"All therefore that [Jesus] cou'd take from his Mother, must be the Weaknesses, not the Faults of Humanity, not proceeding from her like a rasa tabula, with no Impressions at all, but indifferent to good and evil"
— Anonymous
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Andrew Bell
Date
1703-4
Metaphor
"All therefore that [Jesus] cou'd take from his Mother, must be the Weaknesses, not the Faults of Humanity, not proceeding from her like a rasa tabula, with no Impressions at all, but indifferent to good and evil"
Metaphor in Context
Quest. If the Seed of the Woman be of the Corrupt Mass, and our Lord Jesus Christ of that Seed, how is he then the Lamb without Spot?
Answ. To clear this Difficulty, we must consider the Nature of Original Sin----The Soul is not polluted when it comes out of God's hands, the Body is not of it self capable of Sin, tho' 'tis true it has in it the Seeds of all Diseases. The Soul must act, it is endu'd with no Original Righteousness, as Adam's was, therefore by resultance its Actions are Evil. Our Saviour proceeded indeed from the Woman, but this not by ordinary Generation, but either his Soul was pre-existent to his Incarnation, as the Rabbies held of their expected Messias, or rather was produc'd at the very time of the Blessed Virgin's Conception, and together with his Body, both united to the Divine Nature, which made the Son of God: All therefore that he cou'd take from his Mother, must be the Weaknesses, not the Faults of Humanity, not proceeding from her like a rasa tabula, with no Impressions at all, but indifferent to good and evil; nay, 'twas impossible it shou'd be so, by reason of his intimate Union with the Divine Nature, as well as its production from it, on both which Accounts 'twas anointed with the Oil of Gladness above its Fellows; and endu'd with all the fulness of the Godhead; and accordingly our Saviour was that Immaculate Lamb who dy'd to take away the Sins of the World.
(p. 213)
Answ. To clear this Difficulty, we must consider the Nature of Original Sin----The Soul is not polluted when it comes out of God's hands, the Body is not of it self capable of Sin, tho' 'tis true it has in it the Seeds of all Diseases. The Soul must act, it is endu'd with no Original Righteousness, as Adam's was, therefore by resultance its Actions are Evil. Our Saviour proceeded indeed from the Woman, but this not by ordinary Generation, but either his Soul was pre-existent to his Incarnation, as the Rabbies held of their expected Messias, or rather was produc'd at the very time of the Blessed Virgin's Conception, and together with his Body, both united to the Divine Nature, which made the Son of God: All therefore that he cou'd take from his Mother, must be the Weaknesses, not the Faults of Humanity, not proceeding from her like a rasa tabula, with no Impressions at all, but indifferent to good and evil; nay, 'twas impossible it shou'd be so, by reason of his intimate Union with the Divine Nature, as well as its production from it, on both which Accounts 'twas anointed with the Oil of Gladness above its Fellows; and endu'd with all the fulness of the Godhead; and accordingly our Saviour was that Immaculate Lamb who dy'd to take away the Sins of the World.
(p. 213)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO
Citation
5 entries in ESTC (1703, 1704, 1706, 1726).
From the second volume of The Athenian Oracle: Being an Entire Collection of All the Valuable Questions and Answers in the Old Athenian Mercuries, 3 vols. (London: Printed for Andrew Bell, 1703-04).
From the second volume of The Athenian Oracle: Being an Entire Collection of All the Valuable Questions and Answers in the Old Athenian Mercuries, 3 vols. (London: Printed for Andrew Bell, 1703-04).
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
10/08/2006
