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116 lines
7.6 KiB
116 lines
7.6 KiB
12 years ago
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<p> </p>
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<h1 align="center">THE PREFACE</h1>
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<img src="images/Octavo/micro.jpg" width="381" height="384"> </div>
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<div align="right">
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<p align="left"> </p>
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<p> </p>
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</div>
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<blockquote>
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<div align="left">
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<p><font size="5"> <font size="4">It is the great prerogative of Mankind above
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other Creatures, that we are not only able to behold the works of Nature,
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or barely to sustein our lives by them, but we have also the power of considering,
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comparing, altering, assisting, and improving them to various uses. </font></font></p>
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<p><font size="4">And as this is the peculiar priviledge of humane Nature
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in general, so is it capable of being so far advanced by the helps of Art,
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and Experience, as to make some Men excel others in their Observations,
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and Deductions, almost as much as they do Beasts. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">By the addition of such artificial Instruments and methods,
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there may be, in some manner, a reparation made for the mischiefs, and imperfection,
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mankind has drawn upon itself, by negligence, and intemperance, and a wilful
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and superstitious deserting the Prescripts and Rules of Nature, whereby
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every man, both from a deriv'd corruption, innate and born with him, and
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from his breeding and converse with men, is very subject to slip into all
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sorts of errors. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">The only way which now remains for us to recover some degree
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of those former perfections, seems to be, by rectifying the operations of
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the Sense, the Memory, and Reason, since upon the evidence, the strength,
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the integrity, and the right correspondence of all these, all the light,
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by which our actions are to be guided, is to be renewed, and all our command
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over things is to be establisht.</font></p>
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<p><font size="4"> It is therefore most worthy of our consideration, to recollect
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their several defects, that so we may the better understand how to supply
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them, and by what assistances we may inlarge their power, and secure them
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in performing their particular duties.</font></p>
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<p><font size="4">As for the actions of our Senses, we cannot but observe
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them to be in many particulars much outdone by those of other Creatures,
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and when at best, to be far short of the perfection they seem capable of
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: And these infirmities of the Senses arise from a double cause, either
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from the disproportion of the Object to the Organ, whereby an infinite number
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of things can never enter into them, or else from error in the Perception,
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that many things, which come within their reach, are not received in a right
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manner. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">The like frailties are to be found in the Memory; we often
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let many things slip away from us, which deserve to be retain'd; and of
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those which we treasure up, a great part is either frivolous or false ;
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and if good, and substantial, either in tract of time obliterated, or at
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best so overwhelmed and buried under more frothy notions, that when there
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is need of them, they are in vain sought for. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">The two main foundations being so deceivable, it is no wonder,
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that all the succeeding works which we build upon them, of arguing, concluding,
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defining, judging, and all the other degrees of Reason, are lyable to the
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same imperfection, being, at best, either vain, or uncertain: So that the
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errors of the understanding are answerable to the two other, being defective
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both in the quantity and goodness of its knowledge; for the limits, to which
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our thoughts are confind, are small in respect of the vast extent of Nature
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it self; some parts of it are too large to be comprehended, and some too
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little to be perceived. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">And from thence it must follow, that not having a full sensation
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of the Object, we must be very lame and imperfect in our conceptions about
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it, and in all the propositions which we build upon it; hence we often take
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the shadow of things for the substance, small appearances for good similitudes,
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similitudes for definitions; and even many of those, which we think to be
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the most solid definitions, are rather expressions of our own misguided
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apprehensions then of the true nature of the things themselves. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">The effects of these imperfections are manifested in different
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ways, according to the temper and disposition of the several minds of men,
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some they incline to gross ignorance and stupidity, and others to a presumptuous
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imposing on other mens Opinions, and a confident dogmatizing on matters,
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whereof there is no assurance to be given. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">Thus all the uncertainty, and mistakes of humane actions,
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proceed either from the narrowness and wandring of our Senses, from the
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slipperiness or delusion of our Memory, from the confinement or rashness
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of our Understanding, so that 'tis no wonder, that our power over natural
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causes and effects is so slowly improvd, seeing we are not only to contend
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with the obscurity and difficulty of the things whereon we work and think,
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but even the forces of our own minds conspire to betray us. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">These being the dangers in the process of humane Reason,
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the remedies of them all can only proceed from the real, the mechanical,
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the experimental Philosophy, which has this advantage over the Philosophy
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of discourse and disputation, that whereas that chiefly aims at the subtilty
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of its Deductions and Conclusions, without much regard to the first groundwork,
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which ought to be well laid on the Sense and Memory ; so this intends the
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right ordering of them all, and the making them serviceable to each other.
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</font></p>
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<p><font size="4">The first thing to be undertaken in this weighty work, is
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a watchfulness over the failings and an inlargement of the dominion, of
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the Senses. To which end it is requisite, first, That there should be a
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scrupulous choice, and a strict examination, of the reality, constancy,
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and certainty of the Particulars that we admit: This is the first rise whereon
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truth is to begin, and here the most severe, and most impartial diligence,
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must be imployed ; the storing up of all, without any regard to evidence
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or use, will only tend to darkness and confusion. </font></p>
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<p><font size="4">We must not therefore esteem the riches of our Philosophical
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treasure by the number only, but chiefly by the weight; the most vulgar
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Instances are not to be neglected, but above all, the most instructive are
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to be entertain'd: the footsteps of Nature are to be trac'd, not only in
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her ordinary course,but when she seems to be put to her shifts, to make
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many doublings and turnings, and to use some kind of art in indeavouring
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to avoid our discovery. </font></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p><a href="king.html"><img src="images/htmldemo/back.jpg" width="146" height="40" align="left" border="0"></a><a href="seaweed.html"><img src="images/htmldemo/forward.jpg" width="196" height="40" align="right" border="0"></a></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p> </p>
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</div>
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</blockquote>
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</body>
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</html>
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