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Show lmpr11vement of our K..rtdfilledge. Book ,IV. --------~------~-- whi£h I think it is evident, that Sublbnces afford Matter of ve~y little t,ener~J Knowl~dge; ~nd the bare Contemplation of their abfirac1 !tleas, will c:.irry us but a very little way in the fearch of Truth and Certainty. What then are we to do for the improvement of our Knor>ledr,e in [.Man• tittl Being<? Here we are to take'a quite contrary Courfe, the want of Ideas of their real EJ[ences fends us from our own Thoughts, from coniemplating, and drawing Confequences from our own Ideas,to the Thing~ themfelves as they cxifl : Experience mu/l teacb me what Reafon cannot: and by trying, 'tis alone that I can certainly know what other ~ali ties co-exifl: with thofc of my cqmplex Idea, 'V. f.· whether that yellow, heavy, fur.ble Body, I call G?ld, be malleable, or no; w~ich Experience (which way ever it prove ut that particular Bixly I exartune) makes me not certain, that it is fo,_ in all or any ?ther yellow, h"::v~, fulible Body, but that which I have med. Becaule It 1s no Confequence one way ot t'other from my complex Idea, the Neceffity or lnconfaflence of Mallea• bility, hath no vilible connection with the Combination of that Colour, Weighr, and Fufibility in any body. What I have laid here of the nomi• nal Effence of Gold, fuppofed to conlift of a Eody of fuch a determinate Colour, Weight, and Fufibility, will hold true, if Malleablenefs, Fixed· nefs, and Solubility in Aq•a Regia be added to it, our Reafonings from thele Ideas will carry us but a little way in the certain difcovery of the other Properties in thofe Maffes of Matter, wherein all thefe are to be found. Becaufe the other Properties of fuch Bodies, depending not on thefe, but on that unknown real Eifence, on which thete alfo depend, we cannot by them difcoverthe reft; we can go no farther than the limple Itleas of our nominal E1fence will carry us, which is very little beyond themi"Jves1 and fo afford us but very fparingly any dertain, univer&l, and ukful Truths. For upon Trial, having found that parti~ular piece (•nd all othen; of that Colour, Weight, and t'ufibility, that I ever tried) mal· leable, that allo makes now, perhaps, a part of my complexfdea, part d my rlominal Eifence of Gold; whereby though I niake my compleX. !d.-, to which I affix the Name Gold, to con fill of more l'implc Ideas rhan be· fore: yet frill, it not containing the real E'ffence of any Species of Bogies, it helps me not certainly to know (1 fay to know, perhaps, it may tO conj¢lure) the other remaining Properties ofthat Body, fartber .than they'havoa vilible conneCtion, with fome br all of the limple /Jeas, that mak_e up my nominal Effence. t"or Example, I cannot .be certain from this ctlmplex Uea, whether Gold be fixed, or no; Becaufe as before, there i$ n"o necelfary connection; or inconf1ftence to be dili::overed betwixt a comPJex Idea of a Body, yellow, heavy, fulible, malleable, betwixt thefe, I fay; ~nd Fixednefs; fo that f may certiainly know, that in· whatfoever ~y thofe are found, there Fixednefs ~s fure.to be: Here again fi,r afiit. railce; I mu!\: apply my felf to Expenence, as far as that reaches, hh.lly have cenain Knowledge, but no farther. '§. ro. I deny not, but a Man accuflomed>to rational ~d regular fs· pehnients, lhall- be able to fee farther into the Nature 1of Bodies1 <tod glll!fs righter at. their yet unkn?wn Pr~perties, than one that is a Strapger to them: But yet, as I have fald, thiS IS but Judgment and Opinion, not Kn~Wledge and Ce!tainty. This waJ of attaining, and impro'ViW$ o.r K,•r!Wiedge in Su6J/ances, o~ly V.Y_ E_,xperiewco and Hiftory, to whi<;b the weik!Jefs of our Faculties m tlus .State of Mediocrity we are in, in this World, ma~es me fufpect, that natural Philofophyis not capable of being made ~ &1ence. yve are ablo,_l 1magu~e, to reach. very little gener~l Knowli:dgc concermng the Spec1es of Bod1es, and t~eir fev.eral Prop~~jes, 1'" Expe- Chap. XII. ImprO"Jement of Knolliledge. Experiments and Hiftorical Obfervations, we may have, from which we may draw Advantages of Eafe and Health, and thereby incrcafe our ftock ol Convcnicncesior rhisLifc; but beyond this, our Talents re-ach not, our Faculnes cannot attam. ~- r r. From whence it i~obvious to conclude, that fincc our Facultie9 are not fitted to penetrate into the internal Fabric!< and real E£rences of Bodies; l;ut yet plainly difcover to us the Being of a God, and the Knowledge of our fdvts, enough to lead us into a full and ,clear difcovery of our Duty, and great Concernment, it will become us, as rational Creatures, to employ our Faculties about what they are moll adopted to, and follow tile direction of Nature, where it leems to point us out the way. f"or 'tis rationol to conclude, that our proper lmployment lies in thofe Enquiries, and in that fort of Knowledge, which is moll fuited to our natural Capacitics,and carries in it our great ell intertfl, i.e. the Condition of our eternal E.llate : and therefore it is, I think, that Morality is .the proper Science, and Bi<jinefr of Manlcind in general, (who arc both cancer• ned, and fitted to fcarch out their Summum Bonum,) as feveral Arts con• verfant about feveral parts of Nature, aro the Lot and private Talent of particular Men, for the common Convenience of humane Life, and theit own particular Subftllence in this World. Of what Confequence the dif· covery of one natural Body, and it' Properties may be to humane Life, the whole great Continent of America is a convincing inllance; whofe Jl/>norance in ufeful Arts, and want of the greateft part of the Convenien· cics of Life, in a Country that abounded With all. forts of natural Plenty, I think, may be attributed to their Ignorance, of. what was to be found in a very ordinary defpicablc Stone, I mean the Mineral of Iron. And whatever we think of our Parts or Improvements in this part of the World, wl1cre Knowledge and Plent):' (cern to vie each with other; yetto any one that will ferioufly refleCl: on It, I fuppofe, It Will appear paft doubt, that were the ufe of Iron loft among us, we fl10uld in a few Ages be unavoi· (hbly reduced to the Wants and Ignorance of the ancient favage AmericaHI, w hofe natural Endowments and Provilions, come no way lhort of thofe of the moft flourilhing and polite Notions . . So, that he who firfl made known the ufe of that one contemptible Mineral,may be truly ftyled the Father of Arts, and Author of Plenty. §. I 2 . I would not tl;erefore be thought to dif-efieem, or di{{Natfe tbt Stutf1• of Nature- I readily agree the Conremplation of his Wo_rks gives us occaf1on to admire, revere, and ~lonfie rl!e1t Author: and 1f nghtly directed, may be of greater benefit to Mankind, than the Monuments of exemplary Charity, that have at fo great Charge been ra,fed, by thcfoun• den; of Hofpitals and Alms-houfes. He that firllmvtnted Pnntlng;. difcoverd the Ufe of the Compafs; or made publick the Vmue and nghc Ufe of Kin Kina; did more for the propagation of Knowledge, for the acquifition ofConvenioncies of Life; and laved more from the Grave,than ti!Ofe who built Colleges, Work-houfes, and Hofpaals .. All that I~rould fay, is, that we fhould not be too fon~ardly polfe£red With the Opmwn, or Expectation of Knowlrdge, where It IS not to be had ; or by Ways, that will not attain it: That we lhould not take doubtful Syflems, for compleat Sciences.; nor unintelligible Notions, for fcientifical Demon• firations. In the 1\nowledgt:ofBodies, we muft be content to glean what 11e can from particular Experiments, fine~ "'e cannot from a D1fcovery of their real Elfences grafp at a time whole Sheaves; and ID bundles, •om• pn·hend the Nature 'and Properties of whole Specits together. Where ou( Enquiry iHoncerning Co-exifience or R<pul.\nancy to co-exifi; which ' by |