Building Java Programs A Back to

Basics Approach 4th Edition Reges

Test Bank
Visit to download the full and correct content document: https://testbankdeal.com/dow
nload/building-java-programs-a-back-to-basics-approach-4th-edition-reges-test-bank/
 Sample Final Exam #6
(Summer 2008; thanks to Hélène Martin)

1. Array Mystery
Consider the following method:
public static void arrayMystery(String[] a) {
for (int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
a[i] = a[i] + a[a.length - 1 - i];
}
}
Indicate in the right-hand column what values would be stored in the array after the method arrayMystery executes
if the array in the left-hand column is passed as a parameter to it.
Original Contents of Array Final Contents of Array
String[] a1 = {"a", "b", "c"};
arrayMystery(a1); _____________________________

String[] a2 = {"a", "bb", "c", "dd"};

arrayMystery(a2); _____________________________

String[] a3 = {"z", "y", "142", "w", "xx"};

arrayMystery(a3); _____________________________

1 of 9
2. Reference Semantics Mystery
The following program produces 4 lines of output. Write the output below, as it would appear on the console.
public class Pokemon {
int level;

public Pokemon(int level) {

this.level = level;
}
}

public class ReferenceMystery {

public static void main(String[] args) {
int hp = 10;
Pokemon squirtle = new Pokemon(5);

battle(squirtle, hp);
System.out.println("Level " + squirtle.level + ", " + hp + " hp");

hp = hp + squirtle.level;

battle(squirtle, hp + 1);
System.out.println("Level " + squirtle.level + ", " + hp + " hp");
}

public static void battle(Pokemon poke, int hp) {

poke.level++;
hp -= 5;
System.out.println("Level " + poke.level + ", " + hp + " hp");
}
}

2 of 9
3. Inheritance Mystery
Assume that the following classes have been defined:

public class Dog extends Cat { public class Cat {

public void m1() { public void m1() {
m2(); System.out.print("cat 1 ");
System.out.print("dog 1 "); }
}
} public void m2() {
System.out.print("cat 2 ");
public class Lion extends Dog { }
public void m2() {
System.out.print("lion 2 "); public String toString() {
super.m2(); return "cat";
} }
}
public String toString() {
return "lion";
}
}
Given the classes above, what output is produced by the following code?
Cat[] elements = {new Dog(), new Cat(), new Lion()};
for (int i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {
elements[i].m1();
System.out.println();
elements[i].m2();
System.out.println();
System.out.println(elements[i]);
System.out.println();
}

3 of 9
4. File Processing
Write a static method evaluate that accepts as a parameter a Scanner containing a series of tokens representing a
numeric expression involving addition and subtraction and that returns the value of the expression. For example, if a
Scanner called data contains the following tokens:
4.2 + 3.4 - 4.1
The call of evaluate(data); should evaluate the result as (4.2+3.4-4.1) = (7.6-4.1) = 3.5 and should return this
value as its result. Every expression will begin with a real number and then will have a series of operator/number
pairs that follow. The operators will be either + (addition) or - (subtraction). As in the example above, there will be
spaces separating numbers and operators. You may assume the expression is legal.
Your program should evaluate operators sequentially from left to right. For example, for this expression:
7.3 - 4.1 - 2.0
your method should evaluate the operators as follows:
7.3 - 4.1 - 2.0 = (7.3 - 4.1) - 2.0 = 3.2 - 2.0 = 1.2
The Scanner might contain just a number, in which case your method should return that number as its result.

4 of 9
5. File Processing
Write a static method blackjack that accepts as its parameter a Scanner for an input file containing a hand of
playing cards, and returns the point value of the hand in the card game Blackjack.
A card has a rank and a suit. There are 13 ranks: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King. There are 4
suits: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades. A Blackjack hand's point value is the sum of its cards' point values. A
card's point value comes from its rank; the suit is irrelevant. In this problem, cards are worth the following points:
Rank Point Value
2-10 The card's rank (for example, a 7 is worth 7 points)
Jack (J), Queen (Q), King (K) 10 points each
Ace (A) 11 points (for this problem; simplified compared to real Blackjack)
The input file contains a single hand of cards, each represented by a pair of "<rank> <suit>" tokens. For example:
5 Diamonds
Q Spades
2 Spades 3 Hearts
Given the above input, your method should return 20, since the cards' point values are 5 + 10 + 2 + 3 = 20.
The input can be in mixed casing, have odd spacing between tokens, and can be split across lines. For example:
2 Hearts
j SPADES a Diamonds
2 ClUbS
A
hearts
Given the above input, your method should return 36, since the cards' point values are 2 + 10 + 11 + 2 + 11 = 36.
You may assume that the Scanner contains at least 1 card (two tokens) of input, and that no line will contain any
tokens other than valid card data. The real game of Blackjack has many other rules that you should ignore for this
problem, such as the notion of going "bust" once you exceed a score of 21.

5 of 9
6. Array Programming
Write a static method named allPlural that accepts an array of strings as a parameter and returns true only if
every string in the array is a plural word, and false otherwise. For this problem a plural word is defined as any
string that ends with the letter S, case-insensitively. The empty string "" is not considered a plural word, but the
single-letter string "s" or "S" is. Your method should return true if passed an empty array (one with 0 elements).
The table below shows calls to your method and the expected values returned:
Array Call and Value Returned
String[] a1 = {"snails", "DOGS", "Cats"}; allPlural(a1) returns true
String[] a2 = {"builds", "Is", "S", "THRILLs", "CS"}; allPlural(a2) returns true
String[] a3 = {}; allPlural(a3) returns true
String[] a4 = {"She", "sells", "sea", "SHELLS"}; allPlural(a4) returns false
String[] a5 = {"HANDS", "feet", "toes", "OxEn"}; allPlural(a5) returns false
String[] a6 = {"shoes", "", "socks"}; allPlural(a6) returns false
For full credit, your method should not modify the array's elements.

6 of 9
7. Array Programming
Write a static method named reverseChunks that accepts two parameters, an array of integers a and an integer
"chunk" size s, and reverses every s elements of a. For example, if s is 2 and array a stores {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6},
a is rearranged to store {2, 1, 4, 3, 6, 5}. With an s of 3 and the same elements {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, array
a is rearranged to store {3, 2, 1, 6, 5, 4}. The chunks on this page are underlined for convenience.
If a's length is not evenly divisible by s, the remaining elements are untouched. For example, if s is 4 and array a
stores {5, 4, 9, 2, 1, 7, 8, 6, 2, 10}, a is rearranged to store {2, 9, 4, 5, 6, 8, 7, 1, 2, 10}.
It is also possible that s is larger than a's entire length, in which case the array is not modified at all. You may assume
that s is 1 or greater (an s of 1 would not modify the array). If array a is empty, its contents should remain unchanged.
The following table shows some calls to your method and their expected results:
Array and Call Array Contents After Call
int[] a1 = {20, 10, 30, 60, 50, 40}; {10, 20, 60, 30, 40, 50}
reverseChunks(a1, 2);
int[] a2 = {2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16}; {6, 4, 2, 12, 10, 8, 14, 16}
reverseChunks(a2, 3);
int[] a3 = {7, 1, 3, 5, 9, 8, 2, 6, 4, 10, 0, 12}; {9, 5, 3, 1, 7, 10, 4, 6, 2, 8, 0, 12}
reverseChunks(a3, 5);
int[] a4 = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}; {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
reverseChunks(a4, 8);
int[] a5 = {}; {}
reverseChunks(a5, 2);

7 of 9
8. Critters
Write a class Minnow that extends Critter from HW8, along with its movement and eating behavior. All other
aspects of Minnow use the defaults. Add fields, constructors, etc. as necessary to your class.
Minnow objects initially move in a S/E/S/E/... pattern. However, when a Minnow encounters food (when its eat
method is called), it should do all of the following:
• Do not eat the food.
• Start the movement cycle over. In other words, the next move after eat is called should always be South.
• Lengthen and reverse the horizontal portion of the movement cycle pattern.
The Minnow should reverse its horizontal direction and increase its horizontal movement distance by 1 for
subsequent cycles. For example, if the Minnow had been moving S/E/S/E, it will now move S/W/W/S/W/W. If
it hits a second piece of food, it will move S/E/E/E/S/E/E/E, and a third, S/W/W/W/W/S/W/W/W/W, and so on.
?
The following is an example timeline of a particular Minnow object's movement. The ??
timeline below is also drawn in the diagram at right. Underlined occurrences mark squares ??
where the Minnow found food. ???
???
• S, E, S, E (hits food) ?
????
• S, W, W, S, W, W, S (hits food) ????
• S, E, E, E, S, E, E, E, S, E (hits food) ??
• S (hits food) ?
??????
• S, E, E, E, E, E, S, E, E, E, E, E, ...

8 of 9
9. Classes and Objects
Suppose that you are provided with a pre-written class Date as // Each Date object stores a single
described at right. (The headings are shown, but not the method // month/day such as September 19.
bodies, to save space.) Assume that the fields, constructor, and // This class ignores leap years.
methods shown are already implemented. You may refer to them
or use them in solving this problem if necessary. public class Date {
private int month;
Write an instance method named bound that will be placed inside private int day;
the Date class to become a part of each Date object's behavior.
The bound method constrains a Date to within a given range of // Constructs a date with
dates. It accepts two other Date objects d1 and d2 as parameters; // the given month and day.
public Date(int m, int d)
d1's date is guaranteed to represent a date that comes no later in
the year than d2's date. // Returns the date's day.
The bound method makes sure that this Date object is between public int getDay()
d1's and d2's dates, inclusive. If this Date object is not between
// Returns the date's month.
those dates inclusive, it is adjusted to the nearest date in the public int getMonth()
acceptable range. The method returns a result of true if this
Date was within the acceptable range, or false if it was shifted. // Returns the number of days
// in this date's month.
For example, given the following Date objects: public int daysInMonth()
Date date1 = new Date(7, 12);
Date date2 = new Date(10, 31); // Modifies this date's state
Date date3 = new Date(9, 19); // so that it has moved forward
Date bound1 = new Date(8, 4); // in time by 1 day, wrapping
Date bound2 = new Date(9, 26); // around into the next month
Date bound3 = new Date(12, 25); // or year if necessary.
// example: 9/19 -> 9/20
The following calls to your method should adjust the given Date // example: 9/30 -> 10/1
objects to represent the following dates and should return the // example: 12/31 -> 1/1
following results: public void nextDay()
call date becomes returns
date1.bound(bound1, bound2) 8/4 false
// your method would go here
date2.bound(bound1, bound2) 9/26 false
date3.bound(bound1, bound3) 9/19 true }
date2.bound(bound3, bound3) 12/25 false

9 of 9
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 The Confession of Agnes Sympson to King
James.
“Item.—Fyled and convict for samecle, as she confest before his
Majesty that the devil in man’s likeness met her going out in the
fields, from her own house a Keith, betwixt five and six at even, being
alone, and commendit her to be at Northborrick Kirk the next night.
And she passed then on horseback, conveyed by her good-son called
John Cooper, and lighted at the Kirk-yard, or a little before she came
to it, about eleven hours at even. They danced along the Kirk-yard,
Geilie Duncan plaid to them on a trump, John Fien, mussiled, led all
the rest; the said Agnes and her daughter followed next. Besides
there were Kate Grey, George Moile’s wife, Robert Guerson,
Catherine Duncan Buchanan, Thomas Barnhill and his wife, Gilbert
Macgil, John Macgil, Catherine Macgil, with the rest of their
complices, above an hundred persons, whereof there were six men,
and all the rest women. The women made first their homage and
then the men. The men were turned nine times Widdershins about,
and the women six times. John Fien blew up the doors and in the
lights, which were like mickle black candles sticking round about the
pulpit. The devil started up himself in the pulpit, like a mickle black
man, and every one answered here. Mr. Robert Guerson being
named, they all ran hirdie girdie, and were angry; for it was promised
he should be called Robert the Comptroller, alias Rob the Rowar, for
expriming of his name. The first thing he demandit was, as they kept
all promise, and been good servants, and what they had done since
the last time they convened. At his command they opened up three
graves, two within, and one without the Kirk, and took off the joints
of their fingers, toes, and neise, and parted them amongst them: and
the said Agnes Sympson got for her part a winding-sheet and two
joints. The devil commandit them to keep the joints upon them while
they were dry, and then to make a powder of them to do evil withal.
Then he commandit them to keep his commandments, which were to
do all the evil they could. Before they departed they kissed his breech
[the record speaks more broad.] He [meaning the devil] had on him
ane gown and ane hat, which were both black: and they that were
assembled, part stood and part sate: John Fien was ever nearest the
devil, at his left elbock; Graymarcal keeped the door.”
The Scotch accent has been here retained for the better
authenticity of the matter; the confession here given being, in all
probability, a principal reason why King James changed his opinion
relative to the existence of witches; which, it was reported, he was
inclined to think were mere conceits; as he was then but young (not
above five or six and twenty years of age) when this examination took
place before him; and part of the third chapter of his Demonologie
appears to be a transcript of this very confession.
Agnes Sympson was remarkable for her skill in diseases, and
frequently, it is said, took the pains and sickness of the afflicted upon
herself to relieve them, and afterwards translated them to a third
person: she made use of long Scriptural rhymes and prayers,
containing the principal points of Christianity, so that she seemed
not so much a white witch as a holy woman. She also used
nonsensical rhymes in the instruction of ignorant people, and taught
them to say the white and black Pater-noster in metre, in set forms,
to be used morning and evening; and at other times, as occasion
might require.
 The White Pater-noster runs thus:—
God was my foster,
He fostered me
Under the book of Palm tree.
St. Michael was my dame,
He was born at Bethlehem.
He was made of flesh and blood,
God send me my right food;
My right food, and dyne too,
That I may too yon kirk go,
To read upon yon sweet book,
Which the mighty God of heaven shook.
Open, open, heaven’s yaits,
Steik, steik, hell’s yaits,
All saints be the better,
That hear the white prayer, Pater-noster.
 The Black Pater-noster.
Four neuks in this house for holy angels,
A post in the midst, that Christ Jesus,
Lucas, Marcus, Mathew, Joannes,
God be unto this house, and all that belong us.

Whenever she required an answer from the devil, on any occasion,

he always appeared to her in the shape of a dog. And when she
wished him to depart, she conjured him in the following manner,
namely: “I charge thee to depart on the law thou livest on:” this it is
said was the language with which she dismissed him, after consulting
with him on old Lady Edmiston’s sickness. The manner in which she
raised the devil was with these words: “Elia come and speak to me;”
when he never failed to appear to her in the shape of a dog, as usual.
Her sailing with her Kemmers and fellow witches in a boat is related
as a very remarkable story, where the devil caused them all to drink
good wine and beer without money; and of her neither seeing the
sailors nor they her; and of the storm which the devil raised, whereby
the ship perished; also her baptizing, and using other ceremonies
upon a cat, in the company of other witches, to prevent Queen Anne
from coming to Scotland.
That which is most remarkable in John Fein, is the devil appearing
to him, not in black, but white raiment, although he proposed as
hellish a covenant to him as any in the black costume. His skimming
along the surface of the sea with his companions—his foretelling the
leak in the Queen’s ship—his raising a storm by throwing a cat into
the sea, during the King’s voyage to Denmark—his raising a mist on
the King’s return, by getting Satan to cast a thing like a foot-ball into
the sea, which caused such a smoke, as to endanger his Majesty
being driven on the coast of England—his opening locks by means of
sorcery, by merely blowing into a woman’s hand while she sat by the
fire—his embarking in a boat with other witches, sailing over the sea,
getting on board of a ship, drinking wine and ale there, and
afterwards sinking the vessel with all on board—his kissing Satan’s —
e again, at another conventicle—his being carried into the air, in
chasing a cat, for the purpose of raising a storm, according to Satan’s
prescription. He pretended also to tell any man how long he would
live, provided he told him the day of his birth.
 SORCERY.

The crime of witchcraft, or divination, by the assistance of evil

spirits.
Sorcery is held by some to be properly what the ancients called
Sortilegium, or divination by means of Sortes or lots.
Lord Coke (3 Instit. fol. 44,) describes a Sorcerer, qui utitur
sortibus, et incantationibus dæmonium. Sorcery, by Stat. 1o.Jac. is
felony. In another book it is said to be a branch of heresy; and by
Stat. 12, Carolus II. it is excepted out of the general pardons.
Sorcery is pretended to have been a very common thing formerly;
the credulity, at least, of those ages made it pass for such; people
frequently suffered for it. In a more enlightened and less believing
age, sorcery has fled before the penetrating rays of science, like every
other species of human superstition and complicated diablerie. For,
indeed, it is a very probable opinion, that the several glaring
instances of sorcery we meet, in our old law books and historians, if
well inquired into, would be found at bottom, to have more human
art and desperate malignity and vindictive cunning about them, than
of demoniacal and preternatural agency. Were it not for a
wellregulated police acting under wise regulations for the safety and
harmony of society, sorcerers and evil spirits would be equally as
prevalent and destructive at the present day, as they were some two
or three hundred years ago.
 SORTES.—SORTILEGIUM.

The ancients had a method of deciding dubious cases, where there

appeared no ground for a preference, by Sortes or lots, as in casting
of dice, drawing tickets, and various other ways, many of which are
still adopted.
The ancient sortes or lots, were instituted by God himself; and in
the Old Testament we meet with many standing and perpetual laws,
and a number of particular commands, prescribing and regulating
the use of them. Thus Scripture informs us that the lot fell on St.
Matthias, when a successor to Judas in the apostolate was to be
chosen. Our Saviour’s garment itself was cast lots for. Sortiti sunt
Christo vestem.
The Sortes Prænestinæ were famous among the Greeks. The
method of these was to put a great number of letters, or even whole
words, into an urn; to shake them together, and throw them out; and
whatever should chance to be made out in the arrangement of the
letters, &c. composed the answer of this oracle.
In what repute soever this mode of divination formerly might have
been, M. Dacier observes, that, in Cicero’s time, its credit was but
low; so much so, that none but the most credulous part of the
populace had recourse to it. Instead of this another kind of sortes
was introduced into Greece and Italy; which was, to take some
celebrated poet, as for instance Homer, Euripides, Virgil, &c., to
open the book, and whatever first presented itself to the eye on
opening, it thus was taken for the ordinance of heaven. This made
what was called the Sortes Homericæ and Sortes Virgilianæ, which
succeeded the use of the Sortes Prænestinæ.
This superstition passed hence into Christianity; and the
Christians took their sortes out of the Old and New Testament. The
first passage that presented itself on opening a book of Scripture, was
esteemed the answer of God himself. If the first passage that was
opened did not happen to be any thing to the purpose for which the
sortes were consulted, another book was opened, and so on until
something was met with that might, one way or the other, be taken
for an answer. This was called Sortes Sanctorum.
St. Augustine does not disapprove of this method of learning
futurity, provided it be not used for worldly purposes; and, in fact, he
owns having practised it himself.
Gregory of Tours adds, that the custom was to lay the Bible on the
altar, and to pray the Lord that he would discover by it what was to
come to pass. Indeed, instances of the use of the Sanctum
Sanctorum are very frequent in history. Mr. Fleury tells us that
Heraclius, in his war against Cossoes, to learn where he should take
up his winter quarters, purified his army for three days, and then
opened the Gospels, and discovered thereby that the place appointed
for them was in Albania.
Gilbert of Nogent informs us, that, in his time, viz. about the
beginning of the twelfth century, the custom was, at the consecration
of bishops, to consult the Sortes Sanctorum, to learn the success,
fate, and other particulars of their episcopate. This practice is
founded on a supposition that God presides over the Sortes, and this
is strengthened by Prov. chap. xvi. verse 33, where it is said, “The lot
is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.”
In fact, many divines have held, and even now many of them still
hold, that the lot is conducted in a particular manner by Providence;
that it is an extraordinary manner, in which God declares his will by
a kind of immediate revelation. The Sortes Sanctorum, however,
were condemned by the council of Agda, in 506, at the time they
were beginning to take footing in France.
This practice crept in among the Christians, of casually opening
the sacred books for directions in important circumstances; to know
the consequences of events; and what they had to fear from their
rulers.
This consultation of the divine will from the Scriptures, was of two
kinds:—The first consisted, as I have said, in casually opening those
writings, but not before the guidance of heaven had been implored
with prayer, fasting, and other acts of religion. The second was much
more simple: the first words of the Scripture, which were singing or
reading, at the very instant when the person, who came to know the
disposition of heaven, entered the church, being considered either an
advice, or a prognostic.
St. Austin, in his epistle to Januarius, justly condemns the
practice; but St. Gregory of Tours, by the following instance, which
he relates as having happened to himself, shows that he entertained
a better opinion of it:—“Leudastus, Earl of Tours,” says he, “who was
for ruining me with Queen Fredegonde, coming to Tours, big with
evil designs against me, I withdrew to my oratory under a deep
concern, where I took the Psalms, to try if, at opening them, I should
light upon some consoling verse. My heart revived within me, when I
cast my eyes on this of the 77th Psalm, ‘He caused them to go on with
confidence, whilst the sea swallowed up their enemies.’ Accordingly,
the Count spoke not a word to my prejudice; and leaving Tours that
very day, the boat in which he was, sunk in a storm, but his skill in
swimming saved him.”
The following is also from the same author. “Chranmes having
revolted against Clotaire, his brother, and being at Dijon, the
ecclesiastics of the place, in order to foreknow the success of this
procedure, consulted the sacred books; but instead of the Psalms,
they made use of St. Paul’s Epistles, and the Prophet Isaiah. Opening
the latter they read these words: ‘I will pluck up the fence of my
vineyard, and it shall be destroyed, because instead of good, it has
brought forth bad grapes.’ The Epistles agreeing with the prophecy, it
was concluded to be a sure presage of the tragical end of Cranmes.”
St. Consortia, in her youth, was passionately courted by a young
man of a very powerful family, though she had formed a design of
taking the veil. Knowing that a refusal would expose her parents to
many inconveniences, and perhaps to danger, she desired a week’s
time to determine her choice. At the expiration of this time, which
she had employed in devout exercises, her lover, accompanied by the
most distinguished matrons of the city, came to know her answer. “I
can neither accept of you nor refuse you,” said she, “every thing is in
the hand of God: but if you will agree to it, let us go to the church,
and have a mass said; afterwards, let us lay the holy gospel on the
altar, and say a joint prayer; then we will open the book, to be
certainly informed of the divine will in this affair.” This proposal
could not with propriety be refused; and the first verse which met the
eyes of both, was the following: “Whosoever loveth father or mother
better than me, is not worthy of me.” Upon this, Consortia said, “You
see God claims me as his own;” and the lover acquiesced.
But about the eighth century, this practice began to lose ground, as
soon or late, reason and authority will get the better of that which is
founded on neither. It was proscribed by several popes and councils,
and in terms which rank it among Pagan superstitions. However,
some traces of this custom are found for several ages after, both in
the Greek and the Latin church. Upon the consecration of a bishop,
after laying the bible upon his head, a ceremony still subsisted, that
the first verse which offered itself, was accounted an omen of his
future behaviour, and of the good or evil which was reserved for him
in the course of his episcopacy. Thus, a Bishop of Rochester, at his
consecration by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, had a very
happy presage in these words: “Bring hither the best robe, and put it
on him.” But the answer of the Scripture, at the consecration of St.
Lietbert, Bishop of Cambray, was still more grateful: “This is my
beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” The death of Albert, Bishop
of Liege, is said to have been intimated to him by these words, which
the Archbishop, who consecrated him, found at the opening of the
New Testament, “And the king sent an executioner, and commanded
his head to be brought; and he went and beheaded him in the
prison.” Upon this the primate tenderly embracing the new bishop,
said to him with tears, “My son, having given yourself up to the
service of God, carry yourself righteously and devoutly, and prepare
yourself for the trial of martyrdom.” The Bishop was afterwards
murdered by the treacherous connivance of the Emperor Henry VI.
These prognostics were alleged upon the most important
occasions. De Garlande, Bishop of Orleans, became so odious to his
clergy, that they sent a complaint against him to Pope Alexander III.
concluding in this manner: “Let your apostolical hands put on
strength to strip naked the iniquity of this man; that the curse
prognosticated on the day of his consecration, may overtake him; for
the gospels being opened, according to custom, the first words were,
And the young man, leaving his linen cloth, fled from them naked.”
William of Malmsbury relates, that Hugh de Montaigne, Bishop of
Auxerre, was obliged to go to Rome, to answer different charges
brought against the purity of his morals, by some of his chapter; but
they who held with the bishop, as an irrefragable proof of his spotless
chastity, insisted that the prognostic on the day of his consecration
was, “Hail, Mary, full of grace.”
I proceed to the second manner of this consultation, which was to
go into a church with the intention of receiving, as a declaration of
the will of Heaven, any words of the Scripture which might chance to
be sung or read, at the moment of the person’s entrance. Thus, it is
said, St. Anthony, to put an end to his irresolution about retirement,
went to a church, where immediately hearing the deacon pronounce
these words, “Go sell all thou hast, and give it to the poor, then come
and follow me;” he applied them to himself, as a direct injunction
from God, and withdrew to that solitude for which he is so celebrated
among the Catholics.
The following passage from Gregory of Tours, is too remarkable to
be omitted. He relates that Clovis, the first Christian king of France,
marching against Alaric, King of the Visgoths, and being near the city
of Tours, where the body of St. Martin was deposited, he sent some
of his nobles, with presents to be offered at the saint’s tomb, to see if
they could not bring him a promising augury, while he himself
uttered this prayer “Lord, if thou wouldest have me punish this
impious people, the savage enemy of thy holy name, give me some
signal token, by which I may be assured that such is thy will.”
Accordingly, his messengers had no sooner set foot within the
cathedral, than they heard the priest chaunt forth this verse of the
eighteenth Psalm, “Thou hast girded me with strength for war, thou
hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.” Transported
at these words, after laying the presents at the tomb of the saint, they
hastened to the King with this favourable prognostic; Clovis joyfully
accepted it, and engaging Alaric, gained a complete victory.
Here also may be subjoined a passage in the history of St. Louis IX.
In the first emotions of his clemency, he had granted a pardon to a
criminal under sentence of death; but some minutes after, happening
to alight upon this verse of the Psalms, “Blessed is he that doth
righteousness at all times;” he recalled his pardon, saying, “The King
who has power to punish a crime, and does not do it, is, in the sight
of God, no less guilty than if he had committed it himself.”
 The Sortes Sanctorum were fulminated against by various
councils. The council of Varres “forbade all ecclesiastics, under pain
of excommunication, to perform that kind of divination, or to pry
into futurity, by looking into any book, or writing, whatsoever.” The
council of Ayde, in 506, expressed itself to the same effect; as did
those of Orleans, in 511; and Auxerre, in 595. It appears, however, to
have continued very common, at least in England, so late as the
twelfth century: the council of Aenham, which met there in 1110,
condemned jointly, sorcerers, witches, diviners, such as occasioned
death by magical operations, and who practised fortune-telling by
the holy book-lots.
Peter de Blois, who wrote at the close of the twelfth century, places
among the sorcerers, those who, under the veil of religion, promised,
by certain superstitious practices, such as the lots of the Apostles and
Prophets, to discover hidden and future events: yet this same Peter
de Blois, one of the most learned and pious men of his age, in a letter
to Reginald, whose election to the see of Bath had a long time been
violently opposed, tells him, that he hopes he has overcome all
difficulties; and further, that he believes he is, or soon will be,
established in his diocese. “This belief,” says he, “I ground on a
dream I lately had two nights successively, of being at your
consecration; and also, that being desirous of knowing its certain
meaning, by lots of human curiosity, and the Psalter, the first which
occurred to me were, ‘Moses and Aaron among his priests.’”
Thus, though the ancient fathers, and, since them, others have in
general agreed, that the Sortes Sanctorum cannot be cleared of
superstition, though they assert that it was tempting God, to expect
that he would inform us of futurity, and reveal to us the secrets of his
will, whenever the sacred book is opened for such a purpose, though
it contain nothing which looks like a promise of that kind from God;
though so far from being warranted by any ecclesiastical law, it has
been condemned by several, and, at last, in more enlightened times,
has been altogether abolished, yet they do not deny, that there have
been occasions, when discreet and pious persons have opened the
sacred book, not to discover futurity, but to meet with some passage
to support them in times of distress and persecution.
 SIBYLS.

This word is supposed to be formed of the two Greek words σιου

for Θεου Dei, and βουλη counsel.
The Sibyllæ of antiquity were virgin-prophetesses, or maids
supposed to be divinely inspired; who, in the height of their
enthusiasm, gave oracles, and foretold things to come.
Authors are at variance with respect to the number of sibyls.
Capella reckons but two; viz. Erophyte of Troy, called Sibylla
Phrygia; and Sinuachia of Erythræa. Solinus mentions three, viz.
Cumæa, Delphica, and Erythræa. Ælian makes their number four,
and Varro increases it to ten, denominating them from the places of
their birth; the Persian, Delphic, Cumæan, Erythræan, Samian,
Cuman, Hellespontic or Troiad, Phrygian, and Tiburtine. Of these
the most celebrated are, the Erythræan, Delphic, and Cumæan
Sibyls.
The sibylline oracles were held in great veneration by the more
credulous among the ancients; but they were much suspected by the
better informed. The books wherein they were written, were kept by
the Romans with infinite care; and nothing of moment was
undertaken without consulting them. Tarquin first committed them
to the custody of two patrician priests for that purpose.
 TALISMANS.

Magical figures, engraven or cut under superstitious observances

of the characterisms and configurations of the heavens, are called
talismans; to which some astrologers, hermetical philosophers, and
other adepts, attribute wonderful virtues, particularly that of calling
down celestial influences.
The author of a book, intituled Talismans Justifies, pronounces a
talisman is the seal, figure, character, or image of a heavenly sign,
constellation, or planet, engraven on a sympathetic stone, or on a
metal corresponding to the star, &c. in order to receive its influences.
The talismans of the Samothracians, so famous of old, were pieces
of iron formed into certain images, and set in rings, &c. They were
held as preservatives against all kinds of evils. There were other
talismans taken from vegetables, and others from minerals.
Three kinds of Talismans were usually distinguished, viz.
Astronomical, which are known by the signs or constellations of the
heavens engraven upon them, with other figures, and some
unintelligible characters. Magical, which bear very extraordinary
figures, with superstitious words and names of angels unheard of.
And mixt, which consist of signs and barbarous words; but have no
superstitious ones, or names of angels.
It is maintained by some rabbins, that the brazen serpent raised by
Moses in the Wilderness, for the destruction of the serpents that
annoyed the Israelites, was properly a Talisman.
All the miraculous things wrought by Apollonius Tyanæus are
attributed to the virtue and influence of Talismans; and that wizard,
as he is called, is even said to have been the inventor of them.
Some authors take several Runic medals,—medals, at least, whose
inscriptions are in the Runic characters,—for talismans, it being
notorious, that the northern nations, in their heathen state, were
much devoted to them. M. Keder, however, has shewn, that the
medals here spoken of are quite other things than talismans.
 PHILTERS, CHARMS, &c.

A drug, or other preparation, used as a pretended charm to excite

love. These are distinguished into true and spurious: the spurious are
spells or charms supposed to have an effect beyond the ordinary law
of nature, by some inherent magic virtue; such are those said to be
possessed formerly by old women, witches, &c.—The true Philters
were supposed to operate by some natural and magnetical power.
There are many enthusiastic and equally credulous authors, who
have encouraged the belief in the reality of these Philters; and
adduce matter in fact in confirmation of their opinions, as in all
doubtful cases. Among these may be quoted Van Helmont, who says,
that by holding a certain herb in his hand, and afterwards taking a
little dog by the foot with the same hand, the animal followed him
wherever he went, and quite deserted his former master. He also
adds, that Philters only require a confirmation of Mumia[51]; and on
this principle he accounts for the phenomena of love transplanted by
the touch of an herb; for, says he, the heat communicated to the
herb, not coming alone, but animated by the emanations of the
natural spirits, determines the herb towards the man, and identifies
it to him. Having then received this ferment, it attracts the spirit of
the other object magnetically, and gives it an amorous motion. But
all this is mere absurdity, and has fallen to the ground with the other
irrational hypothesis from the same source.
 HELL,

A place of punishment, where, we are told in Scripture, the wicked

are to receive the reward of their evil deeds, after this life. In this
sense, hell is the antithesis of HEAVEN.
Among the ancients hell was called by various names, Ταρταρος,
Ταρταρᾶ, Tartarus, Tartara; Ἁδης, Hades, Infernus, Inferna, Inferi,
&c.—The Jews, wanting a proper name for it, called it Gehenna, or
Gehinnon, from a valley near Jerusalem, wherein was Tophet, or
place where a fire was perpetually kept.
Divines reduce the torments of hell to two kinds, pœna damni, the
loss and privation of the beatific vision; and pœna sensus, the
horrors of darkness, with the continual pains of fire inextinguishable.
Most nations and religions have a notion of a hell. The hell of the
poets is terrible enough: witness the punishment of Tityus,
Prometheus, the Danæids, Lapithæ, Phlegyas, &c. described by Ovid,
in his Metamorphosis. Virgil, after a survey of Hell, Æneid, lib. vi.
declares, that if he had a hundred mouths and tongues, they would
not suffice to recount all the plagues of the tortured. The New
Testament represents hell as a lake of fire and brimstone; and a
worm which dies not, &c. Rev. xx. 10, 14, &c. Mark ix. 43, &c. Luke
xvi. 23, &c.
The Caffres are said to admit thirteen hells, and twenty-seven
paradises; where every person finds a place suited to the degree of
good or evil he has done.
There are two great points of controversy among writers, touching
hell: the first, whether there be any local hell, any proper and specific
place of torment by fire? the second, whether the torments of hell are
to be eternal?
 I. The locality of hell, and the reality of the fire thereof, have been
controverted from the time of Origen. That father, in his treatise
Περι Αρχαν, interpreting the scripture account metaphorically,
makes hell to consist not in eternal punishments, but in the
conscience of sinners, the sense of their guilt, and the remembrance
of their past pleasures. St. Augustine mentions several of the same
opinion in his time; and Calvin, and many of his followers, have
embraced it in ours.
The retainers to the contrary opinion, who are much the greatest
part of mankind, are divided as to situation, and other circumstances
of this horrible scene. The Greeks, after Homer, Hesiod, &c.
conceived hell, τοπον τινα ὐπο την γην μεγσν, &c. a large and dark
place under the earth.—Lucian, de Luctu; and Eustathius, on Homer.
Some of the Romans lodged in the subterranean regions directly
under the lake Avernus, in Campania, which they were led to from
the consideration of the poisonous vapours emitted by that lake.
Through a dark cave, near this lake, Virgil makes Æneas descend to
hell.
Others placed hell under Tenarus, a promontory of Laconia; as
being a dark frightful place, beset with thick woods, out of which
there was no finding a passage. This way, Ovid says, Orpheus
descended to hell. Others fancied the river or fountain of Styx, in
Arcadia, the spring-head of hell, by reason the waters thereof were
mortal.
But these are all to be considered as only fables of poets; who,
according to the genius of their art, allegorizing and personifying
every thing, from the certain death met withal in those places, took
occasion to represent them as so many gates, or entering-places into
the other world.
The primitive Christians conceiving the earth a large extended
plain, and the heavens an arch drawn over the same, took hell to be a
place in the earth, the farthest distant from the heavens; so that their
hell was our antipodes.
Tertullian, De Anima, represents the Christians of his time, as
believing hell to be an abyss in the centre of the earth: which opinion
was chiefly founded on the belief of Christ’s descent into hades, hell,
Matt. xii. 40.
 Mr. Wiston has lately advanced a new opinion. According to him,
the comets are to be conceived as so many hells, appointed in the
course of their trajectories, or orbits, alternately to carry the damned
into the confines of the sun, there to be scorched by his flames, and
then to return them to starve in the cold, dreary, dark regions,
beyond the orb of Saturn.
The reverend and orthodox Mr. T. Surnden, in an express Inquiry
into the nature and place of Hell, not contented with any of the
places hitherto assigned, contends for a new one. According to him,
the sun itself is the local hell.
This does not seem to be his own discovery: it is probable he was
led into it by that passage in Rev. xvi. 8, 9. Though it must be added,
that Pythagoras seems to have the like view, in that he places hell in
the sphere of fire; and that sphere in the middle of the universe. Add,
that Aristotle mentions some of the Italic or Pythagoric school, who
placed the sphere of fire in the sun, and even called it Jupiter’s
Prison.—De Cælo, lib. ii.
To make way for his own system, Mr. Swinden undertakes to
remove hell out of the centre of the earth, from these two
considerations:—1. That a fund of fuel or sulphur, sufficient to
maintain so furious and constant a fire, cannot be there supposed;
and, 2. That it must want the nitrous particles in the air, to sustain
and keep it alive. And how, says he, can such fire be eternal, when by
degrees the whole substance of the earth must be consumed thereby?
It must not be forgot, however, that Tertullian had long ago
obviated the former of these difficulties, by making a difference
between arcanus and publicus ignis, secret and open fire: the nature
of the first, according to him, is such, as that it not only consumes,
but repairs what it preys upon. The latter difficulty is solved by St.
Augustine, who alleges, that God supplies the central fire with air, by
a miracle.
Mr. Swinden, however, proceeds to shew, that the central parts of
the earth are possessed by water rather than fire; which he confirms
by what Moses says of water under the earth, Exod. xx. from Psalm
xxiv. 2, &c.
As a further proof, he alleges, that there would want room in the
centre of the earth, for such an infinite host of inhabitants as the
fallen angels and wicked men.
Drexelius, we know, has fixed the dimensions of hell to a German
cubic mile, and the number of the damned to an hundred thousand
millions: De Damnator, Carcer, &c. Rogo. But Mr. Swinden thinks
he need not to have been so sparing in his number, for that there
might be found an hundred times as many; and that they must be
insufferably crowded in any space he could allow them on our earth.
It is impossible, he concludes, to stow such a multitude of spirits in
such a scanty apartment, without a penetration of dimensions,
which, he doubts, in good philosophy, even in respect of spirits: “If it
be (he adds,) why God should prepare, i. e. make, a prison for them,
when they might all have been crowded together into a baker’s oven.”
p. 206.
His arguments for the sun’s being the local hell are: 1. Its capacity.
Nobody will deny the sun spacious enough to receive all the damned
conveniently; so that there will be no want of room. Nor will fire be
wanting, if we admit of Mr. Swinden’s argument against Aristotle,
whereby he demonstrates, that the sun is hot, p. 208, et seq. The
good man is “filled with amazement to think what Pyrenian
mountains of sulphur, how many Atlantic oceans of scalding
bitumen, must go to maintain such mighty flames as those of the
sun; to which our Ætna and Vesuvius are mere glow-worms.” p. 137.
2. Its distance and opposition to the empyreum, which has usually
been looked upon as the local heaven: such opposition is perfectly
answerable to that opposition in the nature and office of a place of
angels and devils, of elect and reprobate, of glory and horror, of
hallelujahs and cursings; and the distance quadrates well with Dives
seeing Abraham afar off, and the great gulph between them; which
this author takes to be the solar vortex.
3. That the empyreum is the highest, and the sun the lowest place
of the creation; considering it as the centre of our system; and that
the sun was the first part of the visible world created; which agrees
with the notion of its being primarily intended or prepared to receive
the angels, whose fall he supposes to have immediately preceded the
creation.
4. The early and almost universal idolatry paid to the sun; which
suits well with the great subtilty of that spirit, to entice mankind to
worship his throne.