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Show to6 1njinity. Book II. nor is it, when applied to Duration,. the bare. Negation of Exiflence, but more roperly the lafi moment of 1t. . But 1f • they w1\l have the end to be noiJling but the bare Negation of Ex1fience, I am fure they cannot den but that the beginning is the fir!\: mll:ant of Bemg, and IS not by a~ 'Body conceived to be a bare Negation ; and therefore by the1r ow~ Algument, the Idea of Eternal, a parte ant<, or of a Duration Without a beginning, is but a negative Idea. . . . . ~· , 5. The Idea of Infinite, has, I confefs, fomethmgofpofiuve 10 all thofe things we apply to it. When we would thmk of mfimte Space or D · we at firfi ll:ep ufually make fome very large Idea , ns, perha~ s~t~fMillions of Ages, or Miles, which pollibly y;e double and mu~tiply feveral times. All that we thus amafs together m our Though;s, IS politive, and the a!femblage of a great number of pofiuve Ideas ot Space or Duration: But what frill remains bey<lnd thiS, we have no more a ~ fttive dill:ioCl: notion of, than a Mariner has ofthe depth of the Sea; where having let down a large portion of his Soundmg-lmc, he reaches no bottom, whereby he knows the depth to be fo many. fathoms, and more; but how much that more is, he hath. no dtfimCl: notion at all: A~d could he always fupply new Line, and find the Plummet always fink Wtthout ever fiopping,he would be. fomethmg m the pofiure of the Mmd reachmg after a compleat and polittve Idea oflnfimty.; m which cafe! let thiS Lme be 10, or 10ooo fathoms long, it eq_ua\ly. dtfcovers what '.s beyond It, and gives only this confufed and comparative Idea, That tlus IS not all, but one may yet go farther. So much ":' the Mmd comprehends. of any Space, it has a politiveidea of; b.ut m th1s th~ug~t of Infimty, It bemg always enlarging, always advanc~ng, the Idea. IS fitlltmJ:erfed: andmcompleat. So much Space as the MLDd takes a v~ew of, 1R 1ts contemplation of Greatnefs 1s a clear P1d:ure, and pofittve 10 the Underfiandmg ; but Infinite is !till greater. x. Then the Idea of fo mucb is pojitive and clear. :2.. TIJ< Idea of Greater is alfo clear, ~ut 11 IS but a comparam;; Idea. 3· The Idea of Jo mucb 11.reater, as cannot he comprebended, and tlus is plain Negative: Not Pofitive ; for he has no pofit1~e clear Ideaof the largenefs of any Extenfion, (which is that fought form the Idea of Infimte,) that has not acomprehenfive Idea of the Dtmenfions of It; and fuch, no body, I think, pretends to, in ~hat is infinte. For. to fay a Man has a pofitive clear !dta of any ~an my, Without knowmg how great It IS, 1s as reafonableas to fay, He has the pofitive clear Idea of the number of the Sands on the Sea-fhoar, who knows not how many they be ; but only tl10t they are more than Twenty: . For ju!l: fuch a pe•fecl and politive Uta has he of Infinity, whenbeapphes 1t to Space or Duratwn, who fays it is larger than the Extent or Duration of 10, roo, rooo, or any other number of Miles, or Years, whereofhe has, or can have, a pofit1ve Idea; which is all the Idea, I think, we have of Infinite. So tbnt what lies beyond our pofitive Idea towards Infinity, lies in Obfcurity, and has the indeterminate confulion of a Negative Idea, wherein I know ,I neither do. nor can comprehend all I would,it being too large fora finite and narrow Capacity: And that cannot but be very tar from a pofitive compleat Idea, wherein the greatell: part of what I would comprehend,is left out,under the undeterminate intimation of being fiill greater. For to fay, that having in· any quantity meafured fo much, or gorie fo far, you are not yet at tho end, is only to fay, that that ~antity is greater, fo that the Ncgatien of an end in any ~antity,is in other words only to fay, That it is bigger; and a total negation of an end,is but the carrying this Bigger fiill with you, in all the Progreffions your Thoughts fhall make in ~antity; and adding tlus Chap. XVII. Infinity. this Ide< of fiiU greater, to all the Ideas you have, or can be (uppofed t; have of ~antity; and whether fuch an Idea as that, be pofi tive I leave any one to conftner. ' ~: r6.1 ask thofe wh~ fay the:(' have a pojitive idea of Eternitj,whether the1r U e,, ofDurnt1on mcludes mIt Succeflion, crnot? !f it do not, the ought to lhew the ddferencc of thelf Notwn of Duration, when applie~ to an eternal Bemg, and to a fimtc; Iince, perhaps, there may be others, aswcll .as l, whowtll own to them their Weaknefs of Underfianding in th1s pomt, and acknowledge, That the Notions they have of Duration, force them to conceive, That whatever ha~ Duration, is of a longer comi" nuance to day, t han 1t was ycflcrday. II to avoid Succellion in eternal E:tllence, they recur to the Pun£fum Stans of tlie Schools, J fuppofe they '"'" thereby v~1y httle mend the matter,. or help us to a more clear and pofiuvc,Idta O• m lin~tcDuratwn, there bemg nothing more inconceivable to me,. tnan Duratwn '~1thout Succefliod. Belldes, that PunElum Sta>s, if It ligmficany thmg, bemg not 0!antum, fin1te or infioite,canriot belong to Jt. But 1f our weak .'\.pprehenlions cann?t feparate Succcl!ion from any Ilurat1on w_hatfoever, our Ide:; of Etermty can be nothing but of inlimtc Succe01on cf Moments ot Durat1on, wherein any thing does exifi; and whether any one has, dr can have, a pofitive Idea of an atlual infinite Nu~ber, I leave him to confider, till his infinite Number be fo great, that · he lnmfelf can add no more to It; aod as long as he can increafe it, J doubt he h1mfelf w1ll dunk the Idea he hath of it, a little too fcanty fqr !lOfi tive Infimty. 9. r 7· I think it unavoidable for every confidering rational Creature t~at will but cxami~e his.own, or any other Exifience, to have the Na: t10n of ~n eternal w1fe Bemg, who had no beginning : And fuch an Idea ofmfimte Duration,. I am fure I have;. but this Negation of a Beginning, bemg but the Negation of a polit1ve clung, {carre gives me a poftive Idea of !Hjinity ; which whenever I endeavour to extend my Thouohts to 1 confefs my felf at a lofs, and find I cannot attain any clear comp~ehenfi~n of a. 9. r 8. He that thinks he has a politive Idea of infinite Space, will, when he confiders It, find that he can no more have a pofrive Idea of the greateR:, than he has of tbe leaf/ Space: For in this latter \Vhich feems the ealier of the two, a~d more within our comprehenfi~n, we arecapableonlyofacomparattve ldeaof Smalnefs, which will always be leis than any one whereof we have the pofinve Idea; for all our pofitive Ideas of any Qganttty, whether gre:it or little, have always bounds , thouglt our comparattve Idea, whereby we can always add to the one, and take. from the other,hath no bounds: For t hat which remains either great or httle, not bemg comprehended m t hat pofittve !tlea we have, lies m obfcuncy ; and we have no other Idea of it, but of the power of enlargmg the one, and diminiD1ing the other without ceafi~;g. For aPefile and Mortar will as foon bring ary Particle of Matter to IndiVIfiblllty , as the occutefl Thought of a Mathematician: And a Surveyor may as foon with his Chain , rneafure out infinite Space , as a Phtlofopher by the qULckefi lhght of Mmd reach it, or by thinking comprehend It, wluch IS to have a pofit>ve Idea of1t. He that thinks on a Cube of an Inch dianictre, ha~ a clear and pofttive Idea of it in his M:nd, and fo can lrame one of ;. a ~ il, and fo on till he has the Idea in hts Thoughts of fomething very very little, but yet reaches not the Idea oftlllt mcmn prehenfible httlenefs, which Divifion can produce. What remams of Smalnefs, is as far from his T houghts, as when he firfl began; P 2 and |