Chapter: CHAPTER III. OF THE CONSEQUENCE OR TRAYNE OF IMAGINATIONS



By Consequence, or Trayne of Thoughts, I understand that succession
of one Thought to another, which is called (to distinguish it from
Discourse in words) Mentall Discourse.

When a man thinketh on any thing whatsoever, His next Thought after, is
not altogether so casuall as it seems to be. Not every Thought to every
Thought succeeds indifferently. But as wee have no Imagination, whereof
we have not formerly had Sense, in whole, or in parts; so we have no
Transition from one Imagination to another, whereof we never had the
like before in our Senses. The reason whereof is this. All Fancies
are Motions within us, reliques of those made in the Sense: And those
motions that immediately succeeded one another in the sense, continue
also together after Sense: In so much as the former comming again to
take place, and be praedominant, the later followeth, by coherence of
the matter moved, is such manner, as water upon a plain Table is drawn
which way any one part of it is guided by the finger. But because
in sense, to one and the same thing perceived, sometimes one thing,
sometimes another succeedeth, it comes to passe in time, that in the
Imagining of any thing, there is no certainty what we shall Imagine
next; Onely this is certain, it shall be something that succeeded the
same before, at one time or another.




Trayne Of Thoughts Unguided

This Trayne of Thoughts, or Mentall Discourse, is of two sorts. The
first is Unguided, Without Designee, and inconstant; Wherein there is no
Passionate Thought, to govern and direct those that follow, to it self,
as the end and scope of some desire, or other passion: In which case the
thoughts are said to wander, and seem impertinent one to another, as
in a Dream. Such are Commonly the thoughts of men, that are not onely
without company, but also without care of any thing; though even then
their Thoughts are as busie as at other times, but without harmony; as
the sound which a Lute out of tune would yeeld to any man; or in tune,
to one that could not play. And yet in this wild ranging of the mind,
a man may oft-times perceive the way of it, and the dependance of one
thought upon another. For in a Discourse of our present civill warre,
what could seem more impertinent, than to ask (as one did) what was the
value of a Roman Penny? Yet the Cohaerence to me was manifest enough.
For the Thought of the warre, introduced the Thought of the delivering
up the King to his Enemies; The Thought of that, brought in the Thought
of the delivering up of Christ; and that again the Thought of the 30
pence, which was the price of that treason: and thence easily followed
that malicious question; and all this in a moment of time; for Thought
is quick.




Trayne Of Thoughts Regulated

The second is more constant; as being Regulated by some desire, and
designee. For the impression made by such things as wee desire, or
feare, is strong, and permanent, or, (if it cease for a time,) of quick
return: so strong it is sometimes, as to hinder and break our sleep.
From Desire, ariseth the Thought of some means we have seen produce the
like of that which we ayme at; and from the thought of that, the
thought of means to that mean; and so continually, till we come to some
beginning within our own power. And because the End, by the greatnesse
of the impression, comes often to mind, in case our thoughts begin to
wander, they are quickly again reduced into the way: which observed by
one of the seven wise men, made him give men this praecept, which is
now worne out, Respice Finem; that is to say, in all your actions,
look often upon what you would have, as the thing that directs all your
thoughts in the way to attain it.




Remembrance

The Trayn of regulated Thoughts is of two kinds; One, when of an effect
imagined, wee seek the causes, or means that produce it: and this
is common to Man and Beast. The other is, when imagining any thing
whatsoever, wee seek all the possible effects, that can by it be
produced; that is to say, we imagine what we can do with it, when wee
have it. Of which I have not at any time seen any signe, but in man
onely; for this is a curiosity hardly incident to the nature of any
living creature that has no other Passion but sensuall, such as are
hunger, thirst, lust, and anger. In summe, the Discourse of the Mind,
when it is governed by designee, is nothing but Seeking, or the faculty
of Invention, which the Latines call Sagacitas, and Solertia; a hunting
out of the causes, of some effect, present or past; or of the effects,
of some present or past cause, sometimes a man seeks what he hath lost;
and from that place, and time, wherein hee misses it, his mind runs
back, from place to place, and time to time, to find where, and when
he had it; that is to say, to find some certain, and limited time and
place, in which to begin a method of seeking. Again, from thence, his
thoughts run over the same places and times, to find what action, or
other occasion might make him lose it. This we call Remembrance,
or Calling to mind: the Latines call it Reminiscentia, as it were a
Re-Conning of our former actions.

Sometimes a man knows a place determinate, within the compasse whereof
his is to seek; and then his thoughts run over all the parts thereof,
in the same manner, as one would sweep a room, to find a jewell; or as
a Spaniel ranges the field, till he find a sent; or as a man should run
over the alphabet, to start a rime.




Prudence

Sometime a man desires to know the event of an action; and then he
thinketh of some like action past, and the events thereof one after
another; supposing like events will follow like actions. As he that
foresees what wil become of a Criminal, re-cons what he has seen follow
on the like Crime before; having this order of thoughts, The Crime,
the Officer, the Prison, the Judge, and the Gallowes. Which kind
of thoughts, is called Foresight, and Prudence, or Providence; and
sometimes Wisdome; though such conjecture, through the difficulty of
observing all circumstances, be very fallacious. But this is certain; by
how much one man has more experience of things past, than another; by
so much also he is more Prudent, and his expectations the seldomer faile
him. The Present onely has a being in Nature; things Past have a being
in the Memory onely, but things To Come have no being at all; the Future
being but a fiction of the mind, applying the sequels of actions Past,
to the actions that are Present; which with most certainty is done by
him that has most Experience; but not with certainty enough. And though
it be called Prudence, when the Event answereth our Expectation; yet in
its own nature, it is but Presumption. For the foresight of things to
come, which is Providence, belongs onely to him by whose will they are
to come. From him onely, and supernaturally, proceeds Prophecy. The best
Prophet naturally is the best guesser; and the best guesser, he that is
most versed and studied in the matters he guesses at: for he hath most
Signes to guesse by.




Signes

A Signe, is the Event Antecedent, of the Consequent; and contrarily,
the Consequent of the Antecedent, when the like Consequences have been
observed, before: And the oftner they have been observed, the lesse
uncertain is the Signe. And therefore he that has most experience in
any kind of businesse, has most Signes, whereby to guesse at the Future
time, and consequently is the most prudent: And so much more prudent
than he that is new in that kind of business, as not to be equalled by
any advantage of naturall and extemporary wit: though perhaps many young
men think the contrary.

Neverthelesse it is not Prudence that distinguisheth man from beast.
There be beasts, that at a year old observe more, and pursue that which
is for their good, more prudently, than a child can do at ten.




Conjecture Of The Time Past

As Prudence is a Praesumtion of the Future, contracted from the
Experience of time Past; So there is a Praesumtion of things Past taken
from other things (not future but) past also. For he that hath seen
by what courses and degrees, a flourishing State hath first come into
civill warre, and then to ruine; upon the sights of the ruines of any
other State, will guesse, the like warre, and the like courses have been
there also. But his conjecture, has the same incertainty almost with the
conjecture of the Future; both being grounded onely upon Experience.

There is no other act of mans mind, that I can remember, naturally
planted in him, so, as to need no other thing, to the exercise of it,
but to be born a man, and live with the use of his five Senses. Those
other Faculties, of which I shall speak by and by, and which seem proper
to man onely, are acquired, and encreased by study and industry; and of
most men learned by instruction, and discipline; and proceed all from
the invention of Words, and Speech. For besides Sense, and Thoughts, and
the Trayne of thoughts, the mind of man has no other motion; though by
the help of Speech, and Method, the same Facultyes may be improved to
such a height, as to distinguish men from all other living Creatures.

Whatsoever we imagine, is Finite. Therefore there is no Idea, or
conception of anything we call Infinite. No man can have in his mind an
Image of infinite magnitude; nor conceive the ends, and bounds of
the thing named; having no Conception of the thing, but of our own
inability. And therefore the Name of GOD is used, not to make us
conceive him; (for he is Incomprehensible; and his greatnesse, and power
are unconceivable;) but that we may honour him. Also because whatsoever
(as I said before,) we conceive, has been perceived first by sense,
either all at once, or by parts; a man can have no thought, representing
any thing, not subject to sense. No man therefore can conceive any
thing, but he must conceive it in some place; and indued with some
determinate magnitude; and which may be divided into parts; nor that any
thing is all in this place, and all in another place at the same time;
nor that two, or more things can be in one, and the same place at once:
for none of these things ever have, or can be incident to Sense; but are
absurd speeches, taken upon credit (without any signification at all,)
from deceived Philosophers, and deceived, or deceiving Schoolemen.

 It's time to switch gears, in a manner of speaking. This chapter opens in England, where Deryn Sharp has fallen asleep on her aeronautics manual. Falling asleep on textbooks: we can relate. Her elder brother, Jaspert, wakes her up, and they bicker about the airman middy's test she'll be taking that day. Deryn tries on the clothes she'll be wearing for the test--and if all goes well, for a long time afterward. They're boy's clothes because Deryn is planning to pass as Dylan and get into the British Air Service. Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Deryn and Jaspert take an omnibus drawn by a hippoesque to the Wormwood Scrubs airship field. Deryn reflects on how unfair it is that she was born a girl and has to lie to fly, when she's so much better at it than so many boys. Ugh--for real. The new recruits line up on the ascension field, where officers try to intimidate them. Hey, some things never change, even in alternate universes. Jaspert gets her past Lieutenant Cook, who tells her to get in another line--he also notes that she's really skinny, but he doesn't seem to suspect anything.

