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Show -2.-f-·O _ .......,.__~IM"""p'-e-rfi~ell::::i:-on;;...o(~Wt:-:-o-rd.,..s.__;;,;.~-B---.:ookli[ d_iligen~ i~ obferving the fanner, and !efs magifi~rial, politive, and impenous, m unpofmg our own fenfe-and mterpretanons of the latter. CHAP. X; Of tfje .Ahuje of Words; 4. r. B. Elide5 the imperfection that is naturally ih Language, and tile obfcunty and confulion that ts fo hard to be avoided in tl1e UfeofWords, there are feveral wilful Faults and Negldls which Men are guilty of, irt the way of Communication, whereby they render thef< C.gns Jefs clear and difiinCl: in their lignification, than na~rally they n~~ to be. , §. 1. Fir ./I, In this kind, the fi~fi. and moll palpable abufe is, the itling of Words, Without clear and d1fi1nCl: Ideas; or, which is worfe figns without any thing lignified. Of thefe there are two forts: ' I. ~ne may obferve, in. all ~nguages,. c~rtain Words, that if they be exammed, wtll be found, m thetr firfi Ongmal, and their appropriated Ufe, not to !land for any clear and diftinCl: Ideas. Thefe for the moil pa~, the feveral SeE/s of Phil~fo~hy and _Religion have int~oduced. For thetr Authors, or Promoters, tither alfeCl:mg lomething lin gular and out o~ the way of common apprehenlions, or to fupport fome fira~ge Opi· mons, or cover fome Weaknefs of their Hypothelis, feldorn fail to coin ~ew Words, and fu~h as, when they come to be examined, may JUfily be call~ rnjignifi.ant ierms. For having either had no determi· nable ColleCl:ton o_f Ideas arin~ed to them, when they were firfi invented; or at leafi fuch asl well exammed,wtll be found incontifient, 'tis no won· der tfafter~ards, m the vulgar ufe o_fthe fame party, they remain empty Sounds, wtth httle or no tigntficatton, amongll thofe who think it e· nough to h~ve them often in their n;ouths, as the difiioguilhing Chara· ders ?f thetr Church, or School, Wtthout much troubling their heads to examme, w~at are the prec1fe I1eas t~ey fland for. I 01311 not need here to hea~ up ~nflanc~, every ones readmg and converfation will fufliciently furmfl1. htm: Or tf he wants to be better flored,the great Minr-Mallers of thefe km? ofTerms,l n;ean the School men andMetaphyficians,( under winch, I thmk, the d1fputmg natural and rnoral Philofophers of thefe Jat· ter Ag;es, may be comprehended,) have wherewithal abundantly to con· tenthtm. § .. J. II. Others there be, who extend _ihis abufe yet farther, who rake fo httle care to lay by Words, whtch m their primary notation have fcarce any clear. and diflinCl: Ide~~ they are annexed to, that by an un· pardonable neghgence, they famtharly ufe Words which the Propriety of Language h¥. affixed to very important ld-.s ,'they ufe them , I fay, wlthout any ilif/rn_Cf meAnrng at ~II. Wifdom, Glory, Grace, &c. are Words frequent enough ur every Mans mouth; but if a great many of thofc who ufe th~rn, lhould be asked, What they mean by them? tbey would be at a fland,and not llnqw what to anfwer; A plain proof,that though they have learned thofe Sounds, and have them ready at their Tongues ends, yet there are no clear and dtllmCl: Ideas laid up in their Minds which are to be expreffi:d to others by them. ' Chap. X.. Ahufe .of Wordr. §. 4· Men, having been accuflomed fr~m their Cradles to learn Words,. which are eafily got and retamcd, /;efore tl;ey knem, or had framed the ,.,plex Ideas, to which they were annexed,or which were to be found in rhethings thej were thought toflandfor, they ufoa!ly co.tilme to do Jo all !lieir Lives, and without taking the pains nece«ary to fettle in their Minds clear anc;I diflintt [t/eas; tbey ufe their Words for fuch unflcady and confufed Nbtions as they have, contenting themfelves with the fame Words other People ufe; as if their very found, neccffarily carried with it con!\antly the f.1me meaning. This though Men make a fl1ift with, i~ their ordinary Occurrences of Life, where they lind it ncce«ary td be undedlood, and therefore they make ligns till they arc fo: Yet this infigni• ncancy in their Words, Wllenthey come to Reafon, concerning either their Tenents or lnterell, mamfellly fills thetr Dtfcourfe wtth abundance of empty unintelligible rtoife and jargo9, e(l>ecially_ in moral Matters; where the Words, tor .the moll part, flandmg tor rtrbttrary and numerous Collections of Ideas, not regularly ahd permanently united in Na· Jure, their bare Sounds are often only thought on, or at leafi very obfcurc and uncertain Notions annexed to them. Men take the Words they find in ufe amongll their Neighbours; and that they may not feem ignorant what they lland for, ufe them confi~ently, without much troubling their heads about a certain liKed meaning: Whereby, telides the eafc of ir, they obtain this advantage, That as in fuch. Difcourfcs they fcldom are in .the right, fo they arc as fcldom to be convmccd, that they are •_n the wrong. 1t being all one to go about to draw thofe Men out of tfletr Mt• flakes 'who have no fetled Notions,as to difpolfefs a Vagrant of his Habi· ration' who has no fctled abode: This I guefs to be to; and every one Jllay dbferve in himfelf and others, whether it be, or no. ~- f· Stcondly, Another grea: abufe of Words is, lnCOiif/~ncy in the. ufe .of them. It is hard to fiRd a D1fcourfe wntten of any SubJeCl:, cfpec~ally ofControverlic wherein one fl1all not obferve, if he read with attention, the fame Words( and thofe commonly the mofl material in the Difcourfe, and upon whicll the Argument turns) ufed fometimes for one ColleCl:iort of limple Ideas, and fometimes for another , which is a perfe8: abufe of Language. Words beiog intended for ligns of my Ideas, to make them known to others, not by any natural fignification, but by a voluntary impofition, 'tis plain cheat and abufe, when I make them _lland fometimes . for one thing, and fometimes for another; the wt!(ul domg whereof, cart be imputed to nothing but great folly,or greater dtlhonefly. And a Man, in his Accompts with another, may, with as much fairnefs, make the Characters of Numbers fland fometimes for one, and fometimes for a no• ther Collection of Unites: v. g;. this Chara~er J, flands fometimes for three,fometimes for four, and fometimes for eight; as in hisDifcourfe, or Reafoning make the fame Wordslland ford!flercnt ColletttOnsoflimple Ideas. If Men lhould do fo in their Reckoning<, I wonder who would have to do with tl·.em 1 One who thould [peak thus, in the Affairs and Bufinefs in the World and call 8 fometimes feven, fomctimcs nine, as befl ferved his adv;ntage, would prcfently hove clapp'd upon him one of the two Names Men confiantly are difgufled with; and yet in Arguing<, and learned Contefls, the fame fort of proceeding paffes commonly tor Wit and Learning _: But yet, to me, tt ~ppears a greater ddbcnefly, th1n the mifplacing ot Counters, 10 the caflmg up a Debt, and the cheat the greater, by how much Truth is of greater concernment and Va· lue, than Mbney. Ii §. 6 . . |
