Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	divine_a	reason_n	revelation_n	1,589	5	9.4988	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34110	Naturall philosophie reformed by divine light, or, A synopsis of physicks by J.A. Comenius ... ; with a briefe appendix touching the diseases of the body, mind, and soul, with their generall remedies, by the same author.; Physicae ad lumen divinum reformatae synopsis. English	Comenius, Johann Amos, 1592-1670.	1651 (1651)	Wing C5522; ESTC R7224	114,530	304

torch that some great secrets of Nature and very obscure places of Scripture the reason of which I knew not before were now plain as it were of their own accord to the exceeding great content of my mind For now with those that have lighted upon a more sound way of Philosophie in this age I saw and rested in it I That the onely true genuine and plain way of Philosophie is to fetch all things from sense reason and Scripture II That the Peripatetick philosophie is not onely defective in many parts and many ways intricate full of turnings and windings and partly also erroneous so that it is not onely unprofitable for Christians but also without correction and perfection hurtfull III That philosophie may be reformed and perfected by an harmonicall reduction of all things that are and are made to sense reason and Scripture with so much evidence and certainty in all such things as are of most concernment and have any necessity that any mortall man seeing may see and feeling may feel the truth scattered every where Of all and every of which observations least we should seem to have dreamed somewhat there will be some thing to be said more at large And for the first we make three principles of Philosophy with Campanella and his happy Interpreter Tobie Adams Sense Reason and Scripture But so joyntly that whosoever would not be left in ignorāce or doubt should rest on no one of these without the others otherwise it wil be a most ready precipice into errors For Sense though it make an immediate impression upon us of the truth imprinted upon things yet because it is very often confounded either by reason of the multitude of things in a manner infinite and the strange complications of formes or else wearied and tired sometimes with the distance of the objects and so consequently dazeled and deceived Reason must of necessity be imployed which may conclude alike of like things and contrarily of contrary things by observing their proportion and so supply the defect of sense and correct its errours But then because many things are remote both from sense and reason which we cannot in any sort attein unto by sense nor yet by reason firmly enough we are indepted to the grace of God that he hath by his Word revealed unto us even some secrets which concern us to know Therefore if any one desire the true knowledg of things these three principl●s of knowing must of force be conjoyned Otherwise he that will follow the guidance of sense onely will never be wiser then the common sort nor be able to imagine the Moon lesse then a starre the Sun greater then the earth and that again sphaericall and every way habitable On the contrary if a man contemplate on abstract things and consult onely with reason without the testimony of sense he will be rapt away with meer phantasines and create himself a new world like the Platonicall and Aristotelicall c. Lastly they that heed the Scripture onely and hearken neither to sense nor reason are either carried away beyond the world by the sublimity of their conceptions or else involve things they understand not with the Colliers faith or following the letter propound unto themselves things though never so absurd and superstitious to be believed as Papists do in that most absurd transubstantion of theirs c. So then the principles of knowing must be conjoyned that divine Revelation may afford us belief Reason Understanding Sense Certainty And they must be used in this order in naturall things I say as that we begin with sense and end in revelation as it were the setting to the seal of God for by this order every subsequent degree will receive receive from the antecedent both Evidence and also Certainty and Emendation For as there is nothing in the understanding which was not first in the sense so there is nothing in the belief which not first in the understanding For he that believes must know what is fit to be believed Hence the Scripture frequently invites us to hear see tast consider And affirmes that faith too comes by hearing I said Certainty too For by how much the neerer Reason is to sense that is by how many the more experiments of the senses it may be demonstrated it is so much the more reall and on the contrary again the further it recedes from sense by so much the more vain speculation and naked imagination it hath But by how much the neerer divine Revelation may be reduced to understanding and the testimonies of experience so much the more strength it findes I said further that the precedent degrees were corrected by the subsequent and so it is For where sense fails or mistakes it is supplied and corrected by reason And Reason by Revelation For example when the sense judgeth the Moon to be bigger then Saturn or an Oare to be broken under the water c. Reason rectifies it by certain documents of experience So when Reason hath gathered any thing falsely of things invisible it is amended by divine Revelation Yet that emendation is not violent and with the destruction of the precedent principle but gentle so that that very thing which is corrected acknowledgeth and admits it of its own accord and with joy and soon brings something of its own whereby the same corrected truth may become more apparent For example Reason brings nothing to correct sense whereof it is not soon ascertained by sundry experiments and affirmes it self that so it is as that an Oare is not broken under water the Touch teacheth as also the sight it self looking on it after it is drawn out Faith holds out nothing which is contrary and repugnant to Reason though it bring that which is beyond and above Reason But all things such as Reason not onely yields being overcome by authority but also finds of a truth to be in things and so seeks and finds out some thing of its own which may serve to confirme and illustrate the same truth Therefore let it be taken for true That Sense is not onely the fountain of knowledge but also of certainty in naturall things But that the understanding is the Organ not onely of knowledge but also of certainty in revealed things Let us come then to the purpose Some deny that holy Scripture is to be drawn to Philosophie because it teacheth not the speculation of outward things but the way of eternall life I confess that the Scripture was given by inspiration of God to teach reprove correct and instruct in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3. I confess I say that this is the ultimate end of the Scripture Yet who knows not that there are for the most part more ends of one thing even in humane things much more in divine where the wisdom of our adored God hath wholly wound up it self with an artifice scarce to be found out of us Truly

if wee finde that artifice all over nature and so it is that every creature and part of a creature and part of a part serves for severall uses I see no reason why we should deprive the Book of God of this character of the highest Wisdome But I see reason why we ought to determine that most sufficient complements of all things whereunto Sense and Reason were insufficient and yet wee were concerned to know them are extant in that most holy Book For did not God bring man into the School of the World to contemplate his manifold Wisdome Did not hee command him to behold his invisible things by these things that are seen Rom. 1. v. 20. Surely this must be acknowledged to be the end both of making the World and placeing man therein Now it is cleere through all Nature that to whatsoever end God hath ordained any thing he hath conferred means upon it to be tein it Hee hath therefore conferred means upon man to contemplate his wondrous things Which as wee must acknowledge that they are sense and reason so we must needs acknowledge that they are not every where sufficicient For our senses leave us in the knowledge of eternall things and those things which are placed quite out of sight and done when we are not present But where Sense fails Reason fails also Being that this is nothing but an universall knowledge of things gathered from particulars acts of sense that this or that is or is done either so or so When as therefore both Sense and Reason doe very ordinarily fail us shall we believe that the most gracious Father of Lights would not supply this defect some other way His most liberall and in every respect approved bounty towards us will not permit us to suspect that But if God have some way or other provided for us let it be shewen what it is or where it is to be sought for if not in that sacred volume of Oracles And I pray was it in vain or onely in respect of our eternall salvation that God said of his Law This is your wisdome and understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall heare all these statutes and say Surely this is a wise and understanding people Deut. 4. 6. Or did David boast in vain I have more under standing then all my teachers because thy testimonies are my meditations Psal. 119. 99. Or the sonne of Sirach say in vain The Word of God most High is the fountain of wisdom Eccles. 1. 5. Or was it in vain that Salomon call'd God the guide unto wisdome and the corrector of the wise Wisd. 7. 15. see here a correctour But how doth he correct but by dashing over our vain cogitation with his word And to what purpose I pray is all that is frequently mētion'd concerning the beginning of the World and the order of the Creation and properties of the creatures If the parent of nature who is also the Dictatour of the Scriptures meant to teach us nothing of nature They say it is to this end that we may learn to know and admire love and fear the Maker of all things Right But how the Maker without his work Does not any one so much the more admire and praise the ingenuity of the Painter if he be excellent by how much the better he understands the art of painting Surely yes A superficiall knowledge will never raise either love or admiration And then I demand those things which wee meet with in the Scriptures concerning the creatures by similitudes also drawn thence are they true or false If true for who can determine otherwise without blasphemie why may we not conferre them with those things that are manifest by sense reason that so we may finde out that harmony of truth which is in things and in the mouth of the Author of things Truly if the words of the wise are as goades and nails fastened as Salomon testifies Eccles. 12. 11. What shall we think of the words of the all-wise God But this that though they raise us up with another end and by the by yet they contein nothing but most solid truth and all manner of-wisedome In vain therefore may some one say I finde no mention in the Scriptures much less precepts of Grammar Logicke Mathematicks Physicks c. For there is as much distance betwixt divine writings and humane as betwixt God himself and man Man that is limited with time place and objects at one time and in one place can do but one thing but God that is aeternall omnipresent and omniscient at once sees rules and governs all things always and every where And the same Character do their writings retein on either part Humane writings do some one thing with expresse endeavour handling one object in one place and that in such a way as is most pleasing to mans understanding but divine writings like an universal treasury of wisdome stay not upon one particular matter unlesse it be in things pertaining to Theologie but contein variety of matter under severall sayings Whence a Divine a Moralist a Politician a Housholder a Philosopher a Philologer c. may take out every of them what each hath use of And this breadth depth of the Scripture is its prerogative before humane writings that so it may be in truth an inexhaustible fountain of all wisdome For whatsoever matter is to be handled the Scripture affords always either a rule or some sayings or examples as John Henrie Alsted sometimes my honoured Master shews in his Triumphus Biblicus and much more might be discovered by a very accurate diligence which that so it is for a good part of it shall appear also in these our Physicall meditations Rightly therefore said Cassiodorus the Scripture is an heavenly school wherein we learn whatsoever we are either to learn or to be ignorant of And piously T. Lydiat It is most absurd that heathen Philosophers should seek for the principles of all arts in one Homers posie and that we Christians should not do the same in the Oracles of God which are a most plentifull and most clear fountain of wisdome About the end of his Physiological disquisition Those most Christian Philosophers are therefore deservedly to be praised who have endeavoured to render unto God the Parent of things that praise that is due unto him Franc. Valesius Lambert Danaeus Levinus Lemnius Thomas Lydiat Conradus As●acus Otto Casmannus who have not doubted to asseverate that the seeds of true Philosophy are conteined in the holy Book of the Bible and to derive their maximes of Philosophy from thence though with different successe Let it stand therefore that Philososophy is lame without divine Revelation Whence wee have this consequence that Aristotle is not to be tolerated in Christian schools as the onely Master of Philosophie But that we should be free Philosophers to follow that which our senses Reason and Scripture dictate For what Are not we placed as wel as they in Natures

to wonder why the like hath not been yet assayed in Metaphysicks Physicks and Theologie for Ethicks and Politicks concern more contingent things I am not ignorant that there is more evidence in Numbers Measures and Weights then in Qualities by which Nature puts forth its strength after a hidden manner yet I will not say that there is greater certainty in them seeing that all things are done alike not without highest reason in a continued order and as it were by an aeternall law And yet in Mathematicks all things are not alike plain yet they are assayed sundry wayes till they can be reduced to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or very sight as I said before and delivered scientifically For he sayes nothing in Philosophicall matters that proves nothing and he proves nothing that doth not so demonstrate it that you cannot contradict it And now I beseech you let this be our businesse that the schools may cease to perswade and begin to demonstrate cease to dispute and begin to speculate cease lastly to believe and begin to know For that Aristotellicall maxim Discentem oportet credere A learner must believe is as tyrannicall as dangerous and that same Pythagorean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipse dixit Let no man be compell'd to swear to his Masters words but let the things themselves constrain the intellect Nor let a Master have any more credit given him then hee can demonstrate in very deed that hee is to have For in a free Common-wealth there ought to be no Kings but Dukes or Generalls no Dictators but Consuls And those that profess the art of instructing men are the Fathers of men not the carvers of Statues O when shall we see that day that all things which ought to be known shall offer themselves so to a mans understanding that there wil be nothing but what may be understood for the very cleerness of it nothing call'd in doubt for certainty the truth of things making such an impression upon the senses with its light For hee doth not see truly who must yet be perswaded by arguments to make him believe that hee sees as wee have been hither to dealt with for the best part I could not choose because I seemed to see light in the light of God but assay calling God to my aid to reduce these new hypotheses of naturall things into a new method and dictate them to the schollers of this school And thence sprang this which I now offer representing a draught of the lineaments of some new and as I hope truly Christian Philosophie Not that I would crosse the design of great Verulam who thought it the best way to abstein from Axiomes and method till full inductions could be made of all and every thing throughout all nature but to make an experiment in the mean time whether more light might be let into our minds by this means to observe the secrets of nature the more easily that so praise might be perfected to God out of the very mouth of infants and confusion prepared for the gain saying enemie as David having comprised the summe of Physicks in a short hymne for the use of the unlearned speaks Psal. 8. I have entituled it a Synopsis of Physicks reformed by divine light because Philosophy is here guided by the lamp of divine Scripture and all our assertions are brought to the attestation of the senses and reason with as much evidence as could be possible Now both those come under the name of divine light For as David said THY WORD is ALANTHORNE unto my feet so said Salomon THE SPIRIT or mind OF A MAN is THE CANDLE of the Lord searching all things Psalm 119. 105. and Proverbs 20. 27. If any one object That these things here delivered are not yet of that certainty or evidence as to be preferred before Aristotles so long received doctrine I will answer that is not my drift at present but onely I propound this as an example that a truer way of Philosophie may be set out by the Guidance of God the Light of Reason and the Testimonie of Sense if Philosophers would labour more after God and the Truth then after Aristotle and Opinion In the mean time these should be the more acceptable and had in more reverent esteem of us if it were for nothing but this that they are taken from the Oracles of God and aime at a more abundant knowledg of God For my part truly I had rather in that mind I now am and that it may so continue strengthen me ô God I had rather I say erre having God for my guide then having Aristotle that is I had rather follow the voice of God though not throughly understood yet so I follow it then be carried away from the sacred testimonies of my God to the devices of the brain of man I confesse my self that something more were to be desired here yet to that rule of certainty and evidence which I spake of before yet because I trust that these things may be brought to a fuller 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exactnesse by reiterated meditations of mine own or some others I doubted not to follow the counsell of great Acontius If thou hast made any rare observation sayes he which never any one before made whither the thing be a new invention or some new way of former inventions although much be wanting as yet which is above thy strength neverthelesse if thou shouldest not make it publick it would argue either too much cowardize or too much haughtinesse of thy mind and however that thou art no lover of the Common Wealth And why should not these things be accounted as new inventions That ternarie of principles so clearly demonstrated from Scripture Reason and Sense Why not that admirable scale of substances by a septenarie gradation Why not the doctrine of spirits as well separate as incorporate of motions also and qualities laid down more accurately and plainly then ever before letting in a quite new light into the knowledge of natur all things To say nothing of smaller matters scattered all over the book Every of which in particular though I dare not defend tooth and nail for some things perhaps are still the reliques of common tradition and others it may be not yet sufficiently established upon the foundations w ch we have laid down yet I am perswaded that they are the groundworks of unmoved truth and avail much to the more exact observation of particular things And that I may speak in a word I hope there is so much light in this method of Physicks here delivered that very little place is left to doubts and disputations so that it makes something towards the taking away the controversies of Authours the opinions of all whatsoever of truth either Aristotle hath or Galen the Chymicks Campanella and Verulamius do reasonably alledge against him being reduced to an harmony which may be made plain by the example of the principles of which they make bodies to consist