BOOK I PART III
religion, and manners. I look backward and
consider its first foundation; its several revo-
lutions, successes, and misfortunes. All this,
and everything else, which I believe, are noth-
ing but ideas; though by their force and settled
order, arising from custom and the relation of
cause and effect, they distinguish themselves
from the other ideas, which are merely the off-
spring of the imagination.
As to the influence of contiguity and resem-
blance, we may observe, that if the contiguous
and resembling object be comprehended in this
system of realities, there is no doubt but these
two relations will assist that of cause and ef-
fect, and infix the related idea with more force
in the imagination. This I shall enlarge upon
presently. Mean while I shall carry my observa-
tion a step farther, and assert, that even where