For it is with the mysteries of our religion, as with wholesome pills for the sick, which swallowed whole, have the virtue to cure; but chewed, are for the most part cast up again without effect.
Interpretation
Religious beliefs can be beneficial if accepted wholeheartedly, but questioning or dissecting them may lead to spiritual doubt or rejection.
In this quote, Thomas Hobbes compares religious beliefs to wholesome pills that have the power to heal when taken in their entirety. He suggests that just as pills should be swallowed whole for their medicinal value, faith and religious teachings are most effective when accepted without doubt or skepticism; when questioned or analyzed too closely, they often lose their potency and are rejected.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of unwavering faith, this quote can illustrate the need for trust in religious teachings.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
Moreover, from the time when He said, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven;' and again, 'He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it; ' no one becomes a member of Christ except it be either by baptism in Christ, or death for Christ.
the psychological need to believe that others take you as seriously as you take yourself. There is nothing particularly wrong with it, as psychological needs go, but yet of course we should always remember that a deep need for anything from other people makes us easy pickings.
The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the high chair.
Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied.
The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.