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Show ; 18 Knowledge of Exijlence of other/Ihings. Book IV. Mind, that thinking Thing within you, do not deem it !ltange, that you cannot comprehend the Operations of that eternal mfimtc Mind, who made and governs all Things, and .whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot c.ontain. .. , CHAP. XI. Of our l(nowledge of tl~t Exiflence of other T/,ingr. ~- x. THe Knowledge of o~r own Being, weh~ve by intuition. The ' Exifience of a GOP, Reafon dearly makes known to us, as has been fhewn. , The .K,,.vledg,e of the .Exiflel'ce of any other t!;i•f., we caw have .only ly Senfation, For there bemg no. necelfary connex1on of real Exdleoce, with any Idea a Man hath in his Memory, nor of any other Exifience but that of G O.P, with the Exifience of any; particular Man ; no parti• cular Man can. key ow the Exifienc~ of any other Being, but only when by actual opel)lting upon him, it makes it felf perceived by him. For the lfaviqg the idea of any thing in our Mind, no more proves the Exifience of that Thing, than the picture of a Man evidences his being in the World, 'br (he Vi/ions of a Dream make thereby a true Hifiory. §. ~. 'ris therefore the actual receiving of Ideas from without, that gives us notice of the Exifience of other Things, and mal<cs us know, that fpmething do\h ;exifi at that time without , us, which caufes that Idea .in us, though perhaps we neither know nor confider how it docs it: for it takes not from the certainty of our Senfes, and the IdeaJ we re-' c~ive by them, that }Ve know not the manner wherein they are produt~: v. g. whilfi I write this, I have, by the Paper affecting my Eyes, that !flea p~Qduced in my Mind; which whatev~rObjeClcaufes,Icall/Y/;ite; liy wluch I know, th~t that QJ]aluy or Acc1deot (i. e. whofe appearance. I;Jefore my Eyes, always caufes that It!ea) doth really exifi, and hath a Being without me. And of this, the greatell aifurance I can poilibly 6.aye,. and to which my F~culties can attain, is the Tefiimony of my ]i:yes, )"l1ich are the p(oper and fole Judges of t)1is thing, and whofe Te- 11:iri]ony J have reafon to rely on, as fo certain, that I can no more ooubt, wl;lllfi I write this, that I fee White and Black, and that fomething really e)nfis, that.caufes that Senfat10n m me, than that. I write or move my fland; wluch IS a Certamty as great, as humane .Nature is capable of, ~oncerning the f:xifience of any Thing, but a Man's fe)f alone, and of GOD. 9. l ; T!Je_notice we Jj1P' !ly our .Senfe!, of tl1e exifling, of 1/;ing,s wit bout us, though It be not altogether fo certam, as our intuitive Knowledge, or tl1e l'>edud:ions of our Reafon, ernploy'd about the clear ab!lract Ideas of our ow.n Minqs i yet it is an a!lurance that deferves the Hame of Know• kdg,e, 1f Vfe pe~fuade our. felv~, that our Faculties aEl: and inform us nght, cqp,c,e,rn~ng f.he ex1fience Of thofe Objects that affeCt them, it can! lOt pafs for an ill· grounded confidence. For I think nobody can, in earnefi, be fo.fc~vtlc;il, as to he uncertam of the Exificnce of thofe Things he f~es ~nd feels. , At leafi, he that can doubt fo far, (whatever he may · lpve wu,h Ius own Thoughts) Wtll never ,have any Controverlies witb ~; (n~ce he can never be fure l fay any ,thing contrary tp his .Opinion, As Chap.X. Knowledge of Exijlence of other, 'cfhingS'. As to mv felf, I thi!'k G 0 D has given me aif~rnnce e':lough of -t-he- .E,-.k -i.- --fiencc of Thmgs Without me: Iince by thmdtfferent application , J ca.f t>roduco In my fclf both Ple".f~re_and Pa.in, which is one great Con¢crdl ment of my prcfent !late. 'I hiS 1s cert01n, the confidence tliat our Fa- · culries do not herein deceive u<, is the gre~tefi alfurance we are cap:lb(e of. concermng the E1ufience of mat~nal !lemgs. · For we tan not aEl: aof. th,ing, but by bur Faculti~s; nor talk of Knowledge it feir, but b'y the help ofthofe Faculties whtch are fitted to ·apprchend even> wliat Rno'i;J ledge is. But betides the aifunincc our Senfes themfclves'g'ive us; that they•do nnt err in the Information they give us, of the Exi!lence o~ .TIJiilg~ withbut' us, when they ore affetlttl by th•m, we are farther confirmed in this affiuance, by other concurre11t Reafons.' ' ' . §. !(• Firj/, 'Tis plain, thofc l'erceptioris are prdducecl in us, by extefiour'taufes atfcetin~ tmr Senfes; Becaufc thofe that want fl;e Orga~s of lmy S~~fe, ne"!erc.tn haue tbe Ide its helongm,~ to that Sen{e produced in ~heir Minds. Th1s IS. too evtdent to be doubted: and therefore \'lie cannot but be aifured, that they <-orne in lly' the Organs of that Senfe, and no other way. The Organs themfclves, 'tis plain, do not produec them: for tltc.\ the Eyes of a Man in the dark, Would produce Colours, and his Nofefl11cll Rofes itt the Winter : but we fe.<i ':10 body gets .the relifl1 of a Pinc-a'pple', till he gees to the In' dies whcreeft ts, and tat:\e$ 1t. ' ~. {. Second{y, Becaufefometimer I find, 't1;at I cannot 'a-!Joit! tbe l!ai!i~~ th'!fo It!eas produced in my Mind. For though when my Eyes are lh\1(, ol' W'ind(Jws fafi, I tan at Pleafure re-call to my Mmd the It! ear of Light, or the Sun, which former Experience had lodg'd in my Memory · fo l cart at pleafure lay by•that It!ea, and take into my view that of the fmell of a Rofe or tafieJof Sugar. But if I turn my Eyes at noon towards the Sun, I c;nnot avoid t~e Near,. which the Light, or Suo, then pro~uc~s in me. So that 'there 1s a n:amfc~ dtfference, between the lde~s IJrd tij> in my Memory; (over wluch , 1f they were there only, I fl10uld have confiantly the fame power to dif!"'fe of them, and lay them by at pleafure) and thofe which force themfelves upon me, and I canqqt avojd:'.(ia'ving. And therefore 1t mufi needs be fome extenour caufe, and the bnsk acting of fome Objects without me, whofe efficacy I cannot relifi , that produces thofe Idw in my Mind, whether l \Viii, or no. Betides; ti1ere is no body who doth not perce1ve the d1ffet.cnce tn lumfelf, ~eeo contemplating the Sun, ash~ hath the lt!ea of it in his Me':'dry...t ..(rld aB'ually looking upon it : Of whtch two, Ius r<;rceptlon IS fo thiliOCt, that few of his Ideas are more dlfimgUJfbableone from another.AnJ therefore he hath tertain knowledge, that they are not both Memory, o'r the Actions of his Mind, and Fancies only within him; but that actual feeing lmth a Caufe without. §. 6. 1/;ird/y, Add to this, that many of thofe lt!eaJ are produced in lis .,;t/; pdin1 wl;iciJ afterwards we remember without the ~ea./1 offe•ce. Thus the pain of Heat or Cold, when the Idea of 1t IS revtved m our Mmds, gives us no difiutbancc; wh1ch, whe~ felt, was very troublefome, and ls ~gain, when aLtually repeated: ~luch 1soccationed bythedtfordertheexternal ObjeCt caufes in our Bod1es, when applied to 1t .' And we re~ember the> pain of Hunger, Th~tfi, or the Head-ach, Wtthout any pam at all; which would e1ther never dt!lurb us, or elfe con!lantly dp 1t, as often as we thou"ht of it, were there nothing more but !tftas floating in our Minds, and Appearances entertaining our Fancies, without the re~l £xifience of Things atfeCl:ing us from abroad. And though matheman- . dl |
