Truth and hatred

Use in the book

At p. 10 the old proverb makes enemies for truth's sake an honour among those who understand. The author later asserts that truth is always consonant with itself, a reason to test alleged knowledge by nature-conforming speech. These claims give disagreement different possible meanings: it may require careful examination, but hostile noise and personal disparagement cannot by themselves refute the doctrine.

The closing sequence on pp. 180–183234 intensifies this position through biblical and proverbial voices. An opponent behaves as Zedekiah challenging Micaiah; the echo promises an answer fitting the provocation. Khunrath anticipates the world's thanks that Christ, apostles and confessors of truth have received, and the margin says truth breeds hatred. The entrusted pound then becomes a duty to help truth according to one's capacity. Silence would leave sophistry dominant and the liar unanswered.

David supplies the positive speech-act. Khunrath will preach truth in the great congregation and will not allow his mouth to be stopped. He knows and recognizes Magnesia, therefore he speaks and writes. The Devil's anger is no sufficient reason to stop. At p. 183 he suggests that this public confession may help confirm the doctrine of God's Son to doubters through Nature.

Public confession is not the same as complete public disclosure. The book withholds the matter's common identifying name and reserves fuller demonstrations for the proper conditions, while defending the publication of its doctrine. This distinction explains how a treatise committed to secrecy can nevertheless represent silence as a moral failure. What is to be declared and what is to be reserved are different objects of duty.

The lexicon should preserve the first-person and argumentative nature of these declarations. They are evidence of Khunrath's conception of authorship and conflict, not independent confirmation that every critic persecutes truth or that hostility proves a thesis.

Places to read

1. 1599 p. 10Enemies for truth’s sake are placed within a proverb about honour
2. 1599 p. 158Truth’s consonance supplies the standard for evaluating philosophical speech
3. 1599 p. 176 · marginThe truth of the Lord is declared to endure for ever
4. 1599 p. 181 · marginTruth breeding hatred accompanies the author’s expectation of ingratitude
5. 1599 p. 182David’s confession and the dumb-dog image justify speaking despite opposition
6. 1599 p. 183Public teaching may confirm the Son’s doctrine to doubters through Nature

Translation in this edition

Retain “truth” in the adapted scriptural wording. The modern note observes that Khunrath puts it where the cited psalm speaks of righteousness; normalizing to a familiar Bible would erase his emphasis. “Confession” here need not mean disclosure of a full recipe or the separate book titled Confessio.