1000000031

ME TAPI-IYS

Now one part or theCe dir.dvantages in

moral ideal,

whieh has made them be thought not eapable of demon–

{lratioA, may in a good meaCure be remedied by

defilJi–

l íanJ,

fcu ing clown [hat

callcaíon

of limpie

ideal

which

cvery term {hall ftand (or, .nd then ufi ng the term. flea–

dily and eonflantly (or th at preei(e eolleélion.

A s to the (oúnh (on o( k nowledge,

viz .

Ihe real

« fiua/ e.:djJence oJ lhingl , \Ve

have an

;nlu;/ive

know·

ledge of

OUT

(YU}n e.'Cijlence ;

dC1I/onjlralíve

Knowledge

Ihe exijlen..e

0l C

and a

[",ji/lIJe

knowledge of the

. 6jdll

I~a/

pre[enl Ihem(1lu<J lo our [enfil .

F rom what has beco (aid, we may difcover

(he

caufu

QUr,

ignoranu;

which are chieny lheCe th ree :

Firjl,

'Vant of

ideal :

Second(y,

W ant of a difcoverable connee·

ticD beween (he

ideal

we have :

T hirdly ,

Want of tracing

and examining ou r

ideal .

Firj/,

T here are fome things \Ve are ignorant of for

'Want

ideal .

A II the fimple

id,al

we have are eonfi–

ned to (he obCervations of our

reofes,

and

lhe

operations

taQ[

our own minds that

\Ve

are confcious of in ourrelves.

What other

ideelJ

it is poffi ble other creatures

may

have,

by the .fliflance of other fenfes and fa culties more or

perfetl:er (hao we have, or different from ours, it is not

for us

determine ; but to [ay or think there are no

fuch, becaufe we conceive oothing,of them, is no better ao

:u gument,

than if

blind man !hould be: poli live in it,

t hat there was

fuch thing as (jgh t and colours, becaufe

h e had no manner of

idea

of any fu eh thing. W hat fa–

culties therefore other fpecies of creatures have to pene–

trate ioto the natu re and iomoll: conflitutions of thiDgs,

\Ve know noto T his we know, and certainly fiad, that we

want other views of them, befides lhore we have, to make

di(co_eries of them more per(ea. The

intel/efiual

and

flnjió/e

world are in this per(ealy alike, ,hat the parts

which we fee of either of them, hold no proportion IVith

that we Cee

n Ol

aod whatfoeve r we can reaeh with our

eyes or our thoughts of either of them, is but a POiOl al–

moO: nothing

cOli1parifon of the rell.

Anolher great caure of ignorance, is (he

ruJant

i –

Jeal Ihol

'IV'

are eapaMe

of.

This keeps us in igno–

rance of things 've conccive capable of being known.

B ulk, figu re, and motion we have

ideaJ

of; yet not

k nowing what is the particular bulk, mOlioD, and figure

of the gre.teCl: pan of the bodies o( the uni_erfe, we are

ignorant of the feveral powers, efficacies, and ways of

operation, whereby the effeas we daily (ee are. produced .

T hefe are hid from us

fome things, by

beio~

Iqo

re·

m ete;

in ather!, by beine,

loo

11Jinu/~.

When we eonfider the vafl diflance o( the knolVn and

...ifible pares of the warld, and the reafans we

have

think that what lies within ou r ken is but a fmall part

o f the immenfe univerfe, \Ve !hall then difcover an huge

abyfs of ignorance. V¡hat are the particular (abrieks o(

the grcat

ma{f~s

ofman er, which ruake up lhe whalefiu–

penduous

fram'!

of corporeal beiogs; how far they are

extended

and what is their motion, and how continued ;

;¡nd what influence lhey have upon one another; are con.

t emplations, that at

firft

glimp(e our thoughts lore them ·

klves in. I ( we confi ne Our thoughts to this linle

(y _

fiem of oue fun, ano lhe

gro(f~r md(r~S

of matter tha{ vi.

ably IRove . bout it;. \Vhat [enral

[OftS

of vegetablc.,

animals, and intelIeau.1 corporeal beings, inr,nite!y dif–

fe reOl (rom th o(e o( om littlc (pot o( earth, may probably

other

plantll,

the knowll!dge of WhlCh, Cvcn of

Ihe_lr outward

fig~res

and pan s, we can no way analo,

whtl fl

we are conbned tO thís eanh , there being no na.

tural me.lns, either by (enCuion or reficéh on, to Coove)'

thei r certain

idfOI

ioto our mlnds?

There are other bodies in lhe univerfe, no lefs con.

cealed from us by thei r

minUlenefl.

Thde iofen{ible

~orpu(cles

being the aétive

~arts

of man er, and the great

lOJt ru~ents

of na

r.c on WlllCh depend all their

~condQr.J

qu-. lltlcs and operau ons, our want of precife diffinét

ideaJ

of thelr

pril/Jory

qUd.lities keeps us in incurable igno–

ranee of what we deGre to know about t,hem. D id we

know' the m_echanic¿l <tiFet1ions of

rhubarb

aod

OpiUIII,

mlght as eOlhly account for their operations of

purging

caufillg

flap.

as a

watchmaker can for the motions of

his .,,,eh. The di([olving

Glver in

aqua forlil,

g oid

aqlla

regja~ ~nd

not

vice ver/a,

would be lhen,

perhaps, no more ddncult to know, than it

finilh

underfland why the turning o( one key \ViII open a lock,

and not the tUCDlng of anolher. But whiJIl we u e éid ti.

tute of (enres acute enough to dircover the minute parti.

cle. of bodies, and togive us

idea.rof

their medtanical af.

fel'hons, we mua be COntent to be ignorant of their pro.

perties and operations : Nor can we be .affu red about

them

any

farther thao fome few trials we make are abIe

t o reach; but whether (hey

\ViII

fucceed again anothet

time, we cannot be certain . T his hinders our cenajQ

kDowledge of univerfal truths conceroiñg natural bodies ;

and our rea(on carries us herein very linJe beyond pan i.

cular matters of faél-. A nd therefore

how (ar foever

h~man in:luflry may advanec: ufeful and

experimentlll phi·

lofophy

iD phyfical thing' , yet

[cien tifica/ w,1I

f1ilI beout

our reaeh ; becaufe

Wt:.

want perfeét and adequ;¡te

id~(/J

thofe very bodies which are neard i tO us, and mon under

our command.

T his, at lidl fight, {hews us how difproportionate our

knowledge is to (he whole eXlent , even of

mal erial

be·

ings ; tOwhich if we add the confideralion of that infinite

number o(

[piritl

th.. m.y be, and prob.bly are, whieh are

yet more remote from our kno w]edge, whereof \Ve haTe

cogniz4nce ; we Ch,dl find (his caure

ignortlnce con–

ceal (rom us, in aD irupenet rabJe obfcurilY, almon lhe

whoJe

;ulelie{luai

world, a greater certainly, and a more

beautiful world than lhe

m:Jt~rial :

Fo r b.lllng fome ver)'

few

ideaJ

of fpirit we gel rroro our own mind

refl..:c·

tion, and from Ihence the beJl

c;:n colleét of the

F.Jlh(r

all

[piri fl ,

the Author o( them and us dnd alJ tllings,

\Ve

h-.vt:

cenain informarion ro mUr...h as of rhe exill·

ence of other rpiri rs but by rc:vclation; much Icfs have

dirliuét

ideal

of [heir dilferent natures, fldtes, powers.

and fcveral conllinu ions, wherC'in they 3gree qr

d"r~r

one

from another, :lnd from us ; And Iherefore in what COD·

cerns theír

diff~r~nt

fpe;ies and propenies

we are undcr

an ahfolure ignorance .

'The

ftt'ol/d

caure of igr.onncc, is the

.JJ.Jn

f ,:!

di/co–

vernóle con'1cf}

ion

b!t'veen chofe:

id({p

h.Jve: ' Vhere

w.tnt

thAr, we l rc: lluerly ..

l e

,?,¡!>I::

lJlJlverf"

.,nd

cerlain

kno\Uledg'!: ano a: e,

-:\5

(h~

forme r c"fe, Jefc

only to

obfirval/M

and

e,y¡criJllenl .

T hus the lDedu-

Dleal!