Chap.XIir. AN TIE NTT METAPHYSICS. 171 



As therefore, it is a queftion of the greateft importance, both ia 

 rel'idon and philofophy, it ought to be treated with the greateft atten- 

 tion ; and, that the nature of the queftion may be the better underftood, 

 a d wherein the difference betwixt fubflances jrmterial a.nd imniaterial 

 cr-nfifls, I \^\\\ beuin with ftating the different v/ays in which wc can 

 coiKclvc things exifting. 



And, in the frjl place, All things exift either in parts or without 

 i)nrts. Befides thefe, there is no third way of exifting ; for, there can 

 be no niiddSe betv^ixt thele two ; nor can we conceive the fame thing 

 exiiling both in parts and without par ts. 



Of the things which exifi by />^r/j, there are three kinds: The firfl 

 is of things, the parts of which are not co-exijlenty huifuccejji've^ fucU 

 as time or motion^ no two parts of which can exift together. The exift- 

 ence, therefore, of fuch things is fleeting and tranfitory, and tlie mofl 

 imperfed of all exiftence ; for it is of fo fhadowy a nature, that, while 

 we. fay it zV, it ceajes to be. 



The next kind of things confifiing o? parts, is fuch whnfe />/7r/j' are 

 co-exiilent and contiguous. Things of this kind are faid to be extend^ 

 ed ; for, extenfion is nothing elfe but co-exiflence and jun^ion of parts. 

 This kind of being has, no doubt, a more real exiftence than the o- 

 ther ; but its exiftence is likewife imperfect, in as much as it does not 

 exift all together, but each part by itfelf, joined together indeed, but 

 eacli capable of feparation from the other ; fo that we can fay, this 

 is one part of it, and that another *. And this is true, not only of 



Y 2 the 



ttTMvt* IV «i) wov Ktct r» Sntf, xeci uxj7% k¥ «d ?r{«»T»i Kttt Kv^tcrtcTn tt^y;n, Metaph. lib. 1 3. 

 cap. 7. — See alfo lib. 6. cap. 1. 



* This is the account that Plof'nus gives of maprnitude, w<«ft«< fjnyxitvq, r« f*i* «>a« 

 T« Ji «tx^♦. And Simplicius, in hi& commentary upon Arillotlc's Fbyfics, page 3 gives 



the 



