35. I do not argue against the existence of any one thing that we can apprehend, either by sense or reflection. That the things I see with my eyes and touch with my hands do exist, really exist, I make not the least question. The only thing whose existence we deny is that which _philosophers_ call Matter or corporeal substance. And in doing of this there is no damage done to the rest of mankind, who, I dare say, will never miss it. The Atheist indeed will want the colour of an empty name to support his impiety; and the Philosophers may possibly find they have lost a great handle for trifling and disputation. [(591)But that is all the harm that I can see done.] 36. If any man thinks this detracts from the existence or reality of things, he is very far from understanding what hath been premised in the plainest terms I could think of. Take here an abstract of what has been said:—There are spiritual substances, minds, or human souls, which will or excite ideas(592) in themselves at pleasure; but these are faint, weak, and unsteady in respect of others they perceive by sense: which, being impressed upon them according to certain rules or laws of nature, speak themselves the effects of a Mind more powerful and wise than human spirits(593). These latter are said to have _more reality_(594) in them than the former;—by which is meant that they are more affecting, orderly, and distinct, and that they are not fictions of the mind perceiving them(595). And in this sense the sun that I see by day is the real sun, and that which I imagine by night is the idea of the former. In the sense here given of _reality_, it is evident that every vegetable, star, mineral, and in general each part of the mundane system, is as much a _real being_ by our principles as by any other. Whether others mean anything by the term _reality_ different from what I do, I entreat them to look into their own thoughts and see. 37. It will be urged that thus much at least is true, to wit, that we take away all _corporeal substances_. To this my answer is, that if the word _substance_ be taken in the vulgar sense, for a _combination_ of sensible qualities, such as extension, solidity, weight, and the like—this we cannot be accused of taking away: but if it be taken in a philosophic sense, for the support of accidents or qualities without the mind—then indeed I acknowledge that we take it away, if one may be said to take away that which never had any existence, not even in the imagination(596).