BOOK III PART I
engaged on the one side or the other, we nat-
urally think that the question lies within hu-
man comprehension; which, in other cases of
this nature, we are apt to entertain some doubt
of. Without this advantage I never should have
ventured upon a third volume of such abstruse
philosophy, in an age, wherein the greatest part
of men seem agreed to convert reading into an
amusement, and to reject every thing that re-
quires any considerable degree of attention to
be comprehended.
It has been observed, that nothing is ever
present to the mind but its perceptions; and
that all the actions of seeing, hearing, judging,
loving, hating, and thinking, fall under this de-
nomination. The mind can never exert itself in
any action, which we may not comprehend un-
der the term of perception; and consequently