(tome 2. page 916, edit. Serrani), Plato speaks of the Nὲν ἱκανὸν ἔχοντα ἠγειθαι, which they refer to God the Father; the following passage of the same, ξυναποτελῶν κόσμον, ἂν ἔταξε ΛΟΤΟΣ ὁ παντῶν θείοτατος όρατον, they applied to the Word, or God the Son; and the Holy Ghost was, according to them, designated by καὶ τρίτον, ὡς μὲν ὀνοματι φράζειν ἐκ ἔτὶ, δια τὸ μὴ γιγνόσκεσθαι. (Epistle to Hermias.) The following passage at the conclusion of the same epistle, was applied to the Father and the Son : τὸν τῶν πάντων Θεὸν ἡγεμόνα, τῶν τε ὄντων καὶ τῶν μελλόντων, τα τέ ἡγεμόνος καὶ ἀιτίε πατέρα, κύριον ἐπομνύντας. But whoever reads these passages with attention, especially that of the Epinomis, will perceive, from all that precedes and follows, that Plato had no thought of the Trinity. Those who have drawn that conclusion have been betrayed by an unwise zeal, or misled by an erroneous judg

ment. See No. 156.

171. ADVENTURE AT TURIN.

1

When I was at that city, in 1780, the

following singular scene passed in a church. It was in the beginning of February when the days are short. A very popular preacher, who was accustomed to give sermons of enormous length, expatiated one day after dinner so long on his subject, which was repentance, that he had trespassed a full hour into the night before he had concluded. Scarcely had he finished, when one of his audience raised his voice, and requested to be heard. All listened; and the stranger continued, that the holy man's pathetic discourse had made so lively an impression upon him, who was a miserable sinner, that he had forthwith resolved entirely to change his course of life; and to give a sincere proof of his contrition, he would instantly, before all the congregation, freely confess his crimes. He then declared himself to be an advocate by profession; and openly avowed that he had abused the confidence of his clients and told their secrets, and sacrificed their interests to the adverse party: he acknowledged himself to be a faithless husband, a bad father, and an ungrateful son; and having followed this up with an enu

mer tion of various offences he had com ́mitted, he offered, he said, the last proof of his sincerity in declaring his name; and concluded by saying, he was such an advocate, living in such a place. Immediately another voice was heard, calling out, that he was an impudent impostor; that he was the advocate named, and that he could not reproach himself with any of the faults so calumniously imputed to him. He besought the audience to secure the villain; but in vain, for the mischievous wag slipped away during the moment of surprize when the real advocate began to speak; and, notwithstanding the most diligent enquiry, never was discovered.

172. THEODORE BEZA.

He died at Geneva, in 1605. He had been married three times, on which subject Stephen Paynier wrote the following lines; Uxores ego tres vario sum tempore nactus, Cum juvénìs, tum vir, factus et inde senex: Propter opus prima est validis mihi juncta sub annis, Altera propter opes, tertia propter opem.

173. DEFINITION OF SPACE.

Space is a thing relative, like time. The

first is the order of things existing time is the order of things in succession.

.

174. RIDICULOUS Custom.

This

All travellers in America agree in speaking of a ridiculous custom that prevailed in the country of Darien. When a woman was safely delivered, she soon rose to attend to the affairs of her household; while the husband himself went to bed, and the neighbours hastened to visit and comfort him. circumstance, extraordinary as it is in itself, excites the less surprise, as the manners and usages of these people were altogether different from ours; but we cannot fail to be greatly astonished to find that the same custom once existed in a neighbouring nation. Joseph Scaliger relates that in Bearn, a southern province of France, the like usage once prevailed; though he adds, that in his time there was nothing left of it. (Scaligerana, edit. 1695, page 51.) Bayle (article Tibaréniens) speaks of this people, and of some ancient Spaniards who formerly practised the same custom; and cites Strabo, lib. 3. page 114. See also Colo

miez, Mélanges, page 25; and Diodorus Siculus, lib. 5. ch. 14.

175. OF THE MIRACLES.

There is the fullest demonstration of the divine mission of Jesus Christ, in the nature of his doctrines, supported as they are by the miracles he wrought. These doctrines contain nothing which is not worthy of the ideas we have of the attributes of God; and are well calculated to establish good order and justice among men, and are moreover supported by the miracles. It is as certain that Jesus Christ had a divine mission to establish his doctrine, as it is certain that God would not lead men into a necessary and invincible error. In reasoning thus, we do not argue in a circle, as some have pretended: for we do not say the miracles are proved by the doctrine, but that the purity and holiness of the doctrine are a necessary condition to the admission of the miracles as a proof of their divine origin; so that it is the miracles which prove the divine origin of the doctrine, and not the doctrines which prove the miracles. But that the miracles may be ad