gars

-If we read Numbers 30th, the Cafe is yet plainer and fully answers the Queftion, viz. That the Parent can difpenfe with the Vow of the Daughter, if he fo think fitting. This Inftitution to the Jews was founded upon the Rights of Nature, and therefore never to be abolish'd, but holds firm, and not to be cancell'd; nay, perhaps, where Parents themselves are not fo fit Judges as their Children. I know a very learned, pious Divine, whofe Benefice was above a Hundred Miles from his Parents, fo that 'twas im poffible to have a frequent or great Converse with them further than by Letters; but although this Gentleman knew that his Parents wou'd be fatiffied in what Choice he himself fhould judge proper, yet he wou'd not marry till he had firft intreated their Confent, being fatisfied of their Right and Propriety in him: So that our Answer is this, That it lies in the Parents Power to vacate the above-mentioned Contract, but more especially they are obliged to it, if the young Lady her felf defires it; but if they do it not, fhe cannot do it her felf; and if they do it, fhe cannot hinder it.

Q. Whether Brutus, and the reft of the Confpiraters, did well, under Pretence of their Country's Liberty, to murder Julius Cæfar in the Senate Hufe?

A. Not, if we may be allow'd to judge of the Action by the Event: Befides Sweten in Julio. c. 89. p. 52. fays

that scarce any of the Murderers of Julius Cafar out-liv'd him three Years, but died a violent Death; being all of them condemned, they all perifhed by one Accident or other, fome by Shipwreck, others in Battle, and fome of them flew themselves by the fame Ponyards wherewith they had before ftabbed Cafar.

Q. Cimon the Athenian fent Ambassadors from the Isle of Cyprus to the far Parts of Lybia towards Egypt, to Jupiter Hammon, to demand of the Oracle the Reflution of fome fecret Affairs; the Oracle bad them return again: Because (faid be) Cimon is now with me: Which they bearing, went back again, and being come to the Camp of the Irenians, found that Cinion was dead, the fame Day that the Oracle had told them he was no longer living : Query, How the Oracles cou'd give a Refolution of what was done at fo great a Distance in fo little a Time, and whether the Word With me, did only import the Death of Cimon?

A. The Intelligence that the black Fraternity of Devils keep for the Intereft of Hell, and the quick Dispatches of Spirits, who are not clogg'd with Flesh and Blood, nor need Refreshments or Reft, does eafily folve the first Part of the Question. It was the Devil's Intereft then to tell Truth, that he might be the better believ'd, and have more Followers; tho' had his Intereft lain otherwife, no doubt but he had treated the Ambaļfaders with as unhappy a Lye

as

as he once did before to Alexander; for 'cwas this Oracle that faluted him by the Name of Son, and debauch'd that generous Prince into a Perfuafion that Jupiter was his Father. As to the Words With me, the Oracle meant no more by it than Death, as is apparent from the very fame Words ued by that Devil which the Witch of Endor rais'd, viz. To Merrow thou and thy Sons fhall be with me, directing his Speech to Saul, for Saul and his Sons died the next Day in Battle upon Mount Gilboa.

Q. Whether all living Creatures apprehend one and the fame Object after the Jame Man

ner ?

A. Yes, in Refpect of the Senfes but when the Obje& comes thither, the rational Creature out-does the Animal, by drawing more noble Confequences from fuch and fuch Premiffes, by Comparing, Ratiocinating, Numbering,

&c.

Q. Perufing a learned Author who treats of the Viciffitude of Man's Stul from one Body to another, for twelve Generations before its eternal Departure; fuppofing which to be true, may we not, from undeniable Confequences, conclude Nero's Sul to have its Habitation in the Body of Lewis XIV ?

A. Your Author must be a Man of great Learning, if he cou'd give a Reafon for Twelve Tranfmigrations, more than Eleven or Thirteen; but fuppofing Twelve to be a certain precife Number, 'twill be

found above Twelve Genera tions betwixt Nero and Lewis. No, Lewis carries his own unparallel'd Soul, and will be accountable for his own unparallel'd Vices.

Q. Why do fuch as wou'd shoot right, wink with one Eye?

A. Because there is but one Right Line from one Point to another; but from two Eyes, there are two Lines to one Object; which though they both terminate there, yet don't begin together: Therefore two Eyes beginning at several Points, cannot both of 'em act directly, unless he fhoot with two Guns at once.

Q. How is it poffible that feveral Figures can be pattern'd out by one Act of Perception? For Example, How can a Man when he fees a Statue or a Stone, pattern out both the exteriour Shape of the Statue, the Matter which the Statue is made of, and its Colour; and all this by one and the fame A&?.

A. 'Tis an Error, and an Impoffibility at once: All Philofophers have generally concluded, That Particularity is the Object of Senfe. A Man can do but one Thing at once. I know 'twill speedily be ob jected, that I can hear several Sounds at the fame Time, and by looking at one Object I difcern many more about it: I anfwer, That you can make but one Right Line from the Optick Nerve to fuch and fuch an Object; the other are only redundant Rays of the vifual Power, which don't at all fix upon the other Objects, and

that

that 'tis impoffible they fhou'd. The Mind it felf can advert but to one Thing at once; if to two, then there's no Reafon but it may to two Thoufand, and if to Two Thoufand, then to every Thing; and fo we fhou'd not at all be different from GOD Almighty in his Prerogative of Omnifciency. Therefore we must reasonably conclude, that when we fuppofe that we think of two or three Things at once, (as in the Inftance of the prefent Question) 'tis only a fwift Change of Thought from one Thing to another: For Exam. ple, I first fee the Statue, the Representation of which is conveyed by the Eye to the Mind, which being inquifitive, wills the Eye to take a more particular View of the Shape of the Statue, which it undertakes and makes its fecond Report, by Representing the Shapes to be fo, fo; and thus the Procedure is gradual, and not all at once; though we don't deny but that it is much quicker in fome Perfons than in others, by Reafon of a greater Aptitude in their fenfible Organs.

Q. Whether he is wife, or otherwife, who has a Displacency at himself for having faid fome thing impertinently or undecently?

A. He that is not difpleas'd at his Error, can never reform it; and he that reforms not from his Errors, can't be a wife Man; fo that the Cafe is plain. But befides, there's fomething more in the Cafe; for the Company to whom his Errors

were publish'd, either confented to 'em, or disagreed from 'em; if the first, he ought to undeceive 'em, and make 'em fenfible of the Miftakes they imbib'd by his Means; if the laft, he ought to beg their Pardon, and recant, that by giving Honour to Truth and Reafon, he may again be admitted into the Number and Society of wife Men.

Q. Whether any Men seem to be more affected with their own Difcourfes, than those who talk most vainly and abfurdly?

A. No; perhaps from this Reason, Wife Men have learn'd to fee fo much of their Follies, and the Follies of other Men, as to be concern'd and cautious in their Expreffions; but vain ignorant Perfons have learn'd juft fo much as to be troublefome and pofitive; like young Lovers, who will hear no other Characters of their Miftreffes, than Wit, Beauty, Charms, and a Thousand Chymerical Notions; till upon Trial they find themselves wofully cheated with empty Bubbles, or cloy'd with a dull, flat, infipid o'er and o'er.

Q. How far is it confiftent with Wisdom to Banter?

A. So far as is not injurious to the Credit of your Neighbour, or the Reputation of Piety: But this is only meant in jocular Difcourfes betwixt Perfons of equal Tempers. Again, it may be neceffary, by Way of Satyr, to fhame fone Perfons out of ill Actions, when other Methods fail; and it has been often found effectual.

Q. What

Q. What is there in Pride that adds to Happiness?

A. If the Question had been, What is there in Pride which adds to Unhappiness? The Aniwer might have been, Too much for any thinking Perfon to be in Love with it: Who more ridiculous, odious, and defpis'd, than a proud, imperious, fupercilious, opiniative Fool? Who more loathfome and hated by Heaven? And who more uneafie to themfelves? When a meek, quiet, refigning Spirit demeans it felf too low for the Opinion of any Thing but Vice, and there's Encouragement enough to encounter that, when its own Temper, Heaven, and the Converfe of all wife good Men becomes Allies, and join in one Common League of Friendship.

QWhat's the Reason that People, fuch as Gally-Slaves, and thefe vifited by vifible Plagues from Heaven do not grow better, but rather much worse?

A. From one of these two Reafons; Either because they think their Punishment Natural, or by Accident; or elfe because they hate GOD, and as an Earnest of their future difmal State, begin here in Curfing and Blafpheming that over-ruling Justice, which by Reafon of their Torments, they will for ever blafpheme hereafter: See the miferable State of Spira, who under his Tortures, wifh'd that he was above GOD.

Q. Is Falfhood a greater Folly or Knavery?

A. The Latter by far

for

it may often happen, and in effect does fo, that Perfons grow weary of each other, find Defects not obferv'd before, long for the Charms of Variety, or fix on a more deserving Object; in many or moft of which Cafes it may feem Wisdom rather than Folly to change Tho' in the mean Time those who do it first, will have no other Praise for fuch Ficklenefs, than to be accounted More Knaves than Fools by all that know them.

Q. What's the Definition of a drunken Man, and what Degree of Drunkenness will render a Man obnoxious to the Penalties of the Law?

A- The Definition of a drunken Man is a drunken Man, to call him by any other Name would be an Abuse; for the Devil is not fo great a Fool, and a Beaft is a much more regular Sort of Creature, and answers the Ends of its Being. As to the latter Part of the Question (to wit, What Degree of Drunkennefs will render a Man obnoxious to the Penalties of the Law; We anfwer, The Law is by fo much the more perfect and pure, by fo much as it has a nearer Relation to the Law of GOD, but there all Intemperance and Excefs is forbidden; 'tis not the Quantity, for then fome Perfons would never be drunk with double the Stint of others. A Man is truly and properly faid to be drunk, when he hath exceeded fo far as to impair his Health, or prejudice his Reafon; both which Cafes are a little too