All 10 Uses of
negative
in
Robinson Crusoe
- What remedy can we apply to this malady? And to this I must negatively answer, Not to be less religious, that we may differ the less.
negatively = telling what to avoid rather than what to do
- Before I conclude this chapter, I shall beg leave to discourse a little of the wonderful excellency of negative religion and negative virtue.
negative = not doing something
- Before I conclude this chapter, I shall beg leave to discourse a little of the wonderful excellency of negative religion and negative virtue.
- A man that is clothed with negatives, thus argues: I am not such a drunkard as my landlord, such a thief as my tenant, such a rakish fellow, or a highwayman; No!
negatives = expressing what is not--rather than what is
- The negative man, though he is no drunkard is yet intoxicated with the pride of his own worth; a good neighbour and peace-maker in other families, but a tyrant in his own;
negative = not doing something
- …less can be founded upon his negative virtue, or what he has forborne to do:
- And if neither his negative nor positive piety can be equal to the reward, and to the eternity that reward is to last for, what then is to become of the Pharisee, when he is to be judged by the sincerity of his repentance, and rewarded, according to the infinite…
- When the negative man converses with the invisible world, he is filled with as much horror and dread as Felix, when St Paul reasoned to him of temperance, righteousness, and of judgment to come; for Felix, though a great philosopher, of great power and reverence, was a negative man, and he was made sensible by the Apostle, that, as a life of virtue and temperance was its own reward, by giving a healthy body, a clear head, and a composed life, so eternal happiness must proceed from…
- When the negative man converses with the invisible world, he is filled with as much horror and dread as Felix, when St Paul reasoned to him of temperance, righteousness, and of judgment to come; for Felix, though a great philosopher, of great power and reverence, was a negative man, and he was made sensible by the Apostle, that, as a life of virtue and temperance was its own reward, by giving a healthy body, a clear head, and a composed life, so eternal happiness must proceed from another spring; namely, the infinite unbounded grace of a provoked God, who having erected a righteous tribunal, Jesus Christ would separat†
*
- And this, I say, it was, that made Felix, this negative man tremble.
*negative = not doing something
Definitions:
-
(negative as in: negative feedback from customers) to express criticism or disagreement, or (especially when talking over a radio or in a military setting) to say "no"
-
(negative as in: had a negative effect) bad or harmful