HKB
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Often appears with: religious persecution and toleration · justice as a virtue · fate, destiny, and necessity · the nature and attributes of God · reason and the intellect · providence and divine governance · sin, guilt, and repentance · the fear of death · conversion and faith · prayer and worship · doubt, skepticism, and certainty · the passions and the emotions
Usually: argument (441) · detachment (288) · crisis of belief (254) · skepticism (239) · exhortation (131) · reflection (124) · confronting death (111) · censure (99) · wonder (97) · curiosity (96)
“His power we allow is infinite: whatever he wills is executed: but neither man nor any other animal is happy; therefore he does not will their happiness.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · insight
“None but we Mystics, as you were pleased to call us, can account for this strange mixture of phenomena, by deriving it from attributes, infinitely perfect, but incomprehensible.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · wit
“A mere possible compatibility is not sufficient. You must prove these pure, unmixed, and uncontrollable attributes from the present mixed and confused phenomena, and from these alone.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · precept
“In short, I repeat the question: Is the world, considered in general, and as it appears to us in this life, different from what a man, or such a limited being, would, beforehand, expect from a very powerful, wise, and benevolent Deity?” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · insight
“A celebrated prelate [Monsr. Huet] too, of the Romish communion, a man of the most extensive learning, who wrote a demonstration of Christianity, has also composed a treatise, which contains all the cavils of the boldest and most determined PYRRHONISM.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · observation
“It is of the greatest important in this world that a man should know himself, and the measure of his own strength and means; and he who knows that he has not a genius for fighting must learn how to govern by the arts of peace.” Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince · insight
“The true conclusion is, that the original Source of all things is entirely indifferent to all these principles; and has no more regard to good above ill, than to heat above cold, or to drought above moisture, or to light above heavy.” David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · observation
“Only when heinous sin earth's wholesome purity blasted, When from covetous hearts fled justice sadly retreating, Then did a brother his hands dye deep in blood of a brother, Lightly the son forgat his parents' piteous ashes.” Gaius Valerius Catullus (translated by Robinson Ellis), The Poems and Fragments of Catullus · insight
“For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss; / Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon. / Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot / May join us, equal joy, as equal love;” John Milton, Paradise Lost · insight
“Be it, Man is not so, But mortal doomed. How can he exercise Wrath without end on Man, whom death must end? Can he make deathless death? That were to make Strange contradiction, which to God himself Impossible is held; as argument Of weakness, not of power.” John Milton, Paradise Lost · insight
“Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep Still threatening to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.” John Milton, Paradise Lost · insight
“All thy request for Man, accepted Son, Obtain; all thy request was my decree:” John Milton, Paradise Lost · insight
The passage includes Sura XCIII “The Brightness,” Sura XCIV “The Opening,” Sura CXIII “The Daybreak,” and Sura CXIV “Men,” emphasizing reassurance, relief after trouble, and refuge prayers against evil and whisperers.
And endure what they say with patience, and depart from them with a decorous departure. And let Me alone with the gainsayers, rich in the pleasures of this life; and bear thou with them yet a little while: For with Us are strong fetters, and a flaming fire, And food that choketh, and a sore torment. The day cometh when the earth and the mountains shall be shaken; and the mountains shall become a loose sand heap. …
In Sura XLIII the argument continues: idolatry is rejected, blame falls on those who deny revelation, and the passage discusses rewards, Satan, divine power, and prophets like Abraham and Moses, mentioning disputes over the Koran’s revelation.
And they say, "Had but this Koran been sent down to some great one of the two cities6 . . .!" Are they then the distributors of thy Lord's Mercy?7 It is we who distribute their subsistence among them in this world's life; and we raise some of them by grades above others, that the one may take the other to serve him: but better is the mercy of thy Lord than all their hoards. But for fear that all mankind would have …
The passage (still Sura XXI) expands with justice in resurrection, stories of Moses, Abraham’s breaking idols and surviving the fire, and biblical figures like Lot, Noah, David, and Solomon as models of righteousness.
Yet if a breath of thy Lord's chastisement touch them, they will assuredly say, "Oh! woe to us! we have indeed been offenders." Just balances will we set up for the day of the resurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though, were a work but the weight of a grain of mustard seed, we would bring it forth to be weighed: and our reckoning will suffice. We gave of old to Moses and Aaron the illumination…
Continuing the same Sura’s admonitions, the text commands exclusive worship of God, respectful treatment of parents, honesty and justice in trade, avoidance of sinful inquiry, and warns unbelievers about hell and veiled understanding.
Set not up another god with God, lest thou sit thee down disgraced, helpless.11 Thy Lord hath ordained that ye worship none but him; and, kindness to your parents, whether one or both of them attain to old age with thee: and say not to them, "Fie!" neither reproach them; but speak to them both with respectful speech; And defer humbly to them12 out of tenderness; and say, "Lord, have compassion on them both, even as…
The commentator argues that Muhammad’s revelations arose from sincere conviction about God’s Unity but were also influenced by self-deception and persecution, and then introduces Sura XXX, “The Greeks,” forecasting Persian defeat then reversal and calling for faith in God’s promise, resurrection, and judgment.
21 Comp. Sura [lxxxix.] vi. 119. 22 Comp. Sura [lxxxix.] vi. 147. This verse as well as the following, and verse 125, were probably added at Medina. 23 Antistes. Maracci. Or the text may be literally rendered Abraham was a people, i.e. the people of Abraham; from whom the idolatrous Koreisch pretended to derive their origin. 24 Ar. a Hanyf. According to a tradition in Waquidi, fol. 255, Zaid (who died only five ye…
The passage continues the same narrator’s skeptical explanation of Muhammad’s inspiration and then presents Qur’anic themes of resurrection disputes, God’s sufficiency, death and sleep, divine judgment, and the punishment of unbelief versus reward for the righteous.
An Arabic Koran, free from tortuous wording, to the intent that they may fear God. God setteth forth the comparison of a man with associates6 at variance among themselves, and of a man devoted wholly to a man. Are these to be held alike? No, praise be to God! But the greater part of them understand not. Thou truly shall die, O Muhammad, and they too shall die: Then, at the day of resurrection, ye shall wrangle wit…
The passage condemns worship of goddesses and Satan, describes Satan’s promises and Hell for followers, contrasts punishment with Paradise for righteous believers, and legislates counsel on justice and marriage.
They call, beside Him, upon mere goddesses! they invoke a rebel Satan! On them is the malison of God. For he said, "A portion of thy servants will I surely take, and will lead them astray, and will stir desires within them, and will command them and they shall cut the ears of animals;25 and I will command them, and they shall alter the creation of God."26 He who taketh Satan rather than God for his patron, is ruined…
Darwin reframes the geological record as an imperfect history and then argues that new species arise slowly and successively, rates differ among taxa, lost forms do not reappear, and extinction is gradual rather than catastrophe-driven.
ON THE GEOLOGICAL SUCCESSION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. On the slow and successive appearance of new species. On their different rates of change. Species once lost do not reappear. Groups of species follow the same general rules in their appearance and disappearance as do single species. On Extinction. On simultaneous changes in the forms of life throughout the world. On the affinities of extinct species to each other and t…
Genesis 5 provides a genealogical list from Adam to Noah with lifespans, noting Enoch’s walking with God and his disappearance, and naming Noah’s birth as comfort for human work and sorrow.
This is the book of the generation of man, in the day when God created man and made him after the similitude of God. Male and female made he them, and called their names man, in the day when they were created. And when Adam was an hundred and thirty years old, he begat a son after his likeness and similitude: and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam after he begat Seth, were eight hundred years, and begat sons …
God instructs Moses to collect twelve rods for Israel’s tribal leaders and write names, promising Aaron’s rod will blossom to end the Israelites’ complaints, after which Aaron’s rod yields almonds.
And the LORD spake unto Moses saying: speak unto the children of Israel and take of them, for every principal house a rod, of their princes over the houses of their fathers: even twelve rods, and write every man's name upon his rod. And write Aaron's name upon the staff of Levi: for every headman over the houses of their fathers shall have a rod. And put them in the tabernacle of witness where I will meet you. And hi…
Moses urges Israel to love the LORD and remember Egypt’s plagues and later wilderness judgments, teaches covenant faithfulness for land fertility, and sets blessing on Mount Gerizim and curse on Mount Ebal.
Love the LORD thy God and keep his observances, his ordinances, his laws and his commandments alway. And call to mind this day that which your children have neither known nor seen: even the nurture of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his stretched out arm: his miracles and his acts which he did among the Egyptians, even unto Pharao the king of Egypt and unto all his land: and what he did unto the…
Tyndale defines the gospel (evangelion) as joyful tidings from Greek origins, explaining how Christ’s victory frees people from sin, death, and the devil, and calls it the “new testament.”
((The gospell or evangelion)) Evangelion (that we call the gospell) is a Greek word; and signifieth good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man's heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance, and leap for joy. As when David had killed Goliah the giant, came glad tidings unto the jewes, that their fearful and cruel enemy was slain, and they delivered out of all danger: for gladness whereof, they sung, danced, a…
Tyndale contrasts the law with grace and truth in Christ, saying the law reveals sin and condemns, while the gospel gives promises, mercy, justification, and the ministry of life.
and shall hence forth continue righteous, living, and saved for ever, as Christ him self saith (in the xi. of Ihon) He that believeth on me shall never more die. The law (saith the gospell of Ihon in the first chapter) was given by Moses: but grace and verity by Iesus Christ. The law (whose mnistrer is Moses) was given to bring us unto the knowledge of our selves, that we might there by feel and perceive what we are…
In further parables and debates, Jesus describes a royal wedding, answers the question about paying tribute to Caesar, disputes the Sadducees about resurrection, and answers a Pharisee about the greatest commandment.
And Iesus answered and spake unto them again, in similitudes, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain King, which married his son, and sent forth his servants, to call them that were bid to the wedding, and they would not come. Again he sent forth other servants, saying: tell them which are bidden: Lo I have prepared my dinner, mine oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready, come unto th…
In the country of the Gaderens Jesus meets a man with a legion of demons, permits them into swine, and then heals a sick girl through Jairus while also curing a woman with a twelve-year issue of blood.
then the ears, after that full corn in the ears. And as soon as the fruit is brought forth, anon he thrusteth in the sickle because that harvest is come. And he said: whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown in the earth, is the least of all seeds that be in the earth: And after that it is sown it groweth up, a…
Jesus descends from the mountain, heals a demon-tormented child after the disciples fail, explains that greatness comes from receiving a child, rejects fire from heaven, teaches costly discipleship, and begins a journey toward Jerusalem.
which he should end at Ierusalem. Peter and they that were with him, were heavy asleep. And when they woke, they saw his majesty, and two men standing with him. And it chanced as they departed from him, Peter said unto Iesus: Master, it is good being here for us. Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Helias. And wist not what he said. While he thus spake there came a cloud and s…
Stephen continues, condemning Israel’s idolatry in the wilderness, God’s turning from them, and the temple’s inadequacy; he prophesies resistance to the holy ghost, then is stoned, with Saul present at the witnesses’ clothes.
us out of the land of Egypt. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the image, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned himself, and gave them up, that they should worship the stars of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets: O ye of the house of Israhell: have ye given unto me offerings or sacrifice, by the space of xl. years in the wilderness? And ye took …
Paul appeals to his readers to remain in Christ’s liberty, uses the allegory of Sarah and Hagar (bondwoman and freewoman), and warns against observing days and ceremonies that recreate bondage.
ye desire afresh to be in bondage? Ye observe the days, and months, and times, and years. I fear of you, lest I have bestowed on you labour in vain. Brethren I beseech you, be ye as I am: for I am as ye are. Ye have not hurt me. Ye know well how that thorow infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospell unto you at the first: and my temptation which I suffered by reason of my flesh, ye despised not, neither abhorred…
In the first section of 2 Thessalonians, Paul warns that Christ’s day has not yet arrived, describing a prior rebellion led by the “man of sin,” and urges steadfastness in church tradition and teaching.
The second Chapter. We beseech you brethren by the coming of our lord Iesu Christ, and in that we shall assemble unto him, that ye be not suddenly moved from your mind, and be not troubled, neither by spirit, neither by words, nor yet by letter, which should seem to come from us, as though the day of Christ were at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for the lord cometh not, except there come a departing firs…
In 1 John chapter 4, readers are told to test spirits, confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, and the passage defines God as love, linking love to confidence at judgment and hatred of a brother to lying.
is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist, of whom ye have heard, how that he should come: and even now already is he in the world. Little children, ye are of God, and have overcome them: for greater is he that is in you, then he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us: He that is not of God, …
The text explains that the blood of Christ purges consciences and mediates the new testament through death, compares animal blood to Christ’s heavenly entry, and concludes with final judgment.
more shall the blood of Christ (which thorow the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God) purge our {your} consciences from dead works, for to serve the living God? And for this cause is he the mediator of the new testament, that as sone (as his death was fulfilled for the redemption of those transgressions that were in the first testament) they which were called, might receive the promise of eternal inh…
It depicts the seven last plagues: victorious saints sing, the temple fills with smoke, vials of wrath fall (botch, blood at sea and rivers, heat, darkness of the beast’s kingdom), and spirits assemble nations for Armagedon.
Who shall not fear o lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy, and all gentiles shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgements are made manifest. And after that I looked, and behold the temple of the tabernacle of testimony was open in heaven, and the seven angels came out of the temple, which had the seven plagues, clothed in pure and bright linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdl…
In the fight at Sentinum, Romans under Fabius hold longer on the right while Decius’s cavalry charge collapses amid Gallic chariots; Decius devotes himself and enemy legions to infernal gods, dies, and victory shifts.
had the Etrurians and Umbrians been present, either in the field or at the camp, in whichever place they might have employed their force, the Romans must have been defeated. 28. However, although the victory was still undecided, fortune not having declared in favour of either party, yet the course of the fight was by no means similar on both right and left wings. The Romans, under Fabius, rather repelled than offere…
Livy recounts a battle-prelude in which rain and hail drive both Roman and Carthaginian armies back to camp; Hannibal interprets it divinely, then retreats after learning the ground is sold.
till such time as the enemy had retired from the walls. During the remainder of the day and the following night, several tumults arose without any foundation, and were repressed. 11. The next day Hannibal, crossing the Anio, drew out all his forces in order of battle; nor did Flaccus and the consuls decline to fight. When the troops on both sides were drawn up to try the issue of a battle, in which Rome was to be th…
At Apamea, negotiations between Villius and Antiochus are interrupted by news of Antiochus’s son’s death; the court mourns and suspects poisoning, then Antiochus retreats, consulting his favorite Minio to manage Roman envoys.
with Punic dexterity, and conveying an unexpected kind of flattery, was highly grateful to Scipio, as it set him apart from the crowd of commanders, as one of incomparable eminence. 15. From Ephesus, Villius proceeded to Apamea, whither Antiochus, on hearing of the coming of the Roman delegates, came to meet him. In this congress, at Apamea, the debates were similar to those which passed at Rome, between Quinctius a…
Hamilton argues that life tenure best preserves judicial independence because a voluminous legal code requires specialized knowledge and integrity, and he points to Great Britain as an example supporting good-behavior tenure.
them for the special purpose, there would be too great a disposition to consult popularity, to justify a reliance that nothing would be consulted but the Constitution and the laws. There is yet a further and a weightier reason for the permanency of the judicial offices, which is deducible from the nature of the qualifications they require. It has been frequently remarked, with great propriety, that a voluminous code…
Aeneas observes a fiery, fortress-like tower by Phlegethon with adamantine pillars and Tisiphone stationed there, and he hears groans, lashes, and chains, prompting him to ask what crimes and tortures occur.
prince, with glory crown’d, And born to better fates than I have found.” He said; and, while he said, his steps he turn’d To secret shadows, and in silence mourn’d. The hero, looking on the left, espied A lofty tow’r, and strong on ev’ry side With treble walls, which Phlegethon surrounds, Whose fiery flood the burning empire bounds; And, press’d betwixt the rocks, the bellowing noise resounds…
Anchises gives a philosophical account of the cosmos and the soul, arguing that a single animating power fills all life, that vice clings to souls requiring penance in fire or water, and that souls drink Lethe after a long cycle.
design’d.” “O father, can it be, that souls sublime Return to visit our terrestrial clime, And that the gen’rous mind, releas’d by death, Can covet lazy limbs and mortal breath?” Anchises then, in order, thus begun To clear those wonders to his godlike son: “Know, first, that heav’n, and earth’s compacted frame, And flowing waters, and the starry flame, And both the radiant lights, one common…
The translator weighs Muhammad’s sincerity against charges of imposture, suggesting Muhammad believed himself divinely called, possibly suffered self-deception from a cataleptic condition, and credits Islam’s lasting impact.
the proclaimer of a doctrine of the Divine Unity, held and taught by the Patriarchs, especially by Abraham–a doctrine that should present to mankind Judaism divested of its Mosaic ceremonial, and Christianity divested of the Atonement and the Trinity14–doctrine, as he might have believed, fitted and destined to absorb Judaism, Christianity, and Idolatry; and this persuasion, once admitted into his mind as a convictio…
The passage continues Sura Maryam’s and related prophets’ accounts, listing righteous prophets like Abraham and Moses, then describes heavenly reward, divine judgment, and the Resurrection gathering of humans and satans for final verdicts.
SAY: As to those who are in error, the God of Mercy will lengthen out to them a length of days Until they see that with which they are threatened, whether it be some present chastisement, or whether it be "the Hour," and they shall then know which is in the worse state, and which the more weak in forces: But God will increase the guidance of the already guided. And good works which abide, are in thy Lord's sight b…
Continuing the Qur’anic argument, it explains why no one can change the revelation, condemns lying about God and false idols, describes plotting against signs and God’s rescue, and emphasizes this life as temporary with “abode of peace” for the guided.
And the close of their cry, "Praise be to God, Lord, of all creatures!" Should God hasten evil on men as they fain would hasten their good, then were their end decreed! So leave we those who hope not to meet Us, bewildered in their error. When trouble toucheth a man, he crieth to us, on his side, or sitting, or standing; and when we withdraw his trouble from him, he passeth on as though he had not called on us agai…
The translator’s critical framing claims Muhammad sincerely sought unity of God and rescue from idolatry, yet treats him as self-deceived and capable of deceit, then appends Qur’anic teachings about divine judgment, charity, and freedom from religious coercion.
relics98 left by the family of Moses, and the family of Aaron; the angels shall bear it: Truly herein shall be a sign indeed to you if ye are believers." And when Saul marched forth with his forces, he said, "God will test you by a river: He who drinketh of it shall not be of my band; but he who shall not taste it, drinking a drink out of the hand excepted, shall be of my band."99 And, except a few of them, they dra…
Equiano argues for an analogy between African customs and ancient Jewish practice (chiefs, patriarchal household authority, retaliation, circumcision, sacrifices), then responds to objections about African skin color with climate-and-slavery explanations.
we had our circumcision (a rule I believe peculiar to that people:) we had also our sacrifices and burnt-offerings, our washings and purifications, on the same occasions as they had. As to the difference of colour between the Eboan Africans and the modern Jews, I shall not presume to account for it. It is a subject which has engaged the pens of men of both genius and learning, and is far above my strength. The most …
Distressed by the abuse and his own conviction of sin, Equiano resolves to leave England for Turkey again, recounts blasphemous thoughts, and describes receiving providential visions leading to repentance.
The Lord, in his manifold mercies, was pleased to grant my request, and being yet in a state of time, the sense of God's mercies was so great on my mind when I awoke, that my strength entirely failed me for many minutes, and I was exceedingly weak. This was the first spiritual mercy I ever was sensible of, and being on praying ground, as soon as I recovered a little strength, and got out of bed and dressed myself, I …
Equiano visits Mr. C---- in Holborn, reads The Conversion of an Indian, hears gospel preaching for near two months, and struggles with doctrine about needing the new birth and pardon before death.
eternity long, and very near, and I viewed those persons alone blessed who were found ready at midnight call, or when the Judge of all, both quick and dead, cometh. The next day I took courage, and went to Holborn, to see my new and worthy acquaintance, the old man, Mr. C----; he, with his wife, a gracious woman, were at work at silk weaving; they seemed mutually happy, and both quite glad to see me, and I more so to…
Equiano describes efforts to convert a “Musquito Prince” from perceived heathenhood, then recounts religious mockery, moral disputes about hell, and a ship mast accident near Martinico where no one is hurt.
I was well pleased at this, and took great delight in him, and used much supplication to God for his conversion. I was in full hope of seeing daily every appearance of that change which I could wish; not knowing the devices of satan, who had many of his emissaries to sow his tares as fast as I sowed the good seed, and pull down as fast as I built up. Thus we went on nearly four fifths of our passage, when satan at la…
He recounts being shocked that Boston supporters would pay Mrs. Washington’s and his Europe trip, weighing worries about race stereotypes, conscience, and national questions before agreeing to depart.
money which would be sufficient to keep the school in operation while I was away. At this point I was compelled to surrender. Every avenue of escape had been closed. Deep down in my heart the whole thing seemed more like a dream than like reality, and for a long time it was difficult for me to make myself believe that I was actually going to Europe. I had been born and largely reared in the lowest depths of slavery,…
Castruccio dies of a chill after the battle at Fucecchio, calls Pagolo Guinigi, and delivers advice that he failed by making enemies, should make peace with Florence, and must govern using prudence over force.
he was attacked with high fever, which increased so rapidly that the doctors saw it must prove fatal. Castruccio, therefore, called Pagolo Guinigi to him, and addressed him as follows: “If I could have believed that Fortune would have cut me off in the midst of the career which was leading to that glory which all my successes promised, I should have laboured less, and I should have left thee, if a smaller state, at …
The commentary notes that Sallust describes how civil and divine matters were mixed up and inverted, using phrases like "divina et humana cuncta permiscuit" to stress total disruption.
V. Threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion--_Divina et humana cuncta permiscuit_. "All things, both divine and human, were so changed, that their previous condition was entirely subverted." *Dietsch*. [21] Civil dissensions--*Studiis civilibus*. This is the sense in which most commentators take *studia*; and if this be right, the whole phrase must be understood as I have rendered it. So Cortius; "Ut n…
When the narrator rebukes tavern mockers for blaspheming and jeering at plague judgement, they insult him with oaths, deny reverence for God, and he departs fearing vengeance may fall on them.
with want of courage to leap into the great pit and go to heaven, as they jeeringly expressed it, along with them, adding some very profane and even blasphemous expressions. They were at this vile work when I came back to the house, and, as far as I could see, though the man sat still, mute and disconsolate, and their affronts could not divert his sorrow, yet he was both grieved and offended at the…
After the narrator goes home, he frames the mockers as examples of God’s justice, cites Jeremiah about visitation, resolves to pray, and turns to earlier events about forced house “shutting up.”
assembled at meeting-houses, every one as their different opinions in such things guided, but all were promiscuously the subject of these men’s drollery, especially at the beginning of the visitation. It seems they had been checked for their open insulting religion in this manner by several good people of every persuasion, and that, and the violent raging of the infection, I suppose, was the occasi…
The narrator argues that beauty must end while ugliness and hate persist, then imagines the dead finding happiness in a “Court of Peace,” and launches into “The Prayers of God,” a war-haunted confession where the speaker links divine silence to racist violence.
always new and strange. It is the reasonable thing. Its end is Death--the sweet silence of perfection, the calm and balance of utter music. Therein is the triumph of Beauty. So strong is the spell of beauty that there are those who, contradicting their own knowledge and experience, try to say that all is beauty. They are called optimists, and they lie. All is not beauty. Ugliness and hate and ill are here with all t…
Douglass recalls being a child asking why some people were slaves, being told God made white masters and Black slaves, and rejecting this explanation as inconsistent with perceived cruelty like Aunt Esther’s flogging.
EARLY REFLECTIONS ON SLAVERY—PRESENTIMENT OF ONE DAY BEING A FREEMAN—COMBAT BETWEEN AN OVERSEER AND A SLAVEWOMAN—THE ADVANTAGES OF RESISTANCE—ALLOWANCE DAY ON THE HOME PLANTATION—THE SINGING OF SLAVES—AN EXPLANATION—THE SLAVES FOOD AND CLOTHING—NAKED CHILDREN—LIFE IN THE QUARTER—DEPRIVATION OF SLEEP—NURSING CHILDREN CARRIED TO THE FIELD—DESCRIPTION OF THE COWSKIN—THE ASH-CAKE—MANNER OF MAKING IT—THE DINNER HOUR—THE C…
Douglass warns Americans that God’s justice will punish the enslaving nation, invokes Thomas Jefferson’s claim that God has no side for the oppressor, and foretells slave resistance if endurance breaks.
has the blessing of God been converted into a curse. In the spirit of genuine patriotism, I warn the American people, by all that is just and honorable, to BEWARE! I warn them that, strong, proud, and prosperous though we be, there is a power above us that can “bring down high looks; at the breath of whose mouth our wealth may take wings; and before whom every knee shall bow;” and who can tell how soon the avenging …
Douglass predicts that despite efforts to suppress anti-slavery speech, God will not allow slaveholders peace, and he insists the anti-slavery cause will persist even if organizations perish.
Evidently, this society looks upon our “extremity as its opportunity,” and we may expect that it will use the occasion well. They do not deplore, but glory, in our misfortunes. But, sir, I must hasten. I have thus briefly given my view of one aspect of the present condition and future prospects of the colored people of the United States. And what I have said is far from encouraging to my afflicted people. I have see…
In 1526 the Spanish king grants jurisdiction over Venezuela to German merchants with power to make capitulations, but Las Casas says they act worse than other Spaniards, devastate hundreds of miles, and send millions of souls to Hell.
*Of the Kingdom of *Venecuela. Our Sovereign Lord the King in the Year 1526, over-perswaded by fallacious appearances (for the *Spaniards* use to conceal from His Majesties knowledge the dammages and detriments, which God himself, the Souls and state of the *Indians* did suffer) intrusted the Kingdom of *Venecuela* longer and larger then the Spanish Dominions, with its Government and absolute Jurisdiction to some *G…
At last Themistocles gains access to Artabanus and then the Persian king by agreeing to Persian customs, identifies himself as the Athenian exile who benefited Persia by holding back the Greeks, and seeks reconciliation through divine and political testimony.
write that he came to Xerxes. The chronological tables better agree with the account of Thucydides, and yet neither can their statements be said to be quite set at rest. When Themistocles was come to the critical point, he applied himself first to Artabanus, commander of a thousand men, telling him that he was a Greek, and desired to speak with the king about important affairs concerning which the king was extremely…
Aemilius orders the camp to be fortified and treats the total lunar eclipse with sacrifices to Hercules, then prepares for battle at dawn while watching the enemy from his tent.
fortify the camp; so that the hindmost in succession wheeling off by degrees and withdrawing, their whole order was insensibly broken up, and the army encamped without noise or trouble. When it was night, and, supper being over, all were turning to sleep and rest, on a sudden the moon, which was then at full and high in the heavens, grew dark, and by degrees losing her light, passed through various colors, and at le…
As Spartans and Thebans prepare for battle at Leuctra, Pelopidas wrestles with ominous dreams about a divine command to sacrifice a virgin; debate among prophets and commanders follows, weighing barbarity versus obedience.
other, emulation kindles and inflames their courage; thus he thought, brave men, provoking one another to noble actions, would prove most serviceable and most resolute, where all were united together. Now when the Lacedaemonians had made peace with the other Greeks, and united all their strength against the Thebans only, and their king, Cleombrotus, had passed the frontier with ten thousand foot and one thousand hor…
Kant argues that we can think any non-contradictory possibility, but only real possibility requires objective validity, which theoretical reason cannot secure beyond experience, so practical reason supports God, freedom, and immortality via belief, not knowledge.
are indebted to a criticism which warns us of our unavoidable ignorance with regard to things in themselves, and establishes the necessary limitation of our theoretical *cognition* to mere phenomena. [7] In order to *cognize* an object, I must be able to prove its possibility, either from its reality as attested by experience, or _à priori*, by means of reason. But I can *think_ what I please, provided only I do …
Kant argues that reason investigates God, freedom, and immortality because these transcend experience, yet metaphysics initially proceeds dogmatically, so philosophy must ask how a priori cognition is possible and what its limits and value are.
III. Philosophy stands in need of a Science which shall Determine the Possibility, Principles, and Extent of Human Knowledge “à priori” Of far more importance than all that has been above said, is the consideration that certain of our cognitions rise completely above the sphere of all possible experience, and by means of conceptions, to which there exists in the whole extent of experience no corresponding object, se…
Kant argues that rational psychologists overreach by claiming the soul’s permanence after death from mere concepts, since equally coherent counter-possibilities let thought ‘divide’ or ‘coalesce’ simple substances, even for whole souls.
hinder the materialist, with as complete an independence of experience, to employ the principle of the rationalist in a directly opposite manner—still preserving the formal unity required by his opponent? If, now, we take the above propositions—as they must be accepted as valid for all thinking beings in the system of rational psychology—in synthetical connection, and proceed, from the category of relation, with the…
Kant argues that viewing nature’s order teleologically—as if designed by a supreme intelligence—guides inquiry and can be fruitful even when wrong, because it still preserves rational unity of explanation.
world of experience; that it does not aim at an extension of its cognition beyond the limits of experience; and that, consequently, this idea does not contain any constitutive principle. The highest formal unity, which is based upon ideas alone, is the unity of all things—a unity in accordance with an aim or purpose; and the speculative interest of reason renders it necessary to regard all order in the world as if i…
Kant maintains that disputes in speculative reason can still serve humanity’s good by limiting fallacies, urging free inquiry, and allowing faith-language after admitting we cannot claim certain knowledge.
could be found, if she, whose vocation it is to destroy error, were at variance with herself and without any reasonable hope of ever reaching a state of permanent repose? Everything in nature is good for some purpose. Even poisons are serviceable; they destroy the evil effects of other poisons generated in our system, and must always find a place in every complete pharmacopoeia. The objections raised against the fal…
He illustrates how pure reason’s hypotheses can act as “leaden weapons” by countering objections to immaterial soul theories and defending doctrines like continuous life through transcendental reinterpretations.
to fear from these concessions; on the contrary, we may rather hope that we shall thus make ourselves master of a possession which no one will ever venture to dispute. The thinker requires, to be fully equipped, the hypotheses of pure reason, which, although but leaden weapons (for they have not been steeled in the armoury of experience), are as useful as any that can be employed by his opponents. If, accordingly, w…
He argues reason’s ultimate speculative targets—freedom, immortality, and God—are useless for knowing experience, so their true importance lies in their practical role in guiding life.
There exists in the faculty of reason a natural desire to venture beyond the field of experience, to attempt to reach the utmost bounds of all cognition by the help of ideas alone, and not to rest satisfied until it has fulfilled its course and raised the sum of its cognitions into a self-subsistent systematic whole. Is the motive for this endeavour to be found in its speculative, or in its practical interests alone?…
Kant explains how happiness proportioned to morality would be necessary within an intelligible moral world, but since nature alone cannot secure this, we must assume God and a future life so morality’s promise of happiness is rationally grounded.
made himself worthy of it in his conduct, and that therefore the system of morality is inseparably (though only in the idea of pure reason) connected with that of happiness. Now in an intelligible, that is, in the moral world, in the conception of which we make abstraction of all the impediments to morality (sensuous desires), such a system of happiness, connected with and proportioned to morality, may be conceived …
Using Leibniz’s contrast between kingdom of grace and kingdom of nature, Kant argues that morality alone is incomplete without a divine order that ensures happiness in proportion to desert, otherwise moral laws would be idle dreams.
and threats. But this, again, they could not do, did they not reside in a necessary being, as the Supreme Good, which alone can render such a teleological unity possible. Leibnitz termed the world, when viewed in relation to the rational beings which it contains, and the moral relations in which they stand to each other, under the government of the Supreme Good, the kingdom of Grace, and distinguished it from the ki…
Kant maps metaphysics as systematic pure a priori cognition into transcendental divisions—ontology, rational physiology (physics and psychology), rational cosmology, and rational theology—while distinguishing immanent from transcendent uses.
always disputing with each other regarding the discoveries which each asserted he had made, brought their science into disrepute with the rest of the world, and finally, even among themselves. All pure à priori cognition forms, therefore, in view of the peculiar faculty which originates it, a peculiar and distinct unity; and metaphysic is the term applied to the philosophy which attempts to represent that cognition …
Paine condemns the British cause as oppressive and impious, includes an anecdote about a supporter praising “the devil” rather than God, and argues Britain will face national punishment in this world.
Lord Howe and his brother, whom the Tories and their three-quarter kindred, the Quakers, or some of them at least, have been holding up for patterns of justice and mercy! A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men; and whoever will be at the pains of examining strictly into things, will find that one and the same spirit of oppression and impiety, more or less, governs through your whole party in bot…