29. Continuance of that which we have made to he our complex idea of man makes the same man.
For, supposing
a rational spirit be the idea of a man, it is easy to know what is the same man, viz., the same spirit--whether
separate or in a body--will be the same man. Supposing a rational spirit vitally united to a body of a certain
conformation of parts to make a man; whilst that rational spirit, with that vital conformation of parts, though
continued in a fleeting successive body, remains, it will be the same man. But if to any one the idea of a man be
but the vital union of parts in a certain shape; as long as that vital union and shape remain in a concrete, no
otherwise the same but by a continued succession of fleeting particles, it will be the same man. For, whatever be
the composition whereof the complex idea is made, whenever existence makes it one particular thing under any
denomination the same existence continued preserves it the same individual under the same denomination.
