Kings that had taken Lot his Nephew Prisoner Father Kircher says that the Abyssins pretended to have all these Books and a great Number of others in the Library of the Monastery of the Holy Cross upon Mount Amara and that the Queen of Sheba received them as a Present from Solomon They pretend moreover that she Composed many Books that they have in the same Library and that she had a Son born by Solomon who was Prince Melilech that had also Compos'd many Books they had in the same place Those who cannot get the Works of Father Kircher may find what I have said in a Treatise of Bibliotheques publish'd 1680. If the Abyssines had only said that Solomon gave many Books to the Queen of Sheba and that he lay with her they wou'd have said nothing so very improbable for a Prince so Learned as he was and which is more an Author of such a multitude of Books wou'd not without doubt send away a Princess so Curious as the Queen without giving her a Copy of his Works and some other rare Treatises Besides he hated not the Sex and perhaps she was touched with the same desire and a long time after that obliged the Queen of the Amazonâ— to make a Visit to Alexander And it is apparent enough that Solomon had as much Complaisance as the King of Macedon But these are things which are so insignificant that all the World may be permitted to believe what they please of it The Author then considers the Vanity of the Egyptians who gave 100000 Years Antiquity to their Writings and sends us to St. Augustin who refutes them in his eighteenth Book of the City of God the 29 th Chapter He relates what was said of Zoroaster concerning the making of a Book entituled The Similitude which was edged with Gold and required for a Covering twelve hundred and sixty Oxes Hides some think this Zoroaster was Cham the Son of Noah He omits not that it was said of Trismegistus that he had Composed twenty five thousand Volumes or else thirty six thousand five hundred and twenty five and that the Science of the Egyptians in which Moses was so well Vers'd was contained in this great Number of Books and that Moses himself took some thoughts from 'em to insert in the Pentateuch He forgets not likewise to speak of the Sybil Daughter or rather Daughter-in-Law to Noah nor the Book of Iob according to some writ before Moses for there are some which pretend that Moses found it perfect at Iethro's his Father-in-Law in the Land of Midian and thinking it proper to Comfort the Israelites in their Misery he took it with him into Egypt to show it them Mr. Huet dissents from this Opinion and believes only that Moses Composed the History of Iob during the Servitude of his Brethren to the end to propose to them a great Example of Patience and Hope After all these ridiculous and fabulous Traditions the Author concludes that there is great probability that the Custom of writing Books was in use before Moses's time but nevertheless that the Pentateuch is the most Ancient of all Canonical Books and even of all Books whatsoever that are now extant He maintains that the Prophecy of Enoch was not written and that St. Iude had no knowledge of it only by inspiration that the Book that formerly bore the Name of this Patriarch was made by some Cheat and that St. Augustin did not well consider the Text of the Apostle since he makes him say that Enoch writ Prophecies He makes the same Judgment of the other Works that go under the Name of the Patriarchs As to the two Pillars of the Descendants from Seth he is of their Opinion who conclude it to be one of the oversights of Iosephus he also takes occasion by this to reproach him with having corrupted the sense of a Passage of Moses to flatter the Idolaters 't is where he says that Moses forbid the speaking ill of the Gods of other Nations and the destroying their Temples As to what concerns Zoroaster the Author says that we have no certainty and after having related a long passage of Mr. Huet's who believed he should find Moses not only in Zoroaster but also in all the false Gods and in all the first Heathen Poets he gives his own Judgment upon this Opinion with much equity He shows after that by a Passage of Eusebius's that Moses having lived in the time of Cecrops the first King of the Athenians he was before the most ancient Greek Poets Orpheus Linus and Museus and gives the Reason why some maintained that Cecrops and Moses was the same Person He says also that nothing certain can be established concerning the History of Mercurius Trismegisâ—usâ— He gives the Title of some of his Works which Clement of Alexandria has spoken on and sends us to Causabon where we may see that instead of Moses's Copying any thing from the Egyptians it must be confess'd that all the wise Heathens have borrowed something from him The Work that he cites of Causabon's is the 10 th Article of the Exercitations against the Annals of Baronius Causabon justifies that the Pimander of Trismegistus was writ since the Apostles time by one that was half Christian and half Platonick In â—â—ne Mr. Selden observes that that Treatise of Origen's is a suppositious Work which says the Book of Iob was found in the House of Moses's Father-in-law Our Author refutes those that believed Iob was the same with Iobab in the 36 th Chapter of Genesis who was the great Grand-son of Esau He does not believe Iob Composed his History himself because it is writ in Verse and he does not disapprove the Opinion of Mr. Huet upon it who says that Moses having Collected divers Memoirs which were in Manuscript concerning the Life of Iob and heard upon that the Relation of many Persons composed a Work with all these Materials We shall hardly give Credit to this Proof that the Author makes use of for altho' he had a very great reason to say that a Man in such Afflictions as Iob was cou'd not entertain his Friends in Verse yet a Poetical Discourse is as likely on this occasion as in those that are recited in Tragedies or sung in Opera's yet it is not improbable that Iob himself after his Affairs were re-established might give the History of his Misfortunes in Verse This is an Abridgment of Mr. Selden's first Dissertation which is about eighteen Pages In the second he examines whether Moses was the Author of the Pentateuch and answers in the affirmative and refutes the Objections of Spinoza He thinks it very unadvised that some writ in Dutch against this impious Author because says he this wou'd make us fear that the Curiosity of the People wou'd be stirr'd up if these Disputes were manag'd in a Language that they understood not I believe that our Author speaks principally in respect to the Philosophical Works of Spinoza many think
a place of the Babylonish Thalmud and some passages of two or three other Rabbies from whence it appeareth that the Iews thought the Angels had much curiosity to know what passed amongst men and particularly in anything of great importance After all these remarks we find a little abridgment of the Life of Lightfoot where as occasion serves there are divers Reflections intermixed which we shall mention briefly The thoughts of Monsieur Simon are there refuted touching the abridgment of a new Polyglot which he hath proposed in his Criticks and touching the Authentickness of the Vulgar c. He also refutes the Interpretation that Lightfoot hath given in the Epistle to the Corinthians just before cited For altho Mr. Bright had a great esteem for Lightfoot he thought himself not obliged to receive all his opinions or defend whatsoever he hath said He saith he is not of the same Opinion with our Author who believed that the least point of the Bible is a Divine Institution and that all therein is mysterious even unto the least irregularities Mr. Bright Criticises on two or three remarks of Lightfoot upon the Rabbies founded upon the faults of the Copier which he explains after a mysterious manner As the Life of Lightfoot composed by Mr. Bright was too short Mr. Stryp hath joined thereto another more large which is followed with a collection of divers things concerning the person and writings of our Author Therein we see the manner of his Study and Employ with the esteem they had of him in England and elsewhere c. those who love to know the least particulars of the lives of great men will here find what will both divert and instruct ' em There is an account in his Life of some of the reasons of the controversies between the Divines assembled at Westminster who had undertaken to reform during the Civil Wars what they called Errours in the Church of England Lightfoot opposeth stifly some of their opinions as may be seen in the third Article of the Collection that is added to his Life We shall find in the eighth a List of his Works which have not been finished which were mostly concerning the History of the Hebrews with the explication of some Book of the Holy Scripture One part is in English and the other in Latin He hath even given himself the trouble to write all the Texts of the Evangelists and to dispose them into an harmonious method It is offered to any Bookseller that will Print it In what respecteth the Harmony we may advertise the Publick that Mr. Toignard hath promised to publish it at the end of his wherein shall soon be seen the method which he hath made use of in a place of Iosephus where he compares the Iudaick Antiquities with the Books of the Iewish Wars This last Harmony is now in the Press and will soon appear abroad Before we consider the works set forth by Lightfoot we cannot forbear speaking of the loss that hath been sustained in a Map of Palestine which he had effected with much care and traced with his own hand 'T is a loss doubtless very great to such as desire to be instructed in the Sacred Geography because there is no Card of Iudea left that can satisfie those who are but indifferently versed in this kind of learning We have nevertheless endeavoured to supply this loss received by that of Lightfoot working therein upon his Ideas and in giving a Map of those places whereof this Author makes mention in his Geographical Remarks and which have been placed according to his observations But altho many faults are in this Map corrected which are found in all others we shall yet find it a trouble to persuade our selves that the notions of Lightfoot could be followed to such perfection as what he had done himself The first Work that we meet with in this Volume is an Harmonious and Chronological disposition of the Text of the Old Testament The Sacred Writers are so little tyed to the order of Time and those who have collected them into a Body had so little regard to Chronology that the Jews form thereupon a constant explication of the Holy History to wit that in Holy Writ there 's no before nor after Our Author proposeth to himself to remedy this inversion of Method in making an Abridgment of all the Holy History and placing every event where it ought to be in his Judgment He hath added in the Margin the year of the World and that of the Judicature or Reign of those who governed Israel and he hath taken care to mark the precise date of all the events whereof he could have had any certain knowledge Those that he hath placed by his own conjecture have no date In the Margin he hath added the reason why he hath there inserted these places without undertaking to refute the reasons of those who place them elsewhere lest he should make his volume too large He hath only proposed his opinion upon the difficulties that represent themselves and leaves them to be judged by the Reader His opinions are often very new as will be easily acknowledged if they compare what he saith with what is to be found in other Interpreters As for the rest he confesseth what he hath written is but an Essay and advertises the Reader that he ought not to expect it very exact 1. The Text of Genesis Chronologically disposed reaches to p. 22. and Lightfoot ends the History of this Book by a Citation from the first of the Chronicles which he believed ought immediately to follow the death of Ioseph 1 Chron. 6.21 22.23 In this place are to be found the years of the Patriarchs and the years of Promise joyned with those of the World 2. The Books of Exodus Leviticus and Numbers joyn'd together continue the holy History p. 38. where the Establishment is seen of the half Tribe of Manasseh on that side Iordan There are only two places of two other Books inserted amongst those of Moses Lightfoot believes that the 88th and 89th Psalms were composed by Heman and Ethan Sons of Zerach which lived according to him in the time that the King of Egypt oppressed the Israelites with excessive Labour and Taxes The Author thinks also that Iob lived in the same time and that he was the Grand Son of Nahor Abraham's Brother and that Elihu one of those which speaks in his Book and who was his near Kinsman is the Author of this work This he asserts in p. 24. 3. Afterwards comes Deuteronomy followed with the Abridgment of the Books of Ioshua and Iudges The History of Ruth is inserted between the time of Ehud and Deborah The Author takes notice but of one word in chap. 3. and 13. v. that has an extraordinary point and but of one other in the 19th chapter of Genesis of the same nature Our Author seeks there the mystery of it 4. Lightfoot continues his Chronological Abridgement of the Sacred History by some Texts
the most displeasing Tenets of his Sect to put their grosser abuses in Oblivion and finally to bury the most part of School Disputes It was hard to think that a Man supported by all that is great in his Communion whereof he seemed the Oracle should Write to deceive his Fellow-Citizens or that he should think that a bare Exposition of the Doctrin of his Church should be capable to bring back into its Bosom them that had quitted it with so much reluctancy and remained in it in spight of what could be inflicted upon them The Tenets of Rome are not taught in the Indies nor in America nor are we to learn from the uncertain relations of some ignorant Travellers We see its Practices and Devotions before our Eyes The Books of their Doctors are told in every place and most part of our Reformers were either Bishops Priests or Fryars so that neither they nor their Disciples can be ignorant neither of what the Romish Church Believes nor of what it Practises besides the Ministers have no reason to dissemble in their Opinions because the Clergy of it gain far more than those of any other Communion This Reflexion might make M. de Meaux's sincerity very doubtful who declares at the very beginning That he Designs to render the Tenets of the Catholick Church more clear than they are and to distinguish them from such as are falsly imputed to it Nevetheless the Reformed being brought up in a Religion which inspires true Faith and being otherwise moved to desire a Re-union in hopes to see the end of their Miseries fancy'd that the Accusation of this Bishop was but a pretext he used to cast out of his Creed what is troublesom and hard to believe Besides the noise of an Agreement between the Two Religions which was a long time sown among the People and whereof divers ' Ministers were made to draw the Project M. de Meaux and his followers slipt many words which were general Promises of a Reformation upon condition of Re-union If it appears now that there was not the least shadow of sincerity in all the Promises that the Roman Catholicks made and that at that very time the clear-sighted could soon discover that it was but a pure cheat the Reformed cannot be praised enough for not trusting to them nor can the others be blamed enough that make nothing of playing with what is most sacred when they have a design to cheat the simple To know whether M. de Meaux be of this Number as several Protestants pretend and endeavour to prove in shewing the opposition of his Sentiments with those of the other Doctors of his Communion it will not be unprofitable to know the History of his Book because it may be commonly perceived by the way that a design is managed which is the end proposed M. Turenne who saw a long time that his Religion was a hinderance to his Fortune would have been very glad if he could accommodate himself to the Romish Religion But the vile Practices of this Church seem so strange to those who are brought up in other Principles that he could not persuade himself to join with a Society that imposed such ridiculous Superstitions upon its Votaries to cure him of this Scruple M. de Meaux published a small Writing wherein he strained himself to shew That these small Devotions were not of the Essence of the Catholick Doctrine and that one might live and die in its Communion without practicing them This Work or rather the King's Caresses and Liberalities having had Success which all People know our Prelate was of Opinion That he could work the same effect upon others and resolved to print this Manuscript that remained written four years before and to add to it divers Sections as that of the Lord's Supper of Tradition of the Authority of the Church and Pope and obtained the approbation of the Bishop of Rheims and of some other Bishops Sorbonne these several Ages has been looked upon as the source of the French Divinity it 's therefore that not only the Doctors of this University but also Bishops and other Clergy are glad to have the approbation of that famous House at the beginning of what Books they write of Religion M. of Condom had that design but he did not speed for having sent his Exposition as soon as it came from the Press to some of the Doctors of Sorbonne instead of approving the Work they marked several Places either contrary to or favouring but in a very little the Doctrine of their Church So that Edition was presently suppressed and another was composed wherein the Passages were changed that were marked by the Censurers This could not be managed so secretly but the Reformed came to know it Mr. Noguier and M. de la Bastide who knew the Edition that was published and this last did not fail to remark the Alteration that the Author made in the Manuscript and in the suppressed Edition They also reproached him that the true Roman Catholicks were but little pleased at his Moderation and one of them finish'd the Refutation of his Book before any Protestant had Printed his but he was not forbidden to publish it M. de Meaux's Credit was great enough to stifle the direct Answer that those of his own Party made to him But he could not hinder them that were dissatisfy'd from taking an indirect course and to say what they thought and even to refute him The Iesuites and the Friars sharp maintainers of the Superstitions that enrich them could not forgive him at all Father Maimbourg in his History of Lutheranism drew this Prelates Character and criticiz'd on his Book under the Name of Cardinal Contarini and of one of his Works and says well That these Agreements and Managements of Religion in these pretended Expositions of Faith which either suppress or do express in doubtful terms a part of the Doctrine of the Church neither satisfie one side nor the other who equally complain of swerving in a matter so momentous as that of Faith Father Cresset gave this Bishop a more sensible stroke in his Book of the true Devotion to the Blessed Virgin printed at Paris in 4to in the Year 79. with priviledge from the King and the Arch-bishops leave and the consent of his own Provincial and of three Iesuites that are the Censurers of all the Works of that Society The Dauphins Tutor was too powerful an Adversary to be opposed directly But a Writer of lesser Authority that adopted the Opinion of this Prelate touching the Invocation of Saints and Worship of Images felt the weight of Father Cresset's Anger This Author was a German Gentleman called M Widenfelt intendant of the Prince of Suarzemberg and his Book was Entituled Monita Salutaria B. Virginis wholsom Advices of the Blessed Virgin to her indiscreet Votaries This Book made much noise in the World especially after the Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Tournay wherein he recommends this Book to his People as full
for the same seeing as he says that Ezra the Scribe made it Capellus infers hence That some as this R. Moses c had no such esteem for the Points and did not think they were made by Ezra Resp. First But Aben Ezra is not of that mind which is the thing that is to be proved For he reproveth it in them and they want Witnesses who seek after those who are convicted of Errour therein But they might charge the Punctator with Errour and yet allow Ezra to be the Author of it by supposing as Capellus himself doth that there might be crept into the Text some Mistakes through the length of Time and humane Frailty of the Scribes who wrote the Bible from the Copies that were before them And 't is more likely that both Aben Ezra and these Persons owned Ezra to be the Author of the Points because he makes that an Argument seeing Ezra made it or if Ezra made it either way shew it was a received Principle among them and therefore goes not to prove it but improves it and infers from it as a thing acknowledged especially by those he reproves Secondly That Aben Ezra doth call the Punctator Hamaphsik and meaneth Ezra thereby appears by what he saith elsewhere as on Esther 9.27 on the words Keketabam according to their writing The sence is saith he that the Volume of Esther should be read even just as it was written without Points and that because Ezra the Scribe Hiphsick Hapesukim distinguished the Verses which was not done till many years after the writing of this Volume Therefore our Wise Man of happy memory commanded That he that reads this Volume of Esther should not stop at the end of a Verse Hence Buxtorf observes He saw the Volume of Esther Unpointed Now in this place he expressly nameth Ezra the Hammappesik or Pauser or Punctator And in other places it is manifest that the Hammappesik or maker of the Verses was also the Maker of the Points Vowels and Accents Which Elias himself alloweth saying Vpeerush hammappesik mi shesam happesikat hattaamim And the meaning of Hammappesick the Pauser the Punctator is he that placeth the Pausing of the Accents Hence Dr. Walton and Capellus are mistaken who suppose that by Hammappesik no more is intended than he that placed the two thick Strokes or divided the Text into Verses which they allow to be much more ancient than the Points Vowels and Accents For as Buxtorf observeth Aben Ezra in Tsakooth doth often use the Verb Hiphsik not only to distinguish the Verses by two Points or Strokes but also to distinguish Verses by distinguishing Accents and Pauses As he saith in Tsakooth before the words last alledged Behold saith he we see that he viz. Hammappesik the Punctator hath put the Accent in the word Sham Gen. 21.33 which joyneth that with the word Shem that followeth But in Exod. 34.5 there Hiphsiko he makes a Stop that is makes an Athnak which distinguisheth it from the following words So that Hammappesick the Accentator or Punctator is the same with Baal Hattaamim the Author of the Accents or Punctation For so Aben Ezra in his Commentary on this very place Exod. 34.5 calls him there Baal Hattaamim the Author of the Accents who is here called Hammappesik the Punctator Capellus in Vind. lib. 1. cap. 1. § 5. would suppose Hammaphsik to be he that placed the Sounds and Force but not the Shape Resp. But First Elias plainly affirms that it is he that placed the Shapes And so doth Capellus himself allow the same elsewhere viz. in his Arcanum lib. 1. cap. 2. § 5. he saith there That none may think because 't is said Maphsick in the Singular Number the Punctator therefore it was Ezra and not the Masorites that Pointed the Text Saith he Aben Ezra doth elsewhere call them Maphsikim the Punctators in the Plural in his Book Mozenaim So that here he allows Maphsik to be the Placer of the Shapes where he can but bring it to the Masorites of Tiberias Capellus objects 'T is not said Which was not done till many years after the writing of Esther but Which was done not many years after the writing of Esther Resp. First It matters not which way it be read as to the Point in debate 't is brought to prove that Ezra was the Maphsik the Punctator which it proveth plainly whether way it be read long after or not long after Ezra Pointed it after both sences allow Capellus would fain suppose the Sound might be kept by Tradition or Custom to the time of the Masorites But this we have elsewhere showed cannot be Secondly The rest of the places alledged by Elias and his Followers out of Aben Ezra for the Novelty of the Points are principally Two that commend the Skill and Fidelity of the Masorites of Tiberias about the Punctation We shall therefore First Consider the scope of the places themselves to find thereby whether he esteemed the Masorites to be the Inventors or Reformers and Correctors of the Punctation And Secondly We shall consider what Aben Ezra and Others say in Commendation of the Masorites of Tiberias wherein lyes all the strength of the Evidence that Elias or his Followers do bring for the precise Time Place and Persons when where and by whom it is supposed the Points were first invented And we shall here consider whether what is spoken in Commendation of them do belong to them as Inventors or as Restorers or Correctors of the Punctation Thirdly We shall shew that Aben Ezra doth not ascribe the Invention of the Points to the Masorites because he oft differs from them and opposeth them but always follows the Punctuation and enjoyns all others so to do First then We are to consider the places themselves and the scope and true meaning of them The First is this taken out of Aben Ezra's Book Tsakooth pag. 138. col 2. alledged by Elias Masoret Hammasoret Prefat 3. pag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. The words are these And this is the Custom of the wise Men of Tiberias and they are the Foundation for from them were the Men of the Masora and we have from them received all the Punctation The place more at large is this The Punctators saith Aben Ezra immediately before the words alledged are used to point Sheva under Tau in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asit which is the Second Person Feminine that it might not be confounded with the Masculine Then he brings an Objection saying If any one objects What need was there to place Sheva there for seeing that Kamets was not under the letter Tau was it not easily understood that there was to be a quiescent Sheva because it was the last letter of the word for the last letter of every word that is without its own proper moveable Vowel Sheva belongs to them whether it be expressed or not Now the Answer to this Objection contains the words of the Quotation viz. And thus the Wise Men
Examples to prove what we have advanced of the Verses of the Hebrews not but that we might draw a great Number of them but the brevity in which we were bounded to be included hath hindered us to bring more The Reader then ought to be assured that if it was needfull we could have produced a far greater Number The second thing is that we have not chosen Psal. 150. because we thought we have gone through it better than in most of the others but simply because it is short and that one may in some wise conjecture what Tune it might have had LOu ez le Dieu des Dieux Que sa majes té soit be ni e Sa pu issance est in fi ni-e Peuples réve rez l'en tous lieux Chantres entonnez des Airs U nis sez u nis sez pardesaints concerts La Trompet te le Haut bo is la Muzet te Le Cornet l'Orgue le Bas son Et que la Flûte au doux son Leur réponde Qu'en ce beau jour Tout le monde tout le monde tout le monde chant à son tour tour N. De Rosier We have given this CL th Psalm in the French Version as we found it and have added this English Version which bearing the same quantity of Syllables is also applicable to the same Musical Composure And as the French took a little Liberty as may be seen from the former Translation of this Psalm just after the Hebrew so have we only instead of their repetition at the last we have made one Verse in a proportionable length That Holy God whose might is hurld Throughout this vast material World Praise him Oh Praise ye him each hour Extol his great his mighty Power Awake ye Harps ye Timbrels sing Eternal Praises to this King Let Trumpets raise Their Noblest Accents to his Praise Drums Organs Violins and Lutes Cymbals String'd Instruments and Flutes Shall all combine To Praise the Lord. Let all the Vniverse in this great Chorus join PRAISE YE THE LORD Seldeni Otia Theologica c. at Amsterdam in quatuor Libris THis Work is very Curious and very agreeable to those that don't care for the trouble of gathering dispers'd Materials together The Author who is very Learned and has read much spares them the trouble and gives them his Opinion as well as that of many others upon a great Number of Critical Questions in Divinity Thus I ought to call the Subject of this great Treatise For altho' he there explains some places of Divinity generally receiv'd he does it not after the way of the Schools he very ingeniously discourses upon sacred and prophane Antiquity Besides that the generality of the Examinations entirely respect certain Persons or matters of Fact which the Scripture speaks of or of certain things which are different from common receiv'd Notions in Divinity As to what regards the Sentiments of the Author we ought to acknowledge this on his behalf that he proposes them with much modesty and makes use of that honest liberty which Men of Learning may safely do He is very exact in citing those that he borrows any thing from and desires the Reader not to take this exactness as an Ostentation of his Learning which certainly is a better way than barely to cite such Authors as are serviceable to him He divides his Work into four Parts which in all contain forty one Dissertations in each of which many different Subjects are Treated on as happens in Persons who know much or who wou'd divert the Reader with variety of Objects We shou'd almost make a Book it self if we shou'd speak to every one of the Dissertations It shall suffice to give the Analysis of the first where it is examined who was the first Writer and a Judgment may be made of the rest by this Piece The first thing this Author does is to relate the Dispute formerly rais'd amongst the Doctors concerning the Prophecy of Enoch which the Apostle St. Iude makes mention of Some said this Patriarch's Prophecy was committed to Writing others maintain the contrary many Fathers and especially St. Augustin was of the first Opinion they often spoke of the Book of Enoch Some have made no difficulty to hold it as Canonical and wou'd prove by it that the Angels begat the Giants by the Commerce they had with Women There are some which say the Prophecy of Enoch contained four thousand and eighty two Lines and that it spoke of all that shou'd happen to the Posterity of the Patriarchs of the Crimes and Chastisements of the Iews of the Death that they shou'd make the Messiah suffer of their being dispersed through all the World and of the second Coming of Jesus Christ to judge Mankind They also pretended they found many Mathematical Opinions and that Noah had taken a great deal of Care to secure this Work in the Ark. After that the Author relates also many more ridiculous Fancies some have said that the Angel Raziel Tutor to Adam gave him a Book containing all Sciences and that after he was put out of the Garden of Eden he had it again suffering him to touch it at his humble Entreaties Others say that Adam did not receive this Book 'till after he had sinned then having besought God Almighty to grant him some small Consolation in the unhappy State he had reduced himself to they say that three days after he had thus begg'd of God the Angel Raziel brought him a Book which discovered to him all the Secrets of Nature the Power how to Command both good and bad Angels and the four parts of the Earth of Interpreting Dreams and Prodigies and foretelling whatsoever was to happen in the time to come They say also that this Book pass'd from Father to Son 'till it fell into the Hands of Solomon and that it gave to this learned Prince the Virtue of Building the Temple by means of the Worm Zamir without making use of any Instrument of Iron Mr. Selden afterwards speaks of those two Celebrated Pillars that some say the Successors of Seth built to engrave upon them the Discoveries that they made in the Sciences He also speaks of the suppositious Books of Enoch and Noah that Postulus forg'd in the last Age of the Book that Philo makes mention of as Abraham's which was Translated from Hebrew into Latin by Ritangelius of the Book that is entituled The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Fable of the Rabbini who said God writ his Law two thousand Years before the Creation of the World He might have added to all these Fabulous Works the Testament of Iacob the Ladder of Iacob which was a Book very much esteem'd amongst certain Hereticks call'd Ebionites the Books of Enoch upon the Elements and some other Philosophical Subjects those of Noah upon the Mathematicks and Sacred Ceremonies those that they attributed to Abraham teaching Philosophy in the Valley of Mamre to those he lead against the five
upon each of his Works and what been said in general upon this occasion there remains now only three things which are much worth our notice He often cites supposititious Writings as if they had been acknowledged by all the World as may be observ'd by the Passage of St. Peters Sermon which hath been a little before related and by another of St. Pauls which seems to be taken from the Book of his Voyages upon which see Eusebius and St. Ierom. This may make People believe that the great Reading of this Learned Man had not refined his Judgment for in fine there is no need of being a great Scholar to perceive what he cites resembles not the Style of the Apostles neither is it conformable to their Principles It cannot be doubted but that they believed the God whom the Iews adored was the true God Creator of Heaven and Earth and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who testifies it himself Neither can the Iews be accused of having worship'd Angels Months and Moons with any manner of Probability and the reason which the Author of St. Peters Sermon brings for it is so ridiculous that it can impose upon no body who is not very willing to be deceived It is true that some Learned Men have otherwise expounded this Accusation which this Author makes against the Iews but it 's plain by the Sequel that he understood it more simply than they do Howbeit this Book being visibly supposititious Origen acted much more prudently than his Master seeing he had Heracleon a Valentinian to refute who drew Consequences against the Old Testament from these pretended words of St. Peter he begins thus It would be very proper to examine whether this Book was really St. Peters or if it were not wholly supposititious and if not if any thing was not added to it after which he shews that the Iews adored the Creator of the World But it was the Custom of several of the Ancients to make use of all sorts of Reasons and Books to perswade what they had a mind to If it was so in our time Men would be accused immediately of Simplicity or of Falshood but each Age hath its Customs However its certain that Rules of sound Sense have always been the same and it s not less true that great Learning does not render the Mind more just according to the famous Maxim of Heraclitus which Clement relates amongst his Writings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clement also used to interpret Scripture allegorically without rendering his Allegories probable as the Ancients commonly did We may see what Mr. Huet says of the Origin of Allegories in his Origeniana l. 2. c. 2. Qu. 14. But if what Clement saith be read carefully in the fifth Book of his Stromates where he treats of it more at large one may easily perceive that what induced him chiefly to believe the Scripture was full thereof was that the Egyptians and Greeks had accustomed themselves to hide the Secrets of their Philosophy under Emblems and Fables It is true that the Iews were fallen into this Opinion before the coming of Jesus Christ. It is true also that in the most distant times this Nation expressed it self not only by dark words but symbolick Actions as appears by divers places of the Old Testament Notwithstanding there is no Example by which it's apparent that the Sacred Authors were willing to hide the Tenets of the Jewish Religion but on the contrary they exposed them very clearly and simply There are but few places of the History of the beginning of the World which may be turned into an Allegory with any probability and those which may only regard some Circumstances which signifie nothing in respect to the Foundation of the History and belong in no wise to the Worship of God or good Manners or Tenets without which they could not serve God nor be honest Men according to the Law In the rest of all the History of the Hebrews nothing appears which in the least resembles an Allegory all is simple and easie to be apprehended which makes us believe that those who writ it were in no wise Allegorists and that if there was any thing in the most ancient Events of the History of Mankind which may be understood that way the Hebrews have followed this turn only because the Tradition or the Memorials which they copied after were thus express'd We do not see that they amused themselves with Philosophy or gave any opinions of Physicks either clearly or obscurely and the places where Philo strives to find Philosophical Tenets are wrested after so violent a manner that there is no Person who perceives not that the Sacred Authors never thought upon what he makes them to say Also if we reflect upon the origin of Allegories amongst the Pagans it will appear that they are but of a late date and when Philosophers would give a Reason for Fables or the ancient Histories of the Gods that is to say to save the Honour of their most ancient Historians who were accused of having absurd Ideas of Nature as Excellent as that of the Gods according to their Idea of it Therefore it was necessary to make those believe whom these scandalous Histories offended that the Poets thought quite another thing than what they said and thence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies quite another thing than what is meant and is what is properly call'd Allegory It may be found out by reading of three Works lately Printed at Amsterdam and where mention is made in the 7th Tome of the Universal Bibleothick p. 109. Thus Histories amongst the Grecians were turn'd into Allegories fearing it should be thought that the Gods of Greece were only corrupted Men. The Iews who never applied themselves to the study of Criticks and Philosophy were no sooner amongst the Grecians but they found this Method of Expounding Religion and used it to explain the Sacred Books after a manner more conformable to the Opinion of the Pagans as is plain by the Example of Philo who Expounds all the Old Testament like a Platonick They even so much alter'd the Text that they expounded allegorically not only the places which might have any difficulty but also the most clear and simple without excepting even those that concern Manners which being literally understood include excellent Directions for the conduct of Life nor the most simple Histories whence most useful Instructions may be drawn without searching any other sense but that which offers it self to the mind Philo is full of such Examples The Christians afterwards imitated the Jews and were not satisfied to interpret allegorically the Old Testament but did the like concerning the New although neither Jesus Christ nor the Apostles proposed no Doctrin after an emblematick Manner which they expounded not clearly enough themselves to take away the trouble of seeking for the Sense in having recourse to Allegories which have nothing plain in them For in fine it must be granted that according to this
THE Young-Students-Library CONTAINING EXTRACTS and ABRIDGMENTS OF THE Most Valuable Books PRINTED In England and in the Forreign Journals FROM THE Year Sixty Five to This Time To which is Added A New Essay upon all sorts of Learning WHEREIN The USE of the SCIENCES Is Distinctly Treated on By the Athenian Society ALSO A Large ALPHABETICAL TABLE COMPREHENDING The CONTENTS of this Volume And of All The Athenian Mercuries and Supplements c. Printed in the YEAR 1691. LONDON Printed for Iohn Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry Where is to be had the Intire Sett of Athenian Gazettes and the Supplements to 'em for the Year 1691. bound up all together with the Alphabetical Table to the Whole Year or else in Separate Volumes Or single Mercuries to this Time 1692. behind ye. scenes sit mighty we nor are we known nor will we be the world and we exchanging thus while we find chat for y m they work for us dy' e see that lady in e y e mask wee 'l tell ye what she comes to ask tho an unconscionable task t is how her louer fast to bind false as her selfe false as y e faithless wind that other brings her fav'rite flea with golden fetters lock and key if t' has a sting our thoughts does craue or only a tongue as other females haue thinking our notions too ieiune some take their aime at madam moon some bring hard queryes which we crack and throw the gazeing world y e kernels back here 's honest tarr who woud his crown afford were he paid off'ere he returns aboard to know what he must ask in vain when we shall beat y e french again euclid where art tho 't was before despaird now maist thou haue thy circle squar'd but art is long and thou most stay nor Rome was built nor athens in a day we know s r but too well your case some powrfull fachon right or wrong embrace or starue and dye without a place auoid you rowt of noisy fools once more you are not in our rules could we but please y e learned few which send from far we coúd dispence w. you whither lost wretches whither woúd you run by guilt or by unhappy loue undon what need you perish or despair if you 'd haue aid an angel shows you where this querys quickly understood he only asks-dye think his coffee good yet woúd croud in tho iust by th' door or uówd heed take our letters in no more these dainty nútts j múst not loose nor búrn my paws-b your leaue dear puss jf those that pút em there enq 〈…〉 t' was you not j that robb'd y e fil how sweet is interlopers hire all englands rarityes are gath◠〈◊〉 from unknown earth fire waâ—◠〈◊〉 thoúsands agree in such a gloria 〈◊〉 or else a moments work wou'd 〈…〉 with beak and talons j infest those cúckoes that invade my 〈◊〉 and if minerva yet supply my antient gift in prophecy all scab'd and old they in some hollow tree shall dye London Printed For Iohn Dunton at ye. Raúen in ye. Poultrey THE Young-Students-Library CONTAINING EXTRACTS and ABRIDGMENTS OF THE Most Valuable Books PRINTED In England and in the Forreign Journals FROM THE Year Sixty Five to This Time To which is Added A New Essay upon all sorts of Learning WHEREIN The USE of the SCIENCES Is Distinctly Treated on By the Athenian Society ALSO A Large ALPHABETICAL TABLE COMPREHENDING The CONTENTS of this Volume And of All The Athenian Mercuries and Supplements c. Printed in the YEAR 1691. LONDON Printed for Iohn Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry Where is to be had the Intire Sett of Athenian Gazettes and the Supplements to 'em for the Year 1691. bound up all together with the Alphabetical Table to the Whole Year or else in Separate Volumes Or single Mercuries to this Time 1692. THE PREFACE THE Learned Grotius tells us in p. 34. of his Epistles That the Athenians in their High Court forbad all Introductory Prefaces and Addresses because they hated Affected Ornaments and what was not to purpose in their Discourses VVe are as willing to follow 'em as possible and the Subject of this Book being Abstracts it wou'd be very disproportionable to make a Tedious Preface to it VVe shall only tell the Reader what he is to expect from this VVork and then leave it to its sate The Catalogue whereof it is compos'd was made by our Bookseller and a stranger to our Society and was publisht to the VVorld before we ever saw it or had the least notice of the Design The Collections being not over regular neither as to the sorting them nor which is worse as to the Subject Matter it self However the Design appeared so serviceable to the Age that Subscriptions came very plentifully in and the whole was put out to be Translated VVhen it came to be Revis'd by our Society and some of us had engag'd to VVrite the Essay and an Original Treatise on the Masore and punctuation of the Hebrew Text we found the VVork very dangerous and difficult especially in these particulars 1. Several things in Divinity were taken out of the Republick of Letters which pass'd through the hands of the French Divines and where there were such Doctrines laid down as we thought very unsafe to publish in a Protestant Nation where 't is impossible not to find some who are weak and unsetled in our Religion 2. Most of the Fathers that were promis'd had met with the same fate and were so much Iesuitiz'd that we knew no more of 'em but the Title the rest was what the Papal Interest was pleas'd to make 'em speak 3. There were several Titles of Books in our Booksellers Catalogue which were found in the Catalogues of the Universal Bibliotheque Journal des Scavans c. which those Authors themselves had barely set down and not made any Abstract of 'em So that 't was impossible to Translate what was not those Authors having forgot them VVe have undertaken to redress these Mischiefs and we hope in such a Method as the Age may rather be a gainer by the disappointment 1. As to the first we have prevailâ—d with our Bookseller contrary to his Interest to expunge 'em entirely and to make a better Catalogue in their Room as it was easie enough to do in so fair a Field of Collections amongst 40 or 50 Volumes which he had to choose out of 2. As to the Second VVe have consider'd the Learned Dupin's VVorks which are here translated as also Dr. Cave's Lives of the Fathâ—rs which with those Fathers that were not Corrupted in these Translations do altogether remedy that Evil and give a very handsome Account of what we found so miserably mangled and corrupted by the Iesuits beyond Sea 3. VVe cou'd have no remedy but to choose out other Subjects which we hope have exceeded those few that were thus promis'd and we dare venture the Iudgment of the severest Criticks upon it In fine the
Reader is not at all a loser in the Exchange either in the Number or Quality of Books for as they may be assured we had no interest in expunging some and putting in others which we cou'd yet wish had been more so we shou'd hardly put in worse than those we took out having perhaps as much Iudgment in Books as the first Single Collector and our Bookseller But to do our Bookseller Iustice in this affair we shall acquaint the World that he very readily offer'd to add â—en Sheets more than the Proposals for the same Money to wit 130 instead of 120 and this after he had receiv'd a deal of Subscription-Money because he wou'd have the Work Compleat and Perfect and lay more than a Common Obligation upon his Subscribers perhaps there has not been another such an Instance to be found amongst those of his Calling Our Bookseller has been extreamly harass'd about a Speedy Publication which above all Men he has least deserv'd for there 's no body more diligent in his Employ than himself as every body of his Acquaintance will acknowledge There were Six Presses at work Mr. Rush-worth's Collections were in the Press at the same time and there were Six Weeks Frost which hindred the Printers therefore no Reasonable Person can suppose our Bookseller careless in the Affair or responsible for things out of his Power We have also to Advertise that the Author of the Hebrew Punctuation has retir'd into the Countrey where his necessary business will take up a great part of his time yet whatever Letters Objections c. shall be sent to him about his Performance if they be directed to our Bookseller they will come to his hands and he will notwithstanding his business set apart so much time as to maintain what he has advanc'd and to Answer all Objections whatever The Reader is to expect one other Inconvenience which was almost impossible to be avoided in having to do with six Presses the Abstracts are not exactly placed Dupin's Works being divided one Volume in one place and another in another but the Table will rectifie that Error only in one place the Printer has through a Mistake broken off in the midst of Bishop Ushers Works p. 37. and began another Subject and what shou'd have follow'd is transferred to page 65. which the Reader is desir'd to Correct and make a note of Reference with his Pen. And also instead of The the Direction word in page 316 should be Apostolici He that translated above an hundred of these Sheets is a Frenchman a Stranger to us and tho' we have revis'd all we cou'd not possibly give the Style a new Air and turn unless we had wholly alter'd it which wou'd have been so much labour that we had better to have translated all over again However this we can say for the Translation that its greatest Fault is that it keeps too nâ—ar the Original which the severest searcher after Truth will not be sorry to find for there 's less Error in such a Translation than in one where an affected profuse Liberty is assumed And after all we can't promise that in this hasty Review we have been rigid enough in our Examination only we hope there 's nothing very Material and if so a few small defects may easily be pardon'd by the Ingenious when they reflect of what great Vse this YOUNG STUDENTS LIBRARY will be to the World of which we shall now speak a word or two This Book is a kind of a Common Theatre where every person may Act or take such Part as pleases him best and what he does not like he may pass over assuring himself that every ones Iudgment not being like his another may choose what he mislikes and so every one may be pleas'd in their Turns A Book of this Nature provided every one follows the Rule just now laid down will solve the Common Complaint of Authors viz. that it 's impossible to please every Body for there 's scarce any one that can't find some Subjects here very agreeable to his Iudgment which if it alters may be refurnisht either by something new or perhaps by the very same things that displeas'd before Only here 's one Inconvenience depends upon this Variety to wit The unsetling people in their Iudgments and Perswasions To such we answer That what we here offer to the VVorld is rather a History of Books than a Method for people to fix their Iudgments by Here are several Subjects and some such as are diversely treated of but this hinders not the profit of the Reader since 't is universally granted that Diversity and Opposition shew the way to Truth It wou'd be an endless Task to Comment upon every good Thing that we find abstracted to our Hand or to expect that we shou'd censure what we find disagreeable to our Iudgments 't is enough to expunge such things in Divinity where Fundamentals are attaque'd by Libeâ—tines or Atheists we think we ought not to do it in any other Sciences let 'em all find out â—ruth after their own manner which when the Reader has fully consider'd he may by their Errors avoid Falsehood and raise one new Model out of their best Materials These Treatises are not only pleasant as to their Variety but useful for their Brevity there being the Substance and Value of a Considerable Part of a good Library brought within the Compass of this one Volume which as it will spare much Labour a man being able to peruse here more of an Author in half an hour than in half a day in the Author himself so it will save a great deal of Expences to such as wou'd be Master of the Knowledge of many Books by laying out a little Mony the performances of the Author and Quality if known being here Epitomiz'd and such as wou'd see more than oâ—â— Abstract may by the Title be directed where to buy the Author himself That there can be no Convenience without its Inconvenience we are satisfi'd and it may be alledg'd that Compendia sunt Dispendia but that this is an Error we dare appeal to the Encouragements that the Journal des Scavans the Republique des Lettres and the Universelle Bibliotheque c. out of which these Abstracts are Translated have met with from all the Men of Letters beyond Sea So that it must first be shewed that what has been so universally approved by the Ingenious in other Nations shou'd not also meet with the same Success here amongst us when Translated into English which to doubt wou'd be to question the Capacity Spirit and penetrating Genius of our Nation In fine We hope the Iudicious Reader will also pardon the Errataâ—s of the Press and with his own Pen Correct such Faults as may happen that way we having only had leisure to revise what went in not what comes out of the Press tho' we hope there 's nothing of an Error has escaped that 's very Material Directions to the Bookbinder
Common-Wealths The Reverse of Fortunes the Religions Politicks and Governments of Foreign Nations by this we may consult what practices have Establish'd Kingdoms what Laws have render'd any particular Nation more Safe happy and Civiliz'd than its Neighbours and what has Contributed to the Weakness and Overthrow of Bodies-Politick and what has Facilitated its Rise and Settlement and in a Prospect of the whole a New Scheme may be drawn for future Ages to act by Longum iter per praecepta breve Essicax per exempla Wisdom got by Experience is usually very Expensive Tedious and Uncertain Several Experiences confirm ones Knowledge and a Man's Life is too little to make many in every Case But if he finds e'm faithfully done to his hands the labour is sav'd and he may grow wise at the expence of other Mens Studies It was Thales that said of History Nil Mortem à vita differre because the Life of the Deceased depends upon the remembrance of the Living Mr. Brathwait in his Nursery for Gentry says Wou'd you be enabled for Company no better Medium than Knowledge in History It wou'd be a dispraise to advance an Elogy upon this Study which reconciles all times but futurity renders all the spatious Globe of the Inhabited World common and familiar to a Man that never Travelled We may see all Asia Africa and America in England all the Confederate Countreys in ones Closet Encompass the World with Drake make New Discoveries with Columbus Visit the Grand Seignior in the Seraglio Converse with Seneca and Cato Consult with Alexander Caesar and Pompey In a word whatever Humanity has done that 's Noble Great and Surprizing either by Action or Suffering may by us be done over again in the Theory and if we have Souls capable of Transcribing the bravest Copies we may meet Instances worth our Emulation History is as by some called the World's Recorder and according to my Lord Montague we must confess That no wise Man can be an Experienc'd Statist that was not frequent in History Another tells us That to be acquainted with History purchases more wisdom than the Strictest Rules of Policy for that the first do furnish us with Instances as well as Rules and as it were personates the Rule drawing out more into full proportion History best suits the Solidest Heads Whence we find that Caesar made it his Comment We read that King Alphonsus by Reading Livy and Ferdinand of Sicily by Reading Quintus Curtius recovered their Health when all the Physical Doses they took prov'd ineffectual but whether 't is Friendly to the Body or not 't is not our business to determine Sure we are that 't is Friendly to the Mind cultivates and informs it in what is very agreeable to its Nature we mean Knowledge therein imitating its Divine Original History is the most admirable foundation for Politicks by this may be discovered all that 's necessary for a Kingdoms Safety and Peace the Stratagems of War an account of the Management of the deepest Plots and Contrivances and the carrying on such Measures for every Publick Affair whether in respect to Enemies or Allies as the deepest Heads have ever yet practis'd And as History is so useful to such as are intrusted with the Charge of Common-wealths so 't is not less necessary for the Settling and Establishment of the Christian Religion We find a Great part of the World Worship Inanimate Beings others Sacrifice to Devils others propagate a Worship made up of the most ridiculous Fables as the Turks c. and many that profess the Christian Religion are so far degenerated from the Native Simplicity and Purity of it as that 't is now another thing A Reasonable Creature born into the World and finding in himself a Principle of Adoration of some Vnknown Being can't forbear an Enquiry into Religion but when he finds so many Religions so great a Diversity of Divine Worship and every Party willing to believe themselves in the Right and condemning all the rest of Mankind that are not of their Opinion This is enough to surprize such a Person but at the same time he will make this necessary Consequence after a little thought and application of Mind Certain I am that there 's a God and as certain that this God ought to be Worshipped after such a manner as is most Suitable to his Nature and the quality of the Worshipper as to his Nature it 's too fine and Spiritual to be pleas'd with any Adoration but what is Spiritual and as for Man the Creature that is to pay this Homage and Adoration he is a Reasonable Being and therefore it 's also Necessary that the Worship he pays be the most reasonable and perfect that his Nature will admit of Now a Man needs not go out of himself to consult what Reason is he has no more to do than to see what Religion is most agreeable to his Reason and most worthy the Dignity of his Nature we speak here of unprejudic'd persons And then History will inform him what has been practis'd and shew him that Christianity is the most noble sincere and pure Religion in the World but in this we refer you to what we have already spoken upon the foregoing Subject of Divinity There only remains to inform our Reader That 't is not onely Books but Maps Monuments Bass-Reliefs Medals and all Antient Descriptions that mightily strengthen and confirm History therefore 't wou'd be very useful to read such Authors as have treated upon Medals c. In our Catalogue of Miscellanies especially the Iournal des Scavans there are several of them The following Catalogue will be of great use in this Study HISTORY CHardin's Voyages into Persia fol. Embassie of the Five Jesuits into Siam fol. Chaumont's Embassie into Siam fol. Cornellis's Historical and Geographical Memoirs of Morea Negrepont and the Maritime places unto Thessalonica Dapper's Description of Africk in fol. Tavernier 's Travels in fol. Leti Historia Genevrina in 5 Volumes in Twelves Mr. Amelot's History of the Government of Venice Ortelius Mercator Cambden's Britannia Caesar's Commentaries Philo-Judaeus Cornelius Tacitus fol. Daniel's History of England fol. Lord Bacon of Henry the 7 th History of the Roman Empire Livies History Elzevir's Edition with Notes Supplementum Livianum Johannis Florus in Usum Dephini Valerius Maximus Utropius Suetonius Tranquillus Justinus Historicus Thucidides Translated out of Greek by Hobbs Zenophon Herodotus Diodorus Siculus in fol. Sir William Temple's Memoirs Dagoraeus VVhear his Method of Reading Histories Burnet's History of the Reformation Bishop Abbot's brief Description of the World in Twelves Davilla's History of the Civil Wars of France fol. Guichardin's History of Italy fol. History of Ireland Amour's Historical Account of the Roman State c. fol. Blome's Britannia Baker's Chronicles of the Kings of England fol. Bacon's Resuscitatio fol. Caesar's Commentaries fol. Heylin's Cosmography fol. Herbert's Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth fol. Howel's Institution of General History fol.
History of Barbados and the Caribbee Islands fol. Lodges Translation of the History of Josephus fol. Ogleby's History of China in 2 Vol. fol. History of Africa fol. History of America fol. History of Japan fol. History of Asia fol. Plutarch's Lives Printed by Sawbridge fol. Rawleigh's History of the World fol. Rushworth's Historical Collections all the Parts fol. Rycaut's History of the Turkish Empire fol. Knowl's History of the Turks fol. Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland fol. Andrew's History of Scotland fol. State of New-England in reference to the War with the Indians in the years 1675 1676 fol. The English Atlas in two Vol. fol. An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon in the East-Indies fol. Cave's Ecclesiastici or Lives of c. fol. Wheeler's Voyage into Greece fol. The Travels of Monsieur Thevenot into the Levant fol. The VVorks of the famous Historian Salust Philosophy PHILOSOPHY may be consider'd under these two Heads Natural and Moral The first of which by Reason of the strange Alterations that have been made in it may be again Subdivided into Speculative and Experimental Speculative Philosophy was mostly the Study of the Antients not that they were without some little of the Practick and Demonstration especially in Greece It wou'd be too long to run through the several Orders and Practices of the Eastern Philosophers where we may properly say Mankind took its Original that is discovered the ways of Living with safety convenience and delight The Chaldeans and Assyrians made some small progress before the Eastern parts but it was so dark mysterious and hieroglyphical and so confin'd to a certain sort of Men that the VVorld was but little the better for it but for a fuller Account of the Manner of its increase the different Sects that patroniz'd c. VVe refer you to the Abstract of Stanlyes Lives of the Philosophers which you shall find in this Book Our chief design in this Essay being to shew the Usefulness of it and the readiest way to attain it But first we must consider the distinction we have made of Speculative and Experimental and as much as possible Exclude the first for an indefatigable and laborious Search into Natural Experiments they being only the Certain Sure Method to gather a true Body of Philosophy for the Antient Way of clapping up an entire building of Sciences upon pure Contemplation may make indeed an Admirable Fabrick but the Materials are such as can promise no lasting one Hence 't was that our ever Famous ROYAL SOCIETY that Great Enfranchizer of Experimental Truth and Knowledge assum'd the Motto Nullius in Verba The great Vse then of Natural Philosophy whose true Origine depends upon Experiments is manifold one can scarce think of any Affair in a practical Life any Imploy Profession or Business whatever but may receive great Advantages from it Nor is the Usefulness of it in the private Government of mens Minds less than its Advantages in respect of their publick Practices This is very apparent if we consider that our Mind has a great dependance upon our Body's Hence the Poets wish had a happy Conjunction in 't Mens sana in Corpore sano the least disturbance to the Body incapacitates the Mind from a free and easie Speculation an unfortunate Blow sometimes wholly takes away the Use of Right Reasoning and on the contrary a healthful and sound Body facilitates the Labours of the Mind Now no Man can be so insensible as not to see the vast Usefulness of this Science to the Body and how properly 't is call'd Natural Philosophy not to mention the great Delight and Satisfaction the Mind receives in Theory of it either by Converse or Reading But when we come to Practice all the World agrees in a common Suffrage All the Mechanick Arts acknowledge the Usefulness both in new Inventions and Improvements of what things are already found out Merchandize the main Sinew of Bodies Politick ows its great Assistance to the Invention of the Compass and if Encouragement were given no doubt but the Method of finding out a Longitude at Sea might make this universal Correspondence of Nations more safe speedy and by consequence more Advantagious we being very well satisfied that such a Task is not impossible But Experiments are not only confin'd to the Sea abroad All domestick Affairs have a very great share in this Study and the Benefits accrewing from it as Instruments for the Help and greater Perfection of the Senses than former Ages knew of viz. Microscopes Otocoustions c. Engines and Devices for the speedier making of all Manufactures Now Methods of Improving Lands restoring the Barrenness of Soyl Management of Agriculture The bettering of Corn Fruit c. in short for the greatest Advantages of a laborious Life which Adams Transgression has subjected his Posterity to As to Moral Philosophy the well governing of Mens Lives and Manners it has been a Subject very nobly treated on by Cato Seneca Epicurus Epictetus and several of the Antient Philosophers 'T is a faint Essay to Christianity and those Precepts that have been laid down by those Great Men are so far both beyond the Knowledge and Practice of most Christians that we doubt not but at the day of Judgment they will condemn them We might add more and say we doubt not but that they may easily be sav'd and share of as great Degrees of Glory as many Christians Ro. 2.14 compar'd with v. 12. shews that Heathens have a Law of Nature which dictates the Notions of God Justice Temperance c. and that they shall be judg'd neither by the Precepts of Christianity or Law of Moses but by this Law and if they sin against it they shall perish by it Now 't is plain that the Antithesis holds that if they act agreeably to it they shall be saved by it Nor will that Text exclude 'em that says There 's no name under Heaven given whereby we may be saved but by the Name of the Lord Iesus For it 's a plain Consequence that if they believe on God they also believe virtually in Iesus Christ who is of the same Essence or one God with his Father that this virtual Belief is that which will save Men and not the bare Nominal Letters that make up the Name of Iesus Christ is plain from the different Sounds and Expressions in different Nations Besides if we believe on Emanuel Shiloh c. 't is the same thing and this is yet plainer when we consider that some good Christians born deaf and dumb have by outward Signs and Motions receiv'd a very fair Idea or virtual Knowledge of Iesus Christ and have liv'd and dy'd without ever hearing of the Name Lastly without this virtual Power all Children wou'd certainly be damn'd whether baptiz'd or not which the Christian Church never yet believ'd since it was a Church But to leave this Digression the Advantage and Use of Moral Philosophy can't want a high Recommendation when we see
of the Book of Samuel of the Chronicles and of Kings put together according as the order of events required Here are also many Psalms with the occasions and most difficult passages of the Canticles explained after the manner of our Author that is to say according to the method of the Rabbins who only guessed at many things in ancient History Whereof see an example in C. 58. about the explication of Psalm 58.35 but as neither the time nor the Authors of all the Psalms are not known Lightfoot could not range them in Chronological order Which has obliged him to place the Book of Psalms after the the 35 th chapter of the 1 st Book of Chronicles In this place he makes divers reflections upon the gathering together of these Sacred Songs Ps. 71. He tells us the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Songs was written when Solomon had finished the buildings he had undertaken He believes that the Song of Songs was composed by this Prince upon his Marrying the King of Egypt's Daughter who that being a very hot Country was Brown as it is Cant. 1.5 6. but his chief end was to represent the Spiritual Marriage of Jesus Christ with his Church under the sensible Type of his own with an Egyptian As for the Ecclesiastes Lightfoot places it much later and thinks it a work that he composed in the time of his Repentance see Pag. 26. from this place the Books of the Kings and Chronicles are Printed in Columns so that one may see at first view the conformity and difference which is between them as there is in this History many Chronological difficulties so Lightfoot is more exact to mark the years of every Prince 5. Being come to the Reign of Vzziah whom the Scripture also calls Azarias he saith that before that time there always had been some Prophets but that none of them had left his Prophecies in writing And according to him 't was in this time that the Prophets begun to write On this occasion he describes the order and end of the Prophecies of Hosea Ioel Amos Obadiah and Ionas he maintains that the first occasion of the Prophecies of Hosea was the death of Zacharias Son of Barachia As all that this Prophet saith cannot relate to one time only so he here mentions but the four first Chapters the others are each in their place He hath observed the same order in regard to the rest who have prophesied in divers times Those according to his Judgment whose Predictions have been delivered in the same time are inserted entire in the places where Lightfoot speaks of what happened at that time as Nahum Zephaniah c. 6. The Book of Esdras immediately followeth the first of Chronicles It was then that Cyrus published his Edict by which he permitted the Jews to return to their Countrey for tho' Darius of Media or Astyages as the Greeks call him lived at that time it was made in the name of Cyrus his Grandson Lightfoot makes divers remarks upon this Darius of Media to p. 113. in explaining the 5th Chapter of Daniel and to p. 136. he speaks of several things during the Reign of Cyrus and the Succession of the Kings of Persia. Lightfoot inserts the History of Esdras after the 4th Chapter of Esdras He believes the Assuerus mentioned in this History was also called Artaxerxes and that he was called Assuerus from the name of one of his Predecessors which is spoken of in Dan. 9.1 to wit the Grandfather of Cyrus whom the Greeks called according to Lightfoot Astyages He makes this Assuerus immediately to follow Cyrus 7. Nehemiah and Malachy end this work and the Spirit of Prophecy having ceased among the Jews the Books that they have since made have not had the same Authority as those that preceded them Lightfoot explains here the difficult Chronologies that he meets with in his way 2. The Harmony of the Old Testament is followed with some remarks upon Genesis and Exodus the first are entituled Paucae ac novellae observationes super librum Geneseos quarum pleraeque certae caeterae probabiles sunt omnes autem innoxiae ac raro antea auditae It is a Collection of divers Rabbinical Remarks or like in subtilty to those of the Rabbins They conjecture at many things according to the custom of these ingenious Doctors for example That the first natural Day in the Climat of the Garden of Eden was thirty six hours long even as the day whereof mention is made in the 10 th Chapter of Joshua That the Moon and some Stars were created before the Sun That it was at the full before the Sun appeared which then augmented its Light but that the Earth hindering the sight thereof it appeared not to Adam till six days after who saw it in its first quarter after that the Promise had cleared the darkness of the Fall That the clean Beasts were created in each kind to the number seven whereof three pairs were destined to the propagation of their kind and the seventh to be sacrificed by Adam after he had sinned but that there was but one pair of each kind of unclean Animals c. His Remarks upon Exodus bear this Title Manipulus spicilegiorum è libro Exodi ubi solutio probabilis scrupulorum quorundam manifestorum explanatio difficiliorum textuum qui hoc libro occurrunt antea ab aliis raro exhibitae These Remarks keep much of the subtilty of the preceding ones therein is nevertheless seen a method a little more conform to that which the Interpreters of the holy Scripture commonly follow Every Section contains particular Remarks which have no connexion one with the other and there are 59 Questions which we cannot undertake to make an exact Extract of We shall only bring two or three of them by which you may judge of the rest Lightfoot believes that the 88 th and 89 th Psalms are the most Antient Works that remain amongst us and are made by Heman and Ethan Sons of Zerach as hath already been remarked who lived in the time of the Egyptian Slavery He makes answer to those who oppose him therein that Ethan speaks of David 1. That this might be a Spirit of Prophecy as 't is spoken of Samuel in Psal. 99. which the Hebrews believe to be of Moses 2. That Prophet having left some Writings they have been polished and augmented by others who had also the gift of Prophecy according as certain things present past or to come required it This will plainly appear saith Lightfoot if we compare the 18th Psalm with the first of Sam. chap. 22. Obadiah with Ieremiah c. 49. v. 14. 1 Chron. c. 16. with Psal. 92. 105. 2 Pet. c. 2. with the Epistle of St. Iude. He believes that this piece of Ethan hath likewise been polished in David's time and that several times the name of David was then inserted from Section the 30th unto the end Our Author endeavours to describe the Tabernacle and
other Iames Hamilton They went into Ireland by order of the King of Scotland to form some agreement with the Protestant Nobility of that Country intending thereby to assure himself of that Kingdom in case Q. Elizabeth died suddenly The better to cover their enterprise and to give no Umbrage to a Queen extreamly suspitious they set themselves to teach Latin at Dublin where at that time 't was very rare to find persons learn'd in Humanity Vsher having profited very much by them in a little time seem'd to have a particular inclination to Poetry which he afterwards chang'd into as great a desire of understanding History that which created this inclination in him was reading these words of Cicero Nescire quid antra quam natus sis acciderit id est semper esse puerum his Annals and his other writings sufficiently shew what progress he had made in this study whereof he has given sensible proofs in his Infancy Being in the University of Dublin establish'd principally by the care of Henry Vsher his Uncle Archbishop of Ardmagh He set himself to read the Fortalitium fidei of Stapleton which made him resolve to apply himself to the reading of the Fathers to see if this Author had cited them faithfully he began to put this design in execution at 20 years old and continued this Study without intermission for 18 years obliging himself to read every day a certain task His Father had a mind to divert him from it and engage him to Study the Law to which our Prelate had no inclination but in 1598. he dying soon after left his Son at Liberty to chuse what manner of life was most pleasing to him he was the eldest son of the family and the estate his Father left was considerable enough to make him apply all his time in Domestick affairs This made him resolve to put off this trouble and to remit the Estate to his Brother with orders to give to his Sisters what their Father had left them reserving only to himself what would maintain him in the University with a sufficiency to buy himself some Books Whilst he was at the University and but yet 18 years old he disputed against a Jesuit call'd Fitz-Symmons and overcame him in two conferences which made this Jesuit afterwards in a Book Intituled Britannomachia call him the most learn'd of those who are not Catholicks A-Catholicorum Doctissimum he made so great a progress in the first years that he apply'd himself to Divinity that his Uncle Archbishop of Ardmagh ordain'd him Priest at the 21 year of his Age. This ordination was not conformable to the Canons but the extraordinary merit of young Vsher and the necessities of the Church made him believe it was not necessary to stay till the age mark'd out by the Ecclesiastical Laws of Ireland He preach'd then at Dublin with very great applause he particularly devoted himself to the controversies which were between the Protestants and Roman Catholicks he treated on them so clearly and with so much solidity that he confirm'd many wavering Protestants and prevailed with many Roman Catholicks to embrace the Protestant Faith But amongst those who rank'd themselves in the Protestant Churches there was a great number that were not so sincere as he could have wished them they did all they could to obtain the publick exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion at Dublin that they might insensibly have had the Liberty to make a profession of their true Sentiments Vsher who believ'd that this toleration wou'd be of a very dangerous consequence oppos'd it with all his might and one day as he Preacht upon this matter with great zeal he spoke something which then no notice was taken of but 40 years after it was found to be a true Prophecy he took his Text upon these words of Ezek. ch 4. v. 5. And thou shalt bear the Iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days I have appointed thee a day for a year He applied these days to Ireland and said that he who reckon'd from this year to 40. should find that the Protestants of Ireland should bear the Iniquity of those who were for a toleration in these times this was in 1601. and 40 years were no sooner expired 1641. but the Irish Catholicks made a bloody Massacre upon the Protestants He never wholly discontinued to Preach whilst he was in Ireland altho he was Professor of Divinity in that University but he accustom'd himself to make a Voyage every three years into England where he found a greater variety of Books than in Ireland there he past one part of his time at Oxford another at Cambridge and another at London and carefully visited all their publick and particular Libraries he made collections of what Books he there read and made remarks upon them with a design to make a work that he had resolved to Intitule A Theological Bibliotheque wherein he had treated very accurately of all the Ecclesiastical Antiquities but the misfortunes of Ireland and the Civil Wars of England hinder'd him from finishing it he ordered when he died that it should be put into the hands of Mr. Laugbaine Dr. of Divinity to supply what was wanting and publish them to the World This learn'd man engag'd himself forthwith in this useful work but he died before he finished it 1657. There is yet to be seen in the Bodleyane Bibliotheque his Manuscripts which no man dares undertake to finish In 1615. there was a Parliament in Ireland and an assembly of the Clergy where certain Articles were compos'd touching Religion and Ecclesiastical Discipline Vsher who was the chief in it caus'd it to be sign'd by the Chancellor of Ireland and by the Orators of the Assembly of the Bishops and of the Clergy King Iames approved of 'em also altho' there was some difference between these and the Articles of the Church of England some ill dispos'd persons and it may be Roman Catholicks took occasion from that to spread evil reports of Vsher. They accused him of Puritanism which was no little Heresie in the opinion of the King they also made use of this artifice to render those odious who appear'd the most capable of opposing the progress that the Missionaries of Rome endeavoured to make in Ireland Indeed the people knew not what this word signified and wherein Heresie consisted but it was known the King mortally hated Puritans and that was sufficient to make 'em look upon these Puritans as most dangerous Hereticks 't was this that obliged an Irish Divine to write to Vsher who was that time in England that it would not be amiss to desire the King to define Puritanism that all the World might know those who were tainted with this strange Heresie but Vsher had no need to make use of this way to justifie himself some conversations that he had with the King setled so good an opinion of him that the Bishopprick of Meath in Ireland being vacant the King gave it him immediately and
took all imaginable care that the Roman Religion should not make any progress in Ireland yet it stole in by the negligence of other Bishops insomuch that that Party which maintain'd it did sensibly increase and grow strong It was this that oblig'd King Charles the first to write a Letter to the Primate of Ireland which is to be found in page 38. wherein he authorizes him to write Letters of Exhortation to all the Bishops of Ireland that they shou'd discharge their duty better than they had done About the latter end of the year 1631. Vsher makes a Voyage into England where he publish'd a small English Treatise concerning the Antient Religion of Ireland and of the People which inhabited the North of Scotland and of England he shews in this Treatise how it was in respect to the Essential parts of the same Religion which at present is establish'd in England and which is very forreign to that of the Roman Catholicks The year following our Arch-Bishop return'd into Ireland and publish'd a Collection intituled Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge whereof the first Pieces were written about the year 1590. and the last about 1180. there one may learn the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Ireland In 1639. which was seven years after he publish'd his Book intituled Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates wherein he inserted the History of Pelagius and his Sentiments There are to be found the Antiquities of the most distant Churches of Great Britain since Christianity was Preached there that is to say since about 20 years after the death of Jesus Christ. In 1640. Vsher makes a Voyage into England with his Family with design to return very soon into Ireland but the Civil Wars hinder'd him insomuch that he cou'd never return to his Country again T is said that in the year following he brought the King to sign the death of the Earl of Strafford but as to this Dr. Parr speaks very much in his Justification he afterwards shews us after what manner he lost all that he had in Ireland except his Library which he brought into England Strangers very much envyed this great man that his Compatriots shou'd offer him divers Places of Retreat The Heads of the University of Leiden soon gave him a considerable Pension and offered him the Title of Honourable Professor if he wou'd come into Holland The Cardinal Richelieu sent him his Medal and also proffer'd to him a great Pension with the liberty of professing his Religion in France if he wou'd come thither Our Arch-Bishop thank'd him and sent him a Present of Irish Grey-Hounds and other Rarities of that Country Three years after he publish'd a small Treatise intituled A Geographical and Historical Research touching Asia Minor properly so call'd to wit Lydia whereof frequent mention is made in the New Testament and which the Ecclesiastical Writers and other Authors call'd Proconsulary Asia or the Diocess of Asia In this Treatise there is a Geographical Description of Asia Minor and of its different Provinces as that of Caria and Lydia under which the Romans comprehend Ionia and Aeolia Vsher shews there 1. That Asia whereof mention is made in the New Testament and the Seven Churches which St. Iohn spoke of in the Apocalypse were included in Lydia that every one of these Cities were the Chief of a small Province and because of this Division they were chosen to be the principal Seats of the Bishops of Asia 2. That the Roman Provinces had not always the same extension but were often contracted or enlarg'd for reasons of State thus the Empire was otherwise divided under Augustus than it was under Constantine under whom Proconsulary Asia had more narrow bounds than formerly 't is remarkable that under this last Emperor Proconsulary Asia which was govern'd by a Proconsul of the Diocess of Asia from whence the Governor was call'd Vicarius or Comes Asiae or Dioceseos Asianae but this division was afterwards chang'd under his Successors and whereas every Province had but one Metropolis to satisfie the ambition of some Bishops 't was permitted to two of 'em at the same time to take the Title of Metropolitan 3. That under Constantine Ephesus was the place where the Governors of Asia met to form a kind of Council which decided affairs of importance and 't was for this that Ephesus was then the only Metropolis of Proconsulary Asia that the Proconsul which was Governor never submitted to the Authority of the Praetorian Prefect and that there was something so like this in the Ecclesiastical Government that the Bishop of Ephesus was not only Metropolitan of Consulary Asia but also the Primate and Head of the Diocess of Asia 4. That there was a great conformity between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Government in this that the Bishops of every Province were subject to their Metropolitans as the Magistrates of every City were to the Governors of the whole Provinces This was the time wherein Vsher published in Greek and Latin the Epistles of St. Ignatius with those of St. Barnabas and St. Polycarp seven years after he added his Appendix Ignatiana where he proves that all the Epistles of Ignatius are not suppositious and explains many ecclesiastick antiquities he published the same year his Syntagma de editione 70 Interpretum where he proposes a particular Sentiment which he had upon this version 't is this that It contained but the five Books of Moses and that it was lost in the burning of the Library of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus and that Doritheus a Heretick Jew made another version of the Pentateuch and also translated the rest of the Old Testament about 177 years before the birth of Jesus Christ under the Reign of Ptolomaeus Philometor and that the Greek Church preserves this last version instead of that which was made under the Reign of Ptolomeus Philadelphus he also treats in this same work of the different editions of this version which according to him are falsly styled the version of the 70 this Book was published a year after the death of our Prelate with another De Cainane altero or the second Canaan which is found in the version of the 70. and in St. Luke between Sala and Arphaxad This last work of Vsher was the Letter which he wrote to Mr. 〈…〉 the difference he had with Mr. a friend of the Archbishops we shaâ—â— speak of it hereafter Dr. Parr informs us that in the Civil Wars of England Vsher going from Cardisse to the Castle of St. Donates which belonged to Madam Stradling he was extreamly Ill treated by the Inhabitants of Glamorganshire in Wales they took his Books and Papers from him which he had much ado to regain and whereof he lost some which contained remarks upon the Vaudois and which shou'd have serv'd to carry on his Book de Ecclesiarum Christianarum Successione where there is wanting the History of more than 200. years viz from Gregory the 11th to Leo the 10th from the year 1371 to 1513 and
these two estates they are sent back to be judg'd in the day of expiation if they repent they are seal'd for life if they continu'd in impenitence death was to be their inevitable reward 2. St. Paul cites a passage of Scripture to the same purpose Ephes. 5.14 Wherefore saith he Awake ye that sleep Arise from the dead and Christ shall give you light They unprofitably plague themselves to seek this passage in the Scripture for there it is not In vain they look for it in Isaiah the 26.19 the 60. and 18. or in the Apocriphal pieces which are attributed to Ieremiah from whence the Christians might insert it Skinner tells us that St. Paul makes this allusion from a custom of the Jews which Maimonides mentions and paraphrases the words which he finds amongst the Jews upon this occasion 'T was the Custom saith Maimonides in the same treatise Chap. 3. Section four to sound a trumpet the first day of the year after which the publick Cryer pronounced these words Awake Awake you that sleep Altho this Custom of sounding the trumpet was commanded by the Law Levit. 23.24 he observes another thing from these Words of the publick Cryer 't was as much as if he shou'd say you that sleep awake from your Drouziness you that perpetually sigh cast away your Grief examine your works return to your duty by repentance and remember who 't is that created you Thirdly our Lord in speaking of the Sin against the Holy Ghost tells us that it shall neither be forgiven in this World nor in that which is to come Matt 12.32 The Rabbins have also a manner of speaking very like this there is a Sin which is punish'd in this World saith Maimonides in the same Book Chap. 6. Section 189. and not in the world to come there is a sin also which shall be punished hereafter and not now and one that shall be punished in both thus our Lord hath said that those shall be punished in this Life and the other that should blaspheme against the Holy Ghost and 't is this which has happen'd to the Jews who attributed to the Devil the Miracles of our Saviour they suffered a thousand evils in this Life by the Tyranny of the Romans and dying in impenitence they are delivered to the pains of the next which they have merited thereby Fourthly Jesus Christ forbids his Disciples to Swear he commands they shall be contented to say yes yes no no 't is or 't is not Mat. 5.32 Maimonides also says that the commerce that is between the wise is full of truth and fidelity they answer No to that which is not and Yes to what is Lightfoot cites this last passage in his remarks of the Thalmudists upon St. Matthew but he hath not observ'd the others Skinner farther shews some passages of the Rabbins in the four following Letters but as there is nothing very considerable so I shall tarry no longer upon ' em A little before Vsher had finished his History of Godeschalch of which I have spoken S. Ward Dr. in Divinity wrote to him in a Letter dated May 25. 1630. That he had encouragement to wish this History would be more famous and correct than any thing of the same nature then extant He adds to that that he doubted not but that there were Semipelagians or Divines of Marseille who first placed the Predestinarians in the Catalogue of Hereticks he found therein nothing that surpriz'd him but that the Predestinarians were first call'd those Hereticks who were not of the opinion of St. Augustine thus Divines have always done the like Ward believes that 't is Arnobius Author of a commentary upon the Psalms who first treated of the Heresie of the Doctrine of St. Austin about Predestination and who gave the name of Praedestinati to those who maintain'd his Doctrine he lived according to Ward before Tiro Prosper Faustus and Gennadius He approves of the conjecture of the sixth Age who thought that Arnobius lived in the time of St. Augustine because that his commentary upon the Psalms is dedicated to Laurentius and Rusticus African Bishops who were of the Council of Carthage when St. Augustine was there Altho' Ward found not these names in any Council of Carthage he easily persuades himself it may be because that two Bishops of Africa both call'd Rusticus signâ—d the Synodical Letter to Innocent the First where they condemn'd Pelagius and Celestius It is the 90th Letter amongst the Epistles of St. Augustine and was written in the year 416. Two years after the Council of Carthage was held where the preceding Councils were confirm'd 't was compos'd of 217 Bishops amongst which was St. Augustine but there was but 24 who sign'd 'em and among their names was found Laurentius Iositanus Besides Erasmus in the sixth Age hath remark'd in this Arnobius many Latin words which were very much in use in Africk in St. Augustine's time This is the reason which Ward brings to prove that in the time of St. Augustine a Divine who dedicated a Book to two African Bishops had the boldness to accuse his Doctrine of Heresie Nevertheless he finds not that this Arnobius was censured for it 'T is not that Ward approves his Sentiments or the name that he hath given to those of St. Augustine but on the contrary he speaks of it with Indignation He adds that Arnobius was followed in that by Tiro Prosper who must be distinguished from Prosper Aquitanus a disciple of St. Augustine Ward found these words in a Manuscript of this first Author the 24th year of Arcadius and Honorius Praedestinatorum haeresis quae ab Augustino accepisse initium dicitur his Temporibus Serpere exorsa The Heresie of the Predestinarians which as 't is said hath taken its birth from St. Augustine begun to spread in this time After him Fausius and Gennadius have given this ill name to the Doctrine of St. Augustine and particularly the last altho' Sigebert adds Ward says that the opinion of Predestination was produced from the ill Interpretation of some places of St. Augustine from whence they draw these false consequences Nevertheless it seems that these of Marseille and some Africans in the time of St. Augustine maintained this opinion of the Predestinarians as Sigebert relates was drawn from St. Austine by mistaken Inferences as it appears by the objections of Prosper and Hillary proposed to him which have been related by others There is in 162 and 163. Letters some fragments of a discourse of the same Ward with William Bidell Bishop of Kill-more in Ireland touching the efficacy of the Sacraments and particularly that of Baptism and in the 205 Letter the opinion of Vsher concerning the Sabbath which he believed to have been observed from the beginning of the World which made some enquiry among the Heathens of which the greatest part look'd upon the seventh day as Sacred which he proves by many passages after Salmatius and Rivet c. He shews
afterwards in what manner the Apostles consecrated the Sabbath particularly by this passage of St. Ignatius to the Magnesians Non amplius sabbatizantes sed secundum Dominicam Viventes in qua vita nostra orta est But this matter hath been more largely treated upon by others and Vsher confesses when he read the Fathers he collected nothing upon this subject because he thought there was never any controversie about it produced amongst the Divines Those that desire to understand all the Antient Characters of the Saxons may find an Alphabet thereof in the 253 Letter from Dr. Longbain as also divers Letters that treated by the by of Chronological questions and Astronomy but as there is nothing compleat or very considerable upon these abstruse matters upon which few persons will give themselves any trouble 't was thought unnecessary to make any extract thereof I shall say but one word of the 267 Letter addressed to Lewis Cappel where our Archbishop takes against him the part of Arnold Boat the difference that was between these two Learned men may be reduced to these two heads First Boat believed there was very little variety of reading in the Old Testament as the differences of Keri and Chelib and of the Eastern and Western Copies and that these varieties were not to be found but by the means of the Massore and from the Hebrew Manuscripts Cappel on the contrary maintains that the number of these varieties are very great that they may be collected from many ancient Copies and particularly that of the Septuagint although much corrupted The Archbishop says also that we can't have such assurance upon this version where there are many prodigious faults and so very many differences that the Authors connot be made use of but as an Original very corrupt even without speaking of the errors produced by malice but there is no Book of the Scripture where they are so far from the Original as that of Iob which by the Authority of Origen and St. Ierome is proved that these Interpreters have cut off a great number of verses Vsher maintains after St. Ierome that they added and changed several passages He says 't was occasioned by malice to keep from the Greeks the knowledge of the Sacred Oracles having shewn in some places that they were very capable of translating it well had they been Inclin'd thereto as in the Book of Ezek. where they are much more conform to our Hebrew than in the other Books of the Scripture according to the works of St. Ierome These Sentiments of Vsher are not to be wondered at when we consider what hath been said of his opinion concerning the Author of the Translation of the 70. Secondly Boat and Vsher believed that they began to work at Massore immediately after the time of Esdras whereas Cappel maintains that it was not so much as thought on till 600 years after Christ Vsher endeavours to maintain his Sentiment by a proof drawn from the Gemare of Babylon Which makes mention of Certain Scribes who counted all the Letters of the Law and mark'd that Vau which is in the word Gachon Levit. 11.24 is exactly in the middle in regard of the number of the Letters c. On which occasion Usher speaks of Ioseph and tho he confess'd to Cappel that Philo did not know the Hebrew he agrees not with the Jewish Historian who had written his History in Hebrew as himself saith and who drew it from the Original Hebrew Vsher says nevertheless that he hath not done it faithfully As Ierome Xavier the Jesuite saith 't is not long since he gave the History of the Evangelists to the Persians which he hath adjusted as himself pleas'd Ioseph gave formerly to the Greeks the History of the Old Testament changing therein and adding thereto many things drawn from the Apocriphal Books 'T is thus that he says Solomon Reigned 80. years in stead of 40. and that he says David Left for the use of the Temple 100000 talents of Silver instead of 1000000 He adds to the Text an account of Moses Age from three years of the War he made with the Ethiopians and of Tharbis son of the Ethiopian King which conceived a great love for him c Vsher speaks also of the Samaritan Pentateuch from whence he brings 5. or 6 Copies first into Europe He believes that it was corrupted by one Dosthes or Dositheus which in the time of the Apostles was suppos'd to pass for the Messia amongst the Samaritans this is founded upon the Authority of St. Origen who assures us in express terms that this Dositheus corrupted the Pentateuch in many places He afterwards brings some passages in the Samaritan Pentateuch where he maintains that the numbers or the words were chang'd he even believes that Hebrew was intermix'd with the Greek Septuagint If that were true we ought not to be surpriz'd to find that this translation is more conform to the Samaritan text than the Hebrew Vsher also pretends that there is not more variety of reading any where than in the Greek Version Tom. 8. p. 174. The Antiquities of the British Churches in which is inserted the History of the Pestiferous Heresie introduced into the Church by Pelagius a Britain against the Grace of God To which is added an historical Exposition of the most important dispute about the Succession and State of the Christian Churches By James Usher Archbishop of Ardmagh Primate of Ireland The Second Edition Each part Corrected and Augmented by the Author himself At London 1687. in Fol. pag. 738. THE British Antiquities of Usher are composed of three parts the first containeth six Chapters and includes the fabulous History of the Progress of the Christian Religion in England since the year XLI of Jesus Christ to the year CCI. The Monks of the last Ages have almost entirely invented it and whatsoever truththere may be in it is so mingled with gross lyes that in divers places of the Pagan Fables are found more footsteps of truth than in these Monastick Histories Neither doth Vsher propose them as true he is so far from that that he advertiseth the Reader to believe nothing of it by these terms of the Epicharme Watch and Remember to be incredulous are the sins of Wisdom and by these words of Euripides there is nothing more profitable to mortals than a wise incredulity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As it is certain that a great many men do but too much follow this maxim in our Age So it cannot be doubted but a great part of Christianity hath need enough to be put in mind thereof What is most likely in it to be true is according to the testimony of Gildas which hath been related elsewhere that some person Preached the Gospel in England towards the end of the Reign of Tiberius which continued here until the time of Dioclesian At least Tertullian and Origen reckon England amongst those Countries that in their time had
the Gospel Preached unto 'em and Maximianus Herculius violently persecuted the Christians which he found here in the year CCCIII. It 's what Vsher tells us Chap. 7. Where beginneth what we have called the second part of his Work It may be that many things might be added to the precedent which he saith there upon the Faith of the Monks of the great number of Martyrs that Maximianus put to death and of the circumstances of their punishments Howbeit it 's certain that Dioclesian and Maximian having voluntarily quitted the Empire in the year CCCIV. and Constantius Chlorus being declared Augustus he put a period to all violences of what nature soever in the Provinces of his Jurisdiction and England was amongst the rest in which the Monks assure us that he built some Churches but dying two years after at York his Son Constantine who till then had been but Caesar was proclaimed Augustus by all the Roman Army which had lately got a signal victory over the Picts This gives occasion to our Archbishop to seek into the native Country of Constantine and of Helena his Mother in the eighth chapter The Country of this Princess is very doubtful although the Monks affirm she was of Treves yet is it not unlikely to be true that her Son was born in England as it may be seen in our Author who builds his opinion chiefly upon these words of Eumenius in his Panegyrick of Constantia O fortunata nunc omnibus terris beatior Britannia quae Constantinum Caesarem prima vidisti Vsher afterwards sheweth that some Bishops of England assisted at the Council of Arles in CCCXIV and 11 years after at that of Nice likewise at the other Councils called upon the occasion of the antient controversies Notwithstanding that hindered not Arianism to pass into Great Britanny when Gratianus had granted liberty to all the sects of the Christians saving to the Manicheans to the Photinians and to the Eunomians But it seemeth that the Tyrant Maximius that favoured the Orthodox suffered not Arianism to take root in England where he began to Govern in CCCLXXIII some time after he sent hence a great number of Inhabitants which he established in Amorica that is to say Low Brittany which he remitted to one Conan Meriadoc who was the person according to the Monkish History that obtained of Dionot King of Cornwall his Daughter Vrsula in Marriage with 11000 Virgins of noble Birth besides 60000 other Virgins of meaner families All the World are acquainted with the Story of St. Vrsula and of the 11000 Virgins and those that would know who hath refuted it may consult Vsher who relateth it with many reasons to shew it is but an impertinent Fable altho' Baronius maintains the contrary In that time many people went to see the Holy places in Palestine which was the occasion of making known in the West the Books of Origen which were unknown there before Rufinus Amongst others a Priest of Aquila after having lived three years in the East and Studied under Evagrius an Origenist imbib'd not only the sentimeâ—ts of Origen but returning into Italy spread them every where by translating divers of his works It was of him that Pelagius and Celestius learned at Rome this Doctrine whereof we shall speak in the sequel They both were Monks and of Great Britain Celestius of Scotland and Pelagius of England the second was called Morgan in the Language of the Countrey that is to say born of the Sea or in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a name given him out of his Countrey If St. Ierom may be believed Pelagius was an ignorant man who could not express himself that was more to be pittied than envied and Celestius a studier of solecisms but St. Augustine speaketh advantageously of their wit in divers places and indeed it is seen by the fragments that remain in his works that they expressed not themselves so ill as St. Ierom saith We have still two pieces of Pelagius amongst the supposed writings of this last whereof one is a Letter to Demetriades and the other is intituled the Symboli explanatio ad Damasum whereas it should have been called Professio fidei ad Innocentium for it was to Innocent that Pelagius sent it This last piece is also found in Baronius and in the first Tome of the Councils of the edition of Cologne in 1606. Pelagius sojourn'd long enough at Rome where he acquired much reputation by his works and his conduct whence it cometh that Augustin Bishop of Hippona spoke honourably of him and writ to him a very obliging Letter before he entered into a dispute with him He calleth him in his Book de peccatorum meritis vir ut audio sanctus nec parvo profectu Christianus bonus ac praedicandus vir He is saith he a man as I am told Holy and much advanced in Piety a man of Merit and Praise worthy Father Petau in his book De Pelagianorum Semi Pelagianorum Dogmatum Historia remarketh that St. Augustin composed the Book in which he speaketh so advantageously of Pelagius after the condemnation of Celestius in the Council of Carthage in CCCCXII Thence he concludeth that it is not of this Pelagius whereof St. Chrysostome speaketh in his fourth Letter wherein he deplores the fall of a Monk of the same name There is no more likelihood that the Pelagius a Hermit to whom St. Issiodorus de Diamette hath written great censures be him that we speak of here whose life was always irreproachable as appears by the Testimony of St. Augustin Rome being taken by the Gothes in the year CCCCX Pelagius who was there departed and Sailed to Africa yet he remained not there but immediately went into the East Notwithstanding his Disciplie Celestius stayed at Carthage and aspired to be Priest of that Church but as he made no difficulty to maintain the Sentiments of his Master he was accused by Paulinus Deacon of the same Church in a Council where Aurelius Bishop of Carthage presided in the year which is already mention'd Celestius was there condemned and excommunicated as having maintain'd these seven Propositions I. That Adam was created mortal and that he should die whether he had sinned or not II. That the sin of Adam was only prejudicial to himself and not to all Mankind III. That the Law opened the entrance into Heaven as well as the Gospel IV. That before the coming of Iesus Christ men were without sin V. That Children newly born are in the same State as was Adam before his fall VI. That all Mankind dyeth not by the Death and Prevarication of Adam as all Mankind riseth not by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ. VII That man is without Sin and that he can easily obey the Commandments of God if he will Celestius answered to these Heads but we have only part of his Answers in the Books of St. Augustine that is to say that we have no other Testimonies of his Doctrine than
Berengarius there were in this Country several People of his Opinions against whom Matthew of Westminster published a Book in the year Mclxxx. Our Author gives the History of Berengarius in this Chapter but this matter having been treated at large in French Books by Arnauld and Claude the Reader will be there better satisfied We shall only take notice here that towards the middle of the twelfth Age they had an Idea of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist far different from that which the Roman Church hath at this day seeing Peter Lombard Bishop of Paris who is called Master of the Sentences speaks thereof thus l. iv dist 12. What is offered and consecrated by the Priest is called a Sacrifice and Oblation because it includes the Memory and Representation of the true Sacrifice and Immolation made upon the Altar of the Cross Jesus Christ adds he once died and hath been immolated upon the Cross in himself But he is immolated every day in the Sacrament because the Sacrament includes a Commemoration of what was once made Semel Christus mortâ—us est in Cruce ibique immolatus est in semetipso quot idie autem immolatur in Sacramento quia in Sacramento recordatio fit illius quod factum est semel The Beringarians have given exercise enough to some Popes successively one after another But the Vaudois who begun to be known in Mclx. gave them much more Reinier a Dominican and an Inquisitor who lived in the year Mccl. less than 100. years after the Vaudois speaks thereof in these terms Amongst all the Sects which are or have been there hath been none so pernicious to the Church as that of the Leonists and this for three Reasons The first is that it hath lasted longer for some say that it hath been from the time of Sylvester others from the time of the Apostles The second because it is more general for there is scarcely any Country where some of this Sect are not found The third is that whereas all other Sects gave a horrour to those who so much as heard of them by the excess of blasphemies which they vomited against God the Sect of the Leonists hath a great shew of Piety because they live well in the eyes of Men and that there belief towards God is good seeing they embrace all the Articles of the Creed They blaspheme only the Roman Church and Clergy against whom the multitude of Laicks suffer themselves easily to be overcome Hereby we may see that the Vaudois boasted then that there had been People since the Apostles time who had been of the same opinions with them so that they pretended not that theirs begun only in the twelfth Age. As to what concerns the purity of their manners several of those who have written against them give them a good Name as appears by the passages which Vsher cites thereof An Inquititor saith with Ingenuity enough speaking of them Cognoscuntur Haeretici per mores verba sunt enim in moribus compositi modesti superbiam in vestibus non habent c. Hereticks are known by their manners and Discourse their Manners are well-ordered and modest and there appeareth no Vanity in their Cloaths It is not easie to know their belief because those who have spoken thereof do contradict each other almost of them and that most have endeavoured to blacken them the most they could Monks are such Lyars and so well known for so long a time that one scarcely dares trust them how little soever their Interest is of telling a lye and such are the principal witnesses which may be produced upon this matter Wickliff said facetiously enough in his Trialogue that as it is a Topick Argument to say that a man is luxurious because he is too well dressed it 's also a Topick Argument to reason thus this opinion comes from a Monk therefore it is false for the lyes of Monks render this Topick Argument evident Sicut est Argumentum Topicum quod homo comptus exhinc est luxuriosus Sic est Argumentum Topicum ista opinio originatur à fratre ergo est falsa Nam eorum mendacia faciunt evidentiam ad hoc Argumentum Topicum If any would have a more express Testimony of a Monk let him read these Words of Thomas Walsingham a Benedictine This is a Monk therefore he is a Lyer is as good an Argument in form and matter as this Argument That is white therefore it is coloured In ore cujuslibet bonum fuerit Argumentum tenens tam de forma quà m de materia hic est frater ergo mendax Sicut illud hoc est album ergo coloratum Vsher sheweth that the contrary Testimonies of divers Authors that opinions have been attributed to them which they never had Their principal Heresie is that they rejected the excessive Authority of Popes and that they condemned the Tyranny Disorders and violent Superstitions of Monks They were called Vaudois not only by one Peter Waldo who according to some lived in MCLX and according to others much sooner but also the Poor of Lyons or Leonists Insabbathavies Cathares or Gazares Paterines Publicanes Agennese Petrobrusians Henericians Passagines Iosephines Arnaldists Humilists Albigese Goodmen c. These Names are drawn either from the opinions which were attributed to them or of some famous Doctors amongst them or of places where they lived as our Author hath at large shewn in Ch. viii It 's much to be desired that there was as much method as reading and that the additions which he made in the first Edition were either better ranged or better distinguished from the Rest For it must be granted that in this great confusion are many repetitions which all sorts of Readers are not equally fit to digest Peter Waldo according to some Historians was of Lyons and engaged himself after this manner to form a new Sect. One of his acquaintance dying suddenly he was so frightened thereat that he gave all his Goods to the Poor and so drew many of the People which he went about to instruct in expounding unto them the New Testament He was reprehended therein by the Ecclesiasticks of Lyons which made him withdraw into Gasconny and into the neighbouring Provinces where he always taught the People and censured the manners of the Ecclesiasticks praising voluntary Poverty and blaming the covetousness of Priests A great number of Laicks joined themselves to him in spight of the Excommunication which the Council of Tours held by Alexander the III. in Mclxiii and the Bishops of each place darted against them They assure us that in the beginning there were no learned men amongst them but that afterwards there were So that we cannot be certain that they at first had all the opinions which since appear amongst 'em because nothing hinders but that there might be some introduced by learned men who entred into this party If what Gaultier Mapes an Author of that time saith of the Vaudois be true they were also extreamly
amputare non posset They were called the Brothers of the War of St. Dominick At that time Innocent established an Inquisition at Thoulouse and in other suspicious places because the Bishops being employed about their temporal Affairs took noâ— care enough to extirpate Heresie St. Dominick was Commissary over Gasconny and established his Order there that they might assist him in the Work there never was before regular and perpetual Inquisitions Another Order of begging Monks was established besides that of the Dominicans to wit the Minor Brothers founded by St. Francis and that of the Augustines as an assistance to the Bishops and Pastors But it soon appeared that instead of helping them they pretended to take the care upon themselves alone which the Pastors were invested with this necessarily caused a great many complaints as our Author sufficiently shews There was particularly a great quarrel in MCCLIII betwixt the University of Paris and the Preaching Brothers which was hard to be appeased because the King favoured the University and the Pope upheld the Monks who pretended to a Right of Teaching Divinity without having any regard to the Laws of the University During this quarrel Iohn of Parma an Italian Monk and General of the Minors published a Book intituled the Eternal Gospel This Book was full of Impieties and of as strange absurdities as those of the Alcoran The Author amongst other things maintained that the Gospel should be abrogated as not being capable of conducting to perfection and that this was reserved to the Order of the begging Monks who in the latter end of the World should teach a Doctrine much more perfect than that of Jesus Christ. This Book was condemned at Rome and the Author was obliged voluntarily to quit his Charge with the least noise that could be not to irritate an Order then powerful enough and which was of great use to the Court of Rome A Book was also condemned which four Doctors of the University of Paris had read against the former intituled De periculis novissimorum temporum It was burned at Anagnia where the Court of Rome then was and at Paris likewise not for any Heresie which it contained saith William de Nangis a Monk of St. Denis who lived in MCCC but because it might give scandal and cause a Sedition among the Monks Since the time of Peter Abailard to wit from the year MCXL the Philosâ—phy of the Age as Trithemus says begun by its vain curiosity to corrupt Divinity The new Order of the begging Monks furnished Doctors which accomplisht its Destruction by the Philosophy of Aristotle and a thousand ridiculous subtilties There was amongst the Franciscans in MCCXL Alexander de Hales who was callâ—d the Doctor of Doctors the source of Life and the irrefragable Doctor He commented on the first four Books of the Sentences of Peter Lombard and summed up all the heads of Divinity by order of Innocent IV. About the same time Gaultier Bishop of Poitiers made the first work de Quodlibetariis which gave birth to the custom of disputing for and against all sorts of Propositions Bonaventure Sirnamed the Seraphick Doctor was their Contemporary and so much esteemed by Alexander de Hales that he was accustomed to say it seemed to him that Adam had not sinned in Bonaventure Iohn Duns a Scotchman who flourished at the beginning of the IV. Age and who was a Disciple of the same Alexander acquired to himself the glorious Sirname of Subtil Doctor Thomas Bradwardin had towards the middle of the same Age that of Profound Doctor The Dominicans also have not fail'd of having Divines also in their party whereof these are the two chief Albert Bishop of Ratisbone who died in MCCLXXX Sirnamed The Great even during his Life and Thomas Aquinas the Angelical Doctor who was his Disciple There hath besides been in this Order the famous Durand de S. Porcien Sirnamed the most Resolute Doctor resolutissimus There was at the same time a Carmelite named Gilles Romanus who was called the most Profound Doctor Doctorem fundatissimum and a little time after in the Order of Cisteaux Alain des Iles who was named the Vniversal Doctor Vsher hath also collected without much Order divers things concerning the Original and Sentiments of the Vaudois and Albigese and there begins to make the History how they were persecuted from the beginning of the third Age until the year MCCXL As these events are found in divers French and Latin Histories we shall not relate them Here is only an Example of the barbarity of that Age. William le Brebon contemporary Poet saith in his Philippide LXVIII with an Ingenuity particular to himself speaking of the taking and sacking of Beziers 60000 Souls had their throats cut which the inordinate fury of the Vulgar and the indiscretion of the Ribaldorum kill'd without the consent of the Governours making the faithful die with the incredulous and not much mattering which deserved Death or ought to have his Life saved Yet what he saith of the Consent of the Heads of the party is not altogether True Arnold Abbot of Cisteaux since Archbishop of Narbone and Legate of the Pope in this occasion was so much afraid that some Heretick should escape that he ordered the Soldiers to cut off indifferently all those they met He is a witness not to be suspected who tells us it to wit Cesaire de Heisterbach Monk of the same Order in the Diocess of Cologne and who lived in the time this Massacre was Knowing saith he by their Confessions that there were Catholicks amongst the Hereticks they said to the Abbot what shall we do Sir we cannot distinguish the good from the bad But the Abbot and the rest fearing that the Hereticks would counterfeit themselves to be Catholicks only for fear of Death and should return to their old Heresie when the Army withdrew the Abbot I say answered as they tell us kill them for God knoweth those who are his Caedite eos novit enim Dominus qui sunt ejus If Vsher could have continued he might perhaps have recovered Authentick pieces to end his History There was one seen a little while since which could have served his purpose and would be of great use to those who would be willing to prosecute his design It is an Original Register of the Inquisition of Thoulouse written and collated by two Notaries of the same Inquisition which contains what it hath done against the Albigeses for sixteen years from the year Mcccvii to the year Mcccxxiii The forms of the Oath are therein which Civil Judges tendred to the Inquisition to defend it and not to protect Heresie directly or indirectly and the Excommunication which was design'd against those who favoured it amongst whom were reckoned even those who accused those Hereticks which were of their acquaintance There is the process of a great number of Persons condemned for Heresie to divers punishments according to the exigency of the case Some of those were condemned
dogmata postea subtilius explicata tractet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For what regards the High Priest Levites and the Laicks relates according to our Author to the Priesthood and to the Custom of the Jews This Epistle being written about the end of Nero's Empire or at least before that of Vespasian whilst the Temple yet stood Letter 347. 1. p. Tacitus After having said that many learned men have discovered of what use Tacitus is in Politicks without excepting the the Italians who pretend to be the great Masters in this Science He saith that Berneggerus and Freinshemius had given at Strasbourg an Edition of it in 8 vo with a very large Index and most useful Notes in the Margent He adds that he read it with pleasure and that it was esteemed by all the Ingenious of Paris The same Author undertook to make an Addition in Folio with a perpetual Commentary drawn from all the Notes which had appeared tell then upon Tacitus Letter 1092. 1. p. Theophilactus 'T is the abridgement of the Greek Fathers which had written before him and is as the Voice of the Greek Church who gave us the opinions of St. Paul which he had preserved with much Fidelity Letter 1243. 1 p. Predestinatus 'T is the Title of a Book in 8 vo printed at Paris 1643. by Father Sirmond Grotius saith that he hath drawn this Book from a Manuscript which was formerly Hinâ—mar's Archbishop of Rheims that this work is oppos'd to those that believe absolute Predestination And that the Stile is strong and elegant Letter 673. p. 2. Father Casaubon I have not had less veneration saith our Author for his natural openness and sincerity than for his great Learning He told me in the year 1613. at London where I was almost every day with him when he went out of France he quitted all Studies which belong to the ancient Souldiery to which he had been perswaded by Henry the 4 th who was as great a Soldier as a Prince and that in England he had turned his Studies of that side which most pleased King Iames who was given more to peace than War Casaubon had no Collection except in his memory Margents of his Books and upon loose Papers Wherefore we have no Notes upon Polybe but what is upon his first Book and they are imperfect also 184. Letter p. 2. Selden This Author who made his wit appear in many pieces hath given to the Publick his book entituled Mare Clausum in opposition to another intituled Mare liberum This work is very learned and attributes in particular to the King of England all the Sea that extends it self from the Coasts of England Spain France the Low Countreys and Germany unto that of Denmark Letter 590. p. 1. Selden saith Grotius in another place hath taken figurative Expressions whereof I have made use in my Poetry to defend the Laws of the King of England and hath opposed them to others more serious I am very much obliged to him for the honesty with which he hath spoken of me and I believe I shall not injure the Friendship that is between us by this Epigram that I have made upon his Book Ipsum compedibus qui vinxerat Ennosigaeum Est graeca Xerxes multus in Historia Lucullum Latii Xerxem dixere Tagatum Seldenus Xerxes ecce Britannus erit Letter 371.2 p. The Bishop of Bellai I know him saith Grotius not only by his writings but also by Conversation He is an honest man and well versed in Controversie This is the Title of one of his Books The Demolishings of the Foundation of the Protestant Doctrine He hath a great hatred to the Monks and would not have them instruct the People but have it referred to the Ordinaries He is very much esteemed amongst the Bishops and of an exemplary Life Letter 1716. p. 1. Crellius I thank you saith our Author to him Letter 197. p. 1. both for the Letter and the book youâ— sent me I have resolved to read over and over with care all that you have written knowing how much profit I have gain'd by your Works When I received your Letter I was employed in reading your Commentary upon the Epistle to the Galatians You have very happily found the design and occasion of this Epistle as well as the sequel of this discourse I have cast my eye saith our Author elsewhere in speaking to Ruarius friend to Crellius upon his Commentary to the Epistle to the Hebrews which is very Learned I have profited much thereby as well as upon that which he hath made upon the Galatians of which the Ministers of Charenton make the same judgment as I do Let. 552. p. 1. He saith to his Brother speaking of the Book that the same Crellius had written against that of Grotius de satisfactione Christi that he hath written modestly and with much learning altho' he approves not of his opinions p. 2 Letter 138. George Calixta Professor of Divinity at Helmstadt I know not whether you have seen the preface that Calixta hath put before the books of St. Austin de Doctrina Christiana and of the Commonitorium of Vincent de Lerins the book that he hath made de Clericorum coelibatu and the first part of his divine Morals with a digression touching the new Method de Arte nova I approve the judgment of this Man and the respect he hath for antiquity joyned to the love of Peace A. M. des Cordes Canon of Limages p. 1. Letter 350. see Letter 339. p. 1. Salmatius I have run through the book of Salmatius upon Simplicius There is as you say much reading I wonder he disposeth not his thoughts in a better order 'T is sometimes difficult to reconcile him to himself he often disputes about words c. To William Grotius p. 2. Letter 326. Salmatius hath been with me he is dispos'd to defend every thing to the utmost extremity and even maintains that St. Peter never set foot in Italy I wonder the spirit of a Party should have so much strength says he in the same Letter 533. Salmatius is pleas'd to defend Opinions abandoned by all the World for even Blondel who is a Minister in France maintains in a book Printed at Geneva that St. Peter was at Rome He denyes also a Woman was ever Pope but Salmatius affirms it in the same Letter 536. A great friend of Salmatius hath told me a little while since that a Book could not easily be made de lingua Hellenistica Rediviva drawn from this that he saith he is constrain'd to confess in many places that he acknowledges the thing and disputes but of the Name He saith that no body hath remark'd that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answereth to a manner of speaking Latin But I had and even in three places Mat. vi 2. c. in the same book 6921. Daniel Heinsius I have read the Works of Heinsius upon Nonnus which was not worth my while for others have said several
things which he remarks upon Iohn I find that speaking of the Trinity he contradicts himself in many places as it happens to those who would know too much upon this matter In the same Let. 149. there are many things which are not to be despis'd in the book of Heinsius but he hath not drawn a few thereof out of the Epistles of Scaliger and the Works of Peucerus of Fuller and Selden without naming them The more I consider him the more I find that those who would know more concerning the Trinity than Scripture tells us are punished for their pride The desire they have of contradicting others makes them to contradict themselves See only p. 272. He calleth practice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is really different and not simply according to our manner of conceiving After that he saith that Essence in Trinity is really distinct and the proprieties of the Persons only according to our manner of conceiving c. Let. 152. Grotius censures such like absurdities in his Letters 156. and 157. Ph. Cluvier After having cast my eyes upon the Germany of Cluvier I cannot but approve the application which alwayes produceth some fine thing when it 's applied altogether to one subject He doth not seem to me so haughty as he appear'd in a little book which he had sometime since publish'd yet he shews a great boldness therein A sensible proof of this is that he often blots out and changes words in the antient Writings without following any Manuscript but his conjectures only He hath also much delight to reprehend others and when it 's any that 's still living 't is the more easily to be suffered but he often accuseth Caesar Strabo and several other excellent Authors of great Ignorance c. to Isaack Pontanus Let. 11. P. 2. C. Graswinkelius This Author made an answer to Seldens book Intituled Mare Clausum Here is what Grotius saith on 't Let. 999. 2. par The book of Mr. Graswinkel ought to be very dear unto me seeing it hath cost me 11 l. 1 s. 2 d. Carriage I approve his exactness in gathering all that can serve for his subject He writes even Latin better than the most part of your Authors c. Father Petau the Iesuit Denis Petau saith Grotius hath publish'd three Books de Dogmatibus Theologicis He promiseth more upon other questions more or less necessary He applyes himself to the opinions of the Greek and Latin Fathers and speaks not of the Scholasticks He distinguisheth the Tenets defined by the Church from those upon which it is permitted to say what we will He expounds-them all very well his Books are extream useful Salmatius is abused therein and it 's said it was he who named himself Wallo Messalinus But I could not but laugh to see him call Conrad Vorstius Calvinist Let. 678. p. 2. Mr. Arnaud Doctâ—r of the Sorbon All the World knows that Grotius was very far from the opinions of Mr. Arnaud upon Praedestination and Grace but this hath not hindered Grotius from giving him the praises he deserves This he saith of his book of Frequent Communion Mr. Arnaud will have publick penitence re-established in regard to the publick sins that those who shall make their sins known but by their Confession to the Priest abstain from the Communion untill they are assured that they are amended in it This book was approved by five Archbishops thirteen Bishops and one and twenty Doctors some have already introduced this Custom into their Churches For it is lawful for Bishops to bring again into use the antient Canons even by the Authority of the Council of Trent by the example of Cardinal Berronius Archbishop of Milan who hath been Canonized Let. 669. p. 2. to William Grotius Adververtise your Stationers saith he in the 671. Letter to send for the book of the frequent Communion and to get it Printed anew You will do thereby a good service to Christianity And elsewhere They make it a crime in him for having said in what he has written against a Iesuit that he believes those who feel in themselves their ancient inclinations to vice do not ill to abstain from Communion and that he judgeth that even those who are given but to venial sins do not amiss to abstain and other such like things The antient severity which we are no more able to suffer as one saith annoy'd him Nocuit antiquus rigor cui jam pares non sumus aâ—t ille The Prince of Conde for he hath also Written upon this matter but without adding his name thinks it's believ'd hitherto that if any one hath confessed his sins is in the resolution of never more returning to 'em and to undergo the penitence that will be imposed on him he may morally be assured that he is in a State of Grace and that he doth well to Communicate The Queen demanded the judgment of the Sorbon upon these matters The Parliament and Sorbon think it is against the Laws that a Subject of the King should be constrained to quit the Kingdom especially the Abbot Dubyse Dubysium who going to Rome to justifie himself was immediately put into prison Therefore Mr. Arnaud being a Man of so good a life that his greatest enemies could find nothing to say against him being thirty six years old and submitting himself to the judgment of the See of Rome to the Catholick Bishops and particularly to the Archbishop of Paris and the Sorbon as you may see by what I have sent you we may judge here of his affair adding to these Iudges those which the Pope hath Commissioned for that purpose For my part as I favour those who would reestablish the antient satisfaction I see that the most part of those who favour Mr. Arnaud are Jansenists to wit Calvinists upon matters of Predestination Thus it is that Grotius speaks to his Brother in a Letter dated the 9th of April 1644. Peter Hoofet I have begun to read the History of Hoofet 't is a fine work his expressions after the antient manners of speaking will not please others But Thucydides and Salust have given him the example as well as Tacitus who lived a great while after them Let. 636. 2. p. He also praises the History of Henry the Great Writ in Dutch by the same Author Iustus Vondel This famous Flemish Poet published in 1638. a Tragedy which is acted once a year at Amsterdam entituled Gishrecht van Amstel He dedicated it to Grotius who makes this judgment thereof in a Letter to Vossius the 28th of May the same year Vondel did me a kindness in dedicating unto me as to a man who hath some gust of these sort of things a Tragedy whose subject is noble whose order is excellent and expression fine c. It is a folly not to have in a subject of 300 years the customs of that time represented Thus it is that those of Geneva in a French Edition of Philip de Comines have observ'd every
was Ambassador to the Court of Swedland he notwithstanding doth advance divers things which are contrary to what Grotius saith himself in his Letters He saith for example that Grotius being vext because Cardinal Richelieu had cut off his Pension the first time he was in France and had caused him thus to leave it See not the Cardinal under this fine pretence that he helped not the Ambassadors It 's what Mr. Aubery calls an unconceivable stand or for a better expression a Dutch obstinacy which hindered his reconciliation with this potent Minister tho' he had a very great need of him for his service in his particular affairs so that he treated but with the subaltern Ministers Grotius saith on the contrary that he saw him pretty often and relates some discourses he had with him as may be seen in 1. p. letter 491 505 535. and elsewhere There is no great likelihood that Grotius gave the Chancellor of Swedeland long relations of any affairs which he had negotiated as he saith with the Cardinal himself if he had never seen him during his Residence in France as Mr. du Maurier assures But it seems this Author hath confounded the Cardinal of Richelieu with Cardinal Mazarin of whom Grotius thus speaketh in a Letter dated the 26th of September 1643. I have caused your Letters to be given to Cardinal Mazarin I shall not see him without an Order from our Queen because at his own house he gives not the hand to the Ambassadors of Crowned heads and being treated with the Title of Eminence he treats not again with that of Excellence pretending to be equal to Kings according to the Opinions of the Court of Rome and very difficultly yields precedency to Princes of the Blood Mr. du Maurier also says another thing which is not conformable to the Letters of Grotius viz. that the Ministers of Charenton who despised Grotius during the time he was but a private man in France used him quite another way when he was Ambassador of Swedland Having considered saith this Author that it would be a very great honour to them that an Ambassador of so considerable a Crown should be present at their Assemblies they sent unto him one of their Ministers with the Elders of the Consistory to pray him to honour their Sermons with his presence telling him that the very Lutherans were of late admitted to their Communion by an Act of the last Synod of Charenton hut he answered them haughtily that they having neglected him whilst he was a private man and a Refugee he would neglect them in his turn being Ambassador It 's very well known that the Ministers of Charenton endeavoured to draw Grotius to their Assemblies from the first time that he was in France but as we see nothing of it in these Letters we do not at all rely upon it It 's true some were deputed to Grotius as he says himself in the Letters 378. p. 1. 340 and 350. p. 2. but he refused not to go to the Sermons of Charenton after the manner which Mr. du Maurier saith he thus tells us himself he received the Deputies of Charenton Letter 350. p. 2. I have had this day at my House three Learned Reformed Ministers le Faucheur Minister of Montpellier and Mertrezat and Daille Ministers of this Church They desired me to join my self to their Communion and told me that what was in times past established at Alez and Charenton being changed by new rules wherein Lutherans are admitted to the Communion they hoped we should hold their Confession for a Christian Confession as they had the same opinion in respect to the Remonstrants that they remembred what I formerly writ against Sibrandus to wit that I should be very much surprized if the Reformed refused the Communion to Chrysostome and Melanchton if they came again into the World That they had read and approved my whole Book of the Truth of the Christian Religion and the admonition I gave at the end to Christians to bring them to an agreement I told'em I was satisfied with what they said being conformable to my maxims that the opinion of Melanchton had always extreamly pleased me and that I had sufficiently shewn it that as to what concerns Ecclesiastical Peace I knew well that it ought not to be troubled by a turbulent manner of acting That there should be free conferences amongst the learned They also said that they endeavoured to bring the Remonstrants of Holland into their Communion and that they had written about it to M. Rivet that they were become more prudent with time and that they hoped that the Dutch after having well examined their reasons would do somewhat in their favour After having said these things on each side I added that I was ready to testifie by the external signs the Communion of the Spirit in which I had always joined with them and that it was never my fault that it was not so that if I went into a Country where Lutherans knowing my opinions of the Eucharist would receive me into their Communion I would make no difficulty to communicate with them They approved this conduct Grotius seemed after this to be inclined to go to communicate at Charenton but there was an obstacle which never could be taken away that hindered him 't was that Grotius would have had a distinct place in the Temple and to be received there in the quality of Ambassador of Swedland which the Consistory of Charenton would not grant him Grotius complains thereof in these terms in Letter 358. I am surprized at the inconstancy of these people who having invited to their Communion the Lutherans say that they cannot receive an Ambassador of Swedland in the Quality of Ambassador because of the difference which is between the sentiments of that Kingdom and theirs Grotius notwithstanding in the Letters which we have cited praiseth the moderation of the Ministers of Charenton But here is a good character of Mr. Daille in Letter 232. p. 2. A Roman Catholick having put several questions to M. Daille in a Letter and amongst other things why the Reformed had condemned the Arminians he answered that seeing peace was oftentimes offered to the Lutherans who are of the same opinions it was not so much the Arminians who had been condemned as Arminianism I fear saith Grotius that those who are here stronger than they shall say one day that they drive not away the Calvinists but Calvinism which I pray God may not befal them M. du Maurier relates a pleasant History of a Lutheran Minister that Grotius had at his House whom he names Doctor Ambreus whereas Grotius complains of Brandanus Letter 840. p. 1.410 p. 2. He saith that this Ambreus instead of expounding purely and simply the Word of God flung himself into controversie with so much violence that his Sermons were full of invectives which Grotius being at last weary of exhorted him to expound the Gospel without wounding Christian Charity Upon which Doctor
made a Priest by Innocent the first being retired to Marseilles began to compose Books by which sweetening a little the Sentiments of Pelagius wâ—om he also condemned as a Heretick he gave birth to the opinions to which were since given the Name of Semi-pelagianism His Sentiments may be seen in his Collations or Conferences that St. Prosper hath refuted and maintain'd against the pure Pelagianism Here in a few words is what they were reduced unto I. The Semi-pelagians allowed that men are born corrupted and that they cannot withdraw from this Corruption but by the assistance of Grace which is nevertheless prevented by some motion of the Will as by some good desire whence they said nâ—cum est velle credere Dei autem gratiae est adjuvare to Will to Believe dependeth of me but it 's the Grace of God that helpeth me God according to them expecteth from us these first motions after which he giveth us his Grace II. That God inviteth all the World by his Grace but that it dependeth of the Liberty of men to receive or to reject it III. That God had caused the Gospel to be preached to Nations that he foresaw would embrace it and that he caused it not to be preached to Nations that he foresaw would reject it IV. That notwithstanding he was willing all should be saved he had chosen to Salvation none but those that he saw wou'd persevere in Faith and good Works V. That there was no particular Grace absolutely necessary to Salvation which God gave only to a certain number of men and that men might lose all the Graces they had received VI. That of little Children which died in their Infancy God permitted that those only should be baptized who according to the foreknowledge of God would have been pious if they had lived but on the contrary those that were wicked if they came to a more advanced Age were excluded from Baptism by Providence VII The Semi-pelagians were yet accused to make Grace entirely outward so that according to them it chiefly consisted in the preaching of the Gospel but some of them maintained that there was also an interiour Grace that Pelagius himself did not totally reject Others allowed that there was preventing Grace So it seemeth that the difference that was betwixt them and Pelagius consisted only in this that they allowed Men were born in some measure corrupt and also they pressed more the necessity of Grace at least in words Tho' the difference was not extreamly great he notwithstanding anathematized Pelagius But this they did it 's like in the supposition that Pelagius maintained all the opinions condemned by the Councils of Africk St. Augustine accuseth them to have made the Grace of God wholly to consist in Instruction which only regardeth the understanding when as he believ'd it to consist in a particular and interiour action of the Holy Ghost determining us invincibly to Will good this determination not being the effect of our understanding The other Sentiments of this Father are known opposite either to the Doctrine of Pelagius or that of the Semi-pelagians We may be instructed herein particularly in his Books of Predestination and Perseverance that he writ at the entreaty of St. Proâ—per against the Semi-pelagians and in the works of the latter To come back to the History 't is said that in the year Ccccxxix one Agricola Son of Severiaenus a Pelagian Bishop carried Pelagianism into England but St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre was sent hither by Pope Celestin or by the Bishops of the Gauls and extirpated it suddenly Several miracles are attributed to him in this Voyage and in the stay he made in England as Vsher observes But if what Hector Boetius saith a Historian of Scotland who lived in the beginning of the past Age be true he used a means that is not less efficacious for the extirpation of Heresie which was that the Pelagians that would not retract were burned by the care of the Magistrates But whilst St. Germain purified England the Seeds of Pelagianism that Cassian had spread amongst the Monks of Marseille and in the Narbonick Gaul caused it likewise to grow in France St. Prosper and Hilary had writ of it to St. Augustine and had specified it to him that several Ecclesiasticks of the Gauls looked upon his opinions as dangerous novelties St. Augustine answered to their objections in the books which we lately have named but the support that Hilary Bishop of Arles and Maxim Bishop of Riez granted to the Semi-pelagians hindered any body from molesting them tho' they shewed much aversion for the Doctrine of St. Augustine Iulian and the other Bishops banished as I have already observ'd from Italy were gone to Constantinople where they importuned the Emperour to be re-established but as they were accused of Heresie he would grant them nothing without knowing the reasons why they were banished Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople writ about it to Celestine who answered him after a very sour manner and as if it had not been permitted to be informed of the reason of their condemnation reproaching him at the same time with his particular Sentiments His Letter is dated the 12. of August in the year Ccccxxx. It was at that time that St. Augustine died whose Elogium may be found in our Author who approveth of the praises that Fulgentius giveth him in his 2. Book of the Truth of Predestination where he speaks of him as Inspired A little after his death the Letters of Theodosius that had called him to the Council of Ephesus arrived in Africk whence some Bishops were sent thither In the year Ccccxxxi the 22. of Iune this Council composed of CCX Bishops was assembled for the Condemnation of Nestorius Cyril of Alexandria presided there and whilst it was holding Iohn Bishop of Antioch was assembled with 30. other Bishops who made Canons contrary to those of this Council The particulars were that the party of Cyril and that of Iohn reciprocally accused each other of Pelagianism but the greater part approved of the Deposition of Iulian and other Bishops of Italy that Nestorius had used with more mildness He is accused to have been of their opinion and to have maintained that Jesus Christ was become the Son of God by the good use he made of his Free-will in reward whereof God had united him to the Everlasting Word This was the cause that in this Council Pelagianism and Nestorianism were both condemned together But notwithstanding all this and the cares of three Popes Celestinus Xystus and Leo the first Semi-pelagianism was upheld amongst the Gauls It may be that the manner wherewith Celestine writ to the Bishops of France contributed to it because that tho' he condemned Pelagius with heat and praised St. Augustine he said at the end of his Letter that as to the deep and difficult Questions which were found mingled in this Controversie and which were treated at length by those that opposed the Hereticks that as
he durst not despise them he did believe it not necessary to make a party therein Our Author shews what pains St. Prosper and the Popes Xystus and Leo took to refute or to destroy Pelagianism and Semi-pelagianism It was in the same time that Vincent of Lerins made his Commonitory to wit three years after the Council of Ephesus He is suspected to be the Author of the objections that St. Prosper hath refuted under the Title of Objectiones Vincentianae this Commonitory was Printed lately in 12. at Cambridge with the Notes of Mr. Baluze and the Book of St. Augustine of Heresies Vsher in this same Chapter relates the Ravages that the Scotch and the Picts committed in England the arrival of the Saxons into this Island the manner how they became Masters on 't and the other events of that time Before that these disasters happened in England a Monk named Faustus retired from hence into the Narbonick Gaul where he became Abbot of Lerins and afterwards Bishop of Riez after Maximus whom he also succeeded in the Abbey of Lerins He assisted at a Council which was held at Rome towards the end of the year Cccclxii where it was concluded that every year there should be a Council held amongst the Gauls which should be convocated by the Archbishop of Arles There was assembled one in this City which ordered Faustus to express his Sentiments touching the matter of Grace and another at Lyons by the order of which he added something to what he had already writ because some new Errours had been discovered These Errours are those to which the Divines of Marseilles gave the Name of Predestinarian Heresie that some maintain to have been a real Heresie and others the opinions of St. Augustine We have no more of the Acts of these two Synods but the work of Faustus subsisteth yet It is intituled de Gratia libero arbitrio directed to Leontius Archbishop of Arles and very clearly containeth Semi-pelagianism Erasmus got it first printed at Basil in M.D.XXVIII and it hath been since inserted in the 8 th Tome of the Library of the Fathers Faustus sent the opinions of the second Council of Arles to a Predestinarian Priest named Lucidus to oblige him to retract his Errours and to subscribe this Doctrine of the Council His Letter to Lucidus is still to be â—ad and the answer of this Priest directed to the Bishops assembled at Arles where he declares that he condemns the Sentiments of those that believe that after the fall of the first man Free-will was entirely extinct That Jesus Christ died for all men that some are destined to death and others to life that from Adam to Jesus Christ no Pagan hath been saved by the first Grace of God to wit by the law of nature because they have lost the free Will in our first Father That the Patriarchs and Prophets and the greatest of Saints have remained in Paradice untill the time of Redemption This is almost a full Abridgment of the Book of Faustus Some learned men have maintained that Faustus had passed his Commission and that many of those that had assisted at the Councils of Arles and Lions had not subscribed his Book It is nevertheless difficult to believe that a Bishop that was very much esteem'd as Faustus was as it appears by the Letters of Sidonius Apollinaris Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne who makes his Elogy in several places and by Gennadus who praiseth this work it is I say difficult enough to conceive how he could have the boldness to attribute to a Council opinions which were so odious to the greatest part of 'em and to think the Members of this Council could not shew their Resentment thereof Neither do those who say that Faustus exceeded his Commission give any reason only that they cannot persuade themselves that there were so many Semi-Pelagians amongst the Gauls In our Author are the different Judgments that divers learned men have made of Faustus and the greatest part of 'em are not very favourable to him Baronius too speaketh ill enough of him So that it happeneth now to the Semi-Pelagians what did in times past to the Pelagians which is that those who believ'd their principal Tenets condemned them only because those who have been more considerable than themselves have formerly condemned them The Book of Faustus is not unknown it being carried to Constantinople where mens minds were divided concerning the Doctrine it contained Some maintained it was Orthodox and others Heretical as it appeareth by a Letter of Possessar an African Bishop who was then at Constantinople and who writ of it to Pope Hormisda in the year DXX to know his thoughts thereupon Persons of the first quality amongst which were Vitalianus and Iustinian who hath been since Emperour desired to be instructed what Sentiments the Church of Rome had of it Hormisda disapproved the Book of Faustus and sent them to consult these of St. Augustin of Predestination and Perseverance There was then at Constantinople a Monk named Iohn Maxence who writ an answer to the Letter of Hormisda where he compareth the opinions of St. Augustin and those of Faustus and desperately censures Possessar and those that maintained that the Book of Faustus was Orthodox It appears by that that Possessar was a Semi-Pelagian and consequently that the Councils of Africk had not been able as yet to submit all the Bishops of this Church to their Decisions The Vandals were become Masters of Africk during the heat of the Pelagian Controversies and as they were Arians they drove away a great number of Bishops that followed the decisions of the Council of Nice Thrasamond King of the Vandals had sent 60 of them into exile from the Province of Byzacene into Sardinia They were consulted from the East upon the Controversies of Grace rather to have a publick Declaration of their opinions than to draw instructions from them seeing those that did write to them had already taken party and condemned in their Letters not only the Pelagians but also the Books of Faustus Fulgentius Bishop of Esfagues answered in the name of the others and exposed the sentiments of St. Augustin in a Letter and in a particular Book directed to one Paul a Deacon The same Fulgentius made also other works upon this matter whereof several places may be seen in our Author He had composed seven Books against the two of Faustus of Grace and Free-Will but they are lost These African Bishops returned to their Churches in the year DXXIII which was that of the Death of Thrasamond as Victor of Tonneins informeth us in his Chronicle But Fulgenius had refuted Faustus before he had left Sardinia whence it followeth as well as from the Letter of Possessar that Binius hath not well related the third Council of Arles whose opinions Faustus had expounded in the year DXXIV. But this is not the only fault he hath committed he hath corrected or rather corrupted as he thought
Mr. Nicole that Jesus Christ came into this World we must examine according to the Cartesiaen method whether the Gospel be a feigned Book or no and hear all that is said by the Wicked upon this Subject and examine all the moral demonstrations whereon the certainty of things done is grounded Moreover we must be assured by Philosophical reasons and by good answers to Spinoza's Systeme that Man acts freely that he has an immortal Soul and that God prepares pains and recompences Where are Tradesmen or Peasants who are capable of so long a dispute pushed to a contradictory decree So that this cannot be the way to answer well for if we did but retain one or two Articles of our Creed we should have enough to do to render our selves certain of them according to des Cartes method And all this shews that Mr. Nicoles principle ought not to be applyed to matters of Religion And he is shewn several other very inconvenient consequences of this principle and it is concluded that Faith does not depend upon an examen of discussion but upon an examen of attention the effects whereof are Learnedly explained in shewing the manner how Divine Truths are imprinted in our understanding this is very fine and gives us a second example of Mr. Iurieu's sincerity for without troubling himself whether Mr. Nicole will brag of having obliged the Ministers to quit their ground he leaves him wholly to the examin of discussion and maintains that this was not what he ought to have disputed against and he answers an objection of Mr. de Meaux whether there be a time wherein a Christian may doubt of the Truths of Scripture and that according to the Principles of the reformed Church Let us say a word upon the last Book of this answer the Author has not so much indifference for Mr. Nicole but he has taken care to hinder his too great brags of the full victory that he has had in several cases upon the examen of discussion and says that this victory is but of little use to Papists but that it furnisheth Weapons to Libertines and Pagans to combate the Christian Religion Moreover he is not of Opinion that all the Arguments that were thundered against the examen of discussion are good and as to what concerns the way of feeling and this ray that he has so much laught at he is shewn that there is no reason to be so merry upon that word that there are really things in Scripture which are known by the way of feeling and that it is no sufficient Argument against it to say that it deceives Hereticks daily for the Author says if it deceives them it is because it is not assisted by an interiour Grace from the Holy Ghost as when we feel the light of Truth besides this he maintains that the most simple were able to know what was requisite to make them quit the Roman Communion In fine he shews the analysis of Faith according to St. Augustine and he answers Mr. Nicole in several things concerning the calling of the first Reformers and the Schism whereof some would fain have convinced them he answers him I say in all this and accuseth him of a thousand frivolous quibbles unworthy both of a Man of Honour and a witty Man I do not doubt but many of my readers may not understand what the analysis of Faith is Let us then say that we understand by these words the reducing of Faith to its first principles that it is a Metaphor borrow'd from Chymists who call Analysis the Operation that disunites the parts of a compound body setting apart the ingredients until they come to the most simple parts so to make the Analysis of Faith is nothing else but to mount by degrees to its beginning and to the first reasons whereon it is grounded and in this the Religions of the West are very different for tho' it is very true that the Protestants and Catholicks being questioned why they believe the Trinity agree in answering that it is because God has revealed it in Scripture but if you ask them this other question how they do know that God has revealed it in Scripture their answer will be very different the Catholick will answer that it is because he is told that the Roman Church finds the meaning of Trinity in certain passages of Scripture but the Protestant will say it is because he finds that these passages signify the Trinity whence it follows that the Faith of a R. C. is grounded on the Authority of the Church that of a Protestant upon the very Light which he finds in the Object proposed by Scripture There are but few who trouble themselves with this Analysis they content themselves well enough with believing what they have a feeling of Moreover it is a great question with Roman Catholicks whether in the Analysis of Faith they must stop at the Pope or go on to the Council Gregory of Valence in his Analysis Fidei Catholicae maintains firmly that they are to stop at the Pope But Mr. Holden an English Man by Nation and a famous Doctor of Sorbonne holâ—s for the Council in his Divinae fidei Analysis seu de fidei Christianae resolutione which has been re-printed lately at Paris with some additions A Lutheran Professor called Hannekenius refutes the Jesuite in the year 1683 by publishing paralysis fidei Papaeae I do not know whether he will publish such another Paralysis against the Doctor of Sorbonne Mr. Iurieu put at the end of his Book a short answer to what Mr. Ferrand published against the Parallel of Papism and Calvinism if this Article had not passed the bounds already we could give a short extract of this short answer it is admirable and discomforts this Author who to speak the truth has not answered the hopes that the Catholicks of this Country conceived of his Work they were a little surprized with the stroke they received from the parallel and they expected that Mr. Ferrand that was chosen to revenge their common Mother would acquit himself well of the Office but they experienced that he did not hold to what the Church promised it self of him Non illum nobis genetrix pulcherrima talem promisit The Accomplishment of Prophesies or the Deliverance of the Church near at hand c. Corrected and Augmented almost a third part with the Explication of all the Visions of the Apocalypse By the S P. J. PEPETH A. R. at Rotterdam by Abraham Achers 1686. 2. Vol. in 12. THis Work has made such a noise that there are two thousand Copies disposed of in four or five Months and yet there are but a very few gone into France which would have taken off a great many if it were suffered that it might be disposed of there this considerable part of Europe being almost nothing by report in respect of the Booksellers Trade one would think that the first Edition should have sufficed nevertheless there was soon occasion
that every Year they fill 90 Barrels therewith The Inhabitants profess the Grecian Religion And instead of a Bishop which they will not admit of they have a Protopapa as they call him that is an Arch-Priest The Piety that our Author makes appear throughout this whole work obliges him to complain of the little care that those of its Nation have taken to form an Ecclesiastical Body and maintain a Pastor therein Delos is the most celebrated Isle of all the Cyclades It is two or three Leagues about is also very full of Rocks and by consequence Barren And at present an uninhabited Desert Tho' there still remain some Monuments of it's Antient Splendor The most remarkable is a Pile of White Marble on which the Temple of Apollo was supposed to be built 'T is otherwise with Sestos and Abydos whereof there remains not the least Footsteps to be found what is now called the Old Castles of Rometia and Anatolia not being built in the same places nor having any mark of Antiquity Gallipoli which is also near hath preserved very few of 'em But at Lampsaque which hath still kept it's Name and at Heraclea are many more to be found Constantinople having been above Twelve Ages the Seat of the Eastern Empire Mr. Wheeler thought he cou'd not be too large in describing of it Many Writings being extant of the same nature I shall observe in our Author only what 's the most curious 'T is thought that Titus Livy's Works are all entire in the Grand Seignior's Library But Mr. Wheeler being inquisitive about it himself offer'd as he assures us great Sums to the Bacha who hath the charge of the Books yet cou'd not procure a sight of it One of the greatest Conveniences they have for Travellers at Constantinople and almost every where throughout Turky is the Publick Houses to entertain Strangers which they call Karavan-Seras or Kans where Persons may live as well as they please having commonly near 'em Shops that afford all things necessary at a reasonable Price It is true the greatest part of 'em are like Barns and have about the Walls what they call a Sopha a Foot and a half high for Travellers to lye thereon But those which are now built in Cities or great Towns are incomparably more commodious having many Apartments all distinguish'd from each other Our Author wishes the like conveniencies were establish'd amongst Christians which wou'd cut off many useless Expences and be a Remedy for several Disorders that occur from the contrary The Patriarchal Church is an obscure Edifice without Beauty or any considerable Ornaments And the Patriarchs Palace is not larger than one of the most despicable private Houses in London This Prelates Habit also is very plain and little differing from the ordinary garb of Caloyers or of the Monks of St. Basil. Nevertheless 't is hardly to be credited with what earnestness this Dignity is sought after And how dearly those that aspire thereto pay for it to the Grand Visier who to make it the most advantageous he can often upon the least pretence turns out those he has lately put in to sell it to others so that sometimes there have been five Patriarchs in the space of 5 Years The Celebration of the Eucharist Mr. Wheeler saith is an Act of Religion wherein the Greeks appear the most devout yet he thinks it impossible to determine exactly what is their general Opinion upon this Subject At some places they hold Transubstantiation as at Corfou and at Zant. But he assures us the Bishop of Salone and the Convent of St. Luke in Beotia believes in this Sacrament only a Spiritual and Efficacious Presence and as he found none that received the word Transubstantiation or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except among those that had some connexion with the Roman Church so he doubted not but others which were not yet deceiv'd by 'em are of the same Faith with the aforesaid Bishop and Caloyers Tho' the Turks have always been lookt upon as sworn Enemies to all Learning Nevertheless our Author says They have very Learned Men among 'em and as in the Seraglio there are Historians on purpose to observe great Events so at Constantinople and elsewhere are maintained Professors in all parts of the Mathematicks in Poetry and in the Arabian and Persâ—an Tongues That they have a Bazar or Purse for the Manuscripts of each several Science compos'd in the Turkish Arabick or Persian Language And what appears the most surprizing is their asserting to us that they had seen an antient Book of Astronomy which suppos'd formerly the Use of the Needle and Loadstone altho' it serv'd them not for Navigation From Constantinople Mr. Wheeler pass'd the Bosphorus and came to Chalcedon and this Town which became so famous by having the 4th Council held there in the Year 452. is now but a small Village that the Turks call Cadiqui Mr. Wheeler designing to Visit all the Celebrated Places of Natolia and particularly those where formerly the seven Churches of the Apocalyps were He sail'd from the South-side in passing by the Mount Olimpus of Mysia the place where Ajax kill'd himself for Despair which the Inhabitants have still stamp'd upon their Moneys 'T is very sad to see the deplorable Estate the Christians are there reduced to who having formerly defended their Liberty as much as they cou'd are now constrain'd to pay double to the others of Caratch or Tribute as 9 or 10 Piastres by the Year the Caratch being commonly but five or four and a half to the rest The first of these famous Cities of the Apocalyps that our Author arrived at was Thyatira a place well peopled with Turks but not above 10 or 12 Christians therein The antient stately Buildings of Marble having been for a long time buryed in their own Ruines and the place fill'd with low despicable Houses it 's Name was almost forgotten but at length was discovered by some old Inscriptions that were dug out of the Earth It is not so with Smyrna For that being a very fruitful Soil and situated advantageously for Commerce they have taken care to keep it in it's former Splendor by rebuilding each place as it fell to decay nevertheless it was overturn'd six times by Earth-Quakes and it 's final Ruine according to an Old Tradition is expected by a seventh A greater Number of Christians inhabited there in a much better Estate than in any of the seven Churches Philadelphia only excepted Many Camelions are in that place which obliges our Author to give us a very exact Description of 'em At Ephesus all the Earth is covered with pieces of Marble Pedestals Pillars and all the Ruines of the handsomest and most antient Architecture This City which was formerly the Capital of Asia so famous and populous is not the receptacle at this day of more than 40 or 50 Turkish Families who live in miserable Tenements without having so much as one Christian amongst ' em Which sorrowful Object
Books and built with vast Expence There can nothing be added to the marks of Love and Veneration wherewith the Chinois are used to honour their Ancestors deceased they are not content with building them Tombs and Monuments but they build them Temples and there are seen more than 700 built at several times on this design and these are equally considerable for the Bigness and Beauty of their Architecture as for Temples of Idols there are 480 famous and much frequented whether for their Riches and Magnificence or thro' the Fables that are told of pretended Miracles done there and it is in these Temples and in the others of the Empire whereof the number is incredible that Three hundred and fifty thousand Bomzes live which makes but about a third part of this sort of people who according to the Account of our Author are above a million counting all that are of it But there is nothing according to his Relation more magnificent than the Burying Places of the Nobility of China among others are seen 685 Mausolees whose Richess and Architecture has render'd 'em very famous and the others do not want their Beauty and Pomp Our Historian brags of them all as very worthy of being seen and admired He adds That among them whose Memories are honoured the Chinois Reverence after a particular manner 3636 Men famous for their Qualities and Heroick Actions and 208 Maids or Women who have for their Chastity or Courage or something else deserved to be Celebrated as so many Examples of Vertue There is no Kingdom in the World so antient as that of China nor that can brag of a Succession of Kings so long and so well continued it has stood in the same Form more than Four thousand Years and the Succession has beâ—n continued by 22 Families which during that time have furnished 236 Kings It 's what the Chinois justify by the History of their Country whereof all the parts have been written by Contemporary Authors and by a Chronology which appears so just so well followed and is backed with such good Circumstances that it does not seem that it can be denyed and they are so fully persuaded of this Antiquity that it is a capital Crime among them to doubt of this Article and generally this Antiquity with the other extraordinary Advantages of this Kingdom puffs them up with so much Pride that they conceive Opinions not a little unreasonable to other Countries and as if all were at an end at the Frontiers of their Empire they scorn as much as to inform themselves of the rest and they never speak of it but with a mark of the greatest Contempt We believe that the Egyptians were the first that had Letters or Sciences and Hieroglyphicks yet it is certain That the Chinois have had them before However it be the Chinoise Letters are not the least Curiosity they have For whereas all other Nations have a common Writing that consists of an Alphabet of about 24 Letters which are almost of the same Sound tho they differ in Figure The Chinois have 54409 Letters that do all of them signifie something and do not seem so much to be dumb Characters as speaking Words or at least Figures and Images that represent to the life what they signifie so admirable is their Artifice These Letters are either simple or compound these last are a mixture of the first to signifie somewhat that has some kind of Relation to the Composition As for Example the Letter Mo which signifies Wood is simple but the Letter Lin that signifies a Forest which comprehends many Trees is composed of two Mo. The Author gives upon this many curious things he shews that all these Letters are true Heroglyphics and that nothing has been invented with more wit than the Language of the Chinois However it cannot be denyed but that iâ— is a very surprizing thing that this Language having but about 320 Words and all of one Syllable can bring them together change them and mix them in so many different Ways and yet so Eloquent and so multiply the Use and Signification by the almost infinite Variations of Sound and Accent that they that can speak it can deliver their Thoughts upon all Subjects with as much facility clearness grace force and energy as in any other Language tho' never so rich and copious as the Greek and Latin Our Author who assures this maintains at the same time that the many different Significations that are given the same word do not occasion the confusion and difficulty that some imagine that on the contrary this Language has that benefit by the small Number of Monosyllables whereof it consists that there is neither a living or dead Language in all Europe that can be Learned with so much Facility And he alledges for proof the Examples of the Missionaries of his Order who in a very short time rendred themselves so Learned in it that they composed Books much admired by the Chinois themselves this gives the Author occasion to run much upon the praise of their Fathers and to give us a List of their fine Works There is no Nation that is wittier than that of China they are inventive and industrious and we cannot dispute them the Honour of having been the first Inventers of Letters Paper Print Gun-Powder without mentioning other things There is nothing imploys them more than the Study of Morals and yet they have wit enough lest to dive into the subtilest most difficult Questions of Mathematicks and Divinity when they make it their Study So that there is no Country that has so great a Number of Learned Men and where the knowledge of Sciences is so universal and common as it is in China And it may be said that no Nation out of Europe has more Books upon every Subject as well in Verse as Prose than this has among that great number there are 5 which the Chinois call V-kim or the 5 Volumes that are to them the same thing as our Bible to us The first is a Chronicle of their 5 Antient Kings whom they honour as Saints with a particular Veneration The second is the Book of Rites that contains the greatest part of the Laws Customs and Ceremonies observed in that Empire The third is Verse and Prose in praise of Vertue and and dispraise of Vice The fourth is Historical and was composed by Confucius The fifth is esteemed the antienâ—est of all as being the most mystical the Chinois being persuaded that it is the Work of Fohi their first Prince In fine these 5 Books are accompanyed with another which is called the 4 Books because it is divided into four Parts and which being but the Marrow and Quintessence of the first 5 has the same Weight and Authority as all the other together The Chinois are the most courteous and abound most in Ceremonies of any in the World our Author says they have a Book to direct them that contains more than 3000. and explains them
prejudicing in the least the Superiority of a Wife Mahomet had been but a little Politick if in lieu of permitting them to have four he had commanded them to have so many and if the contrary were desired of him as a favour it would be as Phaeton did Poenam Phaeton pro munere poscis They are marry'd there without seeing each other and a Man does not see his Wife until after the Consummation of Matrimony and often he does not consummate it for some days after she is brought to him because she hides her self among the Women and will not let the Husband enjoy her These Forms are more frequent among People of Quality because in their Opinion it is like a debauched Person to yield the Last Favour so soon especially the Women of the Royal Family there must be sometimes whole Months to prevail with them It is very probable says Mr. Chardin That this way of Marrying without seeing each other should produce very unhappy Effects but happens perfectly contrary for it may be said That there are more lucky Marriages in those Countries where they do not see the Women at all than in them where they are seen and frequented The reason is evident when we do not see another Mans Wife we do not so soon lose the Love we may have for our own And the Reflection is very good I shall say nothing of several other particularities which the Author mentions here in this great Chapter He reports of the Governour of Irivan which is a little better than the Answer of this which the Ambassador of Viâ—qufort speaks of that upon the demand made him what he would have the Present consist of that was intended him he Answered in Bills of Exchange This Governour understanding That the Box which M. Chardin presented him with was worth 10 Pistols he desired him to take it again and to give him the value of it in Keys Springs and Strings of Watches this and several other things to be seen in that Journal shews that Covetousness is so predominant with the Eastern People that it puts them on a thousand base little Actions If this Article had not been a little too long already I would have related many other things out of this Volume The Author shews much skill in Geography and gives us the Description of some considerable Towns with the Plans of them and an Abridgment of their Histories which may satisfie well enough the desire of any curious Reader He represents us the City of Tauris as very beautiful there are 250 Mosques in it and a place where the Turks may put â—0000 Men in Battalia He prefers their Opinion before any others that will have it to be the Antient Town of Echatane The Letters of Recommendation given him and his Notes on them are not the least curious part of this Book For they help to teach us the Genius of the Persians There we learn that they call their Kings the Vicars of God because they pretend That the Race that Reigned these 250 Years sprung from Ali Son-in-Law and Successor of Mahomet Casbin the Country of the famous Locman the Eastern Aesope appears with great Pomp but it would be nothing in comparison of another Town called Rey if it were true that Rey was what the Persian Geographers maintain it to be upon the credit of all the Eastern Authors who say That in the Sixth Age of Christianity the Town of Rey was divided into 96 Parts whereof each had 46 Streets every Street 400 Houses and 10 Mosques and that the Town had 6400 Colledges 16600 Baths 15000 lesser Mosques 12000 Mills 17000 Channels and 13000 Caravanserais The Magies Chronicles affirm That Chus Grand-Son of Noah was the Founder of Rey and lay'd the first Stone under the Ascendant of Scorpion This is no small comfort to our Northern and Southern Fablers for if on one part they are concerned to be called Dreamers they will have on the other side the satisfaction of having Companions all over the World For what concerns the Magnificence of the Mosques and Mausolees of Com They are not Dreams but Realities since the Author professes himself an eye-witness thereof The Tomb of Fathme Daughter of Mouza-Cazem one of the 12 Califes which the Persians believe were the lawful Successors of Mahomet after Ali is in the chiefest of these Mosques with those of King Abas and Sefi There is but very little wanting in the Worship of Fathme among the Persians to equal it to what most of the Christians pay to the Mother of the Son of God This appears by the Prayers that Pilgrims of Com rehearse and the People are persuaded that the Virgin Fathme was transported to Heaven both Body and Soul yet they do not celebrate the Feast of her Assumption Mr. Chardin gives us in French some of these Prayers as also the famous Elegy of Haly made by the Learned Haran Cary This Panegyrick is writ in great Letters of Gold in the Gallery of the Tomb of Abas and is a piece of Eloquence wherein may be seen not only the Genius of the Persian Poetry but also Transports of the Mahometan Devotion 'T is in Songs divided by disticks the first is all upon Mahomet the six other upon Ali. If I were minded to make a more ample Addition of the Spanish Rotomandos many places of this Poem should be copied out To speak seriously there are some turns of Expressions that have much Force in them as when to express the Beauty of Ali the Poet assures us That God has assigned his Love us a Ioynture to the Ladies of Paradice Naturalists will not find what they look for here but they may examine the White Pot Work of Com and they will find enough to busy themselves in it refreshes Water in Summer very well by the means of a continual Transpiration The first time that this Pot is used a Quart transpires in 6 hours and then less and less afterwards until at last the Pores are closed by gross Matter that is in the Water that stops its passage through the Pores and then a new Pot must be us'd or else the Water would stink in the other The Author set forth from Com the 16th of Iune 1672. and arrived at Ispahan the 23 d. And here the First Volume ends it is to be sold at Amsterdam Reprinted in Twelves at Wolfgang's Reflections on the cruel PERSECUTIONS that the Reformed Church suffer'd in FRANCE through the Conduct and Acts of the last Assembly of the Clergy of that Kingdom with an Examination of the pretended Calumnies whereof the Clergy complains to the King in the Profession of Faith PErhaps there never was seen so strange a difference as is found now between the Catholicks and the Reformed who write upon the Conversions in France The first maintain that they do all mildly and with Christian Charity and upon this make continual Exclamations and Panegyricks The last affirm That they force them by threatning or corrupt them by
are very curious Particulars There is the Life of famous M rc Antony de Dominis Arch-Bishop of Spalatro included in a Letter written from Rome The Author had already published it in the Third Part of his Brittanica Politica It is a very curious Piece wherein is seen how this Prelate imbraced the Protestant Religion and how being deluded by the Promises of Dom Diego Sarmianto de Acuna Ambassador of France in England and by that of the Court of Rome he returned into Italy where he unhappily ended his Days without obtaining any thing of what he hoped There also is a Letter of Pope Gregory XV. to the Prince of Wales who was since Charles I. Upon his Marriage with the Infanta of Spain and an Answer of this Prince to the Pope The Fifth Book contains the Reign of the same Prince where his Innocence may be seen and the unheard of Violence of his Subjects described without partiality and all the Proceedings which were made against him The last Volume is composed of Six Books The first contains the History of Cromwell's Usurpation more exact and sincere that it had been heretofore Hitherto have been but Satyrs or Panegyricks thereupon The Creatures of Cromwell have raised him up to the Clouds and his Enemies have omitted nothing that might defame him The Author pretends that he hath been the greatest Politician and the greatest Captain of his time and that he was much more able to Reign than several of those whom Providence hath plac'd upon the Throne by Inheritance But he sheweth on the other side That he was a Cheat and a Tyrant who after having dipped his hand in the Innocent Blood of his Master all his Life cheated the People by a specious Zeal for Religion The Second Book contains the History of Charles the II. until his Restauration In this Book are seen the Honours which were rendred to him in Holland his Magnificent Entry into London his Clemency to those who had bore Arms against him and his Justice towards the Murderers of his Father The same History is continued in the Third Book from the Year M. DC LXI unto the Year M. DC LXXX There is also the Life of the Duke of York until his Marriage with Chancellour Clarendon's Daughter the Quarrel which happened between the Ambassadours of France and Spain about Precedency The subtilty wherewith the Spanish Ambassador carried it the Marriage of the Princess Henrietta and that of the King the War of England with Holland and with France the Peace that was made afterwards with both the others which was followed with a secret Treaty betwixt England France appeared in M. DC Lxxii the Marriage of the Duke of York with the Princess of Modena the Calling Prorogation and dissolving different Parliaments In fine the Discovery which Oates and Bedlow made of a Conspiracy which made so great noise and whereof this Author appears not very much persuaded We find in the fourth Book the sequel of the same Troubles and the History of what passed in the Parliaments convocated in M. DC.LXXX at London and Oxford There is particularly in this Book one thing of very great importance which the Author relates with as much sincerity as if none was interessed therein Which are 1. The Endeavours the Parliament of England made to exclude the Duke of York from the Crown 2. The Reasons which were alledged for this 3. The manner wherewith the Creatures of this Prince defended his Rights The Author endeth this Book by the Description of Pensilvania without omitting either the Offers which are made to those who will go to inhabit it or the manner they may be established in it The fifth Book begins with the Encomium of the House of Savoy and tells us afterwards with a very great exactness the means which Madam c. made use of in M. DC LXXX and M.DC.LXXXII to obtain of his British Majesty that the Ambassadours of Savoy shou'd be received in London like those of Crowned Heads It is one of the finest places of the whole Work and they who love to read the particulars of a Negotiation cannot read a more curious one nor one better related than this The last contains the Affair of Count Koningsmarc with all its Circumstances which is a very good History and whence the manner may be Learned after what Strangers are judged in England Here it is that the Work endeth The Author promiseth us in his Preface another Volume where all will appear which hath happen'd in England till these latter Years The Style of this History as well as the other Works of Mr. Leti is easy and without Affectation contrary to the custom of most Italian Writers But what is most considerable is that he relateâ— Matters so nakedly and speaks so freely of the Interests of the greatest Princes of Europe that perhaps one day persons will not be easily persuaded that the Author had caused this Work to be printed during his Life and the life of those of whom he speaks if at the beginning the Year had not been marked wherein it was printed Mr. Leti hath since written a Book which treats of all that concerneth Embassies There may not only be seen the modern use of all Courts in this respect but the ancient also so that it will be a History of great concern The Author is not contented to speak of the Duties and Priviledges of all the Ministers which one Soveraign sends to another but of each according to the Degree of his Character he speaks largely also on the Origine of this Function and upon all the Principalities which are formed in the World He relates several Examples of Ambassadours who have committed gross Mistakes and gives Instructions how to manage worthily this Post according to the different Courts wherein they are oblig'd to reside Men will easily believe that a Work which treats of things of this nature and of so great a number of others is worthy of Publication An Examination of the Infallibility and Right which the Roman Church pretends to have in Judging Absolutely in Matters of Controversie 8 vo 1687. 255. WHilst the Romish Church makes use of all the Power of Soveraigns to re-unite to its Communion those who have quitted it Protestants oppose these progresses by coâ—ntaining their Cause with the soundest Reasons which they can think upon Though they differ amongst themselves about several Speculative Doctrines they perfectly agree upon Morality and the Worship which we owe to the Divinity they also in general are of one Mind in those Principles of Religion which they admit in respect to Holy Writ and have all an extream aversion for that Church which pretends to be a Judge in its own Cause and which without delay forceth those it calls Hereticks to a Worship which is against their Consciences Amongst the Protestant Societies there is none who hath declared it self more openly against Human Authority in matter of Religion and against the Constraining and Spirit of
which hath been so often fatal to the Church they undertook to become Masters of the Conscience of the People and to put the young Folks from their Imployments or to impose an Oath upon them that all perhaps have not signed without remorse of Conscience Yet some of those who have established this Form are persons of an extraordinary meritâ—â— who I am persuaded have acted in this occasion by a sincere zeal to maintain what they regard as Truth I should only wish they had more Extent and a greater freedom of Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 33 Orations of Themistius 13 of which have been formerly published Dennis Petavius of the Society of Jesus Translated many of 'em into Latin with Annotations To 20 of these Orations are added other Notes and to the remaining 13 are joyn'd the perpetual Observations of John Harduinus a Member of the same Society Paris in Fol. THemistius was a Philosopher of Paphlagonia so Eloquent that he had given him the Sur-name of Euphrades He published Commentaries upon Aristotle when he was very young which were so much esteemed that one of the best Philosophers of Greece quitted his School to go to see him He Taught with so much clearness at Antioch Nicomedia Rome and elsewhere that he out-did all the Philosophers of his time The Romans were so charmed with him that they sent to the Emperor desiring that he would oblige him to live in the midst of them but they obtained not this advantage Themistius chose rather to return to Constantinople where he passed the greatest part of his life He was beloved of Six Emperors Constantius conferred the dignity of Praetor upon him and honoured him with a Brazen Statue Valence had so great a deference for him that in consideration of him he moderated the false zeal which led him to persecute the Orthodox It is assuredly one of the greatest marks of esteem which can be given to a Man for as soon as a Prince hath determined to extirpate a Religion all that retards the progress of this design is uneasie to him and incommodes him extraordinarily they are very powerful Reasons only which can work an alteration of this nature Yet the Discourse of Themistius produced this great effect upon an Emperor animated to the ruin of the Orthodox by the Counsel of some Arian Bishops and by the Intreagues of the Empress This Philosopher represented to Valence That he persecuted without cause Men of worth that it was not a crime to believe and to think otherwise than he did that he should not wonder at this diversity of Opinions that the Gentiles were much more divided amongst themselves than Christians that every one pointed at truth by some place and that it had pleased God to confound the pride of Men and to render himself more venerable by the difficulty which there is of knowing him It is pity that such fine thoughts have been said by a Pagan and that it should be necessary that Christians should learn this Important Lesson from anâ— Idolatrous Man Yet they ought to profit thereby But Mr. Flecher who hath so carefully related this Discourse of Themistius to shame thereby the Memory of an Arian Emperor tells us that the Emperor Theodosius a little while after also took upon him a command which was as a fit subject for a second discourse of Themistius But he was far from doing it because of the charge of Prefect of Constantinople and of Tutor to the Son of Theodosius the Great which this Emperor gave him lest he should cease his Applauses for all the Orders of the Court It is very strange that a Prince who abolished vigorously the Relicks of Paganism and who gave even no very good quarters to the Sectaries of Christianity should trust the Education of his Son to a Heathen Yet it 's true that Theodosius hath done all this for those who say that Themistius was a Christian and Chief of the Sect of the Agnoites who believed that Iesus Christ was absolutely ignorant of the end of the World they confound him with another Themistius a Deacon of the Church of Alexandria who was the head of this Sect under the Empire of Iustin towards the year 519. It signifies nothing to the proof of the pretended Christianity of Themistius to say that he hath cited this passage of Scripture The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord This I say signifies nothing because that besides his citing these words as if he had taken them from the Books of the Assyrians every one knoweth that Longinus hath quoted Moses with Elogies on him without being on that account engaged e're the less in Paganism Themistius must needs have been an honest Man because he always had the Friendship of St. Gregory of Nazianze He had left 36 Harangues Henry Stephen is the first who hath published any of them Father Petau being then at the Colledge of la Fleche made an Edition thereof He added a second much better when he came to Paris but it was yet very imperfect seeing there lacked Sixteen Orations He sought so successfully that he found thirteen whereof he Translated into Latin the considerablest part He left them as a Depositum in the Colledge of Clermont's Bibliotheck and these are they which appeared the first time in the Edition of Themistius that Father Hardouin hath lately given us He is a very learned Iesuit who was brought to Paris to be imployed with Father Cautel to make the Supplement of Dogmata Theologica of Father Petau but this design hath not succeeded so that these two Jesuits have elsewhere endeavour'd by other Works to make their Talent be valued Father Cautel hath set his face another way As for Father Hardouin the Publick hath already known that he worketh upon a Commentary of Pliny in usum Delphini which will be say they a most complete piece and which will be publish'd in a year Moreover he hath a design to publish all the Manuscripts of the Bibliotheque of Clermont which have not been as yet printed and he hath begun by the Orations of Themistius at the intreaty of Father Garnier who dyed an Bologne in Italy the 26 th of October 1681. during the Voyage he made to Rome about the Affairs of his Society In this Edition have been inserted all the Notes of Father Petau upon twenty Discourses of Themistius and many things are very Learned therein There is in particular a gross Error of Appian who saith in the First Book of the Civil War That the Romans have had Kings during 100 Olympiads and Consuls 100 Olympiads also whereas it is certain that Tarquin was banished Rome in the Year 244 after the Foundation of the City 156 years before it had lasted a hundred Olympiads Besides that Appian contradicts himself visibly seeing he places the Dictatorship of Sylla but in the 175 Olympiad Father Petau also pretends That Scaliger was mistaken when he said That the lesser Mysteries were celebrated at
of Solid Piety and very fit to remove the Abuses whereunto Superstition wou'd engage ' em The Bishop of Mysia Suffragan of Cologne the Vicar General of that City the Divines of Gant Malines and Lovain all approved it Nevertheless the Iesuite assures that That Writing scandalized the good Catholicks that the Learned of all Nations refuted it that the Holy See condemned it and that in Spain it was prohibited to be printed or read as containing Propositions suspected of Heresie and Impiety tending to destroy the particular Devotion to the Mother of God and in general the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images There are now near 10 Years past since M. Meaux kept us in Expectation of Mr. Noguier and M. Bastides Refutation but at length instead of an Answer in form there only appeared a second Edition of his Book bigger by half than the first by an Addition of an Advertisement in the beginning of it One may soon judge that it does not cost so much pains to compose 50 or 60 pages in Twelves as the taking of the City of Troy did But tho' the time was not very long it was too long to oblige all that time the Pope and the Court of Rome to give their Approbation to a Book so contrary to their Maxims Without doubt the Secret was communicated to them and they were assured That as soon as the Stroke was given and the Hugonots converted either by fair or foul means what seemed to be granted would be recalled Some Roman Catholicks worthy of a better Religion suffered thro' the ignorance of this Mystery A Prior of Gascogne Doctor in Divinity called M. Imbert told the People that went to the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday in 83. That the Catholicks adored Iesus Christ crucifyed on the Cross but did not adore any thing that they saw there The Curate of the Parish said it was the Cross the Cross but M. Imbert answered No no it is Iesus Christ not the Cross. This was enough to create trouble this Prior was called before the Tribunal of the Arch-bishop of Bordeaux and when he thought to defend himself by the Authority of M. Meaux and by his Exposition what was said against that Book was objected to him that it moderated but was contrary to the Tenets of the Church After which he was suspended from Ecclesiastical Functions the Defendant provided an Appeal to the Parliament of Guienne and writ to M. de Meaux to implore his protection against the Arch-Bishop who threatned him with a perpetual Imprisonment and Irons it is not known what became of it The History of M. de Witte Priest and Dean of St. Mary's of Malines is so well known that I need not particularize upon it Our Author refers us here to what the Journals have said It is known what Persecutions he has suffered for expressing the Popes Supremacy and Infallibility according to M. de Meaux's Doctrine He did not forget to alledge that Bishops Authority and to say That his Exposition required no more of a Christian and an Orthodox but this did not hinder the University of Lovain to judge that Proposition pernicious and scandalous that intimates that the Pope is not the Chiefest of Bishops In the mean time the Reformed did not forget M. de Meaux his Advertisement did no sooner appear but it was refuted by Mr. de la Bastide and Mr. Iurieâ— a little after made his Preservative against the change of Religion in opposition to that Bishops Exposition But all these Books and those that were writ against his Treatise of the Communion under the two Kinds had no Answer this Prelate expecting booted Apologists who were to silence his Adversaries in a little time The Roman Catholicks of England notwithstanding their small number flattered themselves with hopes of the like Success having at their head a bold couragious Prince and one that would do any thing for them They had already translated M. Condom's Exposition of 1672 and 1675 into English and Irish and as soon as they saw King Iames setled on his Brothers Throne they began to dispute by small Books of a leaf or two written according to the method of the French Bishop The Titles with the Answers and the several Defences of each Party may be had in a Collection printed this present Year at London at Mr. Chiswells which is Entituled A Continuation of the present State of Controversy between the English Church and that of Rome containing a History of the printed Books that were lately published on both sides The Gentlemen of the Roman Church did begin the Battel by little Skirmishes but found themselves after the first or second firing without Powder or Ball and not able to furnish scattered Sheets against the great Volumes made against them said at last instead of all other answer that the little Book alone entituled The Papist Misrepresented and there represented a-new was sufficient to refute not only all the Dissertations which the English Divines lately published against Papists but all the Books and Sermons that they ever preached against Catholicks It is to no purpose to take the trouble of Disputing against people that have so good an Opinion of their Cause And in consequence of this the English answer to M. de Meaux's Exposition and the Reflections on his Pastoral Letter of 1686. met with no Answer as well as several other Books But Dr. Wake had no sooner published his Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England but these Gentlemen which know better to assault than to defend made a Book Entituled A Vindication of the Bishop of Condom 's Exposition with a Letter of that Bishop Because we do not design to enter on the particulars of these Controversies we will only take notice as to what past That First M. de Meaux denyed that any Roman Catholick writ against or did design to write against it Secondly That Sorbonne did not refuse approving his Book Thirdly He says his Exposition was reprinted to alter those places which the Censurers had improved and maintains that it was put into the Press without his knowledge and that he had a new Edition made only to change some expressions that were not exact enough Fourthly That he neither read nor knew any thing of Father Cresset's Book Dr. Wake published the Defence of his Exposition about the middle of the same year 1686 where he shews First That the deceased Mr. Conrait a Man acknowledged by both Parties to be sincere had told many of his Friends that he saw this Answer in Manuscript and other persons of known honesty that are still living assured the Author that they had this Manuscript in their hands Dr. Wake justifies his Accusations on the 2d and 3d heads by so curious a History that it seems worthy of being believed He says that one of his Acquaintance who was very familiar with one of Marshall de Turenne's Domesticks was the first that discover'd this Mystery For this
a general Critique of all this History to which he adds some Reflections upon M. le Grand It was translated into French and had been published long ago had not M. le Grand busied himself in making a small Book against a Letter of Dr. Burnet and against the Extract of his History of Divorce The Author of this Bibliotheque had begun to Answer it but this xi Tome of the Bibliotheque which lay upon him alone and which could not be put by made him discontinue yet 't is hop'd that the Publick will lose nothing by this delay but may see once more if God be pleased to lend him health and give him leisure to shew that M. de Meaux is none of the sincâ—rest in the World And yet this Prelate has subject to reason himself since those who approve his Works have as little sincerity as himself At least Mr. Wake shews that what the Cardinals Capisucchi and Bona teach in their Works is a very different Doctrine from that of the Catholick Exposition concerning the Invocation of Saints and the Worship of Images Dr. Wake 's Adversaries were so long silent that the Dispute was thought ended but at last they broke silence about the middle of the year 1687 when was publisht a Reply to the Defence of the Exposition of the Doctrine of the Church of England with a second Letter from M. de Meaux Dr. Wake a little after that made his 2d Defence which he divided into two parts in the first he justifies all that he advanced concerning the Expositions of M. de Meaux He brings many Historical Proofs of the difference between the old and new Papism or between the Speculative Doctrine of M. de Meaux and of the other Doctors of the Catholick Church and their common practice And examins in particular what Rome Teaches concerning the Worship of Images The Second Part runs upon the Nature and Object of the Divine Service upon the Invocation of Saints and upon Images and Relicks and upon the accusation of Idolatry which the Protestants charge the Roman Church with III. M. de Meaux's Apologist believed that to be even with Dr. Wake he should make a History of Controversies and presently runs upon Generalities that are not to the purpose he speaks of the Roman Catholicks Zeal and of the different methods that Rome has made use of to bring back those who have left her Communion but he has forgot the chiefest of them at least that which had most success which is her Persecution Then he comes to England jumps from the Monk Augustin to Henry the VIII makes some Reflections upon the Duke of Sommerset and on Queen Elizabeth and then like Lightning passes to the Reign of Queen Mary and then to Iames the 1 st to Charles the 2 d and then to Iames the 2 d. These Preambles gave Dr. Wake occasion to speak of several remarkable things which would be too tedious to mention here It will be enough to Remark two of the most important The First relates to the Dissentions of the Episcopal Party and the Presbyterians and the other to the Murther of Charles the 1 st 1. As to the First He acknowledges that many of those whom the Persecution of Q. Mary had Exiled were obstinate in the Form of Religion which they saw abroad but that this Spirit of Schism was fomented by Roman Catholicks who mix themselves with them pretending to be of their number In effect it was by the Roman Catholicks in 1588 that the Puritans begun to make a noise the Chief of them being Commin Heath Hallingham Coleman Benson were all Papists who thus dissembled and disguised themselves as appeared by a Letter which dropped out of Heath's pocket And it was discover'd that the Roman Catholicks had Colledges in Germany France Spain and Italy wherein the Students were brought up in Sciences and Mechanick Arts and they exercised twice a week to Dispute for and against Independents Anabaptists and Atheism it self After which they sent them to England to play the best game that they understood A Iesuit of St. Omers acknowledged that there were some of the Fathers of their Society hid for Twenty years among Quakers which is likely enough because the scruple these Fanaticks make of Swearing gives the Fryars the means of living among them being so exempted from the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy In 1625. the Jesuites published a Book Intituled Mysteria Politica or the Letters of some famous persons designing to break the League that divers Princes of Europe made against the House of Austria it contained Eight Letters equally injurious to France and England to the Venetians Hollanders and Swissers In the last the Author that counterfeited the Protestant forgot nothing which he thought proper to give a mean Idea of King Iames and to sow division between this Prince his Son and the Princess Palatine and between the Lords of the Parliament the Clergy of the Church of England and the Puritane Ministers Upon the Civil Wars of England and the death of King Charles the First Mr. Wake acknowledges that the fear of seeing Popery re-established made the People take Arms who since the Reformation had always horror for this Superstitious Worship But he maintains that the Papists were the first Authors of the troubles M. du Moulin Doctor of Divinity and Chaplain to King Charles the II. accused the Roman Catholicks with this a little after the Re-establishment of this Prince and not contented to prove it in his Answer to the Philanax Anglicus he offered to prove it legally or by Law there were then many alive that were ready to Swear that there was held a Consultation of Cardinals and Doctors of Sorbonne wherein it was declared That it was lawful for the English Roman Catholicks to push the King on to his ruin thereby to endeavor the Change of Religion and Government The Roman Catholicks instead of taking this Challenge made use of King Charles's Authority to hinder Mr. Moulin to press for the decision of this Suit And though the Book and Accusation remained without Answer for 17 years The Author renewed the Challenge in a Second Edition of his Work and dyed without being Answered none having Courage to undertake it They that do not understand English will find the most part of M. Moulin's proofs in the Politicks of the Clergy in the last endeavors of afflicted innocence And in Mr. Iurieu's Parallel betwixt Calvinism and Popery with some new reasons of the Author to which if we add what Mr. Wake has here the conjecture will be more than probable 1. In the beginning of the Troubles the King perceived that the Fanaticks were set on by the Papists Their Principles says he in his Declaration against the Rebels of Scotland are those of the Iesuites their Preachers Sermons are the style of Becan Scioppius and Eudaemon Joannes from whom they borrow their very Phrases The pitiful Arguments of their Seditious Libels are drawn word by word out
make God the Soul of the World and who would imagine that the Soul of Man is part of his Substance this is a Sentiment which those who make an exterior Profession of Christianity have renewed in our days under other Names and which Mr. Boyle stiles wicked pretending that their God is very different to that of the Iews and Christians The second Use which the Author draws from his Method is to justifie Providence and the Divine Wisdom against Atheists who pretend that all things happen by pure Chance or Necessity because of certain Events which they look upon as Imperfections and Disorders such as Earthquakes Innundations Volcanos the Plague c. which he explains according to his own Principles I. God being one perfect free Being who created the World as a pure effect of his Bounty when there was no Being besides himself there could be no Bounds put to his Works by any other Power nor could he receive Laws of any Creature II. And as the Divine Intellect infinitely surpasseth ours in Extension and Penetration we must believe that God created the World and form'd its different Motions for various ends some to serve for Corporal Creatures and some for Spiritual ones those which are discovered to us to exercise our Reason and those which are hidden from us to make us adore the unsearchable depth of his Wisdom III. We have Reason to think that this Infinite perfect Being has stamp'd his Works with a Character in which we may discover his Divine Wisdom this Character is the Production of a great number of things by a small number of Principles simple uniform and worthy his Perfections IV. According to these Suppositions God having duly established among other parts of the World universal and constant Laws and which should be conformable to the ends he proposed to himself in creating them did dispose of things in such a manner that the universal Laws should not contribute to the good of particular Beings but so long as these particular Beings should agree with the simplicity and uniformity of these Laws and with the designs of God Thus laying aside Miracles and Events wherein God acts after a particular manner one might reasonably say that the infinite Wisdom to whom all things are present having weigh'd all the Consequences of these Laws and all their connexions in all their Circumstances he always thought fit to prefer Miracles and other Cases excepted the universal Laws to the particular ones the principal ends to the Subalternate and the uniform Methods to an Inconstant Administration He thinks not fit to change these simple and pure Laws to prevent what Men call Irregularities as Earthquakes Innundations Flux and Refluxes of the Sea the Eclypses of the Sun and Moon c. V. He adds That what appears Irregular to us in comparing the Designs of God with what we know may be a very wise Method to find out these other ends which are unknown to us and 't is very just to have this thought of God since in those Works of his which we know least we see clearly so much Order and so much Wisdom we should have at least in this search as much Equity as a Man of a good understanding wou'd have when he judges of a Book that treats of many Heads and which is written in divers Languages and Characters whereof he understands but a part if what he understands there pleases him he imagines he should not be dissatisfied with what he does not if he could find out the sense Thus it must certainly be confessed That the Eye was made to see since all the parts thereof are so composed that they concur to form the Organs of the the Eye VI. This Administration of God which discovers unto us clearly some of his ends and hides others from us is worthy of his Wisdom and adapted to our Wants for it convinces us of two Important Truths That we are of our selves but Imperfection and Darkness and that 'T is God which is the Light of our Minds In fine Mr. Boyle believes that there may be drawn from this System this Use which is of great consequence in Religion to wit To look upon God as the only Governor of the World and to attribute to him the great variety of Effects which are falsly assigned to a Chimera of Nature An Extract of a Book Entituled A Philosophical Essay upon Human Understanding wherein is shewn the Extension of certain Knowledge and the manner of attaining to it By Mr. Lock BOOK I. IN my Thoughts upon Human Vnderstanding I have endeavoured to prove That the Mind of Man is at first like a Tabula rasa a blank Paper without Ideas and Knowledge but as this was to destroy the prejudice of some Philosophers so I was persuaded that in a small Abridgment of my Principles I ought to pass by all preliminary Disputes which compose the first Book I intend to shew in the following Discourses the Source from whence we draw all Ideas which happen in our Reasonings and the manner how BOOK II. The Intellect being suppos'd void of all sorts of Natural Ideas comes to receive them by degrees as Experience offers them to it If we will observe them we shall find that they all come from two Sources to wit from Sensation and Reflection 1. It 's evident that the outward Objects in striking our Senses give divers Ideas to our Minds that they had not before Thus it is that we have the Ideas of Red Blew Sweet Bitter and all the rest that are produced in us by Sensation I believe that these Ideas of Sensation are the first Ideas of the Thought and that until such time as the outward Objects have furnished to the Mind these Ideas I do not see that there is any Thought 2. The Mind in attending upon its proper Operations which regard the Ideas that happen to it by Sensation comes to have Ideas of these same Operations which are in it And this is the other Source of our Ideas that I call Reflection by whose means we have our Ideas of Thinking Willing Reasoning Doubting Resolving c. It s from these two Principles that all the Ideas come to us that we have and I believe I may boldly say that our Mind hath absolutely no other Ideas but those which our Senses do present to it and the Ideas that it hath of its proper Operations received by the Senses This clearly appeareth by those that are born Deaf or Blind It followeth Secondly That if we could suppose a Man that had been always destitute of all his Senses he would have no Idea because he never would have an Idea of Sensation the exteriour Objects having no way to produce any in him but by the means of his Senses nor an Idea of Reflection because of the want of all manner of Sensation which is that that exciteth first in him these Operations of his Mind which are the Objects of his Reflection For there being in the Mind no
I give the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the knowledg of Signs to wit of Ideas and Words as also serving to other sorts of Sciences It may be if this last was well considered it would produce a Logick and Critick different from those we have seen till now That Beasts are meer Machines divided into two Dissertations At Amsterdam by J. Darmanson in his Philosophical Conferences in Twelves without the name of a Printer 1684. IF any thing can mortifie the Mind of Man it is certainly the Controversie which hath been raised not long since betwixt the Cartesians and other Philosophers touching the Soul of Beasts All Men believed without contestation until the time of Mr. Descartes That Beasts had Knowledg Philosophers in that had no different Thoughts from the People they believed as well as the Vulgar that there was the utmost evidence for it They only disputed among themselves whether the Knowledg of Animals extended it self to Reason or no and to universal Ideas Or if it was limited by the perception of sensible Objects Most of the ancient Philosophers have believed that Beasts reasoned but among Christian Philosophers the most common Opinion was the contrary They were contented almost all to attribute a Sentiment unto them I say almost all for there have been always some who have maintained that they were not deprived of the faculty of Reasoning Mr. De la Chambre one of the most illustrious Peripateticks of this Age hath openly declared for this Party in which undoubtedly he hath been incomparably more judicious than any other of Aristotle's Followers because perhaps never any Opinion was more unlikely to be maintained than this That the actions of Beasts issue from a knowing Principle and nevertheless that Beasts have not the Strength to conclude one thing from another However it is in this particular Dispute all Men were united in this fix'd point and in this Article of Belief That Beasts have a Sentiment The most Subtle would have engaged That there would never have been any Man so foolish as to dare to maintain the contrary There hath nevertheless been one in the last Age who durst assert this Paradox in a place wherein it would be the least suspected that so new a Doctrin should take Birth I shall be well understood if I add only That it was a Spanish Physitian that published this Doctrin a Medina del Campo in 1554. in a Book which had cost him 30 years Labour and which he Entituled Antoniana Margarita to honour his Fathers Mothers Name Who should ever guess that Spain where the liberty of Opinions is less suffered than that of the Body is in Turky should produce so rash a Philosopher as to maintain that Animals feel not It deserves to be spoken of here and every where for the Rarity of the Subject and it is just that we should not suppress the Name of this Gallant Man who hath been the first Author as we know of of this unheard Paradox He was called Gamesius Pereira and lived in the last Age and not in the twelfth as a Doctor of Divinity hath affirm'd who places the quality of Abbot Gerard at the head of his Discourse upon the Courtiers Philosophy This Gamesius Pereira was briskly attacked by a Divine of Salamanca named Michael de Palacios and answered him as sharply without losing any Argument that he had advanced For Beasts being Machines But he made no Sect his Opinion immediately fell He had not the Honour done him as to fear him so that he was not much more known to our Age than if he had never come into the World and there is a great Likelihood that Mr. Descartes who read but little never heard talk of him Yet Men will have that he hath drawn from this Spanish Physitian the Opinion which he had concerning Beasts for in saying so People think to take away from him the Glory of the Invention and that it is still so much gained upon him But what is most certain is That Gamesius Pereira having not drawn his Paradox from true Principles and not having penetrated into its Consequences could not hinder Mr. Descartes from finding it first by a Philosophical Method It is notwithstanding very probable that he found it without seeking for it very likely he begun and ended his Meditations without thinking upon the Soul of Beasts and without abandoning the Opinion which he had receiv'd thereof in his Infancy and it was only in considering the sequel of that Principle concerning the distinction of the Cogitive Substance from that of the extended Substance that he perceived the knowledg of Animals overturned all the oeconomy of his System It may perhaps be that he had then need that this Objection should be made him and that before it did not come into his Mind It is therefore thro' meer necessity that he maintained that Beasts cannot feel If he could have defended his Principles without it he had never concerned himself with an Opinion which not only had always appeared undoubtful to all the World but which was also cloathed with almost an invincible Evidence This Evidence made me say at first That there is nothing more likely to mortifie the Mind of Man than the Controversie concerning the Knowledg of Beasts For in fine what can be more mortifying than to see the State wherein this Controversie is now On the one side by Mr. Descartes an Opinion upheld which never appeared before in the World but once and which took Birth rather through Capriciousness than Reason for as I have already said Gamesius Pereira knew not very well himself why he maintained it which Opinion hath been adopted by Mr. Descartes only because he was constrained to throw himself into this Precipice to confirm what he had once advanced In fine what so readily contradicts the natural light of many Persons that it is said openly in a thousand Places it is a shame for France and for our Age to have produced a Philosopher who hath been able with Success to put off that monstrous Opinion that Beasts are Machines What do we see on the other side An Opinion generally approved of all Men who have been since Adam until these latter years and which so possesseth our Minds by I know not what Evidence that accompanies it that Men are not more persuaded that they enjoy a pleasure in eating than they are that Beasts do feel some likewise when they feed Yet in spight of all these great advantages of the Opinion which the Cartesians have been forced to strive against they boast of having after three or four years Dispute reduced it into so poor a condition that it can be no longer preserv'd but by an Appeal to the People and to what Hunters and Fisher-Men will say on 't As for Philosophical Reasons they say it cannot bring any either for its Defence or to oppose the contrary This is very humbling and what may make us trouble for Opinions which appear the most
scarcely admired seriously The common Abode he made in a Tub and the Lanthorn he carried at Noon-day to look for a Man of Worth have something so conceited that a very high Idea cannot be conceived of his Sentiments Riches and Grandeurs are often despised by Vain Glory for the consolation of not possessing them So they relate that Diogenes going to dine at Plato's said in treading upon his Tapestries I trample upon the Pride of Plato To which Plato answered Yes with a greater He had a pleasant Maxim That every thing that is good is necessary to Man and may be done every where Upon this Account a Woman instructed at his School regaled a crowd of Spectatours with an Adventure like unto that of Dido and Aeneas in the Grott whereinto Virgil had care to conduct them and where it 's said was a kind of Hymeneus VII Zeno was the head of the Stoicks and taught in the Porch of Athens This Philosophy hath formed great Men and hath charmed many by the Haughtiness and Pride of its Sentences It pretended to render its Proselytes happy in the midst of Torments and unshaken against all the Darts of Fortune Zeno did establish a God whose Vertues are all expressed differently according to the different Idea of People He was Neptune at Sea Mars in Battles and Vulcan in the Fire In his Opinion Vertue was the Supream Good because it hath goods more lasting and that 't is it only that renders Men Immortal He held that the Machin of the World will be one day destroyed and that it will perish by Flames The proud Empire he gave Man over himself and Reason was the Source of this dangerous Maxim that Men may kill themselves We must notwithstanding confess that in this was some I know not what grandeur of the Soul capable of dazling those who seek but the brightness of Pagan Vertues Must not one have an undaunted Courage to insult Death this frightfull image that terrifieth the most resolute After what way did Zeno instruct his followers for Glory and Vertue He would have 'em wrestle against Evils and to harden themselves under Stripes to become Invincible As Prosperities were only proper for low Souls so it belongs only to great Souls to trample under Foot all Calamities and Disgraces He dyed in the 129. Olympiad about the Year of the World 3690. VIII Phythagoras was the head of the Pythagoreans or the Stalian Sect. It 's believed he was of Samos and a Jew by birth He lived a long time with the Egyptians to be instructed in their Mysteries Mr. Stanley relates that he was made Prisoner there by Cambyses who sent him into Babylon where he had a great commerce with the Magi and Chaldeans and even with the Prophet Ezekiel He was of all Men the best shaped and drew the Veneration of all People by his fair appearance He of all Philosophers had the greatest number of Disciples His Principal Opinion was the Metempsychosis or Transmigration of Souls As he believed the Soul Immortal he could not conceive it could subsist separate from the Body Therefore he thought expedient to make the Souls of Men to return into Beasts and them of Beasts into Men tho these Revolutions had no certain order We know the Ridiculous History that he told of himself that he had been Euphorbes at the War of Troy He particularly applyed himself to the study of Mathematicks as a Science sit to give extent to the Mind He tryed his Disciples by a Rigorous Silence of two years to make 'em more grave and retentive Temperance was the Vertue he recommended with most care because it is necessary to tame the Body Therefore he used to get a Table full of Dainties for his Disciples and making them to sit down they should rise from it without touching any thing to exercise their Vertue by so strong a temptation He lived in the time that Brutus delivered Rome from the Tyranny of it's Kings in the Year of the World 3440. IX Heraclitus had so fine Temper that he had all his Learning of himself without the help of any Instruction But he conceived so high an Opinion of himself that he had nothing but contempt for the rest of Men. His Humour being accompanied with Pride and Distast gave him so much hatred for all Mankind that he retired all alone unto a Mountain to be free from the commerce of any Therefore he was called the Dark Philosopher Darius Hydaspis writ to him to come to Court but he answered him after an abrupt and saucy manner Such a Temper as is troublesome to other Men must be afflicting to it self a sad Delicatness suffers every where It is better to have a tractable Vertue and let things go as they will than on purpose to quarrel with all Mankind X. Democritus was the Head of the Eleatick Sect. He had a Countenance always smiling and made the Sovereign Good consist in a Position of Mind that was always at rest It hath been said that he looked on the World with a Jearing Laughter which made his Wisdom to be doubted of and caused his Fellow-Citizens the Abderites to send for Hypocrates to cure him But having shewn his Diacosmus the finest of his Works the Opinion that they had of his Folly was turned into Admiration The cause of his immoderat Laughters was the vanity of this World and the pains that Men take to run after perishable things It was he that invented Atoms adding that they wandred in a Vacuum and were afterwards entangled with one another whence the Universe was composed So that Atoms and a Vacuum were the beginning of all things XI Pyrrhon chief of the Pyrrhonians or Scepticks pretended that Man only judged of all things by the appearance of Truth and Falshood Upon that he established a suspension of Mind that hindred himself from determining It seems that all his Subtilty consisted in finding out pretty Reasons of doubting But there was danger that this incertainty should extend it self to things which are not permitted to be Questioned as the Power of the Laws He lived in the time of Epicurus in the 120. Olympiad to wit the year of the World 3650. XII Epicurus an Athenian head of the Sect which bore his name hath composed more Books than the other Philosophers He made the supream Good to consist in the Pleasure accompanied with Vertue His Opinion is ill interpreted and his Disciples have abused it which hath made this Philosophy to be discried as a Source of Debauch and Impurities But saith Mr. Stanley the weakness of his Complexion and his extream Sobriety drive away altogether such unjust Suspicions The Altars that were builded to him after his Death do not agree with the Repute of Voluptuous It 's true he attributed much to the Empire of Sense and maintained that when the Sense judged of simple Objects we ought not to doubt of their fidelity But he would not have Reason to be subject to their Will He
Theogonia by the means of which they believ'd they might prevail with the Gods In short he that sacrificed carry'd away the Flesh of the Victim and did what he pleas'd with it Strabo says That the Magus who officiated having cut the Victim in pieces each Person that assisted took his part and went his way without leaving any thereof to the Gods For they say God wou'd have only the Soul of the Victim Others left upon the Fire a part of the Omentum As may be seen in the same Book of Strabo with divers of their Religious Ceremonies He tells us also That the Magi ador'd Iupiter the Sun the Moon Venus the Fire the Earth the Winds and the Water But that which is the most perplexing in their Relations is That they give the Names of the Grecian Gods to those of the East because they conjectur'd they were the same Gods with theirs Wherefore we shall not stand to relate what our Author says thereon but the Curious may consult them if they think it to the purpose The 18th and 19th Parts of this Work contains an Historical Abridgment of the Philosophy of the Sabeans 1. The Sabeans were a People of Arabia who have had among them great Philosophers if we may credit some Arabian and Iewish Authors But these Authors are not of an ancient date and living in a time wherein this Philosophy was extinct it is not easie to know whether they were mistaken or no. Some say That the Head of the Sect of the Sabeans was named Zaradast which seems to be the same Name with Zoroaster Others say Tachmurat King of Persia was the first Founder thereof There are also many other Opinions about it The Rabbins pretended 't was in a flourishing condition in Chaldea from the time of Abraham and fail not to relate the History of that time with as great an Air of Assurance as if they had been Witnesses thereof or had drawn it from Contemporary Authors Some of which may be seen in the 2d and 18th Chapters of Mr. Stanley Maimonides says he had seen divers of their Books which our Author gives the Names of that were full of Superstitions conjurations of Demons secrets for the Talisans and other Extravagancies of this Nature Liv. 1. cap. 8. Hottingar in his History of the East assures us That he had some of 'em in his Possession compos'd by Abulfark Son of Abi-Iacub and he wish'd that it had been made publick 2. The Sabeans according to the Relation of Maimonides believ'd the Stars to be Divinities but that the Sun was greater than all the rest and govern'd both Worlds Superior and Inferior They attributed their Opinions to Adam and to the first Patriarchs and thereupon related Histories like to those that we find in the Alcoran and in divers Mahometan Authors which is a very good Reason to make us suspect those Books to be Supposititious partly from the Mahometan Superstitions and partly from Cheats which have often affix'd the Names of the first Patriarchs the better to sell their Books to the Credulous They gave to each Day of the Week the Name of one of the seven Planets to which they render'd certain Worship every Day and every Month. Their Monthly Devotions are described at length in the Manuscript of Hottinger whereof our Author gives a very circumstantial Extract They are only Fasts Sacrifices and Anniversary Solemnities in Honour of the Planets and particularly in Honour of Belta to whom the sixth Day of the Week was Consecrated so that this Name mark'd the Planet Venus and of Sammael a Name that the Iews to this day give to the evil Angel whom they call The Angel of Death They call'd their Months after the same Names as the Chaldeans did whose Language they much speak or one very near it because they were Neighbours This also hath been the reason that the Ancients gave the Name of Arabia to one part of Mesopotamia and that the Eastern People comprehended the Nabatheans and Sabeans under the general Name of Chaldeans as our Author observes in his Preamble to the 18th Part. In the last Chapter he relates divers Customs of the Sabeans contrary to many of the Injunctions of the Law of Moses as Maimonides observes But those that wou'd be instructed in the Original of the Opinions of the Sabeans may read the second Book of that Work of the Learned Spencer Entituled De legibus Hebraeorum Ritualibus Since what has been said of the Divinity of the Chaldeans is only founded upon those Oracles that yet remain among us it is necessary to relate here the Reasons that persuaded Mr. Stanley they are not Supposititious 1. These Fragments are not drawn from one Book only which might have been composed by any Ancient Heretick but from divers Platonick Authors who had them in great Veneration whereas they shew the falsness of some Books writ by the Gnosticks under the Name of Zoroaster This Porphyry hath acknowledg'd in the Life of Plotinus where he makes a great difference between these Oracles and those that were Supposititious 2. They are all full of Crack'd and Eastern Expressions altho' it is true there are many also that are purely Greek which ought to be attributed to those that Translated it from the Chaldeans 3. Picus de la Mirandula in a Letter to Marcilius Fieinus says he had these Oracles in the Chaldean Tongue much compleater and larger than those they had in the Greek with some Explications of the Doctrin of the Chaldeans in the same Tongue This Manuscript was found in his Closet after his Death but so spoil'd and difficult to be read that nothing cou'd be decifer'd of them 4. 'T is probable that these Oracles were Extracts of the Books of Berosus who carry'd the Chaldean Philosophy and Astronomy into Greece or at least of Iulian the Son who had publish'd several of the Oracles and Secrets of the Theurgy in Verse for Proclus cites some of 'em under his Name 5. It may be the Name of Oracles was not given to these Verses only to mark their Excellency but because they thought t' was the proper Terms of an Oracle Stephanus affirms that the Chaldeans had one of them for which they had not less Veneration than the Greeks had for the Oracle of Delphos This Opinion may be confirm'd by the esteem some Platonicks exprest of this Verse as Proclus who calls them in his Commentary upon Timeus The Assyrian Divinity reveal'd from God a Divinity receiv'd from God In other places he also attributes them directly to the Divinity Some of these Oracles that had escap'd the Barbarity of pass'd Ages were publish'd by Louis du Fillet at Paris in 1563. under the Title of the Oracles of the Magi descended from Zoroaster with the Commentary of Gemisthus Plethon And afterwards Translated by Iames Marthamus and publish'd by Opsopaeus at Paris in 1607. with the Commentary of Psellus Francis Patricius had also published them with many Additions drawn from Proclus
little the better for the very places of Scripture we most frequently alledge because they most commonly respect the Masoretick Bible which we have not room to explain to those who know nothing of these things If therefore such Subjects are fit for Divines to understand then must the Knowledge of the Rabbinical Writings be so likewise 'T is peculiarly incumbent on the Ministry by their Office to defend the Doctrines they teach by the Scriptures But if they are unable to defend the Scriptures the only Evidence and Proof of their Doctrines the Christian Religion with the Doctrines thereof must fall to the ground And yet this Position That the present Hebrew Bible and Greek Testament in the Words Letters Points Vowels and Accents we now enjoy is the same uncorrupted Word of God which was delivered of old by the holy Pen-men of it to the Church This we say cannot well be defended against all Opposers without the Rabbinical Knowledge we speak of And so much for the need of this Knowledge We shall only give some Directions about this Study First He must well understand the Hebrew Bible in the first place who would know the Rabbins before he look after them And for this if he hath no Latin he must get William Robertson's First and Second Gate to the Holy Tongue His Key to the Bible Iessey's English Greek Lexicon c. But we suppose most have the Latine Tongue and such have Grammars and Lexicons enough as Buxtorf's Epitome his Thesaurus His Lexicon And many other Authors especially Bythner's Lyra Prophetica in Psalmos Leusden's Compendium Biblicum Arius Montanus his Interlineary Bible c. Let him read the Hebrew Bible much And then for the Rabbins take this brief Account and Direction The ancient Chaldee Paraphrasts are most of them translated and thereby easie to learn The ancient Cabalistical Writings as the Zohar Bahir c. are both most difficult and least useful Their Oral Law or Traditions were collected after the Destruction of the Temple A.D. 150. by Rabbi Iudah the Holy as they call him This they preferr before the Scripture and suppose it was Orally delivered by Moses to Israel and unlawful to be written but when Ierusalem was destroyed they were constrained to write it lest it should be lost but yet 't was so written as that none but themselves might understand it This Book is called Mishnaioth comprizing all their Religion with the Bible 'T is divided into Two Parts each Part into Three Seders or Books each Seder into many Masecats or Tracts each Masecat into Chapters and Verses A brief Account of the Contents of the Mishna and all the Parts of it is given by Martinus Raimundus in his Prooemium to his Pugio Fidei a very Learned and Useful Book which also gives an Account of the Tosaphot the Gemara and the Commenâ—â—ries thereon which compleat the Talmuds both that of Ierusalem A.D. 230. and that of Babylon Five hundred Years after Christ which Gemara is but a Comment and Dispute on the Mishna which is the Text of the Talmud There are several Masecats or Tracts of the Mishna translated as the Nine first Masecats viz. Beracoth c. So also Masecat Middoth by Le Empereur Sanhedrin and Maccoth by Cock Megillath by Otho Codex Ioma and others But as the very Learned Ludivicus de Campeigne du Veil observes He that would know the Mishna must learn Maimonides This Moses Maimonides Physician to the King of Egypt about Five hundred Years ago wrote his Iad Chaseka or Mishna Torah wherein he hath comprized the Substance of the Mishna and Talmud in a pure pleasant plain and easie style if compared with the Mishna and Talmud and yet he that has read him may with ease and pleasure understand all the Mishna And then for the Talmud There is Clavis Talmudica Cock's Excerpta c. This Maimonides of whom the Jews say from Moses the Law-giver to Moses Maimonides there was never another Moses like this Moses Several of his Tracts are translated also as Iesudee Hatorah the First Masecat of all and Deoth Aboda Zara the 1 st entituled De Fundamentis Legis 2. Canones Ethicae 3. Idololatria 4. De Iure Pauperis 5. De Poenitentia c. But most are translated by the excellent Ludivicus de Campeigne du Veil as De Sacrificiis one of the fourteen Books which he hath divided this Work into and De Cultu Divino another of the fourteen Books comprizing several Tracts Also his Tracts about Vnleavened Bread about the Passover about a Fast c. As to other Rabbins several are translated as Cosri c. and that on various Subjects as Logick by R. Simeon Physick by Aben Tibbon with Maimonides's Epistle against Iudiciary Astrology So of Arithmetick and Intercalating the Month by Munster and that of Maimonides by Duveil with many other Books as Ietsirah Bachinath Olam c. And of History as Seder Olam Zutha and Seder Olam Rabba Tsemach David c. And as to Rabbinical Commentaries the best and chief are R. Sal. Iarchi or Isaac R. Aben Ezra R. David Kimchi all these upon the Proverbs are translated by Antony Giggeius upon several minor Prophets by Mercer viz. on Hosea Ioel Amos c. on Ioel and Iona by Leusden as also a Masecat on the Misbna called Pirke Abbot Kimchi on the Psalms is likewise translated These Rabbins lived about Five hundred Years ago and do excellently explain the Text where Grammar and Jewish History are necessary But several of the above-mentioned Books being scarce we shall be ready to Translate and Print in two Colums the one Hebrew the other English either any Masecat of the Mishna or any Hilcoth or Tract of Maimonides or the Commentaries of the Rabbins on any part of the Bible if our Bookseller receive Encouragement which with Buxtorf's Great Lexicon Talmudicum and his Book de Abbreviaturis would no doubt enable one that hath read the Hebrew Bible to understand the Rabbins Which is all the Direction we have room to give here and therefore conclude with our hearty Wishes That our Young Students may be mighty in the Scriptures Acts 18.24 2 Tim. 3.15 16. and thereby they will by the Grace of God become Able Divines according to the Old Proverb Bonus Textuarius Bonus Theologus The PROEM Containing the Cause Occasion and Method of the ensuing Debate IN this Introduction we shall take notice of Three things wherein are contained the Cause and Occasion of the following Discourse with the Method of proceeding therein 1. The Weight and Moment of the Subject in Controversie 2. The many Circumstances that render its Consideration at this time necessary and seasonable 3. The Method and Order of manageing the same First As to the Weight and Moment of the Matter in Controversie it is small in quantity about no more than a Point or Tittle but great in quality about no less a Cause than the Keeping or Rejecting of the Bible For 1 st The Old
that they were not placed since A. D. 500. and there are none that pretend they were between the time of Ezra and A. D. 500. Therefore the Points were placed by the time of Ezra which is all we contend for Secondly The Old Foundation must be removed before a New Structure can be erected Many have been so prepossessed with so high a conceit of the Novelty of the Points that 't would be bootless to prove their Antiquity until the improbability of their late Invention be discovered for they admire that any Learned or Judicious Person should believe their Antiquity altho' all the Protestant States and Churches in the World except what hath been lately suffered in England do religiously maintain it Scaltger saith That nothing can be more foolishly spoken that to say the Points were coaevous with the Letters Ep. 243. Grotius on Mat. 5.18 affirmeth That 't is nothing but pertinacious Obstinacy in any to deny that the Scriptures were used to be written without Points after Ezra's time And Schikard in his Iure Reg. Heb. lib. 2. pag. 41. asserteth That he greatly wonders that any can seriously believe the Antiquity of the Points Vid. Considerator Considered pag. 234 235. So that till the Absurdity of their beloved Opinion be manifested 't is in vain to prove the other whilst they disdain to consider it 3. Our Antagonists spend their greatest strength in opposing our Opinion to render it but Improbable and 't is but quit with them to shew the Improbability of theirs and more fair seeing 't is easier for them to prove a Fact done but a Thousand Years ago than for us to prove what was done at Two Thousand Years distance from the present time 4. This Discourse being principally designed to Answer Capellus Dr. Walton c. who take this method first defending their own Opinion and then Replying unto the Arguments for ours it is convenient to follow them herein and keep their Order so far And for these Reasons we observe the Method here propounded and begin with the First General Head which is The discovery of the Improbability of the Opinion That the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents of the Hebrew Bible were first invented and placed to the Text A. D. 500. or since that time either by the Masorites of Tiberias or Others and for the Reasons aforesaid we shall largely insist hereon according to the best of our poor Ability and that small Reading which frequent Avocations from Study on necessary Occasions would permit A Discourse concerning the Original and Antiquity of the Hebrew Points Vowels and Accents The FIRST PART Containing the Discovery of the Improbability of their Novel and Humane Invention and Original CHAP. I. The Question stated The Four different Opinions about the First Period of Time whereunto the Invention of the Points is assigned are enumerated The Three several Opinions of those who suppose the Points were a Novel Invention related The Two last examined THE Question under Consideration is Concerning the Time when the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents were first invented and placed to the Hebrew Bible There are Two periods of Time particularly fixed unto the one or the other of which all Parties do in some respect ascribe their Original The one is the Time of Ezra the other is A. D. 500. The one makes them of Divine the other of Humane Original and Authority So that the Question is Whether the Shapes or Figures of the Points Vowels and Accents which are joyned to the Text of the Hebrew Bible were invented and placed to the Text as early as the time of Ezra er else not until the Talmuds were finished A. D. 500 1. Those that place them to the First Period viz. that say they were as ancient as the time of Ezra are all the Jews one only Elias excepted though they differ as to the positive precise time of their first Invention as R. Samuel Arkuvolti reckons them up For 1 st Some say they are coaevous with the Letters 2. Others That they were given to Moses on Sinai with the Oral Law and kept by Tradition till Ezra's time 3. Others say That they were placed to the Law and the rest of the Scriptures as they were first written 4. But all the rest except Elias only say that Ezra and the great Sanhedrim of his time first invented and placed them to the Text. So that in this they all agree That by the time of Ezra at latest they were invented and placed to the Scripture and thereby they own their Divine Original and Authority as do the generality of Christians likewise 2. Those that place their Original to the Second Period affirm that they were not invented before A. D. 500. though they also differ as to the precise time of their first Invention About which they hold Three different Opinions 1 st That they were began and ended simul semel A. D. 500. as Elias saith was his Opinion in Tob taam lettar page tsade cap. 2. I think saith he that those who found out the Points found out also the Accents and placed both of them to the Letters at one time Which in his Masoret Hammasoret Pref. 2. he declares was about the Year 500. The Evidences which he brings for his Opinion and the Testimony he produceth out of Aben Ezra Cosri Kimchi and Tsak Sephataim shall be at large examined in the following Chapters and the Improbability and Absurdity of his Opinion fully discovered afterwards in its proper place A brief Relation of the Two other Opinions and Examination of them by the way is the Work of this Chapter And they are these 2. The Second different Opinion about their Novel Invention is that of Ludovicus Capellus who supposeth they were began A. D. 500. and ended A. D. 1030. by Ben Asher and Ben Naphthali Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum cap. 17. But for this Opinion he brings no Testimony nor Reason as Buxtorf observes de Punct Orig. pag. 267. Hanc vero cum in libris authoribus nullis â—eperiret suopte marte ingenio eam hoc pacto nobis procudit And all that Capellus pretends to alledge is only what Elias Levita mentions out of Maimonides on another account about Ben Asher's Copy the Jews leaning upon it because he spent many Years in Correcting of it The words of Maimonides are these And the Book that we lean upon in these things is a Book that is known in Egypt comprizing the Twenty four Books of Scripture which was in Ierusalem many Years ago to Correct Books by it and all lean upon it because Ben Asher Corrected it who was exact therein many years and Corrected it many times as he Transcribed it and and on him I lean in the Book of the Law which I have written after his manner This Elias repeats and addeth And so we lean upon his Reading in all these Countreys and the Men of the East lean on the Reading of Ben Naphthali and the differences
Masorites by Elias himself First As to the Name of the Masora that is not only mentioned by both the Talmuds but spoken of as being as ancient as Ezra's time in the Ierusalem Talmud in Megilla cap. 4. And in the Babylon Talmud in Masecat Nedarim cap. 4. fol. 37. In explaining Neh. 8.8 And caused them to understand the reading that is the Masora say both the Talmuds That is saith Elias By Oral Tradition the Masora was then used Not so saith R. Azarias they speak of what was written and not of Tradition Again The common Saying of the Talmuds shew the Name of the Masora was then known viz. There is a Mother to the Scripture and there is a Mother to the Masora And as to the Work of the Masorites Elias supposeth cap. 2. that they made the Verses And yet the Mishna it self not long after the Destruction of Ierusalem mentions the Verses as in Masecat Megilla cap. 3. it saith He that reads in the Law must not read less than three Verses and in the Paraphrase not more than one And as the Talmud on Megilla cap. 3. fol. 32. saith What Verse Moses did not make a Verse we must not make a Verse Secondly Again As to the Parts of the Masora their readings Ittur Sopherim Keri u lo Ketib thus saith the Talmud in Masecat Nedarim fol. 37. Rabbi Isaac saith the reading of the Scribes and Ittur Sopherim and the Keri u lo Ketib and the Ketib u lo Keri is a Constitution of Moses from Sinai Thirdly But the main Work that Elias ascribes to the Masorites was the numbring the Verses Words and Letters of Scripture and telling which is the middle Verse Word and Letter of the Law and the like Now of these the Talmud maketh mention most plainly in Masecat Kedushin cap. 1. fol. 30. it is thus written Therefore Roshonim the Ancients were called Sopherim Numberers because they numbred all the Letters which were in the Law and these said that Vau in the word Gihon is the middlemost Letter of the Law Lev. 11.42 That Darash Lev. 10.16 is the middlemost word of the Law And Hitgalach Lev. 13.35 is the middlemost Verse in the Law c. The Ancients they say knew well the Letters full and defective and that the Verses of the Law were 5888. The Talmud indeed oft refuteth the Masora as Elias confesseth in Table 1. Speech 5. but then the Masora must needs be in being The Talmud takes notice of the Great and Small Letters which is also a Part of the Masora as on Sopherim cap. 9. it saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Great Deut. 29.28 What Argument saith Buxtorf can be plainer than this the Name and Work and Parts of the Masora were long before A. D. 500. Therefore they were not first made A. D. 500. as Elias thinketh Indeed he allows them to be by Tradition before a thing most absurd and impossible but not written until after the Talmuds A. D. 500. Now we say if the Masorites Pointed the Text they were these Masorites who wrote the Notes about the number of the Letters Words and Verses of the Bible of the Ittur Sopherim the Keri u lo Ketib the Reading of the Scribes the Letters Greater or Lesser than ordinary the Letters and Words Full and Defective and the like all which the Talmuds plainly say were made by the Ancients their Ancestors long before their time or else the Punctation was made by other Masorites than these the Talmud speaks of if the Punctation was made by these Men then it was made long before A. D. 500. even as ancient as Ezra for so ancient is this Masora esteemed by the Jews to be Elias his Fancy That this Masora was Orally preserved from Ezra 's time till A. D. 500. is refuted by R. Azarias and R. S. Arcuvolti But if the Masorites who Pointed the Text were not these ancient Masorites the Talmuds speak of then they were either those that made the Notes on the Anomalous Punctation and upon the rest of the things that are the Subject of the Masoretick Observations which compose the present Masora or else they were some others But they were not these Masorites neither for we have at large proved that those who made the Notes on the Punctation were long after the Punctation was made And that those who made the other Notes on the other Parts of the Masora did only observe what they found the Text to be but placed nothing to the Text their only design being to prevent any from so doing in time to come If therefore the Masorites Pointed the Text they were other Masorites than either of these before mentioned But other than the one or the other sort of Masorits already mentioned we neither read nor hear of and till some other can be found out we conclude the Masorites A. D. 500. or since that time did not Point the Text. And so much for the discovery of the Improbability of those Persons Pointing the Text to whom the Invention of the Punctation is ascribed CPAP. XV. The Absurdity of the Opinion That the Text was first Pointed A D. 500 further discovered from the Evidences of the Points Vowels Accents and Verses being long before that time and the Instance of a Pointed Copy of R. Hillel A. D. 340. and from the Account we have of these things in the Zoar Bahir Mishna and Talmuds WE shall conclude this FIRST PART with the Evidences of the mention that is made of all the Parts of the Punctation in the ancient Writings of the Jews that were before A. D. 500. and the Instance of a Pointed Copy of R. Hillel of great Antiquity We shall begin with the Book entitled Habahir made by R. Nechoniah fifty years before Christ. Vid. Buxtorf Thesaurus A. D. 1609. pag. 66 67. Iuchasin pag. 20. Tsemach David part 1. pag. 35. R. Azarias Meor Enaim cap. 59. The words of Bahir are these The Points in the Letters of the Law of Moses are like unto the Breath of Life in the Body of a Man And in the Book called Zohar made by R. Simeon ben Iochai a hundred years after Christ. Vid. Buxtorf ibid. and Bibliothaeca Rabbinica on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iuchasin pag. 42. R. Azarias Meor Enaim in imre bina cap. 59. The words of Zohar are these Not one Letter is able to signifie one thing or another without the Points All the Letters without the Points are like the Body without the Soul when the Points come then the Body stands in its Station And so in the Tikkunim or Explications of the Zohar saith R. Azarias ibid. And in the Preface of Tikkunïm 't is said The Accents are as the Breath and the Points as the Spirit and the Letters as the Soul the one come after the other And this as R. Azarias ibid. observes is not meant of the Sounds only but of the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents as he there gives Instances See more of the ancient
Caballistical Writers expressly mentioning the very Names also of the Points Vowels and Accents in Buxtorf's Tiberias and De Punctorum Origine pag. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59. together with the Answer to the impertinent Cavils of Capellus as to the Antiquity and Integrity of the Books Zohar Bahir and the Pointed Copy of Hillel who objecteth It may be that they have forged Titles of Antiquity to advance the Price in the Sale of them Resp. And it may not be so But if it may be so that doth not prove it was so Nor doth Capellus produce any thing that renders the Antiquity of these Books so much as suspected for the Antiquity of these Books is universally owned by the Jews Those of them who write about these things plainly declare their Antiquity to be what we say it is 3. The Mishna about A. D. 150. takes notice of the Verses in Masecat Megilla cap. 3. and saith He that reads in the Law must not read less than three Verses nor more than one Verse in the Chaldee Paraphrase 4. The Ierusalem Talmud about A. D. 230. in Megilla cap. 4. on Neh. 8.8 And they read in the Book in the Law of God That is say they the Scripture distinctly that is with the Targum or Chaldee Paraphrase and gave the sence These say they are the Accents which they placed Samu taam they put the Accents to it and Some say these are the Pauses Others say these are the Beginnings of the Verses 5. The Babylon Talmud in Masecat Nedarim cap. 4. fol. 37. and in Masecat Megilla cap. 1. fol. 3. on Neh. 8.8 they say likewise And they read in the Book of the Law of God that is the Scripture distinctly that is with the Targum and gave the sence These are the Verses and cause them to understand the reading This is the Stops of the Accents And others say these were the Masora for they were forgotten and they then restored them And in Masecat Nedarim fol. 37. ibid. Rabbi Isaac saith The reading of the Scribes and Ittur Sopherim and Keri u lo Ketib and Ketib u lo Keri is a Constitution of Moses on Sinai First saith R. Isaac The reading of the Scribes as Erets Shamajim Mitsraim that is The Scribes taught the People how they had received from Moses to read these words and the like one way in one place and another way in another as sometimes Arets sometimes Erets c. For as R. Nissin saith Erets is changed by reason of Athnak into Arets and so of Shammajim Mitsraim c. And as R. Sal. Iarchi saith The Scribes taught them how they ought to read the Words without the Vowel-Letters being added in all places as Erets without writing Aleph between Resh and â—sade And so Shamajim without writing Aleph between Shin and Mem And all this say the Talmud is a Constitution of Moses from Sinai And as it is impossible that the Sounds of all the Punctation could be preserved without the Shapes of them were written to the Text So R. Azarias in Meor Enaim cap. 59. sheweth that what the Talmuds speak on Neh. 8.8 is all of it about what was written and no part of it was spoken about what was kept by Oral Tradition As First The Book of the Law which they read that was Mikra the Scripture distinctly with Targum or the Chaldee Paraphrase which saith he was then written and so saith he were the Points and Accents and Masora which they there speak of was then written as well as the Scripture And the Chaldee Paraphrase was Written and not kept by Oral Tradition only as Elias fancieth a thing most absurd and impossible Capellus objects That R. Sal. Iarchi R. Azarias c. are Modern Rabbins But what saith Rabboth and the Ancient Writers Resp. They cannot expound the Talmud which was made long after they were dead but the Ancient Writers speak plain enough of the Points as Bahir Zohar c. And why may not the Talmuds speak of the Shapes of the Points There is not one place of Scripture saith Buxtorf in all the Talmud any otherwise read than our present Punctation reads it Which could not have been had not the Bible been then Pointed for the Sounds could not be kept without the Shapes as we have already shewed in the PROEMIVM and as themselves say the LXX and Chaldee differ from our Copy because they had no Points and we may as well say the Talmud universally agreeth with our Punctation because they had Points which they could not have done without And as to the LXX c. they differ from the Letters and Words as well as about the Points and therefore Capellus reckons their Copy differed from ours in Letters as well as Points But these things we may examine hereafter the Punctation is all we are now concerned about And hereby all those Objections of the silence of the ancient Caballistical Writings and of the Talmuds about the Points are obviated Vid. Pugio Fidei pag. 92. the former Edition And pag. 111. of the last Edition See also Buxtorf de Punct Orig. part 1. cap. 5 cap. 6. We shall only add the Instance of a Pointed Copy of R. Hillel which was before A. D. 500. as ancient as A. D. 340. 'T is said in Iuchasin fol. 132. col 1. ' In the year 956 or 984 there was a great Persecution in Lions and then they brought out from thence the twenty four Books called the Bible which R. Hillel wrote and by them they corrected all their Books and I have seen a Part of them that were sold in Africa and in my time they had been written nine hundred years And Kimchi saith in his Grammar That the Pentateuch of it was at Toletola in Spain in his time Object 'T is not said here 't was Pointed Resp. But 't is said Kimchi speaks of it in his Grammar And Kimchi speaking of it says it is Pointed as in Michlol fol. 93. col 1. he saith That R. Iacob the Son of Eleazer writeth That in the Book of Hillel which is in Toledolid the word Tideru 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Deut. 12.11 is found without a Dagesh lene in Daleth that is Daleth raphated So on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vedareshu in Psal. 109.10 he saith That the word Vedareshu is read with broad Kamets like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veshameru and so we have received the reading of it And in the Book of Hillel which is kept at Toledolid the Masorites make this Note upon it viz. This is no where else found with Kaâ—uph Kamets and so Nagid writeth That he found it likewise in the Masora so written with Katuph Kamets So in his Book of Roots Sepher Sherashim on the Radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tesomet There Mem is with Segol contrary to Rule and is as if it were with Pathack And in the Book of Hillel which is in Toledolid it is with
so that they were half naked Besides which they suffered both their Beard and Hair to grow This Dress with their particular manner of Carriage drew many Children after them and exposed them to their Ridicule Yet for all the apparent Severity they were very debauched as they walked the Streets this Aspersion was often cast upon them especially when out of Greece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grec imposteur Their Garments were generally black and dirty and if any one was seen to affect the same Slovenliness he was certain to have the same Reproaches rendred him as St. Ierome makes appear in his Epistle to Marcellus upon the Infirmity of Blasill The Christian Monks with their habits inheriting the Vanity of the Philosophers also it is believed by some Authors that the Heathens called them through Contempt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Black Casacks and said they were no mark of Virtue so that it was but wearing a Mourning Dress and that it imported not what they appeared outwardly since there was nothing but excessive Vanity within Now to return to Iustin Antiquity assures us he lived very conformably to the habit he wore He went to Rome in the beginning of the Reign of Antonine the Pious and fixt his Abode there applying himself to the defence of the Christian Religion against the Heathens Marcionites and other Hereticks in pursuit of which he writ several Books that have been lost About the hundred and fortieth Year of the Blessed Jesus he Presented to Antonine his Apology for the Christian Religion Which seemed to be the Cause that the Emperor publish'd an Edict and sent into all Asia commanding that the Christians should be proceeded against according to the ordinary Forms of Justice whereas before they took away their Goods banished them and sometimes put them to death without any Formalities at all In Dr. Cave there are some critical Observations on the date of this Edict by which he plainly proves that it was Antonine's and not Marcus Aurelius's as some Learned Men have supposed After having Publish'd this Apology Iustin makes a Voyage into Asia where he came acquainted with Trypho the Iew which Dr. Cave believes to be R. Tarpho who was Friend to R. Akiba that is so often spoke of in the Thalmud Trypho had retired from Iudea after the War of Barchocheas and Iustin finding him at Ephesus disputed with him for two days of which he gives an account to the Publick in a Book Entituled A Dialogue with Trypho From thence returning to Rome he composed that Apology which is called the First tho it was really the Second and Presented it to Marcus Aurelius Lucius Verus for a certainty not being at that time at Rome Iustin had great Contests also with one Crescens a Cynic Philosopher who under the pretended Austerities of a Philosophical Life concealed many shameful Disorders Wherefore Iustin calls him a Philosopher and no Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Man enraged against Iustin resolved to do his utmost to ruin him he found it not difficult to make use of the excessive Superstition of Marcus Aurelius to that end who had also a very ill Opinion of the Christians as is evident by these words of his Book 11. § 3. Such is the Disposition of the Soul that it must be separated from the Body whether it be extinguish'd and dissipated like a Vapour or whether it Subsists This Disposition must proceed from its own Iudgment not from a Passion purely which troubles it as is often seen in the Christians but from a calm and solid Reasoning such as may be inspired to another without making use of Discourses full of Figures and Exaggerations The Circumstances of Iustin's Death may be seen in the Account of his Martyrdom which Dr. Cave believes to be true Their shortness he says being no little sign that they have been taken from ancient Memoirs without being corrected and added to in latter Ages as many things of the like nature have been It is true that some have doubted whether those Acts contained the Martyrdom of Iustin according to matter of Fact but their Suspicion seems not to be well grounded because there is nothing but what agrees very well with it especially the Time and Death of this Martyr which was when Rusticus was Praefect of Rome as St. Epiphanius confirms Rusticus was a great Man both in the Wars and State very much enclined to Philosophy and particularly that of the Stoicks He had been Governor to Marcus Aurelius as may be seen in the First Book of this Emperor where are the chief Lessons that he learnt of him Before this Rusticus Iustin and Six other Christians were brought after they had been first put in Prison He asked them if they were Christians they all freely confessing it publickly and refusing to Sacrifice to the Roman Deities were Beheaded Baronius concludes it to be in the 165th Year after Christ as agrees very well with the Alexandrian Chronology that saith a little after Iustin had presented his second Apology to the Emperor he received the Crown of Martyrdom Dr. Cave after the Relation of Iustin's Death gives a Character of his Virtues and Learning in the manner of a Panegyric as he does to all the Lives he has Written where all along he mingles Eloquence with the Critical part of his History He tells us that although Ancients have extremely praised the Learning of Iustin this Holy Man had no knowledge of the Hebrew as appears by the Etymology he gives of the word Satanas which he saith comes from Sata and from Nas that in Hebrew and Syriac signifie an Apostat Whereas 't is known that the Termination in AS is from the Greek and is added to the word Satan which signifies in Hebrew an Enemy The Etymology that Iustin gave to this word without doubt made Trypho Laugh this shews that some Moderns have not been very well acquainted with the Writings of our Martyr because that a false Etymology of the word Osanna being found in his Book entituled Questions and Answers to the Orthodox They have concluded it to be none of Iustin's who according to them understood Hebrew very well because he was born in Palestine Mr. Rivet also gives this Reason in his Book Entituled Criticus Sacer from whence Sundius hath taken it and added to this Treatise de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis which consists almost of nothing else but what others that have treated of the same matter have said before him Dr. Cave informs us that this Author who pretended to have read the Writings of the Ancients his Citations of which savour infinitely more of Ostentation than Judgment or Fidelity hath sufficiently declared his Ignorance in what relates to the Fathers with whom he has pretended to be so well acquainted when he made that Remark on Iustin. Though Dr. Cave does not look upon this Work as his but rejects it for other Reasons as well as many other that have been
Latin we might justly apply to him the words of Cato Utican on the Subject of Posthumius Albinus who being a Roman would nevertheless write in Greek and yet excused the badness of his Stile saying He did not well understand the Greek Tongue He had rather says this grave Senator beg Pardon for his Fault than not to commit it He has also Expressions so proper to the Greek Tongue that they could not have slipt from an Author that had writ in Latin had he been never so little versed in the Tongue for Example this Author translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui sunt ciro◠Ptolomaeum instead of saying barely Ptolomaeus or Ptolomaei Discipuli he also makes an Adjective of the proper Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he translates Clarus Mr. Dodwell goes much further and maintains that this Latin Version is so far from being the Original or made by St. Irenaeus as some have believed that it appeared not until a long time after the Death of this Father since Tertullian quotes this Work always in other terms though he writ thirty Years after The first that produced formal Testimonies was St. Augustin in his Books against Iulian. What is most strange is that it seems this Father did not know that St. Irenaeus writ in Greek this Version then must be made in the time that passed between St. Augustin and Tertullian and whereas St. Ierom makes no mention of it in his Catalogue composed the Year of our Saviour CCCLXXX and the Fourteenth of Theodosius it must needs be made between the Year CCCLXXXV and the time which St. Augustin speaks of Our Author thinks it is the Work of some French or Spaniard that was very ignorant in the Latin who undertook this Version upon the account of the Priscillianists who renew'd the Errors of the Gnosticks which St. Irenaeus had disputed against This Version was the occasion of a very singular Action which was that after the Heresies were smothered this Version was so rough and full of strange Matter that it was quite despised so that Gregory the Great could not find one simple Copy of it after an exact Search which he caused to be made and that none of the ancient Schoolmen speak of it But on the contrary the Greek Authors had several Copies of the Greek Original and there are Fragments of it in all Places And nevertheless now this excellent Greek is lost and the World is full of the bad Latin Translation the Fate of Books very often is like that of Fountains there are little Rivers that carry their Name into the very Sea and very considerable ones that lose themselves without any Name St. Irenaeus writ his Books both without Distinction or Arguments and his Translator or some other Authors have added what we see at this day IV. Our Author in his last Dissertation of the other Works of St. Irenaeus begins his Letter writ to Blastus and by the first to Florinus the first treated of Schism and the second of Monarchy Baronius thought that Florin's Errors oblig'd St. Irenaeus to write the Books against Heresies but Mr. Dodwell is not of his mind It is manifest that it is against the Valentinians that this Father intended these Works and Florinus taught a quite contrary Doctrin to that of these Hereticks for whereas these Hereticks establish'd two Principles the one good the other bad them Florinus made conformable to the Doctrin of the Church but he made that the Author of Good and Evil. As for Blastus he is acquitted of the Crime of Heresie whereof many Ancient and Modern accused him and it s believed he was but a Schismatick having done the Office of a Priest after he was deposed by his Bishop These two Letters were writ at the same time after his Work against the Hereticks according to our Author in the Year CLXXXII and the Third of Comodus and the Eighty fifth of Irenaeus Florinus did not stop at these Errors he soon fell into the Dreams of the Valentinians which obliged St. Irenaeus to write him a second Letter which he entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Eighth because it was writ against the Eighth des Eons de Valentinians Our Author believes that Irenaeus was above Eighty five years old when he writ it which was about the CLXXXII Year of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus writ also an Harangue against the Gentiles the Subject whereof was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Science It is known that Isocrates not having the necessary Talents for speaking publickly contented himself in writing several Orations with important Advise to them that ruled the People he was imitated by a great many others and the Christians themselves were assisted by this Custom to teach the Pagans the Truths of the Christian Religion and did not neglect to embellish their Orations with the vain Ornaments of the Sophists to move the Curiosity of the Readers whose Gust lay that way Such was then St. Irenaeus's Discourse of Science that it was addressed to the Greeks that is to say to all them that were not Christians for as the Christian Church succeeded that of the Iews and the Iews called all them Greeks that were not of their Religion so the Christians gave the same Name to all those that did not embrace their Opinions Mr. Dodwell believes that this Work was employ'd to refute the Opinion of some Philosophers who thought that by Study and Meditation one might raise himself beyond all that is sensible or material and to the perfect knowledge of God and of all Spiritual Beings and this by themselves that St. Irenaeus proved that Knowledge was reserved for the other Life and that we do not know in this but only by Faith St. Irenaeus writ another Work which he named the Demonstration of Preaching or of the Apostles Doctrin and dedicated it to one Mavejon to contradict several Writings that were father'd on the first Disciples of our Saviour and particularly the Sermons falsly attributed to St. Peter Mr. Dodwell says that the design of this Work was the same of that of the Prescriptions of Tertullian The Ancients speak yet of another Work of St. Irenaeus intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to St. Ierom's and Mr. Dodwell's Interpretations a Book containing divers Treatises our Author imploys a long Discourse to shew that St. Irenaeus had erected a School in his latter days and that he taught his Scholars what he himself had learned of the Apostles Disciples that is to say Apostolical Traditions and that this Work we speak of was a Collection of the Lessons that he made in that School It is pleasant to see the trouble Mr. Dodwell gives himself to establish this his Opinion and it is like he took it with pleasure because it tends to the general end he proposed to himself of reconciling the Traditions of the two first Ages of the Church with the Scripture What is very advantageous is that all these Enquiries include many
and things which were to fall out Read Hydaspes and you shall find that he hath much more clearly written of the Son of God and hath said that several Kings should arm themselves against Jesus Christ that they should hate him for those who bear his Name c. As the Preaching of the Gospel came in his time so in their time the Law and the Prophets were given to Barbarians and Philosophy to the Grecians which accustomed their Ears to the Preaching of the Gospel Clement speaks after the same manner in divers other Places and declares evidently enough that he believed Philosophy was amongst the Greeks what Prophecy was amongst the Hebrews and that God always gave equally to all Men the means of being Saved which was also the Opinion of divers other Greek Fathers Clement believed also that the Greeks had nothing good but what they had taken from the Barbarous People chiefly from the Iews and from the Books which he endeavours to prove in a thousand places and we know that this was the common Opinion of the Fathers who undertook to Censure the Philosophy of the Grecians The Iews said also the same thing as is plain by a Passage of Aristobulus a Peripatetick who is said to have been Tutor to Ptolomy and Philometor and who speaks thus Plato hath followed our Laws and shewn that he studied them well And before the time of Demetrius before even the Empire of Alexander and that of the Persians they were Translated by another besides the Seventy as well as the History of what happened to the Hebrews our Fellow-Citizens at their coming out of Egypt of what Remarkable things they did and saw and of the manner wherewith by force they possessed themselves of the Country of Canaan and how the whole Law was given so that it 's visible the Philosopher whom we have mentioned learned several things thereof for he had much Learning as well as Pythagoras who added to his Doctrin several of our Opinions But many things render this Author suspicious and as he is the only Man who has spoke of a Version made before the Empire of the Persians there is reason to doubt this is a Iewish Fable Howbeit it appears that in the time of this Author true or suppsititious the Iews accused the Pagans of having stolen from the Holy Books what good Opinions soever they had It is very probable that the Greeks learned several things of the Eastern People as of the Egyptians and Babilonians for they confess it themselves but if the thing was throughly examined it would perhaps be found that in Greece they spake very clearly of several things before the Iews spake thereof after the same manner and that these latter began to express themselves as the Greeks did only since they have had Commerce with them Proofs of this Conjecture might be brought at least as strong as all those which the Fathers urge to prove the contrary but as that would make us abandon too far our principal Subject whereof we treat here we shall not undertake to enter upon this matter It is more proper here to observe that though Clement often accuseth the Grecian Philosophers of Stealth and Robbery Yet he believ'd God had given them some of their Knowledge by the Ministry of Inferiour Angels whereas he instructed Christians by that of his Son The Lord of all Men says he of the Grecians as well as Barbarians perswades those who will believe in him for he forceth not him to receive Salvation who can chuse and do what depends upon time to embrace the Hope which God offereth unto him It 's he who gives Philosophy to the Grecians by the Ministry of Inferiour Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is a long time since that by the Commandment of God Angels were dispers'd amongst the Nations but the Opinion of such as believe is the Portion of the Lord. He after that proves at large in the same place that God is the Saviour of the Pagans as well as of the Iews In respect to the Ministry of Angels to reveal Philosophy to the Greeks Clement and those who were of this Opinion fell into it partly by reason of what Socrates said of his Demon who advertised him of several things and whereof Clement seems to speak in terms which may make us believe that he was perswaded Socrates spoke truth And this also doth not ill agree with the thoughts of the same Father and several others who believed according to many Pagan Philosophers that each Person had his Guardian Angel who would sometimes give him Advices It will be no wonder after that if Clement attributes a kind of Prophecy to Plato chiefly if we consider that the words of this Philosopher agree so well to Jesus Christ that scarcely at this day can the State better be described in which our Saviour was when he was Crucified upon the Cross. He describes an exact Virtue and saith Thus may be named the Virtue of a Just Man who notwithstanding should go for a wicked Man although he courageously followed Justice and who in spight of this evil Judgment which all the World should have of him should to his latest Breath walk in the ways of Virtue Yea though he was scourged though he should suffer divers Torments though he was kept in Irons though his Eyes were burned with a hot Iron though all manner of evil should be inflicted on him and lastly though he should be Crucified As to the rest it was not that Clement equaliz'd in any respect the Heathen Philosophy to that of the Doctrin of Jesus Christ. He acknowledged that before his coming it was but like a Degree or Preparation to Christianity and that Philosophers could pass but for Children if they were compared to Christians He looked upon Faith as necessary since the Gospel was Published throughout all the World Our Saviour having given saith he his Commandments to the Barbarians and Philosophy to the Greeks hath shut up Incredulity until his Coming at which time whosoever believeth not in him is unexcusable All the Books of Clement are full of these Opinions which he defends every where with much clearness and enlarges on them so that we may see in those Times these Opinions were not looked upon at least commonly as dangerous for there is no likelihood that he should have the Charge of Cathechist after his Master Pantenus nor that he shou'd have so many Praises bestow'd on him as afterwards appears if he had been considered as a Man infected with dangerous Sentiments St. Chrysostom hath maintained the same thing concerning the Salvation of Pagans in his Thirty eighth Homily upon St. Matthew It was necessary to observe in a few words these Opinions of Clement because otherwise divers places of his Writings could not be understood and that it was upon these Grounds he retained all he thought rational in the Notions of the Pagans rejecting only what appeared false unto him or incompatible with the
is transferred by reason of Inconvenience of so many Printers that were forc'd to be employ'd upon 't the only difference in these two Tomes is that the Extracts of the Fathers of the Fourth Age which are in the second Volume are longer and consequently more exact than those in the first He begins with Eusebius of Caesarea whom his Ecclesiastick History hath rendred so celebrated of whom he gives a very dissinterested Judgment Pag. 19. Although he found no difficulty in the Council of Nice to acknowledge the Son of God was from all Eternity and that he absolutely rejected the Impiety of Arius who said that he was Created out of nothing and that there was a time when he was not yet he always found it hard to believe the Term Consubstantial that is to confess that the Son is of the same Substance with the Father and after he had received it he gave such a Sense of it as establish'd not the Equality of the Son with the Father since he speaks thus in a Letter that he writ to his Church to give it an account of his Conduct When we say that the Son is Consubstantial with the Father we Mean only that the Son hath no resemblance with the Creatures which were made by him and that he is perfectly one with the Father by whom he was begotten not of another Hypostasis or Substance When we would justifie Eusebius in respect to the Divinity of the Son it is more difficult to defend what he says of the Holy Ghost For he affirms not only in his Books of the Preparation and Evangelick Demonstration but also in his third Book of Ecclesiastick Divinity that he is not the true God The holy Spirit is not God nor the Son of God because he has not taken his Original from the Father as the Son has being in the number of such things as are made by the Son This shews says Mr. du Pin that Socrates Sozomenes and and some Modern Authors have been mistaken in excusing him entirely whereas on the other side 't is a very great Injustice to call him an Arian and even the head of them as St. Ierom does His Judgment upon other points of Religion appears very Orthodox to the Author and in respect to his Person he says he was very much dissinterested very sincere loved Peace Truth and Religion He authoris'd no new Form of Faith he no way endeavour'd to injure Athanasius nor to ruin those of his Party He wisht only to be able to accommodate and unite both Parties I doubt not adds Mr. du Pin that so many good Qualities was the Cause of placing him in the number of the Saints in the Martyrologies of Usard of Adon and in some ancient Offices of the French Churches It is true he continued not long in the peaceable Possession of this quality of Saint But it would be in my opinion a very great boldness to judge him absolutely unworthy of it The second Author in this second Volume is the Emperor Constantine whose pretended Donation he rejects as well as the false Acts attribubuted to Pope Sylvester because nothing to him seems more fabulous If Constantine was the first Christian Emperor he was also the first that made Edicts against the Hereticks But he did well in not pushing things to that Extremity as his Predecessors have carried them to It is true that he sent Arius into Exile and the two Bishops that had taken his part in the Council of Nice and that he caused all these Hereticks Books to be burnt But he afterwards recall'd him and banished St. Athanasius to Treves He made also an Edict in the Year CCCXX against the Donatists by which he commanded those Churches they possess'd to be taken from them but the Year following he moderated the Rigor of it permitting those who were exiled to return to their Country their to live in rest and reserv'd to God the Vengeance of their Crimes This alteration of his Conduct sufficiently shews that this Prince on these occasions acted not according to his own Reason but according to the different Motions that inspired the Court Bishops who made him the Instrument to execute their Passions He was not of himself inclin'd to persecute Men for Opinions in Religion for the 27th of September the CCCXXX Year he granted the Patriarchs of the Iews an Exemption from publick Charges In the Month of May Anno Dom. CCCXXVI he made an Edict to forbid the admitting into the Clergy Rich Persons or such as were Children to the Ministers of State The occasion of this Edict was because many Persons entred themselves amongst the Clergy to be exempt from publick Charge which was a great Oppression to the Poor And Constantine thought it very reasonable that the Rich should support the burthensom Charges of the Age and that the Poor should be supported by the Riches of the Church Grotius M. Ludolf and others have observed the Disputes of the Eutychians and Nestorians were not really such as they were imagined for many Ages Mr. du Pin is not very far from this Opinion since he says p. 80. that the Eastern People always applyed themselves more particularly to observe the distinction between the two Natures of Iesus Christ than their intimate Union whereas the Egyptians speak more of their Union than Distinction Which has been since the Cause of great Contestations that they have had amongst themselves upon the Mystery of the Incarnation As the Life of St. Athanasius is one of the most remarkable of the Fourth Age for the variety both of his good and bad Fortune so Mr. du Pin relates it more at large It 's plain that from the time of this Father Persons were very much inclin'd to the Exterior parts of Religion since two of the greatest Crimes which the Arians accused St. Athanasius of were breaking of a Chalice and Celebrating the Mysteries in a Church that was not Consecrated We may also observe after these Authors that the Communion was then given to the Laicks under both kinds that there were Women which vowed Virginity which were not Cloister'd up that there were Priests and Bishops married that the Monks might quit their State and take a Wife That it was not permitted to make new Articles of Faith and that even the Ecumenick Councils were only Witnesses of the Faith of their Age whereas they authoritatively judged of such things as regarded Discipline Thus the Bishops of Nice said well in appointing a Day for the Celebration of Easter It pleases us we will have it so But they express'd themselves quite otherwise in respect to the Consubstantiality of the Word since after having given their Opinions upon it they content themselves with adding Such is the Faith of the Catholick Church As for the rest although St. Athanasius was an Ardent Defender of this Council he was not for having those treated as Hereticks which could not without difficulty make use of the
Party which is that of the Semi Arians or Homoiousians The Reader will not be displeased to find here a List of these Councils which is made upon the Remarks of Mr. du Pin. Councils against Arius 1. At Alexandria composed of near a hundred Bishops in the Year 322. 2. At Nice in 325 composed of 318 or 270 or 250 Bishops 3. The Third Council of Alexandria where St. Athanasius was absolved in 340. 4. At Rome by the Bishops of Italy in 341 where Marcellus of Ancyra and St. Athanasius were justified 5. At Milan where Ursacius and Valens were received into Communion for condemning Arius in the Year 346. 6. At Sardica in 347 composed of an hundred of the Western Bishops who sent back St. Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra Absolved 7. At Alexandria in 362 with St. Athanasius where it was declared that the difference upon the three Hypostases were only Disputes of words It was composed of the Bishops of â—gypt 8. At Paris where the Bishops of the Gauls retracted what they had done at Rimini in 362. 9. The Bishops of Italy did as much in another Synod the same Year 10. At Antioch in 363 where the Bishops of Egypt approved the Form of Nice 11. In 370 at Rome under Damasus 12. At Aquilea in 381. 13. At Constantinople in 383. Councils for Arius 1. In Bithynia in the Year 323 Sozom. Lib. 1. Cap. 15. 2. At Antioch where Eustathius Bishop of this City was deposed in 330. 3. At Caesarea in Palestine where St. Athanasius was cited but appeared not in 334. 4. At Tyre where St. Athanasius appeared as accused in 335. It was composed of a hundred Bishops 5. At Ierusalem where Arius and his Party were received to the Communion of the Church in the same Year 6. At Constantinople against Marcellus of Ancyra which communicated with St. Athanasius and who was deposed as convicted for renewing the Errors Paul of Samosetus and of Sabellius in 336. 7. The Third Council of Constantinople where Paul Bishop of that City Defender of St. Athanasius was deposed in 338. 8. At Beziers where the Followers of Arius were reconciled to the Church in spight of Hilary of Poictiers and some other Bishops which were banished in 356. 9. The Third Council of Sirmium where the Father was declared greater than the Son in 357. 10. Another at Melitin the same Year 11. At Antioch in 358 where they condemned these Terms The same in Substance 12. At Constantinople where the Anomeans cunningly condemned Aetius their Head and deposed many Semi Arian Bishops in 360. 13. At Antioch where Melece Bishop of Antioch was deposed and where the Son was declar'd Created out of nothing in 367. 14. At Singedun in Mesia against Germinius a Semi Arian 366. 15. In Caria where they rejected the Term of Consubstantial in 368. Councils for the Semi Arians 1. The Second Council of Alexandria in 324 where nothing was determined against Arius and they treated only of the Terms Substance and Hypostasis against Sabellius where Osius presided 2 3. Two Councils at Antioch in 341 and 342 where they declared they received Arius because they believed him Orthodox where they composed three Forms of Faith in the which they Anathematize those who said there was a time when the Word was not and made a Profession of believing him like to the Father in all things This Council made XXV Canons which are inserted in the Code of the Universal Church 4. Another Council at Antioch by the Eusebians where the word Consubstantial is not found though it be Catholick as to the rest It was held in 345. 5. At Philippolis in 347. 6. The Second Council of Sirmium the Form whereof was approved by Hilary of Poictiers although the word Consubstantial be not in it In the Year 351. 7. At Arles where St. Athanasius was condemned in 353. 8. At Milan in 355 where St. Athanasius was also condemned by Violence 9. At Ancyra where those were Anathematized which held the Son Consubstantial with the Father and those who deny'd he was the same in Substance in 358. 10. The Fourth Council of Sirmium where they approved of the Forms of the Councils of Antioch and of the second Council of Sirmium 11. The fifth Council of Sirmium in 359. 12. At Rimini composed of 400 Bishops where they rejected Terms of Substance and Hypostasis as was done in the fifth Council of Sirmium Notwithstanding they held the Son to be equal to the Father in all things It was also in the Year 359. 13. At Selucia the same Year where forty Anomean Bishops or pure Arians were condemned by 105 Semi Arians 14. At Antioch in 363 where the Term Consubstantial was received in different senses 15. At Lampsaca in 365 where the Anomeans were condemn'd and where the Bishops were re-establish'd which they had deposed 16. Divers Synods in Pamphilia Isauria Lycia and Sicily in 365 and 366. 17. At Tyanes in 368 where the Anomeans were reunited with the Semi Arians In 370 a Synod was held at Gangres the Canons whereof are inserted in the Code of the universal Church and the fourth of which condemns those that say the Communion ought not to be received from the hands of a married Priest The 59th and 60th and last Canon of the Council of Laodicea which Mr. du Pin believes to have been held between the Year 360 and 370 prohibits the Reading at Church any other than Canonical Books and those that were acknowledged for such and those the Protestants receive excepting the Apocalypse The 8th Canon of the Council of Saragossa defends the Vailing of Virgins that have consecrated themselves to Jesus Christ before the Age of forty Years The Bishops of Macedonia willing to confirm a Judgment they had given against a Bishop named Bonosus by the advice of Pope Syricius he answered them That the Council of Capua having sent this Cause to them it belonged not to him to judge on 't and that 't was their business to determin it The most ancient Monument according to Mr. du Pin where the name of Mass is found to signifie publick Prayers that the Roman Church makes in offering the Eucharist is the third Canon of the second Council of Carthage held in 390. At the end of this Volume the Author makes an Abridgment of the Doctrin of the 4th Age as he did in his precedent Book in respect to the three first and he confesses that though nothing was taught in the 4th Age which was not believed in the three first nevertheless the principal Mysteries were much more clear'd and expounded in the fourth The Travels of Mars Or The Art of War divided into three parts c. With an Ample Relation of the Soldiery of the Turks both for Assaulting and Defending A Work inriched with more than 400 Cuts engraven in Copper-plates by Allaâ—n Manesson Mallet Master of the Mathematicks to the Pages of his Majesty's lesser Stable heretofore Ingenier and Serjeant-Major
of Wolfandus Mecuritius Endterus 1686 in 4to WE have spoke in the Novels of October 1685 of the Institution of this Accademy of the Curious in Nature and we have mentioned several of their Observations in their Journal of the year 84 Now we hope that their Journal of 85 is furnished with no less rare Curiosities Nature does not grow old what ever People say She is always fertile in all Productions and we may observe her Effects to see that She Signalizes her self every year in some Country or other and sometimes in all Countries by Distempers singular Cures Monsters and other rare Phenomena I may be suffered without doubt to place among the Works of Nature that do not happen often the heat that is conserved in a dead Body for 3 or 4 days which is the Subject of the 18th Observation of this Book wherein is seen that a Man of 72 years of Age but Strong and a great Drinker dying of a Burning Fever on Christmas-day 84 was found Hot by his Domesticks at night who were curious to feel him for a certain Superstition which reigns in several places of Germany whereby they believe that if the Deceased do not grow Stiff it is a Sign that many of his Friends will dye soon after This Mans Servants having found him hot the 1st day tryed next day whether he continued so tho the Weather was very cold and they found him as hot as the day before both at his Back and Region of the Abdomen and they found him Luke-warm the 3d. day and 4th and it was but the 5th day that he became intirely cold A Gangreen that had possessed his Bowels did without doubt much contribute to this Heat For thâ—s poor Man having lost the parts of Generation before his Death by a Descent of his Guts into his Scrotum which occasioned a Castration and made the rest disappear after such a manner that if it did not concenter inwardly it mixt after an insensible manner among the other Excrements which were taken from the Sick Mans Body M. de le Boe had already observed that the Bodies of Hydropicks remain hot some time after Death for 2 or 3 days Nor is it after all so surprizing seeing that Plants parted from what nourished them ferment after a marvellous manner Let us pass to the 32d Observation where the Opinion of Scaliger is refuted about the Cry of Crikets It is a Noise that agrees with the Africans very well and serves as delicious Musick to lull them asleep This makes them nourish Crikets in Iron Cages and purchase them at considerable Rates And they receive them as acceptably at Fez it self the most learned place of all Africk We find the noise of these little Animals sometimes troublesome but because t is thought an Ill Omen if they quit the House we do not wish to be rid of them M. Konig having searched the Organ of the Cry of Crikets found that it was not the Passage or Fistule of the Belly as Scaliger believed but that it is a very dry Membran that foulds it self as a Fan and which is fastned under the Wings to a Tendon that is pretty long and which when the Muscle shortens forms them folds upon the Membran and thence comes the sound which can be renewed in some manner in a dead Criket so that the Tendon be dexterously drawn And it is remarked that a Criket cut in two sings and lives a long time The same Mr. Konig furnisheth us in the Four and Thirtieth Observation with the Anatomy of an Owl He found that the Eyes of this Bird are shut up in his Scull that they are immovable and that they neither have an Elliptique Figure as Mens Eyes have nor a round one as other Birds they are like a Globe in the midst of which a Turner would make a Hole on both sides and there are seen the Parts of the Bones all in a row There has been mention made the 10th year of this Journal of some Flyes that did great Damage in Poland their Figures are seen here in different Fashions as they appeared in a Magnifying Glass to M. Pelisius who tells us a very strange thing in his 43d Observation which is That a Rosemary-Branch which was according to Custom put in a dead mans Hand grew so strangely that it spread it self and covered with its Greenness the whole Face of the dead Person as it has been found to the great Admiration of many some years past on uncovering the Coffin The 106th Observation contains one of those happy Temerities that are seen some times as well in Physick as Politicks A Peasant of the Dutchy of Meklenburg seeing his Wife almost dead in Child-birth pressed the Midwife so much to draw the Child from her with a great Scale-hook that the Midwife was at last obliged to make Tryal and hit so well the Nape of the Childs Neck without knowing what she did that she brought the Child into the World in a very good Condition and with little hurt and is living yet In the following Observation we are entertained with a Child already Rotten and Corrupted that was delivered from a dead Woman which confirms the 42d Observation that says some 7 days after the Death of a poor Woman that dyed a Month before the time she should be brought to Bed at was put in a Byer the Child was observed to have rouled to the dead Womans Feet and it is more credible that a Child should come into the World of it self from a dead Mother than that pieces of Gold Brass and Iron fall with the Thunder in the Indies However that is M. Rumphius the Historiographer of the Dutch Company in that Country has sents to M. Menzeliur a Physitian of S. A. E. of Brandenburgh among other Rarities whose Catalogue is here to be seen a piece of Brass weighing about 12 Ounces which he says fell from the Skies in a great Tempest The Indians make great Account of these Metals which they pretend do fall with the Thunderbolt and make Rings of them believing them Powerful to preserve their Healths and to render them Victories over their Enemies Few Physitians will meet with as much Satisfaction in these things as in the Remarks of M. Harderius Professor of Philosophy in Basil upon the Venom of Vipers he gives M. Redi an account of the different Effects of this Poyson upon several Beasts and admires the difference in the Experiences of M. Redi and M. Charas about the Yellow Juice which is in the Vipers Gut which M. Charas says is very innocent but in the Opinion of M. Redi it is their very Poyson He seems to be inclin'd to this last Opinion Let us now speak of the Appendix which is worth as much if not more than the whole Work We first meet with the Mystical Key to the Doctrin of the Chinois about Pulses composed in 1658 by the Polish Jesuit Boymus Missionary of China The Title of this
are neither extraordinary Wits nor have they much Learning but only a little Address to hide their Ignorance Scarcely do we know any thing when we study Night and Day How should we be learned without studying much The Author gives some Advice to them that would instruct others and maintains with a great deal of reason that it is by good Logick that we ought to begin to study After having given us some general Counsels he descends to particular ones in the third Discourse as to that which we call the Study of human Letters He saith that as in a Common-wealth there must be People who inhabit Mountains and Barren places it is also in Letters advantageous and even of the order of Providence that there should be Persons that are willing to cultivate the most unfertile Grounds A Man which looks upon it as a great thing adds he to know what was the order of the Months of the Macedonians is despicable but he that collects this order if there was occasion for it the clearing thereof deserves so much the more praise as his work is the more painful It s unnecessary that all the World should study Arabick but 't is necessary some Body should be found whom one should have recourse unto when this Language is of any necessity This is for the instruction of those who absolutely condemn all the Studies which have not a continual use in the course of civil Life and which do not bring as great Riches into the Country as the Occupation of Merchants Several other good Reflections may be seen in this third Treatise The fourth begins with very pious Discourses which are followed with several Considerations upon Poetry and Grammar The Author describes the advantages and necessity of Eloquence and advises to the reading of Cicero There is no Author amongst the antient Heathens saith he whose Study is more useful for the solidity of Thoughts for the admirable Maxims for the Idiom of the Latin Tongue and for the fine way of discovering Truth and making it known with so much variety and fruit that the Minds of the most distracted are necessitated to perceive it The fifth Discourse contains a Description of the Life which the Congregation of the Fathers of the Oratory had The Author speaks very finely thereof for example that although they do not make the three Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience they are notwithstanding observ'd There is no Indulgence saith he for the opposite Vice to Chastity Those that cannot be profitable to Persons of a different Sex never to speak to them though they are consecrated to God Those which are confessed are seldom seen out of the Tribunal of Penitents What Conversations they have with them are short never by nights nor in remote places but as publick as can be and in presence of Witnesses By this means Scandal is avoided and suspicions being vigorously punished the Crime is not committed He adds that they undertake nothing which engageth them to great Expences as Magnificent Buildings Guildings rich Paintings and that also they have no necessity of making recourse to rich Persons not in danger of betraying their Ministery by baseness and flatteriee It is a Crime with us pursues he to intrude into Families to meddle with Marriages or Law Suits He speaks much of their manner of studying and instructing young Persons He saith that when they find any penetrating and great Wit which hath a good Genius for their Sciences he is disburthen'd of all other Affairs and they believe that he cannot render better Services to the Church than by studying He saith also that they use great Precaution to those who desire to enter into their Society for if they have any Inclination to Vice and feel themselves weak they are advised to uphold themselves by Religious Vows and to shut themselves up in Cloysters If they have fallen into great Crimes they are perswaded to fix on Monasteries and to pass their whole life in Repentance therein without ever making themselves Priests But if they give marks of a holy Calling without perceiving themselves called to an Austere Religion they are received without speaking to them of receiving any Order but after being purified by a long Penitence in which a regulate Life and remote from all Commerce with the World makes the Principal part He relates several other things infinitely glorious to this illustrious Congregation but he advertises us in two or three places that he makes not an Encomium but gives an Image of an Holy Community wherein may be seen what Men ought to be He adds to his fifth Discourse what hath been said of the Cycopedie of Xenophon that it was not an History but the Idea of a wise Government non ad Historiae fidem sed ad effigiem veri Imperii Scriptum esse It is the means of appeasing a little the other Orders of the Church which might perhaps believe that they had a design to oppress them The two following Discourses are plac'd in a Library which is valued at more than 20000 Crowns There are considered the Books that are most necessary for each Science and the most proper Method to make a good use thereof He speaks very contemptuously of the Scholasticks and maintains it is sufficient to read one or two of them because commonly they do but copy one another He has not more consideration for the Casuists but believes them dangerous for the most part because they seem to confirm Sinners against God and teach them the means to shuffle with him in shewing them how far they may offend him without his having a right to punish them M. Bornier in his excellent Abridgment of the Philosophy of Gassandus relates a Spanish Proverb which he heard the late chief President of Moignon say That those who trouble themselves to seek for a prop to their doubts amongst Casuists seek silently to perplex the Law of God Quieren pleytear contra la ley de Dios. Afterwards he speaks of Preachers and praiseth above all others Father le Ieune and a Father of the Oratory who lately died with the Reputation of one of the first Preachers of his time though he only cloathed Father le Jeune after such a manner as might be acceptable to the World They had this in common that both Lived as they Preached The latter had no concern with the World but by necessity and he was never seen at Feasts where Preachers destroy all that they have maintained according to our Author At the end of this Book are two Letters of Morality The first treats of the beauty and necessity of Order The second presents to an Ecclesiastick who would leave his Retreat to take a Benefice upon him the danger he exposed himself to by this change He shews him how the Commerce of the World is dangerous and how it sometimes happens that a Priest who hath resolution enough to renounce lewd Pleasures yields to the temptation of Good-fellowship At first the
necessity of eating is pleasing to him which afterwards he prevents and eats between Meals will have Sauces and imploys in them the Mony he at first gave the Poor He gets him Friends who are people of pleasure and Goodfellowship He thinks himself no longer rich enough but seeks after Benefices he is distasted at a Regular Life and in a little time becomes like the Laicks Commixti sunt inter Gentes didicerunt opera eorum For in fine he keeps not Company with them in their Pleasures to Preach Repentance They invite him to divert themselves with him and he strives to be neither Incommodious nor Displeasing He like to them esteems Goodfellowship they Sing they provoke one another to Drink It is indeed a most dangerous Temptation for Ecclesiastical Persons They are too much afraid lest they should pass for Formal Men and interrupt the Pleasures of a good Meal They are too solicitous lest People should complain that they are not contended only to be tedious in their Sermons A Recital of the Conference that Luther had with the Devil given by Luther himself in his Book of the Private Mass about the Vnction of Priests with Remarks upon his Conference at Paris by John Baptista Coignerd 1684. THis is the third Edition of this Work of Monsieur Cordemoi He relates the Dispute that Luther confesses himself he had one Night with the Devil touching private Masses and draws from them most grievous and odious Consequences against the Protestants The Lutherans who have made so great a number of Books ought to oppose him It looks as if he was not willing to destroy the disadvantageous Idea that it represented to the mind when in a Dream or any other manner an Instruction is received from the Devil for as he is call'd in the Evangelist the Father of Lies so there is no great Perswasion necessary to make one believe he never spoke truth But we ought to conclude otherwise when a Spirit is so wicked as himself which delights in the disorder of the World and in committing many Crimes so that nothing is more hateful to him that the Truth that he shou'd be capable to Induce Men to speak the Truth 'T is not wonderful that the Providence of Almighty God who often to his end makes use of second Causes and sometimes employs the Malice of the Devil to the advancement of good Now in part omitting here the Question Whether Luther Preaches the Truth or not It is easily apprehended that 't is possible that an Evil Spirit might at that time believe a Lye would be less proper than the Truth to excite cruel Passions in their minds It is not very likely that any thing was more pleasing to the Devil than the Discord that was caused about the Contest of Truth As for Example The Ten Persecutions of the Ancient Church sufficiently shew The Grand Seignior's Spye and his Secret Relations sent to the Divan of Constantinople discovered at Paris in the Reign of Lewis the Great in Twelves at Amsterdam by Westhein THis Work was Counterfeited at Amsterdam with the consent of the Bookseller of Paris who first Printed it it s composed of many little Volumes which contain the most considerable Events of Christendom in general and of France particularly from the Year 1637. to 1682. An Italian Native of Genoa Marana by Name gives these Relations as Letters Written to the Ministers of the Ports by a Turkish Spy who conceal'd himself at Paris He pretends he Translated it from Arabick into Italian and relates at length how he found them It 's probably suppos'd 'tis the product of an Italian Spirit and an Ingenious Fiction like to that which Virgil made use of to praise Augustus This Poet very often introduces Anchises sometimes Vulcan who to praise this Emperor more artificially begins by little and little and falls by degrees into the Panegyrick which was the Poets main design this is much handsomer than to praise a Prince purely with a prospect of Interest It s thought that the Sieur Marana had no other design than to make an Elogy upon His Most Christian Majesty the better to conceal his Game and to render him something marvellous he puts into the mouth of a Turk that which himself had studied upon the Glorious Actions of this Puissant Monarch but before he hath done makes his Spye say many other things 't is no matter whether it be a Turk or Genoese that speaks to us provided he gives us a good Book The first Book is very agreeable it contains the History of the last Month from the Year 1637. and of the most part of the Year 1638. An Anatomical Bibliotheque Or a New and Copious Treasury of Anatomical Discoveries in which there is a full and exact Description of the whole Human Body which is accurately treated of from the Collections of the Tractates of the most Famous Anatomists Publish'd and Vnpublish'd To which is added an Anatomical Administration of all its parts with divers Curious Preparations A Work very profitable and necessary for Anatomists Physitians Surgeons Philosophers and all Learned Men whatever performed by Daniel le Clerke and Johannes Jacobus Mangetus M. M. D. D. who have supply'd the Tractates Arguments Notes and Anatomico-practical Observations with necessary Indexes and a great number of Copper Cuts Geneva at the expence of Johannes Antonius-Chouet in Folio 2 Vol. 1684. A Title so well Circumstantiated as this seems to leave nothing for the Journalists or the Novelists of the Learned to add It carries the Recommendation and Praise of the Work with it self Nevertheless if we had seen it we wou'd observe many things of this Anatomical Bibliotheque but how can we see it not being yet publish'd but hope it may be soon ready for the Press 'T will be a most useful Work because it unites in one Body many Books of Anatomy that were dispers'd and being joyn'd together from a Compleat Anatomy there are divers pieces of Mr. Malpighi and some Celebrated Authors which never appear'd in the World Those who have endeavour'd to gather so many separated Pieces together and give an account of them as soon as they came out are Mr. Clerk and Mr. Manget Physitians of Geneva which will be very serviceable to the Republick of Letters There was Printed also in Geneva the Research of Truth translated into Latin with a handsome Preface which the Translator had joyned thereto to shew the usefulness of those Principles the Author hath offer'd to give some Advice to them who wou'd read the Work with advantage And in fine 't is to shew that it is impossible to have an exact knowledge of these things if we are not skill'd in the Abstracts of Metaphysicks If any will buy the whole Edition Sieur Iohn Picteat Bookseller at Geneva will sell it at a reasonable Price 'T is in Quarto A Treatise of the Excellency of Marriage of its necessity and of the means of Living Happy therein Where is an Apology
made for Women against the Calumnies of Men By James Chausse Master of the Court-Rolls Printed at Paris sold by Samuel Parrier in the Pallace 1685. in Twelves and at Amsterdam by Peter Morteri I Have in the first Article of the last Month said that 100 Officious Writers might please themselves infinitely in imploying their Pens to the Glory of the Fair Sex He needs be no great Divine that says so and he must have but a little Memory and a very mean Knowledg of Books who without this Treatise is afraid of being deceived in judging as we do since so many have Written in favour of Women in all Countries and all Ages of the World We shall always find some who exercise themselves with pleasure upon this repeated Subject How many Books have we seen in favour of Women Those Written by Monks wou'd stock a Library even the Chief Magicians according to the Common Opinion have Written upon this Inviting Subject as appears by the Discourse of Agrippa De nobilitate praecellentia foeminei Sexus I know some have Writ against them but their number is inferiour to those who spoke in their Praise There are too many as well on the one side as the other but those who know how to Write being sensible of the trouble there is to keep the Mean more easily pardon the Extreams these Authors fall into 'T is very difficult to maintain Marriage without decrying Celebacy and speak for a single Life without bringing Marriage into Disgrace Therefore we ought to excuse those who cannot shun this Rock St. Ierom had so little power in this Affair that his Friends were forc'd to suppress some of his Books where under pretext of establishing Continency he entirely ruin'd the Doctrin of the Church concerning Marriage Some say that Mr. Chausse runs upon the different Rock when he says That Marriage is the only way to Paradise and 't is to rob himself of the greatest happiness and the most solid Blessings of this Life to forbear entring into the Matrimonial State But certainly when they only imputed these thoughts to him they forgot the Declaration which he made in these decisive Terms Nothing is better nor more excellent than Marriage except an absolute Continency There are some who indifferently regard the Disputes of these Authors and only divert themselves as if they saw different Persons acting a Comedy Yet there cannot be seen without some agreeable Sentiments two Books publish'd at Paris both at the same time each well arm'd with Approbation and Priviledge which maintains absolute Contraries upon the great Theme of Matrimony One of these Books is an Answer of Mr. Ferrand to his Apology for the Reformation the other is that of which we are going to speak Marriage is in it every where almost elevated to the highest point of perfection where Fidelity continues during this Life but in the other Book 't is to Virginity that this advantage is attributed and that in so violent a manner that if we follow'd the Maxims of the Author cited step by step we shou'd look upon Married Persons but as Vultures and Swine We ought certainly to remit something of each side and say that Celebacy and Marriage are speaking Morally in themselves neither good nor bad Those who remit nothing on the part of Marriage will immediately shew us how to prove the Excellency thereof by these three Reasons First Because it was God that Instituted Marriage in the Earthly Paradice during the State of Innocency Secondly There is nothing agrees better with Man than Marriage nor is more adapted to his Necessities Thirdly That Marriage is the most necessary thing in the World to maintain Society Wisdom and Chastity These three Proofs are clearly amplified these two Considerations annext First That Marriage is the most perfect Bond the sweetest and most beneficial of all humane Unions The Second That 't is the most legitimate and agreeable exercise and of the most absolute Authority in the World This he proves by most lively Descriptions and observes that this Union includes both Body and Souls that it represents the greatest Mysteries of Religion that 't is a Source of sweetness and infinite Consolations and which furnishes us with excellent Vertues as Patience Charity and a desire to improve our selves amongst the number of the Elect and Fellow-Citizens He adds that the Father of a Family is Master of a little State where he exercises the Function of a King Priest and Prophet It allows him a very lawful and priviledg'd satisfaction of that desire which rules in a Man He ends with this Consideration That in one sense nothing can be more excellent than Marriage since 't is an Universal Custom and the most general of all Societies in all times all places and all sorts of persons how different soever This seems to me a just Abridgment of the first part of the Work In the second is represented the Infamy of Incontinency considering three sorts of people that plunge themselves therein one by Inclination another by Habit and the last by both but with this difference that the first look upon Lasciviousness as their Sovereign good whereas the second continues there in spight of themselves being subjected to the force of Custom and Temper but the last look upon these Irregularities as an Innocent Gallantry The Author considers besides that four sorts of Importunities that of the Heart of the Eyes of the Mouth and that of the Hand he shews wherein they consist he proves 'em Criminal and gives the Reason why God hath so severely prohibited such things to Man as he was Naturally inclined to and why he tolerated Poligamy in the Ancient Patriarchs The Third Part contains the full End and chief Design of the Author for he writ this Book only to perswade the necessity of Marriage to a considerable Person whom he extreamly Honoured for his Merit and Family where in this place he displays all his force to represent to the life those Motives that ought to perswade People to Marry he immediately proposes this Principle there is nothing but Marriage that can naturally preserve Man from the guilt of unchastity and by consequence that 't is necessary for Salvation After that other Reasons seem Superfluouse Nevertheless the Author sticks not to this great Principle which he ought to make appear since he believes it is true but he brings many other Advantages with abundance of Truth he urges the unusefulness of Continency he says that the most Favourable Iudgments of the Wisest about a single life is that 't is a vertue neither good nor bad and that being without Action it is a kind of Vice He maintains that God made Two Sexes in Nature to shew they cannot subsist without being joyn'd together he sends us to learn of the Animals amongst which the Mutual love of Males for Females and Females for Males is common to every Individual after this he considers Men as Men in a State in a Family and in
Eight first Verses thereof but he found that all the Nobility and the Grandeur was behind them and he added that they made him laugh in calling into his Memory the Pageants of Italy where Servants Precede their Masters We should value the Speech of Mr. Abbot de Choisy at too low a rate if we judged with so little favour on 't It not only hath the Precedence by Right of Age but also may dispute a Preheminence amongst his other celebrated Works What Mr. Bergeret hath said of the King that so many holy Mission's are maintained by the continual Succours of his Power and Piety It 's doubted whether the Consequence drawn from thence can be admitted it is certain say they that there is a great difference betwixt the ancient and new Christianity The ancient one maintained it self by it self and the sole force of Truth served for a Prop and Recommendation to the first Christians But at this day things have changed Face and Catholick Truths are not so easie to be perswaded as when a great Monarch makes use of his whole Authority without which this great number of Missions made within and without the Kingdom would have little or no effect An Extract of a Letter written from Versailles to the Author of the Republick of Letters concerning some Manuscripts of China T IS about 18 Months ago the Embassadors of China being then here that the Duke of Mâ—ntz took an occasion to tell the King that those People had the Chronicles of their Country from about 3000 Years past that they were the first who had Arts and Sciences and that as yet there has been no particular Account given of it and that it belonged to none but such a Prince as the King to send for some of their Books from China and to provide People that might translate them His Majesty presently gave his order for this Project I am assured that some days past there were brought to Paris 300 Volumns of these Books of China some being of the Civil and some the Natural History of that Country others of Mathematicks and divers curious Treatises That besides there are two Translators come one a Jesuit who has been 30 Years in China the other a Chinois who belonged to the last Embassage and understands French Latin Italian and Portuguese c. That these will translate these Books out of hand beginning with the most curious and will publish them as soon as they are fit for the Press Since it is known that the King of China takes delight in the Jesuits there are Eight young Jesuits sent thither who receive a Pension from their King and are to learn that Country Language and to instruct the Chinois in the French and Latin that they may be brought into France to go on with the Translation We shall have others also come to teach us their Mechanick Arts. Another Letter gives us an Account that Father Couplet is returned from Rome where he has made his young Chinois a Jesuit like himself and it is hoped they will Translate all Confutius's works A Clergy Mans Letter to the Nuns who have the care of the Education of young Women exhorting them to second the Popes Intentions about Nakedness I Received a Memoire not long since from an unknown hand containing that the Censurer of the Books of the Arch-Bishop of Malines being of Liege and a Iansâ—nist had approved a Letter directed to the Nuns wherein the Heresie of M. Arnaud concerning the Two heads of the Church and the Pelagian Errors comdemning all kind of Ornaments are renewed As I do not love to speak of a Book before I see it especially if any ones Reputation is concerned so I have deferr'd speaking of this Letter before I had seen it I do not repent this delay for having at last examined this little Writing I have seen nothing in it of Mr. Arnaud's pretended Heresie nor any thing but what agreed with the Doctrin of St. Peter and Paul concerning Womens Dresses so that if it be an Opinion of Pelagius's I see no harm that would come of setting it on foot again it surprises me more that any should send such false Advices I shall say somewhat of this little Book and first observe that the Pope not being able by all the means he used to oblige the Women to cover their Breasts and Arms and understanding that the fear that all Italy was in when the Turks besieged Vienna did not hinder this disorder he had recourse to his last shift his Excommunication which he published by a Decree the 30 th of November 83. commanding all Women and Girls to cover their Shoulders and Breasts to the Neck and their Arms to their Hands and this with no Transparent but thick Cloth under pain if they did not exactly obey it within six days to be excommunicated Ipso facto that in no other case but at the Point of Death none but the Pope himself should absolve them For it was declared That the Confessors that durst presume to absolve from this Excommunication should incur it themselves and should become subject to what Temporal and Spiritual punishments the Pope would be pleas'd to lay on them to which Temporal punishments also the Fathers Husbands Masters or other heads of Families should be subject that continued at or permitted their Wives Daughters or Maids to disobey this Ordinance This is all there at length with two Letters which relate to it one was writ through the Pope's Order by the Procurer general of the Capuchins to all the Provincials of his Order to oblige their Preachers and Confessors to endeavour more than ordinarily against the corrupruption of Manners and chiefly in relation to Women to strive to bring them off their Dresses that are too Luxurious and immodest The other Letter is that of Mr. Stravius Administrator of the Nunciature of the Low-Countries which he writ to the Bishops the 31 th of March 35. by order from Urban the VIII to put them in mind of proceeding against worldly Women who uncovered their Breasts and Shoulders and cover'd their Faces with Patches And to proceed against them to the very shutting them out of the Church if it could be done This shews that for a long time they have taken pains to remedy these Nakednesses and that they are obstinately resisted therein This in all likelyhood will be an employment that will never be wanting to the Preachers of Reformation All these pieces which I have quoted come after the Letter to the Nuns the Clergy-man that writes it to them directs it only to the Reverend Mothers He represents to them to the Life the extent of that disorder which Innocent the XI punished with so much severity He adds that its their business chiefly to endeavour this Reformation as well because the Publick trusts them with the Education of their young Daughters as that it is easie for them to instruct 'em in all that is modest in such a tender age wherein they have
begins to apply his Rules for Criticism to the Books of the Bible and proves by them that Moses was really the Author of the Pentateuch since 't is Established by Holy Scripture by the Authority of Iesus Christ by the consent of all Nations and by the Authentick Testimonies of the most Ancient Authors It is necessary to observe that this Dissertation upon the Bible and all the rest of the Book is disposed in such order that each Article contains a following Discourse where he only proposes his opinion and maintains it by some Reasons which all the World agrees to After that is the Notes that include the Proofs and Authorities of what has been advanced in the precedent Article Following this Method the Author to prove that Moses writ the Books that bear his Name Cites in the Notes many passages of the Old and New Testament He says that the Samaritan Pentateuch being writ in ancient Hebrew Characters must necessarily be composed before the Captivity of Babylon where the use of these Characters were lost He relates the Testimonies of Manethon Philocorus Atheneus and other ancient Authors that Iosephus and the Primitive Christians have preserved some passages of to which he adds other Authors of a latter date and whose Works still remain amongst us as St. Strabo the Abridgment of Trogue-Pompeus Iuvenal Pliny Tacitus Longinus Porphirius Iulian c. And from this universal Consent he draws an invincible Argument to prove that Moses writ the Law and that he was the Law-giver of the Iews In the Notes he Answers Eleven Objections which seem to be drawn from the Critical History upon the Old Testament and the Sentiments of some Dutch Divines upon this Book which contains the Reasons of those who pretend that the Pentateuch is a Collection made upon the ancient Memoirs and Writings of Moses but compiled by some other In short he maintains that when they wou'd suppose that the reasons that are alledg'd against the Antiquity of the Pentateuch are all unanswerable they shou'd prove only that there is some Names of Towns or Countries changed some little words inserted to clear Difficulties and in fine that the Narration of the Death of Moses was necessary to be added to finish the History of the Pentateuch We have not the same certainty according to M. Du Pin in respect to the rest of the Historical Books since we are absolutely ignorant of the Authors of ' em The Judgment that he gives of the Book of Iob is that the Foundation of Narration is true But that the manner how this History is related the Stile that it is writ in the Discourses that were held between Iob and his Friends and what is said of his mean condition must be confest to have been much amplifyed and adorned with many feigned Circumstances to render the Narration more agreeable and useful For the Book of Wisdom which is commonly attributed to Solomon he thinks it to be composed by a Grecian that was a Jew who to imitate the Books of Solomon had taken many thoughts from thence In respect to the Book of Ecclesiasticus some have imagin'd that Iosephus acknowledg'd it to be Canonical because he cites a passage out of it in his Second Book against Appion But according to the observation of Mr. Pithou this allegation which is not in the ancient Version of Ruffinus was added to the Text of Iosephus * The Book of Esther was according to some in the Iews Canon but others deny it s ever being there Meliton rejects it and the Six last Chapters of this Book are not in the Hebrew Origen believed they were formerly and that they have since been lost But it is evident they are taken from many places says our Author and that they contain such things as were apparently Collated by some Greeks that were Iews St. Ierom formally rejects the Book of Baruck and denies its being Canonical in his Preface upon Ieremiah The Story of Tobias also is not in any ancient Catalogue placed in the Rank of Canonical Books no more than that of Iudith In a word the ancient Christians followed the Canon of the Iews for the Books of the Old Testament there is none else cited in the New and a great part of these are very often mentioned The first Catalogues of Canonical Books made by the Greek and Latin Ecclesiastick Authors comprehended none but these In the Chronicle of Eusebius the Books of the Maccabees are opposed to those of Holy Writ and placed with Iosephus and Africanus The Book of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus are in the ancient Catalogues placed in the number of such Books as are most useful Except Canonical Nothing can be concluded in favour of their Divinity from any passages of the Fathers since Origen St. Ierom and St. Hillary place them in the number of Apocryphal Books Even from the time of St. Gregory the Great these Books were not in the Canon of the Holy Scripture since this Pope speaks in those terms We do nothing unreasonable in bringing the Testimony of such Books as are not Canonical since they were publisht for the Edification of the Church Many Ecclesiastical Authors both Greek and Latin agree only upon 22 Canonical Books joyning the History of Ruth to the Iudges and the Lamentation of Ieremiah to his Prophesies altho' they lived after the Third Council of Carthage and Innocent the First who placed the Maccabees and other Apocryphal Books in the Canon of Holy Writ Which shews adds the Author that these Definitions were not approved by all Authors nor followed by all Churches until it was intirely determined by the Council of Trent This Ecclesiastical Assembly has this common with others That the last Decrees do still abolish the preceeding ones Besides it is just that the Church of Rome who hath power to make new Articles of Faith should also have power to make those Books Canonical whence they take these new Articles III. In the Third Article of this Dissertation where there is the History of the Hebrew Text the Version of the 70 and other Greek Translators the History of Aristeus is refuted almost by the reasons that are mentioned in the Extract of Mr. Hodi Nevertheless he believes not that it can be absolutely denyed that there had been a Greek Version of the Bible made in the times of Ptolomy Philadelphus because there 's no likelyhood that the Authors of Books attributed to Aristeus and Aristobulus have wholly invented this mater But he rejects as a conjecture without any Ground the Opinion of Father Simon viz. That this Version was called the Version of the Seventy because it was approved by the Sanhedrin He also maintains against the common receiv'd opinion of the Learned that the Caldaick Language was not the only Language spoke by all the Iews at their return from the Babylonish Captivity but that many amongst them did then speak Hebrew and all of 'em understood it but that
Author of the Apostolick Constitutions is the first who attributed them to the Apostles before which time they were only call'd Ancient Canons or Ecclesiastick Canons 'T is he who hath inserted many words there to perswade us that the Apostles were the Authors of 'em and in his Constitutions which he would father upon Clement Romanus he attributes many things to 'em which don't agree with the Apostles such are those which concern Temples Catechumens Energumens Feast-Days c. There were even some things absurd and wicked such as that which orders Women to be Shav'd and not Men lib. 1. and that other which permits Womenâ—Slaves to suffer themselves to be corrupted by their Masters lib. 8. Constit. cap. 32. Altho' Baronius Bellarmin and some other Catholick Criticks receiv'd the Acts of the Passion of St. Andrew Mr. du Pin rejects 'em with his ordinary liberty as a Book doubtful and whereof we can make no use to prove an Article of Faith and which was not cited as we have it now till the Seventh or Eighth Age. In the speaking of the Sybils the Author says many things agreeable to what Mr. Petit does and shews in his Notes that there is nothing more uncertain than the Name and Number of these Prophetesses The most particular thought is his refutation of Mr. Vossius who maintained that in the Verses of the Sybils which Otacilius Crassus brought from Greece after the Conflagration of the Capital was slipt in some Iewish Prophesies that however past for the Sybils which are those that the Fathers have cited To Answer to this M. Du Pin shews that this System altho well enough invented suffers many difficulties and that the Doctrin of the Sybils Books is rather that of a Christian than that of a Iew Iesus Christ being therein more plainly foretold than in the Prophets and the Resurrection Judgment Reign of a Thousand Years with Antichrist being there remarkt in formal Terms Twou'd be a groundless imagination to say with Ierom that the Sybils had received the gift of Prophesying in Recompence for their Virginity It s very well known they applyed themselves entirely to things of greater Consequence and that it was often their Fate to be mistaken in profane Histories and cite Supposititious Books such as Hystaspus and Mercurius Trismegistus c. It is not easie to determine either when or by whom these false Oracles of the Sybils were made But as they made no noise till since the time of Antoninus the Pious he Conjectures that these Verses were towards the beginning of the Second Age 'T was says our Author by a Pious Fraud much like this by which a passage concerning Iesus Christ got into the Fourth Chapter of the 18 th Book of the Antiquities of the Iews But the perplexed turn and sequel of the Discourse shews that it enter'd in by force This he proves by Origen Theodoret and Photius to which Mr. Huet answers that these ancient Authors had Manuscripts of Iosephus from whence the Iews had taken away this passage The Book that bears Hermas's Name who was a Disciple to the Apostles is certainly his It was received as Canonical in many Churches and St. Ireneus and Origen cited it as such altho it is fill'd with a great Number of Visions Allegories and Similitudes which make it very tedious Amongst the Works that are attributed to St. Clement he admits as true only the two Epistles to the Corinthians The first of which according to our Author after Holy Scripture is one of the finest Monuments of Antiquity But the Second is not so certainly his The Apostolick Constitutions is a work of the Third or Fourth Age which from time to time was reformed changed and augmented according to the different Customs of times and places False Dionysius the Areopagite was an Author of the Fifth or Sixth Age whose Books were first cited in 532 by the Hereticks that were call'd Serezians The Author speaks there of the Trinity and Incarnation in such Terms as have been used only since the Fourth Age of the Church He proves in his Notes that the true Dionysius the Areopagite never was in France that Photinus Preached Christianity the first in that Kingdom and that from the time of Ireneus his Successor the Faith was only establisht in Two Provinces of the Gauls since there were Martyrs no where else in the Kingdom He rejects the Vulgar Edition of the Letters of St. Ignatius but receives the Seven that the Learned Isaack Vossius published from a Greek Manuscript of the Florence Library which is perfectly conformable to the Version that Usher has published He refutes two opposite Opinions whereof one is that of Belarmin Baronius and Possevinus who received all that were in Greek or who admitted the Three Latin ones as Father Haloix did who altho in a clearer time were not however the best Criticks The other is that of some Protestants as Salmasius Blondel Aubertinus and Dailleus who to the utmost of their power endeavour'd to destroy the Credit of Usher and Voissius's Editions All the World now agrees that the Letter of Polycarp to the Philipians is truly his and that the other Works that are attributed to him are supposititious The Martyrdom of this Saint is described after a very Circumstantial manner in a Letter from the Church of Smyrna to the Churches of Pontus and our Author relates a passage from thence that Merits a particular Notice The Heathens having hindred the Christians from carrying away the Body of Polycarp which continued untouched in the middle of the Flames said it was for fear they shou'd adore it instead of Iesus Christ The Church of Smyrna makes this reflection upon it Senseless as they were to be ignorant that the Christians adored Jesus Christ only because he was the Son of God and that they loved the Martyrs only who are his Disciples and Imitators because of the Love they Testified to have for their King and Master Afterwards the Centurian having burnt the body of this Martyr the Christians carryed away his bones more precious than the rarest Stones and more pure than Gold which they buried in a place where they assembled together to celebrate with joy and cheerfulness the day of his Martyrdom Thus Honouring the Memory of those that Gloriously fought for Religion that they might Confirm and Instruct others by their Examples This is adds Mr. du Pin the Opinion of the ancient Church concerning the respect due to Martyrs and their Relicks explained after a very curious way equally distant from the Contempt that the Hereticks of our time have for 'em and the Superstition of some Catholicks Speaking of Papias who though a Disciple of St. Iohn the Evangelist pass'd in the Judgment of Eusebius for a very Credulous Man and of a most indifferent Wit who pleased himself with the hearing and relating Stories and Miracles He says That he made Errors and Falsities pass for the
undoubtly his In the time of Dionysius of Alexandria who lived about the middle of the Third Age one Nepos Bishop of Egypt writing of a Book to maintain the Reign of a Thousand Years where he proves his opinion by the Apocalypse Dionysius undertook to refute him And to Answer to the Testimony of the Apocalypse that his Adversary quoted he says that some have slighted this Books thinking it the Heretick Cerinthus's who admitted no other Beatitude than what consisted in Corporeal Enjoyments But as for himself he says he durst not entirely reject it because it was esteemed by many Christians yet that he was perswaded that it had a hidden sense which cou'd not be comprehended by any one That it was the Book of some Author inspired by the Holy Ghost tho' not St. Iohn the Evangelist but another that bore his Name as he endeavours to prove by the difference of the Stile and thoughts Denis without doubt went too far upon this matter as well as in the Letter that he writ to the Bishops of Pentapolis when to refute the Error of Sabellius who confounded the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity this slipt from him That the Son is the work of the Father and that he was to the Father as a Vineyard is to it's Vinekeeper or a Ship to its Ship-wright and that he was not before he was made That happen'd to Dionysius adds our Author that does almost to all those that dispute against an Error viz. to speak after such a manner as favours the opposite Errors Baronius thinks that a Letter that Turrian published under the Name of Dionysius and which is inserted in the first Volume of the last Councils P. 850. is certainly his But Mr. Du Pin believes it a Supposititious Work because the Author of this Letter approves of the Word Consubstantial and says that the Fathers have thus call'd the Son of God Whereas it is certain that Dionysius and the Synod of Antioch received not this term and that in his time they cou'd not say that the Fathers commonly made use of it There remains nothing else of this Bishops but a letter to Basilides printed in the first Book of the Councils Besides many Fragments of Methodius Bishop of Olimpius or Patarus in Lycia that Father Combefix has taken from the Ancients or Collections of divers Manuscripts we have now his Feast of the Virgins compleat which we ow to Possinus the Jesuit 'T is a Dialogue of many Virgins each of which make a Discourse in praise of Virginity nevertheless without blaming Matrimony a Moderation very rare to the Ancients says Mr. Du Pin This Work is composed of Ten Discourses full of Allegories and places of Scripture and treats on divers matters as occasion serves In the Second to prove that God is not the Author of Aulteries altho' he Forms the Children that are produced by so wicked an Act he brings some natural instances In the Eighth Discourse this Father speaking against the Fatum of the Stoicks proves that Men are free and that they are not necessitated to do good or evil by the Influences of the Stars At the end of this Dialogue the Author speaks very Orthodoxly of the Holy Trinity if we may believe Mr. Du Pin. We have only some Scattered pieces of Methodius's Treatise against Origen taken from Saint Epiphanius and Father Sirmond Our Author doubts whether the passage that Iohn Damascenus relates in the Third Prayer to Images are Methodius's or no. He affirms there that the Christians made Images of Gold to represent the Angels for the Glory of God If this is our Bishops says Mr. Du Pin it must be that he meant something else than what Damascenus did and that by the Word Angels Principalities and Powers he must understand the Kings of the Earth He adds to the Authors of the Three First Ages Arnobius Lactantius Commodianus and Iulius Firmicus Maternus altho they pass'd the greatest part of their lives in the Fourth Age because they imitated the First Fathers in disputing more against the Heathans than Hereticks He praises Lactantius very much and confesses that in his Book of the Persecucutions he seems to Note that St. Peter came not to Rome till the beginning of Nero's Empire Afterwards he gives an account of the Councils held in the Three First Ages of the Church and affirms that there are none more ancient than those that were held in Victors time about the end of the Second Age upon the Celebration of Easter and that they held no Councils to condemn the First Hereticks the Disciples of Simon Carpocratus the Basilidians and Gnosticks because the Christianâ— abhorr'd all their Errors He rejects all the Decretals attributed to the First Popes And believes 't was Riculphus and Benet his Successor that counterfeited them in the Ninth Age. He ends this Volume with an abridgment of the Doctrin Disciplin and Morals of the Church in the Three First Ages He Makes no Notes upon this Abridgment because he takes it for granted that he has proved all he says there in the Body of his Work Nevertheless we have not observ'd says the Abridger upon the reading of it by what reasons Mr. Du Pin in his Treatise maintains the following Proposition which he advances in his short account 1. That altho' all the Fathers agreed not that Children were born subâ—ect to sin and deserving damnation yet the Church was of the contrary opinion 2. That they Celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass in memory of the Dead 3. That they pray'd to Saints and Martyrs and believed that they besought God for the Living There are others also better maintain'd and of great consequence in relation to the differences that now separate the Christians 1. That the Ancients spoke of the Virgin Mary with much respect that they went not so far upon the subject as they have done since that for the Generality they did not believe she continued a Virgin after our Blessed Saviour was born that they spoke not of her Assumption and that there 's a passage of St. Ireneus which is not favourable to her Immaculate Conception 2. That the Scripture contains the chief Articles of our Faith and that all Christians may read it 3. That the Elements of the Eucharist were ordinary Bread and Wine mingled with Water That they divided the consecrated Bread into little bits that the Deacons distributed it to those present who received it in their hands and that they also gave them consecrated Wine That in some Churches this Distribution was reserved to the Priests but in others each Person drew near to the Table and took his Portion of the Eucharist 4. That in these Three First Ages the Unction of the Sick which St. Iames speaks of was not mentioned 5. That Priests were forbid to intermix their Civil and Spiritual Affairs 6. That the Priests were permitted to retain their Wives that were Espoused before Ordination but not to Marry afterwards Tho' Deacons
full of such passages as intimate that God by an Almighty hand and by an invisible and internal Efficaciousness independent of External Circumstances Acts in the Depths of our Souls and that Grace penerates even into the deepest and most secret Faculties It wou'd follow from the System of these Gentlemen that the Progress of the Gospel and that of Philosophy is the same Philosophy perswades by a happy Concourse of Circumstances that is to say by its Eloquence turn of Wit Art of well managing its Dispositions according to the inclination of the Auditor and its Address which must give an Air of Evidence to all its Reasons These are not the methods of the Holy Ghost it s very true that Circumstances are not without their use but we ought not to give 'em any force which Necessitates or attribute to 'em an Irresistible Grace On the contrary a new Action of the Holy Ghost is displayd upon the Will and makes it feel a certain secret Charm at the sight of an Evangelick Object which begins to wean it from sensible things and disposes the Understanding to a favourable Judgment of Truth and Vertue In fine it causes preventing and over-ruling Grace upon the Will and God Seconds our Endeavours and places us in necessary Circumstances which also Act immediately upon the Heart We shall conclude with a proof which Mr. Iurieu here makes use of and which deserves our consideration He maintains that if a Concourse and Order of Circumstances is the only Source of Sanctification and if Grace depends upon the first admittance of the knowledge of the Truth then the greatest Wits ought to be the greatest Saints altho' says he Experience shews the contrary God hath not made choice of the greatest Scholars to be partakers of his greatest Graces the Church was first taken out of the Bosom of the Vulgar and the great Wits which are distinguisht in the World have not embrac'd Christianity We may ordinarily observe that those whom God hath endued with the most Elevated Devotion and Fervent Zeal are Common Persons However we find a few great Men who are as Examplary for their Piety as Merits Mr. Iurieu himself is an Example Nevertheless it is true this is a reproach which is always cast upon great Wits they often resemble Persons whose gust is too fine to abide any thing but Meats well seasoned Ignorance more surely finds Devotees Now if according to these Gentlemen the Understanding is the great Spring which Actuates all the Faculties of the Soul one might conclude from thence that those who have the most Light shou'd have more Zeal and certainty in Religion than meaner Spirits Wherefore adds Mr Iurieu we can by no means doubt that the Faith and Piety of these Devout Souls these who are Poor in Spirit was not produc'd by an immediate Operation of the Holy Spirit which hath imprinted the Efficacy of its Grace in their Souls A Relation of the Inquisition at Goa At Leyden 1687. in 125. ALL the World knows in General what the Inquisition is some Books have given such descriptions of it and not exceeded the Truth that one cannot read without Horror and great Emotion 'T is even very surpizing to Reflect that Religion that ought to inspire its followers with Justice and Humanity can Authorise these Barbarous Formalities and horrible punishments which make this Tribunal so formidable But few men know the particulars of what passes for the Mysteries thereof are almost impenetrable This Author is one that informs us by his own Experience he is a Frenchman that relates this sorrowful Adventure who confesses 't is not without some regret that he makes it publick because the Inquisitor according to their General Custom had forced an Oath from him never to discover the Secret Some Pious Persons that were Timerous Strengthened his scruples till others of a better Judgment convinced him that the benefit of the publick Dispensed him from an Oath that was extorted by his Tormentors His Relation ought to be so much the less suspected as his delay shew'd he was not in hast to publish it since 't was above Eight Years after his return so that his resentment being lessen'd by time it has little or no part in his recital He tells us that being a Catholick and well Instructed in Divinity he had a great mind to go into the Indies which he prosecuted and Landed at Daman an East-India Town under the Dominion of the Portuguese which are the most Superstitious People living and the French Catholicks are Hereticks when compar'd to them They use to carry into their Assemblies the Image of some Saint and if there 's any one that will not give Alms he must at least kiss the Image Our Traveller not being able to contain himself at this sight from Laughing at them all the Devotees were Scandalized at him his refusal rendring his Faith suspicious some time after being at a Portuguese Gentlemans house who always had an Image in his Bed which he kissed with much Ardour our Author instructed him upon it and told him that the Hereticks Interpreted the worship of Images much to their disadvantage and therefore it wou'd be better to Moderate it It happened the same time that one of his Neighbours seeing a Crucifix at the head of his Bed piously advised him to cover this Image lest by chance he shou'd have some Amorous adventure in his Bed Upon which the Author had the Imprudence to Laugh the Scruple appearing to him so very pleasant and to make some profane Raileries upon the Holy Custom of the Women of that Country which wou'd not grant any Favours untill they had Lockt up their Chaplets and covered all the Images in their Chambers This multitude of Crimes made him to be taken notice of in the S. Office Besides he had another Misfortune for he made frequent Visits to a Lady which a Priest was in Love with that was Secretary to the Inquisition This Priest was very much disgusted at it and some appearances gave him great Disquiet this Jealousie animating his Zeal he rid himself of his Rival by casting him into the Inquisition The description he gives of his horrible Prison is capable to touch the hardest heart with Compassion The Stench and Darkness of it was so insupportable that Fifty Persons Strangled themselves with Despair He was afterwards removed to Goa where resides the greatest Tribunal of the Portuguese Inquisition in the Indies all the Favour that he found there was the choise of the lightest Chain of all the Criminals He had there the Mortification to see his Rival there who came to feed his Eyes with his unworthy Triumph As soon as ever he came he was despoiled of every thing that he had they shaved off all his Hair as is the Custom without Distinction of Sex when first they come into the Holy Prison of the S. Office The Sacraments are never Administred to any one there nor do they ever hear Mass There Reigns so
division without excepting even the Spaniards altho' he has been pretty bountiful to them What he says of the Manners and Wit of the Chinese is admirable they keep no Memoirs of their Warlike Princes and reserve their Elogies for the Peace Makers and Righteous They never delighted in Conquests unless the desire of living under so wise a Government invited by their Neighbours to submit but they constrained none being only concerned if men who wanted this happiness refused to participate with them They acknowledge none as Gentlemen but Men of Learning t is derogatory amongst them and reduces them into a Plebean state to forsake this profession The Counsellors and Favorites of the Prince are all Philosophers and when he commits a fault they reprehend him with so much Liberty and Freedom that the Prophets took not more in respect to the Kings of Iudah If they don't make use of this Priviledge the People censure them and look upon 'em as weak Men and degenerate from the Courage of Confutius and other Philosophers who have retired from the Court in a time of Tyranny They reproach them to their face with Cowardise and say that they are neither Philosophers nor Men of honour since for their own private Interests they abandon the good of the Publick As for their Wit Mr. Vossius believes they surpass all the World and that after having learnt from 'em the Compass Printing and many other admirable things he doubts not but there remains much finer Inventions amongst 'em than we have borrowed of 'em He tells us wonderful things of their skill in Physick and above all their Art in knowing the Diseases by the differences of the Pulse They are so admirable in that respect that they look not upon a Man to be a good Physitian if after having felt divers places of the sick persons Arm he does not without asking Questions discover from what part of the Body the Distemper proceeds as well as the nature of it 'T is very pleasant to read all the curious things that Mr. Vossius has related upon this subject and upon the Ability of this Nation in all the noble Arts. He pretends that they made use of Powder and Cannons many Ages before the Europeans were acquainted with them and adds to it the Original and Progress of Powder amongst the people of Europe The other Pieces which compose Mr. Vossius's Works are not less worthy of particular observation but having been long upon this there 's a necessity of being brief upon what follows 1. He treats upon the Constructions of Galleys very learnedly 2. On the Reformation of Longitudes The Author maintains that the observations of Eclipses have more confounded this matter than any thing whatsoever because they have not sufficiently regarded either Refractions or Shadows He corrects many errors that concern the extent of the Mediterranean Sea which has been render'd much less than really it is he shews also that the like faults have been committed upon many Eastern parts of Asia and says that the dispute betwixt the Portuguese and Spaniards touching the Division of the New World has produced strange Alterations both in Longitudes and Geography 3. He speaks of Navigation into the Indies and Iapan by the North this Treatise contains many curious and useful observations 4. He examines the cause of the Circles which appear sometimes about the Moon Upon which he has some thoughts perfectly new for he believes these Circles proceed from the Mountains in the Moon because they produce their Images reverst in the Air that is under them which he maintains by some experiments Amongst others he relates this that some English Merchants being on the Pick of Tenariff observed that as soon as the Sun arose the shadow of this high Mountain convered not only all the Isle of Teneriff but also the great Canarie and all the Sea even unto the Horizon where the top of the Pick seem'd to appear reverst which sent back its shadow into the Air. He tells us a very surprizing thing viz. that the shadow of this Mountain extended as far as the Levant to the place even from whence the Light came since the great Canarie which is at the East of this Pick is covered with the shadow What he adds concerning the Sea between this Mountain and the grand Canaries is very remarkable for he says it appears not larger than the Thames although there is fourteen Leagues between these two Isles 5. He treats of the fall of heavy Bodies and explains it according to the Cartesians by the Diurnal Motion of the Earth upon its Center but establishes a Principle unknown to Mr. Des Cartes viz. That a Body which is moved Circularly approaches nearer to the Center than is possible when its Axis is perpendicular to the Horizon But if its Axis is parallel to the Horizon then it is removed from the Center as far as 't is possible He relates an Experiment that he says was made some times agoe and which is quite contrary to Mr. Hugens's given us by Mr. Rohault for whereas Mr. Hugens says that the Particles of Spanish Wax dipp'd in a Vessel full of Water which is turn'd upon a Pirot are removed farther from the Center and soon arrive to the extremities of the Vessel Mr. Vossius has found out that Balls of Leed and Iron thrown into a Vessel of Water which is moved circularly tend towards the Center of the Vessel whereas Bowls of Wood which float upon the Surface of the Water make towards the sides of it The rest of the Book is a Treatise upon the Oracles of the Sybils which Mr. Vossius published in the Year 1672. There 's also the Answer that he made sometime after to the Objections of Mr. Simon scatter'd throughout his Critical History of the Old Testament and a Reply to that part of the Discourse which concerns him in Father Simons's Disquisitiones Criticae de varâ—s Bibliorum Editionibus Historia Plantarum c. Or Ray's History of Plants Tom. 1st London 1686. SInce Baubin published his History of Plants and Parkinson his Botanick Theater a great Number of Plants have been discoved that appeared not in their Collection Several Authors have described many that were unknown to the Botanists that liv'd before them But no one yet has ever gathered them together in one Piece like our present Author who has also used much more Method than has yet been observed on the same Subject He divides Plants into Genders and Kinds and gives an account of those that resemble them in their principal parts as in their Flower Seed and Films which cover them He thinks this Method is the most Natural and easie to attain in a little time to the knowledg of Botanicks and doubts not but any one that will apply himself to this study may without the help of a Master by following these Rules to accomplish it and be well acquainted with Plants If any Plant shou'd be found which comes not under these