Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ... BOOK III. FAITH. Terrible Spirit, thy discourse has smitten me to the ground. But thou referrest me to myself, and what were I could anything out of myself irrecoverably cast me down? I will, --yes, surely I will follow thy counsel. What seekest thou, then, my complaining heart? What is it that excites thee against a system to which my understanding cannot raise the slightest objection? >TJlis_iLJ5 DEGREESi DEGREESejmild_ something beyond a mere presentation or conception; something that is, has been, and will be, even if the presentation were not; and whichjlie.jiresentaticai only records, without producing it, or in the smallest degree changing it. A mere presentation I now see to be a deceptive show; my presentations must have a meaning beneath them, and DEGREES my entire knowledge revealed to me nothing but knowledge, I would be defrauded of my whole life. That there is nothing whatever but my presentations or conceptions, is, to the natural sense of mankind, a silly and ridiculous conceit which no man can seriously entertain, and which requires no refutation. To the better-informed judgment, which knows the deep, and, by mere reasoning, irrefragable grounds for this assertion, it is a prostrating, annihilating thought. And what, then, is this something lying beyond all presentation, towards which I stretch forward with such ardent longing? What is the power with which it draws me towards it? What is the central point in my soul to which it is attached, and with which only it can be effaced? I "Not merely xo Know, but according to thy knowl/edge TO Do, Is'fhy .yocation: rr--thus is it loudly proclaimed in the innermost depths of my soul, as soon as I recollect myself for a moment, and turn my observation upon myself. "&s&$m-ji!i&JuaB&