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Show Remedies of the lmperfiElion Book Ill terns to be found exiffing, the fignification of the.ir name• cannot be made known aschofe of fimple" Ide-s, by any lhewmg; but m recompence rhereoi, may be- perfeCtly and exa~ly defned. For tlky b~ing Combin: ttions of feveral Ideas, th!t the Mmd ot Man has arb.ttranly put together, without reference to any f\ rchetypcs, Me~ may, 1f they pleafe, exactly know the Ideas, that go to each Comp0~t10n, and' fo \>oth ufe thcfe Words, in a certa in and undoubted Signtficatwn, .an~ perlec!lly declare when there is Occafion, what they fland for. 'Fhts, .1f wdl conftdered, would lay great blame on thofe! who make not thetr D!fcourfes ab<:'ut li\oral Things very clear and dtlbnct.. For li,nce the prectfe ligmficatton of the nam., of mixed Modes, or wh1ch 1s all one, the real Effence of each Species, is to be l<nmvn·, they being nor of Nature's; but Man's. making, it is a great Negligence and Perverf~efs, to dtfmurfeof moral Thmgs ":"h Uncertainty and Obfcunty, wl11ch 1s much more pardonable, m treattng of natura! Sitbffanees, where doubtful Terms are hardly to be avotded, for~ quite contrary Reafon,. ~~we !hall f~ by and by. . . §. 1 6. Uponthi~ground 1t ts, that I am bold to tl\mk, that MoraiiiJ is capable of Demolt}lr•tiOH, as W'ell as Methematicks : Since the prerife real Elfence of theThiAgs moral W <irds fland for, may be perf<ctly known ; and fu the Congruity, or Incongruity of the Things themfclves, be certainly diiCoveted, in wltich conlifls perfect Knowledge. Nor lenny one object rhat the names of Subfl:ances are ofien to be made ufe of in Morality ;s weH as thofe ofModes, from Which will arife Obfcurity. For as to Sul\futnces, when concerned in moral DiiCourf<s, their divers Naturf'S 2re not fo muc!l enquir'd into, as fuppofed ; v. g. when we fay that Man is fl1bjt!tl: td Law : We mean nothing by Man, but a corporeal rational Creature: Wliattheteal EITcnce, or other ~alities of that Creature are in this Cafe, is tW .way .conlid~red: And therefore, whether a Child . or Cliangeling, be a Man 1t1 a phyfiClll Sen£e, may amongfr the Naturaldls be udifpur~ble as it will, •Jteoneern5 not at all the moral Man, as I may call hili\j whicH is this immoveable unchangeable Idea, a corporeal ra· ii•ll•l Beil1g. For were there a Monkey, or any other Creature to be foutld, that had the ufe of Reafon, to fuch a degree, as to be able to und< rfu:nd genera! Signs, an'd to deduce Confequences about general !dw, he woUld no doubt' be fubject to Law, and, in that Senfe, be a Man, how much foever he dilfer'd in Jhapc from others of that Name. The name.< of Subll:ances, if they be ufed in tlft!m, as they fhould, can no more dillurb Moral, than they do Mathematical Dili:ourits : Where, if the Mathematicians fpeak of a Cube ot Globe of Gold, br any Qlher Body, he has his dear fetled Ide•, Which varie's not, though it lliay, by hiillake, be apply'd td il pari:lcular Bcldy, tb Which it belongs not. •' ~-17- Thi~, I h!Vd here menti6i\td by rhe bye, to !hew()( what Confeqnerlte .it is fur Men, in their names of mixed Modes1 and conf~qu<ntly, 111 a!lltleir mond D1kourfes, ito define thetr Words WheN there IS 9ccafioti! Sitlc~ theh!ISy. mo~al· KlloWie<lge may be brought," tlf fo great Cle~~rnefs llhd ~rtai!ft.)'."Aikl it iJlulle be great want of Ingenuity, (to fay no wol'fe of tt1) to i'e'fufe to do 1t •: Since a Dejihition iJ the OH/y way, Jvl;erelry tllepr•cifo.Mt iMillt:•f I!Jorof'. Words con h k.iown; and yet a way, whereby tlletr ~lilng m:tt'ob~ knvwn certainly, and without Jeavmg any rOO!TI ~dr any donteft alilta~ J:?to. r And ill..-ofote the Negligence or Perverfenefs of Mankmd, 91nqot. be excufe~, if their Difcourles in Mora· hey be not trluch 'lt!Iil'e ckllr, than thcife in ~awtall?hilofophy: Iince they 11re liboot 'ldNs in the Mint!, ~h!Ch••re 'ntme of ·tlietn ~fe, nor difpropor- 1icltati!; ~hey ho.Vlritt'ho~lltl!tlial &logs foil ~Jclhet:Yl>C~ which they are r~ · ferr d Chap. Xt. Abufe of Words, .. ferrcd to, and mufl: correfpond with. It is far .caller for Men to fratne iri their Minds an Idea, which fl1al! be the Standard to .wluch they Will gtve the name Jujl ice · with which Pattern fo made , all Actwns. that-ogree; flnll pafs under fhat denomination, than having feen Arijlidet to frame an Idea, that lhal) in all things be e~actly like him, who is as he Is, let Men make what Notion, or Idea, they pleafe of lum. For the one, r.bey heed but know the Ideas they trame witliin themfelves: for the o~her; they mull: enqliire into rhe w hole.Natu~e,. and abfrrufc hidden GQni:bitu-tion and Qyaliries of a Tlung extll:mg )VIt.hour them. ,. §.'r 8. Another Reafon that makes the dejining of mixed (rfodes· fo ne~ ce!fary, ejpecia!ly of moral Words, IS what I mentioned a h,nl'i.P.efore; and that is, That It IS tbe only way whereby the jigmjicatro~ of 1h~ moj/ of them can be known with ~errainry. Fqr rh9 Ideas they fland for,. bemg for the moll: part fuch1 whofe component .Parts no-where extll: tog~ther, but fcartered and niingled With others , 1t IS the Mmd ~ lone that .collects them, and gives them rhe ~nion of one Idea: and1t IS only byWords, enumerating the fevcral limplc Ideas wh1ch the Mmd has umted , that we can make kriown to others, what their ~a mes fl11nd for; and not by any application to the Senfes, as '-''e can do m fen lible limple Ideas, and alfo to fame degree in Subfrances. . . . §. 19. ihirdly, For the txplaining·the ligmlicatw": of the Mme~ of Sub}lances as they fland for the Ideas we have of thctr dtll:mct Speetes, both the fore-mentioned ways, vi~. ofjhewmg and definmg,, a~e r~q"ifite, in many cafes, to be made ufe of.. For there bemg ordmanly m each Sort fume leading ~aLities, to, wlucl) we fuppofe the oth~r, wluch. makes lip our complex Idea of that Species, annexed, we gtve the Name to fomc Qgality, or Idea, which is the moll: obfervable, and we take to b.e ihe moll: diflinguifl1ing Idea ofthatSpec1es. Thefe l~ad mg, or charactenfrical (as I may fo call them) Jdeas,m the Forts of Ammals and Vegetables, is (as has been before remarked) moll:ly Ftgure, and m mammatc Bod1es Colour, and in fome both together.. Now, . . . §. 2 0. Thcfe leading {enjibte Qyalities are thofe, wluch make t_he ch!Cf Ingredients of our jpecijick I deas, and confequently the bell: Defirnuons of ourfpecifick Names, as attributed to Sorts of Su6jlances commg under our Knowledcre. For though the Sound Man, m. 1ts ?wn Narur~, be.\s apt to lignifie a complex I dea , made up of AmmahtY: and Rarwnaltty, ~nited in the fame Subject, as to ligmfie any other combmatlon; yet ~fed as a mark to flarid for a fort of Creatures we count of our own kmd, perhaps, the outward fl1ape is as necelfary to be taken . mro our complex Idea, lignified by the word Man, as any other we find m It. And therefore why Plato's Animal implume Bipes /at JJ ungu1bus, fl10uld not be as good a Defin ition of the Name Man, ll:andmg for that fort of Crea tu res, will not be ealie to !hew : for 'tis the Shape, as the leadmg ~ahty, that feems more to determine that Species, than a Faculty of Reafomng, w,luch appears not at firfl and in fome never. And tf thiS be nor allow d ~o befo, J do not kno;v how they can be excufed from Murther , who J" J! monfirous Births, (as we call them,) becaufe of an unordmary S hape, without knowing whether they have a RatiOnal Soul, or no;. wh1ch can be no more difcerned in a wei!-formed, than 1li-!1Japed Infa nt, as foon as born. And who is it has informed us, that a Rational Soul can mhab!t no Tenement, unlcfs it has jull: fuch a fort of Fron tifpiece, or can JO'n It felf to, and inform rto fort of Body , but one that IS Jllfi of fuch an outWard Structure ? Ll §. 2!. 2)7 |