A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More

...but I attribute it to mere mishap if I am pelted behind my back by any shots of slander original: "Obloquie" from any unknown servant of the Sanctuary A fellow member of the clergy or the church.. I presume that if I am hurt, the pain will be greatest for those who did it, once they realize they have wounded a true and faithful friend—and even then, at a time when he was so busily and watchfully employed in facing the common Enemy Likely referring to atheism or materialism..

Certain advice for the more profitable reading original: "perusing" of his books.

5. If anyone expects or desires any general instruction or preparation for more profitably reading these writings of mine, I must declare that I can give none that is unique to them, except what would fit all writings written with freedom and reason. And this one Royal Rule I would recommend for all: Not to judge the truth of any proposition until we have a settled and definite understanding original: "apprehension" of its terms. Although this law is so necessary and indispensable, there is none so frequently broken. The result of this neglect is those many heaps of voluminous writings and foolish original: "inept" oppositions and controversies that fill the world. These would be impossible if men had not developed a habit of fluttering mere words against one another without noticing any definite sense. They fight, as it were, with many Hercules' clubs made of cardboard original: "Pastbord", which make a great sound but do no execution toward ending disputes. For just as no man will ever be so wild as to claim that a triangle is a quadrangle, or a square a circle, once he has the distinct ideas of those figures in his mind; so it would be just as impossible for him to pronounce anything else falsely and absurdly if he had as perfect and settled a notion of the things he is speaking about. But since this first and main principle of wisdom is neglected, it is no wonder that men clash as ridiculously and without cause as those two country clowns who, in their cups, almost came to blows because one called himself a Lutheran and the other a Martinist The joke here is that both terms refer to the followers of Martin Luther; the clowns are fighting over two names for the same thing because they do not understand the terms..*

I might also add another piece of advice (which will contribute much toward a greater conciseness original: "Compendiousness" in controversies) which I think I have hinted at elsewhere: namely, That what will prove anything will prove nothing. If this were thoroughly understood, it would not only enable a man to defeat the apparent force of countless irrelevant assaults, but also keep him—if he has any honesty original: "ingenuity" in him—from attacking, or rather disturbing or interrupting, the composure and silence of another man’s mind with the empty noise of such weak and groundless arguments. I mean those arguments that could infer or maintain falsehood just as easily as truth. All such arguments ought to be rejected, especially in philosophy. I think if this kind of weapon were once out of fashion, conflict would soon be at an end, and such a victory would follow that everyone would be a gainer by it.

Divine Insight original: "Sagacity": A principle prior original: "antecedaneous" to successful Reason in contemplations of the highest importance.

6. But in the third and last place (which, though it has some considerable influence everywhere, is more particularly required when reading writings on subjects such as these I treat of), I would recommend to those who wish to philosophize successfully the belief in and pursuit of a certain principle more noble and inward than Reason itself. Without this, Reason will falter, or at least reach only to mean and frivolous things. I have a sense of something in me while I speak this which I must confess is of so hidden original: "retruse" a nature that I lack a name for it, unless I should venture to term it Divine Insight original: "Divine Sagacity", which is the first source of successful Reason, especially—