Considerations of the existence of God and of the immortality of the soul, with…

4. The Mind rectifies the false reports of the Senses, and forms the Judgment of things not according to their impressions, but by such rational evidence of which they are not capable. When the Object is too distant, or the Medium unfit, or the Organs distempered, the Senses are deceived. The Stars of the brightest magnitude seem to be trembling sparks of light: but the Understanding considers that the representations of things are imperfect and less distinct proportionably to their distance, and conceives ⟨p. 156⟩of their magnitude accordingly. A straight Oar appears crooked in the Water, but Reason observes the error in the refractions, when the Image passes through a double medium of unequal clearness. Sweet things taste bitter to one in a Fever, but the mind knows that the bitterness is not in the things but in the viciated Palate. Moreover, how many things are collected by Reason that transcend the power of fancy to conceive, nay are repugnant to its conception? What corporeal Image can represent the immensity of the Heavens, as the Mind by convincing arguments apprehends it? The Antipodes walk erect upon the Earth, yet the Fancy cannot conceive them but with their Heads downward. Now if the Mind were of the same nature ⟨p. 157⟩with the corporeal Faculties, their judgment would be uniform.

4. The Mind rectifies the false reports of the Senses, and forms the Judgment of things not according to their impressions, but by such rational evidence of which they are not capable. When the Object is too distant, or the Medium unfit, or the Organs distemper'd, the Senses are deceived. The Stars of the brightest magnitude seem to be trembling sparks of light: but the Understanding considers that the representations of things are imperfect and less distinct proportionably to their distance, and conceives ⟨p. 156⟩of their magnitude accordingly. A straight Oar appears crooked in the Water, but Reason observes the error in the refractions, when the Image passes through a double medium of unequal clearness. Sweet things taste bitter to one in a Feaver, but the mind knows that the bitterness is not in the things but in the viciated Palat. Moreover, how many things are collected by Reason that transcend the power of fancy to conceive, nay are repugnant to its conception? What corporeal Image can represent the immensity of the Heavens, as the Mind by convincing arguments apprehends it? The Antipodes walk erect upon the Earth, yet the Fancy cannot conceive them but with their Heads downward. Now if the Mind were of the same nature