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Show 36 No innate Principler. Book I. - · · h' ft ck who gathers them. Such borrowed Wealth, like addmon to tsh 0 gh' it were Gold in the hand from which he received it, fatry-mo~ey, t ou . r. will be but Leaves andDuft when tt comes to,ute. . ~ Wh Men have found fome general Propofittons that could npt be d~~bted ~f. as foon asunderfiood, it was, I know,. a fhort at~d eafie !"ay to conclude them inHat<. Thi~ being once recetved, 1t eafed the laz~from the ins of fearch, and ftopp d the enqmry of the doubtful, conccrmng all tkt was once friled innate: And 1t was of no fmall advantage to tbofc who affeCl:ed to be Mailers and Teachers, to ~ake t!us the Pn.nCip!e of Principles, That Principles mull not be quefrtoned: For havmg once efrablifhed this Tenet, That there are mnate Prmctples, tt put th.ctr Followers upon a neceflity of receiving fome DoCl:rmes as fuch, whtch was to take them off from the ufe of thetr ·own Reafon an~ Judgment, and put them upon believing and taking them upontruft, Wtthom farther examination: In which pofiure of bhnd Creduhty, they mtght be more eafily governed by, and made ufeful to fame fort of ~en, who had the skill and office to principle and gutde them. Nor ts It a fmall power tt gi1•esone Man over another, to have the Authonty to be the Dtclator of Principles, and Teacher of un<Juefrionable Truths ; and t,o make a man fwallow that for an innate Pnnc1ple, whtch may ferve to hts purpofe who teacheth them. Whereas had they examined the ways, whereby men came to the knowledge of manyuniverfal /rut};~, they would have found them to refult in the Minds of men, from the bemg of thmgs themfelves, when duely coniidered; and that they were difcovered by the applicati· on of thofeFaculties, that were fitted by Nature to rece1ve and Judge of them when duelyemploy'd about them. 9. ~4- I• jhew how the Vnderfianding proceeds herein, is the de(ign of the following Difco•rfe; which I fhall proceed, to, when I , ha':e firft pre· mifed, that hitherto to clear my way to thofe foundations, whtch, I conceive are the only true ones, whereon to efrabhfh thofc Nottons we can have qf our own Knowledge, it hath been ~eceffiuy for. me to gtve you an account of the Reafons I had to doubt of mnate Prmctples : And Iince the Arguments which are againft them,do, fame of them, rife from com• mon received Opinions, I have been forced to take feveral thtngs for granted, which is hardly avoidable to any one, whofe Tru:k 1t.!S to fhew the fallhood, or improbability, of any Tenet; tt happemng m Controverlial Difcourfes, as it does in aifaulting of Towns; ~here,tf the ground be but firm whereon the Batteries are ereCl:ed, there IS no farther enqut· ry of who~ it is borrowed, nor whom it belongs to, fo it affords but a lit rife for the prefent purpofe. But m the future part. of. thiS Dtfcourfe, defigning to raife an Edifice uniform, an.d conf1frent Wtth It felf, as far as my own Experience and Obfervatton Will aflifr me, .I hope, to lay the foundation fo, that the reft Will eafily depenc! upon 1t: And I fhall not need to lhore it up with props and buttrices, leaning on bor~owed ?r begg' d foundations: Or at lea£1:, if mine prove a Cafrle in the Alf? I will endeavour it fhall be all of a piece, and hang together. Wherem I tell you before-lurid , you are not to exped: undeniable, cogent demonfira· tions, unlefs you will fuffer me, as others have done, to take my Pnnct· pie. for granted; and then, I doubt not, but I can demonfrrate too. All that I fhall fay for the Principles I proceed on,is, that I can only a;peal to mens own unprejudiced Experience,and Obfervations, whether they be true, or no ; and this is enough for a man who profeifes no f\!Ore,than to lay down candidly and freely his own Conjectures, concern in~ a Subjed: not very ohvious, without any otl1er de!ign, than an unbiafs d enqmry after Truth. BOO!\ B o ·oK II. cHAP. i. Of Ideas i11 general, a~d their Original, §. 1. EVery Man being confcious to himteif', l'hat he tl1inks, an& that which his Mind is employ'?. about whilft thinking, ..4 bemg ~he Ideas ~ that are there, tiS pall doubt, that Meri have m thetr Mmds feveral ideas, fuch' as are thofe ex· pre1Ted by the words, White•efs, Hardne[s, Sweetnefs, ninking, Motion, Man Elepha•t, Army, Drunkennejs, and others: It is in the lirft place then' to be enquired, How he comes by them ? I know it is a received Do-; ctrine That Men have natiYe Jdeas,and original Charad:ersftamped u·pori their Minds,in their very firft being. This Opinion l have at large examined already ; and, I fuppofe,. what I have faid in the fore-going Book, will be much more eafily aduutted, when 1 have lhewed, whence the'Underfranding may get ~11 the itle~s it has, a~d by what ways and degrees they may come mto the Mmd ; for whtch I fhall appeal to every ones own Obfervation and Experience. §. 2. Let us then fuppofe the Mind to be, as we fay, white Paper, ]laid of all CharaCters , without any Ideas; How comes it to be furnifhed 1 Whence comes it by that vaft frore, which the bulie and boundlefs Fancy of Man has painted on it, with an almoft end!e(s variety 1 Whence has it all the materials of Reafon and Knowledge 1 To this I anfwer, in one word, From Experience: In that, all our Knowledge is founded; and from that it ultimately derives it fel£ Our Obfervation emp!oy'd either about external, fcnfible ONe{/s ; or about tbe internal Operations of our Mmds, perceived and rej/t{/ed on bJ our {elver, is tl;at, wl;ichfitpplies our Vnderj(andings with aD tl;e materials of tbiukiug.Thefe two are the Fountains of Knowledge, from whence all the ideas we have, or can naturally have, do fpring. §.). Firft,OurSenfes,conver(ant about particu!ar,fenfible Objed:s,do· con· vry into the Mit~d, feveral diftinct Perceptions ofthings,accordiog to thofe ,-arious ways, wherein thofe Objects do affect them: And thus we come by thofe Ideas, we have ofi'eUow,Wbite,He<t,Cold,So(t, H.~rd, Bitter,Stveet, and all thofe which we call fenfible qualities. This great So"rce,of moft of the Ideas we have, depending wholly upon our Senfes, and derived by them to our Underfianding, 1 call S E N S A I I 0 N. 6. 4· Secondly, The other Fountain,from which Experience furnil!Jetii the Underllanding with Ideas, is the Perception uf the Operatiom of oor own /l'linds wit bin us, as it is employ'd about the Idea's it has got; whic!> Operations,when the Soul comes to reflect on,and confider,do furnifh the Underfianding with another fett of !dens, which could not be had from things without; and fuch are,Perception,7binki•g,Don6sing,Jitlie'!ling,Rea• fining, 37 |
