"The Soul is a Tabula rasa, and gets all it knows thro' the Body; so there is no Law implanted in the Soul."
— Bate, Julius (1711-1771)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for M. Cooper
Date
1750
Metaphor
"The Soul is a Tabula rasa, and gets all it knows thro' the Body; so there is no Law implanted in the Soul."
Metaphor in Context
Natural Religion I have made my Objection to already, et valeat quantum valere potest, and suppose his Lordship, as cited [Exam. p. 102] "that man came per- [end page 46] fect out of the Hands of his Creator, and furnished with sufficient Light to see and perform his Duty without an Admonisher at every turn at his Elbow;" but not that this Light was natural, or that any Law, as the Doctor words it in the next Page, "was implanted in the very Frame of Man at his Creation, pointing out to him his chief Good and Happiness, and enabling him to acquire it," because no such law was or could be; it supposes Man really capable of being like God in knowing Good and Evil. The Soul is a Tabula rasa, and gets all it knows thro' the Body; so there is no Law implanted in the Soul. the Appetites of the Body act mechanically, and we know that they can teach us, naturally as brute beasts; and they lead us to no Good or Happiness higher than theirs.
(pp. 46-7)
(pp. 46-7)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO
Citation
At least 2 entries in ESTC (1750, 1758).
See The Use and Intent of Prophecy, and History of the Fall; Cleared from the Objections in Dr. C. Middleton's Examination of the Lord Bishop of London's Discourses Concerning Them. With Some Cursory Animadversions on a Letter, &c. To Dr. Waterland in 1731. In Which Is Shewn I. That the Use of Prophecy, As It Was Taught and Practised by Christ and His Apostles, Was Drawn from the Law and Prophets, As One Continued Chain of Predictions: That the Law Began With Adam; That the Flaming Sword Turning Every Way Was the Ninbus and Chariot of the Cherubim, an Exhibition of the Powers in This System, With Christ Upon a Throne Above It; and That Sacrifice Was a Standing Prophecy, and Consequently That His Lordship’s Chain of Prophecie, Is a Golden One, That Reached from Eden to Christ. II. That the Account of the Fall Is True History, and Not Apologue. III. That Dr. Middleton Is Not Acquainted With the State of the Evidence for Christianity, and Has Been Speaking Evil of Those Things Which He Knows Not. By Julius Bate, A.M. (London: Printed for M. Cooper, at the Globe, in Pater-Noster-Row, 1750). <Link to ESTC>
See The Use and Intent of Prophecy, and History of the Fall; Cleared from the Objections in Dr. C. Middleton's Examination of the Lord Bishop of London's Discourses Concerning Them. With Some Cursory Animadversions on a Letter, &c. To Dr. Waterland in 1731. In Which Is Shewn I. That the Use of Prophecy, As It Was Taught and Practised by Christ and His Apostles, Was Drawn from the Law and Prophets, As One Continued Chain of Predictions: That the Law Began With Adam; That the Flaming Sword Turning Every Way Was the Ninbus and Chariot of the Cherubim, an Exhibition of the Powers in This System, With Christ Upon a Throne Above It; and That Sacrifice Was a Standing Prophecy, and Consequently That His Lordship’s Chain of Prophecie, Is a Golden One, That Reached from Eden to Christ. II. That the Account of the Fall Is True History, and Not Apologue. III. That Dr. Middleton Is Not Acquainted With the State of the Evidence for Christianity, and Has Been Speaking Evil of Those Things Which He Knows Not. By Julius Bate, A.M. (London: Printed for M. Cooper, at the Globe, in Pater-Noster-Row, 1750). <Link to ESTC>
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
10/11/2006
