work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context 4751,Blank Slate,"Searching ""tabula rasa"" in ECCO",2006-10-10 00:00:00 UTC,"2. Sin disengages God from shewing love to the creature, by taking away that similitude that is between God and him; which (as has been observed) was one cause of that love. The creature, indeed, still retains that resemblance of God that consists in being; but the greatest resemblance, that consists in moral perfections, this is totally lost and defaced. A mere existence or being is an indifferent thing, ('tis a Rasa Tabula) that may be coloured over with sin or holiness: and accordingly it receives its value from these; as a picture is esteemed not from the materials upon which it is drawn, but from the draught itself. Holiness elevates the worth of the being in which it is, and is of more value than the being itself. As in scarlet, the bare dye is of greater value than the cloath. Sin debases the being in which it is; and makes the soul more unlike God, in respect of its qualities, than it is like him in respect of its substance. 'Tis not the alliance of flesh and blood, but the resemblance of virtue, that makes the greatest likeness between the father and son. [...]
(vol.viii, p. 124)",,12573,•I've included twice: Tabula Rasa and Picture,"""A mere existence or being is an indifferent thing, ('tis a Rasa Tabula) that may be coloured over with sin or holiness: and accordingly it receives its value from these; as a picture is esteemed not from the materials upon which it is drawn, but from the draught itself.""",Writing,2009-09-14 19:37:08 UTC,Sermon V