Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	believe_v	church_n	interpretation_n	3,657	5	10.5181	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43995	Humane nature, or, The fundamental elements of policy being a discovery of the faculties, acts, and passions of the soul of man from their original causes, according to such philosophical principles as are not commonly known or asserted / by Tho. Hobbs.	Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.	1684 (1684)	Wing H2244; ESTC R27431	44,473	106

3. Sect. 5. where I call them Phantasms For taking them to be Things real without us like Bodies and seeing them to come and vanish so strangely as they do unlike to Bodies what could they call them else but incorporeal Bodies which is not a Name but an Absurdity of Speech 6. It is true that the Heathens and all Nations of the World have acknowledged that there be Spirits which for the most part they hold to be incorporeal whereby it might be thought that a Man by natural Reason may arrive without the Scriptures to the Knowledge of this That Spirits are But the erroneous Collection thereof by the Heathens may proceed as I have said before from the Ignorance of the Cause of Ghosts and Phantasms and such other Apparitions And from thence had the Grecians their Number of Gods their Number of Daemons good or bad and for every Man his Genius which is not the Acknowledging of this Truth That Spirits are but a false Opinion concerning the Force of Imagination 7. And seeing the Knowledge we have of Spirits is not natural Knowledge but Faith from supernatural Revelation given to the holy Writers of the Scriptures it followeth that of Inspirations also which is the Operation of Spirit in us the Knowledge which we have must all proceed from Scripture The Signs there set down of Inspiration are Miracles when they be great and manifestly above the Power of Men to do by Imposture As for Example the Inspiration of Elias was known by the miraculous Burning of the Sacrifice But the Signs to distinguish whether a Spirit be good or evil are the same by which we distinguish whether a Man or a Tree be good or evil namely Actions and Fruit For there are lying Spirits wherewith Men are inspired sometimes as well as with Spirits of Truth And we are commanded in Scripture to judge of the Spirits by their Doctrine and not of the Doctrine by the Spirits For Miracles our Saviour hath forbidden us to rule our Faith by them Matth. 24.24 And Saint Paul saith Gal. 1.8 Though an Angel from Heaven preach to you otherwise c. let him be accursed Where it is plain that we are not to judge whether the Doctrine be true or not by the Angel but whether the Angel say true or no by the Doctrine So likewise 1 Joh. 4.1 Believe not every Spirit for false Prophets are gone out into the World Vers. 2. Hereby shall ye know the Spirit of God Vers. 3. Every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God and this is the Spirit of Antichrist Vers. 15. Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God in him dwelleth God and he in God The Knowledge therefore we have of good and evil Inspiration cometh not by Vision of an Angel that may teach it nor by a Miracle that may seem to confirm it but by Conformity of Doctrine with this Article and Fundamental Point of Christian Faith which also Saint Paul saith is the sole Foundation That Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh 1 Cor. 3.11 8. But if Inspiration be discerned by this Point and this Point be acknowledged and believed upon the Authority of the Scriptures How may some Men ask know we that the Scripture deserveth so great Authority which must be no less than that of the lively Voice of God that is how we know the Scriptures to be the Word of God And first it is manifest that if by Knowledge we understand Science infallible and natural as is defined Chap. 6. Sect. 4. proceeding from Sense we cannot be said to know it because it proceedeth not from the Conceptions ingendered by Sense And if we understand Knowledge as supernatural we cannot have it but by Inspiration And of that Inspiration we cannot judge but by the Doctrine It followeth that we have not any Way natural or supernatural of the Knowledge thereof which can properly be called Infallible Science and Evidence It remaineth that the Knowledge that we have that the Scriptures are the Word of God is only Faith which Faith therefore is also by Saint Paul defined Heb. 11.1 to be the Evidence of Things not seen that is to say not otherwise evident but by Faith for whatsoever either is evident by Natural Reason or Revelation supernatural is not called Faith else should not Faith cease no more than Charity when we are in Heaven which is contrary to the Doctrine of the Scripture And we are not said to believe but to know those Things that be evident 9. Seeing then the Acknowledgment of Scriptures to be the Word of God is not Evidence but Faith and Faith Chap. 6. Sect. 7. consisteth in the Trust we have of other Men it appeareth plain that the Men so trusted are the holy Men of Gods Church succeeding one another from the Time of those that saw the wondrous Works of God Almighty in the Flesh Nor doth this imply that God is not the Worker or Efficient Cause of Faith or that Faith is begotten in Man without the Spirit of God for all those good Opinions which we admit and believe though they proceed from Hearing and Hearing from Teaching both which are natural yet they are the Work of God for all the Works of Nature are his and they are attributed to the Spirit of God As for Example Exod. 28.3 Thou shalt speak unto all cunning Men whom I have filled with the SPIRIT of Wisdom that they may make Aaron's Garments for his Consecration that he may serve me in the Priests Office Faith therefore wherewith we believe is the Work of the Spirit of God in that Sense by which the Spirit of God giveth to one Man Wisdom and cunning in Workmanship more than another and by which he effecteth also in other Points pertaining to our ordinary Life that one Man believeth that which upon the same Grounds another doth not and one Man reverenceth the Opinion and obeyeth the Commands of his Superiour and others not 10. And seeing our Faith that the Scriptures are the Word of God began from the Confidence and Trust we repose in the Church there can be no Doubt but that their Interpretation of the same Scriptures when any Doubt or Controversie shall arise by which this Fundamental Point That Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh may be called in question is safer for any Man to trust to than his own whether Reasoning or Spirit that is to say his own Opinion 11. Now concerning Mens Affections to God-ward they are not the same always that are described in the Chapter concerning Passions There for to love is to be delighted with the Image or Conception of the Thing loved but God is unconceivable To love God therefore in the Scripture is to obey his Commandments and to love one another Also to trust God is different from our trusting one another for when a Man trusteth a Man Chap. 9. Sect. 8. he layeth aside his own Endeavours but

and motive considered in every Man by himself without Relation to other● it will fall fitly into this Chapter to speak of the Effects of the same Power one upon another which Effects are also the Signs by which one taketh notice what another conceiveth and intendeth Of these Signs some are such as cannot easily be counterfeited as Actions and Gestures especially if they be sudden whereof I have mentioned some for Example look in Chap. 9. with the several Passions whereof they are Signs Others there are which may be counterfeited and those are Words or Speech of the Use and Effects whereof I am to speak in this Place 2. The first Use of Language is the expression of our Conceptions that is the begetting in one another the same Conceptions that we have in our selves and this is called Teaching wherein if the Conception of him that teacheth continually accompany his Words beginning at something true in Experience then it begetteth the like Evidence in the Hearer that understandeth them and maketh him to know something which he is therefore said to learn but if there be not such Evidence then such teaching is called Perswasion and begetteth no more in the Hearer than what is in the Speakers bare Opinion And the Signs of two Opinions contradictory one to another namely Affirmation and Negation of the same Thing is called Controversie but both Affirmations or both Negations Consent in Opinion 3. The infallible Sign of teaching exactly and without errour is this that no Man hath ever taught the Contrary Not that few how few soever if any for commonly Truth is on the side of a few rather than of the Multitude But when in Opinions and Questions considered and discussed by many it happeneth that not any one of the Men that so discuss'd them differ from another then it may be justly inferred they know what they teach and that otherwise they do not And this appears most manifestly to them that have considered the divers Subjects wherein they have exercised their Pens and the divers Ways in which they have proceeded together with the Diversity of the Success thereof for those Men who have taken in hand to consider nothing else but the Comparison of Magnitudes Numbers Times and Motions and how their Proportions are to one another have thereby been the Authors of all those Excellencies by which we differ from such savage People as now inhabit divers places in America and as have been the Inhabitants heretofore of those Countries where at this day Arts and Sciences do most flourish for from the Studies of these Men have proceeded whatsoever cometh to us for Ornament by Navigation and whatsoever we have beneficial to humane Society by the Division Distinction and Portraicting the Face of the Earth whatsoever also we have by the Account of Times and Foresight of the Course of Heaven whatsoever by Measuring Distances Plains and Solids of all Sorts and whatsoever either elegant or defensible in Building All which supposed a Way what do we differ from the wildest of the Indians Yet to this day was it never heard of that there was any Controversie concerning any Conclusion in this Subject the Science whereof hath nevertheless been continually amplified and enriched by the Conclusions of most difficult and profound Speculation The Reason whereof is apparent to every Man that looketh into their Writings for they proceed from most low and humble Principles evident even to the meanest Capacity going on slowly and with most scrupulous Ratiocination viz. from the Imposition of Names they inferr the Truth of their first Propositions and from two of the first a third and from any two of the three a fourth and so on according to the Steps of Science mentioned Chap. 6. Sect. 4. On the other side those Men who have written concerning the Faculties Passions and Manners of Men that is to say of Moral Philosophy and of Policy Government and Laws whereof there be infinite Volumes have been so far from removing Doubt and Controversie in the Questions they have handled that they have very much multiplied the same Nor doth any Man at this day so much as pretend to know more than hath been delivered Two thousand Years ago by Aristotle and yet every Man thinks that in this Subject he knoweth as much as any other supposing there needeth thereunto no Study but that accrueth unto them by natural Wit though they play or imploy their Mind otherwise in the Purchace of Wealth or Place The Reason whereof is no other than that in their Writings and Discourses they take for Principles those Opnions which are already vulgarly received whether true or false being for the most part false There is therefore a great deal of Difference between Teaching and Perswading the Sign of this being Controversie the Sign of the former no Controversie 4. There be two Sorts of Men that commonly be called learned One is that Sort that proceedeth evidently from humble Principles as is described in the last Section and those Men are called Mathematici The other are they that take up Maxims from their Education and from the Authority of Men or of Custom and take the habitual Discourse of the Tongue for Ratiocination and these are called Dogmatici Now seeing in the last Section those we call Mathematici are absolved of the Crime of breeding Controversie and they that pretend not to Learning cannot be accused the Fault lieth altogether in the Dogmaticks that is to say those that are imperfectly learned and with Passion press to have their Opinions pass every where for Truth without any evident Demonstration either from Experience or from Places of Scripture of uncontroverted Interpretation 5. The Expression of those Conceptions which cause in us the Experience of Good while we deliberate as also of those which cause our Expectation of Evil is that which we call Counselling and is the internal Deliberation of the Mind concerning what we our selves are to do or not to do The Consequences of our Actions are our Counsellors by alternate Succession in the Mind So in the Counsel which a Man taketh from other Men the Counsellors alternately do make appear the Consequences of the Action and do not any of them deliberate but furnish among them all him that is counselled with Arguments whereupon to deliberate with himself 6. Another Use of Speech is Expression of Appetite Intention and Will as the Appetite of Knowledge by Interrogation Appetite to have a Thing done by another as Request Prayer Petition Expressions of our Purpose or intention as Promise which is the Affirmation or Negation of some Action to be done in the future Threatning which is the Promise of Evil and Commanding which is that Speech by which we signifie to another our Appetite or Desire to have any Thing done or left undone for Reasons contained in the Will it self For it is not properly said Sic volo sic jubeo without that other Clause Stet pro Ratione Voluntas And when the Command is a sufficient Reason to move us to Action then is that Command called a Law 7. Another Use of Speech is Instigation and Appeasing by which we increase or diminish one anothers Passion It is the same Thing with Perswasion the Difference not being real for the Begetting of Opinion and Passion is the same But whereas in Perswasion we aim at Getting Opinion from Passion here the End is to raise Passion from Opinion And as in raising an Opinion from Passion any Premisses are good enough to inforce the desired Conclusion so in raising Passion from Opinion it is no matter whether the Opinion be true or false or the Narration historical or fabulous for not the Truth but the Image maketh Passion and a Tragedy well acted affecteth no less than a Murther 8. Though words be the Signs we have of one anothers Opinions and Intentions because the Aequivocation of them is so frequent according to the Diversity of Contexture and of the Company wherewith they go which the Presence of him that speaketh our Sight of his Actions and Conjecture of his Intentions must help to discharge us of it must therefore be extream hard to find the Opinions and Meaning of those Men that are gone from us long ago and have left us no other Signification thereof than their Books which cannot possibly be understood without History to discover those aforementioned Circumstances and also without great Prudence to observe them 9. When it happeneth that a Man signifieth unto us two contradictory Opinions whereof the one is clearly and directly signified and the other either drawn from that by Consequence or not known to be contradictory to it then when he is not present to explicate himself better we are to take the former for his Opinion for that is clearly signified to be his and directly whereas the other might proceed from errour in the Deduction or Ignorance of the Repugnancy The like also is to be held in two contradictory Expressions of a Mans Intention and Will for the same Reason 10. Forasmuch as whosoever speaketh to another intendeth thereby to make him understand what he saith if he speak unto him either in a Language which he that heareth understandeth not or use any Word in other Sence than he believeth is the Sence of him that heareth he intendeth also not to make him understand what he saith which is a Contradiction of himself It is therefore always to be supposed that he which intendeth not to deceive alloweth the private Interpretation of his Speech to him to whom it is addressed 11. Silence in him that believeth that the same shall be taken for a Sign of his Intent is a Sign thereof indeed for if he did not consent the Labour of Speaking so much as to declare the same is so little as it is to be presumed he would have done it CONCLUSION THus have we considered the Nature of Man so far as was requisite for the finding out the first and most simple Elements wherein the Compositions of Politick Rules and Laws are lastly resolved which was my present Purpose FINIS