Endnote 7. (1) "It is impossible to find a method which would enable us to
gain a certain knowledge of all the statements in Scripture." (2) I mean
impossible for us who have not the habitual use of the language, and have
lost the precise meaning of its phraseology.
Endnote 8. (1) "Not in things whereof the understanding can gain a clear and
distinct idea, and which are conceivable through themselves." (2) By things
conceivable I mean not only those which are rigidly proved, but also those
whereof we are morally certain, and are wont to hear without wonder, though
they are incapable of proof. (3) Everyone can see the truth of Euclid's
propositions before they are proved. (4) So also the histories of things
both future and past which do not surpass human credence, laws,
institutions, manners, I call conceivable and clear, though they cannot be
proved mathematically. (5) But hieroglyphics and histories which seem to
pass the bounds of belief I call inconceivable; yet even among these last
there are many which our method enables us to investigate, and to discover
the meaning of their narrator.