An Essay on the Signs of Ideas. 263 
safely say, has ever been able to form any 
idea of him.‘ Forasall works,” to use the 
« Janguage of Lord Bacon, “ do shew forth 
« the power and skill of the workman, and 
« not his image, soit is of the works of God, 
« which do shew the omnipotency and wis- 
«“ dom of the maker, but not his image.’’* 
There are other words of the same kind, such 
as mind, spirit, &c. which, although they are 
to be considered as the names of things, that 
in all probability havea real existence, yet of 
those things we cannot form any idea. And 
it may be asked, why can we form no idea of 
them? Because they aresuch as have made 
no impressions on our organs of sense. 
The fourth division includes not only those 
words, which, as generally employed, do ne- 
* Of the Advancement of Learning, Book 2. “ Sicut 
enim opificis potentiam et peritiam ostendunt opera ejus, 
imaginem autem minimé ; sic opera Dei, conditoris omni- 
potentiam et sapientiam ostendunt, imaginem ejus haud- 
quaquam depingunt.” De Augmentis Scientiarum. Lib. 
iii. Cap. ii. 
+ Our knowledge, on such subjects as those above men- 
tioned, is evidently obtained, not by impressions on the 
senses, but by various processes of reasoning ;—it seems 
possible, however, that there may exist created beings, gift- 
ed with other senses, by which they are able to acquire 
ideas of those existences that are known to us only by 
inference. 
