It is indisputable, that persons had not their sins washed away in these mysteries, but by virtue of their oath to become virtuous: the hierophant in all the Grecian mysteries, when dismissing the assembly, pronounced the two Egyptian words, "Koth, ompheth," watch, be pure; which at once proves that the mysteries came originally from Egypt, and that they were invented solely to make mankind better.

Wise men, we thus see, have, in every age, done all in their power to inspire the love of virtue, and to prevent the weakness of man from sinking under despair; but, at the same time, there have existed crimes of such magnitude and horror, that no mystery could admit of their expiation. Nero, although an emperor, could not obtain initiation into the mysteries of Ceres. Constantine, according to the narrative of Zozimus, was unable to procure the pardon of his crimes: he was polluted with the blood of his wife, his son, and all his relations. It was necessary, for the protection of the human race, that crimes so flagitious should be deemed incapable of expiation, that the prospect of absolution might not invite to their committal, and that hideous atrocity might be checked by universal horror.

The Roman catholics have expiations which they call penances. We have seen, under the article AusTERITIES, how grossly so salutary an institution has been abused.

According to the laws of the barbarians who subverted the Roman empire, crimes were expiated by money. This was called compounding: "Let the offender compound by paying ten, twenty, thirty shillings." Two hundred sous constituted the composition price for killing a priest, and four hundred for killing a bishop; so that a bishop was worth exactly two priests.

After having thus compounded with men, God himself was compounded with, when the practice of confession became generally established. At length pope John XXII. established a tariff of sins.

The absolution of incest, committed by a layman, cost four livres tournois: "Ab incestu pro laico in foro

conscientiæ turonenses quatuor." For a man and woman who have committed incest, eighteen livres tournois, four ducats, and nine carlines. This is certainly unjust; if one person pays only four livres tournois, two persons ought not to pay more than eight.

Even crimes against nature have actually their affixed rates, amounting to ninety livres tournois, twelve ducats, and six carlins: "Cum inhibitione turonenses 90, ducatos 12, carlinos 6," &c.

. It is scarcely credible that Leo X. should have been so imprudent as to print this book of rates or indulgences, in 1514, which, however, we are assured he did; at the same time it must be considered that no spark had then appeared of that conflagration, kindled afterwards by the reformers; and that the court of Rome reposed implicitly upon the credulity of the people, and neglected to throw even the slightest veil over its impositions. The public sale of indulgences, which soon followed, shows that that court took no precaution whatever to conceal its gross abominations from the various nations which had been so long accustomed to them. When the complaints against the abuses of the Romish church burst forth, it did all in its power to suppress this publication, but all was in vain.

I

If I may give my opinion upon this book of rates, must say that I do not believe the editions of it are genuine the rates are not in any kind of proportion and do not at all coincide with those stated by d'Aubigné, the grandfather of madame Maintenon, in the confession of Sanci. Depriving a woman of her virginity is estimated at six gros, and committing incest with a mother or a sister, at five gros. This is evidently ridiculous. I think that there really was a system of rates or taxes established for those who went to Rome to obtain absolution or purchase dispensations, but that the enemies of the Holy See added largely, in order to increase the odium against it. Consult Bayle, under the articles Bank, Pinet, Drelincourt.

It is at least, positively certain, that these rates were never authorised by any council; that they constituted an enormous abuse, invented by avarice, and

respected by those who were interested in its not being abolished. The sellers and the purchasers equally found their account in it; and, accordingly, none opposed it before the breaking out of the disturbances attending the reformation. It must be acknowledged that an exact list of all these rates or taxes would be eminently useful in the formation of a history of the human mind.

EXTREME.

WE will here attempt to draw from the word 'extreme' an idea that may be attended with some utility.

It is every day disputed, whether in war success is ascribable to conduct or to fortune?

Whether in diseases, nature or medicine is most operative in healing or destroying?

Whether in law, it is not judicious for a man to compromise although he is in the right, and to defend a cause although he is in the wrong?

Whether the fine arts contribute to the glory or to the decline of a state?

Whether it is wise or injudicious to encourage superstition in a people?

Whether there is any truth in metaphysics, history, or morals?

Whether taste is arbitrary, and whether there is in reality a good and a bad taste? &c.

In order to decide at once all these questions, take an example of the extreme cases under each, compare these two extremes, and you will immediately discover the truth.

You wish to know whether success in war can be infallibly decided by conduct; consider the most extreme case, the most opposed situations in which conduct alone will infallibly triumph. The hostile army must necessarily pass through a deep mountain gorge; your commander knows this circumstance; he makes a forced march, gets possession of the heights, and completely encloses the enemy in the defile: there

they must either perish or surrender. In this extreme case fortune can have no share in the victory. It is demonstrable, therefore, that skill may decide the success of a campaign, and it hence necessarily follows that

war is an art.

Afterwards imagine an advantageous but not a decisive position; success is not certain, but it is exceedingly probable. And thus, from one gradation to another, you arrive at what may be considered a perfect equality between the two armies. Who shall then decide? Fortune; that is, some unexpected circumstance or event; the death of a general officer while going to execute some important order; the derangement of a division in consequence of a false report, the operation of sudden panic, or various other causes for which prudence can find no remedy; yet it is still always certain that there is an art, that there is a science in war.

The same must be observed concerning medicine; the art of operating with the head or hand to preserve the life which appears likely to be lost.

The first who applied bleeding as speedily as possible to a patient under apoplexy; the first who conceived the idea of plunging a bistoury into the bladder to extract the stone from it, and of closing up the wound; the first who found out the method of stopping gangrene in any part of the human frame, were undoubtedly men almost divine, and totally unlike the physicians of Molière.

Descend from this strong and decisive example to cases less striking and more equivocal; you perceive fevers and various other maladies cured without its being possible to ascertain whether this is done by the physician or by nature: you perceive diseases, the issue of which cannot be judged of; various physicians are mistaken in their opinions of the seat or nature of them; he who has the acutest genius, the keenest eye, develops the character of the complaint. There is then an art in medicine, and the man of superior mind is acquainted with its niceties. Thus it was that Peyronius discovered that one of the courtiers had swallowed a sharp bone,

which had occasioned an ulcer and endangered his life; and thus also did Boerhaave discover the complaint, as unknown as it was dreadful, of a countess of Wassenaer. There is therefore, it cannot be doubted, an art in medicine, but in every art there are Virgils and Mæviuses.

There

In jurisprudence, take a case that is clear, in which the law pronounces decisively; a bill of exchange correctly drawn and regularly accepted; the acceptor is bound to pay it in every country in the world. is therefore a useful jurisprudence, although in innumerable cases sentences are arbitrary, because, to the misery of mankind, the laws are ill framed.

Would you wish to know whether the fine arts are beneficial to a nation? Compare the two extremes: Cicero and a perfect ignoramus. Decide whether the fall of Rome was owing to Pliny or to Attila.

It is asked whether we should encourage superstition in the people? Consider for a moment what is the greatest extreme on this baleful subject, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the massacres of Ireland, or the crusades; and the question is decided.

Is there any truth in metaphysics? Advert to those points which are most striking and true. Something exists, something therefore has existed from all eternity. An eternal being exists of himself; this being cannot be either wicked or inconsistent. To these truths we must yield; almost all the rest is open to disputation, and the clearest understanding discovers the truth.

It is in everything else as it is in colours; bad eyes can distinguish between black and white; better eyes, and eyes much exercised, can distinguish every nicer gradation.

Usque adeò quod tangit idem est, tamen ultima distant.

EZEKIEL.

Of some singular Passages in this Prophet, and of certain Ancient Usages.

Ir is well known, that we ought not to judge of ancient usages by modern ones; he that would reform