plied alfo to fignify thofe unknown Shapes and Motions of the little Corpufcles which excite and cause those Senfations.

Direct. IV. In Converfation or Reading be diligent to find out the true Senfe, or diftinet Idea, which the Speaker or Writer affixes to his Words and efpecially to thofe Words which are the chief Subject of his Difcourfe. As far as poffible take heed, left you put more or fewer Ideas into one Word, than the Perfon did when he wrote or fpoke; and endeavour that your Ideas of every Word may be the fame as his were Then you will judge better of what he fpeaks or writes.

It is for want of this that Men quarrel in the dark; and that there are so many Contentions in the feveral Sciences, and efpecially in Divinity Multitudes of them arife from a Miftake of the true Sense or compleat Meaning, in which Words are used by the Writer or Speaker; and hereby fometimes they seem to agree, when they really differ in their Sentiments; and fometimes they feem to differ when they really agree. Let me give an Inftance of both.

When one Man by the Word Church, fhall understand all that believe in Chrift; and another by the Word Church means only the Church of Rome; they may both affent to this Propofition, There is no Salvation out of the Church, and yet their inward Sentiments may be widely diffe

rent.

Again, if one Writer fhall affirm that Virtue added to Faith is fufficient to make a Chriftian, and another fhall as zealously deny this Propofition, they seem to differ widely in Words, and yer perhaps they may both really agree in Sentiment:

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If by the Word Virtue, the Affirmer intends our whole Duty to God and Man; and the Denier by the Word Virtue means only Courage, or at most our Duty toward our Neighbour, without including in the Idea of it the Duty which we owe to God.

Many fuch fort of Contentions as these are, if traced to their Original, will be found to be mere Logomachies, or Strifes and Quarrels about Names and Words, and vain Janglings, as the Apostle calls them in his firft Letter of Advice to Timothy.

In order therefore to attain clear and diftinct Ideas of what we read or hear, we must search the Senfe of Words; we must consider what is their Original and Derivation in our own or foreign Languages; what is their common Senfe amongst Mankind, or in other Authors, efpecially fuch as wrote in the fame Country, in the fame Age, about the fame Time, and upon the fame Subjects: We must confider in what Senfe the fame Author ufes any particular Word or Phrafe, and that when he is difcourfing on the fame Matter, and efpecially about the fame Parts or Paragraphs of his Writing: We must confider whether the Word be used in a ftrict and limited, or in a large and general Senfe; whether in a literal, in a figurative, or in a prophetick Sense; whether it has any fecondary Idea annext to it befides the primary or chief Senfe. We must enquire farther, what is the Scope and Design of the Writer; and what is the Connection of that Sentence with thofe that go before it, and those which follow it. By thefe and other Methods we are to fearch out the Definition of Names, i. e. the true Senfe and Meaning in which any Author or Speaker ufes any Word, which may be the chief Subject

of Discourse, Cor may carry any considerable Importance in it.

Direct. V. When we communicate our Notions to others, merely with a Design to inform and improve their Knowledge, let us in the Beginning of our Difcourse take care to adjust the Definition of Names wheresoever there is need of it, that is, to determine plainly what we mean by the chief Words which are the Subjekt of our Discourse; and be sure always to keep the same Ideas, whenfoever we use the same Words, unless we give due Notice of the Change. This will have a very large and happy Influence, in securing not only others but our felves too from Confusion and Mistake ; for even Writers and Speakers themselves, for want of due Watchfulness, are ready to affix different Ideas to their own Words, in different Parts of their Discourses, and hereby bring Perplexity into their own Reasonings, and confound their Hearers.

It is by an observation of this Rule, that Mathematicians have so happily secured themselves, and the Sciences which they have profest, from Wrangling and Controversy ; because whensoever in the Progress of their Treatises they have Occasion to use a new and unknown Word, they al. ways define it, and tell in what Sense they shall take it ; and in many of their Writings you find a heap of Definitions at the very beginning. Now if the Writers of Natural Philosophy and Morality had used the same Accuracy and Care, they had effectually secluded a Multitude of noisy and fruitless Debates out of their several Provinces : Nor had that facred Theme of Divinity been perplexed with so many intricate Disputes, nor the Church of Christ been torn to pieces by so many Sects and Factions, if the Words Grace, Faith, Righte

nefs

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ousness, Repentance, Justification, Worship, Church, Bishop, Presbyter, &c. had been well defined, and their Significations adjusted, as near as possible, by the Use of those words in the new Testament; or at least, if every Writer had told us at first in what Sense he would use those Words.

Direct. VI. In your own Studies, as well as in the Communication of your Thoughts to others, merely for their Information, avoid ambiguous and equivocal Terms as much as possible, Do not use such Words as have two or three Definitions of the Name belonging to them, i. e, such Words as have two or three Senses, where there is any Danger of Mistake. Where your chief Business is to inform the Judgment, and to explain a Matter, rather than to persuade or affect, be not fond of expressing your selves in figurative Language, when there are any proper Words that signify the same Idea in their literal Sense. It is the Ambi- . guity of Names, as we have often said, that brings almost infinite Confusion into our Conceptions of Things.

But where there is a necessity of ufing an ambiguous Word, there let double Care be used in defining that Word, and declaring in what Sense you take it. And be sure to suffer no ambiguous Word ever to come into your Definitions.

Direct. VII. In communicating your Notions, use every Word as near as possible in the same Sense in which Mankind commonly uses it ; or which Writers that have gone before you have usually affixt to it, upon Condition that it is free from Ambiguity. Tho' Names are in their Original merely arbitrary, yet we should always keep to the establish'd Meaning of them, unless great Necessity require the Al

teration; for when any Word has been used to fignify an Idea, that old Idea will recur in the Mind when the Word is heard or read, rather than any new Idea which we may faften to it. And this is one Reafon why the receiv'd Definition of Names fhould be changed as little as poffible.

But I add farther, that tho' a Word entirely new, introduced into a Language, may be affixed to what Idea you pleafe, yet an old Word ought never to be fixt to an unaccustomed Idea, without juft and evident Neceffity, or without prefent or previous Notice, left we introduce thereby a Licenfe for all manner of pernicious Equivocations and Falfhoods; as for inftance, when an idle Boy who has not seen his Book all the Morning fhall tell his Mafter that he has learnt his Leffon, he can never excufe himself by faying, that by the Word Leffon he meant his Breakfast, and by the Word learn he meant eating; furely this would be conftrued a downright Lye, and his fancied Wit would hardly procure his Pardon.

In ufing an ambiguous Word which has been ufed in different Senfes, we may chufe what we think the most proper Senfe, as I have done p. 86. in naming the Poles of the Loadstone, North or South.

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And when a Word has been used in two or three Senfes, and has made a great Inroad for Error on that Account, it is of good Service to drop one or two of those Senfes, and leave it only one remaining, and affix the other Senfes or Ideas to other Words. So the modern Philofophers, when they treat of the human Soul, they call it the Mind or Mens humana, and leave the Word Anima or Soul to fignify the Principle of Life and Motion in mere animal Beings.

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