positive. In like manner we know the finite only by
assigning it a bound, which is a mere negation of a greater extent;
and consequently only the privation of the infinite. Now a man
could never represent to himself the privation of the infinite,
unless he conceived the infinite itself: just as he could not have
a notion of sickness, unless he had an idea of health, of which it
is only a privation. Now, whence comes that idea of the infinite in
us?

SECT. LII. Secondly, the Ideas of the Mind are Universal, Eternal,
and Immutable.

Oh! how great is the mind of man! He carries within him wherewithal
to astonish, and infinitely to surpass himself: since his ideas are
universal, eternal, and immutable. They are universal: for when I
say it is impossible to be and not to be; the whole is bigger than a
part of it; a line perfectly circular has no straight parts; between
two points given the straight line is the shortest; the centre of a
perfect circle is equally distant from all the points of the
circumference; an equilateral triangle has no obtuse or right angle:
all these truths admit of no exception. There never can be any
being, line, circle, or triangle, but according to these rules.
These axioms are of all times, or to speak more properly, they exist
before all time, and will ever remain after any comprehensible
duration. Let the universe be turned topsy-turvy, destroyed, and
annihilated; and even let there be no mind to reason about beings,
lines, circles, and triangles: yet it will ever be equally true in
itself, that the same thing cannot at once be and not be; that a
perfect circle can have no part of a straight line; that the centre
of a perfect circle cannot be nearer one side of the circumference
than the other. Men may, indeed, not think actually on these
truths: and it might even happen that there should be neither
universe nor any mind capable to reflect on these truths: but
nevertheless they are still constant and certain in themselves
although no mind should be acquainted with them; just as the rays of
the sun would not cease being real, although all men should be
blind, and no body have eyes to be sensible of their light. By
affirming that two and two make four, says St. Augustin, man is not
only certain that he speaks truth, but he cannot doubt that such a
proposition was ever equally true, and must be so eternally. These
ideas we carry within ourselves have no bounds, and cannot