text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"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)",2011-09-20 16:29:18 UTC,"""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.""",2011-09-20 16:29:18 UTC,Epistle XXII.,"",,"","","Searching ""mind"" in Google Books",19197,7097
"Mortification of our lusts and passions, tho, like repentance, it has something in it that is troublesome, yet nothing that is unreasonable, or really to our prejudice. If we give way to our Passions, we do but gratify our selves for the present, in order to our future disquiet; but if we resist and conquer them, we lay the foundation of perpetual peace and tranquillity in our minds. If we govern ourselves in the use of sensual delight, by the Laws of God and reason, we shall find ourselves more at ease than if we should let loose the reins to our appetites and lusts. For the more we gratify our lusts, the more craving they will be, and the more impatient of denial. Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, every lust is a kind of hydropick distemper, and the more we drink the more we shall thirst. So that by retrenching our inordinate desires we do not rob ourselves of any true pleasure, but only prevent the pain and trouble of farther dissatisfaction.
(p. 72; cf. pp. 219-220 in 1694 edition)",2014-01-22 15:59:59 UTC,"""If we give way to our Passions, we do but gratify our selves for the present, in order to our future disquiet; but if we resist and conquer them, we lay the foundation of perpetual peace and tranquillity in our minds.""",2011-09-27 03:02:59 UTC,Sermon VI.,"",,Empire,"",Reading,19207,7102
"12. Thirdly, probabilities, which cross men's appetites and prevailing passions, run the same fate. Let ever so much probability hang on one side of a covetous man's reasoning, and money on the other; it is easy to foresee which will outweigh. Earthly minds, like mud-walls, resist the strongest batteries: And though perhaps sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the enemy truth, that would captivate or disturb them. Tell a man passionately in love, that he is jilted; bring a score of witnesses of the falsehood of his mistress, it is ten to one but three kind words of hers shall invalidate all their testimonies, Quod volumus, facile credits; What suits our wishes, is forwardly believed; is, I suppose, what every one hath more than once experimented: And though men cannot always openly gainsay or resist the force of manifest probabilities that make against them, yet yield they not to the argument. Not but that it is the nature of the understanding constantly to close with the more probable side; but yet a man hath a power to suspend and restrain its inquiries, and not permit a full and satisfactory examination, as far as the matter in question is capable, and will bear it to be made. Until that be done, there will be always these two ways left of evading the most apparent probabilities.
(IV.xx.12)",2012-06-12 20:34:32 UTC,"""Earthly minds, like mud-walls, resist the strongest batteries: And though perhaps sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the enemy truth, that would captivate or disturb them.""",2012-06-12 20:34:32 UTC,IV.xx.12,"",,Empire and Impressions,"","Reading Arthur A. Cash, ""The Sermon in Tristram Shandy."" ELH 31:4 (1964): 399.",19792,3866
"Secondly it seem'd to me no less unconceivable, whence that dismal ψυχομαχια or intestin war which every Man too frequently feels within himself, and whereof even St. Paul himself so sadly complained, when (in Epist. ad Roman. cap. 3.) he cries out, video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae; should arise, if not from a Duumvirate as it were of Rulers contending for superiority within us, and inclining us two contrary ways at once. For, to conceive that one and the. same Simple thing, such as the Reasonable Soul is rightly presumed to be, can be repugnant to itself, or at one and the same time be possessed with opposite affections; is manifestly absurd. There are indeed, who to evade this absurdity, imagine it possible, that of one and the same Rational, simple Soul, there may be two distinct Faculties or powers opposite each to other, from whose clashings and contrary inclinations this civil war may proceed. But to oblige us to swallow this palpable contradiction, these Men ought to have reconciled those two repugnant notions of Simple and Compound; and to have told us, why in the same simple substance of fire there cannot likewise be two mutualy repugnant faculties, heat and cold. In a Mixed body there may be, I confess, opposite faculties; and therefore the like may be imagined also in the Rational Soul, if she be conceived to be of a mixed or compound nature: but this is against their own supposition, and destructive to the natural immortality of the Soul. What then can remain to cause this dire war daily observed within us, betwixt the allurements of our Sense, on one side, and the grave dictates of our Mind, on the other; but two distinct Agents, the Rational Soul and the Sensitive, coexistent within us, and hotly contending about the conduct of our Will?
(Epistle Prefatory)",2012-07-24 20:28:21 UTC,"""Secondly it seem'd to me no less unconceivable, whence that dismal ψυχομαχια or intestin war which every Man too frequently feels within himself, and whereof even St. Paul himself so sadly complained, when (in Epist. ad Roman. cap. 3.) he cries out, video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae; should arise, if not from a Duumvirate as it were of Rulers contending for superiority within us, and inclining us two contrary ways at once.""",2012-07-24 20:25:58 UTC,Epistle Prefatory,Psychomachia,,"","",Reading,19894,7304
"Secondly it seem'd to me no less unconceivable, whence that dismal ψυχομαχια or intestin war which every Man too frequently feels within himself, and whereof even St. Paul himself so sadly complained, when (in Epist. ad Roman. cap. 3.) he cries out, video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae; should arise, if not from a Duumvirate as it were of Rulers contending for superiority within us, and inclining us two contrary ways at once. For, to conceive that one and the. same Simple thing, such as the Reasonable Soul is rightly presumed to be, can be repugnant to itself, or at one and the same time be possessed with opposite affections; is manifestly absurd. There are indeed, who to evade this absurdity, imagine it possible, that of one and the same Rational, simple Soul, there may be two distinct Faculties or powers opposite each to other, from whose clashings and contrary inclinations this civil war may proceed. But to oblige us to swallow this palpable contradiction, these Men ought to have reconciled those two repugnant notions of Simple and Compound; and to have told us, why in the same simple substance of fire there cannot likewise be two mutualy repugnant faculties, heat and cold. In a Mixed body there may be, I confess, opposite faculties; and therefore the like may be imagined also in the Rational Soul, if she be conceived to be of a mixed or compound nature: but this is against their own supposition, and destructive to the natural immortality of the Soul. What then can remain to cause this dire war daily observed within us, betwixt the allurements of our Sense, on one side, and the grave dictates of our Mind, on the other; but two distinct Agents, the Rational Soul and the Sensitive, coexistent within us, and hotly contending about the conduct of our Will?
(Epistle Prefatory)",2012-07-24 20:28:03 UTC,"""What then can remain to cause this dire war daily observed within us, betwixt the allurements of our Sense, on one side, and the grave dictates of our Mind, on the other; but two distinct Agents, the Rational Soul and the Sensitive, coexistent within us, and hotly contending about the conduct of our Will?""",2012-07-24 20:27:47 UTC,Epistle Prefatory,Psychomachia,,"","",Reading,19895,7304
"III. We may fetch an Argument of the Wisdom and Providence of God from the convenient situation and disposition of the Parts and Members of our Bodies: They are seated most conveniently for Use, for Ornament, and for mutual Assistance. First, for Use; So we see the Senses of such eminent Use for our well-being, situate in the Head, as Sentinels in a Watch-Tower, to receive and conveigh to the Soul the impressions of external Objects. Sensus autem interpretes ac nutii rerum in capite tanquam in arce mirifice ad usus necessarios & facti & collati sunt. Cic. de Nat. Deorum. [...]
(p. 157)",2014-06-22 03:08:34 UTC,"""First, for Use; So we see the Senses of such eminent Use for our well-being, situate in the Head, as Sentinels in a Watch-Tower, to receive and conveigh to the Soul the impressions of external Objects""",2014-06-22 03:08:34 UTC,"","",,Impressions and Inhabitants,"",Reading (in the British Library),24084,7945
"Fourthly, We arm and defend our Bodies. And our Souls have as much need of Armour as they: For the Life of a Christian is a continual Warfare; and we have potent and vigilant Enemies to encounter withal; the Devil, the World, and this corrupt Flesh we carry about with us. We had need, therefore, to take to us the Christian Panoply, to Put on the whole armour of God, that we may withstand in the evil day, and having done all may stand; having our loyns girt with truth, and having the breast-plate of righteousness, and our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Above all taking the shield of
faith, and for an helmet, the hope of Salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, Ephes. 6. 13,14, &c.
(pp. 244-5)",2014-06-22 03:24:31 UTC,"""Fourthly, We arm and defend our Bodies. And our Souls have as much need of Armour as they: For the Life of a Christian is a continual Warfare; and we have potent and vigilant Enemies to encounter withal; the Devil, the World, and this corrupt Flesh we carry about with us.""",2014-06-22 03:24:31 UTC,"","",,"","",Reading (in the British Library),24092,7945
"§. 6. But let it help us (as, perhaps, may be said) in convincing Men of their Errors or Mistakes; (and yet I would fain see the Man, that was forced out of his Opinions by dint of Syllogism;) yet still it fails our Reason in that part, which if not its highest Perfection, is yet certainly its hardest Task, and that which we most need its help in; and that is the finding out of Proofs, and making new Discoveries. The Rules of Syllogism serve not to furnish the Mind with those intermediate Ideas, that may shew the connexion of remote ones. This way of reasoning discovers no new Proofs, but is the Art of marshalling, and ranging the old ones we have already. The 47th Proposition of the First Book of Euclid is very true; but the discovery of it, I think, not owing to any Rules of common Logick. A Man knows first, and then he is able to prove syllogistically. So that Syllogism comes after Knowledge, and then a Man has little or no need of it. But 'tis chiefly by the finding out those Ideas that shew the connexion of distant ones, that our stock of Knowledge is increased, and that useful Arts and Sciences are advanced. Syllogism, at best, is but the Art of fencing with the little Knowledge we have, without making any Addition to it: And if a Man should employ his Reason all this way, he will not doe much otherwise than he, who having got some Iron out of the Bowels of the Earth, should have it beaten up all into Swords, and put it into his Servants Hands to fence with, and bang one another. Had the King of Spain imploy'd the Hands of his People, and his Spanish Iron so, he had brought to Light but little of that Treasure, that lay so long hid in the dark Entrails of America. And I am apt to think, that he who shall employ all the force of his Reason only in brandishing of Syllogisms, will discover very little of that Mass of Knowledge, which lies yet concealed in the secret recesses of Nature; and which I am apt to think, native rustick Reason (as it formerly has done) is likelier to open a way to, and add to the common stock of Mankind, rather than any scholastick Proceeding by the strict Rules of Mode and Figure.
(IV.xvii.6, p. 343)",2014-07-28 15:32:13 UTC,"""Syllogism, at best, is but the Art of fencing with the little Knowledge we have, without making any Addition to it: And if a Man should employ his Reason all this way, he will not doe much otherwise than he, who having got some Iron out of the Bowels of the Earth, should have it beaten up all into Swords, and put it into his Servants Hands to fence with, and bang one another.""",2014-07-28 15:30:41 UTC,"","",,Metal,INTEREST! ,Searching in EEBO-TCP,24322,3866
"But, that which may much indear such Meditations, is, their suprizing ev'n him, whose Thoughts they are: For one of the chief accounts, upon which Wit it self is delightful, is, in very many cases, the unexpectedness of the things that please us; that unexpectedness being the highest Degree of Novelty, which, as I freshly noted, does exceedingly gratifie most Men's minds. We need not in this case, as in most others, make an uneasie Preparation to entertain our Instructors; for our Instructions are suddenly, and as it were cut of an Ambuscade, shot into our Mind, from things whence we never expected them, so that we receive the advantage of learning good Lessons, without the trouble of going to School for them, which, to many, appears the greatest trouble that is to be undergone, for the Acquist of Knowledge. But though these Irradiations of Light, be oftentimes sudden, as that which we receive from flashes of Lightning, yet 'tis not always upon the single account of this suddenness, that the Instructions, presented us by Occasional Meditations, have an unexpectedness; for oftentimes, the Subject that is consider'd, appears not to be any thing at all of Kin to the Notion it suggests. And there are many of these Reflections, whose Titles, though they name the occasion of them, do so little assist, ev'n an ingenious Reader, to ghess what they contain, that if you tell him what is treated of, he will scarce imagine, how such Thoughts can be made to have a Relation to such remote Subjects; And the Informations we receive from many Creatures, and Occurrences, are oftentimes extremely distant from what, one would conjecture to be the most obvious, and natural Thoughts those Themes are fitted to present us, though, when the Circumstances are throughly examin'd, and consider'd, the Informations appear proper enough: Thus, when a Navigator suddenly spies an unknown Vessel afar off, before he has hail'd her, he can scarcely, if at all, conclude what he shall learn by her, and he may from a Ship, that he finds perhaps upon some remoter coast of Africa, or the Indies, meet with Informations concerning his own Country, and affairs; And thus sometimes a little Flower may point us to the Sun, and by casting our eyes down to our feet, we may in the water see those Stars that shine in the Firmament or highest visible Heaven.
(pp. 15-17)",2014-07-28 18:27:56 UTC,"""We need not in this case, as in most others, make an uneasie Preparation to entertain our Instructors; for our Instructions are suddenly, and as it were cut of an Ambuscade, shot into our Mind, from things whence we never expected them, so that we receive the advantage of learning good Lessons, without the trouble of going to School for them, which, to many, appears the greatest trouble that is to be undergone, for the Acquist of Knowledge.""",2014-07-28 18:27:43 UTC,"","",,"","","Reading Joanna Picciotto, Labors of Innocence in Early Modern England. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 277.",24339,7988
"True it is, the Rational Soul, if I may speak it without a Solecisme, is so incorporated into the Animal, that it seems to have its Birth and Growth with it. How doth Reason exert it self by little and little, what Helps and Arts are there us'd to make the Flower open and shew it self to the World? What Struglings and Conflicts are there betwixt the Animal Inclinations, and the more masculine Dictates of Reason? A sure Demonstration that they cannot proceed from one and the same immediate Impulse of Nature. The Sense and Notions we have of Reputation, of Justice, of Commerce, of Patience, and Moderation, with infinite other things relating to the moral Capacity, have no analogy with the Actions and Sentiments of Beasts, tho never so sagacious and well instructed; what then shall we say of the Intellectual Operations, and of the immense Capacity of the Mind?
(p. 6)",2016-03-11 16:29:05 UTC,"""What Struglings and Conflicts are there betwixt the Animal Inclinations, and the more masculine Dictates of Reason?""",2016-03-11 16:29:05 UTC,"CHAP. I. Of the Generation of Man, as also of the Animal and Rational Faculties.","",,"","",Reading in EEBO-TCP,24859,8131