work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
6611,"",Reading,2009-12-02 18:50:57 UTC,"Dr Price, when he reasons on the necessity of men attending some place of public worship, concisely obviates an objection that has been made in the form of an apology, by advising those, who do not approve of our Liturgy, and cannot find any mode of worship out of the church, in which they can conscientiously join, to establish one for themselves. This plain advice you have tortured into a very different meaning, and represented the preacher as actuated by a dissenting phrensy, recommending dissensions, ‘not to diffuse truth, but to spread contradictions.’ A simple question will silence this impertinent declamation.–What is truth? A few fundamental truths meet the first enquiry of reason, and appear as clear to an unwarped mind, as that air and bread are necessary to enable the body to fulfil its vital functions; but the opinions which men discuss with so much heat must be simplified and brought back to first principles; or who can discriminate the vagaries of the imagination, or scrupulosity of weakness, from the verdict of reason Let all these points be demonstrated, and not determined by arbitrary authority and dark traditions, lest a dangerous supineness should take place; for probably, in ceasing to enquire, our reason would remain dormant, and delivered up, without a curb, to every impulse of passion, we might soon lose sight of the clear light which the exercise of our understanding no longer kept alive. To argue from experience, it should seem as if the human mind, averse to thought, could only be opened by necessity; for, when it can take opinions on trust, it gladly lets the spirit lie quiet in its gross tenement. Perhaps the most improving exercise of the mind, confining the argument to the enlargement of the understanding, is the restless enquiries that hover on the boundary, or stretch over the dark abyss of uncertainty. These lively conjectures are the breezes that preserve the still lake from stagnating. We should be aware of confining all moral excellence to one channel, however capacious; or, if we are so narrow-minded, we should not forget how much we owe to chance that our inheritance was not Mahometism; and that the iron hand of destiny, in the shape of deeply rooted authority, has not suspended the sword of destruction over our heads. But to return to the misrepresentation.
(pp. 49-50)",,17541,"","""A few fundamental truths meet the first enquiry of reason, and appear as clear to an unwarped mind, as that air and bread are necessary to enable the body to fulfil its vital functions; but the opinions which men discuss with so much heat must be simplified and brought back to first principles; or who can discriminate the vagaries of the imagination, or scrupulosity of weakness, from the verdict of reason?""",Court,2013-06-11 17:18:06 UTC,""
6816,"",ECCO-TCP,2013-08-18 20:49:38 UTC,"Their language and singing, &c. did well harmonize; I was entirely overcome, and wished to live and die thus. Lastly, some persons in the place produced some neat baskets full of buns, which they distributed about; and each person communicated with his neighbour, and sipped water out of different mugs, which they handed about to all who were present. This kind of Christian fellowship I had never seen, nor ever thought of seeing on earth; it fully reminded me of what I had read in the holy scriptures, of the primitive Christians, who loved each other and broke bread; in partaking of it, even from house to house. This entertainment (which lasted about four hours) ended in singing and prayer. It was the first soul feast I ever was present at. This last twenty-four hours produced me things, spiritual and temporal, sleeping and waking, judgment and mercy, that I could not but admire the goodness of God, in directing the blind, blasphemous sinner in the path that he knew not of, even among the just; and instead of judgment he has shewed mercy, and will hear and answer the prayers and supplications of every returning prodigal:
O! to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrain'd to be!
(II, pp. 137-8) ",,22394,"","""It was the first soul feast I ever was present at.""","",2013-08-18 20:49:38 UTC,""
7837,"",ECCO-TCP,2014-03-12 15:32:15 UTC,"THE known fable of the Dog and the Shadow, is a true emblem of covetousness. With a piece of meat in his mouth, he forded a river, and seeing his own shadow in the water, took it for another dog with a piece of meat, and endeavouring to catch at this other, let that fall which he had hold of, and thus, for the shadow, lost the reality. ""Covetousness brings nothing home;"" for, in aiming at what is out of our reach, we too often lose what we have in possession.--A contented mind is a continual feast.--And, if we have enough, why should we wish for more?--He who husbands a little well, will make it go farther than he who has a great deal, and takes no care of it. Besides, covetousness is so contrary to the principles of a liberal and humane man, that it is sure to meet with enemies. Every man sets his face against it; and all that part of the world that are not nicely honest, which is by far the greater part of mankind, will take a pleasure in over-reaching one who is covetous; and many a man, with a competent fortune, has risked it, in hopes of adding to his wealth, and lost the whole.
(pp. 189-190)",,23638,"","""A contented mind is a continual feast.""","",2014-03-12 15:32:15 UTC,""
7879,"",Searching in ECCO-TCP,2014-04-29 20:50:14 UTC,"Anecdotes will be found to possess, in some degree, the perfection of instruction. They produce in an ingenious observer, those leading thoughts which throw the mind into an agreeable train of thinking. A skilful writer of anecdotes, gratifies by suffering us to make something that looks like a discovery of our own; he gives a certain activity to the mind, and the reflections appear to arise from ourselves. He throws unperceivably seeds, and we see those flowers start up, which we believe to be of our own creation. A few pages of interesting anecdotes, afford ample food for the mind*.
(pp. 30-1)",,23833,"","""A few pages of interesting anecdotes, afford ample food for the mind.""","",2014-04-29 20:50:14 UTC,""