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Sect. 3. Game, which, they know, rather amufes the Prejudic'd of their own fide, than edifies the Adverfaries of any fort. I wish there were more even of a well-meaning Zeal without Knowledg, than of Art or Cunning in this Conduct.

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That nothing ought to be call'd a
MYSTERY, because we have
not an adequate Idea of all its
Properties, nor any at all of its
Effence.

8.

I

Shall discuss this Point with all the Perfpicuity I am able. And, firft, I affirm, That nothing can be faid to be a Mystery, because we have not an adequate Idea of it, or a distinct View of all its Properties at once; for then every thing would be a Mystery. The Knowledg of finite Creatures is gradually progreffive, as Objects are prefented to the Understanding. Adam

did

did not know fo much in the twentieth Ch. 2. as in the hundredth Year of his Age; and Jefus Chrift is exprefly recorded to have encreas'd in Wisdom as well as in Luk. 2.52, Stature. We are faid to know a thoufand things, nor can we doubt of it; yet we never have a full Conception of whatever belongs to them. I underftand nothing better than this Table upon which I am now writing: I conceive it divisible into Parts beyond all Imagination; but fhall I fay it is above my Reafon because I cannot count thefe Parts,nor diftinctly perceive their Quantity and Figures? I am convinc'd that Plants have a regular Contexture, and a multitude of Vessels, many of them equivalent or analogous to those of Animals, whereby they receive a Juice from the Earth, and prepare it, changing fome into their own Subftance, and evacuating the excrementitious Parts. But I do not clearly.comprehend how all thefe Operations are perform'd, tho I know very well what is meant by a Tree.

9. The Reafon is, because knowing nothing of Bodies but their Properties, God has wifely provided we should underftand

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Sea.

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3. ftand no more of these than are useful and neceffary for us; which is all our prefent Condition needs. Thus our Eyes are not given us to fee all Quantities, nor perhaps any thing as it is in it felf, but as it bears fome Relation to us. What is too minute, as it escapes our Sight, fo it can neither harm nor benefit us: and we have a better View of Bodies the nearer we approach them, because then they become more convenient or inconvenient; but as we remove farther off, we lose their Sight with their Influence. I'm perfwaded there's no Motion which does not excite fome Sound in Ears difpos'd to be affected with proportionable Degrees of Force from the Air; and, it may be, the small Animals concern'd can hear the Steps of the Spider, as we do thofe of Men and Cattel. From these and Millions of other Inftances, it is manifeft, that we have little Certainty sof any thing but as it is noxious or beneficial to us.

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10. Rightly speaking then, we are accounted to comprehend any thing when its chief Properties and their feveral Ufes are known to us: for

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to comprehend in all correct Authors Ch. 2. is nothing else but to know; and as of what is not knowable we can have no Idea, So it is nothing to us. It is improper therefore to fay a thing is above our Reason, because we know no more of it than concerns us, and ridiculous to fuperfede our Difquifitions about it upon that score. What fhould we think of a Man that would ftifly maintain Water to be above his Reason, and that he would never enquire into its Nature, nor employ it in his House or Grounds, becaufe he knows not how many Particles go to a Drop; whether the Air paffes through it, is incorporated with it, or neither? This is for all the World as if I would not go because I cannot fly. Now seeing the Denominations of things are borrow'd from their known Properties, and that no Properties are knowable but what concern us, or ferve to discover fuch as do, we cannot be accountable for comprehending no other, nor juftly requir'd

more

* Εγώ δ ̓ ἔτ ̓ ἄλλοτὶ καταλεπτὸν ἡγομαι σημαίνει πραὶ τὸ γνωσὸν, ἔτ ̓ ἀλλὰ τὸ καταλαμβάνεται το Ο βεβαιως γινώσκειν. Γαληνό i aeις, διδάσκαλο

Sect. 3. more by reasonable Men, much lefs by the all-wife DEITY.

11. The moft compendious Method therefore to acquire fure and ufeful Knowledg, is not to trouble our felves nor others with what is useless, were it known; or what is impoffible to be known at all. Since I eafily perceive the good or bad Effects of Rain upon the Earth, what fhould I be the better did I comprehend its Generation in the Clouds ? for after all I could make no Rain at my Pleasure, nor prevent its falling at any time. A probable Hypothefts will not give Satisfaction in fuch Cafes: The Hands, for Example, of two Clock-Dials may have the fame external Motion, tho the Difpofition of the latent Springs which produce it fhould be very different. And to affirm this or that to be the way, will not do, unless you can demonftrate that no other poffible Way remains. Nay, fhould you hit upon the real Manner, you can never be fure of it, because the Evidence of Matters of Fact folely depends upon Teftimony: And it follows not that fuch a thing is so, because it may be fo.

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12. The

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