34 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book!, 



this formi concurring with the matter^ produces every work, whether 

 of nature or art. The efficient caufe is the principle of the change or 

 motion which produces the thing. In this fcnfe, the ftatuary is the 

 caufe of the ftatue, and the God of nature, the caufe of ail the works 

 of nature. And, lajilyy ihef nal caufe is that^ for the fake of ivhich^ 

 any thing is done. Thus, the ftatuary makes the ftatue for pleafure, 

 or for profit; and the works of nature are all for fome good end *. 



It may be obferved of thefe caufe's^ that the two firft of them, viz.. 

 the material and the formal, are internal, and make part of the thing "f"; 

 and theforjnal caufe is what is commonly contained in the definition 

 of the thing if. 



It may be alfo obferved of this divlfion of caufes, that two of them 

 plainly fuppofe a mind and a defign in nature as well as in art, 'v'lz, 

 xht formal and the fnal-, for it is evident, that neither of thefe could 

 exift> if the univerfe was the work of chance, or of material caufes. 



This difcovcry of Ariftotle concerning caufes, is, I think, one of the 

 principal things that he has added to the flock of philofophy ; for, 

 according to the account that he gives of the opinions of philofophcrs 

 before him, it is evident, that, when they were inquiring about the caufes 



and 



* See all this explained at great length by Arillotle, lib. 2. cap. 3. of his Phyfics, 

 and lib. 5. cap. 2. of his Metaphyfics, where there are many diflindions made, very 

 well worth attending to, betwixt th€ firfl: and fecond principal and fubordinate caufes. 

 .See alfo what Fonfeca, a learned Jefuite, in his commentary upon Ariftotle's Meta«. 

 phyfics, has faid upon the fubjedl of thefe caufes, quacjlio i. ad caput ^- lib. i. IMeta- 

 jh^fiC. where he demonftrates, that there can be neither fewer of them- nor more. 



t Thefe are called by Ariflotle evv7r«»;^i6VT«. 



% This is what Ariflotle calls the to n uv to**, or, the Xoyn ir.t eva-ixg, or fimply A«yoj ^ 

 whereas the ovrtic is the natural fubftance, or the thing as it exifls, {Arijlot. de Animay 

 lib^ 2. cap. I.), that is, a corr.pound of thcmatter and/orw. There is nothing, however, 

 to hinder the njatter likew fe to be taken into the definition ; and, in that way, AriflotJe 

 fays, 'that all natural fubftances Ihould be defined ;' lib. 6. cap. i. Metaphyfic 



