ort of the word, to signify
nothing but THE JOINING OR SEPERATING OF SIGNS, AS THE THINGS SIGNIFIED
BY THEM DO AGREE OR DISAGREE ONE WITH ANOTHER. The joining or separating
of signs here meant, is what by another name we call PROPOSITION. So
that truth properly belongs only to propositions: whereof there are two
sorts, viz. mental and verbal; as there are two sorts of signs commonly
made use of, viz. ideas and words.

3. Which make mental or verbal Propositions.

To form a clear notion of truth, it is very necessary to consider truth
of thought, and truth of words, distinctly one from another: but yet it
is very difficult to treat of them asunder. Because it is unavoidable,
in treating of mental propositions, to make use of words: and then the
instances given of mental propositions cease immediately to be barely
mental, and become verbal. For a MENTAL PROPOSITION being nothing but a
bare consideration of the ideas, as they are in our minds, stripped of
names, they lose the nature of purely mental propositions as soon as
they are put into words.

4. Mental Propositions are very hard to be treated of.

And that which makes it yet harder to treat of mental and verbal
propositions separately is, that most men, if not all, in their thinking
and reasonings within themselves, make use of words instead of ideas; at
least when the subject of their meditation contains in it complex ideas.
Which is a great evidence of the imperfection and uncertainty of our
ideas of that kind, and may, if attentively made use of, serve for
a mark to show us what are those things we have clear and perfect
established ideas of, and what not. For if we will curiously observe the
way our mind takes in thinking and reasoning, we shall find, I suppose,
that when we make any propositions within our own thoughts about WHITE
or BLACK, SWEET or BITTER, a TRIANGLE or a CIRCLE, we can and often
do frame in our minds the ideas themselves, without reflecting on the
names. But when we would consider, or make propositions about the more
complex ideas, as of a MAN, VITRIOL, FORTITUDE, GLORY, we usually put
the name for the idea: because the ideas these names stand for, being
for the most part imperfect, confused, and undetermined, we reflect
on the names themselves, because they are more clear, certain, and
distinct, and readier occur to our thoughts than the pure ideas: and so
we make use of these words instead of the ideas themselves, even when
we would me