"Which they explained by a Bottle's being filled with Sea Water, that swimming there a while, on the Bottle's breaking, flowed in again, and mingled with the common Mass."
— Warburton, William (1698-1779)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. and P. Knapton
Date
1741, 1742, 1755
Metaphor
"Which they explained by a Bottle's being filled with Sea Water, that swimming there a while, on the Bottle's breaking, flowed in again, and mingled with the common Mass."
Metaphor in Context
But when the Ancients are said to hold the Pre- and Post-existence of the Soul, and therefore to attribute a proper Eternity to it, we must not suppose, that they understood it to be eternal in its distinct and peculiar Existence; but that it was discerped from the Substance of God, in time; and would, in time, be rejoined, and resolved into it again. Which they explained by a Bottle's being filled with Sea Water, that swimming there a while, on the Bottle's breaking, flowed in again, and mingled with the common Mass. They only differed about the Time of this Reunion and Resolution: The greater Part holding it to be at Death, but the Pythagoreans not till after many Transmigrations. The Platonists went between these two Opinions: and rejoined pure and unpolluted Souls, immediately on Death, to the universal Spirit. But those which had contracted much Defilement, were sent into a Succession of other Bodies, to purge and purify them, before they returned to their Parent Substance. And these were the two sorts of the natural Metempsychosis, which we have observed above, to have been really held by those two Schools of Philosophy.
(III.iv, p. 384)
(III.iv, p. 384)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
7 entries in ESTC (1738, 1742, 1765, 1766). 1st edition 1738-1741; 2nd edition 1738-1742; 3rd edition ("in nine books") in 1742; 4th edition in 1755.
See The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated, on the Principles of a Religious Deist, from the Omission of the Doctrine of a Future State of Reward and Punishment in the Jewish Dispensation. In Six Books. By William Warburton (London: Printed for Fletcher Gyles, 1738-41). <Link to ESTC><Link to Vol. 1 in Google Books><Link to Vol. 2>
Some text from The Divine Legation of Moses. In Nine Books. The Fourth Edition, Corrected and Enlarged. By W. Warburton (London: Printed for J. and P. Knapton, 1755). <Link to ESTC>
See The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated, on the Principles of a Religious Deist, from the Omission of the Doctrine of a Future State of Reward and Punishment in the Jewish Dispensation. In Six Books. By William Warburton (London: Printed for Fletcher Gyles, 1738-41). <Link to ESTC><Link to Vol. 1 in Google Books><Link to Vol. 2>
Some text from The Divine Legation of Moses. In Nine Books. The Fourth Edition, Corrected and Enlarged. By W. Warburton (London: Printed for J. and P. Knapton, 1755). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
02/05/2014
