presseth with a Finger the end of these Pricks against its Base For then through these Pricks which are transparent this Liquor is manifestly seen to mount and to descend as Mr. Hook assures he hath often made Experiment 5. This Author having examined with the Microscope several of its Hairs hath found that they were all almost round That at the End they were bigger than towards the Root that from one End to another they appeared transparent as a Horn and that there are no Threds to be seen in their Root as in that of several Plants He adds that they are solid and that he hath discovered no Cavity in them no more than in the Bristles of an Hog But that the Beard of a Cat being cut hath just as the Elder-Tree a large Marrow in the middle yet the Weaving thereof is so close that there can be no appearance of Pores perceived therein 6. As the Opinions of Philosophers are very different touching the manner whereby Fire is produced when one striketh Fire this Auâ—hor made several Experiments to find out the Truth of it Having then for this Design struck Fire upon a leaf of white Paper he found at the place where the Sparkles were fallen little black Spots but Luminous and having considered them each in particular with a good Microscope he found that they were little Bowls round and shining among which there were two different from the others the one whereof was stuck by one end to little bit of Steel pretty long the other was but a Blade of Steel very small Thereupon this Author makes divers Arguments and lastly he concludes That these Sparkles are nothing else but Particles of Steel or of a Flint Stone which are sometimes made red sometimes melted and even often vitrified according to the different degrees of Heat which Motion produceth And to confirm this Opinion he after having made some File-dust of Steel to pass over the Flame of a Candle he saw shining Particles fall from them like unto Sparkles of a Flint only that they were a little bigger 7. But there is nothing more admirable nor which better shews the Excellency of a Mircroscope than what this Author saith of Mouldiness It was never thought that it was a heap of small Plants and that all the Things which appear mouldy were as so many small Meadows enamelled with divers Flowers Some had round Buttons and which seemed not to be opened others were half Budded some were altogether Flowered and there were some whose end appeared to be broken as if they had begun to cast their Flowers Tho' they were very near one another each had its Root apart Their Stalks were red long cylindrick and transparent Their Substance was very tender and almost like that of Mushrooms for in touching them with a Pin they broke easily and being put to the Flame of a Candle three or four times they remained whole As for their Odour it was strong and unpleasant as well as their Taste 8. A Flea hath six Legs which hath three Joynts each whose Disposition is altogether different For the Joynts of the two fore Legs enter and are entirely trust into one another those of the Thighs of the middle have their Extent quite separate but the hind Thighs have their Joynts folded upon one another as the Leg and Thigh of a Man When the Flea leaps it stretcheth at the same time all its Legs and its different Joynts coming to unbind together as so many Springs cause this Leap which some have attributed to Imaginary Wings 9. It is wonderful to see the quantity of small Pores which the Microscope discovers in a Coal They are disposed in order and white all over so that there is no Coal how long soever it is through which one may not blow and if a bit of it is broken a little short the Light is seen through with a Microscope Their number is so great that in a rank the 18th part of an Inch long Mr. Hook hath reckoned 150. whence he concludes that in a Coal of an Inch Diameter there ought not to be less than five Millions seven hundred fourscore and four thousand It is to this great quantity of Pores that he attributes the blackness of a Coal For he saith when a Body hath many Pores in which the Light is not reflected it appears necessarily black whereas Blackness is nothing else but a privation of Light or a deâ—ect of Reflection 10. He saith that the other Senses may be perfected even as the Sight by Instruments like unto a Microscope he pretends he has already made several Experiments of it which have succeeded with him 11. He makes an Infinity of fine Remarks about Colours Light the Moon and the Stars c. which I should relate if I had not already inlarged upon this Book much more than usually But as it contains many curious Things I thought the World would be glad to have an ample Extract thereof in this Journal An Extract of an English Iournal containing some Curious Observations made by means of the Microscope IN a late Journal we have spoken at large of the Observations which Mr. Hook made with the Microscope Mr. Lewenhaâ—k imparts now those which he hath made with the same Instrument 1. He examined certain yellow Grounds of England and Flanders near the City of Tournay whereof China is made and he found that it was composed of several small Globes a great deal less than the least Grains of Sand. Those of the Earth of Flanders were less than those of the Earth of England but he observed yet less near Esphen whereof they make pretty strong Pots and which is easily changed into Glass This Ground cannot be used to make China because it is too red but it is good being mixed with the two other Earths whereof we have spoken This Earth is not so pure as the others it is mix'd with other parts which it seems are of rotten Wood and Particles of Sand. 2. He found that in the white of the Eye of a Beef there were some little Globes That the Cristallin was also composed as round Scales laid upon one another and that these Scales were composed also of small Globes He discovered the Vitriol Humour was much fuller of little Globes than the Watry Humour The Cartilage being dryed he saw also that it was composed of Cristallin little Globes very even among themselves and if this Membrane suffers some Separation it seems to him as if it was wet These little transparent parts appear white when they are laid upon one another as Cristalling appears white when it is dry or broken and appears so no more when it is wet And he hath found out that all the other Tunicles were also composed of even little Globes united to one another 3. The Optick Nerves in which he hath remarked small Arteries appeared to him to be composed of Threds pretty tender and a little strait These Threds are like wise composed of little Globes
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
in Holland and his Letter was shewn to Peter du Moulin as then Minister of Charenton who had made some Reflections upon this Letter which were sent to Grotius This gave him occasion to write to the same Ambassador the 62 Letter of the 1. p. Where he treats of some of these Controversies and amongst others those which respect the Authority of the Magistrate in Ecclesiastical things It seems by what Grotius saith that du Moulin should believe that a Magistrate ought to be Learned to have some Authority in Ecclesiastical things Grotius refutes this thought He applyes himself again to shew that the Authority of a Prince depends not on the truth of his opinions in matters of Religion He brings the words of St. Augustin in the Letter ad Vincentium Reges cum in errore sunt pro ipso errore leges contra veritatem ferunt cum in veritate sunt similiter contra errorem pro ipsa veritate decernunt He cites besides the example of the Emperor Aurelian who at the prayer of the Christians drove from his Bishoprick Paul de Samosate who would not submit himself to the Authority of the Councils w ch had condemned his Doctrine Grotius saith several things upon the Power of Princes in the regulating of Controversies which arise in matter of Religion But he hath treated on all this more fully in his Book de Imperio summarum Potestatum circa sacra We find in the Letter 329. the solution of another question which belongs to the Canon Law It was to know if the Religious to whom the Pope permitted to Preach and Confess can do it without consulting the Bishops and without asking their Permission Mr. de S. Cyran under the Name of Petrus Aurelius maintain'd they could not and the Jesuites pretended that these priviledged Fryars needed no permission from the Bishops Mr. des Cordes Canon of Limoge and a great friend to Grotius had demanded of him his opinion thereupon He answers that the Antiquity of Mr. de S. Cyran was certainly reasonable and that even where these Commissions are received they ought to be interpreted in such wise that they make the least prejudice to the Canons and received Uses But he adds that he cannot tell how Mr. de S. Cyran as well as the Jesuits attributing to the Pope an almost absolute Authority can maintain that he has not the power to do what Bishops do every day to wit to give the permission of Preaching and Confessing He saith that in giving the Pope the power that is given him they ought to fall into the same inconveniency wherein the Romans were under an Emperour who would have all the questions of Law to be sent to his Oracle In Letter 693. directed to a Polish Lord who had asked him his opinion concerning Torments he answers that there is nothing less certain than a Confession extorted by Torments upon which he cites this word of an ancient mentietur quiferre non potuerit mentietur qui ferre potuerit I have saith he infinite examples of People who were unjustly put to Death upon so uncertain a foundation I do not wonder that there have been grave persons who believed that Christians should not make use of Torments to extort Confessions seeing it's certain there is no such thing in the Law of Moses That in England Men live in as great security as any where tho' Tortures are not in use there and that whilst Rome conserv'd it's Liberty the Citizens were never tortured William Grotius had made some questions to his Brother concerning the publick Law upon which occasion our Author shews in his Letter 4. P. 2. the difference which is betwixt particular and publick Laws and sheweth that they are equally founded upon Nature the Law of Nations and the Civil Law He treats afterwards on this Question If natural Right can suffer some change He divides this Law into divers branches and shews in what sense there may happen some change He also treats on the same matter in Letter 6. It had been it seems objected against him that the Civil Laws do sometimes alter the Law of Nature when they make void all the promises that a Pupil might make without the consent of his Guardian seeing he violates this Right of the Law of Nature that one must keep his promises Grotius shews how Civil Law agrees herein with the Law of Naâ—ure and also expounds some like cases as if a Pupil having borrow'd without the consent of his Tutour and being become rich by this borrowing whether he is oblig'd to pay Grotius answers that although by the Ancient Civil Law of the Romans a Creditor could not have an action against a Pupil altho ' the Pupil is bound to pay by the Law of Nature whereof here is an inviolable Law That none ought to enrich himself with the damage of another He cites divers Laws upon this subject He treats in Letter 4. of the same Part of Servitudes and sheweth that it is a Right established by Men against Liberty and Natural Freedom He expounds the Law in fine ff de aqua where it is said that the low possessions have commonly this Servitude that they receive their waters which run from those that are highest In Letter 12. He speaks fully enough of Conventions in general and of Stipulations in particular He shews that the Law of Nature necessarily obligeth one to keep his word whence several Philosophers have given the name of Truth to justice and Simonides said that Justice consisted in speaking the truth and in giving what one hath received notwithstanding Plato and Theophrastus were of opinion that no body ought to have the power of forcing any one to keep his word by virtue of the Laws but that it should be free not to keep it as it is free not to be generous But this Philosophy saith our Author agrees not with our Age wherein few Folks are virtuous by their own motion without the fear of Laws He enters after that upon a great Question to wit how Civil Law can derogate from the Law of Nature in matters of agreement and promises He expounds in a few words in what manner the Roman Laws have taken away from those who submitted themselves thereto the Liberty of promising certain things so that on these occasions they have rendered contracts void as well as when they were not extorted after the manner which these Laws prescribed He shews that the Laws have not in all that injured the Law of Nature We find besides in Letter 352. p. 2. The examination of this Question Vtrum voluntas testatoris coram septem testibus ad id convocatis declarata nolle se Testamentum ante factum valere habenda sit pro Testamento tali quale esset si haeredes ab intestato instituisset disertè Grotius answers yes and that it is thus he understands those terms Voluitque intestato decedere in l. 1. § Si haeres D. si tabulae Testamenti nullae extabunt
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.
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
remarkable that he had a more than ordinary desire to be instructed in the Fundamentals of the Sciences and being yet very young he read the Works of my Lord Bacon Des Cartes and Gallileus In reading the Remarks of Scaliger upon Eusebius he observed that Chronology was founded upon Astronomy whereupon he also resolv'd to apply himself to the study of this last Science He set himself to read the Almagest of Ptolomy but he soon perceiv'd that he cou'd not read this sort of Books with advantage without the help of Geometry then he applied himself to the study of Euclides Elements in which he profited much in a little time and afterwards publish'd the Elements of Geometry explain'd in few words and better than ever was done before him Besides these are the Titles of some other Mathematical Books which he compos'd Euclidis Data Lectiones Opticae Lectiones Geometricae Archimedis Opera Apollonii Conicorum Lib. IV. Theodosti Sphaerica Lectio de Sphaera Cylindro One wou'd be surprized that so great a Geometrician cou'd also be a Poet yet we are assured in his Life that there are found several Poems amongst the Titles of his Latine Works Dr. Duport having renounc'd his Charge of Professor of the Greek Tongue he recommended Mr. Barrow who had been his Scholar whereupon he was admitted to Examination and read with great applause but he could not obtain the place because 't was thought he was inclin'd to Arminianism which was not savoured in England during the Usurpation this made him resolv'd to travail He went to France from thence to Italy where he embarked at Leghorn for Smyrna from whence he went to Constantinople there he tarried a year and we are assured during that time he read the works of the most famous Patriarch that that City ever had We may easily understand it was St Chrysostom that is here spoken of afterwards Mr. Barrow embarked for Venice from whence he returned for England by the way of Germany and Holland When King Charles the second was restored all the World believed Dr. Barrow would be preferred because he had been always firm to the Interests of the Royalists but being disappointed he made this Distich upon his unkind treatment Te Magis optavit rediturum Carole Nemo Et Nemo sensit te Rediisse Minus However he was elected Professor of the Greek tongue in 1660 and Chosen two years after to teach Geometry In the year following Mr. Lucas having founded a Chair for a Professor of Mathematicks he was the first that fill'd it and there was an Order made for him and those that were to succeed him that they shou'd be oblig'd every year to leave to the University Ten of their Lectures in writing he so passionately loved the Mathematicks that there was found before his Apollonius these words written in his own hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu autem Domine quantus es Geometra cum enim haec Scientia nullos terminos habeat c. God himself hath Geometry in his thoughts but thou O Lord how great a Geometrician art thou For tho' this Science has no bounds yet one may find an infinite number of new Theorems by the only assistance of a humane Capacity THOV seest all these Truths at one glance without any chain of consequences and without being wearied with a long search of demonstrations In other things our Intellect is defective and it seems that we do think of I do not know what for want of a perfect assurance From whence it happens that there are almost as many Opinions as different Persons But all the World agree in the Truth of Mathematicks and 't is in this that the Mind of Man feels its strength and is perswaded that it can effect something great and wonderful c. This only is able to enflame me with the Love of Thee and to make me wish with as much ardor as is possible for that happy day in which my Spirit being delivered from every thing that now perplexes it shall be assured not only of these Truths but of an infinite number of others without the trouble of deducing consequences c. There is without doubt but a very few Men who amongst those reasons which induce 'em to wish for Heaven give this of expecting the Happiness of a Perfect Knowledge of the Mathematicks there Thus Mr. Barrow having wearied himself with these Speculations resolved to addict himself only to the study of Divinity After which the Bishops of St. Asaph and Salisbury gave him some Benefices and the King made him Rector of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge in the year 1672. The Colledges of the Vniversities of England are otherwise regulated than those beyond Sea The charge of the Master of a Colledge is much more considerable than that of the Rectors of Forreign Academies or Colledges A few years after Mr. Barrow was preferred to a more eminent Post to wit Vice-Chancellor which is the greatest charge of the University and after this Chancellor which is not given but to Persons of the first Quality The Author of the Life of Mr. Barrow informs us how he governed the Colledge with an Vniversal Applause but it shall suffice to say that he there composed divers Treatises and amongst others that of the Supremacy of the Pope which is at the end of the first Volume In fine he died at London the 4th of March the year 1677. and was buried at Westminster where his friends erected a Marble Monument without an Epitaph which is added to the end of his Life The first five Sermons which compose the first Volume treat of the Excellency of the Christian Religion and of the Interest which accrews to us in loving and practising it the four following expound the great Duties of Christianity Prayer and Thanksgiving The 10th 11th and 12th are upon particular occasions to wit The Return of the King The Gunpowder-Plot And the Conseâ—ration of the Bishop of Man his Vncle. The ten following from the 13th to the 23d were composed against the sin of speaking too much in conversation in speaking ill of his Neighbour and Swearing c. Mr. Barrow is very large upon these matters because there are few Vices so universal tanta hujusmodi Libido saith St. Paulinus cited by the Author Mentes hominum invasit ut etiam qui procul aliis Vitiis recesserunt in illud tamen quasi in extremum Diaboli Laqueum incidant Those which follow even to the 30th have respect unto the great Precepts in which the Law is fulfilled to wit to love God and our Neighbour All the preceding Sermons were not published till after the death of the Author but he himself caused the two last of this Volume to be printed whereof one treats of Charity towards the Poor and the other of the Passion of Iesus Christ Dr. Tillotson speaks of the first that there could be nothing more elaborate in its kind and that Dr. Barrow had spoken the utmost that the
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
drew Tears from our Author When he there saw that Threatning accomplisht that Jesus Christ had made to this Church when flourishing To remove it's Candlestick from it's place It fares little better with Pergamus whose Church formerly so fine is now composed but of 12 or 15 Families of poor dejected Christians Sardis has no way the Advantage Once the Capital of Craesus's Kingdom is now the retreat only of Beggars and Vagabonds which have a few Christians amongst 'em who serve only as Slaves to these Infidels But the Desolation of Laodicea surpasses all the others for it is absolutely destroyed and deserted There are still at Philadelphia 200 Christian Families who have four Churches where they assemble together which our pious Author omits not the observing that 't is an effect of the promises that Jesus Christ had made to this Church to preserve it in the time of Tryal that shou'd come upon all the World And Greece which he afterwards travelled into presented him with a Picture not less sorrowful for the Inconstancy and Vanity of humane Things than that of Natolia It was no small trouble to Mr. Spon and to himself that they cou'd not find the place where Delphos formerly stood and after a great deal of care and diligent Search they perceiv'd some Old Inscriptions that testified this City once so famous was now a Village call'd Castri upon the Hill of Parnassus Athens has not perfectly shared the same Fate It at least retains it's Old Name for the Greeks still call it Athini and not Satines or Saitenes as it is now read in the Modern Maps 'T is 2 or 3 Leagues in Circumference and is possess'd by eight or ten thousand Inhabitants who are all naturally of a great Wit and Politeness Tho' there remains no sign of it's Antient Splendour but the Ruines of some Rich Places and Noble Monuments Mr. Wheeler assures us next to Rome 't is a place that surpasses all the world for curious Pieces of Antiquity The chief of which he describes very exactly He observes amongst other things that there is in the Acropolis which is the Citadel the Ruines of a Temple of Minerva the Front of which is adorned with Historical Figures round about to an admirable Beauty Likewise he hath not forgot to mention the Stadium where they celebrate the Publick Games call'd Panathenaica 'T is built all with Marble in length about 120 Geometrical Paces in breadth 26 or 27 which had two parallel sides and was enclos'd Eastward and opened exactly at the opposite Point Yet saith he cou'd have no certainty of the Place where the Areopagite was no more than many others related to us in the Histories of former Times The Mount Hymetta which is but three or four Leagues from Athens is the most noted for it's Honey which is indeed the best of all Greece Megara is but a small Village with very pitiful Houses cover'd with Faggots and Turfs thereon And there 's nothing remains of the Antient Grandeur but the Footsteps of its Walls and a few Inscriptions that are not quite obliterated Something more considerable is to be found of the Town and Theater of the Isthmus of Corinth where they kept public Plays and observes the place they begun to dig a Canal to joyn the two Seas together in Corinth hath been more favourably dealt with by time than any of the former since it is at this day large enough to merit the Name of a Town at least it cannot pass for worse than a very handsom Village Tho' nothing is more worthy observation than the Change that hath happened to the Euripus if what Pomponius Mela and Strabo saith is true That in their time it Fluxt and Refluxt regularly seven times a day since Mr. Wheeler affirms That for two days that he staid there he saw no more motion in it than that of our Marishes and all the Inhabitants agree that this Flux and Reflux is sometime regular and often irregular according to the Moon As a Learned Jesuite found out who resided two Years at Negropont that it is regular and very little differing from the Main Ocean at the end of the Old Moon till the first Quarter of the New but at the other part of the Month it is irregular and changes 12 13 or 14 times in 24 or 25 hours In the end of our Authors Work he gives only a succinct Relation of his Return to Zant and from thence to England A New Relation of China containing the Description of the Particularities of the most considerable things of this great Empire Composed in the Year 1668. By the Reverend Father Gabriel de Magaillans of the Society of Jesus Apostolick Missionary and Translated from Portuguese into French by the Sieur B. Paris at Mr. Claudius Barbins 1688. in Quarto pag. 385. and is to be had at Amsterdam at Henry Desbordes ALthough after so many Relations that have been given of China since one Age or thereabouts it seems it is difficult to tell us any new thing thereof notwithstanding we are assured that in this there is scarcely any thing to be found that hath been seen in others and that it will appear to the Readers as new as it is curious Besides that the History of China is a matter rich and vast enough and therefore not to be so easily drain'd it 's pretended that the most part of those who have written thereof instead of making exact Recitals have said nothing on 't but what 's almost all Fabulous that others having written in a different intention to that of informing us of all the Particularities of this great Kingdom have omitted the principal ones or have spoke of them but by the By and that finally amongst so many Men that have treated of the same Subject scarcely was there seen one who could so Learnedly speak thereof as Father Magaillans and that had the same means and the same occasions of instructing himself therein It was therefore in all likelihood to Supply what was deficient in the other Relations that this Jesuite so well informed had composed his But as he dyed in the Year 1677. without having published his Writings and even without having finished it the Publick would have run the hazard of being deprived of all the Fruit that it might gather from this Work if the Translator who is said to be the Abbot Mr. Bernou had not drawn it from its Obscurity and Dust and had not put into a condition to see Light by his Translation and Notes and by all the care that he took thereof This Author begins C. 1. with the divers Names that the Chinois and Strangers give to China And he immediately noteth that it is an ordinary custom where some new Family becomes Master of this State they make it to lose it's name Under the Precedent Family it was called Tai-Mim-que that is to say Kingdom of a great Brightness But the Tartars which are now the Masters call it Tai-cim-que Kingdom
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
that Iesus Christ Interceded not for us and takes no care of his Church and that he pities not our Infirmities having suffered them himself and that he will not come at last to Judge all Mankind then there would be Reason to call the one Atheists and the other no Christians but every one knows that they are far from these impious thoughts The Protestants accuse the Romish Church of Idolatry and for having recourse to other Saviours besides Iesus Christ but the Moderators make a noise of that as if it were a hainous Calumny and maintain that it is only God that is to be worshiped with Religious Worship and that we are not saved but through the Merits of Iesus Christ. The Reformed shew them that they invoke Saints and that they worship them and the Cross Images and Relicks as the Pagans did their Heroes their Demons and inferiour Gods their Statues their Idols c. That they believe they satisfie Divine Justice by Indulgences Vows and Pilgrimages and that according to them the Merit of these Actions and of the Saints together with them of Iesus Christ reconcile Sinners to God They prove that this is the Doctrine which their Divines Popes and Councils teach not only in their great Volumes for the Learned but also for the rest in their Catechisms and Prayer Books and other Books of Devotion for the use of the People that it is not only the practice of the Laity and of some ignorant and superstitious Priests but also of all the Roman Church in their Rituals Breviaries Missals and other Publick Offices that it never punished such as pushed the Superstitions to an Excess which the Moderator seems to blame But that far from having a mind to redress these Abuses she prosecutes such as are suspected to have a design to abolish them as the Iansenists and Quietists tho' these two at bottom are but idle People and of little sincerity Would a Magistrate set a Murderer at liberty simply because he denyed a Deed that is well proved or because he has the face to maintain that the killing a Man at 12 a Clock is neither Murder nor a Crime punishable by Law On the contrary this Criminal would deserve a double Chastisement as a Murderer and as a Disturber of the Publick Peace in teaching a Doctrine that is contrary to Civil Society Because M. Daille acknowledges the Fundamental Points which the Reformed teach M. de Meaux pretends to justifie his Church and prove it's Purity tho this acknowledgement serves only to state the Question between both Parties and to shew that the Question is not whether the Fundamental Doctrine of Protestants be true seeing that is confessed on both sides but the Question is to know whether what the Roman Catholicks hold over and above be Articles necessary to Salvation as they pretend or whether they are contrary to the truth that both hold as Divine and whether they ought to be cast away for this reason as the Reformed have done It is according to this method that Dr. Wake explains the Articles exposed by M. de Condom marking in each what the Protestants approve and what they condemn in the Tenets of Rome and bringing some of the chief reasons that make them remark these Distinctions V. We said before that we were not willing to enter upon the particulars of Controversies but because the Roman Church continually fomenting the Divisions of Protestants have persuaded some illiterate People that the Church of England agrees in a great many more Points with it than with the other Protestants We shall mention her Sentiments here according to Dr. Wake 's Exposition upon the Articles wherein the Roman Catholicks brag of this pretended Conformity As First The Invocation of Saints Secondly Justification Thirdly The Necessity of Baptism Fourthly Confirmation Fifthly Orders Sixthly Real Presence Seventhly Tradition Eighthly Authority of the Church Ninthly That of the Fathers Tenthly The Question if one can be saved in the Roman Church Eleventhly If it be Idolatry First The Invocation of Saints Dr. Wake speaking in the name of his Church says it is an extravagant Practice invented at pleasure and so far from being contained in Scripture that it is several ways contrary to it It is true that according to an innocent ancient Custom we make mention before the Communion Table of Saints that dyed in the Communion of our Church thanking God for the grace he did them and praying him to give us the grace to follow their Example But this respect we bear their Memory does not hinder us from condemning a Practice that M. de Meaux seems to have omitted and which cannot agree with us at all which is that Roman Catholicks recommend the Offering of the Host to God by the Merit of the Saints whose Reliques are upon the Altar as if Iesus Christ whom they pretend to Sacrifice needed S. Bathilde or Potentiana's Recommendation to become agreeable to his Father Secondly Iesus by his Passion has satisfy'd Divine Justice for us and therefore God pardons us all our Sins thro' the Merits of his Son and by an Effect of his Good Will treats us with an Allyance of grace and by Vertue of this Allyance solely founded on the Death and Passion of Iesus Christ he sends us his Holy Spirit and calls us to Repentance If we answer this Calling God justifies us thro' his pure Goodness that is to say he forgives us all our past faults and gives us the grace to obey his Precepts better and better and will Crown us in Heaven if we persevere in his Alliance he grants us all these Graces not for any good Quality that he sees in us or for any good we do but only in vertue of the Satisfaction and Merits of his Son that are applyed to us by Faith Thirdly Tho' our Church take all manner of care to hinder Childrens dying without Baptism rather than to determine what would become of them they died without it we cannot nevertheless but condemn the want of Charity of Roman Catholicks that excludes them from Salvation Fourthly The Church of England does not believe that Confirmation is a Sacrament nor that the use of Chrism tho' of an antient Custom was an Apostolical Institution but because the Imposition of Hands is an antient Custom and comes from the Apostles the English have kept it and according to their Discipline the Bishops only have liberty to administer it The Prelate that does it addresses his Prayer to God to beg of him to strengthen with his Spirit him that he puts his Hands upon and that he may protect him from Temptations and that he may have the grace to fulfill the Conditions of his Baptism which he that he prays for ratifies and confirms with his Promises Fifthly Nor are the Orders a Sacrament according to the Church of England because they are not common to all Christians but she believes that no one ought to put himself upon the Function of a Minister without
brings Lazarus and his Sisters at the same time into Provence The strongest reason to persuade us that the Gospel was so soon Preached in England is drawn from a passage of Gildas's which was not well understood Interea glaciali frigore rigenti Insulae veluti longiori Terrarum Recessu soli visibili non proximae verus ille non de firmamento solum Dr. Stillingfleet reads Sol sed de summa etiam those who read Solum for Sol have also added this Etiam for the clearing of the sense coelorum arce tempora cuncta excedente universo orbi praefulgidum sui coruscum ostendens tempore ut scimus summo Tiberii Caesaris quo absque ullo impedimento ejus propagabatur Religio comminata senatu nolente a Principe morte dilatoribus Militum ejusdem radios suos primum indulget id est sua praecepta Christus These words of Gildas were taken until now as if he meant that the Gospel was Preached in England towards the end of Tiberius's Reign But thus the Bishop of Worcester understands them Jesus Christ the true Sun who as 't is known made his Light to shine over all the Vniverse towards the end of Tiberius 's Reign at which time his Religion was propagated without hinderance in spight of the Senate because this Prince threatned those with death that should accuse the Christians Jesus Christ I say made his Sun-beams to shine to wit his Precepts not from the Firmament but the highest place of the Heavens and which was from all Eternity upon this frozen Island distant from the visible Sun Gildas speaks of two several times wherein the visible Sun appeared the one towards the end of Tiberius's Reign at which it shined to the view of the whole World and the other that it particularly appeared in England and which he marks by the Particle interea This word relates to the time whereof he speaks to wit that in which Suetonius Paulinus Conquered the Queen Boadicea which happened towards the middle of Nero's Reign about Twenty years after that Claudius had sent A. Plautius to reduce England into the form of a Province The Monks of the last Ages fruitful in Ancient Histories affirmed that Ioseph of Arimathea came from Glassenbury where he founded a Monastery Preaching there the Gospel In a time wherein all that came from these pious Lyars was believed this Fabulous History was taken for an ancient Tradition but the Bishop of Worcester easily shews it is supported only by the Authority of such Men and actions as are very suspicious and accompanied with ridiculous circumstances Nevertheless he believes it may be proved by good Authorities and maintained by probable circumstances that Christianity entred into England in the time of the Apostles Eusebius positively affirms that these Holy Men Preached the Gospel in the British Isles Theodoret reckons the Britans amongst those People Converted by the Apostles St. Ierome saith that St. Paul after his Imprisonment Preached the Gospel in the West in occidentis partibus by which he seems to understand England as well as St. Clement who saith that St. Paul went to the farthest part of the West Terms which Dr. Stillingfleet proves to have been commonly taken for Great Britain He shews after that by the History of St. Paul's Life that this Apostle had time to come into England and that he might have been persuaded to have taken this Journey because this part of Great Britain was then reduced into a Province There is also some likelihood that Pomponia Graecina Wife to Plautius was a Christian Tacitus assuring us that she was accused of a Strange Superstition and that she lived in a continual Melancholy If this Lady was a Christian she might have inform'd St. Paul what state England was in and encouraged him to come hither He might likewise have been instructed by those whom Plautius led Prisoners to Rome True it is that it has been said that St. Peter and some other Apostles were in England but these Traditions appear altogether Fabulous and if any came it was undoubtedly St. Paul according to the Testimony of St. Clement of whom we have spoken II. To pursue the Ecclesiastical History of England our Prelate undertakes in the 2 d. Chapter to Collect what is found in the Antients about the space of time from the Apostles to the First Council of Nice The Principal Proofs from whence we conclude there were Christians in that time in England are the Testimonies of Tertullian and Origen which the Author defends and Expounds at length Many of the Writers of the last Ages said that a King of England named Lucius was Converted to Christianity in the time of M. Aurelius and Lucius Verus But suppose this true in the Main there are divers circumstances which are really false as when this Lucius is made King of all England which was at that time a Roman Province Our Prelate believes there might be a Christian Prince of that Name in some place of England and whom the Romans suffered to Reign because he was of their side such as might have been the Descendants of one Cogidunus who favoured them That this place of England perhaps was the County of Sussex where there is no Monument of the Romans This being so it may easily be conceived that Lucius had heard Discourses of the Christian Religion by some antient Britans or Soldiers of the Army which M. Aurelius brought hither and which had been delivered from an eminent danger by the Prayers of the Christians that were in it as the Emperor himself said in one of his Letters After that Lucius might send as Tradition has it Messengers to Eleutherius Bishop of Rome to be better Instructed because of the great Commerce which was betwixt England and Rome If Persons had been satisfied to have related this History after this manner it may be none would have called it in question but the Lyes wherewith it 's stuft the better to maintain it have rendered according to the Remark of the Author doubtful and suspicious that which may be true in it Others will not fail to add to this that in the Conjectures that are always made in the Enquiry after these Antiquities founded upon the Traditions of as great Lyars as the Monks of the past Ages that in these Conjectures I say Si trapassano i confini del vero per scrivere negli ampii spatii del possibile cose incerte non seguite according to an Italian Author And also the silence of Gildas who inform'd us of all he knew of the Antiquities of England yet speaks not one word of this Lucius which renders this History very suspicious even in what appears most possible in it Our Prelate proves there were Christians in England in the time of Dioclesian and that several suffered Martyrdom in it though the Persecution could not last long here seeing Constantius Father to Constantine stopped it Constantius dying at
York and his Son being declared Caesar by the Army the Christian Religion was secure we find the Names of Three Bishops of Great Britain who Subscribed to the Council of Arles in CCCXIV The Author believes there were a great many more and that those Three were sent by the Bishops of the Three Provinces for all were never at any of the Councils which wou'd have been too numerous if every one had gone thither He believes also that there was a continual Succession of Bishops in England from the Apostles till that time Some Monks have thought that Bishops were Established in England in imitation of the Flamines and Archiflamines of the Heathens but Dr. Stillingfleet shews 't is but a Dream and that the first Pagan Hierarchy was established by Maximinus after the Model of the Christians which was much more Antient. Speaking of the Council of Arles the Author shews that its Canons were sent to the Bishop of Rome not to Confirm them as Baronius maintains but to Publish them Quae decrevimus say these Fathers in Communi Coneilio charitati tuae significare ut omnes sciant quid in futurum observare debeant To this he joyns the Canons of the Council which he reduces to certain Heads and expounds in a few words particularly the Third De his qui arma projiciunt in pace who ought to be suspended from the Communion If an Allegorical sense might be given to these words our Bishop believes they may be expounded of the Christians who in the time wherein the Persecution ceased grew more indifferent as to their manner of living and less conformable to the Discipline which they had kept before But if they are understood Literally they may refer to the Christian Soldiers who would leave the Army when there was no fear of being constrained to any Idolatrous act in serving the Emperor as they had been under the Heathen Princes Constantine offered to dismiss all the Soldiers that desired it The Fathers of the Council might fear that all the Christians wou'd abandon his Armies and that afterwards it should be supply'd with Pagans which could have been fatal to Christianity So the Bishops assembled at Arles and thought they ought to prevent this accident in suspending from the Communion such Christian Souldiers as quitted the Service III. After having shewn That there were Bishops in England before the Council of Nice the Author speaks of the State wherein the Churches of the same Island were after this Council to that of Rimini Although in the Subscriptions which we still have of the Bishops who assisted at the Council of Nice there is none of any Prelate of England it is very probable there were some of them 1. Because Constantine did all he could to assemble a great number of Bishops 2. Because there is no likelyhood this Emperor should forget the Bishops of England where he was born and proclaimed Caesar. 3. Because they having been at the Council of Arles which was held before and at those of Sardis and Rimini which followed that of Nice there was no reason to suppose that they should be forgotten in this latter This being granted Dr. Stillingfleet believes that we may learn from the Canons of the Council of Nice the Rights and Priviledges of the British Churches Therefore he relates and expounds these Canons but makes the longest stay upon three which concern Ecclesiastical Discipline The fourth is conceived in these Terms That a Bishop ought chiefly to be established by all the Bishops of the Province but if that be too difficult either because it requireth more haste or that the Proceedings of the Bishops wou'd make it too long there must at least be three present and they have the consent of the Absent to consecrate him But the Confirmation of all that is done in the Province ought to be reserved to the Metropolitan By this Canon the Rights of the Metropolitans are established after an uncontestable manner but that which creates difficulty is to know whether by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to establish which is at the beginning must be understood the Right of choosing a Bishop was devolved on the Bishops of the Province or whether the Question be only of Conservation which should be done by the Bishops upon the Election made by the Suffrages of the People Several Interpreters of the Canons understand by the Word to establish to elect and Dr. Stillingfleet sheweth That all this may be proved by a place of the Synodal Letter of the same Council to those of Alexandria where it 's said That the Meletian Bishops which the People should choose should be received and that in the time of the Council of Nice the People named the Bishops which hindered not but that they were elected by their Brothers and confirmed by the Metropolitan without which the nomination of the People signified nothing So that all that can be concluded from thence is that the People had the Right of Nomination which they have since deservedly lost by Seditions and Tumults and which they cannot recall unless it is shew'n whether it is a Divine and unalterable Right which will never be adds our Author and which even those who strive to win the favour of the People in defending it's Rights do not endeavour to prove upon the Principles of the first Ages It will not be denyed but that the People had then the Right of Opposing the chosen Persons by shewing That they were not worthy But in this case the People were heard as Witnesses and not as Judges If the Bishops who had chosen him who was opposed judged that the Accusations which were against him were just they proceeded against the Accused according to the Canons and then they came to a new nomination whereof notwithstanding the Synod of the Province was to judge The Author expounds thereby the 16 Canon of the Council of Antioch and the 12 of that of Laodicea where mention is made of the popular Election not to mark the Preferment of some one to the Episcopacy but the choosing of a Bishop already ordained to be Bishop of some Church The fifth Canon of Nice informs us That he who shall be excommunicated by one Bishop shall not be received into Communion by another If any one complained of being unjustly excommunicated the Provincial Synod judged thereof and if this Synod revoked not the Sentence of this Bishop every one was to hold him Excommunicated 'T is for that the Council of Nice orders That there should be every where held Provincial Councils twice a year at Easter and Autumn Our Author maintains that the Council of Nice doth not ordinarily acknowledge in her Procedures any other Tribunal than the Provincial Synods except in places whose ancient Customs were different as it appears by the following Canon So that all strange Jurisdiction is forbidden by the Fathers of Nice as the Churches of Africk maintained it boldly against the Popes Thence it 's concluded
The Bishop of Worcester maintains that the Pope could not convocate Councils but within the extent of the suburbicary Provinces tho' he denyes not but on certain singular occasions other Bishops have not been invited to these Councils as when Aurelian permitted the Bishops of Italy to assemble at Rome for the Affair of Paul of Samosatus But the Bishops of the Diocess of Italy who acknowledged the Bishop of Milan as chief thought themselves not obliged to be at the Patriarchal Councils of Rome And that which is remarkable is that one of these Councils was of Sentiments very different from him who then was upon the Patriarchal See of this City concerning the Ordination of Maximus to be Bishop of Constantinople Damasus writ twice to Constantinople with much fervour for the deposing of Maximus But St. Ambrose and the Bishops of his Diocess in a Synodical Letter to Theodosius justified the Ordination of Maximus and disapproved the Election of Gregory and Nectairus The Defenders of the pretensions of the Bishop of Rome are asked If this Council acknowledged the Patriarchal Power of this Bishop Mr. Schelstrate saith after Father Lupus That the Power of the Pope gave him the Right of deciding all things consulting only the Bishops who could do nothing without him If that is true it must be granted That the Italick Diocess was without the limits of the Patriarchate of Rome seeing the Bishops of this Diocess sent their Advices to the Emperor without having any respect to the Sentiments of Damasus Dr. Stillingfleet sheweth the independancy of the same Bishops in respect to Rome by the Example of the Council of Capua where St. Ambrose presided without asking so much as the Advice of the Bishop of Rome To prove that the Pope had the Right of calling the Bishops of all the West to all his Patriarchal Councils Mr. Schelstrate relates some Examples of Bishops amongst the Gauls and Great Britain who were at some Roman Councils But he is answered That it is no wonder that some should be found in extraordinary Rencounters and that it doth not follow from thence that the Pope was Patriarch of all the West no more than that Councils of Western Bishops being held at Milan Arles Rimini Sardis and elsewhere prov'd That the Bishops of these Cities were their Patriarchs It ought to be shewn That the Pope convocated the Bishops of the West by vertue of his Patriarchal Authority There was also a great Difference amongst the Councils assembled for the Vnity of Faith and the Discipline of divers Diocesses and the Provincial or Patriarchal Synods câ—nvocated at a certain time to appear before the Metropolitan or the Patriarch This is seen in the Diurnus Romanus where the Bishops of Rome oblige themselves to be present at the Councils of this City assembled at certain times as Garnier sheweth He saith it was thrice a year but no more for the Suburbicary Churches which had no other Primate but the Bishop of Rome The last of the Patriarchal Rights was to receive Appeals of the Provinces of the Patriarchship By these Appeals we must not understand the free Choice that parties can make for one to be an Arbitrator of their Differences but Juridical Appeals from an inferiour Tribunal to a higher one It hath oft fallen out that Bishops have been chosen Arbitrators of a common approbation to make others agree or that Bishops intermedled in the Differences of others without pretending to end them with Authority Our Author brings an Example of a Council of the Italick Diocess who medled with a dissention at Constantinople whereof we have already made mention But to this is opposed That the Bishops of Rome have several times sent Legates throughout all the West to examine the causes of the Bishops and to make Report of â—em For the Letters of the Popes to the Bishops of Thessalonica which are in the Roman Collection are cited to prove this But we have already taken notice what Dr. Stillingfleet's Answer is to that He adds here that the Origine of these pretensions was from this That the Council of Sardis being exasperated against the Eastern Bishops gave the Bishop of Rome the liberty to re-examine some Causes in divers Provinces He took the occasion from thence of sending Legates and that was one of the first steps by which he ascended to so great a Power in the West A Doctor of Sorbone who writ some years ago de antiquis majoribus Episcoporum causis alloweth That in the space of CCCXLVII Years viz. about the time of the Council of Sardis no Example of a Cause can be produced which was referred to Rome by the Bishops who were the Judges thereof It is besides Objected That the Council of Arles attributes to the Pope majores Dioeceses but it hath been seen by the Government of this Council which has been spoken of that it was far from acknowledging the Bishop of Rome for Superiour Besides there are reasons to believe that the place where these words are has been corrupted and tho' it was not so this may signifie another thing except this Bishop had a Diocess more large than his Brethren Dr. Stillingfleet refutes some more Reasons of Mr. Schelstrate of small consequence and relates some places of the Letters of Pope Leo where he presses hard the Canons of Nice against the usurpations of the Patriarch of Constantinople and maintains it was not lawful for any to violate or to reveal the Decrees of this Council from whence it 's concluded that the Churches of England are in no wise obliged according to the Discipline of the first Ages to submit to the Pope After having ended this Controversie our Prelate sheweth there is a great likelyhood that some Bishops of England were at the Council of Sardis But thence an occasion is taken to say that the British Churches having received the Council of Sardis they are obliged to acknowledge the Pope for the Patriarch of the West seeing this Council hath established the Appeals to the Bishop of Rome To see if this Objection be of any force Dr. Stillingfleet examines the Design and the Proceedings of this Council as follows Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria had been deposed by two Synods of Eastern Bishops for some Crimes of which he was accused He could not hope to have this Judgment reverst in the East because the Arian Party was very strong there he made his Address to the Bishops of the West and particularly to Iulius Bishop of Rome as to the Chief He desired that his Process might be reverst and shewed by Letters of divers Bishops of Aegypt that he had not been heard according to the Forms neither at Tyre nor Antioch because of the violence of the Faction of Eusebius Thereupon Iulius having communicated his Design to his Brethren the Bishops of the West writ in their name and his own to the Eastern Bishops That it was just to examine this Cause by
Judges that were not suspected of Partiality and desired them to go to the places where these Judges should be with the Informations they had taken against Athanasius The Bishops of the East would not hearken to it whereupon those of the West received Athanasius Marcellus and other Bishops of their Party into their Communion Those of the East were extreamly affronted at it there were many Complaints on each side and at last the two Emperours Constantius and Constantine agreed to call a General Council at Sardis to decide this Difference There went Bishops to it from all parts but the Western Bishops were willing that the deposed Bishops should be admitted to the Communion and take place in the Council the Eastern would not suffer it and withdrew to Philippopolis where they protested against the Proceedings of Sardis as contrary to the Canons of Nice The Bishops of the West notwithstanding continued their Session and made new Canons to justifie their Conduct The Eastern Bishops complained that the Discipline established at Nice was manifestly violated and the Western Bishops said That there was Injustice done to the deposed Bishops that Athanasius had not been heard in Aegypt and that it was just that all the Bishops of the Empire should re-examine this Affair The Bishops of Sardis had no respect to the reasons of their Brethren they renounced not the Communion of Athanasius and made divers Canons the chief of which are the III. the IV. the V. which concern the Revisal of the Causes of Bishops In the third they declared that the causes should first come before the Bishops of the Province and if one of the Parties was grieved by the Sentence he should be granted a Revision Our Author makes divers Remarks upon two Canons of the Council of Antioch to which its commonly believed that that of the Council of Sardis has some affinity which we have spoken of our Author discovers the Irregularities of the Councils of Antioch and Tyre He also remarks that to obtain the Revision of an Ecclesiastial cause an Address was made to the Emperor who convocated a greater number of Bishops to make this new Examination The Council of Sardis made an Innovation in this for it seems that it took away as much as it could the Right of reviewing these sorts of Causes from the Emperor to give it to Iulius Bishop of Rome in honour to St. Peter He might by the Authority of this Council if he thought fit Convocate the Bishops of the Province to revise the Process and to add Assistant Judges to them as the Emperor used to do Besides this the Fourth Canon enjoyn'd that no Bishop should enter into a vacant Bishoprick by the deposition of him who was in it nor should undertake to Examin a-new a Process until the Bishop of Rome had pronounced his Sentence thereupon The Fifth Canon signifies That if he judges the Cause worthy of Revising it belongs to him to send Letters to the Neighbouring Bishops to re-examine but if he thinks it not fit the Judgment pronounced shall stand This is the Power which the Council of Sardis grants to the Pope upon which our Author makes these Remarks 1. That there was somewhat new in this Authority without which these Canons would have been useless Thus de Marca and he who published the Works of Pope Leo have established this Power of the Pope upon the Canons of the Council of Sardis But an Authority given by a particular Council in certain Circumstances as appears by the name of Iulius which is inserted in the Canon cannot extend it self to the following Ages upon the whole this Authority has changed nature so much that now it passeth for an Absolute and Supream Power founded upon a Divine Right and not upon the Acts of one Council 2. These Canons do not give this Bishop the Right of receiving Appeals in quality of Head of the Church but transport only unto him the Right of a Revision which the Emperor enjoyed before It is a great question if the Council of Sardis had the Power of so doing but there is a great likelihood that the Protection which Constantius granted the Arian Party engaged it thereunto 3. These Canons cannot justifie the conduct of those who should carry Causes to Rome by way of Appeal because they return the second Examination to the Bishops of the Province 4. The Council of Sardis it self took knowledge of a Cause which had been decided by the Bishop of Rome 5. This Council could not be justified by the antient Canons in that it received Marcellus to the Communion he who before had been Condemned for Heresie as also afterwards even by Athanasius himself 6. The Decrees of this Assembly were not universally received as it appeared by the Contestations of the Bishops of Africk against that of Rome seeing the first knew nothing of it some years after as our Author sheweth IV. Arianism being spread every where and afterwards Pelagius and Celestius being gone out of England the Clergy of this Isle were accus'd of having been Arians and Pelagians in those Ages Our Author undertakes to justifie them from these suspicions and afterwards describes the Publick Service of the British Churches But as the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England afford no great matter he hath supplyed them by digressions He immediately refutes I know not what Modern Author who hath been mistaken in some facts concerning the History of Arianism since the Council of Nice at which we shall not make a stay After that there is an Abridgment of this History until the Council of Rimini The Arians being condemned at Nice and vainly opposing the term of Consubstantial thought they could not better save themselves than by yielding to the times They also suffered themselves to be condemned by the Council and to be Banished by the Emperor Arius with Theones and Secondus his Friends Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nice Chief Heads of the Arian Faction Signed as the rest yet without changing their Opinion Afterwards they in like manner endeavoured to hide themselves under Equivocations The Circumstances of this History may be seen as Dr. Stillingfleet relates them in the Tenth Tome of the Vniversal Bibliotheque p. 447. and the following ones Yet there are these differences that our Bishop is larger in Reflections drawn from St. Athanasius concerning the Address of the Arians who expressed themselves almost as the Orthodox of that time to deceive the simple Moreover the Relation which we have cited was not made on design to justifie the Orthodox and to get those of the Arians Condemned but to give an Idea of these confusions without taking any Party whereas the design of our Author is to inform the Publick against the Arians without reprehending any thing whatever in the conduct of their Adversaries And our Author hath not applyed himself so much to the order of years which he doth not mark as hath been done in the Life of Eusebius of Caesarea
Dr. Stillingfleet goes also further then any seeing the History of Arianism was left off at the death of Eusebius Here is an Abstract of what he adds and which is chiefly drawn from St. Athanasius The Falsities of the Arians were not discovered until after the Council of Rimini and it was chiefly at the Council of Seleucia where they declared themselves more openly It was then that the Followers of Basil of Ancyre who rejected the word Consubstantial as well as the Arians would separate themselves from them But the Arians had still recourse in this occasion to their old Artifices and consented to Sign any Creed whatever excepting that of Nice They caused Athanasius to be banished a second time but he was soon re called and his greatest Enemies were obliged to make him Reparation if he may be believed A little while after the Persecution began against him and all the rest who professed the Faith of Nice as our Author describes at large until the Council of Rimini whose Bishops were constrained to abandon the Terms of Hypostasis and Consubstantial The Orthodox Bishops would willingly depose all those who refused to Sign the Symbol of Nice and the Arians did not treat their Adversaries better when they could not prevail with them so that they ceased not Persecuting each other reciprocally Councils declared both for the one and the other which makes our Author reasonably conclude that we must not yield to the Authority of any Council whatever till having well examined the reasons of its Conduct If it was not lawful to do it in times past the Faith of Nice could not be re-established which would have received an irreparable breach at Rimini if the Orthodox Bishops were not restored to their Churches after the death of Constantius and had not re-established in smaller Assemblies what so numerous a Council had destroyed We find a remarkable example hereof in the Fragments of St. Hilary where we see that a Council Assembled at Paris declares that it abandons the Council of Rimini for assenting to that of Nice Dr. Stillingfleet conjectures that the British Churches did as much because St. Athanasius St. Ierome and St. Chrysostom do in divers places praise their Application to the Orthodox Faith Sulpicius Severus speaking of the Bishops of the Council of Rimini saith they refused to be entertained by the Emperor excepting those of England who were to poor too bear this charge Thereupon Dr. Stillingfleet makes divers Reflections whereof these are the Principal 1. That it followeth from thence that what Geoffrey of Monmouth saith of Riches which King Lucius gave the Church of England is false 2. That it is notwithstanding strange that the Bishops of England should not have wherewithal to maintain them at Rimini since before Constantine the Churches had divers Funds besides the Offerings of the People which were considerable in the numerous Churches and since Constantine had granted them great Priviledges as is shewn at length by divers Edicts of this Emperor which are in the Theodosian Codicil and elsewhere He comes thence to the Accusation of Pelagianism which Beda and Gildas had before raised against the Clergy of England He remarks first that Pelagius and Celestius were both born in Great Britain and not in the Armorick Britain as some have believed and Refutes at the same time some places of F. Garnier who hath spoken of Pelagius in his Notes upon Marius Merâ—ator 2. That the Monastick History makes him Abbot of the Monastery of Bangor but that there is little likelyhood that Bangor had had a Monastery famous in that time because the Convents of England are no antienter than the time of St. Patrick and if Pelagius was a Monk he was of such an Order as were Pammachius Paulinus Melanius and Demetriades who were pious persons withdrawn from the Commerce of the World but without Rule 3. That the Occupation of these Men after the Exercises of Piety consisted in the study of Scripture and that it was in such a Retreat that Pelagius Writ his Commentary upon the Epistles of St. Paul and his Letters to Melanius and Demetriades 4. That since he was accused of Heresie he was imployed to defend himself and that after having been Condemned in Africk and Banished he was yet Condemned in a Council at Antioch under Theodotus as Marius Mercator tells us and all that because the Sentiments of Pelagius were not well understood as the Bishop of Worcester justly saith 5. That wretched Pelagius passed the remnant of his Life in obscurity and dyed according to all likelihood without returning into England 6. That without the extraordinary cares of the Bishops of Africk Pelagianism would have been established by the Authority of the See of Rome Though Pelagius had been Condemned by the Emperor and the Councils Agricola Son to Severian Bishop who had embraced Pelagianism brought it into England It was perhaps the severe Edict of Valentinian III. Published in CCCCXXV against the Pelagians who were amongst the Gauls which drove him thence Prosper witnesseth that there were several of them in England which made some believe that Celestius was returned hither but our Author shews that this Opinion has no ground The Adversaries of the Pelagians not being able to defend themselves against so subtil Controvertists sent to demand aid of the Bishops of the Gauls who sent them Germain and Loup two Bishops of great Reputation but suspected to be Semi Pelagians the first being a great Friend to Hilary of Arles and the second being brother to Vincent of Lerins Semi Pelagians It 's found in a certain Writing that is attributed to Prosper Disciple of St. Augustin that it was Celestinus Bishop of Rome who sent him but our Author shews that there is reason to suspect this to be the writing of some other Prosper and that though it were his we have reason to believe that he was deceived Germain and Loup being arrived in England had a publick Conference at Verulam and acted so that they left England in the old Opinions as they believed but they were forced to return sometimes after Our Author relates no Head of the Doctrine of St. Germain and Loup by which we may know whether they Taught Semi Pelagianism or the Predestinarionism in England to free themselves from the suspicions which might be had of them He passeth to the Justification of Fastidius an English Bishop suspected of Pelagianism and of whom there is yet a Book de vita Christiana published by Holstenius It is not so easie to justifie Faustus of Riez from Semi Pelagianism though in his time he passed for a Saint and that he was Prayed to in this quality during many Ages in the Church of Riez Sidonius Apollinaris gives him this fine Encomium Cui datum est soli melius loqui quam didicerit vivere melius quam loquatur To whom alone it hath been given to speak better than he had Learned and to Live better
Invisible Fluid which is called the Spirits and partly perhaps by little Particles which are suddenly loosened from the rest or by a Portion of Air enclosed in our Body or by some kinds of Ferments all which things cease to act with Life and cannot be discovered by the means of Anatomy 5. A Physician ought not to apply himself so much to the Disquisition of the Ends of the Author of Nature as to neglect examining the manner whereby Natural Effects do happen and the Causes which produce them more immediately In effect the one is not incompatible with the other as nothing hinders us from knowing by what Springs and Wheels a Watch playeth when we have learned for what Design it was made A Physician who would not be unworthy of this Name ought to add the first of these Knowledges to the second The Book whereof we have given an Extract though full of Matter being little enough Mr. Boyle hath added fourteen Curious Observations about divers Infirmities of the Eyes It hath been already observed That he insisted much upon this part of the Animals to prove that their Bodies were form'd designedly so that these Remarks may serve only to confirm what he hath said There is but one Power and one Wisdom so great as is that of God which could have included so many things in so little an Organ And we have an occasion still to admire his Providence in that this Organ being composed of so many Parts and so easie to be spoiled It nevertheless is found to remain in the greatest part of Mankind in the same state from their Birth to their Death The Observations which Mr. Boyle gives us here are so much the more remarkable because he hath seen most of those Persons whose Unhappiness he relates This is the last which was translated Word for Word Men it may be may be persuaded That those who perceive Objects in a Light much less than it ought to be for others to discern it may rather be accounted to have an excellent Sight than to have infirm Eyes But although this Delicacy of the Organs of the Sight may be looked upon as a Perfection in Bats and Owls which cannot take hold of their Prey but in the Twilight yet in regard to Man who ought principally to act in full Day or in a Light almost equivalent we may be sensible of the Bounty of the Author of Nature in that he hath given him Eyes so qualified as they commonly are if he had the Coat or Membrane too tender it would be an Imperfection or at least a great Inconveniency as appears by the following Observation In the Army of Charles the First King of England there was an Ingenious Gentleman who was Major of a Regiment and being forced by the Victory of the Usurper to go seek his Fortune out of the Kingdom hazarded himself at Madrid to render his Prince a Service of very great Consequence after such a manner as was judged in Spain to be altogether void of Prudence he was seized and put into a Dungeon where there were no Windows but only a Hole in the Wall by which they gave the Prisoner his Victuals after which they shut it although perhaps not very exactly This Gentleman remained some Weeks without seeing any thing whatever and in a very deep Melancholy But after that it seemed to him as if he saw a weak Light which afterwards augmented from Day to Day so that he could discover his Bed or any thing of a like Bigness At last he came to discern Objects so little that he saw Rats which came to eat the Crumbs of his Bread that fell on the Ground and distinctly observed their Motions He related several other effects of his Sight in this obscure Place Which shews that this proceeded chiefly from his Organs which became tender staying so long a Time in such a dark Place as it was But his Affairs being changed and having recovered his Liberty he durst not immediately expose himself to a full Sight fearing left a too sudden Brightness should make him lose his Sight but thought he should accustome his Eyes thereto by little and little I add here continueth Mr. Boyle this strange History with much the less Difficulty because I have it from the very Mouth of this Gentleman He told me besides other Particulars which I dare not to mention here because I have not those Memorandums I took of 'm to refresh my Memory An Extract of a Letter written from London about the Description of a Ship built after a new Form by Sir William Petti AS all Men expected the Success of Sir William Petti's Enterprize of Building a Ship after a new Make so there ran a multitude of People to the Thames-Side to see this Ship Launched being empty when it was tryed It drew Water but seven Foot and an half They were going to name it Gemini because it was composed of two small Ships but at last it was called the Experiment because of the uncertainty of the Event it would produce To apprehend its Structure we must imagine two little Ships joyned together by a Plat-form so that between the two there may be a Space almost as large as the two Ships together through which the Water has an entire Liberty to pass The Keel of each Vessel is eighty Foot long The bigness with the Platform is only thirty two Foot The height from the Keel unto the Platform is fourteen Foot If this Ship is used in War it will carry fifty Pieces of Cannon two hundred Men and three Months Provision If it be used as a Merchant Ship it will carry three hundred Tuns The Advantages which are expected from this Ship are First That it will be swifter than those hitherto used 1. Because it will carry twice or thrice as many Sails as others do 2. Having no Ballast it will be lighter and consequently swifter Secondly They pretend that this Ship will be surer than others 1. Because the Figure of its Sides with the Water which runs between the two Ships will keep it from running aground 2. And having no Ballast it cannot sink what Breaches soever it may meet with especially if it be assisted by some Pieces of Cannon 3. It s Keel being supported by a great many streight Planks will defend it if it should touch the Ground with all its Weight 4. Because it will not carry its Noses under the Water and that its Mast will be sooner Break in the Tempest Thirdly They say this Ship is still more commodious than others 1. In that the Water passing with its full Force to the Rudder along its direct Sides it will make the Ship turn more speedily than others do whose Rudder receives only the broken Water by the Sides of those Ships which are rounder 2. This Ship not being so round as others will toss less in a Tempest and as it will not Rise or Fall but very little so they may make use even in
it the best I could in the Night to my great Microscope and then to another that was less but I could not find any Light by the means of these Instruments neither in this Bit nor in any of the Drops of Water which shined before and which I had put into Glasses The tenth of May I examined a little Bit of this Fish with my great Telescope at the brightest Beams of the Sun which shined most of the preceeding Night but we remarked nothing considerable It s Surface seemed whitish and dry with deep Inequalities and the rest as well as I thought they saw a Vapor rather obscure than luminous which raised from this Fish after the manner of small Dust and small Sparkles which were almost imperceptible notwithstanding we are very certain of having seen them for we reckoned them and we all agreed in their Number their Order and their Place yet I am not so assured of this Vapour whereof I have spoken but that I am afraid the Light of the Sun deceived us and that this Vapour was the Dust of the Air. Having made Trial in the Day with a great Microscope upon this Bit we examined it at Night but it gave no more Light whether it was looked upon with Glasses or otherwise Seeing it was dry I thought that by wetting it with Spittle and handling it I could make it shine a little which also happened but this Lustre lasted not long and besides there were seen some small Sparkles which disappeared immediately We perceived them with our Eyes without making Use of Spectacles The Fishes as yet had no ill Smell and had not lost their Savour according to the Judgment even of the most delicate Palates therefore I caused two to be kept to make other Experiments two or three Days afterwards when they should begin to be corrupted hoping to find more Light therein but I found nothing of what I expected neither in stirring the Water nor in drawing out the Fishes An Extract of an English Iournal containing divers Experiments about Petrification THough there hath been already much written of the manner how Stones are formed notwithstanding we have not as yet a perfect History therefore the Curious ought to apply themselves to this matter to perfect it and to discover the Cause of this Transmutation for besides other Advantages which might be drawn from this Knowledg it would be of great Use to hinder a Stone from generating in Human Body or to dissolve it when it is formed To this End there has already been given in divers Places of the English Journal several Relations touching this Matter as the History of a Monstrous Calf which was found in the Belly of its Dam laid upon a great Stone which weighed more than twenty Pounds As also that a certain sandy Earth in England converts into a Stone such Wood as is put therein although there is no petrifying Spring in it There is also mention made of two Stones which were found in the left Ventricle of the Earl of Belcarras one of which was of the bigness of an Almond and the other was one Inch broad and two in length Mr. Boyle relates in his Essay of Firmness several such Histories upon which he makes very curious Reflections There are also several other Examples in the Micrography of Mr. Hook and in the Book of Helmont entituled De Lithiasi where among other things he relates what Pareus saith of a Child petrified that was to be seen formerly at Paris and which served for a Whetting Stone to him that kept it There might several other Histories be added still more surprizing if they were suspected as that of an entire Company of Men and of a Company of Beasts which according to the Relation of Aventius and Purchas were converted into a Stone and what Acosta speaks of a Company of Spanish Cavaliers to whom a like Accident happened Dr. Beale tells us upon this Subject That there was an Inspection about the Time of Easter into the Matrix of a Woman whence a Stone was drawn which she carried for eight or nine Years with unsufferable Torments of which she was since entirely well cured He assures That he hath seen the Stone and that having then weighed it in excellent Ballances he found it weighed near four Ounces but that its Weight is since a great deal diminished and is become very Light for a Stone of the Bigness He adds That it is of a whitish Colour a little clearer than that of Ashes He believes it is not much different from that which Scaliger speaketh of and after him Mr. Boyle in his Essay of Firmness which being exposed to the Air became like Plaister as much in Consistence as Colour It hath no considerable unevennesses and its Figure is almost Oval but one of the Ends is not so much like a Hen's Egg as the other which is bigger and more obtuse than that of a Goose-Egg This Stone is now given to the Royal Society with the Certificate of the Chirurgeon who made the Operation and of several credible Persons who were present thereat Micrographia or some Philosophical Descriptions of minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Enquiries thereupon by R. Hook Fellow of the Royal Society in Fol. Lond. ONE of the greatest Obstacles which is in the Progress of Natural Science is that the Ancients being entirely taken up to perfect Reason have neglected the Knowledg of the Senses having rather chosen to guess the most part of things than to see them Notwithstanding as the Soul knoweth nothing but by the Interposition of the Organs of the Body the Operations of the Senses serve not less to acquire a perfect Knowledg of Nature than those of the Mind and they are even more necessary that the Wisdom of God being infinitly above the Reach of our Imagination it is more easie to know what it hath done than to imagine what he hath been willing to make To remedy this Defect the Moderns having endeavoured to perfect the Operation of the Senses particularly that of Sight which is the most necessary of all as it is the noblest have invented two kinds of Glasses the Telescope to draw near the Objects which are invisible because of their Distance and the Microscope to magnifie those which are imperceptible because of their Smalness And with these two Instruments they have discovered more things in a few Years than the Ancients had done with all their Reasons for the Course of many Ages By this means all Nature has appeared New unto us For the Telescope hath shewed us in the Firmament new Motions new Stars and new Meteors And the Microscope hath discovered unto us upon the Earth a little World altogether new and hath made us perceive in each thing an infinity of small Creatures which are not less admirable than all those which have been known hitherto The Ingenious Mr. Hook having made several curious Observations with both the one and the other of these
4. What he hath remarked upon the Sea-Water which is on the side of Berkelse-Sea is also very Curious The bottom of the Sea is very marshy in that place In Winter it appears very clear in the middle of Summer it begins to whiten and in the midst are seen as it were small green Clouds Mr. Lewenhook having filled a Glass with this Cloudy Water and stirred it after having let it settle a whole day hath remarked in it as it were Strings of a Spiral Figure and thick as Hairs composed of small green Gâ—obules where were also an Infinity of small Animals round or oval figur'd which were of different Colour and moved on all sides but very slowly and which appeared a thousand times less than the least of those which are seen in Cheese Fruits or in Moldiness 5. Finally having exhal'd the Solution of Salt he found that the Saline Particles were either Round Pyramidal or Quadrangular and very polished An Extract of an English Iournal containing some Observations made upon the Salts and Oyls of mix'd Bodies MR. Coxes who made these Observations finds much probability in the Opinion of Vanhelmont who saith That the variety of Brimstone commonly makes the diversity of Species in the Mixt and that the most considerable Changes are made by the Separation of a Sulphurous Nature and by the Introduction of a new one This Brimstone is not a simple Body but inflamable and in form of Oyl This Oyl which is drawn commonly with the Water includes the principal Qualities of the mix'd But the Salts as well fix'd as volatile restore the Earth and Water to their elementary Simplicity if they retain not something of this Specifick Oyl So the fix'd or volatile Salts are different among themselves but proportionably as they yet retain some mixture of these Oyls Let one take some volatile Salt whatever let it be sublimated in a Vessel of Glass high enough for a gentle Heat let this Operation be reiterated several times it shall be found that there still remaineth some Oyl at the bottom of the Vessel and the Salts being deprived of this Oyl shall become very homogenious But because it is hard to rule the Fire so justly that no Oyl shall be mixed with Salts they may all be reduced to a certain Simplicity by a more easie way Spirit of Salt well rectified must be poured upon a certain quantity of volatile Salt a little purified When there shall be no more Ebullition and that the Salt shall be enough the Phlegm must be separated from it which is done with a mild Heat This Phlegm will carry with it some portion of the volatile Salt Sublimate what remains and you shall have good Armoniack Salt Mix it with an equal quantity of good Alcali Salt well calcin'd or pour upon it good and strong Grounds of an Alcali because the volatile Salts do not so well mix with the fixed as the Acids do the least degree of Heat shall sublimate the volatile Salt deprived of all its Oyl and by this means all the volatile Salts are reduced to certain common Proprieties What all these Artificial Operations do is yet more easily effected in the Air which is full of volatile Salts which are sublimated from Subterranean Places from Plants from Animals The Air depriveth these Salts of their Oyl but being dissolved in the Rain or in the Dew and carried in Vegetables they are specified by the other Principles tho' they may be easily reduc'd by Nature or Art to their first Simplicity The same Uniformity is the Spirits that have the taste of Wine which are nothing but the most subtle Oyl of Vegetables which are as it were pounded by Fermentation into lesser Branches than the Oyl For before the Fermentation there is Oyl drawn from it but not Winy Spirits after the Fermentation there remaineth a little Oyl and even after the Fermentation of a Plant when you draw the Oyl from it you 'll scarcely have any thing of the Winy Spirit When this Spirit takes with it some part of this Oyl whose Branches remain whole it puts difference among the Spirits but when after several Digestions or reiterated Distillations these oleagenous parts are cut into lesser Branches or that the degree of Heat which raiseth the Winy Spirits cannot raise those grosser Oyls what difference soever there was in the whole Bodies these Spirits became very homogenious and this is seen in changing the Oyls of Vegetables into a Winy Spirit which is done in several manners Put upon an Ounce of the essential Oyl of a Vegetable two or three Pounds of the Spirit of Wine well dephlegmed the Spirit immediately by a simple Agitation devoureth this Oyl and changeth it in its Nature New Experiments drawn from the English Iournal ONE of the principal Vertues of Salts which are drawn from Plants is to make the Image of these Plants to revive and appear in all its Beauty It hath been doubted a long time whether the Thing can be done Some do even as yet doubt thereof But the Experiments which have been made in France Italy Denmark and elsewhere suffer us no more to doubt on 't Mr. Coxes hath lately made some in England upon this Subject and he writeth that having drawn a great deal of Salt of Fern and dissolved a part thereof by the damp Air after having dryed it the rest of the Grounds being filtred became as red as pure Blood This colour denoted that there remained many Sulphurous Parts He put this Solution into a great Vessel or Bottle of Glass where after it had rested five or six Weeks a great part of the Salt fell to the bottom and became browner whereas the upper remained white And then it was that upon the Surface of this Salt there was seen to rise up a Fern in great quantity When the Fern was burned it was as yet betwixt dry and green So the Salt was as it were Tartarous and Essential being dryed by a great Fire it diminished much in Weight and became whiter because there had been before some Oyl and some Acid. Having mixed equal Parts of these Ashes which came from the North and which are called in English Pot-Ashes with Armoniack Salt there arose immediately a volatile Salt and some time after he saw appear a Forest of Pines Deals and of another kind of Trees which he knew not An Extract of a Letter of Mr. Hugens of the Royal Academy of Sciences to the Author of the Iournal of the Learned concerning the Catoptrick Glass of Mr. Newton I Send you the Figure and Description of Mr. Newton's Telescope As to my Opinion which you desire to know touching this new Invention though I have not as yet seen its effect I think I may say it is Fine and Ingenious and that it will succeed provided there be Matter found for the Concave Looking-Glasses which may be capable of a lively and even polishing as that of Glass which I do not despair of The Advantages of
Post-Talmudical Rabbies It is therefore of the greatest moment to discover the improbability and absurdity of this Novel Opinion which so directly tends to the Overthrow of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures And though some of the Patrons of it do not themselves reject the Bible yet they well know others of them do on this Account So that we must defend the Divine Original of the Points as we desire to maintain the Divine Authority of the Bible And so much for the weight and moment of the Matter in controversie Secondly As to the seasonableness of debating this Controversie at this time there are Six Circumstances that in Conjunction attending it do render it seasonable The First is the Place of it that it is brougâ—t home to our own door We concern not our selves with the Controversies of Foreign Countreys but our own Nation is the Stage where this Opinion of the Novelty of the Points hath been more publickly espoused than would have been suffered in any other Protestant State And therefore Secondly It doth not creep in corners as in other places but hath received the publick Approbation of the Nation so far as to be solemnly espoused in the English Polyglott Bible Wherein Thirdly We have not faint Motions of it but powerful and mighty Efforts by the most Learned among them And this Fourthly is attended with answerable success the generality of the springing Youth embracing it And Fifthly Yet not content with this Victory Success and Credit in England the Patrons of it have of late put forth their greatest strength afresh for the promoting of their Cause in the Vindiciae of Ludovicus Capellus lately published in Answer to Buxtorf de Origine Punctorum And Sixthly Notwithstanding this Opposition to the Truth by the great Champion for the Novelty of the Points and its suitable Success yet there has been no Answer returned to this Treatise as yet that we hear of And it is fit it should be Answered lest this Vindiciae do as much mischief as the former Treatise entituled Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum whereof this last is a Defence that being justly accountable for the Success this Opinion hath had in England as by a brief Narrative of the Rise Progress and Issue of this Controversie amongst us will appear Which in short is this One Elius Lovita a learned Grammaâ—ian and Iew about the beginning of the Reformation fell upon this Conceit That certain Jews 〈◊〉 Tiberias A. D. 500. placed the Points as they had received them by Oral Tradition This he defendeth in his Masoret Hammasoret Preface 3 d. But herein he is contrary to all the Jews either in his time or before or after him And therefore he was answered by them as in particular by R. Sam. Areâ—â—olti in his Arugath Habbosem c. 26. And also by F. Azarias in his Meor Enaim in Imre Birtah cap. 59. And out of the Rabbins by Buxtorfius the Elder in his Thesaurus Grammaticus Print ed in 1609. And in his Tiberias 1620. Thus amongst the Jews the Errour ended where it began even in Elias himself none being left of his Opinion amongst them But it will not so end with Christians several Reformers whether moved by the Authority of Elias the famous Doctor and Master of the Hebrew Tongue of their time or else it may be at first not well examining of it embraced it This Advantage the Papists lay hold on with both Hands for they find their Accounts in it and improve it accordingâ—y Amongst Protestants Ludovicus Capellus becomes the main and greatest Champion for the Novelty of the Points and ex professo defends the same in his Treatise entituled Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum published by Erpenius the Author for some Reasons concealing his own Name at the first This Book was fully Answered and the Truth amply defended by Buxtorf the Younger in his Treatise entituled De Punctorum Origine Antiquitate published A. D. 1648. But at length in the Prolegomena to the Biblia Polyglotta we have this Opinion of Capellus which did but slily creep before publickly owned by Dr. Walton the Compiler of that Bible and defended with Capellus's Arguments whereby Capellus is deservedly answerable for the Success of this Opinion by its Station in the Polyglott Bible upon his Shoulders Hereupon Dr. I. O. writes some Considerations on the Prolegomena aforesaid and by the way Answers the Heads of Arguments brought for the Novelty of the Points But hereunto Dr. Walton returns a Reply entituled The Considerator Considered A. D. 1659. But in the Year 1661. Dr. I. O. in his Treatise De Natura Theologiae doth concisely defend his Opinion of the Divine Original of the Points The like doth Mr. William Cooper defend the Antiquity of the Points in his Domus Masaicae Clavis 1673 And so doth Wasmuth in his Vindiciae S. Hebraeae Scripturae 1664. And thus stood the Cause for some time until now at last Ludovicus Capellus his Vindiciae comes out in Answer to Buxtorf's Treatise De Origine Punctorum as also his former Treatise Arcanum Punctationis Revelatum is reprinted with it together with other Critical Discourses in a large Folio published A. D. 1689. and dedicated to the then Archbishop of Canterbury the rest of the Bishops and all the Clergy of the Church of England By which Dedication is made as bold a Challenge and earnest Invitation to the Defence of the Truth in Controversie as could well he made and together with the foregoing Considerations render it seasonable at this time as the weight and moment of the Subject do make the present Defence thereof necessary Thirdly As to the Method of the ensuing Discourse we have divided the same into Two Parts In the First Part we examine the Evidences for the Opinion that the Points were invented A. D. 500. Or since that time by the Masorites of Tiberias or Others and discover the Improbability thereof In the Second Part we Prove and Maintain the Antiquity and Divine Original of the Shapes of the Points Vowels and Accents against the Cavils and Objections of Capellus and Others But the First of the Two is what we begin withall for several Reasons First Because we are in Possession of the present Punctation as being of Divine Original and have peaceably enjoyed it in all Ages to this time all Translations amongst us being taken out of it 'T is our Inheritance and therefore unfit to call the Antiquity of the Points into question until we first see sufficient Evidence or at least great Probality that they were a Novel Invention Which if of so late date may be more easily proved than what was a Thousand Years before that time And the Rejecting or Answering of the Arguments for their Novel Invention is a Proof of their Antiquity and Divine Original for the Points were placed either since A. D. 500. or between the time of Ezra and A. D. 500. or else by the time of Ezra But we shall here prove in the First place