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afferted, that Heliodorus was not a Chriftian, from his telling us at the end of his book, that he is a Phoenician, bornin the city of Emeffa, and of the race of the fun; fince, they fay, it would be madness in a Chriftian, and much more in a bishop, to declare, that he was defcended from that luminous body. This objection Bayle, who quotes it, anArt. HE- fwers in the following manner: "It is certain," fays he, "that feveral Chriftians in the fourth century mentioned the "ancientnefs of their nobility: why then should not we be"lieve, that Heliodorus, mentioned his? He did not believe "that his family was really defcended from the fun; but he "might imagine, that he muft diftinguish it by that mark. "This was a title, by which his family had been known a "long time, and which was honourable to him: and though "the principle was falfe, yet one might infer from it some "confequences favourable to his family with regard to its

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antiquity. Such a motive might engage a Christian thus "to distinguish the nobility of his extraction. Add to this, "that Heliodorus was not yet a bishop, when he wrote his romance: he was ftill in all the fire of his youth; and as "he did not put his name to his work, he might with more "liberty make his descent known by the ancient tradition of "his family." Bayle refers us, in the courfe of this folution, to a differtation of Balzac at the end of his "Socrate

Chretien :" where it is obferved among other things, that St. Jerom makes St. Paul to be defcended from Agamemnon, and that Synefius boasted his defcent from Hercules.

Befides the "Ethiopics," Cedrenus tells us of another book of Heliodorus, concerning the Philofopher's Stone, or the art of tranfmuting metals into gold, which he prefented to Theodofius the Great; and Fabricius has inferted in his Tom. VI. Bibliotheca Græca," a chemical Greek poem written in Iambic verfe, which he had from a MS. in the king of France's library, and carries the name of Heliodorus, bifhop of Tricca; but leaves it very juftly questionable, whether it be not a fpurious performance. Socrates relates, in the book' and chapter above cited, that this bifhop introduced the cuftom of depofing thofe minifters who lay with their wives after ordination: which Bayle thinks a profitable argument in favour of the prelate's chastity; and adds, that he appears from his romance to have been a lover of this virtue.

HELMONT (JOHN BAPTIST VAN), commonly called t Van Helmont, from a borough and caftle of that name in Brabant, was a person of quality, and a man of great learn

ing, especially in phyfic and natural philofophy; and born at Bruffels in 1577. But, instead of relating the particulars of his life, we will make him relate them himself, as he does in the two introductory chapters to his works for nothing can give a juster notion of the man, or indeed be more entertaining to the curious reader.

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1652.

"In the year 1580," says he, “a moft miferable one to Ortus Me"the Low-countries, my father died. I, the youngest and dicinæ, p. “least esteemed of all my brothers and fifters, was bred a “scholar; and in the year 1594, which was to me the 17th, "had finished the courfe of philofophy. Upon feeing none " admitted to examinations at Louvain, but in a gown, and "masked with a hood, as though the garment did promise "learning, I began to perceive, that the taking degrees in "arts was a piece of meer mockery; and wondered at the fimplicity of young men, in fancying that they had learned "any thing from their doating profeffors. I entered, there"fore, into a serious and honeft examination of myself, that "I might know by my own judgement, how much I was a philofopher, and whether I had really acquired truth and "knowledge: but found myself altogether deftitute, fave "that I had learned to wrangle artificially. Then came I "first to perceive, that I knew nothing, or at least that which "was not worth knowing. Natural philofophy feemed to promise fomething of knowledge, to which therefore I "joined the ftudy of aftronomy. I applied myfelf alfo to logic and the mathematics, by way of recreation, when I was wearied with other ftudies; and made myself a master "of Euclid's Elements,' as I did alfo of Copernicus's Theory "De revolutionibus orbium cœleftium:' but all these things "were of no account with me, because they contained little "truth and certainty, little but a parade of fcience falfely "fo called. Finding after all, therefore, that nothing was "found, nothing true, I refused the title of master of arts, "though I had finished my courfe; unwilling, that profef"fors fhould play the fool with me, in declaring me a master "of the feven arts, when I was confcious to myself that I "knew nothing.

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"A wealthy canonry was promifed me then, fo that I might, if I pleafed, turn myfelf to divinity; but Saint "Bernard affrighted me from it, faying, that I fhould eat "the fins of the people.' I begged therefore of the Lord "Jefus, that he would vouchfafe to call me to that profeffion, "in which I might please him moft. The Jefuits began แ at that time to teach philofophy at Louvain, and one of

"the

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"the profeffors expounded the difquifitions and fecrets of "magic. Both thefe lectures I greedily received; but in❝ftead of grain, I reaped only ftubble, and fantastic_con"ceits void of fenfe. In the mean time, left an hour should "pass without fome benefit, I run through fome writings "of the Stoics, thofe of Seneca, and efpecially of Epictetus, "who pleased me exceedingly. I feemed, in moral philofo❝phy, to have found the quinteffence of truth, and did veri"ly believe, that through Stoicifm I advanced in Chriftian "perfection; but I difcovered afterwards in a dream, that "Stoicifm was an empty and fwollen bubble, and that by this "ftudy, under the appearance of moderation, I became in"deed moft felf-fufficient and haughty. Laftly, I turned over Mathiolus and Diofcorides; thinking with myself "nothing equally neceffary for mortal man to know and admire, as the wifdom and goodnefs of God in vegeta"bles; to the end that he might not only crop the fruit for "food, but also minifter of the fame to his other neceffi"ties. My curiofity being now raised upon this branch of "ftudy, I enquired, whether there were any book, which "delivered the maxims and rules of medicine? for I then "fuppofed, that medicine was not altogether a mere gift, "but might be taught, and delivered by difcipline, like other "arts and sciences at least I thought, if medicine was a "good gift coming down from the Father of lights, that it "might have, as an human science, its theorems and au

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thors, into whom, as into Bazaleel and Aholiab, the fpirit "of the Lord had infufed the knowledge of all diseases and their caufes, and alfo the knowledge of the properties of "things. I enquired, I fay, whether no writer had de"fcribed the qualities, properties, applications, and propor"tions of vegetables, from the hyffop even to the cedar of "Libanus? A certain profeffor of medicine answered me, "that none of these things were to be looked for either in "Galen or Avicen. I was very ready to believe this, from "the many fruitless searches I had made in books for truth

and knowledge before; however, following my natural "bent, which lay to the ftudy of nature, I read the inftitu❝tions of Fuchius and Fernelius; in whom I knew I had

furveyed the whole fcience of medicine, as it were, in an "epitome. Is this, faid I, fmiling to myself, the knowledge of healing? Is the whole hiftory of natural properties thus fhut up in elementary qualities? Therefore I read the "works of Galen twice; of Hippocrates once, whofe Apho"rifms I almoft got by heart; all Avicen; as well as the

"Greeks,

"Greeks, Arabians, and moderns, to the tune of 600 au"thors. I read them feriously and attentively through; and "took down, as I went along, whatever feemed curious, "and worthy of attention; when at length, reading_over my common-place book, I was grieved at the pains I had "bestowed, and the years I had fpent, in throwing together "fuch a mass of ftuff. Therefore I ftraightway left off all "books whatever, all formal difcourfes, and empty promifes "of the fchools; firmly believing every good and perfect "gift to come down from the Father of lights, more parti"cularly that of medicine.

"I have attentively furveyed fome foreign nations; but "I found the fame fluggishness, in implicitly following the "steps of their forefathers, and ignorance among them all. "I then became perfuaded, that the art of healing was a "mere impofture, originally fet on foot by the Greeks for filthy lucre's fake; till afterwards the Holy Scriptures in"formed me better. I confidered, that the plague, which "then raged at Louvain, was a moft miferable disease, in "which every one forfook the fick; and faithlefs helpers, "diftruftful of their own art, fled more fwiftly than the "unlearned common people, and homely pretenders to cure " it. I proposed to myfelf to dedicate one falutation to the "miferable infected; and although then, no medicine was "made known to me but trivial ones, yet God preferved "my innocency from fo cruel an enemy. I was not indeed "fent for, but went of my own accord; and that not so "much to help them, which I despaired of doing, as for the "fake of learning. All that faw me, feemed to be refresh"ed with hope and joy; and I myself, being fraught with "hope, was perfuaded, that, by the mere free gift of God, " I should sometimes obtain a mastery in the science. After "ten years travel and studies from my degree in the art of “medicine taken at Louvain, being then married, I with“drew myself, in 1609, to Vilvord; that being the less "troubled by applications, I might proceed diligently in view"ing the kingdoms of vegetables, animals, and minerals. "I employed myself some years in chemical operations. I "fearched into the works of Paracelfus; and at first admired " and honoured the man, but at last was convinced, that nothing but difficulty, obfcurity, and error, was to be found "in him. Thus tired out with fearch after search, and con"cluding the art of medicine to be all deceit and uncertainty, "I faid with a forrowful heart, Good God! how long wilt "thou be angry with mortal man, who hitherto has not ❝ difclosed

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"disclosed one truth, in healing, to thy schools? How long "wilt thou deny truth to a people confeffing thee, needful "in these days, more than in times paft? Is the facrifice "of Molech pleafing to thee? wilt thou have the lives of "the poor, widows, and fatherlefs children, confecrated to "thyfelf, under the most miferable torture of incurable dif"eases? How is it, therefore, that thou ceasest not to de"ftroy fo many families through the uncertainty and igno"rance of phyficians?' Then I fell on my face, and faid, "Oh, Lord, pardon me, if favour towards my neighbour "hath fnatched me away beyond my bounds. Pardon, par"don, O Lord, my indiscreet charity; for thou art the ra"dical good of goodness itself. Thou haft known my fighs; " and that I confefs myself to be, to know, to be worth, "to be able to do, to have, nothing; and that I am poor, "naked, empty, vain. Give, O Lord, give knowledge to "thy creature, that he may affectionately know thy crea"tures; himself firft, other things befides himself, all things, " and more than all things, to be ultimately in thee.'

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"After I had thus earnestly prayed, I fell into a dream; "in which, in the fight or view of truth, I faw the whole "universe, as it were, fome chaos or confufed ghing with"out form, which was almoft a mere nothing. And from "thence I drew the conceiving of one word, which did "fignify to me this following: Behold thou, and what "things thou feeft, are nothing. Whatever thou dost urge, "is less than nothing itself in the fight of the Most High. "He knoweth all the bounds of things to be done: thou at "leaft may apply thyfelf to thy own fafety.' In this concep"tion there was an inward precept, that I fhould be made a "phyfician; and that, fome time or other, Raphael him"felf fhould be given unto me. Forthwith therefore, and for

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30 whole years after, and their nights following in order, "I laboured always to my coft, and often in danger of my "life, that I might obtain the knowledge of vegetables and "minerals, and of their natures and properties alfo. Mean"while, I exercised myself in prayer, in reading, in a nar

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row fearch of things, in fifting my errors, and in writing "down what I daily experienced. At length I knew with "Solomon, that I had for the most part hitherto perplexed "my spirit in vain; and I said, Vain is the knowledge of "all things under the fun, vain are the fearchings of the "curious. Whom the Lord Jefus fhall call unto wisdom, "he, and no other, fhall come; yea, he that hath come to "the top, fhall as yet be able to do very little, unless the "bountiful

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