Men who think not themselves obliged to help the State with their Money Industry or personal Assistance is a manifest Cause of its Decay 'T is without doubt for this reason that we have seen for several Years ten Thousand Germans ill Disciplined and ill Paid exact Contributions of five or six Princes who could easily have raised Forty Thousand Monks It was also undoubtedly one of the great Causes of the Ruin of the Eastern Empire which might have cut to pieces the Sarazens and Turks had it been able to keep on foot half as many Soldiers as there were Monks and Nuns not to mention other Church-men All that can be said in behalf of Church-men is That they consume several Commodities on which Imposts are laid and so raise the Publick Farms but many Monks consume but little of that sort of Commodities and Lay-men do the same besides what they pay in particular so that Church-men cannot at all be compared with them in that respect A great number of Nobility and other Men who have privileged Employments does also very much lessen the Revenues of a State and they want Industry whereby those Revenues might be encreased For the Nobility and those who enjoy the same Privileges with them contribute but little towards the Publick Charges and have no Industry whereby they may bring in Foreign Money They know how to get Money out of the Inhabitants whose Industry they very often Ruin So that the more Nobility and Privileged Imployments there are in a State the Weaker it grows and those Princes who encrease the number of them for Money tho' they seem to get much by it at first yet lose much thereby afterwards Several People believe that the only reason why the Empire of Germany has been somewhat perplexed in many Wars which required great Charges especially in the War which ended in 1697. is the great number of Men there is in that Empire who contribute nothing towards the Charges of the War but their Personal Assistance 'T is also thought that Spain is in a great measure so weak as it is because of the multitude of Noblemen who together with the Clergy enjoy the best Lands and Imployments in the Kingdom and contribute very little towards the Charges of the War in proportion to their Revenues I am not well enough acquainted with those things to be positive but it is certain that so many Principalities and Kingdoms of which Germany and Spain are made up have only for several Years in the late War caused a meer Diversion of part of the French Troops on the Rhine and in Catalonia 'T is said in behalf of the Nobility that it is necessary in time of Peace and in time of War for the Government of the State and Conduct of the Armies because Men of Quality have commonly greater Souls than others and are more respected by the People I will not answer That very often Men of Quality have no greater Souls than several other Men or that they may have such Faults as will make them unfit to procure the Publick Good but granting that the Nobility is useful to what they say I maintain that when it is too numerous it proves Chargeable to the State unless it be allowed to Trade For those who have no Share in the Government no Imployment in the Armies and no Industry do but eat the Revenues of the Country without being serviceable to it Nay they are very prejudicial to it because the shameful Idleness wherein they often live without so much as vouchsafing to learn any thing that may improve their Minds inclines them to all manner of Excess and by degrees they corrupt the People who are apt to imitate them And then one may truly say what the Spanish Nobility said of the Militia in Ximenes's time That when Tradesmen leave their Trade and set up for Gentlemen there 's an end of Arts and Trade and consequently a State is infallibly lost From whence it may be concluded that where-ever the Dignities are in the Hands of the Clergy and Nobility and where-ever they enjoy the Riches of the Country it follows that the rest of the People are necessarily opprest by those two Parties that they grow weary of their Condition and that such as have good Parts and Money endeavour to purchase Nobility or to be promoted to Church-Dignities In the mean time the Arts and Industry whereby a State flourishes are neglected the Publick Revenues grow less and the State weaker After what has been said can any one wonder if the Countries where such a Disorder is to be seen are so weak that they are not able to make the necessary Expences for their Defence and Preservation They are full of useless Persons who are not able to serve their Country and nevertheless enjoy all the Conveniences it can afford and trample on those who can serve it and use all their Industry towards it That great number of Men who do nothing under pretence of Nobility or Church-Dignities grow Vicious and Debauch a great many People who were it not for such an ill Example would be useful to the Society Too great Exactions do also very much contribute to the lessening of the Publick Revenues tho' at first View they seem to encrease ' em The Reason of it is that Trade is thereby soon destroyed and so that Source of the Publick Revenues comes to fail either in part or in whole For when there is nothing to be got by Trading People grow weary of it and Trade as little as they can Being by degrees destitute of Money or having no considerable Sum of it they can make no great Enterprise so that Trade is by steps confined to what is altogether necessary for Humane Life and yields but little to the Prince This is what one †Hesiod Op. dies v. 37. of the most ancient Poets who lived above two Thousand Years ago teaches us speaking of his Brother who had bribed the Judges who were then stiled Kings that he might have a greater Share in his paternal Estate We have formerly says he divided our Inheritance but you took away from me several things which did not belong to you by bestowing many Gifts on the Kings who are greedy of ' em Blind Men who know not that one half is better that the whole He means that it were better for Kings to be content with one half of what they exacted from the People than to extort from them whatever they had and so incapacitate them to contribute any more to the Supply of their Wants Therefore the Proposals of the publick Farmers or those who invent new Imposts and promise to bring great Sums into the Publick Treasury if they are permitted to raise new Taxes ought to be so much the more suspected the greater the Sums are that they promise because they cannot raise them without entirely ruining that Trade on which they raise it The same may be said of all exorbitant Taxes which
should behave himself so ridiculously at the Bar there is no question but that he wou'd set the Judges a laughing and in a serious Conversation where things of great Consequence are to be treated off the Tone of the Pulpit wou'd be much more insufferable A Man wou'd be to intrench upon a Merry Andrew's Province shou'd he fling about his Arms and shew a thousand Gestures that are only good to drive away the Flies I have been told that a famous Advocate discoursing on a day with a very awkward Orator of this Character as the Orator asked him how he liked his manner of reciting and whether he thought it wou'd not succeed at the Bar The Advocate bluntly told him That the very first thing those young Gentlemen that design'd to appear at the Bar ought to do was to forget all his Lessons and return to that natural manner which he had endeavour'd to efface instead of polishing I have frequently heard an Orator who was scarce Master of any one of the other Talents we quire in a Man of his Profession but who recited in so natural and so lively a manner that he charm'd his Auditors by this single Qualification accompanied with a strong articulate Voice I never heard him but he put me in mind of a certain Story of †Cicero in Orat. C. 17. Demosthenes who being asked what was the chief part of Rhetoric answer'd Pronunciation being next asked what was the second best he still answer'd Pronunciation and so on till they dropt the Question His meaning was that this Talent was of the last Consequence in Athens where Affairs of the greatest importance in relation to the State and to private Men were often determin'd in a bare Pleading without the drawing of any Writings 'T is likewise extremely serviceable in our Pulpits but 't is only for the Reputation of the Preacher and not for the public Advantage when it is not join'd with the other parts of good Rhetoric At such times the People go from the Sermon full of Admiration for the Parson altho' they scarce understand a Word he told them and are not in the least convinced by Reason of any one thing he wou'd have perswaded to do On the contrary they ought to go out of Church full of Admiration for the Gospel full of a true Sense of their own Faults and full of a vigorous Resolution to correct them without thinking upon the Orator They ought to be able to repeat whatever they have learnt and to carry home with them an exact Idea of their Duties without minding the Person from whom they learnt them A good Judge takes no notice at all of an Advocate 's Action but of his Reasonings when he is to pass a definitive Sentence but especially if it be a matter of any importance We cannot blame those that take a due care of their Pronunciation On the contrary we shou'd have just Reason to complain of them if they did not do it but then 't is necessary they shou'd join the other parts of Rhetoric with it and cultivate them with so much the more care as they are of more importance An Orator ought to be asham'd to deceive the People who only consider the out-side because they have been used to be paid in that Mony It should make him blush to think that he sends home his Auditors well satisfied that he recites well but little instructed in the Matter he treated of like those Orators of whom Quintilian has observ'd very judiciously That they soften their Voice and turn themselves in different manners that they hang down the Head and toss their Arms about that they affect a great abundance of Things and artificial Words and that at last what seems to be monstrous People commend the Action but don't understand a Jot of the Cause they have pleaded †Lib. 4. c. 2. Vocem flectunt et cervicem reponunt et brachium in latus jactant totoque et rerum et verborum et compositionis genere lasciviunt deinde id quod sit monstro simile placet actio causa non intelligitur Those that have any tenderness of Conscience ought to employ this Talent of reciting agreeably and by that means of rend'ring the Auditors attentive only to instruct them better and make them relish the great Truths of the Gospel To effect this they should vigorously apply themselves to perform their other Duties that are requisite in a public Orator and to speak to the Congregation that listens to them not as if they hoped the manner of their Recital wou'd make every thing pass but as if they spoke before severe Judges who wou'd not pardon them one false Thought who wou'd require from them an exact Order and a Style suited to the Matter they talk of and as if when they come out of the Pulpit they were to leave the written Sermon in their Hands to be examin'd by them at leisure Without this what can one say of the Eloquence of the Pulpit which he cannot at the same time apply to that of the Stage which we go to hear not for Instruction but only for our Diversion What can we think of the Office of a public Orator but what we think of the vilest and worst employ'd of all Trades the Followers of which endeavour to get what we promis'd them without troubling themselves whether their Work be good or no Our Orators ought to fear these Reproaches with so much the more reason as they retail to the People things of the highest importance nay and call their Discourses the Word of God upon pretence that the first Preachers of the Gospel whom God had honoured with the Gift of Miracles and of extraordinary Revelations gave this Name to what they preached to the People 'T is now a-days a sort of Sacrilege to speak in this manner of a negligent Discourse where we can neither see good Sense nor Method nor Language suitable to the Occasion but which is delivered with a great deal of Boldness and Presumption as if it comprehended in effect nothing but heavenly Oracles Since God does not make himself known to Men but by Reason and Revelation we ought to call nothing his Word but what is clearly founded either upon one or the other and not a dull trifling Discourse where we find no traces of any light either natural or supernatural If we ought to endeavour to have an agreeable outside it is not because from that moment we are in possession of Saying all and shamming every thing upon a blind ignorant Congregation by means of their Voice and Gesture that please them but only to accommodate ourselves to their Weakness and be in a condition to make them listen to that which is really the Word of God Formerly the Miracles which the Apostles perform'd and the great Sanctity of their Lives render'd their Auditors attentive to what they utter'd tho' it was destitute of the Ornaments of Humane Eloquence But now-a-days when Miracles are
repulse the Injuries of their Neighbours without endeavouring to enlarge their Territories If at any time they blame their Ambition and Injustice as they do sometimes 't is nothing if compared with the Praises they bestow on them when they mention their Victories The Christian Religion having given us more exact and compleat Notions of Justice than the Heathens commonly had several Christian Historians have spoken of the Ambition of the ancient Conquerors in Terms more agreeable to the immutable Law of Justice than the Heathen Historians ever did I confess that the ancient Philosophers have said a great many things on this Point which are almost as sound as what has been said by Christians but it was only the Philosophers that spoke so and the Historians had no great Regard to their Opinions An †H. Grotius Incomparable Author hath the first shewn in this XVII Century what are not only the Laws of Peace but also of War and has so clearly taught what Nations owe to one another that it can no longer be doubted whether making War out of meer Ambition be not perfect Robbing and Murdering That great Man has reduced into an Art and methodically proved the Truths which were dispersed in several Authors on this Matter and has confirmed them with many Examples and Quotations So that if any Historian will give the Title of Just and Pious to any Prince who made or will hereafter make War out of Ambition he ought not to take it ill if he is accounted a base and shameful Flatterer A Prince who has reduced several Provinces to an extream Misery and Poverty and destroyed several Millions of People out of meer Ambition and without being provoked will never be look'd upon as a good Man unless Paganism should prevail again or Machiavelism should become every-where the Religion in fashion The Heathens praised much the Clemency of Julius Caesar to whom what I have said might have been justly objected because he spared the Lives of many of his Fellow-Citizens who had fought against him to preserve the Liberty of their Country and at last submitted to his Tyranny But no Historian worthy of that Name can hereafter cry up the Clemency of those who have done or will do any such thing Princes who little think of the Miseries which a War brings on their Subjects and Neighbours or are not moved with the Calamities and Tears of an infinte number of innocent and unfortunate Families or the great Blood-shed which attends a long War will never be cried up as Merciful and Just but by such Men as have scarce any Notion of those Virtues or by Flatterers whom no Body can bear with but they who dare not contradict ' em This is what I had to say concerning History If I have spoken somwhat freely let no Body find fault with me for it but rather with the Matter itself which admits of no Palliation I know very well that this Discourse and the like will not hinder Historians from Flattering and Lying but I suppose those Gentlemen will not take it ill if one speaks sometimes the Truth CHAP. IV. Of the Decay of Humane Learning and the Causes of it THERE is without doubt a Decay in the Common-wealth of Learning in several Respects but I shall only mention that which concerns Philology 'T is certain we have not seen for a long time in any part of Europe any Men who equal the illustrious Criticks who lived in the last Century and the beginning of this For Example We see no Body who equals in Learning Application of Mind and Bulk as well as Number of Books Joseph Scaliger Justus Lipsius Isaac Casaubon Claudius Salmasius Hugo Grotius John Meursius John Selden and a great many others whom I need not name because they are known to every Body I have a due Esteem for many learned Men of my Acquaintance but I am persuaded that none of them will complain if I say that I know none who equals those great Men in Learning We have seen nothing for a long time that can be compared with their Works I have enquired into the Reasons of it and I think I have found some satisfactory ones Some of them concern those who should favour the Study of Humane Learning but do it not and some concern them that profess that Study and bring Contempt upon it I shall instance upon some few to which the Reader may add his own and what he has observed by his Experience The Difficulties of that Study I. TO begin with the latter I mean that which can be objected to the Men of Learning The first Reason why few Men have applied themselves to the Study of Humane Learning and consequently why fewer still have had an extraordinary Success in it is that they who were learned in that sort of Science did not care to make it easie to others Because most of them attained to the Learning they had not by a short and methodical Way but by a vast Reading and a prodigious Labour they did not at all care to facilitate to others the means of acquiring that Learning Having if I may so say got with much ado to the top of the Rock thro' steep and thorny Ways they thought it just that others should undergo the same Toil if they would attain to the same degree of Learning But because there are few Men whose Genius is so bent to the Study of Humane Learning as to resolve upon taking so much Pains to get the Knowledge of it 't is no wonder if most Men have been discouraged almost from the Beginning and if a great Knowledge of that sort of Learning is so scarce at present Perhaps it will be askt What those learned Men of the first Rank should have done to facilitate that Study besides what they have done I answer that there are two-sorts of Books which may serve to acquire that sort of Knowledge which have been wanting ever since the Study of Humane Learning hath been in Vogue Of Critical Notes upon the Latin Authors THE first Books we want are good Editions of all the Greek and Latin Authors not only correct but also illustrated with all necessary Notes to make them more Intelligible But to come to Particulars I begin with the Latin Authors and I say that the learned Men I have mentioned or others like them should have given us at least all the good Latin Authors not only revised upon such ancient Manuscripts as we have but also illustrated with short clear and methodical Notes on all the difficult Places and such as were not above the Capacity of young Men and might serve those who have made some Progress Whereas the learned Men I spoke of have been most times contented to publish Authors with meer critical Notes about the true Reading to which if they have added any thing for the understanding of the Expressions Opinions or Customs they have done it only upon some few places to make a shew of their
from Foreign Countries and all the Conveniencies of Life as much as the Situation of the Country can permit it On the contrary Few Inhabitants can have no great Industry because they consume few Commodities and consequently Trade is far less considerable They cannot bring in Foreign Money by exporting their Manufactures or such things as grow in their Country because they have but a small quantity of them Nor can they Import what they want but in a small quantity and consequently it will prove too dear If such a State happens to be attack'd by some Neighbours whose Country is better Inhabited it will not be able to send out an equal Army of its Inhabitants and consequently it will be sooner or later Invaded unless they send for Foreign Help to supply their Weakness But how can they send for it having but small Revenues by reason of the scarcity of the Inhabitants and their want of Industry From whence it necessarily follows that no greater Fault can be committed against Politicks than to make such Laws as hinder a Country from growing as populous as it can be For Example If there are some Laws or Customs in a Country which do not allow Strangers to settle in it or make such a Settlement too difficult such Laws and Customs only serve to weaken the State But if you suppose that the Country we speak of is an Island or near the Sea and that it has some remote Colonies or a great Sea-Trade it must be confest that the number of its Inhabitants will grow less every day by reason of those Colonies and the great number of those who die every Year in their Voyages and then if it be a difficult thing for Foreigners to settle themselves in that Country it will be unpeopled by degrees or at least never so full of Inhabitants as it should be There is a famous Island in the North the Politicks whereof fail in that respect Hence it is that it has but one half of the Inhabitants it might have if it be compared with a Common-wealth not far from it or with the fruitful parts of Germany And therefore it has been observed that in time of War it cannot make so great a Resistance in proportion to its extent as that Common-Wealth can There is also in Europe a vast Peninsula most happily situated between two great Seas which is infinitely more destitute of Inhabitants Industry and the means of defending itself when attack'd because it lies under the same Circumstances as the Island I just now spoke of and besides there are some other Causes of its being unpeopled One of the chief is that there is but one Religion allowed in it There is besides a tyrannical Tribunal which under pretence of Religion may destroy the most innocent Persons This keeps many People from going to it who might render it the most flourishing Kingdom in the World if they were permitted to settle and live safely there as long as they obey the Civil Laws Another Reason of it is that it is full of Priests Monks and Nuns who consume a great part of the Revenues of the Country and do not contribute to make it flourish by their Industry or by Propagation because under pretence of Religion they make a Vow of Idleness and Celibacy Indeed they pretend that the State is very much obliged to them because they instruct the People in Religion and are more assiduous than others in imploring the Blessing of God who never fails to hear their Prayers But some People very much doubt whether Heaven be very full of that sort of Men and whether they bring God's Blessing upon that Monarchy at least we have not seen it yet It cannot be doubted but what they boast of may be done as well in the State of Marriage and that they weaken their Country by not Marrying Those who live under their Domination are forced to feign to believe that by unpeopling a Kingdom and living idly they do it great Service they are I say forced to it upon pain of being thrust into a Dungeon and ending their Life by a cruel Death So well do those Men understand the true Interest of their Country and the Principles of a good Policy The Romans had quite contrary Maxims which produced admirable Effects They were so far from being afraid that their City should be fill'd with Strangers that from the very beginning they endeavoured to draw in as many People as they could and made them Citizens of Rome as well as the most ancient Inhabitants I shall set down here the Words of Dionysius Halicarnassus who tells us by what means Romulus encreased the City he had built †Lib. II. pag. 88. Knowing says he that many Cities of Italy were ill govern'd by some Tyrants or by a few Men who had made themselves Masters of them he resolved to draw in and receive into his City all those who had been expell'd from other Cities whatever Misfortune had happen'd to them provided they were Free-men to encrease thereby the Power of the Romans and lessen that of their Neighbours Afterwards he tells us how Romulus made a Place of Refuge and endeavoured to retain those who fled to it by making them Citizens of Rome and giving them some Land to live upon and then he adds that Romulus had another Maxim of State Which the Grecians especially as he thought should have observed as being the best of all Maxims which proved one of the surest Foundations of the Roman Liberty and did not a little contribute to the Settlement of the Empire He forbad Killing all the Inhabitants of the Towns which they took or making them Slaves or turning their Seats into Meadows He would have their Lands to be divided among those who would go and settle themselves in them and that Roman Colonies should be sent thither He also bestowed upon some Cities the Privileges of the Roman Citizens With such Maxims and the like of a little City he made a great one as it appear'd afterwards For those who went with him to live in Rome were not above three Thousand Foot and three Hundred Horse whereas when he died he left forty Six Thousand Foot and about one Thousand Horse Dionysius shews that the next Kings and the Common-wealth followed the same Maxims whereby Rome grew so populous that no City in the World exceeded it in the number of Inhabitants If I should compare says he the Customs of the Grecians with these I could not praise the Lacedemonians Thebans and Athenians tho' famous for Wisdom who to preserve their Nobility without any mixture have but very seldom bestowed on Strangers the Privileges of their Cities I will not mention those who expell'd Foreigners The Lacedemonians having been defeated in the Battle of Leuctra in which they lost seventeen Hundred Men could never recover that Loss and were shamefully deprived of their Authority The Thebans and Athenians having been overcome by the Macedonians in one Battle at Cheronea
were deprived of their Pre-eminence among the Grecians and the Liberty of their Country But the Romans cumbered with Wars in Spain and Italy busied in regaining Sicily and Sardinia enjoying not a full Peace whith the Macedonians and Grecians when the Carthaginians endeavoured at the same time to be the uppermost the greatest part of Italy having joyned with them and sent for Hanibal the Romans I say tho' exposed to so many Dangers not only sunk under so many Misfortunes but grew stronger than before by the number of their Troops which were sufficient to resist all their Enemies and not at all as some fancy by the help of Fortune Had they had no other Help they had been quite ruined only by the Defeat of Cannae where out of six Thousand Horse they saved but three Hundred and Sixty and out of Eighty Thousand Foot whom they had raised for that Expedition there remained after the Battle but three Thousand and a few more It has been always an easie thing and is so to this Day for Foreigners to settle themselves in the Vnited Provinces especially in Holland and the City of Amsterdam provided they obey the Laws of the Country which has made the Country so Populous that there is none like it in all Europe Whereas had they scrupled to receive those who fled thither it would be a deserted Country and consequently ruined and subject to the Inquisition for they had never been able to resist the Spaniards without a great number of People But they who founded that Common-wealth seeing that many People faithful to the Government under which they lived were persecuted for their Religion in several parts of Europe resolved to receive all those who would retire into their Country provided they would obey the Civil-Laws Whereby the States so Peopled their Country and keep it still so full of Inhabitants that the long Wars they have had by Sea and Land from the beginning of their Common-wealth and their continual Navigations in the East and West-Indies do not at all exhaust ' em Again the better to encrease the number of the Inhabitants and lest Poverty should force the Common People to retire into other Countries they take an extraordinary care of the Poor for whom there is so much Money spent every Year in the Province of Holland that several crowned Heads in Europe have not so great a Revenue From whence arises a prodigious number of Tradesmen of all sorts Seamen and People of all Professions who are necessary in a Country From thence also arises the extraordinary Industry of its Inhabitants such as is to be seen no where else That Policy which is so agreeable to Reason and Revelation is so Wise and Admirable as that it is an Unjust and Impious thing to look upon a Man as an Enemy what-ever his Country or Opinions may be if he will obey the same Civil Laws and use his Industry to promote the Good of the State Nevertheless several great Nations of Europe which think themselves to be more Polite than the Hollanders have not been able yet to apprehend a thing so clear and grounded upon the most certain Principles of Humanity and Christian Religion They are so far from allowing Foreigners to Settle among them that they even drive away their Country-men either under pretence of Religion or by taking no care of the Poor They are far from admiring the Humanity and Christian Charity of their Neighbours On the contrary they have so strange a Notion of Morality and Religion that to take pity of one's Neighbour and do to him as one would be done by is look'd upon by them as want of Religion and Virtue But this is not a fit place to enlarge upon that Subject After what has been said 't is no difficult thing to see why some States in Europe fall to Decay and why on the contrary others are so flourishing The second thing which I have mention'd as necessary for the Preservation of a State and to make it flourish is that it must have great Revenues without oppressing the People Which may be done when a Country is very full of Inhabitants and no Body exempted from Taxes because then tho' every Body pays but little there will arise large Sums by reason of the great multitude of People Again this may be done when there is great Industry in a Country because the Imposts upon exported and imported Commodities may bring in a great deal of Money As to the Lands they ought to be taxed in proportion to what they yield and they yield little when the Country wants Inhabitants and there is but little Industry in it because then there is but a small quantity of the Products of the Earth consumed either at home or abroad These are the chief Springs of the Revenues that a State can have There is no need I should enlarge on it because it is a thing which every Body knows For the same reason I shall not prove how necessary it is that a State should have considerable Revenues to be in a condition of defending itself against a Foreign Invasion No Man can doubt of it especially in this Age. I shall only observe some Faults which they commit in several States against this undoubted Principle The Inhabitants of several Countries may be divided into three Classes The first is the Clergy or in general all Church-men The second is the Nobility and those who enjoy the same Privileges with them by reason of their Imployments And the third is the rest of the People who live by their Industry without having any particular Privilege When the Clergy and Nobility are but few or have no Privileges they cannot be look'd upon as a considerable part of the State that is to say so as to encrease or impair much the Publick Revenues But when either of them are very Numerous and enjoy great Immunities as in Spain Italy and else-where they make a considerable part of the Inhabitants by reason of their great Number and Riches It cannot be denied but that a great number of Secular and Regular Church-men who use no Industry to make their Country Flourish and enjoy great Revenues without paying any Taxes must needs be chargeable to the Publick since they considerably lessen the Revenues of the State and hinder it from being Peopled with Men who would encrease them and besides have no Industry to bring in Foreign Money So that the more the number of such Men encreases in a State the lesser will its Revenues be Besides it wants People to defend it in an open War for the Secular Priests and Monks are not bound to defend the Lands which they enjoy not to mention the Nuns who by reason of their Sex are exempted from it Their Business is to Eat their Revenues and not to fight for them whereas did those Revenues belong to Lay-men they would think themselves obliged to defend 'em at the hazard of their Lives Thus the great number of such
Divine Revelation in general and the Christian Religion in particular than his Adversary 'T is in vain for Mr. Vander Wacyen to call Impious and Prophane some Passages of the Treatise concerning the Inspiration of the Sacred Writers The Publick knows very well that Mr. L. C. does not own himself to be the Author of that Treatise and that there is scarce any thing in it but what was said before by Grotius whose Works have been so often reprinted and who is look'd upon as the most excellent Interpeter of the New Testament Mr. Vander Waeyen should have written against him and he would without doubt have done it were it not that the meer Name of Grotius will weigh down all the malice of his Adversaries But Mr. L. C. will do well to publish a Latin Book wherein he 'll examine some Questions which Mr. Vander Waeyen has only entangled For instance Whether Philo took out of Moses what he says concerning the Logos Whether the Platonicks meant the Word by it Whether Plato took out of the Old Testament that he says concerning the three Principles c. He may shew by the by that Mr. Vander Waeyen has but slightly studied that Matter and that it had been more for his Honour not to meddle with it He may also easily prove that he cited Philo with great Sincerity and Exactness and that his Adversary shews no Sincerity in what he says on that point But the Professor of Franeker must not be too impatient He ought to be contented now that he has fully vented his Spleen against Mr. L. C. As for Mr. Van Limborch he has so perfectly confuted Mr. Vander Waeyen's Objections and so well satisfied the Publick in that matter that it would be needless to do it again after him The things which the latter has collected against the Remonstrants are so inconsiderable and confused and shew so much Anger that every Body may be sensible of it Mr. Vander Waeyen's Accusations are so unjudicious and he is so well known by reason of his Quarrels and passionate Carriage towards other Reformed Divines that he can do them no prejudice He has encreased the Reputation of those against whom he wrote at the cost of his own I 'll Instance upon Mr. Spanheim †See Frid. Spanbemii Ep. ad Amicum Ed. Vltrajecti 1684. pag. 71. seq Mr. Vander Waeyen was so ridiculous as to teach him how to confound the Degrees of Longitude and Latitude and to laugh at him because he had said that the New World reaches above 180. Degrees He could not forbear saying with a magisterial Air That Mr. Spanheim spoke very ignorantly ignorantissimegrave and that Geographers reckon only 180. Degrees from one Pole to the other as if Mr. Spanhiem had meant Degrees of Latitude Mr. Vander Waeyen's Dissertation being printed and published the late Mr. Anselaar a Minister at Amsterdam gave him notice of his Blunder but it was too late Mr. Spanheim and several others had already got some Copies of it and that Passage was only mended in those which remained in the Bookseller's Hands Mr. Van Limborch hinted by the by at that gross Mistake to oblige Mr. Vander Waeyen to be more modest and reserved in censuring others †Vid. Discus p. 68. But he feigns to know nothing of it whereas he should make a good use of such a warning to leave off insulting so proudly those who are not of his Mind We may learn from thence that Boldness and Confidence in speaking prove not that a Man is sure of what he says Mr. Vander Waeyen affords us an instance of it for he has committed a childish Fault at the very same time that he was insulting and laughing at Mr. Spanheim without any reason for it 'T is a piece of Craft which has been practised a thousand times and tho' the Fallacy lacy of it has been detected as many times yet the common People are still deceived by it †Juvenal Sat. XIII v. 109. And a great boldness in defending a bad Cause is look'd upon by many as a sign that a Man trusts the goodness of his Cause Nam cùm magna malae superest audacia causae Creditur à multis fiducia Mr. Van Limborch must not trouble himself with what the Professor of Franeker thinks of his Works A Man who is well pleased with precarious Explications of Prophecies and fills his Head with so many Chimaeras cannot but dislike good and methodical Explications of the Holy Scripture and such as are grouded on the clear sense of the Words and Grammatical Rules But all those who are acquainted with the Principles of the Reformers and know that in matters of Religion every thing must be proved by the Scripture literally expounded without any mixture of Humane Doctrines will always set a great value on Mr. Van Limborch's Books whatever Allegorical Divines may think of ' em However I believe as well as Mr. Vander Waeyen that Knowledge shall be encreased among Christians but it will not be by substituting in the room of Reason and Critical Rules the wandering Fancy of those who expound the Holy Scripture as they do the Chiming of Bells God on the contrary will make use of Reason and Critical Learning which are now cultivated more than ever to produce that Change The Divines of the Church of England are much esteem'd because they Reason better and make better use of the Knowledge of Languages than others do in many other Countries 'T is true that Mr. Vander Waeyen has no Kindness for them because they cannot abide the Cocceian Explications of Holy Scripture but approve of those of Grotius and other like Interpreters But how can they help it They must as well as so many other Reformed Divines patiently bear the misfortune of not pleasing him Of the Treatise concerning the Causes of Unbelief NEXT to the Commentary on the Pentateuch Mr. L. C. published his French Treatise concerning the Causes of Vnbelief wherein he examines the Motives and general Reasons which induce Unbelievers to reject the Christian Religion He published it in 1696. and promised to translate it into Latin and to add some Notes in confirmation of what he says He is so persuaded that the better a Man reasons the better he may be convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion and the Beauty of its Morality that he constantly says in that Book that Men fall into Unbelief for want of reasoning well Nay †B. 2. Ch. VI. n. IV. he affirms that whoever says we must renounce Reason to believe Religion betrays it for assoon as we lay aside the Light of Reason we can apprehend nothing in Revelation and are not able to understand the Proofs it is grounded upon which suppose that we can reason He thinks that those who have cried down Reason designed to deceive the People and make 'em believe any thing But on the other side Mr. L. C. believes not that we ought to have clear