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Show 9 ~~----~V~ur~a~ti~on~,_a_n_d _it~ sfo~~-m~pl_e~ftd~od_e~s·~--B~o~o~k~l~L ~- 10• Hence we fee, that Come Men imagine the Duration of the World from its firO: exiO:ence,to this prefent year 1689. to have been 5639 years, or equal to 56 39 annual Revolutions of the S~n, an_d ethers a great de,! more; as the _,-Ep:,vptians of old, who l1l the t1me of Alexander counted :>.poo years, from the Reign of the Sun; and the Chmefes now, who account the World ],169,ooo years old, or more;. wluch larger duration of the World according to their Computation, though I fhould not believe to be trde, yet I can equally imagine it with them,and as truly underO:and, and fay one is longer than the other, as I underO:and that Jllethufalem's life was longer than Enocl!s: And 1f the comm_on reckon in!( of 56 19 l110uld be true,( as 1t may be,as well as any other afllgned,)ltlunders not at all my imagining what others mean, when they make the World a 1ooo years older, Iince every one may with the fame Facility imagine (I do not fay believe) the World to be 5oooo years old, as 5639; and may as well conceive the duration of 50000 years, as 5639. Whereby it appears, that to the menforing the durati~n of any thing /;J. Time, it is not requilite,that that thing 0Jould be co-cx1fient to the Motion we meafure by, or any other periodical Revolution; but it foffices_ to this purpofe, that we ba-ve the Idea of the lenr,tb of any regular penodtca/ appeafanas, which we can in our Minds apply to Duration, with which the Motion or Appearance never co-exified. 1 I. For as in the Hifiory of the Creation delivered by Mofts, I can imagine that Light exified three days before the ~un was, or had any motion, barely by thmkmg, that the duratiOn of L1ght before the Sun was created,was fo long as (if the Sun had moved then, as it doth now,) would have been equal to three of his diurnal Revolutions; fo by the fame way I can have an Idea of the Chao1, or Angels, being created before there was either Light, or any continued motion, a Minute, an Hour,a Day, a Year, ot woo Years. For if! can but conf1der Dur.rion equal to one Minute, before either the Being or Motion of any Body, I can add one more Minute till! come to 6o. And by the fame way of adding Minutes, Hours, or Years, (i.e. fuch or fuch parts of the Sun's revolution,or any other I'"" riod whereof I have the Idea,) proceed in infnitum. And fuppofe a duration exceeding as many fuch periods as I can reckon, Jet me add whilfl: I will, which I think is the notion we have of Eternity, of whofe infinity we have no other notion, than we have oftheinfinity of Number, to which we can add for ever without end. §. l >. And thus I think it is plain, that from thofetwo F~untains of all Knowledge before mentioned, ('VIz.) RejieE/1011 a11d Senjitt10n, w< get tbe Jde>Hf Duration, and the meafures of it. For Firji,By obferving whatpaffes in our Minds,how our Id<as there in train conll:ant!y fome vanifl1, and others begin to appear, we come by the Idea of Succej1iolt, Secondly, Ily obferving a diO:ance in the parts of this Succellion, we get the /rlea of DuratioH. l!Jiullr, By Sen6tion obferving certain appearances, at certain regular and feemrng equldifiant penods, we get the Ideas of certain Lengths or /Yiea{ures of Duration, as Minutes, Hours, Days, Years, &c. Fourrbly, By being able to repeat thofe Meafures of Time or Ideas of fiated length ofDufation in our Minds, as often as we will ~e can come to i'_"agi~e Duratitm, wbere nothing does really endure or ;xijf; and thus we 1m~gme to morrow, next year,or feven yc:ars hence. FifrMy, Chap.XV. Vuration and Expanjion confidered together. Ftftbl:t, By being able to repeat any Cuchidea of any length of Time as of a Mmute, a Year,or an Age,as often as we will in our own Thoughts: ar.dadd them one to another, Without ever coming to the end of fuch addition, any nearer than we can to the end of Number, to which we can always add, we come by the !tlea of Et<rnity, as the future eternal DuratiOn of our Souls, as well as the Eternity of that infinite Being which mu{\ nccclfarily have always exilkd. ' Sixtbly, By conftdering any part of infinite Duration, as fet out by periodical Meafures, we come by the Idea of what we call Time in ge· neral. CHAP. XV. OJ Vr~ratior1 a11d Expa11Jio11, co11{tdered to,getf,er. ~-' ·J-Hough we have_ in the precedent Chapters dwelt pr~tty long on the Conftdcratlons of Space and Duratwn; yet they being /d,,1s of general concernment, that have fomething very obfirufe and peculiar in their Nature,thc _comparing them one with another m,ay,perhaps,be of ufe for thelf tl!ufirat1on ; and we may hav> the more dear and difiinct conception of them, by taking a view of them together. Difiance or Space in its lim pie abfiratl: conception, to avoid confulion, I call Expanfon t~ dill:inguifl1 it from Extenfon, which by fame is ufed to exprefs thi; diftance only as it is in the folid parts of Matter , and fo, indudes or at Jea!l: intimates the Jd<a of Body: Whereas the Idea of pure Difian~e includes ~o fuch thing. I r:efetr alfo the Word Expanfon to ~p.ace, becaufe Space IS often applied to Dtfiance of fleetmg fuccellive parts, which never exi!l: together, as well as to thofe which are per_manent. lq both thefe (viz.) Expu.jionand Duration, the Mmd has tlus common Jd,a of continued Lengths, capable of greater, or lefs quantities : For a· Man has as dear an Idea of the difference of the length of a~ Hour, and a Day, as of an Inch and a Foot. §. :>.. Th~ Mind, having got the Idea of the length o( any part of Expan{ ton, let It be a Span, or a Pace, or what length you will, can, as has been faid,repeat that Id<a; and fo adding it to the former,mlarge itJ Idea oj ungtb, and make 1t equal to two Spans, or two Paces,and fo as often as 1t will, till it equals the eli fiance of any parts of the E.1rth one from another, and increafethus, till it amounts to the difiance of the Sun,or remotcll: Star. By fuch a progrellion as this, fetting out from the pla~e where it is, or any other place, it can proceed and paiS beyond all thofe lengths, and find nothing to fiop its going on, either in, or without Body. 'Tis true, we can eafily in our Thoughts come to the end of folic! Extenlion; the extremity and bounds of all Body, we have no dillisulty to arrive at: But when the Mind is there, it finds nothing to hinder its progrefs into this cndlcfs Expanlion; of that it can ne1ther find nor conceive any end. Nor let any one fay, That beyond the bounds of Body, there is nothing at all unlefshe will confine G 0 D within the limits of Matter. So!omon,whof~ Underfianding was filled and enlarged with Wifdom, feems to have other Thoughts, when he (ays,H(a'tl(n,a,d the /fea1.,•en of [-Jeavens,caJmot contain 'Thu: And he, I tliink, very much magnifies to himfdf the Capacity of his own Underll:anding, who perfw~des himfclf, that he can extend hi< Thoughts 93 |
