diminished, and adulterated, but will prevail and tri umph at last; Merses profundo pulcrior evenit: Luctere, multa proruit integrum and which it is not safe to handle too much, for fear of burning ones fingers. Is there any absurdity in supposing that this precious oriental stone, which would not bear confinement, was The Holy Bible, a copy or translation of which might have been presented to the king? The third and beautiful edition of the New Testament, by Robert Stephen, was printed with royal types, by the king's printer, and dedicated to the king, to Henry the Second. Mizaldus (in French Antoine Mizaud) wrote many books, as De Aeromantia, De secretis hortorum, Planetologia, Secret de la Lune, Centuries, &c. and was a trifling author, and a philosopher minorum gentium. The description which Pipinus gives of the stone, besides its allegorical meaning, contains an oblique banter of the philosophers stone. One Comiers wrote a book called Traité des Phosphores, in which he is of opinion that this stone was a phosphorus: Clarissimus Autor-varia phosphororum artificialium genera-describit, atque ut tam admirabilis inventi gloriam patrice suce vindicet, jam olim Fernelio, Hernici secundi Medico famigeratissimo cognitum fuisse modum parandi phosphorum siccum fulgurantem, qui nunc, communiter Kraftio adscribitur, et de ejus stupendis effectibus ipsum prolixe ac perspicue, lib. ii. de abditis rerum causis, c. 17. egisse affirmat. Is enim lapis Indicus lucidissimus, quem, Bononia, Regi oblatum Thuanus memorat, et cujus mentionem Fernelius loc. alleg. fucit, juxta Comierium Phosphorus fuit, a Fernelio arte factus, et per hominem ex India venientem in aulam missus, ut tanto pluris æstimaretur, nec, quum ejus compositio vulgaris facilisque esset, vilesceret. Verum an hæc ita recte dicta sint, viderint ali. Certe qui Fernelium leget, haud obscure sentiet, historiolam de lapide ex Indis allato ænigma ignis et flammæ esse, quo fortasse Fernelius aliquibus suæ artis ac sectæ viris illudere voluit. Acta Erudit. 1684. p. 246. Le Clerc hath drawn up an account of Cyprian in his Bibl. Univ. xii. 207. See also Barbeyrac Morale des Peres, p. 131. I would willingly have paid a greater deference to the authority and testimony of this pious father and martyr concerning visions and miracles; and if I dissent from him, it is not without some reluctance. I have no notion of differing from worthy persons, living or dead, for the sake of singularity or of contradiction, in which I can discern no charms, and neither pleasure nor profit. To an opinion commonly received, and received by good men, when I cannot assent, I am inclined to say, Invitus, Regina, tuo de litore cessi. But alas! opinion is a queen who will not accept of such excuses: Illa solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat ; Nec magis incepto vultum sermone movetur, Quam si duru silex aut stet Marpesia cautes. Origen and other ancient Christians ascribe to our Saviour this saying, Γίνεσθε δόκιμοι τραπεζίται, τὰ μὲν ἀπο δοκιμάζοντες, τὸ δὲ καλόν κατέχοντες. that is, Act like skilful bankers, rejecting what is bad, and retaining what is good. This precept is proper for all who apply themselves to the study of religious antiquities. Good and and bad money is offered to them, and they ought to beware of the coin which will not pass current in the republic of letters, and in the critical world, and of that which is found light when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. Felix of Nola is thought to have lived in the days of Cyprian, though that be uncertain. Many miracles were wrought in his behalf, and after his death he wrought them himself in vast abundance; all which rests principally upon the credit of Paulinus bishop of Nola, a writer of the fifth century, as also upon that of Augustin, and Damasus: but their united testimonies are worth just nothing at all in this case, and indeed in any case where miracles are concerned. The Roman empire under Gallienus, A. D. 262, was terribly afflicted, by civil war, by a multitude of usurpers and petty tyrants, by famine and pestilence, and earthquakes, and an irruption of barbarians on all sides. The behaviour of the Christians in these calamitous times was most excellent and exemplary, as was the compassionate care which they took of the sick and needy, at the hazard and at the expence of their own health, fortunes, and lives, whilst the conduct of the Pagans was the very reverse. Eusebius vii. 22. About this time the Goths, and other savage nations which dwelt by the Danube, took some Christian presbyters captives, and were taken captives by them; for these Christians, by the lovely force of a blameless behaviour and a holy life, and by the miracles which they wrought, converted many barbarians, and at the same time softened and civilized their So says Sozomen, ii. 6. Eusebius men manners. says, James Basnage, a Calvinist, hath undertaken to prove that this Life is not the work of Saint Athanasius, or that it hath been extremely interpolated and corrupted. He offers no new reason for this assertion that is of the least moment, and nothing remarkable except some silly and stupid, not to say impious jests upon things most holy and most worthy of God. H. E. viii. p. 700. Now Basnage, Dissert, Epist. p. 136. seems to have given into this suspicion, partly through a very favourable opinion of Athanasius, and a persuasion that he could not transmit such things to posterity; for which reason Tillemont should have treated him more civilly. Socrates iv. 23. says, that Antony saw the soul of Ammon the monk carried up into heaven by angels, and cites Athanasius for it, who has the very story in his Life of Antony. Sozomen relates the same tale i. 14. and is thought to have taken his account of Antony from Athanasius. Du Pin is a little doubtful whether this Life of Antony be genuine, but determines for the affirmative. Bibl. ii. p. 41. and upon the whole, there is far more reason to receive it as genuine, than to reject it as spurious. Ex scriptis Athanasi nullum est cui veterum plures testimonium perhibeant. Laudatur a Nazianzeno, Chrysostomo, Palladio, Hieronymo, &c. In tanta existimatione fuit de vita Antonii Liber, ut eo lecto nonnulli ad pietatem accensi fuerint.—Interea faciles largimur puram non esse, sed lutulentam nonnullis in locis fluere. Illud certe mugni esse Athanasi credere non possumus. Antonius bestiam vidit formà humanà ad femora usque; crura et pedes asinum, &c. S. Basnage Ann. iii. 38. Athanasius loved the monks and the monks loved him. One of them said to his disciples, When you find any fragment of the works of Athanasius, transcribe it; and and if you have no paper, write it upon your garments. This makes it probable that Athanasius did not neglect to write the Life of Antony, and that he collected every rumour and report which tended to embellish and magnify his friend. It is a custom with the Arabs, always to give a man a patient hearing who tells romantic stories, and never to contradict him; and this is reckoned amongst them a rule of civility and politeness. By this rule, we must let the Life of Antony pass uncensured, reserving to ourselves the liberty not to believe all that is related in it. Antony, as if he had foreseen the tricks of the reliquemongers, desired to be buried where they might not find him, and make money of him. Ingressus montem interiorem, quem incolere solebat, post paucos menses in morbum incidit. Tum accersitis duobus Ascetis, qui propter senium laboranti ministrabant, mandata pietatis inculcat, subjungit dein: Si vobis de me cura est, meique tanquam patris non obliviscimini, corpus meum in Ægyptum transferri ne patiamini, ne forte reservent domi suæ. Meum ergo corpus sepelite, terràque contegite, et nemo præter vos locum sepuleri noscat. Vestes meas sic distribuite. Melotem unam date Athanasio Episcopo, cum stragula, quam ab ipso novam accepi, nunc detritam reddo. Serapioni Episcopo alteram date meloten, vobis cilicium servate. Quodque est reliquum, filii, salvete, Antonius enim hine migrat, non amplius vobiscum moraturus. Finito sermone, postquam sunt ipsum osculati, pedibus ille porrectis, et quasi amicorum adventantium aspectu admodum lætatus, animam exhalavit. Vit. Ant. Illi vero praeceptis Abbatis sui obtemperantes, defunctum sepeliunt, in loco, qui, præterquam binis istis Ascelis, cunc |