Grove, Henry (1684-1738)

An Essay Towards a Demonstration of the Soul’s Immateriality.

London

Printed for John Clark

1718, 1747

"A piece of sculpture admirably wrought is put out to view, but, to preserve it against the injuries of the weather, or for some other reason, is varnished over. Every body extols the artist, and is pleased with his work; and yet no one sees that which was the immediate subject of his art, being hid under the varnish. Our ideas are this thin varnish spread over the face of nature, which do not hinder us from passing a judgment of it; because they express outward objects, much as the varnish takes the form of the work upon which it is laid."

My answer is — That if the world serves all the same ends both of contemplation and action, tho' knowable only by idea, as it would if it were visible, or the immediate object of perception, then its invisibility can be no reason against its existence. Now that it doth answer all the fame ends, I thus prove. And, first, as to contemplation. That which would exercise our contemplation in the frame of a world that was visible, must be the vast extent of the whole; and the beautiful order, great variety, and wise subserviency of the parts; from all which we should be led to admire the infinite power, wisdom and goodness of the supreme cause. And are not these perfections equally displayed? And is there not the same reason to adore them, in the formation of this world, if in the main correspondent to our idea of it, as if it were immediately seen? I can discern no difference. I will try is this may not be illustrated. A piece of sculpture admirably wrought is put out to view, but, to preserve it against the injuries of the weather, or for some other reason, is varnished over. Every body extols the artist, and is pleased with his work; and yet no one sees that which was the immediate subject of his art, being hid under the varnish. Our ideas are this thin varnish spread over the face of nature, which do not hinder us from passing a judgment of it; because they express outward objects, much as the varnish takes the form of the work upon which it is laid. And then, secondly, as for action. If my idea of an object; which I would approach or avoid, represent it in the place where it is, why is not this every jot as well as if I had notice of it by immediate perception? So far then we have cleared our way, that an external world may possibly exist; and that no good reason can be drawn from it invisibility, that it doth not actually exift.
(III, pp. 179-180)

Visual Arts::Sculpture Uncategorized::Varnish

Reading John W. Yolton, "As in a Looking-Glass: Perceptual Acquaintance in Eighteenth-Century Britain." Journal of the History of Ideas 40:2 (1979): 223.

At least 2 entries in ESTC (1718, 1747).

See An Essay Towards a Demonstration of the Soul’s Immateriality. By Henry Grove. (London: Printed for John Clark, at the Bible and Crown in the Poultry, near Cheapside, 1718). <Link to ESTC>

Text from volume 3 of The Works of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Henry Grove, of Taunton: Containing All the Sermons, Discourses, and Tracts Published in His Life-Time. 4 vols. (London: Printed and sold by James Waugh, at the Turk’s Head in Gracechurch-Street, 1747). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>

07/30/2014