Such things as these, which the eye distinguishes by
their shapes, would be best let into the mind by draughts made of
them, and more determine the signification of such words, than any
other words set for them, or made use of to define them. But this is
only by the bye.
26. V. Fifth remedy: To use the same word constantly in the same
sense. Fifthly, If men will not be at the pains to declare the meaning
of their words, and definitions of their terms are not to be had,
yet this is the least that can be expected, that, in all discourses
wherein one man pretends to instruct or convince another, he should
use the same word constantly in the same sense. If this were done,
(which nobody can refuse without great disingenuity,) many of the
books extant might be spared; many of the controversies in dispute
would be at an end; several of those great volumes, swollen with
ambiguous words, now used in one sense, and by and by in another,
would shrink into a very narrow compass; and many of the philosophers,
(to mention no other) as well as poets works, might be contained in
a nutshell.
27. When not so used, the variation is to he explained. But after
all, the provision of words is so scanty in respect to that infinite
variety of thoughts, that men, wanting terms to suit their precise
notions, will, notwithstanding their utmost caution, be forced often
to use the same word in somewhat different senses.
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