of Poetry HOWEVER there 's one thing to be observ'd in relation to Verse which is That if the Poets have some Advantage over those that write in Prose by reason of their Cadence there are several Inconveniences which they cannot always avoid For Instance They cannot say all they have a mind to say neither do they say it in that manner as they cou'd wish they are forc'd to convert the Order of the Words tho' never so much against their Inclination they frequently say that which they wou'd not say and clog their Discourse with superfluous Epithets and sometimes forced ones to fill up the Measure of their Verse There are abundance of noble significant Words that cannot stand in some sorts of Poetry especially the Heroic so that they are often forced to lay aside good Thoughts that come into their Head because Words that are necessary to express them fully cannot come into the Verse If the Poet is not resolved to part with his Thought he must employ other Words that are not proper and often invert them strangely to make up his Measure 'T is true indeed that in this respect we are apt to do the Poets Justice enough in favour of their Cadence since we have been so complaisant as to bestow the Name of Figures upon real Faults of Discourse according to the Observation of Quintilian †Lib. 1. c. 8. Poetis quia plerumque metro servire coguntur adeò ignoscitur ut vitia ipsa aliis in carmine appellationibus nominantur Metaplasmos enim Schematismos Schemata vocamus laudem virtutis necessitati damus We are so favourable to the Poets because they are confin'd to measure that even Vices in Verse go under other Names We call them Metaplasms and Figures and praise that as a Beauty which was the meer effect of Necessity But there is nothing so inconvenient as when being at a loss how to fill up a Verse which is well begun they are obliged to end it ill Nothing is more common in Homer and Hesiod than these Botches of a word or more to stop up the Gap Nay we find whole Verses and Expressions that return every moment upon us rather to serve for Passevolans if I may be allow'd so to speak and to make up the number than for any real Necessity What they might very well express in one word or two they frequently employ a whole Verse to do it in and sometimes more and all this to no other purpose than to make the Discourse more insipid and tiresome Had I written this Book in Latin I wou'd have cited Examples enough to justifie this Assertion in the mean time I appeal for the truth of it to all those that have read these Poets with a mind disengaged from the Prejudices of the Grammarians 'T is very probable that the Reason why Virgil who has avoided these Faults more carefully than the above-mention'd Greek Poets left some imperfect Verses in his Aeneis was only because he cou'd not at first fill them up without making some Botches or at least some useless Repetitions There are some Passages in his life relating to this Affair which deserve our Observation However he cou'd not avoid and that very often to use several Words and Expressions that only serve to fill up the Measure Thus in the first Book of his Aeneis having assign'd a little before the Reasons why Juno was so implacable an Adversary to Aeneas he repeats it again about the fortieth Verse Aeternum servans sub pectore vulnus Carrying an eternal Wound in her Soul Take away these words and you maim the Verse indeed but not the Sense A little lower Juno promises Deiopeia for a Wife to Aeolus in these Words Connubio jungam stabili propriámque dicabo Omnes let tecum meritis pro talibus annos Exigat pulchrâ faciat to prole parentem I will give her you in Marriage for ever that she may pass her Days with you and make you the Father of fine Children There 's nothing more belongs to the Sense than these Words Connubio jungam quae pulcrâ faciat to prole parentem I will give her you in Marriage that she may bring you fine Children whatever the Interpreters have said upon this place Jupiter as he is telling Venus what the Fortune wou'd be of Aeneas's Posterity to let her know that Ascanius wou'd Reign thirty Years thus expresses himself v. 271. At puer Ascanius cui nunc cognomen Iulo Additur Ilus erat dum res stetit Ilia Regno Trignta magnos volvendis mensibus orbes Imperio explebit But young Ascanius who is
respect for Truth in general and love a Philosophical Sincerity are obliged to use such a Method and they that are so disposed are better convinced than others of the narrowness of their Knowledge think more modestly of themselves and can more easily bear to be contradicted On the contrary those who distinguish not what is doubtful from what is certain fancy they know much more than they do and being proud of their pretended Knowledge they maintain with the same assurance the most uncertain Things and those which they are most sure of From thence arise a great many hot Disputes about Things which no body knows and wherein they are perhaps mistaken on both sides From thence also arise all the Evils which attend long Disputes Those who are used to distinguish their Conjectures from what they are able to prove may more easily attain to a solid and certain knowledge of Truth than those who believe they know what they know not and so give over the search of that which they think they have already found They substitute an imaginary Knowledge in the room of a real one and so rest satisfied with Phantoms instead of real Things and as they boldly take up Things that have but a slight probability so they are afraid on the contrary to be deceived by Demonstrations and shun them as carefully as they ought to shun Falshood But those who believe not that they know what they know not and are not conceited of their own Merits will be ready to embrace Truth which way soever it comes That which I most wonder at is That some Men are so Conceited that they speak as if they were persuaded that Truth depends not so much on Things themselves as on the manner of defending it One would think they believe That if they stoutly maintain an Opinion it acquires thereby a greater degree of certainty and at last happens to be true Should we grant say they That such a Thing is true we must then give up our Principles 'T is therefore better to argue against it without troubling our Selves whether it be true or not and never to give ground like the Man who being no longer able to reply to what was objected against his Opinion cried out with great Anger If what I say be not true it should be true Of Morery's Dictionary BUT to return to Mr. L. C.'s Studies at the very same time that his Philosophical Works were Composed Printed for the first time and Reprinted he was taken up with the tedious Revision of a Book which gave him a great deal of trouble Some Booksellers of Holland having a mind to Print Morery's Dictionary proposed to him in 1689. to Revise it which he undertook to do supposing That because that Dictionary had been Printed five times in France it wanted but few Corrections But having gone about that Work he soon perceived that he had had a better Opinion of Mr. Morery than he deserved He perceived too late that the Revision of that Dictionary would be a laborious Work of no great Honour and less Profit But he was obliged to go thro' when he had begun One may see what he said about it in the XIV Vol. of the Bibliotheque Vniverselle and in the Preface before the Holland Editions He has in three several Revisions corrected a prodigious number of Faults especially in the Articles which concern ancient History and after a frequent Perusing and a long Examination he found that Mr. Morery was a Man of so little Learning and Exactness that one cannot rely on any thing that he says He that would throughly examine his Dictionary should have almost all the Books which he made use of and it would take up as much time as would be sufficient to make a New one So that Mr. L. C. was forced to pass over a great many Things for want of Books and Time Besides to speak the Truth there are a great many Articles in that Dictionary which deserve not to be corrected by a Man who can spend his Time better Of what use would it be to make a laborious Enquiry concerning so many wretched Authors whom Morery mentions He that began that Work should have been Exact since he undertook it Nevertheless there has been Three Editions of that Dictionary in Holland from the Year 1690. to the Year 1698. and about Seven Thousand Copies have been Sold Perhaps so large a Book did never Sell so well before Indeed it is necessary to a great many People who cannot have Libraries nor read the Original Authors and are contented with a general Knowledge of Things The last Edition of Holland is much more Exact than the other but it is not true That the Publick can now rely upon it as the Booksellers have inserted in the Advertisement of this VIII Edition without Mr. L. C's Knowledge 'T is true That it is more accurate than the former but he that will know something exactly must necessarily have recourse to the Original Authors I hear in 1699. that there is a new Edition of it coming out at Paris and I doubt not but that they have corrected several Faults in the Articles which concern the Modern Authors because they have at Paris all the Books necessary for it the Tenth Part of which cannot be had in Holland because those Books Sell not very well there Of Mr. L. C.'s Commentary on the Pentateuch Mr. L. C. having applied himself chiefly to the Study of the Holy Scripture designed a great while ago to write a Commentary on the Old Testament but being not Master of his Time and Studies he could not do it before he left off writing the Bibliotheque Vniverselle To give a Specimen of his Design he published in 1690. in one Sheet in Quarto the Prophet Obadiah translated by him with a Paraphrase and a Critical Commentary He imparted that Specimen to his Friends and sent it every where to know what the Publick thought of such an Undertaking and having their Approbation he willingly undertook that Work which tho' very great and laborious did not frighten him because he always took great delight in that Study Besides he was persuaded that If he should succeed in his Design it would prove very useful to the Publick He published therefore his Commentary on Genesis in 1693. with a Paraphrase and Critical Notes as he had done the Prophet Obadiah And because he designed his Book for the use of all those who apply themselves to the Study of the Holy Scripture of what Sect or Party soever they be he abstained from all manner of Controversie and enquired only into the Literal Sense without drawing any Theological Consequences from it which might offend any Christian Society He searched Truth as impartially as if he had been the first who undertook such a Work He agrees in most Things with the most Learned Interpreters but he thinks he has made many new Discoveries concerning Things themselves and the manner
great Reading by publishing their common Places or Compilations besides what they say is often so much out of the way that it is of no use for the bettter Understanding of an Author But there are a great many other places which will put not only a young Beginner to a stand but also such as have made a greater Progress upon which they say nothing at all When the Text of an Author is clear they will often speak much and enlarge upon it but when it is difficult and obscure they say nothing at all There are some Criticks who think it beneath them to make such Notes they say that they are only good for young Men and that those who have made some Progress may easily be without 'em But neither of them is altogether true There are many grave Men who have nobler Employments and want good Notes upon the difficult Places of ancient Authors and would be very glad to find some They have not time enough to look in other Books for the Explications they want because they read those Authors only for their Recreation when their Business is over and not to weary themselves in turning over large Volumes to find the Explication of a Place they do not understand Besides 't is a more difficult thing to write such Notes than 't is commonly believed The Notes of Paul Manucius upon Cicero's Epistles which are such as I would have cost him much more Pains than the Critical Notes of many others tho' never so much esteem'd and it had been much better to put them under the Text rather than several others which are only about the true Reading Eight Readers in ten want Manucius's Notes but scarce look on what is said concerning the Various Readings 'T is to no purpose to say that it is an Abuse Such is Mens Humour and few have time enough to examine so many needless Punctilio's The most Curious are contented to have recourse to those Compilations when 't is necessary they should exactly understand the Sense of a Passage otherwise they would not look on them And indeed the Reader retains not much in his Memory when he has read them Short Notes well worded which contain nothing without a Proof for it or at least referr the Reader to a good Author for the Truth of what they say quoting exactly the place that it may be easily found such Notes I say are a great Treasure for most Readers But 't is not so easie to make 'em as to Quibble about some various Readings or to make some Digressions Some Men of Learning much inferiour to those I have mention'd have undertaken in our Age especially in Holland to supply that Defect and to collect several Notes out of several Criticks who had written upon the best Authors or explained them by the by in some other Works They go by the Name of Notes Variorum But the greatest part of the first Collections were very ill made because those who went about it were not qualified for it They have often pitched upon the worst have not alledged the Proofs of the Authors they abridged and have often misrepresented their Thoughts And to insert Notes every-where they have been as large on the clear as the obscure Passages and fill'd their Collections with useless or unseasonable Digressions Every Body complaining of the Notes Variorum some learned Men thought it necessary to make a Choice of the best Criticks and insert all their Notes together with some other good Remarks of other Authors Such are the Latter Editions Cum Notis Variorum and they are without doubt to be preferred before the former The Publick has been better pleased with them and all those who love Humane Learning have been extremely glad to have a compleat Collection out of all the best Criticks to consult it when there is an occasion for 't Notwithstanding they complain still of one thing and I think they have some Reason for it They wish that those who make such Collections would only put under the Text such Notes as may serve for the understanding of the Expressions Opinions Customs c. Supplying what is wanting in them as much as it can be done and that all the compleat and full Notes should be referr'd to the end of the Book to consult them upon occasion They wish besides that those Notes of several Authors were so disposed that one might find them all at once in one place whereas one must run over a whole Volume to find what each Author says which is too long and tedious We have two Editions of Caesar's Commentaries by Goth. Jungerâ—annus wherein all the Notes are at the end of the Book and 't is no easie thing to make use of them because every one of those Notes is by itself in â—ts order whereas if they were mixed one might see with a glance of the Eye whatever the Commentators say upon each Place They thought in France it were better if those who undertook to publish the Classick Authors for the Vse of the Dauphin should take out of the â—earned Men who wrote before them what they should think fit But if I may be allow'd to â—peak the Truth Most of those Interpreters have but indifferently perform'd their Part. First They made use of very bad Editions whereas â—hey should have followed the best which I â—hink is an unpardonable Fault Secondly One may see In their Notes the same Faults I have observed in the first Holland Editions Cum Notis â—ariorum However there is one thing in the Paris Editions which is wanting in the Holland Editions There are in the former some Index's of all the Words which may be of great Use to â—ind out the Passages wanted when one remembers but some Words of them But it must be confest that those Indexes would be better and shorter if laying aside all the trivial and common Words which no Body ever looks for as the Verb Sum with all its Tenses Conjunctions Adverbs and Prepositions when they contain no particular Signification that deserves to be taken notice of c. they had inserted not only the Words by themselves but also the Phrases The Reason of it is beause no Body looks in an Index for the Verb Sum for instance in its ordinary Signification and if any Body look'd for it in an uncommon sense it would perhaps take up a whole Day to find it in the Index unless one knew near at hand where to find it The same may be said of a great many other Words Whereas if the Phraeses were contain'd in the Index when they are not common one might presently find the Passage one looks for 'T is for this Reason we so much esteem the Indexes of Matthias Berneggerus and John Freinshemius who were learned Men and made exact and judiciouss Indexes of several good Authors tho' they inserted not all the Words But it may be that those who had the direction of the Editions For the Vse of the Dauphin did
of proving Things themselves and the manner of proving them That Commentary was very acceptable to the Publick as it appeared in that not only it Sold well but was likewise approved of by many Learned Men. But because there are always some Men who being not able to Compose any Thing of their own think notwithstanding that they are good Judges of other Men's Works the Envy and Malice of some Divines soon broke out against him Had he made a pitiful Rapsody out of the several Interpreters who wrote before him they would perhaps have approved or said nothing of him But whoever endeavours to teach 'em something new and do better than others cannot fail to undergo their Censure A Divine of that Temper took care to Incense against him Dr. Kidder Bishop of Bath and Wells who published some English Notes on the Pentateuch in the Year 1694. That Learned Man being deceived by a Person whom he did not mistrust spoke somewhat unkindly of Mr. L. C. because he believed that some Places of the Pentateuch were not written by Moses tho Monsieur Huet and Mr. Witsius and several others scrupled not to acknowledge the like Additions which indeed are manifest But Mr. L. C. having complained to the Bishop in a Letter he received a more obliging Answer from him as he has already said in his Preface before Exodus He perceived by that Answer that some Men who have Reason to speak well of him and dislike not his Opinions had given that Prelate an ill Character of him Mr. Edzard Professor of Philosophy at Wittemberg an University from which no good can be expected whilst the Spirit of Calovius reigns in it wrote a very sharp Dissertation against Mr. L. C.'s Explication of the Prophecy concerning the Schilo which he published without being positive in it because it is an obscure Passage But the German Doctor to whom every thing seems to be easie made a confused Collection of most trivial things and reviling Words which are peculiar to himself without caring to reason well or understand the Author whom he critizes on purpose to make him odious as if he should favour the Jews He fancies that by bawling like a Porter against Mr. L. C. he 'll make People believe that White is Black and that by often saying that what is obscure is clear it will be so in effect Let any one read Mr. L. C.'s Explication of the Schilo and compare it with the Book of that Lutheran Doctor and then give his Judgment upon the matter Mr. L. C. is not afraid that the Arguments of Mr. Edzard and the blind Zeal by which he is acted should do him any Prejudice and he will not leave off his Studies to answer him Otherwise all the Students of the Universities of Germany would enter into the Lists with him after they have transcribed a pitiful common Place or a wretched Commentary and set it off with reviling Words If those who despise Grotius and admire Calovius do not like Mr. L. C.'s Works he has no more reason to wonder at it than they have when they see that he praises Grotius in his Writings and never expresses any esteem for Calovius and his Imitators Qui Bavium non odit amet tua carmina Maevi It was necessary that the German Students should be informed of this lest they should think that 't is in their Power to disturb when they please Mr. L. C.'s rest with their Libels and to get some Reputation by putting him upon answering them Mr. Vander Waeyen had likewise a mind to signalize himself by writing against Mr. L. C.'s Commentary on Genesis in some Theological Disputes held in the University of Franeker But Mr. L. C. would not answer that Divine because his way of Disputing shewed that he had no love for Truth For Instance he wondred that Mr. L. C. should say That the three Men mention'd Gen. xviii who appeared to Abraham were three Angels tho' Mr. L. C. followed therein St. Augustin's Opinion whom he quoted in his Note on that Chapter of Genesis Nay he charges Mr. L. C. with want of Sincerity which is a very absurd Accusation and unbecoming an honest Man For none can be suspected of want of Sincerity but they who maintain a ridiculous Opinion especially when they get something by it Whereas in this case no other Opinion can reasonably be maintained and Mr. Vander Waeyen knew very well that Mr. L. C. did not do this to Court any Body Mr. Vander Waeyen falls upon him again in his Dissertation concerning the Logos and in the very beginning finds fault with some Passages of Mr. L. C.'s Commentary on the other Books of Moses But because he does it only by the by and to render him odious the best answer Mr. L. C. can make is to desire the Reader to read attentively those Passages in the Original if he designs to be a Judge between Mr. Vander Waeyen and Mr. L. C. A just and judicious Reader will easily see which of 'em is in the wrong Mr. Vander Waeyen here and else-where charges Mr. L. C. with favouring the Socinians whom he no more thought on when he wrote his Commentary than if there had never been any such Men in the World If the Socinians speak truth in some things and another Man does the same after them is it a Crime and does it follow from thence that such a Man believes in all Respects as they do What would Mr. Vander Waeyen say if he knew that Mr. L. C. has been very little conversant with the Writings of the Socinians that he seldom consults them and never read any thing of 'em concerning Types which is the thing wherein he accuses him of favouring the Socinians He could not at least charge him with imitating them But 't is now the constant Practice of some Protestant Divines to call Socinianism all the Opinions they have a mind to traduce as in Spain and Italy they call Calvinism or Lutheranism the Opinions with which they charge those whom they hate This is Argumentum Theologicum ex invidia ductum to give an odious Name to a thing that it may be Condemned without any Examination Mr. L. C. is no Socinian but he is not bound to make a Confession of his Faith as often as some Divines will be pleased to give him hard Words and pick a Quarrel with him about things of no moment as Mr. Vander Waeyen has done Of his Notes on the beginning of St. John's Gospel WHILST Mr. L. C.'s Commentary on the four last Books of Moses was a Printing in the beginning of the Year 1695. he had †See the Preface of the Edit in 8. occasion to publish his Thoughts concerning the beginning of St. John's Gospel and he did it so much the more willingly because some ill Men were pleased to confound Mr. Clark an English Man who favoured the Socinians some of whom wrote in English concerning St. John's Gospel so as to make one
Mr. Vander Waeyen commends and is really a very Learned Work tho' it contains a Doctrin very different from his This being so Mr. L. C. says That by reason of that Ambiguity of Words it may be as Grotius thought that those who seem'd to agree were not of the same Opinion and that by degrees tho' they used the same Words they put another Signification upon them He adds That this might so much the more easily happen as to the Question concerning the Vnity of God because the Christians of the latter Times believed that the Fathers of the Church were of the same Opinion with the Jews who acknowledged a Numerical Vnity of the Divine Essence But as the Consubstantialists entertained a different Opinion under the cover of the same Words which the Jews used and they durst not part with So now our Divines make use of the Terms consecrated by the Fathers but they seem to put another Signification upon ' em Verùm uti Homoousiani sub iisdem verbis quibus Hebraei utebantur aliam abscondebant sententiam cùm non auderent ab iis discedere Ita nostri hodie Theologi à Patribus verba quidem consecrata retinent sed alias iis subjicere potestates videntur How does it appear now That Mr. L. C. grants that the ancient Jews meant by the Word the same thing that St. John did Nevertheless Mr. Vander Waeyen says so positively as if no Body but himself could read a Book whereof above Two thousand Copies have already been Sold. Who will believe him when he cites Books less known and accuses others of Disingenuity Our Cocceian Divine continues to find fault with Mr. L. C. in several places of his Rapsodies but there is no need I should lose my time in confuting him Let him read a Book of Episcopius which he wrote if I mistake not against a Professor of a neighbouring University and intituled Vedelius Rapsodus It contains very good Advice which Mr. Vander Waeyen should follow By what has been said one may judge of the remaining part of his Book and be satisfied that no Body can rely on what he says and believe him upon his word If any one will take the pains to read his Dissertation let him look for the Passages which he writes against and compare them with his Answers and then give his Judgment about it I should tire the Reader 's Patience and have an ill Opinion of him should I shew at large how many ill Reasonings and impertinent Quotations and how much Disingenuity there is in those Dissertations This has has been clearly made out in respect of several Points and those who know the long Disputes he has had with other Reformed Divines are well enough acquainted with his Genius and manner of Writing However I must say something still about the conclusion of his Dissertation concerning the Logos He says That he has done nothing out of Hatred or thro' any ill Passion But I cannot apprehend what might be the cause of so many passionate and angry Expressions Lies and Calumnies unless it were Hatred and some other like Passion Certainly these are not the Fruits of Christian Charity nor the Effects of any Zeal for Truth since Zeal for Truth has nothing to do with Lies and Calumnies He adds That he did not propose to himself as his chief Aim to reclaim Mr. L. C. I believe it for 't is manifest that his chief Aim is to Quarrel and give himself up to his prevailing Passion and then to prejudice Mr. L. C.'s Reputation by all the means he can think of 'T is in vain for him to deny it since God and Men judge of our Words by our Actions and not of our Actions by our Words However he says That he very much wishes he might reclaim Mr. L. C. and that he heartily prays that God would do it But what would he reclaim Mr. L. C. from Would he bring him to the State that he himself is in and of which he should make haste to get out by begging God's Pardon for having had so many Quarrels with so many honest Men without any reason for it and for having endeavoured to blemish their Reputation by his Calumnies He upbraids Mr. L. C. with His Prejudices his manner of Philosophizing and rejecting the true Key of Knowledge the Mystery of the Father and Son Let the Publick judge who of them two is more blinded with Prejudices and whose Method of Philosophizing is more agreeable to Piety and Reason I don't know what he means by the Mystery of the Father and Son but I guess he understands by it Cocceius's new Method of explaining the Covenant of Grace which Mr. L. C. does not believe no more than the other Reformed Divines He is very willing to leave that Key of Knowledge to Mr. Vander Waeyen and those who like it Other Christians believe that it is a proper Instrument to barr Men from the true Knowledge of Holy Scripture and Mr. L. C. is of that Opinion But if they mean by it the Divinity of the Son his Distinction from the Father and the Redemption of Mankind Mr. L. C. is better convinced of 'em than the most zealous Cocceians but he can't abide that any one should add to those Doctrines any thing that is not contained in Scripture Our Professor of Franeker seems to be angry because Mr. L. C.'s Writings are esteem'd and he says that the reason why they are valued is Because they favour Prophane Men that is to say those who laugh at Cocceianism for whoever despises it can expect no Quarter from Mr. Vander Waeyen as being a prophane and an impious Man c. Such is the Language of those godly conceited Divines who place Religion in Chimerical Speculations which they endeavour to confound with the Doctrines revealed in the Holy Scriptures as 't is practis'd by Mr. Vander Waeyen and Mr. Poiret who are good Friends when they are concern'd to defend Fanaticism in general for as soon as a Man abandons Reason he must necessarily fall into Fanaticism but will prove cruel Enemies when the Question shall be Whether John Cocceius's Fanaticism is to be preferr'd to that of Antoinette Bourignon or vice versâ 'T would be a good sport to hear 'em discourse together with their usual Moderation of their Explications of the Revelations Purgatory Predestination c Mr. Poiret would then cease to be clarissimus and would be obscurissimus Tenebrio to say no worse and God knows what noble Epithets he would in his turn bestow on the Doctor of Franeker The latter says That Mr. L. C. is one of those Men who reduce Religion to a few Heads concerning the Knowledge of God and some practical Moral Duties in order to live quietly in this World But Mr. L. C. neither lessens nor encreases the Articles of Faith he takes 'em out of Holy Scripture such as they are without making any alteration in them As for Morality he approves of no Remisness
matter of Heroic and Tragic Poems to confine ourselves at present only to them pleases us for the grandeur of the Actions and Events which it comprehends and for the Incidents which are rare and surprizing or proper to raise the Passions That Admiration and Terror that Pity and Indignation which they stir up by turns in us employ and engage our Minds in what they represent and give us a sensible pleasure when we read them The Heart of Man is made to be incited by Passions it takes a delight in being moved nothing in short is so tiresome to it as a Calm or so dull as Indolence and 't is upon this account that the Poets gain it over to their Party Who can read the Adventures of Turnus in the Aeneis without being Affected by them and without abandoning himself with pleasure to an agreeable Melancholy Nay we cannot read without some emotion a description of the Passions that disorder'd the unmerciful Mezentius after the Death of his Son which Virgil has express'd in this manner †Lib. Aeneid X. v. 871. Aestuat ingens Vno in corde pudor mistóque insania luctu Et furiis agitatus amor conscia virtus Shame and Grief for the Death of his Son mingled with a furious Anger Love that provoked him to the last degree and a sense of his Valour incited his Soul all at once We are no longer in a condition to judge rightly of Things when once our Passions have discomposed us We pardon every thing nay we imagine every thing to be good in a Poet who knows how to unhinge us The Romans who were accustom'd to use their Victories with Generosity and who wou'd have thought it strange to see a parcel of poor Fellows murder'd in cold Blood about the Herse of a General that was fairly kill'd in Battel did not however find fault with Virgil for introducing his Aeneas the most pious of all Men and the most beloved by the Gods killing eight Wretches upon the funeral Pile of Pallas †Lib. Aeneid X. v. 518. Vide Lib. XI v. 18. Sulmone creatos Quatuor hîc juvenes totidem quos educat Vfens Viventes rapit inferias quos immolet umbris Captivóque rogi perfundat sanguine flammas Nothing can excuse Virgil but the Example of Homer whom he has here imitated For Homer makes Achilles commit the same Cruelty who sacrifices a dozen Trojans about Patroclus's funeral Pile in the tweny third Book of the Ilias But what may be pardon'd in an enraged brutal Hero as Achilles really was ought never to be forgiven in the pious Aeneas Besides Virgil who was a Man of better Sense and lived in an Age that was infinitely more polite than Homer's is less to be excused than he for making his Hero commit so barbarous an Action However the World takes no notice of this Inhumanity out of respect to the great things that he makes Aeneas perform and the great Idea he gives of him in other places If Virgil has transgress'd against the Rules of Decency in making his Aeneas guilty of so inhumane a piece of Cruelty he has offended against good Sense in changing those Javelins with which Polymnestor had transfix'd Polydorus into the Branches of a Tree the Root whereof was Polydorus himself in his third Book of his Aeneis in making a golden Bough to sprout from another Tree in his sixth Book and in turning the burnt Ships of Aeneas into so many Sea-Nymphs in the eleventh †Vossius instituti Poet. Lib. 1. c. 2. I know that the common way of excusing Virgil is by pretending that in this he accommodated himself to the ancient Fables and to the Ideas of the People who had a great esteem for these sorts of Fictions and thought the Poets used them sparingly when they did not ascribe things that were palpably contradictory to their Gods These Reasons may serve to excuse the ridiculous Tales of old Women with which they rock their Children asleep but not a Poem design'd and carried on with a great deal of Art where we ought to have nothing but what is probable It cannot be pretended that the Wonderful shews better in these sorts of things than in those that may really happen If we must plainly speak the truth these Fictions are not wonderful but altogether ridiculous It will be granted me I suppose that if Virgil had let them alone the Aeneis had lost none of its Beauties and so he had saved us the Pains to excuse them To speak impartially our modern Romances are nothing but so many Poems in prose but should the Authors of 'em stuff 'em with such improbable Fictions they wou'd soon be hiss'd out of the World altho' we find they introduce Heroes who lived in the remotest Ages Such in short is the famous Romance of Cyrus Scudery had never had the satisfaction to see the Conclusion of that bulky Romance had he fill'd it with such monstrous Chimeras And his Bookseller finding not vent for the first Parts wou'd sooner have been sent to the Gallies than he wou'd have continued them to the twelfth Volume For my part all the Difference I can find between the modern Romances and Poems if we consider the Matter of them is no more than there is between the Pieces of two Painters one of whom imitates Nature and represents nothing but what is to be seen while the other designs Animals that were never in Nature as an Elephant with a Crocodile's Head or some such Monster as that These last Paintings wou'd rather offend than please the Sight and the Beauty of the Colours wou'd never be able to atone for the extravagance of the Painter I need not give myself the trouble to apply this Comparison to the Subject in hand To come now to the Disposition of a Poem 't is certain there is something surprizing in it and which at first sight commands the Reader 's attention because instead of taking up the Action at the beginning the Poet takes it up at the middle which keeps the Reader in suspence and makes him eager to know how the Heroe of the Piece came into those Circumstances wherein he at first finds him Virgil in his Aeneis has observ'd this Conduct much better than Homer has done in his Ilias The latter begins with the Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon and goes on according to the series of Time without recounting any thing that had past before but only by scraps and pieces to which a Man must add a great deal to have a perfect Idea of the Trojan War till the Death and Funeral of Hector with which he concludes his Poem 'T is true indeed that the Odyssee is much better managed but the Aeneis is exquisitely perfect It begins at the seventh Year and the Heroe of the Poem relates in the second and third Book all that happen'd to him before Thus the Reader at his first dipping in it finds himself engaged to read what follows so
like the Fellow who having given the Name of the South-wind to the North-wind defended himself by saying That in truth it was the South-wind brat that he was then endeavouring to get home again But let us see what follows Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis Circum claustra fremunt Celsâ sedet Aeolus arce Sceptra tenens mollitque animos temperat iras Nî faciat mania ac terras coelúmque profundum Quippe ferant rapidi secum verrántque per auras Angry with being locked up in this manner they rage with a great noise about the Mountain that confines them But Aeolus who sits on a high Eminence with a Scepter in his Hand softens and moderates their Indignation If he did not do so they wou'd carry away with them the Sea the Earth and Heaven like so many Balls thro' the Air. This is what we may properly call To throw the House out of the Windows Can it be supposed with any manner of probability that the Winds that arise from the Earth and brush over its Surface wou'd blow it the Lord knows whether if some body did not look after them Besides whither wou'd they blow it What! to the imaginary Spaces or the Intermons of Epicurus What is this Heaven that the Winds wou'd carry through the Air Some Interpreters say That 't is the Air itself But what can be more ridiculous than to say That the Wind carries the Air thro' the Air that is to say that the Air moving from a certain Quarter is carried cross itself If we are to understand the celestial Bodies to wit the fix'd Stars and Planets 't is not only a gross mistake in Phisics worse than the idle Dreams of Epicurus but a monstrous Hyperbole I know it may be replied That Virgil considers the Winds as Persons nay what is more as Gods but whatever is feign'd of those sorts of Gods whom the Mythologists call Physical Gods ought to be founded upon the Nature of the things that are deify'd Thus take it in what sense you please 't is evident that we cannot excuse this Passage He still adds Sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris Hoc metuens molémque montes insuper altos Imposuit regémque dedit qui foedere certo Et premere laxas sciret dare justus habenas But the almighty Father Jupiter fearing this hid them in black Caverns and over them set massy high Mountains Besides this he gave them a King who by his Order knew how to hold in and let loose the Reins according to certain Laws As if two or three small Mountains were able to keep in those Deities that with the Breath of their Mouth cou'd blow Heaven and Earth whither they pleased and as if a thing so changeable as the Winds so far as we know any thing of this Nature cou'd be subjected to Laws However these magnificent Expressions that Virgil uses in this place hood-wink the Reader to that degree that he does not perceive the absurdity of this Fiction There are several more in Homer which I will not examine having no intention to make a compleat Critic upon these two celebrated Poets or indeed any other I know that what they call Probable and Wonderful in Poetry signifies another thing than what we commonly call by that Name We look upon it in Homer and Hesiod as Wonderful but not exceeding the Bounds of poetical Probability that there are more †Hom. Iliad Lib. XVIII Hesiod in Clypeo Herculis Sculptures upon one Buckler in basso relievo than can be imagined to be crouded in a Space a hundred times as big that these Sculptures move and speak as if they were so many living Persons nay that some of them hang in the Air and fly about the Bucklers like Flies yet don't stir from it To excuse the Ridiculousness of these Fictions 't is pretended that these Bucklers were wrought by a God but who ever saw the Gods work Miracles in this nature All this had pass'd for absurd idle stuff had it been written in Prose but we admire it in Verse for the beauty of the Expression just as we admire Grotesque Figures upon Marble for the fineness of the Sculpture This set Virgil upon imitating these Poets in his description of Aeneas's Shield which is to be found in the eighth Book of the Aeneis tho' it is not altogether so extravagant Theocritus has attempted the same thing upon a wretched wooden Cup in his first Idyllium where he likewise represents things which Sculpture cannot express But that we may be the better able to conceive the Ridiculousness of this poetical Probability let us hear what Aristotle says of it in his Art of Poetry altho' he pretends to defend the Poets and to give them Rules †Chap. XXV We follow the Version of M. Dacier We ought says he to use the Wonderful in Tragedy but much more in an Epic Poem which is this respect goes as far as the Unreasonable For as in an Epic Poem we don't see the Persons that Act all that exceeds the bounds of Reason is very proper to produce the Wonderful in it For Example what Homer tells us of Hector 's being pursued by Achilles wou'd be ridiculous upon the Theatre for no one cou'd forbear laughing to behold the Greeks on one side without making any motion and Achilles on the other who pursues Hector and gives the Sign to his Troops But this is not seen in an Epic Poem Now the Wonderful is always agreeable and for a proof of this we find that those that relate a Story commonly add to the Truth that they may better please the Hearers This is well enough when we don't carry Matters farther than they 'll bear but when we go to the Vnreasonable we make ourselves ridiculous to those that love to use their Reason in every thing that is to all wise Persons A Poet says he a little lower ought rather to choose things Impossible provided they have the air of Probability than the Possible that are incredible with all their Possibility I own that all that is Possible is not credible but whatever is Impossible in my Opinion is much less so 'T is to no purpose to say That what is impossible to Men is not so to the Gods and so that when the Gods intervene those things that are impossible to Men become probable A Man that has not debauch'd his Tast by a blind admiration of Antiquity cannot digest this foolish profusion of Miracles for the sake of Trifles of which Homer is so full None but the †Inhabitants of the Isle of Scheria in the Ionic Sea Phaeacians whom Vlysses banter'd as he pleas'd without fearing to of he caâ—l'd a Liar for his pains cou'd divert themselves with reading these ridiculous Miracles were they not told with all the agreeableness imaginable I mean as to the Expression Another thing which contributes very much to surprize our Reason in reading the
of his Slaves and the burning of his Houses He neither deceives his Friend nor his Pupil he lives upon Pulse and Brown-bread If this were true the Poets wou'd he more disengaged from the Vanities of this wicked World than even the Monks themselves and such of our Friends as we desired to free from the Temptations of this Life we shou'd not advise to retire into a Religious House but possess them with the Love of Poetry By that means they wou'd be healed of all those Desires with which the rest of Mankind are so violently agitated But a Poet as Covetous as Pindar or several others wou'd be the last Man that I should repose any Confidence in I own that a frugal sober Poet may be able to live upon Pulse and Brown-bread altho' he has wherewith to live better if he pleases but then he does not do this by Virtue of his Poetry Horace himself never observ'd Sobrietry but according to the Maxims of Epicurus that is to say When he found good Cheer was incompatible with his Health and so forth If he delivers any Precepts for Temperance in his Works there are other places where he piously exhorts us to drink and make much of ourselves There is no necessity to point at these places in order to refute him for our Youth knows them but too well In a word 'T is downright Raillery to pretend to exempt the Poets from Vices to which they are subject as well as other Men. On the other hand I think we ought not to accuse them in particular as if Poetry inspired them with ill Inclinations They are in this respect neither better nor worse than the rest of the World But to return to Horace who continues to speak of them in this manner Militiae quamquam piger malus utilis urbi Altho' a bad Soldier and lazy yet he forbears not to be Serviceable to the State Horace design'd without question to be understood here the Poets of his own time for he knew well enough that Tyrtaeus Alcaeus and other Poets of Antiquity had perform'd Miracles in the Field For his own part he fairly betook himself to his Heels at the Battel of Philippi †Ovid. VII L. 2. Relictâ non bene parmulâ leaving his Shield behind him But let 's now see wherein a Poet may be useful to the State in time of Peace Si das hoc parvis quoque rebus magna juvari Os tenerum pueri balbúmque Poeta figurat Torquet ab obscoenis jam nunc sermonibus aurem Mox etiam pectus praeceptis format amicis Aspertiatis invidiae corrector irae Rectè facta refert orientia tempora notis Instruit exemplis inopem solatur aegrum If you will grant me that small things may be serviceable to great Ones 't is the Poet that forms words for Children who know not yet how to speak He turns aside their Ears even from obscene Discourses and afterwards instructs them in wholesome Precepts He corrects rough Behaviour Envy and Anger He relates noble Actions and furnishes Youth with famous Examples He comforts the Poor and Sorrowful In the second Verse Horace alludes to the Custom they had of making Children learn the Poets almost as soon as they were able to talk this help'd to give them so great a Veneration for them that they never left it afterwards so that the most absurd things did not shock them in a more advanc'd Age. For Instance They made their Childen learn Homer he that speaks of the Gods not only as bare Men but even as vitious Men after which they were dispos'd to receive all sorts of Absurdities in matters of Religion and accordingly they did so What care the Ancients took to teach their Children Homer may be seen in the beginning of the Allegories of Heraclides Ponticus The Philosophers complain'd both before and after the time of Horace of this ill effect of Fables witness Plato in his Books of the Common-wealth and Plutarch in his Treatise After what manner young Men ought to read the Poets 'T is to no purpose to say That we find good Examples in him for to humble that Excuse we likewise find some of the worst that can be Homer frequently extols Virtue but then he represents very wicked Men as Favorites of Heaven Achilles for Instance is protected by the Gods in a most extraordinary manner because he is the Son of Thetis altho' he was hot and ungovernable and more like to a wild Beast than a Man He never describes the Gods as lovers of Virtue or haters of Vice as he ought to have done but on the contrary divided among themselves upon the different Interests of Men below and that by Passion merely without any regard to good Manners or the Justice of the Cause As many of them espoused the Trojan as the Grecian Party altho' the Quarrel of the first is really not to be defended The succeeding Poets who were blind Admirers of Homer took no more care than he did to give us good Examples as it might easily be made appear if it were necessary We are only obliged to them for a Moral Sentence now and then interspers'd in their Writings for which they are beholding to the Philosophers As for what Horace lays down That the Poets turn aside Youth from obscene Discourses it wou'd be no hard matter to produce abundance of places in Homer and Hesiod that are good for nothing but to give us very villainous Ideas and to Debauch the Minds of young People if in producing them I should not commit the same Fault as they did Let a Man not only take Ovid and Catullus into his Hands and an infinite number of other good Poets but even Horace himself without castrating them and then see what a heap of filthy Stuff he may find in them But the Morals of the virtuous Horace were not over-rigid no more than those of his Master Epicurus and he succeeded infinitely better with him to preach upon the Juice of the Grape than to meddle with a continued Body of Ethics His Satyrs are none of the fittest things in the World to reform Rudeness Envy and Anger no more than those Satyrs of the other Poets that are still remaining They are all stuff'd with Passages that proceed from these altho' there are here some Moral Precepts interwoven but without connexion and without Principles Their Discourses resemble that of a certain Parson who wished himself at the Devil yet swore very heartily that if he heard any of his Parishioners Swear or talk of the Devil he wou'd excommunicate them Horace himself shews us the intolerable Abuse of the ancient Poetry in these remarkable words where he speaks of the ancient Greek Comedy Saevus apertam In rabiem verti coepit jocus per honestas Ire minax impune domos Doluere cruento Dente lacessiti suit intactis quoque cura Conditione super communi Quin etiam lex Poenáque lata malo quae
doing better than they The Republic of Letters is at last become a Country of Reason and Light and not of Authority and implicit Faith as it has been but too long Multitudes pass no longer there for Arguments and all Cabals are silenced There is no Divine or Humane Law which prohibits us to bring the Art of writing History to Perfection as we have endeavour'd to bring to Perfection the other Arts and Sciences As a Philosoper is not to be excused now a-days if he speaks obscurely or supposes incertain things for certain after the Example of Aristotle and other ancient Philosophers who have committed the same Faults So the Example of Herodotus or Livy is no manner of Protection to those that imitate their Defects and Vices If we commend them it must always be remembred that these Commendations are paid to what is good in them as the Purity and Elegance of their Style but by no means to their Faults and Imperfections Besides we ought to consider that we esteem them in part because we have no other Monuments left but theirs and that we don't believe them but when we have no just Reason to contradict them or for the sake of the Probability of their Narrations or because we have no Testimony more ancient and more exact than theirs to correct them We believe in short the Gross of the History but we remain in suspence as to the Circumstances The Case being thus if there are great inconveniences in making no Citations neither the Example of the Ancients nor their Imitators is enough to cover from Censure such as have omitted to do it We therefore maintain that if a Man avoids to quote his Vouchers the reason of it is because he wou'd not have any one to examine the History as he relates it by comparing the Narration with that of other Historians who writ before him For what way is there to examine what any Author says in case he cites no one in particular unless we had every Book that he consulted and had carefully read them and preserv'd them in our Memory Not one Man in a thousand is capable of it and not one Man in a thousand has all the Books which he ought to have for this purpose But besides this we have always a just Pretence to think that we are impos'd upon for it may so happen that the Author whom we read has follow'd some Historian whom those who have an interest to examine the History have not by them or else have not read him or lastly have forgotten him But tho' we dare not immediately charge that Historian with Falsehood who has not made his Citations so neither dare we rely upon him As by following this Method 't is easie for a Man to sham a Romance upon the World without fear of discovery and to give his History whatever Turn he pleases the suspicious Reader does not know where to take his Word and immediately throws aside a Book on which he cannot safety depend It has been affirmed that a Modern Historian who has compos'd a very large History concerning the Troubles of Religion took this course that he might with more safety invent what might make for his side and satisfie the Facts that displeased him For my part I never examined him and therefore can say nothing to this Business but I must confess that the Method he has follow'd makes him suspected of all that has been laid to his Charge and that he has no other way to justifie himself but by fairly producing his Witnesses otherwise he will never answer the Objections and Complaints that have been made against his Books and which without question have come to his Ears before now Besides this they maintain that the Precaution which some Writers have taken to place the Authors whom they follow'd at the Head of their History is altogether insignificant unless they had cited the particular Places because that it is liable to almost all the Inconveniences which we complain'd of in those who don 't cite at all In effect 't is a very difficult matter to know what Historian a Man may have follow'd in every Fact even tho' he had them all But they carry the Matter farther and say That oftentimes this pompous Catalogue of Authors is only made for Ostentation and that the Compiler of it perhaps never saw the Covers of half the Books he puts in his Muster-Roll 'T is certain that nothing is so easie as to compose a great List of Historians whom we never beheld and to place them boldly at the Head of a History but supposing it compos'd with never so much sincerity yet still it depends upon the Reader whether he will believe it or no. There is only one thing I know of which can pardon this in an Historian and that is our being assured of his Veracity For this reason it is that we don't think the worse of Thuanus for having used this Conduct Those evident Marks of Sincerity and Moderation which he shews all along have made us forgive him this Fault altho' we don't forgive it in such People as Varillas whose Passion and Romancing Genius are conspicuous in every Line of his Works Of Truth II. THE second thing we require of an Historian is that after he has taken all poffible care to instruct himself in the Truth to have the Courage to declare it without being byass'd Who is it but must know that the principal Law of History is that it dare to utter nothing which is false and that it dare to speak all the truth that it may not give the least Umbrage that it is influenced either by Affection or Prejudice These in short are its Foundations that are known by all the World †Cicero Lib. II. de Oratore c. 15. Quis nescit primam esse Historiae legem nequid falsi dicere audeat deinde nequid veri non audeat ne qua suspicio gratiae sit in scribendo nequa simultatis Haec scilicet fundamenta nota suns omnibus But in order to observe this Law which is without dispute essential to History a Man before he sets himself down to Write ought entirely to disengage himself from all sorts of Passions and Prepossessions without which he will certainly suppress or disguise the Truth nay and publish a thousand Lies either on purpose or else for want of taking due heed 'T is impossible to say any thing upon this Article more vehement or more solid or more necessary than what Lucian has said in that Treatise where he teaches us in what manner a History ought to be written I will here set down some of his words and will follow d' Ablancourt's Translation altho' it only expresses the Author's Meaning and has retrench'd a great deal from the Original Above all says he we ought not to be devoted to any Party for we must not do like that Painter who painted a Monarch de profil because he had only one Eye We
not think fit to trust the Authors of those Indexes and ordered them to insert all the Words lest they should forget some material thing The Authors of the Notes should have taken upon them the care of doing it and if they were learned enough to write Notes they should have been judged capable of making good Indexes If therefore the Liberality of a great Prince and his Ministers has had no better Success 't is the Fault of those who have been put upon that Work But that Project was very good in itself and becoming the Generosity of a great Prince and the Learning of those who were intrusted with the Education of the Dauphin At the same time that they were writing for Him they would have done a great piece of Service not only to France but also to the rest of Europe if they had gone about it according to the Method which as I said before the Compilers of the Notes Variorum should have followed Of the Translations of Greek Authors and Notes upon them HAVING spoken of the Latin Authors I must now say something of the Greek The Performances of the learned Men of the first Rank â—re here more deficient still There are but few whose Translations are exact most of them being rather Paraphrases than Translations especially on the difficult Places which makes them far less useful One would think that they who made 'em design'd they should be read by themselves by those who understood not the Greek Tongue whereas such Translations should be placed by the Text to help those who read the original when they meet with some difficult Passages The worst of all is that most of 'em are not faithful enough and often misrepresent the Sense of the Original because few of 'em were made by very learned Men. They who were able to do it well were discouraged looking upon it as a tedious Labour and which was beneath them and those who undertook it were not qualified for it Isaac Casaubon has very well Translated Polybius Aeneas Tacticus and the Characters of Theophrast It were to be wished that that learned Man had Translated many other Authors as well as those He would have done a much greater Service to the Publick than by writing against Baronius concerning some Matters he understood not so well and which 't was too late for him to Study in his old Age. Perhaps some will say that I insist too much upon the Translations of Greek Authors and that studious Men should use themselves to read the Originals without the help of a Translation But I answer That to use ones self to it one must have some help and that there can be none better than a Translation placed by the Text. I appeal to them who have attained to so great a Knowledge of the Greek Tongue as to want such a help no longer It has been useful to every Body especially in the Reading of difficult Authors such as the tragical Poets and the like as Pindar Lycophron Thucydides c. A good Translation is as useful as a Commentary and no Body needs be more ashamed to consult it than to consult some Notes If the Translator was a learned Man 't is to be presumed that he took more Pains to explain his Author than one can often take by Reading him and certainly he deserves to be taken notice of Menagius says in the Menagiana that tho' he had studied that Tongue for a long time he could not be without a Translation and I think several People would say the same if they were as sincere as he was We have few Greek Authors illustrated with Notes upon all the difficult places and the Notes we have are as Deficient as those that have been made upon the Latin Authors However they have lately published in Holland three Greek Authors Cum Notis Variorum which one may approve of because they contain the entire Notes of several learned Men. I mean Diogenes Laertius Longinus and Callimachus They have also within these few Years printed some Greek Authors in England with the ancient Scholia and some critical Notes but they are not to be compared to those of Holland either for Order or the excellency of the Notes tho' they are not at all to be despised They should have placed all the Notes under the Text which was an easie thing to do because they are short enough to save the Time and Labour of the Reader who is unwilling to have recourse to the end of a Book whilst he reads an Author especially being uncertain whether he will find some Notes upon the Passage he does not understand Some Criticks will frown at the Reading of what I say but in this they oppose the Judgment of every Body who may justly desire to save his Time and Labour as much as is possible I know there are some Men whose Learning ought by no means to be despised who will complain that what I have said tends to facilitate the Knowledge of the Sciences to Lazy Men and even to render 'em contemptible by making them too common I confess I could wish that the way to Learning were made so plain and easie that the most Lazy Men might become Learned Indeeed what signifies it to take much Pains which in itself is of no Ufe We esteem those who labour hard and apply themselves to Study for a long time only because a great Labour and Application serve to acquire a useful Knowledge 'T is well to use oneself to take Pains not because it is a Meritorious thing in itself but because in this Life we can get nothing without Pains This Truth confirmed by the Experience of all Ages ought to free our morose Philologers from the fear of being soon overtaken by those who go a more smooth and shorter way than they went Which way soever one takes to learn the Greek Tongue it will always require much time and a great Application and Memory without which 't is impossible to attain to a considerable Knowledge of it Besides 't is altogether false That if the Knowledge of ancient Authors should grow common learned Men would be less esteem'd Such a fear would be well grounded if it was a barren Science which could afford no Pleasure for such a Science ought to be despised as soon as 't is known But when a Science is useful and pleasant the better it is known the more it is cherished and those who know it are so much the more esteem'd On the contrary however useful it might be in itself and whatever Pleasure it could afford to those who knew it if it be known only to few those who are Strangers to it are apt to doubt of its Usefulness and Charms because things that are seen only with another Man's Eyes are not so easily believed Whilst the Learning of the Grecians and the Beauty of their Language were known at Rome only by the Report of some few Men who had studied them others who knew but
Happily in this present World and be acceptable to Him who placed Men on Earth for a short time to make 'em Happy after Death if they will observe his Laws which are very beneficial to them during this Life If Divines understanding Revelation as they should and making a good use of Reason were besides so Skill'd in Human Learning as to be able to read all sorts of Ecclesiastical and Prophane Authors in the Original Languages so many Materials joyned together and rectified by the invariable Rules of Revelation and Reason and beautified with all the solid Ornaments of a true Eloquence so many Materials I say would have a great influence on the Hearts and Minds of Men. Solid Thoughts being attended with the Order and Light which Philosophy affords and set off with all the Ornaments which Reason allows of would insinuate themselves into the Minds of the most Obstinate Men and Charm those who have a good Judgment and an upright Heart I will not say That we see now the quite contrary because Things which should be inseparable are now divided This I leave to the Judgment of those who are skill'd in those Sciences Mr. L. C. believes That the Famous Hugo Grotius whose Writings are above Envy joyned together the three Sciences I have mention'd For if he did not fully understand the Art of thinking well because the Philosophy of his Time was still full of Darkness he supplied that defect in great measure by the strength of his Reason If he shewed so much Sense and Judgment without the help of Art what would he not have done if he had been throughly acquainted as we have been since with the Art of Reasoning and ranging one's Thoughts in a good Order Suppose there were now in Holland many such Men as Grotius or more Learned than he was a thing not impossible if Men studied as they should how great an influence would their Learning have not only in the Vnited Provinces but also over all Europe Then indeed we might hope for such a general Reformation of all Sciences as would be worthy of Him who has given us Knowledge to make a good use of it Mr. L. C. has intimated several times That so noble an Idea has often Charm'd him and afforded him a thousand agreeable Reveries If the World never sees any thing answerable to it they at least who are Skill'd in those Things may innocently busie themselves about Thoughts which fill the Mind with Admiration for God and the Christian Religion and inspire the desire of knowing and teaching Truth without Anger and Animosity against those who are ignorant of it If Philosophers were also Divines and well versed in Human Learning how solid and sublime would their Thoughts appear How useful should we find their Principles As they would take out of Revelation what is wanting to Reason so they would by degrees dispose the Minds of those who learn Philosophy to take the right side in Matters of Religion and would shew 'em on all occasions the Excellency of the Light of Reason And as the Philosophy of the Schools which succeeded the wretched Rhetorick of the foregoing Ages made an end of corrupting Men's Minds and disfiguring Religion so a sound Philosophy would kindle again the Light of Reason which was extinguished only to introduce a thousand Errors and would dispose Men to perceive all the Beauties of the Gospel If the Discourses of Philosophers were full of useful Examples taken out of Ecclesiastical and Prophane Authors to which the Rules of the Art of Reasoning should be applied such a Method of teaching would make one apprehend the use of Philosophy which is otherwise altogether confined within the Walls of an Auditory and so becomes Contemptible I confess That most Philosophical Matters are not very susceptible of Ornaments but it is certain that if they can be exprest in proper Terms and such as agree with the use of the Language they are exprest in as much as possible they become thereby much clearer and more pleasant to every Body and consequently more useful because Men are more attentive to what they understand and like than to such Things as can hardly be understood and have I know not what that displeases tho' they are good in themselves This has been observed in France since they began there to Philosophize in French Some Books full of the most abstruse Philosophical Enquiries have been read by many People with Delight and Profit because they are well written and are free from the barbarous Terms of the Schools One might have seen the happy Effects of it if the Inhabitants of that Country were not unwilling to be undeceived To come now to the Study of Languages and Human Learning it is certain That if those who apply themselves to it would Study Philosophy and Divinity at the same time they would be much more useful to the Publick That Study concerns Things of the greatest Moment since the knowledge of the Scripture and Ecclesiastical History depends as much on it as on the knowledge of the Things themselves A great many new Discoveries might be made still in those Sciences which would raise and enlighten one's Mind and inspire it with a greater respect for the Divine Revelation Instead of which most of our Criticks grow Old in the Study of Grammatical Trifles which are of very little use and wherein one may be mistaken without any danger If they were also Skill'd in Philosophy they would judge much better of the Ancients than they do and give us a more exact Notion of them whereby we might be enabled to imitate them in what is good and avoid what is not so They would order their Thoughts so as to avoid Error and enlighten the Minds of their Readers For want of such a Method they oftener admire the Faults of the Ancients than what deserves their Admiration because they seldom have any certain Criteriums whereby they may distinguish True from False and what deserves to be esteem'd from what does not When they have a mind to Communicate their Thoughts it proves often a confused heap of indigested Learning which can hardly be reduced into any Order and is full of False Reasonings This is partly the reason why that sort of Study is so much despised and why so many People fancy that it is almost inconsistent with good Sense and Reason Mr. Vander Waeyen who in all likelihood never troubled himself much with Philosophy and Human Learning having first of all applied himself to the common Divinity of the Reformed and then to that of Cocceius seems to be angry because others Study the Sciences I have been speaking of and calls Mr. L. C. as it were out of Contempt Critico-Philosophus tho' he Complements him sometimes Indeed it is much more easie to say any thing that comes into one's Mind concerning the Sense of the Prophecies as when they boldly affirm that the Reformed are meant by Juda and the Lutherans by Ephraim in the
contrary who believed that their Wise Man never conjectured and that whatever he believed could be demonstrated Neither yet is every thing uncertain as the Academians held and there is an infinite number of Things which can be demonstrated or rendred very likely as Mr. L. C. has shewn at large in the second Part of his Logick We ought to speak more or less affirmatively according to the several degrees of Likelihood or Certainty As it would be ridiculous to speak doubtfully of a clear Mathematical Proposition so it would not be less absurd to propose a Conjecture as a Demonstration Men have always been allowed to Conjecture and say what seem'd to them to be probable but upon condition that they should remember that their Conjectures were not certain Truths Reason therefore teaches a Man to act differently when any Body writes against a Conjecture which he has published or when he perceives that they write against a clear Truth out of Malice or Obstinacy If any one shews that a Conjecture may be false the Author of that Conjecture must not take it ill because a Conjecture is an Opinion wherein one may be mistaken And if after a more careful Examination he thinks that his Conjecture is less probable than it seem'd to be at first he ought to look upon it with greater Indifferency and even give it up if he finds out something better A Man must never be positive in Things which cannot at all be demonstrated so as to embrace or defend as certain what is only probable This Mr. L. C. thought he might very well do with respect to the Conjecture which is to be found in the VI. Letter of the Sentiments concerning the Compiler of the Pentateuch who as he thought might have been an Honest Israelite who collected all the Writings of Moses and added to them some other Facts taken out of some ancient and creditable Books for the use of the Samaritans about the time of the Captivity As he always call'd that Opinion a Conjecture so he never defended it but as such and thought not himself obliged to maintain it as a thing he was sure of against those who opposed it Nay he shewed some Years after as I shall say in its due place that tho' there are some Passages in the Pentateuch which are later than Moses yet that can be no reason against his being the Author of it He was so much the more willing to give up that Conjecture because it is one of those Complex Conjectures if I may so speak wherein too many uncertain Things are supposed every one of which being possibly false it follows from thence that such a Conjecture is not probable enough to serve as a Principle for the Explication of the Pentateuch For the more doubtful Things there are in a Conjecture the more uncertain it is and the more danger there is in supposing it to draw Consequences from it 'T is with Conjectures as 't is with Accounts made up of several Sums If you make an uncertain Supposition concerning the value of one of those Sums in case you mistake you mistake but in one particular but the more uncertain Suppositions you make the more doubtful will the Account be and liable to more Errors What must a Man therefore do in such a Case He must Conjecture as little as he can and draw few Consequences from what he has Conjectured that he may be mistaken as little as may be if he is in an Error If Learned Men had always done this we might have had a more real and solid knowledge of many Things than we have and could better distinguish what is certain from what is uncertain whereas when Conjectures are confounded with certainties we think we know many Things which we really know not For Example Joseph Scaliger who was a very Learned Man mixed so many Conjectures in his Book de Emendations Temporum with what he might have undeniably proved and drew so many Consequences from them that a great part of his Chronology is become thereby very suspicious if not false as the famous Dionysius Petavius pretends I know a Man of great Learning who has published several Learned Books about Ecclesiastical History and the Opinions of the ancient Christians but he is so full of Conjectures some of which are grounded upon ethers that his Arguments are seldom cogent and convince few judicious and attentive Readers 'T is much better to say nothing of doubtful Things or at least to draw no Consequences from them and run the hazard of appearing less knowing than to vent too many Uncertainties But it is a common Fault among Men of Parts After they have wearied themselves in searching after fugitive Truth they make to themselves a Phantom of their own Conjectures which they substitute in its place lest they should seem to have altogether lost their time Then to maintain that Phantom they make other Conjectures especially when they are hard put to it and so by degrees instead of solid Truths they vent only Dreams to those that hear them When they think they have much contributed to the discovery of Truths unknown before their time they often remove them farther from Men's sight like Turnus in Virgil's Aeneids who the more he followed Aeneas's Spectrum the farther he went from the place where the Enemies stood I think one might make a very useful Treatise concerning the Art of Conjecturing which would be reduced into Maxims the chief whereof are the following 1. Every Conjecture must be probable 2. It ought to be as simple as possible 3. No Consequences must be drawn from it 4. One must speak of it doubtfully as of a thing not certain 5. No Body should think himself obliged in Honour to defend it nor scruple to give it up 6. He who thinks himself obliged to maintain it must not have recourse to new Suppositions The usefulness of those Maxims might be shewn by very good Reasons and several Examples taken out of the Writings of Philosophers and Criticks who have neglected them and have therefore committed great Errors and maintained the most uncertain Things in the World with such a Heat and Confidence as is only to be used in the defence of a certain Truth Several People stand in need of these Remarks to learn to be less positive about Things they are not certain of and not to wonder if any one yields up a Conjecture which he never took for a certain Truth They who have little thought of the several degrees of Probability are wont to speak of every thing with an equal assurance and maintain with Obstinacy whatever they say without distinguishing what can be maintained from that which cannot But this ought not to be the practice of those who can reason well and who love the Truth to which they must consequently sacrifice all their Conjectures Of the Treatise concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Writers THE XI and XII Letters of the Sentiments c. contain a
small Treatise concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Writers which Mr. L. C. published not as if he approved of it but with great caution and only to engage Learned Men to write on that Subject He said so positively in several places And 't is for this reason that several Divines have examined that Subject in Latin French and English Mr. L. C. thinks himself concerned in their Answers tho' he might have complained that some of 'em observed no Rules of Equity or Sincerity not only with respect to the Doctrin contained in the Treatise concerning the Inspiration c. but also in reference to himself F. Simon who was warmly attackt in the Sentiments c. answered them with all the Passion and Animosity that could be expected from a Man who could alledge no good Reasons and he used all the injurious and unbecoming Words that he could think of on such an occasion He would also persuade the World that Dr. Allix heretofore Minister at Charenton and Mr. Aubert de Versé who is now in 1699. at Paris and has a Pension from the Clergy of France were the Authors of that Book and that Mr. Aubert in particular had written the Treatise concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Authors A short time after in 1686. Mr. L. C. published a Defence of the Sentiments c. and throughly confuted F. Simon 's Chimerical Discoveries which have been laughed at since by every Body declaring to him That he would answer him no more tho' he should write never so many Books because he thought the Publick was so well acquainted with their Dispute as to be able to judge of it without being troubled any longer with F. Simon 's ill Reasonings and Disingenuity Indeed when a Man has said all that is necessary in order to clear and defend Truth he needs go no farther the Publick being not much concerned in the Reputation and personal Interests of private Men. 'T was in vain for F. Simon to cry out louder than he did before according to the custom of those who maintain a bad Cause Mr. L. C. despised alike his hard Words and his repeated Arguments In his Defence he says That what F. Simon publish'd concerning Dr. Allix and Mr. Aubert is a great Untruth They know very well that it is false and will not ascribe to themselves another Man's Work They have both written some Books whereby one may easily know that they have had no hand in the Sentiments c. nor in the Treatise concerning the Inspiration c. Whatever one may think of their Books they have done nothing like this either as to the Style the Method or the Matter I do not say this to wrong them or to praise any body but to confute F. Simon the more effectually They who have read the other Works of Mr. L. C. will easily believe that he needs not borrow any thing of either of 'em and that the Author of the Treatise concerning the Inspiration c. is quite another Person than those Gentlemen They would perhaps have done well to declare themselves that they have had no hand in that Book but since they have not done it I hope they will not take it ill if I do 't If they believe that their Reputation would be wrong'd by ascribing to them in part a Book wherein they have no hand they would be glad that I have said so here But if their Silence should arise from some other Cause which I will not dive into they cannot complain that the Publick should be informed of the truth of a Fact which might wrong Mr. L. C. who has as little need of them as they have of him Of the Judgment which some Divines have made of the Sentiments c. In the Year 1688. Matthias Honcamp Canon of Mentz published in Latin a Book Intituled An Examination of the Critical History of the Old Testament and of the Sentiments c. Mr. L. C. answered him in the X. Vol. of the Bibliotheque Vniverselle where he gives an ill Character of the Principles and Method of that Author who perhaps deserved to be treated more sharply In 1690. Mr. Maius Professor at Giessen published four Dissertations on the Holy Scripture wherein he undertook to refute F. Simon and the Author of the Sentiments c. The latter replied something in the XIX Vol. of the Bibliotheque Vniverselle where he shews That Mr. Maius ascribes to him some Opinions which he has not and that his Arguments are very weak and insignificant But because he writes chiefly against the Treatise concerning the Inspiration c. Mr. L. C. did not think himself obliged to Dispute about it either with Mr. Maius or any body else He could only have wished that that Author had been able to treat that Subject well and refute his Antagonist with good Reasons and not with hard Words and Arguments which prove nothing Equity required also that he should ascribe nothing to Mr. L. C. but what he acknowledges and publish no Romance about the Authors of the Sentiments c. and the Treatise concerning the Inspiration c. as he has done by bringing again Mr. Aubert upon the Stage This he may be sure of That Mr. L. C. has a greater and nobler Notion of the Divine Revelation than he himself seems to have as well as of Christian Charity and even natural Equity which he has very little observed in his Refutation He has also published some other Dissertations digested according to the Order of Common-Places wherein he likewise writes against Mr. L. C. after such a manner as will only impose upon some Young Students of Divinity in the Universities of Germany but will not please those who know what Charity and Equity require and are not Strangers to the Rules of Reasoning well Mr. L. C. might also complain that Mr. Maius took the pains to transcribe out of his Works the best Things he says concerning the Rolls of the ancient Hebrews against Dr. Isaac Vossius and F. Simon and concerning the Scribes against the latter He should at least have been just to Him of whose Labour he thought he could make a good use by ascribing to him only so much as he owns and drawing no odious Consequence against him I thought my self obliged to say thus much not to revenge Mr. L. C. for the wrong that Professor designed to do to his Reputation which must needs be very inconsiderable and only in Places where he would be ashamed to be very much Esteem'd knowing what sort of Men are Esteem'd there but to shew that he is with good Reason very little concern'd for what some German Divines have written against him 'T is their Duty to reflect on their own Conduct whereof they are not to give an account to some Divines of Wittemberg but to a Judge who has taught us other Rules of Equity by which we are to be judged by him Mr. L. C. beseeches that Supreme Judge that he would be
because Mr. Meibom complains of him though he has no ground for 't Next to Mr. Meibom the Journalists of Leipsick have committed the same fault at the end of their Acta c. June 1691. Mr. Juncker has also translated the Fault in his Treatise of Journals published at Leipsick about the same time And here I cannot but take notice of a thing which the Journalists of Leipsick affect to do with respect to Mr. L. C. and several others If an angry Author uses any injurious or disobliging Words against him they never fail to observe it as if the design of a Journal was to preserve the Memory of injurious Words which those who have used them are often ashamed of However if those Gentlemen intend thereby to cry down Books full of injurious Words and create a dislike of 'em they do well to take notice of such Passages But if they do it because they are well pleased with them or think they are essential to the Subject or because they are moved with the same Passion they can never be too much blamed for it They may when they please inform the Publick about it lest they should give occasion to entertain an ill Opinion of ' em Dr. Cave Canon of if Windsor was without doubt very well pleased with a Passage of Mr. Meibom against Mr. L. C. since he has lately inserted it in his Dissertation concerning Eusebius supposing that Mr. L. C. had censured the Collection of the Authors Rerum Germanicarum in the X Vol. of his Bibliotheque Herein Dr. Cave has committed two Faults one of which consists in approving of Mr. Meibom's Injustice and the other in designing to wrong Mr. L. C.'s Reputation by publishing a Passage of that Author who if he is an honest Man will make him Satisfaction very soon in the Journal of Leipsick or somewhere else Another Author has committed the same Fault I mean the Author of the Remarks on the Confession of Sancy which have been lately printed at Amsterdam One may see those Remarks on the II Chapter It cannot be said that all the of Volumes the Bibliotheque wore ascribed to Mr. L. C. because Mr. de la Crose was not so well known as he since the Name of the latter is to be seen in all the Volumes in which he had a Hand except in the Three First which are Anonymous and at the end of the Dedicatory Epistle of the XI Volume in question He that will censure any one must take care not to mistake one Man for another lest the Innocent should suffer for the Guilty Among those who have injustly complained of the Bibliotheque I must also reckon Mr. Poiret a Follower of Antoinette Bourignon who being exasperated with a little Jest †In the V. Vol. of the Biblioth upon his Divine O Economy did very much inveigh against Mr. L.C. not only in an opposite Extract which he caused to be inserted in the Republique des Lettres in 1687. but also some Years after in along Letter full of Bitterness and Malice which he published in 1692. at the end of his Book de Eruditione Solida c. without giving notice of it to the Bookseller who was very sorry for 't Mr. L. C. did not think himself obliged to answer it because Mr. Poiret is so well known to be a Chimerical Man that what he says of any one can do him no wrong The only thing that Mr. L. C. might be blamed for on this occasion is to have been contented with a slight Jest upon a Book which deserved a very sharp Censure because it ridicules Religion from the beginning to the end by changing it into a meer Fanaticism Mr. Poiret fancies that all the Fooleries of Mystical Men and all the Chimeras he is pleased to add to them must pass for Oracles whereas he should be ashamed to make it his Business to seduce the Simple with his ridiculous spiritual Notions None is imposed upon by the Fanatical Outside of Mystical Men but those that are disposed to deceive themselves and to mistake Chimeras for Religion instead of Morality and good Works which are grounded on the hope of another Life which the Gospel teaches us As for those who know how necessary it is to love one's Neighbour they will not be imposed upon by Mr. Poiret's Extatical Devotion which is not inconsistent with the greatest Malice His taking care to make an Apology for St. Augustin is a great Instance of his want of Sincerity For tho' he is far from being of that Father's Opinion concerning absolute Predestination and irresistible Grace yet he will justify him to make Mr. L. C. odious if he can Such is again the Sense he puts upon St. Augustin's Epistle to Vincentius He maintains that St. Augustin did not say in that Letter that 't is lawful to Persecute as if no Body could read the Works of that Father but he If Mr. Poiret does not care for Critical Learning which he seems to despise he should not meddle with what he understands not He 'll judge this is too hard a Censure but he justly deserves it and he must not think that Mr. L. C. will enter into the Lists with him He has a mind to pick Quarrels to make if it were possible some noise in the World and so put People upon buying his Books which no Body reads But Mr. L. C. will not give him occasion to write many Books If any Body has any time to lose let him read Mr. Poiret's Letter and compare it with Mr. L. C.'s Opinions for he is resolved to make no other Reply to Mr. Poiret Of Mr. L. C.'s Philosophical Works WHILST Mr. L. C. was writing his Bibliotheque he translated into Latin the last Books of Thomas Stanley's Philosophical History which contain the History of the Eastern Philosophy whereof he had publish'd an Extract in the VII Vol. of the Bibliotheque which pleased several People That Book was printed in 1690. Mr. L. C. having left off the laborious Work of the Bibliotheque Vniverselle applied himself to his Commentary on the Pentateuch as I shall say hereafter and in the mean time published his Logick his Ontology and his Pneumatology which were reprinted in 1697. He dedicated his Logick to the late Mr. Boyle but the Person who was to present him with a Copy could not do it because Mr. Boyle died in the mean time This is the reason why Mr. L. C. in his second Edition dedicated it to Mr. Locke to whom he had also dedicated his Ontology and Pneumatology The second Edition is incomparably better than the first especially for the Style which the Author has very much corrected There is at the end of his Logick a Dissertation de Argumento Theologico ex Invidia ducto which angry and passionate Divines should read over and over to make 'em leave off the Custom of using base and shameful Artifices to make those odious who will not blindly submit to their
believe that they doubted of its Authority This Mr. Clark published a Book intituled Anti-Nicaenismus in 1694. and died soon after If to what I have said you add the Preface of the Notes on the beginning of St. John's Gospel you may know why Mr. L. C. published that little Book at that time Mr. Benoit a Minister at Delft thought sit to write against it in a Dissertation printed at Rotterdam in 1696. Mr. L. C. did not answer it and will not do it for the same Reason which hindred him from answering several others viz. because he believed that the Reader was able to judge of that Dispute by comparing those two Books without the help of a Reply I don't know whether Mr. Benoit took it ill for he desired that his Book should make a noise in the World However he thought fit to reflect upon Mr. L. C. a great while after in the Libels he wrote against Mr. Jaquelot and Mr. Le Vassor tho' Mr. L. C. was not concerned in that Quarrel Mr. Benoit was in hopes that Mr. L. C. would presently take up the Cudgel and that his Book which no Body would buy would by that means sell the better But he was mistaken and Mr. L. C. was as little moved with his Libels as he was with his Dissertation and would make no Reply out of Prudence and Contempt for such Disputes The first Reason he had for it is that 't is needless to write Books in order to explain what every Body understands 'T is true that Mr. Benoit speaks as if he understood it not but let him read again the Passage he wrote against and then he may answer himself Mr. L. C.'s second Reason for not answering him is that the Indignation which most French Refugees have expressed against his Libels and the Satisfaction he has been obliged to make after he had endeavoured to stir up the People against two of his Brethren have so humbled him that there is no need any Body else should do it Instead of writing against those who don't meddle with him he should answer the Complaints of several of his Country-men who openly charge him with want of Sincerity in his History which many People look upon as a Book fitter to Defame than Honour the Party His crying down People as Hereticks will not put an end to their Complaints On the contrary he will perhaps force some great Persons to publish what they heard him say some Years ago They remember very well that he profest himself at that time to be a moderate Man The next Year 1697. Mr. Vander Waeyen published his Dissertation concerning the Logos which I have already mention'd and that it might sell the better added to it a Book of Stephen Rittangelius who had been a Jew and turned Christian wherein he endeavours to prove that the Chaldee Paraphrasts meant by the Word of God the same thing that St. John did For my part I don't believe it and in my Opinion Rittangelius has very ill confuted his Adversary but this is not the Question in hand Mr. Vander Waeyen being not contented to confute Mr. L. C. omits nothing to make him odious He had a great while before acquainted the World that he was about a Dissertation wherein he would prove that Mr. L. C. had not faithfully cited Philo. Mr. Van Limborch Mr. L. C.'s Collegue hearing of it undertook to compare all the Passages of Philo quoted by Mr. L. C. in his Notes on the beginning of St. John's Gospel and finding that he had truly cited them he told some Body of it who acquainted Mr. Vander Waeyen with it Whereupon Mr. Vander Waeyen inveighed so furiously against him as to accuse him of a base Calumny Mr. L. C. was at that time so busy about a Book which is lately come out and of which I shall speak hereafter that he could not answer Mr. Vander Waeyen but Mr. Van Limborch did it with great moderation and so as to stop the mouth of any other Man but him A Cocceian Divine who for several Years has been used to Quarrel does not easily blush tho' he be clearly convinced or at least his inward Shame is not to be seen in his Writings But there is one thing in them which is very visible viz. a great Confusion whereby it plainly appears that he knows not what he says tho' he makes as great a bustle as he can This one may observe in Mr. Vander Waeyen's Reply intituled Responsionis Limborgianae Discussio which from the beginning to the end is an exact Picture of an Angry Man As for the matter of it it is a confused heap of usesless Quotations and pitiful Arguments without any Connexion and Order and sometimes the Reader is at a loss to find any sense in it His Dissertation concerning the Logos is no better but because he took a little more time to compose it he seems to be more sedate whereas he is quite out of his Senses in the other When a Man takes such a course the Dispute is at an end for to what purpose should any one answer him Were he convinced of Calumny a hundred times one after another he would go on still without minding what the Publick will think of it For Instance Mr. Vander Waeyen having accused Mr. Van Limborch of want of Sincerity and having been convinced of it himself as clearly as that two and two make four says notwithstanding with his wonted Boldness †Discus p. 48. that the Remostrants shew a greater moderation to I know not whom than to the Reformed as if the Books of the former were not full of Protestations whereby it appears that they are ready to live in the same Communion with the Reformed provided their Opinions be tolerated But whilst they require from the Remonstrants that they suppress or renounce their Opinions when at the same time they canonize and preach up such Doctrines as the Remonstrants believe to be erroneous how can the latter re-unite themselves with a good Conscience A re-union whereby a Man suppresses what he thinks to be true to give place to what he believes to be false if there was nothing else is unworthy of a pious Man and there is not one honest Man among the Reformed who would approve of such a Re-union with the Lutherans Mr. Vander Waeyen cannot be ignorant of the Sentiments of the Remonstrants on this Matter since they are known even to Children in the Vnited Provinces What signifies it to dispute with a Man who is positive and confident about the most uncertain things and scruples not to deny what is as clear as Noon-day Besides the Publick is not at all concern'd in personal Disputes and will not read Books that contain nothing else Mr. L. C. should therefore lose his time if he took the Pains to confute the Calumnies and injurious Words of that Professor of Franeker especially if it be considered that he has exprest in his Works a greater respect for
of those Sciences and how much they help one another Mr. L. C. expresses as much Sincerity and Fairness in this Work as in all his other Books He dissembles no Truth because in the Judgment of some it may be prejudicial He believes that Dissimulation in Matters of moment is of a most dangerous Consequence and that those who practise it have no great love for Truth and know not how to defend it He can't abide that any one should boast of having Truth on his side and fear at the same time that it will be destroyed by another Truth as if two True Propositions could be contrary to one another In effect when the Unbelievers perceive that a Truth is concealed and a Falshood substituted in its place they never fail to exclaim against such a Pious Fraud and so to bring all the rest into Suspicion 'T is in vain for any one to say that nevertheless he maintains Truth for 't is plain that such a Man does not assert it because he loves and is clearly convinced of it but out of an ill Principle since he maintains a Falshood which he thinks to be useful in the Defence of Truth with the same Confidence and much greater Heat than he is used to maintain Truth it self It is a scandalous Conduct which shews the fâ—ctious Humour of a Man who only regards what is useful to him and could maintain Mahometism in Asia with as great a Zeal as he maintains Christianity in Europe Such a Man knows not what Truth and Falshood are since he believes that the one stands in need of the other and he dishonours Truth by acting as if he were afraid it should destroy it self Such are the Proceedings of some Ignorant Zealots who wrangle as much as they can about some various Readings which Mr. L. C. mentions in the 3d Part of his Ars Critica Sect. III. c. 8. c. 14. A certain English Anonymous Author who styles himself Master of Arts in the Vniversity of Cambridge has maliciously censured Mr. L. C.'s Ars Critica out of the same Principle But Mr. L. C. has already confuted him in a Latin Letter which has been translated into English and is printed before his Additions to Dr. Hammond's Notes on the New Testament I shall speak no more of that Libel because that Letter will be shortly publish'd in Latin Mr. Vander Waeyen who endeavours to find fault with all the Books of Mr. L. C. has likewise censured some Passages of his Ars Critica For instance he blames †Diss de voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 164. p. 167. him for having said that the Efficacious and Irresistible Grace taught by St. Augustin is a Thing of which we have no Idea and undertakes †to tell us what it is but he does it so odly that what he says confirms Mr. L. C.'s Opinion Ille actus they are Mr. Vander Waeyen's Words qui conversionis primus est totus tantus quantus liberé exseritur ab eo qui se convertit totus ille actus praestar divina cura providentia gratia ut exseratur adhibitis iis praedicationis seu verbi docendi mediis quae omnes agnoscimus Totus ille actus est Dei est hominis est mediorum effectus qualibet earum causarum operante suo modo ordine GRATIA autem dicitur tum Dei voluntas cujus virtute sistitur effectus qui effectus habet rationem boni citra demeritum praestiti Tum effectus ipse qui multiplex est c. First It is not true That when St. Augustin spoke of the inward and irresistible help which he thought God bestowed on Men for their Conversion he meant thereby the effect of Grace or Conversion it self Secondly I will freely own That Mr. L. C. is to blame for saying that the Word Grace is very obscure if any one that understands Philosophy or Divinity will sincerely affirm that he clearly apprehends Mr. Vander Waeyen's meaning in the Words which I have just now quoted For my part I have no Idea of an Action which irresistibly forces a Man to Will and yet leaves him at liberty not to Will But our Cocceian Divine accuses Mr. L. C. of acknowledging an irresistible Grace in that place of his Ars Critica †Part 2. § 1. C. 4. n. 11. wherein he shews what 's meant by these Words to open the Heart Mr. L. C. maintains That there is no Emphasis in them and that when 't is said Act. xvi 14. That the Lord opened the Heart of Lydia that she attended unto the Things that were spoken of Paul the meaning of it is only That it came to pass by God's Providence that Lydia heard attentively St. Paul whatever means God was pleased to use to that end Because nothing happens in the World without the Divine Providence and we are beholden to God for every Thing St. Luke said That God opened the Heart of Lydia without any Design of teaching us thereby that such a Grace as St. Augustin speaks of wrought efficaciously at that very moment on the Mind of that Woman One may see what Mr. L. C. said in that place of his Ars Critica ' Tis. plain he spoke there of no irresistible Grace Nay to speak in a strict Sense the Conversion of Lydia is not mention'd in that place but only her attention to what St. Paul said which proved afterwards the cause of her Conversion St. Luke says nothing of it because he supposes that to be attentive to the Gospel and to believe it are two Things which commonly go together Those who are not strongly prepossess d against the Gospel and have no Vices that are inconsistent with it need only be attentive to acknowledge love and obey it The Jews themselves used such an Expression as Ludovicus Cappellus has observed on Luke xxiv 45. But the present Question is not about the Thing it self but only about what Mr. L. C. said in his Ars Critica Mr. Vander Waeyen maintains That Mr. L. C. acknowledges in the same Book as well as he that the ancient Jews meant by the Word the same thing with the Christians Let us see what Grounds Mr. Vander Waeyen has for this Assertion Mr. L. C. has a Chapter in his Ars Critica concerning the Language of Sects which often seem to agree but yet denote quite different Things tho' they use the same Expressions He gives a remarkable Instance of it in this Proposition There is but One God The ancient Jews meant by it That there is but one Divine Substance in Number as all Christians understand it now But St. Athanasius and other Consubstantialists if I may so call 'em used the same Words in a quite different Sense only to denote That there was but one Specifick Divine Essence tho' they acknowledged Three Equal and Co-eternal Substances This has been proved by many Learned Men of this Age and amongst others by Dr. Cudworth in his Intellectual System which