alfo a Table of the Sun's true Declination, of great Ufe to all Mariners and Dialifts, the Planets places calculated de Nova, with feveral other pleafant Novelties, whereby it exceeds all that ever was done before in that Kind. Queft. Whether I'm oblig'd to forgive one that has wrong'd me, without Repentance? Anfw. The Chriftian Religion obliges us to be charitable to all Men, to forgive our Enemies, to pray for our Perfecutors, to bear no Malice nor Hatred; and many more fuch Texts there are to the fame Purpose: But certainly there's ftill a Referve, warranted not only by that Juftice we owe to eternal Reafon and Truth, and the Example of God Almighty himfelf, and the actual Decifion of this very Cafe by our Saviour, who alfo inculcated this Precept of Forgiveness, with more Earneftness than any of the Prophets, or Apoftles. Our Saviour has decided the Cafe thus; If thy Brother trefpafs against thee, rebuke him? and if he repents, forgive him; and if ke trefpafs against thee feven Times in a Day, and turn again to the faying, I repent, thou fhalt forgive him; here Repentance is the Condition. God Almighty only forgives conditionally, and we are advis'd to imitate him, and to be perfect as he is perfect; to be reconcil'd to an obftinate Injustice, or any Vice, is to authorize and approve it. Our Duty under an Injury is this, to be angry only at the Sin, not the Per fon; to tell him of it, and to endeavour by all common Of fices of Friendship to win upon him to an Acknowledgment of his Fault, to pray for him, that God would change his Heart, and if he repents towards God, he will certainly do it towards us; if this will not do, we are not oblig'd to a Familiarity, nor to an Acknowledgment of Reconciliation, but only look upon him as a Stranger, and yet be always in a Capacity, and Readiness of Mind to forgive him, whenever he fhall perform the Condition. Queft. Whether a Minifter ought to be blam'd, who out of Conscience shall refuse or scruple the giving the blessed Sacrament to a Perfon that never took it before, and defires it now only upon a Civil, or State Account, because he is to enter upon a new Office? Anfw. Charity muft certainly be the great Rule of our acting in this Cafe: We are not the Searchers, nor Judges of Mens Hearts, we can only act by Probability of outward Circumftances, and where the Cafe will bear the leaft Probability, our Charity muft prevail in the Difpenfation; if a Man has been vi cious, and tells me has reclaim'd on a fudden, and is fincere, I am to hope he may be fo, and to endeavour to perfect it. We ought therefore firft to examine and weigh Circumftances, to ask the Party a Reafon of his Faith and Hope, and if we find him not ignorant in his Duty, and perceive the leaft Probability of Sincerity, we are to admonish him, lay before him the Danger and Im piety of tempting God. In fhort, we are to do our Duty, and leave the reft to him to whom all Things are naked and open. Our Saviour, and (after his Example) the Chriftian Church in all Ages, has efteem'd Vifibility, and an outward Profeffion, a fufficient Warrant for Admittance into the Priviledges of Church Communion. But when Men have lived in open Defiance to the Doctrine and Communion of the Church many Years, and only take the Sacrament to qualifie them for an Employment, there is good Reafon the Minifter fhould require an Acknowledgment of his Fault, and a Promise to continue for the future in the Communion of our Church; and if he will not do this, he ought to be rejected. Queft. You have anfwer'd the Question lately about a living Fish in a Tub of Water, that will weigh no more than the Tub of Water did without the Fish; it feems by the Question the Querift was fatisfied of the Effect, for he defired only a Reafon to be given, why it was fo, And 1 having read in a German Author, fifty Years fince, that it was fo, with out giving Reafon why, I did in the Tryal not only find it to be fo, but that which I think will Satisfie any rational Perfon, the Caufe why it was fo, for whilst the Fish fwam to and agen, the Scales remained ballanced, but when I saw the Fish-tub fway down, and return to his Ballance again, I took Obfervations, and found as often as the Fish rubb'd or touch'd the Side or Bottom of the Tub, fo often the Fish-tub fway'd down; and no fooner swam in the Tub without touching it, but the Scale return'd into the Ballance again and continu'd fo till the fwimming Fish touch'd the Tub. Now Gent. you have Demonstration, but here wanteth your ingenuous Illuftration why, which doubtless will fatisfie the Querist, as well as your humble Servant, unknown to the Querift? Anfw. We knew nothing of fuch an Anfwer, nor by what Means it was put in; and for the Future we fhall take fuch a Courfe, that the Prefs fhall father nothing upon us, but what is our own, (Advertisements excepted.) He must be unacquainted with the Elements, and the first Principles of common Reason, that can imagine (by the Virtue of Antiquity) that 2 and I make but 2, that if a Weight be added to a Weight, the whole should be equal to its Part. Had not the Experiment of the Royal Society in this very Matter evinced the contrary to what is pretended in the above Quest. it might be reasonable enough to conclude, that a living Filh wou'd weigh juft fo much out of the Water, as it adds to the Weight of a Veffel of Water, a little Allowance being made for that Weight which the Elafticity and Springiness of the Air in the Bladder and Body of the Fifh, takes off. The Experiment in the Queftion must be erroneous, from the hard turning of the Scales, befides, its probable this Fish was very fmall, and if one of a confiderable Bignefs had been us'd in the Experiment, the Diffe- ing thereof, tho' it hazarded rence wou'd have been more his Life, which he knew he fenfible. And the Reason why fhould receive again: And the Scales gave way at the this is the full Scope of the Fishes touching the Sides, or Text, and to this Sense we adBottom of the Tub, (a Veffel here, more especially fince we very improper for the Experi- perceive it can be of no ill ment) must be this, the Par- Confequence. There are fome ticles of Water parted fo eafily who understand by the Word whilft the Fish swam, that it Reafts, Demetrius, and others caufed no external Motion, that oppofed St. Paul at Epheand confequently hook the fus, and fo make the Fight to Scales no more than if it had be metaphorical. The Quer st lain ftill; hut when it hit up- is at Liberty to take which Side on the Sides, it fhook the Tub, he pleafes, for both the Expofiwhich therefore afcended or tions are fafe. defcended, according to the Impreffion of the firit Motion, as a Man put into a Scale and weigh'd exactly, may by Mo. tion in the Scale make it afcend or defcend; commonly the laft, because that the Motion he ufes, receives its Life from the Refiftance of the Scale-board which he preffes upon in Order to move, but we shall have Occafion to treat upon the Principles of Motion fome other Time. Queft. What is meant by that Paffage of St. Paul, that he fought with Beafis at Ephefus? Anfw. Damnatio ad Beftias, or Condemning to the Wild Beafts was a frequent Punishment among the Romans, and thofe that fuffered thus were called Peftiarii. There are fome of the Learned, that believe St. Paul was caft to the wild Beafts, and fought with 'em in a litteral senfe, and that they could not have Power to deftroy him, which Interpretation is a fronger Argument that St. Paul believ'd the Refurrection, and wou'd not refrain the Preach Queft. From whence proceeds a Fog, and what's the Caufe? a Anfw. A Mift, or Fog, is of the fame Nature as Rain, only the Weakness of the Sun at this Time of the Year is not able to raife it high enough to compleat that Work, therefore it hovers nigh the Surface of the Earth. Hence by the by, we may eafily folve that unusual, and to fome, frightful Darkness, which happen'd between ten and eleven in the Morning, in January 1579. over many Places of the City of London, very thick Mift arofe in the Morning, which was clear'd from the South, about 9 (it being Sunday, and therefore the Fires were kindled later) the Smoke afcending was choak'd by the great Fog, or Mift that hover'd over the Tops of the Houfes: Upon this the Smoke was beat down again, and fpread under the Fog, and caufed the Darkness, which appear'd reddifh against the Windows. Soon after a little Wind arifing in the North-Eaft, carry'd off the Mift, and so the Dark nefs nefs remov'd by Degrees towards Lambeth and Clapham? and afterwards the Mit arifing by the Heat of the Day, gave way for the Smoke to afcend, and then the Darkness wholly vanifh'd. Queft. What is meant by the Expreffion of Lambent Fire, and what it is? Anfw. Lambent Ignis, or the Licking Fire, fo called from its Innocency, is moft probably an Inflamation proceeding from the Steams of the Body of a fweating Animal, which with out any hurt, feems to hang on the Cloath or Hair, and not to be brush'd off, becaufe 'tis 'ftill renew'd from the evaporating Steams. It happens moft ly when Men have drank hard, and then in a ftill dark Night ride faft home; the firft Kindling of it may probably be (to pals over an Antiperiftafis) by fome Spark of a Flint trodden upon by the Horfe's Shoe, &c. for as the Steams of the Spirits of Wine easily catch Fire, fo may the evaporating Spirits being much of the fame Nature, difcover'd by Chymifts to be plentiful in humane Bodies, as alfo in Animals, when they are in a fufficient Quantity fent out by Perfpiration, and Sweating. Queft. We read often of the Word Affylum: Pray whence is the ufe thereof. Anfw. In facred Writ there was a City of Refuge, where the Criminal fled for Protection, and if his Fault was not wilful, as in Murther, the Avenger of Blood cou'd not take him thence. Tis ftory'd that Cadmus, at the Building of Thebes, opened a Sanctuary of Refuge for Criminals, Bond or Free, to flye to, probably in Imitation of that in facred Writ. As for this Asylum, 'twas also a Sanctuary of Refuge built upon the Hill Palatine in Rome, founded by Romulus for the End above. There was also fuch another Cuftom in the City of Croton, where whofoever flew to the Altars of their Gods, were forgiven their Crimes. We fhall pass over the Practice of the Europeans beyond Seas, and only note, that hence came thefe Proverbs, Ad te tanquam ad Affylum, ad te tanquam ad Aram confugimus: We flye unto thee as our Refuge. Queft. What was the Reason that our Saviour was crucified, fince we find no fuch Death in the Jewish Economy: And what was the Manner of it as near as you can guess, by what credible Authors fay. Anfw. 'Tis true, we find no fuch Death in the Jewish Law. 'Twas a Roman Punishment, and at that time the Romans were their Mafters, and they were govern'd by their Laws. Crucifixion amongst the Romans is call'd by Tacitus, Servile Supplicium, the Punishment of Slaves, and fometimes Freemen underwent that Death, (tho' very feldom, and for capital Crimes) as in the Cafe of that Guardian which Galba crucified for poisoning his Ward; for when the Guardian claim'd the Benefit of the Law, as being a Freeman, and a Roman Citizen: Galba, as if he would allay allay his Punishment with fome Comfort and Honour, commanded the Crofs already made to be changed, and another to be reared far higher than ordinary, and the fame to be overlaid with a white Colour. Those that were thus punished, bore the Crofs upon their Shoulders to the Place of Execution. Plut. de Sera Num. vind. Malificium educuntur, quifque fuam effert Crucem: the Party was firft ftripp'd, and then faftned to the Crofs, commonly with Nails, and that Equity of Proceeding might clearly appear to the People, the Caufe of this Punishment was commonly writ in capital Letters, declaring the Cause of his Death, (vide Lips. de Cruce. 1.2. c. 11.) Sometimes a Common-Cryer publish'd what the Perfon was, as in the Cafe of Attalus the Martyr, Apollon. Chap. 2.) who was led about the Amphitheatre, with an This is Attalus the Chriftian. Queft. Whether there be any of the Race of Julius Cæfar's Horfes now in the World, who, as they fay, wept for the Death of their Mafter? and if there be, Whether it would not be Prudence for the French King to Store himself with fome of them, that whenever his Life meets a Period, he may not dye without Mourners? Anfw If that Race be extinct, poflibly he may find one half Man, half Horfe, in Weft Tartary, which by good Ufage may be taught before hand. If he fails there, the great Turk will certainly be fenfible of the Lofs of fo good an Ally. But now we think on't, he need not go out of his Court, for furely his Parafites and Worfhippers, who have made him fwallow fo many blafphemous Titles, will counterfeit a Sorrow, perhaps act a real one; for why man't Custom, which has now made Flattery a Duty, and an Accomplishment in that Court, naturalize a Sorrow for the Lofs of that which they have made themselves believe a Happiness. Queft. My Father left me Guardian to a younger Brother, and in the Management of my Guardianship I have wronged him very confiderably to what he had left; he is an Orphan, both as to Father and Mother: and I remember the Threats in Scrips ture against those that oppress them, but more particularly in Exod. 22. 22. in Malach. 3. 5. which is very fevere, and my Heart does a little mifgive me, and I have thought fometimes of making Satisfaction, but would not have it known; therefore what Method would you advise to do it, not to be taken Notice of? and I would also know now particularly the Heinoufness of the Sin? Anfw. It's impoffible for us to prescribe which way to make Reftitution, we knowing nothing of the Circumftances: We can only in general Terms remind you, that if those Texts you your felf have cited, won't perfwade you, we are fure you won't believe us, No, nor your Father, tho' he fhould rife from the Dead: there's certainly no Salvation for you without prefent Reftitution, if all in the World 1 |