fuch are the Infinity and Eternity of God himself, the Union of our own Soul and Body, the Union of the divine and human Natures in Jefus Chrift, the Operation of the holy Spirit on the Mind of Man, &c. Thefe ought not to be called Words without Ideas, for there is fufficient Evidence for the Reality and Certainty of the Existence of their Objects, tho' there is fome Confufion in our cleareft Conceptions of them; and our Ideas of them, tho' imperfect, are yet fufficient to converse about them, fo far as we have Need, and to determine fo much as is neceffary for our own Faith and Practice.

Direct. II. Do not fuppofe that the Natures or Effences of things always differ from one another, as much as their Names do. There are various Purposes in human Life, for which we put very different Names on the fame thing, or on things, whofe Natures are near akin; and thereby oftentimes, by making a new nominal Species, we are ready to deceive ourselves with the Idea of another real Species of Beings: And those whofe Underftandings are led away by the mere Sound of Words, fancy the Nature of those things to be very different whofe Names are fo, and judge of them accordingly.

I may borrow a remarkable Inftance for my Purpose almoft out of every Garden, which contains a Variety of Plants in it. Moft or all Plants agree in this, that they have a Root, a Stalk, Leaves, Buds, Bloffoms and Seeds: But the Gardiner ranges them under very different Names, as tho' they were really different Kinds of Beings, merely because of the different Ufe and Service to which they are applied by Men: As for Inftance,

thofe

thofe Plants whofe Roots are eaten fhall appropriate the Name of Roots to themselves; fuch are Carrots, Turnips, Radishes, &c. If the Leaves are of chief use to us, then we call them Herbs; as Sage, Mint, Thyme: If the Leaves are eaten raw they are termed Sallad; as Lettuce, Purflain: If boiled, they become Pot-herbs; as Spinage, Coleworts; and fome of those same Plants, which are Pot-herbs in one Family, are Sallad in another. If the Buds are made our Food, they are called Heads, or Tops; fo Cabbage Heads, Heads of Afparagus and Artichoaks. If the Blossom be of most Importance, we call it a Flower; fuch are Daifies, Tulips and Carnations, which are the mere Bloffoms of thofe Plants. If the Husk or Seeds are eaten, they are call'd the Fruits of the Ground, as Peafe, Beans, Strawberries, &c. If any Part of the Plant be of known and common Ufe to us in Medicine, we call it a physical Herb, as Carduus, Scurvy-grafs; but if we count no part useful, we call it a Weed, and throw it out of the Garden; and yet perhaps our next Neighbour knows fome valuable Property and use of it; he plants it in his Garden, and gives it the Title of an Herb or a Flower. You fee here how fmall is the real Diftinction of these feveral Plants, confider'd in their general Nature as the leffer Vegetables: yet what very different Ideas we vulgarly form concerning them, and make different Species of them, chiefly because of the different Names given them.

Now when things are fet in this clear Light, it appears how ridiculous it would be for two Perfons to contend, whether Dandelion be a Herb, or a Weed; whether it be a Pot-herb or Sallad; when by the Custom or Fancy of different Families, this one Plant obtains all these Names, ac

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cording

cording to the feveral Uses of it, and the Value that is put upon it.

Note, here, that I find no manner of Fault with the Variety of Names which are given to feveral Plants, according to the various Ufes we make of them. But I would not have our Judgments impofed upon hereby, to think that these mere nominal Species, viz. Herbs, Sallad and Weeds become three really different Species of Beings, on this Account, that they have different Names and Ufes. But I proceed to other Inftances.

It has been the Cuftom of Mankind, when they have been angry with any thing, to add a new ill Name to it, that they may convey thereby a hateful Idea of it, tho' the Nature of the thing still abides the fame. So the Papists call the Proteftants Hereticks: A prophane Perfon calls a Man of Piety a Precifian: And in the Times of the Civil War in the last Century, the Royalifts call'd the Parliamentarians, Fanaticks, Roundheads and Sectaries: And they in requital call'd the Royalifts, Malignants: But the Partizans on each fide were really neither better nor worse for these Names.

It has also been a frequent Practice on the other Hand, to put new favourable Names upon ill Ideas, on purpose to take off the Odium of them. But notwithstanding all these flattering Names and Titles, a Man of profufe Generofity is but a Spendthrift; a natural Son is a Baftard ftill; a Gallant is an Adulterer, and a Lady of Pleasure is a Whore.

Direct. III. Take heed of believing the Nature and Effence of two or more things to be certainly the fame, because they may have the fame Name given them. This has been an unhappy and fatal Occa

fion of a thousand Mistakes in the natural, in the civil, and in the religious Affairs of Life, both amongst the Vulgar and the Learned. I fhall give two or three Inftances, chiefly in the Matters of Natural Philofophy, having hinted feveral Dangers of this Kind, relating to Theology in the foregoing Difcourfe concerning Equivocal Words.

Our elder Philofophers have generally made use of the Word SouL to fignify that Principle whereby a Plant grows, and they called it the vegetative Soul The Principle of the animal Motion of a Brute has been likewife call'd a Soul, and we have been taught to name it the fenfitive Soul: They have alfo given the Name Soul, to that fuperior Principle in Man, whereby he thinks, judges, reafons, &c. and tho' they diftinguish'd this by the honourable Title of the rational Soul, yet in common Discourse and Writing we leave out the Words vegetative, fenfitive and rational; and make the Word Soul ferve for all these Principles: Thence we are led early into this Imagination, that there is a fort of fpiritual Being in Plants and in Brutes, like that in Men. Whereas if we did but abstract and feparate thefe Things from Words, and compare the Caufe of Growth in a Plant, with the Caufe of Reasoning in Man (without the Word Soul) we fhall never think that thefe two Principles were at all like one another; nor fhould we perhaps fo eafily and peremptorily conclude, that Brutes need an intelligent Mind to perform their animal Actions.

Another Instance may be the Word LIFE, which being attributed to Plants, to Brutes, and to Men, and in each of them afcribed to the Soul, has very easily betrayed us from our Infancy into this Mistake, that the Spirit, or Mind, or thinking Principle, in Man, is the Spring of vegetative G

and

an animal life to his Body: Whereas it is evident, that if the Spirit or thinking Principle of Man gave Life to his animal Nature, the Way to fave Men from dying would not be to use Medicines, but to perfuade the Spirit to abide in the Body.

;

I might derive a third Inftance from the Word HEAT; which is used to fignify the Senfation we have when we are near the Fire, as well as the Caufe of that Senfation which is in the Fire itself ; and thence we conclude from our Infancy, that there is a fort of Heat in the Fire resembling our own Senfation, or the Heat which we feel: Whereas in the Fire there is nothing but little Particles of Matter, of fuch particular Shapes, Sizes, Situations and Motions as are fitted to imprefs fuch Motions on our Flesh or Nerves as excite the Senfe of Heat. Now if this Cause of our Senfation in the Fire had been always called by a diftinct Name, perhaps we had not been fo rooted in this Mistake, that the Fire is hot with the fame fort of Heat that we feel. This will appear with more Evidence, when we confider that we are fecure from the fame Miftake where there have been two different Names allotted to our Senfation, and to the Cause of it; as, we do not fay, Pain is in the Fire that burns us, or in the Knife that cuts and wounds us; for we call it burning in the Fire, cutting in the Knife, and Pain only, when it is in our felves.

Numerous Inftances of this Kind might be deriv'd from the Words fweet, four, loud, fhrill, and almost all the fenfible Qualities, whofe real Natures we mistake from our very Infancy, and we are ready to fuppose them to be the fame in us, and in the Bodies that cause them; partly, because the Words which fignify our own Sensations, are ap