Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	answer_v	know_v	word_n	2,215	5	4.1186	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69471	Another collection of philosophical conferences of the French virtuosi upon questions of all sorts for the improving of natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent. & J. Davies ..., Gent.; Recueil général des questions traitées és conférences du Bureau d'adresse. 101-240. English	Bureau d'adresse et de rencontre (Paris, France); Havers, G. (George); Davies, John, 1625-1693.; Renaudot, Théophraste, 1586-1653.; Renaudot, Eusèbe, 1613-1679.	1665 (1665)	Wing A3254; ESTC R17011	498,158	520

are the sole Causes of the distinction of Faculties For Entity immaterial and spiritual is as true and intelligible the object of the Understanding but as good and desirable 't is the object of the Will which are two wholly different formal Reasons Now though the Intellect and the Will are two different Faculties yet there is such a dependance between them that the one can do nothing without the other and they communicate mutual assistance the Understanding supplies Reasons and Counsels which the Will causes the Powers under its dominion to execute for 't is a blind Queen having no knowledg of her own but only what light she receives from the Intellect But how can it see the same if blind as 't is fancied We answer that as all things have a bent and natural inclination to their proper good though they know it not as even the Intellect assents to a truth known by ratiocination but knows not why it assents to a first Principle as That the whole is greater then its part and that 2 and 1 make 3 these being connate Notions so the Will is carried to the Good propos'd to it by the Understanding because the goodness and sutableness thereof engage it to endeavours of enjoying it wherein its supream Felicity lyes The Third said Since the Will is a desire every desire a motion and every motion from some other nothing moving it self the Will cannot desire unless mov'd by some superior power and knowledg For as there is no desire without knowledg so to the end this may not be idle and unprofitable Nature hath joyn'd an Appetite to it to wit a Sensitive Appetite to the knowledg of a Sensible Good apprehended such by the Imagination which is common to Men and Brutes and a Rational Appetite the Will to the knowledg of an honest Good apprehended such by the Understanding And whereas immaterial things cannot be known by themselves but by such as are sensible and corporeal we cannot better judge of the manner whereby the Intellect moves the Will then by that whereby the Imagination moves the Sensitive Appetite which is the sweetness of the Object whose Species being receiv'd by some one of the outward Senses and carried from the Common sense to the Phansie which relishes the same to the full is then propos'd to the Sensitive Appetite which presently flyes to it oftentimes so impetuously as that it hurries the Reason and the Will along with it self and constrains them to yield to the violence of those Passions which it excites to joyn with it in pursuit of that good and which itre doubles upon the occurrence of any obstacle to its designs In like sort the Will is carried of it self to a vertuous action when the Understanding represents the honesty of the same to it provided it be not otherwise prepossess'd and the said action be not accompani'd with difficulties and thorns as commonly happens for then that Sensitive Appetite oftentimes gets the better of Reason the Flesh of the Spirit There is this difference between the motions of the Will and the Appetite that the latter necessarily follows the duct of the Imagination by which 't is inclin'd inspite of it self towards a Delectable Good but the Will common to us with Angels is so mov'd by the Intellect that nevertheless it always remains mistress of its own actions and can do either good or evil by vertue of its liberty which alone discriminates Man from Beast and gives him right of empire and command which the Civilians define a power of making use of any thing at one's pleasure and without which not only Judgments Vertues Vices Rewards and Punishments Praises and Dispraises Consultations and Deliberations would be useless but also all Laws would be to no purpose Man would be in worse condition then Brutes over whom he hath no other advantage but that of Reason which would serve for nothing if he acted things necessarily as other Agents do and not freely and voluntarily The Fourth said He had always accounted it a vain enquiry how the Understanding moves the Will and the Senses the Sensitive Appetite towards their Objects because the Cognoscitive Faculty and these Appetites being really distinct and having nothing common there cannot intervene any commerce between them They are Officers that have severed charges without having any thing to share or dispatch together Nevertheless it being true that we love nothing but what is first apprehended and judg'd amiable we must seek this dependance somwhat higher Now all actions are of the whole Compositum and consequently Man who is the whole is he who by his knowledg either of Sense or of the Intellect judges what both the one and the other Appetite ought to embrace or reject Then after he hath pass'd his judgment by his Cognoscitive Faculty he determines himself to follow by his Appetite what he hath judg'd fit to be done in consequence whereof he applies his Motive Faculty to the execution of his Resolution So that 't is Man that moves himself by his Will towards Good or Evil to pursue or avoid after he hath consider'd what he ought to will how and in what sort to comport himself By this means we obviate a world of difficulties arising from this Question and resolve many as amongst others How the Understanding comes to illuminate corporeal phantasms without establishing an Intellectus Agens for that purpose whose office is pretended to sublime those phantasms by denudating them of their singularity and materiality that so they may become actually intelligible and proportionate to the Intellect For besides that 't is impossible to conceive how any spiritual light can fall from the Intellect upon a corporeal phantasm that which is corporeal being incapable of receiving any thing spiritual and the Intellect of producing any thing out of it self since all its actions are immanent we are deliver'd from all this trouble by saying that in the state of this present life Man by his outward and inward Senses takes in as much knowledg of things as they can give him and afterwards by his Understanding deduces and infers things which the phantasms alone could not acquaint him with Thus when a phantasm represents to him a thing which his eye beholds afar off he by his Understanding judges the same a Substance because the phantasm shews him that it subsists of it self if he see it walk he judges it alive So that 't is sufficient to the drawing of all his Consequences that he infer from the phantasms what they are capable to represent to him without need of spiritualizing them or of commerce between them and the Intellect In like manner 't is not needful that the Intellect shew the Will its Object but the man's seeing it is sufficient to cause him to move himself by his Will towards the Good which he apprehends For as a King hath his Scouts to discover the state of his Enemies upon whose report he holds a Council of War wherein he

former are compleatly form'd by the 30th day the latter not before the 40th the former move in the third moneth the latter not till the fourth those are born in the ninth moneth these some days after and besides live not if born in the seventh moneth as Males do whose periods are therefore reckon'd by Septenaries and those of Females by Novenaries After birth we see the actions of Males are perform'd with more strength and vigor then those of Females who are actually colder and suffer more inconveniences from cold They are never ambidexters because they have not heat enough to supply agility to both sides and their right side is peculiarly destinated to the Generation of Females because the Spermatick Vessel on that side derives blood from the hollow Vein which is hottest by reason of the proximity of that Vein to the Liver whereas the left Spermatick draws from the Emulgent which carrying Serose humors together with the Blood 't is no wonder if the Seed of that side be crude and cold and consequently fitter for generating Femals then Males Hence Hippocrates saith that if as Peasants tye a Bull 's left Testicle when they desire a Bull-calf and the right when a Cow-calf the same be practis'd by Man the like effect will follow Whereby 't is manifest that whatever makes the Seed more hot and vigorous both in Male and Female furthers the Generation of Males and contrarily and consequently that the Morning when 't is best concocted is more proper then the Evening for begetting Boys and the Winter then the Summer at least on the man's part The Second said That as to the production of Males rather then Females or on the contrary no certain cause hath hitherto been assign'd thereof since we see that the same man in all likelihood without alteration of his temper hath only Girles by his first Wife and only Boys by the second and on the contrary and some that could get no Children at all in their youth have had only Boys in their old Age. Others have Males first others Females and others have them alternatively Whereof no other reason can be assign'd by Chance or rather the Divine Pleasure alone in the impenetrable Secrets whereof to seek for a cause were high temerity If heat and strength caus'd the difference young marry'd people would not have Girles first as it happens most often and decrepit old men should never get Boys as daily experience shews they do Moreover some men depriv'd of one of their Testicles have nevertheless begotten both Sons and Daughters which could not be if the faculty of begetting Children of one determinate Sex were affix'd to either of those parts And as from a false Principle nothing can be drawn but false Consequences so also is it in the opinion of Aristotle That Woman is but an occasional Creature For then Nature should produce far greater abundance of Males then of Females or else she would erre oftner then hit right which is inconsistent with her wisdom and yet in all places more Girles and Women are found then Men as appears in that we every where see plenty of Maids that want Husbands and in Countries wherein Polygamy is lawful there are Women enough to supply ten or a dozen Wives to each Man And indeed Nature's design is mainly for preserving the Species as that of every individual is to preserve it self and the bare degree of heat or cold in the Seed being but an accident of an accident cannot effect a formal change in the substance Only defective heat may occasion an effeminate man and abundant heat a Virago Besides this Opinion destroys the common and true one viz. That Generation is one of those actions which proceeds from a just proportion and temperature of the humors whence excessive or feverish heat destroys the Seed in stead of furthering Generation and is an enemy to all the other functions Wherefore 't is best to say that the same difference which is observ'd between the Seeds of Plants is also found in that of Animals though not discernable therein but by the effects and as the exactest prying cannot observe in the kernel of an Almond or Pine any difference of the Trunk Leaves and Fruit of those Trees although these parts be potentially contain'd therein so also the Seed of an Animal contains in it self even the least differences of Sex albeit imperceptibly to the eye Which the Rabbins being unable otherwise to comprehend conceiv'd that our first Parent was created an Hermaphrodite because both Sexes came from him his own and that of Eve The Third said That the sole ignorance of things occasions the ascribing of them to Chance which hath no power over the wise because they understand the reasons thereof As for universal causes as the Divine is they concur indeed with particular ones but as they are becoming in the mouths of Divines and of the Vulgar so Naturalists must not stop there since by the right use of external causes the internal may be corrected by which correction not only Seeds formerly barren or which fell in an ingrateful soil are reduc'd to a better temper and render'd prolifick but such as were destinated to a female production through defect of heat are render'd more vigorous and fit to generate Males Now that young married people hit not sometimes upon this latter Sex 't is because of their frequent debauchery which cools the Brain and consequently the whole habit of the Body Which happens not so frequently to men of more advanc'd age who use all things more moderately The Fourth attributed the cause to the Constellations and Influences of the Stars which reign at the time of Conception Males being generated under Masculine and Females under Feminine Signs CONFERENCE CLXXXVI Whether the French Tongue be sufficient for learning all the Sciences A Language is a Multitude or Mass of Nouns and Verbs which are signs of Things and Times destinated to the explication of our thoughts There are two sorts the one perfect call'd Mother-Languages the other imperfect The Mother-Languages are the Hebrew Greek and Latine the imperfect those which depend upon them Now the French being of this latter sort we cannot learn the Sciences by it alone because being particular and the Sciences general the less is not capable to comprehend the greater Moreover our Language being not certain in its Phrases nor yet in its Words not only Ages but also a few Years changing both whereas the Sciences are certain and immutable it will follow that they cannot be taught by it Besides there may be Inventions for which our Language hath no expression or at least not so good as others and to busie our minds in the search of words is more likely to retard the mind in the acquisition of Sciences then to further it The truth is 't were well if things were generally express'd by the most proper and significant words but they are not so in any Language much less in the French

his Books to cure diseases by words and to produce men by inchantment in a great bottle with other such abominable proposals not to be accomplish'd but by Diabolical assistance Moreover we seldom see any persons so bold as to attempt to overthrow so ancient an Institution as Physick both in Theory and Practise but who are led to that enterprise either by God or the Devil And the continual calumnies and detractions whereof this evil spirit is the Author and for which Paracelsus and his followers so signalize themselves give farr more probability of the latter than of the former Whence possibly to disguise the matter most Magicians pretend to have learnt their Characters out of some Book as particularly that which they call Clavicula Solomonis The Third said That it may be Magick and yet lawful to wit true and Natural Magick such as was profess'd by the Indian Magi three of whom having discover'd our Saviour's Birth came to worship him the other black and infamous Magick no more deserving that name than Empiricks and Mountebanks do that of Physicians Now Natural Magick is the knowledge of the nature and properties of all things hidden to the vulgar who take notice only of manifest qualities and reduce all to generalities to avoid the pains of seeking the particular virtues of each thing and therefore 't is no wonder if they see only common effects and successes from them Thus Plants bearing the signature or resemblance of a disease or the part diseased as Lungwort Liverwort Pepperwort cure by a property independent on the first qualities though few understand so much Of this kind are many excellent Secrets whose effects seem miraculous and as much surpass those of ordinary remedies whose virtues are collected only from their appearing qualities as the Soul doth the Body and Heaven Earth The Fourth said That by the Book M. cannot be meant Mundus since the World cannot be turn'd into Arabick and Latine and 't is not a Secret but a Figure and Metaphor to call the World a Book If it be lawful to admit a Figure in it I think 't is more likely that this Book is nothing else but a Talismanical Figure or Character engraven in a Seal and employ'd by the Rosie-Crucians to understand one another and call'd the Book M because it represents an M cross'd by some other Letters from whose combination results the mystery of the Great Work designing its matter vessel fire and other Circumstances the first whereof is Dew the true Menstruum or Dissolver of the Red Dragon or Gold In brief so many things are compriz'd in this figure by the various combination of the Letters represented therein that it deserves well to be term'd a Book The Fifth said If this be the Secret of the Brethren of the Rosie-Cross they are Invisible in all their proceedings because no Secret is seen in it but only many absurdities As amongst others to call that a Book which is neither Paper nor Parchment nor Leaf but a Figure in which 't is no wonder if they find what they please since in these three Letters Sic variously interlac'd one with another you may find not only all the Letters but also by their combination all the Books and all the things which are in the World and it requires no more industry than to found all sorts of notes upon a Flageolet Let us therefore rather say That Authors who puzzle their Readers minds with such Figures are as culpable as those are commendable who feed them with true and solid demonstrations and whereas we thought that this M signifi'd Mons we now see that it signifies no more than Mus according to the ancient Fable of the labouring Mountains out of which upon the concourse of people to the spectacle issu'd forth nothing but a Mouse The Sixth said That high Mysteries have alwayes been veil'd under contemptible and oftentimes ridiculous Figures as if the wisdom of the sublimer Spirits meant to mock those of the vulgar who judge of things only by appearance Which may have place in common effects but as for extraordinary things their causes are so too whereof we have experiences in Nature sufficiently manifest There is no affinity between a word and the death it gives to a Serpent yet the Poet attests the thing in this Verse Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur Anguis between the sight of a little bird call'd a Wit-wall and the Jaundies which it cures between the Figure call'd Abacus Lunae and the Meagrim which is also cur'd thereby between a point ty'd and the Generative Power which it hinders In brief the most excellent effects are of this kind and deserve not the name of admirable unless when our mind finds no connexion between the effect and the cause that produceth it Why then may not the same reality be admitted between this Character and the effects pretended by those Brothers of the Rosie-Cross CONFERENCE CXCV. Of the Art of Raimond Lully SOme Wits are fitter for Invention than Imitation and so was that of Raimond Lully who invented an Art how to find many Attributes Propositions Questions and Means of speaking to any Subject propounded to the end to be never surpriz'd but to be and always appear ready By this Art which upon account of its use and because it pretends to shorten vulgar studies he stiles Great he endeavors to out-do Aristotle who having reduc'd all Logick to Definitio Proprium Genus and Accidens and in his Books of Topicks set down some few places out of which to draw Mediums for arguing Lully hath propos'd others not only drawn from all the preceding but increas'd with many others invented by himself This Art he divides into two parts The first treats of simple terms which he calls Principles whereunto he hath joyn'd general Questions and this part he calls the Alphabet because it comprizes each of those terms reduc'd to nine by as many Letters of the Alphabet The second treats of the connexion of these Principles and makes Propositions and Syllogisms of them this part he intitles De Figuris either because 't is illustrated by Tables or Figures representing the combination of those Principles or because Arguments are compos'd of them as the Celestial Figures are of Stars His Alphabet is thus delineated by Pacius b Goodness Difference whether it be 1 c Greatness Concordance what it is 2 d Durātion Contrariety whence and from whō 3 e Power Principle or beginning why 4 f Wisdom Middle how much 5 g Appetite End of what quality 6 h Virtue Majority when 7 i Truth Equality where 8 k Glory Minority how 9 This Table as you see contains three Columns each of which hath Nine Squares and every one of these a word The first Column contains Absolute or Transcendent Principles the second Relative Principles the third Questions On the side of these Squares are set the nine first Letters of the Alphabet namely from b to k because Lully reserv'd a to denote the