| OCR Text |
Show 94 'Duration and bxpanfionconftdered together. Book II. Thoughts farther than G 0 D exifts, or imagine any Expanlion "'here he is not. §. 3· Juft fo is it in Duration. "!'he Mind having_ got the Idea of any length of Duration, can double, multrply, and enlarge rt , not only beyond its own, but beyond the exiftence of all corporeal Beings , and all the meafures of Time, taken from the gre:tt Bodres of the World, and their Motions. But yet every one eafily admits, That though we mal<e Duration boundlefs, as certainly it is, we cannot yet extend it beyond all being. G 0 D, every one eafliy allows, fills Eternity_; and 'tis hard to find a Reafan, why any one fhould doubt, that he hkewrfe fills lm menfity: His infinite Being is certainly as boundlefs one way as another; and methinks it afcribes a little too much to Matter, to fay, Where there is no Body, there is nothing. §. 4· Hence, I think, we may learn the Reafon, rvby ewry one f.1miliarly, and without the leaf! hefitation, fpeaks of, and fuppofes Eternity, and fticks not to a{<ri/;e Infinity to Duration; but 'tis witb more doubting and rcferve, that many admit, or fuppofe the Infinity of Space. There~fon whereof feems to ~e to be this, That Duration and Extenfion being ufed as names of affechons belongmg to other Bemgs, we ealily conceive in GOD infinite Quration, and we cannot avoid doing fo; but not attributing to him Extenfion, but only to Matter, which is finite, we arc 11pter to doubt of the exi!l:ence of Expanlion without Matter; of which alone we commonly fuppofc it an Attribute: Ana therefore when Men purfue their Thoughts of Space, they are apt to ftop at the confines of Body ; 11s if Space were there at an end too,and reached no fart)tcr: Or if their Id(as upon confideration carry them farther, yet they term what iS beyond the limits of the Univerfe, 1 imaginary Space; a~ if it were no- 1:hing, becilufe ther.e is noBody exi.Cting in it. Wherca. Duration, antcceuen. t to all Boay, hnd the motidns it is meafured by, tl)ey never term Imaginary, becaiife it is never fuppofed void of fome other real exiftencc. And if the names bf things may at all dirctl: our Thoughts towards the Originals of Mens' ld(as, (as I am apt to think they may very much,~ one may have occalion to thmk by the name Duration, that the continuation of Exiftence, with a kind of Reliftence to any def'crudive force and che continuation of Solidity, (which is apt to be confounded wit!r' and it we will look into the minute·atomical parts of Matt~r, is little dif: fercnt from Hard11efs,) were thought to have fome Analogy, and gave oc• calion to Words., fo near of krn as Dura" and Durum •f/e. But be that os it1vill, this is :er,tain, That Wht>ever purfues his own Thoughts, wiH fin~ 'them fomettmeS Iandt out beyond the extent of Body, into the Irr· fimty of Space or Expanfion ; the Idea whereof is diftintl: and fcparatp fromllody, and ,a11 other things; "'hich.may (to thofu who pleafc) be a fubje~ of farther t:neditation. · '· ' ~:5. ll!."" in general is to Duration , as Place to Exftmfon. They are ~o . much of thofe _bou~dlefi; Oceans 1>f Eternity and Immcnli' ty, as ts fet out ant\ d;fl:r~gurfhed from the' refl, as it were by Lnnd'm~ rks ;_· ~nd fo ore made ufe of, to denote. the Pofition oF finite reo! 13etng5. ' ID rcfpetl: 01\e to. another' in thofe uniform infinite Oceans of DurntKlh and Space. Thefe righ_tlytonlider~d, arc nothing but !deas of determmate Dtftances, fromcertam known pbtm:s 'ftxed in)cl!fl:inguiflmbl* fenfible tlun&s, and. fuppofed to keep the f~m~ diftam;e one from another. From Juch pomts fixed 10 fenlible Beings we rec1<op, and from them we meafu(e out Porttoos of thofe inAnite Q.\]antities; which fo conftdered, arc that whtch we call Time and Plnce. ForHurittion and Space Chap.XV. 'Duration and hxpanjion conjidered together. 9 5 Space being in themfelves uniform and boundlefs, the Otder and Pofitiorl of things, without fuch known fetled Points, would be loft iri them- and all things would lie jumbled in an incurable ConfetTion. ' 9. 6. llmt and P lure taken thus, for determinate dif'cingui!habie Portion~ of thofe infinite Abylfes of Space and Duration, fet out, or fuppofed to be diftinJ;Uifhed from the rcft, by marks, and known Boundaries, h•vc each of them a two-fold Acceptation. · Firjl, 1/me in general is commonly taken for fo much of infinite Duration, as it meafured out by, and co-exhiftent with the Exif\ence, and Motions of the great Bodie> of the Univerfe, as far as we know any thing of them; and in this Scnfe, Time begins and ends with the frame of thiS fe~fible World, as in thefe Phrafes before mentioned, hfore all time, or wben time {hall be no more. Place likcwife is taken fometimes for thaf Portion of infinite Space, which is polfelfed by, and comprehended within the Material World; and is thereby diftinguifhed from the ref! ofExpanfion ; though this may more properly be called Extenfion, than Place. Within, thefe two are confined, and by the obfcrvable Parts of them are mettfurcd and determined the particular Time or Duration, and the particular Extenlion, and Place of all corporeal Beings. §.7.su•ndly,Somerimes the word iime is ufed in a larger(e»Je,and is applied to Parts ofthatinfinite Duration,notthatwere reallydif'cinguiOJed atld tneafurcd out by this real Exiftence, and periodical Motions of Bodies, that were appointed from the Beginning to be for Signs, and for Seafons, and for Days, and Years, and are accordingly our meafures of time ; but filch other portions too ofthatinfiniteuniformDuration, which we upon any occafion do fuppofe equal to certain lengths of meafured Time; and fo confider them as bounded and determined. For if we fhould fu_ppofe the Creation, or Fall of the Angels, was at the Beginning of the Julian Period, we 010uld (peak properly eno.ugh, and fhould be underflood! if we faid, 'tis a longer time Iince the Cre:ttron of Angels, rhan the Great ron of the World, by 764 years : Whereby we would mark out fo much of that undiftinguifhed Duration, as we fuppofe equal to, and would have ad• mitred, 764 annual Revolutions of the Sun, moving at the rate it now does. AAd thus likewife, we fometimes fpeak of Place, Dif\ance, or Bulk in the great Inane, beyond the Confines the World, when we confider fo much of that Space, as is equal to, or capable to receive a Body of any atTigned Dimenlions, as a Clibick.fobt; or do fuppofe a Point in it, at fuch a certain diftance from any part of the Univerfe. ~- 8. H'bere and wben are ~eftions belonging to all finite Exiftences, and are by us always reckoned from fame known Parts of this fenfible World, and from fome certain Epochs marked out to us by the Motions obfervable in it. Without fome fuch fixed Parts or Periods, the Order of things would be loft, to our finite Undcrftandings, in the boundlefs invariable Oceans of Duration and Expanfion; wluch·comprehend tn them all finite Beings, and in their full Extent, belong only to the Deity. And therefore we are not to wonder, that we comprehend them not, and do fo often find our Thoughts at a lofs, when we would confider them, either abfl:raCl:ly in themfelves, or as any way attnbuted to the lirft mcomprehcnfible Being. But when applied to any particular finite Beings, the Extcnfion of any Body is fo much of that rnfinrte Space, as the bulk of that Body takes up. And Place is the Polition of any Body, when confidered at a certain diftance from fame other. As the ldta of the particular Duration of any thing, is an Idea of that Po_rtion of infinite DuratiDn, which paffes during the Extf'cence of that thtng ; fo the |
