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10. It has sometimes been the practice of men to imprint names or sentences on their memory by taking the first letters of every word of that sentence, or of those names, and making a new word out of them. So the name of the Maccabees is borrowed from the first letters of the Hebrew words which make that sentence Mi Camoka Balim Jehovah, i. e. Who is like thee among the gods? Which was written on their banners. Jesus Christ our Saviour hath been called a Fish, in Greek Ixor, by the fathers, because these are the first letters of those Greek words, Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Saviour. So the word Vibgyor teaches us to remember the order of the seven original colours as they appear by the sun-beams cast through a prism on a white paper, or formed by the sun in a rainbow, according to the different refrangibility of the rays, viz. Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red.

In this manner the Hebrew grammarians teach their students to remember the letters which change their natural pronunciation by the inscription of a Dagesh, by gathering these six letters, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Caph, Pe and Thau in the word Begadchephat; and that they might not forget the letters named quiescent, viz. a, h, and i, they are joined in the word Ahevi. So the universal and particular propositions in logic are remembered by the words Barbara, Celarent, Darii, &c.

Other artificial helps to memory may be just mentioned here.

Dr. Grey in his book called Memoria Technica has exchanged the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, for some con

sonants, b, d, t, f, l, y, p, k, n, and some vowels, a, e, i, o, u, and several dipthongs, and thereby formed words which denote numbers, which may be more easily remembered and Mr. Lowe has improved his scheme in a small pamphlet called Mnemonics delineated, whereby in seven leaves he has comprised almost an infinity of things in science and in common life, and reduced them to a sort of measure like latin verse; though the words may be supposed to be very barbarous, being such a mixture of vowels and consonants as are very unfit for harmony.

But after all, the very writers on this subject have confessed that several of these artificial helps of memory are so cumbersome as not to be suitable to every temper or person; nor are they of any use for the delivery of a discourse by memory, nor of much service in learning the sciences but they may be sometimes practised for the assisting our remembrance of certain sentences, numbers

or names.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

Of determining a Question.

I. WHEN a subject is proposed to your thoughts, consider whether it be knowable at all, or no ; and then whether it be not above the reach of your enquiry and knowledge in the present state; and remember that it is a great waste of time to busy yourselves too much amongst unsearchables: the chief use of these studies is to keep the mind humble, by finding its own ignorance and weak

ness.

II. Consider again whether the matter be worthy of your enquiry at all; and then, how far it may be worthy of your present search and labour according to your age, your time of life, your station in the world, your capacity, your profession, your chief design and end. There are many things worth enquiry to one man, which are not so to another; and there are things that may deserve the study of the same person in one part of life, which would be improper or impertinent at another. To read books of the art of preaching, or disputes about church discipline, are proper for a theological student in the end of his academical studies, but not at the beginning of them. To pursue mathematical studies very largely, may be useful for a professor of philosophy, but not for a divine.

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III. Consider whether the subject of your enquiry be easy or difficult; whether you have sufficient foundation or skill, furniture and advantages for the pursuit of it. It would be madness for a young statuary to attempt at first to carve a Venus or a Mercury, and especially without proper tools. And it is equal folly for a man to pretend to make great improvements in natural philosophy without due experiments.

IV. Consider whether the subject be any ways useful or no, before you engage in the study of it: often put this question to yourselves, cui bono? to what purpose? What end will it attain? Is it for the glory of God, for the good of men, for your own advantage, for the removal of any natural or moral evil, for the attainment of any natural or moral good? Will the profit be equal to the labour? There are many subtle impertinences learnt in the schools, many painful trifles even among the mathematical theorems and problems, many difficiles nugæ, or laborious follies of various kinds, which some ingenious men have been engaged in. A due reflection upon these things will call the mind away from vain amusements, and save much time.

V. Consider what tendency it has to make you wiser and better, as well as to make you more learned; and those questions which tend to wisdom and prudence in our conduct among men, as well as piety toward God, are doubtless more important, and preferable beyond all those enquiries which only improve our knowledge in mere speculations.

VI. If the question appear to be well worth your diligent application, and you are furnished with the neces sary requisites to pursue it, then consider whether it be drest up and entangled in more words than is needful, or contain and include more complicated ideas than is necessary; and if so, endeavour to reduce it to a greater simplicity and plainness, which will make the enquiry and argument easier and plainer all the way.

VII. If it be stated in an improper, obscure, or irreg ular form, it may be meliorated by changing the phrase, or transposing the parts of it; but be careful always to keep the grand and important point of enquiry the same in your new stating the question. Little tricks and deceits of sophistry, by sliding in, or leaving out such words as entirely change the question, should be abandoned and renounced by all fair disputants, and honest searchers after truth.

The stating a question with clearness and justice goes a great way many times toward the answering it. The greatest part of true knowledge lies in a distinct perception of things which are in themselves distinct: and some men give more light and knowledge by the bare stating of the question with perspicuity and justice than others by talking of it in gross confusion for whole hours together. To state a question is but to separate and disentangle the parts of it from one another, as well as from every thing which doth not concern the question, and then to lay the disentangled parts of the question in due order and method: oftentimes without more ado this fully resolves the doubt, and shews the mind where the truth lies, without argument or dispute.