Page:The Works of John Locke - 1823 - vol 01.djvu/248

172 § 26. If those ideas which are constantly joined to all others must therefore be concluded to be the essence of those things which have constantly those ideas joined to them, and are inseparable from them, then unity is without doubt the essence of every thing: for there is not any object of sensation or reflection which does not carry with it the idea of one; but the weakness of this kind of argument we have already shown sufficiently.

§ 27. To conclude, whatever men shall think concerning the existence of a vacuum, this is plain to me, that we have as clear an idea of space distinct from solidity, as we have of solidity distinct from motion, or motion from space. We have not any two more distinct ideas, and we can as easily conceive space without solidity, as we can conceive body or space without motion, though it be ever so certain that neither body nor motion can exist without space. But whether any one will take space to be only a relation resulting from the existence of other beings at a distance, or whether they will think the words of the most knowing king Solomon, "The heaven, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee," or those more emphatical ones of the inspired philosopher St. Paul, "In him we live, move, and have our being," are to be understood in a literal sense, I leave every one to consider: only our idea of space is, I think, such as I have mentioned, and distinct from that of body. For whether we consider in matter itself the distance of its coherent solid parts, and call it, in respect of those solid parts extension; or whether, considering it as lying between the extremities of any body in its several dimensions, we call it length, breadth, and thickness; or else, considering it as lying between any two bodies or positive beings, without any consideration whether there be any matter or no between, we call it distance: however named or considered, it is always the same uniform simple idea of space, taken from