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Show 3; S Vegrecs of iljfent. -=~------------~ BooklV, ments and Proofs, pro and con, upon due examination, nicely weighing every particular tircumlbnce, !hall to any one appear, upon the "hole matter, in a greater or lefs degree, to preponderate on either fide, fo the'' ~re fitted to produce in the Mind fuch different entertainment, "' we call Belief, Conje[/ure, Gue{s, Doubt, Wa11ering, u i}lr.jl, Disbelief; &c. • §.to.This is what coocernsAifen;irt matters wherein Teilimony is made ufe of; concerning which, I think, it may not be amifs to tal<e notice of a Rule obferved in the Law of Eng,land; which is, T hat thoogh theatteCted Copy of a Record be good proof, yet the O:>py of a Copy ncl·cr lo well attefied, and by never fo credible Witneifes1 will not Le admitted as a proof in Judicature. This is fogenerallya~proved as reafonable, and fuited to the Wtfdom and Cauuon to be ufed m our Enqlllry after material Truths, that I never yet heard of any one that blamed it. This practice, if it be allowable in the Decilions of Right and Wrong, carries this Obfervation along \vith it, wz. That any Tefiimony, tlte farther offit is !rom the original Trurb, the lefs force and proof it has. The Being and Exiflence of the thing it felf, is what I call the original Truth. A credible Man vouching his Knowledge of it, is a good proof: But if another equally credible, do witnefs it from his Report, the Tefiimony is weaker; and a third that atteCts the Henrfay of an Hcarfay, is yet lcfs conliderable. So that in traditional Truths, each remow weakens tbe force of the proof ; And the more hands the Tradition has fucceflively paifed through, the lcfs firength and evidence does it receive from. them. This I thought neceifary to be taken notice of: Becaufe I find amcngft fome Men , the quite contrary commonly practifed, who look on Opinions to gain force by growing older; and what a thoufand year Iince would not', to a rational Man, c6ntemporar)' with the lirfi Voucher, have appeared at all probable, is now urged as certain beyond all quefiion, only becaule feveral have Iince, from him, faid it one after another. Upon this ground l>ropolicions, evidently falfe or doubtful enough in their lir!l beginning', come. by an inverted Rule of Probability, to pafs for autbentick Truths: and tbofe which found or deferved little credit from the mouths of their firfi Authors , arc thought to grow venerable by Age, and are urged as undeniable. §.II. I would not be thought here to lelfen the Credit and ufe of HJC jlory : 'tis all the light we have in many cafes ; and we receive from it a great part of the ufeful Truths we have, With a convincing evidence. I think nothing more valuable than the Records o! Antiquity: I wifl1 we bad more of them, and more uncorrupted. But this, Truth it felf forces me to fay, That no Probability can arife higher than its tirfl Origina~ What has no other Evidence than the lingle Tefiimony of one onely Witnefs mull. fiand or fall by his onely Te!timony, whether good, bad, or indifferent ; and though cited afterwards by hundreds of others, one after another, is fo far from receiving any firength thereby, that it is only the Weaker. PaiT!on, lnterefi, Inadvertency, Mirtakc of his Meaning, and a thoufand odd Reafons, or 'Caprichios, Men's Minds are acted by, (impofftble to be difcovered,) may make one Man quote another Man's Words or Meaning wrong· He that has•but ever fo little examined the Citations of Writers, cannot doubt bow little Credit the ~orations dcferve, where the Originals are wonting; and confequently bow much lefs ~otattons of ~otattons con be relied on. This is certain , that \\'hat in one Age was affirmed upon flight ground<, can never after come to be mo~e yahd m future Ages, by being often repeated. But the far· , ther fitlllt lS from the Ongmal, the !efs valid it is, and has always lefs • force Chap. XVI.· .Vegrees of .djfent. force irr the rrtouth, or writing of him that lafi made ufe of· t 1 · 1 · from whom be received it. 1 • t Jan m us ~ .. u . T he Probabilities we have hitherto mentioned, are onl fucb a_s iclo'fn caer·n matter 1o f fail, an·d fuch Tlungs as are "~ apabl e of .Obfce ryv atw· n .Ill , e u:nony : t ~ere remams that other fort, concerni~g which, Men en-rett~ t.n Optotons Wl!h vanety of Alfent, though the Tbing,s be fueh, r.hat fol!Lil¬ ~nder th< reacb of our S<nfes, ,ar< not capable o,f T•flimoJI)I• •and !iJOh•tre, I. Tho Extflence,Nature, and Opernt!ons of finitQ immat~ri~l Bemg5 \hthoutus ;. as Sptnts~ Angels, Devtls,. &c. or, t)l.~ ll.l<itlenceofomeEtal. llemg•; wluch etther for thetr frnalnef>;,jn rhem(e)ves, or remorericfs rom us, our Seofes cannot rake nonce of, as whether there be an PI A'himals, and intelligent lnhabiunts of the Planers and other d {,~nts ol the val\ Unjverfe. :r.. Gonceruing th6 manner ~f Operation' i~'\~onJ PJrts of the Works of Nature ; wherein ;hough we fe, the fei1fible cffefrs hyet thetr caufes are unknown, and we percetvc not the ways and manne; . o~· they are produced. We fee Anunals are gencrq~ed, nourifl1cd, and D)ll) C ; the Load-fionc draws Iron ; and .tbe p;trtstlf a C1ndle fitcceflively ~~mg, turn mto flame, and give us both light · anq heat. Thefe and t)~,e llkc Effects we fee ~nd know: but the caufes that operate, and the manner they are produced m, weean only guefs, and probably conjeiturc• For thefc and the ltke commg not Wtthm the fcrut\ny, of humane Senfes, cannot !Je eXl\mtned by them, or be at;efied by any body, and therefore can appear moreorlofs probable, only as tl1ey m01:eor leis .agree to Truths that are efiabliihed m our Mmds, and as they ho)d propon ion ~0 other parts of our Ktlow1edg<; and Obfervation. A~alog~ iq•thafo m,atter-1is the bl¥ help we have,and tts from that alone .we draw all our grou~dsQfPro-biltty. Thus obfervtllg that the bare rubqmg of two Bodies violently one u~n another, produces heat, and very often ~re it fe!f, we have reafon to dunk,~bat what we call Heat and Fire,conlifis in a cerraio violent agitation of the 1mp~rceptible minute parts of the burning mattq;qbferving likewife, tha~ tbe dtffcrent refracttOns of.pelluctd Bodies produc,e in our Eyes the dtffcreot app7"rances of feveral Colours ; ·and alfo that the different rangmg and laymg the fuperficial pam of feveral Bodies, as of Velvet, water<? ~dk, &!c. does the like, we think it probable that the' Colour and lhmmg of .Bodies, is in them nothing but the different Arangement and RefracttOn ofthet.r mmute and mfenlible parts. Thus finding in all !he parts of the Creanon, that falhmder. humane Obfervarion that there IS a gradual connexio~ ofone With another, without any gr;at or difcernablc gaps .between, 10 all that great var{ety of. Things we fee in the W?rld, ~luch are. fo clofely linked together, that, in the feveral ranks of Beings, tt l5 not ea fie to difcover the bounds betwixt them, . we have Reofun to be perfuaded, that m fuch gentle fieps Tf1ings in Perfection afcend upwards. ~ts an hard Matte~ to fay where Senlible and Rational begin, and where Infenfible and lrrattonal end ; and who ts. there quick· lighted enough w dctcrmme prec1fely w!Hc!Hsthc lowe[! Spectes of living Things and wluch the firfi of thofe which have na Life? Thing~. as far as we c.,; obfcrve lclfen and augment, as the quantity does in a regularCcne, \\'here though there be a manifefi odds betwixt the bignefs of the Diametre at remote difiances : yet the difference between the upper and under, where they tq\rch one another, is hardly difcernable. The difference is exceedmg gteat between fame Men,and fome Animals: But if we will compare lite Underfiancl)n~ and Abilities of fome Men, and fome Brutes, we fl101l find foJtttlc difference, that 'twill be hard to f<ty,that that of the Man is either dearer br larger : Obferving, 1 lay, fuch gradual and gentledefcents X x 2 downwards 339 |