The Devotees of that strange Superstition usually plead in Excuse of the Mummeries, with which they are upbraided, that they feel the good Effect of those external Motions, and Postures, and Actions, in enlivening their Devotion and quickning their Fervour, which otherwise would decay away, if directed entirely to distant and immaterial Objects. We shadow out the Objects of our Faith, say they, in sensible Types and Images, and render them more present to us by the immediate Presence of these Types, than 'tis possible for us to do, merely by an intellectual View and Contemplation. Sensible Objects have always a greater Influence on the Fancy than any other; and this Influence they readily convey to those Ideas, to which they are related, and which they resemble. I shall only infer from these Practices, and this Reasoning, that the Effect of Resemblance in enlivening the Idea is very common; and as in every Case a Resemblance and a present Impression must concur, we are abundantly supply'd with Experiments to prove the Reality of the foregoing Principle.
We may add Force to these Experiments by others of a different Kind, in considering the Effects of Contiguity as well as of Resemblance. 'Tis certain that Distance diminishes the Force of every Idea, and that upon our Approach to any Object; tho' it does not discover itself to our Senses; it operates upon the Mind with an Influence, that imitates an immediateImpression.
