Treatise on the Free Investigation of the Canon

one should not understand it merely as a historical source; from which, certainly, the history of the Jews is learned;) even less as a guide for action or practice original: "agendi oder praxeos"; even if a so-called Moralization The practice of extracting a moral lesson from a literal story, often used in medieval biblical commentary. is taken as an aid. For the latter merely inserts those "better truths" and thus assembles a different content and understanding of the book. Our entire instruction regarding spiritual truths, the nature of sinful or incorrect actions, the abolition of this poor condition, and the new inner skill to apply this knowledge ever better: is derived solely from this principle of knowledge original: "principio cognoscendi", which was formerly made known among Jews or Christians, and it retains this source. The specific conceptions of God the Father, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit—through which authors the existing knowledge and effects have been brought about—always distinguish the Christian religion from all others; just as the Christian parties always distinguish themselves from one another in these very specific parts of these concepts regarding these Christian subjects, so that