Page:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume (1748).djvu/100

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88
ESSAY V.

No one can doubt but Causation has the same Influence as the other two Relations of Resemblance and Contiguity. Superstitious People are fond of the Relicts of Saints and holy Men, for the same Reason, that they seek after Types or Images, in order to enliven their Devotion, and give them a more intimate and strong Conception of those exemplary Lives, which they desire to imitate. Now 'tis evident one of the best Relicts a Devotee could procure would be the Handywork of a Saint; and if his Cloaths and Furniture are ever to be consider'd in this Light, 'tis because they were once at his Disposal, and were mov'd and affected by him; in which Respect they are to be consider'd as imperfect Effects, and as connected with him by a shorter Chain of Consequences than any of those, by which we learn the Reality of his Existence.

Suppose the Son of a Friend, who had been long dead or absent, were presented to us; 'tis evident, that this Object would instantly revive its correlative Idea, and recall to our Thoughts all our past Intimacies and Familiarities in more lively Colours than they would otherwise have appear'd to us. This is another Phænomenon, which seems to prove the Principle above mentioned.

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