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Show I08 Infinity. Book II. and therefore he never comes at all to have a clear and politive Idea of that Smalnefs which is confequent to infinite Divilibilit5'. , §. 19. Everyone that looks towards Infinity, d~, ~s I have faid, at firll' glance make fame very large !dea. of that he applies 1tto, .let 1t be Space, or Duration; and po!flbly weanes Ius Thoughts,bymultlply,ng m Ius l\1ind that firfl: large Idea: But yet by that he comes no nearer, having apo[ttive clear Idea of what remains, to makeup a politive Infinite, than the Conntty- fellow bad of.the Water which was yet to come, and pafs the Channel of the River where he ftood; RuflicUJ txpellat dum tranftat amnu, at ille Labitur,f!f La~etur per omne volu~ilis tSvum. §. w. There are fame I have met with, that put fo much difference between infinite Duration, and infinite Space, that they perfuade themfelves that they have a pofttive Idea of Eternity; ~ut that they have not, nor ca~ have any Idea of infinite Space. The reafon of which miftakc, I fuppofe to be this, That findmg by a due Contemplation of Caufes and Effeds that it is neceifary to admit fame Eternal Being, and fo to confider th; real exiftence of that Beiog, as taking up, and commenfurate to their Idea of Eternity. But on the other fide, not finding it neceffary, but on the contrary apparently abfurd, that Body fhould be infinite, t~y forwardly conclude t1.1ey can have no Ide~ of infinite Space, becaufe t ey can have no Idea of mfimte Matter: Wluch Confequence, I conceive i very ill col· led:ed, the Exiftence of Matter being no ways nece!fary to' t 1e Exiftence of Space, no more than the Exiftence of Motion, or the Sun is nece!fary to Duration, though Duration ufes to be meafured by it : And I doubt not but a Man may have the Idea of 10000 Miles fquare, without any Body fo big, as well as the Idea of 10000 Years, without any Body fo old. It feems as ealie to me to have the Idea of Space empty of Body as to think of the Capacity of his Bufhel without Corn, or the hollow of~ Nutfhell withouta Kernel in it; it being no more neceffary that there fhould be exifting a folid Body infinitely extended, becaufe we have any Idea of the Infinity of Space, than it is necelfary that the World lhould be eternal becaufe we have an Idea of infinite Duration : And why lhould we think our Idea of infinite Space, requires the real exiftenc~of Matter to fupport 1t, when we find we have as clear an Uea of mfimte Duration to come ~s we have of infinite Duration paft? ThouJlih, I fuppofe, no body think; 1t conce1vable, that any thmg does or has ex1fted m that future Duration. Nor IS 1t poflible to jom our Idea offuture Duration with prefent or paft Exiftence, any more than it is j>oflible to make the Jdear ofyefterday to day, and to morrow to be the fame ; or bring Ages paft and future t~e- ' ther, and make them contemporary. But if thefe men are of the Mind That the~ have clearer Ideas of infinite Duration, than of infinite Space: becaufe 1t IS paft doubt, that GOD has exifted from all Eternity but there 1S no real Matter.co-extendcd. with infinite Space; yet thofe Philofoph~ rs who are of Op1mon, That mfi~1te Space. is poffelfed by G 0 D's mfimte Ommprefence, as well as mfimtc Durat1on by his eternal Exill~ nce, mufl: be allowed to. have as clear Idea of infinite Space, as ofinfimte Dura non; though neither of them, r think, has any po[ttive Idea of I.[tmty m e1ther cafe. For whatfoever politive Ideas a Man has in his Mmd of any QEanmy, he can repeat it, and add it to the former as ealie as he. can add together the Ideas ?f t':"o Days, or two Paces, wi1ich are poliuve Ideas o! Lengths he has m h1s Mind, and fo on as long as he pleafe; Chap. XVIII. Other fimple Moder. pleafe; whereby if a Man had a pof1tive Idea of Infinite, either Dura• .;tion or Space, he could add twolnfimtes together; nay, make one Infinite infinitely bigger than another, Abfurdities too grois to be confuted. ~. :~.r. But yet if after all this, there be Men who perfuade themfelves, that they have clear polltivc comprehenfive /dear of 1nfinity, 'tis lit they enjoy their privilege : And Ilhouldbe very glad (with lome others that 1 know, who acknowledge they have none 1ilch,) to be better informed by their Communication; for I have l:een hitherto apt to think, that the great and inextricable Difficulties, which perpetually involve all. Difcourfes co11cernmg I"Jfnity, whether of Space, Duration, or Dlvllibihty, have been the certain rnarkr of a defell in our Ideas of bfiwity, and the difpropurtion the Nature .thereof has to the C~mprehenfion of our narrow C1pacities. For wh1lft Men talk and d1f~ute of mfin1te Space or Duration, as if they had as co'? pleat and pofinve Ideas of 1t, as they have of the Name they ufe for 1t, or of a Yard, or of an Hour, or any other determinate QEantity , it is no wonder if the incomprehenlible Nature of the thing they difcourfe of, or reafon about, lead them into l'trplexities and Contradid:ions, and their Minds be overlaid by an Objed: too large and mighty, to be furveyed and managed by them. ~. u. If! have dwelt pretty long on the Confiderations of Duration, Space, and Number; and what arifes' from the Contemplation of them, Infinity 'tis poflibl y no more than the matter reqUires, there bemg few fimple ideas whofe Modes give more exercife to the Thoughts of Men, than thefe clC:. I pretend not to treat of them in their fuliLatirude,it fuffices to my Defign, to fhew how the Mind receives them, fuch as they are, from Senfation and Rej/eflion: And how even the Idea w_e have of ln/t· wity, how remote foever 1t may feem to be from. any Objed: of ~nfe, ~r Operation of our Mind, has ne~enhelefs, as all our other I dear, 1ts .On· gina! there. Some MathematlclO.ns, perha~ •. of advanced Spec:;ulat!Ons, may have other ways to mtroducemto thelf Mmds Ideas oflnfimty: But this hinders not but that they themfelves, a~ well as all oth~r Men, got the firfl: Ideas they bad of Infinity, from Senfat1on and Reflet1:10n, 10 the method we have here fet down. C H A P. XVIII. Of other Jimple Modes. §. t. THough I have in the foregoing Chapters! fl1ewn how from fimple Ideas taken in by Senfation,the Mmd comes toextcnd its felf even to Infinity; which however it may of all others f~em moft remote from any fenf,ble Perception, Y.et a~ I aft hath ~otlung 10 It, but what is made out of limple Ideas, rece1ved mto the M1~d by the Senfcs, and afterwards there put together, by the Faculty the Mmd has to repeat its own Ideas. Tbnugh, I fay, thefe m1ght bemfl:anccs ofeoough funple Modes of the limple Ideas of Sen fat ion, and fuffice to fl1ew ~ how tfie Mind comes by them; yet I fhall for Methods fake, though bnefly, g1ve an account of fame few more, and then proceed to more complex Ideas. §. 2.. To Qide, roll, tumble, walk, creep, run, dane~, leap, sk1p, and abundance other that might be named, arc Words wluch are no fooner heard, but every one who underftands Englifh, has prefently Ul hdi~~~ |
