work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3617,"",Reading,2010-01-12 19:05:22 UTC,"15. And therefore our wills also must be humble, and apt, and desirous to learn, and willing to obey. Obedite & intelligetis; by humility and obedience we shall be best instructed. Not that by this means the conscience shall receive direct aids, but because by this means it will be left in its own aptnesses and dispositions, and when it is not hindred, the word of God will enter and dwell upon the conscience. And in this sense it is that some say that [Conscience is the inclination and propension of the will corresponding to practical knowledge] Will and Conscience are like the cognati
sensus, the Touch and the Taste; or the Teeth and the Ears, affected and assisted by some common objects, whose effect is united in matter and some real events, and distinguished by their formalities, or metaphysical beings.
(p. 5)",,17666,"","""Will and Conscience are like the cognati sensus, the Touch and the Taste; or the Teeth and the Ears, affected and assisted by some common objects, whose effect is united in matter and some real events, and distinguished by their formalities, or metaphysical beings.""","",2010-01-12 19:06:02 UTC,"Book I, Chapter I"
3617,"","Reading Peter Goodrich's ""The New Casuistry."" Critical Inquiry 33, no. 4 (Summer 2007): 684. <Link to Critical Inquiry>",2010-01-12 19:59:30 UTC,"9. (1.) There is to every state and to every part of Man given a proportionable light to guide him in that way where he ought, and is appointed to walk. In the darknesses of this World, and in the actions of common life, the Sun and
Moon in their proper seasons are to give us light: In the actions of human entercourse, and the notions tending to it, reason is our eye, and to it are notices proportion'd, drawn from nature and experience, even from all the principles with which our rational faculties usually do converse. But because a man is design'd to the knowledge of God, and of things spiritual, there must spring a new light from Heaven, and he must have new capacities, and new illuminations; that is, new eyes, and a new light: For here the eye of reason is too weak, and the natural man is not capable of the things of the Spirit, because they are spiritually discerned. Faith is the eye, and the Holy Spirit gives the light, and the word of God is the lanthorn, and the spiritual not the rational man can perceive the things of God. Secreta Dei, Deo meo,
& filiis domus ejus. God and Gods secret ones only know Gods secrets.
(p. 32-3)",,17669,"","""In the actions of human entercourse, and the notions tending to it, reason is our eye, and to it are notices proportion'd, drawn from nature and experience, even from all the principles with which our rational faculties usually do converse.""","",2010-01-12 20:01:00 UTC,"Book I, Chapter 2"
6689,"",Reading,2010-03-30 21:53:44 UTC,"1. In the next place we may rank Meekness as a necessary feminine Vertu; this even nature seems to teach, which abhors monstrosities and disproportions, and therefore having allotted to women a more smooth and soft composition of body, infers thereby her intention, that the mind should correspond with it. For tho the adulterations of art, can represent in the same Face beauty in one position, and deformity in another, yet nature is more sincere, and never meant a serene and clear forhead, should be the frontispiece to a cloudy tempestuous heart. 'Tis therefore to be wisht they would take the admonition, and whilst they consult their glasses, whether to applaud or improve their outward form, they would cast one look inwards, and examine what symmetry is there held with a fair outside; whether any storm of passion darken and overcast their interior beauty, and use at least an equal dilligence to rescu that; as they would to clear their face from any stain or blemish.
(I.ii.1)",,17752,"",""" For tho the adulterations of art, can represent in the same Face beauty in one position, and deformity in another, yet nature is more sincere, and never meant a serene and clear forhead, should be the frontispiece to a cloudy tempestuous heart.""","",2010-03-30 21:53:44 UTC,Part I. SECT. II. Of Meekness
7097,"","Searching ""mind"" in Google Books",2011-09-20 16:04:02 UTC,"We have been Discoursing all this while, how far a Wicked Man may be Oblig'd, and the Stoicks tell us, at last, that he cannot be Oblig'd at all: For, they make him incapable of any Good, and consequently of any Benefit. But, he has this advantage, that if he cannot be Oblig'd, he cannot be Ungrateful: For, if he cannot receive, he is not bound to return. On the other side, a Good Man, and an Ungrateful, are a Contradiction: So that at this rate there's no such thing as Ingratitude in Nature. They compare a Wicked Man's Mind to a Vitiated Stomach; he corrupts whatever he receives, and the best Nourishment turns to the Disease. But, taking this for granted, a Wicked Man may yet be so far Oblig'd, as to pass for Ungrateful, if he does not Requite what be Receives. For, though it be not a perfect Benefit, yet he receives something like it. There are Goods of the Mind, the Body, and of Fortune. Of the first sort, Fools, and Wicked Men, are wholly incapable; to the rest they may be admitted. But why should I call any Man Ungrateful, you'll say, for not Restoring That which I deny to be a Benefit? I answer, That if the Receiver take it for a Benefit, and fails of a Return, 'tis Ingratitude in him; for, that which goes for an Obligation among Wicked Men, is an Obligation upon them: and, they may pay one another in their own Coin; the Mony is Current, whether it be Gold, or Leather, when it comes once to be Authoriz'd. Nay, Cleanthes carries it farther; He that is wanting, says he, to a kind Office, though it be no Benefit, would have done the fame thing if it had been one; and is as guilty, as a Thief is, that has set his Booty; and is already Arm'd, and Mounted, with a purpose to seize it, though he has not yet drawn Blood. Wickedness is form'd in the Heart; and, the matter of Fact is only the Discovery, and the Execution of it. Now, tho' a wicked Man cannot either Receive, or Bestow a Benefit, because he wants the Will of doing Good, and for that he is no longer Wicked, when Virtue has taken Possession of him; yet we commonly call it one, as we call a Man illiterate that is not Learned, and Naked, that is not well Clad; not but that the one can Read, and the other is Cover'd.
(pp. 59-60)",,19188,"","""They compare a Wicked Man's Mind to a Vitiated Stomach; he corrupts whatever he receives, and the best Nourishment turns to the Disease. But, taking this for granted, a Wicked Man may yet be so far Oblig'd, as to pass for Ungrateful, if he does not Requite what be Receives.""","",2011-09-20 16:04:02 UTC,"Of Benefits, Chapter XIV"
7097,"","Searching ""mind"" in Google Books",2011-09-20 16:27:19 UTC,"There is not so Disproportionate a Mixture in any Creature, as that is in Man, of Soul and Body. There is Intemperance, join'd with Divinity; Folly, with Severity; Sloth, with Activity; and Uncleanness, with Purity. But, a Good Sword is never the worse for an ill Scabbard. We are mov'd more by Imaginary Fears, than Truths; for Truth has a Certainty, and Foundation; but, in the other, we are expos'd to the Licence, and Conjecture of a distracted Mind; and our Enemies, are not more Imperious, than our Pleasures. We set our Hearts upon Transitory Things; as if they Themselves were Everlasting; or We, on the other side, to possess them for Ever. Why do we not rather advance our Thoughts to things that are Eternal, and contemplate the Heavenly Original of all Beings? Why do we not, by the Divinity of Reason, triumph over the Weaknesses of Flesh, and Blood? It is by Providence that the World is preserv'd; and not from any Virtue in the Matter of it; for the World is as Mortal as we are; only the Almighty Wisdom carries it safe through all the Motions of Corruption. And so by Prudence, Human Life it self may be prolong'd if we will but stint our selves in those Pleasures, that bring the greater part of us untimely to our End. Our Passions are nothing else but certain Disallowable Motions of the Mind; Sudden, and Eager; which, by Frequency, and Neglect, turn to a Disease; as a Distillation brings us first to a Cough, and then to a Phthisick. We are carry'd Up to the Heavens, and Down again into the Deep, by Turns; so long as we are govern'd by our Affections, and not by Virtue: Passion, and Reason, are a kind of Civil War within us; and as the one, or the other has Dominion, we are either Good, or Bad. So that it should be our Care, that the worst Mixture may not prevail. And they are link'd, like the Chain of Causes, and Effects, one to another. Betwixt violent Passion, and a Fluctuation, or Wambling of the Mind, there is such a Difference, as betwixt the Agitation of a Storm, and the Nauseous Sickness of a Calm. And they have all of them their Symptoms too, as well as our Bodily Distempers: They that are troubled with the Falling-Sickness, know when the Fit is a coming, by the Cold of the Extreme Parts; the Dazling of the Eyes; the Failing of the Memory; the Trembling of the Nerves, and the Giddiness of the Head: So that every Man knows his own Disease, and should provide against it. Anger, Love, Sadness, Fear, may be read in the Countenance; and so may the Virtues too. Fortitude makes the Eye Vigorous; Prudence makes it Intent; Reverence shews it self in Modesty; Joy, in Serenity; and Truth, in Openness, and Simplicity. There are sown the Seeds of Divine Things in Mortal Bodies. If the Mind be well Cultivated, the Fruit answers the Original; and, if not, all runs into Weeds. We are all of us Sick of Curable Diseases; And it costs us more to be Miserable, than would make us perfectly Happy. Consider the Peaceable state of Clemency, and the Turbulence of Anger; the Softness, and Quiet of Modesty, and the Restlessness of Lust. How cheap, and easie to us is the Service of Virtue, and how dear we pay for our Vices! The Sovereign Good of Man, is a Mind that subjects all things to it self; and is it self subject to nothing: His Pleasures are Modest, Severe, and Reserv'd; and rather the Sauce, or the Diversion of Life, than the Entertainment of it. It may be some Question, whether such a Man goes to Heaven, or Heaven comes to Him: For a good Man is Influenc'd, by God himself; and has a kind of Divinity within him. What if one Good Man Lives in Pleasure, and Plenty, and another in Want, and Misery? 'Tis no Virtue, to contemn Superfluities, but Necessities: And they are both of them Equally Good, though under several Circumstances, and in different Stations.
(pp. 474-476)",,19196,"","""Our Passions are nothing else but certain Disallowable Motions of the Mind; Sudden, and Eager; which, by Frequency, and Neglect, turn to a Disease; as a Distillation brings us first to a Cough, and then to a Phthisick.""","",2011-09-20 16:27:19 UTC,Epistle XXII.
7686,"",Searching in ECCO-TCP,2013-09-22 21:01:47 UTC,"All those who have given Rules for Civil Life, have, in order to it, put very severe Restrictions upon the Tongue, that it run not before the Judgment. 'Twas Zeno's Advice to Dip the Tongue in the Mind before one should Speak; and Theophrastus was us'd to say, It was safer trusting to an unbridled Horse, than to intemperate Speech; and daily Experience confirms this Aphorism, for those who set no Guard upon their Tongues are hurried by them into a thousand Indecencies, and very often into real considerable Mischiefs; and whereas Men should keep a Lock upon their Lips, they give their Tongue the Key of their Heart, and the Event hath been often as Unhappy, as the Proceeding was Preposterous.
(p. 23)",,22816,"","""'Twas Zeno's Advice to Dip the Tongue in the Mind before one should Speak.""","",2013-09-22 21:01:47 UTC,Essay I
7686,"",Searching ECCO-TCP,2013-09-22 21:16:20 UTC,"In the long Experience I have had in the World, I have seldom, if ever, found any Man's Company worth enjoying, that did not begin with some Difficulty, if not Prejudice; for Conversation, like Oysters, is nothing the better for opening so easie, and so soon. Neither is there any more dangerous Acquaintance, than that over-hasty Familiarity contracted betwixt good Fellows, as we call them in England, who usually begin their Friendship in the Entry, and strike it up in the Cellar, where Servants are disciplin'd to be the Ministers of their Masters Luxuries, whose Vices seldom miss to be taken up by them, as if they were the Badges to witness to whom they belonged. There is no greater Mark nor Discovery of a Man, than to judge him by the Company he keeps, it being impossible but that he shall much resemble them, and partake some of their Qualities. Si juxta claudum habites, sub claudicare disces, says Plutarch: Bad Company is very contagious to the wisest and best settled Men. What befel Joseph was out of Contagion, frequenting the Egytian Court learnt him to Swear by the Life of Pharoah. Dum spectant oculi laesos, laeduntur & ipsi, Multaque corporibus transitione nocent. I remember Aristotle in his Problems makes a Question, Why Health does not infect as well as Sickness, a diseased Person often communicating his Infirmity, never his Health; the Reason is, says he, because the Health of the Body hath no transient Force on others, and is personal and not communicative. But Malvezzi tell us, it is, for that Nature in Providence drives away the Evil from it self, and thriftily reserves that which is Good; and for this Reason it is, says he, that those who have the Plague are desirous to come into Company, that they may give it to others; and by the same Reason, those who have ill Qualities in them, will be sure to work and apply their Vices, like Rust, into the nearest and purest Mind.
(pp. 71-72)",,22819,"","""But Malvezzi tell us, it is, for that Nature in Providence drives away the Evil from it self, and thriftily reserves that which is Good; and for this Reason it is, says he, that those who have the Plague are desirous to come into Company, that they may give it to others; and by the same Reason, those who have ill Qualities in them, will be sure to work and apply their Vices, like Rust, into the nearest and purest Mind.""",Metal,2013-09-22 21:16:20 UTC,Essay 1