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Show Extent of Humane Knowledge. Book IV· is commonly, lmagined .. But much of this is not to be expected, whiHl: · the defire ,,r Efteem, R1ches, or Power, makes Men efpoufe the well endowed Opinions in Falhion, and then feek Arguments, either to make good their Beauty, or varnilh over, and cover their Deformity : nothing bemg fo beautiful to the Eye, as T1uth 1s to the Mind; nothing fo deformed and irreconcilc.ble to the Underftanding, as a Lye. For though many a Man can With fausfach011 enough own a no very handfome w·1fe in his Bofom; yet who. is b~ld enough openly to avow that he has efpoufed a Fallhood, and rece1vf\l mto h1s Breaft fo ugly a thing as a Lyer Whilfl the Parties of Men, I fay, cram their Tenents down a1J Men's Throats whom they can get into their Power, without permitting them to exa: mine their Truth or Falfho?<~ ; and will nor let Truth have fair Play in tbe World, nor Men the L1ber(y to fearch after it; What Improvements can be expected of this kind r What greater Light can be hoped for in the moral Sc1ences _? The Subject parr of Mankind,in moll: Places, might, inftead thereof, With Egyptian Bonda~e ex1>7d: Et.Yf' ian DarknefS, were not the Candle of the Lord fet up by h1mfeJJ 10 Mens Minds, which it is im· poflible for the Breath or Power of Man wholly to extinguilh. §: 21. As to the founh fort of our 1\oowledge, vh. of the real, all Mal Ex if/en:• of Thmgs Without ~s, we h~ve an in.ruitive Knowledge of our own ExJll:ence; a demonftranve Knowledge of the Exiilence of a God; of the E1<dlence of any tlung elfe, we have no other but a fenlitive Knowlrd_ ge, wluch extends not ~yond the Objects prefent to our Senfcs. ~-u: Our !\now ledge bemg fo narrow, as I have fl1ew'd,it will, per· haps, 1;1veus fame L1ght mto the prefent Stare of our Minds, if we look ~ htt!e mto the dark fide, and take a VIeW of our Ignorance; which being tn.!tizt<Jy larg<r tkdn our /(nowl<dg<, may ferve much to the quieting of Dtfputes, and Improvement of ufeful Knowledge; 1f d1fcovering how far we have cl~r and d1ftmd: _ld<ar, we confine our Thoughts within the Contemplation of thofe Thm~;s that are .within the reach of our Uoderfiaodmgs, and lanch not out 10~0 that Ab1fs of Darlmefs, (where 11e have n_ot Eyes tore:. n?r Faculties to perceive any thing,) OUt of a Prcfumptlon that nothmg IS beyond our Comprehenlion. But to be fatis6eJ ofthe Folly of fu~~ a ConcCJt, we need not go far. He that knows any th10g, kno~s this m the lirll: place, that he need not feck long for fn· fiances of h1s Ignomnce. The meanefi, and moll: obvious Things that comc_m our way, have dark fides, that the quickeft Sight cannot penetrate mto.Thc clearefi,and moll enlarged Underftandings of thinkingMen, lind themfelves puzled, and at a lofs,in evety Particle of Matter;which we !hall the lefswonder !1~,when we confider theCaujes of our f!(Hor;nce;whicll from what has been fatd, I fuppofe, will be found to be chiefly thefe three : Fzrff, Want of Ideas. hav&e_c on' dly, Want of a difcoverable Connexion benreen the Jde".r we Thirti!J, Want of tracing, and examining eur Ideas. ~ .. >.J. Fzrff, 'There are fame Things, and thofe not a few, that we are 1gnorant of,for wp•t of ld<as. Firft, all the ~mple IJ<as we have are confined (as I have lhewn) to. the Obfervat\on of our Senfes , and the Operations of our own Mmds, that · we, •are confcious of in our felves, But how much thef~ ,few and narrbw Inlets are difproportionate to the vaft whole Extent of all Be10g~, Will ~ot be hard to perfuade thofe, who are not ~ fuoh!h, as to th!n_k the~r fpan the meafure of all Things. WlL1t thet fimple IJeas -tiS poflible the Creatures in other parts of the Uni- verfe, Chap. III. Extent of Humane Knowledge. verfe may have, by the Afliflence of Senfes and Faculties, more or per; fetter than we have, or different from ours, 'tis not for u~ _to dete~mine. But to fay or think there are no fuch, becaufe we concetve nothmg of them is n~ better an Argument, than if a blind Man fhould be politiv" in it,' that rilcrc was no filch thin~; as Sigh\ and Colours, becaufe he had no m•nner of idea of any fuch thmg, nor could by _any tneans frame td himfelf any Notionsfabout Seeing. The Ignorance, and. Darkoefs that is in us, no more hinders nor confines the Rnowledge that IS 10 others, than the Blindncfs of a Mole 1s an Argument agamft the qu1ck lighted netS of an Ea&le. He that will confider the infinite Power, Wifdom, and Goodnef. s of the Creator of all Things, W11llind Reafon to thmk 1t was not all, )aid out upon fo inconliderable, mean, and 1m potent a Creature, as he will find Man to be; who in all probab1llty, 1s one of the loweft of al( intellectual Beings. What Faculties ther~fore other SpCCJes of Crca~1ures have to penetrate into the Nature, and mmoft Conil1tuuons of Thtngs; what ld<as they may receive o~ them, far Eliffcrcnt from ours, we know not. This we know, and cerramly lind, that we w_ant fcveral other v1ews of them, befides thofe we have, to make D1fcovenes of them more per· fed. And IA'e may be convinced that the !tleas we can attam to by our Faculties, are vcrydifproportiona.teto Tlungs themfelves, when a pofinve dear diftiod: one of Subftance 1t felf, wluch 1S the Foundation of all the rei! , is concealed from us. But want of ld<4I of tlus kmd, being a Part, as well as Caufe of our Ignorance, cannot be defcnbed. On! this, I thin!,, I may confidently fay of 1t, That the mtell~d:ual and fen{.;,lc World, are in this perfectly al!l<e; That that part wh1ch we fee bf either of them holds no proportion with what we fee not; And whatfoever we can reach with our Eyes, or our Thoughts of e1ther of them, is but a point, aim oft nothing, in cornparifon of there~. 9. 2 4- Suondly, Another greatCaufe ofig~orance, ts the want of Ideas ,., ar< capabl< of As rhe want of Idea~, wh1ch o~r Faculties or; not able to give us, lhuts us wholly from t~ofe v1ews of Tlungs, wh!ch t1s reafonable to think, other perfeCter Bemgs than w¢ have, of wluch we know nothing; fo the want of Ideas, I n~w fpeak of, keeps us 10 IwJOrance bf T1'1ings, we conceive capable of bemg known to us .. Bulk, Figure, and Motion we have Ideas of. But though we are not Without Idea.s of thefe primary Qgalities of Bodies in general; yet not knowmg what~ the par· tieular Bulk, Figure, and Motion, of the greatefl: part of the Bod1es of the Univcrfc, we are ignorant of the feveral Powers, Ellicac1es, and Ways of Operation, whereby the EffeCts we daily fee, are produced. Thef~ ~re hit/ from us in fome lbinJ.S, 6y being too rtmote; and m othus, by h~(;t; too .. inute . When we conliderthe vaft diftance of the known and v~ 1· ble \><lrtS ~f the World, and the Reafons we have to think~ that what lies within our [\en is but a fmall part of the immenfe Umverfe! we lhall then difcover a~ huge Abyfs of Ignorance. What arc the particular F~bricks of the great MaiTes of Matter, 1~hich make up the w~1ol'e ft~~endl· ous frame bf corporeal Beings ; how Jar they are extended , "hat IS r~elt Motion· and hoW continued. orcommumcated; and what Influence t cy have on' e upon another, ar'e Contemp1 a n·o ns, t ha t at li r! 1: g1 1m . pfe oudr Thou•hts lofe them!elves in • .If we narrow our Co_memplanonf an conAn~ our Thoughts to tllis little Canton, I mean th1s Syll:e~ o lur Sun, and the groffer Maffe> of Matter, that vilibly move about It, ; :~~ feveml forts of vegetables, Animals, and intellectual corporeal ~r-g~ . n: finitely different from tl10fe of our little fpot of Earth, !flY ~0. ~ va~cl' t~e other Planets; to the Knowledge of which, even ° elt 0~i~ures· |
