CHIMERICAL SCIENCES. 393 



arc fo holy and fo important, and which require 

 the utmoft perfpicuity. A fpirit of cnthufiaiin 

 js always concealed in thefe doctrines and writ- 

 ings, and it is a fpirit that a wife legiflator fhould 

 endeavour to iupprefs wherever it appears. For, 

 to ipeak plainly, all myftic theology, except 

 that which is fanctified by the church, is an 

 abfurd and frivolous fcience , feeing it is equally 

 repugnant to the wifdom of God, and to human 

 rcafon, to fay, that the facrcd writers, who were 

 infpired by the Holy .^piiit, have included in 

 their doctrines, befide the true, rational, clear, 

 and inftructive fenfe, one that is myfterious, 

 hidden, allegoric, and involved, which certain, 

 vifrjnarics alone can comprehend, which they 

 alone can difcover, and which at the fame time 

 is neither inftructive nor perfuafive : or that a 

 book, dictated by the Supreme Being for the 

 falvation of mankind, fhould contain enigmas, 

 which a theologian alone has a right to ex- 

 pound. 



XII. In order to obtain a great and formida- 

 ble power, and to be able to produce fuper- 

 natural effects, mankind have alfo invented, 



(i.) Magic. This word was at firft taken in a 

 good lenle, and fignified the art of performing 

 uncommon and marvellous acts, by the aid of 

 certain natural fecrets, or at lead, fuch as were 

 fo to the vulgar. The magicians of thole days 

 v/ere men worthy of eileem, who endeavoured 

 to penetrate the hidden powers of natui< 



lav. 



