n NOTES 99 



of thought and power consequently the existence 

 of anything in the universe beyond a flow of 

 phenomena is a purely hypothetical assumption. 

 Indeed a pyrrhonist might raise the objection that if 

 ' esse ' is ' percipi ' spirit itself can have no existence 

 except as a perception, hypostatized into a ' self,' or 

 as a perception of some other spirit. In the former 

 case, objective reality vanishes ; in the latter, there 

 would seem to be the need of an infinite series of 

 spirits each perceiving the others. 



It is curious to observe how very closely the 

 phraseology of Berkeley sometimes approaches that 

 of the Stoics : thus (cxlviii.) " It seems to be a 

 general pretence of the unthinking herd that they 



cannot see God But, alas, we need only open our 



eyes to see the Sovereign Lord of all things with a 

 more full and clear view, than we do any of our 



fellow-creatures we do at all times and in all 



places perceive manifest tokens of the Divinity : 

 everything we see, hear, feel, or any wise perceive by 

 sense, being a sign or effect of the power of God " 



cxlix. /'It is therefore plain, that nothing can 



be more evident to any one that is capable of the 

 least reflection, titan the existence of God, or a spirit 

 who is intimately present to our minds, producing in 

 them all that variety of ideas or sensations which 

 continually affect us, on whom we have an absolute 

 and entire dependence, in short, in whom we live and 

 move and have our being." cl. [But you will say hath 

 Nature no share in the production of natural things, 

 and must they be all ascribed to the immediate and 



sole operation of God ? if by Xature is meant some 



H2 



