quarrel abroad they will quarrel at home with their Collegues Mr. L. C. designs to write a Latin Dissertation wherein he 'll examine this Question When a Man must answer the Calumnies of Divines It is not less necessary than that which was printed at the end of his Logick De Argumento Theologico ex Invidia ducto Those who endeavour to encrease their Reputation by speaking ill of him will see what his Reasons are for not answering them In the mean time he must apply himself to the Search of Truth and publish it as carefully as he has done hitherto but with the Caution which Christian Prudence requires on such an occasion Who can be entrusted with the care of speaking and maintaining Truth Not those who don't enquire after it because they don't love it and stand not in need of it to raise themselves in the World Nor those who have not the necessary Qualifications to find it out and to publish it Nor those who know it but dare not speak it out for fear of exposing themselves For it must be confest that in several Christian Societies they have not the liberty necessary to explain Holy Scripture and Religion There is but one Christian Society in Holland that can do it and tho' it be inconsiderable it has already afforded several Great Men. In. all others they don't often think as they speak nor speak as they think Indeed many Learned Persons on this side of the Sea and beyond it among the Roman Catholicks and Protestants look a great while since upon the Writers of that small Party as the Interpreters of the Thoughts which they themselves dare not publish in Places where they live and as the Assertors of Truth and Liberty which are opprest almost every where else I will not make their Encomium but I shall only say that those who are in such Circumstances ought to speak freely whilst they can do it and want not People that will hear them Time will come when we shall reap the Fruits of the Seeds of Piety Charity and all other Christian Virtues which their Works spread over all Europe and hereafter it will be a Subject of Wonder how Men who so much deserved Thanks could be so traduced and ill spoken of They are the only Men to whom we are beholden for the Moderation which is every day more and more entertained by the most knowing and judicious Protestants and for a great many general and particular Truths which would not have been heard of yet or been well proved if those Authors had been silent There is no need I should insist longer on this Subject nor say that Mr. L. C. took care of the Edition of some Books written by other Hands Neither is it necessary that I should mention those which he wrote as it were to divert himself whilst he was composing some others which required more attention Such is his small French Treatise concerning the good or ill Luck of Lotteries which he published in 1696. when Lotteries were so much in vogue in the Vnited Provinces He also took care of the Edition of the Fathers of the Apostolick Age in 1698. in 2 Vol. in Folio and added some few Notes of his own as it appears by the Prefaces he prefixed to it If those who have more time a greater Genius more Learning and Conveniences than he as there are without doubt a great many in England and elsewhere would take as much Pains for the Publick as he has done the great number of good Books which would come out in a few Years would perhaps create a dislike of so many bad ones which are published every day But besides the above-mentioned Reasons they that could write more commodiously than others are not commonly so inclined to it as those who have less Conveniences
Author of the Letters in which it is inserted Some few Lines after he falsly accuses Mr. L. C. of having said that the Pentateuch was possibly compiled by a Priest of Bethlehem whereas he said Bethel not Bethlehem Mr. Vander Waeyen adds as it were by a Parenthesis that that Priest was certainly an Idolater as if he knew it by a Revelation and without intimating that the Author of that Conjecture was persuaded of the contrary as he plainly says in the beginning of the VII Letter of his Defence of the Sentiments p. 167. Lastly he says That Mr. L. C. did not scruple to affirm that the Works which go under the name of Moses and other inspired Authors were written by that Priest But there are two Falsifications in those Words It is not true that Mr. L. C. ascribed any thing to that Priest besides the care of collecting the Writings of Moses and some more ancient Histories of which the Pentateuch is made up and it is also false that he said that those Books were written Scripta esse by that Man as if he had been the Author of 'em He only said that he was possibly the Compiler of the Pentateuch Thus the Reader may see how faithfully Mr. Vander Waeyen relates Mr. L. C.'s Conjecture about the Compiler of the Pentateuch that he may brand it with the Name of Impiety and Prophaneness without intimating any where that the Author of the Sentiments c. said over and over again when he published that Conjecture that the Pentateuch contains nothing but what was approved of by the Priests of Jerusalem and all the Jews who worshipped the true God 'T is an easie thing to represent a harmless Conjecture as an impious and prophane Opinion by suppressing part of it at pleasure Mr. Vander Waeyen should know that Mr. L. C. is not fond of that Conjecture as I have already said and as it appears by his Latin Dissertation concerning Moses being the Author of the Pentateuch Equity required that he should say something of it in imitation of Mr. Witsius of whom he should have learn'd that every Body and especially a Divine ought to be a Lover of Sincerity That Professor of Leyden has been generally praised upon that account but the Professor of Franeker is not like to encrease his Reputation by taking a contrary course If he could be cured of his Prejudices and judge without Anger of the Opinions of a Man whom he has offended tho' he never was injured by him one should only Appeal from himself to himself and desire him to read again the Books against which he has so much exclaim'd He would then easily perceive that he has transgressed the Laws of Charity and Justice after a strange manner and is bound to beg God's Pardon for it I heartily pray God that he would forgive him He would also learn to forbear writing Romances about other Men as he has done in the very beginning of his Dissertation not considering that being evidently convinced of gross Fictions concerning the Opinions he ascribes to Mr. L. C. few People would believe him upon his Word Of the Bibliotheque Universelle To return to Mr. L. C.'s Works he undertook in 1686. to write a Journal in imitation of those which were published in several parts of Europe He entituled it as every Body knows Bibliotheque Vniverselle and endeavoured to do chiefly Two Things which are wanting in other Journals The one is to give larger and more exact Extracts of considerable Books than were to be found in other Journals And Secondly to insert into it several Pieces of his own such as are a Project of the Fabulous History in the I. Vol. an Explication of the Fable of Adonis in the III and of the Fable of Ceres in the VI an Essay concerning the Poetry of the Hebrews in the IX the Life of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea in the X the Lives of St. Cyprian and Prudentius in the XII and the Life of St. Gregory Nazianzen in the XVIII the Memoirs concerning the History of Jansenism in the XIV c. He wrote the VIII first Volumes together with Mr. de la Crose who followed his Advices till the VIII But in the IX he undertook to give his Judgment concerning some Books and Mr. L. C. approved not of his Extracts so that he was obliged to distinguish his own Extracts from those of Mr. de la Crose that he might not be answerable for them Mr. de la Crose put also his and Mr. L. C.'s Name to the IV Volume without his Knowledge and against his Will for he always designed that his Journal should be Anonymous as the Leipsick and the Paris Journals But his Name having been published in one of the Volumes he was obliged to publish it in the following Afterwards Mr. L. C. wrote the X Volume alone and Mr. de la Crose the XI as may be seen by the Prefaces The remaining Volumes to the XIX inclusively were written by Mr. L. C. excepting the XIII It was necessary to come to these Particulars not only to shew that Mr. L. C. spends his time better than those who lose theirs in writing Libels but because some Persons have unawares ascrib'd to him one Volume in which he had no Hand The first who committed that Fault is Mr. Meibom in his Additions to a Book of Valentinus Henricus Voglerus intituled Introductio Vniversalis in Notitiam cujuscunque generis bonorum Scriptorum c. In his Additions to the 29 Page wherein he speaks of Journals he complains of the Judgment which he says Mr. L. C. made of his Collection of Writers of the German History in the X Vol. of the Bibliotheque Vniverselle 'T is true that Mr. L. C. is the Author of that Volume but there is not one Word in it about Mr. Meibom's Collection which he never so much as perused Mr. Meibom meant the XI Vol. where there is a long Extract of his Collection but that Volume having been written by Mr. de la Crose as it appears by the Dedicatory Epistle it was not just to ascribe it to Mr. L. C. who had no Hand in it Mr. Meibom has formerly been told of it in a civil and obliging manner in the 2d part of the XXII Vol. of the Bibliotheque Vniverselle Art V. and again lately in the Nouvelles de la Republiques des Lettres May 1699. because it does not appear that he has retracted and others have of late committed the same Unjustice after him 'T is his Duty to acknowledge his fault if he does not do it one may with reason believe that he took delight in committing that Injustice and look upon him as a Man who commits such Faults a purpose and the Publick may be acquainted with it upon occasion Had he only ascribed that Volume to Mr. L. C. without complaining of him one might think it is a slip of Memory and overlook it But Mr. L. C. cannot be silent about it
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
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
soon as he has read the beginning and that pity which the Misfortunes of the Trojans raise in him and which Virgil at first sets forth with so much Art makes him extremely desirous to know how they shall be delivered out of them Altho' he knows well enough that 't is a pure Fiction of the Poet yet the Matter is so touching and so well disposed that he forgets that 't is a Romance and is not only as much affected by it as if it were a real Truth but what is more as if he were mightily interessed in it From that very moment as I have already observ'd every thing pleases and of Critics or severe Readers we become zealous Admirers of him after which we are concern'd for the Reputation of the Man whom we have admired We cannot endure that any one whoever he be should find any Defects in him altho' they are never so palpable This is the Reason why Zoilus surnam'd the Scourge of Homer made himself a thousand times more detested for having had the presumption to censure his Faults than if he had blasphem'd all the Gods His very Memory was held in Horrour and Detestation among the Grammarians the sworn Partisans of Homer who fail'd not to possess their Disciples with the same Hatred of him that is to say The World for all that learnt any thing pass'd at first under their Hands These Impressions that are made on us in our Childhood are not to be effaced without some trouble so that we are not to wonder if the World has been so long prejudic'd in favour of Homer even so far as to copy his very Faults Adrian de Valois who was a very learned Man has †Valesiana p. 63. remark'd that Virgil has committed a great fault in the Description he makes of Ascanius He cou'd not well be less than seven Years old when Troy was taken because he was able to march along with his Father who held him by the hand when he fled out of that City Scquitúrque patrem non passibus aequis says Virgil in the second Book of his Aeneis Consequently then when Aeneas was at Carthage seven Years after he was at least fourteen Years old Dido speaks thus to Aeneas towards the end of the first Book Nam te jam septima portat Omnibus errantem terris fluxibus aestas In effect Ascanius was able at this time to sit his Horse and ride out a Hunting Nay this was not all for no less Game wou'd content our young Spark but a Boar or a Lion thundering down the Mountains By which it appears that he was not only a good Horseman but that he was already Master of some Force and Courage At puer Ascanius †Aeneid Lib. IV. v. 156. mediis in vallibus acri Gaudet equo jámque hos cursu jam praeterit illos Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis Optat aprum aut fulvum descendere monte leonem Nevertheless in this very †Aeneid Lib. I. v. 722. IV. v. 84. Book as well as in the first Dido dandles him upon her Knees like a Child of some four or five Years old 'T is visible that when Virgil put that Circumstance into his Poem he forgot himself how old Ascanius ought to have been according to his first supposition However his Narration so takes up the Reader 's Mind that he is not sensible of this Contradiction nay and will not see it when he is told of it The third thing that makes us take so much pleasure in reading the Poets is their Stile wherein two things are to be observed The first is the Expression considered in itself and the other the cadence or the harmony of their Verse Their Expression pleases when it is according to the Rules of Art because it is pure proper and simple when it ought to be so and figurative when it ought to be otherwise The Figures above all are frequently employ'd in their Compositions drawn from the most elevated and beautiful things so that they fill the Mind with nothing but noble and sublime Ideas Altho' in general Poets are obliged to follow the same Rules of Rhetoric as those that write in Prose yet they are allow'd to employ much more Decoration and to heighten all their Descriptions with the most lively Colours There is as much difference between the same Subject as it is managed by a Poet and by an Orator as there is between an Assembly of Men dress'd in plain ordinary Cloaths and the same Assembly in their richest Apparel upon some solemn Festival The Descriptions when finely touch'd particularly charm the Reader who fancies he does not read the Descriptions of things recounted by the Poet but that he sees them with his Eyes and is present at all the Actions Homer is excellent upon this score which occasion'd the saying That he surpass'd the Painters who only represent that which strikes the Eye whereas he frequently paints the Thoughts without so much as speaking Therefore we ought not to be surprized if the Poets please us more than the Orators The liveliness of their Colours strikes our Eyes so strongly that we forget with them the Rules of good Sense if we are not very much upon our Guard all the while we read them The irregular Imagination of the Poet expresses itself in so noble and sublime a manner that it easily overpowers ours and gives it the same Movements by which itself is agitated and this makes all its Irregularities to disappear For instance Virgil it in the first Book of his †Vers 25. seqq Aeneis thus describes the Habitation of the Winds Hîc vasto Rex Aeolus antro Luctantes ventos tempestatésque sonoras Imperio permit ac vinclis carcere fraenat Here in a vast Cavern King Aeolus commands the Winds that struggle to get out and the roaring Tempests which he imprisons I wou'd not have taken notice how ridiculous it was to make the four Winds to come out of one hole of a Rock in a little Island near Sicily because it may be replied That the Poets are full of the like Blunders and that we ought not to be so severe with them if some Interpreters wou'd not bear us down that all this was an effect of Virgil's great Learning who knew that the Winds arise from subterraneous Vapours For suppose it was so altho' 't is by no means probable he ought to have assign'd to each Wind its particular Cave and to have placed the East-wind at the most easterly part of Asia and so the rest since 't is impossible to establish the Source of the Winds if there were one any-where but towards those places from whence they seem to come For this Reason it was that the ancient Greeks placed the Residence of Boreas in Thrace who came from thence to carry away the Daughter of the King of Athens altho' I cannot comprehend what shift he made to get home back again unless we answer
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
it may be possible for the Person that speaks to believe very little of what he says that he only chose this Subject to get himself some Reputation by treating of it eloquently Besides when we are heartily affected by any thing and nothing but Nature talks we use in our Discourses no far-fetch'd Ornaments of Rhetoric but only such as arise from the Subject without our thinking on them The same thing may be observed in Tragedy itself when it is rightly composed Et †Horat. de Arte Poet. v. 95. Tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri Telephus Peleus cùm pauper exsul uterque Projicit ampullas sesquipedalia verba Si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querelâ Even the Tragic Poets sometimes express Grief in common Language Telephus and Peleus when they lye under the Hardships of Poverty and Banishment wholly throw aside affected Expressions and big rumbling Words if they have a mind to interest the Spectator in their Complaints The Reason of this is because we cannot be touched but by the natural representation of a Passion and that all Affectation shocks us I am perswaded that a simple plain Discourse provided it be naturally delivered moves those Auditors that have a true Taste more feelingly than the tallest Metaphors and that even upon Paper it is much more affecting than one that is penn'd in a more sublime Stile However I confess that there are cerain occasions on which we are indispensably obliged to rise above the vulgar Stile as for instance when we are to praise or condemn any thing when we wou'd excite Admiration or Hatred in short when our Subject is of a more elevated Character than what happens daily On such an occasion the Reader or Auditor is very well pleas'd that we should have recourse to Rhetorical Ornaments As it is not so much our Business at such a time to instruct as to delight him or to excite in him Passions more turbulent than Pity he is satisfied with these Decorations nay what is more he expects them so that it we disappoint him we make him despise us and no longer attend to what we say He thinks it but requisite that he that speaks or writes to entertain him should be well prepared before-hand and tell him nothing but that which does not frequently fall into every Body's Head When the Occasion is extraordinary or when the Subject is naturally sublime we expect a Stile of the same Dignity that transports that ravishes that governs and turns our Souls abou◠as it pleases This is the sublime Stile concerning which Longinus has written a Treatise which is in every Body's Hands especially since it has been †By Mr. Boileau translated into French I will not dwell any longer upon these two latter sorts of Stiles which are or ought to be properly the Stile of Sermons if we except those places in them where we only explain the Matter before us without drawing any Consequences from it or making any application to the Auditors 'T is sufficient to say That those that aspire to this Eloquence cannot too often read over those Passages in the celebrated Masters of this Art where 't is handled An infinite number of People confound the sublime Stile with Fustian and think they ravish all the World with Admiration when they lose themselves in the Clouds and are laugh'd and ridicul'd by all Men of a true Palat. The reason of this is because they don't enough consider the Rules of this Art and don 't know that we ought to expres s ourselves in magnificent Terms only about those things that are Sublime in their own Nature Objections against what has been said SOME Objections which at first sight seem to have something in them may be railed against what I have asserted relating to Eloquence As for instance That several of the Ancients whom I have accused of having committed very gross Faults against the Rules and several of the Moderns whom I have imitated did pats in their own time and still pass in ours for Models of Eloquence in the Opinions of a vast number of People that understand Rhetoric and are by no means to be call'd Men of an ill Relish One may go yet farther and urge That we behold every Day Books received with great Applause and that we hear with Admiration several Discourses wherein scarce any of the above-mention'd Rules are observ'd As Eloquence will these Gentlemen pretend is only for those whom we have to do with so soon as we have found out the Mystery to please and to affect them in Speaking or Writing we have Title enough to set up for Men of Eloquence Indeed if the establish'd Rules of Rhetoric which are for the generality of them supported by the Authority of the most famous Rhetors were arbitrary Laws and founded rather upon the usage of some Language which depends upon the Caprice of the Multitude than upon Reason which never changes I confess that one might confront them with Examples and counterballance the Authority they have got by the Reputation of those who have violated them But as they are built upon everlasting Foundations we can only conclude that the Taste of those Gentlemen who first admired those that neglected these Laws was a depraved Taste and that if there are any Men of Wit who continue still to praise the vicious Rhetoric of the past Ages they only follow the Custom in it without consulting their Reason and repeat without examination what had been told them from their Infancy We cannot make the Fathers and Philosophers who lived after Jesus Christ pass for just Reasoners nor for methodical Authors but as they were the most ingenious Men of their times nay and sometimes formidable by their Authority and by their Cabals they were excessively praised in their own and the succeeding Ages which yet were darker and more ignorant than their own These Praises have been handed down like a Tradition to us and we are only the Echos if I may so express myself of the most barbarous and gross Centuries without being at the pains to examine whether what we say after them be true or not We daily commend merely out of custom several Works which we should have been asham'd to have written ourselves and which in truth we cou'd not write in this Age without drawing the contempt of all the World upon us That which still keeps up this Language which at the bottom is not sincere is that every Man cites the Fathers in Theological Controversies and desires to have them of his own side yet this cou'd not be done with any Advantage if People were generally perswaded that they were bad Orators and yet worse Logicians Thus we set as high a value on them as we are able without being satisfied of their Merit to make use of their Authority in Time and Place against those who have declared against those Opinions which we suppose to have been favour'd by the Fathers Were
repulse the Injuries of their Neighbours without endeavouring to enlarge their Territories If at any time they blame their Ambition and Injustice as they do sometimes 't is nothing if compared with the Praises they bestow on them when they mention their Victories The Christian Religion having given us more exact and compleat Notions of Justice than the Heathens commonly had several Christian Historians have spoken of the Ambition of the ancient Conquerors in Terms more agreeable to the immutable Law of Justice than the Heathen Historians ever did I confess that the ancient Philosophers have said a great many things on this Point which are almost as sound as what has been said by Christians but it was only the Philosophers that spoke so and the Historians had no great Regard to their Opinions An †H. Grotius Incomparable Author hath the first shewn in this XVII Century what are not only the Laws of Peace but also of War and has so clearly taught what Nations owe to one another that it can no longer be doubted whether making War out of meer Ambition be not perfect Robbing and Murdering That great Man has reduced into an Art and methodically proved the Truths which were dispersed in several Authors on this Matter and has confirmed them with many Examples and Quotations So that if any Historian will give the Title of Just and Pious to any Prince who made or will hereafter make War out of Ambition he ought not to take it ill if he is accounted a base and shameful Flatterer A Prince who has reduced several Provinces to an extream Misery and Poverty and destroyed several Millions of People out of meer Ambition and without being provoked will never be look'd upon as a good Man unless Paganism should prevail again or Machiavelism should become every-where the Religion in fashion The Heathens praised much the Clemency of Julius Caesar to whom what I have said might have been justly objected because he spared the Lives of many of his Fellow-Citizens who had fought against him to preserve the Liberty of their Country and at last submitted to his Tyranny But no Historian worthy of that Name can hereafter cry up the Clemency of those who have done or will do any such thing Princes who little think of the Miseries which a War brings on their Subjects and Neighbours or are not moved with the Calamities and Tears of an infinte number of innocent and unfortunate Families or the great Blood-shed which attends a long War will never be cried up as Merciful and Just but by such Men as have scarce any Notion of those Virtues or by Flatterers whom no Body can bear with but they who dare not contradict ' em This is what I had to say concerning History If I have spoken somwhat freely let no Body find fault with me for it but rather with the Matter itself which admits of no Palliation I know very well that this Discourse and the like will not hinder Historians from Flattering and Lying but I suppose those Gentlemen will not take it ill if one speaks sometimes the Truth CHAP. IV. Of the Decay of Humane Learning and the Causes of it THERE is without doubt a Decay in the Common-wealth of Learning in several Respects but I shall only mention that which concerns Philology 'T is certain we have not seen for a long time in any part of Europe any Men who equal the illustrious Criticks who lived in the last Century and the beginning of this For Example We see no Body who equals in Learning Application of Mind and Bulk as well as Number of Books Joseph Scaliger Justus Lipsius Isaac Casaubon Claudius Salmasius Hugo Grotius John Meursius John Selden and a great many others whom I need not name because they are known to every Body I have a due Esteem for many learned Men of my Acquaintance but I am persuaded that none of them will complain if I say that I know none who equals those great Men in Learning We have seen nothing for a long time that can be compared with their Works I have enquired into the Reasons of it and I think I have found some satisfactory ones Some of them concern those who should favour the Study of Humane Learning but do it not and some concern them that profess that Study and bring Contempt upon it I shall instance upon some few to which the Reader may add his own and what he has observed by his Experience The Difficulties of that Study I. TO begin with the latter I mean that which can be objected to the Men of Learning The first Reason why few Men have applied themselves to the Study of Humane Learning and consequently why fewer still have had an extraordinary Success in it is that they who were learned in that sort of Science did not care to make it easie to others Because most of them attained to the Learning they had not by a short and methodical Way but by a vast Reading and a prodigious Labour they did not at all care to facilitate to others the means of acquiring that Learning Having if I may so say got with much ado to the top of the Rock thro' steep and thorny Ways they thought it just that others should undergo the same Toil if they would attain to the same degree of Learning But because there are few Men whose Genius is so bent to the Study of Humane Learning as to resolve upon taking so much Pains to get the Knowledge of it 't is no wonder if most Men have been discouraged almost from the Beginning and if a great Knowledge of that sort of Learning is so scarce at present Perhaps it will be askt What those learned Men of the first Rank should have done to facilitate that Study besides what they have done I answer that there are two-sorts of Books which may serve to acquire that sort of Knowledge which have been wanting ever since the Study of Humane Learning hath been in Vogue Of Critical Notes upon the Latin Authors THE first Books we want are good Editions of all the Greek and Latin Authors not only correct but also illustrated with all necessary Notes to make them more Intelligible But to come to Particulars I begin with the Latin Authors and I say that the learned Men I have mentioned or others like them should have given us at least all the good Latin Authors not only revised upon such ancient Manuscripts as we have but also illustrated with short clear and methodical Notes on all the difficult Places and such as were not above the Capacity of young Men and might serve those who have made some Progress Whereas the learned Men I spoke of have been most times contented to publish Authors with meer critical Notes about the true Reading to which if they have added any thing for the understanding of the Expressions Opinions or Customs they have done it only upon some few places to make a shew of their
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
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
Professor of Divinity at Groeningen should gather all that Gisbertus Voetius said to defame him and on the contrary to wrong the Memory of Voetius should make a Collection of all that Maresius wrote against him one might with reason believe that he makes sport with the Publick or designs to impose on simple Men. This has been nevertheless practised of late by a Divine of my Acquaintance against a Friend of mine He has collected some silly things which some passionate Divines have writ against him as if one could rely upon the Judgment of Ignorant and Unjust Men It would be an easie thing to beat him at his own Weapon and publish what some Men as Orthodox as himself have said against his Opinions But Censures ought not to be minded except when 't is a Man's Interest to forbear Censuring When Cardinal Baronius speaks Ill of some Popes his Opinion deserves without doubt some Consideration When Melanchton gives but an Ill Character of some Lutherans of his time one may reasonably think that they gave occasion to speak Ill of ' em The same Passions with which we are moved now reigned likewise formerly as all those who have carefully read the Church-History are convinced We must therefore weigh in the same Scales the Praises and Censures of past Ages with those of our time and give 'em no more Weight than Equity requires and a severe Examination will allow If this were done as it ought to be how many Church-Histories are there which would deserve to be thrown into the Fire The best would serve only for Chronological Tables to rank Facts according to the order of Time There is another thing to be observed concerning Praises and Censures or if you will Good and Hard Words viz. The Style of the time wherein the Authors of 'em lived They who lived for Example when the Republick of Rome was still flourishing or in the Reign of Julius Caesar were wont to Praise those of the prevailing Party and to Blame the Unfortunate as it has been the constant practice of Men but they were much more reserved than those who lived in the Third Century under the Reign of the last Heathen Emperors or in the Fourth under the Reign of the Christian Emperors In Julius Caesar and even Augustus his time the greatest Flatterers could not have been endured if they had said what the Emperors said of themselves in their Laws and Edicts They who know the Character of the Age of Augustus need but look on both Codes to find a great many places in them which would have been thought intolerable at that time That which is most strange is that the Christian Emperors followed such an ill Custom even in such Laws as concern'd Religion wherein one would think they should have exprest themselves with more Modesty For Example here is a Law of Arcadius Honorius and Theodosius Junior which was published in the Year 404. Let all the Officers of the Palace have warning that they ought to abstain from going to tumultuous Assemblies and let those who out of a SACRILEGIOUS Mind dare oppose the Authority of OUR DIVINITY be deprived of their Employments and let their Estates be confiscated Cuncta Officia moneantur tumultuosis se conventiculis abstinere qui SACRILEGO animo auctoritatem NOSTRI NVMINIS ausifuerint expugnare privati cingulo bonorum proscriptione mulctentur Cod. Theodos Lib. XVI Tit. IV. L. 4. The Letters they write are styled Sacred Letters †Ibid. T. V. L. 20. Sacrae Literae When the Sons speak of their Father they call him their Father of Divine Memory and their Divine Father †Ibid. L. 20. 26. Divae recordationis divus Genitor They call their own Laws Oracles and Heavenly Oracles †Ibid. L. 51. even when they recall ' em Honorius speaking of an Edict whereby he granted Liberty of Conscience to the Donatists in Africa expresses himself thus in his Orders which we find in the †Vid. Cod. Theodos Gothofredi T. VI. p. 300. Conference of Carthage We are not ignorant of the Contents of a HEAVENLY ORACLE which the Donatists by a false Interpretation pretend to favour their Errors and which we recall'd heretofore tho' it mildly exhorted them to Repentance Nec sanè latet conscientiam nostram sâ—rmo COELESTIS ORACVLI quem errori 〈◊〉 posse proficere scaeva Donatistarum interpretatio proâ—â—â—â—tur qui quamvis depravatos animos ad correctionem mitius invitaret aboleri eum tamen etiam antè assimus When Princes spoke thus of themselves what would not their flattering Subjects say They would give 'em the Title of your Perpetuity and your Eternity Perennitas and Aeternitas vestra as we may see in Symmachus's Letters directed to several Emperors St. Athanasius had reason to laugh at the Arian Bishops who bestowed that Title on the Emperor Constans †De Synedis p. 718. T. I. Ed. Paris an 1698. They says he who deny that the Son is Eternal call him the Emperor eternal King But the Emperors themselves did not scruple afterwards to assume that Title of Honor as it appears by a †Cod. Theod. L. XV. T. I. L. 31. Law of Theodosius the Great which begins thus If any Judge having finished a publick Work inscribes his Name on it rather than that of OUR PERPETUITY let him be accounted guilty of High-Treason Si qui Judices perfecto operi suum potiùs nomen quam NOSTRAE PERENNIT ATIS scripserint Majestatis teneantur obnoxii Instead of those Words Tribonian inferted †Lib. VIII T. XII L. 10 these into the Code without mentioning OUR DIVINITY sine NVMINIS NOSTRI mentione Church-men followed the same Custom for the Bishops were not call'd merely by their Names but with the addition of most Holy most Pious most Acceptable to God most Happy our most Holy Father and other such Titles which the Acts of the Councils are full of especially when they mention'd the Bishops of Great Cities I doubt not but that they knew very well that those Titles of Honour were not to be understood in their full Sense However they were not bestowed without Flattery nor accepted without Vanity The Censures and Invectives of that time were no less excessive Such is the Character of the Spirit of Flattery It inspires Men not only with a thousand mean things towards their Superiors but also with strange and violent Passions against those they are angry with This one may see in the XVI Book of the Theodosian Code Tit. V. concerning Hereticks to whom the Emperors or their Secretaries give all sort of ill Language And lest it should be thought that they speak only of the Manichees or other like Hereticks whose Doctrine was inconsistent with Morality Arcadius and Honorius defined what Heresy is and denoted those whom they call'd Hereticks †Cod. Theod. Lib. XVI Tit. V. L. 28. They who shall be found to recede never so little from the Sense of the
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
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
in it Mr. Vander Waeyen knows it very well and I pray God forgive him for having so wilfully transgrest his most sacred Laws Of some other Books of Mr. L. C. and of his Adversaries NEXT to the Books I have mention'd Mr. L. C. published a short Abridgment of Vniversal History in the Year 1697. in 8. and Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase and Notes on the New Testament in 1698. in Folio and a Harmony of the Gospels in Greek and Latin in 1699. Those who have seen these two last Books and will think of the other which I have spoken of cannot doubt whatever Judgment they make of his Opinions but that he spends his time as well as he can and they will grant that a Man who is so busy in expounding Holy Scripture and serving the Publick the best way he can think of should deserve at least to dive quietly It is a shameful thing to publish new Libels every Day against a Man who makes no answer and whose Opinions are now so well known that 't is in vain for any Body to mis-represent them Some Divines will say that they don't look upon 'em to be Orthodox but they know very well that none but God is a Supreme Judge of true Orthodoxy as to speculative Doctrines and that all Men being equal in this respect they have no other Right but that of answering one another Civilly and with good Reasons They should be ashamed to use Lies and Calumnies to defame those who don 't so much as think of ' em But perhaps some who are not acquainted with the way and humour of Divines will wonder how so many People came to inveigh against Mr. L. C. and may suspect that it is his fault and that he has given occasion for it But they will be soon undeceived if they consider what I am going to say First they ought to remember that some Divines will presently break out into a violent Anger if any one is not of their Mind in every thing and scruples not to say that some of their Arguments are not convincing They will have the liberty of exclaiming against the Pope who is a greater Man than they but they cannot abide that others should not look upon them as Popes that is to say Infallible Men. How many Censures did Erasmus and Grotius undergo two incomparable Men who do more Honour to Holland than all the Cocceians will ever do They were obliged to write great Volumes in Folio to make their Apology in few Words but they should have written twenty times more had they been willing to confute at large the Vander Waeyens and the Benoits of their time And if any one would undertake now to make their Apology in due Form and answer all the Impertinences and Calumnies that have been vented against 'em after their Death it would perhaps require as many Volumes as there are in the last Edition of the Bibliotheca Patrum Secondly Those who might wonder at the great number of Mr. L. C.'s Adversaries must know that they ought to reckon but one in every Society for those Men are like Jays or Mag-pies that know but one Tune that is one of the same System which they are not allow'd to examine but must follow to avoid their Punishments wherewith Church-men who change their Mind are commonly threaten'd Mr. Poiret is the only Man who being of no Society may safely vent his Chimerical Notions and is as good as a whole Batalion of Lutherans against whom he has often signalized himself Thirdly Mr. L. C. has written a considerable number of Books and consequently may be allowed to give his Judgment concerning several Subjects relating to Critical Learning Philosophy and Divinity about which Men of Letters are wont to dispute so that 't is no wonder if many will contradict him since there are so many of a passionate Temper and contradicting Humour Lastly If to what has been said you joyn Envy and Jealously which are very common among Men of Learning you may easily apprehend that some of 'em are out of Humour because Mr. L. C's Works are not slighted Mr. Vander Waeyen gives us to understand in several places of his Libels that he has no kindness for those who buy them especially for the English He bitterly complains that Arminianism is got among the English but the Arminians cannot complain that Cocceianism is entertained by them To speak the Truth Mr. L. C. sets a greater value upon the Judgment of that Free and Learned Nation than upon all the slavish and careless Divines of the rest of Europe However he could rest satisfied with the Testimony of his Conscience and the certain hopes that God will protect Truth and those who maintain it in such a manner as is agreeable to the Precepts of the Gospel Whether Mr. L. C. must leave off his Studies to answer those who write against him Hitherto I have given an Account of Mr. L. C.'s Studies since he came to Holland Some Men would divert him from them and put him upon writing another sort of Books They have assaulted him sometime since as violently as they could They have not been sparing of odious Terms Lies and Calumnies to exasperate him and force him to answer them But he is not so imprudent as to grant 'em their Desire and lay aside the useful Subjects he is upon to be at the trouble of laying open their Malice and Ignorance The Publick knows well enough what sort of Men they are Indeed 't is in vain for an Author to set up for a zealous Man and to vail his Anger or Malice with the most specious Pretences for discerning Men will soon find out his Passion and as for others 't is no great Matter whether they judge right or wrong of it 'T is no new thing to see Divines transported with Anger and their Hatred has occasion'd a Proverb 'T is well that they are now to be feared no where but in Places where they are both Judges and Parties It was well observed by Mr. Menage †Menagiana vol. 2. p. 236. That Some Men are never refuted unless they be alive and that they are not confider-able enough after their death to oblige any Body to be at that trouble But there are some who deserve not to be refuted whether they be dead or alive I mean those who pick Quarrels for quarreling-sake or to be spoken of and can make no solid Objections It would be too great a Pleasure and Honour for them to see their Satyrs or Declamations answered I know some among those that wrote against Mr. L. C. who heartily with that he would in his turn write large Volumes against ' em They are not afraid of good and solid Arguments as it appears by their way of Reasoning and they are not ashamed to publish the most palpable Absurdities with the greatest confidence in the World But they are vexed when an Author takes no notice of their Books and if they can't