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"And whatever any talk of (the rasa tabula,) an indifferency by nature, to virtue or vice: never could I find any such thing; but all men inclined the wrong way: and abundance of work, by discipline, and the grace of God, to make any one better than the rest."

— Jenks, Benjamin (bap. 1648, d. 1724)

Author

Jenks, Benjamin (bap. 1648, d. 1724)

Work Title

Meditations, with Short Prayers Annexed

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for James Rivington and James Fletcher

Date

1757

Metaphor

"And whatever any talk of (the rasa tabula,) an indifferency by nature, to virtue or vice: never could I find any such thing; but all men inclined the wrong way: and abundance of work, by discipline, and the grace of God, to make any one better than the rest."

Metaphor in Context

But shall I, my soul, withstand God's revelation; because of man's objection? must I renounce the revealed verity: because some will load it with absurdity? I know not what article of faith then I shall ever hold fast. But when it is such a truth, as I do not only hear, but feel; and it comes home to my own very sense and experience: shall any sophistical reasonings wrangle me out of it; what though I cannot resolve the question, [GREEK CHARACTERS] whence the evil was derived: whether from the soul formed in the body; [end page 211] or lighted as a candle from the souls of the parents: when the thing itself is evident; shall I deny it; because I cannot account how it came to pass? if I see the house on fire, I am sure there was a cause: though that light may not shew me how it began. And whatever any talk of (the rasa tabula,) an indifferency by nature, to virtue or vice: never could I find any such thing; but all men inclined the wrong way: and abundance of work, by discipline, and the grace of God, to make any one better than the rest. Such an ill soil is the nature of man, running him all to naught: and without a disposition to bear any good; which with very much ado, and even against the native genius (if at all,) it comes there to prevail and flourish. I see the sad prospect of such ruins; as tell me too plain, from whence I am fallen. Though I can scarce tell what I was, by what I now am: any more than I can judge of rich wine, by the vinegar, into which it is degenerated: yet may I find the reason in myself, why I cannot find out the whole of this matter: because, alas, my intellectuals are so maimed; that I can hardly judge aright of other things, more open that lie before me. [...]