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Paulatim frugales mores defluxere, paupertasque probro haberi cæpit, luxuriæque peregrinæ invictum malum ad effæminandos animos, ab exercitu Asiatico in urbem (sc. ROMAM) primum invectæ, mores infecerunt. Inde illecebræ libidinum, et rerum secundarum luxus, in omnem licentiam grassati. Adeoque luxus excrevit, et eo processit luxuria, affluentibus divitiarum copiis, ut obsonia lautiora majoresque epularum sumptus, et magnas effusiones edicto coercere et luxuriosos apparatus pluribus legibus inhibere necesse fuerit. Hinc Fannia, Orchia, Dididia, Oppia, Cornelia, Ancia, et Julia, leges ad cohibendam luxuriam victus, vestitusque et cænarum immodicos sumptus latæ sunt. Fertur tamen Tiberius Cæsar, cum de coercendo luxu legem ferre vellet, nec coerceri immodicos sumptus videret posse; satius duxisse omittere quod assequi nequiret, quam tentare turpiter quod postea non efficeret. Sisti deinde res non potuit, quo minus tacito consensu destitutis moribus, sumptuariæ omnes leges abrogatæ fuerint, cum nullus esset sumptibus modus luxusque et ignavia nullis præscriptis finibus in, voraginem et gurgitem vitiorum ad nefas omne usque adeo processerint, ut divina et humana prophanarint, populoque simul et plebi gravem perniciem attulerint. Alexand. ab Alexand. lib. iii. c. 11.

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Anno ab U. C. 665 ex devicta Asia Asiaticus luxus Romæ cæpit, de quo Plin. lib. xxxvii. c. 1. Voss. Univ. Hist..

And the same pernicious effects have been produced by the territories we have acquired in the East Indies; and luxury and other concomitant vices are risen to the same height here as at Rome,

The application of smooth bodies relaxes: gentle stroking with a smooth hand allays violent pains and cramps, and relaxes the suffering parts from their unnatural tension; and it has therefore very often no mean effect in removing swellings and obstructions.' Burke on the Sublime, vol. i. p. 223.

This observation has been remarkably confirmed by abundance of very extraordinary cures, wrought, from no other operation or application than frequent rubbing with the hand, by Mr Grosvenor, an eminent surgeon at Oxford.

In the JEWISH RELIGION are all the marks of a religion preparatory and introduc tory to another more perfect and complete, of which it contained the rudiments and présents the shadow. Such as the confining its fundamental doctrine, the worship of the one true God, within the limits of one small country. Such, again, as its multifarious and enigmatic ritual, of which no account can be had, but that part was instituted to oppose the reigning superstitions, in order to preserve the separation, and part to prefigure by types or symbols the essential circumstances of some future dispensation. Warburton's Julian.

But this, with other concomitant circumstances, was the strongest proof that Jehovah, the God of the Jews, was above all other Gods, and that he not only ruled in Jacob, but unto the ends of the world.

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De la BAISON, parcéque, si je suis prédestiné, je ne le sais que par les moyens auxquelles Dieu a attaché ma prédestination; or, la foi m'apprend que l'un de ces moyens! c'est la vigilance, c'est la crainte respectueuse des jugemens de Dieu, c'est l'apprehension de ma propre foiblesse; s'il y a une prédestination, elle renferme toutes les choses: que fuis-je donc quand je les néglige? Admires la petitesse de l'esprit humain! Je détruis le fond sur lequel je bâtis; je renverse la prédestination quand je la suppose, parceque je sépare une chose qui est inséparable; ainsi, voulant faire le Théologien, je raisonne en enfant; car, comme dit St Fulgence, Dieu ne nous a pas prédestiné selon nós idées, mais comme des créatures raisonnables, libres, capables de mérites, qui doivent gagner le ciel par tître de conquête. Bourdaloue Serm. 17

Forgiveness of sins is never promised to that REPENTANCE, which is expressed by HTμ, which signifies only a mere sorrow, but promised to such a repentance as is' productive of a thorough change of the heart and soul, of the life and actions, and is expressed by piváre. Chillingworth's 1st Serm.

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REGENERATION, or the spiritual birth, is not a thing worked upon a man necessarily and in a moment; but, being begun in baptism, is to be verified and made good by the improvement and practice of all Christian virtues during the whole course of our lives, and is lost and destroyed by any habitual wickedness as the natural life of the body is by diseases and death. Clark's Serm. vol. ix. 12mo.

The system of REMONSTRANTS, as Bayle is pleased to observe, is full of considerable errors. This is the mean and spiteful remark of a man, who knew almost as little of divinity as he did of natural philosophy, In England, at the time of the synod at Dort, we also were much divided in our opinions concerning the controverted articles; but, our divines having taken the liberty to think and judge for themselves, and the civil government not interposing, it hath come to pass, that, from that time to this, all persons here, of any note for learning and abilities, have bid adieu to Calvinism, have sided with the remonstrants, and have left the fatalists to follow their own opinions, and to rejoice (since they can rejoice) in a religious system consisting of human creatures without liberty, doctrines without sense, faith without reason, and a God without mercy. Jortin's Dissertations.

Very extraordinary anecdotes of POPE SIXTUs V. His father, Francis Peretty, A common plowman, hired him out to one of his neighbours to look after his sheep: and hogs; and being desired by a Franciscan frier, who had lost his way, to shew him the road to Ascoli, he ran before him to the town: and, not being willing to return, the frier asked him if he would take upon him the habit of his order; to which the boy replied, that he would willingly suffer the pains of purgatory if he would make

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him a scholat. He was accordingly received into the convent at Ascoli, and in his thirteenth year assumed the habit. He made a surprising progress in learning; and, by his abilities, acquired the. favour of Cardinal Carpi, who promoted him, till at length he became a cardinal himself. And, though he was of an ambitious impetuous disposition, upon his promotion to the sacred college, in the forty-ninth year of his age, to conceal his aspiring views, he affected a total disregard of all worldly pursuits,> and became humble, meek, patient, and affable; and, during the last three years of the pontificate of Gregory, affected to be very infirm and sickly, so that he was often saluted, "God help you! poor old man, you have almost run your race." While they were crowding to him in the conclave to congratulate him, he sat coughing and weeping, as if some great misfortune had befallen him: but, he no sooner perceived, upon the scrutiny, that there was a sufficient number of votes to secure his election, than: he threw his staff, with which he used to support himself, into the middle of the cha pel, stretched himself up, and appeared taller by almost a foot than he had for seve ral years before. When the master of the ceremonies asked him, according to the form, whether he was pleased to accept of the papacy, he replied, somewhat sharply, "It is trifling and impertinent to ask whether I will accept of what I have already accepted: however, to satisfy any scruple that may arise, I tell you I accept it with great pleasure, and would accept another if I couuld get it; for, I find myself strong. enough, by the Divine assistance, to manage two papacies." When, in his youth, he resided at Macerata, he went one day to a shoemaker's shop to buy a pair of shoes: after some dispute about the price, the shoemaker told him he would take no less than seven Julios, or three shillings and sixpence; Montalto offered him six Julios, which was all the money he had, and said, " Perhaps I shall be able to give you the seventh some time or other." "Some time or other," replied the shoemaker, "but when will that be? when you come to be pope?" "Yes," said Montalto, "that I will with all my heart, and pay you interest for your money too." "Well, then," answered the shoemaker, since you are not without hopes of being pope, you shall even have them apon those terms." Which he punctually performed, and paid forty years interest. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. xxvi. p. 377, 378, 383..

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The famine was so severe, that the flesh of asses, dogs, cats, and mice, was rec koned a delicacy, and a pound of coarse bread was sold for thirteen Julios, or six shillings and sixpence. However, the rigour of Pope Sixtus V. had so great an effect, that there was not the least theft or robbery committed in the city; though, to make a trial of their honesty, he caused a waggon-load of bread to be brought to Rome from some distance. So great a reformation had he wrought in the manners of the Romans, that the governor of the city told him one day, that the place of judge was now become a perfect sinecure; to which he answered, if he thought the people would relapse into their former licentiousness after he was dead, he would hang them all while he was alive. Id. p. 394.

SACRIFICES,

SACRIFICES, no doubt, in their first institution, were exactly calculated to prefigure and represent that one great sacrifice which was to be offered for the sins of mankind; but, by tradition, through many generations all the world over, they be came corrupted and abused to Idolatry, and lost that similitude and aptness they had to typify and represent what they were at first designed for; as the most probable ac count of the origin of sacrifices is, that they were ordained by God by way of explanation of that prophecy, Gen. iii. 15; which, in all probability, was more fully understood, when it was first delivered, than ever it was afterwards, till the coming of that seed of the woman into the world. Bp Brown's Serm. vol. i. p. 175.

It is a favourite maxim with Locke, as it was with some antient philosophers, that the human SOUL, previous to education, is like a piece of white paper or tabula rasa; and this simile, harmless as it may appear, betrays our great modern into several important mistakes: it is, indeed, one of the most unlucky allusions that could have been chosen. The human soul, when it begins to think, is not extended, nor inert, nor of a white colour, nor incapable of energy, nor wholly unfurnished with ideas, (for, if it think at all, it must have some ideas, according to Mr Locke's definition of the word,) nor is susceptable of any one impression as another. But the first book of his essay, which, with submission, I think the worst, tends to establish this dangerous doctrine; that the human mind, previous to education and habit, is as susceptible of any one impression as of any other; a doctrine which, if true, would go near to prove that truth and virtue are no better than human contrivances, or, at least, nothing permanent in their nature, but may be as changeable as the inclinations and capacities of men; and that, as we understand the word, there is no such thing as common sense in the world. Beattie on Truth, p. 150, 238.

The seducer assumed the body of a SERPENT, a creature of great subtilty, and, at that time, of a noble form, far superior to that which he bears at present. This, how little soever we may have attended to it, the Scripture has been careful to apprise us of; for, he is twice reckoned among the beasts, in plain contradistinction to reptiles. Owen's Serm. vol. i. p. 81.

It is observed, by Bishop Tenison, that the serpent which appeared to Eve was a shi ning fiery one, and that, by the lustre of it, Eve mistook it for an angel. Ques. 1st. Whether any angel had appeared to Eve, as Scripture is altogether silent about it? Ques. 2d. Whether we may suppose God would have permitted such a deception? Ques. 3d. Whether such an opinion is agreeable to the curse afterwards denounced on the serpent?

Alii de vero serpente intelligunt, sic tamen ut Satan per eum tanquam per organum locutus sit, ut liquet ex Apoc. xii. 9, xx. 2, 10. Vid. Poli. Synops. et Warburton, Bp Sherlock, Vossius, &c.

Middleton,

Middleton, &c. suppose this relation of the serpent to be a mere allegory and moral fable. But, if this is the case, what becomes of the Gospel-history?? And is not the curse upon the serpent manifestly alluded to in those words of our blessed Saviour: who, as was foretold, was to bruise the serpent's head? "Behold," addressing himself to his disciples, "I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all. the power of the enemy, (i.e. Satan,) and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Grotius and Bochart observe, that here is a manifest allusion to Ps, xci. 13:"but, as Bp Sherlock on this passage remarks, "How came the tempter to consider these words, v. 11, 12, as belonging only to him who was to be the Son of God? From the words themselves: he could not collect this, but there was another character in the very next verse, (13,) and belonging to the same person, which he could not mistake; for this person, over whom the angels were to have charge, was to tread upon the lion and adder, and the young lion and the dragon to trample under feet. He knew, by this mark, to whom this whole prophecy belonged. He could not forget who was to bruise his head." Ap-.: pendix to second Dissert.

Super aspidem. Ita Sy. Ar. bnw, quod alibi leonem sonat, hîc pro serpente sumunt. Et sane toto illo versu Davidem verisimile est solùm egisse de serpentibus. Sic omnia melius cohærebunt, quam si leones cum serpentibus permisceas. Nemo facile dixerit quid sit, ambulare super leonem, aut calcare leamculum; neque enim quisquam est qui leonem ambulando calcet, quo modo solemus aspides, et anguium reliqua genera. Bochart in Pol. Synops.

Ex eo consensu et affinitate, quæ inter serpentes et dæmones eorumque ritus intercessit, evenisse sentio, quod caleare super serpentes, et calcare super omnem diaboli potestatem tanquam phrases synonymæ usurpentur. Spencer, tom i.

But the consent and affinity between the devil and serpents arose merely from the transaction of the fall, and is inexplicable upon any other principle. See my Tract on the Worship of the Serpent, published in 1804.

Though in all the versions the serpent is represented as the most subtle of living creatures, yet the term y, Gen. iii. 1, which Moses makes use of, signifies quite another thing in its primitive signification, namely naked. Accordingly he says, in the preceding verse, that our first parents were ny, naked; so that, in a figurative sense, it may properly enough signify an inoffensive harmless creature. It seems even probable that the sacred historian takes notice of this circumstance, as one main reason of Eve's being so easily deceived by it; for what could be more fit for the › devil's purpose than such a one, which was furnished with neither legs, claws, nor horns, or any one single part even for its own defence. Had it been really the craftiest of all animals, Adam could not but have known it, who gave them all names according to their natures; and then Eve could not but have been particularly mise! trustful of him: so that he would have been the last the devil would have pitched upon to tempt her. And, whenever this term is used to signify cunning, it is ironically: applied Univ. Hist. vol. iii.

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