Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sense_n	eye_n	hear_v	see_v	6,309	5	3.8336	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45639	The atheist's objection that we can have no idea of God refuted a sermon preach'd at the cathedral-church of St. Paul, February the 7th 1697/8 : being the second of the lecture for that year, founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. / by John Harris ...	Harris, John, 1667?-1719.	1698 (1698)	Wing H846; ESTC R15272	15,871	30

thing and yet no body can see him nor can we perceive any thing of him by any other of our Senses We cannot tell what to make of such an Account as this of a God we can have no Phantasm Idea or Conception of any such Thing and therefore we justly conclude There is no such Being in Nature And as for that precarious Notion of a God that is so much talk'd of in the World 't is nothing but a meer Phantome or Mormo devised and set up by Politick and Designing Men to keep the Rabble in awe and to scare such Fools as are afraid of their own Shadows The several Points of this Objection I shall singly consider and As to the First Part of it That what we cannot attain any Idea of or That what is absolutely Vnconceiveable is really nothing at all perhaps it may be true taking it in the most strict and proper sence of the words for though I am not of Protagoras's Mind that Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet as I think that That which is absolutely Unconceivable in its own Nature is not possible to be Existent so what is absolutely so to us we can know nothing at all of nor reason nor argue about it since there is no doing of this but from our Ideas But I cannot see how this will be advantageous at all to the Cause of Infidelity For there is neither any one that asserts nor is the Atheist able to prove that That Being which we call God is absolutely Unconceiveable There is a vast difference between a thing 's being Vnconceivable and Incomprehensible between our having no Idea at all of a thing and our having an Imperfect one and between our knowing Nothing at all of a Being and our comprehending all the Possible Perfections and Excellencies of such a Being We readily grant that the Immense Nature of God is incomprehensible to our finite Understandings but we don't say 't is absolutely Unconceivable and that we can know nothing at all about it The common Notion which all Mankind have of a God is a sufficient Refutation of this Part of the Objection as it is also a very good Proof of the real Existence of a Deity for if there were no such Being 't is impossible to conceive how any Idea of him could ever have come into any one's Mind as I shall hereafter more largely prove 2. There is implied in this Objection That we can have no possible Idea nor Notion of the Existence of any thing that is not the Object of our Senses And from hence these Sublime Thinkers argue against the Existence of a Deity and conclude there is no God because they cannot see him and because he is not perceivable by any of our Bodily Senses Thus one of our Modern Atheistical Writers asserts That the only Evidence we can have of the Existence of any thing is from Sense And in another place Whatsoever we can conceive saith he hath been perceived first by Sense either at once or in Parts and a Man can have no Thought representing any thing not subject to Sense And he defines Sense to be Original Knowledge Which is but the Reverse of what Protagoras long ago determin'd for Plato in his Theaetetus tells us That he defined all Knowledge to be Sense Now is not this admirable Philosophy and worthy of those that pretend to a sublimer pitch of Knowledge than the Vulgar There is no Knowledge say they but Sense If so then as Protagoras saith all Sense must be Knowledge and consequently he that sees hears smells or feels any thing must immediately know all that is to be known about it By seeing the Letters of any Language or hearing the Words pronounced a Man or a Beast must needs understand all the Sense and Meaning of it and the Philosophick Nature of all Bodies will be perfectly comprehended as soon as ever they once come within the reach of our Senses This is indeed a good easie method of attaining Learning and perhaps very suitable to the Genius of these Gentlemen But I cannot account from this Notion how they come to have so much more Penetration and Knowledge than their Neighbours Are their Eyes and Ears Noses and Feeling so much more accurate than those of the Vulgar Yes doubtless these are truly Men of Sense their Lyncean Eyes can penetrate Mill-stones and the least silent whisper of Nature moves the Intelligent Drum of their tender Ears nothing escapes their Knowledge but what is undiscoverable by the nicest Sense and can only be comprehended by Reason Reason an Ignis Fatuus of the Mind whose uncertain Direction they scorn to follow while this Light of Nature Sense can be their Guide Nor will it avail them to alledge here that when they say we have no Knowledge but what we have from our Senses they mean only that all our Knowledge comes in that way and not by Innate Idea's for the Author I have mentioned above is express that we can have no thought of any thing not subject to Sense that the only Knowledge we have of the Existence of all things is from Sense and that Sense is Original Knowledge And if so there can be no such thing as comparing or distinguishing of Idea's in our Mind but the simple Idea's of Sensible Objects being impressed upon our Brain must needs convey to us by that means all the Knowledge that we can ever obtain about them and that as soon too as ever the Objects are perceived But than this nothing can be more false and absurd for 't is plain that by our bare Sensations of Objects we know nothing at all of their Natures Our Mind indeed by these Sensations is vigorously excited to enquire further about them but this we could by no means do if Sense were the highest Faculty and Power in our Natures and we were quite devoid of a Reasoning and Thinking Mind This Democritus of old was very well aware of however he comes now to be deserted by the Modern Atheistick Writers for saith he There is in us two kinds of Knowledges one Dark and Obscure which is by the Senses the other Genuine and Proper which is by the Mind And nothing can be more plain than that we have certain Knowledge of the Existence of many things which never were nor perhaps can possibly be the Objects of our Bodily Senses Protagoras himself saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed that none of the Uninitiated hear you who are such as think nothing to Exist but what they can lay hold of with their Hands and who will not allow any thing that is Invisible to have a place among Beings The Epicurean Atheist must needs grant the Existence of his Atoms and his Empty Space when yet they must be both acknowledged to be no way sensible Those that hold a Soul or Life in Matter Plastically diffused through all Parts of the Universe by which all things are actuated and regulated cannot

deny but this Power is Invisible and no way the Object of Bodily Sense Nay those that assert a Corporeal Deity and say that nothing can possibly exist but Body must needs own that something of this Deity as his Wisdom Power and Understanding which is certainly the Chief and most Noble of all his Essence can no ways fall under our Bodily Senses Let him that asserts That what is not the Object of Sense is really nothing at all let him tell me if he ever saw that Power Faculty Understanding or Mind by which he is enabled to make such a Determination That there is such a Power or Mind in him 't is impossible for him to doubt or deny for that very doubting and denying will refute him and must convince him that there must be something in him of a Real Nature that can thus Think and Consider Doubt and Deny and at last conclude That there is nothing Actually Existent but what is Sensible For what is really and absolutely Nothing can never Think Consider Doubt or Determine Now let him call this Mind or Soul of his what he pleases I do not here consider its Nature let it be a Substance distinct from Matter be it a happy Combination of Animal Spirits or the brisk Agitation of any fine and subtile Parts of Matter 't is all one to our present purpose it certainly Exists or is and yet is it by no means an Object of Sense For Animal Spirits Motion and the finest and subtilest Parts of Matter are no more sensible to us now than an Incorporeal Substance is And as he is thus assured that there is something real in himself which yet is the Object of none of his Senses so he cannot but conclude the same of other Men that are round about him that they also have a Soul or Mind of the same Nature for he must know and be satisfied that they can think reason doubt affirm deny and determine as well as himself Now if he must grant that there are on this Account many things existent in the World which do no way fall under the cognisance of our Senses it will be strangely senseless and ridiculous to argue against the Being of a God from His not being so and to deny that there is any such thing because he cannot see Him with his Bodily Eyes because he cannot feel Him with his Hands and hear the Sound of his Voice actually speaking from Heaven For the Existence of that Divine Being whom no Eye hath seen nor can see is as plainly demonstrable from Reason and Nature from his visible Works in the World and from the inward Sentiments of our unprejudiced Minds as the Being of our Own and Others Minds is from the power of thinking and reasoning that we find in our selves and them 3. But Thirdly 't is objected further That we cannot have any Idea of God and consequently may conclude There is no such Being because he is by Divines said to be Incomprehensible and Infinite That is say they something which we can know nothing at all about for we cannot have any Phantasm or Conception of any such thing Thus saith that famous Atheistical Writer Whatever we know we learn from our Phantasms but there is no Phantasm of Infinite and therefore no Knowledge or Conception of it No Man saith he can have in his mind an Image of Infinite Power or Time And there is no Conception or Idea of that which we call Infinite In another place he asserts That the Attributes of God signifie Nothing true nor false nor any Opinion of our Brain and are not sufficient Premises to inferr Truth or convince Falshood And the Name of God he saith is used not to make us Conceive him but that we may Honour him And he elsewhere saith That those that venture to discourse Philosophically of the Nature of God or to reason of his Nature from his Attributes losing their Understanding in the very first attempt fall from one Inconvenience to another without end or number and do only discover their Astonishment and Rusticity This Bold Writer doth in another place tell us That God must not be said to be Finite and so being neither Finite nor Infinite he must be nothing at all Which is the very same Dilemma that the Sceptick Sextus Empiricus makes use of against a Deity Another Modern Author of the same stamp tells us That he that calls any thing Infinite doth but Rei quam non capit attribuere nomen quod non Intelligit Give an unintelligible Name to a thing which he doth not understand All which agrees exactly with what Sextus also saith in many places of his Book and whom these Gentlemen follow pretty closely in most things without taking any notice at all of him Now to this I return That as 't is very foolish and precarious to deny the Existence of a God because He is not an Object of our Bodily Senses so to conclude that there is no such Being from our not being able perfectly to comprehend Him and to have a true and adequate Idea of him is equally absurd and unaccountable For at this rate we may soon come to deny the Existence of most things in Nature since there are very many of which we do not adequately comprehend the Nature of and know all that is to be known about them There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something Incomprehensible in the Nature of all things Are there not a thousand Beings which we are sure are truly and actually existent in Nature the manner of whose Operation and Action we cannot comprehend and whose Phaenomena we cannot Philosophically explain Let any of these Penetrating Gentlemen try their Skill at Gravity Light Sound Magnetism and Electricity and oblige the World with such an adequate Account of any one of them as shall make all impartial and curious Men acquiesce in it as satisfactory Let him clearly shew us how his own Sensations are made how the Circulation of the Blood first begins and continues its Vital Tour round his Body how Pestilential and Contagious Diseases first invade and are propagated how several Medicines that may be properly enough call'd Specifick's operate and particularly how the Cortex Peruvianus cures an Intermitting Fever In a word let him tell us how his own Body setting aside Accidents decays grows old and dies when the same Digestions and Assimulations are made to Day as were Yesterday and there is no apparent defect in the Nutriment of any one part of it He that can account for these and many other such like things which are obvious to every one's daily Observation will certainly approve himself to be a Man of very curious and acute Thought and of very deep Insight into Nature and when he hath fully convinced me that he throughly comprehends the Nature of but these few things I will allow that he hath some ground to disbelieve the Existence of whatever appears to him