Date: 1698

"This Proposition, then, say we, is such, that our Understanding no sooner opens its Eye, to take a View of it, but it must assent to it, because of the Self-evident Identification of its Terms; whose Self-Evidence we do therefore make our Rule."

— Sergeant, John (1622-1707)

Date: 1698

"Nay, it must be such as may be produc'd openly, by the Asserters of any Truth; that, by alledging It, they may be able to convince others, that what they maintain is a Real Truth, and not some Phantastick Conceit of their own; without which, their Clear and Distinct Perception is Invisible, and ...

— Sergeant, John (1622-1707)

Date: 1698

"And, my Reason is, because, unless Men take Principles along with them, to guide their Thoughts right, and keep an Attentive Eye to them, while they thus Meditate; 'tis to be fear'd, their long Meditating will, by its frequent Dints, so imprint and fix what you have told them, in their Brain; an...

— Sergeant, John (1622-1707)

Date: 1698

"Lastly, As this pretended Necessity of Explicating, and Meditating, quite degrades yours from being the Genuin, First, and, consequently, the Right Rule of Knowing Truth; so it abets ours, and gives it a Clear Title to be such a Rule, since the Self-evidence of those First Truths, express'd by I...

— Sergeant, John (1622-1707)

Date: 1698

"This, I say, was evidently the Tenour of his Discourse; because, did not those Reasons of his, against the Sufficiency of our Senses to give us this Information, conclude; but that, notwithstanding all those Reasons could prove, the Senses might still imprint on our Mind those First Notions, his...

— Sergeant, John (1622-1707)

Date: 1698

"For, in case those Impressions on our Mind could have been made by means of the Senses, as aforesaid; then those Impressions, or Notions, being the Immediate Foundation, on which is built all our Knowledge, could not be call'd, or resembl'd to Rubbish; nor compar'd to a Hole, to lay the Foundati...

— Sergeant, John (1622-1707)

Date: 1698

"The lively Image of a Crucify'd Saviour then exhibited, could not but make very moving impressions on a mind of so much pious Warmth and Tenderness."

— Atterbury, Francis (1663-1732)

Date: 1698

"In this Glass [her journal] she every Day dress'd her Mind, to this faithful Monitor she repair'd for Advice and Direction, compar'd the past with the present, judg'd of what would be by what had been, observ'd nicely the several successive Degrees of Holiness She got, and of humane Infirmity sh...

— Atterbury, Francis (1663-1732)

Date: 1698

"You have paid Your sad Respects to Her; be not now wanting to Your selves: but 'Gird up the Loins of Your Mind', and be Ye comforted!"

— Atterbury, Francis (1663-1732)

Date: 1704

"Erect your schemes with as much method and skill as you please; yet, if the materials be nothing but dirt, spun out of your own entrails (the guts of modern brains), the edifice will conclude at last in a cobweb; the duration of which, like that of other spiders’ webs, may be imputed to their be...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)