[1] Daniel George Morof, who died suddenly on the 30th of June 1691.
[2] Librum de tribus impostoribus absit ut Papæ tribuam, aut Papæ
oppugnatoribus; jam olim inimici Frederici Barbarossæ Imperatoris
famam sparserant libri talis, quasi jussu ipsius scripti, sed ab eo
tempore, nemo est qui viderit; quare fabulam esse arbitror.
[3] Apud Nevizanum 1. Sylvae nupt. 2. n. 121.
[4] Doubtless Averroes here alludes to that law of Mahomet
which wisely prohibits the use of pork in a hot and pestilential
climate.--Translator's Note.
[5] Disseminavit iste impius haereticus in Hispania, [such is the
language made use of by Alvaro Pelagius], quod tres deceptores fuerunt
in mundo, scilicet, Moises, qui decepterat Judaeos, et Christus,
qui decepterat Christianos, et Mahometus, qui decepit Sarrazenos.
[6] Et sic falsa est Porphirii sententia, qui dixit tres fuisse
garrulatores qui totum mundum ad se converterunt; primus fuit Moises
in populo Judaico, secundus Mahometus, tertius Christus.
[7] Qui in quæstionem vertere presumunt, dicentes; quis in hec mundo
majorem gentium aut populorum sequelam habuit, an Christus, an Moises,
an Mahometus?
[8] Every classical scholar must have heard of the demon
of Socrates. The belief in the existence of such agencies was
sufficiently prevalent in the East 2000 years ago, and the Jews were
in this respect, as credulous as their neighbors. We read in Acts,
c. iv. v. 7, that the leaders of the Sanhedrim enquired of the Apostle
Peter, "By what power or by what name, have ye done this;" evidently
acknowledging their belief that it was possible to work miracles by
the invocation of some mysterious power. The Apostle, himself a Jew,
seems to understand their creed; but he answers them in a way for
which they were not altogether prepared.--Translator's Note.
[9] Ædeficabat sine pecunia, judicabat sine conscientia, scribebat
sine scientia.
[10] Non Blandratum, non Alciatum, non Ochinum ad Mahotnetismum
impulerunt; non Valleum ad atheismi professionem induxerunt; non alium
quemdam ad spargendum libellum de tribus impostoribus, quorum secundus
esset Christus Dominus, duo alii Moises et Mahometes, pellexerunt.
[11] Vincentii Panurgii epistola tribus impostoribus, ad clarissimum
virum Joannem--Baptistam Morinum Medicum.
[12] Isaac de Peyrere published his Pre-Adamite doctrine in 1655. This
set of fanatics, who were persuaded by their lenders that the general
race of mankind had lost nothing of their innocence by the fall of
Adam, made their appearance, (both men and women) in the streets of
Munster, and elsewhere, in the same robeless condition as our first
parents were, when they wandered in the bowers of Paradise before
the eating of that forbidden fruit, which
"Brought death into the world and all our woe."
The magistrates of the city attempted to put them down but failed;
and the military had some difficulty in extinguishing this
absurdity.--Translator's Note.
[13] Monstrum illud hominis, diis inferis a secretis scelus, nefarii
illius tractatus de tribus impostoribus author quantumvis ab omni
Religione alienus, adeo ut nec Judaeus, nec Turca, nec Christianus
fuerit, plane tamen athoeus non erat.
[14] Consult Bayle's Dictionary on this subject, article, "Trabea."
[15] Quid vel hac sola dubitatione in Christiana schola cogitara
potest perniciosius?
[16] Nefarium tillud rium impostorum commentum sen liber contra
Christum, Moisem et Mahometan Capomi nuper ab illis qui Evangelo
Calvini so adductissimos profitentur typis excussus est.
[17] Hinc Boccaccius in fabellis probare contendit non posse discerni
inter legem Christi, Moisis et Mahometis, quia eadem signa habent
uti tres annuli consimiles.
[18] F. I. S. D. namely, Fredericus Imperator Salutem Dicit Othoni
illustrissimo amico meo carrissimo.
[19] Quod de tribus famosissimis nationum deceptoribus in ordinem
jussu meo digessit doctissimus ille vir quorum sermonem de illa re in
museo meo habustiæ exscribi curavi; atque Codicem illum stylo aeque
vero ac puro scriptum ad te quam primum mitto; etenum, &c.
[20] There is a measure in every thing.
[21] This phrase is frequently employed to express ecclesiastical
criticism. Its first application however had a more pungent
meaning.--The individual here alluded to having boldly assailed the
errors of the Church was attacked one evening by an assassin.
Fortunately the blow did not prove fatal; but the weapon (a stylus,
or dagger, which is also the Latin name for a pen) having been left
in the wound--on his recovery he wore it in his girdle labelled,
"The Theological Stylus," or Pen of the Church. The trenchant powers
of this instrument have more frequently been employed to repress truth,
than to refute argument.
[22] Moses put to death in one day 24,000 men, because they resisted
his laws.
[23] We read in the Book of Kings, chap. xxii, v. 6, that Ahab,
the King of Israel consulted 400 prophets who were all false, as the
result of their vaticinations showed.
[24] Genesis, chap. iv, v. 7.
[25] I. Samuel chap. xv, v. 11.
[26] Jeremiah, chap. xviii, v. 10.
[27] Cætera, quæ fieri in terris, Coeloque tuentur
Mortales pavidis cum pendent mentibus sæpe
Efficiunt animos humiles formidine Divum,
Depressosque premunt ad terram, propterea quod
Ignorantia causarum conferre Deorum
Cogit ad imperium res, et concedere regnum: et
Quorum operum causas nulla ratione videre
Possunt hæc fieri Divino numine rentur.
Lucret. de Rer. Nat. Lib. VI. v. 49 et seq.
[28] "What appears to our limited conceptions to be evil or apparently
unjust, is entirely owing to our having no commensurate ideas either
of the goodness or the justice of the Deity."--Bolingbroke's Works,
Vol. iv, p. 117.--Translator's Note.
[29] Acts, chap. xvii, v. 28.
[30] "Qui autem negabit Deum esse corpus, etsi Deus Spiritus?" Tertul
adv. Prax. cap. vii.
[31] These four Councils were, First, that of Nice, (325) under
Constantine and Pope Sylvester: Second, that of Constantinople, 381,
under Gratian, Valentinian, Theodosius, and Pope Damasus: Third, that
of Ephesus, 431, under Theodosius II, Valentinian, and Pope Celestin:
and Fourth, that of Chalcedon, 451, under Valentinian, Marcianus,
and Pope Leo I.
[32] The Talmud informs us that the Rabbis deliberated whether they
ought not to strike from the list of Canonical writings the books
of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and that they only spared them because
they made favourable mention of Moses and his law. The prophecies of
Ezekiel (which the Jews were not permitted to read until they were
thirty years of age) would to a certainty have been expunged from the
sacred Catalogue, if a learned Rabbi had not undertaken to reconcile
them with the same Law.
[33] Consult Hobbes' Leviathan "De Homine," chap. xli, pages 56,
57 and 58.
[34] Philip of Macedon had sent auxiliaries and money to Hannibal in
Africa. "Infensos Philippo, ob auxilia cum pecunia nuper in Africam
missu Annibale." Levy, Book xxxi. chap. 1.--Translator's Note.
[35] Hobbe's Leviathan, "De Homine," chap. xii, pp. 56 and 57.
[36] Hobbes, ubi supra "De Homine," chap. xii. pages 58 and 59.
[37] This word must not be taken in its usual acceptation. What
rational men understand by the term is a dexterous man, an able
cheat, and a master of jugglery, which requires great readiness and
address; and not by any means a person in compact with the Devil as
the vulgar suppose.
[38] "And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; for as much as thou
knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be
to us instead of eyes."--Num. chap. x, v. 31.
[39] Exodus iv. 16.
[40] When Romulus was reviewing his forces in the plain of Caprae, here
suddenly arose a thunder-storm, during which he was enveloped in so
thick a cloud that he was lost to the view of his army; nor thereafter
on this earth was Romulus seen.--Liv. 1. I. c. 16.--Translator's note.
[41] Hobbes' Leviathan; de homine, chap. xii. pp. 59 and 60.
[42] It is recorded by Livy, that "there is a grove, through which
flowed a perennial stream, taking its origin in a dark cave, in which
Numa was accustomed to meet the goddess, and receive instructions as
to his political and religions institutions."--Liv. 1. I. c. 21.
[43] Qu'un beau Pigeon a tire d'aile
Vienne obom brer une Purcelle,
Rien n'est sur prenant en cela;
L'on en vit autant en Lydie.
Et le beau Cygne de Leda
Vaut bien le Pigeon de Marie.
[44] I. Samuel, chap. viii. vs. 5 and 6.
[45] The Gospel according to John, chap. viii. v. 7.
[46] Matthew's Gospel, chap. xxii. v. 21.
[47] Matthew's Gospel, chap. xxi. v. 27.
[48] Saint Paul, Hebrews, chap. viii. v. 13 speaks in these terms:
"In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that
which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."--Translator's
note.
[49] This was the opinion of Pope Leo X. as appears from an expression
of his, which, considering that it was made use of at a time when
the philosophical spirit of inquiry had made little progress, was
remarkably bold. "It has been well known in all ages," he observed
to Cardinal Beinbo, "how much this fable of Jesus Christ has been
profitable to us and ours." Quantum nobis nostrisque sa de Christo
fabula profuerit, satis est omnibus saeculis notum.
[50] Confessions, 1. VII. c. ix. v. 28.
[51] See the discourse of Aristophanes, in the "Banquet of Plato."
[52] Luke's Gospel, chap. xvi. v. 24.
[53] "The City of God," book I. chap. xiv.
[54] Orig. adv. Cels. 1. VIII. chap. iv. Compare with, Matthew,
chap. xix. v. 24.
[55] Op. adv. Jorin. 1. II. chap. viii.--"In indication of their
refusal to take an oath, the Society of Friends quote the words
of Christ, "Swear not at all;" unaware, or overlooking, that this
expression is descriptive of a state of social perfection, when the
word of a man will be as good as his oath. Many others of Christ's
precepts besides this are unobserved by Christians, such as 'Lay not
up for yourselves treasures on earth,' 'Give to every one that asketh,
and from him that would borrow of you turn not thou away.' The morality
of Christ is a beau ideal so far from being realized, that there is
not even a similitude of it in the Christian world. The Quakers who
vauntingly obey this precept regarding oaths, has no hesitation in
breaking the other precepts respecting the hoarding of money, and
refusing to give it away."--Translator's Note.
[56] St. Paul.
[57] "I can believe," observes the Count de Boulainvilliers,
"that Mahomet was ignorant of the common elements of education. But
assuredly he was not ignorant in respect to that vast knowledge which
a far travelled man of great natural powers may acquire. He was not
ignorant of his native tongue, although he could not read it, being
master of all its subtleness and all its beauties. He was thoroughly
qualified to render hateful whatever was truly blameworthy, and to
paint truth in colours so simple and vivid, that it was impossible
to misunderstand it. All that he has said is true, as regards the
essential dogmas of Religion; but he has not said all that is true,
and in this respect alone does our religion differ from his." Farther
on he adds, that "Mahomet was neither ignorant nor a barbarian; he
conducted his enterprise with all the skill, delicacy, perseverance,
and intrepidity, which was necessary to ensure its success. His views
were as lofty as any which Alexander the Great, or Julius Cæsar,
were capable of entertaining, had they been in his position."--Life
of Mahomet by Count de Boulainvilliers, book II. pp. 266-8. Amsterdam
edit. 1731.
[58] Genesis chap. xxviii. v. 18.
[59] Omnis enim per se divum natura necesse est
Immortali aevo summa cum pace fruatur,
Semota ab nostris rebus, sejunctaque longe;
Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis
Ipsa suis pollens opibus: nihil indiga nostri,
Nec bene promeritis capitur, nec tangitur ira.
Lucretius de Rerum Nat. Book I. v. 57, and following.
[60] If a work be translated, it always receives a colouring, which
is more or less faint or vivid according to the opinions and ability
of the Translator.--Volney's Lectures on History.