A SYSTEM OF POLITE LEARNING. OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. Question. WHAT mean you by a science? Answer. A system of any branch of knowledge, comprehending the doctrine, reason, and theory of the thing, without any immediate application. of it to the uses of life. Q. What is an art? A. A collection of rules and precepts for doing a thing surely, readily, and gracefully; or knowledge reduced into practice. Q. How are the arts divided? A. Those that are ingenious, or cultivated without any immediate regard to the luere arising from them; as poetry, music, painting, rhetoric, grammar, sculpture, &c. Q. Why are they called liberal? A. Because the ancients allowed them to be studied only by the liberi or free persons. Q. What are the mechanical arts ? as A. Those wherein the hand and body are more concerned than the mind, and which are cultivated for the sake of the profit attending them: cabinet-making, ship-building, weaving, turnery masonry, carpentry, &c. popularly known by the name of trades. Q. Why are the termed mechanical ? A. They take their denomination from a Greek word [mechane] signifying a machine, as being all practised by means of some machine or instru ment. Q. What are the principal sciences? A. Theology, philosophy, jurisprudence, physic, rhetoric, grammar, poetry, and mathematics. THEOLOGY. Q. What is theology? A. A science which instructs us in the knowledge of God, and divine things, and teaches us the manner in which we should serve our Crea tor. Q. Whence is the word theology derived? A. From two Greek words [Theos logos] signi fying the word of God. How is theology divided P A. Into natural and revealed: natural, is the knowledge we have of God from his works, by the light of nature and reason; and revealed, is that which we obtain by faith and revelation. Q. To whom was the title of theologist, or divine, first given ? A. To St. John the evangelist, who was by that title distinguished from the other three evangelists; because their gospels only contain the history of Christ, but that of St. John establishes his eternal divinity (as the word of God) and his incarnation. RELIGION. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom good understanding have all they that keep his command. ments," DAVID. "Be particular not to neglect religion in the education of your children. In vain will you endeavour to conduct them by another path. If they are dear to you, if you expect from them credit or comfort, from religion must be derived their ! ppiness and your own." FATHER GERDIL. "Religion, soother of all our keenest sorrows, source and refiner of all our real joys! shed thy heavenly influence on our souls; direct, animate, and crown all our pursuits; pervade and consecrate all our thoughts, words, and actions; so shall we answer the design of God in our creation, taste true happiness in this life, and arise to complete and immortal felicity in the world to come." Dr. ASH. Q. What is religion? 4. That worship or homage due to God, con B sidered as Creator, Preserver, and (with Christians) Redeemer of the world. Q. What is the foundation of religion? A. The existence of a God; who requires service and adoration from his creatures. Q. Whence is this knowledge obtained ? A. From the dictates of natural reason, and the express declaration of God himself, by the mouths of prophets, &c. Q. Are there not several religions in the world P A. There are four principal ones: the Christian, the Jewish, the Pagan, and the Mahometan. Q. Who was the author of the Christian religion ? A. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who left the bosom of the Father, to dwell in flesh and blood here on earth; where, after performing many miracles, and works of beneficence, he was crucified and buried; but the third day he rose from the dead, and shortly after ascended to the Father. Q. How is the Jewish religion founded P A. On the Old Testament, and the law given by Moses to the Israelites. Q. What is the Pagan religion? A. The idolatrous rites performed by the Pagans, or heathen nations, who worship and adore false gods, or give those honours to creatures, and the works of man's hand, which are only due to Gode |