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Show Relation. Book.ll. ~.,..Having thus,from what our Senfesareable todifcover,in the0peru· t\ons ef Bodies on one another,got the Notion ofCaufe and Effe&;vi•.'fhat a Caufe is tl~nt which makes any other thing, either fimple Idea, Subfiance or Mode, begin to be\nno ~n EffeB: is that, which had its Begi~ning fro~ fame other thing, The Mmd finds no great difficulty, to d1fimgmlb the feveral Originals of things into two forts : 1 "Fi;/1, When ~he thing is wholly mad.e new, fo that no part tl~ereof did GVet exifi befor~ ; as when a new Parucle of Matter doth begm to exill:, .in rerum np(ura, which had before no Being ; nnd this We ~l! Cr<ati•ll· 1 ' SecondLy When a thing is made up of Particles, which: did all of tliem before exlft, but that very thing, fo conll:iauted ofpr.e-exill:ing Particles1 which confidered altogether make up fi Collechon of fimple ifd<Jt, had not any f.xiftenae before, as this Man, is Egg, Rofe, or Cherry,& •. And this, when referred to a Subll:ance, produced in the ordinary courfu of Nature, by an internal Principle, bu~ fet on work by , and received from fqme external Agent, or Caufe, and working by infenfible ways which we perceive not, we call Generation; when the Caufe is extrinficaf, and the EffeCt produced by a fenfible Separation, or juxta Pofition of d~ fcernable Parts, we callitMaki.wg; and fuch are all artificial things. When any fimple It!ta is produced, 1vhich was not in that SubjeCl: before, we call it ALteration. Thus a Man is generated, a PiCl:ure made, and either of them altered, when any new lenlible ~ality, or fimple Idea, is produ· ced in either of them, which was not there before ; and the things thus made to exifi, which were not there before, are Effells; and thofc things, which operated to the Exill:ence, Caufes. In which, and all other Cafes, we may obferve, that the Notion of Caufe and EffeCt, has its rife [(om Ueas, received by Senfation or RefleCtion; and that this Relation, how comprehenfive foever;terminates at !all: in them. For to have the It!ea of Caufe and EffeCl:, it fuffices to confider any timple Idea, or Subfiance, as beginning to exifi, by the Operation of fosne other, without knowing the man11er of that Operation. 1 §. l· r;,.,e and Pl•ce, are alfo the Foundatiom of very large Relations, nnd all finite Beings, at leall: are concerned in them. But having already Jhewn in another Place, how we got thefe IdeaJ, it may fuffice here to intimate, that moll: of the Denominations of things, received from time, are onlY. Relations; ~hus, when any one fays, that ~een ELizahth lived fixty mne, and re1gned fort)' live years; thefe Words import only the Relation of that Duration to fome other, and means no more but this, that the Duration of her Exill:ence \Vas equal to fixry nine, and the Dura· tton of her Government to forty live Annual Revolutions of the Sun; and fo are all Words, anfwering,how Lowg. Again, William the Conqueror inva· ded EngianJ about thO: y~r 1?70. which means this; that taking the Duration from our Sav10ur s T1me, till now, for one entire great length of time, it lhews at what dill:ance this Invafion was from the two Ex· tre'!'es: and fo do all Words of time, apfweringto the ~efiion wh<H, wluch lhew ~nly the d1fiance of any pomt of time, from the Period of a longer Durat1on, from which we meafure and to which we thereby con· lider it, as related. ' §. 4 There are yet befides thofe, other Words of time that ordinarily are thought to fiantl for pofitive Ideas, which yet will, ~hen conftdcred: be found to be relanve, fu<;h as are lo•ng, OLd, &c. which include, and mnmate the Relatton any tlungs has! to a certain length of Duration, whereof we have the Idea m our M.mds. Thus having fetled in our Thoughts Chap. XXVI. Relation. Thoughts the It! e. of the ordinary Duration of a Man ro be feventy years, when we fay a Man is {pung, we fl)ean, that hi., Age is yet but a fmall part of that whiclt ufually Men attain to: And when we denominate him Oit!, we mean, that his Duration is run out almoll: to the erid of that which Men do not ufually exceed. Ana fo 'tis but comparing the particu· lar Age, or Duration of this or that Man, to the Idea of that Duration i-hich we have in our Minds, :is ordinarily belonging to that fort of Ani" mals: Which is plain, in theapplicatioriofthefeNames to otherThings; for a Man is called young at twenty years, and very young at feverl years old : But yet a Horfe we tall old at twenty, and a Dog at feven years; becaufe in each of thefe, we compare their Age to different it! rat of Duration which are fetled in our Minds, as belongtng to thefe feveral forts of Animals, in the ordinary courfe of Nature. But the Sun, and Stars, though they have outlafied feveral Generations of. Men, we call not eld, bedufe we do riot know what period G 0 D ha:th fct to that fort of Beings. This Term belonp,ing properly to thofe Things, which we can obferve in the ordinary courfe of Things, by a natural decay to come to an end, in a certain period of time; and fo have in our Minds, as it were, a Standard, to which we can comp~re the feveral parts of their Du" ration; and by the relation they bear thereunto, call them young, or old; which we cannot therefore do to a Ruby, or a D10mond, tlungs whofe ufual periods we know not. · §. 5· The Relation alfo that things have to one another, in their Plac~J and Difiances, is very obvious to obferve. ; as Above, Belo~ , a M1l~ d1• ftant from charing,·Crafs, in England, and HI La•daN. But as '!1 Duratl?n• fo in Extenjion and Bulk, there are ferne Ideas that are relauve., which we fignifie by Names, that are thought pofiuve; a~ Great, a•! LzttLe,. ar~ truly //elations. For here alfo having, by obferv.auon, fetled m our Mmds the It!eas of the Bignefs offeveral Spec1es ot Thmgs, from thofe we have been moll: accull:omed to, we make them, as it were, the Standards where: by to denominate the Bulk of others .. Thus we call a great Apple, fuch an one as is bigger than the ordmary fort of thofe we have been ufed to • and a little Horfe, fuch an one as comes not up to the lize of that Idea which we have in our Minds, to belong ordinarily to Hor· fes: And titat will be a great Horfe to a WeLjb-man, which is but a little one to a FLeming ; they ti~O having fro~ the ddferent Breed of thetr Countries taken feveral liz d Ideas to winch they compare, and m rela· tion to wl;ich they denominate their Great, and their Little. . . §. 6, So likewife Weak and Strong, are but reLatzw Denammatzo•s of Power, compared to fome Idea we have, at that time, of greater or lefs Power. Thus when we fay a Weak Man, we mean one that has not fo much Strength, or Power to move, as ufually Men have, or ufually thofe of his fize have . which is a comparing his Strength, to the lt!ea we have of the ufual Str;ngth of Men , or Men. of fuch a fize. The. like whert we fay the Creatures are all weak Tlungs; Weak,. there , JS but a relative term , fignifying the difproportion there 1s m th<: Power of GOD, and the Creatures. And fo abundance of Words, m ordmary Speech, fiand only for Relations, (and, perhaps, thegreateft \'art,) wluc~ at ftrft light, feem to have no fuchligmficatton: v.g. The Slup has ne~ef. fary Stores : Nece([ary, and Stares, are b~th relauve Words; one havmg a relation ro the accorn plilhing the tlung Intended, and 1 he other to futu:e ufc. All which Relations, how they are confined w,. and termmate m Ide~Jderived from Senfarion, or /lej/dlian, is too obVIOUS to need any fu.plication. X " CHAP. |