It is therefore most worthy of our consideration, to recollect their
several defects, that so we may the better understand how to supply them,
and by what assistances we may _inlarge_ their power, and _secure_ them in
performing their particular duties.
As for the actions of our _Senses_, we cannot but observe them to be in
many particulars much outdone by those of other Creatures, and when at
best, to be far short of the perfection they seem capable of: And these
infirmities of the Senses arise from a double cause, either from the
_disproportion of the Object to the Organ_, whereby an infinite number of
things can never enter into them, or else from _error in the Perception_,
that many things, which come within their reach, are not received in a
right manner.
The like frailties are to be found in the _Memory;_ we often let many
things _slip away_ from us, which deserve to be retain'd, and of those
which we treasure up, a great part is either _frivolous_ or _false_; and if
good, and substantial, either in tract of time _obliterated_, or at best so
_overwhelmed_ and buried under more frothy notions, that when there is need
of them, they are in vain sought for.
The two main foundations being so deceivable, it is no wonder, that all
the succeeding works which we build upon them, of arguing, concluding,
defining, judging, and all the other degrees of Reason, are lyable to the
same imperfection, being, at best, either vain, or uncertain: So that the
errors of the _understanding_ are answerable to the two other, being
defective both in the quantity and goodness of its knowledge; for the
limits, to which our thoughts are confin'd, are small in respect of the
vast extent of Nature it self; some parts of it are _too large_ to be
comprehended, and some _too little_ to be perceived.
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