ATREATISE 



what ncyther our fanfie, nor any corporeall thing can arrive to 

 the expreflion of : as when firft we finde, that one man hath 

 arcfpecT: to the will, which we call the power of feeing it 5 if af- 

 terwards we find that another man hath a refpeft unto the wall 

 of impotence, that he cannot fee it,this focond refpecl the under- 

 ftanding hath a power to exprefie as well as the firft : as we have 

 touched above. 



g. As for the oppofition that occurreth in our thoughts, we may 



That things in confident of two kinds : the one is of the things cr ob/efts that 



thcmfelvcs op- CO me into our thoughts or into our foule and this is not proper- 



hahyvlMP no ^ an opp ^ 011 m the ^ GU ^ e J * or although the things be oppofite 



oppofidon m by their owne nature in themlelves, yet they doe- not exercifc 



thefbule, doth their oppofitionin theknile : nay 5 thongh the oppofition be even 



prove the fame, in the fuule it felfe, if the foule with this oppofition, beconfidc- 



redasanob/ccl, it maketh no oppofition in the foule; for fo you 



may confideryonr foul learned and unlearned, ignorant & know- 



ing, good and bad, and the like: all which are oppofitions in a 



foule fuppofed to be fo qualify ed, but arc no oppofitions in a foole 



that confidcreth them : no more then fire and water,heavy things 



and light, white and t blackj being and not being, an affirmative 



propolition and its negative, and the like : all which are in them- 



felves fo contrary and oppofite to one another, that they cannot 



confitt together in one fubjecT: ; they have an incompoffibility 



among themfelves, whereieevertheoneofthemis, by its very 



entrance it drivcthout its oppofite : and yet in the foul they agree 



together without reluctance: ilieknowcth and cenfidereth and 



weigheth both fides of the fcale at the fame time, and ballanceth 



them evenly one againft another : for unlefle both the oppofites 



were in the fame inftant in the fame comparing power, that po- 



wer could not by one aft whofe beginning implyeth its ending, 



judge the difference tnd oppofition f them: as when we fay 



blacky is contrary to white, or darkneffe is the want f light ,we pre- 



nounce one common not being of both extremes. 



We may then boldly conclude, that fince no body whatfbevcr 

 can entertaine atthefametime,andin the fame place, thefe quar- 

 relling Antagnifts,but that by their conflicl, they prefently de- 

 ftroy one another, and peradvcnture the body too, into which 

 they prefle for entrance, and the entire pofleflion of which each 

 of them ftriveth for ; (thofe of them I meane, that are propor- 



tioned 



