Chap. IV. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 225 



had Ideas, as wc cannot conceive a Soul without Ideas ; but, when 

 we come into generation, and are united to the Body, thefe Ideas are 

 obliterated, and, as it were, effaced. They continue, however. 

 Hill in the Mind, though in a latent ftatc, obfcured and overlaid, if 

 I may Co fpeak, by our vegetable and animal part, but are excited 

 and revived by the operation of external objects upon our organs 

 of Senfe ; for fuch is the connedtion which God and Nature have 

 ordained betwixt our intclledual and fenfitive part. Being fo revi- 

 ved, they continue in the Mind for fome time, but not all prefent 

 together, as we muft fuppofe they were when the Mind was pure 

 and difengaged from Matter, but only called up, and prefented to 

 the Mind, upon occafions. This faculty of Recolledion and Re- 

 mlnifcence is loft by degrees, and then the Idea or Perception, 

 of whatever kind, is loft for the prefent, as much as if it had 

 never been in the Mind. In this cafe was the Comtefle with refpedt 

 to the Breton language ; and in the fame cafe is every one with re- 

 fpedt to what he has once learned, but has abfolutely forgot. In 

 that ftate, thefe perceptions are as much latent as when we came 

 fir ft into this world j nor can they be again revived (fuch is the or- 

 der of Nature,) while our Mind continues perfedtly united, as it is 

 in our ordinary ftate, with the Body ; but, when that union is en- 

 tirely diffolved, then will all thefe perceptions be again revived, 

 and the Mind will enjoy itfelf, and continue in the pofleflion of all 

 its Ideas, without interruption or difturbance from Body ; and I think 

 it is a comfortable thought to every philofopher, and lover of know- 

 ledge, that, whatever we acquire of that kind, during this life, fhall 

 not be loft to us in the next. Now, betwixt the utter diflblution of 

 Mind and Body and our ordinary ftate, there is a kind of middle 

 ftate, in which we are while we are afleep, or affeded by certain 

 difeafes j and then the Mind, being difincumbered in fome de- 

 gree of the body, exerts her native power, and refumes fome part 

 of that knowledge which fhe had loft by oblivion. In a fituation 

 Vol. II. F f not 



