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Show ;96 'Duration and Expanjion conftdered together. Book II. the time when the thing exiiled, is the. Idea of that Space of Duration; which paffed between fame known and fixed Period of Durati?n, and the Being of that thing. One thews. the dt!lance .of the Extremmes of the Bulk or Exifience of the fame thmg, as t hat lt 1s a Foot Square, or Ia fled two 'years · the other fl1ews the difiancc of it in Place, or Exiflence from other' fixed points of Duration or Space ; as that it was in the mid· die of Linco!nr-I••·Fields, or the firfi degree. of TaurztJ, and lll the year of our Lord x 67 I. or the xooo year of the Jultan Period :' All which difiances ~e meafurc by preconceived Ideas of certain lengths of Space and D~r~tion, as Inches, Feet, Miles, and Degrees, and in the other Minutes, days and years, f§c. 9. 9. There is one thing more, wherein Space and Duration have a great Conformity, and that is, though they are juflly reckoned amongfl our jimple ft(eas : Yet nono of th~ difiinCl Ideas we have of either is without all manner of Compo}ition, it is the very Nature of both of them to contifl: of Parts: But their Parts being all of the (arne kind, and without the mixture of any other Idea, hinder them not from having a Place amongfi timple Ideas. Could the Mind, as in Number, come to fo fmall a part of Extenlion or Duration, as excluded Divilibility, that would be, as it wer~, the indivilible Unite, or Idea; by repetition of which, it would make its more inlarged Ideas of Extentioo 3n~ Duration. But Iince the Mind is not able to lrame an Idea of any Sp.ace, wi!hout P~rts ; inficad thereof it 1U3kes ufe of the common Meafures, which by familiar ufe, in each Country, have imprinted themfelves on the Me~nOFY (as Inches, and feet; Ol Cubits, and Parafaogs ; and fo Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, andY ears in Duration:) The Mind makes uw~I fay, offuch ld<at as thcfe, aslimple ot;lCS ; and thetC are the component Parts of larger Ideas; whi<h the Mind, upon Occatio.n, makes by the addition of fuch known Lengths, which it is acquainted with: On the ocher tide, the ordinary fmalleft meafure .we hav.e of either, look'd on as an Unite in Number, when the Mind by divilion would reduce them into lefs Fractions. Though on bosh fides, both in addi!ion and divilion, either E>t Space or Duranion , when the Idea under Conftderation becomes veFy big, oF very fulall, the Idea of its precile Bulk becomes very obfcure and confufed ;_ and it is the Number of its repeated additions, or divilions, t hat alone remains dear and diflinct, as will eafil}l appear to any one, who will let his ':D'houghss loofe in the vafi Expanlion of Space,or Divi(1bility of Matter. Ever)! part of Duration is Duration too; and every part of Extenfion is Extenfion, botb of them capable ol' addition or divifion in in/init•m. But the (eall: Por· tioilsof either of them, whereof \~e have clean and difiinct ideas, may, perhaps, be littefli to be conlidered by us, as the funple Ideas of that kind, out of which our complex modes of Space, Extenlion, and Duration, are made up, and into which they can again be difiinctly refolved. Such, a [mall part in Duration, may be called a Moment, and is the ni111e of on<> Mea in our Minds, in the train of their ord,inary S11cceffion there. The other, wanting a proper Name, I know not whether I may be allowed to call a fon}ihle Point , meaning thereby the leafi Particle of Matter or Space we can difcefn, which is ordinarily. about a Second of a Circle, whereof tho Eye is the Cen~re. 9. I o. Expanlion, and DuratiollJ have this fa rther Agreement, that though they arc both conftdered by us as having l?arts; yet their Parts are HOt foparab!eone from another, oo oat eveo i!bThought: Though the parts of Bodi~, from whence we take dur meafure of the one; and the !>arts of Mouon, or rather the fu~ceffio.n o£ Ideas in our Minds, from whence Chap. XV. 'Duration and Expanfton conftdered together. 97 whence we take the meafure of the other, 111ay be interrupted and feperated ; as the <?DC is often by Refl, and the other is by Sleep, which w~ call re!l: too. . §. ''· 13utyet there is this manifefi difference between them, That the Id<as of Length, we have of Expanfion, are turqed ev":.V way, and fo make Figure, and Breadth, and Th1clmefs; but Duration is h•t aJ it were th< le.gtb of one jlr<ight Line,ext~nded in injinitum,notcapable of Multiplicity, Vanatton, or F1gure; but 1s one common meafi~re of all Exiflence whatfoever, wherein all things whilfi the)' exifl, equally partake. For this prefent moment is common to all things, that are now in being, and equally comprehends that part of their Ex1Ctence,as much as if they were all but one·fingle Being; and we may t ruly fay, they all exifl in the fame moment of Time. Whether Angels and Spirits have any · Analogy to this, in refpeet of Expanfion, IS beyond my Comprehenlion: and, perhaps, for us, who have Undedl.nnd1ngs and Comprehenlions, fuiied to our own Prcferv,tion, and the ends of our own Being, but not. ro the reality and extent of all other Beings, 'tis near as hard to concei~e any Exiflence, or to have an Idea .of any real Being, with a perfeCt Negatiort of all mannerofExpanlion; as It 1s, to have the Idea of any real Exiflence with a perfeCt Negation of all manner of Duration : And therefore what Spirits have to do with Space, or how they communicate in it, we know not. All that we know is, that Bod1es ?o e:ich lingly poffefs its proper Portion of it, according to the ~xtent of 1ts folid Parts;. and thereby exclude all other Bod1es from havmg any !harem that parucular portion Qf Space, whilfi it remains there. §. u. Duration and Time, which is a part of it, is the Idea we have of puijhing dij}ance, of wbic~ no two parts ex iff together, but follow each other in Succeffion ; as ExpanfiM is the Idea of lajJing diflane<, all w/;ofo partJ •xij} together, and are not capable of Succeffion. And therefore though we cannot conceive any Duration without Succeffion, nor can put it together in our Thought>, that any Being does now exifi·to Morrow, or poffefs at once more than the prefent moment of Duration; yet we can conceive the eternal Duration of the Almighty far different from that of Man, or any other finite Being. Becaufe Man comprehends not in his Knowledge, or Power, all pafi and future things: His Thoughts are but ofyefierday, and he knows not what to morrow will bting forth. What is once paifcd, he can never recal ; and wh•t is yet to come, he cannot mal<e prefent. What I fay of Man, I fay of all finite Beings, who though they may far exceed Man in Knowledge and Power, yet are no more than the meanefi Creature, in com~arifon with God himfe!f. Finite of any Magnitude, holds not any proportion to infinite. God's infinite Duratior being accompanied with infinite Knowledge, and infinite Power, he fees all things paCt and to come ; and they are no more difiant from his Knowledge, no farther removed from his tight,than the prefent: They all lie under the fame view: And there is nothing, which he cannot make exi!l: each moment he plcafes. For the Ex1fience of all things, depending upon his good Pleafure; all thmgs extfi every moment, that he thinks lit to ha vc them exifl. To conclude, Ex pan lion and Duration do mutually imbrace, and comprehend each other; every part of' Space, being in every part of Duration ; and every part of Duration, in every part of Expanlion. Such a Combination of two diflinct Jd<as, is, I fuppofc, fcarce to be found in all that great VarietY,, we do or cao can conceive, and may afford Matter to farther Speculation. 0 CHAP. |
