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# Title: An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding (shelfmarks Leibn. Marg. 38; ZEN Leibn. Marg. 38)
# Folio 155, page id 778263916:0171
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Relation.
Thohes the Pdeu oF che ordinare Duration ot a Man co be seventr rears
wrhen ire Car a Mtan is Toune, re mean; that his Ase is vet but a (mali
part of that wrhrich ulually Men attain to: And iwhen e denominate hirri
Oid, We mean, that his Durarion is run out almost to the end of that
Wrhich Men do not ulually excecd. And lo tis but comparins che particu.
lar AsC, or Durarion oFthis or that Man, to the Idea oF that Duration
trhich re have in our Nlinds, as ordinarils belonoino EO Fhat COrt OF Ani-
mals: Which is plain, in the application of these Names to ocher Thines;
for a Man is called vouno at evener rears, and very roune at sever
rears old: But yet a FTorie we call old at tventr, and a D0g at seven
vears; because in cach of chese, we compare their Age to ditterent Ideas
et Duration Wrhrich are setled in our Mines, as belonoino to these severai
Ports ot Animals, in the ordinary course ot Nature. But the Sun, and
Scars, thousl ther have outlasted several Generations of Men, We calI
HOt old, because we do not knor What period CFOD hath set EO FhaL COrt
et Beings. This Term belongins proverlr to those Thines, Wwhich ve
can oblerve in the ordinarr course ot Thinos, by a natural decar tocome
to an end, in a certain period of time; and lo have in our Minds, as it
arere, a Standtard to which re can compare the several pares ol their Du:
ration; and by the relation ches bear thereunto, call them roune, or old;
irhich re cannot theretore do to a Ruby, or a Diamond, chinss rhole
usual periods ve know not.
8. 5. The Rebation also that thinos have co oneanother, in their Places
and Distances, is very obrious to oblerve; as Above, Belor, a Mile di-
stant Froni Charing. Cross, in Encland, and in London. But as in Duration,
10 in Exiension and Bullc, there are lonie Ideas that are relarive, whrich
ve Bonitie Dy Nares, thac are chouxhe Posuire; as Oreat, and Little, are
truly Relations. For here also havino, by observation, setled in our Minds
the Ideas oftheBignels ofseveral Species oF Thines, trom thole re have
boen most accustomed t0, e ake theri, as it vere, the Standards Where.
by to denominate the Bulk oF others. Thus We call a sreat Applo, such
an one a5 is biooer than the ordinary sort ot thole e have beeri
ased to; and a lierle PTOrse, such an one as COmeS nOL uP tO the siZC OF
that Idea, Which e have in our Minds, to belono ordinarily to TTOr-
ses: And that will be a oreat Horseto a Wels. man, Which is but a lietle
Oneto a Flemine; they rvo havine trom the different Brecd ol their
Conneries, calen several (I2 d Ideas to wtrich they compare, and in rela-
tion to which they denominare their Creat, and cheir Licrle.
5. 6. So literise Weak and Strong are bur relative Denominations oF
Porver, compared to Tome Ldea Wwe have, at tlrat rime, ot greater or lels
POIVer. Thus Wwhen re (aY a Weak Mar, We mean one that has not (0
much Strensch, or Porer to move, as ulually men have, or ulually those
oF his size have; wtrich is a comparine his Strensth, to the ldea ne have
oF the usual Strength oF Men, or Men oP such a Cize. The litee nhen
ve lav the Creatures are alt veak Thinos: WealE, there, is but a re-
latire rerm, signityins che disproportion there is in the Poer ot
GOD, and the Creatures. And (o abundance ofWords, in ordinary
Spcech, Sand only for Relations, (and, perhars, chegreatest Part,) Wrhich
at sirst Cighe, seem eo have no such signitication: 2. 8. The Strip has neces
Pary Stores: Necessary, and Stores, are boch relarire Words; one havino
2 relatior tothe accomplistrins the thing incended, and ihe other to future
usc. AII ehich Relations, hor ther are continedta, and terminate in
Ideas derived trom Sensation, or Reftection, is 100 obrious to need any
Fixplication.