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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

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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
out-goe whom we would not is Indignation To hold fast by another is to love To carry him on that so holdeth is Charity To hurt ones self for hast is Shame Continually to be out-gone is Misery Continually to out-go the next before is Felicity And to forsake the Course is to die CHAP. X. 1. HAving shewed in the precedent Chapters that Sense proceedeth from the Action of external Objects upon the Brain or some internal Substance of the Head and that the Passions proceed from the Alteration there made and continued to the Heart It is consequent in the next Place seeing the Diversity of Degrees in Knowlege in divers Men to be greater than may be ascribed to the divers Tempers of their Brain to declare what other Causes may produce such Oddes and Excess of Capacity as we daily observe in one Man above another As for that Difference which ariseth from Sickness and such accidental Distempers I omit the same as impertinent to this Place and consider it only in such as have their Health and Organs well disposed If the Difference were in the natural Temper of the Brain I can imagin no Reason why the same should not appear first and most of all in the Senses which being equal both in the wise and less wise infer an equal Temper in the common Organ namely the Brain of all the Senses 2. But we see by Experience that Joy and Grief proceed not in all Men from the same Causes and that men differ very much in the Constitution of the Body whereby that which helpeth and furthereth vital Constitution in one and is therefore delightful hindereth it and crosseth it in another and therefore causeth Grief The Difference therefore of Wits hath its Original from the different Passions and from the Ends to which the Appetite leadeth them 3. And first those Men whose Ends are sensual Delight and generally are addicted to Ease Food Onerations and Exonerations of the Body must needs be the less thereby delighted with those Imaginations that conduce not to those Ends such as are Imaginations of Honour and Glory which as I have said before have Respect to the future For Sensuality consisteth in the Pleasure of the Senses which please only for the present and take away the Inclination to observe such Things as conduce to Honour and consequently maketh Men less curious and less ambitious whereby they less consider the Way either to Knowledge or other Power in which two consisteth all the Excellency of Power cognitive And this is it which Men call Dulness and proceedeth from the Appetite of sensual or bodily Delight And it may well be conjectured that such Passion hath its Beginning from a Grossness and Difficulty of the Motion of the Spirit about the Heart 4. The Contrary hereunto is that quick Rangeing of Mind described Chap. 4. Sect. 3. which is joyned with Curiosity of comparing the Things that come into the Mind one with another in which Comparison a Man delighteth himself either with finding unexpected Similitude of Things otherwise much unlike in which Men place the Excellency of Fancy and from whence proceed those grateful Similies Metaphors and other Tropes by which both Poets and Orators have it in their Power to make Things please or displease and shew well or ill to others as they like themselves or else in discerning suddenly Dissimilitude in Things that otherwise appear the same And this Vertue of the Mind is that by which Men attain to exact and perfect Knowledge and the Pleasure thereof consisteth in continual Instruction and in Distinction of Places Persons and Seasons and is commonly termed by the Name of Judgement for to judge is nothing else but to distinguish or discern And both Fancy and Judgement are commonly comprehended under the Name of Wit which seemeth to be a Tenuity and Agility of Spirits contrary to that Restiness of the Spirits supposed in those that are dull 5. There is another Defect of the Mind which Men call Levity which betrayeth also Mobility in the Spirits but in Excess An Example whereof is in them that in the midst of any serious Discourse have their Minds diverted to every little Jest or witty Observation which maketh them depart from their Discourse by a Parenthesis and from that Parenthesis by another till at length they either lose themselves or make their Narration like a Dream or some studied Nonsence The Passion from whence this proceedeth is Curiosity but with too much Equality and Indifference for when all Things make equal Impression and Delight they equally throng to be expressed 6. The Vertue opposite to this Defect is Gravity or Steadiness in which the End being the great and Master-Delight directeth and keepeth in the Way thereto all other Thoughts 7. The Extremity of Dulness is that natural Folly which may be called Stolidity But the Extream of Levity though it be natural Folly distinct from the other and obvious to every Mans Observation I know not how to call it 8. There is a Fault of the Mind called by the Greeks {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which is Indocibility or Difficulty of being taught the which must needs arise from a false Opinion that they know already the Truth of that is called in question for certainly Men are not otherwise so unequal in capacity as the Evidence is unequal between what is taught by the Mathematicians and what is commonly discoursed of in other Books and therefore if the Minds of Men were all of white Paper they would all most equally be disposed to acknowledge whatsoever should be in right Method and by right Ratiocination delivered to them But when Men have once acquiesced in untrue Opinions and registred them as Authentical Records in their Minds it is no less impossible to speak intelligibly to such Men than to write legibly upon a Paper already scribled over The immediate Cause therefore of Indocibility is Prejudice and of prejudice false Opinion of our own Knowledge 9. Another and a principal Defect of the Mind is that which Men call Madness which appeareth to be nothing else but some Imagination of some such Predominancy above the rest that we have no Passion but from it and this Conception is nothing else but excessive vain Glory or vain Dejection which is most propable by these Examples following which proceed in Appearance every one of them from Pride or some Dejection of Mind As first we have had the Example of one that preached in Cheapside from a Cart there instead of a Pulpit that he himself was Christ which was spiritual Pride or Madness We have had also divers Examples of Learned Madness in which Men have manifestly been distracted upon any Occasion that hath put them in Remembrance of their own Ability Amongst the learned Men may be remembred I think also those that determine of the Time of the Worlds End and other such the Points of Prophecy And the gallant Madness of Don Quixotte is nothing else but
an Expression of such Height of vain Glory as reading of Romance may produce in pusillanimous Men Also Rage and Madness of Love are but great Indignations of them in whose Brains is predominant Contempt from their Enemies or their Mistresses And the Pride taken in Form and Behaviour hath made divers Men run mad and to be so accounted under the Name of Fantastick 10. And as these are the Examples of Extremities so also are there Examples too many of the Degrees which may therefore be well accounted Follies as it is a Degree of the first for a Man without certain Evidence to think himself to be inspired or to have any other Effect of Gods holy Spirit than other godly Men have Of the second for a Man continually to speak his mind in a Cento of other Mens Greek or Latine Sentences Of the third much of the present Gallantry in Love and Duel Of Rage a Degree is Malice and of Fantastick Madness Affection 11. As the former Examples exhibit to us Madness and the Degrees thereof proceeding from the Excess of Self-Opinion so also there be other Examples of Madness and the Degrees thereof proceeding from too much vain Fear and Dejection as in those melancholy Men that have imagined themselves brittle as Glass or have had some other like Imagination and Degrees hereof are all those exorbitant and causless Fears which we commonly observe in melancholy Persons CHAP. XI 1. HItherto of the Knowledge of Things natural and of the Passions that arise naturally from them Now forasmuch as we give Names not only to Things natural but also to supernatural and by all Names we ought to have some Meaning and Conception It followeth in the next Place to consider what Thoughts and Imaginations of the Mind we have when we take into our Mouths the most blessed Name of GOD and the Names of those Vertues we attribute unto him as also what Image cometh into the Mind at hearing the Name of Spirit or the Name of Angel good or bad 2. And forasmuch as God Almighty is incomprehensible it followeth that we can have no Conception or Image of the Deity and consequently all his Attributes signifie our Inability and Defect of Power to conceive any Thing concerning his Nature and not any Conception of the same excepting only this That there is a God For the Effects we acknowledge naturally do include a Power of their producing before they were produced and that Power presupposeth something existent that hath such Power And the Thing so existing with Power to produce if it were not Eternal must needs have been produced by somewhat before it and that again by something else before that till we come to an Eternal that is to say the first Power of all Powers and first Cause of all Causes And this is it which all Men conceive by the Name of GOD implying Eternity Incomprehensibility and Omnipotency And thus all that will consider may know that God is though not what he is even a Man that is born blind though it be not possible for him to have any Imagination what Kind of thing Fire is yet he cannot but know that somewhat there is that Men call Fire because it warmeth him 2. And whereas we attribute to God Almighty Seeing Hearing Speaking Knowing Loving and the like by which Names we understand something in Men to whom we attribute them we understand nothing by them in the Nature of God For as it is well reasoned Shall not the God that made the Eye see and the Ear hear So it is also if we say Shall God which made the Eye not see without the Eye or that made the Ear not hear without the Ear or that made the Brain not know without the Brain or that made the Heart not love without the Heart The Attributes therefore given unto the Deity are such as signifie either our Incapacity or our Reverence Our Incapacity when we say Incomprehensible and Infinite our Reverence when we give him those Names which amongst us are the Names of those Things we most magnifie and commend as Omnipotent Omniscient Just Merciful c. And when God Almighty giveth those Names to himself in the Scriptures it is but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is to say by descending to our Manner of speaking without which we are not capable of understanding him 4. By the Name of Spirit we understand a Body natural but of such Subtilty that it worketh not upon the Senses but that filleth up the Place which the Image of a visible Body might fill up Our Conception therefore of Spirit consisteth of Figure without Colour and in Figure is understood Dimension and consequently to conceive a Spirit is to conceive something that hath Dimension But Spirits supernatural commonly signifie some Substance without Dimension which two Words do flatly contradict one another and therefore when we attribute the Name of Spirit unto God we attribute it not as the Name of any Thing we conceive no more than we ascribe unto him Sense and Understanding but as a Signification of our Reverence we desire to abstract from him all corporal Grosness 5. Concerning other Things which some Men call Spirits incorporeal and some corporeal it is not possible by natural Means only to come to Knowledge of so much as that there are such Things We that are Christians acknowledge that there be Angels good and evil and that there are Spirits and that the Soul of Man is a Spirit and that those Spirits are immortal but to know it that is to say to have natural Evidence of the same it is impossible For all Evidence is Conception as it is said Chap. 6. Sect. 3. and all Conception is Imagination and proceedeth from Sense Chap. 3. Sect. 1. And Spirits we suppose to be those Substances which work not upon the Sense and therefore not conceptible But though the Scripture acknowledge Spirits yet doth it no where say that they are incorporeal meaning thereby without Dimension and Quality Nor I think is that Word Incorporeal at all in the Bible but it is said of the Spirit that it abideth in Men sometimes that it dwelleth in them sometimes that it cometh on them that it descendeth and goeth and cometh and that Spirits are Angels that is to say Messengers all which Words do imply Locality and Locality is Dimension and whatsoever hath Dimension is Body be it never so subtil To me therefore it seemeth that the Scripture favoureth them more who hold Angels and Spirits corporeal than them that hold the contrary And it is a plain Contradiction in natural Discourse to say of the Soul of Man that it is tota in toto tota in qualibet Parte Corporis grounded neither upon Reason nor Revelation but proceeding from the Ignorance of what those Things are which are called Spectra Images that appear in the dark to Children and such as have strong Fears and other strange Imaginations as hath been said Chap.