rations; why he did not make the Revelation of his Will fooner; why not to all Mankind at once; and why not to every Perfon, or at least to every Age: these are Enquiries which the Bifhop takes care to refolve, after he has,

IV. SHEWN the Obligation we are under, from the Confideration of our own dependent Nature, the Sense of divine Providence, and the Belief of a ftate of future Rewards and Punishments, to enquire whether any Revelation has been made: "For fince a Revelation from God, as "he argues, is not only poffible, but also pro"bable, and very agreeable to his divine Wif "dom and Goodnefs; and we live in a Coun"try, which avowedly acknowledges and em"braces the Gofpel-Revelation, as the great "foundation of our Happiness both Temporal "and Eternal; to fay, in this cafe, that we "are not obliged, according to our feveral "Abilities and Opportunities, to enquire, whe"ther fuch a Revelation be really made, and "what grounds there are to believe, that it "came from God, is to fay, that we are at

liberty to renounce all the rules of Reafon "and Prudence, as well as all our concern for the "fafety and welfare of our Body and Souf.”

WHAT the Evidences are of the Gofpel-Revelation's coming from God, the Bishop had fhewn at large in his first Paftoral Letter and from thence he infers, that if thefe Evidences, upon Examination, appear to be full and strong, Then,

V. ARE we bound to receive it, as a rule of Faith, and Practice, and alfo to receive it whole and entire; because if the whole appear

to come from God, every part has equally the ftamp of divine Authority; and he, who rejects any part, may, for the fame Reason, reject the whole. To engage us therefore to receive this Gofpel, which is inconteftibly of divine Revelation, the Bishop in the next place,

VI. GIVES us a fair view and defcription of the Chriftian Inftitution, both in the ends it proposes, the means to attain them, and the motives it suggests to encourage our Obedience: and then concludes,

VII. WITH the great finfulness and danger of rejecting it, or, in other Words, the great guilt and perverfenefs of Infidelity: "For tho

(as he tells us) it is not in any Man's power "to believe what he pleases, because as things appear at this or that time to his understand

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ing, fo his belief muft be; and we can "neither be charg'd with guilt, nor be liable "to punishment, for what we cannot help : yet, in fearching after Truth, there are two

things which are in our power, and for which "we are accountable, the ufe of our Faculties, "and the due and impartial use of them." So that, if we become Infidels in Religion thro' floth and careleffnefs, thro' Pride and Affectation of fingularity, thro' the love of Sin, or the love of Contradiction; much more, if we endeavour to promote unbelief, and to draw others into the fame Labyrinth of Errors with ourselves, we shall be fure (if God be true) to incur his Wrath and Comminations against Infidelity, in that Day when he shall take vengeance on them, that know not him, and that obey not the Gofpel of our Lord Jefus Chrift. ARTICLE

ARTICLE VIII.

The PRESENT STATE of Learning.

From CONSTANTINOPLE.

INCE the Prefs has been fix'd here by

SIN

order of the Grand Signor, the French Ambaffador, M. de Villeneuve, has fent from hence three Books to his Court which were printed here, and are now put in the King's Library..

THE firft is the Arabian Dictionary of Giaubari, tranflated into the Turkish Language by Quancouli, printed in two Volumes in Folio, the first confifting of 666, and the other of 756 Pages, in the 1141 Year of the Hegira, [1728.] With a Preface, giving an account of the Memorial prefented to the Grand Vizier for fettling a Prefs at Conftantinople, in order to print Turkifb, Arabian, and Perfian Books. It applauds the measures taken by that Minifter to get the matter brought about, and particularly with regard to the Grand Mufti; and gives the Reafons for beginning with this Dictionary.

AFTER this Preface, follows the Privilege granted by the Grand Signor to Zaid (the Son of Mebemet Effendi, late Ambaffador in France) and Ibrahim Mutafarrica, to print all Books written in the Languages of the Country, except fuch as treat of the Mahometan Religion: and likewise appoints four able Perfons to be Supervisors and Correctors of the Press.

THEN follows Abdoulla the Grand Mufti's Licence, with a fhort Treatife of the Advantages of having a Prefs at Conftantinople. This Treatife

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Treatife is either the above-mention'd Memorial entire, as it was prefented to the Vizier, or else as it was afterward approv'd or alter'd by the Mufti, the Cafil Eskers, and other Chiefs of the Law in the Ottoman Court.

Ir is said, towards the End of this Treatise, that if the Christians had printed any Works in the Oriental Languages before the Turks did, they would have had no Sale among the Mabometans, for their Incorrectnefs and bad Types; for had it not been fo, the Chriftians would have made great gain in thofe Countries by Printing. To this is added, that for the advantage of Commerce, and for the glory of the Nation, they ought to be diligent in establishing the Prefs in the best manner, that Strangers may not take advantage of the Turks Laziness which has too long been their fault.

In the beginning of this Dictionary, are the Lives of Giaubari and his Tranflator Ouancouli. The MS. from which they printed off the first Sheets of the Dictionary, was fo incorrect, that the Grand Signor ftop'd the printing it, and 'order'd a more correct Copy to be made, as we find by the Preface to a second Work printed in the Turkish Language (during that Stop of the first.)

THIS fecond confifted of 150 Pages, in Folio, entitled, Tubfatil Kibar. The Author of which, Hagi Califa, treats in this Piece, of the Terreftrial Globe, the Sphere, and Maps. He'is more particular in his Accounts of Venice, Albania with its Coafts, of the Island of Corfu, and fome other places bordering with the Turkish Empire. He alfo relates fome Naval Expeditions of the Turks, with an Abridgment of the Hiftory of their Admirals, from the taking of

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Conftantinople, to 1653. He likewise describes the Grand Signor's Arfenal at the Port, with the Charge of maintaining it, and ends his Book with fome Inftructions to the Turkish Officers.

Ibrahim Mutafarrica, the Publisher of this Book, has added a Treatife to it (after his way) of Geographical Measures, and the Circumference of the Earth. The Book is adorn'd with a Map of the World, and an Hydrographical Chart of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and another of the Gulph of Venice; where the Latitude is only mark'd. There are alfo two Plans reprefenting as many Mariner's Compaffes, the one for the Mediterranean, and the other for the Ocean. This Volume, as well as the former, concludes with thefe Words: Printed at the Printing-Houfe in Conftantinople, in the Month Kilkida, the Year of the Hegira, 1141.

THE third Book printed at Conftantinople, in 1728, is in Quarto, confifting of 194 Pages, with the Title of Tarih Sayah, or, An Account of a Traveller. It is a Tranflation," by Ibrahim Mutafarrica, into the Turkish Language, of a Hiftory of the late Revolution in Perfia, written in Latin. This Author abridges the History of the Sophys to the Reign of Schach-Huffein, relates the dethroning Miri Mahmoud, and ends with the Hiftory of Sultan Efref. The Agree'ment between this Work and F. Cerceau's Account of the Memoirs of Father Jude Krufinski 1a Polonian Jefuit, (which he made ufe of in his "Hiftory of the fame Revolution, publish'd in 1728) gives us reafon to believe, that this Book of Ibrahim's is a Tranflation of the fame Memoirs: Mutafarrica has printed the Grand Vizier's Imprimatur with this Book, in words to this fense:

Let