BOOK I PART IV
pearances, and give them such an union with
each other, as I have found by experience to be
suitable to their particular natures and circum-
stances. Here then I am naturally led to regard
the world, as something real and durable, and
as preserving its existence, even when it is no
longer present to my perception.
But though this conclusion from the coher-
ence of appearances may seem to be of the
same nature with our reasonings concerning
causes and effects; as being derived from cus-
tom, and regulated by past experience; we
shall find upon examination, that they are at
the bottom considerably different from each
other, and that this inference arises from the
understanding, and from custom in an indirect
and oblique manner. For it will readily be al-
lowed, that since nothing is ever really present