V. 8. ADVERSARIORUM METHODUS.] As to the language, in which one ought to express the heads, I esteem the Latin tongue most commodious, provided the nominative case be always kept to, for fear lest in words of two syllables, or in monosyllables that begin with the vowel, the change, which happens in oblique cases, should occasion confusion. But it is not of much consequence what language is made use of, provided there be no mixture in the heads of different languages. To take notice of a place in an author, from whom I quote something, I make use of this method before I write any thing, I put the name of the author in my common-place-book, and under that name the title of the treatise, the size of the volume, the time and place of its edition, and (what ought never to be omitted) the number of pages that the whole book contains. For example, I put into the class M a, "Marshami Canon Chronicus Egyptiacus, Græcus, et disquisitiones fol." London, 1672, P. 626. This number of pages serves me for the future to mark the particular treatise of this author, and the edition I make use of. I have no need to mark the place, otherwise than in setting down the number of the page from whence I have drawn what I have wrote, just above the number of pages contained in the whole volume. You will see an example in Acherusia, where the number 259 is just above the number 626, that is to say, the number of the page, where I take my matter, is just above the number of pages of the whole volume. By this means I not only save myself the trouble of writing Canon Chronicus Ægyptiacus, &c. but am able by the rule of three to find out the same passage in any other edition, by looking for the number of its pages; since the edition I have used, which contains 626, gives me 259. 9. You will not indeed always light on the very page you want, because of the breaches, that are made in different editions of books, and that are not always equal in proportion; but you are never very far from the place you want; and it is better to be able to find a passage, in turning over a few pages, than to be obliged to turn over a whole book to find it, as it happens when the book has no index, or when the index is not exact. ACHERON.] "Pratum, ficta mortuorum habitatio, est locus prope Memphin, juxta paludem, quam vocant Acherusiam," &c. This is a passage out of D. Siculus, the sense whereof is this: the fields, where they feign that the dead inhabit, are only a place near Memphis, near a marsh called Acherusia, about which is a most delightful country, where one may behold lakes and forests of lotus and calamus. It is with reason that Orpheus said, the dead inhabit these places, because there the Egyptians celebrate the greatest part, and the most august, of their funeral solemnities. They carry the dead over the Nile, and through the marsh of Acherusia, and there put them into subterraneous vaults. There are a great many other fables, among the Greeks, touching the state of the dead, which very well agree with what is at this day practised in Egypt. For they call the boat, in which the dead are transported, Baris; and a certain piece of money is given to the ferryman for a passage, who, in their language, is called Charon. Near this place is a temple of Hecate in the shades, &c. and the gates of Cocytus and Lethe, shut up with bars of brass. There are other gates, which are called the gates of truth, with the statue of justice before them, which has no head. Marsham. . EBIONITE.] man began to scratch his head, and to disV. 3. like the advice of Jesus: and the Lord said unto 10. him, How can you say you have done as the law and the prophets direct you? since it is written in the law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; and there are many of thy brethren, children of Abraham, who are almost naked, and who are ready to die with hunger, while thy house is full of good things, and yet thou givest them no help nor assistance. And turning himself towards Simon, his disciple, who sat near him: Simon, son of Johanna, said he, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Ebion changed this passage, because he did not believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, nor a lawgiver, but a mere interpreter of the law of Moses. Grotius 33. HÆRETICI.] "Nostrum igitur fuit, eligere et optare 12. meliora, ut ad vestram correctionem auditum haberemus, non in contentione et æmulatione et persecutionibus, sed mansuetè consolando, benevole hortando, leniter disputando, sicut scriptum est, servum autem Domini non oportet litigare, sed mitem esse ad omnes, docibilem, patientem, in modestia corripientem diversa sentientes. Nostrum ergo fuit velle has partes expetere: Dei est volentibus et petentibus donare quod bonum est. Illi in vos sæviant qui nesciunt cum quo labore verum inveniatur, et quam difficile caveantur errores. Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt quam rarum et arduum sit carnalia phantasmata piæ mentis serenitate superare. Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt cum quantâ difficultate sanetur oculus interioris hominis, ut possit intueri solem suum. Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt quibus suspiriis et gemitibus fiat, ut ex quantulacunque parte possit intelligi Deus. Postremo, illi in vos sæviant, qui nullo tali errore decepti sunt, quali vos deceptos vident. In catholicâ enim ecclesiâ, ut omittam sincerissimam sapientiam, ad cujus cognitionem pauci spirituales in hac vitâ perveniunt, ut eam ex minimâ quidem parte, quia homines sunt, sed tamen sine dubitatione, cognoscant: cæterum quippe turbam non intelligendi vivacitas, sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit." Augustinus, Tom. vi. col. 116. fol. Basiliæ 1542, contra Epist. Manichæi, quam vocant fundamenti. "We were of opinion, that other methods were to be made choice of, and that, to recover you from your errors, we ought not to persecute you with injuries and invectives, or any ill treatment, but endeavour to procure your attention, by soft words and exhortations, which would show the tenderness we |