Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 18, RHI-SCR

SAG [ 45° 1 SAG
Sage- thofe whofe zeal for the church had fo lately incited
them to perfecute the diffenters, fuddenly became all
gentlenefs and condefcenfion, and advanced towards
the prefbyterians as to their old friends.
The conduct of Mr Sage was the reverie of this.
He was an epifcopalian and a royalilt from convi&ion :
and in all his difcourfes, public and private, he laboured
to inftil into the minds of others the principles which
to himfelf appeared to have their foundation in truth.
To perfecution he w’as at all times an enemy, whilft
he never tamely betrayed through fear what he thought
it his duty to maintain. The confequence was, that
in the end of the year 1688 he was treated by the
rabble, which in the we Hern counties of Scotland rofe
ao-ainft the eftablilhed church, with greater lenity than
his more complying brethren. Whilft they, without
the fmalleft apprehenfion of their danger, were torn from
their families by a lawlefs force, and many of them per-
iecuted in the crueleft manner, he Was privately warned
t0 withdraw from Glafgow, and never more to return to
that city. So much was cotififtency of conduift and a
fteady adherence to principle refpe&ed by thofe who
feemed to refped nothing elfe. _ .
Mr Sage retired to the metropolis, and earned with
him the fynodical book, which was aferwards demand¬
ed by the prefbytery of Glafgow, but not recovered,
till about twenty years ago, that, on the death of a
nephew of Dr Rofe the laft eftablilhed bilhop of E-
dinburgh, it was found in his poffeflion, and reftored
to the prefbytery to which it belonged. Mr Sage had
detained it and given it to his diocefan friend, from
the fond hope that epifcopacy would foon be re-elta-
blilhed in Scotland j and it was doubtlefs with a view
to contribute what he could to the realiling of that
hope, that, immediately on his being obliged to leave
Glafgow, he commenced a keen polemical writer. At
Edinburgh he preached a while, till refufing to take
the oaths of allegiance when required by the govern¬
ment he was obliged to retire. In this extremity, he
found proteftion in the houfe of Sir William Bruce, the
flieriff of Kinrofs, who approved his principles and ad¬
mired his virtue. Returning to Edinburgh, in 1695, he
was obferved, and obliged to abfeond. Yet he returned
in 1696, when his friend Sir William Bruce was im-
prifoned as a fufpeaed perfon. He was foon forced to
feek for refuge in the hills of Angus, under the name of
Jackfon. • 1 ,1
After a while IVIr Sage found a fafe retreat with the
countefs of Callendar, who employed him to inftrua her
family as chaplain, and her fons as tutor. 1 hefe occu¬
pations did not wholly engage his aftive mind : for he
employed his pen in defending his order, or in expofmg
his oppreffors. When the countefs of Callendar had no
longer fons to inftrua, Sage accepted the invitation of
Sir John Steuart of Garntully, who wanted the help of
a chaplain, and the converfation of a fcholar. With Sir
John he continued till the decency of his manners, and
the extenfivenefs of his learning, recommended him to
a higher ftation. And, on the 25th of January 1705,
he was confecrated a bilhop by Paterfon the archbilhop
of Glafgow, Rofe the bilhop of Edinburgh, and Douglas
the bilhop of Dumblain. But this promotion did not
prevent ficknefs from falling on him in November 1706.
After lingering for many months in Scotland, he tried
Jhe effect of the waters of Bath in 1709, without fuc-
4
cefs. At Bath and at London he remained a twelve- Sag*
month, recognifed by the great and careffed by the It
learned. Yet though he was invited to flay, he returned ,Sagltta»^ Si
in 1710 to his native country, which he defired to fee,
and where he wiihed to die. And though his body was-
debilitated, he engaged, with undimiriilhed vigour of
mind, in the publication of the works of Drummond ot
Hawthornden, to which the celebrated Ruddiman lent
his aid. Bilhop Sage died at Edinburgh on the 7th of
June 1711, lamented by his friends for his virtues, and
feared by his adverfaries for his talents.
His works are, ill, Two Letters concerning the .
Perfecution of the Epifcopal Clergy in Scotland, which
with other two by different authors were printed in one
volume at London in 1689. 2dly, An Account of the
late Eftablilhment of Prelbyterian Government by the
Parliament of Scotland, in 1690, London, 1693,
The Fundamental Charter of Prelbytery, London,
1695. 4thly, The Principles of the Cyprianick Age
with regard to Epifcopal Power and Jurifdi6tion, Lon¬
don, 1695. ithly, A Vindication of the Principles
of the Cyprianick Age, London, 1701. 6thly, Some
Remarks on the Letter from a Gentleman in the City,
to a Minifter in the Country, on Mr David William-
fon’s Sermon before the General Affembly, Edinburgh,
1703. 7thly, A Brief Examination of fome Things
in Mr Meldrum’s Sermon, preached on the 16th of
May 1703, again!! a Toleration to thofe of the Epif¬
copal Perfualion, Edinburgh, 1703* Sthly, The Rea-
fonablenefs of a Toleration of thofe of the Epifcopal
Perfuafion inquired into purely on Church Principles,
Edinburgh, 1704. 9thly, The Life of Gawin Dou¬
glas, in 1710. lOthly, An introduction to Drum¬
mond's Hiftory of the Five James’s, Edinburgh, 1711.
Of the principles maintained in thefe publications, dif~
ferent readers will think very differently ; and it is pro¬
bable that the acrimony difplayed in fome of them will
be generally condemned in the prefent day 5 whilft the
learning and acutenefs of their author will be univerfally
acknowledged and admired by all who can diftinguilh
merit in a friend or an adverfary.
SAGENE, or Sajene, a Ruffian long meafure, 500
of which make a verft : the fagene is equal to feven
Englilh feet.
SAG IN A, a genus of plants belonging to the tetran-
dria clafs j and in the natural method ranking under the
22d order, Caryophyllei. See Botany Index*
SAGITTA, in'Ajlronomy, the Arrow, a conftella-
tion of the northern hemifphere near the Eagle, and one
of the 48 old afterifms. According to the fabulous-
ideas of the Greeks, this conftellalion owes its origin to
one of the arrows of Hercules, with which he killed the
eagle or vulture that gnawed the liver of Prometheus..
In the catalogues of Ptolemy, Tycho, and Hevelius,
the liars of this conftellation are only five in number,
while Flamllead made them amount to 18-.
SagiTta, in Geometry, a term ufed by fome writers-
for the abfeifs of a curve.
SAGITTA, in Trigonometry, the fame as the verfed
fine of an arch, being fo denominated becaufe it is like a.
dart or arrow, Handing on the chord of the arch.
SAGITTARIA, Arrow-head, a genus of plants-
belonging to the moncecia clafs; and in the natural me¬
thod ranking under the fifth order, Tripetaloidea. See
Botany A bulb which is formed at the lowes
part..