374 Obfervations on fome exceptionable Paffages the incredibles. And you justly ob. ferve," that this unfortunate word (faith) has indeed been fo tortured and fo mifapplyed as to mean every abfurdity, which artifice could impofe upon ignorance."-You likewife fays that faith is a moral duty injoined by this inftitution, and in the New Teftament, in general, it fignifies an humble, teachable, candid difpofition, a truft in God, and a confidence in his promifes." Nevertheless, after thefe juft views you have given of faith as a moral duty, and as that exertion of the mind, on which all religion and mora. lity must intirely depend, you very unaccountably tell us another moral duty is," to acknowledge, that we can do nothing good by our own powers unless affifted by the Creator's overruling influence." Here I would afk, can obligation extend beyond the given powers? Will the governor exact an use and improvement of more talents than he has given? Does he require brick without ftraw? Yes, you virtually affirm he does; for you fay," the truth of the doctriue may be demonstrated both by reafon and experience; and that it is productive of much humility, resignation, and dependence on God."-Whereas reafon and experience teftify a confcioufnefs of having had our converfation only as becomes the Gofpel; and having given all diligence to make our calling and election fure, is the ground and reafon of fuch refignation and dependence. In truth, you, Sir, own as much, when you fay, "we have power over the mind's eye, as well as over the body's, to fhut it against the ftrongest rays of truth and religion, whenever they become painful to us, and to open it again to the faint glimmerings of fcepticism and infidelity, when we love darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil, which you think fufficiently refutes all objections to the moral nature of faith, drawn from the fuppofition of its being involuntary and neceffarily dependent on the degree of evidence offered to our understanding." But furely, you must have been under the mift of fome ill-formed ideas, when you fpeak of the revelation, as contradictory to reafon, incredible in its doctrines, and in its pre July cepts "impracticable."--And wher you alfo fay, that among the many propofitions which contradict our reafon, and yet are demonftrably true; one is the very firft principle of all religion, the being of a God; for that any thing should exift without a caufe, or that any thing fhould be the caufe of its own existence, are propo fitions equally contradictory to our reason." This reafoning I difpute. There is a fallacy in the inftance of illuftration; for as much as the Deity is an abfolutely uncaufed, necessary being; and as fuch can only be conceived by us. Nor can any ideas of him which are contradictory to our reafon, allow us to reverence and adore him. As to the impraticability of its precepts, you have happily expofed the mistake, when you fay, "if it be afked, was Christianity then intended only for learned divines and profound philofophers? I answer, no; it was at first preached by the illiterate, and received by the ignorant; and to fuch are the practical, which are the maft neceffary parts of it, fufficiently intelligi, ble."-And again, "by moral precepts founded on reafon, I mean alf thofe, which enforce the practic of fuch duties as reafon informs us muft improve our natures, and conduce to the happiness of mankind." You further own, the gospel has afforded that divine affittance which would have reformed the world, when you fay, "Chriftianity has done a great deal towards diminishing the vices and correcting the difpofitions of mankind, and was it univerfally adopted in belief and practice, would totally eradicate both fin and punishment." I hereupon afk, what more affiftance do we need in the moral life? How can we be better informed, either in the truth or in the grace of God? I fhould humbly be of opinion, there must be an extravagance in your obfervation on the different genius of the Pagan and Chriftian morality, when you affirm, "that the most celebrated virtues of the former are more oppofite to the fpirit, and more inconfiftent with the end of the letter, than even their most infamous vices; and that Brutus and Cato were lefs admiffible into heaven, than even a Mestaline or 1776. in Mr. Jenyn's View of Chriflianity-Anecdote, 375 One more mistake I fhall notice, and that is, "Chriftianity" you fay "is a religion revealed to mankind which not only contradicts the principal paffions and inclinations which the Creator has implanted in their natures, but is incompatible with the whole economy of that world which he has created, and in which he has thought proper to place them," Did you, Sir, once recollect, that our Lord has enjoined, that whatsoever we would that men fhould do to us, we should do alfo the fame to them; and that this is the law and the prophets a rule quite compatible with the whole conomy of that world which he has crea. ted, and in which he has thought proper to place us?-Or, did you know he has faid, thou shalt love the Lord our God, with all thy heart, foul, mind, and ftrength, which is the great commandment of the law: and that the fecond is like to it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: and that on thefe two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So far from contradicting the principal paffions and inclinations which the Creator has implanted in us; it is a religion which gives them their regularity, their true fpirit, and perfection. Man is made for truth. Truth is natural, falfehood is unnatural to the human mind. I fhall not touch the compliment you have paid to modern bishops, to whom you allow titles, palaces, revenues, and coaches, as an improvement of the condition of Apoftles. Since it would be apt to excite much lefs ferious and grave attentions-but with fubfcribing myself, or an Heliogabalus. This would lead beauty, ftrength, or any bodily enus to conclude, a too ftrong'inclination dowment. to fupport the enflaving doctrine of nonrefiftance and paffive obedience, and to fanctify the defpotifm of tyrants. But have you well attended to the special circumitance of the firft Chriftians, which alone could juftify the injunctions to non-refiftance? And have you confidered that whenever or where ever the caufe of Chriftianity and its fpread, does require fuch felf denying ordinances, it would yet be worthy the Chriftian, that if an infidel fmote him on the right cheek, he fhould turn to him the left alfo: or when a man took away his coat, he fhould allow him to take away his cloke alfo? Or have you ever duly confidered, the non-refiftance to the Pagan magiftrate or emperor, can be no rule of conduct to the Chriftian under an adminiftration that avows the name of Chriftiant? Every claim of abfolute authority, or the exercife of a defpotifm, among profeffing Chrif tians, has in it all the aggravations of impiety and crime. And it muft ever be a truth that no other powers are ordained of God, but fuch as are terrors to the evil doer, and a praife to them who do well. It will follow, that tho' you have denied that patriotifm and friendship are any virtues at all, they must remain the ornamental enbellishments of humanity. Yet, we are ready to own, that there is no intrinsic merit in that patriotism or love of one's country, that would violate the univerfal claims of mankind. what will Mr. Jenyns fay to our Lord's weeping over Jerufalem? and to St. Paul's wishing to become an anathema for his brethren, his kinfmen according to the flesh? The rational love of one's country, affuredly, has more claim to moral merit, than wit and Your Chriftian brother, *Confult the account of Cornelius, Als x. beginning. AMERICAN SOME OME regular officers, foon after Gage's arival in Bolton, walking on Beacon Hill after fun-fet, were af frighted by noifes in the air (fuppofed to be the flying of bugs and beetles) which they took to be the found of conclude ERASMUS. ANECDOT E. bullets, and left the hill with great precipitation: concerning which they wrote terrible accounts to England of their being fhot at with air guns; as appears by one or two letters, extracts from which were published in the papers. For 376 June For the LONDON MAGAZINE. An Account of fome Egyptian Symbols, emblematical of the Ark of Noah and the F Deluge. (Muftrated with a Copper Plate.) ́› Of all the writers on ancient mytho- Taur logy, Mr. Bryant appears to have been the most difcerning and accurate. It must be confeffed, he hath had the advantage of the effays of others, and by standing on their fhoulders is the better enabled to fee farther than they did. The public are greatly indebted to him for his late labours, in which he hath proved that the history of the Ark was preferved in all countries, as far as evidence can be obtained, with the greatest care and veneration. As letters were not known in the first ages, it was defcribed under many fymbols: fuch as a Cetus, a Pegafus, a Bull, or a Ram. Mr. Bryant obferves that it is faid of the patriarch Noah, after the deluge, that he became a man of the earth, or husbandman, addicted to agriculture; and that this circumftance is religioufly recorded in all the ancient hiftories of Egypt. On this account he imagines that the ox, fo ufeful in husbandry, was made an emblem of the patriarch." Hence we find fo many pieces of ancient fculpture, on which is to be feen the ox's head with the Egyptian modius between his horns, relative to the circumftances of this hiftory. The living animal was alfo in many places held facred, and revered as a deity. At Memphis they worshipped the facred Bull Apis at Heliopolis they held the Bull Mnevis, or Mneuis, in equal veneration. So in other places, only with this difference, that the object of adoration was fometimes an heifer or cow. That the Apis and Mneuis were both reprefentations of an ancient perfonage, is certain. Mneuis, or as the Dorians 'exprefled it Mneuas, is a compound of Men-Nevas, and relates to the fame perfon who in Crete was ftiled Mi Nos, Min-Nos, and whofe city was MinNoa: the fame alfo who was reprefented under the emblem of the Men * Diod. L. 1. p. 84. or Mino-Taurus. Diodorus speaks of Mneues as the first lawgiver, and fays that he lived after the era of the gods and heroes, when a change was made in the manner of life among men. He was the fame as Menes, whom the Egyptians represented as their first king, and a great benefactor. This was the perfon who † first facrificed to the gods, and brought about the great change in diet, a circumftance which occurs continually in the hiftory of the first ages. He is filed Meen by Herodotus, and Diodorus calls him Taurus Men Nenes; from whence we may judge that he was the fame perfon whom the Egyptians reverenced under the fymbol of the facred Bull; efpecially as it was called by the fame name Mneuas and Mneues. Mr. Bryant hath fhewn alfo that Ofiris, the planter of the vine, the inventer of the plough, the great hufbandman, was no other than Noah, and to him these animals were facred. Plutarch informs us that the Bulls Apis and Mneuis were alike facred to Ofiris ; and looked upon as living oracles and real deities, and to be in a manner animated by the very foul. of the perfonages whom they reprefented. But they were not only reprefentatives of the perfon by whom the world had been fo much benefited, but of the machine likewife in which he was preferved. This was defcribed as a crefcent, and called Theba, Baris, Argus-And thefe terms and the name of an ox or bull were fynonymous among the Eaftern nations. Thus it is faid, "The facred heifer of the Syrians is no other than Theba, the Ark," because it was fo typified. And it is remarkable that when the Ifraelites fell into idolatry, they worshipped a calf in Horeb, and when it was renewed under Jeroboam, ftill the object of worship was the fame. 1776. Mathematical Correspondence. From the Egyptian hieroglyphics mif-interpreted, came the ftories of Europa and Pafiphae, alfo the fable about Argus and Io. They all related to the fame event, and to the machine ftiled Bes or Taurus wherein Ofiris was inclosed. It is faid of ifis, that during the rage of Typhon fhe preferved him in a bull of wood, by which is meant the ark, Theba. As the Egyptians imagined that the horns of a young ox or bull had fome refemblance to a lunette which was an emblem of the ark, we find most of the arkite divinities diftinguished either with a crefcent or with horns. The Bull's head was efteemed a princely BY 377 hieroglyphic; wherefore it is faid of Aftarte by Sanchoniathon, "The goddefs placed the head of a bull upon her own head, as a royal emblem". Such was the figure of the Minotaurus, which Paufanias ftiles, the bull called Mino. By this is meant the facred emblem of the Deus TaurMeen No, which emblem was reveren, Meen-Noa the city of arkite Noah. ced in Crete at Minoa, the fame as Memorials of this nature seem to fame hieroglyphics as in the plate to have been univerfally preferved, and the have prevailed in regions widely dif tant. MATHEMATICAL CORRESPONDENCE. 512 ; and Y divifion and cubing both equations there is obtained x2 = x4 = duction 16 = 1073741824 262144 =4096y= 4, and x = 8. Mr. Keech, Mr. Hampshire, Algebraicus and others answered this question. [59] QUESTION II. Anfwered by Londinenfis. IN the annexed figure let ABC be any triangle, the rectangle of whofe fides AC x CB is given, and AI x IB the rectangle of the fegments made by the bifecting line CI is given, then the rectangle of the radii of the circumfcribing and infcribed circles is known. Demon. From F and D the centres of the circumfcribing and inferibed circles let fall the perpendiculars FK DL upon CI and AB, then (per prob. 26 III. Sim. Geo. 2d. Edit.) AC x CB AI x IB + CI.. AC x CBAI x IB CI' hence (AC x CB and AI x IB being given) CI2, alfo CI becomes known, alfo Al x IB = CI × IH . HI is known, but per fimilar triangles HI: HB HB: HC. HB = (per prob. 67 British Oracle HD) is known, and HD HC 2 F G H K D B HI DI is known, alfo FK being L to CH, HK will be = and therefore known, alfo per fimilar triangles DL: DI :: HK: HF but DI x DH is known, therefore DL x HF being thereto, and the rectangle of the radii of the circumfcribing and infcribed circles, is alfo known. Q.E. D. The Propofer, Mr. Keech, Theon, Mr. Sanderson, and others, favoured us with elegant answers. July 1776, 3 C [60] QUES 373 Mathematical Corespondence. [60] QUESTION III. Answered by Nauticus the Propofer. Conf. Let AB and CD be the given Araight lines, P and Q the given points, and the given ratio that of RS to US. Draw PG parallel to CD and join the points P and Q in PQ, produced if neceffary, take QF PO: US: RU, and join F and G. Lastly, through parallel to FG, draw QH, meeting AB in H, the point required. : Demonf. Draw HP: then by fimilar triangles HK HI :: LK: Pi ́ :: KE IG; and by permutation LK: KE :: PI IG: PQ: QF (by fimilar triangles): RU: US (by construction) and therefore by compofition of ratios LE KE RS: US. Q. E. D. July Р L a K F Scholium. There are no limitations to this queftion, unless we except that particular cafe wherein the given ratio happens to be that of PQ to PB, in which the point H is removed to an infinite diftance, and in this the two required lines must be drawn parallel to AB. The fame answered by Mr. Hampshire. Conf. Let AB and CD be the given lines, meeting in H, P and R the given points, and m to n the given ratio. Draw RE parallel to AB meeting CD in E, and take RE to EF in the given ratio, draw PF, cutting CD in I, the point required, and AB in G,A draw RI, meeting AB in K; then will KH be to GH in the given ratio. Dem. RE: EF :: m : n by Conft. and :: KH: HG by fimilar triangles. D P K G H given lines) there will be no limitation, but if they are fituated in one angle, or in adjoining angles, it will be impoffible when RE paffes through both the points. [54] QUESTION III. in our Magazine for March laft, anfwered by Mr. T. Todd of Weft Smithfield.. 2 If femitranfverfe gH, c femiconjugate GH or Hm, x = HB, b=bH, b. -x =bB, and s = 32 feet the velocity acquired in the perpendicular fall of feet in the firft fecond of time, then per laws of defcending bo dies √25 x b-xl velocity per fecond in defcending through an or through the curve Aa, and by the refola- A tion of forces, tangent TA: Vaxb-x: AB: x) velocity in direction BA, a maximum, when the ball quits the curve. By conics HB (x) : Bm (c-x) :: BG (c+x): BT = |