Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/754

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Greece commands Europe : Europe the whole World ; There- fore my Son commands the whole World.

This Method of Difputing, prevailed much among the Stoicks ; efbecially with Zeno and Chryfippus. But 'tis very captious and fbphiftical.

The Word is formed from the Greek a&zfa, cumulus, Heap. SORRANCES, among Farriers, is ufed to fignify two Things, viz. either an ill Srate or Habit of a Horie's Body, arifing from Tome Part difeafed j or a Looiening and Solu- tion of the Continuity of the Parts, which according to the various Circumftances thereof, acquires various Names, as FraBure, Wound, Ulcer, Rupture, Convulfion, Cramp, Ex- coriation.

SORTES, in Antiquity, Lots, a Method of deciding du- bious Cafes, where there appears no ground for a Preference, by referring the Thing to the Conduct of Chancej as in caft- ingofDice, drawing of Tickets, £S?e. See Chance.

The ancient Sortes or Lots, were inftituted by God him- felf ; and in the Books of the Old Teftammt, we meet with divers Handing and perpetual Laws, and divers particular Commands, prefcribing and regulating the Ufe thereof. Thus the Scripture informs us, That the Lot fell on St. Mat- thias, when a Succeffor to Judas in the Apoftolate was to be chofen. And our Saviour's Garment itfelf, was caft Lots for. Sortitifnnt Chrifii Vcfiem.

The Sortes c Pr < £neji'm<e, were famous among the Greeks. The Method of thefe, was to put an Infinity of Letters, or even whole Words into an Urn ; to fhake them together, and throw them out ; and whatever fhould chance to be made out in the Arrangement of the Letters, %$c. compofed the Anlwer of this Oracle.

In what Repute foever, this Method of Divination might, anciently, have been, M. TJacier obferves, That in Cicero's Time its Credit was low; inlbmuch that none but the cre- dulous Populace had recourfe to it.

In lieu of this, another kind of Sortes was introduced into Greece and Italy, which was to take fome celebrated Poet, as Homer, or Euripides, or Virgil-, to open the Book, and whatever firft prefented itfelf to the Eye upon opening, was taken for the Ordinance of Heaven. This made what they call'd Sortes Homeric^, and Sortes Virgiliai^k which fuc- ceeded to the Ufe of the Sortes Trrfnejlincc. W

This Superftition pafs'd hence into Chriftianity ; and the Chriftians took their Sortes out of the Books of the Old and New Tefiament. The firft Paflage that it prefented, upon opening a Book of Scripture, was efteem'd the Anlwer of God himfelf.

If the firft Paflage did not happen to be any Thing to the Purpoie for which the Sortes were confulted ; another Book was opened, till a PafTage were met withal, that might be taken for an Anfwer. This was called Sortes SanBorum.

St.At/gtifiin does not difapprove of this Method of learning Futurity, provided it be not ufed for worldly Things 5 and owns he has praclifed it himfelf.

Gregory of Tours adds, That the Cuftom was, to lay the Bible on the Altar, and to pray the Lord, that he'd difcover what was to come topafs.

Inftances of the Ufe of the Sortes SanBorum are very fre- quent in Hiftory. Heraclius, Mr. Fleury tells us, in his War againft Coz-roe, to learn where he fhould take up his Winter Quarters, purified his Army for three Days, and then opened the Gofpels, and found the Place appointed for his Winter Quarters, was in Albania.

Gilbert of Nogent, informs us, That in his Time, that is, about the beginning of theXIIth Century, the Cuftom was at the Confecration of Bifhops, to confult the Sortes SanBorum, to learn the Succefs, Fate, X$c. of their Epifcopate.

The Practice is founded on a Suppofition, that God pre- sides over the Sortes $ and on the 33d Verfe of the 16th Chapter of 'proverbs ; The Lot is caft in the Bofom, and its %)ecifion is from the Almighty.

Ineffec/t, many Divines hold, that the Lot is conducted in a particular Manner by Providence ; that 'tis an extraordinary Manner wherein God declares hisWillby a kind of immediate Revelation. The Sortes SanBorum, however, were condemn'd by the Council of Agda in 506, at the Time they were be- ginning to take footing in France, &c.

SORTILEGE, a kind of Divination by Sortes or Lots. See Sortes.

SOTER1A, in Antiquity, Sacrifices offered to the Gods, in Gratitude for their having delivered from Danger. See Sacrifice.

The Term is alfo applied to poetical Compofitions made far the fame End. Orpheus is the firft, who appears to have compofed Soteria.

Our Latin Poets give the fame Name to Poems in Latin Verfe, wrote to give Thanks to God or the Saints, for having preferved them on any Occafion : F. ^rflu/zwbeingdelivered from a dangerous Difeafe, by the Intercefiion, as he fuppofed, of St. Genevieve, compofed that fine Piece in Honour of that Saint, ftill extant under the Title of Soteria. The Word is form'd from the Greek, raT))?, Saviour.

SOVERAIGN, the firft Being; the Supreme, or tU Almighty ; A Term, in Striclnefs, only applicable to God.

<Pafquier derives it from the Latin, Superior, the Firft" in any Thing, or he who is fuperior to the reft.

Whence, in the ancient French Cuftoms, we meet with Soveraign Mafter of the Houfhold; Soveraign Matter of the Forefts ; Soveraign Mafter of the Treafury : and hence, Uri (] er Charles VI. the Title Soveraign is given to Bailiffs and Se- nelchals, with regard to their Superiority over IPrevots and Chatelains.

Soveraign, with regard to Men, is applied to Kings, and Princes, who are Supreme and Independant, and hold of n a Body but God and their Sword. See King, Prince, &c.

The Authority of a Soveraign is only bounded by the Laws of God, of Nature, and the fundamental Laws of the State. , The Title is alfo given to jTuch as are invefted with certain Rights, which only belong to Soveraigns : As the Right of Coining Money ; lending Agents to Diets, to treat of War and Peace : In which Senfe, the Feudatories of the Empire, and the Tributaries of the Grand Signor, are called Sove- raigns.

Soveraign is alfo applied to Judges, who have a Power from a Prince, to decide the ProcefTes of his Subjects without Ap. peal or in the laft RefTort. At 'Paris there are five Soveraign Companies; the Parliament, the Chamber of Accompts, the Court of Aids, the Grand Council, and the Court of Monies. In England, we have but one Soveraign Court 5 the Houfe of Lords.

SOUL, a Spirit inclofed in an organiz'd Body. See Spirit and Body.

Many of the ancient Philofophers afferted an Anims, Mundi, a Soul which moved and animated the Machine of the Univerfe, and gave Action to all natural Caufes. This Doctrine, 'Plato handles very fully in his Timcrus. See Anima Mundi.

Others have given particular Souls to all the heavenly Bodies, the Sun, Stars, Earth, %$lc. to regulate their Mo- tions.

The Philofophers, many of them, allow of two, and others of three kinds of Souls.

A Rational Soul, which they hold to be Divine, and in- fufed by the Breath of God.

An Irrational or Senfuive Soul, which Man has in common with Brutes, and which is form'd out of the Elements.

To which fome add a Vegetative Soul ; which we have in common with Plants ; and which, as the Firft is the Principle of Reafon and Underftanding, or that in us which thinks and understands ; and the Second, the Principle of Life j fo this Third is the Principle of Growth, Nutrition and Vegetation. See Vegetative, &c.

The Epicureans took the Subftance of the Soul, we mean of the rational Soul, to be a fubtil Air, compofed of their Atoms, or primitive Corpufcles. See Atom.

The Stoicks held it to be a Flame or Portion of heavenly Light.

Spinofa and his Followers, allowing of only one kind of Subftance, viz. Matter, maintain the Soul to be of the fame Subftance with the Body, viz. Material. See Substan- tial.

The Cartefians make Thought the EfTence of the Soul, and from this Principle, deduce its Immateriality and Im- mortality. See Thinking.

But the Principle is Falfe ; nor is there any need to define the Soul a Subftance that thinks, to prove it Immortal. 'Tis enough, that the Soul be capable of Thinking ; and that it produce its own Thoughts, without having Thought its EfTence. 'Tis no more eflential ro the Soul to Think than to Will: For a Thing lean conceive the Soul without, cannot be its EfTence.

Again, if Thought be the EfTence of the Soul ; as a Thing cannot produce itfelf, irs own Being, or EfTence; the Soul does not produce its own Thoughts, nor its own Will : And thus is it brought to the Condition of Brutes, or even of in- animate Bodies without any Action, any Liberty, £efc

If the Cartefians only mean this of the Faculty of Thinking i they do wrong even to call this the EfTence of the Soul. "Tis no more its EfTence, than the Faculty of Willing is. And we conceive fomething in the Soul, prior to both thofe Facul- ties.

The Soul is a fpiritual Subftance, proper to inform, or animate a human Body, and by its Union with this Body, toconftitutea reafonable Animal or Man. This is its EfTence; and this its Definition.

It muft be owned, the Cartefians prove the Spirituality and Immortality of the Soul, from its Thinking, exceedingly well: But they are not to have the Honour of this Proof, as their own Invention. All the great Philofophers ufed h before them, and ufe it ftill. See Immortality.

The Philofophers are not at all agreed, as 'to the Manner

wherein the Soul refides in the Body. Some hold it equally

diffufed throughout every Part thereof. Others fay it w

S J fiuences