BOOK I PART IV
that we must join the constancy of their appear-
ance to the coherence, in order to give a satis-
factory account of that opinion. As the expli-
cation of this will lead me into a considerable
compass of very profound reasoning; I think it
proper, in order to avoid confusion, to give a
short sketch or abridgment of my system, and
afterwards draw out all its parts in their full
compass. This inference from the constancy of
our perceptions, like the precedent from their
coherence, gives rise to the opinion of the con-
tinued existence of body, which is prior to that
of its distinct existence, and produces that lat-
ter principle.
When we have been accustomed to observe
a constancy in certain impressions, and have
found, that the perception of the sun or ocean,
for instance, returns upon us after an absence