and if our Bufinefs is putting our Money, we must be contented with the Allowance of Law. To go farther, is downright Injustice.

Mifoch. What does the Law allow fuch a Man for his Trouble? i

Alph. The Statute enacts, That all 12 Car. 2. Scriveners, Solicitols, and Divers 13· of Bargains o2 Contraãs, föz any Money lent, who shall direaly or indirealy receive above Five Shillings foz the procuring oz fazbearing an Hundzed Pounds for a Year, and lo pzopoztionably, with respeã to other Sums and Time; oz thall take above Twelvepence for making o2 renewing of the Bond oz Bill foz Loan, 02 for fowbearing thereof, oz for any Counter-Bond 02 Bill concerning the lame, thall fo2feit foz every fuch Offence Twenty Pounds, and have Imprisonment for half a year. And one Moity of this Forfeiture is to be for the King, and the other for the Profecutor. The fame Penalty is enacted by 21 Jac. 1. cap. 17.

Notwithstanding this plain Provifion, 'tis often difregarded. What Artifice is used to opprefs our Neighbour, and grind the Face of the Pool! The Bond or Mortgage is queftion'd, and the Money must be call'd in: Now all this is

nothing

nothing but Feint and Grimace: A good Fee for Continuation, fhall dispel the Procurer's Scruples, and make the Security as firm as the Bank of Amfterdam. Thus Intereft is unreafonably fcrew'd up,

ken, and the Law fcandaloufly bro

ken, and the Needy opprefs'd and undone. But my Journey calls me away, and I must enlarge no farther.

Mifoch. I fhall confider your Dif courfe.

Your Servant.

OF

OF AN

APOSTLE.

In a DIALOGUE between

Eufebius and Philarcheus.

Eufeb.

P

Hilarchæus, I'm glad to fee you: I come for the Satisfaction of spending a little time with you. But my Vifit, I'm afraid, is unfeafònable: You are engag'd with your Books, I perceive; and therefore I fhall take my leave, and wait on you when you are more at leifure.

Philarch. Eufebius, I beg you to ftay; I'm always at leifure for your Com

pany.

Eufeb. Sir, I thank you And fince you ufe to be fo kind, as not to make your Studies any Secret to me, pray, what were you upon ?

Philarch. I was reading a little Ecclefiaftical Hiftory; you know, that Study is my Inclination: Indeed, confidering the Dignity of the Subject, and the

Intereft

Intereft we have all in it, I think a Chriftian can hardly employ his Thoughts upon a better Argument. And here, amongst other things, I was reflecting upon the unpromifing Beginnings of our Religion; with what a flender Force the firft Undertakers fet forward; and, what a ftrange Difproportion there was between the Caufe and the Effect, In earnest, humanly fpeaking, if twelve private Men fhould make an Expedition against the grand Seignior, they would be as likely to fucceed as the Apostles were in their Enterprize, when our Saviour left them.

Eufeb. You mean before the Day of Pentecoft, before the Defcent of the Hoby Ghoft, before the Comforter had fortified their Spirits, led them into all Truth, and furnish'd fupernatural Affiftance: But when they were thus qualified, and re-inforc'd from Heaven, I hope you think the feeming Impoffibility vanish'd, and that the Profpect was much alter'd.

Philarch. Without doubt.

Eufeb. Well! fince you have brought this Difcourfe upon the Board, methinks the Honour of the Apoftolical Office has a furprizing Luftre; the Reprefentation, the Nature of the Employment, the E

vidence

vidence of the Credentials, the Hazards of the Execution, &c. are all Circumftances of Greatnefs and Diftinction.

Philarch. I'm of your mind: But, you know, they had not all the Advantages of great Men; their Education was low, and their Condition extremely private and unornamented.

Eufeb. Their Commiffion was the better attefted upon that Score, as we fhall fee hereafter. However, their Condition at first was not every way fo mean as you feem to fuppofe it.

Philarch. How fo?

Eufeb. You know, the Apofiles were all Jews. Now, if length of Descent and Genealogy are Marks of Condition, the Jews were the best Gentlemen in the World. They kept Registers of their Families, could run their Pedigree to the Head of their Tribe, from thence to A braham and Noah, and fo on through the Antediluvians up to Adam. Thus every Man could prove himself extracted from Perfons of Figure, and had Pa- Joh. 7. triarchs and Princes in his Ancestors: The first part of thefe Records were Ezra 2. preferv'd in the Old Teftament, and the Luke 3. Remainder was carried on by the Care Jofeph. and Custom of that Nation. Thus, as a foreign Ambaffador reported, That the Q 2 Roman

[Chron.9.

Nehem. 7.

Philip 3