Assistance and stimulation

Meaning

The heard Word is called a stimulus, assistance and furtherance in relation to the inward light bestowed by God. These are real instrumental functions: external objects move the senses and occasion perception, but do not themselves supply the inward power of judgment. The black-and-white-tablet comparison tests this distinction. An object can stand before the observer without making itself known unless the observer already possesses the capacity to judge its colour. The English “by no means impart knowledge” preserves the German’s emphatic denial, while “stimulus” preserves a positive external role. Reading the passage as either autonomous book-learning or complete rejection of outward means misses its carefully unequal relation between means and source.