24. Want of simple ideas that men are capable of having, but have
not, because of their remoteness. Secondly, Another great cause of
ignorance is the want of ideas we are capable of. As the want of ideas
which our faculties are not able to give us shuts us wholly from those
views of things which it is reasonable to think other beings,
perfecter than we, have, of which we know nothing; so the want of
ideas I now speak of keeps us in ignorance of things we conceive
capable of being known to us. Bulk, figure, and motion we have ideas
of. But though we are not without ideas of these primary qualities
of bodies in general, yet not knowing what is the particular bulk,
figure, and motion, of the greatest part of the bodies of the
universe, we are ignorant of the several powers, efficacies, and
ways of operation, whereby the effects which we daily see are
produced. These are hid from us, in some things by being too remote,
and in others by being too minute. When we consider the vast
distance of the known and visible parts of the world, and the
reasons we have to think that what lies within our ken is but a
small part of the universe, we shall then discover a huge abyss of
ignorance. What are the particular fabrics of the great masses of
matter which make up the whole stupendous frame of corporeal beings;
how far they are extended; what is their motion, and how continued
or communicated; and what influence they have one upon another, are
contemplations that at first glimpse our thoughts lose themselves
in.
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