we, and those of our mind, are men of reason therefore we agreeing, our principles are innate; which is a very pretty way of arguing, and a short cut to infallibility. For otherwise it will be very hard to understand, how there be some principles, which all men do acknowledge and agree in; and yet there are none of these principles, which are not by depraved custom, and ill education, blotted out of the minds of many men: which is to say that all men admit, but yet many men do deny, and dissent from them. And indeed the supposition of such first principles will serve us to very little purpose; and we shall be as much at a loss with as without them, if they may

by any human power, such as is the will of our teach

ers, or opinions of our companions, be altered or lost in us and notwithstanding all this boast of First Principles, and Innate Light, we shall be as much in the dark and uncertainty, as if there were no such thing at all: it being all one, to have no rule, and one that will warp any way, or amongst various and contrary rules, not to know which is the right. But concerning innate principles, I desire these men to say, whether they can or cannot, by education and custom, be blurred and blotted out: if they cannot we must find them in all mankind alike, and they must be clear in every body and if they may suffer variation from adventitious notions, we then must find them clearest and most perspicuous nearest the foun

i

tain, in children and illiterate people, who have received least impression from foreign opinions. Let them take which side they please, they will certainly find it inconsistent with visible matter of fact, and daily observation.”

There are many opinions embraced by men of dif ferent countries, educations and tempers, as first principles, which from their contradiction cannot be true; but are so sacred, that men of good understanding in other matters will sooner part with their lives than suffer the truth of them to be questioned. This will not appear so wonderful, if we consider how doctrines, derived from no better original than the superstition of a nurse, or the authority of an old woman, may by length of time and consent of neighbours grow up to the dignity of principles in religion or morality. Those who are careful to principle children well (as they call it) teach them, as soon as they have any apprehension, the doctrines they would have them retain and profess; which, as they grow up, are confirmed in them by the open profession or tacit consent of those whose wisdom and piety they have an opinion of; and being never mentioned but as the foundation of Religion and Manners, acquire the reputation of unquestionable and innate truths. Men thus instructed, finding on reflection that their opinions are more antient than any thing which they can remember, conclude, from

having no memory of their origin, that they are the impress of God and nature upon their minds, and not taught them by any one else.

This will appear almost unavoidable, if we consider the nature of man, and the constitution of human affairs: that most men cannot live without employing their time in the daily labours of their calling, nor be quiet in their minds without some foundation or principles to rest their thoughts on. Almost every one has some reverenced propositions, by which he judges of Truth and Falshood, Right and Wrong; which some cannot, and others think they ought not to examine; so that few are to be found, who are not exposed by their ignorance, laziness, education, or precipitancy, to take them upon trust.

Custom, a greater power than nature, seldom fails to make children worship for divine what she has once inured them to bow their minds to: it is no wonder then that grown men, perplexed in the affairs of life, or hot in the pursuit of pleasures, should not seriously sit down to examine their own tenets; especially, when one of their principles is,—that Principles ought not to be questioned. Who is there almost, that dares shake the foundation of all his past thoughts and actions, contend with the reproach prepared for those who venture to dissent from the opinions of their country or party, and patiently prepare himself to bear the name of Whimsical,

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Sceptical, or Atheist, which he is sure to meet with who dares in the least scruple any of the common opinions? much less will he dare question those principles, when he shall think them, as most men do, the standards set up by God in his mind, to be the rule and touchstone of all other opinions, and what can hinder him from thinking them sacred, when he finds them the earliest of all his own thoughts, and the most reverenced by others?

comes

"It is easy to imagine, how by these means it to pass, that men worship the idols that have been set up in their minds; grow fond of the notions they have been long acquainted with there; and stamp the characters of divinity upon absurdities and errors, become zealous votaries to bulls and monkeys; and contend too, fight, and die in defence of their opinions. Dum solos credit habendos esse deos, quos ipse colit. For since the reasoning faculties of the soul, which are almost constantly, though not always warily nor wisely employed, would not know how to move, for want of a foundation and footing, in most men, (who, through laziness or avocation, do not, or for want of time, or true helps, or for other causes, cannot penetrate into the principles of knowledge, and trace truth to its fountain and original,) it is natural for them, and almost unavoidable, to take up with some borrowed principles; which being reputed and presumed to be the evident proofs of other

things, are thought not to need any other proofs themselves. Whoever shall receive any of these into his mind, and entertain them there, with the reverence usually paid to principles, never venturing to examine them, but accustoming himself to believe them, because they are to be believed, may take up from his education, and the fashions of his country, any absurdity for innate principles; and by long poring on the same objects, so dim his sight, as to take monsters lodged in his own brain for the images of the deity, and the workmanship of his hands."

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innate ideas for where Ideas themselves are not, there can be no knowledge, no assent, no mental or verbal propositions about them.We have little reason to think that children bring many ideas into the world with them: for, excepting perhaps some