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# Title: An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding (shelfmarks Leibn. Marg. 38; ZEN Leibn. Marg. 38)
# Folio 107, page id 778263916:0123
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Be
Ve
ere
at
Ihis Idea OF sill OrCaTer, to all the Ideas rou have, or ean be supvosed te
tiave ot Ouantier; aud Whecher suchi an Idea as chac, be policire, L leave
ans one to consicter.
8. L6. Pasle Chose who lay cher have 2 positive Idea of Pternity, Whether
their Idea ot Duration includes in it Succertion, ernot: FF it do nOt, they
ougheto ser the difterence ol their Notion ot Duration, Wrhen applied
to an ciernal Beins, and to a finire; Lince, perhaps, there may be others
as Well as I, Wto will omnto them cheir Weabness oF Onderltandine in
ehis point, and acknomledse, That the Notions ther have ol Duration,
Torcethem to conceive, ThatWharever has Duration, is oFa longer conri-
nuance to dar, than it ras relterdar. IE to avoid Succession in eternal
Existence, they recurro ehe Punctum Stans ol the Schools, I suppose ther
Will thereby very livele mend the matrer, or help us eo a more elear and
Positire Idea ot intinite Duration, there beins nothine more inconceirable
to mio chan Durarion Without Succestion. Belides, that Punctum Stans, it
it Cienitie anr chine, beine not ruantum, Anite or infinite, cannot belons Eo
IF. BuF it Our rreak ApPrOhensIOnS CannOE separate SuCCeCTIOn FrOm aii
Duration WrhatIOCVer, OuT Pdea OF Fternier can be nothing but ot inf-
Hite SuCCesTIOn OF MOments oF Duration, Wrherein anz thins does exist;
arid Whecher anr one has, or canhave, a politire Ldea of an actual infinite
Number. Tleave himto consicler, till his infinite Number BC (O GreaE, FMaF
he himselEcanadd no more toit; and as lons as he caninerease it, I doubE
he himselE will chinh che Ldea hehathol ic, a lirtle t00 (canty Por polurire
Infinier.
8. 27. Tchinte ic unavoictable for every considerins rational Creature.
thac will buc examine his oirn, or any other Fxistenco, to hare the NO-
tion of an eternal wise Being, irho had no beginmins: And such an Idea
of infinite Duration, Tam sure Thave; but this Negation of a Bexinmine.
Deins burthe Negation ol a politire thins, scaree sives me a posirive Idea
of insinier; erhich Whenever Pendearour i0 extend my ThoughIS E0, Y
contels my sel(at a lols, and sind P cannot attain any clear comprehension
Otit.
5. 78. Hethat thintes he has a positive Idea ot intinite Space, illu
hen heconsiders it, find that he can no more have a posicive Idea oF ehe
Freatest, than he hasof rhe least Space: For in this latter, which scems
the casIer DFFhCEVO, and more wittiin our comprehen(IOn, We are ca-
pable orly ota comparative dea ot Smalness, trich ill alivays be less
than anz one vhereos re have rhe politive Idea; For allour politire Ideas
ot any Ouantier, Whether creat or licele, have altrays bounds, thougsi
our comparative Idea, Whereby e can alvars add tothe oric, and
tatce tromm the other, hath no bounds: For that etich remains cither great
or lirtle, not beins comprehended in that polutire idea re hare, lies
in obscurier; and we have no other Ldea ol it, but oF the pOrer oF
entargins the one, and diministrins the other Without Cea(INS. FOr
a Peltle and Mortar Will as soon brins ary Partiele of Marter to Indi
visibilier, as the accurest Thoushe ot a Mathematician: And 2
Surreyor may as soon wich his Chain, measure out intinite Space,
as a Philosopher by the quickest AighE OF Mind reach ic, or by thinbins
comprehend it, Wrhich is tohave a politive Idea of it. Fsethat thinkS on
a Cube oF an Inch diametre, has à clear and polutire Idea ot it in his
Mind, and (0 can Frame one oF = a = 3, and (o on rill he has the Idea in
his Thouohusof Comethins very very little, but zet reaches not the Idea
ot that incomprehenlible licrleness, irhich Dirision can produce. Whrat
remaius oe duatress, is ao lac som his Lhonosio, as tehen he lia beeari
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